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
Goodness that when the Office of General Deputy became void by the Death of the Lord Marquess of Arâ—illiers that his Majesty was pleased to fill it up with the Person of my Lord Marquess of Ruvigny a Noble-man endowed with all Qualities requisite for it and who will undoubtedly discharge it faithfully And if our Churches had chosen for themselves as was accustomed they could never have made an Election more advantagious And we also have cause enough to be thankful unto his Majesty for granting us the Liberty of Deliberating about his Confirmation in this Office without imposing on us in this juncture any Force or Necessity And for as much as our Churches are intirely satisfied with the care and pains which the said Lord Marquess of Ruvigny hath taken in our Affairs and that they believe he will always continue to acquit himself most worthily in this Imployment and because his Majesty hath given us to understand that it would be very pleasing to him that he should be Confirmed this Assembly not knowing how or where to make a better Choice do continue him in this Office and resign into his own Hands the Writ by which he was Establish'd and after that Solemn Protestation which he hath made unto this Assembly of discharging his Deputation with all possible care and faithfulness we gave him his Priviledge of Sitting and his deliberative and decisive Votes among us as all General Deputies his Predecessors have had according to his Majesty's desire And the Act hereof shall be inserted afterward into the Body of the Acts of this Synod As for the rest This Assembly being purely Ecclesiastical we know very well that none other matters but such as are Ecclesiastical and which concern the Religion and Discipline of our Churches ought to be treated in it and we are absolutely resolved that we will not in any wise swerve or depart from the Rules of our Duty and Callings nor will we suffer any other Assembly whatsoever to be held wherein any of our affairs shall be debated or any Election made of Deputies And we believe that there is not so much as One Man among us who is one of our Members that hath the least inclination thereunto And as for the Proclaiming of General Fasts by the Provincial Synods it being expresly Ordained by our Canons that the Province whose right it is to call the National Synod may publish a General Fast if there be a necessity for it and the King having permitted us the Exercise of our Discipline and the putting of our Canons in Execution This Assembly hopeth that his Majesty's Equity and Goodness will not deprive us of the Power and Liberty to reduce them into act and practice And the rather because our extraordinary humbling of our selves before God is not design'd only for this end that we may obtain from his Sovereign Mercy a peculiar Blessing on those of our Communion but also we do then wrestle with our God for the prosperity of the whole Nation and for the Preservation of his Majesty's own Person And as for that Discreet Carriage required from our Ministers in the Exercise of their Pastoral Office in their Books and Sermons printed or preached in Defence of our Religion our Fathers before ever the Exercise of our Religion was permitted by the Edicts and in the very midst of Fire and Faggot had Christian Charity in that great Esteem and Commendation that they by a most plain and Express Article of our Discipline did prohibit the Usage of any injurious reproachful Terms which might in the least exasperate Men's Spirits so that the Times in which we now live being more calm and peaceable through the Grace of God and the Goodness of our King his Majesty may be fully assured that on this Account he shall always find us yielding a most perfect Obedience a most exemplary Moderation And it were to be wished that the Preachers in the Romish Communion were as circumspect then should we not be so much torn in pieces as we are continually by them both in Print and Pulpit But as for those Words Antichrist in our Liturgy and Idolatry and Deceits of Satan which are found in our Confession they be Words declaring the Grounds and Reasons of our Separation from the Romish Church and Doctrins which our Fathers maintained in the worst of Times and which we are fully resolved as they through the Aids of Divine Grace never to abandon but to keep faithfully and inviolably to the last Gasp Whilst his Majesty's Predecessors were pleased to permit our Churches the choice of Foreigners for their Pastors we made use of that Priviledge and none of our Synods either Provincial or National ever knew one of them to deport himself otherwise than a Native of this Kingdom all of them when invested with the Ministry in our Churches have lived and acted and preached as natural born French-men But since that Interdiction made us by the late King of Glorious and Immortal Memory we never received any but have utterly forborn it and we have most humbly petitioned his Majesty now reigning that he would be pleased to put a distinction between those who are wholly Strangers and others who tho the Sons of Strangers are yet born in the Kingdom and are under the Protection and Government of his Crown and whom our Parliaments in all Questions about Inheritances and Successions to them and other Priviledges of this Nature have equalized with all other his Majesties Subjects And although some of them have been Educated in Commonwealths yet their Religion learns them to subject themselves with all Reverence to the Superior Powers under all Forms of Government whatsoever and that Protection which they have from this Kingdom doth incline their Affections upon Principles of Gratitude and Interest unto a Monarchical Government And in case his Majesty should be pleased to allow them the Exercise of their Ministry among us in this Kingdom as we most humbly petition his Majesty so to do he would have full and clear and sufficient Proof of their Loyalty in his Service As for Letters which may be sent by Strangers unto this Assembly although there is none of our Religion in any Nation that doth sollicit us unto Actions contrary to our Duty and in case they should go about to do it all and every Individual Member of this Assembly at the first sight of such a Letter would reject the Motion with Horror and Execration And we cannot but acknowledge that in some respects as for publick Orders sake the Lords Commissioners deputed to us and set over us by his Majesty are to receive and dispose of them according to his Majesty's Will But yet as to matters concerning our Religion we hope that his Majesty will suffer us to hold Communion and Correspondence with our Brethren For other Letters coming from his Majesty's Subjects to this Assembly and relating to Ecclesiastical matters wherein they be concerned his Majesty having graciously permitted us
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
of Monsieur Hommeau who was designed by the Synod of Anjou to be Pastor unto the Church of Lassay in the County of Maine it was declared null 27. Mrs. Judyth Guyot the Wife of Mr. Laverdan appealing from the Judgment pronounced against her by the Commissioners of the Synod of Burgundy and not appearing to maintain her Appeal the Assembly declared it null and void 28. Whereas some private Persons in the Church of St. Foy had appealed from the Colloquy of Lower Agenois who opposed the re-establishing of Mr. Duvall in his Office of Elder decreed by the Synod of Lower Guyenne their Appeal was declared null 29. The Synod of Sevennes having censured Monsieur du Mas and the Church of Ganges having appealed from that Judgment but not appearing to defend their Appeal it was declared null 30. Monsieur de Monbonoux and other Inhabitants of the Town of Anduze appealing from a Judgment given by the Synod of Lower Languedoc against Monsieur Arnaud their Pastor their Appeal was declared null 31. Monsieur Talaisac appealing from a Judgment denounced against Monsieur Preudhomme Pastor of the Church of Cournontaeuail his Appeal was declared null 32. Although the Province of Normandy had sufficient reason to set Monsieur Marchant at Liberty and to bestow his Ministry upon the Church of Gisors yet nevertheless because of the importunate Petition of the Church of Athis of Laselle and les Voutes and for that they have all jointly promised to give full and intire Satisfaction unto the said le Marchant and for that he expresseth a great Inclination to continue his Service unto the said Church of Athis the Assembly leaving it to the Care of the Colloquy of Roven to provide for the Church of Gisors ordaineth That the said Monsieur le Marchant shall be settled again in that of Athis and its annexed Congregations who shall make him a full and compleat Paiment of all Arrears of Sallary due unto him And in Default hereof the next Synod shall execute upon them that Judgment formerly denounced against them 33. On Sight and Perusal of the Acts of the Synod of Dolphiny as also of the Letters and Memoirs of Monsieur Aymin Pastor in the Church of Die this Assembly judging his Appeals frivolous declared on the first that the Province of Dolphiny had very prudently judged that they ought not to be troubled about Sollicitings made in the Years sixteen hundred thirty three and thirty four for the Maintenance of the University of Die that he ought not to have tarried at Paris after the Revocation of the Powers given for those Sollicitings and that he ought now to be accountable to the Council of the University of Die who imployed him and in case he were aggrieved then should he have carried his Complaint to the Consistory of Lyons who were commissionated to judg finally of this Affair And on the second that he hath well deserved the severest Censures for not acquiescing in the Judgment of his Province which is exhorted to oblige him and all others to a personal Residence with their Flocks on Pain of having all Church-Censures inflicted on them and in no wise to suffer the Monies destinated by the Churches for the Maintenance of the University of Die to be diverted contrary to the Intention of the Donors unto other Uses 34. The Memoirs of Monsieur de la Fitte Pastor of the Church of Pau and of de Mirau Elder in the Church of Bourdeaux and the Letters and Memoirs of the Lords de la Peyrette and du Bois private Members of the said Church of Bourdeaux were all read and their Appeal also from the Judgment of the Province of Lower Guyenne which was reported by the Deputies of that Synod Whereupon the Assembly declared that the Appellants had not any Grievance at all upon them and that their Appeal was therefore groundless and rejected CHAP. XV. General Matters 1637. The 27th Synod Article 1. * THE Assembly leaveth the Provinces at full Liberty to keep their ancient Customs observed by them in singing that Prayer at the End of the ten Commandments and which is usually recited by some kneeling by others standing and by others sitting according to the settled establish'd Order in every Church not judging it in any-wise reasonable to oblige them all unto one only Form in a Matter which of its own Nature is indifferent Article 2. The Province of Berry requesting it this Assembly ordaineth that for the future when the Question shall be moved about furnishing our Universities with Professors in Divinity that Province in which the University lieth destitute of a Professor shall invite the four next adjoining Provinces to depute at their own Charges some of their Pastors who may assist in Person at the Examen of the Candidate for the vacant Professor's Chair Article 3. The Demand of the Province of Poictou was granted that whoso should hereafter transgress the 16th Article in the 14th Chapter of our Discipline and the particular Canons enacted in the Province where he resideth about publishing of Books shall be suspended from the Ministry Article 4. However Men may have a Right to buy or keep Slaves and this be not condemned by the Word of God nor is it abolished by the Preaching of the Gospel in the far greatest part of Europe and though there hath been insensibly brought in a Custom to the contrary and that Merchants purchase and dispose of them as of their proper Goods and Chattels especially such as traffick on the Coasts of Africk and the Indies where this Commerce is permitted do buy from the Barbarians either by way of Exchange of Goods or for ready Money Men and Women-Slaves who being once in their Power and Possession they do again openly sell in the Market or truck them away unto others This Assembly confirming that Canon made on this Occasion by the Provincial Synod of Normandy doth exhort the Faithful not to abuse this their Liberty contrary to the Rules of Christian Charity nor to transfer these poor Infidels unto other Hands besides those of Christians who may deal kindly and humanely with them and above all may take special Care of their precious immortal Souls and see them instructed in the Christian Religion Article 5. The Province of Lower Languedoc desiring it all the Provinces are informed to take heed that the 9th Article in the 1st Chapter of our Discipline be not transgressed which forbids the ordaining of any Proposan without a Title or assigning him to some particular Church Article 6. The Deputies of Lower Languedoc being expresly charged thereunto by their Province did represent that although the Churches of this Kingdom had in all their Sermons Prayers and Thanksgivings publick and private given evident Proof to the whole World of that Fidelity and most sincere Obedience which his Majesty's natural-born Subjects of the Reformed Religion were obliged to yield unto his Majesty yet nevertheless the sworn Enemies of our Religion do never cease railing
their free and full Consent which also was confirmed by a Decree of Your Majesty's Privy-Council December the 13th 1612. yet nevertheless the Lord Machant Intendant of Justice in the Province of Burgundy without once hearing any of the Parties concerned hath by his own private Orders of the 15th of March 1636. and by some others of another Date not only Deprived them of the Burying-place but also will not so much as allow those of the Reformed Religion in that Bailywick to share in any of the Common Moneys or Hospitals thereof Wherefore we most Humbly beseech Your Majesty to cause those Orders of the said Lord Machant to surcease and to be disannull'd and to Ordain that Your aforesaid Subjects in the Bailywick of Gex may be supported in the Possession of their Burying-place and in the Ancient enjoyment of their Common Moneys and Common Hospitals and of all other Privileges contained in the Edict 7. In divers places of Your Kingdom Your Subjects of the Reformed Religion are forced and compelled to act many things contrary to the Liberty of their Consciences granted them by Your Edicts particularly to hang out Tapistry before their Houses or to adorn them with some kind of Ornaments on some peculiar Holy Days although the Third Article of the particular ones in the Edict of Nantes doth only oblige them to suffer that it be done by others and that too by the Authority of the Local Officers nor are they bound to contribute any thing thereunto However your poor Subjects for refusing to do thus against their Consciences are condemned in very great Fines at Rennes and Vitre by a Decree of the Parliament of Brittaine and the same was lately Ordered in a Judicial Sentence given by the Privy-Council and signified to the Attorney of the Exchequer at Claye Wherefore Your Majesty is most Humbly beseeched to Maintain and Preserve Your Subjects of our Religion in the Liberty of their Consciences as to these matters according to your Edicts and to discharge them of all Fines and Sums of Money to the payment whereof they have been condemned on this account 8. By the Second Article of particular matters of the Edict of Nantes and by Your Majesty's Answer to the Fourth Article of the Bill of Grievances Presented to You by Your Subjects of the Reformed Religion in July 1625. it was expresly declared That none of them should be compelled to contribute towards the Repair or Building of Churches Chappels or Priests Houses nor to the buying of Coapes and Surplices Ornaments of Mass-Priests Lights Founding of Bells Holy Bread Rights of Fraternities nor to the Rent of Houses for Priests or Religious persons to dwell in or such like matters yet notwithstanding John Ozier of Harsleur hath been Condemned by a Decree of the Parliament of Normandy to pay unto a Fraternity As also by another such Decree of the Parliament of Bourdeaux contrary to that of the Court of Agen the Heirs of Charles Motty inhabiting in the City of Bourdeaux have been compelled to pay yearly Contributions unto the Fraternity of the Trade of the Deceased And those of the Church of St. Ambroise to pay for the Rent of that House where the Divine Service after the Mode of the Romish Catholick Church is Solemnized and those of Souve and Peyrols in the Sevennes by an Order only of the Praesidial Court of Nismes and those of Séynes in Provence to the Building of the Vicaridge Houses and Churches there Your Majesty is therefore most Humbly Petitioned to Maintain and Preserve Your Petitioners in the Liberty of their Consciences and to Abrogate and Disannul according to the Edicts those Condemnatory Decrees issued out against them on this account 9. By the 18th Article of the Edict of Nantes all persons of whatsoever Quality they be are forbidden to entice or to take away by force Children from their Parents professing our Religion that they may be Baptized or Confirmed in the Romish Catholick Church on pain of being punished exemplarily And yet notwithstanding in divers quarters of your Kingdom Children are violently and by main force ravish'd and taken away from their poor afflicted Parents to be Baptized and Educated against their Wills in the Religion of the Romish Church and particularly the Daughter of one Redon an Apothecary living at Mayniers and the Child of Giles Connan being but two years and eight months old was by the Nuns of Antrigues enticed away from her Mother and by downright violence detained in their Nunnery notwithstanding all her cries and importunities to recover her Wherefore Your Majesty is most Humbly Petitioned to cause that Your Subjects of the said Reformed Religion may enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences with security according as it hath been granted them even in this point by Your Edicts and to cause the Violaters of them to be punished according to Law 10. By the 13th Article of the Edict of Nantes and by the 38 of particular Matters the Professors of our Religion are permitted to have publick Schools in those Towns and Places where the Exercise of our Religion is allowed Yet notwithstanding in divers places where their Schools and Colleges be established according to these very Articles of the Edict of Nantes they be disturbed in their Possession of them yea notwithstanding that Explication given of them by Your Majesty in Your Answer to our Bill of Complaint Presented to You by our Deputies Approved and Accepted by Your Self July the 13th 1621 wherein Your Majesty did expresly declare That by the Edict it is permitted to those of the said Religion to establish Colleges in those Towns and Places where they enjoy the Exercise of their Religion and Your Majesty did Grant the very self-same Privileges unto these our Colleges which are enjoyed by the Colleges Erected Received and Approved in this Kingdom Wherefore Your Majesty is most Humbly Petitioned to forbid all persons whatsoever the interrupting or disturbing those of our Religion in the Possession and Enjoyment of those Schools Colleges and Universities aforesaid which Your Majesty had formerly Granted by Your Letters Patents and Decrees of Council unto the Towns of Nerac and Coignac and other places notwithstanding all Judgments Orders and Decrees and other matters contrary thereunto And Your Majesty is most Humbly beseeched that they may be all Abrogated and Disannull'd 11. The Lords Carlincas and de Lagett Commissioners Deputed by Your Majesty to divide the Colleges of Languedoc which are of Royal Foundation not being contented to have satisfied the Tenor of their Commission they would also take Cognizance of the Theological University of Nismes maintained by those of the Reformed Religion And it so happened that the Lord of Carlincas a Roman Catholick hath by a Decree of his own interdicted it without so much as hearing any of the Parties concerned and on the contrary the Lord of Lagett hath Judged and Decreed That it ought to subsist according to the Edicts All which Orders and Decrees having been
sent unto Your Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council although we had not the least notice nor intimation of it there is a Decree issued forth simply without any Restriction confirming the Decree of the Lord Carlincas to the Prejudice of that Liberty granted us by Your Edicts Your Majesty is most Humbly Petitioned to cause the said Decree to be Vacated and Repealed and in Favour of Your Subjects of the Reformed Religion at Nismes to Ordain That their Theological University may stand upon the same Grounds with that of Montauban both being of the same nature and this according to a Decree of Your Council pass'd on their behalf 12. By Your Majesty's Edicts and as it is always practised in the Execution of them yea and by Your Answer to the Third Article of our Bill of Grievances presented to Your Majesty in July 1625. all Professors of our Religion yea and our Ministers themselves were allowed to dwell and inhabit in any part of your Kingdom Yet notwithstanding now-a-days our Ministers cannot be permitted to dwell in divers places as in Aubenas Mezin Saux Villefranque Corbigny and other places from which our said Ministers have been driven away which is contrary to your Edicts Your Majesty therefore is most Humbly Petitioned to ordain according to your Edicts that our Ministers aforesaid and all others of our Religion may be suffered to dwell and inhabit freely and quietly in all places of Your Majesty's Dominion 13. And divers others tho' not Ministers are meerly out of hatred to their Religion every day vexed and afflicted as in Your Towns of Bourg Aubenas La Voute Chaalons in Burgundy and in sundry other places from whence poor Tradesmen are partly by Threats and partly by actual Violence offered to them driven away directly contrary to the Authority and the very Letter and plain words of Your Edicts And Your Majesty is most Humbly Requested to Order That they may enjoy the benefit of them and to enjoyn Magistrates and all other persons to observe on their behalf the first of the Particular Articles of the Edict of Nantes 14. By the 45. Article of Particular Matters in the Edict of Nantes and by a Decree of your Council Dated July the 17th 1624. and by Your Majesty's Answer to the Bill of Complaints of Your said Subjects July the 23d 1621. and April the 12th 1622. the Ministers of our Religion were exempted from Watching Warding Rounds Lodging of Souldiers Assessing and Collecting of Taxes and from payment of their Quota to them or any other Impositions whatsoever on the account of their Houshold Goods Pensions or Salaries Yet notwithstanding in divers places of Your Kingdom they be Assessed to Watch and Ward to the Billetting of Souldiers to pay Forest Money for their Lands there although they have none at all in their hands but Lett them out to Farmers who pay those very Taxes for them yea also in very many places they do compel them and extort from them round Sums for the Payment of Taxes due by the Parishes and in case of Failure or Omission their Houshold Goods are Distrain'd and their Persons Seized and Imprisoned and amerced in great Fines as particularly the Minister of Previlly hath been thus misused Your Majesty is most Humbly Petitioned to grant them the enjoyment of those Immunities and Exemptions which have been accorded them by your Edicts Declarations and Answers to out Bills of Grievances and to forbid all Persons to trouble them and that the Assessors Collectors and Receivers of Taxes may not extort from them any Payments the Taxes only excepted for those Immovables enjoyed by them 15. And whereas there be yet detained many Captives in Your Galleys who have been there many years and for none other account than the past troubles Your Majesty is most Humbly Requested to cause them to be set at Liberty and to extend unto them the same Clemency Your Majesty vouchsafed unto others in the year 1613 by Your Answer to the 5th Article of our Bill of Grievances which was then presented by Your Subjects of the Reformed Religion unto Your Majesty 16. By the 34. and 51. Articles of the said Edict it was Ordained that the Courts of the Edict should Judge Soveraignly and without Appeal from them unto any other Court whatsoever of all Processes then in being or that might be moved in time to come and in which those of our Religion are Parties yea and in what concerns the Execution or Inexecution or Infraction of the Edicts yet notwithstanding sundry Praesidial Courts as that of Bourg in Bresse and the Intendant of Justice there do every day attempt and actually do give Judgment without admitting of any Appeal from them as also the Parliaments of Aix and Rennes do Issue out their Decrees directly contrary to the Letter of the Edict and in such matters as the Cognizance whereof is interdicted them and reserved only to Your Mix'd Courts Your Majesty is most Humbly Requested to Abrogate and Revoke all those Judgments and Decrees so incompetently given forth by those aforesaid Praesidial Courts Intendants and Parliaments to the prejudice of Your Edicts and particularly that Decree of the Parliament of Aix against the Book written by Monsieur Gaillard Intituled Le Proselite Evangelique and against his Person and to remand back the matters of Fact contained in them to the Courts of the Edict who ought of right only to take Cognizance and Judge of them with a Prohibition unto all other Judges nor to intermeddle with any matters properly belonging to your Majesty's Courts of the Edicts 17. Although that by the 17th Article of the Edict of Nantes Confirmed by all subsequent Edicts of your Majesty those who do or shall make Profession of our Reformed Religion are declared to be capable of Exercising all Trades of Holding and Enjoying all Dignities Offices and Publick Employments whatsoever yet nevertheless they be Excluded in divers parts of your Kingdom from all publick Charges Offices and Dignities they cannot be received unto the Degree of Doctors nor Incorporated into the Colleges of the Faculty of Physick nor admitted to the Practice thereof nor to be Masters of those Trades wherein they have served their Apprenticeship nor may they perform the Functions of those very Offices whereunto they were Privileged by their Patents Our Publick Notaries and Attorneys of Bailywicks having been interdicted the Exercise of their Callings by a Decree of your Council April 28. 1637. Wherefore your Majesty is most Humbly Requested that their Profession of the Protestant Religion may not be made a Crime and that whilst they adventure their Lives and Fortunes in your Majesty's Service equally with your other Subjects they may not be deprived of the benefit of your Edicts And we Humbly beseech your Majesty to Ordain that they may be for the future indifferently admitted unto all Charges Dignities and Masterships of Trades and that such as have a Patent for them may be maintained in the full and free
