alone in this Ministry The Lord raised up and Commissionated many other Worthies to labour in his Vineyard and to gather in his great Harvest of precious Souls for the Fields were already white and longing for the Harvest 'T is true they had a most unkind usage and cruel Entertainment from the Popish Priests and Prelates and from the greater part of the Antichristian World For these wise Men among the People that had skill and understanding in the Visions of God and instructed many yet did according to the Scripture-Prophecy fall by the Sword and by Flame by Captivity and by spoil many days among whom the most renowned were Joseph a Disciple of Waldo who Preached in Dolphiny Henry and Eperon who Preached in Languedoc Arnold Hor who Preached in Albigois and Lollard by whose name the Professors of the Gospel were so called here in England these as they lived zealous Preachers so they died most faithful Martyrs sealing the Truth of Christ with their Hearts Blood as did also many thousands of their Followers Sect. 4. For to exterminate these Hereticks as they were then stiled Pope Innocent the Third published his Croisados granting plenary remission of sins to all Persons that would go to this holy War and destroy them Great Kings potent Princes and noble Lords are all invited commanded and animated to persecute them and in case of neglect on their part they themselves are reputed Favourers and Upholders of them and are exposed to the Thunderbolts of Papal Excommunications and to be deprived of their Crowns Kingdoms Dominions and Lives Thus were the King of Arragon the Counts of Tolouse Beziers and Carcassone served who were all cut off by those prodigious Armies mustered up against them They and many Myriads of their Subjects together with them are most horribly butcher'd and destroyed by the Croisado-Pilgrims Sect. 5. But notwithstanding all the Croisado's Slaughters Massacres and most barbarous Persecutions of the poor Albingenses and Waldenses there was not a total extinction of the Truth it was suppressed but not destroyed as Fire buried under much Ashes it doth at length break out with the more vehement flame Its Professors were dead but the Truth lived it lay concealed in the hearts of the Children of these Martyrs who groaned for a Reformation There was a very great propensity in all the Nations of Europe but especially of France unto it The Papal Power had been crampt by the Pragmatical Sanction in that Kingdom The August Parliament of Paris sixed bounds unto it The learned Sorbonists had several of their Divines who disputed against and decried it Lewes the Twelfth threatned to destroy Babylon When Learning was revived by Francis the First in that Kingdom the Reformation had there its Resurrection Pious and good Men passionately desired and Preached up the necessity of it William Brissonnet Bishop of Meaux promoted it in his Diocess James Fabey born at Estaples in Picardy a Man of great Learning and of an Angelical Life laboured hard in it And in the dawn of the Reformation the Doctrine of the Gospel was embraced by several Persons of great Quality Margaret of Valois Queen of Navarre and Sister to the French King was accused for it by the blood-thirsty Prelates unto her Royal Brother She was indeed a Sanctuary unto God's Fugitives a Covert to them from the storm an hiding place from the Tempest In her House Faber now an hundred years old after a most Heavenly Discourse with the Queen at Supper fell asleep in the Lord. Luther a Divine Herald publisheth the Gospel in Germany Zuinglius one year before him and without any knowledge of him or correspondence with him had thundered against Indulgences and began the Reformation in Switzerland A little while after Mr. Calvin is called forth by God to be a glorious Instrument of it in France * * * See the Author of Status Reipubl Relig sab Henr. 2. p 10. 11. sub Carolâ— 9. p. 94. And the Lord owneth him and his Fellow-Servants notwithstanding all the storms of Popish rage and fury against them in this great work Insomuch that the whole Kingdom is inlightned and ravished with it and many of the most eminent Counsellors in that Illustrious Senate the Parliament of Paris do profess the Gospel openly and in the very presence of their King Henry the Second though to the loss of Honour Estate and Life It was now got into the Court and among Persons of the highest Quality Many Nobles some Princes of the Blood dare espouse its Cause The Blood of the Martyrs proving the Seed of the Church and as Israel of old so now the more the Professors of the Gospel are oppressed and persecuted the more are they increased and multiplied Sect. 6. The Reformed form themselves into regular Church-Assemblies separating themselves as the Primitive Christians did from the unbelieving Jews and their Synagogues so from the unbelieving Papists and their idolatrous Worship It was the great care of the first Reformers to preach up sound Doctrine to institute and celebrate pure Evangelical Worship and to restore the ancient Primitive Discipline They set up purity of Worship according to the Scripture Rule The Holy Bible was translated by Olivetan Uncle unto Mr. Calvin and a Minister in the Valleys of Piedmont from the Original Hebrew and Greek into the French Language He had not any assistance nor incouragement unto this work from any great Prince or State and yet finished it in one Year The Lord blessed him in his undertaking wonderfully that he should begin and finish it in so short a time This Star scatters bright Beams of Heavenly Light and Truth into the dark Corners of the Land to the inlivening and comforting of many thousands of Souls Now the Fountain of Life is opened and the Waters thereof flow down in plenteous streams from the Throne of God and the Lamb to the cleansing quickning and refreshing of the City of God This Holy Bible is read in their solemn Meetings in the great Congregations This divinely inspired Scripture is perused and studied by Nobles and Peasants by the Learned and Ideots by Merchants and Tradesmen by Women and Children in their Houses and Families by this they be made wiser than their Popish Priests than their most subtle Adversaries By this they stop the mouths of Gainsayers and put them to silence and confusion Clement Marot a Courtier and a great Wit was advised by Mr. Vatablus Regius Professor of the Hebrew Tongue in the University of Paris to consecrate his Muse unto God which Counsel he embraceth and translateth fifty of David's Psalms into French Meeter Mr. Beza did the other hundred and all the Scripture-Songs Lewis Guadimel another Asaph or Jeduthun a most Skillful Master of Musick set those sweet and melodious Tunes unto which they are sung even unto this day This holy Ordinance charmed the Ears Hearts and Affections of Court and City Town and Country They were sung in the Louvre as
persevere in our Faith and Discipline and to adventure their Estates their Lives and Fortunes for the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ expressing also their great desire that all the Members of our Churches might be preserved in a sweet and perfect Concord After thanks given them in the person of their Messengers Letters were ordained to be written unto each of them applauding their Zeal and Religious Affection and exhorting them to perseverance in this their godly Resolution and farther to assure them that this Assembly will do its utmost endeavour that their pious desires of uniting all the Members of the Church may be accomplished 4. This Assembly being informed that Mr. David Hume formerly Pastor in the Church of Duras in the Lower Guyenne was lately returned from his native Country of Scotland and as he passed through England his Majesty of Great Britain had charged him with a Letter to be delivered to us concerning differences sprung up in our Churches on several points of Doctrine The Assembly ordained that before it was read unto us a Copy thereof should be transcribed and sent unto the Lord de Rouvray our Deputy General at Court that so in case we should be suspected there he might immediately discover that it was nothing of State-Affairs but only a Point of Doctrine which concerned all the Reformed Churches gathered in divers Kingdoms and Republicks To Communicate in which Matters we had all freedom ever promised us and as for those of another nature we would never intermeddle with them unless we had an express and new permission from the King 5. Monsieur Hume being called in did by word of mouth relate what was given him in charge by his Majesty of great Britain who advised this Assembly as from him to procure and maintain a firm Union in points of Doctrine among the Pastors Professors and others the Members of our Churches without quarrelling with the Divines of Germany or any persons teaching otherwise who handled the point of Justification in a different manner from us and particularly that we would silence that controversy risen up between the Sieurs du Moulin and Tilenus and yet to prize and value those Gifts which the great God hath so plenteously bestowed upon them for his Churches Edifying Assuring us farther of his Majesties good will affection and purpose to defend the Churches of God and particularly ours Which also was the substance of his Letter See afterwards the 18th observ on the Synod of Privas This Assembly returned their most humble thanks unto the King of Great Britain speaking by the said Mr. Hume the bearer of his Letters and put off their consideration and resolutions about this affair unto its proper place viz. then to be debated when as the Acts of the Synod of Privas shall be reviewed 6. The Deputies of the Council for the Province of Lower Guyenne craving leave to be heard in this Assembly about matters of great importance which they were ordered to declare unto us being introduced they began to vindicate and justify the means used by them in their prosecution of the violations of the Edict by which their Churches had exceedingly suffered whereof they gave many and particular instances in divers Articles and concluded with an earnest suit unto this Assembly that we would by all lawful means prevent divisions among our selves and so obviate the Plots and practices of the enemies of our Religion in the present State of affairs which are now upon the wheel Whereupon the Assembly did assure them of that favourable construction it put upon their good intentions and on their proceedings as reported by them and of the ways and means they had used and it farther promised that every one of the Deputies of this Synod should remonstrate the same unto their respective Provinces that so none ill opinion might be taken up or entertained to their prejudice And as for those remedies craved by them for hereafter against our common publick evils and their particular sufferings the Assembly knoweth none more proper and fit than what is offered us viz. the next General Assembly granted us by their Majesties who therefore shall be most humbly thanked for it and yet most earnestly and humbly intreated to change the place of their meeting and to defer the time thereof unto the twentieth day of August next that so the Provincial Assemblies may sit the longer and have the more time and leisure to intend and perfect our desired Union And this Assembly seeth it self obliged to procure it because of what has been already Proposed and advanced which also it will do by all lawful and possible means And as for the Modifications and restrictions of the Writ it Judgeth that they ought to be sent over to the mixt Provincial and General Politick Assemblies which the Deputies unto this Synod shall every one of them at their return represent unto their respective Provinces and Monsieur de Rouvray our General Deputy shall be written unto out of hand to present our most humble thanks as also our before-mentioned Requests unto their Majesties that so this Assembly may receive an answer before its dissolution CHAP. IV. Observations made on Reading the Confession of Faith Article 1. THERE being found some difference about the 6th Article of the Confession in the Latin and French Copies the first restraining that approbation which had been determined in the Mystery of the Trinity unto the four first ancient Councils but the others extending it indefinitely unto the ancient Councils This Assembly decreed that nothing should be altered in the French Edition of it Art 2. On the 8th Article Because that in divers Copies there was a Typographical Error which altered the very sence of the Article Exprimant que Dieu fait Convertir au lieu de dire qui'l Scait Convertir this Assembly exhorts the Pastors of those Churches which have Printers to admonish them that they get some Judicious Person to oversee and correct the press that we may not be troubled any more with complaints of this nature and that once for all our Confession be Printed with the greatest exactness according to the Copies revised in the last National Synods and the like notice shall be given to the Pastors and Professors in the Church of Geneva Art 3. On the 9th Article instead of these words qui'l y ait there must be read qui'l ait Art 4. Montaubaâ— obs 6. Saumur obs 1.3 Rochel obs 13. On the 39th Article towards the close of it the words of Institution shall be added according to the Decree of former National Synods in the express terms of St. Matthews Gospel Take eat c. Art 5. The Confession of Faith of the Churches in this Kingdom having been read word by word was approved in all its Articles by the Deputies not only for themselves personally but generally for all the Provinces represented by them and by whom they were commissionated and all of them swore for themselves and for
begun to make his demands sets no bounds to them The Switzers are hastning to their Assembly and the People seems very resolute to stand up in defence of their Liberties and Religion Every one is ready to march at the first Signal In the mean while the Switzers have been wonderful in their Charity The Country of Vaux is fill'd in every Corner with French Fugitives Within these three Weeks there have been reckon'd above 17500. Persons that have passed unto Lausanne Zurich writ admirable Letters to Berne and Geneva desiring them to send of those poor People to them and that they would receive them as their own natural Brethren into their Country into their Houses yea and into their very Hearts We long to know whether the King will not make the same demand unto the Switzers as unto Geneva But 't is hoped they 'll not bate his Majesty an ace but assert their own Rights and Soveraignty Yet there being a Spirit of Bigottry crept in among the Popish Cantons even in the very face of the Protestants this troubles a World of People Yours N. N. SECT XLIX Whilst all this was acting abroad and other mischiefs done unto the Reformed at home The French Court sate close in Consultation about giving the last blow at the Roots of the Religion in that Kingdom and how and in what manner to repeal the Edict of Nantes Very much time was spent in drawing up the matter and form of this new Edict Some in the Council would have the King detain all the Ministers and compel them as he had done the Laity to change their Religion or in case of stubbornness and refusal he should condemn them to perpetual Imprisonment The reasons alledged for this were that in case he did it not they would be so many dangerous Enemies against him in Foreign Nations and Trumpets of his Cruelty and Tyranny others on the contrary affirmed that as long as the Ministers continued in France their presence would incourage the People to abide in their Religion whatsoever care might be taken to hinder them and that supposing they should change they would be but so many secret Adversaries nourished in the bosom of the Romish Church and the more dangerous because of their great knowledge and skill in controversial Matters This last Argument prevailed And thereupon they came to a final conclusion of banishing all the Ministers and to give them no more than fifteen days time to depart the Kingdom The Edict is now given unto the Attorney-General of the Parliament of Paris to draw it up in such a Form as he should judge most fitting But before the publishing thereof two things were thought necessary to be done The first was to oblige the Assembly of the Clergy to present by themselves unto the King a Petition about this Matter before mentioned in which also they told his Majesty that they desired not at present the Repealing of the Edict of Nantes The second was to suppress universally all Books made by those of the Reformed Religion and that an Order should be issued out to that purpose By the first of these the Clergy supposed they might shelter themselves from those Reproaches which would otherwise be flung upon them for being the sole Authors of those many Miseries Injustices and Oppressions which would infallibly be occasioned by the Repeal of that Edict And by the other they designed to make the Conversions of the Hereticks more easie and feasible and to confirm those which had been already made For Ministers and Books being all removed they could not possibly be instructed nor confirmed nor reduced back again to their old Religion SECT L. In fine this Edict revoking and repealing the Edict of Nantes was signed and published on Thursday October the 8th in the Year 1685. 'T is said the High Chancellour of France Le Tellier expressed an extream joy when he put the Seal to it But his joy was but as the crackling of Thorns under a Pot. It was the last act of his life For no sooner did he return from Fountainbleau to his own House but he fell sick and died in a few days 'T is certain that the Policy of this old Man rather than any Cruelty in his Nature induced him in his declining Years to join himself unto the Persecutors of the Reformed This Revocatory Edict was registred in the Parliament of Paris and immediately after in all other the Parliaments of this Kingdom This great Instrument of the ruine and desolation of the Reformed Religion of all its Ministers and Professors in that Kingdom was couched in these Terms SECT LI. The King's Edict forbidding all Publick Exercise of the Pretended Reformed Religion in this Kingdom LEWES by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre To all present and to come Greeting Whereas King Henry the Great our Grandfather of glorious Memory having procured a Peace for his Subjects after those great Losses they had sustained during the Civil and Foreign Wars endeavoured that it might not be disturbed upon the account of the Pretended Reformed Religion as it had fallen out in the Reigns of the Kings his Predecessors had therefore by his Edict given at Nantes in the Month of April in the Year one thousand five hundred and eighty eight established such Measures as should be observed with reference to those of the said Religion the Places in which they might exercise it and ordained extraordinary Judges for the ministring of Justice to them and finally had provided also by special Articles whatsoever he conceived needful to maintain Tranquillity in his Kingdom and to diminish that Aversion which had arisen between persons of the one and other Religion that so he might be the better enabled to carry on his design of reuniting them unto the Church who had been too easily estranged from it And forasmuch as this Intention of the aforesaid King our Grandfather could not by reason of his sudden death be accomplished and the Execution of the said Edict was also interrupted during the Minority of the late King our most honoured Lord and Father of glorious Memory by reason of the new Enterprises of those of the Pretended Reformed Religion so that occasion was taken to deprive them of divers Priviledges which had been granted them by the said Edict Nevertheless the said King our late Lord and Father using his ordinary Clemency did yet vouchsafe them a new Edict at Nismes in the Month of July one thousand six hundred and twenty nine by means whereof Peace being again restored the said late King animated with the same Spirit and Zeal for Religion as the King our Grandfather had resolved to improve to the utmost this Peace by endeavouring to bring his godly design into practice but the Foreign Wars falling out a few Years after in such a manner that from the Year 1635. until the Truce concluded with the Princes of Europe in the Year 1684. the Kingdom having but little rest it was scarce possible
to Fountainbleau that we might wait upon the Bishop of Meaux which was a truth had the kindness for us as to order him to come to Paris and if after our Conferences ended with my Lord Bishop of Meaux we could not with a good Conscience hold Communion with the Church of Rome he would then give us when ever we should desire it a Licence for our selves and Families to depart the Kingdom and that finally my Lord of Meaux would charily preserve our Writing which had been presented unto his Majesty We all three accepted the Proposals And had several Conferences with the Bishop of Meaux But this very day we are urged to come to a Resolution and upon our refusal of signing the new Formulary we are plainly told That it is ill done of us to recoil after that of our own accord we had advanced so far and they farther tell us That our own Writing obligeth us to far greater matters than the new Formulary and that we declare in the very beginning of it That of all Evils Disunion is the greatest and that by this our Confession neither Transubstantiation nor any of those other Points debated by us could be a bar to our Re-union and that in effect we do formally re-unite ourselves by our very Writing and that by submitting our selves to the Conduct of Bishops and of their pitiful Curates we do subject our selves to the whole Ecclesiastical Discipline and that we intreating the Higher Powers who went unto Mass to believe our Sentiments to be the same with theirs who desired the Cup we were engaged at the same time to do as they did even to wait for that Reformation which was universally desired and which the King incessantly pursued as having resolv'd that the Cup should be delivered unto the People in the Sacrament And thus they boast we are caught by our own Writing which was left imprudently enough in the hands of my Lord Bishop of Meaux and which they say also at the same time is in the King 's This is the truth of our present Estate and for which we conjure you most dear Brother to send us as soon as possible your advice lest c. WE whose Names are here-under written being fully perswaded that among Christians there cannot be a greater mischief than to be divided one from another especially when as the providence of God has made us all Subjects to our King who is the most glorious Monarch in the whole World and being unmeasurably grieved that we are bound to depart his Kingdom and to subject our selves unto the authority of strangers whom we can never own for our Soveraign Lawful Princes Do declare That from this very day we can promise my Lord the Bishop of Meaux that we will subject our selves to the Sermons and Even-Songs used in the Catholick Church thereby giving a sensible demonstration of our Union with the Archbishops Bishops and Curates of France We also intreat That we may be absolutely believed to be in the same Sentiments with the Higher Powers who in conformity to the Liberties of the Gallican Church gave in divers Articles as our Historians relate to my Lord Cardinal de Joyeuse concerning the Council of Trent and until such time as they may be established by the King's Authority and signed by the most Reverend Clergy of France in the sence of the second Article of the last Edict verified in Parliament the 22d of this instant October we most humbly beseech his Majesty to grant us the liberty of abiding within his Kingdom in quality of poor private persons we calling God to witness by our Oaths That we will do nothing against his Majesty's Declarations but contrariwise we shall endeavour by our example to keep the People within those bounds of Fidelity and Obedience which we all owe unto the King and our Superiours I suppose those Articles were the same which had been demanded by the Cardinal of Lorrain and the other French Ambassadours in the Council of Trent as they be mentioned by De Mezeray in his 3d Tome p. 1470. viz. That an Ecclesiastick Person should hold but one Benefice That the Mass being finished Prayers might be celebrated in the Vulgar Tongue That the People might Communicate in both kinds That all Pastors should be capable and obliged to Preach and Catechise That the abuse crept in among the Common People in the Worshipping of Images might be removed SECT LV. Now the Ministers have left the Kingdom and vast multitudes of their People steal away after them as well as they can But the King and Haman the French King and his Cabal sit down and drink whil'st that Paris as Shushan of old and all other places in which the Reformed remain are in great perplexities In every Province whithersoever the King's Commandment and his Decree came there was great Mourning among the Protestants Fasting Weeping and Wailing and many lay in Sackcloth and Ashes Yet among the Sighs and Groans or God's poor Saints who mourn for the Desolations of Zion the Ruines of their Temples and Sanctuary the loss and reproach of their Solemn Assemblies the Prophanations of their Holy Sabbaths their deprival of Religious Ordinances the banishment of their Pastors the dissipations of their Churches and the total extirpation of the pure Evangelical Religion and cannot be comforted the Popish Clergy the Monks and Jesuits have their Jubilees and Triumphs and the Pope sends a Letter to the King congratulating him for his Zeal against the Hereticks in his Kingdom and for repealing the Edict of Nantes It spake this Language The Pope's Letter to the French King congratulating him for Abolishing the Edict of Nantes Innocent the XIth to our dearest Son in Christ Lewes the XIVth the most Christian King of France Our dearest Son in Christ SInce above all the rest of those illustrious Proofs which do abundantly declare the natural inbred Piety of your Majesty that Noble Zeal and worthy the most Christian King is most conspicuous with which being ardently inflamed you have wholly abrogated all those Constitutions that were favourable to the Hereticks of your Kingdom and by most wise Decrees set forth have excellently provided for the Propagation of the Orthodox Belief as our beloved Son and your Ambassadour with us the Noble Duke de Estrées hath declared to us We thought it was incumbent on us most largely to commend that excellent Piety of yours by the remarkable and lasting Testimony of these our Letters And to congratulate your Majesty that Accession of immortal Commendation which you have added to all your other great Exploits by so illustrious an Act of this kind The Catholick Church shall most assuredly record in her Sacred Annals a Work of such Devotion towards her and celebrate your Name with never-dying Praises But above all you may most deservedly promise to your self an ample Retribution from the Divine Goodness for this most excellent Vndertaking and may rest assured that we shall never cease to pour
shall be written unto die Provincial Synod of the Isle of France that they summon these aforesaid Gentlemen before the Colloquy of Beauvoisin and remonstrate to them their Offences but to deal gently and sweetly with them And in case upon their appearance they should reject their Admonitions they shall be proceeded against as Rebels and Schismaticks according to the Canons of our Discipline Art XIII As to the business of Cozin's before-mentioned Monsieur de Saule shall be intreated by the Assembly to answer our English Brethren and to send them Cozin's Book and the Remarks which have been made upon it Art XIV Monsieu de Beze is ordered to answer in the Name of this Synod the Letters of our Brethren of Zurich and to acquaint them with our Synodical Decrees Art XV. The Province of Berry is charged to call the next National Synod two Years hence or before in case of necessity CHAP. VIII The Vagrants styling themselves Ministers but deposed 1. BEauguyot 2. Arbaud 3. John Garambois alias Baremboin 4. Denis Lambert 5. Simon Savin or Savineau calling himself Monsieur De la Marchâ— 6. Monsieur Peter Granade going also by other Names as Sacalay Mercure Salcadry or Secudry All these before-mentioned Articles were Decreed and Verified in the National Synod of the Deputies from all the Provinces of this Kingdom at Nismes May 8. 1572. Signed in the Original John de la Place Moderator THE ACTS DECISIONS and DECREES OF THE IX National Synod OF THE Reformed Churches of Christ IN The KINGDOM of FRANCE HELD At St. Foy the Great in the Province of Perigord the 2d Day of February and ended the 14th day of the same Month in the Year of our Lord 1578. being the 4th Year of the Reign of Henry the Third King of France and of Poland THE CONTENTS of this SYNOD CHap. I. Synodical Officers chosen The Duke of Bouillon sits in it representing the King of Navarre Chap. II. General Matters Care of the Religions Education of the Youth Of Catechising Publicly Pennance No Church-Officers who have Popish Wives Of Attestations Chap. III. An Act for a National Fast About Common-Prayers Ministers Expences to Synods and Colloquies Of God-mothers Chap. IV. Several Cases of Conscience as about Marrying the Aunt of a dead Wife and a very strange Case about Marriage Holding the Temporalities of Benefices Fashions and Habits Ministers way not together with their Ministery Practice Physick c. Chap. V. An Act for calling the next National Synod Canon about Beneficed Persons Chap. VI. A Commission given to several Divines to assist at a Treaty of Vnion between all the Reformed Churches in Europe Chap. VII The Prince of Conde brings the first Appeal unto the National Synods Chap. VIII Discipline exercised upon a scandalous Minister Ap. 5.8.9 Censure upon an ungrateful Church-Ap 10. Fregeville censured Chap. IX A Roll of Ministers provided for and disposed unto Vacant Churches Remarks upon Monsieur Merlin the Moderator THE Synod of St. Foy 1578 Synod IX SYNOD IX Of the Ninth National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France held at St. Foy the Great in Perigord on the 21st day of February and ended the 14th day of the same Month in the Year of our Lord 1578. being the 4th Year of the Reign of Henry the Third King of France and of Poland CHAP. I. Art I. AFter Prayers made by the Pastor of that Church Master Peter Merlin Minister of the Word of God and Pastor of the Church gathered in the House of the Right Honourable Guy Earl of Laval was by general Suffrages chosen Moderator and Mr. Francois Oyseau Minister of the Church of Nantes and Mr. William de la Jaille Minister of the Church of Saujon were chosen Scribes of the Synod Art II. There was present and voted in it the most Noble and Illustrious Lord Henry de la Tour afterward Duke of Bouillon and Mareschal of France Viscount of Turenne Earl of Montfort Baron of Mountague c. representing as Lieutenant-General His Majesty the King of Navarre in the Province of Guyenne Art III. There fate also in this Synod the Judges Magistrates and Consuls of the said City of St. Foy CHAP. II. General MATTERS I. NO Province shall claim any Primacy or Preheminence over another II. The Deputies of every Province are charged to adâ—ise and press their respective Provinces to look carefully to the Education of their Youth and to see to it that Schools of Learning be erected and Scholastick Exercises as Propositions and Declamations be performed that so their Youth may be trained up and prepared for the Service of God and of his Church in the holy Ministery III. Synods and Colloquies shall proceed against ungrateful Persons to their Ministers by all consures according to the 27th Article of our Discipline under the Title of Ministers IV. Colloquies and Synods shall use their best and utmost diligence that the Tenth Article in the Chapter of Ministers be most punctually observed concerning Forsakers of their Ministery who upon slight and trivial Grounds do abandon it and their Churches For the Widows and Orphans of Ministers see the Synod of Vertueil General Matters 22. V. The Provincial Synods shall keep a Memorial of the Widows and Children of deceased Ministers especially of those who died in their Churches Service that so they may be relieved and maintenance may be given them out of the common Stock of the Churches in their respective Provinces according as their necessities shall require VI. The Synod of Upper Languedoc shall ordain two or three of their Assembly and such as they esteem best fitting for that Service to answer the publick Writings of our Adversaries and in their Replies and Refutations they shall deport themselves according to the Canons of our Discipline in that case provided with all Gravity Piety Civility and Moderation Concerning publick and private Catechisings VII Churches shall be admonished more frequently to practice Catechisings and Ministers shall Catechise by short plain and familiar Questions and Answers accommodating themselves to the Weakness and Capacity of their People without Enlargements or handling of common Places And such Churches as have not used this Ordinance of Catechising are hereby exhorted to take it up Yea and all Ministers shall be obliged to Catechise their several Flocks at least once or twice a Year and shall exhort their Youth to submit themselves unto it conscientiously And as for their Method in preaching and handling the Scriptures the said Ministers shall be exhorted not to dwell long upon a Text but to expound and treat of as many in their Ministery as they can fleeing all Ostentation and long Digressions and heaping up of parallel Places and Quotations nor ought they to propound divers Sences and Expositions nor to alledge unless very rarely and prudently any passages of the Fathers nor shall they cite prophane Authors and Stories that so the Scriptures may be left in their full and sovereign Authority In publick Penance the
extraordinary not from the Church of Rome 4. The question being moved whether in Treating of the Call of our first Pastors and Reformers it were expedient that we should lay the stress of their Authority for Preaching and Reforming upon that Call and Ordination they had in the Church of Rome or no. This Synod doth judge that we ought according to the one and thirtieth Article to found it principally upon their extraordinary Vocation whereby they were by an inward powerful impulse from God raised up and commanded to exercise their Ministry rather than to charge it upon the sorry Relicks of a corrupted Call and Ordination in the Romish Church 5. That Article treating of Antichrist shall be the one and thirtieth in order in our Confession of Faith and shall be thus worded Whereas the Bishop of Rome hath erected for himself a temporal Monarchy in the Christian World and Usurping a Soveraign Authority and Lordship over all Churches and Pastors doth exalt himself to that degree of Insolency as to be called God and will be adored arrogating unto himself All Power in Heaven and in Earth and to dispose of all Ecclesiastical matters to define Articles of Faith to authorise and expound at his pleasure the sacred Scriptures and to buy and sell the Souls of men to dispense with Vows Oaths and Covenants and to institute new Ordinances of Religious Worship And in the Civil State he tramples under foot all Lawful Authority of Magistrates setting up and pulling down Kings disposing of Kings and of their Kingdoms at his pleasure We therefore believe and maintain that he is truly and properly The Antichrist the Son of Perdition predicted by the Holy Prophets that great Whore cloathed with Scarlet sitting upon seven Mountains in that great City which had dominion over the Kings of the Earth and we hope and wait that the Lord according to his promise and as he hath already begun will confound him by the Spirit of his Mouth and destroy him finally by the brightness of his coming 6. The word Superintendant in the two and thirtieth Article is not to be understood of any superiority of one Pastor above another but only in general of such as have office and charge in the Church 7. The words substance and nourish shall remain unchanged in the six and thirtieth Article according as it hath been decreed by the Synods of Rochel in the year 1571. and of Nismes in the year 1572. 8. The Confession of Faith being read was sworn and subscribed by all the Deputies in the names of their respective Provinces and they did farther most solemnly ingage by their promise never to depart from it and protested that this was that very doctrine which was taught in all their Churches 9. The Provinces are exhorted for the future at the opening of their Synods to read this Confession of Faith and our Book of Discipline And Monsieur Chamier is appointed to draw up an Apology for this our Confession and to bring it with him unto the next National Assembly CHAP. III. Observations upon reading of the Discipline No private Ordination 1. THE Province of the Isle of France shall be exhorted to be more careful in and about the Election and Ordination of their Pastors and that Imposition of hands be given them not privately in a clandestine manner by a Consistory or Colloquy but solemnly and publickly in the face of the whole Church and that the fourth Article in the first Chapter of our Discipline be more religiously observed by them and all the Provinces Uniformity in Ordination 2. According to the Tenor of the seventh Article in the same chapter it is Decreed that all the Churches shall observe one and the same form in Ordination of Pastors by which the Person to be Ordained shall during that action be humbly on his knees and this ordination shall be administred on the Lord's day or on some certain day of the week in which there is held a solemn Assembly And these evil customs practised in some Churches of suffering the Person ordained to get into the Pulpit and of permitting another besides the Preacher to give Imposition of hands are justly condemned by this Synod 3. The eighth Article shall be most carefully observed and to this purpose there shall be deposited a Copy of our Confession and Discipline in every Provincial Synod Colloquy and Consistory See the 5th Observation upon the Discipline in the Synod of Rochell 4. All Provincial Synods Colloquies and Consistories are injoyned as they would avoid the greatest Censures to have a strict Eye over such who act contrary to the eleventh Article of the first Chapter of our Discipline and to suspend them from the Ministry and they also shall be liable to the same censures who leaving the true and genuine fence of Scripture expounded by it self do rather pitch upon the glosses of Fathers and Schoolmen and launch out into Allegories Larding their Sermons with Philosophical Discourses quoting the Fathers and bringing their Books with them into the Pulpit and they also who in time of Lent or on such noted seasons do chuse the self same Texts with the Popish Preachers 5. The twelfth Article of the same Chapter The form of Catechising according as now used in most of our Churches shall not be changed And whereas some choose a particular Text and accommodate it to that particular section of the Catechism they would treat of we desire they would not alter our establisht Order but conform themselves as the rest do unto it 6. Upon the same twelfth Article Ministers and Consistories are left to their own discretions whether in those general Catechisings which are usually had both publickly and privately before the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper they will further examine every individual person or not and therein to consult what will most contribute to the Spiritual benefit of their Catechumens 7. The third Article of the second Chapter shall be couched in these words Provincial Synods in which are our Universities shall choose their own Doctors Pastors and Professors of Divinity whose ability shall be proved by publick Lectures on some special Text out of the Original Hebrew and Greek Bible given to them for that purpose and by disputations in one or two days following as may be most adviseable And being approved in case they were never in the Ministry the right hand of fellowship shall be given them they having first of all promised to discharge their Office with faithfulness and diligence and to handle the sacred Scriptures with all sincerity according to the analogy of Faith and the confession of our Churches which shall be subscribed by them 8. On the fourth Article of the second chapter The fifth penny in all collections for the poor shall be laid up for the maintenance of Proposans And this shall be an Universal order throughout the Provinces 9. On the first Article of the third chapter That custom observed in some
prayers and supplications to the Lord of Glory for your Majesties long Life and Prosperous Reign and Preservation The Churches of France in whose name we be here Assembled have the deepest sence of this obligation because they have most frequently and to their great advantage received the comfortable influences of this bright shining star in the Heaven of God 's Church for which we render unto our God the glory and to your most Serene Majesty our humblest thanksgivings and shall ever reserve in our Memories the perpetual character of an inviolable gratitude We have received with all reverence and submission those good and wholsome Counsels which your most Serene Majesty was pleased to send us which as flowing from the Holy Spirit of God have confirmed us in those pious resolutions that were before lodged up in all our hearts and since reduced into act with unanimous consent in our Synodical Decrees We are enforced to our great regret to acknowledg there was an evil thing flung in among us but also we can assure your Majesty that hitherto it hath met with very small incouragement and we trust it shall never be able to make any breach in the peace of our Churches because we are resolved through grace vigorously to oppose it and to Conserve that Order and Union which hath been until now kept up among us We had grubbed it up by the very roots if it had been found among us as it is elsewhere and out of this Kingdom And as for that difference between the Sieurs Tilenus and du Moulin we believe that your Majesties helpful hand will exceedingly advantage us and we promise your Majesty for our selves that we shall give all reasonable satisfaction unto those that trouble us provided they do not attempt to break us in pieces The way of Arbiters hath been ever desired by us and that silence which we ordered and imposed might have been successful if the divided parties had but a little yielded on their side and strove who should have made the first advances we believe so much of the good intention both of the one and other that they had joyned hands and each had quitted his particular Interest for the peace repose and comfort of their Consciences which desired it We will be responsible for one of them according to the power which God hath given us over him and we are in good hopes of the other especially if your most Serene Majesty shall be pleased to employ your powerful Counsels in the furtherance of so good a work In the mean while we have Judged it necessary to suppress those writings which might any ways feed and nourish this bitter controversy between these two servants of God leaving the total suppression thereof unto an interview of both parties which we have appointed at Saumur upon very equitable and most reasonable terms It is the desire of our Souls that those self same Writings disperst abroad without this Kingdom might be suppressed and we most humbly supplicate your most Serene Majesty to order their suppression in your Kingdoms of great Britain As for that Heroick design of your Majesties communicated to us by Mr. Hume for re-uniting the Churches of divers Nations into one and the self same Confession and Doctrine we look upon it as an Undertakement worthy so great a King and well becoming that Divine Zeal with which the Celestial Majesty hath inflamed your Royal Soul and we also shall bring in our poor offerings and tribute Penny thereunto in due time and place and with our whole Heart and Soul we ardently pray that the same may be hastned and brought unto perfection to the great Glory of our God and confusion of the Adversaries of his Truth in hatred of whom we have condemned and detested that Execrable Doctrine of Regicides which violates the sacred Majesty of Kings and asserteth that whole Realms may be interdicted by the Pope And farther we earnestly desire to maintain a good correspondence with the Churches of your Kingdoms whereof we give your most Serene Majesty all possible assurance and do most humbly beseech you to accept of our devoutest Prayers and Services which with submission to his Majesty our Natural King and Soveraign we do lay at your Majesties Feet ever remaining as we are of your Sacred Majesty c. From Tonneins May 1614. The most humbly devoted Servants the Pastors and Elders of the Reformed Churches in France Assembled by the permission of our most Gracious Soveraign Lewis the thirteenth in a National Synod and in the name of all Gigord Moderator Gardesy Assessor Scribes Andrew Rivet and Denys Maltrett A Letter from the Church of Geneva To the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France assembled at Tonneins Messieurs and our most Honoured Brethren YOUR Charity and that Communion which we ever had with you in our Lord Jesus and the word of his Grace hath on all occasions made us joynt partners with you in those singular benedictions the great God hath poured down upon your Churches as also at all times and upon all occasions to sympathize with you in your afflictions by a most sensible and cordial fellow-feeling of them Yea 't is this very self-same passion that doth at present give us access to you and inviteth us not to let slip this opportunity of your National Synod for the consolating our own Souls by imparting to you our thoughts and purposes combined with yours in one and the same faith common to us all If our Wishes could have been granted we would not have put off our communion as now we do unto these dumb Letters but we had satiated our Souls by a personal presence interview and converse with you But for as much as the hard Laws of necessity do restrain us we believe it will not be unpleasing to you tho we be absent from you in body that by our Letters we testifie our presence with you in Spirit rejoycing in your Order and in the stedfastness of your Faith in Christ and that with Vows and Hearts most intimately united with your devoutest Prayers we first of all adore the infinite goodness of the Lord for inspiring their Majesties with that great benignity and singular clemency so as to continue you your Liberty and Priviledge of holding your National Synods in peace and security These Assemblies representing all your Churches are a divine Bulwark against the assaults and invasions of your Enemies and a most firm Cement of your Sacred Union a soveraign remedy against all your Maladies and in one word the very basis of that excellent building which God Almighty by his own wonder-working hand hath miraculously raised up in your Nation This is so rich and singular a Mercy that we cannot sufficiently admire the Providence and Wisdom of God which did at first suggest the usage and establishment of it and his special assistance support and bounty in continuing it And we doubt not of Satans machinations to unhinge it We must tell
