The Sun.
London, England, 1822-05-10 00:00:00

LETTER VI.

Ma. EDITOR—In my Fifth Letter I gave it
as my opinion, and stated some, among many
reasons, for having formed that opinion, that the
present Insurrection or Rebellion is of a re-
ligious and political nature; nor, in the innu-
merable insurrections, rebellions, and conspi-
racies, that have occurred in Ireland, does the
page of history furnish au instance of one of a
contrary nature. From these causes there arose
five Rebellions in Ireland in the space of seventy-
five years—Shane Q'Neal's in 1566—Desmond's
in 1569—Tyrone's in 1595-o'Dog-herty's in
1608—and the Great Rebellion and Massacre
in 1641. To these, indeed, may be added,
the resistance of the cities of Cork, Lime-
rick, and Waterford, to the proclaiming King
James I. in 1603, because he was a heretic, and
had been denounced as such by Clement VIII.
in a Bull sent to Ireland some time before his
accession, as it required the presence of the
Lord Deputy Mountjoy with an army to bring
them to submission. There were besides three
conspiracies providentially discovered and de-
feated ; the object of the first, in the year 1607,
was to seize the Castle of Dublin, and murder
the Lord Deputy Chichester; and for a general
revolt. In 1615, a plot was formed for seizing the
forts and principal towns in Ulster, and murder-
ing the Protestants (James's new Colony) ; for
which purpose Rome, Spain, and France, had
promised assistance; and in 1634, Ever M‘Mahon,
a Romish Priest, discovered to Sir George Rad-
cliffe, principal in trust with Lord Deputy Went-
worth, that there was a design formed for a
general rising throughout Ireland, to be seconded
by the Courts of Rome, Spain, and France.
Nearly a century after the last mentioned period,
the Romish Bishops obtained a Bull from Bene-
dict XIII., for the purpose of raising rebellion,
and dethroning George IL. All these to pro-
mote the sacred cause of Religion. And within
the last thirty years, in what is called an en-
lightened age, when we are told the mists of
error and superstition have vanished before the
light of reason,—there have been innumerable
conspiracies and insurrections, and two, I might
say three, open rebellions for the same pious
purpose.

But if blind superstitious zeal, and hatred of
Protestants, be not the prevailing sentiments
among the -Roman Catholics of Ireland of the
present day, as they were at the periods alluded
to, why has Pastorini's pretended history of the
Christian Church been raked from the dust, and
republished as the seventh edition, consisting of
many thousand Copies, sanctioned too by some
if not by the whole conclave of the Romish Bis-
hops ? Why also is a cheaper edition now
issuing from the press, in sheets, to accommodate
purchasers of the lowest class ? Why was such
a time as the present chosen to disseminate this
envenomed composition, fraught with bigotry,
virulence, calumnies, and falsehoods, if not to
keep alive that hatred and intolerant spirit, and
to rouse into action all the stormy passions of the
mind ?

Those that are considered " enlightened
Roman Catholics," affect to think and speak of
this pestiferous work. as the mere ebullition of a
fanatic, and unworthy of notice : but I entirely
doubt their sincerity, from the knowledge I have
of the indefatigable pains used to circulate it,
even to hiring it out in this city, and in different
towns, at one penny per book, to those who can-
not afford to purchase the cheap edition; and, as
to the adherents of the See of Rome, we are to
look to their actions, and not to their professions.
But why, I repeat, is this infamous production,
of which they profess so contemptible an opinion,
put into the hands of an ignorant besotted multi-
tude, such as the lower class, at least, of Roman
Catholics are, if not to bring into contempt the
religious and civil establishments of the kingdom,
and to keep up that spirit of insubordination
which is but too ready to burst forth upon all
occasions, like a flame long smothered, with re-
novated fury.

• To expose the tissue of omissions, misrepresen-
tations, exaggerations, and falsehoods, contained
in this volume, would require an abler pen than
mine ; if, indeed, their unparalleled malignity
and audacity do not convey confutation to every
ingenuous mind : but for the information of those
of your readers who may not have an opportu-
nity of seeing it, I shall give a few extracts,
with a very few remarks, in the hope that they
may open the eyes of such of them as are in-
fected with the mania of liberality, to the real
character of Popery.
The Author, as he states, deduces his pretended
history from the Apocalypse of St. John, and every
text that had been applied by all judicions com-
mentators to the Church of Rome and its abomi-
nations. Ile refers to the Reformation and the
Protestant Church : with this difference, they
wrote from the dictates of reason, and with the
finger of truth, nor did they ever lose sight of
Christian charity ; while he tortures every passage
to his own uncharitable diabolical purpose, and
rancour, with a total disregard to truth. The
characteristics of all Popish2vriters I have any
knowledge of pervade his Work: but in attempt-
ing to caricature the Reformation and the Protes-
tant Church, he pourtrays the Church of Rome, as
" the proudest domination that ever was endured
upon earth, trampling Kings and nations under
its feet."..

