3. The doctrine of the Papists concerning [the] infallibility of the

church.

They teach that "the visible church, whose rector is the pope of Rome, never hath erred, never can err.'

Bellarmine affirmeth, (1.) "That the pope, when he teacheth the whole church, can in no case err in things appertaining to faith." + (2.) "Not only the pope of Rome, but the particular church of Rome, cannot err in faith." (3.) "The pope of Rome cannot err, not only in decrees of faith, but also not in precepts of manners which are prescribed to the whole church and are necessary to salvation, or in those things which in themselves are good or evil." § (4.) "It is probably and piously to be believed, that the pope not only as pope cannot err, but as a particular person cannot be a heretic," (this is a foul mistake; for several popes have been heretics in the judgments of some of their popes so that some of them must needs err; either some of them in being heretics; or others of them in saying they were, if they were not,) "by pertinaciously believing any thing that is false, contrary to the faith." || (5.) Saith he, "Our opinion is, that the church cannot absolutely err; neither in things absolutely necessary, nor in other things which she propoundeth to be believed or done by us, whether they be expressly contained in the scriptures or not." ¶ (6.) "In these two things all the Catholics do agree: First. That the pope with his general council cannot err in making decrees of faith, or general precepts of manners. Secondly. That the pope, alone or with his particular council, determining any thing in a doubtful matter, whether he may err or not, ought to be obeyed by all the faithful.” ** A goodly agreement !

Becanus gives the opinion of the Papists; saying, "(i.) That the church is the judge of controversies. (ii.) That the rule by which the church doth determine controversies, or give its definitive sentence, is not the scripture only, but the scripture and tradition together. (iii.) That the church according to the rule" (of scripture and tradition) "pronounceth sentence, either by the pope, the pastor of the church; or by a council approved by the pope; and both ways infallibly.” ††

Pighius also puts-in his judgment that "the pope cannot any way be a heretic, nor publicly teach heresy, though he alone determine any matter." ‡‡

But, reader, notwithstanding all this confidence of infallibility, whether of pope or councils or both, they are proved to have erred, from the historical narratives of their own writers. Baronius acknowledgeth that pope Honorius was counted a heretic, joining with the Monothelites, or those that denied two wills in Christ; §§ and [this is acknowledged] by their own Genebrard, ||| and by the Rhemists: though some of them go one away, and some another, to salve the infallibility; yet in vain, when he was condemned by a general council, and anathematized, with six more, • Catechismus Trident., in Expos. Symb. Apost. de Eccles. quæst. 15; "Test. Rhemist. Annot." on 1 Tim. i. 15; and Eph. v. 24. + BELLARMINUS De Rom. Pontif. lib. iv. 1 Ibid. lib. iv. cap. 4. cap. 3. Ibid. lib. iv. 5. cap. Ibid. lib. iv. cap. 6. ¶ Idem De Eccles. Milit. lib. iii. cap. 14. * Idem De Rom. Pont. + Catholici tria docent, &c.-BECANI Manuale, lib. i. cap. 5. 11 PIGHIUS De Hier. Eccl. lib. iv. cap. 8. SS SPONDANI Epitome BARONI, pars ii. p. 96. GENEBRARDI Chron. lib. iii. p. 484.

lib. iv. cap. 2.

holding the same heresy; and this when the legates of pope Agatho were present; whose epistles to Sergius, &c., were produced and read in the council, and judged heretical, destructive to men's souls, and condemned to be presently burned; and so they were.

Their own Baronius also gives an account of the barbarous actings of pope Stephen VII. (called "the sixth ") toward the dead body of Formosus, his predecessor: for, taking it out of the sepulchre, [he] set it, clothed in its pontificalibus, [" pontificals,"] in the pontificial seat; and, after he had derided it, took off its vestments, and cut off three fingers, and cast it into the river Tiber: and all that Formosus had ordained, he degraded, and ordained them again. † "This pope," saith the author, "gathering a synod, approved his inhuman fact [deed]; which was condemned again by pope John IX., as he had made void the decrees of Formosus." And thus they can decree, and others rescind and decree the contrary, and act worse than Heathens; and yet not err, any of them, in faith or manners; which to any man's reason seemeth very strange.

