District parishes, it will be observed, are separate parishes _for Ecclesiastical purposes_. These words affect the question as to the right of the ratepaying parishioners of a new district voting for the Churchwardens of the old parish. This they have a right to do on the following ground:--The Churchwardens of an old parish have functions to perform which are rather secular than ecclesiastical. They are in some cases _ex-officio_ Overseers, and in many cases officially concerned in the management of endowed charities. The creation therefore of a district for ecclesiastical purposes does not deprive the inhabitants of the new district of the right which they had before of voting for Churchwardens in the old civil parish of which they continue to be ratepayers. The ratepayers of the _whole_ of the old parish have consequently a right to vote in vestry at the election of the Churchwardens in the old parish. The privilege, however, is not reciprocal, for the ratepayers in the old parish have no similar right of attending at the vestry and voting for Churchwardens in the new district, because they are elected "for ecclesiastical purposes" only. It would be impossible to speak of the duties of Churchwardens without touching upon the vexed questions of pews. I suppose that if we could turn the hands of the clock back for some centuries, and were then legislating for the future of the Church with our experience of the pew system by a prophetic anachronism clearly present in our minds, we should hardly suggest for legislation such laws as would bring about the existing state of things. With the Epistle of St. James in our thoughts there are some points in our present legal system which most persons find it difficult to justify. But it is a thorny subject, and I do not want to dogmatise. It is, perhaps, just the one very point with respect to which great caution is needed, much charity, much forbearance. You cannot ride rough-shod over old prejudices, or if you do you are sure sooner or later to suffer for it. No doubt in theory (to use the words of the Bishop of Carlisle) the Churchwardens, as the officers of the ordinary, have, subject to him, the sole appointment and arrangement of the seats. They are to act to the best of their judgment, and without favour, to the best advantage of all. {43} And for the most part, in new Churches, this arrangement works well. Either by agreement of the heads of the parish the Church is declared to be in the popular sense of the term "free and open," which is perhaps on the whole the best of all or else by mutual forbearance and general co-operation an arrangement is arrived at by which the worshippers in Church have from time to time seats allotted to them.