HYMNS. FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT. MORNING. ISAIAH, CHAP. XXX. And choose the downward road. What can the world bestow Yet, while its emptiness we know, O, that we never more From God's commands might stray! And keep us in thy way. Display Thy glorious might; And fill our souls with heavenly light, Falmouth. EVENING.-ISAIAH, CHAP. XXXII. See, iniquities abound, While Thy church is faint and low, Where the fruits of heaven should grow. Pour thy Spirit from on high; E. O. WEST-INDIAN SLAVERY. MR. EDITOR.-We hear much of slavery-of the ignorance of slaves of the cruelty of slave-owners-of the idleness, dissipation, and utter worthlessness of the one-of the injustice, oppression, and tyranny of the others. No man in his senses, at least no Christian man, can justify slavery; it is an abomination: but the question is, whether the wild unthinking enthusiasm of otherwise well-meaning men should take the lead in the effecting of a change where much prudence, foresight, caution, solid experience, and knowledge of human characters, are necessary to further and complete the work of emancipation. "To do evil that good may come," is the labour of confusion; and a small mischief is not justified by a greater. I have made many inquiries (and I have had peculiar opportunities of information on the subject), and I feel convinced, that there are but few colonial proprietors who would not joyfully agree in the wishes of the abolitionists, if they could do so in common honesty towards themselves and families. But it must be remembered, that the estates in the West Indies were possessed, originally, under the sanction and the persuasion of the then government of the mother country; and the present, or any future, administration, has no right whatever to demand that the planters should sacrifice their whole property, and make their children worse than slaves, viz. beggars, because any other set of men take it upon themselves (whether conscientiously or not, is not the argument) to denounce them as men-slayers and traffickers in blood. The legislature has called its energies into action, in favour of emancipation, and that by the surest means,-education and religious instruction; and by the regular administration of ecclesiastical affairs by properly ordained ministers. The colonists are not backward in obeying the directions of the legislature; and all who have witnessed the progress of the measures now in force speak of them as, beyond expectation, successful. Doubtless, there was a time, and that not long distant, when vice and irreligion sprang up in the West Indies as from a hot-bed; when the conduct of the slave was sanctioned by the example of the master, and all order, save that of the lash, was neglected; but a milder system now obtains; and improvement sheds its beams gradually, yet surely, all around. Ask any sensible person who is conversant with the state of things in the West Indies; and he will tell you, that the regular Church government established there is working, what a few years since would have been considered, miracles. Yet the Anti-Slavery Society continues its unbridled rage against the Clerical system, as if no progress had been made, and slavery was yet in its most fearful type. It is of no use to quote examples well authenticated of a different character to their own, for they are not heeded; and the usual round of invective is gone through, with histories half fable, half fiction, to serve the cause of "TRUTH." I have been led to these remarks by the perusal of a letter which has just been transmitted to me from the island of Nevis, to be forwarded to Bombay. I send you a copy herewith, requesting you to publish it. The names, of course, I shall suppress. But any one who may demand the anthentication of the statement, will, I hope, be favoured by you with the private information I herewith give. The writer of the letter was purchased, some years ago, by a physician, who educated him and taught him the art of healing to a certain extent; and the poor fellow, who is by trade a carpenter, and works on the estate, attends also the negroes in a medical capacity. When the physician died, he became the property of his son, a young officer in the service of the East India Company, who has anxiously desired to give him his freedom, but cannot, as, in consequence of some legal difficulty or want of sufficient title, the estate has been claimed by another person and unjustly withheld. I give the letter literally as it is written. The handwriting is firm and good. Nevis, April, 4th, 1833 (32) DEAR MASTER,-I hope these lines May find you will in health As thay leave Me at present I am happy to hear of your well fair and what A fine Young Gentleman you Are grown I hope by the Blessing of God to spair you and Make you As Worthy A Man and as usefull as your Good old Farther was the Young Leadies your Sisters told me that you Rem". to me and say to send to tell me you Are A better Carpenter than I am Ah! Dear Master since the Death of your poer Farther I have been so held About that I hardly know what I am saveing that of attends. four Estats sick Negros As Doctor and get Nothing for it times is so hard with me that I cant be eney thing for Myself in the Manner I am Keep. I therefore will be Veray thankfull if it lay with you to soften my Condetion As a frind would purches Me for the good of my freedem or if Not would Hire or let Me work out and Oppoint some one to Receive the Hire and it will be Punctal in the payment there is Not eney of your Sisters in the Island with me to Comfort me as they Always did Cause my Spirit to be Much Cast Down Dear Master I will be Very thankfull Whatever you Intend to do for me Direct it to Mr. Thomas wich is the Only friend I have I must Conclude wishing every Blessing that Almighty God Can bestow on you and shall ever Rem. your Loving servent To W- S. Esqr. THOMAS I leave the above in your hands without further comment, and am, LAST WORDS OF THE DYING. W. B. C. CYRUS. The influence of religion on the mind of this great prince was very conspicuous. On perceiving his end drawing near, he called his two sons and counselled them thus, "I conjure you, my dear children, in the name of Heaven, to respect and love one another. If your actions are upright and benevolent, be assured they will He declared his eldest son augment your power