Prayers unto the Church, in the minister's absence; especially in lesser churches which have no consistories, nor any persons fit to read? It was answered by the Synod, that the Consistory had full liberty to choose any person, whom it conceived meet, to read the Scriptures and Prayers, although he be not in the eldership, provided he be of sufficient years and unblameable life; and that he have subscribed the Confession of Faith and Church Discipline."

But in their National Synods, the custom was for the deputies of the provinces, not only to subscribe the Confession of Faith and Church Discipline, but also to swear to them. Thus in the Synod of Saumur, 1596, cap. ii. art. 1, "The Confession of Faith was read, approved, and sworn to by all the deputies of this present Synod; and the Discipline of our Church being read, all the deputies approved it, and swore to see it carefully observed." Ibid. cap. iii.

So again in the Synod of Gergeau, 1601, cap. ii. art. 2, "The Confession of Faith being read, the pastors and elders did all unanimously protest to live and die in the said confession. And cap. iii. art. 50, the pastors and elders deputed from the provinces unto this assembly, have sworn and protested in the name of their provinces, to cause the discipline ordained by this Synod to be used and observed to the utmost of their power.

In the second Synod of Vitre, 1617, cap. 3, "The Confession of Faith of these Reformed Churches, in the kingdom of France, was read word by word from the beginning to the end, and approved in all its articles by all the deputies, as well for themselves as for their provinces that sent them; and all of them swore for themselves and provinces, that they would teach and preach it; because they believed that it did perfectly agree with the Word of God; and they would use their best endeavour, that as it had been hitherto so it should be evermore received and taught in their churches and provinces."

The like form of subscription and oath occurs in most of the other national Synods. As that of Rochel, 1571. Gap, 1603. St. Maixant, 1609. Tonneins, 1614. Alez, 1620. Charenton 1623. Castres, 1626. Alanson, 1637. and Loudun, 1659.

I observe further, that they not only subscribe the book of articles and discipline, but also promise to approve and submit to the decrees and resolutions of their National Synods, even before they are made. For their letters of deputation, which the provinces give to their respective deputies, when they send them in their name to represent them in a National Synod, do always regularly contain a clause promising approbation and submission to the decrees of the Synod. Therefore in the second Synod of Rochel, 1607. cap i. it being observed in reading the letters of deputation, that those of certain provinces wanted that clause, which promised approbation and submission to the decrees and resolutions of the Synod; they were thereupon admonished in no wise for the future to omit it. The like admonition was given in the Synod of Tonneins, 1614. cap. ii. And, to cut off all disputes that might arise about the different wording this form of submission, the second Synod of Vitre, 1617. cap. ii. art. 1. agreed upon a precise form of words; which they ordered to be inserted into the letters of commission, given to the deputies of each province : promise before God to submit ourselves to all that shall be concluded and determined in your holy assembly, to obey and execute it to the utmost of our power; being persuaded that God will preside among you, and lead you by his Holy Spirit into all truth and equity by the rule of his word, for the good and edification of his Church, &c." And this form was required and insisted on by the next National Synod of Alez, 1620. cap. i. art. 16. and never cancelled or revoked by any of the following Synods. Now I believe it can hardly be shewn, that ever any such form of subscription, or oath, was required by the Church of England.

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Yet these were not all the subscriptions and oaths required in the French Church. For, besides their subscribing their own liturgy, confession of faith, canons, and discipline; they were also obliged to subscribe and swear to the decrees of the Synod of Dort, by their two great National Councils of Alez and Charenton. The form of the oath, as it is appointed to be taken by the Synod of Alez, 1620. cap. xii. is in these words. "I, N. N. do swear and protest,

before God and this holy assembly, that I do receive, approve, and embrace all the doctrines taught and decided by the Synod of Dort, as perfectly agreeing with the Word of God, and the confession of our Churches. I swear and promise to persevere in the profession of this doctrine during my whole life, and to defend it to the utmost of my power; and that I will never, neither by preaching, nor teaching, nor writing, depart from it. I declare also, that I condemn the doctrine of the Arminians, because it makes God's decrees of election to depend upon the mutable will of man, &c. It reduceth into the Church of God old ejected Pelagianism, and is a mask and vizard for popery to creep in among us under that disguise, and subverteth all assurance of everlasting life. And so may God help me, and be propitious unto me; as I swear all this without any ambiguity, equivocation, or mental reservation."

