direction in receiving and submitting to it, require to be distinctly and indisputably revealed to us. Unless these circumstances are fixed by the same authority that is supposed to make the grant, namely, by Christ Himself, we are as far removed from infallibility as ever; and in deciding these essential and fundamental particulars, we are left to mere argument and conjecture. {20b} To disprove Papal infallibility much more will scarcely be expected by our readers; but we will add one concluding observation on the erroneousness and inconsistency of the supposed infallible decrees. If Popes really were infallible, their doctrine would never vary, but would remain, from age to age, unalterably the same: the judgment of one Pope would never differ, on the same subjects, from the judgment of another; and least of all would it be credible that any Pope should be convicted of heresy. We know, however, from unquestionable documents of history that this was not the case. Two Popes in the second century (Eleutherius and Victor) were encouragers of the heretical fanaticism of Montanus. {21a} Another Pope (Stephen) of the third century was heretical on the subject of baptism: {21b} Pope Liberius condemned Athanasius, and subscribed his name to the semi-Arian heresy: Pope Honorius was by a general council condemned as a Monothelite. {21c} And (not to multiply particular examples) we may remark, once for all, that a long line of Popes promulgated, _ex cathedrâ_, a doctrine which, in the present age, is abandoned by Rome itself, and is rejected universally as impious and extravagant; the doctrine, namely, that the Roman See is vested with the Divine right of temporal jurisdiction over all the kingdoms of the earth; and that the Pontiff, as Vicar of Jesus Christ, and delegate of Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords, may call civil magistrates to account, and may depose kings and emperors, on the charge of heretical depravity. {21d} To these various objections against the doctrine of Pontifical infallibility, our defender of the Roman Faith replies by a ready acknowledgment that the great majority of Romanists themselves are of our opinion: that much abler arguments have been urged by them than by Protestants against this pretension of the Pope: {22a} that by them infallibility is ascribed not to the Roman Pontiff, who “is liable to err, and who frequently has erred;” but to a general Council, representing the whole Church of Christ, and combining all its collective wisdom. On our inquiry by what Scriptural evidence infallibility is proved to lodge in a representative assembly thus constituted, we are desired to read the following texts:— “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” {22b} “If he neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” {22c} “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” {22d}