SOMETHING POWERFUL IN THE CHURCH.

Here is another elegant extract from the American Press:-

“The New York Correspondent of the Philadelphia Press says – ‘Religion and auctioneering were actively combined at the annual renting of pews in the Rev. Henay Ward Beecher’s Church at Brooklyn. Two thousand persons were present. After a speech by Mr. Beecher, the auctioneer assumed the hammer, and in two hours knocked down nearly all the pews and chairs in the church. The highest premium paid for a pew was 160 dollars, and the lowest twenty-five cents.’”

That Yankee auctioneer must beat all the auctioneers in the world. No other Hercules of the rostrum would have the strength to stand up against him. He would knock down the Crystal Palace at a single blow of the hammer, if he had a chance. It is too bad, however, that he should make a display of his prowess inside a church. He must belong to that new sect, so popular at present amongst physical-force novelists, called “muscular Christianity.” His muscular power will be “knocking down” the church itself next. He may be a descendant of the great John Knox himself, for what we know to the contrary. However, he might beneficially employ his mighty hand in knocking down church-rates; or if he could succeeded in removing a few of the divisions that interrupt the progress of the service at St. George’s in the east, we should look upon him as being as strong a man as any connected with the Church; for the man who knocks down pews and chairs so easily, would not take long in clearing out the congregation also, supposing it happened to be unruly. In fact, this auctioneer is a great Abolitionist in his way. Many Dissenters have been striving in vain for years to get rid of the pew system, and here is a “muscular Christian,” who knocks them all down in a minute. We see from the above quotation of prices, that the lowest sum given was “twenty-five cents.” We must say that, in the words of the Italian song, it was “Non tanti piũ” – not much for a Pew.

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