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

ABSURDITY OF INFALLIBILITY. 179at least thirty-five volumes of the Greek and Latin fathers,in which, he says, is to be found the unanimous consent of thefathers; fifth, to all these one hundred and thirty-fivevolumes folio add the chaos of unwritten traditions whichhave floated to us down from the apostolic times. But wemust not stop here ; for the expositions of every priest andbishop must be added. The truth is, such a rule is no rule;unless an endless and contradictory mass of uncertaintiescould be a rule. No Romanist can soberly believe^ much lesslearn, his own rule of faith."*But even granting that all this infallibility is centred inthe person of the pontiff", and that, practically, the guide ofthe Romanist is the dictum of the Pope ; how is he to interpretits meaning, unless by an operation of judgment of thesame kind with that by which the Protestant interprets thedictum of Scripture ? Thus there is no scheme of infallibilitywhich can supersede the exercise of private judgment, unlessthat of placing an infallibility in the head of everyman, which shall guide him, not through his understanding,but in the shape of an unreasoning, unquestioning instinct.* Elliott's Delineation of Romanism, p. 13; London, 1851.