Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	jesus_n	sin_n	sinner_n	3,659	5	7.4408	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56905	Synodicon in Gallia reformata, or, The acts, decisions, decrees, and canons of those famous national councils of the reformed churches in France being I. a most faithful and impartial history of the rise, growth, perfection and decay of the reformation in that kingdom, with its fatal catastrophe upon the revocation of the Edict of Nants in the year 1685 : II. the confession of faith and discipline of those churches : III. a collection of speeches, letters, sacred politicks, cases of conscience, and controversies in divinity, determined and resolved by those grave assemblies : IV. many excellent expedients for preventing and healing schisms in the churches and for re-uniting the dismembred body of divided Protestants : V. the laws, government, and maintenance of their colleges, universities and ministers, together with their exercise of discipline upon delinquent ministers and church-members : VI. a record of very many illustrious events of divine providence relating to those churches : the whole collected and composed out of original manuscript acts of those renowned synods : a work never be extant in any language.	Quick, John, 1636-1706.; Eglises réformées de France.	1692 (1692)	Wing Q209; ESTC R10251	1,424,843	1,304

its authority And forasmuch as it is the Rule of all Truth containing all Matters necessarily required for the Worship of God and our Salvation it is in no wise lawful for Men nor Angels to add unto or to take from this Doctrine or to change it And hereupon it followeth That it is not lawful to oppose either Antiquity or Custom or Multitude or Humane Wisdom Judgments Edicts or any Decrees or Councils or Visions or Miracles unto this Holy Scripture but rather that all things ought to be examined and tried by the Rule and Square thereof Wherefore we do for this cause also allow of those three Creeds namely the Apostles the Nicene and Athanasius his Creed because they be agreeable to the Word of God ARTICLE VI. The Holy Scripture teacheth us That in that one and simple Divine Being there be three Persons subsisting the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost The Father to wit the first Cause in order and the Beginning of all things The Son his Wisdom and Everlasting Word The Holy Ghost his Vertue Power and Efficacy The Son begotten of the Father from everlasting the Holy Ghost from everlasting proceeding from the Father and the Son these three Persons are not confounded but distinct and yet not divided but of one and the same Essence Eternity Power and Equality And to conclude in this Mystery we allow of that which those four ancient Councils have determined and we detest all Sects and Heresies condemned by those holy ancient Doctors St. Athanasius St. Hilary St. Cyril and St. Ambrose ARTICLE VII We believe that God in Three Persons working together by his Power Wisdom and incomprehensible Goodness hath made all things not only Heaven and Earth and all things in them contained but also the invisible Spirits of which some fell head-long into Destruction and some continued in Obedience That the fallen Angels being corrupted by their Malice are become Enemies of all good and consequently of the whole Church That the holy Angels having persevered by the Grace of God are Ministers to glorifie his Name and serve his Elect in order to Salvation ARTICLE VIII We believe that God hath not only made all things but also ruleth and governeth them as he who according to his will disposeth and ordaineth whatsoever cometh to pass in the World Yet we deny that he is the Author of Sin or that the blame of things done amiss can be laid upon him seeing his Will is the soveraign and infallible Rule of all Righteousness and Equity but this we confess That he hath those admirable Means as whereby he maketh the Devils and the Ungodly as his Instruments to serve him and to turn the Evil which they do and whereof they are guilty into good So that when we acknowledge that nothing can be done without the Providence of God we do most humbly adore his Secrets which he hath hidden from us nor do we enquire into those which are above our reach and Capacity Nay rather we apply unto our own use that which the Holy Scripture teacheth us for our Peace and Comfort to wit that God to whom all things are subject doth watch over us with a Fatherly Care so that not so much as an Hair of our Head falleth to the ground without his Will and that he hath the Devils and all our Adversaries fast bound in Chains that they cannot without leave first given them do us any harm ARTICLE IX We believe that Man being created pure and upright and conformable to the Image of God through his own fault fell from that Grace which he had received and thereby did so estrange himself from God the Fountain of all Righteousness and of all good things that his Nature is become altogether defiled and being blind in his Understanding and corrupt in his Heart he hath utterly lost that Integrity and although he can somewhat discern between Good and Evil yet we do affirm That whatsoever Light he hath it straightway becometh Darkness when the Question is of seeking after God so that by his Understanding and Reason he can never come to God And although he be indued with Will whereby he is moved to do this or that yet forasmuch as that also is in bondage to Sin that he hath no freedom to desire that which is good but if he have any 't is the gracious Gift of God ARTICLE X. We believe that all the Off-spring of Adam are infected with the Contagion of Original Sin which is a Vice hereditary to us by Propagation and not only by Imitation as the Pelagians asserted whose Errors are detested by us Nor do we think it necessary to inquire how this Sin cometh to be derived from one unto another For it is sufficient that those things which God gave to Adam were not given to him alone but also to all his Posterity