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Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Lord as it were bread. As he saith : Lord, the ungodly have destroyed 

 thy law, which in the last times He had excellently and kindly planted 

 in Ireland, and it was builded by the faTour of God. 



6. I make no false claim. I have part with those whom Se called 

 a7id predestinated to preach the Gospel amidst no small persecutions, 

 even unto the ends of the earthy even though the enemy casts an evil eye 

 on me by means of the tyranny of Coroticiis, who fears neither God nor 

 His priests whom He chose, and to whom He granted that highest 

 divine sublime power, that whom they should hind on earth should he 

 hound in heaven. 



7. "Whence therefore, ye holy and humhle men of heart, I beseech 

 you earnestly, it is not right to pay court to such men, nor to take 

 food or drink with them, nor ought one to accept their almsgivings, 

 until by doing sore penance with shedding of tears they make amends 

 before God, and liberate the servants of God and the baptized hand- 

 maidens of Christ, for whom He died and was crucified. 



8. The Most High approveth not the gifts of the ivicked. He that 

 offereth sacrifice of the goods of the poor is as one that sacrificeth the son 

 in the presence of his father. Hie riches, he saith, which he hath gathered 

 unjustly will he vomited up from his helly. The angel of death draggeth 

 him away. lie will he tormented hy the fury of dragons. The viper'' s 

 tongue shall slay him; unquenchahle fire devoureth him. And theie- 

 fore, Woe to those ivho fill themselves ivith what is not their own. Or 

 again. What is a man profited^ if he shall gai7i the whole world, and lose 

 his oivn soul ? 



9. It would be tedious to discuss or declare [their deeds] one by 

 one, [and] to gather from the whole law testimonies concerning such 

 greed. Avarice is a deadly sin : Thou shalt not covet thy neighhour^s 

 goods. Thou shalt do no murder. A murderer cannot he with Christ. Se 

 that hateth his hrother is recTconed as a murderer. Or, again. He that 

 loveth not his hrother ahideth in death. How much more guilty is he 

 that hath stained his hands with the blood of the sons of God whom he 

 vecentlj purchased in the ends of the earth through the exhortations 

 of my littleness. 



10. Did I come to Ireland without God, or according to the flesh'^ 

 "Who compelled me — I am hound in the spirit — not to see any one of 

 my kinsfolk ? Is it from me that springs that godly compassion which 

 I exercise towards that nation who once took me captive and harried 



