the said Article in which case they shall be admitted to stand Sureties And the like regard shall be had and observed as to Marriages 9. The Province of Bearne demanded whether they might suffer the Lord's Supper to be administred on any other day besides the Christian Sabbath This Assembly judgeth that although Religious Worship be not tied up to the circumstances of time and place yet nevertheless it was needful because of the Importance of so sacred a Ceremony that it be celebrated if possible only upon the Lord's Day and not on any other unless upon very great and weighty considerations whereof the Provincial Synods Colloquies and Consistories shall take cognizance 10. That for the future Deputations unto National Synods may be compleat over and above those Canons already made This Assembly Ordaineth that such Persons who being deputed shall be absent from them shall inform this Synod of the causes of their absence and of that care they had taken to give notice unto those who were substituted in their Places to appear for them and the Synod of that Province shall judge herein But and if they shall not give this Notice and Information the Provinces are injoyned strictly to inspect the matter and to proceed against such Defaulters without sufficient Reason by suspending them from their Offices And an Account hereof shall be given unto the next National Synod 11. The Provinces having rendred an Account of the care taken by them to oblige their Pastors to reside on their respective Churches This Assembly confirmeth the former Canons on this occasion and enjoyneth all Synods and Colloquies to concern themselves in it and upon an exact knowledg of the state of their Churches and Pastors they be charged to proceed against the Refractory with all kind of Censures 12. It being reported to this National Synod that the word Damnation in the Tenth Section of the Catechism hath been changed in the sundry Editions of our Psalms into that of Condemnation The Synod judging those Two Words for Substance to signifie one and the same thing doth leave the Printers at liberty to use which of them they best like 13. To prevent that diversity found in the Editions of the Bible and Psalms of our Liturgy and Catechism This Assembly Ordaineth that every Province shall remark and observe those Changes which have been made and what others may be needful to be done that they may be sent unto the Consistory of Paris which shall chuse out of them according to their Prudence and notifie them unto the Provincial Synod of the Isle of France which shall issue out those Orders necessary for a more correct Edition of the Holy Bible Psalms Liturgy and Catechism unto which the Printers shall conform themselves in their future Impressions Moreover the Consistories of those Places where there is a Printing-Press are charged to be very careful in this matter and the Sieurs Bochard of Caen Jassaud of Castres De Chandieu Eustache Taby Boudan Bernard De Veloux Le Blois Guitton Amyraud Daille Gommare Dize Riccotier Cazamajor and Homel Pastors are appointed a Committee to see this present Act put in Execution 14. Forasmuch as the Sins of Men especially of those whom God hath separated from the World by a most Holy Profession and whom he hath honoured above all others with the Glorious Title of his Children do very often and lowdly summon the Church of God unto extraordinary Humiliation Publick Prayers Fastings and Repentance This Assembly recommendeth unto the Provinces the Observation of that Article of our Discipline which enables the Provincial Synods to proclaim publick Fasts every one of them within their Divisions according as they shall judge needful And ordaineth that the Province which hath the Priviledge of calling the National Synod shall take care to publish a National Fast to be universally observed in all the Churches of this Kingdom according to the Intelligence it shall receive from the other Provinces and especially from those that border nearest to it according to the same Article of the Discipline that so the fierce Anger and Judgment of God may be prevented and avoided 15. Such as defer the Baptizing of their Children shall be sharply censured according to the Rigour of our Discipline and if any Children are come unto Years of Discretion and were never Baptized they shall be first Catechised and well instructed in the Principles of Christian Religion before they be admitted unto Baptism 16. The Deputies of the Isle of France having remonstrated the wicked Practices of some Professors of our Religion such be forbidden upon pain of the last and greatest Censures to lend their Names unto Persons of the Romish Communion that they may draw their Affairs tho but indirectly and in which they have in effect no concern at all before the Courts of the Edict 17. The Deputies of the Province of Brittaine requesting it this Assembly ordaineth that in case Errors be not divulged among the Common People they who undertake to refute them shall write in the Latin Tongue 18. The Provincial Deputies of Normandy petitioning for it this Assembly ordained That all Consistories shall take care that those Portions of the Holy Scripture be read and Psalms sung during the Celebration of the Lords Supper which are most suitable to the Nature of that Ordinance that so the Devotion of our Communicants may be raised add inflamed and not flatted nor diverted 19. A motion was made that whereas many particular Churches of ours had an undoubted Right to exercise our Religion by vertue of the Edicts in sundry Cities Towns and other places in the Country and yet do meet together for Religious Worship in very ill and unconvenient places this Assembly exhorteth all the Churches either to accommodate them better or to build new Temples which may be more fit and commodious and only to employ them in Religious Uses and the Sacred Exercises of our Religion And all Lords and Gentlemen Members of the said Churches are more particularly exhorted to promote this excellent Work as much as in them lieth 20. At the Request of the Provincial Deputies of Dolphiny all Colloquies are exhorted to cause the Acts of all our National Synods to be transcribed that so they may be useful to them in their Exercise of Church-Discipline 21. The Provincial Deputies of Xaintonge and Poistou moving it that that Canon of our Discipline and Decrees of our National Synods which forbad the publishing of any Treatise of Religion till it had been first examined and approved by those Persons who were appointed to it by the Provincial Synod might be extended unto Sermons also and to any other kind of Writings in matters of Religion Their Desire was granted them accordingly 22. This Assembly being informed that in certain Provinces Pastors are given unto Churches for an Year by way of Tryal and that they be removed from their Cures with too great Facility This Assembly condemning these Disorders enjoyneth all the Provinces to conform
together with our Church Discipline shall be subscribed by them CAN. IV. That our Churches may be always furnished with a sufficient number of Pastors and of other Persons fit to govern them and to preach the Word of God unto them they shall be advised to chuse those Scholars who be already well advanced in good Learning and be of the most promising hopeful Parts and to maintain such in the Universities that they may be there prepared and fitted for the Work of the Ministry ever preferring the Children of poor Ministers if ingenious before all others of which the Colloquies shall take a most especial care Kings Princes and Lords shall be exhorted and petitioned particularly to mind this important Affair and to lay by some part and portion of their Revenues towards their maintenance and the richer Churches shall do the like Colloquies and Provincial Synods shall as they see meet notifie and sollicit this Affair and take the best courses that matters of so great necessity may be successful and if single Churches cannot do it their Neighbours shall joyn with them that one poor Scholar at the least may be maintained in every Colloquy and rather than this design should miscarry the fifth Penny of all our Charities shall be set apart if it may conveniently be done to be imployed in this service CAN. V. A Proposition out of the Word of God shall be made by the Scholars of every Church as time and place may conveniently bear it at which Exercises Pastors shall be present to preside and order the said Proposans N. B. There were general Statutes made for the Vniversities of the Reformed Churches of France in the National Synod of Alez By whom they were drawn up is now out of my mind but those for the Vniversity of Montauban were composed by Monsieur Beraud the Father who was the first Divinity-Professor in it Those for the Vniversity of Die in Dolphiny were composed by the great Chamier which I have lying by me written with his own hand and which I shall publish if the Lord lend me life in his Icon. CHAP. III. Of Elders and Deacons CANON I. IN those places where the Order of our Discipline is not yet set up Elders and Deacons shall be chosen by the joynt Suffrages of Pastors and People but where it hath been already established the power of chusing them and that with pertinent Prayers unto the occasion shall reside in the Consistory together with the Pastors and they shall be nominated with an audible Voice in the said Consistory that they may know in what businesses they are to be employed If they consent they shall on two Lord's days following be declared to the People that so their consent also may be obtained and if on the third Sabbath there be no opposition made they shall be then publickly received with solemn Prayers standing upright before the Pulpit and be thus ordained unto their Offices they subscribing our Confession of Faith and Church-Discipline but if there fall out any opposition it shall be determined in the Consistory and in case it cannot be there composed Chap III. Of Elders and Deacons it shall be wholly remitted to the Colloquy or Provincial Synod CAN. II. Henceforward if it may be possibly avoided none shall be chosen Elders or Deacons of the Church whose Wives are not of the true Religion according to the Apostles Canon Yet notwithstanding that the Church may not be deprived of the Labours of several worthy persons who in the days of their ignorance espoused Women of a contrary Religion they shall be tolerated because of the present necessity provided that they do produce good evidence of their serious endeavours for instructing of their Wives in that Faith and true Worship of God practised in our Churches CAN. III. The Elder 's Office is together with the Pastors to oversee the Church to gather and keep up the solemn Assemblies and to take care that the Members in communion do personally appear at those holy Congregations to make report of Scandals and Offences in Consistory and with the Pastors to take cognizance and pass censures on them In general it is to have the same care with them in all concerns about the Order Maintenance and Government of the Church Moreover in every Church there shall be reserved in Writing a Breviate of the particulars belonging unto their Office according as the circumstances of time and place may call for it CAN. IV. The Deacon's Office is to collect and distribute by the advice of the Consistory Moneys unto the Poor Sick and Prisoners and to visit and take care of them CAN. V. It doth not belong unto the Deacon's Office to Preach the Word of God nor to Administer the Sacraments yet because of our present distress the Consistory may chuse certain Elders and Deacons to catechize the respective Families of the Church as also in the Pastor's absence Elders are permitted on Week-days if chosen thereunto by the Consistory to Pray publickly with the Church and therein they shall use the ordinary form and in reading of the Scriptures none other but the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament shall be read And whereas in divers Provinces it hath been a custom for Deacons to catechize in publick the Inconveniences which have already and may hereafter happen from it being well considered the Churches are exhorted where this custom is not introduc'd not at all to admit it and those in which it hath took place to forsake it and to endeavour that the said Deacons if of competent abilities do enter as soon as may be into the Ministry CAN. VI. Elders and Deacons may be present at Propositions of the Word of God which are made by Ministers besides their ordinary Sermons or by Scholars that are Proposans and at those Censures which shall be past upon them and shall give their judgment of these Exercises but the decisive judgment in point of Doctrine is principally reserved unto Pastors Ministers and Doctors of Divinity who be duly called into that Office CAN. VII The Office of Elders and Deacons as it is now in use among us is not perpetual yet because changes are not incommodious they shall be exhorted to continue in their Offices as long as they can and they shall not lay them down without having first obtained leave from their Churches CAN. VIII Neither Elders nor Deacons shall claim any primacy or jurisdiction over one another whether in nomination unto the People or in precedency Chap IV. Of The Office of a Deacon or in order of voting or in any matters depending upon their Offices CAN. IX Elders and Deacons shall be deposed for those very crimes and causes for which the Ministers of God's Word are and if being condemned by the Consistory they should make an Appeal they shall yet notwithstanding continue suspended from their Offices until such times as the Colloquy or Provincial Synod shall have decided their affair CAN. X. Elders
if it be done out of contempt and through fear of being obliged to renounce all Idolatry after divers admonitions given them and they not reforming they shall be cut off from the Body of the Church but if it be through infirmity they shall be born withal for some space of time till they be more established in the Faith CAN. XII Such as care not to come unto our publick Christian Congregations but only upon those days when the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is Celebrated shall be reproved and admonished of their duty and to this purpose they shall join themselves unto one certain particular Church N. B. This last Clause is only in my Edition of Paris and Rouen 1663. CAN. XIII The Faithful who make a trade of hearing the Word of God in one Church and of receiving the Sacraments in another shall be censured and by the advice of the Colloquy or Provincial Synod they shall be appointed to join themselves unto that Church which is nearest and most convenient for them N. B. Provincial Synod is only in my Parisian and Quevilly Edition CAN. XIV Chap. XIII Of Marriages Although it hath not been the Custom to administer the Lord's Supper in the greatest part of our Churches more than four times a year yet it were to be desired that it might be oftner so that the Reverence which is needful for this holy Sacrament could be kept up and observed Because it is most profitable for the Children of God to be exercised and grow in Faith by the frequent use of the Sacraments and the Example of the Primitive Church doth invite us to it And therefore our National Synods shall take that care and order in this matter as is requisite for the weal and happiness of our Churches CHAP. XIII Of Marriages CANON I. SUch as are under Age shall not Contract Marriage without the Consent of their Parents or of those other Persons under whose power they be Howbeit if their said Parents should be so unreasonable as not to yield unto so sacred and needful an Ordinance yea and refuse their consent meerly out of hatred to Religion the Consistory shall advise the Parties to apply themselves unto the Civil Magistrate CAN. II. Such as are of Years and in possession of their Estates shall be admonished by the Minister in the publick Church-Assemblies not to make any Promise of Marriage but in the presence of their Parents Friends Neighbours and Persons in reputation for Godliness And such as do otherwise shall be censured for their lightness and contempt of the said admonition And it were very meet that those Promises of Marriage were performed with solemn Prayers CAN. III. The Faithful that are of Age although they have been Married shall notwithstanding so far honour their Parents as not to Contract Marriage without having first acquainted them therewith and in case of failure herein they shall be censured by the Consistory CAN. IV. Fathers and Mothers professing the Reformed Religion whose Children being Idolaters would marry themselves unto Idolatrous Women shall be advised if possibly they can do it to hinder their said Children from Contracting such Marriages especially if they be not as yet emancipated from under their Authority and Fathers shall employ their Paternal Power to prevent and hinder them but and if they cannot so far prevail yet at passing the Marriage Contracts they shall protest their abhorrency of that Idolatry into which their Children will deeper plunge themselves And this being done the Parents may consent unto the Promises and Conditions about the Dowry and other such like matters and they shall give in evidence unto their Consistory of those endeavours they have used to hinder such Marriages CAN. V. For time to come all Promises of Marriages and Espousals shall be performed by words de futuro which shall not be counted as indissolvible as words de praesenti Because words de praesenti do not so much promise Marriage as in effect consummate it Yet nevertheless those promises by words de futuro shall not be dissolved without very great and lawful causes Wherefore the Custom of those Churches is condemned which celebrateth Espousals betrothings by the Ministry and Benediction of their Pastors with gift of Body and words de praesenti For by such Solemnity the Parties are truly and actually conjoined in Marriage so that the Banes are preposterous and published after the Marriage is Consummated and a second Benediction is rendred needless and superfluous True indeed 't is not thought evil that Pastors should assist at Espousals and pray and exhort the Parties unto mutual love faithfulness and the fear of God provided that they forbear all other formalities which are of none other use than to make a Bond indissolvible which oftentimes we are constrained to break again upon oppositions made when the Banes are published and because of other accidental hinderances For these reasons also those Churches which solemnize Espousals in their Temples with the same publick Benediction as at Marriage are exhorted to lay down this their Custom and to conform themselves unto our Churches in all the other Provinces of this Kingdom N. B. The addition unto this Canon which is Printed in another Character is only found in my Parisian and Quevilly Editions of the Discipline yet grounded upon very many Acts of several National Synods See Syn. of Poictiers Art 2. of Partic. Matters 1560. The Syn. of Saumur 1597. Art 25. concerning Observations upon the Discipline The Synod of Privas 1612. Art 9. of Observations upon the Discipline The Syn. of Alez 1620. Art 14. of Observations upon the Discipline CAN. VI. In Consanguinities and Affinities the faithful may not Contract Marriage but with the Kings Licence according to the Edict CAN. VII It is utterly unlawful to Petition the Pope for a Dispensation of the Impediments of Marriage which is already or may be hereafter accomplished because in so doing there would be an owning of his Tyranny Yet we may warrantably address our selves unto the King for a Dispensation in degrees not prohibited by God nor by the Civil Government CAN. VIII Spiritual Kindred as they be called are not at all comprehended nor understood by those words of Consanguinity and Affinity in the Kings Edict nor do they hinder any Marriage-Contracts CAN. IX It is not lawful for any Man to Marry the Sister of his Deceased Wife for such Marriages are prohibited not only by the Laws of the Land but by the word of God And although by the Law of Moses it was ordained that when the Brother died without Children his Brother should raise up Seed unto him yet that Law enacted for the Children of Israel was temporary relating only to the preservation of the Tribes of that People But the Marriage of a Sister of a Betrothed and Deceased Wife is of another Nature because that Alliance was not Contracted by a Commixture of Blood therefore such a Marriage may be admitted and approved Yet notwithstanding
