Page:Preaching the Gospel to the working classes impossible under the pew system.djvu/17

 moment this shall be done, the Church will lose every 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 Toulmin Smith, Esq. of 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 of 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, &c, of Pews, p. 69.