Mr. Chillingworths letter touching infallibility Chillingworth, William, 1602-1644. 1662 Approx. 14 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 7 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A32854 Wing C3888 ESTC R18524 11747593 ocm 11747593 48545 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A32854) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 48545) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 486:18 or 2458:8) Mr. Chillingworths letter touching infallibility Chillingworth, William, 1602-1644. xii p. Printed by D. Maxwell for Timothy Garthwait, London : 1662. Letter written "Good Mr. Leuger." Wing C3887B = Wing C3888. DFo copy of Wing C3887B, dated in imprint with same defective type '2' as Wing C3888. Imprimitur is dated: Sextil. 5. 1662. Reproduction of originals in Union Theological Seminary Library, New York and the Folger Shakespeare Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Lewgar, John, 1602-1665. Catholic Church -- Controversial literature. Infallibility (Philosophy) 2003-05 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-07 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-01 Jonathan Blaney Sampled and proofread 2004-01 Jonathan Blaney Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Mr. Chillingworths LETTER TOUCHING JNFALLIBILITY . LONDON , Printed by D. Maxwell for Timothy Garthwait at the Kings Head in S. Pauls Church-yard , 1662. Good Mr. Leuger , THough I am resolved not to be much afflicted for the loss of that which is not in my power to keep , yet I cannot deny but the loss of a Friend goes very neer to my heart ; and by this name of a Friend I did presume , till of late , I might have called you : because , though perhaps for want of power and opportunity I have done you no good office , yet I have been alwayes willing and ready to do you the best service I could : and therefore I cannot but admire the affected strangeness which in your last Letter to me you seem to take upon you , renouncing in a manner all Relation to me , and tacitly excommunicating me from all Interest in you . The superscription of your Letter is to Mr. William Chillingworth , and the subscription Iohn Leuger ; as if you either disdained , or made a conscience of stiling me your Friend , or your self mine : If this proceed from passion and weakness , pray mend it , if from reason , pray shew it ; if you think me one of those to whom St. Iohn forbids you to say , God save you ; then you are to think and prove me one of those deceivers , Who deny Christ Jesus to be come in the flesh ; if you think me an Heretick , and therefore to be avoided , you must prove me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , condemned by mine own judgment , which I know I cannot , and therefore I think you cannot : If you say I do not hear the Church , and therefore am to be an Heathen , or a Publicane , you are to prove then that by the Church , is meant your Church of Rome , and yet when you have done so , I hope Christians are not forbidden to shew humanity and civility even to Pagans : For Gods sake Mr. Leuger free your self from this blind zeal , at least for a little space , and consider with reason and moderation what strange Crime you can charge me with , that should deserve this strange usage , especially from you : is it a crime with all my understanding , to endeavour to find your Religion true , and make my self a Believer of it , and not to be able to do so ? Is it a crime to imploy all my reason upon the justification of the Infallibilitie of the Romish Church , and to find it impossible to be justified ? I will call God to witness ( who knows my heart better than you do ) that I have evened the scale of my judgment as much as possibly I could , and have not willingly allowed any one grane of worldly Motives on either side , but have weighed the reasons for your Religion , and against it with as much indifferencie , as if there were nothing in the world but God and my self , and is it my fault , that the scale goes down which hath the most weight in it ? That the building falls , that hath a false foundation ? have you such power over your understanding , that you can believe what you please , though you see no reason ? or that you can suspend your belief when you do see reason ? if you have , I pray for old friendship-sake , teach me that trick ; but until I have learned it , pray blame me not for going in the ordinarie way , I mean for believing , or not believing as I shall see reason : If you can convince me of wilfull opposition against the known truth , of negligence in seeking it , of unwillingness to find it , of preferring temporal respects before it , or of any other fault which is in my power to amend ( that indeed is a fault ) if I amend it not , be as angry with me as you please ; but to impute to me involuntary errors , or that I do not see , that which I would see , but cannot , or that I will not confess that , which I do not believe ; certainly this is a far more unreasonable error , then any you can justly charge me with . But let me tell you , that imputing Socinianism to me , ( whosoever was the Author of it ) was a wicked and groundless slander : Perhaps you will say ( for this is the usual song of that side ) that Pride is a voluntary fault , and with this I am justly chargeable , for forsaking that guide which God hath appointed me to follow : but what if I forsook it , because I had reason to fear it was one of those blind guides which whosoever blindly follows , is threatned by our Saviour , that both he and his guide shall fall into the ditch ? Then I hope you will grant it was not Pride but Conscience , that caused me to do so : for as it is wise humility to obey those whom God hath set over me , so it is sinfull credulity to follow every man , or every Church , that without warrant will take upon them to guide me : Shew then some good and evident title , which the Church of Rome hath to this office , produce but one reason for it , which upon trial will not finally be resolved and vanish into uncertainty ; and if I yield not unto it , say if you please I am as proud as Lucifer . In the mean time give me leave to think it strange , and not far from a Prodigy , that this doctrine of the Romane Churches , being the guide of Faith ( if it be true doctrine ) should either not be known to the four Evangelists , or if it were known to them , that they being wise and good men , should either be so envious of the Churches happiness , or so forgetfull of the good work they took in hand , which was to write the whole Gospel of Christ , as that not one of them should so much as mention , so much as once , this so necessary a part of the Gospel , without the belief whereof there is ( as you would make the world believe ) no salvation and with the belief whereof ( unless men be snatcht away by sudden death ) there is hardly any damnation . It is evident they do all of them with one consent speak very plainly of many things of no importance in comparison hereof , and is it credible or indeed possible , that with one consent , or rather conspiracy , they should be so deeply silent concerning this Unum necessarium , this one very necessary thing ? You may believe it if you can , for my part I cannot , unless I see demonstration for it : For if you say , they send us to the Church , and consequently to the Church of Rome , this is to suppose that which never can be proved , That the Church of Rome is the only Church ; and without this supposal , upon the division of the Church , I am as far to seek of a Guide of my Faith as ever . 