he can hinder them But he hopes that for the future you will use more Circumspection and carry your selves better and avoid all just occasions of displeasing his Majesty though they may occur unto you CHAP. III. The Moderators Answer 6. THE Lord Commissioner having finish'd his Speech the Deputies return'd their Answer by the Mouth of the Moderator Monsieur Garrissoles who thankfully acknowledged the grew Goodness and Mercy of Almighty God in answering the Prayers of his poor Churches with his Heavenly Blessing So that the General Loss which the whole Nation sustained in the Death of the Late King of most Glorious and Immortal Memory is now most abundantly made up and recompensed in the Succession of his present Majesty For though the Sun of this Kingdom did set under a most sad and black Eclipse and was likely to have been Buried in the everlasting Darknesses of an Unconsolable grief of an irremediable Confusion yet we have all seen to our Incredible Joy and Admiration the Peace and Happiness France to shine out again in a New Bright Star from the East who hath revived the Hopes of all his Faithful Subjects and filled Christendom with Wonder and Astonishment when they consider that the good Hand of God hath not only exalted his Majesty from the Cradle to his Father's Throne whose Birth was so long Desired They need not be Proud of it and at last obtained by the Joynt Prayers of his People and most especially of the Churches but also hath put the Reins of the French Empire into the Hands of the Queen Regent a Princess whose Glorious Birth and Extraction seems to serve for no other end than to place her Vertues on the highest Theater of Glory Secondly the beginnings of his Majesties Reign are under most auspicious Stars for Success Victory and an uninterrupted Series of Prosperities upon his People have mutually contended how they might most advance the Reputation of his Crown and have combined together in Strengthning those rightful Arms employed by his Majesty for Defence of the State and Protection of his Allies The Designs of his Royal Highness and of other Chieftains have every where succeeded with Happiness and Glory His Majesty was no sooner Seated on the Throne but he gave out Marks of his Royal Authority his first Declarations were to ratify and Confirm the Edicts of Pacification and to assure all the Churches in his Kingdom of their being Protected by their Sacred Majesties and that as those Edicts had been made in favour to us so also should they be conserved for us That glorious approvement of the Services of * * * Mareschal Turenne and Mareschal Gassion Two Great Men bred up in our Bosom and Communion and raised so far above the reach of Envy that the Staff of Mareschal of France together with the Conduct of Royal Armies were put into their Hands without the least discontentment of any Person in the State And their Majesties Condescention in accepting kindly of our most Humble Petitions presented them by the Hands of our General Deputy and granting us the Priviledge of holding this Synod and committing the Inspection of it unto a Person most Illustrious for his Vertues and well deserving that high Place of Dignity and Honour he enjoyeth in the First and Chiefest Parliament of the Kingdom All these and many other Considerations more do inforce our Souls with a Sweet and Pleasing Violence to break forth into inlarged Praises and Enflamed Thankfulness unto their Majesties for such signal Favours and Benefits vouchsafed to us which we account the First-Fruits and Pledges of a greater Harvest yea and in most ardent Supplications unto our God for the Preservation of their Sacred Persons his Benediction upon their Government the Glory of their Crowns under whose Comfortable Shadow the Churches enjoying a Sweet Peace will never have any other Desire nor Thought than to practise Faithfully and Conscientiously that most express Command of our Lord and Saviour by his Apostle St. Peter to Fear God and Honour the King and that with a most intire and sincere Obedience And as we have no design to do it so neither shall we ever admit any Person to sit as a Member of our National Synods it being contrary to our Ancient Custom who hath not a Deputation from the Provinces nor shall we hold any Foreign Correspondencies nor shall we Receive or Read any Letters coming from Foreigners nor return any answer to them unless that my Lord Commissioner who Represents his Majesties Person shall have first Perused them and approved of our so doing Nor will we debate about State Matters nor make any Orders in relation to them Nor shall we present unto the Pastoral Office in our Churches any Foreign Ministers who be not Natives of this Kingdom nor set up Provincial Councils in Opposition to his Majesties Will nor as his Majesty hath demanded to us will we suffer those Canons of our National Synods concerning the Approbation of Books that shall be Printed on Matters of Religion to be Violated Nor shall we Excommunicate any of those Persons who quit the Communion of our Churches for we do not arrogate unto our Selves any Jurisdiction over them from that Moment in which they left us Nor shall we tollerate any Sermons fraught with Injuries and Reproaches against the Members of the Church of Rome whether in general or particular or that may Excite the People to Insurrections Tumults or Rebellions or taking up of Arms against the Sovereign Authority of their Majesties Nor shall any single Province have an Absolute Power of indicting General and Publick Fasts nor suffer that Monies be Collected from Door to Door nor that the Poor's Monies be diverted from their proper use nor that the Forty Fourth Article of particular Matters in the Edict of Nantes be broken It being our Sincere and most Fixed Resolution to observe in the precisest and strictest manner their Majesties Edicts and under the benefit of them to lead a Quiet and a Peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty But my Lord we do most humbly beseech their Majesties in the First Place that by the Interposal of their Sovereign Authority they would stop the violent Attempts and Practices of such Persons who being instigated by a false Zeal or by reason of their Imployments do trouble the Publick Peace and Tranquillity by an infraction of the Edicts and by actual Enterprises against the Professors of our Religion both in general and particular that so none of them contrary to the principal end the formal and express intention of the said Edicts may be expos'd to Sufferings upon the Account of their Religion or be inforced by reason of them to draw up a Bill of Complaints and Grievances sustained by them for a good Conscience towards God the very title of which is so displeasing unto their Majesties Secondly We most humbly beseech their Majesties to take it into their Royal Consideration that our Confession of Faith was framed
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
to debate of these very matters we doubt not in the least but that he will allow us to receive those Letters and Memoirs which contain their Informations and Instructions to us In short our whole Religion being grounded upon the Word of God and this Word teaching us to fear God and honour the King we never perform any Act of Religious Worship to that Great God who created us in which we do not offer up a Prayer with our most ardent Vows for the Supreme Power here on Earth and particularly for all that are in Authority over us and upon all occasions that occur unto us we do leave Impressions hereof upon the Souls of the Faithful who are Members of our Churches in our Sermons And we are well assured that before the breaking up of this Synod your Lordship my Lord Commissioner shall see not in one single Exhortation only but in many those inviolable Inclinations we have unto the Weal and Happiness of the Government and that Obedience which we are all unanimously resolved to render unto the Will and Laws of our Prince when as they be not contrary to that of the Law of God who is the King of Kings And as his Majesty hath hitherto been pleased to favour us with our Liberty of serving God according to that Light we have received and in the Purity of the Gospel and whereas my Lord Commissioner hath now declared to us his Majesty's good Pleasure to uphold us favourably in this Liberty under the Protection of his Edicts and to exert that Authority which God hath put into his Hands to secure us from their Attempts who would deprive us of it and as we have no ground nor cause to complain of Oppression and Persecution so also we shall not make use of any such Terms as are expressive of them and we shall upon all Occasions give clear and ample Evidence of that respect we bear unto our Sovereign and we shall take a most especial care for keeping the Publick Peace of which our Actions Words and Writings and these Last shall never be published but according as we are allowed by the Edicts and regulated by the Canons of our Discipline and by the Decrees of our National Synods shall by the Grace of God be most valid and authentick Sureties for us as they have been in times past so for the future And as we shall never render our selves unworthy of his Majesty's favour so we hope that he will continue to extend unto us the Honour of his Love and good Will and that he will ordain all Governors of his Provinces Places and Fortresses and all Officers in Parliament and all other Courts of Judicature where Justice is administred to see that his Edicts be carefully executed that so there being no violation of them on their parts we also on ours may never have any occasion for the future of complaining to his Majesty who next and after God is our only Sanctuary to whom we may betake our selves for Refuge against all Injustices and Oppressions And as for what is past there being very many Places in this Kingdom where the good Intentions of his Majesty have not been followed and where those of our Religion have been disturbed in the Exercises of it and have suffered very great Violences in their Families in their Children in their own Persons and in their Estates in sundry and divers ways contrary to what is granted us by the Edict And the inferiour Judges have been so far from doing us right that even they have been the very Persons who have encouraged the Animosity of many others against us Our King being the Image and Vicegerent of God and who will undoubtedly endeavour to resemble him as in the Independency of his Power and Glory of his Majesty so also in his Justice and Clemency He therefore cannot but approve that afflicted persons do make their Addresses to Heaven to be supported under their Sufferings and comforted in their Afflictions so we also should have recourse unto his Royal Throne for Support under our Burthens and Redress of our Grievances and the Conservation of our Invaded Liberties and Properties And whereas his Lordship my Lord Commissioner was pleased to say That his Majesty hath greater reason to complain by far of his Subjects of the Reformed Religion for their Infractions and Transgressions of the Edict as if they had either in Languedoc or any where else attempted to restore the Preaching of Gods Word by overt Actions by mere Force and Violence contrary to the publick Peace and the General Laws of the Kingdom we profess that the hearing of this Relation was a most sensible Grief and Sorrow to us We do not complain in the least of your Lordship my Lord Commissioner for you did but follow those very Orders and Instructions which were given you We receive with all possible respect and humility whatever comes from his Majesty because we reverence his Authority and because we have many Pledges and Tokens of his Kindness and Love unto us But we are exceedingly grieved and concerned that those who are near his Majesty do us very ill Offices and slander us unto him representing our Actions in very odious colours so that in stead of informing him that the Exercise of our Religion hath been violently abolish'd and removed from very many places where it was permitted by the Edicts and that our Temples have been demolished by main Force and in an Hostile manner they have dispersed wicked false Stories of us at Court as if we had some new and unlawful Enterprizes and Designs in our Heads Besides we have another thing of very hard digestion that whereas the Canons of our Discipline do expresly forbid those of our Communion to send their Children unto Jesuits and to other professed and avowed Enemies of our Religion because that through their fiery and inconsiderate Zeal for their own they turn every Stone and use all sort of means to prevent them from that Duty they owe unto God and to their Parents yea and to his Majesty himself and we being allowed the Exercise of our Discipline as well as of our Religion why should we be counted blame-worthy for our care in the Religious Education of our Children and for our just Severity in censuring their sinful negligent Parents And whereas some of ours are accused for reproaching and other injurious Carriage towards such Persons as have quitted our Communion for that of the Church of Rome we are so far from approving of those Actions towards them that 't is well known we require all our Members to pray for them and to labour by all pious means to reduce them into the good way of Eternal Salvation But we profess our utter Ignorance of any such Abuses offered unto our Revolters And in stead hereof this we know that there be open Violences done unto those godly Persons who do forsake the Communion of the Romish Church and joyn themselves unto ours And we hope
another or that the Pastor of one Church shall be removed to another or that he shall be separated no matter how it be from his Flock in case an Appeal be made from this Judgment that Province which hath pronounced it shall nominate two of the Neighbouring Provinces and whose Synods are nearest to be held and shall give unto the Appellant his Choice pf either of them to bring his Appeal before it which shall judge of the Case till further Order But if the Party appealing do not chuse it that very Province from whose Judgment the Appeal is made shall chuse one of the two before which the Appellant shall be bound to appear and subject himself unto its Judgment which shall be of force till the meeting of the National Synod And in case of non-appearance that Province which hath passed Judgment may proceed to pronounce its Execution notwithstanding the Appeal Nor shall this be in any wise prejudicial unto Provincial Synods for in all other matters left undetermined by our Discipline the Judgments of those Synods shall be of full and absolute Authority nor shall there be any Appeal admitted from them within their Precincts And this present Canon shall be universally practised in all the Provinces those only excepted upon whose Account some special Decrees have been formerly enacted 26. Blasphemies being some of the most crying and daring Sins enflaming the Wrath of God against the Children of Men this Assembly being seized with an Holy Horror to see so great a number of profane Wretches involved in this Hellish Crime decreeth That the Four and Twentieth Canon of the Fourteenth Chapter of our Discipline shall be read publickly in all Churches and re-inforced with most lively pungent Exhortations that the Judgments of God may be prevented by a serious and sincere Repentance and this horrible Vice may be banished the Society of Christians and all Consistories are authorized to take the best Course they can for putting this present Act in Execution 27. The Assembly being informed that in divers parts of this Kingdom contrary to his Majesty's Will the Exercise of our Religion is prohibited in those places which are called Annexed tho by the Edicts in these it was always permitted and established and it unanimously judging and with one common consent that this is an Affair of the highest Importance and strikes at the very Root and Being of our Churches and in which the Consciences of all those of our Profession are Sovereignly concerned it doth enjoyn all Pastors and Churches exposed unto this afflicting and most vexatious Tryal to maintain themselves constantly in the possession of their Exercises notwithstanding any Prohibitions to the contrary And in case Pastors shall neglect this their Duty they shall be deposed from the Ministry as Deserters of their Flock committed to their Trust and if any of those Annexed Churches or Members shall neglect their Attendance on them they also shall be deprived of Communion with us at the Lords Table And all Churches within the Precincts of that Province whereunto these Annexes do belong are enjoyned to assist them with Counsel and Comfort and with all other things needful to help defray the Charges of Travel and Prosecutions in Courts of Justice unto which they may be necessitated and obliged And all Provincial Synods in case the ordinary Pastors of those places should be hindred by any Violence from performing their Duties shall take care that they be supplied by other Pastors in such a manner as they shall judge most convenient till some other and more beneficial course can be taken Moreover this Assembly commandeth all the next adjoyning Churches to testifie their Zeal unto the Glory of God and the Communion of Charity which ought to be among Christians by sending and lending their Pastors to them that so the Possession of the Gospel preached and the Dispensation of the Gospel Ordinances may be conserved in those Annexed Congregations As soon as ever this Proposition was made and before the Judgment of the Deputies in this Synod was demanded my Lord Commissioner declared and offered sundry Reasons and Arguments why an Affair of this nature ought not to be debated in it but that according to his Majesty's Permission this Article was to be inserted with others of the like quality into our Bill of Grievances which after the breaking up of this Assembly was to be presented unto his Majesty In answer whereunto this Synod receiving in the most respectful manner whatever came from his Majesty and from the Mouth of my Lord his Commissioner ordained that this Affair should be set in the Head of those which shall be carried unto the King in the Name of this Assembly and which shall be sollicited with all possible respect care diligence and importunity by my Lord the General Deputy and we hope in the mean while that his Majesty will maintain us in those matters which are granted us by his Edict nor that he will be displeased with us for debating about Ecclesiastical Affairs which are brought hither unto this National Assembly and which directly concern our Religion and the Exercise of our Discipline in the nature and number of which are all Ministerial Offices and the respective Duties of private Christians 28. It being judged needful that some certain Person should be nominated who did ordinarily attend his Majesty's Privy Council and Council of State to whom the Churches might apply themselves to take care of their Business and to salve them from those vast Expences which of necessity must be defrayed in the frequent Deputations of particular persons employed in the management of their Law Suits and Differences that our Churches have with their Adverse Parties The Assembly cast their Eyes upon the Sieur Loride des Galinieres Advocate in his Majesty's Privy Council and Council of State and Parliament of Paris dwelling a la Rue des Anglois in the English Street to take upon him this Trust which being motion'd to him the said Sieur Loride assured the Assembly he accepted of it as of a great Honour and that he did most readily and willingly undertake it nor would he demand a Denier of Costs Salaries and Vacations not only for those Affairs wherewith he should be intrusted in his Majesty's Privy Council and Council of State but also for those which he should dispatch as Advocate in the Parliament of Paris and Court of Aids nor would he claim any thing but for what he should himself disburse in the management of these Affairs for our distressed Churches The Assembly kindly embraced his generous Offers and that he may be indemnified they voted presently that the Provincial Deputies should each of them make report unto their Provincial Synod the Contents of this present Act that so in case the said Provincial Synods shall judge meet there shall be given the Sum of Three Thousand Livres a Year by the Provinces according to the Dividend hereafter mentioned And this that the said Sieur Loride may
