... We being ready to receive information of the
truth, from your sacred tribunal, _which is over all_," etc.
Observe these words were written over five hundred years ago, long
before the present Anglican Establishment was so much as dreamed of;
yet, even if King Edward III. had actually foreseen the craze that
would seize Anglicans of to-day to prove that he, and his subjects
were not loyal Roman Catholics, he could not have expressed his
Catholicity and his loyalty to the Vicar of Christ in more
unmistakable or in more explicit terms.
Whom shall we believe? King Edward III. himself, who, in the above
words, declares he is a staunch Roman Catholic, and an obedient son of
the Pope, ready to defend his rights against all, or the present
Bishop of London, who declares he was not?
There is one sentence in the King's letter which is especially worthy
of consideration, as it is so pregnant with meaning. We refer to the
following: knowing that "your Holiness presides over every creature,
_which to deny is heresy_".
You will observe that the King not only believes, but that he here
practically makes an explicit profession of faith in the spiritual
supremacy of St.
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