107359 LECTURES DELIVERED IN ST. ANN'S CHURCH ON THE SUNDAY EVENINGS OF ADVENT 1880. BY THE RIGHT REV. THOMAS S. PRESTON, V.G., LL.D., PROTHONOTARY APOSTOLIO. SECOND EDITION. NEW YORK: ROBERT CODDINGTON, 246 FOURTH AVENUE. 1888. PREFACE. THE following lectures present, in a brief and popular form, the argument against Protestantism, drawn from its use of the Holy Scriptures. They are a continuation of former discourses upon the nature and results of the Protestant Reformation. Wherever you approach error you find contradictions and inconsistency. The houses of heretics and schismatics are divided against themselves, and built upon either absolute falsehood or the perversion of truth. The children of Protestant parents are fast going away from every species of dogmatism; and the different sects are losing not only unity of faith, but also the conviction of the necessity of a creed. Liberalism, or freedom of thought in matters of revelation, is the characteristic of our times. No article of faith is made the condition of church-membership, or even of the exercise of the ministry. Creeds must grow with the progress of science, and men must be left 3 |