of the peculiar and indigenous, and fixed breed of the Island, as did the sheep and lambs. The lambs like motherless kittens, with wiry and starvation hair, instead of wool; and this girl, I never saw such a specimen of an untaught and untutor'd savage,-when she neared us, apparently to avoid the stranger and the enemy, as she considered us; she ran off, bare-footed on the stony rock, whining and gabbering Irish." This same author's remarks upon the state of the destitute islanders, are worth notice, p. 231. "You then, good reader, who enjoy the blessing of a preached gospel, who have the word of salvation delivered to you, sunday after sunday, who experience fully how beautiful the feet of those who bring glad tidings of peace; you who thus in such abundance, hear the ingrafted word which is able to save the soul;what can you know of, how can you estimate the wants of these poor destitutes, condemned to see sabbath pass after sabbath silently away, without hearing the announcement of God's infinite love to sinners. No toll for them of the dear churchgoing bell-none of these greetings, and christian communings, that congregating parishioners hold together; when taking sweet counsel together they pass onward towards the house of God. Indeed these poor secluded people seemed, in the fullest extent, to know this deprivation, as in the words of the prophet, they felt a famine, "not of bread and water, but of the word of the Lord." iv. Amos.' With Torry Island I happen to have been lately made acquainted: it contains five hundred inhabitants, every one of them speaking Irish, and only three or four individuals speaking English. There is no place of worship of any kind upon the Island-no schools-no attempt at education. Many of the inhabitants, I have been informed, are almost ignorant of the existence of a God. Mr. Anderson calculates the population of all these Islands, to amount to between 40 or 50,000. Have we not here a number of our fellow creatures calling loudly for our sympathy, and our Christian exertion? "At all events," says Mr. A. " their situation being now brought more fully before the public eye, I cannot believe, that in such a day as this, these Islanders will be suffered to remain longer, much less die in their present condition, without any regarding it. It may indeed seem to the reader as if a mist had risen and dispersed, exhibiting to his view an assemblage of his Countrymen hitherto unknown; but no man can innocently desire that, this misty obscurity should decend again, to conceal them from the eye of the intelligent and humane.—p. 176. Mr. Anderson closes his book with what he considers the "Disiderata" for Ireland.-1st, Books;-2dly, Schools; —and lastly, Oral Instructions. Every Christian man must join with him, in considering these three things, desirable to our country. As to books I feel assured that there will be from this time found a supply of the Book of books, equal to every demand that can possibly be excited; and as the intellect is cultivated, there can be no doubt but that the demand for other books will produce a supply. As to the second of the Desiderata, schools and seminaries for Irish education, a beginning has been made by the "Irish Society," but it is only a beginning, and the work to be done in so large a population, is beyond the powers that have as yet been committed to that valuable institution. There is a want not only of schools which will instruct the very lowest of the people, but of some seminaries which shall send out persons qualified to teach and instruct others. Any person who has read so far in this volume, will not be surprized to hear of the dark ignorance of the mass of the Irish population :-In the absence of books, schools, and oral instruction for centuries, he must have seen the producing cause of the utter degradation of the Irish-speaking people. In attempting to introduce education amongst them, there are difficulties to be surmounted beyond ordinary calculation :-There is not only the ordinary difficulty of instructing the deeply ignorant, but there is the greater difficulty of finding persons qualified to begin the operation, or the being obliged to make use of persons at the beginning, little qualified for the work. I fully agree with the obser vations of Mr. Anderson, that "much depends upon the moral character and disposition of the man" employed as a teacher, but when acquaintance with the Irish language is an indispensible qualification for employment among the natives, there is often no possibility of exercising a choice amongst men of moral character and disposition. Those who first undertook the work of Irish instruction, were obliged to trust, rather that the improving eharacter of the occupation, would in many instances benefit the master, than to hope that the character found previously in the master, would carry a blessing to the work, and in this they have not been disappointed; they have had reason to bless God for the many instances in which the Book of Divine truth and holiness, put into the hands of one who was before a stranger to both, has produced in his life and conversation the most desirable change. I do hope soon to see a good Irish Model School established in Dublin, or in some other part of the country should it prove more convenient. I look to some establishment of this kind as absolutely necessary, in order to qualify Christian men to instruct their Irish fellow sinners. There is a want of literary instruction in Irish, either to qualify men to act profitably as school-masters, or in the higher office of preachers of the Gospel of Christ. This brings me to the last of Mr. Anderson's disederata-Oral instruction. The absolute non-existence of preaching in the Irish language, though there are two or three millions of immortal beings speaking it, is a most awful fact. It is quite fearful to think, that whilst the Welsh, the Scotch, the Manx, have all their places of worship, not only in their own