We take our stand in spirit in Westminster Abbey, on the 4th day of
November, 1366, and, in common with the rest of the vast congregation
which fills every available space, we listen to the newly elected
Archbishop, as in clear, ringing words, with his hands on the Gospels,
he swears as follow:--
"I, Simon Langham, Archbishop of Canterbury, will be from this hour
henceforth faithful and obedient to St. Peter, and to the Holy
Apostolic Roman Church, and to my Lord the Pope, Urban V., and to his
canonical successors."
Surely, some of us would open our eyes pretty wide if we saw the
present Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury with his hands on the
Gospels taking that oath. Yet we are assured, _ad nauseam_, that the
Church to which Simon Cardinal Langham belonged is the same as the
present Church of England, which repudiates the authority of the Pope
altogether. The same? Well, yes; if light and darkness, and sweetness
and bitterness, are the same. But let us read the whole of the oath:
"I, Simon Langham, will be from this hour henceforth faithful and
obedient to St. Peter, and to the Holy Apostolic Roman Church, and to
my Lord the Pope, Urban V.
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