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Show A SERMON BY FATHER PROUti TO THE IRISH PEASANTRY. , "He that giveth to the to poor lei.d-! elh to the Lord.'' Ye are not skilled in logic, nor in-1 dt.-ed in anylhiu' eUo that I know, except piayin' huriy i' tiie fields, ; skaming at cards i' tiie public housts . fur hail gallons o' porter, and defraud de-fraud in' yer clergy o' their lawful dues. What is worse, there's no use in thryin' t' drive logic into yer heads, for indeed that would he fulfilment o' aminer tixt tiiat spakts o' throwin' p-.'aris lo pigs. But if ye did know logic, which ye don't, ye would perceive at wanse tiiat the p:iss:ige I havo just quoled naturally natu-rally d-:voids iLself into two branches. Tno first involves tne givin', that is rationally and 6oyi logistical ly con-sidher'd con-sidher'd what he ought to do; and tne second involves the poor; that is tiie receivers o' tbe gifts, or the persons per-sons tor whom ye ought to do it. First, linn, as lo the "givin'." Now, it stands to rasou that (as the rieriptiir' says in soino other place) the blind can't lead the blind, because may be they'd fal, into tho bog holes, pcior thitK's, an' get d browned, an' so altho' there ia wonderful kindness to each other among them, it's not to be expected that the poor can give to the poor. No, the givers must be the people who have somethiu' to give which the poor have not. Some o' yo will thry an' get off on this head an' say, 'tis glad enough ye'd give, but that really ye can't allord it. Can't ye? II ye make up yer moinds any one o' ye to give up only a single gla-s o' spirrits ivery day o' yer fives, see what it will come to in the coonse of a year, an' devote that to the church, that is, the elargy, a iv it will bo more than some o' tiie we II-to-do-farmers whom I nave in my eye at tins uussiu moment have had the heart to give me (bad look to thim) during the last twelve months. Why, as lillle as a penny a day comes to more thin thirty shillin's a year, and eviu that insignificant thrille I haven't had from some o' ye that have had the means and ought to have known belther. I don't want to mintion names, but, Tom Murphy o' the Glen, I'm afraid I shall be compelled to name ye before long if ye don't pay un yer lawful dues. I won't say any more now upon the subject, as St. Augustine says "a nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse." Now, the moral ol tbe first part beiu' clearly shown that all who can give ought to give the nixt branch is whom should it be given to? The blissid tixt isseutially states an1 declares "to the poor." Thin follows the inquiry "who is the poor?" The whole matter de-pa. de-pa. is on that. 1 dare say, ignorant as ye are, some o' ye will think it's tne beggars an' the cripples an' the blind thravellers who conthrive to git thro' the hngth an' bridth o' the country, guided by Providence an' a little dug tied lo ihtir fingers by a bit o' storing! No, I don't want to say one word about that sort o' cattle, or to injure them i' their honest callin'. God help them! It's their thrade, their istatnj their oc-cipation, oc-cipation, their business to beg, jist as much as it'sPat M'Carthy'a bisness to tailor, or Jerry Smith's to make cart's, or Tom Sidney's to shoe horses, or Dan Conner's to make poteen, an' my bisness to praciie earmons, and save yer eowls, ye bathen. But these arn't the poor meant i' the text. They're used to beggin, an' I for one wouldn't be the man to disturb dis-turb them i' the practice o' their pro-feshuu, pro-feshuu, an' long may it be a prov sion lor them an' their heirs for iver. May be, ye mane spernted cra-thurs, cra-thurs, some among ye will Bay, "It's ourselves is the poor." Indade, thin it isn't. Poor enough aud niggardly enough ye are, but ye are not the poor contemplated i' the text. Shnre it's yer nature it is, to toil an' to i-dave; shure it's what ye're used to. Therefore, if any one were to '4'ive to you he wouldn't be lindin to 'he lxrd i' the mloightest degree, but throwin away his money ascomplate-ly ascomplate-ly as if he lint it upon the security o' the land that'a kivercd by the Lake o' Killarney. Don't llather ycrselves, any o' ye, that ye are poor. I can tell ye, ye're pothin' of ihe sort. Now, thin, we've found out who should be the givers. There's no mistake about that. Kason and logic unile i' declarin' that ivry one o' ye man, woman an' child should give, an' slhrain a pint to do it liberally, liber-ally, Next we have ascertained that it's the poor who should recaive what ye give. Thirdly, we have ascertained ascer-tained who are not the poor. Lvatly, we must diaciver who are. Let aich o' ye put on his consi- therin' cap and think well . I have paused that ye might do it. Dan Cotlher ia a knowlcdgable man coin pared ft'i' the bulk o' yo. I wonder whether he has de.