der Protestirendten in Hollandt.

would perform the salvation which he had preordained for them through his own will and decree, thus he has also prepared his judgment against the lost, through whom he directs and carries out his counsel. Therefore, those whom he created for ignominy and ruin, so that they might be instruments of his wrath and a mirror of his severity, so that they might reach their end, he deprives them of the hearing of his word, or hardens them all the better, and blinds them all the more through this granted hearing.

Opposed to these are the Arminians, whose head is Jacobus Arminius, who was called to the pulpit in Leiden from his preaching office, which he had held for 15 years by the Isal. This man constantly quarreled with his colleague Gomarus. Both were sharp, both stubborn, both very highly esteemed in their own opinion, and neither was ready to yield to the other. Each defended his doctrine in the most obstinate way possible. Hence, the discord had its beginning. Each one was followed by his own factions, which held them as their patrons and defenders. Many initially attached themselves to Gomarus as an experienced Calvinist, yet Arminius also had gathered no small portion, which at this time is powerful in quantity and strength. In what matters and over what do they contend? Truly not over one or three goats: it concerns the foundation of the Reformed Religion, in which the heads waver and stagger; what will the weaker members do, the swarms and the refugees? The cities have wisely determined and judged that one must oppose the beginning of this...