30 DECEMBER 1871, Page 2

The Communion Office, too, may, according to the proposal, be

shortened by the omission of various parts, including even the Ten Commandments, with the Bishop's permission,—a consider- able innovation; but it is not, apparently, proposed to give power to omit the Fourth Commandment and leave the other- nine,—we wish it were. Then there is a proposal to add, to the rubric about the reading of the ,Athanasian Creed some explanation equivalent to saying that anybody may understand the damnatory clauses just as he pleases,—with a. not,' for instance, inserted at discretion. On the whole, the tendency of the proposal will be towards greater liberty, and will be good,—though, like all Anglican compromises, rather evasive,—excepting only a proposal which is suggested, giving the clergyman discretion to substitute,—we are not quite sure whether for the whole Burial Service, or for the prayer about the sure and certain hope of resurrection,'—a few sentences from Scripture and the Lord's Prayer. That would be a direct per- mission to orthodox clergymen to express indirectly a belief in the damnation of those at whose burial they were assisting.