5
Hence it appears that the divergence of views expressed in these two lines of reasoning arises, like most other differences, from a difference of meaning attached to the word or thing which lies at the root of the argument. The thing about which the dispute here is—viz., the churchyard—in the mouth of the non-Churchman means national burying place, in the mouth of the Churchman it means churchyard. Which is it? Did the Church find certain National burial-places, appropriate them to her own use, and clog the use of them with certain conditions of her own? Or did the State require the Church to give a place of interment in her burial grounds to all persons dying in the parish, on the condition that only the Church Service should be used? The latter, no doubt, is the true historical view. Churchyards have always been what their name imports. That name itself, their position round the church, the fact of their consecration, the exclusive ministrations of the clergy of the Church in them in all ages down to the present time,[1] the language of the Rubrics, and, in short, everything that we know about the churchyards of England, demonstrate that the oldest, as well as the most recent of them, are primarily churchyards, and only secondarily national burying places. The right of burial in the Churchyard attaching to all persons dying in the parish sprung from the principle that all British subjects are members of the National Church. According to the same theory, all parishioners, i.e., all British subjects resident within the parish, have a right to a seat in the parish church. In like manner also, before 1836, the Church Register of Baptisms was also the only civil register, and except he was married by a priest of the
- ↑ The time of the Commonwealth is an exception to this statement, but one which in no wise weakens the argument.
