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you love God?' and I was obliged to answer, 'No, I am afraid of God, I dread His judgments.' It was then my privilege, in fact, to preach the gospel to this poor man, and to tell him how, in Christ, he might know God, without being afraid of God. He listened with some emotion, and on my inviting him to come to the same building the next evening, where I told him I was to preach on the Immaculate Conception,' he seemed a little alarmed, but said he would try to come. On the Sunday evening he was there, in the front seat, and listened with the utmost attention; I endeavouring to throw in many remarks which I thought would be suitable to his case.

"The following day he came to me again, and expressed his entire concurrence with what he had heard; but he told me that there must have been spies in the church, as the Roman Catholics had already charged him with being there. He was at Mr. MacCarthy's class the next evening, and I saw him again on the Wednesday. He then said to me that he felt like a man whose eternal destiny was trembling in the balance.

"A day or two after, just as I was about to leave Dublin, I received a letter from this man, saying that he was very ill, and in great distress of body and mind. I desired Mr. MacGuigan, our Lay Agent, to call on him. He promised to do so, and I returned to England. I had scarcely reached home when I received a letter telling me that the man was dead, that he had died soon after MacGuigan saw him, and that his last words were, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' God sent him to learn how his soul was to be saved, and saved it. He said to the Lay Agent, Oh! you are all talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, and after all He is the only One to trust in.' He refused to see the priest who came to visit him before he died, and was constantly heard repeating the words, 'Lord forgive all my sins, for Jesus' sake.""

The words," Search the Scriptures," over the Mission door attracted his attention, and led him there for instruction. Who can fail to see the guiding hand of God, who had for him a purpose of mercy and salvation?

A parsonage house had been built at Sellerna through the kind exertions of Christian friends, who had collected money for this important object. The Missionary was conducted to his new home by the Rev. H. D'Arcy and the Rev. A. Dallas, and the house was consecrated to the service of God. The Missionary was at the same time cheered by the following testimony of God's blessing on his labours :

"On the day after the opening of the parsonage, I visited a sick convert, whom I found in a very weak state. My visit was the cause of much joy to him. Taking me by the hand he said, "Thank God, I have lived to see you return to me; I have been well during the past two weeks, but to-day I find my strength giving way, but in another way I am getting strong.' His mother who is a Romanist, visited him, and urged upon him to call for the priest. His answer was, 'No, mother, I will have no priest but the Great High Priest; He will never leave me nor forsake me.' His mother then said, 'Jemmy, you are not now very bad, but when you feel that you are going, then call for him.' He looked at his mother with an eye of sorrow, and said, 'Mother, is that the advice you give to me, to act the part of a hypocrite to my last hour? No, mother, I will not; may God turn that from your mind.' When she found all would not do to turn his mind back to the priest, she left him and never saw him afterwards, nor would she even attend his funeral. The day before his death I visited him early in the morning; he then seemed to take no notice of any one in his room. After prayer I left him for a few minutes to see the schoolmaster, and on my return, taking me by the hand, he said, 'Who was that that prayed just now? don't let strangers in to me, nor pray with me' (this was said fearing a visit from the priest). When I told him that it was I who prayed, he then said, It's well-that's well.' He then said, 'Sir, God sent you to teach me. I remember the first Sunday I went to church to Sellerna. Was not that a happy day for me? IT WAS! IT WAS! I thought your words were all to me. I never will forget it. You said, Christ the way, Christ the truth, Christ the life. I told my father-in-law, on my way home, I had heard to-day what I was in want of-the way, the truth, and the life. Well, they are since in my heart.' He then turned to me and said, 'How long is it since the first day I went to church?' I told him three years. He then fixed his eyes on me and said, 'Oh, oh! If I had died three years ago, I knew nothing then but the priest, confession, and the mass, but I did not know the mass! but going home now, I know the way, the truth, and the life; I am happy now, I can go in peace.' Subsequently he gave me a solemn charge respecting his little son, saying, 'You may have another to take care of (the second was born on last Sunday to the poor widow), and if so, bring both up in the knowledge of God.' Afterwards he said to his brother-in-law, who is a convert, who during his sickness never left him, speaking words of comfort to him, 'Why don't you go more regularly to church? Attention should be paid to the services of the church, to the words of the Lord read and preached.' As his bodily strength was giving way each moment, I remained with him till he fell asleep in Jesus. Throughout his

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sickness he gave many proofs of the power of the Holy Spirit upon his heart, and his faith never failed. A large number of converts attended him to his grave in the Protestant burial-ground, and joined in our beautiful service."