Besides, Marcellinus was an idolater; ‡ Liberius, an Arian; § Siricius, Calixtus, Leo IX., and Paschalis condemned ministers' marriage. John XXII. held, that the souls of the wicked should not be punished till the day of judgment. John XXIII. denied the soul's immortality. John XI. kept for his paramour a famous strumpet, called Marozia. John XIII. at dice called to the devil for help, and drank a health to him; lay with his own mother and his father's concubine; ordained deacons in a stable; for money made boys bishops; committed incest with two of his sisters; at last being found in the act of adultery, was slain by the woman's husband.

Pope Sylvester II. was a conjuror. He, inquiring of the devil how long he should live, was answered, Till he should say Mass in Jerusalem. In the Lent after, as he was saying Mass in the chapel of St. Cross, he suddenly fell sick; and remembering that that chapel was called "Jerusalem,” he perceived how he was cozened by the devil. Before he died, he bequeathed his soul to the devil, and commanded his cardinals that after his death they should cut his body in pieces, and so bury him. | Pope Hildebrand was a conjuror; and inquiring of the host (which, they say, is the body of Christ) for an answer against the emperor, because it would not speak, he threw it into the fire and burned it. ¶ For many

• Concil. Constantinop. VI. act. 13; SURIUS, tom. ii. p. 992; CARANZÆ Summa Concil. p. 591, 610, 612. Ita furore percitus homo, non quod jure liceret, sed quod exæstuans rabies suaderet, implens.-SPONDANI Epitome BARONII, pars ii. p. 247. "A man so transported with rage, fulfilling, not what he lawfully might do, but whatever an overboiling frenzy prompted him."-EDIT. 1 Ipse Marcellinus ad sucrificium ductus est, ut sacrificaret; quod et fecit.-CARANZE Concil. p. 72. § Liberium tædio victum exilii in hæreticam pravitatem subscripsisse, asserit Hieronymus: testantur idipsum alii quoque antiqui scriptores; ac denique ipse Liberius scriptis literis ad, &c.-SPONDANI Epitome BARONII, in ann. 357. Sylvestrum II., Benedictum IX., Gregorium VI., Gregorium VII., fuisse magos, narrat BENNO cardinalis. Sylvester II. inter ipsas mortis angustias supplicat manus et linguam sibi abscindi, per quas sacrificando dæmonibus Deum inhonoravit. "Cardinal Benno relates that Sylvester II., &c., were magicians. Sylvester II. in the very pangs of death begged that his own hands and tongue might be cut off; by sacrificing with which to devils, he had dishonoured God."-EDIT. Hildebrandus (qui ·

Gregorius VII.) consecratam eucharistiam in ignem projecit, consulens dæmones contra Henricum IV. imperatorem.—BENNO cardinalis, qui et plura de hoc et aliis Romanis pontificibus miranda narrat, quæ nullus historicorum, neque Platina nec quisquam alius, prodidit. "This account is taken from Cardinal Benno, who also relates several other wonderful

wickednesses he was deposed and banished. Pope Leo X., pleased with the great sums of money which he had got by indulgences, said to cardinal Bembus, "See what abundance of wealth we have gotten by this fable of Christ!" And when he lay upon his death-bed, the same cardinal rehearsing a text of scripture to him, he replied, "Away with these fables concerning Christ!" Pope Nicolas I. forbade marriage to the clergy; saying [that] it was more honest to have to do with many women privately, than openly to take one wife. John XXIV. was accused before the council of Constance for heresy, simony, murder, poisonings, adulteries, and sodomy; which being made good against him, he was deposed and imprisoned. Pope Eugenius IV. was deposed by the general council at Basil, for "being a simonist and guilty of perjury, being a schismatic and an obstinate heretic." * It would make a large book, to give an account of the failings of popes in matters both of life and faith; but I have but little room allowed. Take two general expressions of their own authors, and then judge: "What then was the face of the holy Roman church? How exceeding filthy, when the most potent, and yet the most sordid, whores did rule at Rome, and their lovers [were] thrust in Peter's chair!" Another, fixed enough to the Popish religion, acknowledged that "in this one thing that age was unhappy, that, for near one hundred and fifty years, about fifty popes did wholly fall away from the virtue of their ancestors, being rather apotactical" (irregular) " and apostatical than apostolical."

