must adore his person and submit to his Decrees And if there be not some strange charm in his Chair I cannot force on my self a belief of his being inspired How then I must be directed to find this infallible Umpire of all differences If you send me to a Succession you give me a hard task to labour in and when I have found it it is no more but what all must allow to be in the Greek Church And I cannot see any thing in the Scriptures of the Bishops of Rome so I am at a loss for want of some good directions and clear characters of this Infallible Iudge 4. My fourth question is In what person or persons of the Roman Church this Infallibility doth rest If you tell me in a Council then I must ask you Where this Council is to be found for all your arguments perswade the necessity of a living speaking Judg therefore I would gladly be satisfied in what City or corner of the World this Council sits for if you send me to the Decrees of the Councils this overthrows all your own grounds from which you plead against the Authority of the Scriptures and if I go to any Writings why not to the Scriptures rather than the Decrees of Councils for every one that has compared them will find a plain simplicity in the one and much of the subtlety of Metaphysicks and the nicety of School terms in the other 5. My fifth Question is What grounds there are for believing this supposed Infallibility tied to the collective Body of the Church and that it is not rather spread over the whole diffusive Body of the Christian World For if the Church be only infallible when gathered in a Council then as there was no Infallibility in the Church for three Ages so it was afterwards subject to the pleasure of the Emperors who called Councils when they would and is now wholly in the Popes hands And as it was in the power of the Emperor so it is now in the Popes to suppress this infallible Authority which is thus subject to outward accidents and must live or die at the pleasure of the Popes and Emperors And indeed the Popes have taken up such jealousies of general Councils that the World is not like to be troubled with more of them 6. If this Infallibility be spread among all Christians I am not a whit nearer the resolution I desire for when they differ in so many opinions how shall I know which of them are in the right must I travel all the Christian World over to examine of which side the greatest number is This is our endless labour therefore I must have a shorter way to work 7. Who of all the Societies of Christians must have the interest to meet and give vote in a Council must all the Lays be excluded and only the Clergy be admitted I must tell you I see no reason for throwing out the Laity You know the Epistles wherein St. Paul gives the Rules for the Order and Government of the Churches are directed to all the Saints and faithful in the Churches by which it seems they were to have an interest in the Government as well as their Pastors We are sure among the Jews the Sanhedrim that judged in all things Civil and Ecclesiastical was not only made up of Priests and that the High-Priest himself was no Member of it by his Office unless he were chosen to be of the number nor can I find any thing in the New Testament that excludes the Laity On the contrary the Promises of the Holy Ghost are made to all that believe without exception and all Christians are called a Royal Priesthood and in the first Council at Ierusalem the Brethren concur'd in the Decision and Synodal Epistle with the Apostles and Elders 8. Supposing none but these in Orders be admitted to a General Council then what interest must they have there shall all be alike or must the Bishops only have a Suffrage You must give good authority for this before all must submit to it It is not determined in Scriptures in the Council of Ierusalem the Presbyters had a Suffrage so it continued in the first Ages of the Church We find the Presbyters subscribing in many Provincial and National Councils Why must they be allowed there and excluded in a General Council it being only an Assembly of all National Councils But if Bishops only must vote in Councils by what warrant do Cardinals as such vote in your General Councils since as Cardinals they are only the Presbyters and Deacons of Rome Abbots also though but Priests get a Vote in the Western Councils for as Abbots they cannot pretend to a Divine Character or institution and if as Priests they vote in your Councils why are not all Priests allowed the same privilege 9. How shall I be assured a Council thus constituted is infallible especially if I see or be told by the Historians of both sides that all things are managed in this Council by factious Parties and intrigues each Party studying to wait opportunities when they may carry a Vote and bringing all of their faction to the Council This was plainly the case at Trent as even Pallavicini represents it And you will hardly prevail on any who has considered a little what the direction of the Holy Ghost is to make him believe that in a packt Meeting where all is full of cunning and design the Holy Ghost must be ever ready to direct them when they go to the Vote and that this shall only be when the Bishops are in their Formalities at a Session and not in a Congregation which is the Council resolved in a Grand Committee I know Sir our House of Commons understands this distinction but what grounds have you to pretend to it where all are acted by an infallible direction 10. Whether must the whole Council agree in a Decision or the major part determine I know you choose the latter but it is not easie to make any body hope that the greater part of any Assembly must be the better and wiser part since we see it is most commonly otherwise I know this must be the rule in a Court that determines any thing by equal Suffrages but if a Jury must all agree in the disposal of my life it were but reason that all should also agree in the determining my faith which upon the matter is the disposal of my soul. And I know no reason to believe the Holy Ghost will certainly assist the major part more than that he will assist every person that is allowed a Suffrage in the Council 11. How shall I know what is a General Council what not for I find great numbers of Bishops have run together and flatly contradicted one another The Nicene Council decreed the Son was of the same substance with the Father this was rejected by many other Councils some decreeing he was of a like substance with the Father others that he was of a
