Transcribed from the 1835 William Carson edition by DavidPrice,
REASONS FOR LEAVING
THE
CHURCH OF ROME.
BYTHE
REV. L. J. NOLAN,
OF THEDIOCESE OF MEATH:
LATELY
A ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGYMAN,
BUTNOW
OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.
DUBLIN:
PUBLISHED BY
WILLIAM CARSON, 92, GRAFTON-STREET;
AND SOLD BY MESSRS.
R. M. TIMS; WILLIAM CURRY, Jun. &CO.; J. ROBERTSON & CO;
J. BURNSIDE; GRANT AND BOLTON,
J. BOLSTER, CORK; G. PHILIPPS, ANDWM. M‘COMB, BELFAST;
J. NISBET, LONDON; WAUGH AND INNIS,EDINBURGH.
M.DCCC.XXXV.
p.iiiDEDICATION.
TO SIR GEORGE RICH.
My Dear Sir George,
Your zeal in the cause of religion,your accomplishments as a perfect Gentleman, and your virtues asa true Christian, induce me to dedicate to you the followingavowal of my religious opinions. Though your highestimation as to public character should demand from me a lessfamiliar tone of language in addressing you, still the thoughtsof your past kindness, in the hours of my worldly abandonment,bid me lay aside those expressions which a more formal etiquettemight require, and address you now as I would a true, a sincere,but most honored and respected friend. As I have receivedno special favor from you, but the ordinary manifestation of yourkindness; and as I expect no more than your continuance of suchcivility, I hope you will not look upon those words as the resultof adulation, nor the public consider them as the p. ivlanguage ofhypocrisy; for adulation never bends without some intendedobject, nor does hypocrisy ever act without some hope ofcompensation.
I would wish that these dedicatory lines should be alsoexpressive of my gratitude for the kindness of my lately acquiredfriends. The warmth of my feelings urges me on to a publicrecital of their names, but a more cool reflection dictates to meat the same time the propriety of their silence. The usefulinstructions they have imparted—the domestic happiness ofwhich they had often made me a partaker, and the evident anxietythey have displayed in contributing to my eternal interests, havemade impressions on my mind which shall never be obliterated.
The proffered liberality of others I shall neverforget—I mean those, who, when imagining me in a state ofpecuniary embarrassment, have made me a tender of theirpurses. But let not my refusal on such occasions bespeak awant of humility on my part; but rather let it be attributed tothe suggestions of that principle, which told me, that it isreligion, and not emolument, p. vwhich should constitute the chiefobject of my change.
While t