And as the church, if thereby [be] understood the pope, hath failed; so also, if taken for general councils, [it] hath also failed; as is plain by this infallible argument,-in that several general councils, ratified by popes, have decreed things contradictory, and that in matters of faith; and some of them must necessarily err; except contradictions can be reconciled, and both parts be true; which is impossible. For example: the general councils of Constance and of Basil have fully asserted that a general council is above the pope, and [that he] is to be judged by them, and by them may be deposed; in these words: "Not one of the skilful did ever doubt but that the pope was subject to the judgment of a general council in things that concern faith; and that he cannot without their consent dissolve or remove a general council; yea, and that this is an article of faith, which, without destruction of salvation, cannot be denied; and that the council is above the pope de fide ['in matter of faith']; and that it cannot be removed without their own consent; and

things respecting this and other Roman pontiffs, which no other historian, neither Platina nor any one else, has revealed."-EDIT. Vide ILLYRICI Catalogum, pp. 219-221, 223, &c.

LAURENTII SURII Concilia, tom. iv. p. 104.

Vide LUITPRANDUM, lib. ii. cap. 13; et BARONII Annales, ad an. 912; vel SPONDANUM. Ex quibus videas fœdissimam hujus temporis ecclesiæ Romanæ faciem, ad an. 912. "From whom you may see the most filthy appearance of the Roman church at this time."-Edit. 1 GENEBRARDUS

in seculum decimum: Infelix dicitur hoc seculum, exhaustum hominibus ingenio et doctriná claris, sine etiam claris principibus et pontificibus, in quo nihil fere dignum memoriá posteritatis gestum sit : hoc ipso infelicissimum, quòd ecclesia esset sine ullo bono ferè pontifice. Hoc verò uno infelix, quòd per annos ferè 150 pontifices circiter 50—a Johanne, scilicet, VIII., qui Nicolao et Adriano II. sanctis successit, ad Leonem IX. usque—a virtute majorum prorsus defecerint, apotactici apostaticive potiùs quàm apostolici. E tanto pontificum numero, quinque modò, et satis tenuiter, laudantur, &c.-GENEBRARDI Chronol. lib. iv, pp. 552, 553.

that he is a heretic that is against these things." Thus the council of Basil, owned by pope Eugenius; and the council of Constance,* confirmed by pope Martin V., being personally present in it. And yet another general council, at the Lateran, under Julius II. and Leo X., expressly decree on the contrary that the pope is above a general council.+ Till these two can be true, both of them,-The pope is above a general council, and, The pope is not above a general council,-the infallibility of their church (and that even in a fundamental point thereof) is laid in the dust. Let them choose which side they will, one did err.

VIII. OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

1. The doctrine of the apostles concerning the catholic or universal church.

"Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." (1 Cor. i. 2.) "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." (1 Cor. xii. 13.) "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb." (Rev. vii. 9.) See also Eph. i. 10, 22; Acts ii. 39; Eph. ii. 19; iii. 15; Acts ii. 47; Matt. xxviii. 19; Mark xvi. 15; Acts ii. 21; Rom. i. 16; Gal. iii. 28; Acts xiii. 39; Rom. x. 4; Luke xiii. 28, 29; Acts x. 35.

Reader, observe that these scriptures speak of the church under Christ, the Head thereof; (making no mention of owning of, or being joined to, any mortal man, as their visible head ;) in which church (not limited or confined to the church of Rome) there is salvation.

2. The doctrine of the Protestants concerning the catholic or universal

church.

"The catholic or universal church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ, the Head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.'

"The visible church, which is also catholic or universal, under the gospel, (not confined to one nation, as before under the law,) consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion, together with their children; and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus, the house

