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Till just as watery ruin threatened there,
And just as hop was sinking in despair,
One rising morning a new scene unfurl'd,
And joy triumphant hail'd another world!
So every doubt, and every billow past,
My wounded spirit rests in God at last.

ETERNAL BEING, whose pervading breath, Awakes the blossom from the dust of death; Whose influence trembles in the morning beam; Rolls on the cloud, and murmurs in the stream ; All objects speak thy power-below-abovePower join'd with knowledge and impell'd by love. When winter drives his sounding car along, Thy voice is utter'd in the angry song. When Spring, revived, bedecks her grassy shrine, Her flowers, her breezes, and her bloom, are thine; Whatever glories in the heavens we trace, Are faint reflections of thy brighter face. Could these illumined eyes, more vigorous grown, Pierce through the veil of heaven, and see thy throne; Could I, replenish'd with a saint's delight, Behold thee-object not of faith, but sight; Not more conviction would be then impress'd, Than now possesses my believing breast. Nor is thy goodness less than being proved, Goodness by noblest angels most beloved; Thy laws with silent influence wide extend, The bad afflicting, and the good befriend; In every region brighten'd by the sun, The outlines of thy kingdom are begun ; Unchanging wisdom shall complete the plan, And all be perfect in immortal man. When wretched man on rising waves was toss'd, When innocence and Eden both were lost ; When exiled from his God he wander'd round, Where thorns and thistles cover'd all the ground; In pity to a wretch, byhoice undone, Thou sent'st redemption by thine only Son. Religion, then, that calmer of our woes,

On two eternal pillars must repose,

Our GUILT and MISERY; when for these we grieve,
Our fears, hopes, sorrows, force us to believe;
For who can question, when his sufferings cease,
The voice that bids him sweetly-go in peace?
O precious system; antidote for pain,
Let down from heaven as by a golden chain;
In mercy to an animated clod,

God sinks to man that man may soar to God!
Guilt wears the robes of innocence; the tear
Once wholly hopeless, turns to rapture here;
The wretched share a part; and round the bed
Where life retires, immortal hopes are shed.
Life's disappointments, agonies, and stings,
But add new feathers to religion's wings.

So in the cell where stern afflictions prey, The prisoner weeps his lingering nights away; Through that dark grate, whose iron chords so fast, Have been the lyre to many a midnight blast; Through that dark grate, the evening sun may shine, And gild his walls with crimson light divine ; Some mournful melody may soothe his pain, Some radiant beams may sparkle round his chain; Some wandering wind in mercy may repair, And waft the incense of the blossoms there.

To the Editor of the Christian Spectator.
XAVIER'S LATIN ODE.

THE following Ode, in Monestic Latin rhyme, is from the pen of the celebrated missionary to the East, Francis Xavier. Though nominally a papist, and officially a preacher of the corps of the propaganda, he is judged by many excellent protestants to have cared much less for the Spiritual Tyrant of Rome and his earthy domination, than for the Spiritual Majesty on the throne of heaven, "the blessed and only Potentate," the rightful Lord and sole Supreme Head of the Universal Church. He is described as a man burning with

celestial zeal in the cause of Jesus Christ, and who, whatever were his defects, through a life of consis tent, and voluntary, and self-denying service, almost without a parallel since the first century, habitually and practically sustained the char acter, with its honours and its wounds, of "a good soldier of Jesus Christ. It is grateful to our best feelings; it accords with our purest Christian catholicism; it is homogeneous with the unearthly character and peerless excellency of the communion of saints, to recognise in him a son of light, a friend of God, and one of the saints in heaven, better canonized in eterni ty than in time, and in the New Je

*Some write it Jerome Xavier; perhaps

his name included both. The facts of this sketch are written from general memory, and with a pledge only of their substantial authenticity and correctness.

rusalem than in the old city of abominations. The excellent and more luminously gifted protestant missionary, Henry Martyn, when at Goa, made a pilgrimage of truly catholic piety, to the sepulchre of the saint, to worship, however, not the undistinguishable dust of his "dishonoured" body, but the incorruptible God who was "glorified in him."

