New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-06-07
COSTLY AND CHEAP CHURCHES.

the selling and letting OF pews In the majority
of churches, this being ordinarily the begin
ming of their financial year. The results, il
we trust these reports, must be more crafty
ing than usual to the yestrfes or wardens.
Religious learning or el0quence was never
more popular than now, or commanded higher
price in the money market. Church business
appears to an outsider to be managed very
much like any other financial operation, with
the advantage, it is true, of certain peculiar
privileges which appertain to it. few moneyed
men form corporation and put up church
edifice, which nine times out of ten costs two
thirds more than they at first planned. Carved
angels, gargoyles, thing, frescOes, stained
glass all the best Of their kind (fOr was 1t
not the lamb without bemish that was dedi-
Gated to the Lord 7)-these things cost money.
A heavy debt or mortgage remains on the
building-which is one of its privileges. To
pay this debt, or even to keep themselves
from further loss, the mOney-spenders must
have all things in accordance A choir must
be salaried at a high figure. The people, used
to works Of art in their own homes, would
not be likely to enjoy congregational
singing The preacher must be one who
will draw, either from his devout piety
(which does draw, let us acknowledge
with thanks), or his genuine power as pulpit
orator. OF his ability to perform new FRANKS
every Sunday on sort OF religious tight
rope. A paying congregation thus insured,
the pew-renting is the first mode of tapping
their pockets. Front pews in some of the
fashionable churches, as we learn from the
daily sales, command premium of thousands
I'LL, fhn
least desirable sell for several hundred.
Now, no poor man. or even mechanic
with a moderate income, can afford
to pay two or three hundred dollars,
not into the treasury of the Lord, but to keep
up, az his common sense tells him, gorgeous
show of carved stone and colored glass, which
the theater in the next street outshlnes. In
consequence the poor man and the mechanic
stay away, not being minded to sit on the two
or three "poor benches ut the back OF the
gallery, and the well-to-dO investors ID TINS
sacred stock sink comfortably into their
cushioned seats, cOmpacent In the CONSCIOUS
ness that the thing will support itself now
and need no further outlay. A mission chapel
is built of plain, barn like appearance and sus-
tanned by the weather. congregation for the
use of the poor, which is very good and COM
mendable effort as far as 1T goes.
But the gist of this matter of costly churches
lies here. Granting that Dives has a rigut to
crafty his vanity and esthetic tastes under
the pretense that they help us to worship God,
while his brother Lazarus lies at his gate
starving for the very bread of lIfe-is this help
! given where it is needed3 1t is the poor man,
not the rich, who should have these aids 70
~ e Il 1oap Of
day. Frescoes and pictures, Orat)ry and
music are stale, commonplace matters
to Dives lolling critically in his front
pew. He hears better logic every
day in court than that of his rector,
and then-hOw the man sIurs his rs!
What is the leading lady, too, beside Parepai
The man for whom this might have glamour
and force Of exaltatOn, as it would on child,
is shut out. The plea for this expense is
usually SolomOns Temple, ordained and
planned by Cod But the lamb without
"blemish" was not auctioned off like the
pews. The pillars of Shittim-wood and gates
and roofs of gold were given by the rich for
the use of the poor. Each man gave Of his
substance" but the curtains Of Tyria1 pur-
pie and the blaze of the mysterious jewels
were for all alike.
The Roman Church, which knows bet
ter than any other how to manage men.
follows in this jewish example. All through
the Continent prince and peasant kneel
side by side. Protestants complain that
the Catholic Church works upon ignorant
natures by sensuous appeals, yet they carefully
confne such appeals in their own side to the
more cultured and enlightened. The force OF
the Roman policy one can see any Sunday
in the faces of their wOrshipers. Dennis
spends the week with his nose in n sewer or
manure heap over a spade; Mary in a kitchen.
On Sunday they enter an enchantmcnt of
color and perfume and harmony. Lofty
arches rise heaVenward; angelic voices
summon Them the priest glitters in
mysterious splendors; while flowers
crown the altar of Mary, whose sweet face
and outstTetched hand seem TO scatter bless
ings. They have no picture galleries, no e1-
quisite dresses, no opera in their experience
of life these are all here in one All that
the world holds OF beautiful or best in their
knowledge is subtly made for them part OF
their religion Now this, according to Prot
estant theory, may be all a paganish and base
appeal to the flesh. If so, what do our own
churches want with itf Why did Dives pay
this week a thousand dollars premium for
comfortable seat in which to enjoy it to-mor-
row. and so send Lazarus to bare brick walls
to worship Cod and to the twenty-five ceHt
gallery of the theater for his emotional salts
factions