ecclesiastical management the Remonstrants had been excluded from having
any deputies in the synod of Dort. So completely had the Calvinistic
plan of exclusion succeeded, that three of the members from Utrecht were
the only Remonstrants in that synod. The reason of their being there at
all, was, because that province was almost equally divided between
Remonstrant and Calvinist churches, and it had been agreed that three of
each denomination should be summoned. But so obnoxious were the persons
as well as the doctrines of the Remonstrants to their adversaries, that
they would not allow even those three individuals to have a place in the
seat of judgment. In the twenty-fourth session, it was unanimously
declared, that they could only be reputed as cited persons; however, as
the Acts express it, “that this synod might not be exposed to calumnies,
as if they wished to exclude them, it was allowed them to sit among the
judges” on five conditions, the chief of which were, “that while the
affairs of the Remonstrants were under discussion, they should not
disturb the proceedings of the synod by unseasonable interruptions, and
not acquaint their party with any thing done or said in the synod, which
concerned their cause.” Two of them, after a day’s deliberation, united
themselves with their suffering brethren; and the third, who was a
layman, had seen enough of the partial conduct of that venerable
assembly to induce him to absent himself from their farther
deliberations. As the Remonstrants formed no part of the members
convened, it was debated, in the fourth session, how they ought to be
summoned. It was proposed and resolved, that a letter should be composed
and sent to the whole body, that they might depute three out of each
province as deputies to the synod. The president Bogerman then inquired,
if all the Remonstrants were to be admitted; the president of the lay
commissioners answered, that the ecclesiastical president and the
secretaries should receive a private explanation from him respecting
their numbers. In the interview which the two presidents and the
secretaries had together, they concerted matters so well, that next day
the preceding resolution for writing to the whole body was withdrawn for
amendment; and it was finally agreed, that it should be left to the
determination of the lay commissioners, what persons, and how many,
should be convened. These gentlemen selected thirteen of the
Remonstrants, to each of whom they addressed a letter of citation,
commanding them to appear before the synod, “within fourteen days after
the receipt of it without any tergiversation, excuse, or exception, that
in it they might freely propose, explain, and defend the
before-mentioned five points as far as they were able and should deem to
be necessary.” In the mean time the Remonstrants, without knowing the
resolution of the synod, had deputed three of their body from Leyden, to
obtain leave for their appearance at the synod, in a competent number
and under safe conduct to defend their cause. On making their request
known to the lay commissioners, they were informed of the resolution
which had passed the synod only the preceding day. To which they
replied, that it was unreasonable to cite those to justify themselves
who were both ready and willing to come of their own accord; and that if
they persisted in proceeding with their plan of citation, they would by
that act furnish just cause, not only to them, but to all good men, to
entertain strange notions and suspicions of the synodical proceedings.
Not being permitted to choose those men from their own body whom they
deemed the best qualified to state and defend their cause, they
accounted it an additional hardship, that their enemies should assume
that unlawful authority to themselves. But neither at that time nor
afterward, when they wished to add two of the most accomplished of the
brethren to their number, were their representations of the least avail.
On the sixth of December these valiant defenders of the truth arrived,
and requested, by a deputation, to be allowed a few days to unpack their
books, arrange their papers, &c. But they were commanded immediately to
appear in a body before the synod, and to prefer their own request. They
were introduced by their brethren of Utrecht, and ordered to sit down at
a long table placed in the middle of the hall. Episcopius then, with the
permission of the president, addressed an apostolic greeting to the
synod; and, having repeated the request previously made, he said, that
“the cited Remonstrants appeared there to defend their good and
righteous cause before that venerable assembly, by reasons and arguments
drawn from the word of God,--or else to be confuted and better informed
from the same word. In reference to the favour which they had asked,
they left it to the discretion of the commissioners of the States
General, being ready on their parts, immediately and without delay, to
engage in a conference, if that should be required.” Then were they
desired to withdraw into a chamber prepared for them adjoining the hall
of the synod. After some time spent in deliberation, they were recalled,
and informed by the president, that they would be expected at the synod
next morning at nine o’clock. He added, according to Hales, “that they
came not to conference, neither did the synod profess themselves an
adverse party against them. Conferences had been heretofore held to no
purpose. They ought to have heeded the words of the letters by which
they were cited. They were called not to conference, but to propose
their opinions with their reasons, and leave it with the synod to judge
of them.” Episcopius replied, that it was not necessary so nicely to
criticise the word conference, and that they had come there with no
other view than to treat about the doctrines which were controverted,
according to the summons which they had received. The next day, December
7th, the Remonstrants were called in, when after Episcopius had desired
and obtained leave to speak, he uttered an oration, the delivery of
which occupied nearly two hours, and which, on account of the noble
sentiments contained in it, deserves to be recorded in letters of gold.
