THE PENNY POST BOX. The Penny Post Box. CIRCULATION OF RELIGIOUS PERIODICALS. THE power of the press is now admitted on all hands. Politicians call it a fourth estate of the realm-so we have now Queen, Lords, Commons, and Press. Nearly every art, trade, or profession has now its own periodical. But it is to the Christian Press as opposed to the Infidel Press, that we now refer; and surely every intelligent christian will see and feel the importance of sustaining the former to the utmost of his power. By teaching to read you give a power that may be used for evil as well as for good. The appetite for reading being thus excited, we ought certainly to provide, not deleterious, but healthy food. A Friend of ours in Yorkshire says: "I have often thought that more might be done by our churches and sabbath-schools, to induce persons to take and read the many excellent periodicals which are now issued. Why have not religious magazines more than double the circulation they have at present? Simply, because there is little or no effort made to induce people to take them. If those who read religious publications would only imitate the conduct of those who read trashy publications, by shewing them to their friends and neighbours, I am sure they would not only double the circulation, but it would be increased fourfold if not more. I enclose a copy of a circular which we have sent to the parents of the children of our Sunday-school, and also to those who attend our place of worship. We have done this with a desire to farnish the parents of our scholars with useful and interesting books, and also to encourage you and others in your work of faith and labour of love. I may state, that to carry out our plan, we intend to form a committee of the elder boys in the school, to deliver the magazines on the week evenings, and thus avoid delivering them in the school on the sabbath, which is often a great annoyance to the Superintendents and Teachers. When we have tried the plan a few months, I will write to inform you how we succeed." Our friend enclosed a copy of a small hand-bill, on which was given in bold type the names and prices of about twenty monthly magazines, adapted to parents and children, selected impartially, with the following notice. "Persons desiring to take in any of the undermentioned periodicals are requested to send their names, with the titles of the magazines required, to the Superintendents or Secretaries of the above School." We only desire to add one remark-It is not too late to adopt such a plan for the present year in any school or congregation. FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry. Facts. METALLIC LIFE-BOATS. We have given a description of these "boats," and of the "cars" used for saving from wrecks, at page 26. Here is a fact which shows how successfully the life cars may be brought into use under prompt and proper management: "During a severe snow storm in the month of January, 1856, the Ayrshire, with about 200 passengers on board, was driven upon the shore of New Jersey, and stranded. The sea beat and the surf rolled so heavily, that it was physically impossible for a boat to put out and reach her; and there she might have lain, battered about amongst the breakers until the timbers had given way, and all on board perished, had not a life-boat station providentially been at hand. The life-car and its apparatus were at once brought out: the first shot from the mortar carried the line across the wreck; the hawser was expeditiously hauled through the surf, and the car attached. In a short time every passenger, to the number of 200, was drawn through the foaming surges, and landed at the station dry and comfortable. We need not enlarge upon the importance of having this life-car introduced into England, and kept at stations along the coast. It is impossible to estimate the number of lives that might be saved by its instrumentality in the course of a year." To shew the great necessity that exists for the use of these boats and cars on our own coasts, we give the following:— "The Wreck Register for the year 1855, states that 1,141 vessels representing 176,544 tons, occurred that year upon the coast of the United Kingdom, being an increase of 15-6 per cent. over the wrecks of 1854. The total number of lives lost was 1,469, to 1549 of 1854. The increase in collisions is remarkable. In 1852 they amounted to 67; in 1853 to 73; in 1854 to 94; and in 1855 to 247.” Hints. A STRING OF NEVERS." Never put off to another day what you can do, and what would be better done, to-day. Never trouble others to do for you what would hinder them, and which you can do yourself. Never engage to spend your money before you have got it, or are quite sure of having it. Never buy what you dont want because it is cheap. It will be dear to you at any price. Never indulge the expense of vanity or pride. They always cost more than you can afford. Never indulge the purchase of expensive food. A proud belly will cost even more than a proud back. Never have to repent of eating or drinking too much. Moderation in both is the highway of health. Never promise to do what you may not be able to perform. Better decline to do it at once. Never make a man of violent temper your friend. He is no more to be trusted than a viper. Never put trust in one who flatters you. He is only licking you that he may eat you more easily. Never make yourself uneasy about troubles that may never come. But be ready if they should. Never forget that you must soon leave this world for ever! Ask yourself, "Where am I going?" FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. Gems. OUR FIRST TABERNACLE.