Many more promises might be collected out of the Old Testament but I come to shew Fourthly that Christ by his own mouth and by the mouthes of his Apostles hath promised to us likewise such a Church Mat. 16. 19. Upon this Rock I will build my Church which he had foretold by his Prophets should be of so vast extent And the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Mat. 18. 17. He that will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen or a Publican but if Christ by his spirit doth not preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching me error instead of a truth I may from this Church which Christ obligeth me to hear and unto which obligeth me to submit receive such errors as may damn me Mat. 28. 20. And Loe I am with you alwaies even unto the end of the World this must be meant of the visible Church which was to be in every Age for the Apostles were not to live and to Baptise and teach alway unto the end of the world And therefore if the same assistance and presence of Christ was promised to the Church after the Apostles I think we shall not doubt but that it is the same that is infallible But that it may clearely appear that the Assistance promised by Christ to his Church extended to an infallible security from all errors consider Iohn 14. 16. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive and v. 26. The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I shall say unto you and ch 16. 12. I have many things yet to say unto you but you cannot hear them now howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all truth But all Truth excludeth all Errors and this for ever which was longer then the Apostles were to live If we therefore enquire by what means this teaching shall be by whom the people shall be taught all Truths and how preserved from all errors St. Paul will tell us Eph. 4. 11. He gave some Apostles succeeding in full Apostolical Authority some Prophets expounders of the Prophets some Evangelists Preachers of the Gospel some Pastors and Teachers to what end For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ For what time Till we all come in the Union of the faith But will these secure us the next verse will tell you That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carryed about with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in waite to deceive Gods intent then was to provide such means for mankinde as might secure them in their beleif in every Age that they might not be deceived by the cunning craft of false Teachers such as now think themselves able by pretending inward Lights Private Spirits and evidence of Scripture by themselves Interpreted to teach us a doctrine contrary to all those who for almost fifteen Ages before them have been and none others teaching a contrary Faith can be named who have been the Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastours and Teachers in the Visible Church of Christ In the last place I shall urge that Text of St. Paul to Timothy 1. Tim. 3. 15. The Church of the Living God the Pillar and ground of Truth And may we not securely rely upon that Pillar which God hath erected for us and found our Faith upon that Ground of truth which the God of all truth hath given us for that end To elude their plain and evident Texts I know you are wont to say in the first place that they may have other Interpretations and therefore this is not the truth But will not the same reason hold the Apostles cited many Texts of Scriptures and interpreted them so as to prove Christ the Messias and his Doctrines to be true whereas those Texts might have had other interpretations therefore the Interpretation put on them by the Apostles were not true Who sees not the weakness of this Argument Can you shew with any assurance that these Texts are not capable of these interpretations If not then according to your own principles these interpretations may be true for you who say the contrary are not infallible but may be mistaken Another answer which you use to give is that you are willing to agree that so long as the Church of Christ teacheth conformable to Scripture she is infallible and so long as she doth her Duty she may and ought to be beleived But this is as weak as the former for who sees not that it gives the Church no more priviledge nor allowes it to have any more benefit from these promises then the Divel hath for so long as he teacheth conformable to Scripture he may be beleived A straw may be a Pillar until it bends and Quick-sands sure ground until they yield What assurance can we have that the Holy Apostles did their duty in writing what the Holy Ghost did dictate unto them For if they did not their writings are not to be beleived consequently we are not nor can we be infallibly secure that the Scriptures which we have were dictated by and are by Inspiration from God If you can answer this so as to be secure that the Apostles did their duty the same will be our answer that the present Visible Catholick Church of Christ at all times doth her Duty The fift Argument is that the Church of God was this Rule and Judge this only means to convey Faith and this infallible Guide and Authority when our Blessed Saviour was alive and before the New Testament was written and also in the Apostles times both before and after the whole New Testament was written If not I obliege you to shew some evident Text which proves certainly that after the New Testament was written the Church in the Apostles time was deprived of this priveledge and Authority and that it had been no sinne then to oppose or not submit to the guidance direction government and authority of the Apostles But if notwithstanding this you shall without giving any other Reason insist that the Apostles were this infallible Rule and Judge in their times only until the Canon of Scriptures was finished and then lost their Authority when they had compleated the Canon I pray consider what will be the consequence in case it stands proved that the Canon of Scripture which they finished is now uncompleated by the loss of those Epistles and parcels of the Apostles writings which I have proved to be lost Will it not follow that for the same Reason that an infallible living rule and Judge was necessary before the Canon was compleat the same is now necessary some part
