this nature should have a perpetual tendency to the Churches edifying So that when Parents or Sureties do offer Children unto Baptism and desire their own Names to be put upon them this their Request shall be granted provided they be not Names prohibited in the close of the Ninth Canon of Baptism as the Names of God Angel or Office or such as be notoriously ridiculous V. Colloquies and Provincial Synods shall most humbly intreat and exhort Kings Princes Great Lords and all Impropriators of Church-Lands and all our opulent and wealthy Churches to lay by and dedicate some considerable Portion of their yearly Incomes Estates and Revenues towards the maintenance of Students in Divinity and of poor Schollars of excellent and hopeful Parts who may be hereafter imployed in the Sacred Ministry And that this Canon may be observed this Assembly will give the first Example and doth now order that Letters shall be written unto those most Illustrious and Noble Personages and to our richest Churches inviting them unto this most needful Contribution and these Letters shall be signed in the Name of this National Synod by the Moderator Assessor and Scribe VI. National and Provincial Synods shall be held once every Year for time coming and Colloquies twice a Year but by this Canon we do not intend to abridge the Provinces who can better do it of their Priviledge in observing the first established Order Pastors must come accompanied with one Elder unto Synods or Classes VII Pastors shall ever come unto these Ecclesiastical Assemblies accompanied with an Elder and in case they be sent alone there shall be no regard had unto Memoirs as in like manner it shall be with the Elders if they come singly Sureties must ponder seriously their Engagements at Baptism VIII Pastors shall diligently exhort all Sureties of both Sexes seriously to weigh and consider their Promises ingaged at Baptism and Parents shall be advised to chuse such Sureties for their Children as are well instructed in Religion and of exemplary Life and Conversation or at least such as if need be may be able to educate their Children in the knowledge and fear of God Some Crimes shall not be blotted out the Books of Consistory IX Upon Repentance and Satisfaction given unto the Church all Crimes and Offences shall be razed out of the Books of Consistories except such who for their Contumacy and Rebellion had been censured with Suspension from the Lord's Supper or Excommunication None of the Consistory may declare the Sins of ingenuous Penitents X. Consistories shall not give in Evidence against any Person by Act or any other way unto the Magistrate And the Members of those Consistories shall not reveal any Person the Confessions of Penitents who voluntarily and of their own accord or by Admonitions given them shall have confessed and acknowledged their Offences XI Forasmuch as divers sickly Persons are Communicants at the Lord's Table and some for fear of Infection scruple to take the Cup after them Pastors and Elders are advised to use their best prudence and discretion in this case CHAP. III. XII A Woman having been joyned in Marriage unto one who was formerly a Monk or Priest and since returned unto his former Profession may not marry another Man until such time as her first Marriage be dissolved and the Sentence of Dissolution shall be pronounced as of Right it ought by the Magistrate XIII Pastors are left unto their liberty to use either the accustomed words or any other words in the Administration of the Lord's Supper it being a matter indifferent The Faithful may not hold any Benefices where there is peril of Idolatry See the Second Synod of Rochel art 34.37 provided they be such as tend unto edification XIV In the case of Benefices to which there is a Right of Patronage by presentation from the Lord of the Mannor or by the interposal of the Bishop of the Diocess the Faithful must be advised not in the least to retain them thô they were freely given them without any Condition express or implicite of Service unto the Idol XV. Farmers of the Temporalities of the Clergy of their Rents Tithes and such-like Matters shall observe the Nineteenth Article of the last National Synod held at St. Foy which was to intermeddle as little as may be with such Concerns because of divers Abuses and Inconveniences that might happen about them Which ceasing those of the Reformed Religion may lawfully farm them And all Consistories are desired to take Notice of it XVI See the Second Synod of Rochel Art 50. How Parents ought to behave themselves when they marry their Children to one of a contrary Religion Parents professing the Reformed Religion having Idolatrous Children of a Religion contrary to their own who would take them Wives Idolaters like themselves shall be advised to use their utmost endeavour to turn away their Children from such a Marriage especially if as yet they be Minors and not emancipated from under their Paternal Authority But in case they cannot prevail upon them whenas the Marriage-Articles shall be signed they shall openly protest their abhorrency of that Idolatry into which their Children do so wickedly plunge themselves and afterwards may give their Consent to the Promises and Conditions concerning the Portion and other such-like Matters XVII Publick Penances to be used prudently See the Second Synod of Rochel Art 26. Consistories are advised to take care that Publick Penances be used very seldom and with a great deal of prudence and only for publick notorious Crimes really committed which are come to the knowledge of the far greater part of the Church and in this case the scandalous sin itself shall be particularly confessed No Book of the Holy Scripture shall be turn'd into Plays XVIII Neither the Canonical nor Apocryphal Books of the Holy Bible shall be transformed into Comedies of Tragedies XIX No Church nor Province shall make any Ordinance unless for Substance it be conformable to the General Articles of our Church-Discipline Ministers by their Personal Promises shall not be obliged to any Church XX. No Church shall pretend Title or Right unto any Minister because of his particular Promise given them without the Authority of the Colloquy of Provincial Synod XXI In case a Minister be destitute of a Church in his own Province and Colloquy and shall lend his Service unto another Church out of his Province which hath desired him so to do till the next Synod and if that Synod when convened cannot employ him in its own Province he shall then be the peculiar Minister of that Church which had demanded him provided it be done with the full content of the Church And this Canon shall bind for the future but without any prejudice to the time past XXII In the first Article concerning Elders and Deacons after these words The Duties of their Office shall be read there shall be this addition And a particular Prayer shall
together with our Church Discipline shall be subscribed by them CAN. IV. That our Churches may be always furnished with a sufficient number of Pastors and of other Persons fit to govern them and to preach the Word of God unto them they shall be advised to chuse those Scholars who be already well advanced in good Learning and be of the most promising hopeful Parts and to maintain such in the Universities that they may be there prepared and fitted for the Work of the Ministry ever preferring the Children of poor Ministers if ingenious before all others of which the Colloquies shall take a most especial care Kings Princes and Lords shall be exhorted and petitioned particularly to mind this important Affair and to lay by some part and portion of their Revenues towards their maintenance and the richer Churches shall do the like Colloquies and Provincial Synods shall as they see meet notifie and sollicit this Affair and take the best courses that matters of so great necessity may be successful and if single Churches cannot do it their Neighbours shall joyn with them that one poor Scholar at the least may be maintained in every Colloquy and rather than this design should miscarry the fifth Penny of all our Charities shall be set apart if it may conveniently be done to be imployed in this service CAN. V. A Proposition out of the Word of God shall be made by the Scholars of every Church as time and place may conveniently bear it at which Exercises Pastors shall be present to preside and order the said Proposans N. B. There were general Statutes made for the Vniversities of the Reformed Churches of France in the National Synod of Alez By whom they were drawn up is now out of my mind but those for the Vniversity of Montauban were composed by Monsieur Beraud the Father who was the first Divinity-Professor in it Those for the Vniversity of Die in Dolphiny were composed by the great Chamier which I have lying by me written with his own hand and which I shall publish if the Lord lend me life in his Icon. CHAP. III. Of Elders and Deacons CANON I. IN those places where the Order of our Discipline is not yet set up Elders and Deacons shall be chosen by the joynt Suffrages of Pastors and People but where it hath been already established the power of chusing them and that with pertinent Prayers unto the occasion shall reside in the Consistory together with the Pastors and they shall be nominated with an audible Voice in the said Consistory that they may know in what businesses they are to be employed If they consent they shall on two Lord's days following be declared to the People that so their consent also may be obtained and if on the third Sabbath there be no opposition made they shall be then publickly received with solemn Prayers standing upright before the Pulpit and be thus ordained unto their Offices they subscribing our Confession of Faith and Church-Discipline but if there fall out any opposition it shall be determined in the Consistory and in case it cannot be there composed Chap III. Of Elders and Deacons it shall be wholly remitted to the Colloquy or Provincial Synod CAN. II. Henceforward if it may be possibly avoided none shall be chosen Elders or Deacons of the Church whose Wives are not of the true Religion according to the Apostles Canon Yet notwithstanding that the Church may not be deprived of the Labours of several worthy persons who in the days of their ignorance espoused Women of a contrary Religion they shall be tolerated because of the present necessity provided that they do produce good evidence of their serious endeavours for instructing of their Wives in that Faith and true Worship of God practised in our Churches CAN. III. The Elder 's Office is together with the Pastors to oversee the Church to gather and keep up the solemn Assemblies and to take care that the Members in communion do personally appear at those holy Congregations to make report of Scandals and Offences in Consistory and with the Pastors to take cognizance and pass censures on them In general it is to have the same care with them in all concerns about the Order Maintenance and Government of the Church Moreover in every Church there shall be reserved in Writing a Breviate of the particulars belonging unto their Office according as the circumstances of time and place may call for it CAN. IV. The Deacon's Office is to collect and distribute by the advice of the Consistory Moneys unto the Poor Sick and Prisoners and to visit and take care of them CAN. V. It doth not belong unto the Deacon's Office to Preach the Word of God nor to Administer the Sacraments yet because of our present distress the Consistory may chuse certain Elders and Deacons to catechize the respective Families of the Church as also in the Pastor's absence Elders are permitted on Week-days if chosen thereunto by the Consistory to Pray publickly with the Church and therein they shall use the ordinary form and in reading of the Scriptures none other but the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament shall be read And whereas in divers Provinces it hath been a custom for Deacons to catechize in publick the Inconveniences which have already and may hereafter happen from it being well considered the Churches are exhorted where this custom is not introduc'd not at all to admit it and those in which it hath took place to forsake it and to endeavour that the said Deacons if of competent abilities do enter as soon as may be into the Ministry CAN. VI. Elders and Deacons may be present at Propositions of the Word of God which are made by Ministers besides their ordinary Sermons or by Scholars that are Proposans and at those Censures which shall be past upon them and shall give their judgment of these Exercises but the decisive judgment in point of Doctrine is principally reserved unto Pastors Ministers and Doctors of Divinity who be duly called into that Office CAN. VII The Office of Elders and Deacons as it is now in use among us is not perpetual yet because changes are not incommodious they shall be exhorted to continue in their Offices as long as they can and they shall not lay them down without having first obtained leave from their Churches CAN. VIII Neither Elders nor Deacons shall claim any primacy or jurisdiction over one another whether in nomination unto the People or in precedency Chap IV. Of The Office of a Deacon or in order of voting or in any matters depending upon their Offices CAN. IX Elders and Deacons shall be deposed for those very crimes and causes for which the Ministers of God's Word are and if being condemned by the Consistory they should make an Appeal they shall yet notwithstanding continue suspended from their Offices until such times as the Colloquy or Provincial Synod shall have decided their affair CAN. X. Elders
or Provincial Synod CAN. XIX Such as have abandon'd the profession of our holy Religion and adhere unto Idolatry if they persevere in this their Apostasie after serious endeavours used to bring them back again unto the Church they shall be publickly denounced Apostates to wit those who have of late times revolted unless the Consistory do judg that by such a nomination some great and considerable danger may redound unto the Church in which case nothing shall be done without consulting the Provincial Synod And as for those who have long since revolted the Execution of this denunciation is remitted to the prudence of the Colloquy CAN. XX. In publick Sins that is to say such as are really committed and known to a great number of People this Delinquent shall be restored by a publick acknowledgment of his offence although he had been punished by the Sentence of the Civil Magistrate CAN. XXI Forasmuch as Whoredome carries with it a brand of Infamy especially upon Women the Confession and Penance for such Scandals is wholly left unto the prudence of Consistories CAN. XXII Publick Penance shall be undergone in Person and the Delinquent shall give an open testimony of his Repentance CAN. XXIII The Delinquent who was suspended the Lord's Table by the Consistory although that suspension was concealed from the People shall demand his restoration from the Consistory and he giving evident tokens of his Repentance he shall be restored without undergoing any publick Penance CAN. XXIV But he whose Suspension had been declared unto the People producing Evidences of his Repentance before the Consistory by the fruits of good works and sufficient Testimonies shall be publickly reconciled unto the Church upon the acknowledgment of his offence CAN. XXV Those who for their obstinacy and hardness in their sins shall have been out off from the Church may not suddenly be restored unto their state and reconciled unto the Church but upon good and long tryal had of their Repentance they shall be heard in Consistory and if they Petition to be received unto the Churches Peace they doing Penance for their offences there shall be notice given of it unto the Congregation to stir them up to seek and praise God and after some time they shall be presented unto the whole Church to confess their former Trespasses and Rebellions and begging pardon of God and his Church they shall be in this manner reconciled with joy publick Prayers and Thanksgiving CAN. XXVI If the Members of a Church have fallen into Idolatry and thereupon removed their Habitation unto another place in which their offence is not known they shall only make acknowledgment of their Fall before the Consistory but with this Proviso that if they return unto the said Church where they had offended they shall do publick Penance for it However it is left unto the discretion of the Consistory to deal otherwise with them if they judge it to be more expedient for the Churches edifying The same judgment shall be made of all other sins deserving publick Penance CAN. XXVII All Sins acknowledged and repaired shall be razed out of the Consistorial Books excepting those which drawing Rebellion with them had been censured by Suspension from the Lord's Table or Excommunication out of the Church CAN. XXVIII Consistories shall not give in evidence unto the Civil Magistrate neither by instrument in writing nor any other way nor shall particular Members of the Consistories reveal unto any Person the Confessions of Penitents who voluntarily and of their own accord or by admonitions made them shall have confessed their offences to them unless it be in case of High Treason CAN. XXIX Such Persons shall be prosecuted with all Church-Censures yea and Excommunicated who professing the Reformed Religion do appeal the Pastors Elders or the whole Consistory before the Civil Magistrate by that means to enforce them to give in Evidence against Delinquents who confessed their faults unto them CAN. XXX Crimes secretly declared unto Ministers by Persons demanding their advice and comfort Ministers are forbidden to discover them unto the Civil Magistrate lest reproach should thereby redound upon the Ministry and Sinners be hindred from coming unto Repentance and making a free Confession of their Sins And this shall be a standing Rule for all Crimes revealed to them unless in Case of High Treason CAN. XXXI If one or more of the People stir up Contention and do thereby break the Churches Union in any point of Doctrine or of Discipline or about the form of Catechising or Administration of the Sacraments or of publick Prayers or the Celebration of Marriage and that private admonitions have not been effectual remedies to appease them the Consistory of that place shall immediately endeavour to compose and pacify the whole affair without noise and with all sweetness from the word of God and in case the Dissenters do not acquiesce therein the Consistory of that Church shall intreat the Colloquy to assemble at such a time and place as will be most convenient they having first ingaged the said Dissenters in express terms and upon record to promise that they will not spread their Opinions in any manner or way till the meeting of the said Colloquy upon pain of being Censured as Schismaticks excepting always freedom of Conference with Pastors and Elders in case they have not been instructed And if the said Dissenters shall refuse to give the said Promises they shall be censured for Rebels according to our Discipline And the Colloquy being met shall proceed as was before appointed them And if the said Dissenters having been patiently heard and confuted be fully satisfied the whole shall be registred unless the Provincial Synod be requested to assemble extraordinary necessity so requiring it at such time and place as the said Colloquy shall judge most convenient after that the Promises before-mentioned shall have been again repeated by the said Dissenters The Synod being assembled shall first advise and consider with great and mature deliberation of the matter places time and persons whether it will be expedient that a Conference should be held with the said Dissenters publickly before the People and with open Doors and that Audience be given unto any there present to speak or not However the Decision of the Points in Controversy shall not be left unto any other Judges besides the Delegates of the Provinces according to the known Canon of our Discipline And if the said Dissenters refuse to conform they shall then ingage in the same Promises as before and be dismissed over to the ordinary National Synod or if necessity so require that it must be extraordinarily assembled they shall be heard in it with all holy freedom Chap. VI. Of the Vnion of Churches and there it shall be finally and intirely determined by the word of God unto which if they refuse to yield full obedience and in express terms to disclaim their recorded Errors they shall be cut off by Excommunication from the Body of