Cause and Sin must he confessed VIII There shall be no publick Penance done in the Church without express Confession of the Cause and Crime committed by this publick Penitent They shall not be chosen Elders nor Deacons who have Popish Wives IX For the future none shall be chosen if possible into the Eldership or Deaconry whose Wives are of a contrary Religion according as the Apostle Paul hath ordained Nevertheless that the Church may not be deprived of the Service of divers godly and well-deserving Persons who by reason of past ignorance have Wives of another Religion they may for this present necessity be tolerated provided they do their endeavour by Instructions and Counsels to convert their Wives and to bring them into Communion with the Church X. Neither Ministers nor Elders may give Attestations without an express and punctual Declaration of the Places and Persons Names and the way which they intend to travel who obtained these Certificates at their hands And if any Attestations are presented to them without these Circumstances they are required to vacate and tear them in pieces and those who granted them shall be censured in the next ensuing Colloquy or Synod CHAP. III. An Act for a National FAST IX FOrasmuch as the Times are very Calamitous and that our poor Churches as are daily menaced with many and sore Tribulations and for that Sins and Vices of all sorts are risen up and growing in upon us in a very fearful manner a general Day of Prayer and Fasting shall be published that our People may humble themselves before the Lord and all the Churches of this Kingdom shall observe it on one and the self-same Day which shall be Tuesday the 25th of March next following and if it may be done the Lord's Supper shall also be administred in all the Churches on the ensuing Sabbath XII According to the 2d Article in the Chapter of Consistories and Book of Discipline about Common-Prayers The Churches shall be exhorted where Morning and Evening Common-Prayers are publickly used to conform themselves unto those others which have none and where this Custom was never introduced And Ministers shall advise all Governors of Families to Worship God by Morning and Evening Prayers in and together with their respective Housholds and Families XIII Churches refusing to defray the Expences of their Ministers in going to Classes and Synods Churches shall defray their Ministers expences at Collâ—quies and Synods shall be admonished of their Duty and in case of non-performance and that their Ministers be inforced to travel to those Sessions at their own Costs and Charges they shall be deprived of their Ministers unless they remind themselves of their Duty and reimburse them those Sums they had so expended Moreover Colloquies shall reassume their disused Exercise of Propositions on the Word of God as they were formerly handled to their very great Profit and Edification That so Ministers may better know their Duty and grow in the Study and Understanding of the Holy Scripture and be more Methodical in their Sermons and Divinity Discourses XIV God-mothers shall be equally bound to the Religious Education of those Children for whom they be Sureties as their God-fathers And Ministers shall charge them to see that they conscientiously fulfil their Promises XV. The Synod having been acquainted that in divers Places during the Celebration of the Lord's Supper Ministers do vary in their Expressions it judgeth that nothing shall be innovated in particular Churches but that herein they be left unto their Liberty for the present only the Provinces shall be advertised to come prepared about this Matter unto the next National Synod XVI His Majesty shall be Petition'd to approve of those Marriages which have been celebrated among us during the last Civil Wars according to the Tenor of the former Edict against the Laws of the Romish Church in that particular Article of Consanguinities and Affinities CHAP. IV. Cases of CONSCIENCE A Man may nâ—t marry his dead Wife's Aunt XVII IT being Queried Whether any one might Marry the Aunt of his deceased Wife Answer was given That such a Marriage was altogether Incestuous and in case any Church had permitted it the said Church deserved Censure See the Synod of Bergeraâ— Art 2. XVIII This Case being propounded A Maid was betrothed unto a Man by words de presentl and with the usual requisite Solemnities The Resolution of this Case was to be given by the Magistrate but afterwards this Man happens to be condemned unto the Gallies during Life yet by some how or other he escapeth out of them and returning home doth demand and summon his betrothed Spouse to marry him according to her Promise What shall be done herein The Synod doth advise That because Marriage is a mixt Alliance the Parties concerned shall apply themselves unto the Magistrate according to whose Decree the Church shall be governed XIX Although the holding Temporalities of Benefices in France be an indifferent Matter yet the Faithful are admonished to intermeddle as little as may be with such Purchases because of their evil and dangerous Consequences and Consistories and Colloquies shall use a great deal of Prudence in their Opinions and Actings in and about them Scripture-stories must be handled with modesty by Poets XX. Such as shall put into Verse or Poems Scripture-stories are admonished not to blend nor mingle Poetical Fables with them nor to ascribe unto God the Names of false Gods nor to add or diminish from the Sacred Scriptures but to confine themselves strictly to the Scripture-Terms Modesty in Apparel See the Synod of Paris Gen. Mat. Art 33. XXI That Article concerning the immodest Habits and Fashions of Men and Women shall be observed with the greatest Care imaginable And both Sexes are required to keep Modesty in their Hair and every thing else that no Scandal may be given to our Neighbour See the Synod of Bergerac Art 9. upon reading the Discipline XXII A Minister may not together with his Ministery practice Physick But yet out of Charity he may give his Advice and Assistance unto the sick Members of his Church and to the Neighbourhood without diverting himself from his Function nor shall he draw Advantage from it unless in time only of Trouble and Persecution when as he cannot exercise his Ministery in his own Church XXIII Fathers and Mothers are exhorted to be exceeding careful in Instructing their Children which are the Seed and Nursery of the Church and they shall be most bitterly censured who send them to the Schools of Priests Jesuits and Nuns As also the Gentry shall be reproved who place them Pages or Domesticks in the Houses of Lords and Noble-men of the contrary Religion XXIV Such as commit enormous Crimes as Incests Murders or the like shall be without any more ado cut off from Communion at the Lord's Table and their Suspension shall be published in the Church XXV If there arise any difference between a Church and
thus In every Church their shall be Memoirs conserved of The Form of Prayer ordinarily used at Baptism shall not be forborn at the at the Baptism of Infants born in Adultery Fornication or Incest VIII It being demanded Whether the usual Form of Prayer should be recited at the Baptism of Infants born out of Matrimony and in Adultery or Incest because there are in it those words Begotten of Father and Mother whom thou hast called into thy Church This Synod judgeth that there should be no difficulty nor dispute had or made about it because that under the Name of Father and Mother are not only comprised the more immediate and next Parents that begat them but also their Ancestors to a thousand Generations And this also should be considered that tho' the Parents be faulty yet they are not therefore totally excluded God's Covenant IX The 4th Article in the Chapter of Marriages asserting that Promises of Marriage made by words de praesenti are indissolvable Promises of Marriage by Words de praesenti are indissolvable shall not be changed And in case of any Offence taken by one of the Parties thus espoused and that he or she refuse to perform the said Marriage the refuting Person shall be urg'd unto it by Ecclesiastical Censures yea even by Excommunication itself unless the offending and deserting Party have never communicated at the Lord's Table in which case all Admonitions having been given duly in the Consistory his or her obstinacy shall be on three several Lord's Days publickly denounced and signified unto the People And on the fourth they shall be publickly informed that we do repute such a Person by name no Member of our Church And this being done if the deserting Person do still persist in his obstinacy the innocent Party shall be dismissed unto the Magistrate that he may be set at liberty who having obtained it by his Authority he may marry whom he pleaseth provided it be in the Lord and his Marriage shall be publickly blessed and solemnized in the Church And the deserting Party shall not be received into Communion with us nor be suffered to marry any other until we have had by a long space of time a sufficient proof of his Repentance and that he hath given due satisfaction to the Church X. It being queried Whether the Names of Children born out of Marriage should be recorded in our Baptismal Register Bastards may be entred into the Register of Marriage except such as are born in Incest The Answer was Yes that they might be owned except such as are born of incestuous Parents that so the memory of so foul a Crime may be forever buried in the Grave of Oblivion And in this particular case the Mother only shall be named and the Person that presents the Child unto Baptism and whenever illegitimate Births are registred it shall be expresly mentioned that they were born out of Marriage XI A Father tho' suspended from the Lord's Table yea and excommunicated may and ought to be present at the Baptizing of his Child XII No Thieves nor Murderers nor any others guilty of notorious wickedness punishable by the Civil Magistrate shall be received into Church-fellowship with us least the Church should incur blame by it as if it were a Receptacle and Sanctuary of impious Persons XIII What is to be done in this case Whenas a most heinous Crime is committed which deserveth exemplary punishment yea Death itself and it be known unto the Consistory or some one particular Member of it but the Criminal hath not been called before the Consistory nor hath privately demanded their Advice or Counsel shall he to discovered unto the Magistrate or no This Synod is of Opinion That he ought not to be impeached unless before a Magistrate of our Religion and it shall be done by way of Intelligence and not by that of a Delator or Accuser XIV Whereas the greater part of our People do very much offend God by their contempt of Baptism either forsaking the Assembly Baptism to be administred before the last Psalm be sung or carrying themselves exceeding irreverently during the Administration of that holy Sacrament it hath upon mature Advice been judged fitting that for the future Baptism be administred before the singing of the last Psalm or at least before the last Blessing be given and the whole Congregation shall be solemnly admonished to give equal Honour to both the Sacraments the same unto Baptism that they do unto the Lord's Supper Because Jesus Christ is offered with all his Benefits both in the one and other Sacrament XV. Gentlemen and others enjoying Right of Patronage shall not be urged to forsake their just Titles only they shall be admonished that whatever profit accrues unto them thereby that it be employed to pious Uses as for the maintenance of God's holy Service in his Church to help defray the Charges of Colloquies and of the Poor XVI Henceforward that Church in which the National Synod is celebrated shall be obliged so to order their Affairs that their appointed time of celebrating the Lord's Supper may fall in with the closing up of the Synod that so the Deputies may testifie that holy Union between all the Churches of this Nation by their mutual Communion then and at that time and in that Church at the Lord's Table XVII Whether it be lawful to accompany a Popish Bride unto her Church The Deputies of Anjou proposed this Case Whether it were lawful to accompany a Popish Bride unto their Church Advice was hereupon given that this should be done as seldom as possible and provided there were not in that Company any Dissolutions by Minstrels or other Vanities and Disorders which are customary in such Processions See the Synod of Saumur art 4. of Gen. Matters And the same Resolution was given in the Case of accompanying the Corps of deceased Papists at Funerals unto their Graves that it was in no wise lawful to be present at them if there were any kind of Idolatry or Superstition committed in them XVIII The Deputy of higher Languedoc propounded this Case A Godly Woman is married to a Man of the contrary Religion who will have her wear that Apparel which is unbecoming Christian Modesty and in case of Non-compliance with her Husband's Commands there arise Quarrels and great Disserences between them may she be tolerated in the usage of those Habits This Assembly is of Opinion that to avoid the above-mentioned Inconveniencies she may be born withal excepting on those Days when the Lord's Supper is celebrated or she presents a Child to be baptized in which she shall cloath herself modestly and so testifie her Humility and Christian Modesty XIX Our Brother the Deputy of Lower Languedoc presented to us this Case that certain Persons professing the Reformed Religion having been according to the Order of our Discipline censured for their Miscarriages obtained a Prohibition from the Civil Magistrate forbidding all farther Proceedings This
Scripture provided always that there be nothing indecent in them XXXII Such as receive from His Majesty's Royal Bounty a Sine Curâ a Benefice without Cure of Souls shall be exhorted to dispose of a considerable part of its Revenue to pious and charitable Uses as towards the Maintenance of God's own holy instituted Worship and Relief of the Poor otherwise we will proceed against them by Suspension from the Lord's Table XXXIII The 9th Canon in the 12th Chapter of our Discipline binding Pastors as much as possible to distribute the Cup at the Lord's Table shall be in full force Pastors and Elders must communicate at the same Time and Table XXXIV Elders of the Church shall communicate together with the Pastors at the Lord's Supper in the first place and the residue of the People in such order as the Consistory judgeth most expedient for the Churches edification In Case of Appeal from an Inferiour to a Superiour Judge Marriage may not be celebrated Nicodemites are in the same Classis with Infidels XXXV Altho' the Parties cannot obtain the Consent of Parties yet if they that have that of the Magistrate unto their Marriage by his Judicial Sentence the Pastors in our Churches may celebrate such Marriage unless there lie an Appeal in the Case XXXVI To the Case propounded by the Deputy of Berry and Orleans this Synod returns its Answer That the Churches shall declare it publickly that whosoever whispereth in private that he is a Protestant and of the Reformed Religion altho' he do not make an open profession thereof that this Person is to be accounted no better than an Infidel until such time as he he have totally renounced the Superstitions and Idolatries of the Romish Church XXXVII The Deputies of Xaintonge having declared the Inconveniences arising in several Churches from Promises of Marriage expressed by words de praesenti and that it were better that for time coming all such Promises should be uttered in words de futuro The Decision of this difficulty is remitted over to the next National Synod whereunto the Provinces are required to come with due preparation XXXVIII The 12th Article of the 13th Chapter of the Discipline is remitted over to the consideration of the next National Synod and in the mean while Mr. Beza and Mr. Daueau are intreated to couch in Writing their Arguments about it that they may be perus'd and examined by that Synod that so we may know Whether it be lawful for a Brother to marry the Widow of his Wife's Brother Whence proceeds Impotency and tying of the Point and its proper Remedy XXXIX When divers Persons in our Churches are afflicted with that Plague of Impotency by those who tie the Point the Pastors shall remonstrate to them in their Sermons that the cause of this Evil is Unbelief in some and weakness of Faith in others and that Charms used to untie them are detestable as also the means used by others in consulting Witches the Devils Ministers this Remedy being worse than their Disease whenas Fasting Prayer and Reformation of Life thorough the Blessing of God would effect the Cure XL. In the Form of Excommunication pronounced publickly at the Lord's Table next after the word Idolaters there shall be added All Sorcerers Charmers and Inchanters as also upon another account after the word Mutinous there shall be added Murderers XLI Whereas Publick Notaries in divers Churches keep open Doors on the Lord's Day and pass all manner of Contracts and Transactions whereby very many Souls are taken off together with themselves from the Religious Sanctification of the Lord 's holy Sabbath It is decreed by this Synod That for time to come the said Notaries shall pass no manner of Contracts on the Lord's Day unless it be Contracts of Marriage Last Wills and Testaments Articles of Agreement between dissenting Parties and the amicable terminating of vexatious Law-Suits and such other business as cannot possibly be delayed under which head fall in Matters of Necessity and Mercy and such Contracts may be dispatcht on the most Holy Days provided always that such Writings be not drawn up nor executed during the time of Divine Service and of the Publick Worship of God and their Offices shall be shut if possible whilst they be thus employed XLII Nothing shall be changed in the first Article of the 14th Chapter of our Discipline but all endeavours shall be used to prevent those Abuses which are usually committed XLIII The Deputies of Gascony demanded Whether it were lawful to take a new Lease of the Lands and Demeans belonging to the Popish Church-men upon condition of bringing them their Rent home unto their Convents and other Houses of those Ecclesiasticks To which it was answered That there was no inconvenience in it provided that it were not in any matters relating unto Idolatry as the carrying of Incense Wax to make Torches and other such-like things XLIV The second Article in the 14th Chapter of our Discipline concerning Patronages shall not be altered Yet notwithstanding Lay-Patrons may enjoy their Priviledge of laying claim by Protestation unto their Rights and Emoluments that so their Title to them may be preserved grounding their Protestation upon this that the present Collation is contrary to our Religion against which they dare not in Conscience act And this is according to the Edicts of Pacification And this Affair shall be further debated in the Assembly of St. Foy XLV The 26th Article of the same Chapter shall remain entire only the word Poincons a Houpe shall be left out and because now that Habit is wholly out of Fashion among us and such as paint and shew their naked Breasts shall be dealt with more severely than heretofore and weaker Persons shall be born withal as much as possibly we can for their edification or in case they be censured it shall only be by a simple suspension from the Sacrament that so they may be reduc'd unto Christian Modesty XLVI The Deputies of Xaintonge moved well and this Synod decrees upon it that whosoever are received hereafter Members into Communion with our Churches shall subscribe if they can write the Act of their Reception and a Register shall be kept in all the Churches of their Names and of the time of their Deaths XLVII Upon another motion of those Deputies it was decreed That exiled Members from their Churches refug'd in another shall yet notwithstanding contribute to the subsistence of their ancient Pastors if so be they are fled only with an intention of returning to their former Habitations but in case they resolve to remove elsewhere it is not reasonable they should be compell'd thereunto XLVIII Upon another motion of the same Deputies concerning Proposans Candidates for the Ministry who having been for some time maintained at the Churches Charges in order to their future Service in the Ministry not meeting with a Call unto it or having since upon other grounds altered their minds and took up another Vocation the Synod
