The Banner of the Truth in Ireland.

APRIL I, 1873.

WITNESSING FOR CHRIST IN THE WORLD.

"He shall testify of Me; and ye also shall bear witness."-JOHN. XV. 26, 27. ET us mark the very close harmony and unity established between private study and public testifying; between our closet intercourse with Christ for ourselves, and our speaking about Christ, in our place and sphere, to others. The Spirit, as here promised, makes them one. Let me, in my private, inward study, and in my outward testifying, ever vividly realize this divine oneness. The same Spirit who, when I am speaking to others, is at work in them to convince, is also, when I am studying, musing, praying in secret, at work in me, to enlighten me, and fill me with all the fulness of God in Christ. So He requites my full and faithful testifying to-day; and so He fits and qualifies me for more full and faithful testimony to-morrow. Hence the same awe, deep and trembling, which should solemnize me, in testifying, should solemnize me not less in studying, musing, praying secretly. I testify, in the belief that the Spirit is "convincing" those to whom I testify "of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." I study, muse, and pray secretly, in the belief that the Spirit is "taking of what is Christ's and showing it to me." And my testifying and my studying, in the Spirit, are not twain but one; "What God hath joined, let not man put asunder."

Let this blessed combination of teaching and learning-witnessing of Christ to others and studying of Christ for ourselves-this reciprocal action and re-action between these two exercises or duties, be ever realized in our experience. In our closets, we are Christ's scholars and

disciples; sitting at his feet and learning of Him; "keeping his words." In the world, we are Christ's witnesses; declaring Him unto our fellow-sinners, by speech and life and all holy influence. Let us see to it that in this last capacity we discharge our office under a deep and solemn impression of its being a real, great fact, that while we are testifying to the world, the Spirit is convincing the world of such momentous, awful realities as guilt, with its alternative eternal issues of present and justifying mercy, or future condemnation finally and for ever. When we deal faithfully, tenderly, kindly, with an erring brother, or a careless scoffer, or an earnest inquirer, or a weary, heavy-laden, anxious soul, oh! let us be sure to do so under the conviction that it is not we alone who are dealing with him; that the Spirit is dealing with him also. How solemn a thought! Our dealing with him is to fit into the Spirit's dealing with him! For if it is encouraging to know that the Spirit's dealing with him goes along with our dealing with him, what an offset against that is the thought that our dealing with him is to go along with that of the Holy Ghost! Then, as Christ's scholars, in our closets, when we ponder the sayings of our Lord, that through them we may see and converse with Himself; let us remember always that this also is the spirit's office, "To take of what is Christ's and to show it to us." Let us be ever passing to and fro between these two departments of the Christian life and the Christian experience. Let us be testifying of Christ in the world, and studying of Christ in the closet; under the ever fresh apprehension of the Spirit's presence and powerful working, in those to whom we testify, and in us who, with a view to testifying, study. So will our trumpet, as it sounds abroad, give no uncertain sound, and so will we ourselves" grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."- "The Sonship and Brotherhood of Believers," and other discourses, by Dr. Candlish.

OUR DAY OF PRAYER.

ENCOURAGING accounts have reached us from different places of the response to the invitation to special prayer and thanksgiving on the 16th of January last. From some we hear of larger attendances than on former occasions; from others of multiplied centres of prayer; from others of special freewill offerings. In Dublin, meetings were held in four different parishes, and the day of prayer was followed up by a whole week of prayer, with particular reference to the various branches of the Mission work in that city.

The central meeting in London was more fully attended than on

any previous occasion. We give the following notes of an address by the Rev. Dallas O. Harington, thinking that the suggested subjects may be of use to those friends who are glad to have some distinct points for prayer either for private use, or in family worship, or at social gatherings in furtherance of the Mission work in Ireland.

SUGGESTED SUBJECTS FOR JANUARY 16, 1873.

CONFESSION-THANKSGIVING-PRAYER.

"We ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God. We ought most chiefly so to do when we assemble and meet together to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at His hands and to ask those things that are requisite and necessary." I. CONFESSION OF SIN.

1. Unprofitableness; lost opportunities.

2. Any lack of diligence in Missionary work.

3. Any want of love.

4. Slackness in prayer; any prayerless efforts.

5. Worldliness of spirit.

6. Sins as regards fellow-workers; any jealousies or misunderstandings.

7. Any want of confidence in promises of God.

8. Any secret sins unconsciously allowed, and so hindering God's blessing. Plead for selves and for all whom this work embraces the Atonement of the Lord Jesus.

