Imprimatur Hic Liber cui Titulus Doubts concerning the Roman Infallibility c. May 17. 1688. Guil. Needham R.R. in Ch. P. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacris Domest DOUBTS Concerning the Roman Infallibility I. Whether the Church of Rome Believe it II. Whether Jesus Christ or his Apostles ever Recommended it III. Whether the Primitive Church Knew or Used that Way of Deciding Controversie LONDON Printed for James Adamson at the Angel and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVIII DOUBTS Concerning the Roman Infallibility THE Advantage of having an Infallible Judge to Determine Controversies of Religion is so Visible that those who for their Lives cannot bring themselves to believe Either that there is such a Judge on Earth or that the Church of Rome is so Qualifyed cannot yet but wish That there were one exempt from the common Frailty of Mistaking For who would not be desirous of being released from the Toyl of Examining every Point of his Faith by Scripture and Tradition when after all the Issue is uncertain Who can envy himself the Blessedness of being raised above all Apprehension and Jealousie of being Mistaken in that which concerns him above all things the Religion and Faith by which he is to be Saved When therefore we see so great a part of Christians Disputing against their own Wishes and rejecting all Pretenders to Infallibility it is a strong Presumption That the Truth of such Infallibility is not so Evident and Visible as the Advantage that flows from the Supposition of it For it is commonly more than half way towards Believing a thing to be True to have a desire that it should be so The common Objection of the Force of Prejudice against Evident Truth can have no place here for if there be any Prejudice in this Case it is For and not Against Infallibility For those of our Church who have opposed this Pretence with greatest Diligence and Success have taken care to prevent this Imputation by professing more than an ordinary Desire that it might be true The Lord Falkland a Person of great Honour as well as of Learning and Acuteness declares That if God would leave it to him Which Tenet should be True he would Chuse that Infallibility should rather than the contrary Mr. Chillingworth who thought once to have found out the Infallible Judge but lo it was a Dream makes this Solemn Profession For my part so he speaks I know I am as Willing and Desirous That the Bishop or Church of Rome should be Infallible provided I might know it as they are to be so esteemed Dr. Hammond doubts not to profess the same good Inclination Dr. Hammond's Preface to his Defence of the Lord Falkland in the Name of all Protestants If there were says he but one Wish offered to each Man among us it would certainly with a full Consent be laid out on this one Treasure the setting up of one Catholick Umpire or Days-man some Visible Infallible Decider of Controversie It is very hard that Persons so well disposed should not be able to attain to the Belief of so Easing and Commodious a Principle for besides their Good-will they wanted neither Learning nor Diligence nor Judgment to make themselve Masters of their Desire But it seems it is not given to all to Believe Infallibility and possibly the great Talents of these Persons might be no small Hindrance to their Belief Now since we still Profess to have the same Desire and Fondness of Believing Infallibility upon good Grounds with the Persons above-mentioned in Earnest Reverend Fathers of the Mission it will be some Disparagement to your Glorious Undertaking of Conversion to suffer Men so well Disposed to languish out their Lives with a Fruitless Desire of finding the Infallible Judge and at last to Dye without that Comfort For you certainly or none the Glory of our Conversion is reserved for the Proof of the Infallible Church is your peculiar Province and to do you Right you keep so close to it as seldom to suffer your Study or Understanding to pass the Bounds of this Question humbly content with this Summary Creed I Believe the Infallible Church If therefore you have any Demonstrations or Infallible Arguments or Weighty Reasons we beseech you to produce them deny not your selves the Glory of Convincing us for we long to be your Conquest But then to prevent a Needless Trouble we are obliged to let you know That the Old Arguments have been all Weighed with great Care and found Light and it will not be for your Reputation to offer us the same Bad Mony for Payment that has been refused a hundred times before You may if you please call these Demonstrations and Unanswerable Things but for our part we after the most Diligent Examination can find Nothing in them but Noise that may perhaps create Disturbance to some Weak Persons unacquainted with Sophistry but serve only for Sport to the more Understanding They are like the Clock of a Death watch a poor little Worm scarce visible that may Fright it may be Melancholy or Timorous Persons but in Truth signifie nothing Or like the Dwarf of Augustus describ'd by Suetonius That was but seventeen Pound Weight not two Foot High and of a Prodigious Voice only this Creature had some Substance tho' but very little But the Evidences for the Infallibility hitherto produced will not turn the Scale against a Feather Now to give you some Comfort for your Unsuccesful Practice upon Minds so well disposed I will make bold to lay before you some Instances of your Brethren and Companions of the same Misfortune The Doctors of the Stage whom Scurrilous Men call Mountebanks proclaim themselves Infallible in their Way they make Liberal Offers of Infallible Medicines of never-failing Remedies or Certain and Never-erring Operations Yet a great part of the World and reputed the Wisest pass by these great Dispensers of Health these Confident Ensurers of Life and Longevity and depend upon such Modest Physitians as declare themselves Fallible