and therefore we in his Person being deprived of all those good Gifts are fallen into this Poverty and Malediction ARTICLE XI We believe that this stain of Original Sin is Sin indeed for it hath that mischievous Power in it as to condemn all Mankind even Infants that are unborn as yet in their Mothers Womb and God himself doth account it such yea and that even after Baptism as to the Filth thereof it is always Sin Howbeit they who are the Children of God shall never be condemned for it because that God of his rich Grace and soveraign Mercy doth not impute it to them Moreover we say that it is such a Depravedness as doth continually produce the Fruits of Malice and Rebellion against God so that even the choicest of God's Saints although they do resist it yet are they defiled with very many Infirmities and Offences so long as they live in this World ARTICLE XII We believe That out of this general Corruption and Condemnation in which all Men are plunged God doth deliver them whom he hath in his eternal and unchangeable Counsel chosen of his meer Goodness and Mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ without any consideration of their Works leaving the rest in their Sins and damnable Estate that he may show forth in them his Justice as in the elect he doth most illustriously declare the Riches of his Mercy For One is not better than another until such time as God doth make the difference according to his unchangeable purpose which he hath determin'd in Jesus Christ before the Creation of the World Nor can any one by his own power procure unto himself so great a Blessing because we cannot by Nature nor of our selves excite in our selves any one good Motion Thought or Affection until such time as God does prevent and incline us to it by his Grace ARTICLE XIII We believe That whatsoever is requisite to our Salvation is offer'd and communicated to us now in the Lord Jesus Christ who is made of God unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption so that whosoever leaveth Christ doth renounce all interest in and

confirm the Covenant of Grace propounded to us in the Gospel Ministry Answ Yes Quest How many Sacraments do you believe that there be in the Christian Church Answ Two Baptism and the Lord's Supper Quest Do you desire to be instructed in the Nature and Use of Baptism which you now demand of this Church of Christ Answ Yes Then the Minister shall say Our Lord sheweth us in what Poverty and Misery we are all born when he telleth us that we must be born again For if our Nature must be renewed that it may enter into the Kingdom of God then 't is evident that it is universally depraved and accursed whereof he admonisheth us that we may be humbled and displeased with oar selves and by this means doth he prepare us earnestly to petition for his Grace by which all that Corruption and Malediction of our first Nature may be abolished And we are not capable of receiving it till we be first emptied of all Confidence in our own Vertue Wisdom and Righteousness that so we may pass Sentence of Condemnation upon all that is in us And look as he remonstrateth unto us our miserable Estate so also doth he comfort us with his Mercy promising to regenerate us by his Holy Spirit unto newness of Life which will be the earnest of our entrance into his Kingdom This Regeneration consisteth of two Parts First that we deny our selves not following our own Judgment Will and Pleasure but resigning our Hearts and Understandings to be led Captive by the Wisdom and Righteousness of God and so mortifying our selves and all our fleshly Members here below we do then follow the Divine Light and take up our Complacency in Obedience unto his good Will and Pleasure revealed to us in his Holy Word and subject our selves to the Guidance and Government of his Holy Spirit Now the Accomplishment of both these is in our Lord Jesus whose Death and Passion is of such Vertue that by communicating in it we are as it were dead to Sin that so our carnal Affections and the Desires of our Flesh may be mortified In like manner by the Vertue of Christs Resurrection we rise up unto newness of Live which is of God in●smuch as his Holy Spirit doth guide and govern us and work in us those Works which are well-pleasing to him Yet the first and chiefest Point of our Salvation is that by his Mercy he freely pardons all our Sins not imputing them unto us and blotteth out the remembrance of them that so they may not be brought in Judgment against us All these Benefits are conferred upon us when he is pleased graciously to incorporate us into his Church by Baptism for in this Sacrament he testifieth unto us the Forgiveness of our Sins And to this purpose hath he ordained the Sign of Water thereby to signifie unto us That as this Element cleanseth away the Filth of the Body even so will he wash and purifie our Souls that there may not appear the least Spot upon them In the next place it holdeth forth unto us our Renovation which standeth as was said before in the Mortification of our Flesh and in that Spiritual Life which he effecteth in us So that we receive a double Grace and Benefit from God in our Baptism provided we do not disannul the Vertue of this Sacrament by our Ingratitude First That we have a most certain Token and Testimony that God will be a propitious Father to us not imputing our Sins and Offences to us Secondly That he will assist us by his Holy Spirit that we may be enabled to combat with the Devil Sin and the Desires of our Flesh until we have won the Victory and so enjoy the Liberty of his Kingdom which is a Kingdom of Righteousness For as much then as these two things be accomplished in us by the Grace of our Lord Jesus it followeth that the Vertue and Substance of Baptism is treasured up in him And indeed we have no other Laver but that of his Blood nor any other Renovation but what is in his Death and Resurrection which as he communicateth his Riches and Benedictions to us by his Word so also doth he distribute them abroad