"WICKED TO READ THE BIBLE!"

THOUSANDS of people in England do not realize that God's Word is practically set at nought by the system of Popery. In September last I was visiting, in company with a lady and gentleman, the lovely scenery of Killarney. A young woman came out into the road to sell some poteen, of which-being very wet-we were glad to avail ourselves. She expressed a hope of seeing us another year, for which I thanked her, offering, however, some remark about the uncertainty of our continuance here, of the certainty of death, and of the importance of being quite ready for the long journey which all must take, and quite safe for eternity. Her reply startled my reverend friend, who (like most English people) was hardly willing to think that Popish darkness is so thick and harmful as is represented. "Ah, then," she cried, we must just put our trust in the Almighty God and Hail Mary." To prevent any mistake, I inquired, "What say you?" and received precisely the same answer. I then said, "Well, but God says in his Word that there is one God, and one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Your own Bible will tell you that." To this the answer was clear and ready, "Oh, it is a very wicked thing to read the Bible!" "Who says so?" "Well, the priest says so."-Extracted from Pastoral Letter by the Rev. Geo. Venables.

66

OBITUARY.

It is with feelings of no common sorrow that the Committee record the sudden removal by death of the Rev. Brent Neville, B.A., the Missionary Curate of Clifden, and one of the most valuable young clergymen that ever joined the ranks of the Society's labourers. Earnest, faithful, zealous, and affectionate, respected by Roman Catholics, and beloved alike by young and old, whether converts or original Protestants, Mr. Neville was a man who seemed to us to have been not only eminently qualified for the sphere in which he laboured with so much acceptance, but also destined to fulfil for many years a career alike of usefulness and honour in the work of the Lord in Ireland. The Master, in his mysterious providence, has called his servant to Himself by a sudden illness, while out on a tour of Missionary preaching, and he now rejoices in the presence of the Saviour, whom he loved. While our loss is our beloved brother's unspeakable gain, the Committee cannot but mourn over the removal thus early of one whom they so deeply valued; and they can only pray the Lord of the harvest to raise up many more men of like mind to take the place of those who are gone, and to send forth many more such labourers into the Missionary field in Ireland.

SUMMARY OF MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. Aughrim.-The congregations are on the increase. The schools are working very satisfactorily. A Roman Catholic bore testimony to their efficiency. His wife just got a letter from her brother, in America, who was educated in the Kilmala Irish Church Mission school. He remisted £7 to her, and said that he had taken a good situation by competitive examination; that he owed his success to the Irish Church Mission schools; that many spectators were present at the examination; and that, when it was announced that an Irishman had obtained the prize, all the Irish present loudly cheered and applauded him. The schools have been inspected by Mr. Austin, school examiner. He has reported most favourably upon them. The parents have expressed their satisfaction at the progress of their children in a practical way. They have presented, both to the Master and Mistress, very flattering addresses, accompanied, in both cases, by a purse of money. The priest of has so keenly felt the power of the school, that he has obtained a salary for a teacher from the National Board, and opened a school in the neighbourhood.

Ossory. I regret that the press of business at Christmas interfered to prevent me sending in my Report for the past month at the proper season. No very stirring incidents have occurred; nevertheless the work has gone steadily on, and we are not without evidence that it has been blessed. I need scarcely inform your Committee that sometimes we are cast down under a want of sympathy on the part of the Protestant population. From one cause or another they look coldly on, and I always feel it a triumph when they are obliged to acknowledge the value of the Missionary operations. An instance of this kind occurred in a few days since. A decent Protestant woman was perverted by the Romish Missionaries a short time since, to the great chagrin of the Protestant neighbours, none of whom had sufficient zeal or courage to visit her or remonstrate with her; but, in their distress, they thought of your Reader, and two of the gentry begged of him to reason with her on the folly and sin she was guilty of. This, of course, he did; and, from his report of the interview, I trust with great success. The visits of your Readers to the dying Romanists are still received with much gratitude. Very recently, one of your Agents, called to visit a man who was near death, and with whom he had much conversation on former occasions. In the kitchen of the house he found the priest reading some Latin prayer for the dying man, who was at a distance in his bed-room. The Reader perceived the priest so agitated by his presence, that he soon withdrew; and on that evening the brother of the dying man welcomed the Reader again, although he con. fessed the priest abused him greatly for allowing the Reader to enter the house at all. This reminded me of a case which came under my observation some time since. A Roman Catholic gentleman, when dying, at the entreaty of his wife; allowed a priest to offer a mass for him; and, when it was all over, he turned to a Protestant relative and said, "James, that is a poor way of giving consolation to a dying sinner. Get the Bible, my friend, and read a chapter for me.' Once the poor sinner enjoys the sweet sound of the Gospel, the priest finds it hard to keep the Readers out, Ah, cara machree," said a poor woman, who listened to Matt. xi., "I would not believe that it is any harm to listen to that." "Thirty years ago," said an old man to the same Reader, a Roman Catholic would scarcely take a Bible in his hand; and now there are but very few in this parish, who can read, who do not read it when they can." During the same week, this Reader repeated Matt. xi. 28, 29 to à Roman Catholic woman. "God bless you," said she; "our God is more merciful than the priest, who kept me doing penance for six months for listening to you."

