St. John's, Monkstown, and neighbouring churches

**St. John’s Monkstown: the story of an Irish church.

Ralph William Harden, B.A.**

Our Neighbourhood

I am to tell the story of the Church and parish of St. John, Monkstown, whose Jubilee was completed May 26, 1910. Before entering on the story of this particular Church it may not be amiss to devote a few words to the mother parish of Monkstown, of which St. John’s so long formed a part.

The road which runs from the entrance of Monkstown Castle, known as Carrickbrennan Road, passes a gate about a hundred yards from the Castle entrance on the right-hand side. Inside this gate the passer-by may look upon the graveyard and ruins of Carrickbrennan Church which represented Monkstown in the olden times. Here the parishioners worshipped until the growing population necessitated the building of a new church, nearer the harbour of Dunleary, which was opened with some ceremony in 1789. Farther down this Carrickbrennan Road, still on our right-hand side, we pass the meeting-house of the Friends, for many years a large and important section of the Monkstown residents; and a little lower still, on the opposite side, stands the handsome Roman Catholic church and presbytery dedicated to St. Patrick.

At a little distance from it the road drops into that on which the electric cars travel from Dublin to Dalkey. In the fork formed by the junction of these two roads stands a peculiar but imposing building, a “grotesque structure,” as Mr. Elrington Ball describes it. This is St. Mary’s Church, the parish church of Monkstown. It is not the church opened in 1789 but a still larger one erected in 1832.

Up to this time the parish church of Monkstown supplied the spiritual wants of the population of a parish that stretched from Temple Hill at one end to Loughlinstown on the other, with the sea as its border on the east side and the valley through which the Dublin and Bray railway now runs on the west. But by the opening of the Dublin and Kingstown railway (in 1834, giving increased facility of access from Dublin to this favourite suburb) the population grew so rapidly that within the next 30 years no fewer than seven churches were built where not one was known before.

The first of these was the Mariners’ Church, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1836. Owing to some difficulty in the matter of the lease a special Act of Parliament had to be obtained for its erection. Dr. Richard Brooke, its first Incumbent., tells us how this, and similar churches - known as trustee churches - erected in Ireland about this time were maintained: - “They were supported by pew-rents and the offertory, both always very large in Ireland for example I think my church pew-rents and offertories for the year amounted to £800, - the rights of the mother or parish church such as marriage and funeral fees were faithfully reserved. Seven or twelve trustees, made up of clerics and laymen, managed the receipt and expenditure of all moneys, with which the clergyman did not interfere, save but to receive his stipend.” The church itself when built he describes in these words: “Large and gaunt, and lofty and ugly - a satire on taste, a libel on all ecclesiastical rule, mocking at proportion and symmetry, but spacious and airy and convenient, having accommodation for 1,400 souls, and abundance of seats for seamen and the poor, always well filled.” [R. S. Brooke, D.D., Recollections of the Irish Church, pp.98-9, 97.] It must be added that very costly improvements have been twice made, once by the Rev. S. A. Windle and again by the Rev. W. E. Burroughs, B.D. The total cost of the improvements made by these two Incumbents exceeded £11,000. The Rev. W. E. Burroughs was succeeded in 1895 by the Rev. J. L. Darling, M.A.

Ascending Adelaide Street, in which the Mariners’ Church stands, and turning to the left along the tramline for about the eighth of a mile, we turn again to the sea. On our right, what formerly was a quarry excavated for the building of the pier, is now a People’s Park; and on the left-hand side, facing the park, is a pretty little church and parochial hall known as Christ Church. The lease for the plot of ground on which this church stands, dated October 6, 1836, was made to William Burgh (afterwards De Burgh), a clergyman of the Church of Ireland, of whom I shall have more to say presently. On this plot Mr. Burgh built the chapel known for many years as The Bethel, placing it in the hands of trustees. These were Robert Bourke, Sir George Rich, Joseph Stephenson, Robert Law, and Paulus Æmilius Singer, afterwards Bishop of Meath.

