Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	fundamental_a	point_n	protestant_n	5,493	5	9.7792	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

about an Hundred Years agoe before any Edict was granted in favour of our Religion and was presented by them unto Francis the Second who then Reigned to give his Majesty a reason of their Hope and account of those Corruptions which they firmly believed to be in that Faith professed and Retained by the Church of Rome and that therefore it needed Reformation Insomuch as none of out French Protestants did at first nor can they now without being guilty of gross Prevarication change that form of Expression which hath from its very beginning been inserted into our Confession whereby to declare sincerely and in truth their common Belief authorised in the Year 1561 by the Edict of January and since by that of Nantes granted us by Henry the Great and Confirmed by the Late King and his Majesty now reigning Thirdly The whole Roman Catholick Creed was never nor can ever be truly qualified an Abuse and Deceit of Satan seeing that both the Church of Rome and the Protestants have no difference about the Doctrin of the Trinity and of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus which are the principal points of Christianity yet together with these Fundamental Verities and own'd by all Christians in France Germany and elsewhere there have been divers other Articles of Faith brought into the Romish Creed to which we cannot yield any Assent or Consent such are those of the Intercession of Saints of Purgatory of the Pope and sundry others which though they have been in Vogue in that Church for many Ages have notwithstanding been constantly opposed and contradicted by all Protestants both in France and other Countries So that should we abandon the Profession of our Faith permitted us by the Edict and that Confession we have made and declared of it with all Imaginable Sincerity and Truth in the Presence of God who searcheth our Hearts and cannot endure Hypocrisie nor an Evil Conscience we should render our Selves Guilty of a most inexcusable Imposture we should dissemble and Counterfeit in Religion and utterly ruin all our Hopes of Heaven and Everlasting Life by means of a Sacrilegious Profession not in the least believed by us Wherefore it is the hope of our pour Churches that his Majesty imitating the Examples of his Predecessors who granted to their Faithful Subjects the Liberty of their Consciences will the rather favour us with his Royal Support and Protection for that open Profession we do make of our Faith than if we had dissembled it or kept it secretly and close in our own Bosoms or uttered it in Ambiguous and Equivocating Expressions which would have turn'd our Religion into a Cheat and through a Fallacious Compliance full of Fraud and Imposture would have perfidiously Betray'd the Holy Faith of our Fellow protestants and be the Bane of our own Consciences Fourthly As to the Printer of Geneva he does not depend on the National Synods of this Kingdom nor hath he any Orders from us nor received any Command from his Superiors to use those Terms which he did and we wish he had forborn them though yet he Speaks and Prints nothing but what is the common Sense and Opinion of all Protestants in Europe who have all unanimously from the very first with One Consent impugned that Council of Trent as to the form of its Convocation the Proceedings Decrees and Anathema's thereof which also sundry Roman Catholick Princes have done who by their Ambassadors made and entred their Solemn Protests against it and its Decrees So did the Emperor Charles the Fifth from whom our King is Descended by his Mother's Side by the Lord of Mendoza So did Henry the Second by the then Lord Abbot of Bellozonne who was afterward Bishop of Auxerre And so did Charles the Ninth by Monsieur Ferrier who describing this Famous Assembly resembled it to a Scorpion pricking the French Church and used an Expression every way at Emphatical as that of the Geneva Printer whose Liberty is yet so displeasing unto their Majesty Fifthly Nor have our Churches been ever so unmindful of their Duty and Subjection as audaciously to assume unto themselves a power of being Judges in their own Cause and doing themselves right But the naked truth of the matter is this that being favoured with his Majesties Declaration which ratified the Edict of Nantes and those secret Articles and Concessions included in it which had been granted by our former Kings several particular Churches being restored unto their Ancient Right fully and compleatly they believed that it was no Crime on their part to make use of them according to the Intention of his Majesty Sixthly And it was upon this Innocent Supposition and which had not in it any the least tendency unto Disobedience against the Publick Government that the Exercise of our Religion accustomarily performed at Ribaute for Seventy Years together without any Interruption being violently hindred by the Lady of that Place and Monsieur Arnaud Pastor of Anduze who was invited by the People offering himself to Minister to them for their Edification according to the ancient Practice was driven away by meer Force by a Company of Soldiers commanded thither by the said Lady and he thereupon was imprisoned by Order from the Lord Lieutenant of Languedoc and notwithstanding his Appeal unto the Court of the Edict yet he was actually Condemned for which Grievance he is now prostrate at his Majesties Feet humbly imploring his Majesties Clemency and Justice according to the Edict Seventhly The Provincial Deputies of Lower Languedoc for the acquitting and discharge of their Churches which hath sent them do maintain that those Three Cities of Nismes Vsez and Montpellier having deputed the Sieurs Peyrol Vestrie and Fournier to tender in their Names with all possible speed their First