The Bible in Churches
The appearance of the Amended Lectionary for Sundays and certain Holy Days, drawn up by a committee presided over by the Bishop of Winchester, is extremely welcome. The revised lectionary of 1922 was a considerable improvement on its pre- decessor, but it had various drawbacks. Many Old Testament pas- sages whose meaning has baffled scholars owing to the octrruptions of the original text were included, and many lessons were much too long—notably the 75 verses set for Palm Sunday. The new lectionary consists of two separate tables of lessons ; they can be used as alternatives, but the intention is that they shall be read .in successive years, so that in two years a congregation will hear at morning and evening prayer a selection, in carefully chosen sequence, of the most impressive and representative passages of the Old and New Testaments—and, it may be added, the Apo- crypha, for the committee has drawn fairly largely on the litirarY riches of books lice Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom and Esdras. It is to be hoped that in both Provinces the new lectionary will be extensively used, even if only experimentally.
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