the desperate energies with which a man wrestles to maintain his own footing, and to throw his adversary down. Curse and perdition are, in the apprehensions of such souls, the only alternation of blessing and salvation. From them, 'the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence;' and they are the violent who take it by force.'

"Yet it must never be forgotten, that while God insists upon many a convicted sinner thus inquiring of him to deliver his wretched soul, yet the result of all this effort, if it eventuate in that which is permanently valuable or truly saving, always is to impress him with the unshaken confidence, that not unto him, not unto him, but unto God's name, be the glory for the mercy and the truth which have been shown him. Nay, they of whom such a laborious experience has been exacted, are generally more deeply imbued with the lesson of their own helplessness, and of the Almighty sovereignty of God's grace, than they who have received mercy as an almost unasked-for gift. The prominent effect of their severe exercises is to teach them their utter uselessness in themselves. Before the blessing is attained, the hollow of their thigh, like Jacob's, is, by a simple touch of God's finger, disjointed, so that they can not even stand of themselves. So far as all their feeling can testify, they are on the verge of failure and despair. Nay, their strength is spent; they, in the simple desire to break their fall, throw themselves upon Him from whom they had perhaps unconsciously been endeavoring in vain to wrest the prize.

"Instead, however, of rejection and ruin, they find that what they had feared as damnation, proves at once the salvation of their souls. Instead of being thrown to the ground, and being left there in despair, they now hear the voice of Him who readily yields to trust what could not have been wrung from him by strength. The Omnipotent Saviour, as if detained by the hands of the lost creature, cries out, 'Let me go.' Immediately the desponding sinner's weakness is made perfect in Christ's strength. He is encouraged to cry out: 'I will not let Thee go, except thou bless me ;' and grace makes an everlasting covenant of peace with him to whom it freely gave prevailing power. The treasure, which was hid in the field, is found.

"But, then, it generally is not discovered by such a one, when digging in a new spot. It is all at once seen under some clod which had been previously turned up. That hope of glory which springs from Christ within us, is suddenly and unexpectedly awakened, in answer to some thrice-offered prayer. That faith, which is accompanied by an inward witness, is excited by some trite truth or promise. The dead letter of the Gospel becomes quickening, and imparts life. This worker-out of his own salvation is thus undoubtingly convinced that it was God who worked in him. All merit in and dependence upon self, are for ever renounced; and he becomes by eminence, the one of whom it was predicted that he should say, 'In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.""

But we must hasten to a close. zeal shine through these sermons.

Our brother's learning and
Would to God that we all

drank of his spirit more and more. His earthly work is done. He has gone into that light in which even mysterious doctrines are made clear. May we all meet him there, where there will be an unity of doctrine, as well as of spirit. Few, indeed, have left behind them, as preachers of Christ, such a monument as our dear departed brother has left us in these admirable discourses-that, if they want the delicacy of the statue of Parian marble, have the firmness and massiveness of the granite obelisk.

ART. VI.-NEW REFORMATION IN IRELAND.

No. IV.

It was a lovely morning on the 9th of August, when we embarked from Spiddall for the Isles of Arran. These are three islands which lie in the ocean, about twenty miles from the coast of Ireland at the mouth of Galway Bay. They stretch across the bay perhaps for fifteen miles, constituting a natural breakwater against the incursions of the ocean, and furnishing a shelter from its tempests under their lee. They are apparently masses of rock, and yet they support a population of more than 5000 people, who not only live by the prolific fisheries on the coast, but also raise among the little valleys and patches of vegetation on their rough isles, crops of potatoes beyond their own consumption, and export quite largely of potatoes and pork to the mainland. Their landing and chief village is on the inside of the main island upon the bay. This village is the best looking, and the most thrifty in its appearance, of any of the small villages which I saw in the west of Ireland. The people are also, apparently, a healthful, hardy race, and far more tidy and comfortable in their dress than most of the inhabitants on the coast. Their little harbor has quite a shipping-list of fishing-boats, rising as high as 50 or 60 tons measurement. The Isles of Arran constitute a separate parish, and the minister is resident on the spot. He is obliged to keep

a sail-boat for his connection with the land, which he employs as a trawler in the intervals of his use of it. By trawling is meant, fishing with a sunken net near or on the bottom. The net is attached to the boat in motion, and drawn up at suitable times for the fish. This is an habitual mode of fishing around the British coast, and furnishes that unbounded supply of deep sea fish for which the markets of Great Britain are so distinguished. This boat of the minister's furnishes an appropriate employment at Arran for some of the converts, and enables them to gain a livelihood, as well as provides a method of independent communication for him with the mainland.

