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CHAPTER VIII.

Protestant Worship at Naples-Miscellanies-Vegetation.

THE English are much indebted to their national Consul at Naples for retaining a chaplain, and inviting all the respectable ministers of our church who visit Naples, to preach, as by this means an opportunity is afforded of attending protestant worship.

It is the 29th of January, and the atmosphere is like a steam bath. We have been sitting, during sunset, looking upon the dashing surges, and as they broke successively upon the shore, many past waves of affliction were brought to my mind,-waves which have broken down the heart, as the waters now before me have broken the rocky banks. The cause of this constant physical agitation, the winds as well as tides, are yet a mystery. But God has taught his ways as it respects his own kingdom. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." What objects are before me? a burning mountain and the wide-spread sea. When, with Job, we contemplate the hand that formed them, all is possible. When we contemplate them merely in the speculations of men, all is unaccountable.

"God has compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end;" and we are told again, that the day shall come when there shall be no more "He divideth the sea with his power, the waters are

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PROTESTANT WORSHIP.

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dried up; "-and so true is this curious fact, that all the wells of Portici became dry previously to the last eruption of Vesuvius. The ancient sufferer, Job, adds, in speaking of the waters, "they are gone from man;" and so well did he understand God's control over the fires, that he says, as for the earth, out of it cometh bread, and under it is turned up, as it were, fire." "God putteth forth his hand upon the rock! he overturneth the mountains by the roots -he cutteth out rivers among the rocks, and his eye seeth every precious thing-he bindeth the floods from overflowing." "Lo! he that formeth the mountains and created the wind, and declared unto man what is his thoughts-that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, the Lord, the God of Hosts is his name. The Lord God of Hosts is he that toucheth the land and it shall melt. It shall rise up wholly like a flood. It is he that buildeth his spheres in the Heavens, and hath founded his troop in the earth. He that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name."

When thus, by a prophet's hand, the curtain is lifted up which hid the great First Cause of nature, and the mystery of divine love is made known through an inspired Apostle, light rises out of darkness, and we feel that we have learned things hidden from the foundation of the world. We know that God has revealed a mystery that angels desire to look into-"Christ! the power of God, and the wisdom of God."

Napoli, Feb. 14th.-How many scenes and circumstances does every week present, which tell us that it is high time to awake out of sleep. One Sunday, the Marchioness of H, and the two Ladies M-, joined in the worship

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PROTESTANT WORSHIP.

at Sir H. L's. On Thursday, Lady E— was seized with inflammation, and on Saturday was no longer an inhabitant of earth: she had expressed a wish that, if she died in Italy, she might be buried beside her sister in Genoa. The body remained a fortnight in port, before the vessel sailed. What a painful watch, to linger till the sail was spread that bore away the earthly part of so dear a friend! her desire was to be right. On reading the word haughty in Italian to her master, she observed, "They say that most noblemen are haughty, I hope I shall not be so."

When we were afterwards at Genoa, "She does not rest here," was the answer we gained from a poor woman that lived in the ruined monastery of St. Bernini, and who had the key of the protestant burial-ground, when we inquired where they had placed Lady E. M-? "She is in the old burial-ground beneath the Campo Santo: there, under the rock, close upon the sea shore. It is not now used; but the Principessa had so great a desire to be buried by her sister, that they placed her there-you see the placethere, on the shore." We turned our eye; it is a fine resting place: a beautiful green sward covers the rock, and the waves beat fiercely against its base. Affection, in its wild desires, could not have found a nobler tomb for a beloved friend.

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Happy they who believe the words of the Lord : Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." "I go to prepare a place for you. my father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you," and who, believing, consecrate themselves to his service in all spiritual holiness and filial obedience.

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There is no opposition made to clergymen or others,

ADORATION OF THE HOST.

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who assemble friends for worship on the Sunday afternoon : we had thus always the privilege of social worship twice in the day.

The Rev. Mr. S

preached to-day at the consul's, (March 18,) from these wonderful words: "He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

O, it is most sad-to observe the gross darkness — Egyptian darkness-that prevails here. Every morning about 10 o'clock, a little tinkling bell is heard coming down from the church on the Vomero, through the Chiaja, to what they call here a "station," on the beach: the man ringing it is dressed in ragged red clothes-worse than a common crier; behind him a greasy, dirty-looking priest, with a crucifix-another with a sort of lantern, containing the host-and boys carrying lighted torches-all but the priest looking about them in every direction, and he shouting and yelling like a madman. It seems it was Pope Gregory who first decreed a bell to be rung, as the signal for the people to betake themselves to the adoration of the host. The vessel wherein the host is, is called the Ciborio, being a large kind of covered chalice: thus do they pretend, every day, to offer a new hostia or sacrifice in the mass, to the Father. I saw, as it advanced down the Chiaja, priests and people get out of their carriages, and with both knees on the ground, worship the bread or wafer; and all the lazzaroni stopped their employments, for a moment, to salute it in humblest adoration. These poor Neapolitans believe, in common with all Romanists, that in the sacrament, Christ is received whole and entire by every individual!-that Christ has left to his church the power of granting indulgences. And as to purgatory, you

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cannot turn a corner of a street, without seeing painted flames out of which the Virgin is hauling poor sinners; and meeting women going about, dressed like May-day queens, with boxes, towards which they intreat you to contribute, "per le anime in purgatorio." Indeed purgatory stands more forward to the eye than any other of their notions: they have not a doubt of imperfect souls, that are in limbo, being helped by the prayers of the faithful, and they are exceedingly anxious to have the mass performed at death, as they believe that in this is offered a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead.— Penance too is effectual! wherefore then purgatory? and as to that really blessed woman, Mary, she is continually worshipped and insulted, in the form of little China statues, and carved and painted wooden figures. I have often thought, if she could indeed catch a glimpse of earth, she would be astonished and grieved, even amidst the joys of Heaven, to see such folly. How remote from worship was the salutation of the angel, "Fear not, Mary! for thou hast found favour with God:" and Mary said, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."

Continually on the Acquajoli, in the various streets, you see her painted, standing on a crescent moon, and souls rising out of purgatory at her command. On the mole, during the whole of Lent, her praises are sung by a priest, on a tub, who with arms uplifted, and mountebank gestures, shows forth her powers, accompanied by a humbler capuchin, who, with downcast eyes, stands by the side, with a crucifix, displaying an image of his insulted Lord; whilst the group-the lazzaroni, with their naked legs-the countrywomen, with orange petticoats, bound with yellow, blue

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