The Sun.
London, England, 1822-05-23 00:00:00

SUN.

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for sanctioning .tho'se crimes which the Patriarch
of Constantinople had refused to do. The foun-
dation of the temporal power of the See of Rome
was first laid on the treatybetween Gregory 111.
and Charles Martel, hereditary Mayor of the
palace to the Kings of France, which had for its
basis rebellion, on the part .:Of the first, against
the Grecian Emperor, Sovereign of the duchy of
Rome ; and usurpation on the part of the latter,
though it was not carried into effect till the Pon-
tificate of Zachary, the successor of Gregory,
when Charles was succeeded by his son Pepin.
And a celebrated writer of the sixteenth centu-
ry compares the conduct of the two,contracting
parties on this occasion to. that of two robbers.
dividing their booty between them;—Pepin en-
gaging to transfer to Zachary the territories of
which he was to despoil the Emperor and the
Lombards,--and Zachary sanctioning the usurpa-
tion of Pepin, in wresting the sceptre from the
haltds of his lawful sovereign;—Pepin enthronhig
the spiritual power of Zachary,—and Zachary
regalising the temporal power of Pepin. A com-
plete supremacy, however, in temporibus, as well
as in spirituallbus, was not attained till the latter
end of-the eleventh century, in the pontificate of
Gregory VII., called Hildebrand, a man of strong
and acute understanding, inordinate ambition,
and consummate art, who made religiott at once
a cloak to conceal, and a mean of attaining the
object of his desire—universal dominion.
The election of the Bishop of Rome rested with
,the clergy and the people ; but, from the time
Constantine the Great became a convert to Chris-
tianity, in the year 312, to the latter end of the
eleventh century, the approbation Of the, Empe-
ror was necessary to confirm the election ; and
the newly.elected Bishop solicited his consent
that he should be consecrated and crowned ;
so that, from that period the Emperors enjoyed
a complete supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs.—
Even Gregory VII. applied to the Emperor,
Henry IV., for his consent ; butim was scarcely
seated in St. Peter's Chair, when he issued a Bull
of excommunication against his sovereign, and
raised his subjects in rebellion against him. It
has been justly observed, that "He considered
it essential to the accomplishment of his ambi-
tious scheme of raising the church above the
state in every Christian country, and of making
all the sovereign princes implicitly subservient
to the Pope,—to have all the clergy in every state
dependent on him, as his spies and vassals, that
through their agency he might enforce his spiri-
tual thunders, by raising in rebellion the sub,
jects of such of them as
.should refuse to submit
to his insolent demands."

Whatever other crimes he might have had to
answer for, Henry VIII. was not the first Eng-
lish Monarch that opposed the usurpation of the
Bishop of Rome ; for William I. resisted the at-
tempt of that Machiavel, Gregory VII., in the
eleventh century, to establish a supremacy ; and
he would not allow his clergy to acknowledge
any Pope without his permission, or to hold corb
respondence with the Court of Row. unless in-.
spected by himself. Even at that period it was
high-treason at common law to acknowledge any
foreign jurisdiction whatever: and, in the reign
of Edward I. a man was 'found guilty of high-
treason, and sentenced Jo be hanged, for having
produced a Bull of excommunication against
another person. In the same reign, and under
the common law, the Archbishop of York was
deprived, during life, of the estates of his See,
for having presented a clerk to a living under a
Bull of the Pope, in contempt of the King's
crown and dignity. The statute of, Carlisle
against the usus:pation of the Pope was also pass-
ed in this reign.

In the 25thi year of Edward 111., while the
statute of provisoes was under discussion in the
House of Commons, 46 the Pope, for divers usur-
pations, was called the common enemy of the
king and the realm."—" But the Pope's avarice
was altogether without bounds, and might justly
be looked upon as the plague or bane of the na-
tion." " The Commons, therefore, required of
the King and the Lords some remedy ; for that
they neither could nor would bear such strange
exactions, or else to help them to expel out of
the Realm the Pope's power by force." I shall
here give a few instances of those exactions—
" Anno 1343, Pope Clement VI. having made
twelve Cardinals, made provision in England for
two of them, of so many benefices next vacant
asshould amount to two thousand marksannually ."
" Arm 1367, upon a view taken it was found
that some had above twenty churches and dig-
nities, by the authority of the Pope, and that
they were further privileged to hold so many
more as they could get, without measure or num-
ber." " Anno 1399, Thomas Arundel, Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, entreated the King, in the
name of the Clergy, that he would take away,
by his Royal authority, the Papal provisions,
whereby it was come to pass that learned men
studying in Universities, seeing the rewards given
to ambitious and unworthy fellows seeking them
at Rome, did forsake their studies : so ignorance
expelled learning." 66 Anno 1419, Pope Martin
V. bestowed in England thirteen Bishopricks by
translation and provisions in the space of, two
years, while Henry V. was in the wars." " Anno
1532, Inquisition was made of Papal expilations,
and it was found that in the four years last past
the Roman Court had received, for investiture of
Bishops, one hundred and sixty thousand pounds."
Henry VIII., on discovering-that the Clergy
took an oath of fidelity to the Pope, sent to the
Speaker of the House of Commons, and in-
formed him, 64 that he found the Clergy
of his Realm were but half subjects, or scarce
so much; every Bishop or Abbot, on en-
tering on his dignity, taking an oath to the Pope,

