Excerpt from The Confessional: A View of Romanism in Its Actual Principles, Aims, and Workings, Drawn Up Chiefly From Authoritative Papal Sources, And Earnestly Recommended to the Dispassionate Consideration of ChristendomIN preparing this Volume for the press, I have been actu4 ated by a stern and irresistible sense of duty. While a youth, I received, from residence in a Catholic country, impressions very unfavourable to the moral and domestic in¿uences of Romanism. These impressions, and the recollection of their sources, have never left my mind. For many years, however, they were kept down, under a feeling which was shared by very many with whom I acted in public life - to the effect that Romanism had partaken of the general improvement of the age. The year 1848 did much to undeceive me. My mind once awakened td the real character of the papacy, I resolved to study the whole subject carefully for myself. With this view, I pro cured the best of the most recent expositions of Romanism, always giving preference to such as were text-books in Romanist colleges, and to such as emanated directly either from the pope himself, or very high papal authorities. I began the study in doubt - half-believing, half-denying the dark catalogue of errors, falsities and misdeeds imputed to Rome -i terminate the study an unwilling but thorough convert. With much pain do I make the statement. It is forced from me by actual knowledge. That knowledge compels me to bear my testimony, and, as in the presence of God, I solemnly declare that Rome morally, spiritually and politically is the abomination OF desolation.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.