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., and to his canonical successors.  Neither in counsel or consent or in deed, will I take part in aught by which they might suffer loss of life, or limb, or liberty.  Their counsel which they may confide to me, whether by their envoys or their letter, I will, to their injury, wittingly disclose to no man.  The Roman Papacy and the royalty of St. Peter, I will be their helper to defend and to maintain, saving my order, against all men.  When summoned to a Synod I will come, unless hindered by a canonical impediment.  The Legate of the Apostolic See I will treat honourably in his coming and going, and will help him in his needs.  Every third year I will visit the threshold of the Apostles, either personally or by proxy, unless I am dispensed by Apostolic licence.  The possessions which pertain to the support of my Archbishopric, I will not sell, nor give away, nor pledge, nor re-enfeoff, nor alienate in any way, without first consulting the Roman Pontiff.  So help me, God, and these God’s Holy Gospels.”

If you, who read these lines, had stood by, and listened to this oath, would it leave any doubt in your minds as to the religion of the Archbishop?  Could you possibly mistake it for the religion of the present Church of England?

Was the present Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury chosen and appointed by the Pope?  Did he take a vow of celibacy?  Does the present Archbishop acknowledge publicly and officially that he receives his jurisdiction from the Pope?  Did he receive the Pallium from Rome, sent by special Papal messengers?  Did he stand up and swear on the Gospels that he would be faithful and obedient to his Lord the Pope?  Did he promise to visit Rome every three years, to give his Lord the Pope an account of his diocese?  Nothing of the kind.  Yet we are gravely told that there is no break between the Church of St. Anselm, and Simon Langham, and of Cardinal Fisher, on the one hand, and the Church of the present Archbishop of Canterbury on the other!

Why are these good men so exceedingly anxious to prove that black is white?  Why will they assert and re-assert, in every mood and tense, that things most opposite are identical, and things most unlike are exactly the same?

We will deal with that question in the next chapter.  All we now affirm is that the reason is abundantly clear and evident, though little creditable to these perverters of history.