natural judge. But if the pope was fallible, so also was a general council. Even such an assembly, of the most perfect composition, – strictly representative, according to Marsiglio's scheme, both of clergy and laity, both (this is his own addition) of men and women,[1] – he would not entrust with the absolute, final decision in matters of faith. Any man, all men, may err; and Ockham is disposed in the last resort to find consolation in the scriptural paradox which speaks of the truth vouchsafed to little children. He is convinced that the faith must live, but cannot admit without qualification any of the suggested sureties for its maintenance. He is so embarrassed by the various alternatives that have been propounded, so persuaded of the elements of truth that each contains in different degrees, that he seems unable to form any fixed resolution on the whole subject. Revelation of course cannot but be infallible, but he is not sure, or at least he does not tell us his opinion, of the limits to which the name is to be restricted. All that we can conclude with certainty is that Ockham does not extend its authority to the Decretals or to any part of the special Roman tradition.
One of the reasons why it is so difficult to affirm any thing in detail about Ockham's views is that his principal works on the subject with which we are concerned are
- ↑ The principal points of difference between Marsiglio and Ockham in this respect appear to me to be two: first, what Marsiglio intended as a regular part of the constitution, the ordinary originator of legislation, Ockham thought of only as an instrument to be used in the last resort, in the case of the pope falling into heresy: the scheme of the one was political, that of the other was ecclesiastical. Secondly, unless Ockham was consciously committing himself to a paradox, he is distinguished from his colleague by the admission he makes of women to election to general councils, 'propter unitatem fidei virorum et mulierum, quae omnes tangit et in qua non masculus nec foemina... Et ideo ubi sapientia, bonitas, vel potentia mulierum esset tractatui fidei (de qua potissime est tractandum in concilio generali) necessaria, non est mulier a generali concilio excludenda:' p. 605. That Ockham was sensible of the ridicule with which the proposal would be received, appears plainly from the opening of the following chapter. For the rest, though it is possible that Marsiglio at an earlier time drew a good deal from Ockham; still the date of the Defensor Pacis furnishes a presumption of the former having the priority in his general conclusions.
