The CONTENTS. THat the Pretence of any Modern Church to Infallibility, is to be prov'd by that Church, from the word of God, Written, or Ʋnwritten. Chap. I. That there is no Diſpute between our Church and the Church of Rome, concerning the Authority of thoſe Scriptures, that are to decide this, or any other Point in difference; except that only of Prayer for the Dead. Chap. II. Tradition, or the Ʋnwritten Word Conſidered. The Nature of Tradition. Chap. III. The Ʋncertainty of Oral Tradition, particularly in Temporal Affairs. Chap. IV. That there is not much more reaſon for its Certainty in Eccleſiaſtical, than in Temporal Matters. Chap. V. The Caſe of Tradition, as to Eccleſiaſtical Matters, particularly conſidered. Chap. VI. Some Articles to be obſerved, concerning Traditional Authorities. Chap. VII.

DISCOURSE I. Concerning the Preliminary Points, &c. CHAP. I.

That the Pretence of any Modern Church to Infallibility, is to be prov'd by that Church, and that the Proofs muſt be brought from the Word of God Written or Ʋnwritten. Chap. 1. Proofs for Infallibility muſt be brought, and whence.

AS Religion is a common Concern, and of the greateſt Moment; ſo it is to be expected, that every Man ſhould apply himſelf to the Conſideration of it, with great Diligence and Zeal; and ſhould take care, if Diſputes ariſe concerning any material difference in it, that he be not of the wrong ſide; his Future Eternal Happineſs depending ſo much on the right choice.

Now the differences between the Church of Rome, and ours of England being very great; The one pretending God to be well pleaſed with the Service, at which the other ſays he is extremely Offended; The one requiring ſuch things to be profeſs'd as neceſſary Truths, which the other avows to be falſities: Every Ingenuous Man, who is a Lover of Truth, and deſirous to ſerve his God acceptably, is obliged to inform and ſatisfie himſelf concerning the Matters in Debate.

And if one of theſe Churches ſhall poſitively command us not to queſtion her Determinations, and tell us that ſhe ought to be believed without further Examination; that ſhe is the Infallible Judge, and if any Difference ariſes, it muſt be determin'd by her Authority: If this ſhall be the pretence of one of the Parties, to be ſuch a Judge in her own Cauſe, and the other denies the Juriſdiction; it is plain that this now is another new queſtion between them, to be decided ſome indifferent way.

The Church of Rome, if ſhe challenges this Privilege of Infallibility, muſt however be content to wave it for a time, and to ſubmit it to a Tryal. And not only ſo, but ſhe is to remember too, that the Burden of the Proof lies altogether on her ſide; all common Humane Preſumption being ſo violent againſt her in this caſe. For we ſuppoſe ſhe underſtands the nature of Chriſtian Faith better, than to impute any want of that, to ſuch a Reaſonable Inquiry. We ſhould indeed, we confeſs, be guilty of the want of it, ſhould we not believe the Infallible Authority of our Saviour, and his Apoſtles; and ſhould we not be ready to aſſent to what ever they ſhall have deliver'd; and this our Faith, the Roman Church is now deſir'd to try, and to ſee whether we will not immediately yield to any good Argument they ſhall be able to bring us thence: But for us, without ſuch Apoſtolical Direction and Warrant, to believe any Modern number of Men Infallible: This, we conceive, would not be an Act of Divine Faith, but a fond unaccountable Credulity, a Credulity below Human, that would not only by its eaſie Folly diſgrace the reſt of our Belief, but may in the conſequence be carried to deſtroy it.

Now that Church when it claims ſuch an Infallible Judicature, muſt claim it by vertue of ſome Power deriv'd from Chriſt, and this Commiſſion muſt ſome way or other be produc'd and vouch'd.

This Commiſſion then to be produced, muſt either be under the Hands of one of the Evangeliſts or Apoſtles, and ſo it would be undeniable; or ſome Authority by Word of Mouth, ſignify'd from Chriſt or his Apoſtles, of which we may have ſome certain notice.

This is the way that Queſtion is to be debated; and it is plain that every Chriſtian is to judge of it ſeriouſly and carefully; that he may either immediately ſubmit to this Authority, if it be juſt; or if it be not, that he may not be led by a voluntary Subjection to Men, to do ſuch things as may diſpleaſe his God.

It appears then, that in this Cauſe we are to be determin'd by Scripture and Tradition: And if the Roman Church is able to make good its Authority thence, we are to look no further, but ſubmit in the other points: But if ſhe ſhall be judged to have no ſuch Power, then thoſe other points muſt be try'd the ſame way, by Scripture and Tradition alſo.

Seeing then that Scripture and Tradition are the only Rules, by which we are to judge of the Truth of that Pretence, and conſequently of all other Diſputes that depend between the two Parties: We ought firſt to take Knowledge of theſe two great Principles, fixing and aſcertaining them, before we undertake to proceed further.

CHAP. II.

That concerning the Authority of thoſe Scriptures which are to decide this Point of Infallibility, (or any other, ſaving that of Prayers for the Dead,) there is no Diſpute between us and the Church of Rome.

AS to Scripture, the two Churches do not differ much. The Books of the New Teſtament are the ſame with them and us; received equally on both ſides, as Divinely Inſpired, and of unqueſtionable Truth. The Books of the Old Teſtament are the ſame too, excepting the Apochryphal Books, which they eſteem as Canonical as the reſt, we with great Reaſon and Authority denying them that Sacred Character. However for the preſent let them be admitted and ſtand by, till the time comes to remove them: For they have nothing to ſay, I think, between thoſe of Rome and us, but in the Caſe of Prayer for the Dead.

Chap. 2. The Scriptures agreed on.Both ſides therefore are obliged to aſſent immediately to any thing affirmed in thoſe Books, commonly received by us, of the Old and New Teſtament.

But here the Church of Rome is not to fancy, that when we receive the Holy Scriptures for Divine, we receive them by vertue of her Infallible Authority.

We receive them from her hands, as we might have received them from the Greek, or more Eaſtern Churches. We receive them from her, not as a Judge over us, but as a Library Keeper, and a Witneſs: a Witneſs too, in ſuch a Caſe, where her Teſtimony is corroborated by the Concurrence of others.

For, under favour, where her vulgar Latine diſagrees from the Greek Copies, we may take the liberty to prefer the Original: and if her Greek Copies had differ'd materially from thoſe in the hands of the Greeks, or from the Copies in other Languages; we ſhould not have defer'd ſo much to her, as to have truſted her ſingle Authority without better enquiry. But God be thanked, we find by collating the ſeveral Copies of ſeveral places and Languages, and the many Citations ſcattered in infinite Books, that we cannot complain of any falſification in this point.

But Honeſty in one inſtance, where they could not well do otherwiſe, is not therefore neceſſarily to be preſum'd in all. And beſides, if we ſhould allow that Church to be ſo honeſt, as not willingly to deceive; yet it would be a great ſtrain to ſay, that therefore ſhe can't be deceived, and is Infallible.

We receive then the ſame Scriptures that they, and ſubmit our Differences to that Authority; and this we do, without being forecloſed, or obliged to ſtand to the Judgment of that Church in other things, and own her Infallibility.

CHAP. III.

The Nature of Tradition.

NOW beſides thoſe Truths or Precepts deliver'd down by the Evangeliſts or Apoſtles in Writing, there may be ſuppoſed many others ſpoken by them, which were of equal Authority with the Written, and obliged the Hearers as much; and which would too equally oblige us, had we any certain information concerning them.

Such Sayings not put in Writing by the inſpired Perſons themſelves, but taken from their Mouths, and deliver'd down by others, are call'd in Eccleſiaſtical Language Traditions; and as long as they are tranſmitted down by the Mouth, and not yet reduc'd into Writing, they are called Oral.

Theſe Traditions of either kind, Written or Oral, how many there are we would be glad to know: a great Body of them is pretended, ſome already authentically declared by Councils, or Popes; others mention'd by ſeveral Men, in ſeveral places, and ſtanding for the next promotion; the reſt reſerved in Petto, to be produced on Occaſion Eternally.

Now becauſe we may ſuſpect that we ſhall be preſſed mainly by Evidences of this nature, it will be beſt beforehand to enquire into their Circumſtances and Character, and ſee how credible Deponents they may prove.

Theſe Sayings therefore pretended to be ſpoke by Chriſt or his Apoſtles, are given us either word for word, or the ſence and ſubſtance only; and are for ſome time at leaſt ſuppoſed to be deliver'd down by ſtrength of Memory.

Now as to what is tranſmitted Orally, and to be preſerved by ſucceſſive Memories, we may conſider; that to take and make the report of a Diſcourſe word for word, theſe things are neceſſary: Attention to what was ſpoke, a due Perception of it, and a Memory that ſhall retain it. To give an exact Summary of a Diſcourſe, there is beſides neceſſary, a Judgment both comprehenſive enough to take in the whole meaning, and ſo upright and unprejudicate as to give it no turn or biaſs; and beſides that the Senſe, if ſpoke in new words, ſhould be truly expreſſed. And therefore further there muſt be conſider'd another requiſite of Care and Diligence, that muſt be all along ſuppoſed in each part, either to attend, conceive, and retain, or elſe fully and uprightly to conſider and to expreſs properly: Not to mention that Fidelity that is required, as in the cuſtody or tranſmiſſion of a Writing, ſo in the delivery of an Oral Narrative.

There lies this Difficulty on all Oral Records: and it is plain there is very little or none of it on the Written. To keep the Written is, in the general, only to let it lye where it does; and to deliver it to another, is no more than to deliver ſo much Paper or Parchment into his hands; a matter of no wonderful Skill or Capacity, to be diſcharged by any who is not an Ideot. So too, to Tranſcribe the Original into other Copies, be it never ſo long or Intricate, requires no more Learned Ability of a Man, than to Read and Write; and no greater ſtrength of Memory, than to bear in his head three or four Words, the while he writes them down: For this performance, one wou'd think there is no ſuch need of great Clerkſhip; and it is eaſie to conceive how it may be done.

Thoſe therefore in our Age, who cou'd diſparage the Invention of Letters ſo much, as to prefer Oral Tradition before the Written, for the more eaſy and certain conveyance of the two; muſt have had ſome great Pique at ſome certain Writing: and muſt too have thought the Truth of their Cauſe very unevident, when ſuch an unreaſonable Propo • ition was to be brought for its proof, and premis'd as the more undeniable of the two.

I inſiſt not therefore on the ridiculous Compariſon, whether it be eaſier to copy a Book, or to get it by heart; to carry it in ones hand, or let it lye where it does, than to charge it upon ones Memory, and bear it in ones Head: which is the ſurer way of Record, to deſire an Officer to remember a Deed, or to Exemplifie it: and whether it be ſafer to ſend a Meſſage by Word of Mouth, from Stage to Stage, or by Letter. It is a hard caſe to be put ſeriouſly on ſuch Determinations, not worthy certainly of an Infallible Judge. But I think the Readers patience, as well as my own, will have exerciſe enough, while it ſtoops to the following conſiderations: Where we proceed to enquire, what Credibility Oral Tradition can challenge after ſome tract of time; examining its Authority in Temporal Matters FIRST, and THEN in Spiritual.

CHAP. IV.

Concerning the Ʋncertainty of Oral Tradition in Temporal Affairs.

ORal Tradition, after it has gone but a little way, finds ſmall Credit in Affairs of the World; it is call'd Hearſay, or Fame; and goes for uncertain at leaſt, if not reputed a Lyar. A Story told at the third or fourth hand, is commonly ſo changed in its circumſtances, that in common Converſation, tho' it paſſes for Diſcourſe, it is never rely'd on without nearer Enquiry; nay, will hardly be repeated in the next Company, without this Addition; that he heard it not himſelf, and was only told ſo at ſuch a diſtance. For the Perſon that gave me the Relation of a Diſcourſe or an Action, may be believed by me, that he heard it ſo punctually from another, whom I know; and that other I may verily believe, upon his Affirmation, had it as he reports from a third Author; if too, I know that third Man for Honeſt and Exact, I may believe verily that, if he affirmed it, he gave a true recital of what he received from a fourth, &c. And yet, notwithſtanding I have ſuch a particular Confidence in each of theſe Men, that I would believe the Relation from each of them apart at the firſt hand; I ſhould not however give the ſame entire credit to it, when it comes derived ſo far. For tho' I have Opinion enough of the Sincerity and Capacity of each; yet if the Subject of their Report was any thing long or nice, Chap. 4. The Ʋncertainty of Oral Tradition in Temporal Affairs. and ſo liable to a Miſtake; and I therefore not abſolutely ſure, but that ſome one of them might have miſtaken: That Defective incomplete certainty diminiſhes in a continual progreſſion; and will at a proportionable diſtance bring me to a ſuſpenſe; as afterwards, if carried further, it will begin to increaſe in me a contrary inclination, rather to believe the conveyance Erroneous, than True.

It is known that Human Underſtanding in reſpect to belief, is conſider'd as a Ballance, whoſe Scales are of a Determinate Capacity, and will turn upon ſome certain Weight. As then, if in one Scale there be a conſiderable Weight, and in the other an Equal, there is an equiponderance; if that other Weight abates but little, there is ſome doubtful Equiponderance ſtill: But if it abates notably, the firſt Scale begins to fix, growing ſtill the more and more unmoveable, according as the Weight in the ſecond diminiſhes; which we may ſuppoſe to decreaſe ſo long, till it is either none, or of no moment at all: In like manner in our Underſtanding, if the Evidence on one ſide be conſiderable, but that on the other as great, our Belief is in a ſuſpence; If that on the other be but a little leſs, we are ſtill in a ſuſpence, tho' wavering and inclining to the oppoſite; Afterward when the difference of Weight is momentous, we begin to ſettle and reſt on the preponderating ſide; but grow more and more fixed, as the probability for the other does decreaſe; which at laſt may be either none, or ſuch as the Ballance ſhall not feel.

Now, when to this obſervation we add further, that the Underſtanding of Man is ſuch a Ballance, as leaves out often what it is to weigh; and, to what it weighs, does not always give the due weight: we ſhall then eaſily perceive that Human Belief has its ſeveral Degrees; and tho' it reſts on one ſide and is fixed, yet all the while there may be Probabilities too for the contrary, in the other Scale. Tho' therefore the Opinion we have of the Capacity, Care, and Integrity of a Man, may determin us to believe his Report; yet our belief is not always ſo determin'd, that there is nothing of Veriſimilitude on the other ſide. If he avers a Fact in which he could not well be deceived, we immediately and firmly believe it; as that he received this Writing from another: But if he affirms the truth of a Verbal Recital, that is long and intricate, and after ſome length of Time; he cannot expect to be believed, but in a leſs degree. For no Honeſt Prudent Man wou'd in this caſe depoſe to the Words of a Diſcourſe, without this Caution, to the beſt of his Memory; nor to the ſubſtance of it, without that other, to the beſt of his Ʋnderſtanding. But laſtly, if ſuch a Relation be not poſitively averr'd, but told without ſuch formality of Aſſurance; or averr'd but by a ſtranger, or one in whoſe Integrity we do not abſolutely confide; the degree of our Belief will be yet leſs: The odds for the Truth of the firſt, may be a thouſand, or if you pleaſe a Million to one; for the truth of the ſecond, it may not be that of Ten; and for the third, not above that of Two. Now this laſt meaſure of Belief generally ſerves in all ordinary Converſation; and ſomething much leſs than the firſt, even in Cauſes of Life and Death.

To return then to our firſt Caſe; let us ſuppoſe the four ſucceſſive Relators to aver, what they ſucceſſively ſaid; and let it be ſuppoſed, that I would have given each of them in my Belief, ſuch an odds or preponderance as 5. to 1. which in many caſes is a very liberal Allowance: It is demonſtrable then, that altho' I give a very great Credit to ſuch a Relation at the firſt hand, at the 4th I muſt not give any; as it is alſo certain by the ſame undeniable computation, that a Report which at the firſt hand has the Odds in certainty, of 10 to 1, at the 7th hand would have none: And alike certain, that if at the firſt hand there be two to one for the probability of a Narrative, the advantage at the ſecond will lye on the other ſide.

Thoſe that are vers'd in Calculation, know it to be ſuppos'd here: That the Continuity of an Oral Tradition, or the progreſs of a Report, is as a Chain compos'd of ſeveral Probabilities or Contingencies: That the probability of the whole diminiſhes ſtill, as the particular Contingencies multiply; in the ſame kind of proportion in which the preſent value of Money leſſens, upon rebate of Compound Intereſt, by the diſtances of the future Payment: And laſtly, that as the likelyhood for preſerving the continuity of Truth abates, ſo the likelyhood for Interruption and Miſtake ariſes.

The Computation we have made from theſe Suppoſititions is exact, the Reader may be aſſur'd; and gives the preciſe reaſon of that uncertainty, of which the World is ſo very ſenſible in groſs, as to give but ſmall Credit to Hear-ſay Relations. In any matter of Conſequence, they are ſtill rejected, and any Jury marks them with an Ignoramus. I take leave to add, tho' in another Caſe, that the ſame way of Speculation will diſcover how juſtly a great difference in value is ſtill made between the Teſtimony of a ſingle Witneſs, and that of two concurring: For the certainty is not only doubled by the addition of their Perſons, but multiplyed by the proportion of their credibility, in ſuch a manner, that if the Credit of each Witneſs ſingly was as ten to one, there would be above ſix ſcore to one for the truth of what they depos'd jointly.

But as to the Subject in hand, and that I may diſpatch theſe Niceties all at once, the Reader may conſider further; that in the numbering of the years of any ſucceſſive Generations of Men, thirty years are commonly aſſign'd to the duration of each, taking them one with another. This is the Calculation of the Ancients, from ſome old Succeſſions. However we are content to allow about forty, a Number that may be tryed in the two laſt fourteen Generations of our Saviour. But of that ſomething muſt be neceſſarily abated in our purpoſe; for a Child of a day, tho' he begin then to live, and continue a courſe of years, yet cannot take up a Tradition, and bear his part in that till he is of riper Age: So that we in our caſe are very reaſonable, when we follow the Vulgar Reckoning, and let a 100 years go for three Generations.

This number of years beyond which no ſingle Witneſs can be ſuppos'd to reach, (for he muſt be nigh a hundred and twenty years old, and then of good memory;) and for which three ſucceſſive ones muſt, in ordinary computation, be allowed; is therefore deſervedly by ſome Civilians, made the utmoſt limit of Humane information; and what is beyond it, is all in the dark, and out of the memory of Man. But if we ſhall paſs further, and ſuppoſe our ſelves at the diſtance of three or 400 years, what was ſaid then might have been thrice ſecceſſively forgotten; and muſt be preſumed to be buried in a multiplied Oblivion: It muſt have paſs'd thro' ten or twelve ſeveral hands at leaſt; been preſerved by each of them thirty or forty years together; and were the odds upon each of them that of ten to one, that they would be ſo diligent and of ſo happy Memories, as to tranſmit each in his own time, (whereas 'tis by no means even,) yet that ſo much was not performed by the whole twelve, the odds on the contrary ſide would be as of two to one.

Let us then ſuppoſe that an Act of Parliament, of any length and niceneſs, were to paſs from Conſtable to Conſtable, through twelve Pariſhes, by way of Oral Tradition, to be delivered over faithfully, and if you pleaſe on pain of death: How oft muſt it be repeated, and how much conn'd, or how well ſtudy'd and examin'd by each, to bring it either Verbatim, or in exact Abſtract, to its journeys end? How fit do we think it wou'd be, at the ordinary rate of Humane Capacity, to be proclaim'd for Law in the laſt Town, and to be the ground there of a Judicial Deciſion? Nay, ſuppoſe the Officers ſucceſſively to be very intelligent Men, and of more than common Memories; as the Performance wou'd be difficult to take up ſuch a Charge, and carry it immediately croſs the Pariſh; ſo much more, if each Man ſhould be obliged, without help of Writing, to keep it for twenty, thirty, or forty years, and then at laſt to diſcharge himſelf on his Neighbour: It is too much to think that his Memory in that time ſhall not faulter; but where would the Tradition be if he himſelf ſhould dye? But further yet, let us imagine all the Pariſh to come in and help; it is plain, that without the aſſiſtance of writing, they would rather help to confound and diſtract, than to aſcertain; and wou'd eaſier agree to give a wrong Report, than know how to ſet it right; the burthen of the Truſt muſt at laſt reſt upon ſome one, or very few; whoſe Memories are as frail as their Lives; either of which failing before the day, the Tradition is loſt.

But all this is an extraordinary ſuppoſition. What then, if the diſtance of time continuing the ſame, the Succeſſive reporters are not preſum'd to be any ſuch Choice Men, but of the ordinary Size? what if they acted under no great apprehenſion of danger from the miſcarriage? what too if they were not deny'd the help of Writing, but were all along ſo little careful as not to think of uſing it? what great ſtreſs do we judge is to be laid at laſt upon this report (if any ſuch come,) ſo accidentally preſerved by the ſucceſſive Memories, and ſo contingently tranſmitted?

We perceive from what is ſaid, that it is no very feaſible project to deviſe an Ʋtopian Succeſſion of Men, either by ſingle Perſons, or in Society; (propoſe what choice Regulation, Rewards, or Puniſhments you pleaſe;) that ſhall convey Orally any Record of ordinary length, through three or four hundred years, with ſuch a proportion of certainty as ſhall weigh with an underſtanding Man; there muſt be in that tract of time ſo much chance for failure and miſtake, that the Report at laſt, tho' not impoſſible to be true, yet ſhall be too unlikely ever to be admitted. If therefore we make no ſuch fiction, and remove all fanciful ſuppoſitions, if taking things and Men as they uſually are, we let this memorial Conveyance paſs in common courſe; we may eaſily conceive what will happen to it, and to what a miſerble degree of incertitude it muſt ſink; it muſt long before its period run out all its credit, and at laſt not retain ſo much probability as may poiſe with the duſt of the Balance.

For if ſayings are to be tranſmitted verbatim, Oral report, like an Eccho, may poſſibly keep ſomething of them up for a while; and the Repetitions, by Chance or Art, may be larger, or more: but by degrees they will faulter, diminiſh, and grow fainter, and at laſt expire. There is this difference, that the Vocal Tradition of an Eccho, tho' defective, is always true; and delivers faithfully every Syllable it returns: whereas our Oral Tradition is ſubject to the infirmity of falcifying, as well as forgetting; and does not only let fall, but alters and confounds: ſo that its Voice how-ever loud it may continue, grows inſignificant and uncertain; its Credit at leaſt, like the ſound of the Eccho, becoming fainter and weaker upon each repetition, and dying at ſome diſtance in the air.

This is the fortune of Sayings that paſs through the memory only: but where they are to paſs through the underſtanding too, and are to come out in Abſtract new moulded, and worded, they are in greater danger of being miſconceiv'd or miſrepreſented; of receiving ſome new turn, according as the Bent of the Perſon, or Age is inclin'd. Some tincture of the Veſſel in which they have been kept and digeſted, will paſs along. If therefore they have went thro' many Perſons, or much time, they muſt be preſum'd to be much alter'd; even ſuch Rules and Maxims as are intended to regulate Mens thoughts and manners, accommodating themſelves ſo, and complying in ſuch meaſure with the Minds that convey them, that at ſome diſtance they receive the change they ought to have produced.

Neither is the Caſe in this matter different between ſingle Perſons, and a Company of Men. For as ſingle Men alter their Opinion of things often with their Age, and ſometimes in their thoughts and humours become as it were other Men: ſo in Bodies or Societies, the ſame Mutations happen, and in an Age or two there are commonly new Maxims of thinking, and Modes of living, as certainly as there is a new Generation. A Society as it inſenſibly changes its Perſons, ſo changes its Opinions inſenſibly too: there cannot be aſſign'd a time, when the Corporation begins to be a new ſett of Men, ſo neither, when the new Opinions come in; but both come in by degrees: and as it is ſure by the Law of Nature, that a hundred year will make a total change in the Perſons, ſo a hundred or two hundred more may make a change in their Judgments. A Change of Judgment being eaſier than that of the Perſons, becauſe it may be made in the ſelf ſame Perſons: and then, when it is once paſs'd, there is no more Memory of an old Opinion forſaken, than of an old Collegiate departed.

Now when Men alter by degrees, and all of them toge •••• it may eaſily happen, that they themſelves ſhall not ••• eive the variation. For they cannot diſcern it but by ſomething without them, and which at the ſame time ſtands ſtill. And if too they look on that direction, their Imagination may then be deceived; a thoſe are who Sail by the Shore, and are apt to impute their own change of place to the fix'd Land. Upon which Account, two Societies may no more agree, which of them has varied; than Aſtronomers can reſolve us, which it is that moves, the Earth and all its Company, or the Sun.

But of this, Language is a ſufficient Inſtance: which in time changes imperceptibly, Men altering their Words and Phraſes, and Pronunciation unawares; forgetting by degrees the old, as they take up new. And this happens, without any violent Intruſion of a Foreign Speech; but only from freedom of fancy, and voluntary acceptation: Some Men refining, or affecting, and others imitating, as the Humour and Mode may be. And this at laſt prevails ſo indiſcernably, that thoſe of the City when they go into the diſtant Countries, think they are come unto a People of another Language, who yet it may be ſpeak the truer Engliſh. Which indeed is the truer; the Eaſtern, the Northern, and Weſtern Man may differ: and the Diſpute without writing could never be decided, except one of our Great-Grandfathers ſhould ariſe and inform us. But Books will eaſily end the Controverſie, and Old Chaucer produced, will tell us the variation that has paſs'd in leſs than 300 years.

Now as Oral Tradition would not tell us a Diſcourſe of 400 years old in the ſame Language in which it was ſpoke; ſo neither is it likely to give it us in the ſame Senſe. Neither, if the preſent Age ſhall agree in the ſame Report, is it a greater argument of its antiquity, than it is of the antiquity of our preſent Phraſe, that we all now ſpeak it. Languages alter either by force, the old being driven out totally, as the Brittiſh by the Saxon; or in part only, as the Saxon after by the Norman, from the mixture of which our Engliſh ſprang: or elſe they voluntarily change by importation, as from our former French Wars, or later Travels; by imitation, as in Habit ſo in Phraſe, of Italy or France; by the Influence of thoſe Nations on our Courts, and their influence then on the People; by new buſineſs, or new humour. Cuſtoms too and Manners, both in Civil and Religious Matters, alter in like manner; either by command and force, or by the gentler power of Example, and Contagion of practice. Now as without Books, we might have thought our Language the ſame it was ſpoke in Julius Caeſar's time, and ſhould not have been ſenſible of the changes ſince paſt; ſo neither ſhould we have known any thing of the Government and Laws; but imagin'd this Form we now live under had been from the beginning, and that the City (for example) had a Mayor and Court of Aldermen by Charter from the Romans. For if Laws, tho' written, are often in a little time antiquated by deſuetude, and abrogated by contrary cuſtom, ſo that the Statute-Book it ſelf ſecures them not the notice of the preſent Age; much more therefore may what was never Written be laid aſide in a while, and at laſt utterly and irrecoverably be forgotten.

But there is no more need of ſuch reaſoning ſpeculation, than of that formal ſuppoſition, and ſcrupulous calculation we made before. For who is there that does not in fact ſee, what blind Stories are told of former times by thoſe People that are without the uſe of Letters? what a darkneſs there dwells upon time, at a little diſtance; and ſtill as the World goes forward, how faſt night comes on behind; the Ages paſt, growing as obſcure and unknown as thoſe that are to come. So true it is, what was ſaid by the Egyptian to Solon, (a Saying as good as any other of thoſe Wiſe Men) That the Graecians without the uſe of Writing were always Children; being ſtill as of yeſterday, without any knowledge of the World, and experience of former years.

For this purpoſe, we of this Nation need but look upwards towards Edward the Third's Reigns, (I might have ſaid Henry the Fifth, or even the Eighth,) and then reflect how much we know of that Victorious buſie time, more than what Writing has informed us. What Action of War or Peace, what Paſſage or Saying is now pretended to be told, other than what we read? Let all the Old Men and Old Women be conſulted, and ſee what Traditional Memoirs they can furniſh for a Supplement to our Hiſtories and Records. If there be a tittle of Law or Story to be learnt that way, then we may begin to think, that the Statutes of that Reign might have been tranſmitted by Tradition, and the year Books by Oral Reports. But who does not ſee, that if Paper and Parchment were out of the way, there would be no footſtep nor Memorial of thoſe times; not a much better account of Edward the Third, than we have now of a Tenth Edward? The World muſt then begin with us, ſhort of that Age; and all before be but as the Chaos, darkneſs covering its face. All that we could then do, muſt be to judge the former days by our own; to imagine the ſame Proceedings, the ſame Rules of Government, and Courts of Juſtice, the ſame Cuſtoms and Interpretations of Laws by which we now live. And had any antient Law or Form come down by chance unvary'd; yet it could have brought no certainty with it of its Riſe: it muſt have paſs'd in account with the reſt, and could not have given any proof of its elder deſcent. From what diſtance it came, and what in the mean time had hapned to it, who ſhould have inform'd us?

It is manifeſt, that the interval of ſome three hundred years muſt caſt ſo much uncertainty upon all Oral Report; that it can never pretend to any the leaſt Credit, at the diſtance, ſuppoſe of Edward the Third. But how ſhall any be afforded it, if we mount up three hundred years higher, and ſuppoſe the Hearſay to deſcend from the Conquerours Days? For (to ſpeak at the eaſieſt rate) of Him, had there been no writing, we ſhould, I preſume, have known as much as we do of King Arthur; or have had juſt as much certainty of his deſcent from Normandy, as we have of Brute's coming from Troy. A believing People we once were, when from that Story of Brute we challenged precedence in a Council: But we had, it may be, a further deſign in it, a very conſiderable one for thoſe days; and had a mind to claim kindred with Rome.

To conclude therefore, a certain term of years there is, beyond which all the foregoing Time, is Time out of mind, and utterly fabulous: whether it be two, three, or four hundred years, the Reader ſhall determine. But ſuch a limited Sphere there is; as in ſpace, for our Sight, and for our Hearing; ſo in time, for humane Memory. At ſuch a diſtance of years the truth of Tradition grows ſo obſcure, that the addition of as many more years does darken it but little more: the Uncertainty before being ſo great, that it was ſcarce capable of any Acceſſion.

CHAP. V.

That there is not much more reaſon for the certainty of Oral Tradition in Eccleſiaſtical Affairs, than in Temporal.

