American Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1855-1860, 1855-06-28
KIRWAN,s LETTERs.
TO THE RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, BIsHoI
OF NEW YORK. -
LETTER XII.

LETTER XII.
My DEAR STR,-The letters which /
have had the honour Of addressing TO you,
| must now bring to close. l have stat
ed to you, with all frankness and sincerity,
my reasons for leaving the church in which
l was born, baptized, and confirmed; and
which, on the most mature deiberation,
YET prevent me from returning oit. can
assure you, on the word Of an Irishman,
and which is far more, on the word Of.
Christian, that have had no end in view
but the exposure Of error, and the develop
ment of the truth. Thirty years have al
most run their course since | left your
church; and although not utterly unknown
to the men Of our age, nor unsolicited,
these letters form my frs; appearance on
popery. Unless some unexpected ripple
is excited on the current OF my feelings,
they will, probably. form my last
Now, dear sir, what think you Of these
reasons? Are they, or are they not. suffi-
Gent to excuse, 20 forbid my return to
your church? Had | an ear sufficiently
acute TO hear the decision Of your CON
science, / believe in nv soul that it pro-
nounces them sufficient. Yes, believe,
that were it not for your sad doctrine of In
fallibillIy, which stereotypes and perpetu-
ates every absurdiiy, you and multitudes
like you, men Of sense and education,
would rise and cast FIRE brand amid the
rubbish which ignorance and wickedness
have, in the progress of ages, collected
around your church, and send its smoke
heavenward like the smoke of furnace
But. Sir, | am not ignorant Of the slow
progress of truth against bigotry-of the
great difficulty of exchanging bad opin-
ions and cus.oms, hallowed by usuage, for
better ones. Nor have I read history so
inattentivelv as not to learn from il the
great difficulty Of converting high eccle-
sias.ics 10 tba knowledge of the truth
The mitre has shielded mlny head from
the weapons of sense and logic; and under
the surplice many a conscience has gone
to rest that, without it, would have con
tended 10 the death for the faith once de-
livered to the saints. must not forget
that it was the high priest who occupied
Moses seat that pu. our Lord to death;
nor can | forget that those claiming to be
the successors. of Peter, and the vicege-
rents of Christ, have been the greatest
prosecutors of the saints. They have shed
Christian blood enough for pope and car
dinalS to swim in. Wonld to God that YOU
could see things as l see them; your inhu-
ence would be strong in freeing our fellow
countrymen from that bondage Of the soul
which most degrades them. Bat despair
ing of this, / turn from you to the victims of
your system. Roman Catholics, and espe-
cially Irish Catholics, to you now turn.
From your bishop, whom, with You, re-
spcct as man, ough | oppose his relig-
ious principles, l appeal to you. With you
is the power to bring to perpetual end
that system of ghostIy tyranny the most
oppressive that man has ever felt. Sub
jects and seaptres depart together; the
farce of the Mass will soon end when there
are none to witness it;-and popes, bsh-
ops, and priests will soon seek an honest
calling when there are none to be edited
by their jugglery "the aims and
the sufrages of the faithful cease to
flow.
Will you give an honest perusal to these
letters;and canIidly weigh the reasons and
the arguments which they contain? That
| was born in Ireland, is my pride. Ny
sympathies are all with ireland in its civil,
social, aud moral degradation. The blood
of my kindred, shed to Gefend it against
English oppression, mingles with its soil.
Your present feelings as to your church,
]. have had and in all their force. l can en-
tirely appreciate them. L have cordially hat
ed Professionalism Protestants;a aud have
seen the time when l regarded the man as
my personal enemy who would utter
word against my religion. But those were
the days of my youth and ofignorance.-
When | became man, put away child
ish things. And my reasons for so doing
are spread out before youin these letters;
and all ask of you is, kindly and candidly
to consider them, and then TO act accord
ingiy. If they are not sufficiently cogent
to cause you as they have caused me, to
leave the Church of Rome, then you will
have my entire consent to be oppressed,
flleeccd aud ridden by your priests as long
as you live.
Yet permit me to entreat you to give to
the subject of these letters the attention
which it demands. | know that many of
you are sincere; but this is no test Of truth.
I know many of you to be devout; but so
are Mahometans and pagans. | know that
many OF you are prepared to make any
sacrifice which religion demands. But we
may give all our goods to feed the poor, and
our bodies to be burned, and yet be strang-
ers to the only true religion. My heart is
deeply affected in view of your state. A
noble people, you are shut out from the
Joys to which God invites you. You are
hood winked and manacled by a system Of
the grossest fraud and delusion; you are
denied the common birthright of a citizen
of the word-seeing with your own eyes
and hearing with your own ears. You
are robbed Of the only volume that can
gnide you--and are forbidden to enter the
way of life, save through the gate which
is guarded by your priests. o! suffer the
entreaties of one who suffered as you now
do under the CALLING chains of papal tyr
amy, Break the letters which priests