The Infallibility of Popes is the doctrine insisted upon by Count De
Montalambert as essential--as doctrine, the smallest deviation from
which is damnable heresy. Believe and admit 'Antichrist' is not
Antichrist, but God's accredited vicegerent upon earth, infinite is the
mercy in store for you; but woe to those who either cannot or will not
believe and admit anything of the kind. On them every sincere Roman
Catholic is sure God will pour out the vials of his wrath, as if the
'Great Perhaps,'
Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
A hero perish, or a sparrow fall,
could be angry with creatures of his own creation for thinking what they
cannot help thinking, and being what they cannot help being. Every one
has heard of the Predestinarian, who, having talked much of his God, was
asked by a bystander to speak worse of the Devil if he could; but
comparatively few persons feel the full force of that question, or are
prepared to admit God-worshippers in general, picture their Deities as
if they were demons. 'Recognise,' exclaims the Roman Catholic Priest,
'the "main point" of our holy apostolic religion, or God will judge and
eternally punish you.
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