PRAYER BOOK PROBLEMS

Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1928, Page 11

PRAYER BOOK PROBLEMS

ARCHBISHOP AVERILL'S VIEW •FEAR OF GOD MORE IMPORTANT.” TOO MUCH MATERIALISM EVIDENT. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. “Important as th© revision of the Prayer Book may be in England, in New Zealand it is of less importance Than the revival of vital religion and real devotion to the living Christ.” In these words Archbishop Averill issues to churchmen in his charge to Synod a new and hopeful outlook in place of the spirit of despair occasioned in some circles by the defeat in the House of Commons of the measure for the revision of the Prayer Book. The only solution to th© present impasse in the archbishop’s opinion is for the church* to endeavour to amend the Enabling Act of 1919 in order to give that complete autonomy in matters affecting faith and doctrine so long as autonomy does not affect adversely the constitutional rights of the people. - “It is intolerable,” said the archbishop, “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 continue 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.”

. “Important as th© Prayer Book is in the spiritual life of members of the church,” said the archbishop after dealing at length with the lessons to be learned from the rejection of the revision, “it occupies the position of handmaid and not of the Master. “It is the means to an end, and not an end in itself. The church’s work and mission far transcend the import: ance of the instructions and the 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 th© revised Prayer Book is going to regenerate society. “Th© most serious problem we have to face is the fact that a sense of God has been largely eliminated from the consciousness of men and women, and when that sens© becomes atrophied, materialism, superstition, disregard of moral laws 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’s disregarding tilings which really matter and concentrating upon matters of secondary importance. “It is not sufficient to deplore the worldliness and the want of moral restraint which are so evident to-day; we must endeavour to seek and to remedy the underlying cause. And the cause undoubtedly is that there is no fear of God before the eyes of many men and women.”