and do not Dissemble their Diffidence of the success of their Applications Yet these Patients have as strong a Desire of Ease and Health as any of their Neighbours and would give all the World for a really Infallible Operator There are other Men Bold enough to Pretend That they have the Secret of making Gold. This they affirm with so much Assurance that the Church of Rome cannot shew more in her Claim of Infallibility Nay they have their Demonstrations their Probable Reasons their certain Grounds And at last for an Irresistible Inducement to believe they have their Revelations too Now as well as Men love Gold there are not many that will Believe the Pretence or be perswaded to send their Baser Metals to undergo the Improvement of this Golden Transubstantiation I am loth to impute this general Infidelity either in regard of the Infallible Judge or of the Infallible Operators wholly to the want of competent Proof on the
Passage I am apt to believe that this Apostle might have sav'd himself the labour of coming down from Heaven to be his own Commentator I must confess that in reading this Epistle I have often wondred how St. Paul should come to omit one Argument which according to the Men of the Infallible way must have been worth all the rest And that is the Determination of this Question by the Council of Jerusalem for all are agreed and the Notation of years which we find in the First and Second Chapters makes it clear that this Epistle was written after that Council yet in all this long Vindication of the Liberty of the Gentile Christians it is not once urg'd And I cannot conceive any reason of this Omission unless it be that having in the very beginning laid aside all Human Authority and Respect of Persons he might not think it proper afterwards to alledge the Apostolical Decree But if this had been the only Infallible way of Deciding Controversie this Omission cannot be excused Now because some have endeavoured to prove the Infallibility of Councils from the Example of that of the Apostles I proceed briefly to shew That they did not proceed in the way of Infallibility though they were really Infallible because they were Inspired Persons but all their Proceeding was according to Allegation and Proof and the Conclusion is made to depend upon these Premisses and not their Infallibility in pronouncing it Whereas in the New Way the Conclusion is Certain because some Men declare it though the Reasons alledged may be good for nothing The summ of that Synodical Action was this First S. Peter represented to them How the Holy Ghost had already Determined that Question by falling upon Cornelius and other Persons Uncircumcised then Paul and Barnabas declared What Wonders that God had wrought among the Gentiles by them And lastly S. James shews out of the Prophets How the Conversion of the Gentiles was foretold and concludes Wherefore my Sentence is Then it pleased the Apostles and Elders to send certain Persons with an account of this whole Matter to the Churches concerned and a Letter with this Expression among others It seemed Good to the Holy Ghost and to us Which does not import as if whatsoever they agreed to declare must therefore be the Truth and to be received without asking farther Questions though what they did Decree was certainly Truth and Right but only suggests the former Decision of the Holy Ghost in the Case of Cornelius and some other declared by Barnabas and Paul for then it seemed Good to the Holy Ghost to receive the Gentiles without Circumcision But in the Assembly of Jerusalem we have not the least Intimation of any Declaration of the Spirit either by Miracle or Revelation But the Holy Ghost having before visibly declared upon the Point to that in all likelihood the Expression must allude But whatever the Apostles thought of the way of Infallibility it is plain The Believers were not yet well instructed concerning it for this Definition could not end the Controversie And in the beginning of the next Chapter We find S. Paul Circumcising Timothy whose Father was a Greek Because of the Jews that were in those Quarters and how little Use was made of it in ending the same Controversie in the Church of Galatia I have observed already But further yet S. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans teaches another Method of Belief than the Advocates for Infallibility for some time would impose upon the World for he utterly disallows this way of making the Faith of God to depend upon the Belief or Unbelief of Men as if that were to be the Standard of Truth and Error For what if some did not Believe shall their Vnbelief make the Faith of God of none Effect God forbid Yea let God be True and every Man a Lyar as it is written c. This is an Answer to such Objections as were Suggested against the Christian Faith from the Unbelief of the Jews For when our Saviour appeared they had the Visible Church and all Ecclesiastical Authority the Priesthood the Sanadrim the Scribes and Pharisees and the Renowned Doctors were theirs the Religious Sects the Outward Purity the Opus operatum and Supererogation were on their Side Now if these must prescribe to our Belief we Christians have lost our Cause for the High Priest and the Elders assembled i. e. The Pope and Council of that Time condemned Christ for a Blasphemer But S. Paul would no more submit to such Definitions than we Protestants to those of the Council of Trent but enters his Protestation against all such as by any Act of Men would Prescribe against the Truth of God and gives Reason and Scripture for his Proceeding God must be Pure but all Men may be Lyars and so fairly takes his leave of all Infallible Men. And so far is he from Affecting that Brerogative himself which he denies to others that he appeals to the Scriptures as his Vouchers and does not desire to be believed upon the Authority of his Place but by the Method he uses of proving what