the common suffrages of their Consistory 3. The like Judgment was past upon the pretended Appeal of Isaac Perrier it being a matter which ought to be determined by the Provincial Synod 4. John Froment suspended from his office of Elder by the Synod of Higher Languedoc in opposition to a decree of his Colloquy which had restored him although neither the Consistory nor his adverse party nor any other had Appealed was now heard upon his Appeal The Deputies of the Province making no answer to the reasons of his complaint this Assembly Censured the said Province for proceeding so unjustly and contrary to all order and therefore re-instateth the said Froment in the Eldership 5. Monsieur Paul Banquemar a Citizen of Rouen complained of the Consistory of that Church for not suffering the Banes of his Daughter to be published after the contract had been past before the Notary unless she were first of all Betrothed by the Pastor he judging this act of theirs contrary to the Canon of the Synod of Privas Privas obs 9. appealed from the Provincial Synod of Normandy held at Sees in the year 1613. by which that Custom of calling in the Pastors before the publishing of Banes tho formerly practised was not confirmed and imposed upon all their Churches This Assembly finds the Consistory of Rouen to be too severe in in this matter and that the Synod should not have made it necessary and for the future it injoyneth them to leave those parties to their Liberty And on the other hand it exhorts the Appellant to be more Moderate than he has been in his Letters remonstrating to him that it is his duty not to revive those old quarrels which through the vigilance of the Consistory and his own silence had been long ago buried in oblivion 6. The Sieur Fevry Pastor of the Church of Tonne-Charante Appealed from a Decree of the Province of Xaintonge for detaining him in the Ministery of that Church notwithstanding the Petition of his Father who redemanded him This Assembly grants him his Liberty provided he make it appear unto the Colloquy or Synod of the Church he serveth that he is called by another Church near unto that of his Fathers according to the methods observed by us whereof the said Synod or Colloquy shall take cognisance within the space of one year at the farthest 7. St. Maixant p. m. 17. 2. Vitré obs 3. on the former Synod The differences between the Provinces of Poictou and Brittany about dismembring the Churches of Montagu and of Viellevigne are dismissed over to the Province of Anjou with full Authority from this Assembly to put a final period to them Because the Church of Montagu was not heard in the Synod of St. Maixant as the Deputies of Poictou do relate it 8. The Sieur Textor being Emeritus a discharged Pastor Appealed from an Ordinance of his Synod of Burgundy for diminishing his portion granted that Province in his Name and for his use See below Art 11. This Assembly injoyneth the said Province to restore him all his Arrears and for time to come to give him the quiet injoyment of the whole And this order shall be of-force not for him only but for all others in the like circumstances with him nor may the Provinces dispose of their Moneys to any other uses 9. The Sieur Collinet having Appealed from the Decree of the Synod of Burgundy Gap App. 15. this Assembly Ordaineth that the Province shall pay the C not only of the said Collinet but also of the Messenger who was sent unto Court with the verbal processes of the Churches of Chaalons Paray c. 10. The Colloquy of Chaalons Appealing from the Ordinance of the Synod of Burgundy which had adjudged the Church of Mascon unto the Colloquy of Lions and by Consequence would dispose of the Sieur Perreaud formerly Pastor of Pont de Vaux This Assembly Decreeth that the Church of Mascon should remain incorporate with the Colloquy of Chaalons until such time as the Church of Pont de Vaux may be provided of another Pastor which shall be done without any delay 11. The Sieur Rigert a Pastor Emeritus in the Province of Dolphiny complained in his Appeal against the Synod of that Province for taking his portion to the common Charges with others See above Art 8. It was Decreed that the said Province should for the future leave his portion wholly free unto him 12. Clement le Servier otherwise le Dauphin having Appealed from the Sentence of the Provincial Synod of Dolphiny for deposing him from the Sacred Ministery and not appearing to defend it in this Assembly his Appeal was declared null and void 13. The Church of Val Francesque Appealed from the Synod of Sevennes because it granted unto the Quarter of St. Romans that the Lords Supper should be celebrated amongst them upon a Sabbath day But this Appeal of theirs was declared null for that its contents was of the nature of those things which might be finally determined in the Synod of their Province 14. The Appeal of Monsieur Massouverain Pastor of the Church of Poussin in Lower Languedoc was declared null because he neither appeared in Person nor by Letters to prosecute it And the said Massouverain is injoined to appear before the Province of Sevennes there to answer unto such matters as shall be brought in against him 15. The Appeal of the Church of Teyrac in the same Province about the Ministry of the Sieur Guerin was declared null because none appeared for them nor did they send any Memoirs concerning it 16. The Appeal of the Church of Vigan about the Free School of that Province granted to the Church of Anduze was rejected because it was of the Nature of those businesses which might be determined finally by the Province 17. It was also judged needless to bring into this Assembly an Appeal from the Decree of the Provincial Synod of Sevennes for their refusing to annex the Churches of the upper Rouargue unto their Province 18. Whereas an Appeal was brought in by the Province of Burgundy redemanding Monsieur Margonne formerly a Minister of their's in the Church of Noyers 2 Vitré obs 5. upon the foregoing Synod but at present serving the Church of Chastillon on the Loire And the Deputies of Berry assuring this Assembly that God hath eminently owned and blessed his Ministry there with singular success All which being seriously considered His Call unto the Church of Chastillon was confirmed by the authority of this National Synod and it farther ordained that the Province of Berry should give unto the Province of Burgundy a Proposan meet and sit for the Sacred Ministry and such an one as shall be acceptable unto the said Province and this against the sitting of their next Provincial Synod 19. An Elder of the Church of Castel-Sagrat and Monsieur Tinell the Father appealed from the Synod of Sevennes for refusing to give them Monsieur Tinell his son at present Pastor
well as in the Pres des Clerks by the Ladies Princes yea and by Henry the Second himself This one Ordinance only contributed mightily to the downfal of Popery and the propagation of the Gospel It took so much with the genius of the Nation That all ranks and degrees of Men practised it in the Temples and in their Families No Gentleman professing the Reformed Religion would sit down at his Table without praising God by singing Yea it was a special part of their Morning and Evening Worship in their several Houses to sing God's Praises The Popish Clergy raged and to prevent the growth and spreading of the Gospel by it that mischievous Cardinal of Lorrain another Elymas the Sorcerer got the Odes of Horace and the filthy obscene Poems of Tibullus and Catullus to be turn'd into French and sung in the Court Ribaldry was his Piety and the means used by him to expel and banish the singing of divine Psalms out of the prophane Court of France The Holy Word of God is duly truly and powerfully Preached in Churches and Fields in Ships and Houses in Vaults and Cellars in all places where the Gospel-Ministers can have admission and conveniency and with singular success Multitudes are Convinced and Converted established and edified Christ rideth out upon the white Horse of the Ministry with the Sword and Bow of the Gospel Preached Conquering and to Conquer His Enemies fall under him and submit themselves unto him O! the unparallell'd success of the plain and zealous Sermons of the first Reformers Multitudes flock in like Doves into the Windows of God's Ark. As innumerable drops of dew fall from the Womb of the Morning so hath the Lord Christ the dew of his Youth The Popish Churches are drained the Protestant Temples are filled The Priests complain that their Altars are neglected their Masses are now indeed solitary Dagon cannot stand before God's Ark. Children and Persons of riper years are Catechised in the Rudiments and Principles of Christian Religion and can give a comfortable account of their Faith a reason of that hope that is in them By this Ordinance do their pious Pastors prepare them for Communion with the Lord at his holy Table Here they communicate in both kinds according to the Primitive Institution of this Sacrament by Jesus Christ himself Sect. 7. Though the Churches of God walked in the Comforts of the Holy-Ghost and were multiplied throughout the whole Kingdom yet were they exercised with Fiery Tryals and underwent most cruel and inhumane Sufferings Satan stormed that his Kingdom was assaulted weakned and subverted this boileth up his Revenge and causeth him to throw out Floods of Wrath against the Church travelling under the pangs of Reformation Hence the Saints of God are imprisoned arraigned for their Lives and condemned by merciless unrighteous Judges for their Profession of the Truth unto the Flames Others are murdered in cold Blood and massacred without any legal forms of Justice in the least And yet in the sight of those cruel Deaths and most barbarous Executions the first National Synod is called and celebrated in the Metropolis of the Kingdom at the very Doors of the Court God inspiring with Zeal and Courage the Pastors of several Churches to meet and consult together about the arduous and most important Businesses of the Reformed Religion Sect. 8. Two things among others were dispatch'd in this Council 1. They publish the Confession of their Faith and tell the King and Kingdom what they believe and practise This was put into the Hands of their Young King lately come to the Crown upon the Death of his Father who though he had sworn to see that famous Martyr of Christ Annas du Bourg Counsellour in the Parliament of Paris burnt yet was at a Tilt by Count de Montgomery a Protestant wounded with a Launce in the Eye and died before he could perform his Oath How Francis the Second entertained this Confession when it was tender'd him is not my Business to relate I shall only give my Reader the Confession itself and I do the rather lay it before him because it is a brief System of the Protestant Religion constantly read at the opening of all their Synods and because of the frequent References unto it in and by all those National Synods which I now publish Sect. 9. The Confession of Faith held and professed by the Reformed Churches of France received and enacted by their first National Synod Celebrated in the City of Paris and Year of our Lord 1559. ARTICLE I. WE believe and confess That there is but one God only whose Being only is simple spiritual eternal invisible immutable infinite incomprehensible ineffable who can do all things who is all-wise all-good most just and most merciful ARTICLE II. This one God hath revealed himself to be such a one unto Men first in the Creation preservation and governing of his works secondly far more plainly in his word which from the beginning he revealed to the Fathers by certain Visions and Oracles and then caused it to be put in writing in those Books which we call the Holy Scripture ARTICLE III. All this holy Scipture is contained in the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament the Catalogue whereof followeth The five Books of Moses namely Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy Item Joshua Judges Ruth the first and second Book of Samuel the first and second Book of Kings the first and second Book of Chronicles otherwise called the Paralipomena one Book of Esdras Nehemiah Hester Job the Psalms Solomon's Proverbs or Sentences Ecclesiastes the Song of Songs Esaiah Jeremiah with the Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonas Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zachariah Malachi Item the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew according to St. Mark according to St. Luke and according to St. John as also the second Book of St. Luke otherwise called The Acts of the Apostles Item the Epistles of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans one to the Corinthians two to the Galatians one to the Ephesians one to the Philippians one to the Colossians one to the Thessalonians two to Timothy two to Titus one to Philemon one Item the Epistle to the Hebrews the Epistle of St. James the first and second Epistle of St. Peter the first second and third Epistle of St. John the Epistle of St. Jude and the Apocalypse or Revelations of St. John ARTICLE IV. We acknowledge these Books to be Canonical that is we account them as the most certain Rule of our Faith and that not so much because of the common consent of the Church but because of the Testimony and Perswasion of the Holy Ghost by which we are taught to distinguish betwixt them and other Ecclesiastical Books upon which although they may be useful yet we cannot ground any Article of Faith ARTICLE V. We believe That the Doctrine contained in these Books is proceeded from God from whom only and not from men it deriveth
Antichrist in their private and publick discourses This Synod protesting that this was the common Faith and Confession of all our Churches and of this present Synod That the Pope is the Great Antichrist and one of the principal causes of our separation and departure from the Church of Rome and that this Confession was contained in and extracted out of the holy Scriptures that it had been sealed with the blood of a world of Martyrs Therefore all the Faithful be they Pastors or private Christians are exhorted constantly to persist in the profession of it and openly and boldly to confess it yea and this very Article shall be inserted into the body of the Confession of our Faith and the General Deputies of our Churches at Court are required to petition his Majesty that none of his Officers in any Soveraign or other Inferiour Courts of Judicature may be suffered to infringe our Liberty of Conscience granted us by his Edicts of making a free Confession of our Faith and that none of them may trouble or vex us as divers of them have done for this very matter And who so are now prosecuted and molested on this account or may be hereafter they shall be supported and defended by the whole Body of the Churches in the best manner that can be according to that firm Bond of Union which is established among us And Letters shall be written to our Lords the Judges in the Mixt Courts to exhort them vigorously to maintain this Article of our common Confession Concerning those words Pretended Reformed 6. A general Case was proposed Whether the Faithful might lawfully use in publick Acts and Instruments before Magistrates these words Of the pretended Reformed Religion especially if those Magistrates be of a contrary Religion to us This Assembly thinks fit that an humble Address be presented to his Majesty intreating him that we may not be forced to speak or act any thing contrary to our Consciences and in the mean while all the Faithful are exhorted to abstain from that word of Pretended it being repugnant to our Faith and to that sincere and free and open confession we are bound to make of it Whether a private Christian may appropriate unto himself a place of Burial and erect Monument upon Pillars 7. This Case was propounded by our Brethren of Xaintonge Whether a private person might appropriate unto himself a place of Burial and erect upon Pillars or any other way a Monument unto himself and whether the Lords of the Mannor or other Gentlemen may set up their Escutcheons in our Temples As to what concerns our Churches This Assembly ordaineth That in matters of Sepulchres the ancient plainness and simplicity shall be retained nor shall any private person appropriate any spot of ground unto himself in particular because we express hereby our Communion as with the Saints in their Death so in our hope and expectation of a blessed Resurrection And the same plainness and modesty shall be observed in our Temples leaving however unto Colloquies and Consistories to act on special occasions as they shall judge meet The Form of Certificates that shall be given unto Officers of the Mixt Courts and to Govenours of places 8. The Attestations granted unto Officers in the mixed Courts where they be one half Protestants and the other Papists shall run in the same form with those given unto Governors as it was expressed and inserted into the acts of the Synod of Montpellier in these terms We Ministers and Elders assembled in the Colloquy of N. in the Province of N. do testifie that whereas Monsieur N. hath applied himself unto us for our Attestation of his being a Protestant professing the Reformed Religion he being chosen by his Majesty for the Government of N. vacant by the death of Mr. N. lately deceased we do attest and certifie unto the Kings most excellent Majesty that the said Monsieur N. doth make open and