The next Synod of Charenton, 1623. cap. xiv. art. 2. enjoined the same oath, only with this difference; that whereas they were informed by the king's commissioner, that it was a thing displeasing to him to oblige any of his subjects to swear to any decrees made in the city of Dort, which was a dependance and member of a foreign commonwealth; they so ordered the matter, that the oath shonld be turned into a new form, and taken without any mention or reference had to the city or Synod of Dort. Hereupon they drew up a body of canons and decrees in ninety-three articles, explaining and confirming the decrees of Dort; yet not as the decrees of Dort, but as the doctrine of the French Church, established in this present Synod, and inviolably to be observed by all the Churches and Universities of the Kingdom. At the close of which there is this form of subscription and oath, taken by all the deputies then present in the Synod. "We pastors and elders, whose names are here underwritten, deputies for the reformed Churches of France, unto the national Synod of Charenton, do declare with all possible sincerity, the articles and canons above mentioned, to be grounded on the Word of God, and agreeable to the confession of faith owned and received in the reformed Churches of this kingdom; from which, in the presence of

God we do protest, that through His Grace we will never depart."

In succeeding times, the business of subscription and oaths still grew and multiplied. and multiplied. For by an act of the third Synod of Charenton, 1645. cap. x. art. 8. All persons to be ordained, were obliged to subscribe the confession of faith, the liturgy of the Church, and the canons of Alez, Charenton, and Alenson, and the act of that present Synod. If now we inquire, why all this caution and strictness was used by the French Churches? They themselves tell "That a us, it was to keep unity and peace among them. strict conformity may be upheld among us," says their last Synod of Loudun, 1659. cap. x. art. 25. "all classes and Provincial Synods, when they receive proposants into the ministry, shall not use, with respect to these points, any particular forms; but oblige them only to sign and swear to our Confession of Faith and Church-discipline, and protest with hands lifted up unto heaven, calling God to witness upon their souls, that they do reject all errors rejected by the decrees of those national Synods of Alanson and Charenton, about the doctrine of predestination, and grace, &c."

The Synod of Privas assigns the same reason for drawing up that solemn oath, which they call the oath of Union, to be taken by all the deputies in the national Synods; the tenor of which is as follows. "We whose names are here subscribed knowing by experience that nothing is more necessary to preserve the peace and welfare of the Church, that an holy union and concord, both in doctrine and discipline, and their dependencies; and that the said churches cannot long subsist without an intimate union and conjunction one with another;-we have in the name of all our churches, sworn, and protested to remain inseparably united in that confession of faith of the reformed churches of this kingdom, read in this Synod; swearing not only in our own name, but also in the respective names of all the churches of our provinces, that 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." Synod of Privas, 1612. cap. iii. art. 1. See also the same oath repeated in the Synod of Tonneins, 1614. cap. 15. Synod of Vitre, 1617. cap. ii. art. 6. Synod of Alez, 1620. cap. 3.

CHAP. IV.

Subscription more difficult in the Church of France, than in the Church of England.

IF it be said, notwithstanding all this, that subscription in the French Church is not so heavy a burden as it is in the Church of England: the trial of this will depend upon the examination and comparison of particulars, which I have collected and considered in the following books. At pre

sent I observe one thing, which in a great measure takes off at once the main force of this objection, and very much commends the moderation of the Church of England, that her first reformers and compilers of her Articles seem industriously to have avoided the determination of some points, and nicer explication of others, on purpose to make subscription easy (in things that do not so nearly touch upon the foundation,) to men of different apprehensions. If we compare the doctrines of the French and English Church upon this head, we shall find the advantage lies on the side of the English in this respect, that the French Church in her Articles and Canons requires subscription to several things which are not required to be subscribed in the Church of England.

I will instance in two or three points, instead of many. First, The doctrine of justification is explained with much greater nicety in the French Confession, than it is in ours; and with such a nicety as has occasioned some dispute among learned men. For whereas the eleventh Article of our Church says of justification, "that we are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and