THE CHURCH IN THE VILLAGE.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.") Sin,—In the article, "The Church in the Village," in the Spectator of September 30th, there is much, no doubt, that is true; but the writer draws large deductions from small pre- mises when he says : "The most rigid Nonconformist looks forward to being buried in the churchyard with the Prayer- book read over him, not by his own minister, but by the parson himself." That is not so. In the first place, it is surely somewhat ludicrous to think of any one "looking forward" to burial in any form. In the villages under the existing law, Nonconformists must give three days' notice to the clergyman if the burial service is to be conducted by their own minister; hence the parson is often requisitioned, not from choice, but expediency. Moreover, their dead are buried
in the village churchyard because there is nowhere else. Nonconformists are striving for perfect freedom in this matter. They always prefer the last mournful rite per- formed by their own beloved minister, who reads over them, not the Prayer-book, but suitable passages of Scripture, chiefly from the New Testament.—I am, Sir, &c., H. LEONARD REYNOLDS.
Fernkigh, Staveley Road, Wolverhampton, October 2nd.
[We wrote doubtless too absolutely, but the reference was only to the Nonconformists of the village. We hold that Nonconformists should be given the fullest possible rights as to the use of the churchyard, though there must, of coarse, be some system of notice to its guardian, the clergyman.—En. Spectator.]
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