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PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO THE
WORKING CLASSES
IMPOSSIBLE
UNDER THE PEW SYSTEM.
REV. JOHN W, H. MOLYNEDX, B.A.
INCUMBENT OF ST. PETEK AND ST. GBEGORYs',
PUBLISHED BY THE GENEKAL COMMITTEE
ON THE PEW SYSTEM.
J. H. AND J. PAKKEK, LONDON AND OXFORD.
DINHAM AND Co. MANCHESTER.
1858.
MANCHESTEE:
Printed by Jolin HaiTison and Son,
New Slarkct Charabere.
"PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO THE
WORKING CLASSES."
Such is the approved phrase for describing the work in
which the Church in this country is supposed to fail. I am not
going to find fault with this phrase, or to attempt to throw any
doubt on the truth of this supposition ; but to expose a chief cause
of this failure, and urge the remedy.
The cause is the "Pew System," or, to speak more accurately,
the system of appropriation of seats in Churches.
The remedy is the making Churches absolutely free and open.
The practical working and real effects of this appropriation of
seats have to be considered; and then the nature of the remedy as
it is seen and known in practice.
The last refuge to which ordinary minds betake themselves when
they would evade an irresistible argument in favour of any right-
principled work, is to say, "Yes, it is very good in theory, but it
won't do in practice."
Now I am prepared to show that what we advocate will do, and
does do, in practice; but this very common mode of speaking must
be noticed, and its true meaning understood.
And what is the true meaning of anything being " good in theory,
not in practice?" It means, it is good in itself, in its nature, its
essence, but it is not good to be done; in other words, it is good
in God's sight, not in ours! It is right, it is good, it is pleasing
to God, but that is no reason why it should or could be done!
This implies that our judgment is better than that of God,
and that a thing being right does not render it a duty. It might
be shown (if this was the proper place) that such a principle,
or rather denial of principles, is at the root of all infidelity and all
immorality, for it necessarily implies that God does not aid and
bless every effort to do His will, whether beset by apparent difficul-
ties or not, and that what is right is not, as such, practicable. On
this point a clear statement here is sufl&cient exposui'e, and nothing
more need be said.
As regards the principle on which the Church is to do her work
of evangelising the people, it is that of attempting everything by way
of doing something. "Be ye perfect" applies to every work we do
for God and in His name. In such work it is most shallow and
most false to say we fail by attempting too much. To do anything
we must attempt everything. The Church must by some means
(yet to be considered) bring the Divine system of the Gospel before
men in all its fulness and perfection. She must hold back nothing;
the whole faith— doctrine, sacraments, worship — must be declared
and carried out in completeness and harmony.
We must have earnest men — men really in earnest, to preach the
Gospel to the jioor, to go into the "sti'eets and lanes of the city,"
and bid them come in : and the churches must be open to receive
them, or the words of invitation are words of mockery! All that
repels and excludes must be swept away, and the freedom of the
Church must at once symbolise and give effect to the freedom of
the Gospel.
I have now to expose the practical working and real effects
of the approi)riation of seats in churches. On this point let the
advocates of Exeter Hall services be first heard. The Dean of
Carlisle, in preaching on one of these occasions, said —
Who are they that should cast a pebble of hindrance in our way ? Is it those
who are preaching on soft cushions to pampered hearers, in Churches the very
antitype of that i-efen-ed to by the Apostle : " Stand thou here, or sit thou here at
my footstool ?" Is there not very great guilt on the Church of England, that she
has for so many yeai's allowed, to say no more, the rich to accommodate themselves,
and to care so little for her poorer members ? No wonder she has gone so far
astray ! My friends, the answer to this is, we ask you to come here, because many
desire, and cannot go to Church : many desire and cannot find a place to go in,
without being insulted by distinctions in the presence of God, which are hateful to
the God we worsl>ip.
A writer in the Times, of Nov. 14, observes — " If Mr. Edouart's
and other churches were filled with the working classes, there
would be little need of these services. But, alas! but few working
men are to be found in London churches."
\ /
In these two passages the evil to be remedied is well described,
and its effect truly stated. And in addition to the value of the
testimony thus given, they show that the friends of Exeter Hall
services admit a deep-seated and general evil, which they altogether
evade ; and instead of attempting a real remedy, they merely urge
a local, superficial, and ^retchedly inadequate substitute.
