ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. husband, and father. Will you pray with me, Mary?" Mary did pray, a fervent, effectual prayer; and John did take the pledge, and kept it too. Better still than this, he took the Saviour to his heart, and found that peace the world cannot give or take away. When asked, upon one occasion, "Mr. B- how came you to turn about so suddenly? It really seems a miracle that a man who drank as you did should have strength of mind enough to break off so;" Mr. B- replied, "I have made resolutions to reform before; yes, times and again, but they all amounted to nothing; they were made in my own strength. But this time I asked God to help me, and promised, if He would, to devote the rest of my life to His service. He has helped me; it's His strength, not mine, that enables me to stand firm." Mr. B- - is now an honourable, upright, Christian man, and a living witness of the power of prayer. THE LORD'S PRAYER.-I used to think the Lord's Prayer was a short prayer; but as I live longer and see more of life, I begin to believe there is no such thing as getting through it. If a man in praying that prayer were to be stopped in every word until he thoroughly prayed it, it would take a life-time. Our Father-there would be a wall a hundred feet high in just these two words to most men. If they might say, "Our Tyrant," or our "Monarch," or even "Our Creator," they could get along with it, but "Our Father"-why the man is almost a saint who can pray that. You read, "Thy will be done," and you say to yourself, "Oh! I can pray that," and all the time your mind goes round in immense circuits and far off distances; but God is continually bringing the circuit nearer to you, till he says, "How is it about your temper and your pride? How is it about your business and your daily life?" This is a revolutionary petition. It would make any man's shop or business tumble to the ground to utter it. Who can stand at the end of the avenue along which all his pleasant thoughts and wishes are blossoming like flowers, and send these terrible words, "Thy will be done," crushing down through it? A TRIUMPH OF ORATORY.-A writer in the Literary World recalls a scene which he witnessed at Edinburgh at a meeting of Dr. Guthrie's ragged schools. The Duke of Argyll was in the chair, and a brilliant audience was present. To understand the allusion it must be remembered that a venerated clergyman named Guthrie suffered as a Covenanter in 1661. At the close of the meeting Dr. Guthrie came to the front of the platform to move a vote of thanks to the chairman. Surveying the audience for a minute or two without saying a word, until expectancy was awakened, the orator turned to the Duke, and with great deliberation, said, "It is not the first time, your Grace, that an Argyll and a Guthrie have met in the same place to further a good work in this city of Edinburgh." The effect of the sentence was wonderful. It went like a shock of electricity through that vast assembly. The Grassmarket and the two martyrs had risen on the view of every one there. The people, as of one man, started to their feet; and the Duke, rising from his chair, stepped forward and gave his hand to Guthrie. There the two men stood face to face, and hand in hand, ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. while the audience burst again and again into joyous acclamations, the tears streaming down the faces of stalwart men. It was a scene not soon to be forgotten by those who were present; and it seemed to the writer as, in all probabilty, the greatest feat of oratory that Guthrie ever achieved. TAKE FREELY.-A ship was sailing in the southern waters of the Atlantic where they saw another vessel making signals of distress. They bore down to the distressed ship and hailed them. "What is the matter?" "We are dying for water," was the response. "Dip it up, then!" was answered, "you are in the mouth of the Amazon River.' There those sailors were thirsting, and suffering, and fearing, and longing for water, and supposing that there was nothing but the ocean's brine around them, when, in fact, they had sailed unconsciously into the broad mouth of the mightiest river on the globe, and did not know it. And though to them it seemed that they must perish with thirst, yet there was a hundred miles of fresh water around them, and they had nothing to do but "dip it up!" Jesus Christ says, "If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink. And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come; and whosoever will let him come, and take of the water of life freely." Thirsting soul, the flood is all around you; "dip it up!" and drink and thirst no more. FAITH.-See the spider casting out her film to the gale: she feels persuaded that somewhere or other it will adhere and form the commencement of her web. She commits the slender filament to the breeze, believing that there is a place provided for it to fix itself. In this fashion should we believingly cast forth our endeavours in this life, confident that God will find a place for us. He who bids us pray and work will aid our efforts, and guide us, in His providence, in a right way. Sit not still in despair, O son of toil, but again cast out the floating thread of hopeful endeavour, and the wind of love will bear it to its resting-place.-Spurgeon. MEDITATE ON GOD.-If you would meditate on God and the things of God, take heed that your hearts and your hands be not too full of the world, and the employments thereof. The more full your hand is of worldly employments, the more you will think thereon; and the more you think thereon, the less you will think of God and the things of God. And what is the reason that many meditate and think so little of God and the things of God, but because their hearts are so full of the world. Where their treasure is, there will their hearts be also. WORK.-We talk much of working, but working is better than talking about working; "to get really at it, and to do something for soulwinning, and spreading abroad the glory of God, is better than planning and holding committees. Away with wind-bags! Let us get to acts and deeds. None of us know what we can do till we try. The sportsman will tell you that there may be many birds in a field, but you know not how many till you walk through, and then you will see them on the wing. When the wheel turns you will be able to see the force of the current. You will see the speed of the horse when you THE FIRESIDE.-THE PENNY POST BOX. put him to his best. Work! work! and the tool that is blunt will get an edge by being used. Shine, and the very light you have shall grow in the very act of shining. He who has done one thing will find himself capable of doing two; and doing two will be able to accomplish four; and having achieved the four will then go on to twelve, and from twelve to fifty; and so, as growing multiplies, he will enlarge his power to serve God by using the ability he has.