among us by his Sacraments And in this appeareth the wonderful Love of God towards us that these Graces bestowed on us having before the Incarnation of our Lord Redeemer been as it were locked up among the Jewish People and the Partition-Wall which separated between Jews and Gentiles being broken down by his Death he hath and doth shed abroad upon Mankind the saving Waters of his Grace in such abundance that now there is neither Jew nor Greek neither Male nor Female neither Circumcision nor Uncircumcision nor any outward Condition of Men that can exclude them from that great Salvation which is in him and which the Lord Jesus will have preached unto all Nations And the Covenant of his Peace is now ratified by Baptism according to the Commission which he hath given unto his Apostles saying Go ye and preach unto all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Quest And is it not true my Brother that you desire to be Partaker of this Grace by Baptism Answ Yes Quest But forasmuch as he that entreth into the House of God must look unto his ways lest he should prophane the Sanctuary and presume according to that Saying of the wise Preacher to offer the Sacrifice of Fools and ungodly Persons and that he ought to be clean purged from all Leaven of Error and Malice do you not detest from your Heart all Errors contrary to that sound Doctrin taught in our Churches Answ Yes Quest Forasmuch as we are now about to administer the Sacrament of Baptism unto you do you not protest to live and die in the Faith of our Lord Jesus which you have now confessed before us and to adorn it with an Holy Life and Conversation and to direct all your Thoughts Words and Actions to the Glory of God and the Edification of your Neighbour and to submit your self to the Order and Discipline of our Church in Conformity whereunto this Holy Ordinance must be inviolably maintained Answ Yes This being done the Minister shall add Let us call upon God that he may be entreated to give his Blessing to this present Holy Ministration O Lord our God! The most wise and merciful God! We praise and bless thy Holy Name for that Grace which thy good Hand hath deigned to bestow upon this thy Servant who lay in the profound Darkness of the Shadow of Death but is now enlightned by thee thou having caused the Day-Spring from on high with his quickening and saving Brightness to arise and shine in upon him drawing him from a most deplorable hardness of a stony Heart to mollifie and soften him delivering him from the Bonds of Death and restoring Life unto him Lord as thou hast took away the Veil that was upon his

Face and called him to the Knowledg of thy self the only True God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent and animated him with a Spiritual Courage to make a publick Confession this Day of thy Holy Faith and that Hope which thou hast begotten in his Soul and granted him this Grace to offer himself in thy Presence unto this Holy Sacrament of Baptism the Seal of thy Covenant the Pledg of the Remission of our Sins and the Token of our Admission into thy House by a Supernatural New Birth So most blessed God we beseech thee to dart in upon him more and more the Beams of thy Mercy to forgive him all his Sins to purge his Conscience with the precious Blood of the Lamb without Spot who taketh away the Sins of the World O cause him Lord to feel the Almighty Vertue of his Propitiation Let thy Holy Spirit sanctifie him and make him a new Creature that he dying unto Sin may live unto Righteousness and putting off the Old Man with his Works he may put on the New Man who is renewed in Righteousness and true Holiness And as we are now pouring upon his Head the Waters of thy Sacrament so we beseech thee more especially to pour down upon him the Gifts and Graces of thy Holy Spirit Receive him into the Number of thy Domesticks and honour him with the Adoption of thy Children Give him Grace that during his whole Life he may devote himself entirely unto thy Service and yield that Obedience and Religious Worship to thee which is thy Due and his Duty And let him persevere faithfully in thy Holy Covenant for ever-more that as we do now receive him in thy Name into the Communion of thy Church Militant so thou mayest another Day exalt him into the Bosom of thy Church Triumphant and gather him at his Death unto that general Assembly of the First-born whose Names are written in Heaven Hear us O merciful Father that this Baptism which we do now administer to him according to thy Sacred Ordinance may produce its Fruit and Vertue in him as thou hast declared in thy Holy Gospel to us for the sake of thy dear Son in whom thou art well-pleased even our Lord Jesus Christ who hath commanded us to call upon thee saying Our Father which art in Heaven c. Then the Minister addressing himself to the Sureties who present the Catechumen shall say My Brethren As you have charitably employed your selves in the Instruction and Edification of this our Brother and are Witnesses of tha Baptism which he shall now receive through our Ministry so do you not promise before God and this Sacred Assembly to continue more and more to strengthen and confirm him in the Faith and to stir him up unto all good Works Answ Yes This done the Minister speaking unto the Catechumen who upon his Knees waiteth for Baptism shall say Forasmuch as we have received these Evidences of your Faith pouring Water upon him N. I Baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen The Conclusion of the Form of Baptizing Strangers from the Covenant of God whether Pagans Jews Mahometans Anabaptists or any other Infidels who had not been before baptized 11. If in Churches served by divers Pastors any one of them be disabled either through Age or some other Infirmity from administring the Cup yet shall he always distribute the Bread in the Lord's Supper unto the Communicants and this Canon shall be observed in all the Provinces without exception 12. Whereas in many of the greater Churches of this Kingdom