and Bounden Duties unto his Majesty and their most Humble and Unfeigned Thanks for the grant of his Declaration They did also Petition for his Majesties Protection and Justice and with the lowliest Submission and Respect they demanded also a Reparation of the Infractions of the Edict according to the constant practice of our Churches so that they cannot be perswaded that those said Cities are fallen from the Duty which becomes good Subjects and whereunto they are obliged by their Consciences Nor are they at all to be blamed for Addressing themselves unto his Majesty against the Prohibition of the Lord Intendant though he used his Majesties Name directly contrary to his Majesties Intention notified to us and to the World by his publick Declaration Eighthly Nor is the City of Vsez guilty of violating the Edict no not in that particular Capitulation with his Majesty nor doth it need a new Grant for an ancient Usage which was never taken from them by any Previous Inhibition That Bell of which there is so much Noise and so loud Complaints made unto his Majesty was ever placed in the Steeple of the Temple from its first Foundation and continued there till a little before the Capitulation when the

Effigies Reverendi Viri IOHANNIS QUICK S ti Evangely Ministri an o Aetat 55o. SYNODICON in GALLIA REFORMATA 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 toge●●er 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 before Extant in any Language In Two VOLUMES By JOHN QUICK Minister of the Gospel in London LONDON Printed for T. Parkhurst and J. Robinson at the Three Bibles and Crown in Cheapside and the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard 1692. TO THE Right Honourable WILLIAM EARL of BEDFORD BARON of THORNHAVGH Lord Lieutenant of the Counties of Middlesex Cambridge and Bedford Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter and one of the Lords of Their Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council May it please your Lordship SEals as Coats of Arms an a kind of Hieroglyphicks Those Mother-Churches in the Valleys of Piedmont where our holy Religion hath been conserved in its Power and Purity during that long black night of Popish Superstition and Idolatry had this for their Common Seal A Taper burning in a golden Candlestick scattering its glorious Beams in a Sable Field of thick darkness It is a truth incontestable that most of the European Nations do stand indebted to them for that comfortable Knowledge of the blessed Gospel of our Lord Jesus which is now shining forth in its Meridian-Glory in the midst of them The Famous Waldo of Lions was their near Neighbour and received his most Excellent Instructions together with that Book of Life the Holy Bible from them And Lollard that famous Preacher in England from whom God's Saints and Martyrs with us four hundred years ago were denominated was one of their Barbes I have met my most Noble Lord with another Seal as Illustrious an Hieroglyphick as the former appertaining unto the National Synods of those Renowned and once Flourishing though now Desolate Reformed Churches of France which was Moses's Miraculous Vision when he fed his Flock under the Mount of God viz. A Bramble-Bush in a flaming Fire having that Essential incommunicable name of God Jehovah engraven in its Center and this Motto Comburo non consumor in its Circumference I burn but am not Consumed With this those venerable Councils Sealed all their Letters and Dispatches A sacred Emblem of their past and present Condition Whilst Mystical Babylon Spiritual Sodom and Egypt where our Lord hath been in his most pretious Truths and Ordinances and in his dearest Saints and Members for many Ages successively Crucified did swim in the calm Ocean of Worldly Riches and Grandeurs in the pacifick Seas of secular Felicities and Pleasures Poor Zion in that bloody Kingdom of France hath been in the storms and flames hath passed from one fiery Tryal unto another from Cauldrons of boyling Oyl into burning Furnaces heated with fire seven times hotter than before she hath been driven from populous Cities and the pleasant Habitations of Men unto the cold snowy Lebanon to the high craggy tops of Amana and Shenir to the frightful Dens of Lions and to the horrid Mountains of Dragons and Leopards Why their Heavenly Father should afflict and exercise so frequently and so severely these his Children and Churches he himself informeth them by that weeping Prophet All thy Lovers have forgotten thee They seek thee not for I have wounded thee with the Wound of an Enemy with the chastisement of a cruel one for the multitude of thine Iniquities because thy Sins were increased Why criest thou for thy Afflictions Thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity because thy Sins were increased I have done these things unto thee And in truth the mournful Relicks of these Calamitous Churches do justify God in all the evil that is befallen them do condemn themselves and kiss his Rod accepting patiently the punishment of their Iniquity But this Bramble-Bush though always burning is not consumed This is a Miracle of divine Mercy entailed upon them for many Generations I will mention the loving kindnesses of Jehovah and the praises of Jehovah according to all that Jehovah hath bestowed on them and his great goodness towards the House of Israel which he hath bestowed on them according to his Mercies and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses In all their affliction he was afflicted with them and the Angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and he bare them and carried them all the days of old When they passed through the Waters he hath been with them and through the Rivers they have not drowned them and though they have walked through the fires yet they have not been burnt up those Flames have purified and refined but not devoured them And though these