THis is the Caſe of Humane Affairs, and whether in Religion it be much different, we ſhall now enquire. For it may be allow'd us that ſuch a concurrence of extraordinary Attention, Memory, Comprehenſion, and Uprightneſs of Underſtanding, that is requiſite for a Verbal or Summary Tradition, cannot be ſuppos'd to continue to very many deſcents in Temporal Subjects: But is it not to be imagin'd (they will ſay) that the uttermoſt ability and care of Man will be imploy'd, where the Diſcourſe is made by God, or his particular Order, and the reporting of it infinitely concerns the Eternal Welfare of Humane Kind? To prevent the ſuſpicion of ſuch a Diſparity, and to preſerve to our ſelves the liberty of Judging in this matter by our ordinary meaſures, let us obſerve,

(1.) That no gift of Memory is here to be ſuppoſed: For tho' the Text of bringing all things to remembrance, might prove an indefectibility of Memory, as well as that other of leading into all Truth, argues an Infallibility of Judgment, yet that Fancy not being advanced by our Adverſaries, Chap. 5. No more reaſon of Certainty in Eccleſiaſtical than, in Temporal Tradition. I deſire their pardon for bringing it into their Minds. Further we muſt not imagin any Art of Memory invented and us'd on this occaſion. Neither yet have they told us of any Order of Men inſtituted for this purpoſe; that there were Recorders and Remembrancers amongſt the Chriſtians, as Readers there were, we know. Thoſe too whoſe Lips ſhould preſerve this Knowledge, ſucceeded not by Families, where the Tradition might have been ſuck'd in with the Milk, and deſcended by Inheritance; as with the Jews and Egyptians. There were not neither any Academies then Erected, in which men might have been ſuppoſed to have been train'd up from their youth, for this Traditional Performance: And in the Eccleſiaſtical Family of each Church, the inferior Orders did but meanly prepare towards it; neither requiring any great comprehenſion of things, nor exerciſing the faculty of Memory much; ſuch as the Office of keeper of the Door, of Reader, &c. The Imployment too of the Deacons, was chiefly Oeconomical, to receive and to diſtribute the publick Money, and to make Proviſion for the Clergy and the Poor. The Presbyters themſelves, by reaſon of the diſperſion of the People, and the exigence of the times, had very little leiſure, from Viſiting, Catechiſing, Exhorting and Encouraging; and accordingly they were choſe into that Order, more for their Godly Simplicity, and holy Zeal, than for the greatneſs of their other Talents: That of Memory particularly, being never requir'd at an Election, nor underſtood by any Interpreter, to be one of thoſe Qualifications St. Paul preſcribes, either for a Prieſt, or a Biſhop. And laſtly, when the Epiſcopal See was vacant, it was fill'd, not by the Senior Presbyter, or by ſuch a one whom the Biſhop had deſign'd, and to whom he had left the Tradition; but by any other perſon, whom the Congregation did otherwiſe value and deſire. So were men then taken to govern the Church; ſome that were but juſt come into the Presbytery, as St. Cyprian; very often from the other Orders, as in Rome frequently from that of the Deacons; often from other courſes of life, from Politick Adminiſtrations, the Bar, or profane Philoſophy; and thoſe ſometimes not yet Baptis'd, as St. Ambroſe, Nectarius, and Syneſius; from very mean Employments, and Mechanick Trades, as Carpenters, Smiths, &c. if Gregory Nazianzen may be credited in his time for the Eaſt, who ſpeaks (to ſay no more) as if Synods had been then fill'd with that ſort Carmin. 11. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .. Now, what was the ſtudy generally of thoſe at that time in the Weſt, St. Hierom will inform us, in his Dialogue againſt the Luciferians. Deceptio tam Laici quam Epiſcopi communis eſt. At Epiſcopus errare non potuit. Revera de Platonis & Ariſtotelis ſinu in Epiſcopatum alleguntur. Quotus enim quiſque eſt qui non apprime in his eruditus ſit? Denique, ex literatis quicunque hodie Ordinatur id habent •• rae non quomodo Scripturarum medullas ebibant, ſed quomodo aures Populi declamatorum floſculis mulceant. Where he pleads, that the ſame Excuſe of Ignorance is to be allowed both to the Biſhop, and to the Layman, who had fallen into the Arrian Hereſy. For a Biſhop (ſays he) may be deceived as well as a Layman. But a Biſhop you'll ſay could not be miſled. As if Biſhops were choſe to their Sees, from the Schools of Plato or Ariſtotle; and as if there were but a very few of them that were not extraordinarily skill'd in ſuch Knowledge: as if too thoſe in Orders of our days that are Learned, did ſtudy to underſtand the depth of the Scripture; and did not make it their chiefeſt care how they ſhall tickle the Peoples ears with Declamatory Flouriſhes. So much St. Jerom ſays in his Patron Pope Damaſus his Family, and at Rome. But under the next Pontificate the Characters of that Clergy and City are deſcribed more plainly,

Cum in Babylone verſarer, & purpuratae Meretricis eſſem colonus, volui garrire aliquid de Spiritu Sancto, &c. & ecce Phariſaeorum conclamavit Senatus, & nullus Scriba vel fictu, &c.

Hieron. Praef. in Librum Didymi. de Sp. S.

The place is called Babylon, and the Scarlet Whore, the Clergy a Senate of Phariſees, and not ſo much as a pretended Scribe amongſt them. Something indeed is to be abated in that place, for St. Jerom's heat; but that cannot be done without impairing the Credit of a Witneſs our Adverſaries ſometimes want; (who muſt admit his Satyr if they take his Complement) and without confeſſing, that Holy men might miſrepreſent in the Judgments they give down. For,

(2.) We muſt not think that former Ages were not ſubject to Paſſions and Infirmities as well as the latter, ſo we ſhall not wiſely enquire of theſe things. We muſt not imagine, that always in every Generation, the care and diligence of the Succeſſours, was equal to that of the Apoſtles; and that the want of extraordinary Abilities or Inſtitution was ſupply'd by extraordinary labour and application. For the ſincere endeavour of Man does not always anſwer the great moment of the Errand, or the Majeſty of the Author: neither need we any thing more than our own experience to inform us; that Mankind is as much concern'd for this life as for the next; and for the Commands of Man, as of God; notwithſtanding the vaſt diſproportion. We might ſay further, for ordinary reaſon will tell it us, that thoſe who break Laws will not much care to keep them any way; and will not be at any wonderful pains to inſtruct their Memory, to upbraid their Judgment and their Will. So that as few Ages will ſuffer us to preſume of any extraordinary Induſtry or Integrity in this Affair; ſome there are which will not allow us to ſay there was any at all: when it was well, that even Books could keep themſelves; and that the leſs they were uſed, they laſted the longer; or that they were ſo far neglected, as not to be deſtroy'd.

Inſtances of perverſe Inclination, and ſtupid negligence of this kind, might be given in Chriſtian Ages: But, becauſe theſe are the ſubject of our Diſpute, we will at preſent look in the Old Teſtament. and there, not to take notice that the Serpent was able to obſcure in Eve the firſt Command, ſhe, new made, receiv'd from her Husband, he juſt before from God; not to mention that forgetfulneſs of God, that over ran the World in leſs time (according to the Hebrews) than has now paſs'd ſince Chriſt, and which deſerved the Deluge: you find, after that terrible puniſhment and exemplary warning, the new waſh'd world, the Deſcendants of Noah, intirely relaps'd into Idolatry within 500 years, ſay the Hebrews; (the Seventy but a thouſand,) though Noah himſelf, the Preacher of Righteouſneſs, lived three hundred of them, warning the new world, with as little Succeſs as he had the old.

Further, the Iſraelites, the Seed of Faithful Abraham, and a peculiar People, after their miraculous Redemption from Pharaoh, their Law wonderfully and terribly delivered by God himſelf, after all the mighty Signs by the hands of Moſes, and Joſhua; all their ſeveral Exhortations and Precautions, which we read, but they neglected; fell back again into Heatheniſm in the Third Generation, within the compaſs of 200 year. So little reaſon is there to preſume of any miraculous Care or Sincerity from the Sons of men in Religious Subjects; for, beſides that Intereſt and Humour take place there too; it is well if our Attention is not ſlacker, and our perception duller, and the Impreſſions on the Memory conſequently weaker, on this, than on other Occaſions.

(3.) But, beſides all this, ſuch care and induſtry of Memory is not to be ſuppos'd, where there was no ſuch extraordinary need of its help. For in the firſt years of Chriſtianity the Skill of Writing was as common all over the Roman Empire, as now it is in Europe: and, tho' ſome Superſtitions had forbid the uſe of it in things Sacred, yet our Religion practis'd it from the beginning. The Evangeliſts writ their Narratives, the Apoſtles ſent Letters; in which Scriptures Myſteries are ſpoke out, as Sacred, and as Oppoſite to Jewiſh or Heathen Opinions, as any Oral Tradition would pretend to whiſper. There Chriſt Crucify'd was publiſh'd, and the fooliſhneſs of Preaching was to be read; the Sacrament of Chriſts Supper laid down, its Elements and Form of Inſtitution Recorded by the Evangeliſts, by St. Paul, and afterwards openly mention'd without ſcruple by Juſtin Martyr and Ireneus: However it came to paſs, that in the following Ages Chriſtians grew to be more ſhie on that Subject before the promiſcuous People; and began to think it convenient to have Myſteries and Secrets, as well as the Jews, or Heathens. But ev'n then when they did not ſpeak plain in their common Sermons, they were not ſo reſerv'd in their Writings that came abroad, but their meaning might be eaſily ſpell'd; for why ſhould they make ſuch an impenetrable Secret of that, which every Chriſtian knew, and any falſe Brother might tell?

And beſides, had they been more reſerv'd on ſome few Matters, yet in others there was no need. For ſuppoſe to avoid Scandal, they would not publiſh in Writing their Adoration of what appeared to be Bread, for fear of giving Countenance to the Superſtition of the Egyptians towards Beef, and Mutton, and Sallets; nor their Worſhip of Angels, of the Virgin and Saints, or of Images, for fear of encouraging the other Gentile Idolatries: yet what harm had there been if the reſt had been writ; that there were ſeven Sacraments, that the Intention of the Prieſt was neceſſary to them, that there was a Purgatory, &c? Or where had been the offence, if that had been ſeen in Writing which we now look for; that the Biſhop of Rome, or the Majority of the reſt ſhould never miſtake in the Rules of their own Religion? But after all, if Chriſtians would not have made any writing publick, yet nothing hinder'd but that they might have had them for their private uſe, in the Cuſtody of the Biſhop and Presbytery: in whoſe hands the Doctrine (for Example) of Tranſubſtantiation it ſelf, tho' written, was as likely to be kept Secret; as it would be, though unwritten, by thoſe thouſands of Laymen that knew it as well as the Clergy.

Againſt the firſt and laſt of theſe three Reflections, I have been making, there is but one Inſtance that can be alledged in Chriſtianity, of the injoyn'd uſe of memory, and the prohibition of Writing; and that is in the caſe of the Creed, which the Catechumens were ſometimes heretofore order'd to get without book, and forbidden to write. But the Apoſtles Creed we know is a very ſhort leſſon, that any mans memory may eaſily retain; and in ſome places it was then ſhorter than it is now. And as it will be always neceſſary for a Chriſtian to have in his mind the Abſtract of his Faith; ſo it was more neceſſary then, in the midſt of Unbelievers; for whom he was to be prepared, either to reſiſt, or to inſtruct them. It was too thought fit at that time, when Chriſtians were afraid leſt their Rites and Forms ſhould be mimick'd, or otherwiſe ridicul'd by the Heathen, to the ſcandal of the weaker Brother, or the obduracy of the yet Unconverted; that this Sacred Form of our Belief, ſhould not be lightly expos'd into Strangers hands. For both thoſe Reaſons, the young Chriſtian was directed to commit the Creed to Memory, and not to truſt it to Paper; as he was too for the laſt of them admoniſht not to con it, or repeat it, in the hearing of an Unbeliever. But all the while, this brief form, to be remembred by each for their particular uſe, was ſo far from depending upon Memory for its Tranſmiſſion, that it was actually written for the uſe of the Church; and that thoſe very Authors who have told us of the Prohibition, (for we are beholding to Writing even for the knowledge of that) have at the ſame time given us the Creed in Writing, and their own large explications of it beſide. Their explication of that Article concerning the Church, we ſhall have an occaſion to thank them for hereafter; See the fourth Chapter of the 2d. Diſcourſe. and we ſhall find too, not only that the Creed might be wrote; but that it was nothing elſe than what was expreſly writ in the Scriptures before.

It appears then, that Oral Tradition has no peculiar place in Chriſtianity. This the Modern Patrons of it ſhould in diſcretion have conſider'd betimes; and not have ſuffer'd themſelves to fall ſo ſhort of their Maſters in the advantage of the Suppoſition.

The Jews, from whom they borrowed the Fancy, did not think it fit to go alone; but ſupported that Fable with others. For firſt, they ſuppoſe it forbid by God to write down ſome ſort of Precepts; and that of thoſe Precepts this prohibition was one: and then, Pocockii Porta Moſis, pag. 5 tâ. &c. when they had made Memory ſo neceſſary, they provided a peculiar method to inform it. Moſes muſt be ſuppoſed, in his long Converſation on the Mount, to have been ſufficiently inſtructed himſelf; and when he came down, he took a very ſingular Courſe with the Children of Iſrael. He firſt ſent for Aaron and declar'd to him alone all the Precepts diſtinctly: then for his Sons, and repeated the ſame Leſſon to them, in the preſence of the Father. Afterwards the ſeventy Elders were call'd in; and they, in the hearing of Aaron and his Sons, were taught in like manner: and laſtly, the whole People were admitted to the Company, and receiv'd the ſame Inſtruction. So that from Moſes his mouth, Aaron had now heard the Law four times, his Sons thrice, the Elders twice, and the People once. This done, Moſes departs, and leaves the like Task to Aaron, for a tryal of his Memory: who accordingly rehearſes to the whole Audience, and then withdraws. Then his Sons ſtand up, and after a like repetition, retire too. And laſtly, the Elders, having been four times inform'd, make to the People their fourth Recital, upon which they all go home, and inſtruct their ſeveral Families.

By this contrivance, the Law at its firſt ſetting forth, has paſs'd ſo often through the mouth, that it deſerves already the name of Oral: and we by theſe Circumſtances of Care in the beginning, are prepar'd to imagine the ſame diligence in the following ſucceſſions. Theſe Elders, one may think, would not fail to tranſmit to the next; and ſo the Tradition deſcended through hands either unknown, and whoſe names it would not take along with it; or elſe ſo remote, that they muſt ſtretch very far to meet; 'till it came into the care of Samuel. and now we are well; for he was a great Perſon, and diſcharged his truſt no doubt. From him, by Perſons that muſt too be nameleſs, it went down to Jeremiah, thence to Baruch, and ſo to Ezra. In his Cuſtody it was lodged ſafe, and after that found a conveyance, by men ſcarce ever remembred but on this occaſion, for ſix or ſeven hundred years together; 'till at laſt ſometime after the utter diſperſion of the Jews by Adrian, it was thought neceſſary to conſider the accidents that might happen to this Tradition, if truſted any longer to memory: upon which, Rabbi Juda the Holy, ventur'd upon the breach of one Precept, to ſecure all the reſt, and ſo reduc'd them into Writing. This Book is the Miſnah, and the Commentary upon it, made not long after, the Talmud.

This is the Pedigree of Jewiſh Tradition; ſomething like that of our Kings from Adam; drawn at length with formality enough, and wanting nothing but certainty. However the Jews are to be commended for this, that they dreſs up the Story as well as they can; and appear ſo much in earneſt, as to endeavour for credit. The great performance is not ſuppos'd by them to be done in our days, and by ſuch men as now live, but to have been finiſh'd fourteen hundred year ago: And then they are ſo ingenuous as to put another ſtop to their Traditions, and to take ſome care that we be not oppreſs'd by their overflow; allowing us to believe no ſuch Oral account, that has been ever under a diſpute: ſo far are they from taking that ſort of conveyance for the ſureſt.

Whereas on the contrary, our Modern Traditioners are ſo bold with us, as to uſe no caution, nor ſet any bounds: neither are they at any pains, or ſhew any contrivances; bunglingly ſetting up their extravagant conceit without either Support or Ornament. They beſtow none of their Legends upon this Fable, and prepare us with no inducing Circumſtance; not telling us ſo much as the hands that ſhould tranſmit the Tradition: unwilling, it may be, to name to that Office any other Biſhops than the Popes; and then not daring to truſt their Story to the Credit of ſuch Reporters. The whole therefore is left at large; the Father is to tell the Son; and ſo the Tradition is to be propagated as naturally as Mankind.

A Tradition propagated in that manner, is certainly no better deſcended than any common Spurious Relation, that has no other father but the People. But that abſurd Hypotheſis, tho' mention'd here, yet is too groſs to be purſued further. Our Deſign in this Chapter was more general, and againſt wiſer Adverſaries: being only to ſhew, that Chriſtian Tradition is not to be exempted from the common frailties and uncertainties incident to Oral Reports.

CHAP. VI.

The Certainty of Eccleſiaſtical Tradition particularly Conſidered.

WE are then at Liberty to Judge of Tradition in Spiritual, and in Temporal Matters, much after the ſame manner; and cannot in prudence, after ſome aſſignable Tract of years, admit for Teſtimony hear-ſays of one ſort, rather than another.

All, I ſay, which on this Subject has been laid down before, muſt be allow'd to be as true in Eccleſiaſtical Tradition; and we need not here proceed any further to draw the eaſy Parallel; but reckon on the ſame diſtance of time as abſolutely immemorial; and look upon the Ages beyond it, as fabulous, and in utter darkneſs.

But we will not uſe the extremity of our Right, nor paſs Sentence in ſo peremptory a manner; but will, with the Readers leave, give theſe Eccleſiaſtical Hear-ſays more reſpect; conſider them more particularly, and have the patience to make the following deductions.

If then of 1600 years that have paſs'd ſince Chriſt, we conſider the ſpace of two or three Centuries, and thoſe of a middle indifferent rate, ſuppoſing them extraordinary neither in their Care nor Negligence; remembring that Memory was no particular qualification of a Chriſtian; and that their mediocrity of Memory needed not to be ſtrained, when Writing was ſo much in uſe, and at hand; this conſider'd, and ſuppos'd,

1. As to Verbal Reports: if we will favourably ſuppoſe that ſomething in our Saviours or the Apoſtles own words might have deſcended down to the Survivers of the two or three hundredth year, preſerved by ſuch uncertain accidental memory, yet it can never be furmis'd to have been any thing of length, of the length of a ſhort Chapter we may ſay, were it a Parable or continued Story; much leſs if it were a number of Unconnected Sayings, like a Chapter of the Proverbs. We ſee therefore that we cannot expect either much new Text, nor much interpretation of the old in Apoſtolical words: the Bulk after three or indeed two hundred years could not be very conſiderable.

And beſides, (2dly) if they pretend not to any continued Diſcourſe, but only to Unconnected Sayings, we are to conſider, that ſuch Sayings, if any, coming down without the Context and Circumſtances of the Diſcourſe to which they related, may have often an uncertain Authority. For tho' ſpoke by an Apoſtle, yet diſtinction muſt be made, whether they were ſpoke in our Lords name, or in his own; whether too by way of permiſſion or advice only, or elſe of poſitive precept. And then further, if we take their Authority for certain, yet their ſence will frequently be ambiguous and undetermin'd, not to be ſecurely limited or amplified without more preciſe direction. For Example, Suppoſe theſe words, This is my Body, had been tranſmitted Orally, as ſaid on occaſion of the Bleſſed Sacrament: if they had been taken for an Anſwer of Chriſts to a Diſciple enquiring what the ſubſtance of the Sacrament was, they would have atteſted to Tranſubſtantiation: but if it had been known that no ſuch queſtion was made, and that Chriſt ſpoke of that Bread which he took and brake at Supper, their meaning muſt then be perfectly different; eſpecially if it had been told, that it was ordinary for Chriſt to ſpeak in ſuch Figures; and that particularly, ſomething like this was frequent with the Jews in their Paſchal Phraſe.

But (3dly) Admit there were any Sayings came ſo contingently down, whoſe Authority was certain, and ſenſe determin'd; they muſt have been ſuch as were kept up and remembred, becauſe there was all along preſent occaſion for them. For if they had not been in ordinary uſe, there is no reaſon to think they would have been diſtinctly preſerved. Of this kind are thoſe Traditions, Iren. l. 1. c. 2. Tert. de Praeſcr. c. 13. mention'd by Ireneus and Tertullian; being nothing elſe than ſome of thoſe Articles, that make what we call the Apoſtles Creed: As that God the Father was Maker of Heaven and Earth; and that his Son Jeſus was born of the Virgin, that he Suffered, was Crucify'd, Dead, and Buried, and roſe up again. &c. Theſe Circumſtantial particulars were ſuch as directly oppoſed the firſt Hereſies of Chriſtianity, that either deny'd the Father of Chriſt to be the Creator, or that Chriſt was born really a man, or really ſuffered (Thoſe againſt whom the Apoſtle St. John and Ignatius writ.) And ſuch plain Truths as theſe, of ſuch conſtant and daily uſe, no wonder if they were remembred in the firſt Age; and not forgot neither in the ſecond, when Marcion and Valentinus broach'd again the ſame Hereſies, and denying the Authority of the Scriptures were properly refuted by this Traditional Evidence.

But then we muſt obſerve; that theſe Traditionary Articles, remembred occaſionally and on particular Exigences, when brought out by Ireneus and Tertullian, are produced by the laſt of the two at no great diſtance, not much above a hundred years after the death of St. John; neither yet are they ſupplemental to the Scripture, but a brief recital only, of ſome few paſſages, of thoſe which are there found written at large.

Theſe Articles, properly ſpeaking, belong not to this head, not being reported verbatim; as may appear from the difference of Phraſe even in theſe two Authors. But if the Tranſmiſſion of ſuch few neceſſary Articles in exact words for ſo little a time, would not induce us to allow Verbal Tradition much more ſcope, nor much longer continuance: neither is the Tranſmiſſion of their ſence, ſhould we ſuppoſe that, to prevail further with us. For in the general,

2. If Tradition ſhall pretend not to the very Sayings, but only to the Effect and Subſtance: it is obvious with what uncertainty they muſt be tranſmitted. For how know I with what Judgment the Apoſtles ſaying was underſtood by him that gave the Abſtract, whether he conceived the meaning aright, did not give a Byas to it, and whether he rightly expreſſed it. This might well happen at the firſt hand, but that it did not in any of the 10 or 15 that were to give it down, who can promiſe? The Scripture it ſelf informs us of two ſuch miſtakes which aroſe immediately; one in matter of Fact, and another in Doctrine. Our Saviours indeterminate Anſwer concerning St. John, Joh. 21.23. If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? went abroad among the Diſciples for a poſitive affirmation, that that Diſciple ſhould not dye: whereas, Jeſus ſaid not he ſhall not dye, but, &c. So eaſily were the Hypothetical words of our Saviour loſt in the Relation; and other Categorical ones reported by the Diſciples: either from their want of attention, or miſunderſtanding; their minds being prepoſſeſs'd with the thoughts of our Saviour's particular love to St. John, or led by the humane inclination to believe and tell a ſtrange Story. This miſtake would have ſet up for a Tradition in matter of Fact: ſee another in an Article of Faith. Certain men, ſay the Apoſtles in Council to the Gentiles of Antioch, which went out from us, Acts 15.24. have troubled you with words, ſubverting your Souls, ſaying, ye muſt be Circumcis'd, and keep the Law; to whom we gave no ſuch Commandment. They Preach'd, it ſeems, the neceſſity of Circumciſion; concluding it from ſome Words or Actions of the Apoſtles, and delivering it for their mind: Whereas the Tradition came not from them, but from the weakneſs or prejudice of the Reporters. No ſtreſs therefore can be laid on ſuch Summary Traditions: They in proportion abating of their Evidence, as they eaſe the Memory.

We ſee then, that Oral Report, after ſome Succeſſions, as many as may happen in much leſs than 300 years, can have no Authority of its own: whatever it has, even at leſſer diſtances, muſt be borrowed from other Supports; and it can be credited only, as it comes confirm'd by concurring Teſtimony.

Now corroborating Teſtimony there may be of two ſorts, either from other agreeing Reports, or from Writing.

(1.) If Oral Tradition will accept the aſſiſtance of Writing; it may gain credit, and deſerve to be believed. Euſeb. Hiſt. Eccl. lib. 5. c. 20. For ſo, thoſe Traditions Ireneus mentions, that obtain'd among the Barbarous Nations, were confirmed fully by the Apoſtolick Writing; and what Ireneus heard from Polycarp of our Saviour's Miracles and Diſcourſe, which Polycarp had received from thoſe that were preſent, was gladly heard by him, for it was agreeable to the Holy Scriptures.

But ſuch an Atteſtation our Oral Tradition cannot pretend to; for it is ſet up in oppoſition to Writing, and is to tell us thoſe things which we no where read.

(2.) As to the other way of Confirmation; if a Diſcourſe be ſpoke in an Aſſembly; and the Perſons of that Audience, without conferring together before, agree after in the ſame report, it ſhall be taken for unqueſtionably true; and if they differ in ſome Circumſtances, yet the Subſtance in which they conſent, ſhall be credited: But if they have been influenced one by another, and there has been Communication between them, their Evidence will not have the ſame force, and if too punctual, will be juſtly ſuſpected of Confederacy. Now when the Apoſtles went Preaching over all the World, delivering the Doctrine of the Goſpel as they went; as their Diſciples might remember the chief Heads of their Diſcourſe; and the Auditors ev'n of theſe might remember ſuch as were remarkable, and in which they took themſelves to be principally concern'd: ſo, when the Believers of ſeveral diſtant Countries, came at ſome diſtance of time, to compare their ſeveral Traditions receiv'd apart; there could be no poſſible doubt of the truth of that Doctrine, in which they all concurr'd. And, if then thoſe Traditions had been reduced into Writing; their Authority would have been juſtly ſacred with us; and had they not been admitted into the Canon, they would have deſerv'd to be bound up with it, and regarded in a very near degree. From ſuch Traditions, the Ancient Writers, Tertullian particularly and Ireneus, argue againſt the Hereticks that deny'd or deprav'd the Scriptures; and the Argument, in their Circumſtances, as it was proper, ſo was abſolutely Convincing. By ſuch a Compariſon of Truths the Scriptures themſelves, tho' they wanted not ſuch an Evidence, were confirm'd in their Authority; and their Canon or Rule ſettled. Now 'till that time and ſomewhat after, Oral Tradition might well ſerve, eſpecially in ſome eminent notable Articles of neceſſary daily uſe; and the report of one place be ſtrengthened by the Concurrence of the reſt. But, in after Ages, when the Churches came to inter-communicate more frequently, and imbody by Politick conſtitutions; and eſpecially, when the leſſer Biſhopricks came to be more formally under the direction of the greater, Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Conſtantinople, it was no wonder that the meaner and dependent follow'd the Advice of the greater and more Potent: and then, if the World was found to be in the ſame Leſſon, the Common conſent might as well proceed from the Influence of the Court, from the Authority of ſome one or more of the great Biſhops gaining the reſt, from Imitation and Contagion of Example in the generality; as from the Unity of Truth, and ſimplicity of an unconſtrain'd unaffected agreement. For which reaſon, Traditions that continued Oral for 500 year, as they are to be utterly rejected by reaſon of that diſtance from their Original, ſo cannot have any acceſſional Authority given them from the agreement of the Churches of that Age. Much leſs is the preſent Roman Church in any Article to urge upon us her conſent with the Modern Greeks with whom ſhe actually correſponded for eight or nine hundred year, and upon whom ſhe is known to have been practiſing ever ſince. But of much leſs Authority yet, is the Agreement, or rather Conſpiracy of the Weſtern ſince that time: a ſworn Conſpiracy of the Clergy under the Pope their General, to beat down any Truth, that ſhould be againſt the Intereſts of the Church-Men, and contradict the Common gainful Superſtitions.

When therefore the Authority of a precedent Age is preſſed upon us; we are not ſo much to conſider, how long we come after that Age, as how long that Age came after the firſt. For they they are to be believed concerning things ſaid before, not by their diſtance from us, but by their nearneſs to the Apoſtles: as a man that lives all his time at Kenſington, is of his own knowledge no better a Witneſs of what was ſaid at Weſtminſter-Hall, than if he had lived at the Lands-end. If then the Age that was mention'd to us was out of the hearing of the firſt, and removed at a fabulous diſtance; its Tradition, which was uncertain a thouſand year ago, will become no more certain a thouſand years after, than what is a lye now, will grow true a thouſand years hence. The Tradition will be in it ſelf no truer; tho' it may, we confeſs, be told by a Church ſo long, that ſhe may at laſt believe it her ſelf.

And therefore when the times of Gregory the Pope, and Auſtin the Monk are vouch'd; and they are ſaid to be Saints of above a thouſand years old: we are to reckon upon the 600 years that went before them; and to remember, that all the Oral Tradition of that time muſt be twice an arrant Fable. Nay, if the 5th Age be alledg'd, we muſt conſider then too the immemorial Diſtance, and oblivious force of four hundred years; that as there was room enough for ſome ſuperſtitious conceits to creep in, ſo it was utterly unlikely that much of Apoſtolical Sayings ſhould be memorially convey'd fo far.

For thoſe Perſons that then lived, however we at our great diſtance call them Ancients, look'd upon themſelves as of latter date. Vincentius, who wrote in the year 434, in the Rules he gives for Catholick Doctrine, orders Antiquity to be follow'd, as he there calls it: and of thoſe Ancients he refers to, St. Cyprian was the Eldeſt; who liv'd before him not 200 year. Thoſe too of St. Cyprian's age, eſteem'd themſelves far remov'd from the Apoſtles days; and he himſelf reckon'd upon the paſt time, as large enough, not only to render the Truths of the Goſpel Antient, but to bring in after-errors, and let them grow old too. For, when Pope Stephen would have regulated a controvered Practice by his Roman Tradition, Cypr. ad Pompeium. Unde eſt iſta Traditio? utrumne de Dominicâ & Evangelicâ Autoritate, &c. St. Cyprian asks what Tradition was meant, whether that of the Goſpels and Epiſtles, to which he was ready to Subſcribe? if any other was intended, the Antient Tradition (he ſays) might be an Antient Errour: that in any doubtful Caſe, they were to conſult the Scriptures; and when they were at a loſs for Truth, they were not to truſt ſuch Aquaeducts as would hold no water, but paſs by thoſe faulty Pipes, and immediately repair to the Fountain that was at hand. Theſe are but part of St. Cyprian's expreſſions on this Subject; who treats the unwritten Tradition of his own times with as little reſpect, as we can ſhew to any that ſhall offer it ſelf now 1400 years after.

For to come from Speculation to Fact; we ſhall find the Courſe that Oral Tradition had in the Chriſtian World, was very narrow, and very ſhort. For ſo it came to paſs; by reaſon, I ſuppoſe, of thoſe Uncertainties we have traced out; that Oral Reports, many no doubt in the firſt Age, and by which Chriſtians were in many places chiefly directed, yet in a little longer time, and as ſoon as the Canon of Scripture was brought together, began to decreaſe in their number, and to loſe their Authority; inſomuch, that thoſe who lived within the diſtance of 200 years from the Apoſtles, and whoſe Books are full of Allegations from Scripture; ſcarcely make uſe of a Saying or two from that Traditional Authority: whether it was, that they were then moſt of them loſt; or few of them credited; or thoſe that were credited, did not differ from what was written. Of this Obſervation the Writings of Ireneus, Tertullian, Origen, and Cyprian are pregnant Teſtimonies. From Ireneus alone, one might recover a good part of the Goſpels; but of Traditional Doctrine, not ſix lines. And by one of thoſe Traditions, (to obſerve the fate of them) that Holy Father was led into the Millenary miſtake.

The fortune which the Labours of Papias found, is another inſtance. He was Biſhop of Hierapolis, an Acquaintance of Polycarp's; Euſeb. Hiſt. Eccl. lib. 3. c. 39. and had familiarly converſed with ſeveral Auditors of the Apoſtles, from whom he ſtudiouſly enquired concerning their Actions and Diſcourſes; What Peter, what Thomas, what James or John were wont to ſay: (for he was of the Opinion, as Euſebius tells us, that what was to be read in the Scriptures was not ſo edifying, as that which might be had by the living voice.) Of theſe Relations he pick'd up ſo many, that he made up five Books; and then we were in a fair way, if ever, of having ſome certainty in this kind. But he had gather'd together ſo much Fable and Paradox, that Euſebius, upon occaſion of his Millenary Tradition, was forced to give us his Character; how he was a very weak man, as might be diſcerned by his way of Writing; and that he put down things in one ſenſe, which were ſpoke in another. The little therefore of his Writings we have, we owe to Euſebius; for ſo ſmall account was made by the World of his five Books, that they were all quickly loſt, and that well-meant Collection of Hear-ſays returned again upon Oral Tradition.

There is, I confeſs, honourable mention made by ſome Ancients of Unſcriptural Traditions; and ſuch a mention, as might at firſt ſight incline one to believe, that there had been ſome very weighty thing preſerved that way: but a nearer view of thoſe places will quickly undeceive us; and the particular they give in of thoſe matters eaſily inſtruct us; how much the general expreſſions are to be reſtrain'd, or how far diſregarded.

For to begin with Clemens Alexandrinus, the honour he does to Unwritten Tradition, is ſo juſtly diſparaged by the Apocryphal particulars he produces, and by the Allegories he derives thence, (things in which Fancy has more to do than Memory;) that our very Adverſaries never think fit much to inſiſt upon it.

