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
interests of the Parties and in case the said Registers shall refuse so to do it shall be enough for the said Officers to make report of the said Citation expedited by the said Ushers or Notary and to cause it to be recorded in the Register of their own Jurisdiction that so they may have recourse unto it when ever they shall need it on pain of a nullity in all proceedings and judgments whatsoever And as for those Officers who were never used to be received in those said Parliaments in case those to whom it doth belong should refuse to proceed unto the said Examen and Reception the said Officers shall betake themselves unto the said Chambers to be provided for as in that case it behoveth LIV. The Officers of the said pretended Reformed Religion who shall be hereafter appointed to serve in the body of our Courts of Parliament aforesaid in the great Council Chamber of Accompts Courts of Aid Courts of the General-Treasurers of France and other Officers of the Exchequer shall be examined and received in those places where they have been accustomed to be and in case of refusal or denyal of Justice they shall be provided for by our Privy-Council LV. The Reception of our Officers made in the Chamber formerly established at Castres shall remain in force notwithstanding all Decrees and Orders to the contrary And the Reception of Judges Counsellors Comptrollers and other Officers of the said Religion made in our Privy-Council or by Commissioners ordained by us upon the refusal made by our Courts of Parliament of Aids and Chambers of Accompts shall be valid as if they had been done in the said Courts and Chambers and by those other Judges to whom the Reception doth belong And their Salaries shall be allowed by the Chambers of Accompts without any difficulty And in case any of them hath been rased they shall be restored without needing any other Command than this present Edict and without binding the said Officers to cause any other Reception to appear notwithstanding all Decrees given unto the contrary which shall abide null and void and of none effect LVI And till that there be some way and means found out for defraying the charges of Justice in the said Chambers out of the Fines and Mulcts that may be levied we shall take care to provide some valuable and sufficient Assignments for the paying of those Charges excepting always our redemanding the said summs out of the Goods and Estates of Condemned Persons LVII Presidents and Counsellors of the said pretended Reformed Religion who were formerly received in our Court of Parliament of Dolphiny and in the Chamber of the Edict incorporated with it shall continue and have their Sessions and Orders in it that is to say The Presidents as they have enjoyed and do enjoy them at present and the Counsellors according to the Decrees and Provisions which they have obtained in our Privy-Council LVIII We declare all Sentences Judgments Arrests Proceedings Seizures Sales and Decrees made and given against those of the said pretended Reformed Religion as well living as dead since the Death of the late King Henry the Second our Most Honoured Lord and Father-in-Law upon accompt of the said Religion the tumults and troubles since happened together with the execution of those Judgments and Decrees from this present to be broken revoked and disannulled and we do break revoke and disannul them We ordain also that they shall be rased and taken out of the Registers Office and the Courts as well Soveraign as Inferiour As it is also our will that all Marks Prints and Monuments of these Executions aforesaid Books and defamatory Acts against their Persons Memories and Posterity shall be removed and blotted out And that the places in which upon this occasion there have been demolitions and ruins shall be restored in that Estate in which they are at present unto their Proprietors who may enjoy and dispose of them as best pleaseth them And in general we have broken revoked and disannulled all proceedings and Informations done upon the accompt of any Enterprises pretended Crimes of High Treason and others notwithstanding that such Procedures Decrees and Judgments do contain Reunion Incorporation and Confiscation And we will that those of the said Religion and others who have followed their Party and their Heirs do re-enter into the real and actual possession of all their goods and estates LIX All Proceedings made Judgments and Decrees given in the late troubles against those of the said Religion who have born Arms or have departed the Kingdom or are in it in the Towns and Lands held by them or for any other matter than that of Religion and troubles as also all non-suiting of Causes and Legal Conventional and Customary Prescriptions and Foedal Seizures happened during the late troubles or by lawful Impediments proceeding from them the cognisance of which shall abide with our Judges shall be all esteemed as if not done given or happened and we have declared and do declare them to be such and we have put and do put them to nought so that the Parties cannot be in the least holpen or benefitted by them so that they shall be remitted into that estate in which they were before notwithstanding the said Decrees and their Execution and they shall be restored in this respect unto the possession of them And all this as abovesaid shall in like manner take place for them who have followed the Party of them of the said Religion or who have been absent from our Kingdom upon the accompt of the Troubles And as for the Children Minors of those Persons of the quality abovesaid who are dead in the late troubles we leave those Parties in the same estate in which they were before without refunding of the Expences or being bound to make any amends Yet nevertheless 't is not our mind nor intention that those Judgments given by Presidial Judges or other inferiour Judges against those of the said Religion or who have followed their Party should be null in case they were given by Judges sitting on the Bench in those Towns which were held by them and whereunto they had free access LX. The Decrees given in our Courts of Parliament in matters whose Cognisance belong unto the Chambers ordained by the Edict of the year 1577. and the Articles of Nerac and Flex in which Courts the Parties have not proceeded voluntarily that is to say they have alledged and proposed declinatory ends or which have been given for default or by fore-clusion whether in Civil or Criminal matters notwithstanding which ends the said Parties have been constrained to go on farther they shall be in like manner null and of no value And as for those Decrees given against them of the said Religion who have proceeded voluntarily and without proposing Declinatory Ends those Decrees shall stand Yet nevertheless and without prejudice unto their Execution they may if it seem good unto them provide against them by a Civil
order now his Majesty willeth and intendeth that notwithstanding it his said Edict of Nantes shall take place in all the Towns and Jurisdictions brought under his obedience by the said Lord Admiral as for all other places of his Kingdom ARTICLE XXII In pursuance of the Edict for reducing the Lord Duke of Joyeuse the said Religion may not be at all exercised in the City of Tholouse nor in the Suburbs thereof nor within four Leagues round nor nearer to it than the Towns of Villemur Carmain and the Isle of Jordain ARTICLE XXIII Nor may it be restored and set up again in the Towns of Alet Fiac Auriac and Montesquiou but yet and if any of the said Religion should petition for a place where it might be exercised the Commissioners which shall be deputed by his Majesty to execute his Edict or other Officers shall out of the places assigned for every one of those Towns assign a commodious place and of safe access to them and which shall not be in distance removed from the said Towns above one League ARTICLE XXIV The Exercise of the said Religion may be restored even as it was granted by the Edict of Nantes within the Jurisdiction of the Court of Parliament of Tholouse excepting always in the Bailywicks Seneschalsies and their Precincts whose principal Seat was reduced under his Majesty's obedience by the said Lord Duke of Joyeuse for which the Edict of 1577. shall stand good and be observed Yet notwithstanding 't is his Majesty's intention and purpose that the said Exercise shall be continued in the borders of the said Bailywicks and Seneschalsies where it was in the time of the said reduction and that the priviledge of Fiefs shall take place in the said Bailywicks and Seneschalsies according to the intendment and import of the said Edict ARTICLE XXV The Edict made for the Reduction of Dijon shall be observed and according to it there shall be no other Exercise of Religion than that of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church in the City and Suburbs thereof nor in four Leagues round ARTICLE XXVI The Edict likewise for Reduction of the Lord Duke of Mayenne shall be observed according unto which the said pretended Reformed Religion may be exercised in the Towns of Chaalon Seure and Soissons in the Bailywick of the said Chaalons and in two Leagues of the borders of Soissons for the term of six Years to begin from the first day of January 1596 which being expired the Edict of Nantes shall be observed as in all other parts of the Kingdom ARTICLE XXVII Those of the said Religion of whatsoever quality shall be permitted to come and go freely unto and from the City of Lions and unto the other Cities and places of the Government of Lyonnois notwithstanding any Prohibitions to the contrary made by the Syndicks and Sheriffs of the said City of Lion and confirmed by his Majesty ARTICLE XXVIII There shall be but one place of Bailywick ordained for the Exercise of the said Religion in the whole Seneschalsie of Poictiers over and besides those which are at present established and as for the Fiefs the Edict of Nantes shall be followed The said Exercise also shall be continued in the Town of Chauvigny But the said Exercise may not be restored in the Towns of Agen and Perigueux although that by the Edict of 1577. it might have been ARTICLE XXIX There shall be but two places of Bailywicks for the Exercise of the said Religion in the whole Government of Picardy as it hath been before declared and the said two places may not be given within the Bailywicks and Governments reserved by the Edicts made for the Reduction of Amiens Peronne and Abbeville Yet notwithstanding the said Religion may be exercised in the Houses of Fiefs throughout the whole Government of Picardy according as it was decreed in and by the Edict of Nantes ARTICLE XXX There shall be no Exercise at all of the said Religion in the City and Suburbs of Sens and there shall be ordained but one place of Bailywick for the said Exercise in the whole Circuit of the said Bailywick however this shall not in the least prejudice the priviledge of Houses of Fiefs which shall hold good according to the Edict of Nantes ARTICLE XXXI In like manner the said Exercise may not be in the City nor Suburbs of Nantes nor shall there be any one place of Bailywick ordained for the exercise of the said Religion within three Leagues round of the said City yet notwithstanding it may be done in the Houses of Fiefs according to the Edict of Nantes ARTICLE XXXII 'T is his Majesty's Will and Pleasure that his said Edict of Nantes shall be observed from this very instant as to what concerns the Exercise of the said Religion in those places where by the Edicts and Grants made for the reduction of some Princes Lords Gentlemen and Catholick Cities it was prohibited only for a time and till further order And as for those places where the said Prohibition was limited to a fixed certain time the said time being passed the Prohibition shall cease and be of no force ARTICLE XXXIII There shall be given unto those of the said Religion a place for the City Provostship and Viscounty of Paris within five Leagues at farthest of the said City in which they may enjoy the publick exercise thereof ARTICLE XXXIV In all those places where the said Religion shall be exercised publickly the People may be assembled and called together even by found of Bells and they may do all Acts and Duties of the said Religion as the exercise of Discipline the holding of Consistories Colloquies National and Provincial Synods by his Majesty's permission ARTICLE XXXV Ministers Elders and Deacons of the said Religion shall not be constrained to answer before a Court of Justice in quality of Witnesses about matters which were revealed to them in their Consistories when as Censures were to be inflicted unless it were for any matter concerning the King's Person or the preservation of the State and Government ARTICLE XXXVI The Professors of the said Religion who live in the Country may lawfully go unto the exercise thereof in the Cities and Suburbs and other places where it shall be publickly established ARTICLE XXXVII Those of the said Religion may not keep any Publick Schools unless in those Cities and places in which the publick exercise thereof is permitted them and those provisions which were formerly granted them for the erection and maintaining of Colleges shall if need so require be verified and obtain their full and entire effect ARTICLE XXXVIII It shall be lawful for Parents professing the said Religion to provide for their Childrens Education in such a manner as best pleaseth them and to substitute one or more Tutors and Guardians to them by their last Will and Testament or by a Codicil or any other Declaration passed before a Notary or written and signed with their own Hands the Laws Ordinances and Customs
and the Consular Town-Clark and all those mentioned by name in that Decree past in the Court of the Edict at Beziers about the proceedings of the Sieurs de Suc and Maussac who were Counsellors there and of their prosecution by reason of the said Consulship of Nismes and the Decrees thereupon made both in our Privy-Council and said Court of Parliament Court of the Edict and Court of Aids sitting at Montpellier And the Inhabitants of Anduze of their Murder of the Sieur de Mantaille and the Sentences of Condemnation issued out against the Consuls and particular Inhabitants of the said Town during those Commotions The Inhabitants of Milhaud their fact against the Sieur de la Roquesavas and the restitution of the summ of 4000. Livers unto the Jacobine Fryars The Sieur de Gasque for his Imprisoning of sundry the Inhabitants of Alez the violations of safe-conduct Impositions and raisings of money erecting of Courts of Justice of Officers and Councils by the Provinces and Executions of Judgments ordered by them in Civil or Criminal matters Government and Regulations made among themselves and their exercising those Offices in the said Towns whilst they were in Rebellion against us and the Attorneys demanding Justice when as they exercised their Offices before the said Judges Officers and Counsellors established in the said Towns yea and those who had Licence from us to sojourn and act during the said time in those Towns aforesaid Journeys Intelligences Negotiations Treaties and Contracts made with the English by the said Towns and Inhabitants and by the said Dukes of Rohan and Lord of Soubize as well with the said English as with the King of Spain and Duke of Savoy and the Letters written unto the Protestant Cantons of Switzerland and the Sieurs Clausell and Du Cros who have been imployed All Sales of Goods Church Furniture or other things felling of Timber on other Mens Lands Fines carrying away of Plunder Ransoms or Moneys of any other nature taken away by reason of the said Commotions melting down and seisings of Artillery and Ammunitions making of Powder and Saltpetre Takings Fortifyings Dismantlings or demolishing of Towns Castles Boroughs and Villages yea the taking of Meruez Aymargues and other burnings and demolishings of Churches and Ecclesiastical Houses and others by order and authority of the said Duke of Rohan and all Criminal Prosecutions thereupon without prejudice unto the Civil Interest of the said Religious Ecclesiasticks for which they shall have recourse unto the Chamber of the Edict We discharge them also of all Farmings of Benefices and Church Lands Goods of which they were spoiled by those who Commanded under their General We will likewise that they injoy the benefit of the whole Contents of all former Acts of Indemnity and for whatsoever hath been done or negotiated since the time aforesaid notwithstanding all Proceedings Decrees and Condemnatory Sentences had and passed against them yea those very Decrees in the Parliaments of Tholouze and Bourdeaux against the said Duke of Rohan who shall be preserved in all his Honours and Dignities which he formerly injoyed nor shall he for those aforesaid matters be in the least sued or prosecuted for which we do impose a perpetual silence on all our Attorneys-General and their Substitutes excepting always all Cases execrable which were reserved in the Edict of Nantes and others depending on the Civil Interest about matter of fact happened at Vezenobre and Tournac and for Houshold-goods which are found to be the very same and were taken away from those who were in Obedience to the King V. And in pursuance of our Intention to maintain all our Subjects professing the said pretended Reformed Religion in the free exercise of the said Religion and injoyment of the Edicts accorded to them We Will that all those aforesaid shall intirely enjoy the said Edict of Nantes and other Edicts Articles and Declarations Registred in our Parliaments and that in pursuance hereof they shall have the free Exercise of the said Religion in all those places in which it hath been granted to them VI. And all those Temples and burying places which were either taken away from them or demolished shall be restored to them with Licence to rebuild them if they think it needful VII We Will that all Fortifications of the said Towns and places shall be intirely rased and demolished except it be the whole compass of those Walls within three Months and this to be diligently dispatched by the said Inhabitants and because of our confidence in them for so doing we do not place any Garisons nor any Cittadels among them And the said demolitions shall be made according to the Orders and Directions of those Commissioners which shall be appointed by us and according to those Orders and Instructions which they shall have received from us And in the mean while for greater assurance that this our Will shall be performed Hostages shall be given by the said Towns who shall be kept in those places ordained by us until the said Demolishments be fully accomplished VIII We Will that these aforesaid have their Estates Moveable and Immoveable their Priviledges Titles Rights and Suits Ordered and restored to them notwithstanding all Condemnations Gifts Confiscations and Reprizals which may have been made and granted excepting only the Profits and Revenues of their said Estates and those Houshold-Goods which are not now in being the Woods which are cut down the Debts which have been received unto this present day actually and without fraud after judicial Prosecution and Compulsion Yet nevertheless we will that the precedent Declarations given upon the fact of the said Reprisals until these present Commotions Decrees given forth contradictorily and matters transacted in and upon them shall take place and be Executed notwithstanding all Decrees to the contrary We will also that the Heirs of the Sieur de Mormoirac shall be restored unto their Estates IX We do permit these aforesaid to return again unto their Houses and if there be need to rebuild them yea and we do permit them as to our good and faithful Subjects to dwell in such Towns and Places of our Kingdom as shall best please them excepting in the Isles of Olleron and Ré and Rochell and Privas We do also permit those Inhabitants of Pamiers who were not in that City at the time of its taking to re-enter into it and to injoy all their Estates they yielding all obedience to us and taking the Oath of Fidelity to us before our Commissioners whom we have appointed to receive it X. Our Officers dwelling in those Cities who have not payed their annual Fee shall be admitted to pay it within two Months both for the time passed and the year now current And as for those who are dead in case they have paid the said Annual Fee those Offices of which they were provided shall be conserved for their Widows and Children And as for those whose Offices we have filled up with other Persons by reason of the
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
a third which we have termed Infractions of the Edict of Nantes under pretence of Explication Those who would know their Number and Quality need only cast their eyes upon the Books written and published on this occasion by Father Meisnier the Jesuit an Author famous for his Illusions and by one Baanard a pitiful Officer in the Presidial Court of Beziers in Languedoc There you will meet with all the Windings and Turnings the Shifts and Evasions which the silliest and most unworthy Sophisters could invent whereby to elude the clearest Text of the Edict and to corrupt and pervert its very heart sence and sincerest meaning And that I may avoid prolixity I shall only produce a brief Account of some few particular Instances of their Troubles As for example Was there any thing more clear evident and unquestionable in the Edict than this viz. That it was given with an intention to maintain those of the Reformed Religion in all the Rights that Nature and Civil Society give to Men Yet in 1681. there came out an Edict that Children might at the age of seven Years abjure the Reformed Religion and embrace the Catholick under pretence forsooth That the Edict did not precisely mark that at this age they should continue at their Parents disposal Who sees not but that this was a meer Trick seeing that at one hand the Edict forbad to take away Children by force from their Parents or by Flatteries and on the other hand the Edict supposed and confirmed all the natural Rights of which without controversie this is one of the most inviolable Was there ever a more notorious Infraction of the Edict than that which forbad those of the Reformed Religion who had passed over to the Romish to return unto that which they had quitted because forsooth That the Edict did not in express formal terms give them this Liberty For when the Edict permitteth generally all the King's Subjects Liberty of Conscience and forbiddeth to perplex and trouble them or to act and offer any thing contrary to this Liberty who seeth not this exception touching the Pretended Relapsers is so far from being an explication of the Edict that it is a most notable Violation of it Unto this we may add the Charge given unto the Roman Catholicks not to change their Religion and embrace the Reformed For when the Edict giveth Liberty of Conscience it doth in plain terms grant it unto all Persons whatsoever who are or shall be of the said Religion Yet if we believe the Clergy this was not Harry the Fourth's meaning for he intended that Grant only to those who then at that time when the Edict was made professed the said Religion SECT XXXII This Edict of Nantes also gave unto the Reformed the Priviledge of keeping small Schools in all places where they had the Exercise of their Religion and by common acceptation those were always understood Lesser Schools in which Children were taught Latin and Humanity This was the known received sense of these words throughout the Kingdom and it is thus taken when it doth concern the Roman Catholicks Yet by a new Interpretation this permission was restrained to the bare liberty of Teaching to read and write as if the Reformed were unworthy to learn any more And this on purpose to tire out the Parents and drive them to this extremity either not to know what to do with their Children or be forced to send them to the Roman Catholicks for Education The Edict gave them Liberty in all places where they had Churches to instruct publickly their Children and others in what concerns Religion and this did visibly establish them in the right of teaching them Philosophy and Theology especially Theology because this is nothing else but Religion Moreover the Edict of Harry the Fourth had promised unto the Protestants Letters Patents to be expedited in due form of Law for the Erection of Colleges in which their Youth might be educated and instructed in the Liberal Sciences For whence should their Churches be supplied with Ministers if they had no Seminaries nor Colleges And yet the Clergy supposed that the Edict gave no right to the Reformed to instruct them in Philosophy or Theology nor were they upon this supposition to have any Colleges Hence their Universities and Colleges were all condemned and suppressed that so the Ministery might be destroyed This was the very self same course that Julian the Apostate took of old to extirpate Christianity They had Colleges almost in every Province All these are supprest They had six Academies one at Die in Dolphiny another at Nismes in Languedoc a third at Pau ill Bearne a fourth at Montauban in Quercy a fifth at Saumur in Anjou and a sixth at Sedan This last though grounded on a particular Edict was suppressed as well as all the others yea and had the Honour to be first ruinated It led the Van to the other Universities and preached to them in its Rubbish what kindnesses they must expect from the Jesuitical Councils at Court They had been very fuitful Nurseries of many excellent Scholars furnished the Churches with some thousands of able godly and painful Ministers This was the great eye-sore of the Jesuits and cause enough for their bigotted Disciples at Court to procure their Ruine The Professors in these Academies were Men of most eminent Learning and Piety exceeding studious and laborious in their Calling They read four Lectures every Week publickly besides the private Colleges they had in their own Houses daily for a number of young Students would combine together to prosecute one body of Controversies and the Professor reads to them at home and they draw up their Theses and dispute upon it We have a world of these Exercises in the Foreign Universities Their Professors exercise their Scholars with publick Disputations and strictly examin their Proficiency once a quarter Their stipends were but mean never amounted to Seventy pound a year yet they were generally Men as of great parts so of great reputation and highly esteemed by their Churches Synods and the Nobility I shall insert here a Catalogue of the Prefessors in Divinity in the University of Montauban from its first foundation in the sixteenth Century unto the year 84. of the seventeenth when the University was suppress'd and all the Professors clapt up in the Prisons of Tholouse by a Decree of that Parliament where they were kept in duress till the month of October in the year 1685. and were then banished the Realm with all the other Ministers 1. Dr. Michael Berault was the Founder of and first Professor in the University of Montalban in the year 1590. 2. Monsieur Peter Sohuis was his Collegue in the same Office and at the same time 3. Monsieur Daniel Chamier that great Man and invincible Champion of the Truth The Jesuits could never stand before him He was killed upon the Lord's day when the City was besieged with a Cannon Bullet in the year 1621. 4. Monsieur John Cameron
in France as it was delivered to the French King in the Year 1681. SIR YOur Majesty's Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion do with all humility represent to your Majesty that your Declaration of the 17th of June last does so overwhelm them with grief that they are almost out of themselves but nevertheless they are so bold as once more to have recourse to your Majesty hoping that being still your most faithful Subjects they shall not be denied access for Justice and that rather like God Almighty your Majesty will be tender to hearken to the Voice of the afflicted Upon this confidence they throw themselves at your Majesty's Feet and desire you to consider that this Declaration is directly contrary to all the Edicts granted to those of that Religion and particularly to the Edict of Nantes which has been given to them as a perpetual and irrevocable Law and which your Majesty has frequently confirm'd for besides that this does all along suppose that your Subjects of that Religion shall enjoy in this your Kingdom all rights as well natural as civil which are common to any of your Subjects and that among those Rights that of the Power of Parents over their Children to the Age of Puberty is one of the most general the 18th Article of that Edict does expresly provide That none shall by force take away any Children from their Parents to baptize or give them the Sacrament of Confirmation against the will of their Parents 'T is well known that Confirmation is never given to Children till they are past Seven years old and if the Edict forbids to give them Confirmation at that Age sure much less will it allow them to be at liberty to chuse their Religion and to make abjuration at that age of a Religion in which they were born and educated 'T is with the same Intention that the 38th Article of the same Edict does in express words say That the Parents making profession of that Religion may provide their Children of such Tutors and Guardians as they shall think fit nay that they may name one or more either by Will or Codicil before a Notary or written with their own Hand Your Majesty Sir is most humbly supplicated to weigh the force of the word Education even after the Death of the Parents for it evidently demonstrates that the Edict had a regard to the paternal Right of Parents over their Children not only as inviolable during their Life but extending it self even after their Death so as no zeal of Religion nor any other Pretext could take it away nay it was so far from being limited to the age of Seven years that it was to be preserv'd during the whole Course of the Education which scarce begins at that Age and is very narrowly limited when it ends at that of Fourteen Besides Sir The Edict of Nantes is not either the onely or the first Law that speaks in favour of this Power which being a Law of Nature is as ancient as the World and 't is a Maxim that natural Rights are immutable but it is found also in an Answer given to the Protestants in the year 1571. under the Reign of Charles the Ninth which was the severest reign against those of that Religion The Power of Fathers over their Children was thought so sacred that it was said upon the 24th Article that Fathers should not be hindred in the Education of their Children according to the Principles of their Religion and the Motives of their Conscience and that even after the Death of the Parents their Children should be Educated in the same Religion till they had attained the full Age of Fourteen years and then should be left to their Choice and Liberty But Sir none of your Royal Ancestours have more authentically acknowledged this right of Parents than your Majesty For besides divers Judgments given in your Council of State in the years 63 and 65 which are expresly in favour of this Power your Majesty's Declaration in the year 69. has it in express words That it is prohibited to all Persons whatsoever not only to take away from their Parents the Children of those of the pretended Reformed Religion or to allure them but they shall not also make any Change or declaration of Change of their Religion before they have attained the compleat Age of Fourteen years for the Males and Twelve for the Females and that till they have respectively attain'd the same age they the said Children shall after the decease of their Parents remain in the hands of their nearest Relations of the same Religion and that any that shall detain them shall be oblig'd to restore them back to their Relations All this has been put in execution and confirm'd by divers Precedents and particularly by a Judgment given by the Archbishop of Rheims in the Month of August 76. by which it is ordain'd that none of the Female Sex shall be received into the House of the Propagation of the Faith at Sedan till they have attain'd the Age of Twelve years compleat Your Majesty's Suppliants beg leave to represent to your Princely Consideration the Difference that will be found between the Declaration of 1669. and this last of 1681. the first leaves to Nature its Rights and Priviledges to Conscience its Motives and Impulses to the civil and common Laws their Principles and Maxims to your Parliaments their Rules and constant Methods of proceeding to foreign Nations an Example worthy their Imitation and lastly to the Roman Catholick Religion the honour of keeping within some bounds of Equity in Conformity to Reason and the Practice of the Primitive Church whereas under this new Law Nature suffers and groans to see Children torn from the Bosom of their Parents to whom she had given them and who ought to be more theirs at the Age of Seven years than before since 't is properly at that time that their Education begins and that Parents do as it were take possession of their right The Conscience of your Petitioners will be troubled and disquieted in the most cruel manner imaginable since the Paternal care of Children for their Education is one of the most important and indispensable duties of Conscience every Parent being responsible to God Almighty for his Childrens actions while nature has deposited them in his hands The Civil and Canon Laws will both speak in favour of your Suppliants for if Children before the age of puberty which is at fourteen can neither make a Will nor be Witnesses at Law nor make Vows nor do any Act of their own will how can it be thought reasonable that they should before that age make choice of their Religion which is the most important Act of their whole Life Your Parliaments Sir who following the common Principles of Reason and Equity did never yet subject Children to capital Punishments before the age of Puberty must now violate that Custom of all Nations and practised in all Ages for by making Children of
next ensuing the Date hereof a National Synod composed of all the Deputies of the Provinces of our Kingdom to treat of Matters concerning their Religion And being to chuse a Person of sufficient and requisite Abilities and of approved Loyalty to Us to be present in our stead and to act in quality of our Commissioner in the said Assembly Now we being well acquainted with those Services you have done us in sundry and honourable Employments wherewith you have been intrusted by Us and of which you have acquitted your self most worthily we judged that we could not make a better choice than of your Person being well assured of the continuance of your Affection to our Service For these Causes we have Commissionated and deputed and do commissionate and depute by these Presents signed with our own Hand you my Lord of St. Mars for Us and in our stead to go and sit in Person on our behalf in the said Synod convocated in the said Town of Alanson there to propose and resolve whatsoever shall be commanded you by us according to the Memoirs and Instructions we have to this purpose put into your Hands taking heed that none other Matters be there proposed but such as ought to be treated in such Assemblies and are permitted by our Edicts And in case they should attempt any thing to the contrary you shall hinder them by the interposal of our Authority and you shall speedily give us advice thereof that we may apply those Remedies which are convenient in â—â—uch cases And for the doing hereof we give you Power Commission and special Command by these presents for such is our Pleasure Given at Paris the sixth Day of January in the Year of Grace One thousand six hundred thirty and seven and of our Reign the seven and twentieth Signed Louis and a little lower Phelippeaux And sealed with the Great Seal of yellow Wax CHAP. III. The Commissioner's Speech THE said Letters Patents being read the Lord Commissioner acquainted the Synod with what his Majesty had given him in charge to them in these very words SIRS I Am come into your Synod to declare unto you his Majesty's Pleasure you all know it and have preach'd and taught Obedience unto the Higher Powers All Authority is of God and therefore by consequence on this immoveable Foundation you must needs be infallibly obedient besides you are obliged to it by his Majesty's Bounty and by that Care he takes of you the favourable Effects whereof you shall always experience whilst you be obedient His Clemency and Power are your two firmest Supporters And as touching the former his Majesty hath charged me to assure you of the perpetual continuance of his Affection to you and of his maintaining his Edicts as long as you continue faithful Subjects And as for his Power Strangers themselves have felt it and do every day more and more feel and experience it We have with our Eyes seen those Successes of his which are more than Human by which God publisheth to the World that he upholdeth our King with his own Hand and maketh him a Terror to all about him I shall not remember those many Fortresses and Places of Surety which once you had and where you reposed too much Confidence all which are now reduc'd to nothing whereas since you depended on the sole Favour of his Majesty your Condition is much more happy and your Security much more fix'd and stable I doubt not in the least but that you have often reflected upon that admirable Providence of God in making his Majesty's Royal Authority to be your Preservation You be destitute of all Support yea you have in the midst of you against you a World of People subject as the Sea unto various Troubles and Commotions and yet notwithstanding the King upholds you in the Liberty of your Consciences and in the peaceable exercise of your Religion The fixedness and stability of the Earth ballanced in the Air is as great a Miracle as the Creation and Subsistence of the Universe God sustains it by the self-same Power with which he did at first create it and you also in like manner are preserved by the Word of his Majesty's Power Therefore Sirs you that are Ministers should shine in Wisdom and good Conduct in your respective Stations and Churches Among many signal Effects of his Majesty's Goodness received by you this is not the least yea it is a most remarkable one that you can meet in this Assembly and that too in a time of War All the Provinces of the Kingdom like so many Lines drawn from the Circumference can center in this Synod in Peace Could you ever demand a greater Testimony of his Majesty's Goodness than this Confidence he reposeth in your Loyalty and Fidelity This should engage you to submit your selves with greater reverence than ever unto his Royal Pleasure And I in no wise doubt but you will so govern your Words and Actions and chiefly your Affections that his Majesty shall have a most entire and perfect and dutiful Obedience from you 2. And that you may depend on the Protection and soveraign Authority of the King and may be wholly and solely fixed to his Service his Majesty doth in the first place forbid you all Intelligence and Correspondence whether Foreign or Domestick And his Majesty being informed that the Synod of Nismes and Mr. Rousselet a Minister have received Letters from the Canton of Bearn they are admonished not to commit the like Offence for the future For the Statutes positively forbid the King's Subjects to receive Letters from Foreign States yea they are not so much as to see any Foreign Embassadors though residing near his Majesty much less should our Synods or private Ministers receive Letters or hold Correspondence with Foreign Synods or Provinces The Lords of Bearn are Allies of the Crown and are of the same Religion with you united in Religion with you but there must not be any Union betwixt you and that Common-wealth for the least Correspondence even in Ecclesiastical Affairs with Foreigners though Confederates of the King doth raise a Suspicion and beget a Jealousy of Designs against the State The said Synod nor the said Minister Rousselet ought not to have received those Letters or if they had before they had opened them they should have communicated them to the Governour of the Place or the said Synod should have delivered them to his Majesty's Commissioner who was then present in it 3. And as for Domestick Correspondence within the Kingdom you must know that inasmuch as Provincial Councils are forbidden you therefore consequentially all sort of Communication by which such a Council might be promoted is expresly forbidden also His Majesty forbiddeth you to nominate any Ministers or other extraordinary Deputies whereby one Province may communicate with another about Political Affairs because you be no Body Politick no nor at this time whilst you are assembled in a National Synod may you communicate with another about
Tower being likely to fall it was removed to one of the Corners of the Temple and no sooner was the Steeple Repaired but that the Bell was returned into its ancient Place And in all that Province the Word of God is Preached in none other Places but what are allowed by the Edict which Confirmed our Churches in their Possessions injoyed by them for above Fourscore Years and it were better for them to suffer Death than to loose this their Right Tenthly Nor have there been in the Churches of that Province any Parents for sending their Children to the Colledges of Jesuits suspended from the Sacraments but according to the Discipline which is allowed us by the Edicts Nor may the Professors of our Religion for observing this Canon which contributes so much to the Peace of their own Consciences and the Morals of their Children with any the least shew of Reason be Impeached or Condemned because they be bound to Train and Educate them by all fitting Means and Instructions in the Fear of God and Obedience to the King and an Abhorrency and detestation of those Cursed Principles which having been once instilled into the tender Minds of young Scholars by the Regents of the Jesuits Colledges have plunged this Kingdom once and again into a Sea of Tears and Sorrows Nor are we guilty of Violating the Edict as before because not only the Sorbonne but the whole University of Paris which is the most ancient in the Kingdom and of Europe it self hath now this very day commenced a Suit at Law against the Jesuits for Debauching our Youth and poysoning them in their Morals A thing never to be endured by Church or State because contrary both to sound Policy and true Theology And whereas we are prohibited to send our Scholars designed for the Ministry to study Divinity either in Geneva Switzerland the Confederate Netherlands or England we most humbly beseech his Majesty that our Churches may injoy their Liberty granted us by the former Kings his Royal Predecessors as unto all other his Subjects without any distinction of Religion Because Geneva hath been for these Fifty Years and more under the immediate Protection of this Crown and that it hath always imbraced the Interests of France and all those other Estates are allied unto this Kingdom and conserve themselves much more inviolably in their Alliance with his Majesty than any other Princes of Christendom whatsoever Besides these very Nations from whose Universities we are debarred Studying in do send their own Youth into France to Polish and Refine their Manners to be instructed in good Learning and thereby do give a most Valid Testimony that they are so far from being Enemies to France that they be very much in Love with the Order and Government thereof Besides many who are now Pastors in the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom and have studied in some or all of those Foreign Universities did never withdraw themselves nor others from that Obedience owed by them unto his Majesty nor have hinted any the least shew or dislike or aversion for Monarchy under which the French Nation have subsisted and by which they have been ruled Successively from Father to Son for above 1200 Years And forasmuch as his Majesty doth not think good to forbid the Youth of this Kingdom who are Students in Philosophy Law or Medicine to travel into Foreign Parts no nor into Commonwealths as Venice c. where there is and at Padua also a very great Confluence of our Nation diligently following their Studies in all those Faculties we do once more Repeat our most Humble Request that our Churches may injoy their Former and Ancient Liberty in these Matters CHAP. IV. A Deputation from the Synod unto their Majesties and the Lords of the Privy Council 7. THe Assembly Nominated the Sieurs Vincent and Chabrol Pastors and the Sieurs de Panieure and de Clesles Elders to wait immediately upon their Majesties and to lay at their Majesties Feet our most humble Submissions and Thanks and to deliver our Letters to the King Queen Regent the Duke of Orleans to the Prince of Conde to the Lord Cardinal Mazarin to the Lord Chancellor to the Lord Treasurer to Monsieur D'Emery Comptroller General and to Monsieur de Vrilliere Secretary of State to whose Division the Professors of the Reformed Religion appertained A Copy of a Letter Written by the Synod unto the King Sire THis our Assembly was no sooner formed but we applied our Selves unto the Divine Majesty for his Blessing upon it and the First Thought that came into our Souls was to acquit our Selves conscientiously of our Duty to your Majesty who are the most Lively Portraiture of our God and to this purpose we immediately dispatched the Sieurs Vincent and Chabrol Pastors de Panieure and de Clesles Elders to lay at your Majesties Feet our Homage and Submissions as likewise to render to you our most Humble Thanks for that singular favour we have received from your Majesty in granting us this Priviledge of Meeting together in this Synod in which we labour Zealously to Serve our God to Confirm and Strengthen our Selves in his Service and in all Duty and Obedience to your Majesty And being so near your most Excellent Majesty and those Glorious Intelligences which do inviron you and well knowing that your Majesties Eyes are upon us and that we be equally under your Majesties Inspection and Power we are incouraged to discharge our Selves worthily of our Duty and to persist in that Fidelity which is Natural and Hereditary to us and shall be Entailed by us upon our Posterity But Sire the principal end of our Deputing these Gentlemen unto your Majesty is to testify the Triumphant Joy of all our Churches and that unspeakable Satisfaction we feel in our Souls to see your Majesty advanced unto the Throne a King whom with Multitudes of Prayers reiterated with the greatest Ardor and Importunity we had demanded of our God for many and many a Year together We believe Sire that God hath given you out of the Treasures of his Mercy out of the Riches of his Grace unto your France to bring back unto us the Golden Age and to be the Glorious Instrument of his Choicest and most Exquisite Favours because that he Crowneth your first Entrance upon the Government with wonderful Success and unexpected Victories which render your Majesty formidable to your Enemies and make your People to consider you as a precious Bud of Infinite Prosperities which the Providence of God hath kept in store for poor France under your Government We believe Sire that it will be very pleasing to you that we should share and participate with your other Subjects in those Blessings which God dispenseth through your Hands sith that we labour and shall by the most Signal Characters of Fidelity always labour to render cur Selves worthy of them and for that our Lives Fortunes and Honours shall be all Sacrificed with the greatest Chearfulness in
