Request to the Chambers ordained by this present Edict without suffering the time imported by those Ordinances to be ran out to their prejudice And till such times as the said Chambers and their Chanceries shall be established Appeals either by word of mouth or tendered in by writing by those of the said Religion before the Judges Registers or Deputies Executors of the Decrees and Judgments shall have the same effect as if they had been uplifted by Royal Letters LXI In all Inquests which shall be for any cause whatsoever in civil matters If the Inquisitor be a Catholick the Parties shall be bound to agree among themselves of another to be in Conjunction with him and in case they cannot agree the said Inquisitor or Commissioner shall by vertue of his Office take one unto himself who shall be of the said pretended Reformed Religion And the same also shall be practised when as the Commissioner or Examiner shall be of the said Religion he shall take an Assessor to himself who shall be a Roman Catholick LXII We Will and Ordain that our Judges may take knowledge of the validity of Testaments in which those of the said Religion are concerned in case they do require it and Appeals from those Judgments may be taken out from the said Chambers ordained for the Processes of those of the said Religion notwithstanding all Customs to the contrary yea and those of Brittain also LXIII To prevent all differences which may fall out in our Courts of Parliament and the Chambers of those Courts ordained by our present Edict we shall make a good and ample Regulation betwixt the said Courts and Chambers and such an one as that those of the said pretended Reformed Religion may intirely enjoy the benefit of the said Edict which regulation shall be verified in our Courts of Parliament and shall be kept and observed without any respect had unto the former LXIV We do prohibit and forbid all our Soveraign Courts and others of this Kingdom to take Cognisance of or judge in the Civil or Criminal Processes of those of the said Religion the Cognisance of which by our Edict is attributed unto the said Chambers provided that they demand the dismission of them thither according to what was said before in the 40. Article LXV We will also by way of provision and till we have taken some further course and shall have otherwise ordained that in all Processes moved or to be moved in which those of the said Religion shall be in the quality of Plaintiffs or Defendants principal Parties or Securities in civil matters in which our Officers and Presidial Courts have full power of judging finally without Appeal that they shall be permitted to require that two of the Chamber where the Processes ought to be judged shall abstain from giving judgment on them who without any cause shown shall be bound to abstain notwithstanding that Ordinance that the Judges may not be held for persons excepted at without cause offered they retaining over and above this those exceptions of right against the rest And in criminal matters in which also the said Presidial and other Subalternate Royal Judges do judge without Appeal the accused also of that Religion may require that three of the said Judges do abstain from judging of their Processes without shewing of any Cause And the Provosts of the Mareschals of France the Vice-Bailiffs the Vice-Seneschals the Lieutenants of short Robe and other Officers of the like quality shall judge according to the Ordinances and Regulations formerly given upon the account of Vagabonds And as for the Inhabitants in the Jurisdiction of those Provosts charged and accused if they be of the said Religion they may require that three of those Judges aforesaid who may take cognisance of their cause do abstain from judging of their Processes and they shall be bound to abstain without any cause shewed by them unless in that Company where the said Processes shall be judged there be no more than two in Civil matters and three in Criminal matters of the said Religion in which case they shall not be permitted to except against or refuse those Judges without shewing of a cause why And this shall be common and reciprocal with the Catholicks in that form as above as to their refusing of Judges where those of the pretended Reformed Religion shall be the greatest number And 't is not our meaning nor intention that the said Presidial Courts Provosts of Mareschals Vice-Bailiffs Vice-Seneschals and others who judge Soveraignly and without Appeal should in virtue of what hath been said take Cognisance of the palled troubles And as for Crimes and Riots which have fallen out upon other accounts than those of the late Troubles since the beginning of March in the year 1585. unto the end of the year 1597. In case they should take Cognisance of them we will that they may take out their Appeals from those judgments and bring them before the Chambers Ordained by this present Edict And the same shall be likewise practised by the Catholick Complices and where those of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be Parties LXVI We Will also and Ordain that from henceforward in all Instructions besides the Informations of Criminal Processes in the Seneschallies of Tholouse Carcassonne Rouergue Loragais Beziers Montpellier and Nismes the Magistrate or Commissioner deputed for the said Instruction if he be a Catholick shall be bound to take an Assessor who shall be of the said pretended Reformed Religion of which the Parties shall agree and in case they cannot agree there shall be chosen by vertue of his office one of the said Religion by the Magistrate or Commissioner aforesaid As also in like manner if the said Magistrate or Commissioner is of the said Religion he shall be bound in the same form as was said before to take unto himself a Catholick Assessor LXVII When as the Provosts of the Mareschals of France or their Lieutenants shall be demanded to issue out a Criminal Process against an Inhabitant within their Jurisdictions who is of the said Religion and is charged and accused of a Crime which is triable in their Provost's Courts the said Provosts or their Lieutenants if they be Catholicks shall be bound to call in to the drawing up of the said Processes an Assessor of the said Religion which said Assessor shall be present at the Judgment of the Competency and at the definitive Judgment of the said Process Which Competency may not be judged but in the next Presidial Court in an Assembly of the principal Officers of the said Court who shall be present upon those very places upon pain of nullity unless that the Accused should require that the Competency should be judged in the said Chambers ordained by this present Edict In which Case as to what concerns the Inhabitants in the Province of Guienne Languedoc Provence and Dolphiny the Substitutes of our General-Attorneys in the said Chambers shall cause at the request of the said
alone in this Ministry The Lord raised up and Commissionated many other Worthies to labour in his Vineyard and to gather in his great Harvest of precious Souls for the Fields were already white and longing for the Harvest 'T is true they had a most unkind usage and cruel Entertainment from the Popish Priests and Prelates and from the greater part of the Antichristian World For these wise Men among the People that had skill and understanding in the Visions of God and instructed many yet did according to the Scripture-Prophecy fall by the Sword and by Flame by Captivity and by spoil many days among whom the most renowned were Joseph a Disciple of Waldo who Preached in Dolphiny Henry and Eperon who Preached in Languedoc Arnold Hor who Preached in Albigois and Lollard by whose name the Professors of the Gospel were so called here in England these as they lived zealous Preachers so they died most faithful Martyrs sealing the Truth of Christ with their Hearts Blood as did also many thousands of their Followers Sect. 4. For to exterminate these Hereticks as they were then stiled Pope Innocent the Third published his Croisados granting plenary remission of sins to all Persons that would go to this holy War and destroy them Great Kings potent Princes and noble Lords are all invited commanded and animated to persecute them and in case of neglect on their part they themselves are reputed Favourers and Upholders of them and are exposed to the Thunderbolts of Papal Excommunications and to be deprived of their Crowns Kingdoms Dominions and Lives Thus were the King of Arragon the Counts of Tolouse Beziers and Carcassone served who were all cut off by those prodigious Armies mustered up against them They and many Myriads of their Subjects together with them are most horribly butcher'd and destroyed by the Croisado-Pilgrims Sect. 5. But notwithstanding all the Croisado's Slaughters Massacres and most barbarous Persecutions of the poor Albingenses and Waldenses there was not a total extinction of the Truth it was suppressed but not destroyed as Fire buried under much Ashes it doth at length break out with the more vehement flame Its Professors were dead but the Truth lived it lay concealed in the hearts of the Children of these Martyrs who groaned for a Reformation There was a very great propensity in all the Nations of Europe but especially of France unto it The Papal Power had been crampt by the Pragmatical Sanction in that Kingdom The August Parliament of Paris sixed bounds unto it The learned Sorbonists had several of their Divines who disputed against and decried it Lewes the Twelfth threatned to destroy Babylon When Learning was revived by Francis the First in that Kingdom the Reformation had there its Resurrection Pious and good Men passionately desired and Preached up the necessity of it William Brissonnet Bishop of Meaux promoted it in his Diocess James Fabey born at Estaples in Picardy a Man of great Learning and of an Angelical Life laboured hard in it And in the dawn of the Reformation the Doctrine of the Gospel was embraced by several Persons of great Quality Margaret of Valois Queen of Navarre and Sister to the French King was accused for it by the blood-thirsty Prelates unto her Royal Brother She was indeed a Sanctuary unto God's Fugitives a Covert to them from the storm an hiding place from the Tempest In her House Faber now an hundred years old after a most Heavenly Discourse with the Queen at Supper fell asleep in the Lord. Luther a Divine Herald publisheth the Gospel in Germany Zuinglius one year before him and without any knowledge of him or correspondence with him had thundered against Indulgences and began the Reformation in Switzerland A little while after Mr. Calvin is called forth by God to be a glorious Instrument of it in France * * * See the Author of Status Reipubl Relig sab Henr. 2. p 10. 