SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[tinder this leading tre notice such Boob qf As wee as Moe rot been reserved for review in et/tor forms.] Handbook to the Prayer Book. By the Rev. B. Reynolds. (Rivingtons. 4s. 6d.)—This is a volume of the series of " Hand- books to the Bible and Prayer Book," which is appearing under Canon Reynolds's general care. The " teachers and students " for whom it is intended will find it a very complete and useful manual. We are not sure, however, that it is quite judicious to show, as the editor does from time to time, a preference for forms which have been deliberately discarded. So in the comments on the Burial Service we read: "In 1552 changes were made of a drastic character, and the Service took its present form ; the cele- bration was omitted and every direct prayer for the dead was swept away." There is no doubt about the animus here. The editor must also be aware that his interpretation of the sixth rubric, that it is " not directed against reservation for the sick," is questionable. His language about the number of the Sacraments is dubious. Bishop Cosin, of whom he has, we see, a high opinion, states in the most express way that it is a Roman error to speak of Confirmation as a Sacrament. —This last remark applies to the treatment of the same subject in The Church Catechism, by the Rev. W. C. E. Newbolt (Longmans and Co., 58.) It is quite clear that tho High Churchmen of the seventeenth century were much more strict in their language in this matter. But the protest against Roman doctrine and practice which they thought it necessary to make seems not to be to the liking of their successors. These put a gloss on the language both of the Catechism and of the Articles which the Caroline divines would not have countenanced. Of course, there is nothing inherently objectionable in this use of the word " Sacrament," which, not being Biblical, is not neces- sarily limited in use ; and the language of the Homilies can be quoted on this side. But the language of Cosin cannot be ex- plained away.
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