A NEW PRAYER BOOK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 23 July 1929, Page 3

A NEW PRAYER BOOK

"So much attention lias been directed to Ihe revision of the English Prayer Book that the existence of a revision which has been quietly going on in the Scottish Episcopal Church (which has no State 'connection; has hardly been noticed," gays the Yorkshire "Post." "About twelve years ago the work begun, some modifications and additions have been made as a result of comparison with the English revision, and the finished work is now ready for the pi-int-er. The book is expected to he ready to be taken into use. on Advent Sunday next, and thenceforward for two years either the present book or the revision may he used according to discretion, but at the end of two years Ihe present book passes out and the revised version alone is to he allowed. A striking thing about this revision is that it has been carried through with nothing like the bitterness of opposition which the English effort met. Perhaps the fact thatsome of the points about which contention centred most decisively in England are already contained in the present Scottish Book accounts for much. Reservation of the 'consecrated gifts' is distinctly provided for. 'as may be required for the communion of the sick, and others who could not be present at the celebration in church,' a much wider provision than was Ihe chief reason given for the rejection of the English revision. An Alternative Communion service, containing precisely the clauses which raised many antagonists of two years ago to passion, exists side by side with that of the Doe*, of Common Prayer, and is used in many churches in Scotland.''

0