and treatises from whence I made several Collections the Heads of which I recommend to your considerations they being such as had by the Gracious assistance of Almighty God such a prevailing power upon my understanding as to convince me of the errors of the way wherein I then was and to bring me to the Knowledge of the Divine truths of the Catholick and Christian Faith I gathered from the true interpretation of that Text of Scripture Heb. 11. 6. Without Faith it is impossible to please God And of that Mar. 16. 16. He that beleiveth not shall be damned And of that other Ephes 4. 5. There is but one Faith and one Baptisme one Lord Iesus That the faith which was to save me and by the which I was to please God must certainly be the true Faith which cannot be found in contrary Opinions it being but One and of contraries One only can be true I also collected from that Text 2. Cor. 10. 5. Bringing into Captivity every thought to the Obedience of Christ That this Faith or beleiving was to be seated in the understanding that the understanding was to submit not dispute And that this Act To beleive was a Command or Precept of Almighty God who will have his Will obeyed by all his Subjects and the not obeying of which is punished with eternal Damnation Lastly I found from that Text Heb. 10. 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that hath promised That Faith if truly Divine must be an infallible assent of our understanding submitting it self obediently to beleive the Revelations of God For otherwise Faith and consequently all Religion may be no more then fancy or Opinion and then no waies certain and if so then no Obligation From whence I thought it did very naturally follow first that there must be some means appointed by God by which we may know this one true Faith from all false Opinions for to require us to beleive upon pain of Damnation and not to give us any means whereby we may know what to beleive were to require us to make Bricks without Straw Secondly that these means must be infallible for we cannot be brought to an infallible ascent by fallible and uncertain means and God would not require us to assent to an Authority which may deceive us Thirdly that the understanding must submit to these means under pain of Damnation for if the understanding were at liberty to submit or not to submit to the means by which Faith is conveyed unto us it would be no fault not to beleive consequently God could not justly damne us for not beleiving Besides whosoever shall refuse to be governed by their means and that Authority which God hath appointed to govern him is a Rebel against God Fourthly that two men of two differing Faiths or beliefs cannot be saved for they both of them knowing that they are bound to be guided and governed by those means which God hath appointed to convey faith unto them and one of them flatly refusing to submit this person who refuseth must be guilty of disobedience to Gods command and consequently cannot be saved Fifthly that ignorant people by such reasonable diligence as is very tollerable to humane frailty and very possible for them may come to the knowledge of these means For otherwise God would have appointed means which would be unprofitable to the end and the far greater number of Souls for whom Christ dyed would not be sufficiently provided for by the sweet Providence of God By which that Prophesy would be ineffectual Esay 35. Say to them that are of a fearful heart be strong fear not behold your God will come and save you then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the Ears of the deaf unstopped c. And one high way shall be there and a way and it shall be called the Holy way the way faring men though Fooles shall not err therein And thus far I met with nothing but what I esteemed very agreeable with all sorts of people professing themselves Christians All that I ever met with seemed to grant that there must be a way and a Rule there must be means appointed there must be a governing power to judge and decide all doubts and teach us the true way to Heaven with certainty But who this Rule or Iudge is that is the difficulty for when once we have found it I think all persons will agree that they are obliged to submit unto it as to the Apostles if they were actually living or to Christ himself This therefore I thought to be the only question that I was to gain satisfaction unto I therefore ceased to enquire after this doctrine or the other Article as beleiving that if I could once find out this Rule this Judge which God had appointed as the means to direct me and to which I was to submit as to that Authority which God had appointed to Rule and Govern me to teach me what I was and what I was not to beleive I should no more scruple to beleive what that Authority should teach me to be revealed by God then if I heard God himself speaking And I was no way discouraged in my resolution to search when I considered that as God spoke in Antient times by the mouthes of his Prophets before and after the Scriptures were written and by the mouthes of his Apostles before and after the New