Part 4 (1/2)

[48] _Whitby_, _p._ 15. _Stillingfleet_, _p._ 506, 537.

[49] --. 32. _n._ 5. & --. 33. _consid._ 5. _n._ 1.

[50] _Dr. Ferne, Case between the Churches_, _p._ 48, 49.

& _Division of Churches_, _p._ 45.

[51] _p._ 666.

[52] _A. B. Laud_ 245.

[53] _Id._ _p._ 227.

[54] _Stillingfl. p._ 479, 292.

[55] _See before, Disc_. 3. --. 34, _&c._

[56] _De Baptismo_, _l._ 2. _c._ 3.

[57] _Stillingfl. p._ 542.

[58] _Stillingfl. ibid._

[59] _Id. p._ 526.

CONFERENCE IV.

His Plea, for his not being guilty of _Heresie_.

_That he cannot rightly according to Protestant Principles, be accused as guilty of_ Heresie, _for several reasons._

1. _Because Protestants holding Heresie to be an_ obstinate _defence of some error against a fundamental, he thinks from hence his tenent freed from being an Heresie, as long as in silence he retains it, unless he engage further, to a publick pertinacious maintaining thereof._ --. 23.

2. _Fundamentals varying according to particular persons, and sufficient proposal; none can conclude this point in the affirmative, to be,_ as to him, _a fundamental, or, of the truth of which he hath had a sufficient proposal._

3. _That a lawful General Council's declaring some point Heresie, doth not necessarily argue that it is so; because they may err in Fundamentals; or at least in distinguis.h.i.+ng them from other points._ --. 26.

4. _That he can have no autocatacrisie or obstinacy in a dissenting from their Definitions, till he is either actually convinced, or at least hath had a sufficient proposal either of the truth of such point defined: that such Councils have authority to require submission, of judgment, and a.s.sent to their Definitions: of which conviction or sufficient proposal (that varies much, according to the differing conditions of several persons) as to himself, none can judge save himself: and, consequently, neither can they judge of his guilt of Heresie._ Ib.

--. 23.

4. _Prot._ You know that all _Hereticks_ are most justly _anathematized_, and cut off from being any longer Members of the Catholick Church, and so do remain excluded also from Salvation. Now this _Tenent_ of yours hath always been esteemed by the Church of G.o.d a most pernicious _Heresie_.

_Soc._ I confess _Heresie_ a most grievous Crime, dread and abhor it, and trust I am most free from such a guilt; and from this I have many ways of clearing my self. For Heresie (as Mr. _Chillingworth_ defines it) [60]being not an erring, but an _obstinate_ defence of an Error; not of any Error, but of one against a _necessary_ or _fundamental_ Article of the Christian Faith. First, Though this which I hold should be an error, and that against a Fundamental, yet my silence practised therein, can never be called an obstinate defence thereof, and therefore not my tenent an _Heresie_. 2. Since Fundamentals vary according to particular persons, and (as Mr. _Chillingworth_ saith[61])--_No Catalogue thereof, that can be given, can universally serve for all men; G.o.d requiring more of them, to whom he gives more, and less of them, to whom he gives less;--And that may be sufficiently declared to one (all things considered) which (all things considered) is not to another sufficiently declared: and variety of circ.u.mstances makes it as impossible to set down an exact Catalogue of Fundamentals, as to make a Coat to fit the Moon in all her changes_: And (as Mr.

_Stillingfleet_ follows him[62]) _since the measure of Fundamentals depends on the sufficiency of the proposition; and none can a.s.sign what number of things are sufficiently propounded to the belief of all persons, or set down the exact bounds, as to all individuals, when their ignorance is inexcusable, and when not; or tell what is the measure of their capacity; what allowance G.o.d makes for the prejudice of Education_, &c. Hence I conceive my self free from Heresie, in this my opinion, on this score also; because though the contrary be to some others a Fundamental truth, and to be explicitly believed by them; yet to me, as not having any sufficient proposal, or conviction thereof, but rather of the contrary, it is no _Fundamental_, and consequently, my tenent opposing it, if an _error_, yet no _Heresie_.

--. 24.

_Prot._ Do not deceive your self; for though according to different revelations, to those that were without Law, or those under the Law, or those under the Gospel; _Fundamentals_ generally spoken of, might be more to some than others; yet to all those who know and embrace the Gospel, we say[63]; all Fundamentals are therein clearly proposed to all reasonable men, even the unlearned; and therefore the erring therein, to all such, cannot but be obstinate and Heretical.