another where their Crime is not known they shall only testify their Repentance privately before the Consistory but with this Condition that in case they return to that former Church whereunto they belonged they shall then and there also make a publick Acknowledgment of their Offence XXIV Publick Penances shall be undergone personally and by those only who have publickly offended the Sinner openly and sincerely with his Mouth from his Heart testifying his Repentance XXV Whoredoms when committed and come to publick â—â—owledge shall by their Actors be publickly acknowledged with evident Tokens of Repentance XXVI This Clause by the greater part shall be razed out from the end of the 17th Article of Figeac and there shall be this only inserted known by the greater part XXVII Both those Canons of the Tenth National Synod and of our ancient Discipline concerning the time of meeting for Colloquies and Provincial Synods shall remain in full force so that they be wholly left unto their Liberty to do therein as they may most conveniently XXVIII Forasmuch as Provincial Synods depend upon the National Colloquies also shall for the same Reasons be subject unto the Provincial Synods and Consistories unto Colloquies XXIX The National Synod of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom assembled in this City of Rochel under the Authority of the King's Edicts having seen a certain Book Intituled The History of France printed in this City upon divers complaints made unto us from all parts of the Kingdom against it and having took Cognisance of the proceedings of the Consistory of this Church against the find Book hath found that in many places the Author speaks exceeding irreverently and irreligiously of divine Things and that it is a heap of idle vain and prophane Matters full of Falshoods Lies and Calumnies to the great prejudice of God's glorious Power to the disadvantage and dishonour of our Holy Doctrine and Reformed Religion to the Dissamation of divers godly Persons dead and living And therefore hath thought good to advertise all the Churches that they beware of the said Book and inasmuch as in them lieth to disapprove it And this Synod doth judicially declare the Author of the said Book if he own himself a Protestant unworthy of our Holy Communion and not to be admitted to the participation of the Sacraments until such time as he shall have acknowledged his offence and by convenient means such as the Suppression of his History shall have repaired the Scandal that he hath given unto the Churches XXX The Synod also having seen and examined another Book written in Latin upon Genesis by a certain Fellow called James Brocan of Piedmont printed in this City hath declared and doth declare it to be fraught with Impieties and horrible Profanations of the Sacred Scriptures and pernicious Errors especially in Matters of Revelation of Revelation Prophecy and therefore exhorts all the Faithful to keep themselves carefully from being seduced by it XXXI The first Article of Provincial Synods being read it was decreed That all Ministers should attend in Person at their Provincial Synods or should excuse themselves by Letters in case of absence the causes whereof should be judged valid or otherwise by those Assemblies XXXII The third Article concerning National Synods shall abide in its full power But for the benefit of all our Churches there shall be this clause added That for time to come if possible it may be done there shall be two Ministers and two Elders deputed from every Province unto them XXXIII Forasmuch as Dancings and other Dissolutions do sprout up and increase every where yea and in these our Reformed Churches it was thought good to exhort the Consistories that for God's sake they would conscientiously observe the Six and twentieth Article of particular Orders decreed in the Synod of Figeac and in the Name of God and by the Authority of this present Assembly that it be read publickly in the Churches and all Colloquies and Synods are hereby expresly charged to censure those Consistories that neglect their Duty in this particular XXXIV All those who by unlawful means as by Papal Bulls or ready Money shall purchase or hold Benefices and such as cause Idolatry to be upheld and maintained either directly or indirectly shall be excluded Communion at the Lord's Table XXXV As to what concerns Impropriators and Farmers of Benefices the ancient Canons of our Discipline shall hold good and be in full force power and vertue against them Yet nevertheless the Deputies shall bring with them from their respective Provinces whatever Difficulties have occurr'd about those matters that so they may be debated in the next National Synod And whereas our Brethren of Languedoc Gascony and Perigord have desired have for the welfare of their Churches to censure such Farmers the business is left unto the prudence of their Provincial Synods XXXVI That Churches may not hereafter upon the death or removal of their Pastors be dissolved the Ministers who preside in the Colloquy for a new Election shall first of all enquire of every Elder in other Churches of the Colloquy what and how much Maintenance they exhibit unto their Pastors and what care they take for paying in unto them their promised Stipends that so provision may be made for them by the Authority of the Colloquies XXXVII These words The most eminent shall be blotted out from the 33d Article of Figeac XXXVIII Synods and Colloquies shall consult how to six the Limits and Extent of that Church wherein a Minister shall exercise his ordinary Calling XXXIX Ministers belonging to the Churches of France and now living abroad without the Kingdom shall be recalled by their respective Provinces XL. Forasmuch as there is a notorious contempt of Religion visible in all places yea also in our Religious Meetings we advise that Notice be given unto all Persons to bring with them their Psalm-Books into the Churches and that such as contemptuously neglect the doing of it shall be severely censur'd and all Protestant Printers are advised not to sunder in their Impressions the Prayers and Catechism from the Psalm-Books XLI The 17th Article of particular Orders concerning Habits was thus explained This Synod declareth That such Habits are not to be allowed in common wearing which carry with them evident marks of lasciviousness dissolution and excessive new-fangled Fashions such as painting slashing cutting in pieces trimming with Locks and Tassels or any other that may discover our Nakedness or naked Breasts or Fardingales or the like sort of Garments with which both Men and Women do wickedly cloath and adorn themselves And Consistories shall do their utmost endeavour to suppress such Dissolutions by their Censures and in case the Delinquents are contumacious and rebellious they shall proceed against them even to Excommunication XLII As to the 14th Canon concerning Marriages this Synod doth not judge it contrary to the 24th Article enacted by the Assembly of Estates at Blois for in that Orders only were given unto Notaries and Scriveners how
our Church CAN. XXXII A Pastor or Elder breaking the Churches Union or stirring up Contention about any point of Doctrine or of the Discipline which he had subscribed or about the Form of Catechising or Administration of the Sacraments or of our Common-Prayers and Celebration of Marriage and not conforming to the determination of the Colloquy he shall be then suspended from his Office and be farther prosecuted by the Provincial or National Synod CAN. XXXIII In every Church there shall be kept Memorials of all notable and remarkable passages relating to Religion and in every Colloquy a Minister shall be appointed to receive them who shall carry them unto the Provincial and thence unto the National Synod CHAP. VI Of the Union of Churches CANON I. NO Church shall claim any Primacy or Jurisdiction over another nor one Province over another CAN. II. No Church shall assume unto it self a power of undertaking business of great consequence in which the interest or damage of other Churches shall be comprised without the advice and consent of the Provincial Synod if it may possibly be Convened And in case the affair be urgent it shall at least be Communicated by Letters unto some other Churches in the Province and they shall receive and take their advice about it CAN. III. Churches and particular Members shall be advised that whatever persecution may happen to procure for themselves a private peace and liberty they do not depart from the Sacred Union of the whole Body of our Churches And whoever acteth contrary to this Canon shall have such a Censure inflicted on him as Colloquies and Synods shall judge expedient CAN. IV. Disputes about Religion shall be so managed that none of ours may be the Aggressors and if they are ingaged in a verbal disputation they shall in no wise undertake it without laying down this for a Foundation-Rule That the Holy Scripture is the sole Judge of Controversies nor shall they yield the power of judgment and decision in points of Doctrine unto the writings of the Ancients nor shall they enter upon any Disputation unless the conditions of it be first agreed on by Writings mutually and respectively signed and executed Nor shall they attempt a publick Disputation but with the advice of their Consistory and of a select number of Pastors who for this purpose shall be chosen by the Colloquies or Provincial Synods They shall not adventure upon any dispute or general Conference Chap. VII Of Colloquies without the advice of all the Churches assembled in a National Synod upon pain if Ministers act otherwise of being declared Apostates and Deserters of the Churches Union CAN. V. Churches shall be informed that our Ecclesiastical Assemblies of Colloquies and Synods whether Provincial or National are the Bands and Buttresses of their Concord and Union against Schisms Heresies and all other inconveniencies that so they may discharge their duty in the use of means for the continuance and upholding of those Ecclesiastical Assemblies And in case any Churches or particular Person should refuse to contribute unto their expences who were obliged to be present in those Assemblies they shall be grievously censured as Deserters of that Holy Union which ought to be kept up among us for our mutual preservation And all Ministers who shall neglect the observation of this Canon shall be most severely censured by National and Provincial Synods N.B. That the Editions of the Discipline at Paris and Ronan in the Year 1663. have in the last line of this Canon National inserted but two other Editions of the Years 1666. at Geneva and 1676. at Quevilly do omit it and have only Provincial Synods CHAP. VII Of Colloquies CANON I. IN every Province the Churches shall be divided according to their number and conveniency of neighbour places into Colloquies or Classes And this Division shall be made by authority of the Provincial Synod And the next adjoining Churches shall meet in Colloquies twice or four times a year if it may be done as of ancient times it hath been ordained The appointment of time is left wholly to the prudence of Provinces and unto these Colloquies the Ministers accompanied each of them with an Elder from every Church shall give their personal attendance CAN. II. And the proper business of such Colloquies and Assemblies shall be to consult about composing differences and difficulties emerging in their Churches according to the Canons of our Discipline and in general to provide for whatsoever may be thought expedient and necessary to the weal and maintenance of our Churches CAN. III. And in these Colloquies Ministers in their turns shall make a Proposition from the Word of God that so their care and diligence in the study of the Scripture and their method and form of handling it may be known CAN. IV. As Consistories are subject and subordinate unto Colloquies so are Colloquies unto the authority of Provincial Synods CAN. V. Chap. VIII Of Provincial Synods Colloquies and Synods shall consult about the extent and bounds of those places in which each Minister shall exercise his Ministry CAN. VI. In the close of Colloquies there shall pass a friendly and fraternal Censure upon Pastors and Elders there present in all matters of which it may be thought fit to admonish them CHAP. VIII Of Provincial Synods CANON I. IN all Provinces the Pastors and Elders of every Church shall meet together once or twice a year if it can be done which is left unto the prudence and discretion of the Synod CAN. II. Ministers shall bring with them one or two Elders at the most chosen out of their Consistory And the said Ministers shall bring with them their Commissions But if a Pastor come alone without an Elder or an Elder without a Pastor there shall be no regard had of their Memoirs And this Canon shall be observed in all Ecclesiastical Assemblies If they cannot appear they shall excuse themselves by Letters on which the Brethren then and there present shall pass judgment and send their Memoirs subscribed by one Pastor and Elder Such as having no lawful excuse shall yet forbear their appearance at Colloquies and Provincial Synods shall be censured and the said Colloquies and Provincial Synods may judge definitively of their fact and dispose of their persons CAN. III. Churches which have many Pastors shall depute them by turns unto Colloquies and Synods CAN. IV. Ministers and Elders which are deputed unto Colloquies and Provincial Synods shall have their expences defrayed out of the common stock of their Churches CAN. V. Those Churches which refuse means unto their Ministers for their appearance at Colloquies and Synods shall be admonished of this their duty that they exhibit to them and in case of failure in it so that Ministers are inforced to come unto them upon their own charges after two or three admonitions they shall be deprived of their Ministry and the charges of those Ministers shall be defrayed by those Churches unto which they are sent and in
of humanity and Consanguinity CAN. XVI Neither Ministers nor other Members of the Church may print any Books composed by themselves or others concerning Religion nor may they at all publish them until they have first Communicated them unto the Colloquy or if need be unto the Provincial Synod And in case the matter be urgent requiring speedy dispatch unto the Universities or to two Pastors appointed by the Synod who shall attest under their own hands that they have perused and examined the said Writings CAN. XVII They that handle the Histories of holy Scripture in Poems are admonished not to blend or intermingle Poetick Fables with them nor to give unto God the names of a false God nor to add unto nor take any thing from the Sacred Scriptures but they shall confine themselves as near as they can unto the words of it CAN. XVIII Neither the Canonical nor other Books of the Bible shall be transformed into Comedies or Tragedies CAN. XIX Churches which have Printers belonging to them shall advise them not to print any Books concerning Religion or the Discipline of the Church without having first Communicated them unto the Consistory because of those manifold Inconveniencies which have formerly happened upon this account And neither Printers nor Booksellers nor Hawkers shall sell any Books of Idolatry or that be Scandalous stuffed with Ribauldry or Impiety which tend to the corrupting of good Manners CAN. XX. Although Priests cannot lay any just claim or title unto Tyths in regard of their Ministry yet nevertheless they must be paid because of the King's Command and for the avoidance of Scandal and Sedition CAN. XXI According to his Majesties Edict the Faithful shall be exhorted to give none offence by working upon Holy-Days CAN. XXII All Usuries shall be most strictly forbidden and suppressed and matters of Loan shall be regulated according to the Kings Ordinance and the Rule of Charity CAN. XXIII All violence and injurious words against the Members of the Church of Rome as also against Priests and Monks shall not only be forborn but also as much as may be shall be totally suppressed CAN. XXIV Swearers who in passion or levity do take God's holy Name in vain and others who blaspheme the Divine Majesty shall be most severely censured and if after the second admonition they be not reclaimed they shall be then suspended from the Lord's Table And all Outragious Blasphemers Forswearers and such like Persons shall in no wise be tolerated in Church-Communion But immediately for their first offence shall be suspended the Lord's Supper and if they continue in their Ungodliness they shall be publickly Excommunicated CAN. XXV The Churches shall admonish the Faithful of both Sexes to retain Modesty and that most especially in their Habits and shall take care that all Superfluities heretofore committed in them may be retrenched But yet our Churches shall not make any Decree about it because it is an affair properly belonging unto the Civil Magistrate yet may they endeavour by their Remonstrances that his Majesties Edict concerning these matters be more diligently observed CAN. XXVI No Person shall be deprived of Communion at the Lord's Table for wearing any fashion of Apparel which is ordinarily and usually worn in this Kingdom But under this head those ought not to be comprised which carry with them a notorious Badge of Lasciviousness dissolution or over-curious novelty such as naked Breasts Painting and the like with which Men and Women cloath and abuse themselves And Consistories shall do their utmost to suppress these Impieties and shall proceed against the Refractory by Suspension from the Lord's Table N. B. That Clause in the middle of this Canon Printed in another Letter is found in my Parisian and Quevilly Editions of the Discipline yet injoined by the National Synods held at St. Foy 1578. Canon 21. of General Matters The second of Rochel 1581. Art 41. Explaining the 26 Canon in the last Chapter of the Discipline and the Synod of Montauban 1594. Canon 45. of General Matters CAN. XXVII All Dances shall be supprest and such as make a Trade of Dancing or make Custom of being present at Dances having been sundry times admonished in case they prove contumacious and Rebellious they shall be Excommunicated and all Consistories are charged to see that this Canon be most heedfully kept and observed and in the name of God and by the Authority of this Synod that it be read publickly in their Churches And Colloquies and Provincial Synods are exhorted to have an observing eye on those Consistories which shall not perform their duty in this particular that they may be censured N.B. Provincial Synods is left out by pure omission from my other Editions but those of Paris and Quevilly CAN. XXVIII Mummings and Juglings shall not be suffered nor Wassail-days nor keeping of Shrovetide nor Players at Heypass nor Tumblers nor Tricks of Goblets nor Puppet-Plays and Christian Magistrates are exhorted not to permit them because they do feed curiosity and cause a great deal of waste and loss of time Moreover it shall not be lawful for the Faithful to go to Comedies Tragedies Interludes Farces or other Stage-Plays acted in publick or private because in all Ages these have been forbidden among Christians as bringing in a corruption of good Manners but then most of all when as the Sacred Scriptures come to be profaned Yet nevertheless when as in a Colledge it shall be found profitable for Youth to represent any History it may be tolerated provided always that the subject matter thereof be not comprised in the holy Scripture which was never given us for matter of sport but purely to be Preached for our Instruction and Comfort And this also shall be done very rarely and with advice of the Colloquy which shall first have the sight and perusal of the Composition CAN. XXIX All Plays forbidden by the Kings Edicts as Cards Dice and other Games of hazard avarice lasciviousness notorious loss of time or scandal shall be suppressed and the Persons reproved and admonished in the Consistories and censured according to Circumstances No Lotteries can be approved although they were or were not allowed by the Civil Magistrate and the godly Magistrates professing the Reformed Religion are exhorted to restrain them N. B. This last Clause of the Canon is only in my two Editions of Paris and Quevilly CAN. XXX It is a thing purely indifferent to be present at those Feasts and Banquets which are made by those of the Popish Religion when as they are Espoused Married or their Children are born However the Faithful are admonished to use them for edification and seriously to ponder with themselves whether they be Masters of so much strength as to resist the dissolutions and other evils committed at them and especially whether they can reprove them And under these Feasts those are not to be comprised which Priests make at the Celebration of their first Mass for it is utterly unlawful for any one who
shall have power of Voting to avoid Confusion nor shall any Deputy depart the Synod without leave first had from the Moderator ART II. To the Fifth Article which ran thus A Minister accompanied with one Elder or Deacon at least from every Church shall meet together at least once a Year in every Province there shall be this added And they shall choose the most commodious Time and Place that may be for their Meeting ART III. The Sixth Article was thus altered and amended No Minister shall be now elected by one only Minister or his Consistory but with two or three Ministers together with the Consistory of the vacant Church or if it may be the Provincial Synod or by the Colloquy which shall be called to sit as much as may be in those places where Consistories be already instituted and unto this the Minister who is to be ordained shall make his Addresses and from the Colloquy he shall be presented unto the People to be accepted by them but in case any one oppose his Admission the Consistory shall judge hereof and if neither part consenteth senteth the whole shall be referred to the Provincial Synod which shall take cognisance as well of the Minister's Justification as of his Reception provided the Consistory and the greater part of the People do approve and consent unto it ART IV. There shall be this added to the Close of the Twelfth Article Vnless in in which those places where the Colloquy is made up of six Ministers at least case the Colloquy may take cognisance of this Intruding Minister ART V. Forasmuch as it is in no wise expedient that our People should bear Popish Preachers or any others who are not lawfully called to preach the Gospel in those Churches which have a settled and standing Ministry therefore all true Pastors are to hinder as much as in them lieth the wandring of their People after them ART VI. And whereas the Sixteenth Article begins thus Such as teach unsound Doctrine and being admonished will not forbear there shall be this Addition to it And those who shall disobey the godly Counsels of God's holy Word given them by the Consistory ART VII The Twenty Second and Twenty Third Articles of the said National Synod of Paris speaking of Elders and Deacons and of their Office were thus explained The Elders Office as now used by us is not perpetual And the Deacons Office is to Collect and Distribute the Poors Monies unto them and to the Prisoners and to the Sick and to Visit them in their Afflictions and to go from House to House and to Catechize the Members of those Families and in case any one of these Deacons be fit and qualified and promise to devote himself for life to the Service of God in the Ministry of the Gospel then he may be chosen by the Pastor and Consistory to Catechize publickly according to the Form received in our Churches and this by way of Tryal of their Gifts only without giving them any power of Administring the Holy Sacraments ART VIII Upon the Twenty Fourth Article it was said That it did not belong to the Office of Elders and Deacons to Catechize in publick and that their Office was not perpetual yet notwithstanding neither the one nor other may depart from it without leave first had and obtained from the Church ART IX Whereas the Thirty Third Article begins thus Marriages shall le propounded after those words Notary Publick shall be added Or sufficient Attestation where there is no Publick Notary CHAP. IV. New Articles added unto the Church-Discipline framed in the First Synod of PARIS May 1559. ART X. IT is now unanimously concluded That in the Close of every National Synod one certain particular Church shall be invested with full Power to call within the Year a General Council of all the Provinces in which there shall meet one Minister and one Elder or Deacon at least for every Province and other Ministers have liberty to come if they please and obtain leave from their Churches for so doing And this General Council shall determine of all Church-Matters nor shall there be any Appeal admitted from it excepting in such Points as itself shall judge needful to be turned over to the next General Council of all the Churches of this Kingdom and of other Persons who may think fit to come unto it And it is left wholly to the Prudence of the General Council in being to ascertain the time when the next General Council shall be Assembled which shall be according as the necessity of our Churches Affairs may require it ART XI And all Consistories shall be admonished by their Ministers that they do strictly forbid all Dancing Mummeries and Tricks of Jugglers ART XII And whoso is once denounced an Heretick or Schismatick shall also be declared such unto the other Churches that they may be aware of him ART XIII Item The Doctor in a Church may not Baptize nor Administer the Lord's Supper unless he be ordained a Minister as well as Doctor at the same time ART XIV In every Church the Candidates for the Ministery shall Preach upon Tryal and their Text shall be some certain Portion of God's holy Word and this as time and place may conveniently bear ART XV. Item Whatever shall be decreed by the Provincial Synods concerning the Suspension of Vagrant Ministers who intrude themselves into Churches it shall be as valid and effectual as if it had been ordained by the National Synod ART XVI All the Churches shall be admonished to Maintain and Relieve their Ministers in their Necessities And in case they should refuse a Competency unto their Pastors for their Subsistance and having been warned of this their Duty it may be lawful for those Pastors to remove from them and to engage themselves unto the Service of some other Church CHAP. V. General MATTERS ARTICLE I. IT is thought needful that in every Church there be a Consistory consisting of Ministers Deacons and Elders exercising their Offices who when Affairs so require may call in whom they think good to consult withal ART II. The Consistories of the respective Churches shall be advised that for time to come they do better discharge their Duty towards their Ministers by succouring them in their Necessities and raising Maintenance for them and their Families because Forreign Countries have been exceedingly scandalized at the Neglect and Ingratitude of divers Churches even in this particular ART III. No Matters shall be propounded unto the National Synods but such onely as could not be resolved in the Provincial nor shall any Cases be brought unto them but what are of general concernment to all the Churches ART IV. When as Contention or Debate may arise about Articles of Faith In Articles of Faith Doctrin or Heresie the Votes of Ministers Deacons and Elders equal But in Matters of Government the Votes of all shall be vallid notwithstanding the inequality of Numbers Doctrine or
watch mutually over one another as also other Letters unto the States acquainting them That because we cannot learn neither by Letter nor word of Mouth from their Deputy who those Ministers accused of Negligence be we will write in general concerning it unto the Provincial Synod of Languedoc And as to the third and fourth Articles this shall be inserted in the Letters to our Brethren of Languedoc That they do their endeavour to advance the Kingdom of God as much as in them lieth not only at home in their own Churches but if it may be done without incommoding their own Flocks abroad also And in the Letters to the Estates it shall be remonstrated That it is the Minister's Office to regulate them and their Flocks according to the Word of God and the Church's Discipline and that it is the Duty of Magistrates to watch over all Orders and Degrees of Men and in particular over Ministers that they walk uprightly in their Calling and in case Ministers be deficient and faulty that they cause them to be admonished and censured according to the Discipline by Classes and Synods Not hereby understanding such Crimes as are punishable by the Laws the Cognisance whereof doth properly appertain unto the Civil Magistrate As to the fifth sixth seventh and eighth Articles the Ministers of Languedoc shall be informed by our Letters to them that in case of lesser slighter private and domestick Injuries it shall be sufficient if a Member of the Consistory do secretly admonish the Offender But in case of publick and scandalous Offences as circumstances may be those who implead others at Law may be called into the Consistory unless besides their Law-suit they had committed some other and more scandalous Crime nevertheless they shall by Exhortations and other means endeavour to compromise and reconcile the litigant Parties And in our Letter to the States this Clause shall be insertted That though in Law-sence a Crime is then called publick when it merits exemplary Punishment yet we account that a publick Crime which coming to the knowledge of the World or of many does beget Scandal or evil Example so that all circumstances considered nothing hindreth but that these publick Crimes may be censured and corrected As to the ninth tenth and eleventh Articles by which the Estates demand Obedience to be yeilded unto Magistrates and in particular that they be called into Consistories Classes and Synods provided this be communicated unto both the Parties Plaintiff and Defendant this Council does freely grant it As to the twelfth and thirteenth Articles we answer That in the Civil Government the Magistrates Ordinances ought to be obeyed And in Ecclesiastical Affairs Ministers shall have the ordering of them in conjunction with Synods And when a Common concern doth offer itself to be discussed as for instance if this Question shall be propounded How many Ministers ought to be established in a City they shall consult together and ordain about it by joynt Suffrages Lastly as to the fourteenth Article it 's answered That Ministers may be removed from one Church unto another which shall be debated and resolved on by the Provincial Synods according to the Tenour of the sixteenth Article of our Discipline CHAP. XVI Cases of CONSCIENCE III. THe Brethren of Normandy requesting that the eighteenth Article of the Synod of Paris might be altered where it was ordained That no beneficed Persons or other such-like should be received into the Ministry without long Experience had both of their Life and Doctrine this present Assembly decreeth That the Article shall remain intire and in its full power without any Relaxation or Alteration and therefore that it be more diligently observed Beneficed Persons employing them to good and pious Uses and not partaking in Idolatry shall not be kept off from the LORD's Table IV. Such as hold Church-lands provided they do not pollute themselves in any manner with Idolatry and do their endeavour to root out all Superstition at least that there be none committed by their consent and authority and also protesting that they disclaim all Right that they might have from the Pope if also those Lands and Goods be visibly imployed in holy and lawful Uses forasmuch as the King grants Liberty of Conscience to enjoy them these Persons shall not be refused Communion at the Lord's Table V. It having been proposed Whether Maids above ten Years old should answer the publick Catechism This matter is left to the Prudence of the respective Consistories who shall act herein as will make most for Edification No other Council in the Church but the Consistory VI. The Church of Issoudun demanding Whether besides the Consistory it were not needful that the Church should have a Council to determinate all matters of difference arising in it After diligent consideration this Synod judgeth That it is the Duty of Consistories to determine all Church-Affairs and that it 's needless on this account to have an other standing Council besides those who are Officers in it VII The Brethren of Nismes having desired our Advice about Morning and Evening Prayers this Assembly dismisseth it over unto the Provincial Synods Magistrates may bâ—â—r office in the â—onsistory VIII Our Brethren of Normandy having propounded this case Whether a Magistrate might be called into Office by the Consistory This Assembly resolveth it may be done provided that the exercise of the one doth not hinder the other In Usuries the Rule of Charity See the Synod of Orâ—â—â—â—â—â— Art 6. 〈◊〉 Germâ—ns râ—mâ—ved prâ—â—â—ded there â—e 〈◊〉 Sea 〈◊〉 may maâ—ry 〈…〉 mâ—â—â—â—â— the â—eâ—â—â—d time and 〈…〉 fiâ—â—â— Wifâ—â—eâ—â—â—se oâ— her 〈◊〉 this Mâ—â—â—â—â—â—e is 〈…〉 the 〈◊〉 of the Mâ—nister 〈◊〉 â—â—vâ—al or not Crimes disâ—â—veâ—ed to him in Confessâ—â—n IX Concerning Interest of Money it is advised That the King's Edicts herein shall be universally observed as also the Rule of Charity X. The Minister of Normandy demanding Whether a Cousin-German removed might be married The Synod answers That if there be no Scandal taken by such a Marriage it may be done XI 'T is the joynt Opinion of all the Brethren That a second Marriage contracted by him who had forsook his Wife because of Leprosie is null and therefore till he be separated from his second Wife and the Scandal given by him be repaired he shall not be admitted unto the LORD's Table XII It 's lawful though not necessary for Protestants to publish their Banes of Marriage in Popish Temples XIII A Minister demanding our Advice Whether a Person begging his advice and comfort under inward Perplexities and confessing to him secretly great Crimes he ought to discover them unto the Magistrate We answer That it is left wholly to the conscience of the Minister who must prudently consider all circumstances XIV Ministers contracting unfitting Marriages which beget Scandal the Brethren in this Synod do judge that Consistories shall proceed in such a manner against these Delinquents by Church-censures that all occasion of Scandal for
the future be prevented XV. To the case Whether a Promise made by a Maid at the Age of eleven with the consent of her Parents to which before twelve she had renounced Ministers contracting unfitting Marriages to be severely censured Promises of Marriage made by Minors though with the consent of Parents are null A Papist maynot be married unless he or she do renounce the Mass Renters of Benefices where Idolatry is shall within a limited time be excommucate He that continues and hardens himself in his sins shall be excommunicate might be dissolved This answer was given That such a Promise was Null XVI It being moved Whether Ministers might marry them who were downright Papists The Synod answers That it may not be done unless they do positively renounce the Mass XVII Gentlemen or other renting Benefices from Priests where Idolatry is not as yet purged shall be seriously admonished to abstain from so doing within a certain fixed time and in case of final Disobedience to this Admonition they shall be cut off from Communion at the Lord's Table XVIII As to the difficulty propounded by our Brethren of Nismes Whether a Minister may with a good Conscience leave his Church when his Wife after that he hath done his Duty in order to her Conversion will not live with him It is answered That all circumstances considered he shall renew his Endeavours for the Conversion of his Wife and in the mean while he shall have his liberty to resume again his Charge as soon as he shall have reduced his Wife unto her Duty XIX Our Brother of Xaintes having demanded what is to be done in this case A Man having done publick Penance in the Church for divers Faults committed by him yet again and again returns unto the same Sins ought he to be excommunicated or not Our Judgment is because he hath not truely hearkned unto the Church that he be excommunicate XX. As to that Question Whether the Promises of Marriage may be given before a Priest because the Mother will have her Daughter contracted by a Priest It is answered Forasmuch as the presence of the Priest is only required that the Espousals should be performed by him 't is our Advice that it ought not to be done XXI A young Man promiseth Marriage unto a Maid with this express Condition inserted in the Contract That he promiseth Marriage provided the Maid consents to be married in the Reformed Church the Maid promiseth and consents for a time afterward seeing the Troubles arising for Religion she will not yeild unto it and saith farther That she will never have this young Man It 's demanded Whether he is hereby freed from his Promise We answer The young Man shall endeavour by his diligent Sollicitations to perswade her and 't is left to the prudence of the Consistory to judge of the Diligences used by him and accordingly to proceed to a Declaration of the Nullity of the Marriage if need be XXII Such as bearing Office in the Reformed Church having in times of Persecution fallen into Idolatry shall be deposed from their said Office and before they be again received unto the Lord's Table shall undergo publick Penance And if private Persons are guilty of the same Crime they shall do the same Penance enjoyned them by the Consistory all which shall be performed with Christian Charity and due Moderation according to the Rules of our Ecclesiastical Discipline XXIII The case being moved Whether it be sufficient that the Fornication of a Man be proved by his Harlot and the Testimony of some worthy Person who shall depose that he heard the Fornicator acknowledge his Crime and that those belonging to the House do testifie of theit frequenting each others company 'T is our Counsel That the Consistory of the Church would exhort the Accused to confess the Truth confronting him the Harlot and Witnesses together and to examine well all Circumstances And if he persist in his Denial yet to suspend him from the Lord's Supper provided the Witness be an honest Person and without reproach XXIV The Churches shall be advertised not to celebrate the Marriage of strange Persons who dwell not in the places where those Marriages are to be solemnized unless they bring Certificates from those Churches whereunto they do belong A Pagan Maid must not be baptized till she have been well instructed in the Christian Religion XXV A Maid brought from among Salvages and not instructed in the Principles of Christian Religion ought not to be baptized before she can give a rational account of her Faith and that by a publick Confession XXVI In the Province of Berry whenas over and above the Synodical Assemblies and Propositions to exercise the Gifts of young unordained Preachers in order to their Approbation for the Ministry there shall be other Assemblies specially convened to consult about necessary and emergent Affairs they shall be held by the common Agreement of the Churches Consistories and not by any other Authority that so that Article of our Discipline may not be thwarted which expresly ordaineth that no Church shall usurp any Authority over another XXVII The Minister of Memiot desiring our Judgment in this case A Gentleman caused his Child to be baptized by a Priest who continues practising his Idolatry Shall this Child be rebaptized or not It 's answered in the Negative XXVIII The Minister of Chasteneauef and Mazon desired Resolution unto this case Whether he may with a good Conscience lend another his Name that under the covert thereof he might enjoy the Profits of a certain Benefice We answer That he ought not to do it in any wise XXIX Forasmuch as the Minister of New castel in Normandy hath of his own accord forsaken his Ministry induced thereunto by the perswasions of his Wife as he protested before the Colloquy at Diep it is resolved that the Brethren Ministers of that Colloquy shall censure him according to his Deservings and put him in the Catalogue of Desertors A Man may not marry his Brother's Widow XXX It being demanded Whether it were only a Prohibition of Humane Laws That the Widow of the deceased Brother might not be married to his surviving Brother The Council answered That such Marriages were also forbidden by the Word of God And though under the Law of Moses it was ordained That when the elder Brother died childless the younger Brother should raise up Seed unto him yet this was only a temporary Law to God's Ancient Israel and intended only for the preservation and distinction of their Tribes XXXI One having renounced his Benefices demands advice What he shall do with his Writings Deeds and other Evidences belonging unto the Lands and Revenues of those his said Benefices We advise him to discharge himself by due course of Law according to the Ordinance of the Magistrate and he shall cancel his Letters of Presentation XXXII A certain Lady craves our Advice Whether she may claim her Right and Interests in a
and judge whether the Crime related to them and whereof the Sinner hath been first of all admonished deserve for its heinousness Suspension or no and if it do then he who shall have committed such a sin shall for some time be deprived of the Lord's Supper in order to his Humiliation and the Tryal of his Repentance But if the sin be known only to a few Persons this Suspension nor its cause may not be signified unto the People least the Sinner be the more defamed See the Synod of Nismes Art 5. and his sin made more scandalous and notorious than it was and it shall be sufficient if in this case he do only acknowledge his sin unto the Consistory that so he may be received unto the Table of our Lord Jesus But as for those who having been oftentimes admonished of their sins shall ever shew themselves Disobedient to the Consistory and those also who being guilty of great and enormous Crimes punishable by the Civil Magistrate and which bring publick Scandal upon the Church altho' there may be observed some beginnings of Repentance in them shall nevertheless be out of hand suspended the Lord's Table and the said Suspension shall be published unto the People that so the Church of God may be discharged of all Blame and Reproach and that such Sinners may be the more deeply humbled in the exercise and proof of their Repentance and an Holy Terrour struck into the hearts of others and if after some good space of time there appearing solid proofs and evidences of their Conversion and Repentance attested to by sufficient Witnesses the Judgment whereof belongs unto the Consistory they shall be publickly reconciled unto the Church by Confession of their Offences and Expressions of true Repentance that so they may purge away and repair the Scandal they had given unto the whole Church and then they shall be admitted unto the Lord's Table But and if it should happen Degrees of proceeding to the last Excommunication that after along and patient waiting and divers Admonitions made by the Consistory and the aforesaid Proceedings observed and practised and all charitable Endeavours used for the regaining of the Sinner he nevertheless abide obstinate and impenitent then the Pastor in the Name of the whole Church shall proceed against him by publick Admonitions declaring unto the whole Church his Offences protesting also of their due and religious Care for him and Carriage towards him tho' without any fruit or benefit exhorting the whole Church to seek God earnestly on his behalf and to use all means that may bring him to a sight and sence of his sin that so that dreadful Sentence of Excommunication and Cutting off from the Church of God whereunto she cannot proceed but with the greatest Regret and Grief may be prevented And the said Pastor shall in his Sermon from the Word of God declare the true right and lawful Use of this Censure that every one may be instructed in his Duty both towards God and his Neighbour and that all may understand that this last Remedy is used with this Sinner for the Glory of God the Honour and Reputation of the Church and the Salvation of his Soul in particular And these publick Admonitions and Denunciations shall be prosecuted and continued three several times on three several Lord's Days on the first of which the Sinner shall not be mentioned by Name that so in some sort he may be spared though he be already too well known unto the People but on the two succeeding Sundays he shall be particularly named And if after all this he does not repent nor become a Convert but persisteth obstinately in his sinful Courses then on the fourth Lord's Day in the face and presence of the whole Congregation such a one mentioning him by Name shall be declared and pronounced Excommunicate and cut off as a rotten Member from the Body of the Church the Pastor declaring it authoritatively from the Word of God in the Name and with the Consent of the whole Church Those who are thus excommunicate and cut off shall be deprived of all Communion with the Church and of all it's Priviledges and the Faithful shall be admonished neither to converse familiarly with them nor to frequent their Company that so they may be ashamed humbled and brought unto Repentance the truth whereof shall be demonstrated by good Fruits and unexceptionable Evidences known unto the Consistory who shall judge whether they ought to be received again into the Church and having called seen and heard them and found them truely penitent it shall be published by the Pastor unto the whole Congregation that so they may be stirred up to praise God for touching their hearts with Remorse and recovering them unto Repentance And then these Penitents shall come before the whole Church to give satisfaction for their past Scandal confessing and detesting their former Sins and Rebellions begging humbly Pardon of God and the Church for them and thus shall they be received unto the Church's Peace and Fellowship with Joy and Publick Thanksgiving CHAP. IV. III. FOrasmuch as the Holy Apostle hath ordained That such as approach unto the Lord's Table should examine themselves and this being a principal Point of that Examination that we search into ourselves diligently to see and discover whether we have truely renounced all sins and those sins especially which are most contrary to God's pure and holy Worship as Idolatry and its Appurtenances are and because such as are beneficed by Papal Provisions tho' of different degrees notwithstanding their Knowledge and Profession of the Gospel-Truth and retaining the quality of Incumbents or injoying the Fruits of their Benefices no matter how it be they do seem to us not to have discharged this their Duty The Question having been put in general Whether they should be received unto the Lord's Supper Wheeher beneficed Persons ought to be received to the Lord's Table they professing the Truth of the Gospel The Brethren are of Opinion That we must here distinguish there being some who having devested themselves of all Title to their Benefices do yet reserve unto themselves Pensions out of them which they injoy either by Provision from Rome or by private Compact between themselves and those to whom they have resigned or some other way be it what it will these shall be told That they cannot use this Traffick without greatly offending GOD. Because one of these Parties grounding this Reservation upon the Pope's Grants and maintaing himself in it by his Authority doth as much as in him lieth own and avow his Supremacy And the other Party because he receiveth Wages from the Evil he hath done his Neighbour and receiveth an yearly Tribute from him who by this means is subjected unto Conditions full of Impiety and Idolatry by which Fact they approve of that Evil they have already done and continue in it and therefore they shall from the Word of God be admonished not to
this nature should have a perpetual tendency to the Churches edifying So that when Parents or Sureties do offer Children unto Baptism and desire their own Names to be put upon them this their Request shall be granted provided they be not Names prohibited in the close of the Ninth Canon of Baptism as the Names of God Angel or Office or such as be notoriously ridiculous V. Colloquies and Provincial Synods shall most humbly intreat and exhort Kings Princes Great Lords and all Impropriators of Church-Lands and all our opulent and wealthy Churches to lay by and dedicate some considerable Portion of their yearly Incomes Estates and Revenues towards the maintenance of Students in Divinity and of poor Schollars of excellent and hopeful Parts who may be hereafter imployed in the Sacred Ministry And that this Canon may be observed this Assembly will give the first Example and doth now order that Letters shall be written unto those most Illustrious and Noble Personages and to our richest Churches inviting them unto this most needful Contribution and these Letters shall be signed in the Name of this National Synod by the Moderator Assessor and Scribe VI. National and Provincial Synods shall be held once every Year for time coming and Colloquies twice a Year but by this Canon we do not intend to abridge the Provinces who can better do it of their Priviledge in observing the first established Order Pastors must come accompanied with one Elder unto Synods or Classes VII Pastors shall ever come unto these Ecclesiastical Assemblies accompanied with an Elder and in case they be sent alone there shall be no regard had unto Memoirs as in like manner it shall be with the Elders if they come singly Sureties must ponder seriously their Engagements at Baptism VIII Pastors shall diligently exhort all Sureties of both Sexes seriously to weigh and consider their Promises ingaged at Baptism and Parents shall be advised to chuse such Sureties for their Children as are well instructed in Religion and of exemplary Life and Conversation or at least such as if need be may be able to educate their Children in the knowledge and fear of God Some Crimes shall not be blotted out the Books of Consistory IX Upon Repentance and Satisfaction given unto the Church all Crimes and Offences shall be razed out of the Books of Consistories except such who for their Contumacy and Rebellion had been censured with Suspension from the Lord's Supper or Excommunication None of the Consistory may declare the Sins of ingenuous Penitents X. Consistories shall not give in Evidence against any Person by Act or any other way unto the Magistrate And the Members of those Consistories shall not reveal any Person the Confessions of Penitents who voluntarily and of their own accord or by Admonitions given them shall have confessed and acknowledged their Offences XI Forasmuch as divers sickly Persons are Communicants at the Lord's Table and some for fear of Infection scruple to take the Cup after them Pastors and Elders are advised to use their best prudence and discretion in this case CHAP. III. XII A Woman having been joyned in Marriage unto one who was formerly a Monk or Priest and since returned unto his former Profession may not marry another Man until such time as her first Marriage be dissolved and the Sentence of Dissolution shall be pronounced as of Right it ought by the Magistrate XIII Pastors are left unto their liberty to use either the accustomed words or any other words in the Administration of the Lord's Supper it being a matter indifferent The Faithful may not hold any Benefices where there is peril of Idolatry See the Second Synod of Rochel art 34.37 provided they be such as tend unto edification XIV In the case of Benefices to which there is a Right of Patronage by presentation from the Lord of the Mannor or by the interposal of the Bishop of the Diocess the Faithful must be advised not in the least to retain them thô they were freely given them without any Condition express or implicite of Service unto the Idol XV. Farmers of the Temporalities of the Clergy of their Rents Tithes and such-like Matters shall observe the Nineteenth Article of the last National Synod held at St. Foy which was to intermeddle as little as may be with such Concerns because of divers Abuses and Inconveniences that might happen about them Which ceasing those of the Reformed Religion may lawfully farm them And all Consistories are desired to take Notice of it XVI See the Second Synod of Rochel Art 50. How Parents ought to behave themselves when they marry their Children to one of a contrary Religion Parents professing the Reformed Religion having Idolatrous Children of a Religion contrary to their own who would take them Wives Idolaters like themselves shall be advised to use their utmost endeavour to turn away their Children from such a Marriage especially if as yet they be Minors and not emancipated from under their Paternal Authority But in case they cannot prevail upon them whenas the Marriage-Articles shall be signed they shall openly protest their abhorrency of that Idolatry into which their Children do so wickedly plunge themselves and afterwards may give their Consent to the Promises and Conditions concerning the Portion and other such-like Matters XVII Publick Penances to be used prudently See the Second Synod of Rochel Art 26. Consistories are advised to take care that Publick Penances be used very seldom and with a great deal of prudence and only for publick notorious Crimes really committed which are come to the knowledge of the far greater part of the Church and in this case the scandalous sin itself shall be particularly confessed No Book of the Holy Scripture shall be turn'd into Plays XVIII Neither the Canonical nor Apocryphal Books of the Holy Bible shall be transformed into Comedies of Tragedies XIX No Church nor Province shall make any Ordinance unless for Substance it be conformable to the General Articles of our Church-Discipline Ministers by their Personal Promises shall not be obliged to any Church XX. No Church shall pretend Title or Right unto any Minister because of his particular Promise given them without the Authority of the Colloquy of Provincial Synod XXI In case a Minister be destitute of a Church in his own Province and Colloquy and shall lend his Service unto another Church out of his Province which hath desired him so to do till the next Synod and if that Synod when convened cannot employ him in its own Province he shall then be the peculiar Minister of that Church which had demanded him provided it be done with the full content of the Church And this Canon shall bind for the future but without any prejudice to the time past XXII In the first Article concerning Elders and Deacons after these words The Duties of their Office shall be read there shall be this addition And a particular Prayer shall
Monsieur de Lestang-Godion Minister of Coue in Poictou and Monsieur de Chauveton Lord of Beauvois and Minister of the Church of St. Martins in the Isle of Re were also voted to be Scribes CHAP. II. General MATTERS I. ALL the Deputies protested in the Name of the Churches of their respective Provinces that they would persevere in the Union of that Doctrine and Confession of Faith which was formerly subscribed in the National Synod held in this City in the Year 1571. and now exhibited read and recognized in this Assembly Moreover the said Deputies certifyed and declared that they had not the least notice given them of any manner of opposition to it but a general Acquiescency in the said Doctrine and Confession of Faith in all their Churches For which they did unanimously praise God One Minister enough to ordain another II. The Book of Discipline being read It was ordained that the fourth Article in the Chapter of Ministers should remain entire as it was excepting that instead of three or four Ministers required to present the new elected Minister unto the Ministery one only should be sufficient III. In the Margent of the 5th Article this shall be inserted That the said Article was only appointed for such a time when as a Province had no Churches constituted in it and not for the present Day when as blessed be God every Province in the Kingdom hath divers of them IV. These were declared Apostates by the Isle of France and their Declaration approved of by this National Synod Toussainct le Gibou in Normandy Launay in Brie And Panctier in Picardy a Deserter Grenet a Minister of La Garnache in Lower Poictou a Vagrant and Quenet in the Colloquy of Vsez and Monsieur Beazer was ordered to make inquiry about one called du Plessis V. The 22d Article of the Synod of St. Foy concerning Ministers who Practice Physick having been read was Approved as being consonant to the Word of God And this Assembly being informed that divers Ministers do more employ themselves in Physick than in the Duties of their Ministery The Deputies of the Province in which they live were ordered to exhort them to intend and mind their Ministery and to yield plenary Obedience unto God's Word in this Article or otherwise the Colloquies and Synods shall proceed against them according to the Rules of our Discipline VI. Princes and great Lords shall be advised to observe the Articles of our Discipline and to send their Ministers to our National and Provincial Synods and Colloquies VII The 12th Article of our Discipline and the 21th and 33d of the Synod of Figeac were thus confirmed 'T is the Judgment of this Assembly that a Pastor being duely discharged from his Church if the Colloquy or Provincial Synod in which he served do not within a Month provide him another Congregation he may accept of the first Call given him by any other Province and this according to the Canons of our Discipline VIII The 15th Article of our Discipline concerning Ministers was confirmed but with this Proviso That these words Composed of six at the least shall be left out IX And that the said Article may be the better understood After these words Who shall have intruded into a Church this shall be added Altho' he had been afterwards chosen by the People X. And whereas in the 16th Article it was thus written The Reasons it shall be added And the Reasons being well examin'd XI And to that of Professors shall be added Regents and School-masters XII Elders in the Pastor's absence may warrantably perform that Duty of publick Common-Prayer especially if they have been thereunto appoint-by the Consistory XIII Whereas in the 6th Article concerning Elders and Deacons it is said that no Elders shall pretend to Primacy Let this be added neither in Election nor Precedency nor in order of Suffrages nor in any other thing belonging to their Office of Elders XIV The 7th Article concerning Elders and Deacons shall be most diligently observed XV. Ministers and Elders are required to use their utmost Endeavour that the Twelfth Article in the Chapter of Consistories be punctually observed XVI Advise was taken on the Third Article of Consistories which treats of Certificates given unto Passengers That for time coming good and vallid Causes moving us hereunto The first Certificates shall neither be kept nor broken until such time as they be come unto their journies end mentioned in them and then and there the said Certificates shall be detain'd and cancelled and Certificates shall be given very rarely unto any Persons XVII The Tenth Article of Figeac shall be closed up with this Addition If it be not with Consent of the Consistories no Offences shall be discovered to the Civil Magistrate The 5th Penny of all Charities shall be applied towards the Maintenance of Proposans XVIII His Majesty the King of Navar and his Higness the Prince of Conde and other Lords professing our Holy Reformed Religion shall be most humbly desired to contribute liberally towards the Maintenance of poor Scholars and Proposans designed for the Ministery And all Churches are exhorted to press this Duty vigorously upon their richer and more substantial Members that so every Colloquy may be able at least to give Subsistance unto one Proposan and if it can be conveniently the fifth Penny of all Charity-monies shall be allotted to this very purpose XIX That the 13th Article of Consistories may be executed concerning a Collection of all memorable Acts relating to the Church's Sufferings it is thought meet that every Colloquy do depute a Minister to whom all the Churches shall send their Memoirs that they may be brought unto the Provincial Synod and thence unto the National XX. Such Professors as range abroad to hear the Word in one Church and receive the Sacrament in another shall be admonished of their Duty to fix themselves to some particular Church of Christ and in case of neglect they shall be censured XXI In the first Article concerning Delinquents next after these words Nor the Cause of it shall be added this nor in like manner the Restitution and these words shall be razed out Lest they be defamed CHAP. III. XXII IT being desired that the 3d Article of the Synod of Figeac might be explained the Assembly voted that towards the close of it there should be this Addition viz. That it was left wholly to the Prudence of the Consistory whether they would mention by name or not those who had a long time since revolted but as for them who were but of late Apostates Censures shall be pronounc'd against them according to the Tenor of that Canon unless that by such a Personal Denunciation of those Sinners the Consistory might foresee some great and notable Danger like to betide the Church In which case nothing shall be done without the Advice of the Provincial Synod XXIII If the Members of one Church fallen into Idolatry happen to take up their abode in
the preservation of their mutual Union and to obtain a commodious Peace it was very well accepted and approved by this Synod who farther declared the necessity of a punctual and general Observation of it at least until such times as it shall please God to incline the Heart of our King to grant us the Free Exercise of our Religion by a Royal and Favourable Edict which may be embraced and approved by all the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom And that the said Union and Order may be carefully preserved all Pastors Colloquies and Provincial Synods are earnestly intreated to put to their helping hand XXXV Professors of our holy Religion having Law-suits or Differences among themselves be it either in Matters Civil or Criminal shall be seriously exhorted by their Pastors to compose their Quarrels by Arbitrators of our own Religion without impleading one another at the Bars of Popish Judges CHAP. V. Of APPEALS I. AN Appeal being brought by the Deputy of the Church of Dangeau re-demanding Monsieur Vian who by certain Colloquies was Licensed and sent unto the Church of Marchenoir and whereunto the Provincial Synod had also consented Upon hearing the Deputies of both Churches and the said Monsieur Vian this Assembly ordered That the said Vian should be appropriated unto the Church of D'angeau and that as he returned homeward he should preach some Sermons at D'angeau aforesaid and then return unto Machenoir where he shall remain by the space of one Month and if within that time the Church of D'angeau do not pay him all the Arrerages of his Stipend which they owe him he shall be affixed wholly unto the foresaid Church of Marchenior and if he be satisfied and return to D'angeau he shall be paid hereafter duly every Quarter his Salary and in case the said Church should again fail in her Duty as formerly in not satisfying the said Vian within three Months that Order of the Provincial Synod shall be confirmed and the said Monsieur Vian shall be appropriated unto the Church of Marchenior II. An Appeal being brought by the Church of Fescamp concerning the Person of Monsieur Lazarus Robert their Pastor who by the Provincial Synod of Normandy was lent unto the Church of Pont-dorson it is ordained That the said Monsieur Lazarus shall remain with his Church of Fescamp provided they take care for his better maintenance III. The Church of St. John d' Angely brought an Appeal by the Advice of the Synod of Xaintonge wherein they declare That * * * Monsieur D'amours was a mighty Man in Prayer and Chaplain in Ordinary to Henry IV. before his last Apostasie The very Papists in the Army and the greatest Lords and Commanders in it were melted by him in that Duty and would call upon the King That before they went to fight that the Minister who prayed yesterday might pray again Monsieur D'amours was sent unto the Church of Barbezieux the Letters and Memoirs of the Consistory and other Writings having been read this Assembly determined That the Synod of Xaintonge had very good and sufficient grounds for their disposal of Monsieur D'amours but Madam the King 's only Sister having requested of this National Synod by her Letter That the said Monsieur D'amours might be Pastor to the Church in her Family this Assembly granteth unto her Royal Highness the said Monsieur D'amours for the Service of her Church and Family and forasmuch as the said D'amours doth ordinarily reside at St. John the said Church is intreated to help that of Barbezieux and in case they do not the Provincial Synod are ordered to make provision for them Monsieur Turquet Deputy for the Church of Lion entred his Protest against this Ordinance concerning Monsieur D'amours as prejudicial to the Church of Lions which claimed him of Right as their own IV. An Appeal was brought by the Church of Marianges from the Provincial Synod of Languedoc which had adjudged Monsieur Moinier to the Church of Nismes the Church of Nismes requesting That in regard of her great Needs Monsieur Moinier might be left unto her This Synod de creeth That forasmuch as the said Church of Marianges hath not appeared to defend its Appeal the Order of the Provincial Synod of Languedoc shall stand in force V. Complaint being made by the Church of Aymet against a Decree passed in the National Synod of Montauban which adjudged Monsieur Balarand unto the Church of Castres the Deputy of Aymet requiring that the said Decree might be revers'd and the said Balarand restored unto the Church of Aymet for the Reasons assigned by them and Monsieur Rotan being heard on the behalf of the Church of Castres it is ordained by this present Synod That Monsieur Balarand doth of Right belong unto the Church of Aymet and that he shall be restored again unto the said Church which may recal him within three Months counting from this 14th of June 1596 and in case of his Disobedience unto this Order he shall be interdicted the Exercise of his Ministry VI. An Appeal was brought by Monsieur Simon L'hermite Lord of Puy deposed from the holy Ministry by the Colloquy and Classis of Fontenay held at St. Germain in March last the causes and grounds of his Appeal having been reported to us and the motives inducing the said Colloquy to depose him to wit his pertinacious asserting That the Humane Nature of our Lord Jesus Christ was destroyed in his Death This Synod appointed Master Merlin Rotan de Serres and the Lord du Plessis to confer with the said du Puy and to convince him of his Error who relating to us That the said du Puy doth own and approve our Confession of Faith and that he had offended and fallen into an Error as above-mentioned which also the said du Puy confessed openly before this Assembly That he had held that erroneous Opinion but doth now acknowledge the Humanity of our Lord Jesus to have been ever conjoyned to his Divinity in Life and Death yea whilst his Body lay in the Grave and he doth abjure all other Errors contrary unto this Truth now subscribed by him The Deputies also of the Province of Poictou having been heard upon the whole matter this Assembly approveth the Proceedings of the said Colloquy as just and equitable But because the said du Puy hath abjur'd that his Error and earnestly desireth to serve the Church of God and promiseth for the future to carry himself with greater modesty and humility this Assembly doth restore the said du Puy unto his Office of the Ministry yet ordaineth That for three Months he shall be silent and not exercise any of the Publick Duties thereof which time expired he getting a Certificate of his pious Conversation from that Church wherein he liveth he may be by the approbation of the Colloquies sent unto any Congregation which shall give him a Call CHAP. VI. Particular MATTERS I. THE Theses of Anthony de L' Escale being presented unto this Synod
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
the Church of Loudun Anger 's Touars of the Isle Bouchart and Saumur and the late Monsieur Craig Professor of Divinity in the University of Saumur had been called in by him unto his Assistance in this affair from which at last there resulted a good Accord between both the Parties who were mutually reconciled in points of Doctrine notwithstanding that some harsh words if rigorously taken and badly understood might be drawn contrary to their avowed sense and sentiments Thanks were ordered in the name of this Synod to be returned unto the Illustrious Lord Du Plessis and to the R. Reverend Monsieur Rivet our Moderator now present and the same also should be rendered unto his Collegues by the Deputies of their Province and special notice hereof should be given by every one of them unto their Synodical Assemblies that so thanks might be offered up unto God unanimously and as it were with one mouth and humbly to beg of his most glorious Majesty that this sacred Concord might not only be confirmed by an uniform judgment between these two Eminent Members but also betwixt all the rest of our Body However afterward Tilenus deserted the Communion of our Churches and died in that of the Arminians 8. Letters shall be written from this Assembly unto the Lord Mareschall Duke of Lesdiguieres Gap g. m. â— Tonneins p. m. 39. intreating him to recommend unto his Royal Highness the Duke of Savoy the poor Protestants banished out of the Marquisate of Saluces beseeching him that he would be pleased to permit them out of his Royal Favour to return unto their Houses and Inheritance and that he would grant unto them their former Liberty of Conscience in the Service and Worship of God CHAP. VI. Appeals 1. AN Appeal being brought by the Church of St. Fulgent from the Sentence given out against them in the Provincial Synod of Poictou held at Touars which had ordained that Monsieur de la Beguadiere should continue with the Church of Montague This Assembly having seen the Memoirs of the said Church of St. Fulgent produced by the Provincial Deputies of Brittain and heard the said de la Begaudiere speak for himself judgeth that the Appeal ought not to be admitted and confirmeth the Decree of the said Provincial Synod of Touars yet it doth also ordain that the Province of Poictou ought to consider the necessity of that Church of St. Fulgent lest it should be at last dissipated for want of a Pastor 2. The Church of Rochefoucault Tonneins p. m. 8. appealing from a Decree of the Provincial Synod of Xaintonge held at Rochel which had ordained that the Colledge there established should be transferr'd unto the Town of Pons and the City and Church of St. John d' Angely appealing from the said Ordinance and demanding that the Colledge might be fixed with them This Assembly judgeth that the said Province ought not to have made the said Translation and therefore confirmeth unto the Church of Rochefoucault the Colledge until the sitting of the next National Synod when in case it shall appear that the said Colledge hath not been well-maintained nor the youth duly educated and instructed The said Synod may remove it unto that place where they conceive it will be most beneficial to the Church and Province and the Church of St. John d' Angely are exhorted to erect of themselves a Colledge since God hath blessed them with means and ability for so doing and the National Synod taking notice of their duty in this particular shall give them such Incouragement as in its wisdom shall be judged needful 3. Alez Observ upon this Synod Monsieur Beauchamp Pastor of the Church of Belin appealed from the judgment of the Province of Brittain and his Appeal was received although his affair were of that kind which might be decided finally by the Neighbour Province This Synod therefore amending the Judgment of the aforesaid Province ordaineth That Supplicatory Letters shall be written unto the Lord Duke of Rohan that the Intendant of his Houshold do perform the Agreement which was made with the said Monsieur Beauchamp and in case it be not done that then the Province shall see him satisfied because that during these four years wherein the said Sieur Beauchamp hath officiated as Minister in the Family of the said Lord Duke the Province received that portion of Moneys from the Kings Bounty which belonged to the said Monsieur Beauchamp This Mahaut afterward revolted 4. The Sieur Mahaut had his Appeal admitted against the Judgment of the Province of Brittain although he was freed from it and set in the Catalogue of Pastors to be disposed of and provided for by this National Synod and in case before the breaking up of this Assembly he be not presented unto a Church he shall be wholly at his own Liberty to dispose of himself in any Province of this Kingdom where God shall be pleased to call him And the Lord of Candal is requested to retain in his hands a portion belonging unto Ministers to be paid into that Province where ever he shall be imployed as a Pastor And for as much as the Province of Brittain hath received in his name the moneys granted us from his Majesty's Bounty they shall make him restitution and reimburse him all the arrears of his portion free of all Costs Taxes and Charges whatsoever deducting only what he hath received of that money from the time in which he quitted the Church of La Mussaye until now 5. The Church of St. Martyn appealed from a Decree of the Synod of Sevennes which had separated it from the Churches of Brenons and La Molouze This Assembly approved of that their Decree but yet injoineth the said Province to take care that the Ministry of the Gospel of Christ be constantly kept up in the Church of St. Martyn and that they do give them all necessary supplies out of the monies of his Majesties Bounty assigned unto the said Province 6. Monsieur Clemenceau Pastor of the Church of Poictiers appealing from the Synod of Poictou which in prejudice to the Colloquy of Higher Poictou had ordered 50 l. to be taken out of the 150 Livers assigned by the said Colloquy to the Son of the said Sieur Clemenceau and given unto the Son of Monsieur de Faure Pastor of the Church of Aubenas This Assembly ratifying the judgment of the said Colloquy reverseth that of the Synod which is injoined out of their own stock attributed to them to raise fifty Livers for the young le Favre Tonneins Observ 7. on the former Synod 7. The Church of Niort appealing from the Judgment of the Province of Poictou which refused to allow them their charges which they had disbursed in getting a supply during the absence of Monsieur Chauffepied their Pastor who was sent unto the last political Assembly This Synod declares that this affair is of that kind which ought to be finally determined by a Neighbour Province but yet
m. 19. Alez Obs 6. upon this Synod touching the most proper means of entertaining a good Correspondence with all Orthodox Churches and to procure a good Union in Doctrine betwixt us and them and to invite over unto the same Communication even those that are of a different perswasion from us All the Provinces declared what had been done by them as to this matter This Assembly did thereupon judge expedient that we should make a little halt till such time as those who had first made these Overtures did prosecute this affair with more vigour And in the mean while Monsieur Rivett Pastor of the Church of Touars Chauves Pastor of the Church in Sommieres Chamier Pastor and Professor in the Church and University of Montalban and du Moulin Pastor of the Church of Paris are nominated a Committee and to consult of such a project as will best conduce to the accomplishing of this design After which in case they be summon'd and called forth unto this work they shall all meet together at Saumur and conjointly with the Lord du Plessis and the Pastors and Professors of Divinity in that Church and University deliberate about it and shall draw put a Plot of it which shall be sent into every Province there to be perused and debated by their Synods that so their Deputies may come prepared for it unto the next National Synod 7. Whereas divers Provinces had charged their Deputies to demand of this Assembly a National Fast to be celebrated in all the Churches of this Kingdom Gergeau g. m. 13. Now for that it hath pleased God to turn away his wrath from us and to give us manifest tokens of his goodness it was not judged expedient at this time to proclaim a General Fast but according to the Canons of our National Synods that Province whose right it is to Convene the next National Synod is ordered to consult with our Lords the General Deputies about it who are intreated that in case any emergent Providence doth summon the Churches to sanctify an extraordinary Fast to confer with the Consistory of Paris about it and to acquaint the said Province therewith whose Synod being assembled and resolving on it they shall give notice of the time for its Celebration unto all the other Provinces 3 Rochel g. m. 9. and in the Roll. See at the Conclus of Tonneins above Art 3. after the Roll. 8. The Deputies of the Churches in the Principality of Bearn gave in their reasons wherefore they had not accepted that priviledge of calling this present National Synod which was at their request granted them by the last held at Tonneins and on those terms and condition mentioned in the Article of the said Synod This Assembly did not now â—â—dge it reasonable that those Churches should be subject to the Discipline of our Churches in this Kingdom or that for the present they should immedâ—â—â—â—y depend on our National Synods Privas p. m. 14. See the second Synod of Charenton 2 Obs upon the Acts of the former National Synod But nevertheless they shall give in their final resolutions what they intend to do unto the next National Synod and in case they be of the same mind then as they are now this Assembly declareth that their Deputies may have the priviledge of sitting and voting in our National Synods upon this Condition that they shall first ask leave of the Provinces to give in their Suffrages in such Cases as concern the Churches of this Kingdom 9. It was told in this Assembly how much the Church of Sancerre was oppressed by the Earl of Marans one of whose men had but a few days since assassinated a very Eminent Member of that Church It was immediately judged necessary to write unto his Majesty about it and that the Lord of Bertreville our General Deputy should deliver with his own hands unto the King this our Letter and most humbly Petition his Majesty that Sancerre may be kept up as one of our Cautionary Towns by his supream Authority and that the Inhabitants thereof may injoy peace and quietness since it hath pleased God to give it unto the rest of his Majesty's Subjects and our General Deputies shall be very urgent for it 10. That Canon of our Church-Discipline binding Ministers to a personal residence on their Churches shall be most exactly observed by all the Provinces 1 Paris 12. Montauban g. m. 10. Alez Obs 8. on the Synod And whereas this hath been broken by too many and principally in the Higher Languedoc divers of their Pastors living at Montauban and not with their flocks every one of these are injoined to depart from thence with their Families unto those places where their Churches are gathered and this at the farthest within three months after that this Canon of the present Synod shall have been signified to them and the Consistory of the Church of Montauban is ordered to give notice thereof unto all these Non-Residents inhabiting their City And in case they refuse to yield obedience unto it we declare them from this very instant suspended the holy Ministry And Colloquies and Synods shall immediately upon such suspension provide a supply of Pastors for those vacant Churches who shall oblige themselves personally to reside among them And the said Consistory of Montauban shall notify unto the Churches the suspension of their Pastors and that they have full power to chuse and call in any other according to the Canons of our Church-Discipline And the next National Synod shall be informed by the Provinces of their duty in this particular 11. To obviate the Complaint made by several Provinces how that their Commissioners having received their moneys from the Lord of Candal do keep it in their own hands longer than they ought denying many times that they have received any from him The said Lord du Candal is desired that either himself or his Commissioners would be pleased to send a Copy of their Receipts as soon as they be given him or them unto such persons in every Province as shall be named to him for this purpose That so the Province may be certainly informed at what time and to whom he paid in their moneys and the poorer Churches may not be left unpaid and unprovided for divers Months together as they have been by the wickedness of those Receivers Commissionated by the Provinces upon the pretexts but now mentioned 12. Forasmuch as divers Deputies in this Assembly declared that they brought not with them moneys enough to defray their Charges during this Session The Deputy of the Lord du Candal being how in Town was ordered to supply them and that out of the Dividend belonging to their Provinces for which sums so received by them they shall be accountable unto their respective Provinces 13. Whereas we are at present necessitated to be at unusual expences in dispatches deputations and extraordinary businesses for the Churches this Assembly requireth the Lord of Candal to pay in unto our
Normandy in this case decreed that the said Monsieur du Bois shall be received and fixed in the Pastoral Office of the said Church of â—ontaines and Crocy until the next meeting of the Provincial Synod of Normandy 16. Monsieur Joly petitioning this Assembly for some Relief for himself and poor Family until the sitting of the next National Synod and that leave might be given him to aspire unto the Profession of the Hebrew Language in case there should be a vacancy This Assembly granted him the letter and because of his wants and the distressed Condition of his Family they do give him an Hundred and Fifty Livres and for the future do continue unto him one free Portion under the same Name as it was granted him by the National Synod of Alez CHAP. XX. N. B. This Curcelles was after fixed Pastor in the Church of Vitre le Francois in Champagne where having begot his Servant Maid with Child he forsook his Church and fled into Holland that the might escape the punishment due unto his crime which of his free will he had committed where he returned with the Dog unto his former Vomit and licke up his once Abpured â—rrorâ— and lived and dyed an implacable line my of the Truth and and of all its Professors When he was dead there was found among his Books a Manuscript written with his own hand against the Godhead of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the profession of the Truth 17 MOnsieur de Courcelles formerly Pastor in the Church of Amiens having refused to subscribe the Doctrine received in the Synod of Alez did freely and of his own accord resign his Pastoral Charge into the hands of the Provincial Synod of the Isle of France but now protesting in this Assembly that he had quite rejected those Arminian Dogmes and that he did own and acquiesce intirely in the Doctrine received of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom and humbly petitioned this Synod that they would be pleased to restore him again unto his Charge upon the promises he did now make of retaining the form of sound words After that the Deputy of the Isle of France had related the proceedings of their last Synod upon the fact of Courcelles his quitting of his Place and Calling he was again called in and did plainly and clearly and with great earnestness avow and confess his consent unto the whole Doctrine taught and contained in those Canons decreed at the Synod of Alez and in this also holding and believing it to be the truth and agreeing with the Word of God and that he renounceth all Errors condemned in those aforesaid Canons and that he believeth those said Canons in every Branch and Article of them and was resolv'd to sign and defend them for the future to the utmost of his power during Life The Assembly having received this his Declaration and Protestation restored him again unto his Ministerial Office and remanded him back unto the Isle of France to be presented unto a Church and in case he could not meet with one in that Province then he might accept of a Call in any other And for his Comfort he had License given him in the interim to preach in any Church for its Edisication yea and in the Church of Paris also provided the Reverend Pastors of that Congregation did invite him to it Moreover this Assembly approved of all those former proceedings of the Province aforesaid in and about this business of Courcelles as having been done and managed with singular prudence Candor and Charity And it gives also unto the said Courcelles one Portion for his subsistence until such time as he be provided of a Church 18. Letters were tendred and read in this Assembly from the Lords Curators and Professors in the famous University of Leyden requesting that Monsieur Rivett who had been lent unto the said University by a former National Synod for their Divinity Professor might be confirmed and continued to them during Life by the Authority of this also The Letters of Monsieur Rivett writ unto this Assembly were in like manner perused and his Brother the Lord of Chamvernown declared that Doctor Rivett testified and expressed a continual Love and sincere Affection as in Duty he was bound unto his Native Countrey and that Cordial desire he had alwayes to serve it but that he could not at present be removed from the University of Leyden but to it s very great dammage and his own in particular for which cause he intreated this Assembly to continue him for some few years more in the aforesaid University of Leyden The Synod did hereupon grant him his request and ordered his continuance there until the next National Synod and that an answer should be written unto the Lords Curators and Professors there accordingly He lived there to his Death which fell out in the year 1651. His Works are Printed in Three Folio's 19. The Church of Alez petitioned that the Reverend Monsieur Chauve Minister of the Church of Sommieres might be coâ—ferred upon them for their Pastor After perusal of these Letters those of Monsieur Chauve were also considered who complained that his burthen was too heavy for his Shoulders and that he could not without assistance go through the necessary Duties of his Charge in either of those Churches The Deputies also of Sevennes and the Lower Languedoc and Monsieur L' Espeisses for the Church of Alez were all heard whereupon this Synod confirmed Monsieur Chauve in his Ministry of the Church of Sommiers and enjoyneth the said Province to take care that he have help and comfort given him in his great labours 20. The Church of Bourdeaux petitioned that Monsieur Alba Minister of the Church of Tonneins and Ferrand Minister of La Parade in the Province of Lower Guyenne might be bestowed on them for their Pastors Another Petition also was presented from the Lords President and Counsellors in the Court of Agen that they might be favour'd with the Ministry of the same Monsieur Alba. After perusal of several Letters from the Churches of Tonneins La Parade Bourdeaux and Agen and those of the Lords President and Counsellors there and hearing of Monsieur Coderois Elder in the Church of Bourdeaux and of Monsieur Alba and of the Provincial Deputies of Guyenne This Assembly presented Monsieur Ferrand unto the Church of Bourdeaux and Monsieur Alba unto that of Agen until the next National Synod And it does enjoyn the Colloquy and on their default the Synod of that Province to make some speedy provision for the Church of La Parade that they may be without delay supplied with a Pastor 21. Relation was made by the Province of Vivaretz concerning some Miscarriages of Monsieur des Maretz heretofore Pastor in the Church of Valet This Assembly not being able to judge of this Matter because of his absence hath dismissed the business unto the next Session of the Colloquy of Valentinois in Dolphiny to take cognisance of it and to
