ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

play. "Stop! stop!" said I, "if you please, gentlemen, let us have fair play; it's my turn now.” At what is it your turn, pray ?” said the captain. "At swearing," I replied. Well! they waited and waited, until their patience was exhausted, and then wanted me to make haste and take my turn. I told them, however, that I had a right to take my own time, and swear at my convenience. To this the captain replied, with a laugh, "Perhaps you dont mean to take your turn!" "Pardon me, captain," I answered, "but I do, as soon as I can find the good of doing so." I did not hear another oath on the voyage.

BURYING A BIBLE.-Bibles have been buried in many ways. An infidel became so angry once at the Word of God, that he dug a hole in the ground, and in it covered deep the book which had exasperated him. Some very reputable people—nominally christians-let their bibles lie so long undisturbed upon an upper shelf, that it is scarcely a figure of speech to say that they are buried by the dust. It was a bible, buried in an old sea-chest, whose resurrection was the instrument of converting to piety the pirate crew of Pitcairn's Island. But the most singular way of such a burial which we remember to have heard of, is the one mentioned in the history of Judah's monarchs, in the books of Kings and Chronicles. This, too, was only discovered by a resurrection, as unlooked for as it was beneficial. It was the Bible-all that was written-which king Josiah's workmen found in repairing the Temple; the first complete copy of the Laws of Moses which he seems ever to have seen. And where did they find this venerable, sacred volume? Covered up under the money in the treasure chamber! That is -the people had buried God's commandments out of sight, by the very offerings which they professedly brought to honour his name and worship. The Lord's money had buried up the Lord's Word. Rich tributes to his sanctuary had concealed and hidden his richer, costlier truth. This is suggestive. How much of this hiding, sepulchering of the spirit of vital christianity under cumbrous, taskful adornments of its outer shrine, is the world full of? The mind can dwell on this query a long time, without exhausting its illustrations. Another thought. Good king Josiah wished to do something to make God dearer to his people; and he began by putting the neglected temple in repair. While doing this he discovered the "Book," which directed him still further what to do. So ever do what you see can be done, and you will then see further, clearer.* We have known a revival of religion result from a zealous movement to build or rebuild a house for God's service.

THE STRUGGLE FOR ETERNAL LIFE.-We cannot fully explain the way in which sin entered the universe, nor the reason why it was permitted; but we are plainly informed how we may be delivered from it. We may easily and clearly understand how we

* Compare Hos. vi. 3; John vii. 17.

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

may be made as holy as ever we were impure; how we may be as effectually justified as if we never had been guilty, and be rendered as safe as if we never had been exposed to any danger. There is much that is mysterious in the manner in which satan tempts, and endeavours to destroy us. But we have all necessary directions respecting the way in which we may obtain the victory over him. And notwithstanding his power, and craft, and malice, and our own wickedness and folly, he cannot ruin us, but in consequence of our refusing to avail ourselves of the privileges which we enjoy, and of the grace that is offered to us. Oh! let us remember, and may God cause us to feel, that we are actually, certainly, inevitably, engaged in a conflict with the powers of darkness (unless we are already vanquished by them, and are therefore wretched captives and slaves) for our lives, and souls, and all the happiness of heaven. He that is overcome must lose-"he that overcometh shall inherit all things."-Rev. Walter Scott.

COME TO CHRIST.Once more, coming sinner! think of the Saviour who inviteth thee; full of grace as well as of truth. He complaineth if thou come not; he is displeased if thou call not upon him; he can bear with thy weakness; he can pity thy ignorance; he can be touched with the feeling of thy infirmities; he can affectionately forgive thy transgressions; he can heal thy backslidings, and love thee freely. His compassions fail not. He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax; he can pity where no eye pities, and be afflicted in all thy afflictions; he will bow his ear to thy stammering prayer; he will accept the weakest offering if there be in it but thy heart; he hath strewed all the way from the gate of hell where thou wast, to the gate of heaven whither thou art going, with promises. Behold, how the promises, invitations, calls, and encouragements, are mixed with the names of mercy, love, pity, and pardon! In his book they are fairly written, that thou through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Coming sinner, blessed art thou, for "flesh and blood have not revealed this unto thee, but thy Father who is in heaven!"-Bunyan.

ALL MEN SINNERS.-If all men sin, if they all sin as soon as they are capable of moral action, and if all the actions of unrenewed men are siuful, then reasoning from the effect to the cause, on the principle that all stated effects must have a stated cause, we are shut up to the conclusion, that there must be a native tendency or predisposition in the minds of all men, as fallen beings, to sin against God, or, in other words, that all men are born in a state of depravity. If this were denied, would not the acknowledged fact, that all men, in every country, aud in every age of the world, and in every variety of condition, sin against God, be left altogether unexplained and unaccounted for?

THE FIRESIDE.

The Fireside.

