trieth your Reins and offer your selves to be inrol'd in the number of his Menial Servants and Gospel-Ministers Our great Lord Redeemer neither loveth the World nor the things of the World The design and end of his Coelestial Empire is to make all Men new Creatures and he serves himself of the Doctrin of the Cross that thereby be may Crucifie the World in you and you unto the World Sirs your own Consciences must needs reproach you that it is an affront unto the pure Eyes of his Glory that it saddens the Spirit of his Holiness that it must needs irritate his indignation when the Sons of the Prophets shall present themselves before him in the garb and habit of the World stuffed up and big-swoln with Vanities Pride and Indecencies and attended with its wonted Excuses Artifices and Deportments The Mysteries which our most blessed Saviour delivers unto his Servants that they may dispense them unto his People retain nothing of Earth savour nothing of this lower World they are all Divine and Heavenly And you cannot but acknowledge that it would be a darkning of their Lustre a Profanation of their Glory to manage them with impure Hands to vend and expose them in a strange Language and to search rather from the Wisdom of the World a Buttress to support their Authority than from the Eternal Verities of God's Wisdom and from the Lights of the Sacred Scriptures If none but the Spirit of God can reveal and manifest unto us the things which are given us of God is it possible we should make any considerable Progress and Proficiency in this Holy Study when we shall intend and prosecute it with the Spirit of the World and with Hearts filled and prepossessed with its Vanities To be short Sirs you be destinated unto an Employment in which there be no Advancements made but by Prayer and Prayers are never heard nor answered by God farther than they be sincere and they be not in the least sincere where the Hearts are not guided and purified by the Truth of God's Holy Word and Spirit who dictateth our Prayers and quickens and sanctifieth our Affections Do you imagin Sirs that God will give you his Holy Spirit without whom you are nothing and can do nothing unless you ask him of God And are you then qualified and fitted for Prayer a most holy Duty whenas your Spirit is stuffed up occupied and distracted with your Youthful Lusts and replenished with the provoking Objects of your Vanity Or can you bring unto this Sacred Ordinance to this most Religious Exercise that Attention Assiduity and Perseverance which is needful to the getting of gracious Answers and Returns from Heaven when as the better and far greater part and portion of our Time is wasted and consumed in worldly Companies and Conversations Certainly Sirs you will find it exceeding difficult to disintangle your selves from those Impressions you have first received and to empty your selves of the Vanities you have imbibed that you may be at Liberty to reflect and meditate upon God's Holy Word My Dear Brethren Honour and adorn that Profession whereunto you be devoted and it will reflect Beams of Honour again upon you Consider Sirs what is decent and becoming you and God will communicate what is needful for you to every one of you Let his Name and Glory be the principal Mark and Butt of your Condition and Studies and it will bring down toe choicest and chiefest Blessings of God upon you Let your Lives and Conversations be accompanied and crowned with all the Vertues and Graces of Reformed Christians with that Humility which becometh the Servants of God with that universal Modesty and Simplicity which God requireth from the Ministers of his Sanctuary in their Lives Actions Habits Language Behaviour and in your whole Course And then Sirs this your Sanctification will be most acceptable unto God and saving unto your selves it will bring your Profession into Credit and Reputation it will attract upon you the best Blessings of Heaven it will render your Studies and Employments prosperous successful edifying The Churches will be the better for you and the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus will be promoted and advanced by you In pursuance of an Order of the same Synod Messieurs Guitton and Bourdeau being at Saumur to pacifie the differences which were between some Members of that Church and Messieurs Amyraut and D'Huisseau Monsieur Guitton made this Speech Messieurs and most dear Brethren MY most honoured Colleagues together with my self were ordered by the Nationol Synod which was lately held and dissolved at Loudun to visit this Church and to assemble the Heads of its Families into this Consistory and to read unto you the Judgment of that venerable Assembly about the Differences fallen out among you and to endeavaur by the Grace of God and your Obedience your re-union which if already most happily begun between your two Pastors upon whose account you were divided and to ratifie that reconciliation of the Deputies of both Parties which you had sent unto it You shall hear their Judgment and the Act of our Commissions The Sieurs D'Huisseau Pastor accompanied with the Sieurs de Haumont Benoist and Favre did petition for themselves and on behalf of others the Heads of Families in the Church of Saumur that Monsieur d'Huisseau might be confirmed in his Ministry unto the said Church They appealed also from the Decrees of the first Synod held at Beauge in the Year 1656. and at Saumur in the Year 1657. and at Preuilly in the Year 1658. and in the second held at Beauge in this year 1659. and from the Orders of the Consistory of Saumur bearing Date the 16th and 27th Day of March 1659. And they complained of all that had been done in pursuance of those Synodical and Consistorial Decrees On the contrary part the Sieur Amyrald Pastor and Professor of Divanity in the said Church and University of Saumur together with the Sieurs Druett and Royer as well for themselves as for the other Deputies of that Consistory and of divers Heads of Families in the said Church together with the Deputies of the Province of Anjou did abet and maintain all the Acts Ordinances and Decrees of those Synods and Consistories before-named They were also heard declaring the Grounds of their Differences The Committee also who were appointed to examin and verifie the Acts of both Parties brought in their Report and at the same time Monsieur de Bois jardin Pastor of the said Church had Audience given him by the Assembly Upon the whole Debate this National Synod censured the Consistory of Saumur for that in stead of blaming the Deputies of the Assembly of the greater part of the Heads of Families held without their Order the 17th of September 1655. they did contrarywise receive them and at their instant earnest Suit had enjoyned the Sieur D'Huisseau to withdraw himself from the Service of the said Church against his Will and in contempt of
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
of tools to build his House 'T is the very Character of Hell to force Men to Mass by Fire and Sword by Dragoons Plunder and Tortures And none but the Devil would spirit Men unto such actions and they who use them are undoubtedly his proper Imps and Agents And that you may keep up your abhorrency of Popery never forget this Continually set before your Eyes all its Deformities and never look on them or it through those false Glasses which the Doctors of Lies do now adays represent them to you You see their Temples full of Images before which they bow down and worship contrary to the express Commandment of God Thou shalt not make unto thy self any graven Image thou shalt not bow down thy self before them And flatter not your selves with this that possibly you may not be obliged thereunto for the people with whom you are do it and you partake in this their Sin of Idolatry at leastwise if you do not abhor it both with heart and mouth Set before you that Idolatrous Worship performed unto Creatures and in particular that Honour which being due only unto God is yet nevertheless given unto the Mother of our Saviour Jesus Christ and unto Saints and then remember those dreadful words As I live saith the Lord I will not give my glory unto another And remember also that Idolaters are in the Van of those that shall never inherit the Kingdom of Heaven Consider that Sacrifice ordained by their Church and wherein you must adore a bit of Bread Do not think you shall escape by this foolish suggestion We only adore Jesus Christ who is in Heaven For the Pagan Idolaters might have used the same plea That when they kneeled before their Idols they lifted up their Hearts to the true God Never be reconciled with them for that great wrong they do your Souls in robbing you of the Cup which is but one half of the Sacrament when as Jesus Christ hath given you the whole of it Never accustom your selves to that barbarous Language which keeps you from understanding your Religion and leaves it only to be gazed at with your eyes Keep up a perpetual aversion for that vain heap of Pagan and Jewish Ceremonies which are in a direct line of opposition to the purity and simplicity of Christianity But know 't is not enough that you detest all these things with your Heart you must also condemn them with your Mouths Your Judgments herein must not be concealed you must be ever and every where ready to confess the Truth And therefore as often as you shall have occasion declare openly without guile or reservation that you abhor that Worship unto which you are compelled to be present Never go to Mass unless they drag you to it by main force and whil'st they force you to it declare publickly that you do not in the least with your heart consent thereunto and if by the same violence wherewith they brought you to it they keep you at it yet manifest by your Actions that you have not any belief nor respect for those false Mysteries Keep carefully your Books of Piety of Devotion and of Controversie and read them with singular diligence and attention Preserve them by hiding and conveying them from the reach and search of your Persecutors Above all keep as your most precious Jewels the most Holy Bible and suffer every thing rather than suffer your Bibles