of humanity and Consanguinity CAN. XVI Neither Ministers nor other Members of the Church may print any Books composed by themselves or others concerning Religion nor may they at all publish them until they have first Communicated them unto the Colloquy or if need be unto the Provincial Synod And in case the matter be urgent requiring speedy dispatch unto the Universities or to two Pastors appointed by the Synod who shall attest under their own hands that they have perused and examined the said Writings CAN. XVII They that handle the Histories of holy Scripture in Poems are admonished not to blend or intermingle Poetick Fables with them nor to give unto God the names of a false God nor to add unto nor take any thing from the Sacred Scriptures but they shall confine themselves as near as they can unto the words of it CAN. XVIII Neither the Canonical nor other Books of the Bible shall be transformed into Comedies or Tragedies CAN. XIX Churches which have Printers belonging to them shall advise them not to print any Books concerning Religion or the Discipline of the Church without having first Communicated them unto the Consistory because of those manifold Inconveniencies which have formerly happened upon this account And neither Printers nor Booksellers nor Hawkers shall sell any Books of Idolatry or that be Scandalous stuffed with Ribauldry or Impiety which tend to the corrupting of good Manners CAN. XX. Although Priests cannot lay any just claim or title unto Tyths in regard of their Ministry yet nevertheless they must be paid because of the King's Command and for the avoidance of Scandal and Sedition CAN. XXI According to his Majesties Edict the Faithful shall be exhorted to give none offence by working upon Holy-Days CAN. XXII All Usuries shall be most strictly forbidden and suppressed and matters of Loan shall be regulated according to the Kings Ordinance and the Rule of Charity CAN. XXIII All violence and injurious words against the Members of the Church of Rome as also against Priests and Monks shall not only be forborn but also as much as may be shall be totally suppressed CAN. XXIV Swearers who in passion or levity do take God's holy Name in vain and others who blaspheme the Divine Majesty shall be most severely censured and if after the second admonition they be not reclaimed they shall be then suspended from the Lord's Table And all Outragious Blasphemers Forswearers and such like Persons shall in no wise be tolerated in Church-Communion But immediately for their first offence shall be suspended the Lord's Supper and if they continue in their Ungodliness they shall be publickly Excommunicated CAN. XXV The Churches shall admonish the Faithful of both Sexes to retain Modesty and that most especially in their Habits and shall take care that all Superfluities heretofore committed in them may be retrenched But yet our Churches shall not make any Decree about it because it is an affair properly belonging unto the Civil Magistrate yet may they endeavour by their Remonstrances that his Majesties Edict concerning these matters be more diligently observed CAN. XXVI No Person shall be deprived of Communion at the Lord's Table for wearing any fashion of Apparel which is ordinarily and usually worn in this Kingdom But under this head those ought not to be comprised which carry with them a notorious Badge of Lasciviousness dissolution or over-curious novelty such as naked Breasts Painting and the like with which Men and Women cloath and abuse themselves And Consistories shall do their utmost to suppress these Impieties and shall proceed against the Refractory by Suspension from the Lord's Table N. B. That Clause in the middle of this Canon Printed in another Letter is found in my Parisian and Quevilly Editions of the Discipline yet injoined by the National Synods held at St. Foy 1578. Canon 21. of General Matters The second of Rochel 1581. Art 41. Explaining the 26 Canon in the last Chapter of the Discipline and the Synod of Montauban 1594. Canon 45. of General Matters CAN. XXVII All Dances shall be supprest and such as make a Trade of Dancing or make Custom of being present at Dances having been sundry times admonished in case they prove contumacious and Rebellious they shall be Excommunicated and all Consistories are charged to see that this Canon be most heedfully kept and observed and in the name of God and by the Authority of this Synod that it be read publickly in their Churches And Colloquies and Provincial Synods are exhorted to have an observing eye on those Consistories which shall not perform their duty in this particular that they may be censured N.B. Provincial Synods is left out by pure omission from my other Editions but those of Paris and Quevilly CAN. XXVIII Mummings and Juglings shall not be suffered nor Wassail-days nor keeping of Shrovetide nor Players at Heypass nor Tumblers nor Tricks of Goblets nor Puppet-Plays and Christian Magistrates are exhorted not to permit them because they do feed curiosity and cause a great deal of waste and loss of time Moreover it shall not be lawful for the Faithful to go to Comedies Tragedies Interludes Farces or other Stage-Plays acted in publick or private because in all Ages these have been forbidden among Christians as bringing in a corruption of good Manners but then most of all when as the Sacred Scriptures come to be profaned Yet nevertheless when as in a Colledge it shall be found profitable for Youth to represent any History it may be tolerated provided always that the subject matter thereof be not comprised in the holy Scripture which was never given us for matter of sport but purely to be Preached for our Instruction and Comfort And this also shall be done very rarely and with advice of the Colloquy which shall first have the sight and perusal of the Composition CAN. XXIX All Plays forbidden by the Kings Edicts as Cards Dice and other Games of hazard avarice lasciviousness notorious loss of time or scandal shall be suppressed and the Persons reproved and admonished in the Consistories and censured according to Circumstances No Lotteries can be approved although they were or were not allowed by the Civil Magistrate and the godly Magistrates professing the Reformed Religion are exhorted to restrain them N. B. This last Clause of the Canon is only in my two Editions of Paris and Quevilly CAN. XXX It is a thing purely indifferent to be present at those Feasts and Banquets which are made by those of the Popish Religion when as they are Espoused Married or their Children are born However the Faithful are admonished to use them for edification and seriously to ponder with themselves whether they be Masters of so much strength as to resist the dissolutions and other evils committed at them and especially whether they can reprove them And under these Feasts those are not to be comprised which Priests make at the Celebration of their first Mass for it is utterly unlawful for any one who
unto the People The Elder 's Office XXIII The Elders and Deacons are the Counsel of the Church in which the Ministers of the Word ought to preside The Office of Elders is to assemble the People to make Report of Scandals unto the Consistory and such other like Matters according as in every Church it is couched in Writing together with the proper Customs of those Places and Times Yet is not their Office for Life The Deacon's Office XXIV The Deacon's Office as now used by us is not perpetual yet this belongs unto them to Collect the Moneys for the Poor the Prisoners and the Sick and by the Advice of the Consistory to distribute those collected Charities among them to Visit them and in their respective Houses to Catechize them and in case any Deacon shall be found fit and he promise to devote and consecrate himself during Life unto the Service of God in the Ministry he may be chosen by the Ministry and Consistory to Catechize publickly according to the Form received in our Churches and this in order to their Trial without permitting them to administer the Sacraments The manner of Electing Elders and Deacons XXV The Office of Elders and Deacons is not to Catechize publickly nor is their Office perpetual However neither the one nor the other shall quit it without leave first obtained from the Church In the Minister's absence or sickness or in any other necessity of the Church the Deacon may read Prayers and the Holy Scriptures but he shall not take upon him the Office of Preaching XXVI In those Places in which Church-Order is not yet established both Elders and Deacons shall be chosen by the common Suffrage of Pastor and People but where Discipline is already constituted it shall be done by the Minister and Church-Councel who shall give them their Charge and they shall subscribe the Confession of Faith professed and avowed by us then they shall be presented unto the People and in case any one should oppose their Election it shall be debated and determined in the Consistory but if they cannot agree it shall be referr'd unto the Provincial Synod Causes of Deposing Elders and Deacons XXVII The Deacons and Elders shall be deposed for those very self-same Reasons that the Ministers of the Word were according to their quality and if being condemned by their Consistory they should make their Appeal they shall be suspended until such time as the Provincial Synod shall have ordained otherwise Books forbidden to be Printed till first communicated XXVIII Ministers nor any Other Members of the Church may not Print their own or others Works concerning Religion nor in any wise Publish them till they have first communicated them unto two or more of the Gospel of unspotted Reputation Who are to be Excommunicated XXIX Hereticks Contentious Persons Despisers of God Rebels against the Consistory Traytors to the Church such as be impeached and convicted of Crimes worthy of Corporal Punishment such as scandalize the whole Church shall be utterly excommunicated and cut off not only from the Sacrament but from all Communion with the whole Church And as for Delinquents suspended from the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and guilty of other Vices it is left to the Church's prudence whether they shall be admitted to hear the Word preacht or no. XXX Such as are Excommunicate for Heresie Contempt of God Schism Treason and Rebellion against the Church or other grievous Offences scandalous to the whole Church shall be denounced Excommunicate Persons before the People Who are by Name to be declared Excommunicate and who not unto the People together with the Causes of their Excommunication And as for those who were Excommunicate for lesser Offences it 's left to the Church's Prudence to consider whether they shall be published by Name unto the Congregation or not And this Order shall hold till it be otherwise determined in a National Synod Manner of Receiving Excommunicate Persons XXXI These having been Excommunicated shall address themselves unto their Consistory for Re-admission into Church-Fellowship who shall judge of their Repentance And if they have been publickly Excommunicate they shall testifie their Repentance publickly but if they have not been publickly Excommunicate they shall only in private before the Consistory express their Repentance Denial of the Faith demands a Publick Acknowledgment When Fasts are to be proclaimed XXXII Such as through force of Persecution have abjured the Gospel shall not be received into the Church till such time as they have expressed their Repentance publickly before all the People XXXIII Publick Prayers and extraordinary Fastings yet without any scruple or superstition shall be enjoyned in times of severe Persecution of War Pestilence Famine and other grievous Affliction as also whenas a Minister is to be chosen or a National Synod to be conven'd Of the Publication of Marriage XXXIV Marriages shall be propounded unto the Consistory in which the Contract of Marriage shall be produced signed by the Publick Notary or proved by some other sufficient Attestation in such places where there is not a Notary Or if the Persons will not produce their Contracts they shall however bring a sufficient Attestation under the Notary's hand or some other way and a Fortnight after the Banes shall be published on three Lord's Days following in those Places where the Word is ordinarily preached and in other Places where is Exhortation and Publick Prayers provided that this Publication be continued a full Fortnight and then the Marriage may be solemnized in the Church This Order shall not be infringed unless there be very great Causes for it whereof the Consistory shall take Cognisance Marriages and Baptisms are to be Registred XXXV Both Marriages and Baptisms shall be Registred and the Register preserved carefully by the Church together with the Names of the Fathers and Mothers and Sureties for the baptized Infants XXXVI The Faithful may not contract Marriage within the prohibited Degrees of Affinity and Consanguinity and the Church is to take heed that all scandal in this particular be avoided The Church may not dissolve a Marriage XXXVII The Faithful whose Yoke-fellows are convict of Adultery shall be advised to reconcile themselves with them but in case of refusal that liberty they have by the Word of God shall be declared to them However none of the Churches shall dissolve the Marriage least they should intrench upon the Authority of the Civil Magistrate The Consistory in case Parents refuse their Consent shall order about it XXXVIII No Person may contract Marriage without the Consent of Parents But in case Parents should be so unreasonable as to refuse their Consent to such an holy and needful Ordinance the Consistory shall advise what is to be done herein XXXIX Promises of Marriage once made cannot be dissolved no not by mutual consent of the Parties who have past those Promises each to other And the
Consistories of the Reformed Churches at such times at least when as the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is administred XVII The Churches shall suppress Usuries and all manner of Extortions as much as lieth in their Power yet they may not condemn those who receive a moderate Profit for the Loan of their Monies provided it be conformable to the King's Ordinance and the Rule of Charity All Usury is sharply to be reproved See the Synod of Lyons p. 9. XVIII Priests Monks and other Ecclesiasticks of the Romish Church before they be received unto Communion with us at the Lord's Supper shall manifest their Repentance before the Consistory and for some particular causes if the Consistory do judge it requisite they shall testifie it before the whole Assembly Concerning Monitories See the Synod of Montpeillier Observations on the Discipline Art 24. The Faithful may do nothing that may favour Idolatry XIX The Faithful may not take out Admonitions or execute Excommunications from the Church of Rome nor obtain a Dispensation for Swearing from the Official or any other belonging unto that Church and though there hath been a Recompense given the Oath cannot hinder the Rescission of the Contract XX. Printers Booksellers Painters and in general all the Faithful especially such as bear Office in the Church shall be admonished not to exercise their Arts Office or Calling in or about the Superstitions of the Romish Church or their Dependencies nor in the least to savour them and the Cognisance of particular Matters that may happen hereupon and their Correction and Reformation shall belong unto the Consistories What Names may be given or rejected in Baptism XXI Concerning Names imposed upon Children Ministers shall reject those which yet remain of old Paganism nor shall they give unto Infants such as are attributed unto God in Holy Scripture nor Names of Office as Baptist Angel Archangel moreover Parents and Sureties shall be admonished as much as in them lieth to take those which are approved by God's sacred Word XXII Although a Church having lent a Minister for a time and that expired may re-demand him back unto its Service yet ought it to have respect unto the Necessities of that Church where the said Minister hath been sent and shall ordain herein what will make most for the Glory of God and the Edification of his Church XXIII No Church shall marry any Persons without having first received ample Information and Approbation of and about them XXIV The Inconveniencies which have already risen and may in time to come arise from the usual publick Catechisings by Deacons having been heard and consider'd the Council hath remitted the intire Decision of this Matter unto the next National Synod and in the mean while Exhorts those Churches which have not received that Custom never to admit it and in other places where it is practised the Churches are likewise exhorted to deal with their Deacons in case they be fitted for it to enter into the Ministry as soon as possible they can One may be adjured in Consistory to declare the Truth Booksellers may not print any thing against Religion nor may the Hawkers vent any scandalous ones XXV The