Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-12-13
CHURCH FEATURES.

Tho htstOgY OF rev Esens9 Ah GtAb
iaud.
London Saturday Reviow.l
What is to become Of the dead
wood in Smithfeld? Intelligent
foreigners, who see in everything a
type Of national habits, were fully
persuaded last year that it was the
great Protestant place Of open-air
worship, the use Of which they were
only impeded from witnessing by
the more than average inclemency
of the weather. They watched
of course in yain-lor the form Of
dissolution Of wedlock once at
tached to the yenerated site. That
ecclesiastical rite had been secular
lied by a hop,keeping generation,
and annexed to the jurisdiction OF
Sir G. Cresswell, into whose court,
as into Smithfeld Of yore, the wife
is introduced with the moose matri-
monial symbolically dangling loose
around her neck aud ready for dis
solution. Now the persuasion OF
our foreign friends that Smithfeld
was an al-fresco temple Of the ma
tional Faith, and their consequent
expectation, were doubtless due tC
tho resemblance Of the dead WOOD
to pews in a purely Protestant
fabric. If an iron railway shed
were only cast over the whole The
illusion would be complete, anC
would combine pastoral apologies
too many and too obvious to admit
of doubt. Nor would those analO
gies gain anything but an increase
of force by being studied from the
church side. Take the she'll Of
many a venerable parochial fabric
and leave only what has closest con
tact with the persons of the wor
shippers, and what remains but
nearly perfect Smithfrld? In pro
portion as the standard Of church
wardenism has been realized dis
tinctiyely church features have beer
dbliterated. The east end is inter
sected by the triple structure which
perches the reader on the shoulder
lof the clerk, and the preacher OF
the shoulders Of the reader-th,
font is pushed into corner enc
ali around us, before US, and beside
us, are the pews. Such is the as
pect, if we peep curiously on" tn
solitude of the weekday interior
and on the day of worship, if
istroke OF some Circean wand wer
to transform quadrupedally tn
congregation as they muster, the.
would still End every accommoda
ton which their altered circnm
stances could require.
The history of this state Of thing
is a curious one, and nearly coin
cides with that Of the rise of on
middle class to dominant influence
l The reading.desk itself was, j
seems, originally but a pew 0
"pue." The charges of ElizabethaI
Bishops directs its erection in cet
tain cases for the peoples conyen
ienee in hearing the service, an
the direction became general IN tn
Canons of 1903. Still, in that earl
period, it was, where it existed, a
most without exception the onl
pew in the church. One priyat
pew. indeed, is said to bear tn
: date of 1884, to have bec.me ia
nous as having furnished matte
+. for an early judicial decision, an
r madverting on the "proud wives
n of the parish who would not sri;
d beiimes to go 10 church" I'll
whole anecdote, preserved in Whit
3 takers History Of Whalley
bears testimony, indeed, to mel
usurpation, unchecked, connlye
, at and eventually fostered, as ha'
ing been the source Of the pew
holders supposed right. Motto.
of early pews are dotted about
the fragmentary parish churtc
: history of the early years Of IL
seventeenth century. The elerG
and church-wardens seem to ha'
:. set the example. For instance, Il
n parish books Of Yorkshire tow
e e are said to record the entry Of "ol
. CRETE peue buylded, wherein Il
70 . ..A ,1.,l~ o,,I 81 =, ri :