Many more promises might be collected out of the Old Testament but I come to shew Fourthly that Christ by his own mouth and by the mouthes of his Apostles hath promised to us likewise such a Church Mat. 16. 19. Upon this Rock I will build my Church which he had foretold by his Prophets should be of so vast extent And the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Mat. 18. 17. He that will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen or a Publican but if Christ by his spirit doth not preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching me error instead of a truth I may from this Church which Christ obligeth me to hear and unto which obligeth me to submit receive such errors as may damn me Mat. 28. 20. And Loe I am with you alwaies even unto the end of the World this must be meant of the visible Church which was to be in every Age for the Apostles were not to live and to Baptise and teach alway unto the end of the world And therefore if the same assistance and presence of Christ was promised to the Church after the Apostles I think we shall not doubt but that it is the same that is infallible But that it may clearely appear that the Assistance promised by Christ to his Church extended to an infallible security from all errors consider Iohn 14. 16. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive and v. 26. The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I shall say unto you and ch 16. 12. I have many things yet to say unto you but you cannot hear them now howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all truth But all Truth excludeth all Errors and this for ever which was longer then the Apostles were to live If we therefore enquire by what means this teaching shall be by whom the people shall be taught all Truths and how preserved from all errors St. Paul will tell us Eph. 4. 11. He gave some Apostles succeeding in full Apostolical Authority some Prophets expounders of the Prophets some Evangelists Preachers of the Gospel some Pastors and Teachers to what end For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ For what time Till we all come in the Union of the faith But will these secure us the next verse will tell you That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carryed about with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in waite to deceive Gods intent then was to provide such means for mankinde as might secure them in their beleif in every Age that they might not be deceived by the cunning craft of false Teachers such as now think themselves able by pretending inward Lights Private Spirits and evidence of Scripture by themselves Interpreted to teach us a doctrine contrary to all those who for almost fifteen Ages before them have been and none others teaching a contrary Faith can be named who have been the Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastours and Teachers in the Visible Church of Christ In the last place I shall urge that Text of St. Paul to Timothy 1. Tim. 3. 15. The Church of the Living God the Pillar and ground of Truth And may we not securely rely upon that Pillar which God hath erected for us and found our Faith upon that Ground of truth which the God of all truth hath given us for that end To elude their plain and evident Texts I know you are wont to say in the first place that they may have other Interpretations and therefore this is not the truth But will not the same reason hold the Apostles cited many Texts of Scriptures and interpreted them so as to prove Christ the Messias and his Doctrines to be true whereas those Texts might have had other interpretations therefore the Interpretation put on them by the Apostles were not true Who sees not the weakness of this Argument Can you shew with any assurance that these Texts are not capable of these interpretations If not then according to your own principles these interpretations may be true for you who say the contrary are not infallible but may be mistaken Another answer which you use to give is that you are willing to agree that so long as the Church of Christ teacheth conformable to Scripture she is infallible and so long as she doth her Duty she may and ought to be beleived But this is as weak as the former for who sees not that it gives the Church no more priviledge nor allowes it to have any more benefit from these promises then the Divel hath for so long as he teacheth conformable to Scripture he may be beleived A straw may be a Pillar until it bends and Quick-sands sure ground until they yield What assurance can we have that the Holy Apostles did their duty in writing what the Holy Ghost did dictate unto them For if they did not their writings are not to be beleived consequently we are not nor can we be infallibly secure that the Scriptures which we have were dictated by and are by Inspiration from God If you can answer this so as to be secure that the Apostles did their duty the same will be our answer that the present Visible Catholick Church of Christ at all times doth her Duty The fift Argument is that the Church of God was this Rule and Judge this only means to convey Faith and this infallible Guide and Authority when our Blessed Saviour was alive and before the New Testament was written and also in the