might be Censured 3. The Lord of Barjac was Censured for not adhearing to the Resolutions taken in the Assembly of Saumur by plurality of suffrages Anno 1611. And for joyning himself unto their private Cabal who would have made the Lesser number carry it from the greater contrary to the Natural Order of all Synods But the said Lord of Barjac giving publick Testimony of his sorrow for this Miscarriage and protesting seriously for the future never in any wise to depart from the Universally received order of being Concluded by the Majority of Votes his Censure was taken off and his offence remitted to him To prevent all divisions in the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom this National Synod framed an Act or Oath of Union to be taken by all the Deputies CHAP. III. The Oath of Vnion sworn by all the Deputies of the Reformed Churches of France assembled in the National Synod at Privas in Vivaretz and subscribed by them all the day month and year above-mitten WE whose Names are here under written Deputies for the Reformed Churches of France Assembled in a National Synod at the Town of Privas in the Province of Vivaretz knowing by past-experience that nothing is more needful to preserve the Weal Peace and good Estate of the said Churches than an holy Union and unviolable Concord both in Doctrine Discipline and their Dependencies and that the said Churches cannot long subsist without a good intimate and mutual Conjunction one with the other and better kept than formerly Being for this cause desirous to remove all seeds of disunion and occasions of divisions which may hereafter trouble the said Churches and to prevent all Impostures Calumnies private Factions Plots and Practices by which divers persons ill-affected to our Religion do endeavour to dissipate and ruine them Which quickens us more than ever to find out by joynt accord and Common Consent the proper and most effectual means of our just lawful and necessary conservation in the aforesaid Union under that obedience due unto his Majesty our Soveraign Lord and the Queen his Mother We have in the Name of all our Churches and for their good and for the service of their Majesties Sworn and Protested and we do Swear and Protest Promising also our utmost Endeavour that these very self-same protestations shall be ratified in and by all our Provinces to remain inseparably united and conjoyned in that confession of Faith of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom read in this Synod approved and ratified by every one of us Swearing not only in our own Name but also in the respective Names of all the Churches of our Provinces which have Deputed us unto this Synod that we will live and die in it As also we Protest in our own and their Names to keep inviolably that Ecclesiastical Discipline Established in the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom and to see its Canons observed for the better Government of these our Churches and the reformation of life and manners Acknowledging that it is Most agreeable to Gods holy Word whose Authority is Supream And we Protest and Swear to yield all obedience and fidelity to their said Majesties desiring nothing else but that under the Protection of their Edicts we may serve our God with Liberty of Conscience CHAP. IV. Observation on Reading the Confession of Faith 1. WHereas there is mention made in the 14th Article of the Heresies of Servetus some of the Deputies desired that the specifying of them might be removed because those his Heresies are now as it were dead and buried and the Deputies of the Provinces in pursuance of that Decree past in the last National Synod of St. Maixant having brought with them the Judgment of their respective Provinces upon this Subject it was thought meet that nothing should be innovated in that Article but that it should be entirely left as we found it 2. That Union in Doctrine may be preserved among us and no Errors may be suffered to creep into our Churches All Pastors in actual service and all Proposans who are to be received into the Ministry shall sign this following Article I Whose Name is here under-written do receive and approve the Contents of the Confession of Faith of the Reformed Churches in this Kingdom and do promise to persevere in it until death and to believe and teach agreeably thereunto And whereas some persons contend about the sense of the eighteenth Article treating of our Justification I declare and protest before God that I understand it in the same sense in which it is received in our Churches approved by our National Synods agreeably to the Word of God which is That our Lord Jesus Christ was obedient to the Moral and Ceremonial Law not only for our good but also in our stead and that his whole Obedience yielded by him thereunto is imputed to us and that our Justification consists not only in the forgiveness of sins but also in the Imputation of his Active Righteousness and subjecting my self unto the Word of God I believe that the Son of Man came to serve and that he was not a Servant because he came into the World I do also promise that I will never depart from the Doctirne received in our Churches and that I will yield all Obedience to the Canons of our National Synods in this matter And this Article shall be religiously observed in and by all the Provinces 3. Our Printers be forbidden henceforward to print the Confession of Faith with this Title The Confession of Faith revised and amended by the National Synod 4 The Confession of Faith being read and heard was approved by all the Deputies who protested that by the Grace of God they would live and die in it As was manifest by their Act in swearing the said Union CHAP. V. Observations upon Reading of our Church-Discipline Article 1. IN reading and revising the Discipline of our Churches this National Synod voted That whereas in the close of the second Canon of the first Chapter the time and manner of admitting Novices lately converted from Popery to the Reformed Religion are particularly specified Now instead of these words Unless in a Provincial Synod these ensuing shall be inserted Unless by the Advice of Provincial and National Synods and the said Canon shall be finished with this Sentence Nor shall they be Ordained by Imposition of Hands no more than if they were unknown persons without the Advice of Provincial and National Synods Article 2. On the third Canon of the first Chapter after these words which do almost conclude it And after long experience had of his Repentance and Godly Conversation There shall be nothing added but the last clause shall be blotted out viz. He being found meet and sit and sufficiently qualified to teach the Church may be chosen and called unto the Sacred Ministry Article 3. The Deputies of Burgundy demanding that they might not be bound by that Canon of the Synod of St. Maixant that seven Pastors should be