well suffer it And as to the Election of Deputies His Majesty being not willing that the Affairs of his Subjects of the Reformed Religion should be without Conduct and Order had immediately upon the Death of the Lord Maniald one of the General Deputies and from September last Commissionated a Person of Honour and qualified for the discharge of that Office to act concurrently with the Surviving Deputy the Lord of Montmartyn until such time as it may be otherwise determined And since by his Writt of the Tenth of October he had given Licence unto this Synod to proceed unto the Election of Six Persons well inclined unto his Service and to the Publick and having no dependance on any one but himself out of which His Majesty will prick two for the discharge of that Office therefore he exhorts the Synod to proceed unto the Nomination and to choose out Persons qualified as before and hath been usually practised in such cases and this should be the rather done now because the present juncture of Affairs will not permit the calling of a Politick Assembly Declaring that in case we neglect the said Nomination The Lord of Montmartyn and the other Lord nominated by the King will lay down the management of those Offices It being unreasonable that for want of General Deputies the common Affairs of His Majesties Subjects professing the Reformed Religion should be abandoned and neglected And the said Lord Commissioner presented His Majesties Writt the tenour whereof is as followeth This Tenth day of October 1626 the King being at St. Germains in Laye considering that the term of Three years for which the Lord of Montmartyn and the Deceased Lord Maniald had been nominated to reside and serve at Court and to attend His Majesty in the quality of General Deputies for His Subjects of the P. Reformed Religion is some while since expired and that it so falls out that there must be a new Election of some other Deputies to succeed them in their Offices and considering that this Election cannot be done more conveniently than in the Assembly and National Synod which His Majesty hath granted to be held by His said Subjects in His City of Castres this last September that so they might not be put to those great Expences and Incommodities which might betide them in case another Assembly should be called for this purpose as also for that the Weal and Safety of the Kingdom will not at present comport with a Politick Assembly His Majesty upon these considerations and for many other divers and good reasons of great importance to his Service and the Repose and Tranquillity of His Government doth grant that the Deputies in the National Synod in the presence of the Lord Galland Counsellor to His Majesty in his Council of State and Commissioner unto the said Synod shall consult about the Election of Deputies to reside and serve near His Majesty instead of the Lords Montmartyn and Hardy one of His Secretaries nominated by His Majesty in his Writt of the Thirtieth of September last and to offer unto him Six Persons meet and qualified for the said Imployment whether they be Members of the said Synod or not provided they be such as are Loyal and well affected unto his Service and to the publick Peace and that have no dependance on any Person in the World besides him that so his Majesty may prick two out of them who may hold and discharge the said Office of General Deputies And in so doing the said Lords of Montmartyn and Hardy our Secretary shall be devested of the said Employment they observing the forms as in such cases are usual and accustomed Provided alwayes that in the said Assembly there be nothing else debated but the said Election and Matters relating to the Discipline of their Religion aforesaid according to the import of his Majesties Edicts and Declarations However this shall not be made a Precedent his Majesty reserving to himself the power of permitting unto his said Subjects of the P. Reformed Religion to hold a Politick Assembly when as in his wisdom he shall judge it needful and his Affairs of State can well comport with it In testimony whereof I am commanded by his Majesty to expedite this present Writt which he was pleased to Sign with his own Hand and is Countersigned by me his Counsellor and Secretary of State and of his Commands and Exchequer Signed in the Original Louis and a little lower Philippeaux CHAP. XI THE Writt having been read the Council voted a Conference to be held about its Contents at my Lord Commissioners Lodgings and Twelve Persons Deputies of the Council were constituted a Committee to this purpose Who having made Reports of the whole The Council considering the change hapned in Affairs by the unexpected and sudden Death of the Lord Maniald and the importunities of the Lord Montmartyn his Colleague to be discharged of such a Borden as he saith is impossible to be born by himself alone and the pressing necessities of our Churches requiring that some Persons should take upon them the care and management of their Affairs who might sollicite them with renewed vigour but principally His Majesties Writt animated by the Exhortations of his Commissioner the Lord Gallanbd who declared according to that Answer made unto the Address presented by the Deputies that the state of His Majesties Affairs would not permit His Majesty to grant us at present a General Assembly And that in case this Council would not nominate the Deputies his Majesty himself would do it even as he had already took course to do it having by his Writt and Warrant of the Thirtieth of September expresly joyned the Lord Hardy in the Commission of the General Deputies with the Lord Montmartyn For all these reasons and to avoid an infinite number of visible inconveniencies The Council proceeded to Elect those Six Persons which were to be presented to his Majesty and by plurality of Suffrages were chosen the Lords Claudius Baron of Gabrias and Beaufort Lewes de Champagne Earl of Suze Henry de Clermont d' Amboise Marquess of Gallerande for the Nobility and the Lords Basin Advocate in Parliament living at Blois Texier the Kings Advocate in the Seneschalsy of Armagnac and Lazaras du Puy Counsellor in the Presidial Court of Bourg in Bresse for the Commons that so his Majesty may out of them choose two whom he best liketh to exercise the Office of General Deputies But forasmuch as that Canon established in our Churches under the good pleasure of His Majesty for the nomination of the said General Deputies requireth that every third year by an express Warrant from his Majesty there should be called a General Assembly and that before it there should be particular Assemblies held in all the Provinces to prepare their Cahiers Memoirs and all other Jurisdictions of the Provinces and to deliver them unto their hands who shall be deputed unto the General Assembly which after wards culleth out those Cahiers
his Holy Spirit thereunto the Churches of this Kingdom do injoy that great Blessing of Peace and yet nevertheless there remain in the hearts of many Persons very deep resentments of their past Sufferings which may prove hereafter the Seeds of new Broils and Dissensions whereby the Honour of God and of our King and the Publick Tranquillity of the Nation may be exceedingly prejudiced and endammaged It exhorteth in the Name and Authority of God Almighty all the faithful to suppress and stifle those bitter Animosities which the unhappyness of our late Civil Wars may have enkindled in them and that none of Our Members do trouble their Neighbours for Matters done during those Troubles sith the Remembrance of them is abolished by His Majesties Edicts and Declarations of Peace and that they would embrace each other with a Cordial Love and Affection and live for the future as Members of one and the same Body contending mutually and mostly who shall do His Majesty the best and greatest Service and repair the woful breaches in the House of God And in particular the Inhabitants of this populous City ate Exhorted to render all Reverence aâ—â— Obedience unto their Magistrates and Superiours as being established over them by the Authority of God and the Magistrates also are to exert their Duties towards them who be subjected to their Government with all due and becoming Moderation and Fatherly Affection That so all sorts of Persons both Superiours and Inferiours may aim and level in all their Actions at the Glory of God the Service of the King and the Peace and Safety of the Common-wealth 3. The Synod confirming the Canons of former Synods about an exhibition unto Monks decreeth that in case a Monk cannot be maintained by that Province in which he was born and that the said Province will not contribute any thing towards his subsistence then the Province which is charged with him shall make application to the Lord of Candal and take his allowance out of the Moneys belonging to that Province where he first lived and quitted his Frock and Idolatrous Religion 4. Hereafter in the breaking up of these National Synods the Deputies shall carry home with them the Accompts rendred by the Lord of Candal for Moneys distributed by him unto every Province that so all suspicions of partiality in the Dividends of His Majesties Bounty may be suppressed 5. All the Provinces are expresly enjoyned by this Synod that they do not prefer our Proposans before Ancient Pastors unto vacant Churches and in case any Moderators of Colloquies or Synods shall suffer this Canon to be violated they shall be suspended from their Charges 6. That no Pastor discharged by Colloquies or Synods may hereafter assume unto himself a liberty of wandring from one Province unto another and so intrude himself into a particular Church without the consent of Colloquies and Synods a matter which redounds exceedingly to the dishonour of the Ministry and is become a most Notorious Scandal The Synod ordaineth that when as a Pastor shall be taken off the Service of his Church and can not be presently setled in another yet shall he be obliged to live within the bounds of that Province either as a Pastor discharged or else as one imployed in such a manner as the Province shall judge convenient until such time as he meet with a Call unto some other Church whether within or without the Province desiring him to be their fixed Pastor 7. The Pastors of the Church of Paris are ordered to revise the Marginal Texts in our Confession of Faith and to inform the Churches which have Printers to take special notice of their Remarks and to see that it be printed according to their corrected Copy without any difference 8. Such Churches as have Printing-Houses belonging to them shall advise our Printers to be careful that they insert no Historical Remarks into the Calendars which may occasion trouble unto the Churches and irritate the rage and malice of our Adversaries 9. There shall not be inserted into the Lettâ—â—s of Deputation unto Colloquies and Provincial Synods from particular Churches those self-same clauses of absolute submission which are used in the Provincial Letters unto the National Synod 10. 'T is left wholly to the Discretion of Consistories what censures they shall inflict on such who assist in Person at Baptisms Marriages or Funerals solemnized by the Church of Rome 11. That Canon of the National Synod of Gap about Burying in Temples and Church-yards shall be most exactly observed by all the Churches CHAP. XXVI An Act to preserve the Churches Writings Deeds c. 12 DIvers Papers of very great Importance to our Churches being lost to their unspeakable prejudice and all occasioned through their neglect of choosing some one particular Church in each Province wherein the Originals of all proceedings by our General Deputies might be deposited This Synod desirous to prevent so great a disorder for the future Decreeth That all Writings remaining in their hands who have been imployed in the General Deputation shall be redemanded of them by the Consistories of those Churches in which they make their Residence that so they may be more carefully preserved than heretofore And the Originals of all Declarations Writts Answers unto Cahiers and such other Papers concerning the General Body of our Churches shall be carried unto Rochell and lodged up in the Archives there And as for other Papers and Acts of Proceedings relating to particular Churches there shall be one Church in every Province which shall have the keeping of them that so upon all occasions we may tell where to find them And to this purpose there was named for the Province of Higher Languedoc the Church of Montauban for the Lower Languedoc the Church of Nismes for Sevennes Anduze for Anjou Loudun for Burgundy Gex for Vivaretz Privas for the Lower Guyenne Ste Foy for Poictou Niort for Xaintonge Rochell for the Isle of France Paris for Normandy Alencon for Britain Belin for Dolphiny Die for Berry Chastillion on the Loir and for Provence Aignieres 14. Whereas divers Provinces have been charged with the Memoirs of very many Churches groaning under the cruel Oppressions of our Adversaries who do daily deprive them of their Liberty of Conscience in the Service of God and of those Rights and Priviledges granted us by the King and Necessity requiring us to seck out some Remedy against such growing Mischiefs from his Majesty's Justice and Protection Monsieur le Haucher was ordered to collect into one Body all those Grievances aforesaid and all others which have been averred and signed by two Pastors or Elders shall immediately upon the Departure of this Council be sent unto him that all may be gathered into one general Bill and laid at his Majesties Feet with our most humble Petitions unto his Majesty that he would be pleased to extend his Royal Protection unto his most faithful Subjects of the Reformed Religion who have no greater Ambition in the World than
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
r. should p. 462. l. 3. after by r. the. p. 488. l. 32. f. make paying r. pay in p. 489. l. 54. put the Comma after Amyraud p. 500. dele the last line p. 511. l. 27. f. those r. whose p. 512. l. 26. r. give p. 540. l. 22 23. dele and if it be possible p. 545. l. 49. f. decreeing r. during p. 549. l. 46. after taken insert off p. 550. l. 32. dele dare p. 556. l. 11. f. our r. their p. 567. l. 25. for this r. his p. 568. l. 3. r. but the next time p. 569. l. 26. r. for his Family's subsistence p. 578. l. 18. r. ninety p. 585. l. 8. r. there can be p. 595. l. 3. r. Religion that neither addeth AN INTRODUCTION UNTO THESE COUNCILS THE CONTENTS OF THE INTRODUCTION The State of Religion in France before the Reformation Section 1. The Dawn of it in the Preaching of Waldo 2. And of his Disciples 3. Persecutions raised against them and by whom 4. The glorious Out-breaking of the Reformation how and by what Instruments in that Kingdom 5. The Growth and Progress of it Churches gathered Pure Worship instituted Bible translated into the Mother-Tongue 6. New Persecutions excited The first National Synod 7. Confession of Faith composed and presented to the King 8. The Confession it self in 40 Articles 9. Remarks upon the Confession 10. Discipline designed 11. The whole Body of the Discipline of those Reformed Churches in fourteen distinct Chapters 12. Remarks upon the Discipline And Apology for those Churches Two thousand one hundred and fifty Reformed Churches in France in the Year 1571. They had more than 200000 Martyrs in ten Years time 13. The Acme and Perfection of the Reformation Religion at a stand for 22 Years from the 1572 to the Year 1594. When Henry the Fourth last revolted then began the Reformation to lose ground in France French Ministers Latitudinarians and Accommodators who and for what but condemned by their National Synods 14. The Edict of Nantes with all its Articles The secret Articles of that Edict 15. The President du Thou and the Lord of Calignon spend three Years in drawing up this Edict 16. Observation and Infractions of the Edict Misery of the Reformed after the death of Henry the Fourth 17. The Edict of Nismes granted to the D. of of Rohan and the whole Body of the Protestants 18. Reflections upon this Edict and its Non-observation A Declaration of this present King Louis the Fourteenth confirming all the former Edicts of Pacification with Acknowledgment of the great Services and Merits of the Reformed 19. The true Causes of their Ruin the great Services they had done the King in his greatest needs 20. The various Methods used for the destruction of the Protestants in France 21. Law Suits in many Articles and Cases 22. Great Oppressions by fiery Zealots 23. Protestants ruined by perjur'd Papists 24. Incouragements given to Popish Priests and Missioners The Cheaters cheated 25. The miserable condition of sick Protestants 26. The cruel Oppressions of a French Gentleman 27. A General Inundation of Criminal Processes False Witnesses against Protestant Ministers 28. The Reformed deprived of all Offices Orders for it 29. New Converts freed from paying of Debts Protestants may not dispose of their Estates 30. Violations of the Edict by corrupt Expositions of it 31. The Schools of the Reformed their Colleges and Vniversities suppress'd 32. New Laws made which were a torment to them Those Laws specified and enumerated 33. Protestants may not receive into their Temples any revolted unto Popery Seats in their Temples for the Roman Catholicks 34. Multitudes foreseeing the approaching Storm quit the Kingdom 35. The Protestants ruined by the Verbal Declarations of their King His Letter to the Duke of Brandenburg 36. Juggling Tricks used to mischief the Reformed 37. Five most notable ones 38. The Mob stirred up by Decrees to desire their extirpation by venomous Libels 39. The care and endeavours of the Reformed for their own preservation yet ineffectual 40. Persecutions of the Protestants by Dragoons 41. In Berne their horrible Cruelties to fright the Reformed into Popery 42. A Specimen of those Cruelties 43. The barbarous usage of the Nobles and Commons of the Reformed in France Several memorable Relations of it 44. The Martyrdom of Monsieur Homel 45. The Intendants Bishops Priests and Missioners Ring-leaders in persecution A Form of Abjuration propounded and to be signed by the Protestants 46. A Letter from Metz giving an account of their sad estate there in that City 47. A Letter from Geneva relating the doleful estate of the poor Refugees in that City 48. Consultations at Court for the total extirpation of the Reformed Religion 49. The Edict repealing that of Nantes 50. The wretched estate of the exiled Pastors 51. And of the remaining Protestants in that Kingdom 52. Treacherous dealing with poor Ministers A Letter about it 53. The Pope's Congratulatory Letter to the King 54. A Pastoral Letter to the Brethren groaning under Babylonish Captivity and Tyranny 55. Remarks upon the Manuscript Copies out of which this Synodicon was extracted and composed 56. A Catalogue and Order and Time of the National Synods 57. THE INTRODUCTION SECTION I. The State of Religion in France before the Reformation EVrope a little before the Reformation was universally over-run with Idolatry Superstition Ignorance and Prophaneness The greater part of the Priests said not Where is the Lord and they who should have taught the Law of God knew him not The Pastors also transgressed against him and the Prophets Prophesied by Baal There was like People like Priest sottish brutish and debauched Sect. 2. In this woful estate the Sovereign Mercy of God brake forth as the Sun out of a dark Cloud in a most illustrious manner upon the Kingdom of France visiting it in the first place and before all the Nations of Europe with the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ the Day-spring from on high The verity and purity of Christian Doctrine God's great Ordinance to recover sinful Nations from their Antichristian pollutions is Preached and published unto it Angels as it were from Heaven holy Men and Messengers of God came flying with the little Book of Life in their hands not as a Sealed Vision dark and unintelligible but open plain clear and easy to be understood into the Cities and Towns of that Kingdom and call aloud unto the Inhabitants thereof to repent of all their abominations to turn from all their Idols Superstitious and irreligious practices and to fear and serve God only through Jesus Christ the alone Mediator betwixt God and Man This was done at first by that famous Trumpet of Reformation the blessed Waldo of Lions who being a Neighbour to the Vaudois received the holy Bible and Doctrine of Eternal Life and Salvation from them in the year 1160. It having been conserved in their Valleys times immemorial yea said Fryar Reynerius from the very days of the Apostles Sect. 3. But he was not
well as in the Pres des Clerks by the Ladies Princes yea and by Henry the Second himself This one Ordinance only contributed mightily to the downfal of Popery and the propagation of the Gospel It took so much with the genius of the Nation That all ranks and degrees of Men practised it in the Temples and in their Families No Gentleman professing the Reformed Religion would sit down at his Table without praising God by singing Yea it was a special part of their Morning and Evening Worship in their several Houses to sing God's Praises The Popish Clergy raged and to prevent the growth and spreading of the Gospel by it that mischievous Cardinal of Lorrain another Elymas the Sorcerer got the Odes of Horace and the filthy obscene Poems of Tibullus and Catullus to be turn'd into French and sung in the Court Ribaldry was his Piety and the means used by him to expel and banish the singing of divine Psalms out of the prophane Court of France The Holy Word of God is duly truly and powerfully Preached in Churches and Fields in Ships and Houses in Vaults and Cellars in all places where the Gospel-Ministers can have admission and conveniency and with singular success Multitudes are Convinced and Converted established and edified Christ rideth out upon the white Horse of the Ministry with the Sword and Bow of the Gospel Preached Conquering and to Conquer His Enemies fall under him and submit themselves unto him O! the unparallell'd success of the plain and zealous Sermons of the first Reformers Multitudes flock in like Doves into the Windows of God's Ark. As innumerable drops of dew fall from the Womb of the Morning so hath the Lord Christ the dew of his Youth The Popish Churches are drained the Protestant Temples are filled The Priests complain that their Altars are neglected their Masses are now indeed solitary Dagon cannot stand before God's Ark. Children and Persons of riper years are Catechised in the Rudiments and Principles of Christian Religion and can give a comfortable account of their Faith a reason of that hope that is in them By this Ordinance do their pious Pastors prepare them for Communion with the Lord at his holy Table Here they communicate in both kinds according to the Primitive Institution of this Sacrament by Jesus Christ himself Sect. 7. Though the Churches of God walked in the Comforts of the Holy-Ghost and were multiplied throughout the whole Kingdom yet were they exercised with Fiery Tryals and underwent most cruel and inhumane Sufferings Satan stormed that his Kingdom was assaulted weakned and subverted this boileth up his Revenge and causeth him to throw out Floods of Wrath against the Church travelling under the pangs of Reformation Hence the Saints of God are imprisoned arraigned for their Lives and condemned by merciless unrighteous Judges for their Profession of the Truth unto the Flames Others are murdered in cold Blood and massacred without any legal forms of Justice in the least And yet in the sight of those cruel Deaths and most barbarous Executions the first National Synod is called and celebrated in the Metropolis of the Kingdom at the very Doors of the Court God inspiring with Zeal and Courage the Pastors of several Churches to meet and consult together about the arduous and most important Businesses of the Reformed Religion Sect. 8. Two things among others were dispatch'd in this Council 1. They publish the Confession of their Faith and tell the King and Kingdom what they believe and practise This was put into the Hands of their Young King lately come to the Crown upon the Death of his Father who though he had sworn to see that famous Martyr of Christ Annas du Bourg Counsellour in the Parliament of Paris burnt yet was at a Tilt by Count de Montgomery a Protestant wounded with a Launce in the Eye and died before he could perform his Oath How Francis the Second entertained this Confession when it was tender'd him is not my Business to relate I shall only give my Reader the Confession itself and I do the rather lay it before him because it is a brief System of the Protestant Religion constantly read at the opening of all their Synods and because of the frequent References unto it in and by all those National Synods which I now publish Sect. 9. The Confession of Faith held and professed by the Reformed Churches of France received and enacted by their first National Synod Celebrated in the City of Paris and Year of our Lord 1559. ARTICLE I. WE believe and confess That there is but one God only whose Being only is simple spiritual eternal invisible immutable infinite incomprehensible ineffable who can do all things who is all-wise all-good most just and most merciful ARTICLE II. This one God hath revealed himself to be such a one unto Men first in the Creation preservation and governing of his works secondly far more plainly in his word which from the beginning he revealed to the Fathers by certain Visions and Oracles and then caused it to be put in writing in those Books which we call the Holy Scripture ARTICLE III. All this holy Scipture is contained in the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament the Catalogue whereof followeth The five Books of Moses namely Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy Item Joshua Judges Ruth the first and second Book of Samuel the first and second Book of Kings the first and second Book of Chronicles otherwise called the Paralipomena one Book of Esdras Nehemiah Hester Job the Psalms Solomon's Proverbs or Sentences Ecclesiastes the Song of Songs Esaiah Jeremiah with the Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonas Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zachariah Malachi Item the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew according to St. Mark according to St. Luke and according to St. John as also the second Book of St. Luke otherwise called The Acts of the Apostles Item the Epistles of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans one to the Corinthians two to the Galatians one to the Ephesians one to the Philippians one to the Colossians one to the Thessalonians two to Timothy two to Titus one to Philemon one Item the Epistle to the Hebrews the Epistle of St. James the first and second Epistle of St. Peter the first second and third Epistle of St. John the Epistle of St. Jude and the Apocalypse or Revelations of St. John ARTICLE IV. We acknowledge these Books to be Canonical that is we account them as the most certain Rule of our Faith and that not so much because of the common consent of the Church but because of the Testimony and Perswasion of the Holy Ghost by which we are taught to distinguish betwixt them and other Ecclesiastical Books upon which although they may be useful yet we cannot ground any Article of Faith ARTICLE V. We believe That the Doctrine contained in these Books is proceeded from God from whom only and not from men it deriveth
do very well approve and acknowledge the necessity thereof and of its Appendages ARTICLE XXXIV We believe that the Sacraments are adjoined unto the word for its more ample confirmation to wit that they may be pledges and tokens of the grace of God and that by these means our Faith which is very weak and ignorant may be supported and comforted For we confess that these outward signs be such that God by the power of his holy Spirit doth work by them that nothing may be there represented to us in vain Yet nevertheless we hold that all their substance and vertue is in Jesus Christ from whom if they be separated they be nothing else but shadows and smoak ARTICLE XXXV We acknowledge That there be two Sacraments only which are common to the whole Church whereof Baptism is the first which is administred to us to testifie our Adoption because we are by it ingraffed into the Body of Christ that we may be washed and cleansed by his Blood and afterwards renewed in Holiness of Life by his Spirit We hold also That altho' we be baptized but once yet the Benefits which are signified to us therein do extend themselves during the whole course of our life even unto death that so we may have a lasting Signature with us that Jesus Christ will always be our Righteousness and Sanctification And altho' Baptism be a Sacrament of Faith and Repentance yet forasmuch as God doth together with the Parents account their Children and Posterity to be Church-Members we affirm That Infants born of believing Parents are by the Authority of Christ to be baptized ARTICLE XXXVI We affirm That the Holy Supper of our Lord to wit the other Sacrament is a witness to us of our Union with the Lord Jesus Christ because that he is not only once dead and raised up again from the dead for us but also he doth indeed seed us and nourish us with his Flesh and Blood that we being made one with him may have our life in common with him And although he be now in Heaven and shall remain there till he come to judge the World yet we believe that by the secret and incomprehensible vertue of his Spirit he doth nourish and quicken us with the substance of his Body and Blood But we say that this is done in a spiritual manner nor do we hereby substitute in the place of the effect and truth an idle fancy and conceit of our own but rather because this Mystery of our Union with Christ is so high a thing that it surmounteth all our Senses yea and the whole order of Nature and in short because it is coelestial therefore it cannot be apprehended but by Faith ARTICLE XXXVII We believe as was said before That both in Baptism and the Lord's Supper God doth indeed truly and effectually give whatsoever he doth there sacramentally exhibit and therefore we conjoyn with the Signs the true possession and injoyment of what is offer'd to us in them Therefore we affirm That they which do bring pure Faith as a clean Vessel unto the Holy Supper of the Lord they do indeed receive that which the Signs do there witness that is That the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are no less the Meat and Drink of the Soul than Bread and Wine are the Meat of the Body ARTICLE XXXVIII We say therefore That let the Element of Water be never so despicable yet notwithstanding it doth truly witness unto us the inward washing of our Souls with the Blood of Jesus Christ by the vertue and efficacy of his Spirit and that the Bread and Wine being given us in the Lord's Supper do serve in very deed unto our spiritual nourishment because they do as it were point out unto us with the finger that the Flesh of Jesus Christ is our Meat and his Blood our Drink And we reject those Fanaticks who will not receive such Signs and Marks although Jesus Christ doth speak plainly This is my Body and this Cup is my Blood ARTICLE XXXIX We believe That God will have the World to be ruled by Laws and Civil Government that there may be some sort of Bridles by which the unruly Lusts of the World may be restrained and that therefore he appointed Kingdoms Commonwealths and other kinds of Principalities whether hereditary or otherwise And not that alone but also whatsoever pertaineth to the Ministration of Justice whereof he avoucheth himself the Author therefore hath he even delivered the Sword into the Magistrates hand that so Sins committed against both the Tables of God's Law not only against the Second but the First also may be suppressed And therefore because God is the Author of this Order we must not only suffer Magistrates whom he hath set over us but we must also give them all Honour and Reverence as unto his Officers and Lieutenants which have received their Commission from him to exercise so lawful and Sacred a Function ARTICLE XL. Therefore we affirm that Obedience must be yielded unto their Laws and Statutes that Tribute must be paid them Taxes and all other Duties and that we must bear the Yoke of Subjection with a free and willing mind although the Magistrates be Infidels so that the soveraign Government of God be preserved entire Wherefore we detest all those who do reject the Higher Powers and would bring in a Community and Confusion of Goods and subvert the Course of Justice Sect. 10. This was the Confession which was owned in their First National Synod hold at Paris in the Year 1559. and presented unto Francis the Second King of France first at Amboise in behalf of all the Professors of the Reformed Religion in that Kingdom afterwards to Charles the Ninth at the Conference of Poissy It was a second time presented to the said King and at length published by the Pastors of the French Churches with a Preface to all other Evangelical Pastors in the Year 1566. It was also most solemnly signed and ratified in the National Synod held the first time at Rochell 1571. the Year before the Bartholomean Massacre by Jane Queen of Navarre Henry Prince of Berne Henry de Bourbon Prince of Condé Lowis Count of Nassaw and Sir Gaspard de Colligni Lord High Admiral of France Monsieur Chamier writ that Apologetical Preface which begins with these words Combien que nos sachions c. for that other which is prefixt to it in the Bible-Confession and begins with these words au Roy Sire was done by the Reverend Mr. Calvin who first drew up the Confession it self One thing I must advise the Reader of that there is a very great difference in the Number and Matter of these Articles which came not only in at first by the Printers but by the various Copies which were transcribed with Emendations Additions and Alterations from the respective National Synods The best Copy that I have met with is that in the Harmony of Confessions translated into English and Printed by
275 276 277. SECT XIV THE Churches after the Parisian Massacre were at a stand That Deluge of Protestant Blood which was then shed had exhausted their best Spirits Multitudes were frighted out of their Native Land which like another Akeldama devoured Men ate up its Inhabitants and others were frighted out of their Religion In such a dreadful Hurricane as that was no wonder if some leaves unripe fruit and rotten withered Branches fell to the Earth and were lost irrecoverably However a Remnant escaped and which was no less than a Miracle generally the Ministers God Reserving them to gather in another Harvest And the Churches in many places revived God staying the rough Wind in the day of his East Wind and giving them a breathing time a little reviving under their hard Bondage They declined not much in number for two and twenty years after But Henry the Fourth having been exalted to the Throne of France by the Reformed Party and revolting from them unto the Popish and embracing that Religion that he might be secured in the Throne the Interest of the Churches did from that day decline visibly Many of the Nobility imitated their King in his Apostasie And the united Example of King and Nobility had a most pernicious influence upon the Populace All the Arts and Tricks of the Court were set on foot to palliate the King's Prevarication and to divide and weaken the Reformed See Histoire Universelle D' Aubigny liv 3. p. 305 306 307 308 309 310. There arose a Combination of Men such as Morlas Rotan de Serres c. who were for accommoding and reconciling the two Religions And these were put upon it by the Bribes and Pensions of the Romish Clergy and Promises of great Preferments They declaim against the nakedness and simplicity of the Reformed Religion and cry up the necessity and beauty of Pomp and Ceremony See Syn. of Saumur 3â— Art of Gen. Mar. Syn. of Montauban 23. Art of Gen. Mar. Syn. of Montpellier 2. Art of Gen. Matters Synod of Privas 1612. Act of the Oath of Union Second Synod of Charenton Art of Gen. Matters 3. which made the Roman Religion so august and venerable in their Eyes blinded with Ambition and Covetousness The National Synods of Saumur Montauban Montpellier and Privas did what they could to stem the Current and to prevent these avaritious Spirits from doing mischief unto their Churches They threaten and order all Accommodators of the two Religions to be actually deposed as being the Servants of Mammon not of God This did something and it stopped the Gap for the present And when the Court saw they could not break the Union of the Reformed and that they were yet a very considerable Party for Wisdom Strength Resolution Union Courage and Conduct Things being also unsetled in the State and the Spaniard sitting close upon the Skirts of the King and possibly he retaining yet some love and sparks of Gratitude for his old Friends of the Reformed Religion and not counting it safe to exasperate them any more he granted them a Fundamental and Irrevocable Edict at Nantes in Brittaine April 1598. for their Liberty and Security SECT XV. The King's Edict for pacifying the Troubles of the Kingdom made at Nantes in the Month of April 1598. and published in Parliament February 15. 1599. As also those particular Articles about it which were afterward verified in Parliament HEnry by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre To all present and to come Greeting Among those infinite Favours which God hath been pleased graciously to vouchsafe unto us this must be confessed by all to be one of the most remarkable and illustrious that he hath endowed us with that Courage and Vritue as not to be over-born with those dreadful Troubles Disorders and Confusions which we encountered with at our first coming unto the Crown For the Kingdom was then divided into so many Parts and Factions that that which was the most just and lawful was become the least and weakest and yet notwithstanding we were so supported against the assaults of those storms that we have at length surmounted them and are now safely arriv'd at the Port of Peace and have setled the state in repose and tranquillity For which let God only have the Praise and Glory to whom it is most peculiarly due and let our Subjects also be sensible of his Grace and their obligation to us that he hath honoured us to be his Servant in the Production of so good a Work which as all of them may see is not only the fruit and effect of our Duty and Authority but of something else which possibly at another time might not have been so fit and convenient for our Royal Dignity exposed by us without fear unto the greatest Dangers as we have very frequently and freely hazarded our Life also And for as much as there was a great concourse of arduous and perillous Affairs which could not possibly be composed all at once we were necessitated to use this method First to undertake them which could not be terminated by any other way or means than those of Force and Arms and to defer and suspend for some time the executing and dispatch of others which ought and might have been finished by Reason and Justice such were those general differences between our Subjects and those particular Diseases which had seized on the sounder parts of the State which we conceived might be more easily cured when as the principal cause was removed which was the continuance of the Civil War And now having through the grace of God well and happily succeeded in it and all Arms and Hostilities being wholly ceased within the Kingdom we have great hopes that we shall be as successful in those other Affairs which are yet to be decided and that by this means we shall be enabled to establish a good firm and durable Peace and Tranquillity at which we have ever levell'd and aimed in our Vows and Intentions and which hath been the designed prize of all our painful Labours and Travails undergone by us during the whole course of our Life Among those Affairs which have most exercised our Patience the principal and chiefest were the Complaints brought in unto us from our Catholick Towns and Provinces That the exercise of the Catholick Religion was not universally restored as had been imported by the former Edicts made for pacifying the Troubles occasioned by Religion And also the Petitions and Remonstrances tendered to us by our Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion for that those Edicts granted them were not at all executed and for that they desired some further Concessions to be accorded to them about the exercise of their said Religion the Liberty of their Consciences and the security of their Persons Lives and Fortunes They presuming that they had too just grounds to fear and apprehend new and greater dangers because of the last Troubles and Commotions of which the first and main pretext
Inhabitants to be brought in to them those Accusations and Informations which are made against them that it may be known and judged whether those Actions be triable in the Provosts Courts or not that so afterward according to the quality of the Crimes they may be by those Chambers remanded back unto the ordinary or judged by the Provosts according to law and reason they observing the Contents of this our present Edict And those Presidial Judges Provosts of Mareschals Vice-Bailiffs Vice-Seneschals and others who judge Soveraignly and without Appeal shall be bound respectively to obey and satisfy those Commands which shall be made them by the said Chambers and all even as they have been accustomed to be done in the said Parliaments upon pain of being deprived of their Offices LXVIII The Proclamations Bills of Siquis and Outropes of Inheritances by which a Decree is prosecuted shall be made in those places and at the hours accustomed if it may be done according to our Ordinances or else in the publick Markets provided that there be a Market in that place in which the said Inheritances do lie but where there is none they shall be made in the nearest Market Town of the Jurisdiction of that Court where a Delivery by Judgment is to be made And the Bills shall be set up and affixed upon the Posts in the said Market and at the entrance of the Auditory of the said place and by this means the said Proclamations shall be good and valid and they may proceed to the interposal of a Decree without stopping at the Nullities which may be alledged on this account LXIX All Deeds Papers Writings Evidences which have been taken away shall be restored and returned back on both sides unto their rightful Owners and Proprietors although the said Papers or the Castles and Houses in which they were kept had been taken and possessed by special Commissions from the late King now dead our most Honoured Lord and Brother-in-Law or by Commissions from our selves or by Command of the Governours and Lieutenants-General of our Provinces or by the Authority of the heads of either Party or by any other means and pretext whatsoever LXX The Children of those persons who had departed the Kingdom since the late King Henry the Second our most Honoured Lord and Father-in-Law upon the account of Religion and the troublesome times ensuing although the said Children were born out of the Kingdom shall be reputed True Frenchmen and Natives of the Kingdom and we have declared and declare them to be such nor have they any farther need of Letters of Naturalization or other provisions from us besides this present Edict notwithstanding all Ordinances to the contrary from which we have derogated and do derogate upon Condition that the said Children born in Foreign Countries shall be obliged within the term of ten years after the publication of this present to come and dwell in the Kingdom LXXI Those of the said pretended Reformed Religion and others who have followed their Party and had farmed before the troubles any Office or Demesn or Gabell or Foreign Imposition or other Rights appertaining to us which they could not injoy because of those troubles shall be acquitted and discharged even as we do now acquit and discharge them of all receits whatsoever of the Income of the said Offices or which they may have paid any where else than into the Receit of our Treasury notwithstanding all Obligations made and passed by them on this occasion LXXII All Places Towns and Provinces of our Kingdom the Countries Territories and Lordships under our Jurisdiction shall use and enjoy the same Priviledges Immunities Liberties Franchises Fairs Markets Jurisdictions and Assises Seats of Justice as they did before the troubles began in the Month of March one thousand five hundred and eighty five and in the preceding years notwithstanding all Letters to the contrary and the Disposals of the said Lordships to other Persons provided that this was done meerly and solely upon the account of the said Troubles Which Assizes and Seats of Justice shall be revived and restored in those Towns and Places in which they were before LXXIII All Prisoners formerly detained by the Authority of Justice or by any other means yea and the Slaves in the Galleys for and upon the account of the said Religion shall be inlarged and set at full Liberty LXXIV Those of the said Religion may not be hereafter surcharged nor oppressed by any ordinary or extraordinary Taxes more than the Catholicks nor above the proportion of their estates and abilities And the Parties which shall complain of their being over-burdened shall appear before the Judges to whom the Cognisance of these matters doth appertain And all our Subjects both of the Catholick and pretended Reformed Religion shall be indifferently discharged of all Taxes which had been imposed both upon the one and other during the troubles by them who were of the contrary Party and not consenting as also the Debts contracted and not paid and expences made without their consent however they shall not be able to redemand the moneys which had been imployed in payment of the said Taxes LXXV Nor is it our intention that those of the said Religion nor others who have followed their Party nor the Catholicks who were remaining in the Towns and Places possessed and held by them and which stood up for them shall be prosecuted for the payment of Taxes Aids Grants Increase and the little Tax imposed by Henry the Second Utensils Reparations and other Impositions and Subsidies fallen and imposed during the Troubles fallen out before and till our coming unto the Crown whether by the Edicts Commands of the late Kings our Predecessors or by the Advice and deliberation of the Governours and States of the Provinces Courts of Parliaments and others from which we have discharged and do discharge them by forbidding the General-Treasurers of France and of our Revenue the Receivers-general and particular their Agents and Dealers and other Intendants and Commissioners of our Revenues to search after molest or disturb them any manner of way whatsoever whether directly or indirectly LXXVI All Chieftains Lords Knights Gentlemen Officers Corporations and Communalties and all others which have aided and succoured them their Widows Heirs and Successors shall be quitted and discharged of all moneys which were taken up and levied by them and their Orders whether they were moneys Royal how great soever the summ might be or the moneys of those Cities and Communalties and of particular Persons their Rents Revenues Plate Sale of Houshold Goods of Ecclesiastical Persons or others Trees Timber whether of and belonging to the Crown or to other Persons Fines Booties Ransoms or moneys of another nature taken by them upon the account of the troubles began in March 1585. and the other troubles foregoing until our Arrival to the Crown without that either they or their Agents imployed by them in the levying of the said moneys or who ever gave them