it hath been found requisite for their more general edifying to handle the Sunday's Catechisms by way of Common-Places in Divinity and not by familiar Questions and Answers And to promote their Instruction who are well grown in years they have substituted extraordinary Catechisings on certain Days immediately preceding the Lords Supper we approving their Practice do notwithstanding exhort the rest of the Churches to conform themselves unto the Order prescribed by the Discipline as much as possibly they can And in case they cannot every Lords Day Catechise their Children yet shall they chuse out some days of the Week peculiarly for this Exercise especially before the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is to be administred and the Provincial Synods are ordred to see this punctually observed in every Church of their Jurisdiction and to give an Account thereof unto the next National Synod 13. To explain that Canon of our Discipline which bindeth Pastors in their ordinary Course of Preaching to expound some one particular Book of Holy Scripture from the beginning to the end thereof this Assembly declareth that the Intention of the National Synod which decreed that Canon was not thereby to debar or hinder any Pastors from edifying their Churches by expounding of any Books or Texts of Scripture particularly chosen on extraordinary occasions as of the Lords Supper c. nor to impose upon them any necessity of prosecuting the Exposition of the same Book which was the Subject of their Lord's Day Sermon upon the Week Days in which the far greatest Part of the People are taken up with the Occupations of their Secular Callings and Families that they cannot attend upon such Sermons and so would be deprived of their chiefest Edification but in this respect to leave all Pastors to their Liberty 14. Henceforward the Moderators in Synodical Assemblies and the Deputies which shall be sent from the Provinces in their Name to assist in National Synods shall be chosen as the Canons of our Discipline have determined not by the Churches but by Plurality of Suffrages of the Provinces And in case any absent Person should be elected yet this shall not abridge the Pastors of their Liberty in Voting 15. For the better Understanding the Third Canon of the Ninth Chapter of the Discipline This Assembly declareth that the Memoirs wherewith every Province intrusteth their respective Deputies ought to be resolv'd in their Provincial Synods by plurality of Votes and signed in the said Assemblies by the Moderators and in case this be omitted there shall be no more regard had unto them than unto Motions made by Private Persons who had no Order nor Commission and propounded such matters of their own Head 16. Upon the Eighth Canon of the Ninth Chapter of the Discipline it was decreed that the Moderator of the Synod having propounded the Matters of Discipline which are to be debated shall defer the giving of his Suffrage till all the Deputies have given theirs and he having gathered their Votes shall then at last have the Casting Voice CHAP. X. Observations made on Reading the National Synod of Alenson held in the Year 1637. 1. IN compliance with that Petition of the Deputies of Vivaretz and of the Church of St. Stephen in Forest which had agreed in a particular Treaty made with the Church of Bonlieu and by Consent of the Province of Burgundy that the said Church

pur-blind about eight and thirty years of Age Deposed by the aforesaid Synod held at Nay for his un-natural and un-dutiful Carriage unto his Aged Parents for very great and shrewd suspicions of Adultery from which he could never clear himself and because in his common Deportments and Conversation he acted as one altogether unworthy the Sacred Ministry 12. John Perrier formerly Pastor in the Church of Paillac in Auvergne low of Stature red Hair copper-Nos'd about fifty years old Deposed by the Synod of Burgundy for deserting his Church and a great many other Crimes All these afore-mentioned Acts Decsiions and Canons were past in the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France and Principality of Bearne assembled at Charenton St. Maurice near Paris from the First of September to the First of October in the year 1623. As also was sworn the Oath of Union in Doctrine and Discipline and of fidelity to His Majesty as was practised heretofore in these National Synods and in the very words of that Oath framed by the Synod of Alez Thus Subscribed by Durant Moderator Bailly Assessor Faucheur Scribes and de Launay Scribes And there was this Appendix written by the hand of the Lord de Launay at the close of this Synod A True Copy sent unto the Colloquy in the Land of Chartres attested by the Manual Subscription of De L' Aunay one of the Scribes of the said Synod and one of the Deputies for the Province of the Isle of France and by these Deputies whose Names follow William Rivett Berlie Pastor of the Church in Quissac J. Clerc De Chambrun Chamier Pastor of the Church at Montlimart St. Amblier Jurieu Pastor of Chastillion on the Loir Villon Havres M. de Langle Pastor in the Church of Rouen P. Paulett Pastor of Vezenobre D' Avignon Pastor at Rennes P. Beraud Pastor and Professor in the Church of Montauban Savoye Pastor in the Church of Castres Isle Pelletier Pastor in the Church of Vandome Cottiby Pastor at Poictiers CHAP. XXVI CANONS and DECREES Made and Establish'd in the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France held at Charenton near Paris September l623 inviolably to be observed by all the Churches and Vniversities in that Kingdom CHAP. I. Of Predestination Election and Reprobation CANON I. FOrasmuch as all Mankind sinned in Adam and are thereby become liable unto the Curse and Eternal Death God had done them no wrong in case he had left Men in their Estate of Sin and under the Curse and Damn'd them for evermore Thus speaketh the Holy Apostle Rom. 3.19 22. All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God And Rom. 6.23 The Wages of Sin is