Equally sensible of the difficulty of the subject Should the Author unfortunately be finally pro- nounced to have written nothing worthy of com- mendation, so neither can the most scrupulous cen- sure his Poem as defective in morality, or the most religious accuse him of want of zeal for that Holy and Sublime Religion in which he was carefully educated-a Religion founded upon, and in strict accordance with, the Doctrines of Christ and his The paramount object of the Author in attempting this Poem, was that of opposing a barrier against the an attractive form) the irreconcilable difference between Christianity and Popery,-between truth and falsehood, by contrasting the life and heavenly Doctrines of the Redeemer, as displayed in the New Testament, with the pride, the superstition, and cruelty of the Church of Rome, by which Christ and his Gospel are set aside, in order that the sacrilegious and presumptuous priest may stand before the ignorant as a God." THE AUTHOR. 15th August, 1839. |