Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	eternal_a	sin_n	wage_n	12,499	5	11.2125	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

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

pur-blind about eight and thirty years of Age Deposed by the aforesaid Synod held at Nay for his un-natural and un-dutiful Carriage unto his Aged Parents for very great and shrewd suspicions of Adultery from which he could never clear himself and because in his common Deportments and Conversation he acted as one altogether unworthy the Sacred Ministry 12. John Perrier formerly Pastor in the Church of Paillac in Auvergne low of Stature red Hair copper-Nos'd about fifty years old Deposed by the Synod of Burgundy for deserting his Church and a great many other Crimes All these afore-mentioned Acts Decsiions and Canons were past in the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France and Principality of Bearne assembled at Charenton St. Maurice near Paris from the First of September to the First of October in the year 1623. As also was sworn the Oath of Union in Doctrine and Discipline and of fidelity to His Majesty as was practised heretofore in these National Synods and in the very words of that Oath framed by the Synod of Alez Thus Subscribed by Durant Moderator Bailly Assessor Faucheur Scribes and de Launay Scribes And there was this Appendix written by the hand of the Lord de Launay at the close of this Synod A True Copy sent unto the Colloquy in the Land of Chartres attested by the Manual Subscription of De L' Aunay one of the Scribes of the said Synod and one of the Deputies for the Province of the Isle of France and by these Deputies whose Names follow William Rivett Berlie Pastor of the Church in Quissac J. Clerc De Chambrun Chamier Pastor of the Church at Montlimart St. Amblier Jurieu Pastor of Chastillion on the Loir Villon Havres M. de Langle Pastor in the Church of Rouen P. Paulett Pastor of Vezenobre D' Avignon Pastor at Rennes P. Beraud Pastor and Professor in the Church of Montauban Savoye Pastor in the Church of Castres Isle Pelletier Pastor in the Church of Vandome Cottiby Pastor at Poictiers CHAP. XXVI CANONS and DECREES Made and Establish'd in the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France held at Charenton near Paris September l623 inviolably to be observed by all the Churches and Vniversities in that Kingdom CHAP. I. Of Predestination Election and Reprobation CANON I. FOrasmuch as all Mankind sinned in Adam and are thereby become liable unto the Curse and Eternal Death God had done them no wrong in case he had left Men in their Estate of Sin and under the Curse and Damn'd them for evermore Thus speaketh the Holy Apostle Rom. 3.19 22. All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God And Rom. 6.23 The Wages of Sin is Death CANON II. But in this hath God manifested his Love that he sent his onely Son into the World that whosoever believeth in him may not perish but obtain everlasting Life 1 John 4.9 John 3.16 CANON III. And that Men may be brought to believe God sendeth the glad tydings of Salvation in the Gospel to whom he pleaseth by the Ministration whereof Men are called unto Repentance and Faith in Jesus Christ crucified For how shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard And how shall they hear without a Preacher And how shall they preach unless they be sent Rom. 10.14 15. CANON IV. Such as believe not the Gospel the Wrath of God abideth on them but such as receive and embrace Christ Jesus the Saviour with a true and lively Faith they be delivered by him from the wrath of God and Damnation and are made partakers of Everlasting life CANON V. God is in no wise the Cause nor guilty of Mens unbelief they themselves are as of all other their Sins But Faith in Jesus Christ and Salvation by him is the free gift of God according as it is written Ephes 2.8 You are saved by Grace through Faith and this not of your selves but the gift of God and also Philip. 1.29 To you it is given freely and graciously to believe in Christ Jesus CANON VI. That God giveth Faith in his time unto some and not unto others this proceeds from his Everlasting Decree for known unto God from the beginning are all his works Acts. 15.18 And he doth all things according to the Council of his own Will Ephes 1.11 And in the Execution of this Decree he doth by his grace soften the hearts of the Elect though they be never so hard and stony and maketh them to believe but he doth in his Righteous Judgment leave the Non-Elect in their Wickedness and Obduracy And from this do we principally discover the profound depths of his Mercy and also that just distinction among the Children of Men who were all equally forlorne lost and undone Sinners And as the Decrees of Election and Reprobation