CHAPTER 2 - ( CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18TH CENTURY ) - { PT. 5 }


 { PT.  5 } - It was neither more nor less than the old apostolic weapon of preaching. The sword that Paul wielded with such mighty results when he assaulted the strongholds of heathenism eighteen hundred years ago was the same sword by which they won their victories. To say, as some have done, that they neglected education and schools, is totally incorrect. Wherever they gathered congregations, they cared for the children. To say, as others have done, that they neglected the sacraments, is simply false. Those who make that assertion only expose their entire ignorance of the religious history of England a hundred years ago. It would be easy to name men among the leading reformers of the eighteenth century whose communicants could be counted by the hundreds, and who honored the Lord's Supper more than forty-nine out of fifty clergymen of their day. Beyond a doubt, though, preaching was their favorite weapon. They wisely went back to first principles and took up apostolic plans. They held, with Paul, that a minister's first work is to preach the gospel ( MARK  16:15 ).                                                                                                       ________________________________________________________

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