ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

I've sung them to sleep with a lullaby;
By and by I shall teach them to fly
Up and away, every one?"

Honey-bee, honey-bee, where are you going?
"To fill my basket with precious pelf;

To toil for my neighbour as well as myself;
To find out the sweetest flower that grows,

Be it a thistle, or be it a rose

A secret worth the knowing?"

Each content with the work to be done,
Ever the same from sun to sun;

Shall you and I be taught to work

By the bee and the bird that scorn to shirk?

Wind and rain fulfilling His word!

Tell me was ever a legend heard,

Where the wind, commanded to blow, deferred?
Or the rain, that was bidden to fall, demurred?
-Mary N. Prescott.

Anecdotes and Selections.

THE RICHES OF JESUS.-O my soul, dignified with God's image, redeemed by Christ's blood, betrothed by faith, euriched by the Spirit, adorned with graces, ranked with angels-love Him by whom thou art so much beloved! Be intent on Him who is intent on thee; seek Him who seeketh thee; love Him who loveth thee-whose love anticipates thine, and is its cause! He has all merit, He is thy reward! He is the vision, and the end! Be earnest with the earnest, pure with the pure, holy with the holy! What thou shouldst appear before God, that should God appear to thee! He who is kind and gentle and of great compassion, requires the meek, the humble and compassionate. Love Him who drew thee from the lake of misery and from the miry clay. Choose Him for thy friend above all friends, who, when thou art bereft of all things, can alone remain to thee. In the day of thy burial, when every friend is gone, He will not forsake thee, but will defend thee from devouring foes, lead thee through an unknown region, bring thee to the streets of the heavenly Sion, and place thee with angels in the presence of His majesty, where thou shalt hear the angelic melody-Holy, holy, holy! There is the chant of gladness, there the voice of exultation and salvation; of thanksgiving and praise and perpetual hallelujahs! There is accumulated bliss and supereminent glory !—Augustine.

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

THY KINGDOM COME.-Three words. Weighty, instructive, monitory words. Characteristic of the prayer; characteristic also of the Author. The first lifts the thoughts upward; reminds us of the relationship of the name; corrects the selfishness which spoils and drags downward the prayer even of the regenerate; bids us think of God, and lose ourselves in Him. The second reminds us of a great system, a magnificent organization, as of some vast empire of lives and souls, of ages and universes, of eternities and infinities, high above us, deep beneath us, before us and behind, in which we are nothing, yet which is everything to us, in which to have a place is glory, for which to be allowed to pray is the highest honour and the highest dignity of the creature. The third bids us exercise this honour, this dignity at once. Here, as we kneel, as we utter the petition in church, or house, or chamber, we are doing an act which implies a divine worship; we are putting the hand to a work which is all God's; we are claiming a franchise, and a citizenship, and a priesthood, not of earth, but of heaven.-Rev. C. J. Vaughan, D.D.

GOD'S OMNISCIENCE.-God never forgets anything. All His works from the creation of a world to the tinting of a leaf, are finished-perfect. Did you ever stand under a full-boughed, heavy-foliaged tree in summer time, and pluck one of its myriad leaves and examine its delicate tracery, its colouring the very perfection of its finished beauty, and then think of the countless number of such leaves, of the great forests whose luxurious growth covers so much of the world, and reflect that among them all there is not a leaf unfinished-each perfect in its form and colour? And did you ever pick a flower-either from cultured garden or by sidewalk-enjoy its odours and bless its beauty, and stop to think how all the wide earth blossoms with such fragrant beauty, and no flower of them all forgotten-the same careful hand filling each glowing heart with perfume, and colouring each leaf with care, and feel something of the attributes of that Power-unseen, yet ever present; untouched, yet ever felt-who gives to the violet its colour, to the rose its fragrance, who tints with beauty the tiniest leaf, and yet whose hand controls the planets in their course, whose fiat rules the countless worlds?

LASTING RICHES.-They were digging on the Esquiline hill in Rome the other day and came upon the remains of an ancient tomb. In one of the vaults had been buried centuries ago a priest of the church. His coffin was now dust, his remains were likewise dust. And so were his garments. But laying along in their place were the fine gold threads, and even the intricate figures, with which these garments had been embroidered. Priest and vestments and coffin had dissolved, but the gold thread, bright and untarnished, remained. It is thus with a good character. Death may claim the person. The works of the hand may perish. Oblivion may seem to have set its seal on the most that one has accomplished. But every noble impulse, every good and helpful act, every better purpose and aspiring thought, God keeps His eye on these. The grave shall not wholly conceal them, nor time cancel them, and .eventually they shall be revealed as

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

the pure gold, tried in the tire, and found abiding.

The Marchioness of Salisbury perished in the flames, but the jewels upon her person were unconsumed. Deck the soul with the jewels of character, and no flame of time or eternity shall destroy them.

HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN.-The spirits of the just are made perfect in exalted and complete felicity. There is the absence of all evil, and the presence of all good-the one excluding suffering and sorrow, the other producing perfect pleasure and enjoyment. The bodies of the saints are spiritualized and glorified in heaven; there are therefore no lusts of the flesh there. Their souls are perfectly holy; they therefore feel no lusts of the mind. Fallen angels and wicked men are excluded from heaven; and there are therefore no temptations of Satan and the world there. This three-fold source of guilt, danger, and misery on earth, has no existence in heaven. Neither are there any funerals in heaven; no bereavements; no mourners; no sick beds; no sinking age or crying infancy; not a sigh has ever been heard there; not a tear shed; not a sorrow felt; the inhabitants weep no more, thirst no more; the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne feeds them, and wipes away all tears from their eyes. They see God; and "in His presence there is fulness of joy." They behold the exalted Jesus, and sit on the throne with Him. They mingle with the angels, and are equal with them. They sit down with patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, and join them in their hallelujahs to God and the Lamb!