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
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
always to the said Possessors that they may have recourse at Law against the Proprietors And in those places in which the said Ecclesiasticks shall compel the said Possessors to buy the Land the Moneys accruing from the said purchace shall not be paid into their hands but the said Possessors shall be accountable for them and shall pay interest for them at the rate of five per Cent. until such time as the Principal may be better disposed for the profit of the Church All which shall be done within the term and space of one year And when as that time shall be laps'd if the said Purchaser shall refuse to pay any longer the said rent of Interest he shall be acquitted by delivering up the purchace-moneys into the hands of a sufficient responsible Person by the authority of a Judg. And as for places Consecrated there shall be an especial care taken by those Commissioners who shall be appointed to put this present Edict in Execution according to particular Orders and Instructions which they shall receive from us V. However no grounds nor places occupied in the repairing and fortifying of the Cities and Garrisons of our Kingdom nor any of the materials employed therein shall be claimed or redemanded by those Ecclesiasticks nor by any other publick or private Persons unless the said Reparations and Fortifications shall be demolished by express Orders from us VI. And that we may leave no occasion of troubles and differences among our Subjects we have permitted and do permit all those who profess the said pretended Reformed Religion to live and dwell in all Towns Cities and places whatsoever of this our Kingdom without ever being sued vexed molested or constrained to do any thing upon the account of their Religion against their Conscience nor shall they by reason thereof be examined or searched for in those Houses and places in which they would inhabit they always behaving themselves in all things according to the import of this present Edict VII We have also permitted unto all Lords Gentlemen and other Persons as well Natives of the Kingdom as others who make profession of the said Reformed Religion and have in this our Kingdom and the Land of our Obedience the priviledge of High Justice i. e. Authority to judge and determine in Criminal and Capital matters or a whole Fief of Haubert i. e. to serve us compleatly armed in our Wars as there be many such in our Dukedom of Normandy whether they hold it as Proprietors or as Usufructuaries in the whole or by the moiety or by a third part to have in any one of their Houses of High Justice aforesaid or Fiefs aforesaid which they shall be bound to nominate before every one of our Bayliffs and Seneschals in his or their respective districts for their principal dwelling House the exercise of the said Religion as long as they shall reside in it and in their absence whilst their Wives or their Family or else any part of it is there And although the right of Justice or the Fief of Haubert should be controverted yet nevertheless the exercise of the said Religion may be there performed provided that those persons aforesaid who profess the said Religion be in actual possession of the said High Justice yea and although our Attorney-General himself were the Party against them We do also permit them to have the said exercise in all their other Houses of High Justice or Fiefs of Haubert aforesaid at all times when as they are present in them but not otherwise The whole as well for themselves their Family their Tenants and all other persons whatsoever who shall please to go unto the said Houses for Religious Worship VIII But in those Houses of Fiefs where those of the said Religion have not the priviledge of high Justice or Fief of Haubert they shall injoy the exercise of their Religion for their Families only Yet nevertheless if other persons even to the number of thirty over and above the Family should come thither whether it be upon the occasion of Baptisms or Friendly Visits or otherwise 't is not our intention that they shall be sought after for this provided always those Houses aforesaid be not in any Cities Towns or Villages belonging unto Catholick Lords who have the right and priviledge of high Justice as we our self have and in which the said Catholick Lords have their Houses In which case those of the said Religion may not exercise it in the said Cities Towns or Villages unless it be by Permission and Licence from the said Lords High Justicers and not otherwise IX We do also permit unto those of the said Religion to have and continue the exercise thereof in all Cities and Places under our Obedience in which it had been established and publickly solemnized for sundry and divers times in the year one thousand five hundred ninety and six and in the year one thousand five hundred ninety and seven until the end of August last notwithstanding any Decrees or Judgments to the contrary X. Moreover the exercise of the said Religion may be established and restored in all Cities and places in which it was established or ought to have been established by the Edict of Pacification made in the year 1577. and according to the secret Articles and Conferences made and held at Nerac and Fleix nor shall the said establishment be in the least hindred in the Lands of those Towns and places given by the said Edict Articles and Conferences for the places of Bailywicks or which may be hereafter although they may have been since alienated unto Persons of the Roman Catholick Religion or may be hereafter alienated unto such But yet nevertheless 't is not our mind nor meaning that the exercise of the Religion aforesaid should be restored in those places and dwellings of the said Demeans which were formerly possessed by those of the pretended Reformed Religion in which it had been set up out of pure respect unto their persons or because of the priviledges of those Fiefs if now those Fiefs aforesaid be at present possessed by persons professing the said Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion XI Moreover in every one of those ancient Bailywicks Seneschallies and Governments and reputed Bailywicks clearly and immediately depending upon our Courts of Parliament We do Ordain That in the Suburbs of one Town over and besides those other Towns which have been accorded to them by the said Edict secret Articles and Conferences and in such Bailywicks where there be no Towns there shall be a certain determined place in a Burrough or Village of the said Bailywicks in which the exercise of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be publickly performed by all persons whatsoever who will go unto it although that in the said Bailywicks Seneschallies and Governments there be already several other places in which the exercise of the said Religion is established excepting always by the said place of Bailywick newly granted by this present Edict those
shall not be obliged to do it in any other manner than by listing up of their Hand Swearing and promising by God that they will speak the truth nor shall they be bound to take out a Dispensation for that Oath given by them in passing of Contracts and Obligations XXV We Will and Ordain That all those of the said pretended Reformed Religion and all others who have followed their Party of whatsoever estate quality or condition they may be shall be bound and constrained by all due and reasonable ways and under the penalties contained in our Edicts to pay and deliver unto Curates and other Ecclesiasticks and to any other Persons to whom they do belong the Tithes according to the use and custom of the places in which they be XXVI All disinheritings or privations made either by disposition of the Living or Testamentary of the dying out of hatred or upon the account of Religion only shall no more take place either for time past or for the future among our said Subjects XXVII And that we may use our best skill for reuniting the hearts of our Subjects as it is our Intention and that we may take out of the way all Complaints for the future We do declare that all those who do or shall make profession of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be capable of holding and exercising all publick Royal or Seignoral Estates Dignities Offices and Charges whatsoever or in and belonging to the Cities of our Kingdom the Countries Territories and Lordships under our Obedience notwithstanding all Oaths to the contrary and they shall be indifferently admitted and received into them and our Courts of Parliament shall content themselves and all other Judges with an Information and Enquiry into the Life Manners Religion and civil Conversation of those who shall be provided unto those Offices as well of the one Religion as of the other without exacting from them any other Oath than to serve the King well and faithfully in the exercise of their Charges and to keep the Laws as hath been in all times observed And when as ever those said Estates Charges and Offices shall become vacant which are in our gift and disposal we will bestow them indifferently and without distinction of persons upon those who are capable of them as being a matter tending very much to the Union of our Subjects And 't is our mind and meaning that those of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be admitted and received into all Councils Deliberations Assemblies and Functions which depend upon those matters aforesaid so that upon the account of the said Religion they may not be excluded nor hindred from the injoyment of them XXVIII And we do Ordain That in all Cities and places of this Kingdom there shall be speedily provided in every one of them by our Officers and Magistrates and by those Commissioners whom we shall Constitute for the executing of this our present Edict a place as commodious as may be for the Interrment of the dead of the said Religion And those Burying places which they have had heretofore and of which they have been deprived by reason of the late troubles whatever their quality was shall be restored to them unless that it appear that they be now at present occupied by Edifices and Buildings in which case they shall be provided of some others freely XXIX We most straitly injoin our said Officers to put to their hand that there be no scandal committed at the said Interrments and they shall be bound within a fortnight after it shall be required of them to provide for those of the said Religion a commodious place for the said Burials without using any protractions or delays on pain of being fined in their own private Capacities the summ of five hundred Crowns And the said Officers and all other persons are forbidden to exact any thing for the convoying of the dead Corps upon pain of being guilty of Extorsion XXX That Justice may be rendred and administred unto our Subjects without any suspicion of hatred or favour which is one of the chiefest means to preserve them in Peace and Concord we have Ordained and do Ordain that there shall be established in our Court of Parliament at Paris a Chamber composed of a President and sixteen Counsellors of the said Parliament which shall be called and entitled the Chamber of the Edict and it shall not only take cognisance of the causes and processes of those who profess the said pretended Reformed Religion and live within the Jurisdiction of the said Court but also in the Districts and Jurisdiction of our Parliaments of Normandy and Brittain according to that Authority which shall be attributed to it by this present Edict and this until such time as in every one of those Parliaments there shall be a Chamber established to distribute Justice upon the Places We do also farther Ordain that of four Offices of Counsellors in our Parliament aforesaid remaining of our last Erection four Persons professing the said pretended Reformed Religion being qualified and capable of them and the said Offices be vacant and to be distributed shall be invested with them and received into the said Parliament to wit the first shall be received in the said Chamber of the Edict and the other three in order shall be received into the three Chambers of Inquests Moreover that of the two first Offices of Lay-Counsellors which become vacant by death two persons professing the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be provided of them and these being received shall also be distributed into the two other Chambers of Inquests XXXI Besides that Chamber heretofore established at Castres for the Extent and Jurisdiction of our Court of Parliament of Thoulouse which shall be continued in the state in which it is We have for the self-same Considerations Ordained and do Ordain that in every one of our Courts of Parliament of Grenoble and Bourdeaux there shall be in like manner a Chamber established composed of two Presidents the one a Catholick and the other of the pretended Reformed Religion and of twelve Counsellors six of whom shall be Catholicks and the other six of the said Religion which Catholick Presidents and Counsellors shall be taken and chosen by us out of the Bodies of our Courts aforesaid And as for those of the said Religion there shall be a new Creation of a President and six Counsellors for the Parliament of Bourdeaux and of a President and three Counsellors for that of Grenoble who together with those three Counsellors of the said Religion who are now in the said Parliament shall be imployed in the said Chamber of Dolphiny And the said Offices of the new Creation shall be Created to the same Wages Honours Authorities and Preheminencies as those others in the said Courts And the said Chamber of Bourdeaux shall sit either at Bourdeaux or at Nerac and that of Dolphiny at Grenoble XXXII The said Chamber of Dolphiny shall take cognisance of the Causes
of those of the said pretended Reformed Religion within the Jurisdiction of our Parliament of Provence they not needing to take out Letters of Evocation or other Provisions but in our Chancery of Dolphiny As also those of the said Religion in Normandy and Brittaine shall not be obliged to take out Letters of Evocation nor other Provisions but from our Court of Chancery in Paris XXXIII Our Subjects of the Reformed Religion in the Jurisdiction of the Parliament of Burgundy shall according to their will and choice plead in the Chamber ordained for that purpose either in the Parliament of Paris or in that of Dolphiny And they also shall not be bound to take out Letters of Evocation nor any other provisions unless from out of the said Chanceries of Paris or Dolphiny at their choice and pleasure XXXIV All these said Chambers composed as aforesaid shall take cognisance try and judge Soveraignly and without Appeal by Decree privatively of all others of all Suits and Differences moved or to be moved in which those of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be the principal Parties or Defendants in demanding or defending in all matters as well Civil as Criminal whether the said Suits and Processes be by writing or by verbal Appeals and if it seem good unto the said Parties and one of them do require it before the Cause come to be contested with respect unto the Processes which may be moved excepting always all matters beneficiary and the Possessors of Tithes not impropriated Patronages of Churches and those Causes in which the rights and duties and Demean of the Church shall be debated all which shall be tryed and judged in the Courts of Parliament without granting any power unto the said Chambers of the Edict to take Cognisance of them As also we will that when as Criminal Processes shall fall out between the said Ecclesiasticks and those of the said pretended Reformed Religion if the Ecclesiastical Person be Defendant in this Case the Cognisance and Judgments of the Criminal Process shall belong unto our Soveraign Courts privatively of the said Chambers or if the said Ecclesiastical Person be Plaintiff and he of the said Religion Defendant the Cognisance and Judgment of the said Criminal Process shall belong by Appeal and finally without Appeal unto those Chambers beforesaid established Moreover those said Chambers shall take Cognisance in times of Vacations of matters attributed by the Edicts and Ordinances unto the Chambers established in time of Vacation every one of them in their Jurisdiction XXXV The said Chamber of Grenoble shall be from this instant united and incorporated with the Body of the said Court of Parliament and the Presidents and Counsellers of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be accounted and called the Presidents and Counsellors of the said Court and shall be reckoned and taken in the rank quality and number of them And for these ends they shall be first distributed by the other Chambers and then extracted and drawn out from among them to be imployed and serve in that which we ordain anew but always on this condition that they shall assist and have Voice and Sessions in all Deliberations that shall be made when as the Chambers are Assembled and they shall enjoy the same Sallaries Authorities and Preheminencies which the other Presidents and Counsellors of the said Court do XXXVI We will and it is our mind and intention that the said Chambers of Castres and Bourdeaux shall be reunited and incorporated in those Parliaments in the same form as others when as there shall be need of it and that the Causes which have moved us to make the establishment shall cease and there shall be no place left for them among our Subjects And to this purpose the Presidents and Counsellors in them of the said Religion shall be accounted and held for Presidents and Counsellors of the said Courts XXXVII There shall be also a new Creation and Erection in the Chamber Ordained for the Parliament of Bourdeaux of two Substitutes of our Attorney and Advocate-Generals one of which said Proctors shall be a Catholick and another of the said Religion who shall be possessed of the said Offices with competent Sallaries XXXVIII And the said Substitutes shall not take unto themselves any other quality than that of Substitutes and when as the Chambers ordained for the Parliaments of Tholouse and Bourdeaux shall be united and incorporated with the said Parliaments the said Substitutes shall be provided of Offices of Counsellors in them XXXIX The Dispatches of the Chancery of Bourdeaux shall be made in presence of two Counsellors of that Chamber one of which shall be a Catholick and the other of the said pretended Reformed Religion in the absence of one of the Masters of Requests of our Houshold And one of the Notaries and Secretaries of the said Court of Parliament of Bourdeaux shall make his Residence in the place where the said Chamber shall be established or else one of the ordinary Secretaries of the Chancery to sign the Dispatches of the said Chancery XL. We Will and Ordain That in the said Chamber of Bourdeaux there shall be two of the Register of the said Parliament the one for Civil the other for Criminal Causes who shall discharge their Offices by our Commissions and shall be called the Deputies or Commissioners in the Civil and Criminal Office of the Register who notwithstanding may not be abandoned nor revoked by the said Registers in Parliament Yet nevertheless they shall be bound to bring in the Emoluments of the said Registers Office unto the said Registers and the said Deputies shall be paid their Sallaries by the said Registers as it shall be advised and arbitrated by the said Chamber Moreover it shall be ordained that the Catholick Ushers shall be taken out of the said Court or from elsewhere according to our pleasure over and besides which there shall be two new ones erected of the said Reformed Religion and who shall be put into those places without payment of Fine or Fees And all those said Ushers shall be regulated by the said Chamber as well for the exercise and division of their offices as for the Emoluments which they are to receive There shall be also set up by Commission a Payer of Wages and Receiver of Fines in the said Chamber which office shall be given by us to whom we please in case the said Chamber be established any where else than in the said City And that Commission formerly granted unto the Payer of Wages in the Chamber of Castres shall be in full power and effect and the Commission of the Receit of the Fines in the said Chamber shall be joined unto the said Office XLI There shall be good and sufficient Assignments made for the Officers Wages in the Chambers ordained by this Edict XLII The Presidents Counsellors and other Catholick Officers of the said Chambers shall be continued as long as may be and as we shall see meet for our
service and the benefit of our Subjects and when any one shall be dismissed others shall be provided and put into their places before their departure without ever being able during the time of their service to depart or absent themselves from the said Chambers without leave of which a judgment shall be made according to the Causes of that Ordinance XLIII The said Chambers shall be established within six Months till which time if the said Establishment should be so long delayed the Processes moved or that may be moved in which those of the said Religion shall be Parties within the Jurisdictions of our Parliaments of Paris Rouen Dijon and Rennes shall be called out unto the Chamber which is now established at Paris by vertue of the Edict made in the year 1577. or else unto the great Council at the choice and will of those of the said Religion in case they shall require it Those which shall be of the Jurisdiction of the Parliament of Bourdeaux unto the Chamber established in Castres or unto the great Council at their choice and those which shall be of Provence unto the Parliament of Grenoble And if the said Chambers be not established within three Months after this our present Edict shall have been tendered to those our Parliaments that Parliament which shall refuse so to do shall be interdicted the Cognisance and Judgment of their Causes who profess the said Reformed Religion XLIV The Processes which are not as yet judged hanging in the said Courts of Parliament and great Council of the quality beforesaid in whatsoever estate they may be shall be dismissed over unto the said Chambers and to their respective Jurisdictions if one of the Parties being of the said Religion do so require it within four Months after their Establishment and as for those which shall be discontinued and are not yet in a condition to be judged those of the said Religion shall be bound to make Declaration at the first intimation and signification that shall be made them of their being prosecuted and the said time being lapsed they shall not be any more admitted to require such Dismissions XLV The said Chambers of Grenoble and Bourdeaux as also that of Castres shall keep to the Forms and Stile of the Parliaments in whose Jurisdiction they shall be established and shall give judgment in an equal number both of the one and other Religion unless the Parties do consent that it should be otherwise XLVI All Judges to whom the Executions of Decrees Commissions of the said Chambers and the Letters obtained out of their Chanceries shall be directed as also all Ushers and Sergeants shall be bound to put them in Execution and the said Ushers and Sergeants shall execute all Warrants throughout our Kingdom without demanding a Placet or a Visa ne pareatis on pain of being suspended from their Offices and of paying the expences dammages and Interests of the Parties the Cognisance of which shall appertain unto those Parties aforesaid XLVII There shall be no Evocations of Causes granted the Cognisance of which belongeth unto the said Chambers unless in the Case of Ordinances which shall be dismissed unto the next Chamber established according to our Edict and the Division of the Processes of the said Chambers shall be judged of in the next observing the proportion and forms of the said Chambers from which the Processes shall be issued out excepting for the Chamber of the Edict to our Parliament of Paris where the several Processes shall be divided in the self-same Chamber by those Judges which shall be appointed by us and by our particular Letters to this very purpose unless the said Parties would rather wait for the Renovation of the said Chamber And if it so fall out that one and the same Process should be divided among all those mixed Chambers then the Division shall be dismissed over to the said Chamber of Paris XLVIII When as there be exceptions made against the Presidents and Counsellors of the mixed Chambers they shall be only made against six of them to which number the excepting Parties shall be bound to confine themselves but if they will not then there shall be a proceeding unto Tryal without any regard had of the said Exceptions XLIX The Examen of the Presidents and Counsellors newly erected in the said mixed Chambers shall be made in our Privy-Council or by the said Chambers every one in his District when as there shall be a sufficient number of them and yet nevertheless the Oath accustomed shall be taken by them in the Courts where those said Chambers shall be established and if they refuse it in our Privy-Council those of Languedoc always excepted who shall make Oath before our Chancellor or in that Chamber L. We Will and Ordain that the Reception of our Officers of the said Religion shall be adjudged in the said mixed Chambers by plurality of Voices as it hath been accustomed to be done in other Judgments without any need of having more than two thirds of the Suffrages according to that Ordinance from which in this respect only there is a derogation LI. In the said mixed Chambers shall be handled the Propositions Deliberations and Resolutions which belong unto the publick Peace and the particular Estate and Government of the Towns in which those Chambers shall be LII That Article of the Jurisdiction of the said Chambers Ordained by this present Edict shall be followed and observed according to its form and tenour yea and as to all concerns about the Execution or Unexecution or Infraction of our Edicts when as those of the said Religion shall be Parties LIII The Subalternate Royal Officers or others whose Reception appertaineth to our Courts of Parliament if they be of the said pretended Reformed Religion may be examined and received in the said Chambers To wit those of the Jurisdictions of the Parliaments of Paris Normandy and Brittaine in the said Chamber of Paris those of Dolphiny and Provence in the Chamber of Grenoble those of Burgundy in the Chamber of Paris or of Dolphiny at their own choice those of the Jurisdiction of Tholouse in the Chamber of Castres and those of the Parliament of Bourdeaux in the Chamber of Guienne nor may any other Persons oppose their Reception or become Parties against them unless our Attorneys-General or their Substitutes and those who be provided unto the said Offices Yet nevertheless the accustomed Oath shall be taken by them in the Courts of Parliament which hath no power to take any Cognisance of their said Receptions and in case those said Parliaments should refuse the said Officers shall take their Oaths in the said Chambers and after they have so took it they shall be bound to present by an Usher or Notary the Act of their Receptions unto the Registers of the said Courts of Parliament and to leave a Copy thereof collationed with the said Registers who are injoined to Register those said Acts upon pain of the expences dammages and
Request to the Chambers ordained by this present Edict without suffering the time imported by those Ordinances to be ran out to their prejudice And till such times as the said Chambers and their Chanceries shall be established Appeals either by word of mouth or tendered in by writing by those of the said Religion before the Judges Registers or Deputies Executors of the Decrees and Judgments shall have the same effect as if they had been uplifted by Royal Letters LXI In all Inquests which shall be for any cause whatsoever in civil matters If the Inquisitor be a Catholick the Parties shall be bound to agree among themselves of another to be in Conjunction with him and in case they cannot agree the said Inquisitor or Commissioner shall by vertue of his Office take one unto himself who shall be of the said pretended Reformed Religion And the same also shall be practised when as the Commissioner or Examiner shall be of the said Religion he shall take an Assessor to himself who shall be a Roman Catholick LXII We Will and Ordain that our Judges may take knowledge of the validity of Testaments in which those of the said Religion are concerned in case they do require it and Appeals from those Judgments may be taken out from the said Chambers ordained for the Processes of those of the said Religion notwithstanding all Customs to the contrary yea and those of Brittain also LXIII To prevent all differences which may fall out in our Courts of Parliament and the Chambers of those Courts ordained by our present Edict we shall make a good and ample Regulation betwixt the said Courts and Chambers and such an one as that those of the said pretended Reformed Religion may intirely enjoy the benefit of the said Edict which regulation shall be verified in our Courts of Parliament and shall be kept and observed without any respect had unto the former LXIV We do prohibit and forbid all our Soveraign Courts and others of this Kingdom to take Cognisance of or judge in the Civil or Criminal Processes of those of the said Religion the Cognisance of which by our Edict is attributed unto the said Chambers provided that they demand the dismission of them thither according to what was said before in the 40. Article LXV We will also by way of provision and till we have taken some further course and shall have otherwise ordained that in all Processes moved or to be moved in which those of the said Religion shall be in the quality of Plaintiffs or Defendants principal Parties or Securities in civil matters in which our Officers and Presidial Courts have full power of judging finally without Appeal that they shall be permitted to require that two of the Chamber where the Processes ought to be judged shall abstain from giving judgment on them who without any cause shown shall be bound to abstain notwithstanding that Ordinance that the Judges may not be held for persons excepted at without cause offered they retaining over and above this those exceptions of right against the rest And in criminal matters in which also the said Presidial and other Subalternate Royal Judges do judge without Appeal the accused also of that Religion may require that three of the said Judges do abstain from judging of their Processes without shewing of any Cause And the Provosts of the Mareschals of France the Vice-Bailiffs the Vice-Seneschals the Lieutenants of short Robe and other Officers of the like quality shall judge according to the Ordinances and Regulations formerly given upon the account of Vagabonds And as for the Inhabitants in the Jurisdiction of those Provosts charged and accused if they be of the said Religion they may require that three of those Judges aforesaid who may take cognisance of their cause do abstain from judging of their Processes and they shall be bound to abstain without any cause shewed by them unless in that Company where the said Processes shall be judged there be no more than two in Civil matters and three in Criminal matters of the said Religion in which case they shall not be permitted to except against or refuse those Judges without shewing of a cause why And this shall be common and reciprocal with the Catholicks in that form as above as to their refusing of Judges where those of the pretended Reformed Religion shall be the greatest number And 't is not our meaning nor intention that the said Presidial Courts Provosts of Mareschals Vice-Bailiffs Vice-Seneschals and others who judge Soveraignly and without Appeal should in virtue of what hath been said take Cognisance of the palled troubles And as for Crimes and Riots which have fallen out upon other accounts than those of the late Troubles since the beginning of March in the year 1585. unto the end of the year 1597. In case they should take Cognisance of them we will that they may take out their Appeals from those judgments and bring them before the Chambers Ordained by this present Edict And the same shall be likewise practised by the Catholick Complices and where those of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be Parties LXVI We Will also and Ordain that from henceforward in all Instructions besides the Informations of Criminal Processes in the Seneschallies of Tholouse Carcassonne Rouergue Loragais Beziers Montpellier and Nismes the Magistrate or Commissioner deputed for the said Instruction if he be a Catholick shall be bound to take an Assessor who shall be of the said pretended Reformed Religion of which the Parties shall agree and in case they cannot agree there shall be chosen by vertue of his office one of the said Religion by the Magistrate or Commissioner aforesaid As also in like manner if the said Magistrate or Commissioner is of the said Religion he shall be bound in the same form as was said before to take unto himself a Catholick Assessor LXVII When as the Provosts of the Mareschals of France or their Lieutenants shall be demanded to issue out a Criminal Process against an Inhabitant within their Jurisdictions who is of the said Religion and is charged and accused of a Crime which is triable in their Provost's Courts the said Provosts or their Lieutenants if they be Catholicks shall be bound to call in to the drawing up of the said Processes an Assessor of the said Religion which said Assessor shall be present at the Judgment of the Competency and at the definitive Judgment of the said Process Which Competency may not be judged but in the next Presidial Court in an Assembly of the principal Officers of the said Court who shall be present upon those very places upon pain of nullity unless that the Accused should require that the Competency should be judged in the said Chambers ordained by this present Edict In which Case as to what concerns the Inhabitants in the Province of Guienne Languedoc Provence and Dolphiny the Substitutes of our General-Attorneys in the said Chambers shall cause at the request of the said
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
may take away all ambiguities and doubts which may be made because of former Edicts about that difference that is found in them we have declared and do declare all other preceding Edicts secret Articles Letters Declarations Modifications Restrictions Interpretations Decrees and Registers as well secret as other Deliberations done formerly by the Kings our Predecessors in our Courts of Parliament or elsewhere concerning matters relating to the said Religion and to the troubles happened in our said Kingdom to be of no effect nor force From which and those derogations in them contained we have by this our Edict derogated and do derogate from this very instant as we do now break revoke and disannul it Expresly declaring that we will that this our Edict shall be firmly and inviolably kept as well by our said Justices Officers as by all other our Subjects without standing upon or having any regard unto all that which may be contrary to or derogate from it XCII And for greater assurance of the maintaining and observing of this our Edict which is so very much desired by us We Will and Ordain and 't is our Pleasure that all Governours and Lieutenant-Generals of our Provinces Bayliffs Seneschals and other ordinary Judges of the Towns of our said Kingdom incontinently after their reception of this our Edict do swear that they will cause it to be kept and observ'd every one of them in their District As also all Mayors Sheriffs Head boroughs Consuls and Magistrates of Towns whether annual or perpetual shall swear it also And we do also enjoin that our said Bayliffs Seneschals or their Lieutenants and other Judges shall cause the principal Inhabitants of the said Towns both of the one and other Religion to swear immediately after the Publication of this our Edict that they will keep and maintain it We taking all the Inhabitants of the said Towns into our Protection and Safeguard the one to keep the others charging them respectively and by publick Acts to answer in a Court Civil for the transgressions that shall be made of this our present Edict in the said Towns by their Inhabitants or to bring them before and to yield them up into the hands of Justice who shall have broken it We do Command our Beloved and Faithful Officers in our Courts of Parliament Chambers of Accompts and Court of Aids that as soon as they shall have received this our present Edict that leaving all other businesses on pain of nullity for those Acts which they shall do otherwise they do take the like Oath as above and that they do cause this our Edict to be published and registred in our said Courts according to its form and tenour purely and simply without using of any Modifications Restrictions Declarations or secret Registers or without waiting for any farther Command or Warrant from us And our Attorneys-General shall incontinently and without delay require and pursue the said Publication And we Command the said Officers in our said Courts of Parliament Chambers of Accompts and Courts of Aids Bailiffs Seneschals Provosts and other our Justices and other Officers to whom it shall appertain and to their Lieutenants to keep and observe punctually and to cause the Contents and Articles of this said Edict to be used and injoyed fully and peaceably by all those to whom it shall appertain ceasing and causing to cease all troubles and impediments to the contrary For such is our Pleasure In testimony whereof we have Signed these Presents with our own Hand and that this matter may be firm and stable for ever we have caused to be put unto it and backed it with our Seal Given at Nantes in the Month of April in the Year of Grace one thousand five hundred ninety and eight and of our Reign the Ninth Signed HENRY And below by the King sitting in his Council Forget And at the side Visa And Sealed with the Great Seal in green Wax on threads of red and green silk Read Published and Registred the Kings Attorney-General hearing and consenting to it at Paris in Parliament this 25 th of February 1599. Signed Voysin Read Published and Registred in the Chamber of Accompts the Kings Attorney-General hearing and consenting to it at Paris in Parliament the last of March 1599. Signed De la Fontaine Read Published and Registred the Kings Attorney-General hearing and consenting to it at Paris in the Court of Aids the 30 th being the last day of April 1599. Signed Bernard Particular Articles extracted out of the general ones which the King hath granted unto those of the pretended Reformed Religion which his Majesty would not have to be comprised in the said Generals nor in the Edict which was made and framed for them given at Nantes the last April and yet nevertheless his said Majesty hath accorded that they shall be entirely fullfilled and observed as if they had been contained in the said Edict And therefore they shall be registred in his Courts of Parliament and elsewhere as there shall be need and all Declarations Provisions and necessary Letters shall be expedited about them ARTICLE I. THE sixth Article of the said Edict concerning Liberty of Conscience and Permission to all his Majesties Subjects to live and dwell in his Kingdom and the Countries under his Jurisdiction shall hold good and be observed according to its form and tenour as well for Ministers Schoolmasters and all others who are or shall be of the said Religion whether Natives of the Kingdom or others they as to all other things deporting themselves according to the Edict ARTICLE II. Those of the said Religion shall not be constrained to contribute any thing to the Repairings or Buildings of Churches Channels or Priests Houses nor to the buying of Priests Ornaments Lights founding of Bells holy Bread rights of Confraternities hire of Houses in which Priests and Religious Persons do dwell and other such like matters unless they be obliged to it by Foundations Dotations or other Disposals made by them or their Authors and Predecessors ARTICLE III. They shall not be constrained to hang or cloath the forepart of their Houses on those Festivals and Holy-days in which it is ordered to be done but only to suffer that they be hung and clad by the Authority of the Local Officers nor shall the Professors of the said Religion contribute any thing on this account ARTICLE IV. Moreover those of the said Religion shall not be bound to receive Exhortation when as they be sick and near unto Death whether Condemned to it by Justice or otherwise from any others than those of the same Religion and they may be visited and comforted by their Ministers without ever being troubled And as for such who are Condemned by Justice the said Ministers may in like manner visit and comfort them without praying in publick unless in those places where the said publick worship is allowed them by the said Edict ARTICLE V. Those of the said Religion may lawfully injoy the publick exercise
