is the answer we get; Certainly not." "Why, you do not use them." "I do sometimes, and if I give it up, where am I to sit when I do come?" Others, too, and these are principally Dissenters, object to a Free Church because "the time may come when they wish to use their pews, and then they will find perhaps some one else sitting in them." It is something wonderful the tenacity with which these people cling to what cannot belong to them morally, although it may legally; and the worst part of the business is that they will not let others sit in their pews when they themselves are absent; or at all events not till after part of the Service is over, and there is no longer any chance of their coming. Others, too, let us hope they are few, and the Churches where the plan is adopted few, have locks to their doors, and take the keys away with them, even when they are absent for weeks at a time; thus effectually barring any use of their sittings at a time when they do not want them themselves. Such as these surely must be carrying on the sect of the Pharisees of old; they must think themselves so much better than their neighbours that they fear defilement of their cushions by their less righteous brethren sitting upon them. I wonder if they ever think of the class of people against whom the Saviour uttered His woes, because they would not enter in themselves, nor yet let others enter in who were longing and wishing to? There is an old fable called "The dog in the manger," which exactly suits these good people.

If we examine into the characters of those who object to Free Seats and a People's Church, there is obviously one thing which causes them to raise the objection. It is the consequence which holding a pew gives them. There are a great many people in such a station of life-the half-and-half station, neither one thing nor the other— that they are hanging on the merest thread, the least loss of privilege would snap it asunder, and precipitate them into the class below. The fact is, they cannot afford to lose any little thing that makes them look grand. If they had to come to a Free Church they must then come early, no one either would notice their coming in, or distinguish them from others of the congregation, and the seats all facing one way they could not look at their friends and neighbours, so as to be able to criticise them after Service. On the other hand, if they have pews they can come late, rustle up the aisle, cough out their presence, and bang their pew door for the benefit of any one more than ordinarily deaf. But to be serious; what would Mrs. Druggs do if she could not shew her new dress in this way? Where would Miss Hatt be in the estimation of her young friends if she could not exhibit her new bonnet for their admiration? And then it looks respectable to go to Church, and how would any one know if Mr. Allshow was there or not if he did not sit in his accustomed pew?

It is not those who love their Church and care for her Services who object to Free Seats and Common Worship; it is those who would never put their feet inside her doors if it did not give them an

ZZ

appearance of respectability, and advance their worldly dignity and riches. A high pew, too, is more comfortable than a low one; you can lounge in the corners, put your feet upon the benches, and perhaps lie all along on the seats and enjoy a sound nap; no one sees you. No; no one in the Church among your fellow-worshippers, but you forget, perhaps you do not care, that there is One present Who sees you always, but Whom you cannot see.

There is one very general excuse made for opposition to Free Sittings; that they are always full before the Service begins, and there is no room in these so called Free Churches. This of course arises from the fact that so many Churches being appropriated there is a general rush to the unappropriated ones, and the supply does not nearly meet the demand. If all were free, then the respective parishioners would keep to their respective Churches, though so many more people would go to Church under the universal free system that many new ones would have to be built to receive all those who wished to say their prayers.

Early attendance on the week days, very early attendance on Sundays, will generally secure a seat; and this absolute necessity of being in Church fifteen or twenty minutes before Service is one of the great collateral benefits of the free system, for it procures much valuable quiet time for private devotion, and prepares and soothes the mind for the coming Service. Let it be urged here that much of this time, if not all, will be looked back upon with more satisfaction afterwards, if spent on our knees; and that if so spent, the Service following will be more to our benefit, more soothing, more prayerful, and go much further to ease a troubled mind.

We

Prejudice goes a long way, no doubt, custom, too, against Free Churches; but surely they who uphold Appropriated Seats, that is, this doctrine, that they who can afford to pay for seats should have them, and they who cannot be shut out-surely they cannot pretend that they are doing anything to advance the service of GOD. want to remove this prejudice; we must do so by example, by writing our opinion against it if we can; by encouraging those who write against it, by distributing papers which protest against it, and where possible by contributing towards the expenses of maintaining the publication and distribution of such papers. If funds be forthcoming, grants might be given to those Churches built on the wholly free system, either towards the building fund, or maintenance of the fabric till such time as it supported itself. We doubt not God will prosper such a work as this, we doubt not but that He will prosper those who take a part in it, for it is a good work, it is a generous work, it is a work to make the place of his Service as free as is the Service itself.

One monstrous thing connected with Appropriated Churches must be mentioned here, for it is not possible to suppose that the opponents of Free Churches can know of it. In some Churches the let seats are disposed of by public auction, and that too sometimes in the vestry room. This requires no comment, but to be made public.

If we have Free Churches we must also have the Offertory regularly. "The workman is worthy of his hire;" the parson must live, and if there is no endowment the weekly or daily collections must keep the ministers of the parish, and pay the Church expenses and schools beyond what the church-rate may supply. We cannot talk, then, of Free-Seated Churches without at the same time speaking of the Offertory; the one cannot well exist without the other in unendowed Churches; for if it does, the clergy will not have that on which to live; the workman will not receive his hire. In endowed parishes there is not the same need; but still, if we are to be guided by the command given by the Apostle to a part of the Primitive Church, when that Church was quite in its infancy, we must have the Offertory here too. "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him," are the words of the great St. Paul; and if there are no saints at home in want of the alms so collected, there are ever plenty in other parishes or in other countries who would be glad of the smallest help. If there is any doubt as to the amount of funds supplied by this means being sufficient, we have only to look at the returns made by those who have adopted the system, and we shall find, if not in all, yet in the majority of cases, that the sum collected from seat to seat exceeds, and in many instances by a large amount, that before realized by letting the pews.

