Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-03-08

much married king; nor whether he robbet
the monasteries; nor whether he quarrelet
with the Pope of Rome and denied his Juris
diction within the kingdom of England, ant
tried to make himself ''lay Pope" in hi,
own dominions-all which might be- conced.
ed, in a general way, and no one would OBJ.
| ject to the inquiry; but that is not the ques.
| ton. The accusation Is that Henry VIII
was "the rock upon ,chich the Episcopal
Church ,oas founded" 1 say ''accusation,'
because although 1t is put in the form of i:
query, yet the writer, "Clio," apparently by
| authority Of, or on behalf of, the society
tries vigorously to answer the question af.
firmatively. This il done, too, in the face oil
the fact that, at every moment of time since
the attempted Reformation in England, the
Church has stood upon, and declared its
foundation to be, ''the apostles and proph-
cts, Jesus Christ being the chief corner.
| stone" And, SO far as know, every church
or pretended church in Christendom plants
itself upon Christ as its "one foundation"
Now, one of two things is true: either that
the charge of the Clionian is absurd" as |
first stated, or else the Church itself Is an
'absurdity," and the millions of its confiding
and devout children who have, for these CEN
turtles, been living and dying in its fold, are
and have been "absurdities." II the Church
was founded and rests on Henry VIII. as its
''rock" and foundation, then it is a fraud.
But II Gas 1t claims, in common with other
Christian chlrches,) 1t is founded upon ''the
rock Christ Jesus" then the Clionian is
guilty of an attempt to 'make history" just
little bit Jenedth-or few centuries be-
hind-the times in which it lives. This say,
Mr.. Editor, rather as the suggestions of MEM
bers Of the Church who feel agricved. 1
myself have no care whatever. To me it
sounds like a faint echo from the cOntrover-
sizes of three to four hundred years ago, when
the extreme Puritans on the one side insisted
that the Church 'wore the rags of Popery,"
and the Papal party on the other that it had
''stolen the livery of Heaven to serve the
d. In" 1t was not to be expected that Ell
Their of these extremes would be satisfied by
the attempt of the Church to reform itse!f, by
dispensing with all that had been added DUR
ing medieval times, and yet carefully retain
ing all the doctrines and ancient creeds of the
early Church-at least that is what it at
tempted to do.
The Clionian asserts that Henry dictated
the articles of religion of the Church. The
truth l., there was nothing fixed or permanent
in Hcnry's time. The work of the Reforma-
ton was not consolidated or completed. The
thirty articles were not written ut all
until long after Henry's death. Therefore,
he did not dictate them, as asserted. What
he did dictate was the "Erudition of a
Christian Man." but this was not the work Of
the Church. Even the scoffer, Hume, admits
that the king published this new book ''with-
out asking the consent of convocation."-
G vol, p. aO2.) Henry did thousand other
arbitrary and wholly monstrous things, and
"Clio's" arraignment of him and his villain
les is Just and proper. But when "Clio'
says that "history asserts that the faith of
the Church was the faith of Henry, and that
not another man besides Hal the pio,ls'
could be found in all England believing IT,"
then I object. 1t is not supposed that Hen
ry's faith WAS exactly the same during any
two months of his life. He no doubt did,
therefore, in that wonderful age of ferment
| OF thought, and change, at some time believe
what the Church taught. The spiritual faith
of the Church was net ne,e. That was CO.
eval with, and ran back to, the planting of
Observation-Disclosures in the ancient creeds
and in the Bible; but the thirty nine articles
which articles did not make the Church,
but the Church made the articles-were not
| even formulated, in the first instance, until
the reign of Edward, and finally framed dur.
ing the third reign after "Hal the pious" had
gone to Heaven, and after the Church had
been purified" by the prosecutions and
martyrdoms under the "mild and pious
bloody Mary" So much for this historical
| inaccuracy.
Next, mo one in all England but HAL the
piOus' believed it"-that is, the faith of the
Church. This is Il bold assertion, coming
from SO learned Il society. Macaulay (vol. 1,
| p. 4S)-and whom 1 admit to be utterly UNI
| reliable as a historian on all matters where
| the Church is concerned-says that ''nine-
tenths of the nation had become heartily
Protestant;" when Bishop Hooper, Bishop
| Ridley, Bishop Latimer, Archbishop Gran.
mer, and scores of other sanity men, had
| suffered martyrdom at the stake for their
| faith, and when more than two-thirds of the
natiOn-leaving out the Puritans-wOrship-
ped ut its affairs, and every day recited its
creeds and littany-wnen thousands of pious
and faithful priests, or clergy, were admin
istering its sacr;mcnts-all living and dying;
in its faith-set mot one" of them except
"Hal the pious" (who had long been dead)
believed this faith. What Il nation of per-
jured wretches! of living and dying hypo-
critics. And this is the historical ground
occupied by our own Clionisn club Of the
"Hub." l hope the club will find some
"historical" data by which they can let us
know If all these hypocritical sinners are
only il. Purgatory; and if so, Is the genius OF
discovery of the club equal to devising n
means of relief! Dear nae!
The few meml,ers of the CHonian whom
II know are bright, high minded, and
scholarly, and would not, am sure, inter-
ticnaily give offence to any one.
As this is subject, Mr.. Editor, which al
ways excites feeling, it is better that the
authors be known, should there be any fur
Their publication on the subject. You are
at 70, triy