aforesaid Deputies doth in compliance with the said Province and Church of Die now settle him in the Church of Manosques nor may he on pretence of any Bargain and Agreement made betwixt him and the Church of Die demand or claim a Farthing from them for the time in which he hath exercised his Ministry among them And farther License is given unto the Church of Manosques to provide themselves of another Pastor as God shall give them Ability and Opportunity for so doing either within or without the Province in case the said Aymin shall leave them destitute and unsupplied to follow his Suits at Law which he hath already or may hereafter Commence or in case he shall Abandon them without their Consent first had and obtained 33. The two Synods of Poictou and Xaintonge having agreed and joyntly consented to the Uniting of the Churches of Champagne-Mouton and St. Claud and after reading those Letters sent from the Right Honourable the Earl of Roussy by whose Contribution the said Church of Champagne-Mouton is principally maintained and who requested that Monsieur Ferrand might be continued in his Ministry there notwithstanding the means used by the Church of Courtelles to remove him thence and gain him for themselves as it appeareth by their Letters Appeal and Memoirs sent unto this Synod for this very end and purpose This Assembly confirmeth the Union of those said Churches of Champagne and St. Claud and Ordaineth the Synod of Poictou to take all possible care for the speedy supply of the Church of Courtelles by some able and worthy Minister who may be for its Edification And on default hereof the Church of Courtelles shall be reincorporated with that of Champagne and St. Claud and shall be served alternatively by the said Monsieur Ferrand who also shall assist alternatively at the Synods of Xaintonge and Poictou 34. Monsieur Homel Deputy for the Province of Vivaretz came charged with the Memoirs of the University of Die and declared in the audience of this Synod the Grievances they had sustained by Judgments past upon them the 21st Day of March 1638 and the 7th of March 1643 by the Consistory of Lion to whose Cognizance the Difference betwixt the said University and Monsieur Aymin had been remitted upon occasion of an Accompt which should have been rendred by him of a certain business with the management whereof he was intrusted by that University And the said Mr. Aymin was heard in his Answers to them Upon the whole this Assembly amended these Judgments aforesaid and hath regulated and reduced the Payments to be made unto the said Aymin to Sixty Sous by the day for his Journeys and those Days to the Number of Six Hundred Fifty and Nine so that the Sum due for them amounts to Sixteen Hundred Forty and Seven Livers and Ten Sous Moreover it is Ordained that those aforesaid Judgments of the 21st of March 1638 and the 7th of March 1643 shall stand good for those other Sums which have been adjudged him arising to Seven Hundred Forty and Seven Livers Seven Sous out of which there shall be deducted the Sum of Two Hundred and Ten Livers received by Monsieur Aymin and couched by himself in his Accompt of the 4th of January 1638. And the Sum of an Hundred and Thirty Livers Five Sous which he received of the Consistory of Lyon March the 27th 1634 together with the Sum of Eight Hundred Thirty and Four Livers Sixteen Sous owned by him on account of the 17th of January 1642 all those Payments amounting to the Sum of 2982 l. the said Mr. Aymin shall restore and make Payment out of them the Sum of Five Hundred Eighty and Seven Livers Four Sous unto the said University and of all other Sums received by him which he never charged nor brought in himself Debtor for on his Account as also all Papers Deeds and Instructions belonging to the University of Die and lying by him and in his Custody he shall Surrender to them 35. Whereas the University of Saumur have brought in an Appeal upon a business of Monsieur Forbes their Professor of Eloquence it is declared null 36. The Appeal of the Church of Lassay about their Pastor Monsieur Rouvean is declared null CHAP. XII General Matters ARTICLE 1. IF any Pastors being removed from their Churches by Ordinance of their Provincial Synods shall endeavour to obstruct the Execution of that Ordinance by entring of their Appeals unto the National Synod and thereby as much as in them lieth promote Disorders and Confusions in the House of God and render our Discipline useless and the Cure of the Church remediless This Assembly decreeth that the said Appellants shall be subject to the Judgment of their Neighbour Provinces which shall first hold their Synod and that Provincial Synod shall take Cognizance of their Appeal and give Sentence in it till the meeting of the next National Synod ARTICLE 2. This Assembly forbiddeth all the Provinces to Cause their Young Scholars make Oath that they will never quit the Service of those Churches and Provinces in which they shall be first admitted unto the Ministry of the Gospel because this is prejudicial to the Rights of our National Synods and very much impedeth the common Edification of the Churches ARTICLE 3. It being moved by the Deputies of the Isle of France all the Churches are enjoyned to conserve most Charily the Acts of Settlements made in the Years 1599 and 1600 by those Lords Commissioners who were deputed by his Majesty King Henry the Fourth to execute the Edict and to give notice thereof in all Places where it hath not been observed and to take a most special care of all their Deeds Acts and Evidences which prove the Exercise of our Religion in those Places where it was in the Years 1576 and 1577 and 1596 and 1597. ARTICLE 4. When as Pastors and Elders for the Conscientious Discharge of their Duties shall be Prosecuted at Law provided they have acted therein according to the Canons of our Discipline and the Rules of the Edict the Churches are bound to see them indemnified and in case their particular Church be overburden'd the other Churches of that Colloquy and Province ought in Conscience to help bear the Charges with them Wherefore this Assembly cannot but judge those Churches guilty of a most inexcusable ingratitude who have forsook their Pastors and Elders leaving them to shift for themselves when as they have been Sued at Law and Imprisoned for following the Duties of their Places and Callings ARTICLE 5. At the Request or the Province of Sevennes this Assembly explained the First Article of General Matters passed in the National Synod of St. Maixant and did thereupon declare that no particular Church could seek after a Pastor till it have first obtained permission from their Colloquy or Provincial Synod and when as they have procured him they may not effectually settle him without the Consent of the whole body of that Synod or of
acquaint the United Brethren what Entertainment and Acceptance the Reading of it had with their respective Assemblies which was done accordingly and to general satisfaction And because the Reader of the Acts of this Third National Synod of the Reformed Churches in France held at Charenton may not have seen and may be desirous to see what this Syncretism was between those Brethren in England I have here inserted them from my own Manuscript and printed Copies CHAP. XIII Heads of Agreement Assented to by the United Ministers in and about London formerly called Presbyterian and Congregational Preface to the Reader ENdeavours for an Agreement among Christians will be grievous to none who desire the flourishing State of Christianity it self the success of these Attempts among us must be ascribed to a presence of God so signal as not to be concealed and seems a hopeful pledge of further Blessings The favour of our Rulers in the present established Liberty we most thankfully acknowledge and to them we are studious to approve our selves in the whole of this Affair therefore we declare against any intermedling with the National Church-Form Imposing these Terms of Agreement on others is disclaimed All pretence to Coercive Power is as unsuitable to our Principles as to our Circumstances Excommunication it self in our respective Churches being no other than a declaring such Scandalous Members as are irreclaimable to be incapable of Communion with us in things peculiar to visible Believers And in all we expressly determine our purpose to the maintaining of Harmony and Love among our Selves and preventing the inconveniences which Human Weakness may expose to in our use of this Liberty The General Concurrence of Ministers and People in this City and the great Disposition thereto in other Places persuade us this happy work is undertaken in a Season designed for such divine Influence as will overcome all Impediments to Peace and convince of that Agreement which has been always among us in a good degree though neither to our Selves nor others so evident as hereby it is now acknowledged Need there any Arguments to recommend this Vnion Is not this what we all have Prayed for and Providence by the directest Indications hath been long Calling and Disposing us to Can either Zeal for God or Prudent Regards to our Selves remisly suggest it seeing the Blessings thereof are so important and when it s become in so many respects even absolutely necessary especially as it may conduce to the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Kingdoms Weal a Subserviency whereto shall always govern our Vnited abilities with the same disposition to a concurrence with all others who are duly concerned for those National Blessings As these considerations render this Agreement desirable so they equally urge a watchful care against all Attempts of Satan to dissolve it or frustrate the good effects thereof so manifestly destructive to his Kingdom Therefore it's incumbent on us to forbear Condemning and Disputing those different Sentiments and Practices we have expresly allowed for to reduce all distinguishing Names to that of United Brethren to admit no Vncharitable Jealousies or Censorious Speeches much less any Debates whether Party seems most favoured by this Agreement Such Carnal regards are of small moment with us who herein have used Words less accurate that neither side might in their various Conceptions about lesser matters be contradicted when in all substantials we are fully of one Mind and from this time hope more perfectly to rejoyce in the Honour Gifts and Success of each other as our common good That we as Vnited may contribute our utmost to the great Concernments of our Redeemer it 's mutually resolved we will assist each other with our Labours and meet and consult without the least shadow of separate or distinct Parties Whence we joyfully expect great Improvements in Light and Love through the more abundant supplies of the Spirit being well assured we herein serve that Prince of Peace of the increase of whole Government and Peace there shall be no end HEADS of AGREEMENT These following Heads of Agreement have been resolved upon by the United Ministers in and about London formerly called Presbyterian and Congregational not as a Measure for any National Constitution but for the Preservation of Order in our Congregations that cannot come up to the common Rule by Law Established 1. Of Churches and Church-Members 1. We acknowledg our Lord Jesus Christ to have one Catholick Church or Kingdom comprehending all that are united to him whether in Heaven or Earth And do conceive the whole Multitude of Visible Belieers and their Infant Seed commonly called the Catholick Visible Church to belong to Christ's Spiritual Kingdom in this World But for the notion of a Catholick Visible Church here as it signifies its having been collected into any formed Society under a visible human Head on Earth whether one Person singly or many collectively we with the rest of Protestants unanimously disclaim it 2. We agree that particular Societies of Visible Saints who under Christ their Head are statedly joyned together for ordinary Communion with one another in all the Ordinances of Christ are particular Churches and are to be owned by each other as Instituted Churches of Christ tho differing in apprehensions and practice in some lesser things 3. That none shall be admitted as Members in Order to Communion in all the special Ordinances of the Gospel but such Persons as are knowing and sound in the Fundamental Doctrins of the Christian Religion without scandal in their Lives and have a Judgment regulated by the Word of God and are Persons of visible Godliness and Honesty credibly professing cordial Subjection to Jesus Christ 4. A competent number of such visible Saints as before described do become the capable Subjects of stated Communion in all the special Ordinances of Christ upon their mutual declared Consent and Agreement to walk together therein according to Gospel Rule In which Declaration different degrees of Explicitness shall no way hinder such Churches from owning each other as Instituted Churches 5. Tho parochial bounds be not of Divine Right yet for common Edification the Members of a particular Church ought as much as conveniently may be to live near one another 6. That each particular Church hath right to chuse their own Officers and being furnished with such as are duly qualified and ordained according to the Gospel Rule hath authority from Christ for exercising Government and of enjoying all the Ordinances of Worship within it self 7. In the Administration of Church Power it belongs to the Pastors and other Elders of every particular Church if such there be to rule and govern and to the Brotherhood to consent according to the Rule of the Gospel 8. That all Professors as before described are bound in duty as they have opportunity to joyn themselves as fixed Members of some particular Church their thus joyning being part of their professed Subjection to the Gospel of Christ and are instituted means of
of smaller or greater Numbers as the matter shall require 3. That particular Churches their respective Elders and Members ought to have a reverential regard to their Judgment so given and not dissent therefrom without apparent Grounds from the Word of God 7. Of our Demeaner towards the Civil Magistrate 1. We do reckon our selves obliged continually to pray for God's Protection Guidance and Blessing upon the Rulers set over us 2. That we ought to yield unto them not only Subjection in the Lord but support according to our Station and Abilities 3. That if at any time it shall be their pleasure to call together any Number of us or require any account of our Affairs and the state of our Congregations we shall most readily express all dutiful regard to them herein 8. Of a Confession of Faith As to what appertains to soundness of Judgment in matters of Faith we esteem it sufficient That a Church acknowledg The Scriptures to be the Word of God the perfect and only Rule of Faith and Practice and own either the Doctrinal Part of those commonly called the Articles of the Church of England Or The Confession or Catechisms Shorter or Larger compiled by the Assembly at Westminster or the Confession agreed on at the Savoy to be agreeable to the said Rule 9. Of our Duty and Deportment towards them that are not in Communion with us 1. We judge it our Duty to bear a Christian Respect to all Christians according to their several Ranks and Stations that are not of our Perswasion or Communion 2. As for such as may be ignorant of the Principles of the Christian Religion or of Vicious Conversation we shall in our respective places as they give us opportunity endeavour to explain to them the Doctrin of Life and Salvation and to our utmost perswade them to be reconciled to God 3. That such who appear to have the Essential Requistes to Church-Communion we shall willingly receive them in the Lord not troubling them with Disputes about Lesser Matters As we assent to the forementioned Heads of Agreement so we unanimously resolve as the Lord shall enable us to practise according to them CHAP. XIV 10. Article of General Matters THere was a Report made in the Synod of a certain Writing both Printed and Manuscript holding forth this Doctrin Mr. De la Place that the whole Nature of Original Sin consisted only in that Corruption which is Hereditary to all Adam's Posterity and residing originally in all Men and denieth the Imputation of his first Sin This Synod condemneth the said Doctrin as far as it restraineth the Nature of Original Sin to the sole Hereditary Corruption of Adam's Posterity to the excluding of the Imputation of that first Sin by which he fell and interdicteth on pain of all Church-Censures all Pastors Professors and others who shall treat of this Question to depart from the common received Opinion of the Protestant Churches who over and besides that Corruption have all acknowledged the Imputation of Adam's first Sin unto his Posterity And all Synods and Colloquies who shall hereafter proceed to the reception of Scholars into the Holy Ministry are obliged to see them sign and subscribe this present Act. 11. Forasmuch as that Religious Adoration given by the Church of Rome to their pretended Consecrated Host hath in its Publick Service and when-ever it is carried in Procession unto the Sick for its sole Foundation this false Supposition That it is by the Priests Consecration properly made the self same Body which was taken out of the Womb of the Blessed Virgin by the Eternal Son of God and united unto his Divine Person unto which belongeth both before and since his Incarnation the Empire of Glory and Religious Worship most strictly and properly so called and not unto his Humanity separated from it That the Church of Rome neither rendreth to nor requireth for its Consecrated Host any other Adoration than that of Latria and the Professors of our Religion are in this Point of another Faith believing this Host after Consecration to be that very self-same insensible and inanimate matter which it was before and cannot if they will follow the Dictates of their own Consciences and the prime Fundamental Verities of Christianity ascribe Divine Adoration unto a thing which by Nature is not God nor transfer the Glory of the Eternal God from him unto the basest of Creatures This Synod therefore doth adjure all of them by that Profession they make of serving the Lord in Purity and Sincerity and by that irreparable Prejudice they do the truth by their rash and inconsiderate oppugning of it and to their own Consciences which are shamefully betrayed by them and to their Countrymen of the Romish Communion whom they confirm in their Superstitions and to the weaker Christians among our selves whom by such a vile Example utterly unbecoming that worthy Name that is called upbri them they learn to prevaricate in Religion that they would once again return unto themselves and mourn bitterly in the Presence of the Great God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ for that by this Sin of theirs they have profaned his Glory And the Synod ordaineth that when as the Host shall be carried in Procession or to the Sick by those of the Romish Church every one do withdraw himself from the sight of it that so no Scandal may be given unto their Neighbours And whereas some who do not step out of the way do feed themselves with this frivolous Imagination that they may tarry and see it tho they do not as those of the Romish Church let out their Thoughts to a Religious Adoration of the Host yet if their bodily Presence be voluntary at it it is a kind of Approbation of it And whereas some out of a sordid servile Spirit do comply with the received Custom in taking off their Hats when as the Host passeth by which say they is not for its sake or any Reverence to it but only out of Respect and Honour to the Curate or Vicar who carrieth it or of the Persons which accompany it this is sinful because they do not conform themselves to their Intention whom they pretend to gratifie and they yield only a Civil Salutation where the Romish Church ordaineth Religious Worship to be payed and performed bestowing it on another Object besides that proposed by her which Acts of theirs are directly contrary to the received Maxims of Civility among all Men in that they honour tho not as the Church of Rome professeth to do the Lord of Glory but in his Presence and to his Contempt a Priest who saith he is called to serve him and this in that very proper Act of Worship yielded by him as he pretendeth unto his God Besides this is contrary to all Christian Sincerity which requireth our Actious to be true Copies and Transcripts of our Hearts and not fallacions Feignings of that which is not only not in our Intentions but is formally contrary
gracious and favourable their Majesties have been unto them ever since they incorporated the Principalites of Sedan and Raucourt with the Crown of France and that this Assembly would be pleased to give forth their Order that our Scholars might study in their University as well as in others of this Kingdom A Decree passed that an Answer should be return'd them expressing the Joy of all our Churches at their Prosperity and to assure them that there shall be an equal respect had unto their University as unto the Four others erected in this Kingdom ARTICLE 31. That Complaint made by Monsieur de la Fonds formerly a Minister but now a Schoolmaster at Cajare against his Sister and Monsiâ—â—e de la Roche Pastor of the Church of Cardâ—illac shall be carried by him unto the Consistory of Montauban which shall summon the Parties before them and judge finally of the difference between them by the Authority of this Assembly CHAP. XVI Of Universities ARTICLE 1. IT being evident that through the ill-Will of divers Churches in the Lower Guyenne the said Province is indebted in very great Sums unto the University of Montauban which hath been exceeding prejudicial to it this Synod Ordaineth that the Arrearages owing by the said Province and by all others indebted to the said University shall be paid by equal Proportions without any the least abatement within the space of Six Years and that in every Colloquy there shall be constituted a Receiver to whose Hands the Quota assessed upon every particular Church shall be directed and from them unto the General Receiver for the Province who shall deliver in the full and compleat Contribution of that Province unto that University to which it was appointed And all Pastors and Elders shall put to their helping Hand that the Canons and Decrees made on this occasion be punctually and faithfully executed in their Provinces And the Contribution of particular Churches for our Universities shall be raised with as much exactness care and Fidelity as for the Pastors And the Provincial Synods are charged to call every Church within their District unto an Account how they have performed their Duty in this particular and to punish all Pastors and Elders who shall be found to have been remiss negligent and careless herein and to censure them even with suspension from their Charges ARTICLE 2. The University of Montauban having remonstrated that the Province of Bearn hath been so far from paying the poor Sum of Fifty Livres of Annual Contribution which they freely offered by their Deputies in the National Synod of Alanson for the Subsistence of the said University that they have in divers of their Synods since positively resolved not to contribute so much as one Denier The Sieur de la Fite was heard what he had to say in excuse for his Province it being a most notorious default because the Contribution which was offered by their Provincial Deputies is so very inconsiderable and easie to be paid and that the refusal of its payment will give an open Scandal to all the Churches So that the Assembly judged that Province to have incurred the most grievous Censures and that the said Sieur de la Fite was consequentially ill-grounded in his Excuses And farther Decreeth that the Sum of Fifty Livres due for this present Year without prejudicing of the time running on shall be immediately paid down by the said Sieur de la Fite according to his Promise and as for the Arrears owing by them they shall be paid in by equal proportions within the prefixed term of Six Years And in case that or any other Province should make default oâ— Payment they shall be dealt withal as Desertors of the Churches Union and shall lose their Priviledge of sitting and voteing by their Deputies in our National Synods And whereas the said Sieur de la Fite did offer to lay down an Hundred Livres for the Two last Years provided his Province might be fully discharged of all Arrears it was utterly rejected ARTICLE 3. The Council of the University of Montauban is it powered to take what they can conveniently spare out of the Minerval the Entrance Mony paid by Scholars unto their Regents and to pay it in to the common Purse for defraying the Charges they must be necessarily at in recovering the Contributions due from the Neighbour Provinces And 't is recommended to the Care of the said Council that upon this Pretext they do not surcharge the poor Scholars nor absolutely discharge the Provinces ARTICLE 4. Whereas the Province of higher Languedoc hath chosen Monsieur Crumel a Pastor in actual Service of the Church of Reniers and Courbaniers to be Professor of Philosophy in the University of Montauban and given in to this Assembly the Reasons and Motives inducing their Synod unto that Choice what they had done was Authorized and Approved ARTICLE 5. At the request of the Province of Higher Languedoc Monsieur Verdier is exhorted to fit and qualifie himself together with those other Ministers nominated by the Synod of Alanson for the profession of Theology ARTICLE 6. The Canon made in the Synod of Alanson concerning the Maintenance of our Universities and beginning with those Words Although it be notorious c. shall be again read in all the Churches ARTICLE 7. To sacilitate the payment of Arrerages due unto our Universities by the Province of Normandy This Assembly Ordaineth according to the Expedient propounded by them that in the Lower Normandy there shall be established One common Receiver and Four particular Ones for its Four Colloquies who shall deliver into the Hands of the common Receiver their respective Contributions and he shall after send it to the Receiver General residing at Rouen to whom shall be sent the State of the Quota as it is assessed in every Provincial Synod which shall serve for the regulating and clearing of his Accompts and the Churches depending on them That so all of them may in case of failure be reduced with more ease and commodiousness unto their duty ARTICLE 8. This Assembly ratifying that injunction formerly laid upon our Professors of Philosophy to lay by many needless questions of Natural Philosophy in their handling of Meraphysicks doth also over and besides it Ordain that they shall leave also those Questions in Logick which are Superfluous and instead of them subjoyn unto it a short Compend of Ethicks that so their Scholars may be acquainted with the first Rudiments of Moral Philosophy ARTICLE 9. Whereas there is the Sum of Three Thousand Livres Ordained for the Yearly Maintenance of the University of Montauban and when the Professors have been paid their respective Sallaries there will remain Four Hundred Livres in stock This Assembly Ordaineth that hereafter in all Dividends of the said Monies out of those Four Hundred Livres remaining in stock there shall be equally distributed among the Three Regents who Instruct and Teach the Scholars of the Reformed Religion in the Colledge of Montauban One Hundred and
said Auditory shall be expresly charged That if any one of them do know any impediment for which his Ordination who shall be then mentioned by his Name may not be compleated or why he may not be accepted that they do then come and give notice of it unto the Consistory which shall patiently hear the Reasons of both Parties that so they may proceed to Judgment The Peoples silence shall be taken for a full consent But in case contention should arise and the afore-named Elect be pleasing to the Consistory but not unto the People or to the major part of them his reception shall be deferred and the whole shall be remitted unto the Colloquy or Provincial Synod which shall take cognizance both of the justification of the before-named elect Minister and of his reception And although the said Elect should be then and there justified yet shall he not be given as Pastor unto that People against their will nor to the discontentment of the greatest part of them nor shall the Pastor be imposed against his will upon that Church and the difference shall be terminated by order as above at the Costs and Charges of the Church that shall have demanded him CAN. VII Who so consenteth to be chosen unto the Sacred Ministry ought to accept of the Office with which he shall be invested and in case of his refusal he shall be solicited thereunto by fitting Exhortations but he shall in no wise be constrained CAN. VIII The Election of Ministers shall be confirmed by Prayers and Imposition of Hands always avoiding all Superstition and according to this ensuing form The Form of Ordination usually observed in the Churches of France at the Reception of their Ministers All things before-mentioned having been observed two Pastors deputed by the Synod or Colloquy to lay their Hands upon the Minister elect being come into that Church one of them who preacheth the Sermon shall discourse briefly of the Institution and Excellency of the Ministry alledging Testimonies pertinent to this occasion from holy Writ such as Ephes 4.11 12. Luke 10.16 John 20.21 22. 1 Cor. 4.1 2. 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. 1 Tim. 3.8 or others of the like nature admonishing every one to see to it that both Minister and People do perform their respective Duties The Minister to acquit himself of his Charge the more carefully because he knoweth it to be precious and excellent in the sight of God and the People with all humility and reverence to receive the Word of God which shall be declared by him who is now sent unto them Then shall be read in the hearing of the whole Congregation what is written in 1 Tim. 3. and 1 Tit. where the Apostle teacheth what kind of Man a Minister should be And that it may please God to vouchsafe Grace unto this elect person to acquit himself worthily and faithfully of his holy Calling a short Prayer shall be conceived to this purpose in which the said Pastor shall insert these or the like words O Lord God we beseech thee to endow with the Gifts and Graces of thy holy Spirit this thy Servant lawfully chosen according to that Order established in thy Church and abundantly to enrich him with all Abilities needful for his acceptable performance of the Duties of his Office to the Glory of thy holy Name the Edification of thy Church and his own Salvation whom we now dedicate and consecrate unto thee by this our Ministry And then the Minister that prayeth standing upright below the Pulpit shall lay his Hands upon his Head for whom Prayer is now made he being humbly on his knees And the new Pastor arising the two Deputies sent from the Colloquy or Synod shall give him before the People the right hand of fellowship And this Form and the above-mentioned Canon shall be unanimously observed in all the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom CAN. IX Our Confession of Faith and Church-Discipline shall be subscribed by such as are chosen in the Ministry both into the Churches in which they shall be ordained and in those unto which they shall be sent CAN. X. No Ministers shall be ordained without appointing them unto a particular Flock and they shall be the peculiar Pastors of those Churches unto which they be assigned And no Church shall pretend right unto any Minister by vertue of a particular promise made by him without the authority of the Colloquy or Provincial Synod CAN. XI Such as shall be chosen unto the Ministry of the Gospel must know that they be in that Office for term of life unless they be lawfully discharged upon good and certain considerations and that by the Provincial Synod CAN. XII The principal Duty of Ministers is to Preach the Gospel and to declare the Will of God unto their People and they shall be exhorted to forbear all strange ways of teaching which have no tendency to edification and they shall conform themselves to the simplicity and common stile of God's Spirit taking heed that there be nothing in their Sermons prejudicial to the Authority of holy Scripture and they shall never Preach without having for foundation of their discourse a Text of holy Scripture which they shall ordinarily follow and they shall handle and expound as much of that Text as they can forbearing all needless Enlargements all tedious and unseasonable Digressions all superfluous heapings up of Scripture-Quotations and vain recitals of various and different Expositions They shall very rarely alledge the Writings of the Fathers nor at any time prophane Histories and Authors that so they may reserve unto the Scripture intirely its own Authority Moreover they shall not handle any Doctrine in a scholastick way of Disputation nor with a mixture of Languages In one word they shall avoid whatsoever may serve for ostentation or in any wise occasion doubts or scruples And that this Canon may be more carefully observed and practised Consistories Colloquies and Synods shall put to their helping hand CAN. XIII Churches are admonished to use more frequently the Ordinance of Catechising and Ministers are to treat and expound it by short plain and familiar Questions and Answers accommodating themselves unto the capacity of the meanest People without expatiating themselves into common places Yea all Ministers shall endeavour to catechize every one in their Flocks once or twice a Year and shall exhort them to conform themselves thereunto very carefully CAN. XIV Ministers and their Families shall actually reside on their Churches on pain of being deposed from their Sacred Ministerial Office CAN. XV. Those Persons to whom God hath given Talents and Abilities for Writing are advised to use them in a modest manner suitable to the Majesty of God's Word and therefore consequently they shall not write after a ridiculous or injurious rate and in their ordinary Sermons they shall express this self-same modesty and gravity And they who are endowed with gifts for writing shall he chosen by the Provinces and if it happen that any Books
be published against the true Religion they shall be sent unto them that they may be answered And there shall be a Colloquy in each Province appointed unto this peculiar business carefully to peruse all Manuscripts before they be Printed and what is published and to disperse the Copies CAN. XVI No Minister shall claim or exercise any Primacy or Jurisdiction over another CAN. XVII Ministers shall preside by turns in their Consistories that so none may claim a Superiority over his Fellow and none of them shall give any Testimony in matters of importance without having first Communicated unto his Brethren and Collegues in the Ministry CAN. XVIII That Custom used in some places of deputing certain Ministers from the Provincial Synods to visit the Churches shall be for time to come totally suppressed and abolished That order which hath been used until now being sufficient enough for taking cognisance of Scandals And this manner of erecting new Offices and Employments is condemned because of its dangerous consequence as also all names of superiority are rejected such as Elders of Synods Super-intendents and the like And all Advertisements for assembling Colloquies or Synods or concerning any businesses which depend upon them shall be directed unto the Church and not to any particular Minister in it And if accidentally they have been so superscribed and for some certain Considerations addressed unto any one of the Ministers or Elders they who have received them shall present them unto the Consistory that so advice and deliberation may be taken of them CAN. XIX No Minister together with the holy Ministry shall be a Practitioner in Law or Physick yet out of Charity he may give Counsel and assistance to the poor of his Flock and of his Neighbourhood provided always that he be not thereby diverted from his Calling nor derive any gain from his practice unless in times of trouble and persecution and when he cannot exercise his Calling in his Church and cannot be maintained by it And those who shall thus employ themselves in Law or Physick or in any other Worldly distracting business shall be exhorted wholly to forbear it and totally to devote themselves unto the duties of their Calling as Ministers and to the study of the Scriptures And all Colloquies and Synods are admonished to proceed according to the Canons of our Discipline against the refractory and such as be willfully disobedient as also against those who spend so much of their time in teaching youth that it is an hinderance to them in the principal duties of their Ministerial Office And all Consistories Colloquies and Provincial Synods shall have a most especial care and regard that this Canon be punctually observed and to suspend such as do transgress it from their exercise of the Ministry CAN. XX. Ministers shall exhort their People to be modest in their Apparel they themselves also giving in this particular a good example unto the World by their own their Wives and their Children's forbearing all bravery in their Habits CAN. XXI Princes and great Lords following the Court that would have a Church erected in their Houses shall be desired to chuse their Ministers out of those Churches which be duly reformed and can spare them a Pastor and of whose lawful Call unto the sacred Ministry they may be well assured and this with the good will and consent of the Colloquies or Synods These shall in the first place subscribe the Confession of Faith of the Churches in this Kingdom and our Ecclesiastical Discipline And that the Preaching of the Gospel may be the more successful they shall be every one of them desired to constitute in their Families a Consistory composed of the Minister and of the best approved persons for Godliness in their said Family who shall be chosen Elders and Deacons by which Consistory all Vices and Scandals in that Family shall be suppressed and the common Discipline of our Churches shall be maintained Moreover if it be possible for them they shall personally appear at Provincial Synods To which purpose Powers shall be given unto the Church that convocates the Synod of that Province to call them to it And the said Ministers by name or some one or other of them according as they shall be deputed by the rest shall make their personal Appearance at the National Synods in company with their Elders who may inform the Synod of their Lives and Conversations And if several of them meet together none shall claim any preheminency or jurisdiction over his Brethren according to that Canon of our Discipline made on this behalf And when as the said Princes and Lords shall sojourn in their Houses or other places in which a Church is already constituted that all divisions may be avoided they shall be desired to conjoin the Church of their Families together with the Church of that place to make but one Church as shall be advised in an amicable Conference with the Ministers of both Churches that so what may be most expedient may be followed CAN. XXII It shall not be lawful for the Pastor to desert his Flock without leave first had and obtained from the Colloquy and Provincial Synod of that Church to which he was first given CAN. XXIII Deserters of the Sacred Ministry shall be finally Excommunicated by the Provincial Synod unless they do repent and return again unto their Charge which God had committed to them CAN. XXIV Ministers shall not be Vagrants nor have liberty to intrude themselves of their own Authority into any place which best pleaseth them CAN. XXV The Minister of one Church shall not preach in another without the consent of its Minister unless he were absent in which case the Consistory shall authorize him and if through persecution or any troubles the Flock should be dissipated the strange Minister shall endeavour to assemble the Elders and Deacons which if it cannot be done yet nevertheless he may warrantably preach that so the dispersed Flock may be reunited CAN. XXVI That Minister who intrudeth himself into a Church although he get the People's Approbation yet shall he not be approved of by the Neighbour Ministers or any others but the cognisance of his Case shall be devolved upon the Colloquy or Provincial Synod CAN. XXVII Ministers shall not be sent unto other Churches without authentick Letters or some other sufficient Testimonials from those places from whence they last came which shall be put into the Consistories hands of that Church whereunto they be sent and there carefully to be preserved CAN. XXVIII No Minister who reports himself forsaken of his Church of persecuted shall thereupon be received by another Church until he have first produced valid Certificates of his holy and unblameable Conversation unto the Colloquy or Synod and the whole Affair shall be remitted to the prudence and discretion of the Colloquy or Provincial Synod CAN. XXIX When as a Minister who hath orderly obtained his Licence of departure from that Church in which he last served
shall be destitute of employment the Colloquy or Provincial Synod are of duty bound to provide him of another Church within one Month. And if within that term the Colloquy or Synod have not provided for him he shall be then at liberty to get himself a Church out of that Province in any place where God shall open a door unto him according to the Canons of our Discipline CAN. XXX Authority is granted unto Provincial Synods for divers considerations to remove Ministers from their Churches their Churches having been first heard and their Reasons well and sufficiently weighed But in case of discord the whole shall be determined by a National Synod and till the sitting of which nothing shall be innovated CAN. XXXI When as a Minister is persecuted or for some other reason cannot exercise his Ministry in that Church unto which he was appointed he may by the said Church be sent elsewhere or they may exchange him with another for a certain time by the good will and consent of both the Churches But and if the Minister shall not submit unto the judgment of those two Churches he shall give the Reasons of his refusal unto the Consistory and in it their equity shall be debated and determined and in case they be not esteemed valid and the Minister shall notwithstanding persist in his resolution of not accepting the said Employment the difference shall be referred unto the next Provincial Synod or else unto the Colloquy if both those Churches do belong unto the same Colloquy CAN. XXXII Ministers may with their own consent be lent by the Consistory according as the Edification of the Church shall require but the loan shall not be done without the advice of two or three Ministers or of the same Colloquy if it be for any longer term than six Months CAN. XXXIII Ministers that have been lent when as the time of their loan is expired shall be restored again unto their Churches from which they had departed CAN. XXXIV If a Church do not redemand its Pastor within one Year after the time for which he was lent is expired he shall then appertain unto that Church unto which he was lent provided always that the said Pastor do yield his consent unto it but and if he do not give his consent he shall dispose of himself according to the advice of the Colloquy or Synod of that Church to which he had been lent And this Canon shall be of force with reference to those Ministers who because of persecution have betook themselves unto the service of other Churches and the persecution ceasing they be not redemanded by their former Churches within one Year which shall begin from that time in which those Ministers gave notice of it unto those aforesaid Churches CAN. XXXV A Minister destitute of a Church and unimployed in his Province and lent by the Colloquy to a Church out of the bounds of the Province till the next Session of his Provincial Synod if he be not employed by that Synod within their Province he shall remain appropriate unto that Church to which he was lent provided that he and the Church do mutually consent thereunto CAN. XXXVI That Churches may perform their Duties to their Pastors according to those Obligations on them by the Word of God and that Pastors may have no just ground of offence given them nor to abandon their said Flocks they shall be admonished to minister unto their Pastors all things necessary for their comfortable subsistence CAN. XXXVII And to prevent their ingratitude who by experience are known to have dealt unworthily with their painful Ministers this order shall be observed one quarter of the yearly Pension which was promised them shall be paid in unto them by way of advance beforehand CAN. XXXVIII And for the future lest through any ill management of this matter the Churches should happen to be dissipated those who are chosen Moderators in Colloquies shall enquire of the Elders in every Church about the Maintenance afforded by them unto their Ministers and of their Care in supplying their Wants according to the Canon before ordained that so by the Authority of Colloquies provision may be made for them CAN. XXXIX When as necessary Maintenance shall have been detained from a Pastor and three Months be laps'd since his Complaints and Remonstrances it shall be then lawful for the said Pastor to joyn himself unto any other Church by consent of his Colloquy or Provincial Synod And the Colloquy or Synod may shorten the term of three Months if there be urgent necessity for it yea if that the necessity be pressing and three Months are expired and the Pastor is not supplied though he had entered in his Petition to be discharged it shall suffice if he call into his Consistory two neighbour Ministers and he shall not be bound to wait for the sitting of the Colloquy or Synod to obtain their advice and consent unless that one of the said Assemblies were convocated and to meet in that very self-same Month in which he was to have departed CAN. XL. In that tryal and judgment which shall be passed upon a Peoples ingratitude at the complaint of a Minister all circumstances shall be prudently considered and special regard shall be had unto the poverty of the Church and of the Plaintiff's estate that so they may use those means which will be most likely to promote the Glory of God the Edification of his Church and the Honour of the Ministry CAN. XLI A Church being found ungrateful shall not be provided of a Pastor till such time as they have given intire satisfaction according to their ability unto him of whom they be deprived And this Pastor shall in the mean while remember always to keep himself disingaged from the Church of any other Province but his own unless by a Decree of the said Province it may have been otherwise determined N.B. The last Clause of this Canon is not in four Copies of different Editions as that of the Year 1653. that of Geneva 1666. that of Quevilly 1678. and an English Translation of the Discipline printed for Bourn in the Year 1642. But yet I find it in the Paris Edition by Vandôme in the Year 1663. and in another Impression of it at Quevilly I think in the same Year 1663 for I have not the Original now by me which I returned twenty Years ago to my Friend but the Translation I made of it CAN. XLII Ministers though they have Estates and Lands of their own may yet nevertheless take Wages from their Flocks yea and it is expedient that they should so do in regard of its consequence lest other Ministers and Churches be prejudiced by this their example Yet shall they be advised so to manage this liberty as the Churches necessity and their quality shall require it CAN. XLIII No Pastor under the title of a Pastor shall be permitted to possess an Inheritance but in case his Stipend or any part thereof were
assigned upon some particular Tenement Rent or Revenue the whole shall be administred by the Deacons or other persons commissionated and ordained thereunto by the Churches through whose hands the Minister shall receive his Pension that so all suspicion of covetousness may be removed and lest by such worldly cares he should be diverted from the weightier Duties of his Calling CAN. XLIV That Church in whose Service a Minister dieth shall take care of his Widow and Orphans and if the Church cannot do it through want of ability the Province shall maintain them CAN. XLV Ministers shall be subject unto Censures CAN. XLVI The Duty of Ministers is to govern both themselves and their Flocks and all their Members small and great of whatsoever quality and degree according to the Word of God and the Church-Discipline But it belongeth properly unto the Magistrate to oversee all Orders and Degrees of Men yea and Ministers also and to take heed that they walk uprightly in their calling wherefore if they offend the Magistrate shall admonish them of their Duty and that power is ascribed to him by our Church-Discipline in Consistories Colloquies and Synods unless their Offences be punishable by Law the knowledge of which appertaineth unto the Civil Magistrate CAN. XLVII If Ministers should teach evil Doctrine and after sufficient admonition given them do not desist they shall be deposed Item Such as reject those holy Counsels made them out of God's Word by their Consistories Item Such also as are of Scandalous Lives and those who shall be convicted of Heresy Schism Rebellion against the Discipline of the Church and open Blasphemies deserving punishment by the Civil Magistrate Simony all Bribery by gifts briguings and underhand dealings to get into another Mans place desertion of their Flocks without lawful leave and just occasion falshood perjury whoredom theft drunkenness battery meriting punishment by the Laws Usuries scandalous Plays and others forbidden by the Laws Dances and such like dissolutions Crimes branded with Infamy and which in any other Person would merit Exclusion from the Church and all persons uncapable of discharging the duties of their Calling CAN. XLVIII These shall not be deposed who by reason of Sickness old Age or any other such infirmities are rendred uncapable of discharging the Duties of their Ministry in which case their honour shall be conserved them and they shall be recommended unto their Churches for maintenance and other Ministers shall be provided to perform the duties of their Calling CAN. XLIX Scandalous Crimes punishable by the Civil Magistrate such as Murder High-Treason and other Vices redounding to the great dishonour and scandal of the Church do deserve that the Minister guilty of them should be deposed although he had committed them not only before his Ordination but also before his Conversion And this shall be the rather done lest the Continuance of such a Wretch in the Ministry should draw greater scandal upon than edifying unto the Church Of which all Synods shall take Cognisance CAN. L. In Case a Minister be convicted of enormous and notorious Crimes he shall be deposed out of hand by the Consistory they inviting unto that action their Colloquy or through default thereof two or three disinteressed Ministers And if the Delinquent Minister should complain of the Accusation and Calumny the business shall be reported unto the Provincial Synod If he hath Preached Heretical Doctrine contrary to the Scriptures he shall be suspended by the Consistory Colloquy or two or three Ministers invited thereunto as before till the final decision of his Case by the Provincial Synod and all Sentences of Suspension for what cause or account soever shall stand good and be of force notwithstanding his Appeal until the definitive Judgment of the next Synod N.B. That Parenthesis in this Canon is not to be found in the four last Editions of the Discipline but yet it is in two others that I have both Printed since the last National Synod CAN. LI. Unless necessity so require it the Causes of a Ministers Deposal shall not be published unto the People of which those who were his Judges and decreed his Deposal shall take cognisance CAN. LII The National Synods shall be informed by the Provinces of all Deposed Ministers that they may not be by them admitted into the Ministry any more CAN. LIII Ministers Deposed for Crimes deserving Capital punishment or bearing mark of Infamy shall never be restored unto their Office whatever satisfactions may be given by them But as for slighter faults upon Confession of them they may be restored by the Provincial Synod but with this condition to serve in another Province and not in their own CAN. LIV. Vagrants that is to say such as having no Call do thrust themselves into the Ministry shall be restrained And whatever Ordinance shall be Decreed and Executed about the Interdiction of any Persons from the Ministry shall be of equal vertue with the Acts of the National Synod and as if it had been done by it CAN. LV. They who have been once denounced Vagrants Apostates Hereticks and Schismaticks shall be denounced such in all the Churches that so they may be aware of them And a List of these Wretches names shall be brought from the several Provincial Synods to be hung up in the National CAN. LVI Such as by the judgment of a National Synod have been once inrolled among the Vagrants shall never be razed out of that black Catalogue but by the authority of another CAN. LVII Such as intrude into the Ministry in those places and Provinces where the pure worship of God is already established shall be severely admonished to desist and in case of their obstinate persisting in this their intrusion they shall be declared Schismaticks and their Followers also if after the like admonitions given they do not leave them CHAP. II. Of Schools CANON I. THE Churches shall do their utmost endeavour to erect Schools and to take care of the instruction of their Youth CAN. II. Regents and Masters of Schools shall subscribe the Confession of Faith and Church-Discipline and the Towns and Churches shall nor admit any one into this Office without the consent of the Consistory of that place CAN. III. Doctors and Professors in Divinity shall be chosen by the Synod of that Province in which our Universities do lie and they shall be Examined not only in Lectures made by them upon the authentick Edition of the Greek and Hebrew Texts of the Old and New Testament which shall be given them but also by a disputation of one or more days as upon advice taken shall be judged best and being found Persons of sufficient abilities if they are not Pastors the right hand of Fellowship shall be given them they having first promised that they will with all faithfulness and diligence discharge their duty and handle the holy Scriptures with all purity according to the Analogy of Faith and the Confession of our Churches Chap. II. Of Schooh which
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
wronged Party shall produce before the Consistory and then the Consistory shall declare unto him that Liberty which God in his holy Word hath given him But in regard of our present difficulties the Ministers of this Kingdom are advised not to re-marry the said Parties to whom this Liberty of providing themselves elsewhere hath been granted And as for the Delinquent Party there shall be very great and mature Deliberation used before she have any Liberty at all allowed Her CAN. XXX If it should fall out that after Marriage-Promises have past and before its accomplishment a betrothed Woman be found to have played the Whore either before or after the said Promises and that it was unknown to him who had promised her Marriage a definitive Sentence being given by the Magistrate upon it the Consistory may proceed to bless a new Marriage And the betrothed Woman shall have the same Liberty if it be found that her betrothed Husband had committed Fornication after he had made her Promises of Marriage CAN. XXXI Women whose Husbands are gone away and have absented themselves a long time about Mercantile affairs or for other Causes if they demand Licence to be Married again they shall have recourse unto the Civil Magistrate CAN. XXXII As for the Wives of Priests and Monks who turn Apostates and return unto their old Idolatry chanting Masses or re-entring into their Cells from which they had formerly departed they shall be admonished not to cohabit with their said Husbands during their Apostasie that God's Ordinance of Marriage may not be loaden with reproach and infamy nor may they marry any other until such time as their first Marriage shall be dissolved by the Civil Magistrate CHAP. XIV Chap. XIV Of Particular Orders Of particular Orders and Advertisements CANON I. NO Person shall be received into Communion with the Church till such time as be have first publickly renounced all the Superstitions and Idolatries of the Romish Church and in particular the Mass CAN. II. No godly Man shall be allowed to intermeddle with any matters conjoined with Idolatry such as those they call the Baisemains or Le Dedans de Leglise nor to cause Masses and Vigils to be said nor to ordain Monks who be solely ordained to this purpose But to hold Priories Revenues Rents Chanteries and Tithes and to pay the profits of them unto the Popish Ecclesiasticks for as much as they be Temporal Lords it is a thing indifferent and they that will do it may take their Liberty Nevertheless the Faithful shall be advised not to intermeddle with these matters if they find any abuses in them or an appearance of evil Consequences of all which Consistories and Colloquies shall pass a prudent judgment CAN. III. Such as by unlawful means as by Papal Bulls or a sum of money shall buy or hold Benefices or such as in like manner shall directly or indirectly maintain Idolatry shall be denounced Persons utterly unworthy of Communion with our Churches in the holy Supper of the Lord nor shall they be admitted to it And as for Benefices of which any one may have an Advowsonage whether by Presentation from the Lord of the Mannor a Lay-Patron or by the Bishops Gift the Faithful are advised not to accept of them though tender'd to them if there be a tacit or express condition of any service to be performed unto the Idol CAN. IV. Printers Booksellers Painters and other Artificers and in general all the Faithful and particularly such as bear Office in the Church shall be admonished that they do not in the least act any thing in their Calling that tends directly to countenance the Superstitions of the Church of Rome and as for secret Acts and the Censure incurred by them their judgment is left unto the Consistory CAN. V. Notaries Scrivenors and others who by the Duty of their Callings are obliged to sign and seal indifferently all matters which are brought unto them they shall not be censured for receiving Testaments passing Contracts and expediting Letters which concern Idolatry nor Judges for their judging Causes concerning Ecclesiastical Estates and the Execution of the Edict CAN. VI. Arbitrators shall not in any manner of way intermeddle with things which concern Idolatry either directly or indirectly CAN. VII Neither Counsellors nor Attorneys at Law shall plead in those Causes which tend to the suppression of the Ministry of the Gospel or to the setting up of Mass nor shall they in any manner of way whatsoever be allowed to give their advice or assistance unto the Romish Churchmen in those Causes which do either directly or indirectly tend unto the oppression of a Reformed Church CAN. VIII Neither Bishops nor Officials nor Arch-Deacons as they be now Constituted have of right any Civil or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction However because the Faithful are sometimes constrained to appear before them for obtaining their own just dues which otherwise would be detained from them in case they he turned over to them by the Civil Magistrate to whom they shall first make their applications they may warrantably enough have recourse unto them CAN. IX Godly Advocates ought not in any wise to plead in the Officials-Court unless in those Cases in which they be necessitated to prosecute the right of their Clients before them according to the last foregoing Canon CAN. X. It is not in it self unlawful to exercise civil Jurisdictions as to act as Attorneys for and under Ecclesiastical Persons unless in such Cases which they call spiritual CAN. XI The Faithful may not take out or cause to be Executed any Monitory or Writ of Excommunication from the Church of Rome CAN. XII Forasmuch as it is neither lawful not expedient to heat the Popish Preachers nor any others who have intruded themselves without a lawful Call the Flocks shall be hindred by their Pastors from going to them and such as shall go they shall be called into the Consistory and Censured according to the nature of their offence CAN. XIII Lords Gentlemen and others shall be admonished according to the Discipline of our Church not to entertain in their Houses any scandalous or incorrigible Persons and above all that they do not suffer any Priests to sing Mass or to dogmatize and debauch their Domesticks nor shall they admit of any such again into their service if they have once discarded them CAN. XIV Fathers and Mothers shall be exhorted to be very careful of their Childrens Education which are the Seed-Plot and promising hopes of God's Church And therefore such as send them to School to be taught by Priests Monks Jesuits and Nuns they shall be prosecuted with all Church-Censures Those also shall be Censured who dispose of their Children to be Pages or Servant unto Lords and Gentlemen of the contrary Religion CAN. XV. They whose Brethren Sisters or other Kindred have quitted their Monasteries to serve God in liberty of Conscience shall be exhorted to relieve them and to provide for them according to the duties
Cities in which there is a Bishoprick or Archbishoprick but yet this shall not in the least prejudice those of the said pretended Reformed Religion so as to disable them from demanding or nominating for the said place of Worship the Burroughs and Villages near unto the said Cities excepting also the places and Lordships belonging unto the Ecclesiasticks in which 't is not our Intention that the said second place of Bailywick should he established We having out of our special Grace and Favour excepted and reserved them And we will and understand that by and under the name of ancient Bailywicks be meant those which were in being during the Reign of our Honoured Lord and Father-in-Law the late King Henry the Second and were reputed for Bailywicks Seneschallies and Governments depending immediately on the Jurisdiction of our Courts aforesaid XII Nor do we intend by this present Edict to derogate from those Edicts and Grants which we have formerly made for the reducing of divers Princes Lords Gentlemen and Catholick Towns unto our obedience by any thing which concerneth the exercise of the said Religion which Edicts and Grants shall be maintained and observed in this particular according to the import of those Instructions which shall be given by us unto those Commissioners who shall be appointed for the executing of this present Edict XIII We do most strictly forbid all those of the said Religion to exercise any part thereof whether as to the Ministry or Order or Discipline or publick Instruction of Children and any others in this our Kingdom or any Lands under our Dominion in what concerneth the said Religion unless in those places permitted and granted by this present Edict XIV As also there shall be no exercise of the said Religion in our Court or Retinue nor in our Territories or Countries on the other side of the Alps nor also in our City of Paris nor within five Leagues of the said City Yet notwithstanding the Professors of the said Religion who live in the Territories and Countries on the other side of the Alps and in our said City and within five Leagues thereof shall not be sought after in their Houses nor be obliged to do any thing upon the account of the Religion aforesaid against their Consciences provided that they do in all other things demean themselves according to the import of this present Edict XV. Nor may the publick exercise of the said Religion be performed in our Armies unless in the Quarters of the Chieftains professing the said Religion excepting always the place where our Royal Person shall be Lodged XVI In pursuance of the second Article of the Conference at Nerac we do not permit those of the said Religion to build places for its exercise in those Towns and places where we have granted it unto them and those which they have already built shall be restored to them or the Landlord of them in that condition in which it is at present and that in those places where the said exercise is not permitted them unless they have been since converted into some other kind of Buildings In which case they who now possess the said Edifices and Buildings Lands and places of equal price and value according as they were rated before they had built them or their just price as they shall be estimated by persons of skill and judgment in such matters Saving always to the said Proprietors and Possessors their recourse against all to whom they may belong XVII We forbid all Preachers Readers and other Persons who speak in publick to use any words discourses or talk which tendeth to stir up the People unto Sedition Yea we have enjoined and do enjoin and Command them to contain and deport themselves soberly and to speak nothing but what may be for the instruction and edification of their Hearers and that they maintain the repose and tranquillity established by us in our said Kingdom under those penalties expressed in our former Edicts Enjoining most strictly our Attorneys General and their Substitutes that according to the duties of their Office they do make information against those who shall break and transgress this our Law upon pain of answering for it in their own private and particular Capacities and of forfeiting their Offices XVIII We do also forbid all our Subjects of whatever quality or condition they may be to take away by force or by inticements against the will of their Parents the Children of those of the said Religion and to cause them to be baptized or confirmed in the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church as also the same Prohibitions are made by us against those of the said pretended Reformed Religion and all this on pain of exemplary punishment XIX The Professors of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall not be in any manner constrained nor stand obliged by reason of Abjurations Promises and Oaths which they have made heretofore or for any securities given by them upon the account of the said Religion nor shall they be molested nor troubled in any manner whatsoever XX. They shall be bound also to keep and observe the Holy-Days Commanded by the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church nor may they work sell nor keep open Shops on those Days nor may Artificers work out of their Shops unless it be in their Chambers and Houses close shut upon those Holy-Days and other days prohibited in any Trade so that the noise thereof should be heard without by the Passengers or Neighbours However none but the Officers of Justice shall make inquiry after it XXI Nor may any Books of the said pretended Reformed Religion be Printed or sold publickly unless in those Towns and Places where the publick Exercise of the said Religion is allowed And as for other Books which shall be imprinted in other Towns they shall be seen and perused as well by our Officers as by Divines according to the import of our Decrees And we do most strictly forbid the Imprinting Publishing and Sale of all Books Libels and defamatory Writings under the Penalties contained in our Decrees and we enjoin all our Judges and other Officers to look carefully unto it XXII We do Ordain That there shall be no difference nor distinction made upon the account of Religion in the receiving of Scholars for their Education in Universities Colledges and Schools and of sick and poor Persons into Hospitals and Spittles or to the participation of publick Alms. XXIII Those of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be obliged to keep the Laws of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church received in this our Kingdom about Marriages Contracted or to be Contracted within the degrees of Consanguinity and Affinity XXIV In like manner those of the said Religion shall pay according to the usual Custom the Fees for entrance into those Offices and Charges which are bestowed upon them without ever being compelled to assist at any Ceremonies contrary to their said Religion and when ever they be called to take an Oath they
of those of the said pretended Reformed Religion within the Jurisdiction of our Parliament of Provence they not needing to take out Letters of Evocation or other Provisions but in our Chancery of Dolphiny As also those of the said Religion in Normandy and Brittaine shall not be obliged to take out Letters of Evocation nor other Provisions but from our Court of Chancery in Paris XXXIII Our Subjects of the Reformed Religion in the Jurisdiction of the Parliament of Burgundy shall according to their will and choice plead in the Chamber ordained for that purpose either in the Parliament of Paris or in that of Dolphiny And they also shall not be bound to take out Letters of Evocation nor any other provisions unless from out of the said Chanceries of Paris or Dolphiny at their choice and pleasure XXXIV All these said Chambers composed as aforesaid shall take cognisance try and judge Soveraignly and without Appeal by Decree privatively of all others of all Suits and Differences moved or to be moved in which those of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be the principal Parties or Defendants in demanding or defending in all matters as well Civil as Criminal whether the said Suits and Processes be by writing or by verbal Appeals and if it seem good unto the said Parties and one of them do require it before the Cause come to be contested with respect unto the Processes which may be moved excepting always all matters beneficiary and the Possessors of Tithes not impropriated Patronages of Churches and those Causes in which the rights and duties and Demean of the Church shall be debated all which shall be tryed and judged in the Courts of Parliament without granting any power unto the said Chambers of the Edict to take Cognisance of them As also we will that when as Criminal Processes shall fall out between the said Ecclesiasticks and those of the said pretended Reformed Religion if the Ecclesiastical Person be Defendant in this Case the Cognisance and Judgments of the Criminal Process shall belong unto our Soveraign Courts privatively of the said Chambers or if the said Ecclesiastical Person be Plaintiff and he of the said Religion Defendant the Cognisance and Judgment of the said Criminal Process shall belong by Appeal and finally without Appeal unto those Chambers beforesaid established Moreover those said Chambers shall take Cognisance in times of Vacations of matters attributed by the Edicts and Ordinances unto the Chambers established in time of Vacation every one of them in their Jurisdiction XXXV The said Chamber of Grenoble shall be from this instant united and incorporated with the Body of the said Court of Parliament and the Presidents and Counsellers of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be accounted and called the Presidents and Counsellors of the said Court and shall be reckoned and taken in the rank quality and number of them And for these ends they shall be first distributed by the other Chambers and then extracted and drawn out from among them to be imployed and serve in that which we ordain anew but always on this condition that they shall assist and have Voice and Sessions in all Deliberations that shall be made when as the Chambers are Assembled and they shall enjoy the same Sallaries Authorities and Preheminencies which the other Presidents and Counsellors of the said Court do XXXVI We will and it is our mind and intention that the said Chambers of Castres and Bourdeaux shall be reunited and incorporated in those Parliaments in the same form as others when as there shall be need of it and that the Causes which have moved us to make the establishment shall cease and there shall be no place left for them among our Subjects And to this purpose the Presidents and Counsellors in them of the said Religion shall be accounted and held for Presidents and Counsellors of the said Courts XXXVII There shall be also a new Creation and Erection in the Chamber Ordained for the Parliament of Bourdeaux of two Substitutes of our Attorney and Advocate-Generals one of which said Proctors shall be a Catholick and another of the said Religion who shall be possessed of the said Offices with competent Sallaries XXXVIII And the said Substitutes shall not take unto themselves any other quality than that of Substitutes and when as the Chambers ordained for the Parliaments of Tholouse and Bourdeaux shall be united and incorporated with the said Parliaments the said Substitutes shall be provided of Offices of Counsellors in them XXXIX The Dispatches of the Chancery of Bourdeaux shall be made in presence of two Counsellors of that Chamber one of which shall be a Catholick and the other of the said pretended Reformed Religion in the absence of one of the Masters of Requests of our Houshold And one of the Notaries and Secretaries of the said Court of Parliament of Bourdeaux shall make his Residence in the place where the said Chamber shall be established or else one of the ordinary Secretaries of the Chancery to sign the Dispatches of the said Chancery XL. We Will and Ordain That in the said Chamber of Bourdeaux there shall be two of the Register of the said Parliament the one for Civil the other for Criminal Causes who shall discharge their Offices by our Commissions and shall be called the Deputies or Commissioners in the Civil and Criminal Office of the Register who notwithstanding may not be abandoned nor revoked by the said Registers in Parliament Yet nevertheless they shall be bound to bring in the Emoluments of the said Registers Office unto the said Registers and the said Deputies shall be paid their Sallaries by the said Registers as it shall be advised and arbitrated by the said Chamber Moreover it shall be ordained that the Catholick Ushers shall be taken out of the said Court or from elsewhere according to our pleasure over and besides which there shall be two new ones erected of the said Reformed Religion and who shall be put into those places without payment of Fine or Fees And all those said Ushers shall be regulated by the said Chamber as well for the exercise and division of their offices as for the Emoluments which they are to receive There shall be also set up by Commission a Payer of Wages and Receiver of Fines in the said Chamber which office shall be given by us to whom we please in case the said Chamber be established any where else than in the said City And that Commission formerly granted unto the Payer of Wages in the Chamber of Castres shall be in full power and effect and the Commission of the Receit of the Fines in the said Chamber shall be joined unto the said Office XLI There shall be good and sufficient Assignments made for the Officers Wages in the Chambers ordained by this Edict XLII The Presidents Counsellors and other Catholick Officers of the said Chambers shall be continued as long as may be and as we shall see meet for our
or to maintain Monks who were appointed to no other Service But to Farm a Field Rents or Lordship and to pay the Profits accrewing from them unto those Ecclesiasticks for as much as they be Temporal Lords of them the Faithful are left unto their liberty therein to do as they please Civil Jurisdiction may be â—xâ—â—â—â—â—d under Popish Church-men Whether an insufficient Elder may be deposed and a Banker chosen X. It was also determined That the exercising of Civil Jurisdictions or Procurations under the aforesaid Ecclesiasticks is not in itself unlawful provided it he not in Spiritual Matters as they call them XI Moreover whereas our said Brother of St. John d' Angely hath demanded Whether Elders uncapable of discharging their Office who had â—een admitted when the Church was first gathered might lawfully be deposed that other better qualified may be elected into their Places And whether a Banker might be chosen into the Eldership As to the First Article we answer That if those Elders be utterly incapable of discharging their Duties they shall be deposed according to what hath been determined already in the Articles of our Discipline But if they can tollerably perform them they ought not without their Consent to be laid by And touching Bankers in case they meddle with those Diabolical Dispatches of Pardon and Dispensations and other such-like Popish Abominations they shall be so far from being received into Office in the Churches that if after Admonition given them to desist from such Actions they do not refrain them they shall be forthwith Excommunicated XII Our Brother of Orleans propounded the case of a Woman who was resolved to serve God with a pure Continence but could not agree with her Husband a Time-server to commit Idolatry and whereas fearing trouble that may betide him and his Wife he gives leave yea sollicites his Wife to withdraw into a Place of Liberty Is it lawful for her to follow this Counsel We answer That as long as this Woman can possibly subsist with her Husband she ought to live with him that so many Inconveniencies may be avoided which would otherwise fall out through her absence But in case she cannot without imminent Danger to herself abide with him let her embrace our Lord's Counsel If they persecute you in one city flie ye unto another Yet always earnestly importuning her Husband as in Conscience he is bound to come unto her Whether Pyrates ought to be received unto the Lord's Supper XIII Our Brother of Marennes having craved our Advice concerning Pyrates and Tradesmen who before they were admitted into the Communion of our Churches had ill-gotten their Estates Whether they ought to be received unto the Lord's Supper We answer That not only these but all other Persons who shall unjustly detain the Goods of other Men however that Injustice may be modified are yet bound in Conscience to make Restitution of those Goods if they be able unto their right Owners And Ministers and Consistories shall take especially care herein and in case they find them eminently penitent and mourning for their Sin having exhorted them unto Charity they may admit them unto the Lord's Table XIV He also proposing this Case Whether Goods sold by Pyrates might be bought We answer That those Merchandizes are either sold publickly by the Permission and Approbation of the Magistrate or not If the Magistrate consent unto their Sale they may with a safe Conscience but if the Sale be Clandestine they ought not because they in buying should be Parties with the Pyrates Such as serve themselves of Papal Excommunications pollute their Consciences Tythes must be paid in Obedience to the King's Laws Children of excommunicate Persons are not to be paptized but conditionally XV. As to the Proposition of our Brother of Xaintes we answer That such as use Papal Excommunications do defile their Consciences XVI As to what was proposed by our Brother of St. Lo we answer That notwithstanding the Popish Priests do unjustly claim a Right to Tithes upon the account of their Ministry yet they must be payed because of the King's Commandment as a matter in itself indifferent and that Sedition and Scandal may be avoided XVII To another Proposal of our Brother was given this answer That where both Father and Mother were Excommunicate their Children should not be received unto Baptism until such time as the aforesaid Parents or one of them had reconciled himself unto the Church unless the Grand-father or Grand-mother of the said Child should present it in which case it might be baptized it being their Blood and descended from them One may be present at Popish Marriage-Feasts without wounding Conscience XVIII He also propounded this Matter of Fact The Church of St. Lo had been informed and thereupon maintained that to be present at Marriage Feasts celebrated by Popish Priests although there was no Idolatry in it at least none consented to by those Guests yet upon this account only that the Marriage was contracted and performed after the Popish Way they were defiled For which cause before the Lord's Supper was administred to them they swear that they were not present at those Feasts as aforesaid Yet afterwards having come to a right understanding of the Truth in this matter they demand Whether they be absolved of their Oath made by them thro' false Information that had been given them It was answer'd They were discharged from the Bond of such an Oath XIX Another Fact was also propounded by the same Brother A Man of S. Lo being ignorant of the evil Conversation of a Woman marrieth her about five Months after she is delivered of Child whereupon he would forsake her but the Parents of his Wife telling him That a Child might be born and that honestly too in that time for twelve Months this Year his Wife carried herself exceeding chastly or at least he had no occasion to suspect her But afterward the Husband possibly being weary of his Wife separates himself from her and publisheth how much he was abused by her Parents though he declares with his own mouth that he had accompanied with her as an Husband with his Wife It is demanded After what manner he is to be dealt with since he will neither take his said Wife nor hearken to the Remonstrances of the Consistory This Assembly adviseth That repeated Admonitions be Ministered to him in which if he do not acquiesce he shall be rejected by the Church XX. That Woman who refuseth or delays to joyn herself unto her Husband infected with some contagious Disease may not however be suspended the Lord's Table yet shall she be admonished conscienciously to perform that Duty which a Wife owes unto her Husband And at the same time the Husband shall be acquainted with the Danger to which he doth expose his Wife XXI And in answer to the Question of the Minister of Tours it was said That the Wives of infected Persons should not be rejected by the
assurances of the Virginity of their Daughter and she also herself avows it yet it comes to light that eight Years before she had a Child It 's demanded Whether he be freed from his Promises because he says he is cheated by them We answer That in case the Whoredom is manifest and he never had carnal Knowledge of her we are of Opinion that he is free according to our former Decision on the same Article XLIII A certain Abbot in Lymousin professeth himself a Doctor and Preacher the People hear him gladly nevertheless he maintains his Monks goes in Person unto the Mass and does not joyn himself unto a Reformed Church 'T is queried Whether the People may be permitted to hear him and whether those Ministers who exhorted him to read his Lectures have done well and those also who have assisted at his French Sermons It 's answered That those Ministers who have been present at his Sermons or exhorted the People to become his Hearers or him to Teach among whom there is one called Provost ought all of them to be grievously censured And the People shall be admonished according to the Rules of our Discipline to content themselves with their own Pastors and that my Lord Abbot be desired to forbear his Lectures and to subject himself unto the Order of God's Church and tarry till he be called unto such an Office XLIV Monsieur Pelot craved advice in this weighty Case A Marriage had been contracted between a Youth of sufficient Age and a Maid of Thirteen with mutual content of the Parties and their Parents The Banes were published in the Church and just as the Minister would have married them the Maid sate down and would neither rise nor stand up But after Sermon having been admonished of her Duty she yields unto it and they were married in the Church and lay together yet without any carnal Cohabitation She upon second thoughts says the Marriage is null and separating from her Husband protests she is not bound to own him for hers in that relation nor to cleave unto him and requireth to be divorced from him whereunto the Man would freely and willingly consent provided it might be done with a good conscience This Assembly declares That it is a good Marriage true and indissolvable and the Parties must be exhorted in the Name of God to carry themselves as true married Persons And Monsieur du Verges and the Consistory of Montlimart where the Mother which hinders the Marriage dwells are desired to do their endeavour that it may be perfected XLV Monsieur Vaissé propounds That Promises of Marriage had been made by two Persons at Marnejoux both of sufficient Age and with consent of Parties the Promises were ratified and confirmed the second time and that by Contract passed through the hands of a Publick Notary The young Woman refuseth to accomplish the Marriage urging for herself that she was compelled by her Parents to make such Promises though the contrary is evident from the very words of her Parents she further alledgeth That her Party's Breath is very stinking The Marriage is declared indissolvable XLVI A Man having contracted Marriage with a Maid by consent of Parents maketh other Promises unto another Maid and passeth Contract of this also of which he is afterward very penitent and persisteth in his first Promise By consent of the Consistory and Magistrate of the Place 't is concluded the first Promise shall hold Nevertheless when the Banes are published the Father of the second Maid forbids them May the Minister proceed to celebrate and bless this Marriage notwithstanding the old Man's Prohibition It is concluded that forasmuch as the Father of the second Maid opposeth it only out of Interest and for a sum of Money which he claimeth due unto him the Minister may do his Office in marrying them XLVII Monsieur de Lestany proposeth Whether a Minister who was formerly a Popish Priest and hath none other Estate nor Income but what belongs unto his Cure which may amount to about threescore and five Livres yearly and yet he cannot recover that sorry Pittance but by compelling his Debtors to pay him before the Magistrate and the Magistrate also will not condemn them to Satisfaction unless he plead in the Name of Priest and Curate Is it lawful for him so to do No by no means XLVIII An Abbot come to the knowledge of the Gospel who hath suppressed all Idolatry burnt his Deeds and Evidences provided for his Monks and not suffered for six Years last past Mass to be sung in his Abby nor done any other Exercise of the Popish Worship but ever carried himself faithfully and born Arms in Defence of the Gospel ought such an one to be admitted to the Lord's Table Yes undoubtedly XLIX A Man by the consent of her Father and of his betrothed Wife hath carnal Knowledge of her before Marriage He is afterwards by false Witnesses accused of Fornication and condemned for falsifying the King's Coyn and executed in Effigie He demands that his Marriage may be celebrated in the Church The Brethren are of Opinion That provided he submit to publick Penance for his Fornication and other Crimes it may be lawful to marry him and to admit him to the Lord's Table L. The Deputies of Vivaretz propounded this Case An Abbess though she hath forsaken the Idolatry of the Church of Rome doth yet notwithstanding retain her Nuns and employeth not the Revenues to their right use may she with a safe conscience be admitted to Communion at the Lord's Table No in no wise LI. The Brethren in the Church of Rochell are desired to leave off Prosecuting their Minister Monsieur de L'Isle and other of their Fellow-members because they want sufficient Evidence against them and they are to remit the whole matter unto our Brethren of Xaintonge who will take an exact cognisance thereof and judge in it according to truth And whereas the Church of Rochell have petitioned that they might have Monsieur Oded du Nort conferred upon them for their Minister answer was given them That he should serve them till such time as the Provincial Synod of Gascony do sit who properly can dispose of him and the said Church of Rochell shall apply themselves to the said Synod to gain their consent and in case they cannot obtain it then may they redemand the Monies if they please which they paid down for his Ransom LII The Brethren of Paris are intreated to give way that Monsieur de La Forest may be sent unto Bourges instead of Monsieur de St. Germain And this Article shall be communicated to our Brethren of Geneva and to their Church and they be intreated to write unto the Church of Paris about it that so Monsieur de St. Germain may be Minister unto the Family of the Lord de la Rochfoucaud LIII Our Brother de St. Fariol doth of right belong to the Church of Montignac yet that Church is intreated to accept of our Brother
