66 Induced, then, by feelings of charity and compassion, we have deemed it expedient to establish in this diocese a 'Purga. torial Society,' in order to promote the spiritual welfare of these poor suffering souls, who are not able to relieve or assist themselves; and as we understand that societies bearing the above-mentioned names have been introduced into different parishes of our diocese, without lawful authority, we hereby interdict all such societies, unless sanctioned by the ordinary of the diocese, who alone is authorized to establish such. See the constitution of Clement VIII., where a censure reserved to the Holy See is pronounced against refractors. In order, then, to prevent the many abuses and scandals which might follow from the establishment of such institutions, by private authority, contrary to the canons of the church, we have deemed it necessary to draw up the following regulations, to be strictly adhered to by the clergy of my diocese: "1. That a president, vice-president, and treasurer, be appointed by the parish priest in each parish where the society is established. Their duty will be to see that the regulations be strictly observed, and every thing connected with the funds of the society be managed with prudence and economy. "2. That the treasurer keep a regular account of the subscribers' names, the sums subscribed by each, and also the expenditure; said accounts to be submitted to the inspection of the president or vice-president once a month, or oftener, if required. "3. That each member pay Is. annually, or by quarterly instalments, as most convenient. "4. That as soon as the funds will be sufficient for such expenditure, the holy sacrifice of the mass will be offered up at the house of a deceased spiritual brother or sister (fever cases excepted, when it is to be offered at a place most convenient to the residence of the deceased person,) by the parish priest or his curate, who is to receive 2s. 6d. as his stipend. "5. That the subscribers are to bring their subscriptions to the treasurer, who is to enter the same in his account book, in their presence. It is strictly prohibited to send persons about the parishes with purse or scrip, to collect or solicit subscriptions. "6. In order to abolish the many indecencies and scandalous proceedings hitherto pactised at wakes, it is hereby prescribed, that such of the members as can read, and reside in the vicinity, do repair to the wakehouse at the hour of ten o'clock p.m., and there read the office of the dead, for the eternal repose of the soul of the deceased brother or sister, and that those who cannot read do devoutly kneel down at the hour of twelve o'clock, and say the rosary of the Blessed Virgin for the same inten tion. This will be a more rational, a more religious, mode of spending the night on the melancholy occasion, than by resorting to those scandalous practices at wakes which dishonour the house of mourning, wound the feelings of the living, and insult the memory of the dead. It is confidently hoped that this charitable institution will meet with every encouragement and support from the friends of religion who are blessed with means, that their poor indigent brethren may not in future be deprived of those spiritual advantages which hitherto very few were able to obtain; and, if at present assisted by their prayers and almsdeeds, they may become hereafter their powerful advocates before Him who has emphatically declared, that even a cup of cold water given in His name will not lose its reward. "We are, beloved Christians, your faithful servant in Christ, "THOS. COEN. "Given at Loughrea, May, 1844."* SCRIPTURAL CO-OPERATION. Our readers will be gratified by a perusal of the following sentiment advanced by the Lord Bishop of Sodar and Man: "Suppose," said his Lordship, "I saw a vessel wrecking yonder in the distance, and the anxious mariners clinging to the rigging of the unfortunate ship, but every moment expecting to be washed away by the rolling waves. While contemplating this scene of misery, a man pushes his boat on shore, and urges me to embark with him and attempt the rescue of the unhappy crew. Should I stop to ask, 'Have you got a Church boat? for if you are a Wesleyan, or Independent, or Baptist, I cannot cooperate with you in such an act of mercy!' No: I jump in, seize an oar, and make every possible effort to bring the poor fellows to shore!" + " PURGATORIAN SOCIETIES have long existed in Ireland, and documents similar to the foregoing, have been in very general circulation. It will be seen that the above is sanctioned by Ecclesiastical authority, and that it makes due provision for the half-crown stipend of the Parish Priest. Popery" is indeed unchanged;" and, according to the old adage, "yo PENY, NO PATERNOSTER.' We are glad, however, that the many indecencies and scandalous proceedings hitherto practised at wakes," have at length attracted the attention of the digni taries of the Church of Rome. They are a nuisance that should long ago have been abated--nay, abolished. Thanks to Father Mathew, some of the drunken orgies with which they used to be invariably accom panied, have begun to disappear. The riot and revelling which were enough to "wake" the very dead, and which disgraced and degraded the living, are passing away. We hope, ere long, the lying fable of a Purgatory will likewise be exploded; and that along with it the existence of an IRISH WAKE will be a thing unheard of, except among the chronicles of an obsolete antiquity.