THE PROTESTANT SUCCESSION

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 283, 26 November 1908, Page 5

THE PROTESTANT SUCCESSION

ROYAL ACCESSION OATH. PROPOSED AMENDMENT. LONDON, November 25. j Mr. W. Redmond's bill to remove Catholic disabilities and alter the Royal accession oath, has been read a first time in the House of Commons by 233 votes to 48.

Mr. Charles McArthur (Unionist member for the K-irkdale division of Liverpool, and author of "The Evidences of Natural K«li<;ioii"), spoke in opposition to the measure, his argument being based on the fact that it struck at the guarantee of Protectant succession, and also that Roman Catholics had themselves never extended toleration to others.

The Accession Oath reade: —"I, Ed-' ward, do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that 1 do believe that in the Sacrament of the lord's Supper there is not any transubstantiation of tiie elements of" bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever; and that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint, and the sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous; and 1 do solemnly, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare that I do make this declaration, and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words read unto mc as they arc commonly understood by English Protestants, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatsoever, and without any dispensation already granted mc for this purpose by the Pope or any other authority or person whatsoever, or without any hope of any such dispensation from any person or authority whatsoever, or without thinking that I am or can be acquitted before God or man, or absolved of this declaration or any part thereof, although the Tope or any other person or persons or power wnaisoever should dispense with or annul the same, or declare that it was null I and void from the beginning."