God, for this is the victory which overcometh the world, even our faith. "Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy Name?' -REV. xv. 4. Father of heaven above, Light unapproachable, Thee, the Invisible, Laud we and praise. Christ the eternal Word, Saviour of all, High throned above all height, On Thee we call. O God, the Holy Ghost, In this far wilderness Leave us not comfortless : Thee we love, Thee we bless, Strike your harps, heavenly powers; All praise, O God, to Thee. World without end. E. H. B. THE SERMON. Then the Curate shall declare unto the people what Holy-days, or Fasting-days, are in the week following to be observed. And then also (if occasion be) shall notice be given of the Communion; and Briefs, Citations, and Excommunications read. And nothing shall be proclaimed or published in the Church, during the time of Divine Service, but by the Minister; nor by him anything but what is prescribed in the Rules of this Book, or enjoined by the Queen, or by the Ordinary of the place. Then shall follow the Sermon, or one of the Homilies already set forth, or hereafter to be set forth, by authority. AFTER the Nicene Creed and the reading of Church notices, there follows, according to the rubric, the sermon or homily, which is generally preceded by the singing of a hymn. The song of praise, devoutly joined in by those who strive to make melody, at least in their heart, to the Lord, will be a gracious preparation for listening to the message which the ambassador of the Cross delivers in his Master's Name. Never was the injunction more needed, Take heed how ye hear, than in our own day. For the multiplication of services and sermons will without due thought make the hearer critical, captious, and careless. Let us remember, The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." If we come hungering and thirsting a Prov. xxvii. 7. after righteousness, we shall generally find something in the preacher's words which feeds us with the bread of life and leads us by the living fountain of waters. The words spoken may be very simple, and the utterance altogether unadorned, still if ours is the attitude of Cornelius' household when he said to the apostle, Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God," we shall not be sent empty away. And when any truth is especially borne in upon our souls, we shall do well to treasure it in our memory and make it the subject for meditation and prayer in the after intervals of the Communion Service. "He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him,' -2 TIM. i. 12. Jesus, I will trust Thee, trust Thee with my soul; Jesus, I can trust Thee, trust Thy written Word, a Acts x. 33. Jesus, I do trust Thee, trust without a doubt: Whilst these Sentences are in reading, the Deacons, Churchwardens, or other fit person 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. FROM the earliest age the Church of Christ has been used to connect gifts and offerings for God's service and worship with the commemoration of the Lord's Supper. And there is something almost instinctive in the desire, when we remember His great love who gave Himself for us, to offer some token of our love to Him. It is a practical pledge of our self-consecration when we thus acknowledge, All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee. It seems to sanctify all our other gifts made at other times, when we thus solemnly from week to week in the House of Prayer give of our substance to the service of our Lord and Master. How wonderful is the transforming power of faith and love! It can transmute that money which is the instrument of the world's slavery and idolatry into a grateful tribute of a child's affection to a loving Father. Money, as often gotten by wrong, is called Money, as loved for its own sake, is the food and fuel of that covetousness which God abhorreth. the mammon of unrighteousness. But Money, as lavished on selfish aims and objects, is filthy lucre. money, as gotten by honest labour, as coming from God, as spent faithfully on the manifold claims of |