actual profession of the Reformed Religion and that he communicateth with us in the Holy Sacraments and is a person of a Godly life and well reported of performing all the duties belonging to his said profession and therefore we do give him this our Testimonial for his use and service as in reason and Conscience we stand obliged 9. Messieurs Berron and Videl demanding that out of the Common stock of Moneys granted us by his Majesty there might be drawn the summ of Six thousand Crowns for the founding an University at Die and whereas the Deputies of the Town of Die protested that they sought not a penny of the said Moneys for themselves only that other Churches having Academies they had none and that the necessities of their Churches did require one This Assembly having considered the whole judgeth that there cannot be granted unto the said Town of Die any farther summ than was at first demanded by their Deputies 10. Our Brethren of the Church of Die requesting that Monsieur Chamier might be constituted by this Synod the Professor of Divinity in their intended Academy This Assembly doth confirm that Article of the Synod of Gergeau whereby it was ordained that Monsieur Chamier ought not without the express consent of the Churches of his Province be removed from his Church of Montlimart 11. Our Brethren of Dolphiny desired that some means might be contrived for a Conference and Union with the Lutheran Churches in Germany Means of Union with the Lutherans See the Synod of Vitré part M. Act. 27. and the 3d. Synod of Rochel Act. 4. after the choice of the Moderator that so the Schism between us them might be removed This Assembly desirous to see the fruits of such a noble project ordereth Letters to be dispatcht to the Orthodox Universities of Germany England Scotland Geneva Basil and Leyden and to Messieurs des Gourdon and de Fontaines in London intreating them to travel with us in the effecting of this Holy Union and that Princes may be ingaged to put forth their authority herein that so we may all be more firmly united among our selves in the Confession of one and the same Doctrine 12. This Case was propounded A Proposant never called nor ordained unto the Ministry takes upon him to baptise a Child Is this baptism valid This Synod judgeth that the scandal given unto the people be carefully taken away And forasmuch as that baptism is of no force the Child shall be brought into the Church of God by true Baptism according to the decision of the Synod of Poictiers 13. This Case was moved Whether an Oath might be lawfully taken before the Magistrate by laying the hands on and kissing of the Bible This Assembly judging that Ceremony to be of dangerous consequence declareth that it ought not to be used but that whoso are called out to swear shall content themselves with the bare lifting up of their hands 14. The Province of the higher Languedoc moved whether disputations in Theology might be introduced among our Ministers in
Monsieur Benoist presented the Letters of Monsieur d'Islemade which were recommended to the Lord of Mirande our General Deputy as also the Affair of the Sieur Piloty propounded by the Deputies of Lower Languedoc 30. Whereas the Widdow of Monsieur Quinson deceased complaineth of the Colloquy of Gex for not paying her the Arrears due unto her of her Annuity this Complaint is dismissed over to the Province of Burgundy who shall by their Judicial Sentence put a full and final period to it 31. The Church of Gien Situated upon the Loire being destitute of a Pastor and addressing themselves unto this Assembly petitioned by their Letters and by Monsieur Alix their Deputy that by our Authority they might be provided We Considering the necessities and importance of the said Church Monsieur Francis l' Oyseau now free of I ingagements is granted to them for their ordinary Minister who also accepted of the Charge and was sent unto that Church who were required to take care for his Comfortable Subsistence as being a most faithful and eminent Servant of Christ and one that hath industriously and painfully discharged his Ministry in Sundry and divers places for many years together as appeareth by those honourable Testimonials lying by him and given him from those Churches 32. The Church of Poictiers complaining of the Loan of Monsieur Clemenceau their Pastor for one month unto the Church of Chastelheraut that they could not in the least spare him This Assembly considering their necessities doth nominate in his stead the Sieur de la Roche Crese Pastor of the Church of Cuirey 33. The Deputies of Berry complained in the name of their two Colloquies against that of Orleans about an agreement made by the Church of Orleans and others with the Sieur Fluereau This business was dismissed over to the Province of Burgundy by whose Judicial Sentence a full and final period shall be put unto it 34. The Churches of Vitray in Brittany and of Lassay in the Maine being at variance about the Ministry of Monsieur Conseil sometimes Pastor in the Church of Puylaurens in Lauragais This Assembly having heard the Deputies of both Provinces and what was urged on either hand as argument for them doth censure the said Conseil for his actings in both those Churches as also that Church of Lassay for their secret dealings with him to gain him wholly to themselves yet nevertheless judging that the Church of Vitre had no just title to the said Conseil by vertue of his private promise past unto them the Province of Higher Languedoc having transferred him unto that of Anjou he shall therefore continue Minister in the said Province and be consigned to the Church of Lassay 35. Master James Royer sent Letters and a book unto this Assembly treating of that controversy first started by him in the Church of Geneva and afterwards continued in that of Metz. The Letters of the Pastors of Geneva relating to this matter being read and those also of the Consistory of Metz craving advice from us about that custom of their Elders giving the Cup in the Sacrament unto the Communicants and reciting the words of Institution at their delivery of it from the eleventh Chapter of the first of Corinthians This Synod having already determined what should be done herein by an express Canon inserted into our Discipline in which nothing shall be changed for whatever Difficulties may arise about the delivery of the Cup It cannot by any means approve of the actings of the said Royer nor at all of publishing the said book nor the great passion discovered in his Letters And therefore Ordaineth that Letters be written unto the Church of Metz that by them he be exhorted to follow the things that make for Christian peace and love and we counsel and advise the said Church in answer to their Request that forasmuch as Pastors in Populous Churches cannot without excessive toyling themselves deliver the Cup to every individual Member Communicating at the Lords Table they may use the help of their Eldership but withal they shall injoyn them silence and the Pastors only shall speak when these Sacred Elements are distributed that so it may be generally and manifestly known that the adminstration of the Sacraments is wholly appropriated to the Pastoral office 36. To put an end to the difference between the Sieurs Durdez and de Beaune this Assembly being very well satisfied that the said Durdez is indebted for those summs of Moneys mentioned in his Letters intreateth the said de Beaune to rest contented with one hundred Livers out of one of those portions allotted to the said Durdez CHAP. IX An Order for Calling the next National Synod ORDER is given to the Province of Vivaretz to Assemble the next National Synod and that within two years immediately after the month of May next and it 's left to the prudence of the said Province to chuse the place and to give notice of that day wherein the Synod shall be opened CHAP. X. The Roll of Deposed Ministers THeophilus Bluett and James de l'Obell who were formerly deposed their Deposals is new confirmed without any hope of Restauration and their names were inserted in the National Synod of Rochel at the end of General Matters Henry Dindault whose Deposition was confirmed in the Appeals before-mentioned in this Synod he is about five and twenty or six and twenty years old low of Stature Chess-nut coloured hair pale and meager low visag'd Bertrand Faugier deposed in Dolphiny sometimes Minister in the Church of Vienna is of mean stature black hair beginning to be gray fat and corpulent aged about five and fifty having a very long and large beard and a little short-sighted James Vidouse deposed in the Lower Guyenne about five and thirty years old low of stature Chess-nut coloured hair long and large beard pale and often winking with his eyes One called Senerac or Serverat or Sajerac born at Castres in Albigeois formerly Minister in the Church of Lombert in the same Colloquy is revolted from the Truth of the Gospel unto the Idolatrous Church of Rome he is a fellow short and thick black hair'd he had a full beard but is now shaven wrinkling always his forehead about thirty five years old Vagrants John Rostolon Native of Bearne calling himself a Proposan pretty tall of stature meagre small eyes the hair of his eye-brows very thick not separated black hair little or no beard about four and twenty years old CHAP. XI Moneys divided among the Churches 1. THE Moneys gathered for the Poor of the Marquisate of Saluces were deposited in the hands of Monsieur Videl at the General Assembly of Gergeau by the Sieur Chaussepied from the Province of Poictou amounting to the sum of fourteen hundred four and forty Livers eight Sous and six Deniers and are now in the hands of the Deputies of the Province of Dolphiny By the Province of Orleans and Berry one thousand nine hundred Livers By the Province of Brittany seven
were celebrated wherein the Pastors from England and the other Nations should all mutually communicate together and that Sacred Feast should commence with a most Religious Fast not only to be observed by those Deputies but also by that particular Church where this Synod shall be assembled that so the assistance and blessing of God may be prayed down upon this holy and important work 9. Let such Deputies be chosen whose tempers lead and bend them unto this noble design that is to say let them be such as are peaceable grave and men fearing God prudent and not contentious let them come furnished with full power and with ample Letters of Authority to proceed in this great and good work and let this be couched in the same Letters of Commission that their Principals who send them do sincerely promise to receive with all possible respect the Conclusions of this Assembly and that they will by all just and lawful ways see them observed And during the Session of this Synod let there be unanimously published in all the Provinces a General Fast in order to the deriving down the blessing of God Upon it und to touch the hearts of the people with respect and reverence for it 10. During the sitting of this Assembly it were sit that Messengers should go and come from His Majesty of Great Britain that so nothing might be concluded in it without his Advice and Authority and that as soon as the Conference shall be ended the whole body of this Assembly should pass over into England to make tender of their Duty to His Majesty and to thank him and receive his sage Advice about the means of reducing into practice their Synodical and Pacisick Counsels and Conclusions 11. It will be necessary that before the breaking up of this Assembly they would assign a certain day within the year of meeting again at the same place and make report then and there of what has been done it their respective Provinces to effect and execute it and what obstructions they met with in their prosecution of it For it will be a most difficult matter in one Assembly to provide all Expedients for Peace and Union And there may be those Provinces who may not approve of every point concerted and agreed on or they may happen to pitch on some better means than were at first seen and contrived 12. In the interval of these two Assemblies His Majesty of England and the Provinces of our Confession may so order it that some Pastors and Doctors of the Lutheran way may be sent from the Lutheran Princes and Churches unto this second Assembly to travail in this excellent work of Reuniting them with us and us with them If this can be obtained the means of Agreement are likely to be such as these following 13. The Points in difference betwixt us and the Lutheran Churches are of two sorts There be some wherein our Agreement is very easie of this nature are the Ceremonies of the Lutheran Churches which may be excused and tolerated because they be matters rather of decency than of necessity As also some certain Opinions about Predestination concerning which a special Article may be framed in our common Confession which all without any difficulty would approve of provided always that curiosity might be avoided And this was done in the Confession of Ausburg which speaks exceeding soberly and expresly declineth that Question There is also some difference betwixt us about the necessity of Baptism which in a good sense may be affirmed necessary to Salvation that is to say that Baptism should be celebrated in the Christian Church and necessary that it be not despised but observed by every particular Member without pushing on the Question of necessity any farther 14. There is in the next place that Article of the Lord's Supper wherein we shall meet with more difficulty for it hath two main brandies 1. That of the Ubiquity of Christ's Body 2. Another about our Receiving of and Communion with the Body of Christ in the Sacrament 15. As to the first of these Points we may well agree in these things 1. That Jesus Christ took in the Womb of the Virgin Mary a true Humane Body like unto ours in all things sin only excepted 2. That his Body hath true flesh and its quantity and dimensions 3. That when his Body was lodged in the Womb of the blessed Virgin and hung upon the Cross and lay buried in the Grave it was not at that time elsewhere nor in divers other places at once 4. That the Eternal Son of God is every where present in all places 5. That he is ascended up into Heaven that he fitteth at the right Hand of God that the Father hath given him all Power in Heaven and in Earth 6. That Glorification hath removed from him the infirmity but not abolished the Verity of his Humane Nature 7. That in the last day he shall come in that self same flesh which he took from the Virgin Mary to judge both the quick and the dead If besides these there be some differrent Opinions about which we cannot agree this must be obtained from both Parties that they do not thereupon condemn and damn each other and that no more Books about this Controversie be hereafter written nor any Invectives thrown out in Sermons from the Pulpit but that we live in brotherly Love waiting upon God for more Light who will not refuse it unto them that in Faith beg it of him 16. Touching the Sacrament and our participation of the Body of Christ we may harmoniously agree in these Points 1. That the Sacramental Elements are not bare and empty Signs nor only meer naked Symbols and simple Instituted Figures of the Truth 2. That in the Lord's Supper we do really and in very deed partake of the Body of Christ Jesus 3. That the Bread is not transubstantiated nor ceaseth to be Bread after the Consecration Whence it follows 4. That the Sacrament ought not to be adored but our hearts must be lifted up unto Jesus Christ in Heaven As for the manner of our participation of the Body of Christ in his Holy Supper we need not be scrupulously inquisitive about it only to joyn Issue with the Apostle who saith in the 3d to the Ephesians that Jesus Christ dwelleth in our hearts by Faith whence it inevitably follows that he is a meer stranger unto the hearts of all Unbelievers But if any one be otherwise perswaded let him succour and support his weak Brethren and not judge and persecute them with violence and cruelty Wherefore in those matters wherein we be all agreed let 's walk with one another hand in hand heartily and chearfully towards Heaven 17. We know there be two sorts of Errors some in Points of Faith and others in exterior Actions and Practice Of this first sort are those Errors about the nature of Jesus Christ about Predestination and Free will of the Second are those about Communion in
your businesses are in extream danger at it were at the last gasp when you need the greatest Circumspection a most immovable fidelity and unchangeable integrity and without any affectation or introduction of ambition or hidden disguised interests No man going to War intangles himself with the World that so he may the better please his Captain that hath listed him That commination is very dreadful the Priest shall be as the people and that lamentation exceeding doleful All this evil and mischief is from the Prophets and the Stones of the Sanctuary are lying at the four Corners of the Streets Let us most Dear and Honoured Brethren give up and resign our selves to the conduct of true Wisdom speaking to us from the Word of God which is to forsake our own This also most Honoured Brethren should be endeavoured that all persons whatsoever in the Ministry when called forth unto those secondary employments of the Church do retain in their deportments and conversations the marks and characters of their first and most Sacred Vocation Let their Devotion Piety Gravity Self-denial and Sequestration from Worldly pleasures used with too great a liberty by many Christian States-men serve to maintain the sweet odour and reputation of our Church Government and to keep up inviolably the authority of their most Holy Ministry and to bind the Souls and Consciences of men by religious humility to an everlasting dependance on the Majesty of their great Lord whose holiness and Soveraign Wisdom shineth forth most resplendently in the Order of his service as the Queen of Sheba saw and admired it in the Court of Salomon Impiety and Impudence are too much in vogue every where But let the Sanctuary the Church of God be at least the Receptacle and Habitation of true and unfeigned Piety where it may act and breath freely at in the open Air with an uplifted countenance in a couragious demonstration of the Spirit and evidence of Truth convincing and condemning the unfruitful works of darkness and awakening with its bright shining Flambeau the drowzy Consciences of a perverse generation it may incourage the faithful unto perseverance and preserve the Remnant of Jacob in this day of dispersions and desolations The last Enemy of the Church and he hath been essentially one and the same in all ages and places and therefore she is now exposed unto all the mischiefs he can do her it the World The World succeeding the the stood of Heresies and Persecutions disguiseth himself into a Friend and Ally and the poor Church being respited and reprieved from her former contention and destructions by a short peace he makes short work with her and brings upon her the consumption determined which ravageth her poor and small remainder These last times have yielded us sufficient evidences and tokens of his rage and desolations Faith is decayed zeal grown cold the Gospel and the cross are become ridiculous and contemptible the language of Canaan is quite forgotten and a multitude of Souls in Israel debauched by following the Counsel of Balaam Now a strong and vigorous resolution is most needful His cheats