11. sub Carolâ— 9. p. 94. And the Lord owneth him and his Fellow-Servants notwithstanding all the storms of Popish rage and fury against them in this great work Insomuch that the whole Kingdom is inlightned and ravished with it and many of the most eminent Counsellors in that Illustrious Senate the Parliament of Paris do profess the Gospel openly and in the very presence of their King Henry the Second though to the loss of Honour Estate and Life It was now got into the Court and among Persons of the highest Quality Many Nobles some Princes of the Blood dare espouse its Cause The Blood of the Martyrs proving the Seed of the Church and as Israel of old so now the more the Professors of the Gospel are oppressed and persecuted the more are they increased and multiplied Sect. 6. The Reformed form themselves into regular Church-Assemblies separating themselves as the Primitive Christians did from the unbelieving Jews and their Synagogues so from the unbelieving Papists and their idolatrous Worship It was the great care of the first Reformers to preach up sound Doctrine to institute and celebrate pure Evangelical Worship and to restore the ancient Primitive Discipline They set up purity of Worship according to the Scripture Rule The Holy Bible was translated by Olivetan Uncle unto Mr. Calvin and a Minister in the Valleys of Piedmont from the Original Hebrew and Greek into the French Language He had not any assistance nor incouragement unto this work from any great Prince or State and yet finished it in one Year The Lord blessed him in his undertaking wonderfully that he should begin and finish it in so short a time This Star scatters bright Beams of Heavenly Light and Truth into the dark Corners of the Land to the inlivening and comforting of many thousands of Souls Now the Fountain of Life is opened and the Waters thereof flow down in plenteous streams from the Throne of God and the Lamb to the cleansing quickning and refreshing of the City of God This Holy Bible is read in their solemn Meetings in the great Congregations This divinely inspired Scripture is perused and studied by Nobles and Peasants by the Learned and Ideots by Merchants and Tradesmen by Women and Children in their Houses and Families by this they be made wiser than their Popish Priests than their most subtle Adversaries By this they stop the mouths of Gainsayers and put them to silence and confusion Clement Marot a Courtier and a great Wit was advised by Mr. Vatablus Regius Professor of the Hebrew Tongue in the University of Paris to consecrate his Muse unto God which Counsel he embraceth and translateth fifty of David's Psalms into French Meeter Mr. Beza did the other hundred and all the Scripture-Songs Lewis Guadimel another Asaph or Jeduthun a most Skillful Master of Musick set those sweet and melodious Tunes unto which they are sung even unto this day This holy Ordinance charmed the Ears Hearts and Affections of Court and City Town and Country They were sung in the Louvre as
and foundation was their utter ruine Wherefore that we might not overburden our selves with too great a load of businesses all at once and for that the fury of War is incompatible with the Constitution of good and wholesome Laws we did prudently defer and delay their full and particular satisfaction till such time as we might make the best provision for them that could be desired And now at last through the divine goodness enjoying a greater quiet than ever we believed that we could not better employ our selves than in those concerns of the glory of his holy name and service and that he may he religiously adored invocated and worshipped by all our Subjects and although it be not his good pleasure to permit at this time that it should be in one and the self-same form and mode of Religion yet at least that it may be with one and the self-same mind and intention and in such an order and manner as there may not be any trouble or tumult among them for it that so both we our selves and this Kingdom may always merit and preserve that glorious Title entail'd upon us by the noble Atchievements of our Progenitors of being the Most Christian and so by this means to remove the cause of all those evils and troubles which might fall out upon the score and account of Religion they being of all others the most spreading taking and influential For these reasons we knowing that this was an affair of the greatest importance and meriting our best thoughts and deepest consideration after we had taken in hand the Bills of Grievances presented us by our Roman Catholick Subjects and had permitted our other Subjects of the aforesaid pretended Reformed Religion to assemble themselves by their Deputies to prepare their Bills also and to bring them in together with their Remonstrances unto us and had several Conferences with them about those very matters at sundry and divers times and revised all former Edicts we have judged needful now upon the whole to give unto all our said Subjects one and that a general clear plain and absolute Law by which they may be ruled and governed in and about all those differences which have heretofore fallen out or may hereafter happen and fall out among them which 't is our hope will most effectually contribute to their mutual and full contentment upon all occasions and emergencies whatsoever Sith that we never deliberated nor advised with our Privy-Council about it upon any other ground or respect than that great zeal which we have for God's Service and Glory and that he may be more religiously obeyed and worshiped by all our said Subjects and that there might be setled and established among them a good and firm and durable Peace For the obtaining of which we do most devoutly implore and wait upon his Divine Goodness hoping and expecting the continuance thereof and of that wonderful Protection and Favour he hath always most illustriously vouchsafed unto this Kingdom from its first Foundations laid many hundred years ago unto this very day and that he will be so merciful unto our said Subjects as to give them to understand that in the observation of this our Law consists next and after their duty unto God and us the principal basis and ground-work of their Union Concord Tranquillity and Peace and the setling and restoration of the whole state in its primitive splendour opulency and power As we for our part do purpose resolve and promise to see that it be exactly observed without suffering it in any manner to be transgressed or violated For these Causes We with the Advice of the Princes of our Blood and other Princes and Officers of the Crown and other great and Honourable Persons in our Council of State who are near about us and attend upon us having well and diligently pondered and considered this whole affair we have by this perpetual and irrevocable Edict said declared and Ordained and we do say declare and Ordain I. In the first place That the sense and remembrance of all matters passed both on the one side and the other from the beginning of March in the year 1585. unto the day of our coming unto the Crown and during all the preceding Troubles and all causes and occasions of them shall be for ever suppressed and forgotten as if they had never been Nor shall it be lawful for our Attorney-Generals or any other Persons whatsoever whether publick or private at any time or on any occasions that may be to mention sue implead or prosecute for them in any of our Courts or Jurisdictions whatsoever II. We forbid all our Subjects whatsoever their Estate or Quality may be to revive the memory of past matters or to assault incense injure provoke or reproach one the other upon those accounts or upon any cause or pretext whatsoever to dispute contend or quarrel with or to wrong and offend any one either in word or deed but that they contain themselves within bounds and live together peaceably as Brethren Friends and Fellow-Citizens on pain of punishing the Transgressors as Breakers of the Peace and Disturbers of the quiet and settlement of the Common-wealth III. We Ordain That the Roman Catholick and Apostolick Religion shall be restored and set up again in all places and quarters of this our Kingdom and in all other our Dominions subject to us where the exercise thereof hath been intermitted that it may be peaceably and freely exercised without any trouble lett or hinderance And we do most straitly forbid all Persons whatsoever their quality estate or condition may be upon the Penalties before-mentioned to trouble molest or disquiet the Ecclesiasticks in the Celebration of Divine Service or in the receiving or injoyment of their Tithes Emoluments and Revenues of their Benefices and of all other rights and duties appertaining to them And that all persons who in the late troubles have seized upon Churches Houses Goods and Revenues belonging to the said Ecclesiasticks and who do possess and occupy them do entirely relinquish the same and do peaceably resign and yield up their possession and enjoyment of them and of all rights priviledges and securities unto those Churchmen who are disseized of them Moreover we do most straitly forbid all those of the said pretended Reformed Religion to have any Sermons preached or any other exercise of their Religion aforesaid in any Churches Houses or other Habitations of those the said Ecclesiasticks IV. And the said Ecclesiasticks shall have full liberty to buy those Houses and Edifices which have been built not upon holy but profane grounds taken from them in the late troubles or to compel the Possessors of the said Buildings to purchase the land of them at a certain rate and price which shall be estimated and set upon it by persons of judgment and experience in such matters and for which both the Parties shall agree And in case of non-agreement between them the Judges of those places shall determine saving