well as in the Pres des Clerks by the Ladies Princes yea and by Henry the Second himself This one Ordinance only contributed mightily to the downfal of Popery and the propagation of the Gospel It took so much with the genius of the Nation That all ranks and degrees of Men practised it in the Temples and in their Families No Gentleman professing the Reformed Religion would sit down at his Table without praising God by singing Yea it was a special part of their Morning and Evening Worship in their several Houses to sing God's Praises The Popish Clergy raged and to prevent the growth and spreading of the Gospel by it that mischievous Cardinal of Lorrain another Elymas the Sorcerer got the Odes of Horace and the filthy obscene Poems of Tibullus and Catullus to be turn'd into French and sung in the Court Ribaldry was his Piety and the means used by him to expel and banish the singing of divine Psalms out of the prophane Court of France The Holy Word of God is duly truly and powerfully Preached in Churches and Fields in Ships and Houses in Vaults and Cellars in all places where the Gospel-Ministers can have admission and conveniency and with singular success Multitudes are Convinced and Converted established and edified Christ rideth out upon the white Horse of the Ministry with the Sword and Bow of the Gospel Preached Conquering and to Conquer His Enemies fall under him and submit themselves unto him O! the unparallell'd success of the plain and zealous Sermons of the first Reformers Multitudes flock in like Doves into the Windows of God's Ark. As innumerable drops of dew fall from the Womb of the Morning so hath the Lord Christ the dew of his Youth The Popish Churches are drained the Protestant Temples are filled The Priests complain that their Altars are neglected their Masses are now indeed solitary Dagon cannot stand before God's Ark. Children and Persons of riper years are Catechised in the Rudiments and Principles of Christian Religion and can give a comfortable account of their Faith a reason of that hope that is in them By this Ordinance do their pious Pastors prepare them for Communion with the Lord at his holy Table Here they communicate in both kinds according to the Primitive Institution of this Sacrament by Jesus Christ himself Sect. 7. Though the Churches of God walked in the Comforts of the Holy-Ghost and were multiplied throughout the whole Kingdom yet were they exercised with Fiery Tryals and underwent most cruel and inhumane Sufferings Satan stormed that his Kingdom was assaulted weakned and subverted this boileth up his Revenge and causeth him to throw out Floods of Wrath against the Church travelling under the pangs of Reformation Hence the Saints of God are imprisoned arraigned for their Lives and condemned by merciless unrighteous Judges for their Profession of the Truth unto the Flames Others are murdered in cold Blood and massacred without any legal forms of Justice in the least And yet in the sight of those cruel Deaths and most barbarous Executions the first National Synod is called and celebrated in the Metropolis of the Kingdom at the very Doors of the Court God inspiring with Zeal and Courage the Pastors of several Churches to meet and consult together about the arduous and most important Businesses of the Reformed Religion Sect. 8. Two things among others were dispatch'd in this Council 1. They publish the Confession of their Faith and tell the King and Kingdom what they believe and practise This was put into the Hands of their Young King lately come to the Crown upon the Death of his Father who though he had sworn to see that famous Martyr of Christ Annas du Bourg Counsellour in the Parliament of Paris burnt yet was at a Tilt by Count de Montgomery a Protestant wounded with a Launce in the Eye and died before he could perform his Oath How Francis the Second entertained this Confession when it was tender'd him is not my Business to relate I shall only give my Reader the Confession itself and I do the rather lay it before him because it is a brief System of the Protestant Religion constantly read at the opening of all their Synods and because of the frequent References unto it in and by all those National Synods which I now publish Sect. 9. The Confession of Faith held and professed by the Reformed Churches of France received and enacted by their first National Synod Celebrated in the City of Paris and Year of our Lord 1559. ARTICLE I. WE believe and confess That there is but one God only whose Being only is simple spiritual eternal invisible immutable infinite incomprehensible ineffable who can do all things who is all-wise all-good most just and most merciful ARTICLE II. This one God hath revealed himself to be such a one unto Men first in the Creation preservation and governing of his works secondly far more plainly in his word which from the beginning he revealed to the Fathers by certain Visions and Oracles and then caused it to be put in writing in those Books which we call the Holy Scripture ARTICLE III. All this holy Scipture is contained in the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament the Catalogue whereof followeth The five Books of Moses namely Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy Item Joshua Judges Ruth the first and second Book of Samuel the first and second Book of Kings the first and second Book of Chronicles otherwise called the Paralipomena one Book of Esdras Nehemiah Hester Job the Psalms Solomon's Proverbs or Sentences Ecclesiastes the Song of Songs Esaiah Jeremiah with the Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonas Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zachariah Malachi Item the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew according to St. Mark according to St. Luke and according to St. John as also the second Book of St. Luke otherwise called The Acts of the Apostles Item the Epistles of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans one to the Corinthians two to the Galatians one to the Ephesians one to the Philippians one to the Colossians one to the Thessalonians two to Timothy two to Titus one to Philemon one Item the Epistle to the Hebrews the Epistle of St. James the first and second Epistle of St. Peter the first second and third Epistle of St. John the Epistle of St. Jude and the Apocalypse or Revelations of St. John ARTICLE IV. We acknowledge these Books to be Canonical that is we account them as the most certain Rule of our Faith and that not so much because of the common consent of the Church but because of the Testimony and Perswasion of the Holy Ghost by which we are taught to distinguish betwixt them and other Ecclesiastical Books upon which although they may be useful yet we cannot ground any Article of Faith ARTICLE V. We believe That the Doctrine contained in these Books is proceeded from God from whom only and not from men it deriveth
and foundation was their utter ruine Wherefore that we might not overburden our selves with too great a load of businesses all at once and for that the fury of War is incompatible with the Constitution of good and wholesome Laws we did prudently defer and delay their full and particular satisfaction till such time as we might make the best provision for them that could be desired And now at last through the divine goodness enjoying a greater quiet than ever we believed that we could not better employ our selves than in those concerns of the glory of his holy name and service and that he may he religiously adored invocated and worshipped by all our Subjects and although it be not his good pleasure to permit at this time that it should be in one and the self-same form and mode of Religion yet at least that it may be with one and the self-same mind and intention and in such an order and manner as there may not be any trouble or tumult among them for it that so both we our selves and this Kingdom may always merit and preserve that glorious Title entail'd upon us by the noble Atchievements of our Progenitors of being the Most Christian and so by this means to remove the cause of all those evils and troubles which might fall out upon the score and account of Religion they being of all others the most spreading taking and influential For these reasons we knowing that this was an affair of the greatest importance and meriting our best thoughts and deepest consideration after we had taken in hand the Bills of Grievances presented us by our Roman Catholick Subjects and had permitted our other Subjects of the aforesaid pretended Reformed Religion to assemble themselves by their Deputies to prepare their Bills also and to bring them in together with their Remonstrances unto us and had several Conferences with them about those very matters at sundry and divers times and revised all former Edicts we have judged needful now upon the whole to give unto all our said Subjects one and that a general clear plain and absolute Law by which they may be ruled and governed in and about all those differences which have heretofore fallen out or may hereafter happen and fall out among them which 't is our hope will most effectually contribute to their mutual and full contentment upon all occasions and emergencies whatsoever Sith that we never deliberated nor advised with our Privy-Council about it upon any other ground or respect than that great zeal which we have for God's Service and Glory and that he may be more religiously obeyed and worshiped by all our said Subjects and that there might be setled and established among them a good and firm and durable Peace For the obtaining of which we do most devoutly implore and wait upon his Divine Goodness hoping and expecting the continuance thereof and of that wonderful Protection and Favour he hath always most illustriously vouchsafed unto this Kingdom from its first Foundations laid many hundred years ago unto this very day and that he will be so merciful unto our said Subjects as to give them to understand that in the observation of this our Law consists next and after their duty unto God and us the principal basis and ground-work of their Union Concord Tranquillity and Peace and the setling and restoration of the whole state in its primitive splendour opulency and power As we for our part do purpose resolve and promise to see that it be exactly observed without suffering it in any manner to be transgressed or violated For these Causes We with the Advice of the Princes of our Blood and other Princes and Officers of the Crown and other great and Honourable Persons in our Council of State who are near about us and attend upon us having well and diligently pondered and considered this whole affair we have by this perpetual and irrevocable Edict said declared and Ordained and we do say declare and Ordain I. In the first place That the sense and remembrance of all matters passed both on the one side and the other from the beginning of March in the year 1585. unto the day of our coming unto the Crown and during all the preceding Troubles and all causes and occasions of them shall be for ever suppressed and forgotten as if they had never been Nor shall it be lawful for our Attorney-Generals or any other Persons whatsoever whether publick or private at any time or on any occasions that may be to mention sue implead or prosecute for them in any of our Courts or Jurisdictions whatsoever II. We forbid all our Subjects whatsoever their Estate or Quality may be to revive the memory of past matters or to assault incense injure provoke or reproach one the other upon those accounts or upon any cause or pretext whatsoever to dispute contend or quarrel with or to wrong and offend any one either in word or deed but that they contain themselves within bounds and live together peaceably as Brethren Friends and Fellow-Citizens on pain of punishing the Transgressors as Breakers of the Peace and Disturbers of the quiet and settlement of the Common-wealth III. We Ordain That the Roman Catholick and Apostolick Religion shall be restored and set up again in all places and quarters of this our Kingdom and in all other our Dominions subject to us where the exercise thereof hath been intermitted that it may be peaceably and freely exercised without any trouble lett or hinderance And we do most straitly forbid all Persons whatsoever their quality estate or condition may be upon the Penalties before-mentioned to trouble molest or disquiet the Ecclesiasticks in the Celebration of Divine Service or in the receiving or injoyment of their Tithes Emoluments and Revenues of their Benefices and of all other rights and duties appertaining to them And that all persons who in the late troubles have seized upon Churches Houses Goods and Revenues belonging to the said Ecclesiasticks and who do possess and occupy them do entirely relinquish the same and do peaceably resign and yield up their possession and enjoyment of them and of all rights priviledges and securities unto those Churchmen who are disseized of them Moreover we do most straitly forbid all those of the said pretended Reformed Religion to have any Sermons preached or any other exercise of their Religion aforesaid in any Churches Houses or other Habitations of those the said Ecclesiasticks IV. And the said Ecclesiasticks shall have full liberty to buy those Houses and Edifices which have been built not upon holy but profane grounds taken from them in the late troubles or to compel the Possessors of the said Buildings to purchase the land of them at a certain rate and price which shall be estimated and set upon it by persons of judgment and experience in such matters and for which both the Parties shall agree And in case of non-agreement between them the Judges of those places shall determine saving
Cities in which there is a Bishoprick or Archbishoprick but yet this shall not in the least prejudice those of the said pretended Reformed Religion so as to disable them from demanding or nominating for the said place of Worship the Burroughs and Villages near unto the said Cities excepting also the places and Lordships belonging unto the Ecclesiasticks in which 't is not our Intention that the said second place of Bailywick should he established We having out of our special Grace and Favour excepted and reserved them And we will and understand that by and under the name of ancient Bailywicks be meant those which were in being during the Reign of our Honoured Lord and Father-in-Law the late King Henry the Second and were reputed for Bailywicks Seneschallies and Governments depending immediately on the Jurisdiction of our Courts aforesaid XII Nor do we intend by this present Edict to derogate from those Edicts and Grants which we have formerly made for the reducing of divers Princes Lords Gentlemen and Catholick Towns unto our obedience by any thing which concerneth the exercise of the said Religion which Edicts and Grants shall be maintained and observed in this particular according to the import of those Instructions which shall be given by us unto those Commissioners who shall be appointed for the executing of this present Edict XIII We do most strictly forbid all those of the said Religion to exercise any part thereof whether as to the Ministry or Order or Discipline or publick Instruction of Children and any others in this our Kingdom or any Lands under our Dominion in what concerneth the said Religion unless in those places permitted and granted by this present Edict XIV As also there shall be no exercise of the said Religion in our Court or Retinue nor in our Territories or Countries on the other side of the Alps nor also in our City of Paris nor within five Leagues of the said City Yet notwithstanding the Professors of the said Religion who live in the Territories and Countries on the other side of the Alps and in our said City and within five Leagues thereof shall not be sought after in their Houses nor be obliged to do any thing upon the account of the Religion aforesaid against their Consciences provided that they do in all other things demean themselves according to the import of this present Edict XV. Nor may the publick exercise of the said Religion be performed in our Armies unless in the Quarters of the Chieftains professing the said Religion excepting always the place where our Royal Person shall be Lodged XVI In pursuance of the second Article of the Conference at Nerac we do not permit those of the said Religion to build places for its exercise in those Towns and places where we have granted it unto them and those which they have already built shall be restored to them or the Landlord of them in that condition in which it is at present and that in those places where the said exercise is not permitted them unless they have been since converted into some other kind of Buildings In which case they who now possess the said Edifices and Buildings Lands and places of equal price and value according as they were rated before they had built them or their just price as they shall be estimated by persons of skill and judgment in such matters Saving always to the said Proprietors and Possessors their recourse against all to whom they may belong XVII We forbid all Preachers Readers and other Persons who speak in publick to use any words discourses or talk which tendeth to stir up the People unto Sedition Yea we have enjoined and do enjoin and Command them to contain and deport themselves soberly and to speak nothing but what may be for the instruction and edification of their Hearers and that they maintain the repose and tranquillity established by us in our said Kingdom under those penalties expressed in our former Edicts Enjoining most strictly our Attorneys General and their Substitutes that according to the duties of their Office they do make information against those who shall break and transgress this our Law upon pain of answering for it in their own private and particular Capacities and of forfeiting their Offices XVIII We do also forbid all our Subjects of whatever quality or condition they may be to take away by force or by inticements against the will of their Parents the Children of those of the said Religion and to cause them to be baptized or confirmed in the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church as also the same Prohibitions are made by us against those of the said pretended Reformed Religion and all this on pain of exemplary punishment XIX The Professors of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall not be in any manner constrained nor stand obliged by reason of Abjurations Promises and Oaths which they have made heretofore or for any securities given by them upon the account of the said Religion nor shall they be molested nor troubled in any manner whatsoever XX. They shall be bound also to keep and observe the Holy-Days Commanded by the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church nor may they work sell nor keep open Shops on those Days nor may Artificers work out of their Shops unless it be in their Chambers and Houses close shut upon those Holy-Days and other days prohibited in any Trade so that the noise thereof should be heard without by the Passengers or Neighbours However none but the Officers of Justice shall make inquiry after it XXI Nor may any Books of the said pretended Reformed Religion be Printed or sold publickly unless in those Towns and Places where the publick Exercise of the said Religion is allowed And as for other Books which shall be imprinted in other Towns they shall be seen and perused as well by our Officers as by Divines according to the import of our Decrees And we do most strictly forbid the Imprinting Publishing and Sale of all Books Libels and defamatory Writings under the Penalties contained in our Decrees and we enjoin all our Judges and other Officers to look carefully unto it XXII We do Ordain That there shall be no difference nor distinction made upon the account of Religion in the receiving of Scholars for their Education in Universities Colledges and Schools and of sick and poor Persons into Hospitals and Spittles or to the participation of publick Alms. XXIII Those of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be obliged to keep the Laws of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church received in this our Kingdom about Marriages Contracted or to be Contracted within the degrees of Consanguinity and Affinity XXIV In like manner those of the said Religion shall pay according to the usual Custom the Fees for entrance into those Offices and Charges which are bestowed upon them without ever being compelled to assist at any Ceremonies contrary to their said Religion and when ever they be called to take an Oath they
of those of the said pretended Reformed Religion within the Jurisdiction of our Parliament of Provence they not needing to take out Letters of Evocation or other Provisions but in our Chancery of Dolphiny As also those of the said Religion in Normandy and Brittaine shall not be obliged to take out Letters of Evocation nor other Provisions but from our Court of Chancery in Paris XXXIII Our Subjects of the Reformed Religion in the Jurisdiction of the Parliament of Burgundy shall according to their will and choice plead in the Chamber ordained for that purpose either in the Parliament of Paris or in that of Dolphiny And they also shall not be bound to take out Letters of Evocation nor any other provisions unless from out of the said Chanceries of Paris or Dolphiny at their choice and pleasure XXXIV All these said Chambers composed as aforesaid shall take cognisance try and judge Soveraignly and without Appeal by Decree privatively of all others of all Suits and Differences moved or to be moved in which those of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be the principal Parties or Defendants in demanding or defending in all matters as well Civil as Criminal whether the said Suits and Processes be by writing or by verbal Appeals and if it seem good unto the said Parties and one of them do require it before the Cause come to be contested with respect unto the Processes which may be moved excepting always all matters beneficiary and the Possessors of Tithes not impropriated Patronages of Churches and those Causes in which the rights and duties and Demean of the Church shall be debated all which shall be tryed and judged in the Courts of Parliament without granting any power unto the said Chambers of the Edict to take Cognisance of them As also we will that when as Criminal Processes shall fall out between the said Ecclesiasticks and those of the said pretended Reformed Religion if the Ecclesiastical Person be Defendant in this Case the Cognisance and Judgments of the Criminal Process shall belong unto our Soveraign Courts privatively of the said Chambers or if the said Ecclesiastical Person be Plaintiff and he of the said Religion Defendant the Cognisance and Judgment of the said Criminal Process shall belong by Appeal and finally without Appeal unto those Chambers beforesaid established Moreover those said Chambers shall take Cognisance in times of Vacations of matters attributed by the Edicts and Ordinances unto the Chambers established in time of Vacation every one of them in their Jurisdiction XXXV The said Chamber of Grenoble shall be from this instant united and incorporated with the Body of the said Court of Parliament and the Presidents and Counsellers of the said pretended Reformed Religion shall be accounted and called the Presidents and Counsellors of the said Court and shall be reckoned and taken in the rank quality and number of them And for these ends they shall be first distributed by the other Chambers and then extracted and drawn out from among them to be imployed and serve in that which we ordain anew but always on this condition that they shall assist and have Voice and Sessions in all Deliberations that shall be made when as the Chambers are Assembled and they shall enjoy the same Sallaries Authorities and Preheminencies which the other Presidents and Counsellors of the said Court do XXXVI We will and it is our mind and intention that the said Chambers of Castres and Bourdeaux shall be reunited and incorporated in those Parliaments in the same form as others when as there shall be need of it and that the Causes which have moved us to make the establishment shall cease and there shall be no place left for them among our Subjects And to this purpose the Presidents and Counsellors in them of the said Religion shall be accounted and held for Presidents and Counsellors of the said Courts XXXVII There shall be also a new Creation and Erection in the Chamber Ordained for the Parliament of Bourdeaux of two Substitutes of our Attorney and Advocate-Generals one of which said Proctors shall be a Catholick and another of the said Religion who shall be possessed of the said Offices with competent Sallaries XXXVIII And the said Substitutes shall not take unto themselves any other quality than that of Substitutes and when as the Chambers ordained for the Parliaments of Tholouse and Bourdeaux shall be united and incorporated with the said Parliaments the said Substitutes shall be provided of Offices of Counsellors in them XXXIX The Dispatches of the Chancery of Bourdeaux shall be made in presence of two Counsellors of that Chamber one of which shall be a Catholick and the other of the said pretended Reformed Religion in the absence of one of the Masters of Requests of our Houshold And one of the Notaries and Secretaries of the said Court of Parliament of Bourdeaux shall make his Residence in the place where the said Chamber shall be established or else one of the ordinary Secretaries of the Chancery to sign the Dispatches of the said Chancery XL. We Will and Ordain That in the said Chamber of Bourdeaux there shall be two of the Register of the said Parliament the one for Civil the other for Criminal Causes who shall discharge their Offices by our Commissions and shall be called the Deputies or Commissioners in the Civil and Criminal Office of the Register who notwithstanding may not be abandoned nor revoked by the said Registers in Parliament Yet nevertheless they shall be bound to bring in the Emoluments of the said Registers Office unto the said Registers and the said Deputies shall be paid their Sallaries by the said Registers as it shall be advised and arbitrated by the said Chamber Moreover it shall be ordained that the Catholick Ushers shall be taken out of the said Court or from elsewhere according to our pleasure over and besides which there shall be two new ones erected of the said Reformed Religion and who shall be put into those places without payment of Fine or Fees And all those said Ushers shall be regulated by the said Chamber as well for the exercise and division of their offices as for the Emoluments which they are to receive There shall be also set up by Commission a Payer of Wages and Receiver of Fines in the said Chamber which office shall be given by us to whom we please in case the said Chamber be established any where else than in the said City And that Commission formerly granted unto the Payer of Wages in the Chamber of Castres shall be in full power and effect and the Commission of the Receit of the Fines in the said Chamber shall be joined unto the said Office XLI There shall be good and sufficient Assignments made for the Officers Wages in the Chambers ordained by this Edict XLII The Presidents Counsellors and other Catholick Officers of the said Chambers shall be continued as long as may be and as we shall see meet for our
