HAving received , with your Letter , the learned Book you sent with it , I hasten to pay you my thanks for both ; and in answer to the former , have done to the latter what you desir'd . You ( I doubt not ) will commend me for complying so soon with so great a Stranger ; But I have need of saying something to excuse my Easiness to my self . And the All I have to say , is entirely this : That notwithstanding you are a Gentleman I never yet saw , nor till your Letter came to me , had ever heard of ; yet Dr. Sherman was a person , whom having never seen , I had heard of often . I often heard he had been one , who suffer'd many things and well , for his King and Countrey ; one in whom Learning and Religion had for many years met , and had equal shares . To which I add , that he was one of those Cambridge-men , of whom ( before I was admitted into that University ) I should for many years together have had a very great Envy , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. Diod. Sic. lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Thucyd. l 5. but for my Reverence , and my Love , which were extremely much greater . For methinks I stand affected towards Oxford and Cambridge as Thucydides did to Athens and Poloponnesus , whereof the first was an unkind Mother , and the second a loving Nurse . Thence was he fitted ( more than others ) for an Impartial Historian of the Warr between both , because his Gratitude to the one , was as prevalent with him , as his natural Affection unto the other .

Growing thus kind to Dr. Sherman , and somewhat yet the kinder to him ( at least the apter to express it this way ) because he is not here in Being to thank me for it , I read as much of his Discourses in Confutation of Father Johnson , as would consist with my greater , though less acceptable , Employments . Perhaps I read what I could read with as much eagerness and delight since I saw it printed , as the most excellent Bishop Hall by a written Copy . And I am heartily glad to see that extant in 63. which such an exemplary Prelate so much commended to the publick in 54. He hath commended it indeed to so good a purpose , and the work it self will so deservedly commend it self to All Readers , ( All I ●an who have the skill to compare and grasp it , as well as the patience to read it through , ) that should I say , how much I think it to be an acute and a solid piece , I should consider my self too much , and the Book too little .

Nothing pleaseth me more than the Condition of the Subject , on which the Challenge of the Jesuite drew forth his Answer . For the point of Infallibility must needs be one of the two Pillars , ( whereof the Pope's pretended Headship or Universal Pastorship is the other , ) wherewith the Trumperies superstructed must stand or fall . That as t was skilfully contriv'd by Father Johnson , to spend his strength in securing that saving Error , [ The Church of Rome cannot err , ] as giving excellent security to whatsoever other Errors his Church can own ; and under which , as an Asylum , the grossest Follies they can get by do live in safety ; so 't was as happily resolv'd by Dr. Sherman ( upon so good an Occasion given ) to shew the Feeblenesse and defects even of that which does hold up the Papal Grandeur ; and cannot choose but be acknowledg'd even by men of both sides , to be their first or their second most Helpfull Engine .

This does bring into my mind , what I was told some years agoe by Mr. Patrick Carew ( when newly come out of Italy , wherein from his childhood he had been bred , ) That having first been convinc'd by the little Treatise , which had been penn'd on that point by his brother Falkland , That his belov● Roman Church was not unerrable ; He could not hinder his own Discovery , how very grievously she had err'd . Nor by consequence could he hinder his own Conversion from a Church still pretending to a priviledge of not being able to be deceiv'd , as soon as he found 't was even That , that had most deceiv'd him . And truely , had I been bless'd but with a little of that leisure which some enjoy , whereby to have written some Reply to Serenus Cress● , who pretending to confute , has escap'd my Sermon , and only fought like a Parthian , by certain dexterous Tergiversations , though unlike a Parthian in point of mischief ; neither denying , nor disproving , but still evading my Citations , and taking very great care to obscure his own ; as well by making both the Greek and the Latin Fathers to hold their peace in Greek and Latin , and only speak in such English as He affords them , as by concealing both the Pages and the Editions of his Authors , for fear a Protestant should have leisure and patience too , whereby to bring them to a strict and a speedy Trial : I say , had I time to Refute his Book , which untill the other day I had not time enough to Read , ( nor then quite through , ) I should not inlarge on any point with greater contentment to my Self , or greater hope of convincing both Him and His , than That on which he hopes most to guard his obstinacy by .