Chap. V. Of Vagrants Debauched Persons and Councils Chap. VI. Of Imposition of Hands Sureties in Baptism c. Chap. VII Vniformity in Common Prayers No Marriages without Certificates Loane of Ministers Synods and Colloquies Chap. VIII An Abjuration made by a Socinian Chap. IX Secret Promises of Marriage and several Cases of Conscience about Absolution Churches Ingratitude Age of Communicants of Marrying the Sister of a deceased Spouse Accounts of the Poors Money Divorces Chap. X. Method in Calling of National Synods Chap. XI General Advertisements unto the Churches about Printers Elders Books Schollars Lord's Supper Ministers in Noble Mens Houses Censures on Lords Censure upon a certain Book The Second Synod of PARIS 1565. Synod V. SYNOD V. Articles Decreed in the National Synod held the second time at Paris the twenty fifth of December 1565 and in the fifth Year of the Reign of King Charles the Ninth CHAP. I. NIcholas de Galars Minister of the Church of Orleance being chosen President and Lewis Capel Minister of Meaux and Peter Le Clere Elder of the Church of Paris Scribes after the Invocation of the Name of GOD. CHAP. II. An Explication of the Canons of the CHVRCH-Discipline and an Addition of several others General MATTERS I. FOrasmuch as the Church of God ought to be governed by a good and holy Discipline and that no other may be introduced but what is grounded upon the Word of God the Ministers and Elders deputed from the Provinces of this Kingdom to confer about Ecclesiastical Affairs and met together in the Name of the Lord after diligent Perusal of the Book and other Writings of M. J. Morelly concerning the Polity and Discipline of the Church and sufficient Conferences had with him from the Holy Scriptures about it do by this present Act condem his said Books and Writings as containing evil and dangerous Opinions subverting that Discipline which is conformable unto the Word of God and at this day received in the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom and whereas delivering up the Government of the Church unto the People he would bring in a new tumultuary Conduct and full of Confusions upon it from whence would follow many great and dangerous Inconveniencies which have been remonstrated unto him and he once and again admonished to abandon these Matters which yet he will not do but persists in his Assertions saying That he is perswaded those his Opinions are built upon God's Holy Word We having divers times exhorted him to approve and consent unto that Order which is received and conserved in these our Churches as appointed by our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles and proved to him from their Sacred Writings because we hope that the Lord will be gracious to him and also because he does not differ from the Church in any of the fundamental principal Articles of our Faith the Brethren of this Assembly supporting him with Christian Charity are of Opinion that he be received to the Peace and Communion of the Church provided that as he hath formerly promised by Writing and now again protested to ratifie and sign with his own Hand this his Promise so that for time to come he do carry himself peaceably and subject himself to the Order and Discipline established in the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom without ever any manner of ways publishing those his said Opinions neither by Word of Mouth nor Writing contrary to the said Discipline or to a Treatise in confirmation of it which may shortly be printed provided also that according to his former Promises and at the request of the Lords of the City and Church of Geneva to whom he hath not yet given sufficient Satisfaction though he is bound in Duty to reconcile himself unto them which is evident from his own Letters that he do once more by new Letters of his own Writing confess and acknowledge to have offended them and do beg their Pardon because that being an Inhabitant of their said City he did contrary to the Orders of the Seignory print and publish his said Book without having first demanded and obtained their License and being called both by them and the Consistory of that Church to give an account of that his Contempt he did not appear at the day assigned him These conditions being performed by him and the Consistory of that Church whereunto he shall joyn himself must take knowledge whether he hath fulfilled them or no and they accordingly may receive him as a Member of the Church and admit him into Communion with them or else proceed against him by Ecclesiastical Censures CHAP. III. The manner of Proceeding in Ecclesiastical Censures II. FOrasmuch as Sins committed in the Church ought to be corrected by the Word of God and according to the Rule of Charity and all Sins are not alike grievous and scandalous some being more enormous others of a lesser nature some secret and others publick we must therefore according to their quality and aggravations accommodate the Censure and Reprehension so then secret Sins whereof the Sinner by means of Brotherly Admonitions shall be brought unto Repentance and hath reformed them shall not be brought into the Consistory but those only which these first means cannot reform nor amend or Sins publickly known the cognisance of which belongs unto the said Consistory who must proceed to the Reformation of them by proper and convenient Censures considering these sins with all their circumstances that so according as the case requireth they may apply either a severe and rigorous Reprehension or a more moderate one in the Spirit of Meekness as may be most expedient to bring the Sinner to Repentance who to this end shall by the Authority of the Consistory be for some time deprived of the Lord's Supper if it be needful that so he may be humbled Excommunication must not be used but in extream necessity or finally excommunicated and totally cut off from the Body of the Church according to that Order hereafter declared if so be he shew himself rebellious to the Holy Admonitions and Censures inflicted on him and continue obstinate and impenitent But inasmuch as this is the last and most rigorous of all Remedies it shall never be used but in case of extremity when all fair and gentle Means have proved ineffectual And whereas even unto this day in divers places this distinction between this last Excommunication and temporary Suspension or simple Privation of the Lord's Supper hath not been observed as it ought that both the one and the other may be duely used the Ministers and Elders interpreting these words of Excommunication and Suspension from the Lord's Table The words Excommunication and Suspension explained No Minister of his private Authority can deprive a Man of the Lord s Supper do give it as their Opinion That no Person should be deprived or suspended the Lord's Table by the single Authority of the Pastors or of any other but only by the Consistory which shall prudently consider
conveniently spare a Minister or send another Yet if this may not be done that the aforementioned Inconveniencies may be obviated and that Churches living upon borrowed Ministers may be spurred up to a diligent discharge of their Duty in getting one for themselves This Assembly adviseth That in case a Church which had borrowed a Minister hath been for six Months warned and required to provide itself the lent Minister shall be obliged to return unto his own Church in Obedience to the Summons of his Consistory whatever Interposals there may be to the contrary by Provincial Synods Synods and Colloquies shall be established according to the extent of the Governments in the State XIV It 's ordained for time to come That Provincial Synods and Colloquies shall be established according to the Provincial Gorvernments of the Kingdom without any one 's usurping Authority upon the other excepting that if one Government be too great and the number of Ministers in it too many they may divide themselves into two Provinces and as many Synods CHAP. VIII XV. THis Synod having heard Monsieur * * * Another Copy calls him du Gar a third du Gast John du Bard retracting and abjuring those Errours he had formerly vented and defended at Poictiers concerning the Divinity and Humanity of Jesus Christ and the Divinity of the Holy Ghost which Retractation of his specified with all Plainness and its Particulars he had given in Writing and the Deputies of this Assembly to whom it was committed for their Perusal making Report that it was solid pertinent and satisfactory as proceeding from a composed and well-resolved Mind It is ordained That this Retractation shall be sent unto Monsieur de L'estrang and other Ministers of the Churches in Poistou with Letters from this Assembly that they may consider whether it will be a sufficient Reparation of the Scandal and Trouble caused by him in those Parts and to know whether they have any other Matters to object against him or whether they would have him in Person there upon the place to recognize his Offence And in case they desire it the said Monsieur John du Bard shall be exhorted to appear personally before them in the mean while the Ministers of Picardy are advised not to proceed to a sudden Election of him till such time as he hath given full Satisfaction unto the Churches of Poictou CHAP. IX All secret Promises of Marriage null XVI FOrasmuch as Controversies arise daily about Marriage-Promises we do Decree That for time to come all clandestine Promises made even by Persons of full Age and at their own disposal shall be null and those be clandestine Promises which are not made in the presence of three or two Witnesses at the least and it 's fitting they be made after solemn seeking of God by Prayer and in presence of Parents provided they live in those places where the Promises are made XVII Churches which are accustomed upon Sacrament-days or other Sabbaths after the Confession of Sins to pronounce a general Absolution may if they please continue in it but where this Custom is not introduced this Synod adviseth the Churches not in the least to admit it because of the dangerous Consequences which may ensue What Course shall be taken with Ministers complaining of their Peoples Unkindness to them XVIII A Minister complaining of his Church's Ingratitude the Provincial Synod shall take cognisance thereof weighing diligently the Poverty of that Church and the Temporal Estate of the Minister and in case that Church be guilty of very great and notorious Ingratitude the Synod shall have full power to remove him for his better Accommodation elsewhere And all the Churches shall be desired to shun Ingratitude to their Ministers a Sin too rife among us and to take special care that they be more respected and their Labours better rewarded not to enrich or fatten them but to give them a becoming and sufficient Maintenance Persons under Twelve not to be admitted to the Lord's Table XIX 'T is the Judgment of this Synod that Children under twelve Years of Age ought not to be received to the Lord's Supper and as for those which are above it Ministers shall judge of their fitness for it And having been once Communicants they may be admitted also Sureties for Children at Baptism The Sister of a dead Spouse may be married XXI It being demanded whether a Man might marry the Sister of her to whom he was betrothed because some conceived he might as well marry his Wife's Sister and that the Rights of the Spouse are as great as those of the married Woman This Assembly answers That there is between these two Facts a very wide difference because Affinity is only contracted by mixture of Blood and Seed Yet nevertheless care must be taken that neither the Magistrate nor the weak Christian be offended The Accounts of the Poor's Money shall be given up before the Ministers and all the People XXI Ministers shall be present is possible at the distributing of Monies unto the Elders for the Poor but at the Inbringing of their Accounts they shall in no wise be absent And their Custom is approved who advise the People before-hand to be present at the Audit that so the Elders who have managed those matters may be discharged with more Honour and also that they themselves knowing the necessities of the Church and Poor may be the more enlarged in their Contributions to them Consistories shall not execute Divorces XXII Whereas great Difficulties are raised about Divorces for Adultery verified before the Magistrates we judge that Consistories may lawfully declare unto the innocent Party its liberty according to God's Word but they shall not in the least intermeddle with the Execution of that Divorce and Dissolution of the Marriage to enable the wronged Party to proceed unto a new Marriage because it of right belongs unto the Civil Magistrate CHAP. X XXIII THis following Order shall be observed in the calling of our National Synods for the future The Method to be kept in convocating National Synods In the first place as was usual there shall be one certain Church chosen which shall have power of signifying unto the Provinces the Day and Place of Meeting Whatever Matters are to be debated in this Assembly shall be sent by the several Provinces unto that Church The said Church shall call the National Synod within the Year in convenient Time and Place and give notice thereof three Months before to all the Provinces and shall send a Duplicate of the difficult Matters which are to be debated unto the said Provinces to be considered by them And that such as are charged with the Power of calling the said Assembly may know how to direct their Letters it 's fitting that one particular Church be nominated in every Province to receive those Letters and according to their Tenor to Assemble the Provincial Synod within three Months where the
transmitted Difficulties shall be maturely examined and the Arguments on both sides urged being fair and carefully written down shall be sent unto the National Synod And forasmuch as our present Circumstances will not admit any great Number of Ministers and Elders in this National Synod we are of Opinion that for this time only and during these Difficulties that the Brethren assembled in each Provincial Synod should choose from among them one or two Ministers and as many Elders of the ablest and most expert in Church-Affairs to be sent in the Name of the whole Province who shall come furnished with good Memorials and premeditated Thoughts upon those Difficulties which had been communicated to them The Provinces shall not prescribe any set time or term unto these their Deputies for returning but shall let them tarry in the said Synod as long as there may be need of them and the Charges of the said Deputies shall be defrayed by their respective Provinces And that the National Synod may be no more imployed in Matters already decided by former Synods the Provinces shall be advised to read over carefully the Acts of the past Synods before they prepare their Memorials and to send nothing but what is general â—nâ— of common concern to all the Churches or else that which merits the Resolution of the said National Synod And the Churches of Poictiers which is charged with the calling of the next National Synod shall be informed of all this that they may intend their Duty CHAP. XI General Advertisements unto the Churches XXIV THE Printers in every Province shall be advised That whereas at the end of Psalm-Books and Catechisms they do add the Confession of Faith of our French Churches that they do especially this which begins with these words We believe and confess that there is but One GOD c. and which hath an Epistle prâ—fixed to it dedicated to the King and not that other Confession which begins thus Forasmuch as the Foundation of Faith c. not but that both are conformable in Doctrine And hereof also Notice shall be given to the Printers of Geneva Elders not to be displac'd without great cause XXV Although the Elders Office as now used by us be not perpetual as is exprest in the 35th Article of the Discipline nevertheless the Churches shall be admonished not to discharge their Elders but for great Causes whereof the Consistories shall take Cognizance that so the Church may be be conducted after the bed manner by Persons well verst in her Government XXVI Ministers in places appointed by the King and in all others are advised not to receive the Members of any other Churches unto the Lord's Supper without a sufficient Attestation produced by them under the hand of their Pastors or Elders if it may be had No Books must be written ridiculously but Modesty is to be observed in them XXVII Ministers and others whom God hath endowed with Gifts and Abilities to write in Defence of the Truth are requested not to publish their Thoughts in a ridiculous or injurious manner but to keep to that Modesty and Gravity which becomes the Majesty of God's Word and to observe that self-same Modesty and Majesty in their Sermons and in their ordinary Stile to use the Language of God's Spirit in the Holy Scripture Schollars to be maintained by the Churches in the Universities XXVIII Because there is every-where a visible decay and a great want of Ministers and that some provision may be made for a Succession the Churches shall be admonished by our Brethren the Provincial Deputies that such as are rich would maintain some hopeful Schollars at the Universities who being educated in the Liberal Arts and Sciences and other good Learning may be fitted for and employed in the Sacred Ministry XXIX Altho' in our Churches for the most part the Lord's Supper is administred only sour times a Year yet the more frequent Celebration of it is very desirable due Reverence in approaching to it being always observed because it 's most beneficial for God's Children to be exercised and grow in Faith which is done by the frequent usage of the Sacraments as also because this was the Practice of the Primitive Church Nâ—â—â—e mâ—n may not carry with them in their Journeys the Ministers of the Churches leaving them â—â—â—upplied XXX Ministers being given to the Service of the Church and not to the Persons and Palaces of Great Lords altho' their Families may equallize in Numbers some Churches yet their Lordships shall be desired not to carry away with them in their Removals or Travels abroad with their Families the Churches Ministers least thereby they be left unprovided XXXI Lords and Gentlemen shall be censured according to the Discipline of our Churches if after frequent Admonitions they entertain in their Houses scandalous and incorrigible Persons especially if they suffer Priests to sing Mass or by Dogmatizing to debauch their Domesticks or if having cashiered them they shall again receive them into their Service XXXII The Churches shall be admonished to beware of a Book written by Mr. Charles Du Moulin Entituled Vnio quatuor Evangelistarum because in it there be divers Errors as about Limbus Free-will and the Sin against the Holy Ghost and the Lord's Supper and in particular about the Calling of Ministers and Church-Discipline which he treats with scorn and would totally subvert The Faithful also are warned not to assist at any of his Sermons or Sacraments it being against the Discipline of our Church Modesty to be kept in Attire See the Synod of St. Foy General Matters Art 2. The Faithful must use Charity towards their Brethren or Sisters that have forsook their Monastries XXXIII Ministers shall exhort their People to be modest in their Habits and that they themselves do in this and all other Matters give them the best Example forbearing all Gaudery in their own Persons and in their Wives and Children XXXIV They whose Brethren and Sisters have quitted their Monastery that they might serve God in freedom of Conscience shall be exhorted to admit them unto a part of their Estate at least they shall be compelled by all Censures to afford them Maintenance and a competent Pension according to their ability For they would otherwise shew themselves void of Natural Affection The End of the Second National Synod of Paris THE ACTS DECISIONS and DECREES OF THE VI. National Synod OF THE Reformed Churches of Christ IN The KINGDOM of FRANCE Held in the Town of VERTVEIL and Province of AVGOVLMOIS the First Day of September 1567. THE CONTENTS of this SYNOD CHap. I. Moderator Alterations and Annotations upon the Church-Discipline Chap. II. Marriage of Excommunicated Persons and Infidels Provincial Synods Reading of the Holy Scriptures Bread in the Lord's Supper to be taken by them who can't the Cup Church-Government Loan of Ministers Pastors deserting their Churches Rejection of Church-Officers Chap. III. A Case of Conscience about a Deaf and Dumb Man's
Body of Christ as also Celibacy and Praying towards the East and that Commentaries upon the Scriptures are needless and that Calvin did very ill in writing of Predestination and that Man may keep perfectly all the Commands of God He is a Fellow of mean stature a yellowish Beard and speaks somewhat thick plain in his looks and tawny face aged Five and twenty a Savoyard born in the Country of Bresse VI. One called Chevalier now Vicar at Chassaux near Janet aged Fifty Years having a great Red Nose he is a mercenary and most abusive Fellow VII One called Stephen Jenicot otherwise du Brevil saith he was born at Talmond upon Jard in Poictou and ordained Minister of the Word of God by the Classis of Neuf Chastel and shews a Certificate under the hand of Monsieur Christopher's which yet since he avows to have been made in Paris a little dwarfish Fellow CHAP. VIII General Advertisements given unto the Churches of France I. THere being different Copies of our Discipline the Church of Paris Orleans and Meaux are required diligently to revise and Examine whatever hath been ordained by us to this purpose and to reduce those Canons into an orderly and compleat System and that within four Months they deliver a Copy hereof unto all the Provinces II. Explaining the Second Article of the Discipline under that Head of Particular Orders it is resolved That all Carpenters Masons Glaziers and other Artisans shall abstain from all manner of Work in their respective Trades that may in the least favour Idolatry and if after Admonition they continue in such Practices they shall be subjected unto Censures III. Altho' it be in itself a thing purely indifferent to assist at the Feasts and Banquets celebrated by Papists at their Marriages or Birth of their Children yet the Faithful shall be advertis'd to do herein what will make best for Edification and to weigh well with themselves whether they be strong enough to resist those Dissolutions and other Sins ordinarily committed at such Meetings as also to reprove them IV. Such as being demanded for the Ministry of the Gospel and the Service of any particular Church shall be sent forth with a Testimonial of their Life and Doctrine unto the Colloquy or Provincial Synod of that place which requested them which Colloquy or Synod may if they think it fitting examine them and shall Commissionate three or four Ministers to present them unto the Church that sued for them which Church shall hear them two or three times if need be that so they may know whether they can well profit by them This being done the Ministers together with the Consistory of the Plaee shall lay their hands upon them and establish them in their Pastoral Office and in case of difficulty arising about their Admission those Commissioners and the Consistory shall take Cognisance of it and the Churches which demanded these Ministers are ordered to defray the Charges of their whole Proceedings V. Divers Persons complaining of that Article concerning publick Prayers in those places where the Word of God is constantly Preached and urging the Impossibility of it's being practiced and that it cannot be observed without a world of Inconvenience This Assembly doth judge that the Article is grounded upon very holy and sollid Reasons Yet nevertheless where it cannot be observed without apparent danger and damage unto the Churches the Business may be tollerated Yet all Ministers of the Gospel shall be obliged to do their best that the Article may be observed VI. There shall be no Alteration in that Third Article of the Second Synod of Paris concerning Farmers of Church-Lands And for the better Understanding of it this present Assembly doth take in all kinds of Farming by which in any manner whatsoever Idolatry may be maintained and therefore if any be perceived in taking the said Farms to use and help themselves by Quiddities and Subtilties that so they may escape the Censures of the Church the Consistory shall prudently consider what Abuses may have been committed VII Forasmuch as several of the Deputies do scruple the Tenth Article relating to Judges and Publick Notaries we will leave the Debate hereof unto the next National Synod that so it may be maturely deliberated and their Opinions together with the Grounds and Reasons of them maybe then produced Till which time that Article shall abide in it's full Power No Promises of Marriage to be made but in the presence of Parents c. VIII This Assembly judgeth that the Sixteenth Article of the Second Synod of Paris concerning Marriages beginning with these Words That all Promises c. shall be changed and couched in these Words The Faithful shall be Informed by the Ministers in Publick Church-Meetings not to make any Promises of Marriage but in the Presence of Parents Friends Neighbours or other Persons of good Repute And if any do otherwise they shall be censured for their Levity and Contempt of this Godly Counsel And it were very convenient that the said Promises of Marriage were made with solemn Prayers unto God None but Ministers if possible shall give the Cup. IX A doubt being moved by some of the Brethren whether any other beside a Minister of the Gospel might deliver the Cup in the Sacrament unto the People This Synod having duely ponder'd the Arguments on both sides doth determine that the Fourteenth Article decreed in the Synod of Lyons shall stand firm which was this That none but Ministers if possible shall give the Cup. X. To the Case propounded Whether the wronged party may be permitted to marry again after that the Adultery hath been verified by sentence of the Magistrate This Assembly answers that the Ninth Article of the Synod of Orleans under the Title of Marriages See Articl 29. of the 13. Ch. of the Discipline concerning Marriages shall be in force unless there be apparent danger unto the Church And whatever is couched in other terms shall be razed out of that Article of the Discipline XI Rich and Monied persons shall be exhorted by the most cogent Arguments to do their duty in contributing to the maintenance of the Ministry and in case of neglect the Consistory shall deal with them more effectually XII The Churches shall be advised strictly to observe the Fourth Canon of our Fifth National Synod held the second time at Paris about Certificates given unto poor Travellers and that their names shall be written in them at length and not in Cyphers XIII This Assembly being informed that the Member for some Churches being disgusted at their Consistories declare that they would not subject themselves unto their Censures and therefore to calm and pacifie them they thought good to leave the Election of the new Consistory unto the body of the people But this National Synod doth not approve in the least of this their action as being a very evil matter and of dangerous consequence And judgeth that the said Church shall be advised to
conform it self with the other Churches of this Kingdom unto that Canon of the Discipline viz. That Elders and Deacons shall be chosen by the Consistory and then presented unto the People XIV The Deputies in the last Synod of Paris acquainted this present Assembly that they had given order to our Brethren in the Church of Lions to Print the Book of Discipline XV. The Churches shall have notice given them that they do not admit unto any Ministerial Duties A certain Spaniard going by the Name of Anthony de la Rodit Bellariva till such time as he have first cleared himself of those Crimes for which he stands Impeached by the Church of Loudun XVI Whereas there is a very great difference in the Body of our Discipline which now passeth from hand to hand The Churches of Paris Orleans and Meaux were appointed diligently to revise and examine all those Canons that have been made in former Synods and to send Attested Copies of them unto all the Provinces XVII And the Churches of Paris Lion Orleans and others shall not for the future dispose of any Scholars and Students without their Consent who had sent to the Universities XVIII The Churches are advised to take heed of a certain Old Grave and Bald-headed Fellow going by the Names of Fontaires and Duzau of Valleyse in Languedoc who tho he was never Called or Ordained doth yet notwithstanding take upon him to exercise the Office of a Minister CHAP. IX A Resolution of several Cases of Conscience and of other Weighty Points of the Christian Reformed Religion by the R. Mr. John Calvin Pastor and Professor at Geneva THese Cases and their Solution were all annext unto the Canons of the National Synod of Vertueil in Augoumois held there the Seven first days of September 1567. 1. Quest Whether Children may lawfully detain and possess those Lands and Foundations which were given by their Parents for Singing of Masses Answ Altho those poor Founders as they be called in the Papacy were grosly cheated and abused yet inasmuch as these very Persons to whom those Goods and Lands once belonged did alienate them in a legal Manner Their Heirs and Successors are deprived of them and cannot pretend nor claim any Right unto them So that they must sit down patiently with the Loss unless that publick Authority should find out some Relief for them by a Reformation 2. Quest Whether a Man being forced to abandon his Native Country for Religion and Conscience may also lawfully forsake his Wife Answ The married Man would do much better to take his Wife with him if it be possible for him so to do rather than to live separate from her that so he may give a good Example unto others and avoid those Temptations unto which he is obnoxious as also that he may prevent very many Inconveniences which are likely in such cases to befal him And unless he be inforced to it by necessity he ought not to leave her By necessity I mean this when he cannot serve God with a safe Conscience But if it should so fall out that a Man cannot live as becometh a Christian altho his Wife will live at a distance from him yet is it lawful for him to go before her waiting for her to follow him and he is to sollicite her to come unto him even then when he is separated from her 3. Quest Whether a Father flying for Idolatry may leave his Children behind him Answ If a Father should leave his Children with this Condition That a Padagogue might if he would lead them unto Idolatry he would than be guilty of Sin against God For our Children are God's peculiar Treasure an holy and separate Seed for him and which must be kept with the greatest Care for God And altho he cannot always have his eye upon them yet 't is neither meet nor profitable that he should leave them in such a place from which he cannot recover them without a World of difficulty Yea did he conscientiously endeavour to get his Children with him it would be an effectual Means to draw his Unbelieving Wife after him 4. Quest Whether a Man may forsake his Country when he is not persecuted Answ If a Man should live among Idolaters unpolluted with their Abominations we would not condemn but praise him for his Constancy And in truth we cannot warrantably impose a Law upon him who would depart his Country as if it were unlawful for him so to do whether it proceed from his fear of what is likely to come to pass or upon any other account as suppose he distrusting his own weakness to stand out in a fiery Tryal or ardently seeking after the means of Grace and heavenly Knowledge should thereupon leave his Native Country such a Zeal as this cannot but be approved and applauded 5. Quest Whether it be our Duty to reprove those Sins and sinful Discourses we hear in wicked Company Answ There cannot be any stated Rule or Canon in this Case of reproving Errors or ungodly Talk but this that we should not dissemble nor conceal our dissent from them when as opportunity is offer'd us of reproving them For suppose we should be in some Company where they discourse wickedly we are not bound necessarily to reply upon them There is a time when the prudent Man may keep silence But in case we meet them privately and have no Witness we may do as Righteous Lot testify and express our Displeasure at their Sin and that we are unwillingly through Grief at Heart put upon the Reprehending of them But yet the best Course we could take would be this to observe and take by the' Forelock that Opportunity which God presents us of Opposing Sin of edifying our Company and hindring the Name of God from being blasphemed or that the weak and well-meaning Christian should be seduced through default of timely warning 6. Quest Whether we may correct or expell out of our Service an Infidel or Popish Servant Answ Forasmuch as the Holy Apostles of our Lord did not constrain the Brethren of their Times to drive away their Servants tho no better than Slaves when they would not imbrace the Christian Faith Therefore Masters should now adays observe these two Things First That Sith he is at liberty to give Covenant-Servants that he taken one but such as fear God and are of the Houshold of Faith if possibly they may be Good or that he take a most especial Care if that they be ignorant to instruct them and rid his hands of them Secondly That he do not suffer nor permit the Name of God to be blasphemed within his House and Family wherein God will be honoured But above all that he never prefer his own private Profit and Advantage above the Glory of God 7. Quest Whether a Reformed Christian Gentleman is bound in Conscience to hinder the Committing of Idolatry in the Chappel of his Castle Answ Forasmuch as we are permitted to suffer that which we cannot alter nor
Orange shall be joyned to the Province of Dolphiny XXXI This Clause shall be added to the end of the 8th Article of Marriages After which time the Marriage shall be publickly blessed in the Church according to the Word of God CHAP. VI. General MATTERS I. THis Case was moved about the Elders viz. Whether they ought to be presented to the whole Church and in the face of the Assembly to receive their Charge and the Church itself to be reminded of its Duty to them or that they should be presented to the Consistory only The Synod judging it a matter meerly indifferent leaveth the Churches to their liberty herein II. Hath not a Colloquy the same Right to redemand a Minister as his Church It was answered in the Negative for the Colloquy hath not the Churches Right in its Power as was determined by the last National Synod III. A Query was made about Marriages Whether Doctors and Professors of Divinity were not bound by the 18th Canon of our Discipline to put away their Wives if guilty of Adultery or else to be deprived of their Professorship in our Schools and Churches Unto which there was this Answer returned That that Canon did purely relate unto Pastors not unto Professors nor is there a parity of reason for the one as for the other Ministers being Publick Officers in the whole Church are to be exemplary in their Persons and Families for holiness and therefore must not receive again an Adulterous Wife into their Bosoms which would be a Scandal to the Church Moreover Professors of Divinity are not to correct and reprove as Pastors are so that they may if they please pass by the wickedness of their Wives and notwithstanding their Adultery enjoy their Professor's place among us and not be deposed from it IV. This Advice was given to the Deputy of Poictou That such as revolted in the times of War from the Profession of the Gospel in case they bore no Office in the Church shall not make any publick reparation nor shall the Civil Magistrates but only in the Consistory and that too without mentioning them by Name nor shall they stand up But as for others who were publick Church-Officers they shall give publick satisfaction and repair the Scandal given by their Fall in a publick manner before the whole Church and then without any farther severity and with all possible sweetness shall be re-admitted to the Peace and Fellowship of the Church V. Is it necessary that the Confession of Faith should be read before Sermon and upon Sacrament-days before we go up unto the Lord's Table We answer The thing is meerly indifferent and therefore no Canon shall be made about it but the Church shall be left unto its liberty VI. The word Senate of the Church shall be changed into that of Consistory VII In case the Children of Believers will contract Marriage with Unbelievers against their Parents will their Parents shall not at all consent unto such Marriages nor by publick Instrument assign them any Dowry nor any other way or manner approve of such a Marriage VIII This Case was propounded After Promises of Marriage had passed reciprocally by words de proesenti one of the betrothed Persons falleth sick of the Leprosie and contracts a most loathsome stinking savour and a Disease utterly incurable may these Espousals be broken and dissolved Unto which there was this Answer returned That in case one of these betrothed Persons had not been informed of the said Sickness when the Promises were made she may not be compelled to accomplish them for there being Errour and Deceit in the Case there can be no Consent so that she may be set at liberty And in this business we must have a double respect 1. To the Publick and then 2. To the Interest of that private Person As to the Publick Special Care must be taken that incurable Vices and Diseases be not multiplied and that their Contagiousness be not propagated nor run in the Blood And if there were no particular private Interest in the Case yet before that this Marriage be consummated it s against all Prudence and Godliness to suffer Persons who have begun ill to be conjoyned together and that they should all their Life after live in a perpetual hatred and abhorrency of each other because of the said loathsome Stench and Distemper IX A Man hath abused his deceased Wife's Sister and got her with Child may he now marry her No for this commixture is incestuous nor may she become his Wife and both of them are to be censured most severely Yet he may marry another X. If a Man hath married a Wife out of his own Church and there be no Evidence of the Marriage he shall be called into the Consistory and prove his Marriage and in case he cannot do it because it was done during the Civil Wars the Consistory shall advise prudently how to censure him whether publickly or only privately within the Consistory for the Churches edification XI May Doctors of Divinity be created and admitted unto their Dignity and Office by Doctors of Law assisted with a Minister of God's Word in the University of Orange or elsewhere It 's answered That Lawyers and Physitians may be thus admitted but not Divines for our Discipline hath expresly provided against such an abuse as this is XII How may Consistories demean themselves about Banes of Marriage whenas those of the Romish Religion do make opposition and will not appear before the Consistory but before the Civil Magistrate We answer That if the Civil Magistrate will take Cognisance of the Fact the Consistory shall not proceed any farther least the Magistrate should thence take occasion of Offence and complain of the Consistory for intermedling with his business and intrenching upon his Authority And this will be direction enough as to that particular Case of Monsieur Cyprian XIII If any of our Brethren in the Ministry have lying by them any Relations of memorable Events relating to the History and State of God's Church in these times they be desired to send them to the Pastors of the Church of Lions who will model them into good order and publish them to the World XIV A Father having his Son murdered compounds with the Murderer for a Sum of Money what course is to be taken with this Father We answer That the Father is bound to prosecute the Murderer in a Court of Justice and to file a Bill of Indictment against him But in case he cannot do it and it so fall out that he and the Murderer do agree the Matter between themselves to his own private advantage he shall only be admonished by the Consistory and that prudently too according as they find Circumstances XV. May those Commanders Places and Dignities of Knighthood in the Orders of St. John of Jerusalem be counted among Benefices and whether these Knights may be kept off from the Lord's Supper We answer That if they hold their Benefices and Commanderships
from the King and without any mixture of Superstition or Idolatry they may do it lawfully enough But and if they hold them with Idolatry or Superstition be it either from the King's Gift or the Pope they cannot do it there is sin and guilt in the case nor shall they be admitted to Communion with us at the Lord's Table For this would be a professed owning of the Pope's Tyranny who hath no rightful Dominion nor Authority in these matters but Kings and Princes only who are robbed by the Pope's Usurpation of their just Rights Power Priviledges and Authority CHAP. VII Particular MATTERS Art I. IT is now concluded that the Province of Normandy may be divided into two Provinces in case they cannot conveniently meet in one and all the Ministers shall come unto them accompanied with their Elders according to the Canon of our Discipline and not by deputies from the Colloquies Art II. As for Cozain upon reading those Letters sent us from our Brethren the English Ministers it was ordered That the two Books written by the said Cozain and dedicated to some particular Members in the Church of Bourdeaux and brought unto this present Synod by Monsieur de la Sauls should be put into Monsieur Beza's hands for his perusal and who should make report of their Contents unto us and an Answer shall be returned to our Brethren of England Art III. The Deputies of the Isle of France craved our Advice about those Points of Church-Discipline now controverted by Monsieur Ramus du Rosier Bergeron and some others Whereupon an Order was made That Monsieur de Chambrun should read in this Assembly that Abridgement made by our Brethren of the Isle of France and extracted out of Morellius's Answer to that Book De la Confirmation de la Discipline and sent by them unto this Synod together with the Book of the said Morellius in answer to it and for decision of those Points and Arguments therein contained as also Ramus and De Rosier's Books which shall be delivered unto Monsieur Cappel to be examined by him And in case there be any other Arguments found in them besides those formerly urged by Morellius these shall be also answered And Messieurs de Beza De Roche Chandieu and De Beaulieu are chosen to reply unto them And as for the Decisions and Decrees they shall be made only by the Provinces Yet liberty is given unto the By standers in case they think good to make opposition and to this purpose the Doors of the Synod shall be leâ—t wide open and silence shall not be imposed upon any Man in this matter for this time Only it shall not be made a Precedent Art IV. But this Affair having been since considered examined disputed debated and put to the Vote as it was ordered in the last mentioned Canon a Decree passed That our Church-Discipline as it hath been all along to this very day observed end practised among us so also shall it be for the future without any change or innovation in it as being grounded upon God's Word And as for those Positions asserted by Monsieur Ramus Morellius Bergeron and others 1. About the Decision of Points of Doctrine 2. About the Election and Deposal of Ministers 3. About Excommunication out of the Church and Reconciliation with and Re-admission into it 4. And lastly about Prophesying None of these shall be received among us because they have no Foundation in the Word of God and are of very dangerous consequence unto the Church as the whole hath been verified and made appear in the presence of this Synod in which all the Arguments of those Books of Ramus Morellius and Du Rozier were most narrowly sifted and discussed and this was unanimously assented to by the Declaration of all the Provincial Deputies who affirmed That they had maturely and duly considered of those Points of Discipline controverted by those Gentlemen before-mentioned And Monsieur De la Roche Chandieu was ordered to reduce and set down in writing all the Answers and Resolutions made by this Assembly unto the said Treatises and Arguments and to communicate them with the Colloquy of Lionnois that they may be printed and published Only the Relation of these Synodâ—cal Answers and Resolutions shall be writ with the greatest moderation and without mentioning the Names of any Person Art V. The Colloquy of Limmigny shall be advised to get the Memoirs of their Synod to be razed nor may they make any particular Canons of their own but shall be governed by those of our Discipline Art VI. Monsieur Berauld and his Colleagues in the Church of Montauban are charged to recover from Monsieur Comerard of Tholouse the History of the Albigenses written in their Langùage and Monsieur D' Acier shall translate it into French and having done it shall communicate it unto their Colloquy according to the Canons of our Church-Discipline and then cause it to be printed And Letters shall be written to this purpose unto the said Sieurs de Comerard and D' Acier from this Assembly Art VII The County of Messin and City of Metz shall be joyned to the Province of Champagne according to the particular Canon of our Discipline and Letters concerning it shall be sent unto them from this Synod Art VIII The Lord Admiral de Chastillon having writ a Letter unto this Synod the Churches were all admonished of their Duty to his Majesty and an Answer should be returned to this effect unto his Lordship Art IX A Vote passed but without any prejudice to the liberty of Monsieur de Saules and without debating the Merits of his Cause that a Letter should be written unto the Magistrates of Geneva thanking them for their Love and Good-will and they shall be desired to continue it unto all the Churches of France in general and particularly to those of Bearn and we do grant Monsieur de Saules tor one Year more unto the Queen of Navarre and Letters also shall be written unto her Majesty and to his Highness the Prince her Son Art X. The Churches shall be excited to assist with their Charity the poor Members of the County and Church of Orange who are in extream poverty there being no less than Twelve hundred Families of these Refugees in the single Province of Dolphiny Art XI Before that Mr. John le Gagneur shall be admitted Pastor into any one of our Churches he shall give good Evidence of his Repentance and of his Reconciliation with the Church of Geneva and we will have some considerable space of time for proving the truth of his Repentance Art XII Upon the Censure of Ramus Morellius and their Companions it was voted That Letters should be writ in the Name and Authority of this Assembly unto the said Ramus Morelly Du Rozier and Bergeron and to give them all severally to understand what was concluded by this Assembly against their Books and to re-mind them of their Duty according to God's Holy Word and a Letter
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
in the Month of June the last Year 1577. by divers Churches of this Kingdom rendered an account of his said Commission unto this Assembly produced and read the Acts and made an ample Relation of what was done and transacted in that general Synodical Meeting at Frankford in Germany the last September 1577. in which were gathered the Deputies of the Reformed Churches of Christendom and in which he assisted also as a Deputy from our Churches This Assembly was very well pleased with his whole Negotiation accepted and approved of it and doth now discharge him of his said Commission and all Instructions and Blanks signed and given him by our Churches relating to his said Commission were vacated and disannulled as being altogether needless for the future and all Duplicates of the said Commissions and Instructions which he was bound under his own Hand and Seal to observe and follow were in like manner cancelled and disannulled that so he might be intirely acquitted freedand discharged and we do also now discharge him without ever demanding any Matter or farther account from him for the future Given at St. Foy this 13 th Day of February 1578. The first Appeals mentioned in any of their Synods CHAP. VII Appeals and Particular Matters Art N. B. One Book calls this the 34th or 36th Article of General Matters HIS Excellency the Prince of Conde appealed from the Consistory of Rochel for disswading him from communicating at the Lord's Table because of a Prize taken at Sea by his Commission after publishing the last Edict of Pacification embraced by the said Prince Unto which his Excellency made this Answer That the said Prize was taken before the forty Days for divulging the said Peace were expired and it was from the sworn Enemies of the King of Navar and of himself also That it being a meer Civil State-Matter the Consistory had nothing to do with it To which the Consistory replied That the whole Church and City of Rochel were greatly Scandalized hereat because they were accounted Infractors and Violators of the publick Peace of the Kingdom and that they were commonly taxed and reproached for such Prizes as Harborers and Concealers of Pirates and piratical Goods and that for their parts they could not foresee any thing else but that divine Vengeance would light down upon them if they did not oppose such unlawful Practices proceeding from certain Persons who maliciously abused the Name and Authority of his Excellency the Prince So that they could not do less in Duty and Conscience considering their Office in the Church than to endeavour by all good means to extinguish the Fire of such a blazing Scandal and they most humbly beseech his Excellency the Prince to take kindly this their Admonition as done net out of any ill will or bad design against him and that he would be pleased to exert hit Authority in such like Matters so that the Peace sworn by him may be kept and observed This Assembly having maturely considered the whole Affair doth own acknowledge and approve of the Zeal and good Affection of the Church and Consistory of Rochel especially in opposing it self against scandalous Sins and that herein they have not acted beyond the Line of their Duty for they be supported and maintained in it by the holy Word of God which ought to be the Rule of all our Actions whereby they are either to be approved or rejected and that denounceth a Curse upon all those who shall offend but the least of Men and unto this divine Word all of us must yield Obedience if we intend to have and hold communion with the Lord Jesus Yet notwithstanding this Assembly could have wished that the said Consistory had suspended and deferr'd their Judgment in an Affair of so great Importance and had not been so hasty and precipitant about it that so all suspicion of Animosities on either side might have been avoided And as for his Excellency the Prince this Assembly doth earnestly beseech him not to misconstrue those Remonstrances made him in the Name of God which we judge were but just and needful and grounded upon the Word of God and therefore we desire his Excellency that he would be pleas'd to remove the occasion of the said Scandal and take in good part the Admonitions of the Church and that he would be reconciled to it and he shall be particularly intreated so to do by our Brethren Messieurs Merlin Bouguet De la Tour and St. Martin who are charged by this Assembly to acquaint his Excellency with this our Request unto his Excellency and to the said Consistory and that we have none other end nor design in it than the perfect Union of our Members to serve God in Holiness and Righteousness not giving any offence to those that are within or without and this being done we decree that his Excellency the said Prince shall be received into Communion at the Lord's Table Given at St. Foy the Great this 14 th Day of February 1578. And thus Signed Francois Loiseau Scribe of the said Synod II. His Grace the Duke of Rohan requesting by Letters that this Assembly would grant Monsieur de Claville Minister of the Church of Loudun to be Pastor of the Church in his House and Family or at least to serve it in course four Months every Year and that the Sieur de la Tousche Minister of St. Fulgent may take up his Residence at Monchamp The Ministers of those Churches being now absent it was thought good to dismiss this Affair unto the Provincial Synods to which those Churches do appertain that they may judge of it that his said Grace the Duke of Rohan may be gratified in his demands by those Synods III. Monsieur De Spina Minister of the Gospel shall be sent Pastor unto the Church of Anger 's only the Churches of Paris and Saumur have still their Right in him reserved to them And in case that through the difficulties of the Times he should not be able to subsist at Anger 's the Neighbour Classis or Colloquy to that City shall take care of his maintainance and provide it for him and they may also lend him as they shall see good for the Glory of God IV. Monsieur du Lygne shall be lent six Months longer unto the Church of Agen in which time the Province of Anjou shall do their Duty to redemand him and there shall be a Church given him wherein to exercise his Ministery and to make provision for his Subsistence And in case the said Provincial Synod should not recal him within the term prefixed he shall be fully settled in the said Church of Agen. CHAP. VIII V. JOhn Bonniot or Bouquier styling himself Gaultier exercising the Ministery at present at San Bouchard near unto Great St. Foy because that he hath temerariously intruded himself into the Ministery without any Call for that he hath forged divers Letters clipped his Majesty's Coin melted down his Clippings into base Silver Lingots and vended them
to several Goldsmiths in the City of Sedan for which the Civil Magistrate inflicted corporal Punishment upon him in the said City all which he could not but acknowledge and confess to be true before this Assembly For these Causes the said Bonniot or Bouquier is deposed from the Sacred Ministery as a Person uncapable and utterly unworthy of it and shall be continued on the Roll of Vagrants and shall do publick Penance in the said Church of San Bouchard However because of his deep Poverty and great and numerous Family of Children we do License him to keep School and to instruct Youth but with this Proviso that the Ministers of the Places where he shall live do watch over him and his Deportments with a very strict and careful Eye VI. An Appeal was brought by Monsieur De la Jaille and the Church of Saujon who complained of the Wrongs done them by the Provincial Synod of Xaintonge held at Saujon which had adjudged him Pastor unto the said Church of Saujon without obliging it to defray his Expences in coming to it This Assembly ordereth that the Colloquy or Synod of that Province shall censure the said Church and Monsieur Royan the Minister for their pragmatical intermeddling in a Business not appertaining to them VII Monsieur Boucquet shall write unto the Colloquy of Aunix that Monsieur Baron may be returned unto the Church of La Guerche in the Province of Anjon there to exercise his Ministery in Obedience to the Call given him VIII The Synod of the Isle of France shall make an exact Enquiry into the Life Writings and Conversation of Monsieur Gibbon sometime Minister of Deippe that Judgment may pass upon him accordingly IX Forasmuch as Mr. Bernard Giraud hath been divers times recalled by his Church of Marceoill in Poictou and by the Synod of Poictou he shall be censured for his disobedience to this Summons and also for that he quitted his Church at first and this according to the Canons of our Discipline And the Colloquy of Annix shall in like manner be censured for admitting him among them without any testimonial Letters of Dismission For which cause this Assembly will remove the said Giraud elsewhere X. This Assembly will take special care of Monsieur Christian for his Subsistance But in the mean while the Church of Poictiers shall be severely censured for their default of Duty baseness and ingratitude to this Reverend Man of God who was one of their first and most ancient Pastors and who laid the very Foundations of their flourshing Church And the said Church shall be summon'd to the next Synod and injoyned to give him full Contentment and Satisfaction and to pay him all Arrerages owing to him for time past and to relieve him now in his old Age. XI The Province of Anjou shall be obliged to provide for the Safety of Monsieur Daniel a Minister of the Gospel who was formerly sent unto them and is now remanded back unto them by this present Assembly and that Church which shall call him unto their Service shall reimburse him those Expences he was at during the last Persecution XII Monsieur Daniel shall exercise his Ministery in the House and Court of his Excellency the Prince of Conde but only for some Months in the Year which being expired he may be redemanded by his own Church and Province And the Church of Bergerac shall likewise lend Monsieur de Borda their Minister unto the said Prince for four Months more of the same Year And this shall hold till such time as some other course be taken And Monsieur Martin shall be the ordinary Minister of his Excellency's House and Family XIII Monsieur de Malescot who was the first Minister of the Church of Montagu in the County of Perche shall be summoned by the Province of Poictou unto which he doth belong to return unto the said Province according to the Canons of our Discipline however without any prejudice unto the said Church of Montagu and the said Province of Poictou is ordered to receive those Informations of the Province of the Isle of France concerning the Deportments of the said Malescot his Writing and his Way and Manner of Preaching XIV The Brethren of the French Church of London in the Kingdom of England sent Letters unto this Assembly petitioning that Messieurs de Villiers Minister of the Church of Rouan and de la Fontayne Ministers of the Church of Orleans might be given to them for their Pastors Their Request was granted and these worthy Ministers of the Gospel were lent unto the said Church till such time as their own dissipated Flocks might be recollected and then they should return and be restored unto their former Churches respectively XV. On sight and perusal of the Writings of Mr. Anthony Fregeville of the Town Realmont this Assembly judgeth them utterly unworthy of any Answer because they are stufft with Errors Lyes and Calumnies and farther the Sentence past upon him by the Provincial Synod was ratified and whereas he was only suspended from the Lord's Table it is now ordered that his said Suspension shall be publickly notified unto the whole Church And in case he continue to sow and spread abroad his Errors and Follies either by Word or Writing he shall be cut off from the Body of the Church by the Sword of Excommunication as a notorious Disturber of the Repose and Union of the Church XVI Monsieur Giraud is sent unto the Town of Mas in Agenois to exercise his Ministery in the Church of Calonges which is now annexed to that of Mas according to the Letters and Request of my Lady of Calonges and of the said Church of Mas in Agenois CHAP. IX The Roll of MINISTERS provided for and disposed by this present SYNOD I. MOnsieur Christian is sent unto the Town of Sancerre in the Viscounty of Turenne 2. Monsieur Quesnel unto Lectoure 3. Monsieur Chaffepied to St Foy yet his Church may recall him at the Years end 4. Monsieur de la Valle at Abbeville in Agenois 5. Monsieur Giraud to the Town of Mas in Agenois 6. Monsieur Du Puy to Le Laigne and Bas de Fon with their Annexes 7. Monsieur Anisse to St. Aulaye ¶ This present National Synod was finished the fourteenth Day of February in the Year of our Lord 1578. Thus Signed in the Original Peter Merlin Moderator Francis L'Oyseau Scribe William de la Jaille Scribe Mr. Merlin the Moderator of this Synod was Minister in the Family of that famous Nobleman the Lord De Coligni High Admiral of France who miraculously escaped with his Life in that horrible Massacre at Paris on St. Bartholomew's Day 1572. He leapt out of a Window and hid himself in an Haylofft where an Hen came and lay an Egg by him three days successively with which he was sustained till the Lord opened a Door for him to get out of this bloody City He was afterward Minister of the Church of Vitre He
Synod hath advised hereupon That a Publick Declaration shall be made of the Incompetency of this Judge who granted the Prohibition and if notwithstanding this they will yet proceed in their Contentions an Appeal shall be then made unto the Chamber of the Edict and the Church shall prosecute the Censure they have commenced and in case the Minister be troubled for it we judge it necessary that the whole Body of the Consistory do unanimously defend him And this self-same Resolution shall serve as an Answer to what was propounded by our Brethren of Anjou that some Magistrates would compel them to give in Writing an Account of Matters debated and resolved on in their Consistories XX. That Church in which the National Synod did last meet is ordered to send the Acts of the said Synod unto the Province which is obliged to convocate the next Synod XXI * * * There is engraven on the Seal a Burning Bush in the midst whereof is written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and round the Circle Flagror non Consamor a true Emblem of the Christian Church It was resolv'd That a Seal should be made for the use of the National Synod that all Letters of Importance written in its Name may be sealed by it and this Seal shall constantly be sent unto that Province in which the next is to be celebrated XXII This Assembly seriously considering the many Judgments with which we be threatned as of War Pestilence and Famine the foul Apostasies of divers Professors the little Zeal and Reformation in the generality of our People It doth Ordain a Publick Fast to be celebrated most solemnly in all the Churches of France on the last Week in July according to the conveniencies or our Churches XXIII The Observation of the 28th Article of the fifth Chapter of the Discipline is lest to the prudence of the respective Consistories XXIV The Deputies of the Isle of France demanding what course is to be taken with ungrateful Persons to their Ministers and such as refuse to contribute to the defraying of Ecclesiastical Expences This Assembly adviseth That because of the Calumnies and Reproaches unto which the Churches are exposed the Duty of such Persons shall be prest upon them by lively Remonstrances and Exhortations and if it be thought needful it shall be done in the Assembly of the principal Heads of the Families belonging to the Church However they shall not for this be kept back from the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper A Minister deputed to another Provincial Synod hath his deliberative Voice XXV Our Brethren the Deputies of Anjou craved Advice in this Matter Whether a Minister delegated by his Provincial Synod unto the Synod Colloquy of another Province upon business common to them both ought to have his deliberative Voice This Assembly answereth Yes and not only as to that particular Affair upon which he came but also in all others excepting what may concern himself only during the whole Sessions Whether a Minister be bound to visit the sick of the Magâ—e XXVI The Deputies of Poictou demanded Whether it were expedient that Ministers should visit Persons sick of the Plague This Assembly leaves the decision of this Case unto the Prudence of the respective Consistories only judging that if it be done at all it must be upon a very urgent cause that so a whole Church be not expos'd to danger for the sake of a single Person Unless Visit may be so managed as to be without danger of Infection he speaking at a distance to the diseased Party However we give it as our Counsel unto the Minister who foreseeth the approaching danger that in the ordinary course of his Preaching he do prepare his Church to a patient submission unto this terrible Providence and that by proper and pertinent Texts of Scripture he do in his Sermons comfort and revive their drooping and desponding Spirits XXVII The Articles of Discipline ordained for the Conduct of our People shall be read publickly and Colloquies may make an Extract of such Articles as they shall judge needful to be known by all which shall be read publickly at some extraordinary season as the prudence of the Consistory shall determine CHAP. III. Containing the Canons which were removed Observations changed in and added to those in the Body of our Church-Discipline CHap. I. 4. At the Fourth Article of the first Chapter the Second Section after those words The whole shall be related you must add Vnto the Colloquy or Synod CHap. VII At the end of the Seventh Article instead of saying According to the Form which hath been ordained it shall be said As followeth And there shall be brought and inserted here all the said Form which is at the end of the Articles of our Discipline CHap. XIII The 13th Article shall be removed unto the Chapter of the Colloquies CHap. XXI The One and twentieth Article was wholly razed and instead of it there was this placed Lords and Princes demanding of a Church a Minister to serve theirs for some certain time shall be careful not to demand him of that which hath but one And he shall not be granted them without leave first had from his Church and Colloquy The Twenty third Article is wholly razed CHap. XXVI The Sixth and Twenty third Article shall be totally razed and instead of it there shall be this substituted If that a Minister intrude into a Church although he were approved by the People yet shall he not be approved by the Neighbour-Ministers or others but the Cognisance of this Matter shall be referr'd unto the Colloquy or Provincial Synod 'T is now the 29th Article of the Discipline CHap. XXXI The One and thirtieth Article shall be wholly razed out and to the end of the Thirty third Article there shall be this Addition made Or to the Colloquy in case the Churches be of one and the same Colloquy This is now the 30th Article of the Discipline CHap. XXXIV The Four and thirtieth Article shall be wholly razed out and formed a new after this manner Ministers may with their own consent be lent by the Consistory if it make for the Churches edifying and yet this Loan shall not be without consulting two or three Ministers or the Colloquy if it be for any longer time than six Months CHap. XXXVI XLV The Six and thirtieth and the Five and fortieth Articles shall be wholly razed out This is now the 41st Article of the Discipline CHap. XLVII Towards the close the Seven and fortieth Article instead of these words That so by those worldly Cares he may not he diverted from his Work there shall be this inserted That so he may be freed from all suspicion of Covetousness This 〈◊〉 â—ow the 4â—â—â— Article of the Discipline CHap. LV. Towards the end of the Fifty fifth Article in lieu of those words The Consistory shall judge this shall be inserted Those who ordered the Deposition shall take Cognisance of it
that they may be combin'd into one and by this means gain a Minister for the Church of Rouen or if this don't like them they may contrive some better expedient And this course also shall be taken by the Province of Xaintonge for the supply of the Church of Xaintes XXV This Assembly prays and intreats the Province of Brittany to lend Monsieur De la Melluniere unto the Church of Vitré and at the same time to make provision for the Church of Cuisit where he is at present XXVI The Lord Du Plessis presented himself in the Name of the King of Navarre unto this Assembly proposing from His Majesty That there might be sent unto him being now on the other fide of the Loire certain Deputies Persons of Quality and Understanding who might be near His Majesty to acquaint him with the true State of our Churches and that he also might reciprocally communicate unto the Churches all Matters of Importance tending to their welfare and preservation This Assembly is of Opinion That all the Churches be exhorted effectually to comply with His Majesty's Demands and in order thereunto to name one or two Deputies to be dispatcht unto him in the Name of the Churches and this to be done out of hand and the Province of the Isle of France is to see it done without delay Means for uniting the German and French Churches Synod of Gap Gen. Mat. art 11. Synod of Rochel art 4. after the choice of Moderator and Assessor XXVII A motion being made for an Union and Agreement betwixt the Churches of Germany and ours this Assembly adviseth That Monsieur De Chandieu be solicited to undertake a Journey for the effecting of it and in case the said Monsieur De Chandieu have just Excuses for not accepting the Employ Monsieur De Seire shall be intreated to supply his place XXVIII Monsieur Salnar is intreated to write in the Name and by the Authority of this Synod unto the Princes and Divines of Germany and he shall confer with the Lord Du Plessis about the subject matter of his Letters and the said Letters shall be sent to Monsier De Chandieu to be represented by him XXIX Monsieur De Chassincour is intreated by this Assembly to continue his Office at Court and the Churches are exhorted to perform their Duties to him whereof the Brethren of the Isle of France are order'd to give him notice XXX The Deputy of Lower Languedoc demanding that our Brother Vilette Minister in the Church of La Sala may be removed thence and translated unto Montpellier because of that great Service he may do there and that his Church may be some otherways provided This Assembly leaveth the decision of this matter unto his Provincial Synod which after due consideration had of all Circumstances shall determine of it XXXI Monsieur Laurence Bouchart formerly Minister of Privas in Lower Languedoc deposed for his scandalous Crimes having appealed unto this Assembly it examined the Causes of his Deposition and all the Proceedings in and about it and now judgeth that he cannot be restored unto the Minstry whatever Testimonials of Repentance may be produced by him XXII To the Case propounded by the Deputies of Berry Whether his Marriage should be tolerated who had espous'd his Wife's Niece and that had some Years after his said Marriage joyned himself unto our Religion and communicated with us at the Lord's Table and hath had several Children by this Wife This Assembly answereth That by the 14th Verse of the 18th Chapter of Leviticus such a Marriage is incestuous and that therefore in no wise can it be tolerated and that they provoke not the Wrath of God more heavily against them they ought to separate one from the other And whereas these Persons committed this sin in the time of their Ignorance we advise that they privately confess it unto the Consistory where they shall be admonished counselled and comforted from the Word of God XXXIII Complaint being made by divers Persons of the Censure passed on Brocard's Exposition of the Book of Genesis in the last Synod of Rochel where he was condemned for Impiety and Prosanation of God's Holy Word and blaming it as too strict and rigorous tho' some would acquit him of Impiety because he agrees with us thoroughly in all the Articles of Faith This Assembly doth confirm the afore-mentioned Censure judging that that Doctrine is not only impious which is contrary to the Articles of Faith but that also which perverts the true sence and meaning as his doth of the Holy Scriptures because they be the true Foundation of the Christian Doctrine Yet that satisfaction may be given them who are displeased at the Censure past on this Book of Brocard's there shall be extracted out of it a Catalogue of his grossest Errors and communicated abroad for their perusal and information XXXIV Monsieur De Bellefleur appealing from the Sentence given against him in the Synod of Higher Languedoc by which his Treatise against the Discipline of our Churches was condemned this Assembly having read his Treatise and the Answers made unto it doth confirm the said Saentence past against the said Bellefleur To whom notwithstanding a Letter shall be dispatcht in the Name of this Assembly and the Answer of our Brother Monsieur Berault shall be communicated to him in which if he do not acquiesce the next Colloquy or Synod shall denounce him Schismatick XXXV The Deputy of Higher Languedoc related the Affair of Arias and Bourgade complaining that they were too severely censured by their Pastors Berault and Gironnin whereupon the Synod came unto this Resolution That the Piovince shall be informed that they have full Power and 't is their Duty to judge definitively of it and that the Censures given by the Consistory of Montauban and the Provincial Synod against them shall be in force and if the said Plaintisss be not quiet nor demean themselves peaceably and modestly according to their Duty The Colloquy of Lower Quercy calling in two other Ministers from the Neighbour-Colloquy shall in the Name and Authority of this Synod judge definitively of this Fact XXXVI The Province of * * * Higher Lower Languedoc is appointed by this Assembly to convoke and assign the Time of Meeting for the next National Synod which is once for all ordained two Years hence in the Month of May. May 16. 1583. Thus Signed by Peter Merlin Moderator And René Pineau Scribe The End of the Synod of VITRE THE ACTS DECISIONS and DECREES OF THE XIII National Synod OF THE Reformed Churches of Christ IN The KINGDOM of FRANCE HELD At Montauban in the Year of our Lord 1594. THE CONTENTS of this SYNOD CHap. I. Deputies unto the Synod Synodical Officers chosen The Lord's Supper to he received by all the Deputies in the conclusion of the Synod Chap. II. 7. Observations upon the Confession of Faith and its Approbation Chap. III. 21. Observations upon the Discipline being so many Additions and
be most sharply reproved and if after one or two Admonitions they do not refrain they shall be suspended the Lord's Table And all outragious Blasphemers Forswearers and suck-like Persons shall in no wise be tolerated in the Church but upon the first Offence shall be punished with Suspension from the Lord's Supper and if they continue in this their Vngodliness they shall be publickly excommunicated And this Assembly voted unanimously That when the Deputies of the Provinces shall be returned to their several respective homes they shall cause this Article to be read in all the Churches in the Audience of all the People 21. The Articles of our Discipline having been all read over one by one they were all approved and ratified by the joynt and common Consent and Suffrages of all the Provincial Deputies in the Name of all our Churches and in this self same Form in which they are couched by the former and this present National Synod And this Synod declareth farther That the Copies of it corrected and amended by the Commissioners authorized thereunto shall be hereafter followed and observed both as to Number of Articles and Terms and Words by which they be expressed that so such as shall take the pains to transcribe it may conform themselves exactly to those said Copies of our Discipline CHAP. IV. Of General MATTERS 1594. Synod XIII I. IN every Province there shall be chosen some sit Person to answer the Writings of our Adversaries not that by this Canon we intend to abridge any other of our Brethren of their liberty to use those Gifts and Abilities which God hath given them for his Churches Service And this shall be done at the sole Charges of that Province in which the Answer is made And if any Person shall presume to print his Book before he hath first communicated it unto his Colloquy or Synod according to our Discipline he shall be most severely censured and his Work shall be suppressed II. The Colloquies shall be exceeding careful that that Article of our Discipline concerning the Maintenance of poor Schollars designed for the Ministry be diligently observed and that they make Report of it unto their Provincial Synods and the Provincial Synods shall give account thereof unto the National that so it may be manifested how they have performed their Duty in this particular But forasmuch as the Expedients contained in that Article arc not sufficient for this end and the Churches Stock is very mean and low the farther Consideration hereof is referr'd unto the General Assembly at St. Foy The last Translation of the Holy Bible by the Pastors and Doctors in the Church of Geneva is to be received in ours III. Reserving liberty unto the Church for a more exact Translation of the Holy Bible our Churches imitating the Primitive Church are exhorted to receive and use in their Publick Assemblies the last Translation revised by the Pastors and Professors of the Church of Geneva And Thanks shall be presently given unto Monsieur Rotan and by Letters unto our Brethren of Geneva who have at the desire of our Churches so happily undertook and accomplished this great and good Work and they be further intreated to amplifie their Notes for the clearer and better understanding of the remaining dark places in the Sacred Text and Ministers in the respective Provinces are ordered to collect those difficult passages and to make Report of them unto the next National Synod who shall consider which most needs explication Mr. Calvin's Catechism to be used in our Churches IV. A Resolution being took in the last National Synod of Vitré at the desire of the Deputies of Xaintonge that they should consider whether Mr. Calvin's Catechism ought to be changed it is now decreed that it shall be retained and Ministers shall not be permitted to expound any other yet this Explication shall be done by familiar Questions and Answers And as for general Catechisings which are usually done before the Lord's Supper all People without exception shall be catechised in such a manner as every Church judgeth best sitting for their instruction V. To the Case propounded by the Deputies of Anjou and Tourain this Assembly replies That there is no need of an express particular Form of Prayer at the Ordination of Ministers However that Article concerning their Ordination shall abide in its full force and be carefully observed VI. There shall be nothing changed in the 4th Article of the 10th Chapter of our Discipline Nevertheless that all Abuses may be prevented either by Pastors or Churches the Colloquies may appoint two or three Ministers No regard is to be had unto the reciprocal Complaints of Pastors and People one against the other unless in such Cases as merit Suspension and Deposition who shall transport themselves upon the place to remedy and redress them and in case of failure by the Colloquies the Provincial Synods shall provide against such neglects and omissions 7. Whenas a Minister complains of his Churches Ingratitude and the Church on the other hand shall lay the blame on its Pastor there shall be no Notice taken of either of them unless it be in a case of very great and enormous wickedness for which the Pastor meriteth Suspension or Deposition from his Office and that Sentence shall be pronounced by the Provincial Synod And then also some effectual course shall be taken to provide against the afore-mentioned Ingratitude And the Churches shall be censured for concealing so long a time what ought to be more early discovered Ungrateful refractory Persons shall be deprived of the Lord's Supper VIII Forasmuch as the Ingratitude of divers Persons in not contributing to their Minister's Subsistance is more notorious than ever and that this crying sin threatens the Churches with a total dissipation after mature deliberation we do decree That in case these ungrateful Wretches having been several times admonished by their Consistory do persist obstinately in this their sin their Consistory shall deprive them of Communion with the Church in the Sacraments IX Colloquies shall be exhorted to observe carefully the 38th Article in the first Chapter of our Discipline Pastors must be resident The Apocryph◠not to be read in the Churches X. Colloquies and Synods shall take special heed that Pastors reside as much as possible on their Churches XI The Churches are advised to see to it that their Deacons or Readers do not read publickly the Apocrypha but the Canonical Books of Holy Scripture This Article was repealed by the Synod of Saumur art 5. Gen. Mat. XII Whenas there shall be any considerable Sum of the Churches Money given to their Poor lying by in Stock and there be no present urgent occasion for its distribution the Deacons may put it out to Interest upon good security and receive such profit for its Loan as is allowed by his Majestie Laws and those of Charity but with this Proviso that both the Deacons and Consistory do immediately call it
in whenas there is special need of it XIII The 13th Article of the fifth Chapter of the Discipline shall abide in full force and none shall use the Formalities or Ceremonies commonly observed in taking Oaths before the Magistrate A Rule about publishing of Apostates XIV The Deputies of Xaintonge demanding Whether the Names of Apostates should be publickly declared because of that danger we are thereby exposed to we advise that the 19th Article of the fifth Chapter of our Discipline be kept up in its full power and that all Consistories look carefully and prudently to its better observation Publick Prayers shall be offered up to God for reducing the King unto the Protestant Religion XV. All Ministers are exhorted to be earnest with God in their publick Prayers for the Conversion Preservation and Prosperity of the King and whenever they be at Court and have access unto His Majesty they shall do their Duty in reminding him seriously of the great Concerns of his Soul's Salvation And the Pastors ordinarily residing at Court or in its Neighborhood shall be writ unto by this Synod more especially to put this our Counsel into Practice XVI Letters shall be sent from this Synod unto Madam the King's Sister congratulating her Perseverance and advising her Highness to continue faithful unto the last 17. The Deputies of Xaintonge propounded this Case Whether we should rest satisfied with a general Confession published in the open Church by the Penitent he not specifying his particular Offence This Assembly adviseth That there be nothing altered at present in the 22d Article of the Discipline but that it be conformed to as much as may be Only the Provinces are required to bring their better thoughts on this Subject unto the next National Synod XVIII Whereas divers Persons would compel Consistories to depose before the Civil Magistrate Matters told in Consistory a Memorial shall be prepared and presented by the General Assembly of Saint Foy to take this Matter into their most serious Consideration and to procure a Grant from His Majesty for the conservation of the Liberties of Consistories XIX There shall be no alteration made in the Forms of Publick Prayers and Administration of the Sacraments the whole having been prudently and piously ordained and for the most part in plain and express Terms of holy Scripture XX. The Provinces are all reproved for neglecting their Duty in preserving the Memoirs of remarkable Events which have fallen out in this Kingdom and their Deputies are charged upon their return to advertize their Colloquies hereof that so a better account may be given of this Article unto the next National Synod XXI A Breviate shall be prepared and presented to the Assembly of Saint Foy complaining against those of the Isle of France and divers others who in the Name of all our Churches have prosecuted the Verification of the Edict of 1577 whenas it was expresly contrary to the Resolution took in the last Assembly held at Mantes in December 1593. XXII Churches that have neglected their Duty of paying the Quota towards the last Assembly held at Mantes and other Assemblies elsewhere and to this also which is now shortly to be held at Saint Foy shall be summoned once more by the Deputies of their Provinces to bring in out of hand their respective Proportions and in default hereof their said Deputies shall immediately upon their return by the Authority of this Synod deprive them of the Ministry of God's Holy Word and Sacraments with an Interdiction unto all Ministers from officiating among them The Union of Mantes to be sworn See the Synod of Saumur G. M. Art 6 30. XXIII The Union made in the Assembly at Mantes shall be sworn by all Churches either in the Guild-halls of their respective Towns or in their Temples as shall be judged most convenient XXIV The Deputies of Xaintonge requiring Advice about the Circular Letters written from one Church unto another and from one Colloquy and Synod unto another it was ordained That no Letters shall be of any Credit unless signed joyntly by one Pastor and Elder or by two Elders where there is no Pastor And they shall be directed in their Superscription either to the Consistory or particularly unto the Pastors that they may be prudently communicated unto the Consistory or to any part of the Elders according to the occurrence of Affairs XXV The Deputies of Higher Languedoc demanding Whether over and above the Propositions made of course by Ministers in Colloquies it were convenient that there should be a Theological Disputation held by the said Ministers in one of the Sessions of that Colloquy It is ordered That the Provinces do come prepared against the next National Synod with their thoughts about it that so if it be judged meet a General Decree may be established for it Ministers and Churches not coming unto Colloquies and Synods censured XXVI If Churches sail a second time to defray their Pastors Charges in travelling unto Colloquies and Synods they shall be deprived of their Ministers And in case Ministers neglect twice following to come unto those Meetings they shall be suspended from their Ministry unless they have lawful excuse for their absence and their respective Colloquies or Synods shall judge of it XXVII The Churches are all exhorted diligently to observe the Fifth and Sixth Articles of the Tenth Chapter of our Discipline and particularly those of Lower Languedoc where many such abuses are committed contrary to the aforesaid Articles And the Churches of the said Province are required to be more exact in their observation of them than formerly XXVIII However Parents and Sureties may bring Infants late into the Church yet their Baptism shall not be delayed unless the Assembly shall be departed because Children ought not to be punished for their Parents sins who yet together with their Sureties shall be severely censured for their slothfulness and neglect of Sermons to which they have not vouchsafed their presence XXIX All the Churches shall be exhorted to see that the Article decreed in the Synod of Vitré concerning the Administration of Baptism before singing the last Psalm or at lead before the Blessing be carefully and inviolably observed The first part of this Article included within the Parenthesis was razed by the Synod of Saumur art 8. of Gen. Mat. XXX No Sureries shall present Children unto Baptism by their Proxies unless it be Kings and great Princes who by reason of their weighty Occupations cannot always be upon the place when Baptism is administred †††And the last Clause mark'd with the Obelisk is the 13th art in the chap. of Baptism See the Synod of Figiac art 4. And Protestants who by their Proxies present Children unto Baptism in the Popish Churches shall be most sharply reproved as being Persons who consent unto Idolatry XXXI Ministers are advised to make no difficulty at those Names given Children in Baptism tho' not mentioned in the Holy
