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this sinful discontented being was, a few months afterwards, obliged to take up her abode in the workhouse. There, to the personal discomfort of her situation, was added remorse of conscience for the ingratitude she had shewn towards God, by her unthankfulness for the blessings he had so mercifully bestowed upon her.

INCREASE OF MANKIND.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR,

FOR an increase of mankind after the Flood, and for an illustration of a rule in arithmetic, given in a former Number, I have the pleasure of copying out the following passage from Stackhouse's History of the Bible.

Various are the ways which have been attempted by learned men, to shew the probable increase of mankind, within a certain period of time. It is, for the present purpose, supposed that the first three couples, i. e. Noah's three sons and their wives, in twenty years after the flood, might have

thirty pair, and by a gradual increase of ten pair for each couple in forty years' time, till the three hundred and fortieth year after the Flood, there might rise a sufficient number (as appears by the above Table) to spread colonies over the face of the whole earth.

SHORT MEDITATIONS FOR THE AGED.

How old art thou? Gen. xlvii. 8.

A SHORT and simple question, but a very important one! It is the enquiry which Pharaoh made of Jacob on his arrival in Egypt. Let us see what was the answer of the venerable Patriarch, and what is the lesson which we may draw from it. "And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, the days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years, few and evil have the days of the years of my life been." Many, as far as regards this world, may have been the years of our pilgrimage, but few, alas! the days of that spiritual existence which alone deserves the name of life-few the days redeemed from the life of this earthly world, and devoted to those high and holy purposes for which we were sent into this state of existence. Many and evil the years during which the soul has lain dead, in trespasses and sins; in which, though bearing the Sacred name of Christ, we have lived without Him in the world, and, unmindful of the solemn obligation we entered into at our baptism, "to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil," have voluntarily yielded "our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin." We must "put off the old man which is cor

Short Meditations for the Aged.

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rupt according to the deceitful lusts of the flesh, and must put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." We must be "renewed in the spirit of our mind"-We must "set our affections on things above, not on things of the earth.”

Jacob says," the days of the years of my pilgrimage" now they that say such things declare plainly that they "seek a country."-They confess themselves to be "strangers on earth," and that they "desire a better country, that is, an heavenly." Let us ask ourselves if the few and evil years of our pilgrimage have taught us that this life is but a passage to another state of being? And, if so, have we also learnt to desire that better country which is set before us? do we welcome the troubles and sorrows of life, the infirmities of age, the approach of death, as so many messengers from God, warning us to detach our thoughts from this world, and to stand prepared to meet our Lord when He shall call us hence?

If we have never thought of these things before, let us think of them in earnest now.-Let us turn to the Lord with strong purpose of heart to forsake our own evil ways, and devote to Him the short remainder of our time. "He that cometh to Me (says our compassionate Redeemer) I will in no wise cast out." We may yet be a great way off, but He will mark the first returning of the heart to Him. He will be ready to welcome back the son He has lost, and to receive him to the arms of His mercy. With the returning Prodigal in the Gospel, then, let each of us say, "I will arise and go to my Father, and will say unto Him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy son," but do Thou "make me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me," then shall I run the way of Thy

commandments, and a sinner shall be converted unto Thee.

B. Y.

A PARAPHRASE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER.

O GOD, who art seated on a throne of glory in the highest Heaven, we venture to approach thee as a bountiful Father, to ask of thee blessings for ourselves and our brethren. And, as we should be, above all things, concerned for Thy glory, we make it our first petition that thy name may be hallowed and sanctified; and that thou mayest receive, from all thy creatures, that reverence which thy perfections demand. May the kingdom of thy Son extend throughout the world, that all men may be obedient to him; and, under his reign, may the hearts of his subjects be so bowed down to thee, that thy gracious will may be done, and submitted to, and obeyed upon earth with the same readiness which the spirits of the blessed shew in Heaven.

For ourselves, O Lord, we do not seek great things; open thy bountiful hand, we beseech Thee, to give us, day by day, those things of which we stand in need; that we may be constantly supported by thy power, and our wants supplied as often as they return upon us. And, though our sins have separated us from Thee, and have deserved thy wrath, yet we beseech Thee, of Thy goodness, to pardon them; and blot out those debts which we have incurred towards Thee, as we from our hearts forgive every one, that has in any respect offended us. And, that we may not fall from our stedfastness, do not bring us into any pressing temptation, or any trial which shall be too mighty for us.

Bill the Groom.

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Uphold us by thy hand, that we may not fall. Keep us by thy grace from all iniquity-deliver us from the power of the evil one, that he may never triumph over us, but that we may be finally saved from all the fatal effects of sin. These things we humbly beg of Thee, who art able and willing to grant our petition. For to Thee belongs the kingdom of universal nature, the fulness of Almighty power, and the glory of infinite perfection; and to Thee, therefore, be the praise for ever.

I. B.

The Errors and Mistakes of Bill the Groom, my Neighbour Johnson, Jonathan Sawney, and divers other Cottagers in the West.

No. I.

"What sig

My neighbour Johnson used to say nifies talking to me about my duty towards my neighbour. I cannot understand one-half of what they preach about. "Tis all a rigmarole; 'tis like Hunthil common; a man may travel a whole day without seeing the end of it."-But my neighbour was wrong; for the long and short of the duty is, "Give and forgive," Bear and forbear."

II.

My neighbour had a terrible itching for auctions. "Never mind," he used to say, "I'll have this, the cost is not much;"-" I'll have that, it will not ruin me;"-" Knock me down that other thing, it's dog cheap."-" I don't much want any of the things, but there's nothing that will not come into use once in seven years."-Johnson was out again. He filled his house with useless lumber in