By 1617-18, the theological and political situation in the Netherlands had become tense. The truce would end in only three more years. What would happen when the war with Spain resumed, and the Netherlands was divided between Remonstrants and Gomarists? At the moment, the Netherlands was on the brink of a civil war between Prince […]

While the war with Spain had been waged across the Netherlands, another war had been quietly simmering in the background. Jacobus Arminius, a professor at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, had been promoting a theology that opposed the five points of Calvinism. When Arminius died in 1609, the same year as the truce […]

Philip II of Spain decided to crush the rebellion in the Netherlands. He sent the Duke of Alba, a man known for his hatred of the Protestant Reformation, to the Netherlands. The Duke of Alba formed the Council of Troubles, also called the Council of Blood, to persecute the Calvinist Dutch. This council oversaw large […]

After so many years of persecution, men from the Calvinists, Anabaptists, and other Protestant branches decided to begin to fight back. They had appealed to Philip II with the plea that included the Belgic Confession to stop the persecution, but he hadn’t listened. It looked like the Reformation might be wiped out of the Netherlands […]

In 1555, the Holy Roman Emperor was growing old and decided to split up his large kingdom. He gave the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands to Philip II of Spain. Philip the II was an ardent Roman Catholic who believed he had to wipe out any opposition to that view of Christianity, including those who […]

In the 1540s, the Netherlands—at that time seventeen provinces of what we call the Low Countries—was ready for a sweeping Protestant Reformation. The first part of the Reformation to make progress in the Netherlands was Anabaptism. The Anabaptists didn’t believe in baptizing infants and they would often retreat into their own communities away from the […]

This year, the Protestant Reformed Churches will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Synod of Dort. This was a synod in the Netherlands from 1618 to 1619 that defended the five points of Calvinism and wrote the Canons of Dort. At the time that the Canons of Dort were written, the Netherlands was going through […]

This picture is probably the best one made of the day of the opening of the Synod of Dordrecht, on November 13, 1618. It is an engraving made by F. Schillemans, who carefully reproduced the clothing, faces and behavior of all those who were there together. Among them were 26 theologians from other countries and […]

The city of Dordrecht in The Netherlands at the river the Merwede, is one of the oldest of the country, officially founded in 1220 by Duke William I. The first divine service of the young reformed church was on June 25,1572. The following year Prince William of Orange came to have the Holy Supper with […]

A Time of Decline (1619-1834) The Synod of Dordrecht had finished its sessions; the delegates had returned to their homes. A great victory had been won in the Church of Jesus Christ. The truth of the Reformation had triumphed over the errors of Pelagianism as they had reappeared in Arminianism. The fruit of this great […]