Page:Letters from New Zealand (Harper).djvu/296

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Letters from New Zealand

gies; whilst before the actual Communion a hymn is allowed. There is also another variation permitted in the use of the Decalogue; in the case of two or more Celebrations the same morning, it is permitted to use only our Lord's words about our Duty to God and Neighbour. We have also substituted for the Commination Service a Penitential Office for Ash Wednesday, which may be used at other times. We omit the Athanasian Creed, and have only included in the Eighth Article of Religion the Apostles' and the Nicene Creeds." "But," he added, "in the new Preface which introduces our Prayer book, we have been careful to assert 'that this Church is far from intending to depart from the Church of England in any essential point of doctrine, discipline, or worship, or further than local circumstances require.'"

"How does your system of the election of Bishops succeed?" I replied that it was still on its trial, as we had as yet very limited experience of it. "Well," he said, "it is not a perfect success with us; in a Synodical election it often happens that the best man does not come out atop."

I had also opportunity of hearing such men as Bishop Magee and Boyd Carpenter. Few things struck me more than the thronged attendance in St. Paul's, the Abbey, and many other churches; fair evidence, it seems, of the vitality of Church work, to say nothing of the numerous parochial organizations which abound everywhere.

Long absence from home quickens one's perception of the great changes which have taken place in so short a time as the last twenty years. When my Father went to New Zealand, he had never been at an Early Celebration or an Evening Service; there