WHAT keeps the fireside bright, and cheerful, and happy? What but patient industry in the shop or the field. He who will not, when he can, fall to work and do something, will never have a happy fireside. It will always be a poor dull place to him, for he has done nothing to make it anything else. The poor wife ought not to be blamed if the husband does not put into her hands the means of making the fireside a happy place. There are some idle fellows who would rather be lounging at the corner of the street all day, counting every passer-by, than fall to work and do something. There are few towns or villages now where a bit of land may not be had by any honest, industrious, working man, to which, when he is out of work for a day or two, he may go, and do something at it which will bring something in. I saw the other day a scrap in a newspaper, which I think was a good hit, and so I will copy it, calling it,

THE BIT OF LAND, OR A LABOURER'S SPEECH.

At a recent meeting of Buckinghamshire agricultural labourers, held at Haddenham, to consider the allotment system, and to devise the best means of obtaining land, the curate of the parish presiding, Robert Rose, a labourer, said,-"I dont want to be independent of my master. I want master and man to be united for each other's interests. I want Tom and Tom; not one thing for the master and another for the man; and I say, let a poor man have a piece of land, and then you give him a chance to bring up his family—all of them then can try and earn something. Then they could get wholesome food, and not eat just anything-rang-tang, or such like. I say again, I want Tom and Tom. If a bit of land was let out, I think our street corners would not be just as they are now-a place where all the young chaps get blackguarding about. I want to see a little feeling among us; but the poor are often against the poor. If they would stick together they would soon get their rights granted them. (One of the labourers present here made some sneering remark, to which Rose replied)—Yes, Richard, if you had a bit of fand you would not have so many idle hours to loiter about. I know what the value of a bit of land is. My bit has kept me from the parish oftentimes: for I would rather make any shift than do that. I had a bit of the worst land in the parish. When I took to i: I cou'd not stand on it, it was so swampy, but now you might drive a four-horse wagon over it." The meeting unanimously adopted a memorial to the vicar and other landowners of Haddenham, expressing their earnest hope that a portion of land, when vacant, might be allotted to the poor.

THE PENNY POST.

The Penny Post.

THE KING WHO COULD NOT SMILE.-Reading an old work published in the year 1662, I met with the following, which I thought might not be unsuitable for the Pioneer. The writer, stating some directions for attaining spiritual life, observes :-" First, get thine understanding enlightened in the knowledge of thy sins and misery: the knowledge of thy disease and danger must precede thy recovery and cure. Oh! how many thousand souls have miscarried in the dark of ignorance! Did men know, surely they would not daily, by their sins, crucify the Lord of Glory. Did they know their misery, they would not be so merry as they are in the ways of iniquity." And then he says, " I have read a story of a king that was ever pensive, and was never seen to smile; and being asked by his brother the cause of it, he put him off ti'l the next day for an answer; and in the meantime caused a deep pit to be made, commanding his servants to fill it half full of fiery coals, and then causeth an old rotten board to be laid over it, and over the board to hang a two-edged sword by a small slender thread, with the point downwards, and close by the pit to set a table full of all manner of delicacies. His brother coming next day for an answer was placed at the board, and four men with drawn swords about him, and with all the best music that could be had to play before him. Then the king called to him, saying, 'Rejoice and be merry, brother; eat, drink, and laugh, for here is pleasant being! But he replied, 'O my lord and king, how can I be merry, being in such danger on every side?' Then said the king, 'Look how it is now with thee, so it is always with me; for if I look above me, I see the great and dreadful Judge, to whom I must give an account of all my thoughts, words, and deeds; if I look under me, I see the endless torments of hell, whereinto I shall be cast if I die in my sins; if I look behind me, I see all the sins I have committed, and the time I have spent unprofitably; if I look before me, I see death every day drawing nearer and nearer unto me; if I look on my right hand, I see my conscience accusing me of all the evil I have done, and good I have left undone in this world; and if I look on my left hand, I see the creatures, on their Miker's behalf, crying out for vengeance against me, a rebel. Now then, cease hereafter to wonder why I cannot rejoice in the things of this world.'" J. S. C.

But we presume the "old writer" would follow up his “story” by telling his readers where they might look and smile-to the cross of Jesus; for looking there, though dangers are all around us, we are safe. Looking to Him who was "lifted up" we may smile, even through our own tears, and be happy in believing the great fact that the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. For there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.

FACTS, HINTS, AND GEMS.

Facts, Hints, and Gems.

IGNORANCE OF TROUBLES. - To

be ignorant of evils to come, and forgetful of evils past, is a merciful arrangement of providence, whereby we digest the mixture of our few and evil days; not relapsing into cutting remembrances, our sorrows are not kept raw and sore, but heal of themselves before new ones come upon us.

SYMPATHY, like honesty, is the If we do not weep best policy. popu. with those who weep, we cannot expect, when our turn comes, that they will weep with us.