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Page 29
The document is a very remarkable one, and from the point of view of
continuity (of which it completely disposes) it is of very
considerable interest.
Before you read it, and ponder over its contents, let me remind you
that the writing of a letter in those days was a very serious
business. There was no post such as we have now, and special couriers
had to be despatched from London to Rome. Paper had not as yet been
invented, so the message had to be carefully written, by paid scribes,
on vellum or parchment. Further, a letter from a King to the Pope was
not a thing to be dashed off on the spur of the moment, but to be
carefully thought out, and expressed with great accuracy. The King
would summon his advisers, and his Secretary of State, and probably
consult some of the Bishops and weigh each word before committing his
message to parchment. In short, the document would represent his own
deliberate convictions as well as those of his official advisers and
counsellors.
After addressing the Pope in the usual respectful and filial way, he
says: "Let not the envious information of our detractors find place in
the meek mind of your Holiness, or create any sinister opinion of a
son" [observe the King calls himself a son of the Pope], "who after
the manner of his predecessors" [so previous Kings were as loyal as
he] "shall always firmly persist in amity and obedience to the
Apostolic See. Nay, if any such evil suggestion concerning your son
should knock for entrance at your Holiness's ears, let no belief be
allowed it till the son who is concerned be heard, who trusts and
always intends both to say and to prove that each of his actions is
just before the tribunal of your Holiness, _presiding over every
creature, which to deny is to maintain heresy_." Nothing could be
stronger than this last sentence; but we will return to that later.
Then the King goes on to speak of others, who are dependent upon him,
and proceeds as follows: "And further, this we say, adjoining it as a
further evidence of our intention and greater devotion, that if there
be any one of our kindred or allies who walks not as he ought in the
way of _obedience towards the Apostolic See_, we intend to bestow our
diligence--and we trust to no little purpose--that leaving his
wandering course, he may return into the path of duty and walk
regularly for the future".
From these words it is clear that the King of England, not satisfied
with obeying the Pope himself, likewise insisted upon all under his
authority obeying him likewise. Indeed, he would have made short work
of those who should refuse to do so. Then, alluding to some reproach,
admonition or censure which he had received from the Pope, he goes on
to express himself in words strangely out of harmony with the whole
tone and spirit of modern Anglicanism. They are as follows:--
"That the Kings of England, our predecessors, those illustrious
champions of Christ, those defenders of the Faith, those" [listen!]
"_zealous asserters of the rights of the Holy Roman Church, and devout
observers of her commands_, that they or we should deserve this
unkindness, we neither know nor believe. And though, for this very
reason many do say--though we say not so--that this aiding of our
enemies against us, seems neither the act of a father nor of a mother
towards us, but rather of a stepmother; yet this notwithstanding, we
constantly avow that we are" [remember, it is still the King of
England speaking], "and shall continue to be, to your Holiness and to
your seat, a devout and humble son, and not a step-son".
Can any one imagine greater reverence or greater loyalty to the Vicar
of Christ than is shown forth in these words? Can you, dear readers,
by any stretch of the imagination, conceive any one who is not a Roman
Catholic giving vent to such sentiments as are here expressed? Have
words lost their plain meaning for the Bishop of London, and for those
who (we must in charity suppose, _blindly_) follow him?
The letter is a long one, and we need not transcribe the whole of it,
but we will offer for your consideration just one more paragraph. The
King writes: "Your Holiness best knows the measure of good and just,
in whose hands are the keys to open and to shut the gates of heaven on
earth, as the _fulness of your power_ and the excellence of your
judicature requires.... We being ready to receive information of the
truth, from your sacred tribunal, _which is over all_," etc.
Observe these words were written over five hundred years ago, long
before the present Anglican Establishment was so much as dreamed of;
yet, even if King Edward III. had actually foreseen the craze that
would seize Anglicans of to-day to prove that he, and his subjects
were not loyal Roman Catholics, he could not have expressed his
Catholicity and his loyalty to the Vicar of Christ in more
unmistakable or in more explicit terms.
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