THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 961, 31 October 1910, Page 4

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

' Sir,—The Church of England is the Catholic Church in England which .'rejected, at the Reformation, tho medieval, growth of- the Papacy, as tho. great Eastern patriarchs and. tho orthodox Churches of. tho East . had dono before., One of her chief glories is ' her continuity. : She is not a sect of yesterday. ;Sho is not a man-made organisation.' She did not begin (it ; is; false to assert it) with King' Henry VIII. He had about tho same relation to her as Pontius Pilate-had to Christianity. She reaches back iii her history to Apostolic,times. The authority and spiritual ; powers of Christ are , hers." The unbroken network :of .the' Apostolic, sucbessioii binds its ministry to Him. The ancient Faith, oiioe for all delivered to the saints, as declared in the creeds'; and tho undisputed ecumenical councils, was retained. ■ : Tho; Catholic Church in England in 7 tho] conduct of her. reforms appealed; to' Holy. Scripture' and antiquity: While', the • general - principle 1 was correct in the undertaking,'" no' doubt 'mistakes were made, and the Church, while gaining much, suffered some loss. "We buy our blessings at a,price." But no. new Church was created, no change mado in the orders of the ministry. The priesthood was preserved. The validity of the Sacrament was secured. One proof of this is to be: found in the fact , that of 'the 5600 clergy who celebrated Mass in Queen.: Mary's- reign only about 300 refused'to : accepttho Book of Common Prayer and to con-, form in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It is known that the Pope offered to, allow the. use of the Book of Common Prater if the Queen would only submit to his supremacy. "Thorp is no point," said the Nonconformist Professor Beard in his -Hibbert lectures, "at which; it can be- ''said) "Hero the old; . Church, ends; here the' new' begins.'" Tho. historian Freeman, the Lord, Chancellor Selborne, and Mr. Gladstone emphatically said, so likewise. Sir. Robert Phillimore' declared, - "It .is'-hot only a religiousi but;'a legal,, error to supposo that a new -Church , was . introduced into ' the';rbalm at the .time of ' tho Reformation; It is not less the language of our law than of our divinity that the old Church was -restored, not that a'new'one; was .'substituted!"''-' Thus tlie' r CKurbli" Founded and organised by .Christ.v'has .conio/down to us through the 'ages;.^-bearingthe treasure's of Apostolic order, tho lifegiving Sacraments, and the,' : t . Catholic faith.—l am, etc., -•-. ■ ARTHUR T. B. PAGE. The Vicarage, Groytown; October 29, 1910.