Lord Shaftesbury, -'= in the House of Lords, on December
8th, said: —
I consider it a great defect in our Churches — a defect which has not grown up
of late years; on the contrary, we are now learning to avoid it — that the working
classes, when they attend the services of the Establishment, generally find them-
selves pewed up to their very eyes, shut out from the places where they can hear
and be well accommodated, and not placed on a footing of equality with the rest
of the congregation. You find many nooks and corners resei'ved for the working
classes; you have free seats set apart for them; but they will not occupy those
places: they think they are despised and treated as beings of a secondary order.
Unless, therefore, you show them proper respect, and in the House of God admit
that there at least there is equality, depend upon it the vast proportion of the
labouring population in London will never be brought to attend the worship of the
Establishment.
Would there was on the part of those who desire to evangelise
the working classes, as clear and full purpose to eradicate the evil
which they admit, as there is perception of its reality and extent.
Is nothing to be done to get rid of this monstrous evil? Can it
be that while so many on all sides deplore the pew system, and
reprobate the darkness and wickedness which are its desolating
fruits, none will rise and act with faith and determination, which
in such a cause are invincible ?
The following valuable letter is from the pen of Dr. Stanley, the
late Bishop of Norwich: —
Palace, Norwich, Dec. 16, 1842.
Dear Sir, — Agreeing with you, as I entirely do, upon the injustice and evil
tendency of pews, by which the benefits of our Church services arc, comparatively
speaking, confined to the higher and wealthier classes, to the exclusion of the pool",
I sincerely hope your appeal to the inhabitants of Ipswich may b9 successful, and
that they may be amongst the first to express, as a collective body, their disappro-
* The Committee are glad to be able to state, that since the above was
penned. Lord Shaftesbury has written to one of the Secretaries as follows: —
" This Pew Q,uestion, now that it has been raised, must not be allowed to drop.
I shall be happy to make an alliance with you for this cause."
bation of a system so adverse, in my opinion, to the tiuc interests of our national
ChurcH, which professes to have so much at heart the spiritual welfare of the
poorer and humbler classes of our population. I am persuaded, indeed, that one
of the prominent causes of dissent, as well as utter disregard and indifference to
religion, manifested by too many of these classes, is attributable, in a great degree,
to that exclusive system of pews which has for so many years prevailed. If you
have not yet seen a Charge, delivered November, 1842, by Archdeacon Samuel
Wilberforce, I would recommend it to your noticef as containing much valuable
information and able remarks upon so important a subject.
I remain, yours respectfully,
E. Norwich.
" Everybody," observes the late Professor Blount, in his ' Duties
of the Parish Priest,' " must see that the Church of England had
had its basis greatly narrowed by our pew system, till it was ceasing
to be the Church of the people, with everything in it to fix itself in
their afi'ections the while ; that the hian in the goodly apparel and
with the gold ring was pretty well securing to himself the whole
area of the building."
Statements similar to these might be quoted to a very great
extent, from writers of all kinds of theological opinion. The
necessity for brevity here renders such quotation impossible ; but I
may refer those who care to see a great variety of testimony to the
disastrous and deadly effects of the pew system, to a Letter to the
Bishop of Ely, on the Evils of the Ajypropriation of Seats in Churches,
published by Parker.
The matter with which we have now to deal is greatly simplified,
and long argument rendered unnecessary, by the fact that the
working and results of the system of " appropriation " are exactly
what, from the nature of the case, we should expect them to be.
Here the conclusions of reason and observation are found exactly
to coincide.
This evil, which we have to expel from the Church, is a gigantic
one, but so much the more need for assailing it with determination
to subdue it, and not quailing and succumbing before it. If the
greatness of an evil does not stimulate our efforts against it, we may
as well at once give up all conflict with sin and the devil. Like
all other evils, this will vanish before faithful and fearless men :
many such there are ; they only need to have it plainly exposed,
and they will not rest till they have overcome it. There cannot he
a cause more fitted to enlist the sympathies and excite the energies
of all earnest men. It does not involve the smallest degree of
party feeling ; and as it aims at the henefit, so should it have the
aid, of all classes of people.
It is impossible to over-state or over-estimate the evil of the pew-
system in its principle or in its effect. Many tolerated practices
are inconsistent with the Gospel, hut this essentially and directly
contradicts it. It fosters and manifests pride, selfishness, and
exclusiveness in the holy places where, if at all, men must learn to
mortify and cast off these vices. It introduces distinctions founded
on wealth and rank, where the Bible declares there are no such —
viz.: in the presence of God. It divides into private properties the
House of God, which belongs to Him only, and which, according
to His will, is for the free use, in His service, of all His children.
