THIRTEENTH ASSUMPTION OF THE POPE INFALLIBILITY. 813 It was not his judicial authority which they insisted upon to maintain his epistle, but the orthodoxy and intrinsic usefulness of it to confute errors; upon which account they embraced and confirmed it by their suffrage. XIII. If the pope were a sovereign of the church, as they make him, it were at least expedient that he should be infallible; for why otherwise should he undertake confidently to pronounce in all cases, to define high and difficult points, to impose his dictates, and require assent from all? If he be fallible, it is very probable that often he obtrudes errors upon us for matters of faith and practice. Wherefore, the true fast friends of papal interest assert him to be infalliblewhen he dictates as pope, and setting himself intohis chair, thence means to instruct the whole church.' And the pope, there- fore, himself, who countenances them, may be presumed to be of that mind. Pighius* said bouncingly [boastfully]: "The judgment of the apostolic see, with a council of domestic priests, is far more certain than the judgment of an universal council of the whole earth with- out the pope."' This is the syllogismwe propose: The supremejudge must be infallible; The pope is not infallible: Therefore [the pope is not the supreme judge.] The major, [that the supremejudge must be infallible,] the Jesuits, canonists, and courtiers, are obliged to prove, it being their assertion; and they prove it very wisely and strongly. The minor, [that the pope is not infallible,] is asserted by the French doctors; and they with clear evidence maintain it. The conclusion, [that the pope is not the supreme judge,] we leave them to infer who are concerned. It is, in effect, Pope Gregory's argumentation : no bishop can be universal bishop, or universal pastor andjudge of the church, because no bishop can be infallible; for the lapse of such a pastor would Act. Syn. Chafe., p. 465. mñ roivw i¡civ roü»auaaercir rñt `P.p ns srpoílpou rñv 17171.07.31v, rat xarvoropeias ïyxxn¡<a, srpooppirmoav 14a7.Á si ¡.em aú.peovo, raïs yrapaïs, IXtrz rwcav ti pcm roil repo7.aßoüei sraepáee, 4.6,Zogas el ¡<ñ xpás SLPOECWV xarnyoriav ysyivnrai, &C. Bell. lib. iv. * Albertus Pighius, or Pighi, was a learned Dutchman of the sixteenthcentury, arch- deacon at Utrecht, and a violent opponent of Luther. He was more distinguished for the extent of his erudition than his judgment. So long as he confinedhimself to ques- tions not affecting Rome, he was liberal and sensible; but even his admirers allow that he exaggerated thepower of the pope beyond reasonable bounds, and can only plead for him that, in their day, this was the safer extreme. Weisman. Hist. Eccl. tom. i. 1338. En. 2 Longe certius est unius apostolicre sedis cum concilio domesticorum sacerdotum judicium, quam sine pontifice judicium univèrsalis concilii totius orbis terrarum. Pighius de Hier., lib. vi.
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