any or supplied them by vertue of their Orders shall be hereafter or at present sued for and they shall be acquitted both they and their Agents from all management and administration of the said moneys they producing for their discharge within four Months after the publication of this present Edict made in our Court of Parliament in Paris Acquittances duly expedited by the Chief Commanders in the said Religion or of those who were Commissionated by them to audit and finish those Accompts or of those who bore Office and Command in those said Corporations and Towns during the said troubles Moreover they shall be acquitted and discharged of all Acts of Hostility raising and leading of Souldiers coining and valuing of money done in Obedience to the Orders of the said Chief Commanders melting up and taking of Artillery and Ammunition making of Gun-powder and Salt-Peter Surprizals of Fortifications Dismantlings and demolishing of Towns Castles Boroughs and Villages Attempts upon them burnings and demolishments of Churches and Houses Establishment of Justice Judgments and their Executions whether in matters Civil or Criminal Policy and Reglements made about them Voyages and Intelligences Negotiations Treaties and Contracts made with all Foreign Princes and Communalties and Introduction of the said Strangers into the Cities and other parts of our Kingdom and generally of all that hath been done acted and negotiated during the said troubles since the Death of the late King Henry the Second our most Honoured Lord and Father-in-Law by them of the said Religion and others who have followed their Party as if it had been particularly exprest and specified LXXVII Those also of the said Religion shall be discharged of all general and provincial Assemblies made and held by them whether at Mantes or since that time at any other place until now as also of Councils by them Ordained and established for the Provinces of Ordinances and Reglements made in the said Assemblies and Councils placing and increase of Garison Assemblies of Men of War levy and raking of moneys whether in the hands of general or particular Receivers Collectors of the Parishes or otherwise in whatsoever way and manner it might be done Decrees about Salt Continuance or new erection of Tolls Customs and their receits at Royall and upon the Rivers of Charante Garonne the Rhone and Dordonne Armings and Fights at Sea and all accidents and excesses fallen out about paying the said Tolls and Customs and other moneys Fortifying of Towns Castles and Places Impositions of moneys and services receits of those moneys rejection of our Receivers and Farmers and other Officers setting up of others in their Places and of all Unions Dispatches and Negotiations made both within and without the Kingdom And generally of all that hath been done deliberated written and ordained by the said Assemblies and Council without suffering those who have given their advice Signed Executed caused to be Signed and Executed the said Orders Reglements and Deliberations to be sued nor their Widows Heirs and Successors neither now nor for the future although the particularities be not here amply declared And our General-Attorneys and their Substitutes and all those who may claim any Interests in whatsoever fashion or manner it might be shall for ever forbear all Prosecutions notwithstanding all Decrees Sentences Judgments Informations and Proceedings done to the contrary LXXVIII Moreover we do approve strengthen and authorize those Accounts which have been heard examined and shut up by the Deputies in the said Assembly We will that they and their Acquittances which were brought in by those Accountants shall go and be carried into our Chamber of Accounts in Paris three Months after the Publication of this Edict and shall be put into the hands of our Attorney-General to be delivered in and kept in the Books and Registers of our Chamber that upon all needful occasions there may be recourse had unto them nor shall those Accompts be ever revised nor those Accomptants be bound to appear nor shall there be any Correction of them unless in Case of omitting the receit or of false Acquittances And our Attorney-General shall not at all act or proceed although there be very many defects and the formalities have not been duly kept nor observed And we forbid our Officers in the Chamber of Accompts in Paris and in all the other Provinces in which they be established to take any manner of Cognisance whatsoever of them LXXIX And as for those Accompts which have not been yet brought in we will that they be Audited Examined and shut up by our Commissioners who shall be deputed by us who shall without any difficulty pass and allow all the parts payed by the said Accomptants by vertue of the Orders made by the said Assembly or others that were in Power LXXX All Collectors Receivers Farmers and all others shall be duly and legally discharged of all summs of money which they have paid in to the said Agents of the said Assembly of whatsoever nature they may be until the last day of this Month. And 't is our Will and Pleasure that all their Accompts which shall be brought into our Chamber of Accompts shall be passed and allowed purely and simply by vertue of the Acquittances which shall be produced by them And if any shall be hereafter expedited and delivered they shall be all null and those who shall accept or deliver them shall be condemned in a Mulct and Fine for mis-employment of them And if in some Accompts already rendred there shall be found rasures and charges we have upon this respect removed and taken them away we have restored and do restore the said parts intirely by vertue of these Presents without any need for all abovementioned of particular Letters or other matters except the Extracts of this present Article LXXXI The Governours Captains Consuls and Persons Commissionated to recover moneys to pay the Garisons of the places held by those of the said Religion to whom our Receivers and Collectors of the Parishes may have lent moneys upon their Bills and Obligations whether it were by Compulsion or out of obedience to the Commands which were given them by the General Treasurers of all these necessary summs for the maintenance of the said Garrisons until that time when we agreed about the state of that Accompt which we dispatched in the beginning of the year 1596. and the augmentation we have since granted they shall be acquitted and discharged and for what is already paid to the purpose above mentioned although and for what is already paid to the purpose above mentioned although that the said Schedules and Obligations do not expresly mention them which shall be yielded up unto them as if they had been null And that they may be satisfied the General-Treasurers in every Generality shall furnish the said Collectors by their particular Receivors of our Taxes with Acquittances and by the Receivers-General their Acquittances for the Receivers particular and for the discharge of the said General-Receivers
the ensuing Edict given at St. Germans en Laye May 21. 165â— The Declaration of Louis the Fourteenth confirming the Edicts of Pacification Given at St. Germans in Laye May 21. 1652. LOUIS by the grace of God King of France and Navarre To all Persons who shall see these Presents Greeting The late King our most honoured Lord and Father whom God absolve having acknowledged that it was most needful for preserving the Kingdoms peace that his Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion should be maintained in the full and intire enjoyment of those Edicts made in their favour and that they should enjoy the free exercise of their Religion did therefore take a most especial care by all convenient means to hinder their being troubled in the enjoyment of those Liberties Prerogatives and Priviledges granted them by those said Edicts and having to this purpose immediately upon his coming unto the Crown by his Letters Patents dated May 22. 1610. and since his Majority by his Declaration of the 20th of November 1615. declared that he would that those said Edicts should be executed that so he might thereby ingage his said Subjects to continue in their Duty Now we following the example of so great a Prince and imitating him in his goodness we are willing to do the like Having for those very same Motives and Considerations by our Declaration of the Eighth of July 1643. willed and ordained that our said Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion shall enjoy all Grants Priviledges and Advantages especially the free and full exercise of their said Religion according to the Edicts Declarations and Orders made on this account for them And for as much as our said Subjects of the said pretended Reformed Religion have given us certain proofs of their affection and fidelity particularly on those occasions which occur'd unto them to our very great satisfaction Be it known that we for these Causes and at the most humble Petition presented to us by those our said Subjects professing the said pretended Reformed Religion and after that we had caused it to be debated in our presence and with our Council We by their advice and from our certain knowledge and Royal Authority have commanded declared and ordained and we do command declare and ordain and 't is our will and pleasure that our said Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion shall be maintained and preserved as indeed we do now maintain and preserve them in the full and entire enjoyment of the Edict of Nantes other Edicts Declarations Decrees Articles and Warrants done and dispatched in their favour registred in Parliaments and Chambers of the Edict particularly in the free and publick exercise of the said Religion in all those places in which it was accorded them notwithstanding all Letters and Decrees either of our Council or of the Sovereign Courts or other Judgments to the contrary We willing that the transgressors of those our Edicts shall be punished and chastised as disturbers of the publick peace And we command our beloved and faithful Officers in our Courts of Parliament Chambers of the Edict Bailiffs Seneschals their Lieutenants and other our Officers to whom it shall appertain every one in his place that they do cause these Presents to be registred read and if need be published and that the Contents of them be kept observed and maintained according to their form and tenor And because there will be need of this present Declaration in many and divers places we will that unto Copies duly collationed by one of our beloved and faithful Counsellors and Secretaries there shall be as much faith given as to this present Original For such is our pleasure In testimony whereof we have caused our great Seal to be put unto these Presents Given at St. Germain in Laye the 21 st day of May and in the Year of Grace 1652. And of our Reign the Tenth Signed LOVIS And a little lower By the KING Phelippeaux And sealed with the great Seal SECT XX. Now as well at Court as in the Field each strove to proclaim loudest the Deserts of the Reformed The Queen Mother herself ingenuously acknowledged that they had preserved the Government for herself and the young King This is a Truth that cannot be contested and yet as true as it is what I shall add will seem incredible But the Enemies of the Reformed have told it them an hundred times over and the sequel hath perfectly verified it That this Great Service of theirs in Saving the King and Kingdom was the precise the principal and proper Cause of their Ruine and of all those Evils which have since befallen them For their restless Adversaries the Popish Clergy used all endeavours to envenom the sence of that Important Service of theirs in the Minds of the King and his chief Ministers for they never left suggesting to them That if upon occasion the Reformed could save the State from ruine they might likewise upon another and siding with its Enemies utterly overthrow it That therefore in prudence this Party must be suppressed and what good they had done must be no longer regarded but as an Indication of that Mischief which some time or other they were capable of effecting This diabolical Policy which hinders Subjects from serving their Prince to avoid the pulling down upon themselves and children Chastisements instead of Recompences took immediately with the ungrateful Court. For as soon as the Kingdom was setled in Peace the Design was put on foot of destroying the Reformed and that they might clearly understand that it was their Zeal and Loyalty for their King which had ruin'd them Those Cities which had given the noblest Instances of it were first assaulted Immediately on very slight pretences they fell foul on Rochel Montauban and Milhaud three Towns where the Professors of the Reformed Religion had most signalized themselves for the Court's Interests Rochel was plagued with an infinite number of Proscriptions her best Ministers and Citizens being driven out and exiled Montauban and Milhaud are sack'd by Soldiers These were but particular Strokes and the beginning of those dreadful Woes which followed after SECT XXI 'T will be a difficult matter to give in an exact account of those various methods used for their destruction For the malice of their Enemies was exceeding fruitful in plotting and contriving of mischiefs Every day produced a superfetation of them for twenty Years together I will instance but in a few for it would be an endless work to enumerate all These were some of the chiefest First Law-Suits in Courts of Justice Secondly Deprivations of all kinds of Offices and Employments and in general of all manner of ways for subsistence Thirdly The Infractions of the Edicts under the plausible gloss of explaining them Fourthly New Laws and Orders Fifthly Juggles and amusing Tricks Sixthly The animating and exasperating of the Rabble with Hatred and Rage against them and barbarous Cruelties and Torments These were some of the most considerable Machins which the
Persecutors employed for the attaining their ends several Years together It being no easie matter presently to accomplish their designs they needed time for the sharpning of their Tools and the better ordering of their Engins to pass by the many Traverses and Interruptions they had by foreign Wars yet that great success they had in them did mightily inflame their courage and hopes and confirm them in their grand design of a total extirpation of the Reformed SECT XXII Their first method of Law-Suits in Courts of Justice had an infinite extent By the Tricks and Quirks of Law a multitude of Churches were condemn'd and the crafty wicked Commissioners totally suppressed all Exercise of Religion in them This Trap was cunningly laid as soon as the Treaty of Peace and the King's Marriage with the Infanta of Spain were concluded For under the specious pretence of repairing the Infractions of the Edict of Nantes Commissioners were dispatched into the Provinces The Roman Catholick Commissioner was always the Intendant of the Province a proper Tool to do the Court's business armed with Royal Authority and privy to the secret of the Plot. The other a Protestant in profession some needy hungry Officer a devoted Slave unto the Court who had neither Intelligence necessary for the Affairs nor Liberty to declare his Sense and Sentiments about them The Clergy set them both up and their Agents were received as formal Parties in all Matters relating to the Reformed yea and the very Citations and Prosecutions went all in their Names And in case of different Opinions betwixt the Commissioners all Appeals from their Ordinances must be finally decided by the King and Council Thus in general all the Rights of the Reformed Churches for Exercise of Religion and for those places in which they buried their Dead and all their Dependencies were ordered to be reviewed and thereby exposed to the fresh Suits and Prosecutions of the Clergy and the mischievous Intentions of their Judges And in all this transaction you should rarely meet with one dram of Equity For the Edict having been once executed according to the intention of Henry the Fourth it needed no revisal Besides how improbable a thing was it that the Reformed who had always been the suffering Party in the Kingdom should usurp any thing in it or extend their bounds beyond what of right belonged to them But there were other designs in hand than to provide against the Violations of the Edict and therefore by those Orders given unto the Commissioners the greatest part of the Churches cited before them to prove their Rights saw themselves condemned immediately one after another by the Decrees of the Privy-Council tho' their Titles were never so clear and evident and their defence managed with as much strength and reason as possible Scarcely a Week passed in which some of these Decrees were not made and pronounced And if it fell out that the Judges for meer shame could not condemn them as it sometimes so happened tho' their number was very small in comparison of those which were condemned yet the Judges receive peremptory Orders from above to do it and do it they must tho' against their Consciences At this rate before the Year 1673 they had desolated hundreds of Churches A Monk of the Barnabite Order and Deputy for the Clergy of Bearn gloried that of One hundred and twenty three places which the Protestants had to worship God in and those upon the most legal and unquestionable Titles there remained but twenty all the rest having been demolished The Temple of Vitré in Brittaine was destroyed because they could not produce their Titles to it when as they were irrecoverably lost by Fire War or the perfidious hands of Revolters If a Church was near the Sea that was reason enough why it must be demolished So was the Temple of Carantan in Normandy served altho' a Bailywick One while they pretend the Town in which it is was taken in the Civil Wars and therefore their Temple must be returned either to the Papists or else be utterly ruinated This was the fate of that of Negrepelisse tho' it had been in the possession of the Reformed ever since the Year 1561. Nay a Church expresly mentioned in the Edict and that they had not impudence enough to call in question its Title yet they had the malice to demolish viz. the Church of Chauvigny in Poictou this was done Aug. 6. 1665. Of threescore and one Churches in Poictou in the Year 1674. there remained but one uncondemned viz. that of Niort So that above 80000 Souls were obliged to live without any Publick Worship of God at all In the Country of Gex they reduced three and twenty Churches to but two In Guienne of fourscore Churches there were but three left uncondemned by the Catholick Commissioner who was wholly governed by the Jesuite Meisnier In Normandy their fury had brought all their Churches unto those three of Caen Rouen and Diep In Provence of their sixteen Churches there remained but three If there be any Churches standing and not converted into ruinous heaps they be such as are most inconveniently situated in Marshes or low Grounds which were often overflown with Waters or unpassable in Winter so that these poor Christians were deprived of all possibility of hearing God's Word and necessitated to travel forty Miles and more to worship God publickly and to get their Children baptized for they may not do any exercise of Religion as Preaching Marrying or Administring of the Sacraments but in those places which by the Edict of Nantes were appointed for Divine Worship Besides the Papists were very barbarous and inhumane in the cruel execution of their Decrees for they would oblige the Protestants themselves to demolish their Temples with their own hands And because many of them out of Honour and Conscience would not contract the guilt of so great a Sacriledge upon their Souls as to ruinate those holy Places which were dedicated to the Service and Glory of God nor have any thing to do in that Diabolical Work their own Houses have been plundered and levelled with the ground and unconscionable Fines laid upon them This hath been the case of divers Persons of eminent quality in Poictou I could here have exhibited a Catalogue of Churches demolished in France by the King's order and that of the Council in several Provinces and Dioceses of that Kingdom in the Years 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1672 and 1673. But because by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes they are now all a heap of Ruines I shall spare my self the labour of transcribing and my Reader the pains and time of reading them The Zeba's and Zalmunna's of that Kingdom have either burnt up all the Synagogues of God in it or else they have took those Houses of God into their possession SECT XXIII But the Oppressions of this kind did not terminate in the bare condemnation of Churches but particular Persons also had a very large share and
that most pious Bishop of Norwich Dr. Joseph Hall gave this Character of him That he was one of the most learned Men that Scotland ever bred He had been formerly Minister of Bourdeaux thence translated to the Professor's Chair of Divinity at Saumur and lastly unto Montauban where he died in the year 1625. But more of him in my Icones 5. Peter Berault the Son of Michael a Son not unworthy his Father who founded the University 6. Anthony Garrissoles who died in the Lord Anno 1651. 7. Paul Charles though he was called to the Professorship in Divinity after Monsieur Garrissoles yet entered he into his rest two years before his Reverend Collegue viz. 1649. 8. John Verdier he died in the year 1668. 9. Andrew Martell he went into exile with his Brethren in the year 1685 and was called to be Professor of Divinity in the University of Berne in Switzerland where he is yet living In his time the University was removed from Montauban to Puy-Laurens in Languedoc in the year 1660. 10. Anthony Peres was called in to succeed Monsieur Verdier immediately upon his death This very learned and godly Divine died in my Neighbourhood in the year 1686. here in King-street near Bunhil fields London This University of Montauban the first and eldest Protestant University of France had subsisted the just age of a Man and then purely out of a design to facilitate its Ruine it was removed in the year 1660. to Puy-Laurens The University of Saumur had its foundations shaken in the year 1675. though it had a quiet and uninterrupted possession of threescore and ten years and was grounded upon the Edict of Nantes and confirmed by other Edicts of Henry the Fourth and of his Son and Successor Lewis the Thirteenth Henry the Fourth comprehended them both in the Gift he made them Anno 1599. And in the Articles of Peace granted by Lewis the Thirteenth to the City of Montauban they were again ratified and he formally promised to continue his Bounty which in truth was no bounty but a Debt for the Reformed compounded with his Father to pay their Tithes to the Popish Parish Priests which they did honestly and justly provided the King would allow such a summ of 135000 l. in good money unto them for their Ministers Schools Colleges and Universities And in his Answer to their Bill of Grievances in the second year of his Reign and of our Lord 1611. Article 19. He granted to the Universities of Saumur and Montauban the same Priviledges Immunities and Prerogatives as the other Universities in the Kingdom enjoyed according to the will and intention of King Henry the Fourth expressed in his Answer to the Bill of Grievances presented him by the Reformed Article the Fourth Yet all these Engagements and Obligations both of Honour and Conscience could not contain the present King nor his Council within any Bounds But that all the Schools Colleges and Universities of the Reformed must be dissolved dissipated and they be utterly ruined SECT XXXIII But we shall proceed one step farther and discover in this short Abridgment how the Faith and Patience of God's Saints was farther tryed and exercised in France before the last deluge of Popish Fury was poured out upon them There were new Laws and Orders as so many new Engines and Racks invented to torment them This is the fourth method devised by them The first of these Orders which appeared was touching the manner of Burial and Interring the dead In those places where the exercise of our Religion was actually established the number of Attendants was reduced to thirty Persons and to ten where it was not Orders were also issued out to hinder the Communication of one Province with another by Circular Letters or any other way whatsoever though it were about matters of Alms and the distributions of Charity There were likewise Prohibitions made of holding Colloquies in the Interval of Synods excepting in two Cases viz. to provide Ministers for Churches destitute upon the Death of their Pastors and the censuring of greater Scandals They despoiled also those places which they called Exercises de Fief of all the Characters and Priviledges of a Temple as the Bell Pulpit and other things of that nature They forbad also the Reception and Ordination of Ministers in any Synods or to have their Decisive Vote in them or to Register them in the Catalogue of those Churches to which they appertained One Decree forbiddeth the singing of Psalms in their private Houses yea and another to forbear singing in their Temples when as their Consecrated Host was carried by in Procession One Decree forbids all Marriages at such times as they be prohibited by the Church of Rome viz. Lent and the Ember Weeks c. By another Decree their Ministers are not suffered to Preach at any considerable distance from their Residence lest they should have the sorry priviledge of an annexed Congregation a poor plurality For one Church being of it self utterly unable to maintain a Minister sometimes two or three would join together to make up a Competency for his subsistence Other Decrees forbid their setling in any places unless sent unto them by their Synod though the Consistories had given them a solemn Call according to their usual Forms Another Decree comes forth to hinder Synods from sending to any Churches more Ministers than were there in the preceding Synod Another Decree prohibits all Proposans Students in Divinity to study in Foreign Universities Other Decrees banish all Foreign Ministers not born in the Kingdom though they had been Ordained in France and spent the greatest part of their Lives in it out of it Another Decree forbad all Ministers and Candidates for the Ministry to reside in those places where Preaching was forbidden or nearer to them than six Miles Another Decree forbad the People to assemble in the Temples under pretence of praying reading or singing of Psalms except in the presence of a Minister placed there by the Synod There was one Decree and that a most ridiculous one Enacted That all the backs of the Seats in their Temples must be removed that so they might be reduced to most accurate and decent Uniformity Another Decree to hinder richer Churches from assisting the weaker in maintaining of their Ministers and other necessities Another Decree obligeth Parents to give their Children who had changed their Religion great Pensions Another forbiddeth Marriages betwixt Persons of different Religions notwithstanding their Scandalous Cohabitation Another prohibiteth those of the Reformed Religion from that time to entertain in their Houses any Domestick Servants who were Roman Catholicks Another maketh them uncapable of being Tutors or Guardians and consequently did put all Minors whose Fathers died in the Profession of the Protestant Religion under the Power and Education of Roman Catholicks Another forbiddeth Ministers and Elders to hinder any of their Flock either directly or indirectly to embrace the Roman Religion or to disswade them from it Another forbiddeth Jews and
Mahometans to embrace the Reformed Religion and the Ministers either to instruct or receive them into it Another injoineth Synods to receive such Roman Catholick Commissioners as should be sent them from the King with an express Order to do nothing but in their presence Another forbiddeth Consistories to assemble oftner than once a fortnight and that too only in the presence of the Roman Catholick Commissioner Another forbiddeth Consistories on pretence of Charity to assist poor sick Persons of their Religion and ordaineth that our sick shall be carried into the Popish Hospitals most strictly forbidding all Persons to entertain them in their Houses Another Decree doth in favour of the Popish Hospitals confiscate all the Lands Rents and other Profits of what nature soever which might have appertained to a condemned Church Another forbiddeth Ministers to come nearer than three Leagues to that place where the priviledge of Preaching was under debate or question Another Decree confiscated to the Popish Hospitals all Rents and Revenues set apart for maintaining the Poor even in those Churches which were yet standing Another subjecteth sick and dying Persons to the necessity of receiving visits sometimes from Judges Commissioners Church-Wardens sometimes of Curates Monks Missionaries or other Popish Ecclesiasticks thereby to induce them to change their Religion or to require of them an express Declaration concerning it Another forbiddeth Parents to send their Children before sixteen years of age on any pretence whatsoever to travel in Foreign Countries Another doth prohibit Lords and Gentlemen to continue the Exercise of Religion in their Houses unless they had first produced their Titles before the Commissioners and obtained from them a Licence for Preaching in those their Houses Another Decree restraineth the right of entertaining a Minister to those only who were in possession of their Lands ever since the Edict of Nantes in a direct or collateral Line Another forbiddeth the Churches of one Bailywick to receive into their Temples the Members of another Bailywick Another doth injoyn all Physicians Apothecaries and Chirurgions to notifie unto Curates and Magistrates the condition of sick Protestants that so those dying persons may be visited by them SECT XXXIV But among all these New Laws none did more effectually promote the designs of the Romish Clergy than that perfidious Prohibition unto the Reformed of Receiving into their Temples any of those who had changed their Religion no nor their Children nor any Roman Catholick of what Age Sex or Condition soever on pain of forfeiting their Temples and upon the Ministers of undergoing l'Amende Honorable a punishment far more ignominious than that of the Stool of Repentance in the Church of Scotland or the most rigid publick Penance in the Church of England together with banishment and confiscation of their Goods and Estates Moreover the Reformed were injoyned to set up in all their Temples a particular Seat for the Roman Catholicks to sit on For by this means no sooner had any one a design and resolution of changing his Religion but they would make him do it in private and the next Morning find him in the Temple who being there observed by the Roman Catholicks who were in their Seat immediately Informations were given unto the Magistrates and then without delay ensueth a Condemnation of the Temple which was put in execution you cannot tell whether with greater speed and diligence than rigour and severity The Roman Catholicks needed only to enter into the Temple upon pretence that they had places there and then they slipt in among the Crowd and this is made a Violation of the King's Laws and Declaration which is immediately followed with an unavoidable Decree of Condemnation By this Engine they destroyed a vast number of Temples and clapt into Chains and Irons a multitude of innocent and godly Ministers For wicked Informers and false Witnesses were never wanting on this occasion SECT XXXV Such violent Proceedings as these must needs make a strong impression upon the minds of the poor Reformed and tell them plainly unto what mark they tended And therefore very many of them whose prudence foresaw the Evil approaching did in time provide for their safety by leaving their Native Country Some transported themselves their Families and their Effects into one Kingdom others into another according as their Interests Necessities Conveniencies and Inclinations led them And I very well remember that in the Year 1681. in May and June whilest I was Pastor of the English Church of Middleburgh it was then credibly reported that 500 Families of French Merchants had quitted France and setled themselves at Amsterdam and 50 Merchants more with their Housholds had in those very Months also retired unto Hamburgh But this was what the Court never intended for more reasons than one And therefore to prevent and hinder them they renewed from time to time that Decree which we have formerly mentioned that strictly prohibited under the severest Penalties any Persons to depart the Kingdom without leave and to this end they guarded all Passages on the Frontiers But these Precautions could never fully answer their Expectations And that they might blind the poor Reformed with some hopes that their rigorous Usage would be abated at home in the Year 1669. the French King revoketh several violent Decrees which indeed produced Effects for the present answerable to their Designs For these wise and judicious Men saw well enough that this Moderation sprang not from a good Principle and that in the sequel the same Decrees would be again put in execution some other time yet the greater part conceived and hoped that they would contain themselves within some bounds with respect unto the general Body of the Reformed and not pass on to a total extirpation and destruction of them SECT XXXVI And these very self-same Conclusions have been often drawn from the several verbal Declarations which did many times drop from the King 's own Mouth That He would indulge the Reformed and do them perfect Justice and let them enjoy the benefit of his Edicts in their full and most comprehensive extent That tho' he should be very glad to see all his Subjects reunited to the Catholick Religion and would for the effecting thereof contribute all his Power yet should there no Blood be shed for Religion during his Reign nor upon this account any Violence exercised Those very Declarations having been frequently repeated reiterated over and over gave the poor Reformed some ground of hopes that his Majesty would not forget them and especially that in essential matters He would let them injoy the effects of his Goodness and Equity And this was the rather expected by a Letter he wrote to that most serene and excellent Prince his Electoral Highness the Duke of Brandenburgh Copies of which the Ministers of State took care to disperse throughout the whole Kingdom In this Letter the King assures him that he was well satisfied with the behaviour of his Protestant Subjects And for the Reader 's satisfaction I
have here inserted it A Letter of the French King to the Prince Elector Duke of Brandenburgh BROTHER I Would not have discoursed the Matter you write to me about on the behalf of my Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion with any other Prince besides your self But to shew you that particular esteem I have for you I shall begin with telling you that some persons disaffected to my Service have spread seditious Pamphlets among strangers as if the Acts and Edicts that were passed in favour of my said Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion by the Kings my Predecessors and confirmed by my self were not kept and executed in my Dominions which would have been contrary to my Intentions for I take care that they be maintained in all the Priviledges which have been granted them and be as kindly used as my other Subjects To this I am engaged both by my Royal Word and in acknowledgment of the Proofs they have given of their unspotted Loyalty during the late Troubles in which they took up Arms for my Service and did vigorously oppose and successfully overthrow those ill Designs which a rebellious Party were contriving within my own Dominions against my Royal Authority I pray God to take you Brother into his Protection LOUIS N.B. That Rebellious Party which the French King stigmatizeth so hainously in this Letter were the Roman Catholicks adhering to the late Prince of Condé who having some Evidences of the Illegitimacy of the present French King began with the Sword in his hand to publish his own Banes unto the Crown of France And the Loyal Protestants opposing this Rebellious Prince and his Rebellious Army and in the Providence of God having been the unhappy Instruments of his and their overthrow are applauded by the King himself from whence they drew this natural Conclusion that he then when he writ this Letter to the Duke of Brandenburgh had no intentions to destroy them But that they were mistaken and that Prince Elector abused is notorious to the whole World SECT XXXVII Another and the fifth method used by the Council for their ruine were those jugling Tricks with which they were frequently amused As for Example At the same time that some Churches were Condemned and accordingly demolished others were conserved and confirmed To make the World believe they were very Conscientious Observers of the Rules and Measures of Justice and that those Temples condemned by them were such as were not grounded upon any good Titles Sometimes they would mollify over-rigorous Orders and Decrees At other times they seemed not to approve of those violences which were offered by the Intendants and other Magistrates and would therefore grant out new Orders to restrain and moderate them After this manner did they hinder the Execution of a Decree made in the Parliament of Rouen which injoined those of the Reformed Religion to fall on their Knees when they met the Sacrament Thus they also granted a Noli prosequi against the actings of a puny Judge of Charanton who had ordered that Prayer in the Protestant Liturgy who groaned under the Tyranny of Antichrist to be struck out of it And thus also they seemed not to favour another Persecution which began to spread and become general in the Kingdom against the Ministers under pretence of obliging them to take an Oath of Allegiance in which other Clauses were inserted contrary to what Ministers do owe unto their Callings and Religion And 't was thus also that they suspended the Execution of some Edicts which they themselves had procured as well to tax the Ministers as to oblige them to a precise Residence upon those places where they exercised their Ministry With the same design the Syndicks of the Clergy had the art to let the principal Churches of the Kingdom to be at rest for many years together without any disturbance in their religious Assemblies whilst at the same time they desolated all others in the Country They suspended also the Condemnation of the Universities to the very last The Court seemed at first unable to believe and at last in no wise to approve the horrible excesses of Marillac the Intendant of Poictou which he committed in his Province though yet that poor and bloody Fellow did nothing but by their express Order SECT XXXVIII But amongst all those illusions there be five or six which are most remarkable The first was that at the very time when the Court issued out all those Decrees Declarations and Edicts which we have before recited and which they caused to be put in execution with the greatest severity yea at the very same time that they interdicted Church-Assemblies demolished the Temples deprived particular Persons of their Offices and Employments reduced People to Poverty and Famine flung them into nasty Jails loaded them with grievous Fines banished them from their Houses and Estates and in a word had almost ravaged all The Intendants Governours Magistrates and other Officers in Paris and generally over all the Kingdom did very coolly and gravely give out That the King had not the least intention to touch the Edict of Nantes but would most religiously observe it The second was that in the same Edict which the King published in the year 1682. to forbid Roman Catholicks to embrace the Reformed Religion that is to say at a time when they had made considerable progress in their grand work of the Protestants destruction they caused a formal Clause to be inserted in these terms That he confirmed the Edict of Nantes as much as it was or should be needful The third remarkable is That in the Circular Letters which the King wrote to the Bishops and Intendants obliging them to signify the Pastoral Advertisement of the Clergy to the Consistories of the Reformed He tells them in express terms That his intention was not that they should do any thing against those Grants which had been formerly made by Edicts and Declarations in favour of those of the Reformed Religion The fourth That by an express Declaration published about the latter end of the year 1684 the King ordained That Ministers should not remain in the same Church above the space of three years nor return to the first within the space of twelve And that they should be thus translated from Church to Church at least twenty Leagues distant from the other Supposing by a most evident consequence that his design was yet to permit the exercise of Religion to the Ministers in the Kingdom for at least twelve years Though at that very moment they had fully resolv'd in Council upon the Edict of Revocation A fifth Remark is a Request presented to the King by the Assembly of the Clergy at the same time that they were drawing up an Edict to repeal and abrogate that of Nantes and giving instructions unto the Attorney-General how to frame it And in that Decree which was granted on this Request of theirs the Clergy complained of the mis-representations which Ministers are wont to
make of the Roman Church unto which they attribute Doctrines which are none of hers and beseech his Majesty to make some provision against it And farther they expresly declared that they did not desire the Revocation of the Edict Whereupon his Majesty did straitly forbid all Ministers to speak either good or hurt directly or indirectly of the Church of Rome in their Sermons supposing as every one may see that 't was his intention still to let them continue in the exercise of their Ministry But were there ever such illusions known or was there ever any greater than this which they have put into the Revocatory Edict we are now speaking of The King after having Cancelled and Disannulled the Edict of Nantes and all its Members Articles and Dependencies after that he had for ever interdicted all publick Religious Exercises of the Reformed Religion and had for ever banished all the Ministers from his Kingdom yet notwithstanding he doth peremptorily declare That 't is his will that his other Subjects who are not willing to change their Religion may remain where they are in all liberty enjoy their Estates and live with the same freedom as formerly without any trouble or molestation upon pretence of their Religion 'till it shall please God to enlighten and convert them These were the amusements and gins laid to intrap the poor Reformed as hath since appeared and is daily more and more notorious by those barbarous usages they suffer of which we shall give some few instances by and by leaving the larger and fuller account of them unto that Reverend and Learned Exiled Pastor Monsieur B. who will publish to the World very shortly his laborious Martyrology of the French Churches under this present Reign and Persecution SECT XXXIX But I shall add the sixth preparatory Machin used by the Persecutors for the ruine of the poor Reformed in that Kingdom which was an insensible and gradual disposing of the People by Declarations and Decrees to desire their utter extirpation or to approve of it when once done and to mitigate in their minds that Horrour which common Humanity hath of unjust and cruel Persecutions For this purpose they turn'd a great many Stones used various Means but the most common were the Sermons and Preachments of their Missionaries and of other controversial Predicators with which they had stock'd the Kingdom of late Years under the specious Title of Royal Missions These were choice Youths cull'd out for the nonce whose Education had nothing of moderation but were all fire and flame There was no difficulty to judge what kind of Actors these would be upon the Stage of the World when they were not only excited but knew themselves supported by Authority to blow the flames And these Incendiaries did acquit themselves so zealously of their Imploy that it was not long of them if Tumults and Seditions have not arisen in the greatest and most populous Cities of the Realm yea and in Paris itself for which the prudence of the Magistrate is to be thanked and commended Together with these Predicators we must yoke the Directors of Mens Consciences Confessors Monks Parish-Priests and all Church-men from the highest Dignitary to the meanest Curate For being acquainted with the Court's Intention they contended one with another to manifest the greatest zeal and aversion against the Reformed Religion because it was their interest so to do and the only Ladder by which to mount up unto Ecclesiastical Preferments and to acquire the fattest Benefices and most advantagious Fortunes in the Church Hence the Streets in most Towns rang every day with the publication of new Decrees Orders Edicts and Declarations against the Protestants as also of Satyrical Lampoons and Seditious Libels which hit the humour of the French and was most acceptable to them But this Engine gratified only the little People and the Persecutors had that mortification to see that the most sober persons who were a degree above the Mobile disallowed these Acts and Practices Wherefore they set the Pens of some Authors a work who had acquired by their Writings a reputation in the World and amongst others the Writer of the History of Theodosius the Great and of Maimbourg who was once a Jesuite He writ the History of Calvinism But hath done Penance for it ever since Monsieur Jurieu in his Parallel of Papism and Calvinism and in his Apology for the Reformation having exposed his Ignorance Falshoods and Malice to the learned World Monsieur Arnaud the Jansenist would make his Court also by venting his Choler against the Calvinists But tho' his Apology for the Catholicks was writ with as much gall fire and passion as the Bigots themselves could desire yet it did not take because his person was not acceptable The Old Man complained of it in a Letter to the Archbishop of Rheims Copies of which were dispersed through all Paris and aggravates his own Misfortunes for that another who had done far less Services was gratified with 20000 Livers from the King but He good Soul tho' he had deserved much more could not meet with so much as one Liart But we must not pass by another of their famous Authors Father Soulier who was bred a Taylor and had the wit to stitch and patch up An History of the Edicts of Pacification And Monsieur Nicole once a great Jansenist but now a Convert of his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Paris he sends forth a Child of his own begetting with this fine Name Protestants convinced of Schism Nor may we overlook the Author of the Journal des Scavans who in his ordinary Gazetts stoutly affirms that the Catholick Faith must be planted as Mahomet's Alcoran by Fire and Sword alledging this most unanswerable Argument That a King of Norway converted all the Nobles of his Country by threatning to kill their Children before their faces if they would not consent to have them baptized and to be baptized themselves For a long time in Paris and other Towns and Cities of the Kingdom we rencountred none but these kind of Writings to so high a pitch was their passion flown SECT XL. But tho' by these steps the Court advanced greatly in their Designs yet they had not attained their end For the Reformed were not wanting to their common Interest nor did they neglect their just and lawful Defence They sent frequently from the farthest and most distant Provinces their Deputies to the Court They asserted their Rights before the Privy-Council They bring their Complaints and Bills of Grievances from all parts of the Kingdom to that Honourable Board to be redressed They employ their Deputy-General to sollicit their Interests both with the Judges and chief Ministers of State and the King himself Sometimes they presented their General Addresses in which they exposed their Grievances with that profound humility and deference which Subjects owe their Soveraigns I do here tender to the Reader but one Instance among many viz. The Humble Address of the distressed Protestants
were so far from being heard that their Troubles became greater and their repeated Petitions render their Condition still worse and worse When as Deputies from Cities and Provinces have come to the Louvre in the most dutiful manner with the most humble Supplications of the sorely distressed Protestants for Relief under their heavy pressures they have received an express Order from the King to be gone home again immediately Thus was Monsieur de Vignolles Deputy for the Province of Languedoc used No sooner was he arrived at Paris but one of the Kings Pursuivants is dispatched to him with a peremptory Command to depart the City in eight days upon pain of close Imprisonment And Monsieur Faissé deputed by the Inhabitants of Privas did no sooner appear at Court with their Complaints but the Captain of the Kings Guards commands him in his Majesty's Name to depart the Court instantly upon the like peril of being clapt up in Prison And when the Province of Lower Guienne had sent Monsieur Sarrau to lay at his Majesty's Feet an humble Representation of their many Grievances he received a private Letter under the Kings Seal forbidding him to come to Court A multitude of such Precedents might be produced And if at any time and after many difficulties they have been successful and weathered out the storms of affronts and injuries they have met withal yet when their businesses hath come to an hearing oftentimes no Advocate could be got to plead their Cause or if they have been heard although their Arguments were never so strong yet they have been at last slighted and rejected and no right done them They have some times spent whole years in pursuit of their Causes and in hope of Audience but have been worn out with delays whereas Sentences against them have been obtained by the Clergy in twenty four hours Yea many times after long waiting and great Charges the Protestant Agents and Deputies have been forced to return home with the sad tidings of the loss of their most righteous Causes The last Petition presented to the King himself by the Lord Marquiss of Rouvigny the General-Deputy in March 1684. was couched in the most submissive terms that would have moved and melted into pity the hardest heart thousands having seen and read it for it was afterward Printed yet they got nothing by it but the hastening of their ruine and destruction SECT XLI This was effectually accomplished some few Months following and in such a terrible and violent manner hath it been Executed that the darkest and most distant Corners of Europe yea and of Asia and America have heard and rung of it But the circumstances are not known to all and therefore I shall give an account of them in a few words that the mouth of Impudence may be stopped who publish abroad That no Violences have been offered in France unto the Reformed and that the Conversions there have been voluntary and of their free consent At first they took these measures to Quarter Souldiers in all the Provinces almost at the same time and chiefly Dragoons which are the most resolute Troops of the Kingdom Terrour and dread marched before them and as it were by one common Intelligence all France was allarm'd and filled with this News that the King would no longer suffer any Hugonots in his Kingdom and that they must resolve to change their Religion For there was no human Power could preserve them in it SECT XLII They began with Bearne in this Province the Dragoons first exercised their skill in Persecuting Soon after the storm breaks out in the High and Lower Guienne from thence it rides post unto Xaintongue Aunix Poictou the Upper Languedoc Vivaretz and Dolphiny Then they roar and ravage in Lionnois Sevennes and the Lower Languedoc Provence and in the Valleys of Piedmont and the little Country of Gex Afterwards they fall with a most horrid rage upon the rest of the Kingdom upon Normandy Burgundy Nivernois and Berry the Provinces of Orleans Tourain Anjou Brittain Champagne Piccardy and the Isle of France not excluding Paris it self which underwent the same Fate with the other Protestants The first thing the Intendants were to do according to their Orders and Instructions was to summon the Cities and Commonalties before them and when those Inhabitants which professed the Reformed Religion were assembled they then very gravely acquaint them That it was his Majesty's pleasure they should without delay become Roman Catholicks and if they would not do it freely they would make them do it by force These poor People surpriz'd with such a proposition answer That they were ready to sacrifice their Lives and Estates to the King but their Consciences and Souls being not their own but Gods they could not in any wise dispose of them There needed no more to bring in the Dragoons upon them these armed and booted Apostles are at hand they seize immediately on the Gates and Avenues of the Cities they place their Guards in all the Passages and brandishing their naked Swords the Cry is Kill Kill or else turn Catholicks They be quartered on the Protestants at discretion and are strictly charged by their Officers to let none go out of their houses nor to hide and conceal their goods or effects on great penalties The Catholicks also are threatned in like manner in case they should receive harbour or assist them The first days are spent in consuming those Provisions the house afforded and plundering them of Moneys Rings Jewels and whatever was of any esteem or value Then they set to sale all the goods of the Family and invite the Papists not only of that place but also those of the neighbour Towns and Cities to come and buy them And be sure they could sell them cheap pennyworths and give them a very good Title SECT XLIII A Spâ—â—â—â— of Popish Cruelties Afterwards they fall upon the Persons of the Protestants and there was no Wickedness though never so horrid which they did not put in practice that they might enforce them to change their Religion Amidst a thousand hideous Cries and Blasphemies they hang up Men and Women by the Hair or Feet upon the roofs of the Chambers or hooks of Chimneys and smoakt them with wisps of wet Hay till they were no longer able to bear it and when they had taken them down if they would not sign an abjuration of their pretended Heresies they then truss them up again immediately Some they threw into great Fires kindled on purpose and would not take them out till they were half roasted They tied ropes under their Arms and plung'd them to and again into deep Wells from whence they would not draw them till they had promised to change their Religion They bound them as Criminals are when they be put to the Rack and in that posture putting a Funnel into their Mouths they pour'd Wine down their throats till its fumes had deprived them of their reason and they had in that condition
