ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

C

hazardous undertaking is to be accomplished, it would seem to be the law of Heaven, that all the meekness, the reliance, the untameable efficacy of soul' which are demanded, must be confined to the bosom of only one man. Whether walking on the hill at Little Sodbury in Gloucestershire, pacing the library of the manor house, or sitting at the dinner, table, morning or evening, there was no getting rid of the obligation felt. This was Tyndale, as when he has told us-'I perceived by experience, how that it is impossible to establish the lay people in any truth, except the Scripture were plainly laid before their eyes, in their mother tongue, that they might see the process, order, and meaning of the text.' Or as at another time, when provoked by the perverse ignorance of a rich ecclesiastic in his neighbourhood, he replied-'If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than you do.'" And he did; for he went to work, as you have read in the former pages, and his reward was a martyr's crown! He was burned to death. This was the man, and this his reward on earth-but in heaven, oh, who can tell his joy!

TRUE RELIGION, kindling her torch in heaven, sheds her holy light on the earth, dispels the darkness of the grave, shines far into the vale of death, and opens a bright prospect into the eternal world. True religion teaches that Jesus Christ, by his death on the cross, overcame death, and by his resurrection from the dead brought immortal life to light. And true religion teaches that, if we, through the Spirit, are made partakers of his blood and righteousness, being renewed in his image and conformed to his example, we shall, after a short separation by death, be for ever re-united in heaven.-Cawood's Sermons.

THE CROSS OF CHRIST is the most powerful and efficacious remedy for renewing the human heart that Omnipotence itself could devise. The heart that cannot be touched by the agony and groans of a dying Saviour, will most certainly be inaccesssible to all agencies, and will only be made to feel by the worm that dieth not, and the fire that never will be quenched.

AN ANGEL could not expiate our sins; that were impossible; for he, a creature, has no merit to spare for us; but providing he had, and supposing he did, then if we loved him supremely for doing us this great service, our supreme love would be fixed on a creature, which would be idolatry. Therefore God sent his own Son to die for us, that all men might honour and love him even as they honour and love the Father. J. J. D.

THY SOUL-OH MAN-THY SOUL!-Remember the dignity of thy soul, and forget not how great a talent is committed unto thee. It is immortal; it is unchangeable; and as the sun remains the same during and after the darkest eclipse, so will thy soul come forth from the eclipse of death, rising and shining as a star in the firmament of heaven, or sinking deeper and deeper into bottomless darkness.

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

ANOTHER NEW YEAR.-There is something pleasing yet melancholy in the sound. Pleasing for a new year brings new hopes all fresh and promising: Melancholy-for the past year is dead, and we can think of things done in its days which we wish we could blot out and forget. Well: let us learn wisdom by past folly. Perhaps, reader, you are not yet born again, that is, converted, turned round from sin to God, forgiven and cleansed through the blood of Jesus. May this year be remembered by thee as thy birth-year for a happy eternity!

THE DRUNKARD'S TREE.

THE

SIN OF

DRUNKENNESS

Expels Reason, drowns Memory,
Distempers the body, defaces Beauty,

Diminishes Strength, corrupts the Blood,
Inflames the Liver, weakens the Brain,
Turns Men into walking Hospitals, causes Internal,
External, and incurable wounds; is a Witch to the senses,
A Devil to the Soul, a Thief to the Purse, the
Beggar's Companion, a Wife's Woe, and Children's
Sorrow; makes Man become a Beast and
A Self-murderer, who drinks to other's
Good Health, and robs himself of
His own; nor is this all-
It exposes to the

DIVINE

DISPLEASURE HERE,
AND HEREAFTER TO
ETERNAL DAMNATION.

SUCH ARE
SOME OF THE

EVILS SPRINGING

FROM THE ROOT OF

DRUNKENNESS.

THE FIRESIDE.

The Fireside.

