Simon, one of the most learned men of the seventeenth century, and the chief supporter of the Arminian sect, was born at Amsterdam in 1583. In 1612 he was chosen divinity professor at Leyden, in the room of Gomarus, who resigned; but the functions of his office, with his private studies, were light, compared with the difficulties he sustained on account of the Arminian controversy. The states of Holland having invited Episcopius to take his place at the synod of Dort, he went thither, accompanied by some ministers; but the synod would not allow them to sit as judges, nor to appear in any other capacity than as persons summoned before them; and, in the end, they were deposed from their functions and banished. Episcopius and his persecuted brethren retired to Antwerp; but the times growing more favourable, he returned to Holland in 1626, and was made minister of the church of the Remonstrants at Rotterdam. In 1634 he was chosen rector of the college founded by the sect at Amsterdam, and died in 1643. His works form two volumes in folio.