Editing Synod of Dort (section)

==Background==
{{Further|History of Calvinist–Arminian debate}}
There had been previous provincial synods of Dort, and a National Synod in 1578.<ref>[https://dutchrevolt.leiden.edu/english/sources/Pages/15780603.aspx Select Acts from the Synod of Dordrecht, 3–18 June 1578]; Translated from the edition of Acta published by W. van 't Spijker, 'Acta synode van Dordrecht (1578)', in: ''De nationale synode van Dordrecht 1578'' ed. D. Nauta et al. (Amsterdam, 1978) 142–84</ref> For that reason the 1618 meeting is sometimes called the ''Second Synod of Dort''.

The acts of the Synod were tied to political intrigues that arose during the [[Twelve Years' Truce]], a pause in the [[Eighty Years' War|Dutch war with Spain]]. After the death of [[Jacobus Arminius]] his followers presented objections to the [[Belgic Confession]] and the teaching of [[John Calvin]], [[Theodore Beza]], and their followers. These objections were published in a document called [[The Remonstrance of 1610]], and the Arminians were therefore also known as ''Remonstrants''. They taught [[conditional election]] on the basis of foreseen faith, [[unlimited atonement]], [[Resistible Grace|resistible grace]], and the [[Conditional preservation of the saints|possibility of lapse from grace]]. The opposing Calvinists or Gomarists, led by [[Franciscus Gomarus]] of the [[University of Leiden]], became known as the ''Contra-Remonstrants''.

The Arminians were accused of propagating false doctrine and perceived as ready to compromise with the Spanish, whereas the Dutch [[Calvinists]] were not, so Arminianism was considered by some to be not only theologically unsound but also political treason; in 1617–1618 there was a pamphlet war and [[Francis van Aarssens]] expressed the view that the Arminians were working for [[Philip IV of Spain]].{{sfn|Israel|1982|pp=62–63}} Planning for a National Synod was begun by [[Adriaan Pauw]] in March 1618.{{sfn|Israel|1998|p=456}} Before that, there had been a debate as to whether the synod should be national, as the Contra-Remonstrants wished, or provincial for Holland, as the Remonstrants argued. This decision was worked out in 1617, with outside input from the English ambassador [[Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester|Dudley Carleton]].{{sfn|Milton|2005|p=2}}