THE FIRESIDE. no perfect security but freedom; freedom none but virtue; virtue none but knowledge; and neither freedom nor virtue has any vigour or immortal hope except in the principles of the Christian faith, and in the sanctions of the Christian religion." THE BIBLE.-The Bible is the guide-post, as it were, to lead poor wanderers to heaven, to point out the way to that "better country" before them. It is the compass which shows us, as we pass over the troubled waves of life, how we may reach the wished-for haven. It is the medicine chest, which contains the only remedy that can cure a diseased soul. It makes known God's will to man. In prayer we speak to Him: but here, in the Bible, He speaks to us. AFFLICTION. There will be no Christian but what will have a Gethsemane, but every praying Christian will find that there is no Gethsemane without its angel.-Binney. Before an affliction is digested a consolation ever comes too soon, and after it is digested, it comes too late; but there is mark between these two, as fine almost as a hair, for a comforter to take aim at.Sterne. Nothing can occur beyond the strength of faith to sustain, or transcending the resources of religion to relieve.-Binney. As thrashing separates the corn from the chaff, so does affliction purify virtue.-Burton. It is from the remembrance of joys we have lost that the arrows of affliction are pointed.-Mackenzie. The Fireside. TRUSTING MAN AND CHRIST. It was a time of spiritual awakening in a small manufacturing town. The foreman in a department of one of the factories became anxious about his soul. He was directed to Christ as the sinner's only refuge by many, and by his own master among the rest; but it seemed to be without result. At last his master thought of reaching his mind and bringing him to see the sincerity of God in the gospel, by writing a note asking him to come to see him at six o'clock, after he left "the work." He came promptly with the letter in his hand. When ushered into his room, his master inquired, "Do you wish to see me, James ?" THE PENNY POST BOX. James was confounded, and holding up the note requesting him to come, said "The letter! the letter!" "O," said his master, "I see you believed that I wanted to see you, and when I sent you the message you came at once. "Surely, sir! surely, sir!" replied James. "Well, see, here is another letter sending for you by One equally in earnest," said his master, holding up a slip of paper with some texts of Scripture written on it. James took the paper and began to read slowly, "Come-unto-me -all-ye-that-labour," &c. His lips quivered; his eyes filled with tears; and, likely to choke with emotion, he thrust his hand into his jacket pocket, grasping his large, red handkerchief, with which he covered his face; and there he stood for a few moments, not knowing what to do. At length he inquired "Am I just to believe that in the same way I believed your letter?" "Just in the same way," rejoined the master. "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater!" This expedient was owned of God in setting James at liberty. He was a happy believer that very night, and has continued to go on his way rejoicing in God his Saviour, to point others to Calvary, and walk in the narrow way. Reader, if anxious about your salvation, be persuaded to believe God when He speaks to you in His word in the same way you would credit the word of an honourable man, and you will obtain peace through the precious blood of Christ. "He cannot deny Himself." The Penny Post Box. WANTED IMMEDIATELY. A FEW more Aarons and Hurs as attendants on the weekly prayer meetings, to pray for the success of the preaching of the gospel on the Sabbath. Also, a few more teachers in the Sabbath school, of the right sort, who will give themselves to earnest prayer and work on behalf of their scholars, until all have been brought to Jesus. Also, a few more tract distributors in destitute neighbourhoods surrounding sumptuous sanctuaries, where " a line may reach him who a sermon flies." Also, a few more contributors to the Lord's treasury on earth, who more highly prize an eternal treasure in heaven. Persons seeking such employment may find it at once by applying to their pastor. FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry. Facts. The population of Jerusalem at the present time is about eighteen thousand. Of these, five thousand are Mahommedans, nine thousand Jews, and the rest Christians of all countries. The chief native industry of Jerusalem is soap, and "Jerusalem ware," that is, chaplets, crucifixes, beads, crosses, and the like, principally made of mother of pearl and olive wood. The pilgrims to the holy city, who average eight thousand a year, are the chief purchasers of this "Jerusalem ware. Some three or four hundred bales of cotton goods are yearly sent from England to Jerusalem, valued at about sixteen thousand pounds. All the goods that come from England have to pass through the little door of the Jaffa port. Hints. Gems. Did sin bring sorrow into the world? then let sorrow carry sin out of the world. He is a presumptuous child that will choose his own rod; and an unreasonable Christian that will choose his own cross. Search others for their virtues, and thyself for