Testament was written and that the writing of what God directed to be written did not lessen the power of God but that he might still direct by the mouthes of his Prophets and Apostles so possibly I might find God still speaking by an Authority which hitherto I had not been acquainted with I found all the Rules and meanes proposed by every party to amount to four in the whole One party would set up a claim to the Spirit directing them and speaking to their spirits Another will have Reason to be this Rule and Judge A third will set up sole Scripture And the fourth assigneth the Holy Catholick Church of Christ Visible here on Earth to be that Judge and Director And finally that medium appoynted by God himself for the ends before mentioned and to which all Christians were to submit Other then these I never heard of any for I alwaies esteemed the Quakers Light to be either the Spirit or natural Reason and I resolved to rank it under one of those considerations by a name more known to the world then that which they have given it And therefore these I resolved most carefully to examine As to the first touching the Spirit bearing witness in secret with our spirits or in plainer terms the Private Spirit I considered that there is no man in the world Jew or Turk Pagan or Christian but may if he will put on confidence enough affirme that he is taught inwardly by God many of all sorts do this and yet teach contradictions some therefore must be
deceived therfore this not the Rule Nor hath this any effect amongst those who pretend it for by this none of them ever as yet reconciled any differences but each pretender grows perverse and obstinate and seperates from all who pretend to have the spirit as well as himself and so endless Heresies and Schisms arise without any possibility to allay them or for either the Learned or the Ignorant to judge which of these bold pretenders hath a true spirit In the mean time it will not possibly be hard for a sober man to find that they are all of them governed by the Spirit of Error who pretend thus audaciously if he considers well the Rule which St. Iohn gives for discerning the spirit of truth from the spirit of error 1 Ioh. 4. 6. v. We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth from the Spirit of Error As if he should have said Christ hath placed Apostles and Teachers and Doctors to govern and teach his Church we are those and therefore of God therefore whoever pretends to know the Will of God must hear and obey and submit unto us or it is evident what he saith is but a pretence and he doth not indeed know God nor is he of God for if he did know God or were of God he would certainly hear us Here therefore is your Rule to know true from false spirits The spirit of truth is alwaies remaining with that Authority which God hath placed in the World to teach truth to the world and bring them to the Faith and all that are actuated and lead by this spirit are taught by it to submit to this Authority and to hear those whom God hath sent and doth send by this Authority since Faith only comes by hearing those who are truly sent but the spirit of error is a spirit of Pride which refuseth to submit to that Authority which God hath set up and heaping to themselves Teachers having itching eares turn away their ears from the Truth 1 Tim. 4. v. 3. 4. By this I saw that although the Rule and the Judge which I looked for must have the assistance and influence of the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth yet it could not be every private man or woman who laid claim to such influences and who could no more satisfie another that they are guided by the Spirit of Truth then many who are cast into Bedlam for affirming themselves to be God can evince themselves to be so and whose affirmations for ought I know are as concluding as the other In this therefore I was satisfied The next thing which I considered was Reason which I found could not possibly be this Rule and Judge that I sought for because first it was to submit as a Subject and Vassall to that Rule and Judge therefore it could not be it Secondly it was fallible and strangely apt to mistake which is against the Nature of this Rule and Judge to be For if God should obliege us upon pain of damnation to submit unto and to be governed ruled by an Authority that might deceive us and might teach us that for a truth which is not we should be bound to beleive that for true which is not so and yet be damned for not beleiving the truth Thirdly if Reason were to be this Rule and Judge then it would follow contrary to the Scripture that it is not impossible to please God without Faith for Reason would teach us sufficiently how to please God yea it would be a breach of this rule to beleive what we do not understand and then every Religion would be the truth consequently contradictions would be true consequently there would be many Religions and not only not one faith but no faith at all for there is scarce a man living but his reason differs from anothers understandings and judgements differing as much as Faces and Reason excludes faith Therefore no one that followes his own Reason could in justice be condemned by God consequently all men would be saved unless peradventure you will say that in a business of such consequence as the salvation of our souls our private Reason perswades us to prefer the Authority of such as are wiser then our selves before our own judgements which is most true But then I inferr that Roman Catholicks are the most rational people in the world and consequently have the best Religion as acting most conformably to Reason for they rely upon the Authority of General Councels consisting of the ablest and most Learned