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

THURSDAY, MAY 23, 1822

FOR THE SUN.

LETTER VII.
Mr. EDITOR—I have been guilty of a Brea
omission in my last letter, in not introducing the
author of " the Christian Church," in proper
form, to your Readers. They have doubtless
seen that " PASTORINI" is a fictitious name, as-
sumed probably to evade the just severity of the
Law for so gross a libel against the established
religion of the State; though in this enlightened
agei when it matters not to some whether there
be a pure, or an idolatrous religion, or any religion
at all,—it is re-published, with singular audacity
and without fear. The Editor's Preface informs
us that Charles Walmesley, a Romish Bishop,
or- Vigrapostolic of the Western district in
England, was. the author; that it was first pub-
lished about the year 1776, and that it was trans-
lated into French, Latin, German, and Italian.
1 shall at present submit to their consideration
only one extract :

44 We have now seen the prophetical history of
the Reformation. The description is full and
circumstantial, and takes in the period of 300
years. In the first place was exhibited to us its
rise, then the general character of it, and thirdly,
the degree and nature of its power. These
accounts are comprised in the six first verses
of the ninth chapter. Then follows the de-
scription of the character, temper and spirit of
the chief reformers and their proselytes, with the
successive alteration of their power, as settled
by the Almighty hand ; which account is traced
out in the verses 70, Bth, 9th, and 10th, in an
admirable manner, by the progressive descrip-
tion of the locusts from head to tail. This alle-
gorical delineation is drawn with such exquisite
art, that it cannot, we believe, be equalled by any,
thing produced from profane writers.. But of
this extraordinary picture there yet remains to
be exhibited the last stroke of the prophetic
pencil, which is : " And they (the locusts) have
over them a King, the angel of the bottomless
pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in.
Greek, Apollyon ; in. Latin, Exterminous, that
is destroyer." St. John, after giving us the his-
tory of the surprising revolution made in the
Church by the Reformation, closes it by letting
us into the secret of the means by which it was
contrived, was carried on, and is still preserved.
He tells us, the locusts, or people of the Refor-
mation, have over them a King, who is an angel
of the bottomless pit, that is, an angel of hell, or
a devil. Ilere then we see the original contriver
and director of the whole work. Here we
see who has been through the whole progress
their prompter, their chief, and, their King.—
But who would envy them such a King ? or
who would choose to be a subject of such a
Sovereign ?" The name of this infernal spirit is
even given, he is called Abaddon, or exterminator,
abolisher, destroyer ; by this name his character
is sufficiently clear. As pride is attributed to
Lucifer, and to other fiends are ascribed special
qualities, so here the evil Spirit, who is the
King of the Reformation, is distinguished by the
character of exterminating and destroying. One
cannot but lament the misfortune of the Protes-
tants in voluntarily admitting over them such a
King, and enlisting under his banner. A second
misfortune is, they have been too faithful in their
allegiance. We have already given a sufficient
relation of their violent proceedings in the dif-
ferent countries where the. Reformation got
entrance. We specified some part of the con-
spiracies, tumults, rebellions, and civil Wars it
gave rise to) and the subversion of States which
ensued. Could such scenes be conducted by
any other but the King Abaddon, the destroying
angel ?" " With respect to the Church, how
many articles of faith, which are reckoned es-
sential
to religion, have they not exploded, as
may be seen in the Council of Trent ? The
holy sacrament also, those channels of Divine
Grace, have they not reduced to two, or rather
one, viz. baptism, the eucharist, in the opinion of
many of their sect, containing nothing more than
mere bread and wine."—Pages 239, 220, 241.
Such is the Peace Offering presented, in
182 T, by the Reman Catholics of Ireland, to
their Protestant fellow-subject,—=at the very
moment too that they were loud in their expres-
sions of a desire for conciliation and concord;
and with his Majesty's recommendation in their
mouths; but, if " we may judge of the tree by
its fruit," far from their hearts. Such is the ve-
nomous work that the Romish Bishops, gifted
like Caliban with two voices, while with their
forward voice they read a dutiful address to their
Sovereign,—with their backward voice recom-
mended to the perusal of those, " whom it was
their duty ,to instruct and keep in the right
way :"—a work as destitute of truth as it is of
Christian charity :—a work that tells the besotted
adherents of the See of Rome that the Protestant
religion, " having the devil for its parent," will
be subverted, and entirely routed out from the face
of the earth in the year 1825.
I shall now endeavour to expose some of this
Jesuit's mis-statements. The Bishop of Rome
did not assume the title of Universal Bishop till
the latter part of the Pontificate of Gregory 1.,
who very severely censured the Patriarch of
Constantinople for the assumption of a title, by
which, he says; in a letter to one of them," none
of the apostles would suffer themselves to be
called ;" and which he brands as " vain; pro-
fane, impious, execrable, anti-christian, blasphe-
mous : an arrogant attempt in that Patriarch to
subject to himself all the members of Christ, the
only head of the Church universal." Yet Gre-
gory, by capitulation with Phocas, the murderer
of the Emperor Manritius, and the usurper of his
Throne, obtained *the title of Universal Bishop,