REVISED PRAYER BOOK.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20536, 11 October 1928, Page 9

REVISED PRAYER BOOK.

DR AVERILL’S DECLARATION. RELIGIOUS REVIVAL MORE IMPORTANT. {Special to Daily Times.) AUCKLAND, October 10. Important as the revision of the Prayer Book may be in England or New Zealand, it is of less importance than a revival of vital religion and a real devotion to the living Christ. In these words Archbishop Averill issues to churchmen in his charge to the synod a new and hopeful outlook to replace the spirit of despair occasioned in some circles by the defeat in the House of Commons of the revised Prayer Book measure. The present hearings and implications of the Prayer Book rejection as his Grace sees them are contained in the portion of the charge which was delivered during the service hold in St. Mary’s Cathedral on the eve of the opening of the Diocesan Synod. The only solution to the present impasse in the archbishop’s opinion is for the church to endeavour to amend the Enabling Act of 1919 in order to give the church complete autonomy in matters affecting faith and doctrine, so long as that autonomy does not affect adversely the constitutional rights of the people. It is intolerable, he said, that Parliament should have the last and vital word with regard to the church’s interpretation of what it considers to be for the highest welfare of the church. If Parliament continues to have the right to defeat in a few hours measures which have taken the bishops nearly a quarter of a century to prepare, episcopal supervision is altogether discounted and there is no outlook for the church but a continued reign of lawlessness. It was foolish to ignore the plain lessons of the rejection. Had the bishops abolished the present ornaments, rubric or revised, and made it intelligible to the men who really wanted to know what it did allow or prohibited, as the Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline ordered, the revised Prayer Book might have inspired more confidence in the minds of the laity. If the Church of England had a definite contribution to make to the fullness of the Catholic Church she could do it only by loyalty to her Catholic scriptural and reformed position, and not by any appearance of doubt or uncertainty as to her mission and witness in the world. There must be greater unity in the church and more loyalty to Anglican tradition before it would be possible to produce a Prayer Book which would be acceptable to the great majority. It seemed at first sight that disestablishment was the only remedy and that ouly by disestablishment could the church secure spiritual autonomy and be supreme in her own spiritual sphere; but to most thinking men disestablishment would produce more evils than it would cure. To contemplate such a step because of a temporary setback to the spiritual authority of the church would be a choice of remedy out of all proportion to the seriousness of the disease. Disestablishment, apart from disendowment, would be a serious blow to the church as well as to the nation, and would probably have a more far-reach-ing effect than its advocates anticipatedIf the party spirit were one of the great weaknesses of the Church of England to-day, what would it be if she were disestablished! If the church were dominated by one extreme or the other there would soon be dissensions and schisms and the church would be split up into narrow sects and cease to be a spiritual home big enough for men df the most divergent views. There is so much in the proposed revision which is extremely helpful, he said, that we cannot but regret that the church should be deprived of it, and we can only hope and pray that the bishops, with the goodwill of Parliament, may yet devise some means by which the greater part of the book may be available for general use, even though the present service for Holy Communion remains as it is. So far as New Zealand was concerned the General Synod could, if it thought fit, accept any revision made in England, but would not be under any compulsion to do so. With the passing of the Empowering Bill the New Zealand Church was perfectly free to accept such revision or any part or parts of such revision or any revision adopted in any other part of the Anglican communion, or to make a revision of its own, or to remain in statu quo; but it was bound to keep within the strict limits of the doctrine and the sacraments of Christ as set forth in the 1662 revision of the Prayer Book and adopted by the framers of the constitution in 1857. . . “ Important as the Prayer Book is in the spiritual life of members of the church,” Archbishop Averill continued, “ it occupies the position of a handmaid and not of a master. It is a means to an end, and not an end in itself. The church’s work and mission far transcend the importance of the instruments and channels through and by which it expresses its faith and worship. We are living in a fool’s paradise if we are satisfied to imagine that the revised Prayer Book is going to regenerate society. The most serious problem which we have to face is the fact that the sense of God has been largely eliminated from the consciousness of men and women, and when that sense becomes atrophied, materialism, superstition, disregard of morals, and selfishness are bound to assert themselves in individual and national life.

“ The work of the clergy, in particular, is most difficult and often most disappointing in these days, and there is a distinct danger of the church looking loosely to the things which really matter and concentrating upon matters of secondary importance. It is not sufficient to deplore the worldliness and want of moral restraint which are so evident, to-dav. We must endeavour to seek cut and remedy the underlying cause, and that cause undoubtedly is that there m no fear of God before the eyes of many men and women.”