Sir, would you not think a Man went to impofe upon you, who should ask you, Where your found and healthful Conftitution after Recovery was all the while you lay fick? Or of a River, which perhaps in your Anceftor's Days was full of Mud and Weeds, but you had cleanfed it with great Coft and Labour, Where the pure and clean Stream of it was all the while it was foul? Would you not think he banter'd you, to bid you fhew him one Tun or Hogs-bead, or but one fingle Bucket of fuch Water, as it now afforded, for I know not how ma ny Years, before it was made clean? Sir, I have brought thefe familiar Similitudes to fhew you, what a fallacious Challenge the Gentleman hath fent me by you, and how he hath endeavour'd to impole upon you and me in the terms of it. Had it been fairly penn'd, it should have been put in thefe or the like Words: Name any Bifhops, Wri ters, Churches, nay one fingle Congregation or Village of Chriftians, that profeffed your Religion for 900 or 1000 Years before your Separation from the Church of Rome; and if he pleafes to put it fo, I will give it an Anfwer; and then defire him to name one Church, Bifhop, or Writer, that 900 or 1000 Years ago profeffed the Tridentine Faith, For the Creed of Pope Pius IV.7

I fay, if he will make his Challenge in thofe or the like terms, I will accept and answer it; but at prefent it is fufficient to fhew the Fallacy of it, as he wrote, or dictated it to you. In truth, Sir, it is the fame Fallacy, that is in the following Syllogifm, with which young Sophifters in the Schools endeavour to puzzle one anothers Wits.

I have added thefe Words, because I intend to print that Creed in English.

You

You bought raw Flefb,

You eat the Flesh which you bought,

Therefore

You eat raw Flefh.

SIR, would you not think I was merry, and lu dicrous, and not at all ferious, if I fhould make fuch a Syllogifm, or ask you, Where your roaft or boiled Meat was all the while it was raw? Thus much, Sir, in reference to the Suppofition, Question, and Challenge, which the Gentleman fent me by you; and which, I told you before, were nothing to the Church's Infallibility, which was to be the Subject of Controversy between us. I confefs the Suppofition relates to the Indefectibility of the Church; but neither that, nor any thing elfe in his Query, as he improperly calls it, relates to the Infallibility of the Church. And therefore in requital to his Query, which was nothing to that Subject, I take the liberty to fend him fome, that are.

I. SEEING the Word Church hath * many fignifications, I defire to know of him the particular limited

* See all thefe Significations in the following Citation our of the Confutatio Imperii Papa in Ecclefiam, by Nectarius, Patriarch of Hierufalem; publish'd by the Learned Dr. Alix, in Latin MDCCH. p. 212.

The Word Church] therefore is taken in two fenfes; First, Perfonally, as every Affembly of Men about any common Bufinefs or Affair. Secondly, Locally, and fuch are the Places in which we affemble, i. e. Temples, Forums, Theatres and Courts. It is taken for a Temple, 1 Cor. chap. 11. Have ye not boufes to eat and to drink in, or defpife ye the Church of God? B 4 And

limited fenfe in which it is infallible, or in which of the many fenfes Infallibility belongs to it?

II. I defire to know, if by the Churches Infallibility, he means that the Church hath always a living infallible Judge; if fo, then,

III. I

And chap. 14. Let women be filent in the Churches; it is a Shame for women to speak in the Church; let them ask their husbands at home. But both thefe fignifications, as well Perfonal as Local, areoftwo forts, Civil and Spiritual. I. Civil, fuch, abfolutely fpeaking, is every Concourfe or Company of People, as was that of Ephefus, which rushed upon Gaius and Ariftarchus, Paul's Companions, the Town-clerk is faid to have difmifs'd that Church or Affembly: Or elfe the Place it felf, as the Forum or Court, where they met. II. Spiritually, and then it fignifies an Affembly either lawful or unlawful. Unlawful, indeed, are fuch as are called by the Canons finful and fchifmatical Affemblies, according to that of the Pfalmift, I have hated the congregation of the ungodly. But the lawful, of which I am going to fpeak gradually, is Firft, either of a few in an Houfe, as falute the Church in their Houfe, Rom. 16. Or, 2dly, Of many Houfes in one Territory, as praise God in the Churches; and, I Cor. 14. Who fpeaks in an unknown tongue edifyeth himself, but he who prophefieth edifieth the Church. Or, 3dly, Of many Territories into one Bishoprick, as, The Church of God which is at Corinth, (1 Cor. 1.) And in the firft of the Revelation, To the feven Churches which are in Afia. Or, 4thly, It fignifies the People or Flock without the Bishop, as in your Citations: Take heed therefore unto your felves, and unto all the Flock whereof the Holy Ghaft has made you Bishops, to feed the Church of God, Acts 20. and, 2 Cor. 11. I have robbed other Churches, taking wages. 5thly, It fignifies the Bishops and Presbyters, as in a Synod or Council, mentioned alfo by you, as in S. Matth. c. 18. Tell the Church; but if he hears not the Church, let him be unto you

an Heathen. 6thly, The chief of the Clergy and Laity, as in your Citation, Ads 16. They being brought on their way by the Church, pafs'd over into Phenicia. And again, A&ts 18. Going down to Cafarea, he went up and faluted the Church. 7thly, It fignifies the Churches of many Epifcopal Cities under one Metropolis, as Can. 4. Synod. 1. The Confirmation of tbofe things which are done in the Province, (fpeaking about the Election of a Bishop) belongs to the Metropolitan; and the whole Pro

