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

;218 INFALLIBILITY.the whole is greater than its part. But in that case therewould be as little difference of opinion among rational menabout the infallibility, as about the axioms we have juststated. But we find great diversity of sentiment indeedabout the infallibility. Not one in ten professes to believeit. It is not, then, a self-evident truth ; and seeing it isnot self-evident, we must demand proof. It is usual withthe Church of Rome to send us first to the Scriptures.Wesearch the Scriptures from beginning to end, but can discoverno proof of the infallibility ; and when we come back to complainof our bad success, we are told that it was impossiblewe could fare otherwise ; that we have been using our reason,than which we cannot possibly commit a greater crime, reasonbeing wholly useless in discovering the true sense ofScripture ; and that the sense of Scripture can be discoveredonly by infallibility. Thus the Romanist is back again intohis circle. We are to believe the infallibility because theScriptures bid us, and we are to believe the Scriptures becausethe infallibility bids us; and out of this circle theRomanist can by no means conjure himself.An attempt at escape from an eternal rotation round thetwo foci of Scripture and infallibility the Romanist doesmake, by what looks like an appeal to reason. Of variouspossible ways, it is asserted, God always chooses the bestand as the best way of leading men to heaven is to appointan infallible guide, therefore an infallible guide has beenappointed. This is but another form of the argument ofnecessity, to which we have already adverted. But this cannotanswer the purpose of the Roman Catholic Church.The Greek Church might employ this argument to prove itsinfallibility ; or the professors of the Mahommedan faithmight employ it.They might say, it is inconsistent with thegoodness of God that there should not be an infallible guide;it is plain that there is no other than ourselves ; thereforewe are that infallible guide. But a better way still wouldand wehave been to make every man and woman infallible ;humbly submit that, according to the argument of the Ro-