Your Agent in E- is still permitted to labour in that district without meeting any opposition. The clergymen of the parish, who are warm friends of the Society, have promised to aid him in holding a Controversial Class, a work for which this Reader is peculiarly well suited. I have no doubt that much good will result, for even if many Romanists do not attend, a large company of Protestant young men will; and the lamentable ignorance of the controversy under which so many of them labour will be removed, and they will be found able allies in combating with Rome. I have frequent opportunities of observing how struck the poor Roman Catholics are with the superiority of the morality of the Protestant clergy and laity over that of the Roman priesthood and their wealthy followers. Recently, in N. R., your Agent pointed out to some Romanists the corrupt teaching of Father Furness's Catechism, in which encouragement is given to theft. One of his hearers imme

diately replied, "That agrees with the practices of the Roman Catholic shopkeepers in this town. They are the greatest rogues that can be. They adulterate every article of our food, and the more priest-ridden and apparently devout he is, the greater rogue he is." In this same town of a Roman Catholic family have

come out of Rome within the last month; and, although they have much still to learn, yet I was a good deal struck by this reply to my query, "Why did you leave Rome ?" "Because I am fully satisfied that my Lord Jesus is sufficient to save my soul." As a matter of course, he was obliged to leave his native place and a good situation, but I found him employment at a distance.

The priestly opposition to our Church is by no means warmly supported by the humbler classes of Roman Catholics, and very many of a higher order among them dread the intolerance of their own priesthood if we were driven out. A respectable, aged farmer said lately to your Reader, M- "It will be the worst day Ireland ever saw, if your Church is done away with. Your clergy are gentlemen, and friends to all around them; and for the best corn in my stalls I would not say they will not go to heaven, no matter what my priest says to the contrary." The movement in Spain has astonished the Roman Catholics more than any recent event. An intelligent Roman Catholic farmer in my neighbourhood said, in a large company, he had no doubt but that Spain would soon become a Protestant country.

Inverin -Whilst the Missionary work here has proceeded in its usual course, during the past month, a feeling of deeper earnestness has been imparted to our little band of workers, by the call from earthly conflict of one of our num er, who was endeared to us all as a true-hearted, earnest, and most efficient fellow-labourer, so long as health and strength remained to him, and who, during the long months of a lingering illness, exhibited himself most evidently as an epistle of Christ, to be read and admired by all who had the privilege of communion with him. A convert from Romanism, it was indeed a trophy of redeeming love. His favourite hymn"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness "-describes truly how solidly he reposed his soul on his Saviour God; and the last words of holy Scripture on which he rested, before the avenues of the mind were locked in the grasp of death, were John xiii. 1, "Having loved his own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." The mortal remains of our departed brother were laid in Galway graveyard. À considerable number of Protestant friends and a few Roman Catholics listened within the church to our beautiful burial service, and to a short address there given, and, as afterwards I used the expressions of sure and certain hope beside his open grave, deeply did I rejoice that they were in the fullest sense applicable to him whose redeemed dust, there deposited, would ere long be rescued from the temporary dominion of the Christian would-be destroyer. Such conversions, such lives, and such deaths, are God's own seals on true Missionary work. A devotedly Christian convert woman at Inverin was brought, during the past month, to the borders of eternity, but has again recovered; and an aged original Protestant has also been seriously ill. For neither one nor the other, I rejoice to say, has death any terrors, for they know Him who holds its keys. May our God, for Christ's sake, add many such to his Church here. Amen.

Roundstone.-Several very interesting things have occurred in this district during the last month. Five members of the same family have come out of Rome. The eldest brother (a young man of nineteen), who was educated at our school, first came out; the others shortly followed. I may add, that they all have been attending the Irish Church Missions School for some years. Another young lad, who was educated at our school here, was coaxed away by the monks, given employment, food, and lodging in the monastery, but after some time he got disgusted with Popery, threw up a good situation, and now attends our controversial lectures regularly. He says that he never attended mass without thinking of what he was taught at school about it, and that he could no longer bear to go through the mummeries of Rome, feeling that he would be lost if he did so. Another young man, who was also educated at our Irish Church Missions School here, and who came out of Rome, enlisted some time ago. He writes the nicest letters to his mother, also a convert, urging her to be steadfast, and to trust alone in Jesus. Indeed, his letters are like so many controversial lectures. Having heard that the priest anointed the father (a Romanist) of one of his schoolfellows, he wrote a very strong letter to his mother on the subject. In one part of it he said, "Ah, mother, I am ashamed of Johnny (his schoolfellow); why did he let the priest near his poor father? He ought to have known better. He should have kept the oil-rag out of the house, at any cost.

