The British Coronation Oath
By Editor
THE king's oath of England is still troubling both king and people. There is strong protest on the part of many in England against any change in the Protestant oath. A bill before Parliament provides for a change, and in the place of the language used as stated last week in the SIGNS it is proposed to substitute the simple declaration: "I — do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare that I am a faithful member of the Protestant Reformed Church as by law established in England, and I will, according to the true intent of the enactments which are intended to secure the Protestant succession to the throne of my realm, uphold and maintain the said enactments to the best of my power according to law." This is objected to by the Scotch because they have a Scotch church and they do not believe in prohibiting one who is a member of the church by law established in Scotland. The High Church, or Anglicans, who perform mass and invoke the Virgin Mary, who are practically Catholics, object fiercely to the introduction of the word "Protestant;" and the Non-Conformists, of whom there are one hundred fifteen in the House of Commons, oppose the new declaration as a new test act, excluding forever all Non-Conformists from royal succession, so Mr. Stead tells us, and there is a "pretty kettle of fish" over it. It would seem that the word "Protestant" should be sufficient, if they must have any religious declaration in the oath at all. Why say, "By law established in England"? What would be infinitely better would be entire disestablishment of any church, and to exclude from the king's oath and the oath of members of Parliament all religion. Let the declaration be that there shall be no religious legislation in England whatsoever; no church of England established by law, whether Catholic or Protestant; but that all stand equal before the law. This would be consistent, harmonious, absolutely just. But this seems to be altogether too good to hope for. We certainly see no call for the present form of the oath. We do not believe in the Catholic religion in any way, but we do not see any particular virtue in insulting those who do believe in it. We believe that Protestants themselves would gain by the change.