ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS. Anecdotes, Selections, and Gems, THE RICH MAN.-"His glory will not descend after him." In all points, as he came into the world, so he must go out; naked in; and naked out; he brought nothing in, he can carry nothing out, he passeth, but the earth abides, and his house will know him no more. And this shows the baseness of worldly wealth, First, that it is communicable to the men of this world, who have had their portion only here; their bellies may be filled with these treasures; they may have more than heart could wish; they may be mighty in power, and spend their days in wealth; they may join house to house, and lay field to field. 'No man can know love or hatred by these things;" a Nabal and a Doeg may have them, as well as an Abraham or a David. Jacob's ladder, which conveyeth to heaven, may have its foot in a smoking cottage; and there may be a trapdoor in a stately palace, which may let down to hell.Secondly, That it is of but a very narrow use; like a candle, needful in the night, but absurd in the day; like brass tokens, fit to buy some small trifles with, but not to purchase an inheritance. All the difference which riches make amongst men, are but in this little isthmus of mortality. As, in casting accounts, one counter stands for a thousand pounds, another for a penny; as, in setting letters, the same letter may one while be put in the name of a prince, and the next time into the name of a beggar; but when the counters are put into the bag, and the letters into their boxes, they are there all alike. No difference between the dust of Dives and Lazarus. Come to Ahab and Jezebel when the dogs have done with them; and their vineyard and their paint is vanished unto all eternity. A living dog is better than a dead lion; a dead lion no better than a dead dog. Happy they who have Christ for their portion, for they are heirs of all things for ever! OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD.-Many years since, there lived in one of the central counties of New Jersey, a poor mechanic, eminent for his pious zeal and consistency. He was very much tried by the conduct of an ungodly neighbour, who was in the habit of cutting his wood for the week on the Lord's-day, and the sound of whose axe continually disturbed the old Christian's meditations. Father H., as he was called, often remonstrated earnestly and kindly with his neighbour, but without any effect. At length he adopted a different course. One Saturday afternoon. his neighbour found the old man very busy at his wood-pile, and inquired in astonishment what he was doing. "Why," replied father H., "you will persist in cutting your wood on God's holy day, and it grieves me so much that I mean to do it for you this afternoon, so that you will have no temptation to do it to-morrow' ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS. The man was 'at once overcome, and exclaimed, “No, you shall not; I will do it myself. Nor will you ever after this have reason to complain of me for chopping wood on the Lord's-day." And he was as good as his word. The old man has long since gone to his reward, but this incident lives after him to enforce the Divine direction, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." A HUNDRED GUINEAS FOR A BIBLE.—A young girl entered the shop of Mr. B., a bookseller, desiring him to exchange a Prayerbook which she brought with her for a Bible. He gave her a Bible, and bade her keep the Prayer-book also. Some time after, this girl was taken into the service of the Rev. Mr. Cecil. On her first coming into the family, Mr. Cecil inquired if she had a Bible; to which she answered in the affirmative, and told him from whom she received it. Mr. Cecil was pleased with the circumstances, and finding out Mr. B., recommended him to his friends. During Mr. Cecil's absence from town, however, Mr. B. became involved in serious pecuniary difficulties, and was compelled to give up his business, and return to a mechanical employment which he had learned in his youth. The violent exertion attendant on this Occupation occasioned a painful illness: he remained some time in an hospital, but at length left, and retired to an obscure lodging without any adequate means of support for himself and family. To this place Mr. Cecil, on his arrival in town, with difficulty traced him. An early interview took place; and Mr. B. having stated his misfortunes, "Well B.," said Mr. Cecil, "what can be done for you? Would a hundred guineas be of any service to you?" should be truly thankful for such a sum," said B; "it would be of great use to me, but I cannot expect it." "Well," returned Mr. Cecil, "I am not a rich man, and I have not got a hundred guineas to give you; but," continued he, putting his hand in his pocket, I have got one; here it is at your service, and I will undertake to make it a hundred in a few days." Mr. Cecil represented the case to his friends, fulfilled his promise, and the Bible which B. had formerly given to a child indirectly procured the means of once more opening his shop, and affording him subsistence. "I LIE NOT-BE TRUE.-How stirring these words of George Herbert, "Lie not," neither to thyself, nor man, nor God! Let mouth and heart be one-beat and speak together, and make both felt in action. It is for cowards to lie. Lies are the offspring of fear. How like a living thing this truth, as in a gem, shines out as George Herbert sang it two centuries ago :— "Lie not, but let thy heart be true to God Thy mouth to it, thy actions to them both. ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS. Eems. POWER OF RELIGION.-If ever Christianity appears in its power, it is when it erects its trophies upon the tomb-when it takes up its votaries where the world leaves them, and fills the breast with immortal hope in dying moments.- Robert Hall. PERSONAL CONSECRATION.-Offer yourself to God for life or death, for ease or pain, for strength or weakness. Let him choose and refuse for you; only do you choose him for your present and eternal portion. Fletcher. NECESSITIES.-To have necessities but no supply, is the case of them in hell. To have necessity supplied by means of the creatures, is the case of us on earth. To have necessities supplied immediately from God, is the case of the saints in heaven. To have no necessity at all, is the prerogative of God himself.-Baxter. MERCIES AND AFFLICTIONS.