Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/275

 INFALLIBILITY 263 munity from sin. The special assistance of the Holy Spirit which preserves a person from er- ror in the discharge of a certain office is a grace of the supernatural order, called by theologians gratia gratis data, a grace bestowed for the benefit of others than the recipient, such as the power of the priesthood bestowed on good and bad alike, and the gift of prophecy found in such men as Balaam and Caiaphas. It is thus distinguished from graces which are vouch- safed to sanctify their possessor, like that by which John the Baptist and Jeremiah were sanctified before their birth ; a grace of this sort is called gratia gratum faciens. The privilege of infallibility is also to be distinguished from inspiration ; because inspiration in many cases means a new revelation, whereas both the church and the pontiff are only witnesses, teachers, and judges of the revelation already made, and are merely preserved from error in guarding, expounding, and defending the de- posit of revelation. By the dogmatic decree of the council of the Vatican, the infallibility traditionally ascribed to the church by Catholics is declared to have been directly and imme- diately conferred on St. Peter, and in him on his successors the bishops of Rome. I. Roman Catholic theologians ground the infallibility of the church principally on the texts of Matt, xxviii. 19, 20: "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things whatso- ever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, unto the end of the world ;" and Mark xvi. 15, 16 : " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every crea- ture. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned." These words of Christ, constituting the great commission or charter of the church, as they maintain, established her as the univer- sal and perpetual teacher of mankind, gave into her keeping the deposit of the divine faith and law, declared her office to be that of sole inter- preter of the same, bestowed on her the sole jurisdiction existing upon earth in matters of salvation over the reason and will of man, and assured her that in the discharge of this office she will have the Lord with her until the end of time. Faith in Christ through her teaching, and obedience to her in the fulfilment of her office, are required under pain of damnation. Now, it is held to be repugnant alike to the na- ture of God and to that of man, that God should compel the assent of the reason and submission of the will to a teaching liable to error. The object or matter embraced by this infallible teaching is the whole body of revealed truth written and unwritten, and all that is so connected with it that without treating of it the Word of God could not be guarded, ex- pounded, and defended ; such would be the de- claring of the canon, authenticity, and true in- terpretation of Scripture, and the like. Fur- ther, the church claims an infallible guidance in discerning and defining all matters which are opposed to revelation ; for, it is argued, she could not discharge her office of teacher of mankind, unless she were able to proscribe with infallible certainty all doctrines at vari- ance with the Word of God. Hence, the direct object of the infallibility of the church is the revelation or Word of God ; and the indirect ob- ject is whatever is necessary for its exposition and defence, or contrary to the law of faith and morality. II. Pontifical infallibility is thus de- fined in chapter 4 of the constitution Pastor ceternus, July 18, 1870 : " 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 pas- tor and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme authority, he defines a doctrine re- garding faith and morals to be held by the uni- versal church, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed that his church should be endowed for defining doctrines regarding faith and morals; and that, therefore, such definitions of the Ro- man pontiffs are irreformable of themselves and not by the consent of the church." This definition declares that the pope is infallible when speaking from his seat of authority, in discharge of his office of pastor and teacher of the entire Christian fold, and challenging the assent of the universal church. The doctrinal point defined or finally decided must relate to faith and morals, and in such definitions, it is declared, he is divinely guided by virtue of the promises made to him in the person of Peter. This infallibility of the pontiff has the same extension as the doctrinal office of the church, and the final judgments pronounced in its exercise are in themselves irreformable or irre- versible, even before the church has accepted them. The definition limits the infallibility and the divine assistance which secures it to the pope's official acts as pastor and doctor of all Christians. It thus excludes all his acts as a private person, doctor, theologian, local bish- op, or ruler. He is exempt from error in only one capacity, that is, when as teacher of the whole church in faith and morals he speaks from the chair of Peter. The phrase doctrine of faith and morals signifies the whole re- vealed Word of God, the whole way of sal- vation through faith, or the whole supernat- ural order with all that is necessary to the salvation of mankind through Jesus Christ. The efficient cause of this infallibility or im- munity from error is declared to be the divine assistance promised to Peter, and in Peter to his successors. This, it is asserted by Catholic theologians, is contained explicitly in the words of Christ to Peter, Luke xxii. 32: "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not : and when thou art converted strengthen thy breth- ren ;" and implicitly in Matt. xvi. 18 : "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church ; and the