Mr. De Burgh himself officiated as the Incumbent of this church from 1836-52, and was followed by a succession of clergy most of whom were men remarkable for their ability and theological attainments. These were:

Edmund B. Moeran, afterwards Dean of Down … 1852-1858

Frederick Dowling … 1858-1867

Latham C. Warren, afterwards Archdeacon of Lismore … 1867-1879

H. E. Noyes … 1879-1889

J. Paterson Smyth, now Rector of St. George’s. Montreal … 1889-1902

John Pim … 1902

In 1870 the Rev. L. C. Warren decided to enlarge the church by the addition of two transepts and a chancel. This was effected at a cost of about £1,700, a portion of which was raised by the issue of £100 debentures at 5 per cent, all of which was quickly paid off. At the same time Mr. Warren changed the title of The Bethel to that of Christ Church. In 1887 the church was still further enlarged by pulling down the parsonage and extending the nave; and about the same time 2* Longford Terrace was purchased as a parsonage by a loan under the Glebes Loan Act; and the parochial hall erected. In 1889 this church and its buildings were transferred by the trustees to the Representative Body. This handsome little church possesses an excellent organ and some very handsome stained-glass windows. [I am indebted for these particulars to the kindness of my friend, *the Rev. John Pim, B.D., its present able and scholarly Vicar.]

Turning our back on the sea, we reach the electric car which will bring us in a few moments in sight of the third of these churches, Dalkey Church. This is a most imposing building, crowning, as it does, the rocky eminence on which it is founded, and with its solid, square tower forming a conspicuous object from whichever side it may be viewed.

It was in 1836 that a committee was formed for the erection of a church to accommodate the residents of Dalkey, Bullock, and Sandycove; and a Mr. Tyner was appointed Chaplain of the church that was to be. He, however, resigned the cure in 1839, before the church was built. On March 20, 1839, a deputation waited upon Archbishop Whately to obtain his consent - which was given - to build, on a site given by the Ballast Board of Dublin Harbour, a church to be dedicated to St. Patrick. The Rev. Charles Marlay Fleury, Mr. Charles Leslie, and Captain William Hutchinson, Harbour-Master, interested themselves in the building which, we are told, was handed over, after 70 committee meetings were held, to the trustees ; and the Rev. Edward Leet, M.A., was appointed chaplain. £1,000 towards the endowment was given by the Rev. John Gregg, B.D., out of the Vance Fund at his disposal. The opening of the church did not take place till Sunday, March 5, 1843, on which occasion Archbishop Whately preached the sermon. In 1874 the Rev. E. Leet resigned, owing to age and infirmities, and was succeeded by the Rev. F. Dowling, M.A. On October 22, 1878, the Rev. W. H. Kerr, M.A., on a memorial being presented by the parishioners, was elected Incumbent in the room of the Rev. F. Dowling, B.D., resigned on account of ill health. In 1910 this church passed from the rule of the trustees into the hands of the Representative Church Body, having an endowment of about £70 a year and a further repair fund of about £10. [These particulars are taken from a charming paper by W. R. Maguire, Esq., read by the author before the Vestry of Dalkey Church and kindly lent by him to the writer.]

Descending from the tram-car as it enters into the little town of Dalkey, we turn to the right and, mounting the road up the hill before us, in about 20 minutes we will find ourselves in front of a picturesquely situated church - Holy Trinity, Killiney. This church was built in 1858 on ground presented by the late Robert Warren, Esq., who also contributed largely to its erection; the whole cost with its accessories being no less than £4,500.

Among these accessories must be noticed the exceedingly handsome carved oak pulpit erected to the memory of Samuel Waterhouse by his daughters at a cost of £156. In the panels of this pulpit are inserted five bronze reliefs representing severally, The angel appearing to the shepherds, The herdsmen of Abraham and Lot, Jesus appearing to Mary in the garden, The Good Samaritan, The Presentation in the Temple - all exemplifying the Beatitudes. The church has had three incumbents since its foundation -The Rev. Joseph S. Bell, M.A., Canon Staveley, B.D., and Canon Robert B. Stoney, D.D., the present Incumbent. [The writer is indebted for these particulars to his friend, Canon Stoney. A description of the church and of its opening, May 22, 1859, may be found in the *Christian Examiner *for June, 1859.]

