fore, not many testimonies, but only one, and that one most unfriendly and unjust to the Irish. Surely, then, we may allow that the charge labours under considerable doubt, and is certainly very much exaggerated.
A further charge has also been made that the Irish had become uncivilized and barbarous. With regard to this, it is no doubt true that in backward places there were then, as now, some who were not abreast with the progress of the age. But that the charge is otherwise without foundation is shown by the clearest of all arguments. A few of the works of that age have escaped the destroyer, and remain to the present. In buildings, there are the round towers and the stone-roofed oratories; in stonework, there are the sculptured crosses; in metal, there are the various shrines, book-covers and croziers. These all display an originality and ability far removed from barbarism. The next age swept most of such things away, and brought in nothing to take their place. There is not one ancient Irish work of illuminating, sculpture, or metal-working which does not date from before the time when the Church of Ireland was made subject to the Church of Rome.
One cannot help regretting that no reformer was raised up by God to bring into order those things which had become disordered, at the same time retaining the independence of the Church. But God's ways with communities, as with individuals, are past finding out. Perhaps there is still some work reserved for the Irish Church. Once she held aloft the lamp of truth, and was a shining light to all Western Europe. The Lord may again choose her for the accomplishment of His high and holy purposes. When that call comes, God grant that she may be ready!
