OF RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS: CONTAINING AUTHENTIC ACCOUNTS OF THE DIFFERENT CREEDS AND SYSTEMS PREVAILING THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. WRITTEN BY MEMBERS OF THE RESPECTIVE BODIES. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY JOHN JOSEPH GRIFFIN & COMPANY, 53 BAKER-STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE; AND RICHARD GRIFFIN & CO. GLASGOW. 1853. PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. IN a country where universal toleration of religious opinions prevails, it occurred to the Publishers that a work in which the principles of the various Denominations were authoritatively stated would prove acceptable to the public. The attempt to prepare such a work is now for the first time made in this country; and although there are a few unavoidable omissions, still the volume will be found to embrace, as a whole, a complete view of the tenets and history of the chief religious bodies in the British dominions, as well as in other lands. In order to the successful carrying out of the idea of the work, the most perfect impartiality was necessary; and, accordingly, no editorial alterations or remarks have been admitted, the articles being precisely as they were furnished by their authors. From the very nature of the work, it is evident that it must comprise the most diverse and conflicting views; and, on this account, the Publishers have deemed it proper to prefix a short introductory statement, by a member of the Evangelical Alliance, of the principles most generally held in common by the Churches of Christendom, to which they are permitted to add, by the kind permission of the proprietors of the "Christian Times," the valuable HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS, which lately appeared in successive numbers of that Journal. The Publishers have also to acknowledge their obligations to the various contributors to the volume, for the frank manner in which they acquiesced in the application made to them for their co-operation. The contributions speak for themselves. For the articles on Mahometanism, Zoroastrianism, and Brahminism, which they in vain endeavoured to obtain from adherents of the systems, they are indebted to Mr. Bell, late of Bombay. The Publishers have only to add, that they hope to be able to include the principal Continental Sects in a future edition, and to supply other desiderata. GLASGOW, January, 1853. |