The Acts of Famous National Councils of the Reformed Churches in France, Introduction 2 · Section 13 – Section 14
SECT. XIII.
THis is the Diſcipline of thoſe famous Churches. This was their Canon-Law by which their Miniſters, Church-Officers, and Church-Members were ordered and conduced. As to their Miniſters in the worſt times it was ſtrictly exerciſed upon them. If any of them proved Scandalous in Doctrine, in Converſation, they were not ſpared. The Church and Houſe of God was ſoon rid of them. Their Colloquies and Synods threw away the unſavoury Salt unto the Dunghill, and it was very rare if the Depoſed and ejected Miniſters did not take up for good and all in the Dunghill of the Romiſh Synagogue. There hath been a great Complaint of much looſeneſs among their Members. Certainly they had, and ſtill have, as holy and truly gracious Souls in Communion with them as any Churches of Chriſt under Heaven; and a vaſt multitude of moſt zealous and faithful Martyrs, far more in number and quality of Sufferers for the Goſpel, than in any one of the Reformed Chriſtian Nations in Europe. When the Ceremonious Lutherans of Stutgard, in the Dukedom of Wirtemberg, Brentius, Jacob Andreas, &c. cited Monſieur Touſſaint (who had been Paſtor of the Church of Orleans, which then lay deſolate, one part groaning in Priſons and Dungeons, another burning in Fires and Flames, and the poor remainders pining away in their Diſperſions and Exiles) to appear before them, and give an account of his Preaching within their Juriſdiction, and ſpreading his Zuinglian, and Calviniſtical Hereſies, as they were pleas'd to ſtile them (for he aſſiſted his Aged Father in the Miniſtry in the County of Montpelgart) He return'd an Apologetical Letter to them, in which he wondered at their quarrels with him, and the Frenth Churches, who abhorred thoſe fierce digladiations with which the German Churches and Univerſities had abounded, and told them, that the poor Churches of Chriſt in France breathed after Peace with them, and with all the Churches of the Auguſtane Confeſſion, and had written for it, prayed for it, and theſe laſt ten years had ſpilt no other Ink than that of their own blood in defence of the truth. This ſilenc'd the pragmatical Lutherans at that time. And the Argument is as good and valid now.*See Monſieur Amyraut's Apologie pour ceux de la Religion, p. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, which is too long to be here inſerted. It is none of my buſineſs, (nor do thoſe poor afflicted Churches of France need it) to write Apologies for them. The Staff under water ſeems crooked, but is not ſo. Thoſe Galileans whoſe blood Pilate mingled with their Sacrifices were not the worſt of the Galileans: Nor thoſe Jews upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell, and cruſhed to pieces, were they the greateſt Sinners in Jeruſalem? Should we thus argue, we ſhould offend againſt the Generation of the righteous; who from the infancy of the World to this very day, from their youth upward until now, have been perpetually afflicted; they have paſſed out of one Furnace into another, oftentimes from leſſer into ſorer and greater fiery Tryals. An infinitely wiſe and gracious God taking this courſe with them to refine and preſerve them. For by theſe means they have lived, and by them hath the Life of their Souls been preſerved. Yea God ſeems himſelf to juſtify them. Becauſe their moſt grievous Sufferings have wonderfully contributed unto his Glory. The blood of the Martyrs having proved the Seed of the Church; and the more they have been oppreſſed, the more have they increaſed. A Vine grows the more and better for being pruned and ſoak'd with blood. And notwithſtanding the Seas of blood drawn from this poor Vineyard of Chriſt, yet hath it proved the more fruitful, grown and ſpread exceedingly, inſomuch, that after all the ſtorms of Perſecution, which had made a moſt fearful havock of God's Saints in that Kingdom, their Faith and Patience hath tired out and overcome their Perſecutors: So that in the National Synod of Rochel in the year 1571. Mr. Beza Preſiding in it, the Reformed could count then above two thouſand one hundred and fifty Churches; and in many of theſe above ten thouſand Members, and in moſt of theſe two Miniſters, in ſome they had five, as in the year 1561. there ſerved the Church of Orleans (which at that time had ſeven thouſand Communicants) Antony Chanoriet Lord of Merangeau, Robert Macon Lord des Fontaines, Hugh Sureau, Nicholas Fillon Lord of Valls, and Daniel Toſſane, who afterwards died at Heydelberg in the Palatinate. When the Colloquy of Poiſſy was held, they had in the one only Province of Normandy three hundred and five Paſtors of Churches, and in the Province of Provence threeſcore. And I remember the Author of Le Cabinet du Roy de France, a Book Printed in the year 1581. and dedicated to Henry the Third, makes a Computation of their Martyrs to have been in a very few years at leaſt above two hundred thouſand cut off for the Goſpel, and he makes up his account thus, Allow, ſaith he, but an hundred Martyrs to every Church, and you have the ſumm; and yet 'tis as clear as the Sun at Noon-day, that the ſumm is vaſtly more. For 'tis a truth inconteſtable, that there have been cut off by the Sword and Maſſacres for Religion, from the Church of Caen above 15000, or 16000. from the Church of Alancon five thouſand, from the Church of Paris thirteen thouſand, from the Church of Rheims twelve thouſand, from the Church of Troye twelve thouſand, from the Church of Sens nine thouſand, from the Church of Orleans eight thouſand, from the Church of Angiers ſeven thouſand five hundred, from the Church of Poictiers twelve thouſand Perſons, &c. See Le Cabinet du Roy. Livre premier, pag. 274, 275, 276, 277.