The gracefulness, force, and energy with which it was spoken, made such
an impression on the auditory as drew tears from several of them, and
even from some of the states’ deputies. This effect gave mighty umbrage
to the choleric Bogerman, who, as president, according to Mr. Hales’s
account, “signified unto Episcopius, that, because there were in his
speech many things considerable, he was therefore to deliver the copy of
it. Episcopius replied, that he had none handsomely written: if the
synod would have patience, he would cause a fair transcript to be drawn
for them. But this excuse would not serve; fair or foul, deliver it up
he must, and so he did.” In the session, December 10, after the
president had ceased to speak, he desired the Remonstrants to proceed
with their explanation and defence of the five points. They requested
leave to have a paper read by Episcopius. Bogerman would not consent to
this; but the lay president ordered another of the Remonstrants, Bernard
Dwinglo, to read it. This very convincing document was addressed to the
synod, and consisted of two parts. It may be seen at full length in the
acts, and is in every respect worthy of the great men whose holy cause
it defended. The first part declared, that the Remonstrants did not own
the members of the synod for lawful judges, because the great majority
of them, with the exception of the foreign divines, were their professed
enemies; and that most of the inland divines then assembled, as well as
those whose representatives they were, had been guilty of the unhappy
schism which was made in the churches of Holland. The second part
contained the twelve qualifications, of which the Remonstrants thought a
well constituted synod should consist. The observance of the
stipulations proposed in it, they would gladly have obtained from the
synod, averring that they were exceedingly equitable, and that the
Protestants had offered similar conditions for the guidance of the
Papists, and the Calvinists for the direction of the Lutherans. The
production of such a mass of evidence from writers of the Calvinistic
persuasion, in favour of a toleration and moderate measures, and against
the principle of interested parties usurping the place of judges,--gave
dreadful offence to that powerful body in the synod, and especially when
they were charged with being at once plaintiff, judge, and jury. No one
can form an adequate conception of the scene which followed the reading
of this document. Bogerman, the Remonstrants, the lay president, and the
commissioners, were warm interlocutors during that session and the
succeeding one which was held in the afternoon of the same day. Bogerman
laboured hard to show, that, by denying the competency and impartial
constitution of the tribunal before which they were summoned, they in
reality were guilty of disaffection to the higher powers, who had
appointed and convened the synod; and that, by charging the majority of
the members with being the authors of the schism, they had in effect
accused the prince of Orange and the States General, because those great
personages had frequented the separate meetings. In reference to the
latter circumstance, which exceedingly galled him and the inland
divines, he said, “The proper time has not yet arrived for discussing
it. But when it shall have been proved to the synod, what kind of
doctrine is sanctioned by the church, those who have departed from it,
and who are consequently guilty of the schism, will appear in their true
colours.” Charles Niellius, one of the Walloon ministers, answered in
behalf of the Remonstrants, that though they acknowledged the authority
of the states, and held the synod in due estimation, yet it was as
lawful for them to challenge this synod, as for several of the Christian
fathers who challenged some of the ancient councils, and their ancestors
that of Trent. The laws themselves allowed men for certain reasons to
challenge even sworn judges. But it was never known, that any law
allowed parties to be judges. Nor was it equitable, that those who had
previously separated from the Remonstrants should sit in the synod to
try them, after they had by such separation pre-judged their doctrine
and entered into mutual engagements to procure its condemnation.
Episcopius then said, “Mr. President, if you were in our places and we
in yours, would you submit to our judgment?” Bogerman replied, “If it
had so happened, we must have endured it; and since government has
ordered matters in a different way, it becomes you to bear it with
patience.” Episcopius rejoined, “It is one thing to acknowledge a person
for a judge, and it is another to bear with patience the sentence which
he may impose. We also will endure it; but our consciences cannot be
persuaded to acknowledge you for the judges of our doctrines, since you
are our sworn adversaries, and have churches totally separated from
ours.”
On the morning of the next day, the Remonstrants, being called in, were
urged by the synod to present their objections in writing against the
Confession and Catechism. Before they proceeded to do that, they craved
permission to read another document: after some demur, leave was
granted, when Dwinglo read a paper which commenced thus: “The celebrated
Paræus, in his _Irenicum_, prudently observes, that he would advise no
man to approach any council in which the same persons had to appear in
the character of both adversaries and judges.” The rest of the paper was
occupied in wiping off the aspersions which had been cast upon them in
the four preceding sessions, and particularly the foul charge of their
want of respect for the constituted authorities of their country. They
declared, that in case men of peaceable dispositions had been deputed to
the synod, as the States General had intended, and such men as had never
been concerned in making or promoting these unhappy divisions, they
would have had little reason to offer exceptions against such a synod.
