THE NEW PRAYER BOOK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 27, 1 February 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE NEW PRAYER BOOK.

STATEMENT BY ARCHBISHOP OP CANTERBURY. The Archbishop of Canterbury makes the following reference to the Prayer Book controversy in a message to the clergy, in which he defends the recent policy of the Bishops:— "If there is to be any order in public worship there must be some regulation of additions to or deviations from the Book of 1662. Such regulation, in the absence of legal provision, can only be made by the Bishops. It is part of the responsibility of their office. Because Parliament rejected the Prayer Book Measure of 1928 they cannot fold their hands and decline to exercise their responsibility. "It is a responsibility which they owe, not to Parliament, but to the Church and to their office. For many years they have tried to fulfil it as best they could. Now they know —in the Book of 1928 —as they could not know before, what additions to and deviations from the Book of 1662 have the approval of the Church expressed through its representative assemblies. "When they are considering the needs, desires, and circumstances .of parishes within their own diocese, how can they do otherwise than regard the contents of that book as giving them guidance in deciding what additions to or variations from the Book of 1662 may or may not in each case be permitted?"