revealed by Gods Holy Word doth administer unspeakable Consolation to Pious and Devout Persons so as the Ungodly and Unbelievers take it it must needs be wrested and perverted to their destruction CANON VII Now Election is the unchangeable purpose of God by which according to the most free and good pleasure of his Will out of mere Grace he hath chosen in Jesus Christ unto Salvation before the foundation of the World out of Mankind fallen by their own fault from their first Integrity into Sin and Destruction a certain number of Men who were in themselves not better than others for they were all alike plung'd into the same gulph of Misery And this Jesus Christ God hath also constituted from all Eternity the Head and Mediator of his Elect and the Foundation-stone of their Salvation and so decreed to give them unto Christ that he might save them and call and draw them effectually by his Word and Spirit into Communion with himself and to give them true saving Faith in him to justifie and sanctifie them and having kept them by his Mighty Power in Communion with his Son to shew forth the Sovereignty of his Mercy and the praise of the Riches of the Glory of his Grace he will at last glorifie them as it is written Ephes 1.4 5 6. God hath chosen us in Christ before the Foundation of the World that we might be Holy and unblameable before him in love having predestinated us unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good pleasure of his Will to the praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in his Well-Beloved And Rom. 8.29 Whom he predestinated them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified CANON VIII This Election is not divers for kind but one and the same only as to all that shall be saved in the Old and New Testament For the Scriptures doth teach and preach but one only good Pleasure Purpose Decrees and Counsel of Gods Will by which he hath chosen us from Eternity both to Grace and Glory to Salvation the End and to the way and means

all in all produceth in Man a will to believe and the Act of Believing also CANON XV. God doth not owe this Grace unto any Person For how should God be indebted unto him who can do nothing He that is first hath something that may be repayed him again but what can he owe unto him who hath nothing of his own but Sin and Lyes He then who hath received this Grace from God should yield Everlasting thanks unto God and in truth he is thankful He who hath not received it or who careth not for these Spiritual concerns but pleaseth himself in his own or is unconcerned for them he doth in vain boast to have that which he hath not And as for those who make an outward profession of Faith and Amendment of Life we ought not to speak or judge of them otherwise than well this the Apostles learn us For the Secrets of Mens hearts are hidden from us But as for others who be not called we should in our Prayers beseech God who calleth things which are not as if they were to call them effectually and we ought not in any wise proudly to insult over them as if we had made our selves by our own proper vertue to differ from them CANON XVI And whereas by the Fall Man ceaseth not to be a Man that is to be a Person endowed with Understanding and Will and Sin which hath spread its Contagion through all Mankind hath not abolished the Nature of Mankind but hath depraved and spiritually killed it So this Divine Grace of Regeneration doth not operate upon Men as upon Stocks and Blocks nor doth it take avvay their Will and its properties nor doth it force and compell it against its ovvn accord but it doth Spiritually enliven heal reform and bend it not less svveetly than povverfully so that vvhereas formerly Rebellions and proud risings of the Flesh did fully domineer in it novv that prompt and sincere Obedience of the Spirit begins to reign in it in vvhich consists the true Spiritual restablishment and freedom of our Will And vvere it not that this vvonderful Worker of all good did in this manner vvork for us Man could never hope of rising again from his lapst Estate by his ovvn free Will vvhich vvhilst he stood in Innocency precipitated him into the gulph of perdition CANON XVII So then as this Almighty Operation of God by vvhich he produceth and sustains our Natural Life doth not exclude but requires the use of means through vvhich according to his Infinite Wisdom and Goodness he is pleased to exert his ovvn povver so that aforesaid Supernatural Work of God by vvhich he doth Regenerate us doth not exclude nor in any vvise subvert the preaching of the Gospel vvhich the most Wise God hath ordained to be the Seed of Regeneration and Food of the Soul Wherefore as the Apostles and Doctors vvho have follovved them have all along piously taught and preached up this Grace of God to his Glory and the