EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC NEWSPAPERS.

At the Westminster court of burgesses, held on the 5th day of January, thirty-eight tradesmen were fined in various sums for having false weights or scales. The whole of the fines, after deducting the expenses of printing, &c. are, we understand, paid over to the Westminster Hospital.-Globe.

Death from Intoxication. Early on Saturday morning a female, apparently about sixty years of age, and respectably dressed, was found. by two policemen lying in Little Mary-lebone Lane, in a state of insensibility. She was taken to the station, where it was found that she was dead. In her pockets were a few shillings and a bottle of gin, but nothing that could lead to the discovery of her place of abode.-Globe.

Use of a Hat.-A man's hat will serve in most cases as a temporary life-preserver, to persons in hazard of being drowned, by attending to the following directions:-When a person finds himself in, or about to be in, the water, let him lay hold of his hat between his hands, laying the crown close under his chin, and the open part under the water. By this means the quantity of air contained in the cavity of the hat will be sufficient to keep the head above water for several hours, or until assistance can be rendered.-Globe.

Temperance Societies. We learn by the Liverpool and Manchester papers that the Temperance Societies are gaining encouragement and increasing the number of their members. On Monday evening a public meeting was called by the committee of the Salford Temperance Society. It was stated by the chairman that it consisted of about 230 members, of whom 100 belonged to the Bloom Street district association, 90 to the Canal-street (Oldfield-road) district, and 40 to the King-street district. At the conclusion of the proceedings a number of individuals added their names to the list. The meeting was attended by about eight hundred persons.-Record.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We have received the communications of O. O.; A. F. N. ; Axminster; M. W.; T.M.; R. H.; M.R.; M. O.M.; Kirdfordiensis; S. L. A.; and A Constant Reader.

We cannot promise a regular place to M. Q. Z. for the continuous papers which he proposes to send us; indeed, our limits prevent us from securing regular monthly places for those of our obliging correspondents whose assistance we greatly prize.

We have just received B. A.; A Correspondent; I. C.; M.W.; and C. F. C.

THE

Cottager's Monthly Visitor.

APRIL, 1831.

THE POOR MAN'S EXPOSITOR, No. X.

Matt. xix. 3." For every cause?" that is, any cause or pretence; any thing that may be disagreeable in her. It was common for the Jews to dissolve the sacred union of marriage under capricious and very trifling pretences; this is mentioned by Josephus, the Jewish historian, and unhappily verified in his own example; for he informs us that he put away his wife, though she was the mother of three children, because he was displeased with her manners. V. 8. "Because of the hardness of your hearts." Their unbridled passions and tempers were so violent that many of them would not have scrupled to murder their wives; therefore Moses permitted divorces, but commanded that a bill of divorcement should be given to the woman, which enabled her to marry again. It must be observed, that many things were tolerated under the Jewish, which were no longer to be allowed under the Christian, dispensation.

Matt. xix. 15. "He laid his hands on them." It was a custom with the Jews when they prayed for a blessing on any person, to lay their hands on his head. See Gen. xlviii. 14, 15.

Matt. xix. 20. "All these things have I kept from my youth up; what lack I yet?" It would appear from this, that he supposed he lacked nothing, that his strict obNO. 4.-VOL. XI.

H

servance of the moral law rendered him perfect; our Saviour therefore proceeded to shew him the deceitfulness of the human heart, and to convince him that he could "not serve God and Mammon;" but our Saviour's command, ("go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor") does not apply to Christians of the present day, nor indeed, strictly speaking, to Christians at all, but only to such persons, as, at that time were desirous of becoming Christ's disciples, and yet could not be induced to lay aside all hindrances, and to "take up their cross and follow him." This is the literal meaning; but in a spiritual sense, how beautifully, how accurately does the passage apply to the careless, nominal Christian, to the votary of riches and the slave of pleasure; who, though he knows that he cannot serve two masters, and being unable to wean his affections from the things of this life, turns away "sorrowful" like the young ruler, from the pursuit of heaven, and returns to the vices and follies of the world.