they be accompanied with a Godfather and that they have made profession of our holy Christian Reformed Religion CAN. IX A Surety coming from another Church shall not be admitted to present a Child unto Baptism unless he bring with him a Certificate from his own Church CAN. X. Such as present Children unto Baptism shall be of sufficient Age in their fourteenth year at least and shall have Communicated at the Lord's Table or if they be well stricken in years and have not as yet received the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper they shall protest seriously that they will do it and in order to it that they will suffer themselves duly to be Catechised CAN. XI Persons suspended from the Lords Supper may not in the quality of Sureties present Children unto Baptism so long as their Suspension shall stand in force against them CAN. XII Pastors shall diligently exhort all Godfathers and Godmothers to weigh and consider their Promises made at the Celebration of Baptism and Parents also to chuse such Sureties for their Children as are well-instructed in Religion and of a Godly Life and Conversation and that are as much as may be of their Acquaintance and by whose means if there should be a necessity for it in the course of God's Providence it is most likely that their Children will have a Religious Education CAN. XIII Such as by their Proxies presenâ— Children to be baptized in the Church of Rome shall be severely censured because they consent thereby unto Idolatry CAN. XIV As for Names which are given Children in Baptism Ministers shall reject if it can possibly be done and without any inconvenience those which yet remain of old Paganism nor shall they impose on the said Children the Names ascribed unto God in Scripture as Immanuel and others of like nature Moreover Parents and Sureties shall be admonished to take Names approved in the holy Scriptures or if they fancy any other they may be accepted excepting always those before mentioned and those which signify a matter which is unseemly CAN. XV. Ministers shall admonish their Flocks to demean themselves most reverently at the Administration of Baptism And that the contempt of Baptism which is expressed by too many even the far greater part of our People by going out of the Assembly or carrying themselves irreverently at its Administration may be avoided for the future it hath been judged meet that this holy Sacrament shall be administred before the singing of the last Psalm or at least before the giving of the Pastoral Blessing And the People shall be carefully admonished to behave themselves with the self same Reverence in the administration of Baptism as in that Sacrament of the Lord's Supper forasmuch as Jesus Christ and all his benefits are alike equally exhibited and offered to us in both the Sacraments CAN. XVI Consistories shall have an eye over such persons as do without any great and urgent cause defer for a long time together the Baptism of their Children CAN. XVII Chap. XII Of The Lord's Supper Although the Wife of a Believing Husband be of a contrary Religion yet is he in no wise to be excused if that his Child be presented unto Baptism in the Church of Rome and therefore he shall not be received unto the Lord's Supper unless he have to the utmost of his power laboured to prevent it CAN. XVIII All Baptisms shall be Registred and carefully kept in the Church-Books together with the Names of both the Parents Sureties and of the Children baptized which shall be subscribed by the Minister's own hand who did baptise them And when as Children shall be presented unto baptism The Parents and Sureties shall be obliged to bring with them a Note in which shall be inserted the Name of the Child of its Parents and Sureties and the day of its Nativity CAN. XIX The Parents Names of Bastards Children born of an Illegitimate Conjunction if they be known shall be Recorded in the Book of Baptisms unless of those Children who are born in Incest That so the very Remembrance of such an enormous Wickedness may be for ever buried in the Grave of Forgetfulness In which case it shall be sufficient only to have nominated the Mother together with the Sureties who shall present the Child to Baptism And in the Baptising of all Illegitimate Children express mention shall be made that they were born out of holy Wedlock CHAP. XII Of the Lord's Supper CANON I. WHere there is no Form of a Church the Lord's Supper shall not be administred CAN. II. Children under twelve years of Age shall not be admitted unto the Lord's Table but as for others who are above that Age it is left unto the Minister's discretion to judge whether they have sufficient knowledge to qualify them for their admission to it CAN. III. Priests Monks and other Ecclesiasticks belonging to the Church of Rome shall not be admitted to the Lord's Supper till they have first made a publick acknowledgment of their former Life and profession CAN. IV. Incumbents who retain the name and title of their Benefices and all other persons who do either directly or indirectly participate in Idolatry whether they receive the Income of their Benefices with their own hands or the hands of others shall not be admitted to Communion with us at the Lord's Table CAN. V. Ministers shall have notice given them not to receive unto the Lord's Supper the Members of other Churches without having a sufficient Testimonial from their Pastor or in default thereof from an Elder if it may be had CAN. VI. A Man dumb and deaf demonstrating his sence of Piety and Religion by evident signs tokens and gestures may be received unto the Lord's Table in case the Church hath experience of his holy Life and can perceive that he hath Faith and the true Knowledge of God CAN. VII The Bread in the Lord's Supper shall be administred unto them who cannot drink Wine they protesting seriously that it is not out of contempt that they do forbear it besides they doing their utmost endeavour for it yea bringing the Cup as near unto their Mouth as they can and taking and touching it with their Lips all occasions of offence will be by this means in this case avoided CAN. VIII Pastors are left at liberty in giving the Bread and Wine to use the accustomed words it being a thing purely indifferent provided that they use such words as tend to edifying CAN. IX The Churches shall be informed that it belongeth only unto Ministers to give the Cup. CAN. X. Forasmuch as when the Lord's Supper is administred sundry diseased Persons come unto it which causeth many that are in health to be shy of taking the Cup after them Pastors and Elders shall be admonished to use their greatest prudence that godly order may be kept up and observed in this Case CAN. XI Such as having been a long while Members of the Church and refuse Communion with it at the Lord's Table
do for him provided he will but relinquish his Religion who had none and become of theirs a Catholick If a Daughter be unruly and undutiful to her Parents they will seduce her away from them and God flattering her with the false hopes of a good Match or intice her into their Nunneries those sinks of Uncleanness and oblige her Father to maintain her to give her an yearly Pension far above what his Estate can possibly allow or bear If a Man be prosecuted for any Crime let him but change his Religion he gets a Pardon and gets into a Sanctuary from Justice By this means the old Count de L'orge saved his life when he was clapt into the Bastile for coining Money But these Cheaters have been cheated themselves 'T is a diverting story for my Reader out of Les derniers efforts de l' Innocence affligée p. 176 177. Conversions are now adays in fashion Every one will be in the mode Cavaliers Soldiers and Ladies as well as our Bigots must be Converters One told me lately a pleasant passage of a common Soldier in the Garrison of Fribourg who for a considerable Robbery was clapt up in Prison This Fellow was a subtil shaver and very well perceived there was no hopes of Life or Mercy for him As soon as he was brought into Gaol the first Question put to him was about his Religion And you may be sure a Thief hath enough of that and to spare But without any hesitation he professeth himself an Hugonot that is a Protestant Immediately all the devout persons in Town bestir themselves to save the Soul of this poor Heretick