Arminius and Arminianism

ARMINIUS AND ARMINIANISM. - A. is the author of the anti-Calvinist Protestant movement that took its name from him.

1. LIFE AND DOCTRINE OF ARMINIUS AND ARMINIANISM

Jacobus A. (Harmenen) was born in 1560 at Oudewater (in Latin Veteres Aquae, whence his nickname Veteres Aquinas); he studied at Leiden from 1575 to 1582, then was a disciple of Beza in Geneva and of Grineus in Amsterdam, and in 1603 he became professor of theology at Leiden. At that time the struggle between the supralapsarians and the infralapsarians was raging in the Netherlands. Both parties admitted the Calvinist decree as an indisputable truth; but the former maintained that the divine decree of the condemnation or salvation of men was antecedent to the creation of Adam and required for its fulfillment the decree of the sin of the first man; the infralapsarians, on the contrary, affirmed that only after Adam's condemnation had God decreed the election or condemnation of men. The supralapsarian doctrine, upheld by Beza, had been attacked by Theodore Kornhert, and A. was entrusted with its defense. On this occasion A. studied the question thoroughly, and applying the principle of "free examination," he became persuaded that the doctrine of God's absolute decree, in both its formulations, made God the author of sin, restricted His grace, left many without hope of salvation, and gave those who believed themselves elect a false security, without any ethical foundation. He therefore simply set forth his doctrines, without wishing to stir up questions or attack his opponents, believing in the lawfulness of "free examination" and, as a consequence, in the toleration of differing doctrines. Instead, his conclusions became the cause of bitter and profound theological struggles and divisions, which dragged on long after A.'s death (which occurred in 1609).

The Dutch Calvinists were among the most rigorous followers of Calvin's extreme doctrines; the theory of the "damned mass" manifested itself in acts of extreme rigor toward all non-Calvinists, and principally against Catholics and their doctrines, as is evident, among other things, from the martyrdom of the martyrs of Gorkum and from the ruthless cruelty with which Catholicism was uprooted from the Portuguese colonies they had conquered. It was therefore natural that they should rise up violently against A. Among the most bitter was precisely a colleague of A., also a professor at the University of Leiden, Franciscus Gomarus (1563-1641), who thus set forth the extreme consequences of the Calvinist decree and of supralapsarianism (cf. Works, III, 608, 609, cited by Harrison): "In the first act or moment, God willed to condemn certain rational creatures, but He could not condemn them unless they existed; in the second moment He decreed the creation of man; but He had to condemn him justly, and for this it was necessary that man should sin, and therefore He created him without sin and imposed certain laws upon him; in the third moment He determined that he should transgress them. In this way He secured the end of creation, namely the condemnation of rational creatures, for His glory."

After A.'s death, his partisans continued the struggle against these doctrines. Among them were statesmen, such as Oldenbarneveldt (1547-1619)

and the stadtholder Maurice of Nassau himself (1567-1625), who later changed his mind, perhaps more for political and personal reasons against Oldenbarneveldt than for theological motives. There were also notable theologians such as Simon Episcopius (1583-1643), Wittenbogaert, an intimate friend of A. (1557-1644), and the famous jurist Grotius (1583-1645), who reduced the doctrines set forth by A. to five propositions, which, signed by 45 ministers, were presented in 1610 to the States General.

They are known under the name of "remonstrances," and their partisans under that of "Remonstrants." The first established conditional election, that is, dependent on the divine foreknowledge of faith in the elect and of its absence in the damned. The second affirmed the universal value of the atonement of Jesus Christ, in the sense that Our Lord willed it for all, although not all are saved. The third professed man's incapacity to exercise saving faith and to do good works without the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. The fourth declared that divine grace is indispensable for every act of the spiritual life, but is not irresistible. The fifth explained that the grace of the Holy Spirit is sufficient to overcome temptations and sins, but that final perseverance is uncertain for all the faithful. The Arminians later illustrated this point by maintaining that grace can be lost.

On these five propositions or articles of Arminian faith there unfolded the controversy called "quinquarticular," which could be settled neither by the conference of The Hague of 1610 nor by that of Delft of 1613. Nor did a decree of the States General of 1614 have any effect, which promulgated conciliation and prohibited controversies. The Calvinists were so hostile to the Arminians that they refused to obey and demanded their suppression even by blood, if it could not be done otherwise. Then the Prince of Orange, who had by now become anti-Arminian, and the States General convoked the famous Synod of Dort or Dordrecht, which lasted from 13 Nov. 1618 to the end of Apr. 1619.

2. SYNOD OF DORT

The Protestant Gangale (Calvino, p. 59) expresses himself thus on the Synod: "The Calvinist Synod assembled at Dort, under the auspices of Maurice of Nassau, was the last word in defense of the Calvinist faith against the crisis that rationalism was opening up in Protestantism. Subsequently we shall indeed have the Westminster confession of faith of 1643, and the Lutheran 'consensus repetitus' of 1664, but the last word of integral defense, of heroic, unreasonable stubbornness, was pronounced at Dort with the 'five points' of Calvinism [they were not 'five points' but 'five heads of doctrine,' each with many points] in the winter of 1618."

