PREFACE.

There appears but little necessity for employing any lengthened preliminary observations in recommending an ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY of our National Church to the serious attention of an Irish public. It matters not at what period or under what circumstances this Church may be contemplated; let it be viewed through a dispassionate medium, either in its origin or in its progress during the revolution of ages, and it will be found to contain materials of the highest importance to religion and worthy of being embalmed in the eternal recollections of Irishmen. The ancient Fathers, by whom this sacred edifice had been originally upheld, have an undoubted claim on the gratitude of posterity. By their apostolic virtues they have won for their country a name which shall ever be cherished and of which no other nation can boast, that of an Island of Saints; by their persevering industry they have caused the Church of Ireland to spread and to strengthen and