New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1842-08-19


scholar With the viccroy and his officers he
talked, as pleased them best, of war or trade, OF
politics or navigation and to restrain the common
soldiers from gambling, would invent for their
Amusement, less dangerous pastines, or even hold
the stakes for which they played, that by his pres
ence and his gay discourse, he might ct least
check the excuses which he could not prevent
| Five weary n,onths( wearyto all but him brought
the ship to Mozambique, where an endemic fever
threatened premature grave to the apostle oil the
Indies. But his was not spirit to be queuched
or alayed by the fercest paroxysms OF disease.
At each remission of his maiady, be crawled to the
beds of his fellow sufferers TO soothe their terrors
or assuags their pains To the eye of any casual
| observer the most wretched of mankind, IN the
esteem of his companions the happiest and the
| moss holy, he reached Goa just thirteen months
after his departure from Lisbon
| At Goa, Xavier was shocked, and had fear been
| an element in his nature, would have been dis.
| uiayed by the almost universal depravlty OF the
inhabitants. 1t exhibited itself in those offensive
| forms which characterize the crimes OF clVliized
men when settled among feebler race, and re-
| leased from even the conventional decencies OF
civilization Swinging in bis hand large bell, he
traversed the streets of the city, and npored the
astonished crowd to send their children to him, TO
be instructed in the religion which they still at
! least protested. Though he had never been ad-
| dressed By the soul-strring name of father, he
| knew that in the hardest and the most dlssoutc
heart which had once felt the parental instinct,
| there is one chord which never be wholly out
of tune. crowd of little ones were quickly
| placed under his charge. He lived among them
AZ the most laborous of teachers, and the gentest
| and the gayest of friends; and then returned
| them to their homes, that by their more hallowed
example they might there impart, with all the
unconscious eloquencc of hal love, the lessons OF
| wisdom and of pety they had been taught. No
cry of human misery reached him In VAIN he
became inmate of the hospitals, selecting mat
of the leprous as the object of his peculiar care
Even in the haunts of debauchery, and at the Ia
bles of the prohigate, he was to be seen an hon
ored and welcome guest; delighting thai most
unmeet audience with the vivacity OF his DISCOURSE
and sparing neither pungent jests to render vice
ridiculous nor sportivc batteries to allure the
fallen back to the still aistasteful paths of sober
ness and virtue. Strong in purify oil purpose, ana
stronger still in one sacred remembrance, ne was
content to be called the friend of Publicans and
sinners. He had in truth long since deserted inc
standard of prudence, the offspring of forethousht,
for the banner of wisdom, the child of love- and
followed them through perils not to be huzarded
under any less triumphant leader
Rugged were the ways along which he was mus
conducted. In those times, as III our Own, there
was on the Coromande coast pearl fishery, and
then, as now, the pearl-divers formed separate
and degraded caste. 1t not till after resi-
dence Of twelve months at Goa, that Xavier heard
of these people He heard that they were igno-
rant and miserable and he inquired no further
On that burning shore his bell once more rang out
an invitation of mercy, and again were gathered
around him troops of inqusitive and docile chill
dren. For fifteen months he lived among these
AFFECT fishermen, his only food their rice and wa
ter, reposing in their huts, and allowing himself
but three hours sleep in the Extraordinarily de
became at once their physician, the arber In their
disputes, and their advocate for the remission OF
their annual tribute with the government OF Goa.
The bishop of that city had assisted him with two
interpreters but his impassioned spirit struggled,
and not in vain, for some more direct intercourse
with the objects of his care. Committing to mem
orv translations, at the time unlnteilglbe TO him.
SELF of the creeds and symbols of his faith he re-
cited them with tones and gestures, which spoke
at once to the senses and to the hearts OF his disci-
pies All obstacles yielded to his restless zeal
He soon learned to converse, to preach, and to
write in their language. Many an humble cottage
was surmounted by crucifix, the mark of its con-
secraton; and many rude countenance reflected
the sorrows and the hopes which they had been
taught to associate with that sacred emblem
have nothing to add (the quotation is from one
of the letters which at this time he wrote to 10y
ola, but that they who came forth to labor for
the salvation of idoatcrs, receive from on high
such consultations, that if there be on earth such
thing as happiness, 1t is theirs
If there be such thing, it is but rs the check
ered sunshine of a vernal day. hostile inroad
from Mondura overwhelmed the poor fishermen
IL, l,,1 call
down their simple chapes, and drove them for re-
| fuge to the barren rocks and sandbanks which
| line the western shores of the straits OF Manar.-
But their father was at hand to share their ac-
tion to procure for them from the viceroy at Goa
relief and food, and TO direct their confidence to
still more powerful Father, whose presence and
| good they might adore even amidst the wreck OF
all their earthly treasures.
II was a lesson not unmeet for those on Shom
| such treasures had been bestowed in the most ann
| pie abundance; and Xavier advanced to Travaa-
core, 10 teach it there to the Rajah and his cour-
tiers No facts resting on remote human tcstimo-
| ny can be more exempt from doubt than the gene
raj outline of the tale which follows. A solitary,
POOR and unprotected stranger he burstthrough the
barriers which separate of different tongues
and races; and witha ease little less than mirac-
ulous, established for himself the means of inter
changing thought, with the people of the East
They may have ill-gathered his meaning, but by
some mysterious force of sympathy they soon
caught his ardor. Idol temples fell by the hands
of their former worshippers. Christian chsrchcs
rose at his bidding; and the kingdom of Travan
core was agitated with new ideas and unwonted
! controversies. The Bsahmins argued-as the
Church BY law established has not seldom argued
with FIRE and sword, and the inerdict Of earth
and water to the enemies of their repose. for
eign invader threw still heavier sword into the
trembling scales. From the southwark appeared
on the borders of Travancore the same force
which had swept away the poor fishermen Of Mala-