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Handout #204 |
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Why the Papists aggrieved? |
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Josiah Hort (1674-2751 A.D.) was the Anglican
archbishop of the Irish see of Tuam when in 1745 A.D., against the
background of Jacobite and Catholic supported rebellion in Scotland, he
issued this pastoral charge to his diocesan clergy. Hort had many Protestant
Dissenting friends, including the great Isaac Watts, and here we see his
fair-mindedness struggling with his disdain for Catholics.
You will notice that I am not for inviting your people to act offensively towards the Roman Catholics, for they have made ample profession and declarations of remaining quiet and amenable to the government at this time; and I would in charity hope that they are in good earnest; but however, it is the part of wisdom to guard against the worst, while we hope for the best; and I am sure they are best to be trusted when they see us prepare for our defense ... Your only course must be to visit them at their houses, and to show them by friendly reasonings where their true interest lies ... You may fairly ask them, if their persons and properties have not been in safety ever since they remained quiet and peaceable... Do not their Protestant landlords and masters treat them as kindly as their popish ones? Penal laws have indeed been made against him but chiefly against their priests, for the defense of the government against their dangerous principles and practices; but what do the bulk of the papists feel from these laws? ... Now, if these are all undeniable facts, what can any modest and reasonable papist desire more, and how an he be aggrieved? |
