Romanism Discussed, Treatise · Article 5 · Section 4
SECT. IV.
None of theſe texts Matth. 28. 20. 1 Tim. 3. 15. Matth. 16. 18. John 14. 26. John 16. 23. Act. 15. 28. do prove the infallibility in points of faith of the Catholick or Roman Church, or the Pope or a general council approved by him.
H. T. adds a third argument for the Churches infallibil…ty thus: If Chriſt be alwayes with his Church, and have made her the pillar and firmament of truth, againſt which the gates of hell (hereſies) ſhall not prevail, and given her the holy Ghoſt to aſſiſt her to all truth, ſo that her definitions in an approved general council are the very dictates of the holy Ghoſt, then is it impoſſible the Church ſhould erre in faith: But all this Chriſt hath done for his Church, therefore it is impoſſible the Church ſhould erre in faith. The ſequel of the Major is manifeſt by the very terms of the ſuppoſition: the Minor is proved, go ye teaching all Nations, &c. And behold I am with you all daies (he is with her teaching) St. Matth. 28. 20. The houſe of God, which is the pillar and firmament of truth, 1 Tim. 3. 15. The gates of hell ſhall not prevail againſt it. St. Matth. 16. 18. He will give you another paraclere that he may abide with you for ever, …c. He ſhall teach you all things, and ſuggeſt to you all things whatſoever I ſhall ſay to you (in all points of faith) St. John 14. 26. He ſhall …ach you all truth (no errors) St. John 16. 13. It hath ſeemed good (ſay the Apoſtles in council) to the holy Ghoſt and to us, Act. 15. 28.
Anſw. This Author ſtill abuſeth his reader by putting his concluſion otherwiſe then his tenet. For whereas his tenet was, that the Roman Catholick Church is infallible▪ he puts his concluſion thus, [the Church is infallible] as if [the Church] and [the Catholick Church] were all one, and [the Catholick] and [the Roman] were all one, and [the Church of Chriſt] and [the viſible Church militant] were the ſame: which are indeed fallacies, which eaſily take with ſilly or prejudiced Papiſts, that take what is ſaid of the Church to be meant of the viſible militant Church, and what is ſaid of the viſible militant to be ſaid of the Catholick Church, and by the Catholick imagin the Roman meant, and by the Roman the Pope. But to diſcover the vanity of this argument. 1. The ſequel of the Major is denied, nor is it manifeſt by the terms of the ſuppoſition. For Chriſts preſence is with every believer, and he hath made every believer a pillar and firmament of truth, and againſt every true believer the gates of hell (hereſies) ſhall not prevail, and he hath given the holy Ghoſt to every true believer to aſſiſt him to all truth as well as to the Church, and his definitions are the very dictates of the holy Ghoſt, when he defines according to Scripture, and yet it is not impoſſible he ſhould erre in faith. Chriſt hath made promiſes of his preſence and of his ſpirit, and his ſpirit is ſaid to be in and with every true believer, as well as the Church, Rom. 8. 1, 9, 15. 1 Cor. 6. 19. 2 Cor. 1. 22. and 13. 5. Gal. 4 6. Epheſ. 1. 13. 2 Cor. 6. 16. John 10 16, 27, 28, 29. and yet believers may erre in faith, Rom. 14. 2, 3, 5. 1 Cor. 15. 12. Gal. 3. 1. and 4. …0. 21. And therefore it is not true, which this Author ſuppoſeth manifeſt.
Not is the Minor tr…e or proved by the texts he brings. For the promiſe, Matth. 28 20. is not to the Church, but to the Apoſtles and other teachers, who ſucceed them: nor is the promiſe made to them that they ſhould teach no error in faith: but that teaching (as H. T. ſpeaks) or as long as they teach the true faith, he would be with them by aſſiſting and proſpering them in their work. The words, 1 Tim. 3. 15 may be meant of the myſtery of godlineſs mentioned, v. 16. thus, the Myſtery of godlineſs is the pillar and firmament, ground or ſeat of truth, and without controver…ie great, which I do conceive after Cameron and others to be the trueſt expoſition, as the ſame Apoſtle in other places gives ſuch elogies to the great points of faith, 1 Tim. 1. 15. and 4. 9. and 2 Tim. 2. 11. and the conjunction foreign and ver. 16. doth make it very probable. Nor doth Grotius his reaſon avoid it: For the myſtery even according to this expoſition is the ſubject not the predicate. Others refer it to Timo…hy, but then it ſhould be in the accuſative caſe. But let it be granted that it is meant of the Church which is ſaid, that it is the pillar and firmament of truth, yet it is certain from the very words, that it is meant of that Church in which Timothy was directed how to behave himſelf, which was the Church of Epheſus, as appears 1 Tim. 1. 3. not the Church of Rome, and therefore muſt be underſtood in ſuch a ſenſe as agrees to it: which the Papiſts themſelves will not ſay was infallible or could not erre in faith. And therefore they muſt yeild it to be meant either of what they were in duty to be, or what they were actually, thus they were ſuch, as by profeſſion and practice did hold forth, and maintain and uphold the truth in thoſe parts: not that they held nothing but tenets, nor ſo held forth the truth, but that they might erre and decay in their holding out the truth. For it is certain they did ſo, Rev. 2. 4 5. Act. 20. 