Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	election_n	faith_n	foresee_v	1,644	5	11.3276	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56905	Synodicon in Gallia reformata, or, The acts, decisions, decrees, and canons of those famous national councils of the reformed churches in France being I. a most faithful and impartial history of the rise, growth, perfection and decay of the reformation in that kingdom, with its fatal catastrophe upon the revocation of the Edict of Nants in the year 1685 : II. the confession of faith and discipline of those churches : III. a collection of speeches, letters, sacred politicks, cases of conscience, and controversies in divinity, determined and resolved by those grave assemblies : IV. many excellent expedients for preventing and healing schisms in the churches and for re-uniting the dismembred body of divided Protestants : V. the laws, government, and maintenance of their colleges, universities and ministers, together with their exercise of discipline upon delinquent ministers and church-members : VI. a record of very many illustrious events of divine providence relating to those churches : the whole collected and composed out of original manuscript acts of those renowned synods : a work never be extant in any language.	Quick, John, 1636-1706.; Eglises réformées de France.	1692 (1692)	Wing Q209; ESTC R10251	1,424,843	1,304

But as for us who adore these Divine Mysteries let us cry out with the Apostle Rom. 11.33 34 35 36. O! The Depths of the Riches and of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God how incomprehensible are his Judgments and his Waves are past finding out For who hath known the Mind of the Lord Or who hath been his Counsellor Or who hath first given unto him and it shall be rendred unto him again For of him and by him and for him are all things To him be Glory for ever and ever Amen Errors Rejected The Orthodox Doctrine of Election and Reprobation having been Expounded the Synod Rejected their Errors CANON I. I. WHO teach that the Will of God to save them that shall believe and persevere in Faith and Obedience of Faith is the full and whole Decree of Election unto Salvation and that there is nothing else revealed in the Word of God concerning this Decree For these deceive the simple and do apparently contradict the Holy Scriptures which doth not only witness that God would save such as shall believe but also that from all Eternity he hath chosen some certain Persons to whom in his own time he will rather give Faith in Jesus Christ and perseverance than unto others As it is written John 17.16 I have manifested thy Name unto the Men whom thou hast given me And Acts 13.48 And all those believed who were ordained unto Eternal Life And Eph. 1.4 He hath chosen us before the foundation of the World that we might be Holy CANON II. Those who teach that Gods Election unto Eternal Life is of divers kinds the one general and Indefinite the other definite and particular and this again is either incomplete revocable not-peremptory but conditional or else complete unchangeable peremptory or absolute Item there is Election unto Faith and another unto Life and Salvation so that Election unto Justifying Faith may be without a peremptory Election unto Salvation For these are nothing else but the vain Inventions of brain-sick-Men forged without Scripture Light or Warrant and which corrupt the Sacred Doctrine of Divine Election and do dissolve asunder all the Links in that Golden Chain of our Salvation Rom. 8.29 And whom God hath predestinated them he also called and whom he called them also he justified and whom he justified them he also glorified CANON III. Those who teach that the good pleasure and determinate purpose of God whereof the Scripture maketh mention in the Doctrine of Election consisteth not in this that God hath chosen some certain Persons rather than others but in this that from out of all possible Conditions among which also are the works of the Law or from the Rank and Order of all things God hath chosen the Act of Faith though vile in it self and the imperfect Obedience of Faith for the condition of Salvation and that of his meer Grace he will accept and reckon it for perfect Obedience and judge it vvorthy the recompence of Eternal Life For by this pernicious Error the good Pleasure of God and the Merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ be all enervated and Men are turned avvay by unprofitable Questions from the true Doctrine of the Free Grace or God displayed in our Justification and the simplicity of the Scriptures And that Sentence of the Holy Apostle must be branded with falsity 2 Tim. 1.9 God hath called us with an Holy Calling not according to Works but according to his own determinate Purpose and Grace which was given us in Jesus Christ from the beginning of the World CANON IV. Those who teach that in Election unto Faith there is this Condition pre-required that Man do make a good and right use of Nature that he be an honest Man humble and disposed for Eternal Life as if Election