Mr.Asquith on the Continuity of the Church of England

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume III, Issue 2, 1 August 1912, Page 24

Mr.Asquith on the Continuity of the Church of England

" I hold very strongly the view that it is an historical fallacy to represent the Church of England as ever having been a mere offshoot and dependency of the Church of Rome. I think the whole of our medieval history shows, first of all, that our Kings, then our Parliaments, as soon as they acquired a dominant position, kept a tight grip of the government of the Church, refused to allow the intrusion of any foreign Power or any outside ecclesiastical authority m the regulation of our National Church. ... It follows from what I have said that I am not one of those who think, as used to be currently assumed, that the legislation of Henry VIII. transferred the privileges and endowments of a national Establishment from the Church of Rome to the Church of England. I believe that view rests upon imperfect historical information. I am quite prepared to admit what I believe the best authorities of history now assert, that there has been amidst all these changes and developments a substantial identity and continuity of existence m our National Church from earliest history down to the present time." r— We find that Freeman, Stiibbs, and Gladstone held that view, while one of the greatest, perhaps the greatest, historian among present day statesmen, Mr. Bryce, said m the House of Commons— "The Church m Wales is the legitimate historical successor of the Church of S. David." — From a speech by the Archbishop of Canterbury.