commencement of war against the Turks, or any other poli

any further liberty, unless the members designed........ to expose the orthodox doctrine of Predestination to be openly ridiculed." Finding this great aversion in the Synod to the precedence of Reprobation, the Remonstrants proposed, since they were forbidden to explain or defend their sentiments viva voce, " to explain their doctrines in writing, beginning with the article of Election, and proceeding to that of Reprobation; to defend their doctrines, and to refute the contrary opinions of the Contra-Remonstrants and of those whom they consider orthodox: But that, in case this explanation or defence seems to be defective, they would answer in writing the questions which the President might think proper to propose to them, or by oral communications by those of their body whom they might judge best qualified for that purpose. And that the liberty which they desired might not appear unlimited, they bound themselves to proceed in such a manner as should not savour in the least of an insolent licentiousness; and that their discussions might not be extended too far, the Lay Commissioners were empowered to curtail them at pleasure." But these very equitable terms, which were much worse than those which the unsophisticated and grammatical sense of the citatory letters held out to them, were rejected by the Synod, at the instigation and by the management of the President,-who, after having had recourse to his old trick of propounding questions to each of the cited persons, and after procuring against them three or four Synodical censures, had them at length (Jan. 14th) dismissed from the Synod, with every mark of contumely and scorn which he could invent.

Bogerman had previously busied himself in extracting the opinions of the Remoustrants from such writings of theirs as had been published long before, and in forming them into articles, to be separately discussed by the Synod. This passing of judgment on the Remonstrants from the testimony of their own writings, was an employment which Deodatus and his colleague from Geneva had at one of the earliest sessions mentioned as very desirable, and in which they appeared eager to engage. Any one who attentively reads the Acts of the Synod, and compares them with the private accounts both of Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants, will find that this had also been the intention of the President from the very commencement, and that all his shifting schemes and boisterous conduct was intended to irritate the Remonstrants, who possessed more patience than he had contemplated, and who were therefore to be removed from the Synod by a greater exercise of art and with greater difficulty. But one of the greatest injuries of which the Remonstrants had to complain, was, that the book from which their supposed opinions were chiefly collected, was the production of a declared enemy, who wrote a highly coloured account of a Conference respecting the Five Points, in which he pretended that the Calvinists had obtained a complete victory. A Remonstrant author had also written an able statement of the same Conference and had claimed a triumph for his party. The latter would therefore have certainly been the most proper authority from which to extract the real opinions of his own body. But misrepresentation, and not truth, was the grand object of the President and his inland associates,-as appears still more plainly by the falsification of the Theses of Episcopius, which will afterwards come more particularly under our notice.

But though dismissed from their further attendance on the Synod, the Remonstrants were not permitted to depart from Dort; the States' Commissioners having charged them not to quit the town, without their special permission. The President, in his speech dimissory, had said, that they would receive an intimation when the Synod had any further occasion for them. What occurred afterwards, will be the subject of another note. Sufficient evidence has been here adduced, to prove that the just proposal of Arminius, in the text, for "the admission of the deputies of all the parties at disagreement," was not complied with in this Synod; and that, in place of the noble

tical matters. * But its discussions will relate solely to those things which pertain to Religion: Of this description are the

