GRAND ORANGE LODGE OF NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 160, 8 July 1899, Page 2

GRAND ORANGE LODGE OF NEW ZEALAND.

At the half-yearly session of above which was held in the Protestant Hall, Newton, last evening, there was a large attendance of delegates. The Secretary's reports showed that tine Institution was increasing in numbers and that three lodges had been opened during the last six months. On the matter of the suggested alteration in the Education Act so as to allow the Bible to be read in the public schools, the following resolution Was carried unanimously: "Since we believe it is riot the duty of the State to support any church, and therefore not the duty of the State to teach religion, and since the Bible is a religious Book and its being taught in a State school would make such school a State religious school, and since there are several religious denominations in New Zealand, the teaching of said Book in the pubHc schools would be religious teaching, and therefore denominational, we strenuously oppose any alteration in the present system of education obtaining in the colony." The matter of Ritualism had a prominent position, when the following resolution was carried: "That we, the members of this Grand Lodge, composed of all sections of Protestants, view with alarm the insidious efforts of a section of the Episcopal Church to spread veiled Romanism —ritualism— in that Church, both at Home and in this colony, and deprecate such efforts. That we place on record our appreciation of the services rendered to Protestantism by the Rev. J. C. Eccles, of Woodville, in his letter i* the "Church Gazette," the organ of the Episcopal Church for the provincial district of Auckland, by sounding the tocsin of alarm against the encroachment of ritualism. That we convey our best thanks to Mr Robert Kirk, of Lake Takapuna, who has been and is using his voice and pen against the progress of this system in his parish, and we now call upon every member and loyal Protestant to use their best endeavours to thwart a system which is,sapping the foundations of a church was wa_ one of the foremost in Reformation times to protect her people' from the thraldom of Roman Catholicism." A member of the Institution of the Home country forwarded a parcel of Protestant literature for distribution among the public, for which he was heartily thanked. The usual Sunday services will be held in the Choral Hall to-morrow. There the popular Wesleyan minister, Rev. W. Ready, will preach.