ry VIII. first came to the throne he, like all his
predecessors, both kings and queens, was a true Roman Catholic. So
much so, that when a doctrine of the Church was attacked he wrote a
book in its defence; in fact, the Pope was so pleased with his zeal
that he determined to reward him by conferring on him the title of
"Defender of the Faith". But, in the name of common-sense! Defender of
what Faith? Was it the Protestant faith? Was it the faith professed by
the present Church of England? Is it likely, is it possible, that any
Pope would confer such a title on any one who was not in union with
the Holy See, and who rejected Catholic doctrine? Such a thing is
unthinkable. Was the faith of Henry VIII. before the break with Rome
the same as that of Edward VII. who on his coronation day declared the
Mass to be false, Transubstantiation to be absurd, and Catholics to be
idolaters? If not, then what becomes of the continuity theory? The
fact is that between the Church in England before the sixteenth
century and the Church of England to-day there is no real connection,
no true resemblance, and those who endeavour to prove the contrary are
but falsifying history and throwing dust into the eyes of simple
people, and trying to prove what is absolutely and wholly untrue.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 11: As early as 1170 Pope Alexander III. decreed that the
consent of the Roman Church was necessary before public honour as a
saint could be given to any person. Is it conceivable that such
consent would be given by any Pope in the case of one not united to
Rome in the same faith?]

CHAPTER II.

THE OATH OF OBEDIENCE.

In order to realise the absolute absurdity of the continuity theory,
and to see how thoroughly Roman Catholic England was right up to the
"Reformation," it is enough for us to turn back the hands of the great
clock of time some few hundred years, and to visit England at any
period during the long interval between the sixth and the sixteenth
century.

One of the first facts that would strike any observant visitor to our
shores in those days, would be the attitude of the Church in England
towards the Holy See. Every Archbishop, every metropolitan from the
time of St. Augustine himself, A.D. 601, up to the sixteenth
century, not merely acknowledged the authority of the Pope, but
solemnly swore to show him reverence and obedience. Furthermore, even
when an Archbishop had been appointed and consecrated, he could not