In treating of the 9th chapter, he says,—" To
St. Peter were given the keys of Heaven, but to
Luther is given the key of the bottom less pit or
hell." " And he opened the bottomless pit and
the smoke of the pit arose, as the smoke of a
great furnace," v 01.2.—" Luther therefore opened
the door of hell, and there issued out a thick
smoke as from a great furnace. What can this
thick smoke be, but a strong spirit of seduction,
which had been hatched in hell, or had the devil
for its parent, and which, at Luther's opening
hell's door, immediately burst forth ? Impreg-
nated with this steam, or spirit of seduction, he
brought forth a doctrine big .with delusions and
error. And as the steam he imbibed was hot,
as coming from a great furnace, he propagated his

doctrine with heat, violence, and insolence."—
Page 197.
" And from the smoke of the pit there came
out locusts upon the earth." v. 3. " From the
smoke of the abyss is generated a swarm of lo-
custs that disperse themselves over the earth ;
the meaning of which is, that the spirit of se-
duction, denoted by the smoke of the abyss,
raised up a number of Sectaries, or Reformers,
as they called themselves, who spread themselves
into all parts of the Catholic Church. Luther
was first intoxicated with this delusive spirit,
which presently after insinuated itself into Car-
lostadius, Zesinglius, Occolampadius, Melanctor,
Biscer, Miscer, Calvin, Henry the VIII th
of England, Craniner, and many others. Being
of the nature of locusts, these Reformers w ere
unconnected, acknowledged no subordination
among themselves, and even quarrelled with one
another. They all taught different doctrines,
and scarce agreed in any thing, but in their en-
deavours to destroy the ancient faith, and corrupt
the Christian principles of morality. In this, in-
deed, they jointly exhibited a vehement eager-
ness equal to the veracity of locusts"—Page 202.
‘C And power was given to them (the ldcusts)
as the scorpions of the earth have power." v. 3.
" Those locusts have peculiar qualities, not to be
found in the common locusts ; they have the
power of stinging." This allegory shews that the
reformed seats, here signified by the locusts,were
empowered, by the divine permission, to sting,
or violently torment those of the Catholic Com-
munion, whom they had left, and against whom
they conceived and still retain a rancorous ani-
mosity."—Page 207.
" And it was given unto them, (the locusts)
that they should not kill them ; but that they
should torment them five months; and their
torment was as the torment of a scorpion when
he strikes a man." v. 5. " Here is a second
curb put upon the power of the reformed Societies.
In the last article we saw that their power of
seducing others to embrace their doctrine was
confined to those who had not the sign of GOD
on their forehead, or who by their depravity or
bad disposition lay open to such seductions."—
Page 209.
" And the shapes of the locusts were like unto
heroes prepared unto battle." v. 7. " Here is
expressed the spirit of sedition and rebellion that
animated the reformers and their proselytes."—
Page 214. " Not content with basing thrown
off contemptuously the spiritual authority of the
Pope, the Bishops, and the whole Church,
Luther next attempted to subvert the temporal
.power of Princes."—Page 215.
" And the noise of their wings (the wings of
the locusts) was the noise of chariots of many
horses running to battle."—v. 9. Here the Pro-
phet points at the turbulent, murmuring, cla-
morous disposition of the reformed, properly ex-
pressed by the noise of the wings of the locusts,,
which was as loud as the noise of chariots of
many horses running to battle. Did not that
inflammatory spirit of uneasiness, loud murmur,
and sedition, appear in all those Kingdoms
where the Reformation .was received ? How
often has the public tranquillity been convulsed
by that baleful poison ? What fatal disturbances
have been raised, and what troubles have Princes
sustained to quell them ?—Page 235. "We
see then that the loud noise of the wings of the
locusts, like the loud rumbling noise of cha-
riots of many horses running to battle, very fitly
represents that restless turbulent spirit, which
continued in the reformed societies, and banished
peace from Government, as well as from the
Church of Christ."—" Here terminates the pe-
riod of five months, or 150 years, mentioned in
verse 5 ; within which space of time is compre-
hended, as we have seen, our share of the history
of the Reformation, and in reality the principal
part of it. During this period, which commenced
as we have said about the year 1525, and conse-
quently ended 1675, the reformed religion was
forcibly introduced, took its full growth, and
was finally settled."—Pages 235 and 236.
" And they (the locusts) had tails like to scor-
pions, and there were stings in their tails, and
their power was to hurt men five months. And
they had over them a King, the angel of the
bottomless pit ; whose name in Hebrew is
Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon : in Latin,
Exterminum, that is Destroyer."—V. 10, 11.—
" We shall now proceed to the second period of
time, which begins with the above 10th verse,
and is of equal duration with the first, that is
consists of 150 years."—Page 237.
" They (the locusts) have tails like unto scor-
pions, and there were stings in their tails ; and
their power to hurt men five months." "Here
the locusts are said to have tails that resemble
whole scorpions with stings in them. This alle-
gory describes very emphatically the angry tem-
per of Protestants, and their implacable en-
mity to those of the Catholic Communion. Who-
ever presumes to abridge that ' Evangelical
Liberty,' which is their idol, they immedi-
ately declaim against the attempt, chaff, and
threaten like scorpions to sting. They still
retain a good share of that factious and
violent temper with which they propagated
their religion, and which during this period
breaks out on different occasions, to the disturb-
ing public peace, and alarming the Soveieigns,
as experience sufficiently shews."—Page 238.
I shall postpone to my next letter any farther
extracts from Signior Pastorini's work ; and as
there are some who scarcely know why they are
Protestants, I shall conclude the present one, by
informing such that the United Church of Eng-
land and Ireland, as by law established, is the
Primitive Catholic Church instituted by the Apos-
tles, and not a " New Church," as falsely assert-
ed, but purified from the abuses and corruptions
which had crept into it in the darker ages, or
had been introduced afterwards for secular pur-
poses by ambitious Pontiffs, from the period they
assumed the title of Universal Bishop, in the
year 606, and afterwards usurped a supremacy
in the Christian Church. Among those abuses
and corruptions may be reckoned Image-Wor-
ship, first introduced in the Pontificate of Gre-
gory I. and established by the second Council of
Nice in the Bth century ; and, to countenance
this infringement on the laws of God, the Second
Commandment is omitted in most of the Romish

