The Dispute between Pope Stephen and S. Cyprian about Rebaptizing is well known and whoever compares their Opinions with what the Council of Nice Determined upon that Question will find they were both in the Wrong Tertul. adv Prax. Pope Anicetus gave but a poor Sign of his Infallibility when he received the Prophecy's of Montanus Prisca and Maximilla and received the Asiaticks and Cataphrygians into his Communion And Marcellinus his Infallibility must surely forsake him when he offered Incense to Idols as the Roman Offices do accuse him and though Baronius mentions the Endeavours of some Zealous Men to take off this Blemish yet after all the Revisions of the Breviary it remains there still But be the Catholick Church before the Nicene Council as destitute of Infallible Judgment as it was of Civil Force surely when Councils were assembled with the concurrence of Popes all Dispute and Heresie must be at an end for when the Infallible Judge has taken his Place all Knots in Religion must be Unty'd and all Doubts removed for who so Ignorant or Perverse as to dispute against his Sentence whom all the Christian World must know to be uncapable of Mistake Now the Misfortune is That after Many General Councils received by the Bishop of Rome and the greatest part of Christendom we hear no Tydings of an Infallible Judge nor of the Roman Resolution of Faith into the meer Authority of Papal Councils And this is such a Disappointment under which no Man can be patient and in spight of all Good Disposition of Believing the Roman Method it will breed Suspicion That the Infallible was not revealed to the Church of those Times Athanasius the great Champion and Confessor for the Nicene Creed in all his Apologies forgot this great and unanswerable Defence That he followed an Infallible Guide He Explains and Confirms from Scripture Athan. or ad Maxim. Id. de Nicen. Synod Decret Orat. 1. contr Arrian the Notion of Consubstantial but could not be so happy as to urge That it must be true Because the Infallible had pronounc'd it He deservedly commends the Nicene Council and the Faith defined there but his Reasons turn Infallibility upside down For he received the Determination of that great Assembly because in his Judgment he was convinc'd That it was True and Consonant to the Scriptures but did not therefore think It must be as True as Gospel Because it was the Sentence of an Infallible Judge And at last in the Way of our Protestant Resolution of Faith declares That in those Controversies that divided the Church We ought to pray for the Spirit of Discretion That every one may know what to Receive and what to Reject A Faithful Disciple of the Gospel is able to distinguish between Truth and Pretence because he has the Spirit of Discerning but the Simple is carryed away with every Colour But what should we do with this Private Spirit of Discretion in a Controversie already decided by the Infallible And what danger of the Simple if he can but be Simple enough to Believe as the pretended Infallible Church Believes And it is yet more strange That after the Nicene Decisions this Father should recommend the Scriptures as a better and more sufficient Means than any other for our Direction to the True Faith. Con. Maxim. l. 3. c. 14. S. Augustin was surely to blame when in a Dispute with an Arrian he makes this Proposal That they should by Consent lay aside the Authority of Council-Definitions and gives up the Judgment of the Nicene Fathers in exchange for that of the Hereticks of Rimini and leaving the Advantage of a Sentence by which alone the Truth could be Infallibly known according to the Roman Supposition descends to put the Matter upon an Issue which we are now told is very uncertain and of dangerous Consequence that is To be tryed by Scripture and Reason One would think it had been a much easier and shorter Task for him to prove the Council of Nice Infallible if he had thought it as Demonstrable as the Missionaries say it is than to convince the Hereticks by Disputable Passages of Scripture interpreted according to his Private Reason Here indeed he overthrows Infallibility but Implicitly and by Consequence but in another place he expresly Disclaims it The Church says he L. 2. con Crescon ought not to set her self above Christ for he always Judges according to Truth but Ecclesiastical Judges as Men are commonly-Mistaken And then lest you may imagine General Councils excepted in another place he declares That even Plenary Councils may need Amendment and that L. 2. de Bapt. c. 3. The latter may Correct what is Amiss in the former And in an Epistle to S. Jerom he further declares That he had learned to pay this Deference only to the Canonical Scriptures of believing their Authors to have erred in nothing But others though never so Learned or Holy without any Exception I read so as not to