The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-11-13


of Righteousness arose in England in
the year e2-63, A. D." So much for
the testimony Of the fathers. AS to
other illuminating facts, in the list of
martyrs under Diocletian. occurs the
name OF st. Alban and other English
Christians. The names of English
bishops-York, London and Lincoln
occur in the list of those present at
the Council of Aries, 314, A. D.: 9TH
ers were present at Nicea, 1926, Sardica,
in BAT, Aluminium in $50. Furthermore,
if the existence OF heretics proves the
existence OF a church, the British
Church was even tormented by this
form of error. in the shane of the her
esq of Pelagianism, which sprung up
and vexed her in the fourth century.
All these incidental things prove the
existence of a national church before
597, A. D.. when the Bishop of Rome
sent Augustine and his missionaries to
Kent.
The Christianity of Britain came
from the East This is proved by the
fact that her liturgy of that day, and
her liturgy of this day, was that one
of the four great liturgies of the early
days, known as the Ephesine, or St.
Johns liturgy. Her customs were all
eastern; Easter was celebrated on the
exact day of the week, not on Sunday;
her churches were all Orientated, /. e.,
the chancels towards the East: her
Sundays We're numbered Sundays aft
er Trinity, instead of the Roman habit
of numbering them after Pentecost.
These peculiarities furnish the most in
disputable proof of an Eastern origin
of the British Church. so that Thomas
Fuller quantity expresses it: "Reli-
gion came into Britain, not by the
senli-circle of Rome. but in a direct
line from the Asatic churches" The
first proposition can now stand proved:
fully equipped national church ex-
listed in England, prior to the advent of
the missionaries Of Rome. Whatever,
therefore,. took place later, must be
considered an encroachment or usurpa-
ton. The celebrated jurist. Black
stone, says: "The ancient British
Church, by whomsoever planted, was
stranger to the Bishop of Rome, and
all his pretended authority" (Pryce,
Ancient British Church. page SD
Seconds: EncrOachments Always Re
sisted.
The sixth century witnessed the be-
ginning of a new claim in the Western
world-the claim of universal jurisdic-
ton. 1t was resisted everywhere, but
more especially by the Anglo-Saxon
race and church. The first incident in
the long line of history was typical of
all the rest Augustine came over in
597. In SOB A. d. he met the British
bishops and laymen under st. Angus
tines oak at Canterbury. Said the
British church to his demands: I'VE
will observe none of your customs nor
accept You as our chief. We indeed
owe fraternal love to the church of
God and to the Bishop of Rome, but
we owe no obedience to him you call
| Pope" (Perry's English Church His
7 irnf
uscript with cases from every CEN
fury to the sturdy independence of the
national church, but a few striking
ones will suffice. In the seventh GEN.
| fury Wilfrid the Bishop of York, ap-
! peaied to the Bishop of Rome who or
dered his reinstatement in his bish-
| opric. The Witan, the Parliament of
and what are his DEGREES? What have
| they to do with us, or we
with them?" So the DEGREES were
burned and Wilfrid cast into prison
| (Cole, the Anglican Oh. p. p. 94) Good
| for the seventh century, In 1866 when
| William the Conqueror made his plans
to conquer England he secured the
! Pope's blessing, upon his representa-
| ton that he desired to bring the
church of that country under the do
| miniop of the Roman See. (Lane, Notes
on Church History, Vol. I, p. 145.) Evil
/ IDENTIFY there was no such dominion ex-
| listing at that time. But when the
| Norman William was seated upon the
/ throne he became electrified by the air
of England and said to the legate HUI
| bert who came from the Pope to de-
mand the fulfilment of his promise
Homage to thee 1 have not chosen,
| nor do l choose, to do. l never made
| a promise to that effect, nor do 1 find
that 1t was ever performed by my pre-
decessors to thine" (Lane, page 14S.)
/ Good for the eleventh century; aid a
King who was not an Anglo-Saxon!
The opening wedge seemed to get in
when the recreant King John, sorely
pressed, had all but given over his
church and country to Rome. But
out of this confusion came the Magma
| Charta, 1915, A. D., and the first pro-
viso of that great charter is: THE
Church of England shall be free and
hold her rights entire and her liber-
ties inviolate," and the last proviso
is: That the Church of England shall
| be free and that all men have and hold
the aforesaid liberties, freely and
quietly, and in all places, forever"
Good for the thirteenth century-less
than 200 years before the Reformation!
In the fourteenth century Parliament
passed the statutes of Provisors and
Premunire, forbdding all appeals to
Rome under penalty of forfeiture of
| goods Good also for this fourteenth
century, just a little while before the
Reformation dawned.
Finally, in 1884, the conversations of
York and Canterbury declared that
the Roman Pontiff has no greater
jurisdiction given to him by God in
this kingdom than any other foreign
bishop'-and the thing was over for
ever! That thing which at best was
only a foreign usurpation, without
right, title or equity, to the Church of
England; it's Importance to our argu-
ment is that If Henry or anybody else
DESTROYED It, that act was not the Gre
4 alton of anything new, but the freeing
of an old institution from the burden
of an unwarranted usurpation. The
statute book Of England" says Bishop
Iightfoot (Leaders in the Northern
Church, pg 52) who looked over these
old laws, is a continued protest
against this foreign aggression" My
second proposition ought now to stand
clear, the English Church at the Ref
ormation created nothing new, but cast
off a foreign element, which through
the centuries had encroached upon her
liberties.
Third; The Reformation of the Eng
Iish Church.
We have now TO see what
was the work Of the English Church at
the time of the Reformation. The mis-
take of all those in history who have
repeated this Islander against the
church, is that they failed to dlstin-
guish between the abolition of the