abasement of ●ll pride and yet in the mean vvhile did never neglect to keep their People vvithin the bounds of Duty by the Sacred Councils of the Gospel such as hearing of the Word participation of the Sacraments and Exercise of Discipline so also God forbid that those vvho novv teach and learn in the Church should presume to tempt God by separating those things vvhich in his good pleasure he vvill have most straitly conjoyned together For Grace is conferred by Admonitions and the more ready vve are in the performance of our Duty the more Illustrious is the benefit of God vvorking in us and it s then that Gods Work goeth onvvard most kindly And unto this our God and to him onely is due all the Glory of the Means and of their Fruit and saving-Efficacy for ever and ever Amen Errors Rejected The Orthodox Doctrine having been Explained the Synod Rejecteth their Errors CANON I. WHO teach That in strictness and propriety of Discourse Original Sin vvas not of it self sufficient to condemn all Mankind or that it should deserve Temporal and Eternal Punishments for they do professedly contradict the Holy Apostle Rom. 5.12 vvho saith That by one Man only Sin entred into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed over all Men forasmuch as all Men have sinned And ver 16. The fault was by one Offence only unto Condemnation And Rom. 6.23 The Wages of Sin is Death Who teach that Spiritual gifts and good habits and vertues such as Goodness Holyness and Righteousness were not in the Will of Man when he was first created and so by consequence that they could not be lost nor separated from him by the fall For this is repugnant to that Character and Description we have of Gods Image front the Apostle Ephes 4.24 Who tells us it consisted in Righteousness and true Holyness which Vertues are truly seated in the Will CANON III. Who teach that Spiritual gifts were not separated from the Will of Man in his Estate of Spiritual Death because the Will of it self was never corrupted but only impeded in its Actions by the darkness of the Understanding and the unruliness of the Affections which Impediments being once removed the Will can display its Natural Liberty that is to say it can of it self either will and choose or not will and refuse whatsoever good is objected and propounded to it This is a mere Novelty and very erroneous tending only to exalt the powers of Free Will above the power of Free Grace contrary to what the Prophet Jeremiah hath long since asserted chap. 17.9 The Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked And contrary to what hath been taught us by the Holy Apostle Ephes 8.3 Among whom viz. the Children of disobedience we also had heretofore our Conversation in the lusts of our Flesh fulfilling the desires of our Flesh and of our Minds CANON IV. Who teach that Man in his Unregenerate Estate is not totally nor properly impeded or deprived of all Spiritual Powers unto Spiritual Good but that he may hunger and thirst after Righteousness and Life and offer unto God the Sacrifice of a contrite and broken Heart which will be acceptable unto God For these Assertions are downright contradictions to express Texts of Scripture as Eph. 2.1 And you hath he quickned being dead in your Sins and Trespasses And Gen. 6.5 And 8.21 Every imagination of the thought of Mans Heart is only evil and that continually from his youth upwards Besides to hunger and thirst after Life and to desire and long for deliverance from Sin and its Misery and to offer unto God the Sacrifices of a broken heart this is the peculiar property of the Regenerate Psal 51.19 And of them who by our Blessed Saviour are styled Blessed Persons CANON V. Who teach that Man corrupted and as yet in his Natural Estate can so well use and improve common Grace by which they understand the Light of Nature or those gifts which remain in him

Treasure constantly defended which God also will cause her evermore to defend so as no Counsel nor Force shall be ever able to prevail against it Now to this one God Father Son and Holy Spirit be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen Errors Rejected The Orthodox Doctrine having been Explained the Synod Rejects their Errors CANON I. WHO teach that the Perseverance of True Believers is not an effect of Election nor a gift of ●od purchased by the Death of Christ but it s a Condition of the New Covenant which Man before his Election and peremptory Justification as they call it must of his free will accomplish for the Sacred Scriptures witnesseth that it floweth from Election and is given unto the Elect by vertue of the Death Resurrection and Intercession of Jesus Christ Rom. 11.7 The Election hath obtained it and the others are hardned Also Rom. 8.31 32 33 34. He that hath not spared his only Son but given him for