Placeus was not condemned: rumor, silence, and the author's purpose

Meanwhile a rumor was scattered through all France, and it even reached foreign nations, that by that Decree Placeus's judgment concerning the imputation of Adam's first sin had been condemned — a rumor which those less well disposed toward the Academy of Saumur seized eagerly, and tore Placeus's reputation to pieces as of an unholy man, convicted and condemned by the National Synod, with various speeches and writings, even books printed in type, and in some of them with his name expressly set down. Hence there arose among many of the weak a grave scandal, and among students of sacred theology a huge disturbance — a great wound that would have been dealt to the Academy of Saumur, had not certain provincial synods applied medicine in time. For Placeus almost failed himself in this cause, and composed nothing beyond that manuscript which Garissoles called the later Manuscript. Relying on a good conscience and on the truth, of which God is the vindicator in due time, he thought the whole matter should be committed to God's providence and to the next National Synod; and at his friends' urging he turned himself rather to confuting the Socinians and to demonstrating the divine essence of our Lord Jesus Christ. But in my judgment he could have done both — to contend for the divine nature of our Lord, and to look after his own reputation and that of the Academy of Saumur, especially among foreign peoples, by publishing some little book. And unless I am mistaken, he ought to have done so: for by explaining his own judgment he could have wiped every stain of reproach from it, while the authority of the Synodical Decree was kept intact. For in truth it does not fight with that Decree; rather it agrees with it more than does the opinion of those who attack it. And therefore, so that it might seem both condemned by the Synod and confuted by them, those who either did not understand it or refused to understand it so changed it that they transformed it into its opposite. Unless I make this clearer than noonday light, I do not refuse to be held a liar and a calumniator.

Since, then, I see both that the National Synod is put off from year to year, and that those who wish it almost flee it, civil war already for some years standing in the way of its being convened; and that meanwhile in certain places students of sacred theology are treated more severely, and foreign nations shrink from Placeus's books as from writings composed by a heretic condemned by the authority of the National Synod, and that very many intensely desire to know what Placeus's judgment is: I thought I would serve the truth and the glory of God, the edification and peace of the Church, the honor of the National Synod, the reputation of the Academy of Saumur and of Placeus, the consolation of students of theology, and also the continuation of the work Placeus began for the divinity of our Lord, if I should show that Placeus's judgment concerning the imputation of Adam's first sin was neither condemned by the Synod, nor is it such as nearly all have hitherto supposed. So, unless I am badly mistaken, this whole controversy about the imputation of Adam's sin will be extinguished even before a National Synod convenes — which I earnestly wish and hope from our Lord Jesus Christ, by whose help I undertake this work.