and who more zealous with him and for him than my Lady Chamilly the Governor's Wife This Heretick stands out against all their assaults and resolves to die a Martyr for his Religion Never did a Martyr defend his Cause better than he Nay Monsieur de Chamilly hath a pang of zeal for the perishing Soul of this wretched Hugonot and out of pure compassion to him visits him in his Dungeon tells him he is a dead man as well as damned if he don't turn Catholick Eternal damnation doth not fright him only the dread of the Wheel and Halter put him into an Ague-fit He begins to relent the Piety and Charity of my Lord-Governor and his Lady work a Miracle upon him He is willing provided he may have good Terms to relinquish his Heresie and go to Heaven But it must be upon sure Grounds He will have his Pardon first in due form of Law under the King's Hand and Seal that he may not be cheated nor surprised nor hung up after he is converted And they deal which is a wonder indeed honestly and honourably with him They get him his Pardon he pleads it in Court where 't is accepted and he is discharged by open Proclamation No sooner is this Convert at large but he declares to all the World what a precious Convert he was who had never been an Heretick but a Roman Catholick all his days This Trick was a little mortification to the Bigots of Fribourg But let us pass from raillery unto something more sad and serious SECT XXVI If a man be sick and by reason of poverty is carried to the Hospital his Entertainment will be very harsh and cruel unless he renounceth his Religion he shall have no attendance but die miserably A Danish Gentleman was carried to the Hospital at Paris called l' Hostel Dieu being mortally wounded The Papists earnestly press him to renounce his Heresie but finding him fixt and immoveable in it they make use of false Apparitions of supposed Devils appearing with a Death's Head in which they had put lighted Candles telling this poor young Gentleman that he should be damned if he did not change his Religion and of a Lutheran become a Catholick They follow him so often and closely with these Mormo's that being worn out with terrors he died in despair This happened Jan. 24. 1666. The Liberty of Conscience formerly granted is miserably abridged and the Inquisition in effect set up no Protestant daring to discover his Faith before the Papists lest he should be prosecuted for Blasphemy The Sick cannot lye quiet in their Beds in their own Houses no more than in Hospitals without being persecuted with the continual Sollicitations of Priests and Monks to change their Religion they having got liberty to enter their Houses at pleasure which to dying men tho' never so well setled in their Religion must needs be a very grievous torment The Priests with this Licence do frequently and falsly pretend that the deceased party by signs or otherwise discovered a desire that their Children should be bred up in the Popish Religion Thus did they deal with Monsieur Rossell a Minister in Xaintonge If a man in a violent Feaver tho' under a delirium do but let fall the least expression the Priest snatcheth at it immediately and pretends there is a real Conversion and then all the Friends and Relations of this delirious person are driven out of the Chamber even his own Wife and his Children are taken into custody And if he chance to recover they will force him to go to Mass or else put the Decree against Apostates in execution against him If a sick man be in his right senses they will then by subtil insnaring Questions interrogate him whether he would not imbrace a true Faith a good sound and orthodox Doctrine and whether he desireth not to die in the bosom of the true Church If he answer that he doth or not 't is all as one he is persecuted to death Take an instance or two out of Les derniers Efforts de l' Innocence affligée p. 62 63 64. In the Suburbs of St. Marcel in Paris a poor Woman lay delirious The Commissary and Priests of the Parish enter into her Chamber drive out all her Relations and Friends that attended her and made her speak what they pleased then they go and fetch the consecrated Host and holy Oils for her viaticum and lest any one in their absence should get into the Chamber they lock it and carry away the Key with them In the mean while this sick Woman returns to her right senses but is affrighted at the sight of a Cross at her Bed's foot which they had left behind them She immediately conjectures what had befallen her during her delirium and thereupon ariseth goeth to the door to save herself but finding it shut she resolves to escape by the window This was too bold an Enterprise for so feeble a creature and as she was sliding down from the third story she falls upon the Pavement and with the violence of the fall dieth in the place There was another sorrowful Accident at Ville Dieu a Village in Poictou The Curate and Sexton of the Parish visit an aged person upon his sick bed They drive away from him all his Children terribly threatning them that if ever they came
that when the Dragoons had done their part as effectually as they could the Intendant with the Bishops and the Military Commander do once again assemble these miserable Inhabitants totally ruined and exhort them to obey the King and become Catholicks adding in case of obstinacy most terrible Threats And the new Converts never failed in this juncture to execute what they had promised to entice and seduce them from the true Religion This they could do the more successfully because the Reformed had yet some kindness for and confidence in them 4. When the Master of a Family thinking to get rid of the Dragoons had obeyed and signed an Abjuration yet for all this he was not freed from his Tormentors unless that his Wife Children and the meanest of his Servants did not also follow his example And if Wife or Children or any of his Domesticks escaped their hands and fled for their Lives they renewed their Persecutions upon him till such time as he had brought them back again which being sometimes utterly impossible their change of Religion did not in the lead benefit or avail them The Form of Abjuration imposed upon the Protestants when they turn'd Papists and which they stiled The Mark of the Beast I here offer to my Reader 's perusal THE Mark of the Beast OR The Profession of the Catholick Apostolick and Romish Faith which the Protestants in France were inforced to make and subscribe through the Violence of Persecution in France In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen I do believe and profess with a firm Faith all and every thing and things contained in that Creed which is used by the holy Church of Rome to wit I believe in one God the Father Almighty who hath made Heaven and Earth and all things visible and invisible And in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God and born of the Father before all Ages God of God Light of Light True God of the True God Begotten not made of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made who for us Men and our Salvation came down from Heaven and was Incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made Man and was Crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate he suffered and was buried and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of the Father and he shall come again with Glory to judge both the quick and the dead whose Kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and Giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is Worshipped and Glorified who spake by the Prophets And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the