It says, in unmistakeable language — You shall not come freely to
worship God and hear the message of the Gospel ; He says —
" Whosoever will, let him come freely." In effect, it renders
churches useless except for services which the same families and
individuals attend, and so makes it impossible to have multiplied
services for difi'erent congregations. It has driven many altogether
from Chui"ch by its intense selfishness and insolent exclusiveness.
It repels all but those who either have seats allotted to them, or
who have attained the habit of Church attendance, or the great
desire to attend, in spite of every discouragement; and therefore it
destroys the use of our churches as places for missionary effort.
And further, it paralyses the efforts of men who would rouse and
win those who are negligent and estranged, because it prevents
there being churches into v.'hich to invite and gather them. It at
once, in the highest degree, promotes the work of the evil one,
and hinders the work of Christ. God's curse is on this system,
and will assuredly fall on the Church of England if \fre continue to
tolerate it.
Go into almost any town church, especially in London, and
what do you see ? Possibly, as the Times says of the Exeter Hall
meetings, " a crowd of well-dressed people ;" go then into any of
the neighbouring back streets and courts, and what do you there
see ? Crowds of ill-dressed people. Have not these as much right,
yea, as great necessity, to worship God and hear His word as the
well-dressed ? Oh ! one's heart burns with indignation at their
exclusion from the means of salvation, " from the house of God
and the gate of heaven," by the gigantic injustice of the pew
system ! What chance, what possibility, is there of " gaining the
working classes " -while this system continues ? If they were
roused, by any conceivable effort of house-to-house visitations,
open-air preaching, by all that the most earnest men can accom-
plish or aspire to, what can be the result ? Nothing but inevitable
total failure ! Desires may be excited, feelings may be stirred,
impressions may be made, but — as the morning mist— they will
pass away unless there is formed the habit of worshipping God and
continually using the means of grace. In the Church alone can
these be attained and enjoyed, and, unless we tell a lie to God
every time we say " I believe in the Holy Catholic Church," in the
Church are we bound to cherish these habits and provide these
means for all whose salvation we pi'ofess to desire.
If an intelligent working man, brought up with all the religious
disadvantages common to such, is persuaded to enter the Church
which he has hitherto neglected, what does he meet with ? and
with what is he likely to be struck? Generally, he meets with
what is enough to disgust and repel him for ever — with what is
fitted to make him believe that the religion of minister and con-
gi-egation is but a mockery both of God and man. He meets with
no welcome where every heart should be open to receive him. He
is a stranger in what is, in truth and right, his own home, his own
Father's house I He sees some well-dressed " respectable " Chris-
tians sitting in their private seats, from which he is as much
excluded as from their drawing-rooms; and he sees some ill-dressed
and mostly crushed looking people sitting in paujier seats ; and he
hears the minister, who acquiesces in this state of things, saying
" With God is no respect of i)ersons !" No wonder free seats are
9
generally half empty, and the occupiers of pews keep the doors of
their hearts, as well as of their seats, closed.*
At the present time, a " fitting place " is being sought in London
for " services for the working classes." A result of the pew system
is, then, that the churches are regarded as out of the question for
the purpose of preaching the Gospel to the people. A spare music-
hall is required ! Is this to he borne ? In the name of truth and
justice, I ask, for what were the churches built ? In the name of
the people, I ask, shall we submit to have the churches kept shut
throughout the week, during one half of the Lord's day, open only
at rare hours to a select class, and meanwhile be looking for a
" fitting place" in which to worship God ? So monstrous an abuse
cannot stand. Contemptible notions of personal dignity, unchristian
notions of j^ersonal ease and convenience, considerations of carpets,
cushions, and hassocks, cannot long be allowed thus to hinder the
Church's work and the- people's salvation ; for though the pew
system is " highly esteemed among men," it " is abomination in
the sight of God."
We are in want of fit places in which to preach the Gospel
to the working classes. The churches, as they are (we are all
agreed) are not fit places. They ought to be fit places (I suppose
we are all agreed in this also.) They can and must be made such,
and we ought never to rest till we have made them such.