last storms like the Fluctus decumani have been the worst and forest yet they have not been without Illustrious tokens of God's gracious presence with them and most merciful providence over them He hath made the Earth to help the Woman he hath spread a Table for their sustenance in the Wilderness and provided for them in their flights dispersions and banishments a most quiet habitation and in this last and greatest persecution that ever did befal them they have found in this Land as well as in other Protestant Countries an inviolable Sanctuary and which cannot but be observed it was in that very juncture when those two smoaking Firebrands Rezin with Syria and the Son of Remaliah were in a joint Confederacy totally to extirpate the blessed Gospel as out of France so out of these Fortunate Islands they met with a safe Harbour in Great Brittain The pernicious Plot was carried on as vigorously here at home against the Reformation as it was cruelly Executed in Kibroth Hattaavah that Land of Graves from whence they fled and where thousands of God's Saints were buried alive When the Bartholomaean Massacre was projected in the last Age there was a design to have tricked over some of our most Noble Patriots unto that unfortunate Marriage in which more Blood was drunk than Wine who should have been Sacrificed together with that Valiant Lord

that when the Dragoons had done their part as effectually as they could the Intendant with the Bishops and the Military Commander do once again assemble these miserable Inhabitants totally ruined and exhort them to obey the King and become Catholicks adding in case of obstinacy most terrible Threats And the new Converts never failed in this juncture to execute what they had promised to entice and seduce them from the true Religion This they could do the more successfully because the Reformed had yet some kindness for and confidence in them 4. When the Master of a Family thinking to get rid of the Dragoons had obeyed and signed an Abjuration yet for all this he was not freed from his Tormentors unless that his Wife Children and the meanest of his Servants did not also follow his example And if Wife or Children or any of his Domesticks escaped their hands and fled for their Lives they renewed their Persecutions upon him till such time as he had brought them back again which being sometimes utterly impossible their change of Religion did not in the lead benefit or avail them The Form of Abjuration imposed upon the Protestants when they turn'd Papists and which they stiled The Mark of the Beast I here offer to my Reader 's perusal THE Mark of the Beast OR The Profession of the Catholick Apostolick and Romish Faith which the Protestants in France were inforced to make and subscribe through the Violence of Persecution in France In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen I do believe and profess with a firm Faith all and every thing and things contained in that Creed which is used by the holy Church of Rome to wit I believe in one God the Father Almighty who hath made Heaven and Earth and all things visible and invisible And in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God and born of the Father before all Ages God of God Light of Light True God of the True God Begotten not made of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made who for us Men and our Salvation came down from Heaven and was Incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made Man and was Crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate he suffered and was buried and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of the Father and he shall come again with Glory to judge both the quick and the dead whose Kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and Giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is Worshipped and Glorified who spake by the Prophets And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the Remission of Sins and I look for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to come Amen I receive and embrace most firmly the Apostolick and Ecclesiastical Traditions and the other Observations and Constitutions of the same Church In like manner I receive the holy Scripture but with that sence which the holy Mother Church hath and doth now understand it to whom it doth belong to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures and I shall never take it nor interpret it otherwise than according to the unanimous Consent of the Fathers I profess also that there be truly and properly seven Sacraments of the new Law instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ and needful for the Salvation of Mankind although not alike needful to every one to wit Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Penance Extreme Vnction Orders and Marriage and that they do confer Grace And that Baptism Confirmation and Orders cannot be reiterated without Sacriledge I receive and admit also the Ceremonies received and approved by the Catholick Church in the solemn Administration of all these for-mentioned Sacraments I receive and imbrace all and every thing and things which have been determined and declared concerning original Sin and Justification by the holy Council of Trent I likewise profess that in the Mass there is offered unto God a true proper and propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead and that in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly really and substantially the Body and Blood tog●●her with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and that in it there is made a Change of the whole substance of the Bread into his Body and of the whole substance of the Wine into his Blood which Change the Catholick Church calls Transubstantiation I confess also that under one only of those two Elements whole Christ and a true Sacrament is received I constantly affirm that there