Remission of Sins and I look for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to come Amen I receive and embrace most firmly the Apostolick and Ecclesiastical Traditions and the other Observations and Constitutions of the same Church In like manner I receive the holy Scripture but with that sence which the holy Mother Church hath and doth now understand it to whom it doth belong to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures and I shall never take it nor interpret it otherwise than according to the unanimous Consent of the Fathers I profess also that there be truly and properly seven Sacraments of the new Law instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ and needful for the Salvation of Mankind although not alike needful to every one to wit Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Penance Extreme Vnction Orders and Marriage and that they do confer Grace And that Baptism Confirmation and Orders cannot be reiterated without Sacriledge I receive and admit also the Ceremonies received and approved by the Catholick Church in the solemn Administration of all these for-mentioned Sacraments I receive and imbrace all and every thing and things which have been determined and declared concerning original Sin and Justification by the holy Council of Trent I likewise profess that in the Mass there is offered unto God a true proper and propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead and that in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly really and substantially the Body and Blood togâ—â—her with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and that in it there is made a Change of the whole substance of the Bread into his Body and of the whole substance of the Wine into his Blood which Change the Catholick Church calls Transubstantiation I confess also that under one only of those two Elements whole Christ and a true Sacrament is received I constantly affirm that there is a Purgatory and that the Souls there detained are relieved by the Suffrages of the Faithful In like manner the Saints reigning with Jesus Christ are to be Worshipped and Invocated and that they offer up Prayers unto God for us and that their Relicks are to be honoured I do most stedfastly avow that the Images of Jesus Christ and of the Ever-Virgin Mother of God and also of the other Saints ought to be had and retained and that due honour and veneration must be yielded to them Moreover I affirm that the power of Indulgences was left unto the Church by Jesus Christ and that their usage is very beneficial unto Christians I acknowledge the Holy Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church to be the Mother and Mistress of all other Churches And I promise and swear true Obedience to the Pope of Rome Successor of Blessed St. Peter Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Jesus Christ. In like manner I receive and profess without doubting all other things left defined and declared by the holy Canons and General Councils and especially by the most holy Council of Trent And withal I do condemn reject and accurse all things which are contrary and whatever Heresies have ken condemned rejected and accursed by the Church And swearing upon the Book of the Gospels he must say I promise vow and swear and most constantly to confess God aiding me and to keep intirely and inviolably unto the death this self-same Catholick Faith out of which no Person can be saved which I do now most willingly and truly profess and that I will endeavour to the utmost of my Power that it shall be held taught and preached by my Vassals or by those who shall belong unto my charge So help me God and these holy Gospels So be it I of the Parish of do Certifie unto all whom it may concern that having acknowledged the falseness of the Pretended Reformed and the truth of the Catholick Religion of my own free will and without any Compulsion I have made Profession of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion in the Church of in the hands of In Testimony of the Truth hereof I have signed this Act
do very well approve and acknowledge the necessity thereof and of its Appendages ARTICLE XXXIV We believe that the Sacraments are adjoined unto the word for its more ample confirmation to wit that they may be pledges and tokens of the grace of God and that by these means our Faith which is very weak and ignorant may be supported and comforted For we confess that these outward signs be such that God by the power of his holy Spirit doth work by them that nothing may be there represented to us in vain Yet nevertheless we hold that all their substance and vertue is in Jesus Christ from whom if they be separated they be nothing else but shadows and smoak ARTICLE XXXV We acknowledge That there be two Sacraments only which are common to the whole Church whereof Baptism is the first which is administred to us to testifie our Adoption because we are by it ingraffed into the Body of Christ that we may be washed and cleansed by his Blood and afterwards renewed in Holiness of Life by his Spirit We hold also That altho' we be baptized but once yet the Benefits which are signified to us therein do extend themselves during the whole course of our life even unto death that so we may have a lasting Signature with us that Jesus Christ will always be our Righteousness and Sanctification And altho' Baptism be a Sacrament of Faith and Repentance yet forasmuch as God doth together with the Parents account their Children and Posterity to be Church-Members we affirm That Infants born of believing Parents are by the Authority of Christ to be baptized ARTICLE XXXVI We affirm That the Holy Supper of our Lord to wit the other Sacrament is a witness to us of our Union with the Lord Jesus Christ because that he is not only once dead and raised up again from the dead for us but also he doth indeed seed us and nourish us with his Flesh and Blood that we being made one with him may have our life in common with him And although he be now in Heaven and shall remain there till he come to judge the World yet we believe that by the secret and incomprehensible vertue of his Spirit he doth nourish and quicken us with the substance of his Body and Blood But we say that this is done in a spiritual manner nor do we hereby substitute in the place of the effect and truth an idle fancy and conceit of our own but rather because this Mystery of our Union with Christ is so high a thing that it surmounteth all our Senses yea and the whole order of Nature and in short because it is coelestial therefore it cannot be apprehended but by Faith ARTICLE XXXVII We believe as was said before That both in Baptism and the Lord's Supper God doth indeed truly and effectually give whatsoever he doth there sacramentally exhibit and therefore we conjoyn with the Signs the true possession and injoyment of what is offer'd to us in them Therefore we affirm That they which do bring pure Faith as a clean Vessel unto the Holy Supper of the Lord they do indeed receive that which the Signs do there witness that is That the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are no less the Meat and Drink of the Soul than Bread and Wine are the Meat of the Body ARTICLE XXXVIII We say therefore That let the Element of Water be never so despicable yet notwithstanding it doth truly witness unto us the inward washing of our Souls with the Blood of Jesus Christ by the vertue and efficacy of his Spirit and that the Bread and Wine being given us in the Lord's Supper do serve in very deed unto our spiritual nourishment because they do as it were