This document concluded with a protest. After the delivery of this
protest, the synod invented various methods to vex the cited
Remonstrants and to impede the prosecution of their cause. Among those
methods one of the most artful was, to ask them questions singly, and
not in a body, with an evident design to entrap them in their answers.
They had with the greatest injustice chosen those Remonstrants whom they
thought proper, to be cited as guilty persons at the bar of the synod,
without the least regard to the useful or splendid qualifications of the
individuals thus selected. Of the six prudent and accomplished men who
had represented the Remonstrant party at the celebrated Hague Conference
in 1611, only three were summoned to the present synod; and though those
who appeared on this occasion were generally men of good natural talents
and sound understandings, and well versed in the matters under
discussion, yet they were not all endowed with the gift of rendering a
ready and extempore reply in Latin to every question that might be
suddenly asked; and if they had possessed such a gift in an eminent
degree, it would still have been necessary that they should have had
time for reflection, and for each to compare his own views and reasons
with those of his brethren. This request, however, which cannot be
viewed as a favour but as an act of justice, was almost without
exception refused. Having presented to the synod their opinions relative
to the Five Points and their remarks on the Catechism and Confession,
the Remonstrants wished to enter on the “proposing, explanation, and
defence of them, as far as they were able or should think necessary,”
according to the very terms of the letters by which they had been cited;
but the synod in opposition to the plain and obvious meaning which those
expressions conveyed, decided that it was a privilege belonging to
themselves alone to judge how far the Remonstrants might be permitted to
enter into the explanation and defence of their doctrines. This was
accounted an act of great injustice by the Remonstrants, who also
alleged, that “they did not feel many scruples about the doctrine of
election, but that it was reprobation in which the chief difficulty
lay.” They were very desirous, therefore, of having reprobation
discussed in the first instance: but the Calvinists of those days wished
to keep unconditional reprobation enshrined in the dark _penetralia_ of
their temples, only to be produced, as opportunity might serve, for
their own private purposes, either to terrify the careless among their
hearers, or to quicken the occasionally sluggish current of
congregational benevolence. It was not to be expected, therefore, that
the Calvinists of the synod would allow the Remonstrants to give
reprobation that prominence in their discussions to which it was justly
entitled. In one of the debates which these two questions produced,
Bogerman again took advantage of the disingenuous trickery which we have
just exposed, and asked Pynakker, one of the cited ministers, “Do you
imagine the synod will suffer the Remonstrants to examine the doctrine
of reprobation?” Pynakker replied, “Yes, I do: because, as this is the
chief source of the troubles of the church, it ought to be _first_
discussed.” Perceiving either that his meaning was not correctly
understood, or that he had expressed it in an imperfect manner, Pynakker
immediately explained himself by adding, that by _first_ he meant
_chiefly_, (both of which significations the Latin word conveys,) and by
acknowledging that election ought to have the precedence of discussion.
When relating this occurrence, Poppius remarks, “This, being received in
a wrong sense, was imputed to all of us, as though we were unanimously
of opinion, that the discussion of the doctrine of reprobation ought to
precede that of election. Upon this question the foreign divines and
others were desired by the president to deliver their sentiments.
However, the expression imputed to us was employed by none of us, much
less by all. But this was their manner: if one of us, in the name of
all, said any thing that proved advantageous to the rest, the president
seemed much displeased at our unanimity: then we were told that we were
cited singly and personally, and that we did not compose a society or
corporation. But when any of us happened to employ a word that was
capable of being wrested to our common injury and misconstrued, then
what was said by one was certain to be imputed to all!” After gaining a
favourable opportunity like this, Bogerman always hastily dismissed the
cited persons; and on this occasion he dwelt largely, in their absence,
on Pynakker’s expression, and persuaded the foreign divines that the
proposal of the Remonstrants, to treat of reprobation before election,
was a _sine quâ non_, and that without it was granted to them they would
not proceed. This alarmed all the Calvinistic brotherhood, who rose _vi
et armis_, delivered _seriatim_ their objections to such a bold
proceeding, and thought, with the professor of Heidelberg, “that it was
unreasonable for the Remonstrants to disturb the consciences of the
elect on account of God’s judgments against the reprobated, and to plead
the cause of the latter, as though they had been hired to undertake the
defence of those who had by the just judgment of God been rejected; and
that for these reasons the synod neither could nor ought to grant the
Remonstrant brethren any farther 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 _vivâ 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
in 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 Remonstrants 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 body.