to be snatcht away from you Read them daily and with the greatest devotion Concerning your poor Children 'T is true they will be ravisht out of your Arms and led to the Catechistical Exercises of the Priests and 't is to be seared this will be done with so great violence that 't will be impossible for you to hinder it yet as soon as they shall be returned from them never fail to destroy what those Priests have built up Instruct them in the Truth and infuse into their Souls a sacred abhorrency of the Romish Religion And this you may do by causing them to read carefully those places of Holy Scripture which are contrary to it Never forget nor spare any pains or expence in procuring from foreign Countries Books capable of instructing and strengthening you and when as the Priests shall have robb'd you or your own cause others to be brought you whatever rates you pay for them The poor Country Peasants and Mechanicks in Towns and Cities by reason of their ignorance are expos'd to greatest dangers But the strong ought to support the weak and you must earnestly endeavour each others edification This you may do as you travel into your Country-houses as you walk in the Streets yea when as you meet one another in your Shops there being none by you of the contrary Religion Supply these poor People with Books for their Instruction and exhort them without ceasing to bear up against all discouragements and never to let loose their hearts unto Idolatry but contrariwise to detest and oppose it by their discourses Maintain a continual Correspodence among your selves and perfectly know one another principally those who love the Truth and mutually incourage one another in your Resolutions never to forsake it If you can at any time meet together secretly by Night in the Retirements of your Houses let it be for the reading of God's Word and of good Books capable of instructing you but above all for Prayer Proper Prayers for your condition shall be sent you from foreign Countries By reason of that commerce and communion you are necessitated to hold with the Papists endeavour also after their Conversion Who knows but that God may have ordained this sore Persecution for this very end that you should carry the light of the Gospel into the very bosom of Popery in order to its destruction But take heed unto your selves For should you be dumb dogs and dissemblers and counterfeit the Papists before the Papists God will give you up to a reprobate sence So then forbear not speaking unto the Papists when you meet them but entertain them with Discourses of Religion And speaking to them of the violence offered unto your Consciences give them a lively pourtraict of the Deformities of their Religion and Purity of your own shew them the Vanities and Impurities of their Worship of their Idolatry and sottish Opinions And labour powerfully by all means their conversion And that this may be successful order your Lives with the greatest accuracy and circumspection 'T is visible that the sinful disorders and miscarriages of your Conversations have brought upon you those fearful Judgments from God under which you are now groaning There was no kind of worldliness in which you were not ingag'd such as rich Houshold-Goods Vessels of Silver Tapistry Feasts Gluttonies Idle Days Plays Pastimes Cloth of Silk and Gold Rings Pearls and Jewels If you be wise your first Reformation must begin here all these must be rejected sell your Tapistries your Silver Vessels wear the plainest Woolsteds have nothing to
This is now the 50th Article of our Disicipline CHap. LVI The Fifty sixth Article shall be thus worded National Synods shall be informed by the Provinces of their deposed Ministers that so they may not be entertained by them CHap. LVII * * * This is now the 57th Article of our Discipline In the Fifty seventh Article instead of National read Provincial Synod CHap. LIX After Vagrants in the Fifty ninth Article there shall be inserted Apostates and in the end of that Article there shall be this clause And a Catalogue of these shall he brought from the Provinces unto the National Synods Chap. II. 4. After these words in the Fourth Article To be employed in the Ministry This is now the 53d Article of our Discipline this shall be added Ever preferring the Children of poor Ministers if ingenious whereof the Colloquies shall take special care Chap. III. 6. The Sixth Article of the Third Chapter shall be thus read but the decision of Points of Doctrine is principally reserved unto Ministers and Pastors of Churches Chap. V. 20. The twentieth Article of the Fifth Chapter shall be wholly razed because 't is included in the One and twentieth and Two and twenty foregoing Articles the Four and twentieth shall be also blotted out Chap. VIII 6. In the Sixth Article of the Eighth Chapter next after these words And one of the Pastors shall be President there must be added Together with one or more Scribes This is now the 11th Article and instead of the Provincial it is the National Synod that is to provide for those Widows and Orphans of deceased Ministers CHap. XII Artie To th of the Twelfth Article there shall be this added And where the Province becomes ingrateful the Deputy thereof shall make report of it unto the Provincial Synod which shall provide for them Chap. IX 6. To the sixth Article of the Ninth Chapter there must be added And Ecclesiastical CHap. VIII In the Eighth Article after these words Ample Memoirs shall be added With lawful excuses for their absence CHap. XI To the last clause of the Eleventh Article these words shall be added Which shall before-hand be advised to prepare for it Chap. X. 3. To the third Article of the Tenth Chapter in the close of it shall be this added As much as may be done considering the conveniency of Times and Places CHap. V. And to the Fifth Article these words shall be added And such as accompany the Dead unto their Graves are exhorted to demean themselves with all Christian Modesty meditating according to the Nature of the present Object upon the Misery and Brevity of this present Life and that blessed Hope of Immortality in the World to come And the Tenth Chapter shall be closed up with this Article Forasmuch as Mourning lieth not in the Habit but Heart the Faithful shall be advised to comport themselves with all Modesty shunning all Ambition Hypocrisie and Superstition Chap. XI 11. In the Eleventh Article of the Eleventh Chapter instead of these words Attributed unto God in the Scripture shall be added As Emanuel and all others Chap. XIII 7. In the Seventh Article of the Thirteenth Chapter instead of those words The Synods do esteem shall be inserted They do declare CHap. VIII IX Between the Eighth and Ninth Articles this shall be placed The betrothed Person may not marry the Mother of his deceased Spouse CHap. X XI Between the Tenth and Eleventh Articles this shall be inserted A Man shall not after the death of his Wife marry her with whom he had committed Adultery whilst she was living unless the Consistory have first had Cognisance of the same and maturely considered thereof CHap. XXII After these words in the Two and twentieth Article Solemnly married there shall be this addition 〈…〉 Whether that their Offence were known before or after the solemnizing of the Marriage And those words shall be razed If they demand to be And in the same Article this word also shall be blotted out And forasmuch and these shall be inserted Although this had been avoided before the Celebration of the Marriage yet he shall proceed to c. CHap. XXII XXIII This Article shall be placed between the Two and twentieth and the Twenty third That those Inconveniences may be avoided which ensue upon a long delay of solemnizing Marriage all Pastors of Churches and others in whose Power the espoused Persons are shall he advertis'd not to defer the celebrating of their Marriage above six weeks after their Espousals Chap. XIV 1. This word Much shall be left out and the last clause of the first Article And to the Fourth Article these shall be added Vnless in case it be for suppressing the Preaching of God's Word and the setting up of Mass CHap. XIX These words excessive and scandalous shall be left out of the Nineteenth Article CHap. XXI The word Excommunication shall be left out in the close of the One and twentieth Article and instead of it this shall be inserted Suspension from the Lord's Supper CHap. XXIV XXV This ensuing Article shall be placed betwixt the Twenty fourth and Twenty fifth Swearers and Blasphemers of the Name of God shall in no wise be tolerated in the Church but they shall be admonished with the greatest seriousness to desist from those sins and in case of non-forbearance they shall be prosecuted with all Church-Censures as the Consistories in their Wisdoms may judge most fit CHAP. IV. Particular MATTERS I. WHereas Monsieur de Tourfillant formerly denosed from the Ministry hath most humbly petitioned that he may be restored to it this Assembly having seriously considered the enormity of his Crime of which he had been accused and convicted before the Civil Magistrate and that as yet he retains his old Inclinations to the self-same sin yea and that his supplicatory Letters do rather justifie him than exprese his Contrition and Repentance as is evident to any one who doth but cursorily read and peruse them therefore it is ordained that he shall not be re-admitted to the Exercise of the Gospel-Ministry II. The Brethren Deputies of Normandy desired our Resolution in this difficult Case A Widow of the Church in was contracted to a Man by words de praesenti and duly informed by the Ministers of that Church to which she belonged of the importance of such Promises yet nevertheless a while after to his very great grief she separates herself front this her Spouse by Sentence of the Official pleading for herself That she was ignorant of the meaning of those words de praesenti and futuro and afterward marries another Person according to the manner of the Romish Church not at all regarding the Remonstrances given her either by Ministers or by him to whom she was first contracted before and after her last Espousals This Assembly judgeth That the first Promise in itself and of right is indissolvable and that therefore the Second Marriage is of right null and void So that
