ernate weeks. In all, forty-eight meetings were held between
January 17, 1880, and July 13, 1881.

It was thought possible that by the co-operation of several minds,
information might be collected from sources not commonly accessible,
and perhaps hardly within the reach of any one individual. Among
the members of the Conference also were those who had had experience
of parish-work, as well as those who had devoted time and attention
to historical enquiry into the origin and meaning of the Rubrics of
the Prayer-Book, or who had made ancient Liturgies their special
study: some, it may be added, combined these various qualifications.
A hope therefore was entertained, as the second proposition implies,
that by considering on very wide grounds (both practical and
historical), and not from any one point of view, the various
divergencies of ritual practice, some agreement might be arrived
at even on the most controverted points.

This hope has been realized. It was found that points which
seemed at first to afford no basis on which agreement was at
all probable, were settled, after long discussion, almost (if not
quite) unanimously; but this involved expenditure of time, and
much investigation into matters on which existing text-books were
often silent.

With regard to the actual diversities in ritual which came under
the attention of the Conference, some appeared to be such direct
infractions of the Rubrics that no explanation of the Rubrics could
make their irregularity more evident. Others seemed to arise from
well-meant attempts to interpret the Rubrics. These last formed
the chief subject of the labours of the Conference.

The main line of procedure laid down was a true and loyal adherence
to the spirit of the Prayer-Book. A mere literal interpretation of
the Rubric was found in many cases to be insufficient. Even if the
existing Prayer-Book had been composed for inaugurating some new
religious system, it would be scarcely reasonable to depend upon
the abstract meaning of the words employed, without any reference
to the circumstances under which the book had been written. But
when we remember that the Prayer-Book of 1662 was the last of
several revisions of the original English Prayer-Book of 1549,
which was itself avowedly based upon the Ancient Liturgies, and
carried on the existing and ancient worship of the Church of
England (with such reformation as was considered needful), no mode
of interpretation could be mo