|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 21
PART II.
THE ANGLICAN THEORY OF CONTINUITY IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
OR
THE AUTHORITY OF THE POPE IN ENGLAND IN PRE-REFORMATION TIMES.
As the First Part of this little treatise is devoted to a
consideration of the position of the Pope and the authority
which he exercises throughout the Universal Church; so the
Second Part is concerned with the position occupied and the
authority exercised by the same Sovereign Pontiff in our own
country of England, before she was cut off from the
Universal Church in the sixteenth century.
CHAPTER I.
THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE REFORMATION.
One of the greatest glories of the Catholic Church is that she and she
alone possesses and is able to communicate to others the whole truth
revealed by Jesus Christ. The Church of England and other Churches
that have gone out from her have, we are thankful to say, carried with
them some fragments of Christianity, but the Catholic Church alone
possesses the whole unadulterated revelation of Jesus Christ. For over
a thousand years, the Church in England formed a part of the great
Universal Church, the centre of which is at Rome and the circumference
of which is everywhere. From the sixth to the sixteenth century the
Church in England was a province of that Church, and received her
power and jurisdiction from the Holy See. It was not until the
sixteenth century that she apostatised, and was cut off from the stem,
out of which she had sprung, as a rotten branch is lopped off from a
healthy tree. It was not until then that she became a Church apart,
distinct from the Church of God, no longer the _Catholic_ Church _in_
England, but henceforth the _National_ Church _of_ England and of
England alone. The pre-"Reformation" Church was, as we have said, not
a separate Church, but a part of the one Catholic Church, whereas the
post-"Reformation" Church stands alone, unrecognised by the rest of
Christendom; hence the one is absolutely distinct from the other. The
grand old cathedrals and churches designed, built, and paid for by our
Catholic ancestors have been forcibly taken possession of, but the
Faith, the teaching, and the doctrine--in a word, the Church
itself--is totally distinct. The wolf may slay and devour the sheep
and may then clothe himself in its fleece, but the wolf is not the
sheep, and the nature of the one remains totally different from that
of the other. The proofs of all this are so numerous and so striking
that one scarcely knows which to choose, nor where to begin. In the
present chapter, we will content ourselves with calling attention to
certain points that every one will be able to grasp. It is said that a
straw will show which way the wind blows, so things even trivial in
themselves will enable any unprejudiced man to see that there must be
some radical difference between the Church in England four hundred
years ago, and the Church of England to-day. First, let us just look
round and consider the Catholic Church. It is spread all over the
world. It is found in France, in Belgium, in Italy, in Spain, and in
other countries, all of which recognised the Church in England before
the "Reformation" as one in faith and doctrine with themselves. They
felt themselves united with it in one and the same belief; they taught
the same seven Sacraments; they gathered around the same Sacrifice;
they acknowledged the same supremacy of the same spiritual head. Now
there is no single Catholic country that recognises the Church of
England as anything but heretical and schismatical.
Formerly when any Archbishop of Canterbury travelled abroad he was
received as a brother by the Catholic Bishops all over the Continent.
He felt thoroughly at home in the Catholic churches, and offered up
the Divine Mysteries at their altars, using the same sacred vessels,
reading from the same missal, speaking the same language, and feeling
himself to be a member of the same spiritual family. Can the present
Archbishop of Canterbury follow their example? Would the Cardinal
Archbishop of Paris, for instance, or the Archbishop of Milan receive
the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, as a brother Bishop? Would they
cause their cathedrals to be thrown open to him? No.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|