countries, but in all the large towns of England, there is not upon the face of the globe, one house dedicated to the service of God in the Irish language, one place of worship to which an Irishman could go, to hear in his own tongue wherein he was born, the wonderful works of God. It is lamentable to think how few persons there are qualified to preach the Gospel in Irish. The total neglect of the Irish language as a matter of literature, whilst it has not succeeded in preventing a multitude of persons from understanding and speaking it alone, has produced a total dearth of persons qualified to instruct others through its medium. I do hope our University will soon open her eyes to her duty in this respect, and consider herself bound to send forth men qualified to preach to the natives of the country-I hope our bishops, whose dioceses are in the Irishric, will take the matter seriously into consideration, and as is done in Wales and the Highlands of Scotland, insist upon a knowledge of the vernacular language, from candidates for ordination or preferment. I have rejoiced at the formation of the Church Home Mission Society;-I have blessed God for the patronage and countenance reported to have been extended to it; I hope e'er long, that every bishop in Ireland will be its warm and zealous supporter, and will establish a mission in his own diocese. I do wish them good luck in the name of the Lord :-I do hope their missionaries will go forth "before his face, into every village and city into which the Lord himself will come." I do hope that they will have common sense enough to keep in mind, that unless they are understood, they will speak in vain; that it is better to speak five words so as to be understood, that by their voice they may teach others, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. The mission will effect comparatively little, unless means be taken to secure preachers in the Irish language:-Should this be duly considered and carried into effect, it would introduce a new æra in Ireland."The solitary place will be glad of them; the wilderness will rejoice, and blossom as a rose.' I hope you will admit these remarks on Mr. Anderson's book, from an individual:-I must say, I did not think his valuable volume met with that attention from you, which the importance of its subject deserved from a Christian Examiner; or that kind notice which its affectionate interest in our country, ought to have secured it from the Church of Ireland Magazine. I beg pardon for my intrusion, and remain, Mr. Editor, your constant reader and your affectionate friend, HIBERNICUS. NOTICES OF BOOKS. Domestic Instruction, on Useful and Scientific Subjects..By Mrs. Matthias, author of the Laundry Maid,' &c.. In two Vols. London-1829. such information will be to exercise the memory in useful subjects, to furnish the understanding with materials for thought, to confer a taste for the simpler pleasures, and to lead the youthful mind" from nature up to nature's God." Such is the object of Mrs. Matthias, whose volumes contain much amusing narrative, pleasing variety of character, and a great deal of information communicated in so simple and so perspicuous a manner, that we can experimentally say there is scarcely a passage in the work that an intelligent child of six years has not mastered. We recommend the work without hesitation, for its talent, its information, and its genuine and unobtrusivepiety; and only regret that the high price2 H We have lately had to remark on a small volume, intended to assist parents in the important task of training up children in the way they should go, and to regret the inconsistency that was manifested in the little work. We have no such objection to bring forward tö this publication, for which as parents ourselves, and interested for the rising generation, we feel peculiarly grateful to the excellent author. Without wishing that study should be made a mere amusement, we are yet confident that much information may be communicated at an early age, and that the effect of VOL. VIII. five shillings-must partially limit its circulation, and consequent utility. We are glad to learn that the author purposes to add to it some volumes adapted to maturer pupils. A Manuel of Parochial Psalmody..By the Rev. Thomas Hartwell Horne, M.A..London, Cadell, 1829, This little volume is dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and is one of the many excellent and authorised attempts to improve that part of our public worship which is certainly not the least interesting, and as certainly the most neglected. It contains a copious selection from the common version, ninety hymns adapted and arranged for various occasions, and collected from various sources, both English and Anglo-American; an arrangement adapting them to the morning and evening service of the Established Church, and other indexes exhibiting the labour and ingenuity of its excellent compiler. We are glad to see that the introduction, under authority, of selected bymins into public worship, is sanctioned by such high patronage.No person of devotional feeling but would wish to have some additions to the usual selections from our Common Version, sometimes but rarely good in a poetical, and frequently very censurable in a religious sense; and we do not think it requires either exalted piety or taste to prefer a Cowper, or a Heber, or a Milman to the bald and unpoetical lines of Tate and Brady. If the usage would require a sanction, we have it in the customs of the primitive church, (one, at least, of whose hymns we have incorporated with our communion service) in the example of so many of our prelates, and in the effect which is produced by them in dissenting congregations. To meet the wants and wishes of our congregations we would have hymns introduced, but selected and approved by the presiding prelate, and if such a practice become general, we can recommend Mr. Horne's book as an excellent model. LITERARY NOTICE. Biblia Sacra Polyglotta; Bagster's Quarto Edition.