saw, that, whatever might be the issue, it was a decided | matter, and, while humbly and cheerfully acquiescing, felt that we were all as instruments in the hand of Susan's God, unconsciously, perhaps, fulfilling his gracious purposes towards one whom he had taught with simple confidence to sing and say, as she often did,— The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want;' whom, in such measure as it pleased him, he had fed all her life long,' and now, even to old age would carry her.' "Next day I called at the Infirmary, and found her sitting by the fire, her little Bible on her lap, and her spectacles in her hand, meditating, as she acknowledged, on a favourite passage in her favourite Book of Job, know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though, after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold.' Here, as in her own room, I was struck with her remarkable self-possession, and even dignity, when she pleased; and I could perceive that she had need of it among those with whom she must now, of necessity, mingle. She had rested a little through the night; her thoughts, when awake, were sweet,' and, being refreshed, she was thankful.

I

"It was, I think, when she had been about three weeks in the Infirmary, that I one day observed a sudden change for the worse in her appearance. I generally visited her twice or three times a-week, and having recently seen her in what she considered an improving state of health, I was naturally anxious to ascertain the cause of this change. She admitted that her bodily ailment was nothing worse, and that her spiritual comfort was nothing abated; but I got no further information from her then, and we parted as usual. On looking around me, however, as I left her, I observed that two beds near her, which were occupied two days before, were now empty, and on inquiring of the nurse as I came out, found that two individuals, one of whom had the same complaint as Susan, had died the preceding night in great agony, and she thought this circumstance might perhaps shock the old woman's feelings.

"Next day she was considerably relieved, but still in bed, and able to give forth of those consolations which seemed, amidst all, to abound. A lady of much respectability visited her this day, who had been for some time past in the country, and who, I afterwards found, was, from a child, attached to Susan; the meeting, the consequent anxious inquiry after her health, and the parting, were alike affectionate, condescending, and beautiful. It suspended, for a few moments, my interview with Susan, but we had afterwards our usual conversation and fellowship; and, as I was about to take my leave, she held my hand more earnestly than usual, and said, I hope I shall not die here; I would not like to die in this place.' I at once said, this is what I feared, Susan, as it is inseparable from the Infirmary, and had I known it sooner, you should have been removed, as there are a few Christian friends around you, who, I am confident, will esteem it a pleasure to contribute to your support, if you will but lean on them, and trust to my exertions on your behalf. Her trust was elsewhere, I have no doubt, but she seemed satisfied, and in a moment glanced to every thing connected with her removal, arranging the whole with her usual precision, expressing only the wish to be taken back, if possible, into her own house. I undertook to fulfil her wishes, and once more departed, her heart, apparently, not a little lightened.

"Susan's case was, unquestionably, one of a peculiar character. Most evidently she possessed that claim upon Christian sympathy which the Divine Redeemer has, in marvellous condescension, been pleased to place on a footing with that which we owe to Him. It was impossible to know Susan intimately, and not be satisfied that she had the Spirit of Christ,' and these words of the Saviour may dictate to every follower of Him to

|

the end of the world, what is duty in such a case— Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me;' or the commentary upon them by the Apostle, Whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?' The Church, as a public body, having allowed half-a-crown a-week towards her support, had done its duty; the propriety of a Church, as such, giving more, seems questionable, but the streams of private, neighbourly, and Christian benevolence, ought to be opened and directed towards such peculiar objects. In every Church, it is to be hoped, there are individuals who would esteem it a privilege, and a very high pleasure, to smooth the rough lonely pillow, and comfort the self-denied heart of such as Susan ;-one who, we are constrained to believe, has now joined the throng represented as around the throne of God and of the Lamb, clothed in a pearly robe of heavenly white, the palm of victory in her hand, and sings, in no feeble strain, the song she had learnt on earth, and, as she could,' had sung, unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to Him be glory and honour, dominion and power, world without end.'

"Several deaths had taken place in the ward of the Infirmary in which Susan lay, one on each side of the bed she occupied; and two of them of the same disease with which she was afflicted. Not to feel, in such circumstances, were more than human; but it was not the death which shocked her, it was the accompaniments, the recollection of which afterwards made her shudder. She was removed, therefore, as soon after the intimation she gave as possible, to her old residence, then occupied by another, who became her nurse, and Susan the lodger, where she remained till her death.

