Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	bishop_n	rome_n	succession_n	9,910	5	9.8153	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66427	A short discourse concerning the churches authority in matters of faith shewing that the pretenses of the Church of Rome are weak and precarious in the resolution of it.	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1687 (1687)	Wing W2734; ESTC R7663	18,741	33

let it alone Though to say the Truth if I had been told the contrary the Errors which some Popes have fallen into would have hindred me in despite of any good will from owning him so Is this Infallibility shared among them so that every one has some For Infallibility they must have or their Authority is lost No this cannot be neither for Infallibility is a Quality that cannot be divided or enjoyed to the halfs And if it could it would not do the business for then they would be Fallible in part as well as Infallible in part And so we should be as hard put to it to find which part their Infallibility reaches to as we are to find that they have any at all Here peradventure it may be thought because it has been said heretofore That though the Pope and his Council may be Fallible in their Arguments and Discourses yet in the Result of them viz. their Definitions which only concern the Church they are Infallible This indeed is to the purpose if it could be as easily proved as said But since neither Art nor Nature does allow an Infallible Conclusion to issue from Fallible Means it must be wholly Supernatural and Divine And so we are come in the third place to ask How they came by a Power to make the Conclusion Divine the Means being Humane or How they will make it appear to me or any Man else that they are endued with such a Power Certainly a Claim so bold as this ought to be very well made out But here alass we are turn'd over to Motives of Credibility which are sometimes called the marks of the Church however we will see what can be made of them By Motives of Credibility must be meant such as may work upon my Reason and so incline my Mind to believe or assent to any thing for a Truth and so I can be induced to believe no farther than the point is made Credible to me Well but whatever is Supernatural can never work upon my Reason as being quite above it without some Divine Evidence and Testimony and that must either be Miracles or Scripture For Miracles they have of late been little pretended to But from Scripture they tell us Christ has promised to his Church a perpetual Assistance of his Grace yea such a measure of the Spirit as made Caiaphas prophesy Truth almost whether he would or no. But how can they pretend Scripture in this Case who have told us we must receive the Sense and Interpretation of Scripture from the Infallible Authority of the Church And that not in a few Points but in every Doubt and never presume upon our own private Sentiments howsoever seemingly grounded on Reason and Scripture If we must thus absolutely depend upon the Authority of the Church for the Interpretation of Scripture then the Authority of the Church must be better known to us than the Sense of the Scripture And if it be better known it cannot be proved by Scripture for every thing that proves another must it self be more evident And if the Churches Authority cannot be proved by Scripture it can never be proved without Miracles and by consequence can never be believed But if Christians must read and judg of Scripture and believe it in this Point I can see no reason why they may not in every one else that concerns Religion since there are few Points in it that are not much more cleary expressed Here Traditions would put in to help out But to spoil all we are told we must receive them too upon the Authority of the Church for it would be as dangerous to trust the World with a liberty of judging Traditions as of judging Scripture and more contests there are and would be about them And yet which is an insuperable Difficulty Tradition is silent in many Points of the Romish Faith nay in all whereabout any Difference is I mean as to the Primitive Church and sure Tradition cannot be produced where there is none If Tradition could be produced still the Difficulty returns That Tradition would be more manifest and therefore above the Churches Authority And how acceptable a Point that is at Rome Mr. White and Mr. Serjeant could have told at their own Cost But though Scripture and Tradition are insufficient perhaps Succession may make out this Matter or else why are we so often told of it and truly I must needs say I do not know why we are For if they mean a Succession of Bishops that can prove nothing to Rome because it is common to other Churches who have as undoubted a Succession as they If they mean a Succession of Doctrin from the Apostles to us 't is what we allow and for want of it refuse those other Doctrins they would impose There is behind a very forcible Argument to prove That the Pope and his Council together are not Infallible or that the Papists themselves do not think them so I Instance in the Lateran Council under Pope Innocent the III. where it was decreed that Princes may be Deposed He that Represents a Papist answers That this is no Article of Faith and that they are not bound to believe it But if this be not to be believed it is because the Truth of it is not evident enough and if it be not evident enough it must be because the Churches proposing or decreeing is not sufficient to make it evident which is the Point I aim at If he will as some have acknowledge the deposing Doctrin to be true let the World consider what kind of Subjects those must be that are in such a Communion and if he disavows it he makes it appear that he does not think their Church Infallible Nor can I think that Church has sufficiently cleared it self from the Charge of this Doctrin which some of them call a Calumny till it be as Publickly and Authoritatively Repealed as it was Decreed Nor can I imagine how that Author could tell us in the fourteenth Chapter of his Book that he thought himself obliged not to rely on his own private Judgment but upon the Authority of the Church in any Doubt and yet in the twentieth Chapter of the same Book tells us in Consequence what the Church has peremptorily Decreed is not to be believed I am sorry when that Decree passed such a powerfull Measure of the Spirit which made Caiaphas Prophesie was absent And since it was so then I do not see how they can reasonably presume he was not absent in other Points too Damnation being so particularly denounced against Rebellion we cannot think that a Point so inconsiderable as to be passed by in advertency It now plainly appears that this Challenge of Infallibility is very unaccountable and to shew its absurdity yet more you shall see that though we should grant as we do not that they have Infallibility some where yet in the resolution of Faith it would be useless The Church at this day is vexed

