POETRY. strains them to the attempt; his example, in condescending to the most wretched, is their example; and his blessing crowns their devoted and persevering labours with success. The brightest gem in the coronet of the Earl of Shaftesbury is that which might be lettered— THE PATRON OF RAGGED SCHOOLS. Poetry. PLEA OF THE POOR RAGGED RACE. O YE who have tasted the comforts of home, And pity, O pity, the poor Ragged Race! Too long were we left all neglected and wild, And seldom the light on our darkness e'er smiled; No parents e'er taught us "Our Father" to say, O will you not pity our Poor Ragged Race! For like you, we possess a bright gem, which if lost, Dont forget that you too, in the sight of your God, Ye who have found mercy that mercy display, For we too, if you help us, may swell the great throng, And yet join with you to sing the "new song;" ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. Anecdotes and Selections. THE POINT IN THE SERMON.-It is mentioned as a remarkable fact in the life of a remarkable man, that the Rev. George Whitefield in 1743 had resolved to go to America, and had engaged his passage in a ship that was to sail from Portsmouth; but as the captain afterwards refused to take him, for "fear of his spoiling the sailors," he was obliged to go to Plymouth. While staying there he frequently preached, and an attempt having recently been made to murder him in his bed, much attention was excited, and many thousands flocked to hear him. Mr. Tanner, who was at work as a ship-builder, at a distance, heard his voice, and resolved, with five or six of his companions, to go and drive him from the place where he stood; and for this purpose they filled their pockets with stones. When, however, Mr. Tanner drew near, and heard the preacher earnestly inviting sinners to Christ, he was filled with astonishment, his resolution failed him, and he went home with his mind deeply impressed. On the following evening he again attended, and heard Mr. Whitefield on the sin of those who crucified the Redeemer. After he had expatiated on their guilt, he appeared to look intently on Mr. Tanner, as he exclaimed with energy, "Thou art the man!" These words powerfully affected Mr. T.; he felt his iniquities to be awfully great, and in the agony of his soul he cried, "God be merciful to me a sinner." The preacher then proceeded to proclaim the free and abundant grace of Jesus, which He commanded to be preached among the very people who had murdered him; on hearing which, Mr. Tanner was encouraged to hope for mercy, and surrendering himself to Christ, he afterwards became a pious and useful minister of the gospel. THE POINT OF THE PARABLE.-A young man who called himself a free-thinker, which means a wild-thinker, venturing one evening to hear Dr. Wayland lecture on the "Moral Sense," was so convicted by what he heard that he had used his own wickedly, that he became very unhappy, and in this state of mind sought an interview with the lecturer, who received him kindly. Sitting down he told Dr. W. that he believed God would never forgive him. The good man sat silent for a few moments, and then fixing a piercing look on the unhappy youth, slowly repeated the words, " And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." This point of the parable pierced the heart of the convicted one. pray," said Dr. W. They kneeled down, and a healing balm was applied by an unseen hand to the conscience of the contrite penitent, who went home filled with new and wondering admiration of the riches of God's mercy in Christ Jesus. "Let us ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. WAITING AT HEAVEN'S GATE.-" Again I render thanks to my heavenly Father that he has in mercy spared me to see this birthday. Eighty-two years of age! a period to which none of my forefathers or brothers reached. O Lord! help me to live every future day and hour as if I were at the gate of heaven, waiting for Christ to admit me into his presence. Prepare me, O my God, by thy Spirit for that blessed event! May nothing worldly now perplex me! Let all my thoughts, hopes, and wishes, be concentrated on my God and Saviour, all rising up to heaven from this day! Amen." So wrote one who had spent more than sixty years of his life in teaching and preaching Jesus Christ. He did not wait long. In about six months (March, 1865) his Master gave entrance. Who does not wish so to die? "O happy servant he, In such a posture found !" THE PENITENT'S DUETT. Penitent.-I Am a sinner, lost, undone. Penitent. I feel that I must surely die. Penitent.-My heart is very foul with sin. Penitent.-Could I believe that, I were blest. Penitent.-Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. Both.-Jesus, the same for evermore, Thy love and grace we now adore! We once were lost, but thou hast found us, Thy strength and righteousness impart, Until we see thee in thy beauty! THE FIRESIDE. THE NAME JESUS.