us all how shall he not also give us with him all other things Who shall lay any thing to the charge of ●ods Elect It is God that will justifie Who will condemn It is Christ that is dead yea rather who is risen again from the Dead and who sitteth at the right hand of God and who also maketh Intercession for us Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ Shall it be Oppression Or Tribulation Or Famine Or Peril or Sword Yea in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him who hath loved us CANON II. Who teach That God doth indeed provide for the Believer strength enough and power sufficient for perseverance and that in case he do his Duty God will preserve him However let all things be supposed which may be needful to perseverance in Faith and which God will make use of for his preservation yet still it depends upon the Liberty of Mans Will whether he will persevere or not This Opinion is bare-fac't Pelagianisme and whilst the Professor of it would make Man free they make him Sacrilegious Besides it is against the perpetual consent of the Gospel-Doctrine which removes from Man all grounds of boasting and ascribes the Glory of this benefit to the Grace of God only And it thwarteth the Testimony of St. Paul who saith 1 Cor. 1.8 that God will confirm us unto the end that we may be blameless in the day of Our Lord Jesus Christ CANON III. Who teach that the Faithful and Regenerate may not only fall totally and finally from Justifying Faith and from Grace and Salvation but also that they often do so and perish Everlastingly for this Opinion doth not only annihilate the Grace of Justification and Regeneration but also the perpetual keeping of the Lord Jesus Christ contrary to the express words of the Holy Apostle St. Paul Rom. 5.9 10. If Christ died for us when we were Sinners much more than being now justified by his Blood shall we be saved from Wrath by him And against the Apostle St. John 1 Ep. 3.9 Whosoever is born of God sinneth not for the Seed of God abideth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God and against the vvords of Jesus Christ John 10.28 29. And I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish nor shall any pluck them out of my hand my Father vvho hath given them unto me is greater than all and no one can take them out of my Fathers hands I and my Father are one CANON IV. Who teach that Believers and Regenerate Persons may sin the sin unto Death that is they may commit that unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost Although the beloved Apostle and Disciple of Our Lord in the fifth Chapter of his First Epistle after that he had spoken in the sixteenth and seventeenth verses of those vvho commit the Sin unto Death and forbidden all Prayers for them added in the eighteenth verse We knovv that vvhosoever is born of God sinneth not but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that vvicked one toucheth him not CANON V. Who teach That none can have in this Life without special Revelation any certainty of their perseverance For by this Doctrine the faithful are deprived of the most solid substantial comfort which is to be had in this Life and are abandoned to the diffidence and wavering floating opinions and doubts of the Romish Church But the Sacred Scriptures every where deriveth this Assurance not from any special or extraordinary Revelation but from the proper marks of the Children of God and from his infallible Promises especially from the Apostle St. Paul Rom. 8.38 No Creature can separate us from the Love of God which he hath shown us in Jesus Christ our Lord 1 John 3.24 He that keepeth his Commandments abideth in him and God in him And by this vve knovv that he abideth in us by his Spirit vvhich he hath given us CANON VI. Who teach That the Doctrine of Assurance of Perseverance and Salvation is a Pillovv for the Flesh to sleep on more securely and is in and of it self injurious unto Godlyness Good Works Prayers and all Holy Duties and Religious Exercises And on the contrary it is a laudable thing to be diffident and doubtful But such Persons bevvray their Ignorance and are mere Strangers to the efficacy of Divine Grace and to the operation of the Holy Ghost dvvelling in the Elect and contradict the Apostle St. John vvho doth in express terms assert the contrary 1 John 3.2 Beloved novv are vve the Children of God but vvhat vve shall be is not yet knovvn But this vve knovv that vvhen he shall appear vve shall be like unto him for vve shall see him even as he is And they must be more abundantly convinced by the Examples of Gods Saints both in the Old and New Testament who although they were assured of their Perseverance and Salvation did not thereupon neglect dayly Prayers or other Acts Duties and Exercises of True Piety and Religion CANON VII Who teach That there is no difference between a Temporary Faith and that which is Saving and Justifying excepting the duration of it For the Lord Jesus himself doth manifestly remark three other differences between those who believe but for a time and true Believers when as he saith Matth. 