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COPYRIGHT, 1899,

BY GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO.

9N42 Union.

Theolog

DK .C31

544526

PREFACE.

THE object of the following pages is to trace the evolution and development of an idea, or set of ideas, which have been generally denominated by the title Protestant, and which, in the light of present knowledge, must be regarded as one of the curiosities of history. We have felt obliged, in Chapter II. especially, to touch upon a multitude of facts, which are to be viewed as perspective only to the great drama of Reformation, in order to show that ecclesiastics of the Middle Ages were not wholly void of conscience, and not nearly so ignorant or degraded as we have been ordinarily taught to regard them. The Church and Protestantism have nothing in common, which we have tried to maintain by authorities throughout, and where inaccuracies or inconsistencies exist, according to our judgment, we have not hesitated to point them out. Protestantism rejects the idea that our Divine Lord founded a visible church, in order to support the basic theory of immediate contact, which sees no necessity for Ministry or Sacraments, other than that which the circumstances demand. We have endeavored to show that the

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