that they are of the said Religion and honest Men. ARTICLE L. That Act of Indempnity granted unto those of the said pretended Reformed Religion by the 74. Article of this said Edict shall be of force as to all taking away of Royal Moneys whether by breaking up of Coffers or otherwise yea and as for those which were levied upon the River of Charante although they had been affected and applied unto private uses ARTICLE LI. The 49. Article in the secret Articles made in the year 1577. touching the City and Archbishoprick of Avinion and County of Venise as also the Treaty made at Nismes shall be observed according to their form and tenour and there shall be no Letters of Mark given by vertue of those Articles and Treaties but only by the Kings Letters Patents Sealed with his Great Seal Yet nevertheless such as would obtain them may get them by vertue of this present Article and without any other Commission from the Royal Judges who shall take informations of the contrary actings denial of Justice and iniquity of Judgments propounded by those who shall desire to obtain the said Letters and shall send them together with their advice closed and sealed up unto his Majesty that he may Ordain therein according as he shall see reason ARTICLE LII His Majesty accordeth and willeth that Master Nicholas Grimoul be restored and maintained in his Title and Possession of the Offices of ancient Lieutenant-General Civil and of Lieutenant-General Criminal in the Bailywick of Alanson notwithstanding that Resignation by him made unto Mr. John Marguerit and his admission into it and the Provision obtained by Mr. William Bernard of the Office of Lieutenant-General Civil and Criminal in the Court of Eximes and the Decrees given against the said Marguerit resigning it during the Troubles unto the Privy-Council in the years 1586 1587 and 1588. by which Mr. Nicholas Barbier is maintained in the Rights and Prerogatives of the ancient Lieutenant-General in the said Bailywick and the said Bernard in the said Office of Lieutenant at Eximes whom his Majesty hath cashiered and all others contrary to this Article of the Edict Moreover his said Majesty for certain and good Considerations hath granted and Ordained that the Grimoult shall reimburse within the space of three Months the said Barbier of that Revenue which he paid in unto the Casual Parties for the Office of Lieutenant-General Civil and Criminal in the Viscounty of Alanson and of fifty Crowns for charges and he shall order the Bailiff of Perche or his Lieutenant Mortaigne to do it And the money being reimburst or if the said Barbier shall refuse or delay to receive it his Majesty hath forbidden the said Barbier as also the said Bernard after the signification of this present Article to intrude themselves into the exercise of the said Offices upon pain of being guilty of Cheating and he the said Grimoult is put into the possession of his Offices and Rights unto them appertaining and thus doing those Suits which were depending in his Majesty's Privy-Council betwixt the said Grimoult Barbier and Bernard shall be terminated and suppressed his Majesty forbiding the Parliaments and all others from taking Cognisance and the said Parties from all Prosecutions for them Moreover his said Majesty hath undertook himself to reimburse the said Bernard of a thousand Crowns furnished unto the Casual Parties for his Office and of the sixty Crowns for the mark of gold and costs having to this purpose now ordained a good and sufficient assignment which the said Grimoult shall diligently get in and at his sole Charges ARTICLE LIII His said Majesty shall write unto his Ambassadours that they do importunately desire on behalf of all his Subjects yea and for those of the said pretended Reformed Religion that they be not prosecuted for their Consciences nor subjected unto the Inquisition going coming sojourning trading and trafficking in all Foreign Countries Allies and Confederates of this Crown provided that they commit no offence against the Government of those Countreys in which they shall be ARTICLE LIV. It is his Majesties Pleasure that there shall be no inquiry made after the receipt of those Impositions which were levied at Royan by vertue of the Contract made with the Sieur de Candelay and others who succeeded him and he confirmeth and approveth of the said Contract for that time in which it took place in the whole Contents thereof until the 18th day of May now coming ARTICLE LV. Those Riots which were occasioned about Armand Courtines in the Town of Millaud in the year 1587. and of John Reines and Peter Seigneuret together with the proceedings against them by the Consuls of the said Millaud shall by vertue of this Edict be abolished and supprest nor shall it be lawful for their Widows and Heirs nor for the Attorneys-General of his Majesty their Substitutes or other Persons whatsoever to make any mention Inquiry or Prosecution notwithstanding and without any respect had unto the Decree given in the Chamber of Castres the tenth day of March last which shall be null and without effect as also shall be all Informations and Proceedings both of the one and other side ARTICLE LVI All Prosecutions Proceedings Sentences Judgments and Decrees given as well against the late Lord of La Noue and against the Lord Odet of La Noue his Son since their detention and Imprisonment in Flanders which happened in May 1580. and in November 1584. and during their continual imployment in the Wars and for the service of his Majesty shall be void null and of none effect and whatsoever hath ensued in consequence thereof And both the said Lords De la Noue shall be admitted to defend themselves and be restored unto that Condition and State in which they were before the said Judgments and Decrees they not being obliged to refund the expences nor to pay the Fines if they had incurred any nor shall there be alledged against them any non-suit or prescription during the said time Done by the King in his Council at Nantes the second day of May 1598. Signed HENRY And a little lower Forget Sealed with the Great Seal upon yellow Wax HEnry by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre To our Beloved and Faithful Officers holding our Court of Parliament at Paris Greeting We did the last April cause to be expedited our Letters of Edict for the establishment of a good order and peace between our Catholick Subjects and those of the said pretended Reformed Religion Moreover we have granted unto those of the said Religion certain secret and particular Articles which we will to be of the self-same force and vertue and to be observed and accomplished in like manner as our Edict For these Causes We Will We Command and do most expresly injoin you by these presents That the said Articles Signed with our Hand and attacked unto this under the Counter-Seal of our Chancery you do cause to be Recorded in the Register of our
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
part in them In common civil matters as about a piece of Land an House a Debt between a Roman Catholick and a Protestant Religion must be one of the chief Heads of Accusation against the Protestants The Monks the Missioners the Confessors and that whole Crew of malicious fiery Zealots interessed themselves immediately in the affair They bawl out in Courts of Justice I plead against an Heretick I have to do with a Man of a Religion odious to the State and which the King will have extirpated By this means there was not any Justice to be expected Few Judges were proof against this false Zeal for fear of drawing down the fury of the whole Cabal upon themselves or passing for Favourers of Hereticks 'T is not to be imagined how many unjust Sentences these prejudices procured in all the Courts of the Kingdom and how many Innocent Families were ruin'd by them If any one complained of the wrong done them they were presently twitted in the Teeth You have the remedy in your own hands Why do you not become Catholicks Thus the Consciences Goods Honour and Lives of these poor Servants of God lie at the mercy of unrighteous Judges and of their merciless perfidious Enemies A Roman Catholick may at his pleasure destroy a Protestant Witnesses are never wanting the Kings Attorneys-General or their Deputies or the Agents and Syndicks of Bishops or Judges for Convents and Collegiate Churches will never fail to prosecute Some have been Condemned to the Pillory others to the Chain in the Gallies others to exorbitant Mulcts and Fines for but relating a story out of known Authors how a Priest cheated the World with a false Miracle by passing a Vine through the Head of an Image which being pierced in that Season of the Year when the sap ascends upward the sap would drop out of the Eyes whereat the deluded People believed that the Image did weep of it self Another Protestant was forced to stand in the Pillory and severely Fined for saying That God had buried the Body of a dead Saint lest his Bones should be adored and that when the Devil offered to take them up again an Angel from God opposed him with The Lord rebuke thee Satan Another was cast into Prison because he had said that the Roman Priests did hide their Lights under a Bushel Another had an Unconscionable Fine put upon him for saying That the Cross which they worshipped was but a piece of Wood. SECT XXIV Let the Protestants prove the Witnesses which swear against them to be suborned to have sworn falsly yea though they proved Perjury upon them they are either not punished at all or else their punishments be so slight and trifling that instead of terrifying they do embolden these malicious Villains to do the more mischief I shall produce a few Instances The Priest of Eymet in Guienne accused very many of the Inhabitants of that place for profaning the holy Mysteries of the Church of Rome The Judges examining this matter found his Accusation to be false a most malicious and mischievous Calumny which though it tended to the destruction of so many Innocent Persons of their Lives and Estates yet he escaped without punishment The Priest of Chastelheraut accused a poor harmless Damsel for speaking disrespectfully of the King For this she was in danger of having her Tongue cut out and being whipped by the Common Hangman But though the Judges discovered this Priest to be a Villain an impudent bloody false Accuser yet no punishment was inflicted on him Monsieur de la Touche was accused by the Abbot of La Chappelle before the Parliament at Rennes to have taken a Chalice out of a Church for this supposed Crime he was by Order of that Parliament burnt alive But though since this horrible Execution his Innocency hath appeared and he was found guiltless of the fact the real Offender having confessed when and how he stole it for which he suffered condign punishment yet they have done nothing to repair the injury done unto the name and memory of the Innocent Sieur de la Touche but declared That because he was an Heretick he deserved to be burnt to ashes as he was Monsieur Robineau Pastor of the Church in Pausange was also falsly accused by an Augustinian Fryar and a base Curate to have Preached Sedition and for this pretended Crime only he was kept many Months in the Prison at Poictiers and though at last his Accusers were convicted of Falshood Calumny and Perjury yet he could never get any satisfaction for his great Sufferings Monsieur Borie Pastor of the Church in Turenne for Preaching that none but Jesus Christ was born without sin was accused of blaspheming the blessed Virgin and yet this very Doctrine is that of the Dominican Fryars However this Godly Minister is handled most unmercifully he is thrown into a deep Dungeon bound with Iron Chains menaced with Death and treated after a most inhumane manner for a whole year and at last by an Order of the Parliament of Bourdeaux he was banished for ever the Land of his Nativity A Priest of Niort was Convicted before the King and Council for falsifying an Order to demolish the Protestant Church in that Town which was intended against the Church of Mer Never was there a more bold attempt before his Majesty and the Privy-Council Yet instead of punishing him according to his Deserts they turned the whole fact into a piece of Raillery and Laughter SECT XXV They gave all manner of freedom to the Priests and Monks whose Carriage was most insolent to insult over the poor Protestants and to execute the severest and most unrighteous Decrees and Orders of the King against them as in Poictou where the Priests of any were the most furious and industrious in demolishing of Temples and rasing their Foundations and over-throwing several private Houses plundering the Castles of Persons of Quality who professed the Reformed Religion If unhappily any Division were in private Families between Man and Wife or other Relations these Fomenters of strife these Firebrands of Hell would come and offer them the Protection of the Church against their adverse Party If a Man were poor and brought to Beggary they promise him the Protection of the Church against his Creditors and Mountains of gold if he will but change his Religion They will provide for his Children put his Daughters into Nunneries his Boys into Abbies or good Imployments but no sooner are they debauched but as the Priests said to Judas after he had betrayed his Lord See thou to it so they chouse and slight him leave him in the lurch never perform their Promises so that through despair some of them have ended their days as Judas did by laying violent hands upon themselves If a debauched Son would shake off his Father's Yoke they shall flock to him with the greatest profession of kindness imaginable pitying him and wheedling him with the deceitful Promises of what great matters they will
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
seven years old capable of chusing their Religion they are at the same time expos'd to contract the crime of those that are called relapse and by consequence do undergo the capital Punishment ordain'd by your Majesties Laws in that case Foreigners and Infidels themselves will think themselves well Authoriz'd by this Example to take the Children of those who profess a Religion contrary to theirs And lastly the Roman Catholick Religion will hardly avoid the reproach of all good Christians when it shall appear that it not only receives but forces Conversions from Children of seven years old that is in an age when they have but the first appearances of reason and when their Judgments scarce begin to act and where by consequence any change of their Religion cannot proceed from a determinate choice but from a blind obedience or yielding to the threat or allurements that can move them That it is contrary to the Practice of the Primitive Church is so visible that even admitting your Suppliants to be Hereticks 't is most certain that in antient times the Church never took away Children under age from those that liv'd under the same ties of civil society with them though at the same time they thought them Infidels In a word Sir it is an unheard of practice to this day in all the Nations of the World that the Power of Fathers should be restrain'd to seven years over their own Children particularly in Cases of Religion Thomas Aquinas one of the greatest Doctors of the Roman Catholicks decides positively that it is not lawful to baptize the Children of the Jews against the will of their Parents and that for two Reasons one that it was never the practice of the Church and the other that it is against the course of natural Justice and when the Kings of Spain and Portugal Sisebuth and Emanuel carried on by a Zeal of Religion went about to practise something like it the fourth Council of Toledo oppos'd the action of the King of Spain and all the World has blamed the proceeding of Emanuel when he took away from the Jews their Children under fourteen years of Age. The famous Bishop Osorius who speaks of it says that it was an action neither founded in Justice nor in Religion though it proceeded from a good Intention and aim'd at a good End because God Almighty requires from Mankind a voluntary not a forc'd Sacrifice It being against his Laws that any violence should be offer'd to Conscience to which he adds this terrible Circumstance that divers of those unfortunate Fathers threw their Children headlong into deep Wells and precipitated themselves after them It cannot be alledg'd Sir that the Declaration of your Majesty does not order the taking away of Children from their Parents and that it only gives them the liberty of chusing their Religion For in the first place the Violence is not so much to be look'd upon as offer'd to the Children but to the Parents whose Children they are by the Gift of God and Nature 't is the sence of the same Thomas Aquinas who speaking of the Jews says that it were injustice to baptize their Children against their will because it were the taking away from them that paternal Power with which they are invested by nature which says he the Church never did even in the most Christian Princes times as Constantine and Theodosius who without doubt would have permitted it had it not been against all Reason And the Edict of Nantes it self in the 18th Article forbids equally Force and Persuasion and calls them both Violence and all Laws have as severely punish'd the Rape of Seduction as that of force in Children under Age. Secondly The Age of seven years fully attain'd does not hinder but that as to the Parents the Violence is as great as if their Children were torn from their Mothers Breasts because that all Laws both natural and civil do submit Children to their Parents till the Age of Puberty and therefore 't is equally unjust to take them away at seven years old as in the Cradle If it be alledg'd that Children at seven years old are capable of sinning mortally and so may be admitted to the choice of their Religion We Answer that besides that that Principle is not generally allow'd and that it would be very hard to judge your Petitioners by Maxims which they do not receive 't is easie to see that it is a very unjust and unequal Inference and that there is a great deal of difference between the first Idea's of good and evil which Children may begin to have at seven years old and the discerning or examining of two Religions with a determination to leave that in which they have been brought up to follow another which must of necessity be less known to them if they are not altogether ignorant of it and which the World knows to be a choice of so difficult a nature that it is the earnest endeavour of human Mind animated with the most diligent inquiry of its way to Heaven Your Petitioners shall not here touch upon the fatal and sad Consequences which are like to attend the Execution of so severe a Law the despair of Fathers and Mothers the inevitable Discord between Parents and Children the change of Education from the tender hands of Parents into those of Strangers the liberty it gives to ill-dispos'd Children who will scorn the Correction of their Parents having means ready to shake off their Authority the exaction of unreasonable Pensions from Parents for the keeping of their Children out of their own Families the forc'd retreat of many thousands out of your Majesties Dominions the apprehension that those who remain will be in to have any Children born to 'em and a thousand other Inconveniencies and Interruptions of the Bonds of civil Society Your Petitioners Sir are convinc'd as well as all the World that nothing here can resist your Power but they know likewise that your Majesty loves to temper that Power with Sweetness and Justice after the Imitation of God Almighty who never displays the Infinity of his Power upon his poor Creatures but that he doth at the same time look upon 'em with Eyes of Compassion 'T is your Justice Sir that your Petitioners implore in the Excess of their Grief and 't is to you Sir alone that they direct their sighs and tears taking the confidence to say as it is true that they had rather endure all things and death it self rather than be separated from their Children in so tender an Age and so be hinder'd from Educating them in their own Religion according to the obligation of their Consciences Therefore your Petitioners humbly beg that it may be your Royal Pleasure to revoke and annul the Declaration of the 17th of June last and to order that that of February 1669. be in full force and your Petitioners shall continue to offer up their Vows and Prayers for your Majesty's most prosperous and glorious Reign But they
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
made them consent to become Catholicks Some they stripped stark naked and after they had offered them a thousand Indignities they stuck them with Pins from Head to Foot They cut them with Penknifes tear them by the Noses with red hot Pincers and dragged them about the Rooms 'till they promised to become Roman Catholicks or that the doleful outcries of these poor tormented Creatures calling upon God for Mercy constrained them to let them go They beat them with Staves and dragged them all bruised to the Popish Churches where their enforced presence is reputed for an Abjuration They keep them waking seven or eight days together relieving one another by turns that they might not get a wink of sleep or rest In case they began to nod they threw Buckets of Water in their Faces or holding Kettles over their Heads they beat on them with such a continual noise that those poor Wretches lost their Senses If they found any sick who kept their Beds Men or Women be it of Feavers or other Diseases they were so cruel as to beat up an alarm with twelve Drums about their Beds for a whole Week together without Intermission till they had promised to change In some places they tied Fathers and Husbands to the Bed-Posts and ravished their Wives and Daughters before their Eyes And in another place Rapes were publickly and generally permitted for many hours together From others they pluck off the Nails of their Hands and Toes which must needs cause an intolerable pain They burnt the Feet of others They blew up Men and Women with Bellows 'till they were ready to burst in pieces If these horrid usages could not prevail upon them to violate their Consciences and abandon their Religion they did then Imprison them in close and noisome Dungeons in which they exercised all kind of Inhumanities upon them They demolish their Houses desolate their Hereditary Lands cut down their Woods seize upon their Wives and Children and mew them up in Monasteries When the Souldiers had devoured all the goods of a House then the Farmers and Tenants of these poor persecuted Wretches must supply them with new Fewels for their Lusts and bring in more subsistence to them and that they might be reimbursed they did by Authority of Justice sell unto them the Fee-simple Estate of their Landlords and put them into possession of it If any to secure their Consciences and to escape the Tyranny of these enraged Cannibals endeavour'd to flee away they were pursued and hunted in the Fields and Woods and shot at as so many wild Beasts The Provosts with their Archers course it up and down the high ways after these poor Fugitives and Magistrates in all places have strict Orders to stop and detain them without exception and being taken they are brought back like Prisoners of War unto those places from whence they fled SECT XLIV But this Storm did not fall only upon the Commons but Noblemen and Gentlemen of the best Quality are exposed to it They also have Souldiers Quartered upon them who do rage and spoil them every way as much as the Citizens and Peasants Their Houses are pillaged and plundered their Goods dissipated and wasted their Castles rased their Woods felled and their very Persons affronted with the Insolencies and Barbarity of the Dragoons They spare neither Sex nor Age nor Quality They practise their Violences upon all Persons who are non-compliant with their Commands of changing their Religion Several Officers and Members of Parliament underwent the very self-same Fate For they were first deprived of their Offices and then the Military Officers who were actually in service are ordered to quit their Posts and to come and Quarter upon them that they may by these new Apostles be necessitated to turn Catholicks Many Gentlemen and Persons of great Quality and many aged Ladies of ancient and noble Families seeing all these Outrages retired unto Paris and hoped that in that Forest of Houses and so near the Court they might find a safe retreat But this hope soon vanisheth For a Decree of Council is Published Commanding them to leave Paris in fifteen days and to return back again without tarrying unto their own homes And whereas some presumed to Petition his Majesty to stop the current of this violent Storm and Injustice they were immediately sent Prisoners to the Bastile The French King about the 6th of October 1685. was heard to say That he hoped by that time his Grandson the Duke of Burgundy came to years of Vnderstanding he should never know what an Hugonot was in France but by History In Sedan a Principality by the Kings Edict annexed but of late unto the Crown the Desolation by the Dragoons is unspeakable The Families of Protestants being inforced to pay unto these Guests Quartered upon them from ten to fifty and sixty Crowns a day till they were totally beggar'd There have been rare and great Examples of Patience and Constancy among these Suffering Protestants I shall produce a few Instances In Guyenne Monsieur de Bergues Lord of Feus ever since the Dragoons came into the Province hath had seventy of them continually lodged upon him at Free Quarters where they made a total Consumption devouring all that he had even to the very Stones and Walls and not content with ruining him they compelled his poor Tenants to contribute also to their Livelyhoods After they had by main force dragged his Lady and Children to the Popish Church they Imprisoned them in several Nunneries and as for that Pious Lord having by their Cruelties and ill usages confined him to his Bed yet they continued their Torments of him in his Sickness four Souldiers guarding him night and day as if he had been some Notorious Traytor and those brutal Wretches treating him with excessive Indignities However they could not shake the Constancy of this Noble and Religious Gentleman Five Citizens of Sedan after these Missionaries had tryed their skill upon them by destroying and eating up all their Substance and Estate and other Hellish ill usage in Prison to induce them to renounce their Religion and not prevailing they at last Condemn'd them to the Gallies Unto which they went most Couragiously Rejoycing at their great Afflictions for the Gospel Two ancient Gentlewomen of Sedan one being the Widow of Monsieur Dreall Seneschal of the City and the other the Relict of Monsieur de Beaulieu who in his Life time had been Pastor and Professor in that Church and Academy they both yielding up their Houses and Estates which were very considerable to be spoiled and plundered by these Dragoons did for some weeks hide themselves from their Violence by climbing from the Tops of Houses from one House unto another and indured those hardships which would have been the bane of others younger and stronger than themselves but hereby being worn out and quite spent with the labours and fatigues of their frequent removes they fell sick and were both seized on by their Persecutors who
that when the Dragoons had done their part as effectually as they could the Intendant with the Bishops and the Military Commander do once again assemble these miserable Inhabitants totally ruined and exhort them to obey the King and become Catholicks adding in case of obstinacy most terrible Threats And the new Converts never failed in this juncture to execute what they had promised to entice and seduce them from the true Religion This they could do the more successfully because the Reformed had yet some kindness for and confidence in them 4. When the Master of a Family thinking to get rid of the Dragoons had obeyed and signed an Abjuration yet for all this he was not freed from his Tormentors unless that his Wife Children and the meanest of his Servants did not also follow his example And if Wife or Children or any of his Domesticks escaped their hands and fled for their Lives they renewed their Persecutions upon him till such time as he had brought them back again which being sometimes utterly impossible their change of Religion did not in the lead benefit or avail them The Form of Abjuration imposed upon the Protestants when they turn'd Papists and which they stiled The Mark of the Beast I here offer to my Reader 's perusal THE Mark of the Beast OR The Profession of the Catholick Apostolick and Romish Faith which the Protestants in France were inforced to make and subscribe through the Violence of Persecution in France In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen I do believe and profess with a firm Faith all and every thing and things contained in that Creed which is used by the holy Church of Rome to wit I believe in one God the Father Almighty who hath made Heaven and Earth and all things visible and invisible And in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God and born of the Father before all Ages God of God Light of Light True God of the True God Begotten not made of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made who for us Men and our Salvation came down from Heaven and was Incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made Man and was Crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate he suffered and was buried and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of the Father and he shall come again with Glory to judge both the quick and the dead whose Kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and Giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is Worshipped and Glorified who spake by the Prophets And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the Remission of Sins and I look for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to come Amen I receive and embrace most firmly the Apostolick and Ecclesiastical Traditions and the other Observations and Constitutions of the same Church In like manner I receive the holy Scripture but with that sence which the holy Mother Church hath and doth now understand it to whom it doth belong to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures and I shall never take it nor interpret it otherwise than according to the unanimous Consent of the Fathers I profess also that there be truly and properly seven Sacraments of the new Law instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ and needful for the Salvation of Mankind although not alike needful to every one to wit Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Penance Extreme Vnction Orders and Marriage and that they do confer Grace And that Baptism Confirmation and Orders cannot be reiterated without Sacriledge I receive and admit also the Ceremonies received and approved by the Catholick Church in the solemn Administration of all these for-mentioned Sacraments I receive and imbrace all and every thing and things which have been determined and declared concerning original Sin and Justification by the holy Council of Trent I likewise profess that in the Mass there is offered unto God a true proper and propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead and that in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly really and substantially the Body and Blood togâ—â—her with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and that in it there is made a Change of the whole substance of the Bread into his Body and of the whole substance of the Wine into his Blood which Change the Catholick Church calls Transubstantiation I confess also that under one only of those two Elements whole Christ and a true Sacrament is received I constantly affirm that there is a Purgatory and that the Souls there detained are relieved by the Suffrages of the Faithful In like manner the Saints reigning with Jesus Christ are to be Worshipped and Invocated and that they offer up Prayers unto God for us and that their Relicks are to be honoured I do most stedfastly avow that the Images of Jesus Christ and of the Ever-Virgin Mother of God and also of the other Saints ought to be had and retained and that due honour and veneration must be yielded to them Moreover I affirm that the power of Indulgences was left unto the Church by Jesus Christ and that their usage is very beneficial unto Christians I acknowledge the Holy Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church to be the Mother and Mistress of all other Churches And I promise and swear true Obedience to the Pope of Rome Successor of Blessed St. Peter Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Jesus Christ. In like manner I receive and profess without doubting all other things left defined and declared by the holy Canons and General Councils and especially by the most holy Council of Trent And withal I do condemn reject and accurse all things which are contrary and whatever Heresies have ken condemned rejected and accursed by the Church And swearing upon the Book of the Gospels he must say I promise vow and swear and most constantly to confess God aiding me and to keep intirely and inviolably unto the death this self-same Catholick Faith out of which no Person can be saved which I do now most willingly and truly profess and that I will endeavour to the utmost of my Power that it shall be held taught and preached by my Vassals or by those who shall belong unto my charge So help me God and these holy Gospels So be it I of the Parish of do Certifie unto all whom it may concern that having acknowledged the falseness of the Pretended Reformed and the truth of the Catholick Religion of my own free will and without any Compulsion I have made Profession of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion in the Church of in the hands of In Testimony of the Truth hereof I have signed this Act
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
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
Consistories there was this Question How may we carry ourselves towards those Delinquents who are guilty of Crimes deserving Civil or Corporal Punishments for if you call them into the Consistory their Crime will be published for the Magistrate is usually present in the Consistory The Brethren of Geneva's ANSWER Article I. IT 's very difficult in this case to shut the Doors against those Persons who delight in Sin for one Inconveniency draws on another It is a most mischievous things that the King's Officers being of another Religion are brought by an absolute Power into the Consistory but so it is and there is no Remedy They have more power than could be wished them so that sith we cannot hinder it if they have just cause of punishing Delinquents even let them do it Article II. If it be alledged That this will hinder poor Sinners from a free Confession and Acknowledgment of their Offences and that we shall be utterly disabled to bring them unto Repentance and that there will be a world of Hypocrisie and Ostentation and Dissembling in our Churches But what can't be helpt must be endured till such time as God shall have blessed us with a better Remedy However there may be some course found out whereby poor Wretches who are fallen into scandalous Offences may be saved from Peril Let two or three Members of the Consistory remonstrate to them in private their Miscarriages and though they may palliate and dissemble the matter yet we may be contented to have dealt thus with them In short we must use our best Endeavours to divert the bad Affections of the Church's Enemies from it and to keep them from hurting and doing that mischief to it they would But in case the Crimes be scandalous rather then nourish them let Discipline be exercised In those Towns where the Magistrates are godly Persons and Professors of our Religion there may be means of communicating the matter to them that so they may punish and chastise these Offenders gently and after a Christian-manner who deserve to be punished by Law And so the Consistory shall be exempted of blame and the Confession shall not be made to it but to the Civil Magistrate ANSWER III. Concerning Baptism this is the Contents and Answer of a Letter to certain Arguments urged for the Validity of Baptism administred by private Persons Article I. WE Ministers and Doctors in the Church of Geneva accompanied with our Brethren come from the National Synod of Lions being met together in the Name of God after that we had heard that Case of Conscience propounded to us Whether Baptism administred by private Persons without Office in the Church of God ought to be reiterated or not did unanimously declare this our Judgment That such a Baptism did not in any wise agree with the Institution of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore consequently is of no force power validity or effect and that the Child ought to be brought into the Church of God there to be baptized For to separate the Ministration of the Sacraments from the Pastor's Office 't is as if one should tear out a Seal to make use of it without the Commission or Letters Pattents to which it was affixed And in this case we must practise that Rule of our Lord What God hath joyned together let no man put asunder This for and in the Name of all the Assembly JOHN CALVIN Article II. And whereas in that Letter there were Reasons to the contrary and that we were desired by the Synod to answer them in Writing we shall do it though we found them very feeble and Impertinent Article III. The first Argument of that Scribler was We must distinguish betwixt the Vertue of the Sacrament which belongeth only unto God to vouchsafe and the outward Sign of which Man is the Minister But this confirms our Assertion because God hath told us by his Son 's own Word who the Persons are that shall administer Baptism Article IV. His second Reason which depends upon the former and to speak properly is but an Accessory to it is nothing to the purpose For tho' Christ only do baptize with his Spirit yet it will not follow that he will not have the Sign and Figure to be annexed unto his Grace Article V. And this self-same Answer will suffice to refute his third Argument For when we reform what hath been done amiss in this Ordinance we do not confine God's Vertue unto the Water for we hold that this is a Counterfeit Baptism a meer Mockery a Prophanation of the Sacrament to whose first Institution we must keep strictly Besides such Language as this is very improper we do not reiterate Baptism for the pretended Baptism is utterly unlawful yea wholly null As for Example If you give a Child a Draught of salt or puddled Water you do not give him again Drink immediately upon it But if you give him an empty Bottle and he suck nothing out of it but Wind you will repair this Fault by giving him Drink in earnest Moreover those Expressions of his Of throwing Water or Plunging are affected and made use of by him to degrade the Usage and Utility of Baptism And we could wish that in handling of such Questions Men were more serious and sober In short either Baptism is unprofitable and appointed to no purpose or else it must be observed according to its Primitive Institution to be a Seal of the Remission of our Sins Article VI. His fourth Argument is altogether frivolous We know God be-thanked that our Spiritual Washing is in the Blood of Jesus and not from the Baptismal Water And he might have spared his pains in mustring up such a number of Texts of Scripture to prove that which none of us ever doubted of for Water in Baptism signifies the Bloud of Christ and the Effects and Fruits thereof accomplished in us by the Holy Ghost And tho' the Lord Jesus is no Respecter of Persons nor doth the Validity of Baptism depend upon the Worthiness or Unworthiness of the Minister yet it will not thence follow that we must not keep to that Order which he hath instituted yea and this also is alledged out of Ignorance For inasmuch as all our Dependance is upon the Word of God the Rule and Standard of our Duty given us by Christ himself if you neglect and slight it in Baptism and let one administer it who hath no Call from God to do it 't is all one as if an Ape as he that hath no Commission to preach the Gospel did administer it Article VII His fifth Argument takes that for granted which will never be yeilded to him viz. That even Baptism administred by an Heretick who hath no Office in the Church is yet held for true Baptism For were this so Baptism would not belong unto the Church but also to Turks and Pagans So that whilst he labours by such sorry trifling Arguments as these to build up Baptism 't is certain that he turns
reform provided that he give not any Sign or Token of his Approbation a Gentleman may not hinder People from entring into the Chappel of his Castle when as Idolatry is Established by Publick Authority 8. Quest Whether we may feign to perform the abusive Sinful Will of a Testator that so we may remove the Abuse Answ Altho there would be no Sin in it to frustrate the abusive Sinful Intention of the Testator by detaining the Revenues ordained by him for chanting Masses yet notwithstanding this feigning and dissembling will be always evil and must be condemned when a Man doth make Semblance of paying Service unto Devils 9. Quest Whether we may limit or keep back those Gifts and Alms bequeathed by a Testator Answ We are not forbidden to bequeath any part of our Estate unto pious Uses after our decease no more than to give it away during our Lives provided we do it not out of Ambition to get a Name and renown by so doing For it cannot be said that a Man is in quest of Glory when as he shall oblige his Heir to do well according to that Estate he shall leave him as he himself would have done if he had lived longer To alledge that he never used to do thus in his life time it is a Bar put upon a Man's Liberty that he should have no Power freely to dispose of his own Goods If the Heir be dissatisfied woe unto him 10. Quest Whether we are bound to approve of that Minister who hath been examined by Persons of Judgment and Experience Answ As a Church is free to prove and try the Life and Doctrine of a Minister before they accept and receive him So neither is there any Tie nor Obligation upon them to the contrary but that they may confide and acquiesce in those who are qualified to examine him and have had a long time knowledge of him and so can best judge who and what he is Otherwise the Faithful in Foreign parts would be destitute of all means whereby to be supplied with able Pastors if this Door were shut up 11. Quest Whether a Pastor may forsake his Church and a Church their Pastor Answ A Pastor may not of his own head forsake his Flock but in case they will not make use of him he is free and may warrantably leave them because ho cannot be a Pastor without a People nor hold and exercise his Office among them against their Wills and Consent by meer force Or in case the Church should not count his Labours among them profitable or if he should have a Call unto another Church which hath greater need of him he may with the general Consent of his Flock freely go thither and serve it And look as every Pastor is bound to serve the Church of God especially his own so likewise is One Church bound to help another And would to God this mutual Assistance were better practiced for then we should be more enlargedly useful and beneficial one unto another 12. Quest Whether a private Christian may exercise the Office of a Minister unto his own Family Answ A Godly Man being the Head and Master of his Family ought to serve guide and instruct it according to the Measure of his Gifts and Graces and may so far supply the Pastor's Office and perform his Duty in it as to teach sound Doctrine and inculcate wholsome Counsels to it But forasmuch as also Persons indifferently are not allowed to Preach the Word and Administer the Sacrament it is but just and reasonable that a Man should first try and examine himself and be well assured that he is called of God before he attempt or take upon him so great and weighty an Office Yet nevertheless every particular Family ought to be a Little Church of Christ 13. Quest Whether it be lawful to hold a Commander's Place in any of the Popish Guilds and Fraternities Answ The immoderate Desire of Gain from all Quarters hath caused a multitude of Cases to be started by Conscience As this in particular which now lieth before me Whether it be lawful to hold a Commander's Place or Office in any of the Popish Guilds and Fraternities To which I answer That because there is a Foundation of Masses annexed unto such Offices and Commanderships and for that such Places are not in the King's gift but settled upon the Members of such and such a Guild and Fraternity who are recommended to it and for that they do all take an Oath repugnant to the true Reformed Religion they cannot with a safe Conscience hold it For were there no other Evil in it yet there is this that Sith they do not apply the Profits and Emoluments of the Commandership unto those very uses to which they were designed they be but Thieves and Robbers 14. Quest Whether it be lawful to antedate a Contract Answ Provided there be no falshood in it contrary to the Agreement in the Policy or Instrument private Persons are no more forbidden to antidate a Deed of Sale in which there is no Fraud than to change their Names or to date a Letter from Paris which was written at Lions In case it should be alledged that this would be a cheating the King of his Gabel and Impost I answer this is nothing to the Purpose because the Question is not moved about the Detention of Tribute but only how to avoid without Fraud a most violent Extortion and tyrannical Pillage But in case an Oath should be tendered unto the Parties then I must tell them that the Name and Honour of God should be more precious to them than all the Riches of the World 15. Quest Whether it be lawful and when I may put out my Money unto Interest Answ I would never advise any Man to put out his Money to Interest if he can employ it any ways else Yet when as a Man 's whole Estate doth lie in ready Money he may very well contract with such and such Persons that upon such and such terms it may be lawful for him to receive benefit and profit thereby But he must be very careful that he do not let loose the Reins to demand and take excessive Gains as is the Custom and Practice of too too many nor should he grieve or grind the Face of that poor Man with whom he hath contracted nor endammage the publick Interest by his own private Benefit Wherefore upon the whole I dare not approve of any Interest till I do first know how and upon what Terms Articles and Conditions and with what Persons you do transact herein CHAP. X. Orders and Decrees concerning Marriages Made by the Authority of the National Synod of Vertueil held in the Year l567 But drawn up at the Desire of the Fathers in this Synod by the R. Mr. Calvin Minister of God's Holy Word Pastor and Professor in the Church and Vniversity of Geneva These Orders were tacked together with Mr. Calvin's Answer to the forementioned fifteen Cases of Conscience