Death CANON II. But in this hath God manifested his Love that he sent his onely Son into the World that whosoever believeth in him may not perish but obtain everlasting Life 1 John 4.9 John 3.16 CANON III. And that Men may be brought to believe God sendeth the glad tydings of Salvation in the Gospel to whom he pleaseth by the Ministration whereof Men are called unto Repentance and Faith in Jesus Christ crucified For how shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard And how shall they hear without a Preacher And how shall they preach unless they be sent Rom. 10.14 15. CANON IV. Such as believe not the Gospel the Wrath of God abideth on them but such as receive and embrace Christ Jesus the Saviour with a true and lively Faith they be delivered by him from the wrath of God and Damnation and are made partakers of Everlasting life CANON V. God is in no wise the Cause nor guilty of Mens unbelief they themselves are as of all other their Sins But Faith in Jesus Christ and Salvation by him is the free gift of God according as it is written Ephes 2.8 You are saved by Grace through Faith and this not of your selves but the gift of God and also Philip. 1.29 To you it is given freely and graciously to believe in Christ Jesus CANON VI. That God giveth Faith in his time unto some and not unto others this proceeds from his Everlasting Decree for known unto God from the beginning are all his works Acts. 15.18 And he doth all things according to the Council of his own Will Ephes 1.11 And in the Execution of this Decree he doth by his grace soften the hearts of the Elect though they be never so hard and stony and maketh them to believe but he doth in his Righteous Judgment leave the Non-Elect in their Wickedness and Obduracy And from this do we principally discover the profound depths of his Mercy and also that just distinction among the Children of Men who were all equally forlorne lost and undone Sinners And as the Decrees of Election and Reprobation revealed by Gods Holy Word doth administer unspeakable Consolation to Pious and Devout Persons so as the Ungodly and Unbelievers take it it must needs be wrested and perverted to their destruction CANON VII Now Election is the unchangeable purpose of God by which according to the most free and good pleasure of his Will out of mere Grace he hath chosen in Jesus Christ unto Salvation before the foundation of the World out of Mankind fallen by their own fault from their first Integrity into Sin and Destruction a certain number of Men who were in themselves not better than others for they were all alike plung'd into the same gulph of Misery And this Jesus Christ God hath also constituted from all Eternity the Head and Mediator of his Elect and the Foundation-stone of their Salvation and so decreed to give them unto Christ that he might save them and call and draw them effectually by his Word and Spirit into Communion with himself and to give them true saving Faith in him to justifie and sanctifie them and having kept them by his Mighty Power in Communion with his Son to shew forth the Sovereignty of his Mercy and the praise of the Riches of the Glory of his Grace he will at last glorifie them as it is written Ephes 1.4 5 6. God hath chosen us in Christ before the Foundation of the World that we might be Holy and unblameable before him in love having predestinated us unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good pleasure of his Will to the praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in his Well-Beloved And Rom. 8.29 Whom he predestinated them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified CANON VIII This Election is not divers for kind but one and the same only as to all that shall be saved in the Old and New Testament For the Scriptures doth teach and preach but one only good Pleasure Purpose Decrees and Counsel of Gods Will by which he hath chosen us from Eternity both to Grace and Glory to Salvation the End and to the way and means

Plants which have been sent you from divers Provinces of this Kingdom that through your well-deserving Pains and Counsels they may be prepared and made fruitful Ministers of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus And to these our Thanks we shall add our most ardent Prayers unto God that he would pour out upon you his most precious and saving Blessings and that he would always make you a most eminent Example of his Grace and Mercy in the Churches of his dear Son covering you and your Common-wealth wherein you live with the Wings of his Protection to the Glory of his Providence and to the Honour of his Holy Name as also to the Consolation of our Churches In whose Name we are From Castres this 6th of September 1626. Most Honoured Lords and Brethren Your most humble and most affectionate Servants in the Lord the Pastors and Elders of the Reformed Churches of France assembled in our National Synod and for them all The Superscription was thus To our Lords the Pastors and Elders in the Church of Geneva at Geneva Chauve Moderator Bouterove Assessor Scribes of the Synod O. Blondel Petit A Letter from the Church of Paris to our most Honoured Lords the Pastors and Elders assembled in the National Synod at Castres Most Reverend and very Honoured 'T IS with very great regret on our part that we are enforced to complain unto you against our Province but we have too just cause for out so doing We have ever held a fair and Christian Correspondence and Fraternal Union with it And indeed Sirs if it had been only our own particular Interest that was concerned we should much rather have chosen to suffer all manner of ill Usages than to have interrupted you in your most holy and important Occupations But the Honour of our Functions and the Glory of our God and the Advancement of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ are all concerned Therefore we implore with the greater freedom the Assistance of your Charity and the Help of your Fatherly Protection because we are well assured of your