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

214 INFALLIBILITY.'The decrees of general councils have as much weight asthe holy gospel.''Councils,'' says Canus, ' approved andconfirmed by the Pope cannot err.' Bellarmine secondshim. Tannerus alleges, that ' councils, being the highestecclesiastical judicatories, cannot err.' And Stapelton says,'The decrees of councils are the oracles of the Holy Ghost.' " *That Rome receives from her members the entire submissionwhich she claims on the ground of her infallibility, appearsfrom the following description,given by Mr Blanco White,of his state of mind while a member of that Church :— " Igrounded my Christian faith upon the infallibility of theChurch.No Roman Catholic pretends to a better foundationI believed the infallibility of the Church,because the Scripture said she was infallible ;while I had nobetter proof that the Scripture said so than the assertion ofthe Church that she could not mistake the Scripture .""j*The texts of Scripture on which Romanists rest the infallibilityare mainly those we have already examined intreating of the supremacy. To these they add the following:— " Upon this rock I will build my Church, and thegates of hell shall not prevail against it."jalways, unto the end of the world."§" I am with you" He that heareth youheareth me ; and he that despiseth you despiseth me."||" The Comforter, the Holy Ghost, shall abide with you forever."1[ But these passages fall a long way short of theinfallibility.Fairly interpreted, they amount only to a promisethat the Church, maugre the opposition of hell, shallbe preserved till the end of time,—that the substance of thetruth shall always be found in her,—and that the assistanceof the Spirit shall be enjoyed by her members in investigatingtruth, and by her pastors in publishing it, and in exercisingthat authority with which Christ has invested them.* Poole's Blow at the Root of the Romish Church, chap. iv. prop. iv.•f Practical and Internal Evidence, pp. 9, 10.:|: Matt. xvi. 18. Luko,IIx. 16.§ Matt, xxviii. 20. T John, xiv. 16.