inscription which he wished to see in front of the Synodical building, a more appropriate one would have been, "Let no one that is not desirous of promoting the interests of Calvin's UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION and REPROBATION, enter this grand Bear-garden!" With what justice it entitled itself to the latter appellation, will be seen in a subsequent part of this narrative. The noisy scenes which we have described, generally occurred when the Remonstrants were present, and were excited and kept up by the President, one or two of the States' Commissioners, and Heinsius; the latter of whom, though only secretary to the Lay Commission, was an adept at thumping the tables with both his fists, while he vocifereted, with all the force of lungs which he possessed, against one or other of the Remonstrants, whose arguments vexed him, and whom he wished to silence. On such emergencies, his friend Bogerman usually gave him the aid of his Stentorian voice, and soon reduced the meek and yielding Remonstrants to the patience of taciturnity. This impertinence and assumption of authority on the part of Heinsius was endured by their Lordships the Commissioners, the majority of whom (as it might be expected in plodding Dutch traders,) were most deplorably ignorant of the Latin language; and when any of such worthies had to rule in the Synod in the capacity of Lay Presidents, which office each of them sustained in rotation, they occupied the seat of the learned with as much gravity and composure as an Eastern monarch, who, when he does not wish to be incommoded with answering an applicant, slightly beckons to a supple secretary, who immediately gives himself all the magisterial airs of his principal, and utters a reply framed either according to his own view of the case, or according to the degree of meaning which, by constant practice, he has learnt to collect from the unintelligible countenance of his ignorant and lazy superior. "Even thus did Heinsius act."-But, beside these, there were other scenes, of which the Remonstrants were not spectators, and in which some of the violent members of the Synod forgot the dignity of their characters as christians and the sacredness of their office as ministers.

Arminius stipulates, in the preceding paragraph, for the faith of government to be pledged for the safe conduct of the different parties convened to the Synod. But the poor Remonstrants, having been cited to appear at that assembly rather as criminals than as parties, were ultimately excluded from the benefit of such a proper stipulation, although it had been originally promised to them by the Lay Commissioners. They were ordered not to leave the city of Dort on any account whatever, unless they obtained leave from the Commissioners; and when one of them, by leave of the acting Burgomaster of Dort, who was one of the Commissioners, had hastily gone to Utrecht, to visit one of his children that was expected soon to die, he was on his return called to an account for his conduct, and the former order repeated. In the course of their detention at Dort during eight months, they were as strictly watched as if they had been condemned malefactors. One of them, whose sister lay on her death-bed and earnestly desired to see him, could not obtain permission to visit her while she lived; and after her decease he was not allowed to attend her funeral. Another, whose wife was near the time of her accouchement, wished, like a good family-man, to be at home for a few days at that critical period; but his request was refused. When the uncle of another of them was at the point of death, he longed for the presence of his nephew, to receive his dying commands and to benefit him by his counsels and prayers; but the wishes of the good old man could not be gratified. After his death, the nephew was not allowed to look after the pressing concerns of his orphan cousins, although his uncle had appointed him their legal guardian. None of these favours, though asked with much humility, could be VOL. I.

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doctrines which concern faith and manners, and ecclesiastical order. (1) In these doctrines, there are two objects worthy of obtained from the high Calvinistic personages, in whose hands, at that time, was vested the personal liberty of the persecuted and cited Remonstrants.

