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O'Rourke, John

"With Notices of Earlier Irish Famines"

"[307]
The Rev. Hugh M'Neill preached a "Famine" sermon in St. Jude's,
Liverpool, and published it under the title of "The Famine, a rod;" a
rod that was meant to scourge England for tolerating Popery, of which he
said: "That it is a sin against God's holy law to encourage the fables,
deceits, false doctrines, and idolatrous worship of Romanism, no
enlightened Christian--no consistent member of the church of England can
deny."[308] "She [England] is fondly anticipating, as the result of
generous concession, that she shall witness Roman Cooperation in general
Liberty! Alas, for the Romans! With equal reason might she expect the
Ethiopian to change his skin, or the leopard his spots. With the rich
and responsible inheritance of an open Bible before her, and with free
access to the illustrations of authentic history, this absurdity is
England's sin, England's very great sin. There can be little doubt, that
except repentance _and amendment_ avert the stroke, this will prove
England's plague, England's great plague, England's very great
plague."[309]
It may be urged that the Rev. Hugh M'Neill is a man of extreme views. Be
it so; but his extreme views seem rather to have advanced his interests
than to have offended his superiors, for he is now Dean of Ripon.


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