The vicious arrangement of our churches, through the appro-
priation of seats, has deprived the people generally of the power,
and in a still greater degree of the will, to frequent them. A
flagrant wrong has thus been inflicted, especially upon the working
classes. A greater wrong there could hardly be, for it hinders the
salvation of Christians more than any other evil or abuse that ever
* The following sad statement, made by the Bishop of Lincoln, in Convocation,
on February Kith, shews that the hardening effect of the Pew System on those
who are supposed to benefit by it, is not the least of its manifold evils: — "In one
church in my diocese, where there were morning and evening services, all the
seats were appropriated. The incumbent was desirous of introducing an additional
service, in order to accommodate a numl)er of parishioners who could not obtain
seats at other times. I told him I would suppoi't him, but the opposition from tlie
seat-holdei's was so great tliat he found if ho persevered he would lose every
sixpence of the subscriptions towards his charities, and ho was obliged to abandon
the plan."
10
was tolerated in the Church. It is a wrong which demands,
therefore, in the highest degree, repentance and restitution on the
part of those who have promoted it or connived at it.
In this matter it is as easy to point out the remedy as it is to
expose the evil. We cannot doubt that it is right and necessaiy
to restore the Churches to the perfectly free use of all classes : we
must not allow ourselves to doubt its being possible to do so.
Well and haj)py is it that what needs to be done requires some
earnest effort and self-sacrifice ; for such are the works which God
blesses, and which, therefore, as certainly secure success as they
prove sincerity.
By the common law of England, all parishioners have a right
to the common, free, and equal use of their parish Church.* In
almost all cases of town Churches the great majority of parishioneis
have been despoiled — plainly robbed — of the enjoyment of this
right — a most sacred right, sanctioned, as it is, by the principle of
divine as well as human law. This inalienable right must be
practically restored — perfectly and absolutely restored, without
reserve or compromise.
This we can do — we can give back to all classes the power and
opportunity of freely attending the services of the Church ; and
I believe and am siu'e that when this is done, the will to come will
not be found wanting. For this, however, we may have to be
patient. A disease does not always vanish immediately on the
removal of its cause. And the very essence of the mischief of the
pew system is that it has produced indifference and dislike to even
a -greater extent than inability to attend Church. It is this special
evil effect of the system which constitutes the chief, it may almost
be said the only, difficulty in the way of its removal ; for were
the people generally sensible of the value of that of which
they have been robbed, did they prize it as they do worldly
advantages and political privileges, there would be such an
agitation and demand as would soon rescue the churches from
appropriation. Private seats in the parish churches of London
would then be as much out of the question as private paths in
its thoroughfares !
* See Appendix.
11
As it is, however, those who have been most injured care least ;
and we have to plead for those who plead not for themselves, and
to contend for those who, for the most part, neither sympathise
with nor understand the efforts which are made in their behalf.
They have been of no account with the Church, and the Church is
now of no account with them. If we wait till the people cry out
for the use of the Church, we may wait for ever. We might as well
wait for the heathen to cry out for the Gospel, before we send
missionai'ies to them. We must anticipate demand, and by supply
create it. The Church must open her doors and throw wide her
gates, and in so doing show that her arms and her heart are open
to embrace with tenderest love all her lost and wandering children.
She must act like her Master, who said, " Ye have not chosen me,
but I have chosen you."
Facts ai'e not wanting to confirm the most sanguine exijectations
of the results of making churches perfectly open and free. I could
allege very many within my own experience ; but none can be more
to the purpose or more forcible than what may now be generally
known concerning the special services Avhich are, during this
Advent, being held in the Bethnal Green churches. Why are the
Churches crowded on these occasions ? Why do great numbers of
weavers, and other men o-f the working class, resort to them in this
exti'aordinary manner ? See the notice put forth by the Bishop ;
it is headed with these words — " All the seats are perfectly free."
This is the secret ! Never were cause and effect more clearly shown
than in this matter. What is thus good for Advent season is good
for all seasons ; what is thus good for the Bethnal Green churches
is good for all churches. We cannot any more plead ignorance.
Christianity, reason, and experience, all speak the same decisive
language, and with one voice say — If you would preach the Gospel
to the working classes, make the churches pei'fectly free and open.
To secure this is to secure all that we most want — all that is
most j)recious. It is as "the pearl of great price." All that is of
less value must, if needful, be sacrificed for it. It cannot be
obtained too dearly. Private claims (rights there can be none)
must be denied ; personal feelings must be disregarded. The
12
difficulties in the way are not to be kept out of sight. It is not to
be supposed that a monster of selfishness, such as the pew system,
which has been fostered and made " respectable " by custom, is to
be quietly and easily destroyed. No, far otherwise ; all who act
rightly in this cause, which is indeed the cause of God and the
Church against the world, will meet with trouble and conflict.
