THE BISHOP OF TUAM AND THE IRISH SOCIETY.

but I seldom passed that house without entering there and saluting my old friend in Irish. I never left without repeating to her the 16th verse of the 3rd chapter of St. John-God so loved the world,' and so on. Time after time I went in. I never varied the verse-always it was the same. I was at length called away from home for about ten days or a fortnight. When I came back my poor friend was gone, and I had no record of her last hours.

About a year passed by, and I was visit

45

ing a lady parishioner. She said to me, "You know my servant, don't you?' I said, 'No, I never saw her before; she is a stranger to me.' 'Well, she said she would walk twenty miles from this to Cork to serve you.' I said, 'What could I have done?' She said, 'You remember an old woman near your house?-that was her grandmother, and she told me that in her dying hours she said the verse you taught her in Irish was all-sufficient for her. She clung to Him who so loved the world!'"

A Fact for the Church of Rome.

HERE are about one million of the people of Ireland who are Irish-speaking, and of these nearly 100,000 do not speak any English. The Rev. N. Foster, at a meeting of the Irish Society at Frome, recently stated that the Church of Rome has never given the Irish-speaking peasantry of Ireland a version of the Holy Scriptures in the Irish or Celtic tongue. The Rev. J. Fanning, the Roman Catholic priest, having denied the statement, Mr. Foster has placed £20 in the hands of the Rev. Thomas Keane, 32, Sackville Street, London, the Secretary of the Irish Society for England, directing him to pay it over to Mr. Fanning in exchange for one copy of any such Roman Catholic version of the Bible or New Testament.

The Rev. W. Fitzpatrick, the Dublin Clerical Secretary of the Irish Society, says that the late Archbishop MacHale translated the Pentateuch into Irish, and published it in a large quarto volume; but it is practically useless to the Irish-speaking peasantry, as

the price is ten shillings-ie., ten shillings for the Pentateuch alone.

"There is no such book in existence as an Irish Version of the Holy Bible given by the Roman Catholic Church, nor of the New Testament given in Irish by that Church.

"I this day sent to the two Roman Catholic booksellers of Dublin-Gill, of Sackville Street, and Duffy, of Wellington Quay,—and both stated that no such books were in existence as Bible or Testament in Irish--that is, given by the Church of Rome. Duffy sells the Pentateuch above referred to, he being the publisher of it."

It thus appears clear that the Romish Church has always kept the Bible from the Irish-speaking population of Ireland. Our Lord could not have exhorted them to "search the Scriptures," for Rome's word has been, "Don't let the people have them, either in a Protestant or Romish Version."The Church Standard.

"Lord, Thy Ward, our Brightening Treasure."

BY THE REV. T. DAVIS, M.A., AUTHOR OF

ORD, Thy Word, our brightening

treasure

In life's deepest shade,
Yieldeth still increasing pleasure,

As all else doth fade:

From the wilderness it shows

Whence the land of promise glows,
O'er the vale of sweet repose

Where the dead are laid.

ANNUS SANCTUS," ETC.

"May Thy Word, O Lord, be clearer

To our vision still:

May the good it shows be dearer;

Hated more the ill!

Grant us, Lord, the grace we need;
Light vouchsafe us as we read;
Tend us, guard, and safely lead
To Thy holy hill."

THE FIRST LESSON. "GOD IS LOVE."

THE SUNDAY BIBLE HOUR.

47

THE SUNDAY BIBLE HOUR.

I. Bible Questions.

SELECTED BY THE REV. CHARLES BULLOCK, B.D., AUTHOR OF "THE WAY HOME,' ETC.

4. There are six examples in St. John's Gospel of the Lord being alone with some one.

5. Give two examples of common hatred of the Saviour bringing enemies together.

6. Five times it was brought against the Lord that He broke the Sabbath day.

7. Prove that prophets, priests, and kings were anointed under the old dispensation.

8. Show from Scripture the meaning of the sign.

9. Of what is the horn a symbol?

10. What mention have we of the family into which Moses married, after the occupation of Canaan?

ANSWERS (See Vol. XI., Page 283). 1. House. The grave, Job xxx. 23; the body,

Job iv. 19, 2 Cor. v. 1; the Church, 1 Tim. iii. 15; heaven, John iv. 2.

2. Hammer, Jer. xxiii. 29; honey, Ps. cxix. 103. 3. Hen gathering her chickens under her wing, Matt. xxiii. 37.

4. Leaves. Used of prosperity, Ps. i. 3; eternal life, Rev. xxii. 2; mortality, Isa. Ixiv. 6; timidity, Lev. xxvi. 36.

5. Lily. Used of Christ, Cant. ii. 1; of believers, Hos. xiv. 5. Lamb. Used of Christ, John i. 29; of believers, Isa. xl. 11.

