“English! they are barbarians; they don’t believe in the great God.” I told him, “Excuse me, Sir. We do believe in God, and in Jesus Christ too.” “Um,” says he, “and in the Pope?” “No.” “And why?” This was a puzzling question in these circumstances.... I thought I would try a method of my own, and very gravely replied, “Because we are too far off.” A very new argument against the universal infallibility of the Pope.
ATTRIBUTION:
James Boswell (1740–1795), Scottish author. Boswell on the Grand Tour: Italy, Corsica and France, October 19, 1765, p. 160, McGraw-Hill Book Co. (1955).