Apostles times both before and after the whole New Testament was written If not I obliege you to shew some evident Text which proves certainly that after the New Testament was written the Church in the Apostles time was deprived of this priveledge and Authority and that it had been no sinne then to oppose or not submit to the guidance direction government and authority of the Apostles But if notwithstanding this you shall without giving any other Reason insist that the Apostles were this infallible Rule and Judge in their times only until the Canon of Scriptures was finished and then lost their Authority when they had compleated the Canon I pray consider what will be the consequence in case it stands proved that the Canon of Scripture which they finished is now uncompleated by the loss of those Epistles and parcels of the Apostles writings which I have proved to be lost Will it not follow that for the same Reason that an infallible living rule and Judge was necessary before the Canon was compleat the same is now necessary some part
of the Canon being lost And what will the consequence be if it stand proved also that supposing the Canon were compleat yet it is not sufficient to decide the controversies now a foot amonst Christians in matters of Faith Will it not follow that then it is necessary to have such a Rule and Judge as is before mentioned The late Learned Dr. Ferne a great Champion for sole Scripture confesseth Sext. 27. That Indeed such a Iudge or Umpire in Christendome would if to be had be a ready means to compose all differences and to restore truth and peace But shall we think that our blessed Redeemer when he first founded his Holy Church did not see this as clearly as Dr. Ferne certainly he did and for this reason he appointed the Holy Apostles and their Successors to be this Judge and Umpire and if you desire or expect to see an end of those differences wherein ye are now involved by relying on your own private Interpretations of the Scriptures you must address your selves to this Judge and be content to stand the determination of their Umpire which is infallible I say infallible for as the Apostles though as men were subject to error in their own private affairs and actings and as such might one withstand the other and reprove the other yet were they by the assistance of Gods Holy spirit in defining and delivering matters of Faith so the Prelates of the Holy Catholick Church though as men they were fallible in their own private actings and affairs yet when assembled in a General Council with their Supream Pastor they are still made infallible in defining matters of Faith by the assistance of the same Holy Ghost who was as well promysed to them as to the Apostles The last reason is that none of the difficulties that were proposed to prove the Scriptures not to be the Rule and Judge before mentioned are capable of being objected against the Church For first this Judge and Rule is capable of answering the end for which it is appointed and proposed all who submit unto the Church agreeing in matters of Faith Secondly it is not capable of being misunderstood or misinterpreted by the various Reasons Judgements and Interests of men but is alwaies in being and capable upon demand to explain and declare its own sence and intention upon any difference arising Thirdly it is capable of being understood by All. Fourthly it is capable of being certainly known by all Fifthly it is capable of determining what plainess and clearness in every Article of Faith and hath alwaies appeared to do so to the condemation and confusion of all opposers Sixthly this was the said Rule and Judge in Christs time and in the times of the Apostles Lastly this doth not set up every individual man and woman to be a Judge and Rule unto themselves but preserves the unity of the spirit in the Bond of Peace by teaching all understandings to become Captives to this Rule and Judge appointed by God for their guidance and direction But I know there will be yet an Objection made by you of the seperation whether these Texts which speak so amply of the Church are to be understood of the Church Militant and visible in this World or of the Church Triumphant For certainly did you apprehend that God had a Church in this world that is a visible body politique distinct from that invisible Church which is Christs Mistical body Triumphant you would not as I in Charity beleive divide your selves into so many Congregations independent of each other or any other body or Government whatsoever in relation to Religion Now to satisfy you in this I shall desire you to consider Acts the 20. 28. Where the Text speaks of a Church governed by High Pastors which can only be meant of the Visible Church and that of the whole Flock or Church which Christ redeemed with his blood which cannot be meant of any perticular Congregational Church 1 Cor. 10. 32. Give none offence neither to the Iews nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God even as I please all men in all things where he speaks clearly of the sole and entire visible Church 1 Cor. 12. 28. where mention is made of the Governours and Priests which are extended throughout the whole visible Church only God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondly Prophets c. and Ephes 4. 