The Reign of Elizabeth
In 1558 the princess Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, ascended the throne in the twenty-fifth year of her age. Her accession changed everything. The terrible gloom which the reign of the "bloody Mary" had spread over the land instantly passed away. Every steeple in town and country sent forth its merry peal, the prison doors were opened, and men whom Mary had left to be burnt were set at liberty. All the laws which had been passed in the reign of Mary for the restoration of popery were repealed, and the English service was again introduced. Her conduct in relation to the Reformation-the great question of the age-was such as to preclude all hope of the restoration of popery, though she had a strong leaning to Romish ceremonies herself, and her public measures fell short of that complete removal of abuses, which many desired to see effected. The Puritan party strongly objected to the habits and vestments commanded to be worn, nor did they think the prayer book itself free from superstition. This led to a great schism in the church, and occasioned a painful controversy, which lasted from the early days of Elizabeth to the restoration of Charles II. But we can only briefly refer to its commencement.
The Puritans
"Among the first," says Marsden, "who introduced into England the controversy which soon afterwards ripened into Puritanism, was the martyr, bishop Hooper. He had lived some time abroad, and was the friend of Bullinger and Gualter-the two leaders of the Protestant cause in Germany and Switzerland. Returning from his exile in the days of Edward VI., his piety and talents were at once appreciated, and he was nominated to the see of Gloucester. But his conscience was embarrassed; and in his person a contest began, which has never since been stilled. He demurred to the robes in which the episcopal investiture usually took place." Hooper, with many of the exiles, had contracted a love for the severely simple style of worship which existed in the Reformed churches on the Continent, and led them to complain that the Reformation in England was left in an imperfect state: many abuses, both in worship and discipline, being still retained.
Hooper begged to decline the bishopric, or be admitted without the usual ceremonials. Through the influence of Peter Martyr and Bucer, then professors of divinity at Oxford and Cambridge, he at length consented to use the vestments at his consecration, and to preach in them, once at least, before the court. It is not certain that he ever wore them afterwards. But the controversy was now begun; the elevated position of Hooper and his popular eloquence kept it alive. Some of the greatest names in the church of England of that day became friendly to the Reform pleaded for by the Puritans. Many refused to be consecrated in robes worn by the bishops of the church of Rome, and which they regarded as the badge of Antichrist. Elizabeth, though opposed to popery, was resolved, notwithstanding, to retain as much show and pomp in religious matters as might be possible. From this time the court party and the Puritan party became more decidedly opposed to each other. An order was issued by the queen, that exact uniformity should be maintained in all external rites and ceremonies. This was followed by another, requiring immediate uniformity in the vestments on pain of prohibition from preaching and deprivation from office. Matters were now brought to a crisis; multitudes of godly ministers were ejected from their churches, and forbidden to preach anywhere else. All hopes of further reform in the church being now at an end, the suspended ministers formed themselves into a body distinct from the church of England, which they regarded as only half reformed. Elizabeth was enraged, and threatened them with her royal displeasure; but in the face of persecution the Puritans, or Nonconformists, as they were now sometimes called, rapidly increased. The famous Thomas Cartwright, with three hundred more, threw off their surplices in one day within the walls of one college.*
{*Faiths of the World, vol. 2, p. 725.}
During the reign of the House of Stuart, the tide of persecution ran high and strong, and the Puritans, deprived of all hopes of redress, fled in great numbers to the Continent. After the accession of Charles I. fresh ceremonies were introduced by Laud and additional cruelties were inflicted on the Nonconformists. Emigration now seemed their only hope. A body of Puritans embarked as exiles, landed on the western shores of the Atlantic, and formed a settlement in New England. This colony of the "Pilgrim Fathers" soon received vast accessions; and the desire for emigration became so great, and the numbers leaving so many, that the government became alarmed, and stopped by royal warrant eight vessels when they were on the point of sailing from the Thames with emigrants to New England. On board were ejected ministers of high standing, and men of influence and rank, among whom were Oliver Cromwell, Hampden, Hesselrig, Lord Brook, and Lord Saye. The circumstances which followed this disembarkation are so remarkable, that we are compelled to pause and wonder. The overruling providence of God is very manifest. There is only One who knows the end from the beginning, and blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. Man knows not the future, and can neither make provision for his need nor against approaching danger. In 1642-five years after the vessels were arrested- through the oppression of Charles and his popish ways the sword was drawn, and the war began, which ended in the subversion of his throne, his tragic execution, and the establishment of the Commonwealth under the protectorate of Cromwell.