Faithful may by their Consistories be adjured to declare the Truth because this doth not in the least derogate from the Authority of the Civil Magistrate XXVI Churches having Printers and Booksellers shall carefully advise them to print no Books concerning Religion or the Discipline of the Church before they have communicated them unto their Consistories because of the Inconveniencies that have arriv'd Nor may many Booksellers or Hawkers sell scandalous Books nor may they in the sale of their Books take unto themselves immoderate Gains CHAP. III. Discipline exercised upon Delinquents Particular Matters THe Council having heard and considered the Proceedings against James le Fevre his Excommunication and the publick Penance imposed on him by the Authority of the last Provincial Synod held at Gien and the Deportment of the said Le Fevre in undergoing publick Penance together with its Consequences and having understood the whole of that Affair partly from the Relation of the Brethren and partly from his own Confession the Council is of Opinion That the said James le Fevre hath not well nor duely made that publick Confession which was injoyned him nor given Testimony of his Repentance and for this cause the Excommunication denounced against him shall abide in its full power and vigour and therefore the Council hath declared and doth now again declare him a Man uncapable of serving the Church of God until such time as he shall have first undergone publick Penance in the Church of Bourges in which Penance shall be declared the Facts contained in the Article of the said Synod of Gien touching this matter And moreover this shall be added That by his Replies and Murmurings he had shewn himself Refractory and Disobedient to the Displine of the Church And whenas there shall be good Evidences of his Repentance he may be received into the Communion of the Lord's Supper II. As to those matters concerning David de Brosses who calling himself Minister of the Church of Melun after hearing the Charge brought in against him by the Deputies of the Church of Paris who had opposed his Election because of the wicked Doctrine formerly broach'd by the said David and because of the Troubles and Schisms excited by him particularly in the Church of Melun and because of his wicked and debauched Life which hath occasion'd a Process of Enormous Crimes to be commenced against him and from which he hath not purged himself before the Consistory the proofs of all these matters having been laid down in Writing read and diligently considered divers Brethren Ministers of God's Holy Word having been heard also both as to the Doctrine published by the said David and his Life and Conversation The Council judgeth the Opposition founded by the Church of Paris against him to be good and valid the Election of the said David made by the Church of Melun to be null void and of no force nor effect And farthermore the said Council hath declared and doth delare the said David uncapable of the Ministry of the Gospel until such time as he shall have manifested his Innocency before a National Synod of the Reformed Churches in this Kingdom Yea moreover the said Council hath excommunicated him out of the Church until such time as he shall have testified publickly his Repentance by confessing publickly his Sin and that in the Church of Melun which he hath troubled by his Schism in case he return unto it or in any Church unto which he would hereafter joyn himself and that Church having good Evidences and Testimonials of his Repentance may receive him unto Communion with it in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper But and if the said David despising the present Decree of this Council shall hereafter intrude himself into any Church and cause new Troubles and Divisions
in it then this Council commands that Province in which the said David shall be and reside to Formalize itself against him and upon this account the Church of Paris shall be obliged to furnish the said Province with Proofs which it hath now or may have had heretofore lying by against the said David that so he may be proceeded against in such a manner as shall be thought most advisable for the Repose of the Church III. Touching the matter propounded by the Minister of Paris the Council is of Opinion That the Marriage pretended to be broken by reason of Spiritual Kinred doth remain firm and in its full power and therefore the second Marriage which hath since intervened is null and these second married Persons are excommunicated because of their Adulteries until such time as they have done publick Penance and shall have duely evidenced their Repentance IV. Whereas our Brother the Minister of Varennes in Picardy doth usually administer the Lord's Supper every Month the Council doth advise That our Brother of Mont-mejor do admonish him in the Council's Name to follow the general Practice of our Churches that so there may be no Diversity among us and our Uniformity may be preserved V. The Churches are advertised to take notice of a Fellow called Frederick Thierry formerly an Augustin Fryar as also of another called Marmande as being Vagrants VI. 'T is the Judgment of this Council That a Minister being imployed in the Church may not ordinarily exercise any other Calling nor receive Wages for it Our Brother of Britain moved this Question VII As to that Book entituled A Treatise of Christian Discipline and Polity composed and published by John Morelly the Council judges That as to the Points concerning the Discipline of the Church by which he pretends to condemn and subvert the Order received in our Churches sounded upon the Word of God that the said Book contains wicked Doctrine and tends to the Confusion and Dissipation of the Church and therefore the said Council cautions the Faithful to take heed of the aforesaid Doctrine VIII A Remonstrance being made by the Church of Poictiers about an Appeal brought by the People of the City of Loudun from a Decree of the Provincial Synod of Poictou held at Niort concerning the Fact of Maturin Sibileau the said Appeal having been signified to the Church of Poictiers on behalf of the said People of Loudun the Decrees both of the Provincial Synod held at Partinay and of the Synod of Niort were read and considered Whereupon this present Council hath and doth send back the Knowledge of the said Cause unto the next Provincial Synod of Touraine which by the Authority of this Council shall pass a Definitive Judgment upon these Persons although they were absent provided their Absence be not out of Contumacy and they had been duely informed of the meeting of that Synod And in the mean while it is ordained That both the said Sibileau and the said People of Loudun shall yeild Obedience to the Synod of Niort And to this purpose the Church of Poictiers is required to signifie this present Sentence and the Church of Tours is to Assemble the said Provincial Synod IX A Petition being presented by Madam Margaret de la Voirie concerning a Marriage pretended to have been contracted between her and the Noble William de Schilhant The Council has approved and doth approve of that Sentence given by the Provincial Synod of Touraine held at Mans the last October by which the said Marriage was declared Incestuous because the said De Schilhant had formerly espoused the Sister of the said Petitioner whereunto it does injoyn the said Lady quietly to submit and to observe it with Repose and Tranquility of Conscience moreover the Council exhorts her to return unto her own Church there to make such Acknowledgment of her Fault as the Consistory shall think meet X. Having heard the Remonstrance made by our Brother the Deputy of Poictou concerning Peter Boulay who had intruded himself into the Ministry of the Church of Niort The Council ratifies and approves the Determination of the Provincial Synod held at Niort by which the said Boulay was declared uncapable and insufficient to be chosen into the Ministry of the Gospel until such time as he had given proofs of his Sufficiency before the Provincial Synod of Poictou Moreover this present Council hath ordained That this very Advice shall be signified both unto the said Boulay and to all those who do abett him by our Brethren La Forest and De Thire who making report unto the next approaching Synod of Poictou of the Obedience or Rebellion of the said Boulay and his Abettors a final Period shall be put unto this Affair according to the Rules of our Church-Discipline And the Council leaves it to the Wisdom of the next â—ynod whether it be expedient for the common Edification of the Church that our brother De la Fayole be not also removed from Niort XII There shall be no Alteration made in that Article of our Discipline touching the Choice of Ministers and the Council hath ordained That * * * In the Book of Niort he is called M John Viâ—ier Mr. John Rebitt do sign the Confession of Faith and Articles of Discipline and moreover doth expresly forbid him so Teach in his Lectures Doctrine contrary unto them that so there may be no Disunion in the Church and if he should refuse Submission to this Advise of the Council he shall be sent back to the Consistory of that City to be dealt withal according to the Canons of our Church-Discipline XII As to that Question moved by our Brother of Orleance the Council hath and doth leave it to the liberty of the respective Consistories to judge of those who may be sit to assist at the Examination of Candidates for the Ministry as may be most expedient for their Edification yet so as they shall not suffer any besides the Members of the said Consistory to examine them XIII The Council judgeth it inconvenient to publish from the Pulpit the Articles of our Discipline yet they may be given unto such as desire them by the Consistories XIV Whereas the Letters sent unto this present General Council of the Reformed Churches of France assembled at Orleance by * * * The Book of Niort calls him Jodâ—â— Maurice Joequin are fraught with heavy Complaints against David Vivian Minister of Bourges and divers others of the Consistory of the said Church and because both Parties are absent the said Council remands them unto the next approaching Provincial Synod Berry that there the said Vivian and the other Members of the Consistory may be dealt withal as is just and sitting In the mean while considering the outragious and prophane Words mentioned in the said Letters and the Contumacy of the said Joequin disdaining to come unto this present Council after he had been lawfully summoned and the Threatnings contained in his Answer divers of our
desire that he may be admitted into the Church of God by that Initial Sacrament he shall not be baptized till he have made a publick Confession of his Faith and evidence that he hath a competent measure of Understanding and Knowledge in the Articles of our Christian Religion CHAP. VII Of MARRIAGES ARTICLE XX. MInisters neither may nor shall marry such as are professed Papists till they have first renounced their Popish Religion Superstition the Mass and do make profession of our Faith although the Husband himself should be a Believer ARTICLE XXI The Churches shall be informed not to celebrate any Marriages of Strangers out of the places of their abode without sufficient Attestation from that Church unto which they do belong ARTICLE XXII The Banes shall be published on two Lord's Days in those places where there be Weekly Sermons and if in other places then at such times as there is Exhortation made and common Prayers yea also they shall there be published thrice within the Fortnight It may be lawful but not necessary to publish the Banes of Marriage in the Popish Temples ARTICLE XXIII 'T is the Judgment of this Synod That a Man having left his Wife because of Leprosie and married another his first being yet alive that this his Marriage is null before God and that therefore he may not be admitted to the Lord's Table till he have first separated from this second Wife and repaired the Scandal he hath given the Church by publick Penance CHAP. VIII About Interests of Money ARTICLE XXIV ALL Persons shall carefully observe the King's Edicts and the Rules of Charity about Interest of Money CHAP. IX About Vagrants Hereticks and Schismaticks ARTICLE XXV VAgrants Hereticks and Schismaticks shall be notified unto all Churches that they may be aware of them CHAP. X. Of the LORD's SVPPER THe Churches shall be informed that it belongs only unto Ministers to give the Cup in the Lord's Supper if possible they can do it and that all evil Consequences may be avoided CHAP. XI General MATTERS I. MInisters shall exhort their Churches to demean themselves with all Reverence during the Administration of Baptism II. Women only shall not be admitted to present Children unto Baptism III. This Synod explaining the Article of the foregoing Synod concerning Baptism saith That no Baptism shall be administred unless in publick Church-Meetings The Cup at the Lord's Supper must be given by the Ministers IV. The Churches shall be informed That it belongs only unto Ministers to give the Cup at the Lord's Table and to obviate all evil Consequences it be possible none else shall deliver it V. All Vagrants Hereticks and Schismaticks shall be denounced such by Name unto the Churches that they may beware of them VI. Consistories shall be directed to call none before them unless there be good and sufficient ground for it VII Professors that are Ministers may be Members of Consistories and Synods To remove and change Ministers the Power is vested in the Synods VIII Ministers tho' already fixed in one Church may yet be lent unto another for its Edification for some time And when as our Candidates shall be called into the Ministry they shall have a certain Flock assigned to them among whom they shall have their constant abode The Power of removing Ministers for certain considerations remaining in the Synods with the consent of their Churches according to the Discipline Excommunication 〈◊〉 Synod 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Appeal Whole Consistories â—â—y not be Arbitrators All Sentences of Excommunication ratified by Provincial Synods shall for the future be confirmed and no Appeal from them X. The Bodies of Consistories shall never be chosen Arbiters but only some particular Members from among them instead of the whole XI None other Articles of the Church-Discipline shall be divulged but such as have been resolved on unanimously by all the Deputies in the National Synod CHAP. XII A Case of CONSCIENCE XII MAy a Man marry his Cousin-German or she that is one degree removed This Synod is of Opinion That care be taken of giving Scandal in such a case and the Offence being removed we know nothing to the contrary but that such Persons may marry for they do not sin against any Prohibition of God XIII At the openings of all Synods Provincial or National all the Articles of the Discipline shall be read And for time to come Provincial Synods shall sâ—â—d unto the General Assemblies the Articles decreed by them as well such aâ— concern the Government of their own Province The Book of Discipline to be read at the beginning of all Synods as those others which concern the generality of the Churches XIV Consistories have full liberty to receive Father and Son or two Brothers at the same time into Office among them unless there be some just cause which may hinder it whereof the Provincial Synod shall take Cognisance CHAP. XIII A BOOK Censured XV. HAving seen and read a certain Book intituled A Declaration of the Mystery and Secret of God demonstrated by two Pictures as also another Book in Manuscript intituled The Mirrour of Antichrist This Assembly declares the said Books to be full of Blasphemies Heresies and of vain and scandalous Discourses and therefore adviseth the Faithful to beware of them and their Author is declared unworthy of the Ministry and of any other Office in the Church and the Books shall be put into the hands of the Ministers of the Classis of Nismes who shall tender them unto their suspected Author and if he avow them for his own then to depose him from all Office if he bear any in the Church and to proceed farther against him as they shall judge meet CHAP. XIV Particular MATTERS James Pinus deposed from the Ministry for being a Vagrant c. JAmes Pinus is declared unworthy of the Ministry and the Sentence of the Synod of Niort condemning him for divers Crimes from which he hath never purged himself is confirmed in particular 1. That he intruded himself into the Ministry without a Call 2. For that since he hath continued in it notwithstanding the Remonstrances made him and his Promises to desist which he made unto the National Synod of Poictiers Moreover he shall be bound to reconcile himself unto the Churches of Geneva and Lausanna And for what concerns our Brother De Ressé he shall be exhorted by Letters to continue in his Ministry and to renounce Pleading at the Bar and other Businesses which take him off from his Calling and in case of his Rebellion he shall be forthwith deposed and cut off from Communion with the Church And the Church of Talmont is admonished to live in Concord with the other Churches CHAP. XV. UPon those Remonstrances presented by the States of Languedoc unto this Synod there was this Advice given As to the first and second Articles concerning Ministers Letters shall be written unto the Provincial Synod of Languedoc exhorting the Ministers of that Province to