11. before cited Col. 1. 24. 25. Where Church is taken for the Militant only for St. Paul was not made a Minister of the Church Triumphant 1 Tim. 2. 15. before cited must signifie the sole and whole visible Church for no perticular Church can be stiled The pillar and ground of truth since they may fall and often have fallen from truth Iam. 5. 14. Where he speaks in general to all beleiving Christians and of a Church using visible Ceremonies and Priests or Elders which is not the Church Triumphant Mat. 16. 18. where the Church of Christ is to be built upon Peter and therefore must be meant of the visible Church Militant for it is built whilst Militant and transferred when it is Triumphant Nor can this be any other then a visible Church founded upon a visible Rock or Foundation for that Rock there spoken of is not Christ but St. Peter as the words clearly signifie for our Saviour saies upon this Rock I will build my Church immediatly after he had named St. Peter where as if he had meant himself or St Peters confession of his being the Son of the ever living God this being the remote or mediate antecedent he should have said according to Grammer and true construction and upon that Rock Besides he saies I will build my Church whereas if by Rock he had intended himself or St. Peters aforesaid confession he would have said upon this Rock I have built or I do build my Church not I will build For when our Lord spoke these words his Church was then actually built upon him and upon his being the Son of the Living God He spoke then therefore of what he intended to do and of what was to be after his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven and promiseth here that for those future times his visible Church should be built upon St. Peter Lastly that I may speak not as to the word only but also as to the thing it self viz. The Divine constitution of the Catholick visible Church by the Ordinance of our dearest Saviour Consider 1 Cor. 12. where it is at large described by the Holy Apostle to be One body with different parts fitly disposed ordered and connected together in one and the same body Whereof One he saith is the Head and that must be as visible as the rest of the body for a visible body without a visible head would be a Monster and such a visible Head as stands in need of the foot which Christ cannot do being God and so wanting nothing And this the Apostle applies to the Apostolical
Church in his time and the same is also described again Ephes 4. from v. 4. to the 17. But I suppose you will be asking Is not then Christ the Head of his Church can the Church have another Head besides Christ I answer Christ is the Head of his Church and yet the Church of Christ by his appointment may have in its external Government another Head that is an external Head by the appointment of Christ I say Christ is the only absolute independent Head but he may appoint a dependent Head derived from him Christ is the sole Head that Governs all both Pastors and People and the cheif Pastor also Thus God is the King of the World may not he therefore have other Kings Reigning under him Now how opposite and contrary your Congregational Churches and all Churches divided from the true Visible Church are to this constitution is easy for you to see What are those Congregational Churches but a confused Rabble of Itching Ears heaping up Teachers to themselves without any either single Person or Assembly of them endowed with power to govern or direct all of their Congregations dispersed in divers Provinces and Countries but every one stands upon its own bottome and hath no dependance of the rest as do the Common-Wealths of Venice Geneva Holland c. so that they have no visible unity amongst them either of coordination or subordination but are politick bodies wholly seperate and disjoyned the one from the other Can you think this the constitution of Christs visible Church on earth Is this One Body Is this a compaction and conjunction by joynts and Nerves mentioned by the Apostles The first and Original Christian Church in our Saviour time was such an united body as St. Paul mentions having then our Saviour for its visible Head and his Disciples for its Members all united together in one visible Communion and was not this Original Church the Model and Platform laid by our Saviour to be imitated and followed in its manner of Government by all succeeding Ages The Apostolical Church next to that of our Saviours time was like unto it where St. Peter was the chief Pastor and the Apostles under him over the whole Church dispersed both amongst Jews and Gentiles as appears Acts 15. and who had power to change this Original and Apostolical manner of union and Government in after Ages into a quite opposite digestion and to bring in a perfect Anarchie I hope from the grounds here laid it will appear as clear to you as I profess it did to me that the visible Church of God on Earth which in the Creed is called the Holy Catholick Church was and is that Rule and Judge that means appointed by God for the conveying of the Christian Faith to the World and to whom all on pain of Damnation were and are by Gods Ordinance to submit as to the Authority appointed by God to teach them what they ought to