114 MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION 



among Romanists in all parts of the world. It is 

 a singular spectacle to witness the strenuous efforts 

 made by the Pope and his supporters to bolster ud 

 the temporal dominion which has been so rapidlj 

 passing from him. 



Once his word could make and unmake a king ; 

 but to-day every part of his territory has been 

 stripped from him, and whatever power he yet 

 possesses, is not as that of a prince, but as a spirit- 

 ual ruler. 



Once at his bidding whole nations would spring 

 to arms ; but his voice is not listened to any longer 

 as a leader in conquest. 



And yet, as the temporal power of the Pope has 

 been steadily declining since the Reformation, the 

 Church of Rome has been ascribing to him a 

 spiritual dominion greater than was claimed even 

 in the darkest periods of the middle ages, until at 

 last we hear the almost blasphemous declaration 

 that he is infallible, that what he teaches as the 

 head of the Church must be infallibly true. 



Of course if one pope is infallible, then all 

 must have been so ; and yet it is only necessary to 

 read their history to become aware that what one 

 declared heresy another declared true, and so on. 

 How can the contradictions be reconciled ? 



Not only, however, has the doctrine of the 

 Pope's infallibility been a product of later times in 

 the Church of Rome, but other errors unheard of in 