it IX Under the Second towards the End this shall be added And the said Elders shall be admonished not to declare unto the Consistory their faults without just Cause and in much Charity according to the Rule of God's Word No Person at the first Report of his Miscarriage shall be mention'd by name in the Consistory On this Article the Lord-Admiral propounded That Persons upon the first Report should not be mention'd by Name unto the Consistory until they had first resolved whether they should be called into it or no. And there was added That no Person for the first Report ought to be named unless the Consistory for good and vallid causes should think fitting so to do X. Under the Third towards the End shall be this Addition If they be fit and in case of want and hindered by Ministers CHAP. VII General Matters Thursday the Fifth of the same Month. I. THere shall be added to the Third Article of Elders and Deacons That none others besides the said Deacons shall intermeddle with the Administration of the Poors Money II. This Article shall be added The Elders and Deacons may be present at Propositions of the Word of God made by Ministers besides their ordinary Sermons as also at Censures and shall have their Priviledge of Voting in all Matters Doctrine only excepted Of the CONSISTORY III. THE Fourth Article shall be thus formed Ministers and Elders compose the Consistory in which Ministers shall always preside and the Deacons may be present if so be the Consistory do judge it fitting IV. On the Seventh Article after these Words For tryal of their Ability shall be added which yet shall not be done without great Prudence and Discretion with promise of Secrecy V. There shall be this Addition made to the Close of the Eighth Article And if there be any other Counsels they shall be supprest VI. After these words in the Ninth But principally at the Auditing of Accounts there shall be this Addition of which the People shall have notice given them VII The Tenth Article was thus Explained If there should arise any Contention concerning Doctrine it shall be out of hand notified unto the Colloquy subordinate unto the Synods where also the Elders and Professors in Divinity may be present to give their Judgment on the Points but the Decision of these Controversies shall especially belong unto the Ministers and Professors of Divinity VIII In the Twelfth instead of Adjured to speak the Truth there shall be Exhorted and Summoned in the Name of God to speak the Truth IX On the Sixteenth after these words Propositions of the Word of God shall be added Among Scholars Of Delinquents and Censur'd Persons and what are these Offences which render them obnoxious unto Censures No copy of Excommunication or Church-censures to be given X. THE Question being mov'd whether a Copy may be given of the Excommunication or of any other Censure It was answered That because the whole Process was a Matter of Conscience it ought not to be given And as for the publick Act it 's subject properly to the Magistrates Jurisdiction XI The first Article was approv'd of but after those words And if notwithstanding all this they do not convert but persist in their Stubbornness and Obstinacy there shall be added On the fourth Lord's-day the scandalous Persons shall be Excommunicated either in this or such like form as shall be advised on by the Consistory we do declare unto the whole Congregation that we do not own him for one of the Members of our Church and in the Name and by the Authority of our Lord Jesus we cut him off from it XII On the third unto those words After they shall have continued firm shall be added without expecting the Advice of a National Synod Of Provincial SYNODS XIII ON the first Article instead of once a Year shall be inserted at least twice XIV In the second after the first Period shall be added And the said Ministers and Elders shall produce their Orders of Deputation XV To the sixth This Article is the 11th in the Chapter of Provincial Synods in the Book of Discipline this Article of the Synod of Vertueil shall be added If there arise any difference between two Synods they shall choose a third to reconcile them Of BAPTISM 1571. Synod VIII XVI AFter these words in the second Article This is the 4th Article in the Chapter and Book of Discipline Quit and resign their Right unto the Sureties shall be added As to Instruction And a little before shall be added If the Parents do consent The second and third Article shall make but one Papists and excommunicate Persons being joyned together XVII And the fourth after these words And is wholly null shall be abridg'd and cut short and shall be thus expressed Baptism administred by a Person who hath neither Call nor Commission is wholly null and void CHAP. VIII Acts passed upon Friday the Sixth of the said Month. I. IN the sixth Article the word Alliance shall be removed and it shall suffice to say thus much That fellowship among the Faithful may be maintained by Conjunction of Friendship and instead of Conceited shall be put Contentious II. Instead of these words in the Eighth Although the Husband have an unbelieving Wife yet he is not excusable shall be put these words Altho' the believing Husband have a Wife of contrary Religion yet is he not excusable III. After these words in the Ninth The Ministers shall reject shall be added as much as is fitting IV. This Article shall be added The Consistories shall have an eye over them who detain their Children from Baptism too long a time Of the LORD's SVPPER Beneficed persons not to be admitted to the Lord's Supper V. THis Article shall be added Beneficed Persons retaining the Name and Title of their Benefices and those also who dabble with Idolatry in their said Benefices shall not be admitted to the Lord's Table but such as hold those Benefices by the King's Gift and make a true and publick Profession of the Reformed Religion owning and avowing it with sufficient Considence may be received unto the Lord's Supper only they shall be exhorted to apply the yearly Profits of those their Benefices to pious Vses This is the 7th Article in the Chapter of the Lord's Supper and Book of Discipline VI. After these words in the sixth Article And striving as much as in them lieth shall be added yea also they shall put the Cup unto their Mouths that so they may prevent all Offence which might otherwise be taken VII At the End of the tenth Article there shall be this Addition And therefore the National Synods shall take care about it as the Good of the Church shall require This Article is the 14th in the Chapter of the Lord's Supper and Book of Disline Of MARRIAGES VIII THere shall be this Addition made unto the first Article This is the
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
Monsieur de Lestang-Godion Minister of Coue in Poictou and Monsieur de Chauveton Lord of Beauvois and Minister of the Church of St. Martins in the Isle of Re were also voted to be Scribes CHAP. II. General MATTERS I. ALL the Deputies protested in the Name of the Churches of their respective Provinces that they would persevere in the Union of that Doctrine and Confession of Faith which was formerly subscribed in the National Synod held in this City in the Year 1571. and now exhibited read and recognized in this Assembly Moreover the said Deputies certifyed and declared that they had not the least notice given them of any manner of opposition to it but a general Acquiescency in the said Doctrine and Confession of Faith in all their Churches For which they did unanimously praise God One Minister enough to ordain another II. The Book of Discipline being read It was ordained that the fourth Article in the Chapter of Ministers should remain entire as it was excepting that instead of three or four Ministers required to present the new elected Minister unto the Ministery one only should be sufficient III. In the Margent of the 5th Article this shall be inserted That the said Article was only appointed for such a time when as a Province had no Churches constituted in it and not for the present Day when as blessed be God every Province in the Kingdom hath divers of them IV. These were declared Apostates by the Isle of France and their Declaration approved of by this National Synod Toussainct le Gibou in Normandy Launay in Brie And Panctier in Picardy a Deserter Grenet a Minister of La Garnache in Lower Poictou a Vagrant and Quenet in the Colloquy of Vsez and Monsieur Beazer was ordered to make inquiry about one called du Plessis V. The 22d Article of the Synod of St. Foy concerning Ministers who Practice Physick having been read was Approved as being consonant to the Word of God And this Assembly being informed that divers Ministers do more employ themselves in Physick than in the Duties of their Ministery The Deputies of the Province in which they live were ordered to exhort them to intend and mind their Ministery and to yield plenary Obedience unto God's Word in this Article or otherwise the Colloquies and Synods shall proceed against them according to the Rules of our Discipline VI. Princes and great Lords shall be advised to observe the Articles of our Discipline and to send their Ministers to our National and Provincial Synods and Colloquies VII The 12th Article of our Discipline and the 21th and 33d of the Synod of Figeac were thus confirmed 'T is the Judgment of this Assembly that a Pastor being duely discharged from his Church if the Colloquy or Provincial Synod in which he served do not within a Month provide him another Congregation he may accept of the first Call given him by any other Province and this according to the Canons of our Discipline VIII The 15th Article of our Discipline concerning Ministers was confirmed but with this Proviso That these words Composed of six at the least shall be left out IX And that the said Article may be the better understood After these words Who shall have intruded into a Church this shall be added Altho' he had been afterwards chosen by the People X. And whereas in the 16th Article it was thus written The Reasons it shall be added And the Reasons being well examin'd XI And to that of Professors shall be added Regents and School-masters XII Elders in the Pastor's absence may warrantably perform that Duty of publick Common-Prayer especially if they have been thereunto appoint-by the Consistory XIII Whereas in the 6th Article concerning Elders and Deacons it is said that no Elders shall pretend to Primacy Let this be added neither in Election nor Precedency nor in order of Suffrages nor in any other thing belonging to their Office of Elders XIV The 7th Article concerning Elders and Deacons shall be most diligently observed XV. Ministers and Elders are required to use their utmost Endeavour that the Twelfth Article in the Chapter of Consistories be punctually observed XVI Advise was taken on the Third Article of Consistories which treats of Certificates given unto Passengers That for time coming good and vallid Causes moving us hereunto The first Certificates shall neither be kept nor broken until such time as they be come unto their journies end mentioned in them and then and there the said Certificates shall be detain'd and cancelled and Certificates shall be given very rarely unto any Persons XVII The Tenth Article of Figeac shall be closed up with this Addition If it be not with Consent of the Consistories no Offences shall be discovered to the Civil Magistrate The 5th Penny of all Charities shall be applied towards the Maintenance of Proposans XVIII His Majesty the King of Navar and his Higness the Prince of Conde and other Lords professing our Holy Reformed Religion shall be most humbly desired to contribute liberally towards the Maintenance of poor Scholars and Proposans designed for the Ministery And all Churches are exhorted to press this Duty vigorously upon their richer and more substantial Members that so every Colloquy may be able at least to give Subsistance unto one Proposan and if it can be conveniently the fifth Penny of all Charity-monies shall be allotted to this very purpose XIX That the 13th Article of Consistories may be executed concerning a Collection of all memorable Acts relating to the Church's Sufferings it is thought meet that every Colloquy do depute a Minister to whom all the Churches shall send their Memoirs that they may be brought unto the Provincial Synod and thence unto the National XX. Such Professors as range abroad to hear the Word in one Church and receive the Sacrament in another shall be admonished of their Duty to fix themselves to some particular Church of Christ and in case of neglect they shall be censured XXI In the first Article concerning Delinquents next after these words Nor the Cause of it shall be added this nor in like manner the Restitution and these words shall be razed out Lest they be defamed CHAP. III. XXII IT being desired that the 3d Article of the Synod of Figeac might be explained the Assembly voted that towards the close of it there should be this Addition viz. That it was left wholly to the Prudence of the Consistory whether they would mention by name or not those who had a long time since revolted but as for them who were but of late Apostates Censures shall be pronounc'd against them according to the Tenor of that Canon unless that by such a Personal Denunciation of those Sinners the Consistory might foresee some great and notable Danger like to betide the Church In which case nothing shall be done without the Advice of the Provincial Synod XXIII If the Members of one Church fallen into Idolatry happen to take up their abode in
dear Brother Monsieur * * * One Copy calls him Halnar and in two other Coples Saluart Salnar Minister in the Church of Castres styled Hamonia Confessionum as being most useful and needful for these our times judging also that it would do singular good Service if it were rendred into our French Tongue and therefore the Province of Higher Languedoc is charged by this Synod to get it translated and to prefix an Epistle Commendatory to the said Book in the Name of their faid Province XV. The Church of Vitré requesting our Advice in this case Whether Witnesses should be confronted deposing a Crime committed by the Delinquent who does obstinately and upon his Oath deny the very Matter of Fact This Assembly judgeth That all occasions of new Quarrels may be avoided which may probably arise from such Confrontations the Witnesses shall not be confronted unless of their own accord they do freely consent unto it or unless that the last and greatest Censures must of neccessity be used which indeed cannot be executed till such time as the Delinquents shall have been well and duly convicted and this cannot be done unless that he confess and own his Offence or that the Witnesses do avow it constantly to his face XVI The Article about our Catechism shall remain in its full power till the next National Synod whereunto the Provinces shall come well instructed that so we may advise whether Mr. Calvin's Catechism may be retained or that a shorter one consisting only of the Apostles Creed the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments shall be taken up and used in the Ordinance of Catechising XVII The Deputies of Poictou propounded this Case A certain Marriage was dissolved by Authority of the Official because of the Husband's Impotency sometime after the Woman being publickly married in the Church it fell out the Man also was re-married but in the Romish Church he being now touched with Repentance demandeth to be received unto the Peace and Communion of our Church This Assembly adviseth that before his re-admission his Wife shall be interrogated whether she be well satisfied with him that so it may be known whether he hath not abused God's holy Ordinance of Marriage because he had been once before judged impotent and if he be now found such we advise the deferring of his Reception till we have had more ample proof of his Repentance But if it be otherwise he having according to our Discipline repaired his fault of being married in the Church of Rowe shall be restored to the Peace and Communion of the Church Nevertheless this Assembly judgeth that the Consistory should be censured not only for not using its Authority to hinder the Woman to suddenly after her Marriage contracted and solemnized from running to the Official who presently ordered her a Separation but also for not persisting in their Admonitions to the Husband that he should not so easily and readily consent as he did unto a dissolution of the said Marriage because such a Separation ought not to have been till after three Ecclesiastical Sentences had thrice gradually intervened as is usual even in the Church of Rome XVIII Claudius Merchant formerly Minister in the Church of Beauriers and Civray in the Province of Berry having been accused and convicted of Adultery before this Assembly we do depose him from his Charge and Ministry for being a scandalous Person utterly unworthy of it Moreover we do ordain That this his said Deposition shall be published in those places where he exercised his Ministry but without mentioning the Woman only in general this shall be declared that 't is for a very gross and heavy Sin for a most grievous Scandal Finally he shall not be admitted in any place of his Residence unto the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper till he have first done Publick Penance for this notorious Scandal given by him unto the Church altho' the particular Crime committed by him shall not be specified in the Church And the Consistory of the Church De la Roche posé shall be censured for putting him into Office among them before they had sufficient Attestations concerning him XIX Divers Gentlemen complaining by the Deputies of Augoumois that in those places where there is but one Sermon in the Week their Ministers do resufe coming on the Week-days to Preach and Baptize their Children which are then born unless they bring them at the appointed Times for Religious Worship This Assembly adviseth That to prevent all Clamours and Complaints for the future the Consistory shall appoint one Day in the midst of the Week for an extraordinary Assembly and so provide for all emergent necessary Duties XX. The Churches shall be informed that by the Ninth Article of the Secret Articles the King promiseth to dispense with the Degrees of Consanguinity and Assinity between Persons of the Reformed Religion so that we need not have recourse unto the Pope for Dispensations Wherefore in such Cases they may apply themselves unto His Majesty by our Agent at Court XXI Our Brother the Deputy of Poictou propounded this Case That a certain Person having quitted his Benefice did yet notwithstanding receive a Pension from his Curate that enjoys it This Assembly adviseth that he be admonished either to relinquish such a Pension or else wholly to employ it unto Pious Uses XXII Whereas the Deputy of Anjou hath demanded that the Church of La Gravelle may be declared a Member of the said Province because 't is inclosed within its bounds the Assembly judgeth That inasmuch as our Brother De Cherpon Minister of it had been mostly incouraged in his Studies by the Liberality of the Lord De la Val and that the far greater part of the Members of that Church are Brittains it being distant from Brittany but one small League that therefore the said Church shall be reputed to belong to the Province of Brittany and the rather because of the paucity of Ministers in it And this Order shall be in force no longer than the time of Monsieur Cherpon's Residence at and Relation to the ' foresaid Church of La Gravelle * * * In my Copy it wrs Noturi◠which I lookt upon as an Error of the French Scribe for Norwich XXIII Our Brother Monsieur Mary Minister of the Church of Norwich in England but living at present in Normandy shall be obliged to return unto his Church upon its first Summons yet because of the great Success of his Ministry in these parts his Church may be intreated to continue for some longer time his absence from it XXIV Monsieur De Feugeray Pastor in the Church of Rouen having informed this Assembly of the great importance of that Church and how necessary it is that it should be provided of able Ministers we being at present destitute of all help for them do advise the Province of Normandy to enquire in their respective Classis whether they may not find two Churches so nigh one unto the other
in whenas there is special need of it XIII The 13th Article of the fifth Chapter of the Discipline shall abide in full force and none shall use the Formalities or Ceremonies commonly observed in taking Oaths before the Magistrate A Rule about publishing of Apostates XIV The Deputies of Xaintonge demanding Whether the Names of Apostates should be publickly declared because of that danger we are thereby exposed to we advise that the 19th Article of the fifth Chapter of our Discipline be kept up in its full power and that all Consistories look carefully and prudently to its better observation Publick Prayers shall be offered up to God for reducing the King unto the Protestant Religion XV. All Ministers are exhorted to be earnest with God in their publick Prayers for the Conversion Preservation and Prosperity of the King and whenever they be at Court and have access unto His Majesty they shall do their Duty in reminding him seriously of the great Concerns of his Soul's Salvation And the Pastors ordinarily residing at Court or in its Neighborhood shall be writ unto by this Synod more especially to put this our Counsel into Practice XVI Letters shall be sent from this Synod unto Madam the King's Sister congratulating her Perseverance and advising her Highness to continue faithful unto the last 17. The Deputies of Xaintonge propounded this Case Whether we should rest satisfied with a general Confession published in the open Church by the Penitent he not specifying his particular Offence This Assembly adviseth That there be nothing altered at present in the 22d Article of the Discipline but that it be conformed to as much as may be Only the Provinces are required to bring their better thoughts on this Subject unto the next National Synod XVIII Whereas divers Persons would compel Consistories to depose before the Civil Magistrate Matters told in Consistory a Memorial shall be prepared and presented by the General Assembly of Saint Foy to take this Matter into their most serious Consideration and to procure a Grant from His Majesty for the conservation of the Liberties of Consistories XIX There shall be no alteration made in the Forms of Publick Prayers and Administration of the Sacraments the whole having been prudently and piously ordained and for the most part in plain and express Terms of holy Scripture XX. The Provinces are all reproved for neglecting their Duty in preserving the Memoirs of remarkable Events which have fallen out in this Kingdom and their Deputies are charged upon their return to advertize their Colloquies hereof that so a better account may be given of this Article unto the next National Synod XXI A Breviate shall be prepared and presented to the Assembly of Saint Foy complaining against those of the Isle of France and divers others who in the Name of all our Churches have prosecuted the Verification of the Edict of 1577 whenas it was expresly contrary to the Resolution took in the last Assembly held at Mantes in December 1593. XXII Churches that have neglected their Duty of paying the Quota towards the last Assembly held at Mantes and other Assemblies elsewhere and to this also which is now shortly to be held at Saint Foy shall be summoned once more by the Deputies of their Provinces to bring in out of hand their respective Proportions and in default hereof their said Deputies shall immediately upon their return by the Authority of this Synod deprive them of the Ministry of God's Holy Word and Sacraments with an Interdiction unto all Ministers from officiating among them The Union of Mantes to be sworn See the Synod of Saumur G. M. Art 6 30. XXIII The Union made in the Assembly at Mantes shall be sworn by all Churches either in the Guild-halls of their respective Towns or in their Temples as shall be judged most convenient XXIV The Deputies of Xaintonge requiring Advice about the Circular Letters written from one Church unto another and from one Colloquy and Synod unto another it was ordained That no Letters shall be of any Credit unless signed joyntly by one Pastor and Elder or by two Elders where there is no Pastor And they shall be directed in their Superscription either to the Consistory or particularly unto the Pastors that they may be prudently communicated unto the Consistory or to any part of the Elders according to the occurrence of Affairs XXV The Deputies of Higher Languedoc demanding Whether over and above the Propositions made of course by Ministers in Colloquies it were convenient that there should be a Theological Disputation held by the said Ministers in one of the Sessions of that Colloquy It is ordered That the Provinces do come prepared against the next National Synod with their thoughts about it that so if it be judged meet a General Decree may be established for it Ministers and Churches not coming unto Colloquies and Synods censured XXVI If Churches sail a second time to defray their Pastors Charges in travelling unto Colloquies and Synods they shall be deprived of their Ministers And in case Ministers neglect twice following to come unto those Meetings they shall be suspended from their Ministry unless they have lawful excuse for their absence and their respective Colloquies or Synods shall judge of it XXVII The Churches are all exhorted diligently to observe the Fifth and Sixth Articles of the Tenth Chapter of our Discipline and particularly those of Lower Languedoc where many such abuses are committed contrary to the aforesaid Articles And the Churches of the said Province are required to be more exact in their observation of them than formerly XXVIII However Parents and Sureties may bring Infants late into the Church yet their Baptism shall not be delayed unless the Assembly shall be departed because Children ought not to be punished for their Parents sins who yet together with their Sureties shall be severely censured for their slothfulness and neglect of Sermons to which they have not vouchsafed their presence XXIX All the Churches shall be exhorted to see that the Article decreed in the Synod of Vitré concerning the Administration of Baptism before singing the last Psalm or at lead before the Blessing be carefully and inviolably observed The first part of this Article included within the Parenthesis was razed by the Synod of Saumur art 8. of Gen. Mat. XXX No Sureries shall present Children unto Baptism by their Proxies unless it be Kings and great Princes who by reason of their weighty Occupations cannot always be upon the place when Baptism is administred †††And the last Clause mark'd with the Obelisk is the 13th art in the chap. of Baptism See the Synod of Figiac art 4. And Protestants who by their Proxies present Children unto Baptism in the Popish Churches shall be most sharply reproved as being Persons who consent unto Idolatry XXXI Ministers are advised to make no difficulty at those Names given Children in Baptism tho' not mentioned in the Holy
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
the preservation of their mutual Union and to obtain a commodious Peace it was very well accepted and approved by this Synod who farther declared the necessity of a punctual and general Observation of it at least until such times as it shall please God to incline the Heart of our King to grant us the Free Exercise of our Religion by a Royal and Favourable Edict which may be embraced and approved by all the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom And that the said Union and Order may be carefully preserved all Pastors Colloquies and Provincial Synods are earnestly intreated to put to their helping hand XXXV Professors of our holy Religion having Law-suits or Differences among themselves be it either in Matters Civil or Criminal shall be seriously exhorted by their Pastors to compose their Quarrels by Arbitrators of our own Religion without impleading one another at the Bars of Popish Judges CHAP. V. Of APPEALS I. AN Appeal being brought by the Deputy of the Church of Dangeau re-demanding Monsieur Vian who by certain Colloquies was Licensed and sent unto the Church of Marchenoir and whereunto the Provincial Synod had also consented Upon hearing the Deputies of both Churches and the said Monsieur Vian this Assembly ordered That the said Vian should be appropriated unto the Church of D'angeau and that as he returned homeward he should preach some Sermons at D'angeau aforesaid and then return unto Machenoir where he shall remain by the space of one Month and if within that time the Church of D'angeau do not pay him all the Arrerages of his Stipend which they owe him he shall be affixed wholly unto the foresaid Church of Marchenior and if he be satisfied and return to D'angeau he shall be paid hereafter duly every Quarter his Salary and in case the said Church should again fail in her Duty as formerly in not satisfying the said Vian within three Months that Order of the Provincial Synod shall be confirmed and the said Monsieur Vian shall be appropriated unto the Church of Marchenior II. An Appeal being brought by the Church of Fescamp concerning the Person of Monsieur Lazarus Robert their Pastor who by the Provincial Synod of Normandy was lent unto the Church of Pont-dorson it is ordained That the said Monsieur Lazarus shall remain with his Church of Fescamp provided they take care for his better maintenance III. The Church of St. John d' Angely brought an Appeal by the Advice of the Synod of Xaintonge wherein they declare That * * * Monsieur D'amours was a mighty Man in Prayer and Chaplain in Ordinary to Henry IV. before his last Apostasie The very Papists in the Army and the greatest Lords and Commanders in it were melted by him in that Duty and would call upon the King That before they went to fight that the Minister who prayed yesterday might pray again Monsieur D'amours was sent unto the Church of Barbezieux the Letters and Memoirs of the Consistory and other Writings having been read this Assembly determined That the Synod of Xaintonge had very good and sufficient grounds for their disposal of Monsieur D'amours but Madam the King 's only Sister having requested of this National Synod by her Letter That the said Monsieur D'amours might be Pastor to the Church in her Family this Assembly granteth unto her Royal Highness the said Monsieur D'amours for the Service of her Church and Family and forasmuch as the said D'amours doth ordinarily reside at St. John the said Church is intreated to help that of Barbezieux and in case they do not the Provincial Synod are ordered to make provision for them Monsieur Turquet Deputy for the Church of Lion entred his Protest against this Ordinance concerning Monsieur D'amours as prejudicial to the Church of Lions which claimed him of Right as their own IV. An Appeal was brought by the Church of Marianges from the Provincial Synod of Languedoc which had adjudged Monsieur Moinier to the Church of Nismes the Church of Nismes requesting That in regard of her great Needs Monsieur Moinier might be left unto her This Synod de creeth That forasmuch as the said Church of Marianges hath not appeared to defend its Appeal the Order of the Provincial Synod of Languedoc shall stand in force V. Complaint being made by the Church of Aymet against a Decree passed in the National Synod of Montauban which adjudged Monsieur Balarand unto the Church of Castres the Deputy of Aymet requiring that the said Decree might be revers'd and the said Balarand restored unto the Church of Aymet for the Reasons assigned by them and Monsieur Rotan being heard on the behalf of the Church of Castres it is ordained by this present Synod That Monsieur Balarand doth of Right belong unto the Church of Aymet and that he shall be restored again unto the said Church which may recal him within three Months counting from this 14th of June 1596 and in case of his Disobedience unto this Order he shall be interdicted the Exercise of his Ministry VI. An Appeal was brought by Monsieur Simon L'hermite Lord of Puy deposed from the holy Ministry by the Colloquy and Classis of Fontenay held at St. Germain in March last the causes and grounds of his Appeal having been reported to us and the motives inducing the said Colloquy to depose him to wit his pertinacious asserting That the Humane Nature of our Lord Jesus Christ was destroyed in his Death This Synod appointed Master Merlin Rotan de Serres and the Lord du Plessis to confer with the said du Puy and to convince him of his Error who relating to us That the said du Puy doth own and approve our Confession of Faith and that he had offended and fallen into an Error as above-mentioned which also the said du Puy confessed openly before this Assembly That he had held that erroneous Opinion but doth now acknowledge the Humanity of our Lord Jesus to have been ever conjoyned to his Divinity in Life and Death yea whilst his Body lay in the Grave and he doth abjure all other Errors contrary unto this Truth now subscribed by him The Deputies also of the Province of Poictou having been heard upon the whole matter this Assembly approveth the Proceedings of the said Colloquy as just and equitable But because the said du Puy hath abjur'd that his Error and earnestly desireth to serve the Church of God and promiseth for the future to carry himself with greater modesty and humility this Assembly doth restore the said du Puy unto his Office of the Ministry yet ordaineth That for three Months he shall be silent and not exercise any of the Publick Duties thereof which time expired he getting a Certificate of his pious Conversation from that Church wherein he liveth he may be by the approbation of the Colloquies sent unto any Congregation which shall give him a Call CHAP. VI. Particular MATTERS I. THE Theses of Anthony de L' Escale being presented unto this Synod
Ministry in Normandy he is of but mean Stature hath a weeping Tone brown Hair 2. As also one called Mussidan alias John Bourdirier who had been deposed in Vivaretz 3. Also one named Des Hameux who had been declared Vagrant by the Provincial Synod of Anjou The Province of Dolphiny is appointed to call the next National Synod three Years hence saving that in case of necessity and that Province do judge it so by reason of extraordinary Occurrences they may convene it sooner Revising that Article concerning the maintenance of Monsieur Berger before-mentioned it was decreed That in lieu of a General Contribution towards it by all the Provinces that of Orleans shall give him in a double Portion from the Moneys granted us by His Majesty to what is assigned unto each single Pastor which Quota of his shall be allowed them in their Accounts to be presented by them at the next National Synod Those of Vivaretz complaining of Taxes imposed on by the Provinces of Higher and Lower Languedoc towards the defraying of Charges spent about Businesses whereunto they had never been invited The Assembly ordains that for what is past it shall be valid but for the future that the Moneys of His Majesty's Grant which were purely Church-Moneys shall not be diverted from their primary design which was the maintenance of our Ministers and in particular that the Provinces shall not usurp upon one another's Right Monsieur Palott before-named having sent unto this Assembly a little before its dissolution the Sum of Three thousand Crowns in ready Money it was divided among the Provinces and Universities defalking one Sol in the Livre upon the whole remaining Debt for the Years 1598 1599 and 1600 according to the Accompts sent by the said Monsieur Palott for every Province and this without prejudice to the Accompt of the said Palott or approbation of it Dated at Gergeau the 25th of May 1601. Signed thus George Pacard Moderator chosen by the Synod De Beaulieu Assessor Scribes Daniel Chamier Josias Mercier The End of the Synod of GERGEAU THE Acts Decisions and Decrees OF THE XVII National Synod OF The Reformed Churches OF FRANCE Held in The Town of Gap and Province of Dolphiny In the Year of our Lord 1603. The CONTENTS of the Synod of GAP Chap. I. DEputies from the Provinces The Lords General Deputies des Fontaines Agent for Monsieur Palot Receiver of the Churches moneys Synodical Officers chosen The Provinces censured for not sending their full number of Deputies Brittany censured for a particular fact Chap. II. Observations upon the Confession of Faith the Original always to be brought unto the National Synod the 18 and 20 and 22d Articles explained our Righteousness by the imputation of Christs Active and Passive Obedience 2. The Call of our first Reformers was extraordinary and not from the Church of Rome 4. The Pope is the Antichrist 5. Of the word Super-intendant 6. The Confession Sworn and Subscribed 8. Monsieur Chamier to write an Apology for it as Bishop Jewel did for the Church of England Chap. III. Observations upon the Discipline no private Ordination 1. Uniformity in Ordination 2. Irregular Preaching 4. Canons for Professors of Divinity 7. Orders for maintaining young Students in Divinity 8. Elders shall have no Impositions of Hands 9. A Canon about Penitential Confession 12 A Case propounded by the Deputies of Burgundy 13. The Churches of several Provinces Incorporated with those of France 15 16 17. An Inquiry for the Original Acts of these National Synods 19. Publick Common Prayers laid down and why 21. Whether Ministers may attend on Funerals 22. The Discipline ratified by the Oath of all the Deputies Chap. 4 Observations on the Synod of Jergeau Instructions to a censured Minister how to justify himself 2. Letters to the Professors of Geneva about our Proposans 8. A Canon for the Deacons of Bearne in Switzerland 9. the Church of Paris censured 10. The Petition of a Minister deposed for his insufficiency and desiring to be restored is rejected 15. Thanks given to the Lord of Pleâ—â—â—s for his Book of the Eucharist 17. The Petition of a deposed Minister for restoration unto his Work and Office rejected 18. Chap. V. Appeals Two Ministers at Variance reconciled 9. Chap. VI. General matters A petition of the exiled Protestants of the Martquisate of Salluces to the Synod 1. Pastors must not be Non-Residents 2. A Canon about Pastors not Deputed to the National Synods yet sitting in them 3. An answer to the complaint of the Pastors of Geneva 4. That the Pope is Antichrist shall be inserted into the Articles of the Confession of Faith 5. A great case whether the Faithful may say they be of the pretended Reformed Religion 6. Another case of Conscience about a place of Burial 7. Form of Certificates 8. Moneys to begin the University of Die 9 10. A motion and means for reuniting the Lutherans with our Churches 11. A Case whether a Child Baptised by a Proposan should be Rebaptized 12. A Case about Oaths 13. About Theological disputations 14. About a Lord of misrule 15. A Committee to draw up a body â—f Laws for our Schools and Universities 18. Moneys paid unto the General Deputies 21. The King of Spains Bible to be set up in our Universities 300 Crowns given to the Academy of Sedan Chap. VII Particular matters A suspected Gentleman cleared 5. The History of a Possession 9. Letters from the Faithful in the Valley of Barcellona answered 17. Settling of Religion at Issoire 18. Letters sent to the Faithful fallen in Salluces 19. The Synod of Burgundy censured 22. The Poverty of the Church of Aubenas 28. A Book Intituled Hypotoposes Theologicae to be revised 30. the Vniversity of Sedan incouraged 40. Election of General Deputies 44. Chap. VIII A Dividend of 45000 Crowns between the Churches and Universities Chap. IX An Accompt of Moneys allowed the Sieurs Palot du Candal Chap. X. A Dividend of 135000 Crowns among the Churches and Universities Chap. XI A Catalogue of all the Reformed Churches of France Chap. XII Remarks upon three of the Deputies to this Synod 1603. The 17th Synod The Synod of GAP SYNOD XVII 1603. In the Name of God Amen Acts of the National Synod held by the Reformed Churches of France at Gap the first day of October and continued to the four and twentieth of the same Month in the Year of our Lord One thousand six hundred and three CHAP. I. Monsieur Chamier was chosen President Monsieur Ferrier Assessor Scribes Monsieur Vignier and Monsieur Roy THERE appeared in it as Deputies for their respective Provinces the Pastors and Elders whose names are here under written For the Isle of France Picardy and Champagne For the Isle of France Picardy and Champagne Monsieur Peter du Moulin Minister in the Church of Paris and Gedeon Petau Lord of the Mollette Elder of the Church of Houdan For Brittany Monsieur Francis L'Oyseau Minister of the Church of Nantes
