L I B RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UN IVERSITY 
 
 or ILLI NOIS
 
 r/-/^ ate ^2.....^;rf#^ 
 
 THE OFFERTORY 
 AND CHURCH FINANCE 
 
 A PAPER READ BEFORE THE RURIDECANAL CONFERENCE OF THE 
 DEANERY OP BARKING, ESSEX, 
 
 HELD AT STRATFORD, NOVEMBER i6th, 1867, 
 
 INTRODUCING THE FOLLOWING SUBJECT PROPOSED BY THE BISHOP— 
 
 " THE ADVISABLENESS, 
 
 IN THE PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CHURCH^ 
 
 OF COLLECTING THE OFFERTORY FROM THE WHOLE 
 
 CONGREGATION, IN ALL CHURCHES, WHEN THE 
 
 HOLY COMMUNION IS CELEBRATED:' 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR ANTONIO BRADY, Kt., J.P., F.G.S., &c. 
 
 Uonlion: 
 
 3CH00L-PBESS, GOWER's "NVALK, WHITECHAPEL, 
 1876.
 
 t §f(ertffrg anb- tiljwrtlj Jiniitta. 
 
 The Bishop having suggested that the Offertory be one of the sub- 
 jects for discussion at the Ruridecanal Conference, I gladly avail myself 
 of the invitation of the Rural Dean to introduce it. 
 
 The question propounded by the Bishop is — "The advisableness, 
 in the present circumstances of the Church, of collecting the Offertory 
 from the whole Congregation when the Holy Communion is 
 celebrated." 
 
 This brings before us the very important question of Church 
 Finance — one, on which the well-being of the Church has depended 
 in all ages. 
 
 But before discussing it, I wish to draw your attention to the 
 theory of the Church of England with respect to the duty of Almsgiving 
 as a distinct act of worship, as gathered from her formularies and 
 service-books. 
 
 I need not do more than intimate to you how clearly our Church 
 follows the custom of the Church in all ages, in blending together 
 Offeriiig and Worship or Sacrifice. Cain and Abel worshipped God 
 with their first fruits, and so close is the connection that St. Paul 
 (Heb.xi.4) uses the word '' Ovaia''' Thusia, sacrifice; by faith Abel 
 offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Thus, Cain's 
 offering of the fruits of the earth is termed a sacrifice, as well as the 
 offering of Abel which was more peculiarly a sacrifice, as consisting 
 of the first-fruits of his flocks. 
 
 The law of Moses commanded frequent oblations, and allowed no 
 man at the three great yearly Jewish Feasts to appear before the Lord 
 empty. 
 
 Our Blessed Lord plainly connects together the idea of Almsgiving 
 with the service of the Sanctuary, where He says " When thou bringest 
 thy gift to the altar," and St. Paul gives his sanction to a weekly set- 
 ting apart of a portion of our wordlj^ means, as a thank-offering to 
 God, and to avoid any difficulty in collecting the money when it is 
 required — "Upon the first day of the week" he says (i Cor. xvi. 2) 
 "let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him, 
 that there be no gatherings when I come." 
 
 Now let us compare our Liturgy with these primitive practices 
 and customs.
 
 In the first Prayer Book of King Edward VI, a.d. 1549, which is 
 the vernacular foundation of our present Prayer Book, and which was 
 in great part derived from the famous Sarum Missal, or Use of Sarum, 
 as it is popularly called, the Exhortation commencing, "Dearly 
 beloved, ye that mind to come to the Holy Communion of the Body 
 and Blood of Christ," follows immediately after the Sermon, and then 
 succeeds the Offertory, which used to be an Anthem, but was at that 
 time altered to consist of one or more sentences of Holy Scripture. 
 *'In the mean time, whiles the Clerks do sing the Offertory, so many 
 as are disposed shall offer to the poor men's box, every one according to 
 his ability and charitable mind ; and at the offering-days appointed, 
 every man and woman shall pay to the Curate the due and accustomed 
 offerings — Then, so many as shall be partakers of the Holy 
 Communion shall tarry still in the Quire, or in some convenient place 
 nigh the Quire, the men on the one side and the women on the other 
 side, all other (that mind not to receive the said Holy Communion) 
 shall depart out of the Quire," (but mark it does not necessarily say out 
 of the Church) '' except the Minister and Clerks." 
 