did some way or other depend on these things For this Opinion is rank Pelagianisme and doth too overtly and boldly tax the Apostle of falsehood when as he saith Ephes 2.2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. We have all had heretofore our Conversions in the Lusts of the Flesh fulfilling the desires of the Flesh and of our Minds and were by Nature Children of Wrath as well as others But God who is Rich in Mercy by his great love wherewith he loved us even then when as we were dead in our sins hath quickned us together with Christ by whose Grace you are saved and he hath risen us up together with him and hath made us sit down together in heavenly places through Jesus Christ that so he might manifest in Ages to come the abundant Excellencies of the riches of his Grace by his loving kindness towards us in Jesus Christ For you are saved by grace through Faith and this not of your selves but the gift of God not of works least any one should boast or glory CANON V. Those who teach that incomplete and not-peremptory Election of particular Persons is done through foresight of their begun Faith Conversion Holyness and Piety or of its continuance for some time But that complete and peremptory Election is done from a foresight of their final perseverance in Faith Conversion Holyness and Piety and therein lieth that gratuitous and Evangelical Worthiness for vvhich he vvho is Elected is more Worthy than he vvho is not Elected and thus consequently Faith and the Obedience of Faith Holyness Piety and Perseverance are not the Fruits and Effects of Immutable Election unto Glory but Conditions and Causes vvithout vvhich there can be no Election vvhich Causes and Conditions are prae-required and foreseen in such a manner in those Persons vvho vvould be completely Elected as if they vvere already accomplished This is a Doctrine diametrically opposite unto Scripture vvhich in divers places inculcateth into our Ears and Hearts these and the like Sentences Rom. 9.12 Election is not of Works but of him that calleth Acts 13.48 All those vvho vvere ordained unto Eternal Life believed Ephes 1.4 He hath chosen us in him that vve might be Holy John 15.16 You have not chosen me but I have chosen you Rom. 11.6 And if it be by grace then it is no more of vvorks 1 John 4.10 In this is love not that vve have loved God but that he hath loved us and sent his Son into the VVorld that he might save us CANON VI. Those vvho teach that all Election unto Salvation is not unchangeable but that some of the Elect notvvithstanding all or any part of God's Decree may perish and that Eternally By vvhich gross Error they may make God changeable and overthrovv the Consolation of Believers vvhich is bottom'd and grounded upon the immoveable firmness of Gods Election and professedly contradict the Sacred Scriptures learning us that the Elect can never be seduced Matth. 24.24 And John 6.39 That Christ loseth not one of them vvho are given him by the Father And Rom. 8.29 Whom God hath predestinated them he called justified and vvill also glorifie CANON VII Those vvho teach that during this Life there proceedeth

of Death that the Efficacy thereof should particularly belong unto all the Elect and to them only to give them justifying Faith and by it to bring them infallibly unto Salvation and thus effectually to redeem all those and none other who were from all Eternity from among all People Nations and Tongues chosen unto Salvation Whereupon although the Assembly were well satisfied yet nevertheless they decreed that for the future that Phráse of Jesus Chist's dying equally for all should be forborn because that term equally was formerly and might be so again an Occasion of stumbling unto many Article 19. And as for the Conditional Decree of which mention is made in the aforesaid Treatise of Predestination the said Sieurs Testard and Amyraud declared that they do not nor ever did understand any other thing than God's Will revealed in his Word to give Grace and Life unto Believers and that they called this in none other Sense a Conditional Will than that of an Anthropopeia because God promiseth not the Effects thereof but upon condition of Faith and Repentance And they added farther That although the Propositions resulting from the Manifestation of this will be conditional and conceived under an if or it may be as if thou believest thou shalt be saved if Man repent of his Sins they shall be forgiven him yet nevertheless this doth not suppose in God an Ignorance of the Event not an Impotency as to the Execution nor any Inconstancy as to his Will which is always firmly accomplished and ever unchangeable in it self according to the Nature of God in which there is no Variableness nor Shadow of turning Article 20. And the said Sieur Amyraud did particularly protest as he had formerly published unto the World that he never gave the Name of Universal or Conditional Predestination unto this Will of God than by way of Concession and accommodating it unto the Language of the Adversary Yet forasmuch as many are offended at this