The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

CHURCH CANNOT RENOUNCE TIIEM.HOdeclared that theauthority of which she was deprived wasrightfully hers, and that to forbid her to use it was an unrighteousinterference with her just powers ; which means,that she was purposed to reclaim these rights the momentshe thought she could make the attempt with success. Inthose countries where she still bearssway, we find her givingeffect to her pretensions to the very utmost which theliberty allowed her will permit ; and it is certainly fair toinfer, that were her liberty greater, her pretensions wouldbe greater too, not in assumption only, but in practice also.But, second, the Church of Rome cannot renounce thisclaim, because she is infallible. We shall afterwards provethat that Church doeshold the doctrine of the infallibility,and that it is one of the fundamental principles on whichher system is built. Meanwhile we assume it. Being infallible,she can never believe what is false, or practise whatis wrong, and is therefore incapable in all time coming ofrenouncing any one doctrine she ever taught, or departingfrom any one claim she ever asserted. To say that such anopinion was taught as true ages ago, but is not now recognisedas sound, or held to be obligatory, is perfectly allowableto Protestants,for they make no claim to infallibility.They may err, and they may own that their fathers haveerred ; for though they have an infallible standard,—theWord of God,—in which all the fundamental doctrines appertainingto salvation are so clearly taught, that there is nomistaking them on the part of any one who brings ordinarypowers and ordinary candour, with a due reliance on theSpirit''s promised aid, to their investigation, yet there aresubordinate matters, especially points of administration, onwhich a longer study of the Word of God will throw clearerlight. Protestants, therefore, may with perfect consistencyamend their system, both in its theory and in its practice,and so bring it into nearer conformity with the greatstandard of truth. They have built up no wall of adamantbehind them. Not so Rome. She is infallible ; and, assuch, must stand eternally on the ground she has taken up.