is a Purgatory and that the Souls there detained are relieved by the Suffrages of the Faithful In like manner the Saints reigning with Jesus Christ are to be Worshipped and Invocated and that they offer up Prayers unto God for us and that their Relicks are to be honoured I do most stedfastly avow that the Images of Jesus Christ and of the Ever-Virgin Mother of God and also of the other Saints ought to be had and retained and that due honour and veneration must be yielded to them Moreover I affirm that the power of Indulgences was left unto the Church by Jesus Christ and that their usage is very beneficial unto Christians I acknowledge the Holy Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church to be the Mother and Mistress of all other Churches And I promise and swear true Obedience to the Pope of Rome Successor of Blessed St. Peter Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Jesus Christ. In like manner I receive and profess without doubting all other things left defined and declared by the holy Canons and General Councils and especially by the most holy Council of Trent And withal I do condemn reject and accurse all things which are contrary and whatever Heresies have ken condemned rejected and accursed by the Church And swearing upon the Book of the Gospels he must say I promise vow and swear and most constantly to confess God aiding me and to keep intirely and inviolably unto the death this self-same Catholick Faith out of which no Person can be saved which I do now most willingly and truly profess and that I will endeavour to the utmost of my Power that it shall be held taught and preached by my Vassals or by those who shall belong unto my charge So help me God and these holy Gospels So be it I of the Parish of do Certifie unto all whom it may concern that having acknowledged the falseness of the Pretended Reformed and the truth of the Catholick Religion of my own free will and without any Compulsion I have made Profession of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion in the Church of in the hands of In Testimony of the Truth hereof I have signed this Act

in presence of these Witnesses whose names are hereunto subscribed this day of the Month of _____ and in the year of our Lord SECT XLVII When these poor Wretches had signed this Abjuration and hoped thereby to be at rest they were far enough from it for their Consciences flew in their Faces and many of them were driven unto despair Yet their Persecutors never ceased tormenting them they must own and attest it before the World that they embraced the Roman Religion freely voluntarily and of their own accord and that no Violence was offer'd them to move or induce them to turn from the Reformed Religion And if after this they scrupled to go to Mass to communicate after the Popish way to tell over their Chaplet of Beads or if a Sigh escaped from them indicating their Grief and Sorrow for their great Sin in forsaking the Truth immediately there were great Fines laid upon them and their old Guests the Dragoons are sent back again to beat up their quarters and they must entertain afresh those old Guests who had wearied them out of their Faith and Life I have by me a Letter from Mets giving an account of the state of the poor Protestants upon their Abjuration which may not be unacceptable to the Reader My Dear F. YOUR's of the Thirteenth of September is come to my hands by which I perceive you are well informed of all things relating to those Holy Missionaries our Dragoons You cannot for all that imagine what it is to fall into the hands of such Apostles Of all the Families of * * * * * * There were in that Church 10000 Communicants Mets there are left but two Persons which have not subscribed viz. Madamoiselle Goffin who is a Prisoner in the Nunnery of the Female Preachers and Madamoiselle Ferry Sister to Monsieur Le Bachelier the Counsellour who is also clapt up in the Nunnery of St. Clare These are the only two Persons who have refused Subscription yet do not persuade your self into that Opinion that because they have subscribed therefore they must needs be of the Roman Religion nay the very contrary is true for we were never more estranged from it I shall deal plainly with you we ought not to be blamed for our weakness in subscribing for had all the Ministers of France now exiled the Kingdom been resident in it and lain as we have at the cruel mercy of Dragoons I am certainly persuaded that not five in an hundred could have stood it out but must have subscribed as well as we Do not then believe that such as have subscribed have changed their Religion I can give you full evidence that they were never more zealous for the Reformed Religion than now I know we have too too much neglected your Advices but the most eminent among us were too secure even our Ministers themselves who because of the profound peace in which we lived had made Purchaces and richly furnished their houses with the best of Goods And if after all this we have had the Misfortune to expect that ill Hour and Lot of Subscription 't was because there was no means left of saving our selves and whereas we be condemned for our foolish confidence in those golden Promises That neither by word or deed we should be in the least hurt upon the score of Conscience I must reply it was because the Passages on the Frontiers being so strictly guarded we could not possibly escape for on this side of the Kingdom all were so narrowly watched that a poor Cat could not meet with an Hole by which to creep out You writ to me concerning Monsieur N. pray when you see him tell him that Madam N. his Sister-in-law lodgeth at my house with her Family and that already three of her Sons are departed the Kingdom She is one of the sweetest Gentlewomen that may be the Lord bless and assist her in all her designs She ran the same risk with the rest but is little concerned for it There