E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Lisa Reigel,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(/)
Although this edition has been shortened to about half the length of theoriginal one, it is essentially the same work. The reduction has beeneffected, partly by the omission of some whole chapters, partly byexcisions. The chapters omitted are those upon the Jacobites, theEssayists, Church Cries, and Sacred Poetry—subjects which have only amore or less incidental bearing on the Church history of the period. Thepassages excised are, for the most part, quotations, discursivereflections, explanatory notes, occasional repetitions, and, speakinggenerally, whatever could be removed without injury to the generalpurpose of the narrative. There has been no attempt at abridgment in anyother form.
The authors are indebted to their reviewers for many kind remarks andmuch careful criticism. They have endeavoured to correct all errorswhich have been thus pointed out to them.
As the nature of this work has sometimes been a little misapprehended,it should be added that its authors at no time intended it to be aregular history. When they first mapped out their respective shares inthe joint undertaking, their design had been to write a number of shortessays relating to many different features in the religion and Churchhistory of England in the Eighteenth Century. This general purpose wasadhered to; and it was only after much deliberation that the word'Chapters' was substituted for 'Essays.' There was, however, oneimportant modification. Fewer subjects were, in the issue, specificallydiscussed, but these more in detail; while some questions—such, forinstance, as that of the Church in the Colonies—were scarcely touchedupon. Hence a certain disproportion of treatment, which a generalintroductory chapter could but partially remedy.
Some years have elapsed since the authors of this work first entertainedthe idea of writing upon certain aspects of religious life and thoughtin the Eighteenth Century. If the ground is no longer so unoccupied asit was then, it appears to them that there is still abundant room forthe book which they now lay before the public. Their main subject isexpressly the English Church, and they write as English Churchmen,taking, however, no narrower basis than that of the National Churchitself.
They desire to be responsible each for his own opinions only, andtherefore the initials of the writer are attached to each chapter he haswritten.