Towards the close of February, the magistrates of different towns deposed from the ministry three of the cited Remonstrant ministers who were present at the Synod, and sent regular notices to their families, speedily to quit the parsonage houses which they severally occupied. These three good men, being heartily tired of the strict durance in which they had been held since their arrival at Dort, represented to the States' Commissioners, that as they were not now in the ministry, they could no longer be considered amenable to the jurisdiction of the Synod: This was the very argument of the Commissioners, when, at the commencement of the Synod, the Remonstrants had wished to have associated with them the two recently deposed ministers, Grevinchovius and Goulart. Though, for very obvious reasons, at that early stage of the business, they would permit no Remonstrants to appear among the cited, "except such as were actually in the exercise of the ministry;" yet they would not listen to the same argument when it militated against their favourite purposes and the three ministers were commanded to remain at Dort with their brethren. One of the three, however, whose wife then far advanced in preguancy had been ordered to leave her house within eight days, ventured to return to Horn, and to assist her to remove from their former dwelling. But on his arrival, he found her already removed to another house; and his return to Dort was speedily required by the higher powers. To expedite his departure, two or three of the Calvinist Magistrates employed their official authority in a manner the most reprehensible: They placed him, like a criminal, in the town waggon openly before his own door, though he had provided a carriage for himself on the outside of the town, to which he wished to have retired privately and without noise. A tumult ensued between the populace who were attached to their good pastor, and the soldiers whom the magistrates had placed before his house two hours before his departure. On his return to Dort, he was severely examined before the Commissioners respecting the unhappy commotion; but being convinced that he had not been at all to blame in that affair, they passed it over in silence.-At different times the Remonstrants wished to depute a few of their small body to the Hague, to make a proper representation of the manuer in which they were treated by the Synod; but this indulgence was invariably refused. Their only resource then was, to write to their High Mightinesses an account of their proceedings, and to implore their interference and protection. But such an attempt, in that posture of their affairs, was unavailing; for their doom was already sealed. Soon after their appearance at Dort, the magistrates of that city issued a proclamation, commanding the inhabitants, all of whom were celebrated for their attachment to Calvin, to refrain from insulting any of the foreign or native professors, divines, or other persons that were called to appear at the Synod, on pain of summary punishment to the offenders. This document was not required for the protection of the Calvinists; but the persecuted Remonstrants were such objects of hatred to the populace, as scarcely to be allowed to pass along the streets without being maltreated. This bad spirit was excited and encouraged by the violent sermons which were fulminated against them, from the different pulpits in the city.-Whenever these good meu were required to be in attendance, (and they were liable to be summoned from their lodgings at a few minutes' notice,) they were not permitted to enter the large hall in which the Synodical sessions were held, but were ordered to wait the pleasure of that venerable body in an anti-chamber, the door of which was generally locked, and the passage leading to it guarded by two or three of the police, who hindered them from holding any communication with their friends, and kept them in as strict durance as if they had been convicted of some capital offence.-At the formal conclusion of the prin

consideration, which are indeed of the greatest consequence: (i) Their truth, and (ii) The degree of necessity which exists cipal business of the Synod, (May the 6th,) when the further attendance of the foreign Divines was declared to be no longer necessary, the Remonstrants were summoned from their lodgings and waited upon the Lay Commissioners, at six o'clock in the evening, when the resolution and censure of the Synod were read to them in Latin by Heinsius, the secretary; in which they were accused of having corrupted the true religion, dissolved the unity of the Church, given grievous cause of scandal, and shewn themselves contumacious and disobedient: For these several reasons, the Synod prohibited them from the further exercise of their ministry, deprived them of their offices in the Church and University, and declared them incapable of performing any ecclesiastical function, till, by sincere repentance, they should have given the Church full satisfaction, and, being thus reconciled to her, should be readmitted into her communion." They were then required to wait at Dort till further orders from their High Mightinesses; and when they requested to have a copy of the Synodical censure and sentence against them, they were as usual refused.

On the 24th of May, the cited Remonstrants were summoned to appear before three new Commissioners whom the States General had deputed from their body, when each of them was called into the room and separately interrogated; after which, he who had been last called in was ordered into another room, and prevented from holding any communication with those who had not been ushered into the presence of the Commissioners. The proposal and questions addressed to each of them, were in substance the following: "Since you have been deprived by the Synod, the States General have directed us to ask you the following questions: Whether you are, notwithstanding this decision, resolved to act as ministers? Or whether you will be content in future to lead quiet and peaceable lives in obedience to the government, as private burghers, without any place or office, abstaining from all ecclesiastical ministrations in any meeting of the people of your sect, from all manner of teaching and preaching, exhorting, reading, administering the sacraments, visiting the sick, writing letters or transmitting papers?—It is the intention of their High Mightinesses to allow to those who shall conform to these requisitions such a competency as may enable them to live comfortably either in or out of these United Provinces, as their own choice may determine." In addition to these things, Episcopius was required to promise, "not to write either letters or books to confirm the people in the sentiments of the Remonstrants, or to seduce them from the doctrine of the Synod." All of them professed their willingness to obey their governors in all such matters as might be performed with a safe conscience, to live peaceably themselves and to exhort all others to the same practice. They also expressed their readiness to refrain from the exercise of their ecclesiastical functions in the public churches; but none of them, except Leo, could reconcile it to their consciences to abstain from feeding in smaller assemblies the flock of Christ over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers. The majority of them added, "Not only those who abuse or squander their talent will be punished, but those also who bury it in the earth, either through fear of trouble or hope of advantage. It is therefore our duty to place our lights on candlesticks, and not to hide or smother them under a bushel or an easy bed; and we hope your Lordships will neither hinder us nor be displeased with us for so doing." In a subsequent interview with the Commissioners, the Remonstrants proved, that their reasons for continuing the exercise of their ministry had formerly received the sanction of the States General themselves : For at the treaty of Cologne, in 1579, their High Mightinesses had insisted, "that subjects who professed any religion different from that which was established, could not satisfy their consciences by foregoing its exercise." But, after several unavailing conferences together, the Commissioners left them in a state of suspense and confinement,about 20 days longer. During that time, several