Tertullian indeed is always alledg'd for this purpoſe, in that famous place of his Book de Coronâ Militis. There the Author, at other times over-ſubtle and over-proving, but now a rigid Montaniſt endeavours to prove the wearing of a Garland unlawful for Chriſtians, by their former abſtaining from that Common faſhion. In order therefore to the raiſing an Argument from Negative Cuſtom, he thinks himſelf oblig'd by his Subject, as well as by the Confirmation of Montanus, to make the Poſitive of great Authority: There are ſeveral Examples of obſervations which we hold by virtue of no Writing; but only by the Title of Tradition patroniz'd by Cuſtom. To begin with Baptiſm, when we are going into the Water, and before too in the Church; we profeſs under the hands of the Prieſt, that we Renounce the Devil, and his Pomp and Angels: after that, we are dipt thrice; anſwering ſomething more than our Lord has preſcribed in the Goſpel. When we come out we taſt the mixture of Milk and Honey: and from that time for a whole Week we abſtain from our daily Bathing. The Sacrament of the Euchariſt, which our Lord appointed to be taken at Meals, and by all promiſcuouſly, we take in our Aſſemblies before day, and only from the hands of the Preſidents. We make Oblations for the Dead, and keep yearly their Birth-days [into the other World.] We hold it a great Crime to Faſt, or to Kneel at Prayers on a Sunday. The ſame Priviledge we enjoy, all the time from Eaſter to Whitſontide. We are much troubled that any, even of our own Bread or Drink ſhould fall upon the ground. When ever we move or go about any thing; when we come in, or go out; when we put on our Shooes, when we Waſh, when we are at Table; when Candles are lighted, when we lye or ſit down; what ever Action we are upon; we ſtill wear away, as it were, our Forehead by Signing it with the Croſs. Tert. de Coron. Mil. Cap. 3. and accordingly he gives out the Preſent Obſervations then practis'd in common by the Catholick-Church, and the Montaniſts, for Primitive neceſſary Ordinances; as you have them in the Margin rendred from his own words.

Now, becauſe ſuch Obſervations as theſe are the man things aſcribed by Antients to Tradition; I ſhall, with the Reader's leave, take this occaſion to conſider them more particularly. Theſe Uſages then are, we perceive, of two ſorts; either Forms of Words, or Rites Practical: and in both, two things are to be minded; the Fact of their Antiquity, and the Opinion either of their Neceſſity or Legality.

1. Now, as to the Antiquity of Uſages, we have ſeen already how uncertain that muſt be in Forms of Words Orally delivered; and how eaſily they may be interpolated and changed. Rites too and Geſtures, to be tranſmitted by Imitation, or practical Tradition, are as ſubject to vary in a little time, and to paſs into another mode; either by Addition or Subſtraction, from the Fancy, or from the miſtake of the Imitator: ſo that at laſt they may retain but little reſemblance of what they were at firſt; and appear no more a-kin, than a Copy a little removed would be to an Original, however it might go under the name of the firſt Maſter. Beſides this, it is very eaſie too for foreign Uſages of the Neighbourhood to ſlide in afterwards: and then, when they are once admitted into Company, and paſs for ſome time with the Elder, they very ſecurely pretend to the ſame Antiquity. Such introduced practices might without much difficulty get themſelves ſtiled Apoſtolical; either becauſe us'd in an Apoſtolical Church, that is where an Apoſtle had been heretofore; or becauſe brought in by an Apoſtolical, that is a Reverend and Orthodox Biſhop; or becauſe having been us'd immemorially, and deſcending from a time higher than the preſent, they were preſum'd to have deſcended from the Higheſt, as Rain that comes from the Clouds, is ſaid to come down from Heaven. For in thoſe ſenſible things our Opinion acts as our Sight; and at ſuch an aſſignable Diſtance, confound all further Diſtances; taking every thing to be equally remote, that is removed beyond ſuch a degree: as our Eye and Fancy place the Planets, or even a Meteor of the lower Region, in the Firmament among the Fixt Stars. Now ſuch Errours of Place, any ſmall obſervation diſcovers, and their correction is preſently admitted: but theſe of time, tho' eaſie to be obſerved, are not ſo eaſily corrected, becauſe favour'd and indulg'd by the nature of Man; who, as he loves to conſecrate the Original of his City, or antedate that of his Family, ſo is willing to have all his ſolemn Actions as venerably Antient as he can. And in ſuch things it is not perhaps Civil to be very difficult; and we are rather to imitate the Courteſie of St. Jerom. Unaquae que Provincia abundet in ſenſu ſuo & praecepta Majorum Leges Apoſtolicas arbitretur. Hieron. ad Lucinium. Let then every Province as to this matter, enjoy its own Opinion, and think as honourably of its Cuſtoms as it pleaſes; provided ſuch Cuſtoms will be Civil too, not make any claim by their Antientry, nor preſcribe upon us for our Sufferance. The Tradition of theſe Uſages is much like that of Relicks: that there were ſome ſuch indifferent Ceremonies practiſed by the Apoſtles, we do not much queſtion; but the number of them is ſtrangely encreas'd, and which are the Genuine we know not how to tell; they are multiply'd like the wood of the Croſs; and the Counterfeit is never to be diſcern'd. We are therefore ready to ſhow thoſe that ſeem to be Antient; a decent reſpect; but for Swearing to the Truth of them, or however, for falling down and Worſhipping them, we deſire to be excus'd. The Antiquity of Rites is a matter of Fact, and in that we ſee the miſtake is eaſie.

2. The other thing we are to conſider of them is either their Lawfulneſs, or their Neceſſity: and this is a matter of Doctrine; deſcending down with them, or accruing to them, in common preſumption; but admitted often upon miſtake. For as ſuch Uſages are always preſum'd Lawful, not only from ancient Practice, but by our own; ſo we know how eaſily an Opinion of their neceſſity may ariſe. In all Cuſtomary Proceedings, Precedents at pleaſure, are apt however to paſs into ſtanding Rules: and as we are naturally willing to have our own practice follow'd, and our Example go for Law; ſo, when we can recommend it from more antient uſage, we fail not to urge the Authority; and make it a point of Reverence and Duty to our Anceſtors, to follow their ſteps and ours. For which reaſon it is no wonder, that Rites which had once gain'd to be eſteem'd Apoſtolical, ſhould not only be taken for Lawful, but for Obligatory too, by leſs thinking men. Whereas on the contrary, it is ſo far from being certain, that Practices reputed Apoſtolical are neceſſary and perpetual; that the very true ones often were not ſo much to be aſcrib'd to the Apoſtles, as to the Age they liv'd in, not being purpoſely inſtituted, but proviſionally taken in, ſome out of Compliance meerly, and to avoid preſent Offences; and conſequently they were not only indifferent, but might grow inexpedient, if not unlawful, in tract of time: ſuch were the Kiſs of Love; the Love Feaſts; to take the Euchariſt at Meals; to abſtain from Blood, and things Strangled; to Circumciſe a Timothy, &c.

For a Right Originally Expedient, remaining the ſame and unvary'd in it ſelf, may yet grow to be of a contrary nature, by change of outward Circumſtances: it may too in time deſerve to be laid aſide, for the Superſtition that may be tack'd to it by the inclination of the Age. But if it has been varied, it may either ſuffer ſo much alteration, as to become another thing; or at leaſt it may be brought by a ſlight, and after a little time indiſcernible inoculation, to produce a Fruit of a far different kind Not to ſay how one that is ſub-introduc'd and Novel, if it be not at the firſt riſe apparently and groſly erroneous, may however have in it ſome Seed of Superſtition, not then perceiv'd, nor affecting therefore the firſt Uſers, but which ſhall afterwards grow and exert it ſelf, as it may be improv'd and diſplay'd by the Corruption of the ſucceeding Imitators. We of our Church think we have very good inſtances of theſe Matters, in many of the Roman Uſages. For ſo the Latin Language, once neceſſary to the Prayers of the Weſtern Church, becauſe it was the Language of thoſe Countries; is now, by their alteration of Speech, grown as improper for the ſame reaſon, and is moſt abſurdly retain'd. So the Sign of the Croſs, which formerly accompany'd Prayers, viſibly ſhewing them to be made in the name of Chriſt Crucified; has been ſince us'd Superſtitiouſly alone, and I know not what Vertue attributed to the airy Figure. By the inſertion of the Tranſubſtantiating Doctrine, the Reſpect due to the Holy Elements of the Euchariſt has paſs'd into abſolute Adoration; and the nature of that Sacrament is almoſt Tranſubſtantiated too. And laſtly, to mention no more; Prayer for the Dead, which, beſides the Teſtimony it gave to another Life, was no more at firſt than a holy Wiſh for the Deceas'd, expreſſing our Concern for their Condition; whereby our Deſire, or our Joy and Thanks for their happineſs was rather profeſs'd, than any want of it ſuppos'd to be reliev'd; and which therefore was made as frequently and as ſolemnly, for the Apoſtles and Martyrs, conſummate Saints, as for leſs Righteous Men; ſuch a Prayer was after thought to have ſome real effect for the Dead; then it was ſurmis'd to contribute to their preſent advantage, however as yet but ſparingly offer'd, and at ſet times: at length it came to be eſteem'd of ſome great benefit or other, and to be highly recommended to the Piety of their ſurviving Relations: 'till at laſt, by the coming in of Purgatory, it had a ſtated uſe, and grew to be a moſt neceſſary Office; Men beginning to make it the greateſt care of their lives not to want this Help after their death, erecting and endowing Societies for this purpoſe. So did the Errour, when once inſinuated into the Practice, grow on ſtill like a grain of Seed; till by degrees it became a Tree: which, after it was once well grafted, has ſince ſpread ſo wide, and bore ſuch Fruit, that under it all the numerous kinds of Romiſh Orders have been lodg'd and fed.

It were obvious to find many ſuch like Examples: but, as they may not be agreed to by our Adverſaries; ſo they are not neceſſary to our Deſign. It muſt be granted us that ſuch changes are eaſie, and ſuch Errours very natural: and as to Tertullian, to whom we now return, he himſelf affords an Inſtance of one ſort; it being manifeſt that he was miſtaken in the Duty of theſe Obſervations, even by the Confeſſion of our Adverſaries themſelves, who have made no ſcruple of diſcontinuing one half of them long ago.

This his Errour about the Neceſſity of thoſe Practices, will eaſily lead us to think him capable of the other concerning their Antiquity: an Errour the old Biſhops of Rome have often committed, aſcribing ſtill their Modern Uſages to St. Peter and St. Paul. But with this we have no juſt cauſe to charge Tertullian: he for his part ſpeaks very warily in the Point, and declines to father the Obſervations, he reckons, upon the Apoſtles; giving great reaſon of ſuſpicion to thoſe who are acquainted with his manner of gaining all advantage to his Cauſe, that he himſelf was conſcious enough of their later reception. It is certain that none of them needed an Apoſtolical Inſtitution; that the Forms might have been devis'd by un-inſpired Biſhops; and that ſeveral of the Rites might as well have been brought in by ſucceeding Converts, from the Cuſtoms of their former Life. For that carefulneſs about their Bread and Drink, is ſtill a Jewiſh Obſervance; and was too heretofore, in part, a Roman Superſtition Ceremonies des Juifs par Leo de Mod. Part 2. Chap. 10. Cibus è manu prolapſus redebatur, utique per menſas. Plin. Lib. 37. C. 2.. To Pray for the Dead, was in ſome ſort us'd both with the Heathens, and the Jews. Not to Faſt, or Kneel, on a Sunday, was only to pay to that day the honour of the Sabbath. The frequency too of the Sign of the Croſs here mentioned, might have nothing more it it, but ſo many Benedictions, as the Jews uſe to this day on the ſame occaſions Leo de Moden. p. 1. Ch. 9. Buxtorf. Syn. Jud. C. 12. Coloſſ. 3.17.; only in this diſtinguiſh'd to the Eye, that they were made, as the Apoſtle directs, in the name of Chriſt. Tertullian himſelf tells us in other places Tert. Apol. c. 16. Ad Nation. l. 1. c. 13. Diem Saturni Otio & Victui decernere. Aliis diebus Lavacrum ſubtrahere, aut in veſperam differe. Ritus Lucernarum. Jejunia cum Azymis. Orationes Littorales. A Judaico more, quem ignorant. of ſeveral Jewiſh Cuſtoms, which the Heathen Romans of his time practis'd, not knowing whence they had deriv'd them. With much leſs difficulty we know might the Cuſtoms of that Religion have paſs'd into Chriſtianity; and the Chriſtians too, might in ſome time be as ignorant of their Original: and then it follow'd of courſe, that what had no known Author, and it may be no apparent ground, was to be referr'd to the common Authors of our Religion, and attributed to their poſitive appointment. That ſomething of this was the Caſe of theſe Rites Tertullian produces, his warineſs, we obſerv'd, will incline us to believe. But as to the fifty days after Eaſter, it is more particularly probable that their Feſtival Solemnity was not of ſo early a date, at leaſt at Rome: (not to take notice of St. Paul's contrary practice obſerved by St. Jerom.) Acts 21. Hier. Ep. ad Lucinium. For it is not likely that the Interdiction of Faſting after the Reſurrection, was earlier than the obſervation of Faſting before: and there are ſome words of Ireneus preſerv'd by Euſebius, Euſeb. l. 5. c. 24. Edit. Vales. which give us a ſhrewd intimation, that Good Friday was not long kept at Rome before Pope Soter's days, if Eaſter was. But to Conclude, however theſe Reflections may be received, we are not much concern'd in their Succeſs. For ſhould we allow, that a few indifferent Changeable Uſages might make a ſhift to paſs down ſincere from the Apoſtles, thorough ſome eightſcore years; yet Tradition would not have much to boaſt of: it ſhould rather be out of countenance, that ſo accurate and ſo vehement a Writer as Tertullian, when he had a mind to recommend it, ſhould have nothing more conſiderable to produce for it at ſo ſmall a diſtance.

Having thus conſidered this paſſage of Tertullian, we have at the ſame time diſpatcht another of St. Jerom, which is nothing elſe but a Tranſcript of this, and not made the better by being put into a Luciferians mouth. And indeed, Tertullian being once ſet aſide, a Writer ſo exact, and ſo near the Apoſtolick times, the remarks we have made will eaſily help us to examine the Junior Authority; the eldeſt of which is as diſtant from him, as he from the Apoſtles. For which reaſon, the Reader, I preſume, Of Decrees and Declarations preſerv'd in the Church, the one we have in Writing; and the other we have received by Tradition from the Apoſtles, delivered down to us in a more private manner: both which are of the ſame uſe to Religion. And this will be contradicted by none, who is but ever ſo little converſant in Eccleſiaſtical Conſtitutions. For if we ſhall go about to reject all Unſcriptural Uſages, as things of no great moment; we ſhall be in danger of maiming Religion in its Principal Parts, or rather of reducing the Preaching [or Declaration] to a meer ſound. As for Example; to begin with the firſt and moſt common Rite; who has taught us in the Scripture that thoſe ſhould be Sign'd with the Sign of the Croſs, who hope in the Name of our Lord Jeſus? what Scripture has directed us to turn towards the Eaſt when we Pray? The form of Holy words ſaid over the Elements at their Conſecration, which of the Holy Writers has left us in the Scripture? For we do not think that ſufficient, which the Apoſtle or the Goſpels have Recorded; but we ſay both before and after, other words, as very neceſſary to the Myſtery; which we have received by an Unſcriptural Information. The Conſecration of the Water and Oyle at Baptiſm, and of the Baptis'd Perſon, and the uſe it ſelf of Oyle, and the Dipping thrice, and the Renunciation, are none of them from the Scripture; but from that ſecret and undivulg'd Inſtruction, which our Fathers have privately preſerv'd, without any buſie Curioſity, or impertinent inquiry: underſtanding well that Myſteries, which are to be kept venerable, were to be kept in Silence. For how was it proper that thoſe things ſhould ſtand perpetually expoſed in Writing, which Strangers are not ſo much as once allow'd to look on? Or why did not Moſes admit every one promiſcuouſly into every part of the Temple? —Was it not out of his Wiſdom, becauſe he knew, that what is common and obvious is ſubject to Contempt; and that what is reſerv'd and rare, is naturally indeavour'd after and eſteem'd? After the ſame manner the Apoſtles and Fathers, who firſt Ordered the Church, procured veneration to their Myſteries, by keeping them unſpoken and conceal'd. This is the reaſon of Unſcriptural Tradition; that the knowledge of, [or Speculation imported by] the Decrees [or Ordinances] ſhould not be an ordinary Theme, and grow into contempt by familiarity. For a Decree is one thing, and a Declaration is another. Decrees are [generally] kept under ſilence: but Declarations are Publiſht. Now one ſort of ſilence is, that Obſcurity the Scripture uſes, when it makes it a difficult thing to find out the meaning of the [Decree or] Ordinance: For ſo, all of us look toward the Eaſt at Prayers; but few of us know that we are ſeeking our old Country, that Paradiſe which God planted in the Eaſt in Eden. And all of us on Sundays pray ſtanding; but all of us do not know the reaſon. For it is not only becauſe we are riſen with Chriſt, and are to ſeek thoſe things which are above; that therefore, on that day of the Reſurrection, we put our ſelves in mind, by our poſture, of the Grace then given us: but becauſe that day is, in ſome manner, the Image of the Eternity we expect. Upon which account, tho' it were the firſt of days, yet it is not ſaid by Moſes to be the firſt, but the one day. For, ſays he, the Evening and the Morning were the one day: as being the ſame day, that returns to us in a frequent Revolution; and ſo repreſents to us the future State, the endleſs Day, that is to have no Evening, &c. (For the Author purſues the Speculation further, and at laſt concludes) The time would fail me, ſhould I rehearſe all the Churches Unſcriptural myſteries. I therefore paſs over the reſt; but the very Confeſſion of our Faith, to Believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghoſt; from what Scripture is it? for, if by a Religious conſequence, we frame our Confeſſion from the inſtitution of Baptiſm, becauſe as we are Baptis'd, ſo we are to Believe; let our Adverſaries then give us leave to uſe the ſame way of conſequence, and to expreſs our Doxology conformably to our Belief: but, if they reject the form of our Doxology, becauſe it is Unſcriptural, let them then ſhew us the place, where the Creed, and the other things we have mentioned above, are ſet down in Scripture too. would hardly excuſe any further enquiry upon this Subject; were not St. Baſil's great Name offered for the next Teſtimony, and that very much inſiſted on by our Adverſaries: which therefore I give here in the Margin.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 I have rendred diſtinctly, as St. Baſil I conceive has directed. For 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is plainly a Decree, whether Speculative or Practical, both in the Civil and Philoſophick uſe; (for ſo the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of the Philoſophers are by Tully interpreted Decreta:) and accordingly is either an Opinion and Perſuaſion, or an Ordinance of ſomething to be done; moſt commonly the latter, in Civil and in Sacred acception. And then becauſe being only a reſolve of the Mind, or of a Council, it does not in its nature imply Publication, and ordinarily is not publiſhed: It is therefore ſuppoſed by this Author to be Private, and contradiſtinguiſh'd to 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which is the Declaration or Proclamation of ſuch Opinions or Ordinances. This I take to be the Authors meaning, and our Adverſaries have no diſadvantage by it: for I do not make 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 here to ſignify an Ordinance only, but a Doctrinal Perſuaſion too, when the ſence admits it.

This Paſſage of St. Baſil, which I have not been afraid to give at full length, ſeems to aggrandiſe Tradition much, and to make its uſe of very high and neceſſary importance: but, if we conſider the words nearly, and refer them to their occaſion; they will not be found to make any great matter. The intention of the Father is only to ſhew, that a Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, with the Holy Ghoſt. Form of Doxology, which he has before proved at large to be ſubſtantially contain'd in the Scripture, although it be not found there preciſely in the ſame words, may however be lawfully continued in the Church. And with this regard his higheſt Sayings for Tradition are undoubtedly true: as that the Church uſes Forms and Rites delivered down from their Fathers, and no where to be read in Scripture; that they are of great importance to Devotion; and that, if the Church were deny'd the uſe of any thing that is Unſcriptural, ſhe would be left naked and almoſt mute. In ſuch a reſpect St. Baſil's Sayings are exact, and this was enough for his purpoſe. But to make him ſay, that there were any neceſſary Truths conſign'd to Tradition, different from thoſe of the Scripture; or that any of the particular Ordinances he mentions, were determinately neceſſary; is to make him ſpeak more than he himſelf aſſerts. And further, to underſtand him, as if he poſitively affirmed all thoſe things to be of Apoſtolical Inſtitution; is to deal too rigorouſly with an Eloquent man, and not to give his Style thoſe favourable allowances that are uſual in his Caſe.

The General expreſſions with which he begins, are beſt to be interpreted by the inſtances he gives. And therefore when we find him reckoning the Creed for Unſcriptural, we are no longer at a loſs for his meaning concerning Doctrinals Unſcriptural, but know that in his account all Declarations and Confeſſions of Scriptural Faiths, are however Unſcriptural, if they have not been writ by the Apoſtles juſt in that very form. And in this ſence it is he truly affirms, that the Declaration or Preaching of Goſpel Truths would be too much ſtraitned, and brought almoſt to nothing, if confin'd to Goſpel Text, and not allowed the liberty of proper and larger Explications.

In like manner it is apparent, that St. Baſil could not intend thoſe particular Forms of Belief or Prayer, or thoſe Particular Rites, to be ſo neceſſary, as that they muſt never be vary'd or enlarg'd, or ſome of them totally laid aſide. The Church of his Age, did not underſtand it ſelf to be under ſuch a Confinement, for even the Creed that is called Apoſtolical, was then variouſly conceived in ſeveral Churches, and admitted beſides great enlargements in the Council of Nice. The Forms too of Prayers were very different: not to mention the other Rites. And as to theſe few uſages which happen'd to be obſerv'd more generally; their perpetual neceſſity was never, I ſuppoſe, believed then by any wiſe man; and has ſince been ſufficiently diſown'd by the practice of the Roman Church.

St. Baſil ſeems indeed to ſpeak for the Apoſtolick Antiquity of thoſe things ſomething plainly: but to name no more now, the Differences we before obſerv'd of the Creed it ſelf ſo nam'd peculiarly, do not agree with the conceit, as old as our Author, that it was Compos'd by the Apoſtles in common. It is very well known how eaſie the Churches of his time were in giving that Venerable Title to every reſpected Uſage; and how eaſily Uſages were then multiply'd. Of this St. Baſil gives unawares an inſtance in this very Book: where, drawing an Argument from the practice of the Church of Neocaeſaria, founded by Gregory Thaumaturgus, he commends that Church much to the diſadvantage of the reſt, and tells us, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 c. 29. That ſhe was ſo punctual to the Cuſtoms of her firſt inſtitution, that ſhe ſeem'd to others to be very defective.

Then, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; Ibid. in St. Baſil's days the Antiquity of two hundred years, and the practiſe of ſuch an eminent Apoſtolick Perſon as that Gregory, were ſufficient to procure to any Rite the name of Apoſtolical: much leſs was it refus'd to ſuch as were eſteem'd Old, even before that Old Biſhop's time; eſpecially if they had the chance to be ſomewhat univerſally receiv'd. And therefore it is no wonder, if St. Baſil follow'd the Phraſe of his time, and was content to ſpeak not very exactly, in a ſtile that would favour his Argument, and be admitted by his Adverſary. Neither could any one have been much miſ-led by this modern way of Expreſſion, that had obſerv'd how cautiouſly the more Ancient Doctors had abſtain'd from it, when the Argument equally requir'd it. But however, St. Baſil ſeems here in this very place to have recollected himſelf, and to Interpret his meaning; when, upon the Reſumption, he mentions not the Apoſtles only, but adds other Authors for his Traditions: The Apoſtles, ſays he, and Fathers, who firſt ordered the Churches.

He ſpeaks too according to the ſingular practice of his latter times, when he makes ſuch a ſecret of theſe Rites: and then he ſuppoſes them not written, that they might lie conceal'd; as if the Apoſtles could not have ordered a Writing to be kept ſecret. Whereas I ſuppoſe the true reaſon, why the Apoſtles wrote not down ſuch kind of things, was not to keep them either private, or venerable; but becauſe they were not worth the writing; as not being deſign'd for perpetual memory and uſe, but left to the diſcretion of each Age that was to follow.

When thoſe Ceremonies were made ſo venerable, by their ſecrecy, and by the names of their Authors; it was as fit to find out ſome profound reaſons for them, as it was agreeable to the Allegorical humour of ſome Great men, particularly of thoſe who followed the Alexandrian way. And theſe Myſterious ones, St. Baſil here gives us, have indeed that qualification he ſuppoſes, and are not very obvious. For ſo few knew his true reaſon for turning to the Eaſt, that the Author of the Orthodox Anſwers, ſubjoyned uſually to Juſtin Martyr, was utterly ignorant of it. That too for ſtanding at Prayers on Sundays, &c. is very Myſtical. But had our Author been acquainted with the Jewiſh Rituals, he would never have went ſo deep for the Rationale of an ordinary practice: much leſs, if he had known their Language, would he ever have founded it upon the Septuagints bad Greek. For our part we need deſire no more, than that the Cuſtoms, and their Reaſons ſhould go together; and the one not be admitted for Apoſtolical, without the other.

What is ſaid upon this place of St. Baſil, I deſire may be underſtood with all due reſpect to his juſt Authority; whoſe Teſtimony in weightier Matters, or ſuch as were under his own knowledge, I ſhould be unwilling to decline. But it is not, I preſume, any imputation upon his Integrity or Capacity, to ſay that he lay under the common prejudice or ignorance of a diſtant Age; and that he ſpoke concerning ſlighter things, and ſuch as were not in queſtion before him, according to the faſhion of his time, and as he was carried away by the ſtream of his flowing Eloquence.

Theſe Remarks, we have made, as we have been oblig'd by truth, and for the more abundant ſatisfaction of our Adverſaries; not that they are much neceſſary to our preſent Intention. For upon this Teſtimony of St. Baſil we needed not to have made any other obſervation than this: that he was willing enough, as appears by the Preface, to have advanc'd the Honour and Truth of Tradition, and that the Argument of his Book led him to inſtance in Doctrines; but that he was forc'd to deſcend very low for his Examples, having nothing to reckon but a few indifferent mutable Uſages, whoſe meanneſs he endeavours to cover with myſterious reaſons, never certainly intended at their Introduction.

Neither is it neceſſary to proceed any further, and to examine the remaining authority for Tradition, that is uſually brought out of Epiphanius, a ſomething later, and a much leſs exact Writer than St. Baſil. His Sayings are much the ſame, and there need no other Reflections upon them, than thoſe we have already made.

The Aſſertion which led us to the diſcuſſion of theſe Teſtimonies, the Reader may remember was this: That our Reaſonings concerning Oral Tradition were confirmed by Fact; and that actually the Uſe and Authority of it in the Church leſſened very much in a little time, and as ſoon as the Code of the Scriptures was Collected. Now this Aſſertion is ſo far from being impeach'd by theſe Authorities, that it is abſolutely verified by them, and wants no further confirmation: it manifeſtly appearing thence, that in thoſe days Tradition had nothing to tell, but a Story of ſome ancient Modes and Practices; and that ſhe could not pretend to remember then any one Unſcriptural Article of Faith; however it has happen'd ſince, that ſhe has been made to rub up her memory, and been ſuborn'd by after Ages to depoſe to the truth of Precepts, and Doctrines, of which 1400 years ago ſhe knew not a Syllable.

My Lord Bacon, conſidering that few things of value were convey'd to us from Antiquity, aptly compares Time to a River, in which lighter things ſwim down, but the weightier are drown'd. We may too, with St. Cyprian, ſuppoſe Oral Tradition to be the River, and to deſcend down through ſome Tract of Time or Place. This then, if it will preſerve it ſelf pure and unmixt, muſt be content to run like one of thoſe Eaſtern Brooks, which, receiving no acceſſion, diminiſh as they paſs; ſubdivided ſtill into leſſer Branches, and waſted continually, if only by the drowth of the Air, and the leakineſs of the Channel, till at length they are entirely loſt. But the ordinary Courſe of Tradition is (we ſee) like that of a common River; many a ſtream falls into it by the way from either hand, and it comes down to the lower grounds a wide and a mighty Current, bearing all along the old name: but no one thinks it was as great at its Head; or knows where to find below a drop of the firſt Water.

This uncertainty of Traditional Evidence in groſs, has been the deſign'd Subject of the preſent Chapter. For, as we have not inſiſted on the probable Objections we had to make againſt the Divine Right of the above-mention'd Rituals; ſo we do not ſtand neither upon that advantage our Adverſaries Teſtimonies have incidentally given us, in favour of the Sixth Article of our Church, which admits no Doctrine to be of Faith that is not contain'd in the holy Scripture. We do not therefore pretend here, to ſet aſide all Unſcriptural Articles at once; we are only preparing to examine them hereafter, as they ſhall be offered ſingly: having only endeavour'd now to bring Oral Tradition within ſome compaſs, and to preſcribe it ſome certain limits and conditions, to which it ought to ſubmit. And in order to ſuch particular Enquiries, I have deduc'd the general intent of this long Diſcourſe into the following Corollaries.

CHAP. VII.

Articles to be obſerved concerning Traditional Authorities.

I. IF any Apoſtolical Sayings of Moment had been Orally delivered down, it would have been convenient that they ſhould not have paſs'd many deſcents, and that at the ſecond or third hand they ſhould have been compared and atteſted by ſome unconcerted concurring Tradition, and then have been reduc'd into Writing by good and credible hands, and that Writing received for true by ſome conſiderable part of the Catholick Church.

The wiſdom of our Law has thought fit to uſe a nicer Caution in matters of far leſs importance. In the Nuncupative diſpoſal of any Sum above 30 l. it requires three Witneſſes depoſing to the words of the Teſtator, or their effect; and that they ſhould not be accidental Hearers, but call'd on to that purpoſe: it truſts not neither their Memories at the diſtance of half a year; but is ſo ſcrupulous, as to require that what-ever Evidence they bring in after that time, ſhould have been written down, not only before the half year was expired, but within ſix days after the words were firſt ſpoke. Of the neceſſity of ſome ſuch exactneſs that Author ſeems to have been ſenſible, who firſt put out in writing the Donation of Conſtantine, and amongſt the Letters of the firſt Popes, that Nuncupative Teſtament of St. Peter under St. Clemens his hand. But that way ought to have been thought of earlier, and then it might have deſerved a greater credit. For tho' it found ſo much with the Popes as to be made Law, and has been defended for good Tradition, even in this Age: yet a Deed never produced till 400 year after the Maker's death, was ſhrewdly to be ſuſpected of Forgery; and a Nuncupative Teſtament not all proved in Seven hundred years, was manifeſtly barr'd by the reaſon of that Statute againſt Frauds and Perjury.

II. However the Sayings of our Saviour and his Apoſtles might have been delivered down Orally in Barbarous Countries; yet no doubt, had there been any Traditions conſiderable, and different from what were written by the Apoſtles, known for authentick in the Roman World, eſpecially to the end of the ſecond, the third, or fourth Ages; they would not have wanted ſome one that ſhould have recorded and fixed them in writing, in perpetuam rei Memoriam, amongſt thoſe many Zealous, Inquiſitive, and Learned men that flouriſh'd in thoſe times.

This was to have been expected from them, out of eaſe to their own memory, and out of a pious care for Poſterity. Something of this kind was too attempted by ſome of them: but the ſucceſs of their labour ſhew'd, how little need there was thought to be of it; and that the holy Spirit had already written all the neceſſary Doctrines he deſign'd to be tranſmitted. For, beſides the Heretick Goſpels and Revelations, beſides the ſpurious Recognitions of Clemens, and the Apoſtolical Conſtitutions and Canons known to be ſupoſititious; there were Traditional Collections made by Papias, whom we have mention'd, and by Hegeſippus; there were Doctrinal Memoirs, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . going under ſeveral venerable names; there were too the Apoſtolical Conſtitutions alledged by Epiphanius: all which have been neglected and loſt, either for their inſignificancy, or uncertainty, their Spots and Faults having been diſcover'd, or their leſſer light obſcur'd quite and extinguiſh'd, by the Scripture our great Luminary.

III. But further, ſuppoſe the men of thoſe Ages ſo much wanting to themſelves and us, upon I know not what by reſpects; yet however we cannot think them ſo careleſs in their Argument, and ſo forgetful of what they knew, (if any ſuch conſiderable Sayings they did know) as not to bring them out on proper and exigent occaſions. No more than now for a whole Age together, Hoc eſt Corpus has been omitted for Tranſubſtantiation; or Tu es Petrus, for the Pope's Supremacy.

IV. And for the ſame Reaſon, it cannot be demanded that any Traditive interpretation of holy Scripture ſhould be allow'd for Authentick now by us, which the Holy Fathers of thoſe Ages, commenting upon the Scripture profeſſedly, either knew not, or elſe paſſed by. To ſay there were ſuch Traditions, unknown to ſuch men, is to bring the Authority of thoſe Traditions too much in queſtion: for to whom, or by whom elſe ſhould they be tranſmitted? and to think that an Authentick interpretation, as Divine as the Text it ſelf, ſhould be omitted by the Commentator who knew it; and that he would, inſtead of that Sacred one, ſubſtitute one of his own, is unreaſonably abſurd.

