LESSON XXXIV.
THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL.
The fearful effects of infidelity in France roused good men everywhere;
and the Church began to show that power of reviving and purifying
herself, which proves that the Lord abideth with her for ever.
Some time before things had come to this pass, an English clergyman,
named John Wesley, had been striving to awaken people to a more
religious life; but he did not sufficiently heed the authority of the
Church; and his followers, after his death, quite separated themselves
from her, and became absolute schismatics, with meeting-houses and
ministers of their own, calling themselves Methodists. Still his fervour
and earnestness stirred up many within the Church; and from that time
there was much more desire to fulfil the mission of Christians by
bringing others to the knowledge of the truth. Sunday-schools began
to be set up to assist the catechizing in Church enjoined in the
Prayer-Book, and often instead of it; and there was a growing eagerness
to convert the heathen abroad. The great possessions and wide trade of
England seemed to mark her as especially intended for this work.
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