shall not be obliged to do it in any other manner than by listing up of their Hand Swearing and promising by God that they will speak the truth nor shall they be bound to take out a Dispensation for that Oath given by them in passing of Contracts and Obligations XXV We Will and Ordain That all those of the said pretended Reformed Religion and all others who have followed their Party of whatsoever estate quality or condition they may be shall be bound and constrained by all due and reasonable ways and under the penalties contained in our Edicts to pay and deliver unto Curates and other Ecclesiasticks and to any other Persons to whom they do belong the Tithes according to the use and custom of the places in which they be XXVI All disinheritings or privations made either by disposition of the Living or Testamentary of the dying out of hatred or upon the account of Religion only shall no more take place either for time past or for the future among our said Subjects XXVII And that we may use our best skill for reuniting the hearts of our Subjects as it is our Intention and that we may take out of the way all Complaints for the future We do declare that all those who do or shall make profession of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be capable of holding and exercising all publick Royal or Seignoral Estates Dignities Offices and Charges whatsoever or in and belonging to the Cities of our Kingdom the Countries Territories and Lordships under our Obedience notwithstanding all Oaths to the contrary and they shall be indifferently admitted and received into them and our Courts of Parliament shall content themselves and all other Judges with an Information and Enquiry into the Life Manners Religion and civil Conversation of those who shall be provided unto those Offices as well of the one Religion as of the other without exacting from them any other Oath than to serve the King well and faithfully in the exercise of their Charges and to keep the Laws as hath been in all times observed And when as ever those said Estates Charges and Offices shall become vacant which are in our gift and disposal we will bestow them indifferently and without distinction of persons upon those who are capable of them as being a matter tending very much to the Union of our Subjects And 't is our mind and meaning that those of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be admitted and received into all Councils Deliberations Assemblies and Functions which depend upon those matters aforesaid so that upon the account of the said Religion they may not be excluded nor hindred from the injoyment of them XXVIII And we do Ordain That in all Cities and places of this Kingdom there shall be speedily provided in every one of them by our Officers and Magistrates and by those Commissioners whom we shall Constitute for the executing of this our present Edict a place as commodious as may be for the Interrment of the dead of the said Religion And those Burying places which they have had heretofore and of which they have been deprived by reason of the late troubles whatever their quality was shall be restored to them unless that it appear that they be now at present occupied by Edifices and Buildings in which case they shall be provided of some others freely XXIX We most straitly injoin our said Officers to put to their hand that there be no scandal committed at the said Interrments and they shall be bound within a fortnight after it shall be required of them to provide for those of the said Religion a commodious place for the said Burials without using any protractions or delays on pain of being fined in their own private Capacities the summ of five hundred Crowns And the said Officers and all other persons are forbidden to exact any thing for the convoying of the dead Corps upon pain of being guilty of Extorsion XXX That Justice may be rendred and administred unto our Subjects without any suspicion of hatred or favour which is one of the chiefest means to preserve them in Peace and Concord we have Ordained and do Ordain that there shall be established in our Court of Parliament at Paris a Chamber composed of a President and sixteen Counsellors of the said Parliament which shall be called and entitled the Chamber of the Edict and it shall not only take cognisance of the causes and processes of those who profess the said pretended Reformed Religion and live within the Jurisdiction of the said Court but also in the Districts and Jurisdiction of our Parliaments of Normandy and Brittain according to that Authority which shall be attributed to it by this present Edict and this until such time as in every one of those Parliaments there shall be a Chamber established to distribute Justice upon the Places We do also farther Ordain that of four Offices of Counsellors in our Parliament aforesaid remaining of our last Erection four Persons professing the said pretended Reformed Religion being qualified and capable of them and the said Offices be vacant and to be distributed shall be invested with them and received into the said Parliament to wit the first shall be received in the said Chamber of the Edict and the other three in order shall be received into the three Chambers of Inquests Moreover that of the two first Offices of Lay-Counsellors which become vacant by death two persons professing the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be provided of them and these being received shall also be distributed into the two other Chambers of Inquests XXXI Besides that Chamber heretofore established at Castres for the Extent and Jurisdiction of our Court of Parliament of Thoulouse which shall be continued in the state in which it is We have for the self-same Considerations Ordained and do Ordain that in every one of our Courts of Parliament of Grenoble and Bourdeaux there shall be in like manner a Chamber established composed of two Presidents the one a Catholick and the other of the pretended Reformed Religion and of twelve Counsellors six of whom shall be Catholicks and the other six of the said Religion which Catholick Presidents and Counsellors shall be taken and chosen by us out of the Bodies of our Courts aforesaid And as for those of the said Religion there shall be a new Creation of a President and six Counsellors for the Parliament of Bourdeaux and of a President and three Counsellors for that of Grenoble who together with those three Counsellors of the said Religion who are now in the said Parliament shall be imployed in the said Chamber of Dolphiny And the said Offices of the new Creation shall be Created to the same Wages Honours Authorities and Preheminencies as those others in the said Courts And the said Chamber of Bourdeaux shall sit either at Bourdeaux or at Nerac and that of Dolphiny at Grenoble XXXII The said Chamber of Dolphiny shall take cognisance of the Causes
of those of the said pretended Reformed Religion within the Jurisdiction of our Parliament of Provence they not needing to take out Letters of Evocation or other Provisions but in our Chancery of Dolphiny As also those of the said Religion in Normandy and Brittaine shall not be obliged to take out Letters of Evocation nor other Provisions but from our Court of Chancery in Paris XXXIII Our Subjects of the Reformed Religion in the Jurisdiction of the Parliament of Burgundy shall according to their will and choice plead in the Chamber ordained for that purpose either in the Parliament of Paris or in that of Dolphiny And they also shall not be bound to take out Letters of Evocation nor any other provisions unless from out of the said Chanceries of Paris or Dolphiny at their choice and pleasure XXXIV All these said Chambers composed as aforesaid shall take cognisance try and judge Soveraignly and without Appeal by Decree privatively of all others of all Suits and Differences moved or to be moved in which those of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be the principal Parties or Defendants in demanding or defending in all matters as well Civil as Criminal whether the said Suits and Processes be by writing or by verbal Appeals and if it seem good unto the said Parties and one of them do require it before the Cause come to be contested with respect unto the Processes which may be moved excepting always all matters beneficiary and the Possessors of Tithes not impropriated Patronages of Churches and those Causes in which the rights and duties and Demean of the Church shall be debated all which shall be tryed and judged in the Courts of Parliament without granting any power unto the said Chambers of the Edict to take Cognisance of them As also we will that when as Criminal Processes shall fall out between the said Ecclesiasticks and those of the said pretended Reformed Religion if the Ecclesiastical Person be Defendant in this Case the Cognisance and Judgments of the Criminal Process shall belong unto our Soveraign Courts privatively of the said Chambers or if the said Ecclesiastical Person be Plaintiff and he of the said Religion Defendant the Cognisance and Judgment of the said Criminal Process shall belong by Appeal and finally without Appeal unto those Chambers beforesaid established Moreover those said Chambers shall take Cognisance in times of Vacations of matters attributed by the Edicts and Ordinances unto the Chambers established in time of Vacation every one of them in their Jurisdiction XXXV The said Chamber of Grenoble shall be from this instant united and incorporated with the Body of the said Court of Parliament and the Presidents and Counsellers of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be accounted and called the Presidents and Counsellors of the said Court and shall be reckoned and taken in the rank quality and number of them And for these ends they shall be first distributed by the other Chambers and then extracted and drawn out from among them to be imployed and serve in that which we ordain anew but always on this condition that they shall assist and have Voice and Sessions in all Deliberations that shall be made when as the Chambers are Assembled and they shall enjoy the same Sallaries Authorities and Preheminencies which the