V. But further yet, ſo much we muſt take leave to demand, that whatever Traditive Interpretation ſhall be brought to controul the Text, and wreſt it from its own natural obvious ſence; much more that ſhall impoſe upon the Text a ſence ſeemingly abſurd to Humane Apprehenſion, and introductive of new Duties, otherwiſe unlawful; that then ſuch a Traditional interpretation ſhould be as Authentick, and as well atteſted as the Text it ſelf.

VI. And laſtly; to return to our proper Argument in hand, this too we muſt of right expect; that no place of the written word of God, ſhould be more expreſs, or more Authentick; than that of the unwritten word, which is to ſet up and authoriſe an Infallible Interpreter of all that Scripture, and an infallible propounder of all Articles of Faith.

In this view of Oral Tradition, we have ſeen, firſt in the general, how little of it we are to expect to meet, and how uncertain its evidence muſt be; and then, if any particular of it be urged, upon what terms it muſt be admitted. And now ſo prepared, we may proceed to examine the pretences of the Roman Church. The firſt and grand one is their Infallibility, which therefore we are to conſider in the next place.

The Contents. THE Hypotheſis of Infallibility explained according to its pretence. Chap. I. The Nature of the Proof that is to be requied for this pretended Infallibility. Chap. II. The Authorities or Poſitive Proofs for it conſidered. The Proofs alledged from Scripture inſufficient. Chap. III. The Proofs from Tradition inſufficient, For an Infallibility at large. Chap. IV. For the Infallibility of the Pope. Chap. V. For the Infallibility of the Majority of the Church Ʋniverſal. Chap. VI. For the Infallibility of a Council. Chap. VII. For the Infallibility of Pope and Council together.Chap. VIII. The Indirect Arguments pretended to be drawn from Reaſon, and to conclude ad Abſurdum, conſidered. As, That otherwiſe God has not ſufficiently provided for his Church. Chap. IX. That without Infallibility there can be no certainty of Faith. Chap. X. That without Infallibility there can be no Authority in the Church. Chap. XI. That without Infallibility the Church may fail. Ʋpon this Occaſion there follows Chap. XII. A Digreſſion in two Enquiries. 1. Whether the whole Church may poſſibly Err. Chap. XIII. 2. Whether Salvation may be obtain'd in an Erring Church. Chap. XIV. The Concluſion. That no Modern Eccleſiaſtical Body is by any antecedent Grant made incapable of Error; that their Judgment may be ſometimes juſtly ſuſpected; and that it muſt be diſcern'd by their conſequent Decrees, whether actually they have Erred or no. Chap. XV.

DISCOURSE II. Concerning Infallibility, &c. CHAP. I.

The Hypotheſis of Infallibility explain'd according to the uſual Pretence.

INfallibility, is a word of very eaſie meaning, and needs not any extraordinary Proponent for its definition; it being nothing elſe but an impoſſibility of erring, or being in the wrong: which as it is an Eternal Attribute of God, whoſe Dictates are neceſſarily true; ſo is pretended by his Gift, at ſome times, and in ſome Caſes to belong to Men.

But as plain and ſimple as it is in its firſt notion, when it comes to be applied to men, it grows more incumbred, and includes ſeveral reſpects; as (1) the Perſons to whom it appertains, (2) the Caſes in which it takes place, (3) how and in what manner it is wrought and works.

1. The Conſideration of the Perſons alone includes great variety. For tho' it be allow'd by Pretenders on all ſides, that this high Priviledge belongs to none but Chriſtians; yet whether it be appropriated to a ſingle Perſon, as the Pope; or whether it reſults from the conſent of a Body, and what that Body is: or whether, laſtly, it be not tied to the united concurrence of that Body of Men, and of the Pope together; theſe all are queſtions made to our hand, and which we ought not to overlook.

For the claim may be put in, in the name of the preſent Univerſal Church; and that be Truth in which all Chriſtians, all the Clergy, or all the Biſhops now living ſhall Unanimouſly agree; or elſe it may be ſaid that Truth ſhall go along with the conſent of the greateſt part.

Now if the Conſent of the greateſt number be Infallible, it may be then ſuppos'd, that ſuch as have been voted out by Majority of Voices heretofore, have no ſhare in this Priviledge now; and that Hereticks therefore, tho' greater in number at preſent, yet are not to be taken into conſideration: The Infallibility belonging only to that Body of Men, who are the Majority in remainder, after the ſeveral ſucceſſive Excluſions.

And then further, it may all along be ſurmis'd that this Grace is ſo diſpens'd, as not to belong either to the whole Body of the Chriſtians, or to any particular Church, without the Concurrence of ſome certain Biſhops, or Biſhop, as that of the Roman See; preſum'd therefore to be of the Quorum in that High Commiſſion.

And then laſtly, if any ſingle See has that Prerogative; it may be thought to be Infallible of it ſelf, and to want no other concurrence.

The Reader, it may be, that is in a zealous ſearch after this Infallible Guide, thinks himſelf impertinently delayed by ſuch an enumeration. He expected perchance that the Seat of that Authority ſhould have been perſpicuous, and viſible; that the Decider of Controverſies, ſhould himſelf have been ſubject to none; and that it ſhould immediately have been known, to whom reſort was to be made: But he will be pleas'd to ſtay 'till the ſeveral pretences are laid open; both that he may not be miſtaken in the Perſon of his Guide, and that he may know what aſſiſtance from him he is to expect.

Firſt then, the common Intereſt has been ſo much conſidered by Great Men of the Roman Communion,Chap. 1, &c. Car. Alliacen. apud Richer. vindie. Sch. Paris. Coloniae. Lib. 3. pag. 16, &c. 42, 43, &c. that it has been ſometimes queſtion'd, whether this Inerrancy is not to be plac'd in the Collective Body of all Chriſtians, Children only excepted. However it has not been thought extraordinary, to veſt it in the Conſent of the whole Clergy, or of the upper part, or at leaſt of the Biſhops; ſo that, that only ſhould be neceſſarily true, in which all reſpectively ſhould agree. By this means every Perſon, at leaſt of the Superiour Rank, would be ſecure enough againſt the infallible Sentence: and a Heretick Biſhop muſt be ſelf Condemn'd, formally, and not without the concurrence of his own Vote. But this ſuppoſition, at the beſt, would end but few Controverſies: and it is thought neceſſary for the Church to have a more practicable and ready Deciſion.

Let us then have no regard to thoſe Popular Sorbonniſts; and let us too ſet aſide the Decree of their whole Theological Faculty, Facult. Theol. Paris. apud Richer. lib. 1. pag. 3. De Poteſt. Eccleſ. apud eund. Richer. lib. 3. pag. 144. exclude the Domini Curati from the Hierarchy, and deny them the Deciſive voice allow'd them, particularly by Gerſon. Let us ſuppoſe that this Infallibility reſts only in the Epiſcopal Colledge; and let us grant further, that the Conſent of the whole may be taken from the greater part; yet ſtill there are many Points remaining to be ſettled. As, what ſhall the odds of number be on that ſide, on which Infallibility muſt go? Is it a ſimple Majority, as in ordinary Aſſemblies? or will not the Holy Ghoſt come down but upon two Thirds, as in the Election of a Pope? And beſides, are the Voices of thoſe Biſhops ſuppos'd to be taken at home? or are they not Infallible till conven'd and met together? if they are met together, will the preſent, tho' a Minor part, include the abſent? if ſo, what Power is to Summon them, and make their abſence contumacious? or can the abſent make Proxies, and is the ſhare in this Priviledge ſuch as may be delegated? or laſtly all along is every Biſhop to have an equal Voice? or ſhall they not be conſidered according to the largeneſs of their Dioceſs, and in proportion to the number they repreſent? has every Petty Italian Biſhop with his ſmall Care, or a Titular Biſhop with none, the ſame ſhare of Infallibility with the real and greater Dioceſans? A thing not allowed by the Councils of Conſtance and Baſil, tho' neceſſary to the Council of Trent. Concerning theſe Circumſtances, we ought to have determinate ſatisfaction, and expreſs warrant. But beſides, we are to conſider, that Infallibility this way will be very difficultly, and very uncertainly attain'd. The Poll of the Chriſtian World is numerous, and cannot be exactly taken as the Epiſcopal Votes lye diſpers'd: and if they are to meet, the Controverſie concerning the freedom of the place, the notice given, &c. is ſo manifold, that it can never be a clear Caſe.

Upon which account, the Particular Church, that ſhall now pretend it ſelf to be Heir, as it were, to the Old Univerſal by Succeſſive Excluſions, can never be too ſure that thoſe ſeveral Excluſions were duly made; that the Poll was rightly taken, and all neceſſary formalities obſerv'd: for ſhe is to know, that upon ſo many contingent ſuppoſitions her claim of Infallibility depends.

Theſe Difficulties and Inconveniencies ariſe upon placing Infallibility in the general Body of Chriſtian Biſhops: and they ſtill encreaſe, if beſides the conſent of that Body, we ſuppoſe the Concurrence of any certain Biſhop, or Biſhops, preciſely neceſſary.

All the Great Biſhops put in heretofore a claim ſomewhat equal; though not of this kind. Thoſe of Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome, founded a preeminence partly upon Apoſtolical Succeſſion, partly upon the greatneſs of their Cities. Conſtantinople afterwards inſiſted upon the Priviledges of its City ſingly. The See of Jeruſalem had its pretence too, a weak one as the World went; for it was purely Spiritual, and in right of the firſt Church. Now great Reaſon there was, that in common Cauſes no innovation ſhould be made in the Chriſtian World, without the Advice of the ſeveral Patriarchs; becauſe they were ſuppos'd to ſpeak the ſence of their ſeveral Diſtricts, whom upon ſuch occaſions they conſulted, and in whoſe Name they pronounced. Accordingly all theſe Patriarchs were nigh equal heretofore, when Rank and Precedence were only thought on: but the Pope has ſince advanced ſuch a ſingular pretence, and it is preſs'd upon us ſo much, that we need take no notice of the other, but only of the Roman.

Here then it may be conſidered, whether the Pope challenges his Power in this Infallibility, whether of a Negative Voice, or abſolute Determination, in virtue of his See, the place of his reſidence, or in vertue of his Succeſſion to St. Peter. It is fit that this ſhould be known, in order to the diſcerning the Perſon whom we are to look after, and the Proofs that are to be produced.

If he preſides in virtue of the place, we may enquire whether Infallibility will not be loſt, if Rome be deſtroy'd, or become either Heathen or Mahometan? Whether the Gates of Hell are never to prevail againſt that City? or if they do, whether a Titular Biſhop muſt be made, and the Stile be Biſhop of Rome, conſumptae per Hoſtes, or in Patribus Infidelium? Or laſtly, we may ask, whether the Priviledge was good to a Pope errant, or to the Reſidentiaries of Avignon?

If he preſides by virtue of the General Title of Succeſſour to St. Peter, it then comes naturally to be enquired, by what grant the Cardinals, as the Clergy of Rome, chuſe a general Officer for the whole World? and whether the Biſhops of all Chriſtendom ought not to joyn in his Election to make it valid? whether the Authority be particularly annext to Rome? or may not be tranſlated to another place, at the pleaſure of the Electors, and at leaſt revert to Antioch?

If then the Pope be of the Quorum; all the uncertainty to which the Papacy it ſelf is incident, from the forementioned Cauſes, or to which the Papal Perſon is obnoxious from Simony, or any other common Nullity of Election, muſt fall upon Infallibility. It will be but ill founded, when the See is full. But it muſt be in Nubibus, in a Sede Vacante, and as much in ſuſpence, during a competition of Antipopes, of which there have been many; the laſt of above 50 years continuance. For in that Caſe, not a General Council of Biſhops can reſolve us certainly who is the right Pope; they being by themſelves, and without him, but fallible Judges in the preſent ſuppoſition.

Tho' therefore a Conjunction of the Pope and a Council compounds the Difference, and unites their ſeveral Titles; Tho' the Infallibility of them both together, ſeems to be the ſurer, yet it will be rarer too, and of much leſs ſervice to the World. For either there will not be a right Council, or not a right Pope; or elſe a right Pope and right Council will very ſeldom agree.

Therefore laſtly, thoſe ſeem to have taken the more expedite Courſe, that make the Pope Infallible alone: for then Infallibility may be had with more certainty and eaſe than in the former Caſes. For tho' many queſtions might ariſe concerning the true Pope, and though his reſidence at Rome would be at a very inconvenient diſtance for thoſe of China and America; yet, when you are got thither, an Infallible anſwer you might have, if the Oracle would ſpeak.

Now theſe Scruples are not imaginary, and of our own raiſing; but have been occaſioned by eager Diſputes among themſelves. Dante ad hoc ipſum vexatione praeſentis Schiſmatis Intellectum. Gerſ. opuſc. laudat. pag. 128. The Schiſm of Antipopes made the Weſtern Church conſider of theſe things. For when for a long while together this part of Europe had own'd one Infallible, and that another, to whom there was as length a third added; The Church then wearied and aſham'd of the Scandal, aſſembled it ſelf, and proceeded to the deprivation of all the Concurrents: upon that occaſion, declaring its Power above that of a Pope, and determining even in Faith without one. Then too it was thought fit to vote by Nations of Biſhops, and not by their perſons; ſo that they were conſidered in their ſhare of Infallibility, according to the number of their Flock. There they made Conſtitutions to be obſerved by the Popes; which were however regarded no more, than the ſolemn promiſes made in the Conclave to the Cardinals are uſed to be: for after that the Popes began quickly to reaſſume their old extravagance of Power, their abſolute uncontroulable Authority was taught by their Benificiaries and Stipendiaries; and the Jeſuits a new Order erected, whoſe greateſt perfection was their blind Obedience to the Roman See, and whoſe great endeavour it was, to recover Infallibility to the Pope, and bring all, if not into their Order, at leaſt into the like ſubjection.

Now indeed the Jeſuits (at leaſt of France) ſeem to have diſpenſed with that ſolemn Vow; and the French have by late Declarations carried the Authority of Councils up to the heighth of Conſtance: but the reſt of the Popiſh Communion are not agreed in that point. The Spaniſh, Italian, German, and Polonian Clergy ſtand off in the behalf of their Lord and Maſter; and were they all of a mind, yet we were never the ſurer, except the Pope would declare againſt himſelf too. But this we are not to expect; for tho' they have been content to joyn Head and Body againſt the Reformation, yet they have ſtill kept their ſeparate Pretences on foot. The Popes, even in the Council of Trent, reſolving not to give up their Infallibility to the common Cauſe; and ordering it ſo at laſt, that the ſanction of the Decrees might ſtill be ſaid to proceed from their ſingle Authority.

That Council of Trent, if examined by our former Reflections, will have a very uncertain Authority; not to mention the Nullities that are alledged from other Reaſons. For we ſee it is very juſtly queſtionable, whether the Pope has that Authority to call all the World together, that they are obliged to meet upon his aſſignation of time and place; ſo that if they are not there then, they ſhall be reputed either contumacious or conſenting, and the Holy Ghoſt will proceed without them? whether thoſe that are there, are to vote by Heads or by Proxies? whether the after conſent of thoſe that were away, is to be preſum'd to concurr to the Infallibility, and their votes can be taken at home? By what Reaſon the Greek Church is excluded? By what General Council declared Schiſmatical and deprived of Suffrage? By what General Council the Lutherans were ſhut out for Hereticks? whether guilty for not believing Tranſubſtantiation by the Lateran, a Council diſown'd by ſome now of the Roman Communion? whether offending in the point of Images againſt the 2d. of Nice, a Synod heretofore rejected by the Weſt? whether as Unbelievers in the Articles of Purgatory, &c. defined by the Schiſmatical Conventicle of Ferrara and Florence? Concerning theſe Particulars we may juſtly expect ſatisfaction, and that they ſhould let us know, by what Rules they have proceeded, and on what formal preciſe word from God their Authority is founded.

Such doubts may be raiſed on the Council of Trent, of all ſince the firſt four; (nay of them too had the Romaniſts a mind to quarrel.) And as our Adverſaries do not allow one Council to be Infallible becauſe not free, another becauſe not General, another becauſe not call'd, or becauſe not approv'd by the Pope: ſo need not we allow any of them all to have been Infallible; becauſe there has never yet been any, that has not been ſubject to ſome of theſe Queries and Uncertainties we have now ſuggeſted. For as to preciſe Infallibility, what certainty of it can we have, unleſs it be preciſely known, what thoſe requiſites are, which God has made peremptorily neceſſary to the production of ſuch an extraordinary thing?

The Romaniſts indeed, dextrous in finding their advantage, would raiſe one even from their own Differences concerning the Infallible Perſon; and becauſe Infallibility is ſtill ſuppos'd in the Diſpute, would impoſe therefore upon the World that the thing it ſelf is out of queſtion. But the contrary Concluſion will be made by all thinking Men: who will not be perſwaded that God gave a Commiſſion of Infallibility with a Blank for the Perſon; and that he would, in order to the ending of all differences among Chriſtians, have added a new one. It will not, I ſay, be thought that God would have left a doubtful uncertain direction, (terms almoſt inconſiſtent,) if he intended any; and that ſuch Texts, as cannot aſcertain the Perſon, ought • o be conſtrued to the Authority.

For altho' our Modern Romaniſts, ſenſible of the diſadvantage they have ſuffered by their falling out among themſelves, have piec'd up the Quarrel, and accommodated Affairs; propoſing to us ſome few Councils, as that of Trent particularly, for unqueſtionably good by the Title, on both ſides, both Pope and Biſhops; yet this will not do, and they are wiſe too late. For as in the Caſe of Land or Franchiſes ſuppos'd held from the King, to which two Competitors make ſeveral Titles; they may go to Law ſo long, and prove againſt one another ſo well, till it be found that neither have any Title; and that the thing in Controverſie belongs not to them: but is ſtill in the Crown; ſo here it has happen'd, that both Parties have already expos'd the weakneſs of their common pretence too far; it appearing plainly from the former hearings, and mutual oppoſition, that the Evidence produc'd on either ſide is of no force, and that the Infallibility they contend for belongs only to God; the Prerogative that is ſaid to be granted, being of ſo high, and withal of ſo peculiar a nature, that if it be not expreſly mention'd and determinately aſſign'd, it can never be ſuppos'd to be convey'd. They may go therefore, and get a new Grant if they can, but as yet they have none.

II. But this Uncertainty concerning the Perſon of our Infallible Judge is not all; there are other very material Queſtions concerning the extent of his Juriſdiction.

In the firſt place, one would expect, that all commands of ſuch a Perſon, or Body, ſhould lay an indiſpenſable Obligation upon Inferiours: for ſo it ſeems good to the Holy Ghoſt, and to them; and the Holy Ghoſt, we know, muſt be obey'd when commanding, as much as aſſented to when defining. Neither is it to be preſum'd, that this Body knows not the limits of its own Power; or that it will tranſgreſs them. For if Infallibility be given to a Pope, and a Council for our direction, how ſhall they direct more properly than by Commands? and if even our Infallible Director may err out of its Sphere, and Command where it ought not; what an uncertain direction is this? and inſtead of being a help, what a Snare is it to the Conſciences of Men? But ſo it is, for thoſe who receive the Doctrines of the Council of Trent, think it not ſo much as a Venial Sin, to refuſe ſome of its Precepts; and a very great and moſt Chriſtian Country will not to this day ſubmit to its Holy Decrees. By what juſt Authority they exempt themſelves from obedience, and where in the word of God they find this exception, we would willingly learn, for Reaſon would lead us to make none.

But however, although it be not in the Power of a Council, by their Precepts to make indifferent things Obligatory; yet ſtill ſhall not their Commands be ſuppos'd to be lawful? and can an Infallible Body ordain a thing to be done, which muſt not be done, and is againſt the will of God? For ſhall it be ſuppos'd, that they decree an Action, either knowing it to be unlawful? or not conſidering whether it be lawful or no? or did they think it lawful? for a Body of Biſhops, with a Pope in their Head, to decree an Action without conſidering its Legality, is an abſurd ſuppoſition; much more to imagine, that they decree it conſcious of the Illegality; (for why then may they not decree a falſe Doctrine, conſcious of its falſeneſs?) But if they judg'd it Legal, why are they not Infallible in that Judgment, as well as others? and why is not their Command as manifeſt a Declaration of that their Judgment, as any other way of Expreſſion? ſhall not therefore their Command preſume manifeſtly the Thing to be lawful? and a Command under pain of Excommunication, ſuppoſe it to be neceſſary? but here too the Infallible Judge is cut ſhort, and he ſhall never be ſuppos'd to be exempt from errour, but when he determines Affirmatively: for fear the Council of Lyons, when it depos'd an Emperour, and order'd his Subjects to Rebell, ſhould be as Infallible as any other that decreed Tranſubſtantiation. When therefore the Commiſſion for Infallibility is produced, you are to remember to look for this Clauſe of exception too.

Well, but then are they always Infallible when they expreſly and poſitively determine? are they ſo concerning the Truth of Matters of Fact? and will a Council of Biſhops impannel'd, be an Infallible Jury? The Jeſuits of France indeed, to ſerve an Occaſion, would have had the Pope not only Infallible, but Infallible in matter of Fact too: and then it was abſolutely to be believ'd on his word, that ſuch condemn'd Propoſitions were in Janſenius; tho' they themſelves would not undertake to turn to the Page, and ſhew the place. But they were over-ruled in this new point of Divinity; and it was laid down for Catholick Doctrine, that Modern Infallibility obtain'd in Matters of Doctrine only.

But this Exception muſt not be taken too groſly, for the Church propoſes many matters of Fact, in the Creed, and in the Scriptures, to be believ'd. And beſides, every ſpeculative Article which the Church determines, is ſuppos'd always to have been taught de facto before, by Chriſt or his Apoſtles: and too, if a Council ſhall determine, that ſuch a Propoſition is found in the Bible; tho' they cite neither Chapter nor Verſe, and we cannot find it, muſt we not believe them? Infallibility therefore muſt take place in Antient Facts, recorded or done by the Apoſtles; and other Modern Facts only are to be excepted. This Exception has ſomething more of Reaſon in it than the other, and we may be tempted to like it the better, for the ſake of the Inconvenience our Adverſaries may find from it; (for ſo, they will never be able to determine Infallibly, concerning the Legality of any preceeding Council, or Papal Election:) however they will be pleaſed not to deal with us here, as the Jeſuits would have dealt with the Janſeniſts; but do us the favour hereafter to ſhew it, when they come to produce their Proofs.

Suppoſe we then that the Holy Ghoſt will aſſiſt the Church in no other Subject, but only concerning the mind of the Apoſtles, and in explanation of their words; yet, Guid. in Cont. Diſc. 3. S. 101. thus much is not ſaid without mincing and reſtriction. For ſome will not dare to ſay that the Church is Infallible in the Affirmation of any, but neceſſary Articles; that the Council of Trent, for Example, was not Infallible in its Doctrinal Chapters, but only in its Canons with Anathema: ſo that, as in ſome other Affairs we do not uſe to credit men, but upon their Oaths; we are not bound to believe the Church, except ſhe Curſes. This is indeed a cunning Reſtriction, it does not diminiſh the Power of the Church; for ſhe is to be Judge of what is neceſſary, and may therefore give her Anathema as ſhe pleaſes: But her other Doctrines, which ſhe puts on Tryal, if you are a good Catholick, you cannot refuſe; and yet ſhe is not oblig'd, if they grow inconvenient, to maintain them. This ſubtle, but ſtrange Clauſe of reſtriction, we deſire likewiſe to ſee, whether it be in the body of their pretended Charter.

Well then, are we at an end yet? Is a Declaration of the Supream Eccleſiaſtical Power, Pope and Council, made in form, and inforc'd with an Anathema, infallibly certain, and a ſure direction to the Conſcience? no, there are ſtill ſome excepted Caſes, relating to the Temporalty, in which, after all, it will be of no Force, however Authoritatively pronounc'd. Traité Hiſtor. des Prerogat. de l'Egl. de Rom. Chap. 29. If, ſays Maimbourg from the Sorbonniſts, Some Councils ſince Gregory the Seventh have threatned Kings with Depoſition, and if one has actually depos'd an Emperour; yet this was not done by way of Deciſion. And if any Council had made a Deciſion in this Caſe, it would have went for nothing but an unjuſtifiable Enterpriſe, &c. For this will be Eternally true, which all Antiquity ſtill believ'd; that the Church, though it be Infallible, (that which the Pope never was in the Opinion of the ſame Antiquity,) yet never receiv'd the gift of Infallibility from its Divine Spouſe, but only for things purely Spiritual, and entirely ſeparate from the Temporalty, and the Kingdom of this World, with which Jeſus Chriſt, who ſaid, my Kingdom is not of this World, would never intermeddle.

The Church then is Infallible, that you are ſure of, but who this Church is, it is hard to tell; as after, to come to the ſpeech of this Church, is a very difficult thing. When too ſhe does ſpeak, ſhe is not to be hearken'd to, if ſhe ſpeaks in the Imperative Mood; and in the Indicative, ſhe is Infallible but in one ſort of Phraſe; and after all, ſhe is not to be believ'd neither, but in one kind of Affairs; in other Cauſes her Sentence is null, and ſhe no Judge: There lies a Prohibition againſt the whole Church, as well as againſt any other Judge Eccleſiaſtical, and her Excommunication may be alike diſcharged by the Municipal Laws. She ſays indeed that her Declaration ſeems good to Her, and to the Holy Ghoſt; but whether what ſeems good to the Church, does indeed ſeem good to the Holy Ghoſt, that muſt be determin'd finally, in France by the Parliament of Paris, and with us in the Exchequer Chamber or Upper Houſe. So that after all this pretence to Eccleſiaſtical Authority, thoſe Temporal Bodies it ſeems, are indeed the ſupream Courts, and laſt Reſort.

III. But laſtly, let us ſuppoſe, that the Council do keep within their Bounds, and pronounce an Infallible Sentence: yet in what manner I pray was this Infallible Sentence produced? did it reſult from premiſes? was it concluded from Arguments? and was the Church aſſiſted to find out proper Reaſons, from whence the Definitive Judgment ſhould be inferred? No, this is dangerous to ſay; for the Reaſons alledged in Councils, are often Unconcluding, and their weakneſs apparent. It remains therefore that the Holy Ghoſt aſſiſts the Church in the Concluſion only, and comes in after the Ergo. Well: this indeed is the Authoritative way: but then, (not to ask whether the Premiſes were thought true or falſe,) to what purpoſe were they brought? why reaſoning and debate, all that humane jangling, in which the Holy Ghoſt does not concurr? Why do they not propoſe the Queſtion, and immediately proceed to Placet? to what intent are all the Doctors called in? or what need the Biſhops ſhould be better Theologues, than Innocent the 10th. or this 11th.? There is it ſeems as little need that the Biſhops in a Council ſhould underſtand the queſtion, as that the People ſhould underſtand their Prayers; and Placet may be ſaid in the one Caſe, as Amen is ſaid in the other. How indeed the unlearned People ſhould ſay Amen, St. Paul makes a doubt; (for he neither ſuppos'd a Miracle, or that they ſhould hear a ſtrange Language ſo long, till they had their Queues by rote: but how the Unlearned Biſhops ſhould ſay Placet, is very eaſie to imagine. For a Miracle we muſt ſuppoſe; and there will be need of no greater to rebuke a Hereſie, than ſerv'd heretofore to forbid the Madneſs of the Prophet.

This Hypotheſis of theirs, however odly it may appear, yet ſalves all the Phoenomena of the Church admirably well. All the Ignorance, Artifice, and Paſſions, all the irregular Motions, that may have ever been obſerv'd in Conciliary proceedings; all theſe it accounts for conſiſtently, and preſerves Infallibility ſtill. For whereas in other Affairs, want of underſtanding may render Men unqualified to paſs a Judgment; and Bribery, or Force, Fear, or Affection may make it juſtly ſuſpected; theſe in our Caſe can have no Influence, and will neither impeach nor diſparage the Reſolutions of our Aſſembly: The Concluſions will be true, though taken up upon falſe Reaſons; and the Reſolutions juſt and good, be the Motives and Inducements never ſo corrupt and ungodly. We Hereticks therefore are impenitent, when we talk of ſuch kind of Nullities; and thoſe of the Romaniſts, who have required freedom in a Council, underſtood not its nature: For what force can there be upon it, that the Holy Ghoſt cannot over-power.

The Roman Church does wiſely to the Concluſion: and to her own Children the Logick is good, by an Enthymem without either of the Premiſes. But, tho' Reaſon ſignifies nothing in a Council, yet out of a Council it is us'd to be conſidered. This Hypotheſis therefore of theirs they will be pleas'd to prove; and, on this occaſion at leaſt, bring ſuch Arguments as ſhall be found concluding.

Whoever has view'd with us the Differences and Difficulties concerning the Seat of Infallibility, its Subject Matter, and the manner in which it is to be produc'd, will be very much inclin'd to ſuſpect their pretence, if he goes no further: but now he is deſired to proceed to the main Queſtion, and examine the Arguments that are brought in its defence.

CHAP. II.

The Nature of the Proof that is to be required for this Infallibility.

TO Forego then all the Advantages, their Diſputes among themſelves, and their crude Aſſertions, may give us; let us ſuppoſe, that as yet there's no Hereticks in the World; that all the Biſhops and all the Clergy are aſſembled about ſome new queſtion; and let the Queſtion be about the meaning of our Saviour's or his Apoſtles words, and in ſuch a Subject as may challenge Infallibility; ſuppoſing all this; yet I take leave to ſay, it is not impoſſible but the Pope, and all the Patriarchs, and the Majority of the reſt, may be miſtaken in their Deciſion, and that the contrary Article may be true.

For ſo it is, All men appart are acknowledged fallible, and various ways obnoxious to Errour. They may pronounce wrong, for want of knowledge or conſideration, out of Intereſt, and deſign, to abet others, to aſſert themſelves. When too they are met together in an Aſſembly, tho' they have greater opportunities of Information from a Company, yet they are found too to be as often miſled by it. They are often ſurpriz'd into Errour, by a conceived good Opinion of other men, by their Arts, their Rhetorick, their Confidence; often frighted, or tempted to the wrong ſide; voting either for favour and Affection, or ſuppos'd duty, as their Friend or Patron goes, or out of Emulation and Oppoſition, as they ſee their Adverſary inclin'd: they are often unaccountably fermented in the Maſs, and over-born and carried away from their Judgment by the Crowd.

For ſuch Reaſons theſe ſingle fallible Men cannot be ſuppos'd to make up an Infallible Body: and it will not be abſurd to ſay, that an Aſſembly of them may Err, Nemine Contradicente; much leſs is it impoſſible, that a Major part of them ſhould vote wrong.

Now as Men, not yet Chriſtians, are fallible Creatures; ſo the grace in Baptiſm renders them no more infallible than they were before. After too they have receiv'd their new Character in Orders, it is no benefit of their Clergy to be exempt from the ſame humane frailties; and every ordinary Prieſt or Biſhop aſunder remains the ſame fallible man: it is neither impoſſible that he ſhould be deceived himſelf, nor that he ſhould endeavour to deceive another, ev'n in matters of Religion, and Articles of Faith.

By what Change then is it, that the majority of theſe fallible Chriſtians, or Eccleſiaſticks, or Biſhops, are more infallible, than the Majorities of other fallible men? it muſt be by ſome ſupernatural Power, and from ſome extraordinary gift of God. We muſt ſuppoſe that God at that time ſhall not only enlighten their Underſtanding, ſo as to be able to perceive the Truth, and pronounce it with certainty; but alſo that he ſhall ſo controul their wills, that they ſhall not be moved by Fear or Favour, Intereſt or Dependance, to overlook that Truth, and paſs a contrary Vote. That is, they muſt be, not only infallible; but, to that purpoſe, impeccable: and it muſt be impoſſible for them, in the giving of that ſuffrage, to deceive, as well as to be deceived.

This is the Miracle that muſt be preſum'd to make good ſuch a Pretence. Neither muſt our Adverſaries think to perſwade us, that ſuch an aſcertain'd fix'd Influence of the Holy Ghoſt, is ever the leſs miraculous and extraordinary; becauſe there are other ſupernatural influences, which we acknowledge to proceed hourly from his good and free pleaſure.