the Church of Segonsac do give him full satisfaction for all his Arrerages within the prefixed Term of Six Months from the first of July next And if the Church of Coignac refuse their Consent unto this Condition then the said De Bargemont shall appertain solely to the Church of Segonsac And if it so fall out that the said Church of Segonsac be wanting unto their Duty and which is now re-inforced upon them 1594. Synod XIII the said de Bargemont shall be at liberty to be conferr'd on any other Church excepting that of Cognac IV. An Appeal being brought by Monsieur Cazaux and the Consistory of Mauvoisin from an Order made in the Provincial Synod of the Higher Guyenne After that Monsieur de Fontenailles and the Church of Castillon were heard this National Synod did confirm that Order of the Provincial Synod hold this present Year at Lectoure and in case the said Church of Castillon cannot throughly effect the purport of that Order then the said Sieur de Cazaux shall be at liberty to serve the Church of Mauvoisin V. Appeals being brought by Monsieur Beraut Minister of God's Holy Word of the one part and by Messieurs the Consuls and Elders of the Church of Montauban on the other part from an Order of the Synod of Higher Languedoc about the space of time granted unto the said Berault for attending his private domestick Concerns and the looking after his Estate lying at a distance from the City of Montauban This National Synod confirmeth that Order of the aforesaid Provincial Synod for the full term of One Year to be granted the said Monsieur Beraut for attending his necessary private Businesses which shall begin from the Day of his Departure And he is desired as a Testimony of his Respect and Love unto his Church to leave his Family in the said City or at least within the Province as also his Church is admonished to pay in unto him during his absence his Salary as a Token and Pledge of their great and unfeigned Respects unto their Pastor the said Monsieur Beraut and both the said Monsieur Beraut his Church and the Colloquy shall carefully and unanimously endeavour that his place be supplied and all the requisite Duties of his Pastoral Office be acceptably discharged by some other worthy Minister in his Church during that Year of his absence VI. An Appeal being brought by the Churches of Montauban and Venez for that by the Synod of Higher Languedoc held at Montauban and Lectoure Monsieur de Castlefranc Minister of the Gospel was consigned to the Church of Realmont and yet the Isle of France doth pretend a Right unto the said Monsieur de Chastlefranc This Synod declares That the Province of the Isle of France had nothing to do with the said Monsieur De Chastlefranc and whereas Monsieur de Chastlefranc doth also make his Appeal unto this Synod we decree That the Churches of Montredon and Venez have a Right to claim him as their own peculiar Minister nevertheless the said de Chastlefranc shall officiate in the Churches of Montredon Venez and Realmont conjointly at each of them six Months together during which time this Synod doth order that the Church of Realmont shall provide themselves of an able Pastor otherwise they shall be proceeded against by the sharpest Censures as is usually done in such Cases by their Colloquy And if it so fall out that the said Church of Realmont do need the Labours of the said Monsieur de Chastlefranc he is intreated to assist them as far as his strength will suffer him VII The Church of Monpellier having brought an Appeal from the Provincial Synods of Lower Languedoc who had dispos'd of Monsieur de Villette to the Church of Valleragne This Assembly doth confirm the Judgment of the said Provincial Synod and declareth That the said Church of Monpellier cannot of Right lay any Claim to the said Monsieur de Villette CHAP. VI. Particular MATTERS 1594. Synod XIII I. THE Deputies of the Province of Gascony Perigord and Limousin desiring that the Churches of Coudonnois and Landers might be joyned to the Provincial Synod of Agenois Perigord and Limousin and being opposed herein by the Remonstrances of the Deputies from the Province of Higher Guyenne and most especially by the Pastor of the Church of Lectoure Mr. Bernard Ennis in the name and behalf of the Colloquy of Armagnac After mature consultation it was resolved That the Synods of the Higher Guyenne and Gascogny should remain as they are in their present establishment not but that in time coming and in case necessity so require it there may be made an alteration and the Churches of Armagnac which are now divided from their Colloquy shall reader an Account unto the next National Synod of their separation from it till which they shall remain incorporated with it II. The Churches of Augoumois shall be joyned to the Provincial Synod of Xaintonge and Aunix for the perfecting a sixth Colloquy according to the equal division of those said Churches III. The Church of Bergerac shall be sharply censured by Letters from this Assembly for that by theirs to us they professed a Resolution not to subject themselves to the fourth Article of the tenth Chapter pf our Discipline IV. Those of the Isle of France shall be severely censured for proposing to this Assembly a politick Union with those of the Romish Gallican Church in defence of the Liberties of the Gallican Church against the Pope And Letters shall be dispatch'd unto those fore-mentioned Persons to acquaint them that their Proposition was judged utterly unworthy our consultation and they shall be farther censured for demanding competent Judges both of the one and other Religion to decide the Points in controversie between us as also for demanding that neither National nor Provincial Synods be conven'd unless on very great and weighty occasions and that very rarely 5. The Church of Aymet complaining That Monsieur Balarand their Pastor absented himself from them and was setled in the Church of Castres without any lawful dismission from them After that the Provincial Deputies of Gascony had been heard as also the said Monsieur Balarand and the Petition of the ancient Deputy from the City and Church of Castres and after reading the Act of Dismission given unto the said Balarand by those of the Church of Aymet subscribed by those self-same Persons who have now written to those of the City of Castres and yet some of them have since signed a Revocation of that Grant this Synod doth assign the said Monsieur Balarand unto the Church of Castres to be their ordinary Pastor but on these conditions First That the Church of Aymet be provided of an able Pastor within six Months or sooner it may be by the Colloquy of Perigord or Synod of Gascony at the sole Charges of the aforesaid Church of Castres according to the offers made by Monsieur Bassol their Deputy Secondly That the Judge of Castres do cause all
Prosecutions to cease against Monsieur de la Garime and Monsieur de la Grange for having deposed Master Gaspar Olaxa who was ejected by Authority of the Colloquy of Albigeois and the Provincial Synod held at Montaban And in case our Advice concerning the said de la Garime and la Grange be not entirely observed this National Synod doth declare That those of the Church of Castres on whom it was incumbent to effect it shall be censured even with suspension from the Lord's Table and farther that they be utterly unworthy of ever enjoying the Ministry of their Pastor Monsieur Balarand and the Colloquy of Albigeois are ordered from us to meet in any other place than the City of Castres and to see to it that this our present Decree be effectually observed and that the said Monsieur Balarand be transferr'd from the City of Castres and to see to it that this our present Decree be effectually observed and that the said Monsieur Balarand be transferr'd from the City of Castres to serve in some other Church elsewhere VI. The Province of Higher Guyenne having complained of the wicked Conversations and scandalous Lives of Master Gravel and Vieux Banque it was decreed That the Ministers of Upper Quercy shall summon the said Graver and Vieuxbanque to appear without delay in two Months time personally in this City of Montauban where the Minister of the Upper Quercy producing sufficient Evidence that they had summon'd the said Graver and Vieuxbanque to appear together with the Information of the Crimes charged on them which if clearly proved on them the Ministers of this City and Colloquy by the Authority of this National Synod shall suspend or depose them as they see cause from the Ministry and in case of their non-appearance they shall be immediately suspended and this their Suspension published in the Churches VII The Province of Tourain Anjou and Main craving Advice how to dispose of Monsieur Le Bloy Minister of St. Aignan this Synod doth ordain That the said Le Bloy shall continue in the said Church provided that within six Months the said Church do give him full satisfaction in paying him the Salary they had promised him and in cause of failure therein he shall be consigned unto the Church of Preuilly according to the Order of the Provincial Synod of Touraine VIII Whereas the Church of * * * Two other Copies read Bracquâ—t Bourinquet doth inform us That their Pastor Monsieur De la Finer is removed from them by the Pastors of the Province commissionated by this present Synod to inspect that Affair who have thereby left them totally destitute without a Minister this Assembly doth ordain That the said Sieur de la Finer shall abide with his Church exercising all the Duties of his Office until such time as they be provided of another and the Colloquy of Lower Quercy shall take that Task upon them and the said Sieur de la Finer shall be presently paid all his Arrears and that said Church of Bourinquet shall supply all his Wants for the future and in case of non-performance on their part then the said Sieur de la Finer shall be free and fully discharged from them IX This Assembly at the Request of the Deputies of Lower Languedoc doth think meet That our Brother Monsieur Boulet do stand related unto Condoignac and Vergessers but with this Condition that he exercise his Ministry in his former Church until such time as they be provided of another X. At the desire of the Magistrates of the City and Church of Rochel as also of the whole Province of Xaintonge this Assembly ordaineth That Letters be sent forthwith to the Syndics and Church of Geneva earnestly intreating that the Seignory and Consistory of that famous Church and City would be pleased to give up their Right in our honoured Brother Monsieur Rotan for the Service of the Church of Rochel because of his singular usefulness and fruitful Labours in that Church and his great serviceableness in that Province yea and to all the Reformed Churches of France Yet Rotan was afterward deeply suspected for prevaricating in Religion XI Complaints being made by the Province of Xaintonge against Master Esperient and Cahier this Assembly orders That the Province of Xaintonge do inform the Synod of Bearn about the said Esperient because he belongs to it that he may give satisfaction to them and that the Sieur Cahier shall be written to in the Name of this Assembly that he personally appear before the Synod of Xaintonge which is impower'd with full Authority by this present Synod to hear and judge of the whole Fact XII The Province of Lower Languedoc demanding Advice about Mr. John Corneille it is decreed That the Province shall be sharply reproved for their so long suffering and sparing the said Corneille in his Errors and wicked Actions and in particular the Magistrates and other Persons in the Church of Orange who prosecuted so vigorously his Restoration unto the Ministry For which cause this Synod confirmeth the Deposition of the said Corneille and ordains that he be silenced for ever and that the Magistrate and Consistory of Orange be reproved for permitting him to pray publickly during his Suspension as also we give warning that it is dangerous to employ him in the teaching of Youth XIII Sharp and Comminatory Letters shall be written unto the Colloquy of Auvergne and to Monsieur De Montcassin that if they do not satisfie and reimburse Monsieur Lambert his Expences in getting the King's Orders for the maintenance of the afore-mentioned Ministers this Synod on their refusal will proceed against them as Delinquents and particularly against Monsieur Montcassin because he became bound for the Payment of that Money as appears by the very Act of the Provincial Synod held in this City of Montauban in the Year 1593 And in case they do not give satisfaction before the breaking up of this Assembly Process shall be issued out against them as we have written them XIV Forasmuch as in the conclusion of this Synod the Colloquy of Higher Rouargue have returned no Answer to it theâ—efore in pursuance of the Resolution before taken it is decreed That Monsieur de Villette and Chalais when they return into their Province of Lower Languedoc shall interdict the Exercise of the Ministry in all the Churches of that Colloquy and particularly Monsieur de Montcassin shall be suspended and silenced for not performing his Promise XV. Mr. William Benet acquainting this Assembly That he had discharged his Duty in educating his Son Mark Antony in good Learning in order to his being employed in the Ministry of the Gospel to his great comfort and yet without his privity and consent his said Son had accepted of a Call unto the Church of Marvejoles in the Province of Lower Languedoc After hearing what could be alledged for themselves by the Deputies of that Province as also the Plea of the said Mark Antony for himself
Catalogue was read of the Churches now in being whose Number was found 760 to wit in the Isle of France Picardy Champagne and Brie 88. Normandy 59. Brittany 14. Burgundy 12. Lyonnois 4. Forest Dolphiny and Provence 94. Vivarets 32. Lower Languedoc 116. Higher Languedoc and Higher Gnyenne 96. Lower Guyenne 83. Poictou 50. Xaintonge 51. Anjou 21. Orleans 39. Which is for each of them 52 Crowns 37 Sous and 10 Deniers  Cr. s. d. For the Isle of France 4631 34 10 For Normandy 3105 15 09 For Brittany 0736 50 08 For Burgundy 0538 56 10 For Lyonnois 0210 31 06 For Forest 0105 15 10 For Dolphiny and Provence 4997 22 * * * 3 7 For Vivaretz 1664 12 08 For Lower Languedoc 6105 15 09 For Higher Languedoc 5052 37 * * * 10 6 For Lower Guyenne 4368 22 * * * 25 3 For Poictou 2631 34 08 For Xaintonge 2684 12 07 For Anjou 1105 15 09 For Orleans 2052 38 00 And all the Churches shall be obliged to send their Accounts of Moneys paid by them unto their Pastors who have actually served them and the said Accounts shall be then accepted if the Acquittances be signed by those Ministers owâ—n hands who received the Moneys and the over-plus of this Money remaining shall be returned unto the Synod to be disposed of according to their Orders and by the Ministers to be relieved we understand such also who through Age or Sickness are uncapable of discharging the Duties of their Calling and farther we leave it to the Prudence of the Provinces what Allowances to make unto their Proposans and to the Widow sand Orphans of their deceased Ministers and to maintain as many of them as they shall judge expedient whose Names and Number also shall be inserted in these Accounts aforesaid and their Acquittances subscribed with their own hands shall be brought unto the National Synod And the Provinces shall give a demonstration of their care in erecting Academics and yield up their Accompts in like manner as was before ordained The Receivers of this Money shall be nominated by the Provinces And the Assembly of Chastelheraut shall be intreated to give us their Advice for the best and speediest course of getting the said Moneys And this Order shall hold good until the next National Synod which shall be called by the Province of Normandy in the Month of June three Years hence and the Synod next after that shall be held in Dolphiny XVII Letters shall be sent in the Name of this Synod unto all French Ministers abroad out of the Kingdom requiring them to return unto the Service of their Churches upon the first Summons who shall furnish them with necessary Supplies for their Journeys and whereas divers have departed without leave first obtained from their Provinces because of the Troubles and Persecutions the Synod orders that they return forthwith as in Duty they are bound unto their respective Churches God having now blessed us with Peace And hereupon the Church of Paris according to this Article required Monsieur D'amours to return back unto his Province XVIII As soon as the Edict shall be published those extraordinary Times of Prayer ordained in the Churches shall cease and the Churches are requested particularly to remember in their Prayers unto the Throne of Grace those of the Low Countries 1598. Synod XV. CHAP. VI. Particular MATTERS I. LEtters shall be written unto the Churches of the Low Countries expressing our Grief for that their Deputies came not unto this Synod according to the Advice that was given them as also to intreat them to inform us of the time when their Synod shall be convocated and the Province of Normandy is ordered to send the Deputies unto it II. Monsieur Chesneau shall write to Monsieur de la Planche intreating him to deposit with the Church of Paris those Papers which belonged to that Apostate Cahier and are in his Custody and Monsieur L'Esperient shall make enquiry what are become of those Manuscripts of his that were in Bearn and if possibly they may be retrieved to send them also unto the Church of Paris III. Monsieur Berault is appointed to answer the Writings of du Perron and Monsieur de Montigny those of Cahier and as for other Books publisht against us that Article of the Discipline relating to this head shall be punctually observed and the Charges of their Impression shall be defrayed out of the Moneys granted us by the King and allowed by producing an Attestation from the Colloquies IV. The Province of Normandy is intreated to mediate with the Church of Lunere that their former Pastor Monsieur Vatable be paid his Arrears otherwise they shall be censured according to the Discipline V. Upon hearing the Differences between the Churches of Boislebec and Gurville with Monsieur de Videt d'Espoir and having pondered all Circumstances this Synod determines That of Right he belongs unto the said Churches because he was maintained by them for four Years together yea and when they were driven away one from the other into Foreign Lands and for that the Term ordained in such a Case by the Discipline is not yet expired However in consideration of his Age and numerous Family and the distance of Places and the conveniences he hath near Pamiers as also that without great damage unto himself he cannot remove the Synod declares for his comfort that he may live in the City of Pamiers upon condition that within six Months the Province do furnish those said Churches with a Pastor and the Church of Pamiers shall bear the one half of his Charges in Travel which also is censured for enforcing the said Monsieur de Videt to enter himself into Bonds to them in the Sum of sixty Crowns for re-imbursing them the Expences of his Journey in case he should not tarry with them VI. Monsieur Franc petitioning to be restored unto the Ministry was told by this Assembly That because of the number and heinousness of his Crimes deserving Corporal Punishment and marked with a brand of Infamy and for that he gave in but a very sorry Evidence of his Repentance to us that therefore he ought not to be restored However he wax advised not to slacken his Studies but to take up with some other Calling VII Madam the King's Sister requesting That Monsieur de la Touche might be given for four Months in the Year to the Church in her Family this Assembly consented to it until the next National Synod and this shall be inserted in the Letters of this Assembly unto that Princess that our Synods shall always carefully provide the most able Ministers for the conduct of her Church and if Monsieur de Feugerau's Health will permit him he shall serve her Highness in that Quality the whole time his Province advising and consenting to it And the other seven Ministers waiting upon her Royal Highness shall bear no other Title than that of ordinary Pastors and Ministers VIII This Synod
provide a Church for him XXVI This Assembly upon hearing the Difference risen betwixt Monsieur Jarey and Voisin Ministers of Millaud hath ordained for the Peace of that Church That neither of those Ministers shall continue in it longer than till the meeting of the next National Synod and Monsieur Brunier and Monsieur Gasques are intreated to take their Turns in serving the said Church and Monsieur Brunier is to hasten thither as soon as possible he can farther that an exchange shall be made of the Person of Monsieur Voisin with that of Monsieur Remirat Minister of the Church of St. Afrique and Monsieur Jarey hath leave given him to joyn himself unto the Churches of Pamiers or Merueir at his own election until the next Provincial Synod XXVII This Synod revising the Decree of the National Synod of Montauban in which Monsieur Balarand was by their Gift appropriated to the Church of Castrees as also that Article of the National Synod of Saumur ordaining the said Ballarand to return unto his Church of Aymett and the Deputies of both those Churches having been heard on behalf of their Principals and considering the great importance of that of Castres do ordain That the said Monsieur Ballarand shall remain appropriated Pastor unto the Church of Castres which yet is obliged according to Agreements between them to re-imburse the said Church of Aymett the Sum of One hundred Crowns expended by them in their procuring of another Minister XXVIII A Petition was presented by the Church of Castres praying That Monsieur Rotan might be granted them for their Pastor This Assembly hath ordained That he shall remain with the Church of Castres until the next Provincial Synod who may as they think fit dispose of him respect being first had to the health of the said Master Rotan so as will most contribute to the edification of God's Church XXIX The Church of Castres desiring that Monsieur * * * In another Copy it is de Sossias in athâ—r Somaltuâ— Souls might be given them they were sent back to their next Provincial Synod XXX Monsieur Julian is ordered to recover out of the hands of the Heirs of Monsieur de Serres deceased all his Manuscript Memoirs that they may be produced and perused by the next Provincial Synod XXXI The Advocate-General of the Chamber of Castres having saluted and assured this Assembly in the Name of the said Chamber professing our Religion of their faithful and sincere desires to maintain the Rights of our Churches Thanks was given him and by him to that honourable Court represented by him and they were desired not to Complement with us but in good earnest to pursue that end for which they were established and for which each of them respectively were recommended by the Churches XXXII License is granted to the Churches of Cormis and St. John of Bruel to incorporate themselves with the Colloquy of Vigan because it lieth so very convenient for them XXXIII The Synod having heard the Deputles of the Church of Loudun and Pamiers concerning the Call of Monsieur Frogets determines that of Right he doth belong unto the Church of Loudun which however must pay unto that of Pamiers fifty Crowns disbursed by them in Books for the said Froget and they are also ordered to defray his Charges in coming unto this Assembly XXXIV This Synod not having at present a Pastor sufficiently qualified for the Church of Bourdeaux and considering the great consequenee of its Establishment ordaineth That the Colloquies of Albrett Higher Agenois and Perigord shall each of then in course for four Months supply that Church and Monsieur * * * Renault Renault is to begin the Exercise there XXXV Letters shall be written to my Lord the Ambassador of England and to Monsieur de la Fontaine Minister of the French Church in London to inform them of those injurious Writings publisht against our Churches by Sutcliffe and Saravia and they be desired to apply themselves to the Queen that such Writings may not be printed XXXVI This Synod intreateth both the Provinces of Languedoc to bear the Charges of a Criminal Process depending in the Chamber of Castres about the Oppressions exercised upon the Arnolds by the Seneschal of Ville Franche in Rouergue XXXVII The Church of Nions in Dolphiny petitioning for a Pastor Monsieur du Jay alias du Gasleur was granted to them till the sitting of the next Provincial Synod of Vivaretz CHAP. VII Of Private ACTS I. GOvernours are exhorted to improve their Interest that the Edict be not executed in their Jurisdictions till such time as it hath been first executed in those places possessed by them of the contrary Religion II. The Churches of Languedoc are required to oppose those Novelties introduced at the Interment of their Dead and in particular this that Maids be carried to their Graves by Maids wearing Garlands of Flowers III. And it being their Duty who govern the Church by all lawful means to procure the benefit and advantage of their Poor this Assembly ordaineth That whenas there shall be any considerable Sum of Moneys belonging to the Poor in the Deacons hands they may warrantably put it out to Interest that so in case of great necessity the Poor may receive the more and greater Relief and Comfort CHAP. VIII An Extract of the Acts of the General Mixt Assembly of the Churches of France held at Chastel-heraut and approved by their National Synod held at Montpellier the 26th Day of May 1598 and the Days following Rules for such as bring the King's Orders granted for any Command or Government in the Cautionary Towns given us for our Security THE Provincial Assemblies which shall be called upon the Return of the Deputies now at Chastel-heraut shall out of every Colloquy name some able and faithful Persons of the Nobility and Cities who yet shall be changed or confirmed by every Provincial Synod or General Assembly if need be to be present at Colloquies whenas an Attestation shall be desired by a Gentleman who hath gotten His Majesty's Grant of any Government or Place of Trust And in case the Person having the Grant be a Member of that Colloquy in which the vacant place lieth the said Colloquy meeting together for signing the said Attestation shall invite all those who were named by the Provincial Synod or Assembly that they may joyntly consult whether they ought to give it or inform His Majesty to the contrary If the time of sitting for the General Assembly be near the said Colloquy shall defer till they have first had their Judgment about the said Attestation And in case the Person who hath the Grant be of another Colloquy than that of the vacant place the Person who is charged to convocate the Colloquy whereunto the Grantee belongeth shall take some sufficient time to inform the Assembly or Province in which the vacant place lieth but at their Charges of the Quality Family Religion and Morals of
served them as this was ever the sence and judgment of the said Synod of Xaintonge II. Whereas both the Church of Paris and Lions do lay claim unto the said Monsieur D'amours as theirs and engaged to them This Assembly having heard the said D'amours open the whole Affair and weighed the Arguments on both sides doth find that he is not obliged either to the one or other but is at full liberty to accept of any Church presented to him by the Synod III. And forasmuch as the Church of Chastelheraut have presented their Petition That the said Monsieur D'amours should be setled among them after hearing what was urged to the contrary by the Church of St. John and the declaration of the said Sieur D'amours leaving himself wholly to the disposal of this Assembly it is decreed That the said Sieur D'amours shall be given unto the Church of Chastelheraut IV. The Consistory of Havre de Grace appealing from an Order of the Synod of Normandy which had ordained our Brother Monsieur * * * Another Copy calls him Maâ—â— Dinnis de la Mathennie Pastor of Cricquetot to be their sole Pastor he having served them faithfully in the Ministry ever since he first gathered their Church and and that the two Churches should be united into one and their Pastors Joynt-Pastors and that the Churches should make but one common Purse for their maintenance And the demand of those of Cricquetot being heard urging that the said Monsieur de la Mathennie was first of all sent unto them and that they always had and would continue to him his Stipend It was voted That the said Monsieur de Mathennie should continue with the Church of Cricquetot and those of the Havre have six Months time given them to provide themselves of another Pastor during which time the said de la Mathennie shall remain as he hath done in the Town of Honsleur and shall serve both the Churches and as to the Annexation of the Church of Beauvillier it shall be determined by the Colloquy of Caux and the Church of Hauvre is exhorted according to their Duty to pay double Honour unto the said Monsieur de la Mathennie as they have done heretofore V. The Appeal of Master Michael Mercier from the Synod of the Isle of France Picardy and Champagne was rejected because he appeared not in Person to prosecute it in this Assembly and that Order of the Church of Paris ratified by their Provincial Synod concerning the Exercise of Religion in the place ordained by His Majesty is approved also and confirmed by the Consent and Authority of this present National Synod VI. The Sentence past by the Synod of Lower Guyenne against Messieurs Chauveton and Baduel is ratified and because of the great importance of that Affair we do further decree That he of the two who shall first endeavour his Restoration unto the Church of Bergerac shall be totally deposed from the Ministry VII The Appeal of the Church of Nerac about the concern of Monsieur John Renaut is declared null and the Sentence of the Synod of Lower Guyenne confirmed and how the said Monsieur Renaut shall be for time coming disposed of is left wholly to the Wisdom of that Synod But since that the said Renaut was yielded up entirely unto the Church of Nerac VIII The Appeal of the Church of Chaume from the Synod of Poictou was not admitted because the matter in debate between them is of the nature of those things which ought to be determined in their own Province IX The Appeal of the Colloquy of Poictiers from that Order of the Synod of Poictou is good and valid and it is decreed That Monsieur Menestoier Pastor of the Church of Sancay Monstreuill Bonninll and L' Artillier shall incorporate himself with the Colloquy of Poictiers X. Monsieur de la Millie reappealing from an Order of the Synod of Poictou who had setled Monsieur Favre in the Pastoral Charge of the Church of Vigean this Assembly approveth that Order and the Province is exhorted to take care that the Church of the said de Melliere be provided for as soon as possible XI That Judgment of the Synod of Lower Languedoc from which the Church of Macilargues and de Nager had appealed is confirmed And Letters shall be dispatched unto the said Synod requesting them out of hand to provide an able Minister for the Church of Macilargues XII An Appeal was brought by the Church of Nismes from a Judgment of the Synod of Lower Languedoc which had given Monsieur Terond to the Church of St. Martyn whereupon this Assembly decreed That in case the Church of Nismes did not send the said Monsieur Terond unto his own Colloquy within the space of one Year that then he should be wholly setled in the Church of St. Martyn nor shall that Church be provided of any other Minister for a full Year unless the said Monsieur Terond be recalled back again in which case all his Charges shall be defrayed by those of Nismes XIII The Church of Nismes appealed from the Synod of Dolphiny because they refused to grant them Monsieur Chamier though carnestly desired by them to be Professor of Divinity in their University This Assembly is of Opinion That the said Sieur Chamier cannot be removed from the Church of Montlimard without the express consent of his Church and Province XIV The Appeal of the Elders in the Church of Chastillon upon the Loire from the Censures of the Synod of Orleans and Berry is rejected and they shall be again censured by Letters from this Assembly more sharply XV. That Order of the Synod of Dolphiny concerning Monsieur Felix from which the Church of Niort hath appealed is confirmed XVI The Church of Cognac appealed from an Order of the Synod of Xaintonge about Monsieur de la Nusse The Assembly examining the matter finds that of Right the said de la Nusse belongs to the Church of Cognac but because of the Covenants between them it decrees That the said Sieur de la Nusse shall at the sole Charges of the Church of Nerac come and serve one Year in the Church of Coignac during which time those of Nerac shall endeavour to procure for the Church of Coignac such a Minister as shall be approved by the Colloquy of Augoumois and in case of their non-observing this Order Monsieur la Nusse shall be wholly appropriated to the Church of Coignac XVII Monsieur Bourguignon appealing from the Synod of the Isle of France enjoyning his return unto his own Province this Assembly considering the great Services done by him unto the Church of God and his manifold Losses have and do adjudge him absolutely unto the Church of Mets. XVIII The Father of Monsieur Olivier appealing from the Synod of Higher Languedoc it was ordered That the said Olivier shall be setled in the Church of Lectoure and Letters shall be written unto the Father to this purpose XIX Upon the Appeal of
up his Innocency and justify himself fully before the World and therefore did ordain him to produce the Evidences of his Innocency and Integrity before the next Provincial Synod of Poictou that it may be thence transmitted unto the next National Synod and then all requisite care should be taken about the razing of the aforesaid Censure 3. Upon the difference between the five Colloquies of Xaintonge and that of Aunix This Assembly judgeth that it is but just and reasonable that the Colloquy of Aunix should bear a fourth part of the Charges of the Provinces of Xaintonge notwithstanding the determination of the Provincial Synod of Poictou to the contrary 4. The appeal brought by the Church of Beaune and Vannés from the Decree of the Provincial Synod of Burgundy past in favour of Monsieur Manissier is made null and void because the said Church appeared not to prosecute it 5. That debate on behalf of Monsieur Claudius Jobart concerning Festivals and which had been inserted among the appeals in the Synod of Gergeau shall be transfer'd unto the head of particular matters in the said Synod the aforesaid Jobart protesting that he never brought any appeal against the Province of Burgundy 6. The Church of Orleans complaining that it was oppressed by a Decree of the Synod of Gergeau which had adjudged unto the Church of Gergeau the Moneys granted by his Majesty which belonged to it till the meeting of this present Assembly This Assembly considering all circumstances finds no reason to alter the Decree of the aforesaid Synod And for time coming ordaineth that the Provincial Synod shall do in it as they think fit 7. Upon the difference between the Synods of Poictou and Xaintonge about the Churches of Montignac Marsillac and Villefagnon The Churches of Montignac and Marsillac are adjudged unto the Province of Poictou and that of Villefagnon is left to its oâ—n choice to which of the Provinces it will be Incorporated but being once Incorporated the said Church shall not at its pleasure depart from it And this their choice once made shall be notified unto the next Synod of both the Provinces However the Province of Xaintonge shall retain their right in the Minister of Marsillac Proposans may not Preach nor Administer the Sacrament without Imposition of hands See Act. 6. of the 3d. Synod of Rochel 8. Letters shall be written to the Pastors and Professors in the Church of Geneva intreating them not to send our young Students in Divinity to Preach and Administer the Sacraments in Country Villages before Ordination principally the Students who are hereafter to be employed in the Churches of this Kingdom because it 's contrary to our Discipline and to the Practice and Custom of the Primitive Church and for that we feel already the inconveniences hereof 9. If Deacons of the Church of Bearne in Switzerland should come into this Kingdom and have not been first duely examined and ordained by imposition of hands or have not had elsewhere any Pastoral charge and should yet notwithstanding as they have done in other places take upon them to exercise the Ministerial office Of the Deacons of Bearne coming into France and exercising the Ministry to Preach the Word to administer the Sacraments as the Mode of some Forraign Churches is so to do they shall first subject themselves to a new examination here and be received into the Ministry among us in that very self same manner as Proposans are who never were Ordained And for other persons who were duely examined and to whom the right hand of Fellowship hath been given in Forreign Churches and are now called to a Pastoral Charge in some one of our Churches in this Kingdom they shall be admitted by the Provincial Synods according to the manner prescribed by our Discipline 10. The Church of Paris shall be censured for not revising that Book styled Apparatus ad fidem Catholicam not the others as they were injoined by the last Synod at Gergeau And that Church which is charged to call the next National Synod is now by this appointed to review and examine those books 11. The differences fallen out between the Synods of Higher Languedoc and Lower Guyenne concerning the Churches of Montagnac Leyrac and some others and which had been dismissed by the last Synod of Gergeau unto the Provincial Synod of Xaintonge and by that of Xaintonge to the decision of this Assembly shall be thus determined Full power is again given unto the said Synod of Xaintonge to perform that Article of the National Synod of Gergeau and to this purpose the said Province of Xaintonge shall take care that notice be given unto the said Provinces of the time and place of their next Synod 12. In pursuance of that Decree of the national Synod of Gergeau the Province of Normandy shall give full satisfaction unto Monsieur Vatablé for whom nothing at all hath been yet done 13. The Article of the Synod of Gergeau being read which ordered Letters to be written unto the Duke de Lesdiguieres about the 17000 Crowns See the Synod of Montpel partic matt 17. And the Synod of Gergeau partic matt 5. being Moneys of the Churches of Lower Languedoc We have thought fit that both the Articles of the Synods of Monpellier and Gergeau relating to this matter be razed out Provided that the Deputies of Languedoc have first of all the sight and perusal of those Acquittances pretended to by his Lordship 14. Whereas differences have sprung up between the two Provinces of the upper and neither Languedoc about the Churches of Cormes and St. John du Brueil The Decree made in the Synod of Gergeau for their determination is now again confirmed by this present Assembly and they be censured who did not according to their duty put in execution the said Decree And therefore the Deputies of both these Provinces shall give notice unto those Churches to appear in the Colloquies and Provincial Synods of the Nether Languedoc 15. John Mussidan Bordaires presented his humble Petition unto this Synod requesting that his name might be blotted out of the Catalogue of Vagrants into which it was inserted by the last Synod of Gergeau and that he might be permitted to make a Proposition from some text of the Holy Scripture in order to his re-admission into the Ministry This Assembly having received several relations from divers of our brethren concerning his insufficiency for so great and weighty a Calling did advise him to lay by all hopes and thoughts of re-entring into this Sacred Office because the Lord did not think him fitly qualified for it nor would own or accept of his service in it But that he might not be totally disheartned the Province whereunto he retires himself is intreated to assist him with their Charities and to employ him as a Schoolmaster in the teaching of youth 16. The Synod willing to express their affectionate respects to Monsieur Berger and intending as the former Synod of Gergeau to
a Colledge meet for their Academical Exercises 36. That the differences betwixt those of Provence and Dolphiny may be finally composed this Assembly ordaineth that those of Dolphiny do bring in their Accounts and pay unto the Provencals the seventh part of all those Moneys which the said Province of Dolphiny hath received for the years 98 99 1600. and the seventh part of the Assignations remaining as yet unpayed for those years deducting only from the said Moneys the Sum of two hundred Livers remaining in their Hands and to be allowed them upon pretence of Charges An Order for the Church in the Court of Madame 37. A motion was made for providing the Church in the Court of Her Royal Highness His Majesties Sister with an able Pastor and Monsieur du Moulin Minister in the Church of Paris informing this Assembly that the Church of Metz hath assisted the said Church with two Ministers who have each of them serv'd his Quarter and that he the said du Moulin is to serve the third and next Quarter beginning the first of May according as the Church of Paris had been injoined therefore the Church of Rouan having three Ministers and well able with much ease to undergo this task it is Ordained that the said Monsieur du Moulin and Monsieur de la Riviere Minister in the Church of Rouen shall in their turn serve the said Church and that Monsieur de la Riviere shall begin with the next year 1604. and Monsieur du Moulin the year ensuing 38. Our Brethren of Anjou demanded that Monsieur Renaud might be constituted Professor of Divinity in the University of Saumur This Assembly grants it provided that he and his Church of Bourdeaux do consent thereunto 39. Differences having risen betwixt the Provinces of Dolphiny and Provence about Accounts of Moneys employed by the Deputies who had met at the Synod of Saumur from both these Provinces this Assembly most earnestly intreats them before their departure hence to compound the matter among themselves and that it may be effected Monsieur de Lhomeau and Monsieur de Grenoville are appointed to hear the differences and to make report of the whole unto this Assembly which being done by them and heard by the whole Synod that so a final period might be put unto these unhappy differences which had been of too long a continuance It was ordained that those of Dolphiny should be accountable unto them of Provence for the seventh part of those Sums actually received by them in the years 1598 1599 and 1600. and for the seventh part of the Assignations which are yet unpaid only deducting from the whole the Sum of two Hundred Crowns remaining in their Hands and to be allowed them in lieu of charges and all other pretensions whatsoever 40. Considering the Importance of the University of Sedan and the great Service it hath done and still does unto a great part of our Churches this Assembly ordaineth that in the Dividend of our Moneys granted us from â—is Majesty's Bounty there shall be an Addition of three Hundred Crowns more to those five Hundred assigned to it by the Synod of Gergeau 41. The Provinces are desired to consider against the next National Synod whether the Word Damnation attributed unto our Lord in the tenth Section of our Catechism may be retained or changed 42. Monsieur des Fontaines left the Original Accounts of Monsieur Palot in the Hands of our General Deputies who are charged to get them Copied out and sent unto Rochell together with other Papers to be preserved in the Archivès there 43. The Province of Xaintonge is ordered to Convene the next National Synod in the City of Rochell in the Month of May and in the year 1605. unless there should fall out some other General Assembly in the mean while 44. The Assembly proceeding to a new Election of General Deputies for the Churches according to the regulation made in the Assembly of St. Foy among all that were recommended by the Deputies of the Provinces It chose only these two the Lord of St. Germain and the Lord of Bordes ordering that they be continued in this their Office because of their good report and general satisfaction given by them unto the Provinces and Churches in their former administration who having accepted this Office did Swear the Union prescribed at Mantes and solemnly promise to employ themselves with all faithfulness to the utmost of their power in the discharge of the Duties thereof according to their Commission given them at Saint Foy. 45. The Sum of five and forty Thousand Crowns coming in unto us this year from the Moneys of His Majesty's Bounty after mature consideration had of the State of our Universities and Churches they were distributed in manner following CHAP. VIII A Dividend of the Sum of 45000 Crowns both for our Vniversities and Churches For the Universities  Crowns Sols Denier Of Saumur 1111 05 8 Of Montauban 1111 05 8 Of Montpellier 700 06 8 Of Nismes 700 06 8 Of Sedan 800 00 0 All the Provinces shall have for their respective Churches according to the Number of Ministers in actual Service and of the Proposans they were obliged to maintain For the Provinces  Cro. S. D. The Isle of France for 62 portions to wit for six and forty Ministers in actual service comprising in it four Pastors in the Principality of Sedan and ten Churches to be provided for with six Proposans 3748 11 6 Normandy for 45 portions out of which they provide for their vacant Churches and maintenance of Proposans according to the number of their Colloquies 2720 24 10 Orleans and Berry for six and thirty portions for seven and twenty Ministers six Churches unprovided to be supplied with Ministers and three Proposans 2176 19 06 Brittany for 15 portions for seven Pastors four Churches to be provided for and four Proposans 906 19 6 Anjou and Tourain for 27 portions for twenty Ministers four Churches to be provided for and three Proposans 1632 14 9 The Higher and Lower Poictou for fifty portions for nine and thirty Ministers eight Churches to be provided for and three Proposans 3022 38 4 Xaintonge and Aunix for sixty portions for forty eighty Ministers six Churches to be provided for and six Proposans 3627 13 0 The Lower Guyenne for sixty portions for nine and forty Ministers and seven Churches to be provided and five Proposans 3627 13 0 The Higher and Lower Vivaretz and Vellay for eight and twenty portions for nineteen Ministers including what was ordained for the Church of Aubenas six Churches to be provided for and three Proposans 1692 42 1 The Lower Languedoc hath one hundred portions for fourscore and four Ministers in actual service six Churches to be provided for four Pastors for the Lower Avergne and six Proposans 6045 21 11 The Higher Languedoc eighty portions for sixty and four Ministers in actual service six Churches to be provided for four Pastors for the Higher Auvergne and six
Sedan worthy of severe censures for not bringing or sending hither the Accounts of Moneys received for the maintenance or their Professors and Regents according to the Decrees of Gap and Gergeau And that for the future they may be more carefull of the Moneys belonging to the University of Montauban there shall be detained in the hands of the Receiver General five hundred Livers and for the Universities of Nismes Montpellier and Sedan two hundred and fifty Livers for each of them and with this farther penalty that in case hereafter they shall be guilty of the like neglect there shall be defaulked from their portions five hundred Crowns But if upon auditing their accounts they be found just and faithful then the detained summs shall be restored to them Finally the Provincial Synods are ordered to give in unto the National Synods a true report as in Conscience they be bound to do how the Professors and Regents in the several Universities of their respective Provinces do discharge the duties of their places and to be very careful in the form of their Acquittances and other evidences of their Integrity and to send them all by the Deputies of their Province unto the National Synods 11. Reading that Article of the Synod of Gap concerning censures to be inflicted on the breakers of Marriage-promises without just cause divers difficulties in divers places having risen hereupon This Assembly judgeth that neither private persons nor Consistories have authority to dissolve such Promises and therefore they shall be turned over to the Judgment and Lawful Decree of the Civil Magistrates and those refractory persons who will not discharge their injoined duty shall be pursued with all Church-censures CHAP. V. Of Particular Matters St. Maixant Art 1. of observat on this Synod 1. IT is ordained for time coming that particular Acts of Appeals Censures and things of the like nature shall not be delivered but unto the parties concerned in them 2. This Assembly declareth that the Act of the Synod of Montpellier not permitting any Certificate to be given them who through fear of Witchcraft would solemnize their Marriage in other Churches besides their own shall remain in full force as not being contrary to that of the Discipline which concerneth attestations in the Chapter of Marriages Charities ordered the poor Saints of Saluces 3. For as much as the necessities of our poor Brethren of the Marquisate Saluces are exceeding great they being banished and persecuted for the true Religion as is evident by the Relations of their Deputies Charles Garnier and Constans Vivyan This Assembly exhorts all the Churches in the Provinces of this Kingdom to assist them by extraordinary Alms and 't is left to the prudence of every Provincial Synod to take that course for Collecting the Charities for them as they shall judge most proper and convenient to the state of their respective Churches And whereas in divers Churches there have been Moneys already gathered for them it is ordained that in no wise those summs be diverted from their designed use but be out of hand sent unto them And that they may be reputed Natural French men our Deputies which shall be sent unto Court are expresly charged to procure the Declaration from his Majesty for their being naturalized 4. Henceforward the Deputies of the Provinces shall bring with them unto the National Synods an exact Catalogue of the number of Churches Ministers and Proposans in their respective Provinces together with an account of their particular Stipends annually paid them by the Receiver of the Province as also the Testimonials of the Universities concerning our young Students in them if possibly it may be done Proposans may be present as silent Learners in National Synods 5. Proposans may be admitted into the National Synod when as general Matters of Doctrine and Discipline are debated provided they bring with them good Testimonials But as for other Persons which are not Ecclesiastick whatsoever their quality or condition may be it hath been already judged inexpedient because of divers ill Consequences to grant them this priviledge A remedy against contentions for the Professors place in an University 6. If in case of difference about the Call of Professors and Regents in our Universities one of the contending parties should seek for relief and assistance any where else than in our Ecclesiastical Assemblies he shall be prosecuted by all the Censures of the Church and if he continue obstinate and rebellious he shall then be Excommunicated and if he be already seized of a Professorship this Synod Decreeth that no Wages shall be paid him and declareth him a Person utterly uncapable of any Academical Office 7. To prevent for the future that evil custom crept into the Churches and which hath caused a great deal of trouble unto this Synod by reading and examining an infinite number of Acts passed before secular Judges which may finally bring in upon us that base Chicanery so much practised by crafty Lawyers and utterly unworthy the Gravity of these Assemblies Wherefore all such manner of proceedings are most expresly forbidden and all persons are commanded to keep themselves to a native plainness and simplicity as best suiting with Church affairs on pain of having their papers and propositions rejected who shall do otherwise Pecuniary matters may be dismissed from one Province to another 8. In case a person complain of His being overcharged in pecuniary matters by the Provincial Synod in which the Synod is a Party he may demand a hearing before the next Provincial Synod which shall have power to judge finally in that affair without bringing such matters before the National Synods 9. When as the publick Fast shall be celebrated in the Churches of France those of Bearn shall be acquainted with the time and causes of it by the Province of Lower Guyenne and those Churches shall be comprised in all matters relating to our Union yea and in those Complaints and Petitions which shall be presented unto his Majesty by the means of our General Deputies 10. Monsieur Baldran Deputy for Bearn moved that whereas the Churches of Soulle and Bigorre lying within the bounds of France were yet notwithstanding unto this day annexed to the Churches of Bearn and supported by them both with the grant of Pastors and Moneys for their subsistence wherefore he requested that they might be enrolled among those who shared in the Moneys of his Majesties bounty and withal he left them to the sole disposal of the Churches of this Kingdom either to be Incorporated with them or implanted into any other Synod besides that of Bearn as they should conceive most expedient This Assembly ordaineth that for the present two portions of the said moneys shall be assigned out of the Dividend of Lower Guyenne unto those two before mentioned Churches and they have full power to declare in the first Provincial Synod of Bearn to which of the Provincial Synods of France they will adjoin themselves consulting
Civil Magistrate and in case any refuse obedience hereunto they shall be prosecuted by all Church-censures 45. Some moved how expedient it would be that our Academies were regulated according to the number of our Provinces and that the summs now demanded for augmentation of the Regents and Professors Sallaries was too great and particularly for that of Saumur But this Synod not having time enough at present to debate this matter doth require all the Provinces to consider of it against the meeting of the next National Synod And that our weaker and poorer Churches may be more comfortably relieved and supplied Those Churches who are better able to maintain a Colledge without any assistance from others or the publick are desired to bring in an Account of what can be done by them That so we may make the best estimate we can how to compleat and perfect our Universities And the Provinces next adjoining to our Universities are requested to have a most careful eye over them and to be responsable for them unto the next National Synod and of the diligence or neglects of duty by its Officers and Professors And till that time we do not judge meet to grant any augmentation to that of Saumur 46. The Deputies of divers Provinces moving that there might be particular Colledges erected in their respective Provinces for the educating of Youth in Humanity before they were sent unto our Universities This Assembly granteth them their request and that the eleven Provinces which have no Academy shall have each of them the summ of 100 Crowns for this very purpose And these Provinces are charged to bring in an Account unto the next National Synod how they have employed the said Moneys 47. Monsieur Vignier is intreated to study well that controversie about the great Antichrist and to bring in his work unto the next National Synod CHAP. VI. An Account of the Dividend of one hundred five and thirty thousand Livers given by his Majesty every year unto the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom Out of which great summ the Lord of Candal and his Commissary Monsieur de Visouze shall make payment of these lesser summs here under mentioned in manner and form following and at the times appointed and this according to those Articles of Agreement made betwixt him and the Lords General Deputies of our Churches in the National Synod of Gap 1603. To the Universities  L. S. D. To the University of Montauban 3333 6 8 To that of Saumur 3333 6 8 To that of Montpellier 1500 0 0 To that of Nismes 1833 0 0 To that of Sedan 2400 0 0 To the L. L. General Deputies To the Lords General Deputies officiating at Court for us 1650 Livers being one half of 3300 Livers which added to 10200 Livers taken out of the lesser Accompt do make up 13500 Livers which is their allotted yearly Sallery The remaining moitay of the said 3300 Livers the Lord of Candal is to receive out of the Moneys ordered for the payment of our Garisons and by him to be paid into the said L. L General Deputies To Ministers To the Province of Provence there shall be paid in the summ of 2181 l. 12 s for 17 Churches including in it 300 l. overpluss assigned to them To the Province of Brittany the summ of 2403 l. for 19 Churches including in it 300 l. overpluss assigned to them To the Province of Burgundy the summ of 4727 l. 4. s for 40 Churches including in it the sum of 300 l. overpluss To the Province of Vivaretz the summ of 3399 l. 2 s for 28 Churches including in it also 300 l. overplus To the Lower Guienne the summ of 8269 l. 4 s for 72 Churches including in it the like summ of 300 l. To the Lower Languedock the summ of 11842 l. 10 s for 107 Churches To the Province of Poictou the summ of 5613 l. for 48 Churches taking in the 300 l. overpluss To the Isle of France Picardy Champagne and Beausse the summ of 7827 l. 10 s for 68 Churches including the 300 overpluss To the Province of Xaintonge the summ of 7937 l. 6 s for 69 Churches taking in the 300 l. overpluss To the Province of Anjou for 29 Churches the summ of 3209 l. 16. s To the province of Higher Languedoc and Higher Guienne for 94 Churches the summ of 10404 l. 10 s To the Province of Orleans and Berry for 36 Churches the summ of 4284 l. 10 s including the 300 l. over pluss To the Province of Dolphiny the summ of 8933 l. 10 s for 78 Churches taking in the 300 l. overpluss To the Province of Normandy the summ of 6166 l. 6 s for 53 Churches taking in the 300 l. overpluss And this whole summ shall be paid in by three equal portions unto the Universities the Lords General Deputies and to the Receivers of the Provinces at the time and manner following Viz. The portions of the Isle of France Picardy Brie Champagne Beausse Normandy Anjou Orleans Poitiers Lower Guyenne Higher Languedoc and Higher Guienne the Universities in the said Provinces being included into the hands of their Receivers who shall be appointed by them The first payment to be made the first of July next coming the second on the second day of October following and the third on the last of January in the year 1608. And for the Isle of France Picardy Brie and Champagne in the City of Paris For Normandy in the City of Rouan For Orleans and Berry at Orleans for Poictou at Poictiers for the Lower Guienne at Bourdeaux for Higher Guienne and Higher Languedoc at Montauban and for Anjou in the City of Tours including in it the University of Saumur And the portions due unto the Provinces of Provence Lower Languedoc Brittany and Xaintonge into the hands of the Receivers who shall be appointed by them at three equal payments the first at the end of July the second at the end of October and the third at the end of February in the year 1608. viz. for Lower Languedoc and the Universities of Montpellier and Nismes in the City of Montpellier for Brittain at Nants for Xaintonge at Rochel for the Provinces of Burgundy and Dolphiny and Vivaretz in the City of Lions The two first payments shall be maid at the Fairs in August and Allhollantide of this present year and the last upon twelfth day immediately after And the said Provinces shall be obliged to appoint and name in every one of those before mentioned Cities a particular House whereunto the said Lord of Candal may come and make payment of the said Moneys October Quarter for Ministers shall be paid out of the Moneys of the said Quarter by the said Lord of Candal  L. S. D. To the Province of Provence for 17 Churches 0756 18 6 To the Province of Brittany for 19 Churches 0846 00 0 To the Province of Burgundy for 40 Churches 1781 00 0 To the Province of Vivaretz for 28 Churches 1246 14 0 To Lower Guienne
Provincial Synod of Poictou held at Chastelheraud for that they had judged he was sufficiently reimburst by the Churches of that Province all the Charges expended by him in his Journey unto the General Assembly of Saumur held in the year 1596. And whereas he pretended other summs to be owing to him for several other journeys they sent him unto the Governours of our Cautionary Towns to be recompensed by them because he was their Deputy unto that Assembly and that they received two thirds of the Moneys granted us by his Majesty Upon hearing this whole affair this Assembly did also judge that he was sufficiently satisfied by those Churches of Poictou who yet were exhorted to intreat those Governors to perform their duties and pay their just debt unto the said Mr. des Fontaines 14. The Appeal of the Church of Nage and it's Annexes about what is owing unto their late Pastor Monsieur Terrond was dismissed over to the Provincial Synod of Lower Languedoc who by their judicial sentence shall put a final period unto that controversie 15. Theophilus Bluett Lord of la Combe formerly Pastor of the Churches at Lassay in the Province of Mayne and of Rouelle in Normandy having certified under his own hand that he acquiesced in that judicial sentence past upon him by the Deputies of the Synod of Anjou Touraine and Maine who had deposed him from the Ministerial Office and all acts and exercises thereof tho now he brought his Appeal from them This Assembly doth confirm that sentence of the Deputies and deelareth the said Bluett to be totally deposed from the holy Ministry of the Gospel and that notice hereof shall be given unto all the Churches 16. The Synod of Dolphiny having past another Vote that Monsieur Chamier should be once more importunately sollicited to accept of the Professors Chair in Divinity in their University of Die The Church of Montlimart brought their Appeal from if unto this Assembly which did thereupon revive and ratify the former Decrees of those two National Synods of Gergeau and Gap which had left unto the Churches their Pastors and the Pastors unto their Churches and that they should and be divided one from the other but by their joint and mutual consent and the said Provincial Synod was censured to have insisted again upon this affair after that it had been determined by two National Synods 17. The Church of Lions appealed from the Synod of Burgundy which would constrain them to pay the fifth penny of all Charities received by them to the maintenance of Proposans notwithstanding those many reasons arguments and exceptions they had urged and brought against it This Assembly having heard both parties doth leave the said Church in full liberty freely to dispose of their own Poor's Money but yet it adviseth them seriously to consider what is expedient to be disbursed by them in charities and whither they can keep a good Conscience in neglecting a work of so great necessity 18. The Lord of Rochefort and the Inhabitants of that Town professing the Reformed Religion appealed from the Synod of Xaintonge held at St. John D'Angely for adjudging Mr. Chevalier to the Pastoral Office in the Church of Soubize Upon heating of both parties and perusal of all Articles of Agreement made first and last between them This Assembly confirms Monsieur Chevalier in his Ministry to the said Church of Soubize whereof he is now the fixed Pastor and the Members of the Church of Rochefort have full liberty to compound the matter with the Church of Soubize upon those terms imported in their second Agreement made with that Consistory or else they may Incorporate themselves with the Church of Tonnay-charante and both the said Chevalier and that Consistory are Censured for using them of Rochefort so rigorously as to refuse Communion with them at the Lords Table and to hinder the Baptizing of their Infants in their Church Assembly 19. The Churches of Barbezieux and Xaintes contended about the Ministry of Monsieur Petit who pretending that the Colloquy of Janzac held at Pons had discharged him from the Church of Barbezieux because of their great ingratitude to him and in case they did not satisfie him all Arrerages of Sallary due unto him for his service among them in two months time and for that the judgment of the said Colloquy had been confirmed by the Synod and the said Petit not having been intirely payed what was owing him he had therefore left Barbezieux and settled at Xaintes to which he was lent by the Synod for a month and now he had contracted with the Church there And the Church of Barbezieux complaining of this matter unto the mixt Assembly held at St. John d' Angely a Decree was there made that Monsieur Petit should return unto the said Church of Barbezieux and that the Church should come to accompt with him before the Colloquy And Monsieur Roy Elder of the Church of Xaintes did hereupon bring in his Appeal because the said Synod declared to him that according to the Canons of our Discipline it had full power finally to determine this matter and that the said Petit did not in the least repugne or oppose it Who being after summoned unto that Colloquy which was ordered to examine his Accompts did yet nevertheless make no appearance for which cause the said Colloquy had enjoined him to return unto his Church on pain of being suspended from which he now appealed and hath ever since continued his Ministry in the Church of Xaintes notwithstanding all Counsels and exhortations given him by the Colloquy of Xaintonge to be advised and ruled by them And in this state hath this affair stood till the last Synod of the Province held at Saujon unto which it had been remanded and by that Synod it was dismissed over unto this Assembly Now altho the ingratitude of the Church of Barbezieux be very notorious and well known unto this Assembly yet because the pretended Liberty was only conditional and threatned the said Monsieur Petit could not make use of it as he hath done yea tho it had been absolute he ought not to have usurpt that power so as to ally himself unto another Church without having first consulted the Colloquy and till he had first obtained Letters Testimonial from it and the Church in which he last served and therefore the said Mr. Petit was most sharply censured and he was told to his face that if ever he fell into the like offence a second time he should be deposed from the sacred Ministry And the Church of Xaintes also was judged worthy of a severe Censure for practising by unlawful means to deprive the Church of Barbezieux of its Pastor and the said Church of Barbezieux was justly condemned for their ill treatment of and unworthy carriage to the said Mr. Petit. Upon which account and because both those Churches are faulty and blame-worthy the said Mr. Petit was removed from both and neither of them should enjoy him
and he is put upon the Roll of distribution among those Ministers who are to be provided of Churches by this present National Synod in the close of it which judgeth that both those Churches have forfeited the Ministry of the blessed Gospel of Christ one having lost it for their sin of ingratitude in demanding work and enjoying the labours of their Minister and denying him bread by which he and his poor Family might live And the other is deprived of the Ordinances because they endeavoured to rob another Church of its Pastor and would get him by unjust and unlawful means quite contrary to the Canons of our Discipline Moreover this Assembly hath rejected and disannulled the appeal of Monsieur Roy from the mixt Assembly before mentioned and that also brought by Monsieur Petit from the Colloquy of Jonzac And as for the Appeal of the Church of Barbezieux from the Decree past in the last Synod or Saujon this Assembly cannot blame the patience and indulgence of that Synod because of all former circumstances but yet it cannot but censure the last Colloquy held at Abaigne for producing before us Acts and Writings signed when their meeting was broken up and unto which neither the Moderators nor any other of the Pastors had given their consent And that Church of Barbezieux shall come to a full account with the said Mr. Petit and shall give him intire satisfaction betwixt this and the next Synod on pain of being for ever deprived of the Ministry of God's holy Word and Sacraments 20. Monsieur Rossell at present Minister in the City and Church of Orange appealed from a Decree of the Synod of Lower Languedoc But this Assembly dismissed it over to the Provincial Synod of Vivaretz which is fully authorized finally to decide and determine the matters in controversie betwixt them 21. The Church of Mauzé in Aulnix having opposed by an Appeal the Liberty granted unto Monsieur de la â—ave by the Colloquy of Aulnix and confirmed by the Synod of Saujon and not appearing to make good the Contents of their Appeal the Judicial Sentence of the said Colloquy and Synod was confirmed And the Appeal of the Church of Jonzac for its being separated from that of Clan which was decreed by the same Synod and the Appeal of the Church of Mirambeau about the translating of Monsieur Rossignol from them unto the Church of Arvert neither of these Appeals being abetted and defended by any person they did both fall to the ground of course and were both declared null and desert 22. Whereas the Church of Mirambeau having demanded of the Synod of Xaintonge a portion of his Majesties Moneys was refused the grant thereof because they had no Pastor and do now therefore make their Appeal This Assembly judgeth that the said Synod proceeded well and wisely and that the Appeal of the said Church is causless and unreasonable But that Provincial Synod is advised to present one of their Proposans who is maintained out of our common Stock unto this vacant Church CHAP. X. Of Particular Matters 1. THE Sieurs Richard Pastor of the Church of Meusac and Islemade Richeteau Pastor of the Church of St. Leophary and Charles Pastor of the Church of Archiac represented unto this Synod the two first by word of mouth the last by his Son Minister of Villemur the great Difficulties they met withal in executing that Canon of the Synod of Gap obliging Pastors to a personal Residence on their Churches which being considered by the Provincial Synod of Higher Languedoc and particularly as relating to the said Ministers who now lived in the City of Montauban the final Judgment on their Case was remitted unto this Assembly Monsieur Beraud Pastor and Professor in that Church and University was heard deliver his thoughts about this Affair And divers Acts being produced and read on both sides many of which proved evidently the convenient Houses and Lodgings that those Churches had provided for these their Pastors who complained without any just ground though other Acts did offer the contrary After a mature debate of the whole this ensuing Decree was made and published that the said Richard and Richeteau shall both of them remove from the City of Montauban unto their respective Churches which are injoyned to accommodate them with convenient Housen as soon as possible and to augment their Salaries unto a just competency and this at farthest within the space of one year And if the said Churches shall refuse or neglect this their bounden duty they shall be deprived of the Ministry of God's Holy Word and Sacraments and if the said Ministers shall refuse to reside in those Habitations provided for them before the year be expired they also shall be suspended from their Ministerial Office And every one of these Plaintiffs and Defendants on both sides are sharply censured for producing several Attestations Inquiries and other such like Acts done and confirmed by and before Publick Notaries and Secular Judges And as for Monsieur Charles the Elder this Assembly considering the Age great Charge and that Assistance which he hath promised unto his Father-in-law and that Help which his Son hath promised unto him doth dispense with his personal Residence in his Church for so long a time as his Church shall permit him and he may live where he now doth And these Ministers Charles Richard and Richeteau are expresly forbidden all intermeddling in any sort whatsoever with the Affairs of the Church and University of Montauban unless they be duly called and invited to it by the Consistory of that University 2. Mr. Charles the Younger shall for the future make his constant Residence in his Church of Villemur and whereas he pretends that he was absolutely given up and resigned unto the Church of Puylaurens and that he was only lent unto that of Villemur This Assembly requireth the Provincial Synod of Higher Languedoc and Guyenne to examine the truth of this matter and till the said Synod determine otherwise about him he shall serve the Church of Villemur 3. The Colloquy Church and University of Montauban petitioned that Monsieur Beraud might be restored to them and to continue in his Office amongst them The Sieurs Beraud Father and Son and the Deputies of the Province were all heard speaking in their order to this matter as also Monsieur Bouchereau Pastor of the Church of Saumur who pleaded that Monsieur Beraud the Younger had engaged himself for one year to be professor in that University This Assembly considering the necessities of the said University of Saumur decreed that Monsieur Beraud should tarry with them another year to commence on the fifteenth day of April next coming which term being expired Monsieur Beraud the Son shall serve in the Ministry in his Father's stead and perform all the duties belonging unto his Office and he shall then be appropriated to and fixed in the Church and University of Montauban nor may the Provincial Synod nor Colloquy nor the said
presented unto his Majesty the many Libels and insolent provoking Challenges made us by our Adversaries 38. The Deputies of the Province of Brittany desired that Monsieur Oyseau Minister of the Gospel might be remanded back unto them he having quitted both them and the Church of Nantes in which he was Pastor without any Leave first had and obtained from either of them A Letter was read from the said Monsieur Oyseau and Monsieur Rivet his Son in Law alledged several arguments to justify his departure from them But tho this Assembly found that the proceedings of the said Mr. Oyseau were not altogether laudable yet they did allow him to exercise his Ministry in the Province of Poictou where he liveth at present and the said Province of Poitou shall assist the Church of Nantes with Ministers for the full space of one year to wit Monsieur Rivet or some other for him shall preach there six months and tho other six any Pastors whom the said Province shall chuse and during the said time Monsieur Oyseau shall supply their Churches whose Pastors do officiate in the Church of Nantes and the Church of Nantes shall pay these Ministers who are lent them their wages and Mr. Oyseau shall also receive his Salary from those Churches in which he preacheth during their Pastors absence 39. Monsieur Baduel Pastor of the Town of Castillon declared his great poverty occasioned by the Confiscation of his Fathers Estate upon the Account of Religion This Assembly did therefore ordain that over and above that portion which he receiveth from his Church there shall be another paid him out of the General Stock and a third Portion more by the Province to comfort him under his great losses and oppressions 40. The Deputies of Provence petitioning that the Province of Dolphiny might pay unto them the residue of the seventh part of those Moneys which were adjudged them by the National Synod of Gap and which they had actually received of Monsieur Pallott for the years 1598 1599 and 1600. Deducting out of it the summ of 2250 l. Which the Deputies of Provence do acknowledge they have received besides they demanded interest for the Moneys detained from them This Assembly having seen the Accounts of payments made unto the said Province of Dolphiny signed and concluded by the said Pallott the 5th of June 1601. and having heard Monsieur de la Combé Deputy for the said Province confess that he had actually received of the said Pallott the sum of 3302 Crowns thirty Sous and eight Deniers including therein three hunched and fourty Crowns one Sous and three Deniers which the said Pallott had restored to him since the said Account for one half of his right in it And the said de la Combe requested on behalf of his Province that those of Provence might allow a sous in the Liver unto him the said de la Combe over and above the 2260 Livers which he the said de la Combe had paid in unto those of Provence This Assembly decreeth that those of Dolphiny shall pay in to those of Provence in Money or moneys worth the sum of 665 Livers 9. Sous and one Denier and then both these Provinces shall sign and execute mutual releases one unto the other without any prejudice unto the Decrees of the Synod of Gap or the Contents thereof 41. This Assembly ordaineth that one half of the sum of 665 Livers owing by the Province of Dolphiny unto that of Provence shall be given to the five Pastors who were in actual service during that time the said moneys was in arrears and the Church of Luc shall out of hand pay unto Monsieur Megnant their Pastor all moneys due unto him for the whole time he hath been imployed in the Ministry among them And whereas the Province of Dolphiny demands from that of Provence to be allowed their Charges towards a journey of some Commissioners they had sent to Court this Assembly doth not approve thereof in the least nor shall there be so much as one Denier defalked from the Province of Provence upon that score 42. Although the Province of Xaintonge have ordered to the contrary yet this Assembly doth now decree and ordain That the six portions attributed to the six Pastors of the City of Rochell shall be detained by the said Church out of which that Church shall be obliged to maintain a Student in Divinity according to their promise 43. Though this Assembly had very good and sufficient reasons which were before mentioned in the 19th Article of Appeals to deprive the Church of Xaintes for their unworthiness of the Ministry and Labours of Monsieur Petit and to lay him by also unemployed in the Lord's Harvest Yet having since observed both in that Church and Minister a godly sorrow and great displeasure for their past proceedings and sinful miscarriages It doth once more present the said Monsieur Petit to the Pastoral Office in the said Church but with an express charge and injunction upon the said Province that in case either through the Churches or his default the Divisions and Contentions be continued or that any new ones shall break but among them that they shall remove him without delay from the exercise of his Ministry unto some other place where they shall conceive he may be more useful and as will be most expedient for the general good and edification of the whole Body of those of our Religion 44. Monsieur du Bois shall continue in the Service of his Church of la Vall according to those Agreements made with him and approved by the Provincial Synod only he shall serve the Church of my Lady Barre for the time appointed and the said Province shall remand the said du Bois to perform the duties of his Ministry more diligently 45. The Province of Xaintonge is charged to get without delay a supply for the Church of Vertueil and till it have a settled Pastor of its own that the Neighbour Ministers do by turns officiate and dispense all Ordinances of Religious Worship to it 46. The Church of Rochel having at the intreaty and desire of this Synod promised to maintain Monsieur Peyris who is now a Proposan and to take special care that within six months time he should be duly qualified for the Ministry of the Gospel This Synod doth hereby bind and oblige that Church which shall give him a Call to the Pastoral Office in case upon a strict Examen he be found capacitated for it to make restitution unto the said Church of Rochel of all that Moneys which they have disbursed in his Education at School and University to fit and prepare him for their service in the Ministry 47. Monsieur Hog complained that he was put to very great costs and charges in the necessary defence of himself against the Insolencies and Assaults of the Carmelite Fryars of Rochefoucaud and humbly desired that some course might betaken for his Reimbursement he being in
Afflicted Condition and they should not therefore be excluded Communion at the Lord's Table But withall they be advised to take special care that in Church-Meetings they do avoid all occasions of giving offence unto the weak Members Advice for Pastors about Attestations to be granted unto Officers in Garrisons or Courts of the Edict 12. Ministers in giving their Attestations unto them who would be provided of Offices as Governours and Lieutenants of places in our Cautionary Towns the places of Surety granted us by the King or of Offices in the Courts of the Edict shall be exceeding careful that the 23th Article of General Matters in the National Synod of Rochel be fully observed and those who do act otherwise shall be suspended from their Ministry for one whole year 13. Divers Provinces complaining of the general contempt of the blessed Gospel of our Lord Jesus of the Blasphemies Debauches and Prophaneness universally abounding among us of the woful decays of Faith and Charity threatning us with a deluge of Divine Wrath ready to break in upon us for the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men and that therefore it 's most needful to appoint a day of solemn publick Prayer and Fasting to be kept in all the Churches of this Kingdom for their extraordinary humiliation before God and the averting of his Judgments from us This Assembly ordaineth that it shall be celebrated in all our Churches the first Tuesday of November next ensuing which will be the fifth day of the same month 14. That hereafter there may be a General Uniformity in the Churches of this Kingdom in the Administration of the Lord's Supper and all scruples by reason of difference and singularity arising in weak but honest hearts uncapable of distinguishing between the Substance and Circumstance of the Sacred Action may be prevented all Pastors are enjoyned to abstain from any new or private Methods of their own as of reading the words of Institution between the ordinary long Prayer and that appointed particularly for this Sacrament which ought indeed to be read after nor shall they whilst reading the words of Institution uncover the Bread and Wine nor shall they bring the people up in ranks unto the Table there to sit or stand whereas they should cause the faithful to pass one after another up unto it nor shall the Exhortations or Thansgivings be made till that the Elements have been distributed among the Communicants of every Table nor shall the Cup be given by the faithful one unto another it being contrary to the express Letter of a Canon of our Discipline which ordaineth Pastors if possible or if they cannot the Elders to assist the Pastor tired by the multitude of Communicants in populous Churches to deliver it And Colloquies and Synods shall have their Eyes over those who act contrary to this Order and reduce them to their duty by all befitting Censures 15. Colloquies and Synods shall use their best discretion in the exercise of Discipline upon those persons who that they may inflame our Churches raise and foment Divisions in them do get into Offices of Judicature do plead for those Incendiaries and procure them Monopolies and secret Subscriptions under Hand and Seal 16. The province of the Isle of France demanding that the poorer Churches might be relieved out of our common Stock The inconveniencies having been well considered in case a General Order about this matter should be enacted This Assembly doth as that of Rochel did before it leave it wholly to the prudence and charity of the several Provinces to see that what is done herein do make for Edification 17. The Deputies of Xaintonge propounding this Question Whether a Baptism administred by a deposed Minister at the request and in the presence of the whole Church were valid This Synod judgeth that in case the deposed Minister had presented his Appeal unto a National Synod the Baptism were valid and ought not to be reiterated But nevertheless if any such Deposed Minister shall hereafter presume to Administer any publick Ordinances he shall be denounced Excommunicate immediately 18. The Deputies of Poictou demanding how they should act where the Banes of Marriage were forbidden before the last time of Publishing This Assembly judged that in case the opposition were made without Authority from the Civil Magistrates the Consistories might continue their Publication but otherwise not unless the Magistrate should only forbid the Celebration of that Marriage and not the Publishing of the Banes 19. The Deputies of Xaintonge informed this Assembly that the Printer of Rochel designed with our approbation a new Impression of the Bible in a Lesser Volume more Commodious and that might be easily carried any where in the pocket and forasmuch as divers Godly persons desired there might be an Index added to it of those Texts which were most proper and pertinent for confirming the Truth and confuting Error This Synod approved the undertaking because of its singular usefulness and intreated Monsieur Merlin to see it accomplished which also he promised to perform 20. The Deputies of Poictou craved remedy against that evil custom in divers Churches of sending their Pastors without Elders unto Colloquies and Provincial Synods This Assembly replied that no general Order could be well decreed in this Case and therefore left the whole unto the prudence of the provinces A Minister may not press any to discover a secret Crime unto the Civil Magistrate 21. A Case was proposed How a Minister might govern himself when injoyned by the Magistrate to press those who were privy to any notorious Crime to reveal it It was answered that he was under no obligation of obedience unto such commands no more than he was to discover the secret passages and transactions of the Consistory Wherefore all Pastors are admonished to take no notice of any such injunctions and the Churches are ordered to stand by them in case for this their refusal their Ministers should be prosecuted by the Superiour Civil Powers 22. The Province of Anjou made this Proposal that it were expedient the Provinces should nominate some worthy Ministers particularly to Study controversies and in every Province some one to be most prepared for the defence of one particular Truth opposed by our Adversaries The Assembly approved and embraced the motion and divided the controversies among the Provinces in this ensuing Order To wit 1. To Poictou de verbo Dei Scripto non Scripto 2. To Anjou de Christo Pontifice Antichristo 3. To Xaintonge de Ecclesiâ Conciliis 4. To Orleans and Berry de Ministrorum vocatione gradibus potestate Clavium 5. To the Isle of France de Monachis Clericis Laiciss 6. To Provence de Limbo Patrum Infantium Purgatorio 7. To Normandy de sanctorum beatitudine Invocatione reliquis Angelorum Hierarchiis cultu Ministerio 8. To the Higher Languedoc de Sacramentis in genere de veris in specie 9. To the Lower Guyenne de sacrificio