13.20 and Luke 8.13 and the verses following That those are they who receive the Seed in stony ground and these in good ground or in an honest heart that the former had no root but these have a firm root the one brought no fruit but these produced their fruits constantly and perseveringly in divers degrees and measures CANON VIII Who teach that it is no absurdity to say that when as the first Regeneration is extinct a Man may be born again yea he may be often new born For by this Doctrine the Seed of God by which we be new born is made corruptible directly contrary to the Witness of St. Peter Ep. 1. cap. 23. Being

said Court and that in every point and particular you keep maintain and observe their Contents even as this our said Edict Ceasing and causing to cease all troubles and impediments to the contrary For such is our Pleasure Given at Nantes this second day of May in the Year of Grace 1598. And of our Reign the Ninth Signed by the King Forget And Sealed on a single Label of yellow Wax SECT XVI N. B. A Learned Advocate of Nismes relates from the Press how that Monsieur de Thou President in the Parliament of Taris and the Lord de Calignon a most Zealous Protestant Chancellour of Navarre drew up this Edict and spent three years about it If De Calignon would but have followed his Master Henry the Fourth in his Apostacy from the Reformed Religion unto Popery he had been made Lord High Chancellour of France But that most Pious Lord refused the Greatest Honour that a Person of the Long-Robe was capable of in France that he might not lose the Eternal Glories of the Kingdom of Heaven SECT XVII This Edict was kept tolerably well for twelve years during the Life of Henry the Great as they called him after his Death And yet there were many infractions of it of which the National Synods held at Gap 1603. and at Rochell 1607. Complained in their Bills of Grievances But no sooner was he sent out of the World by the Parricidal Hand of a Disciple of the Jesuits but the Reformed immediately found their want of him And though they had some sprinklings of Court Holy-water now and then yet the old implacable Malice of the Popish Clergy against them brake out upon all occasions and Louis the Thirteenth who succeeded his Father as another Antiochus at their instigation made War with God's Saints in his Kingdom seized upon their Cautionary Towns took away from them their Franchises deprived their Ministers of those Sallaries for which the Churches parting with their Tithes in lieu of that Money which was to be paid by Tallies out of the Exchequer unto their Pastors had compounded with his Father He devoured brake in pieces and stamped the residue of them with his feet so that their strength was quite gone and they lay at his mercy He could do with them as he pleased But the time of their total ruin was not yet come And God giveth the Churches some mercy in the midst of judgment Hence the French King having other designs in his head and looking beyond the bounds of his native Kingdom he leaves persecuting his Reformed Subjects and that there might be a Calm at home and these oppressed lull'd asleep he issueth out his Edict of Grace and Pardon to them from Nismes in the Lower Languedoc dated July 1629. Which is offered to the Reader 's eye SECT XVIII The King's Edict of Grace and Pardon granted by his Majesty unto the Duke of Rohan and the Lord of Soubize and to all other his Rebellious Subjects of the Towns Champain Countrey Castles and places in the Provinces of Higher and Lower Languedoc Sevennes Gevaudan Guienne Foix and elsewhere together with the Articles Done at Nismes in July 1629. and verified in the Parliament of Tholouse the 27th of August the same Year LOUIS by the grace of God King of France and Navarre to all present and to come greeting That Love we bear unto our Subjects and that Compassion we have for the Miserie 's brought upon them by the Wars and Divisions with which this poor Kingdom hath been a long time afflicted have touched us so sensibly that laying by all Considerations of our Health and the Inconveniences of the Seasons of the Year we have used all means possible to reduce under our obedience those who had departed from it and had been the cause of all these Calamities We hoped that the example of those Cities which returned under our Authority in the Years 1620 1621 and 1622 would have affected them with a sence of gratitude but seeing they were hindred from so doing by their obstinacy or by the violence and artifice