Page:William John Sparrow-Simpson - Roman Catholic Opposition to Papal Infallibility (1909).djvu/361

 ] on a night journey, keep him from pitfalls in his way." It is a guardianship saving its recipient "from the effects of his inherent infirmities, from any chance of extravagance, or confusion of thought."

Any serious study of Infallibility must realise that the question is only part of a vastly larger subject, namely, the relation of the human will to the Divine. To describe Infallibility as "an assistance by which the Church is not permitted to err, whether in the use of the means for investigating revealed truth, or in proposing truth to man's acceptance" is to assume a theory of divine coercion which awakens some of the profoundest psychological and dogmatic problems. It has well been said that "two conditions are required for an authoritative decision: the use of natural means, and a special Providence directing that use. If the former condition be absent, the latter is simply impossible." But what is constantly forgotten in discussions on Infallibility is this conditional nature of all divine assistance. It is constantly assumed that the divine assistance will overrule, even in the absence of compliance with what are acknowledged to be duties on the part of the recipient. There is an obvious simplicity, there seems an edifying piety, in saying that this endowment is an assistance by which the recipient is "not permitted to err." But this deliverance from error cannot be independent of the recipient's will, and irrespective of his receptivity.

Suppose, for instance, Infallibility to be located in a Council. It cannot act independently of certain conditions. It might be thwarted by fear or external constraint. Nor are merely external conditions alone essential. There must be inward freedom to preserve