which he hath prepared that we should use and walk in CANON IX This self-same Election was not done out of fore-seen Faith and Obedience of Faith Holyness or any other good Quality and Disposition as a Cause or Condition prae-required in Man that is to be Elected but that God might give him Faith and Obedience of Faith and true Holyness And therefore Election is the Spring and Fountain of all saving Good from which flow out Faith Holyness and all other saving Gifts yea Everlasting Life it self as the Fruits and Effects thereof according to that saying of the Apostle Ephes 1.4 He hath chosen us not because we were but that we might be Holy and Unblameable before him in Love CANON X. Now the Cause of this free Election is the only good pleasure of God which doth not stand in this that he hath chosen as a Condition of Salvation some certain Humane Qualities or Actions which are possible to be done but in this that he hath took unto himself some certain select Persons from among the vast Multitude and Community of Sinners to be his peculiar Inheritance Even as it is written Rom. 9.11 12 13. Before the Children were born and before they had done good or evil c. It was said unto her viz. Rebecca the Elder shall serve the younger as it is written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated And Acts 13.48 And all those who were ordained unto Eternal Life they believed CANON XI And forasmuch as God is most wise unchangeable knowing all things and Almighty therefore his Decree of Election can never be broken off nor changed nor revoked nor disanulled nor can the Elect be reprobated nor their number impaired and diminished CANON XII The Elect are in due time assured of their Everlasting and Unchangeable Election unto Salvation though it be done gradually and in a very unequal measure Nor do they get it by a curious diving into the Depths and Secrets of God but upon an exact scrutiny into their own hearts they meet with Spiritual Joys and Holy Heavenly Rejoycings and with those infallible Fruits of their Election noted and recorded in the Word of God such as Faith unfeigned in the Lord Jesus a Filial Fear of God Godly Sorrow for Sin and hungring and thirsting after Righteousness CANON XIII From this assurance and inward Sence and feeling of their Election Children of God do dayly take occasion for greater Abasement and deeper Humiliation of themselves before God and to adore the unfathomable depths of his Mercy and purge themselves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit and also to love God most ardently and transcendently who hath first loved them with such a potent and unparallel'd Affection So far are they by this Doctrine from growing slothful careless carnally secure or negligent of Duty and of keeping the Commandments of God that they ordinarily through the just judgment of God are guilty of these sins who rashly and unwarrantably presuming of their Election do riot it at Noon day and turn the Grace of God into lasciviousness and refuse to walk in the good ways of Gods Elect. CANON XIV And as this Doctrine of Divine Election according to the Infinite wise Council of God was preached by the Prophets of old by our Lord Jesus Christ and by his Apostles under both Testaments and after recorded in the Holy Scriptures So also ought it now in our days to be taught publickly in the Church of God for whom it is principally designed but with a Spirit of Discretion Religiously and Piously in time and place relinquishing all curious Inquiries into the wayes of the most High and all to the Glory of Gods Holy Name the Peace and Comfort the Everlasting Life and Happyness of his People CANON XV. Moreover the Sacred Scriptures do render this Everlasting Free Grace of God in our Election the more illustrious and recommend it to us by testifying that all Men are not Elected but that some in the Eternal Election of God are passed by to witt those whom God in his good pleasure which is alwayes most Free most Righteous Unblameable and Unchangeable Decreed to leave in that gulph of common Misery whereinto by their own sin they had flung themselves headlong and not to give them saving Faith nor the Grace of Conversion but having abandon'd them to their own ways and lusts he doth finally in his Righteous Judgment condemne and punish them Everlastingly not only for their unbelief but also for all their other sins for the manifestation of his Justice This is the Decree of Reprobation which doth not in any wise make God the Author of Sin the very thought whereof is horrid Blasphemy but on the contrary doth demonstrate him to be a most dreadful irreprehensible and Righteous Judge and Revenger of all Sin CANON XVI Such who do not as yet effectually feel in their own Souls a lively Faith in Christ Jesus or a particular confidence of Heart in God Peace of Conscience a diligent care and endeavour to yield Filial Obedience and to glorifie God through Jesus Christ and do yet nevertheless use the means by which God hath promised to work those Graces in us they should not be discouraged when as they here speak or Reprobation nor should they reckon themselves in the number of Reprobates but they ought carefully to continue in the use of means and ardently to petition for that happy hour when this Grace of God shall be abundantly poured down upon them and to wait for it in all Reverence and Humility much less should they be affrighted at the Doctrine of Reprobation who when as they desire to be sincere Converts and would please God intirely and be delivered from this Body of Death sin dwelling in them yet cannot make so great a progress in Piety and Faith as they would Because God who is full of Mercy hath promised that he will not quench the smoaking flax nor break the bruised reed But this Doctrine is indeed terrible unto them who forgetting God and Jesus Christ our Saviour are totally imbondaged unto the heart-piercing cares of this present World and the Concupiscencies of their fiesh during the whole time of their unregeneracy CANON XVII Wherefore since 't is our Duty to judge of Gods Will by his Word which testifieth for the Children of Believers that they be Holy not indeed by Nature but through the singular benefit of the Covenant of Grace in which they be included with their Parents Fathers and Mothers fearing God should not doubt of their Childrens Election and Salvation whom God takes unto himself in their Infancy CANON XVIII In case any Person murmur against the free Grace of God in Election and the Severity of Gods Justice in Reprobation we should oppose them with that of the Apostle Rom. 9.20 O! Man who art thou that contendest with God And with those words of our Saviour Matth. 20.15 Is it not lawful for me to do with my own as I please
to attain the saving Knowledge of God and to return unto him that he doth not so much as make a right use of it in Natural and Civil things but rather doth in divers wayes soyl and pollute it and holds it under Hatches through Unrighteousness by doing whereof he is left inexcusable before God CANON V. And as it is with the light of Nature even just so it is with the Decalogue which God particularly gave unto the Jews for it doth indeed discover the hainousness of Sin and doth more and more convince the Conscience of it but not propounding any Remedy nor imparting any Strength or Power whereby to get rid of this Misery and being weak as to the Flesh it leaves the Transgressor under the Curse so that he cannot possibly obtain any saving Grace CANON VI. This gift then which neither the Light of Nature nor the Law of God can give is wrought effectually by the vertue of the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the Word or Ministry of Reconciliation to wit the Gospel concerning the Messias by whom it hath been and still is the good pleasure of God to save all Believers both under the Old and New Testament CANON VII God revealed this Secret of his Will under the Old Testament to very few But since under the New Testament that the partition Wall of difference between People is broken down and removed God hath manifested it unto more Persons The Cause of which Dispensation must not in the least be attributed to the Dignity of any one Nation above another or because they do better Husband and improve the Light of Nature but wholly and solely to the most free â—race and Love and good pleasure of God And therefore those who be made partakers of so great a favour infinitely above their Deserts should ever acknowledge it with all humbleness of Heart and Thanksgiving But others who be destitute of this Grace they should with the Apostle adore the Severity and Justice of Gods Judgments but not pry into them over-curiously CANON VIII And as many as are called by the Gospel are called in good earnest For God doth by his Word declare most truly and seriously what is well-pleasing to him to wit that all who are caled by him should come unto him and therefore he most seriously promiseth that all who come and believe in him shall have rest unto their Souls and Everlasting Life CANON IX And whereas many being called by the Ministry of the Gospel do not come nor convert themselves unto God the Gospel is not in fault nor is Jesus Christ who is offered in the Gospel nor is God who by the Gospel calleth them and doth also bestow divers gifts upon them but the fault is their own and to be found in themselves who are called some of whom through their carelessness do not receive the Word of Life and others indeed do receive it but not into their hearts and therefore after the flashy joyes of a temporary Faith they turn back again and others do choak and strangle the Seed of the Word by the Thorny Cares and Pleasures of this present World and yield no fruit This was the Doctrine preached by our Saviour in the parable of the Sower CANON X. And whereas others called by the Ministry of the Gospel do come and are converted this must not be ascribed unto Man as if he himself by his own free will made himself to differ from others who are as well