though the lost opportunity has entailed three centuries of sorrow upon Ireland, yet if she hearken now, she may hear the music of that voice again, sweeping across the heartstrings of Germany. In the former arousing to freedom, a large portion of the German people stood up and cast off the Italian tyranny! but there were multitudes who still lay prostrate with the tyrant's foot upon their necks, and their weakness then bequeathed to their children, in bondage and in bitterness of conscience, a legacy of sorrow similar to that of Ireland. But now there has risen up amongst them men upon whom the light of truth is beaming, and whose hearts and consciences are stirred up to spiritual honesty. They have found that the old fetters upon their consciences had rusted, and they fell off at a touch; and spiritual liberty has become the watchword which passes from city to city, and from town to town—yea, from village to village, in Germany, raising up thousands upon thousands, who claim the name of CHRISTIAN and of CATHOLIC, while they cast off the Antichristian usurpation of the Italian tyrant.

There are many marks in the great movement now proceeding in Germany which seem to tell of heavenly wisdom, of heavenly love, and of heavenly power, mixed, indeed, with the infirmity of man, but measured out through that pure vessel— the Word of God. There were ancient mistakes, and hereditary feelings, which would have made it unwise to attempt the joining of this infant liberty of conscience with the more matured and accustomed system which has grown for three hundred years under the name of Protestantism. In the rush by the German Catholics for an escape from the usurpation of Rome, there is no time for the adjustment of measures with the Churches of former freedom. Besides, they rise up as a nation, and as a nation give their name to the Church that is amongst them. IRISHMEN! what hinders the formation of the FREE IRISH CATHOLIC CHURCH, built upon the rock of truth by the working of the written Word of God? There is one only hindrance-the enslaved will of the Irish people, who, with their fathers, have been in bondage to the foreign despot

ism of an Italian priest. This points to the true application of those lines:

"Hereditary bondsmen, know ye not,

Who would be free, himself must strike the blow ?"

Whatever blow is struck in this cause must be by the heart of a Christian, wielding the Word of truth by the power of the Spirit of Christ. May that Spirit raise a host of such hearts to work for the glory of Christ, in SETTING IRELAND FREE!

If every Irishman who reads this, and feels his heart burn within him at the thought, were to carry that flaming torch at once to light his neighbour's heart, and he another's, and another's, there would presently be THOUSANDS OF BANDS of burning hearts, gathering together in cot and cabin-why not in palace and in parlour?—and many a word of counsel and of encouragement would pass from lip to lip; and such bands would go in quiet boldness, and with untrembling courage, in numbers to their priests. Calmly and firmly they would say― "We are CATHOLIC CHRISTIANS- -we claim the power to read the written Word of God, in order that we may know Christ and his salvation for ourselves. We would worship God, but it must be in a language by which our own tongues can tell the feelings of our own hearts;—we refuse the rule of an Italian priest; we invite you, who have been his agent, to join us in our freedom, and to show that you yourself are free, by renouncing the evil oath that cut you off from domestic union with your native people, contrary to God's law; and by mixing amongst us as a husband, and ceasing to be separated to the Italian's system. Join us, and lead us in freedom of conscience; or leave us to the liberty to which we are called by the voice of God Himself."

Are there no Irish hearts that are moved by this thought? Surely the echo of GOD'S VOICE from Germany cannot find deafness in all Irish ears; and wherever it is heard, let not the evil enemy confuse the sound, by stirring up the din of ancient feuds in the Irish heart. There is no need to check this bursting effort after spiritual liberty, by imagining that the only way of escape is to join the ancient Protestants. England has had

her own reformation, and failed in conveying it to Ireland; and now the days of THE IRISH REFORMATION may be come. Who will join in forming the IRISH CATHOLIC CHURCH, and in casting off that fatal clog, the usurped tyranny of the Bishop of Rome, which has hitherto kept it from being the Church of Christ indeed ?

PRIESTS OF IRELAND! you know the secret workings of your consciences, and God knows them too. Which amongst you is the honest man that dares come forward, and fulfil in Ireland the important part that Czerski or that Ronge has acted in Germany? Which amongst you will recollect the movements of conscience within you, before it was entranced and Italianised, and will come forth, in the true cause of Christ and his Church, to find liberty of heart and soul yourselves, and to lead your flocks in that refreshing way of freedom, to the salvation that is in Christ alone?