Relapst shall be Executed according to their form and tenour XII And furthermore Those of the said Pretended Reformed Religion till such time as it shall please God to illuminate them as others have been may abide in the Towns and Places of our Kingdom Countries and Lands of our Dominion and continue their Traffick and injoy their Goods without being troubled or hindred because of the said Pretended Reformed Religion Provided as before That they do not exercise it nor assemble themselves on pretence of Prayers or of any manner of worship according to that said Religion on the Penalties beforementioned of Confiscation of Bodies and Goods We Command all our Trusty and Well-beloved Counsellors in our Court of Parliament of Accounts and Court of Aids at Paris Bayliffs Seneschalls Provosts and other our Justices and Officers to whom it shall belong and to their Deputies that they cause this present Edict to be read published and registred in their Courts and Jurisdictions yea and in Vacations and to entertain it and cause it to be entertained kept and observed in every particular without swerving and that in no manner of wise they permit the least swerving from it For such is our Will and Pleasure And that this may be for ever firm and stable we have caused these Presents to be Sealed with our Seal Given at Fountainbleau in the Month of October in the Year of Grace one thousand six hundred eighty and five and in our Reign the Forty Third Signed LOVIS Visa Le Tellier And a little lower By the KING Colbert And Sealed with the Great Seal of Green Wax upon threads of red and green silk Registred heard and at the Request of the Kings Attorney General that they might be Executed according to their form and tenor and Copies collationed sent unto the Courts Bailiwicks and respective Jurisdictions that they might be in like manner Registred And the Deputies of the King 's said Attorney-General are Commanded to see its Execution and to Certifie the Court thereof At Paris in the Chamber of Vacations the two and twentieth day of October in the Year one thousand six hundred fourscore and five Signed De la Baune SECT LII The same day that this Edict was Registred which was the 23d of October they began to throw down the Temple of Charenton and at the same time little notes were disperst abroad to the heads of Families for their Appearance before Mr. Attorney-General to give in their Answer whether in three days they would embrace the Roman Catholick Religion or not The Eldest Minister of this Church was Commanded to leave Paris in four and twenty hours and immediately to depart the Kingdom this was that excellent Man of God Monsieur Claude who afterward died at the Hague Of whom I shall say more in my Icones One of the Kings Footmen was ordered to see him safe out of the Kings Dominions His Collegues met with a little better treatment for they had forty eight hours given them to quit Paris and upon their parole for so doing they were left to shift for themselves Accordingly Monsieur Maynard Allix and Bertau come for England and are here exercising their Ministry The rest of the Ministers were allowed fifteen days for their departure but it can hardly be believed to what Cruelties and Vexations they were exposed They were not permitted to dispose of their Estates nor to carry away any of their moveables or effects yea they disputed them their very Books and private Papers upon this pretence that they must prove and justify their Books and Papers did not belong to their Consistories A task impossible for there were no Consistories then in being Moreover they would not give them leave to take along with them either Father or Mother Brother or Sister or any of their Relations or Kindred though they were many of them infirm diseased and impoverished and could not in any wise subsist without their help Yea and they went so far as to deny them their own Children if they were above seven years old yea and some that were under that age and were as yet hanging upon their Mothers Breasts They refused them Nurses for their new-born Infants although their own Mothers could not suckle them In some Frontier places they stopped and imprisoned them upon trifling and ridiculous pretences They must immediately prove that they were really the same Persons which their Certificates mentioned And they would know whether there were no Criminal Process or Informations out against them They must presently justify that they carried away nothing with them that belonged unto any one of their respective Churches Sometimes having thus amused and detained them they would tell them the space of fifteen days allotted them by the Edict for their Departure was now expired and that therefore they should have no liberty to leave the Kingdom but must be sent unto the Gallies There was hardly any kind of deceit and injustice and troubles in which these worthy Ministers of Christ were not involved And yet through rich mercy very few revolted the far greatest number of them escaped either into England Holland Germany or Switzerland yea and some are now setled in New-England SECT LIII As for the residue of the Protestants whom the Violence of Persecution and the Cruel Usages they endured had necessitated to abandon their Estates Families Relations and native Country it is hardly to be imagined to what dangers they were exposed Never were Orders more rigorous and severe nor more strictly Executed than those which were given out against them They doubled the Guards at every Post in all Cities Towns High-ways Fords and Ferries They covered the Country with Souldiers they armed the very Peasants that they might stop the Reformed in their Travel or kill them upon the spot They forbad all Officers of the Customs to suffer any Goods Moveables Merchandises or other Effects of theirs to pass out of the Kingdom They forgot nothing that might hinder the flight of these poor Persecuted Creatures insomuch that they interrupted all Commerce with the Neighbouring Nations By this means they quickly filled all the Prisons in the Kingdom For the terrour of the Dragoons the horrour of seeing their Consciences forced and their Children to be taken away from them and to be Educated in Anti-Christian Superstition and damnable Idolatry and of living for the future in a Land where there was neither Justice nor Humanity for them obliged every one to think with himself and consult with others in whom they could confide how to get out of France and so they could but escape without polluting their Consciences many thousands of them were ready to and did actually leave their Worldly All behind them As for the poor Prisoners they have been since treated with unheard of Barbarities shut up in Dungeons loaden with Iron Chains almost starved with Hunger and deprived of all Converse but that of their inhumane Persecutors Many were thrust into their Monasteries where they
were most cruelly disciplin'd A Lady of eminent Quality gave this Relator this Account That when they had seized all her Estate clapt her up in Prison Arraign'd and Condemn'd her to Death for Murdering five of her Children because she had conveyed them away that they might not be trained up in Popery they took her two youngest one of five and the other of two years and put them into Nunneries They could never get that of five to kiss a Crucifix or bow to their breaden God though they kept her from meat and drink eight and forty hours and having scourged the poor young Heretick unmercifully they returned her with her young Sister whom they had also tormented with Famine and Whipping to the poor Mother in whose Arms one of these Innocent Lambs died a few hours after That very day the Edict was published the Attorney-General and some other Magistrates send for the Protestant Heads of Families who lived in Paris to appear before them and when they came they declared to them That it was the King's absolute Will and Pleasure that they should change their Religion that they were no better than the rest of his Subjects and that if they would not do it willingly his Majesty was resolv'd to compel them to it At the same time by Letters under the Privy-Seal they banished all the Elders of that Consistory together with some others in whom they found more constancy and resolution and they dispersed them into those places which were remotest from all Commerce and Business and have since used them with unparallel'd Cruelties When as the diligence of Mr. Attorney-General and the City Magistrates succeeded not answerably to their desires and expectations Monsieur Seignelay Secretary of State would try what influence he had in his division at Paris Wherefore he gets together about an hundred or sixscore Merchants with some others unto his House and having shut the doors he forthwith presents them a Form of Abjuration commanding them in the King's Name to sign it declaring that they should not stir out of the doors till they had yielded a full obedience The Contents of this Form were That they did not only renounce the Heresie of Calvin and enter into the Catholick Church but also that they did it voluntarily without any force or compulsion This was done after a most imperious manner and with the tone of authority Yet notwithstanding some had the courage to speak tho' they were soon cut short with this reply They were not called to dispute but to obey So that they all signed before they went out SECT LIV. With some of the Ministers they dealt very treacherously fawning upon them with kind words and counterfeit civilities wheedling them into a good opinion of those respects and loves they never had nor intended for them This proved a great and dangerous Snare to two worthy Ministers among others as will appear from this following Letter written to an eminent French Minister in London from Paris October 19. 1685. From Paris Octob. 19. 1685. Monsieur my most honoured Brother SInce you are owner of so much goodness as to interest your self like a kind Brother in those Affairs which particularly concern us and forasmuch as we can avow our Affections for you to be great and sincere and our fellow-feeling of all your Sufferings to be real and very sensible it is but just that when our Brother Du gives you an Account of the state of our Family we should also at the same time acquaint you with that of our Consciences You may then understand my most dear Brother that no sooner was the King's Declaration published which abolishing the Edict of Nants obliged all the Ministers within a Fortnight's time to depart the Kingdom but Monsieur and my self went immediately to seek and take places for our selves and Families in the Brussel's Coach as my Brother went to that of Calais But two or three days after being informed that neither our Wives nor Children should have the liberty of leaving the Kingdom with us and that we should meet with an hundred difficulties in our departure and that we must needs have Certificates from our Intendants which was utterly impossible for us to procure in that short time was now left us we together with divers others went and waited upon Monsieur de la Renie who is the Judge and Civil Magistrate of this City who gave us a Certificate according to the King's Edict which yet in the issue was useless and unprofitable Monsieur de la Renie being particularly acquainted with Monsieur treated us with a great deal of civility and desired us seriously to reflect upon that perplexed condition into which we and our Families were plunged and that we would examine our selves whether with a good Conscience we might not tarry in the Kingdom and whether our presence would not also contribute to the consolation of a multitude of gracious Souls groaning under the pressures of their Afflictions who had been abandon'd by their fugitive Pastours according to the general Complaints brought in against them from all quarters Hereupon we drew up several Projects I formed mine Monsieur framed his and they were both so contrived that any one might easily judge we should never be suffer'd on those terms to live in the Kingdom And to speak the truth they were not approved by my Brother Du who drew up another the Copy whereof we now send you but we must confess most dear Brother that we have found it to be of dreadful consequence and most dangerously insnaring to us But Du having resolutely maintained that we had no other way left us of abiding in the Kingdom than by signing this Writing and if we would not yet he himself would alone in his own person present it to my Lord Bishop of Meaux we did at length sign it Monsieur and my self tho' with extreme repugnancy and with this very restriction that Du should retrieve it out of the hands of the Bishop of Meaux as soon as he had read it which Du solemnly promised us he would do My Lord Bishop perus'd our Writing and having told Du that he conceiv'd the King would never grant us what we desired in it we believ'd our selves oblig'd all three jointly to take our leaves of the Bishop and of Monsieur de la Renie because we were two days after to avoid the Kingdom My Lord Bishop of Meaux dismist us very civilly But Monsieur de la Renie made us a long discourse about our Writing given in to the Bishop of Meaux and that Conference which our Brother had with him telling us among other passages that the King took notice of our Measures that he had approved and praised them that he had a better opinion of us by far than of a great many others who had yet gone beyond us but that the King desired us to continue our Conferences with the Bishop of Meaux and that the King having learnt our intention of going
or others that may sing Masses for the Dead is he to be deposed from his Office We answer Let him be first heard in the Consistory speak for himself before they proceed unto his Deposal XXVII It was demanded Whether the Word of God might be preached publickly without Authority from the Civil Magistrate Answer was given That there should be special care had of the Time and Publick Peace and above all that there be no Tumults nor Sedition XXVIII The Churches of Paris Orleance and Rouan are deputed by this present Synod to Protest against the Popish Council now held at Trent and of the Nullity of all its Decisions and Decrees and their Protestation shall be done either by Printed Books or Oral Remonstrances unto the King's Majesty or by any other way as they shall judge needful XXIX It is now Decreed That the Deputies of the Provinces when they go to Court shall take with them our Confession of Faith and consult among themselves how to present it unto His Majesty together with the Petitions of our Churches and to this purpose they shall make Application unto those Lords who they know to be Favourers of our Cause and Religion XXX Whereas divers Persons do solicite this National Synod to supply the Congregations who have sent them hither with Pastors they are all answered That at present we are utterly unable to gratifie them and that therefore they be advised to set up Propositions of the Word of God and to take special care of Educating hopeful young Men in Learning in the Arts Languages and Divinity who may hereafter be imployed in the Sacred Ministry and they are most humbly to Petition the Lord of the Harvest to send Labourers who may get it in XXXI May he be admitted to communicate in the Bread only at the Lord's Table who hath an Antipathy against Wine Yes he may provided that he do his utmost to drink of the Cup but in case he cannot he shall make a Protestation of his Antipathy The End of the Synod of Poictiers THE ACTS DECISIONS and DECREES OF THE III. National Synod OF THE Reformed Churches of Christ IN The KINGDOM of FRANCE HELD At ORLEANCE in the Year of our LORD 1562. The Contents of this Synod Chap. I. A Moderator and two Scribes chosen Chap. II. General Matters The Synod to be called the General or National Church-Council of the Kingdom Chap. III. Discipline exercised upon Delinquents Chap. IV. Various Matters Cases of Conscience c. THE Synod of Orleance 1562. Synod III. SYNOD III. Articles of the National Synod held at Orleance the Twenty fifth Day of April in the Year One thousand five hundred sixty and two after Easter in the Second Year of K. Charles IX CHAP. I. Monsieur De Chandieu was a very learned French Divine His Works are 1. The Marks of the True Church 2. De L'Vnique Sacrifice 3. Contra les Traditions c. in Follo He was Lord of Chandieu and Baron of Chabot chosen by the Church of Paris to be their Pastor at Twenty Years of Age and Moderator of this National Synod at Twenty three A Gentleman of eminent Piety and Gravity He was desired by the King of Navary to be his Pastor and upon his Death removed to Geneva where he was called to the Pastoral Office in that City and discharged it with very great fidelity He never took any Wages for his Work in the Ministry He wrote himself Sadeel which is the Hebrew of Chandieu The Field of GOD. He died of an Hectick Fever in the 57th Year of his Age saith Mr. Du Thou but he was mistaken for it was in the 63d Anno 1591. Melchior Adams hath writ his Life among his Theolog. Exteri ANthony de Chandieu Minister in the Church of Paris chosen President Robert le Macon Lord La Fountaine Minister in the Church of Orleance and Peter Sevin Deacon of the Church of Paris chosen Scribes by General Consent of the Deputies CHAP. II. General MATTERS This Synod bears the Name and has the Authority of a General Council by the Advice of the Assembly I. THE Ministers and Elders Convocated in this Assembly of Orleance for the General Council of France following the Determination of the last Synod held at Poictiers are of Opinion That the present Assembly should have and bear the Name and Authority of the Council General of the Deputies of this Kingdom notwithstanding that several Deputies are absent who shall be sufficiently informed of Matters debated and resolved in this Council together with the Reasons for which notwithstanding their absence we were constrained to proceed without them all which shall be more largely declared in the next General Council where also shall be heard the Reasons of those absent Deputies for their Non-attendance and their Arguments if need be against the Decisions of the present Council Ministers of Princes and great Lords shall sign the Confession of Faith II. The Princes and other great Lords following the Court in case they would have Churches instituted in their Houses shall be desired to take such for their Pastors as are Ministers in Churches truly Reformed bringing with them sufficient Testimonials of their Lawful Call unto the Ministry who shall before their Admission subscribe the Confession of Faith of the Churches in this Kingdom and our Church-Discipline And that the Preaching of the Gospel may be more successful the said Protestant Lords shall be requested every one of them to erect a Consistory There shall be a Consistory in their Houses composed of the Ministers and other Persons most eminent for Piety in their said Family by which Consistory all Scandals and Vices shall be supprest and the Rules of Discipline observed Moreover those Ministers shall be present at Provincial Synods if it may possibly consist with their occasions And that this may be effected the Council hath ordained That the Province in which the Synod shall be assembled shall be obliged to call them to it And those Ministers especially or a part of them shall be there present being deputed by the rest unto the General Synods together with their Elders who may inform the said General or Provincial Synods of their Lives and Conversation And in case the said Lords and Princes have divers Houses they shall be advertis'd None to have preheminence over another that none of their Ministers may pretend domination or preheminence over another according to that Article of our Church-Discipline in this case expresly provided And when as the said Lords and Princes shall reside in those Houses of theirs where there is a Church already formed we desire for the preventing of all Divisions that the Church in their Family would joyn itself unto the Church of that place and for that time to make but one Assembly III. Whenas the Lord's Supper shall be celebrated in the close of every Synod according to the Fourth Article of our Church-Discipline in the Acts of the First National
sworn a Promise of Marriage unto a Maid or Woman shall depart unto another Country and the Maid or Woman shall make her Complaints of it craving to be discharged from her Promise because of his disloyalty Let inquiry be made upon what occasion he left the City whether it be lawful and with the Consent of his Partner who is now the Plaintiff or whether it was not for Debauchery and because he was unwilling to accomplish the Marriage And if it appear that he had no sufficient reason for so doing and that he did it out of a wicked Intent let inquiry be made into what place he is withdrawn and how notice may be given him to return within a prefixed day and to perform his promise of Marriage unto his Partner and if upon notice given he do not appear then let Proclamation be made on three Sundays a Fortnight's distance intervening betwixt each Proclamation the last being made on the sixth Lord's-day and if he do not appear at the time assigned then let the Maid or Woman be declared free and set at liberty from him and let the delinquent Man be banished for his disloyalty In case he do appear let him be compelled to accomplish the Marriage out of hand But and if it cannot be known into what Country he is gone and that the Maid or Woman and his Friends and nearest Relations shall swear that they are all ignorant where he is then let the same Proclamations be made as if he had notice given him that the Maid or Woman is discharged acquitted and liberated from him But in case there was a just cause for his absence and that he had advised and acquainted his Partner with it then let the Maid or Woman use all possible diligence by her self and his Friends to recal and induce him to return and if he do not return within the Year then let Proclamations be made as was before directed in the fourth Article Article IX And let the same Course be taken with a Maid or Woman that shall offend as the Man excepting always that the Husband shall not be obliged to wait a full Year altho his Wife had lest him with his Knowledge and Consent unless he had given her leave for to be absent a longer time Article X. If a Maid being duely tied by promise of Marriage is frauduiently transported out of the Territory of this Republick that she might not accomplish the Marriage let inquiry be made whether some one or other in the City hath not aided nor assisted in this rape that so they may be compelled to return her under such a Penalty as shall be judged meet and if she be under Guardians and Trustees they also shall be enjoined to see her forth coming if possible Article XI If a married Woman have abandoned her Husband and he be silent and make no complaint of it or if the Wife thus forsaken of her Husband shall dissemble it without a word 's speaking and this afterwards come to light let them be cited both into the Consistory there to inform how matters have gone that so all scandals may be prevented and that no deceit nor collusion may be tollerated nor what is worse winked at and the true state of the Matter being come to light an effectual course may be taken to prevent all voluntary Divorces which Men and Women of their own head-strong Wills and without Authority of the Civil Magistrate would give unto one another Yet nevertheless the Wife at the request of her Husband shall be compelled to follow him when and wheresoever he pleaseth to remove his habitation whether it be out of choice or necessity provided he be not a debauched Person who will carry her God knows whether into some strange and unknown Country but if it be into a Land at some reasonable distance where he will make his residence and in some convenient place to follow his Calling and to live as an honest Man she must follow him Let all matrimonial Matters concerning personal Conjunction be first transacted in the Consistory but not Matters concerning Estate or Dower And here let there be a most friendly Agreement and Correspondency in God's Name But if there should need any judicial Sentence to be pronounced then let them go unto the Council and acquaint their Lordships with the Sence of the Consistory who may after judge finally in the Case The End of the Synod of Vertueil THE ACTS DECISIONS and DECREES OF THE VII National Synod OF THE Reformed Churches of Christ IN The KINGDOM of FRANCE Held At Rochel in the Province of Aulnix and Year of our Lord 1571. THE CONTENTS of this SYNOD CHap. I. Moderator and Scribes Chap. II. General Matters Observations upon the Confession of Faith Hereticks in Poland and Transylvania opposed Cozain's Works condemned and the Bishops of England desired to suppress his and the Books of some other Hereticks Erastus condemned Three Originals of the Confession kept one at Rochel another in Bearn and the third at Geneva Chap. III. Observations upon the Discipline Form of Ordination Alterations and Emendations of several Canons of the Discipline Chap. IV. Continuation of those Observations A Motion for answering the Books of our Adversaries approved by the Synod Chap. V. Catalogue of Vagrant Chap. VI. A particular Matter about Elders and Deacons A Motion of the Lord High-Admiral made unto the Synod Chap. VII General Matters Of the Consistory Of Delinquents Of Provincial Synods and Baptism Chap. VIII Four Observations upon the Discipline Of the Lords-Supper Marriages More Observations upon the Discipline Chap IX Canons about Marriage Particular Orders Chap. X. Orders about Publishing of Books c. Chap. XI Particular Matters Chap. XII Matters relating to Monsieur Mercure The Church of Taillebourg A Case of Conscience from the Province of Poictou The Churches of Languedoc not conforming exactly to the Discipline THE First Synod of Rochel 1571. Synod VII SYNOD VII In the Name of GOD Amen CHAP. I. Canons ordained in the National Synod held at Rochel the second Day of April One thousand five hundred seventy and one in the Eleventh Year of the Reign of Charles the Ninth Theodore de Beza Minister of Geneva was chosen Moderator N. des Gallars and de la Rougeraye Scribes CHAP. II. General MATTERS Observations upon the Confession of Faith I. FOrasmuch as the kind Acceptance and Entertainment of Christian Doctrine is the true Foundation of Church Discipline we have decreed to open this Synod by Reading the Confession of Faith Received in the Churches of France II. Forasmuch as our Confession of Faith is Printed divers ways The Synod declareth this to be the true Confession of Faith of the Reformed Churches in France which beginneth with these words We believe that there is but one God which Confession was drawn up in the first National Synod held at Paris May the 25th 1559. These Hereticks were Davidis Gentilis Blandrata Socinus c. III. The Confession being read
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
they should carry and behave themselves wherefore leaving unto Notaries to follow their ordinary business in the way and manner prescribed to them nothing hinders but that the Church may make Espousals by words de proesenti XLIII All excessive and scandalous Usuries shall be severely forbidden and condemned Usuries forbidden XLIV After these words The Superstition of the Romish Church in the second Article of particular Orders there shall be these added And the said Printers and Booksellers are exhorted not to sell any scandalous Books relating to Idolatry or Impudicity or such at have a tendency to corrupt good manners Not lawful to marry the Widow of the Wise's Brother XLV As to that Case propounded Whether a Man might lawfully marry the Widow of his Wife's Brother we judge That over and above what has been determin'd by others formerly in this matter that there is a secret affinity between such Parties because in the sight of God the Man and Wife are accounted but one flesh and therefore decency and civility will not permit it Licenses to marry may be taken from the King thô not from the Pope XLVI It is in no wise lawful for any Member of our Churches to address themselves unto the Pope for Dispensations to marry within the degrees prohibited and to remove any present or after Impediments which may or do occur in that holy Estate because in so doing there is an owning and subjection to his Tyrannical Authority But yet in degrees not forbidden by the Word of God which are now forbidden by our Civil Magistrate we may lawfully address ourselves unto the King tor his License XLVII The Faithful shall be admonished both in Sermons and private Conferences not to defer Baptizing their Children unless there be some very great cause inducing them thereunto XLVIII None of our Members in Communion with us shall assist at their Weddings or Wedding-Feasts who that they may marry a Popish Wife do revolt from the Reformed Religion But as for those who have a long while ago left the Profession of our Religion or have been ever Papists it 's left to the prudence of the Faithful to consider what will be most expedient for them and if they go let them take heed of approving the Evil in those Meetings and that they bear no part in the Dances and other Dissolutions which are commonly found and committed at them XLIX For time to come neither Ministers nor any other of the Faithful shall print or publish any of their Writings or private Works without having first obtained the express leave and approbation of their respective Colloquies L. There shall be this clause added to the 12th Article of Figeac And the said Fathers shall make it appear unto the Consistory that they have been diligent in their Duty to hinder as much as in them lay the said Marriages LI. The Province of Brittany is ordered to convoke the next National Synod and shall give Notice thereof three Months before unto all the Provinces as also to the Ministers of Bearn Metz and Sedan and to the Ministers of Princes professing the Reformed Religion The Original of the Acts of this Synod was lodged up in the Archives of the City of Rochel out of which this present Copy was extracted and it was thus signed De Nort Moderator De L'Estang and Scribes chosen and deputed thereunto by the Synod Chauveton Scribes chosen and deputed thereunto by the Synod The End of the Second Synod of Rochel THE ACTS DECISIONS 1583. Synod XII and DECREES OF THE XII National Synod OF THE Reformed Churches of Christ IN The KINGDOM of FRANCE HELD At Vitrè in the Castle of the Right Honourable GVY Earl of Laval on the 15th Day of May and ended the 27th of the same Month in the Year 1583 being the Ninth Year or the Reign of Henry the Third King of France and Poland THE CONTENTS of this SYNOD CHap. I. Deputies Names Deputies from the Churches in the Netherlands 18. Synodical Officers chosen Chap. II. General Matters Deputies to be sent from the Reformed Churches of France unto the Dutch Synods and from theirs unto the French Synods 1. Their Confession and Discipline mutually signed Ministers to be lent reciprocally Assessments of Members to be in Churches not Provinces A Case of Conscience 6. Another about Prayer to be used at the Baptisms of Children born in Incest 8. Promises of Marriage by words de praesenti indissolvable Notorious Sinners cast out of the Church 12. A weighty Case of Conscience 13. Baptism to be administred before the last Psalm 14. A Case about Patronage 15. All the Deputies to communicate in the end of the National Synod 16. Whether a Popish Bride may be accompanied to her Church 17. A Case about Womens Habits 18. A Case about Prohibitions against Church Censures 19. Acts for a Synodical Seal and a National Fast 21 22. A Case about ungraceful Church-Members about Ministers delegated out of their Colloquy or Provinces about visiting of the sick 24 25 26. Chap. III. Canons removed from changed in and added to the Discipline Chap. IV. Of particular Matters A deposed Minister petitioning to be restored unto his Office is rejected A Case of Conscience 2. A whole Church deprived of the Ministry for not maintaining their Pastor 4. A Case of Conscience 5. An Apostate Minister exposed and excommunicated 6. Censures upon two other such Delinquents 7. A Minister practising Physick censured 10. the Harmony of Confessions approved 14. A Case about confronting Witnesses 15. A Case about a dissolved Marriage 17. A scandalous Minister deposed 18. A Case about a Pension upon a Benefice 21. King of Navarr's Message unto the Synod 26. A motion for Vnion between the German and French Churches The Appeal of a scandalous Minister rejected 31. A Case about a Man's Marriage with his Wife's Niece 32. Broccard's Book on Genesis again condemned 33. Bellefleur for writing against the Discipline censured An Act for calling the next National Synod THE First Synod of Vitre SYNOD XII CHAP. I. The DEPVTIES There appeared in this Synod on behalf of the Provinces and as their Representatives the Pastors and Elders hereafter named viz. 1. FOR the Province of the Isle of France the Land of Chartres Picardy and Brie Monsieur Matthew Virell Minister in the Church of Marchais in Beavoisis within the said Isle of France accompanied with Claudius de Hames Lord of Felnoy Elder of the Church at Dieppe 2. For Champagne and the Land of Messin there should have served Mr. Fleuret Minister of the Church of Esparnon in Champagne but he fell sick by the way and sent Letters of excuse unto the Synod which were accepted But the Province was censured for not sending an Elder with the said Minister 3. Fox Normandy M. William Feuguero Minister of Basqueville and John de Lamare Deacon of the Church of Veinieres 4. For Brittaine M. Peter Merlin Minister of the Church gathered in the House of the
as there is none that doth oppose Letters from the King and High-Constable of the Kingdom unto the Synod XVIII Letters written by the King unto this Assembly and sent by Monsieur de Serres the 14th of May last were read wherein His Majesty giveth us assurance of his good Affection to us and to maintain his Edict of the Year 1577 and that we should give credence unto the said Monsieur de Serres as also Letters from the Lord High-Constable unto this Assembly dated the 18th of May last assuring us of the like kindnesses and demanding the like Credence from us to what should be declared by the said de Serres It was decreed That Answers should be returned unto His Majesty with the profoundest Reverence and Thankfulness and His Majesty should be most humbly and earnestly intreated to grant us the Gracious Effects of his Royal Favour And in like manner shall there be Answer returned in Writing unto the Constable XIX Monsieur D' Orival shall write from this Assembly unto the Church of Geneva to acquaint them with the Frauds committed by their Book-sellers who vend in these parts a number of Psalm-Books and New Testaments of the old Translation only prefixing a new Title as if it were a new Impression and Translation as also to return our Thanks unto Monsieur de Beza for Printing and Dedicating his Sermons upon the Passion unto the Pastors and Elders of the Churches in this Kingdom XX. Monsieur D' Orival propounded Whether it were convenient that our Ministers should be dispatch'd as Deputies unto those Assemblies where Matters relating to the preservation of our Churches are debated It was resolved That because the present Juncture of Affairs did necessarily require it they might be sent unto them XXI The Deputies of Orleans craved Advice Whether it were needful that the Contracts of Marriage should be seen before the Banes are published because in their Province the Contracts are not published till the Eve of the Marriage This Assembly determines That it shall be sufficient to see the Articles subscribed by the Principals concern'd or attested by the Publick Notary XXII The Province of Gascogny demanded farther Whether such as made publick profession of our Religion before their admission into Church-Fellowship with us ought particularly in the face of the whole Congregation to abjure the Mass The Synod declared That it was a matter of indispensable necessity XXIII The same Province demanded farther Whether Consuls and Magistrates professing the Reformed Religion and living in those places where Colloquies and Provincial Synods are held ought to be admitted into them It was answered They have no Right to be there but in case they be Persons of eminent Piety and such as may be useful unto the Assembly Synods have full Power if they desire it to call them in unto them XXIV It was again demanded by the Deputy of the same Province Whether a Judge or Magistrate of the Reformed Religion might take a Papists Oath upon the Crucifix Relicks Altar Pixes and such-like Appurtenances of Idolatry they demanding it This Assembly adviseth That no Protestant Judges do give them their Oaths in such a manner but that he exhort those Persons to swear only by the true God but if they will not do it and are obstinately resolv'd to swear after their own way the Judge may admit them provided that they contain themselves within the bounds of His Majesties Laws XXV The Province of Xaintonge craving leave for Monsieur Hautyn of Rochel to print our French Bibles he engaging his Word to do it better for Paper and fairer for Character and at a cheaper Rate than those of Geneva which are now become very rare and dear This Synod doth permit the said Hautyn to print the Bible and adviseth him to have a singular care that it be done most accurately and correctly XXVI The Deputies of the Isle of France demanded What course should be taken with those Persons who having contracted Marriage within the Degrees forbidden by the Word of God without any Dispensation and being married according to the Romish Mass-Book did notwithstanding earnestly desire to be admitted by doing Publick Penance into Communion with our Churches It was resolved That such should not be received to the Peace and Fellowship of the Church till they were first separated one from the other XXVII The Province of Lower Languedoc moving That no Minister might expound the Apocalypse without the Advice of his Colloquy it was granted that no such Exposition should be undertook without the Counsel and Consent of the Colloquy or Provincial Synod XXVIII The same Province demanding What Censure ought to be inflicted on them who marry their Children unto Papists It was resolved That both they and their Children should be deprived of the Lord's Supper and do publick Penance for this their Offence XXIX The desire of the Province of Higher Languedoc is very well approved of That Churches blessed by God with ability should be and they be now exhorted to erect publick Libraries for the Service of the Ministers and Proposans of their Churches XXX The Churches are exhorted most carefully to observe in every point that Union which was made at Mantes by the Deputies of the Churches of this Kingdom for their mutual help and benefit and they shall be informed by their Deputies of its necessity and those Churches which will not conform unto the rest shall be most grievously censured XXXI The Church of Paris is intreated to note and collect the passages in the Sacred Canonical Scriptures and Writings of the Fathers which have been falsified and maimed by them of the Romish Church And the Provinces are charged to send their Observations also to it that so this desirable Work may be printed and published without any delay XXXII The Deputy of Berry demanding Whether it be lawful for Cousin Germans to marry whenas the King hath given his License it was resolved affirmatively XXXIII The Lord du Plessis moving how expedient it would be that in the King's Army there should be ordinarily some Ministers towards whose subsistence the Governours Commissaries and other Officers professing the Reformed Religion should be exhorted liberally to contribute This Assembly decreeth That the Provinces beginning with the Isle of France and Normandy and following the Order prescribed by the 15th Canon of the Eighth Chapter of our Discipline shall make choice of two of their Pastors to be sent into the Army who shall each of them serve six Months which term expired the two next Provinces in order shall send two others to succeed them and so consequently all the rest And all Governours and Officers professing our Reformed Religion are intreated to take particular care of their Maintenance and Encouragement XXXIV Letters were presented unto this Synod by Monsieur Vulson from the Gentlemen assembled at Loudun which being read and after hearing what he was charged to deliver us by word of mouth viz. The Order established among the Churches for
D'Espoir a Copy of his Churches Petition that so he may return them an Answer within two Months time by the way of Paris and the Province of Higher Languedoc are charged in their next Synod to know of the said D'Espoir whether the matters contained in that said Petition be true or not and if true they shall enjoyn him out of hand to perform one of those Conditions proposed by the said Church in their Petition and the Province shall give an Account of the whole Affair to the next National Synod XXXI The Decree of the National Synod of Montauban shall be observed in that matter concerning Monsieur Berault Minister of the Gospel and the Deputies of Lower Languedoc are to acquiesce in it XXXII The Deputies of the Province of Poictou requesting That the Church of Luneré in Normandy might be exhorted to pay Monsieur Vatblè who was formerly their Minister his Arrerages owing to him This Synod hath given in charge to the Deputies of Normandy that pursuant to the Memoirs deposited in their hands by the said Vatblé they endeavour to procure him all satisfaction possible XXXIII The Memoirs of Limoges presented by the Deputies of Gascony are sent back again unto the Assembly of Loudun And the Case propounded in those Papers about Marriages contracted with a party of contrary Religion is fully determined by our Discipline which forbids the Blessing of those Marriages in our Churches where one of the Persons refuseth to quit its Idolatry CHAP. VII The Catalogue of the Deposed THE Deposed were Monsieur * * * Cahier was wheedled off from the Reformed Religion with the never-performed Promises of being made an Abbot He was deposed for writing two Books in which he asserted the Necessity and Lawfulness of Publick Stews and Brothel-Houses and that Fornication and Adultery were not forbidden in the Seventh Commandment but only the Sin of Onan 2. For Magick which he had practised This Wretch had one Vertue he never loved nor was beloved by the Jesuites He was once favoured but after slighted and neglected by the Sorbonists A most slovenly nasty Fellow in his Apparel and way of Living Peter Cahier of the Isle of France Vielbancque in Languedoc Peter le Roy otherwise Boilem in Normandy Godfrey de Vaux in Dolphiny and John Cornille The Provinces shall be advised to beware of a certain pernicious Heretick called Anthony de L'Escale who roves up and down scattering his Errors both by Writings and Discourses The Province of Lower Languedoc is charged to convene the next National Synod in the City of Montpellier the First of May in the Year 1598. The Acts were thus Signed by Dominick de Losse Moderator of the Synod Vincent chosen to Collect the Acts of the said Synod The End of the Synod of Saumur THE ACTS DECISIONS and DECREES OF THE XV. National Synod OF THE Reformed Churches of Christ IN The KINGDOM of FRANCE HELD At Montpellier the 26th of May in the Year of our Lord 1598. THE CONTENTS of this SYNOD CHap. I. Names of Deputies Synodical Officers chosen A Decree that every Province should choose four Deputies who in case of sickness of the first Deputies might supply their places in the National Synod An Exception for the Deputy of Provence Chap. II. Observations upon the Confession Advertisement unto Printers Chap. III. Observations upon the Discipline Distinction between the inability and Ingratitude of a People to their Minister 4. Case of the Emeriti and their Widows 5. Certificates given to the Poor 9. A Case of Conscience moved by the Church of Castres 11. National Synods to be Triennial 12. No Funeral Doles 13. Marriage-Promises to be made either by words de futuro or de praesenti 15. A Case about one who married the Widow of him who in his first Marriage had married his Sister 16. A Case about Certificates to be married in another Church for fear of Witchcraft 17. Widows not to marry till Seven Months after their Husbands death 18. The Marriage of Madam the King's Sister 19. A Case about Incest 20. Whether a Man convicted and condemned by the Civil Magistrate for a Capital Crime which yet he stiffly denieth may be admitted to the Lord's Table 21. A Case about purchasing Lands to keep up the Popish Worship 23. A Case about Advocates and Proctors 24. About Printers 25. And Lotteries 28. Penance for Harlots 30. Chap. IV. Appeals Judgment in Points of Doctrine appropriate unto the Ministry 4. Chap. V. General Matters A Committee of Ministers to revise the Copies of the Discipline Reconcilers of both Religions to be rejected 2. The Liturgy not to be altered Mr. Beza's Scripture Songs to be sung in the Churches 3. Censure of Books Apparatus ad fidem Catholicam Avis pour la Paix de L'Eglise Elenchus Novae Doctrinae 4. A Case sent by a Soveraign Prince unto the Synod for resolution 5. Another Case depending on it 6. Another about Wounds 7. Another about Marriage-Promises 8. Monsieur Chamier's Advice to the Synod when he brought the Edict of Nants unto it 14. A distribution of the King's Money given the Churches 16. Ministers abroad cited home unto the Kingdom by the National Synod 17. Chap. VI. Particular Matters Letters to the Dutch Churches Monsieur Berand to answer Perron and Monsieur de Montigni Cahier 3. Franc a deposed Minister petitioning to be restored is rejected 6. Ministers for Madam 7. Cassegrain's Answer to Perron slighted by the Synod 10. Peyrol not duly qualified for the Ministry 11. Poor Ministers 14 15 16. Complaint of the Town of Aubenas 23. Ministers in one Church quarrelling are both removed 26. The Court of Castres hath the Thanks of the Synod 31. Chap. VII Private Acts. Chap. VIII Extracts from the Acts of the mixt Assembly of Chastel-heraut An Act for calling the next National Synod THE Synod of Montpellier 1598. Synod XV. SYNOD XV. Acts and Articles of the National Synod held at Montpellier the Six and Twentieth Day of May in the Year of our Lord One Thousand five hundred ninety and eight CHAP. I. Deputies and Officers of the Synod Monsieur Berault was chosen President Monsieur De Montigny Assessor And Scribes Monsieur De Macifer and Monsieur Cartau There assembled at it the Pastors and Elders whose Names are underwritten FOR the Isle of France Picardy and Champagne Monsieur Francis de Lauberan Lord of Montigny Minister in the Church of Paris and Moyses Cartau Elder of the said Church For Orleans Berry Blezou and Dunois Master Michael le Noir Minister of Chastillon on Loire and Esaias Fleureau Elder in the Church of Orleans For Dolphiny and the Principality of Orange Master Andrew Caille Minister of Grenoble and Master William Vallier Minister of Die and Master Sebastian Julian Minister of Aurange and Master Felix Elder in the Church of Montlimart For Normandy and Brittany Master William Claud Picheron Minister at Ponteau de Mer without an Elder For the Higher Languedoc and the