-kivered "who are the poor?" He shakes his head; but there isn't much in that ! Well, thin ! Ye give it up ? Ye lave it to me lo enlighten ye all ? Lam. thin, to yer shame, it's the elargy that are the poor ! Oti ! ye percaive it now, do ye ? The light comes through yer thick heads, does it ? Yes; it's I an' my bnlhren is the poor ! We get our bread (coorso enough and dhry enough it usually is) by lillin' ye with sperritual food, an' judgin' by the congregation now before me it's ugly mouths ye have to recaive it. We toil not neither do we spin, but if Solomon in all his glory waa not ar-rahyed ar-rahyed better than we arc, instead o' his been clothed in purple and fine linen, it's many a timo he'd be wearin a threadbare black coat white or the samca an' out o' the elbows, It't. the opinion o' the most larned scholars an' doethors o' divinity, ns laid down before the Council o' Trint, the translation is not stillieiently exact ex-act iu regard to this tixt, an' they recommiud that for the word of the "poor" wc should put the words "the elargy. ' ' Thus corrected then the ihranslation or tixt would run thus: "lie who gives to tho elargy lends to the Lord," which is no doubt tho pure an' undilui'-d scriptur. The wonls o' the tixt bein' thus Bellied, an' ye bavin1 beard the explanation of it all, now for the application. Last Thursday was a week since Bartlemy fair, an' I went down to buy a horse, for this ia a large parish, an' mortification and frellin' havo puffed mo up bo that, God help me, it's lillle able I am to answer all the sick calls, to say uothin' o' slat ions, weddin's and christening. Well, I bought the hnrsc, un' il cost mo more than I ex-pitted, ex-pitted, so there 1 stood without a I enny in my pocket after I paid tho dealer. It rained cats an' coal, an' I am bo poor 1 can't allord a great coat; I got wet to the akin i' less that no time. There ye were, scores o' ye i' (lie public-houses with Iho winders up thai all the world niiht sec yo a' dnriukin' us if it was for a wager; an' there wasn't one o' ye had thu grace to ask Father Front ha' yo g"1 a mouth i' yer face? An' there I might lia' slood i' the rain until this blisaid hour (that is supposiii' it had continued con-tinued rainiu' until now) if 1 hadn't been picked up by Mr. Mun Ruche, o' Kildinan an honest ginlleman, an' an hospitable man I must say, tho' a Proleslant. Ho took me home with him, an' thero to yer eternal disgrace, dis-grace, ye villains, I got as full as a lick an' Mun Roche had to send me home in bis own carriage, which is an everlastin' shume to all o' yo who belong to the true church. Now, I ask, which has carried out this tixt? Y'e, who did not give me even a poor tumbler o' punch at Bartlemy, or Mun Hoche, who took me home an' filled me with the best atein' and dhrinkin', an' sint me to my own house afther that in his own iligant carriage? Who bsdt fulfilled the Scriptur? Who lint to tho Lord by givin' to thepoor clariry? Kcmimber a time will come when I must give an account o' ye. W hat can I say thin? Won't I have to bang down my head in shame on your account? 'Pou my conscience, it wouldn't much surprise me, unless ye greatly mind your ways, if Mun Roche an' you won't have to change places on that occasion he to sit alongside o' me, aa a friend who had thraled the poor elargy well i' this world, and ye in a sartin place, which I won't particularly mintion now, except to hint that it's precious litlle frost aud snow ye'U have in it, but quite the revarse. However, it's niver too late to mend; and I hope by this day week it's quite another story I'll have to tell o' ye all. -Cork Cm-stitution. |