The Holy Ghoſt has determin'd its aſſiſtance to certain circumſtances of time and place, in the Sacraments only: there too the Operative Grace that is given, works not irreſiſtably, but concurrently with the will of the Perſon, and as he joyns to promote or hinder the Action. Nay in the Sacrament (as they call it) of Orders it ſelf, a Character indeed is conceiv'd to be impreſs'd on the Ordain'd, like a mark upon his Body, by force of the Holy Ceremonies; whereby he is diſtinguiſh'd from the Lay: but no more knowledge or honeſty given, than the Party himſelf ſhall pleaſe to retain, or endeavour to acquire. So the Holy Spirit acts in the very Sacraments themſelves; but out of them it blows as it liſts, and diſpenſes it ſelf not in certain places and times, by certain meaſures, but according to its ſecret pleaſure: ſo that no man from the ſincerity of his Prayers, or from any promiſe, can ſecure himſelf ſuch a Determinate degree of Aſſiſtance; much leſs can he be ſecure, that it is vouchſafed another, at ſuch a peremptory minute, and on ſuch an occaſion. And conſequently, if all the Chriſtians of the World ſhould meet together, and pray that the Holy Ghoſt would conferr ſuch an extraordinary Grace on ſuch a Perſon, at ſuch a time; they might hope it would be done, if they referr'd it to the good pleaſure of God: but they could not peremptorily challenge it, without a preſumption, that would forfeit even the favour they might otherwiſe expect.

If then any Church had made a Sacrament of Conciliary Actions; they had made us a very extraordinary Sacrament, that ſhould have conferr'd the Graces of Knowledge and Truth, and been liable to no impediment from the pravity of the Perſons: but to ſuppoſe no Sacrament, and yet to preſume upon ſuch an extraordinary Gift; muſt be to ſuppoſe a ſtrange Miracle of Grace, ſomething that ſurpaſſes the ordinary Methods or Laws, which the Holy Spirit obſerves even upon extraordinary occaſions.

For there are ordinary Laws, which the Holy Ghoſt has preſcrib'd to himſelf in the ſecond Creation, as we allow others in the firſt. The Divine Power may go beyond them, when it thinks fit: but when it does, the Action is extraordinary and miraculous; and not to be ſuppos'd done without good Proof, nor to be expected afterwards without ſufficient Authority. For ev'n in the ſupernatural works of God, as in the infuſion of Humane Souls, tho' God can give the rectitude of the firſt Soul, and a ſtability ſuch as Angels have: yet he always continues in that extraordinary Action, an ordinary Courſe; neither is the Conception of the Bleſſed Virgin Mary her ſelf, ſuppos'd by any immaculate without a Miracle.

Now a Miracle, whether in the Corporeal or in the Spiritual World, tho' eaſie to be done by God, yet is not ſo eaſily to be imagin'd by us. We are to ſuppoſe, that he keeps his uſual methods, until we have notice to the contrary. A viſible Miracle when doing needs no other notice, and demonſtrates it ſelf: but it cannot be preſum'd for the future, without expreſs warrant; otherwiſe to expect it, is to tempt God. An Inviſible miracle therefore, for the ſame reaſon, is neither to be believed for the paſt or preſent, nor expected for the future, without the ſame expreſs Authority. Ev'n in ſpeculation to allow it done, is unwarrantable credulity; and to wait for it, is Temerity and Preſumption.

ſuch Inviſible Miracles the Church of Rome thinks ſhe may ſuppoſe at pleaſure; and that Gods Omnipotence is always at her ſervice: where ſhe thinks ſhe cannot be diſproved, ſhe ſecurely aſſerts; never conſidering that the ſimple belief of ſuch things requires ſome good Evidence; and that they cannot be impos'd as neceſſary Articles of Faith, but upon ſuch Evidence as carries along with it neceſſary Conviction.

Were there therefore no conſequence to be heeded upon the Admiſſion of the Churches Infallibility, were it a ſingle ſpeculation; as it would be highly preſumptuous in the governing part of the Church, to depend upon ſuch an extraordinary Grace, without extraordinary warrant; ſo to inforce the reſt to believe it, without ſuch due warrant, would be abſolute Tyranny.

But if they intend to govern by this Maxime, and make it the foundation of an uncontrolable Authority, demanding upon this ſuppoſition, an abſolute aſſent to what-ever elſe they ſhall ſay: it is plain that then we have greater reaſon to be more rigorous in our Demand; and that our Aſſent cannot be required from us, but upon full Evidence, and ſuch to which we cannot but ſubmit; it being but fit that they ſhould give us ſome very good reaſon for this Propoſition, who upon our admitting it, are afterwards diſcharged for ever from giving us any reaſon more.

So much difficulty we ſhould make of granting this Infallible Authority in General; had we no notice at what it aim'd, and to what purpoſe it would be uſed.

But further, the Proof for this pretence, as great as it ſhould be, however ought if poſſible to be greater yet; if this Propoſition comes actually loaded with others, that want very great proof themſelves, and cannot be maintain'd but upon this fond. For then it is not a ſimple Miracle we are perſwaded to believe; nor a miracle which may poſſibly engage our belief a little further; but ſuch a one, as has actually undertaken the maintenance of many more miracles, ſome of them more ſtrange than it ſelf, and ſcarcely reconcileable to humane underſtanding; that for example, of Tranſubſtantiation, as wondrous and as much above ordinary miracles, as any other miracle is above the effects of Nature.

But further yet, whereas if theſe unlikely hoods and miracles, appendant on Infallibility, were purely ſpeculative, and reſted in the Brain; yet, if we had not an Evidence proportionably extraordinary, we could not without violence to our underſtanding give aſſent to their truth, nor without breach of honeſty profeſs it: ſo by greater reaſon, if they are not ſpeculative only, but paſs on to practice; and oblige us to Actions, at the firſt ſight unlawful, and no otherwiſe juſtifiable but by this pretence, of Infallibility; it is apparent then, that we are much leſs at our liberty, to give up our ſelves to its hazardous obedience; but are bound in our duty to God, and care of our Souls, to examine it with the utmoſt ſeverity.

When therefore I am to preſcribe the Proof, I might well demand ſuch a one, that ſhall be able enough to ſuſtain all the Definitions of the Council of Trent. For, it being manifeſt that the Laity depend upon this Principle for their aſſurance in all their Belief; and that the Learned leave, upon all occaſions, their want of proper Arguments to be ſupply'd by this Common Theoreme: it follows, that this Article, ſo fundamental, muſt have ſome very extraordinary ſupport it ſelf; not only ſufficient to bear its own ſingle weight, but all that vaſt additional load that reſts upon it.

As for Example, whether theſe are Articles of Faith, and neceſſary to Salvation; That the Sacraments, truly and properly ſo called, are Seven Conc. Trid. Seſſ. 7. Canon. de Sacram. 1o.: That in the Conferring them, the intention of the Miniſter is neceſſary Ibid. Can. 2o.: That in the Church of Rome, who is the Mother and Miſtreſs of all Churches, the Doctrine concerning the Sacrament of Baptiſm is true De Bapt. Can. 3o.: That the Body and Blood of Chriſt, with his Soul and Body, are really and ſubſtantially in the Sacrament of the Euchariſt Seſſ. 13. de Euchar. Can. 1.: the ſubſtance of Bread and Wine not remaining, but converted Can. 2o.: and this not only during the Sacramental uſe, but before and after Can. 4o.; That Chriſt in that Sacrament is to be worſhip'd with external Soveraign Worſhip, and to be carried about for that purpoſe Can. 6o.: That Auricular Confeſſion was always uſed in the Church, and is neceſſary by Divine Command Seſſ. 14. de Sacr. Penitent. Can. 6o.; to the remiſſion of Sins Can. 7o.: That all Chriſtians are not obliged by Gods Command to receive the Sacrament of the Euchariſt in both kinds Seſſ. 21. Can. 1o.: That the practice of the Romaniſts in that Caſe is juſt and reaſonable Can. 2o.: That in the Maſs there is a true and proper Sacrifice offer'd Seſſ. 22. Can. 1o.: That it is to be offer'd not only for the Living but for the Dead, in Purgatory Can. 3o.: That the Prieſt may, and does well, to Communicate (as they call it) alone Can. 8o. collat. cum cap. 6o.: That Matrimonial Cauſes belong to Eccleſiaſtical Judges Seſſ. 24. Can. 12.: &c. whether, I ſay, theſe Articles are ſo neceſſary, that neither theſe can be deny'd, nor the Church of Rome left without the loſs of Salvation; are Propoſitions each of them highly queſtionable, and much eaſier to be aſſerted by the Church of Rome, than proved: the proper Demonſtration of all of them being ſo very defective, and of ſome, the very principal, ſo ſhort and lame; that ſome in part, and others nigh altogether, are left to ſubſiſt on this general Infallible Ground. So that the Arguments, borrow'd at other times from this common place, are here to be accounted for; and ſo much ſuper-abundant Evidence is to be brought in, as ſhall not only ſerve to out-weigh the particular improbabilities of this Point, but ſhall beſides make good all the other defects of Argument, under which the reſt of the Roman Doctrines labour.

But we are ready to abate of this juſtifiable Rigour, and are content to require only ſuch Proof, as ſhall be neceſſary properly to this Article.

Now, to be as eaſie as we can, and not to inſiſt upon hard terms, thus much our Adverſaries muſt obſerve; that a miracle ſo ſtrange as this, of ſuch an influence on our whole Lives, and of ſo great conſequence in Religion, cannot be pretended but from the word of God; nor then preſum'd, much leſs neceſſarily collected, from equivocal large expreſſions, capable of an eaſier ſence; and that therefore we ſhall not think our ſelves bound to expect it, and rely upon it, except they bring us ſome Divine Saying, of certain Authority, and expreſs meaning, for our Warrant and Command.

Thus much it may have been fit to premiſe: but I am ſcarcely to be excus'd, for thinking any of them ſo weak as to need the following Premonition; that the Authority of the Church is now, for a while at leaſt, ſet aſide; and that as the Doctors of the Sorbon will not admit a Popes Definition, to prove the Popes Infallibility, no more are we to admit the ſame aſſertion, (were there any) from a Council and Pope, as a Deciſive Evidence on their own ſide. The Pope or a Council muſt in this point demonſtrate from Scripture or Tradition, the written, or unwritten word of God, and to that we are now going.

The Reader therefore who cannot but have heard much of this wonderful Authority, lodg'd ſomewhere in the Church; who may have been counſel'd to repair to that Oracle, and bid upon pain of Damnation to take the infallible direction of that Guide; may be pleas'd to reflect with himſelf, that his firſt thoughts muſt naturally have fancy'd ſome expreſs and frequent mention of ſuch a Power in the word of God; ſome plain deſignation of the Perſons 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 to whom it is committed, and a Peremptory Order to the Faithful to obey it for ever without ſcruple: and then from that Reflection, he may be pleaſed to go on with me, and ſee how much of this thoſe Pretenders are able to ſhew; and what pitiful Allegations they bring in ſo wonderful and momentous a Caſe.

CHAP. III.

The Proofs for Infallibility brought from Scripture Inſufficient. Firſt, thoſe for the pretended Infallibility of the Jewiſh Church conſidered, (Sect. I.) Then thoſe concerning the Chriſtian. Particularly the 28th. of St. Mat. v. 19, 20. (Sect. II.) 14 John 16.26. Ch. 16. v. 15. 15. Act. 28. 1 Joh. 5.20. 1 Cor. 12.7, 8. (Sect. III.) 18 Mat. 17, 18, 20. (Sect. IV.) 1 Tim. 3.15. (Sect V.) 4 Eph. 11.14. (Sect. VI.) other ſcattered Texts ſeeming to preſume it. (VII.) A Concluſion from the whole againſt it. (VIII.)

THE Places of Scripture alledged for an Infallible Guide, relate either to the Old or the New Covenant. Thoſe which are to prove ſuch a ſtanding Infallibility under the New, and which are the moſt proper to our Purpoſe, Diſc. 1. §. 7. I ſhall take, as they are propos'd in the Rational Account concerning the Guide in Controverſie; neither ſhall I alter the order, that I may not ſeem to abate any thing of their force: only I ſhall take leave to add, upon occaſion, ſomething of the Context; that the ſence may better appear.

The reſt of the Romiſh Champions do not fail, on this Subject, Chap. 3. The Proofs from Scripture inſufficient. Sect. 1. to lead us on to the admittance of Infallibility in the Chriſtian Church, by preparing a ſuppoſition that there was ſuch an eſtabliſhment in the Jewiſh. But this Rational Guide to their Great Guide, led us not this way: it may be, becauſe he ſaw, that if the ſuppoſition were never ſo well proved, yet the Conſequence might fairly be deny'd. For the Methods and Politie of the Chriſtian and Moſaical Diſpenſations are ſo different, that no Argument can be drawn from the exiſtence of ſuch a ſtanding Officer, or Power, under the one, to the ſame under the other. Whatever of that Law was not from the Law of Nature, all the reſt of its conſtitutions Judicial and Ceremonial, were Temporary and Arbitrary, appropriate to that People and Seaſon. And tho' ſome of its appointments looked forward, and preſignify'd; yet thoſe Types were ſet to be Earthly ſhadows of Heavenly Things, not to be Forms and Models of a future Adminiſtration here below: as the High Prieſt is known to have repreſented Chriſt, no Apoſtle or Biſhop; and thoſe Sacrifices then continually offer'd, That one Sacrifice once for ever offer'd for our Sins. As therefore the Ephod, Breſt-Plate, and Bells, are no Pattern for Pontifical Garments now; ſo we are not to expect that their Ʋrim and Thummim ſhould be anſwered by any Modern Oracle; no more than any High Prieſt of our days will pretend to Propheſy, from that extraordinary Power which belonged to their Prieſts, even when their Ʋrim and Thummim ceas'd; and which was not withheld, no not from Caiphas himſelf. Old Things are paſs'd, and all Things are become new. All Commands of Poſitive Inſtitution, and all Gifts of extraordinary Favour, given out by Moſes, are vacated and expired; not to be pleaded now, except reviv'd by a new Sanction, or a new Promiſe, from our proper Law-giver. For this Reaſon, had our Guide offer'd any Proofs for his Cauſe relating to the Old Teſtament, we might have paſs'd them over, and us'd our right to conſider only his pertinent Arguments: but the Reader, who is to exerciſe much Patience during this whole Debate, will give me leave to entreat it here; that we may not ſeem to take an advantage of one Authors Omiſſion; eſpecially when he will be found to have made it, not thro' forgetfulneſs, but deſign; and to have done his Cauſe more ſervice, by concealing this Evidence, than by his producing all the reſt.

The Fundamental Proof for a ſtanding Infallibility in the Jewiſh Government, is from the 17. Deuter. where, after the appointment of Judicatures in their ſeveral Cities, made in the 16th. Chap. and after the ennumeration of ſome Crimes of a very heinous and notorious nature; it is ordain'd in the 8th verſe, that in all doubtful Caſes the laſt reſort ſhould be, to the ſupream Tribunal ſitting in that place, unto which they are commanded in that 16th. to repair thrice in the year, for the ſervice of their God.

The words are theſe. If there ariſe a matter too hard for thee in Judgment, between Blood and Blood, between Plea and Plea, between ſtroke and ſtroke, being matters of Controverſie within thy Gates; then ſhalt thou ariſe, and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God ſhall chuſe; and thou ſhalt come to the Prieſts, the Levites, and to the Judges that ſhall be in thoſe days, and enquire; and they ſhall ſhew thee the Sentence of Judgment. And thou ſhalt do according to the ſentence which they of that Place (which the Lord ſhall chuſe) ſhall ſhew thee, and thou ſhalt obſerve to do according to all that which they inform thee: according to the ſentence of the Law which they ſhall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they ſhall tell thee, thou ſhalt do: thou ſhalt not decline from the ſentence which they ſhall ſhew thee, to the right hand nor to the left And the man that will do preſumptuouſly, and will not hearken unto the Prieſt that ſtandeth there to Miniſter before the Lord thy God, or unto the Judge, ev'n that man ſhall dye, &c. Joſephus gives the ſence of this place ſo. And if thoſe Judges know not how to determine, in ſome Caſes which may be brought before them; (and ſuch caſes often happen among men:) Let them then tranſmit the Cauſe to the Holy City; and let the High Prieſt, and the Prophet, and the Senate meet together, and decree the Sentence. As to the Perſons of whom this Soveraign Court was compos'd, ſome would have the High Prieſt with his Brethren to be the Supream Moderators, in all Eccleſiaſtical Cauſes; and the Temporal Judge or Prince to decide unappealably in Civils. Others give the Senate or Sanhedrim, (a Body conſiſting not of the Tribe of Levi only, but of all the reſt promiſcuouſly) the Preeminence in all Cauſes, and over the High Prieſt himſelf: the conſtant receiv'd Opinion of the Jewiſh Doctours. And Joſephus, we ſee, joyns all Titles together, and adds a Prophet, if there be any, beſides. If now we are to regulate our Chriſtian proceedings by this Rule; Joſephus will aſſign the Authority to the Pope and a Council together: the Rabbins will give it with thoſe of Baſil, to a Council: and the firſt Opinion, to the Pope and his Conſiſtory. But a Council will find little ſatisfaction hence: becauſe Lay-men may pretend to an equal voice; and it muſt be aſſembled in the Holy City. The Advantage in truth lies fairer for the Pope: for he may well be the High Prieſt; and by St. Peter, the Succeſſor of Aaron: the Cardinals may be the Prieſts, the Levites, and Rome the Place which the Lord our God has choſen. And then it follows plainly from the Text, that what-ever is commanded thence, we are to obſerve to do: and further, that he who fails to do it, is not only to be Excommunicated, but to be put to death for his preſumption.

Now for our part, we ſhall leave this Controverſie concerning the Perſons to be d • bat • d by the Jews, and thoſe Chriſtians who are concern'd in the advantage of it. If too the Pope or a Council ſhall gain the Cauſe; if either of them, or both, can derive to themſelves the Authority of the Text; we muſt then, we confeſs, grant them a Power of Life and Death over us; (a Power I know they will not loſe by non uſer:) but as for this priviledge of Infallibility, we ſhall not yet be oblig'd to allow it.

For as the deſign of God, in ordering his People to meet for their Devotions in one place thrice every year, ſeems to have been, in part at leaſt, to Cultivate the Brotherly Love, and continue the Unity of that Family of Iſrael: ſo the adjourning all the more weighty Cauſes to the ſame common place, ſeems intended to knit that Politick Combination faſter and cloſer, and to prevent any ſuch breach as happen'd afterwards by the Sin of Jeroboam. The laſt Sentence therefore of that Court was to be Final; and peremptorily obey'd under the higheſt Penalty; but it is to be ſuppos'd no more Infallible, than the Sentence of other laſt Reſorts, and humane Soveraign Judicatures are thought to be.

This, and no more, Joſephus expreſſes; and no more can be collected from Moſes his words, than that, what ſuch a High Court pronounced, ſhould be taken for Law; and that the Perſon who oppos'd its juriſdiction, ſhould be put to death, as oppoſing the Supream Authority, and Fundamental Eſtabliſhment of that Polity.

Here is then an Authority ſettled with Power of Life and Death; Uncontroulable, but not Infallible; ſuppos'd to judge in queſtions of doubt and difficulty, and then to determine righteouſly; but not created incapable, (ſuch is the nature of all humane Bodies) of determining wrong even in plainer Caſes, and of Decreeing ſuch a Sentence, as might poſſibly be more intollerable to the Righteous, than the Sentence of Death. This is the plain natural meaning of the place, agreeable to common ſence, and the known practice of all Governments.

Had therefore the Jews been willing to have rais'd a Miracle on this Text, as their Uſage at other times is; and had we wanted ſome groſs inſtance of Errour to prove upon them; yet we could not juſtly be obliged to prefer their wonderful ſtrange interpretation, before a more ordinary and more Familiar ſence. But here it ſo happens, that the Jews themſelves make no ſuch pretence; and that if they did, we Chriſtians are not only able, but bound to convict it of falſity. Their High Prieſt, the reſt of the Prieſts, the Sanhedrim, and the whole body of the People, (that there might be no queſtion of the Legality of the Court,) having committed the moſt execrable Errour, and by a moſt ſolemn Sentence condemned our Bleſſed Saviour for an Impoſtor.

Some I know of the Romaniſts, being indeed very hard preſs'd, flye to this ſubterfuge; that the Errour of the Jews, though a grievous one, was only an Errour of Fact. But were not Matters of Fact, by this very Ordinance, triable before that Court, as well as matters of Right, and alike determinable by final Sentence? where too will they lay this Matter of Fact? was it whether he ſaid, he was the Chriſt? or whether he was that Chriſt? that he ſaid he was the Chriſt, was true, and they err'd not in it: and the other Point, whether Jeſus was that Chriſt, was as much a matter of right, as whether the Perſon called Tiberius was then Emperour: And was too at that hour the ſame Article of Faith that it is now. This Solution therefore is juſtly rejected by Cardinal Bellarmine, who chuſes rather to give a leſs Competent one, than one ſo groſly abſurd. That Court, ſays he, was Infallible 'till our Saviour's coming; but upon his appearance their Infallibility was withdrawn, as the Ʋrim and Thummim had ceas'd for ſome time before. This is as much as to ſay, where-ever you can prove they did err, there I will grant you in that particular caſe they might: an anſwer that amounts to this plain Confeſſion, that he had nothing to reply. For does the Text that conſtitutes this Authority make any ſuch reſerved Caſe? or has he any other juſt cauſe to ſurmiſe this pretended failure? That the Jewiſh Diſpenſation was to determine at laſt by the Chriſtian, there is no queſtion: But that this determination was not to be made till our Saviour's Death, is as certain too. Until that time the Moſaical Law did abide in the ſame ſtate; the High Prieſt continued to Propheſie to the laſt Paſſeover; and our Saviour himſelf, not long before, had re-inforc'd the Authority, what-ever it was, of thoſe that ſate in Moſes his Chair. As to the Oracle of the Breaſt-plate, it had indeed ceas'd, but long before our Saviour's time: above 200 years ſays Joſephus, Joſephus Archaeol. l. 3. c. as we read him; with the firſt Temple ſay the Rabbins. But then too That, when-ever it ceas'd, ceas'd ſenſibly; like the Sun, diſappearing as viſibly as it had appeared: whereas this inviſible Oracular vertue, except there was ſome ſupernatural notice given of its being taken away, muſt be ſuppos'd to be withdrawn from the former Owners, they knowing nothing of its abſence, and preſuming that they ſtill poſſeſs'd it. For as theſe Men could never have known they were Infallible, unleſs God had told them; ſo neither could they know when they ceas'd to be Infallible, unleſs inform'd by the ſame Author. Now if the Cardinal would have ſuch a ſupernatural notice here underſtood, he ſhould have told us whence he learnt it, for otherwiſe it is not to be preſum'd: and if there was no ſuch notice given, we are then to diſcharge the Elders and People of the Jews, from that accurſed Crime of which they have been ſo long accuſed. For the Elders, they gave ſentence under their old Confidence, and as far as they knew, aſſiſtance of Infallible direction. And as for the People, they in their blind obedience ſubſcrib'd to the ſentence of their Superiours; doing no more than what in the preſent ſuppoſition, they were order'd of old to do by Moſes, and but lately by our Saviour himſelf.

Had that High Court been then own'd for Infallible by the Moſaical inſtitution; it muſt have been a very difficult thing, if not impoſſible, to have converted any Jew to the Religion of Chriſt. For how ſhould they have admitted that Perſon to be Chriſt, who was Condemned by their Infallible Judicature for an Impious Blaſphemer? and how abſurd as well as impious muſt it have been in any, to have judged thoſe Judges, and to have pretended to know better than themſelves, whether they continued fallible or no? Was it not to be preſum'd, that in caſe of ſuch a failure, the Court ſhould have firſt known it from God; and the People, by the confeſſion and ſurrendry of the Court? we Chriſtians therefore do not conſider well, when to gain a preſent Infallibility, we give one againſt us; which tho' we raiſe at pleaſure, yet ſhould the Jews lay hold of it, we cannot at our pleaſure diſſolve.

But, God be thanked, the Jews, however willing they might be to accept of any Argument againſt us, and alſo to render the Conſtitution of their Fathers as Sacred as they can, have not yet taken this Courſe, nor arrogated to their celebrated Sanhedrim any ſuch extraordinary Authority. As, ſince the deſtruction of their firſt Temple, they have jealouſly abſtain'd from all manner of Idolatry; ſo too they have preſerv'd themſelves from this Spiritual Sacriledge, of taking to themſelves what belongs to God, and invading ſo high a gift without his Grant.

The conſtant receiv'd Doctrine of the Jewiſh Maſters concerning this matter, is as follows.

(1.) With them it is no impoſſible ſuppoſition, that the whole Sanhedrim might err in their Judgment, not only unwittingly, but knowing, even againſt an expreſs Law; and that, not only againſt ſome part of it, Libr. de Sacrif. ex Interpretat. Lud. de Veil. Tract. 4o. Cap. 12, 13, 14. but againſt the whole, both root and branch. Theſe Caſes are all ſuppos'd poſſible in Practice, and accordingly Offerings for the Sins conſequent to ſuch a falſe judgment, are aſſign'd in Maimonides; according as the guilt ſhould be ſuppos'd to lye, either upon the particular Perſons who followed the falſe direction, or on the Government that gave it.

(2.) And therefore in Doubtful Caſes, the proper ſubject of the Sanhedrim's Authority, the Truth of their Deciſions was not ſuppos'd to proceed from the concurrence of any Divine Inſpiration, but from rational Motives and Inferences: ſo that if upon a diviſion in the Senate concerning the Interpretation of the Law; Maimon. in Pocockii Portá Moſis. pag. 32. thirty five Prophets as great as Elija, and Eliſha, had been of one Opinion, and thirty ſix Elders learned in the Law of the other, the Opinion of the un-inſpir'd majority ſhould have prevailed.

(3.) And laſtly, it may be obſerv'd, that the duty of obeying the Decree of the Majority, is ſuppos'd by the Jews to be intimated by that very Text, whoſe poſitive meaning is to forbid a blind Obedience: they preſuming it imply'd in the general, that we ſhould follow the moſt, or a Multitude; becauſe we are commanded in particular, 23 Exod. 2. not to follow the moſt, or a multitude to do evil.

We ſee then that Infallibility is not given by Moſes to the great Senate; that ſuch a claim was never made by the Jews; and muſt not be allowed them by Chriſtians.

We cannot therefore ſuppoſe that our Saviour gives the Sanhedrim, in the 23d. of St. Matth. more Authority, than they had before from Deuteronomy. The words are theſe. The Scribes and Phariſees ſit in Moſes his Seat: all therefore whatſoever they bid you obſerve, that obſerve and do. But do not ye after their works; for they ſay, and do not. Now it is not well imaginable, that Chriſt ſhould direct an Obedience without reſerve to be paid to thoſe, whom preſently after he calls Blind Guides, and whoſe Errour in Doctrine he taxes, together with the vitiouſneſs of their Lives: no more than we can think, that he there orders the multitude to joyn hereafter with the Senate in the demand of his Death, and to promote his Crucifixion. But ſuch a ſence of the place is too groſs, ev'n for the Roman Commentators to own. Maldonate, A Lapide, &c. are aſham'd of it; and make it unneceſſary for us to cite St. Chryſoſtome, or any other Ancient to the contrary. And indeed nothing is plainer, if we take the words poſitively, than that our Saviour, being to cenſure the conduct, and not yet deſigning to leſſen the juſt Authority of the Jewiſh Magiſtracy, prefaces therefore to the multitude the injunction of a due obedience. But they may be taken comparatively, not enjoyning but ſuppoſing an Obedience; and then directing that the Commands of thoſe Men ſhould be obſerved, rather than their Examples: becauſe, tho' they were Blind and Fools, yet they were greater Hypocrites, and their Lives were ſtill more corrupt than their Doctrines; an intimation that has ſometimes had its place in the Chriſtian Church, even by the Confeſſion of our Adverſaries themſelves.

After this tedious Enquiry into Jewiſh Infallibility, we may think we had reaſon to thank the Ingenuity of the Guide in Controverſy; who, if we would have follow'd him but in this, would have ſpar'd us at leaſt ſo much pains. But we ſhall find there was as much of Diſcretion, as Ingenuity in him; and that we have not loſt our labour, while we gain'd the following Corollaries.

FOR NOW WE KNOW,

I. That a Church of God may be founded without the Inſtitution of an Infallible Judge.

II. That the Infallibility pretended by the Roman Church, is an Original, and that this controverſie is a new Caſe, and of the firſt Impreſſion; to be debated therefore by proper Arguments from the Chriſtian Religion.

III. That the Authorities to be vouched for it, ought to be very full and preciſe, more full and more expreſs, than thoſe of Deuteronomy, or St. Matthew. For we ſee, that if our Saviour had either commanded us on any doubt to go up to Rome, and conſult a Congregation of Biſhops aſſembled there, and to obſerve and do according to all they ſhould inform us, under the Penalty of Excommunication or Death; or had enjoyn'd us to obſerve, &c. all which a Council ſhould bid us obſerve and do, that yet, even from words ſo poſitive and large as theſe, ſo extraordinary a thing as the Infallibility of that Council muſt not have been concluded.

Whether then our Author has any ſuch proper Chriſtian Authorities, more clear and plain to the point, than thoſe would have been; we are now going to enquire.

We come now to the Scriptures alledged by our Author. §. II. The firſt place is the 28th Chapter of St. Matthew, the 19th. and 20th. verſes, take in the 17th and 18th verſes, and the words are theſe. And when they ſaw him, they worſhipped him: but ſome doubted, and Jeſus came, and ſpake unto them, ſaying, all Power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all Nations, Baptiſing them in the Name, &c. teaching them to obſerve all things whatſoever I have commanded you: and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the World.

Theſe words, lo I am with you always, &c. are a promiſe of Aſſiſtance, conceiv'd in general terms, to be reſtrain'd therefore in all reaſon at the pleaſure of God the Donor; and which are to be ſuppos'd ſufficiently fulfill'd, in what ever particular they ſhall be found to have been made good. All ſort of aſſiſtance which God could give, and at all minutes, was not to be expected from them, not by the Apoſtles themſelves, to whom they were ſpoke immediately.

Conſequently therefore, if we of the later Ages ſhall take this Promiſe to our ſelves, we cannot determine its performance to what particular we ſhall think fit: neither if we find it fulfill'd to the Apoſtles in ſome very extraordinary ways, amongſt others more ordinary; are we therefore to demand the higher aſſiſtances, but to reſt abundantly content, with thoſe other Divine Graces that ſhall be vouchſafed us.

This eaſie obſervation is a ſufficient anſwer to all pretence of Modern Infallibility from this place. But becauſe we deal with Adverſaries, that are not ſo eaſily ſatiſfied; and this Text is offer'd to us firſt, and brought into the Front; we will therefore, with the Readers leave, take a more particular notice of it.

1ſt. Then we will conſider the words, as ſpoke to the Apoſtles, and to be accompliſht to them. Now here, tho' the Aſſiſtance promis'd under ſuch a general expreſſion, may ſeem to include that Infallibility, with which the Apoſtles were afterwards eminently endow'd from on high; yet it may be thought principally to be intended of other aids. The Guide indeed, who therefore brings in only the precedent verſe, would refer the Promiſe to the ſubject of Doctrine, and their capacity of Teaching: but it is plain even thence, that their knowledge is ſuppos'd, and the Commands mention'd, as receiv'd already; their Courage and aſſurance were rather wanting, to the undertaking ſo dangerous a Miſſion, and ſuch an incredible Errand; as the preaching up to the Jews a Meſſiah, but now Crucify'd by them for an Impoſtor, might well ſeem. Of the truth of their Lord's Reſurrection and Doctrines they could not well doubt; but how they ſhould be believ'd, they might juſtly diſtruſt. To this purpoſe it was that our Saviour firſt arms them with the knowledge of the Power, with which he was inveſted; and then afterwards, under the protection of that Power, commands them on their Duty, bidding them not to fear now, nor deſpond hereafter; for notwithſtanding he was now to leave the Earth, yet he would ſtill be with them, to give their hearts courage, and their words Authority, that they might ſpeak the word with all boldneſs, and that Signs and Wonders might be done by the Holy Name they were to Preach; ſo he would always be with them in the diſcharge of their Office here, till at laſt they ſhould be with him for ever in Heaven. This ſeems to be the natural ſcope and ſence of the words, and therefore what we read order'd and promis'd in the end of St. Matthew's Goſpel, that in the cloſe of St. Mark's we find accordingly perform'd: They went forth and Preached every where, they doing as they were commanded; and the Lord, purſuant to his promiſe, working with them, and confirming the word by Signs following.