of those Factions in which they were ingaged We have invited them by our Declarations to return unto their Duty and by all the most favourable Perswasions that our Subjects could receive We have also prepared great and puissant Armies that by force we might reduce them who being obstinate in their Rebellions were become deaf and blind and not moved with any Arguments and Occasions offered them for their Duty And God hath been pleased to bless us with success and to let us reap and enjoy the fruit of our Arms which the City of Rochel hath first of all experienced as is evident by the Edict that We caused to be made and published upon its reduction The City of Privas in Vivaretz which consided in its situation difficult and as they believed inaccessible in its Fortifications and in the abundance of its Provisions and Ammunitions with which it was replenished priding it self in a long continued Prosperity was so bold as to resist Us and to attend the Battery of our Cannons and the Effort of our Arms and despising the sweet Summons of our Goodness the hatred of the Inhabitants was so great that losing all hopes of maintaining themselves in their Rebellion they had rather abandon their Houses and Estates than seek their preservation in our Mercy of which they might have been assured so that they have lost the very hopes of ever enjoying it and could in no wise avoid their destruction by Fire and Sword which the Divine Vengeance hath excited against them for which reason we have provided by our Letters of Declaration separately expedited that they should not be comprised in this present Edict But this Chastisement having rendred others wiser hath caused that not only the High and Lower Vivaretz but also divers other Towns and Forts have returned unto their Duty and have sworn Fidelity unto Us for which cause We have pardoned them their Rebellion and granted them an Act of Oblivion causing their Fortifications and Walls to be demolished which feeding the foolish confidence of others had occasioned all those Miseries they have since suffered Divers Gentlemen also being touched with the Felicity which they had found in our Favour have had recourse unto it and received it and have quitted the Rebels Party The City of Alez extreamly strong in its situation fortified with Ramparts and Bulworks and of all that the Wit of Man could invent for troubling the Land made semblance as if it would resist and stop the Course and Progress of our Victories but when it saw it self incompassed with our Army our Cannons of Battery ready to make a breach it durst not stand out the first shot lest it should be forced to submission as is ever practised in such like cases by the Laws of War so that the Inhabitants came and prostrated themselves at Our feet and implored Our Favour and Pardon which We graciously bestowed upon them And when as

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

not from the unchangeable Election unto Glory any other Benefit or Experience or Assurance than vvhat may flovv from a mutable and contingent Condition But besides that this is a most gross absurdity to suppose a Certainty vvhich is uncertain it is also repugnant to the common Sence and Experience of the faithful who together with the Holy Apostle rejoyce in the Sence and Feeling of their Election praising God for this Divine Benefit according to the Counsel of our Lord Jesus for that their Names be vvritten in the Book of Life Luke 10.20 vvhich is in Heaven In short they oppose the Sence of their Election to the fiery darts and temptations of the Devil challenging him thus Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect Rom. 8.32 CANON VIII Those vvho teach that God out of his Just and Soveraign vvill only hath not decreed to leave any one in fallen Adam and in that common Estate of Sin and Condemnation and to pass them by in the Communication of Grace necessary to vvork Faith and Conversion For this is firm and immutable Rom. 9.18 He vvill have Mercy on vvhom he vvill and vvhom he vvill he hardneth Item Matth. 13.11 To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but unto them it is not given Item Matth. 11.25 26. I give thanks unto thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth for this that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes and little Children It is even so O Father for such is thy good pleasure CANON IX Those that teach that the cause wherefore God sendeth the Gospel rather to one Nation than to another is not the Sole and Soveraign good will and pleasure of God but because one Nation is better and more worthy than another to whom the Gospel is not communicated For Moses doth in plain words contradict it speaking thus unto the Children of Israel Deut. 10.14 15. Behold the Heavens and the Heaven of Heavens belong unto Jehovah thy God the Earth also and all that is in it but Jehovah delighted in thy Fathers only to love them and hath chosen their posterity after them to wit you from among all People as is evident this day And Jesus Christ Matth. 