Page:The Church of England, its catholicity and continuity.djvu/55

 were not paid, he said, "defaulters would be fined according to the law."

We are now to pass on to see how the English nation and Church would tolerate this unwarrantable interference. We shall notice that even those whose sympathies were with the doctrines of Rome very often opposed the Pope's demands.

Dunstan is a signal instance of this. He was born in the year 924, and was closely connected with the history of the Abbey of Glastonbury, and ultimately he became the Primate of all England. In heart he was a Romanist. He urged on his clergy the doctrine of celibacy. He was a thorough-going monk, and he did not scruple to pretend that he had wrought many miracles. But when the Pope wished to interfere with the internal arrangements of our Church government Dunstan boldly defied his right. A certain earl had married someone outside the lawful degrees. In the year 970 Dunstan excommunicated him - that is to say, he deprived him of the privileges and the blessings of the Church. The Pope heard of this and sent back an order that Dunstan should remove the curse which he had pronounced. Dunstan said in reply: "When I see the excommunicated person penitent for his faults I shall willingly obey his Holiness' commands, but till that happens God forbid that I should do anything to cause the nobleman to continue in his sin and insult the discipline of the priesthood." The nobleman ultimately repented, and Dunstan gave him absolution. Up to the time of William, "England had always observed an independence of Rome," says Mr. Hore, "for which the Pope owed it no love or or gratitude."