men of all Nations which is the greatest Authority to be found on earth especially if they have the assistance of the Holy Ghost as it appears they have both by the testimony of Scripture and the constant tradition of all Ages Lastly that would probably be the truth and the true faith to one man this year which seven years hence would be an error and a false faith to the same person for in such a compass of time a mans reason hath such an alteration Upon these grounds I concluded that certainly God in his good Providence had appointed a more sure Guide Rule and Judge to bring me to the infallible faith of Christianity then my own Reason The next thing in order to be considered was the Scriptures whether these were solely sufficient to teach us the true Faith and from time to time to direct Rule and Govern us and to be this Rule and Jude to whose sentence and determination to whose directions and Authority all were to submit and which was to supply unto us the place of Christ and the Apostles And indeed I found this highly contended for and several Reasons urged for it First the words of our Saviour Joh. 5. 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testify of me But to this I found several answers given which to me were a satisfaction For first it doth not appear whether this in the Original be the Imparative or Indicative Mood St. Ciril with whom Beza agrees takes it in the Indicative Mood and then the sence runs thus You do search the Scriptures because in them you have an Opinion that you have Eternal Life and yet even those Scriptures are so far from being against me that they testify of me so that I shall be no waies prejudiced if I should joyne issue with you and try my cause by your own Rule And in this sence they are so far from proving what they are produced for that they prove directly the contrary they are so far from being a command to all to read or search or make Scripture the sole Rule and Judge that they rather seem a reprehension to all who shall frame that conceit of the Scriptures Secondly these words cannot extend to prove this conclusion if they were in the Imparative Mood which can never be proved infallibly because they
to their best understandings and Consciences to be the sole and only rule of Faith and judge of controversies is not he that professeth to follow this principle allowed by all to be a perfect good Protestant though never so much differing in faith from others who make the same profession Good God hast thou told us that Heresies must be and yet left us without all possibility of convincing or condemning them or knowing who are and who are not Hereticks But those who pretend this Rule and Judge to be Scripture do in truth as little intend it as any who oppose them for if they will please but to speak their consciences clearly it would soon appear that it is not the Holy Scriptures which byass them but their own private reasons puting private sences and glosses upon those Scriptures which were easily quitted if they would once give themselves the liberty to see how easy it is for their reason to erre in divine things which are as far above the reach of reason as Heaven is above the Earth as it is for the same reason to mistake so much in humane affairs as we see it to do The second reason was that the Letter of Scriptures was to be construed and applyed by men wherefore as mens Judgements and interests differ so will their Expositions of written words from hence differing sences will be raysed and from thence different faiths For Example If I were to dispute against an Arrian and to prove that God the Father and God the Son are of the same substance I should urge that Text Joh. 10. 30. I and my Father are one thing And by this according to my judgement I should think I had proved the question But then my Arrian comparing this with Joh 17. 22. Where Christ prayeth to his Father that his Disciples might all be one thing as thou Father in me and I in thee concludes that this One or One thing in both these Texts are to be intended One in Affection not in substance for saith he it can never be understood that Christ intended to pray that his Disciples might be One in substance If I should urge the Arrian farther and say that the Council of Nice gave the same interpretation which I do to the Text which I urge he would answer as Protestants generally do that he hath a Worthy esteem of Councils and Fathers so far as they agree with Scriptures but he doth not think them infallible he beleives they may mistake and therefore where he finds them disagreeing with the Word of God he must contradict them all The third Reason which I thought forcible was that those who are thus far from for the sole Scriptures do not say that One or any perticular number of the Books of Scriptures but All the works of Scripture which were written by Inspiration of God do being joyned together make up this Rule and Judge to be a compleat Rule and Judge I concluded therefore if any of these Books be now lost this Rule is not perfect and then Man is left by God without means to beleive consequently must be damned for that which is not his fault Now that many of these books are lost I found clear from those which remain there is mentioned Num. 21. v. 14. The Book of the Warrs of the Lord. This is lost It is said of Solamon 1 Kings 4. 3. 2. That he spoke three thousand Proverbs and his Songs were a thousand and five I conceive some of these upon a just reckoning will be observed to be wanting We find named 2 Chron. 9. 29. The book of Nathan the Prophet the Prophecy of Ahijah and the Visions of Iddo These are lost as also those named 1 Chro. 29. 29. The book of Samuel the book of Nathan the book of God It is clear from Mat. 27. 