But then 2dly, ſuppoſing Infallibility comprehended equally with thoſe other gifts to be vouchſaf'd the Apoſtles; yet it will not follow, that the Promiſe was equally meant to the Doctours or Diſciples of all Ages. For (1.) it may be ſaid, that this Promiſe made to the Apoſtles might be Perſonal, and needs not by any neceſſary conſtruction be carried to their Succeſſours at all. For though theſe words, to the end of the world, taken by themſelves, may continue the Grant till that time, and may be ſuppos'd in the failure of the Apoſtles, to leave the benefit of it to their Succeſſours for the remaining term: yet the ſame words may too bear a very proper ſence in conjunction with the Perſons of the Apoſtles; either that our Saviour would be with them to the worlds end, that is always with them in this World, as long as they ſhould continue in it; 21 Exod. 6. 15 Deut. 17. as in our Law, and ſometimes in the Scripture, an Eſtate for ever, is an Eſtate for Life; or elſe, that he would be with them on Earth till their Death, and then when they ſhould go hence, in Heaven. However, in the 2d place, not to inſiſt on ſuch ſtrictneſs, but ſuppoſing the promiſe of Aſſiſtance to go along with the command of Teaching and Baptizing, yet it cannot be preſum'd to go down in its whole latitude, and wideſt extenſion; that our Saviour ſhould be bound by it, to be with the Biſhops of this time, juſt in the ſame manner, and by the ſame meaſures, he was heretofore with the Apoſtles themſelves. For, as he that ſhould offer to prove, that the Apoſtles yet live, and ſhall live here to the worlds end, becauſe the Lord promis'd to be with them till that time; would bring a ridiculous interpretation, notoriouſly untrue: ſo he, who ſhall aſſert that the ſame their extraordinary Gifts ſtill continue; muſt be contented to have his interpretation contradicted by as plain Evidence of Fact. For ſuch a ſence cannot be confirm'd but by Signs and Wonders following, the ſame which were wrought by the Apoſtles. We might therefore put our Adverſaries upon a very difficult proof, and deſire they would demonſtrate their Infallibility by a Concomitance of the other Miracles: but we need not go ſo far on this Text. For here their pretence to Infallibility deſtroys it ſelf; neither do they preſume to claim it, as it was granted at firſt. They will not ſay that every Biſhop, though of an Apoſtolical See, has always been Infallible; and by what reaſon then, from this Promiſe, muſt the Majority prove ſo? for this place gives no more Infallibility to them in a Body, than aſunder: nay what it promiſes to them, it promiſes apart; that our Saviour ſhould be with them Teaching and Baptizing, an Office perform'd by the Apoſtles apart, and in their ſeveral Miſſions. They have therefore from this Text, conſtrued too for them in the moſt favourable manner, no more Authority to aſſign Infallibility to any Number of Biſhops, than to any ſingle Biſhop; and have as much reaſon hence to aſcribe it to any other Biſhop, Succeſſour of the Apoſtles, as to the Biſhop of Rome.

But notwithſtanding common ſence and ordinary reaſon finds nothing for that Infallibility of after Ages in this Text, yet does not Tradition interpret otherwiſe? and has not God ſomewhere, by ſome unwritten word, given the Roman meaning to this part of the Written?

No Antient Commentator that I know, has ſtray'd into ſuch a ſence. But had any, yet we might have known that they learnt it not from Authentick Tradition: for then it would not have been omitted by St. Chryſoſtom for the Greeks, and St. Jerom for the Latins, both purpoſely commenting on the Place. The Interpretation I gave at firſt as the moſt natural, is St. Chryſoſtom's: and what St. Jerom gives is in part the ſame; he who promiſes that he will be with the Diſciples to the end of the World, both ſhews that they are to live for ever, and that he will never depart from the Faithful. Ch. 7. Art. 〈◊〉 . It appears therefore by theſe Fathers, that our Adverſaries ſence has no Authority from Tradition: a Remark I make expreſly on this Text, with a requeſt, that the Reader himſelf would be pleas'd to obſerve it on thoſe that follow.

The indifferent Reader will not, I hope, need to be advertis'd, that the various interpretations we give to this, or the other places of Scripture, are not brought by us, to caſt an ambiguity upon the Text; but only to ſhew, that almoſt any meaning that can be offer'd, deſerves to be preferr'd before the Roman.

But here he is deſired to take notice, that as yet we ſee neither Infallible Judge mention'd, nor his Perſon aſſign'd, nor the Cauſes of which he is to determine expreſs'd, nor any thing elſe ſo much as hinted at, which we might have expected to find poſitively declar'd: nor, to ſpeak once for all, is he to hope to ſee any ſuch thing hereafter. He may too obſerve on this place, and find it verify'd in the reſt, that thoſe who exerciſe Infallibility in voting Concluſions, are not very good at Inferring. Whatever is any where promis'd to the Apoſtles our Infallible Guides is challenged to their Succeſſours as Guides too: and no difference made, between the extraordinary Gifts vouchſafed to the firſt Founders of the Church; and thoſe ordinary Graces that were ſtill to continue to its ordinary Miniſters. But here they are quickly at a loſs. For working of Miracles ſhould then belong to the Churchmen: but becauſe every one ſees that neither Pope nor Councils work them, they are oblig'd to wave their pretences on that ſide. Perſonal Infallibility ſhould belong to all Succeſſours of the Apoſtles on the ſame account, and all Biſhops be Infallible, for the better guidance of the People; but they are forc'd to drop this claim too, for the vanity of it would be too apparent. This High Priviledge is therefore to be given by them only to one Biſhop as the Pope, or to an Aſſembly of all Biſhops: but this is not ſafe neither; for the Popes have ſhew'd where Councils have err'd, and Councils have found the ſame infirmity in Popes. The beſt way then, one would think, is to challenge it to the Pope and Council joyntly and together: for there have not been many of thoſe Conjunctions in 1600 year; and it is to be hop'd that theſe few have kept from contradicting one another, or from any of the more groſs abſurdities. But becauſe it may have happen'd that ſome particular extravagancies of thoſe Bodies may have diſpleas'd even their own Communion; it is thought expedient not to allow even to the Truſtieſt Infallible, an Infallibility at large. For notwithſtanding its Apoſtolical Endowment, it may command ſome things unlawful: and even a Decree in form, if it preſumes to meddle with the Secular Power, may be falſe. So do they give ground, as abſurdities preſs on; retrenching ſtill as they go: but as for any Right the word of God gives them, they have no more legal title to the place on which they ſtand, than to the reſt which they have deſerted. From all this ſhuffling courſe it manifeſtly appears, that the Charter on which they proceed is not from God: for they limit it as they pleaſe; and they could not be ſo bold with it, if it were not of their own making.

We are directed next to ſee St. § 111. John 14.16, 26. and 16.15. with reference to the 15th Acts 28.1 John 5.20. and 1 Cor. 12.7, 8.

In the Citations from St. John, let us, with our Guide's leave, begin at the Firſt verſe of the 14th Chapter: (remembring, that the whole diſcourſe of our Saviour is addreſs'd particularly to his Diſciples, under their preſent Melancholy Circumſtances, expecting his Impriſonment and Suffering.) [1.] Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe alſo in me. [12. [v.] Verily I ſay unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do ſhall he do alſo, and greater works than theſe ſhall he do; becauſe I go unto my Father. [13. v.] And what ſoever ye ſhall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. [16. v.] If ye love me, keep my Commandments. [16 v.] And I will pray the Father, and he ſhall give you another Comforter, who ſhall abide with you for ever. [21. v.] He that loveth me ſhall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifeſt my ſelf to him. [25. v.] Theſe Things have I ſpoken unto you, being yet preſent with you. [26. v.] But 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 have ſaid unto you. 16 Chap. 12. I have yet many things to ſay unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. [13. v.] Howbeit, when He the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all Truth;— and will ſhew you things to come.

After the Reply Mr. Chillingworth has made to Mr. Knot [Chapt. 3. §. 71.] concerning theſe Texts, they ought not to have been brought forth to the ſame purpoſe again. Mr. Chillingworth had obſerv'd, that thoſe promiſes of the Holy Ghoſt were made to the Apoſtles themſelves conditionally, upon ſuppoſition of their Divine Love and Obedience; ſuch terms, upon which they were not to be Challeng'd by the Majority of Biſhops of every Age.

This Obſervation the Guide excepts againſt; becauſe, Guide in Controver. Diſc. 1. §. 7. as he ſays, (1.) It makes the Apoſtles Infallibility uncertain, and to depend upon ſuppoſitions: and (2dly,) becauſe the duration of a Chriſtian Church, being inferr'd from the like Promiſes, muſt be as uncertain as its Infallibility.

Now this laſt Reaſon is a perfect fallacy: for tho' we grant, that in all Ages there ſhall be ſuch a Degree of Divine Love and Obedience, as ſhall ſave ſome of the Clergy; yet it follows not, that there ſhall be always ſo much, and in ſo many, as to make a Majority Infallible. Chap. XIII. But of this in its more proper place. And as for the firſt Reaſon, it is an unholy reflection upon all the Apoſtles; and particularly (as one would think he might have diſcern'd) on St. Peter the denyer of his Maſter; as if there were any queſtion to be made, after the deſcent of the Holy Ghoſt, of their performing the Conditions; and as if God had not wrought in them all that Holineſs he had made neceſſary to their Infallibility.

But we need only to obſerve the unreaſonable arrogance, wherewith theſe Texts are challeng'd to the preſent Clergy. Our Saviour here comforts his Diſciples in a very particular manner; and makes them Promiſes of an extraordinary Nature; (1.) of bringing all thoſe things which he had ſaid or did, and they through the blindneſs or dulneſs of their hearts had never animadverted, or elſe forgot, to their remembrance; (2.) of leading them into all Truth, more than he had yet taught them, and which before they could not bear; (3.) of ſhewing them Things to come—; and (4.) of enabling them to work Miracles. By the firſt of which, they ſhould be able to give account of his Actions upon the Earth, as Evangliſts; by the other, to fill up and perfect his new Covenant, as Apoſtles and Doctors: by the Third to be Prophets under the New Teſtament, as there had been under the Old; and by the fourth, to Evidence the truth of all this by Signs and Wonders. Theſe Promiſes were made, and eminently then perform'd unto the Apoſtles for our ſakes; and, by the Apoſtolical inſtruction we have receiv'd, the advantage of thoſe promiſes has been ſufficiently derived down to us: But to entitle our ſelves immediately to them, we have no foundation; nor can we do it, but by expreſs Warrant, without the greateſt inſolence. The Latine Church does not ſay, that an Aſſembly of Biſhops can either work Miracles, or Propheſy; they do not pretend, that any new Truths are revealed to them, other than what the Apoſtles delivered, and the knowledge of the Old they have not by any Platonick Reminiſcence neither: whereas, if they claim'd any thing in theſe extraordinary Promiſes, they have an equal Title to all; to Miracles; to Propheſy; to more Truths ſpoke by Chriſt, than the Apoſtles ever told us; to more than were ever reveal'd by Chriſt on Earth, even to the Apoſtles themſelves. We have therefore from this place of Scripture, no greater Reaſon to expect from any Biſhop or Body of Biſhops, Miracles of the one ſort, than of the other; and have no further Obligation to believe the preſent Church Defining than Predicting, nor their Doctrines than their Legends.

Neither does the next Text, to which we are referr'd, alter the Caſe. 15. Acts 28. It ſeem'd good to the Holy Ghoſt and to us, ſay the Apoſtles and Elders and Brethren met together. Now the Apoſtles were perſonally Infallible; and who queſtions then but they were Infallible together? we firmly believe that the Holy Ghoſt was with them in the Council; for he was with them elſewhere, and apart: but what ſignifies all this to prove, that now an Infallible Body ſhall be made by a number of fallible men? and how does it appear, that what ſeems good to a Majority of other Eccleſiaſticks, ſhall always ſeem good to the Holy Ghoſt too. Had the Doctrine of Infallibility been one of theſe Apoſtolical Decrees, that Council had been vouched properly: but there is no ſuch definition in the Acts of it. So much therefore our Adverſaries may collect hence, if they pleaſe; that upon Diſſentions ariſing, the Church may meet, and conſider, as the Apoſtles did: but that the Convention of every Age ſhall be alike Infallible, will by no means follow. We might, with their leave, obſerve here, that St. James is as great in this Council as St. Peter, and ſpeaking laſt, ſeems to have had the more Honourable Place: he preſided, ſays St. Chryſoſtom, becauſe he was Biſhop of that See. But I ſhall rather deſire the Reader to take notice, that St. Chryſoſtom upon this place, ſpeaking concerning the Scandals thoſe cauſe, that in the Apoſtles name trouble Chriſtians, perverting their Souls; and concerning the Difficulties, in his days too pretended, of diſcerning Truth; does not take an occaſion from this Council, to ſend the doubting Chriſtian to the Oracle of any other Modern Aſſembly: but on the other ſide, upon the mention of the writing the Apoſtles in this Council ſent, he recommends to us their other Scriptures; and there, inſtead of directing us to the Judgment of a living Infallible Interpreter, he refers us finally to our own.

Another place we are deſired to compare with the foregoing, is 1 John 2. Ch. I ſuppoſe v. 20, 27. Writing to Little Children, Fathers, and Young Men, [13. v.] he tells them [18 v.] as ye have heard that Antichriſt ſhall come, even ſo now are there many Antichriſts; they went out from us, but they were not of us, [20. v.] but ye have an Ʋnction from the Holy one, and ye know all things. [21. v.] I have not written unto you, becauſe ye know not the Truth. [24. v.] Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that ye have heard from the beginning ſhall remain in you; ye ſhall alſo continue in the Son, and in the Father. [26. v.] Theſe Things have I written unto you concerning them which ſeduce you. [27. v.] But the Annointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you; But as the ſame annointing teacheth you all things, and is Truth, and is no Lye, and even as it hath taught you, ye ſhall abide in him. [28. v.] And now, Little Children, abide in him, that when he ſhall appear, we may have confidence, &c.

We have taken leave to ſet down ſomething more of the Text, than we were directed to; and it may be we may be ſatisfied by this inſtance, how little of the Scripture would come to our ſhare, if the Doctors of the other Church had the Monopoly of it, and could retail it as they pleas'd. But, were there no Scriptures at all, what ſort of Stories Oral Tradition would make, you may gueſs by this Citation.

The Text out of the Acts produc'd next before, mentions a Council, and this is brought to be collated with the other, and to make out that Conciliary Authority: as if by this method the Guide would have it ſurmis'd, that theſe words were wrote by St. John to ſome Council or other; and an ignorant Man might be left then to think that they were meant to the Council of Trent. Whereas they are not addreſſed to Eccleſiaſticks, to the Pope, and ſuch a number of Biſhops, but in general to the Faithful; (orderly reckon'd in Ranks, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Philo. Legat ad Caium. as the Jews upon occaſion were us'd to be plac'd;) to Fathers, Young men, and Children: thoſe too in all probability not of the Weſtern Church neither, but of ſome other part of the Catholick, where the truly Antichriſtian and Blaſphemous Hereſies, that deny'd God the Father to be the Creator, or the Son to have been real man, began to overthrow the Faith of ſome. Againſt theſe Damnable Doctrines he confirms the Diſciples, exhorting them to abide in that Truth, which they had heard from the beginning; and telling them, (to fix them the more in the Truth, by an ill Character of thoſe that were gone, and a good one of themſelves,) that thoſe who are gone after the Antichriſts, were always all along no Chriſtians; and that they, the true Chriſtians, were in no great danger of being deceiv'd into ſuch groſs abſurdities, having their Unction from the Holy One; (that Unction by which they were again properly to be call'd Chriſtians, and by which they would ſo remain;) being ſecured by the grace of God, and the knowledge they had already received, as having been fully inſtructed heretofore in ſuch Truths, and knowing well all things belonging to that Subject. This is the obvious ſence of the words. Now, from this place, that very Church, and thoſe Perſons to whom the Apoſtle writes, could not well have arrogated to themſelves an impoſſibility to declare for thoſe Hereticks, not even in thoſe matters there ſpoken of; St. John's expreſſions ſpeaking a charitable probability, and his obliging confidence, rather than any poſitive aſſertion. However, it can never be imagin'd, that thoſe Perſons are here pronounced Infallible in All things, in all other points of Faith whatſoever. And then beſides, if ſuch an Infallibility be affirm'd here, it belong'd to the Laity, as well as to the Clergy. But after all, if St. John had pronounced ſo much concerning thoſe men of that time, from ſome ſupernatural knowledge of their Minds and Diſpoſitions; by what Revelation are we to learn, that the ſame ſaying ſhall be as true of us, and that the men of the laſt, or our Age, know all things too? Under ſuch a multiplicity of abſurdities and inconſequences, the deduction of the Roman Pretence, from this place, labours. Oecumenius underſtands all thoſe things, ſaid to be known to the Diſciples, to be theſe: The laſt hour; that Antichriſts abounded; and that the World was full of Lies. All this we know too; and think our ſelves therefore oblig'd to take the direction in the 4th Chapter of this Epiſtle, (inſtead of that ſubmiſſion the Guide would perſwade,) Beloved believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they be of God: as alſo that other in the laſt Verſe of the Epiſtle, Little Children keep your ſelves from Idols, Amen.

The laſt Authority to be compared with the precedent, is from the 1 Cor. the 12th Chapter, and the 7th and 8th verſes; to which we ſhall add the three following. But the manifeſtation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of Wiſdom, to another the word of Knowledge by the ſame Spirit, to another Faith by the ſame Spirit, to another Gifts of Healing by the ſame Spirit, to another the working of Miracles, to another Propheſy, to another diſcerning of Spirits, to another divers kind of Tongues, to another Interpretation of Tongues. But all theſe worketh that one and ſelf-ſame Spirit, dividing to every man ſeverally as he will.

If the Guide had imagin'd we would have look'd into the place, ſure he would not have ſent us to it. For is it not manifeſt, that the Apoſtle deſcribes the particular State of the Church in his days? the variety of extraordinary Gifts with which it was enriched? to what purpoſe, and by whom they were beſtow'd? by the Spirit, to the profit of the Brotherhood, and edification of the riſing Church; not for the oſtentation and vain glory, nor at the choice of the Perſons endow'd? Now at that time, if to one was given by the Spirit the word of Wiſdom, to another the word of Knowledge; ſo to one was given the Gift of Healing by the ſame Spirit, to another the working of Miracles, &c. And as theſe laſt ſort of Gifts have long ſince ceas'd, ſo may it be, that the firſt have abated much of that extraordinary meaſure, by which they were then beſtow'd. For God gave thoſe Graces then to every Man ſeverally as he thought fit, and by ſuch proportions as he pleas'd: in like manner has he ſince given to every Age, not the ſame Gifts, but under a diverſity of diſpenſation; to one Age thoſe Miraculous Powers, for the extraordinary Conviction and inſtruction of the firſt Believers; to another, the leſs ſurprizing, tho' not leſs excellent, the abiding Graces; to one the preſence of his Servants, to another their Writings; dividing to each ſeverally as he will, as it ſhall ſeem moſt convenient to his Heavenly Wiſdom, and good pleaſure.

The Corinthians, amidſt that variety of wonderful gifts then vouchſafed, were deſirous, it ſeems, to have the moſt wonderful for their ſhare: and that of Tongues was chiefly coveted by them in thoſe days; for ſome wrong reſpect it appears, and not agreeably to the purpoſe of God. Our Adverſaries have other deſigns, and covet a Miracle of another ſort: Infallibility, or a Wiſdom or Knowledge Unerring, is their Choice. This choice of theirs is made they think, with ſome wiſdom: and, did it appear that they had it, it would be to our profit and content. But whereas the Corinthians are reproved for coveting a particular Miracle, in that plentiful time of Miracles: the Romaniſts covet their Miracle now, when God had ceas'd to beſtow the reſt. However, if they coveted only, it were more tolerable, tho an offence ſtill: but they further, take it to themſelves; produce no Charter for it from God, and yet would force us to bear witneſs to the Gift. When too the Corinthians pretended to any of theſe Miracles, either the Gift prov'd it ſelf openly, as in the Caſe of Healing, Tongues, and even of Wiſdom and Knowledge, if above their natural Parts and Education; or elſe it was atteſted by the concomitance of the other manifeſt ones: but this pretended Gift of our Adverſaries, is neither attended with others, to bear it Company and Evidence it; nor does by any means manifeſt it ſelf, and ſhine out with any Luſtre of its own. They claim it by no other reaſon, but becauſe it was heretofore in the Apoſtolical times given to others; and they, they think, either deſerve it as much, or want it mightily.

That is the Argument the Guide makes from theſe places, which he deſir'd ſhould be compar'd. Thoſe places make no promiſe of a Living Infallible Director to all Ages; and chiefly, if not ſolely, concern the Perſons to whom they are ſpoken, the firſt Planters of the Goſpel: but in his opinion, one at leaſt of thoſe extraordinary Powers ſhould deſcend, as there ſhould be occaſion for it, to the Interpreting of doubtful Scripture, and for the inſtruction of ſucceeding times; for, ſays he, it is very Needful. A good Argument to make out a Title; as if we had a Right preſently, to every thing that would be of advantage to us. This is the Modern Droit de Bienſeance, transferr'd to Spirituals, and pleaded againſt the Holy Spirit. But how true would the inference be, that all Miſſionaries have the Gift of Tongues, becauſe it is highly neceſſary to their Office? or would it be a good Proof, that Miracles are now wrought in Rome, becauſe there may be Atheiſts that want them? If Hereſies make an Infallible Judge neceſſary, why was there a General Council for the firſt 300 year, the time of the moſt grievous and dangerous Hereſies that ever infeſted the Church? or muſt we affirm, againſt all Hiſtory, that there were ſuch Councils, becauſe there was ſo much need of them? But as needful as it is that a General Council with the Pope ſhould be Infallible, ſo much more profitable, to avoid delays, would it be that the Pope ſhould be Infallible alone; much more yet, that every Biſhop; and highly expedient that every Prieſt ſhould be that unerring Guide. They ſhew not much of Wiſdom or Knowledge, that make ſuch concluſions as theſe: however, that they have great need of the Gift, we allow.

Let us ſee now the 18th Chapter of St. Matthew, § IV. and the 20th verſe, with which we are bid to compare the 17th and 18th. But we ſhall firſt deſire a Licenſe to read more of the context, and ſhall begin therefore at the 15th verſe. Moreover, if thy Brother ſhall Treſpaſs againſt thee, go and tell him his faults between him and thee alone: if he ſhall hear thee, thou haſt gain'd thy Brother. [16. v.] and if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three Witneſſes every word may be eſtabliſh'd. [17. v.] and if he ſhall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the Church: but if he neglect to hear the Church, let him be to thee as a Heathen and a Publican. [18. v.] Verily I ſay unto you, whatſoever ye ſhall bind on Earth, ſhall be bound in Heaven: and whatſoever ye ſhall looſe on Earth, ſhall be looſed in Heaven. [19. v.] Again, I ſay unto you, that if two of you ſhall agree on Earth, as touching any thing that they ſhall ask, it ſhall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven, [20. v.] For where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midſt of them. [21. v.] Then Peter came to him, and ſaid, Lord, how oft ſhall my Brother Sin againſt me, and I forgive him, &c.

This whole Chapter directs our behaviour to our Brethren; and particularly, from the 15th verſe, if a Brother ſhall Treſpaſs againſt us, by what ſteps we are to proceed, and after how many Admonitions to give him over. Chap 3. The Proofs from Scripture inſufficient. Sect. 4. Where we are told, that if the offending Perſon does not recover himſelf, and ask Pardon; he ſhall be bound, that is, Condemn'd before God as well as men: but if Brethren agree, the Offence ſhall be pardon'd in Heaven, nay nothing ſhall be deny'd them by their Father. This is the natural meaning of the words; and the ſame is underſtood by the Fathers, particularly by St. Chryſtoſtom: See Diſc. 1. Chap. 7. Art. the 4th. ſo that no other ſence can be oppos'd to it, as from Authentick Tradition. Now to wave the interpretation of thoſe that will not ſuppoſe this Proceſs to end in a formal Excommunication of the Offender, and cutting him off from the whole Aſſembly, If you look upon a Brother as a Heathen or Publican, you have bound him on Earth: if you have corrected your Brother, you have loos'd him. Avg. Hom. 15. De Verbis Dom. but only in a Licenſe given to the offended Perſon, after that to break off the former correſpondence, and no more to converſe with him: not too to take notice that St. Auguſtin, and St. Chryſoſtom, in this Caſe, make the Parties injur'd to be the Perſons that bind or looſe, according as they ſhall remit the Offence or not: to paſs by all this, and to ſuppoſe that the Biſhops have here an Authority given, and that Excommunication is directed; yet this at leaſt muſt be granted, that the 17th and 18th verſes do not ſpeak concerning the Catholick Church, but only concerning a particular Congregation, nor concerning defining of Doctrines, but admoniſhing and cenſuring an injurious Perſon. In the firſt place therefore, no more Authority can be challenged hence to the Univerſal Church, than is to be allow'd to any ſingular: and then in the ſecond place, ſince in our Adverſaries own Opinion, the Keys of the Church may err, and Condemn the Innocent; how ſhall this Text, that does not make the Diſcipline of the Church unerring, of which only it can be ſurmis'd to ſpeak, prove it Infallible in Articles of Faith, of which it ſays not a Syllable? As to the 19th and 20th verſes, if they referr to the Context, they are to be conſtrued to the ſame ſence, (that given above;) and will be as little to our Adverſaries purpoſe: if too they are taken abſtracted, they will be no more at their ſervice neither. For ſuppoſe we, that the Promiſe was abſolutely fulfill'd to the Apoſtles, and that whatſoever any two of them deſired was granted: yet to others, it muſt be underſtood in a more limited ſence; upon condition, things convenient are ask'd, by a good man, in the Spirit of Charity, for a worthy Perſon, who too contributes his beſt endeavour. Theſe Conditions St. Chryſoſtom ſays are imply'd under the Phraſe, in my Name; and that two or three are rarely ſo met together. For it is not, ſays he, every Synod or meeting that is meant by our Saviour, but one ſo qualified. It is manifeſt theſe words can be brought to promiſe no more: neither will it follow hence, if a number of Biſhops meet together, and pray to God to give their Majority an Infallible Spirit, that therefore immediately they are to have it, which is the only inference that can be made from this place. Beſides this Text, by our Adverſaries way of deduction, proves more than they themſelves will be content with: making the ſmalleſt Synod, as Infallible as the moſt Univerſal; and giving as much authority to any Biſhop and two or three Laymen, as to the greateſt Biſhop, joyn'd with two or three thouſand Biſhops more. § V.

The next Proof for Infallibility is from the 16th of Matth. 18, 19, v. It is given by the Guide in Latine with a touch of Syriack: Tues Petrus, &c, and ſo no doubt is a better Argument to thoſe that underſtand not the Language: but in Engliſh the known words are theſe. And I ſay alſo unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the Gates of Hell ſhall not prevail againſt it. Iaunoy, in the Seventh Letter of the Fifth Tome, reduces the ſeveral Interpretations of this Text, whether profeſſedly or incidentally given by Fathers and Doctors, to four ſorts. The firſt underſtands the Church to be built on St. Peter; the ſecond upon all the Apoſtles in common: the third upon St. Peter's Confeſſion: the fourth upon the Rock Chriſt Jeſus. He then brings in order, under theſe diſtinct Heads, the ſeveral Expoſitions he finds: and at laſt, upon the review forms this Judgment. I. That the third and fourth way, which are the ſame in effect, have very much the advantage of Authority above the firſt. II. That, if the Fathers can be ſaid to be Unanimous in any of theſe Expoſitions, they are ſo in the third; and much more ſo, if the fourth be reckoned with the third, as in right it ought. To theſe Obſervations I would add another: that of all thoſe who make St. Peter the Rock, only St. Jerom is found to concern his Suceſſours of Rome in it, and to make that See to be the Rock of the Text. And this too he inſinuates by way of alluſion only, in a Complemental Letter to Pope Damaſus; but in his Commentary on this place, where he muſt be preſum'd to give the true Senſe, there he gives another. And I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and whatſoever thou ſhalt bind on Earth, ſhall be bound in Heaven; and whatſoever thou ſhalt looſe on Earth, ſhall be looſed in Heaven.

Now of this place we have no certain Interpretation, from any Authentick Tradition, for St. Chryſoſtom (for example) makes the Rock upon which the Church was to be built, to be St. Peter's Confeſſion, that Jeſus was the Chriſt, the Son of God; St. Auguſtin, with little difference, our Saviour ſo confeſſed: ſome expound it of St. Peter's Perſon, and others jointly of the reſt of the Apoſtles. The Gates of Hell, ſome take for Hereſie and Vice; others, for Death and Deſtruction. That too, againſt which thoſe Gates ſhould not prevail, is commonly ſuppos'd to be the Church, but thought by St. Jerom to be the Rock; that is, in his Opinion, the Apoſtles. Beſides, as to the Power granted to St. Peter in the next verſe, whether of Teaching according to the Jewiſh Phraſe, or of Diſcipline, or whatever other extraordinary Power; it is here but promis'd; not given, actually, 'till after the Reſurrection, nor fully until Pentecoſt. This Promiſe therefore is to be expounded by the completion. And then we find, that the other Apoſtles were equally partakers of the Gift, both that of forgiving and retaining Sins, and that other of the Holy Ghoſt: as too it is apparent from the Acts, that St. Peter had no Power over the reſt of the Apoſtles, nor any Negative upon them in the firſt Council.

From this place, ſeveral aſſertions have been advanc'd, either firſt in behalf of the See of Rome, or elſe of the Univerſal Church: in behalf of the Roman See, that it ſhould have a perpetual exiſtence, never err in Faith, and have the Government of the whole Church; in behalf of the Univerſal Church, that it ſhould never fail, or never Err.

Now as to the Church of Rome, ſhe ſeems not, by any rational conſtruction, to have any private intereſt in this Text; Chap. 3. The Proofs from Scripture inſufficient. Sect. 5. neither does Tradition interpret it for her: the whole current of antient Authorities carrying it another way; St. Jerom himſelf, who calls her the Rock, in a Complemental Epiſtle which they much boaſt of, never in the leaſt mentioning her on the proper occaſion, in his Comment on the place. She cannot therefore fairly challenge hence the priviledge of perpetual Exiſtence, much leſs the Authority of a Supremacy: ſo far is ſhe from having any Title to Infallibility, a Prerogative abſolutely deny'd the Pope by the Gallican, See Ch. 5. and I ſuppoſe by our Engliſh Romaniſts.

As to the Church in General, whether it can totally fail we do not diſpute. Whether too by vertue of this Text there muſt not always be preſerv'd an Unerring Church, (tho' we may hereafter, yet) we do not now queſtion: for That upon a Diviſion may be the Minor Part, and Diſſenting from the Pope, and undiſtinguiſhable by any outward Mark. But whether or no the Majority of the Church, or any aſſignable part of it, aſunder, or conſenting with the Pope, ſhall always be Infallible; that we deſire at preſent ſhould be demonſtrated from this place.

For when it is ſaid, that the Gates of Hell ſhall not prevail againſt the Church, whether founded on St. Peter's Confeſſion, or upon St. Peter ſo Confeſſing; the utmoſt that can be concluded is this, that ſuch a Church there ſhall always be, that ſimply ſhall confeſs that Article of Faith, or if you pleaſe, that ſhall in all points confeſs the whole Faith: but where that Church ſhall be, or what the numbers of that Church ſhall be is not defin'd here; neither is it made impoſſible for the greater or any aſſign'd part to Apoſtatize, much leſs to err in ſome ſingle point, provided ſuch a Church here ſpoke of ſhall ſome where or other ſtill remain. For ſuppoſe by this Text there is always to be an Unerring Church, yet the Text which (in the Opinion of the Gallicans) does not place that Unerring Church at Rome, does not neither (to do the Papalins right) aſſign her any other Seat; neither does it determine her numbers, or give us any other mark whereby ſhe may be diſcern'd. As then the Roman Church, that part of the Univerſal Church may err; ſo may any other aſſignable part of the Univerſal err too: and as the Roman Church may err alone; ſo too ſhe may err in Conjunction with any aſſignable proportion of the other Churches, and yet an unerring Church be preſerv'd ſtill.

