The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-30 00:00:00

flLruin' knt

LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1845.

The religious movement which is now exciting such
deep interest in Germany cannot fail, when understood,
to produce a great effect in this country. The contest
between Catholicism and Protestantism has been carried
on here for more than three hundred years ; it has pro-
duced great political revolutions ; cost one Sovereign his
head, and ultimately destroyed his dynasty ; it has
kept up a never, ceasing war between Great Britain and
Ireland, led to the enactment of pains and penalties
against a particular race for their principles of belief, and
caused seenes of bloodshed and domestic murders, which
cast a great stain on Christianity. Even at the present
day, in the nineteenth century, these wounds are not
healed—religion is still the great source of all the na-
tional prfjudices and antipathies which are mutually en-
tertained by the two countries, and anything like
a peaceable settlement of this question seems as distant
as ever. It is needless to say to which side we incline.
The Reformation has been of incalculable benefit to
these realms ; in fact, neither prosperity, nor independ-
ence, nor the greatest blessing which can fall to the lot
of humanity—liberty—was known till that divine light
which first appeared in Saxony spread its benign influ-
ences on England and Scotland. What has taken place
since every child acquainted with British history can
tell. The exercise of private judgment broke the chains
of ecclesiastical tyranny, the mind became free, and
exerted itself in all those great undertakings which have
ever distinguished a free people. Colonies were formed,
good laws were established in them, as well as in
the mother country, and from the time that the power
of Rome and the STUART dynasty were expelled from

our shores, this country has taken the lead in progressive
movement among all the nations of the earth. We have
some reason, therefore, to bless the Reformation, and
we have no less reason to rejoice that the spirit which
led to it has again manifested itself in that part of Ger-
many to which England is under so many obligations.
JOHN RONGE, the new apostle of ecclesiastical reform, is
a native of Silesia, which borders on Saxony, the cradle
of the Refurmation. He was educated in the Catholic
Church, and performed for some years the duties of curate,
but ever with the greatest reluctance, from a firm
conviction that the sole object of the Roman
hierarchy is to enslave the human mind. "I must only
worship and honour GOD," says he, "as the POPE
directs ; and no other mode of serving GOD is per-
mitted but that which the infallible Church of Rome
dictates. As Roman priest, I have neither liberty of
thought nor of conscience. To this must be added im-

plicit obedience to my superior, from whom there lies
no appeal. The Roman priest is never looked up to as
a free agent ; he is a mere instrument to diffuse the

mist of superstition." We fear that there is too much

truth in the statement, and that these remarks apply to
more churches than one. Ignorance and superstition

furnish to the priests the lever by which they raise
themselves to the rank of gods, and while profess-

ing to be the followers, the lineal descendants
of the poor and humble Apostles, they are unlike them
in every respect. Never was there such an insult to the
human understanding as the assumption that the Pope
of ROME and the Archbishop of CANTERBURY are the

representatives of PETER and PAUL. But in the dark

ages this was the prevailing doctrine and implicitly be-
lieved by the ignorant multitude, including kings as
well as nobles. In this country, whore general know-
ledge has made some useful progress, the pretension is