Zeal to the Well-being and Edification of our Church You know Sirs that great Affliction wherewith our ●od hath of late visited us in calling unto himself that most excellent Person Monsieur Durant whose Gifts and Graces and singular ministerial Abilities were universally known throughout the whole Kingdom During his Sickness which lasted near sour Months and six Months since his Decease those two astors which were left us were so surcharged with hard Labour that they both fell dangerously Ill and must have infallibly funk under the weight of their Burden had they not been extraordinarily assisted and supported by God As soon as God had took into his Joys our late famous Pastor we faw immediately the great necessity we had to relieve and ease those two which survived and this was the unanimous Prayer and Desire of the whole Church It was utterly impossible for us to find in our Colloquy a Minister every way qualified for us for besides that none of those Pastors had a Voice strong enough for our Auditory and those other Abilities requisite for the edifying so great a People There were some afflicted with Sickness and divers Churches were destitute of Pastors and so far were we from being holpen by them that several of the Neighbour-Churches have importuned us to lend them our help To assemble a Synod for their and our Relief was out of our Power For besides the bitterness of the Season the rigour and sharpness of the Winter we were then in the very hottest and deepest of the late Trouble and without any hopes of Peace which since our good God out of his infinite Mercy hath bestowed upon us Being then obliged to provide for our selves elsewhere we were not in any great trouble on whom to sasten our Eyes for so had the gracious Providence of God ordered it that in the extremity of Monsieur Durant's Sickness Monsieur Daillé preached three Sermons to us which so much affected our whole Church that from that instant it was the common Discourse that as God afflicted us on the one Hand so did he seem to comfort us on the other by pointing out unto us such a Person as might he easily and speedily obtained by us because the Province of Anjou was well enough provided of able Pastors and of divers Proposans of very great Hopes Monsieur Durand resting from his Labours in Abraham's Bosom we believed it our Duty to concur with those ardent Desires that many of our Members had expressed for Monsieur Daillé and the rather because we were well inform'd of his singular Piety Probity and rare Learning who by reason of those excellent Gifts and Graces of God's Holy Spirit in him had been already sought after far and near by many of the greatest and most famous Churches in the Kingdom But the Lord out of his abundant Goodness had reserv'd him for us And that we might handsomly and regularly proceed in giving him a Call to the Pastoral Office in our Church we resolved at first to demand him by way of Loan as we can easily prove by our Letters written unto the Church of Saumur and to the said Monsieur Daillé and by the Acts of our Consistory But the Person whom we deputed to Saumur and to whose Prudence and wise Conduct we had confided this Affair having been refused as to the Loan advised us by an express Messenger that there was more hopes of gaining him as an absolute Gift because the Church of Saumur could more easily procure it self a fettled Pastor than borrow one for a few Months Whereupon he demanded of us new Letters and a more ample Commission The Quality of the Person imployed by us in this Negotiation and our most pressing urgent Necessity made us resolve to demand the Ministry of Monsieur Daillé purely and absolutely We in the mean while taking it for granted that our Synod would have approved and consented to what we had done as we on our parts were disposed to break off the whole Treaty in case they could make it appear that we were out and mistaken in our Choice and that there could be any thing opposed against the Doctrine Life and Conversation of him to whom we had sent our Call As soon as we had notice that our Synod should be assembled we to render all due Honours to it delegated the Sieurs Mestrezat Bigot and d' Huysseau to it and charged them to make report of our Conduct in this Affair and to petition that Assembly to approve of the calling Monsieur Daillé into Office among us though at that time we had no promise of him made us by the Church of Saumur We well hoped that those Reverend Gentlemen would have considered the great importance of our Church and the Kindnesses they continually receive from it and that they would have comforted us in our Affliction and would have praised our Proceedings or at least would

we Judge it your Duty to examine his work and censure it and to return it back unto us that we also may add our consent unto your performance What you have already done discovers a Holy Religious and Charitable Affection to the Service of God and to the Edification of the Churches in your Native Countrey Your Remarks upon his Errors are very clear your Confutations of them exceeding Solid and the Admonitions you have ministred unto our Brethren express a great deal of Christian Charity and what you have done in this matter is highly pleasing to us and we cannot but Esteem and Honour you the more for your singular care in defending the Truth and conserving the Peace of God's Church and we Praise and Applaud your Pious Zeal for the Service of God and of his Church And what Man fearing God but will cherish in you these good Dispositions and your Praise-worthy Labours May our God who hath breathed into you these Divine Motions and Affections maintain them in you And the Lord grant that the Churches of France may acknowledge with due respects and thankfulness your Zeal and approve of your Writing and may remove those Errors which you have detected to them from among them and watch over them that they may not gain ground in the midst them for they have a tendency to Exclude our Lord Jesus Christ from