-ED. + Such a boat is the IRISH MISSIONARY MAGAZINE, and PROTESTANT ADVOCATE; and asks the prayers and co-operation of all those who love our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in sincerity and in truth. THE IRISH MISSIONARY MAGAZINE, AND PROTESTANT ADVOCATE. OCTOBER, 1844. Spiritual State and Claims of Ireland. LIBERATION OF D. O'CONNELL, ESQ. WE suppose that this remarkable event will absorb the attention even of the Christian friends of Ireland through this month. The politics of Ireland have always maintained an ascendancy above the religious interests of that country, even among those who might be supposed to be more deeply interested about her spiritual welfare. Her politics are so complicated in their character; such different opinions are pronounced about them by religious persons; and they seem so essentially mixed up with various questions relating to the welfare of that land, that we are not much disposed to wonder at the absorbing interest they awaken. Yet the utter failure of all sorts of political measures to benefit the spiritual condition of the country must be obvious to all, and has been loudly proclaimed even by those who have been most confident in prescribing such remedies as the panacea to remove the ills and miseries of Ireland. Let not any of our readers suppose that we are about to enter into any of these political questions. We have our own opinions about them. But the statement of these opinions would be only adding fuel to the flame, instead of throwing oil upon the troubled waters. If there be any country in which politics should be kept in abeyance, in the hope of doing spiritual good to all political parties, that country is Ireland. The champions of Scriptural protestantism would shrink from identifying themselves with the nominal protestantism, the intolerant principles, and the semi-popish notions that pervade the minds of some of the advocates of protestantism in that land. And misrepresented as we might be, as advocates of the principles of the Church of Rome, if we ventured to express, however cautiously, any sympathy with even true sentiments uttered by those upon the other side of the question, whether sincerely or not, time and circumstances will show-any commiseration for their sufferings as men-any respect for their talents, or appreciation of their industry in the cause in which they have embarked; we should shrink from expressions that might be so distorted. Nor are we about to embark upon the VOL. I. E stormy sea of Irish politics, by adventuring any conjecture as to the course the great pilot of political affairs may choose to steer, or the extraordinary position in which his influence, and its effect upon English politics, may place the Sister Island. Yet it would seem scarcely pardonable for an Irish Magazine, even though strictly religious and missionary in its character, to pass by unnoticed so remarkable an event. So far as its mere circumstances are concerned, we may say that we rejoice in the liberation of an aged and talented man from the confinement of a prison, which though freed, in his case, from many of the painful privations of prison discipline, must, notwithstanding, have been to him, a painful restraint in a variety of particulars. We do not profess to understand those intricacies of law that first seemed to warrant his coercion, and ultimately liberated him from it. We honestly confess that as Englishmen we feel averse to any prejudice being excited in Ireland by popular clamour against "sassenach" strangers; as Britons, against any alienation of so important a part of the British Empire as Ireland from British sway, influence and legislation; and as Protestants, no small suspicion of the effect such an event would have upon the prosperity of Gospel truth, and the freedom allowed for its circulation by means of Scripture Readers and Evangelical Itinerants throughout the Šister land. We are staunch advocates for Civil and Religious Liberty. We rejoice in the utterance which has been given by some of the leaders in the popular cause in Ireland