The Irish standard., 1888-12-29

Will it compensate her that her exist
ence and her position receive a certa!l
measure Of state recognition; that de
terence, and if need be humble court
is paid to her rulers by the diplomatist
Of courts and cabinets ? She lives no
by the breath Of kings or The favor o
statesmen; her strength is in herself
and in her mission. She is not th'
church of courts and cabinets; she il
The church Of the poor; In the devotion
of the poor lies her guarantee for the
respect of state officials. When she has
no longer the masses Of the poor tc
count On, the favor of statesmen will
not follow her far. Give the church OF
Ireland the choice-wOuld she have
back her children that are gone out
from her, though thew were still to as
semble on Sunday morning in the hum
bic structure in which your fathers
prayed ? Would she have them back if
she had still! to gather them round her
on the mountain side, III distinct def
ance Of the law? think, anu yo1l will
think, she would. She Loved them we'll
enough 10 have them thus, rather than
not have them at all. She rejoices, no
doubt, that materially and socially her
position is better than it was, bu5 her
voice still seems TO me the voice OF
Rachel weeping for her children, and
refusing to be consoled because they
are not. And do net tell me that il is
enough for her that there is a proyi-
ilence in the dispersion Of tho Irish
church, that the exiles h!; a worldwide
mission by carrying then own faith TO
the regions whittier they drift. Sod,
we are told, draws good out OF eyll,
and this rule Of his wisdom has
been carried cut in the mistortunes
that have befallen our Catholic people.
We grant it all. But we are not COM
planning of the good. What we are
grieying over is the evil. We do no5
grudge to the churches Of other lands
the apostles OF the faith that have been
furnished by ours. In happier days,
before the shadow Of desolation and
death had fallen upon our nation, we
were not sparing Of Our efforts for the
gospel in distant lands. Our mission
aries travelled frequent and travelled
tar to share with others the faith that
was their heritage and their pride.
Again, we do not grudge the universal
church whatever missionaries our dis
asters have given her. But we do
grudge the lives that haye been wasted
in the wreckage and the ruin that sent
these messengers OF the gospel forth.
We do not gcudge TO famine and dis,
ease the victims they have made
amongst us. We do grudge to the
grave pits Of the famine time the thoas.
ands of victims they have swallowed.
We do grudge to the Atlantic the thous-
ands Of Irish corpses that have been
nung into its waves, those ironl the
emigrant cargoes that were shipped for
the new world. We do grudge 20 Can
adian soil the thousands and tens of
thousands of famine stricken Irish
bodies that have been hidden away in
banks Of the st. Lawrence. And, most
emphaticaliy of all, We do grudge to
the slums Of London and New York
the thousands and tens OF thousands
and hundreds ct thousands Of pure Irish
souls whom they have degraded and
dedied, and out Of hom their denizeus
have trampled the likeness OF Irish ma
ture and of God. We cannot believe
that heaven could design evils like
these for any purpose Of Providence.
aud we protest against the notion that
there is any sanction from on high for
these horrors. I do not cite these
somewhat CHASTITY recollectlons to mar
the Joy Of the festival we are keeping.
But these are truths which it would be
an Indifferent service to the church to
hide out OF sight; an occasion like the
present is, perhaps, the most suitable
for recalling them.