Antichrist in their private and publick discourses This Synod protesting that this was the common Faith and Confession of all our Churches and of this present Synod That the Pope is the Great Antichrist and one of the principal causes of our separation and departure from the Church of Rome and that this Confession was contained in and extracted out of the holy Scriptures that it had been sealed with the blood of a world of Martyrs Therefore all the Faithful be they Pastors or private Christians are exhorted constantly to persist in the profession of it and openly and boldly to confess it yea and this very Article shall be inserted into the body of the Confession of our Faith and the General Deputies of our Churches at Court are required to petition his Majesty that none of his Officers in any Soveraign or other Inferiour Courts of Judicature may be suffered to infringe our Liberty of Conscience granted us by his Edicts of making a free Confession of our Faith and that none of them may trouble or vex us as divers of them have done for this very matter And who so are now prosecuted and molested on this account or may be hereafter they shall be supported and defended by the whole Body of the Churches in the best manner that can be according to that firm Bond of Union which is established among us And Letters shall be written to our Lords the Judges in the Mixt Courts to exhort them vigorously to maintain this Article of our common Confession Concerning those words Pretended Reformed 6. A general Case was proposed Whether the Faithful might lawfully use in publick Acts and Instruments before Magistrates these words Of the pretended Reformed Religion especially if those Magistrates be of a contrary Religion to us This Assembly thinks fit that an humble Address be presented to his Majesty intreating him that we may not be forced to speak or act any thing contrary to our Consciences and in the mean while all the Faithful are exhorted to abstain from that word of Pretended it being repugnant to our Faith and to that sincere and free and open confession we are bound to make of it Whether a private Christian may appropriate unto himself a place of Burial and erect Monument upon Pillars 7. This Case was propounded by our Brethren of Xaintonge Whether a private person might appropriate unto himself a place of Burial and erect upon Pillars or any other way a Monument unto himself and whether the Lords of the Mannor or other Gentlemen may set up their Escutcheons in our Temples As to what concerns our Churches This Assembly ordaineth That in matters of Sepulchres the ancient plainness and simplicity shall be retained nor shall any private person appropriate any spot of ground unto himself in particular because we express hereby our Communion as with the Saints in their Death so in our hope and expectation of a blessed Resurrection And the same plainness and modesty shall be observed in our Temples leaving however unto Colloquies and Consistories to act on special occasions as they shall judge meet The Form of Certificates that shall be given unto Officers of the Mixt Courts and to Govenours of places 8. The Attestations granted unto Officers in the mixed Courts where they be one half Protestants and the other Papists shall run in the same form with those given unto Governors as it was expressed and inserted into the acts of the Synod of Montpellier in these terms We Ministers and Elders assembled in the Colloquy of N. in the Province of N. do testifie that whereas Monsieur N. hath applied himself unto us for our Attestation of his being a Protestant professing the Reformed Religion he being chosen by his Majesty for the Government of N. vacant by the death of Mr. N. lately deceased we do attest and certifie unto the Kings most excellent Majesty that the said Monsieur N. doth make open and actual profession of the Reformed Religion and that he communicateth with us in the Holy Sacraments and is a person of a Godly life and well reported of performing all the duties belonging to his said profession and therefore we do give him this our Testimonial for his use and service as in reason and Conscience we stand obliged 9. Messieurs Berron and Videl demanding that out of the Common stock of Moneys granted us by his Majesty there might be drawn the summ of Six thousand Crowns for the founding an University at Die and whereas the Deputies of the Town of Die protested that they sought not a penny of the said Moneys for themselves only that other Churches having Academies they had none and that the necessities of their Churches did require one This Assembly having considered the whole judgeth that there cannot be granted unto the said Town of Die any farther summ than was at first demanded by their Deputies 10. Our Brethren of the Church of Die requesting that Monsieur Chamier might be constituted by this Synod the Professor of Divinity in their intended Academy This Assembly doth confirm that Article of the Synod of Gergeau whereby it was ordained that Monsieur Chamier ought not without the express consent of the Churches of his Province be removed from his Church of Montlimart 11. Our Brethren of Dolphiny desired that some means might be contrived for a Conference and Union with the Lutheran Churches in Germany Means of Union with the Lutherans See the Synod of Vitré part M. Act. 27. and the 3d. Synod of Rochel Act. 4. after the choice of the Moderator that so the Schism between us them might be removed This Assembly desirous to see the fruits of such a noble project ordereth Letters to be dispatcht to the Orthodox Universities of Germany England Scotland Geneva Basil and Leyden and to Messieurs des Gourdon and de Fontaines in London intreating them to travel with us in the effecting of this Holy Union and that Princes may be ingaged to put forth their authority herein that so we may all be more firmly united among our selves in the Confession of one and the same Doctrine 12. This Case was propounded A Proposant never called nor ordained unto the Ministry takes upon him to baptise a Child Is this baptism valid This Synod judgeth that the scandal given unto the people be carefully taken away And forasmuch as that baptism is of no force the Child shall be brought into the Church of God by true Baptism according to the decision of the Synod of Poictiers 13. This Case was moved Whether an Oath might be lawfully taken before the Magistrate by laying the hands on and kissing of the Bible This Assembly judging that Ceremony to be of dangerous consequence declareth that it ought not to be used but that whoso are called out to swear shall content themselves with the bare lifting up of their hands 14. The Province of the higher Languedoc moved whether disputations in Theology might be introduced among our Ministers in
other houses whose principal Inhabitants or those who manage the affairs of the said Cities do Profess the Reformed Religion who shall be intreated by the Provincial Synods to do the Church this right as to assign the Rents out of the clearest Common Income and this by good Contracts passed between them and the Deputy of that Church to which the said Legacies had been bequeathed and the Mayors Sheriffs Consuls and principal Burgesses of the said Cities and other persons of note residing in them And the Consistories of those places shall be present at those Contracts to see that no Article or condition which may contribute to the Ratification and security of the premisses be omitted and the Consistory of that Church to whom the Legacy is bequeathed or its Deputies shall be vigilant and carefull that the payment of those Rents be well made and constant and that it be given in either by Bills of Exchange or any other ways with the least charges that may be in the Provinces and that the dividend be made in such a proportion unto every Church as of right belongeth to them And Provincial Synods are injoyned to look to it that the Intentions of the Donors be not diverted but punctually and most exactly observed and followed To this purpose there shall be annually tendred by every Church unto their Colloquy and by the Colloquies unto their Provincial Synod a just and true Account of what has been given by whom and to what uses with an Exhibition of the Contracts that they may be registred And in case there be any considerable sum of Moneys in Stock they shall be carried unto some one of the aforesaid Cities as shall be thought most advisable there to be laid up in Bank for the benefit of the Churches to which the said Moneys were bequeathed 4. And forasmuch as we who live in France are under divers Laws and Customs and that the style and form of contract is very different in several Provinces It 's therefore decreed that in every Province there shall be one and the same form used for Legacies and Gifts which shall be transmitted unto all the Consistories and by them communicated unto the Notaries professing Reformed Religion and unto such others as may be thought expedient The form shall be conceived in these insuing words excepting always a power of changing it in case of necessity I give and bequeath to the maintenance of the Ministry of the Gospel in the Church of N. the sum of N. which my will is that it be laid out in purchasing of a settled Rent or Estate in Land in the Cities of Rochel Montauban or Monpelier c. and this by the advice of the Consistory of the said Cities which Rent or Revenue shall be annually paid in and delivered unto the Consistory of the said place for the better maintenance of the sacred Ministry without ever being diverted to any other use And in case it should so fall out which God of his great mercy prevent that the Ministry of the word there in that Church should be suppressed either by war or any other publicly calamity it is my will that during the said Intermission and until the re-establishing of the said exercise of the Ministry that the said Rent be imployed towards the maintenance of the nearest Church unto that said place or otherwise as shall be judged most fitting by the Consistory Colloquy Provincial or National Synod of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom And I humbly and earnestly intreat the said Synods to have a strict and watchful eye that this Moneys be not diverted unto any other usage than what is now designed and intended by me CHAP. XIV Political Acts of matters treated in the National Synod held at Rochell in the month of March 1607. by His Majesties Writ THE Lords de la Noue and du Crois Deputed by the Assembly of Chastelleraud to reside near his Majesty being present in this Synod delivered us the Kings writ the Tenor whereof is as followeth This 29th day of December in the year of our Lord 1606. His Majesty being at St. Germain in Laye He then granted and permitted that in the National Synod which shall be celebrated by his subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion in the City of Rochell this next ensuing March they may proceed to the Nomination of their Deputies whom his Majesty permits to reside near his Royal Person on condition that the said Deputies shall be Nominated out of six persons who are Members of the same Synod to be presented unto his Majesty out of whom he may and will chuse two to whom that Office shall be given and which shall be continued to them for three full years as also that in the said Synod the Deputies aforesaid shall debate of none other business excepting the aforementioned Nomination and matters purely Disciplinary relating to the well-governing of their Churches as is expresly declared in the Edicts and Grants of his said Majesty on pain of forfeiting those Grants and Priviledges in case they act contrary to this his will and pleasure His said Majesty having commanded me to dispatch the said Writ which he would sign with his own hand and enjoyned me also to countersign it being a Member of his most Honourable Council of State and Secretary of his Commands Signed thus Henry And below Forgett 2. It being moved Whether the Deputies of the City of Rochel be called in to the Debate about the King 's Writ The Assembly considering that they were only summoned as a National Synod under which Quality the Answer given to the 17th Article of the Memoirs last presented unto his Majesty expresly forbids the admission of any other persons Ministers and Elders only excepted into our Synodical Meetings on pain of forfeiting them for the future It was resolved that a Committee of Pastors and Elders should be delegated unto the Mayor Aldermen and Council of the City and represent unto them this difficulty craving their Advice upon it and give them to understand upon what grounds their Deputies sent unto us have not been hitherto received by us Whereunto they gave this Answer That it was their sole Intention to be present only at those Debates which related to the Writ sent by his Majesty down unto this Assembly as being matters purely civil according to that exception made in his Majesties Answer to the 17th Article of the Memoirs last presented him and as by the same Answer they were allowed to be present at Political Assemblies whereupon the Synod having pondered their Arguments and considering their Importunity gave leave unto them to be present with us upon the Debates about his Majesties Writ and accordingly Monsieur de Romagne and de Mirande the two Sheriffs of the City and de Beaupreau and the Bayliff of Aunis Burgesses of the said City were admitted into the Synod 3. The said Writ having been read The Assembly well weighing the Conditions inserted in it judged that
our Churches And this Assembly ordered the said Lord de Rouvray to return for us and for all the Churches our most humble thanks unto their Majesties who have by this their extraordinary Bounty laid new obligations upon us to call upon our God with the greatest Ardency in our Prayers that he would bless and prosper their Majesties Persons Crown and Government And the said Grant was deposited in the hands of the Sieur Bonnet Pastor and Deputy of Xaintonge who was to lodge it safely in the Archives of Rochel whereof he shall give advice by Letters under his own hand unto the said Lord de Rouvray The Copy of that Warrant This first day of October One thousand six hundred and eleven the King being at Paris assisted by the Queen Regent his Mother in Council having been well informed for what considerations the late King of glorious memory had by a Warrant of the third of April One thousand five hundred ninety and eight granted unto his Subjects of the P. Reformed Religion the yearly sum of five and forty thousand Crowns to be employed in some secret Concerns of theirs And although His present Majesty be not obliged by those secret Articles Warrants and Answers unto Memoirs made in favour of those his said Subjects to increase or augment the said sum yet nevertheless desiring as much as in him lieth to gratifie and favour his laid Subjects and that he may-give them a sense of his good will and love to them His Majesty by the advice of the aforesaid Lady the Queen Regent and of his meer grace and liberality doth grant unto those of the said P. Reformed Religion the above-mentioned sum of five and forty thousand Crowns and over and above the same another yearly sum five and forty thousand Livers as an Act of Bounty which said Moneys he wills and o future it be issued out of the General Fonds of his Treasury by vertue of this present Warrant which to this purpose he hath signed with his own hand and is counter-signed by me his Councillor in his Council of State and Secretary of his Commandments Signed Louis and Lower Philippeaux 12. This Assembly giveth full power to the Lords our General Deputies to pass a contract with the Lord du Candal about the Receipt and management of the five and fourty thousand Livers Augmentation Money and if possible they shall make but one only Contract of the two sum to wit of that first granted and of the aforesaid Augmentation and of their Receipt always reserving the right of our Churches 13. The sâ—me General Deputies are charged to oppose themselves formally against all persons whatsoever that shall endeavour at Court to obtain any Relief to the detriment of the body of the Churches in this Kingdom and contrary to the Union sworn by us and advice shall be given hereof unto the Churches that so the Pastors more especially and the Consistories may do their duty in suppressing such like motions and Enterprises as being scandalous and menacing the Churches with great confusions 14. This Assembly injoyneth all the Consistories of those places where the Courts of Parliament and Chambers of the Edict are established to remonstrate unto the Counsellors professing our holy Reformed Religion their timorous luke-warmness in not opposing and resisting the Verification and Recording of those Letters of Abolition it being their special duty to have opposed them and to have demanded that their Act of Opposal might be recorded Moreover the Consistories of those self-same Towns are exhorted to present unto the said Parliaments and Chambers of the Edict the General Declaration of this National Synod concerning those Letters of Abolition 15. This Assembly ordaineth that for the future the Provinces shall send unto the National Synods a Catalogue of their Pastors in actual service and of the Proposans maintained by them attested by the Manual Subscription of the Moderators and Scribes of their Synods Otherwise there shall be no reckoning made of the Rolls brought in when as the Moneys given us by his Majesty shall come to be distributed 16. This Assembly yielding to the necessity of the times and observing that whatsoever Petitions and Addresses have been made unto their Majesties by our extraordinary Deputations are always ill resented and misconstrued and became so very unpleasing and distastful to their Majesties that they would never vouchsafe a kind or acceptable answer to them therefore it doth at present conceive it best for us to keep our selves unto the ordinary ways of humble Petitions and Remonstrances by the mouths of our General Deputies Hoping that the goodness and clemency of the King and of the Queen Regent his Mother and that the Justice of our Lords in the Privy Council will by this means the former having been disliked by them grant that we shall at last reap and receive the fruit and benefit of them And to this purpose the said General Deputies shaving rendred our most humble thanks unto their Majesties for their gracious favours conferred upon their most Loyal and most Humble and most Dutiful Subjects of the Reformed Religion and particularly for the Augmentation of fifteen thousand Crowns a year granted to our Ministers are charged most humbly to Petition their Majesties that they would be pleased to exempt them from that necessity which is imposed upon them and now with greater severity than ever and contrary to that Liberty of Conscience promised us of stiling our selves of the pretended Reformed Religion Because we had rather and more willingly suffer the greatest torments than stand obliged to condemn with our own mouths our most holy Religion And their Majesties also shall be requested to grant leave unto us in all Cities and Towns where there be a number of families of our Religion to keep lesser Schools for the Education of our Children and that those Restrictions and Modifications annexed unto the answer given to that article in our last complaint and Bill of Grievances may be taken off the file This being a matter which can never be dismembred nor severed from our Liberty of Conscience And whereas contrary to the hopes conceived at first by the Churches when they sent their Commissioners from every Province this Assembly is fully assured from all quarters that the far greater part of our demands and remonstrances have been rejected and that they have been all turned over to the Privy Council and that it may be truly said that after all the great coyl and noise made nothing hath been yielded us except a few Burying places and those also in divers places to the detriment and disadvantage of our Religion the said Deputies are charged to complain thereof unto their Majesties and most humbly to petition that it may be remedied and redressed and to this purpose the Memoirs of the Provinces and Churches groaning under these oppressions shall be put into their hands that so some effectual course may be taken for their relief and by such methods as they shall
rest they may write their thoughts about it unto that Province which is impowered to call the next National Synod and in case the matter be urgent it shall be couched in the Letters of Summons that so they may come prepared for it 9. The Province of Dolphiny moved whether if two or three Witnesses were brought by an Informer to give in evidence against a Pastor or Elder they might be admitted so that their testimony should be of sufficient force and vertue to condemn the accused altho there be none other crime objected against them This Assembly seeth no difficulty at all in the case 10. The Province of Anjou requesting it 1. Paris 27. this Synod injoineth all Consistories in their choice of Elders to cause such persons to be elected as are irreprehensible according to our Discipline and carefully to observe that Canon about the qualities necessarily required in them who are called unto those Offices And all Colloquies and Provincial Synods are charged to put to their helping hand that this Ordinance be duely kept and observed 11. The Province of Xaintonge moving it this Assembly ordained that such Persons who get themselves preferred unto the Government of our cautionary Towns or unto the office of Counsellors in the mixt Courts or shall obtain any other places granted unto Gentlemen professing our Religion without taking the necessary attestations according to the Letter and import of the Kings Writ for Governours and the particular Articles for Counsellors in Sovereign Courts they shall be declared Desertors of the Union of our Churches and prosecuted with all Church-censures And those of our Religion which are in possession shall be exhorted to keep still possession of those places and not to resign them but on this condition nor consent to their admission and reception who offer themselves without such a Testimonal And as for those other ways of complaints and remonstrances to be made unto their Majesties of the notorious violations of our Priviledges they shall be carried unto the next approaching Political Assemblies granted us by the Writ of their said Majesties But for the present our Lords the General Deputies are charged to require that some other person duely qualified according to the above mentioned orders may be substituted in the place of the Sieur Berger who is of late revolted from the truth And if that particular Government now become vacant by his Apostacy be not supplied before the next meeting of the general Assembly notice shall be given unto them of it that so they may prosecute it in the name of all the Provinces 12. At the request of the same Province of Xaintonge all Consistories be injoined to take special heed that Commanders in our Cautionary Towns do not admit into their familiar converse any debauched persons who be guilty of crimes deserving corporal punishment 13. And whereas the same Province hath desired that we would frame another form of excommunication besides that which is inserted in our Discipline we concur with them in their motion and shall take care that it be done accordingly 14. The Province of the Isle of France requested that an order might pass for our Readers to publish the Banes of Marriages out of their desks 3. Rochel observ 23. and not for Pastors to do it from the Pulpit But this matter was left to the prudence and liberty of Consistories 15. The aforesaid Province of the Isle of France demanding it this Assembly ordained that the Canons of former National Synods concerning Attestations should be most strictly observed and whatsoever Consistory presumeth to give one in any other form shall be most severely censured And therefore all Officers into whose hands such Attestations may fall are intreated to detain them and to present them unto the Provincial Synods or Colloquies upon whom the Churches which have given them are dependant 16. The Provinces of Xaintonge the Higher and Lower Longuedoc Privas of Colledges 23.2 Vitré of Colledges 1. and of the Isle of France all moving that it would be expedients lessen the number of our Universities in this Kingdom and to reduce them unto two only that so they might be rendered more compleat This Assembly doth not judge meet to diminish their number but adviseth that the Professors there employed do discharge their duty carefully and acquit themselves of their Offices faithfully and most conscientiously 17. Provincial Synods 2. Paris 3. Colloquies and Consistories are expresly forbidden to admit any Persons unto the Lords Table who directly maintain Idolatry or breed up their Children in it or have recourse unto the Pope for Dispensations that they may enjoy Benefices or others under their name And all such are judged utterly unworthy of obtaining Testimonials from our Churches whereby they may be advanced unto those important Charges in our Cautionary Towns 18. The Lord's General Deputies are ordered to give their Majesties the most humble Thanks of this Assembly for that they have been pleased to discharge our Churches of the Sous in the Liver which was formerly taken for paying the Salaries of our General Deputies out of the Moneys granted us by their Liberality Privas p. m. 20. and they are with all humility earnestly to request them to ease us of paying three thousand six hundred Livers which have been extraordinarily given unto the Inhabitants of the Baylywick of Gex by way of recompence for the loss of their Churches Stock whereof they were formerly in possession and that it may be paid them out of some other Fund than ours 19. Relation being made that divers Persons of eminent Note and Quality 2. Synod of Vitré g. m. 34. both within and without the Kingdom are designing how to bring the Orthodox Churches of France England Germany Switzerland the Low-Countreys and Geneva to a nearer Communication in some convenient place by Deputies sent from them all that so there may be a more strict and familiar Correspondence in Doctrine effected and kept up among them whereunto His Majesty of Great Britain expresseth a very great inclination It was resolved that those excellent persons who travail in this most pious Undertaking should have the Thanks of this Assembly and be intreated to persist in their laudable prosecutions of it And in the mean while this Design shall be imparted by the Provinces unto such as understand these matters that so this Proposal may be more seriously advised on in the next National Synod 20. For as much as the pernicious Doctrine of the Jesuits against the Lives Estates and Authority of Soveraign Princes is propagated and most impudently published to the World by the chiefest of that Sect Suarez having within a few months gone beyond all the Fellows of his Order in a Book newly published by him This Assembly detesting that abominable Doctrine together with its Authors exhorts all the faithful of our Communion to abhor and execrate it and all our Ministers and Professors are to Teach and Preach against it powerfully and
Answer to it the 27th of May 1617. THE National Synod held at Vitré in the Province of Brittain having deputed unto his Majesty Messieurs Peter Hesperian Pastor of the Church of St. Foy in the Lower Guienne Denis de Bouteroue Pastor of the Church at Grenoble in Dolphiny Albert de Mars Esq Lord of Balene Elder of the Church at Maringues in the Vpper Auvergne and William Gerard Esq Lord of Moussac Elder in the Church of Moussac and Province of Lower Languedoc they were admitted into his Majesty's presence the 27th day of the same Month and the said Mr. Hesperian did express himself in these words unto the King SIRE THere be now prostrate at your Majesty's Feet in our Persons all your Subjects professing the Reformed Religion represented by the National Synod Assembled by your gracious Permission and under your Royal Authority in your City of Vitré who have deputed us unto your Majesty to testify unto your Majesty the extraordinary joys and thankfullness of your said Subjects both to our God and your Majesty for that the Kingdom is in Peace your Authority in great Splendour and your Sacred Person at full Liberty and this by that wise and generous resolution which you have undertook and executed by a just punishment of the grand Disturber of your Kingdom and Oppressor of your Authority and which was worst of all of one who had exposed your Sacred Person to the most imminent and apparent dangers This Action of your Majesty was altogether extraordinary it was an Enterprise purely divine and miraculous for it turned in a moment the storm into a calm Wars into Peace our frights into assurance our perils into security and tyranny into a most rightful and righteous Government At this instant as if your Sacred Majesty were now come unto the Crown France knoweth that it hath a King and the whole World That the King of France is most worthy to reign and govern At this instant that your Majesty holds the Reins of Government in your own hands all your Subjects do render that most humble obedience and subjection which is due unto you and particularly those of the Reformed Religion who are most ready and willing to hazard and adventure their Estates their Honours and their very Lives for your Majesty's Service And in truth Sire this Assembly which hath deputed us unto your Majesty was no sooner formed but that it did most solemnly protest and swear as we also are charged in the name and behalf of all the Churches Reformed in your Kingdom now to protest and swear that we will never depart from that most humble obedience and most faithful service which as your true liege and natural born Subjects is our bounden duty unto your Majesty And we feel and know that we are indispensably obliged to it by those numberless favours and benefits which we received from Henry the Great our late King and your Majesties Father of most glorious Memory and by those continued to us by your Majesty and which we hope shall be still vouchsafed us because we believe that the maintenance of your Authority is our Security and the firmness of your Crown that of our repose and safety But yet there is another Bond and Obligation stronger than all these upon us even that of our Conscience and Religion which from the divinely inspired Scriptures are taught and instructed to subject our selves unto the higher Powers and that to resist them is to resist the Ordinance of God who we know hath exalted your Majesty unto the Throne put the Crown upon your Head the Scepter into your Hand and all Heroick Vertues into your Royal Heart And therefore Sire next and after our God we do acknowledge your Majesty to be our only Soveraign And 't is an Article of our Creed that there is no middle Power between God and the Kings 'T is with us reputed a most damnable Heresy to call this truth in question and to turn it into disputation is a capital Crime to be punished by the Judges This Lesson Sire we learnt of our Predecessors this we believe and publish in all places and this Doctrine we preach from our Pulpits in our Churches and teach from the Press unto the World and we will live in it Sire that our Posterity after us may learn and practise it by our Example Therefore is it that we hope your Majesty crediting and considing in our immoveable Loyalty will be pleased to continue to us the benefits of your Edicts and that your Royal Ears will be open to our Complaints and Grievances and that holding the Ballance steady and right you will do us upon all occasions right and justice By which your Majesty will the more confirm us in our unchangeable purpose and resolution to live and die in the quality of your most humble most faithful and most obedient Subjects and Servants Monsieur Hesperian having finished his Speech his Majesty returned this Answer Do you continue to serve me faithfully and you may be well assured that I will be a good and kind King unto you and that I will preserve you according to my Edicts And taking from him the Letter which the Synod had written him he gave it to Monsieur de Pontchartrain commanding him to read it and return an Answer to it Printed by Abraham Saugrain living in St. James his Street over against the three Sawcers according to the Licence given the 16th of June 1617. and Signed by H. de Mesmes CHAP. VIII General Matters 1. THE Motion of Lower Languedoc 1 Paris 38. for certain new Canons about Divorces was not accepted 2. This Assembly Ordained at the request of the same Province Figeac 8. that such Parents who chuse for their Childrens Baptism Sureties of the Romish Religion though they appear not in Person but by their Proxies of the Reformed Religion shall be prosecuted both Parents and Proxies with all Church-Censures 3. Notice shall be given in all our Churches to take special heed Saumur Obs 11. that they give no Attestation unto the Moors banished out of Spain and who wander from one Church to another till they be very well satisfied of their Religion and religious Conversation and such as have been already received and make their abode in any of our Churches shall be once more examined with all possible care as to their Faith and Knowledge and Life and in all Attestations that shall be given them express mention shall be made of their having been baptized and of the number of their Children 4. The Deputies of Xaintonge moved Liâ—â—s p. ni 30. whether Moors and other Infidels that were brought away by pure force out of their Native Country into Christendom and baptized by Popish Priests without any previous Instructions in the Doctrines of Christian Religion ought to be Rebaptized they having been since duly Catechized by our Protestant Ministers This Assembly though it acknowledgeth abundance of defaults in their Baptism doth yet notwithstanding
Synod ordaineth that the Province of Sevennes shall provide two Pastors for them to be sent unto them immediately one of which shall reside in the Town of Issoyre and the other shall serve the Churches of the Mountain according as it shall be prescribed them by the said Province And that those two Pastors may have a comfortable maintenance this Synod continuing the Decree of the former National Synods which had appointed four Portions free of all charges for those Churches of the Vpper Auvergne doth add a fifth for their Incouragement Which five Portions shall be received by the said Province and paid into the very hands of those Pastors to each of them the sum of five hundred Livers And the remaining Portions shall be distributed by those Provinces towards the necessities of those said Churches and all this to be duly and continually performed untill the meeting of the next National Synod Below p. m. 25. Alez p. m. 20. And in the mean while the respective Members of those Churches shall be pressed to contribute towards the maintenance of their Pastors and they shall give an account of their duty herein unto the next National Synod And whereas the said Monsieur Babat requests that he may be discharged from the service of those Churches he was ordered to continue the exercise of his Ministry among them until the meeting of the approaching Synod of Sevennes by which in case he then desire it he may be set at liberty and another substituted in his place However till the sitting of that Provincial Synod the said Babat shall wholly serve the Town Issoyre as its proper Pastor and the Colloquy of St. Germain shall give another Pastor to supply the Churches of the Mountain And forasmuch as the said Babat hath been at great expences in travelling unto this Synod and to the Assembly of Rochell the Lord of Candal is ordered to pay him an hundred Livers out of the mass of moneys belonging to all our Churches And as for that demand of the Deputies that a Fund might be given them for the raising and fixing of a Colledge at Issoyre This Assembly cannot do it because that having eased many persons among them of the charge in maintaining their Ministers they may very well as in Conscience they are bound and we also exhort them to do take care of this matter themselves CHAP. IX The King's Letter to the Synod Above Art 5. after the Catalogue of Deputies THE third of June Messieurs Hesperien and Bouteroue Pastors and Balene and Moussac Elders deputed by this Assembly unto the King returned hither and notified unto us with how much kindness and favour they were received by his Majesty and having declared to him their Commission and delivered their Memoirs and Instructions he heard and answer'd them very graciously as appears by his Majesty's Letter brought with them unto this Assembly and they had the thanks and applause of all the Deputies in it for their most affectionate care faithfulness and diligence in the discharge of their Commission And because it very much imported our Churches to be particularly informed of that good will and love his Majesty bears them that so they may be in an extraordinary manner stirred up to praise and bless the Lord for it and own and acknowledge themselves to be more strictly obliged to fidelity and perseverance in their obedience and subjection due unto his Majesty and to pray more heartily for the augmentation of his Majesty's Prosperity and Grandeur This Assembly ordained that the Letter which it pleated his Majesty to write us should be transcribed and Copies thereof sent abroad among the Churches which is here inserted word for word in this present Article By the KING To our Dear and Well-beloved the Deputies of our Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion assembled in their Synod at Vitré DEar and Well-beloved we received your Letters of the one and twentieth day of this Month by which we have sensible experience of your Zeal and Affection for our Service and for that of the Common-weal participating as you have done in the common joy of all our Subjects for the Peace and Settlement of the Kingdom which we have so happily procured for them whereof we were also more particularly informed by your Deputies sent unto us for this same purpose from whom we have gladly received the fresh assurances and protestations made by you of persevering in your Loyalty and Obedience to us as you have done heretofore and you may be very well assured that we will be always careful to maintain and preserve you in all your priviledges formerly granted to you And we will give you all in general and every one of you in particular new tokens of our Love and good will upon all occasions which shall occur unto us Given at Paris the 29 th of May 1617. LOUYS Phelippeaux 2. The Deputies of Xaintonge demanded a Decree Nymes 11. that no Colloquy might hence forward separate any particular Congregation which was annexed to conjoin it unto another without the previous advice and authority of a Provincial Synod This Assembly finding their demand very Equitable did Ordain that this should be an Universal Canon binding all Colloquies and Churches 3. Divers Persons of Quality having moved it that inasmuch as our Mechanicks are obliged by the Kings Edict to forbear working on the Festivals of the Romish Church over and besides the Lord's day It is left unto the prudence of Consistories to Congregate the People on such Holy-Days either to hear the word Preached or to join in common publick Prayers as they shall find to be most expedient See Synod of Saumur Art 13. of g. m. And whereas Complaints are made us that in some Churches before Sermon they sing part of the Psalm and reserve the last Verse for conclusion of the Exercise This Assembly injoins all the Churches to sing * * * This last Clause was rased out in the seventh Obs of this Synod by that of Alez out the whole pause and to conform themselves as much as may be to the ancient Order 4. Monsieur de Bertreville our General Deputy came unto this Synod the sixth day of June and took his place in it according to the Canons of our National Synods and had his Vote of deliberation and decision and sware and subscribed the Oath of Union of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom 5. The Lord of Bertreville our General Deputy declared to us Tonneins g. m. 6. that the King's Letters Patents though granted for exempting our Ministers from payment of Taxes were not as yet verified nor delivered into his hands nor unto his Colleague the Lord of Maniald This Assembly doth earnestly intreat them to use all needful means to get them dispatcht as soon as possible 6. Whereas the National Synod of Tonneins had injoined all the Provinces to consider of a Proposal made by several great Persons both at home and abroad Tonneins g.
years old heretofore Pastor in the Church of St. Stephens in Forest tall of Stature Chestnut-colour'd Hair Head lifted up he was deposed for Adultery by the Province of Vivaretz 3. John Pressac alias Martin born at Montauban formerly Minister in the Church of Brieteste in Albigeois an Apostate of mean Stature about thirty years old he hath little eyes sunk deep into his Head and purblind brown Chestnut Hair pale Visag'd great Nose rash and haughty in speaking 4. N. Laurens an Apostate born at Montpellier a little dwarfish Fellow about thirty years old bald headed black Beard little Eyes great Lips pale-Visag'd formerly Pastor in the Church of Aymargues in Lower Languedoc publickly accused of Adultery 5. Hector Joly formerly Pastor in the Church of Montauban in the Higher Languedoc about Nine and forty years old pretty tall of Stature black Hair'd was deposed by this Synod for the hainous Crime of Fornication 6. Stephen Giraud heretofore Pastor of the Church of Gemauzac in Xaintonge about two and thirty years old high enough of Stature black Hair red Fac'd his Eyes sunk into his Head was deposed by the Synod of Xaintonge with hopes given him and a promise of being restored but he was totally deprived and deposed by this Synod for Drunkenness Adultery and Theft 7. John Cottelier sometimes Minister in the Church of Nismes in the Lower Languedoc about Five and thirty years little of Stature but a well compacted Fellow bald headed black Hair scarce any Beard high Forehead he was deposed for Fornication and other Crimes 8. Paul Daude formerly Minister in the Church of St. John of Gardonenque Deposed by the Sentence of the Provincial Synod of Sevennes and his Deposition was confirmed in this for divers notorious Crimes he is a Fellow about two and thirty years of Age of a flaxen colour'd Hair red Beard a long and ghastly Visage great Nose Ferrets Eyes sunk deep into his Head and yet poreing upon the Earth and short of Stature 9. N. Philippin born at Newcastle in Switzerland tall enough and great necked red Beard a bald uplifted Head wide open Nostrils lame of his right hand he was sometimes Pastor of the Church of Chasteau Dauphin but interdicted the Ministry for divers Natural Infirmities by the Synod of Dolphin and now a Vagabond Done and Decreed in the National Synod of Alez which sate from the First day of October till the Second of December 1620. Signed in the Original by du Moulin Moderator Brunier Assessor Vignier Scribe Papillon Scribe and by all the rest of the Deputies The Synod of Alez began on a Thursday and ended on a Wednesday The Original was lodged in the Archives of Rochell THE Acts Canons Decisions and Decrees OF THE XXIV NATIONAL SYNOD OF The Reformed Churches OF FRANCE AND OF BEARNE HELD IN The Town of Charenton St. Maurice near Paris the First day of September and ended the First of October in the Year of Our Lord 1623. By the Authority and Permission of Lewis XIII King of France and Navarr being the Sixty Fourth King of this Realm in the Fourteenth Year of his Reign In which Sate the First Commissioner for His Majesty the Lord Augustus Galland a Member of the said Communion according to His Majesties Letters Patents of the 17th of April 1623 verified in Parliament the Second of May following it being His Majesties Pleasure that alwayes in all Colloquies and Synods for the future there shall be present an Officer of the King professing the Reformed Religion to represent his Person and see that nothing but Ecclesiastical matters were Treated and Debated in them as had been Decreed by the Edict The CONTENTS of the Synod of CHARENTON Chap. I. THE first Commissioner from the King in a National Synod the Lord Augustus Galland Deputies to the Synod Election of Officers Chap. II. The Kings Commission to the Lord Galland Chap. III. A great Debate about this Commission Chap. IV. Approbation of the Confession of Faith Chap. V. Observations upon the Discipline Chap. VI. Observations upon the Synod of Alez Chap. VII Reflections upon those Observations made by the Synod of Alez on two Acts of the National Synod of Vitre Chap. VIII Reflections upon their Appeals Chap. IX Reflections upon their Chapter of General Matters Chap. X. Reflections upon that of particular Matters Chap. XI Reflections upon their Colledges and Vniversities Chap. XII One Observation on their General Laws for the Vniversities Chap. XIII Appeals unto this National Synod Chap. XIV Of General Matters Chap. XV. A Remarkable passage about Monsieur Primrose Pastor of the Reformed Church of Bourdeaux and Arnoux the Jesuit See G. M. 16. Chap. XVI A Canon passed in Obedience to the Kings Letter that no Ministers should be Deputies unto Political Assemblies See G. M. 17. Chap. XVII The Causes of the French Kings unwillingness to suffer Monsieur du Moulin to be Minister in the Church of Paris or elsewhere in the Kingdom A Catalogue of du Moulins Works Dr. Twisses Testimony of him and them Chap. XVIII Particular Matters Chap. XIX An Expedient to preserve the Churches Peace P. M. 11. Chap. XX. An Account of Curcellaeus another Ecebolius P. M. 17. Chap. XXI Mr Camerons Address unto the Synod P. M. 33. Chap. XXII Of Vniversities and Colledges Chap. XXIII The Lord of Candals Accompts Chap. XXIV A Dividend of Moneys among the Provinces Chap. XXV The Roll of Apostates Chap. XXVI The Decision of the Arminian Controversies Canons about Predestination Election and Reprobation Errors rejected Chap. I. Of Christs Death and Mans Redemption by it Errors rejected Chap. II. Of Mans Natural Depravedness Conversion and Gods Method in it Errors rejected Chap. III. The Saints perseverance Errors rejected Chap. IV. all subscribed by the Moderator and Deputies XXVII Remarks upon some of the Members of this Synod THE FIRST Synod of Charenton 1623. The 24th Synod SYNOD XXIV 1623. In the Name of God Amen The Acts of the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France held at Charenton near Paris the First of September and divers Dayes after in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred Twenty and Three CHAP. I. The Kings First Commissioner Deputies and Synodical Officers THE Lord Augustus Galland Councellor of the King in His Council of Estate and Attorney-General of the Kingdom of Navarre was Commissionated by His Majesty to open this Synod by his Royal Authority and to be present in all its Sessions as shall be afterwards Declared There appeared as Deputies for the Province of Normandy Mr. Benjamin Basnage Pastor of the Church of Charenton John Maximilian de Baux Lord de L' Angle Pastor in the Church of Roan John Lewis Mustel Esq Lord of Boisroger Elder in the Church of Ponteau de Mer and James de la Loys Elder of the Church of St. l o. As for the Province of Orleans and Berry Mr. Simon Jurieux Pastor of the Church of Chastillon on the Loir James Imbert Durant Pastor of the Church
