EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC NEWSPAPERS, &c.

Tothill Fields Asylum.-It is truly gratifying to think on the number of charitable institutions which exist in this country. England is a generous nation. And there is, perhaps, no way in which generosity is more likely to be useful, than when applied to public charities. The Tothill Fields Asylum has been opened only a few months. "Its object is not to afford a permanent retreat to the individuals received under its protection, but to find a temporary refuge for discharged female prisoners, who seem desirous of altering their conduct, and who have no home to go to, and are therefore likely again, from absolute necessity, to be drawn into temptation. There are other excellent charities in London for such objects, but much time may pass, and therefore, much harm may be done, before a situation in another Asylum is found. The interval of a few days may be ruin. The object of this charity is, therefore, to supply an immediate reception for these poor women, either 'till they can get a permanent one, or can make their situation known to their friends, and so be removed from the very great danger of being turned loose into the streets of London, without friends or money, or the prospect of a home, or the opportunity of pursuing a course of honest industry, however much they might desire it. The Chemists of Newcastle, and of many other places, have come to a determination never to sell oxalic acid, except in a liquid state, which will prevent the common accident of mistaking it for Epsom salts. We hope the druggists of Preston will follow so prudent an example.-Preston Chronicle.

X.

Yeast. The following method of making yeast for bread is both easy and expeditious:-Boil one pound of good flour, a quarter of a pound of brown sugar, and a little salt, in two gallons of water for one hour. When milk warm, bottle it, and cork it close. It will be fit for use in twenty-four hours. One pint of this will make eighteen pounds of bread.-Durham County Advertiser.

Dreadful Accident.-Hickman, the gas-light man, and great boxer, and Mr. Roe, a silversmith of Aldersgate-street, having been at the battle between Hudson and Shelton, in a single horse chaise, which Hickman drove, were returning home about nine o'clock in the evening, when Hickman, endeavoured to pass a road waggon, in the hollow, on the other side of Finchley Common, on the near side of the road, instead of the off side. Whether from unskilful driving, the darkness of the night, or some other cause, in clearing the wheels of the waggon,the chaise was overturned, and dreadful to relate, both

were thrown under the wheels, which went over their heads. Hickman was killed instantly. His brains were scattered about the road, and the head was crushed to atoms. Mr. Roe seemed alive for a short time, but he was soon dead. To what dreadful accidents are we all liable How important that we should all be in a state of Christian preparation! How careful ought we to be always to be so employed, that if we should be called away, we may be in a fit state to appear in the presence of our God. We would judge no man

We reflect not on the dead-Their time of probation is past. “But let the living take it to heart!" Let those who delight in frequenting such scenes as these unhappy men had been to witness, ask themselves whether the company, the conversation, the state of mind, the feelings of the heart, be such, as become Christians, whose business on earth it is, by holy habits and dispositions, to prepare for an everlasting dwelling with the holy and the pure in heaven.

V.

Saving Banks.-The New Times for October the 7th, gives a statement of the finances of the Bishopsgate Savings Bank for the last six years, by which it appears, that the amount of deposits has been regularly increasing. Last year's deposit is far greater than that of any other preceding year. A Saving Bank seems to have been opened with great spirit at Maidstone. There ought to be no town in the kingdom where a poor person cannot be able to make his deposit in a Saving Bank. Where a place is too small to have an actual Bank, there should be at least an agent who would receive the money, put it into the nearest Saving Bank, and bring the depositor a receipt for his money. Whoever wishes well to

the poor, will be glad to lend them this assistance. Nothing is more likely to keep poor people from distress, than a habit of taking care of their earnings, and placing them where they may be safe.

The London newspapers abound with accounts of Coroners' Inquests, held on the bodies of persons, who have put an end to their lives, in consequence of the misery of mind and cir cumstances brought on them by habits of drinking.