-There was not one wrong pin in the taber nacle of human nature when God set it up, however shattered it is now. MAN AND BEAST.-God made man erect that he might look up to him for all things. But the beast he made to look down on the earth for what it needed. THE DOOR OF DEATH.-Behold the door by which Death came in! "Ye shall not surely die," was the false key with which the devil picked the lock and let in the monster. MAN WAS MADE HOLY.-The holy God made man a holy creature in his own likeness. But when man became unholy there came from him an unholy sor in his own likeness. CORRUPTION AND VIOLENCE were the two great curses of human nature which brought the flood on the ungodly. But even that flood did not quench these burning evils in the heart of man. They are always bursting out flames kindled of hell. MAN'S EVIL DESIRES-lusts, the Bible calls them-often rise above all law, human or divine, shewing man is naturally a lawless being. Well may we long for heaven, where law and love reign, for who would prefer to live in a lawless world? ISHMAEL.-This name is said to signify a wild ass-man. Verily, the world is full of Ishmaelites, for though vain man would fain be reputed wise, yet is he born like the wild asses colt. ICHABOD is another name by which man may now be called, for the conduct of the natural man is as if there were written on his forehead, "The glory is departed." How HAPPY MAN was ere he listened to the devil's lies. No pain or penalty, no sickness or sighing, were his! Heaven shone down upon him, and earth smiled around him. HEAVEN'S HAPPINESS. YES, far beyond the clouds outspread, There is a land where thou hast said, That sparkles from thy radiant throne ! There, souls that once were sad as ours, Look up and sing 'mid fadeless flowers; They dream no more of grief and care, For Thou, the God of peace art there. NEVER DESPAIR. Wait patiently a little while, I AM a plough-boy stout and strong, | For were the ground not frosted so, As ever drove a team; But three years since, asleep in bed, I had a dreadful dream. I dreamed that on a frosty day, I had to go and plough A field which look'd like lumps of clay; An awkward job I trow. I took at early dawn my team- But could not make my furrows clean; The plough would go ajar. The fault, I thought, was in my team, And so I whipt them more; But all in vain, they would go wrong, When, lo! above an Angel bright, Before me did appear; He seemed all drest in glory bright, And put me in great fear. "Give over, cruel boy," he cried, "Nor thus thy team abuse, They would not work refuse." And then I thought the thunder roared, And lightnings flashed around, The rain in awful torrents poured, And covered all the ground. And then I heard a voice which said, "Repent of all thy sin, Seek pardon through a Saviour's blood, And a new life begin. Thus only canst thou find reprieve, Now as the dream has done me good, May fear the Lord in time. Whether you think it false or true, It made me leave off sin. And now I know the Saviour's blood A better life begin. SPANISH AUTO-DE-FE. IN conducting a criminal process, the Holy Office, if the evidence obtained against a person accused was deemed sufficient, issued an order for his arrest. If he succeeded in eluding the officers by flight, they were furnished with a minute description of his person and with his portrait, rendering it next to impossible for him ultimately to escape. If he was apprehended he was thrown into one of the secret dungeons-those dungeons especially intended for heretics or persons suspected of heresy narrow and unventilated, damp, if subterraneous, and dark, admitting the light only by a small chink. Here the prisoner lay, strictly excluded from intercourse with all save a priest of the Romish church and his jailor, and without a fire or light in winter to dispel the cold and the darkness during the long and cheerless nights. Meanwhile, a circular was sent to all the tribunals in the province to ascertain whether any charge or charges existed against him in their registers. If it turned out that there did, the depositions of the different witnesses recorded in one of the registers, or the entries in different registers, though referring to the same fact yet being expressed in different terms, were, with flagrant injustice, converted into so many distinct charges-it might be four, five, or six-against the prisoner. These extracts thus constructed were then communicated in writing to the qualificators of the Holy Office, who were the interpreters of what constituted heresy. The qualificators being monks almost always ignorant and fanatical, generally found heresy in everything above the reach of their own understandings, or belonging to a region beyond the limited range of their own studies, which had been exclusively confined to scholastic theology. In the three first days following the imprisonment of the culprit he had three audiences of monition, in which he was recommended to speak the truth, without evasion or concealment, both respecting himself and others, otherwise he would be proceeded against with the utmost rigour. Kept in ignorance of the precise nature of the cause of his arrest, he was simply told that no person was taken to the prisons of the Holy Office without sufficient proof, and that it would be for his own interest to confess his crimes voluntarily. By this base artifice, resembling that to which the witnesses were subjected, he was not unfrequently, like them, betrayed into making |