" OF THE VARIOUS DENOMINATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD, ND OF ATHEISM, DEISM, MAHOMETANISM, &c. The Eighteenth Edition. VERY CAREFULLY CORRECTED AND BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT DAY. WITH AN ACCOUNT OF SEVERAL NEW SECTS. BY THE REV. JAMES HEWS BRANSBY. "When the Spirit is poured down from on high, it will effectually teach us that LONDON: ONGMAN & CO.; BALDWIN & CRADOCK; WHITTAKER & CO. ; AND SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. MDCCCXLI. PREFACE. THE first appearance of Dr. Evans's "Sketch of the different Denominations of Christians" was cordially welcomed by the public. The want of such a manual had long been felt; and had the volume possessed inferior merit, the utility of its plan would have made up for considerable deficiencies. It is hardly necessary to observe, that few productions in the same class have enjoyed, for a series of years, a larger, or even an equal, share of popularity. This has been owing, perhaps, in some degree to the Author's style, which never becomes heavy and wearisome. Far from veiling his facts under a cloud of gaudy metaphor, he took care to express himself not only so as to be understood, but so as to make it impossible not to be understood. In every page he evinced an earnest solicitude to communicate all the information that he had been able to gather. He knew too well the nature of Christian charity, and had too high a value for the right of private judgment, to treat any human being with ridicule or contempt, on account of his opinions, honestly entertained. It is, moreover, the high, the proud distinction of the book, that it is not written in the spirit or for the purposes of party; and hence it has naturally won the confidence and good-will of its readers, in every religious community and in every rank of life. The excellent Author, Dr. Evans, was endowed with great activity of mind; and around his own family-hearth, and within the circle of private friendship, he was an object of more than ordinary affection. The most strictly original of his many publications is "An Attempt to account for the Infidelity of Gibbon." It entitles him to peculiar praise. |