LECTURE III.

DOCTRINE OF INFALLIBILITY MORALLY CONSIDERED.

ENOUGH perhaps was said in the last Lecture to show that Romanism, however it may profess a reverence for Antiquity, does not really feel and pay it. There are in fact two elements in operation within the system. As far as it is Catholic and Scriptural, it appeals to the Fathers; as far as it is a corruption, it finds it necessary to supersede them. Viewed in its formal principles and authoritative statements, it professes to be the champion of past times; viewed as an active and political power, as a ruling, grasping, ambitious principle, in a word, as what is expressively called Popery, it exalts the will and pleasure of the existing Church above all authority, whether of Scripture or Antiquity, interpreting the one and disposing of the other by its absolute and arbitrary decree.

We must take and deal with things as they are, not as they pretend to be. If we are induced to believe the professions of Rome, and make ad

LECT. III.] DOCTRINE OF INFALLIBILITY, &c.

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vances towards her as if a sister or a mother Church, which in theory she is, we shall find too late that we are in the arms of a pitiless and unnatural relative, who will but triumph in the arts which have inveigled us within her reach. No; dismissing the dreams which the romance of early Church history and the high doctrines of Catholicism will raise in the inexperienced mind, let us be sure that she is our enemy, and will do us a mischief when she can. In speaking and acting on this conviction, we need not depart from Christian charity towards her. We must deal with her as we would towards a friend who is visited by derangement; in great affliction, with all affectionate tender thoughts, with tearful regret and a broken heart, but still with a steady eye and a firm hand. For in truth she is a Church beside herself, abounding in noble gifts and rightful titles, but unable to use them religiously; crafty, obstinate, wilful, malicious, cruel, unnatural, as madmen are. Or rather, she may be said to resemble a demoniac; possessed with principles, thoughts, and tendencies, not her own, in outward form and in natural powers what God made her, but ruled within by an inexorable spirit, who is sovereign in his management over her, and most subtle and most successful in the use of her gifts. Thus she is her real self only in name; and, till God vouchsafe to restore her, we must treat her as if she were that evil one which governs her. And in say

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ing this, I must not be supposed to deny that there is any real excellence in Romanism even as it is, or that any really excellent men are its adherents. Satan ever acts on a system; various, manifold, and intricate, with parts and instruments of different qualities, some almost purely evil, others so unexceptionable, that in themselves and detached from the end to which all is subservient, they are really Angels of light," and may be found so to be at the last day. In Romanism there are some things absolutely good, some things only just tainted and sullied, some things corrupted, and some things in themselves sinful; but the system itself so called must be viewed as a whole, and all parts of it as belonging to the whole, and in connection with their practical working and the end which they subserve. Viewed thus as a practical system, its main tenet, which gives a colour to all its parts, is the Church's infallibility, as on the other hand the principle of that genuine theology out of which it has arisen, is the authority of Catholic Antiquity. In this and the following Lecture, I shall observe upon some of the characteristics of this main error, as we may consider it; viewing it first morally, and then what may be called politically. The points to which I wish to direct attention, as involved in the doctrine of Infallibility, are such as the following : That Romanism considers unclouded certainty necessary for a Christian's faith and hope; That it considers doubt incompatible with practical abidance

in the truth; That it aims at forming a complete and consistent theology; That in forming it, it neglects authority, and rests upon abstract arguments: That it criticizes and disposes of the Christian scheme on antecedent grounds: and That it substitutes a technical and formal obedience for the spirit of love. I notice these peculiarities in order to draw intelligible lines of demarcation between Romanists and ourselves; and first will treat of them in a moral point of view.

1. The doctrine of the Church's Infallibility is made to rest upon the notion, that any degree of doubt about religious truth is incompatible with faith, and that an external infallible assurance is necessary to exclude doubt. "Proof"," or certainty of the things believed, is secured upon two conditions; if there be a God, "who cannot lie," as the source of Revelation, and if the Church be Infallible to convey it. Otherwise, it is urged, what is called faith is merely opinion, as being but partial or probable knowledge. To this statement it is sufficient to reply here, that according to English principles, religious faith has all it needs in having only the former of these two secured to it, in knowing that God is our Creator and Preserver, and that He may, if it so happen, have spoken. This indeed is its trial and its praise, so to hang upon the thought of

1 Heb. xi. 1. Bellarm. de Gratiâ, vi. 3

Him, and desire Him, as not to wait till it knows for certain from infallible informants whether or no He has spoken, but to act in the way which seems on the whole most likely to please Him. If we are asked, how Faith differs from Opinion, we reply, in its considering His being, governance, and will as a matter of personal interest and importance to us, not in the degree of light or darkness under which it perceives the truth concerning them. When we are not personally concerned, even the highest evidence does not move us; when we are concerned, the very slightest is enough. Though we knew for certain that the planet Jupiter were in flames, we should go on as usual; whereas even the confused cry of fire at night rouses us from our beds. Action is the criterion of true faith, as determining accurately whether we connect the thought of God with the thought of ourselves, whether we love Him, or regard Him otherwise than we regard the existence of the solar system. And as well might we say, that the man who acts upon a letter from a friend does not believe his friend, because he is not infallibly sure the letter is not forged, as deny that such men have real faith as hear the Church and obey, though they have no assurance that in reporting God's words, she cannot err. Nay, doubt in some way or measure may even be said to be implied in a Christian's faith. Not that infallible certainty would take away all trial of our hearts, and force us to obey, nor again as if nothing