challenged for the present Church of this Age or else there is no visible Infallible Judg and so the matter comes to nothing For if they were affixed to the Church of any one Age then our Faith when that Age is expired must resolve it self some other way as we shall see anon This hint being given we proceed in search of this Infallibility which is indeed a safe Basis to rest upon whereever it is found In the first place therefore we must enquire what it is or what is to be understood by it Infallibility properly taken is the knowledge of all things He that does not know every thing may be mistaken in some thing and he that may be mistaken in any thing is not Infallible To know all things is to be Omniscient and so God alone who created every thing by virtue of his own Infinity is absolutely Infallible But for created Beings their Knowledge is confined to such things as the wise Creator has placed within their Capacities and so made knowable as it were by Nature Therefore in other things which are Supernatural and of which we can know no more than is revealed to us Infallibility means a being preserved from all Errour and Mistake about them and by Consequence must it self be a Supernatural and Divine quality imparted according to the good Will and Pleasure of God. And now our Business is come to this to know first Whether any body or no has this Infallibility Secondly if any body has it where he or they are to be found And thirdly how others may be assured that they who pretend to have it have it indeed First Whether any body has this Infallibility I take it for granted upon the foregoing Proofs that it is a Divine Supernatural Gift and being such that it must issue from the good Pleasure of God. Now any Gift whatsoever which is Arbitrary and Depending upon the Will of any one cannot be pretended to in Reason till he in whose Power it is has made his Will known that the Right and Possession of it pass over to him that Claims it In like manner no Divine Gift which concerns more than them who personally pretend to it can have any weight or force without a Divine Testimony to ensure its own Credit Upon this Point the Papists argue That Christ who was not less able or faithfull than Moses in his house would not leave his Church destitute of sufficient means for Peace and Unity 't is granted But then say they without an Infallible Guide beside the Scripture there can be neither reason for Faith nor ground for Peace among Christians A bold Assumption this Nay farther 't is said That Christ has promised to teach his Church all Truth by special Assistance of the Holy Ghost to the end of the World. This indeed is to the Purpose but that if any thing it proves more than they wish For it does as much prove all Christians to be Infallible as one or more For the Promise being indefinite cannot justly be appropriated to particulars and if it contains perpetual Infallibility let them that can shew from that Promise that the Pastors have more right to it than the People But suppose now there is Infallibility in the Church let us see whereabouts it is Lodged that we may have recourse to it to end the Disputes which have so long disturbed the Peace of Christendom For if it cannot be found we shall hardly be made to grant that there is any such thing or if it cannot be come at we shall value it at the rate of all useless things I ask therefore Where this Infallibility is that has been so much talked of Why some have shewed their good will to fix it to the Popes of Rome And one would at first think the Author who represents a Papist looked that way when he told us he did not doubt but God assists them the Popes with a particular helping Grace such as was given to all the Prophets when they were sent to Preach that was Extraordinary Such as was given to Moses when he was made a God to Pharaoh that was Miraculous Sure he forgot the Lives of some Popes or else some late Pope has divided the Sea or turned a River into Blood and so filled him with Wonder that he never thought to make any Reflexions Lastly with such Grace as was given to Caiaphas when he prophesied that Jesus should dye for that Nation A Truth which he utter'd without any good Design as appears by his Sentence afterwards and this instance indeed might well fit Pope Greg. 7. Yet after all this we are told that it is our Choice Whether we will allow the Pope to be personally Infallible or no And if they do not see reason enough to believe it I am sure I do not and so the Pope's Claim must be dismissed as indefensible But is a Council without him then Infallible If it be what becomes of the Pope's Supremacy For whereever Infallibility goes the Supremacy touching matters of Faith must go with it And they cannot be separated since as we shewed above the one has its whole dependance upon the other This difficulty has been apprehended and so to secure the Pope's Supremacy a Council without him has been judged not Infallible And where any Council has wanted the Pope's Confirmation as we see for matter of fact it has been thought to want Authority to Though for all this the Point of Supremacy of how great importance soever is not well agreed among them for Councils have taken upon them to depose the Pope and the French Roman Catholick Divines allow them in it The only expedient in this Case is what some lay down That a Council assembled by and under the Pope whose Authority must confirm their Decrees is Infallible Being come to this as the last effort we will proceed with a regard due to a Tenet of such moment And here I ask again Whether every Bishop and Devine that Debates and Votes in Council be Infallible No this must not be said because there have beeen great Differences among the Divines and contrary Opinions much urged Besides it would make every Bishop as absolute as the Pope to make him Infallible which would quite undo the pretences of the Church of Rome But then if every Bishop in Council be not Infallible for ought I can see this Infallibility must be given to the Pope And if his approbation be indeed necessary to Authorize their Decrees he has e'en most right to it For if the Authentickness of the Decrees depends upon the Pope 't is plain he must have a Negative vote to the Council and if he has a Negative vote to the Council either he must have this Infallibility or there can be none at all of any use But as to the Pope's being Infallible we were told before it is no Article of Faith and so we are at Liberty from them to believe it or