A vindication of the Animadversions on Fiat lux

11. That the Church is infallible, or cannot err in what she teacheth to be believed. And we ask you what Church you mean, and how far you intend that it is infallible? The only known Church which was then in the world, was in the Wilderness when Moses was in the mount. Was it infallible when it made the golden Calf, and danced about it proclaiming a feast unto Jehovah before the Calf? was the same Church afterward Infallible in the days of the Judges, when it worshipped Baalim and Aftaroth? or in the days of Jeroboam, when it sacrificed before the Calves at Dan and Bethel? or in the other branch of it in the days of Ahaz, when the High-Priest set up an Altar in the Temple for the King to offer Sacrifice unto the gods of Damascus? or in the days of Jehoiaki• and Zedekiah, when the High-Priest with the rest of the Priests, imprisoned and would have slain Jeremiah for preaching the word of ⟨p. 190⟩God? or when they preferred the worship of the Queen of Heaven before that of the God of Abraham? Or was it infallible when the High-Priest, with the whole Council or Sanhedrin of the Church, judicially condemned as far as in them lay their own Messiah, and rejected the Gospel that was preached unto them? You must inform us what other Church was them in the world, or you will quickly perceive how ungrounded your general Maxim is, of the Churches absolute infallibility. As far indeed as it attends unto the Infallible Rule given unto it, it is so; but not one jot farther. Moreover, we desire to know, What Church you mean in your Assertion, or rather what is it that you mean by the Church? Do you intend the Mystical Church, or the whole number of Gods Elect in all Ages, or in any Age, militant on the Earth, which principally is the Church of God, Ephes. 5. 26? Or, do you intend the whole diffused body of the Disciples of Christ in the world, separated to God by Baptism and the Profession of saving truth, which is the Church Catholic visible; Or, do you mean any particular Church as the Roman, or constantinopolitan, the French, Dutch, or English Church? If you intend the first of These, or the Church in the first sense; we acknowledge that it is thus far infallible, that no true member of it shall ever totally and finally renounce, lose, or forsake that faith, without which they cannot please God and be saved.

11. That the Church is infallible, or cannot erre in what she teacheth to be believed. And we ask you what Church you mean, and how far you intend that it is infallible? The only known Church which was then in the world, was in the Wilderness when Moses was in the mount. Was it infallible when it made the golden Calf, and danced about it proclaiming a feast unto Jebovah before the Calf? was the same Church afterward Infallible in the dayes of the Judges, when it worshipped Baalim and Aftaroth? or in the dayes of Jeroboam, when it sacrificed before the Calves at Dan and Bethel? or in the other branch of it in the dayes of Ahaz, when the High-Priest set up an Altar in the Temple for the King to offer Sacrifice unto the gods of Damascus? or in the dayes of Jehoiaki and Zedekiah, when the High-Priest with the rest of the Priests, imprisoned and would have slain Jeremiah for preaching the word of