"To the last she evinced the same unbounded faith in God her Saviour. Her conceptions of the person and glory of the Redeemer were exceedingly exalted. This topic was a distinguishing feature in the theology of the divines among whom she was, in her earlier years, nurtured, and tended greatly to give strength and power to her singularly elevated Christian character. Deep worshipping awe, assimilating to that of those of whom we read, they cast their crowns before the throne,' seemed to overshadow her mind when she spoke of Immanuel. He was to her, not only the chief among ten thousand,' but, pre-eminently, God over all the King eternal, immortal, invisible-the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father-the great I AM.' Whatever kindness was done to her, she received as from him, but was never wanting in grateful expressions of thanks to all who were instrumental in administering to her comfort; there was a dignity, spirituality, and propriety in this feeling, which no words can express.

"She entertained a great regard and affection towards her pastor, who so long attended her in her illness. His temporary absence was a subject of much regret; and, as her end drew near, and when the thought that she might not again see him on earth became painful, it always merged into the meeting before the throne.' When told of his return, the feeling it gave rise to did not want for appropriate expression, and although then very weak, and suffering beyond what I had yet seen, she appeared, for a moment, to forget her pain, while her spirit rose in benediction to Him to whom she was accustomed to go, sorrowing or rejoicing.

"In this weak, but, latterly, not apparently suffering state, she remained for several days, and, during the last two, took no sustenance, except a little wine; she scarcely ever after opened her eyes, and all articulations was gone. Arranging, previous to this, respecting her funeral, she cared little about her body, she said, and if the physician, who had so long attended her, expressed

a wish to that effect, it might be opened; this, however, was not done. A parish coffin, she said, would do for her, but neither was this permitted. The lady already alluded to, as her earliest and constant friend, and the gentleman living in her neighbourhood, who so respected her, paid their last tribute to her memory, by ordering her a richly furnished coffin, and paying every expense attending the funeral. A favourite desire was that she might be buried in Oldham Street Church-yard, and there her dust reposes. So far did the lovingkindness of her God and Saviour follow his aged handmaid; and thus was she brought, dust to dust, ashes to ashes,' there to rest until the morning when what was sown in corruption shall rise in incorruption, not having 'spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.' Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.""

STRAY LEAVES FROM A JOURNAL IN SOUTH AMERICA, IN 1830 AND 1831.

BY THE REV. DAVID Waddell.

No. I.

THE RELIGION OF MONTE VIDEO.

THE religion established in the Banda Oriental, of which Monte Video is the capital, as well as in all the new states of South America, is of the Romish persuasion. Here, as in some other of the provinces, an attempt was made by some of the more liberal and enlightened of the patriots, who had long felt the soul-enslaving tendency of Popery, to establish the Christian as the national religion, without any reference to a particular sect; and, by this artifice, to escape at once the thraldom of Popery and the domination of priest-craft. It was, accordingly, proposed in the congress, assembled for the purpose of considering the articles of the constitution," that the religion of the state should be the pure religion of Jesus Christ." The priests who, in this country, are never sleeping at their posts, when they conceive the Church to be in danger, asked the mover of the proposition, what he thought was the pure religion of Jesus Christ; and, being of course obliged, as a good Catholic, to admit that it was the Roman Catholic, the priests then demanded, why he did not propose at once that the Roman Catholic should be the national religion. As the subject could not be satisfactorily settled at that meeting, they agreed to postpone the consideration of it to another occasion; and, in the meantime, the clergy, raising a hue and cry through the town, that "the Church was in danger," instigated the female part of the community, who have had, from the beginning of the world, the prime agency in the administration of human affairs, to interpose their authority, and exert their influence, to prevent the disruption of the Romish religion from the state. And such was their success, that when the proposition was moved, at the next meeting of the congress it was rejected by a large majority. The Roman Catholic was then established as the religion of the state, and the priests seem to take special care, that it shall be not only lord of the ascendant, but reign without a rival.