 From these plain and explicit rubrics we gather most conclusively 
 that it was the intention of the framers of our Liturgy, that the Alms 
 and Oblations should be gathered from all who were present, whether 
 Communicants or not, and that the proper place for Non- 
 Communicants to retire, is not after the Sermon, or indeed after the 
 prayer for the Church Militant (which is properly the first portion of 
 the Prayer of Consecration), but after the first or general Exhortation, 
 which, by its whole tenor and constitution, supposes an opportunity 
 for any whose conscience has been moved to feel that he ought not to 
 communicate to retire, while those whose minds are disposed to com- 
 municate are bidden to *' draw near with faith" and come into the 
 Quire. 
 
 I would have you remark, however, that our Church does not in 
 any way suggest, or even sanction any limitation of the opportunities 
 of making an offering to God upon those days only, and at those times 
 only, when there is a celebration ; for in the first rubric after the 
 Communion-office, we read, '* Upon the Sundays and other Holy-days 
 (if there be no Connnimmi) SHALL be said," (the word shall is very 
 emphatic) " all that is appointed at the Communion, until the end of 
 the general prayer — (for the whole state of Christ's Church militant 
 here in earth) — together with one or more of these Collects last 
 before rehearsed, concluding with the Blessing." 
 
 While we are upon this subject, I would also draw your attention 
 to the following rubric, which now stands in our present Prayer Book. 
 ** Whilst these sentences," {i.e. the offertory sentences) "are in 
 reading, the Deacons, Churchwardens, or other fit persons appointed 
 for that purpose, shall receive the Alms for the poor and other 
 devotions of the people, in a decent basin to be provided by the 
 Parish for that purpose, and reverently bring it to the Priest who shall 
 humbly present and place it upon the Holy Table : " thus ordaining a
 
 solemn dedication of the Offerings to God; which is entirely prevented^ 
 if the money is collected by plates held at the door, while the people 
 go out, or is smuggled away into the Vestry, to be counted after the 
 Blessing has been given from the pulpit. 
 
 I conceive that the only reason that has given rise to the lax 
 state of things, which has of late years obtained in many parishes, has 
 been the introduction of the black gown for preaching, which is either 
 a popish remnant of the dress of the Black Dominican Preaching Friars, 
 or the Academical Gown borrowed from the Roman Toga ; thus making 
 our Pastors appear ?fiere scholars, and not solely Ministers of the Gospel 
 of Christ. For manifestly it would make a second change of garment 
 necessary to go to the Lord's Table after the sermon, at either morning 
 or evening service, to receive and present the Alms of God's people, 
 and pronounce the Blessing from the proper place. 
 
 I have next to shew what sort of Alms and Oblations is contem- 
 plated by the Church in the rubrics I have quoted, and how it was 
 intended that they should be applied. 
 
 By the use of the two words Alms and Oblations there is clearly 
 a distinction drawn between them, and this is rendered more clear in 
 another place, where we read of the *' the Alms for the poor, and other 
 devotions of the people ; " and, in passing, I would remark that the 
 phrase "poor men's box" in the rubric of the Prayer Book of 1549 
 cannot mean the alms-boxes which most of our Churches have near 
 the door; at any rate, now, when we are ordered to lay the alms upon 
 a ** decent basin " to be provided for the purpose, and the true function 
 of our alms-boxes would seem to be a receptacle for what may be 
 called chance offerings, made by any one at a time when no general'col- 
 lection from a Congregation is made. I w^^^ not stay to shew you, 
 that in ancient days endowments and every sort of offering, whether in 
 money or in kind, were made at the Holy Communion, but I will at 
 once endeavour to classify the chief heads under which the Offerings 
 of Churchmen at the Holy Communion may be made ; they are — 
 
 ist. Church Expenses for the maintenance of the Church and 
 Services. 
 
 2nd. Support of the Local Clergy and Home and Foreign 
 iNIissions. 
 
 3rd. Alms for the Poor, including contributions to any kind of 
 Parochial Charity and any other Benevolent Object exter- 
 nal to the Parish. 
 
 We have now to show how each one of these three heads is recog- 
 nized by our Service Books, and ought to have their due position in 
 every scheme for dealing with the monies provided by the Offertory 
 at the Holy Communion. 
 
