THE NEW PRAYER-BOOK

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 143, 21 June 1927, Page 15

THE NEW PRAYER-BOOK

ARCHBISHOP CALLED COWARD & TRAITOR

UPROAR AT A MEETING

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 4th May.

Cries of "Traitor!" and "Coward!" greeted the Archbishop of Canterbury when he. rose to. speak at the 128 th annual meeting of the Religious Tract Society at the Queen's Hall.

The hall was crowded. The outburst against the Archbishop was the expression of the strong emotional feeling of many of the audience against the new Prayer Book. The programme opened with a prayer. The half-filled hall was silent, respectful; everywhere heads were bowed. The Archbishop rose to make his address. Before he had uttered a word a man's voice rang from the gallery. "My lord"—his voice was heard in every corner of the hall. People turned to see a white-faced elderly man leaning forward over the gallery rail. "Before you begin to speak may I submit a resolution to this meeting calling on His Majesty's Government to reject this Popish Prayer Book?" An outburst of protest came from the clergy assembled on tho platform. The Archbishop raised his hand with a request for silence.

"THIS POPISH PRAYER BOOK.

The mail again began to speak. "I shall have to ask the stewards to have this man removed unless lie remains quiet," said the Archbishop, and then opened his address. Attendants escorted tho interrupter . i tho gallery, when a s cond man rose. "I would like to second that resolution," he said. Stewards rushed to silence him, and a third man raised his voice above the gathering din. "This Prayer Book they are introducing is a disgrace to £ Protestant country," he shouted. "It is a disgrace to the Reformation.' The meeting was swept into disorder. Voices rose on all sides. Bursts of applause greeted the cries from the galleiy. Women joined in the demonstrations. "Stop this Popish Prayer Book!" they cried. "You are a traitor and a coward," one woman shouted.

POLICE CALLED IN.

Stewards, unable to cope with tho uproar, brought in a number of policemen. While the constables walked down the aisles the organist started to play '' All Hail the Power of Jesus's Name." Gradually the voices of tho gathering rose above the tumult, and with the last verse came dead silence. The Archbishop spoke of the work of the Religious Tract Society. He had hardly started his address when scattered interruptions began again. "Throw out the Popish Prayer Book," a man roared. ] Five stewards and a policeman seized him. He struggled to free himself. "The Bishops don't own our souls," he shouted at the platform. He woj carried swiftly out of the hall, but bofore he disappeared he managed to delay his unceremonious exit long enough to cry out: "Take your money and go back to Rome." ' The Archbishop then concluded a short address with little further interruption. The meeting ended quietly. People had begun to leave in twos and threes beforo the programme was. half-over, and the hall was sparsely filled when the Archbishop pronounced the Benediction.