Page:Distinguished Churchmen.djvu/321

 PREBENDARY WEBB-PEPLOE, M.A. 277

on the subject of giving. What I have pointed out marks a very fine feature in my congregation. St Paul s, Onslow Square, is, I think, the only church in London where collections are not taken from pew to pew, and yet, as I have before indi cated, the congregation give most liberally. You might mention the one exception to our rule. We have a pew to pew collection at the watch-night service, when the people give a penny all round for the poor. Generally we have a congregation of 1,500 or thereabouts on that occasion.&quot;

&quot; And you find the West-End people good churchgoers ? &quot;

&quot;Generally, yes. Of course, there are changes from time to time, people coming and going ; but the people, for the most part, are in real earnest about their devotions. The attitude of the Ritual ists during the last ten years has undergone a change ; for I remember the time when they used to make much of the numbers of Communicants, particularly at Easter time. That custom has rather died down, because the Ritualists now urge the people to come to Mass, but not to partake. If, however, we must attach importance to numbers at Communion, then, I think, such an Evangelical church as my own will well compare with others. Let me give you the attendances for the last two years in 1899, there were 10,858 communicants, including 2,161 males; in 1900, 11,158, including 2,352 males. The figures for

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