24 NOVEMBER 1923, Page 15

TIIE LAITY AND PRAYER-BOOK REVISION.

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Stn,—The Bishop of Norwich's lucid and exhaustive " Plea for Caution" in the Times of November 14th leaves little to be said. There is, however, one consideration to which attention should be called—this is, that, outside the comparatively small numbers of persons, clerical and lay, who interest themselves in ecclesiastical controversies, very few of the laity have even so much as heard of Prayer-book Revision or have the slightest idea of the character of the changes which it is proposed to introduce. " What is it all about ? " one is constantly asked ; " I know nothing about it." And, when they realize that what is under discussion is the legalization of practices now illegal—such as the Vestments, the Canon and Reservation—one finds that they are, as a rule, strongly opposed to this. If one or other of the so-called Alternative Uses—the Green Book, the Grey Book, the Yellow Book, the Book of 1549 or N. A. 84—is legalized, it will be by the votes and in the interests of a small though restless and energetic section of Churchmen, not by the will of the English Church or the English people as a whole,. I am, Sir, &c.,