holding any communications with us. Some of them for the present are keeping aloof, while others maintain their right to hold converse with whom they will.

I find the regular Controversial Sermon on Sunday evening is creating a considerable stir in the neighbourhood. I constantly hear, during the week, of some of the more intelligent of the Protestants discussing with their neighbours upon the subjects which have been preached upon on the Sunday evening, and already those who have Roman Catholics in their own families, through mixed marriages or otherwise, have evinced great concern for them, and expressed a desire to get the children away from Romish influence.

The people are beginning to see that it is only reasonable we should tell them what we hold to be the truth, and that the priests ought not to be afraid of open discussion if they be conscious of having truth on their side.

I have been repeatedly visiting a man who was very ill, whose heart, I trust, has been opened to receive the word of life; lately, within a few days, the priest has been three times to his house, and the poor man's description of his visit was "frightening us always, striking terror into us.' The anxious soul seems to contrast this with the story of peace, the gracious message of mercy which he has heard from us. May the Lord grant that he may find peace, and be enabled to rejoice in the hope of life

and salvation!

Ballyconree.-I am happy to be able to give a very encouraging account of the work in this district during the past month. The Schools, which were thinned during the summer, owing to the children being employed in the fields, are fast filling again, and notwithstanding the very severe weather, the attendance has been most regular. Having heard that the priest was about to hold confessions yesterday, I feared lest he should induce the parents to withdraw their children; but, on the contrary, the Schools to-day, though it was very wet, were fuller than they have been for some time; and yesterday, though the priest was in the village from which many of the Roman Catholic children come, they nevertheless attended school, the parents saying that they would not keep their children away on that day more than on any other. We have commenced our Controversial Classes in the cabins of the converts, and on the last evening a Roman Catholic man offered his house any evening we wished, which offer I intend to avail myself of some evening soon. These classes are attended by Romanists. On one occasion twelve Romanists were present, and we had a most interesting discussion on Purgatory.

THE DUBLIN MISSION WATCHWORD FOR 1870.

"BE YE ALSO READY."-St. Matthew xxiv. 44.

THE adoption of this watchword for the new year is due to the circumstance that it embodies the great subject that, last before his illness, filled the mind of our departed friend and chief, whose loss we all so deeply deplore. He had engaged to deliver four Advent Sermons in St. John's Church, Fulham, and on Thursday evening, December 9th, was prepared to preach on the signs of the Lord's coming, from the 24th chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. When he reached town that day, the fatal attack had already seized him, and a substitute supplied his place. The following Sunday the Lord took him to Himself; and the following Thursday evening, the same pulpit was again occupied by the Rev. Dr. MacCarthy, who brought before the congregation the lesson to be learned from those words and their context, which the honoured servant of the Lord, the Society's founder and chief, would have himself inculcated then and there, had the Great Head of the Church been pleased to spare that faithful worker and witness of his Gospel a little longer upon earth.

The Banner of the Truth in Ireland.

JULY 1, 1870.

OUR TWENTY-FIRST ANNIVERSARY.

HE twenty-first anniversary of the Society for Irish Church. Missions to the Roman Catholics was held in London, on the 10th May. It was an occasion calculated in every respect to encourage the friends of the Society. The attendance was good, the platform particularly so. The speeches were able and to the point; fragrant also with a savour of Him "whose name is as ointment poured forth," and whose Divine presence hallowed the Assembly.

We give the admirable address, delivered at the breakfast, by the Rev. E. H. Bickersteth, on the Council at Rome in connection with the cry to God's people, "Come out of her, my people," and so meet the wishes of many who asked that it might be printed. This paper has also appeared by request in the "Christian Advocate " for June.

The speeches at the meeting were necessarily full of affectionate reference to the memories of those who had been taken from our head since we last met. We appeared before our supporters as an Orphan Society. We were no longer to enjoy the fostering care of him to whose prayers it owed its birth-to whose unceasing watchfulness its safe conduct through all the difficulties and dangers of infancy-and to whose wise direction its healthful maturity. Alexander Dallas, the father and founder of the Society, had been taken from us. Every speech, and the report from every Mission, testified to the severity of our loss, and to the almost romantic affection in which his memory was held both in England and in Ireland.

We also appeared bereft of the beloved Chairman of the Committee,

the intimate associate of Mr. Dallas from almost the commencement of his labours for the cause of Christ in Ireland-Mr. John Campbell Colquhoun.

Mr. Colquhoun's death was so unexpected that he had been announced to take his accustomed place as Chairman of the Meeting; and we had looked to him, once again, to have animated it by his thrilling eloquence and fervent appeals. But our God had decreed otherwise. While we are left to carry on the conflict with the "Deceiver of the Nations," in his great masterpiece of iniquity, Mr. Dallas and Mr. Colquhoun have been bid rest from their warfare, and have received the victor's crown. But let us not faint, but rather learn the lessons which such providences are intended to teach :-To" Cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils," and to “Trust in the LORD for ever; for in the LORD JEHOVAH, is everlasting strength."

