A Brief Account of the Nature of the Protestant Religion

Written in 1682 amid rising fears of Catholic resurgence, this urgent treatise examines the foundations, present dangers, and future prospects of Protestant Christianity. Owen surveys the weaknesses threatening Protestant nations — political disunity, doctrinal drift, declining personal piety — while identifying the forces working for reconciliation with Rome. He argues these represent not progress but capitulation. Yet he closes with sober hope: God's providential care, the courage of believers, and the collapse of anti-Protestant schemes all signal that the Reformation cause is not abandoned.