When too it is promis'd to St. Peter, that the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven ſhall be given him, and that what he binds, &c. The Keys here mention'd, are either of Knowledge, or of Juriſdiction, or both. The Fathers generally underſtand it of the laſt; ſome Moderns of the firſt only: let us take them together. As then one is given, ſo the other: both eminently, and with exemption from Errour to the Apoſtles; ordinarily, and with no ſuch exemption to their Succeſſours. The Keys put into the hands of the Apoſtles, were Maſter-keys; the others open'd or ſhut but to ſuch Apartments: thoſe in the hands of the Apoſtles were rightly us'd; theſe in the hands of their Succeſſours, might be us'd amiſs, and againſt the will of the Maſter of the Houſe. So much is confeſſed by themſelves concerning the Key of Diſcipline: and if the Key of Knowledge be here to be underſtood; where the Text excepts the uſe of one from Errour, and not the other, they cannot ſhew. But as we obſerved before, our Gallican Romaniſts have unawares yielded up the Cauſe to us. For, if the particular Succeſſours of St. Peter have not Infallibility conveyed to them by this Text, other Succeſſours of the Apoſtles are not to expect it hence: and if the Biſhops have it not apart, they have then from this Text no warrant to claim it to the Majority of their Body with or without the Pope: which is the Propoſition ought hence to be prov'd, and after which at preſent we only enquire.

The next proof produc'd, is from 1 Tim. 3.15. we begin at the former verſe. [14.] Theſe Things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee ſhortly. [15.] But if I tarry long that thou mayeſt know how thou oughteſt to behave thy ſelf in the Houſe of God which is the Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of Truth. [16.] And without Controverſy, great is the Myſtery of Godlineſs, &c.

The Church, ſays our Guide, unlimited to the Apoſtles's days; that is, the Succeſſive Teachers of it, are the Pillar and Ground of Truth, the Foundation of God that ſtandeth ſure. 2 Tim. 2.19. But this which he lays down for ſure, is not ſo well founded. For firſt it ſeems to ſome not incongruous, to joyn theſe words The Pillar and Ground of Truth, in conſtruction with thoſe that follow, and not with thoſe that go before: a new Sence beginning with them, and running thus; The Myſtery of Godlineſs is the Pillar and Ground of Truth, and without Controverſie great, namely this, God ſeen in the Fleſh, &c. This S • ntax the Greek will bear very well; and the ſence, (eſpecially if the Pillar of Truth be taken materially, and in St. Chryſoſtoms's acceptation, which you find here below;) is not improper: however I may ſafely ſay it is much more natural than that which the Romaniſts would bring in upon us. But we need not flye to this Novel Conſtruction: for in the other, the receiv'd and authoriz'd one,

(2dly.) It is not certain, whether in this place Timothy himſelf be not ſuppos'd to be the Pillar and Ground of that Truth, which the Apoſtle, the Maſter Builder is now eſtabliſhing: the ſence running thus, that thou mayſt know, [as] a Pillar and Ground of Truth, how, &c. This has been ſuggeſted by Mr. Chillingworth, and has Gregory Nyſſen for its Voucher.

And then (3dly.) Suppoſing it not to be ſaid of Timothy, yet there are other Sences, under which it may be affirm'd. For St. Chryſoſtom taking Truth here as oppos'd to Type and ſhadow, and underſtanding a Pillar of Truth to be Phras'd, as a Pillar of Fire or Smoak, denominated not from what it ſupports, but of what it conſiſts; ſeems to give the Text this Conſtruction, which is the Church of the Living God being a Pillar and Ground [or whoſe Pillar and Ground is] of weighty and ſubſtantial Truth. His Paraphraſe runs thus. The Houſe of God, which is the Church of the Living God, a Pillar and Ground of Truth, not as that Jewiſh Houſe. For this it is that Supports our Faith, and our Preaching: It is Truth, that is the Pillar and Ground of the Church.

But (4thly.) Suppoſe the Church ſaid to be the Pillar of Truth, as that which ſupported Truth, and on which it was built: if we take Truth in St. Chryſoſtom's ſence, as contra-diſtinguiſhed to Types, the Sentence will not import, that the Church bears up all Truth, and nothing but the Truth; but only that it holds up and ſhews forth thoſe great Truths, of which the Old Law was but the ſhadow, the great Myſtery that follows, of God manifeſted in the Fleſh, &c. And then this at beſt, ſhould we ſuppoſe it to give the Church an Infallibility, would give it only in ſuch Fundamentals, of which betwixt us and the Romaniſts there is no diſpute.

But laſtly, let the Church be ſaid to be the foundation of Truth, that is of all ſaving Truths, ſo as to ſupport them, raiſe them up, and ſhew them to the World. Take then the Church for its Policy and Frame, as it was conſtituted by the Apoſtles; and we readily acknowledge it to have been ſuch: but this hinders not, but this Fabrick may ſince have been much impair'd, or defac'd, dilapidated, or ſuperonerated by the folly of the Builders; tho' not entirely ruin'd, by reaſon of the firmneſs and ſtrength of the Building. If too we underſtand by the Church the Perſons who conſtitute it, Gal. 2.9. Eph. 2.20. 2 Cor. 6.16, 1 Pet. 2.5. we know well that the Apoſtles were its Pillars and Foundation, as they founded and ſupported it by their Doctrine and Rules; and that the Faithful edified and built up by them, were a Temple. We grant too that their Succeſſours, at leaſt the far greater part of them, did for ſome time make good thoſe names, bearing up and evidencing the whole Truth. And yet notwithſtanding it might remain poſſible, that the Majority of Clergy or People, who ſhould come after, might fail any longer to ſupport it or retain it; and that ſome ſince who ſeem'd to be Pillars, may have advanc'd their own Capitels too high; may have let fall ſomething, of what ought to have been held up; and inſtead of that may have taken up ſome errour, and fix'd it where it ought not, in the Holy Place.

The Church therefore in either ſence, taken either for the Building, or for the Builders, was actually in the Apoſtolical times the Foundation and Ground of Truth: in the following Ages it ought to have been ſo likewiſe; that is the ſame frame ought to have been kept up; and it was the Duty of the Apoſtles Succeſſours, to be Pillars. But whether what ought always to be done, ſhould be done always, that this Text does not affirm. If it affirms at all, it affirms concerning the firſt Church: but of that certainly which was to come, it was no Propheſy, but an Exhortation. And as an Exhortation it may be well underſtood even to Timothy himſelf. For the Apoſtle inſtructs him in this Letter, how he is to behave himſelf; and here he intimates a weighty Motive for ſuch a behaviour, that he ſhould take good care, either to be a ſteady Pillar of the Church, or to ſee that the Frame of the Church was not injured under his Government: for the Church was the Houſe of the Living God; and the Truſt was very great, of the formerly Myſterious, now Conſpicuous Truths, committed to his Charge. He ought therefore to take great heed: and that the more, becauſe, as the Apoſtle proceeds to warn him, Chap. 4. v. 1. the Spirit expreſly ſpeaketh, that in the latter times ſome ſhall depart from the Faith, verſe 6. giving heed to ſeducing Spirits, and Doctrines of Devils, &c. If then ſays St. Paul, thou put the Brethren in remembrance of theſe things, thou ſhalt be a good Miniſter of Jeſus Chriſt; verſe 16. take heed therefore unto thy ſelf and thy Doctrine, &c. The Apoſtle not ſpeaking poſitively concerning the future demeanour even of Timothy himſelf, much leſs of any number of future Biſhops.

This is the plain eaſie interpretation of this Place. As for that of the Roman Church, neither St. Chryſoſtom, nor the Authors of the Commentaries aſcribed to St. Hierom, or to St. Ambroſe, ever thought of it: whence we are at leaſt aſſur'd of this, that it is no more the Traditional, than it is the Rational meaning.

The 4th Chapter of the Epheſians, (the 11th and 14th verſes of which, §. VI. are produced next by the Guide) begins with a general Exhortation, that they would walk worthy of their Vocation: and then, as to the particulars, directs firſt to Love and Unity, that they ſhould keep the Ʋnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace: Chap 3. The Proofs from Scripture inſufficient. Sect. 6. [3. v.] that thoſe who had the more eminent Gifts ſhould not contemn the reſt; neither they which had the leſſer, ſhould be diſcourag'd, much leſs envy the others; for Grace is given according to the meaſure Chriſt has thought fit, and for common benefit: that ſome are Apoſtles, and ſome Prophets, and ſome Evangeliſts, and ſome Paſtors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Miniſtry, for the edifying the Body of Chriſt, all thoſe co-operating to produce in each Chriſtian the ſame Faith, and Knowledge of the Son of God; to the intent they may all grow up to that meaſure of the ſtature of the fulneſs of Chriſt, as to be perfect Men, and no more Children, toſs'd to and fro, and carried about with every wind of Doctrine, by the ſlight of Men, and cunning craftineſs, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. So does the Apoſtle caution them as to the firſt Particular, againſt thoſe that would toſs them to and fro, and break them one againſt another. He then at the 17th verſe reſumes the ſame general exhortation; This I ſay therefore, and teſtify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not, as other Gentiles walk, &c. Proceeding to other Particulars, againſt the Sins of Lying, Anger, Stealing, Fornication, &c. That they ſhould keep ſtedfaſt to the duties they knew, and ſuffer no man that lies in wait, to deceive them with vain words concerning theſe things. Now all that this place ſuppoſes, is, that heretofore there were Apoſtles, Prophets, Evangeliſts, Paſtors and Teachers, the which we deny not: and the direction given to the Epheſians is this, that thoſe Graces ſhould not be made an occaſion of Pride and Conceit, Diviſion and Emulation, by the craft of ill men; but that the Diſciples ſhould ſuffer themſelves to be edified and perfected by thoſe Gifts, growing more men, than to be led away by every deceiver, into the deceitful luſts of their former un-regenerate State. This the Text ſpoke to the Epheſians, to whom it was writ: and the exhortation is good to us, that we ſhould make the due improvement of the helps we enjoy, of what is come down to us from the Apoſtles and Evangeliſts, i. e. of the Holy Scriptures, and particularly of this Epiſtle. But that a Succeſſion of ſuch highly qualified men ſhould be continued down to our time, that is no ſuppoſition of the place. Yes, ſays the Guide, as long as men are liable to be toſt about, there muſt be the ſame Infallibility: that is, there do continue the one ſort of Perſons, the Deceivers, and the Deceivable; and therefore the other muſt remain, that cannot err, the Apoſtles, or inſpir'd Doctors; and as the winds of falſe Doctrine ariſe on one ſide, the Holy Spirit muſt of neceſſity deſcend down and blow on the other. But nothing can be more unreaſonable, or more preſumptuous, than this Inference. For that bleſſed Spirit blows where, and how it liſts: and as it did not think fit, to obviate all Cavils and Objections, and to prevent all Deception then; ſo now it has not taken care, for a formal definition of all the queſtions that may have been rais'd ſince. If none had been deceiv'd in the Apoſtles time, and the Faith of every man had been fully aſſur'd, we might have wanted Infallibility more impatiently now: but men, we ſee, were toſſed about in thoſe days; and there was need, it ſeems, of ſomething Super-Infallible, to have hinder'd it. Thoſe Apoſtles therefore and Prophets, &c. were given, not abſolutely to hinder winds of Doctrine from riſing, nor to make it impoſſible that any deceivable men ſhould be toſſed about by thoſe winds; but to give to the Choſen and Pure of Heart ſuch a ſtability and Ancorage, that tho' they might be blown upon, and ruffled, yet they ſhould be able to keep the Courſe to their Port, and not make Shipwrack of their Souls. Had it pleas'd the Divine Providence, Man at firſt might have been made Infallible, and Impeccable too; had the Holy Spirit ſo pleas'd, every Hearer of the Goſpel, might have been a Believer, every Believer Infallible, and the will only left to its liberty of Obedience and Diſobedience to what the Underſtanding knew. But the Creator took not this meaſure in the beginning, nor the Holy Ghoſt after. A few only were Infallibly aſſiſted, and theſe did not Preach to every Man of that Age; and were not perſonally with their Infallibilty in all places where their Goſpel came: neither 〈◊〉 it appear upon them where they were, in ſuch a Latitude, or with ſuch an irreſiſtable force, that there was no room for further enquiry, nor even a poſſibility of contradiction. For many, even in the Churches founded by the Apoſtles, doubted of their mind in many things, and many perverſly gainſaid, who never had, it may be, the opportunity of any further inſtruction or conviction. As then it cannot be ſaid without impiety, that this Divine method was defective, and that there was not at that time adminiſtred means of Knowledge ſufficient for ſtability of Faith; God working by his own ways, his own end, chooſing ſome Nations out for the hearing of the Goſpel, and even then ſo propoſing that Goſpel to them, that the hearts of men might be try'd by its reception, and the approv'd be ſav'd: ſo neither can it be ſaid more venially in the after ages, that the good wiſdom of God is wanting to it ſelf, or them; if they have not their Apoſtles too, and find not ſuch an Infallibility as they have fancied, continued to them. It is we that are wanting in Duty and Gratitude, we to whom the Scriptures of thoſe Apoſtles are come, and who know more then many a Church Contemporary with the Apoſtles then did, (inſtructed, as many then were, by ſome not Infallible Teacher, and to which the Writings, ſent by the Apoſtles to other places, were not yet communicated;) it is we, I ſay, that ſhall be wanting to God, and our ſelves, if we do not ſee, and confeſs, that we have thoſe opportunities of knowledge God thought ſufficient enough, to lead the honeſt and induſtrious into all ſaving Truths; tho' not ſo much, as every wanton idle man may wiſh, or every perverſe Caviller demand. It was needful in the Opinion of the Rich man in Hell, that to reclaim his Brethren one ſhould be ſent from the dead: but it was thought as unneceſſary by Abraham; for they had Moſes and the Prophets, and if they would not hear them, they would not be perſwaded, ſays he, tho' one came from the Dead. We have Moſes, and the Prophets, our Saviour Chriſt, his Evangeliſts and Apoſtles; they have told us already what was thought neceſſary, and thence we muſt ſtudy their mind: but they will neither return on Earth themſelves, nor ſend any other Infallible, to give us an exacter information. We are to be content with what God has given, and not undutifully pretend to more. And as no man perſuades himſelf that he is rich, becauſe he has need of Wealth; or that God has given him an excellent underſtanding, becauſe he finds he wants it: ſo neither is a Church to arrogate to it ſelf Infallibility, becauſe ſhe thinks ſhe needs it. But I have ſaid enough before of this begging Argument, drawn from pretended neceſſity, by ſuch as are unwilling to labour, and uſe their honeſt endeavour; which offers it ſelf here again, and is ſo impudent as not to receive an anſwer.

We return therefore to this Apoſtolical exhortation, and hope, that as every man muſt acknowledge himſelf ſufficiently inſtructed by it, in the Duty of abſtaining from Pride, Contention, Anger, Uncleanneſs, &c: So no man will have profited ſo little by the uſe of this and the other Scriptures, as not to diſcern between Modern Biſhops and the Apoſtles; nor to be ſo weak, as to be taken with the ſlight and juggle of this Argument, a craftineſs that is not cunning. For he muſt be a Child, that is deceived by ſuch an Inference: and with this wind from this corner, who-ever turns, turns eaſily. We grant to the Guide his allegation from St. Peter, 2 Eph. 3.16. that ſome Scriptures are hard to be underſtood: but as to the Scriptures he here cites, it is not hard to underſtand that no Infallibility is imported by them. Thoſe hard places of St. Paul, which St. Peter means, were not the only places wreſted by unlearned and unſtable men to their own deſtruction, for ſo alſo were the other Scriptures: And the Reader, I preſume, does by this time ſee that no ſayings are more violently and unnaturally forc'd, than thoſe which are wreſted to this Infallibility even by Learned Men.

The laſt Proof for this Infallibility is weaker, §. VII. if poſſible, than any of the foregoing. It is taken from the frequent injunctions made by the Apoſtle to Paſtors and People, as [1 Cor. 1.10.] That they ſhould all ſay one thing, and that there ſhould be no Schiſms among them: [Phil. 1.27.] That they ſtand faſt in one Spirit, be of one mind: Chap. 3. The Proofs from Scripture inſufficient. Sect. 7. [Phil. 2.2, 3.] That they be of one meaning, agreeing in one: [3.16.] That they ſhould continue in the ſame Canon or Rule: [12. Rom. 16.] that they ſhould be of one mind, following along with the Humble, not Wiſe in their own conceits: [Rom. 17.17.] That they ſhould mark thoſe that make Differences and Scandals, contrary to the Doctrines they had learned; [1 Cor. 14 32, 33] That the Spirits of the Prophets, are ſubject to the Prophets, &c. Now, ſays he, this Precept how can it be obſerved, unleſs there be in the Church ſome Perſons, whoſe Judgment, Faith, &c. all the reſt are bound to follow? And who can theſe be, but the Guides? &c.

So far the Guides meaning is true, that theſe exhortations ſuppoſe ſomething in which Chriſtians ſhould be United: that is, the Truths of Chriſtianity which they had receiv'd, and the mutual kindneſs they ow'd one to another. And ſo much may be ſuppos'd now, without the continuance of an Infallible Judge: there being Truths delivered to us, in which we ought to agree; and the ſame duty of Charity obliging us, in thoſe things in which we differ. Theſe Admonitions therefore concerning the Chriſtian Faith and Love, do not direct us to repair to a Living Infallible Guide; but to make a careful uſe of the Heavenly Guidance, we have already receiv'd, as we will anſwer the neglect before our Eternal Judge. For though ſuch exhortations take place, if there be a Judge deputed; yet they are ſo far from inferring one, that they are as proper, and more neceſſary, when there is none: being then pointed againſt Negligence, or Prejudice, or Paſſion, ſuch things by which our own judgment may otherwiſe be corrupted. So two private Neighbours may be advis'd to end their Difference, and not ſo much as a Tryal by conſent be ever thought of. So two Sovereign Princes may be Counſel'd to agree, and no Arbitrator appointed. And if in a Schiſm of Antipopes, any good man ſhould have exhorted them to have removed the Scandal, he had not therefore made himſelf their Judge, nor ſuppos'd any other.

Theſe Apoſtolical Directions do ſo little prove the deſign of a perpetual Infallibility, that they need not be encountred by others, that are much ſtronger againſt it. Such as Beware of Falſe Prophets [Mat. 7.15.] Prove all things, hold faſt that which is good [1 Theſ. 5.21.] Believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits, &c. [1 Joh. 4.1.] For from theſe, and other Paſſages, great Preſumptions might be rais'd by us againſt the Popiſh Pretence: but the Proof lyes abſolutely on their ſide; and what they produce is ſo weak, that it falls of it ſelf, and excuſes us from the trouble of any further oppoſition.

Now then, after we have with great Patience examin'd all their Scriptural Proofs, the Reader may be pleas'd to ſtand and take breath, and only to conſider, whether he has found in them any the leaſt degree of Evidence, that was neceſſarily to be expected for the Eſtabliſhment of ſuch a Power. He may reflect that firſt the deſign of a Judge did require, that his Perſon ſhould be aſcertain'd, his Juriſdiction expreſſed, in what Cauſes he ſhould pronounce, and what Speech ſhould be eſteem'd his Sentence: and then 2dly, that the extraordinary nature of an Infallible Tribunal, which was to ſuperſede our Natural Guide, and Suſpend the Uſe of Human Underſtanding, and this in Affairs of infinite Moment; which was new too, and never before known to the World under the Old Teſtament; did require ſome very extraordinary notice, a notice under the New, more expreſs than that Paſſage of Deuteronomy, as clear as any other Divine Revelation, and as plain as any Dictate of Reaſon. He was therefore to expect in this Caſe the Erection and Deſignation of ſuch an Office, in Formal Preciſe terms, and as expreſs, at leaſt, as any other Article of our Faith. But inſtead of all this, he will remember that he has found no other Evidences produc'd, than ſuch as will very fairly admit another, and a far eaſier Sence; any, which require another Sence to be affix'd to them; which no Rational man unprejudic'd would ever Conſtrue to the Popiſh meaning; and which de facto, none of the Ancient Celebrated Interpreters ever did: which too have been ſo far from being eſteem'd by thoſe Doctors to prove an Infallibility, that they never gave them ſo much as an occaſional Hint to mention and remember it on the place. From all which Conſiderations, I think I may, with the leave of any Equitable Reader, fairly conclude, that there is no Scriptural Teſtimony at all for the exiſtence of this pretended Judge.

And now, when our Adverſaries have fail'd ſo much in their Authentick Writings and Records, it remains, that they ſhould call us on to the hearing of their Unſcriptural Teſtimonies, and tell us, that they have many a Witneſs to produce who is able to ſpeak much to the Affair; that the Infallible Court is a Court by preſcription, and they can prove its Authority by infinite Depoſitions. Such pretended Witneſſes of theirs, which may be ſaid to be many in remote parts, and which they may pray to have examined, ſhall be enquired after, and fairly heard in due time. But in the mean while, that ſuch a Suggeſtion is made, only to put off the Sentence, and to hinder Juſtice, any Indifferent Reader will preſume aforehand.

For their failure of Proof from Scripture, does not only very much weaken and diſparage their Cauſe, by the want of the beſt ſort of Evidence; but does beſides enable us to form a very Peremptory Concluſion againſt them.

FOR AN INFALLIBLE COURT is a thing in it ſelf of ſo high a Nature, that it may well ſeem to require ſomething more Authentick than a Verbal Commiſſion for its warrant: It was withal ſo new and ſo ſtrange in our Saviour's time, that if any thing of his Inſtitution had been put in Writing, This in all Probability, could never have been omitted: beſides, the Knowledge of ſuch a Court was to be the Leading and the Principal Truth, by which all other Truths were afterwards to be regulated and fix'd, and by which the Chriſtians of all Ages were to be chiefly inſtructed: and therefore on all accounts it muſt have found a very particular mention in the Holy Records, if it had not been premis'd in the firſt place. But, however, if the Erection of this Court, with the Nomination of the Perſons, had not been Regiſtred by it ſelf, as a remarkable Paſſage, in the Goſpels or in the Acts; yet it could never have been forgot, when fit and proper occaſion was given, particularly in thoſe places which the Romaniſts take for its Proof, and where they are ſo far in the right, that this Infallibility, had it been at all intended, ought to have been mentioned of neceſſity. For the Stability of the Church ſpoke of in St. Matthew, the Submiſſion to the Church there directed, the Promiſe of the Holy Spirit, and of his aſſiſtance in St. John, were all, in our Adverſaries opinion, proper places for this Subject, and ſuch on which they for their part are never us'd to forget it. But the Apoſtle St. Paul's diſtinct Ennumeration of Heavenly Gifts, his notice of the grievous Hereſies that were to enter, his Cautions againſt them, his frequent Exhortations to continue in the True Faith, theſe certainly could never have ſuffered him to have paſs'd by this wonderful Grace, and to have left the Diſciples without the benefit of ſo neceſſary a Direction. Let any Roman Doctor, prepoſſeſs'd as they are, with the Opinion of an Infallible Guidance, conſider with himſelf, whether in theſe Caſes he would not have thought himſelf juſtly to be blamed, had he forgot it; whether he would not certainly have propos'd it, as the only effectual remedy, and Gods wiſeſt Proviſion againſt Errour; and whether he would have fail'd to have addreſs'd his doubtful Diſciples to it: and then let him tell us, whether he can think St. Paul more forgetful than himſelf; or leſs Wiſe, or leſs Careful of the ſalvation of thoſe to whom he writes. Of ſuch a different Proceeding, there can be no cauſe aſſign'd, but the difference of the Principle by which the Apoſtles went, from that which has been ſince taken up by the latter Ages.

The proper deſign'd reſult of this Chapter was this, That there was no Scriptural Notice of a ſtanding Infallibility: and from that Concluſion this Corollary does naturally follow, That there was not therefore any ſuch Infallibility at all erected. As therefore we concluded the firſt Chapter, with a juſt ſuſpicion againſt it, from the ſingle view of the Pretence: ſo may we, by force of this Corollary, put a full end here to the whole Diſpute; and juſtify our ſurceaſing from any further Enquiry in ſo plain a Caſe. But the Reader, either out of Curioſity, or out of meer Grace to the Parties, and for ſuper-abundant ſatisfaction, may, if he pleaſes, proceed on with us to the other Allegations.

CHAP. IV.

No Proof from Tradition for Infallibility at Large. The Proofs from Tradition, to what they are to ſpeak, and of what kind they are, [Sect. I.] None of any kind for Infallibility in Groſs. Not from the Article of the Creed concerning the Church. This prov'd in general from the nature of the Creed, [Sect II]: then from the particular conſideration of the Article [Sect. III]. Whence ariſes another Peremptory Concluſion againſt the whole Pretence [Sect. IV]. Chap. 4. No Proof from Tradition for Infallibility at large.

FRom the Proofs taken out of Scripture, §. I. we now deſcend to thoſe we are to expect from Tradition. But although in the Scriptural Teſtimonies we were content to follow that order, which the Guide thought moſt advantagious to his Cauſe; yet here, where he has not been pleas'd to lead us the way, we ſhall take our ſelves to be at liberty to purſue a more natural method.

We may therefore conſider the Traditional Evidence, for an Infallible Judge or Guide, either, (1) as they ſpeak, ſuch an Infallible Authority in groſs, not aſcertaining the Perſon; or elſe as it is determin'd to certain Perſons: If determin'd; either (2) as aſſignable to the Pope ſingly, or in general to the majority of the Body of Biſhops; and thoſe whether (3) apart and in their ſeveral Dioceſſes, the diffus'd Church; or (4) aſſembled together in a Council; or elſe (5) laſtly, to the Pope and that Majority conſenting. The Majority of all the Biſhops I ſay, becauſe our preſent Enquiry ſuppoſes a Diviſion in the Church upon ſome new queſtion, concerning which all Biſhops are not agreed.

The Subject to which theſe Traditional Teſtimonies are to ſpeak may be ſo diſtinguiſh'd. The Teſtimonies too themſelves may be of different kinds: either (1) Tradition properly Divine, ſome Sayings of our Saviour or his Apoſtles, reported from their Mouths, whether verbally or ſummarily, by the Antients; or elſe they may be the Opinion and Judgment of thoſe Antients, expreſs'd, or (2) in their Writings; or (3) by their Practice. Theſe are the three ſorts of Unſcriptural Evidence, that muſt prove an Infallibility; as that Infallibility be aſſign'd in any of thoſe five manners above mentioned.

Now to begin with the Traditional Authorities for Infallibility at large, §. II. and to examine their ſeveral kinds about it.

I. Here is no Traditional Divine Saying offered to this Purpoſe: no word reported from our Saviour, or the Apoſtles, making mention of ſuch a Power ſomewhere given; and directing us, ſo much as in the general, to reſort to the Infallible Authority, and ſubmit to its Determination.

II. There is no ſuch ſaying of any Ancient, affirming the modern exiſtence of Infallibility; no mention of the Unerring Tribunal.

III. We find in Practice no ſuch ſuppoſition, from the Appeals and Addreſſes of contending Parties: no ſuch Phraſe or Style as this; I am ready to refer my ſelf to the Deciſion of thoſe that cannot Err; I appeal to the Infallible Judge.

I know of nothing that can look like any ſort of Evidence on this Subject; except that Article of the Creed ſhould be alledged, wherein we profeſs to believe in the Holy Catholick Church: as if by this Profeſſion we did own ſome Living Unerring Guide, and our duty to ſubmit to that Conduct.

Now to this Suggeſtion there is a very ready anſwer, without Enquiring into the meaning of thoſe words. For whatever the meaning be, it muſt be ſuch a one, as is expreſs'd already in the Holy Scriptures: the Articles of the Creed being declared by ſufficient Authority to be Scriptural Aſſertions, and not to be derived from Oral Tradition. For this we have the Poſitive Affirmation of two Ancient Expoſitors of the Creed, St. Cyrill, and the Author of the firſt Book to the Catechumens, going under St. Auguſtin's Name.

St. Cyrill, ſpeaking to the Catechumens, ſays in his Fifth Catechetick Diſcourſe. Embrace and keep this Faith, which is now delivered to you by the Church, and which is confirmed by the whole Scripture. For becauſe every perſon is not able to read the Scriptures, but ſome are debarr'd from that Knowledge for want of Learning, and ſome by want of Leiſure; for that reaſon, leſt any Soul ſhould periſh by Ignorance, we have the whole Doctrine of our Faith comprehended in theſe few Lines— Keep in your memory this Faith; and expect hereafter the confirmation of each Article from the Holy Scriptures. For the Creed does not conſiſt of the Opinions of Men; but of the Chief Heads of Holy Scripture, collected out of it, and brought together in this Form.

The firſt Book to the Catechumens begins thus. Receive my Children the Rule of Faith, which is called the Symbol: and when ye have received it, write it in your hearts, and ſay it every day to your ſelves. Before ye go to ſleep, and before you go abroad, arm your ſelves with your Symbol, [or Creed.] No body writes the Creed to read it, but to get it by heart; leſt that which has been preſerv'd to us by diligence, ſhould be blotted out by forgetfulneſs. Let your Book be your Memory: that which you are now to hear, ye are to believe; and that which you ſhall believe, ye are to repeat again with your Tongue: As the Apoſtle ſays; with the heart we believe unto righteouſneſs, and with the Mouth Confeſſion is made unto Salvation. This then is the Symbol which you are to remember, and to repeat.— Theſe words which you have heard, are found ſcattered here and there in the Holy Scriptures, but they have been collected thence, and brought together in this manner: leſt the Memories of the Ʋnlearned ſhould be at a loſs; and to the end that every man ſhould be able to ſay, and to comprehend, [or Retain,] that which he does believe.

It appears therefore evidently, that no Article of the Creed is to be produc'd as Traditional proof; and that this Article concerning the Church is to import no other Propoſition, than ſuch as may be collected and demonſtrated from the Holy Scriptures. Upon which account it cannot be ſuppos'd to imply, either an Infallibility in groſs, or affix'd to certain Perſons; except ſuch Infallibility could be proved from the written word, a thing by no means to be done, as we have already ſeen.

This Anſwer in Bar would be ſufficient alone. But we may be content to conſider more fully this their only Argument; and the rather, becauſe we may meet the Article again on other heads: beſides, theſe word Church and Catholick being often to occur, we have here given us a convenient occaſion to explain them.

Firſt then, a Church is a Society founded by Chriſt, on ſuch Belief, and ſuch Obedience, as he has preſcrib'd; which we own, and to which we engage our ſelves by Baptiſm. This Church was firſt Erected at Jeruſalem: and from that there have been ſince raiſed, by the Order of our Lord, and Labours of his Servants, infinite more.

The Word Catholick is Greek, and includes in it the ſignification of All, or a whole. Now it is known that the Notion of All or Whole may be either ſimply taken, for a Sum and Aggregate of parts not otherwiſe joyn'd; or for a Whole, properly ſo called, whoſe parts have between themſelves ſome other Union.

As then the word Catholick implys no more than number: ſo the firſt ſingle Church at Jeruſalem might be ſtiled Catholick, in contradiction to the Jewiſh, becauſe it lay open to all men, without exception of Nation, or Sex, or Quality, to Jews, and Gentiles, Men and Women, Bond and Free. So too, when there were more Churches propagated, all thoſe Churches Collectively might be call'd the Catholick or Univerſal Church, as being the Particulars in a Sum or Aggregate, without any conſideration yet of a nearer Conjunction. In the ſame manner it is plain that the Doctrine that was taught in common in all thoſe Churches, might be called Catholick too.

Now it having pleas'd the Holy Providence of God to qualify his Servants for the Univerſal Catholick Promulgation of his Goſpel by the Gift of Tongues, and to ſend them out immediately into all the World, in their ſeveral Miſſions: as all parts were in a little time made happy by the knowledge of the Truth; ſo there reſulted this advantage from that diſperſion to the word of Truth, that it was now lodged and depoſited, as it were by ſo many Copies, in ſo many ſeveral diſtant hands, and was thereby the better ſecur'd, from being either loſt, or corrupted. Upon which account there could be no queſtion in the firſt Ages, but thoſe Doctrines or Precepts were Apoſtolical and Divine, which were found to be taught in all the diſtant Churches, and Univerſally atteſted by the whole World.