May God in his great mercy carry these words with the power of HIS OWN VOICE to the hearts of multitudes of now enslaved Irishmen, and speedily raise up in his own way, by his own power, and with his own blessing, a goodly band to form THE CHRISTIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF IRELAND.

II.

A LOOK OUT OF IRELAND INTO GERMANY.

WHO has ever climbed up Carran-tuel, and had the joy of throwing a look clean over Clare Island-that dot in the waters? Many a man of Kerry has done this, not satisfied with what he might see from the top of Tork, nor with a glimpse from the gap of Dunloe; he must reach the height of the Reeks to get to the very tip of all Ireland-the nearest step to the blessed blue heavens. When you get there, you may catch a sparkle from the sun, as it plays upon one of the three hundred and sixty

five lakes of Glengariff, you may peep over Skibbereen or Clonakilty; but there lie the green waters beyond, far, far away -so far that it wants a week's wind to blow a boat across them. It must be a sharp sight that sees even the waters from Carrantuel; but there is not a head in all Kerry with an eye that will see beyond them.

It is well for the priests that this is the case; for if the Irish could but see what is going on in the wide world, it would not be so easy a matter to keep the poor things in the dark, to suck their substance while the foot is on their necks. Oh, if some

an of Kerry from the top of Carran-tuel could but have been looking on, and on, and on, about the month of August, in the year 1844, and had the power to distinguish the objects as his look went forward, what a wonderful story, and a true story, would he have told to his countrymen! Fancy such a look cast from that tip of all Ireland into Germany, and you shall hear what he might have seen.

There is a great town in Germany called Treves, and in it, amongst many churches, there is one greater than all the rest. Within the walls of this great church there is an ancient garment, and they say that it is the very coat without seam that was taken from our Lord Jesus Christ by his executioners when He was crucified. They say this; and why are people so mad as to venture upon such a story? The real coat without seam was cast lots for by heathen soldiers more than 1800 years ago, and fell to the lot of a poor godless wretch, since which it has never been heard of. But they say that this garment at Treves is the very coat; and they tell this lie upon very good authority --they have the authority of a Pope of Rome himself: and we have the authority of another Pope of Rome for saying that this is a lie; for the present man has solemnly declared that the real seamless coat is under the care of the priests in the great church of a town in France, called Argenteuil. Well, we will not stop to settle which of the two popes told the real lie; but the garment at Treves, which they pretend is able to do a great deal of good, must be one of those rags that the prophet Isaiah speaks of (chap. lxiv. 6).

But the man of Kerry, at the top of Carran-tuel, would tell you that he saw the Bishop of Treves and all his clergy consult together how they should get money for finishing another great cathedral; and they settled that they would bring out the old garment for a show, and tell the poor souls in Germany that every one of them would have a full and perfect absolution of all their sins, if they would make a pilgrimage to Treves to look at the Holy Coat, sincerely repenting of their sins, and doing penance for the same, or otherwise meaning to do so-provided, to be sure, that they contributed liberally towards the suitable endowment of the cathedral at Treves, etc.

The greater part of the people of Germany are under the power of the Romish priests, just in the same way as the folks are in Ireland; and the poor things are much in the same condition with respect to their worldly concerns too thousands and thousands of people in Germany live upon no better fare, for them, than potatoes are for the Irish. But a Romish priest is a Romish priest all over the world; and the hearts and the cunning that can squeeze money out of the potatoe-eaters of Ireland, can manage the same matter out of the starving poor of Germany. It is all by making them believe the lies about purgatory, and the pope's power, and the charm of relics, and such like. And the poor things find it very hard to stand against what they tell them; only sometimes the priests push the falsehood so far, that it is harder to take in the lie than to resist the priests; and this is what has happened with the garment at Treves.

The coat with which the people were mocked at Treves, was shown in the cathedral from the 18th of August to the 6th of October, 1844, and the people from every parish were desired by the bishop to go to the cathedral in bodies on certain days, with their priests at their head. Every day it was station-day in all the parishes; and every poor soul that went on pilgrimage was sure to be washed clean of his sins, only he was to be careful to drop a suitable offering into the basin that was placed before the old coat. Before the six weeks were over, crowds upon crowds of Germans passed before this garment; and most of