Expression of his he offered freely to raze it out of those places where-ever it did occur promising also to abstain in from it for the future and both he and the Sieur Testard acknowledged that to speak truly and accurately according to the Usage of sacred Scripture there is none other Decree of Predestination of Men unto eternal Life and Salvation than the unchangeable Purpose of God by which according to the most free and good Pleasure of his Will he hath out of mere Grate chosen in Jesus Christ unto Salvation before the Foundation of the World a certain number of Men in themselves neither better nor more worthy than others and that he hath decreed to give them unto Jesus Christ to be saved and that he would call and draw them effectually to Communion with him by his Word and Spirit And they did in consequence of this Holy Doctrine reject their Error who held that Faith and the Obedience of Faith Holiness Godliness and Perseverance are not the Fruits and Effects of this unchangeable Decree unto Glory but Conditions or Causes without which Election could not be passed which Conditions or Causes are antecedently requisite and foreseen as if they were already accomplished in those who were fit to be elected contrary to what is taught us by the sacred Scripture Acts 13. 48. and elsewhere Article 21. And whereas they have made distinct Decrees in this Counsel of God the first of which is to save all Men though Jesus Christ if they shall believe in him the second to give Faith unto some particular Persons they declared that they did this upon none other account than of accommodating it unto that Manner and Order which the Spirit of Man observeth in his Reasonings for the Succour of his own Infirmity they otherwise believing that though they considered this Decree as diverse yet it was formed in God in one and the self-same Moment without any Succession of Thought or Order of Priority and Posteriority The Will of this most supreme and incomprehensible Lord being but one only eternal Act in him so that could we but conceive of things as they be in him from all Eternity we should comprehend these Decrees of God by one only Act of our Understanding as in Truth they be but one only Act of his eternal and unchangeable Will Article 22. The Synod having heard these Declarations from the Sieurs Testard and Amyraud it injoined them and all others to refrain from those terms of conditional frustratory or revocable Decree and that they should rather choose the Word Will whereby to express that Sentiment of theirs and by which they would signify the revealed Will of God commonly called by Divines Voluntas Signe Article 23. And whereas in sundry Places marked in the Writings of the before-mentioned Monsieur Testard and Amyraud they have ascribed unto God as it were a Notion of Velleity and strong Affections and vehement Desires of Things which he hath not hot never will effectuate they having declared that by those figurative Ways of speaking and anthropopathical they designed to speak properly none other thing than this that if Men were obedient to the Commandments and Invitations of God their Faith and Obedience would be most acceptable unto him according as was before expressed by them The Assembly hearing this their Explication did injoin them to use such Expressions as these with that Sobriety and Prudence that they might not give the least Occasion of Offence unto any Person nor cause them to conceive of God in any way unsuitable to his glorious Nature Article 24. Monsieur Testard and Amyraud declared farther that although the Doctrines obvious to us in the Works of Creation and Providence do teach and preach Repentance and invite us to seek the Lord who would be found of us yet nevertheless by reason of the horrible Blindness of our Nature and its universal Corruption no Man was ever this way converted yea and it is utterly impossible that any one should be converted but by the hearing of the Word of God which is the Seed of our Regeneration and the Instrument of the Holy Ghost whole Efficacy and Virtue only is able to illuminate our Understandings and to change the Hearts and Affections of the Children of Men. Article 25. And forasmuch as the Word of God hath always revealed the Knowledg of the Lord our Redeemer the said Sieurs did farther protest that no one Man was ever nor can be saved without some certain Measure of this Knowledg less indeed under the old Testament but greater under the New the Death and Resurrection of the Son of God being most plainly and distinctly manifested in the Gospel and they hold it as an undoubted Truth that now under the New Covenant the distinct Knowledg of Christ is absolutely necessary for all Persons who are come unto Years of Discretion in order to their obtaining of eternal Salvation And they do from their very Heart anathematize all those who believe or teach that Man may be saved

