Fifth, the fathers.
Fifth, the fathers.
§ 463. (V) From these facts, it is obvious that the fathers cannot be acknowledged as the infallible judges of controversies: (1) They, too, are liable to the peril of erring. (2) They remove infallibility from themselves and want people to judge all parts of their doctrine according to Scripture. (3) Their books have not always been extant in the Church, as the history of the early Church witnesses. (4) Fewer literary works of theirs are extant than is necessary for a full and complete consensus about each and every controversy to be sought from them. (5) In their writings that we still possess there are many corrupt and spurious things. (6) They cannot be read by everyone on whom the responsibility for passing judgment on controversies rests. (7) The Papists themselves deny that the authority of the fathers is authentic, and as a result, they subject it to the Roman pontiff. (8) They contradict one another quite often. All this is explained and substantiated in greater detail in its own place.