Church of Puylaurens and Monsieur Voysin the Minister from a Decree of the Synod of higher Languedoc ordaining the said Voysin to return unto the Colloquy of higher Quercy and to serve the Churches of St. Clere Blenac and Calvinett This Assembly rejecteth and maketh void this Appeal and confirms the Decree of the Synod of Higher Languedoc but on this condition that those Churches last-mentioned do fully satisfie within three months the Church of Puylaurens all those expences they have laid out upon the said Voysin 11. The Colloquy of Albigeois appealed from the Synod of Higher Languedoc because they had now adjudged the Church of Mazamet and St. Amand which formerly belonged to the Colloquy of Albigeois unto the Colloquy of Lauragais This Assembly leaveth the Churches to their full Liberty and to chuse that Colloquy which lieth most commodiously for them And in consequence hereof the Church of Mazamet joined it self unto the Colloquy of Lauragais according to their desire and choice And in the next National or Provincial Synod the Church of St. Amand shall declare into which Colloquy of these two it will be Incorporated 12. Monsieur de Clermont and the Church of Pringey appealed from the Synod of Anjou and Touraine which had adjudged Monsieur le Bloy to the Church of Anger 's notwithstanding the right Monsieur de Clermont pretended to have in the said le Bloy who had been Educated for the Ministry at his sole charges This Assembly because of the importunity of the Church of Anger 's hath confirmed the Call given by them unto the said le Bloy but on this condition that the Church of Pringey shall be provided of Monsieur Douchet who is now in England immediately upon his return or of some other able Pastor by the Church of Anger 's 13. The Church of Montlimard appealed from the Synod of Dolphiny about the Erecting of a Colledge in the Town of Die This Assembly ordereth the Provincial Synod of Dolphiny to put a final period unto this Controversie 14. The Churches in the Principality of Orange brought their Appeal against the Province of Dolphiny for three portions of the King's money to be attributed unto the Churches of the said Principality as it had been decreed in the Synod of Gergeau This Assembly doth Ordain that according to the Dividend made at Gergeau the Churches in the Principality of Orange shall receive three portions of the moneys assigned unto the Province of Dolphiny and that without allowance of any charges unless what had been expended in the recovery of them And this Order shall be of force unto this day but for the future they shall be provided for by that new distribution which shall be made in this Assembly 15. The Elders of the Churches of Lue Tarbies and Brignoles appealed from the Colloquy and Synod of Provence which had ordained that the moneys laid out upon Monsieur Baptist Beliste should be redemanded from those said Churches it having been disbursed wholly and solely for his particular Maintenance This Assembly judgeth that it 's most agreeable to found reason that the charges of Journeys should be born by the whole Province and come out of the publick purse but as for such Expences as were done for expediting and forwarding of particular business relating unto those particular Churches they ought in Conscience and Justice to be defrayed by those Churches 15. The Appeal brought by Joseph Pallott from the Decree of the Provincial Synod of Higher Languedoc is dismissed over to the decision of that Province which is hereby fully impowered to determine finally of it CHAP. VI. Of General Matters 1. THE Petition tendered by our Brethren of the Marquisate of Saluces Exiled for the Gospel's sake from their Houses and Inheritance was read and 't was judged reasonable Concerning the Faithful of the Marquisate of Saluces refuge it the Province of Dolphiny that the Churches of the said Marquisate should be preserved and confirmed in their Union and Communion of Faith and Discipline which they have ever had with the Churches of this Kingdom And therefore the King's Majesty shall be most humbly intreated to recommend them to the Duke of Savoy that the Liberty granted them by his Edicts may be continued and confirmed to them And Letters also to this purpose shall be written from this Assembly unto the Duke of Savoy and to the Duke de les Diguieres and the Churches of the Valleys shall be exhorted to joyn themselves into a stricter Bond of Union as they have done in times of former troubles one with the other Pastors must not be Non-residents 2. All Pastors shall be obliged to a personal Residence in their Churches and who so live at a distance from them shall within three months time at the farthest after notice given them to this purpose retire unto them on pain of being suspended from their Ministry And the Deputies shall immediately upon their return acquaint their respective Provinces with this Decree that so the Provincial Synods may put to their helping hand for its better observation 3. For as much as divers Ministers not deputed unto this National Synod do carry themselves with very little reverence or respect unto it 1603. The 17th Synod that such inconveniencies for the future may be avoided it is ordained That if any Pastors not delegated by their Provinces unto these National Assemblies do notwithstanding appear in them they shall have no place of sitting nor be admitted into them unless it be when matters of a most general and publick concern as to Doctrine and Discipline are treated and debated and then also for no longer time than those Assemblies shall judge meet and fit Concerning Hautyus Printing of the Bible at Rochel 4. The Pastors and Professors in the Church of Geneva complained of our Bibles printed at Rochell This Assembly having revised the Decree of the Synod of Saumur by which the priviledge of Printing those Bibles was granted unto Monsieur Hautin deceased And for as much as the said Impression is very much advanced and that from all parts our Ears are filled with great complaints of the scarcity and dearness of those Bibles printed at Geneva and of the bad Paper and worse Letter used by them in their last Edition in Quarto It was advised to dispatch Letters to our Brethren of Geneva desiring them not to take it amiss that we continued the Printing of our Bibles at Rochell according to the unanimous desire of all the Churches in this Kingdom and in the mean while our Printers at Rochell shall be exhorted to hasten their said Impression and to vend it at as low a price as possibly they can and Monsieur l'Hommeau is requested to add a good Index to it That Article concerning Antichrist shall be inserted into the Body of our Confession 5. Divers Pastors and Members of several Churches remonstrated in this Assembly how they had been troubled and prosecuted for calling the Pope
Assembly commissionated Monsieur Vignier Minister of the Gospel and Monsieur des Fontaines Texier and le Fevrier Elders to examine and close up those Accounts which being done and report made by them it appeared that Monsieur Phillip Pinaut Receiver of the said Moneys stood indebted to them in the sum of 4292 Livers 15 Sous and 8 Deniers upon the whole which said Audit and final Reckoning is approved and ratified by this Synod and it 's further ordered that the said sum of 4292 Livers 15 Sous and 8 Deniers shall remain in the hands of the said Pinault to be employed in the Maintenance of the said University and about nothing else as we shall hereafter take care for And in so doing the said Receiver and Province shall be acquitted and discharged of the said Moneys And the Originals of the Accounts aforesaid shall be kept in the Consistory of Rochell and the Duplicates and Copies evidencing the whole shall be lodg'd in the hands of the said Pinault with the consent of the Deputies of that Province 29. The Province of Xaintonge moving whether it were not needful to make a compleat Answer to the Works of Bellarmine This Synod charged the Deputies of Dolphiny to intreat Monsieur Chamier to prosecute his worthy Labours begun by him upon this Subject 30. Every Province shall chuse one particular Church in it where the Original Acts of their Synods shall be conserved that in case of necessity they may have recourse unto them 31. The Professors of Divinity in the Universities of this Kingdom shall be advised so to contrive their Lectures and Common-places that they may be compleatly finished in three years time 32. The Province of Orleans and Berry demanding that the time for Proposans tendering themselves unto Synods and Colloquies with their Propositions might be fixed equally This Assembly judged that it were best and most convenient to leave it as before unto the liberty and prudence of those Meetings 33. Moreover at the request of the same Province it was ordained That Churches which had Ability should be desired to Erect Libraries for the service of their Ministers 34. Monsieur Perrin is intreated to finish his begun History of the True Estate of the Albingenses and Waldenses and to help him in it all persons having Memoirs by them either of the Doctrine Discipline or Persecutions of those poor Saints of Christ are charged to transmit them to him with all possible care and diligence 35. Into whose hands there may fall a little Treatise about the dispossession of the Devil out of a Demoniack in Soreze they are required to suppress it 36. No Scholars for the future shall be received by the Provinces as Pensioners and who be now maintained at the trivial Schools by the Moneys of his Majesties bounty till such times as they shall have finished their Studies of Humanity and have begun their course of Philosophy and shall give in good Security for repaying the sums received by them and expended on them in case that through their default they do not serve the Church in the Ministry of the Gospel 37. This Case was propounded by the Deputies of Higher Languedoc and Guyenne How they should deal with them who being accused of Crimes were absolved by the Magistrates and yet afterward new evidence appeared against them and the scandal continued The Synod leaves it wholly to the prudence of Consistories who shall comport themselves herein according to circumstances and take special care that the Lives and Reputation of the Brethren be not exposed to needless dangers 38. The Deputies of Normandy requiring that the proper Hebrew names of the Old Testament according as they be printed in this last Edition of our Bibles might be refined and pronounced as in the former Antient Impressions This Synod judgeth it more convenient that they remain as they are and that nothing be changed by our Printers in any of their After-Impressions 39. Monsieur Beraud propounded this Case Whether an Elder of the Church accused of some enormous Crime and justified by an Inferiour Judge and yet drawn by his adverse Party to a Superiour Tribunal may whilst this Appeal stands in force against him exercise his Office in the Church The Synod judgeth that he ought to refrain until such time as he be finally acquitted and discharged by due course of Law See the Synod of Gergeau p. m. 39. 40. The Provinces are exhorted to assist the poor Churches especially in their distribution of his Majesties Bounty conferred upon us 41. The General Deputies are charged not only to manage the general Affairs of all our Churches but the particular ones of every single Church especially when as a difficulty is started about the Erection and Conservation of it according to the Edict And this Order shall bind the Provinces to seek out diligently a Legal Title for the Erection of our Churches and to associate themselves with the Deputies in all Prosecutions at Law necessarily required that so their Erection may be obtained and confirmed A conditional Supersede as to the Article of Antichrist 42. Whereas since the last Resolution taken by us concerning that Article Antichrist and its insertion into the body of our Confession of Faith and in consequence thereof its being printed his Majesty hath notified unto us by our Deputies as also by Monsieur de Montmartyn that the publishing of this Article would exceedingly displease him This Assembly ordaineth That the Printing thereof shall be superseded unless any Member of our Church be molested for it or be brought before the Magistrate for his confession of it or any Minister for Preaching Teaching or Writing about it and his Majesty shall be humbly intreated to interpose his Authority that no one be disquieted for the Impression which is already past or for being possessed of any Copies received from the Press 43. The Deputies of Higher Languedoc crav'd the Advice of this Synod what should be done in that case of Moneys received by their Deputies sent unto the Assembly of Chastelleraut in the year 1605. and which had been given them to defray the Charges of their Journey and Abode there by the Churches and by his Majesties Liberality This Synod ordaineth That the Receivers and Detainers of the said Moneys not having given in their Accounts for them unto their respective Provinces nor having received from them good and vallid Acquittances and Discharges shall be bound to do it and in case of defailure they shall be prosecuted with all Church-censures and other due courses of Law if that the Provinces and Churches do so require it 44. In reading the Synod of Gap about Censures inflicted on the Violators of Marriage-promises without just cause several difficulties were related to have arisen in divers places upon this Subject Wherefore this Synod decreeth That neither private persons nor Consistories have any Authority to dissolve such promises but shall remand them back unto the Cognizance Order and Legal Judgment of the
But because of the general complaint of the Provinces that we have too great a number of Universities we cannot permit the Erection of any new ones besides the Colledge of Bergerac according to the description given us of it will render those inexcusable who send their Children unto the Jesuites because it is as well supplied and furnished with Regents to instruct our Youth in Grammar-Learning and Philosophy as the best of our Adversaries 7. The Province of Dolphiny is exhorted to rest contented with their own proper stock for the same reasons as were alledged in the case of Bergerac only one hundred Crowns are allotted to them as to those Provinces which have no Universities 8. My Lord the Duke of Sully acquainting this Assembly with his design of setling a Colledge for the benefit of the Churches of this Kingdom in the Town of Gergeau untill such time as that of Boisbelle built by him be compleatly finished The Synod applauding his noble pious design consents that there shall be setled upon this Foundation five hundred Crowns yearly to be taken out of the Moneys granted us by his Majesties liberality on this condition that the said Colledge be governed by the same Laws and Orders with the others formerly erected in this Kingdom 9. Although the Universities of Montauban Nismes Montpellier and Sedan have not done their duties about their Accompts as they were charged by the last National Synod yet for some certain considerations this Assembly suffers them to receive from the Treasurer General the Moneys ordered them by the said Synod but on this condition that if they do not bring in an exact Accompt unto the places appointed they shall forfeit their priviledges of being Universities 10. We leave it to the Prudence of Academical Counsels to determine at what times our young Students having perfected their Course of Philosophy may be admitted to make their Proposition without tying them up to a fixt and limited term because of the vast difference between the parts of some and the great and apparent progress of others in humane learning And they may judge also whether it be convenient that the censures past upon our Scholars should be done in their presence or in their absence only and to be reported to the Proposan by the Moderator 11. The Universities and Colledges are injoined strictly to examine our Students in Philosophy as soon as they have finished their course of two years and all Rectors and Professors are forbidden to create them Masters of Arts unless they be found capable and this self same order shall oblige Professors of Divinity for their Schollars that they do not make them Licentiates in Divinity but upon the very self same terms 12. Those Provinces which had an hundred Crowns a-peice granted them by the last National Synod of Rochel for the erecting of Schools and have not produced their Regents Acquittances in this Synod are charged to bring them unto the next on pain of losing their Priviledges 13. The Province of Anjou tendering by Monsieur Bouchereau one of their Deputies the Accompts of Moneys ordained for the maintenance of the University of Saumur This Assembly having audited them decreed that the five hundred Livers expended in building of Galleries for conveniency of the Professors and Scholars in their Temple shall be born by all the Churches of this Kingdom because of the poverty of that Church and their faithful and prudent management of the said Moneys received by them And upon a full view of their Accompts it appeared that the Officers Regents and several Professors of that University had been paid their Stipends to the first day of April past and that the Sieurs de Trochorege Professor of Divinity Birgam Professor of the Hebrew and des Rochers Principal of the Colledge were paid theirs before hand by way of advance unto the first day of July next coming And all this being deducted from the Accompt aforesaid Master Philip Pineau Receiver of the said Moneys stands indebted to the said University in the summ of one thousand two hundred thirty nine Livers nine Sous and two deniers which shall be imployed for the maintenance of the said University in such manner as shall be hereafter ordained And the evidences of the said Accompts shall be kept by the Province of Anjou but the Originals shall be transmitted to the Archives of the Church and Consistory of Rochel CHAP. VIII Of Particular Matters 1. THE Sieurs Cerizier an Elder Guerin and the Senior du Moustier Deputies from the Church of Loudun petitioned that two Ministers might be given them for Pastors out of the Synod of Poictou This Assembly not approving their searchings abroad in several Synods especially in that of Poictou for supplies hath sent them back to their own Province to be provided there according to the Discipline And it being told them that Monsieur Fleury was at liberty to quit his Church in their Province they demanding him he was accordingly given them for their Pastor 2. The difference between Monsieur Constantin and the Province of Xaintonge about Moneys claimed by him from them is dismissed over to the Synod of Poictou to be finally determined by them 3. The Church of Orleans requesting a supply of Moneys to the defraying of those extraordinary Charges they have been at by reason of their divisions This Assembly turned them over to their own Province who should provide for them out of the common Stock distributed among them 4. The Province of Upper Guyenne shall judge whether the Sieur Girard may Preach in the Church of Mauvoisin he being imployed by its Pastor without breaking of their Peace And in case it may be done the Prohibition past against him in the Synod of Gergeau shall be taken off the File 5. Mr. Castelfranc and Benoist Pastors and Mr. Barjac an Elder are ordered by this Assembly to acquaint the Lords President Judges and Counsellors of the Court of Castres from their personal knowledge of what past in the Synod of Gergeau that Monsieur Ferrier Minister in the Church of Nismes did neither by word or deed in the least derogate from their true and due honour and to confirm this their Message Letters shall be written in the name of this Assembly unto the said Lords 6. The Accusation of Ascanius Allion against Monsieur Cante is again remanded back unto the Province of Dolphiny to consider of it and what is to be done in it after their having heard the new matters of fact which the said Ascanius pretends to bring in as Evidence against him And this Assembly orders Monsieur Videl to give him twelve Crowns out of the Moneys collected for the Poor of the Valleys and six Crowns more to be given by him unto Joshua Faravel of the Marquisate of Saluces 7. Mr. Roy formerly an Elder in the Church of Xaintes renewed again his complaint for that the Order of the last National Synod about changing the Eldership in the said Church hath been only in
strict and severe exercise of the Discipline and for not executing the Judgment of the Colloquies and Synods of their Province given forth on this occasion And the said Consistory is enjoyned to see to it that the said Gouze and all his Partners do make satisfaction as in reason they are bound unto the said Sieur Loupiat for the injuries they have done him And in case they so do the said Loupiat shall be intreated to desist from all prosecutions at Law against the said Gouze but in that matter we leave him to his liberty And the said Loupiat at the next Election shall be received into the Eldership according to the Canons of our Discipline And as for the said Gouze we do not conceive him qualified at present for the Office of an Elder 36. The Province of Lower Languedoc assembled at Florac to provide a Pastor for the Church of Meruez fit for their service did lend the Sieur Ollier Pastor of the Church of St. Andrew de Valborgne Whereupon the said Church brought their Appeal into this National Synod Which having heard the whole matter did approve of the Loan made by the aforesaid Provincial Synod but withal gave them to understand that when as the six Months for which he is lent shall be expired that then the said Sieur Ollier shall return again unto his Church of St. Andrew de Valborgne CHAP. VIII His Majesties Proclamation of Pardon BEFORE we proceed unto General matters we shall first exhibit his Majesties Letters Pattents concerning their Pardon who have held Provincial Political Assemblies since that National one which was convened at Saumur in the year 1611. LOUIS by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre To our Beloved and Trusty Counsellors sitting in our Court of Parliament and of the Edict Greeting When God called us to the Government of this Kingdom to Wear the Crown and weild the Scepter of our Ancestors we took up a fixed resolution to follow that form and order in management of State Affairs which was Established by the Deceased King our most Honoured Lord and Father whom God absolve Believing that we could not better secure the Kingdom which he had left us than by imitating his example who had raised it from the deepest desolation to the highest Pinnacle of Glory And we have met with that success and happiness herein that none of our Subjects have had any the least occasion to complain of us For we have took such an effectual course in the Administration of our Government that we have given general satisfaction unto all Persons whom God hath Subjected to us and particularly unto those of the Pretended Reformed Religion for we have not only graciously answered their Petitions and Bills of Grievances which they had presented to us but we have also sent divers Persons of Quality into all the Provinces of this Kingdom with Commissions and Authority to see the Edict of Nantes executed in all its Articles and particular Orders and other Priviledges Granted and Accorded in the Reign of our Deceased Lord and Father to them and in all other cases whatsoever in which it might be executed that so by this means we might free them from all fears and apprehensions of troubles which have been formerly the grounds and pretences used by those our said Subjects for holding extraordinary Assemblies without our Royal Permission and would have made others of a different perswasion to suspect and grow jealous of them Wherefore we being most desirous to provide against those evils and to preserve that Peace Union and good correspondence most Happily Established and kept up by the Edict and its exact observation we do by and with the Advice and Consent and in the presence of the Queen Regent our most Honoured Lady and Mother and of the Princes of our Blood and with the Princes and Officers of our Crown and being fully assured of the good Will in general of our said Subjects of their zeal and fidelity to our service and designing to deal favourably with them We have of our mere and special Grace Plenary Power and Royal Authority remitted and abolished we do remit and abolish by these Presents their offence committed by them who have called or assisted in person at those Assemblies aforesaid which have been held without our Permission in sundry Provinces of this Kingdom and also of all matters fore-passed or done in Consequence of them and we will that they be all fully acquitted cleared and discharged from them and we expresly forbid our Attorney general and his Substitutes in any wise to make any Inquiry Suit or Prosecution for them Yet nevertheless that we may prevent for the future the Licentious calling of such Assemblies forbidden by the Edicts and special Orders made on these accounts by the Late King our most Honoured Lord and Father in the Obedience of which 't is our Will and Pleasure that those our said Subjects shall continue and in pursuance of the eighty second Article of the Edict of Nantes and of the Ordinance of the fifteenth of March 1606. at also of that Answer given the nineteenth of August next following unto their Bill of Grievances presented by the General Deputies of the said Religion the Extracts of which are fastned unto these Presents under the Seal of our Chancery We have prohibited and do prohibit and forbid all those our said Subjects of the said Religion for the future to make any Congregations or Assemblies for treating or debating of holding any publick Assemblies without having first got our Royal License and Permission expresly to this purpose upon pain of being punished at breakers of our Edicts and Disturbers of the publick Peace However we do give them full Liberty of holding their Consistories Colloquies and Provincial and National Synods at hath been formerly granted to them but with this condition that they admit none other persons into them but Ministers and Elders to treat of their Doctrine and Church-Discipline upon pain of losing their Priviledge to hold these Assemblies and on all Moderators of answering for it in their private and personal Capacities And we do command that these our present Letters Pattents be read and recorded and that you cause those our said Subjects to enjoy the benefit of their contents and farther that you see them exactly and punctually observed in the whole extent of your Jurisdiction without permitting or suffering them in the least to be transgressed Moreover we command and enjoin all Governors and Lieutenant Generals Particular Governors and their Lieutenants in the Governments of our Provinces and Cities of their Jurisdiction and the Mayors Bayliffs Sheriffs and Consuls of them to see that they be very carefully kept and observed And the first of our Beloved and Faithful Counsellors and Master of the Ordinary Requests of our Houshold and Counsellors in our Court of Parliament in those places and others our Justices and Officers to make informations of those transgressions aforesaid and to give us
speedy advice of it and in the mean while to proceed against such at shall be found Delinquents according to due course of Law and the Tenour of our Edicts and Ordinances For such is our Will and Pleasure Given at Paris the 24th day of April in the year of Grace 1612. and of our Reign the Second Signed LOUIS And a little Lower by the King in his Council De Lomenie And Sealed with Yellow Wax the great Seal appendant at the bottom with a single Thread CHAP. IX The Synods Declaration against this Proclamation The Letters Patents of His Majesty bore date the 13th of April 1612. And the Synods Declaration was dated the first of Juâ— 1612. 1. HIS Majesties Letters Patents were read containing his Royal Pardon unto them who had called Political Assemblies since that General one held at Saumur which exceedingly surprized and astonished this National Synod and that there might be some remedy provided in time against such Impendent Storm it was judged needful by all the Deputies unanimously to prepare a Declaration on this occasion which should be inserted in this place among our Acts and forth-with Printed that so by this Imprinted Act the Innocency of our Churches might be attested and published to the whole Christian World Here followeth the said Declaration THE Reformed Churches of this Kingdom Assembled in a National Synod at Privas having as it usual took the Oath of Fidelity and Humble Obebedience to their Majesties Command and Service and being informed by divers Deputies of the Provinces that the Kings Letters Pattents were directed to the Parliaments and Courts of the Edict containing an Abolition and Pardon of the faults pretended to have been committed in calling of Particular Assemblies in the several Provinces as also a Pardon for what hath been heretofore and since transacted in them they could not be unsensible of such an horrid dishonour as this done unto them so great so contrary to their Intentions and to that Loyalty they have ever upon all occasions exprest both to the service of his Majesty and the happiness of his Government and they could not but be pierced with a most just grief to see themselves blasted with so great a reproach on the account of the said Provincial Assemblies which have been always held as they were in the Reign of Henry the Great of most happy Memory and since also by a Priviledge granted the said Churches in a Letter Written by her Majesty unto the General Assembly of â—aumur the 22th of August 1611. by which they were commanded every one of them to break up and depart unto their respective Provinces and carry back unto their Principals who had Deputed them the good Intentions of their Majesties Vpon which the said General Assembly inferred their Right and Priviledge of Meeting in particular Assemblies and voted the Congregating of them and ordained that the Deputies of every Province should bring with them their Cahiers to be perused and what reflexions had past upon them and answers given to them which was a matter well-known unto the Lords of the Council nor could they believe it or judge it unreasonable because that in those very Instructions given unto the Commissioners sent by their Majesties into the Provinces about the inexecutions and transgressions of the Edict they were commanded to return home immediatly and without delay that they might be in the Provinces before the meeting of those particular Assemblies and 't is a most certain truth they were for the most part either Authorized by the summons of his Majesties Lieutenants or by the conduct and direction of some one or other of the Presidents in the Soveraign Courts and ever in the Magistrates presence The Kings Officers and other persons of Quality having express charge from their Majesties to be there upon the place and sit with them or otherwise some one of the aforesaid Commissioners sent by the said Provinces did moderate and preside in them None of which would ever have plunged themselves in so much guilt in case there had been any as is now pretended Yea so far were our Lords of the Council from judging us guilty that on the contrary they received all our Cahiers Remonstrances and most humble Petitions framed in those Assemblies with the greatest kindness and have since answered them Insomuch at they never esteemed them Criminal nor needing Abolition and Pardon This grieveth and woundeth deeply the very Souls of all who do Profess the Reformed Religion in this Kingdom because it fastens the blot and brand of a Crime upon them which that they might evade they have on all occasions hazarded both their Lives and Fortunes But they have another and farther ground of Grief and Affliction which it that these Letters Pattents look at if some ill men had a design of kindling again those Flames and reviving once more those old hatreds and animosities of their Fellow Citizens and Countreymen against them which have lain Dead and Buried these many years and that they are seeking a new pretext wherewith their most inveterate Enemies may be hereafter furnished to assault and ruine them and finally to render them odious and execrable to all sorts of persons both at home and abroad within and without the Kingdom Such consequenoes as these cannot but involve them in great troubles cannot but shake and unsettle the repose and tranquillity of the Government and grievously augment their fears and sorrows being compelled after this manner to ease their burdened Spirits and to express their sense and resentments of such great indignities because they cannot but avow themselves the best and most Faithful Subjects that ever their Majesties had or shall have in their Kingdoms and Dominions For which cause the said Churches conformably to those humble Addresses made by their General Deputies unto the Council and to their Petition presented unto the Court of Parliament of Paris the 14th of May last do declare as they have done that they never requested nor demanded nor did by any Letters of theirs endeavour to obtain that Abolition or Pardon that it was never done by them nor are they so much as in word or thought guilty of those imaginary Crimes presupposed in them and that they be ready all of them jointly and singly to be responsible for their actions and to publish them to the whole World openly and at noon-day counting all manner of torments far more easie to be born than that they and their Posterity should be stigmatized with such a shameful brand of Infamy which might hereafter deprive them of that true honour and glory which was ever ascribed to them of being true French-men and to be reputed and accounted by strangers the most Loyal and most Faithful Subjects of His Majesty in the worst times persons uncorruptible and the best and most affectionate unto His Government Moreover they do farther declare that they will not in the least either help themselves or make use in any manner of way of those
to the Decree of the National Synod of Privas the Province of Normandy have payed their debt unto Monsieur Vatablé and the Moneys were deposited for him into the hands of the Deputies of Poictou See the 5th Article after the Roll of names 2 Vitré obs 7. upon the Synod 36. The Letters of the King of great Britain received at the opening of this Assembly and those from the Church of Geneva and those which were since its Session sent from his Highness the Prince Elector Palatine and from the Lord Mareschal Duke of Bouillon to it being read as also the Letters of Monsieur Moulin and Tilenus treating of the difference between them The Assembly deputed certain Pastors to peruse the Inventory transmitted us from the Professor Tilenus and Monsieur du Moulin's Confession of Faith about the effects of the Personal Union who made report that the said Inventory contained certain terms and modes of speech that were uncouth and improper yet imputed unto the said Monsieur du Moulin as his and extracted out of a Conference held with him at Paris whereof they could not make any Judgment unless they had sight of the Original or at least of a Copy of its Acts exactly and well collationed And as for the confession of the said Monsieur du Moulin sent unto this Assembly they do find it for its substance orthodox and wide enough from all suspicion of Eutychianism Nestorianism Samosatenianism and Ubiquitism Wherefore that this difference may be totally extinguished and a most sincere reconciliation effected between the divided Parties this Assembly ordained that all the Printed Copies of the Professor Tilenus his Book and that Manuscript before mention Styled the Inventory as also the Latin and French Books written by the said Monsieur du Moulin relating unto this Question shall be sent to Saumur and deposited with the Lord du Plessis Marly that so the remembrance of this contention may be for ever buried in oblivion And Monsieur du Moulin and the Professor Tilenus are exhorted by this Assembly to meet together on the same day and at the same place in Saumur where the Pastors of the neighbouring Churches together with the Pastors of that Church and the Professors of that University may be summoned in together who with the said Lord du Plessis shall endeavour a firm Union in Doctrine between these two persons and a sincere forgetfulness of all Matters past betwixt them And in the mean while Monsieur du Moulin is exhorted to continue his labors in his Church with that same zeal and greatness of Spirit as heretofore and to take courage and comfort unto himself from that Approbation and Testimonial which hath been and is still given him for the orthodoxy of his Faith and soundness of his Doctrin And report shall be made of these methods and means used by us unto His Majesty the King of great Britain to his Highness the Prince Elector Palatin to the Lord Duke of Bouillon in our Letters of answer to them particularly together with our humble requests unto his Majesty of great Britain to his Electoral Highness the Prince Palatin and to the Lord Mareschal Duke of Bouillon that they would be pleased by their Authority to oblige the said Monsieur Tilenus personally to ingage in this Interview and conference and to command that the before-mentioned Printed Books and Manuscripts which may have past out of this Kingdom into their Dominions may be all called in and suppressed And this also shall be inserted in our answer unto the Church of Geneva 37. This Assembly ordaineth that the portion of the Sieur du Moulin Pastor of the Church at Orleans shall be discharged of all Taxes and Costs upon the Provinces See the 4th Article after the names of the Deputies and paid in unto him full and free 38. Master Hume formerly Pastor of the Church of Duras having found on his return home from Scotland and England his said Church provided of another Pastor and the Province not calling him unto another Church he is declared free by this Assembly to serve in any other place where God shall call him either in the same or in any other Province of this Kingdom 39. This Assembly having been read and heard the Letters and arguments of Achilles Bonhout which prevailed with him not to remove his son from the Jesuites school and that the consistory of the Church of Lions cannot in the least compel him to it doth Judge them null and commands the said Consistory to inflict upon him and all others that shall be guilty of the like scandal the severest Censures of the Church according to our Discipline 40. The Church of Metz by their Letter bearing date the tenth of May and received the second of June petitioned this Assembly to send them such a Pastor out of the Churches of this Kingdom as It Judged would most contribute to their Edification and if It thought good either Monsieur Chevillette Minister of Vitry or Monsieur de la Cloche Minister of the Church of Moysi both of them in the Isle of France This Assembly left the consideration of this matter unto the said Province and prayed them in their next Synod to gratifie the Church of Metz CHAP. X. Of Colledges and Vniversities 1. MOnsieur Joly one of the Pastors of the Church of Montauban made report in this Assembly that for divers months last past he hath took upon him the profession of the Hebrew Language and for the benefit of the University and the assistance of Moniseur Tenant he desires to continue in it requesting that the hundred Livers remaining of the four hundred assigned unto Professors of the holy Language might be granted him Monsieur Tenant receiving only three hundred of those four The Council of the University having joyned with the said Joly in his Petition this Assembly granted them their demand and exhorted the said Monsieur Joly to acquit himself worthily of this his new Employment which he also promised See above 12. obs upon thè former Syn. 2. Monsieur Elias Alba Mayor of Bergerac having on behalf of the Corporation of the said Town performed the Condition proposed to them by this Synod and brought an Act of the Town-house dated the twelfth day of this month by which the whole Bench and Common-Council of that Town assembled together do give him full power to declare that upon our Order for payment of the sum of 1500 Livers out of the Moneys granted by His Majesty unto the Churches of this Kingdom they would yield up their whole Right in the King 's Writ of Grant of the said sum unto the disposal of this holy Synod which also is most humbly petitioned by them to give them the Grant thereof for the maintenance of their Colledge This Assembly commending their submission unto the Ordinance of our Churches and in consideration of their Importunity and for the benefit of their Colledge doth grant unto them the sum of twelve
which he was threatned that if he once more offended in the like manner he should be proceeded against with greater severity The Synod also that commissionated them was censured for assembling themselves irregularly and not observing the Rules and Orders which are usually and necessary to be observed in such Synodical Meetings And sith it appears there be very many and great Divisions in that Province the Province of Lower Languedoc is charged to Commissionate some certain Pastors and Elders who by the Authority of this Assembly shall assemble the Synod of the said Province and meeting with them shall use their utmost power and indeavour to appease their troubles and to reunite those that be divided and to restore and settle Order in those Ecclesiastical Assemblies 17. The twenty second day of May there came into this Assembly for the Province of Higher Languedoc Monsieur John Josion Pastor of the Church of Castres and James * * * Joly afterward turned Apostate Joly Pastor of the Church of Milland together with James de Laureney Baron of Mombrun Provost of Figeac Elder in the Church of Cajars and John de la Viale Counsellor for the King and Lieutenant Criminal in the Seneschalsey of Quercy and Montauban The excuses urged by them for their delays were rejected and their Letters of Commission judged defective And all these four Deputies did take and swear and subscribed for themselves and those who Commissionated them the Oath of Union the Confession of Faith and our Church-Discipline 18. All and every one of these Deputies swore and protested before God Privas Art 1. after the Election of the Moderator Alez Art 3. ibidem that they did not use any indirect nor underhand-dealing nor did any other for them procure as they knew their Deputation nor did they know that any of their Collegues had brigued his or their Election unto this Assembly CHAP. II. Rules and Orders about By-standers and Spectators in the Synod 1. WHereas the Letters of Commission brought by the greater part of the Provincial Deputies do exceedingly differ in that Clause of Submission due and owing by the Churches unto the Decrees of our National Synods And for that very much of our time is spent and wasted in examining and debating of them It is now decreed that for the future All the Provinces should confine themselves unto the words and substance of this ensuing form We promise before God to submit our selves unto all that shall be concluded and determined in your Holy Assembly to obey and execute it to the utmost of our power being perswaded that God will preside among you and lead you by his holy Spirit into all truth and equity by the Rule of his Word Tonneins Art 1. after the Roll of the Deputies for the good and edification of his Church to the glory of his great name which we most humbly beg of his Divine Majesty in our daily Prayers 2. Whereas divers Pastors and Elders chosen by the Provinces have not appeared in their own Persons but by their Surrogates in this Synod the Provinces shall be advertised to take Cognizance of their Excuses and to pass Judgment on them by the Authority of this Assembly 3. The Provincial Deputies of Brittain Tonneins at the â—nd and underneath g. m. 36. did give an Account of their Calling the National Synod unto this place because the Province of Bearn had resigned their priviledge unto them which the last National Synod held at Tonneins had conferred upon them This Assembly approved of what was done by them but yet told them it had been requisite on their part to have been more diligent and careful in acquainting the Provinces more early of the time and place of meeting by their Letters of Advice and Summons And this Advertisement shall serve for all the Provinces that when as any one of them shall have the charge and priviledge of Indicting our National Synods they may so order matters as to free and acquit themselves of all blame and complaint in this particular 4. Monsieur Petré Pastor of the Church of Vitré Petitioned for his Church and Consistory that he together with the Elders of the said Church might be permitted to sit in this Assembly whilst the Confession of Faith and the Ecclesiastical Discipline were reading The Synod granted it for himself and for two Elders chosen and named by the Consistory and unto those other Pastors who having leave from their Churches to attend the Synod about the concerns of their Churches 3. of Râ—chel Art 3. after the Elect. of the Moder St. Maixant the same Alez ibid. or their own private business as also unto Proposans But as for others who would intrude themselves that Canon of the National Synod of Rochell in the year sixteen hundred and seven shall be strictly observed 5. As soon as the Assembly was form'd and setled the first thing they Voted was an Address unto his Majesty to testify the Joy of all our Churches Below g.m. 29. for those many and wonderful Blessings which God hath graciously vouchsafed Him and to protest unto his Majesty from all the Deputies of the Provinces here Assembled and from all the Churches of this Kingdom that we are and ever will be his most humble most loyal most affectionate and most obedient Subjects and Servants And to this purpose there were deputed from among the Pastors Messieurs Hesperien and Bouteroue and from the Eldership Messieurs de Balene and de Moussac who had Letters given them to present unto his Majesty together with a particular Message which they were to deliver him in the name of this Assembly Of which the Lords Deputies who are now sitting in the Town of Rochel shall have notice given them and Letters shall be sent to the Lord du Candall to furnish these our Deputies with a supply of Monies to defray the Charges of their Journey 6. The Oath of Union of all the Churches of this Kingdom Priâ—as Art 4. after the Elect. of the Moderat under our most humble obedience due unto the King was renewed sworn and subscribed by all the Deputies in this Assembly both for themselves and the respective Provinces from whom they were Commissionated CHAP. III. The Confession of Faith THE Confession of Faith of these reformed Churches in the Kingdom of France was read word by word from the beginning to the end and approved in all its Articles by all the Deputies as well for themselves as for their Provinces that sent them and all of them sware for themselves and Provinces that they would teach and preach it because they believ'd that it did perfectly agree with the Word of God and they would use their best endeavour that as it had been hitherto so it should be ever more received and taught in their Churches and Provinces CHAP. IV. Observations on reading of the Church-Discipline Containing matter of advice given unto certain Provinces 1. THE Deputies of Anjou
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
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.