Puritanism, properly so-called, became extinct under the Commonwealth. The vestments being generally laid aside, the ground of contention was removed. But the later Puritans went farther than the Hoopers and Cartwrights, and contended not only against the forms and vestments, but against the constitution of the Church of England; and these immediately became two great parties-PRESBYTERIANS AND INDEPENDENTS.
Charles II. and James II.
After the restoration of Charles II. prelacy was restored with all its popish ceremonials. On May 19, 1662, the following act was passed: "That all who had not received episcopal ordination should be re-ordained by bishops. That every minister should, on or before the 24th of August following, declare his unfeigned assent and consent to everything contained in the Book of Common Prayer, on pain of being deprived of his benefice," etc. "The dreaded day arrived. Great anxiety was felt as to whether the Reformation was to stand or fall in England. But the grace of God triumphed, and the enemy was defeated. Two thousand ministers, rather than submit to the act of uniformity, surrendered their livings, and left their parsonages. Thus were the most faithful and able ministers of the church of England cast out, ignominiously reduced to great poverty, and provoked by spiteful usage."-Burnet.
Charles II. died in 1685, and his brother, the Duke of York, ascended the throne as James II. Although suspected of being a papist, he was allowed to take possession of the crown in peace and quietness. But his true character and intentions soon appeared. Being surrounded with Jesuits as his advisers, edict followed edict, the tendency of which was the overthrow of the laws and institutions of the realm, and to restore popery in all its power and completeness. One of these edicts, which was ordered to be read during divine service in all the churches, hastened the final struggle. Several of the bishops, and a vast number of the clergy refused to read it. Seven bishops were summoned before the ecclesiastical commission, and sent to the Tower by the notorious Judge Jeffreys. But the heart of the nation was too soundly Protestant to submit long to such tyranny. The bishops were tried at Westminster, and acquitted. The hall rang with shouts of joy, and the crowd rushing to the streets, crying, "Not guilty! Not guilty!" All London soon caught the flying joy; but James, agitated and troubled, heard in these sounds the mutterings of the coming storm.
The disgraceful conduct of Charles and James, and the atrocious cruelties of Jeffreys in England, and of Claverhouse in Scotland, most thoroughly convinced all parties that, if the slightest vestige of liberty was to be preserved, decisive measures must be adopted. A majority of the nobility favoured the intervention of William, Prince of Orange, son-in-law to James, and the next heir to the throne. Invitations were sent to the Hague, messengers were despatched, all entreating him to come over and mediate between the king and his subjects, and if necessary, to employ more stringent measures. Having duly considered the various aspects of this great enterprise, and prepared for it, he sailed under the English banner, with the motto, "For the Protestant Religion and Liberties of England," and landed at Brixham, in Torbay, on the 5th of November, 1688. In the meantime James fled, being fully aware of the universal feeling of disaffection existing amongst his subjects. He scarcely made any show of opposition.
The Revolution of 1688
A national convention was summoned, the throne was declared vacant by the abdication of James, and the crown was settled on the Prince and Princess of Orange. "This was the triumph," says Wylie, "not of English Protestantism only; it was the triumph of the Protestantism of all Christendom.... It was the revival, not less of the Scotch Covenanters, whose torn and blood-stained flag, upheld at the latter end of their struggle by only a few laymen, was soon to be crowned with victory."*
{*History of Protestantism, vol. 3, p. 624; Universal History, vol. 6, p. 288.}
Thus was the great revolution of 1688 accomplished without tumult or bloodshed. The ignominious flight of James and his queen to France relieved the ruling powers from all perplexities, and facilitated the arrangement of affairs connected with the act of settlement. Bills were speedily passed for the relief of the Protestants, and for securing the civil and religious liberties of the English people. William, who had been brought up a Calvinist, was strongly inclined to favour dissenters; but several of the bishops and many of the clergy contending for the divine right of kings, refused to take the required oaths to the new government, and became a troublesome faction, afterwards known by the term-Non-jurors. In Catholic Ireland, and among the popish clans of the Highlands of Scotland, there were strong factions who favoured the house of Stuart.