Returning from this church, we may pause at the top of Savile Park Road and, if the day be bright and clear, enjoy as lovely a panorama as can be found anywhere in the British Isles. Far off to the north can he faintly seen the dim outline of the Mourne Mountains, while, in the near perspective, the peninsula of Howth, terminating in the Old Bailey Lighthouse, forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay. A little to the left of Benedar, the highest point of the hill, we catch a glimpse of Ireland’s Eye and, behind this again, Lambay, two islands lying to the north of Howth. At our feet are stretched along the coast the villas, terraces, and churches which go to form the townships of Dalkey, Kingstown, and Monkstown. Here, to the right, a little behind us, rises the tower of Dalkey Church, like a watch-tower on the southeastern side of the mother parish.

Following the line towards Dublin, the tall spire of the Mariners’ Church, standing in front of that of St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church, catches our eye; and, looking into the open space a few blocks nearer to us, the eye may detect Christ Church, still wanting its spire.

Shortening our gaze, more inland on the fringe of the township, overtopping the villas with which it stands begirt, is the somewhat diminutive spire of the very handsome Church of St. Paul, Glenageary - the fifth of our churches. This was opened in 1867, when the late Rev. G. W. Dalton was appointed its first Incumbent. The cost of the erection of this church was provided out of a bequest by a Miss Shannon, a wealthy lady of Belfast, left by her to build a certain number of churches in or near Dublin.

To this bequest are due (besides this of St. Paul, Glenageary) Zion Church, Rathgar; St. Barnabas Church, on the North Lotts, Dublin; and the very handsome Church of St. Kevin, South Circular Road, Dublin. Dr. Dalton was followed successively by the Rev. J. C. Dowse, M.A., 1889; Rev. Henry Fishe, M.A., 1894; and the Rev. Edmond Robinson, M.A., 1902.

Continuing now our descent and following the Upper Glenageary Road till we reach Kill Avenue on the left-hand side, our walk brings us, in about 20 minutes, to the pretty little church of Kill-of-the-Grange, the Incumbent of which is the Rev. C. W. Welland, M.A., who succeeded its first Incumbent, the Rev. Thomas Wallace, M.A., in 1889.

If we enter to inspect its very pretty interior, we must not neglect to notice the wooden panelling of the apse. The Irish oak from which this was carved stood for a long time as part of the roof of the chapel of Trinity College, Dublin. But when, a few years ago, the chapel was being altered and improved, the Vicar obtained a present of the timber sufficient to form the panelling as we now see it.

This church was built by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and was in the gift of the Rector of Monkstown until after Disestablishment, when it joined the Diocesan plan. Returning along the road from which we came, we pass on the left-hand side the ruins of the very ancient church and graveyard of Kill.

Of the house which we see on our left-hand side of the avenue which brings us to the ruined church, Mr. Elrington Ball furnishes an interesting note in connexion with this very ancient and once very important parish. “All that now exists”, he writes, “to remind us that they have a history is the ruined church and the house called Kill Abbey, which, though it has lost its original characteristics, bears the date 1595, and is surrounded by yew trees of extreme age.” [Elrington Ball, *A History of the County Dublin, *part i., p.47.]

Regaining the high road, we reach the crossroads and, in the angle adjoining the old churchyard, we notice a house which down to the time of Dr. MacDonnell (1878) was the old Rectory of the parish of Monkstown. Retracing our steps along Kill Avenue till we reach Highthorn, where we turned off on our walk from Killiney, we now turn to the left, first passing Mountown House, the handsome villa residence of Mr. W. G. Kavanagh, then through the little village of Mountown with its now disused gas works, when we reach St. John’s Church, the last of the seven distributed over the parish of Monkstown.

This church, with its handsome iron railings and ornamental parochial hall, stands at a spot where five roads converge. First, the Lower Mountown Road, by which we have arrived; next this, Tivoli Road, which leads us to Eglinton Park, Royal Terrace, Crosthwaite Park, and Clarinda Park; or, still farther, to Glenageary and Dalkey; the third is York Road, leading direct to Kingstown; the fourth, Knapton Road, brings the passenger past Vesey Place and De Vesci Terrace to Salthill and Monkstown; while the fifth and last, Mountown Upper, brings us to the foot of the hill to Monkstown Park and Monkstown Castle, from whence we started on our round of the parish.

We need not delay here to speak of St. John’s Church, as its story will furnish the subject of the following chapters. But I would not close this survey of the parish of Monkstown without directing the reader’s attention to one or two points suggested by our perambulation.

