THE CHURCH AND POLITICS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 57, 9 March 1907, Page 4

THE CHURCH AND POLITICS

Referring to the El. . sh Education lidl, Rev. T. U. Brooke,'in hi.- presidential address to the Mclhodi-l Conference, said:—"The new Education Bill removed anoiual es and aimed at justice all round; in fact, t placed the power of control in the hands of tin; ratepayers. The measure was, however, doomed to destruction by the House of Lords. Its Wtal clau-es were so altered as to nn:'- it an impossb'e JLSitl to Free churchmen. The consequence is that the battle will have to be fought over again. Separated though we may be U 0 the diameter of tbo world, we are \, a them to the last unit qf our church in the struggle that must now follow. Nothing less than full religious equality can be accepted. The oligarchy must bow to the democracy. Hoary privileges that give any denomination undue advantage must cease. The House of Lords and the Bench of Jii.-iiops must learn the lesson- taught thcii; predecessors by the Commonwealth. We do not advocate the use of the sword, fcut there Jiould be such a combination of Free churchmen us shall at once and for ever swe-ep away the in.-titution-tiiat throttle the spiritual independence of the nation." . . .

"It is the same stuggle, only in differing forms, bemuse under dill'ercnt circumstances, that is now in progress in Franco After long years "if tindominion of Roman liiorarehy, the nation has awakened to the fact oi i.s evil inlluence, and has determined on its disestablishment. By every means in its power the Papacy has fought against this, but the (lovcriiincnl. so far, has prevailed. The leaders of French thought and polities have been represented as being at deadly grip with true religion, but this is not so. The thing they are lighting, and that they are determined to c:id, is the interference of priest and bishop with the civil administration. What we hope French statesmen will do ill this juncture is to exult the priesthood oi Christ and of the individual believer. This is the only ell'eetive antidote for sacerdotalism. If the pretensions o! the sacerdotalisl, be he .Methodist, Anglican, or Roman, arc to be successfully combatled, it must be by thi» means. With the spec'al tenets of Roman curiae, and the way in which it enforces them upon its own people, we have no business. If ihey like I,> abdicate the rights of private ju-lg-ment, and to subnrt themselves to the dominion of the priesthood, that is their concern, it was the attempt to dictate to lis what we shall believe that made us Protestants. With any system or person that would stand between us and our right of private judgment, or that would put the canon law above the common law, or that would undermine the authority of the State, we can have no place. In sharp, strong emphasis, and in deeds suited to our words, we must b'd all such depart."