THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1928. PRAYER BOOK REVISION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20316, 26 January 1928, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1928. PRAYER BOOK REVISION.

It is to be gathered from recent cables that the prospects of a successful consummation of the protracted project of revision of the Book of Common Prayer have not improved, to say the least, since the beginning of the year. At Christinastide, in spite of the emphatic and unexpected rejection of the “ deposited book ” in the House of Commons, a feeling of optimism was not entirely lacking. Hopeful supporters of the measure pointed to the hastiness and inadequacy of the parliamentary discussion, during which the affirmative case was admittedly presented in an ineffective fashion, and many ventured on a surmise that if the scheme were resubmitted to the House in a modified form it would probably meet with a more favourable reception. This view has not been strengthened by latexdevelopments. On the contrary, the cause of revision appears to have suffered a serious setback during the last fortnight. After the parliamentary rebuff the bishops promptly proceeded to reconsider the scheme, but their revision of the revision has not been re-

ceived with enthusiasm. The AngloCatholic section in the Church is hostile to modifications designed with a view to conciliating Protestant feeling, while those people, in and outside the Establishment, who are chiefly concerned with the safeguarding of Protestant principles, do not find that the modifications are sufficiently radical to remove their apprehensions of a Romanising trend in the scheme of revision. There is no conclusive ground for anticipating that the House of Commons will be disposed to reverse its decision in consequence of the scarcely fundamental concessions offered by the bishops. A further factor of interest in the consideration of the vexed subject of Prayer Book revision has emerged during the last few days. What has transpired in regard to the tentative findings of the Malines Conference on church union, in which prominent Anglicans and Roman Catholics participated, can hardly fail to touch the susceptibilities of English Protestants. It is true that the churchmen on both sides who attended the conference were merely “ mandateless negotiators ” (to use an expression attributed to the Pope), and that no actual occupant of an English episcopal see was of the number. But Dr Gore, formerly Bishop of Oxford, and Lord Halifax, both of whom took a prominent part in the conversations, are known to stand high in the regard and confidence of the Anglo-Catholic party. Moreover, 11 a statement by the Archbishop of Canterbury has been published, which, though it is hedged by cautious provisos, entertains the possibility of a plan of union with the Papacy acting as the centre of union. It can hardly be matter of surprise that an utterance of this kind on the part of the English Primate should cause anxious searchings of heart among that large number of Protestant churchmen whose desires respecting union are directed towards the evangelical bodies rather than towards Rome. No doubt there is a school of ultra-Protestant sectarianism which is based on thoughtless prejudice and bears scant relationship to reason; but there is an infinitely more impressive volume of reasoned Protestant sentiment, resting on the sanction of inherited memories and historical records. Too much might easily be made of the import of the academic conversations at Malines, but the prevailing effect of the disclosures will probably be to strengthen the feeling which governed the decision of the House of Commons on December 15. It would be hazardous to predict the final upshot of the Prayer Book controversy, but it must be reluctantly recognised that the present outlook for the Church of England carries small promise of internal peace.