REVISED PRAYER BOOK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19442, 30 October 1925, Page 9

REVISED PRAYER BOOK

POSITION OF NEW ZEALAND. THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM. Referring to the possibility of revision of the Prayer Book, Archbishop Averill stated in his charge to the Diocesan Synod at Auckland on Thursday, that as things were the Church of New Zealand could accept only a revision approved by the bishops in England, the Church Assembly and Parliament, and which received the Royal assent. What that book would be was beyond the wit of man to imagine, in view of the many discordant voices clamouring to be heard. It was a fact sometimes overlooked that should an alternative Prayer Book be agreed upon and published it would not necessarily supersede the present Prayer Book, and it would be lawful for any church to remain in statu quo as far as it was concerned

“We need a revised Prayer Bookparticularly a revision of the occasional offices, and we can hardly expect that a Prayer Book revised in the 17th century would satisfy all our requirements in the 20th century,” the Primate said. “It does not follow, however, that the present English revision, or any future revision, will be acceptable to us or quite suitable for us. The development of our spiritual life may be such that the medium for giving expression to that life may require something different from what may be suit able to England. Unsatisfactory Alternative. “Without having any wish or intention to have a New Zealand revision of the Prayer Book, we do want freedom to choose for ourselves and to adopt, it we think fit, a revision of the Prayer Book such as exists in Canada and South Africa and elsewhere. The Lambeth Conference in 1920 unhesitatingly repudiated the idea of every portion ns the great Anglican communion being bound by the formularies of the English Prayer Book, and desired to giv< ample scope and liberty for self-realisa-tion and expression. Unless we rin obtain the liberty which we seek, in ail probability we shall refuse to adopt the revised English Prayer Book and be compelled to continue me use of « Prayer Book which in many respects is insufficient for our present requirements.

‘To my mind, it will be disastrous to the unity and peace of the Anglican Church if alternative offices for the Holy Communion are adopted and legalised, for it will tend to destroy stiL further the parochial system in our towns and encourage the growth and development of the party spirit which wo are most anxious to avoid. The one and the same service for all is perhap.? the strongest link which binds the members of the Anglican communion in onu fellowship.

“In view of the fact that the Church i of this province will be called upoi- I sooner or later to face the question of l accepting or refusing the revise'*. Prayer Book of the Church of England, it is well that we should prepare ourselves carefully for the important task and try to realise the fundamenta truths, namely, that uniformity is not essential to unity, that we may lx united in essentials without having rigid uniformity in regard to details' and non-essentials, and that the pre sence or absence of ceremonial canno- : in itself change the ultimate value off divine truth. Rights of the Province. j 4< ln view of the fact that there is a®! undoubted movement on the part of a section of the Anglican Church to regard the Church of England in the 11 gin •' of two provinces of the Western Church i merely, to ignore her status as an indo- I pendent part of the Holy Catholic I Church, with power to decree rites and | ceremonies and authority in controver-' sies of faith, to question the right of the Church of England to reform hei-|

self without the authority of the whole Western Church, and to impose upon her the teaching and ceremonies of the modern Roman Catholic Church, witu the exception of the supremacy of the Pope, whether that teaching be Catholic and primitive and scriptural, or merely mediaeval or modern, it. behovw all members of the Anglican Church to study afresh the position of the Church of England as an independent entity in the unity of the Catholic Church, reformed upon the basis of scriptural and primitive truth, and in bondage or sunmission to no other part of the Church

Catholic. “The struggle of the Ecclosia Ang!> cana for her rightful freedom and in dependence, and her successful enaea- • vour to throw off the oppression of foreign bondage at the Reformation and still retain all the marks of true catholicity, are matters for justifiable priue and thankfulness rather than for a grudging acceptance or denial. Just as we believe that the Church of Eng land, as an integral and historic part

of llio Holy Catholic Church, has a per* feet right to reform herself and revisa her own Prayer Book so long us sho docs not contravene any dwClrine whim is scriptural and really Catholic, so surely wo believe that the Church of the Province of New Zealand has identically the same right, even though she may not consider that it is expedient at the present time and under present circumstances to use that rigjit.’’