It is from shortly upthread, from an long excerpt posted to you concerning an excerpt you posted. I'd also posted it before upthread with slightly more of the paragraph, thus.
"A Protestant believes in no infallible authority; he is an authority unto himself, which authority he does not claim to be infallible, if he is sober and sane. He is after truth; and whatever he finds, and wherever he finds it, he subjects it to his own private judgment. He is free to accept or reject, as he pleases. He is not, cannot be, absolutely certain that what he holds is true; he thinks it is. He may discover to-day that yesterday's truths are not truths at all."I really like this author, Stapleton, very grateful to have found him on this thread, thanks to you. The more we see from him, the greater the context, the more impressive his insights, and more good sense is made of the snippets posted to denigrate him or the Church.
Glad to be of service. The only thing is, Stapleton was not excerpted to denigrate the Catholic Church but to give an example of the idea that Catholics do indeed have to leave "reason at the door like a lantern". In case you have forgotten, the point was made that in numerous documents issued by the Church such "blind obedience" and relinquishment of personal discovery is expected and those who dare to question their "leaders" are admonished.
Now if you are comfortable with that kind of oversight and control, then by all means stay there, just don't presume anyone is fooled by the silly descriptions of "Protestants" and how they come to the knowledge of the truth. That is as God said it would be, by illumination of the Holy Spirit through the word of God. To state, "A Protestant believes in no infallible authority; he is an authority unto himself", is as false as it is risible. Holy Scripture IS the infallible authority - the ONLY one - that God has given to his own so that we can know truth from error. This ancient truth was known and acknowledged by even your own church "Fathers" so it is a shame that centuries later this true and noble doctrine is mocked and ridiculed as a "new" invention. We are to search the Scriptures to see if things are so, just as the noble Bereans were commended for doing.