take any thing to be True because they were of that Opinion but because they proved it by Scripture or Reason S. Jerom professes so firm adherence to his Private Coviction Ep. ad August Apud Flac. Illyr in Cato l. Test Suttliv de Eccles That the Authority of all the World should never be able to make him depart from it This says he I affirm this I boldly pronounce though all the World should gainsay it And he makes no Scruple of Rejecting Councils if they determine any thing against the Doctrine of the Scriptures In Esai c. 30. nay he makes it the Character of Hereticks That they take upon them so great Authority That whether they Teach Truth or Falshood they will not allow their Disciples to examine by Reason but Implicitly to follow their Leaders And yet I do not know of any of these arrived to such an Extravagance as to pronounce themselves Infallible Nazianz. ep ad Procop. Gregory the Divine was surely a Stranger to the Infallible Judge when he resolves to shun all Assemblies of Bishops because he never saw Good Issue of any of them And I can scarce believe that he would have been con tent to submit the Faith to Major Vote Orat. ad Arrian when he brings in the Arrians insulting over the little Flock of Christ defining the Church by Multitude and preferring the Sand to the Stars Joh. Antioch in Conc. Ephes t. 3. p. 70. 76. Ed. Labbe He must needs be Ignorant of the Infallible Judge that thus writes to the Emperor Theodosius against Cyril and his Ephesin Council That a great number of Bishops is unnecessary for the Examination of Opinions in Religion and serves only to create Tumults For this End our Adversaries bring great Numbers depending only upon that and not upon the Truth and Orthodoxness of their Belief And then speaking of Cyril Endeavouring to ratifie his Heresie by Multitude not considering That in Religion it is not Number that is
Imprimatur Hic Liber cui Titulus Doubts concerning the Roman Infallibility c. May 17. 1688. Guil. Needham R.R. in Ch. P. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacris Domest DOUBTS Concerning the Roman Infallibility I. Whether the Church of Rome Believe it II. Whether Jesus Christ or his Apostles ever Recommended it III. Whether the Primitive Church Knew or Used that Way of Deciding Controversie LONDON Printed for James Adamson at the Angel and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVIII DOUBTS Concerning the Roman Infallibility THE Advantage of having an Infallible Judge to Determine Controversies of Religion is so Visible that those who for their Lives cannot bring themselves to believe Either that there is such a Judge on Earth or that the Church of Rome is so Qualifyed cannot yet but wish That there were one exempt from the common Frailty of Mistaking For who would not be desirous of being released from the Toyl of Examining every Point of his Faith by Scripture and Tradition when after all the Issue is uncertain Who can envy himself the Blessedness of being raised above all Apprehension and Jealousie of being Mistaken in that which concerns him above all things the Religion and Faith by which he is to be Saved When therefore we see so great a part of Christians Disputing against their own Wishes and rejecting all Pretenders to Infallibility it is a strong Presumption That the Truth of such Infallibility is not so Evident and Visible as the Advantage that flows from the Supposition of it For it is commonly more than half way towards Believing a thing to be True to have a desire that it should be so The common Objection of the Force of Prejudice against Evident Truth can have no place here for if there be any Prejudice in this Case it is For and not Against Infallibility For those of our Church who have opposed this Pretence with greatest Diligence and Success have taken care to prevent this Imputation by professing more than an ordinary Desire that it might be true The Lord Falkland a Person of great Honour as well as of Learning and Acuteness declares That if God would leave it to him Which Tenet should be True he would Chuse that Infallibility should rather than the contrary Mr. Chillingworth who thought once to have found out the Infallible Judge but lo it was a Dream makes this Solemn Profession For my part so he speaks I know I am as Willing and Desirous That the Bishop or Church of Rome should be Infallible provided I might know it as they are to be so esteemed Dr. Hammond doubts not to profess the same good Inclination Dr. Hammond's Preface to his Defence of the Lord Falkland in the Name of all Protestants If there were says he but one Wish offered to each Man among us it would certainly with a full Consent be laid out on this one Treasure the setting up of one Catholick Umpire or Days-man some Visible Infallible Decider of Controversie It is very hard that Persons so well disposed