THE. 1928 • PRAYER BOOK • [To the EdHor of
the. SPECTATOR.]
,
Sin,— The Church of England has outgrown the 1662 Prayer Book. Parliament, recognizing this, empowered the ChurCh to revise it and to submit the Revised Book for legal endorse- ment. The Church took over twenty years to do the work, and then submitted the result to Parliament. Under the terms of the Enabling Act a Parliamentary Committee reported that the new Book did not prejudiCe the constitutional rights of any citizen. In spite of this the House of Commons refused to give it legal authority, thus constituting itself for the first time in our history the Church's spiritual director. In view of the composition of the House of Commons this is a quite intolerable position. The Bishops are compelled to press for a revision of the existing relations between Church and State, and, if that should fail, to demand freedom by disestablishment. Meanwhile, as a temporary measure, during an emergency period, they propose not to deny their responsibility and let the Church drift, but to administer it according to the terms of the Church's agreed revision of the long superseded 1662 Book. If this is " not cricket," as some are saying, then cricket can only mean sulking when a serious difficulty arises and refusing to do your best to carry things on to a right and satisfactory conclusion.—I am, Sir, &c.,
The Old College, Dulwich, S.E.21. 0. HARDMAN.
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