They ask for a sign, and lo! when God gives them one they
cannot see it, nor interpret it, nor make anything out of it: and
prefer to linger on in what Newman calls "the cities of confusion,"
than find peace and security in "the communion of Rome, which is that
Church which the Apostles set up at Pentecost, which alone has 'the
adoption of sons, and the glory and the covenants and the revealed
law, and the service of God and the promises,' and in which the
Anglican [or any other Protestant] communion, whatever it merits and
demerits, whatever the great excellence of individuals in it, has, as
such, no part". But this is a digression. Let us return to our
subject.
The incontestable value and immense practical importance of the Papal
prerogative of infallibility have been rendered abundantly manifest
ever since its solemn definition nearly forty years ago. In fact,
although the enormous increase of the population of the world has not
rendered the position of the Sovereign Pontiff any easier, yet he is
better fitted and equipped since the definition to cope promptly and
effectually with errors and heresies as they arise than he was before.
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