REVISED PRAYER BOOK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19156, 23 October 1925, Page 14

REVISED PRAYER BOOK.

POSITiON OF MEW ZEALAND. THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM. SCOPE FOR SELF-EXPRESSION. Referring to the possibility of revision of the Prayer Book, Archbishop Aver ill stated in his charge to the Diocesan Synod yesterday that as things were ths Church in New Zealand could accept only a revision approved by the bishops in England, the Church Assembly and Parliament, and which received the Royal assent. What that book would be was beyond the wit of man to imagine, in view of the many discordant voices clamouring to be heard. It was a fact sometimes overlooked that should an alternative Prayer Book be agreed upon and published it would not necessarily supersede the present Prayer Book, and it would be lawful for any church to remain in statu quo as far as it was concerned.

"We need a revised Prayer Book, particularly a revision of the occasional offices, and we can hardly expect that a Prayer Book revised in the 17th century would satisfy all our requirements in the 20th century," the Primate said. "It does not follow, however, that the present English revision, or any future revision, will be acceptable to us or quite suitable for us. The development of our spiritual life may be such that the medium for giving expression to that life may require something different from what may be suitable to England. Unsatisfactory Alternative.

" Without having any wish or intention to have a New Zealand revision of the Prayer Book, we do want freedom to choose for ourselves and to adopt, if we think fit, a revision of the Prayer Book such as exists in Canada and South Africa and elsewhere. The Lambeth Conference in 1920 unhesitatingly repudiated the idea of every portion of the great Anglican communion being bound by the formularies of the English Prayer Book, and desired to give ample scope and liberty for self-realisation and expression. Unless we can obtain the liberty which we seek, in all probability we shall refuse to adopt the revised English Prayer Book and be compelled to continue the use of a Prayer Book which in many respects is insufficient for our present requirements. ' To my mind, it will be disastrous to the unity and peace of the Anglican Church if alternative offices for the Holy Communion are adopted and legalised, foi it will tend to destroy still further the parochial system in our towns and encourage the growth and development of the party spirit which we are most anxious to avoid. The one and the same service for all is perhaps the strongest link which binds the members of the Anglican communion in one fellowship. " In view of the fact that the Church of this province will be called upon sooner or later to face the question of accepting or refusing the revised Prayer Book of the Church of England, it is well that we should prepare ourselves carefully for the important task and try to realise the fundamental truths, namely, that uniformity is not essential to unity, that we may be united in essentials without having rigid uniformity in regard to details and non-essentials, and that the presence or absence of ceremonial cannot in itself change the ultimate value of divine truth. Rights of the Province. " In view of the fact that there is an undoubted movement on the part of a section of the Anglican Church to regard the Church of England in the light of two provinces of the Western Church merely, to ignore her status as an independent part of the Holy Catholic Church, with power to decree rites and ceremonies and authority in controversies of faith, to question the right of the Church of England to reform herself without the authority of the whole Western Church, and to impose upon her the teaching and ceremonies of the modern Roman Catholic Church, with the exception of the supremacy of the Pope, whether that teacliing be Catholic and primitive and scriptural, or merely mediaeval or modern, it behoves all members of the Anglican Church to study afresh the position of the Church of England as an independent entity in the unity of the Catholic Church, reformed upon the basis of scriptural and primitive truth, and in bondage or submission to no other part of the Church Catholic. 'The struggle of the Ecclesia Anglicana for her rightful freedom and independence, and her successful endeavour to throw off the oppression of foreign bondage at the Reformation and still retain all the marks of true catholicity, are matters for justifiable pride and thankfulness rather than for a grudging acceptance or denial. Just as we believe that the Church of England, as an integral and historic part of the Holy Catholic Church, has a perfect right to reform herself and revise her own Prayer Book so long as she does not contravene any doctrine which is scriptural and really Catholic, so surely we believe that the Church of the Province of New Zealand has identically the same right, even though she may not consider that it is expedient at the present time and under present circumstances to use that right."