[To TEE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR-"]
Sin,—I gladly believe, with you, that "most Churchmen" are ins favour of the Burial Act. Would that you could say the same- of most clergymen who, under present arrangements, repre- sent the mind of the Church !—though. there is a noble minority,. and, I hope, a growing one. May God increase it. I think that it would grow more quickly, if truly large-hearted and liberal men like Dr. Tait were not so rare in the high places of the Church. But let that pass. My -point is that the conse- cration of the ground in which Churchmen rest is insisted upon,. before they can lie with Nonconformists within the boundary walls of a common graveyard, as a recent incident in the West of England, to which I do not wish just now to refer more pointedly, has somewhat painfully reminded us. Some of us would be very glad to know what is thought to be behind this idea of "consecrated ground," and what privilege or advan- tage consecration is supposed in these days to confer. It is possible that some of your able and learned correspondents. may feel moved to explain it, not by Church law or Church tradition, but by sound reason, Christian sentiment, and the- Word of God.
And believe me, that it is for the sake of peace, and not of that I venture to submit the question, for I fear that so long as Churchmen maintain and magnify these dis- tctions, which seem to us so utterly un-Christian and unreal,. ey will generate discord where so many of us on both sides are seeking to establish harmony, and will aggravate the- irritations which we so earnestly long to allay.—I am, Sir, Ise., J. BALDWIN BROWN.
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