ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

Anecdotes and Selections.

THE SPIRITS OF THE JUST MADE PERFECT are 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 paralysis; no sick beds; no sinking age or crying infancy; not a sigh bas 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!

KINDNESS. This will always do good. It makes others happy; and that is doing good. It prompts us to seek the benefit of others; and that is doing good. It makes others gentle and benignant; and that is doing good. Let it be remembered, also, that it is by the temper, and by the spirit that we manifest that the world forms its opinions of the nature of religion. It is not by great deeds in trying circumstances that men will judge of the nature of the gospel. But that unbelieving husband cares much for the gentle and kind spirit of the wife, for all his happiness depends on it; that brother is interested much in the conversation and the spirit of his sister, for he daily observes her temper, and is forming his views of religion, not so much from what he hears in the pulpit, as from the temper which you evince from one day to another. In these fields, humble though they may seem, and little as they appear to furnish a theatre for the display of eminent virtues-your usefulness lies. There, with the "gentleness" that was in Christ, you cannot but be useful; and, exhibiting such a spirit, you will not live in vain. YOUR LITTLE SELF.-A celebrated preacher, in a charge which he delivered to a young minister at his ordination, thus addressed him: 66 Let me remind you, sir, that when you come into this place, and address this people, you are not to bring your little self with you. I repeat this again, sir, that it may more deeply impress your memory; I say, that you are never to bring your little self

THE FIRESIDE.

with you. No, sir; when you stand in this sacred place, it is your duty to hold up your great Master to your people, in his character, in his offices, in his precepts, in his promises, and in his glory. This picture you are to hold up to the view of your hearers, while you are to stand behind it, and not let so much as your little finger be seen."

FEAR AND LOVE are necessary to that temper of mind wherein true godliness consists. FEAR is necessary to keep God in our eyes; it is the office of Love to enthrone him in our hearts. Fear cautions or avoids whatever may offend; Love yields a prompt and liberal service. Fear regards God as a witness and a judge; Love cleaves to him as a friend and a father. Fear makes us watchful and circumspect; Love renders us active and resolute. In short, Fear and Love go hand in hand, and mutually assist each other. Love keeps fear from being servile and distrustful; and Fear keeps Love from being forward and secure; and both spring from one root, viz.: Faith in God as our Creator and Redeemer.

The Fireside.

EDUCATION OF THE FIRESIDE.

THE fireside is a seminary of infinite importance. It is important because it is universal, and because the education it bestows, being woven in with the woof of childhood, gives form and colour to the whole texture of life. There are few who can receive the honours of a college, but all are graduates of the hearth. The learning of the university may fade from the recollection, its classic lore may moulder in the halls of memory; but the simple lessons of home, enamelled upon the heart of childhood, defy the rust of years, and outlive the more mature but less vivid picture of after-years. So deep, so lasting, indeed, are the impressions of early life, that you often see a man in the imbecility of age holding fresh in his recollection the events of childhood, while all the wide space between that and the present hour is a forgotten waste. You have perchance seen an old and half-obliterated portrait, and in the attempt to have it cleaned and restored you may have seen it fade away, while a brighter and more perfect picture, painted beneath, is revealed to view. This portrait, first drawn upon the canvas, is no inapt illus- ' tration of youth; and though it may be concealed by some afterdesign, still the original traits will shine through the outward picture, giving it tone while fresh, and surviving it in decay. Such is the fireside,- -one great institution of Providence for the education of man.

THE PENNY POST BOX.

The Penny Post Box.

OUR AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS.

WE have much pleasure in introducing a new correspondent to our readers :

An old agricultural labourer and occasional gardener is very glad you have taken an interest in that class of labourers, so long neglected and so little regarded; though, perhaps, among the most inoffensive and useful class in the kingdom. He has worked amongst them in different places in all sorts of farm labour more than sixty years; he has circulated monthly publications amongst them more than forty years, and feels the truth of the poet's beautiful lines—

"Full many a gem, of purest ray serene,

The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness in the desert air.'