9. That part of Ieremy is lost for that Evangelist cites a Text of Ieremy not to be found in any of Ieremies books which we have So also are the Books of that Prophet mentioned Matt. 2. 23. who foretold that Christ should be called a Nazarene We shall find by 1 Cor. 5. 9. That the Epistle which our Canon calls St. Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians was not truly his first to them for there he saith I wrote to you in an Epistle not to company with Fornicators wherefore if he hid the written an Epistle to them this was not his first to them St. Paul wrote also an Epistle from Laodicea which he mentions thus Col. 4. 16. Read the Epistle from Laodice It seems there was something in it which was material yet we do not find that Epistle the conclusion I think falls out very naturally The fourth Reason was this nothing can be a sole sufficient Rule to all or the only way and means to convey Divine and infallible Faith to all or a Judge to whose Sentence all are to submit on pain of Damnation which cannot be certainly and truly understood by all But the Scriptures cannot be certainly understood by all Nay they are very subject to be desperately misunderstood if you beleive the second Epistle of St. Peter and beleive it we must for it is Gods word 2 Pet. 3. 16. where speaking of all St. Pauls Epistles in general he saith In which are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction It is in vain to say that the Scriptures are easy in Fundamentals and in what concerns our salvation for we have here a testimony that they are hard and wrested by the unlearned and unstable to their destruction that is to their Damnation Now if they were only hard in things not appertaining to Salvation the wresting of such things could not bring men to Destruction It followes that they cannot be a safe and infallible secure Rule nor indeed any Rule at all the ignorant who are infinitely the greater part of those for whom Christ dyed The fift Reason is this if the Scriptures that is the writings of the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles c. be this Rule and Judge it can only be meant of their true Authentical and Original writings not of corrupted copies Therefore if we have not their true Originals our Rule is imperfect Observe what the most learned Protest Chamier saith in this perticular of Scripture Translations We acknowledge them to be made but by a private Spirit as far as every mans judgement skilfulness in Languages dilligence and sincerity were able to reach Therefore there is none either in our own tongue or in any other unto which we think meet to subiect either our selves or other men As for Translations the sence of Protestants is this that all of them of what standing name or credit soever they be and with what diligence sincerity or Learning soeuer they were made are only so far certain as they agree with the first Context I mean as far as they express
Reason which I shall recount unto you is this that to make the Scripture this sole Rule and Judge is in effect not to make the Scripture so but to make every individual man and woman who take upon them to read and understand the Scriptures such a Rule and Judge unto themselves for what difference is there between judging by my own Reason and judging by a Law to be Interpreted by my own Reason This is to make the Scripture not Gods Word but the word of every private man Hence I concluded that if Christ be God as certainly and infallibly he is and if he truly loved those soules for which he dyed he hath certainly provided for them some more assured means by which to know the true Faith without which he will not save them then by leaving them to the Scriptures to be interpreted by each one as he thinks best for what Law maker was there ever found so ridiculous as to gather a people into a body and give them a Law book in writing to govern them and to be their only judge in all their differences without appointing nay expresly prohibeting that there should be any living judge or Judges or any Court to expound this Law and to have the Executive Authority and jurisdiction from whence there should be no appeal Having considered after this manner what could be said for the private Spirit Reason and the sole sufficiency of Scripture I was in the last place to see what could be said on the behalf of the Catholick Church resolving from these premises that if here I could not find a satisfaction in point of certainty and an infallible assurance I was not to expect it as far as I yet understood from the Principles of Christianity and consequently must conclude that Religion and Faith were no more then Fancy and Opinion I thought it not unreasonable and other persons would doubtless have thought the Argument strong enough if I had sought no further but concluded the Private spirit is not Reason is not the Scriptures are not this Rule and Judge therefore the Church is But I resolved to examine farther and having agreed the point that such a Rule and Judge there must alwaies be of necessity and therefore there hath alwaies been and ever shall be such a One unless we shall say which I hope none will that God is defective in necessaries I found first for the first 2000 years before any Scriptures were written the Church of God was this Rule and Judge Was not Circumcision and other Rights brought in by Abraham and practised by the Church then without any Scripture to try them by what would you have said if you had then lived would you have disobeyed the then Church and rejected those Ordinances because there were then no Scriptures to warrant them Secondly the Church of the Jews was so to the Jews after that the Scripture was written and this by the express direction of Scripture Deut. 17. 