A Curious History

& the articles of our Synods speak of them enough.

Indeed, this man who had caused so many irregularities in all the Churches where he served, could only be received into the service of that of Middelburg by underhanded means. He entered through the very door of irregularity, a fatal omen for a man who was destined to disturb the peace of the Churches, that he could not obtain a callingThe formal process of inviting and appointing a minister to a specific congregation. in this country without overturning the Ecclesiastical orders; this is what Article 18 of the Synod held at Middelburg in the month of May of the year 1666 marks in very express terms, since it explains itself in these words: the Church of Middelburg having called our very dear Brother Mr. Jean de Labadie, Minister of the Church of Geneva, to serve it as Pastor in the place of our late original: "feu." very honored brother Mr. Jean le Long, and having requested the approval of the Synod, this company, notwithstanding that it has noticed some irregularities that clash with our regulations, nevertheless etc. As God is a God of order, and as He blesses those callings where, after the invocation of His name, one proceeds with order and observes the regulations, so too where this was not observed, there was reason to fear that His curse would fall upon this poor Church, which in fact saw itself afterwards divided into horrible factions, and which received such deep wounds that time will have difficulty healing them.

One ordered a ClassisA regional governing body in the Reformed tradition, positioned between a local church council and a provincial synod. at Flushing to examine the dismissal of the named man, to oblige him to submit to the orders of the Synod, to sign the Confession of Faith and the discipline of our Churches, and to answer the demands that had been drawn up at the Synod of Haarlem in the year 1649. Even in this Synod of Middelburg, in Article 25, it was found appropriate—on the occasion of what had passed in this irregular calling of Labadie—to draw up this article to prevent the Churches from striking against a similar reef in the future: To avoid several irregularities in the callings of Pastors, this assembly seriously recommends the sixth articles of the Synod of Utrecht of the year 1635 and the 26th of the Synod held at The Hague in April of the year 1636. But the sequel will make known how this newcomer satisfied them; for in the Classis that was to regulate all these things, he maneuvered original: "cabala." so well, and chose his time so precisely, that they did nothing there but approve his calling and nothing more.

Since then, such extraordinary forbearance was shown toward the said Gentleman that at the following Synod, held at Heusden in September 1666, regarding the instructions that the Church of The Hague had produced against him concerning his seditious sermons and his new and erroneous doctrines—which he had preached in several of our Churches even before being confirmed in that of Middelburg (for this Gentleman was then beginning the charge