PRAYER BOOK

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 189, 12 May 1928, Page 9

PRAYER BOOK

BISHOP BARNES CONDEMNS NEW PROPOSALS

PASSAGE WOULD END CHURCH UNITY

DISESTABLISHMENT COULD BE IGNORED

(United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Australian Press Association.)

London, May 10.

“If the new Book is passed all hope of Church unity is at an end,” said Bishop Barnes in a speech at a Birmingham meeting, at which the House of Commons was urged to reject the Prayer Book. “The new proposals are substantially the same as the old, and deserve the same fate. There is reason to fear that the grave evils eliminated at the Reformation may be re-established. The Book evades crucial issues and seeks ; compromise where compromise is impossible. It faces both ways. If the reservation becomes Church Law, if will revive 11.3 belief that there is a peculiar virtue in Holy Water given to a dying man. Such a belief is foolish. An-glo-Catholic abuses will be permitted. The Bishop will be powerless to enforce his decisions.” The threat of a disestablishment campaign, if the Book were rejected, could be ignored, declared Bishop Barnes. He suggested a moderate, non-eontentious revision, simplifying the old Book and adapting it to modern needs without a revival of superstitious practices. Concurrently a measure should be introduced for a restoration of order within the Church.