7 MARCH 1952, Page 18

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Public Worship

SIR,—So long as we Church people manage to " hold the Faith in unity of spirit in the bond of peace," does it really matter so very much if we fail to attain uniformity in either our use of candles or in the reci- tation of the prayers of the liturgy, of which the Principal of Jesus College writes under the above title in your issue of February 29th ? Some of us of the clergy could furnish the Principal with certain fairly respectable reasons for our omission of the Judaic decalogue from the Christian eucharist. In any case, this and other omissions and additions which trouble him are all provided for in the 1928 Prayer Book (with certain modifications and restrictions). And the Principal does not appear entirely to disapprove of borrowing from that book.

Have any attempts to enforce uniformity in worship, from the time of Archbishop Laud to this day, had any practical effect except further to disrupt unity of spirit ? The difficulty always is where to " draw the line " in attempted improvements, and who is to draw it.—Yours truly,