conform it self with the other Churches of this Kingdom unto that Canon of the Discipline viz. That Elders and Deacons shall be chosen by the Consistory and then presented unto the People XIV The Deputies in the last Synod of Paris acquainted this present Assembly that they had given order to our Brethren in the Church of Lions to Print the Book of Discipline XV. The Churches shall have notice given them that they do not admit unto any Ministerial Duties A certain Spaniard going by the Name of Anthony de la Rodit Bellariva till such time as he have first cleared himself of those Crimes for which he stands Impeached by the Church of Loudun XVI Whereas there is a very great difference in the Body of our Discipline which now passeth from hand to hand The Churches of Paris Orleans and Meaux were appointed diligently to revise and examine all those Canons that have been made in former Synods and to send Attested Copies of them unto all the Provinces XVII And the Churches of Paris Lion Orleans and others shall not for the future dispose of any Scholars and Students without their Consent who had sent to the Universities XVIII The Churches are advised to take heed of a certain Old Grave and Bald-headed Fellow going by the Names of Fontaires and Duzau of Valleyse in Languedoc who tho he was never Called or Ordained doth yet notwithstanding take upon him to exercise the Office of a Minister CHAP. IX A Resolution of several Cases of Conscience and of other Weighty Points of the Christian Reformed Religion by the R. Mr. John Calvin Pastor and Professor at Geneva THese Cases and their Solution were all annext unto the Canons of the National Synod of Vertueil in Augoumois held there the Seven first days of September 1567. 1. Quest Whether Children may lawfully detain and possess those Lands and Foundations which were given by their Parents for Singing of Masses Answ Altho those poor Founders as they be called in the Papacy were grosly cheated and abused yet inasmuch as these very Persons to whom those Goods and Lands once belonged did alienate them in a legal Manner Their Heirs and Successors are deprived of them and cannot pretend nor claim any Right unto them So that they must sit down patiently with the Loss unless that publick Authority should find out some Relief for them by a Reformation 2. Quest Whether a Man being forced to abandon his Native Country for Religion and Conscience may also lawfully forsake his Wife Answ The married Man would do much better to take his Wife with him if it be possible for him so to do rather than to live separate from her that so he may give a good Example unto others and avoid those Temptations unto which he is obnoxious as also that he may prevent very many Inconveniences which are likely in such cases to befal him And unless he be inforced to it by necessity he ought not to leave her By necessity I mean this when he cannot serve God with a safe Conscience But if it should so fall out that a Man cannot live as becometh a Christian altho his Wife will live at a distance from him yet is it lawful for him to go before her waiting for her to follow him and he is to sollicite her to come unto him even then when he is separated from her 3. Quest Whether a Father flying for Idolatry may leave his Children behind him Answ If a Father should leave his Children with this Condition That a Padagogue might if he would lead them unto Idolatry he would than be guilty of Sin against God For our Children are God's peculiar Treasure an holy and separate Seed for him and which must be kept with the greatest Care for God And altho he cannot always have his eye upon them yet 't is neither meet nor profitable that he should leave them in such a place from which he cannot recover them without a World of difficulty Yea did he conscientiously endeavour to get his Children with him it would be an effectual Means to draw his Unbelieving Wife after him 4. Quest Whether a Man may forsake his Country when he is not persecuted Answ If a Man should live among Idolaters unpolluted with their Abominations we would not condemn but praise him for his Constancy And in truth we cannot warrantably impose a Law upon him who would depart his Country as if it were unlawful for him so to do whether it proceed from his fear of what is likely to come to pass or upon any other account as suppose he distrusting his own weakness to stand out in a fiery Tryal or ardently seeking after the means of Grace and heavenly Knowledge should thereupon leave his Native Country such a Zeal as this cannot but be approved and applauded 5. Quest Whether it be our Duty to reprove those Sins and sinful Discourses we hear in wicked Company Answ There cannot be any stated Rule or Canon in this Case of reproving Errors or ungodly Talk but this that we should not dissemble nor conceal our dissent from them when as opportunity is offer'd us of reproving them For suppose we should be in some Company where they discourse wickedly we are not bound necessarily to reply upon them There is a time when the prudent Man may keep silence But in case we meet them privately and have no Witness we may do as Righteous Lot testify and express our Displeasure at their Sin and that we are unwillingly through Grief at Heart put upon the Reprehending of them But yet the best Course we could take would be this to observe and take by the' Forelock that Opportunity which God presents us of Opposing Sin of edifying our Company and hindring the Name of God from being blasphemed or that the weak and well-meaning Christian should be seduced through default of timely warning 6. Quest Whether we may correct or expell out of our Service an Infidel or Popish Servant Answ Forasmuch as the Holy Apostles of our Lord did not constrain the Brethren of their Times to drive away their Servants tho no better than Slaves when they would not imbrace the Christian Faith Therefore Masters should now adays observe these two Things First That Sith he is at liberty to give Covenant-Servants that he taken one but such as fear God and are of the Houshold of Faith if possibly they may be Good or that he take a most especial Care if that they be ignorant to instruct them and rid his hands of them Secondly That he do not suffer nor permit the Name of God to be blasphemed within his House and Family wherein God will be honoured But above all that he never prefer his own private Profit and Advantage above the Glory of God 7. Quest Whether a Reformed Christian Gentleman is bound in Conscience to hinder the Committing of Idolatry in the Chappel of his Castle Answ Forasmuch as we are permitted to suffer that which we cannot alter nor
sworn a Promise of Marriage unto a Maid or Woman shall depart unto another Country and the Maid or Woman shall make her Complaints of it craving to be discharged from her Promise because of his disloyalty Let inquiry be made upon what occasion he left the City whether it be lawful and with the Consent of his Partner who is now the Plaintiff or whether it was not for Debauchery and because he was unwilling to accomplish the Marriage And if it appear that he had no sufficient reason for so doing and that he did it out of a wicked Intent let inquiry be made into what place he is withdrawn and how notice may be given him to return within a prefixed day and to perform his promise of Marriage unto his Partner and if upon notice given he do not appear then let Proclamation be made on three Sundays a Fortnight's distance intervening betwixt each Proclamation the last being made on the sixth Lord's-day and if he do not appear at the time assigned then let the Maid or Woman be declared free and set at liberty from him and let the delinquent Man be banished for his disloyalty In case he do appear let him be compelled to accomplish the Marriage out of hand But and if it cannot be known into what Country he is gone and that the Maid or Woman and his Friends and nearest Relations shall swear that they are all ignorant where he is then let the same Proclamations be made as if he had notice given him that the Maid or Woman is discharged acquitted and liberated from him But in case there was a just cause for his absence and that he had advised and acquainted his Partner with it then let the Maid or Woman use all possible diligence by her self and his Friends to recal and induce him to return and if he do not return within the Year then let Proclamations be made as was before directed in the fourth Article Article IX And let the same Course be taken with a Maid or Woman that shall offend as the Man excepting always that the Husband shall not be obliged to wait a full Year altho his Wife had lest him with his Knowledge and Consent unless he had given her leave for to be absent a longer time Article X. If a Maid being duely tied by promise of Marriage is frauduiently transported out of the Territory of this Republick that she might not accomplish the Marriage let inquiry be made whether some one or other in the City hath not aided nor assisted in this rape that so they may be compelled to return her under such a Penalty as shall be judged meet and if she be under Guardians and Trustees they also shall be enjoined to see her forth coming if possible Article XI If a married Woman have abandoned her Husband and he be silent and make no complaint of it or if the Wife thus forsaken of her Husband shall dissemble it without a word 's speaking and this afterwards come to light let them be cited both into the Consistory there to inform how matters have gone that so all scandals may be prevented and that no deceit nor collusion may be tollerated nor what is worse winked at and the true state of the Matter being come to light an effectual course may be taken to prevent all voluntary Divorces which Men and Women of their own head-strong Wills and without Authority of the Civil Magistrate would give unto one another Yet nevertheless the Wife at the request of her Husband shall be compelled to follow him when and wheresoever he pleaseth to remove his habitation whether it be out of choice or necessity provided he be not a debauched Person who will carry her God knows whether into some strange and unknown Country but if it be into a Land at some reasonable distance where he will make his residence and in some convenient place to follow his Calling and to live as an honest Man she must follow him Let all matrimonial Matters concerning personal Conjunction be first transacted in the Consistory but not Matters concerning Estate or Dower And here let there be a most friendly Agreement and Correspondency in God's Name But if there should need any judicial Sentence to be pronounced then let them go unto the Council and acquaint their Lordships with the Sence of the Consistory who may after judge finally in the Case The End of the Synod of Vertueil THE ACTS DECISIONS and DECREES OF THE VII National Synod OF THE Reformed Churches of Christ IN The KINGDOM of FRANCE Held At Rochel in the Province of Aulnix and Year of our Lord 1571. THE CONTENTS of this SYNOD CHap. I. Moderator and Scribes Chap. II. General Matters Observations upon the Confession of Faith Hereticks in Poland and Transylvania opposed Cozain's Works condemned and the Bishops of England desired to suppress his and the Books of some other Hereticks Erastus condemned Three Originals of the Confession kept one at Rochel another in Bearn and the third at Geneva Chap. III. Observations upon the Discipline Form of Ordination Alterations and Emendations of several Canons of the Discipline Chap. IV. Continuation of those Observations A Motion for answering the Books of our Adversaries approved by the Synod Chap. V. Catalogue of Vagrant Chap. VI. A particular Matter about Elders and Deacons A Motion of the Lord High-Admiral made unto the Synod Chap. VII General Matters Of the Consistory Of Delinquents Of Provincial Synods and Baptism Chap. VIII Four Observations upon the Discipline Of the Lords-Supper Marriages More Observations upon the Discipline Chap IX Canons about Marriage Particular Orders Chap. X. Orders about Publishing of Books c. Chap. XI Particular Matters Chap. XII Matters relating to Monsieur Mercure The Church of Taillebourg A Case of Conscience from the Province of Poictou The Churches of Languedoc not conforming exactly to the Discipline THE First Synod of Rochel 1571. Synod VII SYNOD VII In the Name of GOD Amen CHAP. I. Canons ordained in the National Synod held at Rochel the second Day of April One thousand five hundred seventy and one in the Eleventh Year of the Reign of Charles the Ninth Theodore de Beza Minister of Geneva was chosen Moderator N. des Gallars and de la Rougeraye Scribes CHAP. II. General MATTERS Observations upon the Confession of Faith I. FOrasmuch as the kind Acceptance and Entertainment of Christian Doctrine is the true Foundation of Church Discipline we have decreed to open this Synod by Reading the Confession of Faith Received in the Churches of France II. Forasmuch as our Confession of Faith is Printed divers ways The Synod declareth this to be the true Confession of Faith of the Reformed Churches in France which beginneth with these words We believe that there is but one God which Confession was drawn up in the first National Synod held at Paris May the 25th 1559. These Hereticks were Davidis Gentilis Blandrata Socinus c. III. The Confession being read
2d Article in the Chapter of Marriages and Book of Discipline That all Persons young or old tho' they have been formerly married if they refuse to pay that Honour and Duty unto their Parents of Acquainting them with their intended purpose of Marriage shall be sharply reprov'd by the Consistory This is the 6th Article in the Chapter of Marriage and Book of Displine IX After these words in the third Touching Consanguinities and Affinities the Faithful may not contract Marriage with Persons And in lieu of what follows 1571. Synod VIII Forasmuch as great scandal may proceed from it whereof the Church shall take Cognizance there shall be put unless it be permitted them by the King's Edict X. This Addition shall be made unto the seventh This is the 16th Chapter of Marriage and Book of Discipline And if the Parties resolve to solemnize their Marriages in any other place than that where their Banes were published they shall take with them a sufficient Certificate of their Banes having been thrice published XI And farther Additions shall be made unto this Article 'T is a part of the 21st Article in the Chapter of Marriages and Book of Discipline in these words As for Persons suspended the Lord's Table they shall notwithstanding this their Suspension be permitted Marriage but with this Proviso That they confess their Faults with true Repentance XII This also shall be added That notice be given unto the Faithful That divers Difficulties arising about Marriage-promises may be prevented Promises of Marriage shall be made in words de praesenti they shall â—or time to come make the said Promises in pure and plain words de praesenti nor shall the Consistories admit the Banes of any others to be published in the Church From which promises according to God's Word the said Parties can never be discharged XIII Instead of they shall be admonished This is the 23th Article in the Chapter of Marriage and Book of Discipline in the 19th Article shall be put they may be admonished and at the end shall be added But if it should be the Case of any Church-Officers tho' they Received again their Wives yet shall they be displac'd from that Office they held and exercised in the Church XIV After those words in the twentieth who shall acquaint him with his Liberty according to the Word of God This is the 29th Article in the Chapter of Marriage and Book of Discipline there shall be inserted yet nevertheless because of the many Difficulties we advise the Ministers of this Kingdom not to marry those Parties tho' they be at Liberty to provide themselves elsewhere And after these words And as for what concerns the offending Party the Remainder shall be thus abridged This Liberty after great and mature deliberation shall be declared to him And a definitive Sentence having been obtained from the Civil Magistrate the Consistories may proceed unto the Celebration of that Marriage XV. Touching the fourth Article of particular Matters treated in the Synod of Vertueil and dismissed over to this Synod We have advised That the Wives of Priests and Monks which had been married unto those of them who have since revolted should not cohabit with them as Women with their Husbands least God's Holy Ordinance of Marriage should be loaden with Reproach and Infamy altho the Marriage be not dissolved But illae vocatae sunt ad caelibatum they be called out by God's Providence unto a single Life CHAP. IX Acts passed on Saturday the seventh Day of the same Month. I. To the Head of Marriages the Canon decreed at Vertueil shall be added This is the 21st Article in the Chapter of Marriage and Book of Discipline The Banes of Widows shall not be published till four Months and an half after the decease of their first Husband that the Evil and Scandal which otherwise would fall out may be avoided II. And this also It 's convenient for the keeping up of Discipline in the Church These two Articles make up the 24th in the Chapter of Marriages and Book of Discipline that no Marriage be solemnized on Communion-days And this Canon shall not be dispensed with but for very weighty Causes and those also approved by the Consistory III. Item Marriages shall not be solemnized on days of Fasting Concerning Particular ORDERS IV. THere shall be added after the Word This Article is the 2d in the Chapter of particular Orders Lands belonging unto Castles this word And the Titles in the first Article V. To the third Article there shall be this Addition Judges shall not be reproved for giving Sentences in Causes concerning Ecclesiastical Goods and the Execution of the King's Edict This Article is divided into the 5.6 and 7. Articles of particular Orders in the Book of Discipline And Arbitrators shall in no wise intermeddle with any of those Matters which either directly or indirectly do concern Idolatry Advocates shall be admonished neither to demand nor give Councel in Causes belonging to the Execution of the said Edict VI. On the 4th Article the Queen of Navar demanded our Advice whether through want of others she might with a good Conscience Receive and Establish Roman Catholick Officers in her Dominions This is the 13. Article in this Chapter and Book of Discipline as also in her Conrt and Family To which the Synod humbly replied That her Majesty should take special heed about her Domestick Officers and as much as possible only to imploy Persons fearing God and of the Reformed Religion And that she should cause the Papists that are peaceable and of unblameable Lives to be instructed and that she should utterly discard those Traytors who forsook her in her Necessities and cruelly persecuted God's Saints in these last Troubles VII After those words in the 6th They may address themselves This is the 8th Article in this Chapter and Book of Discipline shall be added in case they be sent by the Magistrate VIII After Brethren and Sisters in the Eighth Article shall be put and other Parents And the last Clause shall be thus couched This is the 16th Article in the Chapter and Book of Discipline And they shall be exhorted to assist and provide for them according to the Laws of Humanity and Book This present Body of Church-Discipline having been diligently examin'd according to God's Word by all the Ministers and Elders of the Reformed Churches of France was in all its Heads and Articles approved by the said Deputies who in their own Names and for their Churches did Promise and protest to keep and observe it for the Edification of the Church the Conservation of Order and their mutual Union that God might be the better glorified by them N. B. The Discipline was kept most strictly forty Years after this Synod and then they began to lax the Reigns yeilding too much to the Iniquity of the Time CHAP. X. Particular Orders about publishing of Books
