Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-03-29
IRONTON, MO-. THURSDAY. MARCH 20. 1888.

meant by the act, no honest historian would
hesitate to so explain it. If two men make
a written contract and at the same time they
make a written memorandum as to what
they mean by the contract, every court in
Christendom would give effect to their con-
struction of it. Applying these natural rules
to the tease at bar" as lawyer would say,
let us proceed.
November Sd, 1884, Parliament claiming
to have ''clear evidence of intended treason,
determined to put it down with high hand !;
and with this purpose Parliament met = =
and declared the King Supreme Head Of the
Church in England. 1t was an assertion of
independence of foreign Jurisdiction; it
was at once the symbol of the independence
of England and the declaration that thence
forth the civil magistrate was supreme with
in the English dominiors." (Froude, vol. ., p.
345.) And in note to same page from which
the above is quoted, Froude says: "To guard
against msconception as to what this head
ship really meant, an explanatory document
was drawn up by the Government at the very
time of the passing of the act, which is Curl
Gus and important, in these words The
Kings Grace hath no new authority given
hereby that he is recognized as Supreme
Head of the Church of England; for in that
recognition is included only that he have
such power as to a King of right appertain-
eth by the law of God, and not that he should
take any spiritual power from spiritual min
listers that is given to them by the Gospel. So
that these words, that the King is the Su-
preme Head of the Church, serve rather to
declare and make open to the world that the
King hath power to suppress all such eX-
torted powers, as well of the Bishop of Rome
as Of any within this realm, whereby his sub
jects might be grieved; and to remove and
correct all things whereby any unguietness
might arise amongst the people, rather than
to prove that he should pretend thereby to
take any powers from the successors of the
Apostles that was given to them by God.
And forasmuch as in the session of this for
year of this reign, whereby great exactions
done to the Kings subjects by a power from
Rome was put away, and thereupon the
promise was made that nothing should be
interpreted and expounded upon that stat
ute, that the Kings Grace, his mobiles or sub
jects, intended to decline or vary from the con-
gregation of Christ's Church in anything con-
cerning the articles of the Catholic faith, or
anything declared by holy scripture and the
word of God necessary for his Grace's and
his subjects salvation. = There Is none
authority OF Scripture that will prove that
any one of the Apostles should be head of the
Universal Church Of Christendom. And If
any of the Doctors of the Church, or the
clergy have, by any of their laws or DEGREES,
declared any Scripture to be Of that effect,
kings and princes, taking to them their coun-
sellors and such of their clergy as are most
learned and of authority, ought to he judges
whether those declarations and laws be made
| according to the truth of Scripture or not;
because it is said in the Psalms, % kings !!
understand ye, be We learned that Judge the
world.' And certain 1t is that the Scripture
is always true" (Froude, p. 346; also, Had
dom, p. 1859; Hall, p.547 also, Rolls House Ms.)
"To deny that Henry was supreme head
and sovereign in his dominions, was to ad-
NIT the rival sovereignty of the Pope" and
if the Pope rightfully exercised a sovereignty
superior to Henry In England, then the Pope's
sentence of communication and deposition,
and giving his kingdom to whomsover would
go and take 1t was lawful. (Froude.) 1t was
under the pressure Of this fear Of foreign
invasion from without, and apprehended re-
volt among the adherents Of the Pope with
in the realm, that caused the further act Of
Parliament to be subsequently passed max
ing it misprison of treason to deny the SUI
preme sovereignty of the King throughout his
entire dominions. Hall, 143; Burnett, 260.)
Many of these measures look to us now, at
this distance of time, as very absurd. To
judge fairly of their authors, we must fully
understand all the plots and counter-plot
the rivalries, the disputes, the hates and
fears, the dangers by which they supposed
themselves menaced, and, above all, the
hopes and aspirations of that stubborn and
independence loving Anglo-Saxon people.
"The nation was standing with its sword
half drawn in the face of an armed Europe,
and it was no time to permit dissentions in
the camp. federation is good-but even the
best things must abide their opportunity;
and although we may regret that in this
grand struggle for freedom, success could
only be won by the aid of measures which
hardened upon oppression, yet here also
the even hand of justice was but commanding
the chalice to the lips of those who had made
others drink it to the dregs." (Froude, 9; 350.)
So far we know what Parliament meant by
declaring the King head of the Church. Let
us see what Convocation (the Church au-
thority) meant by it. A short time after the
declaration, Convocation said to the King:
'The Keys appertaneth not to any Prince,
nor the q anting of any grace, /. e., spiritual
authority. But these appertain alone to
Christ's ministers who have been duly called
and ordained according to Christ's most holy
ordinances. In these things be the Lords
spiritual of this realm, the head of Christ's
Church, but to protect the Church, and Of all
its temporalities, and in all things pertaining
to its peace in the enjoyment of Christ's true
and most holy religion, and in all things else is
the King head and sovereign Lord in this his
realm. .''-Annats Of Coacocation, 1888. Had
dom Appendir.
Here, then, we know what the Church I'M
derstood and meant by the Kings headship.
Any more witnesses? Yes. We will call
the King himself and see what he meant and
understood by it. In a very elaborate and