THE Infallibility OF THE CHURCH OF ROME Examined and Confuted IN A LETTER TO A Roman Priest By GILBERT BURNET LONDON Printed by M. Clark and are to be Sold by H. Brome and B. Tooke in S. Paul's Churchyard 1680. A Letter to a Priest of the Roman Church wherein the Grounds of their pretended Infallibilities are called for and examined in some Queries SIR WHatever our differences be in many points of Religion we agree in this That it is the great concern of Mankind to examin well the grounds that lead him to his belief in matters of so high a nature You always tell me That out of the true Catholick Church there is no salvation adding That this Catholick Church is the Roman though this seems to be a Bull as plainly as a general particular Indeed so severe a Certificate makes me look to my self I confess this method of dealing with me seems not so fair nor rational For if any man study to draw me into a design by telling me That as I must ingage in it all I am Master of so I must surrender up the conduct of it to others of whose honesty industry and discretion I must not doubt I presently apprehend a trappan and you will not dispute it much that he deserves to be cosened who suffers himself to be imposed upon so grosly But certainly if my soul be more valuable than my estate and if eternity be preferrable to the vanishing shadows here below then I have great reason to be strongly prejudiced against those who would oblige me to hazard my soul in a tame and blind subjection to the Dictates of any man or Society of men Reason being the only part of our Nature that was born to Liberty and can defie all the severe rigours of Tyranny You will easily believe I cannot be induced on slight grounds to forgo this dearest and most essential piece of my brother-right And believe me it was enough that the Roman Church for a Succession of some Ages was Mistris of the Crowns and Empires of her Vassals and had the dispose of the Lives and Goods of the better part of Europe This was highly severe though Conscience had been left free The Law makes my House my Sanctuary but if I stir abroad I must be at my hazard So whatever Power the Civil Magistrates or the Guides of the Church may have over my Actions or profession of my Faith yet as long as it keeps within my head and breast its natural dwelling place it is a violation of the sacredness of that Sanctuary to invade it there or make it prisoner And when I further consider that Reason is nothing but a communication of Divine Light to make me understand those Propositions of which some hints were born with my Soul and the rest are offered to me in Sacred Writings if I throw off this and betake my self to the Dictates of others I exchange the Sun for the Moon and the Day for the Twilight and renounce the liberty of the servants of God for a bondage that excludes the freedom of a thought And at least if I were to come under so heavy a yoke I must before-hand be well assured of the sacredness of the Masters of my Faith No man can be wheedled to trust himself to any of whose fidelity and good conduct he is not well assured but he that commits himself to noted and known Impostors is the object of all mens scorn He must therefore have a great opinion of his own Rhethorick and of my easiness that attempts to perswade me to subject my belief to the Verdict of a Succession of men who do not so much as pretend to high learning much less to be eminent Saints and in whom I can discern no great Characters but of Temporal Authority and high pretensions to an uncontrouled Jurisdiction and neither of these can with any reason determine my belief for one unerring Judg. But since I observe both from my own knowledg and what I hear by others that you of the Mission place your greatest strength in the Authority and Infallibility of your Church and ply every body most with it I have therefore considered this with all the application of mind I am Master of as the fundamental Article of your belief For if your Church be priviledged from error all her Decrees must certainly pass for Oracles and there is no disputing them but if she be subject to error she is the boldest Imposturess that ever appeared in the World who dares pretend to an unerring assistance in all her decisions without good ground Suffer me therefore to offer you a few Queries of which when I am satisfyingly resolved I will be brought so much nearer a belief from which as long as these difficulties lie in my way I must confess my self at a great distance 1. And first let me ask you What necessity there is of an Infallible Iudg to whose Decrees all must yield absolute obedience If you convince me this is necessary I shall without difficulty yield to you that there is such a Judicatory since I am perswaded our blessed Saviour who loved his Church so dearly as to die for her would certainly provide her with all that was necessary for her preservation But here I know you triumph in the supposed necessity of such a Judg without whom there is no preserving either Truth or Peace For if there be not a Court to whose Award all must stand then every man is at liberty to believe as he will and there is no end of errors Which appears plainly in the Churches that have thrown oft the Roman Authority but are subdivided into many fractions which are the natural results of their opinions for if every man must search the Scriptures and believe what he thinks is the sense of them then according to the variety of mens complexions educations or inclinations there shall be a numberless variety of opinions And if none have authority over the perswasions of others they cannot be blamed much less condemned for their opinions This seems such an inconvenience that the Church must be in a very bad condition if there be no remedy for it This Sir I suppose is in short the strength of all you will alledge on this head but all this does not prevail with me to acknowledge an Infallible Iudicatory for to live well is the chief end of Religion and to think and believe aright is a necessary mean for that end from which I infer That if there be no necessity of an Infallible Power to make men live well neither is there any for making us think aright and certainly vice and immorality is as opposite to the designs of the Gospel as error now it is confessed there are no certain and infallible ways of restraining vice And if it must needs be a defect in the Constitution of the Church if there be no infallible means to restrain error what must I conclude if there be no infallible restraint