the grant of the half supernumerary Portion for the future which was allowed them by the Synod of Alez The Letters of the said Elders having been perused and the Deputies of the Province heard This Assembly confirms the past Payments and ordains that for the future the supernumerary Portions granted unto the said Province shall be wholly at their own disposal 37. Monsieur Le Pin Elder in the Church of Issurtille appealed from the Judgment of the Synod of Burgundy held at Gex in this present year but his Appeal was declared null and desert 38. That Appeal of the Elders of Aubenas and Annonay from the Judgment of the Provincial Synod of Vivaretz which had reunited the Colledge parted before betwixt those Two Cities and resettled it at Privas was declared null and void CHAP. XIV Of GENERAL MATTERS 1 THE Sieurs de Chambrun and Mestrezat Ministers of the Gospel de Jarlan and Rabboteau Elders who together with our General Deputies had been commanded by this Synod to wait upon His Majesty being now returned made report that they delivered unto the Lord Chancellor unto the Lord de la Vieuville and to the Lords Principal Secretaries of State the Letters of this Assembly of whom they had a very gracious and kind Reception and every one of those Lords assured them of the Kings sincere intentions to conserve the peace of the Kingdom and particularly for His Subjects of the Reformed Religion provided that they persisted in their Duty and Obedience and farther they advised the Pastors and Elders of this Synod upon their return unto their respective Provinces who had sent them that they would deal effectually with them to continue in their due Obedience After this they were introduced into His Majesties Presence who was then attended with My Lord Chancellor and the other Lords of the Privy Council to whom they delivered the Letter of this Assembly and assured His Majesty in the Name of this Assembly and of all the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom whom they represented of their Loyalty Submission and Obedience whereunto they were obliged by their Birth Religion and Benefits conferred upon them by His Majesty And farther they returned their most humble thanks unto His Majesty for that Peace he was pleased to vouchsafe unto his Subjects of the Reformed Religion and did with a most profound Humility petition His Majesty that they might through his Royal Goodness and Justice evermore enjoy and possess it Whereupon His Majesty did with his own Mouth give us this Answer That if his Subjects of the Reformed Religion did carry themselves well and lived in that Duty and Obedience which God and Nature required of them he would continue to them the Priviledges of his Edicts and that My Lord Chancellor should tell us his mind more amply and at large After which My Lord Chancellor bespake them in these words That His Majesty having been well informed of the Actions and Deportments of the Synod till now was exceedingly satisfied But that His Majesty would discover unto them his mind upon two points the first whereof concerned Foreign Pastors That it was His Majesties Will That the Churches should not serve themselves in the Ministry of any other Persons than such as were born in the Kingdom and were his Natural Subjects for some private reasons which he needed not to tell them but one of them was very evident because his Natural Subjects who are such by their Birth would be more tied unto his Service than any Foreigners The other related to the last Synod held at Alez yet was it not in the least intended by His Majesty to impair or alter the Liberty of the Churches with reference to their Faith or the Exercises of their Religion either in Doctrine or Discipline but it was very displeasing unto His Majesty that the National Council of the Reformed Churches in this Kingdom held at Alez should oblige all Pastors by their Corporal Oath to approve a Doctrine defined in a Foreign State And that though His Majesty giveth protection to the Religion yet you must not mistake him he intends it not for a Novel and Exotick Faith When as his Lordship had finished his Discourse The said Deputies did most humbly petition His Majesty graciously to hear them upon those two points which His Majesty having favourably granted They declared as to the first That it was true That now as for a long time ago the Churches of this Kingdom had made use of some Foreign Ministers but that they ever had this honour to have kept themselves within the limits of all Duty and Service to His Majesty and that during the War His Majesty had left unto the Churches their Pastors without informing himself of their Country or Nation But since His Majesty did us the favour as to acquaint us with his Will and Pleasure in a time or Peace that we must have no Strangers to officiate in our Churches it would be so far from preserving our Churches that it would leave some of them destitute and some others desolate and allay very much of the tast and sweets of that ê™eace we now enjoyed Moreover that among those of the Church of Rome in this Kingdom there were a multitude of Ecclesiasticks of other Nations which enjoyed the most honourable and profitable Benefices and Dignities of the Gallican Church wherefore His Majesty was most humbly petitioned that he would be pleated not to make this severe distinction between his Subjects so as to permit those of one Religion to use Strangers and to deny it unto the other And as for the Second Point It was a truth that the Synod of Dort made up of the Deputies of divers Reformed Churches had decided some certain points of Doctrine whereby to oppose the Errors which troubled the Churches of the Netherlands But that this Decision did most harmoniously agree with the Confession of Faith in the Churches of this Kingdom and which had been presented to His Majesties Predecessors So that the substance of the Doctrine asserted arid maintained by that Synod was not new and that there was nothing novel in it excepting its Formality and Application as a Fence and Boundary to keep out divers Errors that were then rising and breaking in upon us So that His Most Excellent Majesty was most humbly intreated not to believe that his Subjects had any such design as to make him the Patron and Protector of a Novel and Foreign Doctrine After that the Deputies had finished their Discourse they were commanded to withdraw that His Majesty might consider and deliberate about what had been said by them and being a while after called in again My Lord Chancellor told them as to the first head that His Majesty having heard the Matters that were propounded by them would not remove the Foreign Pastors from their Flocks in this Kingdom who were now in Office and at present actually imployed But it was his pleasure that for the future no more should be
Council that the Moneys granted by his Bounty unto the Churches might be assigned on some particular Tally for this year That a long time was spent before he could find any success of his endeavours But at last they would give him Orders and Assignations which in truth he refused to accept because he knew them to be naught and worth nothing And that finally about the end of the last April they had given him others which he was constrained to take because he saw the Lords of the Council fixed in their resolutions of giving him none other That indeed these latter Assignations were a little better than the former but it would be a very great while before any payment were made that it would be at least Six or Eight Moneths before the first Summ would become due that the whole Assembly knew they would not grant him any Order or Tally for the last year 1622 yea and His Majesty had revoked his former grant of Moneys to the Churches for the year 1621 and employed them elsewhere to some other purposes And as for the Arrears due unto us in the foregoing years he had took all care possible and used the utmost diligence to recover them but with very little or no success that he had brought in his Accompts and prayed the Assembly to constitute a Committee to audit and close them The Assembly having most heartily thanked the said Lord of Candal for his singular care respects and kindnesses upon all occasions expressed unto the Churches and desired the continuance of his Love did nominate Messieurs de Basnage and Le Clark Pastors du Port and du Four Elders to peruse and examine his Accompts And whereas a world of inconveniencies will befal our Churches by so long delay of paying in the Moneys granted us by His Majesty for this year now current the Synod deputed the Sieurs de L' Angle a Pastor and du Port an Elder and the Lords of Montmartyn and Candal to wait upon His Majesty and on the behalf of this Assembly most humbly to beseech him to grant some other Assignations and Orders for the more speedy paying in of His Majesties Great Bounty unto our Churches and that as a Token of His Royal Goodness and Liberality he would be pleased to add some other Summs to us instead of those which have been taken from us in the last foregoing years we having received not so much as one farthing or doibt for them 15. A few dayes after the said Deputies being returned from the King they made Report in this Assembly how Graciously they had been received by His Majesty who assured them that in case his said Subjects of the Reformed Religion continued in their Duty and Obedience he would alwayes give them all possible content And the same Expressions of kindness they received also from the Lords of His most Honourable Privy Council who ordered out of hand Forty Thousand Livres to be payed in unto them they yielding up unto their Lordships the old Warrants for the like Summ but as for what was requested about reimbursing us the years past by fixing those Summs due unto us on some other Tallies and Assignations their Honours were pleased to say There was no reason why they should promise it 16. The Province of Anjou requested that the University of Saumur might not any longer be left destitute of Professors in Divinity but that some speedy care and course might be taken to send Monsieur Cameron to be Professor of that faculty in it The Lord Commissioner and Deputy for His Majesty unto this Synod declared that it was the Will and Pleasure of His Majesty that those two Gentlemen Mr. Gilbert Primrose and Mr. John Cameron should not be preferred neither of them to any Publick Office either of Pastors in the Churches or of Pastors and Professors in the Churches and Universities of this Kingdom not because of their Birth as being Foreigners but for some private Reasons of State relating to his Service And the said Lord of Galland presented us His Majesties Letters Written and Signed with His Own Hand Lewes and a little lower de L' Omeny Dated the Twenty Fifth day of this present Moneth The Assembly understanding this to be His Majesties pleasure would not put it to the Vote Whether they should be continued or not in their Ministry but deputed the Sieurs Cottiby Minister of the Gospel and du Bois and St. Martyn Elders together with the Lord of Montmartyn General Deputy to carry unto His Majesty a Petition from this Assembly wherein this Assembly did most humbly beseech His Majesty that as he had lately with his own Mouth most graciously promised so His Majesty would be pleased to give Order that all our Ministers might as fully injoy the fruit and benefit of his promise CHAP. XV. N. B. What picque the King of France had against Monsieur Cameron as I cannot tell so I shall not write my guesses and conjectures about it because they may be and may not be true Mr. Cameron if he had designed what afterwards some others attempted a coalition of both the Religions Protestant and Popish yet certainly was no Papist yea far enough from their Doctrine and Worship But he had angred the Jesuits not so much as his Reverend Colleague and Countreyman And this was the true reason why Monsieur Primrose was necessitated to quit Bourdeaux and France when as Cameron was permitted to tarry and return to Bourdeaux and was preferred unto the Professors Chair in Divinity afterwards at Montauban On Whitsunday in the year 1619. Father Arnoux the Jesuit preaching before the King Queen and Court of France in the Castle of Amboise attempted a Task impossible to whiten Blackamores to wash or wipe his Church clean and especially his own Order from an indelible blot viz. That they held it lawful to kill Kings This the Jesuit with a boldness and audaciousness which is the proper Talent of their Society would have some how or other evaded He assures that Royal Auditory with the greatest confidence that it was never the Doctrine of their Catholick Church never believed by these good Fathers that Subjects might lawfully rebel against their Sovereigns yea that it doth anathematize all those who teach and preach that the Sacred Persons of Princes may be lawfully made away and murdered yea that the whole Society of Jesuits doth condemn detest and as much as hi them lieth doth anathematize all Advisers Abettors and Aiders of Rebels against their King upon any pretext vvhatsoever His Majesty and that vvhole illustrious Auditory vvere overjoyed at this free and liberal Declaration of the Jesuit and quitted the Sermon as they said very much edified And His Majesty told it publickly that he had great reason to be pleased with the Fathers of the Society and that Father Arnoux had in the Name and stead of them all plainly and fully enough condemned the Book of Mariana Monsieur Primrose vvas present at this Sermon and
of Lower Guyenne The Sieurs John Mizaubin Pastor of the Church of Sainte Foy and James du Fort Pastor of La Bastide in Armagnac together with Mr. John Joan Lord of Loullan Advocate in the Parliament of Bourdeaux Elder in the Church of Duras and Mr. Isaack Grenouelleau Advocate also in the same Parliament and Elder of the Church of Castelsmoron in Albrett For the Province of Xaintonge the Sieurs John Constans Pastor of the Church of Pons and David Belot Pastor of the Church de la Rochechalais together with John Besne Esq Lord of Angoulins Elder in the Church of Rochell and Elijah Marlat Advocate in the Parliament of Bourdeaux and Elder of the Church of Mirambeau For the Province of Poictou The Sieur Peter de la Vallade Pastor of the Church of Fontenay la Conte and Isaac du Soul Pastor of the Church of Lusignan accompanied with Gilles Begaud Esq Lord of La Begaudiere Elder in the Church of Montague and James Coxdel Lord of Soignon Elder in the Church of St. Maixant For the Province of Anjou the Sieurs Daniel Couppe Pastor of Loudun and Stephen le Bloy Pastor of the Church of Anger 's without any Elders because those who were Commissionated fell sick on their Journey which Excuse was admitted For the Province of Orleans and Berry The Sieurs John Guerrin Pastor of the Church of Baugency and John Taby Pastor of the Church of La Charite accompanied with James Pasquier Counsellor and Comptroller for the King in the Town of Baugency and Elder of the Church there and Peter Longuet Advocate in the Parliament of Paris and Elder in the Church of Issoudun For the Province of Normandy The Sieur John Baunier Lord of La Fresnage Pastor in the Church of Caen and Peter Erondelle Pastor in the Church of Roan Accompanied with Peter du Pertuis Esq Lord of Eragny Elder in the Church of Gisors and Mr. Francis Quillel Lord of La Briere Counsellor and Assessor in the Vi-County of Alenson and Elder of the Church gathered in that City For the Province of the Isle of France The Sieurs John Mestrezat Pastor of the Church of Paris and David Blondell Pastor of the Church of Houdan Accompanied with John de Gravelle Esq Lord of Beauterne Elder in the said Church of Houdan and Isaack d' Huisseau Elder in the Church of Paris For the Province of Bearn The Sieurs Peter Rivall Pastor of the Church of Nay and John de Pommarede Advocate in the Parliament of Navarre Elder in the Church of Mourlans who not having inserted in their Letters of Deputation that clause of submission required by the former National Synods were told that for this time they were born withal on those Conditions expresly mentioned in the Canons of the last National Synod but for the future they should not be admitted into these Assemblies nor have a consultive Vote in them excepting only when as the Confession of our Faith should be read in which indeed and nothing else they retain Union with our Churches The Second of October the Lord of Montmartyn General-Deputy for the Churches of this Kingdom unto His Majesty came into this Synod and took his place and voted in it according to the Canons of our Churches and the usual practise of former National Synods After Invocation of the Holy Name of God in Prayer Monsieur Chauve was chosen Moderator and Monsieur Bouteroue Assessor and Messieurs Blondel and Petit Scribes CHAP. II. The Kings Writt for the Calling of the Synod and ordering of Matters in it AS soon as the Synod was formed and the Election of its Officers past the Lord Galland presented His Majesties Letters Patents which being read they were transcribed and the Copy inserted into the Acts of this Synod the Tenour whereof was as followeth The Kings Letters Patents Louis by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre to our Beloved and Trusty Counsellor in our Councils of State and Privy Council and Attorney General for our Dominion of Navarre the Lord Galland Greeting We having permitted according to our Edicts our Subjects professing the P. Reformed Religion to convocate and keep a National Council in our City of Castres in the Province of Languedoc this next September that they may as usual take care about matters of Discipline appertaining unto their Religion wherefore it being needful that there should be present in the said Council a Commissioner from us who might watch over our said Subjects that they do not treat of any other Affairs but such as are allowed them by our Edicts and knowing by past Experience that we could not pitch upon a more Worthy Person than your self of whose Fidelity and Affection to our Service Sufficiency and Abilities we are very well satisfied and remembring your singular care and vigilancy manifested in the last National Synod held at Charenton by our said Subjects in the Moneth of September and Year of Our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty Three to the general contentment both of us and them also For which causes we have Commissionated Deputed and Ordained and do Commissionate Depute and Ordain you by these presents to go unto our said City of Castres and to sit in the said National Council in our stead and as our Representative and personally to be present at all their Consultations and Resolutions and to see use and exercise our Authority that nothing be proposed or debated but what doth truly concern the Discipline of the Religion aforesaid according to the Tenour of our Edicts and Declarations and particularly of those made and published by us in September Sixteen Hundred Twenty Three about their holding of Colloquies and Synods and you shall look to it also that none of our Subjects do keep any private Conventicles in that our said City You shall also have a special care that nothing be moved or debated in the said Council but what may contribute to the benefit of our Service and the upholding of our Authority and preservation of the Peace of our Kingdom And in case there should be any actings contrary hereunto we command you immediately to suppress them and in our Name and Authority to Act or to make such interdictions and prohibitions as you shall judge needful of which as generally of all Matters transacted in the said Council you shall form a good and ample verbal process That it being brought unto us upon your return we may advise of what shall be most expedient for our Service and the Tranquillity of our Subjects And for the doing hereof we impower you with full Authority and give you our Commission and especial Warrant by these presents For such is our Will and Pleasure Given at Nants Another Copy has the Tenth day this Twentieth day of July in the Year of Grace One Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty Six and of Our Reign the Seventeenth Signed Louis And a little lower By the King Philippeaux And Sealed with Yellow Wax CHAP. III.
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
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
obedient Brethren the Pastors and Elders in the Reformed Church of Paris and for all Drelincourt Pastor Bigot Tardif Dinets Massanes Millet Raillard and Mandat Elders And in the Margin We most earnestly beseech you to give Audience to Monsieur Mestrezat who is ordered more particularly to report this Affair unto you The End of the Synod of Castres SYNODICON IN Galliâ Reformatâ OF THE Acts Canons Decisions and Decrees OF THE Four Last National Synods OF THE Reformed Churches OF FRANCE The Second Part of the Second Volume By JOHN QVICK Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed by J. D. for Thomas Parkhurst and Jonathan Robinson 1691. THE Acts Canons Decisions and Decrees OF THE Twenty sixth Synod HELD BY The Reformed Churches OF FRANCE and BEARN The second Time at CHARENTON Under the Authority and Permission of LOUIS XIII King of FRANCE and NAVARRE In the twenty second Year of his Reign begun September the 1st and ended Friday the 10th of October In the Year of our Lord 1631. The General CONTENTS of these Synodical Acts in several Chapters Chap. I. THE Lord Galland the King's Commissioner The King 's Writ for calling the Synod Deputies Names Election of Synodical Officers Chap. II. The King's Letters Patents and Commission to the Lord Galland Chap. III. The Lord Galland's Speech to the Synod Chap. IV. The Moderator's Reply to this Harangue Chap. V. Deputies and a Letter sent from the Synod unto the King Chap. VI. The Cahier or Bill of Grievances sent by the Synod to the King Chap. VII The Deputies Return from Court with the King's Answer and Letter to the Synod Chap. VIII Election of General Deputies Chap. IX Monsieur Beraud admitted at Deputy to sit and vote in the Synod Chap. X. A second Letter from the Synod unto the King Chap. XI The General Deputies make Report of their Audience and the King's Answer to that Letter Chap. XII The Sieurs Bouteroue and Basnage admitted as Deputies to sit and act in the Synod Chap. XIII The King's Letter unto the Lord Galland about it Chap. XIV Approbation of the Confession of Faith Chap. XV. Observations upon the Discipline Chap. XVI Observations upon the National Synod of Castres Chap. XVII A great Debate about incorporating the Churches of Bearn with those of France opposed by the Lord Commissioner Chap. XVIII The Synod's Reply unto his Lordship Chap. XIX The Synod's Protestation upon this Conjunction of the Churches of Bearn with those of France Chap. XX. General Matters Chap. XXI An Act for a publick National Fast Chap. XXII An Act in favour of the Lutheran Brethren Chap. XXIII Particular Matters Chap. XXIV Of Vniversities and Colledges Chap. XXV An Act for an Assessment upon the Provinces for maintaining the Vniversities Chap. XXVI A Dividend of our borrowed Charities to maintain the Vniversities Chap. XXVII The Provinces Accompts about their Maintenance exhibited to the Colledges and Vniversities Chap. XXVIII The Lord of Candall's Accompts Chap. XXIX A Dividend of sixteen thousand Livers among the Provinces Chap. XXX A blank Dividend Chap. XXXI Roll of Apostate and deposed Ministers Chap. XXXII An Act for calling the next National Synod at Alanson Chap. XXXIII Remarks upon three of the Deputies The Second Synod of CHARENTON 1631. the 26th Synod SYNOD XXVI 1631. In the Name of God Amen Acts and Decrees of the twenty sixth National Synod held by the Reformed Churches of France and Bearn the second time at Charenton St. Maurice near Paris in the Province of the Isle of France under the Authority and Permission of Lewes the Thirteenth King of France and Navarre in the twenty second Year of his Reign begun September the 1st and ended Friday the 10th Day of October in the Year 1631. CHAP. I. The Lord Galland the King's Commissioner The King 's Writ for calling the Synod Deputies Names Election of Synodical Officers Article 1. AT the opening of this Assembly the Lord Galland Counsellor to his Majesty in his most honourable Privy Council and Council of State and Attorney General for his Dominion of Navarre appeared in Person as Commissioner deputed by his Majesty unto it and presented his Majesty's Warrant signed with his Sign Manual for the convocating of it 2. This 29th Day of January in the Year of our Lord 1631. The King being at Paris upon the most humble Petition of his Subjects of the pret Reformed Religion that they might be permitted to meet and assemble in a National Synod there not having been one held since that of Castres in the Year 1626. His Majesty being very willing to gratify those his Subjects aforesaid and to give them some Marks of his Royal Favour hath granted and permitted and doth grant and permit unto those his aforesaid Subjects the Power and Priviledg of holding a National Synod the first Day of September next at Charenton near Paris but with this Condition that none other Matters shall be debated in it but such as are allowed them by his Majesty's Edicts and that the Lord Galland Counsellor to his Majesty in his Privy Council and Council of State and Attorney General for his House of Navarre shall assist personally in the said Synod as his Majesty's Commissioner as hath been accustomed and practised heretofore In Testimony whereof his Majesty hath commanded me to issue out this present Writ which he was pleased to sign with his own Hand and commanded it to be countersigned by me his Counsellor and Secretary of Estate and of his Commandments and of his Treasury Signed in the Original LOVIS And a little lower Phillippeaux 3. There appeared on Behalf of the Churches in the several Provinces of this Kingdom the Pastors and Elders whose Names are hereafter mentioned For the Province of Burgundy the Sieurs Peter Boullenat Pastor of the Church of Vaux and Alexander Rouph Pastor of the Church of Lyons together with the Lords Timothy Armet Advocate in the Privy Council Elder in the Church of Conches and Lazarus du Puy Counsellor for the King in the Presidial Court of Bourg and Elder of the Church gathered in that Town 4. For the Province of Provence the Sieurs Paul Maurice Pastor of the Church at Aiguires and Peter de Peyre Lord of Retardet Elder in the same Church 5. For the Province of Orleans and Berry the Sieurs Daniel Jamett Pastor the Church of Gien upon the Loir and James L'amy Pastor of the Church of Chasteaudun accompanied with Master Claudius Bernard Elder in the Church of Chastillon upon the Loir and Bailiff of the said Town and Henry du Four Doctor of Physick Elder in the Church of Blois 6. For the Province of Poictou the Sieurs Isaac de Cuville Pastor of the Church in Couhé and John le Masson Pastor of the Church of Civray together with the Lords René de Lauvrignac Esq Lord of Miauvray Elder of the Church of St. Maixant and Giles Begaut Lord of la Begaudiere Elder in the Church of Montague 7. For the Province of Xaintonge
the Lords William Rivet Lord of Champrernown Pastor of the Church of Taillebourg and Peter Richer Lord of Vaudelincourt Pastor of the Church of Marennes accompanied with the Lords Denys Pasquett Esq Lord of Large Baston Elder in the Church of Angoulesme and Charles Constant Comptroller for his Majesty in the Election of St. John d'Angely and Elder of the Church in that City 8. For the Province of Brittain the Sieurs Josua de la Place Pastor of the Church of Nantes assembling for Religious Worship at Suffé without an Elder for the Lords Daniel de la Tousche Lord of la Ravardiere Elder in the Church of Ploer and Daniel Chastaigner Lord of la Grolliere Elder in the Church of Vielle vigne who was substituted in his Place did both send their Letters of Request that they might be dispensed with for their non-Attendance at the Synod and their Excuses were admitted and accepted 9. For the Province of Lower Guyenne the Sieurs James de Berdoline Pastor of the Church of Duras and Charles d'Aubus Pastor of the Church of Nerac accompanied with the Lords John de Mazilieres Advocate in the High Court of Parliament of Bourdeaux Lord of Grave and Elder in the Church of Nerac the Lord John Aymé de Friginet Advocate also in the same Parliament and Elder of the Church of Bergerac was chosen but fell sick and therefore was excused and in his stead there appeared Isaac de Geneste Lord of la Tour Advocate in the same Parliament and Elder in the Church of la Sauvetat who was substituted by the Suffrages of the Provincial Synod in his stead 10. For the Province of Vivaretz the Sieur Daniel Richard Pastor of the Church of Cheilar and Louis Santel Advocate and Elder of the same Church The Province excused it self for sending but two Deputies and their Excuses were admitted for this time and they were injoined for the future never to omit the Clause of Submission which was not sound in their Letters of Deputation tendred by them unto the Council 11. For the Province of Sevennes the Sieurs Moses Blasehon Pastor of the Church of St. Andrew de Valborgne and Antony Vincent Pastor of the Church of Merneys together with Stephen de Billanges Lord of Blanqfort and Elder in the Church of Vigan and Claudius d'Airebeldoze Esq Lord of Clairan Elder in the Church of Canoblet 12. For the Province of Anjou the Sieurs Matthew Cottiere Pastor of the Church of Tours and Moses Amyraud Pastor of the Church of Sanmur and Professor of Divinity in that University together with the Sieurs Philip Niett Counsellor of the King and Warden of his Majesty's Salt-garners in the said City of Saumur and Elder of the Church there and Josiah Poize Advocate in Parliament Elder of the Church at Previlly 13. For the Province of Dolphiny the Sieur Peter Pittard Pastor of the Church of Alben with the Sieur Francis de Montauban de Rambault Esq Lord of Villars Elder in the Church of Gap and the Sieur Stephen Gilbert Advocate Elder in the Church of Die the Sieur Denis de Bouteroue Pastor of the Church of Greenoble though chosen â—id not appear because of his Majesty's Prohibition yet afterwards he obtained leave to assist in this Council as will appear by its Acts and Records 14. For the Province of Lower Languedoc the Sieurs Michael le Faucheur Pastor of the Cuurch of Montpellier and John de Croy Pastor of the Church of Bezieres together with the Sieurs Peter Cheyron Advocate and Elder in the Church of Nismes and Andrew Bruneau Advocate and Elder in the Church of Bagnols 15. For the Province of Higher Languedoc the Sieur Timothy Delon Pastor of the Church of Montauban with the Sieurs Peter de Villette Lord de la Jongniere Elder in the Church of St. Antonine and Paul Constans Counsellor for the King and Elder in the Church of Montaubon Master Peter Beraud Pastor of the aforesaid Church of Montauban and Professor of Divinity in that University did not appear at first because of his Majesty's Prohibition but afterward when it was taken off he did accordingly take his Place in this Council 16. For the Province and Principality of Bearn there appeared the Sieurs Peter Labadie Pastor of the Church of Pau and John de Pommerade Advocate in the Parliament of Navarre Elder of the Church in Morlas 17. For the Province of Normandy the Sieurs Abdias de Mondenis Pastor in the Church of Dieppe together with Laurence le Fevre Advocate in the Parliament of Normandy and Elder in the Church of Rouan and John Cardell Lord of Marettes Counsellor of the King and his Comptroller in the Election of Alencon and Elder of the Church in the same Place and the Sieur Benjamin Basnage Pastor of the Church of Quarentin though chosen yet did not at first appear because of his Majesty's Prohibition but as soon as it was taken off he came and took his Place in the Synod as will appear in the following Acts. 18. For the Province of the Isle of France the Sieurs John Mestrezat Pastor of the Church of Paris and David Blondell Pastor of the Church of Roussy together with the Sieurs John de Gravelles Esq Lord of Banterne Elder in the Church of Houdan and Charles Mayland Advocate Elder in the Church of Montdidier 19. The fifteenth Day of September the Lord Marquess of Clermont General Deputy for the Churches of this Kingdom unto his Majesty came according to the usual Order of these National Synods and took his Place in it having Precedency given him according to his Degree and Quality and as it was afterward decreed in the eleventh Article of General Matters 20. Prayers having been offered up unto God Monsieur Mestrezat Pastor of the Church of Paris was by Plurality of Votes chosen Moderator and Monsieur Jamet Assessor and Monsieur Blondel Pastor and Monsieur Armet an Elder Scribes of the Synod CHAP. II. The King's Letters Patents 21. AS soon as the Officers of the Synod were chosen his Majesty's Letters Patents were read a true Copy whereof is here inserted 22. Louis by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre to our beloved and trusty Counsellor in our Privy Council and Council of State and Attorney General for our House of Navarre the Lord Galland Greeting We having given leave unto our Subjects professing the pret Reformed Religion to hold a National Synod at Charenton near our City of Paris the first Day of September next in which the Deputies of all the Provinces in this our Kingdom shall meet and consult about Matters concerning their Religion and we being to choose a Person sufficiently qualified and of approved Loyalty who may be present in the said Council as our Representative and Commissioner and calling to Mind the many Services you have done us in sundry and very weighty Imployments with which we have intrusted you both at home and abroad within and without the Kingdom all which
you have most worthily discharged yea and in those very National Synods which we have permitted to be convocated by our Subjects of the said Reformed Religion at Charenton aforesaid in the Year 1623 and in our City of Castres in the Province of Albigeois in the Year 1626. We therefore conceived we could not make a better choice than of your self being well satisfied that you will continue to give us the Proofs and Testimonies of your Affection to our Service For these Causes we have commissionated and deputed and we do commissionate and depute you the said Lord Galland by these our present Letters Patents signed with our own Hand unto the said Synod and order you forthwith to transport your self unto the said Synod in the Town of Charenton and therein to assist in Person as our Representative and to propose and resolve on such Matters as have been commanded you according to the Memoirs and Instructions we have delivered into your Hands taking special Care that none other Businesses be then or there treated and debated but such as of right ought to be consulted and determined on in those Assemblies and which are permitted by our Edicts and in case they should attempt any thing contrary thereunto you shall hinder it and by Interposal of our Authority suppress and stifle it and speedily give us Notice and Advice thereof that we may immediately apply such Remedies as will be most needful And for doing hereof we do now impower you by this our Commission and special Commandment in these our present Letters Patents For such is our Will and Pleasure Given at Monceaux the sixteenth Day of August in the Year of Grace one thousand six hundred thirty one and of our Reign the two and twentieth Signed in the Original LOVIS And a little lower by the King Phelippeaux And sealed with the great Seal in yellow Wax CHAP. III. The Lord Galland's Speech to the Synod 23. THE aforesaid Letters Patents having been read by the Lord Galland his Majesty's Commissioner he made this Speech unto the Synod That the King having buried in the Grave of Oblivion all former Actions which had fallen out in the last Troubles to the great Affliction of the Kingdom his Majesty gave him in charge to assure his Subjects of the Religion of his Royal Affection and good Will towards them and that whilst they continued within the Bounds of Duty and abstained from all bitter Reflections against the Government and Repose of the Publick and from all Intelligences and Correspondencies either with Natives or Foreigners and were sorely addicted to the Service of his Majesty they should experience the Kindnesses of a good Father and of a good King in his Majesty and injoy the free Exercise of their Religion and the Liberty of calling and holding their Synods Provincial and National But whereas in divers Years last past the Orders given by him and accepted of by his said Subjects have been differently interpreted His Majesty desireth by reviving them to take away for the future all Grounds of Misconstruction and Misunderstanding 24. Therefore in the first Place His Majesty requireth that whereas Commissioners were established in all Synodical Assemblies both National and Provincial by his Letters Patents in the Year 1623 founded upon the Practice observed in the Primitive Church and the Government of the best-ordered Kingdoms there shall be an intire and absolute Obedience yielded hereunto by his said Subjects of the Reformed Religion and that they do refrain and forbear all Protestations and Remonstrances to the contrary 25. In the second Place By those aforesaid Orders and agreeable to the Laws of the Kingdom it was decreed and enacted That no Strangers should be admitted into the Pastoral Office in any of the Churches which are reserved for natural French-men and Ancients of the Kingdom in bar of whom and to whose Prejudice divers Strangers have been received Wherefore his said Majesty renewing his Ordinance aforesaid doth inhibit his said Subjects to admit into the Ministry any one except a French-man born and as for others who have been admitted since the Year 1623 contrary to it his Majesty promiseth to dispense with them provided Application be made unto him for that Grace And whereas some have made Exceptions against this his general Resolution on behalf of those Ministers who are born in those Kingdoms and Common-wealths or Cities which are the Allies of his Majesty or under his Royal Protection the said Lord Commissioner declared That by Strangers we were to understand all sorts of Persons without Exception who were not born in the Kingdom or out of his Majesty's Dominions and Government although they were Natives of such Kingdoms Common-wealths and Cities as were his Majesty's Allies or under his Protection 26. In the third Place All Ministers are forbidden to depart the Kingdom without his Majesty's Licence and particularly Monsieur Salbert Minister in the Church of Rochel hath not only gone out of the Kingdom without his Majesty's Permission but in Contempt of his Royal Authority Wherefore the said Prohibitions are once more reiterated and reimposed and the said Salbert is injoined by his Majesty to reside in that Place appointed him and he is expresly forbidden all Exercise of his Ministry either in publick or private nor may this National Synod put him upon the Roll of Ministers to be presented by it unto vacant Churches 27. In the fourth Place By the National Synods of Charenton and Castres all Ministers were expresly forbidding to intermeddle with State-Matters yet notwithstanding Monsieur Beraud Minister of Montauban and Professor of Divinity in that University did not only intermeddle with State but military Affairs and was so bold as to maintain by a Book which he read unto his Auditory That Ministers have a Call to bear Arms and to shed Blood which is a Doctrine quite contrary to the Word of God the Decrees of Councils and the Laws of the Kingdom and the more dangerous in this Doctor because he instils these his wicked Notions into the tender Minds of Youth committed to his Charge and Education and 't is much to be feared that he will continue to poison them by such or the like Instructions which are foreign and contrary to the publick Peace and Tranquillity And therefore the said Manuscript is judged unworthy of publick View as being cross to the Word of God And his Majesty hath ordered its Suppression forbidding all Printers and Booksellers either to print or sell it and commandeth all the Members of this present National Synod to censure and condemn both it and its Author CHAP. IV. The Moderator's Reply to this Speech 28. THE Lord Commissioner having finished his Speech Prayers were offered up to God for the Preservation of his Majesty's Sacred Person for the Prosperity of his Government for the Settlement of the publick Peace of the Nation and for the Glory of his Crown And most humble Thanks were rendred unto his Majesty for the Continuance of his
that the said Bastide was at present a Prisoner resolved That his Majesty should be most humbly petitioned to grant unto him as well as to all other his Subjects of the Reformed Religion the Enjoyment of the Benefit of his Edicts and to send him before his proper Judges and in the mean while it decreeth that he shall be removed from the Province of Higher Languedoc and that from this very Instant the Exercise of his Ministry shall cease and be at an end in the said Church of St. Africk and the said Province is commanded to provide out of hand another Pastor for it CHAP. V. Deputies and a Letter sent from the Synod unto the King 34. MOnsieur Amyraud a Pastor and de Villars an Elder were chosen by plurality of Suffrages to lay at his Majesty's Feet the most humble and thankful Acknowledgments and Petitions of the Churches and they had their Instructions given them and Letters unto his Majesty and to our Lords the Principal Ministers of State 35. A Copy of the Letter written by the Synod unto the King SIRE Mr. L'abadie was ordered and did accordingly draw up this Letter YOVR Majesty having graciously permitted us to assemble in this Place as soon as we had lifted up our Hands to God in Thanksgivings for giving us to find Favour in your Majesty's sight our next Care was to render unto your Majesty as to the most lively Portraiture of God in Earth our most humble and thankful Acknowledgments and we hope that as God whom your Majesty represents doth hear the Prayers of his Children and compassionateth them in their Afflictions and Complaints and mitigateth their Dolours so your Majesty will be pleased to receive together with the most humble Acknowledgments of our Duty the Petitions of your poor afflicted Subjects afflicted in very many and sundry Ways and who using none other than these innocent Means of Petition do betake themselves for Sanctuary unto your Majesty's Royal Goodness and confide wholly in your Majesty's most Royal Clemency May it therefore please your Majesty to suffer the Sieurs Amyraud and de Villars to throw themselves at your Feet and to repeat in your Majesty's hearing the sincere Protestations of our most humble Fidelity and Subjection to your Service and to acquaint your Majesty with the manifold Violations of your Edicts almost in all the Provinces of your Kingdom whilst we in our own Names and of many thousands of devout Souls professing our holy Religion and on whose behalf through the Favour of your Majesty's Paternal Bounty we are now assembled in this National Synod do continue our Vows and Prayers unto God for the Prosperity of your Sacred Person the Stablishment of your Scepter the upholding of your State the Triumph of your Armies and his Benediction upon your Royal Bed as being From Charenton September 13 1631. SIRE Of your Majesty The most humble the most obedient and most faithful Subjects and Servants The Deputies of the National Synod assembled by your Permission at Charenton and in the Name of them all Mestrezat Moderator of the Synod Jamett Assessor Blondell Scribe and Armet Scribe CHAP. VI. A Copy of the Cahier of our Complaints and of the Infractions of his Majesty's Edicts presented to his Majesty from the Synod by the Sieurs Amyraud and de Villars To the King SIRE YOUR most humble and most obedient Subjects of the Reformed Religion assembled by your Majesty's Permission in the National Synod at Charenton do freely acknowledg that we want both Conceptions and Expressions by which we may sufficiently and worthily express our just sense and feeling of those many and illustrious Testimonies of your Majesty's Paternal Affection to us and therefore we do pour out incessantly our most fervent and devoutest Prayers unto the Throne of Grace that the Lord our good God would be graciously pleased to preserve your Majesty's most Sacred Person and the Tranquillity of your Dominions And we do absolutely consecrate our Lives and Fortunes unto your Majesty's Service according to the Duty taught us by our most holy Religion and our Birth which is to expose them for the Honour of our Soveraign upon all Occasions 2. And forasmuch as it hath pleased your Majesty to confirm by divers Declarations those Edicts made in our Favour yea and to place them in the Rank and Classis of Fundamental Laws of your Kingdom we most humbly supplicate your Majesty to ordain that they may be as exactly observed and punctually executed 3. Particularly for what concerns the Establishment of our Churches in those Places where hitherto we could never obtain that Benefit notwithstanding all our Care and Diligence to get it executed and that those which are desolated through the Infelicities of the late Troubles and the Rigors of that Decree made in your Majesty's Council the last May out of favour to the Lord Bishop of Valence and his Complices may be once again re-edified For the Execution of such Decrees causeth many thousands of devout Souls deprived of the Exercise of their Religion to mourn and groan before God continually 4. This Desolation Sire is therefore the more worthy of your Royal Compassions because it is extream for in Vivaretz there be nine and twenty Churches wholly destitute of all Religious Worship and in Sevennes nineteen and in the Land and Isles of Ré and Olleron there be twenty four besides those which decay through the many cunning Obstructions brought against the rebuilding of the demolished Temples in Xaintonge Burgundy Brittain Berry Normandy Poitou and the Lower Guyenne whose Number indeed is not so great but however their Damage is inestimable And Sire all the Provinces demand no new Favour of your Majesty but only what hath been formerly granted them by your Edicts 5. Therefore is it that your Majesty is most humbly requested to revoke those Decrees aforesaid and to ordain that nothing may be innovated against ancient Practice and Possession and that our Ministers may preach in all Places where they shall be called according to the Duties of their Office and that they may serve in divers Churches at the same time which shall be all established or re-established conformably to the Edicts and Declarations of your Majesty 6. And forasmuch as very many Ministers in divers Provinces particularly in that of Languedoc are troubled not for uttering any undutiful or disrespectful Words but for Preaching though with the greatest Moderation and according to that Liberty of Conscience which is our Priviledg and Property conformable to our Confession of Faith and the Discipline of our Churches your Majesty is therefore most humbly intreated that all Prosecutions commenc'd against them may cease as having none other Foundation than the groundless Passions of the Commissioners and Officers and that upon this account your Attorney General may be silenced and a Prohibition may be granted out against them from ever troubling any of our aforesaid Ministers in discharging the Duties of their Calling and Exercise