be daily brought into the Prisons of this City Persons of Vitry Chalons and Sedan who are Condemned unto the Gallies or to perpetual Duress Finally on our side we have no means left us of escaping so that we must absolutely resign our selves to the will of our God 'till he open a Door for us Yet I beseech you do not believe that Worldly considerations as of goods and estates do detain us here No no could we but have had liberty of departure we had long e'r this gone away though only with our Shifts about us yea tho' we had left our Children behind us But it is not God's will that we should yet quit this place nay 't is his will that we be patient and that we hinder our Childrens falling into such hands as would educate them in Idolatry in a false Religion and in an aversion for our selves also I must add that we had no preservative from subscribing it was wholly impossible to avoid that Subscription against the Protestant Reformed Religion tho' as yet we are not obliged to go to Mass but expect once more the Dragoons with their Swords in their hands to drive us to it We know we have subscribed but we know also we have not changed our Religion and through Grace we shall never change it I may assure you that so great were our Oppressions that they might have oblig'd us to have been Turks as well as Papists and to have wore a Turban had it been as high again as the Triple Crown Our wisest Catholicks for these last six Months have told us That we should shortly be of one Religion but never be of one belief And they had reason for what they said For we were never more fixed in our Religion than now Sometimes for fashions sake we go unto their Sermons but return extreamly dissatisfied with those Discourses and more confirmed in our first Faith than before Poor Monsieur de Chevenix lies very ill the Curate of his Parish was with him to oblige him to Confession but he positively told him he would not confess himself to any but God who alone could forgive him his sins and not to any mortal creature who was as much a sinner as himself Afterwards he was visited by the Archbishop who would have obliged him to communicate before death which he also as stiffly refused The Archbishop acquainted him with the King's Orders concerning such who being sick refuse to communicate e'er they die He replied that he cared not a Rush for them and that he would never communicate after the Popish manner I know not what may happen hereafter but at present he is mending and I believe he will perfectly recover But the Ordinances of the King or rather of the Clergy are That the sick shall communicate before death and in case they do not their dead Carkasses shall be drawn upon the Hurdle and then thrown into the Common Jakes and all their Goods confiscated and if they

Chap. V. Of Vagrants Debauched Persons and Councils Chap. VI. Of Imposition of Hands Sureties in Baptism c. Chap. VII Vniformity in Common Prayers No Marriages without Certificates Loane of Ministers Synods and Colloquies Chap. VIII An Abjuration made by a Socinian Chap. IX Secret Promises of Marriage and several Cases of Conscience about Absolution Churches Ingratitude Age of Communicants of Marrying the Sister of a deceased Spouse Accounts of the Poors Money Divorces Chap. X. Method in Calling of National Synods Chap. XI General Advertisements unto the Churches about Printers Elders Books Schollars Lord's Supper Ministers in Noble Mens Houses Censures on Lords Censure upon a certain Book The Second Synod of PARIS 1565. Synod V. SYNOD V. Articles Decreed in the National Synod held the second time at Paris the twenty fifth of December 1565 and in the fifth Year of the Reign of King Charles the Ninth CHAP. I. NIcholas de Galars Minister of the Church of Orleance being chosen President and Lewis Capel Minister of Meaux and Peter Le Clere Elder of the Church of Paris Scribes after the Invocation of the Name of GOD. CHAP. II. An Explication of the Canons of the CHVRCH-Discipline and an Addition of several others General MATTERS I. FOrasmuch as the Church of God ought to be governed by a good and holy Discipline and that no other may be introduced but what is grounded upon the Word of God the Ministers and Elders deputed from the Provinces of this Kingdom to confer about Ecclesiastical Affairs and met together in the Name of the Lord after diligent Perusal of the Book and other Writings of M. J. Morelly concerning the Polity and Discipline of the Church and sufficient Conferences had with him from the Holy Scriptures about it do by this present Act condem his said Books and Writings as containing evil and dangerous Opinions subverting that Discipline which is conformable unto the Word of God and at this day received in the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom and whereas delivering up the Government of the Church unto the People he would bring in a new tumultuary Conduct and full of Confusions upon it from whence would follow many great and dangerous Inconveniencies which have been remonstrated unto him and he once and again admonished to abandon these Matters which yet he will not do but persists in his Assertions saying That he is perswaded those his Opinions are built upon God's Holy Word We having divers times exhorted him to approve and consent unto that Order which is received and conserved in these our Churches as appointed by our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles and proved to him from their Sacred Writings because we hope that the Lord will be gracious to him and also because he does not differ from the Church in any of the fundamental principal Articles of our Faith the Brethren of this Assembly supporting him with Christian Charity are of Opinion that he be received to the Peace and Communion of the Church provided that as he hath formerly promised by Writing and now again protested to ratifie and sign with his own