Conclusio
A Clear Declaration of Orthodox Doctrine
The Synod presents its judgment on the Five Articles as drawn from Scripture and in agreement with the Reformed Confessions.
This is the clear, straightforward, and candid declaration of the orthodox doctrine concerning the Five Articles disputed in the Netherlands, and the rejection of the errors by which the Dutch churches have for some time been disturbed—which the Synod judges to be drawn from the Word of God and in agreement with the Confessions of the Reformed churches.
Refutation of Slanderous Calumnies
The Synod catalogues and rejects the false accusations leveled against the Reformed doctrine of predestination.
Hence it plainly appears that those whom it least befitted, without any truth, fairness, or love, have wanted to press upon the people: 'That the doctrine of the Reformed churches concerning predestination and its related heads, by its own peculiar character and impulse, draws people's minds away from all piety and religion; that it is a cushion of the flesh and the Devil, and a stronghold of Satan, from which he lies in wait for all, wounds very many, and pierces many mortally with darts both of despair and of false security; that it makes God the author of sin, unjust, a tyrant, a hypocrite; and that it is nothing but an interpolated Stoicism, Manichaeism, Libertinism, or Islam; that it makes people carnally secure, since they are persuaded by it that the salvation of the elect, however they may live, does them no harm, and therefore they can safely commit the most atrocious crimes; and that it does the reprobate no good toward salvation, even if they were to perform all the works of the saints truly; that it is taught that God, by the bare and pure choice of his will, without any regard to or consideration of any sin, has predestined and created the greater part of the world to eternal damnation; that in the same way that election is the fountain and cause of faith and good works, reprobation is the cause of unbelief and ungodliness; that many innocent infants of believers are torn from their mothers' breasts and tyrannically hurled into hell, so that neither baptism nor the prayers of the church on their behalf at their baptism can help them.' And there are very many other things of this kind, which the Reformed church not only does not acknowledge but even detests with its whole heart.
An Appeal to Judge Doctrine Aright
The Synod adjures believers to judge the Reformed faith from public confessions and this declaration rather than from slanders or private statements.
Therefore, as many as devoutly call upon the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, this Synod of Dordt adjures them by the name of the Lord to judge the faith of the Reformed churches not from slanders heaped up from this side and that, or even from the private statements of some, both ancient and recent teachers—often cited either in bad faith, or corrupted, and twisted to an alien sense—but from the public Confessions of the churches themselves, and from this declaration of the orthodox doctrine, confirmed by the unanimous consent of all and each of the members of the whole Synod.
A Solemn Warning to Slanderers
The Synod warns those who bear false witness against the churches and disturb the consciences of the weak of God's severe judgment.
Then the Synod seriously warns the slanderers themselves to consider how severe God's judgment will be— —which those will have to face who bear false witness against so many churches, against so many Confessions of the churches, who disturb the consciences of the weak, and who strive to render the fellowship of many truly faithful suspect.
A Call to Reverent Doctrine and Holy Living
The Synod urges ministers to handle this doctrine devoutly, applying it to God's glory, holy living, and the comfort of distressed souls.
Finally, this Synod urges all who serve together in the gospel of Christ to conduct themselves devoutly and reverently in the treatment of this doctrine, in the schools and in the churches, and to apply it—both in speech and in writing—to the glory of the divine name, to the holiness of life, and to the comfort of distressed souls; since Scripture, according to the analogy of faith, they should not only feel but also speak; finally, to refrain from all those phrases that exceed the limits set for us by the genuine sense of the Holy Scriptures, and that could give insolent sophists a just occasion to revile or even slander the doctrine of the Reformed churches.
A Doxological Prayer for Truth and Edification
The Synod concludes with a prayer that Christ would sanctify in truth, silence slanderers, and equip faithful ministers, sealed with Amen.
May the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of the Father and gives gifts to people, sanctify us in the truth, bring those who err to the truth, shut the mouths of the slanderers of sound doctrine, and equip the faithful ministers of his Word with the spirit of wisdom and discretion, so that all their words may serve the glory of God and the edification of those who hear them.✦✦✦ Amen.
