... He remains the
greatest, the most potent, the most far-reaching spiritual influence
which Anglo-Saxon Christianity has felt since the days of the
Reformation." So far the _Times_, of him whom it styles "the restorer
of the Church of England." Many impartial writers, some being ardent
friends of the English Church, have also recognised a gracious
overflow from Methodism which has blessed that Church, the
Nonconformist bodies, and the nation at large. If a man would
understand "the religious history of the last hundred years," that
"most important ecclesiastical fact of modern times," the rise and
progress of Methodism, must be studied in relation to the Anglican
and the older Nonconformist Churches, and the general "missionary
interests of Christianity": so we are taught by Dr. Stoughton, who
has traced the influence of Methodism in the general moral condition
of the country and the voluntary institutions of our age. The
doctrines once almost peculiar to Wesley and his followers--such as
entire sanctification--are now accepted and taught by many Churches,
and the religious usages of Methodism are imitated, watchnight
services being held, and revival mission services and prayer-meetings
being conducted, in Anglican churches; while the hymns of Charles
Wesley, sung by all English-speaking Protestants, and translated into
many languages, enrich the devotional life of the Christian world.
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