unto Salvation and thus effectually to redeem all those and none other who were from all Eternity from among all People Nations and Tongues chosen unto Salvation Whereupon although the Assembly were well satisfied yet nevertheless they decreed that for the future that Phrase of Jesus Christ's dying Equally for all should be for born that term Equally was heretofore and might be so again an occasion of stumbling unto many And as for the conditional Decree mentioned in the aforesaid Treatise of Predestination the said Mr. Testard and Amyraud declared that they do not not ever did understand any other thing than God's Revealed Will in his Word to give Grace and Life unto Believers and that they called this in none other sense a Conditional Will than that of an Anthropopia because God promiseth not the effects thereof but upon condition of Faith and Repentance And they added farther that although the Propositions resulting from the manifestation of this Will be conditional and conceived under an If or It may be as if thou believest thou shalt be Saved if a Man repent of his Sins they shall be forgiven him yet nevertheless this doth not suppose in God an Ignorance of the Event nor an Impotency as to the Execution of nor any inconstancy as to his Will which is always firmly accomplished and ever unchangable in it self according to the nature of God in which there is no variableness nor shadow of turning And the said Monsieur Amyraud did particularly protest as he had before published unto the World that he never gave the Name of Universal or Conditional Predestination unto this Will of God than by way of concession and accommodation unto the Language of the Adversary yet forasmuch as many are offended at this Expression of his he offered freely to raze it out of those Places wherever it did occur promising also to abstain from it for the future And both He and the Sieur Testard acknowledged that to speak truly and accurately according to the usage of Sacred Scripture there is no other Decree of Predestination of Men unto Eternal Life and Salvation than the unchangable purpose of God by which according to the most free and good pleasure of his Will he hath out of meer Grace chosen in Jesus Christ unto Salvation before the Foundation of the World a certain number of Men in themselves neither better nor more worthy than others and that he hath decreed to give them unto Jesus Christ to be Saved and that he would call and draw them effectually to Communion with him by his Word and Spirit And they did in consequence of this their Doctrin reject their Error who held that Faith and th' Obedience of Faith Holiness Godliness and Perseverance are not the fruits and effects of this unchangable Decree unto Glory but conditions or causes without which Election could not be passed which conditions or causes are antecedently requisite and foreseen as if they were already accomplished in those who were fit to be elected contrary to what is taught us by the Sacred Scriptures Acts 13.48 and elsewhere And whereas they have made distinct Decrees in this Counsel of God the first of which is to save all Men through Jesus Christ if they shall believe in him the Second to give Faith unto some particular Persons they declared that they did this upon none other account than of accommodating it unto the manner and order which the Spirit of Man observeth in his Reasonings for the succour of his own Infirmities they otherwise believing that though they considered this Decree as Diverse yet was it found in God in one and the self same Moment without any Succession of Thought or order of Priority and Posteriority The Will of this most Supream and Incomprehensible Lord being one only Eternal Act in him so that could we but conceive of things as they be in him from all Eternity we should comprehend these Decrees of God by one only Act of our Understanding as in truth they be but one only Act of his Eternal and Unchangable Will. The Synod having heard these Declarations of the Sieurs Testart and Amyraud injoyned them and all others to refrain from those terms of Conditional Frustratory or Revocable Decree and that they should rather chuse the Word Will whereby to express that Sentiment of theirs by which they would signifie the Revealed Will of God commonly called by Divines Voluntas Signi And whereas in sundry places marked in the Writings of the before-mentioned Mr. Testard and Amyraud they have ascribed unto God as it were a notion of Velleity and strong Affections and vehement desires of things which he hath not nor ever will effectuate they having declared that by those figurative ways of Speaking and an anthropopathical they designed to speak properly none other thing than this that if Men were obedient to the Commandments and Invitations of God their Faith and Obedience would be most acceptable to him according as was before expressed by them The Assembly hearing this their Explication did injoyn them to use such Expressions as these with that Sobriety and Prudence that they might not give any occasion of offence unto any Person nor cause them to conceive of God in any way unsuitable to his Glorious Nature And the same Monsieur Amyraud and Testard declared farther that although the