Excerpt from Lawlessness in the National Church: Reprinted From the Times Prayer-book. In every modification which has been allowed by Parliament in the services of the Church the greatest care has been taken to prevent any departure from that formulary, for the obvious reason that such a licence would defeat the whole object for which the Book of Common Prayer was established. In the year 1872 an Act was passed (35th and 36th Vict., cap. 3 called the Uniformity Act Amendment, which specified with great precision what variations might and might not be permitted in the services of the Church. Section I, which allows shortened services, leaves no dis cretion in the matter, but sets out the service in detail in the schedule. Special services may be permitted on special occasions approved by the Bishop, but upon this express condition, so that there be not introduced into such services anything except hymns or anthems which does not form part of the Holy Scriptures or the Book of Common Prayer. The same condition in the following clause is attached to the allowance of additional services, services outside the usual form of Morning and Evening Prayer. To any man of ordinary intelligence I think it will seem as clear as anything can be that the only discretion allowed to the Bishop is in respect to anthems and hymns, but that for the rest he is absolutely prohibited from the allowance of anything in such services which does not form part of the Holy Scriptures or Book of Common Prayer. Every successive statute of Uniformity has bound the Clergy and the Bishops to use in services of the Church the Book of Common Prayer and none other, and to this they have solemnly pledged themselves at their ordina tion. But the Primate is ready to find a means of escape for those Who are anxious to evade this obligation. 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.