Synodicon in Gallia reformata, or, The acts, decisions, decrees, and canons of those famous national councils of the reformed churches in France being I. a most faithful and impartial history of the rise, growth, perfection and decay of the reformation in that kingdom, with its fatal catastrophe upon the revocation of the Edict of Nants in the year 1685 : II. the confession of faith and discipline of those churches : III. a collection of speeches, letters, sacred politicks, cases of conscience, and controversies in divinity, determined and resolved by those grave assemblies : IV. many excellent expedients for preventing and healing schisms in the churches and for re-uniting the dismembred body of divided Protestants : V. the laws, government, and maintenance of their colleges, universities and ministers, together with their exercise of discipline upon delinquent ministers and church-members : VI. a record of very many illustrious events of divine providence relating to those churches : the whole collected and composed out of original manuscript acts of those renowned synods : a work never be extant in any language.

CHAP. III. The Commissioner's Speech.

THE said Letters Patents being read, the Lord Commissioner ac∣quainted 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 Plea∣sure; you all know it, and have preach'd and taught Obedience un∣to the Higher Powers. All Authority is of God, and therefore by con∣sequence, 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 Ma∣jesty 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 con∣tinue 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 Commoti∣ons; and yet notwithstanding the King upholds you in the Liberty of your Consciences, and in the peaceable exercise of your Religion. The fix∣edness and stability of the Earth, ballanced in the Air, is as great a Mi∣racle 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 al∣so 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 As∣sembly, and that too in a time of War. All the Provinces of the King∣dom, 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 Loy∣alty 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, whe∣ther Foreign or Domestick. And his Majesty being informed, that the Sy∣nod 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 Ma∣jesty; much less should our Synods, or private Ministers, receive Let∣ters, 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 Uni∣on 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 for∣biddeth 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 Ecclesiastical Affairs, though relating unto all the Pro∣vinces in general, as it hath been of late practised by the Synod of Nis∣mes, who entred into a Correspondence with that of Dolphiny, and the Church of Montlimart, about the Ministry of Monsieur Creguts; and with that of Sevennes, and the Church of Anduze, for the Ministry

of Monsieur issue out Orders relating to the general State of the Churches; and for the same Reason his Majesty forbiddeth the Provincial Synods the Indicti∣on of publick National Fasts.

4. In the second Place, that there may be a more firm Peace establish∣ed in the State, it is his Majesty's Pleasure that all Ministers do preach unto his Subjects that Obedience which is due unto him, and to his Au∣thority and Commandment, by the Word of God, and that it is no wise lawful for them, whatever Causes or Occasions may induce them to it, to revolt from, nor take up Arms against their Soveraign. And sith it may so fall out, that some things may be enacted by the Government and Civil Magistrate, which for want of knowledg of their true Springs and Motives, may seem prejudicial to the Liberty of your Confidences, (although it be his Majesty's Intention to uphold and conserve it for you) therefore his Majesty doth expresly forbid all and every one of you, to tax or condemn his Government for any evil Designs against your Reli∣gion: And farther, that in none of your Sermons or Writings you make use of those Expressions of Torments, Martyrs, and Persecutions of the Church of God.

5. Also that the Blessing of Peace may be promoted, whenas you shall have occasion to speak of the Pope, and of those of the Roman Catho∣lick Religion, of its Sacraments and Ceremonies, you are not to call him Antichrist, nor them Idolaters, nor to use any unbecoming Words that may offend or scandalize them, upon Pain of Interdiction, i. e. of si∣lencing the Ministers, and dissolving the religious Church-Meetings, and of greater Punishments. You be also prohibited all injurious Words and Proceedings against such Ministers and other Persons who shall have quitted your Religion tor that of his Majesty.

6 Finally, That the Publick Peace may not be disturbed by any Writings or licentious Discourses, no Books treating of your Religion, whether printed within or out of the Kingdom, shall be sold, till they have been first examined and approved by two Ministers authorized thereunto; otherwise they shall be all seized and confiscated.

7. Moreover; forasmuch as to resist the Orders of inferiour Magistrates, deriving their Power, as Beams from the Sun of Soveraign Royal Autho∣rity, is to resist his Majesty himself, and to subvert the very Publick-Weal; his Majesty being informed that a Proposition was set on foot in the Synod of Andusa, that the Marriage of a certain Person called Audebert (who had remarried after a Divorce obtained from and decreed by the Judg there) should not be celebrated, his Majesty enjoineth you all, now that you be assembled in this National Synod, to resolve on it, that all your Churches shall acquiesce in, and conform unto all Orders of the Civil Magistrate in this Particular, about the disannulling of Marri∣ages, and to take an especial care for the future, that this Default be re∣paired.