other Presidents and Counsellors of the said Court do XXXVI We will and it is our mind and intention that the said Chambers of Castres and Bourdeaux shall be reunited and incorporated in those Parliaments in the same form as others when as there shall be need of it and that the Causes which have moved us to make the establishment shall cease and there shall be no place left for them among our Subjects And to this purpose the Presidents and Counsellors in them of the said Religion shall be accounted and held for Presidents and Counsellors of the said Courts XXXVII There shall be also a new Creation and Erection in the Chamber Ordained for the Parliament of Bourdeaux of two Substitutes of our Attorney and Advocate-Generals one of which said Proctors shall be a Catholick and another of the said Religion who shall be possessed of the said Offices with competent Sallaries XXXVIII And the said Substitutes shall not take unto themselves any other quality than that of Substitutes and when as the Chambers ordained for the Parliaments of Tholouse and Bourdeaux shall be united and incorporated with the said Parliaments the said Substitutes shall be provided of Offices of Counsellors in them XXXIX The Dispatches of the Chancery of Bourdeaux shall be made in presence of two Counsellors of that Chamber one of which shall be a Catholick and the other of the said pretended Reformed Religion in the absence of one of the Masters of Requests of our Houshold And one of the Notaries and Secretaries of the said Court of Parliament of Bourdeaux shall make his Residence in the place where the said Chamber shall be established or else one of the ordinary Secretaries of the Chancery to sign the Dispatches of the said Chancery XL. We Will and Ordain That in the said Chamber of Bourdeaux there shall be two of the Register of the said Parliament the one for Civil the other for Criminal Causes who shall discharge their Offices by our Commissions and shall be called the Deputies or Commissioners in the Civil and Criminal Office of the Register who notwithstanding may not be abandoned nor revoked by the said Registers in Parliament Yet nevertheless they shall be bound to bring in the Emoluments of the said Registers Office unto the said Registers and the said Deputies shall be paid their Sallaries by the said Registers as it shall be advised and arbitrated by the said Chamber Moreover it shall be ordained that the Catholick Ushers shall be taken out of the said Court or from elsewhere according to our pleasure over and besides which there shall be two new ones erected of the said Reformed Religion and who shall be put into those places without payment of Fine or Fees And all those said Ushers shall be regulated by the said Chamber as well for the exercise and division of their offices as for the Emoluments which they are to receive There shall be also set up by Commission a Payer of Wages and Receiver of Fines in the said Chamber which office shall be given by us to whom we please in case the said Chamber be established any where else than in the said City And that Commission formerly granted unto the Payer of Wages in the Chamber of Castres shall be in full power and effect and the Commission of the Receit of the Fines in the said Chamber shall be joined unto the said Office XLI There shall be good and sufficient Assignments made for the Officers Wages in the Chambers ordained by this Edict XLII The Presidents Counsellors and other Catholick Officers of the said Chambers shall be continued as long as may be and as we shall see meet for our
that they are of the said Religion and honest Men. ARTICLE L. That Act of Indempnity granted unto those of the said pretended Reformed Religion by the 74. Article of this said Edict shall be of force as to all taking away of Royal Moneys whether by breaking up of Coffers or otherwise yea and as for those which were levied upon the River of Charante although they had been affected and applied unto private uses ARTICLE LI. The 49. Article in the secret Articles made in the year 1577. touching the City and Archbishoprick of Avinion and County of Venise as also the Treaty made at Nismes shall be observed according to their form and tenour and there shall be no Letters of Mark given by vertue of those Articles and Treaties but only by the Kings Letters Patents Sealed with his Great Seal Yet nevertheless such as would obtain them may get them by vertue of this present Article and without any other Commission from the Royal Judges who shall take informations of the contrary actings denial of Justice and iniquity of Judgments propounded by those who shall desire to obtain the said Letters and shall send them together with their advice closed and sealed up unto his Majesty that he may Ordain therein according as he shall see reason ARTICLE LII His Majesty accordeth and willeth that Master Nicholas Grimoul be restored and maintained in his Title and Possession of the Offices of ancient Lieutenant-General Civil and of Lieutenant-General Criminal in the Bailywick of Alanson notwithstanding that Resignation by him made unto Mr. John Marguerit and his admission into it and the Provision obtained by Mr. William Bernard of the Office of Lieutenant-General Civil and Criminal in the Court of Eximes and the Decrees given against the said Marguerit resigning it during the Troubles unto the Privy-Council in the years 1586 1587 and 1588. by which Mr. Nicholas Barbier is maintained in the Rights and Prerogatives of the ancient Lieutenant-General in the said Bailywick and the said Bernard in the said Office of Lieutenant at Eximes whom his Majesty hath cashiered and all others contrary to this Article of the Edict Moreover his said Majesty for certain and good Considerations hath granted and Ordained that the Grimoult shall reimburse within the space of three Months the said Barbier of that Revenue which he paid in unto the Casual Parties for the Office of Lieutenant-General Civil and Criminal in the Viscounty of Alanson and of fifty Crowns for charges and he shall order the Bailiff of Perche or his Lieutenant Mortaigne to do it And the money being reimburst or if the said Barbier shall refuse or delay to receive it his Majesty hath forbidden the said Barbier as also the said Bernard after the signification of this present Article to intrude themselves into the exercise of the said Offices upon pain of being guilty of Cheating and he the said Grimoult is put into the possession of his Offices and Rights unto them appertaining and thus doing those Suits which were depending in his Majesty's Privy-Council betwixt the said Grimoult Barbier and Bernard shall be terminated and suppressed his Majesty forbiding the Parliaments and all others from taking Cognisance and the said Parties from all Prosecutions for them Moreover his said Majesty hath undertook himself to reimburse the said Bernard of a thousand Crowns furnished unto the Casual Parties for his Office and of the sixty Crowns for the mark of gold and costs having to this purpose now ordained a good and sufficient assignment which the said Grimoult shall diligently get in and at his sole Charges ARTICLE LIII His said Majesty shall write unto his Ambassadours that they do importunately desire on behalf of all his Subjects yea and for those of the said pretended Reformed Religion that they be not prosecuted for their Consciences nor subjected unto the Inquisition going coming sojourning trading and trafficking in all Foreign Countries Allies and Confederates of this Crown provided that they commit no offence against the Government of those Countreys in which they shall be ARTICLE LIV. It is his Majesties Pleasure that there shall be no inquiry made after the receipt of those Impositions which were levied at Royan by vertue of the Contract made with the Sieur de Candelay and others who succeeded him and he confirmeth and approveth of the said Contract for that time in which it took place in the whole Contents thereof until the 18th day of May now coming ARTICLE LV. Those Riots which were occasioned about Armand Courtines in the Town of Millaud in the year 1587. and of John Reines and Peter Seigneuret together with the proceedings against them by the Consuls of the said Millaud shall by vertue of this Edict be abolished and supprest nor shall it be lawful for their Widows and Heirs nor for the Attorneys-General of his Majesty their Substitutes or other Persons whatsoever to make any mention Inquiry or Prosecution notwithstanding and without any respect had unto the Decree given in the Chamber of Castres the tenth day of March last which shall be null and without effect as also shall be all Informations and Proceedings both of the one and other side ARTICLE LVI All Prosecutions Proceedings Sentences Judgments and Decrees given as well against the late Lord of La Noue and against the Lord Odet of La Noue his Son since their detention and Imprisonment in Flanders which happened in May 1580. and in November 1584. and during their continual imployment in the Wars and for the service of his Majesty shall be void null and of none effect and whatsoever hath ensued in consequence thereof And both the said Lords De la Noue shall be admitted to defend themselves and be restored unto that Condition and State in which they were before the said Judgments and Decrees they not being obliged to refund the expences nor to pay the Fines if they had incurred any nor shall there be alledged against them any non-suit or prescription during the said time Done by the King in his Council at Nantes the second day of May 1598. Signed HENRY And a little lower Forget Sealed with the Great Seal upon yellow Wax HEnry by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre To our Beloved and Faithful Officers holding our Court of Parliament at Paris Greeting We did the last April cause to be expedited our Letters of Edict for the establishment of a good order and peace between our Catholick Subjects and those of the said pretended Reformed Religion Moreover we have granted unto those of the said Religion certain secret and particular Articles which we will to be of the self-same force and vertue and to be observed and accomplished in like manner as our Edict For these Causes We Will We Command and do most expresly injoin you by these presents That the said Articles Signed with our Hand and attacked unto this under the Counter-Seal of our Chancery you do cause to be Recorded in the Register of our