Cause and Sin must he confessed VIII There shall be no publick Penance done in the Church without express Confession of the Cause and Crime committed by this publick Penitent They shall not be chosen Elders nor Deacons who have Popish Wives IX For the future none shall be chosen if possible into the Eldership or Deaconry whose Wives are of a contrary Religion according as the Apostle Paul hath ordained Nevertheless that the Church may not be deprived of the Service of divers godly and well-deserving Persons who by reason of past ignorance have Wives of another Religion they may for this present necessity be tolerated provided they do their endeavour by Instructions and Counsels to convert their Wives and to bring them into Communion with the Church X. Neither Ministers nor Elders may give Attestations without an express and punctual Declaration of the Places and Persons Names and the way which they intend to travel who obtained these Certificates at their hands And if any Attestations are presented to them without these Circumstances they are required to vacate and tear them in pieces and those who granted them shall be censured in the next ensuing Colloquy or Synod CHAP. III. An Act for a National FAST IX FOrasmuch as the Times are very Calamitous and that our poor Churches as are daily menaced with many and sore Tribulations and for that Sins and Vices of all sorts are risen up and growing in upon us in a very fearful manner a general Day of Prayer and Fasting shall be published that our People may humble themselves before the Lord and all the Churches of this Kingdom shall observe it on one and the self-same Day which shall be Tuesday the 25th of March next following and if it may be done the Lord's Supper shall also be administred in all the Churches on the ensuing Sabbath XII According to the 2d Article in the Chapter of Consistories and Book of Discipline about Common-Prayers The Churches shall be exhorted where Morning and Evening Common-Prayers are publickly used to conform themselves unto those others which have none and where this Custom was never introduced And Ministers shall advise all Governors of Families to Worship God by Morning and Evening Prayers in and together with their respective Housholds and Families XIII Churches refusing to defray the Expences of their Ministers in going to Classes and Synods Churches shall defray their Ministers expences at Collâ—quies and Synods shall be admonished of their Duty and in case of non-performance and that their Ministers be inforced to travel to those Sessions at their own Costs and Charges they shall be deprived of their Ministers unless they remind themselves of their Duty and reimburse them those Sums they had so expended Moreover Colloquies shall reassume their disused Exercise of Propositions on the Word of God as they were formerly handled to their very great Profit and Edification That so Ministers may better know their Duty and grow in the Study and Understanding of the Holy Scripture and be more Methodical in their Sermons and Divinity Discourses XIV God-mothers shall be equally bound to the Religious Education of those Children for whom they be Sureties as their God-fathers And Ministers shall charge them to see that they conscientiously fulfil their Promises XV. The Synod having been acquainted that in divers Places during the Celebration of the Lord's Supper Ministers do vary in their Expressions it judgeth that nothing shall be innovated in particular Churches but that herein they be left unto their Liberty for the present only the Provinces shall be advertised to come prepared about this Matter unto the next National Synod XVI His Majesty shall be Petition'd to approve of those Marriages which have been celebrated among us during the last Civil Wars according to the Tenor of the former Edict against the Laws of the Romish Church in that particular Article of Consanguinities and Affinities CHAP. IV. Cases of CONSCIENCE A Man may nâ—t marry his dead Wife's Aunt XVII IT being Queried Whether any one might Marry the Aunt of his deceased Wife Answer was given That such a Marriage was altogether Incestuous and in case any Church had permitted it the said Church deserved Censure See the Synod of Bergeraâ— Art 2. XVIII This Case being propounded A Maid was betrothed unto a Man by words de presentl and with the usual requisite Solemnities The Resolution of this Case was to be given by the Magistrate but afterwards this Man happens to be condemned unto the Gallies during Life yet by some how or other he escapeth out of them and returning home doth demand and summon his betrothed Spouse to marry him according to her Promise What shall be done herein The Synod doth advise That because Marriage is a mixt Alliance the Parties concerned shall apply themselves unto the Magistrate according to whose Decree the Church shall be governed XIX Although the holding Temporalities of Benefices in France be an indifferent Matter yet the Faithful are admonished to intermeddle as little as may be with such Purchases because of their evil and dangerous Consequences and Consistories and Colloquies shall use a great deal of Prudence in their Opinions and Actings in and about them Scripture-stories must be handled with modesty by Poets XX. Such as shall put into Verse or Poems Scripture-stories are admonished not to blend nor mingle Poetical Fables with them nor to ascribe unto God the Names of false Gods nor to add or diminish from the Sacred Scriptures but to confine themselves strictly to the Scripture-Terms Modesty in Apparel See the Synod of Paris Gen. Mat. Art 33. XXI That Article concerning the immodest Habits and Fashions of Men and Women shall be observed with the greatest Care imaginable And both Sexes are required to keep Modesty in their Hair and every thing else that no Scandal may be given to our Neighbour See the Synod of Bergerac Art 9. upon reading the Discipline XXII A Minister may not together with his Ministery practice Physick But yet out of Charity he may give his Advice and Assistance unto the sick Members of his Church and to the Neighbourhood without diverting himself from his Function nor shall he draw Advantage from it unless in time only of Trouble and Persecution when as he cannot exercise his Ministery in his own Church XXIII Fathers and Mothers are exhorted to be exceeding careful in Instructing their Children which are the Seed and Nursery of the Church and they shall be most bitterly censured who send them to the Schools of Priests Jesuits and Nuns As also the Gentry shall be reproved who place them Pages or Domesticks in the Houses of Lords and Noble-men of the contrary Religion XXIV Such as commit enormous Crimes as Incests Murders or the like shall be without any more ado cut off from Communion at the Lord's Table and their Suspension shall be published in the Church XXV If there arise any difference between a Church and
another where their Crime is not known they shall only testify their Repentance privately before the Consistory but with this Condition that in case they return to that former Church whereunto they belonged they shall then and there also make a publick Acknowledgment of their Offence XXIV Publick Penances shall be undergone personally and by those only who have publickly offended the Sinner openly and sincerely with his Mouth from his Heart testifying his Repentance XXV Whoredoms when committed and come to publick â—â—owledge shall by their Actors be publickly acknowledged with evident Tokens of Repentance XXVI This Clause by the greater part shall be razed out from the end of the 17th Article of Figeac and there shall be this only inserted known by the greater part XXVII Both those Canons of the Tenth National Synod and of our ancient Discipline concerning the time of meeting for Colloquies and Provincial Synods shall remain in full force so that they be wholly left unto their Liberty to do therein as they may most conveniently XXVIII Forasmuch as Provincial Synods depend upon the National Colloquies also shall for the same Reasons be subject unto the Provincial Synods and Consistories unto Colloquies XXIX The National Synod of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom assembled in this City of Rochel under the Authority of the King's Edicts having seen a certain Book Intituled The History of France printed in this City upon divers complaints made unto us from all parts of the Kingdom against it and having took Cognisance of the proceedings of the Consistory of this Church against the find Book hath found that in many places the Author speaks exceeding irreverently and irreligiously of divine Things and that it is a heap of idle vain and prophane Matters full of Falshoods Lies and Calumnies to the great prejudice of God's glorious Power to the disadvantage and dishonour of our Holy Doctrine and Reformed Religion to the Dissamation of divers godly Persons dead and living And therefore hath thought good to advertise all the Churches that they beware of the said Book and inasmuch as in them lieth to disapprove it And this Synod doth judicially declare the Author of the said Book if he own himself a Protestant unworthy of our Holy Communion and not to be admitted to the participation of the Sacraments until such time as he shall have acknowledged his offence and by convenient means such as the Suppression of his History shall have repaired the Scandal that he hath given unto the Churches XXX The Synod also having seen and examined another Book written in Latin upon Genesis by a certain Fellow called James Brocan of Piedmont printed in this City hath declared and doth declare it to be fraught with Impieties and horrible Profanations of the Sacred Scriptures and pernicious Errors especially in Matters of Revelation of Revelation Prophecy and therefore exhorts all the Faithful to keep themselves carefully from being seduced by it XXXI The first Article of Provincial Synods being read it was decreed That all Ministers should attend in Person at their Provincial Synods or should excuse themselves by Letters in case of absence the causes whereof should be judged valid or otherwise by those Assemblies XXXII The third Article concerning National Synods shall abide in its full power But for the benefit of all our Churches there shall be this clause added That for time to come if possible it may be done there shall be two Ministers and two Elders deputed from every Province unto them XXXIII Forasmuch as Dancings and other Dissolutions do sprout up and increase every where yea and in these our Reformed Churches it was thought good to exhort the Consistories that for God's sake they would conscientiously observe the Six and twentieth Article of particular Orders decreed in the Synod of Figeac and in the Name of God and by the Authority of this present Assembly that it be read publickly in the Churches and all Colloquies and Synods are hereby expresly charged to censure those Consistories that neglect their Duty in this particular XXXIV All those who by unlawful means as by Papal Bulls or ready Money shall purchase or hold Benefices and such as cause Idolatry to be upheld and maintained either directly or indirectly shall be excluded Communion at the Lord's Table XXXV As to what concerns Impropriators and Farmers of Benefices the ancient Canons of our Discipline shall hold good and be in full force power and vertue against them Yet nevertheless the Deputies shall bring with them from their respective Provinces whatever Difficulties have occurr'd about those matters that so they may be debated in the next National Synod And whereas our Brethren of Languedoc Gascony and Perigord have desired have for the welfare of their Churches to censure such Farmers the business is left unto the prudence of their Provincial Synods XXXVI That Churches may not hereafter upon the death or removal of their Pastors be dissolved the Ministers who preside in the Colloquy for a new Election shall first of all enquire of every Elder in other Churches of the Colloquy what and how much Maintenance they exhibit unto their Pastors and what care they take for paying in unto them their promised Stipends that so provision may be made for them by the Authority of the Colloquies XXXVII These words The most eminent shall be blotted out from the 33d Article of Figeac XXXVIII Synods and Colloquies shall consult how to six the Limits and Extent of that Church wherein a Minister shall exercise his ordinary Calling XXXIX Ministers belonging to the Churches of France and now living abroad without the Kingdom shall be recalled by their respective Provinces XL. Forasmuch as there is a notorious contempt of Religion visible in all places yea also in our Religious Meetings we advise that Notice be given unto all Persons to bring with them their Psalm-Books into the Churches and that such as contemptuously neglect the doing of it shall be severely censur'd and all Protestant Printers are advised not to sunder in their Impressions the Prayers and Catechism from the Psalm-Books XLI The 17th Article of particular Orders concerning Habits was thus explained This Synod declareth That such Habits are not to be allowed in common wearing which carry with them evident marks of lasciviousness dissolution and excessive new-fangled Fashions such as painting slashing cutting in pieces trimming with Locks and Tassels or any other that may discover our Nakedness or naked Breasts or Fardingales or the like sort of Garments with which both Men and Women do wickedly cloath and adorn themselves And Consistories shall do their utmost endeavour to suppress such Dissolutions by their Censures and in case the Delinquents are contumacious and rebellious they shall proceed against them even to Excommunication XLII As to the 14th Canon concerning Marriages this Synod doth not judge it contrary to the 24th Article enacted by the Assembly of Estates at Blois for in that Orders only were given unto Notaries and Scriveners how
that they may be combin'd into one and by this means gain a Minister for the Church of Rouen or if this don't like them they may contrive some better expedient And this course also shall be taken by the Province of Xaintonge for the supply of the Church of Xaintes XXV This Assembly prays and intreats the Province of Brittany to lend Monsieur De la Melluniere unto the Church of Vitré and at the same time to make provision for the Church of Cuisit where he is at present XXVI The Lord Du Plessis presented himself in the Name of the King of Navarre unto this Assembly proposing from His Majesty That there might be sent unto him being now on the other fide of the Loire certain Deputies Persons of Quality and Understanding who might be near His Majesty to acquaint him with the true State of our Churches and that he also might reciprocally communicate unto the Churches all Matters of Importance tending to their welfare and preservation This Assembly is of Opinion That all the Churches be exhorted effectually to comply with His Majesty's Demands and in order thereunto to name one or two Deputies to be dispatcht unto him in the Name of the Churches and this to be done out of hand and the Province of the Isle of France is to see it done without delay Means for uniting the German and French Churches Synod of Gap Gen. Mat. art 11. Synod of Rochel art 4. after the choice of Moderator and Assessor XXVII A motion being made for an Union and Agreement betwixt the Churches of Germany and ours this Assembly adviseth That Monsieur De Chandieu be solicited to undertake a Journey for the effecting of it and in case the said Monsieur De Chandieu have just Excuses for not accepting the Employ Monsieur De Seire shall be intreated to supply his place XXVIII Monsieur Salnar is intreated to write in the Name and by the Authority of this Synod unto the Princes and Divines of Germany and he shall confer with the Lord Du Plessis about the subject matter of his Letters and the said Letters shall be sent to Monsier De Chandieu to be represented by him XXIX Monsieur De Chassincour is intreated by this Assembly to continue his Office at Court and the Churches are exhorted to perform their Duties to him whereof the Brethren of the Isle of France are order'd to give him notice XXX The Deputy of Lower Languedoc demanding that our Brother Vilette Minister in the Church of La Sala may be removed thence and translated unto Montpellier because of that great Service he may do there and that his Church may be some otherways provided This Assembly leaveth the decision of this matter unto his Provincial Synod which after due consideration had of all Circumstances shall determine of it XXXI Monsieur Laurence Bouchart formerly Minister of Privas in Lower Languedoc deposed for his scandalous Crimes having appealed unto this Assembly it examined the Causes of his Deposition and all the Proceedings in and about it and now judgeth that he cannot be restored unto the Minstry whatever Testimonials of Repentance may be produced by him XXII To the Case propounded by the Deputies of Berry Whether his Marriage should be tolerated who had espous'd his Wife's Niece and that had some Years after his said Marriage joyned himself unto our Religion and communicated with us at the Lord's Table and hath had several Children by this Wife This Assembly answereth That by the 14th Verse of the 18th Chapter of Leviticus such a Marriage is incestuous and that therefore in no wise can it be tolerated and that they provoke not the Wrath of God more heavily against them they ought to separate one from the other And whereas these Persons committed this sin in the time of their Ignorance we advise that they privately confess it unto the Consistory where they shall be admonished counselled and comforted from the Word of God XXXIII Complaint being made by divers Persons of the Censure passed on Brocard's Exposition of the Book of Genesis in the last Synod of Rochel where he was condemned for Impiety and Prosanation of God's Holy Word and blaming it as too strict and rigorous tho' some would acquit him of Impiety because he agrees with us thoroughly in all the Articles of Faith This Assembly doth confirm the afore-mentioned Censure judging that that Doctrine is not only impious which is contrary to the Articles of Faith but that also which perverts the true sence and meaning as his doth of the Holy Scriptures because they be the true Foundation of the Christian Doctrine Yet that satisfaction may be given them who are displeased at the Censure past on this Book of Brocard's there shall be extracted out of it a Catalogue of his grossest Errors and communicated abroad for their perusal and information XXXIV Monsieur De Bellefleur appealing from the Sentence given against him in the Synod of Higher Languedoc by which his Treatise against the Discipline of our Churches was condemned this Assembly having read his Treatise and the Answers made unto it doth confirm the said Saentence past against the said Bellefleur To whom notwithstanding a Letter shall be dispatcht in the Name of this Assembly and the Answer of our Brother Monsieur Berault shall be communicated to him in which if he do not acquiesce the next Colloquy or Synod shall denounce him Schismatick XXXV The Deputy of Higher Languedoc related the Affair of Arias and Bourgade complaining that they were too severely censured by their Pastors Berault and Gironnin whereupon the Synod came unto this Resolution That the Piovince shall be informed that they have full Power and 't is their Duty to judge definitively of it and that the Censures given by the Consistory of Montauban and the Provincial Synod against them shall be in force and if the said Plaintisss be not quiet nor demean themselves peaceably and modestly according to their Duty The Colloquy of Lower Quercy calling in two other Ministers from the Neighbour-Colloquy shall in the Name and Authority of this Synod judge definitively of this Fact XXXVI The Province of * * * Higher Lower Languedoc is appointed by this Assembly to convoke and assign the Time of Meeting for the next National Synod which is once for all ordained two Years hence in the Month of May. May 16. 1583. Thus Signed by Peter Merlin Moderator And René Pineau Scribe The End of the Synod of VITRE THE ACTS DECISIONS and DECREES OF THE XIII National Synod OF THE Reformed Churches of Christ IN The KINGDOM of FRANCE HELD At Montauban in the Year of our Lord 1594. THE CONTENTS of this SYNOD CHap. I. Deputies unto the Synod Synodical Officers chosen The Lord's Supper to he received by all the Deputies in the conclusion of the Synod Chap. II. 7. Observations upon the Confession of Faith and its Approbation Chap. III. 21. Observations upon the Discipline being so many Additions and
