Book wherein he had wrote them, and he gave it Henry II. to the King. When his Majefty had the Book, 1559. Pope. he fpoke again to the Senators, and having indi- Paul IV. rectly chid them for having undertook to deliberate upon fuch matters without his Knowledge, he told them, that he was now plainly certified of what he fufpected only upon publick Report, viz. that fome of them defpifed the Pope's and his own Authority; that truly it was the guilt but of few, which nevertheless would reflect fhame on all the Body, and would end in the deftruction of the Guilty., Afterwards he exhorted the reft to be ftedfaft in their Duties. CV. Then rifing up, and exafperated against Le Counsellor Fevre and Du Bourg, because of the Parallel they Du Bourg, had made between him and Ahab, and of their up- and fome braiding the frequency of Adulteries, &c. he othersmade commanded the Conftable to arreft them; they Prifoners. were immediately seized by Montgomery Captain of the King's Guards, and carried Prifoners to the Baftille. They feized alfo in their own Houses Paul Fox, Anthony Fumée, and Euftachius la Porte. But du Ferrier, Valla and Viole escaped the prefent danger, being kept concealed by their Friends. Such proceedings were varioufly talked of, according as People ftood affected; but the wifer fort faw with indignation that the King moved by the Paffions of others had come to the Parliament to fubvert the Laws which he was obliged to maintain; and yet his coming to Parliament was not the greatest Evil, because he had been prefent only at their laft deliberation. But to read the Votes, and not to number them; to begin a deliberation, without making an end of it; to fnatch the Register's Book out of the Secretary's hands; to make ufe of Threats and Prisons; to put the Senators in Bonds: Who will not think I 2 1559 Pope Paul IV. Henry II. think that a Prince fo meek by Nature, was actuated by the Paffions of others, whenever he had been fo daring, as to undertake fuch things? Who will not abhor thofe, who, by a manifeft Perjury, have ftained their Confciences, by betraying in fuch a fhameful manner the fecrets of this Court, to please the Great-Ones? Finally, who will not take this, as a bad Omen of fome dangerous and prodigious Change in the Government? XCVI. "James Spifame The next day the Courts being affenbled, they by the King's Command went on the Tryal of Condemned. James Spifame, Bishop of Nevers, who having married a Wife clandeftinely, was gone to Geneva; and the Facts having been proved against him, and after deliberation, they ordered that he fhould be arrested (y) XCVII. The firft National Synod of the Reformed Thefe unjuft Proceedings of the Court, and the cruel Executions against the Reformed, hindered not the Churches from meeting in a National Synod to agree together about the Articles of Faith and Difcipline, according to the Word of God. Churches The occafion of that meeting was as follows: in France. About the latter end of laft Year 1558, Mr. Anthony de Chandieu, Mmifter of the Church of Paris, being fent upon fome Bufinefs to the Church of Poitiers, was met there by fundry Ministers of the Neighbourhood, with whom he difcourfed about the Doctrine and Rules of Difcipline which they followed in their refpective Churches: They conceived by that Conference, how beneficial it would be to the Common Caufe, if all the Churches of France could poffibly meet together, and draw with one accord a Confeflion of Faith, and an Ecclefiaftical Difcipline. As, on the contrary, nothing could be more detrimental to the Common Caufe, than if they were divided in the Doctrine (5) Thuani Hift. lib. xxii. p. 674, &c. trine or in the Discipline. Therefore they agreed Henry II. to charge M. de Chandieu to communicate the 1559. Pope fame to the Church of Paris, and to confider if Paul IV. by any means they could procure for the future fuch a great Benefit to the Churches. These things having been related to the Church of Paris, after a mature Deliberation, and notwithstanding the danger to which they expofed themselves, they agreed in the fame opinion with their Brethren of Poitiers, and gave notice of it by circular Letters, to all the Churches of the Kingdom: Who, being no less fenfible than thofe of Poitou and Paris of the great Advantage which would accrue to their Cause, gave readily their confent to that Scheme, and it was unanimoufly agreed that the Synod fhould be held at Paris, not for acknowledging any Preeminence or Dignity in that Church above others, but because of the conveniency of the Place, to receive fecretly a great number of Minifters and Elders. So the Synod met accordingly at Paris the 25th of May 1559, while the Parliament was fitting for the Mercuriale; M. Morel de Collonges one of the Ministers of Paris was elected Moderator. The Confeffion of Faith was drawn in 40 Articles, which have been conftantly followed by the Reformed Churches in France, and is ftill by all those who go by the name of Calvinifts, and which agree in all effential points with that of the Church of England. The Ecclefiaftical Difcipline was drawn alfo in 40 Articles, which were adapted to the Circumftances of the Times, and are as many proofs of their great prudence, fagacity and dexterity in the Government of the Church, as well as of their integrity and the purity of their Lives. I do infert here for the fatisfaction of the Reader, both the Confeffion of Faith, and the Henry II. Ecclefiaftical Difcipline, fuch as they were drawn 1559. at first. Pope Paul IV. XCVIII. Their Con feffion of Faith. W Confeffion of FAITH. ARTICLE I. E believe and we confefs, that there is one only God, who is one only and fingle Effence, Spiritual, Eternal, Invifible, Unchangeable, Infinite, Incomprehenfible, Unspeakable, Almighty, All-Wife, All-Good, All-juft, and' All-Merciful. II. That God fhews himself fuch to Men, ift, By his Works, not only by their Creation, but also by their Prefervation and Government. 2d, And more plainly by his Word, which in the beginning having been revealed by way of Oracle, has been afterwards fet down in writing in the Books, which we call Holy Scriptures. III. All this Holy Scripture is contained in the Canonical Books of the Old and New Teftament, the Number of which is as follows. The five Books of Mofes, viz. Genefis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; item, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the firft and fecond Book of Samuel, the two Books of Kings, the two Books of Chronicles, otherwife called Paralipomenon, the firft Book of Ezra; item, Nehemiah, the Book of Efther, Job, Pfalter or Pfalms of David, Solomon's Proverbs, or Sentences, the Book of Ecclefiaftes, or the Preacher, the Song of Solomon; item, the Books of Ifaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hofea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonas, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; item, the Gofpel according to St. Matthew, according to St. Mark, to St. Luke, and to St. John; John; item, the Acts; item, the Epiftles of St. Henry II. IV. We know that thefe Books are Canonical, and the certain Rule of our Faith ;. not fo much by the common Agreement and Confent of the Church, as by the inward Teftimony and Perfuafion of the Holy Ghoft, who makes us difcern them from the other Ecclefiaftical Books, upon which, although they be useful, one can form no Articles of Faith. V. We believe that the Word which is contained in those Books proceeded from God, from whom only, it takes its Authority, and not from Men. And forafmuch as it is the Rule of all Truth, containing all that is neceffary for the Service of God and our Salvation, it is not permitted to Men, nor even to Angels to add to it, to cut off from it, or to change it. From whence it follows, that neither the Antiquity nor the Customs, nor the Multitude, nor human Wifdom, nor Judgment or Decrees, nor Edicts, nor Councils, nor Vifions, nor Miracles ought to be opposed to the faid Holy Scriptures; but on the contrary, all things ought to be ruled and reformed by it; and according to that we own the three Creeds, viz. the Apostles, of Nice, and of St. Athanafius, because they are according to the Word of God. VI. This Holy Scripture teaches us that in that only and fingle Effence which we have owned, there are three Perfons, the Father, Son and |