TME CHURCH OF ROME.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11011, 8 July 1901, Page 2

TME CHURCH OF ROME.

SERMON BY BISHOP JULIUS. J The annual Church parade of the Christ- , church Orangemen took place in the Catte- • drel yesterday afternoon, and was attended by a ftir number of members of the different Orange lodges. The Bishop of Christchurch conducted the service, and selected his tot from Epheeians VL, 14: "Stand," thereto*, havipg your loins girt- about with Tru th, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.-' The organisation, he said, which Those present represented, was one of which they "had goo* reason to be proud; its objects demanded respect, and its principles, if loyally pursued, could not fail to be of great advantage, whether to themselves or to the community at l»ge. In order to preach faithfuUv'it was his duty to encourage them

in all that seemed good and wise, and to warn them against anything that seemed doubtful or unwise. Their ordinances hud clown a high standard of Christian life and character, and enjoined a steadfast upholding of the Protestant religion, a strenuous opposition to the errors of Rome, and a resistance to her encroachments. Their organisation had been formed in another land and in days gone by, at a time when the , struggle was one of life and death. There was much to deplore in that great conflict, and there was much to be thankful for, for from out of the struggle of those days there came the liberties and the well being of the British race. The question arose as to what ylace the Change Institution held in

New-Zealand or in the colonies. He believed that the necessity which called it into existence at the first remained to-day. A - T reab deal had changed since those days had gone by, but titere was one thing wlucU had not ehunged, and that was the Church of Rome. What she was then, that she was now. Her β-rors had been multiplied, her pretensions enlarged. Her political intrigues ware as dangerous as ever they were, b&e demanded tolerance as she had ever demanded it, and she gave none. Ihey knew something of the vast efforts which Rome had put iorth in recent years for the conversion of England and her colonies. In England alone of all the- nations Rom© had a free hand to do as she liked, and she was acting and was making the most strenuous

efforts towards the conversion of the country. And who could blame her? Yet her converts- were very few. Hβ believed that at the present moment she was actually losing ground in England rather than gaining it. The wealth, influence, and activities of the- Church of Rome in the Australasian colonies, however, were enormous. Speaking plainly, he regarded ths supremacy ot Rome in any country as fatal to the country's good, and in the long run

disastrous to the cause oi true religion, and, therefore, he believed that the presence of the Church in any country demanded most strenuous and earnest opposition. His Lordship then went on to look at the special dangers which he saw about him in the colony of New Zealand. The first was the danger that arose from inter-marriage. Rome was well organised, Protestants were indifferent, and had no organisation whatever. In the case of inter-nuwria-ge, Rome insisted that the children should be brought up in the Roman Church, and They were so brought, up. If the Church of England, for instance, were to refuse to marry a Protestant to a Roman Catholic on those terms, tha Protestant would go over to the Wesleyan or soma- other church and be married there. The next danger he found in the fact that Rome was gradually securing tne whole of the religious education ot the colonies. That seemed a large statement, and he was not afraid to make it. Large numbers of her children were receiving education which their Church imparted, and a considerable number of Protestant children were going to those schools.- While the Roman Catholics were strenuously educating .... -i_:ij !„ f.ViB PmtestJlhtS

their children m religion, uw * were training up their children as heathens. He was told that the New, Zealand schools were not ungodly schools. Perhaps they were not, but the must careful efforts were made to oust religious teaching from the schools. The Church of England endeavoured to teach religion, when she could, in the State schools of the colony, but she was being driven out from one corner to another. It Rome should ever get the supremacy of religion in New Zealand it would be because Protestants did not cars enough for their religion to teach it to their children. The next point was that Rome'had acquired a very great deal of political influence in the colony. The Catholics worked together and pulled together, and their votes counted for something. The next point was the danger of what was called Protestant tolerance. His firm conviction and belief was that the proper -word for Protestant tolerance was Protestant indifference. He believed in the Hioly Catholic Church, but the Roman Church declared herself to be the Catholic Church, and he did not believe it. But. Protestants called them Catholics, and ware just

letting thsm have their way, and were granting them the very thing they were asking for. He also looked at the way by which through the Protestant divisions tiwy ■were playing into the hands of the Catholics. It was not very long ago that the Catholics in Christ-church had mads a cat«p*ur of the' Ministers' Association, and in use way or another that miserable dogma cf Denominationalism was the tune upon which Rome was playiug. It was not so very long ago that the Church of England chaplain was holding services throughout the hospital wards. The Catholics objected, and carried the matter to the Ministers' Association, who said it was shocking that the Church of England should be holding services in the wards, and so these poor pitiful people, who had the management of things ;+ iUo !,„«.„;+<, 1 Jrmr. «-.!,« C 1,,,,.,,], ~f ,

land out. And thitt vra.s the wuy that Rome mads cats -paws of Protestants, and got her way. His Lordship concluded by impressing upon his hearers that their business was not so nuich to oppose us it was to outlive, and outwork, and outdo, what I was wrong or harmful. In other words tbay must tight Romanism by bring better men i than Romans, and by showing that their religion and form of Christianity was reaily better and stronger than theirs. Owing to the severity of the weather, a larga numbar of country.brethren were nnab!e to attend. '.The parsde wm under the ' immediate charge of Bio. H. J, Ranger, R.W.. Grand Master. The following Lodges were represented: —Xos. 1. 3. and 7 <Ladies, and Nos. 1, 2. 3, 4, 5, 7, 14, 24, 32. and 33, | males. Amongst the officers* were Bro. J. >L Dougltss, P.G.M.; jas. Ciygill. P.G.S.; Bros. McCausland, J. Bea'itie/j. Hanr,a.*H. Simpson, and W. White, P.D.M.'s. liros. Hanna and McGsusland were the marshals. Upon returning to the hall a, hearty vote of thanks to his Lordship Bishop Julius was n-.iii-i.xl hv acclamation.