For ( that I may touch on that Subject which the Reverend Dr. Sherman hath largely handled , so as to add to his Thoughts what I find uppermost in mine own , ) when the Romanists contend for the Church of Rome's being Infallible , they mean by the Roman , the whole Church Catholick ; and by the whole Church Catholick , they * * Father Johason , p. 350. mean as many as own the Pope for their Soveraign Pastor . This is call'd ( by a plainer phrase , ) * * Father Cressy , p. 95. The present Visible Church , to which ( for all the General Councils ) the last Recourse is to be had . But why rather to the present than to the Primitive Church ? or why to the present Church Visible , rather than to the four first General Councils ? Even because ( saith * * Ibid. Mr. Cressy ) Universal Experience doth demonstrate it impossible , that any Writing can end a Debate between multitudes of persons interessed , and therefore not impartial or indifferent . Thus still there is something , not only fallible , but false , whereby a Romanist is to judge where to find Infallibility ; ( for wheresoever That is , the last Recourse is to be made ; ) Because an Experience as universal as that whereof Mr. Cressy speaks , doth also demonstrate it as impossible , That any present Church Visible ( much less that His ) should put an end to a Debate between multitudes of persons , whose Interest and Byasse is multifariously divided as well as They. Men must equally agree ( which they never will ) first what is to be meant by the present Visible Church ; and after That , that she is Infallible ; before she can possibly put an end to all their Dissensions in their Debates .

But what does he mean by the present Church Visible ? Does he mean all the Churches that do submit unto the Pope as their Soveraign Pastor , either IN or OUT of a General . Council ? If the first , he must mean either a written or speaking Council . If the former , Then he should not have distinguish'd it from the present Church Visible , as here he does . Then there needed no more then One , but That ( by all means ) must be a standing General Council , from the beginning of the Church till the Day of Judgement . And then the Church was never able to make her Members the better for her Infallibility , or to prove she had such a privilege , by being able to put an End to a Debate between Multitudes of different Interest and Judgement in several Nations , either before the Nicaene Council , which was the first that was General ; or since the Council held at Trent , which they avow to be the last . But if he means only a speaking Council , then he confesses that at present there is no such present Visible Church , as can Infallibly put an end to the Debate above mention'd ; even because there is no such General Council . Which being so ; where is the boasted Infallibility ? How shall we find or comprehend it ? or how is any Creature the wiser for it ? And if he means ( what was said in the second Branch of my first Dilemma , ) All the Churches that own the Pope as their Soveraign Pastor , not in , but OUT of a General Council , Then the Pope in his Conclave , or College of Cardinals , ( which , by the way , is a Conventicle , though not a Council , not Concilium , but Conciliabulum , ) must be the sole , proper speaking Judge , who can end such a Debate as before we spake of ; so that in Him , as in her Head the present Visible Church does entirely lodge ; at least in respect of her Infallible Judgement ; which none but the Pope ( out of a Council ) can have or utter . But thus the Romanists Absurdities will be more shamefull than before . For the Pope may be an Heretick , if not an Heathen . Pope Marcellinus was the first , and Pope Liberius the second . And there is no better arguing than to the Aptitude from the Act. Nay , in some of the 30 Schisms which a a Onuphr . in Chro. p. 50. Onuphrius reckons up in the Church of Rome , ( before the word Protestant was ever heard of , ) when two or three Popes did sit at once , 't was even impossible to determine , which Pope was the true , and which the false . The Councils of b b Concil. Constantiense praecipuè congregatum extinguendi schismatis Causâ , quis esset verus Pontifex , vix agnoscebat . v. Hist. Concil. à Paulo V. Edit. To. 4. p. 127. Constance and c c Statim illud in Controversiam venit , Num Synodus Pisana in Illos potuerit animadvertere , cùm eorum alteruter verus esset Pontifex , sed uter is esset non constaret . ibid. p. Seqq. Pisa ( whereof the former , by the way , was a General Council , in the Catalogue set forth by Pope Paulus Quintus , ) were utterly at a Losse in their Debates of this matter . From whence it follows unavoidably , that Mr. Cressy must not dare to avow this last notion of The present Visible Church ; as well because it is not That , to which he dares say the last Recourse is to be had , as because she can too easily declare her sense in another way , than as she was ever represented by her Pastors out of all Nations , that is to say , by a General Council , which yet the present visible Church can never do , saith Mr. Cressy , chap. 9. p. 95. But when I say , he must not dare to avow this last notion of the present visible Church , to which he gives the last Recourse , and to which he ascribes Infallibility : I mean , he must not for the future , not but that for the present he dares to do it ; Because he tells us expresly , p. 97. ( and as dogmatically too , as without al proof , ) That the present Superiours living and speaking must conclude all Controversies , their Interpretation of Scripture and Fathers , their Testimony of Tradition , must more then put to silence all contradiction of particular persons , or Churches ; it must also subdue their mindes to an Assent , and this under the penalty of an Anathema , or cutting off from the body of Christ .

