The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-10-23 00:00:00

THE BURIALS ACT.

The Bishop of Oxford has addressed the following letter to
the Rural Deans of that diocese :

" Cuddesdon Palace, October 12, 1880.

My Reverend Brother,—From inquiries which have
already reached me, I judge that some questions may
not improbably arise in your Rural Deanery on sub-
jects connected with the Burial Laws Amendment
Act. On a few of these it may be worth while for
me to offer advice to such of my brethren as desire to
have it.

1. In cases where the Church's office for the burial
of the dead may not be said, or where it cannot be
said without public scandal, I approve of the use of
suitable prayers and Psalms, and I propose to issue
special directions for the choice of them, unless the'
Bishops of this province, or its Convocation, should
agree, upon a general order for that purpose which I
•can adopt.

2. The church bells may not be rung at any time
without the imcumbent's consent. But I see no good
reason why, if it is asked, that consent should be
refused hereafter to.the tolling of the bell at a funeral
for which it would have been granted if the Act had
not been passed. The peal ordered to be rung before
and After a b4al was not meant to be an invitation
to the service, and ought not to be so regarded. It
has by custom come to be looked upon as a mark of
respect to the friends and family of the deceased, which,
in my judgment, it would be neither wise nor kind (if
asked for) without special cause to withhold.
3. I should in general discourage Sunday funerals
of all kinds. In the few cases in which extreme
poverty, or reasons of health, render them necessary,
it would be well strictly to limit the hours allotted to
them. I have observed that funerals in he afternoon
of Sunday often give occasion to the assemblage of a
crowd of idle and careless persons, to the injury of
graves and tombstones, and to the disturbance of
mourners at a time when quiet and order are greatly
valued. The prohibition, as far .as possible, of Sun-
day funerals should, in my opinion, apply equally to
all cases without regard to the character of the service
about to be said at the grave. The objection arising
from the needless employment of sextons and labour-
ers on the Lord's Day is of universal force.

4. Non-parishioners have no right of interment,
civil or ecclesiastical, in a parochial burial ground.
Their admission, so far as it goes, is an injury to the
parishioners by throwing upon them the cost of pro-
viding a larger extent of ground than they need.
Where, however, as a matter of favour, the permission
is given, it should not, in my judgment, be qualified
by any special condition. If sufficient reason exists
for allowing a stranger to be buried in a churchyard,
the force of it is not lessened by the fact that the
friends ask leave to use the same liberty as to the
service, which all parishioners now of right enjoy.

5. The recent Act makes no change in the cus-
tomary right to bigial fees. The clergy have ever
been ready to remit them to those whose poverty
pleads for relief. In other cases there is no reason
why the fees should not continue to be paid where it
is the custom to pay them,
6. I recommend that the used the bier, and other
things needed for burial, be granted without regard to
the nature of the religious service to be said at the
grave. It is true that Churchmen provide these things,
and maintain the churchyard in general, at their own
cost. But they will act wisely and generously if they
continue to bear the burden of these expenses without
complaint.
7. The Burial Laws Amendment Act contains no
reference to churches or consecrated chapels of any
kind. All questions about their use are outside both
of the letter and of the policy of the statute. They
are subject now as always to the provisions of the
Ecclesiastical Law.

8. It may be convenient for me to say that it is my
intention to consecrate in the accustomed manner all
burial grounds for which the sentence of consecration
is desired. If there be a danger, as some imagine,
arising from recent legislation of dishonour to the
resting places of the dead, the legislation,
the reason, as it
seems to me, for solemnly invoking the sanctions of
religion in behalf of their reverent care. The Church
should never cease to impress on her members—and,
through them, on the national conscience—the duty of
piously guarding the places where Christians have
been laid to rest in hope of the resurrection from the
dead. Her jurisdiction in this matter is of very
ancient date; and its exercise may well continue to
be independent of such changes as the civil power •is
advised to make. This letter is for your guidance, if
you should be asked for a statement of my opinion.
It is not intended to fetter your liberty, or that of
your brethren in your deanery, in the smallest degree.
—I remaip, your faithful friend and brother.
"M. F. OXON."
The Bishop of Peterborough has circulated in his
diocese an address to the clergy of Cornwall issued by
the Bishop of Truro with reference to the Burials Act.
The Bishop of Peterborough appeals to his clergy to
promote as far as possible quietness, peace, and love
among all Christian people, and especially among
those committed to their charge.
The Bishop of Truro says in his address that he feels
deeply with those who hold that in redressing a little
wrong a great wrong had been done. Still, he thinks
it the duty of the clergy "gently to take that which
urgently comes." Retaliation, grudge, ill-grace,
stinted loyalty are not in the armoury which Christ
has laid up for His Church. A quiet, Christian heart
of submission and simple kindness will, he says, work
marvels now to bind the clergy together and their
people to them; and thus the law itself will for ward
what we daily pray for—unity,
Speaking at the St. Albans. Diocesan Conference,
the Bishop of St. Albans said no one could have been
more opposed than he was to the recent alteration in
the law on burials. He believed that there was nO
grieTance, real or sentimental, to the consciences of
Nonconformists which ought to have weighed against
grievances inflicted on the clergy. But he thought it
was imperative upon the clergy, as good subjects and
men willing in all things to live honestly, to carry out
what the law had laid upon them according to the
spirit and meaning of the law.