Hand this his Promise so that for time to come he do carry himself peaceably and subject himself to the Order and Discipline established in the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom without ever any manner of ways publishing those his said Opinions neither by Word of Mouth nor Writing contrary to the said Discipline or to a Treatise in confirmation of it which may shortly be printed provided also that according to his former Promises and at the request of the Lords of the City and Church of Geneva to whom he hath not yet given sufficient Satisfaction though he is bound in Duty to reconcile himself unto them which is evident from his own Letters that he do once more by new Letters of his own Writing confess and acknowledge to have offended them and do beg their Pardon because that being an Inhabitant of their said City he did contrary to the Orders of the Seignory print and publish his said Book without having first demanded and obtained their License and being called both by them and the Consistory of that Church to give an account of that his Contempt he did not appear at the day assigned him These conditions being performed by him and the Consistory of that Church whereunto he shall joyn himself must take knowledge whether he hath fulfilled them or no and they accordingly may receive him as a Member of the Church and admit him into Communion with them or else proceed against him by Ecclesiastical Censures CHAP. III. The manner of Proceeding in Ecclesiastical Censures II. FOrasmuch as Sins committed in the Church ought to be corrected by the Word of God and according to the Rule of Charity and all Sins are not alike grievous and scandalous some being more enormous others of a lesser nature some secret and others publick we must therefore according to their quality and aggravations accommodate the Censure and Reprehension so then secret Sins whereof the Sinner by means of Brotherly Admonitions shall be brought unto Repentance and hath reformed them shall not be brought into the Consistory but those only which these first means cannot reform nor amend or Sins publickly known the cognisance of which belongs unto the said Consistory who must proceed to the Reformation of them by proper and convenient Censures considering these sins with all their circumstances that so according as the case requireth they may apply either a severe and rigorous Reprehension or a more moderate one in the Spirit of Meekness as may be most expedient to bring the Sinner to Repentance who to this end shall by the Authority of the Consistory be for some time deprived of the Lord's Supper if it be needful that so he may be humbled Excommunication must not be used but in extream necessity or finally excommunicated and totally cut off from the Body of the Church according to that Order hereafter declared if so be he shew himself rebellious to the Holy Admonitions and Censures inflicted on him and continue obstinate and impenitent But inasmuch as this is the last and most rigorous of all Remedies it shall never be used but in case of extremity when all fair and gentle Means have proved ineffectual And whereas even unto this day in divers places this distinction between this last Excommunication and temporary Suspension or simple Privation of the Lord's Supper hath not been observed as it ought that both the one and the other may be duely used the Ministers and Elders interpreting these words of Excommunication and Suspension from the Lord's Table The words Excommunication and Suspension explained No Minister of his private Authority can deprive a Man of the Lord s Supper do give it as their Opinion That no Person should be deprived or suspended the Lord's Table by the single Authority of the Pastors or of any other but only by the Consistory which shall prudently consider

its Minister and that Church having been twice informed which is suffered of the Day and Place when the Colloquy and Synod shall meet refuseth to appear The said Colloquy or Synod may proceed farther and determine finally about that difference notwithstanding the Absence of one of the Parties The Union of the Church must not be quitted for any Persecution XXVI The Churches and particular Persons shall be admonished never to depart from the Sacred Union of the Church whatever Persecutions may befal them nor shall they procure for themselves a separate Peace and Liberty distinct from the whole Body of our Churches And in case of failure ●●●●in they shall be censured as the Colloquy or Synod shall judge expedient XXVII Appellants from Provincial Synods unto the National shall be bound personally to appear at those very National Synods ●●●●as App●●al un●● Synods must ●●ther appear in Person or send their most ●●●le Me●●●rs or to send thither their most ample Memoirs and in case of default the Sentence of the National Synod shall he ratified And this Rule shall hold good in all Appeals from Consistories unto Colloquies and from Colloquies unto the Provincial Synods XXVIII Ministers shall be bound to Assist personally at Colloquies and Provincial Synods If P●●stors do not attend on Colloquies and Provincial Synods they may be deposed by them or to send their Memoirs and lawful Excuses and in case of disobedience to this Order the said Colloquy or Synod may judge difinitively of their neglect and dispose of their Persons CHAP. V. XXIX THE Province of higher Languedoc is ordered to call the next National Synod in the beginning of May 1579. However the said Province is intreated if the Lord be pleased to grant the Churches any further liberty to have respect unto the Conveniences of the far distant Provinces Which also their Deputies have promised shall be done XXX The fourth Canon in the Chapter of the Lord's Supper shall be couched in these words Beneficed Persons who bear the Name and title of their Benefices and do either directly or indirectly