 Firstly. * 'For Church Expenses for the 7naintcnance of the Fabric and 
 Services:^ Manifestly, by our present rubrics, " the bread and wine for
 
 the Communion are to be provided by the Curate and Churchwardens 
 at the charges of the parish," but they may surely be provided and 
 paid for out of the money collected at the Offertory, especially as now, 
 alas ! we have no church rate to depend upon. For in former times it 
 was the custom for every house in the parish to provide in its turn 
 the Jioly /t^y (under w^hich name, I suppose, w^ere comprehended both 
 the elements of bread and wine), and the good man and good woman 
 who provided were particularly remembered in the prayers of the 
 Church ; but, by the first Book of King Edward, the care of providing 
 was thrown on the " Pastors and Curates," and afterwards it was 
 ordered, that in recompense of such costs and charges, the parishioners 
 of every parish should offer every Sunday, at the time of the Offertory, 
 the just value and price of the holy loaf, (with all such money and 
 other things as were wont to be offered with the same,) to the use of 
 the Pastors and Curates, and that in such order and course as they 
 were wont, to find and pay for the said holy loaf. And in Chapels 
 annexed, where the people had not been accustomed to pay any holy 
 bread, there they were either to make some charitable provision for the 
 bearing of the charges of the Communion, or else, (for the receiving 
 of the same,) resort to the Parish Church. But, we may surely extend 
 this law for the provision of the bread and wine out of the offertory 
 funds, so as to include all reasonable expenses for the maintenance of 
 the Fabric and Services of the Church ; for, in the original rubric con- 
 cerning the disposal of the money as proposed by Bishop Cosin, and 
 substantially taken from the Scottish Liturgy, a.d. 1637, we find, "that 
 half of the amount is to be employed to some pious or charitable use for 
 the decent fill nishing of the Church, or the relief of the poor, or the poor 
 men's box." Here then, we have a clear intimation, though not now 
 a legal enactment, that the expenses of the Church may properly be 
 defrayed from the Offertory Funds. 
 
 Secondly. ^' The support of the Clergy.''^ It is true that in old 
 parishes, in a general w-ay, the maintenance of the Parochial Clergy is 
 provided for, by means of the system of tithes ; but how many have at 
 present to look to the tmscriptura'l din<\ thoroughly dependent system of pew- 
 rents, the most degrading, as I think, to the office of the ministry which 
 could have been invented, as it tempts them to prophecy smooth 
 things to their people, and may act unconsciously as a gag upon their 
 preaching. Then, again, how greatly the endowment or the pew- 
 rents in many populous places falls short of the needs and necessities 
 of the Church. INIany more living agencies could be employed, if men 
 would utilize a portion of the offertory for this purpose ; and, have we 
 not every encouragement to do so ? No one can read the 6th, 7th, 8th 
 and loth offertory sentences without seeing that the support of the 
 Ministry is one of the principal objects for which the Church intends 
 the money to be devoted — whether at home amongst our great towns 
 and cities, or in the distant parts of the earth, where Missionaries are 
 required to go forth, to convert the heathen nations to the knowledge 
 of our Saviour Christ. But, besides these general reminders that it is
 
 the duty of the Congregation to provide for the maintenance of its 
 Clergy and the support of Foreign Missions, Bishop Cosins' rubric, part 
 of which I have already quoted, taken from the Scottish Liturgy of 1673, 
 says : "After the Divine Service ended, the money which was offered 
 shall be divided — one half to the Priest^ (to provide him Books of Divinity, 
 ■erased) the other half to be employed to some pious or charitable 
 use, for the decent furnishing of the Church, or the relief of the poor, 
 among whom it shall be distributed, if need require ; or put into the 
 poor men's box, at the discretion of the Priest and Churchwardens or 
 other Officers of the place that are for that purpose appointed." And 
 this brings me to say a few words upon the 3rd class of objects for our 
 Alms, viz. 
 
 Th i rd ly . ''A Inisfor the Poor, including every • kind of Pa roch ial Charity , 
 ■or any Jl nevolent Object external to the Parishi" Very little is necessary 
 to shew the propriety of devoting a portion of the Offertory Alms to 
 the poor, or, indeed, any other purely charitable object. Our present 
 rubric carders "the Deacons, Churchwardens, or other fit persons 
 appointed for that purpose, to receive the Alms for the poor, and 
 other devotions of the people, in a decent basin, &c.," and the latter 
 half of the offertory sentences are a direct appeal to this kind ot 
 Almsgiving. Of course, we are bound first to provide for our own 
 parochial needs and wants ; but we may not confine our charity, even 
 when offered at the Altar in our own parish church, to our own poor. 
 Charity we know begins at home, but it must not end there ; and it is, 
 I think, a great mistake, and one not at all authorized by the spirit of 
 our offices, to devote all our Communion Alms to one special branch 
 of charitable objects, viz. the relief of our own poor. They should 
 have their proper share, but should not monopolize the whole. The 
 spirit and scope of the whole Communion Service is to join all 
 Christians in one — for nowhere is the true Catholicity of the Church 
 more displayed than when we draw nigh to Christ's Board to partake 
 with our brethern, eve^yivhere, of the one Bread that came down from 
 Heaven ; and our Alms and oblations were clearly intended by the 
 framers of our Liturgy to partake of that Catholicity also. 
 