he advances he sets a Fair Precedent to all other Teachers and which Origen upon this Place understands to be his Design For if a Person so Great and so Qualifyed as S. Paul did not think the Authority of his Saying any thing to be sufficient unless he prove it out of the Law and the Prophets how much more should we the least of Gods Ministers observe the same Rule And Lastly S. Peter from whom some of the Competitors for Infallibility derive their Title advises all Christians To be ready always to give an answer to every one that asketh them a Reason of the Hope that is in them Now all Interpreters of this Place both Antient and Modern that I have seen are very much out if this Reason be no other than the Infallibility of S. Peter or of the Church Now this Answer I Believe because the Church Believes is surely the Easiest of any and all other Answers would be Impertinent if this alone were the Infallible Reason The School-Men have upon some Occasions thought fit to ground their Rational Way upon this Passage and Valued their Usefulness and Service to the Church on this Account But for God's sake What Use can there be of these Fallible Reasons in a Church that is Infallible in her Conclusions and holds not her self obliged to render any other Reason for them but a Curse And indeed I cannot see any Occasion of giving any Reason since her Disciples do Profess that they have no Assurance but that in these she may be Mistaken Now if the Apostles did not think fit to use this Way of Infallibility it seems something incongruous for the Church in Succeeding Ages to pretend to it for as the Gifts of the Spirit grew less methinks the Way of Teaching should rather be less than more Magisterial unless some new Paraclet to supply the Defect
of Miracles and Inspiration had thought fit to confer upon it the Gift of Infallible Decision But the Generation next to the Apostles knew nothing of this Matter but Confess the State of the Church in their Time to be Inferiour to that of the Apostolick Age and that Hereticks then could not be so effectually Suppressed as they were by the Apostles and immediate Disciples of our Saviour For Hegesyppus speaking of the Martyrdom of Symeon Bishop of Jerusalem observes That to that Time the Church had continued a Virgin and Unpolluted for while the Apostles lived Hereticks were forced to keep themselves close but when their Generation was closed then these Deceivers began to appear with wonderful Confidence What absurd Fellows were these to think They could prevail against an Infallible Church at one Time more than another had they no Dread of the Infallible Judge Did they not know that his Sentence could make them Hereticks Convict when ever he thought fit to pronounce it or at leastwise Did they not know that all Christians Believed such a Judge and therefore could have as little Hopes then as in the Time of the Apostles But though we let these pass for Impudent Stupid Fellows Yet what should this Hegesyppus mean by Representing the Church as a Virgin but to such a Time since in despight of all Heresies the Church must always remain Pure and Uncorrupted Valesius would fain refer this to the Church of Jerusalem only But he ingenuously Confesses That Eusebius who Cites it meant otherwise and applyed it to the Church in General And the Reasons that Hegesyppus gives make it plain that so he meant it too And therefore Valesius bespeaks a favourable Interpretation of them both How little Thought Justin Martyr and Irenaeus had of this Way of Infallibility I have mentioned before they both Wrote against Heresies and Irenaeus his Books are still Extant but not the least Mention made of the Authority of the Infallible Judge Scripture and common Sense furnish all his Arguments Tradition indeed is once mentioned because Hereticks made this their Pretence but then too it is used only for a Negative Argument to shew that the Apostolick Churches never Taught any such Traditionary Doctrines without the least Pretence that those Churches had received any other Articles of Belief besides what were contained in the Scripture Clemens of Alexandria lays down several Ways of Detecting Hereticks but it was his Misfortune or rather that of his Age to be Ignorant of that which is now accounted the only Infallible Tertullian Prescribes against all Hereticks without troubling the Scriptures from the Common Rule of Faith which is not an Indefinite One in petto but a short Summary of the chief Points of Christian Religion from the Novelty of Heresies from the Doctrine of Apostolical Churches Founded before those Opinions Sprung But his Misfortune is not only to omit the Infallible Judge but to preclude him in the very Beginning of his Book by this Remarkable Passage What then says he if a Bishop or a Deacon or a Widow or a Virgin nay if a Martyr or a Doctor should fall from the Rule must Heresie therefore be Truth What do we receive Doctrines for the sake of Persons or Persons for the sake of Doctrines But how shall we know Truth from Heresie if we may not depend upon the Person of the Infallible Judge And do not those who resolve their Doctrine into the Definition of an Infallible Judge approve the Doctrine for the Persons Sake Orig. contra Cels l. 3. When Celsus Reproached the Christians with their Divisions and Multitude of their Sects Origen had no better Reply to make than That this Misfortune was not peculiar to them for the same thing happened to Physicians and Philosophers and yet to Wise Men it was no Prejudice against those Professions And then shews how these Sects sprung from their different Understanding of the Scripture but could not it seems think of the Remedy which was peculiar to them and of an Infallible Judge and that therefore those who rejected his Definitions were inexcusable and unworthy of the Name of Christians But Chrysostom on Acts 15 draws this Answer to the Point when he declares