T HE PARSONS AND TJ±i BLACK-SHEEP.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
Sza,—There is an injustice done by the Burials Bill to the - Clergy which ought to be remedied. They are obliged to bury all the black-sheep whom the Denominations reject. This is not fair. So long as the Churchyards were considered to belong to' the Church, and no service could be performed by any one but the parish parson, it was, perhaps, not unfair that he should take all who came to him. But now that the Churchyards are thrown open to all the parish, and therefore to all creeds and to no creeds, without distinction, it is surely unfair that notorious evil livers should of necessity be buried by the parish clergy- man, at the will of the friends of the dead person. They may now, under the Bill, ask any one to bury, or may bury them-- selves, with any service they please. Why, then, should the clergyman any longer be forced by law to violate his conscience, and bring scandal on religion, by reading words of "hope," almost amounting to assurance, over a reprobate who has per- haps died in the very act of sin? Is religions liberty of neces- sity always to be one-sided P—I am, Sir, &c.,
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