(1) The Church of Ireland is often charged by those on both sides of the water who are not her friends as though she subsisted upon revenues supplied by the State or wrung compulsorily from the purses of those of an alien creed. Now, what we have seen gives a flat denial to the whole assertion, so far, at least, as the parish of Monkstown is concerned. These seven churches, with one exception, were built wholly by the benefactions of private individuals, amounting in one case, as we have seen, to £4,500; in the others, to more or less as the case may be. But in each and every case these sums, in the aggregate probably not less than £30,000, were voluntarily contributed for the glory of God and the good of souls.

(2) Another point to be noticed is the fact that these churches have not been in existence for the benefit of those only who worshipped within them. Take, for example, the large sums annually contributed to the Hospital Fund for the city of Dublin, not to mention the equally large private subscriptions of the members of these congregations to these same hospitals. It is not too much to say that four-fifths of the patients treated in these hospitals are members of the Roman Communion. And yet here are Protestant Churchmen thinking of, and caring and providing for members, not merely of another, but of a hostile creed, simply because they are their fellow-creatures and fellow-countrymen in need of help.

Besides this, we have to remember the schools, the Orphan, the Dorcas Societies supported by all these Churches, ever ready to help in every benevolent and philanthropic effort, while over and above all this there has been and is the steady, patient, persevering output of means to supply the Gospel and the missionaries who preach it to the farthest and darkest corners of the earth.

(3) There is still another point. Have not those who reside in the districts severally assigned to these churches a very real object-lesson perpetually before their eyes? Who contributed the large sums to erect and furnish these sacred edifices? Where are they now? Do they not, most of them, rest from their labours? Yet their works remain. Now, do those who follow them set anything like the same value upon the House of God, with all its privileges and blessings, that our predecessors did, whose liberality enables us, their successors, to worship within their walls without any like self-denial or strain upon our own purses? In these days of week-ends and Sunday golf and Sunday concerts and Sunday amusements, these temples of the Living God stand as silent witnesses against that ever-growing worldliness which would shut God and His Day out of the thoughts of men.

(4) But I may not close my survey without a word as to those who, having served their generation by their ministry of the Gospel in the pulpit and in the parish, are now fallen on sleep.

Of many, there remains not a line to tell of their life and labours; and yet, of some of these we have tangible proof that they did not live in vain; if the memory of their own lives is lost we can see what their children and grandchildren are still permitted’ to do in the cause of God. I am reminded of this by a recent notice in our daily papers - on “December 29, 1910, at Castlecomer Rectory, Rev. Thomas Bernard Harpur, compiler of *The Silent Comforter, *aged 86.” It is a notice of the death of a grandson of that Singleton Harpur appointed in 1804 Rector of this parish of Monkstown. I know nothing of the life or work of the grandfather, but there are not many who have not at some time or other been forced to take note of blessing secretly effected by *The Silent Comforter *of the grandson.

The origin of this publication is interesting. Mr. Harpur was a devoted pastor, and, grieving over the many secular subjects that impeded his spiritual ministrations in his daily visiting, he printed a text on both sides of a number of cards with which he filled one pocket of his greatcoat, while the other carried a small hammer and a box of tacks. With these he set out on his daily round of visits, and, before leaving the cottage of his parishioner, he affixed a card to some convenient place on the wall, intimating that this text would form the subject of conversation on his return, which it did, and the card was then reversed, that the new text might do similar duty on the next visit

This pastor found so much spiritual fruit springing from this simple plan that he gave it widen publication in *The Silent Comforter *referred to in the obituary notice.

It is, I think, a son of this lately deceased clergyman who is now medical missionary of the *Church Missionary Society *at Khartoum, a faithful and earnest follower of his Master in the mission of healing to the soul and body of man. In the *Irish Clergy List *of 1910 are to be found the names of four descendants of the former Rector of Monkstown, serving in the several provinces of Ireland. Thus his name is still green in the Church of Ireland.

Another man of pre-eminence among the rectors of Monkstown was the profoundly learned Dr. William Fitzgerald, Bishop of Cork, and afterwards of Killaloe. Few can estimate the abiding influence which this reserved, silent, but intensely thoughtful man exercised on the Church of his time. He was the intimate friend of Archbishop Whately, and some of the ablest papers contributed to that Prelate’s *Cautions for the Times *were from the pen of this gifted divine. I cannot help thinking that to that book, and not least to Dr. Fitzgerald’s share in it, may be attributed in great part the immunity from the vagaries of the Tractarian School which the Church of Ireland has so long enjoyed. We have a lasting memorial of his learning and wisdom in the preface prefixed to the Revised *Book of Common Prayer *of the Church of Ireland after her disestablishment in 1872.