-Jesus! How does the very word overflow with exceeding sweetness, and light, and joy, and love, and life! Filling the air with odours, like precious ointment poured forth, irradiating the mind with a glory of truth in which no fear can live. Soothing the wounds of the heart with a balm that turns the sharpest anguish into delicious peace, shedding through the soul a cordial of immortal strength! Jesus! the answer to all our doubts, the spring of all our courage, the earnest of all our hopes, the power omnipotent against all our foes, the remedy for all our sicknesses, the supply of all our wants, the fulness of all our desires! Jesus! melody to our ears, altogether lovely to our sight, manna to our taste, living water to our thirst! Jesus! our shadow from the heat, our refuge from the storm, our shelter by night, our morning star, our sun of righteousness! Jesus! at the mention of whose name 'every knee shall bow and every tongue confess!" Thy name is our most transporting theme, as we sing going up from the valley of tears to our home on the mount of God-Thy name shall ever be the richest chord in the harmony of heaven, where the angels and the redeemed unite their exulting, adoring songs around the throne of God and the Lamb. Jesus! thou only canst interpret thy own name, and thou hast done it by thy work on earth, and thy glory at the right hand of the Father: JESUS, SAVIOUR! The Fireside. THE OLD MAN AND HIS SIX CHILDREN. THERE is a saying that " a father can more easily maintain six children, than six children one father." Luther relates this story : "There was once a father who gave up everything to his children— his house, his fields, his goods-and expected for this the children would support him; but after he had been some time with the eldest son, the latter grew tired of him, and said to him, 'Father, I have had a son born to me this night, and there, where your arm-chair stands, the cradle must come; will you not go to my brother, who has a large room?' After he had been some time with the second son, he also grew tired of him, and said, 'Father, you like a warm room, and that makes my head ache. Wont you go to my brother, the baker?' The father went, and after he had been some time with the third son, he also found him troublesome, and said to him, 'Father, the people run in and out here all day, as if it were a pigeon-house, and you cannot have your noon-day sleep; would you not be better off at my sister Kate's, near the town wall?' The old man remarked to himself, 'Yes, I will do so; I will go and try it on with my daughter.' She was THE PENNY POST BOX. always fearful when her father went anywhere, and was obliged to descend her deep stairs; and at her sister Elizabeth's there were no stairs to descend, as she lived on the ground floor. For the sake of peace the old man assented, and went to the other daughter; but after some time she, too, became tired of him, and told him, by a third person, that her house near the water was too damp for a man who suffered with the rheumatics, and her sister, the grave-digger's wife, had much drier lodgings. The old man himself thought she was right, and went to his youngest daughter Helen; but after he had been three days with her, her little son said to his grandfather, 'Mother said yesterday to cousin Elizabeth that there was no better chamber for you than such a one as father digs.' These words broke the old man's heart, so that he sunk back in his chair and died." The Penny Post Box. THE BOOKS WE READ. It has been said, and there is much truth in the saying, that a man may be known by the company he keeps; and I think he may by the books he reads. It is wonderful, too, what a powerful influence books have in the formation of character, though they are only made of paper and ink, which, like telegraph wires, convey thoughts into the minds of those who read what they tell. How important, then, that the books we read should be good and true. But many are not. They tell nothing but lying wonders, which only fill the heads of those who read them with vain and foolish fancies. These 1 call counterfeits. Then there are books which have in them so very few good words that you have to waste much time to find them. These I compare to farthings, of which you must gather almost a thousand to make a pound. And in the same way we might compare books to other coins, some being worth more than others, just as they are true or false, useful or useless. We should therefore be careful what books we read, for though we have more books to choose from than our fathers had, we have not any more time to spare for reading them; indeed I think we have less. We ought therefore first so to know the character of the book we select to read as to be able to say, "Come, I shall not waste my time in reading this; there is no nonsense here." I make these remarks because I think they will apply to the Pioneer, which I hope will find its way into ten thousand more families next year. I only add that what I have written is of books in general, such as men make for us, not of THE BOOK which GOD has made for us, which is solid gold, and which we can never read too much. SELECTOR. |