Conclusion
Rejection of False Ac
And so this is the clear, simple, and straightforward explanation
of the orthodox teaching on the five articles in dispute in the Netherlands,
as well as the rejection of the errors by which the Dutch churches have
for some time been disturbed. This explanation and rejection the Synod
declares to be derived from God's Word and in agreement with the confessions
of the Reformed churches. Hence it clearly appears that those of whom
one could hardly expect it have shown no truth, equity, and charity
at all in wishing to make the public believe:
- that the teaching of the Reformed churches on predestination
and on the points associated with it by its very nature and tendency
draws the minds of people away from all godliness and religion, is an
opiate of the flesh and the devil, and is a stronghold of Satan where
he lies in wait for all people, wounds most of them, and fatally pierces
many of them with the arrows of both despair and self-assurance;
- that this teaching makes God the author of sin, unjust, a
tyrant, and a hypocrite; and is nothing but a refurbished Stoicism,
Manicheism, Libertinism, and Mohammedanism;
- that this teaching makes people carnally self-assured, since
it persuades them that nothing endangers the salvation of the chosen,
no matter how they live, so that they may commit the most outrageous
crimes with self-assurance; and that on the other hand nothing is of
use to the reprobate for salvation even if they have truly performed
all the works of the saints;
- that this teaching means that God predestined and created,
by the bare and unqualified choice of his will, without the least regard
or consideration of any sin, the greatest part of the world to eternal
condemnation; that in the same manner in which election is the source
and cause of faith and good works, reprobation is the cause of unbelief
and ungodliness; that many infant children of believers are snatched
in their innocence from their mothers' breasts and cruelly cast into
hell so that neither the blood of Christ nor their baptism nor the prayers
of the church at their baptism can be of any use to them; and very many
other slanderous accusations of this kind which the Reformed churches
not only disavow but even denounce with their whole heart.
Therefore this Synod of Dort in the name of the Lord pleads with
all who devoutly call on the name of our Savior Jesus Christ to form
their judgment about the faith of the Reformed churches, not on the
basis of false accusations gathered from here or there, or even on the
basis of the personal statements of a number of ancient and modern authorities - statements
which are also often either quoted out of context or misquoted and twisted
to convey a different meaning - but on the basis of the churches'
own official confessions and of the present explanation of the orthodox
teaching which has been endorsed by the unanimous consent of the members
of the whole Synod, one and all.
Moreover, the Synod earnestly warns the false
accusers themselves to consider how heavy a judgment of God awaits those who
give false testimony against so many churches and their confessions, trouble
the consciences of the weak, and seek to prejudice the minds of many against
the fellowship of true believers.
Finally, this Synod urges all fellow ministers
in the gospel of Christ to deal with this teaching in a godly and reverent manner,
in the academic institutions as well as in the churches; to do so, both in their
speaking and writing, with a view to the glory of God's name, holiness of life,
and the comfort of anxious souls; to think and also speak with Scripture according
to the analogy of faith; and, finally, to refrain from all those ways of speaking
which go beyond the bounds set for us by the genuine sense of the Holy Scriptures
and which could give impertinent sophists a just occasion to scoff at the teaching
of the Reformed churches or even to bring false accusations against it.
May God's Son Jesus Christ, who sits at the right
hand of God and gives gifts to men, sanctify us in the truth, lead to the truth
those who err, silence the mouths of those who lay false accusations against
sound teaching, and equip faithful ministers of his Word with a spirit of wisdom
and discretion, that all they say may be to the glory of God and the building
up of their hearers. Amen.