presenting his Theater of Antichrist composed by him in obedience to the command of the National Synod received the thanks of this Assembly for his great and worthy pains and the University of Saumur is ordered to peruse it and having given their opinion of it we order that it be Printed together with thâ— Authors Name The Province of Dolphiny acquitted for her receipt and distribution of Moneys for the poor Refuged from the Marquisate of Saluces 10. The Province of Dolphiny by the Authority of this Synod is discharged of all accounts of Moneys received from the Provinces for the poor Fugitives of the Marquisate of Saluces and their Deputies who were charged in the Synod of Rochel with four hundred Livers gathered in the Church of Bourdeaux and with eight hundred Livers from the Church of Rochel are also acquitted by this Synod And the aforesaid Province is also discharged of the summ of six hundred sixty five Livers nine Sous and one Denier payed by it unto the Churches of Provence conformable to the Order of the last Synod 11. That Article concerning the Synod of Normandy shall remain as it is and the Province shall continue to summon to it all its Pastors according to the Discipline 12. The Deputies of Xaintonge remonstrating that the censure past by the foregoing National Synod on the Consistory of Soubize and Monsieur Chevalier its Pastor was grounded on a false accusation and therefore required that the said Censure might be razed out of the Book of our Acts. This Assembly dismissed the whole unto the Synod of Xaintonge who should hear both the Accusers and Accused and by the Authority of this Assembly judge finally of that affair and in case it were found to have been ill-reported to cast the self-same Censure upon the false Accusers CHAP. V. Appeals 1. JAMES de l'Obel otherwise du Val being deposed from the sacred Ministry for the sin of Adultery committed by him and which he himself had confessed to the Consistory of the Church of Gisors wherein he served summoning hither the Pastors and several Elders of the Church of Rouen came also in Person unto this Assembly with his Appeal from the former sentence of Deposition past in that Consistory against him and from its confirmation given by the Provincial Synod of Normandy the first of April 1609. This Synod having heard both the said du Val and the Deputies of the Province judgeth that the Consistory of his Church and the Synod of his Province had proceeded most regularly and rightfully against him and that therefore He the said du Val had aggravated his crime by his sinful Appeal and that he shall continue on the Roll of scandalous deposed Ministers without all hopes of ever being restored to so Sacred an Office more 2. The Colloquy of Gex appealed from a Decree of the Synod of Burgundy by which an exchange had been made between the two Churches of Divonne in the Baylywick of Gex and that of Issurtelle in the Province of Burgundy of their Ministers Monsieur Grillet and Gaussant The Synod ordaining that the Church of Issurtelle should pay the charges that Monsieur Grillett was at in his removal and that of Divonne or the Colloquy of Gex the charges of Monsieur Gaussant in his The Synod after hearing of Monsieur du Pan Deputy of that Colloquy and the Deputies from the Province of Burgundy judged that the Provincial Synod of Burgundy had by their Decrees done wrong unto the said Church and Colloquy and therefore chargeth the said Province and its Colloquy to reimburse the injured Church and Colloquy of their Expences out of the common Moneys belonging unto that whole Province 3. The same Colloquy appealed about the Tax imposed on it for bearing the charges of the Assembly of Chastellheraut But this their appeal was disannull'd because the said Colloquy had received its part of the moneys granted us by the King upon condition that the Provinces should be discharged for the expences of their Deputies unto the said Assembly And Monsieur du Pan Deputy for the said Colloquy by consent of the Province of Burgundy was told that the portions granted the Pastors in the Baylywick of Gex ought to be imployed towards their better maintenance and as an augmentation of their Stipends on this Condition that three of them together with as many Elders should always appear in person at their Provincial Synod and should pay their proportion of expences which were of necessity to be disbursed about the common affairs of the Province and the whole to be raised out of the Moneys given us by his Majesty And this Assembly by its own authority doth ratify that Ordinance of the Provincial Synod concerning the residence of Ministers upon their Churches and those Churches are bound to provide convenient houses for them 4. The Judicial Sentence of the Synod of Burgundy ordaining Monsieur Clark to continue Minister in the Church of Gex was confirmed nor may the said Pastor at the call of any private persons go and serve other Churches without having first obtained Leave from his Consistory or of three Elders at least And the Appeal of divers Pastors who had contradicted the said Colloquy was rejected and made void 5. Monsieur Toussaincts Pastor in the Church of Luke in Province presented himself unto this Synod pretending his call to be a Member of it and to have been deputed by the Province who having afterward retracted their choice he now Appealed from it The Synod having heard both him and the Deputies of the Province and understood that he himself had procured his own discharge from this Deputation and Had given his free consent to the Election of others declared his pretensions Null his claim void and his journey to be undertook without ground and that therefore he should bear his own charges And farther censureth him for his ill proceedings and ambitious seeking of an office whereunto he had no call and from which he had discharged himself and adviseth the Province to take care that for time coming our National Synods be no more troubled by any ambiguities in their Letters of Commission and Deputation 6. The Consistory of Chaallons upon the Saone complained in their Appeal of a Censure of the Synod of Burgundy because they refused to admit a certain Marriage to be solemnized in their Congregation But this their Appeal was made void and the Actings of the said Consistory in refusing the celebration of that Marriage judged over rigorous 7. The Church of Dijon brought their Appeal because Monsieur Chassegrain their Minister had been adjudged from them unto the Church of Chaallons upon Saone without their ever being able to redemand the Moneys given by them to the said Monsieur Cassegrain for his pension at Geneva or elsewhere This Assembly judged that Considering the long time the said Chassegrain hath lived at Chaallons without ever being redemanded by those of Dijon and Beaune that the Province had a power of Disposing
aforesaid Letters of Abolition and Pardon and that they disavow those persons if there be any such as have accepted and consented to them And whoever shall demand or approve them we declare those persons to have acted contrary and prejudicial to the sincerity of their Intentions and to their approved Loyalty and Fidelity All which we do once more publish not out of vanity or vain-glory but to give Testimony unto the Truth and that we are ready to adventure our Honours Estates and Lives in the performance of those Duties Services and Obedience which Their Majesties may expect from us who are their most humble most faithful and most obedient Servants and Subjects From Privas in Vivaretz the first of June 1612. Signed by Chamier Moderator Du Moulin Assessor Scribes Monsanglard and Manjald CHAP. X. General Matters 2. THE Consistories of those Towns in which Printers professing our holy Reformed Religion do live are exhorted to look carefully to the Impressions of our psalm-Psalm-books that nothing be inserted into the Calendars trenching upon the honour of any particular persons And our Brethren the Pastors of Geneva are desired to bear a strict hand over the Printers in their City that this Canon be punctually observed by them 3. Proposans maintained by the Provinces shall not be received into the Ministry without the consent of their respective Provinces nor shall any Proposans maintained by particular Churches be received into a Pastoral Charge without the consent of those very Churches from whom they received their Exhibitions 4. The Deputies of the Province of Aujou queried at what time after their Conversion from Popery to the Communion of our Reformed Churches such persons might be called into the Office of Elders and Deacons This Assembly ordained that it might be about the same time that other such might be admitted into the Ministry to wit after two years tryal and experience had of them and of their sincerity 5. Forasmuch as a torrent of Dissolution Irreligion and Profaneness is broke in upon us and most shameful divisions are risen up in our Churches which do visibly and terribly threaten us with the near approaches of God's Judgments ever since the Death of our late King This Assembly enjoyneth all the Churches within the Realm to proclaim an extraordinary Fast which shall be celebrated the first Wednesday in November next and be Universally and most Religiously observed by them The Provinces are exhorted carefully to collect the History of those Ministers and other Christians who in these last times have suffered for the truths of the Son of God and to transmit such Memoirs unto Geneva that they may be inserted into our Book of Martyrs and published to the World by the Pastors of that Church 7. Altho a person be chosen Counsellor for the Province and would thereupon be reputed for and Act as an Elder yet shall he not be admitted unto the Office of an Elder unless he pass through the forms prescribed by our Discipline CHAP. XI The Act of Re union 8. THE present National Synod of the Reformed Churches in this Kingdom desiring to secure the Peace and Union of the said Churches and inflamed with the Zeal of Gods House and Glory and grieved to see Satan sowing the Seeds of discord among us which redound to the Infamy and weakning of the said Churches and may in after times produce worse and more dangerous effects moved with charity towards the Members of our body and being willing to make some provision for a Fraternal concord the indispensable duty of all the Faithful hath and doth now resolve to exert it self even unto the utmost for the compassing of a Blessed and Holy peace and re-union among ourselves under their Majesties Authority And having once again Sworn our Oaths of Allegiance and Fidelity to them and that this Union may be the more easily effected and obtained This Assembly ordereth the Sieurs du Moulin and Durant Pastors and the Sieur de l'Isle Grossat Elder in the Church of Orleans to be joined as Commissioners together with our General Deputies in Court And all persons are exhorted to labour that the Memory of past matters be Buried in Oblivion and in the name of all our Churches to become Peace-makers that so the several humors and different Opinions risen up in the Assembly of Saumur may be Ballanced Allayed and Composed Declaring that the General desire of the said Churches is to reunite in one their affections who have been alienated from each other and this to be done according to the Methods and Counsels given and prescribed by this Assembly whereunto they may make such Additions as their Zeal and Prudence shall suggest and they shall diligently and conjointly inform the Provinces of their actings herein together with the result and success of their Mediation To this end Letters shall be Written and sent from this Assembly unto the Lords Mareschals and Dukes of Bouillon and de les Diguieres exhorting and adjuring them in the Name of God that they would be pleased at the instant intreaties of our Churches to join themselves together with us in an humble Petition and Address unto their Majesties and to testifie by evident effects their Zeal and Affection towards them and readily to embrace all opportunities that may either publickly or privately contribute to the safety of the State Quiet and Honour of the Kingdom as also that they would be pleased to join themselves together with our Churches for the procuring an entire removal of those Letters of Abolition verified and published of late by the Parliaments although never demanded nor deserved by us and to insist on it that the more important and necessary matters in our Petitions tendred unto their Majesties may receive a gracious answer and to endeavour that for the future all gratifications of persons and parties may be equal and all marks and notes of division and separation may be removed demonstrating thereby their forgetfulness of what is past and that they do cordially pursue without partiality the good of all and that generally upon all occasions which may so fall out they do manifestly express their zeal care and affection to the common publick Weal of our Churches as they shall be required admonished and informed by the General Deputies of the said Churches Moreover the said Lords shall be exhorted in our before-mentioned Letters that they would be pleased to resign up their own private Interests to those of the publick and that they would lay by their own particular Resentments which have been very much inflamed by the cunning crafts artifices and devices of the Enemies of our Religion and that they would hold a more firm Correspondence and sincere intelligence with the Lords Duke of Rohan and of Sully of Soubize de la Force and of the Lord du Plessis and with all others from whom by reason of these unhappy differences they have been estranged that so being all joyntly reunited in the Bond of Friendship they may
hold that such persons ought not to be rebaptized And therefore those Churches unto whom these poor Wretches be presented are advised to take all possible care that they be well principled in the Faith of our Lord Jesus 5. At the request of the Provincial Deputies of Anjou Saumur g. m. 2â— Alez g. m. 1. and of the Isle of France This Assembly ordained that the Decree of the National Synod of Saumur shall be still in force which was couched in these words That although by reason of the present necessity of these times in which we now live Pastors are permitted to be sent Deputies unto these Political Assemblies in which affairs relating to the Churches preservation are treated and debated Yet our Provincial and general civil Assemblies are earnestly requested to discharge and dismiss all Pastors from Deputations unto Court and this at the desire of several Provinces 6. At the request of the Province of Berry all the Provinces are enjoined to extend their Equity and Charity towards the poorer Churches Gergeau p. m. 39. in their distributions of the Kings money and in their allowances for expences in travel unto the general Assemblies whether they be Political or Ecclesiastical 7. The Deputies of Burgundy demanded whether a Patron might with a good Conscience sell away his right of Presentation unto any Rectory or Benefice 1 Vitré g. m. 15. provided he dispose of those moneys unto pious uses It was answered that he might warrantably do it For it was thus decreed in the National Synod of Vitré in the year 1583. 