He has also been a writer of verses more than fifty years, and several of his compositions have been printed, and some have found their way into different publications. He has sent you these which, if you deem fit, he should like to see them in print.

Near Romford.

W. C.

With the above we received three poetic pieces, one of which we give below, and the other two-"Cottage Hymn" and "Sweet Sabbath"-will be found in our "Poetic Selections." It is due to the venerable and respected writer to add that we have not altered more than one word in them.

THE TURNIP HOER.

Now fifty-six seasons I've labour'd below,
To obtain a supply of the bread that I need;

And whilst in the fields I have work'd with my hoe,
Have found the sweet promise refreshing indeed.
For Jesus has told me to be of good cheer,
Since He by his life has the world overcome;
Through much tribulation and poverty here,
There's plenty and peace in his kingdom at home.
And since 'tis appointed that all are to die,
Oh, may I be ready when death shall appear,
And angels convey me to mansions on high,
To dwell with the righteous in happiness there.
My body must moulder and crumble to dust,
And lie in the ground till the Saviour appear
To gather the bodies and souls of the just,
And take them to glory to dwell with him there.
Thankgiving and love will then flow from my heart,
To Him for his favours so signally shown,
That one so unworthy as I should have part
In the glories and blessings of his happy throne.

W. C.

FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY.

Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry.

Facts.

Hints.

IF YOU DOUBT Whether you should do a thing, not only ask, is there any harm in doing it, but is there any harm in letting it alone.

GIVING AND TAKING.-Nothing is more easy than to give advice, and nothing more difficult than to take it. BE ON THE LOOK OUT if a man begins to daub you with flattery. He means something else, depend upon it.

THE MISER IS A FOOL who loves himself more than all the world, and yet uses himself worse than all the world would use him.

MONEY, it has been said, is like a hedgehog, very difficult to get hold of and keep hold of. How many have bled at the fingers by clutch

AN OBSTINATE MAN cannot be said to hold any opinions. His opinions hold him.

ORIGIN OF THE PENNY POST.A traveller sauntering through the Lake districts of England some years ago, arrived at a small public house just as the postman stopped to deliver a letter. A young girl came out to receive it; she took it in her hand, turned it over and over, and asked the charge: it was a large sum,-no less than a shilling. Sighing heavily, she observed that it came from her brother, but that she was too poor to take it in, and she returned it to the postman accordingly. The traveller was a man of kindness as well as of observation; he offered to pay the postage himself, and, in spite of more reluctance on the girl's part than he could well understand, he did paying at it. for it, and gave her the letter. No sooner, however, was the postman's back turned, than she confessed that the proceeding had been concerted between her brother and herself, that the letter was empty, that certain signs on the direction conveyed all that she wanted to know, and that, as they could neither of them afford to pay postage, they had devised this method of franking the intelligence desired. The traveller pursued his journey; and as he plodded over the Cumberland Fells he mused upon the badness of a system which drove people to such straits for means of correspondence, and defeated its own objects all the time. With most men such musings would have ended before the close of the hour: but this man's name was Rowland Hill; and it was from this incident, and these reflections, that the whole scheme of penny postage was derived.-Times.

OPPORTUNITY for good or evil is not always at hand. When it comes mind how you use it.

A MAN'S HONESTY is about the only commodity whose true value is exactly the price he fixes on it himself.

OUR ENERGIES are fed by our hopes. Let hope be cut off and energy would soon wither and die.

HYPOCRISY has been described as a serpent with an angel's voice-a garnished grave full of rottenness.

TRICKERY never succeeds. It always loses more in the end than it gets.

THE FACE OF A MAN is often, but not always, an index of his heart. Take care how you trust it.

SOME PEOPLE are always getting their minds hurt. They must be very sore places!

FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY.