THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF RELIGIOUS LIFE IN ENGLAND. BY SAMUEL ROWLES PATTISON. "Among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the Word LONDON: JACKSON, WALFORD, AND HODDER, BEYOND THE NARROW SPHERE WITHIN WHICH THE POWER AND ACTIONS OF MAN ARE RESTRAINED, IT IS GOD WHO REIGNS AND ACTS." PREFACE. The MR. GLADSTONE says that revealed religion derives its strength "from the fact that it not merely presents to us a body of abstract truths, but carries with it the executory powers neccessary to procure their acceptance, the vital influences without which we cannot receive, digest, and assimilate these truths." true history of our religion must, therefore, consist in tracing the working of these powers, and influences, in successive generations of good men. By excluding from this narrative, so far as is practicable, the consideration of all collateral history, it is not intended to deny that secular public events have an "The State in its Relations with the Church," p. 292. |