Arminius, JACOBUS, or JAKOB HARMENSEN, the founder of Arminianism, was born in 1560, at Oudewater, in South Holland. After a preliminary education at Utrecht, he commenced (in 1575) a course of study at the newly founded university of Leyden, where he remained for six years and acquired a high reputation. In 1582 he went to Geneva, and received the instructions of Theodore Beza (q.v.), a rigid Calvinist. Here he made himself unpopular by the boldness with which he defended the logic of Peter Ramus (q.v.), in opposition to that of the Aristotelians of Geneva, and in consequence had to retire to Basel, where he was offered the degree of doctor of Divinity. At Basel he studied under Grynaeus. In 1586 he travelled into Italy; and on his return to Amsterdam (1588) he was ordained a minister. Shortly after this he was commissioned to defend the doctrine of Beza, regarding predestination, against the changes which the ministers of Delft had proposed to make on it. Arminius carefully examined both sides of the question, but the result of his study was, that he himself began to doubt, and at last came to adopt the opinions he had been commissioned to confute. Soon after, in the course of his exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, his treatment of the 8th and 9th chapters involved him in sharp disputes with his orthodox brethren. Still his views had not attained to that definiteness they subsequently acquired, for in 1603 he was made professor of Theology in the university of Leyden.
The chief opponent of Arminius was Francis Gomar (q.v.), his colleague in the university of Leyden. In the course of the year 1604, the latter attacked his doctrines, and from that hour to the end of his life, Arminius was engaged in a series of bitter disputes with his opponents. Arminius asserted, in substance, that God bestows forgiveness and eternal life on all who repent of their sins and believe in Christ; he wills that all men should attain salvation, and only because he has from eternity foreseen the belief or unbelief of individuals, has he from eternity determined the fate of each. On the other hand, Gomar and his party, appealing to the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism, maintained that God had, by an eternal decree, predestinated what persons shall, as being elected to salvation, be therefore awakened to repentance and faith, and by grace made to persevere therein; and what persons shall, as being rejected (reprobati), be left to sin, to unbelief, and to perdition. See PREDESTINATION, PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS.
While these fierce disputes were continuing, Arminius, who was not destitute either of friends or influence, was created rector magnificus of the university, but resigned the honour on the 8th of February 1606, having held the office only for one year. All the pulpits in Holland now thundered against him. At length, in 1608, Arminius himself applied to the States of Holland to convoke a synod for the purpose of settling the controversy; but, worn out with care and disease, he died on the 19th of October 1609, before it was held, leaving seven sons and two daughters.
There can be no doubt that Arminius himself was much less Arminian than his followers. He had not matured his opinions sufficiently to elaborate a complete system of anti-Calvinistic doctrine, though it is perfectly certain that the conclusions at which his disciples arrived—as stated in the famous 'Five Articles'—are the logical and legitimate results of his teaching. Personally, Arminius was a faithful pastor and a good man, as even his enemies allow; his abilities were also of a high order; his thinking is clear, bold, and vigorous; his style remarkably methodical, and his scholarship respectable, if not profound.
After his death his followers gained strength, and boldly asserted their views, but still remained in a minority. In 1610 they presented to the assembled States of the provinces of Holland a 'Remonstrance'—from which they were styled 'Remonstrants'—which contained the following propositions: (1) That God had indeed made an eternal decree, but only on the conditional terms that all who believe in Christ shall be saved, while all who refuse to believe must perish; so that predestination is only conditional. (2) That Christ died for all men, but that none except believers are really saved by his death. The intention, in other words, is universal, but the efficacy may be restricted by unbelief. (3) That no man is of himself able to exercise a saving faith, but must be born again of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. (4) That without the grace of God, man can neither think, will, nor do anything good; yet that grace does not act in men in an irresistible way. (5) That believers are able, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, victoriously to resist sin; but that the question of the possibility of a fall from grace must be determined by a further examination of the Scriptures on this point.
This last point, left as an open question, was decided by the Remonstrants in the affirmative soon afterwards (1611). Whereupon the Gomarists (Calvinists) put forth a strong 'Counter-remonstrance,' asserting plainly absolute predestination and reprobation. After several fruitless discussions, the States of Holland, in January 1614, issued an edict of full toleration for both parties, prohibiting at the same time the continuance of the controversy. The Counter-remonstrants refused to submit to this edict, and the strife soon became so furious, that in 1617, or soon afterwards, the Arminians found it necessary to guard themselves from personal violence by appointing a safeguard of militia-men (Waardgelden). The controversy now merged in the strife of party politics. The ambitious Maurice of Orange took advantage of the passions of the majority to crush his opponents of the republican party, whose leaders were adherents of the Arminian doctrines. Several Arminians were put to death, and others were imprisoned (Oldenbarneveldt, Grotius). In these circumstances, the Synod of Dort was held (1618-19), attended by selected representatives from the Netherlands, England, Scotland, the Palatinate, Switzerland, Nassau, East Friesland, and Bremen. From this convocation (January 14, 1619) the thirteen Arminian pastors, with the learned and eloquent Simon Episcopius at their head, were excluded. The doctrines of the Counter-remonstrants were embodied in ninety-three canons; the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism were confirmed as authorities for the reformed churches of the Netherlands; and three hundred Arminians (chiefly preachers) were expelled from office. In consequence of this decision, the defeated party sought shelter abroad, but under Maurice's successor (1630) they were again tolerated in Holland.
Since that time, the Remonstrants (or Arminians) in Holland have inclined more and more towards freedom of thought on religious questions, and independence in church government. The rejection of all creeds and confessions; the free interpretation of the Scriptures; a preference of moral to doctrinal teaching; Arian views respecting the Trinity; the virtual rejection of the doctrines of original sin and imputed righteousness; and the view of the sacra- ments as merely edifying forms or ceremonies—all these and other points of belief display the same tendency which is found in their church polity. The number of Remonstrants is now only about 5000, and is still decreasing. In 1809 they had 34 congregations with 40 preachers in Holland; but in 1880, only about 20 congregations. The largest society of Arminians is in Rotterdam, and numbers only 600 members.
Although the Arminians are thus dwindling away as a distinct body, their tenets respecting predestination have been adopted with greater or less modification by several other Christian denominations (see METHODISTS, BAPTISTS, EVANGELICAL UNION); as well as by multitudes of the individual members of those churches whose formularies are Calvinistic (see CALVIN). Arminian influence became marked in the Church of England before Laud's time (see LATITUDINARIANS, HALES); and a decided aversion to the harsher aspects of Calvinistic doctrine is characteristic not merely of the Broad Church, but of what is often called modern theology. Arminian views are also very prevalent in the Church of Rome. Most of Arminius's works have been published in Nichols's translation, and Brandt's Life of Arminius has been translated into English by Guthrie (1854).