provided with sufficient Grace for Believing and Conversion For this is the main butteress that under-props and supports the proud Heresie of Pelagius but it must be only attributed unto God who as he hath chosen his own from all Eternity in Jesus Christ so also doth he effectually call them in their time giveth them Faith and Repentance and having delivered them from the power of darkness he doth translate them into the Kingdom of his dear Son that so they may show forth his Vertues who hath called them out of their Darkness into his marvellous Light That they may not boast nor glory in themselves but in the Lord. And this is the true Apostolical Doctrine legible in their Holy Writings CANON XI Moreover when as God executeth this his good pleasure upon the Elect and doth convert them he doth not only procure that the Gospel be preached outwardly to their Ear only nor doth he only powerfully illuminate their Understandings by the Holy Ghost that so they may know and discerne aright the things which are of Gods Spirit but by the Effectual Power of the same Spirit of Regeneration he pierceth even into the most inward Recesses of their Souls he opens their heart which was fast shut softens their heardned heart circumciseth the foreskin of their Souls infuseth new Qualities into the Will and causeth this dead Will to live yea and to become lively of Evil Good of unwilling stubborn and perverse most obedient he works upon it and fortifies it that as a good Tree it may produce good Fruits CANON XII This is that Regeneration which is so much celebrated in the Holy Scriptures this is that Renovation and new Creature this is that first Resurrection from the Dead this is that quickning which God worketh in us without us Nor is this at all done by mere teaching only striking the Ear or by moral perswasion which is made up of perswasive Arguments or by any other the like means so that after God hath done his part it remains in the power of Man to be regenerated or not to be converted or not No but it is an Operation totally supernatural most efficacious and yet at the same time most sweet admirable secret and unutterable which according to the Scriptures inspir'd of God the Author of this Operation is as to its efficacy not in the least inferiour to the Glorious Work of Creation or the Resurrection of the Dead so that they in whose hearts God worketh after this wonderful manner are most certainly infallibly and efficaciously regenerated and do actually believe and then their Will being already renewed is not only excited and moved of God but being excited of God it doth also work together with him so that we may well enough say that Man believeth and repenteth by reason of that Grace which he hath received CANON XIII The Faithful during this Life cannot fully comprehend the manner of this Operation but yet they may be very well satisfied sith they know and feel that by this Grace they do from their heart believe in and love their Saviour CANON XIV So then Faith is the gift of God not because it is offered of God unto the free Will of Man but because in very truth it is bestowed upon inspired and infused into Man and also not only because God giveth the power of believing and then waits till the Will of Man consenteth and doth actually believe but because that he who worketh both to will and to do yea who worketh
of Death that the Efficacy thereof should particularly belong unto all the Elect and to them only to give them justifying Faith and by it to bring them infallibly unto Salvation and thus effectually to redeem all those and none other who were from all Eternity from among all People Nations and Tongues chosen unto Salvation Whereupon although the Assembly were well satisfied yet nevertheless they decreed that for the future that Phráse of Jesus Chist's dying equally for all should be forborn because that term equally was formerly and might be so again an Occasion of stumbling unto many Article 19. And as for the Conditional Decree of which mention is made in the aforesaid Treatise of Predestination the said Sieurs Testard and Amyraud declared that they do not nor ever did understand any other thing than God's Will revealed in his Word to give Grace and Life unto Believers and that they called this in none other Sense a Conditional Will than that of an Anthropopeia because God promiseth not the Effects thereof but upon condition of Faith and Repentance And they added farther That although the Propositions resulting from the Manifestation of this will be conditional and conceived under an if or it may be as if thou believest thou shalt be saved if Man repent of his Sins they shall be forgiven him yet nevertheless this doth not suppose in God an Ignorance of the Event not an Impotency as to the Execution nor any Inconstancy as to his Will which is always firmly accomplished and ever unchangeable in it self according to the Nature of God in which there is no Variableness nor Shadow of turning Article 20. And the said Sieur Amyraud did particularly protest as he had formerly published unto the World that he never gave the Name of Universal or Conditional Predestination unto this Will of God than by way of Concession and accommodating it unto the Language of the Adversary Yet forasmuch as many are offended at this Expression of his he offered freely to raze it out of those places where-ever it did occur promising also to abstain in from it for the future and both he and the Sieur Testard acknowledged that to speak truly and accurately according to the Usage of sacred Scripture there is none other Decree of Predestination of Men unto eternal Life and Salvation than the unchangeable Purpose of God by which according to the most free and good Pleasure of his Will he hath out of mere Grate chosen in Jesus Christ unto Salvation before the Foundation of the World a certain number of Men in themselves neither better nor more worthy than others and that he hath decreed to give them unto Jesus Christ to be saved and that he would call and draw them effectually to Communion with him by his Word and Spirit And they did in consequence of this Holy Doctrine reject their Error who held that Faith and the Obedience of Faith Holiness Godliness and Perseverance are not the Fruits and Effects of this unchangeable Decree unto Glory but Conditions or Causes without which Election could not be passed which Conditions or Causes are antecedently requisite and foreseen as if they were already accomplished in those who were fit to be elected contrary to what is taught us by the sacred Scripture Acts 13. 48. and elsewhere Article 21. And whereas they have made distinct Decrees in this Counsel of God the first of which is to save all Men though Jesus Christ if they shall believe in him the second to give Faith unto some particular Persons they declared that they did this upon none other account than of accommodating it unto that Manner and Order which the Spirit of Man observeth in his Reasonings for the Succour of his own Infirmity they otherwise believing that though they considered this Decree as diverse yet it was formed in God in one and the self-same Moment without any Succession of Thought or Order of Priority and Posteriority The Will of this most supreme and incomprehensible Lord being but one only eternal Act in him so that could we but conceive of things as they be in him from all Eternity we should comprehend these Decrees of God by one only Act of our Understanding as in Truth they be but one only Act of his eternal and unchangeable Will Article 22. The Synod having heard these Declarations from the Sieurs Testard and Amyraud it injoined them and all others to refrain from those terms of conditional frustratory or revocable Decree and that they should rather choose the Word Will whereby to express that Sentiment of theirs and by which they would signify the revealed Will of God commonly called by Divines Voluntas Signe Article 23. And whereas in sundry Places marked in the Writings of the before-mentioned Monsieur Testard and Amyraud they have ascribed unto God as it were a Notion of Velleity and strong Affections and vehement Desires of Things which he hath not hot never will effectuate they having declared that by those figurative Ways of speaking and anthropopathical they designed to speak properly none other thing than this that if Men were obedient to the Commandments and Invitations of God their Faith and Obedience would be most acceptable unto him according as was before expressed by them The Assembly hearing this their Explication did injoin them to use such Expressions as these with that Sobriety and Prudence that they might not give the least Occasion of Offence unto any Person nor cause them to conceive of God in any way unsuitable to his glorious Nature Article 24. Monsieur Testard and Amyraud declared farther that although the Doctrines obvious to us in the Works of Creation and Providence do teach and preach Repentance and invite us to seek the Lord who would be found of us yet nevertheless by reason of the horrible Blindness of our Nature and its universal Corruption no Man was ever this way converted yea and it is utterly impossible that any one should be converted but by the hearing of the Word of God which is the Seed of our Regeneration and the Instrument of the Holy Ghost whole Efficacy and Virtue only is able to illuminate our Understandings and to change the Hearts and Affections of the Children of Men. Article 25. And forasmuch as the Word of God hath always revealed the Knowledg of the Lord our Redeemer the said Sieurs did farther protest that no one Man was ever nor can be saved without some certain Measure of this Knowledg less indeed under the old Testament but greater under the New the Death and Resurrection of the Son of God being most plainly and distinctly manifested in the Gospel and they hold it as an undoubted Truth that now under the New Covenant the distinct Knowledg of Christ is absolutely necessary for all Persons who are come unto Years of Discretion in order to their obtaining of eternal Salvation And they do from their very Heart anathematize all those who believe or teach that Man may be saved
