Page:Selection of religious anecdotes.pdf/15

15 forcibly returned. It finally resulted in his conversion, and he became an able advocate and preacher of the gospel which he once rejected.

REV. MOSES BROWN.

A friend once said to him, " Sir, you have just as many children as the patriarch Jacob."-" True," said he, " and I have also Jacob's God to provide for them."

FINAL STATE OF THE HEATHEN.

A clergyman being asked if he thonght that pious heathen would go to heaven, replied, " I am not appointed judge of the world, and consequently cannot tell ; but if ever you get to heaven, you shall either find them there, or have a good reason why they are not."

REV. JOHN NEWTON.

A young clergyman visiting him on his death-hed, expressed much regret at the prospect of losing so eminent a labourer in the Lord's vineyard. The venerable servant of God replied, " I am going before you ; yon will come after me hy-and-by. When you arrive, old acquaintance will lead you to inquire for me ; and I will tell you where you will be most likely to find me-at the feet of the thief on the cross !

PROFANE JESTING.

" Jest not with the two-edged sword of God's Word. Will nothing please theo to wash thy hands in but the font ? or to drink healths in hut the church chalice ? And know the whole art is learnt at the first admission, and profane jests will come without calling. If, in the troublesome days of King Edward the Fourth, a citizen in Cheapside was executed as a traitor, for saying he would make his sonne heir to the erown, though he only meant his own house, having a crown for the signe ; more dangerous is it to wit-wanton it with the majestie of God. Wherefore, if without thy intention, and against thy will, hy chance-medley thou hittest Scripture in thy ordinary discourse, yet flie to the city of refuge, and pray to God to forgive thee."-Fuller.

AVARICE.

Avariee is a passion as despicable as it is hateful. It chooses the most insidious means for the attainment of its ends ; it dares not pursue its means with the bold impetuosity of the soaring eagle, but skims the ground in narrow circles like the swallow.