-We write our mercies in the dust, but our afflictions we engrave in marble; our memories serve us too well to remember the latter, but we are strangely forgetful of the former. Bishop Hall. SELF-CONCEIT is always most apparent in persons of mean minds and superficial acquirements; a vain person may, indeed, be clever, but can never be wise or great. HUMILITY is the low but broad and deep foundation of every christian virtue. Burke. MUCH AND WELL.-Not that which is much is well, but that which is well is much. A FATHER'S FROWNS are "but the graver countenance of love." Cowper. REPROOF.-Art thou blamed; ask thy conscience, and if it condemn thee not, well; if it plead guilty, take the reproof as a medicine for the soul. Facts. THE COST OF SEVEN WARS.-The national debt amounts to about £780,000,000. Nearly the whole of this vast sum was caused by war. In 1815 it reached its highest amount, £865,000,000. The following table will show our wars, and their cost in money and blood: 1. War of the British Revolution. To establish William on the British throne and humble France 2. War of the Spanish succession, to deprive Philip of the crown of Spain, and humble the Bourbons Total loss of life. £31,000,000 230,000 44,000,000 350,000 To repress ........ 3. Spanish war and Austrian succession...... ....... 7. War against Buonaparte, and to restore the Bourbons... 586,000,000 1,400,000 £1,438,000,000 3,910,000 THE FIRESIDE.-THE PENNY POST. Hints. FROM JOHN FOSTER. CASUAL THOUGHTS are sometimes of great value. One of these may prove the key to open for us a yet unknown apartment in the palace of truth, or a yet unexplored tract in the paradise of sentiment. TRUTH.-When the majestic form of truth approaches, it is easier for a disingenuous mind to start aside into a thicket till she is past, and then reappearing, say, "It was not truth," than to meet her, and love, and obey. SECRESY.-When we withdraw into secresy, we are more peculiarly in the presence of the Divinity; yet some men retire into secresy to devise or perpetrate crimes. This is like a man going to meet and brave a lion in his own gloomy desert, in the very precincts of his dread abode. TIME is the greatest of tyrants. As we go on towards age, he taxes our health, our limbs, our faculties, our strength, and our features. YOUTH is not like a new garment which we can keep fresh and fair by wearing sparingly. Youth, while we have it, we must wear daily, and it will fast wear away. PLEASURE. The difference between false pleasure and true is just this-for the true the price is paid before you enjoy it—for the false, after you enjoy it. SLEEPY SINNERS. Mankind are indisposed to think; there is an opium sky stretched over all the world, which continually rains soporifics. LOOKING BACK ON OUR YOUTH is too often like visiting the grave of a friend whom we have injured, and are precluded by his death from the possibility of making an atonement. 66 The Fireside. HOME TRAINING.-JOHN WESLEY's home education under the tutelage of his parents themselves was peculiar, and well calculated to initiate him early in habits of order and perseverance in accomplishing any object he might undertake. 'Why, my dear," said his father to his mother, while patiently teaching one of their children a simple lesson, which it was slow to learn, "why my dear, do you tell that dull boy the same thing twenty times over?" Because," replied the other, "nineteen times won't do. If I tell him but nineteen times, all my labour is lost, but the twentieth secures the object!" All classical antiquity has not bequeathed us a maxim of more practical wisdom. In such a school Wesley's mind was prepared to achieve the greatest things by being taught the smallest, "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little," till whatever it learned at all, it learned well. The Penny Post. OUR box is empty. We therefore invite our friends to let us hear from them. It should be understood that this page is reserved for the letters of any of our readers who wish to tell us their thoughts, or inform us of anything that has taken place in their parts, which they think ought to be known. They need not be backward to do so. We shall be glad to hear from them, and will give our best attention to their communications. THE CHILDREN'S CORNER. The Children's Corner. THE OLD ARM CHAIR. AND there it stands beside the hearth, That clumsy-looking chair, Which hath survived so many years Of trouble and of care: A hundred years have come and pass'd Pass'd like a dream away, And yet, within the eye of God, 'Tis but as yesterday! A hundred Springs and Winters too, Have reign'd upon the earth, Since first this antique-looking chair Was placed beside the hearth; And yet the face of Nature seems, Methinks, unchanged still Sweet daisies and sweet buttercups Still grow on vale and hill. But hath no change swept o'er the earth Is everything the same? Where is the man who made this chair? Departed-whence he came! And where's the form it used to hold A hundred years ago? Departed-to where all who live, Early or late must go! And where are now those youthful forms That used to grace the hearth, When my Grandsire was living here; All full of health and mirth? O, many a tale-a merry tale, The old man used to tell, His sons-dead every one! This chair-and these are all! Then marvel not that I should love This strange, old-fashioned chair; To you it seems a shapeless thing, Not worthy of my care. 'Tis nought but lumber in your eyes, No other earthly good- I love it ten times more, The scenes for ever fled; On forms that now are dead I see my Grandsire's hoary locks, White as the driven snow; My much-loved Father sitting here, As he sat long ago! And once again my Mother comes From out the grave to rest Her limbs within this old arm chair, And bless as oft she blest! I feel her gentle hand in love Laid softly on my head; Just as 'twas laid when I have kneltAnd here my prayers have said; I feel her kiss upon my cheek, Her warm and genial breathAll seem to come again to life, From out the realms of death! And while I gaze upon this chair, Tears will unbidden start; All wrung from out the very core Of my afflicted heart: While in my soul I bless the dead, Who were so kind to me; And in the height of filial love, I bless, old chair, e'en thee! Then while I live thou shalt remain Still standing where thou art; An uncouth relic of the past, But dear unto my heart; And when kind Heaven shall call me hence And I have ceased to be, My children shall have charge to take The utmost care of thee! J. H. |