HANDBOOK TO THE FIRST ANGLO-CATHOLIC PRIESTS' CONVENTION.* Tuns little book,
v. hieh is admirably printed, rubricated, -and illustrated, contains the programme of a conference of clergy recently held at Oxford as an outcome of the Anglo-Catholic Congress of 1920. The e Publishers to the Church of England," under whose auspices it appears, have a singular gift of addressing normal members of that Church in such a way as, in the words of a well-known character in Pickwick, to " make their flesh creep." This attempt is, however, one which can be made too often ; and, though the reader will find ideas and a terminology to which he is, and will probably remain, unaccustomed, his flesh will scarcely creep to the extent anticipated by the Society
of SS. Peter and Paul.
Perhaps the most notable feature of the work is a revised version of the Bidding Prayer :-
" Finally, ye shall praise God for all those that are departed out of this life in the true faith of Christ, and were the choice vessels of His grace, and the lights of the world in their several generations : such as were Join; HENRY CAnntuAL NEWMAN, sometime Vicar of this Church, JOHN KEBLE, EDWARD BouvEare PUSEY."
The text of this prayer, it is true, is not uniform ; and, when it is used before the university sermon, the preacher is accustomed
to mention the college of which he is a member, and to name its founder and principal benefactors. This perhaps accounts for the recension of the Conference ; for the divines named were undoubtedly the founders of the Oxford movement ; though, man of genius as Newman was, the unusual asperity
with which he was accustomed to speak of the Church of England gives a certain piquancy to his inclusion among its worthies. " Bless them that curse you." If the revisers of the prayer were animated by this motive, the standard of virtue indicated is high.
Apart, however, from the case of the Cardinal, a revision of the Prayer Book on party lines scarcely tends to edification. What would be thought if the Evangelical Conference held annually at Cheltenham were to put out a version of the Bidding Prayer commemorating Richard Baxter, John Wesley, and Charles Simeon ? Or if the Congress of Liberal Churchmen, which is to meet next month at Cambridge, were to make mention in the same context of Benjamin Jowett, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, and Connop 'Thirlwall ? Probably, in each case, those concerned have sufficient sense of humour not to do so. It is well to " praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us." But it is also well that a certain Greek recog- nition of limit should lead those who do so to observe the how, the when, and the where.
• Handbook to the First Anglo-Catholic Priests' Convention. 1921. Louden The Society of 88. Peter.and Paul. [la. set.]
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