PRICE SEVENPENCE

derogatory to •that of his fidelity, to, the King ;
which contradiction he desired his Parliament to
take away, Whereupon. these oaths, by the
King's
,command, being read and- considered, the
Parliament so handled the business, as it occa-
sioned the final renouncing the Pope's authority,
about two years after."
As I have already mentioned, the Emperor
Constantine the Great embraced Christianity ih
the year 312 ; prior to which. the Church had
suffered great persecution under the Grecian Em-
perors. Ile convened the first General Council
at Nice, in the year 325, at which be presided.;
when, in compliance with his commands, the .nu-
merous assembly of Bishops composed the Ni-
cene Creed, or Confession of Faith, which is still
observed in the United Church of England and
Ireland; but, in the year 1545, Pope Pius IV.
and the Council of Trent added twelve articles
to it ; and: this, new-modelled Creed is the one
used in the Rotnish Church. The second Gene-
ral Council was convened by the Emperor Theo-
dosius at Constantinople, in the year 380, in
wiirckhe presided : as did the Emperor Marcian
in the 'third
,and fourth Councils ; the former .
held at Ephesus, in the year 431; the latter at
Chalcedon, in the, year 451 ;—and it was enacted
by the first of Queen Elizabeth, " that those
four General Councils should be the standard of
the Christian Faith in England." Let the Reader
now judge whether the Protestant Reformed
Church be a 44 new Church ;" or whether it is
not the Church of Rome that merits that title,
from her. innovations and abominations, some of
which I mentioned in my last letter. In short,
Popery was established in the eleventh century,
though image-worship had been introduced into
the Church some time before.
I shall in my next letter return to Pastorini :
the present I 'shall conclude with Queen Eliza-
beth's answer to Nicholas Reath, Archbishop of
York, delivered in an assembly. of the Bishops
and Clergy, on the 15th; of May, 1559, when he
and thirteen others opposed the re-establishment
of the Church of England. 4' My Lord, as
Joshua declared, saying, ' I and my House will
serve the Lord,' so be we resolVed and our realm
to serve him; for which we have here assembled
our. Clergy, and be resolved to imitate Josia,
who assembled the ancients of Judea and Jeru-
salem purposely to make' a covenant with the
Lord i thus have we here assembled our Parlia-
ment, together with you of the Clergy, for the
same intent to contract with God, and not with
the Bishop of Rome. • Neither lay it in our sis=
ter's power to bind Us, our successors, or our
realms into that authority which is usurped.—
Therefore we with our predeCessors, who have.
(as our records do justify us) rejected that
usurped and pretended power, which for future
times will be precedents for our heirs or succes-
sors to imitate and dive into,—do absolutely re-
nounce all foreign jurisdiction; as our Crown is

no way subject or Co be drawn under any power
whatever, saving under Christ, the King of
Kings ; the Bishop of Rome's usurpation over
Monarchy shews his desire of Primacy over the
whole earth, which to him and his successors
*ill prove confusion in the celestial orh. We
therefore shall 'esteem all those our subjects,
ecclesiastical as civil, as enemies to God, and to
tinr heirs and successors, who sltall,henceforth own
his usurped, or any foreign power whatsoever."
Cork, April 10, 1822. SIDNEY.

*.* While we ha'
to apologize to this intelligent Corre-
spondent for the unavoidable delay of his favours, we assure
him that we shall insert the remainder of his series with all
convenient speed, and we earnestly recommend them to the at-
tention of all who are disposed to support Mr. Canning's Bill.
which threatens, in due time, to effect the total demolition of
our present Establishment in Church and State.

THE NEW COURTS AT WESTMINSTER.—TIe
erection of the long promised and muck-wanted
Courts at Westminster is to be immediately com-
menced.—The plans have been submitted to the
Treasury, and have been finally approved. They
are to be in a line with the present Court of
Common Pleas, on the western side of West-
minster Hall, and are to be extremely com-
modious. Workmen are now engaged in
fitting up temporary buildings of wood along
the whole length of Westminster Hall, for the
reception of the records and other papers,
which are at present placed in the buildings
standing on the site of the new Courts ; and when
the removal of these papers has taken place, the
labours of the builders will be carried" on with
all possible dispatch. The north entrance to
Westminster Hall is now nearly restored to its
ancient beauty, and in a short time the interior of

the south end, where the old Courts of Chancery
and King'a Bench stood, will be repaired in a
style suitable to the general character cif this
venerable fabric.

A NEW COMET.-Mr. GAMBERT, jl.lll. AdjOillt
Astronomer at Marseille, discovered on the 12th instant a new
Comet in the Vicinity of the Second -Star' of Taurus. This
Comet was perceived yesterday at the Royal Observatory in this
city (Paris), and the result of the observations which were
made showed that at forty minutes past ten o'clock, it had about
87 degrees and a half of right ascension, and 38 degrees of
boreal declension. The Comet is at present invisible to the
naked eye; its nucleus is" small and brilliant; its atmosphere
of little extent, and its tail scarcely perceptible.—(From the
Jour'nal des Debuts of May 20.)

On Saturday last, a soldier belonging to the
party of the 77th Regiment, quartered in Stirling
Castle, in a state of intoxication, leapt from a
part of the west parapl wall, not far from the
Governor's house. Notwithstanding the great
height he had to fall, and that he thereafter
rolled down to the bottom of the hill at the back
of the Raploch, he not only escaped with his life)
but is already considered out of danger.