nts. The appointment of Bogerman
particularly offended them, as he openly avowed it to be his opinion
that heretics should be punished by death; and had translated into the
Dutch language the celebrated treatise of Beza, _de haereticis a civili
magistratu puniendis_, in which this doctrine is explicitly maintained
in its fullest extent.

[Sidenote: The Synod of Dort.]

_In the third session_,--the deputies from Geneva produced their
commission: it was expressed in terms decidedly hostile to the
Remonstrants.

_In the fourth session_,--the grand preliminary question,--in what
manner the Remonstrants were to be summoned,--came under consideration.
After much argument, it was settled, by a great majority of voices, that
"Episcopius and some other Remonstrants should within a fortnight,
appear before the Synod, as the sovereign ecclesiastical tribunal of the
United States."

The Remonstrants and the advocates of their cause protested against this
proceeding: they called in question the authority of the Synod to sit as
judges upon them, or even to decide any point of doctrine definitively:
they averred it contrary to the evangelical liberty professed and taught
by the first Reformers. Every friend to the true principles of the
reformation must admit the force of this objection.

The _5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th Sessions_
of the intermediate fortnight, were consumed in debates upon a projected
new translation of the Scriptures; _the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th,
19th, 20th_ and _21st Sessions_ were employed in discussions,
upon a new catechism, and other ecclesiastical arrangements.

[Sidenote: CHAP. VI. 1618.]

The _22d Session_ was held on the 6_th_ of December. The
Remonstrants appeared before the Synod, and requested further time for
preparing their defence on the articles with which they were charged.
Their request was denied: and Episcopius having said, that "They wished
to enter into a conference with the Synod," a resolution was passed, by
which the Synod declared, that "the Remonstrants had not been cited to
_confer_ with the Synod; but to propound their opinions, and submit
to its judgment."

The Remonstrants then paid their visits to the foreign theologians:
these they found greatly prejudiced against them; they therefore
published two short writings, explaining and justifying their
sentiments.

In _the 23d Session_, Episcopius made a long discourse. Mr.
John Hales praised it hig