FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. Gems. CLUSTERING THE CROWNS OF JESUS. On his head are many crowns; and And so we might go on trying to think of all the wants and miseries of human nature, and fast as we put them down we should find every want supplied, and every misery removed by HIM who is our all in all. Verily: HE IS THE CHIEFEST AMONG TEN THOUSAND AND THE ALTOGETHER LOVELY! IN HIM DWELLETH ALL THE FULNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY. YE ARE COMPLETE IN HIM. Poetic Selections. THE SCRIPTURE LOOKING GLASS. SHOULD any reader wish to know What verdict on himself to pass, For in it you may plainly see Christ says to all," Come, learn of me, If Christ was meek and lowly too, Many profess and make a show- Am I in Christ, the living vine ? O let me tremble at that thought, Which shine abroad and shine at home, Do I believe with all the heart ? Do I from every sin depart? Who nought else bears but worthless leaves; That person much himself deceives, May all who look into this glass, THE CHILDREN'S CORNER. The Children's Corner. FORTUNE TELLING. THERE are some big girls who are so silly as to believe that other people can tell their fortunes. They will give money to a sly black gipsy woman who comes to the back door and pretends to be able to tell fortunes. Or they will buy bad books which pretend to tell them. I say pretend, for it is all pretence. The gipsy comes for money, and the book is only made for money, and yet the silly girl does not see that. I have heard of two girls who were talking in this way. JANE. I wish I had a fortune-book, but I dont know where to get one. Do you? SARAH. I have got one. JANE. Have you. Oh, let me see it, will you? Is it a good one? SARAH. Yes: very. It told my mother's fortune exactly. It is a very old one, but it always comes true. JANE. Does it? Oh then I must see it. SARAH. You shall. Come along. So they went to Sarah's house, and she brought out a big old book, and laid it before her on the table. SARAH. There it is, Jane; open it and read for yourself. SARAH. I know that, but it tells fortunes and it will tell yours, and tell it true too. JANE. That is too bad of you, Sarah. I wanted to know who I was to have for a sweetheart. SARAH. Well it tells you that, for it says that all liars are of the devil, and all who love lies are like him. But it says if we love the Lord Jesus we shall be like him and be rich and happy in heaven, and that is the best fortune that can be told for us. So dont believe lying women and lying books, Jane, any more. Believe what God says in his word, for it is always true, and what it says always comes to pass. Young people ought to have more good sense than to believe that any man or woman can tell them what is to come to pass. None can tell that but God. It is very wicked in such people to go about telling such shocking lies, and it is almost as wicked to believe them. If you read the Bible you will find that this was one of the great sins which made God angry with the people, and caused him to punish them. Take care, then, that you do not offend him as they did. The old devil went to Eve as a fortune-teller, and deceived her, and so ruined the world. All such cheats are the children of that great cheat-the devil. HAPPY NANCY. NANCY was a solitary woman. She was some thirty years of age, tended her little garden, knit and spun for a living. She was known all around, from village to village, by the name of "Happy Nancy." She had no family, no relatives; and was bad of sight, lame, and crooked. But the great God, who loves to bring strength out of weakness, was her portion and her joy. "Well, Nancy, singing again," would the chance visitor say, as he stopped at her door. Oh, yes, I'm ever at it." "I wish you would tell me your secret, Nancy-you are all alone, you work hard, you have nothing very pleasant about you, what is the reason you're always so happy?" Perhaps it's because I hav'nt got anybody but God," replied the good creature, looking up. "You see, rich folks, like you, depend upon their families and their houses; they've got to be thinking of their business, of their wives and children, and then they're always mighty afraid of troubles ahead. I ain't got anything to trouble myself about, you see, 'cause I leave it all to the Lord. I think, well, if He can keep this great world in such good order, the sun coming day after day, and the stars a shining night after night, and make my garden things come up just the same, season after season, He can certainly take care of such a poor, simple thing as I am; and so, you see, I leave all to the Lord, and the Lord takes care of me.' Well, but, Nancy, suppose a frost should come, after your fruit trees are all in blossom, and your little plants out; suppose 99 "But I don't suppose; I never will suppose; I dont want to suppose, except this, that the Lord will do everything right. That's what makes some people unhappy; you're all the time supposing. Now why can't you wait till the suppose comes, as I do, and then make the best of it?" "Ah! Nancy, its pretty certain you'll get to heaven, while many of us, with all our worldly wisdom, will have to stay out." "There you are at it again," said Nancy, shaking her head, "always looking out for some black cloud. Why, if I was you, I'd keep the devil at arm's length, instead of taking him right into my heart-he'll do you a desperate sight of mischief.' She was right. We do take the demon of care, of mistrust, of melancholy foreboding, of ingratitude, right into our hearts. HAPPY NANCY. We canker every pleasure with this gloomy fear of coming ill; we seldom trust that blessings will come, or hail them when they do come. Instead of that, we smother them under the blanket of apprehension, and choke them with our over anxiety. It would be well for us to imitate Happy Nancy, and "never suppose." Do whatever your hand finds to do, and then leave it. Be more childlike toward your heavenly Father; believe in His love; learn to confide in His wisdom, and not in your own; and above all, "wait till the 'suppose' comes, and then make the best of it." Depend upon it, earth would seem an Eden if you would follow Happy Nancy's rule, and never give place in your bosom to imaginary fears which may never come to pass. But let us not make a mistake. It will not do for us to sit still and do nothing. Nancy did not do so. She was always at her work, knitting or spinning, or gardening. She did all she could herself, and then trusted in the care and blessing of her Heavenly Father. Nancy did not like giving way to imaginary fears. She knew what her Lord had said, "Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." Some people are always imagining evils to come; they frighten themselves in expectation of them, and suffer more, perhaps, than they would if they really did come. This is foolish. They had much better follow the advice of the good old Book. "Be careful for nothing; but in everything with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Casting all your care upon Him, for he careth for you." ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. Chase slumber from thine eyes; Watch, christian, watch and pray, Thy Saviour watched for thee, Till from his brow the blood sweat flowed Take Jesus for thy trust; Watch, for thou soon must sleep Anecdotes and Selections. G. S. OVERDOING IN WELLDOING.-Matthew Henry, in his Life of his father, the Rev. Philip Henry, says, "I have heard him often blame those whose irregular zeal in the profession of religion makes them to neglect their worldly business, and let the house drop through, the affairs of which the good man will order with discretion; and he would tell sometimes of a religious woman whose fault it was-how she was convinced of it by means of an intelligent, godly neighbour, who, coming into the house, and finding the good woman, far in the day, in her closet, and the house sadly neglected, children not tended, servants not minded, 'What!' said he, 'Is there no fear of God in this house?' which much startled and affected the good woman that overheard him. He would often say, every thing is beautiful in its season: and that it is the wisdom of the prudent so to order the duties of their general calling as christians, and those of their particular_calling in the world, as that they may not clash or interfere. I have heard it observed, from Eccles. vii. 16, that there may be overdoing in welldoing." 66 PAID IN HIS OWN COIN. If one is dishonest to others, he cannot complain if he is treated with equal dishonesty. Here is a good illustration: A shopkeeper purchased of an Irish woman a quantity of butter, the lumps of which, intended for pounds, he weighed in the balance and found wanting. Sure, it's your own fault if they are light," said Biddy, in reply to the complaints of the buyer; "it's your own fault, sir, for wasn't it with a pound of your own soap I bought here myself that I weighed them with ?" The shopkeeper had nothing more to say on the subject. |