CHURCH ORDER.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18722, 19 June 1926, Page 17

CHURCH ORDER.

TO THE EDITOR OT IBS PBESS. Sir,—The Pres3 Association cable under the captions yon have chosen regarding affairs in the Church of England may, be somewhat alarming "to some of your readers. Allowing that the facts as stated by the "Daily Express" are approximately true they leave no cause for anxiety. It is said that the Archbishops and Bishops assembled at Lambeth are expected to approve of a rubric concerning the perpetual reservation of the Sacrament. This will be for the "Revised Prayer Book," which has been so long promised, and for which wo are looking. The,authoritv of the Bishops, backed by the House of Clergy and the Church Assembly of clergy and laity, will be the credited sanction for this rubric. • The party known as the Anglo Cathulio party are said to favour this. Tho British Parliament it is said may not approve of the recommendation. This may or may not' give an added argument for the cause of disestablishment whicb ia favoured and opposed by men of all parties in the Church, and is generally approved by nonconformists. But the clergy are likely to be with ecclesiastical authority, and not with the State—a by no means novel situation. There will be no occasion for secession. As a matter of fact reservation has been a genoral practice in the Church of England for many years under the authority of diocesan "bishops. Those of your readers who have,. worshipped in the churches of London- and elsewhere will be well aware of this. The movement at present going on in England is to authorise bv rubric in the Prayer Book what "Bishops in England, and indeed in the New Zealand Church and other churches in Communion with the Church of England allow. The fear of prosecutions is a bogey. . Anybody who knows anything of the history of the last 50 years of the Church of England will know that a ban set out by any State, authorised council, or authority will be reckoned in ecclesiastical circles ab .its due worth and will exercise no influence on the life and practice of the Church. The question of services, of devotion of _ the Sacrament may well.be left till it is under review. We can believe that both Bishops and clergy will then i ultimately be found where Englishmen are usually found, in ,the path of law and order*—Yours, etc., ■'•'■■ C. A. FRAER, Vicar of Phillipstown. June 18th.