thing we should be led to expect if it did not exist; as is fully proved
by Paine's saying about its being written on the sun. How convincingly,
then, is the truth forced home on us, when we do learn that there is an
institution that exactly fulfils our foregone conclusion!

So far as theory goes, the infallibility of the Church can be a burden
to none; so far as actual facts go, it has not demonstrably, to my
knowledge, acted as a damper on intellectual effort, but merely as the
restrainer of its excesses.

I shall be quite candid in giving my views on this inexhaustible
subject, merely letting them stand for what they are worth, and knowing
full well that there are depths in it, as in all things else, not to be
sounded by me. And I shall now go on to state what are the real
difficulties and burdens to me, as to many other Catholics perhaps, in
this doctrine of infallibility; always premising that ten thousand
difficulties do not make one doubt. And here some may be inclined to say
that, as touching the papal headship of it, the evil deeds of many Popes
and their apparently immoral lives, do inevitably tend to throw
discredit on it as being lodged in them. But let all that can be said be
admitted; what then? Why, I answer, David was a man after God's own
heart, and stood nearer to Him as being inspired than any Pope as being
infallible; yet one of God's Prophets could say to him, "Thou art the
man!" The lesson of which is not to judge men's inner lives entirely by
outward facts, as the young and inexperienced are too apt to do. Our
Blessed Lord foretold scandals to come in the very sanctuary of His
dwelling, and we know the doom pronounced upon those by whom they come.
And if we view the action of these individuals in relation to the
Apostolical _depositum_, we can actually draw thence an argument awful
as it is startling. These Popes, so frail as men, were yet wise as the
Vicars of Christ; never have they dared lay hands on the faith committed
to their care.

The difficulty lies in another direction. As has already been explained,
the Church claims infallibility only in matters of faith; but a little
reflection will show us that there are many things not coming directly
under this head yet appertaining to it. In these latter she claims
unquestioning outward obedience at least. Thus she has the right to
determine when any scientific theory or other controversy bears upon
matters of faith, or has a dangerous tendency