The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-01-26

uehI, many Oh tnem, ne says, are
without aspirations beyond the most
meagre supply of present bodily wants. +"
The question arises, how can these moral and
social defects be remedied2 How can these PEG
pie be lifted up to realisation of manhood =?
How can we put into them spirit and backbone?
How can we. generate aspirations after in
dependence and true freedom2 This cannot be
expected from statesmen. 1t is not to be achieved
by Act of Parliament. This is emphatically the
work OF the Church of God. Parliament mas its
own responsibility, and we not without hope
that our present statesmen will be equal to the
occasion. But if Ireland be left to be entirely
manipulated by statesmen, the moral gangrene
will spread, and like the woman in the Gospel
instead of being better she will rather grow
worse.
Whatever may be done for them by benefcent
legislation, the people need the Gospel; and till
they come under its healing and enrolling in
tuence. the fountains of their miseries will flow
on. They have had the Gospel in q certain
manner, but SO overlaid by the traditions of men
that they failed to find its edge and power The
Word of God is almost utterly unknown among
them. Many of them have never seen Bible
many have never heard of the existence of sucl
book. How slow are we to beiieve the Divin,
axiom " 1t is righteousness that exalteth ma
ton !"
This is true; what Ireland needs is tn,
gospel. The Word of God, we are told
by DR.. Knox, who writes on the ground
is almost utterly unknown among them.
" Many of them have never seen Bible
many have never heard of the existence
of such book"
Now who is responsible for this? The
Irish have been badly governed; we are
we'll aware of that fact. Their land,
were, as we we'll know, confscated by tn,
English, and until 1869, every parish il
the land supported clergyman of the
Church of England, when not one parish
Toner in ten was member of that Church
Happily, thanks to Mr.. Gladstone, all
this is abolished now. But this misgoy-
eminent and oppression do not explain
the absence of the Bible, because the
facts are different in the north of Ireland
where the Protestants are in the ascen.
dancy. What then is the explanation !?
1t is due to the systematic Withholding
of the Scriptures from the people by the
Church of Rome. The Catholic Bishop
OF this city stated in published letter
recently that it was not true that his
Church withheld the Scriptures from the
people. His language, in letter to the
Religious Herald, was this:
On the contrary / have ALWAYS maintained
as In truth and duty bound, that SAID teaching
namely, that the people ought not to have the
Scriptures is enormously and unustly attrib-
uted to the Catholic Church, by those who in
tentlonaly or unintentionally, misunderstood
or misrepresent her laws and teaching on tn
subject"
We do not propose to discuss thi,
statement at present. we only .refer to
Ireland, to Italy, to Spain, to France, to
Austria
The very services of the Church are
conducted in language unknown to 900
in a 1000 of the hearers.
Now the Welsh are very much the
same stock as the Irish. And vet how
different things are in Wales One is
Protestant, the other Catholic. The fol-
lowing from the correspondence of the
Cincinnati Herold and Presbyter, comes
under our eye at this moment.
The country of Rev. Thomas Charles. of
Bala, the founder of the British and Foreign
Bible Society, remains true and faithful to the
Bible cause. Last year, Wales, with its 200
600 inhabitants, and its Astounding poverty
contributed $4,000, while the great city OF
London, with its 100000 of inhabitants and
wealth untold, only gave $10,0S5. The country
OF Caernarvon, with its sparse population Of
l08, 600, its rugged mountains, and impoverish
ed inhabitants, contributed nearly as much as
the great metropolis, When I saw the inAu
ence OF an open Bible on the Welsh people.
their Sabbath, their sanctuaries, their homes
their happy religious lives, and the moral tone
pure and elevating, pervading society, | won
dered not that they were its fast and generous
friends"