a third which we have termed Infractions of the Edict of Nantes under pretence of Explication Those who would know their Number and Quality need only cast their eyes upon the Books written and published on this occasion by Father Meisnier the Jesuit an Author famous for his Illusions and by one Baanard a pitiful Officer in the Presidial Court of Beziers in Languedoc There you will meet with all the Windings and Turnings the Shifts and Evasions which the silliest and most unworthy Sophisters could invent whereby to elude the clearest Text of the Edict and to corrupt and pervert its very heart sence and sincerest meaning And that I may avoid prolixity I shall only produce a brief Account of some few particular Instances of their Troubles As for example Was there any thing more clear evident and unquestionable in the Edict than this viz. That it was given with an intention to maintain those of the Reformed Religion in all the Rights that Nature and Civil Society give to Men Yet in 1681. there came out an Edict that Children might at the age of seven Years abjure the Reformed Religion and embrace the Catholick under pretence forsooth That the Edict did not precisely mark that at this age they should continue at their Parents disposal Who sees not but that this was a meer Trick seeing that at one hand the Edict forbad to take away Children by force from their Parents or by Flatteries and on the other hand the Edict supposed and confirmed all the natural Rights of which without controversie this is one of the most inviolable Was there ever a more notorious Infraction of the Edict than that which forbad those of the Reformed Religion who had passed over to the Romish to return unto that which they had quitted because forsooth That the Edict did not in express formal terms give them this Liberty For when the Edict permitteth generally all the King's Subjects Liberty of Conscience and forbiddeth to perplex and trouble them or to act and offer any thing contrary to this Liberty who seeth not this exception touching the Pretended Relapsers is so far from being an explication of the Edict that it is a most notable Violation of it Unto this we may add the Charge given unto the Roman Catholicks not to change their Religion and embrace the Reformed For when the Edict giveth Liberty of Conscience it doth in plain terms grant it unto all Persons whatsoever who are or shall be of the said Religion Yet if we believe the Clergy this was not Harry the Fourth's meaning for he intended that Grant only to those who then at that time when the Edict was made professed the said Religion SECT XXXII This Edict of Nantes also gave unto the Reformed the Priviledge of keeping small Schools in all places where they had the Exercise of their Religion and by common acceptation those were always understood Lesser Schools in which Children were taught Latin and Humanity This was the known received sense of these words throughout the Kingdom and it is thus taken when it doth concern the Roman Catholicks Yet by a new Interpretation this permission was restrained to the bare liberty of Teaching to read and write as if the Reformed were unworthy to learn any more And this on purpose to tire out the Parents and drive them to this extremity either not to know what to do with their Children or be forced to send them to the Roman Catholicks for Education The Edict gave them Liberty in all places where they had Churches to instruct publickly their Children and others in what concerns Religion and this did visibly establish them in the right of teaching them Philosophy and Theology especially Theology because this is nothing else but Religion Moreover the Edict of Harry the Fourth had promised unto the Protestants Letters Patents to be expedited in due form of Law for the Erection of Colleges in which their Youth might be educated and instructed in the Liberal Sciences For whence should their Churches be supplied with Ministers if they had no Seminaries nor Colleges And yet the Clergy supposed that the Edict gave no right to the Reformed to instruct them in Philosophy or Theology nor were they upon this supposition to have any Colleges Hence their Universities and Colleges were all condemned and suppressed that so the Ministery might be destroyed This was the very self same course that Julian the Apostate took of old to extirpate Christianity They had Colleges almost in every Province All these are supprest They had six Academies one at Die in Dolphiny another at Nismes in Languedoc a third at Pau ill Bearne a fourth at Montauban in Quercy a fifth at Saumur in Anjou and a sixth at Sedan This last though grounded on a particular Edict was suppressed as well as all the others yea and had the Honour to be first ruinated It led the Van to the other Universities and preached to them in its Rubbish what kindnesses they must expect from the Jesuitical Councils at Court They had been very fuitful Nurseries of many excellent Scholars furnished the Churches with some thousands of able godly and painful Ministers This was the great eye-sore of the Jesuits and cause enough for their bigotted Disciples at Court to procure their Ruine The Professors in these Academies were Men of most eminent Learning and Piety exceeding studious and laborious in their Calling They read four Lectures every Week publickly besides the private Colleges they had in their own Houses daily for a number of young Students would combine together to prosecute one body of Controversies and the Professor reads to them at home and they draw up their Theses and dispute upon it We have a world of these Exercises in the Foreign Universities Their Professors exercise their Scholars with publick Disputations and strictly examin their Proficiency once a quarter Their stipends were but mean never amounted to Seventy pound a year yet they were generally Men as of great parts so of great reputation and highly esteemed by their Churches Synods and the Nobility I shall insert here a Catalogue of the Prefessors in Divinity in the University of Montauban from its first foundation in the sixteenth Century unto the year 84. of the seventeenth when the University was suppress'd and all the Professors clapt up in the Prisons of Tholouse by a Decree of that Parliament where they were kept in duress till the month of October in the year 1685. and were then banished the Realm with all the other Ministers 1. Dr. Michael Berault was the Founder of and first Professor in the University of Montalban in the year 1590. 2. Monsieur Peter Sohuis was his Collegue in the same Office and at the same time 3. Monsieur Daniel Chamier that great Man and invincible Champion of the Truth The Jesuits could never stand before him He was killed upon the Lord's day when the City was besieged with a Cannon Bullet in the year 1621. 4. Monsieur John Cameron
or others that may sing Masses for the Dead is he to be deposed from his Office We answer Let him be first heard in the Consistory speak for himself before they proceed unto his Deposal XXVII It was demanded Whether the Word of God might be preached publickly without Authority from the Civil Magistrate Answer was given That there should be special care had of the Time and Publick Peace and above all that there be no Tumults nor Sedition XXVIII The Churches of Paris Orleance and Rouan are deputed by this present Synod to Protest against the Popish Council now held at Trent and of the Nullity of all its Decisions and Decrees and their Protestation shall be done either by Printed Books or Oral Remonstrances unto the King's Majesty or by any other way as they shall judge needful XXIX It is now Decreed That the Deputies of the Provinces when they go to Court shall take with them our Confession of Faith and consult among themselves how to present it unto His Majesty together with the Petitions of our Churches and to this purpose they shall make Application unto those Lords who they know to be Favourers of our Cause and Religion XXX Whereas divers Persons do solicite this National Synod to supply the Congregations who have sent them hither with Pastors they are all answered That at present we are utterly unable to gratifie them and that therefore they be advised to set up Propositions of the Word of God and to take special care of Educating hopeful young Men in Learning in the Arts Languages and Divinity who may hereafter be imployed in the Sacred Ministry and they are most humbly to Petition the Lord of the Harvest to send Labourers who may get it in XXXI May he be admitted to communicate in the Bread only at the Lord's Table who hath an Antipathy against Wine Yes he may provided that he do his utmost to drink of the Cup but in case he cannot he shall make a Protestation of his Antipathy The End of the Synod of Poictiers THE ACTS DECISIONS and DECREES OF THE III. National Synod OF THE Reformed Churches of Christ IN The KINGDOM of FRANCE HELD At ORLEANCE in the Year of our LORD 1562. The Contents of this Synod Chap. I. A Moderator and two Scribes chosen Chap. II. General Matters The Synod to be called the General or National Church-Council of the Kingdom Chap. III. Discipline exercised upon Delinquents Chap. IV. Various Matters Cases of Conscience c. THE Synod of Orleance 1562. Synod III. SYNOD III. Articles of the National Synod held at Orleance the Twenty fifth Day of April in the Year One thousand five hundred sixty and two after Easter in the Second Year of K. Charles IX CHAP. I. Monsieur De Chandieu was a very learned French Divine His Works are 1. The Marks of the True Church 2. De L'Vnique Sacrifice 3. Contra les Traditions c. in Follo He was Lord of Chandieu and Baron of Chabot chosen by the Church of Paris to be their Pastor at Twenty Years of Age and Moderator of this National Synod at Twenty three A Gentleman of eminent Piety and Gravity He was desired by the King of Navary to be his Pastor and upon his Death removed to Geneva where he was called to the Pastoral Office in that City and discharged it with very great fidelity He never took any Wages