of La Ferte on the Jouaire 600. 2. Colloquy of Picardy Pastors Churches 617. John Baptiste Ministers of Calais 601. 618. Peter Cartier 619. Buguet 620. Francois Becade 621. Ezechiel de Avois of Boulonois 602. 622. Peter Poynet of Amieus 603. 623. Daniel Boucherel of Cifemont 604. 624. Claudius le Vineux of Chauny Coussy 605. 625. John Mestayer of St. Quentin 606. 626. Paul Georges of Laon 607. 627. Peter Lambour of Leval Gercy 608. 628. John Nicollay of Compiegne 609. 3. Colloquy of Champagne Pastors Churches 629. Benjamin Augenet Ministers of Vini in Champenois 610. 630. Simon Gascher 631. Benjamin Massin of Chaalons 611. 632. John Pasquet of Espance 612. 633. Honorius de Candemere of Netancour 613. 634. John Rainet of Langres 614. 635. Samuel de la Cloche of Aychastelnay 615. 636. Abraham Jacquelot of Sezame 616. 637. Sigebert Alpeé of St. Mars 617. 638. Aaron Blondel of Jinecour 618. 639. Isaac Juigné of Vassy 619. 640. John Carre Minister of Heiz le Mauron 620. 4. Colloquy of the Land of Chartres Pastors Churches 641. Louis de Forquembergue of Houdan 621. 642. Louis Foulé of Laons Faviers 622. 643. Philip Falbergue of Chartres Joinvilliers 623. 644. Benjamin Tricotel of Mantes Auvergne 624. 645. Maurice de Lauberaut of Le Plessis la Jorville 625. 646. Dablon de Montigny 647. James Couronne of Autun 626. The end of the Catalogue of the Pastors of the Churches of France and Bearn as it was brought into the Seven and Twentieth National Synod of Alanson in the year 1637. Hereafter follow divers Acts and Letters which were not inserted into the Body of the Acts of this Synod but for the compleating of its History are in this place Registred and Related CHAP. XXIV The Speech made by Monsieur Ferrand Pastor of the Church of Bourdeaux Deputed by the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France Assembled at Alanson the 27th of May 1637. unto His Majesty SIRE IF the Rivers having their Source from the Ocean do return again with their Tribute to it 't is much more Just and Reasonable that Your most Humble and most Obedient Subjects the Ministers and Elders Assembled by Your Authority in a National Synod should come and render into Your Royal Bosom the Profound Resentments and Eternal Thankfulness of their Souls for those numberless Favours they have received and do still enjoy by Your Majesty's most Gracious Protection and Royal Liberality which being superadded to those Duties of our Birth and Conscience do so bind us unto Subjection Fidelity and Obedience to Your Commands that no future Events can or will be able to dissolye or cut them asunder These Sire be the Loyal Protestations of those that sent us who desire nothing more than to Engrave in the hearts of Your most Dutiful Subjects of our Religion the Holy Maxims of an inviolable and Religious Obedience For we Sire are those very Persons who Believe and Teach that the Royal Authority is not of Humane but Divine Institution unto which every Soul ought to be Subjected and we are those who Believe and Teach the Sovereignty and Independency of Your Crown which resembling those higher Mountains whose Lofty Heads being exalted above the middle Region of the Air are never frighted with Thunders nor Lightnings No Sire You hold it from God only and it is solely depending on him and You are next in Power unto him the Sun of this Heaven the Soul of this vast Body the Heart of this Gallick Monarchy Yea Sire once more we be those very Persons who next unto the Service of our God have no greater Motive nor Principle than the Conservation and Augmentation of Your Majesty's Grandeur and these are our daily Vows and Prayers unto God Your Majesty being his most lively Image And therefore Sire we are emboldned to hope for Freedom of Access unto Your Majesty because our God loveth to be importuned with our Supplications and that Your Majesty will not reject these most Humble Petitions which are laid at Your Majesty's Feet with all imaginable Respect by many thousands of Souls who desire the Liberty of their Conscience and Religion for none other end than that by serving God they may also the self-same instant demand of him in their Prayers for Your Majesty a most immovable Prosperity a long Reign a most Happy Life a most Faithful Council Victorious Triumphant Armies and an innumerable People going and coming at the first beck and motion of Your Majesty Sire This Liberty shall never be abused by Your most Humble Subjects of the Reformed Religion unto Licentiousness no Sire they will imploy it as they have always done in Prayers and Fastings when as the precious Life of Your most Sacred Majesty lay exposed to all Hazards and Dangers a Life upon which depends all the Lives of Your Kingdom and You were Jeoparding it in the high places of the Field to acquire unto Your Subjects a durable Repose and Tranquility And forasmuch as Your Majesty's Sword is ever Glorious and Invincible against Strangers May it please Your Majesty to suffer us to form our Complaints against those who endeavour at home in the very Bowels of France to render Your Edicts Illusory and do blunt the Point and dull the Edge of Your Laws relating to our Liberties and Subsistence which are all founded upon the Observation of Your Edicts and Royal Commissions The Adversaries envying our Peace have made an infinite number of Gaps and Breaches in them Yet nevertheless Sire we perswade our selves that Your Edicts will remain Sacred and Inviolable and that Your Powerful Hand will cause the words of Your Royal Mouth to be exactly and punctually performed because you be the Judge and Father of Your People and that in Your Sacred Person Justice and Mercy shall Kiss and Embrace each other that so none may attempt to put asunder what our God hath joyned together This Hope replenisheth our Hearts with Joy and doth more ardently excite our Affections to pay unto Your Majesty all the Duties of Subjection and Loyalty and with inflamed Devotions we Address our selves to the Divine Majesty that he would inlarge the Bounds of Your Empire and accomplish all the desires of Your Royal Heart as being Sire of Your Majesty the most Humble and the most Obedient Servants and Subjects the Pastors and Elders Assembled in the National Synod by Your Gracious Permission at Alanson and in the Name of them all Basnage Moderator of the Synod D. Couppe Assessor D. Blondel Scribe and De Launay Scribe CHAP. XXV 2. Instructions given unto Monsieur Ferrand Gigord and Cerisy Deputed unto the King by the National Synod Assembled by His Majesty's Permission at Alanson 1637. THe Sieurs Ferrand Gigord and Cerisy Deputed by us unto the Court immediately upon their Arrival shall wait upon Monsieur de la Vrilliere Secretary of State to whom they shall deliver our Letters and assure him of our most humble Services and shall intreat him
that by his means they may as soon as possible have the Honour of waiting upon and Saluting His Majesty and Present Him with the Letters of this Assembly and shall follow His Orders when and after what manner they ought and may speak unto the King and to the Lord Cardinal and to the Lord Chancellor And having paid their Duties to the King the Lord Cardinal and to our Lord the Principal Ministers of State they shall give them to understand with what Respect and Thankful Acknowledgments we have received from the mouth of the Lord de St. Marc His Majesty's Commissioner in this Assembly those assurances given us in His Majesty's Name for preserving us the Privilege of His Edicts and to continue to us His Royal Favours But they shall not conceal that all the Members of this Assembly were exceedingly surprized and astonished that immediately after those aforesaid Assurances given us by the Lord Commissioner he made such Proposals to them as had no agreement at all with these Promises of His Majesty's good Will unto us as when He declared That he was charged by the King to forbid all Ministers to serve their annexed Congregations which tends to the utter Ruine of the far greatest part of our Churches and depriveth a vast multitude of the Professors of our Religion of their Spiritual Consolation As also when he propounded as from the King That it was his Majesty's desire That we should ratisie Baptism Administred by Midwifes and others who have no Call so to do which is formally contrary to our Belief They shall also insist on this That His Majesty be acquainted and from their own Mouths with that Rigorous Decree of the Council concerning the hanging forth of Tapistry and Adorning of our Houses on that Festival which they call by the Name of The Holy This being a matter directly contrary to the Edicts made in our Favour They shall take care also to Petition our Lord the Cardinal and the Lords of the Council and especially the Lord de Buillon That they would be pleased to supply this Assembly with Moneys for the defraying of our Charges and Expences during the Sessions thereof as hath been always accustomed to be done by His Majesty And the rather because for a very long time notwithstanding His Majesty's Promise we have not received one Farthing of His Bounteous Liberality The Assembly leaveth it to the Prudence of these our said Deputies either to prolong or shorten their abode at Court according to the Success of their Negotiation and they be ordered to acquaint us upon all occasions of what is necessary to be done by us CHAP. XXVI 3. Monsieur Ferrand's Speech made unto my Lord the Cardinal Duke of Richelieu My Lord SIth that in our days and under the Incomparable Wisdom of Your Government Peace and Justice are so Gloriously preserved that the Greatest Monarch of the Vniverse is not only known to be the Just King but also the King of the Just by the strict Observation of His Edicts and Sacred Orders The Ministers and Elders Assembled in a National Synod under the Favourable Authority of His Majesty and the Good Counsels of Your Eminency have took the Boldness to send us unto His Majesty as to the Common Father of His Subjects to render to Him Their most unfeigned Thanks and to Present Him Their most Humble Requests and in all Humility to demand His Royal Protection against those Violences