Matt. xix. 24. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle." This is an eastern mode of expression, by the use of which, an impossibility is implied, while a case of great difficulty only is meant-this is evident from the preceding verse, where our blessed Saviour says, " a rich man shall hardly (with great difficulty) enter into the kingdom of heaven." See also Mark x. 24. This was a strong way of expression; it was exactly suited to those who lived in our Saviour's days; "To enter into the kingdom of heaven,' says bishop Mann, "is to become a Christian, which they who had great possessions were unwilling to do, on account of the losses they might sustain by persecution. But the everlasting kingdom of glory hereafter is equally open to all true disciples of Christ, rich or poor; for it is not the condition we are placed in here, whether it be high or low, but the use we make of it, that will determine our condition in the life to come." And, at all times, it is true, that riches, and

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the cares and the temptations belonging to them, are a great snare in the way of a Christian :-but God's 66 grace is sufficient" for every one, in every condition, who will earnestly seek for it. Without this, "it is impossible,--but with God, all things are possible." v. 26.

Matt. xix. 29. "Every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren." Every one that has, for my sake, sacrificed worldly considerations, though as dear to him as parents or wife or children, &c. shall inherit everlasting life.

Matt. xix. 30. This verse is in connection with the parable which follows, thus, "many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first; for the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man which is a householder." The parable then proceeds to represent the case of the Jews and Gentiles; the former were those who had longest enjoyed the blessings of religious knowledge, but having neglected to benefit by those blessings, they were to be last in obtaining rewards; and the latter, the Gentiles, who were latest admitted to the knowledge of divine truth, yet, by properly estimating the benefit of that invaluable blessing, would be the first in rewards; "so the last shall be first, and the first last, for many be called, but few chosen," (xx. 16.) many of the Jews who were first "called" upon to accept the blessing, of the Redeemer's kingdom shall be the last to partake of them, and many of the Gentiles to whom they were to be offered after the Jews, shall first be "chosen" to enjoy them.

Matt. xx. 22. "Are ye able to drink of the cup?" A man's cup signifies the portion of good or evil that falls to his lot in this life; to drink of our blessed Saviour's cup signifies to suffer affliction like his;—and to be baptized with the baptism that he was baptized with is here used for been plunged into deep distress.

Matt. xx. 33. "Lord, that our eyes may be opened." Though these poor blind creatures were, in a worldly point of view, so wretched and miserable, yet they

knew that Jesus Christ was the Saviour of mankind, and were happily induced to pray to him that their "eyes might be opened;" but the case of the careless unconverted sinner is still worse; for whilst he is utterly blinded with the prejudices and vices of the world, and sunk deep in carnal insensibility, he wilfully refuses to apply to that blessed Redeemer, that the "blindness of his heart" may be taken away. Like the blind men in this chapter, let sinners be prevailed upon to pray, in the sincerity of their souls, that their eyes may be opened," and thus that "they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and powers faithfully to fulfil the same." KIRDFORDIENSIS.

(To be continued.)

A THANKSGIVING.

O ALMIGHTY God, who didst create all the world, and didst appoint the Sabbath in memory thereof, because on that day thou didst rest from thy work of creation, and that we might be put in mind of thee the Almighty Creator, and obliged to praise and celebrate thy divine Majesty for those thy wonderful works; thou, O eternal God! didst bring all things into being by thy only begotten Son: thou madest them all by him; thou vouchsafest a suitable Providence over them all. Thou art he who didst frame the heaven as an arch, and stretch it out as the covering of a tent, and didst found the earth upon nothing. The day is thine, the night also is thine, thou preparest the light and the sun thou didst also adorn the heavens with the choir of stars to praise thy glorious Majesty. Thou didst separate the sea from the dry land, and replenish them both with thy creatures. Thou didst also make man, and gavest him dominion over the rest of the works of thy hands, and didst justly expect that for all thy wonderful mercies to him.