If I may trust to the general impressions of memory for some further notices of his history, as there are present or procurable no documents to which I may refer for more authentic details, and though twelve years have passed since the reading, (then too cursory,) on which I must depend, I will adventure some further statement, which may serve to increase the interest, perhaps aid the comprehension of

the reader of the ode. Xavier be

longed to an age bordering to that of Calvin and Luther, as it is more than two centuries since his death. He was first known in early life for distinction in scholarship, and as a public professor and lecturer at one of the continental universities. Loyola, the celebrated founder of the order of Jesuits, his senior in years, but far his inferior in attainments, attended his instructions. He was struck with the powers and the pro-. mise of the youth, and instantly conceived the idea of converting him; which he soon instrumentally accomplished. Whether his conversion was at first genuine or not, certain it is that his zeal was heroical and illustrious. With a decision

He

like that of Paul, he immediately preached Christ, and avowed his superlative glorying in the cross. forewent all the worldly preferments that were crowding and crowning his prospects for life. He left the university, and addicted himself to the studies and duties of his new and sacred pursuit. Shortly after this, he endured ridicule in the cause, and had trial of "cruel mockings," which to some minds are more terrible than " bonds and imprisonment." Heb. xi. 36. The world regarded him as a lunatic, and his colleagues of the university, feeling perhaps reproved by his example, and condemned by his piety, were wont to report him "mad with the love of God." In reference to these graceless calumnies he composed the ode; with a view to his own vindication less than

to exhibit the nature, the grounds,

and the reasonableness of his cordial-
ity as a disciple of Christ. It is
however a very honorable and satis-
factory vindication of affectionate
and devoted piety, in all ages and
instances of its development. A
similar slander induced Paul to say
on one occasion: "I am not mad,
most noble Festus; but speak forth
the words of truth and soberness.
For the king knoweth of these
things, before whom also I speak
freely: for I am persuaded that
none of these things are hidden from
him; for this thing was not done in
a corner. King Agrippa, believest
thou the prophets? I know that
thou believest." Acts xxvi. 25-27.
As on another occasion he wrote,
"For whether we be beside our-
selves, it is unto God; or whether
we be sober, it is for your cause.
For the love of Christ CONSTRAINETH
us; because we thus judge, that if
one died for all, then were all dead:
and that he died for all, that they
who live should not henceforth live
unto themselves, but unto him that
2.
died for them and rose again
Cor. v. 13-15.

ود

After an introduction so indeliberately protracted, begging pardon

for the trespass, we copy from memory, as we connot from print, the

ODE.

O Deus, ego amo te!
Nec amo te ut salves me,
Aut quia non amantes te
Æterno punis igne.

Tu, tu, mi Jesu! totum me
Amplexus es in cruce.
Tulisti clavos, lanceam,
Multamque ignominiam,
Innumeros dolores,
Sudores, et angores,
Ac mortem! et haec propter me,
Ac pro me peccatore,

Cur igitur non amem te
O Jesu! amantissime?
Non ut in Coelo salves me,
Aut ne aeternum damnes me,
Aut praemii ullius spe:
Sed sicut tu amasti me,
Sic amo, et amabo te!
Solum quia REX meus es,
Solum quia DEUS es!

For the benefit of your English readers, if you can suit yourself, Mr. Editor, with no better version, the following almost metaphrastic translation is subjoined, and at youre vice.

O God! in truth I love thy name,
Would that my very soul were flame!
Not sordid, for mere safety, love,
As truth and conscience disapprove:
Nor slavish, hoping thus to gain
A rescue from the realms of pain;
Where those that love thee not are placed,
Despairing, tortured, and disgraced.

Thou, thou, my Jesus! totally
Hast in thy cross absorbed me.
Thou didst endure the nails severe,
And thou the penetrative spear;
The ignominious scorn and wrong
Of an infuriated throng,
The griefs unnumber'd, bloody sweats,
Scourging, and mockery, and threats,
And anguish, till thy sinking breath
Pray'd for thy murderers in death!
And why was this? why, but for me
And other sinners could it be?
On my account and in my stead
Deserving worse, he bow'd his head!

Why, therefore, should I not love thee,
Thou lover of supreme degree?
Not that in heaven I may arrive,
Or 'scape the death the damned live,
Or hoping other boon to have;
But just as thou hast loved me,
So love I and so will love thee;
Solely because thou fill'st the throne
Solely because thou'rt GOD alone!

I am not scandalized at the disinterestedness of his sentiments, and sincerely wish that all the men in the world were "not only almost,

but altogether such as he was, except" his papacy, and a few extravagant imaginations, which prove

that, though a "just" man, his spirit was not then "made perfect." CATHOLICUS.

REVIEWS.

An Inquiry into the Consistency of Popular Amusements, with a Pro fession of Christianity. By 1. CHARLTON HENRY, D. D. Charleston; William Riley, 1825. pp. 183.

PERHAPS little is gained, ordinarily, towards redeeming the world from its follies, by direct attacks on its fashionable amusements; yet it is at all times seasonable to remind Chris tians of the exhortation, 'Be not conformed to this world. We have therefore determined to make Dr. Henry's Inquiry, the occasion of a few plain remarks on the general subject of which it treats.