That Christians had no other way of chusing their Church in this variety of Christian Sects than Physicians or Philosophers had in determining what Sect they should follow Which was no other than using their best Judgment and Diligence in the Application of the Common Rule But Lactantius De vera Sap. l. 4. for want of Knowing this Infallible Judge gives the meanest Direction of any to discern the true Faith in the midst of Different Pretensions The Catholick Church says he alone has the True Religion If he had stuck here we might have thought perhaps that he had known the Mystery of Infallibility but when he proceeds a little further he spoils all Hereticks says he pretend to have the Catholick Church as well as the Truth His Answer to the Objection follows That those have the Catholick Church who have Confession and Penance and that Heals those Sins and Wounds to which Human Frailty is subject The Good Man at that Time happened to think of the Montanists or Novatians and therefore describes the True Church in Opposition to their Severity to be that which restored Penitent Sinners to Communion after Publick Confession of their Fault and publick Satisfaction to the Church But by this Rule how shall we know the True Church in the Controversie between the Catholicks and the Arrians for they were both agreed in this Point of Discipline But how can we expect that these Writers before the Nicene Council should say much of the Infallible Judge since she had no such if either a General Council alone or in conjunction with the Pope be it for it is well known That from the Time of the Apostles to the Synod of Nice there was no General Council And Alphonsus a Castro imputes the Number and Extravagance of the Heresies of those Times to the Want of an Infallible Judge Adv. Heres l. 1. which he takes to be a General Council But I cannot get this Scruple out of my Head How God should intend such a Judge as the only certain Means of Preserving the Integrity of Christian Religion against Heresie and yet suffer his Church to be without it for almost three Ages when she stood in the greatest Need of such a Help and was otherwise by her Holiness and Glorious Martyrdoms best qualifyed to receive such an Extraordinary Favour And afterwards when the Emperours were Christian and Orthodox there seemed to be less Need of it for their Laws against Hereticks might perhaps be more Infallible in their Effect of Suppressing them than the most solemn Sentence of the Infallible Judge For the Popes of those Ages though they were ingaged in several Controversies yet neither did they pretend to be Infallible nor were they acknowledged as such by any other Churches
Side of the Pretenders the greediness of believing what Men have a mind should be true seems to me sufficient to Counterballance that Defect and to dispose Men to accept very slender Evidence Therefore besides want of Proof there must be some other powerful hindrance some visible and obvious Presumptions of Imposture that immediately stop our easiness and forwardness of Believing For I. It is strong presumption of a Cheat when Men are observ'd to be utterly destitute of all those great good things they pretend to have in their power to bestow Who can have regard to the Vapouring of a Mountebank upon the Stage that has seen the Family of that Pretender languishing without relief under the most Common and Curable Diseases Who can endure the Cant of a Begger about the Secret of Making Gold Or have the Patience to see a Man who has the Indies within the power of his Art if his Pretence were not a Lye condescend to Beg or Borrow a small piece of Mony to save himself from Starving It is no otherwise with the Pretence of Infallibility our desire of believing it lies under the check of this Presumption For the Church of Rome that offers us the Benefit of her Infallibility to remove the Differences we have with her or among our selves is found to make no use of it in her own Occasions to heal those Differences that arise within her own Communion The Disputes between the Jesuites and Dominicans are of great Importance yet the Infallible Judge all the while they depended did never think fit to Interpose This Doctrin of Infallibility it self is doubtless fundamental and the Church of Rome is divided about it some ascribing it to the Pope others to a Council yet the Infallible Judge is so shy of using his Gift as to restrain it when it is most necessary for the Manifestation and Defence of its own self If the Church of Rome has an Infallible Judgment it has indeed a wonderful Gift but to the least purpose or effect that can be imagined For in deciding the Controversies of those that pretend to believe it the Church does not think fit to use it And those that do not believe it can receive no benefit by its Definitions and yet it is to these only that it thinks fit to define II. If the Church of Rome were Infallible we cannot but think she would afford her People Infallible Instruction i.e. she would take care that her Catechisms her Liturgies and her Sermons should be Infallibly true Doctrins But if you will enquire how this Infallible Church teaches her Disciples you will find that her Catechisms were Composed by Fallible Men and are Expounded by Men as Fallible as they If you go to her Sermons you hear the words of Fallible Monks or Curates or sometimes of Bishops who may be Hereticks and Preach damnable Doctrins If you go to her Publick Offices there you meet with Forms made by they know not whom there you will hear Lections of Uncertain Authority taken out of Legends and the Writings of Men that either were or might be mistaken Therefore when some of the Advocates of the Roman Church are press'd by any Objections taken from the Publick Offices they decline the Authority and dispense with themselves for maintaining them as the Unerring Belief of the Church For the Infallible Church forsooth