Provincial Synod of Vivaretz and presented by that grave Assembly to the Pastoral Office in the Church of Annonay though he was then but eighteen Years of Age and Annonay was a Church of no mean Consideration but what he wanted in Years he made up in Merit In the Year 1612 he was removed to the Church of Montpellier in which he served full twenty Years He was one of the Scribes in the National Synod held the first time at Charenton 1623. The Parliament of Tholouse having made a Decree that no Foreigner should be a Minister or preach within their Jurisdiction in the Year 1632. he came to Paris and sollicited the Court for his Restoration He had in that City a Brother very rich and one who followed the Law Whilst he resided here the University of Lansanna in Switzerland earnestly invited him to be Professor of Theology in it but he very civilly declined that Motion though he was a most accomplish'd Scholar and Divine In the Year 1636 a Franciscan Friar who was the great Favourite of Cardinal Richelieu and of his Cabinet-Council meeting him in an Apothecary's Shop in St. James's Street demanded his Name and he telling him who he was and the Reason for which he was driven away from Montpellier he bespoke him Monsieur Faucheur do you tarry here and preach at Charenton and I will ingage my Word for it that the King shall never trouble you He communicating this Relation to his Brother his Brother communicated it unto the Elders of that Church who discoursing with him intreated him to preach the next Lord's Day in their Temple which he did to their and the Churches very great Satisfaction And here he continued in their Service preaching and dispensing the Word and Sacraments among them unto the Day of his Death 3. Monsieur Amyraut of him I shall speak in the Catalogue of the Churches and Ministers hung upon the File in the last National Synod where my Reader will meet with a Multitude of Remarks upon the Pastors that were then actually imployed in the Service of those-once flourishing Churches The End of the Second Synod of Charenton THE Acts Canons Decisions and Decrees OF THE Twenty seventh Synod OF The Reformed Churches OF FRANCE Assembled under his Majesty's Authority and Permission AT ALANSON IN THE PROVINCE of NORMANDY On Wednesday the twenty seventh of May and ended Thursday the ninth of July In the Year of our Lord God 1637. Being the twenty eighth Year of the Reign of LOUIS XIII King of FRANCE and NAVARRE The CONTENTS of the Synodical Acts in several Chapters Chap. I. THE King 's Writ for calling the Synod presented by the Marquess of Clermont General Deputy Monsieur St. Mars Commissioner for the King Names of the Deputies Election of the Synodical Officers Chap. II. The King's Commission to Monsieur St. Mars to represent hit Royal Person in the Synod Chap. III. The Lord Commissioner's Speech and a very long one unto the Synod Chap. IV. The Synod's Replies and Answers unto the Contents of it Chap. V. Three Deputies sent with a Letter from the Synod unto the King Chap. VI. A second Letter to the King Chap. VII Approbation and Confirmation of the Confession of Faith Chap. VIII Observations upon the Discipline Chap. IX Observations on the last Natiâ—â—â—â— Synod Chap. X. A peniâ—â—n◠〈◊〉 after tâ—â— Yoâ—â—s Deposition and Penaâ—â—â— iâ— at last restored to the Exercise of his Ministerial Office Chap. XI The Snappishness of the Commissioner the Prudence and Patience of the Synod Chap. XII A penitent Minister petitioning for Restoration unto his Ministerial Office refused and why Chap. XIII The Churches of â—earn incorporated with the Reformed Churches of France Chap. XIV Appeals 3. A Lady appealeth 4. Des Champs a factious Minister 11. An Appeal about a Legacy Chap. XV. General Matters 1. An Action indifferent so left by the Synod 4. Whether Slaves may be purchased 5. No Minister to be ordained without a Title 7. An Act for a National Fast 8. An Expedient to preserve Peace among the Ministers Professors and Churches 9. A Petition to the King opposed by the Commissioner 10. A Letter from the King unto the Synod The Synod's Letter to the King 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30. A Determination of the Controversies moved by Amyrald and Testard 31. The Deputies in the Synod to receive an hundred Sous par diem Sallary from their Provinces 32. Professors of Divinity designed Chap. XVI 4 5. Two poor Ministers in great Wants 7. An Expedient to compose Differences in a Church and Province 9. The Case of La Milletierâ— the Reconciler 11. Complaints of two Books L'Antidote and Les Ombres d'Arminius Chap. XVII Of Vniversities Order taken for upholding and maintaining the Vniversities Chap. XVIII Arrears of Monies due unto the Vniversities Chap. XIX Accompts of the Vniversities Chap. XX. Lord of Candall's Accompts Chap. XXI A Dividend of 16000 Livers Chap. XXII Roll of deposed and revolted Ministers Chap. XXIII Catalogue of the Churches and Ministers Chap. XXIV Monsieur Ferrand's Speech unto his Majesty Chap. XXV Instructions given unto Monsieur Ferrand c. deputed to the King Chap. XXVI Monsieur Ferrand's Speech to Cardinal Richelieu Chap. XXVII The Bill of Grievances A Book stiled Le Proselyte Evangelique Chap. XXVIII Letters from the Pastors and Professors of Geneva Chap. XXIX Testimonials unto Dr. Rivet's Treatise against the Books of the Sieurs Amyraut and Testard Chap. XXX Two Letters one from Mr. du Moulin another from Monsieur Diodati to the Synod The Synod of Alanson 1637. The 27th Synod SYNOD XXVII 1637. In the Name of God Amen Acts of the twenty seventh National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France held in the Town of Alanson in the Province of Normandy It was opened by his Majesty's Permission Wednesday the 27th of May and ended Thursday the 9th of July in the Year of our Lord God 1637 and the 18th Year of the Reign of our Dread Sovereign Louis the Thirteenth King of France and Navarre CHAP. I. The King 's Writ presented by the Marquess of Clermont for calling the Synod Mr. de St. Mars Commissioner Deputies Officers chosen Article 1. THE Lord Marquess of Clermont General Deputy of the Reformed Churches of France at the opening of the Synod presented his Majesty's Warrant expresly given by him under his own Hand for the calling of it the Tenour of which is as followeth This sixth Day of Jannary in the Year Sixteen hundred thirty and seven the King being at Paris upon the most humble Petition of his Subjects of the Reformed Religion who craved his Royal Permission for the calling and assembling of a National Synod there not having been one held since that of Charâ—nton in the Year 1631. His Majesty being desirous to gratify those his Subjects and to deal favourably with them hath permitted and doth permit the Convocation of a National Synod the 27th day of May next
following the date hereof in the Town of Alanson but on this condition that there be none other Matters debated in it excepting those only which are allowed by the Edicts and that the Lord of St. Mars Counsellor to his Majesty in his Council of State be Personally present in the said Synod in Quality of his Majesty's Commissioner as hath been usual and customary in such Assemblies In Testimony whereof his Majesty bath commanded me to expedite this his present Writ which he hath seen and signed with his own Hand and caused to be countersigned by me his Counsellor and Secretary of State and of his Commandments Signed LOVIS And a little lower Phelippeaux Article 2. There came unto the said Assembly on behalf of the Provinces and Churches these Pastors and Elders deputed by them whose Names follow Article 3. For the Province of Normandy the Sieurs Benjamin Basnage Pastor of the Church of Ste Mere and John Maximilian de l'Angle Pastor of the Church of Rouen together with the Lords John Richer Lord of Cerisy Elder of the Church of Gaulé and Lawrence le Febure Advocate in the Parliament of Normandy and Elder in the Church of Rouen Article 4. For the Province of Dolphiny the Sieurs Paul Guyon Pastor of the Church of Dieu le fit and Stephen Blanc Pastor and Professor in the Church of Die together with the Sieurs James de Beaucastell Esq Lord of Auges Elder in the Church of Courtezon and Gaspard du Baeuf Advocate in the Parliament of Dolphiny and Elder in the Church of Grenoble Article 5. For the Province of Burgundy the Sieurs Aymedeé de Bons Pastor of the Church at Chaloons and Heliodorus du Noyer Pastor of the Church at Bussy together with the Sieurs John Roy Advocate in the Parliament of Burgundy Elder in the Church of Arnay le Duc and Charles Perreau Advocate in the said Parliament Elder in the Church of Autun and Couches Article 6. For the Province of Lower Languedoc the Sieurs Samuel Petit Pastor and Professor in the Church of Nismes and John Gigord Pastor of the Church of Montpellier together with the Sieurs Francis de Fonfrede Counsellor to the King in the Presidial Court of Nismes and Deacon of the said Church and John Browns Lord of Roussares Elder in the Church of St. Ambroise Article 7. For the Province of Xaintonge the Sieurs Daniel Chesnel Pastor of the Church of Marans and * * * There be two of his Sons Ministers and Exites here in England John Commarc Pastor of tie Church of Vertueil together with the Lords René de Saint Leger Esq Lord of Boiscond Elder in the Church of Clan and Mr. George Reveau Counsellor to the King and his Advocate at Rochel Elder of the Church in that City Article 8. For the Province of Provence the Sieurs Paul Maurice Pastor of the Church of Aigueres and John Monestier Elder in the Church of Lormarin Article 9. For the Province of Sevennes the Sieurs John Bony Pastor of the Church of St. John de Gardonengue and John Surville Pastor of the Church at Vigan together with the Sieurs Peter de Fons Lord of des Sabbatieres Elder in the Church of Quissac and Thomas Serre Esq Elder in the Church of Sauve Article 10. For the Province of Higher Languedoc the Sieurs Peter Charles Pastor of the Church of Montauban and Matthew Tissier Pastor of the Church of Mauvoisin together with the Sieur Sebastian de St. Fauste Elder in the Church of Mauvoisin and the Sieur David Fournes Advocate and Elder in the Church of Montauban who was absent having fallen sick on the way Article 11. For the Province of Anjou the Sieurs Daniel Couppé Pastor of the Church of Loudun and John Vigneux Pastor of the Church du Mans together with the Sieurs George Rabbotteau Advocate in Parliament and Elder in the Church of Pruille and Peter de Ceriziers Counsellor of the King in the Borough of Loudun and Elder of the Church in the same Town Article 12. For the Province of the Isle of France the Sieurs David Blondell Pastor of the Church of Roussy and John Daillé Pastor of the Church of Paris together with the Sieurs Peter de L'aunay Lord of La Mote and Peter Marbault Counsellor and Secretary to the King Elder in the Church of Paris Article 13. For the Province of Brittain the Sieurs Daniel Sauvé Pastor of the Church of Villevigne and Giles Lovyer Esq Lord of la Grestiere Elder of the same Church Article 14. For the Province of Orleans the Sieurs Jacob le Brun Pastor of the Church at Romorantin and John Taby Pastor of the Church at la Charité together with the Sieurs Claudius Bernard Bailiff of Chastillon upon the Loir and Elder of the Church there and Timothy Baignoux Elder in the Church of Mer. Article 15. For the Province of Poitou the Sieurs Samuel le Blanc Pastor of the Church at St. Maixant and Daniel Pain Pastor of the Church of Chastelheraut together with the Sieurs Charles de Gourgeaud Esq Lord of Pannieure Elder of the Church of Mougon and Francis Mauclere Esq Lord of la Mezanchere Elder in the Church of la Jandouiniere Article 16. For the Province of Vivaretz the Sieurs Alexander de Vinay Pastor of the Church of Annonay and Simeon de Hosty Pastor of the Church in St. Fortunate togethe◠with the Sieurs Andrew Paget Elder of the Church of Couxnear Privas and Anthony Regnet Doctor of the Laws Advocate and Elder in the Church of Aubenas Article 17. For the Province of Lower Guyenne the Sieurs John d' Alba Pastor of the Church at Agen and Daniel Ferrand Pastor of the Church of Bourdeaux together with Daniel Descayrac Lieutenant in the Court of Justice at Pugeols Elder of the Church in the same place and James Charron Advocate in the Parliament of Bourdeaux and Elder in the Church of Bergerac Article 18. For the Province of Bearn the Sieurs Simon Fuget Pastor of the Church of Carresse and Peter Margendie Doctor of Physick and Elder in the Church of Orthez Article 19. After Invocation of the Name of God the Reverend Mr. Benjamin Basnage was by plurality of Votes chosen Moderator and Mr. Couppé Assessor Mr. Blondel and Mr. Launay Scribes CHAP. II. The King's Commission to the Lord of St. Mars AS soon as the Officers of the Synod were chosen his Majesty's Letters Patents were read giving a Commission to Monsieur de St. Mars Counsellor in his Council of State to represent his Person in it the Form and Tenour of which was inserted into the Acts of this Synod A Copy of his Majesty's Letters Patents Louis by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre To our beloved and trusty Counsellor in our Council of State the Lord of St. Mars Greeting WE having permitted our Subjects of the pretend Reformed Religion to hold in our Town of Alanson the 27th of May
have promised to lay themselves out unto the utmost 5. The Church of Plessis appealed requesting that their Pastor Monsieur de Montigny might actually reside in the Town of Plessis according to the Discipline and the Canons of our National Synods and that the Sentence of the Isle of France which had dispensed with him might be disannulled and reversed This Assembly judged that the said Sieur de Montigny was of right obliged to reside at Plessis and ought not to be dispensed with yet nevertheless his Church is intreated to allow him four Months in the Year to attend his private Affairs at his House of Albon provided he do not discontinue the Exercises of his Ministry 6. Monsieur Fabas was heard in his Complaint about the non-executing of that Decree of the last National Synod which had authorized and commissionated the Colloquy of Condommois to take Informations and pass a Judgment of the Contents in the Letters written by those Gentlemen Mr. de la Fitte Gillot and Belard unto Monsieur D' Abadie and Pommarede during their Abode at Charenton and the Defence of Monsieur Rivall upon whose Report those Letters were written and to the Remonstrance of the Colloquy of Condommois who have not acquitted themselves of the Commission given them because the said la Fitte and Gillot refused to submit unto their Judgment and to the Excuse of the Province of Bearn that their Union with the Churches of this Kingdom was not at that time ratified and that they were not obliged to defray the Expences of the Deputies charged by the said Colloquy of Condommois to inform themselves of the Facts of some particular Persons but only those Persons who were concerned This Assembly declareth those Accusations brought in by the said Rivall and Belard against the said Fabas to be null and for this Reason because the first was grounded upon a Report spread abroad from a pretended Accusation brought by a particular Person who afterwards denied it and was proved to be false by all the Persons mentioned in it And the second consists of an ill-taken Equivocation alledged by one only Witness who ought not in any wise to be admitted it being expresly against the Prohibition of the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.5 19. Nor had the Colloquy of Pau any reason to grant a Commission unto Monsieur Rivall to take Information against Monsieur Fabas who opposed his Institution and Induction into the Church of Morlas and by consequence was a professed Party against him and Mr. la Fitte and Gillot have to no good purpose and only upon the single report of the said Rival spread abroad a groundless and unproved Accusation against a Minister of the Gospel Nor should the Province of Bearn have tolerated such Proceedings nor have permitted the Church of Morlas to be divided whenas they could have remedied it by fair and gentle Means according to the Word of God and the Order of our Discipline And whereas Mr. Rival and Bellard have defamed a Minister of the Gospel and occasion'd by their manner of Proceedings a great deal of unjust Reproach to be laid upon him which cannot in the least be justified the said Fabas Rival and Bellard are all enjoined to live in Peace and Brotherly Union and to forbear all Civil and Criminal Prosecutions made or hereafter to be made before the Magistrate upon the score of their Differences and to put a period and final issue unto those which are already begun whereunto the said Fabas and Rival have promised submission respectively and entred already into mutual Articles and Bonds for so doing 7. The Province of Bearn complained of and accused the said Sieur Fabas of rebellion against the Canons of our Discipline and of unlawful Proceedings whereby he designed to invalidate the Censures of the Church and that he did de facto most odiously traduce them before the Civil Magistrate Whereupon the said Mr. Fabas was heard complaining to the contrary and accusing the Province of Bearn for that they did without any lawful Cause remove him from his Church and deprive him of his Ministry in it and have not assigned him any other and have since suspended him the Exercise of his Ministry because he had appealed from their unrighteous Censure And secondly for that divers particular Members of the Church of Morlas after they had unjustly reproached him had divided that poor Church and abstained schismatically from the Exercises of Religion performed in it Whereupon the Acts of the Synod of Bearn and of the Colloquy of Pau were perused as also the Proceedings of the Lords in the Parliament of Navarre at the Petition of the said Fabas and of sundry others belonging to the Church of Morlas and the Inquisition made by the Commissioners of the said Parliament who were sent to Morlas to learn and sift out the Sentiments and Opinion of the said Church there were read also the Letters of the Consistory of the Church of Morlas humbly requesting that Monsieur Fabas might be continued in his Ministry among them and those of Mr. Bellard and other Elders and particular Persons demanding of the Consistory that he might be removed elsewhere This Assembly confirming the Ministry of the said Mr. Fabas in the Church of Morlas judgeth that the Province should not by its Rigour have enforced him to make use of those extraordinary Courses which he did in his own just Defence nor should it have favoured by its connivency the Disunion of those particular Persons who have separated themselves from the Body of the Church of Morlas whereas they should have according to their Duty reconciled them with the rest of their Brethren much less ought they to have took that Course they did to suspend the said Fabas after he had appealed And the said Mr. Fabas ought not in Duty to have departed from the Forms prescribed by our Discipline because the way of appealing unto superiour Ecclesiastical Assemblies was wide open to him And therefore the said Province is injoined for the future to refrain all violent Proceedings contrary to the Discipline and to apply out of hand suitable Remedies whereby the Schism in the Church of Morlas may be cured and the Members thereof reconciled among themseives and with their Pastor Mr. Fabas and all others are to acquiesce and rest contented with the Ways prescribed by the Discipline forbearing all Proceedings contrary to it and bringing those their Differences into Ecclesiastical Assemblies there to be composed And whereas some particular Members of the Church of Morlas have complained against the said Mr. Fabas their Passion and bitter Expressions are condemned and they be exhorted to mind their present Duty which is by a mutual Reconciliation to heal the Breaches and restore the Peace of the Church of God All which shall be signified unto them by Letters from this Synod 8. Monsieur Chorets a Member of the Church of Paris complained unto this Assembly of a Judgment past against him by the said
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
That if after they had perused it it were approved or should be approved upon their amendments I may have the liberty of Printing it For I could not without this restriction handsomly consent to such an unprofitable formality which served only as an entertainment of curiosity and discourse and to sparkle out new Alterations And I farther craved the benefit of two Laws in this our Commonwealth which do not only grant a Licence for Printing but a Privilege also against all Occurrences and new Translations of the Bible and Annotations on it provided that they have been approved This was plainly understood from that Judicious Approbation given unto the merit of the Work and not an Act of Arbitrary Power or of Absolute Will and Pleasure To this so just a demand and of common right some opposed an Article of the Synod of Alez which others endeavoured to back and re-inforce by Letters begged from certain Persons of great Name and Merit who were known to be in the same Sentiments with mine Opponents and engaged to maintain whatever had once proceeded from them especially they would have made this pass for granted with all the World That this Work had been generally rejected by all your Churches not so much for the substance of it as for its design and that therefore it was precisely prohibited But I made it appear that they were very much out in their reckoning and produced several Letters from Persons of as great Quality and more in number who highly approved of my Undertaking and applauded those Essays which had gone abroad and earnestly insisted upon its Impression I wave that Article of the Synod of Alez because there be just exceptions against it This Affair was only superficially and overtly treated of in it the Provinces came not prepared for it yea they had not so much as been consulted about it I was never heard nor any one for me that my Labour was but then a meer Embryo as it were in its first Conceptions that it could neither be seen nor examined That they took for granted on erroneous supposition viz. That I designed to eclipse or suppress our common Translation a thought of which never so much as came into my mind and if I had thought it I could never do it And lastly this pretended Judgment under which I and my Work Laboured had no foundation in any Law neither Antient nor Modern neither Canon nor Civil and therefore this Article being defective both in matter and order of Juridical Judgment could only be admitted as a simple prudential Counsel subject to examination by reason and second thoughts However our Magistrate bearing a very high respect unto your Churches and being jealous of what does any wise relate unto you would not in the least grant me my demand but desire that this Affair might be put off till the meeting of another National Synod in which I also acquiesced but with this protestation That after I had paid you my Duties informed and acquainted you with my Reasonings I did take it for granted that I might freely enjoy that right which hath been from time immemorial in the Christian Church to wit That it hath been permitted to all those who have the gift and faculty to serve the Church in this kind of Labour as well as in any other Theological Writings and that in case the advantage of the Laws on this account should be denied me here I would seek for it in some other place where I might accomplish my design in peace which would be very easie for me to do considering the great number of Friends and Favourers of my poor Labours which God hath graciously given me 'T was at this Post that my Affair stuck in this City and I hope the true Narrative I have made you of it will discharge and free me from all prejudices taken up against me I proceed now to report those Reasons with which I have always armed and fortified my Spirit against the many oppositions that have attacqued me And I most humbly beseech you to bear with me in my relating of them because I was ever condemned upon meer prudential accounts without any consideration had of Law Reasons or Examples which yet ought to be the ground and rule of all riglit Judgment in matter of Doctrine Conscience Necessity or where the great profit of the Church is concerned as it is in this now before you in which it is not permitted to be led and byassed by any respects whatsoever 'T is Lawful indeed and Expedient to endeavour an Accommodation of the whole by some fitting Temperament and Reconciliation if such may be found but in case it cannot be had we must pass over my first Argument For sith it hath been the constant practice of all Ages from the very birth of Christianity that all Nations and Languages have not only suffered but even carefully Collected and Embraced a Diversity of Translations of the Holy Scripture as is evident beyond all possibility of contradiction they having received some from Jews others from Hereticks attested to us by the Famous Hexapla of Origen there is then no reason why it should be now prohibited and that I should be made the first Precedent a new and unheard of instance and example in this old Age of the World My second is this That forasmuch as no considerable inconvenience hath ever risen from this Liberty Time having suddenly suppressed the vicious and ill performed and given Authority unto good Translations which by their own strength could bear a Trial and on the other hand this Liberty having very much contributed to the growth of Light and Knowledge and the defects of one Translation being supplied by the perfections of another it is unreasonable to Judge that there should be other manner of effects now than heretofore especially when as in this Learned Age matters of base allay will be soon discovered and decried and what cannot subsist upon the lively roots of Solidity will suddenly wither and be mowed down Antiquity reaped much Fruit this way as St. Augustine and divers others have witnessed but the Christian Church in our days hath enjoy'd it most abundantly For the sweet Odors disperst abroad by the new Translations of the Bible in divers Languages within these five and twenty or thirty years is wonderful and they have largely contributed to the Edifying Instruction and Confirmation of Saints The English Translation for its great Fidelity and Clearness weareth a shining Crown of Glory upon its head Those two German ones of Piscator and Cramerus for their Noble Qualities and Conditions are exceeding useful and have done a great deal of good The new Polonian made and Printed at the instance of the Prince of Radzeville is of that esteem as to allure the present King of Poland to read it and to enamour him of it tho' he be a Prince of a contrary Religion The new Dutch Translation which is just now coming into the World sets persons
long lines of Invectives Calumnies and false groundless Suspicions which they will never be able to extract from its publication By which means I doubt not but with my Candor to demulce their humours and by the representing of the lively Light of God in his Holy Word to illuminate them and by the Celestial sweetness thereof to allure even some of the fiercest Spirits amongst them to the good ways of God for however they may contradict men 't is difficult for them to contradict the Heavenly Sweets of God's Word Which I speak by experience of my Italian Translation for having where I could with a safe Conscience followed St. Jerom it was not unsuccessful If this happiness might now befal me which is not to be hoped for from our Vulgar French Translation judged by them over partial there is no Fear nor Worldly Respect that should weigh down with me Some tell me the time is unseasonable but I answer 'T is never out of season to do good and to be too intent upon the times is the right and ready way to lose all and these times of ours which do stupifie our Souls with the horrors of those woful events happened in them do contrariwise seem the most proper for the slipping of this Labour into the World which feareth no assault but what may be given it in the birth Besides my declining years do call upon me to consider the small time that is left me to give life unto this Fruit unless I would have it buried together with me in my Grave or I must let it come forth into the World all maimed and disfigured after my Decease For all these Reasons and Considerations most Reverend and most Honoured Brethren I shall conclude with two most humble and earnest Petitions to you One is That you would not in this Affair make any Reflection upon those Sentiments which are now disputed in this Church for tho' at the bottom it cannot but have other movements than you have yet nevertheless it cannot subsist but under your Shadow which if removed it must needs fall to the ground My other Request to you is That you would be pleased freely to vouchsafe me what lieth in your power to do for me which is not an Approbation of a Work never seen by you and to demand it of you would be a very unjust thing in me much less that you should give it with the privilege of a publick usage which would be an exorbitant Temerity but this only not to condemn me nor to hinder this first Edition which I desire only to publish unto the World for discovery of Mens Opinions of it and to be farther sifted and examined by them By this Equanimity of yours you will consolate me under my Travails and sore Pains you will renew my Vigour and raise my Spirits and incourage me also to publish my Latin Translation at the many instances and ardent desires which are made me But in case you should be so pre-occupied as to deny me this small favour I do now beg your pardon if I say with an extreme grief that I shall lock up my self in the Cloister of my own Conscience and rest quietly in this confidence that this work will at last be more accepted and approved than at first and I shall imitate St. Jerome who out of meer respect to the Union and Charity of St. Augustine with the African Synods resolved to displease himself for a short time that he might afterward more happily give content unto Posterity and according to the example of all good Servants who even in some remarkable act of their Duty and Service do often digest with patience the disdain of their Superiors and exceed in obedience that they may give them a more certain and better accompt of their Fidelity in the upshot of their Work I pray God that if it be his gracious Will I may receive from your fraternal hands this Fruit of Peace and Consolation and that from his Fatherly hands you may receive his abundant and most powerful Blessing upon all your Holy Deliberations and Actions I beseech you grant me that Honour of being avowed by you Geneva May 1st 1637. Messieurs and most Honoured Brethren Your most Humble and most Faithful Brother and Servant in the Lord DIODATI THE Acts Decisions and Decrees OF THE Twenty eighth Synod OF THE Reformed Churches OF FRANCE Held the Third time AT CHARENTON St. MAVRICE NEAR PARIS On Monday the Six and Twentieth Day of December and ended Thursday the Six and Twentieth Day of January following In the Years of our Lord 1644. and 1645. The CONTENTS of the Third Synod of CHARENTON Chap. I. THe Synod opened with Prayer The General Deputy presenteth the King 's Writ for calling the Synod The Deputies unto the Synod Manner of choosing the Synodical Officers 16.3 Chap. II. Letters Patents for the Lord if Boisgrollier to be His Majesty's Commissioner in the Synod 4. The Commissioner's Speech unto the Synod Chap. III. The Moderator's Answer to it very smart close and pertinent Chap. IV. The Synod's Letters unto the King and Lords of the Council Chap. V. The Return of the Deputies with the King's Answer The Deputies Address to the Prince of Conde His Answer Letters from Foreign Churches Vniversities and Divines not suffered to be Answered 11. The Old General Deputy lays down his Office another imposed upon the Churches by the King 12. The Bill of Grievances must be drawn up privately by a Select Committee 13. Thanks returned by the Synod unto the last General Deputy 15. Chap. VI. A Second Letter to the King and the Queen Chap. VII Confession of Faith approved Chap. VIII Observations upon the Discipline An Appellant shall abstain from the Lord's Table 2. No Mm shall Marry the Mother of his Deceased Spouse without a Dispensation from the Civil Magistrate 3. The Widow of a Deceased Brother may be Married with the Magistrates Dispensation 4. No Proposans shall get into the Pulpit 5. The Deputies Letters of Commission unto the National-Synod shall be Signed by the Synodcal Officers of their respective Provinces 7. Cousin Germans shall not Marry without the King's Dispensation 8. Chap. IX Form of Baptizing Pagans Jews Mahometans Anabaptists and Adult Infidels now embraceing the Christian Religion Ministers to give the Cup at the Lord's Table 11. Order about Catechising 12. The Memoirs sent by the Provinces must be Signed by the Moderatiors in their Synods or they will be thrown out of the National 15. The Moderator to Vote last 16. Chap. X. Observations upon the Synod of Alanson The last Will of a Deceased Minister not fullfilled 4. The Business of Monsieur Amyraud revived and immediately stifled by the National Synod 6.7 Chap. XI Of Appeals A Minister made Emeritus 3. Discipline Exercised upon one who had Married his Wifes Neece and other Delinquents 13. Monsieur Codur an Ancient Minister and Professor of Divinity Censured for attempting to Reconcile the Reformed Churches of France with
the Church of Rome in the Article of Justification 17. The Dutchess of Tremoville appears in the Synod Differences between two Pastors and a Church made up 21. A Church Projector Censured 27. Chap. XII Of General Matters A Decree against Swearing of young Scholars 2. All Deeds and Evidences belonging to particular Churches carefully to be preserved 3. No Canon to be made about things indifferent 6. Care for the Redemption of poor Captives in Turkey 7. A Canon against Independents 9. Chap. XIII The Heads and Articles of Agreement between the Presbyterians and Independents Chap. XIV Books and Manuscripts against Original Sin Censured Act 10. Of General Matters An Act against any manner of Worship yielded to the Popish Host when carried in Procession 11. An Act for a National Fast 12. Chap. XV. Millitiere and his Business before the Synod His Excommunication Particular matters 1. The Province of Normandy may not be divided into two 11. Mr. Drelincourt hath the Thanks of the Synod for his Book against the Worship of the Virgin Mary 18. A poor Minister and Emeritus relieved but with a Check 23. The Case of Mr. Arnaud a Persecuted Minister 24. An Account of Mr. Blondel his Works Office and the Synod's Honour for him 26. Monsieur Gauter Compiles the Canons of the National Synods into one Body and applieth them to the Canons of the Discipline 28. Monsieur Catelon doth the same 29. Chap. XVI Of Vniversities Care taken for the Vniversity of Montauban and the other Vniversities 1. The Province of Bearn Exposed for neglect of their Duty and Promise 2. The Generosity of a Professor in Divinity 10. An Ordinance of the Synod to several Ministers and Professors to compleat Monsieur Chamier's Works and to Publish their own 23. The Contribution of the Provinces to the several Vniversities 25.6.7.8 Chap. XVII Accompts of the Vniversities Chap. XVIII An Act for calling the next National Synod Chap. XIX A Decree about the Validity of the Synodical Acts. Chap. XX. The Roll of Apostate and Deposed Pastors Chap. XXI Remarks upon some of the Deputies to this Synod D. Blondel c. THE Synod of Charenton 1644. and 1645. The 28th Synod SYNOD XXVIII 1644. 1645. In the Name of God Amen Acts of the Eight and Twentieth National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France Assembled by His Majesty's Permission at Charenton St. Maurice near Paris on Monday the Six and Twentieth Day of December 1644. and ended Thursday the Six and Twentieth Day of January 1645. CHAP. I. 1. Monsieur Drelincourt Pastor of the Church of Paris opened the Sessions with Prayer and then the Lord Marquis of Clermont General Deputy Presented the Writ given forth by His Majesty's Command for calling the Synod The Tenour of which is as followeth THis day being the Twelfth of February 1644. The King being then at Paris upon the most humble Petition of his Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion to permit them the Calling and Holding of a National Synod there having been none since that of Alanson in the year 1637. His Majesty by the advice of the Queen-Regent His most Honoured Lady and Mother desiring to Gratifie and Treat Favourably His said Subjects hath permitted and doth permit them the Convocation of a National Synod in December next at Charenton but with this Condition that they Treat in it of none other matters but of those which be allowed them by Their Majesties Edicts and that the Commissioner whom His Majesty shall please to appoint be Personally present in the said Synod as hath been accustomed In Witness whereof His Majesty hath Commanded me to Issue out this present Writ which he hath Signed with His own Hand and caused to be Counter-signed by me His Councellor and Secretary of State and of His Commands Signed in the Original LOVIS And a little lower Phelippeaux 2. There met in the said Assembly with Letters of Commission which were read by my Lord le Coq Elder in the Church of Paris sitting at the Table together with another Elder the Sieur Caillard who were both Chosen by Common Suffrages unto this Office these Persons hereafter named Article 1. For the Province of Anjou Monsieur Isaac Pelletier Pastor of the Church of Vandome and Stephen le Vacher Pastor of l' Isle Bouchard together with the Sieurs George Raboteau and Joseph Roisay Advocates and Elders in the Church of Previlly Article 2. For the Province of the Isle of France Monsieur David Blondel Minister of God's Holy Word and formerly Pastor of the Church of Houdan but now residing in Paris by express Order of his Provincinal Synod and of this Assembly and Charles Drelincourt Pastor of the Church of Paris and Theodorus le Coq Elder of the said Church He was alone because the Lord had called home unto himself the Sieur John Bazin Elder of the said Church who was joyned in Commission with him Article 3. For the Province of Normandy the Sieurs Benjamin Basnage Pastor of the Church of Ste. Mere Eglise John Maximilian de L'Angle Pastor of the Church of Rovan Daniel Guesdon Elder of the same Church and Isaac Caillard Elder in the Church of Alanson Article 4. For the Province of Dolphiny the Sieurs Francis Murat another Copy calls him de Maras Pastor of the Church of Grenoble Simon Coin Pastor of the Church of Bessey Peter du Clog Esq Lord of Chastillon and du Serres Elder in the Church of Veyne and David Albert Elder in the Church of Brianâ—on Article 5. For the Province of Sévennes the Sieurs Nicholas Blane Pastor of the Church of Sumaine Anthony Button Pastor of the Church of Alez the Noble John de Bringniere Lord de la Roque Elder in the Church of la Salle and David Rouviere Doctor of Physick Elder of the Church of Alez Article 6. For the Province of Bearn the Sieurs John de la Fitte Pastor of the Church of Pau and the Noble Alexander de la Fibre Baron of Riquam and Lord of Cadellon Elder in the Church of Couches Article 7. For the Province of Lower Guyenne the Sieurs James Privas Pastor of the Church of Ste. Foy Simon de Goyon Pastor of the Church of Bourdeaux the Sieurs de Cazes and de Sauvage tho' they were Deputed by their Synod appeared not the Cognisance whereof was remanded back unto that Province Article 8. For the Province of Xaintonge the Sieurs Philip Vincent Pastor of the Church of Rochel Theophilus Rossel Pastor of the Church of Xaintes Stephen Soulard Advocate in the Parliament of Bourdeaux Elder in the Church of Xaintes and Daniel Texeron Lord of Cresper Counsellor nominated by His Majesty for the Circuit of St. John d' Angeley and Elder of the Church in that Town Article 9. For the Province of Vivaretz the Sieurs Alexander de Vinay Pastor of the Church of Annonay Paul Annard another Copy calls him Accaurat Pastor of the Church gathered near Privas James Gautier Esq Lord of Gourdanel Elder in the
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
