senists, unknown to antiquity, which always understood the person of the chief Bishop, whether in words they attribute inerrancy directly to him or metaphorically to his see. If the Pope be then infallible, he is personally infallible.'[1]
I will now add only two more witnesses who bore their testimony in the last century, but lived on into the present, Bishop Hay, who died in 1811, and Bishop Milner, who died in 1826.
Bishop Hay, in his 'Sincere Christian,' writes as follows:
'Q. 27. On what grounds do these divines found their opinion, who believe that the Pope himself, when he speaks to all the faithful as head of the Church, is infallible in what he teaches?
'A. On several very strong reasons, both from scripture, tradition, and reason.'
He then draws out these three fully and abundantly; and this done, he asks:
'Q. 31. But what proofs do the others bring for their opinion that the head of the Church is not infallible?
'A. They bring not one text of Scripture to prove it,' &c.
Lastly, Bishop Milner in his book called, 'Ecclesiastical Democracy detected,' published in 1793, after saying in the text, 'The controversy of the Pope's inerrancy is here entirely out of the question,' adds the following note: 'It is true I was educated in the belief of this inerrancy; nor have I yet seen
- ↑ Observations on the Oath proposed to the English Roman Catholics, by Charles Plowden, p. 43. London, 1790.