turned over to the next meeting of the Colloquy of Augoumois which is authorized by this Assembly after hearing both parties to determine finally of that affair 16. The Sieur Salomon a Minister having been lent for two years unto the Church of St. Triers le Perche in Limosin by the last National Synod and being redemanded by the Church of Vanjaux in the Province of Berry by whom he was maintained This Assembly ordaineth that the said Mr Salomon do return within three months unto his said Church of Anjeau at the Charges of the Church of St. Triers and the Provincial Synod of Guyenne shall provide a Pastor for them as soon as possible they can 17. A Petition was presented by divers Gentlemen and others Heads of Families Members of the Church of Montagu in conjunction with the Deputies of Poictou Declaring that forasmuch as they were well able without the Church of Vielle Vigne comfortably to maintain a Pastor they therefore craved that one might be conferred upon them and that they might be reincorporated with the Province of Poictou This Assembly ordaineth that those two Churches of Vielle Vigne and Montague shall continue united together and that the Pastor shall alternatively exercise in both Churches his Ministry and shall appear in person always at the Provincial Synods of Brittany and both these Churches shall remain in this estate till that by the common Consent of them both and of the two Provinces it be otherwise altered and ordained by Authority of a National Synod 18. Letters being writ from the Church of Minerbois meeting in the houses of the Lords de Beaufort and de Paulignan desiring that they might by the authority of this Assembly be joyned unto the Province of Lower Languedoc and that they might be assisted with some Money from the General stock of the Churches for the maintenance of that Minister which shall be assigned them The Synod having heard the Deputies of both the Provinces of Higher and Lower Languedoc adjudgeth the said Church unto the Higher Languedoc and that Provincial Synod is injoyned to provide them of a Pastor and now from this very hour there shall be one portion given to it as to the other Churches of the said Province which shall because of the great number and advantages of its Churches supply that of Minerbois out of its own Stock that so an addition may be made unto the said portion and to what sums may be collected in the said Church to raise a competent subsistence for the Minister that shall be given them 19. The Letters of Monsieur Aubriot Pastor of the Church of Maes Sainctes Puelles were read which related his great Poverty and the lamentable necessities of his Church and he craved two or three supernumerary portions for his Maintenance in the said Church This Assembly ordained that the Province of Higher Languedoc shall add to the portion of the said Aubriot two portions more to be taken out of the Stock of the said Province without drawing any augmentation to themselves from the general Stock of the Churches considering that they have two portions drawn forth under the names of two Pastors and Professors in the University of Montauban 20. The Deputies of Provence propounding several matters not appertaining to this Synod they were dismissed over to the next Political Assembly 21. The Deputies of Dolphiny complained that the Sieur Scoffier educated at their Charges in Geneva was Ordained Pastor to a Church in Berry and craved that he might be again returned unto Dolphiny This Affair was dismissed over to the Provincial Synod of Burgundy with full power of putting a final period to it whether by making restitution of the Moneys disbursed on him or by enjoyning the said Scoffier to return unto the Province of Dolphiny 23. The Provinces of Vivaretz and Dolphiny contending about the Church of Soyon it is decreed that Monsieur Murac Pastor of the said Church shall subject himself as a Member of them to the Synods of Vivaretz until the Church of Valence be provided of a more convenient Meeting-place within the Province of Dolphiny whereunto the said Murac shall be appropriated and that portion given under his name shall continue settled on the Church of Soyon But as long as the Pastor above-mentioned shall actually serve the said Church the portion afore-said shall be allotted to the easing and benefit of both Churches Concerning the Ministers of Mantes and Fountainbleau See Syn. Gap p. m. 32. 23. The Complaint of the Isle of France being again renewed for that the two Ministers of the Church of Mantes and Fountainbleau by command from the Lord Duke of Sully do receive five hundred Crowns out of the portions adjudged that Province This Assembly ordains that the said Synod shall remonstrate unto those Ministers once more their duty and command them accordingly to perform it otherwise they shall be proceeded against by all Censures Yet nevertheless for the support of those Churches and of the Province also over and above the two ordinary portions under the names of the aforesaid Ministers and the five extraordinary granted by the National Synod of Rochel there be two portions more by way of vantage decreed to be thrown into the Stock of the said Province which shall be paid them until the sitting of the next National Synod 24. Considering the deep Poverty and great Burdens of the Church of Maringues by reason of their former very grievous sufferings over and above the two portions assigned unto their Pastors a third extraordinary one is now also bestowed upon them until the Meeting of the next National Synod 25. The two portions formerly granted unto the Church of Aubenac shall be continued to it till the Sitting of the next National Synod 26. Monsieur Poitey having gathered the Acts of our National Synods into one Volume See Syn. Gap p.m. 28. and tender'd it unto this Assembly humbly craving leave that by our Authority the Copies thereof might be distributed we approving the Zeal and good Affection of the said Piotey do not judge it expedient that any Copies thereof should be imparted because of the ill consequences that may happen hereon and therefore advise him to rest contented for the present and to detain by him his worthy Labours for his own private use and benefit 27. There being a difference between the Higher and Lower Languedoc about the Churches of Cormes and St. John du Brueil order was given to those of the Higher Languedoc to demand their remaining Debt of the portions of those two Churches from the Province of Lower Languedoc which had received their Moneys and in case they refuse to give them satisfaction than the Province of Vivaretz by the Authority of this Synod shall judge and determine finally of that Affair 28. The Province of Higher Languedoc is exhorted to consider the Expences that Monsieur Benoist Pastor of Montauban has been at in his just defence against the unjust proceedings of his Adversaries 29. The same
aforesaid Letters of Abolition and Pardon and that they disavow those persons if there be any such as have accepted and consented to them And whoever shall demand or approve them we declare those persons to have acted contrary and prejudicial to the sincerity of their Intentions and to their approved Loyalty and Fidelity All which we do once more publish not out of vanity or vain-glory but to give Testimony unto the Truth and that we are ready to adventure our Honours Estates and Lives in the performance of those Duties Services and Obedience which Their Majesties may expect from us who are their most humble most faithful and most obedient Servants and Subjects From Privas in Vivaretz the first of June 1612. Signed by Chamier Moderator Du Moulin Assessor Scribes Monsanglard and Manjald CHAP. X. General Matters 2. THE Consistories of those Towns in which Printers professing our holy Reformed Religion do live are exhorted to look carefully to the Impressions of our Psalm-books that nothing be inserted into the Calendars trenching upon the honour of any particular persons And our Brethren the Pastors of Geneva are desired to bear a strict hand over the Printers in their City that this Canon be punctually observed by them 3. Proposans maintained by the Provinces shall not be received into the Ministry without the consent of their respective Provinces nor shall any Proposans maintained by particular Churches be received into a Pastoral Charge without the consent of those very Churches from whom they received their Exhibitions 4. The Deputies of the Province of Aujou queried at what time after their Conversion from Popery to the Communion of our Reformed Churches such persons might be called into the Office of Elders and Deacons This Assembly ordained that it might be about the same time that other such might be admitted into the Ministry to wit after two years tryal and experience had of them and of their sincerity 5. Forasmuch as a torrent of Dissolution Irreligion and Profaneness is broke in upon us and most shameful divisions are risen up in our Churches which do visibly and terribly threaten us with the near approaches of God's Judgments ever since the Death of our late King This Assembly enjoyneth all the Churches within the Realm to proclaim an extraordinary Fast which shall be celebrated the first Wednesday in November next and be Universally and most Religiously observed by them The Provinces are exhorted carefully to collect the History of those Ministers and other Christians who in these last times have suffered for the truths of the Son of God and to transmit such Memoirs unto Geneva that they may be inserted into our Book of Martyrs and published to the World by the Pastors of that Church 7. Altho a person be chosen Counsellor for the Province and would thereupon be reputed for and Act as an Elder yet shall he not be admitted unto the Office of an Elder unless he pass through the forms prescribed by our Discipline CHAP. XI The Act of Re union 8. THE present National Synod of the Reformed Churches in this Kingdom desiring to secure the Peace and Union of the said Churches and inflamed with the Zeal of Gods House and Glory and grieved to see Satan sowing the Seeds of discord among us which redound to the Infamy and weakning of the said Churches and may in after times produce worse and more dangerous effects moved with charity towards the Members of our body and being willing to make some provision for a Fraternal concord the indispensable duty of all the Faithful hath and doth now resolve to exert it self even unto the utmost for the compassing of a Blessed and Holy peace and re-union among ourselves under their Majesties Authority And having once again Sworn our Oaths of Allegiance and Fidelity to them and that this Union may be the more easily effected and obtained This Assembly ordereth the Sieurs du Moulin and Durant Pastors and the Sieur de l'Isle Grossat Elder in the Church of Orleans to be joined as Commissioners together with our General Deputies in Court And all persons are exhorted to labour that the Memory of past matters be Buried in Oblivion and in the name of all our Churches to become Peace-makers that so the several humors and different Opinions risen up in the Assembly of Saumur may be Ballanced Allayed and Composed Declaring that the General desire of the said Churches is to reunite in one their affections who have been alienated from each other and this to be done according to the Methods and Counsels given and prescribed by this Assembly whereunto they may make such Additions as their Zeal and Prudence shall suggest and they shall diligently and conjointly inform the Provinces of their actings herein together with the result and success of their Mediation To this end Letters shall be Written and sent from this Assembly unto the Lords Mareschals and Dukes of Bouillon and de les Diguieres exhorting and adjuring them in the Name of God that they would be pleased at the instant intreaties of our Churches to join themselves together with us in an humble Petition and Address unto their Majesties and to testifie by evident effects their Zeal and Affection towards them and readily to embrace all opportunities that may either publickly or privately contribute to the safety of the State Quiet and Honour of the Kingdom as also that they would be pleased to join themselves together with our Churches for the procuring an entire removal of those Letters of Abolition verified and published of late by the Parliaments although never demanded nor deserved by us and to insist on it that the more important and necessary matters in our Petitions tendred unto their Majesties may receive a gracious answer and to endeavour that for the future all gratifications of persons and parties may be equal and all marks and notes of division and separation may be removed demonstrating thereby their forgetfulness of what is past and that they do cordially pursue without partiality the good of all and that generally upon all occasions which may so fall out they do manifestly express their zeal care and affection to the common publick Weal of our Churches as they shall be required admonished and informed by the General Deputies of the said Churches Moreover the said Lords shall be exhorted in our before-mentioned Letters that they would be pleased to resign up their own private Interests to those of the publick and that they would lay by their own particular Resentments which have been very much inflamed by the cunning crafts artifices and devices of the Enemies of our Religion and that they would hold a more firm Correspondence and sincere intelligence with the Lords Duke of Rohan and of Sully of Soubize de la Force and of the Lord du Plessis and with all others from whom by reason of these unhappy differences they have been estranged that so being all joyntly reunited in the Bond of Friendship they may
our Churches And this Assembly ordered the said Lord de Rouvray to return for us and for all the Churches our most humble thanks unto their Majesties who have by this their extraordinary Bounty laid new obligations upon us to call upon our God with the greatest Ardency in our Prayers that he would bless and prosper their Majesties Persons Crown and Government And the said Grant was deposited in the hands of the Sieur Bonnet Pastor and Deputy of Xaintonge who was to lodge it safely in the Archives of Rochel whereof he shall give advice by Letters under his own hand unto the said Lord de Rouvray The Copy of that Warrant This first day of October One thousand six hundred and eleven the King being at Paris assisted by the Queen Regent his Mother in Council having been well informed for what considerations the late King of glorious memory had by a Warrant of the third of April One thousand five hundred ninety and eight granted unto his Subjects of the P. Reformed Religion the yearly sum of five and forty thousand Crowns to be employed in some secret Concerns of theirs And although His present Majesty be not obliged by those secret Articles Warrants and Answers unto Memoirs made in favour of those his said Subjects to increase or augment the said sum yet nevertheless desiring as much as in him lieth to gratifie and favour his laid Subjects and that he may-give them a sense of his good will and love to them His Majesty by the advice of the aforesaid Lady the Queen Regent and of his meer grace and liberality doth grant unto those of the said P. Reformed Religion the above-mentioned sum of five and forty thousand Crowns and over and above the same another yearly sum five and forty thousand Livers as an Act of Bounty which said Moneys he wills and o future it be issued out of the General Fonds of his Treasury by vertue of this present Warrant which to this purpose he hath signed with his own hand and is counter-signed by me his Councillor in his Council of State and Secretary of his Commandments Signed Louis and Lower Philippeaux 12. This Assembly giveth full power to the Lords our General Deputies to pass a contract with the Lord du Candal about the Receipt and management of the five and fourty thousand Livers Augmentation Money and if possible they shall make but one only Contract of the two sum to wit of that first granted and of the aforesaid Augmentation and of their Receipt always reserving the right of our Churches 13. The sâ—me General Deputies are charged to oppose themselves formally against all persons whatsoever that shall endeavour at Court to obtain any Relief to the detriment of the body of the Churches in this Kingdom and contrary to the Union sworn by us and advice shall be given hereof unto the Churches that so the Pastors more especially and the Consistories may do their duty in suppressing such like motions and Enterprises as being scandalous and menacing the Churches with great confusions 14. This Assembly injoyneth all the Consistories of those places where the Courts of Parliament and Chambers of the Edict are established to remonstrate unto the Counsellors professing our holy Reformed Religion their timorous luke-warmness in not opposing and resisting the Verification and Recording of those Letters of Abolition it being their special duty to have opposed them and to have demanded that their Act of Opposal might be recorded Moreover the Consistories of those self-same Towns are exhorted to present unto the said Parliaments and Chambers of the Edict the General Declaration of this National Synod concerning those Letters of Abolition 15. This Assembly ordaineth that for the future the Provinces shall send unto the National Synods a Catalogue of their Pastors in actual service and of the Proposans maintained by them attested by the Manual Subscription of the Moderators and Scribes of their Synods Otherwise there shall be no reckoning made of the Rolls brought in when as the Moneys given us by his Majesty shall come to be distributed 16. This Assembly yielding to the necessity of the times and observing that whatsoever Petitions and Addresses have been made unto their Majesties by our extraordinary Deputations are always ill resented and misconstrued and became so very unpleasing and distastful to their Majesties that they would never vouchsafe a kind or acceptable answer to them therefore it doth at present conceive it best for us to keep our selves unto the ordinary ways of humble Petitions and Remonstrances by the mouths of our General Deputies Hoping that the goodness and clemency of the King and of the Queen Regent his Mother and that the Justice of our Lords in the Privy Council will by this means the former having been disliked by them grant that we shall at last reap and receive the fruit and benefit of them And to this purpose the said General Deputies shaving rendred our most humble thanks unto their Majesties for their gracious favours conferred upon their most Loyal and most Humble and most Dutiful Subjects of the Reformed Religion and particularly for the Augmentation of fifteen thousand Crowns a year granted to our Ministers are charged most humbly to Petition their Majesties that they would be pleased to exempt them from that necessity which is imposed upon them and now with greater severity than ever and contrary to that Liberty of Conscience promised us of stiling our selves of the pretended Reformed Religion Because we had rather and more willingly suffer the greatest torments than stand obliged to condemn with our own mouths our most holy Religion And their Majesties also shall be requested to grant leave unto us in all Cities and Towns where there be a number of families of our Religion to keep lesser Schools for the Education of our Children and that those Restrictions and Modifications annexed unto the answer given to that article in our last complaint and Bill of Grievances may be taken off the file This being a matter which can never be dismembred nor severed from our Liberty of Conscience And whereas contrary to the hopes conceived at first by the Churches when they sent their Commissioners from every Province this Assembly is fully assured from all quarters that the far greater part of our demands and remonstrances have been rejected and that they have been all turned over to the Privy Council and that it may be truly said that after all the great coyl and noise made nothing hath been yielded us except a few Burying places and those also in divers places to the detriment and disadvantage of our Religion the said Deputies are charged to complain thereof unto their Majesties and most humbly to petition that it may be remedied and redressed and to this purpose the Memoirs of the Provinces and Churches groaning under these oppressions shall be put into their hands that so some effectual course may be taken for their relief and by such methods as they shall
devolved the whole matter over to the next General Politick Assembly then and there to be provided for according to the Decree of the last Assembly of Saumur 1611. 29. The Sieur Bigot having tender'd Letters from the Church of Paris earnestly requiring that the Sieur Chauve Minister of the Church of Sommieres might be given them for their Pastor as also the Letters of the said Chauve written unto the said Church of Paris This Assembly judgeth that the desire of the Church of Paris cannot be gratified considering the great opposition made by the Province of Lower Languedoc and the Answer made them by the said Monsieur Chauve 30. The Charges of the Deputies of Higher Languedoc unto this Assembly shall be defrayed out of the portions of His Majesties Moneys belonging unto that Province 31. The Sieur Chamier is granted unto the Church of Montauban for Pastor and Professor of Divinity in their University upon this condition that the said Church and University do give him full contentment as to his Stipend and the said Sieur Chamier shall betake himself within three months unto Montauban and the Wages of Professor in Theology and the portion of the King's Moneys shall be counted to him from the first day of July next coming 32. The Sieur Ferrier is given Pastor unto the Church of Montlimart and thither he shall transport himself within one months time after the signification of this present Order to him and he shall cease Preaching in the Church of Nismes upon the penalties before mentioned 33. The Church of Annonay had the Sieur Mozé given it for Pastor and he is charged to mind his duty as also his Church is required to give him full content and the Province of Dolphiny shall give a portion unto the said Sieur Mozé proportionable to the time in which he had nothing assigned him 34. The Sieur Escoffier Pastor of the Church de la Chastre in Berry is ordered on pain of suspension to content the Province of Dolphiny for their Charges expended on him whilst he was a Scholar 35. The Province of Berry being indebted to the Churches the sum of fifteen hundred Livers Moneys belonging to the Academy of Boisbelle This Assembly forgiveth them the one half and ordereth that they make restitution of the other half viz. seven hundred and fifty Livers within three years they paying a third part of the said sum every year CHAP. XIV Of Colledges and Vniversities 1. THE Church of Clermont in Beauvoysin was censured for not bringing in the Account of the Distribution of the three hundred Livers granted to the Colledge erected in their said Town and the Province of the Isle of France shall receive that Account from them and exhibit it unto the Province of Berry and in case the said Moneys have been ill managed and dispensed they shall be deprived of that Right and Priviledge claimed by them for a Colledge 2. The Province of Guyenne was severely censured for not doing their duty in making the Church of Bergerac come to account with them and they be enjoyned to bring the said Account for the time past unto the Synod of Higher Languedoc And in case they comply with the command of this Assembly to quit their grant of fifteen hundred Livers the three hundred Livers which were ordinarily given them shall be continued unto their Colledge but if they do not that Province shall not claim any Right in the said three hundred Livers and Augmentation 3. The Province of Provence also was censured for not bringing in their Account of the Moneys given them for their Colledge and they are ordered to tender in that Account unto the next Synod of Dolphiny and in case of failure herein they shall also forfeit their Right and Claim unto a Colledge 4. The Province of Poictou also was censured for not having brought in their Account of their Colledge and they were ordered to tender it unto the Province of Xaintonge and in case of failure herein we declare their Priviledge of a Colledge to be forfeited and farther they be enjoyned to agree among themselves about a certain place where they may erect a Colledge 5. The Account brought in by the Province of Berry concerning their Colledge was accepted and approved 6. The Account brought in by the Province of Xaintouge for their Colledge was also allowed and approved 7. The Account of the Province of Burgundy for their Colledge is remanded back again to be more exactly revised by them 8. The Province of Brittany shall audit their Accounts for a Colledge in the next Synod of Anjou and in case of failure herein they shall forfeit their Priviledge and Claim unto a Colledge nor shall the said Province receive a farthing token of the Moneys granted and designed for a Colledge 9. The Province of Normandy was censured for bringing in a partial Account concerning their Colledge and they are turned over to the next Synod of the Isle of France there to perfect their Accounts or else they shall be deprived of their Right unto a Colledge 10. The Consuls and Inhabitants of the Town of Privas complaining that the Synod of Aubennas had taken away their Colledge which they had maintained for divers years past by the encouragement given them from the Provincial Synod held at Annonay This Assembly decreeth that the said Colledge shall be fixed and settled in this Town of Privas and be assisted with the same Salary as other Colledges the said Consuls adding according to their promises and offers four hundred Livers of their own common Moneys and they are desired to discharge their duty in maintaining the said Colledge as they have hitherto done to their great honour and their former Accounts are all allowed and approved 11. All Accounts about Colledges which have been redemanded shall be brought unto the next National Synod there to be revised and approved 12. It 's left to the prudence of the Provinces to erect as many Schools and Colledges more as they can or else to assist those already in being with some better Maintenance 13. All the Provinces shall have Colledges excepting such as have Maintenance assigned for Universities yet nevertheless those very Provinces besides their Universities may erect Colledges at their own Charges and that of Languedoc shall give unto the said Colledge of Beziers the sum of four hundred Livers to be raised out of the Stock of their University-Moneys amounting to two thousand six hundred Livers 14. The Provinces requesting that their Colledges might be enlarged in number and better provided for with Maintenance It was resolved that their number should not be augmented but that every Province which hath Right unto a Colledge shall have four hundred Livers a year allowed them for their Colledge until the next National Synod 15. Since that Decree about the Accounts of our Academies at Nismes and Montpellier which amounted to the sum of sixteen thousand eight hundred and fourscore Livers the Deputies of Lower Languedoc having remonstrated unto
of that place and Elder in the same Church and James Garnier Elder in the Church of Privas 7. For the Province of the Lower Guyenne Monsieur Jeremy Bancons Pastor in this Church of Tonneins and Ezechiel Marmett Pastor in the Church of Nerac together with Francis de Lusignan Baron of Lusignan Governour for the King in his Town and Castle of Puymirol and Elder of the Church there gathered and John de la Nouaille Elder in the Church of Gensac 8. For the Province of Xaintonge Aulnix and Augoulmois Monsieur Louis le Chevelier Lord of la Cappelliere and Jerom Colomiers both Pastors in the Church of Rochel together with Leon de St. Maure Baron of Montosier Elder in the Church of Bene and Peter de Breuil Lord of Fontenelles Elder in the Church of Barbezieux 9. For the Churches in the Principality of Bearn Monsieur John de Dizerotte Pastor in the Church of Olleron and Peter de Nauguey Doctor of Physick Elder in the Church of Lescar 10. For the Province of Anjou Touraln le Maine Condomnois Vendomois and the Lower Parche Monsieur Samuel Bouchereau Pastor in the Church of Saumur together with Eleazar de la Primauday Lord of la Barree Elder in the Church of Bourgueil and Abes dit Val Lord of Villiers the King's Attorney in the Election and Granary of Salt at Chasteaugontier and Elder of the Church there who related unto this Assembly that Monsieur Daniel Coupe Pastor in the Church of Tours their Fellow-Deputy was absent through the opposition of his Consistory which also was confirmed by the Brethren that passed through that Town Whereupon the Synod judged the Authors of his absence highly censurable and cannot approve of the said Coupés compliance with their will to the prejudice of what had been decreed in the Provincial Synod And that a meet Censure according to the merits of the Cause may be duly inflicted on them express order is given to the Pastors and Elders of the Isle of France and Anjou that in their return from hence homeward they shall pass unto Tours and particularly inquire into this fact and by Authority of this Assembly shall pass Sentence on them and all their Charges shall be defrayed by that said Church and they shall make report of their duty herein either in Person or by Letters unto the next National Synod 11. For the Province of Higher Languedoc Monsieur John Gigord Pastor and Professor of Divinity in the Church and University of Montpellier and John Bansillon Pastor of the Church in Aiguemortes together with Peter de Massanes Councillor for the King and General in the Court of Assistants at Montpellier and Elder of that Church and Henry de Farrell Lord of St. Privat Elder in the Church of Usez 12. For the Province of Sevennes and Gevaudan Monsieur John Bony Pastor in the Church of Sauve together with James de Combier Lord Baron of Fonds and of Serignac Elder in the Church of Juissac and Peter de Sduorin Lord of Pomaret and of St. Andrew de Valborgne Elder in the Church of the same place who presented Letters from Monsieur John Fitz Pastor in the Church of St. John of Gardenengue excusing his absence by reason of sickness befallen him in his Journey which excuse being warrantable was accepted by this Assembly Since there arrived Monsieur Esaiah du Marez Pastor of the Church of Alez who being substituted in his stead and tendering the Act of Substitution unto this Synod he was immediately admitted 12. For the Province of Provence Monsieur Samuel Toussain Pastor in the Church of Luc with Balthazar Geronte Lord of Verages Elder in the Church of Aiguieres 13. For the Province of Dolphiny Mr. Paul Guyon Pastor in the Church of Dieu le Fit and Denys Bouteroue Pastor in the Church of Grenoble together with James de Veze Lord of la Lo Elder in the Church of Montlimart and Francis de la Combe Elder in the Church of St. Marcellin 14. For the Province of Burgundy Lyonnois Beaâ—jolois Brosse and Gex Monsieur Peter Colinet Pastor of the Church of Paray in Charolois and Peter Eliot Pastor of the Church of Arnay le Duc together with John de Jaucour Lord of Villarnou Elder in the Church of Avalon and John Grace Elder in the Church of Lion 15. For the Province of Normandy Monsieur Benjamin Banage Pastor of the Church at Karentan and Samuel de l'Escherpiere Lord of la Riviere Pastor in the Church of Rouen together with Paul du Vivier Lord of Beaumont Elder in the Church of Bayeux and James le Noble Lord of la Leau Elder in the Church of Dies 16. For the Province of Orleans Berry Blezois c. Monsieur Daniel Jamett Pastor of the Church of St Amand in Bourbonnois and Samuel de Chambaran Pastor of the Church of l'Orges and Marchenoir together with Lewes de Courcillon Lord of d'Angeau Elder in the said Church and James de Brissay Lord of Jenonville Elder in the Church of Gergeau 17. There appeared also in this Assembly Stephen Chesneverd Lord of la Millitiere General Deputy of the Reformed Churches in this Kingdom who was admitted and had both his deliberative and decisive Votes granted him CHAP. II. An Order about Letters of Deputation See the third Synod of Rochel Art 1. after the choice of the Moderator 2. Vitré Art 1. after the Roll. 1. ALL the Provinces for the future are enjoyned to express the proper names and surnames of the Pastors and Elders deputed by them unto these National Synods and to specifie that particular place wherein they exercise their respective Offices And whereas that failure observed by former National Synods about Submission and Obedience is still found wanting in several Letters of Deputation from divers Provinces it is ordained that it shall be promised in express terms without any condition or modification whatsoever unto all things which shall be determined and decreed by these National Synods CHAP. III. Vrgent Matters 2. THE Church of Paris excused its Consistory and Monsieur du Moulin one of their Pastors about his absence from this Assembly tho' nominated thereunto by the Synod of the Isle of France and offered that if he might have speedy notice of it and this Assembly judged it needful he should yet come unto them But upon debate it was found utterly inconvenient for the said Monsieur du Moulin to appear in person among us or that the cause of his trouble should be examined and judged by this Assembly this being no proper place for its tryal for by such an Anticipation we should imbroil our selves with the Civil Magistrates wherefore the excuses both of the Consistory of that Church and of the said Sieur du Moulin were accepted 3. The Letters of the Lords Dukes of Rohan and Sully and from the Lord du Plessis Marli were received and read in this Assembly all tending to assure the Churches of this Kingdom of their holy Resolution immovably to
to be kept by Monsieur Ligonnier in his hands was declared null and rejected and the act of that Synod was ordered to be put in execution and made effectual 42. The Sieur Collinet appealing from the decree of the Provincial Synod of Burgundy this Assembly ordained that that Province should defray the expences of his journey to Court because he was sent thither to carry the verbal process of the Churches of Chaalons Paray c. 43. The Consistory of Mornac appealed from the Decree of the Synod of Xaintonge which had ordained that the said Church should pay unto the Sieur Cocque their Pastor his arrears due unto him from them but this their appeal was rejected by this Assembly who also injoin the said Church to make full payment unto him of his just dues or otherwise they should be deprived of the Sacred Ministry of the Gospel by the next Colloquy of the Isles or by the Provincial Synod who have all authority given them so to do from this Assembly 44. The Sieur Suffran appealed from the Colloquy of Lionnois which had suspended him from his Ministry to which he saith he submitted purely out of fear This Assembly having heard the Deputies of that Colloquy and the arguments of the said Suffran comprised in a Script of His presented to us finds the Colloquy to have judged prudently and piously in every particular of their Sentence and ordaineth that he be provided of a Church as soon as may be in the Province of Lower Languedoc or in some neighbour Province and that in the mean while a portion of Moneys allotted unto the Pastors shall be detained in the hands of the Lord du Candal to be paid unto him With this condition that when as he shall be provided of a Church that portion shall be put upon the score of the Province wherein it lieth and he officiates CHAP. VIII General Matters 1. THE Province of Higher Languedoc and Guyenne proposed that a most humble Petition might be tender'd by them unto their Majesties that they would be pleased to grant unto their Ministers a full maintenance This Synod is of opinion that it were more proper for a Politick Provincial Assembly to make this request than for us which are but an Ecclesiastical 2. The same Province moved another case Whether Consistories might be allowed to give in evidence unto the Civil Magistrate against insolent and outragious persons abusing their Pastors or Elders who called them according to the Duty of their Places before them This answer was returned that that Canon of our Discipline forbidding the discovery unto a Civil Judicature of matters transacted in the Consistory ought not to be restrained to the sole confessions of Crimes but is to be understood in the most comprehensive sence of all things whatsoever excepting only such riots and outrages whose fact being notorious it may be lawful to inform the Magistrate of But as for outragious words of what kind soever they may be Consistories shall apply the censures of the Church to redress and reform them 3. The Province of Higher Guyenne requested that there might be a particular Canon made for removing Elders from their office in the Churches 1614. The 21th Synod and that the time of their coming in and going out might be fixt and limited This Assembly Judgeth that this matter should be left to the prudence of Provincial Synods But nevertheless it ordaineth that if an Elder be deputed unto a National Synod by his Province he shall continue in his office tho the term thereof be expired until such time as he have discharged the trust reposed in him and shall have given an account unto the Province of those affairs concredited to him and dispatched by him in that National Synod 4. Forasmuch as divers Provinces have remonstrated that by Reason of the continuance and growth of ungodliness we be daily threatned with the most dreadful Judgments of God and that there is an indispensable necessity of extraordinary prayers unto the throne of Grace for the prosperity of their Majesties and for imploring the good blessing of God upon the beginning and progress of the Kings personal Government who will be very shortly declared Major and that the publick weal of the State may be promoted the Peace and Union of our Churches more firmly stablished that therefore we be called out to celebrate a publick Fast in all the Churches of this Kingdom This Assembly for these causes now-mentioned doth appoint the fourth day of this next September to be observed generally in all the Churches of this Kingdom as a day of Solemn Prayer Humiliation and Fasting And as for those extraordinary Prayers which are used 't is left unto the Churches prudence where they be in use either to continue them or lay them down 5. The Deputies of Berry demanding some alteration in that Canon of the National Synod of Rochell concerning Monks 3 Rochel g. m. 16. See St. Maixant ob 4 upon the same Synod who forsaking their Convents were to be sent back unto their respective Provinces Because it lays a very burdensom charge upon the poor Churches which are utterly unable to Support under it This Assembly Judged it not their duty to make any change in that Canon only it adviseth the Provinces to be very circumspect in their reception of such persons and in the dispensation of their charities lest they become a charge unto the Provinces which do already need relief 6. At the request of the Provincial Deputies of Burgundy and Orleans 2 Syn. of Vitré g. m. 38. our Lords the General Deputies are intreated and exhorted and also by this Assembly to get those Letters Patents for exempting the Pastors of our Churches from all taxes and other subsidies verified they having been already granted And the Deputies of the Provinces in this Synod are charged to carry back this same Petition unto their Mixt Provincial Assemblies that so they may joyn their most humble requests with those of the General Assembly in case it be not done before the time of their meeting 7. The Province of Dolphiny desired that those words Prestre and Préstrise in the 5th Section of our Catechism might be changed into those of Sacrificateur and Sacrificateure because none questioned their sence and meaning and for that words were received by common usage The Assembly did not Judge it any wise convenient to alter these words 8. At the request of divers Provinces it was ordained that our National Synods should not only not innovate any thing in the confession of Faith Catechism Liturgy and Discipline of our Churches unless the matter had been first Proposed by one or more Provinces but also unless it were a thing of very great importance nor should that be resolved on till such time as all the Provinces being duely informed of it had first debated it at home in their respective Synods and if it so happen that any of them shall have considered of it before the
I have the will I swear unto you that my own mouth should have verified unto you what I now write that I am more than any man in the World of Montpellier April 26. 1614. Your Reverences The most Humble and the most Affectionate to do you service Chastillon The Letter of the Mareschall Duke of Bouillon to the National Synod of Tonneins Sirs I Delayed writing to you because I was in hopes to have sent my Letters by one of the Pastors of his Highness the Prince Elector Palatine who should have past through this City in his way unto your Synod and have delivered those of his Highness to you But that little time he had for so long a Journey and the little safety that now is on the High-ways having kept him at home they were directed to me that I may send them as I now do unto you and I shall take this occasion to confirm you in those assurances I have given you of my intire affection and service for the Weal Preservation and Increase of our Churches upon whose account you are now Assembled and that I desire to keep up with them a good Union and Correspondence 'T is to my very great regret that there have been some little differences between Monsieur du Moulin and Monsieur Tilenus one of the Professors in my University to the suppressing of which I have done all that lay in my power In so much that all those bitter reflections are allayed and quasht and I dare promise that from your prudence and the interposal of his Majesty of great Britain who writes to you by Mr. Hume Pastor of the Church of Duras and by the mediation of the Elector Palatin whose Letters this bearer from me delivers to you you will meet with some proper Expedient for their final determination so that those two great personages considerable for their Profession and merits may employ the gifts which God hath bestowed upon them more unto the Churches profit for the future And I will be Surety for the Sieur Tilenus that he shall pay the greatest deference unto your good Counsels and on my part I shall contribute all that you can expect from me to so good a work whereof I earnestly attend the happy Issue through your wise and prudent direction I shall detain you no longer but with the offer of my prayers unto God Almighty that he would please to guide and influence your Spirits and Councils that their result may be glory to his great Name and happiness unto his Church From Sedan May 3. 1614. A Postscript with his own hand Sirs ALtho I am well assured that your Intentions are all leading to a good Reunion both in Civil and Church-affairs yet will I not forbear quickening you hereunto and the rather because Satan and his Engines are now more than every at work marvellously busied and employed to divide us having found in this degenerate age more debauched persons and greater debaucheries than in times past Wherefore I protest unto you that in what concerns my self in particular that I shall freely discharge my duty and services according to what shall be resolved on in your Common and United Counsels and seek for my self none other benefit and advantage than to live and die in the fear of God Your most humbly to do you service Henry de la Tour. CHAP. XX. The Excommunication of Monsieur Jeremy Ferrier sometimes Pastor and Professor in the Church and Vniversity of Nismes denounced in the Church of Nismes upon the 14th of July 1613 being the Lords Day Extracted out of a little Book Intituled The Troubles happened in the City of Nismes in Languedoc July 15. 1613. and Printed the same year MAster Jeremy Ferrier formerly Minister of the Word of God having been judged by the National Synod yet hath not in the least owned and acknowledged God's singular Mercy and Benignity to him nor the Gentleness and Clemency of his Judges He hath took no notice of his great and hainous offences though God saw them the Church observed them and the World cried out of them Some days after Sentence had past upon him he made semblance as if he acquiesced in it requesting to be provided of another Church His Judges had respect unto his demand and provided for him very much unto his conveniency But the close and issue hath evidently demonstrated that what he did was all in Hypocrisie was nothing else but fraud and mockery Instead of humbling himself he waxed more fierce and fiery he kicked against the pricks he hardened his heart against the voice of God speaking to him He hath multiplied and increast his sins seeking Sanctuaries for his Rebellion from the World and protection by it in his Enter-prizes following the train and lure of his own lusts and loving this present World he would rather be a slave to the Mammon of Unrighteousness than to serve God and his Church and betaking himself to wicked and unworthy courses he hath refused to be reformed and hateth Discipline and Correction scorning and trampling under foot all Church-Order He hath most licentiously inveighed against and satyrically lampoon'd the Ecclesiastical Assemblies he hath let flie the worst of Calumnies against the Servants of God generally and particularly in publick and private by word of mouth by Pen and Writing He threw himself wittingly and wilfully upon temptations and into the snares of the Devil he became his own Seducer and like tile Devil endeavoured to seduce others He hath by his ungodly comportments scandalized those that are without and such as are within he hath attempted to mischief the Church of God for which the Lord Jesus hath shed his most precious Blood He did most solemnly engage unto the Church of Paris yea he swore it with as great seriousness as possible that he would never take upon him nor aspire unto any other Calling than that of the Sacred Ministry unless the Colloquy of Lionnois should discharge him by taking from him all possible means of subsistence Before which nevertheless when he was called he refused to appear and would not be judged of God nor by the Men of God He hath cast himself into a contumacious and audacious Rebellion into the most injurious and excessive Insolencies he hath published himself guilty of a notorious and horrible Perjury totally deserting the Sacred Ministry having rejected all the Summons and Invitations unto Repentance made him for a whole year together by divers Church-Assemblies in divers places and at divers times by many most excellent Servants of God who cordially and industriously laboured after his Conversion and Reformation He hath despised the long-suffering patience and forbearance of God and of the Church and never heeded those publick Admonitions which according to the Discipline were used to reclaim him and bring him back again unto his duty But he persists obstinately in his sins in his Disobediencies and Rebellions and hardens hardens himself in his Impenitency insomuch that we must speak it
Answer to it the 27th of May 1617. THE National Synod held at Vitré in the Province of Brittain having deputed unto his Majesty Messieurs Peter Hesperian Pastor of the Church of St. Foy in the Lower Guienne Denis de Bouteroue Pastor of the Church at Grenoble in Dolphiny Albert de Mars Esq Lord of Balene Elder of the Church at Maringues in the Vpper Auvergne and William Gerard Esq Lord of Moussac Elder in the Church of Moussac and Province of Lower Languedoc they were admitted into his Majesty's presence the 27th day of the same Month and the said Mr. Hesperian did express himself in these words unto the King SIRE THere be now prostrate at your Majesty's Feet in our Persons all your Subjects professing the Reformed Religion represented by the National Synod Assembled by your gracious Permission and under your Royal Authority in your City of Vitré who have deputed us unto your Majesty to testify unto your Majesty the extraordinary joys and thankfullness of your said Subjects both to our God and your Majesty for that the Kingdom is in Peace your Authority in great Splendour and your Sacred Person at full Liberty and this by that wise and generous resolution which you have undertook and executed by a just punishment of the grand Disturber of your Kingdom and Oppressor of your Authority and which was worst of all of one who had exposed your Sacred Person to the most imminent and apparent dangers This Action of your Majesty was altogether extraordinary it was an Enterprise purely divine and miraculous for it turned in a moment the storm into a calm Wars into Peace our frights into assurance our perils into security and tyranny into a most rightful and righteous Government At this instant as if your Sacred Majesty were now come unto the Crown France knoweth that it hath a King and the whole World That the King of France is most worthy to reign and govern At this instant that your Majesty holds the Reins of Government in your own hands all your Subjects do render that most humble obedience and subjection which is due unto you and particularly those of the Reformed Religion who are most ready and willing to hazard and adventure their Estates their Honours and their very Lives for your Majesty's Service And in truth Sire this Assembly which hath deputed us unto your Majesty was no sooner formed but that it did most solemnly protest and swear as we also are charged in the name and behalf of all the Churches Reformed in your Kingdom now to protest and swear that we will never depart from that most humble obedience and most faithful service which as your true liege and natural born Subjects is our bounden duty unto your Majesty And we feel and know that we are indispensably obliged to it by those numberless favours and benefits which we received from Henry the Great our late King and your Majesties Father of most glorious Memory and by those continued to us by your Majesty and which we hope shall be still vouchsafed us because we believe that the maintenance of your Authority is our Security and the firmness of your Crown that of our repose and safety But yet there is another Bond and Obligation stronger than all these upon us even that of our Conscience and Religion which from the divinely inspired Scriptures are taught and instructed to subject our selves unto the higher Powers and that to resist them is to resist the Ordinance of God who we know hath exalted your Majesty unto the Throne put the Crown upon your Head the Scepter into your Hand and all Heroick Vertues into your Royal Heart And therefore Sire next and after our God we do acknowledge your Majesty to be our only Soveraign And 't is an Article of our Creed that there is no middle Power between God and the Kings 'T is with us reputed a most damnable Heresy to call this truth in question and to turn it into disputation is a capital Crime to be punished by the Judges This Lesson Sire we learnt of our Predecessors this we believe and publish in all places and this Doctrine we preach from our Pulpits in our Churches and teach from the Press unto the World and we will live in it Sire that our Posterity after us may learn and practise it by our Example Therefore is it that we hope your Majesty crediting and considing in our immoveable Loyalty will be pleased to continue to us the benefits of your Edicts and that your Royal Ears will be open to our Complaints and Grievances and that holding the Ballance steady and right you will do us upon all occasions right and justice By which your Majesty will the more confirm us in our unchangeable purpose and resolution to live and die in the quality of your most humble most faithful and most obedient Subjects and Servants Monsieur Hesperian having finished his Speech his Majesty returned this Answer Do you continue to serve me faithfully and you may be well assured that I will be a good and kind King unto you and that I will preserve you according to my Edicts And taking from him the Letter which the Synod had written him he gave it to Monsieur de Pontchartrain commanding him to read it and return an Answer to it Printed by Abraham Saugrain living in St. James his Street over against the three Sawcers according to the Licence given the 16th of June 1617. and Signed by H. de Mesmes CHAP. VIII General Matters 1. THE Motion of Lower Languedoc 1 Paris 38. for certain new Canons about Divorces was not accepted 2. This Assembly Ordained at the request of the same Province Figeac 8. that such Parents who chuse for their Childrens Baptism Sureties of the Romish Religion though they appear not in Person but by their Proxies of the Reformed Religion shall be prosecuted both Parents and Proxies with all Church-Censures 3. Notice shall be given in all our Churches to take special heed Saumur Obs 11. that they give no Attestation unto the Moors banished out of Spain and who wander from one Church to another till they be very well satisfied of their Religion and religious Conversation and such as have been already received and make their abode in any of our Churches shall be once more examined with all possible care as to their Faith and Knowledge and Life and in all Attestations that shall be given them express mention shall be made of their having been baptized and of the number of their Children 4. The Deputies of Xaintonge moved Liâ—â—s p. ni 30. whether Moors and other Infidels that were brought away by pure force out of their Native Country into Christendom and baptized by Popish Priests without any previous Instructions in the Doctrines of Christian Religion ought to be Rebaptized they having been since duly Catechized by our Protestant Ministers This Assembly though it acknowledgeth abundance of defaults in their Baptism doth yet notwithstanding
Synod ordaineth that the Province of Sevennes shall provide two Pastors for them to be sent unto them immediately one of which shall reside in the Town of Issoyre and the other shall serve the Churches of the Mountain according as it shall be prescribed them by the said Province And that those two Pastors may have a comfortable maintenance this Synod continuing the Decree of the former National Synods which had appointed four Portions free of all charges for those Churches of the Vpper Auvergne doth add a fifth for their Incouragement Which five Portions shall be received by the said Province and paid into the very hands of those Pastors to each of them the sum of five hundred Livers And the remaining Portions shall be distributed by those Provinces towards the necessities of those said Churches and all this to be duly and continually performed untill the meeting of the next National Synod Below p. m. 25. Alez p. m. 20. And in the mean while the respective Members of those Churches shall be pressed to contribute towards the maintenance of their Pastors and they shall give an account of their duty herein unto the next National Synod And whereas the said Monsieur Babat requests that he may be discharged from the service of those Churches he was ordered to continue the exercise of his Ministry among them until the meeting of the approaching Synod of Sevennes by which in case he then desire it he may be set at liberty and another substituted in his place However till the sitting of that Provincial Synod the said Babat shall wholly serve the Town Issoyre as its proper Pastor and the Colloquy of St. Germain shall give another Pastor to supply the Churches of the Mountain And forasmuch as the said Babat hath been at great expences in travelling unto this Synod and to the Assembly of Rochell the Lord of Candal is ordered to pay him an hundred Livers out of the mass of moneys belonging to all our Churches And as for that demand of the Deputies that a Fund might be given them for the raising and fixing of a Colledge at Issoyre This Assembly cannot do it because that having eased many persons among them of the charge in maintaining their Ministers they may very well as in Conscience they are bound and we also exhort them to do take care of this matter themselves CHAP. IX The King's Letter to the Synod Above Art 5. after the Catalogue of Deputies THE third of June Messieurs Hesperien and Bouteroue Pastors and Balene and Moussac Elders deputed by this Assembly unto the King returned hither and notified unto us with how much kindness and favour they were received by his Majesty and having declared to him their Commission and delivered their Memoirs and Instructions he heard and answer'd them very graciously as appears by his Majesty's Letter brought with them unto this Assembly and they had the thanks and applause of all the Deputies in it for their most affectionate care faithfulness and diligence in the discharge of their Commission And because it very much imported our Churches to be particularly informed of that good will and love his Majesty bears them that so they may be in an extraordinary manner stirred up to praise and bless the Lord for it and own and acknowledge themselves to be more strictly obliged to fidelity and perseverance in their obedience and subjection due unto his Majesty and to pray more heartily for the augmentation of his Majesty's Prosperity and Grandeur This Assembly ordained that the Letter which it pleated his Majesty to write us should be transcribed and Copies thereof sent abroad among the Churches which is here inserted word for word in this present Article By the KING To our Dear and Well-beloved the Deputies of our Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion assembled in their Synod at Vitré DEar and Well-beloved we received your Letters of the one and twentieth day of this Month by which we have sensible experience of your Zeal and Affection for our Service and for that of the Common-weal participating as you have done in the common joy of all our Subjects for the Peace and Settlement of the Kingdom which we have so happily procured for them whereof we were also more particularly informed by your Deputies sent unto us for this same purpose from whom we have gladly received the fresh assurances and protestations made by you of persevering in your Loyalty and Obedience to us as you have done heretofore and you may be very well assured that we will be always careful to maintain and preserve you in all your priviledges formerly granted to you And we will give you all in general and every one of you in particular new tokens of our Love and good will upon all occasions which shall occur unto us Given at Paris the 29 th of May 1617. LOUYS Phelippeaux 2. The Deputies of Xaintonge demanded a Decree Nymes 11. that no Colloquy might hence forward separate any particular Congregation which was annexed to conjoin it unto another without the previous advice and authority of a Provincial Synod This Assembly finding their demand very Equitable did Ordain that this should be an Universal Canon binding all Colloquies and Churches 3. Divers Persons of Quality having moved it that inasmuch as our Mechanicks are obliged by the Kings Edict to forbear working on the Festivals of the Romish Church over and besides the Lord's day It is left unto the prudence of Consistories to Congregate the People on such Holy-Days either to hear the word Preached or to join in common publick Prayers as they shall find to be most expedient See Synod of Saumur Art 13. of g. m. And whereas Complaints are made us that in some Churches before Sermon they sing part of the Psalm and reserve the last Verse for conclusion of the Exercise This Assembly injoins all the Churches to sing * * * This last Clause was rased out in the seventh Obs of this Synod by that of Alez out the whole pause and to conform themselves as much as may be to the ancient Order 4. Monsieur de Bertreville our General Deputy came unto this Synod the sixth day of June and took his place in it according to the Canons of our National Synods and had his Vote of deliberation and decision and sware and subscribed the Oath of Union of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom 5. The Lord of Bertreville our General Deputy declared to us Tonneins g. m. 6. that the King's Letters Patents though granted for exempting our Ministers from payment of Taxes were not as yet verified nor delivered into his hands nor unto his Colleague the Lord of Maniald This Assembly doth earnestly intreat them to use all needful means to get them dispatcht as soon as possible 6. Whereas the National Synod of Tonneins had injoined all the Provinces to consider of a Proposal made by several great Persons both at home and abroad Tonneins g.
whereas the Deputies demanded another Portion for the Church of Ouchant at present served by the Ministers of Blois it being necessary that they should have a Pastor of their own this Assembly would not grant them because the said Church may be conveniently supplied by the aforesaid Ministers and in consideration of the great Necessities of the said Province there were seven supernumerary Portions appointed for them whereof two shall be given free of all Taxes and Charges unto Monsieur Guerin Pastor of Baugency for divers good and valid Reasons moving this Assembly thereunto 5. The Province of the Isle of France was injoyned to provide the Church of Langres of a Pastor to which purpose there was assigned it one Portion and moreover because of the multitude of poor Churches in it there were twelve supernumerary Portions more granted to be disposed by them for the relief of the most necessitous and indigent Congregations 6. The Province of Burgundy shall make proof of their Care and Duty in providing for the Church of Noyers an able Pastor at the next National Synod to which purpose they had one Portion assigned them and those two formerly granted were ordered to be continued to the Churches of Maringues and Paillac and over and above this seven supernumerary Portions 7. Pour Portions were granted unto the Province of Xaintonge that the Churches at present destitute of Pastors there might be provided for viz. a second Pastor for St. John D' Angely one for Villefaignan one for Tonnay Boutonnay and another for Genonsac And whereas they demand another Portion for Baigne Chenonceaux and Monlieu when as they shall have brought in their account for these before-mention'd Portions unto the next National Synod then care shall be taken about some provision for the said Church it so be it be supplied by a Pastor Moreover the said Province shall have two supernumerary Portions comprising in them that Moiety granted by the Synod of Tonneins for the relief of Messieurs Rossignol Gabard Paris du Plot Velez and Toussain who were Pastors Emeriti by reason of their Age and Infirmities and otherwise very much afflicted with Wants 8. The Deputies of Higher Languedoc protested that these ten Churches were become lately vacant by the death of their Pastors or by some other accident and that there be several others to be provided for by that Province as soon as may be to wit Castelnau Brassac Cormies Aisones Caumont Manosques Pairasque Figeac Sevenieres and la Tronquiere to every one of which there was a Portion assigned provided they were really vacant and care taken they be supplied And that Portion and half assigned them by the Synod of Tonneins is continued to them on this condition that the whole Portion shall be imployed for the relief and assistance of the Church of Leyran and the half unto Monsieur Aubriot a Pastor Emeritus 9. The Province of Anjou declared that they were just now presenting a Pastor unto the Church of Chasteau du Loir and another unto that of Mondoubleau for which cause two Portions have been adjudged to them and another under the name of Monsieur Gomarus Professor of Divinity in the University of Saumur and two supernumerary Portions were added by way of augmentation unto the poorer Churches and whereas Monsieur de la Coste late Pastor of the Church of Dijon is given unto the University of Saumur for a Professor in Divinity another Portion is also granted the said Province 10. One Portion was assigned the Province of Sevennes for the Church of Maruejols and another shall be divided between the Churches of Combes and St. Basilc 11. Seven Portions were appointed unto the Province of Normandy one for the Church of St. Peter on the Dine another for the second Minister of St. Lo another for the Church of Cheffreine another for that of Gauré another for that of Gisors another for that of Fescamp and lastly another for that of Havre de Grace all which are lately become vacant by the decease or removal of their Pastors and these shall be supplied with able Men as soon as possible whereof the next National Synod shall take cognizance and six Portions shall be farther added for the relief of the poorer Churches 12. The Deputies of Vivaretz protested that these five Churches following are lately destitute of Pastors and that the Province will see they he supplied out of hand to wit St. Saviour La Bastide de Viral St. Pons de Mirabel Rochers and lastly le Poussin For every one of these this Synod ordained a Portion on condition that the Province should notifie their Care and Duty in providing able Ministers for them unto the next National Synod and six Portions more were added including those two for St. Stephen's which had been allotted it by former National Synods and of the four remaining a half Portion shall be given unto Monsieur Chanforan because of his great poverty In the Province of Provence there were three Churches to be provided for viz. la Coste Sederac and la Charse and that Provincial Synod was ordered to give unto each of them a Pastor and therefore three Portions were added to them for which they shall be accountable unto the next National Synod and there were given them more to be distributed among their poorer Churches six Portions 14. The Deputies of Lower Guyenne assured this Assembly that they were now getting Pastors for these Churches following viz. for Nerac a third Pastor for Beaune Benac Condom Espiens Sause de Misné Hastingues Bayonne Le Mas and Caumont and Pellegrue all which are lately become vacant for which there were assigned nine Portions and the Province shall give account of them unto the next National Synod 15. Two Portions were laid by for the Province of Dolphiny to wit for the Church of Montbrun and Beaurepaire and because of the great poverty of divers Churches in the said Province this Assembly hath granted them seven supernumerary Portions 16. The Province of Brittain had the Priviledge of taking out one Portion under the Name of Monsieur Marmet Pastor of the Church gathered in the House of the Lord Duke of Rohan and because of the great poverty of the Churches in that Province there were eight supernumerary Portions more allotted to it whereof one shall go to the Church of Nants free of all charges and out of the seven others shall be taken an hundred and fifty Livers to be thus employed to wit one hundred Livers to the College of vielle Vigne and fifty Livers to the relief of the said Church 17. The Deputies of Lower Languedoc reported Alez p. m. 72. that in the dividend of the Portions for the said Province there was but one Portion only assigned to Monsieur Scoffier an ancient Pastor and Emeritus altho' there was formerly allowed him one and an half This Assembly gave order to the Lord of Candal that he should give annually a Portion and half unto the said Scoffier who shall give an Acquittance
for the Money unto the Receiver of the said Province and this to be continued until the next National Synod CHAP. XII Of Universities and Colleges 1. THE Province of Lower Guyenne demanding Privas of Coll. Art 25. Tonneins p. m. 16. that our Universities might be lessen'd in their number and reduced unto two and those well maintained This Assembly did not think fit to diminish their number 2. The Deputies of Sevennes requesting that one part of the University in the Lover Languedoc might be wholly assigned to them This Assembly did not think it expedient to grant them their request 3. The Province of Lower Languedoc reported that it were expedient to reunite the two parts of their University whereof one is at Nismes and the other at Montpellier and that the effecting of it might be left unto their Synod they calling in the Deputies of the adjoining Provinces to consult about it This Assembly owneth the needfulness of their Proposal and for divers good considerations it doth at present decree this union ordaining that the whole University shall be established at Nismes and that the University-Council shall be assembled as soon as may be they calling in the Deputies of the next adjoining Provinces which are now mentioned by name to wit for Dolphiny Monsieur Felix for Vivaretz Monsieur Moze for Sevennes Monsieur Courant for Provence Monsieur Morrice all of them Deputies unto this present National Synod and they being all assembled shall furnish that University with able Professors according to the Canons enacted in our former National Synods and the above-mention'd University-Council is injoined to take special care that the Youth in it be duly instructed and incouraged in Learning and Godliness under the Discipline of their Regents and that the Professors be faithful in the discharge of their Place and Office 4. The Deputies of Sevenes demanded that out of the Moneys given by his Majesty's liberality unto their Province there might be an addition made of some other Sums to the four hundred Livers assigned for maintenance of a College and this to be done in every Province This Assembly answered that no augmentation could be granted on this account And the said Province of Sevennes was advised to consider well of the demand made by the Church of Anduze and to take care that the College there setled be well maintained Tonneins of Univers 12. 5. The Consistory and Common Council of the Town and Church of Gex writ unto this Assembly how that they had and did acquiesce in the Decree of the National Synod of Tonneins concerning their College and humbly petition'd this Assembly to bestow upon them out of that stock of Moneys given our Churches by his Majesty's liberality a certain Sum towards its maintenance It was decreed that the Lord of Candal should give them to this purpose yearly an hundred Livers 6. Forasmuch as the Houses upon which the College of Saumur is built were purchased with Moneys belonging unto all the Churches Gap p. m. 46. as it hath been related in this Assembly order is given unto Monsieur Rivett Pastor of the Church of Thouars to make inquiry in whose Name that Contract and Purchace was signed and sealed and to declare it unto the Consistory of the Church of Saumur who shall make report thereof unto the next National Synod 7. Complaint being made unto this Assembly on behalf of the Professors in our Universities it is ordained 〈◊〉 p. m. 37. that for time to time our Universities shall be paid quarterly at the four Quarters of the Year out of the three first Quarters of the Moneys granted by the King to our Churches 8. The University-Councils be injoined to chuse out the eldest Proposans and command them to read the Scriptures in the Church before Sermons and to censure such of them as refuse obedience unto this Canon 9. In like manner those University-Councils be expresly charged to see the Laws and Statutes made in our former National Synods for the well-governing of these our Universities to be most carefully and exactly observed and obeyed that so we may hear no more any ill reports of them but that the Scholars do carry themselves with all modesty as becometh their profession and that they do give diligent attendance on the Greek and Hebrew Lectures and that they be personally present at Divinity-Disputations and that the said Statutes may be better observed the Provincial Synods in which those Universities be erected are charged to depute yearly two Pastors taken out of those Churches whereunto the Universities do belong who shall at some certain times but most especially before the sitting of their Synod visit the said Universities and make inquiry whether the Professors and Scholars both of them do faithfully and diligently intend and mind their Duties And the Deputies of those Provinces shall bring into the next National Synod the Laws and Statutes of our Universities which were formerly enacted in our National Synods and report impartially what they have observed of every ones obedience to them 10. The University of Montauban requested that the Salaries of their Professors might be augmented Tonneins of Univers 7. because his Majesty's liberality unto our Churches is augmented But it was not judged meet to make any farther additions than what had been before ordained for them 11. Monsieur Joly Tonneins of Univers 1. Pastor and Professor in the Church and University of Montalban Petitioned that he might have some small augmentation unto the hundred Livers ordered him by the Synod of Tonneins for his better incouragement in the profession of the Hebrew Language This Assembly not being in a capacity to augment his wages doth exhort Monsieur Tenans the other Hebrew Professor to allow his Collegue Monsieur Joly one hundred Livers out of the three hundred assigned to him because though he is in office yet the main burden thereof lieth upon Monsieur Joly 12. The Deputies of Higher Languedoc demanded a sum of moneys for the erecting of two Colleges the one at Millaud the other at Pamiers Ibidem 3. remonstrating on the one hand the great distance of their Churches from the University of Montauban and on the other hand the lamentable Poverty of the Church of Pamiers and those adjoining to it as also that the Church of Milhaud hath a College of Jesuits planted in the very bowels of it This Assembly being disabled from increasing the number of our Colleges cannot gratify those Deputies in their desires And yet exhorteth the said Province to have a special regard unto the necessities of the Church of Pamiers and to provide for it according to their abilities 13. The Deputies of Anjou joined in a Petition from the University of Saumur which was presented by Monsieur Benoist Gap g. m. 19. Professor of the Greek Tongue Upon which this Decree past that in as much as 't is needful that our Universities should be supplied with Professors in Theology in case of their death
of Sevennes gave in the reasons of their refusal viz. the singular fruitfulness and success of the Ministry of the said Monsieur Ollier among them After all the Assembly confirmed Monsieur Ollyer in his Pastoral Office to the Church of Alez according to the Canons of our Church Discipline and adviseth the Church of Montauban to mind their Duty better for the future than they have done heretofore in maintaining one or more Scholars who may serve them in case of need without being inforced to rob and spoil other Churches See below in the Catalogue of Deposed Ministers Act 7. of this Cottelier 50. Monsieur Matthew Lansard appealed from the Synod of Lower Languedoc held at Vsez in May last which had restored the Sieur John Cottelier formerly Minister in the Church of Nismes unto the exercise of his Ministry upon condition that he should employ himself in some other Province contrary to the Decree of the foregoing Synod in the same Province held at Malquel in the Moneth of May 1619 which had deposed the said Cottelier from the Sacred Ministry as a Person utterly unworthy so Holy and Honourable a Calling The said Cottelier was called in and heard speak for himself against the said Lansard and whatever he could urge in his own Defence and Justification and the Deputies of the Province brought in the Reasons and Motives both of the one and other Sentence and of the Enquiry made about him at Nismes by Commissioners sent thither to that very end and purpose Upon the whole this Assembly did very grievously censure that Province of Lower Languedoc for restoring the said Cottelier again unto the Ministerial Office contrary to the Canons of our Church-Discipline and it doth also censure the Church of Montpellier for suffering him to administer the Sacrament of the Lords Supper among them and other Churches were censured which admitted him to preach in their Pulpits in that Province of Lower Languedoc at that time when as he was interdicted all the Duties of a Gospel Minister in that very Province And forasmuch as the said Cottelier hath by his Vices and Debauches rendred himself utterly unworthy of so Sacred a Function this Assembly doth now totally depose him from the Holy Ministry without any the least hopes of his ever being restored to it 51. The Appeal of the Colloquy of Albigeois from the Synod of Higher Languedoc held at Puylaurent about Church Rates is dismissed over to the Colloquy of Montpellier in Lower Languedoc 52. The Appeal of the Church of Realmont against that of la Fanasse brought in at first into the Synod of Puylaurent in the Higher Languedoc and from thence hither is now declared null 53. The Appeal of the Consistory and Church of la Tremblade from the Censure and Judgment given against them by the Synod of Xaintonge held at Marennes was rejected because the contents thereof was of that nature which might be finally determined in their own Province 54. In like manner the Appeal of the Church of Bruillet in the same Province of Xaintonge and that of Monsieur de la Chaussee Elder in the Church of St. Claud brought against the Synod of the same Province held at St. John d' Angely about the Ministry of Monsieur Hog was rejected because the matters of both these Appeals might be finally decided within their own Province 55. The Province of Poictou brought in an Appeal against the University Council of Saumur about their receiving of Monsieur Cameron into the Professorship of Divinity whereunto he was called by them according to a Decree of the Synod of Anjou The Deputies of Poictou were heard in their Arguments and Oppositions made against the Sieur Camerons promotion unto that Chair and the Deputies of Anjou were heard speak for their Province and for the University of Saumur as also Monsieur Vignier who with the Sieurs de la Buissonniter and de la Place had been called in from the Neighbour Provinces by the said University to examin the said Sieur Cameron Although this Assembly believeth that the said Province of Poictou were stirred up unto their Opposition by a Godly Zeal yet notwithstanding it doth approve and confirm whatever hath been done by the Province of Anjou by the University of Saumur and by all the Commissioners of the other Provinces in the Call of the aforesaid Monsieur Cameron unto the Profession of Theology and declares it to have been well and lawfully done by them 56. Monsieur Mahaut appealed from the Synod of Normandy for not approving his Call unto the Church of Roan which had chosen him for their Pastor and he had accepted of it being now out of all Employment and not related unto any Church This Assembly could not approve of the Church of Roans dealings with the said Sieur Mahaut no more than it can of their distinction made between the most eminent Members and the Heads of Families which they are forbidden to use for the future because of many inconveniencies that may ensue upon it And yet forasmuch as the said Sieur Mahaut hath requested to be discharged from the said Church of Roan as is evident from the Consistorial Acts of that Church which were produced he hath no reason to repute himself their Pastor And that the said Mahaut may have an Answer unto his Letters sent unto this Synod he is remanded back unto the next Provincial Synod of Normandy who shall dispose of the Person and Ministry of the said Monsieur Mahaut by vertue of the Authority of this Assembly and in the mean while according to the Decree of the Synod of Normandy he shall go and serve the Church of Ponteau de Mer. 57. The Church of Nismes appealed from the Synod of Lower Languedoc held at Malguiol for denying them Monsieur Chauve to be their Pastor Whereupon the Counsellors Magistrates and Consuls of Nismes as also the Deputies from Sommieres were called in and heard in what they had to oppose against this Appeal of Nismes who pleaded their particular Right unto the Person and Ministry of the said Monsieur Chauve There were Deputies also from the Church of Montauban on the same Errand demanding that he might be conferr'd upon them This Assembly also sounded the inclination of this Reverend Minister who did as ingeniously inform them that there is and ever had been a most sincere and mutual Affection and Correspondence between him and his Church of Sommiers and that the Lord had poured out a singular Benediction upon his poor Labours in it The Deputies also of the Province of Lower Languedoc gave in their Reasons why they had refused him unto the Church of Nismes All which having been maturely debated and considered This Assembly did confirm Monsieur Chauve in his Ministerial Relation unto the Church of Sommieres concurring herein with the judicial Sentence of the said Province and yet compassionating the necessities of that Chrch of Nismes it doth lend the said Monsieur Chauve to them for one year to
case he do otherwise those Summs so payed by him shall not be allowed in his Accompts nor shall those Receivers give him an Acquittance for them 8. The Moneys granted us by His Majesty shall not be diverted from those Uses to which they were originally intended our National Synods having ordained that they be distributed among the Ministers and to the Widows of the poorer Pastors and to our young Scholars and Students in Divinity and to the defraying of Synodical Charges when as the necessities of our Churches shall require such Assemblies 〈◊〉 Maxiant Obâ—ervat 5. on the former Syâ—â—â— 9. The Province of Poictu moved that a Canon might be past for determining the Age of Ministers Children who are to be received into the number of Scholars Pensioners by the Provinces This Assembly leaveth it to the prudence of Colloquies and Synods to ascertain it according to the Decree of the National Synod of Maixant 10. Mr. James Hubner came unto this Assembly as he had done unto hat last National one held at Vitre 1 〈…〉 2. presenting Letters from the Lords of the Canton of Bearne requesting on behalf of Monsieur Hubner his Father that he might be reimburst of divers great Summs of Money owing unto Monsieur Sturmius deceased Father of the Wife of the said Hubner This Assembly answered him that none of the Writings produced by him did bind or oblige our Churches but the late King Henry the Great of Glorious Memory and the late Prince of Conde And therefore Letters shall be written in the Name of this Assembly unto the Lords of Bearn to inform and certifie them of the Truth of this Matter and an Hundred Livres were given unto the said Mr. Hubner to pay the Expences of his Journey hither without ever hoping for the future of drawing any Moneys from our National Synods 11. Forasmuch as divers Churches are decaying Poictiers g. m. 21. and will at last be dissolved for want of maintenance for their poor Ministers All our Churches are exhorted That as they love the increase and advancement of Christ's Kingdom they would endeavour to raise a Fund either by Gifts from the Living or Legacies from Dying Persons in their last Wills and Testaments or by any other convenient ways That so the Sacred and unvaluable Treasure of Gods Word may be alwayes conserv'd among us and our Off-Spring after us in Generations to come may be Educated and confirmed in the True Religion 12. The Lord of Candal shall be personally present at our next National Synod that he may have his Commission confirmed by the Universal approbation of our Churches and the Lords General Deputies shall see to it that the said Commission bear not the Title of an Office And the said Lord of Candal is intreated to give Notice unto the Provinces of the time when he can make payment unto the Provincial Receivers of their Quarterly Dividend and of the Quantity of the Summ wherewith they may be furnished and the Copies of his Letters sent them in which shall be presented the Transcripts of all Acquittances for Moneys paid by him already and that he may hereafter pay unto the Pastors And he shall produce all his Acquittances before the Lords our General Deputies and the Consistory of the Church of Paris or such Persons as shall be deputed by them to audit his Accompts that so they may be verified in our National Synods In all which he shall demonstrate his diligence for the payment of the Moneys on all Bills and Orders that have been put into his hands and in default thereof there shall be Reprisals made on his Accompts 13. A Motion was made by the Province of Sevennes that all Publick Notaries professing the Reformed Religion might be forbidden in their executing of Marriage Contracts to make a Gift of the Bodies of betroathed Persons especially where one is of a contrary Religion until such time as the Consistory of that Church shall have taken cognisance thereof Privas Observat 9. upon the Discipline This Assembly leaveth it to the prudence of the Province of Sevennes or any other where such things as these be practised to make a By-Law which may most effectually contribute unto their future edifying 14. That Order passed in the Province of Xaintonge excluding the president of the last Provincial Synod from being chosen Moderator in the next 1. Paris 2. and that he who was deputed unto one National Synod may not be unto the ensuing was repealed and vacated Provincial Synods being left in full liberty to nominate any Persons whom they shall judge meetest for both the Employments according to our Church-Discipline 15. The Province of Burgundy demanded 3. Rochel Observat 17. 2. Vitre Observat 10. whether was most expedient to choose Moderators and Deputies for Synods by a low or loud Vote This Assembly is of opinion that for the avoiding of many Inconveniences it were best to make those Elections by a low Voice 16. The Province of Dolphiny moved whether a Minister might together with his Ministry exercise the Profession of Philosophy 1. Rochel Observ 18. This Assembly judgeth that these two Professions are not convenient to be discharged by one Man at the same time 17. Forasmuch as every particular Church is obliged to raise a certain Stipend for its Pastors St. Maixant Appeal 16. no Minister nor Pastor of any Church shall touch a doit of the Kings Money but it shall be payd him in by his Consistory and all Expences in Travel unto Synods and other Ecclesiastical Meetings shall be defrayed by the Churches themselves that so the Ministers may be freed of all manner of Reproach and may in no wise be diverted from their Studies and Duties of their Calling by the care of worldly matters And Synods shall make inquiry after such as do transgress this Canon and correct them by all Church-Censures But this shall not be so understood as if Ministers were hereby debarred the receiving of the Moneys granted us by His Majesty or to give Acquittance for it provided they give in an Account thereof unto their Churches and that they do not make with them any secret Bargain or Covenant for it 18. The Protestants are Exhorted to make in every Church Collections for the poor persecuted Protestants of the Marquisate of Salluces and the Moneys so collected shall be put into the hands of Monsieur Gras living at Lions 19. In all Churches there shall be kept a Register of all Marriages Baptismes and Burials 20. The Pastors and Professors in the Church of Genvea shall be desired Montauban g. m. 46. to suffer no new French Translations of the Bible to be printed in their City nor that any alterations be made in our Liturgy And that if they have any Annotations for the common received Translation they would be pleased to print them by themselves and before they do it to give notice thereof unto the Churches of this Kingdom and to
