REVISED PRAYER BOOK.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17277, 13 December 1927, Page 8

REVISED PRAYER BOOK.

GREAT PUBLIC INTEREST. JTi PARLIAMENT ARY PROCEEDINGS the; primate's speech. (A. P. Assn, and Sun.)

LONDON, Dec. 12. As a result of title widespread interest in the Prayer Book debate there was a long queue of the public in the outer lobby of the House of Lords, i clergymen and .women predominating. The public galleries were also crowded, Including the portions reserved for Peeresses and Ministers of the House of Commons. The Archbishop of Canterbury, rising from a full Bench of Bishops, moved that the Prayer Book measure he presented. for Royal assent. He expressed the opinion that the new book would promote good order m the church and the welfare of the English people. He did not agree with the view, that Parliaments’ only duty was to accept the church’s decision In the matter. Every member had an absolute right to vote freely on the question. Those submitting ■ the Revised Book had been charged with dreadful things, such as being false to their ordination vows, being renegades, and subtly trying to bring back to English, homes the obscurantism from which the reformation had set England free, The Archbishop said it was startr ling to learb that large sums had been subscribed in order to spread this sort of oharge abroad. “I am absolutely unconscious of any departure from the principles of the Reformed Church in England to which I declared allegiance 53 years ago, and which I 1 'have striven to maintain ever since. If I thought the present proposals were' calculated to controvert and impair these principles 1 should not be standing here, but I believe nothing ‘of the kind.” I The House was entitled to demand an answer to three questions, namely: l .( 1. ‘‘Are there adequate reasons for desiring a revised Prayer Book? i. “What are the outstanding differences between the present and the proposed rules of >vorship ? 3. “ What good results are to be« expected as the result of the change?” ; A great majority of the church assembly supported the new book. , The Bishop of Wells: Eighty per 'cent of the members of the diocesan ! conferences. j The Archbishop of Canterbury pro- • ceeded: “I hope I have shown conclusively that this is not a plan or ", phantasy of the bishops. It is a f book of the Church drawn up by the u . Laity and clergy, and finally approved / by the bishops. I maintain that every available means of security, the corporate voice of the representatives of the church have been taken.” The new book recognised the more devotional spirit noticeable in all churches in the country. The changes in the order of services in the Churches of Scotland were greater than in most Churches in England. \ Prayers, for the Empire industrial peace, and the League of Nations were an enlargement and enrichment of the present Prayer Book. The Archbishop of Canterbury, continuing his address, said: He hoped the House would not exaggerate what the new Holy Communion offered. It was re-arranged rather than re-writ-i ten. If he were a Parish Priest he 'i: would certainly use both. He believed both were perfectly sound in faith, English, and reformed in .character. Many regarded the restricted use of the reservation of the consecrated elements for the sick as the crux of the problem and he confessed that when he first sat in committee on the subject he hoped it would not be necessary to sanction reservation at all owing to the danger of superstition, but sheer weight of evidence convinced him of ithc need of something of the kind ir' regulated to prevent abuse. They had taken pains, by c\ciy bit of language possible to guard against abuse. He believed it right to add that in the restricted use in , his deliberate judgment, there was nothing that suggested in any way a changed doctrinal position of the church, which wanted a book belong in* not to 1662, but to 1927. The new Book would liberate the Church from petty strifes and conduce to . firm progress, and the doing of better 1 work at home and overseas. Th bishops were determined to enforce obedience to it. He hoped, th £F efo ™’ that their Lordships would bid tne Church go forward, newly equipped, and disregarding the clamour of sec tions on either side.