And all those other bits that be

There placed by thee.

The worts, the parslain, and the mess

Of water-cress,

Which of thy kindness thou hast sent;

And my content

Makes those, and my beloved beet,

To be more sweet.

'Tis thou that crown'st my glittering hearth

With guiltless mirth;

And giv'st me wassail bowls to drink,

Spiced to the brink.

Lord, 'tis thy plenty-dropping hand

That sows my land:

All this and better, dost thou send

Me for this end:

That I should render for my part

A thankful heart,

Which, fir'd with incense, I resign

As wholly thine:

But the acceptance-that must be,
O Lord, by thee.

Herrick.

THE BEST PREACHERS AND BEST HEARERS.

"I," said Luther, "esteem those to be the best preach ers, who teach the common people and youth most plainly and simply, without subtlety, screwed words, or enlargements. Christ taught the people by plain and simple parables. In like manner those are the best hearers that willingly do hear God's word simply and plainly; and although they be weak in faith, yet they are to be helped forward, for God will bear with weakness, if it be acknowledged, and that we creep again to the cross, and pray to God for grace, and amend ourselves."

་་

HINTS ON SERMONS.

"Our clergy," says Dr Butler, Bishop of Hereford, in one of his charges, "are too apt in their discourses to raise doubts against that religion they should merely teach; they raise doubts to persons who have never heard them before; and the doubts of those who have had the misfortune to hear them before, cannot be solved in a discourse of half-an-hour."

WRITTEN SERMONS.

Many complaints were made of those that were licensed to preach; and that they might be able to justify themselves, they began generally to write and read their sermons; and thus did this custom begin, in which what is wanting in the heat and force of delivery, is much made up by the strength and solidity of the matter; and this has produced many volumes of as excellent sermons as have been preached in any age.

Bishop Burnet's History.

EXTEMPORE AND WRITTEN SERMONS.

Bishop Sanderson's practice of reading his sermons, as it was not then very common, raised some prejudice against him. Walton observes that, notwithstanding he had an extraordinary memory, he had such an innate bashfulness and sense of fear, as to render it of little use in the delivery of his sermons. It was remarked, when his sermons were printed in 1632, that "the best sermons that were ever read, were never preached." When Dr Hammond was at Sanderson's house, he laboured to persuade him to trust to his excellent memory, and not to read his sermons. Dr Sanderson promised to try the experiment, and having on the following Sunday exchanged pulpits with a neighbouring clergyman, he gave Dr Hammond his sermon, which was a very short one, intending to preach it as it was written; but before he had gone through a third part, he became disordered, in

coherent, and almost incapable of finishing. On their return, Dr Sanderson said, "Good doctor, give me my sermon, and know that neither you, nor any man living, shall ever persuade me to preach again without book." Hammond replied, "Good doctor, be not angry, for if ever I persuade you to preach again without book, I wi!! give you leave to burn all those that I am master of." Chalmers [Biographical Dictionary].

[Bishop Sanderson wrote the "Preface to the Book of Common Prayer,” beginning with the words, "It hath been the wisdom of the Church;" and is generally understood to have been the author of the sublime "General Thanksgiving" in the Liturgy.-Poynder.]

ON HEARING AN EXCELLENT SERMON.

Most monstrous truth-that this sermon, composed of perhaps two hundred just thoughts, will, by the evening hour, be forgotten by all the hearers, except-how many? Yet every just thought of religion requires its counterpart in feeling and action-or does it not?

Foster.

DIVISION IN SERMONS.

A sermon without heads, is like a house without stairs. There may be many fine rooms in it, but you want the means of getting at them.

FORGOTTEN SERMONS.

In reference to the apparent fruitlessness of ministerial exertions, an anecdote is recorded of a Scottish minister who was much discouraged on this account. One day he asked a poor woman of his congregation to give him an account of his last sermon, which she was unable to do; and when inquiring of her what was the text, she had even forgotten that; upon which he complained severely of the little impression which his labours appeared to have made. The woman, however, said to him, "Do you see how many times I dip this linen into the stream, and how often I wring it?"—" Yes.”—“Ay,” said she, “but you munna think it's nane the whiter for a' that, and ye may know I'm a' the better for your sermons, though I can tell ye naught about them."

PREACHING SERMONS OVER AGAIN.

Dean Colet (the founder of St Paul's School) gave as a reason for the repetition of his Theological Lectures, that it was better to set wholesome cold meat before his hearers, than that which was raw.

Preface to his Prayers.

SERMONS.

There is a wide difference between what St Paul calls

'the foolishness of preaching," and foolish preaching.

Bp. Wilson's (of Calcutta)

Funeral Sermon for Cecil.