8. The same Province of Burgundy demanded that a special Canon might be made for direction how we should receive 3 of Râ—chel g. m. 16 Below Art 19. and what maintenance we should exhibit unto Monks who come unto us from foreign parts Order was given unto the Provinces where such Fellows first come to examine them most strictly and to see whether they be fit for the study of Divinity that so they may be supplied with maintenance accordingly or to employ them in other Callings according to their Capacities and the said Provinces shall give account of them unto the National Synods that they may dispose of them as of their own Peculiar 9. The Province of Higher Languedoc moving it Fâ—â—lliâ—rs Obs 14. all the Churches are injoined to suppress with the greatest care imaginable all manner of Insolencies such as they call Charivary's Redemptions of Marriage and the like and they who after admonitions prove incorrigible shall be prosecuted with all Ecclesiastical Censures and Magistrates professing the reformed Religion are intreated to exert their Authority so as to hinder or punish such Scandals 10. The Deputies of the said Province demanding Gap Obs 9. upon the former Synod that Ministers ordained abroad without the Kingdom might not be permitted to exercise their Ministry in our Churches at home without subjecting their Testimonials unto the Examination of Colloquies or Provincial Synods The Assembly ordered that all the Provinces should yield exact Conformity unto the ninth Article of Observations upon the Discipline made by the Synod of Gap on that of Gergeau 11. At the request of the forementioned Deputies the Professors in our Universities are ordered not to be too easy in giving their Testimonials unto Scholars but first of all carefully to examine their parts proficiency and conversations and according to the progress they have made in Humanity St. Maixant g. m. 30. and of Univers 8. Alez g. m. 6.1 Paris 13. Philosophy and Divinity and as they shall merit to give them their Attestations 12. On a Remonstrance exhibited by the Deputies of Normandy it is ordained that if a Pastor have given his Ministry unto any one particular Church he shall not leave it at his pleasure but shall first demand and obtain the advice and consent of his Colloquy or Provincial Synod in the matter and in case they judge of its expediency he may remove 13. This Assembly ordaineth St. Foy 7. that Catechising be more frequently used in all our Churches than ever and that the manner of expounding it whether Sermon-wise or by Questions and Answers is wholly left to the prudence of the respective Consistories who are to consider of the capacities and apprehensions of the Children in their Churches 14. Forasmuch as divers notable errors have been met withal in the Impressions of whole Bibles and of the New-Testament singly and of the psalm-Psalm-Books The Consistories of those Churches which have a Printing Press belonging to them are injoined to look carefully to it that their Printers have good Overseers and Correctors of the Press and that they Print with a fair Character and a good Paper And particularly the Pastors of the Church of Montauban are charged to call in all the Copies of the New Testament Printed in their City in Octavo and to suppress them because of the many and frequent faults in that Impression which quite alter and pervert the sence and because of the evil Consequence if that Impression should be vended and in answering the Letters of our Brethren the Pastors and Professors in the City and University of Geneva this Clause shall be inserted that we earnestly desire them to over see the Impressions of the Holy Bible of the New Testaments and Psalm Books that they may for the future be more correct than heretofore 15. The Deputies of the Isle of France demanding that the second part of the fifth Canon in the sixth Chapter of the Discipline might be a little qualified Saumur g. m 8. This Assembly did not think fit to make any alteration in it but exhorts Consistories Colloquies and Synods to use it unto Godly Edifying 16. The Deputies of Anjou and Poictou remonstrating how exceeding needful it is Figeac 51 Alez Obs 4. upon this Syn. that our Universities should be supplied with able Professors in Divinity This Assembly exhorts the Provinces to come prepared for this Debate unto the next National Synod and in the mean while to consider how to raise a Fund for the maintenance of some Scholars of great parts and hopes who may be wholly destinated unto this work or to find out some better expedient if they can 17. Complaints coming to us from divers hands Alez Obs 5. upon this Syn. that the Pensions paid by Scholars in the University of Saumur are so very high and the expence so exceeding great that many cannot and others will not send their Children to it This Assembly chargeth Monsieur Rivet Lanusse and de la Pilletierre that in their way homeward to their respective Provinces they do visit the University Council of Saumur and report unto them these Complaints and to assure them that in case they do not take some effectual course for moderating those excessive rates for lodging diet and washing the next National Synod will advise about it and transfer the said University to a cheaper and more convenient place 18. The Deputies of
Bearn brought with them a History of our Martyrs collected by that Province in the year fifteen hundred sixty and nine This Assembly ordained that it be sent unto Monsieur Goulark Pastor of Geneva that it may be added to the next Impression of our Martyrology 19. For the right understanding of those Canons made by the Synods of Rochel in the year sixteen hundred and seven and at Tonneins in the year sixteen hundred and fourteen Above Art 8. concerning a fixed Rule about the quota to be exhibited unto Monks for the defraying of their expences who abandoning their Convents do come and imbrace the Protestant Religion and live in Communion with our Churches This Assembly ordaineth that for the future the Churches and Provinces which first received them shall not have any power to redemand the charges they have been at about them from those Provinces in which they were born Mentauban Obs 9. Alez Obs 20. Forasmuch as the nine and twentieth Canon in the fifth Chapter of our Church-Discipline had ordained that if any persons professing the Protestant Religion should cite their Pastors or Elders or the whole Consistory before the Civil Magistrate to enforce them to bear witness against Delinquents who had confessed their faults before them that they should be prosecuted with all Church-Censures yea even as far as Excommunication This Assembly doth farther injoin all the Churches to prosecute such persons with the very self-same Censures who that they may avoid the Censures of their Consistories do arm themselves with Prohibitions from the Civil Magistrate although the matters for which they be censur'd are purely Ecclesiastical and not belonging to the Civil Tribunal or Jurisdiction 21. All Ministers are forbidden to vent in the Pulpit their private Sentiments of State-affairs St. Foy 26. Alez Obs 5. upon this Syn. it being contrary to the Resolutions taken up in our general Assemblies And Consistories Colloquies and Provincial Synods are injoined to have a watchful Eye over such Pastors as so do and to inflict upon them all the Censures of the Church yea and to suspend them from the Ministry and the same punishment shall be also laid on them who in their publick Sermons do clash one against another upon these matters Privas Obs 5. upon the former Synod 22. The Deputies of Anjou demanded at what time Monks who are lately converted from Popery unto the truth of the Gospel might be admitted to make their publick abjuration Answer was given by this Assembly that it was left wholly to the Wisdom of the Consistory to act therein according as they found such persons to have grown in Grace and in the knowledge of God's Truth Tonneins Obs 4. on the former Synod 21. The Sieur de la Viale one of the Deputies of Higher Languedoc presented unto this Assembly Letters from Monsieur Chamier Pastor and Professor of Divinity at Montauban by which he informed us of the progress made by him in his body of Controversies which he undertook at the intreaty of the last National Synod held at Rochell and that there were three Volumes ready and fitted for the Press the heads and matters of which were included in a particular Memorial that was also tendered by him The Assembly ordered their thanks to be returned him for his great and worthy labours and that the two thousand Livers which had been formerly promised him by the Synod of Privas should be kept by him as an incouragement for his travail and to help defray his charges and that the Church of God may be no longer deprived of his most singular and fruitful Labours whose publication it hath most ardently desired these many years The Consistories of Paris and Lyons are ordered to treat with the Printers and Booksellers of their Cities and with those of Geneva or with their Company who deal in such matters to undertake the Impression of these three Volumes without delay and to get them Printed either in Germany or Geneva and in case they should demand monies to be paid them in before hand they may oblige themselves to advance three thousand Livers deposited for this purpose with the Lord of Candal unto those that will ingage to finish the said Impression provided that as soon as it is finished they do cause to be deliver'd into those afore-mentioned Consistories of Paris and Lions according to the Articles Covenanted between them so many intire and perfect Books as will satisfy the aforesaid sum of three thousand Livers already received by them at the rate of four deniers per sheet And these Books lodged in the hands of those two Consistories shall be sold unto the Pastors of our Churches at a very moderate price reserving always twelve compleat Copies to be presented unto their Reverend and Learned Author free of all costs and charges whatsoever And farther those Consistories before-mentioned shall be accountable unto another National Synod for their receit and disbursement of the sum aforesaid and of the Books received and sold by them And that this Excellent Work of Monsieur Chamier may be the sooner finished and wrought off at the Press he is intreated to send speedily unto the abovementioned Consistories the Titles of his Works the number of Quires and of Folio's in each Quire together with one Folio-leaf of the same fairly written that so an estimate may be made of the bulk of the whole And these two Consistories having perused it they shall consult together about the best and most advantaglous terms they can agree on with the Printers which being signed notice thereof shall be given unto Monsieur Chamier with their request that he would be pleased to send his Manuscript Copy unto such a place as they shall appoint him at the charges of the Undertaker who shall be reimburst by deducting such a number of Books at the rates before contracted for as his charges amounted to in fetching the said Original Papers from their Reverend Author And the said Printers shall be obliged to work off the whole Impression within the space of one year at the farthest from the date of the Contract made with them 24. In pursuance of this Order for Printing those worthy Labours of the most Reverend Chamier Thomas Portau a Printer living at Saumur appeared in Person before this Assembly and offered those terms unto it which were accepted Whereupon the Consistory of Saumur were charged to contract with him taking therein the advice of the Lord du Plessis their Governour and of Monsieur Rivet Pastor of the Church of Touars and Monsieur Chamier shall be intreated to deliver unto the said Portau his Manuscript Copy who on notice given him shall wait upon him for it and at his own charges And besides this Article there shall be added these ensuing Conditions unto the Contract stipulated with him that he shall finish the Impression of these three Books against the next Mart of Franckfort and that he shall bring them to the place appointed before the
next Easter at the farthest that he shall print them on fair and large Paper which will hold ink without washing such as that on which the Lord du Plessis his Book of the Eucharist was Printed with as large a Margent and weighing fifteen pounds a Ream or there away that the Character shall be such as that Little Cicero Printed by Colomiés that the Letters shall be new founded with which he begins the work and to be renewed in the progress thereof in case occasion do require it and that the Consistory contracting with him do judge it needful that the stamps for the Latine Greek and Hebrew Quotations shall be all new and proportionable to the Work that the Books which according to the beforementioned Articles and Conditions he is to render unto the Churches shall be kept at Saumar there to be sold and a part of them shall be sent by the said Portau to Lions and Rochell and all of them delivered unto the respective Consistories of those Churches who shall take care for their being distributed abroad among our Ministers And in case Monsieur Chamier shall not deliver his Copy unto the said Fortau then the Consistory of Paris is ordered to divide equally the three thousand Livers remaining in the hands of the Lord du Candal and to send the respective dividend thereof unto the Provinces to whom it doth belong 25. This Synod received Letters from the Gentlemen deputed by the Provinces unto the Assembly at Rochell and Monsieur Preau Pastor of the Church of Vitré Commissionated by them reported their unanimous intentions and resolutions to live and die in the Union sworn by all the Churches for which he was ordered to render them the hearty thanks of this Synod and to assure them that we never had nor will ever have any other end or aim than firmly and inviolably to secure and promote this holy Union And as touching that particular reported by the said Du Preau unto this Synod by word of mouth and by Letters from the said Assembly how that the necessities of the day obliging them to send several Deputations unto Court and elsewhere whilst the six Provinces met and since all the others have joined them they were forc'd to borrow in one place five hundred Livers and in another place two thousand Livers more to defray their charges and there will be a want of five hundred Livers more to make another and their last Deputation unto Court which they shall be constrained also to take up at Interest For the payment of which sums the Deputies aforesaid have by an Act which was here presented us bound and obliged the moneys given us by the Kings Liberality for the maintenance of our Ministers This Assembly gives those Deputies to understand that the disposal of this money is wholly and solely in the power of our National Synods and of this in particular and that not a penny of it can be disposed of by any Political Assembly whatsoever yet notwithstanding for some special reasons in this juncture and not intending hereby to make a precedent of it for the future the Lord du Candal is ordered to pay unto the said Deputies the sum of three thousand Livers and this only by way of Loan that so their expences may be cleared of And whereas the six Provinces have borrowed five hundred Livers this Synod can do nothing in it because it was imployed on a private concern of the City of Rochell and by parity of reason the other Provinces might as well demand a reimbursement of their charges also expended by them on the like occasions And our Lords the General Deputies are intreated most humbly to Petition his Majesty that the said three thousand Livers may be returned us again and distributed among our Churches Since this the said Deputies assembled at Rochell have writ unto this Synod by the Lord of Cusonnel Deputy for Vivaretz that now they had no need of the said sum of four thousand Livers demanded by them before Whereupon advice was given to the Lord of Candal to furnish them only with two thousand one hundred Livers 26. Monsieur du Preau did also represent the distressed estate of the City and Church of Sancerre See below g.m. 37. who by reason of their past sufferings and to secure the possession of this Cautionary Town were well-near undone having borrowed so much moneys and Mortgaged their Estates for the payment thereof that without considerable assistance and relief from the Churches they shall never be able to pay their Debts nor to free their Estates from those great Incumbrances The same also was attested by Letters from the Lord Baron of Belette and by the Deputies of Berry This Assembly considering that all the Churches are concerned in the preservation of this important place exhorteth those Provinces which have not as yet charitably contributed towards their relief to do it out of hand and to remit the moneys Collected by them unto the Consistory of the said Church And our General Deputies are requested to have an extraordinary care of that City for the future 27. The same Monsieur du Preau complained to us from the Deputies in the Assembly at Rochell that Monsieur du Crest Pastor of the Church of Manosques in Provence did together with his Church and Consistory oppose the Election of the Lord Baron of Semis and of Monsieur Huron a Pastor to be Deputies unto the said Assembly Whereupon an Order past that those Pastors and Elders which were authorized by this Synod viz. the Deputies of Lower Languedoc to take cognisance of those many and great differences which are fallen out in the Province of Provence should also examine this matter and inflict such Censures as the Authors and Partners in these Divisions have incurred and deserved 28. Moreover Monsieur de Preau informed us of the deplorable Estate of the Churches in Auvergne which Information was confirmed by Monsieur Babat Pastor in the Church of Issoyre who came from them This Synod having heard them both and perused the Letters sent from the Assembly at Rochell and those from the Consistory of Issoyre and from the Lord Viscount of La Roche Courtan all advising us or the most miserable Condition of those poor and persecuted Churches It doth ordain that whereas the Deputies of the Provinces assembled at Rochell have recommended this affair unto our Lords the General Deputies the Synod will in a more special manner take care of this and be more concerned for it than for any other and will Petition his Majesty that Commissioners may be dispatched thither out of hand to cause the persecutions to cease and that satisfaction may be given unto our poor Brethren who have been so barbarously and cruelly tormented and that his Majesty's Edicts may be vigorously and faithfully put in execution And forasmuch as the Deputies of Sevennes and the said Babat have urged the necessity of setling two Pastors in those Churches aforesaid this