22.28 Woe unto thee Chorazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for if these Miracles had been done in Tyre and Sydon which have been done in the midst of you they would have repented in Sackcloth and Ashes CHAP. II. Of the Death of Jesus Christ and Mans Redemption by it CANON I. GOD is not only Soveraignly Merciful but also Soveraignly just And his Justice requireth as it is revealed to us in his Word that our Sins committed against his Infinite Majesty be not only punished with Temporal but also with Eternal Punishments in Soul and Body Nor can we avoid those dreadful punishments unless the Justice of God be fully satisfied CANON II. Now we being utterly unable of our selves to satisfie Divine Justice and to deliver our selves from the Wrath of God God out of his boundless Mercy hath given us his Onely Son to be a Surety for us who was made Sin and a Curse upon the Cross for us and in our stead that he might make satisfaction for us CANON III. This Death of the Son of God is the One Onely and most perfect Sacrifice and Satisfaction for our Sins whose worth and value is Infinite and which is abundantly sufficient to expiate the Sins of the whole World CANON IV. And this Death is of so great a Value and Dignity because the Person who suffered it is not only a True Man and perfectly Holy but is also the Onely Son of God of the self-same Eternal Essence with the Father and the Spirit For such a one must our Saviour needs be because he felt in his Death the Sence of Gods VVrath and Curse which we had deserved by our Sins CANON V. Moreover the Gospel-promise is that whosoever believeth in Jesus Christ crucified shall not perish but have Everlasting Life Which promise ought to be preached and tendered indifferently unto all Nations and Persons to whom God in his good pleasure shall send the Gospel and together with it the great Command of Faith and Repentance CANON VI. And whereas many who are called by the Gospel do not repent nor believe in Christ Jesus but perish in their Infidelity this cometh not from any defect or insufficiency in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ offered upon the Cross but the fault is in and from themselves CANON VII But all that truely Believe and are delivered and saved from their Sins and Everlasting destruction through Jesus Christ this singular benefit is derived to them from the mere Grace of God only which he oweth no Man and it was given them from all Eternity in Jesus Christ CANON VIII For such was the most free Counsel and most gracious will and purpose of God the Father that the quickning Power of God and the saving efficacious Vertue of his Sons most pretious Death should extend it self unto all the Elect to give them and them onely Justifying Faith and thereby infallibly to bring them unto Salvation That is to say God would that Jesus Christ by the Blood of his Cross wherewith he confirmed the Nevv Covenant should efficaciously redeem all those and none other out of every Nation Kingdom People and Language vvho from all Eternity vvere chosen unto Salvation and vvere given him by the Father that he should give them Faith vvhich as all other Gifts of the Holy Ghost he hath acquired for them by his Death and purge them by his Blood from all Sin both Original and Actual committed before and after Faith that he should keep them faithfully unto the end and finally present them before the Father glorious vvithout any spot or blemish CANON IX This Council proceeding from the Everlasting Love of God towards his Elect hath been powerfully accomplished from the beginning of the World unto this very day The Gates of Hell having in vain opposed it and it shall be also alwayes in succeeding Ages accomplished yea in such manner that the Elect shall be in their appointed time gathered into one and there shall be alwayes upon Earth in one place or other a Church of Believers founded in the Blood of Jesus Christ which will bear a constant Love unto its Saviour who as the Bridegroom for his Dearly Beloved Bride hath yielded up the Ghost upon his Cross which also shall persevere in his Service and shall praise and glorifie him now in time and to all Eternity Errors Rejected The Orthodox Doctrine having been Explained the Synod Rejecteth their Errors CANON I. WHO teach that God the Father destinated his Son unto the cursed Death of the Cross without any certain or determined Counsel to save any one particular Sinner so that the Necessity Utility and Dignity of the Impetration of Christ Jesus his Death might have been wholly saved and