The Canons of Dordt are rulings under five headings that originated in the Synod of Dordt, a Reformed Church council. It was dealing with the heresy of Arminianism and it is the source of “the five points of Calvinism” that usually goes by the acronym “TULIP.”

In the conclusion to the Canons of Dordt, the council issued a warning:

Therefore this Synod of Dordt 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 [emphasis added].

What “false accusations” concerned this Synod, which led them to issue this warning to orthodox Calvinist ministers?

We don’t have to guess. They list the false accusations that they are concerned about. One of the false accusations they wanted to refute was

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 [emphasis added].

Here is another false accusation they wanted to make sure orthodox preachers did not support by careless preaching:

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 [emphasis added].

The Synod was quite clear that “the Reformed churches not only disavow” these claims, “but even denounce [them] with their whole heart.”