Church Services.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20274, 7 April 1934, Page 12

Church Services.

Dear Sir,—“ True Light** appears to havd misunderstood me. I have neither denied the re-introduction, since 1833, of the Sunfl Eucharist, confession, *' priestcraft,” and so on, in the Anglican Church, nor have Jj denied the undoubted increasing growth of such practices. I am not concerned with’ “ True Light’s ” ideas about the relative importance of preaching and the Mass. My. aim is to show that such customs, so far from being “ ritualistic,” conform with the letter and even the spirit of the Prayef Book.

The Deposited Prayer Book (1928 amend* ed edition), rejected by the House of Commons, though approved by large majorities in the Convocations and the Church Assembly, has since been either wholly or partially approved by practically every Anglican Bishop, and in this Diocese the Bishop has approved of the use of the occasional prayers and certain occasional offices. It may be argued that this attitude on the part of the Bishops is illegal. The question is whether the Church should be governed by her Bishops, or by Parliament, which includes a very large number of men who either do not belong to the Church of England or who do not understand its teaching. I advise “ True Light ” to make a study of the history and sources of both the Prayer Book and the Bible, and also the history of the English Church from the Reformation period onwards, before making further inaccurate assertions against the undoubted legality of the practices td which he objects.—l am. etc. MORE LIGHT.