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hast drawn us from our country merely to be to him the clearers of the soil , to build him cities , and enrich him by our labours ? Job , crushed by misfortunes , contended with thee : thou wouldst not that we should be more insensible than he . He said , Since thou hast determined my destruction , accomplish thy purpose ; kill me , annihilate me . Let me be buried , and reduced to dust ; to this I consent . But to-morrow thou shalt seek me , but shalt not find me , Thou shalt have the Sabeans , the Chaldeans , the
blasphemers of thy name ; but Job , the faithful servant who adores thee , thou shalt have no more . Dost thou think that Holland will furnish thee with apostolical conquerors , who , at the hazard of their lives , will carry through the whole country the standard of the cross ? Will Holland raise temples that shall please thee ? Will she build altars upon which thou wilt descend ?—Yes ! yes ! the worship which thou shalt there receive will be that which is daily offered at Amsterdam , at Middleburgh , and at Flushing , and in other parts of this cold and humid hell !
" ' Lord ! I well know that the propagation of thy faith , and the interests of thy glory , depend not upon us , —and that were there no human beings in existence , thy power would give life to the stones , and from them raise up children to Abraham . But I also know that since the time of Adam thou hast not created a new race of men ; that thou employest those which are , and that thou dost not admit to thy plans the less good , but from the want of better . If the misfortune befall us , that Holland shall become the mistress of
Brasil , what I would with humility , but most seriously recommend , is , that thou do well consider before thy decree be executed ; carefully weigh what might in that case befall thee ; deliberate , while yet there is time . —Before the deluge thou wert highly incensed against the human race . It was in vain that Noah supplicated for an age ; thou persistedst in thine anger . The cataracts of heaven at length burst ; the waters rise above the summits of the mountains ; the whole earth is inundated—and thy justice is
satisfied ! But three days afterwards , when the bodies floated , when thy eyes beheld the multitude o £ livid carcases , when the surface of the seas presented to thee a spectacle the most melancholy , the most terrific which ever angels gazed upon with sorrow , what didst thou ? Struck with this scene , as if thou hadst not foreseen it , thy bowels were moved with grief . It repented thee that thou hadst made the world . Thou didst lament the past—didst form resolutions for the future * Behold what thou art : and since this is
thy character , why dost thou not interpose to save us } When thy temples shall be spoiled , thy altars destroyed , thy religion be extinguished in Brasil , thy worship be suspended and the grass shall grow before the portals of thy churches , then shall Christmas arrive , and there shall be none to commemorate thy natal day . Lent , the holy week , shall come , and the mysteries of thy passion shall not be celebrated ! The stones of our streets shall groan , like those of the desolate streets of Jerusalem . There will be no more priests , no more sacrifices , no more sacraments . Heresy will seat herself in the chair of truth . False doctrine will infect the children of
Portugal . At some future day the question will be asked the descendants of those who surround me , Boys , of what religion are you ?—And they will answer , We are Calvinists . Girls , of what religion are you ?—And their answer will be , We are Lutherans , Thou wilt then pity , and wilt repent ; but since sorrow affects thee , why not prevent its occurrence ?'" Surely , neither Bossuet nor Bridaine furnishes any thing more splendid than this bold address . Besides his sermons , which form thirteen volumes , 4 to , and extend to 190 ia number , Vieyra wrote many other pieces , which
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Memoir of Antonio Vieyra , 101
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1828, page 101, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2557/page/29/
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