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
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
proves That a Charity towards a Child of Abraham was much more to be allowed When the Sadducees disputed with him he reproach'd them for not knowing the Scriptures but blames them not at all for being ignorant of the Infallible Judge In short all his Instructions all his Preaching all his Disputes were full of Arguments and Proofs drawn from the Merits of the Cause from Scripture and Reason and to finish his Evidence and the Conviction of his Hearers oftentimes he crown'd all with Miracles The Pharisees indeed when they were at a loss for an Argument would take Refuge in their Authority and therefore when they could not answer a poor Man thus they take upon them Thou wast altogether born in Sin and dost thou Teach us Are we blind also And have any of the Pharisees believed on him But our Saviour instead of Encouraging this assuming way warns his Disciples against it Call no Man Rabbi or Master upon Earth call no Man Father i.e. Submit not your selves implicitly to such Arrogant Teachers as these that usurp Dominion over your Faith. And therefore he recommends to Men the Use of their Judgment Why of your own selves judge ye not what is right And lest any should think that this noble Faculty was given them only for their Worldly Occasions he reproaches the Jews for not making due Use of it in Enquiries of Religion Ye can discern the face of the Heaven and why do you not discern this time of the Messiah Which the Scriptures did plainly mark out to those that would use their Judgment to discern them Now it became our Saviour to deal with us in this manner for since upon our account he was pleas'd to be made Man it was most suitable to that Condescension to speak to us as a Man and to meet us in our own way of Apprehension And besides it seems more agreeable to the Nature of the Eternal Word or Reason to satisfie and convince our Understandings than to amaze and confound them with Paradoxes without Proof or Explanation Although Christ's Disciples call'd him Master and so indeed he was yet he did not use them as Servants but as Friends For the Servant knows not what his Lord doth A Servant is not to demand Reasons or to know the Intention of his Master in every thing he commands But Christ calls his Disciples Friends because he had made known to them all things that he had heard of the Father Besides it is much cheaper to affirm Confidently than to preduce any tolerable Proof and many may amaze Men with strange and extravagant Opinions that are not able to render any Reason that may move an ordinary sober Understanding The Gnosticks and the extravagant Sects that sprung from them would submit their wild Conceits to no rational Examination you must take all upon their Credit or be an Infidel For these Mystical Rabbies were above the poor Dispensation of giving Reasons Apelles the Heretick in a Conference with Rhodon affirms That a Man ought not to Examine his Faith but to content himself with whatever Opinion he had receiv'd And being demanded a Proof for his Belief of One God since he rejected Moses and the Prophets He frankly confess'd He had none to give but that he was mov'd he knew not how to believe it And therefore is justly derided by his Antagonist But the true Christians did not thus learn Christ they received his Doctrin not only because he Pronounced it but because he gave Proof and Demonstration of what he said And besides the outward Testimony of Miracles it was no small help to their Conviction to see the Inward Merit and Excellency of this Religion that it had nothing unworthy of God nothing contrary to Moral Honesty or the Principles of Natural Religion And Justin Martyr though he believed in Christ with so much Assurance as to Die for him yet to let us see that his Faith was not altogether Implicit but grounded upon Rational Conviction from the Merit of the Doctrin makes this bold and somewhat harsh Declaration in his Book against Marcion That he should not have believed Christ himself had he preach'd any other God beside the Creator And we have Irenaeus's Approbation That it was well said The Apostles did not think fit to make use of this way of Infallibility though the Promise upon which it is now grounded was made immediately to them and the Assistance of the Spirit was visible in the Miracles they wrought But they did not affect to be above their Master and they could not forget that Caution he gave them Not to be call'd of Men Rabbies Nay so far were they from affecting Dominion over the Faith and Understanding of Christians that they permit and applaud the diligence of those who would not receive the Gospel upon their bare Affirmation but search'd the Scriptures to see whether those things were so as they were alledged by the Apostles If we may allow St. Luke to speak their sense It was St. Paul's Advice to the Corinthians that they should Examine themselves whether they were in the Faith and he renounces all Dominion over their Faith. When the same Corinthians doubted of the Resurrection St. Paul does not think it sufficient to say That it was defined and a received Article of the Creed But enters into the Merits of the Cause and proves the Truth by Arguments unanswerable and Defends it against all the Objections that had rendred it suspected When the Churches of Galatia were divided upon the great Question Whether the Gentile Christians were obliged toobserve the Law of Moses and many pretended the Authority of Peter and James to the Prejudice of Christian Liberty St. Paul undertakes our Defence and throws off all not only the Authority of Men though they were Apostles but of Angels Though an Angel from Heaven should preach any other Gospel let him be accursed And this high Declaration was intended if Chrysostom understand it right to shew That where the Debate is concerning Truth St. Paul will not be satisfied with the Dignity or Office of any Persons As if that must be Gospel which they declare Alas then for the Infallible Judge if there be no respect of Persons no regard of Offices when Truth is in question We were told a quite contrary story That the only way to know the Truth was to consult Men plac'd in certain Dignities and to take for Oracle whatsoever they shall think fit to define St. Paul it seems knew nothing of any Infallible Judge from the heavenly Angels downwards and Chrysostom his Interpreter takes not the least care to Except him The Greeks have a Tradition That when Chrysostom wrote his Comments upon St. Paul's Epistles the Apostle was seen for several days standing behind the Bishop's Chair and whispering into his Ear But without believing this a Man may have reason to be satisfied that the Gloss speaks the sense of the Text and if all his Epistles had been as clear as this
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
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