Doctrins obvious to us in the works of Creation and Providence do Teach and Preach Repentance and invite us to seek the Lord who would be found of us Yet nevertheless by reason of the horrible blindness of our Nature and its Universal Corruption no Man was ever this way converted yea and it is utterly impossible that any one should be converted but by the Hearing of the Word of God which is the seed of our Regeneration and the Instrument of the Holy Ghost whose efficacy and vertue only is able to illuminate our Understandings and to change the Hearts and Affections of the Children of Men. And forasmuch as the Word of God hath always revealed the knowledge of the Lord our Redeemer the said Sieurs did farther protest that no one Man was ever nor can be saved without some certain measure of this Knowledge less indeed under the Old Testament but greater under the New the Death and Resurrection of the Son of God being most plainly and distinctly manifested in the Gospel And they hold it as an undoubted Truth that now under the New Covenant the distinct knowledge of Christ is absolutely necessary for all Persons who are come unto Years of Discretion in order to their obtaining of Eternal Salvation And they do from their very Heart anathematize all those who believe or Teach that Man may be saved any other way than by the Merit of our Lord Jesus Christ or in any other Religion besides the Christian And whereas divers Persons were much offended at the Professor Amyrald for calling that knowledge of God which Men might gain from the consideration of his Works and

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

which he hath prepared that we should use and walk in CANON IX This self-same Election was not done out of fore-seen Faith and Obedience of Faith Holyness or any other good Quality and Disposition as a Cause or Condition prae-required in Man that is to be Elected but that God might give him Faith and Obedience of Faith and true Holyness And therefore Election is the Spring and Fountain of all saving Good from which flow out Faith Holyness and all other saving Gifts yea Everlasting Life it self as the Fruits and Effects thereof according to that saying of the Apostle Ephes 1.4 He hath chosen us not because we were but that we might be Holy and Unblameable before him in Love CANON X. Now the Cause of this free Election is the only good pleasure of God which doth not stand in this that he hath chosen as a Condition of Salvation some certain Humane Qualities or Actions which are possible to be done but in this that he hath took unto himself some certain select Persons from among the vast Multitude and Community of Sinners to be his peculiar Inheritance Even as it is written Rom. 9.11 12 13. Before the Children were born and before they had done good or evil c. It was said unto her viz. Rebecca the Elder shall serve the younger as it is written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated And Acts 13.48 And all those who were ordained unto Eternal Life they believed CANON XI And forasmuch as God is most wise unchangeable knowing all things and Almighty therefore his Decree of Election can never be broken off nor changed nor revoked nor disanulled nor can the Elect be reprobated nor their number impaired and diminished CANON XII The Elect are in due time assured of their Everlasting and Unchangeable Election unto Salvation though it be done gradually and in a very unequal measure Nor do they get it by a curious diving into the Depths and Secrets of God but upon an exact scrutiny into their own hearts they meet with Spiritual Joys and Holy Heavenly Rejoycings and with those infallible Fruits of their Election noted and recorded in the Word of God such as Faith unfeigned in the Lord Jesus a Filial Fear of God Godly Sorrow for Sin and hungring and thirsting after Righteousness CANON XIII From this assurance and inward Sence and feeling of their Election Children of God do dayly take occasion for greater Abasement and deeper Humiliation of themselves before God and to adore the unfathomable depths of his Mercy and purge themselves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit and also to love God most ardently and transcendently who hath first loved them with such a potent and unparallel'd Affection So far are they by this Doctrine from growing slothful careless carnally secure or negligent of Duty and of keeping the Commandments of God that they ordinarily through the just judgment of God are guilty of these sins who rashly and unwarrantably presuming of their Election do riot it at Noon day and turn the Grace of God into lasciviousness and refuse to walk in the good ways of Gods Elect. CANON XIV And as this Doctrine of Divine Election according to the Infinite wise Council of God was preached by the Prophets of old by our Lord Jesus Christ and by his Apostles under both Testaments and after recorded in the Holy Scriptures So also ought it now in our days to be taught publickly in the Church of God for whom it is principally designed but with a Spirit of Discretion