point out unto us with the finger that the Flesh of Jesus Christ is our Meat and his Blood our Drink And we reject those Fanaticks who will not receive such Signs and Marks although Jesus Christ doth speak plainly This is my Body and this Cup is my Blood ARTICLE XXXIX We believe That God will have the World to be ruled by Laws and Civil Government that there may be some sort of Bridles by which the unruly Lusts of the World may be restrained and that therefore he appointed Kingdoms Commonwealths and other kinds of Principalities whether hereditary or otherwise And not that alone but also whatsoever pertaineth to the Ministration of Justice whereof he avoucheth himself the Author therefore hath he even delivered the Sword into the Magistrates hand that so Sins committed against both the Tables of God's Law not only against the Second but the First also may be suppressed And therefore because God is the Author of this Order we must not only suffer Magistrates whom he hath set over us but we must also give them all Honour and Reverence as unto his Officers and Lieutenants which have received their Commission from him to exercise so lawful and Sacred a Function ARTICLE XL. Therefore we affirm that Obedience must be yielded unto their Laws and Statutes that Tribute must be paid them Taxes and all other Duties and that we must bear the Yoke of Subjection with a free and willing mind although the Magistrates be Infidels so that the soveraign Government of God be preserved entire Wherefore we detest all those who do reject the Higher Powers and would bring in a Community and Confusion of Goods and subvert the Course of Justice Sect. 10. This was the Confession which was owned in their First National Synod hold at Paris in the Year 1559. and presented unto Francis the Second King of France first at Amboise in behalf of all the Professors of the Reformed Religion in that Kingdom afterwards to Charles the Ninth at the Conference of Poissy It was a second time presented to the said King and at length published by the Pastors of the French Churches with a Preface to all other Evangelical Pastors in the Year 1566. It was also most solemnly signed and ratified in the National Synod held the first time at Rochell 1571. the Year before the Bartholomean Massacre by Jane Queen of Navarre Henry Prince of Berne Henry de Bourbon Prince of Condé Lowis Count of Nassaw and Sir Gaspard de Colligni Lord High Admiral of France Monsieur Chamier writ that Apologetical Preface which begins with these words Combien que nos sachions c. for that other which is prefixt to it in the Bible-Confession and begins with these words au Roy Sire was done by the Reverend Mr. Calvin who first drew up the Confession it self One thing I must advise the Reader of that there is a very great difference in the Number and Matter of these Articles which came not only in at first by the Printers but by the various Copies which were transcribed with Emendations Additions and Alterations from the respective National Synods The best Copy that I have met with is that in the Harmony of Confessions translated into English and Printed by
to be kept by Monsieur Ligonnier in his hands was declared null and rejected and the act of that Synod was ordered to be put in execution and made effectual 42. The Sieur Collinet appealing from the decree of the Provincial Synod of Burgundy this Assembly ordained that that Province should defray the expences of his journey to Court because he was sent thither to carry the verbal process of the Churches of Chaalons Paray c. 43. The Consistory of Mornac appealed from the Decree of the Synod of Xaintonge which had ordained that the said Church should pay unto the Sieur Cocque their Pastor his arrears due unto him from them but this their appeal was rejected by this Assembly who also injoin the said Church to make full payment unto him of his just dues or otherwise they should be deprived of the Sacred Ministry of the Gospel by the next Colloquy of the Isles or by the Provincial Synod who have all authority given them so to do from this Assembly 44. The Sieur Suffran appealed from the Colloquy of Lionnois which had suspended him from his Ministry to which he saith he submitted purely out of fear This Assembly having heard the Deputies of that Colloquy and the arguments of the said Suffran comprised in a Script of His presented to us finds the Colloquy to have judged prudently and piously in every particular of their Sentence and ordaineth that he be provided of a Church as soon as may be in the Province of Lower Languedoc or in some neighbour Province and that in the mean while a portion of Moneys allotted unto the Pastors shall be detained in the hands of the Lord du Candal to be paid unto him With this condition that when as he shall be provided of a Church that portion shall be put upon the score of the Province wherein it lieth and he officiates CHAP. VIII General Matters 1. THE Province of Higher Languedoc and Guyenne proposed that a most humble Petition might be tender'd by them unto their Majesties that they would be pleased to grant unto their Ministers a full maintenance This Synod is of opinion that it were more proper for a Politick Provincial Assembly to make this request than for us which are but an Ecclesiastical 2. The same Province moved another case Whether Consistories might be allowed to give in evidence unto the Civil Magistrate against insolent and outragious persons abusing their Pastors or Elders who called them according to the Duty of their Places before them This answer was returned that that Canon of our Discipline forbidding the discovery unto a Civil Judicature of matters transacted in the Consistory ought not to be restrained to the sole confessions of Crimes but is to be understood in the most comprehensive sence of all things whatsoever excepting only such riots and outrages whose fact being notorious it may be lawful to inform the Magistrate of But as for outragious words of what kind soever they may be Consistories shall apply the censures of the Church to redress and reform them 3. The Province of Higher Guyenne requested that there might be a particular Canon made for removing Elders from their office in the Churches 1614. The 21th Synod and that the time of their coming in and going out might be fixt and limited This Assembly Judgeth that this matter should be left to the prudence of Provincial Synods But nevertheless it ordaineth that if an Elder be deputed unto a National Synod by his Province he shall continue in his office tho the term thereof be expired until such time as he have discharged the trust reposed in him and shall have given an account unto the Province of those affairs concredited to him and dispatched by him in that National Synod 4. Forasmuch as divers Provinces have remonstrated that by Reason of the continuance and growth of ungodliness we be daily threatned with the most dreadful Judgments of God and that there is an indispensable necessity of extraordinary prayers unto the throne of Grace for the prosperity of their Majesties and for imploring the good blessing of God upon the beginning and progress of the Kings personal Government who will be very shortly declared Major and that the publick weal of the State may be promoted the Peace and Union of our Churches more firmly stablished that therefore we be called out to celebrate a publick Fast in all the Churches of this Kingdom This Assembly for these causes now-mentioned doth appoint the fourth day of this next September to be observed generally in all the Churches of this Kingdom as a day of Solemn