It is a common thing to hear persons say that they care little for the sermon and speak lightly of preaching. They forget that the preacher is one "sent," that our Lord Himself made preaching one of the great means for the spread of the Gospel and for the salvation of men. And as such persons do not reflect, in this disparagement of preaching, the mind of our Lord, so neither do they represent the estimate of the Church. The Church takes care to provide for it, and that, too, in connection with her most solemn act of worship, the celebration of the Holy Communion. Among the rubrics following the Creed in the Communion Office is this: "Then shall follow the Sermon." So, also, the Church, through the Bishop, demands of the man who comes to be ordained, "Are you determined, out of the Scriptures, to instruct the people committed to your charge?" And when he is ordered a Priest, this is a part of the authority given to him: "Take thou authority to preach the Word of God." The discharge of this work, to do which the Minister is placed under vow, and for which he is given authority, is one of his most solemn obligations. The pulpit should, then, ever remind us of the loving care on the part of Christ and His Church for {47} our soul's health and our growth in grace, which is thus expressed. But it should remind us of something else, also,--of a duty on our part. In "The Form and Manner of Ordering Priests" there is a prayer just before the Benediction, of which this is a part: "Grant that we may have grace to hear and receive what they shall deliver out of Thy most holy Word, or agreeable to the same, as the means of our salvation." And so, again, we pray in the Litany, "That it may please Thee to give to all Thy people increase of grace to hear meekly Thy Word, and to receive it with pure affection, and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit." This is the way the Church teaches us to think and to pray concerning our duty and privilege in reference to the instruction and exhortation which divine love sends to us from the pulpit. The pulpit stands, then, for something God's love does for us: "Preach the gospel." It stands also for something God's love demands from us: "Take heed how ye hear." _The Choir- and Clergy-Stalls._--It will be observed that the stalls for the clergy and choristers are generally placed on the two sides of the choir and face each other. The south side is called the {48} "decani side" and the north the "cantoris side," as being, in cathedrals, the respective sides of the dean and the cantor (or precentor).