 I may, perhaps, fitly sum up this statement of the due and fitting 
 apportionment of the Communion Alms by a classification of the 
 offertory sentences, which has been suggested by an eminent writer 
 on the Book of Common Prayer — 
 
 For general use, i. 2, 3, 4, 9, 12, 13, 15, 18. 
 
 For the support of Clergy, Churches and Missions, 6, 7, 8, 10. 
 
 For special Church Charities, 11, 14, 16. 
 
 For the Poor, 5, 17, 19, 20. 
 
 For Hospitals, 20. 
 
 We have seen that the Offertory has scriptural and Church 
 authority, that the rubrics direct it should be collected from the 
 WHOLE Congregation, and sanction the distribution of the money 
 among very different kinds of objects.
 
 8 
 
 St. Paul, also, enjoins uniformity in this matter, as in writing to 
 the Corinthians he says, " as I have given order to the Churches of 
 Galatia, even so do ye." I Cor. xvi. i. 2. 
 
 Up to a very recent period this injunction has been sadly 
 neglected — but now that Churchmen's minds have been awakened ta 
 this manifest duty, a better state of things exists ; as appears from 
 the returns which the Clergy of this Deanery, so kindly sent me in 
 reply to the questions I ventured to put to them, as to the practice 
 existing in their several Churches, and for which I beg to tender them 
 my best thanks. 
 
 It is only about 35 years ago that public attention began to be- 
 aroused to this question of the Offertory, and the i)ropriety of a return 
 to it, as the apostolic and true system of Church Finance. 
 
 I well remember the violent opposition this action created — 
 all sorts of hard names were lavished on the good men who endeavoured 
 to lead public opinion in this direction, and their efforts to revive this 
 apostolic custom was called a " Popish device," &:c., &c. 
 
 Unhappily, the custom of giving had been so long in disuse, and 
 the people relied so much on the endowments of the Church by their 
 forefathers, that they absolutely lost the sense of the blessing and 
 practice of giving to God, became utterly insensible of the true source 
 of Church Finance, and left unwrought the mine of wealth at their 
 command. 
 
 All Church Endowments were at some tim.e Voluntary Offerings^ 
 and we have noble examples at the present day ; but such is the 
 increase of population in our own times, that by the existing plan of 
 Pew-rented Churches, it seems impossible to overtake the neglect of 
 the Church in past ages, or to provide the means of grace for the 
 teeming millions of our large towns. The Offertory, if fully carried 
 out, would doubtless supply this want. It is not practicable in these 
 days to get large sums, (where they are most needed,) for endowment. 
 It would require ^10,000 to endow a Church with ^300 a year, but 
 there would be no difficulty in raising this sum, even in zl poor populous 
 parish, by means of the Weekly Offertory; indeed, in some parishes, 
 ^3,000 a year or more is now raised from this source. 
 
 Although the Offertory has become more general than formerly, 
 it is rarely devoted to the support of the Clergy ; which, as we have 
 seen, is one of its most legitimate objects, and as such ought to be 
 urged upon the people, who would then have a greater incentive for 
 giving more liberally. 
 
 I cannot more forcibly urge the adoption of the Offertory, and the 
 incalculable value of this source of obtaining support for a// the 
 necessities of our Church, than by quoting largely from a most able 
 Paper, issued by the National Association Yor f^reedom of worship and
 
 9 
 
 for the revival of the Weekly Offertory, containing the reply of Dr. 
 Guthrie of the Free Church of Scotland, to questions sent him by Mr. 
 Herford, the Secretary of the Society, from whom copies can be 
 obtained. 
 
 Defending the Offertory from the charge of Popery, Dr. 
 Guthrie says, **The idea, by whomsoever promulgated, that this 
 practice in our Church savours of Popery, is eminently absurd. The 
 practice is, and has been for years gone by, universal in Scotland, and 
 I will venture to say there are no people in the world less likely to 
 adopt either principles or practices of Popery, than we here on the 
 north side of the border." 
 