Representatives of Switzerland, France, England, Scotland, Transylvania and the German Calvinists attended. The attitude of the Synod was absolutely one-sided. It refused to hear the exposition of the Arminian doctrine, which was to be given by Simon Episcopius, professor of theology at Leiden; indeed it regarded him and his companions as accused and guilty parties, who had only to think of defending themselves. In the face of this attitude of the Synod, all the Arminians withdrew.

The five Arminian propositions were examined one-sidedly. In five heads, corresponding to the five propositions, the Calvinist doctrine was first set forth in the most rigid and traditional sense, then followed the condemnation of the Arminian doctrine. The first head, which treats "De divina praedestinatione et annexis et capitibus," contains 18 articles and the condemnation of nine errors; in all 27 canons. The second treats "De morte Christi et hominum per eam redemptione," with 9 articles and the condemnation of seven errors; in all 16 canons. The third and fourth are grouped under the title "De hominis corruptione et conversione ad Deum, eiusque modo" with 17 articles and nine condemnations; in all 26 canons. The fifth finally treats "De perseverantia sanctorum," with 15 articles and the condemnation of nine errors; in all 24 canons. These 93 canons are the famous "canons of Dort." The sentence then was exceedingly severe. The Arminians were regarded as guilty of "corruptiae religionis, scissae Ecclesiae unitatis, gravissimorum scandalorum et pervicaciae," and were therefore deprived of any ecclesiastical office, deposed from their employments, declared unworthy to exercise any academic function, until such time as "per seriam respiscentiam, dictis, factis, studiis contrariis abunde comprobatam, Ecclesiae satisfaciant."

The persecution was implacable. Oldenbarneveldt was condemned to death (1619), although it is said that Maurice of Nassau did this moved rather by political and personal reasons; 300 ministers were exiled and the others were fined and imprisoned. Even the eminent jurist of worldwide fame, Grotius, was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, from which, however, he was able to escape. On the death of Maurice, in 1625, his brother and successor Frederick Henry showed himself more tolerant, so that some Arminians were able to return to their homeland and Simon Episcopius was able to found in Amsterdam an Arminian school with an antitrinitarian and universalist tendency. The A., as such, has only a few churches in Holland.

3. ARMINIUS AND ARMINIANISM AFTER THE SYNOD OF DORT

But if the importance of the A., as a sect, is almost nil, as a doctrine it was and still is important, because A. and his followers were the most strenuous champions of the doctrine of "free examination."

From the "free examination" of Sacred Scripture, and without any contact or sympathy with the doctrine of the Catholic Church, A. deduced conclusions on the foreknowledge of God, on the universal value of the satisfaction of Jesus Christ, etc., much more akin to Catholic doctrine than those of any other heretic. For this reason in England, during the Puritan effervescence, the partisans of his doctrines were accused as "papists." On the other hand, since the Arminians upheld the absolute prevalence of reason in the individual interpretation of Sacred Scripture, many of his followers inclined to Socinianism (in the English colonies of North America, the names of Socinus and A. sounded identical) and others to rationalism. Finally, the doctrine of the Arminians according to which each person could derive his own individual interpretation from Sacred Scripture gradually spread the concept that all ideas must be respected, and from this was born religious indifference, which led to religious tolerance among Protestants, at first only toward the other sects and then also toward Catholics. Of this Arminian polymorphism there was an example in England. During the civil and religious wars of the 17th century, the name of Arminians and also of papists was given to all those who denied Calvin's decree, that is, to the Anglicans of the High Church. After the restoration of the Stuarts (1660), a part of the Anglicans — the latitudinarians — who insisted on tolerance of the other sects received in their turn the name of Arminians. A great propagator of Arminian doctrines in the 18th century was the founder of the Methodists, John Wesley, while his companion Whitefield embraced rather the Calvinist doctrines and founded the Calvinist Methodists. Among the Scottish Presbyterians, famous for their attachment to Calvinism, there are now not a few who have abandoned the rigid Calvinist doctrine and accepted the Arminian doctrine. It is not rare to hear from them expressions like this: "We are Calvinists when we pray, but Arminians in works" (cf. R. H. Benson, Non Catholic-Denominations, London 1910, p. 94). Even more explicit are the Waldensians, who form part of the "alliance of Presbyterian Churches." In the Manuale compendio di verità fondamentali it is said clearly: "The theory of a double predestination of some to salvation and others to perdition is not sustainable with scriptural arguments and is repugnant to Christian sentiment." The same Dutch, who before A. showed themselves such ruthless persecutors of Catholics, a few years after the Synod of Dort saved from the hands of the Iroquois the Jesuit missionary Isaac Jogues, and with the passage of time became the most tolerant among Protestants.

Camillo Crivelli