THE SALVATION OF MAN BY JESUS CHRIST.-On no page less ample than that of the eternal, all-infolding mind which devised the gospel plan of salvation, can its glories be displayed; nor by any inferior mind can they be fully comprehended. Suffice it to say, that here the moral character of Jehovah shines full-orbed and complete-here all the fulness of the Godhead, all the insufferable splendours of Deity burst at once upon our aching sight. Here the manifold perfections of God, holiness and goodness, justice and mercy, truth and grace, majesty and condescension, hatred of sin and compassion for sinners, are harmoniously blended, like the party-coloured rays of solar light, in one pure blaze of dazzling whiteness-here, rather than on any other of His works, He founds His claims to the highest admiration, gratitude, and love of His creatures-here is the work which ever has called forth, and which through eternity will continue to call forth, the most rapturous praises of the celestial choirs, and feed the ever glowing fires of devotion in their breasts; for the glory which shines in the gospel, is the glory which illuminates heaven, and the Lamb that was slain is the light thereof.

IMPERFECTION HERE!-God hath scattered up and down several degrees of pleasure and pain in all things around us, and blended them together in almost all that our thoughts and senses have to do with, that we, finding imperfection and want of complete happiness in all the enjoyments which the creatures can afford us, might be led to seek it in the enjoyment of Him with whom there is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore.

THE PENNY POST BOX.

AND AFTER THAT?

THE celebrated Philip Neri was once in company with a young man who informed him, in high delight, that his most ardent wishes were about to be accomplished. A relation had sent him to the university; he had begun to study the law; he was going to devote all his time to it, and would soon have finished his studies. Philip listened quietly to the young man, who spoke with all the enthusiasm of youth. "And what shall you do then," he said at last, “ completed, what do you mean to do next?"

your education "I shall take my doctor's degree," replied the young man, “and then I shall be able to plead-I shall try to make myself a name by my talents and my eloquence,-in time public attention will be directed to me, and I shall, I trust, one day become eminent."

"And after that?" said Philip.

"And after that, I feel no doubt, some great public employment will be confided to me, and I shall make my fortune."

"And after that?"

"Oh! I shall live in ease and dignity, and shall have an honourable, happy old age."

"And after that?"

"After that?" replied the young man, astonished at the pertinacity of his questioner," Well, I suppose,-I suppose,-after that, I shall die."

"And after that?"

The young man made no answer, but went away thoughtfully, still staggering under the blow of that last "After that?" He comprehended now that success, and what is called fortune, in this world, are not everything, and that from our earliest days we must think of that everlasting "after" which follows this transitory life.

The Penny Post Box.

THE DOG DICTATOR.

"I AM none of your mealy-mouthed, compromising fellows that are afraid of saying the truth," said a blustering, ill-tempered dog, that could never let passengers go by in peace without a growl or a bark, intimating that they were in a wrong way; "I always speak my mind, and let people know my opinion."

"That would be all very good if they wanted to know it, and your mind were worth speaking," said another dog, "but I rather think such is not considered to be the case, for generally those who don't pass you as if they hadn't noticed you, go by on the other side, to keep out of your noise; now, perhaps, if you kept a little quieter, and didn't attempt to manage the whole street, you would be of some use, and pass for an honest guide instead of a noisy, quarrelsome puppy, full of yourself."

THE FIRESIDE.-FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY.

The Fireside.

THE SOUL'S DAILY WORK.

WHATEVER be left undone, my soul, these things must be thy daily employment, and unless thou art in a bad state of spiritual health they will be so:

To be much in prayer and meditation.

Never to miss reading some portion of God's pure Word.

66

To ransack every corner of a deceitful and desperately wicked heart."

To keep a watch over every rising thought, as well as over every word and action.

To be particularly on thy guard against any besetting sin.

To bring the "solemn, solemn, solemn" hour of departure often before thine eyes.

In whatever business thy hands are engaged that should be thy daily work, and that of every one who would be found watching, and who has taken Christ as his Prophet, Priest, and King.

-Sir Richard Hill.

Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry.

Facts.

introduced

Chemistry was

Europe in 1150.

into

Hints.

There is nothing purer than honesty, nothing sweeter than charity, nothing

Gun cotton was invented and used warmer than love, nothing brighter in 1846.

than virtue, and nothing more stead

The name Protestant was first used fest than faith. These, united in one in 1529. mind, form the purest, the sweetest, Clocks were first used in Europe in the richest, the brightest, and most steadfast happiness.

1334.

Hats first came into use in the year 1400.

Covered wagons were in use by the Jews.

Diamonds were first cut and polished in 1849

Shillings were first coined in Eng. land in 1505.

The Panorama was invented by Robert Barker in 1788.

Woollen cloth was introduced into England in 1191.

Bullets of iron were first used in England in 1550.

The science of heraldry was first propagated in 1095.

The more people do, the more they can do. He that does nothing renders himself incapable of doing anything. While we are executing one work we are preparing ourselves to undertake another.

Purity should be felt to be as necessary to the mind as health to the body, and its absence alike the inevitable source of pain.

Most of the shadows that cross our path through life are caused by our standing in our own light.

The commandment is a lamp, and the law is light.

True gold fears not the fre.