8. Thou shal come to the Priests the Levites and unto the Iudge that shall be in those daies and enquire and they shall shew thee the sentence of Iudgement c. And according to the judgement which they shall tell thee you shall do Thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee to the right hand nor to the left hand And the man that will do presumptuously and will not hearken unto the Priest or unto the Iudge even that man shall dye Therfore our Blessed Lord whilst the Jewish Church was yet in being gave directions Mat. 23. 2. 3. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses Chair all therfore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do Would God direct them unto punish with Death for not obeying an Authority which might deceive them would our Lord command the doing of whatsoever should be done by an Authority when that Authority was capable of mistaking From hence I concluded that it was possible for the Church of God to be such a Rule and Judge and to be the means appointed by God to give infallible instructions in the Truth Now as concerning the Church in the new Law under Christ I found Thirdly that God had promised such a Church such an Authority by the mouthes of his Prophets Isa 2. v. 2. 3 c. It shall come to pass in the last dayes so the Apostles called the time of the New Law That the Mountain of the Lords house shall be Established in the top of the mountains behold its visibility All Nations shall slow unto it see its Universality and extent and say come ye and let us goe up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob And He that is God will teach us his waies in this his house or Church for out of Sion shall go forth the Law as by the Apostles on Whitsunday and the Word of God from Ierusalem where the first Preaching of the Gospel begun And he shall judge amongst the Nations Not personally for Christ went not of Iewry but by his Churches Tribunal erected amongst all Nations so conspicuously that they may all flow to it Will any one say this judgement which is Gods judgement can be fallible Or that in this Tribunal he that teacheth can teach us Errors Isa 35. 8. where God promiseth to establish a way of holiness so direct unto us that Fooles should not erre therein Isa 54. 3. 13 17. Thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles thy children shall be taught of the Lord and every tongue that shall rise against thee in Iudgement thou shall condemne Isa 56. 21. As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my spirit infallible that is upon thee and my words infallible also which I have put in thy mouth the mouth by which the Church teacheth and judgeth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and forever Behold here the spirit of Truth intailed upon the Church to preserve it from Error Isa 60. 10. 12 c. The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls their Kings shall minister unto thee thy Gates shall be open continually they shall not be shut day nor night that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles and that their Kings may be brought For the Nation and Kingdome which will not serve thee by submitting to thy doctrine shall perish I will make the place of my feet glorious they shall call thee the City of the Lord I will make thee an eternal Excellency thy sun shall no more go down nor shall thy moon withdraw it self but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light If those shall perish who refuse to submit to this Authority to whom God is an everlasting Light and whom he makes an everlasting Excellency we need not fear that it can deceive us or that it can ever so be Eclipsed as to be at any time invisible
of the Canon being lost And what will the consequence be if it stand proved also that supposing the Canon were compleat yet it is not sufficient to decide the controversies now a foot amonst Christians in matters of Faith Will it not follow that then it is necessary to have such a Rule and Judge as is before mentioned The late Learned Dr. Ferne a great Champion for sole Scripture confesseth Sext. 27. That Indeed such a Iudge or Umpire in Christendome would if to be had be a ready means to compose all differences and to restore truth and peace But shall we think that our blessed Redeemer when he first founded his Holy Church did not see this as clearly as Dr. Ferne certainly he did and for this reason he appointed the Holy Apostles and their Successors to be this Judge and Umpire and if you desire or expect to see an end of those differences wherein ye are now involved by relying on your own private Interpretations of the Scriptures you must address your selves to this Judge and be content to stand the determination of their Umpire which is infallible I say infallible for as the Apostles though as men were subject to error in their own private affairs and actings and as such might one withstand the other and reprove the other yet were they by the assistance of Gods Holy spirit in defining and delivering matters of Faith so the Prelates of the Holy Catholick Church though as men they were fallible in their own private actings and affairs yet when assembled in a General Council with their Supream Pastor they are still made infallible in defining matters of Faith by the assistance of the same Holy Ghost who was as well promysed to them as to the Apostles The last reason is that none of the difficulties that were proposed to prove the Scriptures not to be the Rule and Judge before mentioned are capable of being objected against the Church For first this Judge and Rule is capable of answering the end for which