Religiously and Piously in time and place relinquishing all curious Inquiries into the wayes of the most High and all to the Glory of Gods Holy Name the Peace and Comfort the Everlasting Life and Happyness of his People CANON XV. Moreover the Sacred Scriptures do render this Everlasting Free Grace of God in our Election the more illustrious and recommend it to us by testifying that all Men are not Elected but that some in the Eternal Election of God are passed by to witt those whom God in his good pleasure which is alwayes most Free most Righteous Unblameable and Unchangeable Decreed to leave in that gulph of common Misery whereinto by their own sin they had flung themselves headlong and not to give them saving Faith nor the Grace of Conversion but having abandon'd them to their own ways and lusts he doth finally in his Righteous Judgment condemne and punish them Everlastingly not only for their unbelief but also for all their other sins for the manifestation of his Justice This is the Decree of Reprobation which doth not in any wise make God the Author of Sin the very thought whereof is horrid Blasphemy but on the contrary doth demonstrate him to be a most dreadful irreprehensible and Righteous Judge and Revenger of all Sin CANON XVI Such who do not as yet effectually feel in their own Souls a lively Faith in Christ Jesus or a particular confidence of Heart in God Peace of Conscience a diligent care and endeavour to yield Filial Obedience and to glorifie God through Jesus Christ and do yet nevertheless use the means by which God hath promised to work those Graces in us they should not be discouraged when as they here speak or Reprobation nor should they reckon themselves in the number of Reprobates but they ought carefully to continue in the use of means and ardently to petition for that happy hour when this Grace of God shall be abundantly poured down upon them and to wait for it in all Reverence and Humility much less should they be affrighted at the Doctrine of Reprobation who when as they desire to be sincere Converts and would please God intirely and be delivered from this Body of Death sin dwelling in them yet cannot make so great a progress in Piety and Faith as they would Because God who is full of Mercy hath promised that he will not quench the smoaking flax nor break the bruised reed But this Doctrine is indeed terrible unto them who forgetting God and Jesus Christ our Saviour are totally imbondaged unto the heart-piercing cares of this present World and the Concupiscencies of their fiesh during the whole time of their unregeneracy CANON XVII Wherefore since 't is our Duty to judge of Gods Will by his Word which testifieth for the Children of Believers that they be Holy not indeed by Nature but through the singular benefit of the Covenant of Grace in which they be included with their Parents Fathers and Mothers fearing God should not doubt of their Childrens Election and Salvation whom God takes unto himself in their Infancy CANON XVIII In case any Person murmur against the free Grace of God in Election and the Severity of Gods Justice in Reprobation we should oppose them with that of the Apostle Rom. 9.20 O! Man who art thou that contendest with God And with those words of our Saviour Matth. 20.15 Is it not lawful for me to do with my own as I please

Goodness that when the Office of General Deputy became void by the Death of the Lord Marquess of Ar●illiers that his Majesty was pleased to fill it up with the Person of my Lord Marquess of Ruvigny a Noble-man endowed with all Qualities requisite for it and who will undoubtedly discharge it faithfully And if our Churches had chosen for themselves as was accustomed they could never have made an Election more advantagious And we also have cause enough to be thankful unto his Majesty for granting us the Liberty of Deliberating about his Confirmation in this Office without imposing on us in this juncture any Force or Necessity And for as much as our Churches are intirely satisfied with the care and pains which the said Lord Marquess of Ruvigny hath taken in our Affairs and that they believe he will always continue to acquit himself most worthily in this Imployment and because his Majesty hath given us to understand that it would be very pleasing to him that he should be Confirmed this Assembly not knowing how or where to make a better Choice do continue him in this Office and resign into his own Hands the Writ by which he was Establish'd and after that Solemn Protestation which he hath made unto this Assembly of discharging his Deputation with all possible care and faithfulness we gave him his Priviledge of Sitting and his deliberative and decisive Votes among us as all General Deputies his Predecessors have had according to his Majesty's desire And the Act hereof shall be inserted afterward into the Body of the Acts of this Synod As for the rest This Assembly being purely Ecclesiastical we know very well that none other matters but such as are Ecclesiastical and which concern the Religion and Discipline of our Churches