which do every day Rob and Spoil us of His Favours and have most expresly charged us to Implore on this Account the Succours and Assistance of Your Eminency And that Experience we have formerly had hereof filleth our Hearts with Hopes for the future Because the Stedfastness of God and the King's Word are visible in the Face of Your Eminency You being Their most lively Protraiture We cannot be ignorant My Lord That Your Eminency is that Intelligence who moves this admirable Monarchy with the greatest Regularity That Assistant Spirit of this Great Body which heretofore was like one of the Floating Islands but now Your most Admired Conduct hath bound it so fast with the Chains of the Royal Authority that in the Greatest and most Astonishing Tempests it abideth firm and immovable And it will be with France as with the Land of Licia which tho' subject unto Storms and dreadful Earthquakes yet no sooner are those Tempestuous Winds which caused them dissipated but that the Inhabitants thereof do enjoy for Forty Days together 〈◊〉 most Wonderful Calm and Tranquility but these days of our Tranquility shall be Prophetical a Year for a Day and may Your Eminency's Life be prolonged to a full Century of those Years And we do protest in the Presence of God that we own our selves bound Eternally to Obey His Majesty by the Laws of our Birth and Conscience and for His Majesty's Favours continually accumulated upon us And therefore we do Address our Prayers without intermission unto the Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth that he would be pleased to keep his Anointed as the Apple of his Eye His Majesty being the very Heart and Life of His Kingdom and that he would take from our days to add unto His and to add unto Yours also My Lord whom we reckon next to God and the King our surest Sanctuary hoping for some Rays and Beams of Your Eminency's good Will to be imparted to us that may quicken us under those disconsolating Troubles with which we are menaced and be a most meet and proper Remedy for those Afflicting Evils which press in sore upon us from every part and quarter of the Land And Your Eminency's Reward for this signal goodness of Yours extended to us will be the continuance of that Glory You have most justly acquired in all Christendom and we shall beg of God in our Prayers and may the Divine Majesty actually fullfil them to pour down upon Your Eminency an abundant Confluence of his best Blessings and that we may obtain this Consolation to be believed by Your Eminency that with all sincerity of Heart and Soul we are My Lord Your Eminency's most Humble and most Obedient Servants Banage Moderator of the Synod Coupe Assessor Blondel and de Launay Scribes CHAP. XXVII A Copy of the Bill of Grievances presented unto His Majesty by the Sieurs Ferr and Pastor of the Church of Bourdeaux Gigord Pastor of the Church of Montpellier and De Cerisy an Elder Deputed by the National Synod of Alanson May the 7th 1637. unto the King SIRE THe Deputies of Your Subjects of the Reformed Religion Assembled by Your Majesty's Permission in a National Synod at Alanson do most Humbly Petition That according to Your wonted Goodness and Justice continued to them You would be pleased to vouchsafe us the enjoyment of Your Edicts and Declarations of Peace which have to their very great prejudice been broken and violated in every Article and particularly in divers places of Your Kingdom nor can we get our Damages repaired
confirm the Covenant of Grace propounded to us in the Gospel Ministry Answ Yes Quest How many Sacraments do you believe that there be in the Christian Church Answ Two Baptism and the Lord's Supper Quest Do you desire to be instructed in the Nature and Use of Baptism which you now demand of this Church of Christ Answ Yes Then the Minister shall say Our Lord sheweth us in what Poverty and Misery we are all born when he telleth us that we must be born again For if our Nature must be renewed that it may enter into the Kingdom of God then 't is evident that it is universally depraved and accursed whereof he admonisheth us that we may be humbled and displeased with oar selves and by this means doth he prepare us earnestly to petition for his Grace by which all that Corruption and Malediction of our first Nature may be abolished And we are not capable of receiving it till we be first emptied of all Confidence in our own Vertue Wisdom and Righteousness that so we may pass Sentence of Condemnation upon all that is in us And look as he remonstrateth unto us our miserable Estate so also doth he comfort us with his Mercy promising to regenerate us by his Holy Spirit unto newness of Life which will be the earnest of our entrance into his Kingdom This Regeneration consisteth of two Parts First that we deny our selves not following our own Judgment Will and Pleasure but resigning our Hearts and Understandings to be led Captive by the Wisdom and Righteousness of God and so mortifying our selves and all our fleshly Members here below we do then follow the Divine Light and take up our Complacency in Obedience unto his good Will and Pleasure revealed to us in his Holy Word and subject our selves to the Guidance and Government of his Holy Spirit Now the Accomplishment of both these is in our Lord Jesus whose Death and Passion is of such Vertue that by communicating in it we are as it were dead to Sin that so our carnal Affections and the Desires of our Flesh may be mortified In like manner by the Vertue of Christs Resurrection we rise up unto newness of Live which is of God inâ—smuch as his Holy Spirit doth guide and govern us and work in us those Works which are well-pleasing to him Yet the first and chiefest Point of our Salvation is that by his Mercy he freely pardons all our Sins not imputing them unto us and blotteth out the remembrance of them that so they may not be brought in Judgment against us All these Benefits are conferred upon us when he is pleased graciously to incorporate us into his Church by Baptism for in this Sacrament he testifieth unto us the Forgiveness of our Sins And to this purpose hath he ordained the Sign of Water thereby to signifie unto us That as this Element cleanseth away the Filth of the Body even so will he wash and purifie our Souls that there may not appear the least Spot upon them In the next place it holdeth forth unto us our Renovation which standeth as was said before in the Mortification of our Flesh and in that Spiritual Life which he effecteth in us So that we receive a double Grace and Benefit from God in our Baptism provided we do not disannul the Vertue of this Sacrament by our Ingratitude First That we have a most certain Token and Testimony that God will be a propitious Father to us not imputing our Sins and Offences to us Secondly That he will assist us by his Holy Spirit that we may be enabled to combat with the Devil Sin and the Desires of our Flesh until we have won the Victory and so enjoy the Liberty of his Kingdom which is a Kingdom of Righteousness For as much then as these two things be accomplished in us by the Grace of our Lord Jesus it followeth that the Vertue and Substance of Baptism is treasured up in him And indeed we have no other Laver but that of his Blood nor any other Renovation but what is in his Death and Resurrection which as he communicateth his Riches and Benedictions to us by his Word so also doth he distribute them abroad among us by his Sacraments And in this appeareth the wonderful Love of God towards us that these Graces bestowed on us having before the Incarnation of our Lord Redeemer been as it were locked up among the Jewish People and the Partition-Wall which separated between Jews and Gentiles being broken down by his Death he hath and doth shed abroad upon Mankind the saving Waters of his Grace in such abundance that now there is neither Jew nor Greek neither Male nor Female neither Circumcision nor Uncircumcision nor any outward Condition of Men that can exclude them from that great Salvation which is in him and which the Lord Jesus will have preached unto all Nations And the Covenant of his Peace is now ratified by Baptism according to the Commission which he hath given unto his Apostles saying Go ye and preach unto all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Quest And is it not true my Brother that you desire to be Partaker of this Grace by Baptism Answ Yes Quest But forasmuch as he that entreth into the House of God must look unto his ways lest he should prophane the Sanctuary and presume according to that Saying of the wise Preacher to offer the Sacrifice of Fools and ungodly Persons and that he ought to be clean purged from all Leaven of Error and Malice do you not detest from your Heart all Errors contrary to that sound Doctrin taught in our Churches Answ Yes Quest Forasmuch as we are now about to administer the Sacrament of Baptism unto you do you not protest to live and die in the Faith of our Lord Jesus which you have now confessed before us and to adorn it with an Holy Life and Conversation and to direct all your Thoughts Words and Actions to the Glory of God and the Edification of your Neighbour and to submit your self to the Order and Discipline of our Church in Conformity whereunto this Holy Ordinance must be inviolably maintained Answ Yes This being done the Minister shall add Let us call upon God that he may be entreated to give his Blessing to this present Holy Ministration O Lord our God! The most wise and merciful God! We praise and bless thy Holy Name for that Grace which thy good Hand hath deigned to bestow upon this thy Servant who lay in the profound Darkness of the Shadow of Death but is now enlightned by thee thou having caused the Day-Spring from on high with his quickening and saving Brightness to arise and shine in upon him drawing him from a most deplorable hardness of a stony Heart to mollifie and soften him delivering him from the Bonds of Death and restoring Life unto him Lord as thou hast took away the Veil that was upon his