it is appointed and proposed all who submit unto the Church agreeing in matters of Faith Secondly it is not capable of being misunderstood or misinterpreted by the various Reasons Judgements and Interests of men but is alwaies in being and capable upon demand to explain and declare its own sence and intention upon any difference arising Thirdly it is capable of being understood by All. Fourthly it is capable of being certainly known by all Fifthly it is capable of determining what plainess and clearness in every Article of Faith and hath alwaies appeared to do so to the condemation and confusion of all opposers Sixthly this was the said Rule and Judge in Christs time and in the times of the Apostles Lastly this doth not set up every individual man and woman to be a Judge and Rule unto themselves but preserves the unity of the spirit in the Bond of Peace by teaching all understandings to become Captives to this Rule and Judge appointed by God for their guidance and direction But I know there will be yet an Objection made by you of the seperation whether these Texts which speak so amply of the Church are to be understood of the Church Militant and visible in this World or of the Church Triumphant For certainly did you apprehend that God had a Church in this world that is a visible body politique distinct from that invisible Church which is Christs Mistical body Triumphant you would not as I in Charity beleive divide your selves into so many Congregations independent of each other or any other body or Government whatsoever in relation to Religion Now to satisfy you in this I shall desire you to consider Acts the 20. 28. Where the Text speaks of a Church governed by High Pastors which can only be meant of the Visible Church and that of the whole Flock or Church which Christ redeemed with his blood which cannot be meant of any perticular Congregational Church 1 Cor. 10. 32. Give none offence neither to the Iews nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God even as I please all men in all things where he speaks clearly of the sole and entire visible Church 1 Cor. 12. 28. where mention is made of the Governours and Priests which are extended throughout the whole visible Church only God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondly Prophets c. and Ephes 4. 11. before cited Col. 1. 24. 25. Where Church is taken for the Militant only for St. Paul was not made a Minister of the Church Triumphant 1 Tim. 2. 15. before cited must signifie the sole and whole visible Church for no perticular Church can be stiled The pillar and ground of truth since they may fall and often have fallen from truth Iam. 5. 14. Where he speaks in general to all beleiving Christians and of a Church using visible Ceremonies and Priests or Elders which is not the Church Triumphant Mat. 16. 18. where the Church of Christ is to be built upon Peter and therefore must be meant of the visible Church Militant for it is built whilst Militant and transferred when it is Triumphant Nor can this be any other then a visible Church founded upon a visible Rock or Foundation for that Rock there spoken of is not Christ but St. Peter as the words clearly signifie for our Saviour saies upon this Rock I will build my Church immediatly after he had named St. Peter where as if he had meant himself or St Peters confession of his being the Son of the ever living God this being the remote or mediate antecedent he should have said according to Grammer and true construction and upon that Rock Besides he saies I will build my Church whereas if by Rock he had intended himself or St. Peters aforesaid confession he would have said upon this Rock I have built or I do build my Church not I will build For when our Lord spoke these words his Church was then actually built upon him and upon his being the Son of the Living God He spoke then therefore of what he intended to do and of what was to be after his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven and promiseth here that for those future times his visible Church should be built upon St. Peter Lastly that I may speak not as to the word only but also as to the thing it self viz. The Divine constitution of the Catholick visible Church by the Ordinance of our dearest Saviour Consider 1 Cor. 12. where it is at large described by the Holy Apostle to be One body with different parts fitly disposed ordered and connected together in one and the same body Whereof One he saith is the Head and that must be as visible as the rest of the body for a visible body without a visible head would be a Monster and such a visible Head as stands in need of the foot which Christ cannot do being God and so wanting nothing And this the Apostle applies to the Apostolical
Church in his time and the same is also described again Ephes 4. from v. 4. to the 17. But I suppose you will be asking Is not then Christ the Head of his Church can the Church have another Head besides Christ I answer Christ is the Head of his Church and yet the Church of Christ by his appointment may have in its external Government another Head that is an external Head by the appointment of Christ I say Christ is the only absolute independent Head but he may appoint a dependent Head derived from him Christ is the sole Head that Governs all both Pastors and People and the cheif Pastor also Thus God is the King of the World may not he therefore have other Kings Reigning under him Now how opposite and contrary your Congregational Churches and all Churches divided from the true Visible Church are to this constitution is easy for you to see What are those Congregational Churches but a confused Rabble of Itching Ears heaping up Teachers to themselves without