whatsoever they be, will be not only infallibly true, but wise and opportune, and that the result, whatsoever it be, will lay down a rule of faith in matters of belief, and a rule of thought and judgment in matters of prudence, there can be no anxiety, or impulsive desire for this or for that result. They will remain in a calm equilibrium of mind and will, ready with promptness and with joy to accept whatsoever decrees come forth as the wisest and the best. 'He that believeth, let him not hasten.'[1]
With this temper of mind, and with this submission of will, I may now take up the chief topic of the Pastoral Letter addressed to you two years ago on the Centenary of S. Peter; but, in doing so, I shall endeavour to lay it before you with the arguments adduced, hinc inde, on either side. We have been often told of late that one subject to be defined by the Council will be the infallibility of the Pope. They who tell us this are chiefly those who, being out of the unity of the Church, believe this doctrine to be false; and they rely upon statements made, as they allege, by Catholics few and rare in number, who do not believe the doctrine to be true, or by Catholics who, believing the doctrine to be true, nevertheless are of opinion that to define it would not be opportune.
With those who are without, we have nothing now to do. With the handful of Catholics who do not believe the infallibility of the Vicar of Jesus Christ speaking ex cathedrâ, we will not now occupy ourselves. But the opinion of those who believe the doctrine to be true, but its definition to be inoppor-
- ↑ Isaias xxviii. 16.
