The religious lesson taught by the condition of England during the eighteenth century is this: The inevitable moral prostration to which skepticism reduces a nation, and the utter incapacity of literature to afford relief. English Deism had advantages not possessed by the Rationalism of Germany. Some of its champions were men of great political influence; and in no case was there a parallel to
... [Show full abstract] the abandoned Bahrdt. The Deists were steady in the pursuit of their game, for when they struck a path they never permitted themselves to be deflected. But the Rationalists were ever turning into some by-road and weakening. In this chapter, the author also considers the literature of England in the 18th century and the writers of that period, the negative influence of the French spirit and its support by Bolingbroke. The author also describes the attacks of Hume and Gibbon on the divine origin of Christianity, allying them with the influences imparted by the elder school of Deists and by French taste and immorality. In addition to these evidences of religious decay, the author adds the moral prostration of the English Church. The author concludes with a description of the influence of the Wesleyan Movement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