does not speak to the People in these Offices This we readily accept but then we desire some reason may be given why this Church being as they pretend Infallible does not think fit to instruct her People infallibly in her Liturgies or Homilies since those are the ordinary ways by which the People are Instructed And why she exposes the Souls of Men to the possible danger of Miscarrying by the ignorance or perverseness of her Fallible Priests when it is in her power to prevent all this by her own Infallible voice speaking in Homilies or Catechisms or Liturgies or other Authentick Books all as true as the Bible Wherefore all things consider'd I conceive our Opinion That the Church of Rome may Mistake is less dishonourable to her than theirs who would flatter her to fancy her self Infallible For we leave her a good Excuse why she does not give her Children Infallible Instruction Because she has no such Privilege whereas her Flatterers leave her inexcusable for not doing that which they confess she does not do and yet contend she is able to do Which will certainly leave her in the Opinion of all Impartial Judges most unworthy of so great a Trust as that of Infallibility III. Although the Roman Catholicks in their Disputes with Us are very forward to appeal to the Infallible Judge because he is their own yet when they mistrust that their own Opinions are in danger of being Condemn'd by the same Judge they make use of all means to prevent or decline his Judgment We have several Instances to this purpose in the Council of Trent which I think has most voices in the Roman Church for being Infallible But I will content my self with one only and that is the Debate about the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin. When the Article of Original Sin came to defin'd it seemed scarce to be avoided but that this of the Conception must be involv'd For if they defin'd in General without Exception That Adam's Sin pass'd upon All the Virgin would be concluded and the Franciscan Doctrin Condemn'd But if she were Excepted and declared Pure from that Original Blemish then the Dominicans would be Condemn'd Be it so but why should either Side be afraid of an Infallible Judge Why should they not by consent submit their Disputes and their Opinions to that which had clearer Light and could not be mistaken They had wrangled enough about it in the Dark according to their Uncertain and Fallible Judgment now an opportunity offer'd it self of letting all Sides know the Truth and of putting an End to that tedious Controversie But nothing could be done for want of Faith and Resignation to the Infallible Judge I cannot believe so hardly of the Dominicans as that they were unwilling to know the certain Truth of the Matter and if they had been in their Conscience persuaded that whatsoever the Majority of the Council had defin'd must be Truth it cannot be conceived why they should be so Industrious to avoid a Sentence They saw indeed a Majority on the other Side but then it was a Majority of Private Judgments which if they were in the wrong must change when they came to define as a Council or else farewell all Council-Infallibility But the Dominicans it seems would not trust that and I do not blame them but then we appeal to their Equity and desire that they would not put upon us that Infallible Judge to whom they are so loth to submit their own Opinions But let these Dominicans be as restive as they please and unwilling to have this Point Decided yet the Majority of the Council
wary Conduct of the Roman Church towards her own Members seems to confess a distrust of her own Infallibility so the Unreasonable Confidence which she uses towards us begets in us a just Suspicion that she is in the wrong and is not altogether Insensible of it For it is a sign of a very bad Cause when those concern'd to Defend it are unwilling to enter into its Merits and instead of that only bluster and stand upon their Privilege instead of Maintaining it by Law and Reason declare that they are to give Law and not to submit to any and that whatsoever they say that must be Reason This is an Extravagancy in which no Authority upon Earth can bear a Man out For if a Professor when he is press'd by some Untoward Objections against some Opinion he has deliver'd should think fit to answer only with his Brow or else to deliver it again as his positive Judgment out of the Chair declaring That it belonged to him to dictate in that place I am apt to believe that his Beard though never so venerable would scarce be able to preserve him from the Contempt and Derision of his own Disciples Or if a Judge question'd for an Unjust Sentence should instead of Law or Equity produce only his Commission to justifie his Act I am afraid whatever became of his Person his Reputation would be in some danger Especially if all were of Judge * Rustworth's Coll. T. 1. P. 506. Dodridg's mind That it is no more fit for a Judge to decline to give an Account of his Doings than for a Christian of his Faith. Now this is the Case between Us and the Church of Rome We charge Them of Corrupting the Faith of Establishing Superstition and Insufferable Tyranny We produce our Evidence and alledge Scripture and Primitive Antiquity to make out Our Charge On the other side She takes upon her and stands upon her Privilege She defines and proves it with a Curse which is a Spiritual kind of Hectoring and We are Hereticks convict because we are not satisfied with these Demonstrations For my own part I think they are to blame that do not like this Proceeding in an Enemy for the nearest thing to an Acknowledgment that the Roman Cause is Indefensible is this desperate way of maintaining it the less of Argument Men have the more Positive they grow and endeavour to make up their want of Reason by the Boldness and Peremptoriness of their Affirmation And though some may ascribe the Infallibility-shift to the Confidence