thy vices. However various our wants may seem, what we all need is God. God's least thought is more prolific than n an's greatest abundance. There is no harder shield for the devil to pierce with temptation than singing with prayer. The truest self-respect is not to think of self. Of all earthly music, that which reaches the farthest into heaven is the beating of a loving heart. A tear, dropped in the silence of a sick chamber, often rings in heaven with a sound which belongs not to Better is an egg to-day than a pul- earthly trumpet or bells. let to-morrow. Forbidden water is Malmsey. Gentleness does more than violence. The remedy for hard times is to have patience. Love warms more than a thousand fires. If you want a wife, choose her on Saturday, not on Sunday. A tree often transplanted is never loaded with fruit. Eggs are close things, but the chickens come out at last. The doctor seldom takes physic. He that makes haste to be rich shall not be innocent. Poverty and hunger have many learned disciples. Poetic Selections. THANKFULNESS. MY God, I thank Thee, who hast made So full of splendour and of joy, So many glorious things are here I thank Thee, too, that Thou hast made So many gentle thoughts and deeds That in the darkest spot of earth I thank Thee more, that all our joy That shadows fall on brightest hours; POETIC SELECTIONS.-THE CHILDREN'S CORNER. So that Earth's bliss may be our guide, And not our chain. For Thou who knowest, Lord, how soon Hast given us joys tender and true, So that we see, gleaming on high, I thank thee, Lord, that thou hast kept We have enough, yet not too much A yearning for a deeper peace, I thank Thee, Lord, that here our souls, Can never find, although they seek, Though Christ a thousand times In Bethlehem be born, If He's not born in thee, Will never save thy soul, Hold there! where runnest thou? His face thou'lt never see. Ah, would thy heart but be I don't believe in Death; Go out God will go in ; Die thou, and let Him live; Wait, and He'll all things give. O, shame! A silkworm works The Children's Corner. ABLE TO DO SOMETHING. A VERY tall gentleman paid a visit to a lady one cold wintry day. As the fire burnt bright and warm, he took off his great coat during his stay. On rising to leave, a little girl, hardly higher than the tall gentleman's knees, who wanted to do something to show her love to her mamma's friend, said, forgetting how very little she was, "Do let me help you on with your great coat, sir." Mamma, astonished, said, "My dear, you forget how short you are." But the loving little girl was not to be beaten; she wanted to do something to show her love; so she quickly answered, "Never mind, mamma; but if I can't help on the great coat, I can run and fetch the walking stick." We are none of us too short, or too anything, to be quite unable to do something useful; and if we desire to do it, we shall not want the opportunity. A SIGNIFICANT LEAF FROM FRENCH HISTORY. In the closing chapter of Smiles's History of the Huguenots, a volume of great interest, the following picture of the terrible reaction which followed the bloody persecutions formally inaugurated by the Catholics against the Huguenots in the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, has a lesson for all lands and times; but a special and significant lesson for the Emperor and the priests who have so recently come forward as the champions of the Papacy. And now let us see what was the outcome of the action of this church, so rich and so powerful, after enjoying a century of undisputed authority in France. All other faiths had been expelled to make way for it; Protestantism had been exterminated, and free thought of all kinds had shrunk for a time out of sight. What was the result of this exclusive action upon the mind and conscience of the French people? The result was utter emptiness: to use the words of Carlyle, "emptiness of pocket, of stomach, of head and of heart." The church which had claimed and obtained the sole control of the religious education of France saw itself assailed by its own offspring-desperate, ignorant, and so ferocious that in some places they even seized the priests and indecently scourged them in front of their own altars. The nation that would not have the Bayles, and Claudes, and Saurins of a century before, now cast themselves at the feet of the Voltaires, Rosseaus, and Diderots. Though France would not have the God of the Huguenot's Bible, behold now she accepts the evangel according to Jean Jacques, and a poor bedizened creature, clad in tawdry, is led through the streets of Paris in the character of the Goddess of Reason! But a large number of the clergy of the Roman Catholic church in France had themselves long ceased to believe in the truth of what they professed to teach. They had grown utterly corrupted and demoralized. Their monasteries were the abodes of idleness and self-indulgence. Their pulpits were mute; their books were empty. The doctors of the Sorbonne still mumbled their accustomed jargon, but it had become powerless. Instead of the great churchmen of the past-Bossuet, Bourdaloue, and Fenelon— there were such blind leaders of the blind as the Cardinal de Rohan, the profligate confederate of Madame la Motte in the |