testifying the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That their lives have been spared is attributable alone to the almighty power and tender love of that God whom they serve in the Gospel of His Son. The priests of Rome had doomed them as victims to their audacious efforts to intrude on their prerogative and those of the Prince of Darkness. Yet there they are. A process of evangelisation goes on throughout the whole island; five places of Protestant worship established; 1500 children in constant attendance at the Scriptural schools, and all learning the English language, as well as their vernacular, with grammatical propriety. The demoniac beings who raged against the Gospel, and thirsted for the blood of those who proclaimed it, sit 'clothed, and in their right mind,' to hear its joyful sound. They pursue with blessings wherever he goes the man whom God appears to have raised up, as He did Joseph in Egypt, to save their own lives and those of their families in the time of famine and plague. The population is won from mad and treasonable thoughts of Britain to loyalty to the Crown. Wherever the Mission farm is seen, there is an oasis in the desert. The Colony is a lovely and comparatively prosperous, comfortable, and rising village, with its Church, Schools, Hospital, Orphan Refuge, Dispensary, Postoffice, and Printing-office. All this has passed under the eye of the writer; and when beholding it, he has again and again ejaculated, as even those who read may well exclaim: How hath God

M

wrought!' Yes; whether we look at Achill and Dingle, with their colonies of converts, or at Ventry, with its native population, its glebe and church and native pastor, the loveliest specimen of the real Church of the people which Ireland in our day has yet seen, the same is the conclusion, legitimately following from such blessed facts in our country's history, namely, that above and beyond all projects and plans for the temporal and moral, as well as spiritual, elevation of this land of sorrow, degradation, and death, is the IRISH PROTESTANT MISSION."

CHAPTER VIII.

THE JOY IN HARVEST.

"It is sweet in autumn's eve

"THEY

Who turns from the worldling's madness,

And looks from the toils of earth

To the harvest song of gladness.”—P. W. KYLE.

HEY joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil," says the prophet Isaiah in one of those magnificent outbursts in which he predicts the glories of the Redeemer's kingdom.

Mr. Nangle and his fellow-labourers were destined to "sow in tears," but it was their blessed privilege to "reap in joy." They went forth "bearing precious seed;" but in due time they came again "with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them."

There can be no more substantial proof of the success which had been achieved in the course of sixteen or seventeen years than the fact that week after week the vilest and the most malicious false

hoods against the Mission were published in the columns of the leading Roman Catholic papers both in England and in Ireland. The Tablet, for instance, in a paroxysm of wrath, said: "The Achill Colony has been doing a brisk and prosperous trade, particularly since the famine began to rage in the West of Ireland. They have gulled, year after year, poor credulous John Bull out of his money. They or their friends have roared and ranted in Exeter Hall, at Bath, and Brighton, and almost every other town in England, disseminating as a matter of business the grossest lies in every direction. And as a reward for these gentle acts they have had streams of money flowing in upon them. from every quarter of the British dominions. But what have they done with all this money intrusted to them by English fools for charitable purposes? Why, amongst other things, unless fame has sorely wronged them, they have heaped up for themselves a treasure against the evil hour when the huge imposture shall be detected, and the light of day let in upon the workers of iniquity. Like true followers of their liege lord, they have used every endeavour, consistent with pecuniary prudence, to murder the souls of the starving poor of Achill."

The foregoing pages show clearly what was done "with all this money." Large numbers of the natives of Achill were rescued from starvation. At the same time the Gospel of Jesus Christ was faithfully preached to them and to their children.

In the estimation of the Tablet their souls were "murdered." The charge brought against the Missionaries in Achill of having "heaped up for themselves a treasure against the evil hour" is undoubtedly true, but in a sense very different from that which the Tablet intended to convey. They certainly did not lay up for themselves "treasures upon earth." The treasure which they hoped some day to enjoy was laid up for them in heaven. It was a treasure “incorruptible and undefiled," and one that fadeth not away." At the very time that the Tablet was venting its rage upon the Achill Mission, two clergymen of undoubted integrity and impartiality came upon the scene. They felt it their bounden duty to state publicly the result of their inquiries and of their personal observation. The Rev. G. T. Warner, M.A., Second Master of Harrow School, wrote thus to the Record: "After leaving Connemara, I visited Achill, and cannot speak too highly of the admirable neatness, cleanliness, and order of the Protestant settlement near Dugort. The Orphan Schools are, indeed, a most interesting spectacle, an ample reward to those whose liberality and efforts have established and are maintaining them. I fully examined the Training School of sixty boys at Meelan as to their religious knowledge. They showed remarkable aptness in reply, and extensive acquaintance with the grounds of Protestant truth. As Irish schoolmasters they will, I believe, prove a powerful instrument for the diffusion of the Gospel