POETIC SELECTIONS.-THE CHILDRENS' CORNER.

God is glorified not in possessing, but in dispensing His gifts.

Faith never yet overdrew its account in God's bank.

The threatenings of God rest upon the same solid foundation as His promises.

If there be a heavenly nature, there must be a heavenly work.

The most frequent comers to Christ are the largest receivers.

Poetic Selections.

TWO CHRISTIANS.

Two Christians travelled down a road,
Who viewed the world with different eyes;
The one was pleased with earth's abode,
The other longing for the skies.
For one, the heavens were so blue,

They filled his mind with fancies fond;
The other's eyes kept piercing through
Only for that which lies beyond.
For one, enchanting were the trees,
The distance was divinely dim,
The birds that fluttered on the breeze
Nodded their pretty heads for him.
The other scarcely saw the flowers,

And never knew the trees were grand;
He did but count the days and hours,
Till he might reach the promised land.
And one a little kind caress

Would to a tender rapture move;
He only oped his lips to bless

The God who gave him things to love.
The other journeyed on his way,
Afraid to handle or to touch;

He only oped his lips to pray

He might not love a thing too much.
Which was the best? Decide who can.
Yet why should we decide 'twixt them?
We may approve the mournful man,
Nor yet the joyful man condemn.
He is a Christian, who has found

That earth, as well as heaven, is sweet,

Nor less is he who, heaven-bound,

Has spurned the earth beneath his feet.
-Good Words.

A MOTHER'S PRAYERS.

THE Sweetest sound heard through our earthly home

The brightest ray that gleams from heaven's dome

The loveliest flower that e'er from earth's breast rose

The purest flame that, quivering, gleams

and glows

Are found alone, where kneels a mother mild,

With heart uplifted, praying for her child.

The stream of tears can never cease to flow
Long as life's sun shall shine on us below;
And many angels have been sent by God
To count the tear-drops wept upon life's
road;

But of all tears that flow, the least deflled
Are when a mother prays beside her child.
Because it is to mortal eyes unseen,
Ye call it foolishness, a childish dream.
In vain; ye cannot rob me of that thought,
That legend, with such heavenly sweetness
fraught.

That blessed angels have for ages smiled
To see a mother praying for her child.
-From the German.

The Childrens' Corner.

THE SAW OF CONTENTION.

"O FRANK, come and see how hot my saw gets when I rub it. When I draw it through the board a while, it's about hot enough to set fire to it."

"That's the friction," said Frank, with all the superior wisdom of two years more that Eddie boasted.

"Yes," said sister Mary, who was passing, "it's the friction; but do you know what it makes me think of?"

"No, what?" asked both the boys at once.

"Of two little boys who were quarrelling over a trifle this morning; and the more they talked the hotter their tempers grew, until there was no knowing what might have happened if mother had not thrown cold water on the fire by sending them into separate rooms."

The boys hung their heads, and Mary said no more.

140

WINKS AND SON, PRINTERS, LEICESTER.

THE

CHRISTIAN PIONEER;

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE,

ISSUED IN NUMBERS, ONE HALFPENNY EACH.

VOLUME XXX.

1876.

LONDON:

SIMPKIN. MARSHALL, & Co.

LEICESTER:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY WINKS & SON, HIGH STREET.