REVISED PRAYER BOOK DISCUSSED BY BISHOP

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 82, 28 June 1927, Page 13

REVISED PRAYER BOOK DISCUSSED BY BISHOP

DR CHERRINGTON SAYS LITURGICALLY ENRICHED (From. Our Own Correspondent.) HAMILTON, -Monday. SPEAKING at the opening of the Anglican Synod of the Waikato Diocese to-day, the Right Rev. Dr. Cherrington referred at length to the revised prayer book. “Many of you,” lie said, “have doubtless procured a copy of the proposed revision and perused it, and I am sure that we shall all agree that for carefulness of detail, wealth of liturgical knowledge displayed, and solid enrichment of our devotions, the ‘deposited book’ forms one of the clearest proofs, if any is wanted, of the learning of our church and its leaders. "The position with regard to the revised prayer book is as follows: It has been accepted by the Convocations of Canterbury and York, that is, by the constitutionally elected representatives of the clergy of the church. It is to be presented to the National Assembly, the Parliament of the Church, in July. As already many of the synods and diocesan conferences of the several dioceses in England have voted in favour of it by large majorities, it is not likely that the National Assembly will do anything else than accept it. Before becoming the law of the land, it must lie on the table of the House of Commons for 40 days, after which, unless the House condemns it, it will receive the Royal Assent. “That means that the clergy and the parishes, if they like, may use the new book; or if they prefer to do so, they may retain the present one. Could anything be more fair and reasonable? ADDED RICHNESS “The most outstanding feature of the book is, in my opinion, the wealth of liturgical richness that is added to our present prayer book—in prayers, prefaces, extra devotions and details too numerous to mention—far exceeding the enrichments of the Book, that have from time to time been made by the Scotch, Canadian, South African and American revisions; and a second most striking phenomenon is the fact that prayers for the dead, and the mixed Chalice, are all clearly and unmistakably referred to or arranged for in the book; and when I remind you that these are matters which many loyal and ardent sons of the Church of England have stood for for years, you will agree with me that the book is a recognition of the tried worth of these sons of our Church, and is an assertion that what they have stood for is in accordance with primitive belief and practice. OBLIGATORY RITUAL ' j “It is Quite treu that many of us have always believed that these things were inherently allowed, if not expressly ordered, by our present Prayer Book. Those who have carefully studied the Ornaments Rubric can give no other satisfactory explanation than that, as far as the “law” of the church goes, as represented by the version of 1662, vestments, altar lights, incense and thelike are not only permissible, but obligatory;, while as regards prayers for the departed,, both the Te Deum, the prayer for the Church in the Holy Communion office, and the Collect in the office for burial, already contain such prayers, as liturgiologists nave always been aware. “But in fact of the fact that during the last century, persecution and imprisonment of faithful priests took place so constantly for the use of such things( and that the Privy Council at one time or another pronounced against them, it is a fact of the highest importai x, that the weight of learning of the present day has emphasised, on the one hand their legality, and on the other, the agreement of their use with the practice and teaching- of that part of the Catholic Church called the Church of England. THE BLESSED SACRAMENT R is natural that in some quarters the Book should be opposed. There will always be, there always have been, dissatisfied minorities; on the one hand a, minority may be ignorant, and wish ™ ts-tiorant, of the true principles of the Book of Common Prayer, and assert, for example, that the Vaticum is not necessary for the. sick, suffering and dying; and that if it is, the communion should be celebrated each time Canon Peter Green, of Manchester, in the debate on the question in the diocesan conference of that town, informed the assembly that last Christmast he celebrated 35 times in five days. This is only one case out of many, and this proves that if a priest is doing his work in a populous parish, reservation of the Blessed bacrament is absolutely essential. On the other hand, a minority may not be satisfied that it is right to curtail the devotions to our Blessed Lord in the sacrament, which have proved a help to those who have for many years been accustomed to them, and may hesitate to agree that the Epiclesis in its suggested place is allowable, even though this is its position in many Eastern and the Scottish liturgies. NEW IDEALS "Whether these minorities will sink their objections in face of the fact of general acceptance by the Church at large, remains to be seen, and it is possible yet that in a few years’ time small modifications will be made either by the provinces or the diocese. Jn conclusion, whether the Book be finally accepted or not, it is certainly true that the whole history of it, and of its many revisions, shows how vivid and quick is the life of our part of the Church, and to what heights she can rise in fearlessly expressing in a new day and generation the ideals and beliefs inherent in her teaching and practice.

"If the revision becomes law in England, as it almost certainly will, it will not be permissible in New Zealand without the approval of General Synod,

which is to meet in Wellington in April, 192 s. Liturgical enrichment, I should say, would be two words that sum up the present revision as a whole; it is not the work of that school of the Church called Anglo-Catholic, nor was it in the first place suggested by them, nor is it in the second particularly approved of by them —it is largely the product of men of the ’Life and Liberty Movement,” who were responsible in a great part for the church assembly in England becoming part of the legal fabric of the Church. It has been received and welcomed by the large central body of the Churches at Home, as represented by the clergv and laity. It plainly shows what an immense influence the religious movement of last century has had in shaping the opinions and practices of the Church, and it is one of the most remarkable phenomena of the history of our Church in the last 300 years.”