of the Church of Rome I shall rather impute it to her Desperation And we are the more confirmed in this Suspicion that the Roman Church was brought to this Shift by Distress rather than Choice when we consider the time and the Occasion upon which we find her openly to have declared her self Infallible When the Eastern Church quarrell'd with those of the West about some Points of Doctrin as well as Ecclesiastical Observances among other things they urge That the Catholick Church was on their Side For of the five Patriarchs which Govern'd the Church whom they usually compar'd to the five Senses there were four for the Eastern Opinions And if two to one be accounted odds it will be intolerable Presumption for one to oppose four For so Michael Cerularius urges not intending to confer any Infallibility upon those four Patriarchs but from a Majority pleading a Presumption of Right Pope Leo opposes to this the Dignity of St. Peter and the Privilege which the Roman Church had of being Infallible though she stood alone This appears by the Letters of Michael Patriarch of Constantinople and Peter of Antioch and Leo the Ninth's Reply to their Objections and it is no wonder the Pope took Sanctuary in such a Pretence when Authority did commonly bear down Reason And the Roman Church was too great to depend upon the sole Merit of the Cause and such Reasons as were common to her with every private Christian in the World. But this Pretence of Infallibility was yet rather Insinuated than Defined till Gregory VII condemn'd and depos'd by several German and Italian Councils was forc'd to lift up his See beyond all Human measure and to declare positively That his Church could never Err. About an Hundred and fifty Years after this the Schoolmen invented the Term Infallibility to express this Unaccountable Privilege Mr. Cressy calls it an Unfortunate Word and 〈◊〉 is indeed For never any had harder usage than this It is forced to stand against Scripture and Tradition against Authority and Reason and Sense This poor Infallibility must hide all Faults must cover every Defect and vouch every Absurdity and justifie even Transubstantiation I have insisted I fear too long upon the grounds we may have to suspect that the Church of Rome does not really believe her own Infallibility What conceit she may have of her self or how she may stand in the Opinion of her Adherents is to us of no great Importance since we do not conceive our selves concluded either by her fond Fancies of her own Excellence or the extravagant Applauses of her Flatterers only we would desire she would not press us too vehemently to this Belief while she is under such flagrant Suspicion of Deriding it within her self If she do really believe this we envy her not the Paradise of such a Conceit but rather pity her Disease and the disorder of her Imagination for so it is And something not unlike her case we have in the Character of the Church of Laodicea Because thou hast said I am Rich and encreased with Goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art Wretched and Miserable and Poor and Blind and Naked anoint thine Eyes with Eye-salve that thou mayest see But be the Roman Pretence never so sincere we have further grounds of Suspicion that really there is no such thing For I. Christ himself the Author of our Faith though he was Infallible because he was God yet did not think fit to use this way of Authority or meer Defining to introduce his Doctrin nor to recommend it to his Disciples as a Principle for trying Doctrâ—â—â— when he was gone to Heaven The way therefore which our Saviour took was to Prove and to Convince by Arguments proper and conclusive When he was question'd he appeal'd to the Scriptures Search the Scriptures for they testifie of me If I bear witness of my self my witness is not true And therefore produces the Testimony of John the Baptist of his Father at his Baptism of the Miracles that he did The same Works which I do they bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me If ye do not believe me believe the Works But above all he alledges the Scripture in Vindication of his Person and his Doctrin When he was blamed for Healing on the Sabbath he justifies himself from the Law that permitted Beasts to be relieved on that day and by an Argument a fortiori he
The Dispute between Pope Stephen and S. Cyprian about Rebaptizing is well known and whoever compares their Opinions with what the Council of Nice Determined upon that Question will find they were both in the Wrong Tertul. adv Prax. Pope Anicetus gave but a poor Sign of his Infallibility when he received the Prophecy's of Montanus Prisca and Maximilla and received the Asiaticks and Cataphrygians into his Communion And Marcellinus his Infallibility must surely forsake him when he offered Incense to Idols as the Roman Offices do accuse him and though Baronius mentions the Endeavours of some Zealous Men to take off this Blemish yet after all the Revisions of the Breviary it remains there still But be the Catholick Church before the Nicene Council as destitute of Infallible Judgment as it was of Civil Force surely when Councils were assembled with the concurrence of Popes all Dispute and Heresie must be at an end for when the Infallible Judge has taken his Place all Knots in Religion must be Unty'd and all Doubts removed for who so Ignorant or Perverse as to dispute against his Sentence whom all the Christian World must know to be uncapable of Mistake Now the Misfortune is That after Many General Councils received by the Bishop of Rome and the greatest part of Christendom we hear no Tydings of an Infallible Judge nor of the Roman Resolution of Faith into the meer Authority of Papal Councils And this is such a Disappointment under which no Man can be patient and in spight of all Good Disposition of Believing the Roman Method it will breed Suspicion That the Infallible was not revealed