any either single Person or Assembly of them endowed with power to govern or direct all of their Congregations dispersed in divers Provinces and Countries but every one stands upon its own bottome and hath no dependance of the rest as do the Common-Wealths of Venice Geneva Holland c. so that they have no visible unity amongst them either of coordination or subordination but are politick bodies wholly seperate and disjoyned the one from the other Can you think this the constitution of Christs visible Church on earth Is this One Body Is this a compaction and conjunction by joynts and Nerves mentioned by the Apostles The first and Original Christian Church in our Saviour time was such an united body as St. Paul mentions having then our Saviour for its visible Head and his Disciples for its Members all united together in one visible Communion and was not this Original Church the Model and Platform laid by our Saviour to be imitated and followed in its manner of Government by all succeeding Ages The Apostolical Church next to that of our Saviours time was like unto it where St. Peter was the chief Pastor and the Apostles under him over the whole Church dispersed both amongst Jews and Gentiles as appears Acts 15. and who had power to change this Original and Apostolical manner of union and Government in after Ages into a quite opposite digestion and to bring in a perfect Anarchie I hope from the grounds here laid it will appear as clear to you as I profess it did to me that the visible Church of God on Earth which in the Creed is called the Holy Catholick Church was and is that Rule and Judge that means appointed by God for the conveying of the Christian Faith to the World and to whom all on pain of Damnation were and are by Gods Ordinance to submit as to the Authority appointed by God to teach them what they ought to beleive in order to the attaining of Salvation and that without disputing any more then they would have disputed the decrees and directions of the Holy Apostles were they now living upon Earth consequently that this Authority was infallible It will onely remain that we consider which amongst all those congregations now on Earth which pretend themselves to be this Church of Christ is really and truly this Holy Church and Spouse of Christ For having once found her and knowing that she is so assisted by the Holy Ghost that she cannot teach us an Error instead of a Truth we shall no more dispute the verity of her Doctrines then we should have questioned the Articles of Faith taught by the Holy Apostles or the words of Christ himself Wherefore if this Church this infallible Guide shall teach us that Infants are to be Baptised that it is as lawful to desire the Saints departed to pray for us as to desire the Prayers of those who are living on our behalfs That the body of Christ our Saviour is really and truly present in the Sacrament of the Altar or the Lords Supper or any the like Article of Faith we shall no more doubt of it then the first Christians did dispute the verity of what the Apostles taught them when they informed them that they were to beleive that Christ whom they had seen as man was true and very God that a Virgin still remaining a Virgin might by the power of the Holy Ghost bring forth a child That the body of Christ spirituallized might pass through a Dore the Dore being shut That three could be One and One three For who shall dare to question what God shall tell him to be true And if God now speaks by the mouth of his present Church as he did by the mouth of his Church in the times of the Apostles who shall doubt the truth of those words which proceeded from his mouth Wherefore as to this last question which is now this present Church of Christ which is our infallible Guide and Judge appointed by God for our direction and to whom we are to submit as aforesaid I shall in brief give you that answer which I profess gave me a full and clear satisfaction and it is shortly this The Protestant Church of England and all other Churches different from the Roman do judge and declare and profess themselves to be fallible even according to the infallible word of God If then the said Protestant Church of England or any other Churches different from the Roman be infallible in all that they judge and in that they declare and profess to be true according to the word of God they doubtless are then infallible and speak then the infallible truth when they judge declare and profess that even according to the Word of God they are fallible Therefore infallibly they are fallible Hence again it being thus proved that no Church different from that Roman is infallible And it being before proved that God hath appointed some Church upon earth to be our infallible Judge it demonstratively followeth that the Roman Church must needs be this infallible Judge because no church different from it that is none but the Roman Church can be this infallible Church But I pray you do not mistake this Argument as some have pleased to do who think the force of it to lye thus viz. The Roman Church claimeth infallibility therefore she is infallible This is nothing like the Argument which I put the force of which lies thus That the Church truly appointed by God for this infallible Judge of controversies cannot possibly be any of those Churches which teach themselves not to be this infallible Judge because they teach themselves to be Fallible if then they be infallible in the doctrine they teach they are infallible when they teach themselves to be fallible Therefore infallibly they are fallible Now the Church which is truly appointed by God to be this infallible Judge must needs have this condition that she doth own her infalibility but