E. Sabbath-Breaking.-Several Butchers in the neighbourhood of Tothill-fields, have been fined for selling meat on the Sabbath-day. An opinion has prevailed that, it was lawful for butchers to sell meat at an early hour on Sunday mornings. The magistrates of Queen's-square, shewed that selling at all on Sundays, was clearly forbidden by the law of the land.London Paper.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We have received N. L. H.; W. D. W.; the Durham and Preston papers; G. H.; T. B, P.; one who wishes to be useful; Lancashire; Z.; I.: Samuel P. and W. D.

THE

Cottager's Monthly Visitor.

FEBRUARY, 1823.

Remarks on the Ninth Chapter of the Book of Genesis.

(Continued from Vol. II. page 533.)

THE ninth chapter of Genesis gives the history of Noah from the time of the Deluge to his death.

V. 2. And the fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth," &c. It is in consequence of this fear and dread of man being impressed upon the brute creation, that we are able to exercise dominion over them, and employ them in our service. It is wonderful to see what droves of cattle and horses, and other large animals, apparently quite unconscious of their strength, are continually managed, and often ill-used, by mere boys; and beasts of prey have a greater fear of man than of animals much more terrible and powerful. V.3, 4. In these verses, permission is given to eat animal food. 66 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb." Without this permission, man would not have been warranted to destroy animals for food. And he was forbidden to eat the blood-" flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat"-probably, in part, because familiarity with such food might nonrish cruelty of disposition, (for murder is spoken of in the following verse;) but chiefly, because the blood of slaughtered animals was designed to typify No. 26. VOL. III. D

that blood of atonement, which, in the fulness of time, Christ should shed upon the cross.

V. 5, 6" Surely your blood of your lives will I require." Whenever life was lost, enquiry was to be made, and punishment inflicted. If an animal had been the means of death, the life of the animal was to be taken away; and if one man had shed the blood of another, his own life was to be forfeited. "At the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man." And God required this by the instrumentality of man. "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed."

V. 9-16.-The covenant mentioned in these verses was an absolute promise, made not only to Noah, but to all succeeding generations to the end of time, and to every living creature of all flesh, (v. 12.)" that the waters should no more become a flood to destroy the earth." And God, mercifully condescending to the weakness of man, appointed the rainbow as a token of this promise; so that, whenever we look upon it, it should remind us of the faithfulness of God to his word, "who has set the waters a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth," (Ps. civ. 9.) 'It may also serve to remind us of a better covenant than any temporal covenant can be. In the fiftyfourth chapter of Isaiah, God speaking to the Church, refers to this promise made to Noah, to encourage her faith and confidence in the continuance of his love to her. "For this is as the waters of Noah unto me; for as 1 have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth: so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."

V. 20, 21.-It is probable that Noah was not aware of the intoxicating effects of strong liquors, for it is said, "he began to be an husbandman:" still if he had practised that moderation in the gratification of his appetites to which the people of God are exhorted, he would not thus have fallen into sin. V. 25—27.—We are not to consider the curse and the blessings pronounced by Noah on his children, in these verses, as the expression of private resentment or affection: they were dictated by the Holy Ghost, and prophetic of what should befal their posterity.

V.25.-The curse upon Ham was directed against his posterity in the line of his son Canaan, who had probably been partaker with him in his sin against his father, for he is particularly mentioned as the father of Canaan, (v. 18, 22.) although he had several other sons. The Canaanites, who were destroyed by the Israelites (descended from Shem) were of the posterity of Canaan; so are the inhabitants of Africa, who have never risen to a level with the other nations of the earth in arts or literature, and have continually been in subjection to them.

V. 26.-" Blessed be the Lord God of Shem." Noah prophecies good to Shem, by blessing God in Shem's name, and on his behalf, for the peculiar favours he should receive from him. "The Lord God of Shem." To be the God of any is in itself an engagement of blessing. "I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee," Gen. xvii. 17. "I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God," Ex. vi. 7. God settled the Church in the family of Shem; for Abraham, and, through him Christ were his descendants.

V. 27.-" God shall enlarge Japheth." The nations of Europe are principally his descendants, and those in the North of Asia. "And he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." To dwell in the tents of