communicate with Idolatry and receive the Revenues of their Benefices either immediately with their own hands or mediately by the hands of others shall not be admitted to communion with us at the Lord's fable But such as enjoy those Benefices by his Majesty's Gift or Toleration and are downright Professors of the true Religion and do visibly own and maintain it they shall have the same priviledge with all other Members of our Churches to sit down with us at the Lord's Table Only they shall be exhorted to apply the Revenue of their aforesaid Benefices unto pious Vses And the Management of this Exhortation is left wholly to the Prudence of the Colloquies and Consistories CHAP. VI. XXXI UPon perusal of the Memoirs and Instructions produced in a late Assembly of many Deputies from sundry famous Reformed Churches Kingdoms and Provinces who met at Francfort and were invited thither by the most Serene and Illustrious Prince Elector John Casimir Prince Palatine and Duke of Bavaria in which were laid down several Means Expedients and most proper and effectual Remedies for uniting all the Reformed Churches of Christendom in one common bond of Union as also for suppressing and terminating the Differences which are risen up and fomented by their common Adversaries among them and for hindring some hot-headed and bigotted Divines from condemning and as they had menaced and protested they would condemn and pronounce an Anathema against the greatest and soundest part by far of the Christian Reformed Churches Now that such imprudent and wicked Designs might be obviated and prevented they did after mature Advice and Consultation had among themselves unanimously resolve and agree to draw up a Petition unto their most Illustrious Highnesses the Princes of the Empire who adhering to the Confession of Ausbourg Moreover they had given an express charge that one uniform Confession of Faith should be framed which was to be taken and accounted as the general and common Confession of all Protestants and to send several Copies of it unto all those Kingdoms and Provinces in which those Churches were gathered to be examined and approved by them and to be crowned with their joynt common and unanimous Consent and Approbation And they had also agreed upon the time when and place where the Deputies of those Kingdoms and Provinces might be convocated and particularly they had invited the Churches of this Kingdom to send thither some prudent Persons of great Experience well approved for their Piety and and Integrity and impowered by all the Churches with ample Authority to treat agree and decide all Points of Doctrine and other Matters concerning the Union Peace and Conservation of the Churches and of the pure Worship of God This present National Synod of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom blessing God for so good a Motion for such an excellent Proposal and applauding the Care Diligence and good Counsel of those worthy Deputies in the fore-mentioned Assemblies and approving the Remedies and Expedients propounded and prescribed by them doth now ordain that if the Copy of the said Confession be sent timely enough unto us it shall be examined in each of our Provincial Synods or in some other place and manner as will best consist with the Conveniences of our respective Provinces and in the mean while four Ministers most verst in all Ecclesiastical Affairs are constituted a Committee to intend this business to-wit Mr. Anthony de Chandieu Mr. John de Estre Ministers of the Word of God in the Church of Paris and Mr. Peter Merlin Minister of the Church of Vitre in Britain and Monsieur Gabert late Minister of the French Church at Francfort and they be expresly charged and commanded to meet at the day and place appointed with their Letters of Deputation and with a most full and ample Commission from all the Ministers and Elders deputed by the Provinces of this Kingdom and there will accompany them the most illustrious Lord Viscount of Turenne that so they may do all Matters as were above designed But in case the Provinces should neither have opportunity nor conveniency to examine the said Confession in their respective Synods 't is lest unto their Prudence and soundest Judgment to agree and come to a conclusion about all those Matters which shall be debated by them whether they be Points of Doctrine or any other Articles relating to the Peace Union Weal and Happiness of all the Churches XXXII These same Commissioners deputed as in the immediately foregoing Article unto the Conference in Germany are ordered to peruse that Treatise of Monsieur de Chandieu Intituled La Confirmation de la Discipline des Eglises Francoises and to prefix their manual Approbation of it and to dedicate it with a Preface unto the Church of Christ and to hasten with as much Expedition as they can its Publication XXXIII Monsieur Esnard having according to the Commission given him

in unto him And therefore altho the said Commissioners Bigot and de la Combe have received the thanks of this Synod yet they were ordered to put into the hands of our General Deputies all papers in their Custody relating to this affair And that for the future the matter having been once laid open before the Provinces it shall be recommended to a General Assembly to embrace the prosecution of it and to follow their Majesties with our most humble requests that we may be paid the said sums according to the Intention of their warrants granted us at first and other orders in pursuance of their first truly and faithfully without any deductions for Non-Valoirs 16 The Inhabitants also of the Bareny de Combata in Sevennes who in seven Towns for the greatest part of them being Protestants are yet deprived of their Temples and all exercise of the Reformed Religion and constrained to travel many a long Journey and expose themselves to a world of inconveniences that they may worship God according to his holy word and all because they have a Popish Landlord who yet would not oppose the re-establishment of their Churches provided it were ordained by the supream Authority And let it be particularly observed that in one of the Towns of that Barony called Vie there was a Church and Pastor in the year 1561. 