Prayer Humiliation and Fasting And as for those extraordinary Prayers which are used 't is left unto the Churches prudence where they be in use either to continue them or lay them down 5. The Deputies of Berry demanding some alteration in that Canon of the National Synod of Rochell concerning Monks 3 Rochel g. m. 16. See St. Maixant ob 4 upon the same Synod who forsaking their Convents were to be sent back unto their respective Provinces Because it lays a very burdensom charge upon the poor Churches which are utterly unable to Support under it This Assembly Judged it not their duty to make any change in that Canon only it adviseth the Provinces to be very circumspect in their reception of such persons and in the dispensation of their charities lest they become a charge unto the Provinces which do already need relief 6. At the request of the Provincial Deputies of Burgundy and Orleans 2 Syn. of Vitré g. m. 38. our Lords the General Deputies are intreated and exhorted and also by this Assembly to get those Letters Patents for exempting the Pastors of our Churches from all taxes and other subsidies verified they having been already granted And the Deputies of the Provinces in this Synod are charged to carry back this same Petition unto their Mixt Provincial Assemblies that so they may joyn their most humble requests with those of the General Assembly in case it be not done before the time of their meeting 7. The Province of Dolphiny desired that those words Prestre and Préstrise in the 5th Section of our Catechism might be changed into those of Sacrificateur and Sacrificateure because none questioned their sence and meaning and for that words were received by common usage The Assembly did not Judge it any wise convenient to alter these words 8. At the request of divers Provinces it was ordained that our National Synods should not only not innovate any thing in the confession of Faith Catechism Liturgy and Discipline of our Churches unless the matter had been first Proposed by one or more Provinces but also unless it were a thing of very great importance nor should that be resolved on till such time as all the Provinces being duely informed of it had first debated it at home in their respective Synods and if it so happen that any of them shall have considered of it before the
of Death that the Efficacy thereof should particularly belong unto all the Elect and to them only to give them justifying Faith and by it to bring them infallibly unto Salvation and thus effectually to redeem all those and none other who were from all Eternity from among all People Nations and Tongues chosen unto Salvation Whereupon although the Assembly were well satisfied yet nevertheless they decreed that for the future that Phráse of Jesus Chist's dying equally for all should be forborn because that term equally was formerly and might be so again an Occasion of stumbling unto many Article 19. And as for the Conditional Decree of which mention is made in the aforesaid Treatise of Predestination the said Sieurs Testard and Amyraud declared that they do not nor ever did understand any other thing than God's Will revealed in his Word to give Grace and Life unto Believers and that they called this in none other Sense a Conditional Will than that of an Anthropopeia because God promiseth not the Effects thereof but upon condition of Faith and Repentance And they added farther That although the Propositions resulting from the Manifestation of this will be conditional and conceived under an if or it may be as if thou believest thou shalt be saved if Man repent of his Sins they shall be forgiven him yet nevertheless this doth not suppose in God an Ignorance of the Event not an Impotency as to the Execution nor any Inconstancy as to his Will which is always firmly accomplished and ever unchangeable in it self according to the Nature of God in which there is no Variableness nor Shadow of turning Article 20. And the said Sieur Amyraud did particularly protest as he had formerly published unto the World that he never gave the Name of Universal or Conditional Predestination unto this Will of God than by way of Concession and accommodating it unto the Language of the Adversary Yet forasmuch as many are offended at this Expression of his he offered freely to raze it out of those places where-ever it did occur promising also to abstain in from it for the future and both he and the Sieur Testard acknowledged that to speak truly and accurately according to the Usage of sacred Scripture there is none other Decree of Predestination of Men unto eternal Life and Salvation than the unchangeable Purpose of God by which according to the most free and good Pleasure of his Will he hath out of mere Grate chosen in Jesus Christ unto Salvation before the Foundation of the World a certain number of Men in themselves neither better nor more worthy than others and that he hath decreed to give them unto Jesus Christ to be saved and that he would call and draw them effectually to Communion with him by his Word and Spirit And they did in consequence of this Holy Doctrine reject their Error who held that Faith and the Obedience of Faith Holiness Godliness and Perseverance are not the Fruits and Effects of this unchangeable Decree unto Glory but Conditions or Causes without which Election could not be passed which Conditions or Causes are antecedently requisite and foreseen as if they were already accomplished in those who were fit to be elected contrary to what is taught us by the sacred Scripture Acts 13. 48. and elsewhere Article 21. And whereas they have made distinct Decrees in this Counsel of God the first of which is to save all Men though Jesus Christ if they shall believe in him the second to give Faith unto some particular Persons they declared that they did this upon none other account than of accommodating it unto that Manner and Order which the Spirit of Man observeth in his Reasonings for the Succour of his own Infirmity they otherwise believing that though they considered this Decree as diverse yet it was formed in God in one and the self-same Moment without any Succession of Thought or Order of Priority and Posteriority The Will of this most supreme and incomprehensible Lord being but one only eternal Act in him so that could we but conceive of things as they be in him from all Eternity we should comprehend these Decrees of God by one only Act of our Understanding as in Truth they be but one only Act of his eternal and unchangeable Will Article 22. The Synod having heard these Declarations from the Sieurs Testard and Amyraud it injoined them and all others to refrain from those terms of conditional frustratory or revocable Decree and that they should rather choose the Word Will whereby to express that Sentiment of theirs and by which they would signify the revealed Will of God commonly called by Divines Voluntas Signe Article 23. And whereas in sundry Places marked in the Writings of the before-mentioned Monsieur Testard and Amyraud they have ascribed unto God as it were a Notion of Velleity and strong Affections and vehement Desires of Things which he hath not hot never will effectuate they having declared that by those figurative Ways of speaking and anthropopathical they designed to speak properly none other thing than this that if Men were obedient to the Commandments and Invitations of God their Faith and Obedience would be most acceptable unto him according as was before expressed by them The Assembly hearing this their Explication did injoin them to use such Expressions as these with that Sobriety and Prudence that they