CHURCH OF ENGLAND SERVICES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 87, 12 April 1875, Page 2

CHURCH OF ENGLAND SERVICES.

To the Editor ok thb 'Evening Mail.' Sib— Whilst thanking Archdeacon Thorpe for informing us that the General Synod by resolution Session 1871, recognized .." th-j expediency of a certain discretion being exercised by the Bishops in sanctioning from time to time sueh divisions in the service?, ard modifications in tlie manner of celebrating those services, as ihay be urcently required by the circumstances of the cltrpy or of the people," I fail to s:e that the intetpolation of the " Te Dcuin " ii - the evening service at Christ Church on Wedneslay last -was " urgently. require!," either " by the circumstances ofthe clergy or ofthe' people,'' and very much doubt if the act w'll pass without question when the Bishop lay*. an account of it, accompanied by the full rratons for the alterations, "on tbe table <.f the General Synod at ifcs triennial meeting." My object in asking the question was tb; evil; attention to :wbafc I atill consider a : tampering with our I iturgical services', whith have ftbod the test of generations} and if tho Church is really what the Archdeacon terns it- '■ the Church of England in New Zealand," —I think its members have a right to expect that the General Synod shall preserve tho " Book of Common Prayer " in its integrity, until suoh time as it may be altered bv General Council, in England. 1*1; would be well for all members of the General Synod (and eppecially tho Lay members) before assenting to any such propositions as those mentioned by "the Archdeacon, to careftdly study th9 preface of that book, particularly the first paragraph, and sternly opposo to their utmost what are therein described 11s '(-the yain.atienopts and impetuous assault* made against'' it by such men^s are given to chaDge, and have always discovered' a greater

regard to their own private fancies and imerf sts than to that duty they owe to the pub ic " It is very probable that anv tamperinsr with • what your correspondent ' Spes in Crucem " r roperly terms " that inestimable inheria' ce ol ( ur fathers" will have the effect of driving a lorge number of membera awav from tbe Church of Kngland in disgust, indeed I know nothing more calculated to achieve this end, ■uv» therefore f< el it right to call serious attention to this introduction of " the thin end of the wedge " before it i_ too Jate. I am, &c, Parishioner.