Particular After that doleful Providence which deprived us of our late King Louis the Just of most glorious Memory there was no Man but did believe that the end of his Life would have been the end of our Happiness but God who loveth France and hath so often raised it from Falling hath not permitted this Loss to issue in such Mournful Consequences The Sun never Sets but to Rise again and to make us see a Shining Day of the Kingdom of Grace we saw it as the dawning of our Happiness His Majesty keeping his Court of Justice attended by the Princes of his Blood and of all the Grandees of the Realm and the Queen declared Regent of this Kingdom by the Joint Suffrages and Solemn Decrees of Parliament Immediately hereupon their Majesties open'd their Treasures of Mercy and Clemency and gave Satisfaction to all sorts of Interests and Reconciled a Multitude of Malecontents unto the Government They inlarged Prisoners they Licensed the Absent to return unto their Houses they gave leave unto the Accused to endeavour their own Justification they restored the Innocent unto their Offices and to Places of Trust in the State they confirmed the Conduct and Generalship of the Armies unto his Royal Highness the Duke of Orleans who caused his Orders and Commands at the Siege of Gravelin to be admired and in sight of the Enemy's Troops took that most Important Place which will serve unto Posterity as a lasting Monument of his Valour and Generosity We may add unto this propitious Success the Victory of Rocroy the taking of Thionville Spires Wormes Mentz Phillipsbourg and the Defeat of the Bavarian Army even in their very Trenches These great and Signal Advantages followed with sundry others have rendred the Name of our King August and Venerable among the Nations and his Power Terrible unto his Enemies who are constrained to confess it to be Unparallel'd and that God doth from Heaven visibly Bless and Favour his Armies and Undertakings We have also another very Comfortable Sight that whilst all the Neighbour Nations round about us are in the Flames of War France enjoyeth a profound Peace reposing it self upon the continual Travels of the Queen Regent who may be most justly stiled the Mother of our Country and the Mother of our Armies and upon the Wise and Prudent Counsels of his Royal Highness the Duke of Orleans and of his Highness the Prince and of his Eminency my Lord Cardinal Mazarin and that perfect Union and good Understanding which is between them and the Fidelity and Experience of my Lords the Ministers of State which raise our Hopes that we shall see in these our days a general Peace the very Crown and Perfection of our Happiness Besides these Considerations which are common to you and to all French-men there be some others which be special and peculiar to those of your Profession and Religion You may very well remember that no sooner did the King begin his Reign than that their Majesties were pleased to Issue forth a Royal Declaration wherein they Confirm'd all former Edicts and permitted you the Exercise of your Religion the Liberty of your Consciences the safety of your Persons the secure injoyment of your Goods and Churches which subsist most Happily under the Wings of their Royal Goodness and Authority And observe it I beseech you as a Singular Mark of their Majesties Favour to you that there be of your Religion in the Kingdom Persons of the Highest Quality there be among you most Noble and Illustrious Dukes and Peers Mareschals of France Generals of Armies Governours and Magistrates Judges in Sovereign Courts and their Majesties now this very day out of that great Confidence they have in your Loyalty and Fidelity have granted you this Assembly at the very Gates of the Metropolis of the Kingdom in the very Face and View of all France and of this infinite People of Paris a People vastly different from you in Manners and Humours in Inclination and Religion who will be Severe Witnesses and Judges of all your Actions For these Considerations I cannot Sirs but perswade my self that you will all Unanimously and with one Consent aim chiefly and principally at the Glory of God the Service of the King the Weal and Welfare of your Churches and the Comfort of your own Consciences and that all your Debates and Actions shall be managed with that Moderation Prudence and Humility as becometh such Faithful Subjects as you are Which will be a most powerful and effectual means to derive down upon you and the Provinces which have Deputed you the Gracious Favours of their Majesties especially when as the thinking World shall observe that you breathe nothing more than that profound Respect and Duty which you owe them And that all things may be done in that Order prescribed me by their Majesties I am in their Name commanded to acquaint you that all Ministers who are not their Natural Born Subjects but Strangers are to be excluded your Synod and that none may assist to Vote in it who hath not Letters of Deputation from his Provincial Synod and that during the time it is holden you may not have any Communication with Foreigners or other Suspected Persons but you are to abide here intending those Affairs for which you were sent And for as much as your Assemblies are not by any Legal Constitution a Body Politick their Majesties have forbidden you to intermeddle in your Synodical Sessions with State Affairs or Matters of Justice nor to speak any thing about the Restoration of Foreign Ministers who have been ejected out of their Churches by Decrees of Parliaments or by Letters Signed by his Majesty in consequence of them nor to bring in any Complaints about pretended Infractions of the Edicts seeing you have the Mixed Courts and other Courts of Justice established by the Edicts to do you Right and Justice and to repair those Violations of the Edicts if any there be for which you may get a Remedy by applying your selves unto his Majesties Council unto which you may present your Petitions in the usual Form because your Synod hath no Power to judge of such Matters but only to treat of Points of Doctrin and Articles of Church-Discipline You are forbidden also to nominate any Pastors or other Extraordinary Deputies to receive Letters or return Answers to those which shall be directed unto their Provinces or to consult of such Affairs in the Intervals betwixt one Synod and another because such Counsellors and their Consultations are expresly forbidden by that Edict of the Month of December One Thousand Six Hundred Twenty and Two and by the Declarations that followed after it Moreover their Majesties do forbid you to Print any Books in any Place whatsoever concerning your Religion which are not attested by the Manual Certificates of Two Ministers at least and those in actual Office in some of the Churches of this Kingdom under pain of Confiscation of the whole Impression Nor may you denounce
aforesaid Deputies doth in compliance with the said Province and Church of Die now settle him in the Church of Manosques nor may he on pretence of any Bargain and Agreement made betwixt him and the Church of Die demand or claim a Farthing from them for the time in which he hath exercised his Ministry among them And farther License is given unto the Church of Manosques to provide themselves of another Pastor as God shall give them Ability and Opportunity for so doing either within or without the Province in case the said Aymin shall leave them destitute and unsupplied to follow his Suits at Law which he hath already or may hereafter Commence or in case he shall Abandon them without their Consent first had and obtained 33. The two Synods of Poictou and Xaintonge having agreed and joyntly consented to the Uniting of the Churches of Champagne-Mouton and St. Claud and after reading those Letters sent from the Right Honourable the Earl of Roussy by whose Contribution the said Church of Champagne-Mouton is principally maintained and who requested that Monsieur Ferrand might be continued in his Ministry there notwithstanding the means used by the Church of Courtelles to remove him thence and gain him for themselves as it appeareth by their Letters Appeal and Memoirs sent unto this Synod for this very end and purpose This Assembly confirmeth the Union of those said Churches of Champagne and St. Claud and Ordaineth the Synod of Poictou to take all possible care for the speedy supply of the Church of Courtelles by some able and worthy Minister who may be for its Edification And on default hereof the Church of Courtelles shall be reincorporated with that of Champagne and St. Claud and shall be served alternatively by the said Monsieur Ferrand who also shall assist alternatively at the Synods of Xaintonge and Poictou 34. Monsieur Homel Deputy for the Province of Vivaretz came charged with the Memoirs of the University of Die and declared in the audience of this Synod the Grievances they had sustained by Judgments past upon them the 21st Day of March 1638 and the 7th of March 1643 by the Consistory of Lion to whose Cognizance the Difference betwixt the said University and Monsieur Aymin had been remitted upon occasion of an Accompt which should have been rendred by him of a certain business with the management whereof he was intrusted by that University And the said Mr. Aymin was heard in his Answers to them Upon the whole this Assembly amended these Judgments aforesaid and hath regulated and reduced the Payments to be made unto the said Aymin to Sixty Sous by the day for his Journeys and those Days to the Number of Six Hundred Fifty and Nine so that the Sum due for them amounts to Sixteen Hundred Forty and Seven Livers and Ten Sous Moreover it is Ordained that those aforesaid Judgments of the 21st of March 1638 and the 7th of March 1643 shall stand good for those other Sums which have been adjudged him arising to Seven Hundred Forty and Seven Livers Seven Sous out of which there shall be deducted the Sum of Two Hundred and Ten Livers received by Monsieur Aymin and couched by himself in his Accompt of the 4th of January 1638. And the Sum of an Hundred and Thirty Livers Five Sous which he received of the Consistory of Lyon March the 27th 1634 together with the Sum of Eight Hundred Thirty and Four Livers Sixteen Sous owned by him on account of the 17th of January 1642 all those Payments amounting to the Sum of 2982 l. the said Mr. Aymin shall restore and make Payment out of them the Sum of Five Hundred Eighty and Seven Livers Four Sous unto the said University and of all other Sums received by him which he never charged nor brought in himself Debtor for on his Account as also all Papers Deeds and Instructions belonging to the University of Die and lying by him and in his Custody he shall Surrender to them 35. Whereas the University of Saumur have brought in an Appeal upon a business of Monsieur Forbes their Professor of Eloquence it is declared null 36. The Appeal of the Church of Lassay about their Pastor Monsieur Rouvean is declared null CHAP. XII General Matters ARTICLE 1. IF any Pastors being removed from their Churches by Ordinance of their Provincial Synods shall endeavour to obstruct the Execution of that Ordinance by entring of their Appeals unto the National Synod and thereby as much as in them lieth promote Disorders and Confusions in the House of God and render our Discipline useless and the Cure of the Church remediless This Assembly decreeth that the said Appellants shall be subject to the Judgment of their Neighbour Provinces which shall first hold their Synod and that Provincial Synod shall take Cognizance of their Appeal and give Sentence in it till the meeting of the next National Synod ARTICLE 2. This Assembly forbiddeth all the Provinces to Cause their Young Scholars make Oath that they will never quit the Service of those Churches and Provinces in which they shall be first admitted unto the Ministry of the Gospel because this is prejudicial to the Rights of our National Synods and very much impedeth the common Edification of the Churches ARTICLE 3. It being moved by the Deputies of the Isle of France all the Churches are enjoyned to conserve most Charily the Acts of Settlements made in the Years 1599 and 1600 by those Lords Commissioners who were deputed by his Majesty King Henry the Fourth to execute the Edict and to give notice thereof in all Places where it hath not been observed and to take a most special care of all their Deeds Acts and Evidences which prove the Exercise of our Religion in those Places where it was in the Years 1576 and 1577 and 1596 and 1597. ARTICLE 4. When as Pastors and Elders for the Conscientious Discharge of their Duties shall be Prosecuted at Law provided they have acted therein according to the Canons of our Discipline and the Rules of the Edict the Churches are bound to see them indemnified and in case their particular Church be overburden'd the other Churches of that Colloquy and Province ought in Conscience to help bear the Charges with them Wherefore this Assembly cannot but judge those Churches guilty of a most inexcusable ingratitude who have forsook their Pastors and Elders leaving them to shift for themselves when as they have been Sued at Law and Imprisoned for following the Duties of their Places and Callings ARTICLE 5. At the Request or the Province of Sevennes this Assembly explained the First Article of General Matters passed in the National Synod of St. Maixant and did thereupon declare that no particular Church could seek after a Pastor till it have first obtained permission from their Colloquy or Provincial Synod and when as they have procured him they may not effectually settle him without the Consent of the whole body of that Synod or of
as a mark of their Esteem and Favour by this very Synod But being invited to the Profession of History in the Illustrious School of Amsterdam he left his Native Country accepted of the Employment and died in that City 2. Monsieur Drelincourt Pastor of the Church of Paris a very learned and holy Man of God of him and his Works I say more in my Icones 3. Monsieur Basnage He was in high Esteem with their Churches he hath a very Learned Son now living in Exile at Rotterdam 4. Monsieur de L' Angle a most eloquent Preacher His Son is one of the Prebends of Westminster 5. Monsieur Vincent Pastor of the Church of Rochel the Jesuits called him Two Thousand He perpetually mawl'd them in the Pulpit 6. Monsieur Jurieu his Son is that worthy Pastor of the French Church and Professor of Divinity at Rotterdam 7. Monsieur Garrissoles the Moderator was a Person of Eminent Learning and Piety When all the other Professors in the University of Montauban quitted it for want of their Stipends he alone continued in the Discharge of the Duties of his Professoral Office doing his Work faithfully and painfully trusting God for his Wages 8. Monsieur de Croy was nominated by this National Synod to the Professors Chair of Divinity in the University of Nisms Mr. Amyraut had a very great Esteem for him and Dedicated his Treatise De Libero Hominis Arbitrio unto him The End of the Twenty Eighth Synod THE Acts Decisions and Decrees Made and Done in the XXIX National Synod OF The Reformed Churches OF FRANCE Held in The Town of Loudun and Province of Anjou The Tenth Day of November 1659. The CONTENTS of the Synod of Loudun Chap. I. THE Kings's Writ for calling the National Synod Names of the Deputies Election of Synodical Officers Chap. II. The Kings Letters Patents to Monsieur de Magdelaine to be his Commissioner in the Synod Chap. III. The Lord Commissioners Speech to the Synod Chap. IV. The Moderators Answer to that Speech Chap. V. The Marquiss of Ruvigny sworn General Deputy 2. His Commission from the King unto that Office 3. A Limitation of his Votes 4. Deputies from the Synod to the King 5. The Synods Letters to the King Queen and his Eminency the Cardinal Mazarin 6. Return of the Deputies from the Court unto the Synod with the King and Cardinals Letters 7. Three Persons presented to the King out of which One to be prick'd by him for another General Deputy 8. Letters from Foreign Churches to the Synod but not suffered to be answered 9. Another Letter of the Synod unto the King and Cardinal Chap. VI. Notes upon the Confession of Faith Chap. VII Observations upon the Discipline 1. Churches not to be too hasty in admitting Converted Priests into the Ministry 2. Proposans must be examined in Colloquies and Synods 4. Imposition of Hands in Ordination The Discipline sworn Chap. VIII Observations upon the Synod of Charenton 1. About Seats in the Temples 2. A Canon about Catechising 4. A Pragmatical Minister censured 6. An incestuous Couple not to be admitted to the Lord's Table till Six Months after their Separation 11. The Canons about the Imputation of Adam's Sin not to be altered Chap. IX Of Appeals The Case of a poor Minister 6. A Minister impeached in the Synod for practising Physick 10. An Intricate Appeal 18. The Business of Mr. Morus 21. The Business of Mr. D'Hysseau and Amyraut Chap. X. General Matters An Act against the Profanation of the Lords Day 4. A Canon against Duels 6. An Observation about the Lutherans 8. Whether the Lord's Supper may be administred upon a Working Day 9. The Consistory of the Church of Paris are to take care of a more correct Edition of the Bible Psalms Liturgy and Catechism 13. Baptism of Infants not to be delayed 1â— Errors to be confuted in the Latin Tongue 17. No Sermons to be Printed without Approbation 21. Method for Voting in the National Synod 23. Complaints against Mr. Daille and Amyraut about their Writings 24. Articles of Peace extracted out of the Acts of N. Ss. of Alanson and Charenton 25. Manner of determining Appeals 25. An Act against Blasphemy 26. Care taken to preserve the Annexed Congregations a kind of Daughter Churches 27. The Generosity Self-denial and great Affection to the Churches of Mr. Loride des Gallnieres 28. Chap. XI Particular Matters Orders about the Election of a Proposan to a Pension 11. Care had of a Worthy Minister 14 15. Of a Ministers Widow 21. Of another Minister 22. Of a Learned Lawyer writing in Defence of the Truth against Cardinal Baronius his Annals 27. About an accused Minister 29. Chap. XII Of Vniversities The Corruptions got amongst Students in the V niversities corrected and reformed 2. Excessive Rates for Lodging and Commons in those Vniversity Towns retrenched and redressed 3. Prizes given unto Scholars in the Vniversity of Die 4. Provinces censured for their neglect of the V niversities 7 8. Care of Professor's Widows 9 10. Chap. XIII Accounts of the Lord du Candal Chap. XIV An Act for the National Fast Chap. XV. A Dividend of Sixteen Thousand Livres Chap. XVI The Roll of Deposed and Apostate Ministers Chap. XVII An Act for Taxing the Expences of the Deputies Chap. XVIII An Act for calling the next National Synod Chap. XIX An Act for the Validity of all Acts which shall be Delivered and Signed Chap. XX. Commissions given by the Synod executed and the Commissioners Speeches unto the Vniversity and Consistory of Saumur Chap. XXI A Letter to Martyn the Apostate Chap. XXII Remarks upon the Deputies unto the Synod Chap. XXIII Catalogue of the Churches and Ministers The Synod of Loudun 1659. The 29th Synod SYNOD XXIX In the Name of God Amen The Acts of the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France Assembled by his Majesties Permission in the Town of Loudun the Tenth Day of November One Thousand Six Hundred Fifty and Nine and continued Sitting full Two Months viz. till the Tenth Day of January 1660. CHAP. I. MOnsieur Desloges Pastor of the Church of Loudun opened the Synod with Prayer the next day after their Meeting viz. the Eleventh of November and then the Lord Marquiss of Ruvigny who was General Deputy of the Churches presented his Majesties Writ for calling this Synod the Tenour of which is as followeth This Sixth Day of September One Thousand Six Hundred Fifty and Nine the King being at Burdeaux upon the most humble Petition of his Subjects of the P. R. Religion tendered unto his Majesty that he would be pleased to permit them to Call and Assemble a National Synod because there had not been one held since that of Charenton in the Year 1644. His Majesty being willing to gratify and treat favourably those his said Subjects he hath permitted and doth permit them to convocate a National Synod on the Tenth Day of May next in his Town of Loudun but on this condition that there shall
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
not being able to suffer that such Words should be Sworn in this Synod and you be all in this matter which lieth so near his Heart invited to testifie that respect and obedience which you would always render unto whatsoever shall be propounded and ordained by him Moreover he forbids your reception of Foreigners into the Ministry and Pastoral Office among you or their Admission into your Synodâ— or that you so much as speak of their Matters and Restoration who have been dispossessed and ejected out of their Churches by vertue of the Decrees of Parliament and of his Majesty's Letters nor that any Stranger be received And to this purpose it is his Will that â—n all Attestations given unto Scholars and Proposans or Ministers that are to be received there shall be inserted the place of their Birth And to prevent that Aversion for Monarchy which is contracted by them who follow their Studies in Foreign States and Commonwealths such as Geneva Switzerland England and Holland there shall be a Canon expresly made to this purpose and shall be accordingly observed That such Person as have studied in any of those Foreign Universities and offer themselves to be ordained or to be admitted Pastors of any Church shall not at all be admitted And if you shall make such non as this his Majesty assureth you that you will not only do a thing which will be very pleasing to him but which also shall redound very much unto your Advantage And it is his Majesty's Will that no Letters shall be read to open Assembly till they have been first communicated to me and that I have been acquainted with their Contents and that I suffer none to be read which come from any Foreigner Furthermore His Majesty enjoyneth all Pastors and Ministers to preach the Commandments of God and that Obedience which People owe unto their King and that it is utterly unlawful for them to revolt or take up Arms against their Soveraign upon any cause or occasion whatsoever upon which Subject there shall be one Sermon at least made and preached in my Hearing in one of the Sessions of this Synod And you be also farther forbidden from ever using hereafter in your Pulpit-Discourses these Words Scourges Persecution or other such like Expressions which are apt to stir up the Minds of his Majesty's Subjects unto Sedition and to alienate their Affections from his Majesty who is most desirous to maintain and preserve them in Tranquility And to prevent those Disorders which are caused by Books published to the World 't is his Majesty's Pleasure that no Books treating of the Protestant Reformed Religion whether Printed within or without the Kingdom shall be vended by any Bookseller or others till they have been first approved by two Ministers of this Kingdom Moreover his Majesty giveth you to understand that 't is his pleasure that none of the Deputies shall speak of the Infraction of the Edicts and leave those other ways which are permitted them to have such Infractions if any redressed Synods have heretofore done so but this shall not for it is no Judge of these matters Here matters of Doctrin and Church-Discipline only are to be handled And whereas 't is usual for these Synodical Assemblies to complain of their Grievances the King commands me to tell you that he hath far greater cause to complain of the Infractions and Transgressions of his Edicts committed by his Subjects of the Pr. Reformed Religion in contempt of them for they have dared to proceed unto that high Excess of Insolence even since his Majesty began his Reign as to set up Preachings again in Languedoc where they had been suppressed and not only in that Province but elsewhere also and that in an open presumptuous manner against the Publick Peace and the general Laws of the Kingdom which do impartially forbid the Subjects of the one or other Religion to carve out unto themselves Satisfaction and Justice although they were wronged and had the right on their side yea and they have also in divers places by their meer private Authority set up again Preachings besides those which were allowed and appointed by the Commissioners for Executing the Edict of Nantes particularly in such places where the Ecclesiasticks are Lords of the Mannor which is a grievous violation of the Edict Moreover your Ministers do notoriously transgress it by excomunicating such Parents as send their Children to study in Catholick Colledges and have written * * * * * * You have a Specimen of this in a Letter writ by an unknown Person to one Martyn an Apostate Minister which is added to the end of this Synod scurrilously and injuriously of those who have become Converts unto the Roman Catholick Religion Moreover there is a practice among you of diverting the Poor's Mony and Legacies given to Pious uses by employing those Sums towards the Maintenance of your Ministers and to the defraying of Synodical Expences and Reparation of your Temples which Methods and Courses are contrary to those prescribed by the Forty Third Article of particular matters in the Edict of Nants which His Majesty will have observed Upon all which Actions and others of the like nature done in prejudice of his Majesties Authority and the publick Tranquility of whose Preservation his Majesty is so careful he declareth that being the common Father of his People he neither can nor ought to suffer his Edicts to be thus violated and therefore giveth Notice unto his Subjects of the P. R. Religion that they reform these their Miscarriages and you are to exhort them to it and that they demean themselves better for the future that so his Majesty may have no just occasion of offence which he will certainly take at such enterprises as these are and the non-observation of his Edicts And he would believe that you willfully satisfie him on your part and in case you so do his Majesty assureth you of his Royal Protection and of all acts of Kindnesses that you can possibly desire of him for your satisfaction Finally his Majesty having considered that National Synods cannot be held without very great Expences nor without putting such as take long Journeys hither to a World of trouble and whereas many matters and businesses which are reserv'd for these general Assemblies may be terminated with more ease and less Charges in the Provincial Synods which his Majesty permits to be held once every Year for the Conveniency and Discipline of the Churches of the Protestant Reformed Religion for these considerations his Majesty thought good to propound by me unto you Sirs that for time to come you should give all power unto Provincial Synods for knowing regulating and terminating of affairs which may fall out in all the Provinces of this Kingdom the cognizance whereof did only formerly belong unto these National Synods which his Majesty is resolv'd shall never be held any more but when as he thinks meet And to conclude there is a matter of
great importance which is fitting you should be acquainted with now at the beginning of this Synod that so it may be the better ordered and ended the sooner I received in my Letters very lately an Express and particular Order concerning some certain Articles and Orders of which I before spake viz. That there is an Abuse committed by the Provinces in sending and communicating by their Deputies Letters from Strangers This his Majesty declareth to be contrary to his Edicts and prejudicial to the publick Peace and his own Service Wherefore I am commanded to be very careful and to provide herein that among your deliberations none other matters be debated but such as ought of right to be so by all the Deputies of the Provinces of this Kingdom and those Matters only which concern the Provinces and that you neither receive any Letters from nor hold any Correspondency with Strangers in any way or manner or for any cause or business whatsoever and you be most strictly forbidden to receive any Writings of what quality soever coming from Foreign Countries and not under his Majesties Jurisdiction nor may any one dare during the sitting of this Synod to publish or spread them abroad in this Town of Loudun And in case such a thing should happen and that such Papers are found I am injoyned immediately to suppress them and to proceed rigorously against such as vend or distribute them as is meet I should and to inflict such Penalties as I shall judge fit And farther I am most expresly and directly commanded to do what in me lieth for the shortning and speedy ending of this Synod Which Order I received in the last Dispatch that came unto this Town CHAP. IV. The Answer of Monsieur Daille the Moderator of the Synod unto the Speech of the Lord Commissioner AS soon as my Lord Commissioner had ended his Speech Monsieur Daille who was Moderator of the Synod made this Answer following in the Name of the whole Assembly unto his Lordship My Lord THE long interruption of these Holy Assemblies have made us but too sensible of their singular usefulness and how needful they be unto our Churches And this hath augmented our Joys to see that God hath at last touched the Heart of his Majesty our Sovereign Lord with that goodness as to grant us this present Synod And without doubt My Lord you observed Yesterday upon Reading the Letters of Commission from the respective Provincial Synods how deeply they were affected with the Mercy for they could not refrain the Expressions of their Sense and Resentment of it even in their Dispatches We therefore having received this singular favour from his Majesty do own and acknowledge it to be a mere and pure Act of his Grace and Clemency and take it as a Pledge and Earnest of his Majesties Good Will unto us and sincere purposes of keeping inviolate his Edicts Unto this his Majesty hath added another and more especial favour in pitching upon your Lordship to represent his Person in this Assembly even you my Lord who for Piety and Integrity for Faith and Vertue are renowned not only in our Churches but in the World it self In so much that the worst and greatest Adversaries of our Religion being won with the luster of that Justice and Uprightness which have ever shined forth in your Administration of that high Dignity and Office possessed by you these many Years in the first and chiefest Parliament of France do desire and continually demand that your Lordship may be their Judge and Reporter of their Causes and do account themselves happy in case they can obtain it Certainly my Lord his Majesty could never have made a more advantagious Choice for us and we render your Lordships our most humble Thanks that overlooking your great Age your many and weighty Affairs the tedious incommodities of Travel and of the Season of the Year your Lordship hath accepted of this Commission and closed with this opportunity which the good Providence of God hath put into your Hands for the Service of his Majesty and for doing all good Offices to our poor Churches which God knoweth have great need of so Fast and Faithful a Friend as your Lordship near his Majesty We need you my Lord and we intreat your Lordship that you would be pleased to testifie it with all Efficacy imaginable unto his Majesty and to his Ministers the Innocency the Simplicity of our Conduct that the Jealousies which our Ill-Wishers do suggest unto him against these our Assemblies may be abated and removed Our National Synods are in no wise prejudicial to his Majesties Service yea the very contrary is true for their first and principal use is to confirm us the more stedfastly in our Religion the First and most Illustrious Article whereof you know my Lord for you have been educated in it from your Infancy is the belief of the Sovereign Authority of Kings over all Persons whatsoever without Exception in their Dominions and of that indispensable Obligation lying upon all their Subjects to yield them in all things all Honour Service and Obedience not only out of Fear but for Conscience sake and such an intire and profound Submission that their respects are extended and performed unto all Officers acting by and under them and their Order and in whose Employments and Ministry there shineth forth any Beam of Royal Authority This Doctrin the Holy Apostles learnt us to be subject unto Kings and those who be Commissionated by them This Doctrin we received from the Primitive Christians that the King is next and under God and that there is no middle power intervening between God's and hiâ— and after that Service we owe unto our God there is none more Sacred or inviolable than his In the very first Sessions of this Synod your Lordship shall see every one of us subscribe this Holy Creed just as we have expounded it in our common and publick Confession and we trust that God will so enable us by his Grace that we shall more and more justifie the Confession we now make of it by a most constant and inviolable Fidelity in his Majesties Service And in the mean while we shall offer up our most ardent Prayers unto our God for the Health of his Majesty's most Sacred Person for the Prosperity of his Family for the happy Success of his Designs and for the Peace and Glory of the Kingdom But my Lord forasmuch as by the Orders of your Commission your Lordship hath presented to us divers points and of very great importance we beseech your Lordship to give way unto this Assembly to consider of them distinctly that our Answers may be returned with that Humility and Reverence which is owing by us unto the Will and Pleasure of his Majesty our Dread Sovereign And afterwards the Deputies did by the Mouth of their said Moderator add as followeth My Lord WE do acknowledge in the First place that it was a most signal effect of his Majesty's
that his Majesty will not be offended if we produce Instances and Proofs hereof in that Bill of Grievances we intend to present unto him And as for the Poor's Monies which they suggest unto his Majesty to have been diverted from those uses whereunto they were destinated We most humbly beseech my Lord Commissioner to do us that Favour as to acquaint his Majesty that we take so great care of our Poor that rather than they should want things needful for them and wander up and down the Streets and make a Trade of begging our Ministers are of that generous Spirit they would first suffer their own Wages to be defalked and that Abatements should be made of their slender Stipends So that his Majesty in stead of being displeased at our Conduct and the pretended Infractions on our part of his Edicts being better and more truly informed by your Lordship my Lord Commissioner and by my Lord General Deputy his Protection will be continued to us and that he will be pleased to shrowd us from those Violences done us by those who delight in breaking of those Edicts and Spoiling us of those Priviledges which were granted us by his Majesty's Predecessors We do acknowledge that our National Synods cannot be held without a great deal of Labour and Expence but their meeting from time to time being absolutely necessary for us we undergo the Travail and Burden with a great deal of chearfulness And his Majesty having hitherto enabled us by his Bounty to bear in some measure the charge of it we cannot but promise our selves from his Royal Goodness the continuance thereof and that he will not deprive us of his Liberality when as we shall be obliged to come from all parts of the Kingdom unto these General Assemblies And could those Affairs which are brought unto these Synods be terminated any where else we would most willingly spare our selves the pains and trouble of travelling from one end of France unto another and to sit down about other Mens business for some Weeks at so great a distance from our own Habitations and Families as the most of us do But it being absolutely impossible that our Religion should subsist without these Assemblies and there having been a very long Interval of Years elapsed since the last held at Charenton unto this present we having found by sad Experience that Delays and Time do multiply Affairs and cause them to be dispatched with the more and greater difficulty we perswade our selves and ground our Perswasions and Confidence upon that unparallel'd Goodness of our Sovereign that it will be acceptable to him that my Lord our Deputy General should demand and press his Majesty to suffer it to be called when as the Necessities of our Churches do require it for the composing of our Affairs according to the Canons of our Discipline and as hath been customarily practised every three Years And as for that Expedient of ending matters in our Provincial Synods there is so great a quantity of Affairs of another Nature that without a total Subversion of our Discipline they can never be determined but in our Triennial National Synods And whereas his Lordship my Lord Commissioner was pleased to touch at our holding Correspondency with Foreigners over and besides what hath been said and is recorded in the Acts of former National Synods In answer to this there be yet several Persons now present who can very well remember that the Kings his Majesty's Predecessors did permit our Churches to hold up a Correspondence with our Neighbours in matters concerning our Religion and Discipline yea and as occasions offered that we should send our Deputies to them And however the People of Geneva Switzerland Germany and of other Countries do live under a Form of Civil Government quite different from ours yet because those Nations be Friends and in League with France and principally because our Religion is animated universally by the same Spirit and that it inspireth all its Professors with an inviolable Respect and Obedience for the Higher Powers of what kind or nature soever they be in any State the Kings his Majesty's Predecessors had never any reason to complain that this Correspondency was in any wise prejudicial to their Authority So that if it should please his Majesty our Sovereign Lord to give us once again the same Liberty he might be fully assured as ever of our inviolable Fidelity And as for our Students when as ever it shall please his Majesty as we most Humbly request him so to do to give them License of Visiting Foreign Universities there shall be no cause to fear that their good Inclinations should be corrupted or that they should return Home disaffected to the Person and Government of their Prince And as for Letters or Writings from Foreign Parts we shall not receive nor peruse any of them unless his Majesty's Commissioner do approve of it There is yet one Word more to be spoken about the duration of this Synod which my Lord Commissioner saith must be very short because it is his Majesties Pleasure it should be so To which we reply with all imaginable Duty and Reverence unto his Lordship that the length of these Assemblies doth depend upon the multitude of Business which cannot be dispatch'd in a trice but require time for so doing It is now Fifteen Years since we had a National Synod so that 't is an easie matter to judge that as Businesses are multiplied extraordinarily so are their Difficulties together with them And as it lay not in our Power to prevent their out-breaking at first so now is it not in our power so to shorten the time of the Sessions of this Synod as we would but it must of necessity exceed the ordinary term of former National Synods for otherwise we must leave many Affairs undecided or else their Decision must be precipitated But in case his Majesty had not declared his Pleasure to us herein yet it is the general Interest of our Churches and of every one of us in particular to hasten as much as possibly we can our return to our respective stations and therefore consequently we shall avoid all Delays and Protractings of Businesses which if unnecessary cannot but be very prejudical to us But whereas over and besides this Consideration his Majesty hath been pleased to notifie his Intentions to us we do most humbly beseech your Lordship my Lord Commissioner to believe that we will not lose one Moments time but shall intend our Synodical Affairs with all assiduity and diligence imaginable But our principal Request unto your Lordship is that your Lordship would be pleased to assure his Majesty that as we be Natural born French-men so have we the Interests and Glory of France lying at our Hearts and as we are Christians so we know our selves inviolably obliged to the Observation of that Apostolical Precept To Fear God and Honour the King We have already said it and we do once again repeat it that
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
rather because your Majesty hath superadded another favour to your former which is indeed inlinked with it to wit your gracious permission of us to proceed to the Election of a General Deputy according to the priviledg granted us by the Kings your Predecessors But Sire you having with your own Royal Hand conferr'd upon us the Lord Marquess of Ruvigny we were so well provided for that we most humbly beseech your Majesty to continue him unto us in this Office This is Sire what the Sieurs Eustache and de Mirabel are charged to deliver unto your Majesty and whom pre have nominated to lay at your Feet our Homages Submissions and most sincere protestations of our inviolable Fidelity together with our continual Prayers unto the Throne of Grace for the Preservation of your Majesties most Sacred Person for the Prosperity of this Kingdom for the Establishing of Peace and for the happy accomplishment of your Marriage as being Sire Of your Majesty The most Humble the most Obedient and most Faithful Subjects and Servants the Pastors and Elders Assembled by your Majesties Permission in a National Synod at Loudun and for all of them Moderator Daille Assessor J. M. de Langle Scribes John de Brissac Loride des Galinieres A Copy of the Letter written unto the Queen Madam WHen as during the King's Minority the Supream Government of this Kingdom was put into your Hands those of our Religion who live dispersed in all parts of the Kingdom have received so many marks and Evidences of your Majesties Goodness and Protection that the Remembrance thereof will be perpetually engraven upon our Hearts in the deepest sense of gratitude and acknowledgments And since his Majesty our Sovereign Lord was declared Major of Years to Govern and his Vertues have out-run his Years your Majesty Madam hath so assisted him with your good Counsels that we all know and confess that you contributed most of all to maintain us in our Repose and in the injoyment of those Priviledges which were given us by the Edicts of our Princes And now the late Grant of our Assembling in this National Synod is in part the fruit of those good Inclinations your Majesty hath for us wherewith we are so deeply affected that we cannot forbear the Expressions of our Thankfulness And therefore Madam we have given in charge unto our Deputies whom we have sent unto the King to wait also upon your Majesty and to assure you not only of your sincere Dutifulness unto your Majesty wit are here assembled but also of all those Persons who have deputed us and are represented by us and that the remembrance of your Benefits shall never be blotted out of our Souls And we most humbly Petition your Majesty that you will be pleased always to ingage us unto Thankfulness by continuing to us the Fruits of your Royal Goodness and that you would daign to inrich us with the occasions of our incessant publishing your Praises that as we now do so we may always wrestle with our God for the showring down of his best Blessings from Heaven upon your Majesty and he will hear us Madam for we cry unto him daily that you may have length of Days an uninterrupted Prosperity that your Glorious Designs of settling Peace in France and a perpetual Peace between the Two Crowns which have been so long at variance may be at last atchieved The great God Madam will bless your Care and Labours in getting a Spouse for our King which may briâ—◠〈◊〉 a Posteâ—â—â— like unto that your Majesty hath given unto the late King his Father and which may be the genuine and worthy Offspring of so many Royal Monarchs from whose Blood they be descended and to whom the Empire of France and Spain may be subjected And to say no more Madam our God will give your Majesty to see that by our inviolable Fidelity and Obedience unto your Commands there are none among the Subjects of this most populous Kingdom who are more than our selves Madam Of your Majesty The most Humble and the most Obedient Subjects and Servants the Pastors and Elders assembled in a National Synod of Loudun and in the Name of all Moderator Daille Assessor J. M. de L'Angle Scribes John de Brissac Lorile des Galinieres A Copy of the Letter written unto his Eminency My Lord ALthough that next and after God it is of his Majesty's Grace and Favour that we enjoy this Priviledg of meeting together in a National Synod yet also are we principally obliged unto the Goodness of your Eminency and to the Wisdom of your Counsels For besides that this great Kingdom is governed by them and that 't is by the Cares of this important Ministry committed by his Majesty unto your Eminency that our Churches do enjoy the Protection of his Edicts as we have been informed by my Lord de Magdelaine his Majesty's Commissioner in our Assembly and by your Letters written to the Lord Marquess of Ruvigny our General Deputy of your Eminency's most favourable Inclinations for us in this Occurrenc Therefore my Lord no sooner were we met together but we poured out our Souls in the presence of the Lord Jesus our Saviour and rendred him our most Solemn Sacrifice of Thanksgiving that he had at length inclined his Majesty's Heart to grant us what we had so ardently desired and our very next Thought was to depute some of our Body unto his Majesty with the most humble Thanks of our Hearts and then also unto your Eminency to testifie our Gratitude unto you We have therefore my Lord given in charge to the Sieurs Eustache and Mirabel sent by us unto Court to throw themselves in our stead at his Majesty's Feet to wait also upon your Eminency as from its and to assure your Eminency that all the Churches of this Kingdom who have deputed us unto this Synod will retain an everlasting remembrance of this your Favour together with in inviolable resolution of giving you the undoubted Evidences of our Sense and Resentment of it by our uncorruptible Fidelity in his Majesty's Service and in a most respectful Obedience unto those Orders we shall receive from him by the Mediation of your most excellent Ministry Moreover we do hope my Lord that your Eminency will give a favourable Audience unto our Deputies in those most humble Requests they have to tender to you for us and that you would be pleased to obtain of his Majesty that we may sensibly feel the benign Influences of his Goodness and Royal Protection and that you would daign always to accept those Requests which shall be presented to you by the Lord Marquess of Ruvigny whom his Majesty hath permitted and his commendable Qualities and Services have obliged us to confirm in his Office of General Deputy and that we may not be denied those Gratifications which these our National Assemblies have always received from our Kings and which even your Eminency its self hath procured for us All our Churches my