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Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 554, 8 July 1909, Page 6

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V . r» \ ANGLICAN CHURCH CONSTITUTION. V ' FUNDAMENTAL PROVISIONS. POWER TO ALTER THEM WANTED. ; • A very interesting 'and important discuseion took placo «t the Anglican Synod yesterday regarding -the fundamental clauses of the Cimrfii Constitution, whioh are declared to be unalterable, a provision which is regaidod by many Churchmen as an undesirable limitation of the self-governing powers of 'the Church.' The. matter was brought before the Synod by tho Rev. T. H. Sprott (St. Paul's), who moved:—

"That thie Synod, while gratefully acknowledging tho wisdom displayed by those who drew up the Constitution of i this Church of the province of New Zealand, w strongly of opinion that the unalterable character of'the provisions in tho said Constitution, called tundamontal, is injurious to the best 'interests of the I ' Church, and a hindrance to its progress, ' ' end prays tho Goneral Synod to secure, ,bv Act of Parliament, the right of complete self-government for the Church." A Matter of Principle. . I Mr. Sprott said that from time to time , efforts had boon made to get the unalterable, nharaoter of the fundamental provisions removed. There wore strong objec- '. ■ tions to tWpresont position/ The change he ' advocated should bo mado as a matter of principle, qurte apart from any practical ad- , (rantages that might be derived from it. There were two great theories of, the purity and > catholicity of fcfio Church. There was tho theory, of the Roman Church, that unity and ' catholicity'consisted in a centralised despotism, and-on tho other hand the theory which the English Church had maintained for centuries, and which was also, he believed, maintained by the great Eastern Churches, ' ,that unity and .catholicity consisted in tie • 'federation of free, self-governing Chuicnes. The latter was tho theory which the Church , ' in'.New Zealand had accepted, and in some jospects it had been more jealous of that , ' -theory than almost any of its sister Churches. Tie New Zealand Church had shown its zeal for that theory by prohibiting -"■'the 'consecration of its bishops in England. Bat though it had asserted the principle in i i&at almost unique manner, it lad given away more, ho thought, than any other Church in the Anglican federation in" those fundamental provisions. The difficulty in re- * card to the provisions was not merely that ; their hands wero tied,, but that they were - made dependent on another Church. Under the fundamental provisions it was open to ,'■ them to adopt changes in the formularies >~ of the-Church provided thoy had been ' i .adopted by the Church in England. A com- ' mittee of the English Church was now engaged in a revision of the Prayer Book, \ which was being 'made without any thought at all of what was needed for New Zealand purposes. The committee set up was consid- . ering_ the needs of the Church in England, and if Convocation and the Crown finally authorised its suggestions tho New Zealand Church was at liberty to adopt them. But --,' the report would not be drawn up to meet New, Zealand needs at all. The New Zealand Church had given away the local autonomy which it had jealously guarded at another point. • > ,

> x 'Possibilities of Change. - It was' also provided by the fundamental provisions that if tho Church of England wore disestablished the New Zealand Church' would be permitted to make alterations. There, again, 'there was no thought of what might be. ita local needs. The possibility of making, any change depended on the happenings in and of another Church. Thero was a fur- 1 \ , ther possibility of change in the • event of Now Zealand being separated from the Mother Country. He aid not think that these.itwo latter loop-holes were intended to give' any liberty. Whatever lawyers might say the - Church in , this country would be able te do, all that was really contemplated ( by the Constitution was to enable the same necessary changes te be made in the State ■ prayers as would be made in England if, the . , Church were disestablished,' and in the ' event of New Zealand being separated from the Mother Country to allow tne Kaiser or Mikado to be substituted for the King in the_ _ State prayers. (Laughter.) No provision had been made for adapting the forairiariee of ,the CfauTch to the Heeds of this country. ' , Practical Advantages. ' Bet the matter was not'only one of prinapte. There were certain practical advantages to be gamed. The Prayer Book which they all revered and loved reached ito present form some 260 years ago. Necessarily,' in its compilation 'there wae jno thought of tie needs of 'the New Zealand Church; the complexity and increasing needs of modern Hfe nad.made the compilatron in Gome reepecte"'inadequate at Home. Ma'ny people ■ idhought here that it did not quite meet all their needs,- and there wero somo changes which ho thought all people wonld feel to be on advantage. They required, he thought they all felt, a'now lectionary. "My objection to the lectionary does not circle round Jehu." .said Mr. Sprott, amidst laughter. "I should miss Jehu. Jehu's high animal epirite appeal to me. It is refreshing to come into contact .with such a vital personality." Hβ wished to refer to the New Testament lessons, whioh should be altered to provide for a continuous reading on Sundays. Thero waa no continuity or intelligible principle in the present syetom. Titoy wanted the Now Testament lesaone specially arranged for Sundays, and perhaps some alterations in tho Old Testament lessons, •"leaving i in, I hope, Jehu."

