The Remains of John Corbet, Section 11
§ 11. The infallibility of the Catholick Church examined.
THE Romaniſts aſſert an inſallibility about matters of faith ſomewhere ſeated within the Catholick Church as the perpetual priviledg thereof; ſome of them place it in the Pope, and others in a General council. Hereupon this priviledg is to be conſidered, whether it be, and what it is.
The meaning of the term, is a being not liable to be deceived, or to deceive, about thoſe matters about which it is ſaid to be.
That the catholick church is infallible in the eſſentials of the chriſtian religion is a moſt indubitable truth; for every member of the catholick church ſo remaining, is infallible ſo far; it involves a a contradiction that any ſuch ſhould err therein, for it were as much as to be a chriſtian and no chriſtian.
The Query therefore is, whether it be liable to errour in the integrals a…d accidentals of Religion? Now the church remaining ſuch, is not neceſſarily or in its nature infallible ſo far, and therefore if it be infallible, it muſt be ſo from the free grant of Chriſt; But it doth not appear in the Holy Scripture that any ſuch grant is made to the church.
What was the Apoſtles doctrine, and conſequently the doctrine of the Church in their days, obedient to their authority, we know; what the church univerſally held in any one age touching all the integral parts of religion, much more concerning accidentals, I conceive extreamly difficult, if not impoſſible to be known. But that the church hath de facto, if not univerſally, yet very generally erred in the ſame errour about ſome integrals of religion, appears by the ancient general practiſe of ſome things, now generally accounted erroneous; as for inſtance, the giving of the Lords Supper to infants.
Moreover it is evident, that the whole Church in its ſeveral parts hath erred, ſome in one point, ſome in another; and that no part thereof hath been found in which hath appeared no error in ſome point of Religion or other. And if all the parts may variouſly err in ſeveral points, why may not they alſo harmoniouſly err all of them in one and the ſame point?
If the Catholick Church be not infallible in all doctrines of Faith, much leſs is any ſuch Council infallible as was ever yet congregated, or is ever like to be congregated.
Hereupon it follows, that in all Controverſies of doctrine we cannot ſtand finally to the deciſion of the Catholick Church, if it were poſſible to be had; or to the deciſion of any the largeſt Council that can poſſibly convene.
We cannot tell what the Catholick Church is, nor what particular Churches or perſons are ſound parts thereof, but by the holy Scriptures. For what Criterion can be brought beſides them? Mens bare teſtimony of themſelves is not to be reſted on. How can we know that the firſt Nicene Council was orthodox in its determination about the Sacred Trinity, and the ſecond Nicene Council erroneous in its determination for Image-worſhip, but by finding that the former was conſonant, and the latter diſſonant to the Scripture in their aforeſaid determinations?
If it be ſaid, That of Councils called General, thoſe that conſiſt of greater numbers of biſhops muſt carry it againſt thoſe that conſiſt of leſſer numbers; let ſome proof either from Scripture or Reaſon be given for it. What ground is there from either to conclude, that in the time of the Arrian Hereſie the major part of biſhops in the Roman Empire, or the major part of thoſe that aſſembled in Council, and for inſtance in the firſt Council at Nice, might not poſſibly have been Arrians? Moreover if the major part were to carry it in the firſt ſix Centuries, why not alſo in the ten laſt?
That promiſe of Chriſt, Mat. 28. I am with you always to the end of the world, may imply, That there ſhall be a ſucceſſive continuation of Biſhops or Paſtors in the Catholick Church to the worlds end, that ſhall be Orthodox in the Eſſentials, yea and in the Integrals of Religion; yet it doth not imply that they ſhall be the greater number of thoſe that are called and reputed biſhops or paſtors within Chriſtendom, nor that the greater number of thoſe being convened in Councils, ſhall not err in their Conciliar determinations about matters of Faith.