The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 16

As to what remains, if Xavier was endued with all apostolical virtues, does it not follow, that the religion which he preached, was that of the apostles? Is there the least appearance, that a man, who was chosen by God to destroy idolatry and impiety in the new world, should be himself an idolater and a wicked man, in adoring Jesus Christ upon the altars, in invoking of the Holy Virgin, in engaging himself to God by vows, in desiring indulgences from the Pope, in using the sign of the cross and holy-water for the cure of the sick, in praying and saying masses for the dead? in fine, is it possible to believe, that this holy man, this new apostle, this second St Paul, continued all his life in the way of perdition, and, instead of enjoying at this present time the happiness of the saints, endures the torments of the damned? Let us then pronounce, concluding this work as we began it, that the life of St Francis Xavier is an authentic testimony of the truth of the gospel; and that we cannot strictly observe what God has wrought by the ministry of his servant, without a full satisfaction in this point, that the catholic, apostolic, and Roman church, is the church of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

END OF THE SIXTEENTH VOLUME* * * * *

1

Mary of Este, wife of James II.

2

The superstitious and, as it proved, fatal insinuation, that the birth of the Chevalier de St George was owing to the supernatural intercession of St Francis Xavier, was much insisted on by the Protestants as an argument against the reality of his birth. See the Introduction to "Britannia Rediviva," Vol. X. p. 285. In that piece, our author also alludes to this foolery:

Hail, son of prayers, by holy violence

Drawn down from heaven! —

3

The Reverend Richard Hackluyt, editor of the large collection of voyages to which Purchas' Pilgrim is a continuation.

4

Cande is a kingdom in the island of Ceylon.

5

Or beads.

6

Divina Esperanya.

7

An argument ready cut and dried for the use of any church by law established

8

The Holy Cross.

9

A pardo (says Tavernier) is of the value of twenty-seven sous, French money; ten of which make about a shilling English.

10

"The principal Navigations, Voyages, Discoveries, &c. of the English, &c." second part of the second volume.

11

The reader is referred to the original English for the words themselves; the translator not having the work by him.