There had been a church built at Arran within the previous year, where there was no Protestant church before, and the Bishop's visit on this occasion was to consecrate it. We embarked in a government revenue steamer on this station, with quite a company of persons who are interested in the progress and success of these missions. It was a fine opportunity to see the rocky and barren coast from the sea. The church at Spiddall stood out quite a beacon on the shore. The distant hills of Connemara, and the scattered islands along the western coast united to present a beautiful landscape. The Bishop was saluted on his arrival by the firing of some small swivels on the pier, and the general gathering of the Protestant inhabitants to the landing. The church was completely filled with auditors. The sermon was preached by the missionary in charge of the post. And the church and churchyard were consecrated by the Bishop. There were many of the Roman Catholic inhabitants around, who were far more quiet, orderly, and respectful in their deportment than in any other western village in which I had an opportunity to observe them. The church is a well-finished stone building, with a tower and bell, on the summit of the cliff, and is a beautiful monument and token of the advance of Protestant civilization and truth in the isle of Arran. The number of Protestants here is now between sixty and seventy, and there are two schools for children. The work appears less flourishing here than in many other parts of the West. But it is new; a commencement of the Gospel in the "Isles of the Saints." There is great opposition, but too wise to be violent. The counter

acting influence is subtle. We must hope that there is a brighter day in store for this people.

We returned in the evening to Spiddall, and I left that place for Oughterard the same evening. Our solitary road was across the mountains until we struck the main road from Galway at Moycullen. Late at night we arrived at Oughterard. Never shall I forget my visit to this place. It is a small town, beautifully situated on the shores of Lough Corrib. A small stream winds through it into the lake and has forced its way through ledges of black marble, with many pretty cascades on its course. It was here that this modern missionary work first began. A few years ago there were said to be fif teen Protestants in the neighborhood. A small church was in the town, which would hold perhaps one hundred people. Often no one was there but the minister, clerk, and sexton. The church appeared to be extinct. Unlimited Popery ruled the place. And it was here, at this dark time, that the Rev. Mr. Dallas walking in the street of this superstitious but beautiful town, and sorrowing over the ignorance of the people, was led to plan the undertaking which has resulted in the amazing work of the Irish Church Missions. Now a new church that will hold six hundred persons has been added across the end of the old one, and the whole space is habitually crowded. I saw it completely so, with many around the doors unable to get in. They were a poor, but a respectable-looking congregation, deeply serious in their aspect and earnestly engaged in their worship. Their hearty union in the service of the church, and their singing, were most affecting and impressive. The Rev. Mr. Dallas preached to them in an affectionate and simple style, with the clearest testimony of truth. The Bishop administered confirmation to seventy-eight persons, all but two recent converts from Popery. Last year seventy-one were confirmed here—and the year before, ninety-nine; making two hundred and forty-eight who have thus publicly renounced the errors of Rome, and have been admitted to the communion of the Christian Church in this place in the last three years. The Rev. Mr. O'Callaghan, the rector here, addressed the people in Irish, in a very impressive manner, interpreting to those who

were not perfectly familiar with the English, the main instruction of Mr. Dallas' sermon.

There have been few occasions in my ministry more interesting to me than this. The work under my view was wonderful in its rapidity, in its scriptural results, and in the new and improved aspect of the earlier converts, as compared with the Papists around, or with the new converts last brought in. In Mr. O'Callaghan, God has raised up a most faithful and adapted minister for this place, whose practical wisdom and management are rapidly giving a substantial character and influence to the work which will make Oughterard a model mission in Ireland. Mr. O'Callaghan was a Papist, and a student preparing for the priesthood at Maynooth. He was a serious and conscientious young man, and the way in which his mind was first awakened to see the errors and evils of Popery, was very peculiar. Notice was given in the College that on a certain day, the students were to take the required oath of allegiance to the Queen. They went and stood in companies before the appointed officer, and repeated the words of the oath together after his dictation. To his astonishment, Mr. O'Callaghan heard the others around him interposing negatives and other words in the oath, which completely vitiated and changed its character. On the succeeding Sunday, he saw these very men whom he considered to have been guilty of such impiety, partaking of the holy worship, as he esteemed it, of the mass, and receiving that which they declared to be the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This fact was made the instrument of first unsettling the confidence of his mind in Romanism itself. It resulted in his leaving Maynooth, and renouncing the bondage and the immoral license of Rome. This account I had from himself. He subsequently entered the ministry of the Church of Ireland, and was appointed by the excellent Bishop of Tuam, to this mission. Here he is accomplishing much, very much, for the abiding welfare of his nation and people. My personal intercourse with him gave me a very high respect for his excellence of character, and an equally high opinion of his manifest adaptation to his important work.