But the Monte Videan Church, though it bears the name, and holds the doctrines of Popery, has renounced its allegiance to the Pope, and all connection with Rome Its head, therefore, has been cut off, and the dead body is all that remains. It is, indeed, a dead and headless trunk, all its vitality appears to have fled, and if any of its members shew any of the symptoms of life, they are the effect of a kind of galvanic influence, not the motions of a living body. It is, in short, a mere automaton, depending for its power of loco-motion on a system of secret machinery, which is conducted by the clergy behind the curtain, whose object is to astonish the ignorant, to awe the timid, to delude the simple,

two.

and, like the keepers of a puppet-show, to extort money from every looker-in. The weak and the ignorant, therefore, stand and gaze, and are deceived; while the intelligent either pass by in silent contempt, or stop to inspect its machinery, and trace its movements to their true cause. And thus it is that one part of the Monte Videans are bigots, and the other infidels. My limited means of observation render me, perhaps, incompetent to form an exact estimate of the relative proportion of bigotry and infidelity that prevail among them. But I have had no difficulty in adopting the opinion, and I think all I have seen and heard will justify me in saying, that rank, superstition, and radical scepticism, are striving together for the mastery. The former has for her devotees, most of the old men, and all the old women, with the children in their train, a few of the young ladies in their company, and occasionally a young man or two, driven, perhaps, by the lash of a guilty conscience, to join their devotions. The latter has for her followers almost all the young men and some of the old, who, however, are not very zealous in her cause, and, not being molested in their opinions, shew no anxiety to propagate them. These seem to constitute the majority, but though they are in general the more intelligent, they do not form the more powerful party of the The others make up by their zeal what they want in numerical strength, and would undoubtedly be able, should they ever come into collision on any point, to over-master their opponents. Like all zealots whose zeal is neither for godliness, nor according to knowledge, they are sometimes very violent; and when a priest, more faithful than his brethren, happens to caution them against any of the worst tendencies of their superstition, such as relying too much on the efficacy of confessions, indulgences, &c., they are all up in arms together, and they will not rest till the obnoxious Padre is discharged from his office.* Seldom, however, have the people occasion to direct their zeal against any of the clergy. The clergy are but too forward to foment it against the refractory members of the community, as well as those of their own body. All their endeavours, indeed, seem to be directed, not so much to make them Christians, as good Catholics; not so much to render them the holy children of a holy God, as the blind and obedient sons of a blind and apostate Church. Their religion being the same in all its essential doctrinal points as it is in every Catholic country in Europe, presents nearly the same outward aspect. It chiefly consists in external observances, and when the people have once gone the round of these, they think their task is done, and all is well. If they attend the confessional-box at the appointed hours, and pay the penalties imposed by the priest, the penitence of the heart is not supposed to be requisite. If they repeat a certain number of Pater Nosters and Ave Marias; if they visit all the Churches a certain number of times in a day; if they present to the Saints a certain number of candles, and lend their trinkets and gew-gaws to deck their images, they seem to imagine that the whole work of religion is finished, and that, if they continue to go through the same profitless routine of "bodily service," their claim to eternal life is indisputable. They do not appear to know, and their priests neglect to teach them, that the divine commandment is exceeding broad, and extends to the feelings of the heart, as well as to the actions of the life; that religion must be every thing, or it is nothing ; that it must pervade the whole heart, the whole temper, and the whole conduct. They seem to regard it as a sort of holiday garment, to be worn only on festivals, or at oration times, and then laid aside, as mechanics lay aside their Sunday clothes till the next feast-day. It is not surprising, then, that the religion of the former should be as ineffectual in sanctifying their character, as the Sunday suits of the latter are in sanctifying theirs. * A case of this kind occurred during my residence in Monte Video.

They have no idea of the necessary and inseparable connection that subsists between true religion and morality, and they seem to think, that if they only go the round of empty ceremonies and external observances, and do all the penances imposed by the Church, the peaceable fruits of righteousness are quite unnecessary either to adorn their character, or to secure their salvation.

Secret Prayer. If you live in the neglect of secret prayer, you show your good-will to neglect all the worship of God. He that prays only when he prays with others, would not pray at all, were it not that the eyes of others are upon him. He that will not pray where none but God seeth him, manifestly doth not pray at all out of respect to God, or regard to his all-seeing eye; and, therefore, doth in effect cast off all prayer. And he that casts off prayer, in effect casts off all the worship of God, of which prayer is the principal duty. Now, what a miserable saint is he who is no worshipper of God! He that casts off the worship of God, in

or to be conversant with him as his God. For the way in which men own God, and are conversant with him as their God, is by worshipping him.-EDWARDS.