• Primò, definitur quòd generalis synodus, in Spiritu Sancto legitime congregata, generale concilium faciens, ecclesiam militantem repræsentans, potestatem a Christo immediate habet, cui quilibet, cujuscunque status, etiamsi Papalis existat, obedire tenetur in his quæ pertinent ad fidem et ad extirpationem schismatum et ad generalem reformationem ecclesiæ in capite et in membris. Secundò, declarat quòd quicunque, cujuscunque dignitatis, et etiamsi Papalis existat, qui mandatis aut præceptis hujus sanctæ synodi, et cujuscunque alterius concilii generalis, obedire contumaciter contempserit, nisi resipuerit, condignæ pœnitentiæ subjiciatur et debite puniatur. Tertiò, declarat quòd ipsum generale concilium pro præmissis eaque concernentibus congregatum, sine ipsius consensu, per nullum, quávis autoritate, etiamsi Papali dignitate præfulgeat, dissolvi, transferri, aut ad aliud tempus prorogari potest. Hæc tria sunt veritates fidei Catholicæ, quibus pertinaciter repugnans est ↑ Cùm etiam solum Romanum pontificem, pro tempore existen

censendus hæreticus. tem, tanquam authoritatem super omnia concilia habentem, conciliorum indicendorum, transferendorum, ac dissolvendorum plenum jus et potestatem habere, ex conciliorum confessione manifeste constet.-LAURENTII SURII Concil. tom. iv. p. 683. There was but one in all the council but gave his placet hereunto, that would not recede from the determination of the council of Basil.- - Ibid. p. 684.

and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation."

This is the confession also of the churches of Helvetia, Bohemia, Belgia, Wittemburgh, &c.*

3. The doctrine of the Papists concerning the catholic or universal church.

The Trent Catechism maketh that the only church, that is under the pope; excluding all others that submit not to him as the vicar of Christ. The same in a general council made it necessary to salvation, to be subject to the pope of Rome,-by Leo X. Pope Pius II. approved this doctrine: "I came to the fountain of truth, which-the holy doctors with one voice say that he cannot be saved that holdeth not the unity of the holy church of Rome; and that all those virtues are maimed to him that refuseth to obey the pope of Rome, though he lie in sackcloth and ashes, and fast and pray both day and night, and seem in other things to fulfil the law of God. We learned that the one Catholic and apostolical church" (of Rome) "is the mother of all the faithful, out of which there is no salvation."§

But, reader, dost thou think that God will damn any holy, humble, and believing persons, because they are not subject to the pope? Hath God any where made such subjection to him a condition of salvation? Let them show it, if they can. Or are there no such persons in the world that are holy and believing, that do not submit unto the pope? There are many thousands, that know themselves better than his infallible Holiness can know them, that know that to be a falsehood.

Neither doth Bellarmine vary from them in his definition of "the church: " "That it is a company of men knit together in the profession of the same Christian faith and communion of the same sacraments, under the government of lawful pastors, especially of the bishop of Rome, Christ's vicar upon earth. From whence it might be easily gathered," saith he, "who do belong to the church, and who do not. There are three parts," as he goeth on, "of this definition of the church: (1.) Profession of the true faith; (2.) Communion of the sacraments; (3.) Subjection to the pope of Rome, the lawful pastor. By the first, all infidels, Turks, Pagans, heretics, and apostates, are excluded from the church; by the second, catechumens and excommunicated persons be excluded; by the third, all schismatics, that have the word and sacraments, but do not submit to the lawful pastor:" (the pope :) "but all others, though they be reprobates, wicked, and ungodly, are included in the church." ||

Mark this, good reader, whether this sounds like the apostles' doctrine before laid down :-if men be never so good and holy, though [they be] converted and believe, if they do not submit to the pope as the universal Confess. Gall. art. 27, 28; Conf. Helvet. 11. cap. 17; Bohem. cap. 8; Belg. art. 27; Wittemb. art. 32. t Catechis. Rom., in Symb. pp. 139, 141. 1 Concil. Lateran. Abrogat. Pragmat. Sanct. Bull. § Ad fontem veri perveni, quem sancti doctores,— quorum una vox est, salvari non posse qui sanctæ Romanæ ecclesiæ non tenet unitatem; omnesque illas virtutes mancas esse ei qui summo pontifici obedire recusat, quàmvis, in sacco et cinere jacens, dies et noctes jejunet et oret, et in cæteris videatur legem implere. Didicimus unam ecclesiam Catholicam et apostolicam (subaudi Romanam) esse matrem omnium fidelium, extra quam non invenitur salus.-P11 II. Bulla Retractationum, apud LAURENTII SURII Concil. tom. iv. p. 506. BELLARMINUS De Eccles. Milit. lib. iii. cap. 2.