I wish I was there, and I would have stood at the door, and not let the priest in until he proved to me that his oil could take away sin." He then goes on to say what alone can take away sin, namely, the atoning blood of Jesus. The utter detestation of Popery that very many of the converts have is wonderful-much more so than the original Protestants; it no doubt arises from their having experienced its galling yoke. The interest connected with the weekly missionary lectures continues to be kept up. Romanists come to the windows of the school-room, and some come into the hall to listen. On the occasion of the burial of our schoolmaster's child here, a few days ago, a large number of Romanists came into the church—in fact, the church was almost full. I took advantage of the occasion, as the Lord enabled me, to set the truth before them in opposition to the teaching of Rome. They listened most attentively-not one left the church the whole time. They afterwards went to the grave and remained uncovered while the Burial-Service was being read. The Readers have had excellent visiting during the month.

Killery. Since writing my last report, I have had many opportunities of gaining a close acquaintance with the people of this district. We meet with nothing at all like active opposition. All the Roman Catholics with whom I have conversed, both in their own houses and elsewhere, were invariably very civil. Most of them readily entered into conversation on the subject of religious controversy, and those who did not take part in the conversation listened with attention. There is not a single house closed against the Reader, who seems much respected by all the people. There are few cases of abject poverty. Generally speaking, the people are tolerably comfortable in this part of the country. Every family has got a small holding of land, which they cultivate, so as to supply nearly all their temporal wants. I find, too, that as a class they are more industrious than those in any other part of the west of Ireland. But there is one circumstance which presents a great difficulty in the way of our missionary operations-very few of the adults can read, and scarcely any of the children, unless those who have been taught in the Mission Schools, and most of the latter have either emigrated or left the district for situations; so that in a large village, quite near, containing between fifty and sixty families, there are very few who can search the Scriptures for themselves, or read a handbill. This circumstance has impressed me more than ever with the importance of text-teaching, as one of the elements of our work. I have appointed a few teachers, and feel sure that it will succeed. I have also opened a nightschool for three nights in each week. Several young men have availed themselves of it. I hope, in a short time, to see the numbers attending the school increase. The first of the series of special controversial lectures was delivered here last week, on Infallibility. There were eight adult Roman Catholics present, who seemed to listen very attentively.

Louth and Armagh.-It may not be amiss for me to state, in this month's report, that Dr. MacCarthy undertook, at my request, to preach the sermon for the Society this year in Armagh. The month of February has been, for the last four years, set apart by the Rector for the Irish Church Missions, and on last Sunday Dr. MacCarthy preached at both morning and evening services in behalf of it, to crowded congregations, numbering on both occasions 1200 persons. On Monday evening a meeting was held to enable him to lay before the people more fully many details of the working of the Society, which he was able only to allude to on Sunday. I went to Armagh to assist him and although the evening was most inclement, there were at least 300 persons present at it, and the affair was a decided success. We have now a valuable opening in Armagh, and with so good a man as the Rector, and several very warm and earnest friends among the shopkeepers, it has been suggested that we should at once begin to circulate handbills, which has requested me to prepare. We had a small private meeting, at which the subject was discussed, and it has been arranged that I should send down two handbills in every month-i.e., one every alternate week, to be distributed on the market days, and in this way to saturate the entire neighbourhood. I will begin by having two thousand printed of each. My opinion is very strong upon this point, that at present it forms the most available plan by which to reach the people, and to make an impression.

- has consented

to examine the MS. of each handbill, and has pledged himself not to hesitate to use the pruning knife. I am therefore hopeful that between us we shall be able to send forth a class of bills which, with the Divine blessing, will prepare the way for more energetic means. Having so important a centre for our operations, we have, to all intents and purposes, a wider field open to us. I consider this a most important step in advance, and, if worked out with energy, will, I trust, prove a great success.

The Banner of the Truth in Ireland.

JULY 1, 1869.

ANNIVERSARY.

HE twentieth anniversary of the Society was celebrated in London by a general meeting of the members, on the 11th May, under circumstances of much encouragement. The large attendance, both at the breakfast and meeting, bore evidence of the very general sympathy which the Missions enjoy, and gave earnest of the support which the Society may rely on receiving during the eventful period upon which it has entered. During no part of the proceedings was there any note of retreat or relaxation of effort. On the contrary, the meeting affirmed a resolution that it would more determinately than ever combat with Rome for the ascendancy of the truth in Ireland. To this resolution the committee hopes to receive a substantial response, and it has determined to put forth an appeal to form a special fund both for strengthening and extending the missionary operations.

We cannot do better than give the minute recorded by the committee on this subject. It will place before our readers the grounds upon which an appeal has been framed, and will acquaint them with the view which so eminent and practical a man as Sir Arthur Cotton has taken, after personal investigation, of the necessity for an onward movement, and of the capability of the Society to sustain it.

MIN. No. 4655.-"Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Cotton reported to the Committee that, in compliance with its request, he had made an extensive inspection of the Irish Church Missions, and had returned greatly impressed with what he had witnessed.