IRELAND. r.- I 10 !) 8 7 (5 I I I I Inv I ,.pi- ~ I IorvI . A T ANT I C . ~ 0 C E ff & ..11 . J!.t 'onno11-•~ 1..r~ y ~ .i, I,ii.,, ltti.u•I,· • I'. ' ,. , " ll .uUdfU)c)IUt ·13,ill, . cd ~ ~,m. I 5,. .,t'.,.s E' .,!J .A.gtICJ.il ffcl:.,,. s:. "°'\'i? J1.D1tni11. 'B. • ,OHWIJ/Y l. Szy.ne .l.r.'· '-"1 . inwili.11'! lJt u.11,JJ 0/Y ng8toM'l. ., ,..___ · ro,r Ji~ • L otu,I v-= ur:a,y • 'JLw,1If.!L I l iscan,t,11 ':~ · RE M;,J,lJa,v ' •Cosbel Soak of' .E7lfl"lislv .JJ.ile.r ;o ap +p J.O .LqO 1.0· 9 .8 7 6 J THE STORY OF THE IRISH CHURCH MISSIONS. CONTINUED TO THE YEAR 1869. DEDICATED TO THE YOUNGER CLERGY OF THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. "The veey hairs of your head are all numbered."-MA.TT. :r. 30. "Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. • . • . And there was a great rain." -1 Kuras xvi ii. 44, 45. LONDON: JAMES NISBET AND Co., BERNERS STREET. MDCCCLXXV. 0 GOD! Jl'OR CHRIST'S SAKE, GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT, THAT THIS BOOK MAY llE PROFITABLE TO EVERY READER, AND ADVANCE THE GLORY OF GOD, AND '.fHE SALVATION OF SINNERS, ALDEN, PRINTER, OXFORD, CONTENTS. -- PAGE PREFACE • V INTRODUCTION 1 1qt itoru of tg.e Xrisg dtgnrtg lfissions. CHAPTER I. A.D. 1843-4 3 CHAPTER II. 1845 14 CHAPTER III.. 1846-7 24 CHAPTElt IV. 1847-8 33 CHA.l'TER V. 1847-8 61 4tontiuuution of tg.e itora, CHAPTER I. 1849-50. 73 CHAPTER II. 1851 95 CHAPTEJI. III. 1852 105 CHAPTER IV. 1853 120 CHAPTER V. 1854 133 CHAPTER VI. 1855-6 153 CHAPTER VII. 1857 173 CHAl'TBR VIII. 1859-60. 192 iv CONTENTS, CHAPTBR IX. 1861-2 220 C:aA.PTER X. 1863-6 237 CHAPTER XI. 1867-8 275 CHA.l'TEB XII. 1869 290 PRINCIPLES A.ND GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS 317 LISTS OF MissroN STATIONS A.ND COMMITTEES 319-20 REGULATIONS AND CONSTITUTION OP THE SOCIETY 321 APPENDIX 323 INDEX OF SUBJECTS • 347 PREF ACE. REVEREND AND DEAR BRETHREN,- IN presenting to you, in an abridged form, the " Story of the Irish Church Missions," with a continua­ tion of its history to the year 1869, we have an important object in view, and we trust that the regard and considera­ tion which you have ever shown towards the members of your sister Church will lead you to accept this little book, and consider its contents with prayerful investiga­ tion. It is a common saying that "facts are stubborn things." May we not add, also, they are precious things, the value of which cannot be overrated? The whole of our religion rests upon them; for what are systems, dogmas, opinions, if they rest not on the ground of cer­ tain great facts 1 All our hopes for eternity must rest, not on this system of divinity or that, but on the fact of the great Atonement, the substitution of the Son of God made man for us, and the fact of God's great gift to His people,-the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The revela­ tion of these great truths in the written Word of God is a fact, and doctrines are true or false as they stand the test of this revelation. The Churches of England and Ireland are united in b vi PREFACE. the recognition of this touchstone of truth. We unite in bringing all shades of opinion to the one rule of faith, to be received or rejected as they converge or diverge from it. The sixth article of our Church expressly states that "Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation, so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." On this point we are still together severed from the Church of Rome. We together protest against her false doctrines, and would, with the light of God's truth in our hands, together strive for the faith of the gospel, and labour for its extension among those who are still in darkness and the shadow of death. The following pages present a chapter in your Church history, which, however ignorfld or contradicted by secu­ lar historians, will stand prominently forward when the false illusions of the present scene and the contending interests of nations will have passed away; for it records the work of God, and adds another link to your long chain of testimony that God is in the midst of you, and that as a Church you are still shining in His light and faithful to His truth. The history of your Church has been one of testimony by the blood of your martyrs from age to age. From the time that St Patrick set his foot on your shore, and