THE PRAYER BOOK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20450, 3 July 1928, Page 9

THE PRAYER BOOK

BISHOPS’ RECOMMENDATIONS. announcement to be made. (British Official Wireless.) (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) RUGBY, July 1. (Received July 2, at 8 p.m.) The Church Assembly will be opened to-day, and the primate will announce the recommendations of the Bishops' Conference in view of the rejection of the Prayer Book, and will probably intimate that his own resignation will operate from Christmas. The church correspondent' of the Daily Express states that many churchmen, including some of the bishops, are resenting Parliament’s action. Many Nonconformists, fearful of the Church of England’s alleged Homeward trend, are demanding disestablishment, while Mr Lloyd George will possibly exploit the deep Protestantism which was disclosed in the House of Common’s debates, and make disestablishment a plank in the Liberal platform. —Australian Press Association.

At one time there were many who felt that the primate was more a statesman than a religious leader. As the years passed by, however, more and more people came to recognise the great spiritual influence which he exercised throughout the whole church. When he was first enthroned many controveries, partly political, were rife in reregard to religious questions and the relation of the Anglican Communion to other bodies. There were noisy extremists on both sides, and Mr Davidson steered a wise course between that extreme of churchmanship which might have alienated many sincere Christians who were outside Anglicanism, and that extreme of toleration which might have impaired the distinctive tenents and doctrines of his own church. Like many of those who held the see in the early days of the Church in Britain, Dr Davidson made his influence felt in many matters which, while being largely political in character, nevertheless were also matters of national righteousness. His speech in the House of Lords on concilatory measures towards Ireland drew from Lord Birkenhead the rejoinder that you could not govern a nation on the principles of the Sermon on the Mount. Yet this is what the archbishop believed most firmly could be done, and should be done, and he showed his faith later in the appeal he issued during the general strike. He is a master of conciliation and compromise wherever compromise is possible. It is said that Archbishop Temple always used a brush to brush his silk hat, while Dr Davidson used a velvet pad. Whether this is true literally, it is certainly true metaphorically. ' Dr Temple had little regard for the finer amenities of life, while Dr Davidson has the courtly manners of a bygone age. He also possesses much of the saving grace of humour, and he has been able to use this on more than one occasion to soften the acerbities of religious strife. He said on one occasion that the English people were probably the only people in the world who could conceive the idea of getting up a parish dance in order to raise funds for the purchase of a parish hearse. For some time Dr Davidson was considered to be out of sympathy with the Anglo-Catholic movement. He was never an extremist, but lately he has parted company with the Modernists, and has shown a deeper appreciation of the spiritual side of ■iAnglo-Catholieism. Perhaps this led him to under-estimate the opposition likely to be raised to some of the proposed alterations in the Prayer Book. He has told us himself that at first he was very strongly opposed to any reservation of the Sacrament, but that later he changed his views. He showed his spirit of toleration when he preached in St. Giles Church in Edinburgh. He said on this occasion that it was difficult for an old man to change the views of a life time, but he had come to recognise the underlying unity that lay beneath many of tjie divisions of Christendom. It is doubtful if any greater archbishop has ever occupied the throne. Certainly no archbishop has been more beloved or exercised a greater influence over the whole Church.