CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18TH CENTURY - ( CHAPTER. 1 ) - { PT. 2 }

[ 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 Nonconformist, 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.                                                                                                          _________________________________________________________  

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