They must be prepared for the pains of giving offence, very gi-eat
offence ; but the cause is worth it, infinitely more than worth it.
They who value the gratification of their pride ■■' and love of ease
more than the honour of God's house and the salvation of men,
must not be allowed to stand in the way of such work as this ; and
they themselves may be benefitted by the conflict ; the latent
selfishness which is manifested may startle them into self-know-
ledge, and lead to their con-version.
"The churches for the people and the people for the churches;"
for this we must agitate and strive. Anything short of this is
wrong, or useless, or inadequate. We do not want music-halls ;
Ave do not want newly-arranged " third services ;" we do not want
a new church here and there for the working class. We want to
use what we have, to turn to good account what we already possess.
We want the parish churches in London, and all the churches,
open and free to all classes. This is what we want ; and in the
name of the working class, and of the whole Church, we must
demand it, insist upon it, and work for it, till we get it.
Good is always more powerful than evil, though it often seems
otherwise; evil men being, in general, more in earnest than good
men. All that is wanted to the success of the cause is real earnest-
ness. There must be an earnest and determined, and, if possible,
a combined movement. There must, above all, be faith that the
* " Wlien our Churches were first built, people had not yet thought of cramming
them with pews as a stable is filled with stalls. When they had reared a fine and
noble building, they did not dream of disfiguring the inside of it by filling its floor
with large and deep boxes made of deal boards; in short, the floor was the place
for the worshippers to stand and to kneel; and there was no (lisfincfioii, no high
place and no low place— all were upon a level before God at any rate. Some were
not stuck into pews lined with green or red cloth, while others were crammed into
corners to stand erect, or sit on the floor. Those who built these Churches made
their calculations as to the people to be contained in them, not making any allo\\'-
ance for the dcnl hoiirdf;.'' — The In/e Wil/iam Cobbctt.
13
cause of free and open chui'ches is the cause of the Church of
Christ against the world. There must he no compromise with
worldly principles, or there can be no success; apparent success,
so obtained, is worth nothing. The system of appropriation must
be denounced and exposed as avowedly selfish ; it must be
written against and preached against till men are made to see and
feel the evil and sin which is involved in it, and those who are
ignorantly ])artakers in the sin made aware what they are doing.
When this is done, many persons (far more than could be expected)
are found ready to resign their private seats and declare them free.
I believe there are few churches in which the great majority of
pews or appropriated seats might not in this way be made abso-
lutely free and open. In old parish churches this is probably the
best way of introducing and first carrying out the principle of
freedom. This, however, will be only a transitory state of things.
When once there is experience, to a fair extent, of the advantages
of such freedom, there will be no insuperable difficulty in getting
rid of appropriation altogether.
When principles are truly recognised and acted upon, matters
of detail may generally be left to take cai-e of themselves. Little,
therefore, need here be said as to what arrangemont of seats, and
provision for kneeling, &c. are found most convenient in a free
church.
I believe it is generally appointed that we must do right before
we can understand or perceive the whole good which we shall
experience by so doing ; I am sure it is so in this case. Nothing
but the constant use and observation of a church perfectly free
will fully convince any person of the power it carries with it, and
the influence for good it has on those who attend it, and the degree
in which it sets forth the idea of the Church and the Gospel, and
so sets forward the glory of God and the salvation of men. All
these it does notwithstanding and in spite of even the greatest
hindrances and imperfections in the work which accompanies it.
14
APPENDIX OP LEGAL AUTHORITIES.
lu "Fuller v. Lane," 2 Add. Ecel. Rep. 425, Sir John MichoU observed:—
" All the pews in a parish church are the common property of the parish ; they
are for the use, in common, of the parishioners, who are all entitled to be
seated orderly and conveniently, so as best to provide for the accommodation
of all."