RESULTS.

"Bandon.-There is scarcely a week that your Missionary has not had interesting discussions with Roman Catholics. On more than one occasion he has been asked questions on the public road by perfect strangers on the subject of religion, and has often had most serious conversation under the furze hedge with the labourer, who speaking only in his native tongue, would seem to ordinary eyes to have no thought beyond his daily toil."

The

The Portarlington Mission presented a bright model of the important working of Local Committees. Rev. W. Berry thus writes:

"Since my last report, our staff of Agents has been augmented, and the result is most encouraging, 8,381 Romanists have been personally addressed on the great concern of their immortal souls, beside many thousands more to whom the message of the Gospel has been sent by means of handbills freely circulated by the Readers. When I state that the number of clergy who directly aid our work exceeds forty, and that if our Agents were incompetent or inconsistent we should have no clerical aid whatever, have furnished one of the most conclusive proofs of the character and ability of the class of persons employed by the Society."

6

"Dublin.-A gentleman came to the class to see for himself what had been told him by the driver of his car. The driver had been induced by curiosity to attend a discussion, and there he was surprised to hear it stated that none of the Roman Catholic Priests were real sacrificing priests, and that they could not prove that they were, or they would long since have taken up the challenge so often given to them publicly on that point. He then went to his priest to have the question settled for him, one way or the other; for,' said he, I argued that if there were no priests, there could be no mass.' Instead of getting an explanation, he only got a severe scolding from the priest for daring to go to such a place as Townsend Street, or having any communi. cation with heretics. He then resolved to buy a Bible for himself, and this he had used with such good effect, that the Protestant gentleman said he felt quite ashamed at the superior knowledge of the Scripture and readiness of quotation which this humble car-driver manifested."

CHAPTER IX.

THE decision of the Court as to placards at Dundalk, does not appear to have at all settled the question in the more distant parts of the country; and during the year 1861 it was again a cause of disturbance. At Pallaskenry, in the County Limerick, some had been exhibited which gave offence, though they consisted simply of texts of Scripture, such as may now be seen in the waiting rooms of our railway stations, and though not one other word was added to them. On Sunday, the priest harangued the people, urging them to tear down these handbills. The next day the houses of the Readers were attacked, their windows smashed, and they were not only insulted, but their lives were in danger. Mr. Waller did not feel it right to give way; he called in the police, and again put up the placards in the face of a riotous mob. The disturbance increased, and the clergyman was nearly felled to the ground with stones. sergeant of police suggested that Mr. Waller should put himself under the priest's protection, and that he should ask him to keep the mob quiet; but this he refused to do, declaring that if he could not go out under the protection of Her Majesty's police, he would stay where he was. One of the police was severely hurt by a stone on the back of his head, and others were wounded. Lives would have been sacrificed, had not an extra body of police arrived at the moment, and

The

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forty-four of the ringleaders been taken up. The riot was quelled, but the Readers were for some time in a state of siege; they could not leave their houses even to fetch water or obtain the necessaries of life.

The verdict respecting the circulation of these placards had been given again and again, and the right to expose them had been claimed and proved. Even so early as 1853, when a deputation of the Committee waited on Lord Palmerston, and the Government was memorialized on the subject, the right was clearly established; and it was continually used by the Roman Catholics themselves, to advertise their sermons and services.

It was important again to substantiate this liberty, and also to defend the Missionaries from these insults and annoyances, especially as the Pallaskenry riots had been referred to in the House of Commons with considerable misrepresentation. Mr. Dallas addressed a letter on the subject to the Chief Secretary, Mr. Cardwell, detailing the exact facts of the case and disproving the false statements that had been circulated by the Romanists, both in their own papers and also in the English newspapers. With this letter he enclosed a copy of all the handbills that had been circulated; and claimed for the Protestants of Ireland the liberty that had been granted to them on former occasions. The publication of this letter did service to the cause of truth in

the country. The right to exhibit unobjectionable handbills and placards was again substantiated, and when quiet was restored, Mr. Waller received several letters from his Roman Catholic parishioners, encouraging him to persevere in his course, and expressing their sense of the value of his ministry and instructions. There was considerable awakening in this town after this, the placards were read by hundreds in perfect quietness, and they were so valued that a Roman Catholic gentleman wrote to Mr. Waller to remind him