Once more, in our own time, we have another of the rectors of Monkstown raised to the episcopal Bench. For many years as Curate of that parish, and then, during a short interval as Rector of St. George’s, Dublin, succeeding Dr. MacDonnell on his retirement, Dr. J. F. Peacocke was appointed Bishop of Meath in 1894, and, on the death of Lord Plunket, was elected by the House of Bishops Archbishop of Dublin, May 19, 1897. He was succeeded in the Rectory of Monkstown, 1894, by the Rev. (now Canon) J. C. Dowse, M.A.

If the daughter Churches have names less distinguished, they are, nevertheless, those of men who have left their mark for real and permanent good upon the Church. Three such stand out, whose influence in the home and in the pulpit has not even yet ceased to be felt. I refer to the Rev. Richard S. Brooke, D.D., Incumbent of the Mariners’ Church; the Rev. Frederick Dowling, M.A., Incumbent first of The Bethel and afterwards of Dalkey Church; and, thirdly, the Rev. George W. Dalton, D.D., Incumbent of St. Paul’s, Glenageary.

These three preachers, all entirely different, wielded, each in his own way, a peculiar power over the flocks entrusted to their care. What John Gregg was in Dublin Richard Brooke was in Kingstown. Of aristocratic connexions and possessed of ample means, his grace of manner and fervent, unaffected piety won a way for him to the hearts of all his parishioners. He himself knew the truths he preached, and never failed to deliver them in plain, outspoken language which all appreciated and none could misunderstand.

Thus, speaking once on the priestly character of the Christian, he reminded his congregation of the priestly robe which had on its hem alternately “A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate” (Ex. xxviii. 34). “You are very ready, my friends,” he said, “to follow one part of the command in your ministry and service. I hear the sound of the golden bells as you go in and out of the sanctuary; but I would like to see the fruit that should be found between each golden bell. Don’t be satisfied with the music of your profession if you have not the fruit of Christian practice in your lives.”

He was as practical in his daily ministry among the sick and poor as he was persuasive in the pulpit and on the platform. Even still, I doubt not some may be found who, under God, owe their, peace on earth and their hope hereafter to the ministry of this faithful servant of Christ.

Very different was the life and work of Mr. Dowling. A shy, retiring student, supposed by some perhaps to be somewhat indolent; but only by those who did not know how long into the night, or rather the early morning, this earnest student prosecuted his prayerful researches in the Word of God. I have hardly ever met with one so thoroughly conversant with the letter or saturated with the spirit of both Old and New Testaments. Equally at home in both the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, he literally poured forth on the Lord’s Day the stream of sacred wisdom and knowledge for which he had been so laboriously preparing all through the week.

Great pressure had to be brought to induce him to accept the incumbency of Dalkey. And it is said, so eager were the parishioners to secure him for the sake of his teaching, that they intimated to him their willingness to dispense with visiting, no matter how much they prized it, if only he would give them the weekly sermon in church.

Mr. Dowling was a man of such varied knowledge and culture, together with a vein of dry humour, as made him a most delightful companion among those whom he knew and loved. I remember, at a clerical meeting at the late Canon Staveley’s, when the passage in St. Paul’s Epistle to Titus on “The laver of regeneration” was being discussed, some one propounded the question: “If Paul were alive now and heard all the difficulties differences among Christians with regard to Baptism what would he say?” “I think,” replied Mr. Dowling with a quiet smile, “he would say that the church was afflicted with hydrophobia.”

Dalton is the third of whom I have spoken as leaving a peculiar impress upon the neighbourhood. He was far from being what is called a popular man. A diligent student of the Bible like Mr. Dowling, he was, in addition, a man of great energy and activity - in every sense of the word a robust man. He had lofty ideas of the Christian Ministry and never permitted the people whom he was sent to teach to presume to teach him. Born and brought up in Palestine, he loved the land and the and his thoughts ever turned to those portions of the inspired Word that speak of Israel’s restoration and redemption. His father was Dispensary Doctor in Newtownbarry, where he married a Miss Braddell, who shared his ambition to become a medical missionary to the Jews in the Holy Land.

