Page:Outlines of Theology by A. A. Hodge (1879).djvu/99

   of the Vatican Council," chap. iii.—"Hence we teach and declare that by the appointment of our Lord... the power of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff is immediate, to which all, of whatever rite and dignity, both pastors and faithful, both individually and collectively, are bound, by their duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, to submit not only in matters which belong to faith and morals, but also in those that appertain to the discipline and government of the Church throughout the world... We further teach and declare that he is the supreme judge of the faithful, and that in all causes, the decision of which belongs to the Church, recourse may be had to his tribunal, and that none may reopen the judgment of the Apostolic See, than whose authority there is no greater, nor can any lawfully review his judgment. Wherefore they err from the right course who assert that it is lawful to appeal from the judgments of the Roman Pontiff to an œcumenical council, as to an authority higher than that of the Roman Pontiff."

4th. .—"Dogmatic Decrees of the Vatican Council," Chap. iv.—"Therefore faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the beginning of the Christian faith, for the glory of God our Saviour, the exaltation of the Catholic religion, and the salvation of Christian people, the sacred Council approving, we teach and define that it is a dogma divinely revealed: That the Roman Pontiff when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal Church, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, is possessed of the infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed that his Church should be endowed for defining doctrine according to faith and morals; and that therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church. But if any one—which may God avert—presume to contradict this our definition: let him be anathema."

Cardinal Manning in his "Vatican Council" says, "In this definition there are six points to be noted:

"1st. It defines the meaning of the well-known phrase loquens ex cathedra; that is, speaking from the Seat, or place, or with the authority of the supreme teacher of all Christians, and binding the assent of the universal Church.

"2d. The subject matter of the infallible teaching, namely, the doctrine of faith and morals.

"3d. The efficient cause of infallibility, that is, the divine assistance promised to Peter, and in Peter to his successors.

"4th. The act to which this divine assistance is attached, the defining of doctrines of faith and morals.

"5th. The extension of this infallible authority to the limits of the doctrinal office of the Church.

"6th. The dogmatic value of the definitions ex cathedra, namely that they are in themselves irreformable, because in themselves infallible, and not because the Church, or any part or member of the Church, should assent to them."

"Dogmatic Decrees of Vatican Council," Ch. iv.—"For the Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter, that by his revelation they might make known new doctrine; but that by his assistance they might inviolably keep and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith delivered through the Apostles."