psalms and Hymns. They all felt, he thought, that some change was necessary in tho psalter. Tbaro were three classes of psalm which he thought required some modification. There were psalms part of which wore unintelligible either through gross mistranslations or because tho original meaning was obscure. There wore also psalms which contained obqcure historical references, which were now , unintelligible, and lastly there wfero tho socalled vindictive or imprecatory psalms. Ho thought that all felt that anything used in worship should be intelligible to tho ordinary understanding, and consequently their use of tire Prayer Book would be much . moro helpfal' if they had a rearrangement which omitted thoso obscurities anf difficulties.' There were so many obscurities in. tho psalms that many 'pooplo ,did not try to ' understand them. If thirty psalms woro removed, they could get rid of all the difficulties referred to, and still have 120 psalms left, or.four for each Sunday in the month, and the shortening of the daily portion •would bo itself an advantage. When ,tho present psalter was prepared, thoro was not that development of hymnology which had sinco , grown up. He nad not the least idea of superseding the psalter by hymns. "I'd rathor sing oven tho most obscure psalms than many of ■ the hymns ■ wo sing.. Many of tho hyjnns we cot in onr hymn-books no self-respecting man should sing." But four or five hymns were expected now, and certainly they mado the service bright. ( Services Too Long. Hβ know that k> would not gain tho sympathy of 'nioet of them in speaking of services being too 'long. It was not, however, from lack of spirituality that people did not «njoy long services, but from lack of tho mental' training which enabled one to fix tho attention for a lengthy time. A large ma- , jority of people could not liqld their attention, fixed for long on anything, merely for wunt of mental training, and, thorofore, ho thought that it would be an advantage if services were shortened. Nothing Behind Changes. The sublimo burial sorvice of the Chnrch vas not altogether appropriate for tho burial >f children, for which some simpler service would bo preferable. A very desirablo altor- '' natiic snrvice for this purpose had been issued by tho Committee of Convocation. In • view of fears which had been expressed when e similar motion was before tho General &,,ihm, Mr. Sprott emphasised the fact that tl'i"! ,, .*i ".nothing behind" tho changes he vu touting. Tn© document issued by the

Committee of Convocation was being opposed to the death. Ho did not think it had tho slightest chanco of being approved by Convocation, and, thoreforo, by tho Parliament in England. It was being opposed by the extreme parties in England on both eidea, because thoy believed that in tho present Prayor Book thoy had all that thoy requuod. The largo middle body, who woro tho great safeguard of tho English Church, who had no controversial axes to grind, but who found'that'.the lifo of to-day required provision' mado for it whioh over 250 years ago could not have been made, because it could not havo boon'foreseen, were in favour of the changes. Tho Prayor Book mado scarcely any provision for prayers for tho mission, work of the Church, which was felt to be its supromb woTk to-day. Thero weio no extremes in thia country,' but those who desired the changes in tho Now Zealand Church belonged to the same class of people as the great middle body at Home. They had nothing up their sleoves. There was nothing behind their proposals, but they simply thought that tho worship of the Church could be made more helpful and edifying by some eimjple changes which all of them would desire, ho-thought, if thoy had power to niako them. i The Appeal to Parliament. As regards the appeal 'to Parliament, the reason which made that necessary was simply that, the Church possessed property. It was believed by somo that the Church's property might be endangered if it was not dependent on Parliament. Many members of ;lio Church'did not liko.the idea of going to Parliament cn.a Church matter, buf they j, should remember that it was only on account of property that thoy did so. Tho State was 1 very properly tho guardian of all property. Other Speakers, Tho Rev. Joshua Jones (Hutt) seconded the motion. Thero was no desire for radical alterations in the Prayer Book, but the principle of Church liberty was very important. Tho Eev. E. I. Sola (Bulls) expressed great sympathy with the principle of Mr. Sprott's address, but pointed out some facts on the other side. Thoy should avoid at all costs the possible tampering with the Prayer Book by amateur liturgiologists, which was feared by a large party at Home. They should also be careful not ''to weaken their relationship with the Mother Church. Again," if changes were commenced thero was no saying where they would end. Hβ did not think tho New Testament lessons could be changed without also altering the Old Testament lessons. There was a feeling that at tho bottom of the movement for modifying portions of Scripture was a desire to cut out the miraculous element, and that bolief was strengthened by a lerision 'of tho Old Testament proposed by Canon Hensley Henson. The so-called vindictive psalms did not express any personal vindictiveness on tho part of the psalmist, but simply tho important truth' that sin would invariably be punished by an all-righteous God., The Debato Adjourned. ' Tho Bishop said tho motion appeared to him to bo of such a very important character that the debato should not be interrupted more than could be helped. As the brotherhood scheme, was on the order paper for discussion in the evening, he suggested that the present debato should be adjourned until the following day, when a continuous discussion would be possible. ' A motion to this effect was , agreed to. The debato will be resumed this .evening,