He offered himself to the *London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews *and with his wife went out as their missionary to Palestine. He was just permitted to enter the Holy City where he caught fever of which he died after a few days’ illness. Sir William Wilde, in his *Narrative of a Journey to the East, *has a touching reference to this self-sacrificing missionary, where, too, we first meet with the future Incumbent of St. Paul’s. “My young guide”, writes Sir William, “having pointed out those [graves] of several foreigners who had died at Jerusalem, led me up to a plain, unadorned slab: ‘and here, sir,’ said he, ‘is the grave of my papa.’ We sat down beside it; it was that of Dr. Dalton, the first Jewish missionary who visited Jerusalem, where he died of fatigue, fever, and want of medical aid, for at that time there was not a properly educated physician in the whole of Syria. The relinquishment of worldly prospects, the patient endurance of hardship and fatigue, the untiring perseverance, the enthusiasm, Christian devotedness, and holy zeal of this good man in the promotion of Judah’s welfare, for which he laboured, and in the cause of which he died, will make his memory long revered at home, and his grave upon Mount Sion be sought out by all who visit Jerusalem.” [Wilde’s Narrative, p. 548]

At a time when it was almost an article of the creed of the evangelical section of the Irish clergy that the Pope was Antichrist, Dr. Dalton, with no little courage, persistently opposed this view, holding that the Man of Sin or Antichrist was a world-power not yet manifested but destined to appear in the last days of this dispensation. It was probably only his strong and well-known Protestantism that saved him from the suspicion on this account of belonging to the Tractarian party. He observed to me once, when strongly recommending the *Lectures on the Apocalypse and Antichrist *by the late Dr. James H. Todd, Vice-Provost of Trinity College, that “it was solely the holding of this view that procured for Dr. Todd the reputation of being a follower of Dr. Pusey.”

Although not what would be called a popular man, yet by those who knew him intimately Dr. Dalton was regarded with the deepest affection; and, of those who still survive him, not a few treasure the Bibles which they long ago marked under his faithful, expository teaching of the Word. All who heard his preaching or attended his Bible-classes learned to trust their teacher to lead them unerringly in the rich pastures of that Word.

I am tempted here to add a reminiscence of Dr. Dalton as an illustration of his courage and readiness of resource. In the early years of his ministry at Kilbryan, near Boyle, he carried on many Bible and controversial classes. These latter, though open to all, were intended chiefly for the protestant parishioners, but, as not infrequently happens, gave offence to the Roman Catholic clergy, who disliked the spirit of inquiry excited by these discussions. They sought in every way to put a stop to them. On one occasion Dr. Dalton was waited on by the Sub-Inspector of Constabulary, who told him, somewhat dictatorially, that a meeting which he was to conduct that evening must be stopped. “Is it an illegal meeting? asked Mr. Dalton. “Oh, no,” replied the officer, “but there is likely to be a disturbance if it goes on, and I have information that you will be murdered.” “Oh, is that all?” was Mr. Dalton’s answer; “I have my duty to perform, and my life is quite a secondary matter.” “Then you will persist in going?” said the Sub-Inspector. “Certainly, I am committing no wrong, and I shall not flinch from my duty.” “Then I wash my hands of the affair. I have given you notice of what will happen, and now it is your concern, not mine.” “I beg your pardon,” returned Mr. Dalton, “it is very much your concern; you have come here telling me that you hold information that I am to be murdered to-night in the lawful discharge of my duty. Now, as soon as this visit is over, I shall write down a note of the information which you have given me, together with your opinion that my safety does not concern you; though on you, as Constabulary Officer, devolves the responsibility of preserving my life from the dangers which, as you allege, you know to be threatening me. If I am murdered to-night this letter will be found, and you will be called upon to explain why you have taken no steps to protect me.”

The officer looked aghast. “Then I have not a moment to lose,” he observed, and hurried out of the house. Mounted messengers were sent to all the surrounding police-stations, calling in drafts of men who kept guard in the town the whole evening till the meeting was over. There was no disturbance, no attempt at violence, not an angry word spoken. It was simply a ruse, attempted through an inexperienced young officer, to put a stop to meetings which were objectionable to the Roman Catholic priests, but which was defeated by the courage and quickness of Dr. Dalton.

