3 MAY 1873, Page 15

DISSENTERS' BURIALS.

(TO THZ EDITOR OF THE " SPEOTATOR:1 SIR,—" J. W. L." doubts whether any Bishop would consent to consecrate a burial-ground unless a chapel was also provided for the sole use of the Church of England. But has a Bishop authority to require this ? The Burial Act of 1852 requires that the plan for a chapel for the Church of England burial service should be approved by-the Bishop, and provides that the burial-ground (no mention of the chapel) shall be consecrated when the same shall appear to him to be in a fit and proper condition. But surely it is a common thing for a cemetery to be consecrated without any chapel at all, where it is within easy distance of the parish church; and supposing that in. another part of the ground a building were erected which he was not invited to consecrate, it would hardly be within his jurisdiction to inquire for what purpose it was to be used.

At the same time, I fully agree with your correspondent that it would be best to do away with the post-mortem separation between Churchmen and Dissenters, either by dispensing, as he proposes, with episcopal consecration, which, after all, is simply a legal function, though the Bishop may think fit to add certain religious observances, or else by having the whole ground consecrated, and giving all denominations equal rights of burial and service. But this latter proposal would, I fear, be rejected by Nonconformists, as a step towards making the Church really national.—I am, Sir, &c., R. E. BARTLETT, Vicar of Pershore.