ART. all occasioned by that absolute and universal authority of XXI. which they are now possessed.

So by all the judgments that can be made from the state of things, from the interests of men, and the last management at Trent, one may without a spirit of prophecy conclude, that, unless Christendom puts on a new face, there will be no more General Councils. And so here infallibility is at an end, and has left the Church at least for a very long interval.

It remains that those passages should be considered that are brought to support this authority. Christ says, Tell the Church; and if he neglects to hear the Church, let him be unto xviii. 17. thee as a heathen man, and a publican.

Matth.

15.

These words in themselves, and separated from all that went before, seem to speak this matter very fully: but when the occasion of them, and the matter that is treated of in them, are considered, nothing can be plainer than that our Saviour is speaking of such private differences as may arise among men, and of the practice of forgiving injuries, and composing their differences. If thy brother sin against thee; first, private endeavours were to be used; then the interposition of friends was to be tried; and finally, the matter was to be referred to the body, or assembly, to which they belonged and those who could not be gained by such methods, were no more to be esteemed brethren, but were to be looked on as very bad men, like heathens. They might upon such refractoriness be excommunicated, and prosecuted afterwards in temporal courts, since they had by their perverseness forfeited all sort of right to that tenderness and charity that is due to true Christians.

:

This exposition does so fully agree to the occasion and scope of these words, that there is no colour of reason to carry them further.

The character given to the Church of Ephesus, in St. 1 Tim. iii. Paul's Epistle to Timothy, that it was the pillar and ground of truth, is a figurative expression: and it is never safe to build upon metaphors, much less to lay much weight upon them.

The Jews described their synagogues by such honourable characters, in which it is known how profuse all the Eastern nations are. These are by St. Paul applied to the Church of Ephesus: for he there speaks of the Church where Timothy was then, in which he instructs him to behave himself well. It has visibly a relation to those inscriptions that were made on pillars which rested upon

ART.

firm pedestals: but whatsoever the strict importance of the metaphor may be, it is a metaphor, and therefore it can be XXI. no argument. Christ's promise of the Spirit to his Apostles, that should lead them into all truth, relates visibly to that Joh. xvi. extraordinary inspiration by which they were to be acted, and that was to shew them things to come; so that a succession of prophecy may be inferred from these words, as well as of infallibility.

13.

Those words of our Saviour, with which St. Matthew concludes his Gospel, Lo, I am with you always, even to Matth. the end of the world, infer no infallibility, but only a xxviii. 20. promise of assistance and protection: which was a necessary encouragement to the Apostles, when they were sent upon so laborious a commission, that was to involve them in so much danger. God's being with any, his walking with 2 Cor. vi.. them, his being in the midst of them, his never leaving nor 16. forsaking them, are expressions often used in the Scripture, 5 which signify no more but God's watchful providence, guiding, supporting, and protecting his people: all this is far from infallibility.

Heb. xiii.

The last objection to be proposed is that which seems to relate most to the point in hand, taken from the decree made by a Council at Jerusalem, which begins, It seemed Acts xv. good to the Holy Ghost, and to us: from which they infer, 28. that the Holy Ghost is present with Councils, and that what seems good to them is also approved by the Holy Ghost. But it will not be easy to prove that this was such a Council, as to be a pattern to succeeding ones. to copy after it. We find Brethren are here joined with the Apostles themselves: now since these were no other than the laity, here an inference will be made, that will not easily go down. If they sate and voted with the Apostles, it will seem strange to deny them the same privilege among Bishops. By Elders here it seems Presbyters are meant, and this will give them an entrance into a General Council, out of which they cannot be well excluded, if the laity are admitted. But here was no citation, no time given to all Churches to send their Bishops or proxies: it was an occasional meeting of such of the Apostles as happened to be then at Jerusalem, who called to them the Elders or Presbyters, and other Christians at Jerusalem: for the Holy Ghost was then poured out so plentifully on so many, that no wonder if there were then about that truly mother Church a great many of both sorts, who were of such eminence, that the Apostles might desire them to meet and to join with them.

The Apostles were divinely assisted in the delivering

15.

XXI.

1 Cor. vii.

6, 12.

Ver. 40.

Ver. 25.