We offer here a few statements of the collections made at different places, to shew those who know nothing of these Free Churches, that GOD's worshippers are not slow in finding funds, voluntary funds for the proper conducting of His Service, the maintenance of His ministers, and the relief of His poor.

In one Church, the first year of its consecration, more than £633 was the proceeds of the Offertory. This Church is seated for nine hundred people; but it is not a wholly Unappropriated Church. In another wholly Unappropriated Church in London, the Offertory amounts to more than double this sum; and in one to nearly, if not quite, as many thousands. In a Church in Devonshire, the sum realised last year was £130, having increased in fourteen years to this amount from £58. In a small country town the sum collected last year at general Offertories was £424, more than two hundred additional having been given at special collections. Of course, these instances are but one or two among the many. There is a famous Association for "Promoting Freedom of Worship" which will supply any information required,* and the Incumbents of Free Churches will also be ready to furnish facts connected with the system. The sums collected at the Offertory are made up annually, many made public, and information is cheerfully given on application. Only think how little this giving will be felt. A penny twice a day on Sunday, if no more can be afforded, just eight and eightpence a year, add one and fourpence for Saints' Days

* Central Offices: Ridgfield, Manchester. See Advertisement.

to make it up to ten shillings, and supposing the Church to bold six hundred, there will be three hundred pounds a year. But this is an absurdly low mark, and where the House of GOD is as free to all as His service is, depend upon it there will never be wanted worshippers who will give freely and largely to support it.

One great drawback to the accomplishment of these twin objects is the lukewarmness, perhaps it ought to be called the opposition, of GOD's ministers themselves. Some are afraid to enter upon a cure where the income is so uncertain; others will not take the trouble to rouse themselves even to "see about it;" whilst some even think that it is right that those who can afford to rent pews should have the preference to those who cannot. In plain words, the rich ought to have a place in GoD's house, and the poor ought to be shut out. It has been said, too, let us hope that it is untrue, that some persons have objected to it because it would involve their giving at every collection. If so, and they cannot afford more, why not extend the monthly half-crown, or whatever it may be, over the four or five Sundays which intervene ?

The poor have a right, we all have a right to worship in GOD'S house side by side, and if the well-drest fear to kneel by the side of the ill-drest, far better were it for them to keep away altogether. Much has been already done for this freedom, much we know will be done. GOD's Service itself is "perfect freedom," why should not the place where that Service is offered be free too? Why? because people think that when they can afford to pay for their seats, those who cannot afford to pay have no right to intrude themselves where they are. Their service is far too good, too luxuriant with its cushioned pews and padded kneelers, to be polluted by the presence of the ill-clad. Their prayers are too fervent, prayed with far too pure an accent to be offended with the unlettered voice of some more humble worshipper. Many hundred years ago two men went up to pray in God's house, and one used towards the other language with just such meaning as this. But which is said to have gone away in the best state? Let those who will have pews to themselves and shut their poorer brethren out take care how they think themselves better than they; they may pay for their pews, they may give alms, but still they are but in their own minds the pious and good. Let them think which it was of the two men of old who went down to his house "justified rather than the other."

For Hanny.

I'll twine a wreath of roses,
Of Summer roses fair,

And wreathe a smiling garland

To deck her sunny hair.

I'll cull the sweetest roses

That grace the scented lea,
And bright with silver dew-drops
The fairy crown shall be.

She'll turn her eyes so gentle
With tenderness on me,
While round her lips of coral
An Angel's smile will be.

Bright be thy path, dear Fanny,

Strewed with Earth's sweetest flowers;

And may eternal blessings

Descend in gentle showers.

And though Earth's fairest roses
But blossom to decay;

Though joys that are the sweetest

The soonest pass away;

Far o'er Life's heaving ocean

There is a brighter Shore,

Where sweet and thornless roses

Shall bloom for evermore.

SALOME.

THE BRIARLY MYSTERY:

A Tale, for Young Men and Women.

(CONTINUED.)

Joseph Frost's proficiency on the violin was greatly appreciated by his friends and neighbours. He was distantly related to the Bents, and Mr. Bent often invited him to the house, that they might enjoy a little music together. The farmer himself played the violoncello, and his son could do a little in the musical line also. The family were all extremely fond of music, of whatever kind it was. Accordions, concertinas, flutinas, and many other musical instruments, had not been invented at the time of which I write, but in many a farm house and cottage home the flute, violin, and violoncello, were played with considerable skill, as our parents and grand parents can remember. A musical genius from some distance had unexpectedly arrived at the Bents that morning; his name was Spearman, he was a cousin of Mrs. Bent, and being leader of the choir in the parish church of his village, was on that account considered a person of some importance. Frost, as the greatest musician in Briarly, had been invited to meet him.

Nancy and Miss Bent had a pleasant walk across the fields to Dingly, which lay in a small valley or hollow about a mile and a

half from Mells.