PRAYER BOOK DISCUSSION

Evening Star, Issue 19786, 9 February 1928, Page 5

PRAYER BOOK DISCUSSION

ENGLISH OPINION MUST PREVAIL Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, February 8. (Received February 9, at 12.15 p.m.) Addressing the Church Assembly, the Archbishop of Canterbury said that the bishops believed that the number of churches in which continuous reservations were practised was well under 700. This figure represented between 4$ and 5 per cent, of the total number of churches in England. Replying to Canon Partridge, he said that the percentage was calculated on the number of parish churches. Replying to Lord Hugh Cecil, ho said that continuous reservation was practised in about eighty institutions, including hospitals and such like. He was unaware how many had any form of devotion. The laity had approved of the Prayer Book by 196 to SO. Most of the speeches fell into one of three categories—fiirstly, a plea for general approval, leaving the details for Thursday’s revision stage; secondly, refusal to approve of the measure because it legalised continuous reservation; thirdly, an appeal to postpone the measure in the hope of securing general agreement and thereby obviate the risk of the House of Commons again rejecting the Book. The Earl of Selborne, presiding, said that when the House of Commons rejected the Book it acted within its rights, but such an action was unprecedented. There was a pro-Book majority among English members, and the opinion of the English people would prevail in the long run, not the opinion of the Scots, Irish, and Welsh. Ho appealed to delegates to forget Parliament. They were responsible only to their constituents and their consciences.

All houses. will fake, the revision stage to-morrow.