-Spurgeon. The Fireside. MARRIAGE MAXIMS. A GOOD wife is the greatest earthly blessing. A man is what his wife makes him. It is the mother who moulds the character and destiny of the child. Make marriage a matter of moral judgment. Marry in your own religion. Marry into a different blood and temperament from your own. Never talk at one another, either alone or in company. Never both manifest anger at once. Never speak loud to one another, unless the house is on fire. Never reflect on a past action which was done with a good motive, and with the best judgment at the time. The Penny Post Box. CURE FOR WEARINESS. THE world is full of tired people, merchants tired of business, farmers tired of raising crops, mechanics tired of building houses, housekeepers tired of preparing food, operatives tired of the rushing wheels. Pass along the road and see how very tired three-fourths of the people look. How shall they get rested? Some say, "By fewer hours of work!" But some of them have no work at all. Others might prescribe easy sofas, and more arm chairs and soft beds. But some of the people who have the weariest look have plenty of good furniture and luxurious upholstery. Now we offer a pillow not curtained with gobelin tapestry, nor stuffed with the down of angel's wings. But a man who puts his head on it gets rid of his cares and anxieties. It is a pillow stuffed with promises, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "Cast thy burden on the Lord, and He will sustain thee." We have friends who, because they cannot sleep well, put under their head at night a pillow of hops; but they have never tried the better pillow filled with the myrrh and frankincense from the Lord's garden. Men and women tired out with the world, try it! FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry. Facts. SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD. THEY were-1. The pyramids-the mystery of the past-the enigma of the present-and the enduring for the future ages of the world. 2. The temple, the walls and hanging gardens of Babylon, the most celebrated city of Assyria, and the residence of the kings of that country after the destruction of Nineveh. 3. The Chryselephantine statue of Jupiter Olympus, the most renowned work of Phidias, the illustrious artist of Greece. The statue was formed of gold, and was sitting on a throne almost touching the summit of the temple, which was seventy feet high. 4. The Temple of Diana at Ephesus, which was 220 years in building, and which was 425 feet in length, and 220 in breadth, and supported by 127 marble columns of the Ionic order sixty feet high. 5. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, erercted to the memory of Mansolus, the king of Caria, by his wife Artemisia, B.C. 358. 6. The Pharos, at Alexandria, a lighthouse erected by Ptolemy Soter at the entrance of the harbour of Alexandria. It was 450 feet high, and could be seen at a distance of 100 miles, and upon which was inscribed, King Ptolemy, to the gods, the saviours, for the benefit of sailors." 66 7. The Colossus at Rhodes, a brazen image of Apollo, 105 Grecian feet in height, and which was to be located at the entrance of one of the harbours of the city of Rhodes. Hints. It is not what people eat, but what they digest, that makes them strong. It is not what they gain, but what they save, that makes them rich. It is not what they read, but what they remember, that makes them learned. Cultivate consideration for the feelings of other people, if you would never have your own injured. Those who complain of the most ill use, are the ones who abuse themselves and others the oftenest. There is nothing more disgraceful than that an old man should have nothing to produce, as a proof that he has lived long, except his years. Much of the unhappiness in this world arises from giving utterance to hasty, unkind words. It was George Herbert who said, a handful of good life is worth a bushel of learning. A wise and good man is never less alone than when alone. Gems. Eternity is the divine treasurehouse, and hope is the window, by means of which mortals are permitted to see, as through a glass darkly, the things which God is preparing. When the thief cannot break in at the door himself, he finds a child and puts him through the little window, and then the big door is speedily opened. Thus do little sins open the door for a great sin. Self-loathing a characteristic of a spiritual mind. The axe is laid at the foot of a vain-glorious spirit. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owners know not of. Better come at the latter end of a feast, than at the beginning of a fray. We can do more good by being good, than in any other way. A wise man endeavours to shine in himself, a fool to outshine others. POETIC SELECTIONS.-THE CHILDRENS' CORNER. Poetic Selections. CONSOLATION. BROTHER, the angels say, Tried, troubled, tempted, Brother, they softly say, He willeth the best; Rest as we rest! Ye, too, they gently say, From earth shall be free; Ye still shall have a part, Thus when the spirit, tried, Tempted and worn, And on the troubled heart ICE-CROWNED. THE naked woods at eventide They stood transfigured in the sun; The voice of God is in the trees; Oh! burdened soul and sorely tried, The weights that drag thee to thy knees To-morrow shall be glorified; Shall shine forever in the light Which hath no need of moon or sun; Then trust His grace, who through the night Shall keep His children every one. The Childrens' Corner. A PALACE OF ICE. THAT ice is frozen water-frozen by severe cold-our young readers know; and that ice is lighter than water is known from its swimming on water. Ice, in more northern regions, is harder than in England. During a frost in 1740, a palace of ice was built at St. Petersburg, after the most elegant model and the justest proportions of architecture. It was fifty-two feet long, and twenty feet high; the materials were quarried from the surface of the river Neva, and the whole stood glistening against the sun with a brilliancy almost equal to his own. To increase the amusement, six cannons of ice, two bombs and mortars, all of the same material, were planted before this extraordinary edifice. The cannon were three-pounders, they were charged with gunpowder and fired off; the ball of one of them pierced an oak plank at sixty paces distant, and two inches thick, nor did the ice cannon burst with the explosion. MR TO THE DEAF R. E. J. SILVERTON, Baptist Minister, Lorne House, Woodborough Road, Nottingham, C. H. Spurgeon's Second Student, is selling a wonderful EAR TRUMPET for DEAF PEOPLE. Persons who have not heard for twenty years are hearing Sermons preached. His Medical Energizer and Cough Curer is a blessing to many who are delicate. Price and testimonials of these remedies sent free. |