to noble sentiments upon these important points. Yet we have our suspicions as to the manner in which these sentiments would be sustained in practice should our Roman Catholic friends ever gain the ascendancy in Ireland, at which they seem to aim; and with the feelings of Virgil's ill-fated Laocoon, we must say, "Quicquid id est; timeo *DANA et dona ferentes." The news of O'Connell's liberation came upon Dublin by surprise, though it seems to have been anticipated by some of his humbler friends, if we may judge from the preparations made by them for his subsequent triumphal entry into Dublin. In the premature rejoicings which the news of the event occasioned among the populace of the city, a few windows were broken in the houses of peaceable citizens who had taken no part in the angry strife, and some of whom, though not feeling in unison either with his politics or his religion, yet perhaps felt as sincerely for his situation, while incarcerated, as some of his own party, and rejoiced as sincerely in his liberation from the painful confinement to which he had been subjected. On the Friday night, on which the intelligence arrived, he left his prison for his own home. On the following morning he returned again to prison in order to be conveyed back to his own home in triumph. The triumphal procession, it was arranged, should commence at Ten, A. M.; but the gathering blackness of the sky, and the threatening showers, prevented its moving forward till a much later hour. In anticipation of it, the neighbourhood in which our informant resides, was disturbed by the noisy shouts of rude boys; and green boughs were displayed from the windows of some of the very poorest classes, and in one place were hung upon a string across the street. But there was no demonstration on the part of the more respectable Roman Catholic inhabitants. On a simple expostulation, as to the disturbance occasioned by their uproar, the rude clamour of the ragged children subsided into silence, and seemed to be discouraged even by their parents; and the rustic string of green boughs * ROMANOS. 66 swung across the street, disappeared on the arrival of the police. Though there was some attempt at illumination, it did not seem to be responded to by any respectable householders. And the Saturday night, contrary to the fears of many, passed off in that quiet repose which is so desirable in the prospect of the Christian Sabbath. We must give due credit to the exhortations of Mr. O'Connell, as tending to produce this tranquillity on the part of those who would, even as they have said, " run into the Liffey if he bid them." The triumphal procession was formed in part by a long array of the trades of Dublin, accompanied by appropriate emblems, and represented in general by the lowest classes of the population. In one instance, an idiot, called Owney," sustained a leading character in the groupe. There was, however, a larger array of respectable attendants and private carriages than some had been prepared to expect. The Lord Mayor and many of the Corporation of the city formed part of the cavalcade. At one point passed by the procession, a man with a green flag stood upon a pedestal, intended for the statue of a saint, in front of a Roman Catholic chapel, waving a green flag in his hand, and O'Connell bowed in veneration as he passed, whether to the chapel, the man, the flag, or the future statue of the saint, we shall not determine. This act of reverence, however, called forth the loud acclamations of the attendant multitude. The Temperance bands accompanied the procession, with not always very harmonious music; and on one occasion elicited from the leader, the uncomplimentary expression of " that rascally band." He spoke for two hours from his balcony on his arrival at home, to the assembled throngs whom the thunder-storm and the descending torrents of rain could not disperse, until they had heard the last utterances of their liberated champion. holier But we have not recorded these transactions in order to subserve any political purpose. We wish not to express any opinion as to the past, or to awaken any hostility as to the future. We would leave Mr. O'Connell and the Repeal question where we found them. In noticing the event, our object is to inquire from the religious public of Great Britain, "Among all these political agitations about the Sister Island—are they disposed to be unmoved and quiet? or have they no duty to perform?" Whatever may ultimately become of the great national questions of UNION OF REPEAL, have they no sacred obligation to Ireland while UNION lasts? their prompt fulfilment of which might set that vexata questio in a far better position as to the religious interests of Ireland, than it is in at present. Oh! that we had an O'Connell's powers to stir up a agitation for " Justice to Ireland," on this important subject. She is indebted to England for Popery. Before England lets go the rope-Oh! that it had been A MORE SILKEN CORD-that binds Ireland to her; let her seek by mild, moral, scriptural means, to emancipate her from the evil that England has been the great instrument of inflicting upon her. The great Gospel question about Ireland is not at all so intricate as those law questions that have perplexed and divided the Judges of both lands. Opinions even among Christians may be diverse and opposite about the merits of Mr. O'Connell; or the justice and propriety of repeal. But where is the Christian who can doubt as to Ireland's need of the Gospel?