This is said by Mr. Cressy concerning the living and speaking Judges of his Church , Judges for the time being in every Age. Quite forgetting what he had said not long before , ( p. 95. ) That Reason , Inspiration , and Examples of Primitive Fathers , must joyntly make up the only Guide , which He affirms to be Infallible . For , unless they all concurr ( as he had said before that , p. 93. ) together with the present visible Governours ( to whom he there gives a judging determining power ) That which we take to be Reason , and Inspiration , and the sense of the Primitive Church , may deceive and misguide us . Now besides that this saying destroyes the former , where no less was ascrib'd to the present visible Superiours living and speaking , than here is attributed to all four Requisites in conjunction ; we know that Reason may be deceiv'd , Inspiration be counterfeit by some unclean spirit , ( which fallible Reason must be the Judge of ) primitive Fathers subject to Error , and present Superiours much more than Primitive : And , many fallible Guides can never make up one Infallible , any more than many Planets can make one Sun , or many Acts of finite knowledge one true omniscience . For as Mr. Cressy does confess , that Infallibility and Omniscience , are incommunicable Attributes of God Himself , ( p. 98. ) so he imply's a contradiction , when he saith they are communicable to any creature , such as is his present visible Church . And another Contradiction as bad , or worse , when he saith that a man , although of much Ignorance , may in a sort be Omniscient within his sphere , ( p. 99. ) which is as if he should have said , That a man may be able to have a knowledge of all things , because he may so know them All , as to be Ignorant of some . But then , with the help of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the meanest man is as omniscient , as is his Roman Catholick Church ; because ( within his determinate sphere ) he must needs have a knowledge of All he knows ; and of more than she knows the Roman Church hath no knowledge . So again when he would shew how a creature may be Infallible , though he had said that God Himself is incommunicably such , ( p. 98. ) he has no better a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , than an implicit explication of an Affirmative by a Negative . The immutable God can preserve mutable creatures from actual mutation ; [ ibid. ] thereby implying , that the Immutable cannot communicate his incommunicable Attribute of Immutability to any creature , even because he cannot possibly perfect a creature into Himself . But from actual mutation he can preserve any Creature , as well an Ignorant single man , as a whole Church Catholick . Thus by endeavouring to uphold , Mr. Cressy does throughly destroy his Doctrine : All he saith coming to this , That however God only is undeceivable , yet he is able to preserve his deceivable creatures from being actually deceiv'd . Sed quid hoc ad Iphicli Boves ? The Question is not , Whether God can preserve a Church from being actually in error , ( for so he can , and often does , particular Members of his Church , ) But whether de facto he hath granted an Inerrability , or an Impossibility of erring , unto that which they call the Roman Catholick Church . Not whether the Church can be actually false in her opinions , but whether or no she is Infallible , or exempted by God from the passive power of giving false Judgement in points of Faith . Will Mr. Cressy so confound an Adjective in Bilis , with a participle derived from the passive preterperfect Tense , as either to argue à non actu ad non potentiam , or else to pass over from the one unto the other ? Will he argue that Adam before his fall was Impeccable , because he yet was preserved from actual sin ? or , that the Church was Infallible in the Apostles own Times , because she was not erroneous untill she was ? He cannot sure be so destitute either of Logick or Grammar skill . I think it rather his skill to dissemble both ; as finding no other way to dispute a whole Chapter for such a Doctrine , unless he either begg's or forsakes the Question .