should not be able to attain to the Belief of so Easing and Commodious a Principle for besides their Good-will they wanted neither Learning nor Diligence nor Judgment to make themselve Masters of their Desire But it seems it is not given to all to Believe Infallibility and possibly the great Talents of these Persons might be no small Hindrance to their Belief Now since we still Profess to have the same Desire and Fondness of Believing Infallibility upon good Grounds with the Persons above-mentioned in Earnest Reverend Fathers of the Mission it will be some Disparagement to your Glorious Undertaking of Conversion to suffer Men so well Disposed to languish out their Lives with a Fruitless Desire of finding the Infallible Judge and at last to Dye without that Comfort For you certainly or none the Glory of our Conversion is reserved for the Proof of the Infallible Church is your peculiar Province and to do you Right you keep so close to it as seldom to suffer your Study or Understanding to pass the Bounds of this Question humbly content with this Summary Creed I Believe the Infallible Church If therefore you have any Demonstrations or Infallible Arguments or Weighty Reasons we beseech you to produce them deny not your selves the Glory of Convincing us for we long to be your Conquest But then to prevent a Needless Trouble we are obliged to let you know That the Old Arguments have been all Weighed with great Care and found Light and it will not be for your Reputation to offer us the same Bad Mony for Payment that has been refused a hundred times before You may if you please call these Demonstrations and Unanswerable Things but for our part we after the most Diligent Examination can find Nothing in them but Noise that may perhaps create Disturbance to some Weak Persons unacquainted with Sophistry but serve only for Sport to the more Understanding They are like the Clock of a Death watch a poor little Worm scarce visible that may Fright it may be Melancholy or Timorous Persons but in Truth signifie nothing Or like the Dwarf of Augustus describ'd by Suetonius That was but seventeen Pound Weight not two Foot High and of a Prodigious Voice only this Creature had some Substance tho' but very little But the Evidences for the Infallibility hitherto produced will not turn the Scale against a Feather Now to give you some Comfort for your Unsuccesful Practice upon Minds so well disposed I will make bold to lay before you some Instances of your Brethren and Companions of the same Misfortune The Doctors of the Stage whom Scurrilous Men call Mountebanks proclaim themselves Infallible in their Way they make Liberal Offers of Infallible Medicines of never-failing Remedies or Certain and Never-erring Operations Yet a great part of the World and reputed the Wisest pass by these great Dispensers of Health these Confident Ensurers of Life and Longevity and depend upon such Modest Physitians as declare themselves Fallible and do not Dissemble their Diffidence of the success of their Applications Yet these Patients have as strong a Desire of Ease and Health as any of their Neighbours and would give all the World for a really Infallible Operator There are other Men Bold enough to Pretend That they have the Secret of making Gold. This they affirm with so much Assurance that the Church of Rome cannot shew more in her Claim of Infallibility Nay they have their Demonstrations their Probable Reasons their certain Grounds And at last for an Irresistible Inducement to believe they have their Revelations too Now as well as Men love Gold there are not many that will Believe the Pretence or be perswaded to send their Baser Metals to undergo the Improvement of this Golden Transubstantiation I am loth to impute this general Infidelity either in regard of the Infallible Judge or of the Infallible Operators wholly to the want of competent Proof on the
which is to some an Infallible Judge they methinks should not be afraid to declare the whole Truth for they surely could not mistrust their own Infallibility and as little could they Question the Acquiescence and Submission of all good Catholicks yet these had Scruples and could not speak out for they had received a Caution from Rome whence their Spirit of Defining came That they should by no means Meddle with that Controversie that depended between Catholicks which might occasion a Schism How For a General Council to determine a Controversie between Catholicks would it be to expose the Church to the Danger of Schism Where then is their Belief of Infallibility Where is their Resignation to the Decrees of the Church Or to what Purpose is Infallibility given if it cannot be Exercised for fear of Offence and giving occasion to Schism We are told That the only Remedy against Heresie and Schism is the Determination of the Church and we are pressed to