-as to the necessity of circulating the Bible through Ireland?-as to the importance of pervading its numerous population with Scripture Readers?—as to the benefit that would result from sending Evangelical Missionaries through the length and breadth of the land? Is not this the duty of British Christians? Have they not the means? Then why is the thing left undone ? Missionary Stations and Labours. IRISH EVANGELICAL SOCIETY. A public disputation between one of this excellent Society's agents, and a Romish priest, on the questions at issue between Protestants and Roman Catholics. We have no room for the details of the discussion, but beg attention to the sequel, as thus described: The Rev. Mr. E. and I met in the presence of a number of his flock. He immediately introduced the subject, by saying, he wished that I had been present a little sooner, as while performing a religious duty (christening a child), he might also have made a Christian of me. I answered, that I was led to believe that true Christianity consisted not in the performance of certain rites and ceremonies, but in a firm reliance on the full and finished righteousness of Jesus Christ. "Neither is it of man, nor by the will of man, but by the power of God," and communicated to us by his His Holy Spirit. Priest. "When the apostles laid their hands upon them, they received the Holy Ghost." Reader. "True. God condescended to shew signs and miracles by the hands of his apostles, in order to prove that the doctrines taught by them were of divine origin; but the working of miracles has ceased long since. As Christianity spread, they became unnecessary." P. "That is matter of opinion, and of error. Christ gave the gift to his church, and promised to be with her to the end of the world, therefore the gift remains in the church." R. "And you profess to be a successor to these apostles ?" P. "Certainly." R. "If so, then give us the same proofs that the apostles gave. The text tells us that they all spake with new tongues, and prophecied. Now here are a number of those on whom you have laid your hands, perhaps in almost all the ceremonies of your church, and if the power is vested in you, where are the fruits? I hold that you are bound to show fruits similar to the apostles, otherwise to resign your claim of membership, or to agree with me that the days of miracles are passed." To this he gave no direct answer, and all my endeavours to hold him to the point were fruitless; he waved it, and said, that in our zeal for puritanism we had renounced the ceremonies of the church, as taught and practiced by the apostles and primitive Christians. I answered, that we held all the doctrines taught by the apostles, but rejected all the opinions of men that are in opposition to the Word of God, as revealed to us by Christ and his apostles. P. "Hold there: ye disregard the doctrine of fasting, which was practised by Christ, and taught by his apostles." R. "We deny not the doctrine of fasting" (here the priest and others cried out, Lent, Lent.') R. “I repeat it, we deny not the doctrine of fasting; but on the contrary, hold it to be a sound principle and necessary discipline; but your Lent is not that fasting referred to in the Scripture." P. "Our Saviour fasted forty days." R. "True but he left no injunction that we should do the same; he knew that the infirmity of our nature would not admit it; and if, by this, he gave us a proof of his divinity, were we to attempt the same it would not only prove fatal to us, but might be answered in the words of the prophet, 'Who has required this at your hands?' It is evident that your Lent is not the fasting alluded to in the Scriptures; it is above our ability, and God does not require impossibilities; and not only so, but it is anti-scriptural. God is unchangeable in all his attributes, yet, according to your Lent doctrine, you represent him as being more propitious to the sinner at that season of the year and your Lent ebbs and flows with the moon, as if the mind of God was as changeable as the moon. Again, some years you hold it to be mortal sin |