POETRY.-ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. Poetry. RIGHT OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT. ALL-KNOWING God! 'tis thine to know Who among men, high Lord of all, Who with another's eye can read, If wrong forgive, approve if right; When shall our happy eyes behold Anecdotes and Selections. A SABBATH KEEPER IN PRISON. Two gentlemen, (one of them a minister, deceased, the Rev. J. Cooke, of Maidenhead, who related this anecdote to the writer,) passing through the town of Cd, and having a little time to spare, visited the county jail, and conversed with several of the prisoners, most of whom were differently employed; some working at their respective trades, some gambling, some swearing, and one, whose appearance greatly interested them, reading the Bible. The gentleman noticed this circumstance to the person who conducted them: "O yes," he replied, “He is for ever reading his Bible, and would fain persuade the rest to do so too. He is a very religious man, very religious indeed; in fact, his religion has brought all his troubles upon him: at one time he was as flourishing a tradesman as any in this town." Still more interested in this account, they resolved on inquiring ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. farther into the matter from the individual himself, when a conversation took place to the following effect, and nearly in the following words: Minister-Well, my friend, you have the best of books there to beguile the dreary hours. I hope it affords you consolation in your present trying circumstances. Prisoner. Yes, sir; I bless God it does. His statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. M.-Have you long been familiar with its sacred pages. P.-Yes, sir; several years it has been my guide and support. Gent.-I should rather have feared that you had not been guided by its rules of holy prudence and correctness. Many profess to love the Bible, whose inconsistencies of conduct are a reproach to the religion they profess. To such, its consolations do not belong. It is not common for the Bible to conduct its conscientious and consistent followers to a prison; and yet we have been told that your religion brought you here. P.-True, sir. I sometimes grieve lest religion should be reproached on my account; and yet I bless God I have the testimony of a good conscience; and I most humbly, yet firmly, say, that religion has brought me to this place. G.-If you can prove that, I will answer for it, religion will bring you out again. Pray relate the circumstances. P.-I was a grocer, sir, in the most advantageous part of the town, and in a thriving way of business. My good old landlord died about three years ago, at which time my lease had nearly expired; but he had promised to renew it for me on favourable terms. In reliance on this, I laid out a great deal of money on the premises, which, however, would have paid me well had I been permitted to continue. On my landlord's death, the estate became the property of his brother, a man of wealth and influence, but a bitter enemy to religion. On coming to reside in our neighbourhood, and hearing that I made conscience of observing the sabbath, he vowed he would cure me of my foolish scruples, or else be the ruin of me. Accordingly, he sent several times on the sabbath to purchase goods at my shop, which I respectfully declined serving, and next day waited on him to offer an explanation of my conduct. He flew into a violent passion, and refused to hear a word I had to say; but swore that if, on the following sabbath, my shop was not open, at least till service time, he would leave no stone unturned to effect my ruin. I, however, felt it my duty to obey God rather than man, and hoped that his heart would be softened. But, on the contrary, he immediately deprived me of the custom of his house, which, in his brother's time, had been many pounds in my way; he forbade all that were in any way dependent on him to lay out a farthing at my shop; he refused to renew my lease, or to ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. allow me anything for what I had done on the premises; and he established an unprincipled man in the same trade at the very next door, and supported him in selling goods at such a price, that it was impossible for me to compete with him. The customers deserted my shop; and by the time my lease expired, the stock in trade and furniture of my house were barely sufficient to pay off my just debts. However, though stripped quite bare, I was not out of heart; but trusted, if I began again in ever so small away, I might obtain a livelihood for my family; and you know, sir, "a little with the fear of the Lord, is better than the great riches of many wicked." But even in this I was disappointed; for my relentless enemy pursued me still further. He proceeded against me at law for pulling down an old out-house on his premises, though what I had done was for the advantage of the estate, as well as for my own convenience. However, I had no