A THANKSGIVING FOR MY HOUSE.

Lord, thou hast given me a cell,
Wherein to dwell;

A little house, whose humble roof
Is weather-proof;

Under the span of which I lie,
Both soft and dry.

Where thou, my chamber for to ward,
Hast set a guard

Of harmless thoughts, to watch and keep

The while I sleep.

Low is my porch, as is my fate

Both void of state;

And yet the threshold of my door

Is worn by the poor,

Who hither come, and freely get

Good words or meat,

Like as my parlour, so my hall

And kitchen small;

A little buttery, and therein

A little bin,

Which keeps my little loaf of bread

Unchipt, unflead.

Some little sticks of thorn or brier

Make me a fire;

Close by whose living coal I sit,

And glow like it.

Lord, I confess, too, when I dine,
The pulse is thine,

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 will 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.]

OV 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.