1 As for example , in that great division of the Church , when the whole world wondred ( saith S - Ierome ) that it was become Arian , when Liberius Bishop of Rome ( as S. Athanasius , S. Ierome , and S. Hillary testifie ) subscribed their Heresie , and joyned communion with them : Or in the division between the Greek and the Romane Church about the Procession of the Holy Ghost , ( when either side was the Church to it selfe , and each part heretical and schismatical to the other ) what direction could I then an ignorant man have found from that Text of Scripture , Unless he hear the Church , let him be unto thee , as an heathen 〈◊〉 a Publican ; Or from another Text , Upon this R●●k will I build my Church , and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it . 2 Again give me leave to wonder , that neither S. Paul writing to the Romans , should so much as intimate this their priviledg of Infallibility , but rather on the contrary , put them in fear in the 11 th Chapter , that they , as well as the Iews , were in danger of falling away . 3 That S. Peter , the pretended Bishop of Rome writing two Catholick Epistles mentioning his departure , should not once acquaint the Christians , whom he writes to , what Guide they were to follow , after he was taken from them . 4 That the Writers of the New Testament should so frequently forewarn men of Hereticks , false Christs , false Prophets , and not once arme them against them , with letting them know this onely sure meanes of avoiding their danger . 5 That so great a part of the New Testament should be employed about Antichrist , and so little , and indeed none , about the Vicar of Christ , and the guide of the faithful . 6 That our Saviour should leave this onely means for the ending of Controversies , and yet speak so obscurely and ambiguously of it , that ●ow our Judge is the greatest Controversie , and ●●e greatest hindrance of ending of them . 7 That there should be better evidence in the Scripture to entitle the King to this office , who disclaims it , then the Pope , who pretends it . 8 That Saint Peter should never exercise over the Apostles any act of Jurisdiction , nor they ever give him any one title of Authority over them . 9 That if the Apostles did know that S. Peter was made Head of them , when our Saviour said , [ Thou art Peter , and on this Rock , &c. ] they should still contest who should be greatest , and that our Saviour should never tell them , that S. Peter was the man. 10 That S. Paul should say , that he was nothing inferior to the very chief of the Apostles . 11 That the Catechumeni or Novices in the Primitive Church , should never be taught this foundation of their faith , that the Church of Rome was the guide of their faith . 12 That the Fathers , Tertullian , S. Ierome and Optatus , when they flew highest in commendation of the Romane Church , should attribute no more to her , then to all other Apostolical Churches . 13 That in the Controversie about Easter , the Bishops and Churches of Asia should be so ill catechized , as not to know this principle of Christian Religion , the necessity of conformity in Doctrine with the Church of Rome . 14 That they should never be pressed with any such necessity of conformity in all things , but only with the particular tradition of the Western Churches in that point . 15 That Irenaeus and many other Bishops notwithstanding , Ad hanc Ecclesiam necesse est omnem convenire Ecclesiam , should not yet think that a necessary Doctrine , nor a sufficient ground of Excommunication , which the Church of Rome thought to be so . 16 That S. Cyprian and the Bishops of Africa , should be so ill instructed in their faith , as not to know this foundation of it . 17 That they likewise were never urged with any such necessity of conformity with the Church of Rome , nor ever charged with heresie or error for denying of it . 18 That when Liberius joyned in communion with the Arrians , and subscribed their heresie , the Arrians should not then be the Church and guide of faith . 19 That never any Hereticks for five Ages after Christ , were pressed with this Argument of the Infallibility of the present Church of Rome , or charged with the denyal of it as a distinct Heresie ; so that Aeneas Sylvius ( who was himself as Pope ) should have cause to say , Ante tempora Concilii Nicaeni quisque sibi vivebat , & parvus respectus habebatur ad Ecclesiam Romanam . 20. That the Ecclesiastical story of those times mention no Acts of Authority of the Church of Rome over other Churches ; as if there should be a Monarchy , and the King for some ages together , should exercise no Act of Jurisdiction in it . 21. That to supply this defect the decretal Epistles should be so impudently forged , which in a manner speak nothing else but Reges atque Monarchas , I mean the Popes making Lawes for , and exercising authority over all other Churches . 22. That the Africane Churches in St. Austins time should be ignorant that the Pope was head of the Church , and judg of Appeals , Iure divino , and that there was a necessity of conformity with that Church in this and all other points of doctrine . 23. Nay that the Popes themselves should be so Ignorant of the true ground of this their Authoritie , as to pretend to it , not upon Scripture , or Universal Tradition , but upon an Imaginary , pretended non-such Canon of the Councel of Nice . 24 That Vincentius Lirinensis seeking for a guide of his faith , and a preservation from Heresie , should be ignorant of this so ready a one , the Infallibility of the Church of Rome . All these things and many more are very strange to me ; if the infalliblity of the Roman Church be indeed and were alwayes by Christians acknowledged the foundation of our Faith : and therefore I beseech you pardon me , if I chuse to build mine upon one that is much firmer and safer , and lies open to none of these objections ; which is Scripture and Universal Tradition , and if one who is of this Faith may have leave to do so , I will subscribe with hand and heart . Your very loving and true Friend , W. C. Imprimatur , M. FRANCK , R. in Christo P. Dom. Episc. Lond. à Sacris Domesticis . Sextil . 5. 1662.