OCR Text |
Show Papacy in the Light of History. j Appearance of Anti-Popes Affected Apostolical Succession No More Than Did the Reign of Jefferson Davis Alfect : Successors of Washington. Reverting to the question asked by "Historian" in our last issue. "Who gave Gregory jurisdiction over Britain?" Brit-ain?" we answer that the doctrine of papal jurisdiction had been always admitted, ad-mitted, and the fact of its existence cannot be gainsaid. The very see of Canterbury stands as a monument of papal jurisdiction. After the death of St. Augustine, St. Justus, bis successor, received a letter from Pope Boniface, in which he said, "We confirm and command that the metropolitan see of all Britain be forever after in the see of Canterbury." That it was believed as a doctrine of faith by Anglican writers is historically histor-ically certaiii. Venerable Bede, in his history, writes "that Gregory was invested in-vested with the first (that is. supreme) pontificate in the whole world, and was set over the churches converted to the faith." Alcuin, the famous Anglo- i Saxon writer and scholar, born at I York, England, wrote that "the Lord j Jesus Christ had constituted Peter ! shenherd of his chosen flock- " Re ferring to the reigning pontiff, Adrian I, of his time, he styled him as "vicar of Peter, occupying his chair, and inheriting in-heriting his wonderful authority." In the seventh century, Theodore, arch-Ws'nop arch-Ws'nop of Canterbury, held a council at Hatfield, England, by order of Pope Agatho, to give expression to the Catholic Cath-olic faith of the Anglo-Saxons. In this council the archbishop and suffragan suf-fragan bishops subscribed to Pope Mar- i tin I's doctrinal definition of faith ! against the Monothelites, who taught I that in Christ there were two distinct i natures in the One Person of the Word. . This doctrine, taught in the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth centuries, regarding re-garding the papacy, was still held in the sixteenth century by England's most distinguished prelates. John Fisher, bishop of Rochester and for a time Henry VIII's preceptor, when asked to join the schismatic party, expressed ex-pressed hiirjself in the upper house of convocation in the following strong language: "To thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven: Now, my lords, can we say unto the king, To thee will I give the keys of the j kingdom of heaven? If you say yes, where is your warrant? If you say no, yott have answered yourselves that you cannot put such keys into such hands. . . . And it is not a few-ministers few-ministers of an island that must constitute con-stitute a head over the universe; or. at least, by such example we must i allow as many heads over the church j as there are sovereign powers, and j then what will become of the supremacy? suprem-acy? . . . The council of Constantinople Constan-tinople did acknowledge Pope Dama-sus. Dama-sus. . . . The council of Ephesus did acknowledge Pope Celesten. . . . The council of Chalcedon did acknowledge acknowl-edge Pope Leo. . . . And now shall we acknowledge another head, or one head to be in England and another in Rome? . . . And stiall we cause our king to be the head of the church, which all good kings abhorred the very least thought thereof, and so many wicked kings have been plagued for so doing? . . . If this thing be, farewell fare-well to all unity with Christendom: for as the blessed martyr St. Cyprian j saith: 'All unity depends upon the I authority of that holy see, as upon the authority of. Peter's successors.' " The archbishop of York' (Heath), quoted in a previous article, is still stronger in his expressions of adhesion to the see of Rome. Arguing before t'he house of lords as to the effect of the schism by changing the headship or supremacy in spiritual affairs from the pope to Queen Elizabeth, he said: "By the forsaking and fleeing from the see of Rome, we must forsake and flee from all general councils: secondly, second-ly, all canonical and ecclesiastical law: thirdly, the judgment of all Christian princes; fourthly, the unity of Christ's church: and by falling out of Peter's ship, lay ourselves to be drowned in the waters of schism, sects, divisions." : Add to these the testimony of many other eminent and distinguished English Eng-lish prelates and brilliant scholars who adorn the pages of history, and the conviction will be forced on all im- partial students of history th;it down to and including the period of the reformation the spiritual jurisdiction i ; of the pope was a part and parcel of , the faith of English Catholics. Had not Cardinals Newman and Manning. : j renowned for their depth of thought , ;. and scholarly attair ments. ben as ; convinced of this truth as they were of f i . the divinity of the Christian religion. i they never would abandon their faith; j and when such men. whom we must ac- knowledge as masters, gave up their i own creed (that was both popular and remunerative) and selected a creed that j meant social ostracism and loss of if lifelong friends, its claims on Christian believers deserve serious considera- j tion. j In answer to "Historian's" question, j "Who gave Gregory jurisdiction over . ' Britain?" it can be said that it is Christ, "who had all power in heaven f and earth," and who said to Peter. "Feed my lambs and feed my sheep." f There is not a missing link in the chain j of spiritual jurisdic tion from Peter to - f Gregory, nor from Gregory to Leo XIII. I The unbroken succession is as histor- I ically certain as that of the presidents of the United States, Emm George j Washington up to Theodore Roosevelt, the present reigning executive. "Well." i it is said, "what of your anti-popes? I Have they not broken the line of sue-. cession?" Not any more than did the administration of anti-President Davis f interfere with the legitimate success- - . ors of George Washington. The very j term "anti" not only annuls, but shows the title to be spurious. Jurisdiction and Holy Order, bein? inseparable, are mutually dependent i on each other. Holy Order is a sac- ' rsrr.ent which confers, with the grace. the power to consecrate the sacrament of the Eucharist, to administer the sacraments, to preach the gospel, and t ', to exercise the duties and functions pertaining to divine worship. With- j out Holy Order there can be no spir- j itual jurisdiction. Holy Order may be ; conferred validly without jurisdiction, ' jj but cannot be exercised without juris- , I diction. Apart from the invalidity of ; Anglican orders, for them there is no f jurisdiction. When a new diocese is ; erected, that new see and its occupant" .1 must receive its spiritual jurisdiction ) from some divinely appointed author- , ity. j"' In England the new diocese is created cre-ated by an act of parliament and the I-new I-new bishop appointed by the prime t minister. When Liverpool was erected into a diocese, its first bishop. Dr. Ryle, was appointed by Lord Beacons-flefd. Beacons-flefd. But Liverpool had been for centuries cen-turies a Catholic see There being two ! bishops, an Anglican and a Catholic bishop, the question of jurisdiction naturally nat-urally presents itself, namely, whether ; I the pope or Lord Beaconsfield has the ! ! greater right of conferring jurisdiction. , j I If the latter, then the plenitude of i apostolic authority resides in the civil power and must be independent of th' I i spiritual power. But neither parlia- f ment, the king nor his prime minister ' or all combined, have any more power to exercise spiritual jurisdiction over the Christian church than had the Roman emperors during the first cen- ; I turies of the Christian era. c I Will it be said that jurisdiction coms I from the see itself? This does not I remove the difficulty, for again it may ! be asked. From what authority does j the see derive Us existence? From j parliament, or the state? But the j state, like individuals, cannot give what it does hot possess. j The Catholic solution of the difficulty 'r we shall treat in our next communica- tion. ' ; j (To be Continued.) . ' |