ought to be treated in it and we are absolutely resolved that we will not in any wise swerve or depart from the Rules of our Duty and Callings nor will we suffer any other Assembly whatsoever to be held wherein any of our affairs shall be debated or any Election made of Deputies And we believe that there is not so much as One Man among us who is one of our Members that hath the least inclination thereunto And as for the Proclaiming of General Fasts by the Provincial Synods it being expresly Ordained by our Canons that the Province whose right it is to call the National Synod may publish a General Fast if there be a necessity for it and the King having permitted us the Exercise of our Discipline and the putting of our Canons in Execution This Assembly hopeth that his Majesty's Equity and Goodness will not deprive us of the Power and Liberty to reduce them into act and practice And the rather because our extraordinary humbling of our selves before God is not design'd only for this end that we may obtain from his Sovereign Mercy a peculiar Blessing on those of our Communion but also we do then wrestle with our God for the prosperity of the whole Nation and for the Preservation of his Majesty's own Person And as for that Discreet Carriage required from our Ministers in the Exercise of their Pastoral Office in their Books and Sermons printed or preached in Defence of our Religion our Fathers before ever the Exercise of our Religion was permitted by the Edicts and in the very midst of Fire and Faggot had Christian Charity in that great Esteem and Commendation that they by a most plain and Express Article of our Discipline did prohibit the Usage of any injurious reproachful Terms which might in the least exasperate Men's Spirits so that the Times in which we now live being more calm and peaceable through the Grace of God and the Goodness of our King his Majesty may be fully assured that on this Account he shall always find us yielding a most perfect Obedience a most exemplary Moderation And it were to be wished that the Preachers in the Romish Communion were as circumspect then should we not be so much torn in pieces as we are continually by them both in Print and Pulpit But as for those Words Antichrist in our Liturgy and Idolatry and Deceits of Satan which are found in our Confession they be Words declaring the Grounds and Reasons of our Separation from the Romish Church and Doctrins which our Fathers maintained in the worst of Times and which we are fully resolved as they through the Aids of Divine Grace never to abandon but to keep faithfully and inviolably to the last Gasp Whilst his Majesty's Predecessors were pleased to permit our Churches the choice of Foreigners for their Pastors we made use of that Priviledge and none of our Synods either Provincial or National ever knew one of them to deport himself otherwise than a Native of this Kingdom all of them when invested with the Ministry in our Churches have lived and acted and preached as natural born French-men But since that Interdiction made us by the late King of Glorious and Immortal Memory we never received any but have utterly forborn it and we have most humbly petitioned his Majesty now reigning that he would be pleased to put a distinction between those who are wholly Strangers and others who tho the Sons of Strangers are yet born in the Kingdom and are under the Protection and Government of his Crown and whom our Parliaments in all Questions about Inheritances and Successions to them and other Priviledges of this Nature have equalized with all other his Majesties Subjects And although some of them have been Educated in Commonwealths yet their Religion learns them to subject themselves with all Reverence to the Superior Powers under all Forms of Government whatsoever and that Protection which they have from this Kingdom doth incline their Affections upon Principles of Gratitude and Interest unto a Monarchical Government And in case his Majesty should be pleased to allow them the Exercise of their Ministry among us in this Kingdom as we most humbly petition his Majesty so to do he would have full and clear and sufficient Proof of their Loyalty in his Service As for Letters which may be sent by Strangers unto this Assembly although there is none of our Religion in any Nation that doth sollicit us unto Actions contrary to our Duty and in case they should go about to do it all and every Individual Member of this Assembly at the first sight of such a Letter would reject the Motion with Horror and Execration And we cannot but acknowledge that in some respects as for publick Orders sake the Lords Commissioners deputed to us and set over us by his Majesty are to receive and dispose of them according to his Majesty's Will But yet as to matters concerning our Religion we hope that his Majesty will suffer us to hold Communion and Correspondence with our Brethren For other Letters coming from his Majesty's Subjects to this Assembly and relating to Ecclesiastical matters wherein they be concerned his Majesty having graciously permitted us