to the Church of those Times Athanasius the great Champion and Confessor for the Nicene Creed in all his Apologies forgot this great and unanswerable Defence That he followed an Infallible Guide He Explains and Confirms from Scripture Athan. or ad Maxim. Id. de Nicen. Synod Decret Orat. 1. contr Arrian the Notion of Consubstantial but could not be so happy as to urge That it must be true Because the Infallible had pronounc'd it He deservedly commends the Nicene Council and the Faith defined there but his Reasons turn Infallibility upside down For he received the Determination of that great Assembly because in his Judgment he was convinc'd That it was True and Consonant to the Scriptures but did not therefore think It must be as True as Gospel Because it was the Sentence of an Infallible Judge And at last in the Way of our Protestant Resolution of Faith declares That in those Controversies that divided the Church We ought to pray for the Spirit of Discretion That every one may know what to Receive and what to Reject A Faithful Disciple of the Gospel is able to distinguish between Truth and Pretence because he has the Spirit of Discerning but the Simple is carryed away with every Colour But what should we do with this Private Spirit of Discretion in a Controversie already decided by the Infallible And what danger of the Simple if he can but be Simple enough to Believe as the pretended Infallible Church Believes And it is yet more strange That after the Nicene Decisions this Father should recommend the Scriptures as a better and more sufficient Means than any other for our Direction to the True Faith. Con. Maxim. l. 3. c. 14. S. Augustin was surely to blame when in a Dispute with an Arrian he makes this Proposal That they should by Consent lay aside the Authority of Council-Definitions and gives up the Judgment of the Nicene Fathers in exchange for that of the Hereticks of Rimini and leaving the Advantage of a Sentence by which alone the Truth could be Infallibly known according to the Roman Supposition descends to put the Matter upon an Issue which we are now told is very uncertain and of dangerous Consequence that is To be tryed by Scripture and Reason One would think it had been a much easier and shorter Task for him to prove the Council of Nice Infallible if he had thought it as Demonstrable as the Missionaries say it is than to convince the Hereticks by Disputable Passages of Scripture interpreted according to his Private Reason Here indeed he overthrows Infallibility but Implicitly and by Consequence but in another place he expresly Disclaims it The Church says he L. 2. con Crescon ought not to set her self above Christ for he always Judges according to Truth but Ecclesiastical Judges as Men are commonly-Mistaken And then lest you may imagine General Councils excepted in another place he declares That even Plenary Councils may need Amendment and that L. 2. de Bapt. c. 3. The latter may Correct what is Amiss in the former And in an Epistle to S. Jerom he further declares That he had learned to pay this Deference only to the Canonical Scriptures of believing their Authors to have erred in nothing But others though never so Learned or Holy without any Exception I read so as not to take any thing to be True because they were of that Opinion but because they proved it by Scripture or Reason S. Jerom professes so firm adherence to his Private Coviction Ep. ad August Apud Flac. Illyr in Cato l. Test Suttliv de Eccles That the Authority of all the World should never be able to make him depart from it This says he I affirm this I boldly pronounce though all the World should gainsay it And he makes no Scruple of Rejecting Councils if they determine any thing against the Doctrine of the Scriptures In Esai c. 30. nay he makes it the Character of Hereticks That they take upon them so great Authority That whether they Teach Truth or Falshood they will not allow their Disciples to examine by Reason but Implicitly to follow their Leaders And yet I do not know of any of these arrived to such an Extravagance as to pronounce themselves Infallible Nazianz. ep ad Procop. Gregory the Divine was surely a Stranger to the Infallible Judge when he resolves to shun all Assemblies of Bishops because he never saw Good Issue of any of them And I can scarce believe that he would have been con tent to submit the Faith to Major Vote Orat. ad Arrian when he brings in the Arrians insulting over the little Flock of Christ defining the Church by Multitude and preferring the Sand to the Stars Joh. Antioch in Conc. Ephes t. 3. p. 70. 76. Ed. Labbe He must needs be Ignorant of the Infallible Judge that thus writes to the Emperor Theodosius against Cyril and his Ephesin Council That a great number of Bishops is unnecessary for the Examination of Opinions in Religion and serves only to create Tumults For this End our Adversaries bring great Numbers depending only upon that and not upon the Truth and Orthodoxness of their Belief And then speaking of Cyril Endeavouring to ratifie his Heresie by Multitude not considering That in Religion it is not Number that is
