Simon Episcopius
Dutch theologian who spoke for the Remonstrant ministers summoned before the Synod of Dort. He asked for a conference between equal parties, was refused, and was dismissed with his companions in January 1619.
John Hales, who watched the sessions, reports that when the cited Remonstrants were admitted to the synod on 6 December 1618 Episcopius stood up and spoke for them (Hales, Letters from the Synod of Dort, letter of 6 December 1618 (Works 3, pp. 46–47)). He said that they had come to hold a conference about the cause they had maintained with a good conscience; the synod answered that they had not been called to a conference and that it was not their opponent (Hales, Letters from the Synod of Dort, letter of 6 December 1618 (Works 3, pp. 46–47)). The cause was that of the five articles of 1610 (Remonstrance (1610) art. 1–5).
In January 1619 the president told them that they had treated the synod as an adverse party and refused its questions, and dismissed them (Hales, Letters from the Synod of Dort, letter of 5/15 January 1619 (Works 3, pp. 122–124)). Hales records that Episcopius said as he left that the Lord God would judge of frauds and lies (Hales, Letters from the Synod of Dort, letter of 5/15 January 1619 (Works 3, pp. 122–124)). The synod went on to depose the cited ministers from their offices (Canons of Dort sentence on the Remonstrants). See the Synod of Dort.
In the timeline
- 1618 to 1619, firm dateThe Synod of Dort
A national synod of the Dutch Reformed churches, with delegates from Britain, Germany and Switzerland, judges the five articles of the Remonstrants, the followers of Arminius. Its Canons set out the Reformed teaching on predestination and grace in five heads.