Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-06-13
SST
ENGLISH COMMISSIONS
REVISING PRAYER BOOK
Important md Difficult Task Under
taken for First Time In More
Than Two Centuries.

OF general interest to all Christia n
churches. and especially To the Prot
estant Episcopal Church of America,
is the work of the two convocations.
at Canterbury and at York. which have
been for some time in session in at
tempting a revision of the Book of
Common PRAYER Tho work is being
done under the authority of Royal
Commission on Ecclesiastical Disci-
plne, the need for such revision being
thus stated in the act creating the COM
mission:
The law Of public worship in the
Church of England is too narrow
for the religious life of the present
generation. 1t ncedlcssly con-
dennis much which great section
of church people. including many
of her most devoted members
value. In an age which
has witnessed the most eXtraor-
binary revival of religious life and
activity the church has had to
work under regulations fitted for
different condition Of things with
out that power of self-adjustment
which is inherent in the conception
of Il living church.
The historian Green voiced n some
what similar criticism when he wrote:
1t tthe church) stands alone
among all the religious bodies of
Western Christcndom in it's failure.
through TWO hundred years, 10 uc-
wise single new service of prayer
praise.
There have been many liturEies in
the Christian Church from the earliest t
times and in different countries. such
as those of st. Chrysostom. st. Peter,
st. James, ST. Basil and others. There
have been Armenian Roman Galician
Ambrosian. Spanish. African and Eng
lish liturGies. and the latter has caught
something of the spirit and sometimes
the actual words of most of these.
The liturgy of the Church of England
dates back to l54I. and was establiShc ed
under Edward VI Adopted in the sel-
ond year of his reign, it was revicw~7
in the NTH, when. in compliance with
objections brought forward by Calvin
and some eminent English divines. al
terations in regard TO various mat
ters were made. the general confess
sion and absolution added. and the
communion made to begin with the ter
commandments. By this review the
use of oil in confirmation and extreme
JUNCTION We're taken away. as also pray
ers for the souls of the departed. The
liturgy thus reformed was established
by Acts and of Edward VI. was
abolished by Queen Mary. who caused
n return to tho liturgy as used in the
again re-establshed in the reign OF
Eliza beth. \ few alterations were
made in the reign OF King James l.,
and the prayer hook so amended re-
manned in force to the fourteenth year
Of Charles RI. Another review was
made in 1861. and here it has remained
stationary for more than two hundred
and nifty years, though many applica :
tons have been made for review but
until the present these have failed of
success.
That there should he manifest un-
Willingness to change or "'tn.
way Il form of service which has come
down to the church through nearly
three centuries is readily understand :
able. There is certain majesty of
conception in n church using forms
sanctioned by the use of centuries. 4
great church coming down through the
ages with stately ritual speaking of
the centuries rather than of the vary
ing currents and fashions of the
thought of to-day makes an appeal to
the historical as we'll as to the re-
lieious imagination. Yet difficulties
nave grown up which ut last seem
to demand decision. and hence the
two great conversations at Canterbury
and York have n very important and
seemingly necessary. though extremely
difficult. work to do