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
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
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
near him any more they should be hanged These poor Creatures terrified with these and other Persecutions which they had already suffered fled into the Woods not daring to return to assist their afflicted Father In their absence the old man stands his ground stoutly against all the Assaults Temptations and Vexations of this Irreligious Curate and Sexton and finding they could not prevail upon him they at last forsake him This poor man was now left succourless and dies of famine For when he was found dead he had eaten the flesh off his Hands for hunger SECT XXVII I should never have done if I should set down all the Histories of their Sufferings by the Tricks and Quirks of Law but I will add one more Monsieur Mandeville de Fanue a Gentleman of an ancient Family was kept in the Common Gaol of Normandy three Years and was there in the Year 1674. He married a Gentlewoman bred up in the Popish Religion By her he had several Children the first was a Daughter and his Wife's Kindred intended to carry her away by force to be baptized according to the Romish Superstition To that end his Mother-in-Law procured from the Judges of Caen an express Command to the Ministers of the Protestant Church not to baptize the Child on pain of five hundred Livers This is directly contrary to the King's Declaration Anno 1669. Article 39. expressed in these very terms We Order and Command That the Children whose Father is a Protestant shall remain in their Parents Custody and those that shall take them away and detain them shall he constrained to restore them Hereupon he was constrained by night to avoid the insolency and fury of the common People to carry the Child as far as Bayeux five French Leagues distant from Caen there to be baptized after the manner of the Reformed Churches As he was going to baptize his third Child at the Protestant Temple near Caen the Vicar of St. John's Church stopped him and took him by the Throat suddenly in so violent a manner that he almost choaked him and to avoid the fury of the common People who began to stock about he returned to his House The last Child being a Daughter was carried away by stealth by the forementioned Vicar and was Baptized in the Romish way The Mother of these Children dying a short time after although by the Custom of the Country the Father hath the right of being Guardian and Tutor of his Children yet most unjustly and contrary to the 39th Article of the Edict The Relations of the deceased Gentlewoman who were all Papists chose her Brother who being a Minor needed a Guardian himself to take the care of these Children And thereupon he was Condemned to give up his Children into the care and custody of this young Guardian from this Sentence he made his Appeal to the Parliament of Rouen But his Adversaries by their false Witnesses and a Counterfeited Contract before Marriage allowing the Education of his Children in the Superstitions of the Romish Church which he proved forged got two Judgments passed against him and executed enjoining him to deliver up his Children under the penalty of eight hundred Livers French money Upon this he Petitioned the Privy-Council and obtained a Letter under the Kings Seal to Monsieur Chamilla Intendant of Caen Commanding him to put a period unto this Affair But he being wholly governed by the Bishop of Bayeux and other of the Clergy and rigid Papists This poor Gentleman was made a Prisoner and at the taking of him they miserably abused him beating him tearing his Cloaths breaking his Sword dragging him in a brutish manner through the streets and in all probability had not a Gentleman named the Viscount of Caen come by and took him into his Coach and conducted him with his Guard to the Prison he had been Massacred by the bloody Rabble Over and above all this bad usage some Debtors to him have obtained an injunction upon any proceeding at Law against them until he shall have delivered up his Children His Estate is all seized and he kept at the Kings allowance that he may thereby be compelled not having wherewithal to buy Bread for his Children to deliver them up This Order was Confirmed and given forth by six Ecclesiastical Councellors All that these inhumane Wretches have to alledge for this barbarous usage is this That they hold it just and equitable to deprive a Man of all the goods and comforts he enjoys provided it be for the advancement of their Religion which ought to be prefer'd before all private Interests whatsoever according to their Maxim Summa enim est ratio quae pro Religione facit And by this goodly Maxim of theirs was this worthy Gentleman for not prostituting his poor Children to their Diabolical Idolatries and Superstitions more than three years Imprisoned and placed among the most notorious Rogues who for their Villanies are under Restraint without any hope of deliverance unless by Death SECT XXVIII We shall add but one method more under this first head and that is a general Inundation of Criminal Processes against the Reformed Writings were Printed at Paris and sent down from thence to all Cities and Parishes in the Kingdom Impowering Curates Church-Wardens and others to make an exact inquiry into whatsoever those of the Reformed Religion had either said or done for twenty years past as well upon the occasion of Religion as otherwise and to give information of it unto the Local Magistrates that they might be prosecuted without delay and punished without remission So that for divers years together in the execution of these Orders the Prisons were every where filled with new kind of Criminals with the most Innocent Persons in all France Nor were false Witnesses wanting and which was most horrible though the Judges were convinced in their Consciences that they were Knights of the Post yet they maintained and abetted them in their horrid Wickedness Thus they Condemned innocent and godly Persons to be scourged to be Chained in the Gallies to Banishment and publick Penances And this kind of Persecution fell chiefly upon Ministers Pastors of Churches For a long time they might not Preach without having for their Auditors and Observators a swarm of Priests Monks and Missioners and such kind of Cattel who made no scruple to charge them with things which never entered into their thoughts and to turn others into a contrary meaning Yea they went so far as to divine thoughts and to make Crimes out of their own imaginations For as soon as ever any Minister spake of Egypt Pharaoh the Israelites of good or bad People These Spies had their forced Innuendo's and accused these poor Ministers for slandering the Catholicks and that they meant by the Israelites the Reformed The Judges concerned themselves in this and which is most strange The Ministers of State construed these Interpretations of thoughts as real evident and undeniable proofs On these grounds the Magistrates filled the
Prisons with many worthy Ministers detaining them many Months and whole Years together yea and often inflicted upon them severer punishments SECT XXIX But they did not stop here they proceed farther To deprive the Reformed of all Offices and Employments and in general of all means of gaining a Livelyhood An infinite number of Protestants being dispersed in all parts of the Kingdom it could not be but that many Families of them must subsist by serving the publick either in Offices Arts Trades or one Faculty or other according to their Education and Callings Henry the Fourth was so much convinced of the necessity and justice of this very thing that he made it an express Article and perhaps the most distinct and formal one of all the rest which are contained in his Edict and therefore the Persecutors thought themselves obliged to use their utmost endeavours to elude and evacuate it Here then they began with Arts and Trades which under several pretences they rendred almost inaccessible unto the Protestants by the many difficulties they met with in attaining to their Mastership in them and by the excessive expences they must be at to be received therein For every Candidate who would set up his Trade was forced to this effect to commence and carry on tedious Law-Suits under the weight of which they sunk and were over-whelmed they being in no wise able to hold out the prosecution of them But this not being sufficient enough to ruine them out cometh a Declaration in the Year 1669. by which they be reduced to one third in those Towns where the Protestants were the greatest number of Inhabitants and they were forbidden to receive any of the Religion into their company till this diminution was made Thus at one stroke one dash of the King's Pen all Pretenders are totally excluded Some time after they drive all the Reformed from the Consulships and other municipal Offices in Cities Which was in effect to deprive them of all knowledge of their proper Affairs and Interests and wholly to invest the Catholicks with them In 1680. The King issued out an Order depriving them in general of all kind of Offices and Employs whatsoever from the greatest to the meanest They were rendred uncapable of serving in the Custom houses in the Guards Treasury or Post-Office of being Messengers Coach-men or Waggoners or any thing of this nature In the Year 1681. By a Decree of Council all Notaries Attorneys Solicitors and Serjeants professing the Reformed Religion were rendred utterly uncapable of these Imployments in any part of the Kingdom In the Year 1682. All Lords Gentlemen of the Reformed Religion were ordered to discharge their Officers and Servants of the said Religion and not to make use of them in any case and this upon no other reason than this because they were Protestants In the Year 1683. All Officers belonging to the King's Houshold and those of the Princes of the Blood were also rendred uncapable of holding their Places The Counsellors and other Officers in the Courts of Aids and Chambers of Accounts and those in County Courts Bailywicks in the Courts Royal of the Admiralty in the Provost's and Marshals Court in the Treasury Excise and all Offices of the Toll and such like businesses were ordered to leave their Places that the Catholicks might enjoy them In the Year 1684. All Secretaries belonging to the King and great Officers of France whether Real or Honorary ones yea and their very Widows were deprived by a Revocation of all their Priviledges of what nature soever they were They also deprived all those that had purchased any Priviledges for exercising any Professions as Merchants Surgeons Apothecaries Vintners and all others without exception Yea they proceeded to this excess that they would not suffer any Midwives of the Reformed Religion to do their Office and expresly ordained for the future That the Protestant Women when they were in Travel should receive assistance from none but Roman Catholicks It cannot be express'd how many particular Persons and Families they reduced every where by these strange and unheard of methods to ruine and misery SECT XXX But because there were yet many which could sustain themselves other Methods of Oppression must be invented To this end they issued out an Edict from the Council by which the New Converts as they call them were discharged from paying any of their Debts for three Years This for the most part fell sore and heavy upon the Reformed who having had a more particular tie of interest and business with these pretended Converts because of their Communion in Religion were reckoned their chiefest Creditors By this Order they had found the Secret to recompence those that changed at the charge of those who continued firm and this they did likewise by another way For they discharged the New Converts of all Debts which those of the Religion had contracted in Fellowship with them So that the poor Protestants must pay all Horrible Injustice Cruel hellish Oppression Add to this The Protestants are prohibited to sell or alienate their Estates on any pretence whatsoever the King disannulling and vacating all Contracts and other Acts relating to that Matter if it did not appear that after these Acts they had stayed in the Kingdom a whole Year so that the last Remedy of helping themselves with their Estates in extream necessity was now wholly taken from them There remained yet a Sheet-Anchor for the poor Protestants and that was all which was left them to save themselves in this storm to retire into other Countreys where they might get their living by their labours since it was not permitted them in France But the King by repeated Edicts forbad them to leave the Kingdom upon very severe Penalties This rendred their case desperate for they saw themselves reduced to that horrible necessity of being starv'd to death to die of famine And yet the cruelty of their Enemies did not stop here For there remaining some gleanings in the Provinces tho' very few and those as thin lean and blasted as the Ears of Corn in Pharaoh's Dream The Intendants in their respective Districts had express order to load the Reformed with Taxes which they did in this manner Either by laying upon them the Tax of the new Catholicks who were discharged thereof on favour of their conversion or by laying exorbitant Taxes which they call Duties that is to say He who in the ordinary Roll was assessed at forty or fifty Livers was charged by this Imposition with seven or eight hundred Thus had they nothing more left for all was a Prey to the griping Covetousness and brutish Cruelty of Inhumane Intendants They levied their Taxes from them by the effectual quartering of Dragoons upon them or by close Imprisonment from whence they were never freed till such time as they had paid down the utmost farthing SECT XXXI These were the two first Engines which the Popish Clergy used against the poor Reformed in that Realm But now followeth
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
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
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
in presence of these Witnesses whose names are hereunto subscribed this day of the Month of _____ and in the year of our Lord SECT XLVII When these poor Wretches had signed this Abjuration and hoped thereby to be at rest they were far enough from it for their Consciences flew in their Faces and many of them were driven unto despair Yet their Persecutors never ceased tormenting them they must own and attest it before the World that they embraced the Roman Religion freely voluntarily and of their own accord and that no Violence was offer'd them to move or induce them to turn from the Reformed Religion And if after this they scrupled to go to Mass to communicate after the Popish way to tell over their Chaplet of Beads or if a Sigh escaped from them indicating their Grief and Sorrow for their great Sin in forsaking the Truth immediately there were great Fines laid upon them and their old Guests the Dragoons are sent back again to beat up their quarters and they must entertain afresh those old Guests who had wearied them out of their Faith and Life I have by me a Letter from Mets giving an account of the state of the poor Protestants upon their Abjuration which may not be unacceptable to the Reader My Dear F. YOUR's of the Thirteenth of September is come to my hands by which I perceive you are well informed of all things relating to those Holy Missionaries our Dragoons You cannot for all that imagine what it is to fall into the hands of such Apostles Of all the Families of * * * * * * There were in that Church 10000 Communicants Mets there are left but two Persons which have not subscribed viz. Madamoiselle Goffin who is a Prisoner in the Nunnery of the Female Preachers and Madamoiselle Ferry Sister to Monsieur Le Bachelier the Counsellour who is also clapt up in the Nunnery of St. Clare These are the only two Persons who have refused Subscription yet do not persuade your self into that Opinion that because they have subscribed therefore they must needs be of the Roman Religion nay the very contrary is true for we were never more estranged from it I shall deal plainly with you we ought not to be blamed for our weakness in subscribing for had all the Ministers of France now exiled the Kingdom been resident in it and lain as we have at the cruel mercy of Dragoons I am certainly persuaded that not five in an hundred could have stood it out but must have subscribed as well as we Do not then believe that such as have subscribed have changed their Religion I can give you full evidence that they were never more zealous for the Reformed Religion than now I know we have too too much neglected your Advices but the most eminent among us were too secure even our Ministers themselves who because of the profound peace in which we lived had made Purchaces and richly furnished their houses with the best of Goods And if after all this we have had the Misfortune to expect that ill Hour and Lot of Subscription 't was because there was no means left of saving our selves and whereas we be condemned for our foolish confidence in those golden Promises That neither by word or deed we should be in the least hurt upon the score of Conscience I must reply it was because the Passages on the Frontiers being so strictly guarded we could not possibly escape for on this side of the Kingdom all were so narrowly watched that a poor Cat could not meet with an Hole by which to creep out You writ to me concerning Monsieur N. pray when you see him tell him that Madam N. his Sister-in-law lodgeth at my house with her Family and that already three of her Sons are departed the Kingdom She is one of the sweetest Gentlewomen that may be the Lord bless and assist her in all her designs She ran the same risk with the rest but is little concerned for it There be daily brought into the Prisons of this City Persons of Vitry Chalons and Sedan who are Condemned unto the Gallies or to perpetual Duress Finally on our side we have no means left us of escaping so that we must absolutely resign our selves to the will of our God 'till he open a Door for us Yet I beseech you do not believe that Worldly considerations as of goods and estates do detain us here No no could we but have had liberty of departure we had long e'r this gone away though only with our Shifts about us yea tho' we had left our Children behind us But it is not God's will that we should yet quit this place nay 't is his will that we be patient and that we hinder our Childrens falling into such hands as would educate them in Idolatry in a false Religion and in an aversion for our selves also I must add that we had no preservative from subscribing it was wholly impossible to avoid that Subscription against the Protestant Reformed Religion tho' as yet we are not obliged to go to Mass but expect once more the Dragoons with their Swords in their hands to drive us to it We know we have subscribed but we know also we have not changed our Religion and through Grace we shall never change it I may assure you that so great were our Oppressions that they might have oblig'd us to have been Turks as well as Papists and to have wore a Turban had it been as high again as the Triple Crown Our wisest Catholicks for these last six Months have told us That we should shortly be of one Religion but never be of one belief And they had reason for what they said For we were never more fixed in our Religion than now Sometimes for fashions sake we go unto their Sermons but return extreamly dissatisfied with those Discourses and more confirmed in our first Faith than before Poor Monsieur de Chevenix lies very ill the Curate of his Parish was with him to oblige him to Confession but he positively told him he would not confess himself to any but God who alone could forgive him his sins and not to any mortal creature who was as much a sinner as himself Afterwards he was visited by the Archbishop who would have obliged him to communicate before death which he also as stiffly refused The Archbishop acquainted him with the King's Orders concerning such who being sick refuse to communicate e'er they die He replied that he cared not a Rush for them and that he would never communicate after the Popish manner I know not what may happen hereafter but at present he is mending and I believe he will perfectly recover But the Ordinances of the King or rather of the Clergy are That the sick shall communicate before death and in case they do not their dead Carkasses shall be drawn upon the Hurdle and then thrown into the Common Jakes and all their Goods confiscated and if they
