7.18729

CHRISTIANITY,

PROTESTANTISM, AND POPERY,

COMPARED AND CONTRASTED;

IN WHICH IS SHOWN THE

WHOLE DOCTRINE OF THE ROMISH CHURCH,

AS TAUGHT AT THE PRESENT DAY:

ALSO,

THE ORIGIN OF EVERY INVENTION OF THAT CHURCH
WHICH POPERY HAS INTRODUCED,

AND THE MEANS EMPLOYED AT THE REFORMATION TO ESTABLISH

THE

PROTESTANT RELIGION

ON THE FIRM BASIS OF

PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY.

"The true Church of Christ appeals to the UNDERSTANDING :—the Atheist may be converted
to its faith; but the Bigot, who has been taught to erect his hopes of salvation on the basis of
Superstition-who has been taught to surrender the most exalted attribute of his nature, REASON,
at the feet of Idolatry,-such a one dare not listen to the internal workings of CONVICTION,
since, conscious of the victory, he shrinks affrighted at her power, and turns to the Priest who
had misled him, a sincere penitent, for having, but an instant, yielded up the reins of prejudice
to common sense."-P. 57.

LONDON:

SAMUEL MAUNDER, 10, NEWGATE STREET.

MDCCCXXIX.

626.

DEDICATION.

TO THE

REFORMED AND ROMISH CLERGY AND LAITY

OF THE

UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND

THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED,

IN THE HOPE

FIRST, that the PROTESTANT MINISTER of CHRIST may not deem it unuseful in assisting him to point out the very material difference between the unerring doctrines he inculcates, as taught by our SAVIOUR himself, and those pernicious tenets introduced by erring man, by which their simplicity is obscured-their sublimity reduced to external shew.

Secondly, to the PROTESTANT LAYMAN this volume is offered, as a sure Guide to him in judging between the Reformed and Romish professions of faith,—and which, by shewing him the doctrines of the Church of Rome, precisely in her own language, contrasted with the Holy Scriptures from which he has been taught his Christian belief, will confirm and strengthen him in the RIGHT WAY.

Thirdly, to the ROMISH PRIEST these pages are presented; and, as they will show him when, by whom, and for what purposes the inventions of his Church first disfigured Christianity, it is presumed that, in some instances, at least, the prejudices of education will give way to conviction; and that the paltry quibblings of sophistry may be sacrificed to the Christian spirit of TRUTH.

Lastly, although the writer's chief object-the ROMAN CATHOLIC LAITY are earnestly solicited to read this work: since it contains the "Grounds of the Faith" entire, in which they profess to believe, but which a comparative few only have read-other books being generally put into the hands of British Romanists. The opportunity of making themselves acquainted with the whole of what their Church claims the right of demanding of them (although in a Protestant kingdom many of these claims are never enforced) is herein afforded; whilst to the above are added such portions of Scripture as the Pope merely refers to; by which extracts, fully and fairly quoted, it will appear evident that the "faith" they have been taught is far removed from the faith preached by our Saviour.

As the work is designed to induce the Romanist to peruse the commands of God, whilst no Christian can impugn the motive, it is hoped that no unchristian spirit will possess sufficient influence to frustrate so desirable an end.

Besides the whole Romish faith, the Scriptures to which that faith is contrasted, and the Protestant tenets with which they are compared, the following sheets contain the "Rational Inducements to joining Communion with the Church of Rome," in the words of Dr. Challoner, a Roman Catholic Bishop; also Rational Inducements to joining Communion with the Protestant Reformed Church," by M. Lefevre, a convert to her faith in 1825.

66

In short, an impartial examination of TRUTH ONLY is courted; nor can any Religion be pure, the professors of which shrink from such a test. That all those for whom this work is designed may think so, is the sincere wish of

13th November, 1828.

THE AUTHOR.