REVISED PRAYER-BOOK.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3663, 9 July 1927, Page 2

REVISED PRAYER-BOOK.

APPROVED BY CHURCH . ASSEMBLY.

London, July 6. The Church Assembly has given its final approval to the revision of the Prayer Book for the Church of England.

The voting resulted: House of Bishops, for 34, against 4; House of Clergy, for 253, against 37; House of Laity, for 230, against 92. The Archbishop of Canterbury said: “This is no occasion for a proclamation of victory or defeat. We have joined in u great enterprise, trying to arrive at a satisfactory solution of a solemn question.”

The Prayer Book next goes to the House of Commons, to be considered by the Joint Ecclesiastical Committee of both Houses, and then before both as a Bill.

ARCHBISHOP AVERILL’S COMMENTS.

Auckland, July 7.

When interviewed this morning about the final adoption of the Revised Prayer Book by the Church Congress, Archbishop Avcrill, Primate of New Zealand, expressed the opinion that the change was undoubtedly for the better. “Perhaps the point of most importance to New Zealander’S,” said Archbishop Avcrill, “is the fact that although the Church at Home has decided to accept the book in its new form, it will not be accepted in New Zealand. The General Synod out here has no right to accept this revision, and at present we are striving to get Parliament to pass a Bill which will allow us a litte more liberty. We want power as an independent Church under the safeguard that any. alteration in the Prayer Book must pass the General Synod, a majority of the Diocesan Synods, and then go back to the General Synod for final adoption. I think the revision is a very wonderful production, and contains many alterations for which we have been agitating for over half a century, and I think that it will be accepted generally by the Anglican Church the world over. Returning to our agitation for more liberty, Canada has its own Prayer 800k — a very fine one, too —and South Africa has its own Prayer Book, and we want freedom to adopt any Prayer Book we think fit to adopt, any revision we may think fit, or even to revise our own if we think fit.”