take our advice first in it CHAP. X. FORM of EXCOMMUNICATION 2. Paâ—is 2. 2. Vitre 2. Observaâ— upon the Discipline 21 THE Province of Poictou requested that there might be another Form of Excommunication framed of a larger Nature than that in our Discipline because the horrible Corruptions of the Age we live in do indispensably need it and call upon us loudly to put it in Execution Whereupon this Form following was drawn up See the Excommunicat 〈◊〉 Jâ—â—emy Ferâ—â—er in the â—nd of the Synod of Tâ—â—neiâ—s My Brethren This is the Fourth time that we declare unto you that N. N. hath been suspended the Lords Table for that hainous Crime of N. committed by him to the great scandal of the Church of God and yet he continues impenitent and rejecteth all Counsels and Admonitions that have been given him which suspension and its causes we have fully notified unto you that you might joyn your Prayers with ours unto the great God to soften his stony heart and to move him unto Repentance and to bring him out of the high and broad way of destruction But notwithstanding our Indulgence to him and long suffering and forbearance of him although we have prayed intreated threatned and adjured him to break off his sinful courses and to return unto the Lord and tryed all means to bring him unto Repentance he yet persisteth in his Ungodliness and Impenitency and is more obstinate and hardned in his Rebellions against God and tramples under foot his Holy Word and scorneth that Discipline which God hath set up in his Church boasting himself of his Sin and causeth unto the Church for a very long time a world of grief and trouble and the Holy and Effectual Name of Jehovah our God to be blasphemed Wherefore we Ministers of the Word and Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ whom God hath armed with Spiritual Weapons Mighty through God to destroy the strong holds of Sin which oppose and exhalt themselves against him and to whom the Eternal Son of God hath given an ample Power of binding and loosing in Earth declaring that what we shall do here below he will ratifie and make it good in Heaven we being willing to purge and cleanse the House of God and to free the Church from all Reproach and Scandal and to glorifie the Name of God by pronouncing an Anathema upon the Wicked and Godless Sinner We do in the Name and by the Authority of our Lord Jesus and by and with the Advice of the Pastors and Elders assembled in the Colloquy at N. and of the Consistory of the Church of N We have and do cut off the said N. from the Communion of the Church we do Excommunicate him and cast him out of the Society of Gods Saints that he may be reputed by you as a Publican and Pagan and that among the faithful he may be an Anathema and Execration Let his Company be lookt upon as contagious and plaguy and his Example possess your Souls with terror and horror and make you tremble under the Mighty Hand of God and know that 't is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God And this our Sentence of Excommunication the Son of God himself will ratifie and may he succeed and prosper it in such an effectual manner that this proud Sinner being ashamed and confounded before God may give Glory to him by his Conversion and that being deliver'd from the power of the Devil who hath hitherto kept him in Chains and Bondage he may be sorry for his Sin with a Godly sorrow and turn from it with a repentance unto life never to be repented of Let us my well-beloved Brethren call upon our God that he would be pleased to yearn with the bowels of his compassion upon this vile and miserable Creature and that this horrible Sentence which to our very great regret and grief we pronounce against him by and with the Authority of the Son of God may serve to abase and humble him and to reduce him into the way of Life and Salvation who hath wandred and strayd as a lost Sheep in the crooked paths of destruction Amen! Amen! Cursed is he who doth the Work of the Lord negligently Amen! If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha Amen! 22. The Province of Xaintonge craved advice what course we might take with them who take out from the Courts of Parliament Prohibitions against the Orders and Censures of the Church as if they were intolerable abuses This Assembly injoyneth all Synods Colloquies and Consistories to procede against such Persons as Rebels against the Discipline of our Church and to inflict upon them the last and heaviest censure of Excommunication provided they have first endeavoured by the ways of Love and Kindness and Grave Religious Counsels to reduce such Persons unto their Duty and to subject them unto our Church Orders CHAP. XI The Canons of the Synod of Dort incorporated with those of the Reformed Churches of France 23 A Motion was made in this National Synod that some course should be taken in time to prevent the spreading of the Arminian Errors that have of late so much troubled the Churches of the Netherlands that they create no trouble to the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom This Assembly embraced the motion very readily and approved of it as very laudable just and needful for the peace of the Church of God and for the Conservation of the purity of our Doctrine and for the farther strengthning of our Union with the Foreign Reformed Churches and therefore counting the Maladies of the Low-Country Churches a very fair Advertisement and warning unto us and that we may imitate so excellent an Example and prevent the danger threatned us by making use of these self-same means they did for the Expulsion of those Errors out of their Bowels wherefore forasmuch as the National Synod of Dort called by the Authority wise Counsel and vigilant forecast of their High and Mighty Lordships the States General of the Confederate Netherlands and of all the United Provinces under their Jurisdiction and Government and in which assisted personally divers great and very Learned Divines from many other Reformed Churches of our Lord Jesus hath been in the Netherlands and still is a most effectual remedy for the Reformation of the Church and the grubbing of Heresies in the Article of Predestination and its depencies This Assembly after invocation of the Name of God decreed that the Articles of the said National Council held at Dort should be read in full Synod which being read accordingly and every Article ponder'd most attentively they were all received and approved by a common unanimous consent as agreeing with the Word of God and the Confession of Faith in these our Churches that they were framed with singular prudence and purity that they were very meet and proper to detect the Arminian Errors and to confound them for which reason all the
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
the grant of the half supernumerary Portion for the future which was allowed them by the Synod of Alez The Letters of the said Elders having been perused and the Deputies of the Province heard This Assembly confirms the past Payments and ordains that for the future the supernumerary Portions granted unto the said Province shall be wholly at their own disposal 37. Monsieur Le Pin Elder in the Church of Issurtille appealed from the Judgment of the Synod of Burgundy held at Gex in this present year but his Appeal was declared null and desert 38. That Appeal of the Elders of Aubenas and Annonay from the Judgment of the Provincial Synod of Vivaretz which had reunited the Colledge parted before betwixt those Two Cities and resettled it at Privas was declared null and void CHAP. XIV Of GENERAL MATTERS 1 THE Sieurs de Chambrun and Mestrezat Ministers of the Gospel de Jarlan and Rabboteau Elders who together with our General Deputies had been commanded by this Synod to wait upon His Majesty being now returned made report that they delivered unto the Lord Chancellor unto the Lord de la Vieuville and to the Lords Principal Secretaries of State the Letters of this Assembly of whom they had a very gracious and kind Reception and every one of those Lords assured them of the Kings sincere intentions to conserve the peace of the Kingdom and particularly for His Subjects of the Reformed Religion provided that they persisted in their Duty and Obedience and farther they advised the Pastors and Elders of this Synod upon their return unto their respective Provinces who had sent them that they would deal effectually with them to continue in their due Obedience After this they were introduced into His Majesties Presence who was then attended with My Lord Chancellor and the other Lords of the Privy Council to whom they delivered the Letter of this Assembly and assured His Majesty in the Name of this Assembly and of all the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom whom they represented of their Loyalty Submission and Obedience whereunto they were obliged by their Birth Religion and Benefits conferred upon them by His Majesty And farther they returned their most humble thanks unto His Majesty for that Peace he was pleased to vouchsafe unto his Subjects of the Reformed Religion and did with a most profound Humility petition His Majesty that they might through his Royal Goodness and Justice evermore enjoy and possess it Whereupon His Majesty did with his own Mouth give us this Answer That if his Subjects of the Reformed Religion did carry themselves well and lived in that Duty and Obedience which God and Nature required of them he would continue to them the Priviledges of his Edicts and that My Lord Chancellor should tell us his mind more amply and at large After which My Lord Chancellor bespake them in these words That His Majesty having been well informed of the Actions and Deportments of the Synod till now was exceedingly satisfied But that His Majesty would discover unto them his mind upon two points the first whereof concerned Foreign Pastors That it was His Majesties Will That the Churches should not serve themselves in the Ministry of any other Persons than such as were born in the Kingdom and were his Natural Subjects for some private reasons which he needed not to tell them but one of them was very evident because his Natural Subjects who are such by their Birth would be more tied unto his Service than any Foreigners The other related to the last Synod held at Alez yet was it not in the least intended by His Majesty to impair or alter the Liberty of the Churches with reference to their Faith or the Exercises of their Religion either in Doctrine or Discipline but it was very displeasing unto His Majesty that the National Council of the Reformed Churches in this Kingdom held at Alez should oblige all Pastors by their Corporal Oath to approve a Doctrine defined in a Foreign State And that though His Majesty giveth protection to the Religion yet you must not mistake him he intends it not for a Novel and Exotick Faith When as his Lordship had finished his Discourse The said Deputies did most humbly petition His Majesty graciously to hear them upon those two points which His Majesty having favourably granted They declared as to the first That it was true That now as for a long time ago the Churches of this Kingdom had made use of some Foreign Ministers but that they ever had this honour to have kept themselves within the limits of all Duty and Service to His Majesty and that during the War His Majesty had left unto the Churches their Pastors without informing himself of their Country or Nation But since His Majesty did us the favour as to acquaint us with his Will and Pleasure in a time or Peace that we must have no Strangers to officiate in our Churches it would be so far from preserving our Churches that it would leave some of them destitute and some others desolate and allay very much of the tast and sweets of that ê™eace we now enjoyed Moreover that among those of the Church of Rome in this Kingdom there were a multitude of Ecclesiasticks of other Nations which enjoyed the most honourable and profitable Benefices and Dignities of the Gallican Church wherefore His Majesty was most humbly petitioned that he would be pleated not to make this severe distinction between his Subjects so as to permit those of one Religion to use Strangers and to deny it unto the other And as for the Second Point It was a truth that the Synod of Dort made up of the Deputies of divers Reformed Churches had decided some certain points of Doctrine whereby to oppose the Errors which troubled the Churches of the Netherlands But that this Decision did most harmoniously agree with the Confession of Faith in the Churches of this Kingdom and which had been presented to His Majesties Predecessors So that the substance of the Doctrine asserted arid maintained by that Synod was not new and that there was nothing novel in it excepting its Formality and Application as a Fence and Boundary to keep out divers Errors that were then rising and breaking in upon us So that His Most Excellent Majesty was most humbly intreated not to believe that his Subjects had any such design as to make him the Patron and Protector of a Novel and Foreign Doctrine After that the Deputies had finished their Discourse they were commanded to withdraw that His Majesty might consider and deliberate about what had been said by them and being a while after called in again My Lord Chancellor told them as to the first head that His Majesty having heard the Matters that were propounded by them would not remove the Foreign Pastors from their Flocks in this Kingdom who were now in Office and at present actually imployed But it was his pleasure that for the future no more should be
Church-History wherein we may have the rise growth and progress of all Controversies and their confutation by the Sacred Scriptures for the greater Edification of Gods Church 10. The same Province demanded Whether Consistories might compel an Advocate by Ecclesiastical Censures to depose against his Client such matters as had been secretly communicated to him This Assembly considering that Advocates are intrusted with many Secrets and obliged by the Duties of their Office and Calling to conceal Matters confided to them by their Clients judgeth that no Consistories ought to urge them to it unless in cases of High Treason or things of such great importance 11. The Provincial Deputies Commissionated to our National Synods shall not be suffered to plead for any Church or private Person who appeals from the Judgment of their Province But it shall be lawful for them to bring with them the Memoirs and Instructions of the said Churches and particular Appellants and tender them unto the National Synods who may leave them in the hands of Commissioners to make report of them 12. This Synod ratifying the Decrees of former Synods forbiddeth all Colloquies and Provincial Synods to divert the Moneys given us by the King in any manner whatsoever from their primary use and intendment whereunto they were appointed and ordaineth that they shall be only employed towards the maintenance of our Ministers and the upholding of the Sacred Ministry of the maintenance of our Universities Colledges Proposans the Widows of Pastors and they shall be expended in defraying the necessary Charges of our National Synods according to the Will and Pleasure of His Majesty 13. Monsieur d' Huisseau appearing in this Assembly as he and Monsieur Guydon had been ordered to give an account of their prosecuting Monsieur Palot for the recovery of those great Summs of Money he was indebted unto the Churches He declared that both himself and the said Monsieur Guidon now absent since the last National Synod held at Alez which they had acquainted with the process commenc't by them against the said Palot could not make any great progress therein because of the Wars which a little while after brake out and for that the Commissioners appointed by the King to audit the said Palots Accounts were all out of the way But yet notwithstanding they had not been altogether idle nor lost their time For though this Affair were exceedingly imbroyl'd yet had they got such light into it as would be very beneficial unto the Churches and not only to some of them which were more particularly concern'd above other but would be very useful to the Exchequer it self and to the said Monsieur Palot That the difficulty formerly experienc't in getting Commissioners who might examin the Accompts of the said Palot had made them conclude that to bring this Affair to an happy period it were best to carry and leave it with the Sedentary Judges as those are in the Sovereign Courts And since the opening of this Synod the Lord Malat Secretary to His Majesty a Man of great Probity Capacity and Intelligence and very well known did by a third Person make this offer That in case he would give him a quarter of what Moneys might be gotten in from this Affair he would undertake the prosecution of it without ever demanding any thing else from the Churches for defraying his Costs and Expences If therefore it would please this Synod to continue and prorogue for Six Moneths longer unto the said Lords Guidon and d' Huysseau the faculties and powers granted and confirmed to them by the last Synod of Alez and give them leave to associate with them the said Lord of Mallat and to prosecute this Affair in such Courts and Jurisdictions as they should think good on condition that one quarter of what might be recovered should be given them in lieu of all their Charges and Recompence they hoped that within the term of Six Moneths the Churches should be well contented with their pains and undertakings and reap the fruit and injoy the benefit of them And that an estimate might be made of their progress in this Law-Suit within that time This Assembly is desired to Authorize the Synod of the Isle of France to take cognisance thereof that so according to the success and profit had and obtained they may either order it to be continued or surceased Moreover this Assembly is requested to charge the Lords our General Deputies to come in and assist the said Lords Guidon Mallat and d' Huisseau upon such occasions as do occur and when as they shall be desired by them But the Synod thought it more convenient before they proceeded any farther to conferr in the first place with the Sieur Palot because we had now an easie opportunity for so doing and therefore voted that the Seur Palot should be intreated to come unto this Assembly which accordingly he did and upon discourse he offered that if this Assembly would be pleased to nominate a Committee of their own Members he would very willingly confer with them about this Affair Whereupon the Lords of Montmartyn one of our General Deputies Basnage a Pastor Du Port du Four and de Launay Elders together with Monsieur d' Huisseau were appointed to confer with the said Palot and see if they could bring him to put a fair and amicable end unto it Who having discoursed with him informed this Assembly that he was so far from compounding with the Churches and refunding any thing unto them of the great Summs demanded by us that on the contrary he avowed they were very much indebted to him The Synod hereupon Commissionated the Lords Durant and Mestrezat Pastors Marbau Massoners Biggot and de L' Aunay Elders of the Church of Paris to act joyntly together with the Lords of Montmartyn and Manialt our General Deputies or with any one of them in the absence of the other and to resolve and conclude in the Name and behalf of our Churches whatsoever they should conceive meet in this Affair and to treat and agree with one or more Sollicitors and to give full Powers unto him or them to prosecute it on such Articles and Conditions as in their Wisdoms would most contribute to the Weal Benefit and Advantage of our Churches And to this purpose a special Letter of Attorney was Sealed to them and Delivered by all the Provincial Deputies of the Churches in this Synod but on this Condition that he or they with whom they agreed should not demand nor pretend unto any Moneys of right from the said Churches for their Pains Costs Losses or Sallaries in the pursuit and sollicitation of this Affair 14. The Lord of Candal came into this Assembly and assured it of the continuance of his sincere Affections and Service unto the Churches and did farther declare and notifie with how much diligence and importunity he and the Lords General Deputies for Five Moneths together in this present year had sollicited both His Majesty and the Lords of his
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
all in all produceth in Man a will to believe and the Act of Believing also CANON XV. God doth not owe this Grace unto any Person For how should God be indebted unto him who can do nothing He that is first hath something that may be repayed him again but what can he owe unto him who hath nothing of his own but Sin and Lyes He then who hath received this Grace from God should yield Everlasting thanks unto God and in truth he is thankful He who hath not received it or who careth not for these Spiritual concerns but pleaseth himself in his own or is unconcerned for them he doth in vain boast to have that which he hath not And as for those who make an outward profession of Faith and Amendment of Life we ought not to speak or judge of them otherwise than well this the Apostles learn us For the Secrets of Mens hearts are hidden from us But as for others who be not called we should in our Prayers beseech God who calleth things which are not as if they were to call them effectually and we ought not in any wise proudly to insult over them as if we had made our selves by our own proper vertue to differ from them CANON XVI And whereas by the Fall Man ceaseth not to be a Man that is to be a Person endowed with Understanding and Will and Sin which hath spread its Contagion through all Mankind hath not abolished the Nature of Mankind but hath depraved and spiritually killed it So this Divine Grace of Regeneration doth not operate upon Men as upon Stocks and Blocks nor doth it take avvay their Will and its properties nor doth it force and compell it against its ovvn accord but it doth Spiritually enliven heal reform and bend it not less svveetly than povverfully so that vvhereas formerly Rebellions and proud risings of the Flesh did fully domineer in it novv that prompt and sincere Obedience of the Spirit begins to reign in it in vvhich consists the true Spiritual restablishment and freedom of our Will And vvere it not that this vvonderful Worker of all good did in this manner vvork for us Man could never hope of rising again from his lapst Estate by his ovvn free Will vvhich vvhilst he stood in Innocency precipitated him into the gulph of perdition CANON XVII So then as this Almighty Operation of God by vvhich he produceth and sustains our Natural Life doth not exclude but requires the use of means through vvhich according to his Infinite Wisdom and Goodness he is pleased to exert his ovvn povver so that aforesaid Supernatural Work of God by vvhich he doth Regenerate us doth not exclude nor in any vvise subvert the preaching of the Gospel vvhich the most Wise God hath ordained to be the Seed of Regeneration and Food of the Soul Wherefore as the Apostles and Doctors vvho have follovved them have all along piously taught and preached up this Grace of God to his Glory and the abasement of â—ll pride and yet in the mean vvhile did never neglect to keep their People vvithin the bounds of Duty by the Sacred Councils of the Gospel such as hearing of the Word participation of the Sacraments and Exercise of Discipline so also God forbid that those vvho novv teach and learn in the Church should presume to tempt God by separating those things vvhich in his good pleasure he vvill have most straitly conjoyned together For Grace is conferred by Admonitions and the more ready vve are in the performance of our Duty the more Illustrious is the benefit of God vvorking in us and it s then that Gods Work goeth onvvard most kindly And unto this our God and to him onely is due all the Glory of the Means and of their Fruit and saving-Efficacy for ever and ever Amen Errors Rejected The Orthodox Doctrine having been Explained the Synod Rejecteth their Errors CANON I. WHO teach That in strictness and propriety of Discourse Original Sin vvas not of it self sufficient to condemn all Mankind or that it should deserve Temporal and Eternal Punishments for they do professedly contradict the Holy Apostle Rom. 5.12 vvho saith That by one Man only Sin entred into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed over all Men forasmuch as all Men have sinned And ver 16. The fault was by one Offence only unto Condemnation And Rom. 6.23 The Wages of Sin is Death Who teach that Spiritual gifts and good habits and vertues such as Goodness Holyness and Righteousness were not in the Will of Man when he was first created and so by consequence that they could not be lost nor separated from him by the fall For this is repugnant to that Character and Description we have of Gods Image front the Apostle Ephes 4.24 Who tells us it consisted in Righteousness and true Holyness which Vertues are truly seated in the Will CANON III. Who teach that Spiritual gifts were not separated from the Will of Man in his Estate of Spiritual Death because the Will of it self was never corrupted but only impeded in its Actions by the darkness of the Understanding and the unruliness of the Affections which Impediments being once removed the Will can display its Natural Liberty that is to say it can of it self either will and choose or not will and refuse whatsoever good is objected and propounded to it This is a mere Novelty and very erroneous tending only to exalt the powers of Free Will above the power of Free Grace contrary to what the Prophet Jeremiah hath long since asserted chap. 17.9 The Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked And contrary to what hath been taught us by the Holy Apostle Ephes 8.3 Among whom viz. the Children of disobedience we also had heretofore our Conversation in the lusts of our Flesh fulfilling the desires of our Flesh and of our Minds CANON IV. Who teach that Man in his Unregenerate Estate is not totally nor properly impeded or deprived of all Spiritual Powers unto Spiritual Good but that he may hunger and thirst after Righteousness and Life and offer unto God the Sacrifice of a contrite and broken Heart which will be acceptable unto God For these Assertions are downright contradictions to express Texts of Scripture as Eph. 2.1 And you hath he quickned being dead in your Sins and Trespasses And Gen. 6.5 And 8.21 Every imagination of the thought of Mans Heart is only evil and that continually from his youth upwards Besides to hunger and thirst after Life and to desire and long for deliverance from Sin and its Misery and to offer unto God the Sacrifices of a broken heart this is the peculiar property of the Regenerate Psal 51.19 And of them who by our Blessed Saviour are styled Blessed Persons CANON V. Who teach that Man corrupted and as yet in his Natural Estate can so well use and improve common Grace by which they understand the Light of Nature or those gifts which remain in him
The Lord Commissioners Speech to the COUNCIL Proposals of the Lord Commissioner THIS Commission being read The Lord Galland declared fully and at large what Orders had been given him by His Majesty the Sum of which was an Assurance of His Majesties good Will towards His Subjects of the Reformed Religion and his Royal promise to preserve them in their Exercise and peaceable profession of it and that whilest they continued in their Duty and Obedience unto His Majesty he would take care that his Edicts should be strictly and punctually observed 2. And that the Foundations of their Obedience may be the more firm and solid His Majesty exhorted his said Subjects of the Reformed Religion to live in a greater Equanimity and Moderation with his other Subjects though differing from them in Religion So that the difference in Religion may cause no difference in their Affections which His Majesty assureth His said Protestant Subjects shall be accurately observed towards them that so they may not in any manner be troubled or prosecuted upon the pretext and ground of their Religion 3. The Professors also of the Reformed Religion ought on their part to promise that they will not hold any Intelligence Alliances or Correspondence with Persons abroad and without the Kingdom but only with His Majesty Reposing their intire Confidence in His Majesties Royal Word Grace and Favour He added farther That His Majesty commanded him to acquaint us that during the Wars he was never minded to abrogate or disanul the Edicts because he alwayes had a particular regard to the Repose of his Subjects For immediately upon his being declared Major he confirmed his Edicts renewed his Alliances increased and augmented his Bounty unto the Ministers and imployed in his most important Affairs of State the Lords and Gentlemen professing the said Religion and when as some special Occurrences necessitated him to act otherwise He did notwithstanding express and evidence the Effects of his Clemency by receiving and pardoning whole Communities and all such of His Subjects as submitted themselves unto his Authority he gave them a General Amnesty to Indemnifie them 4. And although the remembrance of those Actions be dead and buried yet 't is His Majesties Pleasure that the Canon past in the Synod of Realmont be put in Execution and an Information taken and brought in against those Ministers who had embrac't the Spanish Faction and that the Deputies unto this Council do Order a Declaration to this purpose to be drawn up not as if His Majesty intended an Hue and Cry should be issued out after the guilty or that they should be prosecuted for it but that all occasions of Troubles may be taken away and that the Lives and Actions of those who persisted in their Duty may not at all be blemished 5. The said Lord Commissioner added further That it was His Majesties Will as it had been Decreed in the last Synod at Charenton that Ministers should be confined to the proper Duties of their Calling and preach unto their People Obedience and not do as too too many did in the time of the late Troubles get into Political Assemblies and intermeddle with Affairs of State 6. And that Obedience and Subjection unto His Majesties Authority may be kept up inviolably and not be corrupted by any Foreign Manners or Way of Living It is His Majesties Pleasure and according to Laws in this case provided That no Minister shall depart the Kingdom without his Royal Licence first obtained nor live in a Foreign Land nor shall these National Councils lend any of their Ministers unto Foreign Princes or Republicks who may importune them to such a Loane either for a determinate time or during Life but they shall remit the demand unto His Majesty who in such cases will particularly consider his good Neighbours and Allies CHAP. IV. The Councils Answer to it The Answer made unto what had been proposed by the Kings Commissioner WHereupon the Council having given thanks to Almighty God for inclining the Kings heart to favour our poor Churches and to continue his protection to them they did also render their most humble and unfeigned thanks unto His Majesty for those most sensible Expressions of His Royal Favour unto His Subjects of the Reformed Religion for giving us our Peace and the accustomed Effects of His Goodness and Clemency And that His Majesty might have a manifest token and evidence of our Obedience unto his Commands now signified to us it was immediately and unanimously voted that a Declaration should be drawn up as in Conscience we were bound to discharge our Holy Religion of all blame and to testifie our fidelity and submission unto His Majesty from whose Authority Clemency and Justice next and immediately after God the Churches of France can only hope for support protection and preservation being ready and willing to lay down in His Majesties Service all that is dear unto us even our very Lives and Fortunes professing and calling â—od to witness that this is the Doctrine taught by our Pastors unto their Churches agreeable to the word of God in the Holy Scriptures and that Confession of Faith which is owned and embraced by all the Reformed Churches of France And the very first Vote which past was this that notwithstanding there have been ever found among our People professing the Reformed Religion the noblest Instances and Patterns of a true great and most Christian patience under the worst of usages and oppressions in all places and at all times sustained by them yet nevertheless all and singular the Consistories of our Churches shall continue their Counsels and Exhortations to them of abounding in Christian patience equanimity and moderation and to pay unto their Countreymen of the Romish Religion all Offices and Duties of Humanity Civility and Charity according to the Word of God and Intendment of His Majesty who also is most humbly petitioned to cast His Royal Eyes of Compassion upon the deep Afflictions of His Protestant Subjects who though they have alwayes labour'd to gain and keep the love and friendship of their fellow-Citizens and Countrey-men are yet notwithstanding in divers places of the Kingdom molested in their Persons disturbed in the Exercise of their Religion deprived of their Temples yea and see them demolished before their Faces even since the peace or else given away from them for dwelling houses unto the Româ—sh Priests and Ecclesiasticks and that they be dispossessed of their Burying Places and the Dead Bodies of very many Persons digged up most ignominiously that our Ministers have been barbarously beaten bruised wounded and driven away from their Churches although they have been the most innocent and inoffensive Persons in the World who neither injur'd the Publick in general nor any one in particular as our General Deputies shall more amply and at large make report hereof unto His Majesty Moreover the Council doth farther declare That as the Churches within the Kingdom have ever been united in the profession
of one and the same Faith and Acts of Love and Charity because they are part of the same Mystical Body whose Members have none other aim or end than with one heart to serve God and the King in peaceable Lives and Liberty of Conscience so as for the Churches in other Nations they never had nor ever will have any Intelligence Alliance or Correspondency with them than what shall be approved by God and His Majesty desiring always to live in peace under the Wings of His protection Farther the Council protesterh that our Churches had never the least intimation or knowledge that any of their Members professing the Reformed Religion have tamper'd in any Plots or Treasons with the Spaniard or other Enemies of this Crown and if it could be proved to them that there be such as were ingaged in those pernicious designs and practises we would be the very first with heart and hand to subscribe unto their Condemnation and to abhor both them their Complices and Adherents as we now do from our very Souls profess our Abhorrency and Detestation both of them their Doctrine and practise who having divers times attempted to Assassinate the Sacred Persons of Kings do to this very day uphold and mantain Intelligencies and Correspondencies both at home and abroad within and without the Kingdom against their pretious Lives and Imperial Crowns Dignities and Regal Authority As for that Canon past in the Synod of Realmont and read now unto us This Council cannot conceal its grief for the great wrong done unto that Synod because it was enforced by His Majesties Commissioner then personally assisting in it to frame an Act which seems to take for granted that there were some Ministers accused of holding Intelligence with the Spaniard the most implacable Enemy of France and of our Churches though in truth there was not so much as one found guilty of that Crime and the Churches cannot but adore the goodness of God unto them that after the most diligent and rigorous Inquiries made to this purpose not one of our Pastors could be impeached and that the malitious and shameless Calumnies of our most invenim'd and inveterate Adversaries could never fasten or prove their Accusation upon any one particular Person of one Communion The Event having at last demonstrated that our Churches were condemned most unjustly and cleared and proclaimed innocent of all those Accusations before the whole World And as for the two following points This Assembly is resolved to give full contentment unto His Majesty And whereas our former National Synods have made a Canon about the first so will this also be as careful to enact another And the Acts of this Assembly shall answer for the second so that His Majesty shall ever have Universal Obedience Subjection Fidelity and most Faithful Service from our Churches whereunto we are obliged by our Natural Duty the Motions of our Conscience and the Ordinance of our God CHAP. V. The Kings Warrant for Choice of a New General Deputy THE Lord Commissioner Galland having been informed of the Death of the Lord Maniald one of the General Deputies of our Churches unto His Majesty did on the Five and Twentieth day of September present unto this National Synod this following Warrant dispatched by Express Order from His Majesty This day the Three and Twentieth of August One Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty Six His Majesty being at Nants and considering that the term of Three vears was now expired in which the Lords of Montmartyn and Maniald who had been chosen General Deputies for His Subjects professing the P. Reformed Religion and in that Quality and Office to reside and serve at Court and to attend upon His Majesty in all his Progress and Motions and that there must be a new Election of some other Deputies to succeed them in their Office and considering farther that this Election could not be more conveniently done than in a National Assembly and Council which His Majesty hath permitted His said Subjects of the Reformed Religion to hold in the City of Castres this September next ensuing that so they may not be put to unnecessary Expence and Trouble as they would otherwise be if they should be forced to call another Assembly on this occasion His Majesty for these considerations and divers other good and important reasons relating unto his Service the Repose and Tranquillity of his Government and Kingdom hath granted License unto the Deputies which shall be present at the said National Council to treat and choose new Deputies who may reside and serve in that Quality near his Royal Person instead of the said Lords of Montmartyn and Maniald and this in the presence of the Lord Galland one of the Lords of our Council of State and Commissioner unto the said National Assembly and to propose unto him Six Persons capable faithful and most affectionately inclin'd unto His Majesties Service and the Publick Peace that out of them His Majesty may prick two unto the said Office of General Deputies by means whereof those aforesaid Lords of Montmartyn and Manyald shall be discharged of their Imployment observing the forms in such cases accustomed provided alwayes that in the Assembly aforesaid there shall not be any other Matters debated or handled excepting what concern the Discipline of their Religion as has been determined by His Majesties Edicts and Declarations In testimony whereof His Majesty hath commanded me to expedite this present Writt Signed by His Own Royal Hand and Countersigned by me one of His Most Honourable Privy Council and Secretary of State and of his Commands Signed Louis and a little lower Philippeaux CHAP. VI. The Synods deliberation upon the Writt THE Assembly consulting upon His Majesties Writt and considering that it does not contain an Express Command but only a simple permission to nominate General Deputies and that it doth in such a manner restrain the said permission as that it leaveth unto this Assembly no liberty nor power at all of calling the said Lord of Montmartyn to an Accompt who hath from the first time of his Election unto this present day exercised the said General Deputation much less to give Instructions unto such as may be Elected unto the said Office Besides that this Assembly durst not adventure upon the said Election without an open violation of His Majesties Edicts Letters Patents and Sealed Letters and of our usual and accustomed Order and the Solemn Protestation of former Synods who have expresly declared that they desired and intended utterly to forbear all cognisance of Affairs of this Nature And farther that the Churches had been for a very long time together deprived of the Assistance of His Majesties Bounty and that it would be needful most humbly to petition him to order his Royal Promises to be observed and entirely accomplished and fulfilled For these Causes and Reasons and particularly that we might keep within the bounds of Order and to the Ancient practice of the Churches The Council judged
Scribes In pursuance of the Canon made in the Synod or Privas The Provinces are injoyned to see that the Deputies of every Church do make Oath that they shall not give their Votes nor Suffrages unto such as brigue their Elections and Deputations unto our National Synods CHAP. XIII The Confession of Faith approved THE Confession of Faith being read word by word and every Article distinctly in its due Order it was approved and ratified by the Unanimous consent of all the Deputies both Pastors and Elders who protested as well for themselves as for their Provinces that they would live and die in the profession of this Faith teach it in their Churches and see it inviolably to be observed CHAP. XIV Observations on reading the Church-Discipline 1 AFter those words in the Fifth Canon of the First Chapter Without power of administring the Holy Sacraments these shall be added nor of solemnizing Marriages 2 In reading the Nine and Twentieth Canon of the same Chapter the Council declareth that by the discord mentioned in that Canon we are to understand not only what is moved by the Pastor but by the Church or Members among themselves also 3. On the first Canon of the third Chapter it was declared that whosoever accepted the Office of an Elder cannot be constrained to execute it if before his Reception thereinto the consent he had once given be again revoked by him 4. When the sixth Canon of the eighth Chapter was read at the request of the Provincial Deputies of Berry it was voted That Provincial Synods should be obliged before they brake up to proceed unto Censures even as in the like case a Decree had been framed for Colloquies 5. All our Churches are exhorted faithfully and exactly to observe the ninth Canon of the twelfth Chapter concerning the Administration of the Cup in the Lords Supper and to be accountable for their Obedience to it unto the next National Synod 6. The eighth Canon of the Ninth Chapter shall be razed but of our Discipline as being superfluous and unpracticable in our Churches 7. The same judgment having past on the fourth Canon of the tenth Chapter it was amended and changed into these words Churches which have been accustomed to make Publick Prayers on some certain days of the Week may continue that order which for many years they have so happily observed and other Churches may imitate their good example when as the Lord shall bless them with Ability and Opportunity and it may contribute unto their Edification 8. And Pastors also in the faithful discharge of their duties shall indeavour by their Remonstrances and Exhortations to prevent those great dishonours done unto Almighty God by that general contempt of his Holy Word preached very many neglecting Sermons and Publick Publick Ordinances of Religious Worship yea and Family-Prayers of which Omissions a multitude of Heads of Families Housholders and their Domesticks are exceeding guilty 9. The eighteenth Canon of the thirteenth Chapter shall be couched in this form Such as dwell in those places where the Publick Exercise of our Religion is not est ablished may cause their banes of Matrimony to be published in the Popish Churches it being a matter purely political 10. The Churches are injoyned by this Synod to give in an account unto their Colloquies and Provincial Synods of all Infractions of the sixteenth Canon in the fourteenth Chapter of our Discipline and Colloquies and Synods are to censure such Offenders whether they have violated it by printing of Practical or Controversal Treatises 11. When the twenty fourth twenty fifth and twenty sixth Canons of the fourteenth Chapter were read it was voted That this ensuing Canon should be made and read in all the Churches as soon as the Deputies were returned unto their respective Provinces CHAP. XV. An Act against Debauchery FOrasmuch as the Wrath of God is visibly revealed from Heaven against the Ungodlyness of Men and is notoriously poured out upon those who being once enlightned from above and called to the knowledge of the Heavenly Truth have afterward kept it under Hatches through their Unrighteousness that so they might more freely wallow in the Abominations of this World and turn the Grace of God into lasciviousness The National Synod of the reformed Churches of this Kingdom Assembled by His Majesties Licence in the Town of Gastres unable to behold without weeping Eyes and a wounded bleeding heart after such dreadful Judgments and Desolations as have befallen us the reigning Dissolutions and Debauches of those Persons who style and own themselves Members of Gods Church though in very truth and deed they be horrible Profaners of his Holy Name and dishonourable Professors of our most Holy Religion by their Impious and Licentious Lives and do as much as in them lieth deny the power of Godliness by their open and shameless ingratitude to his Divine Goodness Now for the avoiding of Gods burning Wrath and Indignation and more and more to stir up the Bowels of his Fatherly Compassions which he was pleased to remember for us even in the midst of Judgment yea and then also when as he smote his sinful Heritage with his forest and severest strokes and that upon our Conversion and Reformation his special Love and favour may be had and obtained and that this peace which against all hopes he hath given a stiff-necked and rebellious People who have bitterly provoked him to Jealousie and as it is too too evident have nothing profited by his Rod of Discipline and Correction may be preserved and continued This National Synod decreeth That all the Churches of this Kingdom shall be sollicited by the most powerful Motives and Arguments to humble themselves deeply in a most serious Repentance before his Divine Majesty and utterly to abandon all Vanities Luxury 's Fantasticalness and sumptuous Superfluities in Apparel those unseemly Ornaments and delights of lascivious Curles Paintings Naked Breasts Dances Balls Masquerades Wassaile-Feasts Carnevalls and all other unfruitful works of Darkness that so the Faithful Reforming their Lives and producing Fruits worthy of Repentance may demonstrate themselves by their good Works to be the conscientious Guardians of that pretious Jewel or saving Truths which is deposited with them And all Consistories are injoyned to exert that Authority given them of God diligently to suppress their Insolencies who glorying in their shame and ignominy may attempt in aftertimes to continue in any of their disorderly and sinful practises and should set themselves to resist those Remonstrances which the Great and Holy God hath or may issue forth against them by his Sacred Word And that this most needful Canon may be executed with the greater Faithfulness Care and Facility This Synod doth ordain that it shall be read publickly in all our Churches and an Account of its Observation shall be given in unto Colloquies and Synods on pain of being responsible in their own Persons particularly for all its Transgressions and Violations The whole Church Discipline having been read
and Chambrun who were appointed Commissioners by the Synod of Charenton to visit that Province had been countermanded by Monsieur Recent the said Recent is injoyned to appear before the next Synod of Lower Languedoc and there to answer unto all Matters that shall be brought in against him and the said Synod shall suspend him from the Ministry in case he be found to have deserved it And those Excuses of the Sieurs Crubellier and Chambrun are accepted but withall the Reverend Mr. Chauve and Bouteroue and in case they by some lawful hindrance should be detained then the Reverend Mr. Le Faucheur and Conel are charged to go unto the next Synod of Provence and there see the aforesaid Canons of those former National Synods to be put in Execution and to remedy those disorders which may and do retard their Observation The Agreement made between the said Province and the Widow of Monsieur Toussains is approved and confirmed The Commissioners appointed for remedying the Confusions in the said Province shall give judgment in that case complained of by the Church of Lormarin and brought before this Assembly The Synod confirming the Sentence of the Province of the Isle of France decreeth that Monsieur du Val shall be numbred among the Pastors that be Emeriti and that a free Portion shall be assigned and payed in unto him as unto others of the same quality and under his Circumstances That the Twelfth Article in the Chapter of Colledges and Universities may be more accurately observed than heretofore all Provinces within whose district the said Universities be Erected are earnestly exhorted to put forth their helping hand that they be reduc't into practice and they shall bring proof of their Obedience yielded to this Canon unto the next National Synod The Province of Guyenne requesting it this Council doth confirm the R. R. Mr. Alba and Ferrand in the Pastoral Charge of the Churches of Agen and Bourdeaux Report being made by the Commissioners appointed for examining the Memoirs of Monsieur du Bois a Pastor sent by the last National Synod unto the Church of Fontaines and Crossy till the sitting of the next Synod of Normandy upon the first Article of his Complaints and Demands he was ordered to apply himself unto the Province of Anjou and the said Province should bestir themselves so effectually that he may have full satisfaction and all his Debts payd him especially by the Lady de la Barce and upon the Second that the Province of Normandy shall give him an Accompt of his Portion which they received for him under his Name it being entered under their Dividend Moreover they shall either provide him of a Church or give him an Honourable dismission from the Ministry in their Province in case there be no vacant Church in it that demands his Service Which also shall be notified to him and that the aforesaid Province hath proceeded to dischâ—rge him CHAP. XIX 1626. The 25th Synod A Deposed Minister Restored MOniseur James Repasseau presenting Honourable Attestations of His Deportment ever since his Deposition and with Showers of Tears most humbly petitioning the Synod that he might reap the fruits and benefits of those hopes which the last National Synod had given him some ground to expect and that upon evident proofs and tokens of his sincere Repentance he might be another day restored unto the Exercise of his Ministry and the Provincial Deputies of Dolphiny being charged by their Synod to intercede for him and by word of mouth to confirm those good and laudable Testimonials which had been given him by the Church of Montlimard where he hath ever since resided and by his Religious and Exemplary Conversation exceedingly edified them The Synod having tender bowels of Love and Compassion for him and yielding a just deference to those affectionate intreaties of the Province of Dolphiny and of the whole Church of Montlimard in which for these Four last Years he hath made his constant aboad to their singular satisfaction after serious Admonitions given him to stand upon his guard and diligently to ponder his Paths and to walk in the House or God with a very Godly Fear and a most Religious Circumspection for the future because of the great scandal which was taken by the Church and World by those within and without at his Sin and Fall especially his best and dearest Friends having been horribly amazed and astonished at it This Synod doth now restore him to his Ministry and to the Exercise of all the Duties and Offices of a Gospel-Minister and decreeth by this present Canon that his Name shall be razed out of the Roll and Catalogue of Deposed Ministers that so when as any Church shall give him a Call to work among them he may re-enter upon his Pastoral Work and charge with as great Honour and Comfort as he was deprived of it with Grief Ignominy and Confusion CHAP. XX. APPEALES THE Sieur Ginoux brought his Appeal from a Judgment of the Province of Sevennes and he was patiently heard speaking of those pretended grievances which occasioned his Appeal and of that opposition which was made and formed by him and his Party against the Settlement of Monsieur Courant in the Pastoral Office in the Church of Alez and about the Suspension decreed against him from the Lords Table by the Consistory of his own Church and the Provincial Synod The Deputies of Sevennes were heard also speaking in the behalf of their Province This Synod did hereupon declare that the said opposition was groundless 1626. The 25th Synod and confirmed the Decree of the Provincial Synod for the Setting of the said Monsieur Courant in the Church of Alez and forasmuch as the said Sieur Ginoux doth yield unto those Exhortations and Remonstrances that have been made him and out of deference to them protesteth that he will relinquish as he now relinquisheth all those Accusations brought by him against Monsieur des Marests and his Colleague Monsieur Courant whom he reckoneth and believeth to be True Worthy and Faithful Ministers of the Gospel Holy and Exemplary in their Lives of Unblemished and Unstained Reputations And farther it ordaineth that the said Sieurs des Marests and Courant shall openly and publickly declare before the Consistory of Montpellier that they do reciprocally hold and esteem the said Sieur Ginoux for an honest Gentleman of good Reputation and without Reproach and after this Declaration thus made the said Consistory shall reconcile them one to the other and by Authority from this Synod the said Sieur Ginoux shall be received by them unto the Peace and Commmunion of the Church and that Suspension decreed against him by the Province of Sevennes shall be removed and taken off the File 2. Letters were read from the Church of Paris with its appeal from the Judgment of the last Provincial Synod and Monsieur Mestrezat and d' Hâ—ysseau with the other Deputies of that Province were heard speaking to it This Assembly
those Commands and Orders shall be signed and copied out by those now-mentioned Overseers for the Poor And both they and the said Receiver shall be obliged to send the Certificate unto the next National Synod of the faithful Employment of those Moneys unto the common Uses and Necessities of their Poor and that they were not in the least diverted from the Intention of the charitable Donors nor of his Majesty unto the Benefit and private Profit of some few particular Persons either for defraying their Expences in Travel or Deputations or any other occasion whatsoever And the Council shall agree and pitch upon those aforesaid Receivers and Overseers And to facilitate the receiving of those Sums collected and to prevent all Delays Confusions Inequalities in receiving and other Inconveniences which may fall out in case the said Cities should send abroad unto the Provinces and particular Churches to gather in what had been granted them and above all to ease them of those great Charges which they must of Necessity be at in this Case it was thought best to order the Consistories of Paris and Lyons to choose a Person from among them to be the General Receiver of those Moneys And all the Provinces are enjoined to send speedily and if possible they can within a Month's space after the Return of their Deputies the Moneys collected by them viz. the Provinces of the Isle of France Normandy Brittain Anjou Berry Poitou and Xaintonge to those who are ordained to receive them in the City of Paris and those of Burgundy Dolphiny Provence Vivaretz Sevennes Higher and Lower Languedoc and Guyenne to them who shall be appointed in the City of Lions that so these Moneys being received by them may be transmitted to the particular Commissioners of the said Cities either by Bills of Exchange or any other way together with their Acquittances according to the Dividend before ordained 2. In Pursuance of this last-named Article the Lord of Angoulins was nominated to be Receiver for the Town of Rochel and for Overseers Monsieur de L' Hommeau and Monsieur Colomiez Pastors together with Mr. Paul Mervant and Nicholas Chesnell Peers and tree Burgesses and Elders of the City of Rochel And for the City of Montauban the Lord Roques first Consul was declared Receiver and the R. R. Mr. Ollier and Charles Pastors together with the Lords d' Assier Barrampere and du Bois Elders for Overseers And for the City of Castres Mr. Thomas was nominated Receiver and the Lords de la Gasquerie de Servoles de Lissac de Bernard the Elder de Legonier and Rony the Auditor for Overseers And all and every one of these now-mentioned Persons were agreed upon and approved by this Council which also enjoined them who received these Collections and Charities to deliver them unto these Receivers 22. In every Province there shall be reserv'd a Cahier of the particular Complaints and Grievances of particular Churches oppressed upon the score and account of Religion that so those Cahiers may be all transmitted to the Church of Paris which shall compile out of them one general Cahier to be left in the hands of our General Deputies CHAP. XXVIII Particular Matters 1. SOME having very cunningly and maliciously robbed the Deputies of Lower Languedoc of certain Papers quoted in an Inventory which they had brought to this Council giving an account of the Grounds and Reasons of that Judgment passed by the Provincial Synod on George Arbault the Council being well fatisfied of their Integrity and Fidelity and particularly of Monsieur Petit's with whom all those Writings were deposited did think it needful to give them this Attestation and fully to discharge them of all those Papers which were delivered unto Monsieur Aymard one of the Provincial Deputies for Sevennes who will exhibit them upon all Occasions excepting those relating to the Sieur Arbaut before-mentioned which he received from the hands of the Sieurs Mestrezat and du Puy who were commissionated by the Synod to peruse them he having given them a Receipt under his own Hand which was delivered by him unto the aforesaid Monsieur Aymard together with those Papers and two Inventories subscribed by the Sieurs du Cros and Petit. 2. In reading the Accusation of the Sieur Arbaut and some other Acts brought against him the Colloquy of Anduze was ordered to inform themselves of the Deportments of the Sieurs du Cros Pastor of the Church at Blansac and of Raly Pastor in the Church of St. John de Maruejoly and to proceed against them And the Commissioners deputed by the Province of Lower Languedoc were ordered to deliver unto the said Colloquy the whole Relation of their Proceedings And the said Colloquy should judg of those Differences which are risen up between the said Arbaut formerly a Minister and the Colloquies of Montpellier and Vsez all which shall be notified to them by their Scribe 3. Monsieur Tourtelon a Pastor Emeritus came unto the Synod bitterly complaining of his great Poverty and Misery and petitioned for some Relief Mr. Cooper was intreated to advance an hundred Franks before-hand unto this aged Gentleman payable out of that Portion assigned to him and which will become due out of the Dividend for the Province of Lower Languedoc to whose Charity we do in an especial manner recommend him 4. There was again read the Petition of John le Febure 1626. The 25th Synod a Bookseller in Geneva reiterating his former Complaints unto divers of our National Synods against Monsieur Manueill a Minister somewhere serving in the Province of Bearn After hearing the Allegations of the Deputies of that Province on behalf of Manueill the Synod not admitting their Excuses nor being able any longer to suffer that the Advice and Orders of our preceding Synods and the Complaints of the said Febure and of the Church of Geneva should be so wretchedly slighted and despised and that a Fellow blasted in his Reputation for an infamous Crime from which he hath not acquitted nor careth to acquit and clear himself should be continued in the Ministry in that Province and that Provincial Synod to have no regard at all unto the Proceedings had against him by that famous City of Geneva nor to take the least care that the said Manueill should purge and justify himself from the Crime imposed on him that so the Scandal might be repaired either by his compleat Absolution and Discharge or by an exemplary Punishment inflicted upon him for his said Offence A Decree past That in case the Synod of the said Province of Bearn did not give full Satisfaction unto the Requests of this and of the former National Synods of our Churches and produce undoubted Evidence thereof unto the next National Synod by valid Acts of their Duty and Obedience thereunto that then their Deputies should be utterly excluded these Synods nor should they have either admission or session consultive or decisive Votes in them 5. The Deputies of Bearn complaining that the Parliament
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
Ressent 547. La Motte Antony de Creze 548. Curban Claudius Marshall 549. Joran Andrew Guerin 550. Lormarin Peter Maurice 551. Riez Andrew Genoyer 552. La coste James Bayly 553. Merindol James Malat. 554. La Charce Andrew Beruard 555. Grasse Peter Mercurin 556. Luc John Durier 557. Soderon John Bernard 558. Manosques Paul Guardinar 559. Velaux James Rescent Fourteenth Province and Provincial Synod of Orleans and Berry divided into three Colloquies having twenty nine Churches and thirty Pastors 1st The Colloquy of Sancerre Gien and Nivernois 560. St. Leonard near Corbigny Stephen Monsanglard 561. Chastillon on the Loing Simon Jurieu 562. Gien upon the Loir Daniel Jamet 563. Chastillon on the Loir Louis Margone 564. Bruion Bennet de la Roche 565. Henry Chemont Dantigny enjoyeth the Ministry of Isaac Babaud 566. Sawerre Paul Alard a Rocheller 567. La Charité John Taby 568. La Scelle and Dolat Anne Poat 569. Despueilles Elijah Semeele 2d Colloquy of Orleans and Blaisois 570. Blois Nicholas Vignier and Paul Testard 571. Romorantin Jacob Brun. 572. Cheleure and Boudara David Horace 573. Boisgency John Guerin 574. Basoches and Denouville Jerom Belon 575. Orleans James Imbert and Durand 578. Chasteaudun James Lancy 579. Dangeau Lewes Tuissard 3d Colloquy of Bourbonnois 580. Argenton Bliseus Saluon 581. St. Amand and Belet Lewis Scoffier 582. Delise Peter Falquet 583. Moudun René Bedé 584. Ambusson William Vignon 585. Gergeau destitute 586. Bourges destitute 587. La Chastre and St. John Verin destitute 588. Suilly destitute Fifteenth and last Province and Provincial Synod of France is the Province of Normandy divided into five Colloquies having thirty five Churches and forty Pastors 1st Colloquy of Roan 589. Roan hath John Maximilian de L'anglé Peter Erondelle and David Primrose 590. Orbes Abraham le Seneschal 591. Quillebaeuf William Cacherat 592. Saucourt Charles De lossat 593. Pont Levesque Stephen Fudes 594. Eureax Peter le Tellier 2d Colloquy of Caux 595. Dieppe Abdias de Mondenis and Moyse * * * The Son of this Cartaud sâ—â—â—â—â—ed his Father and in the Year 1685 he turn'd Apostate Cartaud 596. Boislebec James de Larrey 597. Luncrey and Basqueville Isaac de la Balte 598. Seintet Isaac de la Motte 599. Fescum David Guellode 600. Haure de Grace John Baudowin 3d Colloquy of Caen. 601. Caen John le Boniver Lord of la Fresnay John de Ballehache and Samuel Bochart 602. Baali Samuel Bajeux 603. Bayeneux John le Breton 604. St. Vast Stephen le Sage 605. Trencens Antony le Genevois 606. Geffosse David Chanduret 607. Les Essars John Tappin 4th Colloquy of Falaise 608. Atis Peter Morin 609. Presnat David Bourgat 610. Mezieres Peter Baulran 611. Vire William Blanchard 612. St. Silvain Noah Gallot 613. Condé upon Noireau John Blanchard 614. Falaise Peter Baycux David de Caux a Pastor without a Church 5th Colloquy of Constantin 615. Ste mere Eglife Benjamin Banage and Antony de Lassleur 616. Dulé Mark Maurice 617. St. Lo Vincent Soler 618. Groussy Jeremy Charitier 619. Gaure Jehoiachin le Moyne 620. Cheffresne Isaac de Vennes 621. Chassagne Luke Boquet 622. La haye dupuy destitute 623. Serizi destitute There is in this Province a sixth Colloquy viz. the Colloquy of Alencon but it and its Churches are both omitted in this Catalogue Sixteenth Province and Provincial Synod is the Province of Bearn Which Province being in the Principality of Bearn did always appear by two Deputies chosen by their Synod in the National Synods of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom and were in this of Castres represented by the Lords Peter de Rivall Pastor in the Church of Nay and John de Pommerede Advocate in the Parliament of Navarre Elder in the Church of Morlas but the said Deputies did not bring with them the Roll of the Churches and Pastors in their Province so that they could not be registred CHAP. XXXVIII A Letter of the Church of Geneva to the National Synod of Castres Most Reverend Honoured and Dear Brethren THere has not been a National Synod of the Churches for these many Years last past held in France but that we have made tenders of our Duties to them because of that strict and intimate Communion we have with them all in our common Lord. We have also new Ingagements unto Thankfulness and to abound in Thanksgivings for the infinite Mercies of our God which are Day by Day and from one Year unto another accumulated upon and continued to his Churches the Lord renewing his tender Compassions so miraculously in their Preservations But if ever we had any cause for so doing 't is now that we are in a most extraordinary manner obliged to it for his gracious Providence shines forth with a most admirable Lustre in the defence of your Churches and particularly in the free enjoyment of your Religious Assemblies so that at the many strange Accidents which have befallen you for divers Years together and the Tempests with which the Kingdom of France hath been assaulted and battered the sore and grievous Afflictions of many of our Brethren having astonished our Souls and overwhelmed our Hearts with Sorrows had made us almost despair of ever seeing the comfortable returns of Peace unto your Realm and of Repose and Settlement for your poor afflicted Churches and the Exercise of your most excellent Discipline than which a better was never practised in the Christian World And now in this Calm the Divine Wisdom gathers his Children as the Hen doth her Chickens under his Wings and reneweth the Face of his Church in your Congregations as the Eagle doth his Youth And this Mercy should be the more prized and esteemed by us because it is not in this Day a common Favour and Benefit vouchsafed of God unto all those whom he had once honoured with the knowledg of himself in the Gospel For besides that the subversion of so many Provinces the dismal Desolations or those sometimes flourishing Churches in Germany Bohemia Moravia and the Valtoline are yet continued and the Dissipations and Dispersions are still growing and augmenting and the Judgments of God from Heaven are following one upon the neck of another one dreadful Ravage calling upon another to make haste Therefore we lie prostrate night and day at the Feet of our Heavenly Father adoring his rich Grace in Christ Jesus for setting bounds unto the Fire of his Wrath so that all his Churches are not totally devoured by it And we most ardently beseech his Divine Majesty that as he keeps the Hearts of Kings in his own Hands so he would be pleased to inspire your King with Counsels of Favour and Peace for his People and tender Love unto your Churches that under his Government and Authority the Name of God may be celebrated with Liberty of Conscience and Truth may bring forth Faith in the World and Righteousness from Heaven may yield the Fruit of True and Saving Peace Moreover we do also carry upon our Hearts unto the Throne
have suffered us to have finished what we had begun since we had entred upon it But contrariwise we were censur'd by them and they rejected our Call of Monsieur Daillé without ever giving us any reason for it This most honoured Sirs did exceedingly astonish us and is very bitter to us that after so many Travels we should be blamed for that Action of which we protest before God Angels and your Holy Assembly we had none other end than the Glory of God and the Advancement of his Kingdom nor durst we believe that our Synod could have been guilty of such an Excess unless the Interests and Pretensions of some particular Persons had not been predominant For we are not convinced of having violated any Canon of our Church-Discipline whereas on the contrary those Gentlemen under the pretext of establishing it do sap and undermine its very Foundations For the Discipline having prudently ordained that no Church may call a Pastor from another Province till it have first communicated it unto the Provincial Synod hath thereby provided for two things first For the publick Edification of our Churches and for the maintaining of an holy Union between all the Churches of this Kingdom it doth permit a Church to chuse and call a Pastor to it from out of another Province And if this be permitted unto all the Churches and many of them have made use of this Priviledg it ought more especially be allow'd unto this Church of Paris whose Importance is sufficiently known This hath been our practice ever unto this day nor till now was it contradicted by any Person For thus was Monsieur du Moulin called off from the Service of her Royal Highness the Dutchess of Barr deceased and thus did we call Monsieur Durant from her Highness the Dutchess of Deuxponts The other is that the Discipline would hinder Churches from calling rashly and unadvisedly such Persons whose Doctrine was unsound or Lives scandalous or in whom there was an Insufficieney So that if any Church should call such Persons the Provincial Synod might very justly and warrantably obstruct and hinder it But when-as nothing can be urg'd against the Person called the Synod hath no power to hinder that Call such an absolute Power being condemned by the Word of God And 't is very improbable that the Composers of our Discipline should ever harbour such a Thought or Intention as to impose this Yoke upon our Churches or that they would place Pastors of Churches in worse Circumstances than Scholars who being sought after by Churches and presented unto Synods cannot be rejected whenas they have those Qualities which are requisite for their imployment in the Sacred Ministry Therefore in our Opinion we have not in the least swerved from the Canons of our Discipline For we have called a Person admitted into the Pastoral Office already in our Churches and who hath discharged his Duty with Applause and Commendation and not a Stranger utterly unknown to us And we gave notice of it unto our Synod as soon as possibly we could and craved their Approbation But contrariwise our said Synod breaketh the Links in the golden Chain of Communion between us and our Churches and would deprive us of that Blessing and Franchise wherewith our Discipline hath endowed us and of which we have had the Possession and Enjoyment to this present Day and this without alledging of any other Reason besides their meer and bare Will and Pleasure For in case these Gentlemen should pretend Ignorance of Monsieur Daillé and that they do not in the least know him We answer that they might better have been acquainted with him and inform'd themselves concerning him than to have deprived us of so great a Blessing and to reject a Person whom having once the happiness of his Acquaintance they would most highly caress esteem and value Besides were there any force in this Argument all Pastors might be rejected who are called from out of the Province But should they say the Synod disapproved absolutely of this Call because we were over-hasty in it and that we did not in the first place consult with them about it We answer That we imparted this Affair unto them as soon as possibly we could and in case we did it not sooner it was not out of any disrespect unto them These Gentlemen do very well know with how much Humility and cordial Affection we are wont to treat and deal with them But this must be imputed to the unhappiness of the Times and that Affliction wherewith God had visited us And suppose we had failed in this Particular which yet they will never be able to convince us of What Zeal what Charity is this to punish our Miscarriage with the loss of God's Glory and the Edification of so considerable a Church as ours is And if God had not out of his great Goodness excited the Charity and moved the Compassions of Churches far distant from us the Condition of our Church had been most lamentable for our Synod made no better Provision for us than to send us unto our Colloquy And whenas we thought of addressing our selves to it the very first Church from whom we demanded help gave us this answer That it could not afford us any till such time as the Colloquy had prescribed them the manner How thereby deluding our very Demand For you know Sirs how rarely our Colloquies are held and the trouble we have now-adays to assemble them Therefore whenas the Church of Saumur had the Charity to consent that Monsieur Daillé should come and serve us and the Synod of Anjou imitating their Zeal agreed to this Removal we did not make any scruple of calling Monsieur Daillé to our Assistance in which also the Blessing of God is very visible For this Church receiveth a most singular Edification by his Ministry and we are full of hopes that it will be continued and be daily more and more useful and fruitful and that we have exceeding great cause of praising God for putting it into our Hearts to make such a Choice We beseech you then most Honoured Sirs that considering our Sincerity and Zeal in this Affair but above all the Glory of God and the Edification of our Church you would be pleased to confirm this our Choice and to roll away that Reproach wherewith some would blast our Honours and Office and to take off that Censure which hath been denounc'd against us and to admonish our Province to carry it with more Love towards us In doing whereof you will inspire us with new Courage in the midst of those Travels sustained by us for the Service of our Church and of many others to whom upon all Occasions we are ready to perform all kind of good Offices And we beseech God most Honoured Sirs to preside in your Council by his Holy Spirit to preserve your Persons and to shower down his Blessings upon your Labours Being Paris August 20.1626 Your most humble and most
more particular notice of them unto the Lord Galland we will not therefore detain you any longer than to acquaint you that you may give an intire Credit to whatsoever the Lord Galland shall in out Name declare unto you Moreover we do assure you that as we are very well satisfied with the Carriage and Conduct of your Synod and of your Deputies to us you shall upon all Occasions that occur receive the sensible Pledges of our Good-will Given at Monceaux this 21 st of September 1631. Signed in the Original Louis and a little lower Philippeaux and subscribed To our Dear and Well-beloved the Deputies of the National Synod of our Subjects professing the pret Reformed Religion assembled by our Permission at Charenton 18. His Majesty's Letters being read the said Deputies made report That when they were called into his Majesty's Council and the King having heard them he answered them in these words I have heard and understood all that you have said and you may rest assured that I will preserve you according to my Edicts Give me the Cahier and I will peruse it with my Council After which his Eminency the Lord Cardinal told them That his Majesty was exceedingly satisfied with the Conduct of the Synod and particularly with them their Deputies And it was his Majesty's Intention to maintain his Subjects of the Religion in their Liberty granted by his Edicts and to give them the enjoyment of his Favours and the Fruits of his Royal Good-will and his Majesty had prevented the Petitions of the Churches having already ordered a certain Sum of Money to be delivered unto the Lord of Candall to be distributed among them And his Majesty in token of his accepting the Synod's Petition had taken off the Prohibition laid upon those two Ministers the Sieurs Banage and Beraud and hath permitted them to assist according to the Trust reposed in them by their Provinces in the Synod And as for the Sieur Bouteroue his Majesty hath not been as yet informed of the Contents of the Book written by him nor of the Contents of the Decree denounc'd against him by the Parliament of Grenoble but as soon as he shall have the knowledg thereof he will write unto the Lord Galland his Commissioner and by advising with him will take some effectual course to answer the Request of this Assembly about admitting the said Lord of Bouteroue And as for the rest of their Petitions mentioned in the Cahier presented by them the Deputies unto the King his Majesty was resolved to deal with his Subjects in a manner suitable to his Soveraign Dignity and the Sacred Authority of his Royal Word and would give them most favourable Answers after the breaking up of the Synod and not otherwise 19. Whereupon the Assembly approving the Conduct of their Deputies did give them its hearty Thanks for their Care Faithfulness and Dexterity manifested in the discharge of that Trust committed to them And afterwards his Majesty's Commissioner the Lord Galland acquainted the Synod That by the Letters which he had received from his Majesty and the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and the Lord de la Vrilliere Secretary of State that his Majesty was very well pleased yea highly satisfied with the Conduct and Moderation of this Assembly and with those Testimonials and Expressions rendred by them of their Affection and Obedience to his Majesty and that within a few days this Synod should receive the Effects of this his Good-will in a very considerable Sum of Monies his Majesty resolving to gratify them so far as to defray the Charges the Assembly must needs be at out of his own Treasury and to bear the Expences of all the Deputies in their Travel and Sojourning here And he farther exhorted the Synod and all the Churches in general to continue in their Duty upon which depended their Preservation and that it would give them a most solid ground to expect and hope for his Majesty's most speedy and favourable Answer unto their Cahier which they had sent unto him and which would be dispatch'd as soon as the Synod was broke up and he desired that they would not be over-long nor tedious in their Sessions for many Reasons that he could give And whereas his Majesty for divers very great and weighty Considerations and Motives had by his Writ the eleventh of August last interdicted the Sieurs Beraud Banage and Bouteroue from being Members of this National Synod and by his express Injunction had ordered their removal out of their respective Provinces and that they should in no wise exercise their Ministry either in Languedoc Normandy or Dolphiny Now out of his meer Grace and Respect had to the most humble Petition of this Synod presented him by their Deputies it hath seem'd good unto him to restore those Reverend Persons Mr. Banage Beraud and Bouteroue unto their respective Churches and given them leave to sit according to that Trust reposed in them as Deputies in this very Synod but chargeth them withal to use for time coming more and greater Moderation in their Writings and Sermons in which it is his Majesty's Pleasure that they should be more circumspect and reserv'd and to keep themselves within the Bounds prescribed them by the Discipline And as for the Sieur de Bouteroue before his Majesty will ordain his Restoration his Majesty desireth to be informed of the Sentence past against him in the Parliament of Grenoble because it relates unto a certain Book written by the said Bouteroue 20. Upon this Declaration made by the Lord Commissioner of his Majesty's Good-will and of his favourable Inclinations unto the Churches it was unanimously voted and decreed That most humble Thanks should be returned unto his Majesty for the Grant of his Gracious Favours and that a new Address should be made him by this Assembly with an humble Petition for the restoration of the Sieur de Bouteroue and that the Synod might have Licence given it to sit without a Dissolution till such time as the Monies destin'd by his Majesty's Liberality for the defraying of its Expences be paid in and distributed according to he Intention of his Majesty by the Synod it self conformably to that Order which hath been always observed in the Dividend of Monies granted us by his Majesty CHAP. VIII Election of General Deputies 21. SEveral Provinces requesting that his Majesty should be pleased to grant out his Royal Writ of Licence for the Election and Nomination of General Deputies the Lord Commissioner declared That it was his Majesty's Pleasure that this Assembly should agree with him in the choice of two Persons acceptable unto his Majesty who might exercise the Office of General Deputies and reside near his Person and attend the Court in all its Progress and Motions The Synod having conferr'd in private by its Commissioners with the forementioned Lord did nominate the Lord Marquess of Clermont and the Lord Galland Lieutenant General in the Bailiwick of the Artillery and of
respect of Doctrine and Discipline was not only granted to them by his Majesty's Goodness but also by his own express Consent done and executed with his actual Approbation For although by the Answers set in the Margin of the Cahiers in the Years 1602 1604 and 1611 his Majesty hath thought good to suspend and put off the filing of it till after the uniting and incorporating of Bearn with the Crown of France yet nevertheless through the most humble Petitions of his Subjects his Majesty anticipated this Matter and granted that for Doctrine Confession of Faith and Church-Discipline they should be joined and united with the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom yea and his Majesty permitted them to send their Deputies unto those Ecclesiastical Assemblies convocated in it according to his Edicts And this is undeniably proved by that Answer given unto the Cahier at the Intercession of the Assembly of Loudun and pursuant to that Grant the said Province hath from time to time sent their Deputies unto the National Synods and particularly to that of Tonneins Vitré Alez the first of Charenton Castres and unto this present Synod who had priviledg of sitting and voting in them and were therein supported even by his Lordship the Commissioner And in execution of the said Union their Remonstrances concerning the well-being of their Churches were presented unto his Majesty by the General-Deputies inserted by them into their Cahiers jointly with the Demands and Petitions of the Churches of this Kingdom and through the Clemency of his Majesty received a gracious Answer As for Instance Those relating to the Restoration of the Pastors Wages and the Maintenance of the Colledg of Ortez which will be justified by the Cahier presented in the Year 1625 after that Bearn was united with France yea and after his Majesty's Journey into that Country from which it will be manifested that his Majesty was pleased with and granted that we should be united and he favoured in the execution of it his poor Subjects inhabiting the said Province with his Royal Promises Nor should the incorporating of our Churches with those of this Kingdom be envied to us nor be reputed a general or particular Grievance for the Censures which some private Persons may deserve will be issued forth against them by the Consistories and Colloquies and in Cases of Appeal they will be confirmed and executed in the Province by the Sentence of the Provincial Synods only And as for our Pastors their Appeals cannot be received out of the Province but in some particular Case as of Suspension and Deposition from the Ministry and their removal from one Church unto another or from one Colloquy unto another In which case 't is but just and reasonable that they be subjected to and judged by the Synod of that whole Nation into which Bearn is now incorporated by his Majesty's Edict and that the Ministers residing in it should be governed in the same manner as those of France And therefore the said Union having been promised by his Majesty approved by his Grants and executed in the Presence of his Commissioners as not derogating in the least from his Authority nor to the Publick Weal it could not but be reputed sufficiently authorized and therefore we do once again most humbly petition his Majesty that he would be pleased to allow of it and this National Synod is most importunately desired to espouse and uphold it and the rather because that the Province of Bearn and their Churches do submit themselves to the Discipline of the Churches of this Kingdom acknowledging that it doth most intirely accord and agred with theirs and that both of them are extracted out of God's Holy Word But whatever the Result and Issue of this Affair may be they resolved to make a faithful Report of the whole unto their Province as well for their own Discharge as for the great Importance of the matter CHAP. XIX The Protestation of the National Synod upon the Conjunction of the Churches of Bearn with those of France in Church-Discipline and their Submission to the Authority of our National Synods 4. IN like manner the Synod did solemnly protest that they never had any such Intention or Design as to withdraw his Majesty's Subjects from their Obedience either to the Laws of his Majesty or of his Royal Predecessors nor to ordain any new Judges or Degrees of Appeals nor to make any Innovations in the least Jot or Tittle to their Prejudice much less was it in our Thoughts to conjoin the Churches of Bearn to these of France without his Majesty's Permission but we did as in Duty bound believe it a thing already granted by his Majesty His Majesty having expresly declared in his Answer to the Cahier from the Assembly of Grenoble and renewed in the Conference at Loudun that he would allow and be well-pleased with the said Conjunction as soon as Bearn should be reunited unto the Crown of France which was actually effected in the Year 1620. 5. Upon Report made by the Deputies of the Isle of France of their Care and Pains taken to recover the manuscript Works of Monsieur du Tilloy deceased from them into whose Hands they are now fallen and the Unlikelihood of their ever being published The Assembly was well satisfied with the Indeavours and Inquiries of the said Province 6. Upon the Remonstrance of the Province of Anjou the Printers of Geneva Sedan and Saumur are advised to print most correctly the Catechisms Confession of Faith and Liturgy of our Churches and to see that all the Editions of them do intirely agree one with another that so we may have no more Complaints against them for the future about their Omissions and Negligence herein 7. Although the Church of Rochechouard doth of right belong unto the Province of Poictou yet because of the Weakness of the Colloquy of Limouzin which requireth that the said Church be joined to it This Assembly ordaineth that the Decree made in the 25th National Synod held at Castres shall be observed and that the Deputies of Bearn as they return homeward by the Way of Limoges and Rochechouard shall take Cognizance of the Differences which have hapned between Monsieur Barthe and the Consistory of Limoges of which they shall give an Account unto the next National Synod 8. Whereas by reason of the late Troubles and the Difficulties of the present Day the Sieurs Chauve and Bouteroue who were commissionated by the National Synod of Castres to pass over unto the Provincial Synod of Provence have not been called to it This Assembly ordaineth that that particular Pastor of Provence who is charged with the Power of summoning the next Synod in that Province shall give seasonable Notice of the Time and Place of its Meeting that so they may assist at it and execute the Commission which was given them 9. The Synod of Sevennes shall give account unto the next National Synod of the Conduct of Mr. Repasseau and of his Carriage and