one to take my part, and judgment went against me; and I am sent here to pay the damages, G. And how are you supported here? and what is become of your family? P. My wife, sir, who was well brought up, has opened a little school, by which she is enabled to get a living, though but a scanty one; yet she makes no complaint. I fear she often stints herself to bring me little comforts; for the prison allowance is but scanty and coarse to one who has known plenty and comfort at home. Yet God forbid that I should murmur or repine! I often think with pity of the poor unhappy man that sent me here; and though I would not for the world exchange lots with him, I pray that he may be as happy amidst his wealth, as I am in my destitution. The gentleman inquired whether this affecting case could be well attested. Finding that the statement was perfectly correct, and being a man of property, he took immediate measures to procure the good man's liberation. He also interested several other friends in his behalf, who each lent him a small sum, by means of which he was once more established in business in a small way. The blessing of heaven rested on his exertions, and in a few years he was enabled to repay the money that had been lent him. Meanwhile, the sabbath-breaking shopkeeper, who had been set up to oppose him in his old shop, ran through a vast deal of property, and failed in business, chiefly at the cost of his patron. A series of personal and domestic trials had somewhat subdued the haughty and malignant spirit of this man; his conscience smote him for his former cruelty and oppression; and he humbled himself so far as to acknowledge his fault, and offer to reinstate the object of his enmity in the spot from which he had unjustly expelled him. The offer was accepted. The shop formerly his own, and that occupied by the bankrupt, were thrown into one, in which, for many years ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. he carried on a most prosperous trade, and contributed largely of his substance to every benevolent and pious design. He also found that his truly christian conduct had been the means of producing salutary impressions on the minds of some of his fellow-prisoners. GOD SEES YOU!-Persons inclined to the sin of stealing, are satisfied if they can only be certain they shall not be found out. I once heard it related, that a man who was in the habit of going to a neighbour's corn-field to steal the ears, one day took with him his son, a boy eight years old. The father told him to hold the bag, while he looked if any one was near to see him. After standing on the fence, and peeping through all the corn rows, he returned to take the bag from the child, and began his guilty work, "Father," said the boy, "you forgot to look somewhere else." The man dropped the bag in a fright, and said, "Which way, child ?" supposing he had seen some one. "You forgot to look up to the sky to see if God was noticing you." The father felt this reproof of his child so much, that he left the corn, returned home, and never again ventured to steal; remembering the truth his child had taught him, that the eye of God always beholds us. "God sees me," is a thought that would keep us from many evil acts, if we tried constantly to feel its truth. HUGH PETERS was the third pastor of the Salem church; but after a few years' residence in Massachusetts, he returned to England, and was executed for alleged treason, under Charles II., 1661. Just before he was taken to the scaffold, he sent his daughter a piece of gold, as a keepsake, and a small volume, written while in prison, entitled, "A Dying Father's Legacy to an only Child." The contents of the volume were as follows: "Whoever would live long and blessedly, let him observe these rules, by which he shall attain to that which he desireth:: And such a man as this was put to death in the reign of Charles II., one of the most licentious kings that ever sat on a throne. THE FIRESIDE. A SISTER'S INFLUENCE.-"I was drunk once," said a young man to us, the other day, "and I never shall forget it. In company with several jovial fellows, I was induced to drink pretty freely, and by the time I got home, I scarcely knew where I was, or what I was doing. I was put to bed, and how long I laid there I do not know; but when I awoke, my sister was sitting beside the bed, engaged in sewing. The moment her eyes fell on my face she burst into a flood of tears, and wept as if her heart would break. Overwhelmed with shame for my conduct, I then formed a resolution that I would never get drunk again; I have adhered to it for some years, and I mean it." The Fireside. THE FIRST TWELVE NUMBERS. TO BE GOT OFF BY THE CHILDREN AT THE FIRESIDE. ONE God there is who reigns in heaven above, Two ways there are, and one by thee is trod,— Three cubits high-Jehovah gave the word- From thy heart's altar prayer and praise should rise, Four seasons-summer, autumn, winter, spring- Five foolish virgins slept, the bridegroom came; Six days has God indulgently ordained |