THREE things all parents should try to do for their own children. The first thing is to teach them Good Manners, which includes obedience to parents and respect to others. The second is to give them as good an Education as they can. And the third is to shew them how to Work. If they do not behave well and shew good manners they will never be esteemed or respected. If they have not some education they will be hardly able to make their way in the world now-a-days. And, if they be not taught how to work, they will either grow up idle and vicious, or be such poor helpless creatures that no one would choose to employ them. Along with all this they should always be taught to know and fear God. This will keep all the rest right and in good order. But it must be the knowledge of God as made known in his own bible. And it must not be a false or slavish fear. Much less ought it to be that silly fear of man which some would fain teach in the schools which they open for poor people's children. Better keep them at home and teach them yourselves as well as you can on week evenings and the sabbath-day, than send them to schools where the fear of man is put in the place of the fear of God, and where popish errors are taught instead of the truths of God's Bible.

JONATHAN BANKS was a hard-working man,
Whose "family circle" was large;

His wealthier neighbours had show'd him a plan
Of instruction without any charge.

At the end of the village a school-house was rear'd,
And children invited to go

Without paying a penny-which really appear'd
The essence of kindness you know.

And Jonathan's children were sent to the green
Where soon they learnt reading and writing,
But after a time it was plain to be seen

They required his own "oversighting."
The good and the bad were so artfully mixt
In the lessons the children were taught,
That Jonathan's firm resolution was fixt

To do what a kind Father ought.

In removing his children he acted the part
That belong'd to a parent he said,

For he knew that the mischief that ruins the heart

Is often begun in the head.

And Jonathan Banks sends his duty to all

Who like him have more children than thrift,
And hopes they'll reflect when the Puseyites call,
That such learning's "too dear at a gift."

E. A.

THE PENNY POST.

The Penny Post.

A FATHER'S GREATEST TROUBLE.-The writer of the following letter is not alone in his trouble. It is one of the most mysterious things in this mysterious world that so many pious parents have had disobedient or dissolute children. Besides those mentioned in Holy Scripture we have heard of and we have known many other cases of a most distressing character. In some cases parents may have been too indulgent or too severe, or they may have been too negligent. In other cases they may have done all they could, and yet all was of no avail. Sad proof this of natural inbred depravity in man. Well: let such parents yet pray for their wayward children. God may yet grant them repentance. Indeed this has often been the result at last in answer to fervent, humble, persevering prayer.

"The writer is the father of a numerous family. My first child was a son, who, about his sixth year, had the typhus fever, and was so bad as to be given up by his medical attendant. My anxiety for him to live was excessive. I prayed most ardently that God, of his mercy, would spare him; and it seemed to me as if God had said to me, 'You had better give him up; it will save you an immense deal of trouble and anxiety; and he is sure to go to heaven if he die now.' Notwithstanding this I prayed that whatever might be the consequences he might be spared. My child was spared; and from that time he began to be a source of trouble and sorrow, which has increased with his years. He is now more than twenty years of age, destitute of the grace of God, never attends family worship, never goes to the house of God, never reads his holy Word, and, I fear, despises his people. That lad has hitherto been more trouble, and expense, and anxiety, to me and his mother, than all the children put together. Besides, I believe no lad ever had more friends pray for him than he. Now this is the effect of having our own will in opposition to the will of God. Had I given him up to the will of God he might now have been, and for many years past, an inhabitant of glory, and I and his mother spared the grief, trouble, expense, anxiety, and every other inconvenience which has arisen from our foolish and anxious wish to have a living son. And now, friends, what think you of my tale of woe? does it not almost make your hearts bleed. O never, never, never, suffer your own will to oppose that of your heavenly Father, but both pray and desire that his will may be done, and that grace may be given you to submit to it. I hope God in mercy may yet hear my prayer, and one day, perhaps, convert my child; but if he do not, on whom can the blame lay but on me! Yes, on me! O that I had never been born, rather than I should have been the parent of one who will be eternally lost!

May all who read this be saved from the unutterable agony of A DISTRESSED Father."

FACTS AND HINTS.

Facts and Hints.