Read the original Latin
Atque hæc est perspicua, simplex, et ingenua Orthodoxæ de Quinque Articulis in Belgio controversis doctrinæ declaratio, et errorum, quibus Ecclesiæ Belgicæ aliquamdiu sunt perturbatæ, rejectio, quam Synodus ex verbo Dei desumptam, et Confessionibus Reformatarum Ecclesiarum consentaneam esse judicat. Unde liquido apparet eos, quos id minime decuit, citra omnem veritatem, æquitatem, et charitatem, populo inculcatum voluisse: ‘Doctrinam Ecclesiarum Reformatarum de prædestinatione et annexis ei capitibus, proprio quodam genio atque impulsu, animos hominum ab omni pietate et religione abducere: esse carnis et Diaboli pulvinar, arcemque Satanæ, ex qua omnibus insidietur, plurimos sauciet, et multos tum desperationis, tum securitatis jaculis lethaliter configat: eandem facere Deum authorem peccati, injustum, tyrannum, hypocritam; nec aliud esse quam interpolatum Stoicismum, Manicheismum, Libertinismum, Turcismum: eandem reddere homines carnaliter securos, quippe ex ea persuasos electorum saluti, quomodocunque vivant, non obesse, ideoque eos secure atrocissima quæque scelera posse perpetrare; reprobis ad salutem non prodesse, si vel omnia sanctorum opera vere fecerint: eadem doceri Deum nudo puroque voluntatis arbitrio, absque omni ullius peccati respectu, vel intuitu, maximam mundi partem ad æternam damnationem prædestinasse et creasse: eodem modo, quo electio est fons et caussa fidei ac bonorum operum, reprobationem esse caussam infidelitatis et impietatis: multos fidelium infantes ab uberibtis matrum innoxios abripi et tyrannice in gehennam præcipitari, adeo ut iis nec baptismus, nec Ecclesiæ in eorum baptismo preces prodesse queant.’ Et quæ ejus generis sunt alia plurima, quæ Ecclesiæ Reformatæ non solum non agnoscunt, sed etiam toto pectore detestantur. Quare quotquot nomen Servatoris nostri Jesu Christi pie invocant, eos Synodus hæc Dordrechtana per nomen Domini obtestatur, ut de Ecclesiarum Reformatarum fide, non ex coacervatis hinc inde calumniis, vel etiam privatis nonnullorum, tum veterum tum recentium doctorum dictis, sæpe etiam aut mala fide citatis, aut corruptis, et in alienum sensum detortis, sed ex publicis ipsarum Ecclesiarum Confessionibus, et ex hac orthodoxæ doctrinæ declaratione, unanimi omnium et singulorum totius Synodi membrorum consensu firmata, judicent. Calumniatores deinde ipsos serio monet, viderint quam grave Dei. judicium sint subituri, qui contra tot Ecclesias, contra tot Ecclesiarum Confessiones, falsum testimonium dicunt, conscientias infirmorum turbant, multisque vere fidelium societatem suspectam reddere satagunt. Postremo hortatur hæc Synodus omnes in Evangelio Christi symmystas, ut in hujus doctrinæ pertractatione, in scholis atque in ecclesiis, pie et religiose versentur, earn tum lingua, tum calamo, ad Divini nominis gloriam, vitæ sanctitatem, et consternatorum animorum solatium accommodent, cum Scriptura secundum fidei analogiam non solum sentiant, sed etiam loquantur; a phrasibus denique iis omnibus abstineant, quæ præscriptos nobis gennini sanctarum Scripturarum sensus limites excedunt, et protervis sophistis justam ansam præbere possint doctrinam Ecclesiarum Reformatarum sugillandi, aut etiam calumniandi. Filius Dei Jesus Christus, qui ad dextram Patris sedens dat dona hominibus, sanctificet nos in veritate, eos qui errant adducat ad veritatem, calumniatoribus sanæ doctrinæ ora obstruat, et fidos verbi sui ministros spiritu sapientiæ et discretionis instruat, ut omnia ipsorum eloquia ad gloriam Dei, et ædificationem auditorum, cedant.
Amen.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Eph.4.8 — Therefore it says, 'When he ascended on high he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts to men.'
- ↩Ps.63.11 — But the king shall rejoice in God; everyone who swears by him shall glory, for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.
- ↩Titus.1.11 — They must be silenced, for they are upsetting entire households, teaching for shameful gain what they ought not teach.
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