ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

POPISH CRUELTY.--On the entry of the French into Toledo, during the peninsular war, General Le Salle visited the palace of the Inquisition. One of the instruments of torture there found deserves a particular description. In a subterraneous vault adjoining to the audience chamber stood, in a recess in the wall, a wooden statue, made by the hands of the monks, representing the Virgin Mary. A gilded glory beamed round her head, and she held a standard in her right hand. Notwithstanding the ample folds of the silk garment, which fell from her shoulders on both sides, it appeared that she wore a breast-plate; and it was found, upon a closer examination, that the whole front of the body was covered with extremely sharp nails and small daggers, or blades of knives, with the points projecting outwards. The arms and hands had joints, and their motions were directed by machinery placed behind the partition. One of the servants of the Inquisition was ordered to make the machine manœuvre. As the statue extended its arms and drew them back, as if she would effectually embrace and press some one to her heart, the well-filled knapsack of a Polish grenadier supplied, for this time, the place of the poor victim. The statue pressed it closer and closer; and when the directors of the machinery made it open its arms and return to its first position, the knapsack was pierced two or three inches deep, and remained hanging upon the nails and daggers of the murderous instrument. This statue is a fair representation of Romanism. It has, to the eye of the careless observer, a beauteous form. It has a countenance of much simplicity and quiet devotion. It is arrayed in rich and flowing robes, but beneath them are daggers. It has joints in its arms and hands, which enable it to make what motions its ministers please. These motions are regulated by an unseen machinery. It extends its arms with great deliberation and apparent affection, and, with a smiling face, presses its deluded victim to its heart, of-wounds and death!

REMEMBER THE SABBATH-DAY TO KEEP IT HOLY.-In one of our large cities, some years since, there was a youth, an apprentice in a druggist's shop. He was poor, but he was conscientious; and it was his solemn vow, on leaving home, that he would keep the sabbath-day holy. As his finances were very slender, his master one day gave him a recipe for making blacking, and lent him money sufficient to get a few boxes made, with the assurance that he should have all the profits. The boy prepared his blacking and placed it in the window, but nobody came to purchase till one sabbath morning, when a gentleman came in and in great haste demanded a box of blacking. The youth put out his hand to take it, and then recollected it was the sabbath-day. His arm fell, and his tongue informed the customer that he could not sell it on the sabbath. The boy went to worship; but even there the lost bar

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

gain haunted him, till he told the tempter he had done right, and would do so again. On opening the shop early on Monday morning a man came in, looked at the blacking, and at last purchased all the lad had. He then paid for the materials and boxes, and found he had just a dollar left, probably the first dollar he ever called his own. With more faith and fortitude than many possess, he takes this dollar and in a few minutes has paid it to the Bible Society-his first and only dollar-feeling that he is safe who honours God with the first-fruits of his increase. From these principles he has never varied, and he is now a prosperous and wealthy man. Was he wise in honouring God's sabbath and God's word when the temptation was strong to do otherwise? Judge ye. From America.

WORK TO-DAY.-On one occasion a minister requested a lady, whom he thought qualified, to undertake some charge in districtvisiting, or some kindred engagement. She answered him, rather declining the proposal,-"My stay here will probably be too short for me to be of any use. I do not know that I shall be here three months." His answer was brief, calm, and solemn. "I do not know that I shall be here one." He alluded to his time and life in this present world. She saw his meaning and answered no more, but heartily embraced the work offered her to do. In God's sight time has in reality no remnants, no shreds, no patches to be thrown away; and the habit of speedy and ready application of our talents is one of the most important acquisitions which can possibly be formed.

TO DELIGHT IN GOD merely as a God of mercy is nothing more than pure selfishness—a passion which must be very offensive to God-for this is to delight in him only in so far as he is kind to us. There are some unconverted men who have got the persuasion (no matter how they have come by it) that God loves them in Christ, that he has so loved them from all eternity, and that he will, to a certainty, bestow upon them heaven at last. That they are unconverted men is obvious from their living in the practice of much which is manifestly sinful. The love of such men to God (and they do talk of their love to him) is, therefore, nothing more than the love of themselves. If they were in any way to come to have an opposite persuasion, that is, a persuasion that God does not love them, they would actually turn round and hate him.

VENGEANCE.-A person happened to complain in the hearing of a pious man of some conduct which had been manifested towards him by his neighbours, and concluded that he had a large portion of vengeance in store for them. "You have stolen it, then," was the answer, "for I know it does not belong to you, because God says, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay.""

