The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-21 00:00:00

rottrp.

TO THE FOLLOWERS OF THE OXFORD
NEW-MANIA.

(For the Liverpool Standard.)

When nations are to perish in their sins,
'Tis in the church the leprosy begins.
The priest, whose office is with zeal sincere
To watch the fountain and preserve it clear,
Carelessly nods and sleeps upon the brink,
While others poison what the flock must drink,
Or, waking at the call of lust alone,
Infuses lies and errors of his own ;
His unsuspecting sheep believe it pure,
And, tainted by the very means of cure,
Catch from each other a contagious spot,
The fouLforerunner of a general rot.
Then Truth is hushed that Heresy may preach,
And all is trash that Reason cannot reach.
Then God's Qwn image on the soul impress'd,
Becomes a mock'ry and a standing jest ;
And faith,, the root whence only can arise
The graces of a life that wins the skies,
Loses at once all value and esteem,
Pronounced by greybeards a pernicious dream.
Then Ceremony leads her bigots forth,
Prepared to fight for shadows of no worth ;
While truths An which eternal things depend,
Find not, or hardly find, a single friend.
As soldiers watch the signal of command,
They learn to bow, to kneel, to sit, to stand;
Happy to fill religion's vacant place
With hollow form and gesture and grimact.

SIMILITUDES

BY JAMES MONTGOMERY, ESQ,

" I have used similitudes."—Hosea, xii. 10.
A hailstone, from the cloud set free,
Shot, slanting coastward, o'er the sea,
And thus, as Eastern tales relate,
Lamented its untimely fate :
" Last moment born, condemn'd in this,
The next absorpt in yon abyss;
'Tware better ne'er to know the light,
Than see and• perish at first sight 1"
An oyster, opening as it fell,
Welcomed the outcast to its cell,
Where,'meekly suffering a " sea-change,"
It grew to " something rich and strange ;"
And thence became the richest gem
That decks the Sultan's diadem,
Tuin'd from a particle of ice
Into a pearl of priceless price:
For thus the Power that rules o'er all
Can raise the humble by their fall.

A dewdrop, in the flush of morn,
Sparkled upon a blossom'd thorn,
Reflecting, from its mirror pure,
The sun himself in miniature.
Dancipg for gladness on the spray,
It miss'd its hold, and slid away;
A skylark, mounting up to sing,
Caught the frail trembler on his wing;
But, borne aloft through gathering clouds,
Left it entangled with their shrouds;
Lost, and for ever lost, it seem'd,
When, suddenly the sun forth gleam'd,
And round the showery vapours threw
A rainbow;—where our drop of dew,
'Midst the prismatic hues of heaven,
Outshone the beams of all the seven ;
While hovering angels sang again
".Peace upon earth, good will to men !"
And " Glory in the highest be
To God !'.' responded earth and sea.

A Babe into existence came,
A feeble, helpless, suffering frame;
It breathed below a little while,
Then vanish'd, like a tear, a smile,
That springs and falls—that peers and parts,
The joy, the grief of loving hearts.
Sank then the soul to dust and gloom,
Worms and corruption, in the tomb ?
No " the rainbow round the throne,'
Caught up to paradise it shone,
And still it shines, until the day,
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
And those that sleep in Jesus here,
With Him in glory shall appear;
Then ;MI that soul and body meet,
And, when his jewels are complete,
'Midst countless millions, form a gem
In the Redeemer's diadem ;
Wherewith, as thorns his brows once bound,
Hs, for his sufferings shall be crown'd,
Raised from the ignominious tree
Tp the right band of Majesty,
Head over all created things,
The Lord of Lords, the king of kings.

DREADFUL EARTHQUAKE

(Front the Salisbury Journal.)

The following interesting account has been received from
a friend resident at San Jose, Costarica, on the Isthmus of
Darien, dated September 14, 1841 :
" We- haie had some shocks of earthquake, which have
caused great consternation, but happily, in this place, have
not been attended with fatal effects. A. little after six, on
the morning of the 2d instant, the first shock took place. I
was dressing at the moment, and immediately rushed to the
door, some woodwork from the top of which, falling down,
smashed to atoms my wash-hand basin, and gave me a slight
blow on the leg. However, I soon found my way to the
square, where I saw a motley assemblage, some en chi-
mese, others with blankets round their shoulders, women
screaming, dogs howling, and every sign of confusion and
dismay. This was an awful moment. The houses, though
much shakes, had not fallen, and we were every instant ex-
pecting-another shock. The next was less violent, and for-
tunately did no damage ; but for nine days and nights were
we kept in continual alarm by slighter tremblings of the
earth. N 6 e passed the nights in our clothes, with the doors
open to the street, to favour our escape, if it should be ne-
cessary. My house is so much damaged that I have not ven-
tured to sleep in it since, and I understand it will be taken
down. I have probably mentioned in my former letters that
the houses are only from twelve to fifteen feet in height,
as some precaution against the danger of earthquakes ; bnt
as I live opposite to a church, I did not view without ap-
prehension tho tower, which is one hundred feet high. In
Cartago, five leagues hence, the effects were dreadful in the
extreme. In less time than I can write it, a city of ten
thousand souls was laid in ruins. What are all the evils of
war compared to such tremendous devastation ? It seems
wonderful how so few lives should be lost. The inhabitants
are indebted for preservation to their early rising. All the
houses were levelled to the ground, and not more than forty
or fifty persons killed or wounded. You may imagine the
distress of the survivors, without a roof to shelter them, and
exposed to the mercy of the elements. They have pitched
their tents in the streets and squares; miserable huts, roofed
with hides and leaves, a very slender protection when the
rain is coming down in torrents for eight or ten hours suc-
cessively. Many of them will, no doubt, perish from fevers.
The poor will suffer much from the dearness of food, the chief
article, maize, having been much damaged by the cattle get-
ting into the fields, the enclosures having been destroyed by
the earthquake. The cause of the calamities has been the
eruption of a volcano, three leagues beyond Cartago. The
last earthquake took place in the year 1822, but the mischief
was then-confined to the destruction of a few houses. The
people have, as you may suppose, conducted themselves like
good catholics. Images of saints were carried in procession
through the streets, public prayers were offered daily, and
women were walking about, doing penance, by carrying
huge stones on their heads."