and impostures can never be prevented but by a rejection of them when they crave at first their admission We are bound also in Conscience to request and sollicit you tho we be very well satisfied that it is already upon your Hearts to take care that those different sentiments which for these last years have troubled your Church in the Doctrine of Justification may be supprest Those opinions have been fomented and imbitered by prejudices grudges and secret hatable they have been spread abroad and propagated into a multitude of unprofitable and dangerous questions by frequent disputes and wranglings As for our part although we hold absolutely the same Faith with your Churches and do apply whole Christ unto our selves for Redemption from Death and Wrath and to obtain everlasting life and that we judge it to be communicable by imputation of all his obedience done and suffered by him in his human Nature which we were bound to have yielded according to the law of God in our persons yet we could never approve of such great strife and altercation between Brethren who were otherwise minded much less can we approve of their bitter separation and mutual condemnation So that we had rather that little spark had been suffered of its own accord to have dwindled away into nothing than by blowing it into a flame by so many oppositions to kindle a greater fire in the hearts of Gods People which hath tormented then with a world of ungodly jealousies suspicions and prejudices and those too in an age tossed and beaten with the tempestuous winds of contention and victory We have divers time suggested this advice and importunately insisted on it that there might be a Temperament and Expedient found out for a Concordat which without condemning or prejudicing either party might be sufficient to guide and direct Conscience and totally to exclude all errors subversive of Faith and destructive of Salvation in this fundamental point And we have received abundant consolation for that the self-same Counsels have been prescribed by a great and most potent Monarch and by very many learned men and most celebrated Universities And we were exceedingly satisfied that you did not reject but were well-pleased with our proceedings and intentions as we do according to the Universal Laws of Christian Charity freely forgive their unkindnesses to us who have been displeased with us for them And you most Honoured Sirs sith you have not only knowledge and wisdom but power also to judge and determine in these matters we beseech you to exert that power so forcibly and effectually that you may pluck up by the roots all unprofitable and curious questions and see to it that your Pastors and Professors do with all sincerity pursue those things which make for the Edification of your Churches in Faith and Godliness and that they utterly abandon all those opposition of Science falsly so called On which point we presume to deliver our mind with our usual freedom and we desire you would revise that form couched and conceived in the Synod of Privas and once more deliberate about it not that we except against the substance of it in the least but because its manner seems to threaten you with worse breaches and far greater partialities We are not the first who have observed the Remedy of forms to be very dangerous especially when a controversy is not formed into a party unless it be in Articles purely necessary and determined by the Word of God it self and when it 's otherwise impossible all means failing us to detect the fallacies of our real Adversaries and such strait bands instead of conjoyning and setling have for the most part dislocated the members and wounded them more sorely We desire also that when new authentick forms shall come to be framed the Churches might be first of all consulted that so our ears may not be
satisfaction therein 69. The Church of Nismes did both by Letters and word of Mouth by the Sieurs Ollivier and Mazaudier petition that Monsieur Jamett might be given them for their Pastor he being a Person every way qualified in respect of his Gifts and Graces to edifie it and to repair those sore breaches which the Apostacy and Debauches of some of their former Ministers had caused among them This Assembly having a special respect unto the Church of Nismes and considering its great necessities and importance because of the vast number of its Members and the University there erected though it would not use its absolute Authority in disposing of the Person and Ministry of Monsieur Jamett yet neither can it bear with his Excuses nor with the Oppositions made by the Deputies of the Province of Orleans and Berry therefore it doth intreat the Church of St. Amand and the said Province of Berry also in which he doth at present exercise his Ministry to consider seriously with themselves of the great importance of that Church of Nismes and to grant them their request as in Christian Charity they be bound and particularly by reason of that Holy Communion which is between all the Saints and Churches of this Nation And Letters shall be dispatcht to His Grace the Lord Duke of Sully that he would be pleased to give his consent unto this Call 70. Monsieur de Chasteaumal reported in this Assembly his Fathers many and good services done for the Churches and the many heavy losses suffered by him for the profession of the Gospel and the true Reformed Religion and requested that a Pension might he allowed a Son of his whom he designeth for the Ministry Although this Assembly knows that such an Affair as this ought not to he taken notice of by the National Synods yet because of the Hereditary Piety of the said Lord of Chasteaumal the Province of Dolphiny is injoyned to consider and honour him and to bestow the first vacant Scholarship in their Province upon his Son 71. Letters from the Church of Sancerre and the Deputies of Orleans and Berry as also from the General Assembly held at Loudun informed this Synod of the great necessities of that Church Whereupon two supernumerary Portions were ordered for their Relief as a Testimony of our unfeigned Love to that important Church which shall be payd them yearly by the Province of Berry who for that purpose should receive them in the General Dividend and make good payment thereof till the sitting of the next National Synod 72. Whereas the National Synod of Vitre had granted unto Monsieur Scoffier an Aged and Worthy Minister 2. Vitre Act. 17. Of the Dividend declared Emeritus one supernumerary Portion and half for his subsistence it shall be joyned to the Moneys of the Province of Sevennes whose Receiver without any further Order shall pay it in free unto him of all Taxes and Costs whatsoever 73. The Lord of Clausonne acquainting this Assembly with the Poverty of the Church of Montfrin in the Lower Languedoc an half supernumerary Portion was ordered unto that Church which shall be numbred in the distribution as one of the Churches in the Province of Lower Languedoc 74. Monsieur de Anjou representing the Poverty and Necessity of the Church of Puymichel in Provence a supernumerary Portion shall be granted to it in the General Dividend 75. The Assembly having ordained that in the last Sessions of this Synod there should be a List brought in of the Churches to whom the Collected Charities should be imparted and by what Provinces they should be particularly assisted Now that this Decree may be the better executed it was judged meet that the Collections made in the Provinces of Dolphiny Lower Languedoc Province Sevennes Vivaretz and Burgundy shall be assigned to the Church of Privas And the Moneys Collected in Higher Languedoc and Guyenne shall be appropriated to Lectoure And the Charities Collected in the Lower Guyenne and Xaintonge shall be given unto Puymirol And the Collection in the Isle of France Normandy Britain and Berry shall be payd into the Church of Netancour and that of Anjou and Poictou shall go toward the relief of Vendosme Nor shall these Charities so Collected be any way prejudicial to that General Collection which we have designed for the Refugees out of the Marquisate of Salluces 76. It being the bounden Duty of all Pastors personally to reside on their Churches the Deputies of Lower and Higher Languedoc and of Sevennes are obliged immediately upon their return home unto their respective Provinces to notifie unto those Ministers who neglect this their Duty that they go and reside on their Churches within Three Moneths on pain of being suspended the Sacred Ministry 77. That Affair concerning the Children of the Lord de la Reynela whose Uncle and Guardian is the Lord of la Garelaye shall be recommended to the Lords General Deputies at Court to prosecute it most vigorously and effectually 78. Upon complaint made by the Widow of Mr. Emanuel Sebastian Minister of Gods Word lately deceased This Assembly ordered that all Arrears of Pension due unto her since her Husbands Death by the Province of Sevennes shall be punctually pay'd her out of the first Moneys that come into the Receivers hands of the said Province and he himself shall pay those just Debts with his own hands immediately unto her 79. Whereas the Church of Vsez hath craved leave to seek for it self a third Pastor either within or without the Province This Assembly grants it to them but with this proviso that they keep close to the Forms prescribed by the Discipline and that they act nothing herein to the prejudice of their present Ministers and particularly that they do not in the least diminish that double Honour they ought to have for the Reverend Monsieur Brunier and his Family whose great labours have been for these many years that he hath served them and yet continue to be exceeding useful and beneficial to their Souls See of this Jacornai in the Roll of Apostates in the Synod of Castres 80. The Church of Gignac having been exceedingly perplexed ever since the Call of Monsieur Jacornais unto the Ministry among them who was recommended to them by the Province of Higher Languedoc it seemed good unto this Assembly to remove him thence yet without any Impeachment unto his Credit or Ministry his Conversation being every way blameless and unreprovable only he hath met with no incouragement nor maintenance from them though the said Church of Gignac hath received ever since his presentation to them their Portion of the Kings Money Wherefore the said Province of Lower Languedoc is injoyned to see that the said Jacornais be fully satisfied and that he have his Sallary payd him until such time as he be provided of another Church and that it may be done effectually they shall either detain from the said Church of Gignac what is owing them by the Province and so
this Synod and the Attestations of the Church and Consistory of Montauban and of the Synod of Higher Languedoc being produced and read who certified of the Godly Conversation of the said Joly ever since his Deposal and all requesting his Restauration This Synod judgeth that he may be reinstated once more into his Ministerial Office but yet nevertheless for a farther Proof and Tryal of his Repentance and Conversion his re-establishment is deferred till the meeting of the next National Synod 8. The Deputy of the Province of Bearne reported that their Circumstances were such at present as would not suffer them intirely to conform unto the Orders of our Churches in France and therefore requested that they might be borne withal a little longer This Synod thought good to forbear them till the sitting of the next National Synod 9. Whereas the Province of Lower Guyenne demands that the Pastor of the Church of Labour to whom the National Synod of Alez had granted the Summ of Three Hundred Livres might be reckoned a Member of their Province and sit in their Synod and be accountable to them for his Ministry This Assembly judged that Matters should be left in the same manner as now they be and were heretofore until the meeting of the next National Synod but on this condition that the Province of Bearne shall be accountable both for those Moneys and the Service of that before-mentioned Pastor and the Success of His Ministry in the said Land of La Bour. 10. The Province of the Isle of France demanded what course should be taken with profest Arminians and such as spread abroad in Discourse their Dogmes and Tenents This Synod decreeth that all Dogmatizers be prosecuted with Church-Censures And as for such as are known Arminians but do not disperse their Opinions our Pastors and Consistories shall deal with them for Three Moneths time in order to reclaim them unto sound Doctrine But in case they continue obstinate after that time they shall be debarred Communion with us at the Lords Table CHAP. XIX An Expedient to preserve the CHURCH-PEACE 11 THE Province of the Isle of France moved that to preserve our Union and prevent those Divisions which will otherwise creep in insensibly upon us and that the sound Doctrine which hath hitherto through the Grace of God been preached may be alwayes taught and kept up in our Churches and never corrupted by the Invasion and Admission of those Errors condemned in the Synod of Alez by the Curiosity and Contentious Humour of such as love to abound in their own sence the Province of the Isle of France moved this Synod to advise of some Expedients vvhich might curb and bridle those unruly Spirits vvho else vvould not be kept vvithin the stated bounds of their Duty This Assembly received the Motion very kindly and approving it decreed that all Consistories Colloquies and Provincial Synods should carefully see to it that the Canons of our Church-Discipline about Printing of Manuscripts be most strictly observed and that before they be carried to the Press they be most exactly perused and approved by those Divines vvho are appointed by the Provincial Synod so to do and that there be rendred an Account hereof unto the next National Synod Moreover all Pastors be it in their Writings or in their Sermons are to keep themselves vvithin the bounds of Christian simplicity and to prune off from all their Discourses and Exhortations those needless Excrescencies of curious Questions and to oppose such Persons as shall attempt to subvert the Truth delivered to us by our Teachers of Blessed Memory vvhose Ministry the Lord so signally ovvned in the great Work of Reformation And that they vvould so order all their Doctrines and Sermons as they might have a direct tendency to promote the Churches Peace and the Edification of the Consciences of their Auditors 12. Monsieur Bustonoby Pastor in the Churches of Mauleon Sanquis and Montori in the Land of Soules in Biscay complained that the tvvo Portions granted him by the Synod of Vitre had not been payd him free of all Charges ever since the year 1619 though it vvas so ordained by that Synod and he therefore petitioned that vvhat vvas behind due might be payd unto him moreover that tvvo other free Portions might be granted tovvards the maintenance of another Minister in those Churches aforesaid because he vvas not able alone by himself to performe all Pastoral Duties in them The Deputies of the Principality of Bearne and of the Lovver Guyenne were heard replying to him and afterward the Synod ordained that the Portions assigned by the Synod of Vitre and Alez should be payd him in free accordingly and that as long as he shall serve those Churches alone without a Fellow-helper in the Work of the Ministry their payment shall be continued to him and when as a Colleague shall be joyned with him there shall be another free Portion added for his Colleague also And this Assembly intreats him to inquire and use his best endeavours to get an Assistant and the Portion for the Assisting Pastor shall be kept in the Lord of Candals hands till such time as he be called and settled together with him in those Churches 13. The Church of Montauban demanded that Monsieur Ollyer who with the Consent and Order of the Colloquy of Vsez impowered thereunto by the National Synod of Alez was lent unto them might now be their fixed Pastor during Life After that the Provincial Deputies of Sevennes and Lower Languedoc had been heard speak on this Affair The Assembly ratified that Order of the Colloquy of Vsez by its own Act and Authority 14. Whereas his Grace the Lord Duke of Trimouille and the Church of Vitre demanded that Monsieur Blanchart Pastor of the Church of Conde upon Nereau in the Province of Normandy might be preferred unto the Church of Vitre After hearing of the Provincial Deputies of Normandy and reading the Decree of that Province which injoyned the said Blanchart to return back unto his Cure upon pain of being declared a Desertor of it and the Deputies of Britain informing this Synod they had hot any Memoir or Command from their Province concerning this Matter This Assembly decreed that a very severe and rigorous Censure shall be inflicted on the said Blanchart for contemning the Discipline of our Church and that he shall return again unto the Church of Conde within two Moneths after the Dissolution of this Synod or if not that he shall be then suspended from the Ministerial Office 15. Monsieur du Bois formerly Pastor in the Churches of I a Val and la Barre but set at liberty by the Provincial Synod of Anjou complained unto this Assembly that whereas the Church of Fontaines and Crocy in the Province of Normandy had given him a Call to the Ministry among them the Synod of that Province would not agree unto it nor suffer him to be settled in that Church This Assembly after hearing the Deputies of