baptized his first converts· in the well now covered by the south aisle of your noble cathedral, down to the twelfth century, your ancient Church held with more or less brightness, the truth of God; and many old records prove that you maintained, not the light of PREFACE. vii secular learning only, but the light of God's Word, and that from you sounded forth that Word to others. For many ages after this saint, it appears that the Church of Ireland retained both her protesting and her missionary character, and as a centre, not of learn­ ing only, but of Christian zeal and labour, she became the university of Christendom, whence teachers were sought and welcomed in all parts of Europe. Not to mention the first missionary to the Black Forest and to Basle, Fridolin the Traveller, the Life of the second Col­ umbanus, cleared from the rubbish of later history, gives indubitable evidence of spiritual enlightenment and of missionary energy. Carrying the light of the gospel from Lough Erne first to the Vosges, thence to Switzer­ land, he appears to have boldly and sturdily opposed the pretensions of the Roman See. In a letter to Boniface IV. are these words: "That thou mayest not be deprived of apostolic honour, preserve apostolic faith. Therefore I entreat thee, 0 Pope, that thou mayest cleanse the chair of St Peter from all error, if any have gained ad­ mission ; if not, that its purity may be known of all ; for one must grieve and mourn if, in the apostolic see, the Catholic faith be not maintained." Other names might be mentioned as following in this track, and even the reproaches of Roman Catholic writers are a witness to your resistance to the usurpations of Rome, and prove that the Church of Ireland struggled to maintain her independence both in doctrine and in discipline. But the more she struggled the more determined was Rome to conquer. The prize was worth winning; for it viii PREFACE. appears that in 1152 there were no less than 300 bishops in the Church of Ireland. What could not be accom­ plished by force was to be done by stratagem. It is a fact that Popery was introduced into Ireland by an English king under the authority of an English Pope, the only Englishman who ever sat upon the Papal throne. In 1155 Nicholas Brakespear, who assumed the name of Adrian IV., wrote a letter to Henry II., empowering him to possess himself of the island of Ire­ land, for the purpose of bringing it under the spiritual dominion of Rome. He " claims it, with all other islands on which the Sun of Righteousness has shined, as the patrimony of St Peter and the Roman See,'' and he re­ quires payment to himself of a penny on each house. The wording of this letter proves that Ireland never be­ fore submitted to the tyrannical claims of the Papacy. Henceforth Ireland was in vassalage and her Church enslaved, though and for some time there remained a large body both of clergy and laity, who, retaining their ancient customs, protested against the aggression of the Anglo­ Roman establishment. But the strong arm of the law and the state-appointment of bishops in the interest of the Pope, at length silenced testimony by dungeons and death. Fearful are the records of persecuting rage at this time, till the little flock seemed almost extermin­ ated. Continual resistance to the English, and fierce · interminable wars led to a system of tyranny and oppression under both the Tudor and the Stuart dynas­ ties, which precluded all efforts for her enlightenment; but every reign brought out witnesses for the truth ; and in the reign of Henry VIII., Browne, Bishop of PREFACE. ix Dublin, stands forward as a bright light and a zealous reformer. The Church seemed for a time rising from her ashes in spite of a strong counter-influence from Popish prelates both at home and abroad,, The English Bible was introduced into Ireland, and the Latin services were in many places changed for English. But this did not last long; and in the country generally, where English was unknown, it was but the change of one foreign lan­ guage for another. Queen Mary devoted her first leisure from the fires she kindled in England, to crush the Reformation in Ire­ land. A commission was instituted to restore celibacy and the mass. Six Protestant bishops were deposed, Browne among them, and violent Papists were appointed in their stead.