and admitted of all kind of Evidence and Witnesses against him though they were never so passionate and Parties in the case and some also who were not legally to be admitted unto a Deposal against a Minister And as for the said Sieur de Richelieu This Assembly judgeth him worthy of a very grievous Censure for neglecting his Duty and not keeping up Order and Discipline in his Church for not holding Consistories nor passing Censures as ought alwayes of course to have been done and practised before Communion days at the Lords Table and for leaving his Church before the time appointed and without having demanded or obtained his License of departure in due form and above all for expressing too much levity in his imaginations and for giving too much way unto his passions and for speaking disadvantagiously of other Persons and insulting over the dead whom he took for his Enemies and who could not speak for themselves And whereas this Assembly could not at present be fully and satisfactorily informed of the State of that Church of Plouer the Colloquy of Constantine in the Province of Normandy is ordered to visit it by their Deputies who are Authorized by this Assembly to provide for that Church as they shall judge meet and to order all matters for its edification in Godliness and if they see cause for it they shall remove and discharge the said Sieur de Richelieu from his Ministry and the Expences of these Deputies shall be defrayed by that Province of Britain 13. The Church of Die and the Sieurs Martinett and Huron appealed from two Judicial Sentences denounced in the Provincial Synod of Dolphiny against them to witt Monsieur Martinett complained for that the said Synod had ordained his removal from the said Church of Die upon pretence of ease and quieting his Spirit though he had been preferred unto that Church by some former Synods And Monsieur Huron appealed for that the said Synod had forbidden him the Exercise of his Ministry within the Province of Dolphiny whereunto he had retired in time of the late troubles And the said Church appealed for that the said Synod had refused and rejected their endeavours to get Monsieur Huron for their Pastor Whereupon the Provincial Deputies of Dolphiny were heard give in their Report of the causes and occasions moving their Synod to pronounce those Judgments and the aforesaid Martinett and Huron were heard in their reciprocal Accusations and Apologies and in like manner the Messengers of the said Church were heard speak for it and the Acts relating to these Affairs were all produced and perused upon the whole This Assembly doth ratifie the Judgment of the said Province of Dolphiny and dischargeth the said Monsieur Martinett from his Pastoral Office in the Church of Die purely for his ease comfort provided alwayes that the said Church do pay him if they have not already done it all his Arrears due unto him from the very first day that he was set at liberty from them by the aforesaid Synod and he is at full liberty to accept of any other Church And as for the maintenance of the said Martinet since that time he was first of all discharged and set free of serve the Church Beaumont This Assembly exhorteth and intreateth the said Province out of Charity to pay him the one half of his Salary And forasmuch as Monsieur Huron has been convicted to have left his Church for little or no just cause and to have brigued his Election into the Church of Die and to have fomented the Divisions in it betwixt the Church and Monsieur Martinett in whose expulsion out of it he had the greatest hand and part having consented to divers irregular Actings and Contentions and adhered to the Rebellions of several Members of the said Church to the contempt of its Consistory and of the Decrees of many Ecclesiastical Synods and for that he kept Conventicles private Meetings Proclaimed Fasts and Days of Prayers and Writt Books contrary to the Analogy of Faith and Form of Sound Words and hath done many other things contrary to the Order and Discipline Established in the Church of God and that honourable Calling of the Holy Ministry This Synod aggravating the Judgment of the Provincial Synod of Dolphiny suspends the said Huron from the Sacred Ministry for the space of Three Moneths and sets him at liberty to be imployed in some other Province than that of Dolphiny And forasmuch as in their endeavours to get the said Huron to be their Minister the Consistory and Pastors of the Church of Die have too much adhered to the unruly motions of some private Persons and strangely supported their insolencies and proud irregular actings This Assembly doth judge them also worthy of a very sharp censure and exhorts them for the future to testifie and express more Vigour and Zeal for the Discipline of our Churches and to maintain it in theirs and to see the Decrees and Canons of our National Synods put in Execution And that all these Censures may be performed the Sieurs Paulet and Berlie Pastors Deputies for the Province of Sevennes are appointed by this National Synod to pass over unto the said City of Die as they return home unto their Province and in the Consistory of that Church there to make denunciation of them 14. The said Sieur Huron the next day came into this Synod petitioning that his suspension might be taken off and that some maintenance might be provided for him until such time as he were presented unto another Church But the Synod confirmed his suspension and ordered that some small matter should be allowed and given him for his present Relief 15. The Church of Sauve and Monsieur Rossel Pastor of the Church of Montlimart appealed from a judgment of the Synod of Dolphiny by which his Ministry was refused to that of Sauve and confirmed in that of Montlimart though the former did most earnestly re-demand him After hearing the Deputy of the Church of Sauve and Monsieur Rossel speaking for it as also Monsieur Chamier for the concern of the Church of Montlimard and the Provincial Deputies of Dolphiny and Sevennes This Synod ordains that Monsieur Rossel shall be lent unto the Service of the Church of Sauve in the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments until the next National Synod and injoyneth the Colloquy of Montlimart to take care that the said Rossel be then restored unto his Office again in that Church 16. Monsieur de Gouvernet Lord of Mirabel appealed from a Decree of the Synod of Dolphiny concerning Monsieur Perrin Pastor of the Church of Serres After that the Deputies of that Province had been heard who reported that there was nothing to this purpose spoken of or handled in their Synod at Mure This Assembly because of the absence of Monsieur Perrin and their want of Acts needful to determine this Affair hath given full Authority to the Province of Burgundy to judge therein and the Province of Dolphiny is
with divers Slanders not only against private Persons but also against the Provincial Synod and Consistory of the said City and the last Synod of Bauge is very much blamed for permitting the Impression and Publication of a Book entituled Les Pieces Authentiques And this Assembly confirmeth the Judgment of the Synod of Saumur in what concerns the Sieur de Beaujardin exhorting all Parties to lay by all their Resentments conceived one against the other upon the score of those injurious Words and Writings and to declare that they have no Intention in the least of harbouring them any more nor of persisting in them but that contrary wise they do acknowledge one another for Persons of Integrity and Honour and exempted from all Blame and Reproach and in this Quality they shall give each other the Hand of Reconciliation And to prevent all Differences for the future the Provincial Synod of Anjou is enjoyned to proceed against the Transgressors according to the Rigour of our Church-Discipline even to the last Censures and in case an Appeal should be entred the Provincial Synod of Brittaine shall take cognizance thereof and pass Judgment in it which shall hold good till the meeting of the next National Synod And as for those differences in the University of Saumur this Assembly giveth full Liberty unto the said University of chusing its Professors in Divinity proceeding therein according to its ancient Canons and Monsieur Royer Doctor of Physick is confirmed in his Office of Counsellor to the said University and the Sieur Doul in that of Professor of Eloquence without suffering the said Nomination to be made a Precedent and on this condition that the said Professor Doul do every three Months keep a publick Act. And this Assembly hath likewise approved and ratified that Canon of Agreement betwixt the Consistory and the said University for taking cognizance of all Affairs depending upon both those Assemblies And that this present Decree may be put in Execution the Sieurs Guitton and de Bourdieu Pastors and the Sieur des Champs an Elder are deputed to pass over unto Saumur and to visit the said Church which is ordered to defray their Expences 22. The Sieur John Nicholas a Bookseller Deputy from the Company of Merchants and Burgesses Members of the Reformed Church of Grenoble having presented to this Assembly Acts and Memoirs fraught with Complaints against the Consistory of the said Church occasioned by reason of a difference risen betwixt them and the Attornies in the Parliament and Court of the Edict there about Seats in their Consistory and demanded on behalf of their Principles the Merchants afore-named that the 7th Canon in the third Chapter of our Discipline might be observed the Substance of which was That neither Deacons nor Elders should claim any Primacy or Dominations the one over another be it either in their Nomination unto the People or in their place of sitting or in their Order of Voting And the Provincial Deputies of Dolphiny being heard and the Committee having made their Report the Assembly remandeth back this Affair to the Consistory of that Church of Grenoble to judge ultimately therein according to that Power given it by the Canons of the National Synods and the said Consistory is enjoyned to see that the said Canon of our Discipline be most exactly observed and censureth those Persons who opposed the said Consistory 23. The Provincial Deputies of Berry having advised the Church of Gergeau of the calling of this present National Synod and ordered them to appear before it to support their Appeal entred by them against the Judgment of their Provincial Synod held at Blois by which the Sieur la Tanne their Pastor was licensed to quit both that Church and Province and no Person appearing for them nor sending any Memoirs in Defence of their Appeal it was declared null and void 24. The Sieur du Vals Pastor of the Church of Aimargues appealed from the Judgment of the Synod of Lower Languedoc held at Vsez about the Differences held between him and the Sieur de Richeres Pastor of the Church of Vielle Ville This Assembly not finding matters as yet ripe for a compleat Decision hath dismissed them over to the Consistory of the Church of Alez who shall judge finally therein and without Appeal from them 25. There was an Appeal brought by the Consistory of the Church of Arvel from those Judgments past in divers Synods of the Province of Xaintonge about some certain Seats in the Temple of the said Church And the Deputies of that Province were heard who declared that they never had any notice given them of the said Appeal nor that it was to be prosecuted in this Assembly And that the Synod of their Province had not any knowledge of this Affair but only the contending Parties This Assembly without demurring on those Judgments passed by the said Synod of Xaintonge remanded back again this Affair unto the Consistory of the said Church of Arvel there to be determined according to the Canons made in this and former National Synods And as for other Affairs mentioned in the Memorial of the said Consistory relating to the Lady of La Monerie and the joyning of the Church of Braize to that of Mornac and that of the Lord of Forgiris to the said Church of Braize or of Arvel this Assembly hath dismissed them over to the Provincial Synod of Xaintonge 26. Mr. James Collin having sent no Memoirs to uphold his Appeal from that Judgment of the Provincial Synod of the Isle of France held at la Ferte au Col in the Year 1657. by which the said Synod declared that they met with nothing in that Act of the Consistory of Vitry dated February the 14th of the same Year which might induce that Consistory to censure the said Collin as he imagineth that they have done or that he was the Author of those matters contained in the Memorials produced by him against the Siuer Anguenet one of the Pastors of said Church of Vitry nor could they find in the said Act any Censure against him the said Mr. Collin for which Reasons they believed that his Appeal was needless All which considered this Assembly declared that the Appeal of the said Mr. James Collin from the aforesaid Judgment of the Synod of La Ferte au Col is null and void 27. Monsieur Paullet formerly Pastor in the Church of Vsez but at present Minister in the Church of Vaux and Province of Lower Languedoc did exhibit in his own Name and on behalf of the Magistrates Consuls and Common Council and of divers Heads of Families Members of the said Church the Reasons of their Appeals brought against the Judgments of the Synods of Montpellier in the Year 1654. and of Vsez in the Year 1659. and of Montpellier in the same Year as also why they opposed the Call of Pastors and Elders here undernamed in the said Church of Vsez The Provincial Deputies of Lower Languedoc and particularly
the Decre of that Synod held at Loudun 1655. And it doth disannul the Decree of the Synod of Beauge in the Year 1656. which upon this very account had confirmed the Decrees of the said Consistory Yet nevertheless it approveth that Order of suspending the Sieurs Niott Perillau and Piger from their Office of being Elders in the said Church which was denounc'd against them by that Consistory and ratified by the said Synod of Beauge Moreover this Assembly doth disannul that Decree of the Synod of Saumur in the Year 1657. which confirmed another made in the foregoing Synod of Beauge concerning the Ministry of the said Sieur D'Huisseau and disapproveth their Act in censuring the said D'Huisseau for having put in his Appeal to the Synod of Poictou from the Synod of Beauge for which he had very good and sufficient Grounds no less than a Canon of the National Synod of Charenton 1644. and for other Causes mentioned in the Acts of the said Synod And this Assembly could wish that the said Synod of Saumur had not approved the Meetings of the said Consistory in other places than those in which they were accustomed Moreover this Assembly blameth that Consistory for that in stead of doing right upon the Complaint of those aforesaid Gentlemen the Sieurs D'Huisseau de Haumont and their Companions which was occasioned by those Writings of Monsieur Amirald that published their Divisions in prejudice of those Apologies made by the said Synod of Saumur it censured them and would oblige 'em to demand Pardon and upon this account it reverseth the Decree of the Synod of Previlly in the Year 1658. which had confirmed the Judicial Sentence f the said Consistory This Assembly also could have wished that the said Consistory before they had pronounced Sentence of Suspension from the Lord's Supper against the Sieus Benoist Niotte de Haumont and Bouchereau for being the reputed Authors of those injurious Libels written both against them and the Synod of Anjou and the Sieurs Amyrald Beaujardin and others that they had took a more exact knowledge whether the forenamed Persons had been fully convicted And yet forasmuch as it hath since appeared evidently and plainly unto this Assembly that they were the real Authors of them they be by this Assembly declared worthy of that Censure of Suspension which was inflicted on them However this Assembly being very much grieved at this Division which hath so long a time troubled the said Church of Saumur and designing to settle a good firm and lading Peace among them for the future it doth take off that Suspension denounc'd against the Sieurs Niott and Perilleau and Mr. Piger deceased and taketh off that Censure of Suspension from the Lord's Supper denounc'd against the Sieurs Niotte Benoist de Haumont and Bouchereau and notwithstanding that Opposition made against the Calls of the Sieurs Druett Pillet and D'Ortonne unto the Office of Elders this Assembly doth confirm them in it And as to what concerns Monsieur d'Huisseau this Assembly wisheth that he had neither written nor printed any Letters on the account of these Differences However it disannulleth that Decree past against him by the Consistory of Saumur assisted by the Sieurs Guiraud and La Fay Ministers of the Gospel the 27th of March last and dismisseth him with Honour back unto his Church of Saumur and for six Months time he is to preach unto it as often as his Strength will suffer him which time the Assembly hath regulated to be the Work of one half Week when it comes unto his turn that so it may be known within that time whether he may be able for the future to perform the ordinary Duties of his Ministry as to the full and whole of it or of a Moiety only And whenas that time shall be expired or if it be before the sitting of the Provincial Synod of Anjou he shall then acquaint that Synod fully and plainly of his Intentions And in case he shall be then able to exercise his Ministry either as to the whole or to a Moiety of it he shall be at that time confirmed and payed his Wages proportionably to the Service which he hath performed during those six Months of Tryal And if that by reason of his bodily Infirmities he cannot perform the whole or one half of his Work in preaching he shall be from that time discharged but nevertheless he shall still be reputed and taken for Pastor of the said Church without Wages according to his own Proposals in which he shall have liberty to preach whenever he shall be requested to it and may when and as often as he pleaseth assist at Consistories and other Ecclesiastical Assemblies and shall enjoy both his Votes deliberative and decisive yet without pretending to any right of Presidency in those aforesaid Consistories or of being deputed by the said Church unto their Provincial Synods This Assembly censureth also the Sieur Niotte and others who shrowded themselves under the Secular Jurisdiction of the Civil Magistrate in Contempt of the Canons of our Discipline and for taking the whole Consistory for their adverse Party that so they might be exempted from its Jurisdiction and for presenting an Act highly injurious to the said Consistory Moreover this Assembly doth condemn and censure with the greatest Severity all those Writings and Prints which have been made and published by both Parties as most scandalous and injurious and particularly a Letter styled Du Provincial stuft with divers Slanders not only against private Persons but also against the Provincial Synods and Consistory of the said City And the last Synod of Beauge is very much blamed for permitting the Impression and Publication of a Book Entituled Les Pieces Authentiques And this Assembly confirmeth the Judgment of the Synod of Saumur in what concerns the Sieur de Beaujardin exhorting all Parties to lay by all their Resentments one against the other upon the score of those injurious Words and Writings and to declare that they have no Intention in the least of harbouring them any more nor of persisting in them but that contrarywise they do acknowledge one another for Persons of Integrity and Honour and exempted from all Blame or Reproach and in this Quality they shall give each other the Hand of Reconciliation And to prevent all Differences for the future the Provincial Synod of Anjou is enjoyned to proceed against the Transgressors according to the rigour of our Church-Discipline even to the last Censures And in case an Appeal should be entred the Provincial Synod of Britain shall take Cognizance thereof and pass Judgment in it which shall hold good till the meeting of the next National Synod And as for the Differences in the University of Saumur this Assembly giveth full Liberty unto the said University of chusing its Professors in Divinity proceeding therein according to its ancient Canons and Monsieur Royer Doctor of Physick is confirmed in his Office of Counsellor to the said University and the