The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-10-08
The Pew Question.

When Bishop Potter preached his SER
mou somewhat strongly condcmnng the
practice of having private pews in
churches, he did not sufficiently consider
the circumstances which have led to this
habit.
In England. pews have existed from
very early period. Before the Reforma-
ton, the lord of tho manor had his family
pew in the parish church which his anccs-
tors had founded. In the cathedrals and
the larger churches, so long as the religion
of the State continued TO be the Roman
Catholic, pews were not used. for the same
reason that they are not much used now
in Roman Catholic countries on the con-
tinent of Europe. The difference in the
character OF the services between the
Roman aud the Protestant churches leads
to quite appreciate difference in the
length of time that people spend in church.
In most Roman Catholic countries the
mass Is the portion of the service that is
considered the most important; preaching,
although it prevails, IS no; regarded with
20 much interest. nor is ii SO constant and
elaborate rs it Is III Protestant countries.
People go to church III Roman Catholic
short time, perform their religious duties
and then 90 away. There is constant
succession of worshippers, some coming in
and some going out; aud IN II great many
pases all the accommodation that the wor-
shipper requires is priC-dieu. which is
nothing but n small movable chair with
convenience for kueeling attached to the
front of it.
But In other countries, especially in
England and America, the service in all
the Protestant denominations is consider
ably longer than the ordinary mass of the
Roman Catholic Church. The Church Of
England service. including the sermon, is
probably the longest religious service that
is conducted every Sunday in any part oil
Christendom. The same thing is true of
the constant service of our Protes-
liant Episcopal Church and in our
pther Protestant denominations, the
pervices are usually about as long
People go to church, therefore, with
quite different habits from those
which prevail in. most Roman Catholic
countries. They go to remain through a
long service, and they attach great inn
portance to the preaching TO which they
listen. They want, therefore, comfortable
FITTINGS; and, as we are very much crea-
lures of habit, which renders IL disturb
nnoe to ones devotions and ones power of
listening not TO be able always to use the
pame sitting permanent ana exclusive sit
fngs become almost necessity.
There is another cause for the existence
Of pews, to which the Bishop does not
seem to have advertcd Our churches are
not owned by the State, neither have they
come down TO Us from n remote antiquity
md from the piety of individual founders.
They are private establishments built by
the congregation, TO whom the law gives
the faculty OF becoming religious corpo-
ration. The property must therefore be
managed TO some extent like other pr vate
corporate property; and in this necessary
management the rent Of pews, or pcrma-
nent and exclusive sittinGs, becomes an
important, perhaps the only, resource for
the maintenance OF the service. If this
leads to the establishment of churches
which none but the rich or the well TODD
can attend, or if within the particular
church it leads to q kind of social ambition
which manifests itself in the desire to OBJ
tain the best positions, these evils are ap-
parently unavoidable, so long rs our
churches continue to be built ana man
aged as they always for the most PARK
have been and must be.
We doubt il the religious institutions Of
this country could he kept up to the point
Mt which they have always been maintain
ed, If by any sudden or gradual chnnge all
our churches were to be converted into
hat ll.tl -. frst
to counterfeit the disadvantages Of the pew
system is not 10 require the rich, the FASH
ionable, or the prosperous to give up Their
comfortable or even their luxurious sit
tings, appropriated exclusively to their
own families; for that would tend very
strongly TO create class of cultivated peo-
pie who would never go to church nj all.
But IL is 10 encourage and induce these
classes to give of their abundance for the
establishment of free churches and
chapels; to countennnce the services at
such places of worship by their occasional
presence and by their personal parlicipa-
ton in their management; SO that the
poor may not only have the benefit of
religious service, but that they may feel
that their rich neighbors take a personal
concern in the influence winch religion
should exert over their lives, and are
earnest IN their efforts to secure for them
its consultations.
The great church oven which B.sbcp
POTTER presides could not exert ono-hnlf
of the power that it now does, if it were
10 undertake TO revolutionlze itself in tins
matter of pcws, by converting its churches
universally into free churches, If for no
other reason, ii is well TO have churches,
aud ms many Of them MS people choose to
build, in which the rich assemble as class.
and in which they can be reached and in
fiuenced as class, to do their duty and
their whole duty in spreading the blessings
OF the Gospel. Build rs many free
churches as you can get money for; but
do not overlook the fact that the most
powerful and practical means by which
you can obtain that money consists in the