III. I would know, whether this infallible Judge be a fingle infallible Perfon, or an infallible Senate or Council?

IV. Ir it be a fingle infallible Perfon, I defire to know, ift, where he is always to be found, or where his infallible Chair is? 2dly, Under what Character

vince is faid to be one Church. 8thly, It is taken for many Metropolitical Churches united under one Frimate or Exarch, as Can. 34. of the holy Apoftles, It is convenient the Bishops of feveral Countries should know who amongst them is Chief, not that he should do any thing without acquainting them all. And Can. 9. and 17. of the 4th Council, If any one is unjustly Sentenced by the Metropolitan, or has a Controverfie with him, let him appeal to the Exarch, or to the See of CP. But the Exarchs are fuch as the Bifhops of Ephefus in Afia, of Cafarea in the East, of Heraclia in Thrace, of Theffalonica in Macedonia, of Corinth in Peloponnefus. 9thly, It is ufed to fignifie many National Churches under one, which from the time of the firft General Council, were Five in number; (whereas before they were but Three, and Four before the taking and deftruction of Jerusalem) and those Five were establish'd by the following Councils. The 6th Can. of the first Council, fays, Let ancient Customs be obferv'd. Let the Patriarch of Alexandria have the Authority of all those that are in Egypt, Lybia, and Pentapolis, because like usage is obferv'd also to the Roman Bishop. So likewife are the Privileges preferved to the Churches in Antioch, and other Provinces. And that the BiShop of Alia (or Jerufalem) be honoured according to the Tradition of the Ancients, is determined in the 7th Canon. In the 10th place, The Church is taken for a Synod of these five Patriarchs, in whom the whole Hierarchy is comprehended as in one union and indiffoluble Communion among themselves, both as to the Faith, and Profeffion, and Sacraments, and Spiritual Officers, and as much as may be, in refpect of Manners, and form of Government. Of this it is faid, Upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell fhall not prevail against it. And in the sth to the Ephef. St. Paul fays, The man is the head of the woman, as Chrift is the head of the Church. Husbands love your wives, as Chrift loveth the Church. And in I Cor. 12. And has placed them indeed in the Church, firft Apostles, Secondly Prophets, thirdly Doctors: And this is properly stiled The Catholick Church; or, abfolutely fpeaking, The Church of

God,

1

Character or Capacity this Infallibility belongs to him; And, 3dly, If he happen to be a fecret Atheift, or Heretick, or Simonift, or Sorcerer, much more if he be openly any of these, whether in these cafes he ftill continues Infallible? But if this infallible Judge be a Senate or Council, then,

V. I would know, if it must be a Council of the Univerfal Church? If fo, then,

T

VI. I would know of him, ift, Who hath power to call this Council? 2dly, Who hath power to prefide in it? Or if thefe Privileges belong to one and the fame Perfon by Chrift's appointment? If fo, then,

God, the Mother of us all, Chrift's perfect Spouse, whose Head Christ is, according to the Apoftle, in his Epistle to the Ephef. in the 1, 2, 5, chapters; and alfo Col. 1. Chrift is alfo the only Head, according to Bafil the Great, in his Sermon of the Judgment of God, who after the firft Page, confidering the Apostle's expreffion, fpeaks thus; Te are the body of Chrift, and members in particular; that is to fay, in Him governing and joining every one to the others unto agreement in one, and one only true Head, which is Chrift. In the 11th place, the Church is taken by a Synecdoche for any part relating to the whole Church, as in many of your inftances; fo the Apostle writing to the Corinthians, acknowledges, that he perfecuted the Church of God; meaning efpecially the two Churches of Jerufalem and Damafcus, because he had raised Troubles in then only, yet intentionally against the whole Catbolick Church. And because all the Members being knit together amongst themselves, the whole Body is justly faid to fhare in the fuffering of its feveral Parts, according to that of the Apostle; If one member fuffer, all the members fuffer with it: If one member rejoice, all the members rejoice with it. Such another place is that, in the firft to Timothy the 3d Chap. I write to thee, O Timothy, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy felf in the Church of God, which is the Church of the living God, the Pillar and Ground of Truth. Now Timothy at that time converfed only in the Church of Ephefus, yet his pious Converfation edified the whole Church.