forsake our Religion because the Council of Trent has condemned it whereas in Confidence between Pope and Council we find that their Catholicks would leave them for that very Reason which they use to Convert us i. e. If they durst Condemn their Opinions as they have done ours It is said indeed That this Article of the Immaculate Conception is not of Faith and therefore needs not to be decided and if it were the Decision of the Church may not be Infallibly True because the Promise of Infallible Assistance extends only to Matters of Faith. I should be better content with this Answer if I could be satisfy'd once What is of Faith and what is not How comes Invocation of Saints Worshipping of Images and Purgatory to be of Faith and this not It cannot be said Because the Church has determin'd those Points and not this For before I enquired Why the Church would not determine this and it was given me for a Reason That it was not of Faith. Or is it because it does not seem to be of so great moment in it self This cannot be pretended for Matters of less Moment have been declared to be of Faith For Instance The Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin is an Article in it self of less Moment than this of the Immaculate Conception for he that denies that the Mother of our Lord always continued a Virgin makes her less Perfect in the Opinion of some but not Criminal in the Judgment of any For if she had enjoy'd the Liberty of Wedlock she had not sinned But he that affirms her to be Conceived in Sin if she knew no Sin is a False and Blasphemous Accuser and does her real Dishonour Yet Helvidius and some others that denyed her Perpetual Virginity are Hereticks the Dominicans that charge her with Original Sin and that Unjustly according to the Opinion of the major part of the Council of Trent if we may believe Pallavicini and of the present Roman Church are still Good Catholicks and the Question must not be Infallibly Decided against them for fear of Schism But one of the greatest Hindrances of our Belief of Infallibility is to see That those who affirm that such a Priviledge belongs to their Church cannot agree where to place it Some are for the Pope some for a General Council some for the Church Diffusive now if but one of these Competitors be Infallible of three Parties into which the Roman Church is divided upon this Question there are two against him and as very Hereticks as we If all the three be Infallible then all the Roman Church is in a Dangerous Error for of this Trinity of Infallible Judges no Party believes but one to the Exclusion of the other two Nor can they Reproach us with rejecting all the three for we allow the Church Diffusive to be Infallible in a Sense that is That there shall be always Persons professing the Substance of the Christian Faith only we do not make these Infallible Judges nor resolve our Faith into this Pious Opinion as into a first Principle But we need not insist upon this for the Romanists themselves confess That the Church Diffusive can be no Judge and that no Controversie in Religion was ever yet Decided by it Now while the Romanists are Disagreed about their Infallible Judge how can we believe that they have any For surely If God had appointed such a Judge he had rendred him so Conspicuous and Remarkable that every one who was not wilfully Blind must have Discerned him else there could be no Use of him and instead of Ending Controversie he would Serve only to Increase it by becoming himself the Subject of a New Dispute For what Use I pray of an Infallible Judge that lies incognito or what benefit from that Infallibility that is Distracted between many and Endless Competitions The Wisdom of God is not wont to confer so great a Gift to so little purpose and those who concern the Divine Wisdom in this Question by saying That God had not made sufficient Provision for his Church if he had not made it Infallible do not consider That while they Disagree about this Infallibility they overthrow their own Argument and betray the Divine Wisdom after they had interested it in their Disputes When they pretend to be all agreed in this That they Blieve the Pope and a General Council in conjunction to make up one Infallible Compound we have great Reason to suspect That what they say is not True and that they do not believe it themselves for several have lived and dyed in their Communion who publickly taught That a Pope and General Council concurring may err in the Faith and were never Censur'd for this Doctrine Besides it is as reasonable to believe that two Cyphers joyned may make up a Summ as that two Fallible Parties can make up one Infallible in Conjunction Or if these Parties are Infallible apart they do but mock us when they talk of their Conjunction But that they do not Believe their own Pretence seems to me plain Because they take