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
Richard Pastor of the Church of Cheilar John de Blache Lord of Blesset Elder of the Church in Bouffres and John de Roure Advocate Elder of the Church of Aubenas 20. For the lower Languedoc Mr. Laurence Brunier Pastor of the Church of Vsez Michael le Faucheur Pastor of the Church of Montpellier Charles de Bouques Lord of Pons Doctor of the Civil Law and Elder of the Church of Montpellier and Antony de Roques Lord of Clausonne Elder in the Church of Montfrin 11. For the higher Languedoc and Guyenne Monsieur John de Voysin Pastor of the Church of Realmont and Antony Garissoles Pastor of the Church of Puylaurent Paul de Luffee Lord of Maraval Governour of Mavesin and Elder of the Church there James du Puy Deputy-Lieutenant in the Seneschalsy of Montauban and Elder of that Church 12. For â—urgundy Mr. Peter Helliot Pastor of the Church of Arnay le Due Francis Pereault Pastor of the Church of Mascon and Noel du Noyer Elder of the Church of Bussy Monsieur Salmasius was nominated Deputy unto this Assembly but excused himself by Letters as also did Monsieur Guichard and Forest who beigg Elders were both substituted in his place whose excuses were remanded back unto their Province that it might judge of their validity 13. For the Province or Provence Mr. Peter Huron Pastor in the Church of Reis Elias de Glandeviâ— Lord of Anjou Elder in the Church of Puymichel 14. For the Province of Dolphiny Mr. Paul Guyon Pastor of the Church of Dieu le sit Peter de la Croze Pastor of the Church in Courtezon James Bernard Advocate Elder of the Church in Montlimart and Moses du Port Elder of the Church de la Meure the Lord of Champoleon was also nominated in the Letters of Commission but excused himself by Letters unto this Assembly 15. For the Province of Sevennes Monsieur Peter Guillamin Pastor of the Church of St. Andrew de Valborgne Daniel Venturin Pastor of the Church of Vigan John de Vignoles Lord of Bonnet Elder in the Church of Colegnac and John Baldwin Doctor of Laws Elder in the Church of la Salle 16. There came also for the Churches in the Principality of Bearne Monsieur Peter L' abbadye Pastor of the Church of Paw and John de la Coste Lord of Padet Elder of the Church of Moneing In whose Letters of Commission there being wanting the clause of Submission that Article of the Synod of Vitre was read unto them relating to it Whereupon they offering their reasons why they could not intirely subject themselves unto the Discipline of our Churches in France principally because of the present juncture of Affairs They were admitted to a consultive Vote under the limitations expressed in that Act of the Synod of Vitre that it should be left to the Will of the Provinces Whether they should have a decisive Vote in certain Cases concerning the Churches of this Kingdom and this by provision only until the next National Synod 17. The Sieur Chalas one of the General Deputies of the Reformed Churches in this Kingdom near His Majesty was present also in this Assembly according to the Charge given the said Lords General Deputies in the last general Assembly held at Loudun and Order of our Church After Invocation of the Name of God the Reverend Monsieur Peter du Moulin was chosen Moderator Mr. Brunier Assessor and Messieurs Vignier and Papillon Scribes CHAP. II. Remarks and Passages of the First Session LEtters were presented from the Lord Duke of Rohan unto this Assembly whereby he assured them of the continuance of his Zeal and Affection to the Glory of God and to the weal and happiness of our Churches for which he had the thanks of the Assembly returned him in their Letters 2. Messieurs des Maretz and Ollyer Pastors of the Church of Alez petitioning to be admitted into this Assembly and to assist at the reading of our Confession of Faith and Church Discipline it was granted them as also unto two Elders whom the Consistory should appoint but as for such Ministers as were not commissionated hither by their Churches and all other Persons the Canons of the Third Synod of Rochel and that last of Vitre should be punctually observed Vitre Act 4. after the List of the Deputyes 3. Every one of the Deputies in this Assembly took the Oath according to the Decree made in the Synod of Privas that they had not brigued their Deputation unto this place neither directly nor indirectly Privas Act. 1. after the Names of the Deputyes neither for themselves nor for any others And this shall be observed in like manner for the future in all our National Synods 4. Monsieur â—uretin Pastor and Professor in Divinity in the Church and University of Geneva having brought Letters from the Pastors and Professors there fully testifying and expressing their Holy Affection to the Churches of this Kingdom and of their most near and intimate communion with us was intreated by this Assembly to give us his presence during his abode in this City and to take place among us and to communicate his Counsels and Votes in matters that should be proposed which he also did And after mature and exact consideration of the several clauses in those Letters tender'd by him an Answer was made unto them 5. The Letters of the Lord * * * But he somtime after revolted Duke of Desdiguieres were also presented unto this Assembly expressing his desire for the advancement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Letters of Thanks were ordered to be sent unto His Excellency 6. Monsieur Bansillon Pastor in the Church of Aiguemortes having brought Letters from the Lord of Chastillon and by word of mouth given this Assembly the Protestations of the said Lord after the Heroick Example of his Famous Ancestors to spend himself and Estate in the advancement of Christ's Kingdom was desired to carry back Letters of Thanks from this Synod unto that Noble Lord. CHAP. III. An Act of the Oath of Union subscribed by all the Deputyes both Pastors and Elders The same Oath was Enacted at Tenneins 1014. WEE whose Names are hereunder written Deputies of the Reformed Churches of France assembled in our National Synod in the City of Alez in the Province of Sevennes knowing by experience of what is past that there is nothing more necessary to preserve the peace and wellfare of the said Churches than an holy Union and inviolable consent both in Doctrine and Discipline and their dependencies and that the said Churches cannot long subsist without a good strict and mutual Union and Conjunction of one with another and this better kept and maintained than heretofore Therefore being desirous for the future to remove all seeds of Division and occasion of partialities between the said Churches and to obviate all Impostures Plots Calumnies and Practices whatsoever by which divers Persons ill-affected to our Religion do indeavour its ruine and destruction for
of Orleans Elijah du Bois Esq Lord of Senelieres Elder of the Church of Chasteaudun and John du Four Counsellor to the King and his Judge in the Sessions of Blois and Elder of the Church there For the Province of Anjou Mr. John Vigneux Pastor of the Church of Mans Isaac le Pelletier Pastor of the Church of Vandome George Rabboteau Advocate and Elder in the Church of Pruilly and Samuel Pruchieur Lord de la Mesnerie and of the Waters and Forests in the Sheriffdom of Anjou Elder of the Church of Bange For the Province of the Higher and Lower Poictou Mr. Isaac Caville Pastor of the Church of Cove James Cottiby Pastor of the Church of Poitiers Claudius Gourjault Esq Lord of Venoars Elder in the Church of â—usignun and Michael des Roulins Esq Lord of Bois St. Martyn Elder in the Church of Mouschamp For the Province of Xaintonge Mr. William Rivett Lord of Chauvernown Pastor of the Church of Taillebourg Theodore de â—ignon Judge Assistant in the Town of Rochefoucaut and Elder of the Church there and John Thomas Judge of Mirambeau Elder of the Church there as for Michael le Blanc Pastor of the Church of Rochell and deputed at the same time together with the said Lord of Chauvernown he fell sick just as he came to Paris and departed this Life on Wednesday the Thirteenth of this instant September and was buried the next day in the Church-yard of Charenton aforesaid For the Province of the Lower Guyenne Mr. John Alba Pastor of the Church of Tonneins James Berdolin Pastor of the Church of Duras Seigneron Buffoon formerly Lieutenant in the Seneschally of Castlejaloux Elder of the Church there and Mathias Capduroy Advocate in the Parliament of Bourdeaux and Elder of that Church For the Province of Lower Languedoc Solomon Crubelier Pastor of the Church of Vauvert and John Faucheur Pastor of the Church of Nismes and Professor of Divinity in that University James â—esquet Doctor of the Civil Law and Advocate Elder in the Church of Montpellier and du Mas Doctor of the Civil Law and Advocate Elder in the Church of Lunel absent never came unto the Synod For the Province of Higher Languedoc and Guyenne Mr. Peter Beraud Pastor and Professor of Divinity in the Church and University of Montauban Peter Savoys Pastor of the Church of Castres John Mauzy the Kings Attorney in the Judicature of Ville â—ongue Elder in the Church of Puylaurens and James Herauldy Doctor of the Civil Law and Advocate Elder in the Church of Figeac For the Province of Burgundy Mr. Isaiah Bayly Pastor of the Church of â—ions James Clerk Pastor of the Church of Sessy Peter de L' Oriol Esq Lord of Zarlac Elder in the Church of Bourg and Albert de Mars Esq Lord of Balenes Elder in the Church of Maringues absent and did not come unto this Synod For the Province of Dolphiny Mr. James de Chambrun Pastor of the Church of Orange Adrian Chamier Pastor of the Church of Montlimart Moses du Port Esq Captain and Constable of the Castle of Lamure Elder of the Church there and Daniel Bois Advocate in the Parliament of Grenoble and Elder of the Church in that City For the Province of Sevennes Mr. James Berlie Pastor of the Church of Quissac Paul Paulett Pastor of the Church at Vazenobre Andrew du Crois Esq Lord of Vazenobre and Elder of the Church of St. German and Calbergue and Anthony Despeces Doctor of the Civil Law and Advocate Elder in the Church of Alez For the Province of the Isle of France Mr. Samuel Durant and Mr. John Mestrezat Pastors of the Church of Paris Peter de Launay Counsellor and Secretary to the King Elder of the said Church and James de Herouard Esq Lord of â—osseuse Elder in the Church of Baillolett The Lord of Montmartyn Deputy General for the Reformed Churches in this Kingdom to His Majesty took his Place and sate personally in this Synod according to the Canon of our Churches in this case provided Eight Dayes after the opening of the Synod there came and craved admission into it The Sieurs Bertrand d' Avignon Lord of Souvigne Pastor of the Church of Rennes and John de Gennes Lord of la Baste Elder in the Church of Vitre Deputies for the Province of Britain and being demanded the reasons of their delay and late coming they answered that it arose hence that their Provincial Synod could not be held early enough because that His Majesty having given Order to some particular Persons to send an Officer who might assist in Person in it they put off his Nomination and Commission so long that they have lost all this time which Excuses of theirs were accepted by the Assembly Twelve dayes after the Synod had sate there came into it Mr. John D' Isserotte Pastor of the Church of Moneings Deputy for the Principality of Bearn who declared that the Letters of Convocation unto this present Synod came not into their Province but very lately so that they could not assemble their own Synod timely enough for the Deputies to meet at the opening of this Assembly and that Mr. Samuel Campaigne Elder in the Church of Olleroon who was deputed together with him fell sick just as they were beginning their Journey so that he had not time to acquaint the other Person with it who was ordered in case of such an Accident to succeed him in this Office and therefore he humbly requested this Synod to accept of these his Excuses which it also did and gave him his priviledge of sitting and voteing in it But forasmuch as in his Letters of Commission the clause of submission was couched in those very self-same terms and under those conditions wherewith the Deputies of the said Principality had been hitherto admitted into these Assemblies and that the Synod of Alez had suffered those Conditions because of the juncture of Affairs then and by provision only until this present Synod therefore this Assembly doth ordain in pursuance of the limitations and restrictions made in the foregoing National Synods the Provinces shall have full liberty to require that the said Sieur D' Isserotte may not in some cases concerning the Churches of this Kingdom not be permitted either his deliberative or decisive Vote and that before the breaking up of this Synod he do produce the reasons why the Churches in the Principality of Bearne have so long deferred their full and intire subjection to the Discipline of the Churches in France and of which this Assembly will consider and give judgment The Sixteenth day after the Synod had sate there came unto it for the Province of Vivaretz Mr. Joseph Villou Pastor of the Church of Chambon Solomon Faure Pastor of the Church of Privas Anthony Perrottin Advocate Elder in the Church of Villeneusve de Berg and John Faure Lord of Champlas Elder in the Church of Tournon near Privas who related that through the delays and difficulties caused by the Governours and
fretted at the heart to hear an Impudent Jesuit abuse the good Nature of his King vvith such odious Equivocations and to laugh in his Sleeve at the simplicity of his over credulous Auditors Whereupon he intreated Monsieur de Modene at that time a Person utterly unknown to him to ask of Father Arnoux Whether Fryer James Clement that stab'd Henry the Third in the Bovvels vvith a poysoned Knife being a Prince Excommunicated by the Pope had killed his King And suppose the Pope should Excommunicate His Majesty novv reigning and declare his Throne and Kingdom vacant vvhether he vvould then ovvn Lewes XIII for his King And if at that time an Assassinate as John Chastel Peter Barriere or Francis Ravaillac all Disciples of the Jesuits should attempt upon His Majesties Life he would accurse and anathematize him as guilty of Treason in the last and highest degree for daring to lift up his bloody hands against the Sacred Person of his King The By-standers immediately comprehended the cheat and imposture of the Jesuit and how they had been gull'd by him for he could not make any Reply to the demand of this Protestant Minister Monsieur Primrose But though he could not ansvver his Arguments the Jesuit found out means and opportunity to cry him quitts and to be reveng'd upon him For ' t vvas be that sollicited the Parliament of Bordeaux and by his Interest got that Decree to pass in it That no Stranger not born in the Kingdom should be a Minister in France Monsieur Gilbert Primrose hereupon being outed of his Church passed into England and was chosen Pastor of the French Church of London in whose Service he continued till his Death And where now succeeds him though at some distance in the same Pastoral Office his Reverend and Worthy Grandson See this Relation in page 75 and 76 of his Panegyrique a tres grand tres puissant Prince Charles Prince de Galles 1624. CHAP. XVI 17 THE Lord of Galland required that for the future no Pastors might be deputed unto Political Assemblies declaring it to be His Majesties Pleasure expresly notified in his Letters written unto this Synod Whereupon it was unanimously voted that His Majesties Command should be absolutely obeyed and as it was injoyned so His Majesties Letter should be inserted into the Acts of this Synod the tenour whereof is as followeth By the KING Trusty and well-beloved we have heretofore made known unto you what was our intention concerning Foreigners being Ministers in the Reformed Churches of this our Kingdom and in particular about those Two Scotchmen the Sieurs Primrose and Cameron lately Ministers in our City of Bourdeaux And whereas in your last sent unto us you started some difficulties about it we do now once again declare it to you that it is our Will and Purpose that the said Primrose and Cameron shall neither of them in any wise he imployed in the Publick Offices of Ministers in the Churches or of Ministers and Professors in the Churches and Universities of the Reformed Religion in France not so much because of their Birth as Foreigners but for reasons concerning our Service Moreover you shall again move them That in obedience to our Command formerly notified to you no Ministers shall b e deputed unto Political Assemblies and they should of themselves have made a Canon against it because their Ministerial Calling is quite of another Nature and such Deputations must needs distract and hinder them if they do not wholly take them off from the Occupations and Duties of their Spiritual Function And in ca e they should make any difficulty to comply with our Will herein you shall give them to understand that they will enforce us to take some other course with them either by a Publick Declaration against them or else by those very Warrants which shall be issued forth in Our Name and Authority for the holding of those Assemblies However it s not our mind to exclude the Ministers of those places where those Assemblies do meet from sitting in them And let this our intention be inserted into the Register of your Assembly that so none may pretend ignorance in case of their failure and transgression For such is our Will and Pleasure Given at St Germans in Laye this 25th of September One Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty Three Signed Lewes and below L' Omenie And on the Superscription thus To Our Trusty and Beloved Counsellor in Our Council of State and Privy Council and Attorney General for our Dominion of Navarre The Lord Galland Our Commissioner unto the Synod of Charenton 18. The Synod being informed that the Publick Notary who received the Letters of Attorney given unto the Sieurs Durant Mestrezat Massocos Biggot and de L' Aunay had through inadvertency omitted the1 Revocation of the Letters of Attorney formerly granted by the preceding National Synods for the recovery of the Arrears owing to our Churches by Monsieur Palott it hath declared as it now doth and will again declare if need be that all former Letters of Attorney granted unto any Persons whatsoever by the former National Synods are revoked and we do will that they be esteemed null invalid and of none effect 19. The Assembly being desirous that the succeeding National Synods may have a particular knowledge of the number of Pastors imployed in the Churches of this Kingdom it doth ordain that there shall be now written a Roll and Catalogue of the Names end Sirnames both of Ministers in Actual Service in every Province and of their Churches as also of Ministers discharged and Emeriti and of all vacant Churches which Catalogue shall be attached to the Original Acts of this Synod and kept by that Province whose Priviledge it vvill be to convocate the next National Synod And this shall alvvay be continued in all subsequent National Synods And all the Provinces are injoyned to bring vvith them the Names and Surnames of every Minister in actual Service to vvhom a Dividend is allotted and that this may be done the more carefully and effectually they shall bring vvith them the Acts of their Provincial Synods subscribed and attested by the respective Moderators 20. The Sieurs Cottiby Pastor and du Bois St. Martyn an Elder vvho vvere deputed unto His Majesty from this Assembly most humbly to petition His Majesty that Monsieur du Moulin Pastor of the Church of Paris might have His Majesties Gracious Leave to return into this Kingdom and be restored unto his Flock and to the Exercise of his Ministry and that the Sieurs Primrose und Cameron might also be restored unto the Church of Bourdeaux and Church and University of Saumur vvhereof they vvere Pastors and Professors Those being novv returned from Court they reported that His Majesty received them vvith His vvonted Candor and Goodness and having given them Audience he did by the Lord Chancellor tell them that His Majesty had Graciously received their Message but commanded him to acquaint them that for divers
good reasons vvhich if they vvere knovvn to us vvould very vvell satisfie us His Majesty could not permit that the said Ministers du Moulin Primrose and Cameron should live in His Kingdom and that since from His Majesties ovvn Mouth and Writing they understood his Will it vvas his pleasure that they should make no Replies Hovvever because of their most humble petition His Majesty would permit those Ministers to reside within His Kingdom but on this condition That they should neither be imployed in the Pastoral or Professors Office But in time Matters might be better ordered to their contentment CHAP. XVII THE reason of the French Kings Indignation against Monsieur du Moulin and for which he would never admit him to serve either in his Church of Paris or in any other Church or University of this Kingdom as it hath been related to me by some eminent Ministers of that Nation was this That when Lewes the Thirteenth by the Advice of Cardinal Richelieu his perpetual Coadjutor in all Affairs of State as he styled himself did first attempt the ruine of those poof Churches Monsieur Du Moulin writ a Letter unto James the First King of Great Britain who had a value and kindness for this Learned Minister in which he inform'd His Majesty how that not only the Eyes of all the Reformed Churches of France were upon him for help in this the day of their Exigency and great distress but the Eyes also of all other the Reformed and Protestant Churches in Europe This Letter was delivered to the King but as some credibly inform'd dropt afterward into the hands of the Duke of Buckingham who sent the very Original it self unto the French King Upon the Receipt whereof he immediately issues out Warrants to seize and apprehend Monsieur du Moulin which were not executed with that speed and secrecy but that Monsieur du Moulin had timely notice given him by some of his Friends at Court to flee for his Life out of the Kings Reach and Dominions which he did accordingly and was sometime afterward called to be Pastor and Professor in the Church and University of Sedan a little Principality of which the Mareschal Duke of Bouillon was Sovereign And here this Worthy Minister of Jesus Christ lived the rest of his dayes dying in a good old Age and full of dayes in the Ninetieth Year of his Life 1650. The Works Published by him were these * * * I do admire him upon the Eucharist and on Purgatory He hath my heart when I read his Consolations to his Brethren of the Church of France as also intreating of the Love of God I would willingly learn French to underitand him only and have a long time desired and still do get any thing that he hath written Dr. Twisse 1. Petri Molinaei Elementa Logica Lugduni Batavorum 1596 1603. 2. Meditatio in Psalmum 123. adversus Jacobum Perronium Episcopum Eburo nicensem 3. De Peregrinatione Altaribus 4. De Monorchia Temporali Pontifieis Romani Londini l614 in Octavo 5. Narré de la Conference verbale par Escrit tenue entre Monsieur du Moulin Monsieur Bayze 1602 in Octavo 6. Accroissement des Eaux de Siloe pour eteindre le feu de Purgatoire noyer les satisfactions humaines les Indulgences A la Rochelle 1604 in Octavo 7. Defense de la Foye pour Jacques 1. Roy de la Grande Bretâ—gne A la Rochelle 1604 in Octavo 8. Trente deux demandes proposees par le Pere Coton avec les Solutions Item Soixante quatre demandes proposees en contre-eschange a la Rochelle 1617 in Octavo 9. Veritable Narré de la Conference entre les Sieurs du Moulin Gontier en Auvrill 1609 in Octavo 10. Theophile ou de L' Amour Divin a la Rochelle 1609. in Twelves 11. Heraclite ou de la Vanite Misere de la Vie humaâ—ne 1609 in Twelves 12 * Apologie pour la Sainte Cene du Seigneur contre la Presence Corporelle Transubstantiation 1610 in Octavo 13. * Accomplissement des Propheties Livre auquel sont exposees les Propheties de L' Escriture Saincte concernantes le Pontife Romain et son Siege a la Rochelle 1612 in Octavo 14. Action de graces du R. Pere Gontery a R. Viseur pour avoir entrepris sa defense contre le Sieur du Moulin respondu a ses demandes touchant L' Autiquite 1612 in Octavo 15. Le Sainct Reveil Spirituel a la Rochelle in Sixteens 16. Defense de la Confession des Eglises Reformees de France contre les Accusations du Sieur Arnauld a Charenton 1617 in Octavo 17. De la Toute Puissance de Dieu de sa Volonte a la Rochelle 1617 in Octavo 18. Lettre a Messieurs de L' Eglise Romaine a Saumur 1611 in Octavo 19. Veritable Narré de la Conference entre les Sieurs du Moulin de Raconis Professeur en Theologie a la Rochelle 1618 in Octavo 20. * Bouclier de la Foy ou defense de la Confession de Foy des Eglises Reformees du Royaume de France contre les objections du Sieur Jean Arnoux a Charenton 1618. a Sedan 1612 in Octavo Translated into English and printed in Quarto 21. Conseil fidele Salutaire sur les Marriages entre personnes de contraire Religion a Charenton 1619. in Twelves and Octavo 22. Lettre ecritts a un de son Troupeau sur la Calamite presente 1621 in Octavo 23. Response a quatre demandes faites par un Gentilhome de Poitou a Sedan 1623 in Octavo 24. Sermon sur le ix Chapitre de Daniel verset premier jusques a neufieme a Sedan 1623 in Sixteens 25. Element de Logique a Sedan 1628 in Octavo a Paris 1624 in Twelves and Twentyfoure 26. Elemens de la Philosophie morale a Sedan 1624 in Twelves and Twentyfours 27. Du Combat Chrestien ou des Afflictions a Messieurs de L' Eglise Reformee de Paris a Sedan 1622 in Twelves 28. Refutation de la Replique du Cardinal du Perron in Folio and in Quarto 29. Dialogues Rustiques deux Parties in Octavo and in Twelves 30. Juge des Controverses in Octavo 2 Vol. 31. Hyperaspistes seu defensor veritatis in Octavo 32. Anatome Arminianismi in Quarto 33. Vates in Octavo and Quarto 34. Opera Philosophica Logica Moralia Physica in Octavo 35. La Philosophie Logique morale Physique in Octavo 36. Esclaircissement de la Doctrine Salmurienne in Octavo 37. Lettres de Reconciliation a Monsieur Amyraut in Octavo 38. Oppositions a la parole de Dieu 39. Journal des Capucins in Octavo 40. Instruction pour Consoler les malades in Octavo and Twelves 41. Vocation des Pasteurs in Octavo 42. Nouvelles Brigues pour le Batiment de Babel in Octavo 43. Examen du Livre du R. L. Joseph de Morlais Capucin in Octavo 44. Examen de la Doctrine de Messieurs
behalf of the Mayor Sheriffs and Free Burgesses of the City of Rochell Chap. XIII Approbation of the Confession of Faith Chap. XIV Observations on the Discipline Chap. XV. An Act against Debauchery Chap. XVI Observations upon the Acts of the last National Synod Chap. XVII No Minister to depart the Kingdom without the Kings License Chap. XVIII A Deposed Minister restored Chap. XIX Appeals Chap. XX. Discipline Exercised upon a Scandalous Minister App. 34. Chap. XXI Discipline exercised upon a Delinquent Minister App. 44. Chap. XXII A Scandalous Minister Deposed App. 51. Chap. XXIII Discipline exercised upon a vitious Minister App. 53. See also the very next Appeal Chap. XXIV General Matters Chap. XXV An Act to preserve Deeds Writings Evidences belonging to the Churches G. M. 13. Chap. XXVI An Act for a Publick National Fast G. M. 16. Chap. XXVII Differences between the Cities of Rochell Montauban and Castres composed G. M. 28. Chap. XXVIII Particular Matters Chap. XXIX Care taken for a poor Persecuted Church P. M. 29. Chap. XXX A Donative to Monsieur Chamier P. M. 44. Chap. XXXI Of Vniversities and Colledges Chap. XXXII The Accompts of the Lord du Candal Chap. XXXIII The Synods Letter to the King Chap XXXIV Dividends of Moneys among the Churches and Provinces Chap XXXV The Roll of the Deposed Ministers Chap XXXVI An Act for Calling the next National Synod Chap. XXXVII Catalogue of all the Churches and Ministers in Actual Imployment together with the Vacancies Chap. XXXVIII Letters from the Church of Geneva The Synods Answer to them and from the Church of Paris THE Synod of Castres 1626. The 25th Synod SYNOD XXV 1626. In the Name of God Amen The Acts of the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France and Bearne Assembled at Castres in Albigeois in the Year of Grace One Thousand Six Hundred Twenty and Six the Sixteenth day of September and the days following to the Fifth of November in the Fourteenth Year of the Reign of Louis XIII King of France and Navarre CHAP. I. AT the opening of this Synod there appeared the Lord Galland one of the Lords of His Majesties Most Honourable Privy Council and Council of State and Attorney General for his Dominion of Navarre as His Majesties Commissioner Deputed by His Majesty unto this Assembly with this Letter following By the KING Dear and well beloved we being fully resolved to keep and observe and see that our Edicts and Declarations be inviolably kept and observed and that you may injoy those Favours and Priviledges which are granted you by them we have freely and willingly suffered you to meet together in this National Synod Convocated by you in our Town of Castres September next where you shall only debate of such Matters as concern the Discipline of your Religion and have also at the same time made choice of our Trusty and Well-Beloved Counsellor the Lord Galland One of the Lords of our Privy Council and Council of State and Attorney General for our Dominion of Navarr to meet you from us and on our behalf in your said Assembly and to assist in person at all your Consultations and to give you plenary Assurance of our good and sincere Intentions for your Peace and Comfort Wherefore we will and require you to give him credit in all things and to rest assured that as long as you contain your selves within the Bounds and Limits of your Fidelity and Obedience which you owe unto us we shall alwayes treat you as good and Loyal Subjects and shall give you to resent the Effects and Fruits of our Favour and good Will unto you on all occasions that may occur as the said Lord of Galland shall in our Name more particularly informe you Given at Nantes this 24th of July 1626. Signed â—eveâ— and Lower Phillippeâ—ux And superscribed To our dear and well-beloved the Deputies of the National Synod of the P. Reformed Churches called by our permission unto the Town of Castres There appeared in the said Assembly for the Province of Provence the Sieurs Paul Maurice Pastor of the Church of Aiguieres and James Franc Notary Publick Elder of the Church of Lormarin For the Province of Vivaretz Forrest and Vellay the Sieurs Alexander de Vinay Pastor of the Church of Annonay and Paul Accaurat Pastor of the Church of Aubenas and Daniel Arcajon the Kings Notary and Elder in the said Church of Aubenas and Daniel Sabatier Elder in the Church of Villeneufve de Berg. These Persons were requested to see that for the future their Provincial Synod suffer not any Letters of Commission or Memoirs which shall be brought before the National Synods by the Deputies of the said Province to be form'd out of their Synodical Assemblies nor that they be subscribed by any others besides the Moderators or Assessors in case the Moderators of the said Synods shall be chosen Deputies For the Province of Britain the Sieurs Andrew le Noir Lord of Beauchamp Pastor in the Church of Belin and Philip de Vassant Esq Lord of Martimont Elder in the Church of Roche Bernard For the Province of Sevennes The Sieurs Nicolas le Blanc Pastor of the Church of Barr and Lawrens Aymard Pastor of the Church of Lezan together with Claudius de Gabriac Lord of Beaufort Elder in the Church of Avez and Charles de Calvet Lord of Aires Elder in the Church of St Privat For the Province of Dolphiny Denis Bouteroue Pastor of the Church in Grenoble and John Corel Pastor of the Church of Ambrun with David Chaluett Elder in the Church of Die and Anthony Brissett Elder in the Church of Montlimart For the Province of Burgundy The Sieurs Peter Bollenatt Pastor in the Church of Avalon which meets for Religious Worship at Vaux Alexander Rouph one of the Pastors of the Church of Lions together with Albert de Mars Esq Lord of Baleines Elder in the Church of Maringues and Lazarus du Puy Counsellor for the King in the Presidial Court of Berg in the Province of Bresse and Elder of the Church in the said Town For the Province of Higher Languedoc The Sieurs Peter Ollier Pastor of the Church of Montauban and Moses de Baux Pastor of the Church of Mazamet together with Mr. John de Portes Doctor of the Civil Law and Advocate in Parliament Elder of the Church of Castres and the Lord John Brassar Doctor of the Civil Law and Advocate in Parliament Elder in the Church of Montauban but he was detained by Sickness in the said City and whereas another was substituted in his place He also came not for want of Notice given him For the Province of Lower Languedoc The Sieurs John Chauve Pastor of the Church of Sommieres and Michael le â—aucheur Pastor of the Church of Montpellier with Francis Petit Doctor of the Civil Law and Advocate Elder in the Church of Nismes and Theophilus Ranchin Secretary of the Kings Chamber and Elder in the said Church of Montpellier For the Province
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
not only alwayes exempted from all Defaults but also from the very Suspicion thereof and that all kind of Testimonials and Thankfulness is due and owing them for their Capacity Carefulness Diligence Integrity and Singular Love and Zeal unto the Weal and Happyness of our Churches nor cannot in the least be refused them Wherefore this present Order passed for their discharge shall be inserted into the Acts of this Synod that it may be carried into all the Provinces that so none may plead or pretend his Ignorance and Unacquaintedness with the intentions of this present and of the last immediately preceding Synod Monsieur Palot of St Antonine presented a Petition unto this Assembly on behalf of his Brother Palot that it would be pleased to cause all processes commenc't against him by the Lord Malat to cease and that Arbitrators might be chosen on both sides with full power to determine the differences betwixt him and the Churches of this Kingdom Letters also from the Lord Malat were read informing it of the great progress he had made in the Suit against him Whereupon the Synod finding the Complaints and Requests of the said Palot to be unreasonable and that from their former Experience they could only conclude them done on purpose to gain and spin out time and to elude if possible the Prosecutions already begun it voted Thanks to be given unto the Lord Malat for his care and pains and that he be intreated to continue his Travel and Diligence in this Affair and the like thanks were ordered unto Monsieur Arnault for his singular Affection to the Weal of our Churches and the Lord Commissioner Galland was also earnestly desired to befriend our Churches with his kind Assistance at Court and to speak for us unto the Kings Majesty that His Gracious Majesty would be pleased to ordain that Justice might be done us Letters were read from the Lords Marbaut de Massanes Bigot and de Launay Commissioners named by the last National Synod to treat on behalf of all our Churches with Persons capable of bringing the Sieur Palot to give us some reasonable satisfaction And also Monsieur Mestrezat another of those Commissioners made report of what had been done herein as weâ—l by himself as by those others joyned in Commission with him Whereupon all their Actions were ratified and approved In reading that Act of the Synod of Charenton containing His Majesties Answer unto the Sieurs Cottiby and du Bois Saint Martyn Deputed by the said Synod unto His Majesty in which hope was given unto the Churches that the Prohibition issued out against Monsieur du Moulin should be taken away and that he should be restored unto his Ministry in this Kingdom And a Letter to this self-same purpose from the Church of Paris also requesting our Intercession with His Majesty that he would be Graciously pleased to grant unto the Churches the injoyment of their hopes The Deputies of the Isle of France joyned with them in this their request Whereupon it was resolved that His Majesty should be most humbly petitioned to grant leave unto the said Monsieur du Moulin to return into France and to the Exercise of his Pastoral Office in his aforesaid Church and the said Monsieur du Moulin shall be required by Letters from this Synod to joyn vvith the Churches in their Petition for his return and re-settlement in France and that he shall address himself also by a particular Petition of his ovvn unto His Majesty that he may be restored unto his Charge vvherein by the Blessing of God he had such eminent success that so if it may be His Majesty by so many importunate Petitioners may be prevailed vvith to grant us our desires The Provincial Deputies of Lower Guyenne and Poictou being heard it was voted that the Churches of Rochechouart and Limoges should continue joyned unto the Province of Lower Guyenne as they have been heretofore notwithstanding that they were separated from it by a Decree of the last National Synod because they cannot subsist if they be divided nor can the Church of Limoges be united unto Poictou without too much enfeebling the Colloquy of Limousin Maister Peter Guillemin Pastor in the Church of La Bour presented his Petition unto this Assembly that the Summ of Three Hundred Livres granted the said Church by the former National Synods may be continued and that the Summ of Threescore Livres more might be bestowed upon them for the breeding of a young Scholar who may be hereafter capable of serving the said Church and to preach in their Language and that His Majesty may be petitioned that He would grant according to His Edicts Two Places more for Religious Worship unto the Faithful of the said Countrey of Labour It was voted that this Petition in all its Parts and Members should be fulfilled on this Condition that the Scholar to be maintained by them be presented unto the next Synod of Lower Guyenne and that the said Province of the Lower Guyenne do yield an accompt of the said Summ of Sixty Livres unto the next National Synod as also of the Three Hundred Livres granted unto the said Church of La Bour and the Pastor there shall be obliged for the future to assist in Person at the Provincial Synods of Lower Guyenne After the last Canon was voted This Assembly recollected that heretofore the National Synod of Tonneins had granted unto Monsieur Busthonoby Pastor of the Churches in Soules the Summ of Three Hundred Livres to defray the Charges of Printing some certain Books in the Biscayan Language and that since by a Decree of the Synod of Vitre the Province of Lower Guyenne was reimburst the said Summ which they had beforehand advanced to that purpose Whereupon Order was given unto the said Province to call in its next Synod the aforesaid Monsieur Busthonoby to an accompt how he did imploy and dispose of the said Moneys and to bring in that Accompt unto the next National Synod CHAP. XVIII No Minister to Depart the Kingdom without the Kings Leave THE Lord Commissioner declaring that it was His Majesties Will and Pleasure according to Law that none of our Pastors should depart the Kingdom without his Royal License and that in case any Foreign Princes or States desired that any of our Ministers might be either lent them for a time or given to them absolutely during Life that then the said Minister should according to our Laws first obtain His Majesties Licence for his departure The Council resigned it self and all the Ministers of our Churches most fully and freely as they have ever done unto the Laws of the Land This Synod inquiring into the causes obstructing the Execution of those particular Canons that the last National Synod had made for the better Government of the Province of Provence judged that the said Province did justly deserve a Censure in case it cannot vindicate and acquit it self from all impeachments of neglect herein And whereas the Sieurs Crubellier
