The Advance of Religious Liberty
THE London Times, speaking editorially of the advance in England of religious liberty, says: “Two centuries ago Nonconformists could not meet for public worship. They could only meet in holes and corners, in back parlors and hay-lofts, on the sly and as law-breakers. Only a century ago upon the least suspicion of a private ‘mass house’—a public one was out of the question—constables were set on, suspected Papists hunted down the street to find shelter where they could. Half a century ago a Dissenter would only be in Parliament on sufferance, and a Papist not at all, on any terms.” Now it is stated that Dean Stanley is in favor of permitting Nonconformists, under certain restrictions, to use parish churches for their own religious services at hours which would not interfere with any regular services. He has ascertained that it would not be illegal to do this, and he has tried it already in Westminster Abbey.