In addition to these there is another whom I cannot pass over, who must be ranked even still higher, as a Bible teacher of wider and more permanent influence than any of them. This is the Rev. William De Burgh, D.D., the first Incumbent of The Bethel. He was, indeed, an extraordinary man, if we consider the ability and power manifested in his teaching. Even in his undergraduate days, without at all seeking to be a leader, he was recognized among his fellow-students as one even then qualified to expound the Scriptures.

I had it from an old parishioner, many years ago, that when he was himself an undergraduate, he, with some 15 or 20 others, not all Divinity students, were accustomed to meet regularly once a week, at seven o’clock in the morning, during Term in De Burgh’s rooms, for the study of the Greek Testament. On these occasions, my friend told me, by common consent it was rather a listening to the rich fullness of interpretation given by De Burgh than a discussion or conversation amongst the undergraduates themselves. In after years, when Chaplain to the Female Penitentiary, North Circular Road, one who was at the time a member of his congregation told me that, Sunday after Sunday, on coming out of church, one could hardly see the end of the line of private carriages that stretched up and down the road, so great was the eagerness to learn from this gifted teacher of the Scriptures.

I have just mentioned the breadth and permanence of his influence, for De Burgh was a voluminous writer as well as a ready speaker. Wherever he was placed he felt it a duty to let his flock have in print the substance of his teaching. Here lies before me a little volume, *Six Discourses on Faith, *dedicated “To the Congregation of the Dublin Female Penitentiary Chapel.” And here, also, a handbook invaluable to every minister fortunate enough to possess it, *The Catechist, An Exposition of the Church Catechism, *printed when he was Incumbent of St. John’s, Sandymount. He also published an *Exposition of the Book if the Revelation, *which went through five editions, and which now, after an interval of half a century, I have no hesitation in recommending as by far the best popular exposition of that mysterious book on the principles to which I have already alluded as held by Dr. Dalton. Then again, for the Biblical scholar, De Burgh’s *Commentary on the Psalms, *especially the first volume, ought to find a place in every clerical library, even though the commentaries of Kirkpatrick, Perowne, and Delitzsch, be found there also. This truly good and learned divine was presented by his College with a living in Tyrone, where he died shortly before the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland.

This chapter would be altogether unduly protracted were I to take note of all the faithful service carried on in these seven Churches, and of the men who ministered in them during the last fifty years. But I cannot close it without mention of two who by their work and learning have deserved well of the Church to which they belong.

One of these is Dr. J. Paterson Smyth, for years Rector of Christ Church, Kingstown, and now of St. George’s Church, Montreal. He will ever deserve the gratitude of all lovers of our English Bible for his charming and invaluable little book How We Got Our Bible.

The other name is that of Canon J. H. Kennedy, D.D., formerly Curate successively of Dalkey and Monkstown, and still in touch with our parish as Rector of Stillorgan. As a brilliant thinker and learned theologian he stands in the front rank of the clergy of the Church of Ireland, and behind none in the affection and esteem which they bear to him. His volume *Natural Theology and Modern Thought *has won him a place among the Biblical scholars of Germany as well as of our own country. In another volume, *The Second and Third Epistles to the Corinthians, *Canon Kennedy has been the first, I believe, to bring before the English reader the remarkable difference which exists between chapters i-ix of the 2 Epistle to the Corinthians and the remaining chapters, x-xiii, of the same Epistle. These latter chapters, Dr. Kennedy thinks, form a portion of the Epistle alluded to by St. Paul, 2 Cor. ii. 4. He argues that the Epistle thus referred to in the words “I wrote unto you with many tears,” was not our 1 Cor., but an Epistle whose closing portion we possess in chapters x-xiii of 2 Cor. The reader will find a summary of the argument in the excellent *One Volume Bible Commentary, *edited by J. R. Dummelow, M A. (Macmillan), which thus concludes: “A full discussion of the question is given in Dr. J. H. Kennedy’s *The Second and Third Epistles to the Corinthians, *from which the above sections are mainly drawn.” It may interest St. John’s folk to know that these views were ably set before the Monkstown Clerical Union Meeting in St. John’s Parsonage on March 15, 1897, and afterwards published in *The Expositor *of the following September.

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