But now to give him more Advantage than he is mindfull to give himself , when he allows so great a privilege to the present Governours of the Church in every Age , whom he will have to be the living and speaking Judges , to whom ( without contradiction ) all particular Churches as well as persons , Ubi supra . p. 97. must meekly yield up their Assent ; Let us allow it to be his meaning , not that These are undeceivable , but that God doth still preserve them from being actually deceiv'd . Was not Pope Hildebrand himself the supreme speaking Judge , when yet the * * Imperial . Statut. apud Goldast . Tom. 1. p. 74. Council at Wormes did set him out as a Brand of Hell ? Conc. Constantien . A. D. 1414. Seff . 11. Edit. Bin. To. 7. 1036. Notoriè criminosus de homicidio , veneficio , pertin●x Haereticus , Simoniacus , contra Articulum de Resurrectione mortuorum dogmatizavit . — Et paulò superius , — cum Uxore fratris sui & cum sanctis moniatibus Incestum commisit p. 1035. Was not John the 23. the supreme speaking Judge of Mr Cressy's then present visible Church , when yet he openly deny'd the Immortality of the soul , and for That ( with other crimes ) was condemn'd by the Council then held at Constance ? Were not John the 22. and Anastasius the 2. the supreme speaking Judges in their several Times , who yet were both stigmatiz'd for the Crime of Heresie ? Let Mr Cressy now speak like an honest man , Were such superiours as these , then living and speaking , to conclude all controversies , to Interpret Scripture and the Fathers , to put to silence all particular Churches , to subdue mens mindes to an Assent , and this under the penalty of their being cut off from the body of Christ ? Let him read his own dictates , p. 97. It will but little mend the matter , to say , The Pope is but one , and that He spake of All Superiours : Because , besides that they may All have their Byasses and Errors as well as He , in case they are all consulted with , ( as they never are ) 'T is very evident that the Pope ( like the Sun among the Starres ) is more than All in all Cases . The greatest part of those Councils which they are pleas'd to call General , have been indeed little better than the meer properties of their Popes : which that I may not seem to say as one that loves to speak sharply , but rather as compell'd by their own Accompts of them , I shall here give an Instance in one or two .

In the last Lateran Council under Julius the 2. A brief Accompt of the last Lateran Council . and Leo the 10. The Holy Scriptures ( at the first Session ) are humbly laid down at his Holinesses Feet ; And , an Oath being administred , are formally toucht by the Officials . The Pope ( in that Session ) is call'd The Prince of all the world ; and ( in the next ) The Priest and King to be adored by all the People , as being most like to God Himself . Accordingly ( in the 3d ) The Kingdom of France by Pope Julius is subjected to an Interdict , and the Mart held at Lyons transferr'd to Geneva . The pragmatick Sanction is rescinded in the fourth , for the improving of the Trade of Ecclesiastical Hucksters , the buying and selling of Church-preferments . The Pope is asserted as Gods Lieutenant upon Earth , though not of equal merits . ( A very signal Condescension ! and to be kept in everlasting Remembrance ! God is meekly acknowledg'd to be superiour to the Pope . ) In the fifth Session , Julius dies , Ne sleveris Fi●ia Sion ( ut Ep sco●●us M●d usiensis affatur Papam , q●ia Ecce ve●●t Leo de Tribu Juda , Radix David . ●cce Tibi suscitavit Deus Salvatorem &c. Te , Leo B●atissime , Salvatorem expectamus , Te Liberatorem v●nturum speravimus . Concil. Lateran . ult. Sess. 6. Bin. To. 9 p. 74. ( another great Condescension ! ) And Leo his Successor is saluted , as no less than the Lion of the Tribe of Judah , the Root of David , the Saviour and Deliverer that was to come . ( A pretty clinch , but a blasphemous complement , and unworthy a Bishop's mouth . ) In the eighth and ninth Sessions , This Lion Roars ; first against them that shall violate his Decrees in the present Council , to whom he threatens such a Sentence of Excommunication , as none but Himself could absolve them from . Next against the Emperour , Kings , and Princes , whom he chargeth not to hinder such as were coming to the Council under the penalty of incurring God's Displeasure and his own In the last of those two Sessions , Divinae Maj statis tuae conspectus , vutilanti cujus fulgore imbecilles oculi mei caligant , &c. Et paulo post , In Te uno legitimo Christi & Dei Vicario , p●opheticum illud debuerit ●u●sus impleri , Adorabunt cum omnes Reges Terrae , omnes Gentes servient ci . Ibid. Sess. 9. p. 114 , 116. Antonius Puccius tells Leo , how his Eyes are darkned by the rutilant Brightness of his Divine Majesty . — in him alone as the Vicar of God and of Christ , That saying of the Prophet ought again to have its completion , All the Kings of the Earth shall come and worship , All the Nations under Heaven shall do him service . In a word , throughout the whole Council , nothing is carried by counsel or consultation of Assessors , ( for Assistants I cannot call them , ) nothing by suffrages or votes from them that make it wear , the name of a General Council ; But , the supreme present Judge ( to use the phrase of Mr. Cressy ) as an Infallible Dictator , ordained All. This is constantly the Preface to each Decree in That Council , Leo Episcopus , servus servorum Dei , ad perpetuam rei memoriam , approbante Concilio , &c.