THE FIRESIDE.

THE DAUGHTER'S CHOICE.-When Philip Henry, the father of the commentator of the bible, sought the hand of the only daughter of Mr. Matthew in marriage, an objection was made by her father, who admitted that he was a gentleman, a scholar, and an excellent preacher, but he was a stranger, "and they did not even know where he came from." "True," said the daughter, who had well weighed the excellent qualities and graces of the stranger, "but I know where he is going, and I should like to go with him;" and they walked life's pilgrimage together.

INDESTRUCTIBLE TREASURE.-John Newton was one day called to visit a family that had suffered the loss of all they possessed by fire. He found the pious mistress, and saluted her with, "I give you joy, madam." Surprised, and ready to be offended, she exclaimed, "What, joy that all my property is consumed ?" "Oh, no," he answered, "but joy that you have so much property that fire cannot touch." This happy allusion checked her grief, and she wiped away her tears; "for where the treasure is, there will the heart be also."

The Fireside.

"SHE ALWAYS MADE HOME HAPPY."

A PLAIN marble stone in a New England churchyard bears this brief inscription: "She always made Home Happy."

This epitaph was penned by a bereaved husband, after sixty years of wedded life. He might have said of his departed wife, she was beautiful and accomplished, and an ornament to society, and yet not have said she made home happy. He might have added, she was a christian, and not have been able to say, "She always made Home Happy."

What a rare combination of virtues and graces this wife and mother must have possessed! How wisely she must have ordered her house! In what patience she must have possessed her soul! How self-denying she must have been! How tender and loving! How thoughtful for the comfort of all about her!

Her husband did not seek happiness in public places, because he found purer and sweeter enjoyment at home.

Her children, when away, did not dread to return, for there was no place so dear for them as home. There was their mother thinking for them, and praying for them, and longing for their coming.

When tempted, they thought of her. When in trouble, they remembered her kind voice and her ready sympathy. When sick, they must go home; they could not die away from their dear mother.

This wife and mother was not exempt from the cares common to

THE PENNY POST BOX.

her place. She toiled; she suffered disappointments and bereavements; she was afflicted in her own person, but yet she was submissive and cheerful. The Lord's will concerning her was her will, and so she passed away, leaving this sweet remembrance behind her, "She always made Home Happy."-New York Evangelist.

The Penny Post Box.

PROFANE SWEARING.

BECAUSE of this the land mourneth. It is really painful as we pass along our streets to hear the filthy conversation of the wicked. There is difficulty in reproving such. But I lately read two little facts which may be useful in showing that something may be done if we do that something wisely and well. Here is one:

"A gentleman, when travelling in a stage coach one day, long before railroads were dreamed of, was annoyed by a young man who had acquired the polite' art of swearing to such an extent that he interlarded his discourse with it as though it were a constituent part of the language. As there was a lady present, the matter was doubly annoying. After enduring the young man's displays for some time, the gentleman asked permission to tell the company a little anecdote, and thus commenced:- Once upon a time (boots, sugar-tongs, and tinder-boxes) there was a king of England who, at a grand ball, (boots, sugar-tongs, and tinder-boxes) picked up the Duchess of (boots, sugar-tongs, and tinder-boxes) Shrewsbury's garter (boots, sugar-tongs, and tinder-boxes) and said "Honi soit qui mal y (boots, sugar-tongs, and tinder-boxes) pense," which means in English, “Evil be to him who (boots, sugar-tongs, and tinderboxes) evil thinks." This was the origin of (boots, sugar-tongs, and tinder-boxes) the order of the garter.'

When our friend had concluded, the young gentleman said, ‘A very good story, sir-rather old-but what has boots, sugar-tongs, and tinder-boxes to do with it?"

'I will tell you, my young friend, when you tell me what your oaths have to do with your conversation. In the meantime, allow me to say, that's my way of swearing."

The other is this:-" Profane Language. It is related by Dr. Scudder, that on his return from his mission in India, after a long absence, he was standing on the deck of a steamer, with his son, a youth, when he heard a gentleman using loud and profane language. See, friend,' said the doctor, accosting the swearer, this boy, my son, was born and brought up in a heathen country, and a land of pagan idolatry; but in all his life he never heard a man blaspheme his Maker until now.' The man coloured, blurted out an apology, and looked not a little ashamed of himself."

FACTS, HINTS, AND GEMS.

Facts, Hints, and Gems.