for his Work in the Ministry He wrote himself Sadeel which is the Hebrew of Chandieu The Field of GOD. He died of an Hectick Fever in the 57th Year of his Age saith Mr. Du Thou but he was mistaken for it was in the 63d Anno 1591. Melchior Adams hath writ his Life among his Theolog. Exteri ANthony de Chandieu Minister in the Church of Paris chosen President Robert le Macon Lord La Fountaine Minister in the Church of Orleance and Peter Sevin Deacon of the Church of Paris chosen Scribes by General Consent of the Deputies CHAP. II. General MATTERS This Synod bears the Name and has the Authority of a General Council by the Advice of the Assembly I. THE Ministers and Elders Convocated in this Assembly of Orleance for the General Council of France following the Determination of the last Synod held at Poictiers are of Opinion That the present Assembly should have and bear the Name and Authority of the Council General of the Deputies of this Kingdom notwithstanding that several Deputies are absent who shall be sufficiently informed of Matters debated and resolved in this Council together with the Reasons for which notwithstanding their absence we were constrained to proceed without them all which shall be more largely declared in the next General Council where also shall be heard the Reasons of those absent Deputies for their Non-attendance and their Arguments if need be against the Decisions of the present Council Ministers of Princes and great Lords shall sign the Confession of Faith II. The Princes and other great Lords following the Court in case they would have Churches instituted in their Houses shall be desired to take such for their Pastors as are Ministers in Churches truly Reformed bringing with them sufficient Testimonials of their Lawful Call unto the Ministry who shall before their Admission subscribe the Confession of Faith of the Churches in this Kingdom and our Church-Discipline And that the Preaching of the Gospel may be more successful the said Protestant Lords shall be requested every one of them to erect a Consistory There shall be a Consistory in their Houses composed of the Ministers and other Persons most eminent for Piety in their said Family by which Consistory all Scandals and Vices shall be supprest and the Rules of Discipline observed Moreover those Ministers shall be present at Provincial Synods if it may possibly consist with their occasions And that this may be effected the Council hath ordained That the Province in which the Synod shall be assembled shall be obliged to call them to it And those Ministers especially or a part of them shall be there present being deputed by the rest unto the General Synods together with their Elders who may inform the said General or Provincial Synods of their Lives and Conversation And in case the said Lords and Princes have divers Houses they shall be advertis'd None to have preheminence over another that none of their Ministers may pretend domination or preheminence over another according to that Article of our Church-Discipline in this case expresly provided And when as the said Lords and Princes shall reside in those Houses of theirs where there is a Church already formed we desire for the preventing of all Divisions that the Church in their Family would joyn itself unto the Church of that place and for that time to make but one Assembly III. Whenas the Lord's Supper shall be celebrated in the close of every Synod according to the Fourth Article of our Church-Discipline in the Acts of the First National
Paris to have sight and Copy of the Accounts of the last Receivers General upon whom as he saith were his Assignments and there they lie and it will he granted him immediately And in case the said Palot refuse to petition the said Court the Lords our General Deputies shall compel him to it and force him in their names to take out Coppies and Extracts concerning those Receivers General and whatever else may necessarily relate unto the said Palot And whereas the said Palot doth take for granted that there is due unto him the sum of twelve thousand Crowns and more It is necessary that our General Deputies should demand sight of those Accounts brought in by him that it may be proved whether he hath made a good and just Receipt for all his Moneys which they may easily do and the said Receipt may be verified but taking out from the Exchequer Copies and Extracts or all Moneys which the Receivers General have imposed or payed in to the said Palot All which any Attorney belonging to the said Court of Exchequer will get dispatched for them out of hand And forasmuch as we have too just cause to fear it that in the Account brought in by the said Palot there will be found several double false Reprisals All the Deputies of the Provinces are charged to send unto our Lords the General Deputies a Copy of all Accounts given in by their particular Receivers in their respective Provinces that so we may have a full and perfect knowledge of the Receipt and Disbursment set down and used in the Account of the said Palot So that if any thing should be owing to him which is very improbable and incredible he may be payed by the Receivers General of Thoulouse who were ordered in the closing up of their Accounts for the years 1600 and 1602. To pay in unto the said Palot the summ of 15966 Crowns six Sous and ten Deniers For out of this summ there will not only be enough to satisfie him but there will also remain some Moneys in stock for our Churches And 't is to be feared that he hath made the like mixtures in his other General Receipts in which he hath left a Fund for accommodating with all the Debtors And this affair is of so long continuance that people do now a days forbear speaking of it as if it were so old as to be forgotten which usually falls out in all general matters And when as the said Accounts are brought in and cleared up then all Papers remaining in the hands of the said Palot concerning those Assignations shall be taken from him and the Receivers General and the Debtors are to be prosecuted And if any of those assignations appear to be of no worth nor value our General Deputies shall use their best and utmost endeavour to get new and better Assignments And that it might be made appear that there was such a good debt of fifteen thousand nine hundred sixty and six Crowns five and fourty Sous and six Deniers owing unto our Churches there was put into the hands of our Lords General Deputies the Extracts taken out of the Chamber of Accompts for the Province of Languedoc Done at Rochel this 12th day of April Signed Berault Moderator of the National Synod Rivet Scribe Roy Scribe CHAP. IX Of Appeals 1. MOnsieur de la Rouviere Doctor of the Civil Law came impowered by the Common Council of the City of Usez into this Assembly to defend an Appeal which certain of the Consuls and Inhabitants of that City had made from the Colloquy of Usez and the Provincial Synod of Lower Languedoc held at St. Hippolyte by whom Mr. Laurence Brunier Minister of the Gospel was restored unto his Pastoral Office in the Church of Usez against the will and desire of these his Opponents On the other part the said Mr. Brunier Pastor of that Church and de Janas Doctor of the Civil Law came also furnished with ample powers from a great Assembly of that City disavowing those powers of the Sieur de la Ruviere and of the Consistory there Now although the disavowal of the first powers by the second might have been very well contested yet nevertheless because of the consequence and importance of this affair the Assembly passing by that formality did give audience to both Parties that it might take some effectual course about the principal Wherefore the Deputies of that Province were heard give in the reasons moving the said Province of Lower Languedoc to restore the said Mr. Brunier unto the Church of Usez and Monsieur Codur unto the Ministry in their Province contrary to the Decree of the National Synod of Gap which had excluded Monsieur Brunier from the City and Church of Usez until the meeting of this present Assembly and Mr. Codur from that Province Monsieur de la Rouviere was also heard speak on behalf of the Appellants and offering his objections as well against that decree of the Provincial Synod as against the very person of Monsieur Brunier Monsieur Brunier also was heard speak in his own defence and justification and the Deputy sent together with him from the Consistory of the Church of Usez who testified the unanimous desire of the Consistory and of the whole Church to enjoy him for their Pastor and how eminently acceptable and successful the Ministry of the said Mr. Brunier was among them Letters also were read from the Church of Beziers and one of their Elders sent by them declared the importunate desire of the said Church that Monsieur Codur might be confirmed in the Pastoral Office to them as also how very fruitful and edifying his Ministry had been among them Upon the whole this Assembly did utterly dislike and disapprove of those proceedings of the Provincial Synod of Lower Languedoc for neglecting the Decree of the National Synod of Gap and for introducing Monsieur Brunier into the Church of Usez and Monsieur Codur again into the Province and doth judge the said Province to have incurred a very great Censure by its notorious transgression of a decree made by the National Synod a crime of very dangerous consequence because if Provincial Synods shall slight the Authority of the National they will open the Flood-gates to let in upon us a deluge of unseen mischiefs And the said Monsieur Brunier hath deserved a sharp reproof for listning unto methods for his restoration which tho sought out by others were in truth propounded by himself unto the Provincial Synod and for that he acquiesced rather in the Judgment of a Provincial Synod than of the National yea and acted contrary to it And the like Censure is inflicted upon Monsieur Codur who being excluded the said Province could not of right have sought a readmission into it nor ought the Province when he sought it to have readmitted him And as for the Church of Usez it cannot but be blamed for its precipitancy and impatiency in not tarrying till the time
