or infallibility of the Church, without reference to S. Peter and his successors.
It would be disproportioned to this letter to quote at length the proofs of this assertion; I am compelled to limit myself to affirming that the extent and the explicitness of the evidence under the two first classes is far beyond the extent and the explicitness of the evidence under the third; and further, that the evidence under the first class is at least equal to, if it be not more than, the evidence under the two last.
The conclusion I would draw from this is, that whensoever the perpetuity of the faith and the infallibility of the Church is spoken of, the foremost and governing idea in the mind of the faithful has always been the Divine order and assistance by which S. Peter and his successors have been constituted as the perpetual teachers of the Universal Church, and guides in the way of eternal life.
The formation of the Church is traced in the order of the Baptismal Creed. God sent His Son into the world to be made man. The Incarnate Word, in Whom were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, became the fountain of grace and truth, of doctrine, and of jurisdiction, to the world. To the chief of His Apostles He conveyed by the Holy Ghost all His communicable prerogatives, and thereby constituted him His vicar upon earth. Peter became the head and guide, the fountain of doctrine and jurisdiction, to the Apostles. The Church sprang from him, and was formed, as S. Cyprian says, like