beleive in order to the attaining of Salvation and that without disputing any more then they would have disputed the decrees and directions of the Holy Apostles were they now living upon Earth consequently that this Authority was infallible It will onely remain that we consider which amongst all those congregations now on Earth which pretend themselves to be this Church of Christ is really and truly this Holy Church and Spouse of Christ For having once found her and knowing that she is so assisted by the Holy Ghost that she cannot teach us an Error instead of a Truth we shall no more dispute the verity of her Doctrines then we should have questioned the Articles of Faith taught by the Holy Apostles or the words of Christ himself Wherefore if this Church this infallible Guide shall teach us that Infants are to be Baptised that it is as lawful to desire the Saints departed to pray for us as to desire the Prayers of those who are living on our behalfs That the body of Christ our Saviour is really and truly present in the Sacrament of the Altar or the Lords Supper or any the like Article of Faith we shall no more doubt of it then the first Christians did dispute the verity of what the Apostles taught them when they informed them that they were to beleive that Christ whom they had seen as man was true and very God that a Virgin still remaining a Virgin might by the power of the Holy Ghost bring forth a child That the body of Christ spirituallized might pass through a Dore the Dore being shut That three could be One and One three For who shall dare to question what God shall tell him to be true And if God now speaks by the mouth of his present Church as he did by the mouth of his Church in the times of the Apostles who shall doubt the truth of those words which proceeded from his mouth Wherefore as to this last question which is now this present Church of Christ which is our infallible Guide and Judge appointed by God for our direction and to whom we are to submit as aforesaid I shall in brief give you that answer which I profess gave me a full and clear satisfaction and it is shortly this The Protestant Church of England and all other Churches different from the Roman do judge and declare and profess themselves to be fallible even according to the infallible word of God If then the said Protestant Church of England or any other Churches different from the Roman be infallible in all that they judge and in that they declare and profess to be true according to the word of God they doubtless are then infallible and speak then the infallible truth when they judge declare and profess that even according to the Word of God they are fallible Therefore infallibly they are fallible Hence again it being thus proved that no Church different from that Roman is infallible And it being before proved that God hath appointed some Church upon earth to be our infallible Judge it demonstratively followeth that the Roman Church must needs be this infallible Judge because no church different from it that is none but the Roman Church can be this infallible Church But I pray you do not mistake this Argument as some have pleased to do who think the force of it to lye thus viz. The Roman Church claimeth infallibility therefore she is infallible This is nothing like the Argument which I put the force of which lies thus That the Church truly appointed by God for this infallible Judge of controversies cannot possibly be any of those Churches which teach themselves not to be this infallible Judge because they teach themselves to be Fallible if then they be infallible in the doctrine they teach they are infallible when they teach themselves to be fallible Therefore infallibly they are fallible Now the Church which is truly appointed by God to be this infallible Judge must needs have this condition that she doth own her infalibility but
me this Reason for his Question namely that if neither I my self nor those who taught me that Christianity was the only safe way to Salvation and the only way in which Heaven was to be attained was infallibly certain or were capable of any mistake or might in any possibility commit an errour in this thing then as to me Christianity could be no more then probably true and we could with no colour of Reason condemn the Jew Turk or Pagan since they were as well perswaded of their several waies as we could be of ours upon a fallible certainty and for ought we knew not having any infallible certainty for our Christianity some of them might be in the Right and we in the wrong way And how could you say to a Jew you must become a Christian if you expect to be saved when as if he Examine you strictly and closely in relation to what certaitny you have of the truth of Christianity your Answer will amount to no more then this You conceive you are in the Right and you hope and beleive you are not mistaken But it is possible you may be mistaken in this for every man is a Lyar every man and all men and every Church is fallible and subject to Error and to be mistaken Can such Arguments as these invite a Jew or Turk to become a Christian I confess I was extreamly troubled with this first difficulty and knew not how to answer it plainly and without apparent shuffling and declining the question