Page:Preaching the Gospel to the working classes impossible under the pew system.djvu/13

 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 missionaries 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 are not wanting to confirm the most sanguine expectations 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 which 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 of the working class, resort to them in this extraordinary 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 perfectly free and open. To secure this is to secure all that we most want—all that is most precious. 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