“STILL PROTESTANT”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 431, 13 August 1928, Page 14

“STILL PROTESTANT”

CHURCH OF ENGLAND UNCHANGED PROTEST AGAINST ANGLOCATHOLICISM “Whatever Anglo - Catholics may say to the contrary, the Church of England is still a Protestant Church,” declared the Rev. A. Macdonald Aspland last evening, in an address, “Romanism versus Protestantism,” at the Knox Presbyterian Church, Parnell. “I rejoice to know there is still a strong army of avowed Protestants in the Church,” added Mr. Aspland. “Men and women who, if need be, will follow Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer rather than sell their birthright or forfeot the blessing of the Reformation. “But one cannot close the eyes to the sad fact that there are strong forces at work to-day in the Church of England, at Home and in the colonies, seeking secretly or openly to blot out the Reformation, to destroy Protestantism and to establish the ideas and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.” The preacher referred to such societies as the English Church Union, the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, the Society of the Holy Cross, the Kilburn Sisters and the Order of the Corporate Union. All these, he said, were working within the Church to undermine the Protestant foundation. FAITH IN CHRIST'S WORK Mr. Aspland said that Protestants considered salvation was theirs through faith in the work of Christ. They still stood, as did their fathers and the apostles of the early Church, for justification by faith. Protestant beliefs in the sacraments contrasted strongly with the Roman. It was believed that they were a means of grace, not a means of salvation, and that the Bible was the word of God—the final revelation to man. The preacher appealed to Orange Lodge members and all Protestants to protest against false doctrines. He contended that, whereas Protestantism had grown, Roman Catholicism had declined.

The repeated rejection of the revised Prayer Book by the House of Commons showed that the English-speak-ing people were still Protestant at heart. Members of Parliament were convinced that the passing of the revised book would have been a backward step. About 200 members of the Loyal Orange Lodge were among the large congregation last evening.