might not give the least Occasion of Offence unto any Person nor cause them to conceive of God in any way unsuitable to his glorious Nature Article 24. Monsieur Testard and Amyraud declared farther that although the Doctrines obvious to us in the Works of Creation and Providence do teach and preach Repentance and invite us to seek the Lord who would be found of us yet nevertheless by reason of the horrible Blindness of our Nature and its universal Corruption no Man was ever this way converted yea and it is utterly impossible that any one should be converted but by the hearing of the Word of God which is the Seed of our Regeneration and the Instrument of the Holy Ghost whole Efficacy and Virtue only is able to illuminate our Understandings and to change the Hearts and Affections of the Children of Men. Article 25. And forasmuch as the Word of God hath always revealed the Knowledg of the Lord our Redeemer the said Sieurs did farther protest that no one Man was ever nor can be saved without some certain Measure of this Knowledg less indeed under the old Testament but greater under the New the Death and Resurrection of the Son of God being most plainly and distinctly manifested in the Gospel and they hold it as an undoubted Truth that now under the New Covenant the distinct Knowledg of Christ is absolutely necessary for all Persons who are come unto Years of Discretion in order to their obtaining of eternal Salvation And they do from their very Heart anathematize all those who believe or teach that Man may be saved
Truths of the Sacred Oracles lest by the weakness of their Judgments and the fervour and instability of their age which enamours them of Curiosities they should be intangled in Debates and Controversies and embrace Factions and Partialities And indeed the Butt and Mark of well Educated Students in Divinity should not be to be the first Authors and Forgers of Novel and Subtil Opinions as in the Papacy where they be plung'd into a gulph of endless Errors and abastardized by a world of fruitless useless and endless Inquiries nor is it that they should be wrangling and worthless Disputants nor Speculative Doctors without any Savour or Power but the true End and Design of these our Theological Students ought be this That they may be a Holy Seed-plot of Able and Godly Pastors Sound in the Faith Mighty in Word and Doctrine Wise unto Sobriety keeping the great Mystery of Godliness in a pure Conscience delivering and dividing the word of Truth aright And in fine to be Men of God perfect and prepared for every good work of their Calling to which Holy and Noble ends all forts of Subtilties are utterly unserviceable and have ever marred the Divine Doctrine by wicked Errors or the Broachers of them by Ambition Contention Curiosity Conceitedness or the Church by a disgust of Scripture Purity and Simplicity or by Factions and Divisions which never happen when the common Sentiments of the Church are taught tho' by Ministers of meaner Parts and Talents whereas these have always happened by means of affected Singularities which is the true and genuine Food of the Romish Ambition which ever laboureth to subdue the common Sentiments because they be its greatest obstacles and most obstructing its growth and progress The Lord grant that the Sparkles of this Fire in the midst of you may not spring from the same Source Poor Germany hath sadly felt the direful effects of the flames kindled by it in its frequent and bitter Schisms Every Prince would have his University and every University admired and exalted its own Doctor as the most Eminent Professor of them all every Doctor had conceived and must needs broach and vend his new Notions and singular Opinions and these new Opinions are brought upon the publick Stage of the World where it hath met with fierce Antagonists and between these doughty Champions the poor Church of God hath been torn all to pieces To this consideration let us subjoin another for God's sake keep Philosophy within its due and proper bounds closely and strictly watched and restrained that it may only if we may so express it break up the Fallow ground of the Spirits of our youth but not in the least to take upon her by her Maxims and Assertions to bring in Seed and Food for the Church and House of God which must be fed with the pure Manna of the Divine Word whose Majesty and Liberty was so happily asserted and recovered by our Godly Fathers from that Bondage and Captivity whereinto the School-Divines of the Romish Church had enslaved it and into which 't is very likely it will be again insensibly reduced either by a too great fear of their false Weapons or by a perverse Emulation of them And yet in the mean while the Sacred Scriptures will be best understood by a diligent reading of them by comparing one Text with another and by Invocation of the Holy Ghost to enlighten our dark minds in the Knowledge of them and they will be thus more easily digested and brought home with a greater force and efficacy upon Conscience in a sober sensing of them according to the simplicity of Faith and Demonstration of the Spirit than by the most audacious and curious Applications of these false Lights new Notions and vain Discourses of Philosophy Pelagianism in the Low Countrys was the Plant of the Spanish Metaphysicks producing not Pious and Painful and Profitable but Subtile Pastors and Preachings an infinite Brood of Disputants void of Understanding and corrupt in Points of Faith Subtilties bring forth Thorns which never leave the Churches nor Consciences at rest but scratch and tear them to pieces And we exhort you to be Jealous and Suspicious of new Methods and imaginary Hypotheses and an affected singular way of Teaching and to avoid them Arminius took his walks at first in these by-paths till such time as he had gotten a stock of Credit and Reputation and had form'd for himself a Party then he pull'd off his Vizard and canvasseth all Points of Doctrine even those which were but accessary with no little vehemence in his Disputations and was uneasy till the roots had been searched and the most Fundamental Points had been assaulted and shaken Indeed the one wounds the other and it was always known that they who once chang'd their note and language and the sound Doctrine delivered to them have been attended by some secret hidden Vice or else they do engender it in their Followers Discharge therefore most Reverend and Honoured Brethren your bounden Duty unto your Churches and give this Memorable example unto them all and unto us this singular Consolation That you do maintain inviolably the Faith once Taught Established and Sealed among you far more than in any place of the World besides by a multitude of Divine Witnesses and Approbations which have rendered you a Spectacle of admiration to Men and Angels grub up by the Roots every Plant of Heterodoxy and by your Authority do you re-inforce as you shall find needful that Harmony and Agreement of the Reformed Churches which was declared in the Synod of Dort which having been the first General Council of the Churches in our days wherein God most evidently presided by his Holy Spirit and there will be difficulties enough to get such another doth therefore of right deserve the greater Reverence and Submission because of the disrespect offered it by the Broachers of these Novelties And this should be done unless we intend to be cry'd down as a sort of ungovernable persons refractary to that Order and Discipline which God hath Sanctified and Established from the very beginning in the Christian Church Ponder well how your past actions have been justified and may it please you to take that care that you may not hereafter be necessitated to make use of this Remedy against affected Ambiguities and Obscurities We very well know that some are charming your Ears with the Re-union of both Religions but that constancy and firmness you testified in your last Synod the nature of the points wherewith you be tempted that cannot admit of any reconciliation and for that you must make the first Overtures to a Party which keeps the wound open and holds the departure from them intolerable if ever you hope to get from them clear and plain Declarations of their Intentions and finally the whole set on foot without any Authority or Warrant and with apparent marks of very little sincerity and for great Worldly Respects and Interests freeth us of all