SECT. XIV.
THE Churches after the Pariſian Maſſacre were at a ſtand. That Deluge of Proteſtant Blood, which was then ſhed had exhauſted their beſt Spirits. Multitudes were frighted out of their Native Land, which like another Akeldama devoured Men, ate up its Inhabitants; and others were frighted out of their Religion. In ſuch a dreadful Hurricane as that was, no wonder if ſome leaves, unripe fruit, and rotten withered Branches fell to the Earth, and were loſt irrecoverably. However, a Remnant eſcaped, and, which was no leſs than a Miracle, generally the Miniſters, God Reſerving them to gather in another Harveſt. And the Churches in many places revived. God ſtaying the rough Wind in the day of his Eaſt Wind, and giving them a breathing time, a little reviving under their hard Bondage. They declined not much in number for two and twenty years after. But Henry the Fourth having been exalted to the Throne of France by the Reformed Party, and revolting from them unto the Popiſh, and embracing that Religion that he might be ſecured in the Throne, the Intereſt of the Churches did from that day decline viſibly. Many of the Nobility imitated their King in his Apoſtaſie. And the united Example of King and Nobility had a moſt pernicious influence upon the Populace. All the Arts and Tricks of the Court were ſet on foot to palliate the King's Prevarication, and to divide and weaken the Reformed.See Hiſtoire Univerſelle D' Aubigny, liv. 3. p. 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310. There aroſe a Combination of Men, ſuch as Morlas, Rotan, de Serres, &c. who were for accommoding and reconciling the two Religions. And theſe were put upon it by the Bribes and Penſions of the Romiſh Clergy, and Promiſes of great Preferments. They declaim againſt the nakedneſs and ſimplicity of the Reformed Religion, and cry up the neceſſity and beauty of Pomp and Ceremony,See Syn. of Saumur, 3…. Art. of Gen. Mar. Syn. of Montauban, 23. Art. of Gen. Mar. Syn. of Montpellier 2. Art. of Gen. Matters. Synod of Privas, 1612. Act of the Oath of Union. Second Synod of Charenton, Art. of Gen. Matters 3. which made the Roman Religion ſo auguſt and venerable in their Eyes, blinded with Ambition and Covetouſneſs. The National Synods of Saumur, Montauban, Montpellier and Privas, did what they could to ſtem the Current, and to prevent theſe avaritious Spirits from doing miſchief unto their Churches. They threaten and order all Accommodators of the two Religions to be actually depoſed, as being the Servants of Mammon, not of God. This did ſomething, and it ſtopped the Gap for the preſent. And when the Court ſaw they could not break the Union of the Reformed, and that they were yet a very conſiderable Party for Wiſdom, Strength, Reſolution, Union, Courage and Conduct: Things being alſo unſetled in the State, and the Spaniard ſitting cloſe upon the Skirts of the King, and poſſibly he retaining yet ſome love and ſparks of Gratitude for his old Friends of the Reformed Religion, and not counting it ſafe to exaſperate them any more, he granted them a Fundamental and Irrevocable Edict at Nantes in Brittaine, April 1598. for their Liberty and Security.