s in church. With reference to
offertories gathered at the time of the celebration of Holy Communion at
an ordinary Service the Churchwardens and Incumbent are expressly
directed by the rubric to dispose of them to such pious and charitable
uses as they shall think fit, wherein if they disagree it shall be
disposed of as the Ordinary shall appoint. The Incumbent has the
responsibility of arranging with reference to collections made not in
connection with the celebration of the Holy Communion. Incumbents are
thankful when the Churchwardens help them with their advice as to what
objects shall be brought before the congregation. In the case of all
collections, for whatsoever purpose they be made, it is most desirable
for the avoiding of any possible difficulty that a written statement
should be put upon the Church door on the Sunday after, stating the
amount of the collections made on the previous Sunday. If the collection
be made for any charitable or missionary society the official receipt for
the money collected and sent should also be affixed to the church door.

This leads me to mention another point of considerable importance. In
these days of monetary difficulties and agricultural depression the
frequency of offertories is often a question difficult of solution. It
is perhaps still more difficult wisely to decide the objects for which
the offertory shall be made. With regard to local objects there can of
course be no question. We recognise in these days the power of the
pence, and no one grumbles at the collection of money for purely
parochial purposes. But it is when our people are asked for money for
objects outside the parish that the difficulty really arises. But it
ought to be remembered that we do not lead individual isolated lives
apart from our fellows. The parish is not the centre of the universe.
The tendency of the uneducated mind is to isolate itself from the
interests of others, and to look at all matters from a purely selfish
point of view. The parish is an accidental collection of individual
souls in a particular diocese. The diocese is an aggregation of separate
parishes scattered through an assigned area. The members of the Church
in a particular parish and diocese are members of the Holy Catholic
Church, which by its very nomenclature abrogates individual isolation.
It follows, therefore, that parochial interests must not absorb attention
to the exclusion of larger and less personal o