no Care to be always provided of this Infallible Compound How can they believe a Pope and Council united to be the only Infallible Judge and yet use no Means to bring them together once in a hundred Years The Council of Constance when it had Decreed Councils to be Infallible took Care to Act according to their Pretence and therefore ordered Councils to be frequent and provided against all those Impediments which the Jealousie of the Roman Court might oppose to their Design But that Men should believe that Infallibility of Judgment belongs to a certain Conjunction of Parties and yet to be content they should never meet and to let Ages pass without the least Benefit of this Infallibility that was in their Power is such a Riddle that overcomes my Weak Faith so Rank a Pretence as would turn the Stomach of a Pharisee But if they pretend That the State of the World and Circumstances of Princes will
permit such Assemblies but seldom they fall foul upon the Wisdom of God that should leave the Infallibility of the Church at the Discretion of Temporal Princes and make the very Being of the Infallible Judge to depend upon the Disposition of these either to Peace or War. If it be said that such frequent Assemblies will be very inconvenient to the Church Universal they must be answered That the Subsisting of an Infallible Judge is such an Advantage to the Church as will abundantly satisfie for all the Inconvenience that can be pretended Besides who does not see that all this is meer Shift for in Rome there are commonly more Prelates attending upon that Court than have made up several of the General Councils which are accounted Infallible Yet after all this Church that boasts so much of her Infallibility and makes that the Ground of her Dominion over the Faith of all Christians when she may easily contrive that that Judge which she pretends to be Infallible should be also a standing one and perpetual is content to commit either to the Inquisition which was never pretended to be exempt from Error or to Episcopal Vicars who are generally no great Divines the Power of Declaring Heresie and of Condemning to the Fire Men by them Adjudged to be Hereticks when all the while these very Judges are no less subject to Heresie than the Poor Creatures on whom they pronounce their Sentence And though a General Council once in an Age or two might correct the Errors of these Decrees yet can they restore the Souls which they have slain or raise again the Bodies which these Mistaken Judges had reduced to Ashes The more we consider this Pretence of Joyning Pope and Council to make up an Infallible Judge the more our Suspicions do increase not only that those who set up this Judge against us do not Believe him Infallible themselves but that the very Parties set up are not satisfyed of the Goodness of their own Title For if they were convinced That the only Means of having the Christian Faith without Danger of Mistake was by their joynt Instruction they would surely have better Inclination one for the other than has appeared for these last Ages and would be desirous of more frequent Meeting But who does not know how the Popes stand affected to a Council since for some Ages they have taken Care to Express their Good Will by a yearly Excommunication of all those who shall presume to Appeal to it which the Council of Basil declares to be Heresie But let the Sorbon and the Abettors of that Council look to this Tender Point It cannot be unknown to any that Reads with what Difficulty the Council of Trent so much Magnifyed after its Dissolution was Obtained or rather Extorted What Instances the Emperor used what Importunity and Threats and that could obtain nothing during one whole Pontificat and yet no very short one All Prinees of that Communion joyned in the same Request but to little Purpose Paul the Third shifted it off as long as he could with Delays and Excuses and Affected Exceptions and all the Tricks of a Resolved Aversion till at last absolute Necessity did Extort it from him If God had appointed that Infallibility should be the Issue of this Conjunction in all likelihood he had Prepared the Parties with Kinder Dispositions towards one another For when he ordered the Preservation of all Animal Kinds by the Conjunction of Male and Female he inspired them with a Mutual Good-liking but the Antipathy which Popes have for Councils makes it very Improbable that their Agreement should be the only Certain Infallible Means of Preserving the Truth of the Christian Religion But besides the Unwillingness of these Parties to come together to be Infallible the great Distrust they have one of another when Met begets in us a farther Suspicion that they themselves are not fully persuaded of this Infallibility at least that they have not the full Assurance of Divine Faith about it Two Kings at an Interview