17. The other Provinces are exhorted to joyn with that of Dolphiny to obtain a sufficient time for the poor Communalties and Villages in the Bailywick of Gresivaudan to recover their just rights from their wicked Popish debtors and that all proceedings at law against them may cease and be vacated because the Commissioners appointed to judge between them were not the one half Protestants as they should have been and because that the Respit of three months allotted them to bring in their Appeal before the Chamber of the Edict at Grenoble was too short and could do them no service The Writ of Appeal not having past the Seal till the time was lapst and the three months already expired During which time the Syndick of the Communalties got a Writ of Foreclusion against the said Creditors 18. The affair of the Church of Monosque and Tourves who having got an Order of Council that of Monosques to build a Temple for the worship of God neat unto their place of abode and that of Tourves within their own bounds as being priviledged because a Bailywick yet could never obtain unto this day that those orders should be put in execution 19. Lastly there is recommended to them the affairs of the Churches of Antibe Forqualq●ier and Derbordes which although they had proved incontestably that the worship of God according to our Reformed Religion was publickly in use and exerecise among them in the year 1577. Yet notwithstanding Judgment is still suspended to their very great prejudice CHAP. XVIII Expedients for reuniting the Christian Churches which have shook off the Papa Yoak and for composing the differences which are already risen or may hereafter rise up amongst them offered and propounded to them 1. WE must lay down this as a foundation-principle that to endeavour an Union and Agreement between the Churches is a most useful pious and necessary work and very feasible As to its possibility we say that such an Union cannot be effected without the concurrence aid assistance and conduct of those Soveraign Princes who have withdrawn themselves from the obedience of the Pope among whom his Majesty of Great Britain as being the Chiefest and most Potent Monarch of a most clear anti piercing Judgment and most affectionately inclined hereunto can most effectually promote and advance it 2. This being presupposed we conceive that some certain place should be chosen of safe and convenient access whereunto two Divines shall be sent by his Majesty and two from the Churches of France and two from the Low Countries two from the Cantons of Switzerland and one or two from each of the German Princes embracing and professing our Faith 3. Zealand in our opinion would be the most commodious place for such a Treaty which is as it were the fore-door of England and easily to be aborded by the Messengers of the respective Princes and Churches 4. And when they meet at this place let there be no disputes about Religion for when once the Spirits are inflamed there will be no yielding on any side and all parties will return homeward with the imaginary Triumphs of their own Victories Wherefore it were better to lay before them on the Table the several Confessions of the Reformed Churches of England Scotland France the Netherlands Switzerland and the Palatinate c. And that out of all these Confessions there might be framed one in common to them all in which divers Points may be omitted the knowledge whereof is not needful to our everlasting happiness Among which the controversie moved by Piscator and several subtil opinions lately broached by Van-Armin about free Will the Saints Perseverance and Predestination may be reckoned It being a most certain Truth that all the Errors in Religion have sprung hence that men would either know too much or have too much that is to say either out of curiosity or from their avarice and ambition 'T is this last Sin that hath corrupted and ruined the Church of Rome But yet Satan doth use his utmost endeavours by the first to corrupt ours However could we but gain that authority and power over our selves so as to ignore divers matters and to rest contented with points only necessary to Salvation we should have gone a great and good part of the way and made a considerable progress in our WORK of UNION 5. This Confession being once prepared it must be subscribed not only by the Deputies then and there present but also by the several Princes and by our National Synod And let this Canon be enacted that if any controversie should hereafter be moved either in England France or Germany in the Low Countreys or Switzerland nothing shall be concluded or decided much less innovated in or about it without the general consent and concurrence of all the Provinces that have signed this Agreement 6. 'T is probable that thus far we shall meet with little or no opposition The Parties treating being the Reformed Churches agreeing in the fundamental Articles of Faith only dissenting from one another in the quillets of Ceremonies and Church-Government 7. Concerning which Ceremonies and Church-Discipline a mutual Declaration should be made and added unto the said Confession by which the said Deputies in the names of their Principa's do declare that the Churches shall not judge nor condemn one another for this difference it not hindering our mutual Agreement in the same true Faith and Doctrine and that for all this we may cordially embrace each other as true Believers and Joynt-Members of one and the same Body 8. It were fitting that after this Conference had as a pledge of their mutual Concord the Lords Supper