begun to make his demands sets no bounds to them The Switzers are hastning to their Assembly and the People seems very resolute to stand up in defence of their Liberties and Religion Every one is ready to march at the first Signal In the mean while the Switzers have been wonderful in their Charity The Country of Vaux is fill'd in every Corner with French Fugitives Within these three Weeks there have been reckon'd above 17500. Persons that have passed unto Lausanne Zurich writ admirable Letters to Berne and Geneva desiring them to send of those poor People to them and that they would receive them as their own natural Brethren into their Country into their Houses yea and into their very Hearts We long to know whether the King will not make the same demand unto the Switzers as unto Geneva But 't is hoped they 'll not bate his Majesty an ace but assert their own Rights and Soveraignty Yet there being a Spirit of Bigottry crept in among the Popish Cantons even in the very face of the Protestants this troubles a World of People Yours N. N. SECT XLIX Whilst all this was acting abroad and other mischiefs done unto the Reformed at home The French Court sate close in Consultation about giving the last blow at the Roots of the Religion in that Kingdom and how and in what manner to repeal the Edict of Nantes Very much time was spent in drawing up the matter and form of this new Edict Some in the Council would have the King detain all the Ministers and compel them as he had done the Laity to change their Religion or in case of stubbornness and refusal he should condemn them to perpetual Imprisonment The reasons alledged for this were that in case he did it not they would be so many dangerous Enemies against him in Foreign Nations and Trumpets of his Cruelty and Tyranny others on the contrary affirmed that as long as the Ministers continued in France their presence would incourage the People to abide in their Religion whatsoever care might be taken to hinder them and that supposing they should change they would be but so many secret Adversaries nourished in the bosom of the Romish Church and the more dangerous because of their great knowledge and skill in controversial Matters This last Argument prevailed And thereupon they came to a final conclusion of banishing all the Ministers and to give them no more than fifteen days time to depart the Kingdom The Edict is now given unto the Attorney-General of the Parliament of Paris to draw it up in such a Form as he should judge most fitting But before the publishing thereof two things were thought necessary to be done The first was to oblige the Assembly of the Clergy to present by themselves unto the King a Petition about this Matter before mentioned in which also they told his Majesty that they desired not at present the Repealing of the Edict of Nantes The second was to suppress universally all Books made by those of the Reformed Religion and that an Order should be issued out to that purpose By the first of these the Clergy supposed they might shelter themselves from those Reproaches which would otherwise be flung upon them for being the sole Authors of those many Miseries Injustices and Oppressions which would infallibly be occasioned by the Repeal of that Edict And by the other they designed to make the Conversions of the Hereticks more easie and feasible and to confirm those which had been already made For Ministers and Books being all removed they could not possibly be instructed nor confirmed nor reduced back again to their old Religion SECT L. In fine this Edict revoking and repealing the Edict of Nantes was signed and published on Thursday October the 8th in the Year 1685. 'T is said the High Chancellour of France Le Tellier expressed an extream joy when he put the Seal to it But his joy was but as the crackling of Thorns under a Pot. It was the last act of his life For no sooner did he return from Fountainbleau to his own House but he fell sick and died in a few days 'T is certain that the Policy of this old Man rather than any Cruelty in his Nature induced him in his declining Years to join himself unto the Persecutors of the Reformed This Revocatory Edict was registred in the Parliament of Paris and immediately after in all other the Parliaments of this Kingdom This great Instrument of the ruine and desolation of the Reformed Religion of all its Ministers and Professors in that Kingdom was couched in these Terms SECT LI. The King's Edict forbidding all Publick Exercise of the Pretended Reformed Religion in this Kingdom LEWES by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre To all present and to come Greeting Whereas King Henry the Great our Grandfather of glorious Memory having procured a Peace for his Subjects after those great Losses they had sustained during the Civil and Foreign Wars endeavoured that it might not be disturbed upon the account of the Pretended Reformed Religion as it had fallen out in the Reigns of the Kings his Predecessors had therefore by his Edict given at Nantes in the Month of April in the Year one thousand five hundred and eighty eight established such Measures as should be observed with reference to those of the said Religion the Places in which they might exercise it and ordained extraordinary Judges for the ministring of Justice to them and finally had provided also by special Articles whatsoever he conceived needful to maintain Tranquillity in his Kingdom and to diminish that Aversion which had arisen between persons of the one and other Religion that so he might be the better enabled to carry on his design of reuniting them unto the Church who had been too easily estranged from it And forasmuch as this Intention of the aforesaid King our Grandfather could not by reason of his sudden death be accomplished and the Execution of the said Edict was also interrupted during the Minority of the late King our most honoured Lord and Father of glorious Memory by reason of the new Enterprises of those of the Pretended Reformed Religion so that occasion was taken to deprive them of divers Priviledges which had been granted them by the said Edict Nevertheless the said King our late Lord and Father using his ordinary Clemency did yet vouchsafe them a new Edict at Nismes in the Month of July one thousand six hundred and twenty nine by means whereof Peace being again restored the said late King animated with the same Spirit and Zeal for Religion as the King our Grandfather had resolved to improve to the utmost this Peace by endeavouring to bring his godly design into practice but the Foreign Wars falling out a few Years after in such a manner that from the Year 1635. until the Truce concluded with the Princes of Europe in the Year 1684. the Kingdom having but little rest it was scarce possible
to do any thing for the advancement of Religion unless it were to diminish the numbers of the Churches belonging to those of the Pretended Reformed Religion by interdicting such as had been built contrary to the Orders of the said Edict and by suppression of the Mixt Chambers which were erected only provisionally God having at last granted to our People the injoyment of a perfect Peace and we also not being occupied with those cares to protect them against our Enemies and being able to improve this Truce which we effected for this very end that we might wholly apply our selves to seek out such means whereby we might accomplish successfully the design of the said Kings our Father and Grandfather upon which also we entred as soon as we came unto the Crown we now see and according to our Duty thank God for it that our Cares have at last obtained that end we had propounded to our selves inasmuch as the far greater and better part of our Subjects of the said Pretended Reformed Religion have embraced the Catholick And inasmuch as hereby the Execution of the Edict of Nantes and of whatsoever else hath been ordained in favour of the said Pretended Reformed Religion is become useless we have judged that we could do nothing better towards the total blotting out of the remembrance of those Troubles Confusions and Mischiefs which the progress of that false Religion had caused in our Kingdom and which occasioned that Edict and several other Edicts and Declarations which had preceded it or had been in consequence thereof Enacted than totally to revoke the said Edict of Nantes and the special Articles which in pursuance of it had been conceded and whatsoever else had been done in favour of that said Religion I. We therefore make known that for these Causes and others thereunto us moving and of our certain knowledge full power and Royal Authority we have by this present perpetual and irrevocable Edict suppressed and revoked we do suppress and revoke the Edict of the King our said Grandfather given at Nantes in the Month of April one thousand five hundred eighty and two in its whole extent together with those special Articles ordained the second day of May following and the Letters Patents expedited thereupon and the Edict given at Nismes in the Month of July one thousand six hundred and twenty nine we declare them void and as if they had never been together with all Grants made as well by them as by other Edicts Declarations and Decrees to those of the said Pretended Reformed Religion of what kind soever they may be which shall in like manner be reputed as if they had never been And in consequence hereof we will and 't is our pleasure that all the Temples of those of the said Religion situated within our Kingdom Countries Lands and Lordships of our subjection shall be immediately demolished II. We forbid our said Subjects of the said Pretended Reformed Religion any more to assemble themselves for exercise of their said Religion in any Place or Private House under any pretence whatsoever yea and all real Exercises or such as were in Lordships although the said Exercises had been maintained by the Decrees of our Council III. In like manner we forbid all Lords of every degree the Exercise of their Religion in their Houses and Mannors whatsoever may be the Quality of their said Mannors and that upon pain of Confiscation of Bodies and Goods for those of our said Subjects who shall so exercise their said Religion IV. We command all Ministers of the Pretended Reformed who will not turn from it and embrace the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion to depart our Kingdom and the Lands of our Dominion within a Fortnight after the publication of this our present Edict and not to tarry beyond that time or during that said Fortnight to Preach Exhort or perform any Function of their Ministry upon pain of being sent to the Gallies V. Our will is that such of the said Ministers who shall change their Religion shall during their whole life continually injoy and their Widows also after them as long as they remain unmarried the same Exemption from Taxes and Lodging of Souldiers which they injoyed during the time of their Ministry and farther we will pay also unto the said Ministers as long as they live a Stipend which shall exceed by one third the Wages they received for their Ministry and their Wives also as long as they abide Widows shall injoy the one half of their said Stipend VI. If any of the said Ministers desire to become Advocates or would proceed Doctors of the Laws 't is our will and we declare it That they shall be dispensed as to three Years studying prescribed by our Declarations and having undergone the usual Examination and thereby judged capable that they be promoted Doctors paying one half only of those Fees customarily paid to this purpose in every University VII We forbid all Private Schools for the Instruction of the Children of those of the said Pretended Reformed Religion and generally all other things whatsoever that may bear the sign of Priviledge or Favour to that said Religion VIII And touching the Children that shall be born of those of the said Pretended Reformed Religion Our Will is that for time to come they be baptized by the Curates of their Parishes Commanding their Fathers and Mothers for that purpose to send them to their Churches on penalty of being fined five hundred Livers or a greater summ and those Children shall henceforth be brought up in the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion And we most strictly Command all the Judges of those respective places to see that this be Executed IX And that we may express our Clemency towards those our Subjects of the said Pretended Reformed Religion who are withdrawn from out of our Kingdom Countries and Lands of our Dominion before Publication of this our present Edict we will and give them to understand that in case they return within the space of four Months from the day of its Publication they may and it shall be lawful for them to enter into the possession of their Estates and to injoy them even as they might have done if they had been always at home whereas contrarily such as within that time of four Months shall not return into our Kingdom or Countries or Lands of our Dominion their Estates abandon'd by them shall be and remain Confiscated according to our Declarations of the twentieth day of August last past X. And we do most straitly again repeat our Prohibitions unto all our Subjects of the said Pretended Reformed Religion that neither they nor their Wives nor Children do depart our said Kingdom Countries or Lands of our Dominion nor transport their Goods and Effects on pain for Men so offending of their being sent to the Gallies and of Confiscation of Bodies and Goods for the Women XI We will and give them to know that all Declarations published against the
another where their Crime is not known they shall only testify their Repentance privately before the Consistory but with this Condition that in case they return to that former Church whereunto they belonged they shall then and there also make a publick Acknowledgment of their Offence XXIV Publick Penances shall be undergone personally and by those only who have publickly offended the Sinner openly and sincerely with his Mouth from his Heart testifying his Repentance XXV Whoredoms when committed and come to publick â—â—owledge shall by their Actors be publickly acknowledged with evident Tokens of Repentance XXVI This Clause by the greater part shall be razed out from the end of the 17th Article of Figeac and there shall be this only inserted known by the greater part XXVII Both those Canons of the Tenth National Synod and of our ancient Discipline concerning the time of meeting for Colloquies and Provincial Synods shall remain in full force so that they be wholly left unto their Liberty to do therein as they may most conveniently XXVIII Forasmuch as Provincial Synods depend upon the National Colloquies also shall for the same Reasons be subject unto the Provincial Synods and Consistories unto Colloquies XXIX The National Synod of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom assembled in this City of Rochel under the Authority of the King's Edicts having seen a certain Book Intituled The History of France printed in this City upon divers complaints made unto us from all parts of the Kingdom against it and having took Cognisance of the proceedings of the Consistory of this Church against the find Book hath found that in many places the Author speaks exceeding irreverently and irreligiously of divine Things and that it is a heap of idle vain and prophane Matters full of Falshoods Lies and Calumnies to the great prejudice of God's glorious Power to the disadvantage and dishonour of our Holy Doctrine and Reformed Religion to the Dissamation of divers godly Persons dead and living And therefore hath thought good to advertise all the Churches that they beware of the said Book and inasmuch as in them lieth to disapprove it And this Synod doth judicially declare the Author of the said Book if he own himself a Protestant unworthy of our Holy Communion and not to be admitted to the participation of the Sacraments until such time as he shall have acknowledged his offence and by convenient means such as the Suppression of his History shall have repaired the Scandal that he hath given unto the Churches XXX The Synod also having seen and examined another Book written in Latin upon Genesis by a certain Fellow called James Brocan of Piedmont printed in this City hath declared and doth declare it to be fraught with Impieties and horrible Profanations of the Sacred Scriptures and pernicious Errors especially in Matters of Revelation of Revelation Prophecy and therefore exhorts all the Faithful to keep themselves carefully from being seduced by it XXXI The first Article of Provincial Synods being read it was decreed That all Ministers should attend in Person at their Provincial Synods or should excuse themselves by Letters in case of absence the causes whereof should be judged valid or otherwise by those Assemblies XXXII The third Article concerning National Synods shall abide in its full power But for the benefit of all our Churches there shall be this clause added That for time to come if possible it may be done there shall be two Ministers and two Elders deputed from every Province unto them XXXIII Forasmuch as Dancings and other Dissolutions do sprout up and increase every where yea and in these our Reformed Churches it was thought good to exhort the Consistories that for God's sake they would conscientiously observe the Six and twentieth Article of particular Orders decreed in the Synod of Figeac and in the Name of God and by the Authority of this present Assembly that it be read publickly in the Churches and all Colloquies and Synods are hereby expresly charged to censure those Consistories that neglect their Duty in this particular XXXIV All those who by unlawful means as by Papal Bulls or ready Money shall purchase or hold Benefices and such as cause Idolatry to be upheld and maintained either directly or indirectly shall be excluded Communion at the Lord's Table XXXV As to what concerns Impropriators and Farmers of Benefices the ancient Canons of our Discipline shall hold good and be in full force power and vertue against them Yet nevertheless the Deputies shall bring with them from their respective Provinces whatever Difficulties have occurr'd about those matters that so they may be debated in the next National Synod And whereas our Brethren of Languedoc Gascony and Perigord have desired have for the welfare of their Churches to censure such Farmers the business is left unto the prudence of their Provincial Synods XXXVI That Churches may not hereafter upon the death or removal of their Pastors be dissolved the Ministers who preside in the Colloquy for a new Election shall first of all enquire of every Elder in other Churches of the Colloquy what and how much Maintenance they exhibit unto their Pastors and what care they take for paying in unto them their promised Stipends that so provision may be made for them by the Authority of the Colloquies XXXVII These words The most eminent shall be blotted out from the 33d Article of Figeac XXXVIII Synods and Colloquies shall consult how to six the Limits and Extent of that Church wherein a Minister shall exercise his ordinary Calling XXXIX Ministers belonging to the Churches of France and now living abroad without the Kingdom shall be recalled by their respective Provinces XL. Forasmuch as there is a notorious contempt of Religion visible in all places yea also in our Religious Meetings we advise that Notice be given unto all Persons to bring with them their Psalm-Books into the Churches and that such as contemptuously neglect the doing of it shall be severely censur'd and all Protestant Printers are advised not to sunder in their Impressions the Prayers and Catechism from the Psalm-Books XLI The 17th Article of particular Orders concerning Habits was thus explained This Synod declareth That such Habits are not to be allowed in common wearing which carry with them evident marks of lasciviousness dissolution and excessive new-fangled Fashions such as painting slashing cutting in pieces trimming with Locks and Tassels or any other that may discover our Nakedness or naked Breasts or Fardingales or the like sort of Garments with which both Men and Women do wickedly cloath and adorn themselves And Consistories shall do their utmost endeavour to suppress such Dissolutions by their Censures and in case the Delinquents are contumacious and rebellious they shall proceed against them even to Excommunication XLII As to the 14th Canon concerning Marriages this Synod doth not judge it contrary to the 24th Article enacted by the Assembly of Estates at Blois for in that Orders only were given unto Notaries and Scriveners how
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
Pastors and Elders as they be obliged by that Article of our Discipline otherwise they shall have no power of Voting in that Synod XIII In explaining the fifth Article of the tenth Chapter of our Discipline concerning Funerals it was decreed That Ministers should hinder the distribution of the Deceased's Alms at their Interrments that so those inconveniences which would otherwise fall out may be prevented XIV That Article of the Synod of Saumur concerning the Administration of Baptism after Singing the last Psalm before the Blessing shall be inserted into the eleventh Chapter of our Discipline XV. Having read and carefully examined the Memoirs sent from the Provinces concerning the fifth Article of the thirteenth Chapter of our Discipline about the Form in which Promises of Marriage are to be conceived and uttered this Assembly ordereth That both that Article of the Discipline and of the last Synod of Saumur shall be amended and that the Churches be left to their own liberty and discretion either to use the words de praesenti or de futuro XVI In explaining the tenth Article of the same Chapter this case was propounded by the Colloquy of Foix A Man espoused the Widow of the Deceased who was married to his own Sister in a former Marriage The Synod judgeth That such a Marriage is not incestuous nor comprised in the said Article forasmuch as Affinity ceaseth by Death and proceedeth not beyond the Persons conjoyned by that said Affinity XVII A Question was moved upon reading the 16th Article of the 13th Chapter Whether it were lawful to give them a Certificate to be married out of their own Churches Who desired it for this reason only that they might avoid Bewitching and Impotency procured by tying the Point This Assembly ordaineth That it shall not in the least be granted them and adviseth them not to give way unto such fears proceeding from their weakness and unbelief and the Faithful are exhorted to arm themselves against such Attempts by an entire confidence in God's Holy Word and by fervent Prayers to vanquish such Illusions and to come unto the Ordinance of Marriage when blessed in our Churches with more Reverence Attention and Devotion than is usual XVIII The Assembly decreed about the 23d Article of the same Chapter concerning Widows Marriages That they shall not be admitted to contract Marriage till seven Months and fourteen days be fully expired after their Husbands Death XIX The 21st * * * It 's the 20th Article Article of the same Chapter being examined the Church in the House of her Highness the King's Sister craved Advice for their Conduct in that great Concern of her Royal Highness's Marriage with the Prince of Lorrain because althô she had employed the Authority of the Provincial Synod and of divers famous Persons both within and without the Kingdom yet she cannot any longer hinder it This Synod approving their Duty judgeth this Marriage utterly unlawful nor shall it be permitted in any of our Churches and Letters to this purpose shall be written to her and all Ministers are enjoyned carefully to observe this Article otherwise they shall be suspended and deposed from their Ministry And this Injunction shall be annexed to the Articles of our Discipline N.B. She would not be married after the Popish way and could not after the Protestants Henry IV. her Brother found out a temper got the Archbishop of Roven his Natural Brother to pronounce only the formal words of Marriage in his Cabinet the King himself joyning their Hands and the Duke of Barr went immediately to Mass and she to a Sermon at Court See the 28th Artic. of Part. Matters of the Nation Synod of Gâ—rgâ—aâ— XX. A Case was propounded upon the Article of Incests A Maid was married in her Nonage to one who in his first Marriage had espoused her Aunt by Papal Dispensation and had Children by her now she is since come to the knowledge of the Truth embraceth and makes open profession thereof but not her Husband she also hath born him Children may this Woman be received into Communion with our Churches This Assembly distinguishing between Affinity and Consanguinity and considering the time wherein the said Marriage was contracted and that the Dispensation such as it was is reputed a Law in this Kingdom and because the Husband is of the contrary Religion adviseth That without approving the said Marriage she be received unto Communion with us in the Sacraments And this shall be published unto the People XXI On the Article of Publick Penance for Scandals the Province of Higher Languedoc moved Whether a Man convicted and condemned by the Civil Magistrate for a certain Crime which yet he pertinaciously denieth may be received to the Peace and Fellowship of the Church without undergoing Publick Penance This Assembly judgeth That in the first place the past Life of this condemned Person be revised and examined and then the Accusations brought in against him the Witnesses attesting them and the Judges passing Sentence on him and then to ponder all Circumstances and Proofs over and above what were produced before the Magistrate and if alter the greatest diligence used herein and Adjurations made him in the Name of God to confess the Truth he still persists in his denyals he may be received unto the Lord's Table provided that the Church be publickly acquainted in his presence that the Judgment of the whole Process lieth between God and his own Conscience XXII Instead of those words in the beginning of the * * * It is now the 23th Art 26th Article of the same Chapter Who shall have dwelt there shall be inserted Who being espoused shall have dwelt together XXIII A Case being moved Whether Lands might be purchased on these Terms That you keep up Divine Service as 't is called in the Church of Rome This Assembly is of Opinion That we should make a difference between those who purchase upon Terms of paying such and such Suits and Service unto a Bishop Abbot or Curate and those who in downright Terms scruple the causing Mass to be said or sung the former of these be not liable to Church Censures but the latter must be informed that they cannot with a safe Conscience neither possess nor acquire such Lands or Leases XXIV Proctors and Advocates i. e. Attorneys and Counsellors professing the Reformed Religion may not take of their own accord Monitories out of the Popish Ecclesiastical Courts But Judges being Publick Persons and having Authority to declare what is Law and ought to be done may order what they shall do in such Cases XXV The last clause of the 13th Article in the Chapter of Ministers shall be struck out because 't is comprised in the 15th Article of the last Chapter of our Discipline concerning Particular Orders XXVI Divers Provinces complaining of the Licentiousness of Printers in publishing all sorts of Books Cities and Churches having Printers in them are advised to suffer no Book to get into the Press