of the Gospel we are not left to the uncertainties of our own conjectures But there must be a great High Priest of Christendom for judging all Controversies But if this be well considered it will not advance your pretences a whit for the Jews were in all their Political Affairs in their Commerce and Treaties with Foreiners in their Government at home and in the matters of Peace and War to be determined by the Judiciary Laws Moses gave them and as they enjoyed the Land of Canaan by that Law which was then Magna Charta so they were in all Civil matters to be judged by the Law of Moses Now since no Law can give provisions for all emergents there was a necessity of a constant Exposition of that Law in all dubious cases And therefore God was pleased to continue this among them by the Urim and Thummim Their Worship was also made up of a multitude of particular Rites and many cases occurring in these of great intricacy God continued that extraordinary Presence among them But nothing of this was necessary under the Gospel in which the policy of the several States is left to be determined according to the Laws of Nature and the several Humors Customs and Interests of Nations Our Belief is also plain and our Worship simple so that none of these things remain that made an Infallible decision necessary under the Old Testament And besides the mysteriousness of the Communication and the plain express words of the Institution do shew the difference betwixt that and any thing can be pretended to under this new and more perfect dispensation Moses plainly told them what that series of men should be and of whom descended he also declared how they were to inquire Counsel from God and how all must submit to their Sentence Nor was the High Priest by his Character vested with this Authority but when he put on the Ephod and went in before the cloud of glory and brought back the sacred response Now the exactness Moses observed in delivering that seems convincing that when God intended to bring any part of mankind under that subjection he delivered his Commission to these so impowred in so formal and solemn a manner that it was not to be disputed but by one that rejected the Law of Moses From which I presume I may infer That if God had set up such Anthority in the Christian Church the Institution had been express the persons clearly designed their Succession as plainly pointed out to have put so great a matter beyond dispute So that the manner of the divine emanations of unerring direction had been as clear as it was of old Now since I meet nothing of this in the whole New Testament I see no reason to make me believe it is as you pretend For what you infer from our Saviours words to St. Peter from his saying Tell the Church and from his promises of the Holy Ghost will never conclude that you pretend to For before you can oblige me to believe any thing from these Premises you must allow me to acknowledge the sacredness of the Books wherein these words are so that my belief of the Scriptures shall not depend on the decision of the Church but shall rather lead me to acknowledge its Authority You must also allow me to believe these Scriptures are to be so expounded before I own the Authority of the Church to be absolute since from them you bind me to believe it Therefore I must expound them so as may agree best both with the plain literal sense of the words and the design on which they are set down by all which you allow me the Exposition of Scripture Now if I may expound it in some places why not in all that is indispensably necessary to salvation And your Churches claiming that Authority to her self must not oblige me to believe it a whit the more unless by some other cogent reasons I be bound to it for none must be both Judg and Party and no mans assertion must pass for proof in his own case and yet the very places you alledg come far short of what seems requisite on such an occasion for whatever may be said of St. Peter which I shall not now inquire into where have we any formal account who shall be his Successors what shall be necessary to make any such and by what means they shall come by these infallible directions And indeed I can see no reason to think that had there been such an Institution in the Gosspel the same goodness which moved our blessed Saviour to provide so well for his Church should not likewise have drawn from him such an explicit account of it in all circumstances as was necessary for setting the thing beyond dispute and securing any such Court in their Authority by an express constitution of it in its Members and a Declaration of their power such as Moses gave the People of Israel in the obedience due to the responses of Urim and Thummim 3. My third Question shall be supposing an Infallible Church How shall I be directed in my search for it so as to find it out For the several Societies that name the name of Christ being so broken off from one another to which of all these must I address my self for a decision in all Articles of Faith When I consider the beginings of Christianity that it first arose in Ierusalem and did spread most in the East when I also consider that the Eastern Churches had most Confessors and Martyrs in the Ages of persecution and had also the greatest interest in the four first and best General Councils as appears from the Subscriptions where the Western Bishops were scarce the twentieth part When I add to this how undisputed their Succession is and how long they have kept the prosession of the Christian Faith amidst all the severities and cruelties of the Saracens and Mahometans under whose bondage they continue to this day I am tempted to seek this Judge there but when I see in what ignorance they live and how the pressures they groan under though they have not prevailed on them to renounce the name of Christ yet have brought them to a degenerate means which I love not to dwell on nor aggravate since the circumstances they are in plead pity rather than scorn or disdain I am forced to turn away from them but if I look Western I see a Church triumphing indeed in outward splendor their Worship is solemn and magnificent their Priest in great esteem and their High Priest culminates in Glory and Power but after all this I cannot see what must oblige me to an implicit belief to every thing this Church imposes on me since the Piety to which she pretends is either immured in her Cloysters or appears only in faces and outward postures of devotion but after my most impartial inquiries I can see no reason to esteem the Head of this Church a Saint or such a Clerk that I