In Ireland Tyrconnel raised an army of Catholics, and was joined by James from France with a fleet of fourteen vessels, and well supplied by Louis with men, money, and arms. Several battles were fought before the country was subdued. The siege of Derry is one of the most memorable in history; but the famous battle of the Boyne, fought on July 1st, 1690, closed the dispute. James, finding all was lost, escaped once more to France, where he solaced himself with a devotion almost monastic, and which made even his Catholic friends laugh at him, as a man who had thrown away three kingdoms for a mass.
In Scotland Viscount Dundee, the notorious Claverhouse, succeeded in raising a considerable body of Highlanders in favour of their dethroned monarch. The English army, under the command of General Mackay, met Dundee and the clans at the pass of Killiecrankie, where a serious engagement took place. The battle went against the army of William, but the cause of James suffered an irreparable loss in the death of Claverhouse. He was killed when on tip-toe in his stirrups urging on his men to the charge. The rallying power was now gone, and the popish clans laid down their arms, and gradually submitted to the authority of William.
The Protestant Succession
The reign of William is especially worthy of our notice, because he placed the throne of the United Kingdom on a thoroughly Protestant foundation. It was provided in the Bill of Rights, "not only that every person in communion with the church of Rome, or marrying a papist, shall for ever be incapable of the crown, but also that in case of any British sovereign's apostasy to popery, the people shall be absolved from their allegiance, and the next heir shall immediately succeed, if a Protestant, just as if the royal personage reconciled to the church of Rome, or marrying a papist, he actually died." This famous bill immediately followed the Act of Settlement in 1689.
The English church, we may say, is the same now as it was in the time of William. The Episcopalians are the reigning party, and number among their adherents the royal family, the principal part of the nobility, and the greatest part of the people. The foundation of the Presbyterian establishment in Scotland was also firmly laid about the same time, by an act of the Scottish Parliament which ratified the "Westminster Confession of Faith," as the creed of that church.*
{*Mosheim, vol. 4, pp. 297-378; Cunningham, vol. 2, p. 285; Universal History, vol. 6, p. 294.}
The unbounded liberty which the British subject enjoys of publishing his opinions without restraint, and of worshipping God according to the dictates of his own conscience, enlightened by the truth as it is in Jesus, naturally causes various sects to arise, and controversies respecting things pertaining to religion to be perpetuated. Many of these may be most interesting to the student of ecclesiastical history but we have already exceeded our limits, and can do little more than notice the names of the leading seceders whose followers now form large sections of the professing church, with whom we are familiar.
Ebenezer Erskine
The church of Scotland in her early days allowed no latitude of belief within her pale. We speak of what she was not alas! of what has disturbed her communion of late years. Her creed descends to the minutest particulars, and the slightest deviation from it was immediately canvassed and strictly dealt with according to that creed. The following remarks of Cunningham the historian, and one of her ministers, we fully accept as to what she has been, but not as to what she is at the present time. "All her ministers speak precisely the same things. The mind of each one presents a perfect impression of the Westminster divines. Notwithstanding the independence of the Scotch intellect, it has seldom been exercised upon forms of faith. Notwithstanding the free scope of its metaphysics, the region of theology has been carefully avoided. Notwithstanding the schisms which have taken place, heresy has never been able to lift up her head.... But notwithstanding this marvellous uniformity of faith, the church judicatories have required, in a few instances, to deal with heresy."
In the year 1732, a controversy arose about the settlement of ministers in vacant parishes. The assembly passed an act to the effect that, if the planting of a parish devolved upon the Presbytery, from the patron not availing himself of his right, the call was to proceed from the heritors and elders. Ebenezer Erskine, a grave and spiritual man, but energetic and always on the popular side of public questions, strongly opposed the act. He advocated the free choice and election of the minister by the members. "What difference," he exclaimed in the debate, "does a piece of land make between man and man in the affairs of Christ's kingdom which is not of this world? We must have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ without respect of persons." Many of the most spiritual sympathized with him, and several joined him in his protest. The case was carried from court to court; but the assembly would not yield, and the protectors would not yield, and so the secession took place. But the Lord overruled it for the revival of religion, the spread of the truth, and the blessing of precious souls.
