[958] The following action was taken by the Synod in reference to the petition of the minority: 'The Assembly, considering that the General Synod is the high court of the Church, and so acknowledged by the State; considering that the decisions arrived at in reference to the Confession of Faith reproduce the doctrines on which the Reformed Church of France was founded, and that, therefore, all who reject them are ipso facto without the pale of the Church; considering that none can be constrained to remain in a Church the creed of which he rejects, and from which he wishes to retire--every man having entire liberty to remain or separate himself, according to the dictation of his conscience; considering that the Synod has taken no resolutions to restrict the liberty of any, especially none to prevent the retirement of any pastors and members in order to found another Church, and none to prevent such persons from obtaining the recognition of the State, the advantages of the concordat, and an equitable share of ecclesiastical temporalities; considering, lastly, that it is not the business of the General Synod itself to inaugurate the formation of a new Church, its mission being to construct, and not to rend asunder, passes to the order of the day.'
[959] The Free Church, or 'Union of the Evangelical Churches in France' (l'Union des églises évangéliques de France), to which Pressensé, Fish, and Bersier belong, owes its existence to the rationalism in the National Church which, at the synodical meeting held after the February Revolution of 1848 (without government sanction, and hence without legislative effect), refused to acknowledge the divinity of Christ. This induced Frederick Monod to secede, while his more distinguished and equally conscientious brother Adolph remained, to the benefit of the National body, which since that time has become more orthodox. The Union manifests a good deal of missionary zeal and literary activity, and reacts favorable on the Established Church. Bersier, in his History of the General Synod, expresses himself satisfied with its results (close of Introduction to Vol. I. p. lvii.): 'Nos sympathies personnelles sont avec la droite dans les trois grandes questions que le Synode a eu à résoudre: celle de l'autorité du Synode, celle de la déclaration de foi, celle enfin des conditions de foi et de doctrine auxquelles les pasteurs et les électeurs devront désormais souscrire. Nous estimons que par ces trois votes la majorité a accompli des actes nécessaires, et que si, par un abus de pouvoir que nous ne voulons pas prévoir, le gouvernement refusait de ratifier son oeuvre [the ratification has since been granted], elle aurait néanmoins posé les fondations futures sur lesquelles, avec ou sans appui de l'État, l'Église réformée devra désormais s'élever.'
§ 64. The Belgic Confession. A.D. 1561.
Literature.
I. Editions of the Confession.
La Confession de Foi des églises réformées Wallonnes et Flamandes (Apoc. ii. 10, 1 Pierre iii. 15). Reimprimée par décision de la Société Évangélique Belge. Bruxelles, 1850 (Librairie Chrétienne Évangélique, Rue de l'Impératrice, 33). The authentic French text, as revised by the Synod of Dort, with a brief historical and critical introduction.
The Latin text is found in different recensions, in the Corpus et Syntagma (1612 and 1654): in the Acts, of the Synod of Dort; the Oxford Sylloge; Augusti's Collect. (the text of Dort); Niemeyer's Collect. (the translation of Hommius, 1518, with various readings).
English translations, likewise differing in minor details, in the Harmony of Prot. Conf.; in the Constitution of the Reformed (Dutch) Church in America (very good); and a new one made in 1862 by Owen Jones: Church of the Living God, London, 1865, pp. 203-237 (incomplete and inaccurate).
German translation in Beck (Vol. I. pp. 293 sqq.), and Böckel (pp. 480 sqq.).
A Greek translation by Jac. Revius (Pastor of the Church at Deventer): Ekklesion tes Belgikes exomologesis, Ultrajecti, 1660; earlier eds. in 1623 and 1653.
Comp. Herzog: art. Belgische Confession, in his Real-Encyklop. 2d ed. Vol. II. p. 238; M. Goebel: art. Guido de Brès, ibid. Vol. V. p. 465.
II. Historical..
H. Grotius: Annales et Hist. de rebus Belgicis (1556-1609). Amstel. 1658.
H. Venema: Institutiones historiæ ecclesiæ V. et N.T. Tom. VII. p. 252 (ad ann. 1563).
J. le Long: Kort historisch Verhaal van den oorsprong der Nederlandschen Gereformeerden Kerken ondert Kruys, beneffens alle derselver Leeren Dienst-Boeken. Amst. 1741.
Gerh. Brandt (Arminian): Historie der Reformatie in en omtrent de Nederlanden. Amst. 1671-74, 4 vols. (Also in French: Histoire de la Réformation des Pays-Bas, 1726, and in English by Chamberlayne, London, 1720-23, 4 vols.).
Ypey en Dermout: Geschiedenissen der Nederlandsche Hervormde Kerk. Breda, 1819-27, 4 vols.
Van der Kemp: De Eere der Nederlandsche Hervormde Kerk. Rotterd. 1830.
Gachard: Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, Prince d'Orange, 1847-58, 6 vols.
Groen van Prinsterer: Archives ou Correspondance inédite de la maison d'Orange-Nassau (1552-84), 1857-61, 10 vols.; second series (1584-1688), 6 vols. 1857-61.
Wm. H. Prescott: History of the Reign of Philip II., King of Spain. New York, 1855-58, 3 vols.
A. Henne: Hist. du règne de Charles V. en Belgique. Brux. 1858 sqq. 10 Tom.
J. L. Motley: The Rise of the Dutch Republic, London and New York, 1856, 3 vols. By the same: History of the United Netherlands, New York, 1861, 4 vols.
M. Koch: Untersuch. über die Empörung der Niederlande. Leipz. 1860.
F. Holzwarth: Abfall der Niederlande. Schaffhausen, 1865-72, 3 vols.