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see the errors of popery; but who seem to betray a spirit of bitterness against their old friends, as if they thought that the more violent they are against the church of Rome, the better Protestants they will appear; and the more they denounced the pope and his priests, the more they will be appreciated and loved by Protestants! But the Lord has impressed my mind differently. He has shown me not only the errors of popery, but also "THE TRUTH as it is in Jesus." When I left the church of Rome, I did not cease to love the members of it; nor to pray for the conversion of their souls,—yea, even for those of my bitterest perse

cutors.

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Hence," adds he, "I have taken up the pen to write, not against Romanists, but on their behalf. I come to offer myself as an humble, but faithful guide, I trust, to lead them into a candid and devout investigation of the divine truths of the HOLY BIBLE, and to aid them to compare these truths with the dogmas and precepts of the Roman Catholic faith. I come to help them in God's name, and by his grace to do what He has enabled me successfully to do myself. And when I have the painful task faithfully to lift the veil and expose the fatal errors of popery and the

abuses of the Roman church; it will only be with the view of laying before you, my friends, in love, and with earnest prayer, THE FACTS of which I have been an eye and an ear witness; and also the PRACTICES Which every Roman Catholic must adopt, although they are manifestly contrary to reason and to the practices of the primitive church, and to the living word of God.

"And allow me to indulge the hope," adds Dr. G."that every Roman Catholic who reads these pages, will not hesitate to imitate the applauded conduct of the ancient noble Bereans; and search for themselves the scriptures, to see whether these things be so. For contrary to the erring traditions of the fathers, the most High God has declared that "the holy scriptures are able to make you wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. iii. 15. And again He saith, "search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." John v. 39.

"Above all," adds my estimable and beloved friend Dr. G. "I am anxious to exhibit to my Protestant and Roman Catholic friends, the miraculous manner in which my blessed Lord and Master brought me out of the darkness of popery

by my conversion to the light and hope of the blessed gospel of his grace.

"Finally, if through the medium of this my feeble effort, there should be even one soul brought not only from popery to Protestantism, but into the heavenly light of THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS; and should thence be enabled to burst asunder the fatal chains of tradition, superstition and idolatry, which it was my calamity to wear thirty-one years, and come forth redeemed and disenthralled, my labors shall be amply recompensed; and all the praise and glory shall be to THE DIVINE God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: Amen."

W. C. BROWNLEE,

Of the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church

of the City of New York.

New York, April, 1843.

CREDENTIALS OF THE AUTHOR.

I HAVE no doubt, that some into whose hands this little volume may fall will stigmatize me as a heretic, but it matters not what men may say, I will answer them in the language of the apostle, that: "I am determined not to know any thing among men, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

There will be others as is usually the case, who will say that I have written, to gain favor with Protestants, from whom I may have received some temporal support; with regard to a charge of this character, I would appeal to the Protestants of all denominations, if any of them can come forward and say that I have asked, or even received the value of a farthing from any one of them in the Union, in the form of assistance; but quite the reverse, for I have often labored without any emolument, for the promotion of the Redeemer's kingdom.

To prove this I will advance an instance from the proceedings of the Synodical Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the State of Maryland, for the year 1840, by the President, the Rev. Benjamin Kurtz, D. D.

"On the 14th November, the Rev. Dr. Giustiniani, formerly a respectable and zealous Roman Catholic priest in the city of Rome, but for several years a faithful Protestant minister of the gospel, in the employment of the Western Colonial Missionary Society in England as missionary in Australia, applied for admission into our Synod. After examining his numerous and flattering credentials from the most respectable sources, and satisfying ourselves of his qualifications and the purity of his motives, we cheerfully received him, and it will now devolve upon the ministerium to decide as to the propriety of that act.

"The committee constituted to take measures to erect a missionary station, for the benefit of our German brethren on Fell's Point, Baltimore, composed of the Rev. Dr. Kurtz, sen., the Rev. Mr. Morris, Mr. Sauerwein, and your President, appointed the Rev. Dr. Giustiniani as missionary to that station, and agreed to allow him the compensation promised by the synod. But we were very much embarrassed for the want of funds to carry out the design of synod. Though a resolution was passed requiring all our ministers to take up collections or subscriptions for the maintenance of said missionary, yet very few complied, and

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