THE WORD PROTESTANT.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 December 1930, Page 7

THE WORD PROTESTANT.

(To the Editor.) Sir,--May I be permitted. sufficient space in your columns to reply to the surprising letter which appeared in this morning’s issue above the signature of the Rev. W. S. C. Stephens, Vicar-of Holy Trinity, Fitzrby, regarding the words “Protestant minister,” as applied to himself in your report of the combined, Sunday school service in the Opera JlCniSe 6n Sunday last. Briefly, I was taught, and I believe every child at school is still taught in the history class, that in the I6th century dissatis-

faction arose among many of the' European States regarding the' all-powerful religious ..and political irifliieiice .of. .the ', Rbmhn Church. As a result of ..deliberations such as the Diet of Worms,. etc., -it number of; States decided- to - re-■ fu&e to recognise the Papal authority, and the rift culminated in th® “Reformation,” the seceding States being termed' ■“Protestants.’ 1 ’ At various later dates ■ the Puritans and the of Knox,. \Vesley• and; Others z became ■“D jssentbr s or~ “Ndncohfdrmisits”' tp jthe .authority. of the Established Church of England, though all •were on common ground as “Protestants’’ against - Papal authbfity. According to the New Oxford Dictionary, ‘‘A Protestant is a member or adherent of any of -the Christian Churches or Bodies' which repudiated the Papal authority and separated Or. > were.-seVT ered from the Roman Communion in the Reformation, of the 16th _century, and of/any of the bodies of Chriistians descended from them.” This authority also states that the term Protestant isused in a general' sense as opposed to Papist or Roman Catholic, jApd- also quoted numerous references to its use; in a special sense as applied, to,mtmibers of the Established Church, of England.: e.gl, in the famous Bill of Rights of ISB9. England’s second Magna Charta, or again in Act fl, George .IV, 1828, in which there occurs the following phrase,. “ 4 ... the Protestant Church, as it is by Law established in England..., /y’ . ‘The Encyclopaedia Britannica gives, thof olio wing definition: “The term Protestant, is in common parlance applied to all Christians who do not belong to •the Roman Catholic, or to one or other•of th® Ancient Churches.of the East. ; It-is therefore obvious- that jx>ur original description of Mr. Stephens ao a, Protestant, ’ minister was • quite correct and in full accord' with the definition, as given by the foremost authorities. The concluding lines, of the article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica are illuminating however: “Of recent years in the Church .of England the name Protestant has,, under High Church influences, been repudiated by an increasing number of the clergy, and is even sometimes used by them in a derogatory sense.” It is perhaps pertinent to point but that Robert RaikCs, thd founder of Sunday schools, in whose .merpory fhe 'combined service was held in the QP era House on Sunday last, .was himself a member of the churbh of England. In conclusion, may I state that I am myself a member of the Church of Eng-, land and have, always considered myseli a Protestant. In this letter I have confined myself to strictly historical facts, and have carefully refrained from any, controversial points; I am also a firm believer in the ideal of the unity of the. Christian Churches—an ideal which is certainly not going to be furthered by ' the attitude adopted by your correspon- »», ete, ffIsTOBIOCg . '