new against this unworthy Fellow CHAP. XXIV Discipline Exercised upon a Vitious Minister 53. WHereas James Jolly sometimes Pastor of the Church of Milhaud appealed from a Sentence past against him by the Synod of Higher Languedoc which had deposed him from the Holy Ministry Upon hearing the Deputies of that Province and the said Jolly himself who having been divers times summon'd to clear himself of the Crimes laid unto his charge though to no purpose for he could never do it The Synod ratified the Sentence past against him in every article and particular and because the qualities of his Crimes proved upon him are very hainous and atrocious as tempting and solliciting of Women to Adultery abominable and profane Speeches professed resolves and purposes to Apostatize from the True Religion and Blessed Gospel of our Lord Jesus perswading and enticing like the Devils other Ministers of Christ to joyn with him in his Revolt and Apostacy from all which horrible and scandalous Accusations he was bound in Honour and Conscience to purge himself and had he been innocent or had he but the least spark of Grace or one grain of the fear of God been lest in him he would have done it Moreover the said Jolly having discoursed with a great deal of impudence hardness and ungodliness in the very presence of the Synod and betook himself unto business utterly inconsistent with the Sacred Calling of a Minister for which had he none other guilt upon him he would have merited a Deposal from that Honourable Office The Synod seized with a just horror at his impenitency and aggravating the Sentence of his Provincial Synod denounceth the said Jolly utterly unworthy and altogether uncapable of any imployment in the Sacred Ministry of the Gospel deposeth him and doth now from this Instant declare him to be deposed from the Ministerial Function and for ever uncapable of being restored to it and depriveth him of all Communion in the Sacraments unto which he shall not be admitted 'till we have had a very long proof and some years Tryal and Experience of his Repentance and Reformation and that he have publickly and penitently acknowledged those great and hainous scandals he hath given unto the Church of God and in case he persist in his Rebellions then the Consistories and Colloquies being assembled together shall deliver him over unto the Devil by that dreadful Sentence of Excommunication 54. The Overseers of the Poor in the Church of Anduze appealed from a Decree of the Synod of Higher Languedoc and the Lord Aldebert Judge of Sauve complained against the Sieur John Bony Pastor of the Church of St. John of Cardonengue Master Cailou was heard speak in behalf of the Church of Anduze and Mr. Aldebert the younger opened the reasons of their Appeal and Mr. Bony together with the Provincial Deputies Apologized for themselves against thorn The Council having accurately considered all the Accusations and Matters of Offence included in those proceedings judgeth that Mr. Bony deserveth a very heavy Censure for notorious Avarice and dishonest Gain the guilt of which is apparent and visible upon him for that he disposed of the Goods of Pernette Andouyne to his own and his Childrens profit contrary to the Will and Testament she had once made in favour of the poor Members of the Church of Anduze Moreover the Council declareth that the said Master Bony cannot with a good Conscience detain and appropriate unto his own use the Goods aforesaid but ought immediately to restore them and to this purpose he was exhorted to choose Arbitrators as the said Overseers of the Poor would also to compose the differences between them and to agree upon the terms of restitution And it was farther intimated to him that in case the Execution of this Decree were in the least hindred or delayed by him the said Bony that the next Colloquy of Nismes was Authorized to proceed against him and to Depose him from the Ministry And forasmuch as he hath exprest his Repentance with grief and shame for his Sin and promised the Synod to give full satisfaction as before and for that he hath patiently and penitently borne the Suspension from his Office inflicted on him some Moneths ago The Synod doth restore him to the Exercise of his Ministry And whereas Monsieur Aldebert before-mentioned had been suspended from the Lords Table that Censure together with his being taxed for a Calumniator are both ordered to be taken off from him but he shall be first publickly reproved in the Person of his Son for that excessive Passion manifested by him in his Accusations Prosecutions and bitter Expressions in his Letters all which exasperated the Province of Higher Languedoc against him and were the true meritorious causes why he was so severely judged by them And both of those Gentlemen Bony and Aldebert are exhorted to a mutual reconciliation and forgetfulness of what is past and particularly the said Aldebert is advised to demean himself for the future with more Candor and Charity towards the said Bony And in case there should happen any new matter of Accusation against him that he do prosecute him according to the Forms and Canons of our Church Discipline Moreover Master Melucis and Berle Pastors and Witnesses to the aforesaid Testament shall be examined by their next Provincial Synod about their hand in this matter that so they may be dealt withal according to their demerits And whereas Monsieur de Surville another Minister could have given in a material Evidence against the said Bony but was sworn to Secrecy he also shall be called to an account and Justice shall be done upon him CHAP. XXV GENERAL MATTERS These poor Churches prayed for and rejoyced at the birth of the greatest Scourge and Plague that ever was upon them 1 WHereas all Pastors and Heads of Families and Members of our Churches ought dayly to implore the Throne of Grace for all Spiritual and Temporal Benedictions to be poured down upon the Person of His Majesty Our Dread Soveraign and for the Glory of His Crown the Peace and Prosperity of His Kingdom and Government they be all Exhorted in their Publick and Private Prayers importunately to beg of God that he would be graciously pleased to bless the Kings Majesty with Children of his own Body and to this purpose all the faithful shall with one accord joyn together in Common Prayers and Supplications that the Lord would hear and Answer the Requests of his poor Children who live under the Sh dow of his Anointed that the Scepter may be strengthned in his hand his House established from Generation to Generation and that over and above those Divine Graces and Favours which he hath already vouchsafed to him he may after a long and happy Life be honoured in succeeding Ages with the Glorious Title of Father of Kings as he is now with that of Father of his People 2. The Synod considering that through the Soveraign Mercy of God inclining His Majesties heart by
Holy Work and as you have been made a Spectacle to Men and Angels so do you persist to hold forth the Light of the Gospel in all Pureness and to fight the good Fight with the Weapons of Righteousness on the right Hand and on the left taking all possible Care that no Root of Bitterness do spring up which under the Shadow and Pretext of subtle Questions may weaken or diminish the Union of all your Members and whom 't is most indispensably needful you should firmly cement in an Uniformity of Confession to avoid those dreadful Distractions which will infallibly arise from a Diversity of Opinions and Affections All the Reformed Churches as far as ever we could learn were filled with Joy at those solid Declarations made in your National Synods against revived Pelagianism and at that singular Care taken by those venerable and Holy Councils to exclude it out of your Churches Now he that lowed those Tares in God's Field is not asleep but is still at Work wherefore there is need of continual Watchings there must be no relaxing of your Circumspection lest you should lose the things which you have wrought But we may forbear insisting any longer on this Argument nor is there any reason that we should exhort you to continue in your godly Purposes and Resolutions Sith your great Zeal is a most powerful Example to excite others It 's enough that we have thus opened our Hearts unto your Reverences and have largely experienced the harmonious Uniformity of your Holy Thoughts and Intentions And forasmuch as by these late Troubles some famous Universities have to our unspeakable Grief suffered very sad Eclipses and Interruptions we shall do our best and utmost Endeavour to keep burning that little Candle which the Goodness of our God hath lighted up in our poor Candlestick And our most honoured Magistrates have resolved to continue their Incouragement and Maintenance of our School and University which from its first Foundation had none other Design or End than to prepare Instruments who might be another Day capable of edifying God's Church And they conceive themselves at this time more especially concerned and obliged to serve your Churches because 't is but the Repayment of an old Debt We owing the Original of our Academy unto the worthy Labours of some of your most eminent and famous Ministers besides your favourable Respects have been exceeding serviceable to it in its Growth and Progress and they do receive with singular Consolation the Assurances of your good Will both from the Letters of the last Synod at Charenton and from your sending of Students hither to whose Advancement in Learning and Godliness we shall most willingly contribute whatever God hath imparted to us that so we may return them to you well improved and furnished with those requisite Talents for the Ministry in the Temple of the Lord. Moreover we do return you our most hearty Thanks for your kind Remembrance had of our Church in times past and we do bless the Lord for the Expressions of his Majesty's Love and Kindness towards our City which is a Continuance of those Royal Favours we have ever received from the Crown of France and consonant to his former Declarations that he would not exclude the Natives of this Town in case according to your excellent Discipline they should be called out unto the Ministry in the Churches of his Kingdom And we are so very well satisfied of your Love unto us that it the aforesaid Declaration should not be notified unto some of the Churches yet by your means it shall be so for the future and this will be a renewed Pledg and Confirmation of your ancient fraternal Charity and Affection to us Whereupon we do most affectionately salute in the Lord your Holy Synod and tender you our most humble Service intreating the Continuance of your good Will unto us and that you would strive together with us in your Prayers for us as we do continually recommend you unto our God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Word of his Grace and to his Spirit of Consolation and all your Churches Persons Labours and your whose sacred Assembly to his most blessed Protection beseeching the great Shepherd of Souls that he would daign to preside in the midst of you and make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you what is well pleasing to him and accumulate upon you his best and most Heavenly Benedictions to the Glory of his Holy Name And subscribe our selves Most Honoured Lords and Brethren Your most affectionate Brethren and most humble Servants in the Lord the Pastors and Professors in the Church and University of Geneva and in the Name of them all Prevost Diodati B. Turretin Du-Pan The Superscription was thus To our most Honoured Lords and Brethren the Pastors and Elders of the Reformed Churches of France assembled in their National Synod at Castres The Answer of the Pastors and Elders in the National Synod of Castres unto the Letter of the Right Reverend Pastors and Professors of Geneva Most Honoured Lords and Brethren AMong the Consolations which the Goodness of our God hath granted us in this Place this which we have received from your Communion in Spirit with us and those cordial Affections which you have expressed to us have been therefore the more acceptable because that as we rejoice in the Lord so we cannot but be thankful to him for that after so many Troubles and Desolations we be yet permitted to assemble from all Corners and Quarters of this Kingdom to the upholding settling and confirming of his Holy Worship You also are come in by your Letters to bear your Parts in this sacred Harmony augmenting by the Union of your Hearts with ours the rich Blessing which the Prophet hath compared to that precious Oil poured out upon the Head of Aaron and to the Dew which descends from Mount Sion and this too with such an Efficacy that the bare hearing of your sweet Consolations and Holy Counsels hath by a most secret and powerful Motion sensibly operated upon us and raised up the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Head in us who doth unite us though many Members into one Body in the Lord. We do therefore imbrace you in our God and accept thankfully of your Prayers and Holy Affections giving Thanks unto our Heavenly Father that as you have piously confess'd it he made us an Example of his Compassions and having saved us out of divers Perils and Distresses he hath preserved us our Lives by no less a Miracle than that of old when as he preserved the Bramble-Bush from being consumed in the midst of those Flames of War which ravaged our whole Country Nor can we sufficiently adore his singular Loving Kindnesses that although the Sins of his People had so far provoked his Wrath as to throw down all our Fences and to demolish all our Fortresses and to wither that Arm of Flesh in which we had so
the Provinces but with these Conditions First That they be not bound to send more than two Deputies unto our National Synods Secondly That Judicial Sentences past by and in the Province until now shall not be revoked nor reversed Thirdly That Pastors serving in the said Province shall not be translated into another Province Fourthly That the Appeals of private Persons may not be received in these National Synods The Synod absolutely granting the two first Conditions doth nevertheless exhort the said Province to send equal number of Deputies with the other Provinces unto the National Synod whenas his Majesty shall be pleased to permit one to be held in the Provinces bordering on that of Bearn And as for the two other Conditions provided that the said Deputies shall promise on behalf of their Province to own the Authority of our National Synods and to take out their Appeals in the Form specified Canon the 10th of the 8th Chapter of our Discipline the Synod yieldeth unto their Demand assuring them that it will take a most particular Care of their Edification and as it intendeth not to lose its Right unto divers Pastors born in the Provinces of the Higher and Lower Guyenne who are now actually employed in that of Bearn so also it will never use it to their evident Prejudice but in every Matter and especially in that of removing Pastors either from the Churches they are now serving or from out of the Province the National Synod will give full proof of their fraternal Charity and Affection Article 2. Upon this Debate the Lord Galland his Majesty's Commissioner remonstrated That the Conjunction of the Churches of Bearn with those of this Kingdom and particularly their Submission unto the Discipline of the Reformed Churches of France and the Power of appealing from Bearn unto the National Synods here were Matters of that Nature that they could not be done without the King's Permission because such Conjunctions depend upon Soveraign Authority that the late King Henry the Fourth of happy Memory had already determin'd this Question having in the Years 1602 and 1604 permitted the Churches of Bearn to assist at the National Synods of France hereby to conserve an Union in Doctrine but he also decreed that they should bring in their Cahiers of Complaints distinct from those of France And in the Year 1615 whenas the Political Assembly of Grenoble demanded this Union it was denied in that Answer given to the 22d and 23d Articles in these Words That the late King did never permit nor approve of the Vnion of the pret Reformed Churches of Bearn with those of France nor will his Majesty now permit it until such time as the said Principality shall be re-united and re-incorporated with the Crown of France But yet in the mean while the Deputies of Bearn may bring in their Petitions by themselves which shall be answered according to Reason Against which Answer the Assembly of Rochel having took great Exceptions and in a particular Article at the Conference of Loudun in the Year 1616 there was returned an Order little differing from the Cahier of Grenoble so that the Land of Bearn not having since had any Permission from the King to join it self unto the Churches of France it cannot be done but must be confined to the plain and simple terms of Petition Besides the Consequences of this Union have been formerly resented for the Churches of Bearn shrowded with the shadow and hope of a powerful Assistance were transported to such dismal Excesses as make a very mournful History in that of our Times And all Authors are agreed that the Land of Bearn was originally a Member of the Kingdom of Navarre lying on the other side of the Pyrenean Mountains though subject to our Kings of the Merovingian Line as is evident from Gregory of Tours who relateth that the Bishops of the said Territory came unto the Council of Agde in the Year 506 and to that of Mascon in the Year 588. And the Lord of Bearn acknowledged the Kings and Kingdom of France for his supream Lord and did Homage to them and to their Sovereign Authority But in the Year 1512 Louis the twelfth King of France to make some Compensation for and to sweeten the Loss of the Kingdom of Navarre usurped by Ferdinand King of Arragon granted unto John of Albret and Katharine of Navarre his Wife that the Land of Bearn should enjoy its Charters and Priviledg of Soveraignty until such times as it should be otherwise determined by meet and competent Judges And since that the Country of Bearn hath been accounted a Principality distinct from the Kingdom and independent without any reservation That in the Year 1571 Jane Queen of Navarre set up a Church-Discipline whose Execution is limited within the Bounds of that Principality and the Laws are all enacted and sworn to by the States of the Country and maintained to this very day from the observation whereof the Subjects cannot withdraw themselves nor without the permission of their Prince may they take upon them to constitute Judges in Church or State much less to enlarge the Bounds of Appeals whenas by the Laws of Bearn they are to be terminated by its Provincial Synods and within the Country it self as is in like manner done in the City of Metz and Principality of Sedan And should this Conjunction be admitted Causes would be drawn out of the Province which would be an Innovation of dangerous Consequence to his Majesty's Authority and to this little Province and contrary to its Union which hath preserved the Country in its Laws Forts Customs and domestick Prerogatives The Deputies of Bearn to give some colour unto this Union say That this Union was permitted by the King that it hath been exercised by his Majesty since the uniting of Bearn with the Crown of France that it was approved by the said Lord Commissioner in the National Synod of Castres in the Year 1626. But here are divers Mistakes The Truth is that Henry the Fourth of happy Memory and the King now reigning most gloriously have not permitted nor promised the Union of the said Churches nor was it permitted by the Cahier of the Year 1615. But the Answer unto the Union demanded was deferred till after the Country was united with that of France so that the victorious Arms of his Majesty having subjected the Land of Bearn to his Obedience and the Union of the Country made by his absolute Authority notwithstanding all former Grants and Priviledges the Subjects are bound to have recourse anew unto his Majesty And although by the Cahiers of the Year 1615 the Union of the Churches was put off till the Union of the State yet none may therefore assert that because the State is united with the Crown of France the Union of the Churches must therefore of Right be made also but that it may be obtained there is need of a new Address unto his Majesty that he would by his Sovereign Authority
be pleased to enact such Laws about it as will be most agreeable to him And the Synod wanting this Sanction of Royal Authority the Union now desired is null nor can the said Lord Deputies gather from any one act of his Majesty that he approveth of the Union of the said Churches since the submission of Bearn And if in any Cahiers presented by the Churches of France since the Union of that Country the Petitions of those of Bearn have been made use of against the reservation set down in the Cahier of 1615. This Error must not be drawn into practice because the Churches have not to this very day made any absolute Declaration of Union and such important Actions require Concessions and solemn Declarations and Preliminaries animated by Verifications in the Parliaments of Paris and of Pau. Nor ought the presence of the Deputies of Bearn in the political Assemblies of this Kingdom where they laid the first Foundations of their Attempt against his Majesty's Authority and which hath been since most exemplarily chastised be made a Precedent nor ought the appearance of the Ministers of Bearn in the National Synods of France before and since the establishment of Commissioners who were imposed in the Year 1623 be took as an advantage to them in any-wise because they appeared upon doubtful and uncertain Conditions not as to the Point of Submission to the Discipline of the Reformed Churches of France or unto the National Synods or for the drawing of Appeals without the Limits of that Principality all which were contrary to the Laws made by Jane Queen of Navarre but only to testily their Union in Doctrine which is evident by perusing the Acts of those Synods The first Synod unto which the Deputies of Bearn presented themselves was that of Rochel in the Year 1607 and the Quality of the Times gave an occasion for it And as that Introduction was a meer Novelty there being but one Minister sent so they were enjoined for the future to commissionate together with him an Elder In the Year 1612 four Deputies assisted in that of Privas but this their Presence was floating and wavering nor had it any other end than to testify their Consent and Union in Doctrine as his Majesty had willed them so to do in the Year 1602 and 1604. They came also unto that of Tonneins in the Year 1614 under the same Conditions and they then had granted to them the priviledg of calling the next National Synod which was a great expression of Love unto that Principality and an oblique Means to bind them more strictly to the Discipline of France And because the Churches of Bearn would not submit themselves thereunto they resigned their right of Convocating the National Synod unto the Church of Vitré in Brittain where also it conven'd accordingly in the Year 1617. And in the six and thirtieth Article of General Matters there passed this Decree This Assembly doth not conceive it meet considering their present Circumstances that the Churches of Bearn should subject themselves to the Church-Discipline of this Kingdom nor that they should depend upon these National Synods 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 declared That their Deputies may have the priviledg of sitting and voting in the National Synods of this Kingdom upon this condition that they shall first have leave given them by the Provinces to give in their Suffrages in such Cases as concern the Churches of this Kingdom which Terms are totally contrary to the Pretensions of the said Deputies and evidently prove that their admission into the Synod was wholly precarious and only to testify their mutual Church-fellowship And in the Synod of Alez called in the Year 1620 whenas the Deputies of Bearn had remonstrated that they could not wholly subject themselves to the Discipline of the Churches of France because of the present juncture of Affairs they were admitted under that restriction of the Synod of Vitre That they shall first have leave from the Provinces to vote in certain Cases concerning the Churches of France and this too with this Proviso that it should only be till the next National Synod An Argument unanswerable of the Difference between the Church-Discipline of Bearn and that of this Kingdom although the Deputies to ingratiate themselves with this Synod do urge that they be both alike one and the same Thus I have given you the true History of this Union till the Conquest and Submission of Bearn at which time by special Letters-Patents his Majesty granted unto the said Principality that they should be maintained and live under their own particular Laws Which Laws are partly made up of the Constitutions of the Lady Joan Queen of Navarre who had enacted That all Differences in Church-Matters should be finally determined within the Province Since the Submission of Bearn the Churches have lived under the same form and never pretended to be united to those of France but by virtue of his Majesty's Answer to the Cahier of the Year 1615 or some others of a later date For in the Synod of Charenton September the 2d in the Year 1623 upon the appearance of the Deputy of Bearn an Ordinance passed as formerly That according to the Restrictions of former Synods the Provinces have liberty to demand that the Deputy of Bearn shall not have power of voting in some certain Cases concerning the Churches of this Kingdom and that before the Separation of this Synod he shall produce the Reasons for which they defer their plenary Submission to the Church-Discipline of France And this is another certain Mark of the Difference between the Discipline of France and that of Bearn In the last National Synod held at Castres in the Year 1626 which was four Years after that of Charenton because in their Letters of Commission there was wanting the Clause of Submission required by the foregoing Synods the Deputies of Bearn were told in open Synod that for this time they were admitted but for the Conditions expressed in the Acts of the last National Synod they should not for the future have a consultive Vote in the National Synods of this Kingdom excepting only at the reading of the Confession of Faith in which they were united with the Churches of France Until that time the Churches of Bearn neither pretended nor demanded Union with the Churches of France nor till then did his Majesty's Commissioners contend with them about it but now whenas against so many preceding Instances to the contrary they demand without his Majesty's permission to be admitted it cannot it ought not to be granted to them CHAP. XVIII The Reply made by the Deputies of Bearn unto this Opposition of the Lord Commissioner 3. BUT the Deputies of the Province of Bearn return'd this Answer That the Union of the Churches with those of this Kingdom in
belonging unto the Professors of the said Language shall be paid him in Consideration of the Service actually performed by him Article 25. Mr. Savoix Pastor of the Church of Castres having complained by Letters unto this Assembly of his being interdicted the Ministry and that Act of the Consistory of the Church of Castres being read attesting That he had preached none other Doctrine but what was agreeable to our Confession of Faith and Church-Discipline This Assembly ordered the Lords General Deputies to prosecute in his Majesties most honourable Privy Council for the disannulling of the Decree of Interdiction past against him in the Court of Castres and to bestir themselves in this Affair with that Vigour as becomes them it being a Case of great and general Importance to all the Churches Article 26. Those free Portions which were granted the Churches of Auvergne by the 24th National Synod of Charenton in the Year 1623 shall be detained in the hands of the Lord of Candall's Deputy and be distributed by him among all the Pastors which have been sent by the Province of Sevennes proportionably to the Service performed by them of which they shall bring good and valid Attestations Article 27. Out of the first Monies that shall be distributed to our Universities the Lord of Candall shall pay in four hundred Livers unto Mr. Robertson Principal of the Colledg of Rochefoucauld to reimburse him in part of his own Monies advanced by him towards the Maintenance of the said Colledg but with this Condition that he do give them satisfaction who have had reciprocal Promises from him Article 28. The Synods of Lower Guyenne are most strictly charged to call unto an Account Mr. Bustanoby for the Sum of three hundred Livers delivered unto his deceased Father and to deduct from the said Sum the Charges of his Impression of the Catechism in the Biscayan Language according to that Promise made by the said Mr. Bustanoby some time before his Death unto the former National Synods Article 29. Mr. Froger presenting Letters from the Church of Pammiers and declaring the deplorable Condition whereunto that poor Church is now reduced This Assembly did in a more especial manner recommend the Concerns of that afflicted Church of Christ unto our Lords the General-Deputies and to help defray the Charges of the said Froger there was order'd the Sum of one hundred Livers to be paid unto him immediately by the Lord of Candall Article 30. The Portion of Monies accruing from the Composition made with Mr. Palot and appertaining to the Province of Sevennes shall be deposited into the hand of Mr. Blachan one of the Deputies of the said Province who having paid himself what he had advanced before-hand for the Churches of Auvergne shall be accountable for the Remainder unto the next Provincial Synod CHAP. XXIV Of Universities and Colledges Canon 1. THE ninth Article of general Laws for the Universities made in the 23d National Synod at Alez shall be couched in these words The Doctors and Professors of Divinity having been first chosen by the extraordinary Council of the Vniversity the said Election shall be brought unto the Provincial Synod to judg thereon and in case it be approved by them then Order shall be taken for the examination and reception of the Elect Professors according to the third Canon in the second Chapter of our Church-Discipline Canon 2. Forasmuch as hitherto our Professors of Philosophy in the Universities of this kingdom have not publickly taught Metaphysicks when they read their Course of Philosophy although that be one of the most principal Sciences and which demonstrateth the Principles of all the rest and that it is now more needful than ever to restore it unto its true Lustre and Purity because it hath been for so long a time exceedingly corrupted by the evil Artifices of the Doctors in the Romish Church who have abused its Maxims to the depravation of Theology and have blended with it their false Principles which they endeavour to the utmost of their Power daily to establish to the great prejudice of Divine Truth Wherefore this Synod enjoineth all Professors of Philosophy to teach during their Course together with the other parts of Philosophy the said Science And all University-Councils are ordered to exert their Authority that the first Elements of Logick be taught in the first Classes that so whenas Scholars depart the Colledges they may be prepared for higher Learning And that Professors of Philosophy do look to it that they do not in the least invade the Profession of Theology but do contain themselves within their own Bounds without roving abroad in the handling of unprofitable Questions Canon 3. And since the knowledg of the Greek Tongue is absolutely necessary for all Proposans who aspire unto the Sacred Ministery and for that the profession thereof is a singular Ornament unto Universities we therefore wish it might be continually upheld in them but because the present Wants of our Churches are very great and our deep Poverty will not permit a Maintenance to be now allowed unto the Professors of that Language this Synod leaving the Care thereof unto the next National Synod that so the Instrustion of our Youth may not be retarded doth order all University-Councils to have a careful Eye upon the Regents of the first and second Classes that the Greek Tongue be taught diligently by them and that our Scholars when they are promoted unto the Publick Lectures may be of sufficient capacity to read and understand Authors in their Original Language and be able to give a satisfactory account of them Canon 4. This Assembly being not in the least able to approve the Actings of the Provincial Synod of Lower Languedoc which instead of proceeding to examine Mr. Codur according to the requisite Solemnities and Forms prescribed by our Church-Discipline had satisfied themselves with a bare Confirmation of him in that conditional Settlement which was done by the Colloquies of Nismes and Vsez who called him to exercise the Profession of Theology in the University of Nismes doth injoin all the Provinces for the future to keep themselves to a precise observation of so necessary a Canon and especially it injoineth the Province of Lower Languedoc punctually to perform what hath been omitted with respect to Monsieur Codur as also to exert their Power that his Successor in the Hebrew Tongue be duly examined and all Formalities most accurately and exactly observed Canon 5. After that the Opinions of all the Provinces had been taken upon that Article charged on them by the last National Synod of Castres Whether it were expedient to lessen the number of our Universities at present This Assembly unanimously resolved to maintain them all as also those Colledges which are already established in every Province because they be the Seed-plot and Nursery of the Church of God and that without their subsistence it will be utterly impossible to provide for the Instruction of our Youth and the growing Wants of
Majesty and to our Lords his Ministers but that they repose themselves firmly on his Royal Word trusting always in his Majesty's Goodness that he will hinder and prevent the Designs and Attempts of ill-minded Men who would contrary to the Tenour of his Edicts persecute his poor Subjects because they be of the Reformed Religion 19. And to the intent that our Churches may never be impeached of contributing unto any Alterations and Changes whereby the Publick Peace should be broken This Assembly recommends unto all Pastors an exacter Observation of our Ecclesiastical Discipline and of the Stile of God's holy Word and of our Confession of Faith than heretofore and doth according to our Canons in all these Articles expresly interdict and forbid them the utterance of any bitter Words or Expressions whenever they declare their Faith and Hope against any Person or Opinion whatsoever And it doth also most humbly supplicate his Majesty to interpose his Royal Authority that those of the Romish Religion who do licentiously depart from their Duty may be reduced to the Obedience of his Edicts and that his poor Subjects of the Reformed Religion may not for the future as they have been upon all Occasions hitherto be loaden with the most outragious and atrocious Abuses and Reproaches And we do farther recommend unto all our Churches and their respective Members the observation of our Discipline and particularly that no one do publish any Book till it have been first perused and examined and approved by them who are commissionated thereunto and that none take upon them to violate the Judicial Sentences of the Civil Magistrate concerning Divorces And the Province of Sevennes hath and doth protest that it had never any such Design or Purpose for so doing 20. And whereas there is a Crime imputed unto our Churches about the Residence of their Pastors and the Exercise of their Ministry as if some of them had acted contrary to the tenth Article of January 1561 which yet is very false for not one of them hath ever attempted to preach forcibly in any Place Yea and secondly that Edict of January was only provisional made for that time and hath been since abrogated by the subsequent Edicts particularly by the one and fortieth Article of that Edict made in the Year 1570 and by that of Nants made in the Year 1598 and which by his then Majesty was declared to be a clear plain general and absolute Law by which it was his Will and Pleasure that all his Subjects should be governed And thirdly The Pastors do not exercise the Duties of their Calling in any other Places besides those which are allowed them by the 78th 79th 80th and 81st Articles of the Edict last mentioned And fourthly Our Lords of the Council and the Parliaments and the several Commissioners for the Execution of that Edict have from the beginning made out Orders where and in what Places the publick Exercise of our Religion should be established and performed and did always consider that the most part of those Places were but so many Quarters and Members of one and the same Church served by one and the same Pastor And fifthly That the Pastors never preach out of those Quarters unless in the case of Absence or Sickness or of some other lawful hindrance of their Brethren And lastly By the sixth Article of the Edict of Nants explained by the first of the secret and particular Articles it is granted that our Ministers may reside in any Places of the Kingdom indifferently Wherefore we most humbly petition that his Majesty would maintain them in that Liberty granted them by his Edicts and revoke all Orders and Decrees of his Privy-Council which are derogatory to them 21. Moreover forasmuch as our Pastors do not receive their Maintenance in a way of begging nor from the Poors Box nor from Legacies bequeathed to pious Uses and destinated for the Relief of the Poor but only from a voluntary Contribution of their Flocks or by an Assessment made upon them according to the forty fourth Article of Particular Matters conformably to those Agreements past between them and their Pastors at their first coming And that according to the Discipline the fifth Penny of all Alms is particularly assigned to the maintenance of our Professors Regents Scholars and other such like Persons whole Poverty renders them meet and proper Objects of those Charities without ever diverting the Monies of this natu them but according to the Order of Provincial or National Synods His Majesty is most humbly beseeched to keep up in our Churches the Observation of this ancient Order established by the Discipline and authorized by his Edicts and whereof there was never any Complaint yet formed and that he would be pleased to interdict his Officers the disannulling or changing of Agreements past and made between the Pastors and their Churches about their Salaries when they first took upon them the Cure and Charge of their Souls 22. And sith what hath been done in the case of Mr. Petit relateth to the Execution of this Order and to the Canons of former National Synods his Majesty is most humbly requested to approve thereof 23. Finally forasmuch as the Declaration made by the Synod of Nismes is neither as to its Substance nor Terms in which it is framed and expressed any other Matter than the first Article of the eleventh Chapter of our Discipline bottom'd upon our Confession of Faith Catechism and other Expositions of the Belief of our Churches and for that the Arguments produced on behalf of the Opus operatum and the Decision made by the Church of Rome which is directly opposite unto our Faith aforesaid do formally condemn it his Majesty having by his Edicts allowed of it is most humbly intreated to grant that his Subjects of the Reformed Religion may still enjoy and be always secured in the full enjoyment of the Liberty of their Consciences according to his Sacred and Royal Promises that so they may all unanimously with one and the same Heart and the self-same Vows and Prayers unanimously imploy themselves in the Service of God and of his Majesty CHAP. V. Deputies sent with a Letter unto the King 24. THere were chosen by Plurality of Voices in the Assembly the Sieurs Ferrand Gigord and Cerizy to carry unto his Majesty the most humble Thanks and Petitions of the Churches who were furnished with their Instructions and Letters unto his Majesty and to our Lords the Ministers of State 25. A Copy of the first Letter written by the Synod unto the King SIRE THE Great God whose lively Image you are accepting indifferently and irrespectively the Prayers and Homages of all his Creatures we believed that your Majesty would not he displeased with our Boldness in laying ours at your Feet your Majesty having granted us the Priviledge of assembling our selves in this Place And 't is to acquit our selves of this necessary Duty Sire that we have sent the Sieurs Ferrand Gigord
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