shall be charged to represent unto his Majesty that it will be needful to have a General Political Assembly to precede the Provincial ones of the same nature wherein the condition and number of the Six and the three years term of their Charge may be debated and resolved on and till such time as it shall please his Majesty to grant us this our Petition we do most humbly beseech him to accept of the said two Deputies to negotiate our Affairs as the former who within one month after their Arrival shall inform the Provinces of his Majesties pleasure herein And because it 's needful the Deputies should depart immediately without delay they shall be taken from among those who be here upon the place and not chosen by the Deliberative Votes of this Assembly 8. The Deputies which are now going unto Court shall be intreated to assist the Forreign Ministers imployed in the Pastoral Office of our French Churches to get them Letters of Naturalization And Monsieur du Caudal shall be obliged to bring in unto the General Deputies against the 15th of August next a Breviate of his Account together with his Acquittances 9. Forasmuch as divers persons to trouble and vex their adverse Parties do plunge them in infinite Charges and Expences drawing their Processes both Civil and Criminal before other Courts than the Chambers of the Edict Our Deputies are charged to make report of it unto his Majesty and in this particular to be favourable not only to the Bodies of Churches but even unto particular Persons when as necessity shall so require 10. The Lords of Villarnou and de Mirande were nominated by this Assembly to repair to Court and to inform his Majesty with the above-mentioned Causes for which this Assembly could not conform themselves to the terms of his Majesties Writ And in case his Majesty shall accept of them till such time as the General Assembly do meet they shall then attend his Majesty in the Quality of General Deputies of the Churches But and if his Majesty shall not be pleased to grant us speedily a General Assembly they shall continue in that Office a full year during which time they shall in the general name of all the Churches conjoyntly act and prosecute whatever may concern their universal good and welfare as also the particular benefit of every Church and Province and shall make a faithful report of all matters unto his Majesty from the Memoirs delivered to them by this Assembly and shall sollicit an answer to them and govern themselves in all things conformably to the Orders enacted and established for the said Deputies in the Assembly of St. Foy and the Instructions which shall now be given them And the Provinces are advised to have recourse unto them in all Affairs both general and special relating unto the Churches without making any private prosecution by any other persons besides the said Deputies And the said Deputies were sworn and entred upon their Office the 14th day of this present month CHAP. XV. The Account of the Lord du Candall for the Moneys given us by His Majesty 1. THE Sieurs de Genouille Bergier des Fontaines de Burges le Fevre de la Combe and Texier were Commissionated to examine the Account of the Lord of Candall and they made report of the many difficulties in it because he did not produce any Acquittances nor other Evidences proving his Accounts Whereupon the said Lord du Candal pleaded for himself that the true reason why he had not brought with him those Acquittances was because he never imagined that the Provinces would have scrupled the truth of those payments he had made them This Assembly ordained that for this time only the Account should be cleared and finished but it should never be made a President of for hereafter which was done accordingly And the said Commissioners reported that the said Lord of Candal was indebted 55639 Livers 19 Sous and 3 Deniers Allowances being made for summs accounted for but not received which the said Lord du Candall shall endeavour to get in and having recovered them shall pay unto those particular Churches to whom they are owing and become due against the fifteenth day of August next coming and this in ready Money or good Bills of Exchange according to the Contracts made with him at the Synod of Gap and he shall bring with him the Acquittances of those who received the Moneys from him unto the Lords General Deputies residing at Court within fifteen days after And our General Deputies shall bring them a Copy fairly written and collationed of those Acquittances unto the next National Synod unless a Political Assembly should chance to be held before it And the Original of that Account shall be reserved in the Archives of the Consistory of Rochell 2. The said Lords General Deputies shall cause the said Lord of Candall to bring unto them the Acquittances and other Evidences of his Account cleared and finished in this Assembly for 55639 Livers 19 Sous and 3 Deniers which he was indebted for upon the closing up of the said account And to this purpose there was delivered to them the said Deputies a Copy of the whole that so they might be inabled so prosecute if need were the Execution of that Account with all its Apostils and additions as it had been concluded and finished 3. That Obligation of the said Lord of Candall unto the Churches was put into Monsieur Merlin's hands to be reserved in the Archives of the Consistory of the Church of Rochel And a collationed Copy of this Original shall be produced in the next National Synod by the Deputies of that Province 4. Our Deputies at Court shall assist the Pastors of our Churches who are Forreigners by Birth to get out Letters of Naturalization from his Majesty 5. The Lord of Candall Receiver General for the Churches shall deliver in to our Lords General Deputies before the 15th day of August next coming a Breviate of his Accounts together with all Acquittances Evidences and Proofs of it 6. There having been several Writings and Memoirs prepared at Chastelheraud to be tendered unto his Majesty wherewith Monsieur de Crois had been intrusted he surrendred unto this Assembly the Writings concerning Religion Justice the Treasury and our Cautionary Towns in seven dictinct Pieces as also all the Evidences belonging to the said Writings and their Acquittances which were either given or offered by him unto the Deputies of the Provinces to whom they did properly belong Moreover he put into the Archives of the Guildhall of the City of Rochel the Writs concerning the Continuation of the Cautionary Towns As also he delivered into the hands of this Assembly the last Warrant granted for discharge of the Deputies and the nomination of those who were now called into Office And over and above all this he yielded up the Letters Patents for exemption of our Ministers with the Decree of their Verification in the Court of Aids at
their dependencies and that the said Churches cannot long Subsist without a Good a Strict and Mutual Union and conjunction of one with the other and this better kept and maintained than formerly Therefore being desirous what in us lyeth for the future to remove all seeds of division and occasion of partialities between the said Churches and to obviate all Impostures Plots Calumnies and Practices whatsoever by means whereof divers Persons ill affected to our Religion do indeavour its utter Ruine and destruction For which reason we are more bound than ever by an unanimous consent and agreement to use those means which will most and best contribute to our just lawful and necessary preservation in the Union aforesaid under the authority of our Soveraign Lord the King and the Queen Regent his Mother we have in the Name of all those Churches and for their Weal and Happiness and for the service of their Majesties Sworn and Protested and do Swear and Protest yea we do also promise that we will see these our Protestation to be ratified in and by all our respective Provinces to continue inseparably United and conjoyned in the Confession of Faith owned and Professed by the Reformed Church of this Kingdom and confirmed approved and ratified by us all We Swear as well in our own Names as in the Names of all the Churches and Provinces which Commissionated us to be their Deputies unto this Assembly that we will live and die in this Confession as also we do protest that we will keep inviolably that Ecclesiastical Discipline which is established in the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom and to observe its Canons for the Government of these Churches and the reformation of manners owning and acknowledging that it is agreeable to the Word of God under whose supream and unviolable authority We Protest and Swear to yield all obedience and fidelity to their Majesties desiring nothing more than through the favour of their Edicts to serve our God without any Violence offered unto our Consciences Sworn and Subscribed by Gigord Moderator Gardesy Assessor Rivet and Scribes Maltrett Scribes And by all the other Deputies with their own hands CHAP. XVI An Act for the Meeting of the General Mixt Assembly THE Lord of Rouvray our General Deputy having sent unto this Synod his Majesties writ bearing date the 22d day of this present month by which at the request of this National Synod the time of meeting for the next National General Assembly is put off till the a 25th of August but without any change of place This Assembly judging the City of Grenoble to be a very inconvenient place because of its great distance and for being the Residence of a Parliament and for divers other great and weighty reasons ordered that Letters should be written unto the Lord Marshal Duke de Lesdiguieres and presented to him by the Deputies of Burgundy and Dolphiny who also by word of mouth should humbly intreat his excellency not only to take in good part the change of the place of meeting which all the Deputies convened at this Synod have unanimously desired and hold necessary but also that he would be pleased to joyn with them in their humble request and Petition unto their Majesties by the Lords our General Deputies who shall present unto them Letters from this Assembly in which with all humbleness it shall be declared that the late King of most happy Memory did usually make choice of the most meet and convenient places for the holding of those Assemblies And the said Lords Deputies