A PROTESTANT DEFENCE ASSOCIATION.

Evening Star, Issue 11863, 17 April 1903, Page 2

A PROTESTANT DEFENCE ASSOCIATION.

At the Choral Hall last evening the Rev. G. H. Cole delivered an address and suggested the desirability of the formation of the above. Dr Dc Lautour occupied the chair, and the Rev. Messrs Liddell, Guy, Sinclair, and Brooke were also on the platform.

The Chairman remarked that the meeting was for the purpose of discussing Protestantism, and forming a Protestant Defence Association. In answer to the question Was there any necessity for doing so? he would say that there was a danger, which was all the more, dangerous because it was subtle, underground, persistent, and continuous. They prided themselves on the liberty enjoyed in their community, but that liberty must nob be allowed to develop into a license that would endanger their Protestantism. He referred to the uneasy feeling that existed in the community that undue prominence was being given to Homan Catholics in the matter of appointments in the Civil Service, and said that though promises had been made by Sir J. G. Ward to bring forward figures to disprove the charge, nothing had been done. The agitation to have the Coronation Oath changed, the libel of Cardinal Moran on the British Navy over the Samoan war, and the Bible-burning in Fiji were also referred to. Something of greater importance would, however, one day turn up to stop the march of Protestantism, and it was not improbable that if they did not do something now they might one day he holding meetings similar to that now being held" and with revolver shots outside. Ho did not wish to interfere with the liberty of their Roman Catholic brethren, or their rights, but it was of paramount importance that they- .should protect their own interests and their own country.

Mr Cole said that he appeared on the platform to show his sympathy with ail classes of the community, Roman Catholics included. In regard to the matters concerning which their meeting was held, no education was necessary. What was required was firm, decided, and friendly action. They were contending for an open Bible for the- people, and it was their endeavor to see that none of the liberty they enjoyed at present in this connection was infringed upon. He referred to the disturbances at the Rev. Hill Mackay’s meeting in New South Wales, and said that the Roman Catholics had made a mistake in taking the action they had. The Association they proposed to form deserved their support, because the Bible was its own defence. They need not be afraid of it anywhere. It could take care of itself. Another reason in favor of the Association was that they would help a Protestant people to speak with one united voice through the ballot box. Thev did not want the Church to become a political institution, but they wanted the nation to be built up on the Bible, and not on some wretched abstract. The Roman Catholics made their church a medium through which they spoke to their people politically, and there was always a danger in this. The duty of the Church should be to preach that there was a Saviour for the wofld. After referring again to the necessity of unity, he said they might learn a lesson from the Catholics and inculcate the principles of Protestantism into the minds of their children. The Church of Rome was not different from what it had always been, and, was it wise for Protestants to send their children to Roman Catholic schools, as was often done, to get their education finished I For the sake of a policy it was not wise to sacrifice a principle. By their practices and usages the Roman Catholics wore on the side of one of the greatest evils Protestants had to fight, and this was the liquor traffic. He appealed to the audience to form the association, and to stand shoulder to shoulder for God. liberty, and right.—(Applause.) On the motion of the Rev. T. G. Brooke, seconded by Mr Frank Graham, it was decided unanimously—“ That a Protestant Defence Association be formed.”

A committee consisting of the Revs. T. G. Brooke, J. Guy, J. Liddell, and Messrs Mazcngarb, F. Graham. De Lautour, W K,n S> U : ?■ A , dams > M-d R- T. Wheeler vas e.ccted to draw up a constitution and rules.

The meeting was brought to a close by the singing of a verse of the National Anthem.