But this religion, clouded though it is with the shades of superstition, is, at least, superior to none at all. Poor fallen humanity never appears more pitiful and cheerless than it does when it is "without God and without hope in the world." Such is the sad and forlorn condition of the infidel, and it is to be lamented that the

number who have forsaken the God of their fathers is

so considerable. Infidelity was introduced into Monte Video, and the other states of South America, by means of the French sceptical books about fifteen years ago; and since that period, it has made, and is still making, rapid strides. And as the priests, whose business it chiefly is, have taken no effectual steps to counteract their pernicious tendency, the bane, but not the antidote, has been before them; and, while the poisoned chalice has been handed round, many have drunk its fatal contents and become its victims. In Buenos Ayres, indeed, a few months ago, the government, at the instigation of the bishop, caused all these noxious books to be collected and committed to the flames, and imposed a heavy penalty upon those who sold them. But this measure, instead of being productive of the desired effect, defeated itself, and, by exciting the curiosity of some and the cupidity of others, tended to encrease their sale and circulation by clandestine means. The Monte Videan priesthood have very wisely abstained from so injudicious a measure, but they have not shewn, nor appear inclined to shew, any disposition to adopt another to strike at the root of this growing evil. It is said, indeed, that some of the most influential of the clergy themselves have imbibed the fatal poison, and the rest, who are men of no education, and whose influence in the country does not extend beyond a few old women, want the power, if they had the inclination, to give it any effectual check. O that God, in his wise and holy Providence, would raise up among them a Wickliffe, a Luther, or a Knox, to sound the tocsin of alarm, and announce to the Church her true danger. Then, but not till then, will the axe be laid to the root of this corrupt tree, and hew it down, that the true vine may be planted in its room. Then, but not till "then, shall the wilderness and the solitary place be glad, and the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose; and instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign, that shall not be cut off."

CHRISTIAN TREASURY. Persevere. Believers, go on; your last step will be on the head of the old serpent, but crush it, and spring from it unto glory.-MASON.

Sinfulness and Unprofitableness of Discontent.-Of how many mercies is discontent the grave! How does it make the heart, where it is harboured, like the sandy desert, receiving a rich abundance of blessings from on high, without yielding, in return, one grateful acknowledgment, but remaining, after heaven's richest showers of mercy have fallen upon it, as barren and unfruitful as before!-WHITE.

Contrast of Earth with Heaven.-Heaven is the element of faith, of pure, sublimely intellectual, and of ever progressing faith, and of hope, brilliant and infalhave no end, because based on that immutable faithfullible hope, which looks forward to enjoyments which ness of God, which is alike the tried corner-stone of celestial and terrestial felicity: The chief constituent of the charity which shall last for ever, as well as all the other graces of the saints-is faith; but faith divests of all that hinders its unfettered exercise in this state of probation and of imperfection, still it can only grasp the great outline of God's moral government, and there it there it looks abroad into infinity, and contemplates sometimes contemplates through a clouded medium; objects of exalted delight, which shall suffer no change in the light of the beatific view of God. Here the hope of believers, though generated by a faith which is often strongest in those whose profound humility leads them to expect least, is necessarily imperfect, and is apt to calculations, and realizes to the full that which it antiwander from its proper aim; there it is secure in all its cipates; here it may be impeded by doubts, and depressed by fears; there it is sustained and progressive. Here the charity which accompanies faith labours under many disadvantages, it may become contracted from the frailty of the mind in which it is deposited, or may lose its fervour from the ingratitude of those whom it seeks to benefit; there it will have immensity for its sphere of and the infinite love of God at which to kindle that operation, the myriads of the blessed for its beneficiaries, flame of holy affection, which death or sin shall never extinguish.-STEELE,

Think of Christ.-Let a man profess what he will, if his thoughts are generally conversant about worldly and sensual things, he has an earthly and worldly mind; as he thinks, so he is; there is the image and likeness of the soul.

If, then, we are affected with the love of Christ, it will beget in our souls many thoughts of Christ, in our lying down and in our rising up, in our beds, in our ways, on our occasions, as well as in ordi

nances.

If, indeed, our hearts are affected with the love of Christ, our thoughts of Christ will abound, and those thoughts will work again on our affections, and conform us more and more to the image of Christ.

OWEN.

Christ is All-Come here and see the victories of the cross. Christ's wounds are thy healing, his agonies thy repose, his conquests thy conflicts, his groans thy songs, his pains thine ease, his shame thy glory, his death thy life, his sufferings thy salvation.-HENRY.