which I plainly did by urging that if he intended to call the Religion which Christ Established in the world into question and to make a doubt of the mayn and Grand Principle of Christianity which we both of us agreed to be true I should treat no farther and that if himself doubted of the Truth of Christs Religion I was not prepared to Dispute the point This Answer seemed very strange even to my self but it seemed more strange to me that I should find my self Gravelled in such a question as was fit for every one to answer However my Opponent used me Gently and Sweetly and without the least shew of insulting over my weakness he told me that in reason I ought to answer this difficulty for replied he though it may be true and is most certainly true that the Christian Religion upon the true Grounds upon which it is founded is infallibly certain and Divine yet upon the Grounds upon which you may found your beleif thereof it may possibly not be true or certain as to you for example suppose you are told a thing by a known or common perjured person and upon his word you beleive it you cannot be certainly assured that the thing is true because such an Infamous common notorious Lyer tells you so but the thing is really to you doubtful nay more probably false then true and yet the thing in it self is true so if in the Apostles times one had beleived Christianity to be true not because the Apostles taught him so but because Simon Magus affirmed it to him in this case who sees not that such a mans faith had not been true but that the whole thing to him had been uncertain the belief of it being grounded upon a wrong Foundation which was no waies certain From all which it is evident that no Heretick can have true Faith this I shall farther prove in regard the contrary is an error broached publikely by Mr. Baxter in his Treatise against Mr. William Iohnson who hath fully silenced Mr. Baxter beyond all possibility of replying with reason in relation to this perticular the proof which I give is in this Argument Whosoever hath true Faith beleiveth the thing beleived or the material object of Faith for the Divine Authority of God revealing it But no Heretick beleiveth so Therefore no Heretick hath true Faith The Major is granted by all because Christian Faith must rest upon Gods Revelation as its formal object The Minor is proved thus whosoever beleives the material object of Faith or the thing beleived for the Divine Authority of God revealing it must beleive all things which are as sufficiently propounded to him to be revealed by God as are those Articles which he doth beleive And must beleive nothing as a Revelation of God which is as sufficiently declared to him to be erroneous or not a Revelation as the Articles of Faith are to be revealed But every Heretick either refuseth to beleive something which is so sufficiently propounded to him to be revealed from God or beleives something as a Revelation which is so sufficiently declared to him to be erroneous or not revealed from God Therefore no Heretick hath true Faith The first part of this Major is proved thus Whosoever refuseth to beleive what is so sufficiently propounded to be revealed by God either refuseth all that is so propounded or beleives some things and refuseth to beleive others as sufficiently propounded as those which he beleives If he refuseth all he can have no true Faith for he belives nothing and is therefore no Christian If he beleives some and refuseth others equally propounded then he beleives not those things which he doth beleive for the Divine Authority revealing for when two things are equally propounded to the understanding they ought to worke equally upon it but upon his own wilful choice or private judgement refuseth some and ascents to others As to the second part of the aforesaid Major viz. That no man can have true Christian Faith who beleives any thing as a Revelation which is as sufficiently propounded to him to be Erroneous as the Articles by him beleived are propounded to be Revelations the very same Authority which affirms the one denying the other Suppose the same Authority acknowledged doth sufficiently propound to a Calvenist the Articles of Faith as revealed from God and at the same time assures him that his conceit of the Popes being the great Antichrist was never revealed from God but is a manifest error in Faith In this case our Calvenist must disbeleive that propounding Authority and thereby lose his Faith in the former Articles by him beleived and have no true faith in the first or he must beleive the same Authority in the second because it is the same Authority in both For that very Authority which propounds the Articles of Faith as revealed of God propounds the other as not revealed and as contrary to Gods Revelation By all which it is most evident that if your Faith be built upon a wrong Foundation it is of no value nor doth it give you any certainty nor is it indeed Faith but Humor and Opinion This Discourse seemed to me so convincing that I could not but agree unto it and therfore I told him as a full answer to his first question that I embraced Christianity and that sort of Christianity to which I adheared in opposition to all others because the Scriptures which are Gods Word taught me so to