enjoyment of their respective Functions and that your Majesty would be pleased to Abrogate and Revoke all Decrees and Judgments given to the contrary 18. In the year 1617. by the Edict of Restauration made in Favour of the Reformed Churches of Bearn Confirmed by Your Warrant for the Peace of Monpellier Your Majesty was pleased to maintain those Churches aforesaid of Bearn in the Liberty and full Enjoyment both of their Doctrine and Discipline without Changing or Innovating of any Article or Canon in either of them yet nevertheless Your Court of Parliament of Navarre in prejudice of their Liberty of Ordaining and Deposing of Continuing or Removing their Pastors from those Churches unto others where they be sent by their Synods doth forbid them to Proclame or Celebrate any Fasts without its permission or to make Appeals in matters purely Ecclesiastical elsewhere than unto the said Parliament or to Toll any Bell at any time for the Convocation of our Church Assemblies in that Province as is evident from the Decrees of the said Parliament Wherefore Your Majesty is most Humbly Requested to continue unto those Churches their Liberty granted them in those matters and to forbid the said Parliament of Navarre from intermeddling with such things for the suture and that You would be pleased to Abrogate and Disannul all those Decrees which have been made on this occasion 19. Your Majesty was pleased by all Your former Declarations made in favour of Your said Subjects to promise the continuance of that Bounty granted them by the late King Henry the Great of Glorious and Immortal Memory and divers times since Confirmed by Your Majesty for the Maintenance of our Ministers and Universities which was in Compensation of the Tythes paid by Your Subjects aforesaid unto the Popish Parish Curates Yet nevertheless for divers years last part they have been totally deprived of this Liberality And whereas several Assignments were made them for the former years there is yet remaining due unto them a very considerable Sum And although this Favour hath been again and again Promised and was Granted to them in the year 1629. whenas the Towns of the Lower Languedoc submitted themselves to Your Majesty's Authority and the said Promise was since confirmed by Your Majesty's Answer at Montauban to our Bill of Grievances we then tendered You yet nevertheless those very Assignations given them for the year 1627. have been revoked nor have there been any given them for the following years therefore Your Majesty is most Humbly intreated in pursuance of Your Royal Promises to continue unto Your Subjects aforesaid the enjoyments of those former Favours and Liberalities and to ordain and cause them to be paid all Arrears due for the years past and to continue them for the future The End of the Bill of Grievances CHAP. XXVIII The Copy of a Letter from the Pastors and Professors of Geneva sent unto the National Synod of Alanson touching the Doctrine and Books of the Sieurs Amyraud and Testard Messieurs and our most Honoured Brethren THe Return of another Holy Synod to be held by you giveth us a new ground of adoring the infinite Mercy of our God who having for divers Ages chosen your Nation above many others wherein to erect his Kingdom with the Glorious Ensigns of sundry and long continued Combats and Sufferings and with the peculiar Priviledges of Purity Union and a Holy Discipline doth now also in these woful turbulent times through that Clemency and Equity which he hath inspired into your Sovereign Lord the King vouchsafe unto you that excellent means for your Subsistence and the Conservation of his unvaluable Gift the Blessed Gospel among you even your Synodical Meetings whereby your way and course may be kept even without stumbling and your Possession of the Divine Faith safe and lasting And verily all Ages have judged this Ordinance the only Powerful Profitable and most Effectual means for the preservation of the Church and the Reducing of it back again when fallen from unto its first pure and holy Principles But yet the best Canons that were ever framed and established have not been so constantly practised nor observed as among you tho' it is our daily Prayer and we hope in God that through his Divine Grace those of your Discipline shall be continually observed for many Ages That part we have in your Communion and which we have by reason of your singular Affection to us causeth us to recognize so great a mercy with thankfulness and the rather because the dangers of the times had left us quite hopeless of it And tho' considering your Eminent Abilities Prudence Zeal Godliness and Knowledge we can contribute very little if any thing besides our Consent Prayers and Vows unto God for you yet in as much as you ever accepted kindly of our Lines we shall presume once more with our wonted freedom to unbosom our selves to you and to give you the thoughts of our Hearts upon the present State of your Churches according to that general knowledge we have of it and so leave on Record as we are perswaded the mutual Harmony of our Sentiments and inward motions with yours This offers it self first unto us that when we contemplate your condition and compare it with that of very many other Churches which for a long time together have been lying and groaning under deep and extream Oppressions both Corporal and Spiritual we cannot but bow the knee of our Souls before the Throne of the Heavenly Majesty who changeth Times and ruleth Hearts and turneth them as the Rivers of Waters which way soever he pleaseth who bringeth into Temptation supporteth under it and granteth a joyful issue and deliverance from it and who hath shortned the days of your Trial having seen as 't is reasonable for us to believe the promptitude of his Gracious Remnant among you for Repentance and Conversion and their improvement of the day of their Visitation and hath therefore put a period to your Desolations and not suffered the Fiery Trials of some of your Members to be without seasonable refreshments nor those terrors which had generally possessed you to be without the dawnings of some renewed Hopes and Comfort And we cannot but unite our Affections and Zeal with yours whereby to invite you and our selves to Consecrate this inestimable Mercy of your Peace vouchsafed you of God to the Glory of his Great Name the Celebration of his Wonders and to the renewal and reinforcement of our Obedience and Service to him that as you have been the first in these last General Calamities of the Churches in deliverance so you may also have this advantage above them all to walk before them in a most illustrious example of a Serious and Holy usage of it employing your selves Religiously in all thankfullness unto God who is the Sole and Sovereign Author of it and demeaning your selves according to your bounden Duty in all Obedience and Subjection to the Instruments thereof and in an inoffensive peaceable
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
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
was To our Dear and Well-beloved the Pastor's and Elders Deputies of the pretended Reformed Religion Assembled by our Permission in a National Synod at Charenton 10. On Tuesday the Tenth Day of January the Assembly being informed that his Highness the Prince was arrived immediately dispatched the Sieurs Vincent Chabrol Panieure and de Clesle unto Paris and to pay their Reverence unto his Highness who returning the next day made Report how Kindly they were received by his Highness who graciously Offered his best Services for the Maintenance of the Edict made in favour of the Churches which was a most particular Joy unto the whole Assembly and obliging us to Hope well from the Favour of that great Lord. 11. The Letters written by the Pastors and Professors of Geneva from their Church and University to Congratulate the good effects of the last National Synod and the Convocation of this now Sitting as also another particular one from Monsieur Diodati about the Edition of his French Translation of the Holy Bible and one from Dr. Andrew Rivet Pastor and Professor of Divinity at Leyden then residing at the Hague in the Court of his Highness the Prince of Orange and from the Three Professors of Divinity in the aforesaid University of Leyden concerning the Conformity of Doctrin Taught and Professed in the Churches of the Low Countries to and with that Preached and Confessed in the Churches of this Kingdom were all delivered unto the Lord Commissioner Sealed who having first Opened and Perused them permitted the Reading of them but then immediately retained the Originals to be sent unto the King and in his Name declared that it was his Majesties Will and Pleasure that no Answer should be returned unto them by the Synod which was Obeyed accordingly 12. The Lord Marquess of Clermont having exercised the Office of General Deputy for the Churches ever since the Year 1627 did now Petition his Majesty to be Discharged by reason of his Indisposition and his Majesty having granted him his Request and appointed the Lord Baron of Argiliers to Succeed him and Ordered the Lord Commissioner to acquaint the Synod with it and with his gracious Intentions for the Weal of the Churches The Synod was filled with great Joy for that his Majesty had Committed this Important Trust of our General Deputy unto so well an accomplish'd Person whose Noble Birth Vertue and Piety did every way qualify him for it But it having been ever since the Year 1631. customary for the Churches to present Six Persons unto the Ring Three out of the Nobility and Three others of the Commonalty out of which number his Majesty might prick and chuse any Two who were best pleasing to him and that now this Office of Solliciting at Court the Affairs of our poor Churches is devolved upon one Person only who may be disabled from attending it by Sicknest or some other Accidents which may intervene and hinder it the Assembly yielding a profound Deference a most entire Submission and Obedience unto his Majesty's declared Will and Pleasure did yet notwithstanding most humbly Petition his Majesty to grant us the Restitution of our ancient Practice approved by the Kings his Predecessors that another Person from among the Commons might be constituted in case of the Lord Baron of Argilier's Sickness or of any other Impediment that might happen on his Part to take the care of and sollicit the Affairs of our Churches 13. As the Synod was drawing up a Bill of the Churches Grievances and particularly of the Infractions of the Edict in all the Provinces both before and since its Convocation the Lord Commissioner informed them That though it was his Majesty's Pleasure this Assembly should not in the least deliberate of any State-matters publickly yet he would not hinder them from drawing up such a Bill by a select Committee chosen thereunto who might do it in private out of the Memoirs with which the respective Deputies were charged by their Provincial Synods at their Departure or that since their Arrival at this Town they might have received either from the Churches or from particular Persons who were concerned and had notified those Wrongs that were done them by Letters Whereupon the Synod did plenarily submit unto this Order prescribed them by the Lord Commissioner 14. The Lord Commissioner acquainting the Synod how that the Lord de la Vrilliere Principal Secretary of State had assured him that the Decree for remanding all Causes concerning the Professors of our Religion unto the Courts of the Edict was dispatched and that a Fund of 16000 Livres for defraying the Expences of this Assembly was also assigned he had the most humble and hearty Thanks of the Assembly rendred to him and he was farther intreated to continue more and more to do all good Offices unto the Churches and to get expedited a Decree of Supersedeas which may stop the Violence of our Ill-Wishers and may secure us some Repose till such time as his Lordship the General Deputy do take into his Hands the management of our Affairs which was readily granted by the Lord Commissioner 15. The Sieurs de L' Angle and Cottiby Pastors were joyned in Commission with the Sieurs de Morande and Pellue to present unto their Majesties the Bills of our Churches Grievances and they had Letters also to the King and the Queen Regent to my Lord the Duke of Orleans to my Lord Chancellor to my Lord High Treasurer and to my Lord Emery Comptroller General and to the Lord de la Vrilliere Secretary of State And this Committee are ordered to give the most hearty Thanks of all the Churches unto the Lord Marquiss of Clemont and to assure him of our perpetual Gratitude arid that we shall always remember the great Care and Pains he took for us during his Office of General Deputy and that we will never be wanting in our Prayers unto God for him and his best Blessings upon him And the said Committee were ordered to receive the Sum of 1600 Livres assigned by his Majesty for the defraying our Synodical Charges After that this Committee shall have paid their Duties in the Name of this whole Assembly to both their Majesties and their most Honourable Privy Council the Sieurs of Morande and Pellue shall remain at Paris waiting the coming of the Lord General Deputy and Salute his Lordship from the Assembly and consign unto him the Conduct of our Affairs and in the mean while they shall employ themselves wholly in solliciting the speedy Dispatch of those which are most urgent and admit of no Delay And in case his Lordship our General Deputy do not come to Paris within a Fortnight they shall tarry there till he do And it being in no wise just or equitable that they should lie there upon their own Charges the Assembly granteth that out of the Sum of 1600 Livres assigned by his Majesty for defraying of out Expences they shall draw out for their own Service the Sum
of Two Hundred Livres but with this Proviso That in case the Lord General Deputy shall come to Town within the Fortnight that then they pay in the said Two Hundred Livres to the Consistory of the Church of Paris who are to dispose of it towards the Redemption of our poor Captives in Barbary and in case they should be necessitated to sojourn there any longer time than the Fortnight the Remainder of the Monies allowed them for their Expences in their Hands shall be conscientiously restored by them 16. The Lord Marquis of Clermont who was intrusted with those Assignations made unto our Churches out of certain Offices belonging to the Commissioners of real Seisures having brought them by Mr. Cooper unto this Assembly an Order passed that the Sieurs de L' Angle and Cottiby Joynt Deputies with the Sieurs Morande and Pellue or any of them who should remain at Paris to receive the Lord General Deputy should remit them into his Hands and intreat his Lordship to deal in them and compound on such Terms as he together with the Consistory of Paris shall judge to be least disadvantagious unto the Churches Moreover the foresaid Committee are empowred by this Synod to give whatever Acquittances or Discharges may be meet and necessary on those Accompts which were formerly brought in by the Lord of Candall whether arising from the Debets of Acquittances which may or shall be produced or from those of Commissioners for real Seisures which were used in Reprisal and left in the Hands of the Lord Marquis of Clermont And as for what is clearly owing unto the said Lord of Candall upon his last Accompt in case Satisfaction may be given him out of any other part of Reprisal the said Committee are ordered and empowred to see it done The Lord General Deputy upon his Arrival shall according to Order and Custom take the usual Oath which shall be administred to him by the Consistory of the Church of Paris CHAP. VI. A Copy of the Second Letter writ unto the King Sire 17. WE have deputed the Sieurs de L' Angle and Cottiby Pastors and de Morande and Pellue Elders to lay at your Majesty's Feet our most humble Thanks for your great Goodness we having opened and finished our Synod under your Royal Authority and to petition your Majesty as we do from the very bottom of our Souls that you would hear graciously the most humble Requests of your most faithful and most obedient Subjects of our Religion who in divers parts of this Kingdom are mourning and groaning for being deprived of the means of serving God according to the Dictates of their Consciences and that Liberty which hath been granted by the Kings your Majesty's Predecessors of most glorious Memory and confirmed by your Majesty at your first coming to the Crown unto them They do also sorrowfully complain that through the Rigour of some of your Officers they be excluded all Employments and cannot though they have served Apprenticeships be admitted to set up as Masters for themselves in any one kind of Trade whatsoever Such injurious Actions as these quite contrary to the intention of your Edicts depriving them of all honest ways of gaining their Livelyhoods as your Majesties other Subjects do These things Sire shall be more particularly reported in our Bill of Grievances which we presume to present unto you and to which we hope your Majesty will vouchsafe us a favourable Answer That so your Throne being supported by Piety and Justice during your Majesty's most happy Reign Mercy and Truth may meet together Righteousness and Peace may kiss and embrace each other and all sorts of Vertues may abound and flourish and Heaven may pour down its most precious Benedictions upon your Sacred Person and People And after you have lived many a long Year enjoyed the Glorious Victories and magnificent Triumphs of David the continunl Peace Felicity and Riches of Solomon we may end our days praising God and blessing your Majesty and leave unto our Posterity after us this Title in which Sire we do most and principally glory of being for ever From Charenton January 26th 1645. Sire Your Majesties most Humble most Faithful and most Obedient Subjects and Servants the Pastors and Elders assembled in our National Synod by your Majesties Permission at Charenton and in the Name of all Garrissoles Moderator Basnage Assessor Scribes Blondel and Le Coq A Copy of the Second Letter written by the Synod unto the Queen Madam AS we began this Assembly with most sincere Professions and Protestations of our inviolable Loyalties so do we now conclude it with our most humble Thanks and Acknowledgment for your Majesty's Bounty and Clemency extended to us We should Madam be taxed with Ingratitude if we had not a deep Sense of the King 's and your Favours because it was through your Majesties gracious Permission that we obtained the Priviledg of Convening in this Synod Incomparable is the Wisdom of your Regency who now sit at the Helm of the French Empire and govern it with such Happiness that whilst the Neighbour Kingdoms are shattered to pieces with the dreadful Stems of War France only enjoyeth a most happy Calm a most blessed and peaceful Tranquility We have had the Happiness to follow our Business quietly and to meet with no disturbance during the whole Session under the Covert of your Royal Protection And your Majesty hath deigned another Addition to your former Favours in granting us a General Deputy by whose mouth our most humble Petitions may come into your Sacred Presence and you have from the Fountain of your Liberality poured out so many Illustrious Tokens of your Grace and Bounty upon us that our Hearts are most sensibly affected with Gratitude unto your Majesty And therefore have we once more presumed to send the Sieurs de L'Angle and Cottiby Pastors together with the Sieurs de Morande and Pellue Elders to tender unto your Majesty our most humble and repeated Thanksgivings and to implore the Protection of your Sovereign Justice for all those who living in Communion with us under the benefit of your Edicts confirmed by his Majesty at his first coming unto the Crown do yet suffer contrary to your Intention and to your Royal Clemency very many and sore Troubles in all the Provinces of the Kingdom If Madam an assurance of having numberless Hearts at your Devotion Hearts burning with Zeal and Love for the Service of our lawful Prince and who be rooted through an inviolable Fidelity in this Generous Design never in the least to yield to any of your People in any Points of Duty in the most absolute and most entire Obedience and who are immovably resolved to live and die in your and his Majesty's Service be capable of exciting our just Hopes We Madam will live in this Persuasion that we shall gain and merit the continuance of your Favour which will be an universal Remedy for all our Maladies that so to the
should be united as it hath been for divers Years last past with it this Assembly doth approve both of their Reunion with the said Province of Vivaretz and of its being incorporated with that of Bonlieu 2. In Confirmation of the promises made by the National Synods of Charenton held in the Year 1631 the Second time at that Place and of Alenson in the Year 1637 unto Monsieur Chamier this Assembly resolveth stedfastly as soon as God shall have inabled the Churches that they shall be punctually performed 3. A Decree past that the Sieurs Constant and Bellot should be effectually paid what had been promised them by the foregoing Synods as soon as ever the Churches may recover a Fund for it and it shall be returned unto the Province of Xaintonge who had advanced before-hands the said Monies 4. For as much as the whole written Will and Testament of Monsieur Scoffier the Father produced in this Assembly hath not been in the least fulfilled although the National Synod of Alanson had strictly injoyned his Executors to perform it the Consistory of the Church of Nismes is ordered once again to call before them the Widow of Mr. John Scoffier Deceased who had applied to his own private uses the Monies belonging to Jaquemine his Sister tho she was by their own Father made Joint-heir with him that so she may make Restitution of what she had unjustly taken to her self and that by a false Information brought in by her unto the National Synod of Castres And in case she refuse to Discharge her Conscience in this particular then shall the said Consistory prosecute her with all the Censures of the Church according to the Discipline 5. Monsieur du Fresne producing Testimonials from the Province of Higher Languedoc of his Godly Life and most exemplary Conversation ever since the last National Synod and out of respect to his most Humble and Importunate Petition this Assembly granteth him his Desire and restoreth him to the Honour and Exercise of his Ministry of which he had been deprived these Fourteen Years And it was farther Decreed that the Act of the National Synod of Alanson relating to him shall be Rased and whereas his Name was enrolled among the Deposed it shall be now taken off the File and he shall be sent unto the Churches of Issoire Paillac Chazelle and Gazelle to serve them as their Ordinary Pastor All which shall be signified unto him by Letters 6. Complaints being brought in against Monsieur Amyraud Pastor and Professor in Theology at Saumur for Violating the Canons of the National Synod of Alanson by Printing his Book of Reprobation and some other of his Works and the Province of Anjou and the said Monsieur Amyraud who was deputed by the said Church and University of Saumur and charged with the Delivery of their Letters having remonstrated unto this Synod many and sundry Transgressions of those very Canons by several Provinces And the Provincial Deputies of Poictou being heard and also the said Amyraud both as to the Publishing of his Books and the Doctrin contained in them this Assembly being very well satisfied with his Explications and Sense given of his Doctrin agreeable to that of the Synod of Alanson and judging it best to bury in the Grave of Oblivion all those reciprocal Complaints brought in from all Parties hath as formerly dismissed the said Sieur Amyraud with honour to the Exercise of his Professorship wherein he is exhorted to employ himself with Courage and Chearfulness Moreover this Synod desirous for the future to settle a good arid lasting Peace in all the Churches and to satisfy the Requests of all the Provinces which have unanimously demanded the strict and punctual Confirmation and Observation of the Canons of the National Synod of Alanson doth most expressly forbid on pain of all Church Censures yea and of being deposed from their Offices all Pastors and Professors to go beyond those bounds in Writing Preaching or Disputing one against another upon those points declared and explained in the said Synod of Alanson or to publish any Books on those Subjects Moreover the said Professors shall be responsible for all their Lectures Theses and Disputations and their Provincial Synods shall be accomptable for them onto the National And all Students in Divinity are most expresly injoyned upon pain of being declared unworthy of ever serving in the Sacred Ministry to raise any Stirs or Debates about unnecessary Questions as concerning the Order of God's Decrees of Universal Grace by the Preaching of Nature which may lead and bring Men unto Salvation Points only propounded and advanced by pure Curiosity and for the Exercise of Mens Wits And all Examiners of our Proposans in order to the Ministry shall proceed in that business with very much Charity exacting from them nothing but what is demanded by the Canons of our Discipline and provided they give that Satisfaction which is requisite by signing the Confession of Faith the Liturgy of our Churches and the Canons of Alez Charenton and Alenson and this present Act they shall be approved and admitted 7. After Reading of this Canon which Monsieur Amyraud promised to observe and obey he petitioned the Synod that in case his Works might be opposed by Books printed in Foreign Parts without the Kingdom to the blasting of his Reputation License might be given him to defend his own Innocency and to make use of his Natural right in repelling injury and purging himself from all Blame and Reproach An Order passed that if any such thing fell out he should demand leave to vindicate himself from the Provincial Synod of Anjou who shall consider whether it will be expedient for his Consolation and the Churches Edification 8. Monsieur Grace producing his Accompts of Monies received and distributed to the Churches of Rochel Montauban and Castres shall carry them to the next Provincial Synod of Burgundy where upon his Bringing forth of the Acquittances this Accompt shall be concluded and past by the Authority of this Assembly CHAP. XI APPEALS 1. THE Churches of Divonne and Grilby in the Land of Gex appealing from a Judgment in pecuniary matters their Appeal is according to the Discipline sent unto the Province of Burgundy And the Deputies of that Province are Ordered to take into their Custody all Papers of both Sides relating to it 2. That right may be done the Church de la Fite upon their Appeal this Assembly judgeth that the Province of Lower Guyenne hath exceeded the stated Rules First In removing Monsieur de Bourdieu from the Church in that Town unto which he was by a particular Covenant obliged and without hearing the Church as is evident from the Acts of the said Provincial Synod 2. For fixing the said Monsieur de Bourdieu absolutely in the Church of Bergerac notwithstanding the Appeal of that of La Fite 3. That when the said Church of La Fite re-demanded their ancient Pastor they provided for them Monsieur Belon a Person never
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
Loride an Elder for Scribes of the Synod who being Chosen did all of them take their Places accordingly CHAP. II. AS soon as the Officers of the Synod were nominated and seated the Lord de Magdelaine Counsellor to his Majesty in his Court of Parliament at Paris and Deputed by his Majesty to sit as his Commissioner in this Assembly deliver'd the King's Letters patents for his Commission which being Read they were Transcribed and Inserted into the Body of the Acts of this Synod whose Form and Tenor was as followeth Copy of his Majesties Letters Patents given to the Lord Commissioner LOVIS by the Grace of God King of France and of Navar To our Trusty and Beloved Consellor in our Courts of Parliament of Paris the Lord of Magdelaine Greeting We have permitted our Subjects of the Protestant Religion to hold in our Town of Loudun on the Tenth Day of November next a National Synod composed of all the Deputies of the Provinces of our Kingdom for to treat of matters concerning their Religion and being to choose a Person fitly qualified and of known Loyalty and Fidelity to us to assist in it and as our Commissioner to represent our Person in the said Assembly we well knowing those Services which you have rendered us in sundry Honourable Imployments wherein we had Commissionated you and which you have most worthily Discharged We have therefore judged that we could not make a better choice than of your self being well assured that you will continue to us the Proofs and Evidences of your Affection to our Service For these causes we have Commissionated and Deputed and we do now Commissionate and Depute you the said Lord of Magdelaine by these Presents signed with our Hand to pass over unto our Town of Loudun and in our place and stead to assist in the Synod there Convocated that you may then and there propound and answer all those things which we have given you in Commandment according to those Memoirs and Instructions we have delivered to you And you are to take special care that no other matters be there proposed nor debated but such as ought of right to be treated of in those Assemblies and which are permitted by our Edicts and in case they should enterprise any thing to the contrary you shall hinder it and by Interposing of out Authority suppress it or you shall speedily advise us of it that we may by such courses as in our Wisdom we shall judge most fit obviate and prevent it And for so doing we give you power commission and special command by these Presents for such is our Pleasure Given at Bourdeaux this Sixth day of September in the Year One Thousand Six Hundred Fifty and Nine and of our Reign the Seventeenth Signed LOVIS And a little Lower PHELIPPEAVX And Sealed at the lower end with the Great Seal and Yellow Wax CHAP. III. AFter reading his Majesty's Letters Patents the Lord Commissioner made this ensuing Speech unto the Assembly A Copy of the Lord Commissioners Speech Sirs ALthough my many Defects of which I am very conscious and my great Age might have well deterr'd me from accepting of this Commission with which it hath pleased his Majesty to grace and honour me and from coming hither and declaring his Will and Pleasure unto this eminent Assembly made up of the most able and considerable Persons of the Kingdom chosen out of the Body of the Professors of our Religion yet nevertheless I can boldly speak it that according to that Inclination which God hath given me for serving the King and the Publick unto which I have applied my self along time I did not in the least hesitate on this Occasion but did over-look all other Considerations hoping for Supplies from the Supreme Goodness to enable me to the performance of my Duty and from yours also that you will be readily disposed to facilitate what is desired of you And hence it is that I conceive with Joy a good issue of our Affairs even now when as I begin to speak unto you from his Majesty and you also have already took notice of it in that Grant vouchsafed you for your Assembling in this place according to your request which is a most remarkable effect of his Majesty's especial Favour to you which the good Providence of God hath now inspired into him for you after so many other signal Acts of his Royal Bounty you have formerly received from him for which I do not in the least suspect or question your Gratitude and Duty nor the sense of that Obligation which lieth upon you on many Accounts of yielding to him all Obedience according to the revealed Will of God who is the Sole and Sovereign Lord of all Men and of all things whatsoever And when I thus speak of his Majesty you know very well that we must understand all Persons acting by Authority from him according to the same revealed Will of Almighty God and the matter being so notorious we cannot but observe it in this place even that kindness and Justice you have upon many and sundry occasions had proof and sensible experience of from the Hands of his Majesty's first and Principal Minister of State his Eminency the Lord Cardinal Mazarin Nor need I enlarge on this Subject only let me add but one Reflection of my own about this last Favour the Convocation of this Synod which you believed to be at this time so needful for you you stand highly indebted unto his Eminency for it and the best and chiefest Fruit you can gather from its Consultations and Resolutions will be this to be more united among your selves and to maintain in Peace and Concord the whole Body of those of our Religion who are represented by you and to terminate and pacifie those Differences and Dissentions which are among you For sith they are produced through the Vice and Weakness of our Humane Nature and State and begin in the noblest Parts where the whole Body receiveth an alteration we may very much fear a Dissipation if only topiual Remedies be applied for these alone do seldom operate or contribute but a little to the Union and Conservation of the whole And whereas all Assemblies of whit kind soever do depend upon his Majesty who as supreme Lord hath a Right and Jurisdiction over all Persons and Actions and to ordain even in and about matters concerning the Church which was always consider'd as a Part of the State His Majesty was therefore pleased to vouchsafe you this Synod so earnestly desired by you that you might regulate past matters and re-establish among you that Order which you ought to keep for the future and the rather because there be many years lapsed since you had an Assembly of this nature Sirs It is most certain that your Enemies who design your diminution and ruin could never meet with a more favourable means and opportunity to attempt it than by maintaining and fomenting your Divisions and Dissentions for these will
as by the Grace of God we do make profession of Christianity and of a purer Reformed Religion so also do we hope that God will enable us by his Grace to excel all other his Majesties Subjects in a most perfect Loyalty and Obedience To which let me but add one word more that as we have formerly besieged Heaven with the importunate battery of our Vows and Prayers for his Majesty who now reigneth over us and as we upon God's gracious Answering of us did render to his Divine Majesty most solemn and abundant Praises and Thanksgivings so also shall we continue as long as we live to beg of the King of Kings that he would be pleased to preserve our King and that to the many Victories with which he hath favour'd his Arms he would superadd this ' vantage-Mercy to give him to establish his Kingdom in a long and profound Peace to bless his intended Marriage and that he may see the happy Fruits and Pledges thereof And having Reigned many long Years in all Prosperity and Felicity he may transmit the Scepter received from his Fathers unto the Issue of his own Body who may weild it in all Righteousness as long as the Sun and Moon endure CHAP. V. The Marquess of Ruvigny Sworn General Deputy 1. THIS Assembly acknowleding the Kindness of his Majesty in choosing the Lord Marquess of Ruvigny to succeed in the place of the Marquess of Arzilliers Deceased and to discharge the Office of General Deputy for the Churches of this Kingdom 'till such time as his Majesty should be pleased to grant Liberty for the Calling and Meeting of this Assembly unto which his Majesty permitteth the Nomination of such Persons as are to be presented unto this important Charge and the Lord Commissioner having told us from the King that this Assembly had full Liberty to deliberate about what concern'd the Office of the said Lord of Ruvigny who presented his Majesties Writ for his Election and designation to it offering to resign up his Office unto this Assembly Now after that he had received the Thanks of this Assembly for his great care and pains taken by him for the weal of the affairs of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom this Assembly believed that they could not make a more advantagious Choice than of the Person of the said Lord of Ruvigny who hath been already so very useful and helpful to them Wherefore by a most unanimous Consent of all the Deputies of this Synod he was appointed and they do appoint him to exercise the Office of General Deputy in the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom near his Majesty And this Assembly being well assured by the Lord Commissioner that it would be acceptable to his Majesty if he were confirmed in the said Office they administred unto him the Oath which is requisite and accustomed to be taken and then granted him both his deliberative and decisive Votes as all his Predecessors before him ever had in the said Office and his Writ was again returned to him whose Tenour was as followeth 2. THis Third Day of August in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred Fifty and Three the King residing then in Paris and being to provide a General Deputy for his Subjects of the Protestant Reformed Religion that Office being lately void through the Death of the Lord Marquess of Arzilliers after that his Majesty had cast his Eyes upon many of his Subjects he judged that he could not better fill it up than with the Person of the Marquess of Ruvigny Lieutenant General of his Armies who is a Professor of the said Protestant Reformed Religion and endowed with many good and laudable Qualities and who hath given signal Testimonies of his Fidelity and Affection on divers Occasions and of his Abilities and Capacity for his Majesties Service and his Majesty condescending to the most Humble Petition of his said Subjects of the Protestant Reformed Religion he hath chosen and appointed the said Lord of Ruvigny to be the General Deputy of those of the said Protestant Reformed Religion and is well pleased that he reside near his Person and follow his Court in the said Quality and to present unto his Majesty their Petitions Narrations and most Humble Complaints that so he may take such course in it as he shall judge convenient for the Benefit of his Service and the Relief and Satisfaction of his said Subjects of the Protestant Reformed Religion In testimony whereof his said Majesty hath commanded me to expedite this present Writ unto the said Lord of Ruvigny which he was pleased to sign with his own Hands and caused to be countersigned by me his Counsellor and Secretary of State and of his Commandments Signed LOVIS And a little Lower by the King PHELIPPEAVX 3. The Assembly expounding the Act by which the Lord Marquess of Ruvigny was constituted General Deputy declareth that their Intention is that his Lordship shall give his Judgment in all Affairs whatsoever that shall be treated and debated in it excepting those in which he shall be personally and particularly concerned or do relate unto his Office of General Deputy 4. The Sieurs Eustache Pastor and de Mirabel were ordered by this Assembly to go immediately to Court and to prostrate at his Majesty's Feet our most Humble Duties Submissions and Thanks and they were intrusted with Letters unto his Majesty to the Queen to his Eminency to the Lord High Treasurer to the Lord of Vrillieres Secretary of State in whose Division are those of the Reformed Religion and to my Lord of Herual Controller General 5. A Copy of the Synods Letter sent unto the King Sire THE Wisest of Kings to his Command of Fearing God joyned that of Honouring the King they be Two Duties inseparably linked together For Kings in this World do in some Sense hold the very place of God and are his most lively Portraitures in Earth and the steps and degrees of their Thrones do not raise them above the Generality of Mankind but to draw them nearer Heaven These Sire be the Fundamental Maxims of our Creed which we learnt in our Infancy and endeavour to practise during our whole Life and to devolve as an Inheritance unto our Flocks and those Favours which your Majesty vouchsafeth to pour down upon us every Day do more abundantly augment our Obligations to you among which we count this the first and chiefest that your Majesty assureth us by the Mouth of the Lord Commissioner of your Paternal Affection to your Subjects of the Reformed Religion and that you design to continue the effects of your wonted kindness to us as also this priviledge which you have granted us of Meeting together in this place which being a most singular mark of your Goodness we want Words great and emphatical enough whereby to express our resentments and gratitude and how deeply we stand ingaged by this new Favour to devote and consecrate unto your Majesties Service our Lives and Fortunes And the
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
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