The Acts of Famous National Councils of the Reformed Churches in France, 27 (Alençon) · Chapter 3
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 Eccleſiaſtical Affairs, though relating unto all the Provinces in general, as it hath been of late practiſed by the Synod of Niſmes, 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 Indiction of publick National Faſts.
4. In the ſecond Place, that there may be a more firm Peace eſtabliſhed 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 Authority 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 Religion: 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 Catholick 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 ſilencing 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 Authority, 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 Marriages, and to take an eſpecial care for the future, that this Default be repaired.
8. Thirdly, It being his Majeſty's Deſire and Purpoſe to continue unto 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 Prohibition, 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 Maintenance 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 Sallaries, 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 Contribution 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 beginning of the Year, to make an Aſſembly of the principal Inhabitants of every Town or Church in the Nature of a Conſiſtory, to conſult about their Paſtors Wages, Charges of Journies unto Colloquies and Synods, 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 Refuſal, it ſhall be levied by Diſtreſs and Fine, notwithſtanding his Oppoſition or Appeal, as is done in the ingathering of his Majeſty's Revenues: 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 Divinity, 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 conclude: 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; therefore all Perſons are called, and the Word and Water intervening, the Church will not have this Act to be any more repeated.