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LECTURES

ON THE

INSUFFICIENCY

OF

UNREVEALED RELIGION,

AND ON THE

SUCCEEDING INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY;

DELIVERED IN THE

ENGLISH CHAPEL AT ROME,

DURING THE

SUNDAYS Of Advent MDCCCXXX, AND OF LENT MDCCCXXXI.

BY THE

REV. RICHARD BURGESS,

CHAPLAIN.

"And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house."-Acts xxviii. 30.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR J. G. & F. RIVINGTON,

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD,

AND WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL.

1832.

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TO THE

REV. WILLIAM STEPHEN GILLY, M. A.

PREBENDARY OF DURHAM AND VICAR OF NORHAM.

MY DEAR GILLY,

THERE are some reasons, independently of the ties of friendship, which induce me to lay the following pages before you. The scene of a portion of your labours has been in Italy, as well as mine; and your benevolent exertions, in behalf of an interesting people (whom, by the by, you have shown in your late publication to be the connecting link between the primitive churches and the Reformation), will endear you to the friends of religious liberty, and to all those who pray for the prosperity of our "Zion." In looking over the following Preface, you will be reminded, as I have been, of the circumstances which first procured me the happiness of your acquaintance. In the year 1823, you preached

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at Rome, in the "Palazzo" I have named, near the Mausoleum of Augustus, and, in pursuing the train of reflections to which that incident gave rise, you anticipated my hopes of a brighter gospel-day arising upon the Continent of Europe. Some weeks afterwards, when we separated on the Via Flaminia, you made your first visit to the Waldenses. An interval of nine years, and your unwearied efforts, have realised, hitherto, your most sanguine expectations in the vallies of Piedmont. The Preface of this work will enable you to judge how far mine have been realised under a different aspect.

Wishing that the Divine blessing may repose upon all your endeavours, at home and abroad, for the advancement of true religion, and the propagation of "the faith once delivered to the saints,'

I am,

Your sincere and affectionate Friend,

RICHARD BURGESS.

PREFACE.

THE existence of a Protestant chapel at Rome, where the service of the Church of England is regularly performed during six months of the year, is of itself a circumstance worthy of attention; for, whether it be viewed as a striking instance of religious toleration, coming in an unexpected direction, or as the means of softening those prejudices which the comprehensive term of heretic conveys to the vulgar, it cannot fail to be an object of interest to every one who espouses the cause of civil and religious liberty. The institution is already known to a considerable number of British subjects, who will know how to appreciate the concession which prepared for them the privilege of joining in the public worship of the Church of England at Rome; but it is far from being generally understood that

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