6. Lion. Used for Christ, Rev. v. 5; for believers, Prov. xxviii. 1; for Satan, 1 Pet. v. 8; for wicked men, 2 Tim. iv. 17, Ezek. xxii. 25. 7. Leaven. Used of sin, Matt. xvi. 6, 1 Cor. v. 6, 7; of grace, Matt. xiii, 33.

8. Leprosy. Like sin :-(1) Defiling, Lev. xiii. 44, 45; (2) spreading, Lev. xiii. 22, 1 Cor. v. 6; (3) separating, Num. v. 2, Rev. xxi. 27; (4) sometimes incurable, 2 Kings v. 7, with Jer. xiii. 23.

9. Milk, Isa. lv. 1; marrow, Ps. lxiii. 5; meat, John iv. 32-34; manna, Rev. ii. 17.

10. Morning. Put for swiftness, in Ps. cxxxix. 9; for divine truth, in Isa. viii. 20 (margin); and for the resurrection, in Ps. xlix. 14.

II. Notes Eritical and Expository.

II. ROOSTING-PLACES OF BIRDS. "And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head."-St. Matthew viii, 20.

ERHAPS it should rather be rendered here that the birds have roosting or lodging places, the verb from whence the noun is de

rived meaning to "lodge" or to "harbour." The reference is not strictly to what we call nests, which are special contrivances for the breeding of their young, but to those sheltered or shady spots where birds resort at night. Park

hurst.

III. Life Illustrations of Bible Truths.

III. THE GIFT OF GOD. "Behold I stand at the door and knock."-Rev. iii. 20. WOMAN in Glasgow got into difficulties. Her rent was due, but she had no money for the landlord, and she knew very well that he would turn her out if she did not satisfy his claim. In despair she knew not what to do. A Christian man heard of her distress, and came to her door with money to help her. He knocked, but although he thought he could hear some one inside, yet the door was not opened. He knocked

again, but still there was no response. The third time he knocked, but that door still remained locked and barred against him.

Some time after he met this woman in the street, and told her how he had gone to her house to pay her rent, but could not get in. "Oh, sir," she exclaimed, "was that you? Why, I thought it was the landlord, and I was afraid to open the door!" So Christ is knocking at the door of the "The

sinner's heart, not to demand, but to give !
gift of God is eternal life."

THE OLIVE BRANCH; OR, PAGES FOR THE YOUNG.

T was a summer's morn, dawning brightly after a dewy night. The sun rose joyously, and shone over the fields. And nestling on a leaf, as yet shadowed from the light, lay a little drop of dew. Then spake the sun, and said,

"Open thy heart, thou little dewdrop, and let my beams enter and shine within thy bosom!"

"And what, O great sun," said the tiny thing, "wilt thou give me, or do for me, if I open my bosom to receive thee?"

"Geese, my son--merely geese," calmly replied the parent bird, looking over the common. 'Through life, child, observe that when you meet any one who makes a great fuss about himself, and tries to lift his head higher than the rest of the world, you may set him down at once as a goose."-Original Fables by Mrs. Prosser.

and the Sun.

"I will light thee up," said the sun, "with my rays, till thou shalt sparkle like a jewel or a star, and at length I will draw thee softly away up to the heaven!"

So the dewdrop gave consent, and as the sun shone upon it, lo! it became a gem, and the passers-by wondered to behold its diamond beauty. But as they looked, the glittering drop lessened, until it disappeared. Yet they mourned it not, for they knew it had gone far away up, on unseen wings, into the skies. DR. EDMOND.

Gyril, the martyr Child.

receive me; I shall have a better mansion. I fear not death, because it will introduce me to a better life."

REVELATION ii. 10.-"Faithful unto death.” CCLESIASTICAL history furnishes us with the following instance:-At Cæsarea, in Cappadocia, a child named Cyril, in a time of heavy persecution, called continually on the Name of Jesus Christ, and neither threats nor blows could divert him from it. Many children of his own age persecuted him; and his father, who was a heathen, turned him out of doors. At last they brought him before the judge, who both threatened and entreated him; but he said, "I rejoice to bear your reproaches: God will

In the end he was condemned to the flames, with a full expectation that he would recant, and save his life; but he persisted, saying: Your fire and your sword are insignificant: I go to a better house, and more excellent riches; despatch me presently, that I may enjoy them." They did so, and he suffered martyrdom amidst a throng of won. dering spectators.