or two Opposite Generals in Time of War cannot be more Jealous or more Scrupulously Cautious about the Condition of the Place or the Number of Attendants If there must be a Council the Pope would be best content to have it within his own Dominion or where he can Command Possibly such Assemblies may be most Infallible within S. Peter's Patrimony though the Poor Apostles were forced to meet in an Enemy's Country But what matters it where they Meet if the Pope and they are Infallibly assisted A Simple Man would expect That two Tallies should not Agree more exactly when joyned together than these two Pieces of Infallibility when they come to confer Notes but the Councils of Constance and Basil and Pisa will Inform us That there may be a Disagreement and that too if either Side is to be believed about Matters of Faith. These Old Jarrs made the Popes who are the Standing Part of the Infallible Compound very jealous of the other which is but Occasional And therefore when the Council of Trent sate the Popes that directed it thought they could never have Security enough of its Good-behaviour For first They would by no Means allow it the Title of Representing the Universal Church lest it should pretend to Engross the Infallibility as others had done then it was ordered That nothing should be Proposed for Debate in it but by the Popes Legates Then the Summ of all Debates were to be sent to Rome and nothing to be Concluded without new Direction And as if all this were not Sufficient Care was taken that Italian Prelates should be sent thither in such Numbers as might carry it against all the rest and if any Accession of Bishops came from France or other Places beyond the Mountains new Levies were made in Rome and sent immediately to Trent to observe the Motions of those Strangers These Italians it may be have a nearer Capacity of being Infallible and if Infallibility depend upon the Agreement of Pope and Council it cannot be denyed for I think it is more possible for them both to Mistake by Consent than for a Synod composed of such as these to have any Difference with him that Sends and Pays them But if the Popes had been of Opinion That all Private Opinions and Engagements were to be Over-ruled by the Infallible Spirit of Councils and that whatsoever they might have Promised for the Wages of Unrighteousness like Balam they could not pronounce otherwise than as God moved them Surely their Holinesses would have learned to be Wiser by the Example of Balack than to have wasted their Treasure to engage Men of Uncertain Suffrage and at last to receive a Curse perhaps instead of a Blessing This Way of Procuring an Infallible Sentence is enough to destroy all the Credit and Authority of it For the Oracles of Old quickly Sunk in their Reputation when the Gods and their Officers condescended to accept of Pensions Now as the too
of Miracles and Inspiration had thought fit to confer upon it the Gift of Infallible Decision But the Generation next to the Apostles knew nothing of this Matter but Confess the State of the Church in their Time to be Inferiour to that of the Apostolick Age and that Hereticks then could not be so effectually Suppressed as they were by the Apostles and immediate Disciples of our Saviour For Hegesyppus speaking of the Martyrdom of Symeon Bishop of Jerusalem observes That to that Time the Church had continued a Virgin and Unpolluted for while the Apostles lived Hereticks were forced to keep themselves close but when their Generation was closed then these Deceivers began to appear with wonderful Confidence What absurd Fellows were these to think They could prevail against an Infallible Church at one Time more than another had they no Dread of the Infallible Judge Did they not know that his Sentence could make them Hereticks Convict when ever he thought fit to pronounce it or at leastwise Did they not know that all Christians Believed such a Judge and therefore could have as little Hopes then as in the Time of the Apostles But though we let these pass for Impudent Stupid Fellows Yet what should this Hegesyppus mean by Representing the Church as a Virgin but to such a Time since in despight of all Heresies the Church must always remain Pure and Uncorrupted Valesius would fain refer this to the Church of Jerusalem only But he ingenuously Confesses That Eusebius who Cites it meant otherwise and applyed it to the Church in General And the Reasons that Hegesyppus gives make it plain that so he meant it too And therefore Valesius bespeaks a favourable Interpretation of them both How little Thought Justin Martyr and Irenaeus had of this Way of Infallibility I have mentioned before they both Wrote against Heresies and Irenaeus his Books are still Extant but not the least Mention made of the Authority of the Infallible Judge Scripture and common Sense furnish all