ARMINIANS. The followers of Jakobus Arminius (1560-1608), who in 1603 was made professor at Leiden. Having engaged in a controversy on Predestination in which he championed the views of Calvin, be became himself in course of time a convert to Universalism, and was accused of Pelagianism. He met with determined opposition from his colleague at Leiden, Franz Gomarus (1563-1641), whose followers became known as Gomarists. After the death of Arminius (1609), the battle between his supporters and opponents continued. In 1610 the Arminian were so fiercely attacked that they drew up a remonstrance, which led to their being called Remon strants. The remonstrance contained five articles. It claimed (1) that for Christ's sake all who believe in him and persevere in this belief to the end are saved by the grace of God; (2) that Christ died for all who by faith make his merit their own; (3) and (4) that a man can only have faith through Grace, but Grace is not irre sistible; and (5) that those who believe can by the Spirit overcome sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil, but Scripture must decide whether those who have been born again can lapse. The Calvinistic party, or the Gomarists, became known as the Counter-remonstrants. Con ferences were held at the Hague (1610) and at Delft (1613), but no reconciliation was effected. At the Synod of
Dort (Nov. 13, 1618, to the end of April, 1619), to which representatives were sent from England, the Arminians, under Simon Episeoplus, also called Bishop or Biscop (1583-1643), a Professor of Leiden, could not obtain a fair hearing. They therefore retired and were condemned and excommunicated in their absence. Hugo Grotius or de Groot (1583-1645), one of their leading men, was sentenced to life-long imprisonment, but escaped after two years. In 1630 some toleration was extended to them in Holland, and in 1634 an edict of toleration was passed. In the same year Episcopius opened a Seminary for Remonstrants In Amsterdam. Here he developed the ideas of Arminius and made them more universalistic. Henceforth Arminianism in Holland became more and more free in its interpretion of Scripture, the creeds, and ecclesiastical government. A certain kind of Arminianism has been represented in the Church of Eng land from time to time. But compared with the later Dutch school, it has been of a moderate kind. In the reign of Charles I. those who were opposed to Calvinism were called Arminians, and in the time of Laud the Lati tudinarians were described in the same way. See P. Zeller, Caltver Kirchenlerikon, 1889, etc.; J. H. Blunt; Chambers' Encycl.