ART. that commission which our Saviour gave them in charge, To preach to every creature; and so were infallibly assisted Mark xvi. in the executing of it: yet when other matters fell in, which were no parts of that commission, they, no doubt, did as St. Paul, who sometimes writ by permission, as well as at other times by commandment: of which he gives notice, by saying, It is I, and not the Lord: he suggested advices, which to him, according to his prudence and experience, seemed to be well founded; and he offered them with great sincerity; for though he had some reason to think that what he proposed, flowed from the Spirit of the Lord, from that inspiration that was acting him; yet because that did not appear distinctly to him, he speaks with reserves, and says, he gives his judgment as one that had obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. So the Apostles here, receiving no inspiration to direct them in this case, but observing well what St. Peter put them in mind of, concerning God's sending him by a special vision to preach to the Gentiles, and that God had poured out the Holy Ghost on them, even as he had done upon the Acts xv. 9. Apostles, who were Jews by nature, and that he did put no difference in that between Jews and Gentiles; purifying the hearts of the Gentiles by faith: they upon this did by their judgment conclude from thence, that what God had done in the particular instance of Cornelius, was now to be extended to all the Gentiles. So by this we see that those words, seemed good to the Holy Ghost, relate to the case of Cornelius; and those words, seemed good to us, import that they resolved to extend that to be a general rule to all the Gentiles.

This gives the words a clear and distinct sense, which agrees with all that had gone before; whereas it will otherwise look very strange to see them add their authority to that of the Holy Ghost; which is too absurd to suppose: nor will it be easy to give any other consisting sense to these words.

Here is no precedent of a Council, much less of a General one: but a decision is made by men that were in other things divinely inspired, which can have no relation to the judgments of other Councils. And thus it appears that none of those places, which are brought to prove the infallibility of Councils, come up to the point: for so great and so important a matter as this is, must be supposed to be either expressly declared in the Scriptures,

or not at all.

The Article affirming, that some General Councils have erred, must be understood of Councils that pass for such;

XXI.

and that may be called General Councils, much better than ART. many others that go by that name: for that at Arimini was both very numerous, and was drawn out of many different provinces. As to the strict notion of a General Council, there is great reason to believe that there was never any assembly to which it will be found to agree. And for the four General Councils, which this Church declares she receives, they are received only because we are persuaded from the Scriptures that their decisions were made according to them that the Son is truly God, of the same substance with the Father. That the Holy Ghost is also truly God. That the divine nature was truly united to the human in Christ; and that in one person. That both natures remained distinct; and that the human nature was not swallowed up of the divine. These truths we find in the Scriptures, and therefore we believe them. We reverence those Councils for the sake of their doctrine; but do not believe the doctrine for the authority of the Councils. There appeared too much of human frailty in some of their other proceedings, to give us such an implicit submission to them, as to believe things only because they so decided them.

ARTICLE XXII.

Of Purgatory.

The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatorp, Pardons, Worshipping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Relicks, and also Invocation of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented and grounded upon no Warrant of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.

THERE

HERE are two small variations in this Article, from that published in King Edward's reign. What is here called the Romish doctrine, is there called the doctrine of schoolmen. The plain reason of this is, that these errors were not so fully espoused by the body of the Roman Church, when those Articles were first published, so that some writers that softened matters threw them upon the schoolmen; and therefore the Article was cautiously worded, in laying them there: but before these that we have now were published, the decree and canons concerning the mass had passed at Trent, in which most of the heads of this Article are either affirmed or supposed; though the formal decree concerning them was made some months after these Articles were published. This will serve to justify that diversity. The second difference is only the leaving out of a severe word. Perniciously repugnant to the Word of God, was put at first; but perniciously being considered to be only a hard word, they judged very right in the second edition of them, that it was enough to say repugnant to the Word of God.

There are in this Article five particulars, that are all ingredients in the doctrine and worship of the Church of Rome; Purgatory, Pardons, the Worship of Images, and of Relics, and the Invocation of Saints; that are rejected not only as ill-grounded, brought in and maintained without good warrants from the Scripture, but as contrary to it.

The first of these is Purgatory; concerning which, the doctrine of the Church of Rome is, that every man is liable both to temporal and to eternal punishment for his sins; that God, upon the account of the death and intercession of Christ, does indeed pardon sin as to its eternal punishment; but the sinner is still liable to temporal