and glory." Cambyses, his successor, and left the other several very considerable governments, with this piece of excellent advice to them both, that "the chief strength and support of a throne, were not vast extent of country, neither of forces, nor immense riches, but just veneration towards God, good understanding between brethren, and the acquisition of true and faithful friends." IGNATIUS. This good and great man, one of the fathers of the ancient church, was born in Syria, and brought up under the care of the apostle John. He was bishop of Antioch about forty years, and an honour and ornament to the Christian religion. For his faith in Christ, he was ordered by the Emperor Trajan (who hoped that his sufferings would inspire terror and discouragement in the hearts of the Christians at Rome) to be thrown amongst wild beasts, to be devoured by them. This cruel sentence, instead of weakening his attachment to that he had espoused, was to him great exultation, in being counted worthy to suffer in so righteous a cause. "I thank thee, O Lord," said he," that thou hast condescended thus to honour me with thy love, and hast thought me worthy, with thy Apostle Paul, to be bound in chains." It is related of him, that with the utmost Christian fortitude, he met the wild beasts assigned for his destruction and triumphed in death. POLYCARP. This eminent Christian father was born in the reign of Nero, and appointed to superintend the church at Antioch by the recommendation of Ignatius: and proved himself eminently qualified to preserve peace, and promote piety and virtue amongst men. One short extract from the life of this pious man, will sufficiently elucidate his character. In the year 167, and during the rage of the persecution at Smyrna, the character of Polycarp attracted the attention of the enemies of Christianity, so much so, that the general cry was for Polycarp to be brought forward, and in order to save his life he was solicited to vilify his Saviour.-His reply was, "Eighty and six years have I served Christ, who has never deserted or injured me; how then can I blaspheme my King and Saviour?" He yielded up his breath at the stake, and when the executioner offered, as was usual, to nail him to it, he said, "Let me alone as I am; he that has given me strength to come to the fire, will also enable me to stand unmoved in the pile, without being fastened with nails." JOHN, EARL OF ROCHESTER, was a great man every way; a great wit, a great scholar, a great poet, a great sinner, and a great penitent. His life was written by Bishop Burnet, and his funeral sermon was preached and published by Mr. Parsons. Dr. Johnson, speaking of Burnet's Life of this Nobleman, says, "The critic ought to read it for its elegance, the philosopher for its argument, and the saint for its piety.' His lordship had raked in the very bottom of the jakes of debauchery, and had been a satyrist against religion itself. But when, like the prodigal in the Gospel, he came to himself, his mind was filled with the most extreme horror, which forced sharp and bitter invectives from him against himself; terming himself the vilest wretch the sun ever shone upon; wishing he had been a crawling leper in a ditch, a linkboy, or a beggar, or had lived in a dungeon, rather than offended God in the manner he had done. For the admonition of others, and to undo, as much as was in his power, the mischief of his former conduct, he subscribed the following recantation, and ordered it to be published after his death : "For the benefit of all those whom I may have drawn into sin, by my example and encouragement, I leave to the world this my last declaration, which I deliver in the presence of the great God, who knows the secrets of all hearts, and before whom I am now appearing to be judged; that from the bottom of my soul I detest and abhor the whole course of my former wicked life; that I think I can never sufficiently admire the goodness of God, who has given me a true sense of my pernicious opinions and vile practices, by which I have hitherto lived without hope, and without God in the world; have been an open enemy to Jesus Christ, doing the utmost despite to the Holy Spirit of grace; and that the greatest testimony of my charity to such, is, to warn them, in the name of God, as they regard the welfare of their immortal souls, no more to deny his being or his providence, or despise his goodness; no more to make a mock of sin or contemn the pure and excellent religion of my ever blessed Redeemer, through whose merits alone, I, one of the greatest of sinners, do yet hope for mercy and forgiveness. Amen." SALMASIUS.-When Salmasius, who was one of the most consummate scholars of his time, came to the close of life, he saw cause to exclaim bitterly against himself. "Oh!" said he, "I have lost a world of time! time, the most precious thing in the world! whereof had I but one year more, it should be spent in David's Psalms and Paul's Epistles!"-"Oh! Sirs," said he again to those about him, "Mind the world less, and God more!" COLLECTANEA. We take the following from the "Cambridge Chronicle," as too good to be lost, and as confirmatory of the Jesuistry, of which we know the Papists to be universally guilty. DR. DOYLE.-We recommend those who wish for a specimen of Jesuitism to turn to the evidence of Dr. Doyle, lately given before the Committee for inquiry into the condition of the Irish Clergy. Some years ago, this prelate was called upon to state in evidence, his opinion respecting the effect which emancipation, as it was called, would have upon the Catholics; and some member of the Committee, who saw a little further into the mill-stone than the rest, then asked him, if the Catholics should be emancipated, whether they would quarrel with the Established Church about the payment of tithes? The answer was, "By no means: they would never think of interfering."-Well, the Catholics are emancipated to their hearts' content. Numerous Catholic members get into the House of Commons, and with one voice, defend and praise the passive resistance to the law of tithe, by which hundreds of the established Clergy are reduced to absolute beggary. A Committee is appointed to inquire into the subject, and Dr. Doyle himself is again called upon to give evidence, which he does, with a breadth of brass which would do honour to many an unfortunate individual at a |