unto Salvation and thus effectually to redeem all those and none other who were from all Eternity from among all People Nations and Tongues chosen unto Salvation Whereupon although the Assembly were well satisfied yet nevertheless they decreed that for the future that Phrase of Jesus Christ's dying Equally for all should be for born that term Equally was heretofore and might be so again an occasion of stumbling unto many And as for the conditional Decree mentioned in the aforesaid Treatise of Predestination the said Mr. Testard and Amyraud declared that they do not not ever did understand any other thing than God's Revealed Will in his Word to give Grace and Life unto Believers and that they called this in none other sense a Conditional Will than that of an Anthropopia because God promiseth not the effects thereof but upon condition of Faith and Repentance And they added farther that although the Propositions resulting from the manifestation of this Will be conditional and conceived under an If or It may be as if thou believest thou shalt be Saved if a Man repent of his Sins they shall be forgiven him yet nevertheless this doth not suppose in God an Ignorance of the Event nor an Impotency as to the Execution of nor any inconstancy as to his Will which is always firmly accomplished and ever unchangable in it self according to the nature of God in which there is no variableness nor shadow of turning And the said Monsieur Amyraud did particularly protest as he had before published unto the World that he never gave the Name of Universal or Conditional Predestination unto this Will of God than by way of concession and accommodation unto the Language of the Adversary yet forasmuch as many are offended at this Expression of his he offered freely to raze it out of those Places wherever it did occur promising also to abstain from it for the future And both He and the Sieur Testard acknowledged that to speak truly and accurately according to the usage of Sacred Scripture there is no other Decree of Predestination of Men unto Eternal Life and Salvation than the unchangable purpose of God by which according to the most free and good pleasure of his Will he hath out of meer Grace chosen in Jesus Christ unto Salvation before the Foundation of the World a certain number of Men in themselves neither better nor more worthy than others and that he hath decreed to give them unto Jesus Christ to be Saved and that he would call and draw them effectually to Communion with him by his Word and Spirit And they did in consequence of this their Doctrin reject their Error who held that Faith and th' Obedience of Faith Holiness Godliness and Perseverance are not the fruits and effects of this unchangable Decree unto Glory but conditions or causes without which Election could not be passed which conditions or causes are antecedently requisite and foreseen as if they were already accomplished in those who were fit to be elected contrary to what is taught us by the Sacred Scriptures Acts 13.48 and elsewhere And whereas they have made distinct Decrees in this Counsel of God the first of which is to save all Men through Jesus Christ if they shall believe in him the Second to give Faith unto some particular Persons they declared that they did this upon none other account than of accommodating it unto the manner and order which the Spirit of Man observeth in his Reasonings for the succour of his own Infirmities they otherwise believing that though they considered this Decree as Diverse yet was it found in God in one and the self same Moment without any Succession of Thought or order of Priority and Posteriority The Will of this most Supream and Incomprehensible Lord being one only Eternal Act in him so that could we but conceive of things as they be in him from all Eternity we should comprehend these Decrees of God by one only Act of our Understanding as in truth they be but one only Act of his Eternal and Unchangable Will. The Synod having heard these Declarations of the Sieurs Testart and Amyraud injoyned them and all others to refrain from those terms of Conditional Frustratory or Revocable Decree and that they should rather chuse the Word Will whereby to express that Sentiment of theirs by which they would signifie the Revealed Will of God commonly called by Divines Voluntas Signi And whereas in sundry places marked in the Writings of the before-mentioned Mr. Testard and Amyraud they have ascribed unto God as it were a notion of Velleity and strong Affections and vehement desires of things which he hath not nor ever will effectuate they having declared that by those figurative ways of Speaking and an anthropopathical they designed to speak properly none other thing than this that if Men were obedient to the Commandments and Invitations of God their Faith and Obedience would be most acceptable to him according as was before expressed by them The Assembly hearing this their Explication did injoyn them to use such Expressions as these with that Sobriety and Prudence that they might not give any occasion of offence unto any Person nor cause them to conceive of God in any way unsuitable to his Glorious Nature And the same Monsieur Amyraud and Testard declared farther that although the Doctrins obvious to us in the works of Creation and Providence do Teach and Preach Repentance and invite us to seek the Lord who would be found of us Yet nevertheless by reason of the horrible blindness of our Nature and its Universal Corruption no Man was ever this way converted yea and it is utterly impossible that any one should be converted but by the Hearing of the Word of God which is the seed of our Regeneration and the Instrument of the Holy Ghost whose efficacy and vertue only is able to illuminate our Understandings and to change the Hearts and Affections of the Children of Men. And forasmuch as the Word of God hath always revealed the knowledge of the Lord our Redeemer the said Sieurs did farther protest that no one Man was ever nor can be saved without some certain measure of this Knowledge less indeed under the Old Testament but greater under the New the Death and Resurrection of the Son of God being most plainly and distinctly manifested in the Gospel And they hold it as an undoubted Truth that now under the New Covenant the distinct knowledge of Christ is absolutely necessary for all Persons who are come unto Years of Discretion in order to their obtaining of Eternal Salvation And they do from their very Heart anathematize all those who believe or Teach that Man may be saved any other way than by the Merit of our Lord Jesus Christ or in any other Religion besides the Christian And whereas divers Persons were much offended at the Professor Amyrald for calling that knowledge of God which Men might gain from the consideration of his Works and