from the Ministry 8. Mr. Vinieux Pastor of the Church of Bazars complaining That the Decree of the National Synod of Castres relating to him had not been executed This Assembly ordained that out of the first Monies belonging to the Province of Lower Guyenne the Lord of Candall shall keep by him that very Sum promised unto the said Vinieux And he farther praying to be freed from the Service of his Church and Province He was ordered to apply himself unto his Province who should take into their serious Consideration his necessitous Condition and the great Importance of his Request and Appeal 9. The Letters of Mr. Baux appealing from the Judgment of the Province of Higher Languedoc were read Whereupon the Synod enjoineth the said Province to present him unto a Church that may comfortably maintain him and the Church of Mazemet is also enjoined to give him full Satisfaction for all his Arrears on default whereof they shall be deprived of the sacred Ministry according to the Rigour of our Discipline 10. In explaining that Canon of the National Synod of Tonneins held in the Year 1614 and which is the seventh Observation on the foregoing Synod of Privas whereby the Provinces were charged to defray the Expences of those Churches whose Pastors should be deputed unto General Assemblies both Ecclesiastical and Political This Assembly declareth That whatsoever Charges particular Churches may be at in procuring Ministers to serve them during their Pastors Absence ought to be reimburst them not by their Pastors out of their Sallaries but by the Province which had deputed them and this out of the Monies appertaining unto all the Churches of their Division and therefore disannulleth the several Appeals of the Churches of Vignan Sauve Breau Aulas Castagnoles St. Julian and St. Privat to the contrary 11. Whereas the Church of St. German hath refused to pay unto the Widow of their deceased Pastor Monsieur de la Faye the Pension of the Year of her Widowhood and appealed unto this Synod against her this their Appeal is cast out because we do not judg it equitable to invalidate the Canons made by the Provinces of both the Languedocs and Sevennes for Payment unto the Widows of their late Pastors without Exception the Pension of the said Year of their Widowhood as also all Arrearages of Stipend owing unto their Pastors at their Death by the Churches in which they ministred 12. The Appeals of the Churches of St. Julian and St. Andre for the same reasons are declared null and void 13. The Appeal brought by Monsieur Perrynet on behalf of the Church of Die appealing from the Judgment of the Synod of Dolphiny by which Monsieur Aymin had been lent unto the said Church was declared null 14. Monsieur Belon appealing from the Judgment of the Province of Lower Guyenne for confirming Mr. D'oze in the Ministry of the Church of Tournon and not appearing to prosecute his Appeal the Synod declared it null and the Appealant worthy of Censure for commencing such an unjust Action 15. The Church of Sommieres not prosecuting their Appeal from the Judgment of their Province the said Appeal was declared null and the Judgment of the Province ratified yet that Province is required not to let that important Church nor any other of the same Nature to lie long vacant but to see that it be speedily furnished with an able Pastor 16. Whereas it evidently appears that the Church of Baisly is much indebted unto their Pastor Monsieur Bayeux more through the Ingratitude of sundry private Persons than their Poverty and Inability This Synod disanulling their Appeal and condemning their Defect of Duty injoineth them to give full Satisfaction unto the said Mr. Bajeux and this without applying a Denier of those Moneys given by Monsieur Lasson for the Maintenance of a Proposan to this Purpose which shall not for the future be at all diverted from that Use unto which it was at first appointed without very great Necessity and the Consent of their Provincial Synod unto whom the said Mr. Bayeux is recommended from us that they would be pleased to procure him a competent and comfortable Supply unto his Necessities 17. The Appeal brought by the Church of Orbec separated by the Synod of Normandy from that of Mesnil Imbert according to the Canon of the last National Synod of Castres under that Article of Annexations is remanded back unto the next Synod of the said Province which having heard the Reasons of the said Church shall proceed to a final Judgment in the case 18. Monsieur Morrice Pastor of the Church of Fontaines and of Cressy was heard unfolding the Grievances of which he complained in his Appeal and the Deputies of Normandy in the Declaration of the Reasons of their Proceedings against him Whereupon the Assembly ratified the Judgment of the said Province and jointly commissionated the Sieurs de la Naux da Buisson de Beauvais and Herault together with four Elders from the Churches of Montgobert Sees Alenson and the Consistory of Fontaines and Cressy within one Month after the Return of the Deputies of the said Province unto their Churches to take new Informations in this Affair and after exact Inquiries made about it to give a final Judgment on Monsieur Morrice for the Fact of which he stands accused 19. The Memoirs and Acts of that Appeal sent by the Consistory of Montagnac being read the Synod gave Judgment that the said Appeal ought not to be admitted and those who first moved for it were worthy of a severe Censure And forasmuch as the Differences betwixt Monsieur Perery Pastor in the Church of Calignac and the Consistory of Montagnac are sprung from the Licentiousness of his Discourses and his frequent absenting himself from his own home he is expresly injoined to be more moderate in his Discourses and to settle his Abode in the midst of his Flock and on Default hereof the Province shall proceed against him according to the Discipline 20. The Churches of Montdidier and Montagoux refusing Payment of threescore Livers ordained by the Synod of Sevennes unto Mr. Jubert for Augmentation of his Wages their Appeal was rejected and the Judgment of their Province confirmed 21. The Letters and Memoirs of Monsieur Chavanon appealing from the Judgment of the Synod of Sevennes and of Mr. Rouvre and of the Commissioners who were sent by the said Synod unto the Church of L'edignan having been read and the Deputies of the Province being heard This Assembly exhorts the said Province not to use its Power in lending Pastors of Churches within their Division till they have first consulted with their Churches and seriously to consider of their Importance and it censureth the said Chavanon for those sharp and bitter Expressions couched by him in his Letters and as for those Facts mentioned in the said Memoirs the Cognizance and Judgment of them is reserved and dismissed over unto the next Provincial Synod which having maturely and exactly examined and
Causes over to the Provinces to be finally decided by them CHAP. XX. General Matters Article 1. IT having been reported in this Assembly that the Magistrates in divers Places have commanded the Professors of our Religion to hang their Houses and light out Candles on that Festival that goes by the Name of the Holy Sacrament and that several Persons thrô a deplorable Infirmity have so much forgotten themselves as to observe an Ordinance which obliges their Consciences to yield unto the Creature that self-same Honour which is due unto the Creator This Assembly wanting Words with which it may express its just Grief and Resentment for such an inexcusable Cowardliness doth adjure the Consciences of those Persons who have fallen into Sins so repugnant unto true Piety by the Fear of the Living God by the Zeal of his Glory by the Bowels of his Mercy in the Son of his dearest Love and by that special Care the Faithful ought to have of their Salvation that they would revive their Zeal and shew themselves Loyal Followers of the Faith and Constancy of their Fathers and testify by their Perseverance in Well-doing the Sincerity and Soundness of their Repentance and of their Affection to the Service of God Moreover the Consistory of those Places where such Scandals do fall out is injoined to rebuke them with an holy Vigour who give such an evil Example and all Synods are to proceed against them with all Ecclesiastical Censures and if they be Pastors and Elders who by their Connivance and Dissimulation have or for the future may favour such Offenders they shall not only be suspended but deposed also from their Offices CHAP. XXI An Act for a Publick National Fast 2. FOrasmuch as after a most desolating Drought which hath reduced the greatest part of the Provinces of this Kingdom to an extream Famine the Hand of God lifted up against us is not yet called back but continueth to visit his People by contagious and mortal Diseases which have overspread the whole Land and are every day more and more growing upon us This National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France assembled by his Majesty's Permission at Charenton acknowledging that the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven and poured but upon the Face of the Earth because of the Ungodliness of Men and of the Impenitency and Hardness of their Hearts to prevent the dreadful Judgment of this great and righteous Judg who resisteth the Proud and giveth Grace unto the Humble and to turn away the Floods of his Vengeance and to excite the Bowels of his fatherly Compassions and to impetrate from his Divine Bounty the continuance of his gracious Favours for the Prosperity and Repose both of Church and State doth exhort all the Faithful to bring forth Fruits worthy of Repentance and to cast off the unfruitful Works of Darkness and to return unto the Lord with broken humble and contrite Hearts And to this purpose it ordaineth That a Fart shall be celebrated in all the Churches of this Kingdom the first Day of January next following which shall be signified by the publick reading of this present Act. 3. Forasmuch as divers Provinces have craved Advice how we shall proceed against those Persons who occasion scandalous Reports prejudicial to the Peace of the Church and may hereafter propound Terms of Accommodation by mingling and blending of both Religions into one This Assembly recommendeth unto all the Churches the observation of that Canon which was made two and thirty Years ago in the National Synod of Montpellier whose Tenour followeth Syn. Montpel gen mat v. Forasmuch as 't is the Duty of all the Faithful heartily to desire the Reunion of all the Subjects of this Kingdom into the Vnity of Paith for the greater Glory of God for the Salvation of millions Souls and the singular Repose of the Common-wealth yet because of our Sins this being a Matter rather of our Desires than Hopes and that under this Pretext divers profane Persons do openly attempt to blend and mingle both Religions together All Ministers shall admonish seriously their Flocks not in the least to hearken unto any such Notions it being utterly impossible that the Temple of God should hold Communion with Idols as also for that such Wretches design only by this Trick to debauch easy credulous Souls from the Belief and Profession of the Gospel And whoever attempts such a Reconciliation be it either by Word or Writing shall be most severely censured CHAP. XXII An Act in favour of the Lutheran Brethren 4. THE Province of Burgundy demanding Whether the Faithful of the Augustane Confession might be permitted to contract Marriages in our Churches and to present Children in our Churches unto Baptism without a precedaneous abjuration of those Opinions held by them contrary to the Belief of our Churches This Synod declareth That inasmuch as the Churches of the Confession of Ausbourg do agree with the other Reformed Churches in the principal and fundamental Points of the True Religion and that there is neither Superstition nor Idolatry in their Worship the Faithful of the said Confession who with a Spirit of Love and Peaceableness do join themselves to the Communion of our Churches in this Kingdom may be without any abjuration at all made by them admitted unto the Lord's Table with us and as Sureties may present Children unto Baptism they promising the Consistory that they will never sollicit them either directly or indirectly to transgress the Doctrine believed and professed in our Churches but will be content to instruct and educate them in those Points and Articles which are in common between us and them and wherein both the Lutherans and we are unanimously agreed 5. If any Persons shall be hereafter deputed unto the Court by the National Synods during their sitting they shall be accountable for all Monies received by them for the defraying their Expenses whether those Sums do arise from their respective Churches or from his Majesty's Liberality that so whatever good Monies come in clearly unto the Churches being remitted into their common Stock may be disbursed to their common Profit and Advantage by Order of these Synods 6. Whereas contrary to his Majesty's Royal Word given unto the Deputies of the National Synod of Charenton in the Year 1623 That Strangers employed in the Service of the Churches of this Kingdom should be continued those Reverend and Learned Pastors Mr. Martinius and S. Sharpius are commanded to depart the Province of Dolphiny The Lord Commissioner is intreated immediately to issue out Letters Patents that may effectually hinder the execution of those new Orders and that all Foreigners received into the Ministry among us both before that time and since may not in any wise be molested or obstructed in performance of the Duties of their Charge and Calling 7. The Lord Commissioner declaring that it was his Maiesty's Intention that for the future our National Synods should beheld in this Place and nowhere else This Assembly in
all humility submitting to his Majesty's good Pleasure and hoping that he will be graciously pleased to permit our ancient establish'd Order to take place doth earnestly intreat the Lord Commissioner to present our most humble Petitions unto his Majesty that he would be pleased to grant that our next National Synod may be held at the end of three Years in the Town of Aâ—anson in the Province of Normandy 8. Hereafter no Monies belonging unto the Churches shall be diverted to the printing of any Books unless such as shall be written by express Order of our National Synods 9. The Deputies unto this Synod having been on their Journey hither put unto extraordinary Expences by reason of the Contagion which reigneth universally in all parts of the Kingdom this Assembly exhorts all the Provinces to have respect unto it and therefore have rated the Charges of every day's Travel going and coming at an hundred Sous which is eight Shillings and eight Pence per diem 10. The Province of Burgundy having made report of the deplorable Necessities whereunto the Ministers and Pastors of Churches in the Colloquy of Gex are reduced for want of the Monies granted heretofore by his Majesty's Bounty for their Maintenance not one of their People contributing any thing towards their Subsistence This Assembly touched with a just Resentment of such base Ingratitude doth injoin all the Churches of that Colloquy to return unto their Duty and maintain their own Pastors or else they shall be deprived of the Ministry of the Blessed Gospel of our Lord Jesus and this according to the 34th Canon in the first Chapter of our Discipline 11. Whenas the Lords General-Deputies shall assist in Person in these National Synods they shall take place above all the Deputies of the Provinces 12. The Synod enjoineth all the Provinces to distribute with their wonted Charity those supernumerary Portions attributed to them that they may redound unto the Benefit of the poorer Churches and of the more necessitous Ministers 13. The Consistory of the Church of Paris is ordered to administer the accustomed Oaths unto the Lords General-Deputies immediately upon their being accepted by his Majesty and to keep by them a Copy of their Warrant 14. The Lord Commissioner remonstrated that through the Prerogatives of Precedency claimed in the Churches of Noblemens Houses divers Quarrels had arisen and several Murders had been committed therefore his Majesty hath ordained That in such Places where the Publick Worship of God according to our Religion is exercised the Proprietors of those Houses may not under colour of that Propriety pretend to any Place of sitting than is otherwise due unto them by reason of the Dignity of their Birth or the Honour of their Offices and forbids all Ministers to pray for them in Publick by their particular Names or Qualities Whereupon his Lordship the Commissioner being intreated that after we had prayed for his Majesty it might be lawful for us in general terms to pray for those Lords under whose Justice the Church of that Place was gathered He replied that he would in no wise hinder it 15. The Deputies for the Province of Sevennes may receive their part of the Monies granted us by his Majesty's great Liberality for the defraying of our necessary Expences in this Synod without their having recourse unto the Lord of Candall's Deputy for it provided that they be accountable for that Sum so received unto their Province And all the other Provincial Deputies may likewise do the same if they please 16. After many and divers Delays and Shiftings this Assembly being at last come to a Treaty with Sir John Palot Counsellor and Secretary to the King about the Monies claimed by the Pastors of the Reformed Churches in this Kingdom from him the said Palot for which a Suit was brought against him before his Majesty's most honourable Privy-Council and divers preparatory Decrees had out against him This Assembly hath commissionated and deputed the Lords Marquess of Clermont and Galland General-Deputies of our Churches the Lord of Candall Receiver-General of the Monies granted by his Majesty's great Bounty unto these Churches the Lords Banage and de Champvernon Pastors De Maschelieres Dupuy Gilbert and Beraud Elders and have given them full Power to treat with the said Sir J. Palot about the Monies so claimed by our Pastors on such Conditions and Clauses as they shall judg most advantagious unto our Pastors aforesaid and to sign Contracts and Articles of Agreement before Publick Notaries this Assembly promising that they will stand to approve and ratify whatever shall be so determined by the said Lords Commissioners 17. This tenth day of October in the presence of the said Lords Commissioners before-named by this Assembly to treat with the before-named Sieur Palot upon the Suit commenc'd against him for Monies claimed by our Churches from him After that the Contract pass'd by the said Lords was read in the Assembly it was agreed to approved and signed by the Moderator Assessor and Scribes thereof And there having been a thousand Livers promised unto the Lord Malat by a separate Act and with which he remained fully satisfied he was duly discharged of those Powers formerly given him for prosecution of the said Palot and lie shall deliver into the Hands of the Lords General-Deputies all the Papers Decrees and Memoirs in his custody concerning this Affair 18. The Lord of Candall having received from the said Sir John Palot the Sum of eight thousand Livers in pursuance of the Agreement made with him the said Sum shall be paid out in that manner as hath been ordered by this Assembly Nor may the Deputies of the Provinces lay any Claim or Pretence whatsoever of Right to the receiving of the said Monies 19. This Assembly authorized the Consistory of the Church of Paris to treat with the Lord Mallet and to discharge him from all Prosecutions of the Sieur Palot and to satisfy him for his past Travel and Pains to the Sum of thousand Livers which shall be paid him by the Lord of Candall and this in full of all Demands Debts Dues or Pretensions whatsoever either for himself or his late deceased Uncle the Lord Mallet the said Mallet bringing in an Inventory unto the Lords General-Deputies and depositing it with them of all Papers Decrees and Memoirs in his keeping concerning this Affair CHAP. XXIII Particular Matters Article 1. MR. * * * He is called in another Copy Lavent in a third Lavand Laurence heretofore Pastor in the Province of Bearn presenting himself in this Assembly with an Attestation of his Life Carriage and Conversation for these two Years now last past and most humbly and importunately petitioning to be restored unto the Holy Ministry This Assembly did not judg his Request meet to be granted but advised him to apply himself to some other Calling than the Ministry of the Gospel and to use such means for a Livelihood as the Providence of God may trace out and direct
the University of Die nine hundred eighty one Livers five Sous of which Dolphiny shall furnish six hundred sixty two Livers and ten Sous Burgundy one hundred thirty and one Livers seventeen Sous Sevennes one hundred eighty seven Livers ten Sous 5. And lest our Universities should fall into an utter Desolation thrô the Provinces neglect of the before-ordained Contribution their Deputies now being in this present Synod are expresly charged to see this very Canon punctually executed and all Provincial Synods to censure the delinquent Consistories and to quicken every particular Church within their Division to a revival of their ancient Zeal and to an augmentation of their Alms which are to be imployed to so sacred and necessary a Business 6. This Assembly being informed how carefully the University-Council of Saumur have performed their Duty in maintaining the Profession of Divinity in their University especially since the last National Synod held at Castres applaudeth the Zeal of their Professors which being intrusted with so holy and laborious a Calling do discharge it with singular Fidedelity and Diligence in which they shall be confirmed after they have undergone their Examen according to the Canons of our Church-Discipline 7. The Council of the University of Saumur remonstrating their great want of another Professor in Divinity and that they had pitched upon Mr. Blondel a Man endowed with Gifts every way fit for such an important Charge but the said Mr. Blondel excusing himself upon many and divers accounts from accepting of it and principally for that he hath been requested to write the History of the Church for the first five hundred Years The Provincial Deputies of the Isle of France being heard and Letters from the Earl of Roussi and the Church gathered in his House having been perused who did all unanimously petition that the said Mr. Blondel might be continued to them because of the great Success of his Ministry and their Edification by it Hereupon the Assembly declared That for sundry and weighty Reasons the said Mr. Blondel could not be granted unto that University altho he might be very beneficial to it and that therefore the Council of the said University must seek after some other Person from whose Labours they might reap the Advantages desired by them for their University 8. The Assembly yielding to the Importunities of the University of Saumur doth from this instant accord that Monsieur de la Place Pastor of the Church of Nantes notwithstanding all his Excuses and Arguments urged by him to the contrary shall take upon him the Professorship of Divinity after that he hath undergone the Examination prescribed by our Canons And the Lord Commissioner is intreated to procure leave for the Province of Brittain to meet in a Synod within six Months that so the University of Saumur may present their Request as soon as possible unto the said Synod which is ordered to give their Consent and to provide the Church of Nantes of another Pastor who may as successfully serve and edify it as the said Mr. de la Place hath done And the Province of Anjou is seriously to consider the Necessities of that Church that in case through the Advice of the Synod of Brittain it should seek for a Pastor from among them they may obtain full Satisfaction and Consolation And in case the said Synod of Brittain cannot be held within the space of six Months yet the said Mr. de la Place shall remove by virtue of this Act unto the said University CHAP. XXIX Accompts brought in by the Provinces about the Maintenance and Subsistence of their Colledges and Universities 9. THE Province of Anjou tendring in two Accompts one brought unto the Synod of Saumur in the Year 1629 and the other unto the Synod held at Loudun in the Year 1631 for the Years 1625 1626 1627 1628 1629 1630 and 1631 until the last September they were allowed and approved 10. The Province of Lower Languedoc brought in no Accompt for their University of Nismes nor for the Colledg of Beziers because they had received nothing neither for the one nor other since the last National Synod of Castres held towards the End of the Year 1626. 11. Nor hath the Province of Higher Languedoc brought in any Accompt for their University of Moutauban nor for the Colledg of Castres they not having received one Farthing since the sitting of the last Synod 12. There were five Accompts exhibited by the Province of Dolphiny of their Receipt and Disbursment for the University of Die beginning in July 1626 and ending the 1sf of July 1630 all which were allowed and approved 13. The Province of Berry brought in three Accompts for the Colledg of Chastillon upon Loir two whereof were tendred to the Synod held at Chastillon the first on the 22d of February 1629 the other the 22d of March next immediately following the third and last was to tho Consistory of Gien authorized to examine it by the Synod held at Mer the 18th of June 1631 for the Year 1628 1629 1630 and 1631 and the said Accompts were allowed and approved 14. The Province of Xaintonge brought in the Accompt of the Colledg of Rochefoucauld rendred by them the Year 1630 on the 11th of June unto the Synod held in the same Place and the said Accompt was allowed and approved 15. The Province of Brittain exhibited also an Accompt of the Colledg of Vitré the 21st of June 1628 concluded and determined by two Elders of the Consistory of that Church which was allowed and approved 16. The rest of the Provinces brought in no Accompts about the Maintenance of their Colledges they not having received any thing for them since the 25th National Synod held at Castres in the Months of September October and November 1626. CHAP. XXX The Accompts of the Lord of Candall Receiver General of the Monies given by his Majesty's Liberality unto the Reformed Churches of France 1. THE Assembly having taken notice of those great and notable Sums brought in by Reprizal in the Accompt of the Lord of Candall ordained That the Lords General Deputies of our Churches unto his Majesty shall be charged most humbly to petition his Majesty that he would vouchsafe some better Assignations in lieu of those Sums so reprized by the Lord of Candall and particularly for those Assignations given for the Year 1627. And whereas in the Reprizals of the foregoing Years there be divers Offices took as Payments of some of those aforesaid Assignations which it's needful they should be sold at any Rate or Price whatsoever that out of the Monies arising from their Sale there may be some Relief afforded to our poor Pastors This Assembly commissionated the Sieur Mestrezat Pastor of the Church of Paris the Sieurs Marbaud and Rambouillet Elders of the said Church together with the said Lords General Deputies conjointly with the Lord of Candall to treat compound and agree about the Sale of the said Offices either in whole or in
may be comforted the practice and observation of the 5th Canon in the 10th Chapter of our Discipline is recommended to all the Churches Moreover in case any one of our Churches hath had for a long time any particular Form which it hath used to its Edification that Church may retain the observation of that their Order even by the Allowance of this Assembly Article 6. Forasmuch as the 12th Canon in the 13th Chapter of our Discipline seems to contradict the 16th Observation of the National Synod of Montpellier upon the Discipline All the Provinces are exhorted to bring with them unto the next National Synod their several and respective Opinions whether the said Article shall be razed or receive any Change or Emendation Article 7. Though all the Provinces do keep and observe most exactly the 16th Canon in the 14th Chapter of our Discipline yet shall every one of them carefully make use of such Expedients as they in their own particular Judgments do conceive to be most meet and proper for their better Observation and the avoiding of all Inconveniences Article 8. The Church-Discipline having been read all and every one of the Provincial Deputies did both for themselves and their respective Synods promise to observe it and see that it be exactly observed by their Provinces CHAP. IX Observations on reading the Acts of the former Synod held for the second time at Charenton in the Months of September and October 1631. Article 1. THE Provinces bringing in their respective Judgments upon the Matters commended to their Deliberation by the last National Synod This Assembly decreed that nothing should be changed in the 19th and 20th Canons of the 5th Chapter of our Discipline Article 2. The Colloquy of Montpellier which was commissionated by the Synod of Charenton in its Name and with full Authority to judg of the Charge brought in against the Sieur Bony making Report of their Execution of the said Commission and the Provincial Synod of Sevennes whereof he is a Member giving him a very honourable Testimonial This Assembly ordaineth that the Articles which concerned him shall be razed out of the Acts of the first and second National Synods of Charenton and of that of Castres CHAP. X. A penitent Minister after ten Years Penance restored 3. MR. George Arbaud who was formerly deposed from the Sacred Ministry by the National Synod of Castres appearing now in Person and humbly petitioning that he might be restored again unto it and the Provincial Deputies of Lower Languedoc testifying to his godly Life and Conversion for ten Years last past This Assembly considering the Sincerity of his Repentance confirm'd by so long a trial and condescending both to his Supplications and the Attestations given him by his Province and having very seriously exhorted him to be more strict and religious in his future Actions than formerly and to grow in Grace and true Godliness did grant him his Request and left it to the Care of the Synod of Lower Languedoc or of the Consistory of Nismes to provide a Church for him 4. Whereas the Sieurs Bony and Donadiu deputed by the Synod of Sevennes to execute a Commission given them by the last National Synod had born all the Charges thereof themselves it was ordained that the Province of Lower Languedoc should see them reimburs'd and satisfied 5. All the Provinces are strictly charged to see that the 14th Canon of the 14th Chapter of the Discipline be very carefully practised and observed and that they bring in an Account of their Obedience to this Canon unto the next National Synod CHAP. XI The Snappishness of the Commissioner and the Prudence and Patience of the National Synod 6. LEtters were read from Monsieur Privas Pastor of the Church of Chastillon detained Prisoner in the Jail of Agen humbly petitioning this Synod to endeavour his Enlargement and the Lord Commissioner demanding Whether the Synod intended to make his Affair their own and to interest themselves in it The Assembly considering that the said Monsieur Privas was before his natural and proper Judges declared that as his present Circumstances were they could do nothing for him except the recommending him to the good Providence of God and exhorted him to wait and suffer patiently whatever should be decreed against him by the Court of Agen. 7. This Assembly remembring the Promise made by the last National Synod unto Monsieur Chamier decreed that it shall be performed as soon as God shall bless the Churches with Ability So that Monsieur Chamier had never a Penny of Monies granted him for his Father's Works 8. The Monies granted unto Monsieur Bellot and Constans shall be faithfully paid them as soon as the Churches may recover their Assignments granted them by his Majesty 9. All the Provinces are ordered to get for themselves the Acts of all our National Synods that so they may comfortably discharge the Duty laid upon them by the National Synod of Charenton 10. The Church of Montpellier informing this Assembly that the Design and Intendment of the National Synod of Castres was not satisfied the Consistory of the Church of Nismes is ordered to exhort the Widow of Mr. Scoffier to accompt with them how that Sum of Money hath been imployed which was given by the said National Synod for the Relief of Mrs. Blandina Scoffier her Sister that in case the said Monies be yet in her Hands they may be restored unto the Heirs of Mrs. Jacquelina Scoffier by whom she was actually maintained 11. The Judgment of the Synod of Anjou having been perused to whom the last National Synod had turned over the Cognizance of that Difference risen between the Provinces of Xaintonge and Poictou about the Conjunction of the Church of Saveilles with that of Villefaignan and several Letters Memoirs and Articles of Agreement between the said Churches since the said Judgment having been read and the Deputies of the two contending Provinces being heard this Assembly disallowing the Proceedings of the Colloquy of Augoulmois which had actually united the said Churches in prejudice of the Judgment given to the contrary by the Province of Anjou doth ordain that the Churches of Chefboutonné and Saveilles shall continue joined together as heretofore 12. The National Synod of Charenton having charged the Province of Burgundy to shut up the Accompt with Monsieur Grass which yet could not be performed this Assembly commits the execution thereof to the Consistory of the Church of Lyon CHAP. XII The Restoration of a penitent Minister deferred 13. JOseph Obery deposed by the last National Synod and residing at present in the Canton of Bearn wrote Letters unto this Assembly petitioning for his Restoration unto the sacred Ministry which before they were opened were presented unto the Lord Commissioner who having read them declared that they contained nothing but Matters purely Ecclesiastical And after they had been seen and perused by the whole Synod and the Testimonial given him by the Consul of Aubonne in the
County of Vaux and that the Provincial Deputies of Burgundy had delivered in their Opinion concerning him this Synod could not grant him his Request yet nevertheless received with Joy the good News of his Repentance and Conversion unto the Lord and he was exhorted to confirm himself more and more in it and to continue in the Grace of God 14. The Province of Lower Guyenne is injoined to make use of their Authority upon Monsieur Perery and to see that he do actually reside with his Flock and in case he continue refractory and disobey their Order that they do then immediately censure him according to the utmost Rigor and Severity of our Discipline 15. The Practice of the 3d Article of General Matters in the last National Synod is recommended unto all the Churches 16. Complaints having Been brought against divers Pastors Non-Residents in the Colloquy of Lower Quercy unto the last National Synod and those Complaints together with the Letters of those Ministers apologizing for themselves having been dismissed to the Colloquy of Albigeois and the Synod of Higher Languedoc to judg of their Case now the Sentence pass'd upon them was revised in this present Synod and this Assembly being willing to support and incourage them in their Ministry did once more ordain the Colloquy of Albigeois to renew their Informations and to examine afresh the pretended Inability of those Churches and to urge and induce them by all kind of Arguments and those the most forcible to perform their Duties and to bring in an Account hereof unto the next National Synod 17. The Appeal of the Church of Nerac which refused to defray the Charges the Church of Agen were at in the Removal of Monsieur Vignier is dismissed over to the Judgment of the Province of Lower Guyenne because it is not of the Nature of those Affairs which do depend upon National Synods 18. That Judgment given by the Province of Dolphiny in the Cause of Monsieur Aymier is ratified by this present Synod 19. Forasmuch as the Province of Vivaretz hath given their Consent unto it this Assembly permitteth for this time that the Church of St. Estienne in Forest be incorporated with the Province of Burgundy 20. The Promise made by the last National Synod unto the Province of Bearn about the Ministers born in it and imployed in divers Churches of this Kingdom is again confirmed and the said Province is exhorted to acquiesce and rest satisfied therewith 21. Whereas the Adjunction of the Church of Valence unto that of Soyon is indispensably needful for the Subsistence of this latter the Synod injoineth the said Church to incorporate it self with it as it hath done formerly and this Act shall be notified unto them by the Deputies of Lower Languedoc of Sevennes and Provence as they return in their way homeward 22. The Deputies of Vivaretz remonstrated that the Article concerning Monsieur Perrier's Account was left out in that Copy of the last National Synod which was brought down unto their Province and that it were sit the said Accompt should be revised This Assembly ordaineth that the said Province do apply it self unto that of Dolphiny which shall summon the said Perrier before them and judg finally of the Merits of the said Remonstrance 23. The Synod of Lower Guyenne shall cite Monsieur Bustanoby before them that he may accompt with them about the Imployment of the three hundred Livers delivered unto his deceased Father by the National Synod of Castres and they shall make Report thereof unto the next National Synod A penitent Minister seeking and petitioning to be restored is denied but with Advice to betake himself to some other Calling 24. SAmuel du Fresné deposed from the sacred Ministry by the Consistory of Vienna and Synod of Higher Languedoc presenred himself unto this Assembly and with a Shower of Tears implored the Pardons and Bowels of the Church whom he had offended by his Fall But upon Perusal of the Acts of his Deposition and the 51st Article of the Discipline which depriveth them of all Hopes of Restoration who are fallen into such Crimes of which he stands convicted The Assembly advised him to betake himself to some other Calling and to repair the Scandal he had given by his Perseverance in true Repentance and the Practice of Godliness 25. Forasmuch as in that Information brought in against the said du Fresné there were several over-curious Questions and very ill-becoming the Gravity of Ecclesiastical Persons the Province of Higher Languedoc is charged to make Remonstrance thereof unto the Parties who drew up those Articles of Information against him and to put to their helping-Hand that no such Matters be done for the future 26. Whereas the Holy Apostle in the 8th Verse of the 3d Chapter to the Romans saith expresly that their Damnation is just who say Let us do Good that Evil may come thereof and that 't is neither consisting with Reason nor the Integrity of our Christian Profession to prefer the Consideration of our little temporal Losses and Concerns unto the Duties of Conscience This Assembly cannot therefore admit of those Excuses alledged by the Consistory of the Church of Rochel for neglecting the Execution of the first Article of General Matters in the foregoing Synod and therefore doth once more renew its Injunction that all the Churches do conform themselves unto the Practice thereof and judgeth the Consistory of the said Church of Rochel worthy of the sharpest Censures and farther ordaineth that Letters be written unto the Faithful in the said City to convince them of the Greatness of their Sin and of the Scandal which their Connivency and unsufferable Cowardice hath given unto all the Churches of this Kingdom and they be adjured by the Compassions of the Living God and the Religious Resentments of sincere and devout Christians to hold keep and observe strictly precisely and inviolably the sincere Profession of God's Saving Truth in its Purity and Power without swerving or derogating from it by any Actions either directly or indirectly contrary thereunto 27. All our Universities are exhorted to conform themselves as much as in them lieth unto the Observation of that Article of the last National Synod which recommended the Profession of Metaphysicks to the Professors of Philosophy CHAP. XIII Bearn incorporated with the Churches of France 28. THE Deputies of the Province of Bearn having declared that their Synod doth accept the Union of the Churches of this Kingdom under the Conditions granted them by the National Synod of Charenton in their Observations upon the first Article of that of Castres and that they do from this Instant submit themselves unto all our National Synods that shall be held hereafter and they promise also that they will allow of all Appeals brought by the Pastors Elders and Churches of their Principality unto these our National Synods and farther that they consent for the future to exercise their Discipline in all Points according to the Canons of the Discipline
established in the Churches of this Kingdom and enacted by our National Synods over and besides what hath been determined and decided in the Provincial Synod of Bearn Whereupon the Assembly granted that their Appeals should be judged according to the Discipline framed for the Churches of Bearn by the Command of their famous Princess Jane Queen of Navarre and ratified by the Parliament of Pau a Copy whereof faithfully collationed with the Original shall be deposited in the Hands of that Province which shall be charged with the Convocation of the next National Synod by the Provincial Deputies of Bearn signed subscribed and attested by their own Hand-writings And also it is farther granted them as their Priviledg that whatever Pastors are now actually imployed in the Ministry of the Churches of that Province shall not be removed unto the Service of other Churches in this Kingdom unless their aforesaid Churches do yield a plenary and explicit Consent thereunto 29. Mr. Richard formerly Pastor of the Church at Saponnay in the Province of the Isle of France presented himself unto this Assembly humbly petitioning that they would be pleased to give him some Imployment in the said Province according to the Discipline The Assembly informed him that the Honour of his Ministry had not been blemished by them and therefore if he were not in actual Service as he desired none could be blamed for it but himself and his imprudent Management of his own Affairs and forasmuch as there was not at present any vacant Church in that Province he was advised to depart unto his native Country the Land of Vaux there to pass the Remainder of his Days and the Province whereunto he last belonged is exhorted to continue to him their wonted Charities and to help him with Monies to defray the Expences of his Journey homeward 30. Without making any Reflections on the Prohibition of the Province of Vivaretz this Assembly doing Right upon the Complaint of Monsieur des Maretz ordaineth that the Decree of the last National Synod shall be executed according to the Form and Tenour thereof CHAP. XIV Appeals and Complaints 1. THE Complaints of the Sieur Genoyer against the Synod of Provence and Monsieur Maurice his Brother having been examined and the said Maurice heard speak in his own Defence on each of the Articles brought against him This Assembly judged that the said Genoyer ought not to have troubled them about such mean and slight Matters and which also are not proved and therefore from hence-forward interdicts him all such manner of Proceedings and in the mean while exhorteth the Provincial Synods to read over the Acts of the National that so whatever Matters have been decided in them may not be concealed from the Churches 2. This Assembly conserving the Honour of Monsieur Pascard permits him to exercise the Duties of his Ministry whenas ever he shall be requested thereunto by the Pastors and Consistories in the Province of Xaintonge and this according to the Discipline 3. Although the Appeal of my Lady de Juigne is not of the Nature of those Matters which ought to be presented unto the National Synods yet the Assembly taking Cognizance thereof and weighing the Reasons urged by the said Lady and the Motives oh which the Consistory of Pringey hath founded its Censure confirmed by the Judgment of the Synod of Anjou it decreeth That the said Censure shall be taken off and the said Lady is exhorted to give unto the Church of Pringey the generous Fruits of her Christian Charity and Bounty and that she would as liberally contribute to the Subsistence of that Church and of the Gospel there according to that large and plentiful Estate with which God hath blessed her as she hath done formerly c. to continue it for the future although she may for her greater Conveniency join her self in Communion with any other Church nearer to her 4. The Sieurs le Mousnier de Caux and de Bures appealing on behalf of sundry private Persons Members of the Church of Dieppe the Appeal brought by them from the Judgment given by the Provincial Synod held at Caen and the Provincial Deputies of Normandy and the Acts of those particular Persons aforesaid and of the afore-mentioned Synod and of their Commissioners and of the Consistory of Dieppe together with the Letters of the said Synod to the Church of Dieppe and of their Commissioners sent unto the said Church to see their Sentence executed in it having been all read This Assembly passing by the Defects in the Deputation of Monsieur le Mousnier and his Companions which are contrary to the Forms usually required and received in all Appeals and commending their Love and godly Zeal doth confirm the Judgment of the Synod of Normandy as being grounded upon Prudence and Charity and forbiddeth the Church of Diep and all other Churches of this Kingdom to receive unto the Exercise of the Ministerial Office among them one called Deschamps who by his fastious Pranks and Practices yea and since that the Synod of Caen had notified it by their judicial Decree hath himself publickly demonstrated that his Ministry can never edify nor profit that Church and the Consistory of that Church is blamed for their Imprudence for admitting him to preach among them without ever demanding or perusing his Attestations from the Churches in which he formerly served and from the Colloquies and Synods of which he was a Member whereby they have suffered him very inconsiderately to insinuate himself into the Affections of the People who demanded him to be their Pastor before they had any Knowledg of him And farthermore the Consistory of that Church is forbidden hence forward all Deliberations about either the Reception of any new or Exclusion of any old Pastor without having first consulted the Heads of Families belonging to their Church and according to the Canons of our Discipline it condemneth the Proceedings of the said Consistory who through an Excess of Rigour refused to grant unto the Plaintiffs their Liberty and Priviledg of Appeal whereby they were contrary to the Discipline reduced to a Necessity of making a tumultuous Deputation And whereas the Provincial Synod in decreeing the Exclusion of the said Des Champs did omit what would have principally contributed to their Satisfaction who demanded him for their Minister this Assembly taking the Church of Dieppe into its most particular Consideration doth promise the said Church of Dieppe to provide for them a third Pastor either within or without the Province yea and to ingage them to proceed unto the Reception of the Sieur du Bures recommended by the Testimonial of their Deputies and of the Province and this according to the Canons of our Discipline unto which that said Church is advised to conform it self and by its Union with their Consistory to preserve that Peace and Charity which ought to be among all Christians to the maintaining of which the said Sieurs le Mousnier de Caux and de Bures
have promised to lay themselves out unto the utmost 5. The Church of Plessis appealed requesting that their Pastor Monsieur de Montigny might actually reside in the Town of Plessis according to the Discipline and the Canons of our National Synods and that the Sentence of the Isle of France which had dispensed with him might be disannulled and reversed This Assembly judged that the said Sieur de Montigny was of right obliged to reside at Plessis and ought not to be dispensed with yet nevertheless his Church is intreated to allow him four Months in the Year to attend his private Affairs at his House of Albon provided he do not discontinue the Exercises of his Ministry 6. Monsieur Fabas was heard in his Complaint about the non-executing of that Decree of the last National Synod which had authorized and commissionated the Colloquy of Condommois to take Informations and pass a Judgment of the Contents in the Letters written by those Gentlemen Mr. de la Fitte Gillot and Belard unto Monsieur D' Abadie and Pommarede during their Abode at Charenton and the Defence of Monsieur Rivall upon whose Report those Letters were written and to the Remonstrance of the Colloquy of Condommois who have not acquitted themselves of the Commission given them because the said la Fitte and Gillot refused to submit unto their Judgment and to the Excuse of the Province of Bearn that their Union with the Churches of this Kingdom was not at that time ratified and that they were not obliged to defray the Expences of the Deputies charged by the said Colloquy of Condommois to inform themselves of the Facts of some particular Persons but only those Persons who were concerned This Assembly declareth those Accusations brought in by the said Rivall and Belard against the said Fabas to be null and for this Reason because the first was grounded upon a Report spread abroad from a pretended Accusation brought by a particular Person who afterwards denied it and was proved to be false by all the Persons mentioned in it And the second consists of an ill-taken Equivocation alledged by one only Witness who ought not in any wise to be admitted it being expresly against the Prohibition of the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.5 19. Nor had the Colloquy of Pau any reason to grant a Commission unto Monsieur Rivall to take Information against Monsieur Fabas who opposed his Institution and Induction into the Church of Morlas and by consequence was a professed Party against him and Mr. la Fitte and Gillot have to no good purpose and only upon the single report of the said Rival spread abroad a groundless and unproved Accusation against a Minister of the Gospel Nor should the Province of Bearn have tolerated such Proceedings nor have permitted the Church of Morlas to be divided whenas they could have remedied it by fair and gentle Means according to the Word of God and the Order of our Discipline And whereas Mr. Rival and Bellard have defamed a Minister of the Gospel and occasion'd by their manner of Proceedings a great deal of unjust Reproach to be laid upon him which cannot in the least be justified the said Fabas Rival and Bellard are all enjoined to live in Peace and Brotherly Union and to forbear all Civil and Criminal Prosecutions made or hereafter to be made before the Magistrate upon the score of their Differences and to put a period and final issue unto those which are already begun whereunto the said Fabas and Rival have promised submission respectively and entred already into mutual Articles and Bonds for so doing 7. The Province of Bearn complained of and accused the said Sieur Fabas of rebellion against the Canons of our Discipline and of unlawful Proceedings whereby he designed to invalidate the Censures of the Church and that he did de facto most odiously traduce them before the Civil Magistrate Whereupon the said Mr. Fabas was heard complaining to the contrary and accusing the Province of Bearn for that they did without any lawful Cause remove him from his Church and deprive him of his Ministry in it and have not assigned him any other and have since suspended him the Exercise of his Ministry because he had appealed from their unrighteous Censure And secondly for that divers particular Members of the Church of Morlas after they had unjustly reproached him had divided that poor Church and abstained schismatically from the Exercises of Religion performed in it Whereupon the Acts of the Synod of Bearn and of the Colloquy of Pau were perused as also the Proceedings of the Lords in the Parliament of Navarre at the Petition of the said Fabas and of sundry others belonging to the Church of Morlas and the Inquisition made by the Commissioners of the said Parliament who were sent to Morlas to learn and sift out the Sentiments and Opinion of the said Church there were read also the Letters of the Consistory of the Church of Morlas humbly requesting that Monsieur Fabas might be continued in his Ministry among them and those of Mr. Bellard and other Elders and particular Persons demanding of the Consistory that he might be removed elsewhere This Assembly confirming the Ministry of the said Mr. Fabas in the Church of Morlas judgeth that the Province should not by its Rigour have enforced him to make use of those extraordinary Courses which he did in his own just Defence nor should it have favoured by its connivency the Disunion of those particular Persons who have separated themselves from the Body of the Church of Morlas whereas they should have according to their Duty reconciled them with the rest of their Brethren much less ought they to have took that Course they did to suspend the said Fabas after he had appealed And the said Mr. Fabas ought not in Duty to have departed from the Forms prescribed by our Discipline because the way of appealing unto superiour Ecclesiastical Assemblies was wide open to him And therefore the said Province is injoined for the future to refrain all violent Proceedings contrary to the Discipline and to apply out of hand suitable Remedies whereby the Schism in the Church of Morlas may be cured and the Members thereof reconciled among themseives and with their Pastor Mr. Fabas and all others are to acquiesce and rest contented with the Ways prescribed by the Discipline forbearing all Proceedings contrary to it and bringing those their Differences into Ecclesiastical Assemblies there to be composed And whereas some particular Members of the Church of Morlas have complained against the said Mr. Fabas their Passion and bitter Expressions are condemned and they be exhorted to mind their present Duty which is by a mutual Reconciliation to heal the Breaches and restore the Peace of the Church of God All which shall be signified unto them by Letters from this Synod 8. Monsieur Chorets a Member of the Church of Paris complained unto this Assembly of a Judgment past against him by the said
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
Maeil Elder in the Church of Dieppe being chosen by the common Votes of the Pastors Elders and Heads of Families there and sent unto the Deputies of the Province of Normandy to move and intreat them to request that Mr. Texier who was freed from the Church of Mauvesin in the Province of Higher Languedoc might be given to them absolutely and the said Lords Deputies having introduced him into the Assembly to make his Demand in which also they joined with him After that Mr. Texier had been heard on the one part declaring how that for the Ingratitude of his Church he accepted of the Call given him by the Church of Dieppe upon Condition that his Province should judg it reasonable to set him at Liberty and with Design to oblige his Church by the Authority of the National Church to give him a full Satisfaction and on the other part the Deputies of Higher Languedoc complained that they were not in due time and place acquainted with his Intention and requesting that the Right of their Province might be intirely secured it having many Churches to be supplied which were destitute of Pastors and particularly the Church of Mauvesin which had sufficiently assured the said Texier that he should be paid the Arrears of his Wages The Assembly decreed that he should apply himself unto his Synod which is exhorted to see that he be fully satisfied and in case he be set free from his Church and that he cannot be commodiously provided for within his Province that then leave shall be given him to depart where he best liketh 3. The Assembly conserving to the Province of Berry the Right they have hitherto had over the Church of la Selle ordaineth that as long as it shall be supplied by the Pastors of the Isle of France it shall be under the Jurisdiction of the said Province which shall continue their Contributions towards the Subsistence of the Colledg of Chastillon 4. Forasmuch as the Assembly is not now in Possession of any Fund out of which those who have Recourse unto it might be relieved by its Charities Monsieur Falquet whose Necessities are very great is recommended unto the Province of Berry to be assisted and comforted by them either by allowing him some certain Portion out of their Alms or by recommending his afflicted Condition to be relieved by the more rich and populous Churches 5. The Deputies of the Province of Vivaretz relating the extream Poverty whereunto Monsieur Zuccond a Pastor emeritus hath been for several Years last past reduced by reason of his great Sicknesses Losses Expences and Imprisonments suffered from the Lord of Chanal and la Motte and that the precedent National Synods had in Consideration of his great Afflictions granted him a free Portion out of the Monies of his Majesty's Liberality and requested this Assembly that they would be pleased to vouchsafe him some sensible Tokens of their Charity and Compassion Answer was made them that forasmuch as the Churches had no Monies at all of their own nor now to be disposed by them the said Province was exhorted to take care of him for his comfortable Subsistence and Relief from among themselves 6. Whereas the Province of Sevennes had formed a Complaint against Monsieur James Pasquier Pastor in the Church of St. John de Breuil this Affair was turned over to the Judgment of the Province of Higher Languedoc 7. The Deputies of Bearn requesting that the Divisions which have been judged and condemned in the Church of Morlas maybe totally and effectually remedied and that there may be an End put unto the Complaints brought in by Monsieur Fabas against his Province and sundry particular Persons on the one hand and of divers others against him on the other that therefore some Deputies may be sent with an express Charge to take Knowledg of and give a final Judgment on all those Articles which could not possibly be examined or clearly inspected into in this Place and at so great a Distance The Assembly accepting the Offer of the Deputies of the Province of Bearn promising to bear their Charges who should to this Purpose be sent unto them did nominate the Sieurs Ferrand and Charles Pastors and Charron an Elder to receive the Information drawn up at the Request of Monsieur Rival by the Lord D'abbadie the Decrees past in Parliament against the Lords D'abbadie Rival and others who by Order of their Colloquy had admitted unto Communion at the Lord's Table some particular Persons of Morlas and generally all Papers whatsoever which have given Birth and Fewel unto this Fewd and Contention that so they may proceed to a final Judgment on the remaining Matters yet under Debate and Controversy And they shall bring in their Accompt hereof unto the next National Synod 8. To regulate the Pretensions of the Churches of Alanson St. Aignan and Mans about the Donative given for their Benefit by the Lady de la Harangere and destined to the Maintenance of some poor Scholars This Assembly ordaineth that according to the Tenor of the said Legacy the Administration of the Monies arising from it ought to be left in the Hands of the Church of Alanson and those two other Churches shall agree with it about the choice of him to whom the Pension shall be exhibited and that the first of these three Churches which shall be unprovided may proceed to receive and imploy him and that the Son of Monsieur Vignier Pastor of the Church of Mans who hath already received some Fruits of the aforesaid Pension shall injoy it and be preferred before all others in the Injoyment of it 9. Forasmuch as the Sieur de la Milletiere hath sent unto the Pastors deputed by the Provinces the first Part of a Book written by him intituled Les Moyens de la Paix Chrestienne en la Reunion des Catholiques Evangeliques sur les differends de la Religion divisé en quatre parties and the Title of the first Volume La Refutation de la procedure de Monsieur Daillé en son Examen and Letters also in which he asserts that he is moved hereunto by the sole Spirit of God for to reconcile the Differences in Religion He takes for granted that what he hath offered or may hereafter offer will be received without any Contradiction by all the Churches and presupposeth that all our first Reformers and their Successors were abused and do abuse themselves through a Misunderstanding which cannot be discovered but by them who shall admit his new conceited Lights And whereas he hath been too long even for the space of three Years tolerated and that the Church of Paris hath used all Endeavours to reduce him unto his Duty and that in the Articles contained in his first Script he hath designedly concealed his Opinions though under the very Phrases used by the Doctors of the Romish Religion and with which they are accustomed to express their own Sentiments and that in the second which he hath sent abroad
Church of Beaulieu and Abraham Homel Elder of the Church of Soyon Article 10. For the Province of Berry the Sieurs John Taby Pastor of the Church of la Charité Daniel Jurieu Pastor of the Church of Mer Henry de Chartres Esq Lord of Clebes Elder in the Church of Marchenoir and Simon Milhommeau Lord of Barandieres Bayliff of Chastillon upon the Loin and Elder of the Church in that Town Article 11. For the Province of Poictou the Sieurs James Cottiby Pastor of the Church of Poictiers John Chabrol Pastor of the Church of Touars Sir Charies Gourjaut Knight Lord of Panieure Elder in the Church of Mougon and Peter Pesseurs Attorney Fiscal of the Dutchy of Touars and Elder of the Church in that City Article 12. For the Province of Bretaign the Sieurs John Boucherean Lord of La Masche Pastor of the Church in Nantes and Samuel de Goullaines Esq Lord of the Landoviniere Elder in the Church of Viellevigne Article 13. For the Province of Higher Guyenne and Higher Languedoc the Sieurs Anthony Garrissoles Pastor of the Church of Montauban and Professor of Divinity in that University Peter Ollier Pastor of the said Church Substituted in the place of Monsieur John Grasset Pastor of the Church of Viane who was hindered by reason of Sickness Anthony Ligonuiere Councellor and Secretary to the King Elder in the Church of Castres and John Darassus Councellor for the King in the presidial Court of Montauban and Elder of the said Church Article 14. For the Province of Lower Languedoc the Sieurs John de Croy Pastor of the Church of Beziers Abraham de Lare Pastor of the Church of Cauvisson the Noble Mark Dardouin Lord of la Caumette Elder of the Church of Nismes and the Noble James de Brueis Lord of Bourdie Elder in the Church of Blanzac Article 15. For the Province of Burgundy the Sieurs Peter Bollenat Pastor of the Church Assembling at Vau Salomon Roy Advocate in the Parliament of Dijon and Elder of the Church of Bussy and Francis Armet Advocate in Parliament and Elder of the Church of Loches the Sieur John Viridet was hindered by a very sore Sickness from coming unto the Synod Article 16. For the Province of Provence the Sieurs Francis Vallanson Pastor of the Church de la Coste and the Noble John de Castellane Lord of Caillez and Rigan Elder in the Church of Manosques 3. The Sieurs Drelincourt Pastor and le Coq Elder of the Church of Paris were chosen together with the Sieur Caillard Elder of the Church of Alanson and the Lord Deputy-General to gather the Suffrages of the Deputies in this Assembly which were taken in written Billets by each of them for Electing the Moderator Assessor and Scribes which was done Successively those Officers being Chosen one after another and by plurality of Billets Monsieur Garrissoles was chosen Moderator Monsieur Basnage Assessor and Monsieur Blondel and Monsieur le Coq Scribes and took their Seats in Order as they were Chosen CHAP. II. As soon as these Officers of the Synod were chosen the Lord of Cumont Councellor for the King in His Council of State and Parliament of Paris Deputed by His Majesty presented Letters Patents which did Commissionate him to Represent His Majesty in this Synod These being read were inserted into the Register of the Acts of this Synod The Tenor and Form of which is as followeth 4. A Copy of the King's Letters Patents containing His Majesty's Commission to Monsieur de Cúmont Lord of Boisgrollier LOUIS BY the Grace of God King of France and Navarré To Our Beloved and Trusty Councellor in Our Councel of State and Court of Parliament at Paris the Lord of Cúmont Greeting We having Granted our Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion to hold a National Synod in the Town of Charenton near Paris on the Six and Twentieth day of December next coming Composed of all the Deputies of the Provinces of Our Kingdom to Treat of Affairs concerning their Religion and being to make choice of a meet Person and of approved Fidelity to Vs who may preside in the said Assembly as Our Commissioner and Represent Vs in it We knowing the Services you have rendered Vs in sundry Honourable Imployments with which We had intrusted you which you have most Worthily and Faithfully discharged We thought We could not choose a fitter Person than your self being well assured that you will continue the Testimonies of your Affection unto Vs and Our Service as aforesaid Wherefore by Advice of the Queen-Regent Our most Honoured Lady and Mother We have Commissionated and Deputed you and We do Commissionate and Depute you by these Presents Signed with Our Hand to go unto the Town of Charenton and to sit in the said Synod there Assembled and to Represent Our Royal Person in it and to Propose and Determine whatever matters We shall give you in Command according to those Memoirs and Instructions We have now delivered unto you and you are to take heed that none other Affairs be there debated but such as ought to be in those Assemblies and which are permitted by Our Edicts And in case the Members of the said Synod should attempt to do any thing contrary thereunto you shall hinder them and interpose therein with Our Authority and give Vs speedy and timely notice of it that such course may be taken to prevent those inconveniencies which would arise as We shall Judge to be most convenient For the doing whereof We give you Power Commission and special Commandment by these presents Given at Paris the 28th of November in the year of Grace One Thousand Six Hundred and Forty Four and of Our Reign the Second Signed in the Original LOUIS And a little lower Phelippeaux The Speech of the Lord Commissioner unto the Synod together with his Propositions and Complaints made in Their Majesties Name against divers Churches Messieurs AS it is a very great Honour to me to be Commissionated by His Majesty to assist in your Synod and to acquaint you with His Will and Pleasure so also have I a great deal of Joy and Satisfaction to behold this Illustrious Assembly chosen out of all the Provinces of this Kingdom and that I can tell you by word of Mouth what was expresly Charged and Commanded me by the King and the Queen His Mother which is to assure you of Their Good Will unto you and Protection of you and of all your Churches and of the intire Execution of the Edicts of Pacification so long as you continue your selves within those bounds of Duty Subjection and Fidelity which you owe unto Their Majesties they being the Higher Powers set over you by God intrusted with the Supream Authority and your Lot and Portion being the Honour of Obedience to Them whereunto you stand Obliged by your Birth the Dictates of your own Conscience and the Favours you continually receive from Their Majesties and by all kinds of Considerations both General and
about an Hundred Years agoe before any Edict was granted in favour of our Religion and was presented by them unto Francis the Second who then Reigned to give his Majesty a reason of their Hope and account of those Corruptions which they firmly believed to be in that Faith professed and Retained by the Church of Rome and that therefore it needed Reformation Insomuch as none of out French Protestants did at first nor can they now without being guilty of gross Prevarication change that form of Expression which hath from its very beginning been inserted into our Confession whereby to declare sincerely and in truth their common Belief authorised in the Year 1561 by the Edict of January and since by that of Nantes granted us by Henry the Great and Confirmed by the Late King and his Majesty now reigning Thirdly The whole Roman Catholick Creed was never nor can ever be truly qualified an Abuse and Deceit of Satan seeing that both the Church of Rome and the Protestants have no difference about the Doctrin of the Trinity and of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus which are the principal points of Christianity yet together with these Fundamental Verities and own'd by all Christians in France Germany and elsewhere there have been divers other Articles of Faith brought into the Romish Creed to which we cannot yield any Assent or Consent such are those of the Intercession of Saints of Purgatory of the Pope and sundry others which though they have been in Vogue in that Church for many Ages have notwithstanding been constantly opposed and contradicted by all Protestants both in France and other Countries So that should we abandon the Profession of our Faith permitted us by the Edict and that Confession we have made and declared of it with all Imaginable Sincerity and Truth in the Presence of God who searcheth our Hearts and cannot endure Hypocrisie nor an Evil Conscience we should render our Selves Guilty of a most inexcusable Imposture we should dissemble and Counterfeit in Religion and utterly ruin all our Hopes of Heaven and Everlasting Life by means of a Sacrilegious Profession not in the least believed by us Wherefore it is the hope of our pour Churches that his Majesty imitating the Examples of his Predecessors who granted to their Faithful Subjects the Liberty of their Consciences will the rather favour us with his Royal Support and Protection for that open Profession we do make of our Faith than if we had dissembled it or kept it secretly and close in our own Bosoms or uttered it in Ambiguous and Equivocating Expressions which would have turn'd our Religion into a Cheat and through a Fallacious Compliance full of Fraud and Imposture would have perfidiously Betray'd the Holy Faith of our Fellow protestants and be the Bane of our own Consciences Fourthly As to the Printer of Geneva he does not depend on the National Synods of this Kingdom nor hath he any Orders from us nor received any Command from his Superiors to use those Terms which he did and we wish he had forborn them though yet he Speaks and Prints nothing but what is the common Sense and Opinion of all Protestants in Europe who have all unanimously from the very first with One Consent impugned that Council of Trent as to the form of its Convocation the Proceedings Decrees and Anathema's thereof which also sundry Roman Catholick Princes have done who by their Ambassadors made and entred their Solemn Protests against it and its Decrees So did the Emperor Charles the Fifth from whom our King is Descended by his Mother's Side by the Lord of Mendoza So did Henry the Second by the then Lord Abbot of Bellozonne who was afterward Bishop of Auxerre And so did Charles the Ninth by Monsieur Ferrier who describing this Famous Assembly resembled it to a Scorpion pricking the French Church and used an Expression every way at Emphatical as that of the Geneva Printer whose Liberty is yet so displeasing unto their Majesty Fifthly Nor have our Churches been ever so unmindful of their Duty and Subjection as audaciously to assume unto themselves a power of being Judges in their own Cause and doing themselves right But the naked truth of the matter is this that being favoured with his Majesties Declaration which ratified the Edict of Nantes and those secret Articles and Concessions included in it which had been granted by our former Kings several particular Churches being restored unto their Ancient Right fully and compleatly they believed that it was no Crime on their part to make use of them according to the Intention of his Majesty Sixthly And it was upon this Innocent Supposition and which had not in it any the least tendency unto Disobedience against the Publick Government that the Exercise of our Religion accustomarily performed at Ribaute for Seventy Years together without any Interruption being violently hindred by the Lady of that Place and Monsieur Arnaud Pastor of Anduze who was invited by the People offering himself to Minister to them for their Edification according to the ancient Practice was driven away by meer Force by a Company of Soldiers commanded thither by the said Lady and he thereupon was imprisoned by Order from the Lord Lieutenant of Languedoc and notwithstanding his Appeal unto the Court of the Edict yet he was actually Condemned for which Grievance he is now prostrate at his Majesties Feet humbly imploring his Majesties Clemency and Justice according to the Edict Seventhly The Provincial Deputies of Lower Languedoc for the acquitting and discharge of their Churches which hath sent them do maintain that those Three Cities of Nismes Vsez and Montpellier having deputed the Sieurs Peyrol Vestrie and Fournier to tender in their Names with all possible speed their First and Bounden Duties unto his Majesty and their most Humble and Unfeigned Thanks for the grant of his Declaration They did also Petition for his Majesties Protection and Justice and with the lowliest Submission and Respect they demanded also a Reparation of the Infractions of the Edict according to the constant practice of our Churches so that they cannot be perswaded that those said Cities are fallen from the Duty which becomes good Subjects and whereunto they are obliged by their Consciences Nor are they at all to be blamed for Addressing themselves unto his Majesty against the Prohibition of the Lord Intendant though he used his Majesties Name directly contrary to his Majesties Intention notified to us and to the World by his publick Declaration Eighthly Nor is the City of Vsez guilty of violating the Edict no not in that particular Capitulation with his Majesty nor doth it need a new Grant for an ancient Usage which was never taken from them by any Previous Inhibition That Bell of which there is so much Noise and so loud Complaints made unto his Majesty was ever placed in the Steeple of the Temple from its first Foundation and continued there till a little before the Capitulation when the
your Majesties Service as often as we shall have the Honour of your Commands and Summons 'T is in this posture Sire that we desire to Live and Die being not only by our Birth and Obligations but by our most Ardent Affections From Charenton December 28th 1644. Sire Your Majesties most Humble most Obedient and most Faithful Subjects and Servants the Pastors and Elders Assembled by Permission of your Majesty in the National Synod at Charenton and in the Name of them all Garrissoles Moderator Banage Assessor Blondel Scribe and Le Coq Scribe A Copy of the Letter Written by the Synod unto the Queen Regent Madam WE cannot but esteem this Day in which we lie prostrate at your Feet in the Persons of our Deputies as one of the most Happy Days of our Life No sooner had God intrusted your Majesty with the Government of this Kingdom but you may well remember how very diligent our Churches were to obtain this Honour whereof we stand now Possessed to signify in your Majesties Presence that exceeding Joy with which we were transported to see how the Providence of God was particularly concerned for the Weal of France and that when we had so sad an Occasion of Weeping and Mourning at the Death of our late King of Glorious Memory yet even then our Sorrows were Converted into Joys for your Majesties most Happy Exaltation unto the Regency which hath made us almost forgetful of our Loss the Sun now shining forth with greater Brightness than ever Only some cross Accidents interposed and deprived us of this Honour at that time and it was Madam the Will of God that before we appeared in your Majesties Presence we should joyn our then Hopes and Prejudices to those Experiences we all now have of the Blessings of God upon your most prudent and prosperous Government that so the Testimonies of our Joy might be the more Stately and Expressed in Terms far more Magnificent And that our Thankfulness might be Combined with our most Loyal most Humble and Dutiful Submissions Therefore Madam have we deputed unto your Majesty the Sieurs Vincent and Chabrol Pastors and de Panieure and de Clesles Elders to assure your Majesty on behalf of all the Churches of our deep Sense and Gratitude for all your Majesties Favours to us You have Madam continued to us his Majesty's Favours and those of his Royal Predecessors you have confirmed the Edicts granted us by your own Royal Declaration and which is more Madam 't is from your great Bounty that we now have the Liberty and Priviledge of this Assembly which we beseech your Majesty to repute as the most Vniform Meeting and most Harmonious Concourse of all the Hearts of your Subjects professing The Reformed Religion for the Service of your Majesties We Madam shall Love and Obey your Majesty Eternally nor shall any one be your Rival or Competitor with you for our Affections and we shall transmit this our Loyalty unto our Posterity after us as a most Essential part of our Religion And we beseech the Great God by whom Kings Reign and who hath hitherto caused the Lilies of your Crown to flourish so Gloriously that he would Madam be pleased to preserve you for the King our common Master and the King for your Majesty and both of you a long time for France and our Churches that so in the meeting and perpetual Conjunction of both those Luminaries this Kingdom may injoy the most Auspicious and most Beneficial Influences And that Madam your Regency may raise an Emulation in the most Accomplish'd and Consummate Monarchie's and that hereafter it may he a Domestick Pattern unto our King whereunto he may conform his Glorious Actions These Madam are the Vows and most ardent Prayers of your Majest's From Charenton December 28th 1644. Most Humble most Obedient and most Faithful Subjects and Servants the Pastors and Elders Assembled by your Majesties Permission in the National Synod at Charenton and for them all Garrissoles Moderator Banage Assessor Blondel and Le Coq Scribes CHAP. V. The Return of the Deputies with the Kings Answer 8. ON Thursday the Fifth of January the Sieurs Vincent Chabrol de Panieure and de Clesses returned unto the Synod with Letters from his Majesty and acquainted us with that favourable Audience and Reception they had from the King the Queen Regent his Royal Highness the Duke of Orleans the Lord Cardinal the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Comptroller and from the Secretary de la Vrilliere Which obliged all the Churches to bless God for the good Success of their Deputation and seemeth to promise us a speedy Redress of our Grievances yet nevertheless according to our Bounden Duty all the Churches are enjoyned to offer up their most Ardent Prayers unto God for their Majesties Preservation in Health and Life for his Royal Highness the Duke of Orleans and for our Lords the Ministers of State And whereas the said Deputies had not the Honour of Waiting upon the Prince he being then out of Town the Synod ordred them immediately to return to Paris as soon as they had News of his Arrival and to deliver him his Letters and to assure his Highness that our Churches were his most Humble Servants A Copy of the King's Letter unto the Synod By the King Dear and Well-beloved 9. WE have Received your Letters of the Eight and Twentieth Day of the last Month and understand by them to our great Contentment and by your Deputies the Good and Sincere Intentions of your Assembly held by our Permission at Charenton to continue in that inviolable Fidelity and Obedience to us which is your indispensable Duty the which hath given all desirable Satisfaction both to us and to our most Honoured Lady and Mother the Queen Regent Wherefore we were willing you should be informed by this our Letter and we exhort you to persist in this your Resolution and that you would upon all Occasions render us the undeniable Tokens of it by your good Conduct and by your strict Observance of those Orders we have prescribed you about the holding if your National Synod and on all other occurrences whatsoever which may offer themselves for upholding the publicly Tranquillity of this Kingdom And thus performing your Duty to us as we trust you will you may be assured that you shall receive from our Bounty and from that of our most Honoured Lady and Mother the Queen Regent all sort of Protection and favourable Entertainment and shall be supported and preserved under the benefit of our Edicts your Enjoyment of which in all Liberty and Safety under our Reign as during that of our most Honoured Lord and Father the late King will be a singular Pleasure and Delight unto us Of which your Deputies who are now returning to you from us will give you a more full and particular Knowledge Given at Paris this Fourth Day of January 1645. Signed in the Original Louis And a little lower Phelippeaux The Superscription
the Neighbouring Pastors 'till such time as the Synod shall be agreed and approve thereof ARTICLE 6. The Province of Lower Guynne moved that all the Churches might be injoyned to conform unto their Custom who as soon as they come into the Temple humbling themselves upon their Knees do each of them privately by themselves offer up a short Prayer unto God craving in it his gracious assistance in hearing of the Word Preached But it was the Judgment of this Assembly that no Canon should be made about a matter in itself indifferent and that the Churches should be left at liberty to use their own ancient Customs and they be all exhorted respectively to seek after those things which will make for their Edification and to avoid and shun all kind of Ostentation Affectation and Superstition ARTICLE 7. The Maritime Provinces making great Complaints of the vast number of Captives detained in Algier Tunis Salle and other Places of Barbary and Morocco and of their sad and woful Condition and that they do indispensably need the Charitable Assistance of all the Faithful to redeem them out of Misery This Synod adjureth by the Bowels of Compassion of the Living God and by that Fellow-feeling which all Members of our Lord Jesus ought to have of one anothers Straits and Necessities all the provinces and all the Churches and every particular Individual Professor of our Religion to yearn with Bowels of Pity over the Affliction of these our poor Brethren and to contribute liberally towards their Redemption and the Alms which shall be Collected to this purpose from the Provinces of Xaintonge Poictou Lower Guyenne Bearn Higher Languedoc shall be paid into the Consistory of Rochell and those Alms which shall be Collected from the Provinces of Lower Languedoc Sevennes Vivaretz Dolphiny and Burgundy shall be paid into the Consistory of Lions and those Alms which shall be Collected from the Provinces of Normandy Brittain Anjou Berry and the Isle of France shall be paid into the Consistory of Paris and every Province shall send unto the Consistory of Paris a List of their Captives and an Account of their Alms that so these Monies may be employed in the Redemption of those Captives who are Natives of Provinces before any others and after them as a Supplement of Charity for others also That so this whole work of Love may redound to the Glory of God the common Edification and particular Consolation of these our Poor Afflicted Brethren ARTICLE 8. The Provinces of the Isle of France and Anjou moving it All those Churches who injoy the priviledge of a Printing Press are strictly charged that they do not suffer any Alteration to be made either in the Translation of the Bible or Book of Psalms or in the Text of the Confession of Faith Liturgy and Catechism without an express Order from that Consistory which is authorised thereunto by the Provincial Synod ARTICLE 9. Upon report made by certain Deputies of the Maritime Provinces that there do arrive unto them from other Countries some Persons going by the Name of Independents and so called for that they teach every particular Church should of right be governed by its own Laws without any Dependency or Subordination unto any Person whatsoever in Ecclesiastical Matters and without being obliged to own or acknowledge the authority of Colloquies or Synods in matters of Discipline and Order and that they settle their Dwellings in this Kingdom A thing of great and dangerous consequence if not in time carefully prevented Now this Assembly fearing lest the Contagion of this Poyson should diffuse it self insensibly and bring in with it a World of Disorders and Confusions upon us and judging the said Sect of Independentism not only prejudicial to the Church of God because as much as in it lieth it doth usher in Confusion and openeth a Door to all kinds of Singularities Irregularities and Extravagancies and barreth the use of those means which would most effectually prevent them but also is very dangerous unto the Civil State for in case it should prevail and gain Ground among us it would form as many Religions as there be Parishes and distinct particular Assemblies among us All the Provinces are therefore enjoyned but more especially those which border upon the Sea to be exceeding careful that this Evil do not get footing in the Churches of this Kingdom that so Peace and Uniformity in Religion and Discipline may be preserv'd Inviolably and nothing may be innovated or changed among us which may in any wise derogate from that Duty and Service we owe unto God and the King N. B. whether the Persons thus qualified by this Reverend Assembly came from the Old or New England I cannot tell at this time 't is certain the Divisions about Church Discipline flew very high here at Home to the great hinderance of Reformation and the letting in upon us a Deluge of Sects and Pestilential Heresies the sight of which grieved the Hearts of all that truly feared God and exasperated very many Eminent Divines and Ministers against the Congregational Brethren which terminated in a most lamentable Schism and of above Forty Years continuance But it pleased God at last to have Compassion upon us and to touch the Hearts of the Godly Ministers of the Presbyterian and Independent Persuasion with a deep sense of this great Evil in separating so long one from the other Whereupon several Learned and Pious Pastors of Churches in the City of London of both ways met together divers times and Conferred each with other about the healing of this Breach and having frequent Consultations about it and poured out many Mighty and Fervent Prayers unto the God of Grace and Peace to assist direct and prosper them in it upon Fryday the Sixth Day of March 1690 according to our Computation most of the Dissenting N.C. Ministers in the City and many others from the Adjacent parts of it met together and there was then read unto them the Heads of Agreement prepared by the Committee and which had been seen and perused by many of them before and their Assent unto them being demanded it was readily accorded and afterwards near an Hundred gave in their Names unto this Union This Example was taking and leading to all other the N. C. Ministers of England who in many of their respective Counties had their Meetings to compose this Difference and by the Blessing of God upon those their Endeavours it was also upon the sight and consideration of the Printed Heads of Agreement among the United Ministers in London effected whereof Notice was sent up unto the Brethren here in London When the London Ministers first signed this Union they agreed unanimously to bury in the Grave of Oblivion those Two Names of Distinction viz. Presbyterian and Independent and to communicate these Articles of Union unto all Members in Communion with them in their particular Churches the Lords day come Seven-night after and that they would at the next Meeting