till it hath been first of all seen and approved by the Church XXVII To that Article of Players and Mummers shall be added Juglets Players of Hocus-pocus Tricks of Goblets Puppet-playing Morrice-dances and all Christian Magistrates are advised not in the least to suffer them because it feeds foolish Curiosity puts upon unnecessary Expences and wasts Time XXVIII A Lottery ordained by the Magistrates Authority for the Relief of Minors Debtors and poor Merchants shall not be condemned but others of a different nature such as that called The Wheel of Fortune and the like are peremptorily forbidden XXIX The Faithful ought not to Feast at those Banquets made by Priests when they first sing Mass XXX Forasmuch as Whoredom especially in Women brings with it a brand of Infamy this Assembly explaining the 21st Article of the fifth Chapter of our Discipline doth decree That the Penance of such Persons as have been guilty of those scandalous Crimes shall be left unto the discretion of the Consistory CHAP. IV. Of APPEALS I. THE Appeals of the Church of Rochel from the Synod of Anjou about their pretended Claim to Monsieur de la None as also that of the Church of Castle-Gautier are both evacuated and disannulled II. An Appeal being brought by the Colloquy of Higher Rouargue for that the Provincial Synod of Figeac and Castres had ordained the Provincial Synods to be held at this time in the Colloquies of Albigeois Lauragais and Lower Quercy only this Assembly declareth That for time coming the Discipline shall be expresly followed and that the next Provincial Synod shall be held in the Town of Millaud but on this condition that unless the said Colloquy do send their Deputies unto the said Provincial Synod they shall then forfeit their Right III. The Appeal of Monsieur Croiseit from the Synod of Guyenne was made void because it was against the Discipline and for that he hath not appeared at this Synod in Person IV. This Assembly declareth the Appeal of the Church of Metz and Verdun to be good and valid and ordaineth that they shall be incorporated with the Colloquy of Montauban V. Forasmuch as Monsieur Quentin receiveth a very small Salary from his Church and hath been many Years in their Service this Assembly confirms the Decree of the Lower Languedoc granting him a License to Teach Youth for his better maintenance VI. The Differences between the Synods of Higher Languedoc and the Lower Guyenne about the Churches of Nerac Leirac and others of the Lower Armagnac are dismissed over by this Assembly to be finally decided by the next National Synod VII Monsieur Galoy shall be returned to his Church of Barjac provided they pay him within three Months all his Arrears and therefore the Sentence past by his Provincial Synod against him is declared null and void VIII The Appeal of the Upper Poictou pretending Right to the Ministry of Monsieur Caynard was made void because the Elder of the Church of Figeac desisted of his own accord from prosecuting of his Appeal and that this Assembly had ordained his continuance in the Church of Fontenay IX The Elders of the Church of Montpellier appealing from their Provincial Synod because their Judgment was not demanded upon the Proposition made by Monsieur Peyrol their Proposant this Assembly declares That the Elders have not any Right of appealing in such a Case till they have first communicated it with their Pastors in Consistory and it ordains that in all Propositions the Suffrages of the Elders shall be gathered but whenas the Debate is about Points of Doctrine the decision of them is vested by the Discipline wholly in the Ministers X. Those of Florensack bringing their Appeal from the Provincial Synod of Lower Languedoc this Assembly judgeth That Monsieur De Croy doth of Right appertain unto the Church of Florensac as their own Minister but by reason of the great Necessities of the Churches it is decreed That he shall serve both his own and the Church of Beziers alternatively so that the Provincial Synod allow him an Assistant 1598 Synod XV. CHAP. V. Of General MATTERS I. BY reason of the great Difference in the Copies of our Discipline of the Emendations and Additions by the Synods of Montauban Saumur and this now sitting at Montpellier that it may be reduced into an exact Order couched in plain and significant expressions this Assembly ordaineth That two Pastors out of each Province whose Names are here mentioned shall undertake and finish this Work Viz. Messieurs De Beaulieu and de Montigny for the Isle of France Messieurs Picheron and Cartaut for Normandy Messieurs D'Orival and * * * Pountaine Fontanez for Orleans Messieurs Mermett and St. Hillary for Lower Guyenne Messieurs Gardesy and Olivier for Higher Languedoc Messieurs Valeton and du Croix for Vivaretz Messieurs Gasquetz and Villette for Lower Languedoc Messieurs Du Mont and Merlin for Xaintonge Messieurs Des Agues and Macifer for Anjou Messieurs Chamier and Vinay for Dolphiny Messieurs Eynard and Moureau for Poictou And having performed this their Task they shall communicate it unto their Synods that so they may come prepared unto the next National Synod to compleat and perfect it II. Forasmuch as 't is the Duty of all the Faithful heartily to desire the Re-union of all the Subjects of this Kingdom in the Unity of Faith for the greater Glory of God the Salvation of Millions of Souls and the singular Repose of the Commonweal yet because of our Sins this being rather a Matter of our Prayers than of our Hopes and that under this pretext divers profane Persons attempt openly to blend and mingle both Religions all Ministers shall admonish seriously their Flocks not in the least to hearken unto any such motions it being utterly impossible that the Temple of God should hold Communion with Idols as also for that such Wretches design only by this Trick to debauch easie credulous Souls from the belief and profession of the Gospel And whoever attempts such a Reconciliation either by Word or Writing shall be most severely censured III. This Assembly having read the Letters sent it from the Church of Geneva and considered the Arguments contained in them and others offered to us doth decree That nothing shall be innovated in the Liturgy of our Churches in the Singing of Psalms and Form of Catechising And whereas Monsieur de Beza did at the Request of divers of our last Synods translate into Metre the Scripture-Songs they shall be received and sung in Families thereby to dispose and fit the People for the Publick Usage of them in the Churches until the next National Synod IV. The Churches of Geneva Bearn Basil the Palatinate and many others from divers parts of this Kingdom complaining of several Writings published on design of Re-uniting the two Religions in one Doctrine to the apparent prejudice of God's Truth and in particular of a certain Book Entituled Apparatus ad fidem Catholicum and another bearing this
particularly promiseth to hinder the out-breaking of Piscator's Notions provided he be not provoked elsewhere by any others This Assembly ordaineth John Earl of Nassau his Letters unto Monsieur Regnault that Lettes shall in its name be written unto the said most Noble Lord thanking him for his pious affection and humbly intreating that Prince to continue his endeavours for effecting of that much-desired Union and to take care that none of his Subjects do break out into bitter expressions and to assure him on the behalf of our Churches in this Kingdom that no person shall be suffered to exasperate Dr. Piscator by any publick Writings as also that if any one hath heretofore done it he had no Commission for so doing from us and it was disowned by this Synod and that we shall take special care to prevent it for the future See the first Synod of Rochel G. Mat. 6. and of Montauban observat upon the Confes Art 4. Th' Article concerning Antichrist to be printed and inserted into our Confession 8. Our Printers shall be once again charged according to the Decrees of the Synods of Montauban and Saumur to put the word Union instead of Unity in the twenty sixth Article of our Confession And all Pastors in whose Churches there be Printing Houses are required to oversee the next impressions that so it be done accordingly 9. That Article concerning Antichrist inserted by the Synod of Gap into the body of our Confession and making the thirty first having been in its order read weighed and examined was approved and allowed by general consent both as to its form and substance for very true and agreeing with Scripture-Prophesie and which in these our days we see most clearly to be fulfilled Whereupon it was resolved that it should continue in its place and that for time coming it should be imprinted in all Copies which should come from the Press 10. That word Superintendent in the thirty third Article shall abide according as it was expounded by the Synod of Gap 11. Whereas the Pastors and Classis of Lausanna Morges c. do demonstrate in their Letters that it would be fit to add unto the close of the thirty third Article after the word Appertaining this restriction as far forth as they be grounded on the Word of God This Assembly hath found it needless and superfluous because that the foregoing words For in Excommunication we ought to follow what our Lord hath declared to us do sufficiently express unto us the aforesaid Restriction 12. Whereas some have remonstrated that it were meet to express in the thirty sixth Article more clearly that Union which the faithful have one with another and which is signified to us in the Lord's Supper But this point having been debated it was judged needless for that the Conjunction of the head with the Members there mentioned did necessarily infer the mutual Union and Communion of the Members one with another 13. The Consistories of Churches in which our Printers live are charged for time to come to have a special care that our Printers do not forget those words of our Lords Institution Take Eat c. And Drink ye all c. according as was Decreed in the Synod of Saumur 14. The Province of Higher Languedoc scrupling the word Lieutenant in the thirty ninth Article This Assembly saw no reason for it but that it might continue in it as importing nothing contrary to what is signified by that word when attributed unto Magistrates by the Holy Scriptures and equivalent to those words which the Word of God doth bestow upon them 15. The Confession of Faith having been read over word by word and in every Member Article and Clause of it it was unanimously approved and sworn to by all the Deputies present in the Synod who promised and protested to live and die in this Faith and particularly in what had been determined according to the Scriptures That we be justified before God by the imputation of that obedience of our Lord Jesus which he yielded unto God his Father in his Life and Death Which said Protestation the Deputies of the Provinces will by the Authority of this Synod cause also to be taken by all the Pastors of their respective Provinces which had sent them CHAP. III. Observations on the reading our Church-Discipline 1. ON the Second Article of the first Chapter after these words of their Doctrine shall be added approved at least by the space of two years since their Conversion and confirmed by good Testimonials from those places in which they live 2. On the fourth Article of the same Chapter that alternative of two or three shall be removed and there shall be mentioned three only 3. No Church shall for the future undertake whatever sollicitations may be made it to examine or ordain those Pastors which are to serve out of this Kingdom but herein they shall conform unto the Discipline and the Decrees of former National Synods 4. After these words in the fourth Article which shall be advised there shall be added without being able during that all whole time to administer the Sacraments that so c. See Synod of Gap 4 Art uppon the Discipline 5. That Article of the Synod of Gap concerning the eleventh Canon of this first Chapter shall be most strictly observed and that it may be better kept for the future in all Consistorial Classical and Synodical Censures diligent inquiry shall be made into the Conversation and Manner of Preaching used by every Pastor and an Oath shall be imposed on the Examinant to speak the Truth to the best of his knowledge and that they may the better answer to every point they shall read unto them the said Article of the Discipline 6. On reading the ninteenth Article the Synod ordered Letters should be written unto the Lords of this Kingdom professing the Reformed Religion that they be intreated when ever they are called from their Houses unto Court or when ever they travel that they would not fail to take their Pastors with them 7. The Synod expounding the twenty eighth Article by these words their Churches being heard doth understand the Consistories and Chief of the people and by these words for certain considerations doth understand whatever may fall out in general and not particularly the proceeds of Censures A Colloquy may lend a Minister for three and the Provinc Synod 6 months out of the Province See the first Synod of Vitré g. Mat. 24. 8. On the thirty third Article where speech is had about the consent of Pastors and Churches in case of Loan of Ministers without the Province It is now decreed that notwithstanding any Appeal to the contrary a Colloquy may lend a Pastor for three Months and the provincial Synod for six 9. The means prescribed by the Synods of Gap and Gergeau to prevent their ingratitude who refuse maintenance unto their Pastors are left to be used according to the discretion and charity of the
concord of our Churches in that Doctrine which notwithstanding the many evil times have past over us hath been preserved until now in its purity among us The other is that by continuing the Oaths injoyned by the last Synod of Privas you take the most proper and effectual course to heal the wounds which our unhappy divisions have these years last past made in the Vnion of our Churches and I see no Expedient more likely to suceed than unanimously and with joynt consent to agree and pitch upon one General end whereunto all and every one shall direct and aim I Salute most humbly every Member of your Assembly and beseech God Almighty to assist and fortify you by his holy Spirit for his own glory and for the Vnion Restauration and Propagation of his Church From Saumur April 20. 1614. Your most humble and most affectionate Servant Du Plessis The Duke of Rohan's Letter to the National Synod Assembled at Tonneins Sirs THOSE strong obligations which the Churches of France have laid upon me do ingage me to seek out all occasions whereby to testifie my gratitude 'T is this which causes me to write at present and to crave this favour of you to believe that I shall never forget those assistances I received from you in the last Synod of Privas and particularly from divers Churches of this Kingdom yea and from those I have never known Certainly Sirs I shall Confess it freely that the effects of your kindnesses have exceeded my services yet I hope that for the future you will know you have not have obliged an ungrateful person And that what you have kept for me shall be always chearfully employed for your selves We are fallen into such a time as need extraordinary Prayers unto God for his Guidance and Counsel We have been much afflicted since the Assembly of Saumur by divisions sown and fomented among us The Synod of Privas knowing it to be the most compendious Course for our Ruine did indeavour to prevent it But divers persons being unacquainted with our malady then there could not be a thorough cure effected But now every one knows it and may contribute something thereunto For my part I think it no difficult matter for us to use the true Remedy which consists in an entire re-union of all our Members that so we may be but one Body and the more fit to serve God the King and our Country and the more able to divert our enemies from enterprizing upon us from whom also we might take away the very will of doing it by its impossibility This Sirs is a work well-worthy of your Assembly I exactly conformed to the desires of the last Synod and I do now again renew my promises of observing your Orders not only in that but in whatsoever else you shall judge to concern the glory of God whom I ardently beseech that he would preside in your Councils and to give me that grace never to abuse his favours conferred upon me but that employing whatever I have received from his divine Majesty to the advancement of his Kingdom I may consecrate the remainder of my days unto his service My Lord Baron of Montausier hath particular orders from me to acquaint you with my intentions and proceedings and especially with that journey of the Lord of Hautefontain taken by my command unto his highness the Prince I desire you would believe him in what he shall inform you as if it were my self and I shall always approve my self to you all generally and particularly Sirs From St. John d' Angely this 24. of April 1614. Your most Humble and most Affectionate to do your service Henry of Rohan A Letter from the Lord of Caumont to the National Synod of Tonneins Sirs I Well hoped to have had strength enough to have been personally present with you and to have injoyed the honour and contentment of saluting your Holy Assembly and to have given you my self by word of Mouth the assurance of my fidelity and affection unto whatsoever the service of my God obligeth me for the support of his Churches and the advancement of his Glory But being at present detained by important businesses which the Sieur de Mailléz shall inform you of I intreat you therefore most humbly to be pleased with my absence and to believe that no person in the World is more ready to expose his life and the Lives and Estate of all his with greater chearfulness and willingness for Gods cause and yours than I shall be to adventure mine and the lives and fortunes of all mine And I pray God that by his Holy Spirit he would be pleased to preside in the midst of you and to conduct your Holy Wills in such manner as he knows to be most expedient for his Glory the Weal Repose and Conservation of his Church whereof having the honour to be a Member I shall ever remain in its Communion and subject my self wholly in all things unto it under the priviledge of the Edicts and the authority of their Majesties intreating you to lay your Commands upon me and to be assured that in whatsoever I may serve the publick and every one of you in particular you shall have evidence of my obedience and loyal affection The Lord follow you most Reverend Sirs with his choicest Favours and Benedictions I am From Paris May 2. 1614. Your most Humble and Affectionate Servant Caumont A Letter from the Lord of Chastillon to the National Synod of Tonneins Sirs MY past actions which through Divine Grace no Man hath just cause to complain of are I believe sufficient proofs of that care I ever had for the re-union and good intelligence of the great men of this Kingdom professing the true Religion and the fear of God as also of that respect I paid unto the desires of the last National Synod of Privas intimated to me by their Letters and what I have since done both at Court for our general concerns and since my return in this Province to conserve your Lives and Priviledges enjoyed by you during the reign of the late King will testifie that the true blood of the late renowned Lord Admiral de Chastillon is in my Veins and that I have managed all publick affairs fallen into my hands with all uprightness and justice as the Sieurs Gigord and Codur who have been Eye-witnesses of my deportments can more fully inform you if they please Sirs this my Letter drives at none other end than to let you see what deference I have for you and that my whole life shall be employed in the service of the Churches and I beseech you to believe that besides it and the service of the King and your preservation and advancement there is nothing in this world more dear unto me And if I can do you in my station any particular service either here or elsewhere you shall always find me ready for it Had it been as easy for me to have been personally present with you as
the great losses it sustained in the Troubles of Privas as also to help defray the Expences they shall be at in a Suit at Court about the Consulship of their Town This Assembly judging that the Moneys granted us by His Majesty ought not to be diverted unto such uses doth notwithstanding recommend their Affair unto our Lords the General Deputies that they might get right due to them by the Lords of the Privy Council and because of the Necessities of the said Church there shall be a supernumerary portion assigned to them when we make the publick Dividend 6. Monsieur Massez Notary Publick and Secretary to the Consul of Montauban in the Higher Languedoc requesting to be reimburst by the Churches the great Expences he was at in prosecuting the wrongs done him by the Parliament of Tolouse It being a business of General Concern because of the Notorious Violations of the Edicts granted us by our Kings This Assembly exhorted the Province of Higher Languedoc to take care that the said Monsieur Massez have satisfaction given him for his past Losses and that he be indemnified for the future and that they extend their Charity to him in a most ample and exemplary manner sith they themselves have judged his case to be of very great Importance to all the Churches 7. The Magistrates Consuls and Consistory of the Town of Privas having represented both by Letters and Word of Mouth by Monsieur Tavernier one of their Elders deputed to us the great Losses Dammages and Afflictions sustained by them since the Death of Monsieur Chambaud whereby they be now reduced to a most lamentable condition and worthy of our most tender compassions which also was confirmed by Letters from the Synod and Political Assembly of Vivaretz and praying some Charitable Relief to be Exhibited to them that so this considerable and populous Church might not be totally desolated and dissolved This Assembly ordained That the Summ of Six Hundred Livres should be given the said Church of Privas for a present supply And all the Churches of this Kingdom shall by their Deputies here in this Assembly as soon as they return unto their respective Provinces be exhorted to open the Bowels of their compassion to the said afflicted Church of Privas and to relieve them by a General Collection upon the Lords Day in their respective Temples The Moneys of which Collection shall be sent unto the Churches of Lions and Nismes to be distributed by them unto that of Privas And Letters also shall be writ to the Lord Governour of Montauban to the Marquesses of La Charse of Montbrun and other the Parents and Kindred of the late Deceased Monsieur de Chambaud desiring them to take special care of the Religious Education of his Children that they may not be diverted from the True Religion and trained up in Popish Idolatry but that they would be pleased to undertake for them and become their Tutors and Guardians according to the known Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom 8. The Heads of Families professing the Reformed Religion in the Baylywick of Orillac in the Mountains of Upper Auvergne petitioned that the Portions granted them by the National Synods of Gap and Rochel might be contined to them This Assembly ordained that the Portion belonging unto the said Church in the Baylywyck of Orillac shall be given it free and discharged of all Taxes by the Province of Higher Languedoc Gap p. m. 18 3. Rochell 9. Monsieur Casaud Pastor of the Church of Lectoure petitioned on its behalf for some charitable Relief to raise it up from that woful Ruin and Misery into which it is now plunged and to sustain it against its Enemies for the future This Assembly compassionating the said Church did order and assign a free Portion out of the Dividend of Higher Languedoc and Guyenne unto it and one part of the Collection which shall be made in the Higher Languedoc and Guyenne for the Church of Privas shall be given unto the said Church of Lectoure 10. The Church of Tulette belonging to the Province of Dolphiny but inclosed on all parts with the County of Venisse humbly requested some relief for its subsistence Because this is a Church of great importance very poor exceeding feeble and unable to resist the many Enemies which do surround it This Assembly ordained that besides the free Portion which it should receive as well as others out of the Dividend for the said Province of Dolphiny It shall have also an half portion free out of the Common Stock of all the Churches until the sitting of the next National Synod 11. Hierome Quevedo a Spaniard escaped out of the Prison of the Inquisition demanded some relief that he might live in the profession of the Gospel This Assembly ordered him an Hundred Livres out of the common Moneys of the Churches which shall be put into the hands of the Consistory of Montpellier to pay him Quarterly a Portion that so he may learn some honest Trade whereby to gain a livelyhood Which Summ shall be continued to him or taken from him as the Consistory of the Church of Montpellier shall judge of his Deportments 12. Lawrence Joly one of the Exiled Protestants of the Marquisate of Salluces having brought Letters from the Church of Guillestre which is composed of the poor Refugees of the said Marquisate unto this Assembly did most humbly petition that they might have a Portion of the Moneys granted us by the King for the maintenance of a Pastor because they are in hopes that it may allure and attract a great many others who are groaning under that sore and heavy persecution in the Marquisate and doe hunger after the Bread of Life and ardently desire the Inlargement of Christ's Kingdom to quit and forsake it This Assembly in the Dividend of its Moneys will ordain a supernumerary Portion for the said Church of Guillestre 13. Monsieur Guingonis shall be assisted with Ten Crown out of the common Moneys belonging to the Province of Province And as for Mr. John Dury Student in Divinity the Province of Lower Languedoc is ordered to provide for him according to the Canons of our National Synods and in the mean while he shall receive Twenty Crowns out of the Moneys appropriated to the said Province of Lower Languedoc that so he may quit this Town and remove to Montauban 14. Anthony Verdier formerly a Priest in the County of Avignon had Six Livres given him that he might depart hence unto Grenoble 15. The Church of St. Paul Trois Chasteaux demanding some Relief to set up a School among them and to help build their Temple were dismissed over to the Province of Dolphiny which is exhorted to have a special care of that Church 16. Monsieur John Perier Pastor of the Church of Paillac in Auvergne did on behalf of his Church complain against the Provincial Synod of Burgundy for not giving him the Portions granted by the National Synod of Privas and requested that
