prove absolutely anything. The most sacred and fundamental truths,
even such as the sublime doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, the Divinity
of Christ, and the Atonement, have all, at one time or another, been
vehemently denied _on the authority of the Bible_! The Anglican Bishop
Colenso, in writing to the _Times_, could quote eleven texts of
Scripture to prove that prayer ought not to be offered to Our Divine
Lord! yet, it made no difference. He was allowed to go on teaching
just as before! No one seemed to care. What is "pure Gospel" to Mr.
Brown is "deadly error" to Mr. Green; while "the fundamental verities"
of Mr. Thompson are "the satanical delusions" of Mr. Johnson. In fact,
there is really less dispute among men as to the interpretation of the
Vedas, of Chinese chronology, or of Egyptian archæology, than of the
Bible, which, to the eternal dishonour of Protestant commentators, has
now almost ceased to have any definite meaning whatever, because every
imaginable meaning has been defended by some and denied by others. It
is beyond dispute that the Bible, without an infallible Teacher to
explain its true meaning, will be of no use whatsoever as a bond of
unity.

If the unity, promised by God-incarnate, is to be secured, the present
circumstances of the case, as well as the actual experience of many
centuries, prove three conditions to be absolutely necessary, _viz._:
a teacher who is _firstly_ ever living and accessible; _secondly_, who
can and will speak clearly and without ambiguity; and _thirdly_, and
most essential of all, whose decisions are authoritative and
decisive. One, in a word, who can pass sentence and close a
controversy, and whose verdict will be honoured and accepted _as
final_ by all Catholics without hesitation. These three requisites are
found in the person of the infallible Head of the Catholic Church, but
nowhere else.