before their Deposal And the Proceedings against the Sieur Beraut was put into the Hands of Monsieur Baux 93. The Council being informed of those excellent Gifts which the Lord hath liberally bestowed on Monsieur Godefrey Doctor of the Civil Laws and Professor of that Faculty in the University of Geneva ordered Letters should be written to intreat him because of his singular Knowledg in Antiquity that he would discover and publish to the World those Artifices and Disguises used by Cardinal Baronius and other Doctors of the Church of Rome to corrupt and alter the true History of the Ancient Church 94. The Lord Commissioner was intreated to write unto the Lord President of Tholouse in Behalf of Monsieur Bidac imprisoned at Sommieres for abjuring the Errors and Idolatry of the Romish Church and Mr. Petit was charged to carry unto that Parliament his Majesties Letters and Command and to join themselves with the young Mr. Galland the Lord Commissioner's Son who will be sent thither for this very End by his Father 95. The Lord of Candall is desired to pay unto Monsieur Mercurin the Sum of sixty Livers which were given him by the National Synod of Vitré and it shall be allowed him in his Accompt for the Moneys appertaining to our Churches 96. Mr. Mestrezat and d'Huysseau presented Letters from the Church of Paris most humbly petitioning that Monsieur Chauve whom they had so often and earnestly requested for their Minister might now at length be bestowed upon them The Deputies also of the Isle of France joined with them in their Petition But Mr. Chauve as earnestly intreated the Council that he might be continued in his Ministry unto the Church of Sommieres because of its great Afflictions and present Necessities And the Provincial Deputies of Lower Languedoc did with as much Importunity request that the Rights of that Church and of the Province might be preserved and he in no wise removed from his Pastoral Charge This weighty Affair having been maturely deliberated the Council considering the Desire of the Reverend Mr. Chauve and the singular Importance of the Church of Paris and the present Condition of that of Sommieres decreed That the Church of Paris should carry their Demand unto the next Synod of Lower Languedoc which is injoined to pay all just Deference unto this Request of the Church of Paris and to gratify them fully in it provided that it be not a Case of Conscience with that Reverend Minister and determined by him positively that 't is his Duty to live and die with his said Church of Sommieres 97. A Letter was read from the Church of Vigan and the Lord of Villencufve their Messenger and the Deputies of the Province of Sevennes were heard speak as to its Contents After which the Council gave leave unto that Church to seek a Pastor for it self without the Province of Sevennes and injoineth the Colloquy of Sauve to assist the said Church until such time as they be provided of a Minister to their Contentment 98. Mr. Constans and Mr. Belot represented unto the Council the great and pressing Necessities they labour under through their Inability of paying those Moneys they borrowed during their Imprisonment at Bourdeaux Whereupon the Receiver of the Province of Xaintonge was ordered to pay them thirteen Portions and an half which were given them for the Years 1627 1628 and 1629. out of the Arrears due in the Year 1621. And that the said Receiver may come to no Trouble about it he shall join the said thirteen Portions and an half unto those other Portions which were given them that so they may divide them equally between them as has been accustomed 99. If any Church in the Colloquy of Nismes should desire Monsieur Baux for their Minister who is at present Pastor of the Church in Cucque This Assembly decreed That he might have his Liberty and accept of such a Call without any Obstruction or Molestation 100. The Deputies of Sevennes are charged as they return homeward to pass through the City of Beziers and to recommend to the Judges and Counsellors of that Court the Affairs of the Church of Alez and of those Reverend Ministers Mr. Paulet and Banzillon 101. For as much as in the Dividend to the Province of Higher Languedoc there were two Portions couched for two Professors of Divinity in the University of Montauban although it had been before determined by this Synod that the said Professors should receive but an half Portion and give Acquittance unto their Church for it now the Lord of Candall is ordered to detain in his Hands one of those Portions and to accompt for it unto the next National Synod 102. The Relation of Mr. Banzillon's Troubles was read as also Letters written by the Lord Marquess of Varennes Governour of Aguemortes unto his Lordship his Majesty's Commissioner in this Assembly Whereupon the Lord Commissioner was most importunately intreated to intercede for Mr. Banzillon with the Lords Judges in the Court of Bezieres and with the said Lord of Varennes and it was unanimously voted that a most humble Petition should be presented unto his Majesty that his Majesty would be graciously pleased to permit our Churches and Ministers officiating in them their injoyment of that Peace and Liberty and their comfortable Effects which by his Edicts are accorded to us and that his Majesty would order the said Lord Marquess and all other Governours of Places to follow and imitate his Majesty in his favourable Inclinations and Disposition towards us and to cause his Subjects of the Reformed Religion both Ministers and People who live within their Governments and Jurisdiction to reap the refreshing Fruits of his Majesty's most gracious Favour and Protection Moreover this Council ordained that till such time as Mr. Banzillon may be restored unto the Exercise of his Ministry in the Church of Aiguesmortes that Church shall be supplied by the Neighbour Pastors to whose Christian Charity the said Church is in a most special manner recommended and that they would upon all Occasions assist it in its great and pressing Necessities 103. Mr. Petit made report of what had been done by him and Mr. Galland junior in their Conference with the Lord President in the Parliament of Tholouse and they presented his Lordship's Letters unto this Synod And they received the Thanks of this Synod for the Pains taken by them And an Answer was voted unto the Letters of the said Lord President and the Consuls of Montauban and Castres were desired to pass over to Tholouse immediately after Martin-mass and to sollicit the Enrollment of his Majesty's Letters of Command unto that Court of Parliament and to see that the Restrictions opposed by that Court unto his Majesty's Declaration be removed 104. The Deputies of Dolphiny giving an honourable Character of Monsieur Agard who had lately quitted the Convent of the Jacobins at Avignion a Vote passed in the Council That Report hereof should be made in the next National Synod
Church which was also confirmed by the Synod of the Isle of France as also for that they refused him an Attestation which he would have used for divers Ends and Purposes The Assembly having heard the Deputies of that Province told him that his Affair was not of that nature as to be brought before a National Synod however out of special Favour to him they did permit him to discover his Grievances which being unfolded by him and considered occasion was thereby given of remonstrating to him his Offences committed by Words and Deeds and Proceedings against the Pastors and Consistory of the Church of Paris And farther it was declared to him that the Censures of the said Church had been inflicted on him by reason of his ill Deportments And farther he was exhorted to pay all Respect and Obedience unto his spiritual Guides and Rulers and to subject himself unto the Discipline of our Churches And finally he was injoined to acquiesce in what had been decreed concerning his Matters both by the said Church and the Provincial Synod All which he did immediately 9. The Judgment of the Province of Sevennes concerning the Ministry of Monsieur Soleil having been confirmed the Appeal brought by Mr. Vignolles and Roux was declared null and the Appellants worthy of Censure for their unreasonable Misconstruction of it 10. The Appeal of the Church de la Fitte was rejected because it ought not to be brought unto nor received in this Assembly Wherefore they were injoined to acquiesce in the Judgment of their Province 11. On reading that Clause in the last Will and Testament of the Lord de la Fon relating to the Legacy bequeathed by him for the educating a young Scholar in Humanity and the Arts who may one day serve the Church of God in the Sacred Ministry and the Judgment given by the Synod of Normandy upon it and the Memoirs of the Church of Baaly This Assembly disannulled that Judgment of the said Provincial Synod as also the Appeal of the Church of Baaly and confirmed the Decree of the last National Synod and now declareth and ordaineth That the said Church hath only nor ought it to have any other Interest in the said Legacy than its bare Administration for so the Lord de la Fon disposed of it in his Testament aforesaid for the maintenance of a Scholar and that it is the proper and special Duty of the said Church to be accomptable for it unto the Colloquy of Caen according to the Intention of the deceased Donor expressed in that Clause of his Will wherein he mentions the said Legacy And the said Colloquy or the said Church of Baaly are necessarily to be called in at that time when the Election of the Scholar is to be made and to be present at his Examen to judg of his Progress and the said Church if they please and have need of him may and ought before any other have the choice of him to be imployed in the Service of their Souls in the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments 12. The Deputies of Sevennes complained that the Synod of Lower Languedoc had several times attempted to provide for their vacant Churches out of their Province which is directly contrary to the Canons of our Discipline and have thereby reduced those two Reverend Ministers Mr. du Mas and de la Cosle to remain without employment This Assembly condemning such Proceedings doth recommend unto the Province of Lower Languedoc the Practice of the twenty fourth Canon made in the National Synod of Charenton in the Year 1623 Observation the second upon the Discipline And it being the desire of the Church of Alez as also of the Synod of Sevennes whereunto that of Lower Languedoc doth freely consent that Monsieur Button should be assigned to the Ministry of the Church of Alez he is by the Authority of this Synod given and confirmed to them for their Pastor 13. The Appeal of Monsieur Rouzé and of the Church of St. Andrew de l' Ancize was disannulled because the Affairs of their annexed Congregations ought to be soveraignly and finally determined by their own of the Neighbour-Provinces And this Assembly recommends the said Mr. Rouzé to the care of the Synod of Sevennes to provide for his comfortable Subsistence according to the Rules of Christian Charity 14. This Assembly passing by the Appeal of the Province of Xaintonge from the Judgment of that of Poitiers according to the Decree of the National Synod of St. Maixant held in May 1609 Article the nineteenth about â—ppeals leaveth the Family of the Lord du Brueil Goulard at liberty to join themselves unto the Church of Annay 15. To regulate that Contest between the Provinces of Xaintonge and Poictou the latter of these pretending to reunite the Church of Champagne Mouton with their Synod This Assembly confirming the Decree of the first National Synod of Charenton ordaineth That the said Church shall continue incorporated as it hath been to this day with that of St. Claud until the next Synod of Xaintonge which shall make some Provision for Monsieur Ferrand and by all fitting Means for the Subsistence of the Church of St. Claud and immediately after the breaking up of the said Synod the Church of Champagne Mouton shall be joined unto that of Courteilles and provided for to its liking and content by the Synod of Poictou and that said Synod shall take a most particular care that the Church of Vigean be not left destitute of a Pastor 16. This Assembly ratified the Judgment of the Consistory and Colloquy of Caen approved by the Synod of Normandy who declared the Appeal of Monsieur Fourneaux null and not receivable and ordaineth That the said Judicial Sentence be fully executed according to its purport and tenour in due form as to the deposing of the said Fourneaux And whereas he had been publickly suspended from the Lord's Supper and since he hath acknowledged his Offence for marrying his Daughter unto one of a contrary Religion publickly before a whole National Synod and he having been kept back from communicating at the Lord's Table this last Easter the said Suspension shall be taken off both from himself and Wise after that he shall have confessed in the Consistory his Sorrow for the Sin which his Conâ—â—vency hath brought into his Family 17. Upon perusal of the Judgment past in the Synods of Sevennes and Lower Languedoc and of the Letters of Monsieur Horle's Widow and the Memoirs of the Church of Anduze this Assembly declareth the said Church to have well deserved the sharpest Censures and therefore rejecteth their Appeal and confirmeth the judicial Sentence of both those Synods and enjoined that said Church to give full Satisfaction unto that poor and afflicted Widow 18. This Assembly receiving the Appeal of the Lord Chabassier Judg of Anduze and of Monsieur Couraut Pastor of the Church of Quissac and condemning the Facility of the Synod of Sevennes held at Sumene who without hearing of
long lines of Invectives Calumnies and false groundless Suspicions which they will never be able to extract from its publication By which means I doubt not but with my Candor to demulce their humours and by the representing of the lively Light of God in his Holy Word to illuminate them and by the Celestial sweetness thereof to allure even some of the fiercest Spirits amongst them to the good ways of God for however they may contradict men 't is difficult for them to contradict the Heavenly Sweets of God's Word Which I speak by experience of my Italian Translation for having where I could with a safe Conscience followed St. Jerom it was not unsuccessful If this happiness might now befal me which is not to be hoped for from our Vulgar French Translation judged by them over partial there is no Fear nor Worldly Respect that should weigh down with me Some tell me the time is unseasonable but I answer 'T is never out of season to do good and to be too intent upon the times is the right and ready way to lose all and these times of ours which do stupifie our Souls with the horrors of those woful events happened in them do contrariwise seem the most proper for the slipping of this Labour into the World which feareth no assault but what may be given it in the birth Besides my declining years do call upon me to consider the small time that is left me to give life unto this Fruit unless I would have it buried together with me in my Grave or I must let it come forth into the World all maimed and disfigured after my Decease For all these Reasons and Considerations most Reverend and most Honoured Brethren I shall conclude with two most humble and earnest Petitions to you One is That you would not in this Affair make any Reflection upon those Sentiments which are now disputed in this Church for tho' at the bottom it cannot but have other movements than you have yet nevertheless it cannot subsist but under your Shadow which if removed it must needs fall to the ground My other Request to you is That you would be pleased freely to vouchsafe me what lieth in your power to do for me which is not an Approbation of a Work never seen by you and to demand it of you would be a very unjust thing in me much less that you should give it with the privilege of a publick usage which would be an exorbitant Temerity but this only not to condemn me nor to hinder this first Edition which I desire only to publish unto the World for discovery of Mens Opinions of it and to be farther sifted and examined by them By this Equanimity of yours you will consolate me under my Travails and sore Pains you will renew my Vigour and raise my Spirits and incourage me also to publish my Latin Translation at the many instances and ardent desires which are made me But in case you should be so pre-occupied as to deny me this small favour I do now beg your pardon if I say with an extreme grief that I shall lock up my self in the Cloister of my own Conscience and rest quietly in this confidence that this work will at last be more accepted and approved than at first and I shall imitate St. Jerome who out of meer respect to the Union and Charity of St. Augustine with the African Synods resolved to displease himself for a short time that he might afterward more happily give content unto Posterity and according to the example of all good Servants who even in some remarkable act of their Duty and Service do often digest with patience the disdain of their Superiors and exceed in obedience that they may give them a more certain and better accompt of their Fidelity in the upshot of their Work I pray God that if it be his gracious Will I may receive from your fraternal hands this Fruit of Peace and Consolation and that from his Fatherly hands you may receive his abundant and most powerful Blessing upon all your Holy Deliberations and Actions I beseech you grant me that Honour of being avowed by you Geneva May 1st 1637. Messieurs and most Honoured Brethren Your most Humble and most Faithful Brother and Servant in the Lord DIODATI THE Acts Decisions and Decrees OF THE Twenty eighth Synod OF THE Reformed Churches OF FRANCE Held the Third time AT CHARENTON St. MAVRICE NEAR PARIS On Monday the Six and Twentieth Day of December and ended Thursday the Six and Twentieth Day of January following In the Years of our Lord 1644. and 1645. The CONTENTS of the Third Synod of CHARENTON Chap. I. THe Synod opened with Prayer The General Deputy presenteth the King 's Writ for calling the Synod The Deputies unto the Synod Manner of choosing the Synodical Officers 16.3 Chap. II. Letters Patents for the Lord if Boisgrollier to be His Majesty's Commissioner in the Synod 4. The Commissioner's Speech unto the Synod Chap. III. The Moderator's Answer to it very smart close and pertinent Chap. IV. The Synod's Letters unto the King and Lords of the Council Chap. V. The Return of the Deputies with the King's Answer The Deputies Address to the Prince of Conde His Answer Letters from Foreign Churches Vniversities and Divines not suffered to be Answered 11. The Old General Deputy lays down his Office another imposed upon the Churches by the King 12. The Bill of Grievances must be drawn up privately by a Select Committee 13. Thanks returned by the Synod unto the last General Deputy 15. Chap. VI. A Second Letter to the King and the Queen Chap. VII Confession of Faith approved Chap. VIII Observations upon the Discipline An Appellant shall abstain from the Lord's Table 2. No Mm shall Marry the Mother of his Deceased Spouse without a Dispensation from the Civil Magistrate 3. The Widow of a Deceased Brother may be Married with the Magistrates Dispensation 4. No Proposans shall get into the Pulpit 5. The Deputies Letters of Commission unto the National-Synod shall be Signed by the Synodcal Officers of their respective Provinces 7. Cousin Germans shall not Marry without the King's Dispensation 8. Chap. IX Form of Baptizing Pagans Jews Mahometans Anabaptists and Adult Infidels now embraceing the Christian Religion Ministers to give the Cup at the Lord's Table 11. Order about Catechising 12. The Memoirs sent by the Provinces must be Signed by the Moderatiors in their Synods or they will be thrown out of the National 15. The Moderator to Vote last 16. Chap. X. Observations upon the Synod of Alanson The last Will of a Deceased Minister not fullfilled 4. The Business of Monsieur Amyraud revived and immediately stifled by the National Synod 6.7 Chap. XI Of Appeals A Minister made Emeritus 3. Discipline Exercised upon one who had Married his Wifes Neece and other Delinquents 13. Monsieur Codur an Ancient Minister and Professor of Divinity Censured for attempting to Reconcile the Reformed Churches of France with