being a means of Salvation And further we do with all our hearts beseech the God of Bounty and Mercy that he would lengthen out your days unto many years to the benefit of our Belgick Churches and of those in the Kingdom of France that he would preserve you from all evil and accumulate upon you his best Blessings Amen From Franequer this 15. of February 1637. Your most Affectionate Servants and Brethren Johannes Bogermannus Dr. of Divinity and chief Professor in this Vniversity Menardus Sertaunus S. S. Theolog. Dr. and Professor Johannes Majomus Dr. and Professor Letters from Monsieur Altingius to Monsieur Rivett and the Approbation of the Church of Groninguen SIR IT was very late when the Pacquet you sent me was received by me having opened it I found therein closed three Books written by certain Pastors in France in love with Novelties the Disciples of Mr. Cameron deceased together with your Animadversions upon their Doctrines briefly Collected by you Indeed as I am exceedingly desirous of the Peace and Concord of God's Church which we do more need now than ever so was I as much sadned and dejected that those Brethren and others of their Perswasion should go about to change the Doctrine Established in France and the Netherlands against Arminius and his Followers and trouble the Repose and Tranquility of all our Churches and grieve weak Consciences especially those who have no insight into these matters and others of the same Nature I doubt not but that your Churches of France will find out a convenient and speedy Remedy in this their approaching National Synod that may prevent this growing evil according to the laudable Canons of their Discipline and preserve others from its Infection I approve and commend your singular Care and Diligence for those Churches and that tho' you be at a distance from them yet you do so seasonably assist and help them I have Communicated the whole unto Monsieur Gomarus who was very much pleased with your Considerations and who did not only read the Writings you had stitched with them but extracted divers things as I also have done to be of use to me in case I should hereafter be called out to give my Judgment on these points You have here added a form of Approbation brief indeed but harmoniously agreeing with that of the Professors at Leyden and which as we hope will be sufficient enough for the present If you desire any thing more you need only hint it to me nor use or urge any Arguments with me for so doing I pray you to inform me whether Monsieur Capel is a Partner in these Novelties for I have held with him a most intire sincere and inviolable Friendship more than thirty years I must confess ingenuously unto you that I could never well enough understand that Merit of the Covenant of Nature which contains the Foundations of Pererius his Faith Could I have met but with a Messenger any one day of this last week I had sent the whole unto Monsieur Bogerman which God willing I shall do by the very first opportunity The Lord preserve you my most Illustrious and Dear Brother and whom I Honour with my whole heart and the Lord lengthen out your life many a year for the Service of his poor Church and give down his Heavenly Blessing upon your worthy Labours to the Glory of his Great Name From Groninguen Decemb. 27. 1636. Henricus Altingius The Form of Approbation WE have Read and Examined in the fear of God the Theological Considerations of that most Famous Divine Monsieur Rivett upon the Abridgement of the Doctrine of Nature and Grace which as they do clearly repeat that Orthodox Consent settled against the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians by the Synod of Dort in Holland and of Charenton in France so be they also meet and fit for their singular Prudence Moderation and Charity to stop the Progress yea and wholly to suppress those unhappy Controversies which are lately started by some certain Pastors who be more in love with Novelties and Subtilties than with plain and simple Verity They have shown a great deal of Imprudence in raising them and have also Scandalized the Churches and Universities of France We beseech God through our Lord Jesus That he would give his Blessing from Heaven unto the Designs and Labours of this Man of God and that he would Sanctifie us all and keep us in the Truth From Groninguen this 27th of December 1636. Francis Gomarus Doctor of Divinity and Professor in that University Henricus Altingius S. T. P. The Original of this present Formulary of Approbation being in my Custody in case any one should call in question the Truth of the Copies thereof I shall produce it at any time for their satisfaction I could not get the first Copy which I took from the Original and sent back to be Subscribed by those Reverend Persons who had Signed the Original to be Subscribed because some of them were then absent from the City of Groninguen and because I was necessitated to dispatch this second Copy so suddenly that it could not possibly be attested by them But in case the first Copy should not be delivered to our Reverend Brethren yet nevertheless I hope they will credit these which in the presence of God I do avouch to have been most Faithfully extracted from the Original From the Hague in much haste this 17th of May 1637. Andrew Rivett CHAP. XXX A Letter of Monsieur du Moulin Pastor and Professor of Sedan sent unto the National Synod of Alanson in the year 1637. concerning the Books of the Sieurs