his Arguments Tradition indeed is once mentioned because Hereticks made this their Pretence but then too it is used only for a Negative Argument to shew that the Apostolick Churches never Taught any such Traditionary Doctrines without the least Pretence that those Churches had received any other Articles of Belief besides what were contained in the Scripture Clemens of Alexandria lays down several Ways of Detecting Hereticks but it was his Misfortune or rather that of his Age to be Ignorant of that which is now accounted the only Infallible Tertullian Prescribes against all Hereticks without troubling the Scriptures from the Common Rule of Faith which is not an Indefinite One in petto but a short Summary of the chief Points of Christian Religion from the Novelty of Heresies from the Doctrine of Apostolical Churches Founded before those Opinions Sprung But his Misfortune is not only to omit the Infallible Judge but to preclude him in the very Beginning of his Book by this Remarkable Passage What then says he if a Bishop or a Deacon or a Widow or a Virgin nay if a Martyr or a Doctor should fall from the Rule must Heresie therefore be Truth What do we receive Doctrines for the sake of Persons or Persons for the sake of Doctrines But how shall we know Truth from Heresie if we may not depend upon the Person of the Infallible Judge And do not those who resolve their Doctrine into the Definition of an Infallible Judge approve the Doctrine for the Persons Sake Orig. contra Cels l. 3. When Celsus Reproached the Christians with their Divisions and Multitude of their Sects Origen had no better Reply to make than That this Misfortune was not peculiar to them for the same thing happened to Physicians and Philosophers and yet to Wise Men it was no Prejudice against those Professions And then shews how these Sects sprung from their different Understanding of the Scripture but could not it seems think of the Remedy which was peculiar to them and of an Infallible Judge and that therefore those who rejected his Definitions were inexcusable and unworthy of the Name of Christians But Chrysostom on Acts 15 draws this Answer to the Point when he declares That Christians had no other way of chusing their Church in this variety of Christian Sects than Physicians or Philosophers had in determining what Sect they should follow Which was no other than using their best Judgment and Diligence in the Application of the Common Rule But Lactantius De vera Sap. l. 4. for want of Knowing this Infallible Judge gives the meanest Direction of any to discern the true Faith in the midst of Different Pretensions The Catholick Church says he alone has the True Religion If he had stuck here we might have thought perhaps that he had known the Mystery of Infallibility but when he proceeds a little further he spoils all Hereticks says he pretend to have the Catholick Church as well as the Truth His Answer to the Objection follows That those have the Catholick Church who have Confession and Penance and that Heals those Sins and Wounds to which Human Frailty is subject The Good Man at that Time happened to think of the Montanists or Novatians and therefore describes the True Church in Opposition to their Severity to be that which restored Penitent Sinners to Communion after Publick Confession of their Fault and publick Satisfaction to the Church But by this Rule how shall we know the True Church in the Controversie between the Catholicks and the Arrians for they were both agreed in this Point of Discipline But how can we expect that these Writers before the Nicene Council should say much of the Infallible Judge since she had no such if either a General Council alone or in conjunction with the Pope be it for it is well known That from the Time of the Apostles to the Synod of Nice there was no General Council And Alphonsus a Castro imputes the Number and Extravagance of the Heresies of those Times to the Want of an Infallible Judge Adv. Heres l. 1. which he takes to be a General Council But I cannot get this Scruple out of my Head How God should intend such a Judge as the only certain Means of Preserving the Integrity of Christian Religion against Heresie and yet suffer his Church to be without it for almost three Ages when she stood in the greatest Need of such a Help and was otherwise by her Holiness and Glorious Martyrdoms best qualifyed to receive such an Extraordinary Favour And afterwards when the Emperours were Christian and Orthodox there seemed to be less Need of it for their Laws against Hereticks might perhaps be more Infallible in their Effect of Suppressing them than the most solemn Sentence of the Infallible Judge For the Popes of those Ages though they were ingaged in several Controversies yet neither did they pretend to be Infallible nor were they acknowledged as such by any other Churches