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
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
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
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
nor Your Edicts or Declarations executed although Your Majesty had granted it for the greater part of them in those Answers made by Your Gracious Majesty unto our most Humble Bill of Grievances which we tender'd to Your Majesty in the year One Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty Five 1. And although that by the Edicts of Peace and the Answers made by Your Majesty unto our Bills of Grievances in the year 1625. You were pleased to Grant Your Petitioners That the Exercise of our Religion should be restored in all those places in which it had been settled by the Edict of Nantes and was in actual being in the year 1620. and that to this purpose Commissioners had been appointed to see unto its performance yet nevertheless we could never get their Commission executed no not in those places hereafter mentioned in our Bill of Grievances tho' they were expressed by name in it viz. Gergeau Bourgueil Surgeres Le Poire Luâ—on Beret Coulorges Les Reaux St. Malxier Belleville Argenton Beaumont Letoure Figeac Cadenac Cressol Foix Belestat Lassegue Lombais Arligat Senerat Bousse Villefort Moulaur Vandemian Villeman Poussan Gignac St. Paragoire St. Gilles Geneirac Bagnals Digne Forqualquier Monfort Bourbon L'auriac and Autun In all which places Your Majesty is most humbly Petitioned to cause that Your Will be punctually performed according to Your Answer made and declared upon our Bill of Grievances and as it is also most expresly and plainly Promised us by the 5th and 6th Articles of Your Edict at Nismes in the Month of July 1629. Your Majesty then Enacting a Speedy and Real Restitution of the Exercise of our Religion in those places before-mentioned 2. And whereas the Exercise of our Religion hath been removed by the Wickedness and Violence of those Troublesome times which have interven'd ever since the year 1626 from divers other places where it was formerly Established and that according to the Edicts as at Virtuell Teré La Jarrie Lalea L'hommeau Nievil Marsilly Rieux Le Chasteau St. Pié St. Denis Le Chasteau D'Oleron La Flotte St. Martin Ards Loie and other places of the Isles of Oleron and Ré Les Herbiers Mountagu La Chaume Louzac Mortaigne Saujon L'Isle Bouchard Le Croisil Mazin Mont de Marsan Saux in Condomois Gavandan Millanén Albret St. Leger St. Bazille Coutras Florensac Pamiers Puymirol Ribauté Combas Aubenas Valz Mirabel Véllenefue of Berg Dijon Burg in Bresse Paray le Moineau Corbigny Navarreins Benejat and Ossins Your Majesty is most Humbly Petitioned to give Order That the Exercise of our Religion may be restored immediately without delay and that You would be pleased to prohibit all disturbing of us Your Subjects who do profess it for the future 3. And forasmuch as it hath been a perpetual practice in our Churches for divers Pastors of this Your Kingdom to Exercise their Ministry as still they do in several Neighbour places where the free Exercise of our Religion hath been Established by Your Edicts and this by the Authority of Colloquies and Synods and for some times of late even in the very presence of Commissioners nominated by Your Majesty to assist personally at them who never made any Opposition against it We do most Humbly Petition Your Majesty That we may be left in the free Possession of this our Practice which was never forbidden by any Edicts of Your Majesty's Royal Predecessors nor of Your Own and that all Prohibitions to the contrary may be revoked whether made unto us by those Commissioners who have of late assisted in our Provincial and National Synods or Decreed in the late Extraordinary Sessions by the new Judges or by Your Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council where none of our Religion could ever be admitted to Declare and Defend our Right 4. And whereas Your Majesty was pleased in consideration of our Bill of Grievances presented to Your Majesty in the year 1625 to ordain that the Churches and the Yards wherein we bury our Dead which have been taken away from those of our Religion in these following places Lunel Sommieres Florensac Le Vigan Mazillargues Villemur St. Antonia and Puymirol should be restored and that they should be permitted to re-build their Temples in the same places which had been accorded us by the Edict none of which Ordinances of Your Majesty have been in the least Executed yea since this it hath so fallen out that the Churches and Church-yards of Vitte Goudon of Castres St. Affrick St. Gelais Valz Vallon Aubenas St. Estienne in Forest Senes and divers other places in Aunix the Isle of Ré and Province of Burgundy have been forcibly taken away and detained from us and the Building of our Temples at La Motte of Argues and Caumont is quite obstructed we therefore do most humbly beseech Your Majesty to continue unto us that Royal Favour You had before Granted us by Your Edicts and by Your Gracious Promise upon the Reading of our aforesaid Bill of Grievances and that You would according to it Ordain that the aforesaid Churches and Church-yards may be rendered and restored in all those places before-mentioned and that Your Majesty would be pleased to forbid all Troubling of us in the Re-buildng and Re-establishing of them and particularly at Aubenas where the Inhabitants are constrained to bury their Dead in the wide Fields and they will not suffer any more than three persons to accompany the poor Corps unto that uncouth Grave neither 5. Your most Humble Subjects of the Religion in the Town of Alanson according to the 9th and 10th Articles of the Edict and the Ordinance of your Commissioners Deputed for its Execution ratified by Decree of the Council July the 4th 1603 having Built their Temple in the said Town above Thirty years ago are yet notwithstanding troubled and disturbed partly by the Clergy and partly by the Roman Catholick Inhabitants there who have caused them to be cited before the Lord Tiersaux who forbids them to continue the Preaching of God's Holy Word in that Town and the Suburbs thereof as also that they shall not bury their Dead in the Church-yard of St. Blazy nor in the Suburbs of the said Town and although Your Majesty was pleased at their earnest Petition to cause the said Prosecution to cease by a Decree of Your Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council Dated the 13th of May last yet notwithstanding they are again Prosecuted by a new Summons to appear before Your Privy-Council from which appearance Your Majesty is most Humbly Petitioned to discharge them and to forbid all persons for the future to trouble or disquiet them in the Possession of their said Temple or place of Burying 6. And whereas the Lords Millette and de Brosses Commissioners appointed by Your Majesty for Executing the said Edict in the Bailywick of Gex had ordained places of Burial for those of the said Religion in that Bailywick unto which Ordinance the Lord Bishop of the Diocess and the Roman Catholick Inhabitants there did give
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
any Excommunication against Ministers and others who shall change their Religion for that of the Roman Catholicks nor to treat them reproachfully either by Word of Mouth or Writing or any other manner of way whatsoever Nor shall you admit for the future any Foreigner into the Ministery among you And therefore you be commanded to insert into the Attestations of Proposans who are to be Ordained and of Ministers who are to be received into any Church the Names of the Place of their Birth And farther Provincial Synods are inhibited to Call or Proclaim any General Fasts And that the Publick Peace and Tranquillity may be Secured his Majesty injoyneth Ministers according to the Command of God to Preach unto his Subjects that Obedience which they owe unto him and that it is not lawful for them to take up Arms against their Sovereign upon any Cause or Account whatsoever Moreover they be forbidden to make use of in their Sermons or Writings the Words Scourgings Martyrdoms and Persecution of their Religion or as if their Churches were the only True Church of God and are thus Misused Moreover whenever they speak of the Pope they shall not call him Antichrist nor treat him disrespectfully nor shall they Tax the Roma Catholick Apostolick Church with Idolatry nor the Sacraments and Ceremonies thereof as Human Inventions and Idolatries upon pain of Interdiction to themselves and others for so doing Furthermore they be forbidden to make any Private Collections from House to House nor to take a Farthing out of the Poor's Box or from Legacies bequeathed to them or the Fifth Peny of those Moneys nor to Cite any One before the Justice for Non-payment of their Sallaries and Wages nor for their Charge in Riding unto Colloquies and Synods nor for Repairing and upholding of their Temples In these Matters 't is his Majesties Will and Pleasure that Forty Fourth Article in the Edict of Nantes be punctually Observed and Performed And whereas their Majesties be informed that you send your Children to Study and to be Educated in Learning at Geneva in Switzerland Holland and England which are Nations and Republicks averse to Monarchy and who may imbue them with Corrupt Principles about Secular and Political Affairs the Consequence whereof is very great and the Effects flowing from them very dangerous That these may be in time prevented their Majesties desire of you that this Article may be Inserted into your Discipline concerning Proposans and that it be most strictly for the future observed in all your Provinces That no Proposans nor Divines shall be Ordained Ministers nor admitted Pastors into any of the Churches if they have Studied in any of those Countries or in any of their Universities And they have commanded me to assure you that your Conformity to their Intentions in such an Important Affair will be a thing most acceptable unto them and very advantagious to all the Professors of your Religion I am also charged to let you understand that their Majesties are much displeased that contrary to that Amnesty so much recommended by the Edicts in the Calendars of Psalms imprinted at Geneva 1635 these very Words are Inserted That on the Fifteenth Day of March 1545 was Assembled that detestable Council of Trent And there be also in them other such like Offensive Matters and that in the Twenty Fourth Article of your Confession of Faith the Roman Catholick and Apostolick Religion is styled An Abuse and Deceit of Satan and that Purgatory is a meer Cheat and the Shop out of which are sprung Monastick Vows Pilgrimages and other such Corruptions And in the Twenty Eighth Article you use these Words We Condemn those Assemblies in the Papacy where all these Superstitions and Idolatries are in Vogue Their Majesties cannot suffer that such Words should be Sworn in a National Synod they accounting them scandalous and injurious to their Religion and to that Church whereof his Majesty hath the Honour to be the Eldest Son and injurious to the Pope whom his Majesty believeth to be the Head of the Church calling him Holy Father and with whom he is in a strict Alliance and Amity Their Majesties Desire that in a matter so near their Heart as this is you would yield them that Respect and Observance which shall be Injoyned you and is now more particularly from their Majesties propounded to you Let me add One thing more which their Majesties commanded me to acquaint you with that they very just cause to Complain of you that since his Majesty began his Reign those of your Religion have took upon them to set up Preaching and the Exercise of your Worship in Languedoc and elsewhere in an Open Violent Manner contrary to the Publick Peace and the general Laws of the Kingdom which do equally forbid the Subjects both of the one and the other Religion to be their own Judges and to carve out Right unto themselves although they had been Wrong'd and Justice was on their Side And for that they durst make Acts and Pass them Resolutely after they had once Debated them in their Colloquies and Provinces and Confirmed them at a Meeting in the Consistory of Anduza and had returned Thanks to them who Executed that Riot and began to Revolt that so it might be done with more and greater Authority And those of Vsez also have placed Bells in their Temple without any leave first had or Obtained and contrary to the Articles upon which they Capitulated and Surrendred Their Majesties also are yet farther displeased that those who Profess your Religion in Languedoc have enterprized the Reviving of Deputations unto the Court of Monpellier Nismes and Vsez which had been Supprest ever sine the Year 1622 even when the Capitulation of the City of Monpellier was made and that the Sieur Peyrol Vestrie and Fournier did get themselves to be Deputed when there was no Synod and are become Partisans contrary to his Majesties Prohibitions And that Preaching and the Exercises of your Religion are set up in divers Parts by a meer Private Authority and beyond those Bounds appointed by his Majesties Commissioners to execute the Edict of Nantes yea and contrary to the Words of that self same Edict they continue Preaching in those Places where the Church-men are Lords of the Soil and of this his Majesty hath been fully informed And besides all this certain Ministers have taken unto themselves that Unbounded Liberty as to vent in their Pulpits Seditious Discourses and have cut off from Communion with them those Parents who send their Children to the Colledges of Regents who are of the Roman Catholick and Apostolick Religion And they have given me in Charge to tell you that these be Notorious Infractions of the Edicts contrary to your Duty to the Prejudice of the King and of the Publick Tranquillity the which his Majesty hath been so careful to conserve on his Part that he neither can nor ought as the Common Father of his People to suffer such Actings when as
the Neighbouring Pastors 'till such time as the Synod shall be agreed and approve thereof ARTICLE 6. The Province of Lower Guynne moved that all the Churches might be injoyned to conform unto their Custom who as soon as they come into the Temple humbling themselves upon their Knees do each of them privately by themselves offer up a short Prayer unto God craving in it his gracious assistance in hearing of the Word Preached But it was the Judgment of this Assembly that no Canon should be made about a matter in itself indifferent and that the Churches should be left at liberty to use their own ancient Customs and they be all exhorted respectively to seek after those things which will make for their Edification and to avoid and shun all kind of Ostentation Affectation and Superstition ARTICLE 7. The Maritime Provinces making great Complaints of the vast number of Captives detained in Algier Tunis Salle and other Places of Barbary and Morocco and of their sad and woful Condition and that they do indispensably need the Charitable Assistance of all the Faithful to redeem them out of Misery This Synod adjureth by the Bowels of Compassion of the Living God and by that Fellow-feeling which all Members of our Lord Jesus ought to have of one anothers Straits and Necessities all the provinces and all the Churches and every particular Individual Professor of our Religion to yearn with Bowels of Pity over the Affliction of these our poor Brethren and to contribute liberally towards their Redemption and the Alms which shall be Collected to this purpose from the Provinces of Xaintonge Poictou Lower Guyenne Bearn Higher Languedoc shall be paid into the Consistory of Rochell and those Alms which shall be Collected from the Provinces of Lower Languedoc Sevennes Vivaretz Dolphiny and Burgundy shall be paid into the Consistory of Lions and those Alms which shall be Collected from the Provinces of Normandy Brittain Anjou Berry and the Isle of France shall be paid into the Consistory of Paris and every Province shall send unto the Consistory of Paris a List of their Captives and an Account of their Alms that so these Monies may be employed in the Redemption of those Captives who are Natives of Provinces before any others and after them as a Supplement of Charity for others also That so this whole work of Love may redound to the Glory of God the common Edification and particular Consolation of these our Poor Afflicted Brethren ARTICLE 8. The Provinces of the Isle of France and Anjou moving it All those Churches who injoy the priviledge of a Printing Press are strictly charged that they do not suffer any Alteration to be made either in the Translation of the Bible or Book of Psalms or in the Text of the Confession of Faith Liturgy and Catechism without an express Order from that Consistory which is authorised thereunto by the Provincial Synod ARTICLE 9. Upon report made by certain Deputies of the Maritime Provinces that there do arrive unto them from other Countries some Persons going by the Name of Independents and so called for that they teach every particular Church should of right be governed by its own Laws without any Dependency or Subordination unto any Person whatsoever in Ecclesiastical Matters and without being obliged to own or acknowledge the authority of Colloquies or Synods in matters of Discipline and Order and that they settle their Dwellings in this Kingdom A thing of great and dangerous consequence if not in time carefully prevented Now this Assembly fearing lest the Contagion of this Poyson should diffuse it self insensibly and bring in with it a World of Disorders and Confusions upon us and judging the said Sect of Independentism not only prejudicial to the Church of God because as much as in it lieth it doth usher in Confusion and openeth a Door to all kinds of Singularities Irregularities and Extravagancies and barreth the use of those means which would most effectually prevent them but also is very dangerous unto the Civil State for in case it should prevail and gain Ground among us it would form as many Religions as there be Parishes and distinct particular Assemblies among us All the Provinces are therefore enjoyned but more especially those which border upon the Sea to be exceeding careful that this Evil do not get footing in the Churches of this Kingdom that so Peace and Uniformity in Religion and Discipline may be preserv'd Inviolably and nothing may be innovated or changed among us which may in any wise derogate from that Duty and Service we owe unto God and the King N. B. whether the Persons thus qualified by this Reverend Assembly came from the Old or New England I cannot tell at this time 't is certain the Divisions about Church Discipline flew very high here at Home to the great hinderance of Reformation and the letting in upon us a Deluge of Sects and Pestilential Heresies the sight of which grieved the Hearts of all that truly feared God and exasperated very many Eminent Divines and Ministers against the Congregational Brethren which terminated in a most lamentable Schism and of above Forty Years continuance But it pleased God at last to have Compassion upon us and to touch the Hearts of the Godly Ministers of the Presbyterian and Independent Persuasion with a deep sense of this great Evil in separating so long one from the other Whereupon several Learned and Pious Pastors of Churches in the City of London of both ways met together divers times and Conferred each with other about the healing of this Breach and having frequent Consultations about it and poured out many Mighty and Fervent Prayers unto the God of Grace and Peace to assist direct and prosper them in it upon Fryday the Sixth Day of March 1690 according to our Computation most of the Dissenting N.C. Ministers in the City and many others from the Adjacent parts of it met together and there was then read unto them the Heads of Agreement prepared by the Committee and which had been seen and perused by many of them before and their Assent unto them being demanded it was readily accorded and afterwards near an Hundred gave in their Names unto this Union This Example was taking and leading to all other the N. C. Ministers of England who in many of their respective Counties had their Meetings to compose this Difference and by the Blessing of God upon those their Endeavours it was also upon the sight and consideration of the Printed Heads of Agreement among the United Ministers in London effected whereof Notice was sent up unto the Brethren here in London When the London Ministers first signed this Union they agreed unanimously to bury in the Grave of Oblivion those Two Names of Distinction viz. Presbyterian and Independent and to communicate these Articles of Union unto all Members in Communion with them in their particular Churches the Lords day come Seven-night after and that they would at the next Meeting
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
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
