NEW PRAYER BOOK

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 13, 18 July 1928, Page 19

NEW PRAYER BOOK

, ALTERNATIVE MEASURE NON-CONTENTIOUS AIM i ■ (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 15th June. The Home Secretary lias announced that an alternative .mcasuro will bo prepared for consideration should tho measure passed by tho Church Assembly and embodying the Bishops' revised proposals be rejected by Parliament next week. "A committee of competent men," tho Home Secretary stated, is already engaged on the task, and the aim is to include "the non-contentious enrichments and variations" set forth in the present scheme. Tho following statement, authorised by Sir William Joynson-Hieks, has been issued:—"ln tho event of tho rejection of the measure, a committee of competent men, who are" already engaged in ' the task, will produce a Book to cover the non-contentious enrichments and variations which are found in the Deposited Book and which, there is reason to believe, are generally acceptable. This Book, if the goodwill of the Bishops is secured, could quickly be laid before the Church Assembly. I believe, therefore, that the House of Commons, if thoy reject the present measure, will have an opportunity a little later of dealing with those obsolete rubrics and other points to which the Archbishop of Canterbury has referred. The Archbishop mentioned that of the changes proposed the majority deal with matters quite uneontroversial." Sii William, who is, of course, one of tho leaders of the opposition to tho Bishops' proposals, is president of the National Church League, by whom the statement was issued. Sir Thomas Inskip, the AttorneyGeneral, another of the chief opponents of the present measure, ' is lion. treasurer of the league, and the Bight Eev. Bis Lop E. A. Knox (formerly Bishop of. Manchester) ia chairman,) of the council. Asked in an interview how long the committee would be engaged on their task, Sir William replied: "I think their measure will be ready within two or three weeks from now. Tho noncontentious matter is well known. It is only the contentious matter—that of tho Holy Communion—that we differ upon. It should only be .necessary, itherefore,' for us to take out the contentious parts to-enable us, to .arrive at a common agreement." "Will it be possible to bring tho matter before the House of ' Commons again this session or .this year 9" the Home Secretary was asked/ "That will depend on the Church Assembly. The new Book must go before the Assembly first. If the Archbishop and the Bishops should agree upon a scheme of this kind the matter might well go through by general consent, and so pnt an end to further controversy."