with what he has told us, That to make "up the diffufive Body of Chriftians,not only a General Council united to their Head,but all the rest of the Faithful are requir'd, And that several of the Popish Divines are "of Opinion, That a General Council with the Pope at their Head is not infallible, without the concurrence of the diffufive Body of Chriftians: And how to reconcile these Inconfiftences, I know not; and till they are reconcil'd, I must affirm, that not only the Papifts in general, but N. C. in particular, tho' he may be never fo confident that the Roman Church is Infallible, knows not where to find this Infallibility, and then 'twill be of no ufe to him; and if 'tis of no use, I am very inclinable to think there is no fuch thing. And as for this Inftance of the Lord Mayor, it labours with this Fallacy; That first he fuppofes fuch a Magistrate in Being; and then he would prove from hence, that he must be somewhere; but the thing in difpute is, whether there is an Infallible Judge, or no? and if he is not to be met with any where, 'tis very reafonable to conclude there is no fuch Perfon. There are feveral other Hints in this Paragraph which are very dark and myfterious, and I fhould be very glad to have them explain'd, and to know how Infallibility can be strengthned, and made

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more certain; for if it can be fo, I am apt to think, that the Infallibility the Papifts boaft fo much of, will fall fhort of that Moral Certainty we Proteftants are contented withall: Or, what ufe he intended to make of that irrefragable Demonstration: "That fuppofing Infallibility "is either in the Pope, or Council, or the diffufive Body of Chriftians; that if it is not in either of the two firft, it must neceffarily be in the laft. But leaving those Trifles, the Archbishop argues;

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2. That the Church of Rome is not infallible, because there is not the least intimation in Scripture of this Privilege confer'd upon it. The Apostles in all their Epistles do not give the leaft direction to Christians to appeal to the Bishop of Rome for a determination of the many Differences, which even in those Times hapned among them: Nay, on the contrary, there are threwd intimations given, that the Church of Rome her felf fhould Apoftatize from that Faith,and that her Haughtinefs would be her Ruine, Rom. 11. 20, 21. where speaking of the Jews who were broken off by their Unbelief, he gives this Caution to the Church of Rome; Well, because of Unbelief, they were broken off, and thou ftandeft by Faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. For, if God Spared not the natural Branches, take heed left he also spare not

thee,

thee. Be not high-minded, but fear. What need they to fear, who had the Privilege of Infallibility? Their Faith muft needs be unfhaken: But St. Paul feems to think that Church to be in as much danger of falling from the Faith as any other. Neither do the Ancient Fathers in their Difputes with Hereticks, appeal to this Judge, tho' it was fo thort and expedite a way of ending Controverfies. And this very Confideration to a Wife Man, is inftead of a thousand Arguments, to fatisfie him that in thofe Times no fuch thing was believed in the World.

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To this N. C. anfwers, That thofe Texts of Scripture which prove the Roἐσ man Church to be the Catholick Church,

prove alfo the Infallibility of the Church, "but thofe have been already accounted "for: Then he affirms, That the Ancient Fathers did appeal to this Judge,and quotes a Sentence out of St. Austin, which is no. thing to this purpofe; the Father fays," That he should not be lieve the Gospel, but that the Authority of the Church moves him to it; the true meaning of which is, That 'tis by the Authority of the Church, that we judge what Books are Canonical, and what not; and that the true Books are diftinguish'd from the spurious, by the Church giving Teftimony that they were the genuine Books, written in those

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Times, by those Perfons whofe Names they bear; and then he remits the Reader to Tertullian, St. Austin, Epiphanius, but quotes nothing out of them, which he would certainly have done (being is very liberal of his Quotations out of the Fathers if the cafe were fo plain as he pretends.

3. The Archbishop argues farther, that we may as well expect an Infallible Judge in Temporal Matters as in Spiritual. The ground of this Argument is this, The Papists in defence of their Infallibility urge, that an Infallible, Judge is neceffary, be cause otherwise every particular Man would be left to judge for himself; and if every Man fhould judge for himself, there would be nothing but confufion in Religion, there would be no end of Controverfies; fo that an Univerfal, Infallible Judge is neceffary; and without this, God had not made fufficient Provifion for the affurance of Mens Faith, and for the Peace and Unity of his Church, or as 'tis exprefs'd in the Canon Law, Aliter Dominus non videretur fuisse difcretus, otherwife our Lord had not feem'd to be dif

creet.

To this his Grace anfwers, That 'tis high Presumption in Men to fay, God should do thus or thus; but they ought rather to confider what he has done, and to lay their

Mouths

Mouths in the Duft, and to admire the Wisdom of his Doings.

Secondly, That if this Argument had any fenfe in it, it would prove that there ought to be an Infallible Judge fet over us in Temporal Matters as well as Spiritual, because the one is as necessary to the Peace of the World, as the other to the Peace of the Church; and that Men areevery whit as apt to be perverse about Matters of Temporal Right, as about Matters of Faith.

To this N. C. replies, That this Life 'is a State of Trial, and that we must pass thro' much Tribulation into the Kingdom of God; and therefore God permits the 'Cruelty of Tyrants to try the Patience of Martyrs, and fuffers the Oppreffion of the Poor on Earth, to enhance their Reward in Heaven; fo that the Cruelty or Errors of a Temporal Judge do rather increase, than diminish the Happiness of the Juft: But that the Cafe is far otherwife in Spiritual Matters; if the Judge 'fhould spoil us of our Faith, or err inJudging for us, it would cause our eternal Ruin, our Damnation being neceffarily confequent upon a falfe Belief. And for that Reason, the Goodness of God seems to be fo much the more engag'd to fecure the Spiritual, than the Temporal Judge from Error.

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