tto THY EinTort or Tex •SPROPATOR.•J Ste,—" After the Divine
Service ended, the money given at the Offertory shall be disposed of to such pious and charitable uses as the Minister and Churchwardens shall think fit. Wherein if they disagree, it shall be disposed of as the Ordinary Shall appoint." This rubric at the end of the Office for Holy Communion is the only place in the Book of Common Prayer in which the collection of moneys in church is direeted or authorised. And it is significant that in case of disagreement the final authority is the Ordinary,—i.e., the Bishop. It has, I believe, been ruled that with regard to collections taken at other services than the Holy Communion the minister is himself sole judge and authority. But this principle, now established by custom, is manifestly due solely to want of foresight in 1662,—the possibility of other collections not being contemplated. Yet now these collections which were not thought of, much less ordered, are customary every- where, and bring in by far the greater part of the whole revenue from Church collections. If it were possible to bring the income from this source, or even one-tenth part of it, under the control of the Bishop, or of a Diocesan Council, some very desirable improvements might be effected in Church finance, and corporate action greatly stimulated. A Diocesan Council composed of representative laity as well as clergy might well be entrusted with the duty of allotting some, at least, of the collections in every church in the diocese. Such a Council would be likely to take a wider and juster view of the relative needs of the diocese and the parish, and of the responsibilities of each to the Church as a whole, than is too often done under the present system. The parochial clergy, moreover, would gain much by sharing with others the far from easy or agree- able task of discriminating between innumerable appeals for help from their church collections.—I am, Sir, &c.,
W. TEMPLETON KING.
Christ Church Vicarage, Ealing, W.
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