Book 2, Chapter 3, §11
Not intrinsic but derivative and limited in
sphere. The Church’s infallibility is not intrinsic,
strictly speaking, but derivative. That is, it owes its existence,
continuance, methods, and extent to divine overruling and guidance. The Church is
constituted and commissioned to teach what has been revealed and commanded by
her Lord. The guidance of the Spirit which is promised to her pertains to
spiritual things only, and it is limited to the sphere of revealed truth and
the dispensation of life which our Lord has committed to her to proclaim,
preserve, and apply. The Church is not dehumanized, nor is she endowed with
omniscience in any sphere, or with infallibility outside the sphere appointed.
We know this not merely because of the limitation of our Lord’s commission and
promise, but because subsequent history gives repeated evidence that the Church
has to wait on scientific scholarship and practical experience for knowledge on
other matters. Her authority is that of a witness to certain truths and
principles which she received in apostolic days. She is not an organ of new
revelations, nor does she enjoy any peculiar protection or immunity from error
in matters not necessary to be believed or practiced for salvation. What is
guaranteed by the Lord’s commission and promise is this: that the ecumenical
teaching of the Catholic Church will never be permitted to misrepresent the “faith
once-for-all delivered to the saints” [Jude 3]. The Church’s mind and
judgment, rightly understood, can always be accepted implicitly and followed
with unique safety by those who seek to enter into the mind of Christ and
attain to life eternal. (Francis J. Hall, Anglican Dogmatics, ed. John A.
Porter, 2 vols. [Nashotah, Wis.: Nashotah House Press, 2021], 1:165)
Thus, the Church of Pentecostal days was not guided to
correct the belief of her members that the Second Advent of Christ was immediately
impending. (Ibid., 1:165 n. 3)
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