natural Obligations of Loyal Subjects of truly Godly Christians we may have these also superadded of Servants loaden and enriched with your Royal Favours and Benefits and who desire only to enjoy our Lives that we may spend them in most ardent Prayers for the preservation of the Sacred Person of our King the dear Son of your Majesty a King obtain'd of God by the common united Supplications of all France that the Divine Blessing may be upon his blooming Youth that his Scepter may be established which is now supported by your Majesty's Hands to the perpetual Glory of your Majesty We being for ever From Charenton January 26th 1645. Madam Of Your Sacred Majesty The most Humble the most Faithful and most Obedient Subjects and Servants the Pastors and Elders assembled in the National Synod at Charenton and in the Name of them all Garrissoles Moderator Basnage Assessor Scribes Blondel Le Coq CHAP. VI. 18. THE Confession of Faith of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom was read and Signed by all the Deputies and they did all of them unanimously for themselves and for their Provinces make this Solemn Protestation that they would immovably persist to their last Gasp in the Profession of it 19. Observations upon Reading of the Church-Discipline ARTICLE 1. THE strict Observation of the Thirteenth Canon in the First Chapter of our Discipline concerning the Residence of Pastors in their Churches is recommended unto all the Provinces who shall mutually inspect one the other and shall be responsible respectively for their Obedience unto this Order in the next National Synod Article 2. For the better Understanding of the Ninth Canon in the Second Chapter of our Discipline and the Second Observation of the Synod of Alez on the immediate foregoing Synod of Vitre That when a Church is served by several Pastors and an Appeal shall be made from One of them this Business shall be decided by his Colleagues in conjunction with the Consistory and in such Churches where there is but one Pastor only a Neighbour Minister shall be intreated to come unto that Consistory to consult about the Appeal from him and to give Judgment in that case and till it be Pronounced the Appellant shall abstain from Communion at the Lord's Table Article 3. The Tenth Canon of the 13th Chapter of our Discipline shall be understood in this Sense That no Man may Marry the Mother of his Deceased Spouse unless the Civil Magistrate shall Authorize it by his own Ordinance which shall be expected both by the Pastor and the Parties contracting Marriage Article 4. The Twelfth Canon shall be couched in these Words That however Civility and Decency may oppose a Mans Marriage with the Widow of his Wives Brother yet in case the Civil Magistrate will authorize the Contract our Churches shall make no difficulty at all to Bless it Article 5. In ratifying the Canons of the National Synods of Gergeau Gap and the Third held at Rochel concerning Proposans who presume to get into the pulpits and from thence to hold forth their Propositions which can be none other than an Authoritative Preaching unto the People especially if it be on the usual Days and Hours of their Publick Meetings this Assemby at the Request of the Province of Xaintonge doth forbid all Pastors and Consistories to suffer this Practice to creep into any of their Churches nor shall they of their own Heads introduce it Article 6. By reason of that defect which occurs in some Letters of Commission from the Provinces unto their Deputies it is now Decreed That the Proper Names and Surnames of their respective Deputies shall be inserted in them Article 7. The Province of Provence is admonished to cause the Letters of Commission given unto their Deputies to be signed in their Provincial Synod by the Moderator and Scribe that it may be known who they be that are chosen by them and they shall also insert into them the Clause of Submission unto the authority of the National Synods even as it is expressed in that particular Canon of our Discipline relating to it Article 8. The Province of Britain demanding by their Deputies whether Pastors may be permitted to Bless the Marriages of Couzen Cermans before they have obtained his Majesties Dispensation This Synod doth most strictly forbid any one of our Ministers to attempt such a matter because the very contrary is expresly injoyned us in those particular Articles which explain the Edict of Nantes See Art 41. Article 9. Whereas the same Province demanded that this Assembly would frame a particular form for Baptizing of Adult Persons which are Converted from Paganism Mahometism and Judaism unto the Christian Religion It was thereupon Ordered that this ensuing Form should be particularly used on those Occasions when as God shall be graciously pleased to make any Additions unto his Church of such Converts CHAP. IX The Form and Manner of Baptizing Pagans Jews Mahometans and Anabaptists Converted to the Christian Faith Composed by the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France Assembled at Charenton in the Year 1645. 10. THE Catechumen having been sufficiently instructed in the Christian Religion and able to give an Account of his Faith and Hope in God and the Lord Jesus to the good Contentment and Satisfaction of the Church and they being very well satisfied of the Purity and Integrity of his Life and Conversation by Credible Witnesses he shall by those self-same Witnesses be presented publickly to the whole Assembly of the Faithful to be Baptized and the Minister before all the Congregation shall thus bespeak him Quest 1. Do you not acknowledge your self by Nature to be a Child of Wrath worthy of Death and Everlasting Malediction Answ Yes Quest 2. Are you not Sorry and Displeased for all the Sins of which you are Guilty ever since you were Born and do you not promise that you will forsake them for ever more Answ Yes Quest 3. Do you not from your very Heart renounce all intermedling with the Temptations and Seducements of the Devil and of his Angels all the Pomps and Vanities of this present World and all the Affections and Concupiscences of the Flesh Answ Yes If he be a Pagan the Minister shall thus bespeak him Quest 4. Do not you believe that there is but one God only the Creator of Heaven and Earth who by the Word of his Power sustaineth all things and in whom we Live Move and have our Being Answ Yes After this they shall proceed unto the next Question which shall be common to them all And here the Reader must be admonished that all those Questions which are in the Small Roman Character are to be propounded to all the Chatechumens indifferently but those in the Italian Character do either belong distinctly and severally to the Jews or Pagans to the Mahometans or Anabaptists according as their respective Titles do demonstrate And then they return unto their General Questions in the Lesser Character which are to be
made in this Ensuing Order Quest 5. Do not you believe that this great God who hath Created Heaven and Earth is one in Essence though distinguished into Three Persons Equal and Coeternal The Father the Son begotten of the Father from all Eternity and the Holy Ghost proceeding Everlasting from the Father and the Son Answ Yes Quest 6. Do not you believe that this Great God who never left himself without Witness hath manifested himself unto Men not only by his Works which ever since their first Production do uncessantly declare his Praise and Glory but also by the Revelation of his Counsel for the Salvation of Mankind contained in the Holy Scriptures called the Old and New Testament Answ Yes Quest 7. Do not you believe that all those Holy Scriptures are of Divine Inspiration and contain the perfect Rule of our Faith and Life Answ Yes Quest Do not you profess that you will even to the last Moment of your Life resist the Devil whom you have hitherto adored serving Idols made with hands or the Host of Heaven or those which by Nature are no Gods Answ Yes If the Catechumen be a Jew these Five following Questions shall be propounded to him omitting those Four above mentioned as properly belonging to the Heathen Quest 1. Do you not detest the Rebellion and Obdurateness of the Jews and do you not most humbly beg Pardon of God that you have been so long a time detained under it Answ Yes Quest 2. Do not you believe that the whole of God's Will which it hath pleased him graciously to reveal unto us is not only contained in the Books of the Old Testament but also in those of the new Answ Yes Quest 3. Do not you believe that Jesus the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary who was Conceived in her by the uneffable Power of the Holy Ghost and afterward Condemned to the Death of the Cross upon the malicious Accusation of the Jews by the Vnrighteous Sentence of Pontius Pilate and Raised from the Dead the Third Day and now exalted in Glory is God manifested in the Flesh the Eternal word of the Father by whom he Created and Sustaineth the whole World that blessed Seed promised unto Adam immediately upon his Fall by whose Power and Vertue the Head of that Old Serpent was Bruised whose coming in the Flesh all the Patriarchs believed and hoped for that great Prophet and true Messiah foretold by Moses and all the Prophets that lived after him Answ Yes Quest 4. Do not you believe that the Lord Jesus is the end of the Law for Righteousness unto all Believers the Truth and Substance of all his Types and Shadows the true Lamb of God who taketh away the Sins of the whole World and in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily Answ Yes Quest 5. Do not you believe that the Observation of the Ceremonial Law is now not only needless and Superfluous but also every way pernicious unto Conscience Ans Yes If the Catechumen be a Mahometan the Minister shall propound unto him these Six following Questions omitting those above mentioned which properly belong unto the Jews and Pagans Quest 1. Do you not believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament be inspired of God and contain his whole Counsel for the Salvation of Men and are the only perfect Rule of Faith and Life Answ Yes Quest 2. Do not you believe that Jesus the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary who was Conceived in her by the Vertue of the Holy Ghost and Formed as to the Flesh out of her own Substance is God and Man Blessed for evermore perfect God and perfect Man Man born of a Woman in due fulness of time and God begotten of the Father from Everlasting Answ Yes Quest 3. Do not you believe that the Lord Jesus from his first Conception after the Flesh was Holy Innocent without Blemish and separate from Sinners and that he did not suffer Death for his own Sins but for ours only Answ Yes Quest 4. Do not you believe that his Death is the Propitiation for our Sins yea and for the Sins of the whole World and that this Propitiation is infinitely Meritorious through which Everlasting Glory and Salvation were purchased for us Answ Yes Quest 5. Do not you believe that Mahomet was an Impostor and that his Alcoran is a Sacrilegious Heap of Idle Fancies full of Absurdities broach'd on design to set up a False and Abominable Religion Answ Yes Quest 6. Do not you believe that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus is the power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth and that in the Christian Religion only God the Father hath revealed his good Will and Pleasure for the Salvation of Men until the End of the World and that since its Revelation there is not any new Religion to be expired for that the Lord Christ is the only great Prophet promised unto the Faithful of the Old Testament and that God having formerly spoken at sundry times and in divers manners unto Men before the Law and under the Law hath spoken to the Church of the New Testament by the Mouth of his only Son the Lord Jesus Answ Yes Quest Give an Account of your Creed Answ I believe in God the Father Almighty Creator of c. In case the Catechumen be an Anabaptist the Minister having made all those Demands Printed in the Roman Character and omitted those in the Italian which more particularly belong either to Pagans Jews or Mahometans he shall thus proceed Quest 1. Do not you believe that the Lord Jesus is and shall be true God and true Man in those Two Natures everlastingly that he was according to his Human Nature like in all thing unto other Men Sin only excepted insomuch that he was the true Son of Abraham of David and of the Blessed Virgin descended from their Seed and Blood and that the Substance of his Body was not only formed in the Virgin but also out of the very Substance of the Virgin conformably to that Saying of the Apostle that he was of the Seed of David according to the Scriptures that he was born of a Woman and partaker of Flesh and Blood as all other Children Answ Yes Quest 2. Do you not believe that Infant-Baptism is grounded on the Scriptures and the perpetual Practice of the Christian Church Answ Yes Quest 3. Do not you renounce with your whole Heart their Error who reject Baptism And are you not penitent for your so long refusal of it Answ Yes Quest 4. Do not you believe the Authority of Magistrates to be an Ordinance of God unto which whoso will not yield Subjection do bring upon themselves Condemnation and that all kind of Obedience is due unto them Answ Yes Quest Do not you believe that this good God who calleth all of us by the Ministry of his Word unto Life and Salvation hath appointed certain Signs and Sacraments in his Church which do Seal and
confirm the Covenant of Grace propounded to us in the Gospel Ministry Answ Yes Quest How many Sacraments do you believe that there be in the Christian Church Answ Two Baptism and the Lord's Supper Quest Do you desire to be instructed in the Nature and Use of Baptism which you now demand of this Church of Christ Answ Yes Then the Minister shall say Our Lord sheweth us in what Poverty and Misery we are all born when he telleth us that we must be born again For if our Nature must be renewed that it may enter into the Kingdom of God then 't is evident that it is universally depraved and accursed whereof he admonisheth us that we may be humbled and displeased with oar selves and by this means doth he prepare us earnestly to petition for his Grace by which all that Corruption and Malediction of our first Nature may be abolished And we are not capable of receiving it till we be first emptied of all Confidence in our own Vertue Wisdom and Righteousness that so we may pass Sentence of Condemnation upon all that is in us And look as he remonstrateth unto us our miserable Estate so also doth he comfort us with his Mercy promising to regenerate us by his Holy Spirit unto newness of Life which will be the earnest of our entrance into his Kingdom This Regeneration consisteth of two Parts First that we deny our selves not following our own Judgment Will and Pleasure but resigning our Hearts and Understandings to be led Captive by the Wisdom and Righteousness of God and so mortifying our selves and all our fleshly Members here below we do then follow the Divine Light and take up our Complacency in Obedience unto his good Will and Pleasure revealed to us in his Holy Word and subject our selves to the Guidance and Government of his Holy Spirit Now the Accomplishment of both these is in our Lord Jesus whose Death and Passion is of such Vertue that by communicating in it we are as it were dead to Sin that so our carnal Affections and the Desires of our Flesh may be mortified In like manner by the Vertue of Christs Resurrection we rise up unto newness of Live which is of God inâ—smuch as his Holy Spirit doth guide and govern us and work in us those Works which are well-pleasing to him Yet the first and chiefest Point of our Salvation is that by his Mercy he freely pardons all our Sins not imputing them unto us and blotteth out the remembrance of them that so they may not be brought in Judgment against us All these Benefits are conferred upon us when he is pleased graciously to incorporate us into his Church by Baptism for in this Sacrament he testifieth unto us the Forgiveness of our Sins And to this purpose hath he ordained the Sign of Water thereby to signifie unto us That as this Element cleanseth away the Filth of the Body even so will he wash and purifie our Souls that there may not appear the least Spot upon them In the next place it holdeth forth unto us our Renovation which standeth as was said before in the Mortification of our Flesh and in that Spiritual Life which he effecteth in us So that we receive a double Grace and Benefit from God in our Baptism provided we do not disannul the Vertue of this Sacrament by our Ingratitude First That we have a most certain Token and Testimony that God will be a propitious Father to us not imputing our Sins and Offences to us Secondly That he will assist us by his Holy Spirit that we may be enabled to combat with the Devil Sin and the Desires of our Flesh until we have won the Victory and so enjoy the Liberty of his Kingdom which is a Kingdom of Righteousness For as much then as these two things be accomplished in us by the Grace of our Lord Jesus it followeth that the Vertue and Substance of Baptism is treasured up in him And indeed we have no other Laver but that of his Blood nor any other Renovation but what is in his Death and Resurrection which as he communicateth his Riches and Benedictions to us by his Word so also doth he distribute them abroad among us by his Sacraments And in this appeareth the wonderful Love of God towards us that these Graces bestowed on us having before the Incarnation of our Lord Redeemer been as it were locked up among the Jewish People and the Partition-Wall which separated between Jews and Gentiles being broken down by his Death he hath and doth shed abroad upon Mankind the saving Waters of his Grace in such abundance that now there is neither Jew nor Greek neither Male nor Female neither Circumcision nor Uncircumcision nor any outward Condition of Men that can exclude them from that great Salvation which is in him and which the Lord Jesus will have preached unto all Nations And the Covenant of his Peace is now ratified by Baptism according to the Commission which he hath given unto his Apostles saying Go ye and preach unto all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Quest And is it not true my Brother that you desire to be Partaker of this Grace by Baptism Answ Yes Quest But forasmuch as he that entreth into the House of God must look unto his ways lest he should prophane the Sanctuary and presume according to that Saying of the wise Preacher to offer the Sacrifice of Fools and ungodly Persons and that he ought to be clean purged from all Leaven of Error and Malice do you not detest from your Heart all Errors contrary to that sound Doctrin taught in our Churches Answ Yes Quest Forasmuch as we are now about to administer the Sacrament of Baptism unto you do you not protest to live and die in the Faith of our Lord Jesus which you have now confessed before us and to adorn it with an Holy Life and Conversation and to direct all your Thoughts Words and Actions to the Glory of God and the Edification of your Neighbour and to submit your self to the Order and Discipline of our Church in Conformity whereunto this Holy Ordinance must be inviolably maintained Answ Yes This being done the Minister shall add Let us call upon God that he may be entreated to give his Blessing to this present Holy Ministration O Lord our God! The most wise and merciful God! We praise and bless thy Holy Name for that Grace which thy good Hand hath deigned to bestow upon this thy Servant who lay in the profound Darkness of the Shadow of Death but is now enlightned by thee thou having caused the Day-Spring from on high with his quickening and saving Brightness to arise and shine in upon him drawing him from a most deplorable hardness of a stony Heart to mollifie and soften him delivering him from the Bonds of Death and restoring Life unto him Lord as thou hast took away the Veil that was upon his