So again in their last and best beloved General Council , Of the Council at Trent . All the Fathers do but prepare convenient matter for Decrees , whereunto the Pope's Fiat does give the life . Their two and twenty years contrivances do end at last in a a Humiliter petimus nomine dicti Concilii oecumenici Tridemini , ut Sanctitas vestra dignetur confirmare omnia & singula , &c. Edit. Bin. Tom. 9. p. 442. meek Petition , That his Holiness will vouchsafe to confirm what they had done ; that is , to inform the lifeless matters they had prepared ; which could not have the nature and force of Articles or Decrees , until the Pope had breathed on them the Breath of Life . So a little before That , b b Si in his recipiendis aliqua Difficult as ariatur , aut aliqua incideri●t quae Declarationem aut Finitionem postulent , — confidit sancta Synodu● Pon ificem curaturum — &c. viderit expedire — &c. Si necessarium judicaverit , &c. Si ei visum fuerit , &c. Ibid. p. 434. The General Council doth humbly hope , That if any Difficulty arise in the receiving of the Canons , or if any things Doubtful shall require a Definition , or Declaration , His Holiness will provide for the Necessities of the Provinces , for the Glory of God , and the Tranquillity of the Church , either by calling a General Council , if He shall judge it to be needful , or by committing the Business to such as He shall think fit to do it , or by what way soever He shall judge more commodious . All , upon the matter , both is , and must be , as He pleaseth ; and when the Council is dissolv'd , He is himself Tantamount to a General Council . Indeed much more . For the Council did but propose , But He c c Apostolicâ Auctoritate declaramus & definimus p. 444. declares and define's by Apostolical Authority . He d d Fidem sine ullâ Dubitatione haberi mandamus atque decernimus p. 443. command's and decree's by somewhat more than Apostolical , That Faith without any Doubting be had by all to his Creed ; and all under the penalty of being cut off from the Body of Christ ; notwithstanding some part of his Creed is . * * Vide Concil. Trident . Edit. Bin. excus . Genev. A. D. 1612. Tom. 9. Sess. 4. p. 354. This , That Apocryphal writings and meer Traditions concerning Faith as well as Manners are by all to be receiv'd with as much Reverence and affection , as things proceeding from God the Holy Ghost , or from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ .

Now if a Council ( as the Lateran ) does only Read a Decree in Fieri , And a Pope ( as the Tenth Leo ) by saying Placet , does make it one in Facto esse ; If a Council cannot be currant , unless it be called by the Pope , and by the Pope praesided in ; yea if nothing done in it , can pass for currant , until the Pope hath approved of it , or until he hath made it become Authentick by an Act of his Will , or by a word of his Mouth ; Mr. Cressy and Father Johnson who do so earnestly contend for a subcoelestial Infallibility , cannot chuse but believe ( if at all they believe as well as plead it ) That its real Inhaerence is in the Pope , and only said to be in the Council , because it does more become the Error , and set it off to the People with better Grace . The Reason of what I say , is very cogent in it self ; and that it may be so to others , I thus endeavour to make it plain . They say that Councils are not good or currant , unless approved of by the Pope . Nor does he give his Approbation until the Council is at an end . His Approbation is after ; and not before it . From whence 't is natural to Inferr , That he approve's not of the Council , because Infallibly good , and therefore currant ; ( it would not then need his Approbation : ) But the Council is good and currant , because He approve's it . And why should That be said , unless because He is Infallible with them that say it ? Thus ( I say ) it is to Them , not Thus in it self . For then there would follow this other Absurdity , That if The Council hath err'd , it is because the Pope hath not approv'd it . For let him but approve , and It hath not err'd , because it hath every thing required to its Infallibility . If not , let them speak ; for I argue only ad homines , and ( out of very great charity ) try to make them asham'd with their own Devices .

Now ( to speak a gross Truth , ) The Approbation of a Council , when a Council hath done with its Consultations , cannot possibly have the virtue to effect that such a Council shall not have err'd . For if it hath erred , it is erroneous , though He approve's it . If not , it is orthodox , though He reject's it . The Emperours who call'd the first and truest General Councils , did either not care for , or not expect his Approbation . Yet Those were the Councils , either not erring at all , or at least the least erring of any other .