CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

  [ CHAPTER  1 ] - ( CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18TH CENTURY ) - { PT.  7 } - Anthony Collins and Matthew Tindal denounced Christianity as priestcarft. William Whiston pronounced the miracles of the Bible to be big deceptions. Thomas woolston declared them to be allegories. Arianism and Socinianism were openly taught by Samuel Clarke and Joseph Priestly and became fashionable among the intellectual part of the community. Of the utter inability of the pulpit to stem the progress of all this flood of evil, one single fact will give us some idea. The celebrated lawyer William Blackstone had the curiosity early in the reign of George III to go from church to church and hear evry clergyman of note in London. He said that he did not hear a single sermon that had more Christianity in it than the writings of Cicero, and that it would have been impossible for him to know, based upon what he heard, whether the preacher were a follower of Confucius, of Mohammed, or of Christ! Sadly, evidence about

  [ CHAPTER  1 ] - ( CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18TH CENTURY ) - { PT.  6 } - The curse of the Uniformity Act seemed to rest on the Church of England. The blight of ease and freedom from persecution seemed to rest upon the Dissenters. Natural theology, without a single distinctive doctrine of Christianity, cold morality, or barren orthodoxy, formed the regular teaching both in church and chapel. Sermons everywhere were little better than miserable moral essays utterly devoid of anything likely to awaken, convert, or save souls. Both groups seemed agreed on one point, and that was to let the devil alone and to do nothing for hearts and souls. The weighty truths for which John Hooper and Hugh Latimer had gone to the stake, and for which Richard Baxter and dozens of Puritans had gone to jail, seemed laid on the shelf and completely forgotten. When this was the state of things in churches and chapels, it can surprise no one to learn that the land was flooded which unbelief and skepticism. Th

  [ CHAPTER  1 ] - ( CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18TH CENTURY ) - { PT.  5 } - Christianity seemed to lie as one dead, insomuch that you might have said, She is dead! Morality, no matter how much exalted in the pulpits, was thoroughly trampled underfoot in the streets. There was darkness in high places and darkness in low places. There was darkness in the court, in the camp, in Parliament, and in business. There was darkness in country and darkness in town. There was darkness among rich and darkness among poor. There was a dense, thick, religious and moral darkness. It was a darkness that could be felt. Does anyone ask what the churches were doing then? The Church of England existed in those days with her admirable articles of belief, her time-honored liturgy, her religious system, her Sunday services, and her ten thousand clergy. The Nonconformist body also existed with its hardly won liberty and its free pulpit. However, the same sad account can be given to both groups. They existed, bu

  CHAPTER  1 - CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18TH CENTURY - { PT.  4 } - Let and Englishman imagine, if he can, his country without any of the things that I have just mentioned, and he will have a little idea of the economic and financial condition of England a hundred years ago. However, I leave these things to the political economists and historians of this world. As interesting as they are, they undoubtedly do not form any part of the subject that I want to consider. As a minister of Christ's gospel, I want to confine my attention and direct your eye to the religious and moral condition of England a hundred years ago. The condition of this country in a religious and moral point of view in the middle of the eighteenth century was so painfully unsatisfactory that it is difficult to relate any adequate idea of it. English people of the present day, who have never been led to look into the subject, have noidea of the darkness that prevailed. From the year 1700 until about the era of the

[ CHAPTER  1 ] - ( CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18TH CENTURY ) - { PT.  3 } - A few simple facts will be enough to make this clear. I am not going to speak of our political condition. Our standing among the nations of the earth was comparatively poor, weak, and low. Our voice among the nations of now. The foundation of our empire in India had hardly been laid. Our Australian possessions were a part of the world only just discovered, but not colonized. To be a Dissenter, a Non-conformist, one who followed God outside of the state church, was to be regarded as only one degree better than being seditious and a rebel. Corrupt and filthy towns abounded. Bribery among all classes was open, shameless, and common. That was England politically a hundred years ago. I also am not going to speak of our condition from a financial and economic point of view. Our vast cotton, silk, and linen manufacturing had hardly begun to exist. Our enormous mineral treasures of Coal and iron had been barely touched.

[ CHAPTER  1] - ( CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18TH CENTURY ) - { PT.  2 } - I dare say that there is no period of English history that is so thoroughly instructive to a Christian as the middle of the eighteenth century. We are still feeling that period's influence at this very day. It is the period with which our great-grandfathers and their fathers were immediately connected. It is a period from which we can draw very useful lessons for our times. Let me begin by trying to describe the actual condition of England a hundred years ago. A few simple facts will be enough to make this clear. I am not going to speak of our political condition. Our standing among the nations of the earth was comparatively poor, weak, and low. Our voice among the nations of the earth carried far less weight than it does now. The foundation of our empire in India had hardly been laid. Our Australian possessions were a part of the world only just discovered, but not colonized. To be a Dissenter, a Nonconformis

  [ CHAPTER  1 ] - ( THE RELIGIOUS AND MORAL CONDITION OF ENGLAND AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY )                                                               { PT.  1 } - The subject I discuss in this book is partly historical and partly biographical. You will be disappointed if you expect a story of fiction or something partly drawn from my imagination. Such writing is not in my field, and I would have no time for it even if it was. Plain facts and the stern realities of life absorb all the time that I can spare to write. I believe, though, that with most readers, the subject I have chosen is one that needs no apology. The person who feels no interest in the history and biography of his own country is certainly a poor patriot and a worse philosopher. He cannot very well be called a patriot. True patriotism will make a person care about everything that concerns his country. A true patriot will want to know something about everyone who has left his mark on his nation'