" It is well known that pews are a modern innovation, and one of the growths of
Puritanism. The result has certainly been different from what the Puritans
intended; for pews have been one of the main causes of setting up distinctions,
offensive to all good taste and Christian simplicity, even in the house of God. In
a remarkable old case, (Year Books, 8 Henry VII. fo. 12) though the seats then
found in churches were, as is now the case in Continental churches, but a few
loose and moveable ones, it is declared that even such a seat is 'a nuisance,'' as
interfering with the right of ' ease and standing' that belongs to the people : 'for
the Church,' it says, 'is in common to everyone; and there is no reason why one
should have a seat, and that two should stand: for no place in the Church belongs
moie to oue than to another;' while the parishioners 'are not able to have their
standing room on account of these seats.' How much more, then, is this true
with the modern pew system. It is of great importance to remember that the sale
or letting of pews in a Parish Church, whether by Churchwardens or by any
holder of a seat by prescription, is altogether illegal. Nothing can legalize this; —
unless, indeed, it be an Act of Parliament; and any such Act of Parliament would
be an absolutely revolutionary measure. Neither can a parishioner, to whom a
seat has been assigned by the churchwardens, let it. The latter are bound, indeed}
to take care that no such practice grows up. It is one of the marks of the dis-
regard of principle which, in so many respects, characterizes the modern Church
Building Acts, that they admit of the letting of seats in the churches built under
them. Thereby they do but further prove, that the ' ecclesiastical districts' and
* new parishes' which they establish, are merely sectarian arrangements. Propo-
sitions have been made for legalizing the letting of seats in Parish Churches. The
15
moment this shall be doue, the Church will lose evei'y character of an institution
standing in any relation to the Parish as the Church of the People, and claiming,
in that character, reverence, affection, and support, from sincere men of all creeds
and opinions." — The Parish, by Toidmin Smith, Esq. oj Lincoln's Inn, Barrister
at Law.
" Can it be wondered at that such practices have done much to alienate the
affections of the poor from the Church ? By these means they are almost literally
shut out. The law tells them that the floor of the church is common ground ; but
this, like many other things, is in reality only a pleasant legal fiction ! Yet they
are not so dull as not to know that the English Clergy are appointed for the cure
of all souls with equal diligence within the limits of their charge; that one soul is
as precious as another in the sight of God; and that the accidents ot wealth and
rank can attach no spiritual value to one above the other. Can it be a matter of
surprise then, that when, knowing all this, they find the Churches of England
furnished and arranged on a system diametrically opposite to these truths, they
turn their backs on her ? It is in vain to call the Church of England ' the poor
man's Church,' whilst, upon her present system, she is emphatically the Church of
the rich." — Mr. Coke Fowler, on the Law, d'c, of Pews, p. 6,9.
GENERAL COMMITTEE ON THE PEW SYSTEM.
The Hon. COLIN LINDSAY.
Firc'^rcsttifnts.
Sir STEPHEN R. GLYNNE, Bart.
Sir WALTER JAMES, Bart.
J. H. IMARKLAND, Esq. D.C.L.
WILLIAM EWART, Esq. M.P.
THOMAS COLLINS, Esq. M.P.
The Hon. and Rev. R. LIDDELL,
W. R. BAYLEY, Esq.
Sveasttver.
W. CUNLIFFE BROOKS, Esq.
5^onovars SetvftarifB.
The Rev. J. W. H. MOLYNEUX, Sldblrt,
The Rev. W. W. MALET, Vicar of Ardeley,
R. BRETT, Esq. Stoke Newington, London,
EDWARD HERFORD, Esq. Manchester.
©rganfjms ^^^ ©orrfsponDing Sptretars-
Mr. THOMAS FRANCIS FERGIE, Wigan.
glsatstant Setrttavi? anb Brputj ^namxtr.
Mr. JAMES T. SIMPSON, Manchester.
33anfecrs.
Messrs. CUNLIFFES, BROOKS and Co.
CENTRAL OFFICES, 14, Ridgefield, SIanchester.
Objects.
To direct attention, through the press and otherwise, to the fatal effects of the
Pew System in churches, upon the religious and moral condition of the people.
To secure the full and free access of all classes, " without respect of persons,"
to churches hereafter to be built in populous districts.
To enforce the fundamental principle of the parochial system, — the common
and equal right of all parishioners to worship in their Parish Church.
Prospectuses, and lists of subscriptions (half a crown and upwards), may be
obtained from the Secretaries. Subscriptions may be paid into the Bank, "or
remitted in postage stamps, or by Post Oflice order, payable to Mr. James Simpson,
Ridgefield, Manchester ; and all sums received are announced monthly, in the
Church of the People and Open Chunk Circular, Kent and Co. London.
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