got out of God's Ark and the Deluge is about thee Where wilt thou pitch the Sole of thy Foot Go then as the Dove and return unto thy place Salvation is not to be had any where else Thou knowest it as well as I. Whether art thou gone Where art thou a going Dost not thou know that Jesus Christ only hath the Words of Eternal Life Thinkest thou to find it any where else Why Man He only is the Way the Truth and the Life Thou hast changed thy Riligion thou hast quitted thy Party thou hast abandoned thy Flock Good God what hast thou done O Friend I forbear to speak my Fears But once again What hast thou done Thou hast quitted the Rich Pearl with the Cock in the Fable for a Grain of Wheat See from whence thou art fallen and consider I beseech thee Dear Friend what thou hast gotten by thy Fall Thou embracest a Religion patch'd up of Human Ceremonies Thou knowest it well a Religion which is an Hodge-podg of Jewish and Pagan Ceremonies blended together Thou hast thrown thy self into its Arms thou liest in its Bosom thou wearest its Livery and art marked with its Marks And thou very well knowest why and wherefore Thou wast remiss in thy Duty Thou wast not payed thy Sallary This was thy frequent Complaint Thou idle and slothful Servant oughtest thou to forsake thy Lord's Service and his Flock Thou wast not serious enough nor caredst to take pains in thy Calling Instead of studying and giving thy self to reading thou hauntedst wicked Companies which thou knowest corrupt good Manners and being such an one thy self thou couldst not chuse better Birds of a Feather will Flock together More I might say but I spare thee Well Man what hast thou done Consider I beseech thee and I adjure thee to it by the Bowels of our ancient Friendship that 't is the true Religion which thou hast forsaken and that only in which Salvation is to be had and that the very Church of Rome her self believeth all the Articles that the Reformed Church believeth And I can speak it and thou knowest it as well as I that in case she were divested of all her Jewish Ceremonies and Human Inventions and of Men's Traditions which are set up in the room of God's Word the Romish Religion would be no longer Roman but Reformed What then hast thou done Thou hast took the Shadow for the Substance the Ceremonies for the Truth I protest unto thee upon my Soul that thou art out of the way Friend Give me thy Hand and I will once more set thee in the right way and thou shalt taste how gracious the Lord is to them that fear him that he is ready to forgive most willing to shew Mercy and if thou hast recourse unto him by Prayers and Supplications in the Name and Merits of his Dear Son thou shalt certainly obtain the Remission of thy Sins thro his Name My Friend thou hast joyned thy self to the Communion of Idols and art a Partner with Idolaters and dost thou think in their Communion to work out thy Salvation Be not deceived God will not be mocked No Idolaters shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Ah! dost not thou know that our Religion which thou hast quitted giveth the Glory of Man's Salvation unto the Christ of God only That it ascribeth the Salvation of Believers to the Lord Jesus only That it preacheth nothing else but what the Elect Apostle of the Gentiles preached even Jesus Christ and him Crucified That it putteth Confidence in none but God And as David seeketh for none in Heaven but God That it adoreth no Creature whatsoever but adoreth God only Father Son and Spirit Three Persons in one God That it invocateth God only because besides him there never was nor never will be any that can help save and deliver That with the blessed Virgin she calleth him her God and her Saviour That it teacheth not the Doctrin of Devils nor forbiddeth Marriage nor to obstain from Meats which God hath created to be used by the Faithful and those who have not known the Truth with Thanksgiving That it is not Sacrilegious to rob the People of the Cup against the express Commandment of God That it reacheth God to be a Spirit and that such as worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth That it teacheth to fear God and to honour the King whom may the Lord of his Mercy long preserve To sanctifie the day of Rest but not Festivals which are only Men's Inventions To keep Promise and Covenant tho to a Man's Loss and Hurt Rather to serve God than Men And forasmuch as God hath spoken the Word that he will not give his Glory unto another nor his Praise unto Graven Images it teacheth all to ascribe Glory unto God only and to give him the Thanks of all our Mercies because he is the sole Author and Donour of them Our Religion doth not take away any of God's Commandments nor suffereth any Images to be made nor Pictures to be hung up that they should be served and adored A Religion neither addeth to nor taketh any thing from the Holy Word of God for it well knows that such as do so the Plagues written in that Word shall be inflicted on them and their Names shall be blotted out of the Book of Life It teacheth with St. Paul that the Divine Scriptures can make us wise unto Salvation and with St. John that the Blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all Sin and that there is none other Purgatory for our Sins than Christ's Blood Time would fail me and I should but waste it if I told thee That the Death of the Son of God is our Life his Wounds our Health and that there is none other Sacrifice for Sin than that one only and never to be repeated Sacrifice of his Death Friend our Religion teacheth that by this Sacrifice we have the Remission of all our Sins and that where the Remission of Sins is there is no more Oblation for Sin and therefore no Mass Take heed unto thy self Friend for if thou sinnest wilfully after Admonition after that thou hast received the knowledge of the Truth know of a Truth that there is no more Sacrifice for Sins Do not then count the Blood of the Covenant a prophane thing for thou knowest that 't is a most fearful thing to fall into the Hands of an incensed God Be zealous therefore and Repent In short thou knowest that all the Doctrins of our Religion are contained in thâ— Holy Scriptures and yet thou hast quitted it What hast thou done Thou art return'd unto Babylon from which God hath brought thee forth in the Loyns of thy Fathers that thou mightst not participate in her Sins nor in her Plagues Thou hast return'd with the Dog unto thy Vomit and with the Sow that was washed to wallow in the Mire My Friend my Bowels are troubled for thee Believe and follow my Counsel Awake and
repent rouze up thy self out of thy Spiritual Lethargy Awake then and give Glory unto God the God of Heaven and Earth and he will raise thee up again tho thou art fallen Call upon him for who knoweth but that he may have Compassion on thee He hath not forsaken thee but thou hast forsaken him and thou canst tell in what place thou shookst Hands with him Don't consult with Flesh and Blood go seek and find him out in the beginning of thy Sin that yet he may recover thee His Gifts and Callings are without Repentance Thou hast quitted the Pastoral Office to be a wandring Sheep a Sheep wandring after the Voice of a Stranger However thou knowest what the great Shepherd saith by St. John on this occasion make use of it to thy best advantage and if thou canst not be a Pastor yet at least become a Sheep of Christ's Fold In the mean while my dear Friend I will humbly beseech God from the bottom of my Soul and with all my Heart that he would recover thee from this thy most dangerous Malady by some proper and most effectual Remedy For I know him by good Experience to be the best Physician and that he can purge out of thee all thine Errors all Humane Considerations and corroborate the good infeebled in thee through the perverseness of the former that he can again enlighten thee ingraft thee into Christ tho thou hast broken thy self off from him and give Rest unto thy Soul in the Bosom of the Church Militant that so in the Church Triumphant thou mayst enjoy those everlasting Blessings which he hath prepared for them who persevere unto the end And I being filled with Joy at thy Recovery will take thee by the Hand and we will go together into the House of our God there to render him according to our poor Abilities that Sacrifice of Thanksgiving which is his Due and our Duty Now then under this Quality and with this Hope I subscribe my self Dear Friend Excuse if my Superscription do omit these Titles which once thou hadst and I am ignorant of what thou now bearest Thy Humble Servant Aide de Dieu Help of God A Monsieur Monsieur Martin at his House in Montoire CHAP. XXII Remarks upon the Deputies 1. MR. Boschart Pastor of the Church of Caen a Man of vast Learning and reputed one of the most able Scholars in all France His Hierozoicon and Phaleg proclaim his Worth to the whole World Christina Queen of Sweedland invited him into that Kingdom and he was for some time a Professor in the University there 2. Peter de la Musse Here is a Marquess of that Name in London a faithful Confessor for Christ having forsaken his Estate are embraced the Cross rather than part with his Religion and his God and I think the same Deputy 3. Monsieur Mussard Minister in the Church of Lyons but a Native of Geneva he married Mr. Beza's Granchild By a Trick of the Jesuits which he told me he was outed of the Church of Lyons The Cardinal of Villeroy Archbishop of that City and Diocess had an esteem and value for him For he was a Person of great Worth an excellent Scholar and a most eloquent Preacher The French Church of London invited him over to their Service and he died in the Pastoral Office of it There be Printed of his Works a Volume of Sermons in French in Quarto 2. Historia Deorum satidicorum 4 to And 3. Les Conformites des Ceremonies Modernes avec les anciennes His Modesty made him not put his Name to his Works But he himself told me he was the Author of them Les Conformites doth speak English for I have seen the Translation in a Booksellers Shop 4. Monsieur de Bourdieu Pastor of Montpellier this reverend and ancient Servant of the Lord Jesus resides in London and Preacheth tho 95 Years old 5. Monsieur Guitton Pastor of the Church of Sion fled here upon the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes into England and was some time in London but since for want of Employment left the Kingdom and retired I think into the Netherlands 6. Monsieur Amyraud the Famous Professor of Saumur His Learned Writings are well known I shall say more of him God willing in my Icones 7. Monsieur Daille Pastor of the Church of Paris A most Learned and Eloquent Preacher My Worthy and Reverend Friend Mr. Soreton an eminent Nonconformist Minister in Devon translated his Commentary upon the Colossians into English His Book of the Right Use of the Fathers was translated into English and highly valued He writ against Brachet Sieur de la Millitiere a Tool of Richlieu's to compound and reconcile if possible the Two Religions Millitiere at last turned Apostate He hath a most accurate Treatise De Imaginibus Apologie des Eglises Reformees and a great many other things of which and him I shall give an Account at large in my Icones 8. Monsieur Homel Pastor of the Church of Sojon a most pious and zealous Preacher he died a constant and Faithful Martyr His Execution was most barbarous being broken upon the Wheel and left under Torments for several Hours before his Inhuman Persecutors would give him the Coup de Grace as they call it the last Blow upon the Breast to put an end to his Torments But God filled him under his greatest Sufferings with the Consolations of his Spirit I have writ a larger Narrative of his Martyrdom and shall insert it into the Life of the Great Chamier for a Great Grandson of the Famous Chamier suffer'd about the same time unless my memory fail me with him FINIS
banished them unto Rheims and are now doing penance for their Heresie as the Papists call it and you may be sure a severe Penance it is that will be inflicted on them by the bigotted Nuns in their Convents The Lady Vielle Vigne neâ—r Nantes in Brittany being accused of holding a Conventicle in her house that is for keeping a day of Prayer was immediately arrested and all that had been found at that Religious Meeting were carried to prison where this Excellent Pious Lady abides in Duress Monsieur de Rosemont formerly Pastor of Giens having through humane Infirmity fallen with the Multitude fell sick in danger of death the Priest of his Parish comes to visit him and offers to administer the Popish Sacraments Extream Unction and the Eucharist unto him but the poor Man refuses them and declares his mind boldly against them and in particular against their Sacrilege in robbing the People of the Cup. Finally it pleased God that he recovered of his distemper and being in perfect health he was demanded whether the words he had spoken and the discourse he had held in his Sickness were the effects of his Fever and Delirium or of his fixed and settled Judgment He answered couragiously that what he had spoken in his Sickness he would stand to in his Health that they were his present Thoughts and Faith and expressing a great deal of Remorse and Sorrow for his Fall he begg'd pardon of God for it whereupon he was brought before a Judge who condemn'd him forth-right unto the Gallies there to be hung till he was dead Monsieur Bayley Minister of Carla in the County of Foix and who was in June 1685. seized on by the Provost of Montauban and thrown into a Dungeon in the Castle of Trumpet at Bordeaux not one of his Friends or Relations being ever permitted to visit him or to know the cause of his Imprisonment died the 12th of November following but with that Constancy as became a Martyr of Jesus Christ praising and blessing God for his Sufferings These Sufferings of his had been very great and exceeding grievous He lay a long while together sick without any relief or assistance yea they were so barbarously cruel to him as to deny him a Cup of cold Water to quench his burning Thirst his merciless Guards treating him in his very malady with all manner of Barbarities that by those Torments he might be enforced to apostatize from the Truth but this excellent man of God held stedfastly to the last and by his Faith and Patience conquered the Cruelties of his Tormentors and died triumphantly He was a Person of great Worth and Learning all which was communicated by him to the Edification of his Flock His Brother one of the rarest Scholars of this Age is that famous Author of the Republique des Lettres The Widow of Monsieur Fremont that rich famous Banker of Paris together with her two Sons left above 200000 Liveres in their House and escapt most fortunately their Persecutors Monsieur Fremont putting himself and six more into the Habits and Arms of the Life-Guard and himself as an Officer in the head of them coming upon the Frontiers to the Guards demands whether none had passed them lately To which they replied Yes some had done it a little before with Pass-ports But this new Officer tells them they were counterfeited and he was ordered to pursue these Counterfeits and so saved himself and Company In Poictou the Houses of the Gentry are demolished and excessive Cruelties by the Mission to make them renounce their Religion The Lady of a Person of Quality who for his Constancy was imprisoned after that his House had been pulled down was clapt up between four Walls where though she was big with child and very near her time yet she was starved to death with Cold and Famine In the Burrough of Torique three Leagues from Niort Frances Aubin a Country Woman declaring her resolution to persist unchangeably in the Protestant Religion they first squeezed her Fingers to pieces with Iron Skrews and then hung her up by her Arm-pits smoaking and forcing her to suck in with her Nostrils Tobacco and Brimstone afterward these bloody Villains tied her Legs unto a Horse who drew her upon burning Faggots Her own Brother of the same name was an Eye-witness of all her Sufferings who also was tortured by them but in another manner And forasmuch as none of these Cruelties could make them either loose their Resolutions or their Lives they flung them both into a low Ditch whence they were taken out almost knee deep in Mud and Water Another Inhabitant of the same place called Fountayne was hung up also by the Arms smoakt with Tobacco her Fingers burnt by a light fire and then thrust into a Dungeon to die of Cold and Hunger as a Man of S. Maixant had done before her A Gentleman of Augumois they tormented to death by pouring into his Mouth boiling Aqua Vitae and Wines and Water They gagged two Gentlewomen of the same Province and had almost killed them by a great quantity of Wine which they forced down their Throats Another Lady of Quality whilst they consum'd her Goods before her face they watching her by day and night forced her to turn the Spit without any Rest or Intermission and this hath been an ordinary practice to keep people so long waking 7 8 9. days and nights together the Dragoons watching by turns till these poor Creatures having lost their Senses and not knowing what Questions are put them or Answers they make unto them are intangled carried to a Popish Church and two Witnesses swearing they saw this though a delirious Person at Mass if afterward by Sleep or Food they came to themselves again and declare that they be Protestants they are condemned for Relapse and burnt to death without Mercy An Eminent French Minister gave the Writer hereof this Relation That Jan. 23. 1685. a Woman had her sucking Child snatch'd from her Breasts and put into the next Room which was only parted by a few Boards from hers These Devils incarnate would not let the poor Mother come to her Child unless she would renounce her Religion and become a Roman Catholick Her Chiled crys and she crys her Bowels yearn upon her poor miserable Infant but the Fear of God and of hell and losing her Soul keep her from Apostasie however she suffers a double Martyrdom one in her own person the other in that of her sweet Babe who dies in her hearing with Crying and Famine before its poor Mother Monsieur Elias Boutonnet a Merchant of Marans near Rochell was martyr'd by these bloody Miscreants after this manner They hung him up by the Heels to a Post of his own House and smoak'd him to death with wet Straw set on fire SECT XLV The Martyrdom of Monsieur Homel Pastor of the Church of Vivaretz in the Province of Sevennes in the Kingdom of France who was with most Hellish Cruelty broken upon
the Wheel at Tournon a City in the same Province October 1683. THE Professors of the Reformed Religion in France having for these last Twenty Years seen the Infraction and Seizure of their Privileges the Violation and Abrogation of those Royal Edicts that had been formerly granted to them the suppression of their Assemblies for Religious Worship the demolition of their Temples and their poor Children whose Souls could not but be dear unto them taken away from them by Violence and hurried into Monasteries to be trained up in Idolatry and groaning under a world of other Miseries divers of them in the Provinces of Poictou Xaintonge Guyenne the Higher and Lower Languedoc Sevennes Dolphiny and Vivaretz consulting together laid a general Project about restoring their ruinated Churches One of the Articles concluded by them was That the 18th day of July in the Year 1683. their Pastors should jointly set upon the Exercise of their Publick Ministry in preaching of the Word c. in all those Places where for some time before it had been interdicted Yet before they undertook it they presented their most humble Address unto their King in which with the profoundest Submssiions they protested unto his Majesty their inviolable Loyalty and Fidelity and only craved this favour of him their Soveraign that under his gracious protection they might serve their God according to his appointment in the Sacred Scriptures to which they were obliged by all Bonds imaginable and that they might enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences according to the former Concessions of his Royal Predecessors 'T is not certain whether this their Petition ever came unto the King's hands The malicious Popish Clergy having blockt up all ways of Access for the poor Protestants at Court. Immediately after this there was a particular Assembly held in Vivaretz in which they came to the same Resolutions of setting up the publick Worship of God according to the Gospel 'T is true neither of these not the former nor this latter were to any effect executed at all unless in the Province of Vivaretz and some certain places of Sevennes and Dolphiny Yet this their Declaration of their purposes cost them dear for it brought upon those poor people a Royal Army who put to fire and sword whatever of the Protestants they met with sparing neither Sex nor Age butchering them after a most barbarous manner and with extream Inhumanity and Cruelty Now the Dragoons live at discretion eat up and devour the whole substance of these miserable Protestants All sorts of Torments are lawful scarce any unpractised but the greatest and most especial subjects of their rage were the Ministers of the Gospel None of these that fell into their hands could believe them Men they found them by woful Experience to be incarnate Devils The Stories are too many and too large to be here recorded Yet Reader you shall have a taste of one or two At a Village in Dolphiny called Bourdeaux there was a solemn day of Prayer and Fasting observed by these poor Christians Monsieur St. Ruth St. Ruth paid the Reckoning at last for all his Hellish Cruelties at the Siege of Limerick in Ireland in the Year 1691. where God's Sword of Justice cut him off from doing further Mischief Maschal de Camp brings in 6000. Dragoons upon them his Dragoons were three to one of these Protestants They are now surprised and commanded every Man to lay down their Arms but knowing that if they did both they and their Ministers should be hanged out-right they refused Hereupon St. Ruth commands his Dragoons to give sire and at this first discharge kills a Multitude of these Meeters However seeing no other way but Death before them such as had escaped this first Volley resolve to sell their Lives at the dearest rate and in their own defence killed some of the Dragoons who fell dead at the feet of their murdered Companions About Fifty or sixty broke through the Army designing to save themselves in an adjoining Barn who all excepting some few were burnt alive Those few that endeavour'd their Escape were taken who were every Man of them hang'd without delay by one of their own Party whom they constrained to become their Executioner and whom also they executed afterwards themselves There was among the Prisoners Monsieur Daniel Chamier great Grandson to that famous Divine of the same name Pastor and Professor at Montauban This Young man was executed after a most horrible manner He was carried to Montelimar and there broken upon the Wheel He received fifty Blows of the Iron Bar upon the Scaffold before they gave him the mortal Blow and was left alive under those exquisite torments three days together e'er he died He endured these Cruelties with an exemplary Constancy and Fortitude Some one had interceded with the Duke of Nouailles for a young Gentleman not twenty years of age who had an Estate of 30000 Livers the Duke promised him his life provided he would turn Roman Catholick This heroick religious Youth rejecteth the Conditions he will not buy Repentance so dear he scorneth life with sin a life bought with the loss of God of Heaven and Glory He chuseth therefore death because he believed and hoped for a better Resurrection And having with his own hands fitted the Halter to his Neck he suffers death joyfully But among all the instances of these Martyrs this which I am about to relate of Monsieur Homel is the most remarkable Monsieur Homel was sometime Minister of the Church of Soyon but when he was executed he was Pastor of the Church of Vivaretz He was a Venerable Divine aged some sixty five Years whose whole Life has been unblameable He was deputed by his Church and Province unto the last National Synod held at Loudun in the Year 1659. This eminent Servant of God was broken alive upon the Wheel at Tournon where by the way Reader the Jesuites have a College He received forty Blows of the Iron Bar upon the Scaffold He languished under this Hellish Cruelty two days together The very thoughts thereof strike an horror into the hearts of them that hear it My Author tells me he trembled his Hair stood an end at the remembrance of it Certainly this Minister must have been guilty you will say of some very horrid Crime of some unheard of piece of Treason against his King and Country for which he suffer'd a death far worse than drawing in pieces by wild Horses But he was no Trumpet of Sedition or Rebellion he was no James Clement nor John Chatel nor Francis Ravaillack to assassinate his Prince This holy Man of God abhorr'd such abominable practices All the crime laid unto his charge that could be prov'd against him was matter of Duty to God of Duty to his Church over which the Holy Ghost had made him Overseer He faithfully and zealously exhorted his Brethren in the Ministry to preach the Gospel even upon the Ruines of their Temples yet without quitting their