THE PENNY POST BOX. Aunt Rachel, triumphantly, "suppose a young man should ask you for the scrapings of your bread-bowl, what would you say?" "What could I say?" I repeated scornfully, " why, I'd tell him if he couldn't afford to buy oats for his horses they might starve. I wouldn't rob the pig to feed them." I suppose Aunt Rachel thought that lesson was all lost on me; but, as true as you live, I never knead the bread of this day without thinking of her lesson in economy, The Penny Post Box. HOW TO SERVE GOD. GOOD done to man is service to God. The man who by his labour contributes in any degree to the comfort or the security of others is contributing to the sum of human happiness. Every part of his work, however trifling in itself, has a bearing on this grand final result. And as the world's physical health and comfort is the necessary condition of its spiritual growth, so whoever works for men's bodies does indirectly something for their souls. So, after praying "Thy kingdom come," we may help in the progress of God's kingdom by just doing honestly and well one day's work. There is a great truth in this view of daily labour; it is because the truth is so large that we habitually fail to grasp it. We have a right to take comfort in the thought that our daily work, which perhaps seems sordid and low, is a real help to the great world of our fellow-men, and so a service to the Father of all.-Geo. McDonald. SELF-DEGRADATION. NOTHING hurts a man more than to seem small and ignoble in his own eyes. It is the slavish feeling that degrades the slaved. A base ambition makes the man that cherishes it base. No one can debase you but yourself. Slander, satire, falsehood, injustice, these can never rob you of your manhood. Men may lie about you, they may denounce you, they may cherish suspicions manifold, they may make your failings the target of their wit or cruelty: never be alarmed; never swerve an inch from the line your judgment and conscience have marked out for you. They cannot by all their efforts take away your knowledge of yourself, the purity of your motives, the integrity of your character, and the generosity of your nature. While these are left, you are, in point of fact, unharmed. Nothing outside yourself can ever make you smaller than you are to-day. If you shall dwindle; if leanness and inability shall come to any faculty; if you shall lose what makes you an ornament to that rank and order of intelligence to which you were born, the loss will be a self-inflicted one. Self-degradation is the only degradation man can know. FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry. Facts. London has nearly 60,000 milliners and dressmakers. Italy has only 550,000 voters in a population of 27,000,000. There are upward of three hundred and sixty German newspapers pub lished in the United States. The University of Leipsic now has a total of 2,730 students, of whom 983 are natives, and 1,747 foreigners. There is an over-production of grapes in California this year, and more than usual attention is being paid to the manufacture of raisins. lie in their head, they study; if in their stomach they eat; if in their heels, they dance." Gems. Love reposes at the bottom of pure of a flower. souls, like a drop of dew in the chalice Men are often warned against old prejudices; let them also be warned against conceits. What sufficeth it that we have the Hope is the best part of our riches. wealth of the Indies in our pockets, if we have not the hope of heaven in our souls? None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them; such Russia is taking steps to promote cotton culture in Central Asia, where the annual product is now about 50,000 pounds. American seed is to be in-persons covet secrets as a spendthrift does money, for the purpose of circutroduced. lation.-Colton. Flour is cheaper, on an average, in Britain than in America; while beef and mutton, particularly the second qualities, are very much cheaper in the United States than in England. The Duc d'Aumale, of France, has ordered a set of watches made so small that they can be worn for shirt and wrist studs. They are to be ready in time for the Paris Exhibition of 1878. Hints. Kind words are among the brightest flowers of earth; they convert the very humblest home into a paradise. A man's bad temper sometimes does more towards spoiling a dinner than a woman's bad cooking. Old minds are like old horses, you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.-John Adams. "My lord," began a pompous young barrister, "it is written in the book of nature"-"On what page?" interrupted the judge, with pen in hand. "People," says a modern philosopher, "go according to their brains; if these Say nothing respecting yourself, either good, bad, or indifferent; nothing good, for that is vanity; nothing bad, for that is affectation; nothing indifferent, for that is silly. Poetic Selections. GOD'S LOVE. THERE's a wideness in God's mercy Which is more than liberty. There is no place where earth's sorrows Is most wonderfully kind. POETIC SELECTIONS.