which is to some an Infallible Judge they methinks should not be afraid to declare the whole Truth for they surely could not mistrust their own Infallibility and as little could they Question the Acquiescence and Submission of all good Catholicks yet these had Scruples and could not speak out for they had received a Caution from Rome whence their Spirit of Defining came That they should by no means Meddle with that Controversie that depended between Catholicks which might occasion a Schism How For a General Council to determine a Controversie between Catholicks would it be to expose the Church to the Danger of Schism Where then is their Belief of Infallibility Where is their Resignation to the Decrees of the Church Or to what Purpose is Infallibility given if it cannot be Exercised for fear of Offence and giving occasion to Schism We are told That the only Remedy against Heresie and Schism is the Determination of the Church and we are pressed to forsake our Religion because the Council of Trent has condemned it whereas in Confidence between Pope and Council we find that their Catholicks would leave them for that very Reason which they use to Convert us i. e. If they durst Condemn their Opinions as they have done ours It is said indeed That this Article of the Immaculate Conception is not of Faith and therefore needs not to be decided and if it were the Decision of the Church may not be Infallibly True because the Promise of Infallible Assistance extends only to Matters of Faith. I should be better content with this Answer if I could be satisfy'd once What is of Faith and what is not How comes Invocation of Saints Worshipping of Images and Purgatory to be of Faith and this not It cannot be said Because the Church has determin'd those Points and not this For before I enquired Why the Church would not determine this and it was given me for a Reason That it was not of Faith. Or is it because it does not seem to be of so great moment in it self This cannot be pretended for Matters of less Moment have been declared to be of Faith For Instance The Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin is an Article in it self of less Moment than this of the Immaculate Conception for he that denies that the Mother of our Lord always continued a Virgin makes her less Perfect in the Opinion of some but not Criminal in the Judgment of any For if she had enjoy'd the Liberty of Wedlock she had not sinned But he that affirms her to be Conceived in Sin if she knew no Sin is a False and Blasphemous Accuser and does her real Dishonour Yet Helvidius and some others that denyed her Perpetual Virginity are Hereticks the Dominicans that charge her with Original Sin and that Unjustly according to the Opinion of the major part of the Council of Trent if we may believe Pallavicini and of the present Roman Church are still Good Catholicks and the Question must not be Infallibly Decided against them for fear of Schism But one of the greatest Hindrances of our Belief of Infallibility is to see That those who affirm that such a Priviledge belongs to their Church cannot agree where to place it Some are for the Pope some for a General Council some for the Church Diffusive now if but one of these Competitors be Infallible of three Parties into which the Roman Church is divided upon this Question there are two against him and as very Hereticks as we If all the three be Infallible then all the Roman Church is in a Dangerous Error for of this Trinity of Infallible Judges no Party believes but one to the Exclusion of the other two Nor can they Reproach us with rejecting all the three for we allow the Church Diffusive to be Infallible in a Sense that is That there shall be always Persons professing the Substance of the Christian Faith only we do not make these Infallible Judges nor resolve our Faith into this Pious Opinion as into a first Principle But we need not insist upon this for the Romanists themselves confess That the Church Diffusive can be no Judge and that no Controversie in Religion was ever yet Decided by it Now while the Romanists are Disagreed about their Infallible Judge how can we believe that they have any For surely If God had appointed such a Judge he had rendred him so Conspicuous and Remarkable that every one who was not wilfully Blind must have Discerned him else there could be no Use of him and instead of Ending Controversie he would Serve only to Increase it by becoming himself the Subject of a New Dispute For what Use I pray of an Infallible Judge that lies incognito or what benefit from that Infallibility that is Distracted between many and Endless Competitions The Wisdom of God is not wont to confer so great a Gift to so little purpose and those who concern the Divine Wisdom in this Question by saying That God had not made sufficient Provision for his Church if he had not made it Infallible do not consider That while they Disagree about this Infallibility they overthrow their own Argument and betray the Divine Wisdom after they had interested it in their Disputes When they pretend to be all agreed in this That they Blieve the Pope and a General Council in conjunction to make up one Infallible Compound we have great Reason to suspect That what they say is not True and that they do not believe it themselves for several have lived and dyed in their Communion who publickly taught That a Pope and General Council concurring may err in the Faith and were never Censur'd for this Doctrine Besides it is as reasonable to believe that two Cyphers joyned may make up a Summ as that two Fallible Parties can make up one Infallible in Conjunction Or if these Parties are Infallible apart they do but mock us when they talk of their Conjunction But that they do not Believe their own Pretence seems to me plain Because they take no Care to be always provided of this Infallible Compound How can they believe a Pope and Council united to be the only Infallible Judge and yet use no Means to bring them together once in a hundred Years The Council of Constance when it had Decreed Councils to be Infallible took Care to Act according to their Pretence and therefore ordered Councils to be frequent and provided against all those Impediments which the Jealousie of the Roman Court might oppose to their Design But that Men should believe that Infallibility of Judgment belongs to a certain Conjunction of Parties and yet to be content they should never meet and to let Ages pass without the least Benefit of this Infallibility that was in their Power is such a Riddle that overcomes my Weak Faith so Rank a Pretence as would turn the Stomach of a Pharisee But if they pretend That the State of the World and Circumstances of Princes will