The Variations of Popery

The Variations Of Popery by Samuel Edgar is a polemical history arguing for the unity and antiquity of Protestantism while exposing the diversity, innovations, and contradictions of Catholicism. It traces the formation of major Protestant confessions—Augsburg, Tetrapolitan, Bohemian/Waldensian, Wittenberg, Polish, Helvetian, French, Dutch, English, and Scottish—and shows broad doctrinal agreement on essentials despite differences in church order and ceremony. It argues that Catholicism exhibits doctrinal and disciplinary variations across popes, councils, orders, and regional churches, undermining the idea of a single unchanging Roman church. The work surveys debates on papal succession and infallibility, the controversy over Transubstantiation, and the Eucharist, and highlights early Christian dissenters as Protestant precursors, as well as Eastern Christian groups that resisted papal dominance. It critiques Catholic practices and sensational episodes to bolster Protestant authenticity. Drawing on patristic, medieval, and early modern authorities, the book presents a historically grounded defense of Protestant orthodoxy and a pointed critique of papal claims within the broader Catholic–Protestant controversies.