There are certain doctrines which cannot by any change of time or of circumstances, become unessential; and certam moral virtues, our obligation to maintain which cannot be weakened by any supposable contingencies; and in deciding on claims to Christian character, there can be little room for doubt when the decision respects the denial of doctrines so essential, or the violation of duties so obvious

But there is a large class of actions, whose moral character is less easily decided; such as in them selves are indifferent, and become beneficial or injurious, only through the effect of circumstances.

Under this head may be classed such amusements as in their own nature, and independent of circumstances, are not morally wrong, and yet become injurious, either on account of peculiar circumstances, or by being always carried to excess. The only justifiable use of amusements is to relieve and recreate the mind and body when fatigued by the

performance of more severe duties. There is not, as many imagine, and as common language implies, a distinction, as to moral character, be tween duties and amusements-for amusements are justifiable only as duties. There are different classes of employments, some more and some less severe; some tending to exhaust, and some to exhilarate and to restore the spirits. Now the grand rule of action is to do all for the glory of God, to exercise our moral, social, intellectual, and corporeal faculties, so as most to promote this end. We are not required constantly to exercise any one class of faculties, but by a well balanced use of them all, in their appropriate s, heres, to produce the greatest possible good. Now any recreation which tends so to refresh and adjust our various powers as to enable us to accomplish on the whole, more good than would have been attainable otherwise, is not only allowable as innocent, but is demanded as a duty. We are no more justifiable in permitting any of our powers to become inefficient through want of relief and recreation, than we are in abusing and destroying them by perversion. All the complex machinery of the human system whether corporeal or mental, ought to be kept in perfect working order, and he who wears it out prematurely by over action, or by abusing it to improper purposes, and he who permits it to rust out for want of action, alike violate their obligations to their Maker.

It is for this reason that a proper attention to exercise, diet, and amusement, is demanded of us as a duty, and as preparing us for more efficient action in the cause of God. Besides, religion does not render us insensible to any of the pleasures and enjoyments of life, which are truly valuable. God in his goodness has made the appropriate exercise of all our powers upon their appropriate objects, not only our duty, but our supreme happiness, and we may say our only happiness. If man were perfectly holy, he would be perfectly happy, and would seek only such pleasures as are truly desirable. And the only reason why religion ever causes pain, or seems to diminish pleasure is, that a love of unworthy pleasures has taken previous possession of the mind, and the relinquishment of them causes selfdenial. And the pain of all the struggles of the Christian, consists simply in the self denial of giving up an indulgence to which he has long been accustomed, for a greater and more enduring good.

Christians ought not therefore to hesitate to carry the spirit of their holy religion into all their amusements, as well as into their labours and devotions. It will unfit them for no amusement which becomes the children of God. It will dash from their lips no cup of pleasure which they ought to taste, who are permitted freely to drink at the fountain of living waters. And yet in how many cases is the unholy separation made between duties and amusements. How often do Christians indulge themselves in those things which a prevailing spirit of piety would prohibit as wrong, or exclude as insipid. This may arise partly from the force of inclination; but it is no less owing to the indefiniteness of the principles by which Christians regulate their practice. They know that there is a line of separation between the church and the world; but precisely where it lies, they know not, The forms of right and wrong float before their eyes in shadowy indis1826.-No. 1.

5

tinctness, and their opinions fluctuate with the popular current.

And although the correct and impartial investigation of this subject involves difficulties of a kind peculiarly subtle; yet on no subject are definite principles and rules of action more needed by all who would honour their Lord and Master. For in what way does the spirit of the world invade the church more frequently than under the guise of innocent amusements? And how great is the odium resulting to those who steadfastly resist these encroachments. Is there an appearance of peculiar solemnity in any church and congregation? Do Christians begin to rejoice in beholding the mighty works of the Holy Spirit? And do sinners begin to exult in their deliverance from the bondage of sin and death? Immediately the world is alarmed, they shrink from that light which would illuminate their dark domains, and seek for modes of terminating a state of things, to them so disquieting and fearful. And behold, all the votaries of elegant amusements are rallied at once; and all the devices of worldly wisdom are employed, to detach Christians from their appropriate pursuits, and to withdraw from the influence of divine truth, those who have almost escaped the pollutions of this world, and are standing on the threshold of the gates of heaven. The timid, the irresolute, and the wavering, fall into their snares, and are led captive at their will; whilst those who dare to resist their allurements, and to maintain a conscientious integrity, are ridiculed or reproached, as morose and gloomy, the enemies of innocent pleasures, and the foes of harmless amusements. And if perchance any one should happen to suggest that these things are adverse to the spirit of Christianity, and that the votaries of such amusements lessen or extinguish their claim to the Christian character, how unsparingly

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