Castell Thierry and Sarrau Pastor of the Church of Meaux are appointed to visit the said Church of Senlis accompanied each of them with an Elder of their respective Consistories and the said Church is to defray their Expences These things being thus ordered and dispatched Monsieur Fauquembergue craved leave of this Assembly to retire himself unto such a Place as the good Providence of God should direct him which was freely granted him and he was commended to the Grace of God 32. John Grillemet came unto this Assembly to maintain his Appeal from a Judgment of the Consistory of Montauban and from another given in the Provincial Synod of Higher Languedoc After that the said Guillemet and the Deputies of that Province had been both heard the Assembly judged that this affair should not have been brought before it and therefore doth send it back again to the Synod of that Province and to the Consistory of Montauban whose Judgments are now confirmed by the authority of this present National Synod but withal intreateth them both to extend their Charity unto this Appellant 33. The Church of Eyssigeac having appealed from the Judgment of the Colloquy of Perigord and from the Synod of Lower Guyenne assembled at St. Foy 1645 about the Titles put into the Bands of Matrimony of the Sieur de Bequay Attorney in the Praesidial Court of Agen and from the Complaints brought against Monsieur Eymer at present Pastor of the Church of Mount St. Proy which said Complaints were mentioned in a Memorial sent by the Consistory of the said Church of Eyssigeac This Appeal of theirs was declared null And as for their Complaints they were ordered to be carried unto the next Synod of Lower Guyenne who are to take Cognizance of them And the said Memorial was to this end put into the Hands of the Provincial Deputies of Lower Guienne being attested by the Signatures of Monsieur Beraud a Pastor and of Four Elders CHAP. X. General Matters 1. THE Assembly being informed by the Province of Lower Languedoc that some Pastors do read the Texts of their Sermons in other Translations differing from that which is commonly used in our Churches this Assembly decreeth that no Person shall dare use any other Version than that which is ordinarily used whether in Reading the Scriptures or taking their Texts out of it 2. As to that Proposal made by the Deputy of the Province of Burgundy concerning the administration of the Poor's Mony and the rendring of Accompts by those who have had the Management thereof This Assembly judgeth that the cognizance and direction of this matter belongeth unto the Consistory according to the Order established by our Discipline and that whosoever doth violate those Canons by remâ—â—ing this Affair from our Ecclesiastick Assemblies ought to be prosecuted with all kind of Censures as Contemners of our Canons and Rebels to the Consistories 3. The Provincial Deputies of Burgundy demanding upon the Sixteenth Article of the Thirteenth Chapter of our Discipline how they should judge of their place of Abode who contract Marriage that so they may warrantably publish their Banes This Assembly was of Opinion that there could not be a General Canon made which should oblige all the Churches because that the Customs of particular places though different one from another are to be followed Therefore the cognizance of this matter is remitted to the prudence of Provincial Synods Colloquies and Consistories which shall observe and follow the Customs in every particular District 4. The Deputies of the same Province made report of the little care that was observed in several parts of their Province to sanctifie the Lord's Day and that by very many Persons it was imployed in Worldly Businesses Sports and Pastimes depriving themselves of Religious Exercises and Ordinances and suffering themselves to be led aside by Sinful Examples unto Plays and Dissolutions This Assembly touched to the quick with a most sensible grief for so great a Profanation provoking God to pour down his most dreadful Vengeance upon the Sons of Men doth exhort all the Faithful to spend this Sacred Day of Rest in the performances of Holy Duties and to those divine ends whereunto it is appointed by exercising themselves in all publick and private Duties of Religion particularly in the Reading Hearing and Meditation of God's Holy Word and Prayer and that they do not only Religiously abstain from their ordinary Week-days labour but also from all Companies Meetings Sports and Recreations which will estrange their Hearts and Affections from the Worship of God and from that Devotion which we are most especially obliged to upon these Holy Sabbaths of Christs own Institution And our Provincial Synods are injoyned upon this occasion to make such Canons as they shall judge needful and every individual Member of our Churches are most strictly commanded conscientiously to observe and obey them 5. The Province of Bearn desired that they might be impowered with authority to practise those Canons which they had already established and which they might hereafter also as to the times and places of Celebrating Marriages This Assembly granted them their Request and gave also the same Authority unto all other Provincial Synods and forbiddeth all Ministers to Marry any Persons in their Churches excepting at the Hours accustomed for such Solemnities 6. The Two and Thirtieth Article in the last Chapter of our Discipline which forbiddeth Duels under the severest Censures even of Excommunication it self shall be read in all the Churches and reinforced with most close and vehement Exhortations that so this Hellish Sin may be banished from out the Hearts and Societies of the Faithful as being expresly forbidden by the word of God and declared by his Majesty's Edicts to have merited the deepest brand of Infamy and all Consistories are injoyned to put forth their Power in prosecuting the Refractory with all kind of Censures 7. Whereas diverts Provinces have complained of that great difference which is observed in the Printed Copies of our Discipline this Assembly Ordaineth that there shall be drawn up another most exact and correct according to the Decisions of our National Synods in whose Margin shall be inserted the Canons and Observations extracted out of those Synods which shall be judged most needful And Monsieur Amyraud Pastor and Professor in the Church and University of Saumur is charged with this Task and he shall use the labours of Monsieur Blondel Gaultier and Catelau and shall communicate his Work unto the Consistories of Saumur Paris and Rochel and with then Approbation it shall be Printed 8. In executing that Article of the National Synod of Charenton in the Year 1631 when as any Members of the Augustane Confession commonly called Lutherans shall offer Children into Baptism not having before-time communicated with us this Assembly decreeth that the Consistories shall take a particular notice of their Inclinations whether they joyn themselves unto our Church-Assemblies with a true peaceable Spirit of Charity as is required by
unto Salvation and thus effectually to redeem all those and none other who were from all Eternity from among all People Nations and Tongues chosen unto Salvation Whereupon although the Assembly were well satisfied yet nevertheless they decreed that for the future that Phrase of Jesus Christ's dying Equally for all should be for born that term Equally was heretofore and might be so again an occasion of stumbling unto many And as for the conditional Decree mentioned in the aforesaid Treatise of Predestination the said Mr. Testard and Amyraud declared that they do not not ever did understand any other thing than God's Revealed Will in his Word to give Grace and Life unto Believers and that they called this in none other sense a Conditional Will than that of an Anthropopia because God promiseth not the effects thereof but upon condition of Faith and Repentance And they added farther that although the Propositions resulting from the manifestation of this Will be conditional and conceived under an If or It may be as if thou believest thou shalt be Saved if a Man repent of his Sins they shall be forgiven him yet nevertheless this doth not suppose in God an Ignorance of the Event nor an Impotency as to the Execution of nor any inconstancy as to his Will which is always firmly accomplished and ever unchangable in it self according to the nature of God in which there is no variableness nor shadow of turning And the said Monsieur Amyraud did particularly protest as he had before published unto the World that he never gave the Name of Universal or Conditional Predestination unto this Will of God than by way of concession and accommodation unto the Language of the Adversary yet forasmuch as many are offended at this Expression of his he offered freely to raze it out of those Places wherever it did occur promising also to abstain from it for the future And both He and the Sieur Testard acknowledged that to speak truly and accurately according to the usage of Sacred Scripture there is no other Decree of Predestination of Men unto Eternal Life and Salvation than the unchangable purpose of God by which according to the most free and good pleasure of his Will he hath out of meer Grace chosen in Jesus Christ unto Salvation before the Foundation of the World a certain number of Men in themselves neither better nor more worthy than others and that he hath decreed to give them unto Jesus Christ to be Saved and that he would call and draw them effectually to Communion with him by his Word and Spirit And they did in consequence of this their Doctrin reject their Error who held that Faith and th' Obedience of Faith Holiness Godliness and Perseverance are not the fruits and effects of this unchangable Decree unto Glory but conditions or causes without which Election could not be passed which conditions or causes are antecedently requisite and foreseen as if they were already accomplished in those who were fit to be elected contrary to what is taught us by the Sacred Scriptures Acts 13.48 and elsewhere And whereas they have made distinct Decrees in this Counsel of God the first of which is to save all Men through Jesus Christ if they shall believe in him the Second to give Faith unto some particular Persons they declared that they did this upon