The beloved names above referred to do not exhaust the list of our losses. To them must be added names which will be always held in affectionate regard by the Church-those of the Venerated Earl of Roden and of the faithful Bishop Waldegrave. And to these again must be added the names of many other friends, of less prominent position, but of no less attachment to the Society, and of no less ardent zeal for the rescue of our deceived Roman Catholic brethren.

It will be well here to answer a question which has been frequently asked, "Who "Who is to succeed Mr. Dallas as Honorary Secretary of the Society?" It may be replied, "Who can succeed him ?" No one can fill the position which Mr. Dallas made for himself and so ably occupied. But such provision as can be made has been made; and that of a character to command the confidence of the supporters of the Society, and to ensure the carrying out, in full efficiency as heretofore, its principles.

Our readers will recollect that in the end of 1865 a "COUNCIL FOR MISSIONS" was formed. By this arrangement was secured the invaluable help of a small body of selected friends, who could give their attention to the administration of the Missions, apart from the general affairs of the Society. Each member of the Council has personal acquaintance with the Missions, and has also had the great advantage of being closely associated with the late Mr. Dallas, and has thus become a depositary of the ripe experience, and intimate knowledge of the requirements of Ireland, which he possessed in so remarkable a degree.

This Council consists of the Rev. Prebendary Edward Auriol, the Rev. E. H. Bickersteth, the Rev. Sir C. Lighton, Lieut.-General Sir

Arthur Cotton, Col. M. Rowlandson, with the Rev. H. Cory as their secretary.

We give a few extracts from the speeches at our meeting, and regret that our space prevents our quoting more largely.

The Earl of Harrowby, who took the vacant chair, said :

It is impossible to begin the proceedings of this day without adverting again to that topic which must occupy the feelings of all who have listened to the Report-namely, that we are assembled here in the condition of an orphan society, having lost our best parents in the persons of Mr. Dallas and Mr. Colquhoun. I can never separate the two names, and can never forget the moment when I saw Mr. Dallas approach the shores of Lough Corrib, spring upon the beach at Castelkerke from his boat manned by Protestant oarsmen, to pay a visit to the very earliest of his stations in Connaught. A number of persons had assembled to meet Mr. Dallas, and it is almost impossible to describe the warmth of feeling which greeted his arrival. We have now to lament the absence of his energy and support. We have also to lament the absence of my dear friend, Mr. Colquhoun. It is impossible for any one to have associated with him in public life, without deriving the impres sion that in him you had one of the first spirits of the age. If physical vigour had allowed, he would have been one of the master spirits in the Legislature of the country. These advantages were denied him, but he did not hide his light under a bushel, he transferred it into a less ostentatious vehicle, but one which will have left behind it deeper traces of light and hope. The question has been asked, how is his loss to be supplied? That question will have to be asked not only here, but in many other places. His wisdom, his knowledge, his energy, his zeal tempered by reflection and experience, are qualities combined which are not easily to be replaced. It must be our business to go on in the path which he has traced, acting upon the materials that are left. I think this is the first time we have met since the Protestant Church in Ireland ceased to be established. What effect that may have upon our proceedings it is too early at the present moment even to conjecture, but the result may be that fields of fresh activity may be discovered.

We were told last year that the sacrifice of the Irish Protestant Church was to be a message of peace to Ireland. But what peace have we seen? It is not the place here to enlarge upon that theme, but our experience of every day life will furnish us with the answer. Now I hope that our Mission is a message of substantial peace, of better peace. Our Mission has never been a political Protestantism; it has been a spiritual Protestantism. We have not mingled in political conflict, and have not laboured for party aggrandizement or warfare, but our object has been simply and solely the propagation of the Gospel in the most benighted parts of Ireland; and we have found that although there is much in Romanism that corrupts, it has not extinguished the religious spirit, and our efforts have been directed to its evolvement.

I have visited some of your stations. Every one of those singled out to hold controversy with Rome, has be come a most ardent propagator of the faith. There is one thing more hard to meet than antagonism, and that is indifference. If we can only rouse up controversy, we may trust that the truth will come out. The great hindrance in all religious matters is a feeling of indifference, which makes it a difficult thing to rouse a desire for a knowledge of the truth.

There is one great satisfaction with regard to our work. It has often been looked at with cold and jealous eyes, yet there is no one who has looked at it who has not come back with praises on his lips-there is no one who has seen the spirit of our converts and teachers who has not come back, even if he went to curse, with blessings on his lips. I wish to call upon you all who come forward in defence of our Protestant establishments to supply external appliances by your individual exertions. I attend on the present occasion to bear the testimony of my gratitude and friendship to our departed friends, and to express my sympathy with the loss we have all sus