II. THANKSGIVING.

1. For the privilege of being for these many years fellow-workers with God in his purposes of mercy towards Ireland.

2. For the maintenance of the work during another year; funds providentially supplied.

3. For spiritual blessing; souls saved; for all steadfast converts. 4. For any new openings in Ireland; any newly-awakened interest in England; for independent testimony borne to the reality of the work.

5. For those amongst workers and supporters who since last 16th Jan. have entered into rest, and the remembrance of whom may help those that remain.

For the blessing that has accompanied the circulation of the Rev. A. R. Dallas's Memoir.

6. For encouragements arising from God's providential dealings with Roman Catholics in various parts of the world, [e.g., Discussion at Rome; Movements in France, Germany, Spain.]

By all these and other mercies we may well be encouraged to ask largely; "With thanksgiving to let our requests be made known unto God."

III. PRAYER AND INTERCESSION.

1. For outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the people of Ireland; enlightening; awakening; teaching; convincing of sin; leading to a right understanding of the true character of Romanism; creating in a growing degree a thirst for the truth of God; revealing Christ to one soul after another, to many whom the Irish Church Missions may never reach.

2. For a blessing on all agencies that have for their object the glory of God in the salvation of souls in Ireland, especially of the Roman Catholics. For the Church of Ireland.

3. For a blessing on all the various departments of the Irish Church Missions' work, that its missionary character may be maintained.

:

Schools increased attendance; teachers; scholars; former scholars now in army, navy, business, colonies, etc. Institutions; Orphanages, Homes.

Classes, and those who conduct and attend them. Choice of subjects; treatment of them. Spiritual tone pervade them. Wisdom, fairness, faithfulness. "No reserve and no bitterness." For half persuaded Roman Catholic disputants. Controversial Sermons.

Handbills, placards and advertisements.

4. AGENTS. For every ordained Missionary; Lay-Agents, Schoolmasters and Mistresses; Text-teachers. Students under training.

5. Committee and Council of Missions; and officers of all kinds; secretaries; deputation work; local secretaries of associations. Writers in periodicals, "Banner of Truth," and "Erin's Hope," etc., etc.

6. All Friends of the Work; collectors, subscribers. Any of them in sickness or sorrow. All in prayer this day.

7. All who hinder, oppose, or misrepresent the work.

8. Advance of the work. That new openings may be providentially granted, and ability to avail ourselves of them.

Increase of the Funds. A blessing on every meeting to be held this year.

More MEN. That the desire may be kindled; that any thinking of the work may be guided in their course. For wisdom in the choice of men.

9. Seek an expectation of blessing; grace constantly to plead for it; diligence in labouring towards it.

MISSIONARY LINKS.

MUCH encouragement in Missionary work is to be found in the blessed links to which it not unfrequently gives rise, binding heart to heart, and land to land; multiplying, in a variety of ways, that “ fellowship in the Gospel" by which the communion of saints is felt to be a living reality, no less than a precious article of the Faith. Most of the friends of the Irish Church Missions are acquainted with "The Hundred Texts;" some have had opportunities of satisfying themselves of the power which, through God's blessing, this instrumentality has become in dealing with the young. Not only in English, as well as Irish, families and schools are they exercising their hallowed influence; we hear of their being translated into French and Spanish, and earnestly do we trust that the system of instruction which has proved so successful in Ireland may be accompanied with abundant blessing in those countries which, like Ireland, have so long lain under the blighting influences of a corrupted Christianity. But perhaps the most interesting link thus formed is the latest. A little manual has reached us, which we hope may receive a very wide circulation. Its title is, "The First Ten of the One Hundred Texts for the Mission Schools of the Society for Irish Church Missions, Briefly Expanded." And then follows this encouraging notice :-"Recommended by the Board of the Sierra Leone Church of England School Society, for the use of Teachers."

The questions have been prepared under the auspices of the Bishop of Sierra Leone, and carefully revised by one who is actively engaged in teaching them in Ireland; and will be found helpful to any who are anxious to teach the doctrines of the Gospel catechetically in the words of Scripture. They may be procured in London, at Messrs. Bemrose and Sons, 21, Paternoster Row, at the trifling cost of threchalfpence.*

We were also glad to see, as another link of love and labour, a recent report, in the Cambridge Chronicle, of a public examination, conducted at Cambridge, of an interesting Cottage Orphan Home, where the Mission system of teaching has been successfully carried out, and where the children are carefully trained, under the guidance of one who was herself a labourer in the Mission field.

* N.B.-"THE ONE HUNDRED TEXTS," as published by the Irish Church Missions Society, can be obtained at the Society's Offices, 11, Buckingham Street, Adelphi, London, and 12, D'Olier Street, Dublin, at 1s. per 100.