a religious sect, which arose in Holland, by a separation from the Calvinists. They followed Arminius, who, thinking the doctrine of Calvin with regard to free-will, predestination, and grace, too severe, began, in the year 1591, to express his doubts concerning them; and upon further inquiry adopted sentiments more nearly resembling those of the Lutherans. After his appointment to the theological chair at Leyden, he thought it his duty to avow and vindicate the principles which he had embraced; and the freedom with which he published and defended them exposed him to the resentment of those that adhered to the theological system of Geneva, which then prevailed in Holland; but his principal opponent was Gomar, his colleague. The controversy which was thus begun, became more general after the death of Arminius, in the year 1609, and threatened to involve the United Provinces in civil discord. The Calvinists, or Gomarists as they were now called, appealed to a national synod. Accordingly the synod of Dort was convened by order of the States General, in 1618, and was composed of ecclesiastical deputies from the United Provinces, as well as from the reformed churches of England, Hesse, Bremen, Switzerland, and the Palatinate. The principal advocate in favour of the Arminians was Episcopius, who at that time was professor of divinity at Leyden. It was first proposed to discuss the principal subjects in dispute, and that the Arminians should be allowed to state and vindicate the grounds on which their opinions were founded; but some difference arising as to the proper mode of conducting the debate, the Arminians were excluded from the assembly, their case was tried in their absence, and they were pronounced guilty of pestilential errors, and condemned as corrupters of the true religion. In consequence of this decision they were treated with great severity, they were deprived of all their posts and employments, their ministers were silenced, and their congregations were suppressed. However, after the death of Prince Maurice, who had been a partisan of the Gomarists, in the year 1625, the Arminian exiles were restored to their former tranquility; and, under the toleration of the state, they erected churches and founded a college at Amsterdam, appointing Episcopius to be the first theological professor. The Arminian system has very much prevailed in England since the time of Archbishop Laud, and its votaries in other countries are numerous.

The Arminians are also called Remonstrants, from a humble petition, entitled their Remonstrance, which, in the year 1610, they addressed to the states of Holland. Their principal writers are Arminius, Episcopius, Vorstius, Grotius, Curcellaeus, Limborch, Le Clerc, and Wetstein; not to mention many others of more modern date.