From the letter of which we have presented the reader with an extract,
it appears what our author's sentiments were on the nature and extent of
the spiritual power of the see of Rome. It has frequently been said that
he was the editor of doctor Hulden's _Analysis Fidei_: had this been the
fact, it would have been a strong proof of an alteration of his
sentiments on those points; but, after particular inquiry, the editor
finds the assertion to be wholly unfounded.
On the celebrated questions, _Of the infallibility of the Pope, and his
right to the deposing power_, our author thus expresses himself in one
of his letters on Mr. Bower's History of the Popes; "Mr. Bower having
been educated in the Catholic schools, could not but know that, though
some private divine think that the pope, by the assistance of some
special providence, cannot err in the decisions of faith solemnly
published by him, with the mature advice of his council, or of the
clergy or divines of his church, yet that this is denied by others; and
that the learned Bossuet, and many others, especially of the school of
Sorbon, have written warmly {019} against that opinion; and that no
Catholic looks upon it as an article or term of communion. It is the
infallibility of the whole church, whether assembled in a general
council, or dispersed over the world, of which they speak in their
controversial disputations. Yet this writer, at every turn, confounds
these two things together only to calumniate and impose on the public.
If he had proved that some popes had erred in faith, he would have no
more defeated the article of supremacy, than he would disinherit a king
by arraigning him of bad policy. The Catholic faith teaches the pope to
be the supreme pastor of the church established by Christ, and that this
church, founded by Christ on a rock, shall never be overcome by hell, or
cease to be his true spouse. For he has promised that his true Spirit
shall direct it in all truth to the end of the world. But Mr. Bower
never found the infallibility of the pope in our creed; and knows very
well that no such article is proposed by the church, or required of any
one. Therefore the whole chain of his boastings which is conducted
through the work falls to the ground.
"What he writes against the deposing power in popes, certainly cannot be
made a reproach against the Catholics of England, France, Spain, &c. It
is a doctrine neither taught nor tolerated in any Catholic kingdom that
I know of, and which many Catholics write as warmly against as Mr. Bower
could wish."