Was Jacob Arminius a cessationist and credobaptist?

Question

Was Jacob Arminius a cessationist and credobaptist? An article I am reading claims that he did not believe in infant baptism or in spiritual gifts today.

Answer 1

Due to the massive preponderance of attention given to Jacob Arminius on the "free will" issue, his other teachings have been neglected. However, I found a whole chapter on him and Arminian theology in the book below, so I begin by quoting that point:

"Without doubt or debate, Arminius is one of the most unfairly neglected and grossly misunderstood theologians in the story of Christian theology. Both he and his theology are "frequently assessed according to superficial hearsay." 2 A modern Reformed commentator and critic has noted that "the theology of Jacob Arminius has been neglected both by his admirers and by his detractors" 3" The Story of Christian Theology, Roger E. Olson, p.455 Apollos, 1999

Any answer to this question is unlikely to know whether the source is trustworthy, but if the source isn't even stated, it would seem to be a waste of time quoting it. However, Olson's chapter on Arminius is scholarly, with all sources of quotes given. I kept on reading...

The TULIP issue was dealt with, then Arminius's disagreement with supralapsarianism. (That is the theological position that God's decree to save is logically prior to his decree to create and permit the fall). Nothing to do with the question of cessationism or credo-baptism.

Then came a telling paragraph about Arminius's time at the University of Leiden as professor of theology:

"The other professor of theology at that time was Franciscus Gomarus, who was perhaps the most outspoken and rigid supralapsarian Calvinist in all of Europe... also 'in his temperament he was, by almost all accounts, fractious in the extreme.' 14 Almost immediately Gomarus began a campaign of accusation against Arminius. Some of the accusations were true." (Ibid. p.462)

Nothing about cessationism or credobaptism followed. Claims that he was a secret sympathizer with the Jesuits were false, as were claims that he held to Socinianism (a denial of the Trinity and other classical Christian doctrine). Arminius then died of tuberculosis in 1609, after which his followers (the Remonstrants) summarized Arminius's and their own opposition to rigid Calvinism in five points. In the 1700s, John Wesley became the most influential Arminian of all time. His Methodist movement adopted Arminianism as its official theology. Still nothing about cessationism or credobaptism, right through to the end of the chapter.

One point remains to be applied to this answer. After the death of Arminius, some of the Remonstrants deviated from his views in some respects. Some matters (e.g. total depravity) became flash-points:

"Arminius did not deny perseverance (eternal security of the saints), but argued that it is an unsettled issue and warned against false security and assurance. As with total depravity, many Arminians later rejected unconditional perseverance and taught that a person can lose salvation through neglect as well as conscious rejection of grace. Many other Arminians came to believe in the eternal security of those truly regenerated and justified by grace." (Ibid. p471)

This means that anything dug up about cessationism and credobaptism would have to be shown to be his views, and not that of later Remonstrants. Developments over decades and centuries might not originate with Arminius himself. However, I have been unable to unearth anything on those two topics, and only submit this answer in the hope that the back-story will help others who are able to source obscure quotes on those two points.

The author of the book above notes on p.633 that "Most of the biographical information about Jacob Arminius is taken from Carl Bangs, Arminius: A Study in the Dutch Reformation (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1985)." See also Charles M. Cameron, "Arminius - Hero or Heretic?" Evangelical Quarterly 64, no. 3 (1992): 213.

Answer 2

Arminius taught infant baptism (and sprinkling). The Works of James Arminius, Vol. 2, DISPUTATION LXIII ON BAPTISM AND PAEDO-BAPTISM

VII. The object of this baptism is not real, but only personal; that is, all the covenanted people of God, whether they be adults or infants, provided the infants be born of parents who are themselves in the covenant, or if one of their parents be among the covenanted people of God, both because ablution in the blood of Christ has been promised to them; and because by the Spirit of Christ they are engrafted into the body of Christ.

I haven't been able to find any teachings on spiritual gifts in his published works. That suggests that it wasn't a point of contention with Reformed theology for him, or at least that it wasn't a question to which he attached great importance. Likely he was a cessationist, but unless someone else can find more than I did, the best we have is a very weak argument from silence.