16 JULY 1927, Page 18

All that can possibly be said for and against the

New Use has been now urged in the National Assembly. The Bishop of London's address to his Diocesan Conference (The New Prayer Book, Nisbet, 6d.) is marked by an appreciative summary of Evangelical objections. His experience of two uses in the Church of Scotland, intended to be reassuring, does not, however, carry us very far. For one thing, that Church is a small body, and much more of one way of thinking than the English Church. For another, the Bishop seems to take for granted that English churches will provide copies of the New Book for worshippers who come provided only with the Old. But will they ? In any case, we rather fear there will be practical difficulties, financial and otherwise, to be faced by parish priests when they meet their Parochial Councils. The Bishop pleads with Anglo-Catholics for loyal obedience, emphasizes—with regard to the Epiklesis—that the whole Prayer is the Prayer of Consecration, and italicizes the intention for the London Diocese of " not standing outside the rules laid down for the whole Church." The address makes for peace and order in a very marked manner, and we trust it ensured a sense of confidence from the Conference towards their Diocesan.

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