8. Thirdly, It being his Majesty's Desire and Purpose to continue un∣to you the Possession and Injoyment of his Edicts, which are granted and accorded to you, and it being but just and equitable that you also on your part should observe them, and not in the least infringe or violate them: His Majesty injoineth all Ministers, that in Obedience to the 10th Article of the Edict of Pacification, made in January 1561, and those Letters Patents duly obtained thereupon, and enrolled, that they do preach only, as in Duty they are bound, in those Places where they make their actual residence; and he forbiddeth them all Excursions from thence to preach in those Places, which they call Annexations. And his Majesty being informed of the manifest Contempt and Violation of

this his Ordinance, hath given me in charge to reiterate this his Prohi∣bition, and commands you to obey it upon the Penalties imported in the said Letters, and in the Decree of his Council, and threatens you, in case of Non-compliance, with a total Forfeiture and Deprival of all the Priviledges and Benefits of his Edicts.

9. And whereas also you are permitted by the forty fourth Article of Particular Matters in the Edict of Nants, to assemble your selves before a Judg Royal, and by his Authority to make an equal Tax, and to levy Monies necessary for defraying all Synodical Charges, and the Mainte∣nance of your Ministers in the Exercise of your Religion, his Majesty doth forbid your said Ministers to take the Moneys out of the Poors Box, or of Legacies bequeathed to pious Uses, for the Paiment of their Salla∣ries, or the fifth Penny out of that Fund for the Maintenance of your Universities, and this upon very good and considerable Grounds; because it is not any ways reasonable, that the Moneys given and destined to the Poor, should be diverted and imployed to any other Usage.

10. And farther; since it cannot be imagined that any Person could be guilty of such extream Baseness and Ingratitude as to refuse a Contri∣bution to the Support and Maintenance of his own Pastor: however, lest there should be such an one, and to prevent it for the future, his Majesty explaining the 44th Article before-mentioned, doth permit you every New-year's-day, or in one or some of those twelve Days in the be∣ginning of the Year, to make an Assembly of the principal Inhabitants of every Town or Church in the Nature of a Consistory, to consult a∣bout their Pastors Wages, Charges of Journies unto Colloquies and Sy∣nods, and for the Maintenance of the Professors and Regents in your Universities, and for the Reparation and upholding of your Temples, and to make an Accompt and List of all Persons able to contribute unto the said Charges; which being brought before a Judg Royal, shall be authorized by him; and then every one so taxed and assessed by him, shall be compelled to pay in his Part and Quota; and in case of his Re∣fusal, it shall be levied by Distress and Fine, notwithstanding his Oppo∣sition or Appeal, as is done in the ingathering of his Majesty's Reve∣nues: And therefore his Majesty forbiddeth all Ministers to beg from Door to Door for their Maintenance.

11. And his Majesty being informed that the said Synod of Nismes hath granted unto Mr. Petit, Minister of the Gospel, as Professor of Di∣vinity, the Sum of seven hundred Livers; he doth now decree, that the said Sum shall be paid out of the Monies destined to the Maintenance of Universities by the last National Synod, and is to be taken out of the Dividend belonging to those three Colloquies which compose the said Synod; and his Majesty commandeth and injoineth you to observe and keep those aforesaid Canons, as well for the Payment of your Pastors, as for the railing of the Monies.

12. I have but one Word more, and having added that, shall con∣clude: The Synod of Nismes decreed, That Baptism administred by one who had neither Call nor Commission, was null; and injoined Pastors not in the least to scruple the baptizing such Children who had Water poured upon them by Women or any other such Persons, without Call or Commission to baptize. 'Tis his Majesty's Pleasure that this Article be amended for such reasons, as I shall recite unto you in their very Words from the Original Order.

Because from hence springeth the Opinion of Re-baptizing, for from the Doubt which they make about a Call, they oblige themselves to re-baptize all those who were baptized by such Persons, whose Call they cannot approve of, and of whose Call they make themselves the sole Judges and Arbitrators;

although the Catholick Church not approving their Call, yea, not in the least hesitating to declare they have none, doth yet notwithstanding, approve of their Baptism; because it is a Sacrament whose Virtue and Efficacy is ex opere operato, and not ex opere operantis: so that the Synod did that which did not belong unto them, when they invalidated this Sacrament by whom-soever it was administred; since the Catholick Church, in which they cannot say there hath been a Want or Failure of any Call, hath decided this Point, and in Case of Necessity hath judged probably of the Infants Disposition; there∣fore all Persons are called, and the Word and Water intervening, the Church will not have this Act to be any more repeated.