  For Hilbert, the consistency of a formal theory T is an infinite series of
statements "D is free of contradictions" for each derivation D and a
consistency proof is i) an operation that, given D, yields a proof that D is
free of contradictions, and ii) a proof that (i) works for all inputs D.
Hilbert's two-stage approach to proving consistency naturally generalizes to
the notion of a finite proof of a series of sentences in a given theory. Such
proofs, which we call selector proofs, have already been tacitly employed in
mathematics. Selector proofs of consistency, including Hilbert's epsilon
substitution method, do not aim at deriving the G\"odelian consistency formula
Con(T) and are thus not precluded by G\"odel's second incompleteness theorem.
We give a selector proof of consistency of Peano Arithmetic PA and formalize
this proof in PA.