their Establishment and Edification whereby they are under the Pastoral Care and in case of Scandalous or Offensive Walking may be authoritatively admonished or censured for their Recovery and for vindication of the Truth and the Church professing it 9. That a Visible Professor thus joyned to a particular Church ought to continue stedfastly with the said Church and not forsake the Ministry and Ordinances there dispensed without an orderly seeking a Recommendation unto another Church which ought to be given when the case of the Person apparently requires it 2. Of the Ministry 1. We agree that the Ministerial Office is instituted by Jesus Christ for the gathering guiding edifying and governing of his Church and to continue to the end of the World 2. They who are called to this Office ought to be endued with competent Learning and ministerial Gifts as also with the Grace of God found in Judgment not Novices in the Faith and Knowledg of the Gospel without Scandal of Holy Conversation and such as devote themselves to the Work and Service thereof 3. That ordinarily none shall be ordained to the work of this Ministery but such as are called and chosen thereunto by a particular Church 4. That in so great and weighty a matter as the calling and chusing a Pastor we judge it ordinarily requisite that every such Church consult and advise with the Pastors of Neighbouring Congregations 5. That after such advice the Person consulted about being chosen by the Brotherhood of that particular Church over which he is to be set and he accepting be duly ordained and set apart to his Office wherein 't is ordinarily requisite that the Pastors of Neighbouring Congregations concur with the Preaching Elder or Elders if such there be 6. That whereas such Ordination is only intended for such as never before had been ordained to the Ministerial Office if any judge that in the Case also of the removal of one formerly ordained to a new Station or Pastoral Charge there ought to be a like solemn recommending him and his Labours to the Grace and Blessing of God no different Sentiments or Practice herein shall be any occasion of Contention or breach of Communion with us 7. It is expedient that they who enter on the work of Preaching the Gospel be not only qualified for Communion of Saints but also that except in Cases extraordinary they give proof of their Gifts and fitness for the said Work unto the Pastors of Churches of known abilities to discern and judge of their Qualifications that they may be sent forth with solemn Approbation and Prayer which we judge needful that no doubt may remain concerning their being called to the Work and for preventing as much as in us lieth Ignorant and Rash Intruders 3. Of Censures 1. As it cannot be avoided but that in the purest Churches on Earth there will sometimes Offences and Scandals arise by reason of Hypocrisie and prevailing Corruption so Christ hath made it the duty of every Church to reform it self by Spiritual Remedies appointed by him to be applied in all such Cases viz. Admonition and Excommunication 2. Admonition being the Rebuking of an Offending Member in Order to Conviction is in case of private Offences to be performed according to the Rule in Matth. 18. ver 15 16 17. and in case of Publick Offences openly before the Church as the Honour of the Gospel and nature of the Scandal shall require And if either of the Admonitions take place for the Recovery of the fallen Person all farther proceedings in a way of Censure are thereon to cease and Satisfaction to be declared accordingly 3. When all due means are used according to the Order of the Gospel for the restoring an Offending and Scandalous Brother and he notwithstanding remains impenitent the Censure of Excommunication is to be proceeded unto wherein the Pastor and other Elders if there be such are to lead and go before the Church and the Brotherhood to give their consent in a way of Obedience unto Christ and unto the Elders as over them in the Lord. 4. It may sometimes come to pass that a Church Member not otherwise Scandalous may sinfully withdraw and divide himself from the Communion of the Church to which he belongeth In which case when all due means for the reducing him prove ineffectual he having hereby cut himself off from that Churches Communion the Church may justly esteem and declare it self discharged of any further inspection over him 4. Of Communion of Churches 1. We agree that Particular Churches ought not to walk so distinct and separate each from other as not to have care and tenderness towards one another But their Pastors ought to have frequent Meetings together that by mutual Advice Support Encouragement and Brotherly Intercourse they may strengthen the Hearts and Hands of each other in the ways of the Lord. 2. That none of our particular Churches shall be subordinate to one another each being endued with Equality of Power from Jesus Christ And that none of the said particular Churches their Officer or Officer shall exercise any Power or have any Superiority over any other Church or their Officers 3. That known Members of particular Churches constituted as aforesaid may have occasional Communion with one another in the Ordinances of the Gospel viz. the Word Prayer Sacraments Singing Psalms dispensed according to the Mind of Christ unless that Church with which they desire Communion hath any just Exception against them 4. That we ought not to admit any one to be a Member of our respective Congregations that hath joyned himself to another without endeavours of mutual Satisfaction of the Congregations concerned 5. That one Church ought not to blame the Proceedings of another untill it hath heard what that Church charged its Elders or Messengers can say in Vindication of themselves from any Charge of irregular or injurious Proceedings 6. That we are most willing and ready to give an Account of our Church-Proceedings to each other when desired for preventing or removing any Offences that may arise among us Likewise we shall be ready to give the Right Hand of Fellowship and walk together according to the Gospel Rules of Communion of Churches 5. Of Deacons and Ruling Elders We agree the Office of a Deacon is of Divine Appointment and that it belongs to their Office to receive lay our and distribute the Church's Stock to its proper Vses by the Direction of the Pastor and the Brethren if need be And whereas divers are of Opinion that there is also the Office of Ruling Elders who labour not in Word and Doctrin and others think otherwise We agree That this difference make no Breach among us 6. Of Occasional Meetings of Ministers 1. We agree that in order to Concord and in any other weighty and difficult Cases it is needful and according to the Mind of Christ that the Ministers of several Churches be consulted and advised with about such matters 2. That such Meetings may consist
to them which is a most mischievous trick and abuse put upon those who see and converse with them Yea lastly this is contrary to those glorious Patterns and Examples of the Primitive and Ancient Christians who being in no wise able to brook such Disguises did repute and esteem them most Sacrilegious Impieties and would rather expose themselves to many Deaths than to swerve from the least Tittle of that Fidelity and Allegiance they had sworn unto God in their Baptism Wherefore this Synod ordaineth that such Offenders be strictly and carefully admonished not to persist in this their Hypocrisie for with whatsoever glosses and fine pretexts they may colour it over it is an open Mockage and Scorn both of God and Man a grievous Scandal unto their Brethren and a Mortal Wound unto their own Consciences And in case they shall obstinately abide in their Impious Resolution then all Consistories are injoyned to pursue and prosecute them with all Church-Censures as being Persons utterly unworthy of Communion with the Saints of God And that none may pretend Ignorance of this Act let it be Read and Notified publickly in all Places and Congregations where it may be judged needful An Act for the National Past 12. Forasmuch as the Patience and Long-suffering of God which leadeth Men unto Repentance hath been horribly despised by them so that his just Wrath and Indignation hath burnt like Fire against them for their great Ungodliness in every Nation and Country of Christendom and yet this fierce Anger of God is not turned away but his Almighty Arm is stretched out still and that Devouring Wars by reason of the Obdurateness and Impenitency of Sinful Men do menace them with utter Ruins and Desolations The National Synod assembled by his Majesties Permission at Charenton considering that the only means for removing so great and sore Judgments is the Conversion of Sinners and the humbling and abasing of their Haughty Hearts before the glorious Tribunal of that great God whom they have so much provoked unto Jealousie And whereas it is the indispensable duty and should be the perpetual practice of all Christians to become new Creatures to purge themselves from Dead Works and to serve the most holy God in all Holiness Righteousness and true Godliness The National Synod exhorts all the Faithful in general and particular to offer unto the Lord of Glory whom they have exceedingly dishonoured the reasonable Sacrifice of a contrite and a broken Heart and to lie prostrate in all Humility and Sincere Repentance at the Feet of his Divine Majesty And Provincial Synods are all of them required to proclaim publick and solemn Fasts in their respective Divisions according as their publick or private Necessities may demand And now that the Grace and Mercy of our Infinite and Almighty God may be implored and his Blessing and favour obtained for the establishing of an Universal Peace for the setting of the Kingdom for the conservation of his Majesties Sacred Person for his Divine Benedictions upon his Youth for the glory of his Crown and the happy Success of his Armies under the lawful Government of the Queen Regent and for the prosperity of the whole Royal Family it is decreed that a solemn Day of Fasting and Prayers shall be Observ'd and Celebrated in all the Churches of this Kingdom upon the Fourth Day of May now next ensuing and that the Faithful may be prepared for the Religious Observation of it publick Notice shall be given to them by all Pastors from their Pulpits by reading of this present Act. CHAP. XV. Particular Matters ARTICLE 1. ON the First Day of January being the Seventh after the opening of the Synod the Sieur de la Milletiere having distributed some certain Copies of a small Script of his just then Published in which he acquainted the World with the Reasons moving him to print another of greater bulk whereof he presented Two Copies unto this Assembly Intituled Instruction a la Foy Catholique and farther demanded that the Letters written by him unto this Assembly and left in the Hands of the Scribes might be read but they were not read the Lord Commissioner having desired the Tuesday following that they might be deposited with him to be sent unto his Majesty And the said Sieur de la Milletiere having on Monday the Eighteenth Instant obtained his Majesties leave to be present at this Assembly he was admitted into it when and where he discoursed of his Design and of the Subject of his Book and demanded that Commissioners might be appointed by the Synod for its examination which was absolutely refused him The Synod remembred the Judgment past against him by that of Alanson which had Seven Years agoe expresly ordred the Consistory of Paris to threaten him that unless he abandon'd his Opinions and Designs so very contrary to the Peace of our Churches to his own Conscience and to God's Truth he should not be owned as a Member of these our Reformed Churches Besides the Synod conceived that it was not reasonable to take off any of the Deputies from their Service and to imploy them in such an unprofitable Occupation or that they should contest with a Fellow who would not submit himself unto their Judgment and Authority and who hath told the World that for these Two last Years he had no other Intention than to incorporate himself into the Communion of the Church of Rome and to form a Party against all the Reformed Churches impugning with might and main the common Confessions of all Protestants perpetually accusing them of contemning the Catholick that is his Romish Church and of Schism from it and propounding to them for the Rule of their Faith the Acts and Canons of the Council of Trent against which they have all unanimously protested and do to this very Day protest against both them and it But the said de la Milletiere having given it under his own Hand in Writing that he would submit himself unto the Judgment of this Synod when as the Commissioners whom he himself had nominated brought in their report and the result of all their Conferences and Discourse had been read he changed the form of his Petition and varying from what he promised of receiving a Charitable Instruction he fell into a Contentious Dispute full of Wranglings upon the points in Controversie particularly upon that of Justification and would needs have two whole Days allowed him for this Debate with them However the Synod pittying his Weaknesses and desirous by all means possible to reclaim him back unto his Duty yeilded to his desires and ordered the Sieurs de Croy and de Langle Pastors of the Churches of Beziers and Rouan to confer with him And whereas the said de la Milletiere had begun to debate the point of Justification with Monsieur Amyraud Pastor and Professor of Divinity at Saumur the Synod thought meet that their Conference should be continued in presence of those Two forementioned Commissioners the remaining
Thursday and part of the Day following When the said de la Milletiere importunately demanding that now in his turn he might oppose and produce the Arguments in defence of his Opinions confirmed as he pretended by the Council of Trent tho this was far wide from what he at first requested yet was it freely granted him And he having continued Writing till Evening and for that it was needful he should be answered Monsieur Amyraud spent a great part of the Fryday night and of the Saturday Morning in making a Reply unto him Whereupon the said de la Milletiere finding that the time allotted him was expired the Fryday Evening he came and demanded a longer time for continuing the Conference Which the Synod did once more refuse him especially because that he had fully opened his Intentions and in formal Words declared that by that Writing subscribed with his own Hand he never promised to submit his Doctrin but Himself and Person to the Judgment of the Assembly who taking as in truth they could not but take this distinction such an one as it was in any other Sense than a notorious Scorn of their Just and Charitable Endeavours for his Eternal Welfare They told him plainly that neither they nor any of their Commissioners would waste a moment more of their precious time about him and adjured him by the Mouth of the Sieur Garrissoles their Moderator to give Glory unto God and to relinquish his most impious Designs and added farther that they did as the National Synod of Alanson had done before them declare that for divers Years past he was not to be reputed a Member of our Reformed Churches After which the said de la Milletiere demanded a Copy of the Conference collation'd with the Original and Sign'd by Monsieur Amyraud and the Two other Commissioners that he might make such Reflections on it as he thought best which was readily accorded him by the Synod But before the said Copy was finished on Monday the 23d of January the said de la Milletiere accompanied with one de Nardeau Huisser des Eaux Forests de France Overseer of the Waters and Forests of France living at Paris came unto Charenton and applying himself to Monsieur Blondel one of the Scribes delivered to him by the Hands of the said Nardeau an Act subscribed with his own Hand summoning the Synod to cause the said Conference began at Charenton by their Commissioners whom he all accused but especially Monsieur Amyraud of Ignorance and False Dealing to be continued in Paris And Secondly in case of Refusal that then they consign unto them the Acts signed by the said Commissioners that he might examine them at his leisure and pleasure Which said Summons being brought in and reported to the Synod by Monsieur Blondel a Vote past that Copies of those Acts Collationed and Subscribed by the said Commissioners and by Monsieur Amyraud should be delivered unto the said de la Milletiere according to his desire And that Monsieur Amyraud should be in readiness to refute him in case he should attempt as he threatned to make any further opposition by his Scribbles against that sound and saving Doctrin of Justification professed in all the Protestant Churches And whereas by these last actings of his the said de la Milletiere hath discovered himself to be immovably fixed in his Designs of impugning the Truth professed in all the Churches of this Kingdom which he now treateth as his avowed Adversaries and that for these Twelve Years last past notwithstanding all Admonitions and Remonstrances made him he hath wholly estranged himself from our Communion altho he hath frequently assisted at the Sermons which have been during all that time and still are Preached at Charenton This Synod confirming the Decree of the last National Synod held at Alanson in the Year 1637. doth now ordain that on the next Lord's Day being the Nine and Twentieth of this Instant January after the Morning Sermon is ended and before the last Prayer is poured out before God the said Sieur de la Milletiere shall be denounced by the Pastor from the Polpit in the Face of the whole publick Assembly an Excommunicate Person and cut off from the Body of our Reformed Churches and not at all to be reputed a Member of them A Copy of the Act of Excommunication to be Published the 29th of January 1645. against the Sieur De la Milletiere Most dear Brethren YOV have seen with very much Regret how Theophilus Brachet Sieur de la Milletiere hath made it his business for several Years by his Publick Writings to combat the Faith professed in all our Churches and you have been a long time grieved in your Souls for his scandalous Actings and Proceedings which are directly contrary to the bounden Duty of a Person educated from his Cradle in the knowledge and profession of the True Religion now utterly despised by him He had rather abound in his own Sense and suffer himself to be seduced by his own Prejudices than yield the least tittle of Deference and Respect unto those Remonstrances and Admonitions which the Christian Charity of the Consistory of this Church did in the first place make him and which were again and again repeated to him by the express Order of the National Synod of Alanson held in the Year 1637. and with this particular Clause That in case he did not return unto himself and give Glory unto God within the space of Six Months by renouncing of his corrupt Opinions and desisting from his sinful Practices that he should be no more owned nor acknowledged for a Member of our Reformed Churches those just and needful Admonitions having wrought no Impressions upon his Heart nor hitherto produced their long desired and much expected Fruit and Effect but that he is since the more hardened obstinate and inexcusable The National Synod of the Reformed Churches in this Kingdom which is now breaking up in this place desirous to apply a proper Remedy to so long a continued Scandal and as much as in it lieth to procure your Edification doth now ratisie and confirm that Decree of the former Assembly held at Alanson and declareth to you by our Mouth that the said Sieur De la Milletiere who hath been for Ten Years together suspended from the Lord's Table and Communion with the Church of God in that most holy Sacrament and hath been ever since the Year 1638. cut off from the Number of the Faithful of our Confession ought not any longer to be reckon'd or reputed by you as a Member of the Reformed Amen This very Act was accordingly pronounced at the Close of the Morning Sermon upon the Lord's Day January 29. 1645. by Mr. Theophilus Rossel Pastor of the Church of Xaintes in the Church of Charenton before that great and numerous Congregation ARTICLE II. The Petition of Monsieur du Mais upon the account of his Services unto the Churches of Auvergne is dismissed over to the Province
of Sevennes who are to see him satisfied ARTICLE 3. The Petition of the Province of Sevennes concerning the Church of Dourbiez shall be brought before the next Synod of Higher Languedoc which is entreated to take it into their particular Consideration ARTICLE 4. This Assembly declareth that those free Portions which were by the National Synod of Castres put upon the Dividend of the Province of Sevennes to be distributed among the Churches of Auvergne having not been payed into the said Province it is not at all accountable for them ARTICLE 5. Whereas the Widow of Monsieur Garnier deceased complaineth that the Wages of her late Husband were not paid him by the Church of Lorges The Sieur de Clesles Elder of that Church and Deputy of the Province of Berry answereth That there was a course already taken for the discharge of that Debt and he promised that the Quarter of Messac should bring in their portion without delay unto the next Synod of Berry and the said Synod is enjoyned to see this Widow fully and entirely satisfied ARTICLE 6. The Sieur de la Lause petitioned by Letters that his Son-in-law the Sieur Boronet might be set at Liberty from his serving the Churches in the Province of Xantonge because of his great Age and that he needs him to look after the Concerns and Affairs of his Estate and Family An Order passed that this Petition of his should be carried unto the next Synod of Xaintonge which is charged to take it into their Godly Consideration and to deal with him according to the Rules of Charity and Equity ARTICLE 7. The next Synod of Berry shall take Cognisance of the Petition of the Sieur Gueren and in case he be oppressed the Province of Burgundy is ordered by their final Judicial Sentence to redress his Grievances ARTICLE 8. Letters written by Monsieur Percy Pastor of the Church of Monflanquin and Deputy for the Province of Lower Guyenne were read in which he gave an Account of those Causes which hindred him from attending on this Synod as also the Titles of those Works begun by him in defence of the Truth This Assembly admitted his Excuses and ordered him to carry the Manuscript Copies of his Works unto the Provincial Synod which shall carefully examin them that so with their Approbation they may be published ARTICLE 9. The Sieur Daubus Pastor of the Church of Nerac Petitioned by Letters that this Assembly would be pleased to constitute some certain Commissioners to examin a Book written by him and presented to the Synod of Lower Guyenne and which was now brought hither unto this Nationa Synod It was Voted that the said Manuscript Book of his should be examined by Commissioners chosen in the Synod of that Province who having approved of it should take Care about it's Impression and Publication ARTICLE 10. This Synod being well informed both by the Letters of Monsieur Falquett a Pastor Emeritus and by the Speech of Monsieur Taby of the deplorable Estate whereunto he is reduced An Ordinance passed That the said Falquett should be recommended to the Charity of the Churches who have hither relieved him with oar desire that they would be pleased to continue their Offices of Love and Christian Kindness to him And this Ordinance shall be sent unto the Church of Maringues whether the said Mr. Falquett is ordered to retire ARTICLE 11. According to those respective Letters written by the Pastors and Consistories of the Colloquies of Rouan and Caux the Siâ—urs de L'Angle and Guesdon having petitioned that those two aforesaid Colloquies might be sundred to make up each of them a particular Synod the Sieurs Basnage and Caillars who spake for the four Colloquies of the Lower Normandy which opposed this Separation being also heard The Assembly after a mature Debate and serious Consideration of the Reasons pro con of the Conveniences and Inconveniences which might ensure upon this dismembring and for denying or granting their Request made this Decree That the Separation demanded by them could not be allowed And whereas the said Sieurs Basnage and Caillard have on their side requested that without any respect had unto that distinction of Higher and Lower Normandy this Assembly would be pleased to ordain that whenever an Election should be made of Deputies unto the National Synods that it might he carried by Number of Persons and Plurality of Suffrages and not by that Custom of deputing one tor the Higher and another for the Lower Normandy It was again resolved that the ancient Custom should not be abrogated nor that any thing should be innovated in the Form and Manner of their Elections ARTICLE 12. The Complaint of Monsieur des Marez in his Letters was brought hither by the Deputies of the Lower Languedoc and exaggerated by their Remonstrances in this Synod whereunto the Deputies of the Province of Vivaretz also did make Reply in their own Defence Upon hearing of both Parties the Consistory of Montlimard which was accepted by both Parties for their Umpire was empower'd with Authority from this National Synod to determin finally of this Affair ARTICLE 13. Report was made by the Deputies of Normandy of a Suit at Law commenced by a certain Head of a Family belonging to the Church of Rouen against a Woman espoused without their Permission or the Consent of his Parents unto his Son This Assembly decreed that the Son who by reason of this difference had been suspended the Lords Table should humble himself unto his Father and by all the Ways and Duties of Submission and Reverence endeavour to regain his Favour and Blessing and the Father shall be intreated and conjured by the Consistory to limit a certain time when he will put an end unto this Process Which term being laps'd the Son shall be received unto Communion at the Lord's Supper ARTICLE 14. The Complaint of Monsieur Gravier shall be brought before the next Synod of Burgundy who shall take Care about it ARTICLE 15. Whereas Monsieur de la Fite hath represented that there was a Clause inserted into the Act of the Synod of Alanson fram'd upon the Account of the Sieur Fabas and which concerned both him the said La Fite and the Sieur Gillott Advocate in the Parliament of Navarre this Assembly decreeth That the said Sieurs shall appear before the Provincial Synod of Lower Guyenne which is to determin finally of this their Affair ARTICLE 16. That Act made in the Synod of Lower Guyenne held at St. Foy on behalf of Monsieur Larigorrie shall be executed according to its Form and Tenor and the said Sieur Larigorrie is according to the Intention of that Synod recommended to the Charity of the Churches of Lower Guyenne that from them he may receive the assistance promised to him ARTICLE 17. Till the Meeting of the Provincial Synod of Berry unto which the Sieur L'Eufant shall present himself to be examined the Church of Bâ—â—â—â—e shall be supplied by the Pastors of Orleans Blois Chasteaudun Mâ—â—â—â—â—noir
as a mark of their Esteem and Favour by this very Synod But being invited to the Profession of History in the Illustrious School of Amsterdam he left his Native Country accepted of the Employment and died in that City 2. Monsieur Drelincourt Pastor of the Church of Paris a very learned and holy Man of God of him and his Works I say more in my Icones 3. Monsieur Basnage He was in high Esteem with their Churches he hath a very Learned Son now living in Exile at Rotterdam 4. Monsieur de L' Angle a most eloquent Preacher His Son is one of the Prebends of Westminster 5. Monsieur Vincent Pastor of the Church of Rochel the Jesuits called him Two Thousand He perpetually mawl'd them in the Pulpit 6. Monsieur Jurieu his Son is that worthy Pastor of the French Church and Professor of Divinity at Rotterdam 7. Monsieur Garrissoles the Moderator was a Person of Eminent Learning and Piety When all the other Professors in the University of Montauban quitted it for want of their Stipends he alone continued in the Discharge of the Duties of his Professoral Office doing his Work faithfully and painfully trusting God for his Wages 8. Monsieur de Croy was nominated by this National Synod to the Professors Chair of Divinity in the University of Nisms Mr. Amyraut had a very great Esteem for him and Dedicated his Treatise De Libero Hominis Arbitrio unto him The End of the Twenty Eighth Synod THE Acts Decisions and Decrees Made and Done in the XXIX National Synod OF The Reformed Churches OF FRANCE Held in The Town of Loudun and Province of Anjou The Tenth Day of November 1659. The CONTENTS of the Synod of Loudun Chap. I. THE Kings's Writ for calling the National Synod Names of the Deputies Election of Synodical Officers Chap. II. The Kings Letters Patents to Monsieur de Magdelaine to be his Commissioner in the Synod Chap. III. The Lord Commissioners Speech to the Synod Chap. IV. The Moderators Answer to that Speech Chap. V. The Marquiss of Ruvigny sworn General Deputy 2. His Commission from the King unto that Office 3. A Limitation of his Votes 4. Deputies from the Synod to the King 5. The Synods Letters to the King Queen and his Eminency the Cardinal Mazarin 6. Return of the Deputies from the Court unto the Synod with the King and Cardinals Letters 7. Three Persons presented to the King out of which One to be prick'd by him for another General Deputy 8. Letters from Foreign Churches to the Synod but not suffered to be answered 9. Another Letter of the Synod unto the King and Cardinal Chap. VI. Notes upon the Confession of Faith Chap. VII Observations upon the Discipline 1. Churches not to be too hasty in admitting Converted Priests into the Ministry 2. Proposans must be examined in Colloquies and Synods 4. Imposition of Hands in Ordination The Discipline sworn Chap. VIII Observations upon the Synod of Charenton 1. About Seats in the Temples 2. A Canon about Catechising 4. A Pragmatical Minister censured 6. An incestuous Couple not to be admitted to the Lord's Table till Six Months after their Separation 11. The Canons about the Imputation of Adam's Sin not to be altered Chap. IX Of Appeals The Case of a poor Minister 6. A Minister impeached in the Synod for practising Physick 10. An Intricate Appeal 18. The Business of Mr. Morus 21. The Business of Mr. D'Hysseau and Amyraut Chap. X. General Matters An Act against the Profanation of the Lords Day 4. A Canon against Duels 6. An Observation about the Lutherans 8. Whether the Lord's Supper may be administred upon a Working Day 9. The Consistory of the Church of Paris are to take care of a more correct Edition of the Bible Psalms Liturgy and Catechism 13. Baptism of Infants not to be delayed 1â— Errors to be confuted in the Latin Tongue 17. No Sermons to be Printed without Approbation 21. Method for Voting in the National Synod 23. Complaints against Mr. Daille and Amyraut about their Writings 24. Articles of Peace extracted out of the Acts of N. Ss. of Alanson and Charenton 25. Manner of determining Appeals 25. An Act against Blasphemy 26. Care taken to preserve the Annexed Congregations a kind of Daughter Churches 27. The Generosity Self-denial and great Affection to the Churches of Mr. Loride des Gallnieres 28. Chap. XI Particular Matters Orders about the Election of a Proposan to a Pension 11. Care had of a Worthy Minister 14 15. Of a Ministers Widow 21. Of another Minister 22. Of a Learned Lawyer writing in Defence of the Truth against Cardinal Baronius his Annals 27. About an accused Minister 29. Chap. XII Of Vniversities The Corruptions got amongst Students in the V niversities corrected and reformed 2. Excessive Rates for Lodging and Commons in those Vniversity Towns retrenched and redressed 3. Prizes given unto Scholars in the Vniversity of Die 4. Provinces censured for their neglect of the V niversities 7 8. Care of Professor's Widows 9 10. Chap. XIII Accounts of the Lord du Candal Chap. XIV An Act for the National Fast Chap. XV. A Dividend of Sixteen Thousand Livres Chap. XVI The Roll of Deposed and Apostate Ministers Chap. XVII An Act for Taxing the Expences of the Deputies Chap. XVIII An Act for calling the next National Synod Chap. XIX An Act for the Validity of all Acts which shall be Delivered and Signed Chap. XX. Commissions given by the Synod executed and the Commissioners Speeches unto the Vniversity and Consistory of Saumur Chap. XXI A Letter to Martyn the Apostate Chap. XXII Remarks upon the Deputies unto the Synod Chap. XXIII Catalogue of the Churches and Ministers The Synod of Loudun 1659. The 29th Synod SYNOD XXIX In the Name of God Amen The Acts of the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France Assembled by his Majesties Permission in the Town of Loudun the Tenth Day of November One Thousand Six Hundred Fifty and Nine and continued Sitting full Two Months viz. till the Tenth Day of January 1660. CHAP. I. MOnsieur Desloges Pastor of the Church of Loudun opened the Synod with Prayer the next day after their Meeting viz. the Eleventh of November and then the Lord Marquiss of Ruvigny who was General Deputy of the Churches presented his Majesties Writ for calling this Synod the Tenour of which is as followeth This Sixth Day of September One Thousand Six Hundred Fifty and Nine the King being at Burdeaux upon the most humble Petition of his Subjects of the P. R. Religion tendered unto his Majesty that he would be pleased to permit them to Call and Assemble a National Synod because there had not been one held since that of Charenton in the Year 1644. His Majesty being willing to gratify and treat favourably those his said Subjects he hath permitted and doth permit them to convocate a National Synod on the Tenth Day of May next in his Town of Loudun but on this condition that there shall
Goodness that when the Office of General Deputy became void by the Death of the Lord Marquess of Arâ—illiers that his Majesty was pleased to fill it up with the Person of my Lord Marquess of Ruvigny a Noble-man endowed with all Qualities requisite for it and who will undoubtedly discharge it faithfully And if our Churches had chosen for themselves as was accustomed they could never have made an Election more advantagious And we also have cause enough to be thankful unto his Majesty for granting us the Liberty of Deliberating about his Confirmation in this Office without imposing on us in this juncture any Force or Necessity And for as much as our Churches are intirely satisfied with the care and pains which the said Lord Marquess of Ruvigny hath taken in our Affairs and that they believe he will always continue to acquit himself most worthily in this Imployment and because his Majesty hath given us to understand that it would be very pleasing to him that he should be Confirmed this Assembly not knowing how or where to make a better Choice do continue him in this Office and resign into his own Hands the Writ by which he was Establish'd and after that Solemn Protestation which he hath made unto this Assembly of discharging his Deputation with all possible care and faithfulness we gave him his Priviledge of Sitting and his deliberative and decisive Votes among us as all General Deputies his Predecessors have had according to his Majesty's desire And the Act hereof shall be inserted afterward into the Body of the Acts of this Synod As for the rest This Assembly being purely Ecclesiastical we know very well that none other matters but such as are Ecclesiastical and which concern the Religion and Discipline of our Churches ought to be treated in it and we are absolutely resolved that we will not in any wise swerve or depart from the Rules of our Duty and Callings nor will we suffer any other Assembly whatsoever to be held wherein any of our affairs shall be debated or any Election made of Deputies And we believe that there is not so much as One Man among us who is one of our Members that hath the least inclination thereunto And as for the Proclaiming of General Fasts by the Provincial Synods it being expresly Ordained by our Canons that the Province whose right it is to call the National Synod may publish a General Fast if there be a necessity for it and the King having permitted us the Exercise of our Discipline and the putting of our Canons in Execution This Assembly hopeth that his Majesty's Equity and Goodness will not deprive us of the Power and Liberty to reduce them into act and practice And the rather because our extraordinary humbling of our selves before God is not design'd only for this end that we may obtain from his Sovereign Mercy a peculiar Blessing on those of our Communion but also we do then wrestle with our God for the prosperity of the whole Nation and for the Preservation of his Majesty's own Person And as for that Discreet Carriage required from our Ministers in the Exercise of their Pastoral Office in their Books and Sermons printed or preached in Defence of our Religion our Fathers before ever the Exercise of our Religion was permitted by the Edicts and in the very midst of Fire and Faggot had Christian Charity in that great Esteem and Commendation that they by a most plain and Express Article of our Discipline did prohibit the Usage of any injurious reproachful Terms which might in the least exasperate Men's Spirits so that the Times in which we now live being more calm and peaceable through the Grace of God and the Goodness of our King his Majesty may be fully assured that on this Account he shall always find us yielding a most perfect Obedience a most exemplary Moderation And it were to be wished that the Preachers in the Romish Communion were as circumspect then should we not be so much torn in pieces as we are continually by them both in Print and Pulpit But as for those Words Antichrist in our Liturgy and Idolatry and Deceits of Satan which are found in our Confession they be Words declaring the Grounds and Reasons of our Separation from the Romish Church and Doctrins which our Fathers maintained in the worst of Times and which we are fully resolved as they through the Aids of Divine Grace never to abandon but to keep faithfully and inviolably to the last Gasp Whilst his Majesty's Predecessors were pleased to permit our Churches the choice of Foreigners for their Pastors we made use of that Priviledge and none of our Synods either Provincial or National ever knew one of them to deport himself otherwise than a Native of this Kingdom all of them when invested with the Ministry in our Churches have lived and acted and preached as natural born French-men But since that Interdiction made us by the late King of Glorious and Immortal Memory we never received any but have utterly forborn it and we have most humbly petitioned his Majesty now reigning that he would be pleased to put a distinction between those who are wholly Strangers and others who tho the Sons of Strangers are yet born in the Kingdom and are under the Protection and Government of his Crown and whom our Parliaments in all Questions about Inheritances and Successions to them and other Priviledges of this Nature have equalized with all other his Majesties Subjects And although some of them have been Educated in Commonwealths yet their Religion learns them to subject themselves with all Reverence to the Superior Powers under all Forms of Government whatsoever and that Protection which they have from this Kingdom doth incline their Affections upon Principles of Gratitude and Interest unto a Monarchical Government And in case his Majesty should be pleased to allow them the Exercise of their Ministry among us in this Kingdom as we most humbly petition his Majesty so to do he would have full and clear and sufficient Proof of their Loyalty in his Service As for Letters which may be sent by Strangers unto this Assembly although there is none of our Religion in any Nation that doth sollicit us unto Actions contrary to our Duty and in case they should go about to do it all and every Individual Member of this Assembly at the first sight of such a Letter would reject the Motion with Horror and Execration And we cannot but acknowledge that in some respects as for publick Orders sake the Lords Commissioners deputed to us and set over us by his Majesty are to receive and dispose of them according to his Majesty's Will But yet as to matters concerning our Religion we hope that his Majesty will suffer us to hold Communion and Correspondence with our Brethren For other Letters coming from his Majesty's Subjects to this Assembly and relating to Ecclesiastical matters wherein they be concerned his Majesty having graciously permitted us
Lord do expect and wait for this Fruit of your Eminency's great Goodness and whatever shall be received by us it shall be as a most refreshing Shower that shall cause our Hearts to fructifie more abundantly yea and the Hearts of all those of our Religion in that Love and Affection which they have ever had and which our Religion and our Interest inspireth us to have above all other his Majesty's Subjects for his Service and to have the Praise of being true Frenchmen firmly devoted to the Advancement of the State and to that respect which all France oweth unto your Eminency But whatever may be my Lord we invocate incessantly our common Redeemer that he would preserve your Eminency's Person in all Prosperity and bless your Counsels given unto his Majesty and cause them for the future as they have in times past to succeed to the Advantage of the State the Glory of his Majesty and the immortal Honour of your Eminency These are their Vows and Prayers who will conserve inviolably the Quality which they have ever had to be my Lord of your Eminency The most Humble and most Obedient Servants the Pastors and Elders Assembled in a National Synod at Loudun and for them all Daille Moderator c. 6. The Sieurs Eustache and Mirabel who were Deputed from this Assembly unto his Majesty being returned from their Journey gave an Account of their Deputation and delivered Letters from the King his Eminency and the Lord de la Vrilliere unto this Assembly and they received the Praise and Thanks of it for their Care and Labour A Copy of His Majesty's Letter DEar and Well Beloved We were very glad at the Receipt of your Letters dated the 18th Instant and to hear from the Mouths of your Deputies the Sieurs Eustache and de Mirabel the Thanks you have rendred us for our permitting you to hold this National Synod in our Town of Loudun and the Protestations of your inviolable Fidelity and Obedience to us and being well satisfied therewith we were willing to give you the knowledge of it by this our Letter and to exhort you to persist in your Godly Purposes and Duties and to afford us upon all occasions which may offer themselves for our Service the Evidences of your good Conduct And we farther assure you that whilst you continue your selves within the Bounds we require from your Synod and upon all other Occurrences which you may meet withal to maintain as much as in you lieth the publick Peace and Tranquility you shall also receive from us all good and favourable Usage and we shall be delighted to protect you under the benefit of our Edicts and of those of our most Honoured Lord and Father the late King as we have done until now and as we shall yet again once more assure you more particularly by your Deputies whom we return unto you very much satisfied In the mean while we do the more willingly allow the Continuation of the Lord Marquess of Ruvigny in the Office of General Deputy for your Churches near our selves because we are fully perswaded that he will always acquit himself with Care and Faithfulness of that Employ Given at Tholouse the Tirteenth Day of November One Thousand Six Hundred Fifty and Nine Signed LOVIS And a little Lower PHELIPPEAVX The Superscription was To our dear and well-beloved the Pastors and Elders Deputed unto the Assembly of the National Synod of our Subjects of the Protestant Reformed Religion held at Loudun Copy of his Eminency's Letter Sirs YOur Deputies delivered me the Letter which you took the pains to write me I owe you Thanks for your Civilities and the more because his Majesty being perswaded as he is of your inviolable Fidelity and of your Zeal for his Service 't is but needless and superfluous to mention any good Offices for you with his Majesty I pray you to believe that I have a very great Esteem for you as you do deserve it being such good Servants and Subjects of the King I have nothing more but to leave my self to what shall be related of me by your own Deputies and by the Dispatches of the Lord de la Vrilliere I remain Sirs Your most Affectionate to do you Service The Cardinal Mazarin The Sieur de la Morinaye was Deputed by this Assembly with Letters to my Lord Chancellor and to my Lord de Bertueil Comptroler General of the Exchequer and ordered to ride unto Paris and there to take up the Sixteen Thousand Livres Gratuity which his Majesty hath been pleased to bestow upon this Assembly for defraying the Expences of it's Deputies to which purpose the Orders of the Accomptants and the Assignment of my Lord High Treasurer was delivered into his Hands which was under Signed by the Sieur Eustache 7. The Assembly considering that since the Death of the Sieur Bazin General Deputy of our Churches for the Third Estate unto the King that there is no one to supply his Place so that my Lord Marquess of Ruvigny our General Deputy is even born down with the Duties of his Office at Court which is a very great Inconveniency to our Churches it was decreed That a most humble Petition should be tender'd unto his Majesty that he would be pleased to put us again into the Possession of this Priviledge And the Assembly hoping that this their Petition would not be unacceptable unto his Majesty and my Lord Commissioner not in the least opposing it was resolved that we should proceed immediately unto the Election of such Persons as should be presented unto his Majesty according to the usual Forms Which being done it was found that the Sieurs Loride des Galinieres Advocate in the King's Council and in Parliament Jassaud Advocate in the mixt Court of Castres and des Forges Le Coq Counsellor and Secretary to the King had the Plurality of Votes Whereupon it was decreed that my Lord Marquess of Ruvigny shall be intreated to notifie it unto the King as soon as possible together with the most humble Petition of this Assembly that his Majesty would be pleased to chuse one out of these Three according to Custom and to assign him the Salary which his Majesty and the Kings his Predecessors have given unto those who have exercised the said Office of General Deputy 8. Letters being Addressed to this Assembly by the Pastors and Professors of Divinity in the Church and University of Geneva and other Letters from the Pastors and Professors of Divinity in the Churches and Universities of the Cantons of Zurich Berne Basil and Schapheusen joyntly Signed by them they were delivered unto my Lord Commissioner who having first perused them did afterwards order them to be communicated unto the Assembly and to be read in it The Contents of which were large Expressions of their Affections to the Peace of the Churches of this Kingdom and their Joy at the Liberty which it hath pleased the King to give us and the Priviledge of Assembling
they represented that they would observe it themselves and see that it should be exactly observed in their Provinces CHAP. VIII Observations upon reading the last National Synod of Charenton in the Year 1644. 1. THE Provincial Deputies of Lower Languedoc and Sevennes demanding that something might be changed in that Decree of the National Synod of Charenton in the Year 1644. which empowred Consistories with full Authority to judge Sovereignly and without Appeal of those differences arising upon the Account of Seats erected in our Temples And the Consistory of Montpellier having sent Memoirs and demanded quite contrary to them a Confirmation of the said Decree This Assembly waving the Decrees of Provincial Synods made in prejudice of the Ordinances of the National Synod of Charenton and which have not been as yet put in execution by their Consistories and are now vacated and disannulled by this present Assembly it doth judge that there ought not to be any change made in that Decree of the said National Synod of Charenton but ordaineth only That in case the Difficulties be so great as that they cannot be composed by the particular Consistory then it may call in the most considerable Heads of Families belonging to their own Church or of the Neighbour Consistories to be corroborated by their United Counsels and to judge Sovereignly without Appeal concerning those Seats and to prosecute with Church-Censures all such Persons as will not submit unto their Orders and particularly those who shall attempt to remove a business of this nature from our Ecclesiastical Assemblies Moreover it declareth and judgeth as did the last National Synod held at Charenton in the 7th and 11th Articles of Appeals That there be fewer Inconveniences in leaving all Seats free and in common than in affecting them unto particular Persons who being meerly private Persons cannot of right lay claim unto any preheminence before others And all the Churches are exhorted to do what in them lieth to make all places common 2. Forasmuch as True Piety and Holiness depend upon the right knowledge of the Mysteries of Religion this Assembly ratifying that Decree made in the last National Synod of Charenton which was to this effect That whereas in several Great Churches of this Kingdom it was requisite for their general Edification that the Sunday's Catechisms should be handled not by familiar Questions and Answers but by Common-places And that their Instruction might be facilitated who were grown in Years they had substituted extraordinary Catechisings upon some certain days of the Week preceding the Lord's Supper their Practice being approved all the Churches of this Kingdom are exhorted to conform themselves to that Order prescribed by the Discipline as far as God shall enable them and in case they cannot Catechise their Children on every Sabbath-day they shall then chuse out some particular Day of the Week for this Exercise especially before the Celebration of the Lord's Supper And Provincial Synods are charged to take knowledge whether every particular Church in their District do perform their Duty herein or no and to give an Account thereof unto the next National Synod This Decree is again revived and 't is now ordered that it shall be exactly observed in all our Churches which shall take such care and course in their respective Consistories as they shall judge will best contribute to the Instruction of the Faithful and in those Churches which have two Sermons on the Lord's Day the Second Sermon shall be turned into an Exposition of the Catechism by way of Common-Place adapting their Discourses to the meanest Capacities And in those Churches and Towns where there is more frequent Preaching as on every day of the Week there is in some they are exhorted to exchange one or more of these Sermons into familiar Catechistical Exercises and such as be more populous and dispersed into divers quarters they are exhorted to hire a fit Person n to instruct the Children in all the Quarters of those Cities and of the Country or at least to chuse out in every Quarter such Elders as are Men able and willing to do this good Service unto the Church of our Lord Jesus And all Fathers and Mothers shall take an especial Care of the Religious Education of their Children teaching them themselves and committing them to Godly Ministers who may form their tender years unto Godliness And all Colloquies and Synods are enjoyned to take Cognizance once a year of the Observation of this Order by Pastors and Consistories And in case there should occur any difficulty to obstruct and hinder this good Design Provincial Synods are empowred with Authority to judge of it and whatever shall be determined and ordained by them shall be executed notwithstanding any Appeal that may be made from them and put in practice till the meeting of the next National Synod unto which an Account of the whole shall be given And that Pastors may acquit themselves more carefully of this most needful part of their Ministry and may have the more time for their private Studies and better prepare themselves for their publick Work in the Pulpit and give more satisfaction unto their Auditories by a clear judicious and solid Explication of the Sacred Scripture Those Churches whose Ministers are obliged to preach oftner than three times in the Week are entreated to discharge them of some part of this Exercise that they may be the better qualified for their Work and may apply themselves more profitably to the Instruction of the Youth by familiar Catechisings And Synods and Colloquies shall see unto it that Pastors and their Churches do all of them endeavour the Advancement of their Members Edification and the Glory of God and of the Gospel 3. Monsieur Drelincourt Pastor of the Chrch of Paris having given an Account of his Works undertook in Obedience to the Counsel of the last National Synod held at Charenton received the Praise and Thanks of this Assembly for those his Learned Labours already published in Defence of the Truth and for Consolation of the Faithful which have been very beneficial to them and he is exhorted to continue his painful Studies and to print those other Treatises as soon as they be finished which are now in his Hands 4. There was read an Article of the last National Synod concerning the Differences of the University of Die with Monsieur Aymin a Minister and the Letters also of the Professors in the said University were perused in which they complain of the many Troubles he hath put them to upon the score of the Judgments passed in the Consistory of Lion March 21. 1638. and March 7. 1643. notwithstanding they had been all repealed in that last National Synod and which self-same Decree was Confirmed by a Judicial Sentence of the Supreme Court of Requests May 12. 1656. into which the said Aymin had driven them And another Report was made how he threatned them with farther Prosecutions upon the same Account This Assembly censureth the
Foreign Parts without the Kingdom and that he should not suffer them to be divulged or sold in this City of Loudun and this he did that neither the Parties concerned nor the Synod it self should complain that without those Paperâ— Pieces and Writings they could not come to a perfect knowledge of the bottom of this Affair and to judge aright of it In pursuance hereof and for these Considerations before mentioned the said Lord Commissioner declared that he did now also give full Liberty to all the Deputies who were in this Synod Judges of this matter to peruse those aforesaid Papers and Evidences as they should think meet and according to the Priviledges granted by his Majesty to his Subjects of the Reformed Religion by the Edicts and according to the Discipline received in our Churches and approved in France by the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom but without allowing them to subject themselves to any Foreign Authority Jurisdictioâ—◠〈◊〉 Judgments or to send Monsieur Morus unto any other Judges than â—â—ose of his said Kingdom to be tried by them and to undergo their Judicial Sentence this being contrary and prejudicial to his Majesty's Authority to his Ordinances and Edicts as also to the Weal and Rights and Priviledges of his Subjects All which it was his Lordships Pleasure should be inserted into the Act containing the Judgment of this National Synod upon this affair The Sieur Papillon Advocate in Parliament and Elder in the Church of Paris being admitted to produce his Arguments in defence of those Appeals brought both in his own Name and in that of Monsieur Beauchamp an Advocate and Elder also in the same Church from the Judgments given in the Synod of the Isle of France held at Ay in May last of this Year now current 1659 by which Monsieur Morus was conferr'd upon the Church of Paris to be their Minister and from those Members of the Consistory of that Church who had Ordered the said Mr. Morus to be confirmed in it notwithstanding their Appeal and for refusing to give him leave which he had demanded to pass into Holland according to his promise there to justifie himself from those Imputations laid upon him and for that they censured him the said Papillon for Appealing from them He was heard in this Assembly and the Assembly took notice of what he urg'd on behalf of his Appeal and heard him patiently in whatever he had to offer against those Judgments aforesaid And also Monsieur Morus was heard defend himself and explaining matters relating to him as were the Deputies of the Province of the Isle of France and those of the Consistory of the Church of Paris in defense of their Judgment and in their demand of the Ministry of the said Monsieur Morus And there was heard the Report made by the Committee appointed for a more exact Reading and Verification of all Papers and Writings and what Judgment had been past on the Excuses and Denials of both sides the Examination of this important business ate up several Days This Assembly having rightful Authority to judge herein and the rather for that the Synod of Nimeguen whose Act was now Read had remitted the whole unto the Prudence Discretion and Charity of this Assembly to do in it what it should conceive would most contribute to the Glory of God the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ and the upholding of that Holy Correspondence which hath always been betwixt the Reformed Churches of France and those of the United Provinces did take and retain the cognizance of this affair unto it self and declared that it found no cause obliging it to condemn the said Sieur Morus nor to blast the Reputation of his Person or Ministry but on the contrary that it had sufficient Reasons to dismiss him justified from all those grievous Slanders and Accusations which were brought into this Assembly against him Wherefore it declareth him innocent of those crimes which were imposed on him and having perused those advantagious Testimonials given him by the Magistrate Pastors and Professors of Divinity in the City of Geneva by the Pastors and Professors of Divinity in the City of Middleburg by the Burgomasters and Curators of the City and Illustrious School of Amsterdam and by divers Pastors and sundry other private Persons whose Names and Probity are celebrious and well known to this Assembly and considering the great Edification which the Church of Paris receiveth from his Ministry and their vehement desires urged with the greatest importunity that he may be continued to them this Assembly doth Establish and Confirm him in the said Church to discharge the Office and perform the Duties of an ordinary Pastor in it And making Reflections upon what hath been transacted in the Synods of La Ferte au Col and D'Ay and in the Consistory of the Church of Paris on occasion of the said Monsieur Morus it censureth that Synod of La Ferte for having judged the said Monsieur Morus when he belonged not unto them nor was under their Jurisdiction and only because an Impeachment against him had been brought before them and for that they never exacted of him in order to his Induction into the Church of Paris but a simple License of departure from the Curators of the Illustrious School of Amsterdam without making mention of his Testimonial from the Church And the Synod of Ay is censured for assuming to themselves a power of judging the competency or incompetency of the Synod of Tergou over which they had none Authority and that in speaking of that Synod they used very unbecoming Expressions and reflected unhandsomly upon their Judgment and confirming the Censures issued out by the said Synod of La Ferte against the Consistory of the Church of Paris it doth ordain that the Canons of our Discipline about the Election and Confirmation of Pastors shall be observed with greater exactness than hath been done in this Call given unto and Reception of Monsieur Morus by the Church of Paris And as for the Sieur Papillon the Assembly hath taken off the Censures inflicted on him by the Consistory of the Church of Paris and doth fully acquit him from it and declareth that there was no reason for denouncing any Censure against Monsieur Beauchamp And after grave and serious Counsels and Admonitions given unto Monsieur Morus about his Conversation which was not managed with that circumspection as was requisite and advice unto him to be more careful for the future that the mouth of Calumny which hath been wide and loud open against him may be stopped he was injoyned more particularly to look to it that he offended no Man by his Words or Writings and that he labour to the utmost of his Power to preserve Peace and to calm and reconcile the Spirits of Men of all Perswasions to himself and to regain their Love and Amity from whom he is departed 19. It being represented unto this Assembly that their Act made about Morus Mr.
the Sieur de Foissac Elder in the said Church of V sez Agent for the Consistory and Assembly of the Heads of Families in the said Church held in their Temple the 28th of September last were heard in their Answers unto those Appeals and Oppositions before mentioned The Committee also gave in their Report of all Matters Papers and Acts read and perused by them and which the said Parties had offered or would produce Upon the whole this Assembly confirmeth the Judgment of the Synod of Montpellier in the Year 1654. and declareth the Reasons and Grounds of that Appeal of Monsieur Paulet to be null and void and that he ought not to pretend to be restored unto the Church of Vsez unless ....... please scan all 6 occurences found he be called according to the Canons of our Discipline yet nevertheless it dismisseth the said Paulet with Honour unto the Service of the Church of Vaux unto which his Person and Concerns are recommended and the Consistory of the Church of V sez is blamed for having brought against him injurious and unproven matters as also for threatning the said Paulet with Suspension in case he should stand by his Appeal and for declaring that all other Synods were incompetent Judges in this Affair Moreover this Assembly confirmeth Monsieur Manuel in his Ministry to the Church of V sez And as for the Sieurs Lombard and Railly they shall abide in the same condition as they be at present until the next Synod of the Province which may if it please either confirm them in the Ministry of the said Church or discharge and give them their Liberty and this however without approving the Custom of the said Province of sending Pastors unto a Church destitute for a Year or a certain time only And the said Province is enjoyned for the future to conform itself unto the practice of the other Provinces and to the Canons of our Discipline And as for what concerns the Sieurs de Roche Ravanel Licon and Folheri Elders in the Church of V sez although the Consistory have been Faulty in their Call of them unto Office yet nevertheless this Assembly doth confirm them in their said Office and the rather for that since their Establishment they have discharged the Duties thereof very profitably and for sundry other Considerations not now to be mentioned 28. The Sieur Guenard formerly Pastor in the Church of Eureux appealed from the Judgment of the Synod of Alanson held in the Year 1651. by which for his scandalous Life he was deposed but not appearing to make good his Appeal it was declared null and void 29. The Sieur German Gaultier appealed from that Judgment of the Synod held at St. Lo for suspending him the Holy Ministry But the said Gaultier nor any one else appearing for him to maintain his Appeal it was declared null 30. Monsiur Girard having brought Appeals from the Judgments given in the Synods of the Province of Burgundy held at Issurtille and Bussy in the years 1649. and 1651. And whenas the the Memoirs of the said Girard were perused and the Copy of that Legacy bequeathed by Mr. Heliot a Master Surgeon deceased had been considered and the Provincial Deputies of Burgundy heard and the Committee appointed to examin and verifie all Papers produced on both sides had made their Report this Assembly by reason of the present state of the Church of Beaune doth confirm those self-same Judgments from which Monsieur Girard had appealed 31. Monsieur de Fauquembergue formerly Pastor in the Church of Senlis entred his Appeal against the Judgment of the Provincial Synod of Charenton held the 25th of April 1653. by which he was suspended from the Ministry and from another of the Committee assembled at la Ferte Col the 4th of July 1655. who met by Authority of the Synod of the Isle of France held at Charenton the 22d of April 1655 by which he was totally deposed and from another of La Ferte au Col in April 1657 which did not only confirm the said Deposition but pronounced and executed a Sentence of Excommunication against him The said Sieur de Fauquembergue was heard declare the Grounds and Reasons of his Appeal and of its Defence The Deputies also of the Isle of France were heard speak in behalf of their Synod and the Committee appointed for the examination of this Affair and all Pleas on both sides were debated and judged Wherefore upon the whole this Assembly could not approve of several irregularities which it had observed in divers Proceedings of the Synods of the Isle of France against the said Sieur Fauquembergue and above all in his Excommunication which was done without any observation of the Forms prescribed by our Discipline and declareth that the said Sieur Fauquembergue had deservedly incurred a Deposition from the Ministry for the many Troubles and Scandals which he hath caused by his disorderly conversation and for continuing the Functions of his Calling after that he had been deposed and for seeking redress from Secular Judges the Civil Magistrate whereby he upheld himself in a notorious violation of the Orders and Canons of our Discipline But forasmuch as he hath humbled himself in this Assembly and begged Pardon of God for his Offences and expressed his Sorrow for having spoken and written Calumnies and Slanders against sundry Pastors and Elders of the Church of Paris and others of the said Province of the Isle of France and elsewhere and for that he hath promised to forsake all his Law-Suits Commenced against some of those Pastors Elders and other Persons and to prevail with those particular Members of the Church of Senlis that had joyned with him to lay down all their Prosecutions This Assembly desiring to extend favour to the said Fauquembergue hath taken off from him his Excommunication and changed his Sentence of Deposition into a Suspension of Six Months at the end whereof he may return to the exercise of his Ministry bringing with him a Certificate sufficiently attested from the Places of his Abode of his unblamable Conversation of which the Synod of the Isle of France shall take cognizance or in case it should not meet within that time the Church of Rouen may do it And at present this Assembly recommends the said Sieur de Fauquembergue and his Family to the Charity of the said Synod which is intreated to forgive what is past and to express their Kindness to him by providing him a Church within their Province excepting always that of Senlis or to procure him some Employment elsewhere And as for what concerneth the Churches of Senlis and Bethizi this Assembly censuring all those who have supported the said Sieur de Fauquembergue in his before-mentioned disorders and yet nevertheless desiring to pacifie all matters hath taken thaâ— Sentence of Suspension from the Lord's Supper which had been decreed against them And that this present Act may be put in Execution the Sieurs Pages Pastor of the Church of
another or that the Pastor of one Church shall be removed to another or that he shall be separated no matter how it be from his Flock in case an Appeal be made from this Judgment that Province which hath pronounced it shall nominate two of the Neighbouring Provinces and whose Synods are nearest to be held and shall give unto the Appellant his Choice pf either of them to bring his Appeal before it which shall judge of the Case till further Order But if the Party appealing do not chuse it that very Province from whose Judgment the Appeal is made shall chuse one of the two before which the Appellant shall be bound to appear and subject himself unto its Judgment which shall be of force till the meeting of the National Synod And in case of non-appearance that Province which hath passed Judgment may proceed to pronounce its Execution notwithstanding the Appeal Nor shall this be in any wise prejudicial unto Provincial Synods for in all other matters left undetermined by our Discipline the Judgments of those Synods shall be of full and absolute Authority nor shall there be any Appeal admitted from them within their Precincts And this present Canon shall be universally practised in all the Provinces those only excepted upon whose Account some special Decrees have been formerly enacted 26. Blasphemies being some of the most crying and daring Sins enflaming the Wrath of God against the Children of Men this Assembly being seized with an Holy Horror to see so great a number of profane Wretches involved in this Hellish Crime decreeth That the Four and Twentieth Canon of the Fourteenth Chapter of our Discipline shall be read publickly in all Churches and re-inforced with most lively pungent Exhortations that the Judgments of God may be prevented by a serious and sincere Repentance and this horrible Vice may be banished the Society of Christians and all Consistories are authorized to take the best Course they can for putting this present Act in Execution 27. The Assembly being informed that in divers parts of this Kingdom contrary to his Majesty's Will the Exercise of our Religion is prohibited in those places which are called Annexed tho by the Edicts in these it was always permitted and established and it unanimously judging and with one common consent that this is an Affair of the highest Importance and strikes at the very Root and Being of our Churches and in which the Consciences of all those of our Profession are Sovereignly concerned it doth enjoyn all Pastors and Churches exposed unto this afflicting and most vexatious Tryal to maintain themselves constantly in the possession of their Exercises notwithstanding any Prohibitions to the contrary And in case Pastors shall neglect this their Duty they shall be deposed from the Ministry as Deserters of their Flock committed to their Trust and if any of those Annexed Churches or Members shall neglect their Attendance on them they also shall be deprived of Communion with us at the Lords Table And all Churches within the Precincts of that Province whereunto these Annexes do belong are enjoyned to assist them with Counsel and Comfort and with all other things needful to help defray the Charges of Travel and Prosecutions in Courts of Justice unto which they may be necessitated and obliged And all Provincial Synods in case the ordinary Pastors of those places should be hindred by any Violence from performing their Duties shall take care that they be supplied by other Pastors in such a manner as they shall judge most convenient till some other and more beneficial course can be taken Moreover this Assembly commandeth all the next adjoyning Churches to testifie their Zeal unto the Glory of God and the Communion of Charity which ought to be among Christians by sending and lending their Pastors to them that so the Possession of the Gospel preached and the Dispensation of the Gospel Ordinances may be conserved in those Annexed Congregations As soon as ever this Proposition was made and before the Judgment of the Deputies in this Synod was demanded my Lord Commissioner declared and offered sundry Reasons and Arguments why an Affair of this nature ought not to be debated in it but that according to his Majesty's Permission this Article was to be inserted with others of the like quality into our Bill of Grievances which after the breaking up of this Assembly was to be presented unto his Majesty In answer whereunto this Synod receiving in the most respectful manner whatever came from his Majesty and from the Mouth of my Lord his Commissioner ordained that this Affair should be set in the Head of those which shall be carried unto the King in the Name of this Assembly and which shall be sollicited with all possible respect care diligence and importunity by my Lord the General Deputy and we hope in the mean while that his Majesty will maintain us in those matters which are granted us by his Edict nor that he will be displeased with us for debating about Ecclesiastical Affairs which are brought hither unto this National Assembly and which directly concern our Religion and the Exercise of our Discipline in the nature and number of which are all Ministerial Offices and the respective Duties of private Christians 28. It being judged needful that some certain Person should be nominated who did ordinarily attend his Majesty's Privy Council and Council of State to whom the Churches might apply themselves to take care of their Business and to salve them from those vast Expences which of necessity must be defrayed in the frequent Deputations of particular persons employed in the management of their Law Suits and Differences that our Churches have with their Adverse Parties The Assembly cast their Eyes upon the Sieur Loride des Galinieres Advocate in his Majesty's Privy Council and Council of State and Parliament of Paris dwelling a la Rue des Anglois in the English Street to take upon him this Trust which being motion'd to him the said Sieur Loride assured the Assembly he accepted of it as of a great Honour and that he did most readily and willingly undertake it nor would he demand a Denier of Costs Salaries and Vacations not only for those Affairs wherewith he should be intrusted in his Majesty's Privy Council and Council of State but also for those which he should dispatch as Advocate in the Parliament of Paris and Court of Aids nor would he claim any thing but for what he should himself disburse in the management of these Affairs for our distressed Churches The Assembly kindly embraced his generous Offers and that he may be indemnified they voted presently that the Provincial Deputies should each of them make report unto their Provincial Synod the Contents of this present Act that so in case the said Provincial Synods shall judge meet there shall be given the Sum of Three Thousand Livres a Year by the Provinces according to the Dividend hereafter mentioned And this that the said Sieur Loride may
the said Province for their Remissness in paying so just a Debt and to a person whose Zeal Sincerity and Diligence have deserved a far more grateful Acknowledgment And every one of those particular Churches which have not satisfied the Orders of their Province are enjoyned to pay in to the said Mr. Thourond their particular Assessments before the meeting of their next Synod upon pain of the greatest Censures And in case they should neglect it the next Synod is commanded to take the most certain and expeditious course for re-imbursing of the said Mr. Thourond within three Months after the expiring of that Synod and to make an Addition of other Monies besides what they had agreed with him as shall be found needful to indemnifie him from all Interests which he was forced to pay by borrowing of Monies for the Service of the said Province 24. Letters were read from the Church of Lanez gathered within the District of Hastingues and the Provincial Deputies of Bearn and the Lower Guyenne were heard speak about the matters contained in them This Assembly having debated the matter did decree that for the future the said Church of Lanez should be joyned unto the Province of Bearn which shall take an especial care of it And the like Judgment was given for the Churches of Mauleon and Moulay And whereas the Church of Lanez hath petitioned for a share in the Legacies bequeathed by the Lady Rouly unto the Church of Orthez this their Petition is remanded back unto the next Synod of Bearn And in case the Church of Geaune should desire to be incorporated with the Synod of Bearn they shall present this their Petition unto the Province of Lower Guyenne which is intreated to consider seriously of the matter and to grant them what will be most subservient to their edifying 25. The Sieurs de L'Angle Pastor and de Guesdon Elder in the Church of Rouen moved that there might be some Change made in the Distribution of Offices in their Province of Normandy and the said Sieurs Bochart Pastor and de la Roquette an Elder seconded them in their Motion because they found themselves overcharged as to Rates and Taxes And that the Distinction of the Higher and Lower Normandy might be suppressed especially as to these matters The Assembly having maturely debated this Affair judged that it was no ways fit at present to make any change herein and ordered that the Canons of the National Synod of Charenton in the Year 1644. should be of Force as to all past matters and that all Offices shall be born till the next Synod of that Province by the Colloquies of Rouen and Caux for one Moiety and for the other Moity by the other Classes who shall chuse a particular Receiver to receive all their Contributions and to send them unto the Receiver General residing at Rouen And in case those Difficulties brought unto this Assembly between the Higher and Lower Normandy about their being over-rated on both sides should continue then are they for the future to address themselves unto the Consistory of the Church of Paris which shall judge thereof by the Authority of this Assembly the said Consistory having first well-considered the Ability and Inability of both Parties 26. The Sieurs de L'Angle Pastor and Guesdon an Elder in the Church of Rouen requested this Assembly to re-inforce by its Authority the Counsels of their Provincial Synod unto the Churches of their Province for contributing to the Subsistence of their Colledge at Quevilly Whereupon a Decree past that all the other Churches in the said Province of Normandy should furnish the Sum of Three Hundred Livres towards the maintenance of that Colledge 27. At the Request of the Synod of Higer Languedoc and Guyenne which had given a very Honourable Testimony to the Piety and great Learning of Monsieur Balthuzar who was formerly his Majesty's Counsellor and Advocate in the Presidial Court of Auxerne and which hath already raised and setled a Fund of Three Hundred Livres for his Maintenance and the Assembly having heard that very advantagious Report which the Committee of Ministers appointed to examin those Four Diatrebes presented by the said Mr. Balthazar had made of them it applauded the Zeal of that Province of Higher Languedoc And that the said Mr. Balthazar may be enabled to follow his Studies without Distraction and prosecute his great Work undertaken against Cardinal Baronius it decreeth that the yearly Stipend of Seven Hundred and Fifty Livres shall be setled upon him and paid in unto him by these Churches of this Kingdom to wit by those of the Higher Languedoc Three Hundred Livres by those of the Isle of France One Hundred Livres by those of Lower Languedoc One Hundred Livres by those of Normandy Fifty Livres by those of Xaintonge Thirty Livres by those of Dolphiny Thirty Livres by those of Lower Guyenne Thirty Livres by those of Poictou Thirty Livres by those of Berry Twenty Livres by those of Burgundy Twenty Livres and by those of Anjou Fifteen Livres 28. My Lord Commissioner having received Letters from Monsiur de la Vrilliere notifying his Majesty's Pleasure that the Sieur Gaillard Pastor of the Church of Montauban who is now prosecuted for Criminal matters might by the authority of this Assembly be removed from his Church The Assembly requested the Lord Commissioner to take it into his consideration that because the said Gaillard was absent and for that this Assembly hath little or no knowledge of his Deportments it is not at present capable oâ— Judging his Case and that he would be pleased that order might be given our Deputies unto his Majesty to inforâ—â—heâ—selves punctually of all matters relating to him and that they together with the Church of Montauban do deliberate and resolve on the best means for his Majesty'â—s satisfaction and in case he be innocâ—â—â— to 〈◊〉 his Majesty with it and to demand his Royal Protesting 〈…〉 but if through Levity or Inadvertency â—e may hâ—â—â— sâ—erâ—ed from his Duty that then they do with the profoundest Subâ—â—issions implore his Majesty's Clemency for him as being 〈◊〉 Person â—oâ— altogether unworthy of his Majesty's Grace and Favour 29 The Sieurs Chamier and * Homel Monsieur Homel did afterward suffer Martyrdom Pastors together with the Sieurs de Pâ—â—peâ—â—â— and Mâ—â—sonnâ—â— Elders shall ride unto the City of Castres to compose the differences between Monsieur de Brugeres Counsellor in the Court of the Edict and the other Presidents and Counsellors in the same Court of that City who are of our Communion And the Expences of the said Deputies from Montauban unto Castres and during their Abode in it shall be defrayed by their respective Provinces 30. The Assembly remembring that the last National Synod had proâ—â—sed Monsieur Chamier Four Hundred Livres being the Remainders of a greater Sum granted him by some of the former National Synodâ— as also that there had been a like grant of Three Hundred Livrâ—â— unto Monsieur de
their Communicating and it be known that their refraining is from Contempt of that Holy Sacrament they shall be proceeded against according to the Discipline but if their forbearance spring from infirmity they shall be born withal for some time till they have gotten more Soul-strength As for those who conform not to the Rules of our Church and yet frequent Sermons and be not of an ill Life nor scandalous they shall be admonished and enticed by all means to conform to them Whether another Counceil besides the Consistory may be established in the Church VI. Whereas some certain Churches and in particular that of Sens earnestly demand that it may be permitted them to establish a Council in their City composed of wise and experienced Persons not being Officers of the Church urging for it the multitude of their Enemies necessitating them to stand upon their Guard and that hourly divers Affairs of great importance do occur calling for prompt and speedy Succours to the Conservation of the Church that their Pastors and Elders dwell not in Town who might prevent those Discontents brought upon them by Monsieur de la Croix their Pastor who would neither countenance nor authorize any such Council This Assembly in pursuance of the Article of the Discipline relating to this matter and expounding it is of Opinion That for time to come no such Council be established excepting that composed of Ministers Elders and Deacons being confident that God will ever bless their Labours and Councils whom he hath called to Office in the Church and better serve himself by their Simplicity than by the Prudence of Worldly Politicians Besides it shall be always lawful for the Pastors and Elders on any great and difficult Affair to call unto them such Persons as by whose Counsel they may be any ways aided Not hereby debarring particular Persons the benefit of mutual Counsel which they may one afford another upon emergent occasions for their better Preservation But we do not hereby intend to authorize any company of Men besides the Consistory to be stiled the Council of the Church CHAP. VI. Imposition of Hands shall be practised in those places where it hath not as yet been observed VII BEcause that in the ninth Article of the Discipline it 's said That when Ministers are to be confirmed there shall be Imposition of Hands upon them yet not as of pure necessity It is demanded whether the Churches that have no such Custom should for time to come submit unto the Usage of it The reply was That there being neither Precept nor Promise touching this matter therefore no necessary Obligation shall be established about it However this Ceremony being of ancient Usage in the Church practised by the Apostles and tending to Edification the Churches shall do their endeavour to promote Conformity unto it as far as possible they may 'T is left to the Prudence of the Consistory to call in their Proposans at their Debates VIII The Churches Council consisting of Ministers Elders and Deacons it is demanded Whether unordained Preachers not having any particular Charge may be called in to assist the Consistory without ever granting them power of Suffrage that so they may be moulded and prepared for the better managing of Church-affairs when God shall call them thereunto We answer There being no Inconveniency in it 't is left to the prudence and discretion of the Pastors who may to try their Abilities demand also their Opinions Parents are exhorted to bring Sureties for their Children at Baptism IX There being no Commandment from the Lord that we should take Godfathers and Godmothers to present our Infants unto Baptism we cannot therefore impose an express Necessity on any one to use them nevertheless this Custom being very ancient and brought into the Church on a good Intent viz. To testifie the Parents Faith and Baptism of their Child and to take upon them its Education in case of their death and for that it maintains Christian Society with a Bond of Love and Alliance Such as will not follow this practise but will in their own Persons present their Children unto Baptism are earnestly desired not to be conceited but to conform to this ancient and accustomed Order which we find both good and very beneficial However Women shall not be suffered to present Children And this is the true sence of the second Article of the Synod of Lions Counsellors and Advocares of the Reformed Religion must not plead in beneficiary Matters X. Judges Notaries Scriveners and others who by the Duty of their Callings are bound to Judge Sign and Seal all matters indifferently brought to them shall not be censured for giving Judgment or receiving a last Will or passing a Contract or dispatching Writings about Idolatrous Concerns But Advocates Arbitrators and all others whose Offices are free shall be admonished that they ought wholly to forbear Pleading for or any other ways to treat of beneficiary Causes or such-like Matters CHAP. VII All the Churches must be conformable in point of Common Publick Prayers XI CHurches which besides their ordinary Sermons are accustomed to Morning and Evening Common-Prayers on such Days whenas there is no Preaching or once a day towards night when there has been a Sermon are intreated to conform themselves unto those Churches which have no such Custom that so Superstition which is like to follow hereupon may be prevented and that visible Neglect and Contempt of Sermons may be avoid and Family-Prayers which every Housholder is bound to perform may be no more neglected Moreover Publick Extraordinary Common-Prayers ought to be reserved for Times of Necessity and Afflictions because it is an extraordinary Remedy as Publick Fasting whose usage ought not to be common And Ministers shall inform their Churches which have daily Common-Prayer why they are laid down that so all Scandal and Muttering at their Suppression may be removed and they shall admonish the Heads of Families ordinarily to call upon God in their Hoses by Morning and Evening-Prayers No Person to be married without a sufficient Certificate XII Such as come from one Church unto another to be married shall not be suffered without a sufficient Attestation from that Church whence they departed and the Banes shall be called in those very places where both the Parties have their residence and are known XIII Forasmuch as divers Churches having borrowed a Minister from another do trust unto it and use no diligence elsewhere to gain one for themselves yea and will not permit him when re-called by his own Church to return again unto it whereby they would seem to claim him for their own by Prescription who was only a Loan unto them so that hereby many and great Troubles may every day grow upon us and though Consistories ought to be advised not to prefer their own particular Profit to the common Benefit and Edification of the Churches of Christ nor to leave a Church unprovided when they can