These few seceders, four or five in number, immediately constituted themselves into a Presbytery, and commenced publishing and preaching in separation from the Established Church. This was the small beginning of the secession church, now United Presbyterian, which estimates its adherents at half a million.*
{*Cunningham, vol. 2, p. 383; Thomson's History of the Secession Church; Fraser's Life of Ebenezer Erskine.}
John Wesley
In England, things were in a very low condition in the establishment, as they were in Scotland. There had been a great reaction since the time of the Puritans. The people had thrown off the restraints of Puritanism, or, rather, of Christianity, and returned to their games and pleasures. They soon sank into their former ignorance and worldliness. But the Lord in great mercy, just about this time, was preparing His chosen servants for the revival of His work, for the spread of the truth, and for the preaching of His gospel, which would reach the hearts and consciences of men in every sphere of life.
Samuel Wesley, the father of the celebrated John and Charles Wesley, was of Puritanical descent, and, marrying a daughter of Dr. Annesley-one of the ejected ministers-the mother came from an eminent Nonconformist family. When the revolution was effected, Mr. Wesley was the first who wrote in favour of that great national change, and dedicated his work to Queen Mary, who rewarded him with the rectory of Epworth, in Lincolnshire. Here, John, their second son, the founder of the Methodists, was born in June, 1703. After receiving an early education at Charterhouse school, he proceeded to Christchurch, Oxford, where his brother Charles, who was several years younger, joined him in 1727. From reading such books as Thomas a Kempis' "Imitation of Christ," and Jeremy Taylor's "Rules of Holy Living and Dying," they became extremely troubled about the salvation of their souls, but were dark as midnight as to the simple gospel-the way of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Having been baptized, and received the sacrament, they thought, as they had been taught, and as almost every one else believed at that time, that they could only hope to be saved by persisting in good works to the end of their days. This they tried, as Luther and Calvin had done before them; but, so far from being satisfied, they became every day more and more miserable. The God of all grace had touched their hearts, and created a void which nothing could fill but the knowledge of Christ in His Person and finished work.
In this troubled state of soul the Wesleys, with two or three others, held private meetings during the week for the promotion of personal piety, and rigidly observed all the rules prescribed by the University statutes. The strictness of their lives, and the regularity of their habits, brought down upon them the contempt and scorn of their godless fellow-students, who called them "Bible moths," "methodists," and "the holy club."
George Whitefield
Just about this time, a young man from Gloucester-as earnest and sincere as themselves, joined the little community-George Whitefield. He was descended from a respectable family; but his father, who was a wine merchant, ultimately kept the Bell Inn at Gloucester. There the future great preacher was born in 1714. For some time before meeting with the Wesleys, he had been the subject of much anxiety on matters of religion, and, like the Wesleys, he had been greatly perplexed by Thomas a Kempis, and also by Law's "Serious Call." But as we cannot pursue in detail the deep exercises through which they passed, and their subsequent course, we would only add that, ere long, they were led, by God's Holy Spirit and the plain truths of scripture, to know the gospel for their own peace and joy, and to preach it to others.
Being clergymen of the church of England, they were privileged to preach in the churches this new gospel-immediate pardon and salvation through faith in Christ, without works of human merit. But this was too simple and too scriptural to be tolerated, and in a short time almost every pulpit in England was closed against them. Thus driven outside, they were compelled to preach in the open air, and thereby inaugurated open-air preaching which has since become so common. In Moorfields, on Kennington Common, and such like places they preached in town and country to audiences numbering from ten to twenty thousand. By the grace of God these "twin apostles" of England-Wesley and Whitefield-continued faithful and devoted to the end of their career.
