The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-07-02

EOOnL church. nAIullh8 uoAhs
 .Is the Episcopal church Protes-
 tant?" Evidently 1t thought 1t was
 when 1t adopted Its name. for 1t call
 ed itself. not "The Episcopal church.
 but The Protestant Episcopal church." Evidently it still thought so
 a few years ago. The general con-
 vention was asked to change the
 name of the church. It refused. It
 voted that "Protestant" should re-
 main a part of the church's 6anle.
 It seems tragic that the church
 whose Protestantism Is called jn
 question should be one which has made and which determinantly keeps ::Protestant" as part of its name.
 F1rnt Step in England
 Who first planted the Christian
 church in England no one knows.
 When the first Roman Catholic mis- z sionaries landed they found 8 non- Roman Catholic church already there. But the Roman Catholics took the lead in converting and civiliz- ing our heather ancestors, the Angles and the Saxons. We must not < imagine that Roman Catholicism at- tained its immense power by chance. It was because 1t saved all Europe from reverting into savagery, that men delighted to endow 1t with their h fortunes. to commit the direction of religious affairs to the pope and his representatives, and even to see the temporal power of the church ex- tended, affordins men of culture and ' learning protection against the brutality of barbs- ous kings. In
 those early days the Roman Catholic church was a fine, progressive. mis- sionary, liberal church. It was only twhen 1t attained power, that 1t It. }tself became selfish and oppressive; | and then 1t was that men began to desire, either to reform she church or to free themselves from her N tyranny.
 ! In England. the Roman Catholic ! church attained the height of her power during the reign of Stephen.
 Under the Edwards successful pro- tests began. The first Edward for. bade further encroachment of the church's courts upon those of the king; the second Edward limited thu exemption of the clergy from trial l, in the kings courts; under the thiro Eward come the first parliamentary acts in all Europe directed against the Roman Catholic church. One of 2 these acts Is of especial interest. It forbade the appeal of any case from the kings to a foreign-that is, to papal court. Under this statute Henry VIII brought about the down. fall of Wolsey. who had asked the pope to pass upon the validity of
 Henry's marriage.
 Now begins protest which is not political. but religious. If any one
 man can be called the founder of Protestantism in England, he is
 Wycliffe. He denounced transsub- stantiation, urged that plain men read the Bible for themselves, and
 translated 1t into English in order , that they might do so. His follow CTS were called Lollards, and, al- though they were persecuted, they were never completely extirpated. Sympathy in England
 When. during the early part of the Y reign of Henry VIII, Luther, with the aid of the Elector Frederick. lsuccessfully revolted kgainst the kfRoman Catholic church in Germany. he found many sympathizers among {. these Lollards and other English men. But Henry remained a staunch N Roman Catholic. He wrote a book ! against Luther--forv which the none gave him the title" Defender of the Faith"-and martyred some Eng ! fish Protestants.
 Later. Henry came to want, not divorce, but an annulment of his marriage. His wife. Catherine, had been his brothers widow. Henry's
 marriage to her was against the
 church law, and was made possible
 only by papal dispensation. Now Henry alleged that he had become g convinced the marriage ought never to have taken place. Some think s Henry really did have scruples. Per haps he did. for he was a supersti- \ tious old bluebeard. and 1t must 1 have been rather easy to have | scruples about marriage to a wife A who had grown fat and homely and Of whom he wished he were well rld. undoubtedly the pope would nave been glad to oblige Henry and ennul the marriage. The notion \ that the pope was holy man stand Ing out for the sanctity of marriage Is pure fiction. The one reason ba " had for not doing Henry's pleasure was that Catherine's uncle. the Er- peror Charles " captured Rome
 with an army. shut up the pope In
 annulment.
 Henry rebelled. But he had m
 Idea of turning Protestant or of let
 tlng anyone else do so. He wished
 Fngiand to stay Roman Catholic
 except that he himself was to be
 sort Of national pope. He issued decree, establishing the character,s- ZIG Roman Catholic doctrines in the E'nghsh church. But meanwhile
 Irotestantism was gaining head in 1 nslano; and, as Henry's difficulties increased, it became necessary for him to tolerate more and mora . Protestanism which he dislilxed ,n order to secure the united supnort or the English people.
 { ., chaer Henry's successor, Edward 1he Protestants came into nower ! Under Edwards successor. Bloody ] Mary. the Roman Catholics. Finaliy under Elizabeth. the English church ea,n became and has ever since re- There Is this difference hetv
 frotestantism on the continent and
 In England. On the continent nro-
 .estantism came by revolution. bnt
 England 1t was the result or . 4Hong-continued evolution.
 Two Consequences Follow
 mere are two consequences which ronow from this difference.
 Ii r1rst' there is no one man who
 gan De said to have founded Protsst1
 Antism in England. Where Protes. ftntism arose by revolution. as fin Ger- many, It Is easy to pick ont
 Luther. who leads the revolt snd ~ says that he founded Protestar.N
 ism. But 1t is otherwise where
 frotestantfsm arose, as in England.
 by evolution. On it's political side it
 began at least as early as Edward
 was set forward by Edward IT an.
 py Henry VIII, and was completed
 by Elizabeth. On its religious sids
 It began with Wycliffe, was set for ward by Cramner / and completed during the reign of Elizabeth without the help of any great outstanding N personalfty