shall use their utmost care and diligence to give notice and information of the success of this their undertaking before the 15th of July or sooner if may be unto the Provincial Assemblies in case of refusal This Assembly adviseth also that it would be expedient that they send each of them one Deputy chosen out of their whole Body to reiterate with all submissions and reverence their most humble Petitions unto their Majesties and by conjoyned Supplications to obtain this change from them Moreover the Lords General Deputies are most expresly charged to prosecute their complaints of that grievous Outrage Committed by the Lieutenant in the Government of Guise against Monsieur Sigart Pastor of the Church of Levall and to desire that justice may have its due Course upon that Officer they corroborating by word of mouth what hath been written unto their Majesties from this Assembly about it They be also exhorted according to the Canon made at Privas most humbly to petition their Majesties that we may be exempted from that necessity which is now more eagerly and violently prest upon us than ever yea and with greater severity rigour and exaction than heretofore and against that Liberty of Conscience which hath been so often promised us of styling our selves of the pretended Reformed Religion we rather choosing to suffer all kind of torments than to be compelled with our own mouths to condemn our own most holy and true Religion Moreover they be exhorted to assist the Church of Dijon whose place of Meeting for Religious Worship is removed four long Leagues distant from that City although by the Edict they may have their Temple in the Suburbs And yet this poor Church hath been frustrated of its expectations and earnest requests after ten years Prosecution and Attendance at Court for if They shall also complain of the Commissioners that were sent into Burgundy to see the Edict of Nants executed for that they refused to hear the Petitions tendered them for restoring the exercise of our Religion in seven antient Baily wicks and in the Cities of St. John de Laune and de Noyers where the Word of God had been duly and constantly Preached in the years 1576 and 1577. And they shall favour and stand by that opposition made by those of our Religion in Vivaretz against the Petition presented to the Council by the Judge of the Lower Vivaretz who would of his own head and authority bring into the Royal Courts of Villeneuve of Berg and Annonay Causes determinable in the Provosts Court which is expresly contrary to that Article of the Edict declaring that the Judgment of Declinators and Exceptions against the Jurisdictions of a Court shall only appertain to the Mixt Chambers of the Edict or to other Courts at the choice of the Professors of our Religion They shall complain also of letting decay the Fortifications of Clermont in the Lower Languedoc one of our Cautionary Towns and given us as a pledge and hostage for our security The Papists in the mean while fortifying the Town against the Castle They are also intreated to be careful of that business of Monsieur de la Garde Governour of Tonneins who being summoned and brought before His Majesty and Council after a world of difficulty was dismissed over to the Chamber of Grenoble from whence the Jesuits and other Clergy of the Romish Church would fain remove it back again to Paris And they shall use all
the Members of that Flock which God hath committed unto his Charge and to forget as becomes a good Pastor all past matters And the Province of Poictou shall take care that they do not grant unto the said Mr. Bely hereafter a Liberty of Communicating in the Church of Fontenay as they had done formerly Which being declared unto both Parties they did reciprocally give each other the right Hand of Reconciliation 12. The Sieur Hesperian came unto this Assembly complaining of a Decree of the Provincial Synod of the Lower Guyenne held at Montpazier July 1659. by which because of the differences between him and Mrs. Mary Betoulle there were Commissioners assigned them who having examined their Papers did not find any reason why they should proceed to a Condemnation of the said Hesperian but rather to justifie him yet nevertheless he having been for want of a Decree in the Court of the Edict at Guienne forfaulted and having two Witnesses who were never confronted he referr'd the whole business unto the determination of the Province which had declared they saw no cause why the said Hesperian should be condemned and yet notwithstanding till a Decree should be gotten from the Chamber of the Edict he was ordered to forbear the Exercises of his Ministerial Calling untill such time as he could be justified by the Court of the Edict after which he might warrantably enter upon his Office yea and without waâ—â—ing till the sitting of another Synod and that he might be re established according to our Canons in due Form the Consistory of Bourdeaâ—x was depâ—ted by the Authority of the said Synod to take care of him in this Interim and to provide him the first Church that should be vacant and that he should like to accept of and the said Mrs. Betoulle complâ—â—â—ed of this very self same Decree by the Mouth of Monsieur Betoulle a Proposan her Brother who hath presented on her behalf a Letter unto this Assembly maintaining in it that the said Hesperian ought to be deposed from his Ministry On hearing the whole matter this Assembly confirmed the Judgment of the said Synod of Montpazier And whereas the said Hesperian complaineth of Mr. Betoulle Minister of the Church of Duras the Assembly hath dismissed those Complaints of his over to the said Province of Lower Guienne to take Cognisance of and give Judgment in them 13. Whereas the before-mentioned Mr. Hesperian desired this Assembly to interpret their Decree concerning the differences betwixt him and Mrs. Mary Betoulle and his Justification in the Court of the Edict in Guienne The Assembly declared that it was none of their Intention to tie up the said Mr. Hesperian that he must only obtain his Justification from the said Court of the Edict in Guienne but that if it should so fall out that his Law-Suit should be removed from the said Court and brought into another and there he should be absolved and justified iâ— should dâ— as well and obtain the same effect as if it had been ordained in the Chamber of the Edict of Gienne 14. On perusal of the Memoirs of the Colloquy of middle Poitou brought in to defend an Appeal of theirs from a Judgment given by the Colloquy of Lower Poitou held at Chef-Boutonne whenas their Synod was assembled in September 1659. and which refused to dismember the Churches of Collonge and Foussay that so the Colloquy of Middle Poictou might be corroborated This Assembly decreed that there should be nothing innovated on this account but things should stand as they were 15. The Committee appointed to peruse the Memoirs 〈◊〉 Lâ—tters sent by the Churches of Montendre Ozillac and Fontaâ—â—â—â— to maintain their Appeal from the Judgment of the Synod of Xaintonge held at Marans in the Year 1650. by which Mr. Hamilton was constituted Pastor of the Church of Jarnac Having brought in their Report and the Deputies of that Province having given in the Reasonâ— prevailing with that Synod to pass that Judgment which they did This Assembly disallowing the precipitate Removal of Mr. Hamilton to the Church of Jaâ—â—â— done before the time â—llotted him doth confirm the said Judgment because it is evident that the special Grounds and Conâ—â—â—â—â— it were the knowledge which that Synod had of Mr. Hamilton's indispositions And whereas the Church of Ozillac demands our Advice 〈◊〉 thâ—y 〈◊〉 remanded back unto their own Province 16. The Memoirs of the Church of Pons having been reporâ—â—l and their Letter written unto this Assembly read which was indeed a Defence of their Appeal from the Judicial Sentence of the Synod of Xaintonge held at Mauze in the Year 1656. by which Monsieur Prioleau was presented to the Pastoral Charge of the Church of Rochell and the Deputies of that Province being heard this Assembly confirming the Censure of the said Synod past on the Sieur Priouleau for his Conduct with reference to the Church of Pons doth blame the said Province for not admitting the Appeal of the said Church and for their approving of the Remittal of those Arrearages due unto the said Priouleau whereby to facilitate the Execution of their Judgment in removing a Pastor from his Church and yet notwithstanding it doth confirm the said Mr. Prioleau in his Ministry to the Church of Rochel 17. Report was made of the Letters and Memoirs of Mr. Genoyers Pastor in the Province of Dolphiny appealing from a Judgment of the said Province assembled at Veynes in 1659. which had discharged him of all Employment either within or without the Province and had took no care for his present Subsistence or future establishment Upon hearing the Deputies of the said Province this Assembly rejected the Appeal of the said Mr. Genoyers and confirmed the Judgment of the said Province yet nevertheless it recommends the said Genoyers unto the Care of that Province to provide a Church for him according to their Prudence and if it be possible and the said Genoyers is enjoyned absolutely to submit himself to the Orders of his Synod 18. The Business of Mr. Morus My Lord his Majesty's Commissioner before the Committee appointed for the Affair of Monsieur Morus had begun to debate it and bring in their Opinion upon it declared unto this Assembly that before ever this business was pleaded he had permitted both Parties to produce all Evidences that they should see fitting and needful for them and having since found in the Hands of the said Committee Writings Papers and Copies which were produced by the Sieur Papillon and which the said Lord Commissioner took notice to have been transmitted from Holland in Defence of the Synods held at Tergow and Nimeguen against Mr. Morus which said Writings and Letters he the said Lord Commissioner had left with the Committee that they might be the better enabled to make a Report of the whole matter without ever detaining any of them in his Hands although he had Order from his Majesty to suppress all Letters that were sent from Holland or from