 Advocating the universal use of the Offertory, Dr. Guthrie says, 
 " Were voluntary offerings universal in your English Churches, as they 
 should be, you could raise an immense revenue for the glory of God, 
 and the service of the Church. In my Congregation alone, where we 
 collect voluntarily at both forenoon and afternoon worship, we receive 
 about /'S 00 annually of Voluntary Offering: and this besides raising 
 about as much from pew-rents, and about a/"i,ooo for a fund out of 
 which all the Ministers of the Free Church receive an equal share. That 
 fund, to which Congregations give according to their ability, amounts 
 to about ^100,000 a year. The income of the Free Church, all 
 voluntary, is about /'3oo,ooo annually; and if we in our poor country — 
 poor as compared with England — raise such a sum as that from our 
 share of the population, amounting only to about 1,000,000, what 
 might the Church of England do did she put forth her vast resources? 
 Including one thing and another — I mean stipend and the value of a 
 manse and garden — none of our Ministers have under /^i50 a year. 
 Unendowed as we are now by the State, we are better off than very 
 many of the Clergymen of the Church of England. That shews what 
 can be done through the Voluntary Offerings of the people." 
 
 Dr. Guthrie adds "The plain imperative duty of a Church is to 
 preach the Gospel, send forth men for that purpose, build Churches, 
 and set up the ivhole machinery of a Christian Church, without waiting 
 one day for the countenance of the state, or the support of endowments ; 
 and in these circumstances, she is to call upon the people to give of 
 their carnal things to those who distribute among them the bread of 
 life." 
 
 From the Table of Statistics appended, you will find that in the 36 
 Churches, whose Vicars have kindly sent mc information, (only one in 
 the whole Deanery has omitted to reply to my questions) ; there are 
 only six Churches where the collection is not made from the whole 
 Congregation when the Holy Communion is celebrated ; and two make 
 one Collection from the whole Congregation, and a second from the 
 Communicants only; at 17 there is a Collection at every Sunday 
 Service. 
 
 Church Expenses, Alms for the Sick, Missions, Parochial, and 
 External Charities, are objects to which the Offertories in most
 
 10 
 
 Churches contribute ; but the support of the Parochial Curates or 
 Local IMissionary Clergy is only recognized as a due object in two 
 Churches, viz. All Saints, Leyton, and St. James' Chapel, Little Heath. 
 The average total amount collected at the various Offertories in the 
 Deanery amounts to no less than about /^5,i46, and making an 
 approximate estimate for those Churches which have not stated in the 
 return the gross receipts in the year, I cannot think that the total 
 receipts from the Offertory in our Deanery can be less than /^5,4oo a 
 year, even under present arrangements, and T nm sure that this amount 
 might very easily be largely augmented, as previously hinted ; though 
 if the Weekly Offertory were universally and fully carried out, this 
 amount would be greatly augmented. 
 
 I observe M'ith great satisfaction, that the Clergy and Church- 
 wardens, almost without exception, publish accounts of receipts and 
 expenditure, either annually or quarterly, in a printed statement, or on 
 the Church door Sunday by Sunday. This I think is essential to the 
 success of the Offertory in any parish. 
 
 It is to be remarked, that at some few Churches supported by Few 
 Rents, they have also the Weekly Offertory and a Voluntary Church- 
 rate ; these latter bring in very little, as people will not generally 
 contribute to Church Expenses in all three ways. IMany think that if 
 they pay for their sittings like a box at a theatre, they are entitled to 
 all the blessings of the Church without further payment ; and it is only 
 in free and unappropriated Churches, where the Churches system is 
 fully, faithfully and earnestly carried out, that the Offertory, as a means 
 of Church Finance can be said to have fair play. 
 
 In conclusion, I have ventured, though only a layman, to give you 
 a summary of the rubrical directions about the Offertory, and a few 
 words on its importance as a means of Church Finance, as an 
 introduction to the subject proposed by the Bishop, and I now leave 
 the discussion of it with the Conference. 
 
 P.S. In responding to a vote of thanks for my Paper, to give 
 effect to the general feeling expressed, I moved the following Reso- 
 lution — "That in the present circumstances of the Church, in the 
 opinion of this Conference, it is desirable that the Offertory should 
 be collected from the whole of the Congregation in all Churches 
 whenever the Holy Communion is celebrated," as directed by the 
 Rubrics. This was seconded by Canon Blomfield, and carried 
 unanimously. 
 
 N,B, — The principal Aiithors (juoted are "Wheatly and Blunt,
 
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