(ORAT

for knowing, believing and practising them.—(2) As to Ecclesiastical order,-because a good part of it is positive and only reports were brought to them from various quarters, "that some great calamity was impending ;" and they were seriously advised to avoid it by a timely flight. They were likewise informed of Barneveldt's execution, and of the perpetual imprisonment to which Grotius and Hogerbeets had been sentenced; and that several of their brethren in the ministry, who had lately attended a meeting at Rotterdam about their affairs in general, had been taken into custody and brought to the Hague, for that offence. They thought, however, that all these reports were only intended to create an artificial alarm, and to induce them to attempt an escape,-thus delivering their enemies from the hatred to which they would be exposed by their further rigorous proceedings. But their firmness on that trying occasion corresponded with all their previous conduct, and they refused to dishonour their good cause by flight or any other act of cowardice.

On the third of July, after having been summoned from Dort to the Hague, they appeared before the States General, and when they had been called in singly before their lordships, some time was spent to induce each of them to sign the Act of Cessation from the ministry. But to these renewed solicitations they separately returned the same modest answer as that which they had delivered at Dort. After allowing them two days for further deliberation, their Lordships on the fifth of the same month, having heard a repetition of their refusal, passed a resolution to banish them "out of the United Provinces and the jurisdiction thereof, without ever being allowed to return till the said States be fully satisfied that they are ready to subscribe the said Act [of Cessation,] and till they have obtained special leave from their High Mightinesses for that purpose,-on pain, in case of non-compliance, of being treated as disturbers of the public peace, for an example to others." Episcopius delivered a short speech, in which, among other matters, he reminded their High Mightinesses, "that they had been invited to a free Synod, and had received frequent verbal promises of a safe conduct." To this speech they did not deign a reply, but ordered the Remonstrants to be conducted into another room, and to have the door locked and bolted, while the Provost and his officers attended on the outside for purposes of intimidation. After being kept some time in this kind of imprisonment they were at length permitted to depute to their High Mightinesses two of their body, who requested that they might have leave to adjust their domestic affairs, to collect what was owing to them, and to pay their debts, that their wives and children might not be rendered miserable and turned naked into the streets. They offered to give unexceptionable security for their return at such a period and to such places as their Lordships might require. While they were preferring this request, the Heer Muis often interrupted them, and at last sarcastically told them "not to be so greatly concerned about their families; for if they had received an extraordinary call from God to serve his Church, He would undoubtedly support them after an extraordinary manner.' favour which the Remonstrants could obtain, was, the deferring of their But the only departure till four o'clock the next morning, provided each of them would promise to retire to his lodgings without speaking to any body, and to be ready at the appointed hour next morning. Each of them had fifty Guilders allowed for his travelling expences, and a copy of the sentence of the States General. But it was between nine and ten o'clock the next day, before the magistrates removed them in nine waggons towards Walwick in Brabant, the place of banishment which they had desired, where they arrived after a journey of three days. The Canons of Dort, as the grand test of Calvinism, were then carried triumphantly by the Synodists throughout the land; and every clergyman, Professor and Schoolmaster, that refused to sign it, was deprived of his benefice and compelled to lay aside his functions. Several of them, in addition to their deprivation, were also bauished out of the country, to various ·