Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-10-29

work of church pewS has recently been
published in London, written by Alfred IealeS,
/. Sea, which contains great deal of interest
ing information touching the origin of and i'm
proyements in pews. In the earliest times, the
parlshioners received the gospel standing up in
the general area Of the church. Benches were
introduced at the beginning of the fifteenth CEN
fury, but 1t was not until long time after that
church was provided with sittings through
out. In the ancient Saxon churches, sometimes
stone bench was run around three sides of a
church, and now and then seats were provided
for visiting clergy. By degrees seats were pro.
yded for the nobility, and then for the knights
and squires, and at last the ordinary people
were allowed to bring hassoCks and camp stools
with them. The pews occupied by the dignita.
ries are thus describcd
AT ChOlderon, Wiltshire, is a pew six feet
high, with glass windows in the door to enable
the occupants to see the preacher, and other
windows in the side to enable them to survey
the congregation. AT MertSham, Surrey Ountil
very recently, and at Mickleham, Surrey, were
pews raised some feet above the level of the
cold, damp floor, comfortably fitted, and pos
sesSing fireplace and table; by no means un-
common examples. Such "pride of place"
seems peculiarly offensive, even when the par
ticular locality be a private chapel annexed to
the parish church.
The following description of a shepherds pew
is also taken from the same work:
In Little Birmingham church, Norfolk, pew
was erected by shepherd in the nave, to afford
accommodation for strangers and wedding par
ties; bearing a skeleton carved in wood, with
the inscription:
"For Couples joined in Wedlock: and my
Friend That Stranger is: This seate | did in
tends. But (?builD at the cost and charge of
stephen Crosbee. Ammo DOmini 1910"
a curious feature in some of the early English
churches was pew for the dogs, in which those
who brought these animals were Obliged to
place them. There is no record in the work TO
show that the dogs were not as quiet and atten-
tive as their owners In fact, the owners now
and then came in for scOIing, as witness tie fol-
lowing from the bishop of Norwich:
Stately pcws are now become tabernacles
with rings and curtains to them. There wants
nothing but beds to hear the word of God on:
we have easements, locks and keys, and cush-
ions; | had almost said bolster aud pillows. and
for those we love- the church. will not guess
what is done with them-whO sits, stands, OF
lies asleep at prayers, communion, &c. &: but this
dare say, they are either to hide som9 vice, or
TO proclaim one; TO hide disorder, or to proclaim
PRIDE
OF the pews at the time of the reformation,
Mr.. Heales says;
From the early years ofElizabeth, public seats
and appropriated stalls became more and more
frequent, so that, before the close of her reign,
in the towns where sermons were more frequent,
and citizens were required to listen oftener than
once month to the OratOry of the licensed
preachers, permanent sittnes occupied the
greater part of every church.navc. TO account
for this rapid extension OF the pew system, as a
natural result Of the ecclesiastical revolution.
the reader must bear in mind the eXigencies OF
the period, which replaced the old portable
preaching boxes with permanent pulpits, estab.
lished the desks from which the clergy read a
liturgy, and imposed upon the pulpiteers the
task of instructing the congregations in the new
tenets of the theology and doctrines of church
government. Whereas the sermons of the nre.
reformation Dpripl bripf ;aI
could be uttered in a few minutes, or piquaut
addresses, like the preachings Of Chaucers
'Pardoner," the sermons of the later epoch
were doctrinal discourses, which seldom closed
until the preachers hour glass showed him to
have exceeded the ordinary limits OF pulpit
In the towns it was soon found that seated con.
gregatiOns were much less prone than unsedted
assemblies to express, rotously, their disappro.
baton of preachers doctrine, and when, for
the avoidance Of tumult scarcely less than for
the comfort of individuals the towns had aC-
cepted the pew system, the rural churches soon
followed the example The same considerations
which decided the friends of order to give seats
to the worshippers, made them choose fixed
sittings in preference TO the stools aud movable
benches, which sometimes became weapons of
offence and tools of warfare in the hands OF law.
less people bent on riot,
fthe pews Of the present day Mr. Ileales has
little to say. They, in reality, speak for them
selves, and D0lh Tor listening and for sleeping
for the display Of economy and Of extravaganza
arc equally well adapted. In all these respects
they arc an immense improvement upon the
box pews, with their high fronts, straight backs,
and hard seats, in which many who read this
will remember how impossible it was to sleep,
or listen, or 30 anything but suffer. The church
pew OF to-day may or may not have tended to
promote goodness, but it is certain that Its easy
slope and It's soft cushions promote comfort and
soften whatever aspcrics there may be in pew
rents.