ng in 1840 and Freeman[4] in 1855, considered revision,
however desirable in the abstract, to be a thing utterly out of
reach, not within the circle, as the parliamentary phrase now runs,
of "practical politics."

But it may be fairly questioned whether these high authorities,
were they living to-day, would not concur in the judgment of a more
recent writer when he says--in language which, _mutatis mutandis_,
applies to our own case: "The most weighty plea in favor of timely
inquiry into the subject is that the process of revision is actually
going on piecemeal, and with no very intelligent survey of the
bearings as a preliminary to any one instalment. The New Lectionary
of 1871, the Shortened Services Act, the debates in the Convocation
of Canterbury on rubrical amendments, none of them marked by any
sufficient care or knowledge, and all fraught with at least the
possibility of serious consequence, are examples of formal and
recognized inroads on the Act of Uniformity; while such practical
though unauthorized additions to the scanty group of Anglican
formularies as the Three Hours' Devotion, Harvest Thanksgivings,
Public Institution of Incumbents, Ordination of Readers and
Deaconesses, and Children's Services prove incontestably that
the narrow limits of the Common Prayer Book are no longer adequate
for the spiritual needs of the Church of England . . .

"It is evident, then, that contented acquiescence with the old state
of things already belongs to the past, and that a return to it is
impossible. We must perforce advance, for good or ill, in the path
of revision, and cannot even materially slacken the pace nor defer
the crisis. One choice, however, is left in our power, and that is
the most important of all, namely, the direction which revision
shall take--that of conservative and recuperative addition, or that
of further evisceration, ceremonial or devotional." [5]

A measure looking in the direction towards which this reviewer
points was actually passed by the General Convention of our own
Church at its late session in October, 1880.

The wording of the Resolution referred to was as follows:

"_Resolved_: That a Joint Committee, to consist of seven bishops,
seven presbyters, and seven laymen be appointed to consider and
report to the next General Convention whether, in view of the fact
that this Church is soon to enter upon the second century of its
organized existence in this country, the changed conditions