They were used of God to rescue the English people from the depths of moral darkness, leading thousands, both in this country and in America, to the feet of Jesus. Men of all ranks acknowledged the force of their appeals-colliers and carpenters, ploughmen and philosophers; and many of the nobility yielded their hearts to the power of the truth. But their record is on high, and there the fruits of their labours shall abide throughout eternity. Whitefield died in America in 1770; and Wesley in London in 1791, in the eighty-eighth year of his age.*
{*See, for details, The Story of John Wesley, by Frances Bevan, Holness, 21, Paternoster Row; Life and Labours of George Whitefield, Partridge and Co., 9, Paternoster Row.}
Revival at Cambuslang
The eighteenth century was the period of great awakenings and great revivals in different countries and of a different character in each place. In the spring of 1742 strange symptoms of a religious revival began to appear to Cambuslang, in Lanarkshire, Scotland. Mr. McCulloch, the parish minister, is spoken of as a godly man, but nothing remarkable as a preacher. Some of his parishioners began to call upon him at the manse, in deep concern about the state of their souls. This was something entirely new and unexpected. But there was evidently a growing desire for the word of God, which resulted in a number of the parishioners signing a request for a weekly lecture in addition to the usual sabbath-day services. One evening in the month of February, he happened to exclaim, "Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" upon which, some persons in the meeting cried aloud in great distress because of their sins. From this evening such scenes became common. And now the people desired to have preaching every evening. Other ministers came to assist, and crowds gathered round the preachers on every occasion. Men and women were violently agitated; clasping their hands, smiting their breasts in great agony of mind. Others, as in a transport of joy, shouting, "He is come! I have got Him, and will not let Him go!" And there were others who seemed to be so full of the Spirit, and so supremely happy, that they exclaimed, "Now, Lord, let Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation."
As on all such marvellous visitations of the Holy Spirit, multitudes from all parts crowded to see the Lord's great work. During the month of August when the sacrament of the supper was dispensed, about thirty thousand people were gathered together, and fourteen ministers were engaged in preaching on the green, and in dispensing the elements to one company after another inside the church. George Whitefield was one of the ministers, and appointed to preach in the evening. The tent stood on the margin of a little stream; in front of this rose a green bank in the form of an amphitheatre. About ten o'clock at night Whitefield rose to give the last address for the day. It was indeed nature's temple, as the preacher observed, built by God Himself for so great a concourse to worship in. As his deep voice in impassioned eloquence rolled over the vast multitude, it was answered by sighs and sobs, and soon the tens of thousands were melted in tears.
The minister, Mr. McCulloch, in speaking of this gracious visitation nine years afterwards, had to lament many backsliders; but still he spoke of hundreds who had been truly converted.
At Kilsyth and other places the work of God's Spirit was very similar. We can only give one short extract of a letter under date May 16th, 1742. "The Lord has shot His arrows very thick into the hearts of His enemies this day, not for their destruction, but that they might fall under Him. There was a great cry of awakened sinners this day; there have been seven and twenty awakened; all of them under so great agonies as we conceive those mentioned in Acts 2; besides others who were carried away by their friends whose names I have not got; I have dealt with them all this evening, as also Mr. Oughterson for a while, having sent for him. O praise the Lord, and pray much for us, and tell everybody to praise Him for His mercy to us, and that He will stay a long time with us after this sort."*
{*The above sketch of the work at Cambuslang is taken from Cunningham's History of the Scotch Church, vol. 2, p. 460. For lengthy and minute details, see Historical Recollections of Revivals, etc., by Dr. Gillies. This book gives an account of the remarkable periods of the success of the gospel from the first to the nineteenth century.}
Sunday Schools
It is generally known that the vast operations of the Sunday-school system, which have been so beneficial in their results for nearly a hundred years, commenced with a young man in Gloucester. Robert Raikes, the founder of Sunday schools, was born in 1735. His father was a printer, and conductor of the Gloucester Journal, who, after giving his son a liberal education, brought him up to his own business in which after a time he succeeded his father. The events of his life present nothing beyond those of an industrious tradesman in general; and but for his benevolent pity for the prisoners in Gloucester jail, and for the ignorant and neglected children of his native city, his name and memory might have sunk into the grave with himself.
He was struck with the number of wretched children whom he found in the suburbs and in the streets, especially on Sunday, and determined to make an effort at some improvement. He first found three or four decent women in the neighbourhood, who were capable of teaching children to read, to each of whom he agreed to give a shilling for the day's employment, and then induced the children to come to the school. The success was great; many of the children were not only eager to learn to read, but, on being presented with New Testaments, they began of their own accord to frequent places of worship. At first he found many of the children were unwilling to come on account of their clothes not being good enough; but he assured such that "clean hands, clean faces, and combed hair," were all that was required at school. The good effects of this new work were so evident, that in a short time Sunday schools were established in all directions; and each succeeding generation has developed more fully the wide extent and the blessed results of the Sunday-school system.
