The Forest of Dean Examiner : — 1877-04-13 (Blakeney, Gloucestershire, England)

APRIL 13, 1877.  "THE SHORTEST WAY WITH DI& RENTERS."  formed without the the burial shall " formanoe of any rel dissent from all relh lariat burial servic what they think to nos; but those NO Icclesiastical oyster more by forms tin in faith, must in to their trust i Mg and the tint same law-e  sent the constable who would preach 1 but rather by the pious conversation mending his kettle Dissenters was at Queen Anne, Da political pamphlete the prevailing spi his famous paper, c Dissenters," which, against them, man The brochure acted  any designs in eta) sympathy for, rat! Nonconformists. what the ultra-E igarkly hinted at,  throwing a full of spirit. It would I liken the Duke of I be so fax like hii "Silent Services" the feeling of h strengthen the ham{ others who act  which has had oi seaters will in Nonconformity. with Dissenters." There is a keen  grave digger in measure of mudi senter, for in Mb A  And the bill vu ceremonial to the for such guests e the pale of the C. than clowns whi. passed—se one of the same scene ir to the right of 'But is this to  "Aye, marry Is' make the those who seemi spiritual suicides I cross roads. What has the allowing _ .•emeteries, to it ideas? It can l< in the goodwill t bring about. If mere sect, but is the nation, ti hold in that game broad tol which now happi men in religi Church of the Church of nu Englishman of Dissenting brol side; and that mortal career 1 ligious profesk be peace in 1 will be found ill soots of the bare under a they were sul wisely and cow these small cc less for the than they do origin.  GAME Tax Monday, IA ill at Breinton, keeper to I belonging to tion of Mr. V January last under.gameki hare snare an partly admit' peared for tl defence, ese and costs. Tif EFT A' Edwx.rd Orel  -e-harge of et Read, at C; taken that of the 1,  -tile -siphons away with it  The ants -Christian I rooms OD association, sacred songi Kattah Mi? the Rev. address w  mingham. much M  formed without the authorised religious service, the burial shall "lake place without the performance of any religious service." Those who dissent from all religion might read the Secularist burial service, and commit the dead to what they think to be the eternity of Nothingness; but those who are separated from the icclesiastical system connected with the State, more by forms than by realities of difference in faith, must not give audible expression to their trust in the God of the living and the dead, or they offend tint same law-embodied intolerance that sent the constable to arrest the tinker, Bunyan, who wou/d preach though ordained by no bishop, but rather by those three old women whose pious conversation he overheard one day while mending his kettles. When the rage against Dissenters was at its height in the reign of Queen Anne, Daniel Defoe the inimitable political pamphleteer of the time—to satirise the the prevailing spirit of bigoted antipathy, wrote his famous paper, called "The shortest way with Dissenters," which, with well-feigned indignation against them, recommended their extermination. The brochure acted like a torpedo by shattering any designs in that direction, and by creating sympathy for, rather than . antagonism to the Nonconformists. It put into "plain English"  what the ultra-Establishment party had only ' ioxkly hinted at, and disgusted the natioa by throwing a full of flood of light on their malicious spirit. It would be a stretch of comparison to liken the Duke of Richmond to Defoe, but he will be so far like him that his, proposal involving 'Silent Services" among Dissenters will intensify the feeling of indignation among them, and strengthen the hands of Mr. Osborne Morgan and others who act with him, so that an agitation which has had only the partial support of Dissenters will in future stir the whole heart of Nonconformity. Truly this is "the shortest Way with Dissenters." A "short shrift" indeed! There is a keen satire in the song of the old grave digger in Hamlet applied to such a measure of muddling mischief against the Dissenter, for in effect the bill says : A pick-axe, and a spade, a spule, For—and a shrouding short; 0, a pit of clay for to be made For such a guest is meet."  And the bill would tend to limit the sacred ceremonial to the "pit of clay" as good enough for such guests as those who have died outsicie the pale of the Church. But there will be other than clowns who will ask—if such a law be passed—as one of the grave-diggers enquired in the same scene in the tragedy, when arguing as to the right of Oplaelia to Christian burial : " But is this law ?" And the answer will be " Aye, marry is't ;—Crewner's-quest law." To make the indignity complete the interment of those who seem to be regarded by some as spiritual suicides should be at midnight, by three cross roads.  What has the Church of England to lose by allowing Dissenters, where there are no semeteries, to inter their dead after their own ideas? It can lose nothing, but may gain much in the goodwill that a graceful concession would bring about. If the Church of England is not a mere sect, but is in some sort representative of the nation, then it only strengthens its hold in that respect by allowing the same broad toleration in the national graveyards which now happily prevails among living Englishmen in religion. If the Establishment be a Church of the people, as we believe, and not a Church of ministers, why then should an Englishman of the Anglican Church grudge his Dissenting brother that he should sleep at his side; and that the last sad act attaching to his mortal carer should be consistent with the religious professions of his life? There should be peace in the grave and over the grave. It will be found in this age of doubt, when the very soots of the Christian religion are being laid bare under a more scathing criticiiim than ever they were subject to, that Christians cannot wisely and consistently withhold from each other these small concessions of right, unless they care less for the vital principles of their .religion than they do for its tinsel trappings of human origin.