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POPE CLEMENT XIV.

AN EXAMPLE OF TRUE GREATNESS.

I have read somewhere, (and if I mistake not, it was in Father O'Leary's writings ;) of a Scotchman who thought it was his duty to go to Rome, and bear his testimony against the pope-With his bible in his hand, and those passages in the book of Revelations which gave birth to his sentiments, duly marked-he proceeded through all difficulties to that sink of iniquity-being safely arrived, he attended the service at the superb chapel of St. Peter's, and there in the true spirit of a martyr, proceeded to preach against the idolatry of the place!-the noble and philosophic Ganganelli happened to preside over the church at that time, and was present when the Scotchman commenced his harangue-some of his clergy turning to him, to know if they should commit the fanatic to prison-the exalted man turned to them with this memorable speech-" God forbid that I should lay my finger upon an honest man, who has come so far for what he believes to be the good of my soul." Oh, Ganganelli! had thy predecessors and successors possessed but a moiety of thy spirit, Christendom ere this would have been a field of love-it would contain but one familyOh, Ganganelli, I do not merely revere thy memory, I feel it interwoven with the warmest affections of my heart-and while in an humble walk of life, I feel ambitious to emu

late thy noble endeavours after the reformation of Christendom, and the union of its contending families-I lament that such an ornament of human nature as thou wast, should fall a sacrifice to that illiberal and self-interested policy, which thy noble and disinterested labours and example tended to destroy-If thy shade is permitted to witness the heart and affections, that dictate this tribute to thy memory; its sublime enjoyments will not be lessened, by the reflection,. that it is not paid to wealth, nor to rank, nor to power-but to that virtue which thou receivedest as a free gift from Heaven, and which as a faithful steward, thou didst labour to improve.

* History reports, that strong suspicion was entertained of his having been dispatched by poison-and no wonder; for on account of his endeavours to reform the church, and his plans for the re-union of christians, he was stiled the Protestant Pope.Our Author informs us, that he conferred freely with the Scotchman, after public worship was concluded-prayed fervently to God to bless him-and gave him money to defray his expences in Rome, with full liberty to enjoy his revelations in that city.

MARIE DE LA MOTHE GUION.

To do justice to this lady's character is a task far above my humble abilities-it is now so well known, and so well established in the religious world, as to be quite independent of eulogium: but some time ago observing her name spoken of, in a disrespectful manner, by Lord

Lyttleton in his Dialogues of the Dead-I thought an humble attempt to pull off the veil of insanity thrown over it by this nobleman, would only be an act of duty to that power, which had so eminenily sanctified and fitted her for service in his church militant; notwithstanding the various mistakes and infirmities, that marked her progress through the early stages of her religious travel.

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In a world abounding with wants and infirmities, it is almost impossible but the good must suffer-this was peculiarly the case of this lady-her whole life was one scene of suffering from her cradle to her grave-the christian doctrine which indisputably leads to non-resistance of evil, she had embraced-not as the system of her education; but as the footsteps of that infallible Guide, the print of whose feet she saw in every commandment" I found," said she, "that nothing passed within my soul, but what was in the scriptures"—no wonder then that she was persecuted Her devotion to God, was a prompt reproof of the idolatry of the world, which loves every thing but God her secret but immense liberalities to the poor, offended the formalist, and those whose ostentation could not bear the contrasther purity incurred the ridicule of the licentious-and in one word, the kingdom of heaven being opened in her soul, hell and its powers declared against her-In her youth we find her practising several austerities with a view to her sanctification; which experience at length convinced her, when voluntarily adopted, are incompetent to that end-but did these austerities disorder her

reason, or disqualify her for the duties of that station in which Providence had placed her?-it appears not-for we find her very early in life attending her father in a dangerous illness; performing for him the most servile offices from sincere affection; and reading for his edification with such heart-felt devotion, as to surprize; while no doubt it highly pleased him-to be sure the union of such devotion and filial piety in a child, may carry the aspect of singular enthusiasm; but to the reasonable mind it only furnishes a proof, that the Author of spirits had early begun to attract her to himself—to accomplish the purposes of his grace, he permits her against her inclination, to be hurried into a match with a gentleman, twenty-two years older than herself-in his house, the scene of her deepest sorrows commenced, through the instrumentality of her husband's motherthis lady's natural temper was the most unhappy; and she maintained an ascendancy over her son, which she did not use to the best of purposes-Marie was the butt of all her ill-humour, and she persuaded her son, that if his affairs were entrusted to his wife, they would be ruined.

In this house her piety was accounted delusion; her beauty and accomplishments were despised; and the whole of her education useless!-Although her husband was one of the Lords of the Canal; yet his family attended to nothing but œconomy; and thus was wisely contrived the destruction of that fabric of vanity, which would have impeded her salvation, and prevented her usefulness in the church of Christ-In the whole of these mortifying

circumstances, she sees the hand of God-adores his providence ; and acknowledges that her pride and selfwill, needed these mortifications-as such she accepts them from the hand of her heavenly physician-and even conceived the happy art of forming an attachment to those chains,which she had no power to break-she wore them as the ornaments placed upon her character, by Him whom she perpetually beheld present-and whose approbation was the object of her thoughts-God had given her remarkable grace,so that she never swerved from her duty, nor sought for consolation in sinful pleasure; although her circumstances were such as peculiarly subjected her to danger for at home, all was contradiction and illhumour-abroad, all was gay and seducing-but she had an eye to the recompence of reward: and she reaped it even in this life, by a complete conquest over her passions, and by a habit of peace and serenity, which often rendered her an object of awe and veneration, to persons of a character very remote from hers. The power which she received over her words and actions, is singular and extraordinary---during the whole of her her hard bondage; I do not recollect to have read in her life, that she ever complained to her father and mother, of the treatment of her husband and mother-in-law:although but sixteen years of age when she entered into the marriage state, she observed a profound silence on the subject of her sufferings; offering them to God, and making a good use of them-nor did she ever asperse the instruments of her sufferings, but on the contrary gave them good characters-her mother-in-law (she said)

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