THE

Cottager's Monthly Visitor.

MARCH, 1823.

Remarks on the Tenth Chapter of the Book of Genesis.

(Continued from Vol. III. page 49.)

THE tenth chapter of Genesis gives an account of the descendants of the three sons of Noah; and of the different countries in which they settled, upon the dispersion that followed the confusion of languages at Babel, as mentioned in the next Chapter.

The whole world is peopled by the posterity of these three sons of Noah, for it is said " of them was the whole earth overspread,” (Gen. ix. 19.) and "He hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of all the earth." Acts xvii. 26. And accordingly we find that all are alike fallen from the image of God in which man was at first created; and that all equally need " the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Now the consideration of this common state of darkness and misery should animate our endeavours to spread the knowledge of the Gospel, recollecting for our encouragement, that the day is promised, when" the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea.' (Ps. ii. 8.) In Isa. xlix. 6, it is declared to be "a light thing that Christ should raise up the tribes of Judah, and restore the preserved of Israel;" and it is promised NO. 27. VOL. III.

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that he shall be "a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the ends of the earth." In Isa. xxiv. 15. and xlii. 4. it is said "the isles" (mentioned in v. 5) "shall wait for his law" and "shall glorify him." In the 19th Chapter 21-25, it is foretold that the Egyptians (descended from Misraim,) and the Assyrians (from Assur ;) (v. 22.) shall "know the Lord and become his people, the work of his hands." And in Chap. xi. 11-xlv. 14-Ix. 3-9. and Ixvi. 19. where the glorious time is spoken of when the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob," and the Jews be again "grafted into their own olive-tree;" (Rom. xi. 24. 26.) some of these people are named, as they who shall share in the life giving effects which shall result to the Gentiles, from the restoration of Israel to the Divine favour. You know that only a part of the Gentile world is yet blessed with the knowledge of Christ, and (in Rom. ii.) we learn, that this salvation first came to them upon the rejection of Christ by the Jews. In the wisdom of God, the casting away of the Jews was made the reconciling of the Heathen. But it is also prophesied in this chapter, and in many other places, that there will come a time when the Jews will again be restored to the favour of God, and will acknowledge their own Messiah; and their restoration, we are told, will be attended with still more blessed effects to the Gentiles, than their rejection was; effects so great and glorious, that they are compared by the Apostle to nothing less than life from the dead. "If the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness? For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead ?" Rom. xi. 12. 15.

It is calculated that there are now in the world above 800,000,000 of inhabitants, of whom about

200 millions are supposed to be Christians; the re mainder are Heathens or Mahometans, more or less civilized, but all "sittings in darkness, and in the shadow of death;" without the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent: and it is to give knowledge of salvation to these poor people by the remission of their sins," that Christians are so anxious to be the means of converting the heathen nations and remember, that "whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, (temporal or spiritual need) and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" 1 John iii. 17.

T. B. P..

INDIAN SUPERSTITIONS.

It is impossible for any humane person to think of the miseries occasioned by the wretched idolatry which prevails in the East, without an anxious wish to see that part of the world brought under the mild influence of the religion of Christ. Many accounts have, of late years, been published, of widows being burned, old men and children being drowned in the river Ganges, and crowds of pilgrims being crushed to death under the horrid car of the idol Juggernaut. Happily the attention of our countrymen has been strongly excited in this good cause, and great improvements, we trust, have been made within these few years by the exertions of Englishmen. The excellent Bishop Middleton, whose late loss is so deeply deplored, was, under Providence, an instrument of extensive usefulness. The newly appointed Bishop goes with a heart earnest in this good cause. Numbers of devout men besides have been, and will be, excited to the divine task of

turning ignorant multitudes from vain idols to the worship of the true God.

Perhaps the following extract from the Quarterly Review may be new to some of our readers, and it serves to point out the extreme absurdity and folly, as well as the misery, of the religion of the Hindoos.

"Kedar-nath is one of those numerous shrines, which neither difficulties, nor dangers, neither mountainous roads, nor fierce torrents, nor steep precipices, can deter the pilgrim from visiting in order to perform those duties which are enjoined by the Hindoo religion.

The extraordinary instances of the frauds and inventions of the priests of Brahma, and the credulity, the fanaticism and the self-devotion of their followers, cannot be perused without feelings of indignation at the one, and of compassion for the other. The object, Capt. Webb tells us, which they take such long journies to worship, is nothing more than a mis-shapen mass of black rock, supposed to resemble the hind-quarters of a buffalo; and there is the following account, in the temple, of its formation."

"Kedar (one of their smaller gods) being pursued by the giant Bheem sing, was overtaken near the spot where the temple now stands. With admirable presence of mind he changed himself into a buffalo, and joined a herd of those animals which were then grazing near the spot. Scarcely, however, had he taken his new shape, when Bheemsing was in the midst of them, and, suspecting the trick, contrived a curious method of finding out the object of his pursuit.

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Putting himself in a striding attitude, he compelled the whole herd to pass between his legs. All went through but poor Kedar, whose unwieldy carcase (for the god had ill-calculated his bulk) was jammed midway. Before Bheem-sing could execute.

vengeance on his enemy, however, the violence of Kedar's struggles caused his body to separate into two parts; the head and shoulders dived underground, reached Nepaul (where they may still be seen) by a subterraneous passage; the rump remained a trophy to the giant."

If this foolish story was intended only to amuse the people it would be merely ridiculous; but it is taught and believed that, at this black rock, the sins of the body may be atoned for, and a union with the godhead accomplished by the voluntary sacrifice of life. The self-devoted person is first required to distribute his property and his apparel among the Brahmins, and is then directed to proceed, in a state of nakedness, till he arrives at a perpendicular precipice of tremendous height, where he is ordered to leap into the horrible depth beneath.-Quarterly Review.

V.

AN OLD WOMAN'S ADDRESS TO HER COTTAGE

FRIENDS.

I AM an old woman, my friends; and I have, in the course of my life, seen so many unhappy mothers, that I would fain, before I leave the world, tell you how I think you may all avoid the same unhappiness. What do you most wish to do, to secure the lasting happiness and prosperity of the children you so tenderly love? Do you wish you could make them rich, and learned, and great? Alas! riches from many causes are, of all things, the least to be depended on; and we often see those, who are living in the greatest plenty, suddenly reduced to poverty, which comes the harder, when people have been used to abundance. Learning is, no doubt, a fine thing, when quite properly used, but how often does