-The 5th and last Part of this work is now ready for delivery. This Part contains the entire New Testament in Five Languages. The Syriac Version is to be sold separately. Just Published, Volume the 3d of the works of the English and Scottish Reformers, edited by the Rev. Thomas Russell, A. M. Just Published, Twelve Lectures on Ecclesiastical History, and Non-conformity; exhibiting a view of Church History,-by Isaac Glann, A. M. 8vo, bds. 10s. 6d. DOMESTIC RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. Reformation Discussion Meetings."Of what use are those Reformation and discussion Meetings? Few Roman Catholics attend them, and the Protestants have all the arguments on their own side, for nobody opposes them." I have sometimes thought, Mr. Editor, that our Protestant neighbours imagine themselves back again in the days of the Apostles, when 300 persons were simultaneously converted under one Sermon. How else can we account for their impatient and unreasonable observations on the most reasonable and Scriptural methods of combating error, and spreading the truths of the Glorious Gospel of the Son of God? What if we can prove that, though not many Koman Catholics go to those discussions, the discussions go to them; and though no public reply be made to the speakers, yet their arguments are heard, excite attention, induce investigation, and lead to that, which it is the very aim and object of those meetings to produce, viz. the searching of the Scriptures whether these things are so? I have lately bad some most interesting conversations with a Roman Catholic lady: a few months since, the Bible was a stranger to her, and she never so much as suspected that the doctrines and practices of the religion of her fore-fathers were in opposition to its divine precepts. Circumstances which men (not willing to trouble Jehovah with the regulation of human affairs, notwithstanding his own declaration that the very hairs of our head are numbered,) call accidental, not only brought us together, but introduced the subject of our conversation, and we both agreed in this conclusion,- that it is a matter of much consequence both to our own souls, and those of others. what we receive and exbibit to the world under the name of Christianity; and At our last interview I witnessed with surprise the progress she had made in the knowledge, not only of the letter, but, I trust, the spirit also, of the Scriptures; and I could not but exclaim, how wonderful are the ways of God! Who could have imagined that a circumstance apparently so trivial as that which led to our conversation, should have been made the cause of such important results! and then, for the first time, I learned that I had not been, as I had supposed, the instrument in leading her mind to the consideration of those important subjects; for, she informed me, that some months previous to our first conversation, her attention had been arrested, and enquiry had commenced. A portion of the Dublin Evening Mail had made its way into her house-how she knew not, but supposed it had come as the wrapper of a book-and there she read, in the speech of the Rev. Robert M'Ghee, delivered at a reformation meeting, such truths as had never before been presented to her; and then had the determination been formed in her mind to bring her religion to the test of Scripture, and to abide implicitly by the authority of the word of God; and I am fully persuaded from the very little assistance she has derived from me, and the profitable intercourse she has held with her Bible, and her Bible alone, that, had I never conversed with her, the same result must have followed. She had read Mr. M'Ghee's speech, and from that moment her determination was formed, "never to rest satisfied until she knew the truth." Let the fact speak for itself. 10th Feb. 1829. Propagation of the Gospel in the Irish Language.-A meeting of gentlemen interested in the Scriptural improvement of Ireland, and anxious for the employing of the Irish language, as an efficient means of promoting it, assembled at the office of the Irish Society, agreeably to the invitation of the secretary of that institution contained in our last; and the secretary having urged upon their attention the importance of taking into immediate consideration, the subject of preaching the Gospel in the native tongue in Ireland; It was "RESOLVED that a committee of eleven persons be appointed, to consider the various subjects now brought before the meeting, relative to the preaching of the Gospel through the medium of the Irish language; and that they be requested to report thereon, at a meeting to be summoned by them early in March. "H. PALLISER, Chairman." Church Missionary Society. The quarterly meeting of the Featherd (Co. 'Tipperary,) Church Missionary Association, took place on Wednesday the 11th ult. We understand there was a numerous and respectable assembly, and we have reason to perceive the influence of such meetings by the, comparatively speaking, large amount of contributions, anually forwarded from this place.-under the direction of a pious minister. The resolutions were proposed, and the meeting addressed by the following clergymen Rev. R. Murray, Askeaton; Rev. H. Woodward; F. Woodward; John Woodward; Rev. A. Brown; Rev. J. Palliser, Passage, Waterford; Rev. H. T. Newman, Bandon; Rev. M. Bagnell; Rev. Mr. Madden; Rev. Dr. Bell, Clonmell; Rev. J. Burnet, Independant Minister of Cork; and Rev. Mr. Vicars. We understand from a friend from the County Leitrim, that the Monthly Missionary Meetings, in Cavan, Killesandra, and Carrick, have heen instrumental in exciting an interest, and enquiry among the poor, about our fellow creatures in heathen countries. Indeed Monthly Missionary Meetings cannot be too strongly recommended to the consideration of every clergyman of the Established Church in this Parish. In Cork, and Nenagh, advantageous results have followed. Truly yours, |