title to the Mercy of God the Father to which as to our only Sanctuary we are bound to have Recourse ARTICLE XIV We believe That Jesus Christ being the Wisdom and eternal Son of the Father took upon him our Nature so that he is one Person God and Man Man that he might be able to suffer both in Soul and Body made like unto us in all things Sin only excepted so that as to his Humane Nature he was in truth the very Seed of Abraham and of David conceived in due time in the Womb of the most Blessed Virgin by the secret and incomprehensible Power of the Holy God And therefore we detest as contrary to that Truth all those Heresies with which the Churches were troubled in times past and particularly we detest those diabolical Imaginations of Servetus who ascribed to our Lord Jesus Christ an imaginary Deity whom he asserted to be the Idea and Pattern of all things and the counterfeit or figurative Son of God In short he framed him a Body compacted of three Elements uncreated and so did mingle and overthrow his Nature ARTICLE XV. We believe That in one and the same Person to wit the Lord Jesus Christ his two Natures are truly and inseparably conjoined and united yet nevertheless in such a manner that each Nature doth retain its distinct Properties So that even as in this Divine Conjunction the Divine Nature retaining its Properties doth still abide uncreated infinite and filling all places so also the Humane Nature remaineth finite having its form measure and property And altho' the Lord Jesus Christ when he rose from the dead did give Immortality unto his Body yet he never deprived it of the Verity of its Nature Therefore we do so consider Christ in his Deity that we do not spoil him of his Humanity ARTICLE XVI We do believe That God by sending his Son into the World did declare his infinite Love and inestimable Goodness to us delivering him over unto death and raising him again from the dead that he might fulfil all Righteousness and purchase Everlasting Life for us ARTICLE XVII We believe That by that only Sacrifice which Jesus Christ offered upon the Cross we are reconciled unto God that so we may be held and accounted Righteous in his sight because we can never please him nor be partakers of his Adoption but so far only as he forgiveth us our sins and burieth them in his grave Therefore we affirm That Jesus Christ is our intire and perfect Washing and that by his Death we obtain full satisfaction whereby we are delivered from all those sins of which we are guilty and from which we could never be absolved by any other means or remedy ARTICLE XVIII We believe That our whole Righteousness is founded in the Remission of our Sins which is as David calleth it our only Happiness Wherefore we do utterly reject all other means by which men do think they may be justified before God and casting away all conceits of our own Vertues and Merits we do altogether rest upon the sole Obedience of Jesus Christ which is imputed to us as well for the covering of our Offences as that we may find Grace and Favour with God And indeed we believe that should we in the least forsake this Foundation we could not find elsewhere any repose but must needs be agitated with Inquietudes in our Consciences because we are never at peace with God till we be perswaded upon good grounds that we are beloved in Jesus Christ For that in our selves we have deserved to be hated by him ARTICLE XIX We believe That by this means we have liberty and priviledge of calling upon God with full confidence that he will shew himself a Father to us for we have no access unto the Father but in and through Christ the Mediator And that we may be heard in his Name it is meet that we should hold and derive our Life from him as from our Head ARTICLE XX. We believe That we are made partakers of this Righteousness by Faith only as it is written He suffered to purchase Salvation for us That whosoever believeth in him should not perish And this is therefore done because the Promises of Life offered to us in him are then applied to our use and made effectual to us when we do accept of them and in no wise doubt but that we shall enjoy those things which the Lord by his own mouth hath assured us of So that the Righteousness which we obtain by Faith dependeth upon the free gracious Promises of God by which God doth declare and testifie unto us that we are beloved of him ARTICLE XXI We do believe That by the secret Grace of the Holy Ghost the light of Faith is ●inded up in us so that it is a gracious and special Gift which God bestoweth upon whom he pleaseth and the Faithful have nothing whereof they may boast because they are doubly obliged unto God for having preferred them before others and for that he never gave Faith unto the Elect once only to bring them into the good way but also to cause them to continue in it unto the end For as God doth begin Faith so doth he also finish and perfect it ARTICLE XXII We believe That by this Faith we are regenerated unto newness of Life we being naturally imbondaged under Sin And we do by Faith receive that Grace to live holily and in the fear of God in our receiving of the Promise which is given us through the Gospel to wit that God will give us his Holy Spirit So that Faith is so far from freezing our Affections to Godliness and Holy Living that contrariwise it doth engender and excite it in us necessarily producing all manner of good Works Finally Altho' God to accomplish our salvation doth regenerate and reform us that we may do those things which are well-pleasing yet notwithstanding we do confess that the good Works which we do by his Spirit are never accounted to us for Righteousness nor can we merit by them that God should take us for his Children because we should be always tossed with doubts and disquiets if our Consciences did not repose themselves upon that satisfaction by which Jesus Christ hath purchased us for himself ARTICLE XXIII We believe That all the Types of the Law ended when as Christ came in the flesh But altho' the Ceremonies are no longer in use yet nevertheless the Substance and Truth of them abideth always in his Person who fulfilled them Moreover we must be holpen by the Law and the Prophets for the right ordering of our Lives and that the Promises of the Gospel may be confirmed to us ARTICLE XXIV We believe That forasmuch as Jesus Christ is conferr'd upon us to be our alone Advocate and that he commandeth us even in our private Prayers to present our selves before the Father in his Name and that it is in no wise lawful for us to call upon God in any other