Second Report Of The Prayer Book Revision Committee PDF Download

Excerpt from Report of the Committee on Prayer Book Revision The 'schedule of Alterations' contained in the Second Report of the Prayer Book Revision Committee of the National Assembly embodies what is practically a new or, Revised Prayer Book, which, it is proposed, should be authorized for use side by side with the present Prayer Book. The ideal expressed by the phrase from henceforth all the whole Realm shall have but one use' (preface to the Book of Common Prayer, Concerning the Service of the Church') has, for the time being, frankly been. Given up. The concurrent use of two distinct and differing Liturgies must necessarily create a certain amount of confusion, which will be rendered all the greater by the fact that the pro posed Alternative Book contains various alternative possi bilities within itself. It legalises, for instance, four different kinds of vesture for the minister at Holy Communion, three different forms of the Kyrie, four different ways of reciting the words of administration at the giving of Communion, and so on. The number of conceivable combinations of these various possible alternatives is almost unlimited. There is, from the theoretical point of view, very much to be said against the state of things thus proposed to be sanctioned. It might well mean that there were no two churches in which precisely the same liturgical texts were recited in any one diocese. On the other hand, we have to face facts, and to view the situation! As realistically and objectively as possible. Liturgical chaos is an existing fact, which cannot be brought to an end by coercive measures. It is not practically pos sible to enforce: the rigorous observance of the present Prayer Book, nor, if such enforcement were possible, would it be very congenial to many of ourselves. And the doc trinal differences which exist within the Church of England make it impossible to substitute by general agreement any one other Rite in the place of the Prayer Book as solely obligatory. There is, therefore, in. Our opinion, no other course open to Catholic-minded members of the Church of England than. Frankly to resign themselves to an era of liturgical experimentation and alternative Rites, ' to endure the resulting confusion and discomfort as best they may, and to concentrate their efforts upon securing permission to build up a really august and majestic English Catholic Rite. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.