The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-03-13
THE PREVIOUS QUESTION.

CCIStCS6COCtS l.
compliment of CHASING me with the
heavenly souls, but l disown every
thing like feeling in this controversy.
have nothing but the kindest senti-
ments for Mr.. Ingle, and my one only
desire is to expose the truth. An as
sertiOn has been made which / know
to be false; it is my duty to expose it,
and if. at times, my language may APP
pear to be sharp, L am sure that Mr..
| Ingle will believe that absolutely moth
| ing personal is intended. Mr.. Ingle
complains that / do not answer his
questions; s.eyen it," he asks, "the
Church OF England had been brought
! into that absolute submission to Rome
that has long characterized the chris
| tians of Spain and Italy, would she
have lost her claim to be true Catho-
lie Church by simply rejecting papal
supremacy" And, again: What
proof is there of this essential and all
comprehending dogma of papal SUI
premacyW Towards the end of his
letter he returns to the charge, and
even offers an explanation of my
avoidance of these delicate and dam
gerous questions. Mr.. Ingle's explain
alton is not correct. | have avoided
these questions simply because de-
sire to stick to the subject in dispute,
and am determined to keep Mr.. In
gle there until the answer is clear. One
thing at time. 1t is rhetorical to APP
peal to the absolute submission of
Spain and Italy. 1t is popular to stig-
matise papal supremacy, but neither
the one nor the other has any bearing
directly on the question at present be-
tween Mr.. Ingle and myself. So let
us return once more to the previous
Questlon-one thing at time. said
that Henry's divorce originated the
Church of England. Mr.. Ingle denied
this, giving as a reason that mention
is made of the Church of England in
Magma Charta, three hundred years
before the time of Henry the Eighth.
l said, let us have no quibbling, but
let us understand what is now meant
by the expression, Church of England.
If said to any one-such and such is
the teaching and practice of the
Church of England, what religious
body would he understand me to
speak of? Mr.. Ingle himself shall an
swer. The Church of England means
church separated from Rome, deny
ing papal supremacy and refusing to
accept the authority of Rome's BIsh-
op." Now, leaving out the. British
Church which Augustine is said tn
have found so completely organized (?)
land before Henry VIII? Mr.. Ingle
shall again bear witness himself. Be-
fore the divorce suit sit is true that the
Church of England was united with
the Church of Rome, acknowledging
the Bishop of Rome as the chief pastor
of the faithful. 1t meant the Church
of England subject to the spiritual au-
thority of the Bishop of Rome, and ac-
cepting the teachings and sacraments
of the Roman Church" First, if
words have any meaning, these two
churches are Numerically opposed to
each other, and therefore the old
Church of England is not identical
with the Church of England as men
now understand it; and secondly, the
Church of England, that is, church
separated from Rome, denying her
sacraments and rejecting papal SUI
premacy," dates from Henry the
Eighth and Anne Boleyn. Was not
this the assertion of my first letter? Is
it not the conclusion of Mr.. Ingle's
latest?
One word about the Magma Charta
and the defiance sent to the Pope by
LangtOn and the barons. Mr.. Ingle
finds that the same spirit animated
Langton and the barOns under John
/ which has characterized the Church of
England since Henry the Eighth's
time. Let us see if history bears him
out. Pope Innocent, for reasons which
it would be useless to enter into here,
sought to annul the charter. and ex-
hOrted the barons to submit; at the
same time he ordered LangtOn, the
Prlmate, to eXcommunicate the DISC
bedient. The barons refused to sub
nit, and Langton could not be Undue
ed to carry out the Pope's orders. The
Pope placed the City of London under
interdict, but vet the inhabitants re-
manned obstinate in their refusal to
obey. And they published a manifes-
to explaining their conduct. They
maintained that the Pope had been
misinforned, and that he had exercis-
ed his power in matter beyond his
jurisdiction. Temporal concerns did
not belong to him. 1.-THE control OF
ecclesiastical matters only had been
entrusted by Christ to Peter, and Pc
ter's successors" "IzrhOc nldGinae
QuOd non 9ertiqaet at 2OdpGn1 ordinate
TeTuna LGr5caruna: cum Petro apostolic Ell
G)Is SucceSSO7ibuS nOn7lis5 eccLeSiGStic09-
un1 disDOsitO TeT2tH1 o. Domino SIT col
Loto.' (Lingard's King John, Chapter
~ Might not the submissive Tor sub
servient perhaps is meant) church OF
Spain so to speak to-day? Is there
any similarity of speech or of belief be-
tween the Church of England whose
rights and privileges were guaranteed
in the Magma Charta. and that newer
Church of England which we all
know for its undying hostility to the
See of Rome? / accept Mr.. Ingle's
description of the Church of England
as the phase IS now received by men
to wit, the church of the English PEG.
pie, separated from Rome, under the
supremacy of the English sovereign
denying the doctrines and sacramento
and the authority of Rome. 1t only
remains for him to prove that such a
church did exist before Anne BoIeyn,
and his thesis stands. But until this
be done, the proposition seems to be
safe that if the Pope could grant di
vOrce from a valid marriage, the
Church of England would never have
had existence.
JNO. III. O'ROURKE, s. j.