-THE CHILDRENS' CORNER. And we magnify His strictness If our love were but more simple WATCHWORDS. BE strong, dear heart, be strong, Crush out with iron will; Be kind, dear heart, be kind; Remember every one Some duty to be done. In every thought and deed; Let no false act of thine Cause any heart to bleed. Let smiles and kind words fall Like dew upon the sod; LIFE AND DEATH. WHAT is the life of man? A passing shade A bird that flutters on a drooping wing; A morning-glory's moment in the spring; What is the death we fear? The peaceful close Of stormy life-of reckless passion's sway; The veil that mantles all our cares and woes, The heavenly ending of an earthly day; The crown of time well-spent, the portal fair, Which opes the way to never-ending joy; It sets the captive spirit free as air From all the fetters which on earth annoy. What is this death? The sleep the pilgrim takes After much weary travail he has known; And whence, with powers renewed, he awakes, His soul more mighty from its slumbers grown; The glorious conquest over human ill, The Childrens' Corner. A SWEET ANSWER. A LITTLE boy was singing hymns with his big sister, late one evening, in the front gallery, when the nurse called him to bathe. "Sister, don't let anybody take my chair," he said, as he got up to leave. "No, I wont; or, if any one does, I'll make him give it to you when you return," she said. Little four-year-old Harry seated himself in it, saying, "I'll give it to him when he comes, sister, without you making me.' Could any little boy have made a sweeter answer? "Children's Friend" would like to hear it. If so, the EXCELLENCY OF CHRISTIANITY. WHEN we consider the origin of Christianity, the character of its author, the design of its doctrines and teachings, we are compelled to believe that it is of the greatest practical utility to man. leads us to notice This 1. That it is good in its theory of doctrines. Compare the doctrines of the Bible with the doctrines of men, and behold the vast difference. The Ionic and Pythagoran schools professed to know and teach everything, yet much of their teaching was boasted knowledge. Socrates, commendable as was his progress in knowledge, was unable, from the dim light of nature, to inculcate truths and doctrines comparable with those taught by the "teacher sent from God." Christ "taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes," and as His mission was for the good of mankind, all can look up to Him as their great benefactor and Saviour. 2. It is good in its code of morals. This assertion has been fully attested. Law and order are based on the fundamental principles of Christianity. Human governments look up to this source for guidance, believing that a practical observance of the law of God is conducive to human happiness, which has a controlling influence over the minds of men in all civilised governments. Set aside the teachings of the Bible, and substitute in their place human wisdom and philosophy, and any nation of people, however prosperous at the start, will retrograde in point of morals. France is an example which should be a warning to other nations. Individually as well as collectively, man is also benefitted by Christianity, wherein is displayed its intrinsic value. 3. It is good in its efficiency. Lacking force and power, no agent can accomplish much in the work of reform. But the moral efficacy of the gospel is everywhere seen and felt. It kills and makes alive. It purifies and creates anew. It reigns triumphant in the heart of him who yields to its happy and benign influences. Salvation is of the Lord, and he who humbly bows at the shrine of mercy is lifted up to behold the glorious light of the gospel, which is destined, sooner or later, to subdue the kingdoms of the earth. The principles embodied in Christianity are of such a nature as to transform the whole moral character, and to create in the mind the most ennobling aspirations of the higher life—the life that is in Christ Jesus. 4. It is good in its triumphs over infidelity. Infidels have, at different times and in different countries, endeavoured to put down the Bible, to cast stigma upon its inspired teachings, and to show HOW TO READ THE BIBLE. that it is a cunningly-devised fable. Even one-Voltaire-went so far as to say that he with six men could destroy Christianity. He made the effort, but it was a complete failure. Others have attempted the same thing, but with no better success. Many more have endeavoured to live under the influence of scepticism in order to stifle conscience, to maintain a hatred toward God, and to go down to the grave with manly fortitude. But in these things they have also failed, as their death-bed confessions attest. Many, in that solemn hour, would gladly have said, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." HOW TO READ THE BIBLE. THE following brief but pertinent suggestions, offered by the Rev. W. S. Caldicott in Good Words, are worthy to be read and remembered:: 1. Disabuse your mind of the idea that the Bible is a volume merely. It is that; but it is also a library, or rather a literature. Acquaint yourself, then, with the history, order, and authors of its sixty-six books. 2. Set up in the vacant space of your mind a few chronological landmarks, such as dates of the Flood, the Abrahamic call, the Exodus, the Coronation of David, the Babylonish Captivity, and the Advent of Christ, to which all other historical events may be referred for their latitude and longitude, so to speak. 3. Totally disregard, except for purposes of convenience, the ordinary division into chapter and verse. To help you to do this, obtain a paragraph Bible from the London Religious Tract Society, where the ordinary divisions are marked only on the margin, and are not allowed to destroy the cohesion or the sense of God's Word. 4. Pay particular attention to the marginal readings. These are an integral part of the authorised version, and are of equal authority with the text, often contain the better meaning, and should always be consulted. 5. Be careful how you lay stress upon the words printed in italic type, as they are merely put in to fill up the sense, and are not in the original Hebrew or Greek. Indeed you may omit them as often as the grammar will allow you to do so. 6. Note all parentheses and quotations, making separate studies of such as may occur in your reading, taking the passage |