xv INFALLIBILITY AND TOLERATION 271 



does not alter the facts that both he and the Pope believe 

 themselves to hold the same theory of Truth, and that 

 this theory implies a claim to infallibility. The sole 

 difference is that whereas the Pope draws its consequences 

 consistently, cautiously, and with moderation, the man in 

 the street does so inconsistently, wildly, and extra 

 vagantly. And then the latter turns upon the former 

 and roundly accuses him of demanding what is repugnant 

 to reason ! 



Yet the Pope and the man in the street both profess 

 belief in the existence of absolute truth. Both also 

 believe in their own capacity to enunciate it. But an 

 absolute truth is one which could not under any circum 

 stances become false. Whoever enunciates it, therefore, 

 could not (so far) possibly be wrong-. But what is this 

 but to claim infallibility ? 



As ordinarily assumed, however, this claim is wildly 

 absurd. For when men fail to agree in enunciating 

 absolute truths, each has as good a right to think himself 

 infallible as the other. Every man, therefore, who in good 

 faith makes a statement he believes to be true, and believes 

 that truth is absolute, must claim infallible truth for his 

 statement, and infallibility pro tanto for himself, its maker. 

 He becomes a little pope in posse in his own eyes. And 

 he must insist on enforcing his rights. All must agree 

 with him. The facts that his pronouncements do not 

 meet with universal acceptance, and indeed that no two 

 men ever quite agree, cannot affect the theoretic validity of 

 his claim. Nor can it be impugned by the fact that 

 others put forward conflicting claims with equal assurance. 

 Each must abide by his own vision of absolute truth. 

 Whoever does not see the same as he does must be 

 either a fool or a knave : a fool if he cannot see it, a 

 knave if he will not admit that he sees it. He must be 

 made to see it, therefore, by fair means or foul. The 

 social consequences may be imagined. There must be 

 war unceasing and unsparing upon earth, until one and 

 the same Truth, immutable, infallible, and absolute, is 

 established upon it, and is seen and accepted by all without 