of Church as he was going to preach 2. In his uncivil and uncharitable Carriage towards the Commissioners sent by the Synod of Vsez unto St. Africk And 3. For that the Consistory of Montauban having left it to his Discretion to preach and administer the Lord's Supper in the Old Church because that several Counsellors and other Gentlemen Members of the Presidial Court had protested that they could not receive the Communion at his Hands who was suspended from the Ministry by order of the Synod of Vzez yet notwithstanding he would and did preach and administer that Holy Sacrament 4. In that he resolved and was bent upon it to be Assessor in the Synod of Realmont notwithstanding the Opposition made by 19 Pastors and 19 Elders they opposing his Election to that Office because he had not any Letters of Deputation to them and because of his Suspension 5. For that in the same Synod whenas the Opponents made some difficulty to withdraw demanding a Debate first upon the Election of the said Mr. Arbussy unto the Office of Assessor he told his Majesty's Commissioner in that Synod that it belonged unto his Place and Office of right to cause any Persons whom he thought good to depart from the Assembly 6. For that he did in his own Name cause three things to be published which were all of a piece entirely prejudicial to our Liberties and Priviledges granted us by the Edicts and this too when he was employed directly about Civil Affairs 7. For that he being a Member of the Consistory of Montauban he did not oppose the Payment of those Charges for the same Script when as the Account was brought in unto them 8. For that by the Endeavours of his Uncle a Decree of the Parliament of Tholouse having restored him to the Exercise of his Office he expressed not any the least Displeasure or Repentance for his Sin which had caused him to be suspended as he ought 9. For that he did not submit unto the Order of the Synod of Mauvoisin till Nine Months after it had been notified unto him and still continued the Exercise of his Ministry at Montauban whenas he should have done it at St. Africk unto which Church he was lent by the Synod for one whole Year Nor can his Appeal cover this his Offence because all our Synods are empowred to lend Ministers unto Churches for a Year notwithstanding an Appeal 10. For that he suffered divers Scholars to follow him in the City with their Swords at their sides 11. And in short for that in his whole Conduct he hath discovered a very fierce haughty Spirit and who for the attaining of his ends will boldly pass over all the Banks and Fences of Order and Discipline yea and the very Bounds of Christian Moderation a Vertue well becoming the Ministers of our Lord Jesus he having by such Actions as these fomented the Troubles and Divisions in the Church of Montauban All these Offences of the said Sieur Arbussy having been duely and maturely pondered the Assembly concluded that he could not exercise his Ministry in the Church of Montauban nor in any other belonging to the Synod of Higher Guienne and higher Languedoc and that he shall provide himself of some other Church in some other Province as the good Providence of God may direct him Nor shall he exercise his Ministry in any other place until such time as he be setled in some particular Church either by this present National or by a Provincial Synod or by a Colloquy or by that particular Church with which he shall agree and to whom he shall devote and consecrate his Ministry Nor shall he exercise the Office of Professor nor of Principal in the Colledge of Montauban and all this for very good Reasons well known unto this Assembly who desiring rather to use their Charity than Rigour in their Dealings with the said Mr. Joseph Arbussy do declare that the Cessation of the Functions of his Ministry and other Offices shall be without any Note or Blemish of Deposal from them And forasmuch as 't is very needful that there should be a good understanding maintained among the Faithful in the Church at Montauban this Assembly hath nominated the Sieurs Chamier and Vignier Pastors and Pontperdu and Maizomay Elders Commissioners who shall travel unto that City and labour in this good Work and in all other matters that may occur unto them according to those Instructions which shall be given them And in the mean while all the Members of that Church are exhorted to receive those aforesaid Commissioners with Spirits well inclined unto Peace for the Glory of God the repose of their own Consciences the Tranquility of the Mystical Body of Christ Jesus and that by this Holy Union they may prevent those Judgments which their mutual Discord and Animosities will otherwise infallibly pull down upon them 11. There came unto this Assembly Mr. Paul Bely a Member of the Church of Fontenay le Comte and informed them that he had appealed from the Decrees of the Provincial Synods of Poictou held at Coutre in the Year 1654. and at Niort in the Year 1656. By the first of which his Liberty granted him by the Synod held at Partenay in the Year 1649. to communicate at the Lord's Table in any other Church besides that of Fontenay was taken from him and for that the Sieur Le Blois Pastor of the said Church was acquitted from all those Accusations which he the said Bely had brought in against him at the said Synod of Niort Whereupon the said Sieurs Jossaud Pastor and Gondran Elder Deputies in this Assembly being ordered to peruse the Acts of both Parties and the said Mr. Bely being heard in his Complaints and Demands and the Sieur Le Bloy in his Defence All the Deputies did unanimously decree because of several Answers made by him before a Court of Justice on a Civil Law Suit and for several other Accusations all of which were partly decided by the Decrees and Judgments given in the Civil Judicature in favour of Monsieur Bloy against the said Bely and partly rejected by the Provincial Synod of Niort because they were vain and frivolous without Foundation and without Proof that the Sieur le Bloy was absolutely justified and the said Bely censured for having persisted so long a time in his unrighteous Law-Suits and for keeping in his Heart and testifying by his Actions so great an Hatred against the said Monsieur Le Bloy and so great a Resentment of past matters by reason of the Civil Processes which have been between them And yet notwithstanding this Assembly making use of its Authority and Charity hath ordained That the said Bely should divest himself entirely of all his Resentments and accept of the said Monsieur Le Bloy as his Pastor and be reconciled with him as becometh a true Christian And the Sieur Le Bloy is exhorted to embrace the said Bely as his Brother in Christ and as one of
one kind the Adoration of the consecrated Host Prayer in an unknown Tongue by the Petitioner Errors of this last sort altho in themselves less yet do they most often occasion the greatest divisions and do most venemously exasperate mens Spirits and immediately engender Schism For if a man communicate at the Lords Table with an erroneous person in the doctrine of Predestination or about the Nature of Jesus Christ or who believes that the Body of our Lord is every where in all places at once altho this Error be very great yet may it not trouble him who is a Communicant with him But and if we communicate with one who giveth religious adoration unto the bread or pretends to sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ such an action would scandalize us and must needs drive us from that Communion lest we should participate with him in his Idolatry or in a false Sacrifice Now we have this advantage together with the Lutheran Churches that all our differences are of the first kind and as for those external Ceremonies used and practised by them we have no such difference but what may be easily composed yea and that too with a wet Finger 18. It were fitting to lay before them on the Table the Concordat of the Polonish Churches made at Sendomir in the year 1570. and since revived in the Synod of Ulodislan in the year 1581. that so we may learn by their example to serve our selves of all things which may contribute unto this Union and are worthy of our imitation And possibly there may be found some Lutheran Churches who for peace sake would not insist upon their Ubiquity but frankly yield it up and part with it 19. The same Order should be observed in this second Assembly as in the first and the same difference paid unto his Majesty of great Britain and it should be opened with a fast and concluded with the celebration of the Holy Supper of our Lord at which both the Lutheran Ministers and ours should communicate together 20. It is very needful that some course should be taken to bring the several Churches and People to embrace and practise the Articles of this Union and that Soveraign Princes and Estates do promise to exert their Authority about it and that those words of Lutheran Calvinist and Sacramentarian Gustazus Adolphus K. of Swiâ—â—dland would have them styled the Evangelical Churches being wicked badges of distinction were utterly abolished and that our Churches should ever after be called the Christian Reformed Churches And all Invectives from the Pulpit or Press or Writings against the Brethren of either side shall be forbidden under the severest penalties And that the Catalogues of Books vended at Frankford maybe no more stuft with injurious Titles as formerly And the German Princes should at some certain days mutually agreed on send their Pastors unto the principal Churches of their Neighbour Princes and also admit and receive of their Ministers into theirs and so communicate together on some set and solemn day at the Lords Table 21. If it should please God to bless this Holy and Laudable Design with success which would be a Crown of Eternal Glory unto his Majesty of Great Britain and to the Princes joyned with him therein then would it be a convenient time to sollicit the Romish Church unto a Reconciliation which whether it may be really effected or is at all feasible seems as yet very doubtful because the Pope will admit of no Council nor Conference at which he may not preside But could this General Union of all Christians be once accomplished we should be then more considerable and Ministers might Preach with more authority and greater success than ever CHAP. XIX A Letter from His Majesty of Great Britain To Messieurs the Pastors and Elders Assembled in their National Synod at Tonneins in France Sirs HAving received intelligence that your Assembly would be held in Gascony the first of May in which some persons may be engaged to revive that Controversly about Justification and to urge the Consciences of others to assent against their own judgment unto matters not sufficiently Understood by them We thought good to send you Monsieur Hume one of our subjects and of your Pastors with this our present Letter to exhort you in our Name not to suffer the spirits of your Pastors and Professors to be imbittered one against another about distinctions more substile than profitable more curious than needful but that you would indeavour to Moderate those animosities which are grown up already to too great an heighth among several of your Ministers and that you would quench those sparkles of dissention which meeting with wood hay stubble and slight rather than substantial matters may inflame you into such aschism as will Consume you all unless you do timely prevent it and stifle it in the birth by committing to the fire those Books Papers and Manuscripts which serve only as fewel unto new Controversies rather than promote your Edifying and give occasion to the Enemies of Gods Church to advance themselves on your weaknesses and to be the more hardned in their Errors Particularly we intreat you to compose the difference risen up betwixt the Sieurs du Moulin and Tilenus if it should be brought unto your immediate Cognisance and discussion and not be removed out of the way by Arbitrators which we judge of the two to be the best and by arbitrating their fact you your selves will publish unto the World how great a value you have for the Gifts of God in both those personages That honour with which God hath invested us by exalting us unto the highest and most eminent place in his Church for the defence of the truth or duty to serve it in our regall dignity and to the utmost of our power and that particular desire we have to see a good Peace and Vnion to flourish among all Sincere Professors of the Christian Faith and our care for your preservation as being the first Churches which have rejected the yoke of Idolatry do induce us to deal so freely with you And we promise our self from your prudence that all matters shall be pacified and amicably composed among you as we have commanded Master Hume to press you more amply by word of mouth thereunto to whom you may give credence receiving him as our Messenger and as a persom well-known unto you and sufficiently commended by his own excellent good parts and a Lover of peace which above all things we recommend unto you and so we pray God to Bless your godly debates and consultations and to have you always in his holy keeping From our Palace this 15th Day of March,1614 Signed James R. The Synods Answer To the King of Great Britain Sire THAT Zeal with which it hath pleased God to inflame your Royal Spirit and that abundant care which your most Serene Majesty vouchsafeth to take of all the Christian Churches obligeth every good servant of God to pour out continual
prayers and supplications to the Lord of Glory for your Majesties long Life and Prosperous Reign and Preservation The Churches of France in whose name we be here Assembled have the deepest sence of this obligation because they have most frequently and to their great advantage received the comfortable influences of this bright shining star in the Heaven of God 's Church for which we render unto our God the glory and to your most Serene Majesty our humblest thanksgivings and shall ever reserve in our Memories the perpetual character of an inviolable gratitude We have received with all reverence and submission those good and wholsome Counsels which your most Serene Majesty was pleased to send us which as flowing from the Holy Spirit of God have confirmed us in those pious resolutions that were before lodged up in all our hearts and since reduced into act with unanimous consent in our Synodical Decrees We are enforced to our great regret to acknowledg there was an evil thing flung in among us but also we can assure your Majesty that hitherto it hath met with very small incouragement and we trust it shall never be able to make any breach in the peace of our Churches because we are resolved through grace vigorously to oppose it and to Conserve that Order and Union which hath been until now kept up among us We had grubbed it up by the very roots if it had been found among us as it is elsewhere and out of this Kingdom And as for that difference between the Sieurs Tilenus and du Moulin we believe that your Majesties helpful hand will exceedingly advantage us and we promise your Majesty for our selves that we shall give all reasonable satisfaction unto those that trouble us provided they do not attempt to break us in pieces The way of Arbiters hath been ever desired by us and that silence which we ordered and imposed might have been successful if the divided parties had but a little yielded on their side and strove who should have made the first advances we believe so much of the good intention both of the one and other that they had joyned hands and each had quitted his particular Interest for the peace repose and comfort of their Consciences which desired it We will be responsible for one of them according to the power which God hath given us over him and we are in good hopes of the other especially if your most Serene Majesty shall be pleased to employ your powerful Counsels in the furtherance of so good a work In the mean while we have Judged it necessary to suppress those writings which might any ways feed and nourish this bitter controversy between these two servants of God leaving the total suppression thereof unto an interview of both parties which we have appointed at Saumur upon very equitable and most reasonable terms It is the desire of our Souls that those self same Writings disperst abroad without this Kingdom might be suppressed and we most humbly supplicate your most Serene Majesty to order their suppression in your Kingdoms of great Britain As for that Heroick design of your Majesties communicated to us by Mr. Hume for re-uniting the Churches of divers Nations into one and the self same Confession and Doctrine we look upon it as an Undertakement worthy so great a King and well becoming that Divine Zeal with which the Celestial Majesty hath inflamed your Royal Soul and we also shall bring in our poor offerings and tribute Penny thereunto in due time and place and with our whole Heart and Soul we ardently pray that the same may be hastned and brought unto perfection to the great Glory of our God and confusion of the Adversaries of his Truth in hatred of whom we have condemned and detested that Execrable Doctrine of Regicides which violates the sacred Majesty of Kings and asserteth that whole Realms may be interdicted by the Pope And farther we earnestly desire to maintain a good correspondence with the Churches of your Kingdoms whereof we give your most Serene Majesty all possible assurance and do most humbly beseech you to accept of our devoutest Prayers and Services which with submission to his Majesty our Natural King and Soveraign we do lay at your Majesties Feet ever remaining as we are of your Sacred Majesty c. From Tonneins May 1614. The most humbly devoted Servants the Pastors and Elders of the Reformed Churches in France Assembled by the permission of our most Gracious Soveraign Lewis the thirteenth in a National Synod and in the name of all Gigord Moderator Gardesy Assessor Scribes Andrew Rivet and Denys Maltrett A Letter from the Church of Geneva To the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France assembled at Tonneins Messieurs and our most Honoured Brethren YOUR Charity and that Communion which we ever had with you in our Lord Jesus and the word of his Grace hath on all occasions made us joynt partners with you in those singular benedictions the great God hath poured down upon your Churches as also at all times and upon all occasions to sympathize with you in your afflictions by a most sensible and cordial fellow-feeling of them Yea 't is this very self-same passion that doth at present give us access to you and inviteth us not to let slip this opportunity of your National Synod for the consolating our own Souls by imparting to you our thoughts and purposes combined with yours in one and the same faith common to us all If our Wishes could have been granted we would not have put off our communion as now we do unto these dumb Letters but we had satiated our Souls by a personal presence interview and converse with you But for as much as the hard Laws of necessity do restrain us we believe it will not be unpleasing to you tho we be absent from you in body that by our Letters we testifie our presence with you in Spirit rejoycing in your Order and in the stedfastness of your Faith in Christ and that with Vows and Hearts most intimately united with your devoutest Prayers we first of all adore the infinite goodness of the Lord for inspiring their Majesties with that great benignity and singular clemency so as to continue you your Liberty and Priviledge of holding your National Synods in peace and security These Assemblies representing all your Churches are a divine Bulwark against the assaults and invasions of your Enemies and a most firm Cement of your Sacred Union a soveraign remedy against all your Maladies and in one word the very basis of that excellent building which God Almighty by his own wonder-working hand hath miraculously raised up in your Nation This is so rich and singular a Mercy that we cannot sufficiently admire the Providence and Wisdom of God which did at first suggest the usage and establishment of it and his special assistance support and bounty in continuing it And we doubt not of Satans machinations to unhinge it We must tell