30 DECEMBER 1871, Page 2

The Archbishop of Canterbury is about to propose to Convo-

cation several very considerable changes in the regulations of the Church,—changee which are intended to make the services more "elastic," i.e., less uniform, more subject to accommodation to the wants of the people and the views of the officiating clergy.. It is proposed to make the Morning Prayer separable even on Sun- days from the Litany and the fragment of the Communion Office always read with it,—a very sensible reform, which is very much needed ; indeed in cases where the whole Communion is celebrated at a different hour, as is now common enough, there- is something like a 'vain repetition ' in the re-celebration of about-, half of it with a heterogeneous service. Then, again, it is pro- posed to permit the clergyman to compile a third short service at his own discretion out of the Prayer-Book, when it has received the sanction of the bishop, —a liberty which we suspect that those of them who hold children's services, very frequently take now with- out asking the bishop's permission.