Transcribed from the 1846 William Pickering edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org CHRISTIAN SECTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY IN A SERIES OF LETTERS TO A LADY [Picture: Decorative graphic] “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another.”—JOHN xiii. 35. [Picture: Decorative graphic] LONDON WILLIAM PICKERING 1846 * * * * * “Heaven and Hell are not more distant, than the benevolent spirit of the Gospel, and the malignant spirit of party. The most impious wars ever made were called—‘Holy Wars.’” LYTTLETON. “Let those ill-invented terms whereby we have been distinguished from each other be swallowed up in that name which will lead us hand in hand to heaven—the name of CHRISTIAN.” BISHOP RYDER. [Picture: Decorative header] The following letters grew out of a conversation between one of the editors of the “Small Books,” and a lady of his acquaintance; and as there are probably many who have felt the want of the information they contain, it has been thought that by publishing them in a collected form they may be useful. The views of the writer are sufficiently explained in the letters themselves. All lament the small sum of Christian charity to be found among religionists in general, but few when they begin to write have kept clear of a severity of comment which but prolongs differences. The writer, himself a member of the Church of England, is anxious to show that it is possible to be attached to one persuasion without imputing either folly or ill intention to others; and it is with a view of promoting the loving fellowship of all whom God disdains not to create and support, that this slight sketch is given to the world. [Picture: Decorative graphic] LETTER I.