i

Catechisms, dividing the Tenth into two Com-
mandments, to preserve numerical regularity.—
The doctrine of Purgatory made an article of
Faith in the 12th century,—Transubstantiation
also made an article of Faith in the 13th century,
—Auricular Confession, appointed to be obser-
ved as a Sacrament, in the same century,—With-
holding the Cup from the Laity, in the 15th cen-
tury,—Forbidding to Pray in the Vernacular
Tongue,—Ascribing Sanctity to Relics—Canoni-
zation of Saints—Enjoining Celibacy to the Cler-
gy, which led to Concubinage, and also to such
gross licentiousness, that public Stews were esta-
blished by authority at Rome, to preserve mar-
ried women from the lawless attempts of the
Priests ; and for granting Licences, for which the
" Holy Fathers" derived a very considerable re-
venue,—and, finally, the traffic in Indulgences,
or Pardons for Sin, which grew to such a height
in the Pontificate of Leo X. as to cause great scan-
dal; but was vigorously and successfully oppo-
sed by Luther, which laid the foundation of that
Reformation that has restored the Church to its
pristine purity. Let reason and common sense
determine which is Catholic and Apostolic—the
Church of Rome or the PrOtestant.

The following is the first of the hundred ar-
ticles, stating the abuses and corruptions of the
Church of Rome, laid before the Council of
Trent, in the year 1545, by the Protestants.
" Most Bishops and their officials not only allow
Priests to keep concubines, on condition of pay-
ing a tax, but also compel those respectable
Priests who chose to live continently, to pay the
tax of concubinage, under the pretence that my
Lord is in want of money."
As to Image worship, I cannot avoid here giv-.
ing the opinion of the Rev. Mr. Faye], in his Dis-
sertation on the Prophecies.—Vol. 1, Page 22.1.
" Scarcely had a year elapsed from the esta-
blishment of this sacerdotal Empire, when
the ancient Pantheon, formerly the general
sink of all the abominations of Paganism, was
now restored, though under a different name,
to its original destination. The mediatory demons
of corrupted christianity occupied the vacant
places of the mediatory demons of the Gentiles ;
and instead of Jupiter and his kindred deities,
the Virgin Mother of Christ, and all his mar-
tyred saints, receive a blind adoration.
Cork, April 4, 1822. SIDNEY.