29, 30. The terms [the pillar and firmament, or ground or ſeat of truth] are but metaphors, and whereas there are theſe two things ſignified by hem. 1. The upholding of the truth, ſo as that otherwiſe it ſhould fall. 2. The fixing of the truth there, ſo as that it ſhould abide and be permanent there, doubtleſſe the former ſenſe cannot be true. For though God ſhould have no Church on earth or in heaven, no Apoſtle, Prophet, Biſhop, yet his truth would be upheld; his word is for ever ſettled in heaven, Pſal. 119. 89. Chriſt who is the truth, John 14. 6. abides for ever, and the ſpirit of truth remains for ever, and will uphold his truth. If it were as ſome of the Romaniſts ſay, the Church only abode in the Virgin Mary at Chriſts death, or as others ſay, in the time of Antichriſt there ſhall be no ſacrifice, nor ceremonies, nor religion, yet the Goſpel of Chriſt ſhall be everlaſting; as the Angel terms it, Revel. 14. 6. therefore of neceſſity it muſt be underſtood in that ſenſe in which it notes ſtability, permanency, fixedneſſe or abiding, and the ſenſe is, the Church is the company among whom the truth abides unſhaken, in which ſenſe Revel. 3. 12. it is ſaid, him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he ſhall go no more out. And ſo foreign is uſed, 1 Cor. 7. 37. for ſtedfaſt, and 1 Cor. 15. 58. foreign, ſtedfaſt, unmoveable are made ſynonymous, and Col. 1. 13. foreign, grounded and ſetled in the faith, foreign not moved away from the hope. So that the meaning is no more but this, the Church of the living God is not a tile which is often ſhaken and blown down with the winde, but a pillar that abides unſhaken, and the ſeat or ground or baſis of truth, where it abides being received and embraced by it. Which is to be underſtood of the inviſible Church of true believers; and though not of every truth, yet of the main truth of the Goſpel, as it is termed, Gal. 1. 5. the Word of truth, James 1. 18. the truth, John 17. 17. which is expreſſed in the next words, 1 Tim. 3. 16. from which he foretels an Apoſtaſie, 1 Tim. 4. 1. and cannot be meant of any truth whatſoever which may be in controverſie. For it is certain no meer mortal man, nor all men, were ever ſo infallible. Which being rightly underſtood makes nothing for infallibility in all points which the Catholick Roman Church, Oecumenical council, or Pope, or all together ſhall define, as H. T. would have it. The next text, Matth. 16. 18. is as little to his purpoſe. For it is not ſaid againſt the Roman Church, much leſſe it is ſaid againſt an Oecumenical council or the Pope of Rome, the gates of hell ſhall not prevail, but againſt my Church, that is, Chriſts whereſoever. 2. Nor is it proved, that by the gates of hell are meant hereſies as this Author ſuppoſeth. The truth is, however by the modern uſe the term [hell] is appropriated almoſt to the place of the damned and the tormented there, yet the word [foreign] tranſlated [hell] is either never or not many times uſed in the bible for that place or thoſe perſons, nor was of old the word [hell] appropriated to that place of torment, but meant of the grave or the ſtate of the dead, in which ſenſe it was meant of old that Chriſt went into hell, that is for a time to abide among the dead, as the learned Uſher proves in his anſwer to the Jeſuits challenge, ch. 8. and the gates of hell are no more than the gates of death or the grave, as Iſa. 38. 10▪ Pſal. 9. 13. &c. is meant. So that the meaning of Matth. 16. 18. is no more but this, the gates of hell, or the grave, that is death, ſhall not ſo prevail againſt my Church, but that I will raiſe it up at the laſt day to life eternal, as our Lord Chriſt ſpeaks, John 6. 39. Which being the genuine meaning, it is true onelyonly of the church of the elect, not of the meer viſible, nor of that is ſuch a prevalency denied, but that they may erre in faith, however it be aſſured that it ſhall not erre in faith finally to perdition.
The next Text John 14. 26. is ill tranſlated, [ſhall ſuggeſt to you all things whatſoever I ſhall ſay to you] the words being foreign, that is, he ſhall minde you of all things which I have ſaid to you: nor is this meant onelyonly in points of faith, as this Authour adds, without any reaſon in the Text, that he might reſtrain it to them, in which he would have the church to be accounted infallible, but alſo in matters of practiſe; and this is meant onelyonly of the Apoſtles, as the words [which I have ſaid to you] and particularities expreſſed verſ. 25, 28, 29. chap. 15. 27. chap. 16 4, 6, 12, 13. ſhew. And in like manner is the next Text, John 16. 13. appropriate to the Apoſtles, to whom the words were ſpoken. Nor are the words reſtrained to matters of faith, but extended alſo to points of practiſe, and there is a promiſe of ſhewing them alſo things to come. Which argues plainly, that it is not a promiſe to the whole Church, or Pope, or Council, or every particular believer, ſith it is certain that to none of theſe it is verified, they have not things to come ſhewed to them according to that promiſe, and therefore it muſt needs be impertinently alleged by H. T. to prove his Minor.
The laſt Text Acts 15. 28. H. T. himſelf confeſſeth was ſaid by the Apoſtles in council, not by Peter onelyonly, nor by a council without the Apoſtles, much leſs by any Biſhop of one City as Rome is, and therefore proves not any unerringneſs in any but the Apoſtles, nor in them at all times in all points of faith, but onelyonly their not erring in their determination at that time. So that his Texts do none of them prove his Minor.