none other account than of accommodating it unto the manner and order which the Spirit of Man observeth in his Reasonings for the succour of his own Infirmities they otherwise believing that though they considered this Decree as Diverse yet was it found in God in one and the self same Moment without any Succession of Thought or order of Priority and Posteriority The Will of this most Supream and Incomprehensible Lord being one only Eternal Act in him so that could we but conceive of things as they be in him from all Eternity we should comprehend these Decrees of God by one only Act of our Understanding as in truth they be but one only Act of his Eternal and Unchangable Will. The Synod having heard these Declarations of the Sieurs Testart and Amyraud injoyned them and all others to refrain from those terms of Conditional Frustratory or Revocable Decree and that they should rather chuse the Word Will whereby to express that Sentiment of theirs by which they would signifie the Revealed Will of God commonly called by Divines Voluntas Signi And whereas in sundry places marked in the Writings of the before-mentioned Mr. Testard and Amyraud they have ascribed unto God as it were a notion of Velleity and strong Affections and vehement desires of things which he hath not nor ever will effectuate they having declared that by those figurative ways of Speaking and an anthropopathical they designed to speak properly none other thing than this that if Men were obedient to the Commandments and Invitations of God their Faith and Obedience would be most acceptable to him according as was before expressed by them The Assembly hearing this their Explication did injoyn them to use such Expressions as these with that Sobriety and Prudence that they might not give any occasion of offence unto any Person nor cause them to conceive of God in any way unsuitable to his Glorious Nature And the same Monsieur Amyraud and Testard declared farther that although the Doctrins obvious to us in the works of Creation and Providence do Teach and Preach Repentance and invite us to seek the Lord who would be found of us Yet nevertheless by reason of the horrible blindness of our Nature and its Universal Corruption no Man was ever this way converted yea and it is utterly impossible that any one should be converted but by the Hearing of the Word of God which is the seed of our Regeneration and the Instrument of the Holy Ghost whose efficacy and vertue only is able to illuminate our Understandings and to change the Hearts and Affections of the Children of Men. And forasmuch as the Word of God hath always revealed the knowledge of the Lord our Redeemer the said Sieurs did farther protest that no one Man was ever nor can be saved without some certain measure of this Knowledge less indeed under the Old Testament but greater under the New the Death and Resurrection of the Son of God being most plainly and distinctly manifested in the Gospel And they hold it as an undoubted Truth that now under the New Covenant the distinct knowledge of Christ is absolutely necessary for all Persons who are come unto Years of Discretion in order to their obtaining of Eternal Salvation And they do from their very Heart anathematize all those who believe or Teach that Man may be saved any other way than by the Merit of our Lord Jesus Christ or in any other Religion besides the Christian And whereas divers Persons were much offended at the Professor Amyrald for calling that knowledge of God which Men might gain from the consideration of his Works and
Sieur Doul in that of Professor of Eloquence without suffering the said Nomination to be made a Precedent and on this condition that the said Professor Doul do every three Months keep a Publick Act. And this Assembly hath likewise approved and ratified that Canon of Agreement betwixt the Consistory and the said University for taking Cognizance of all Affairs depending upon both those Assemblies And that this present Decree may be put in Execution the Sieurs Guitton and de Bourdieu Pastors and the Sieur des Champs an Elder are deputed to pass over unto Saumur and to visit the said Church which is ordered to defray their Expences Now Sirs let me add what was given me in charge from this Holy Synod to deliver to you Ton cannot be ignorant of what the Faithful in all Ages have generally owned and confessed and which the Church of God hath always sung to its Consolation that there is nothing better nothing more pleasant nothing more desirable for your selves nothing more advantagious for the Interest of God than to see Peace on Earth in the midst of its horrible Confusions than whilst the Children of Rebellion who are possessed by the Devil do by their turbulent and intollerable Passions turn things upside down to see the poor Church of God in Peace Zion a quiet Habitation all the Faithful united the whole Houshold of Faith of one Heart having the same Love enjoying the same Hope and wholly busied and taken up in the Works of their common and holy Calling 'T is by this that God their Heavenly Father is most especially glorified This Peace is not of this World nor sustained by carnal Interests which may either by time be abolished or by corrupt Affections changed This is that Peace of God which his well-beloved Son our Lord Redeemer Christ Jesus hath left as a Legacy unto us and which is nourished and supported by that precious Blood which he shed for us and it shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given unto us of which the World shall never deprive us as long as we cherish and value it When once this Peace dwells and rules abundantly in our Hearts whenas our Holy Communion is strengthened by it whenas it leaveth Characters and Marks of its Glory upon us and our Souls tast its Sweetness then is Heaven above us reconciled with us then is the Sanctuary of our Hope opened to us then are the Bowels of God's Compassions yearning on us then is his Jealousie excited for us and then shall we obtain the most glorious Deliverances a Troop an Heap a Multitude of Divine Benedictions Sirs I never think of this Heavenly Blessing but that my Head is Waters and mine Eyes Fountains of Tears and mourn bitterly for those Sad Divisions which have so long time reigned among you These are horrible Scandals and noised abroad in the whole Kingdom By these Breaches hath Satan the Prince of this World got admission into your Hearts by these breaches is your Faith exposed to extream danger and I tremble at the Indignation of the God of Peace against you For when he seeth his Peace despised his Church distracted and dismembred and that Service owed him by your Consciences altered and abated and the profession of the Truth exposed to the Laughter and Scorn of his Adversaries he hath too just cause of being exasperated against you and to correct you with his Severest Judgments This Gracious God hath forborn you a long time he hath supported with wonderful Patience and Indulgence your grievous Disorders he hath compassionated your Infirmities he would rather remove them by the sweetness of his Grace than cut you off by the Sword of his just Vengeance He assembled when you least hoped it even at your Doors the Deputies of all the Provinces of this Kingdom who having as to your Concerns none other Interests than that of your Salvation did according to that Authority which God hath given them over your Consciences put a period unto your differences and compose them with singular Equity in order to your Peace When I consider Sirs what I was formerly in this City and Academy the least among you in all respects instructed by them who are your Instructors that profound respect which I have ever conserv'd in my Heart for you causeth me to fear and tremble whilst I am speaking to you For my own part I had much rather that this important Commission had fallen into any other Hands than mine that it might have been discharged by a Person much more worthy of your esteem and commendation but the most wise God hath disposed otherwise by the Suffrages of his Servants and 't is his Call by them that incourageth me to execute it That great deference which I know you have for our Church-Discipline this holy Order set up by God himself in the midst of us in his own House raiseth my Hopes that you will not so much reflect upon the Messenger that speaks unto you in Earth as upon his Message now brought unto you from God who is in Heaven and who doth great things and marvellous among his Saints by the weakest Instruments I beseech you most Honoured and Dear Brethren for the sake of our common Saviour that you would with Heart and Soul accept of that Peace which is now by God himself exhibited and offered to you Forget all past matters consider what is to come look not behind you but before you you are entred into a new World open the Doors of your Hearts to our Lord Jesus who demands it by my Mouth suffer this King of Glory to set up the Standard of his Cross in your Souls to pour into them the Consolations of his Love Let him crucifie your Old Man and all his Actions let him make your many Hearts to be but one all your Souls but one Soul that so he may live in you all and as you live by him so you may live for him Yon stand obliged unto this by his Grace the Commands of God demand it of you The example of your Rverend Pastors is a powerful motive to ingage you to it Be you Followers of them in Love imitate that Charity which they have first Sworn in the presence of Christ Jesus Consider them as Persons in the same Office imploy'd in the same work and pay an equal Respect unto them Encourage their Hearts and strengthen their Hands in the Service of God and of your Souls by your Affectionate and orderly Carriage and Obedience Pray for them as they do for you Love them as they love you Repay their Love unto them with Interest Evidence yours unto them by all kind of good Offices they are studious to approve themselves unto you by their Zeal and Labours for you And if you practise these Counsels all the Churches will be filled with joy you will be blessed by all the Children of God the Adversary will be confounded and the God of Peace will dwell among