Most probably, the thoughts of Mr. Raikes, in the good work he was doing, did not extend beyond the immediate objects of his benevolence. But great results in the things of God depend not upon our plans or human display. The man of faith reckons upon God, and he can afford to be unobtrusive, unostentatious, and quiet in his work, leaving consequences with Him. Mr. Raikes is a happy illustration of what may be done by personal influence, and by taking up the work which the Master may have placed before our eyes, instead of waiting for the sanction of others, or a formal introduction to what others are doing. Individual responsibility is the true principle of Christ's servant, and he must watch against every arrangement, or co-operation, that would take him off the ground of faith.
Mr. Raikes had the satisfaction before his death on April 5th, 1811, of seeing his first humble endeavours become the most efficient means of educating the children of the poor throughout the kingdom.*
{*Knight's Dictionary of Biography.}
Foreign Missions
At the Reformation in the sixteenth century, as we have already seen, the light of the gospel spread rapidly among the nations of Europe; and many at that time, fired with a holy zeal for the wider spread of the truth, sent missionaries to foreign parts. Among the first of these were the Swiss, the Swedes, the Dutch, and the Moravians. Many of them were exposed to great sufferings, and, in some instances, were very unsuccessful.
The Baptist Missionary Society seems to have taken the lead in the missionary enterprise in this country, and no doubt, by its example, aroused other churches to their responsibility in reference to the benighted heathen. In October, 1792, a few Baptist ministers assembled at Kettering, in Northamptonshire, united in constituting a Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen. William Carey, then a Baptist minister in Leicestershire, was the chief mover in this new society. He afterwards went to India as a missionary and became famous for the acquisition of Eastern languages. Soon after the publication of the New Testament in the Bengali language, translated by Mr. Carey, he was appointed by the Marquis of Wellesley, the British Governor-general, teacher of the Bengali and Sanskrit languages in the new college of Fort William. The labours of Messrs. Carey, Marshman, and Ward, in India, have been often written, and are generally known. To Dr. Carey, it is said, belongs the honour of having awakened the zeal of the church in the important work of foreign missions.
In 1795 the London Missionary Society was formed. This Institution for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen, was composed of Christians of various denominations. The spread of the truth, irrespective of all denominational distinctions, was its motto. The institution of this society on so broad a scale was everywhere hailed as a new era in the christian church. Its attention was immediately fumed to the islands of the South Seas.
In 1799 the Church Missionary Society was formed, consisting of members of the church of England. It sent a mission to the Susoo country, in the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone.
In 1796 the Scottish Missionary Society was formed in Edinburgh, and commenced its operations by a mission to the Foulah country in the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone.
In 1812 the familiar names of Judson, Newell, Hull, and others, sailed under the auspices of "The American Board for Foreign Missions," for Calcutta. They laboured in many parts of the eastern world.
In 1786 several Wesleyan ministers sailed as missionaries from England for Nova Scotia, but, after encountering a succession of storms, the captain directed his course for the West Indies. Having reached Antigua, and finding the inhabitants favourable, they resolved to attempt the establishment of a mission in the West Indies. Such were the circumstances, under the overruling providence of God, which led the Methodists to turn their attention to the heathen, and to adopt measures for the diffusion of Christianity among them.*
{*For minute particulars and details of the formation and history of Missionary Societies, from the Reformation to the present time, see Dr. Brown's History, 3 vols. octavo.}
Surely we can thank God with full hearts for these societies, notwithstanding their many defects. For a number of years they have been scattering the blessings of Christianity among many tribes and tongues, where darkness reigned. The light and life of the gospel have been carried to millions who were sitting in the region and shadow of death. The rise and fall of empires, the achievement of great victories, the discovery and civilization of new countries, the improvements of the arts and sciences, are but as nothing compared with the diffusion of the gospel throughout the world, which brings "glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:14)
May the Lord greatly bless both our home and foreign missions, and give good success to the arduous labours of the Sunday school, that His name may be glorified, and multitudes of precious souls eternally saved.
We have now reached, by the good providence of God, the nineteenth century. But before speaking of the fresh and distinct work of God's Spirit in the early part of it, we must refer to the last two churches-Philadelphia and Laodicea- which give us the Lord's mind as to the condition of the professing church before it is finally and for ever rejected by Him.