From this conſideration therefore of the State of the Chriſtian Church in its beginning, the word Catholick might by a Metonymy be brought to ſignify True: and thence it might come, that in Theologick Language, Catholick Doctrine, is the ſame as true Doctrine; and a Catholick Church, that which Profeſſes the True Faith, and the True Obedience.

So it might be. But finding the word Catholick under that Figurative fence, very early, not only in the Authors of the fourth Age Of this the Inſtances are well known and many noted by Biſhop Pearſon on this Article, in his Expoſition of the Creed., or of the third The Synod of Antioch held in the year 272, has theſe expreſſions in its Circular Letter; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 & 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , ſpeaking of the Church of Antioch, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . St. Cyprian in the 47th, and 49th Epiſtle of the Oxford Edit. ann. 251, 252, uſes Catholica Eccleſia in that Sence; and ſo Firmilian in his Letter anno Chr 256. So Tertullian, in the beginning of the Century, in his Book de Preſ • r. c. 30.; but of the ſecond too, as in Clemens Alexandr. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Strom. 7.. and higher in the Letter of the Church of Smyrna concerning Polycarp's Martyrdom Polycarp is called, in the Letter of the Church of Smyrna, [ Ʋſſer. p. 25. Euſeb. Hiſt. l. 4 c. 15.] about the middle of the Second Century, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . (if not in Juſtin Martyr 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ſeems to bear ſuch a ſence in the beginning of his Book de Monarch. :) finding, I ſay, the word ſo early us'd in that ſence, as an ordinary Appellative, and wanting no Adjunct to explain it: one may be tempted to think, that this was then no new Metonymical Expreſſion, juſt rais'd to ſignify from the particular Circumſtances of Chriſtianity, but that rather it had been received into common uſe before in thoſe Countries, and had the Notion of Verily affix'd to it. For long before, among the Logicians, ever ſince Ariſtotle's time, a Catholick Attribute was that which belonged to the Subject eſſentially, and for ever 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Analyt. Poſt. l. 1. c. 4. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Ibid. c. 7.. And ſo in Quintilian, a Catholick Precept or Maxime, was that which held true abſolutely, and without any exception Quintil. l 2. c. 13. Praecepta Catholica. i. e. Ʋniverſalia & Perpetualia. Leges immutabili Neceſſitate conſtrictae. . And laſtly, in the Titles of the Chapters of Pliny's Natural Hiſtory, we find the Properties of the Planets, called their Catholick Affections; and afterwards the Propoſitions concerning Lightning, Catholica Fulgurum Libr. 2. cap. 17. 54.. From all which it is very probable, that Catholick did ſtand in Profane Uſage for Univerſally the Same, and conſtantly True. And this Notion of Truth or Certainty appears further, from the contrary word Hereſy: which ſignifies an Opinion taken up upon Choice, or at Pleaſure 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Diog. Laert. in Proaem. Haereſes, quarum opera ſunt Adulterae Doctrinae, dictae Grecâ Voce ex interpretatione Electionis, quâ quis, ſive ad inſtituendas, ſive ad ſuſcipiendas eas, utitur. De arbitrio ſuo inducere. Tertul. De Praeſcrip. c. 16. Haereſis, Humana Praeſumptio. De Jejun. c. 1.; at the beſt only Probable and Contingent, and ſo diſtinguiſh'd from Science and Demonſtration; but ſometimes underſtood in a worſe Sence, and as oppos'd to Truth, even in the time of the New Teſtament 24 Act. 5.14. 1 Cor. 11.19., at fartheſt, notoriouſly ſo taken by Juſtin Martyr, Ireneus, and Clemens Alexandrinus 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Strom. 7. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Ibid. and ſo 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is rendred by Heſychius 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ., &c. The laſt of thoſe mention'd Authors very much countenances the Comparative obſervation we are now making The latter part of the 7th Strom. beginning at 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 —which we have often cited already, ſuppoſes Hereticks to be led by uncertain Opinions, and Fancies of Probability; but the True Church to be founded on Science, and Demonſtration [that is on 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ]. on this occaſion he ſays. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to which add that Sentence before cited numb. 11 and then it will appear that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 may be well ſaid 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .. And upon the whole, it may be, one may be allowed to gueſs, that the looſe meaning of Univerſal or General does not always in Eccleſiaſtical Writers belong to Catholick, there where it is ordinarily aſſign'd poſſibly in that pail 〈◊〉 of Euſebius, (Hiſt. l. 4. c. 7) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , may be but the Expoſition or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . And in that of Juſtin Martyr's Dialogue, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 may have in it the ſignincation of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as well as of what follows, &c. .

But whatever the reaſon might be of the acceptation of the word; this is certain, that in Chriſtian Phraſe Catholick has been the ſame with Orthodox; and the true Doctrine, or Church, ſo named in oppoſition to the falſe, very Antiently, if not all along from the beginning of Chriſtianity.

Next we are to conſider the Word as it ſignifies All, or a Whole of Parts, not only ſumm'd up in a number, but United in its Conſtitution.

Any ſingle Church, is ſuch a whole of particular Perſons Confederated and Conjoin'd together, in the Profeſſion of the ſame Truths, and the ſame Obedience, under Chriſt our Lord; by whoſe Authority this Strict Regular Society was firſt founded; and in Obedience to whom, it is always to be maintain'd.

Such a ſingle Church was that of Jeruſalem, the Original and mother of all the reſt. And then, when there was no other, he that ſhould have broke the Union and Order of that Body, would have been a Schiſmatick; and he that had kept it, as properly ſtyl'd a Catholick.

But after, when other Churches were formed by the Apoſtles and their Diſciples, theſe diſtinct Churches, as they were founded ſeverally in that firſt Unity of Order, each within themſelves; ſo too they were founded in a Collateral Unity one with another: all thoſe ſeveral Churches or Bodies making one Church, or one Body, called therefore the Catholick Church.

For thoſe ſeveral Churches, were not only of the like kind and nature, profeſſing the ſame Faith and Obedience; but they were all, virtually and in effect the ſame Church: each member of each Society having a right in all; by his admittance into one, being admitted into the reſt, and made perfectly free of all thoſe Chriſtian Corporations. So that the Identity between any ſuch two Societies was not only ſpecifical, but in ſome kind numerical too: and as the Chriſtian Society of Jeruſalem continued the ſame, notwithſtanding the change of Perſons by lapſe of time; ſo the Chriſtian Society of Antioch was the ſame with that of Jeruſalem, notwithſtanding the difference of Perſons by diſtance of place. Upon the account therefore of this Fundamental Cloſe Union, by which each Church is immediately join'd with, and incorporated into each other, all thoſe Churches together are properly ſtil'd the Catholick Church, and each of thoſe Churches is Catholick too.

This Secondary Collateral Union is immediate and internal, Tot & tantae Eccleſiae, una eſt illa ab Apoſtolis prima, ex quâ omnes; ſic omnes prima, & Apoſtolicae dum unâ omnes probant Unitatem. Tert. de Praeſcript. c. 20. belongs fundamentally and eſſentially to the Conſtitution of a Chriſtian Church, and is ſo expreſſed by the Antients, by Tertullian particularly, and by St. Cyprian.

Beſides this Eſſential Unity between different Churches, Epiſcopatus unus eſt, cujus a ſingulis in ſolidum pars tenetur. Cypr. de Ʋnit. Eccl. Et ſi Paſtores multi ſumus, Unum tamen Gregem paſcimus. Id. Ep. 68. Edit. Oxon. there is another Mediate and External one; as when the ſeveral particular Churches ſhall joyn together in ſome common form of Policy, and under the Government and Direction of ſome one Church, in which the reſt Concenter, and by the mediation of which they are further United. This Principal Church, is then the Root, the Origine, and the Center of this Political Union. Such a Church is the Metropolitan Church of each Province, in reſpect of the particular Biſhopricks: the Patriarchal, Chap. 4. No Proof from Tradition for Infallibility at large. Sect. 3. in reſpect of the particular Provinces: and ſuch the Church of Rome would be, in reſpect of the Patriarchates themſelves. The Romaniſts therefore ſuppoſe thoſe ſeveral Churches that Communicate with the Roman Church, to be Catholick by that Communion; and thoſe altogether, with her their Chief and Head, to make the Catholick Church: and this by Divine Right, and from the Inſtitution of Chriſt; which whoſoever denys is moſt properly a Schiſmatick in their Opinion.

Whether the Church of Rome has ſuch a Supremacy by Divine Ordinance; or whether all this External Unity, by which particular Churches Politically confederate together for common Government, be not Poſitive and Humane; we are not now to enquire: that notion of Catholick which denotes Communion, and is oppos'd to Schiſm, belonging not to our preſent purpoſe. At this time, our ſearch is after a judge of Controverſy, and we are to conſider the Church Catholick, only as it ſignifies Orthodox, and in oppoſition to Hereſy and Errour: we having nothing now to do with the Church of Rome, as it pretends to be the Center of Unity, but as it claims to be the Baſis of Truth.

This is the Import of the Words Church, and Catholick: we come now to conſider them, as they lie in the Creed.

Here then we are to obſerve firſt, concerning the Creed in general; that as Catholick ſignifies Orthodox, ſo this Creed was nothing elſe but the Orthodox Profeſſion. For it ſo coming to paſs, that there ariſe up in the beginning of Chriſtianity very dangerous Errours, and deſtructive of the true Faith; the Catholick or true Church thought adviſable in oppoſition to thoſe Errours, to form to it ſelf ſome ſhort fundamental Profeſſion, whereby they might diſtinguiſh themſelves from Hereticks, as by a Shibboleth: which Profeſſion being Characteriſtick, or the Cogniſance and word of a true Regular Chriſtian, was called for that reaſon Symbolum, or a Mark and Token.

Our Saviour himſelf made his own Symbol or Cogniſance firſt; when he commanded his Diſciples to Baptiſe in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoſt. For by this Mark of difference, the True Chriſtian was firſt diſtinguiſh'd from a Heathen, as believing in the Father the God of the Jews; ſecondly from an ordinary Jew, as believing the Son Chriſt Jeſus to be the Meſſias: and laſtly, he was diſcriminated from thoſe Jews who admitted Chriſt to be their Prophet and Meſſias, but would not recede from the Old Law, by believing in the Holy Ghoſt, who ſpoke by the Apoſtles, and declar'd the abrogation of that Covenant. So did our Saviour himſelf order his Diſciples to be Characteris'd, at their admiſſion, by the Belief of thoſe three Perſons, and obedience to their ſeveral directions.

But becauſe in a little time Deceivers crept in, who under the name of Chriſtians, and the ſhew of this Character, ſubverted the Faith; being really Jews or Heathens, and uſing the words of this Profeſſion in a meaning quite different from the firſt intention: it grew therefore neceſſary to determine thoſe few words of the Original Symbol to their proper ſence, by the addition of others, which ſhould further diſtinguiſh and divide the true Catholick Chriſtian, from the Heretical and falſe. Leſt therefore an Ethnick Chriſtian, under the name of Father, ſhould mean ſome other God, different from the Creator; He was to add expreſly, the Maker of Heaven and Earth: and leſt he ſhould mean ſuch a Son, as was man only in appearance; or the Jews ſuch a one as was man only, and as the reſt of men; he was oblig'd to profeſs his belief circumſtantially, in that Son, who was conceived by the Holy Ghoſt, born of the Virgin Mary, and who ſuffered under Pontius Pilate, was Crucified, Dead, and Buried, &c.

The Archetypal Original Symbol of our Saviours, ſo explain'd, is call'd the Symbol or Creed of the Apoſtles: being explain'd after their mind, and expreſly in their own Phraſe. This, as far as the Article of the Holy Ghoſt, (excepting that of Chriſt's deſcent into Hell) was every where Uniformly profeſs'd over all the World; and call'd antiently the immoveable Rule, and Unreformable Canon. It was the fundamental Characteriſtick of Catholiciſm: by the Profeſſion of it men were Baptis'd, and admitted to be the true Chriſtians; and that Baptiſm, at which ſuch a Profeſſion could not be preſum'd, was reputed and declared null; and conſequently a Chriſtian, otherwiſe made, ſuppos'd to be none.

Now altho' thoſe that profeſſed this Creed, were by it ſufficiently diſcriminated from the groſſer Hereticks, ſuch as deſerv'd not really the name of Chriſtian: yet other Hereſies there were, very dangerous and wicked, that might hide themſelves under this form; and could not be detected and ſever'd, but by ſome more preciſe diſtinction. The Arrian Hereſy denying the Coeternal Exiſtence of our Saviour, occaſion'd therefore that enlargment, concerning the Son, which we find in the Nicene Creed; and afterwards, the Macedonian, denying the Perſon of the Holy Ghoſt, that Explanation we have on that Article in the ſame Nicene Creed, as it is commonly called. After that too, the Neſtorians, Eutychians, &c. gave further reaſon for the additional Explications, that are given on thoſe ſubjects, in the Creed that goes under the name of Athanaſius.

So were theſe Symbols and Cogniſances of the true Belief enlarged, and multiplied, occaſionally: each of them, in their ſeveral times, being Characteriſtical enough; till new and other Hereſies aroſe, which were to be excluded by ſome further diſtinction. But all along, whereas theſe and after Creeds differenced the Pure Chriſtianity, from Chriſtianity Corrupt; the Apoſtolical was ſuppos'd to diſcern between the true, and that falſly ſo call'd: and accordingly the admiſſion into common Chriſtianity by Baptiſm, continued ſtill to uſe only this Mark; while at the ſame time there were other marks in uſe, to ſeparate one Chriſtian from another.

Now as Hereſies and Errours are of different ſorts; ſome more groſs, and more contrary to the Chriſtian Faith, ſome leſs; ſome utterly inconſiſtent with Chriſtianity, the Hereſies of the firſt Ages, ſome Conſiſtent with it; and of theſe ſome highly dangerous, and ſome pernicious in a leſs degree: ſo on the other ſide, Orthodoxy, or a Catholick Belief, may either be ſo in perfection, purely and abſolutely, and void of all ſorts of Errour; or elſe in its degree, and qualifiedly; not pure from all Errour, but from ſuch of which ſome, otherwiſe good Chriſtians, are guilty; from ſuch ſo groſs, and very dangerous; at leaſt from ſuch which are abſolutely incompatible with the Chriſtian profeſſion.

Accordingly, one that Profeſs'd the Apoſtle's Creed, in the Elder Times, and when no other Errours appear'd to infeſt the Church, but ſuch as were refuted by that form; was, by that Symbol, reputed and known for a Catholick Abſolute. Afterwards, when the Arrian or Macedonian Hereſies came up, if he adhear'd to thoſe, and did not ſubſcribe to the Nicene Creed; he was, by that new Mark to be held no abſolute Catholick, and a Heretick in that regard: but he yet continued ſo far Catholick, as to be accounted a Chriſtian; and Catholick too he might be juſtly ſtyl'd, in reſpect of other Hereticks, the Simonians, Baſilidians, Valentinians, Marcionites, &c. whoſe Impieties he had renounc'd in the Apoſtle's Creed. In the ſame manner, he that profeſſes the Nicene Creed, is a Catholick reſpectively to thoſe Hereticks, and to the Arrian and Macedonian too; tho' not therefore neceſſarily a perfect Catholick: for he may be a Neſtorian, Eutychian, &c. And ſo too he that owns the Athanaſian Creed, as he is Catholick in reſpect of all thoſe fore-mention'd errours; ſo he may not yet be compleatly Catholick: for he may be Heretical, in thoſe points particularly, about which the Roman and the Proteſtant Churches differ.

And according to this account it is, that we Proteſtants, ſpeaking concerning Chriſtian Doctrine, may allow the Romaniſts the Title of Catholick; provided they will bear the Symbol with a difference, and diſtinctive Mark of Diminution. For as an Arrian Catholick will ſignify one that holds to the Apoſtle's Creed, and is not a Marcionite; &c. and as an Eutychian Catholick, will mean one that holds to the Nicene, and is not an Arrian: ſo a Roman Catholick, or Popiſh Catholick, will denominate one, free from the Hereſies of the firſt ſeven hundred years; though groſly Erroneous in other points, and ſuch of which an Arrian, or Eutychian, would never have been guilty.

The Apoſtle's Creed, of which we are ſpeaking, was ſo fram'd for a Symbol of Catholiciſm. But what we have ſuggeſted of the latter Articles, that they were variouſly inſerted over the Chriſtian World; that we are now to obſerve particularly, concerning this of the Catholick Church.

For (1) this Article was not in the Antient Eaſtern Creeds: not in the Nicene, properly ſo call'd, and as deliver'd by that Council. It is not in thoſe Creeds among St. Jerom's Works: as it is not in that we call the Athanaſian. (2) It was early in the Latine Creeds; as we learn by Tertullian: but with ſome difference. Tert. de Bapt. c. 6. For whereas the Roman brought it in Affirmatively, and in the place where it now ſtands: the African brought it in at laſt, and indirectly too. As in St. Cyprian's time it run thus; I believe in the Remiſſion of Sins, and Eternal Life by the Holy Church: In the time of thoſe three laſt Expoſitions of the Creed, aſcrib'd to St. Auguſtin, thus; I believe in the Remiſſion of Sins, the Reſurrection of the Dead, and Eternal Life, by the Holy Church. And beſides it may be obſerv'd, that in theſe Latine Symbols the Epithet, whether for Ornament or Diſtinction of the Church, was Holy, and not Catholick: this Greek word being borrowed afterwards from the Uſage of the Grecian Churches.

Now then, to return to our preſent Enquiry, the occaſion of this Digreſſion; and to ſee, whether the notion of an Infallible Judge or Guide, be to be underſtood under this Article: let us obſerve, that

The word Church has not in it the ſignification of a Tribunal, or Court of Judicature.

And then in the next place, the Epithets Holy or Catholick, do not ſuperinduce any ſuch meaning. The moſt they can ſignify towards it is True and Orthodox: But whoever is True and Orthodox, is not therefore an Infallible Guide. For (1) a Particular Church may be Orthodox, and actually Unerring; and yet not be Infallible: for it might not have been impoſſible for her to have erred, even in thoſe Points, in which ſhe does not err. She may too be Orthodox in all thoſe Points, ſhe has already declar'd; and yet ſhe may afterwards err in new Points, and which want a new Declaration. And (Secondly,) the Poſition of a Church Unerring, or if you will Infallible, does not therefore inferr, that the Unerring Church is an Unerring Guide, and an Infallible Judge in Controverſy: except at the ſame time it be ſuppos'd, that that Unerring Church may be known to be ſo, and diſtinguiſh'd from others, by proper Marks, and ſuch as are external to thoſe Truths in which ſhe does not err. For if we agree, that there is ſuch an Unerring Church; but are to find her out by the Truths ſhe profeſſes, and by the Examination of her Doctrines: we are not then guided by the Infallible, to Truth; but by the Truth to this Infallible; neither is ſuch a Church to us, a Judge of Doctrines; but it is we who are by thoſe Doctrines, to Judge of Her.

Now if we conſider this Article, as it lyes in the Affrican Creed; where the Candidate for Baptiſm profeſs'd to believe the Remiſſion of Sins, &c. by the Holy Church; the moſt the African could be ſuppos'd to ſay, was, that Remiſſion was not to be had out of the Unerring Church: but, that ſuch a Church Unerring, was the Infallible Guide he does not at all affirm. For his plain meaning muſt either be, that he expected to be ſav'd, by being Baptis'd into the Catholick Church in General; or with a particular Implication; either that this Catholick Church, was the Church which profeſs'd the Creed he repeated; or elſe the Church in which he was going to be Baptis'd. If he meant an Orthodox Church in General, which ever, and where ever it was; it is plain then, from what we juſt now premis'd, that he meant not the Church to be a Guide, or Judge; for as a Guide ſhe muſt be aſcertain'd and determin'd. And too, if he meant an Orthodox Church in particular, determining that to be ſo, which profeſs'd the Apoſtolical Creed; it is as manifeſt, that he ſpoke not of that Churches being Judge in other Points. But if he deſign'd the Local Church in which he was to be Baptis'd, by that name; it is then too evident, that however he might take that Church to be Catholick in all her Tenets; yet he did not affirm that ſhe might not grow Uncatholick, even in thoſe, or at leaſt in other new ones: much leſs did he aſſert that he knew her to be Catholick, by Permanent outward Marks of Place or Number; by which marks (to be a Guide) ſhe was to be diſtinguiſh'd in that Age, and to the end of the World.

It appears, I ſuppoſe, that an African in the recital of his Creed, was not oblig'd, by that indirect mention of the Church, to aſcribe any Judicial Infallibility to Her. And then as to the Nicene, tho' this Article be there expreſſed directly, in the Clauſe brought in by the Council of Conſtantinople; yet it can ſeem to have no other Conſtruction than what the Africans gave. For he that profeſſes to believe One Holy Catholick Church; to acknowledge one Baptiſm for the Remiſſion of Sins; and to look for the Reſurrection of the Body, and Everlaſting Life after death: what does he mean elſe, but that he believes the Remiſſion of Sins, [to be obtain'd] by [being Baptis'd and admitted into] the Catholick Church, in proſpect and hopes of Everlaſting Life? Such a Sence the Nicene Creed manifeſtly carries, agreeably to the African: and then it can never be preſum'd that the Roman or any other did under the ſame words intend a different meaning. But all this appears further.

For if the Notion of Holy, or Catholick Church, will not infer that of a Judge or Guide: the Phraſe I believe, or I believe in, will not contribute much towards it.

The Primary Notion of the word Believe, as it is us'd in the Creed, denotes a firm Perſwaſion concerning the Truth, either of the Eſſence, or Exiſtence of the Thing believ'd: as that there is ſuch a Being as a God; ſuch a thing to be had as Remiſſion of Sins. If it implies any further Sence, either of Reliance or Submiſſion, or Hope and Expectation; that additional Notion ariſes from the Nature of the Thing believ'd. As, He that believes there is a God, ſubmits to his Guidance by implication, becauſe he is God: And he that believes the Remiſſion of Sins, hopes for it, as for a thing extreamly deſirable. By the ſame Conſtruction, he that believes in the Catholick Church, believes firſt the Eſſence or Exiſtence of it; that there ought to be, or is ſuch a Society; or that this Society is it: but is not to be ſuppos'd to own it for an Infallible Guide or Judge, except ſome ſuch notion be involv'd in the Notion of the Church, which he ſo believes. When therefore the Phraſe I believe in is continued through all the Articles (as it is in St. Cyril's Creed) it ſignifies always according to the connotation of the Subject to which it is applyed: and then to believe in the Remiſſion of Sins, or in the Reſurrection of the Dead, is the ſame as to acknowledge one Baptiſm for the Remiſſion of Sins, and to look for the Reſurrection of the Dead in the Nicene. But the Roman (as Ruffinus obſerves) to make the diſtinction plainer; and that we may not ſeem to believe in the Church as we do in the Trinity; puts its Credo to all the later Articles without the Prepoſition in; ſaying, Credo Sanctam Eccleſiam, &c. I believe that there is, or that this is the Holy Church.

The Sum of all is this; that the Article concerning the Church, acknowledges either the Eſſence and Nature; or elſe the Exiſtence alſo of ſuch a Society.

The Eſſence of the Holy Church conſiſts in this: that it is a Society inſtituted by Chriſt, into which men enter by Baptiſm, Profeſſing the Belief of his Holy Truths, and Obedience to his Holy Commands, in hopes of Eternal Salvation; which Society it is the duty of thoſe Chriſtian men (according to one of thoſe Commands) to maintain and to propagate to the end of the World. This is its Eſſence in General: and it may be particularis'd, by the Belief of ſuch and ſuch Articles, which the falſe Churches deny. Now the Confeſſion of ſuch a Society, with its Nature, Priviledges, and Duties, in the Confeſſion of a very great and weighty Truth, and enough to make up one Article of our Creed.

The Exiſtence of this Society will reſpect either the Paſt, or the Preſent, or the Future: That there was ſuch a Church, or is, or ever ſhall be.

That there was ſuch a Church once inſtituted, and actually erected, is, together with the Eſſence of it, an undoubted part of our neceſſary Belief. But that this Church was exiſtent heretofore in ſome other paſt Age, or that it Exiſts now, or ſhall always hereafter; theſe Propoſitions, tho' Truths, may be only Contingent, and not ſo certain as an Article of our Creed. See the 13. Chap. How far theſe Circumſtances of Exiſtence, are imply'd in this Article; it is not our buſineſs now to enquire: it is enough for us at preſent, to have diſcover'd that the Notion of a Catholick Church although ſignifying an Unerring Church, does not ſignify an Unerring Judge or Guide; and that conſequently the Exiſtence of this Church, however it may be Co-ſignified, does not infer neither the Exiſtence of ſuch an Infallible Proponent.

By this way of deduction it ſufficiently appears, that no Infallibility in groſs is meant under this Article. And this Courſe I have the rather took, becauſe it has naturally led us into an eaſie meaning of an Article of ſo great importance. But that no ſuch thing, as an Infallible Tribunal was ever intended by it; we have ſtill a further and an undeniable Evidence.

We have ſtill extant many Antient Expoſitions on the Creed, (two we have cited above) made on purpoſe to inſtruct the Candidates for Baptiſm; Compos'd too much about that time, when this Article came to the Univerſally receiv'd into the Symbol; as the Catechetical Diſcourſes of St. Cyril Biſhop of Jeruſalem, the Expoſition of Ruffinus, and thoſe four Books we find in St. Auguſtin's Works on that Subject; the ſeveral Expoſitions in Chryologus, and in Maximus Taurinenſis: and from theſe we ſhall beſt learn the ſence of the Church of that time, concerning her ſelf; and whether any Judgment Seat was intended by this Article.

Now none of theſe Catechetical Doctors, in their Diſcourſes on this Article, are found to make any manner of mention of an Infallible Judge, neither in General, nor Particular: nor do they refer the Chriſtian Novices to the further direction of any Unerring Perſon or Aſſembly. Whatever they propoſe to their Diſciples out of the Creed it ſelf, they think themſelves obliged to prove out of the the Scripture; being content that neither they, nor their Church ſhould be credited on other Terms. Accordingly upon the Precedent Articles, they diſcover and they refute the Errours of thoſe Hereticks, that had aroſe; and upon this they declare the inſtitution of a Church by Chriſt; and that to be the True Church, which rejected thoſe Hereſies; that the others were impious Confederations, and Councils of vanity; that this they were to adhere to as the One, the Holy, the Catholick. But they ſtill prove the Church, into which the Catechumen was entring, by her Doctrine; and never the Doctrine, by the Church: they affirm de Facto that it did not err; but never aſſert, that de Jure it could not have err'd, by priviledge of Place, or Number: much leſs do they oblige the Catechumen in vertue of this Article to ſubmit for the future, to the Deciſions of ſuch a Tribunal; and blindly to receive whatever other Articles ſuch a number of Men ſhould determine, with the ſame Faith and Aſſent, with which he now believ'd the Articles of his Creed, and the preſent Faith in that Church profeſſed. Of ſuch an Authority in the Church, and ſuch a Submiſſion in the Members, of which our Modern Roman Catechiſts ſay ſo much, on this Article; theſe Antient Doctors, ſay not a Syllable. Hence therefore from all thoſe Premiſes we conclude undeniably, that an Infallible Judicatory was never at all intended by this Article; and that Holy and Catholick Church here, did never in the leaſt ſignify any neceſſary implication of the Pope, or of a Majority or certain proportion of Biſhops, or Faithful: by which we learn, that this Article of the Creed can neither be brought againſt us on this Head, nor on any of thoſe that follow.

BUT THEN FURTHER, §. IV. WE DO NOT ONLY LEARN from the Expoſitors of the Creed, that an Infallible Authority in the Church, is no Article of the Creed; but we find, from their ſilence in this matter, great reaſon to think, that there was in their time no ſuch Article believ'd at all.

For had there been own'd any ſuch Principle of Chriſtianity at that time; it muſt have been of the ſame Importance and Neceſſity, which it is now eſteem'd to bear; and alike reputed the Primary and Fundamental Principle of Divine Truths to men. Chap. 4. No Proof from Tradition for Infallibility at large. Sect. 4. Neither can it be imagin'd, that it ſhould not have had its proper place in the Creed, Univerſally, and from the beginning; being of ſuch Conſequence to the underſtanding of the other Articles, by whoſe help their ſence was chiefly to be determin'd, and for whoſe ſake they were to be believ'd by moſt of mankind. Had therefore this Principle been then own'd; a Principle ſo neceſſary to be known, that the denyal of it is the formality of Hereſie, and the very ignorance of it unexcuſable; inſomuch that moſt other Truths may be implicitely believ'd in this, but this muſt be explicitely profeſs'd, under the pain of inevitable Damnation; had it I ſay been own'd then for true, how could it have been left out of the Creed, without the greateſt negligence in the Compoſers, and the greateſt danger to the Salvation of Men? Is it imaginable that the mention of the Church, would throughout all Africk have been made ſo by the by, and as it were by chance; much leſs, that it ſhould have been ſo totally neglected by the Eaſtern Chriſtians, the moſt Numerous, and the moſt Knowing of thoſe Times? Or is it likely, that at laſt, when the Church came generally into the Creed, the Infallible ſhould not be particularis'd by ſome diſtinctive Character; and that ſo neceſſary a notice, of ſo high and uſeful a Prerogative ſhould have been utterly forgotten? But ſuppoſe the Article of an Infallible Guide, left out of the Creed by I know not what deſign; (I ſuppoſe becauſe it was a Principle of more evidence, than the being of a God:) yet it is hard to think, that upon the mention of the Church, though brought in to another purpoſe, no Expoſitors ſhould have occaſionally remembred this Benificial and Inſtructive Truth. Was an Unerring Guide ſo little thought of, and of ſo ſlight a Conſideration, that it came not into the mind of the Catechiſt, and was not worth the mentioning to the New Chriſtian? what could be more natural, at the inſtruction of thoſe that were juſt entring into the Church, then to have deſcrib'd her to them, by her proper marks; to have commended her, by that high Endowment; to have exhorted them to believe their Creed, upon her Authority; and directed them to ſubmit all future Queſtions to her Infallible Deciſion? The Expoſitions of theſe Catechiſts are levelled chiefly againſt thoſe many Hereſies with which their Age was diſtracted; and great uſe there was to be made of the Infallible Guidance in their times; an occaſion too for the mentioning of that Guidance, if ever, was to be taken in thoſe Diſcourſes: and yet for all this ſo many Zealous Knowing Men, of ſo many ſeveral Countries, have all conſpir'd to omit it. In the Holy Scriptures there might be ſome pretence made of an indirect obſcure reference to it; and upon ſufferance it may be ſuppos'd that the more expreſs mention was refer'd to Tradition: But here in our Caſe, the Men we cite, are thoſe by whom the Tradition ſhould be convey'd; and this is the proper Time and Place for them to ſpeak it out; and yet it is not ſo much as pretended by the Romaniſts, that there has been the leaſt mention made of it by them: There muſt be ſome great Myſtery in this profound Silence of thoſe Expoſitors, concerning a ſtanding Infallibility: and what can it be but this; that they were utterly ignorant of the Thing?

And ſo we have again gained another Poſitive and irrefragable Argument, againſt the intent of our Adverſaries, from this other Evidence of their own ſhewing. We might therefore from this ſilence, firſt of the Scriptures, and then of the Creed and its Expoſitors, fairly put a Final Silence on the contrary Party, and here at leaſt cloſe the Diſpute. But if the Reader is pleas'd to lend me his Patience: the Romaniſts ſhall not complain, they were not heard out: only they muſt be content to know, that as the Proof now offered has diſcredited their Cauſe; ſo what remains grows ſtill harder upon them. For whereas, if an Infallibility at large had been countenanc'd by any tolerable Teſtimony; it would then have been the eaſier affix'd to ſome one of the Competitors, either Pope or Church, &c. according as they ſhould make the better claim: ſo now on the other hand, all the Parties together not being able to furniſh out ſuch an Evidence for the common Cauſe; we are left to proceed, free from any Prepoſſeſſion, to the examination of their ſeveral Titles; and are to expect, that whoever of them challenges this Infallible Authority, ſhould ſo make out his Propriety to it, as at the ſame time, if he can, to prove its Being.

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