nter with patience into such a subject, to
see its importance, to discriminate its differences, and to solve its
perplexities.

At the opening of the eighteenth century, the elements of enthusiasm
were too feeble to show themselves in any acknowledged form either in
the Church of England or in the leading Nonconformist bodies. In
England, no doubt, as in every other European country, there were, as
Mr. Vaughan observes, 'Scattered little groups of friends, who nourished
a hidden devotion by the study of pietist and mystical writings....
Whenever we can penetrate behind the public events which figure in
history at the close of the seventeenth, and the opening of the
eighteenth century, indications are discernible, which make it certain
that a religious vitality of this description was far more widely
diffused than is commonly supposed.[482] But these recluse societies
made no visible impression upon the general state of religion. If it
were not for the evident anxiety felt by many writers of the period to
expose and counteract the dangers of a mystical and enthusiastical bias,
it might have been supposed that there never was a time when the Church
was so entirely free from any possible peril in that direction. Their
fear, however, was not without some foundation. When an important phase
of spiritual truth is comparatively neglected by established authorities
and in orthodox opinion, it is sure to find full vent in another less
regular channel. We are told that in the first years of the century, the
Quakers had immensely increased. 'They swarm,' said Leslie, 'over these
three nations, and they stock our plantations abroad.'[483] Quakerism
had met with little tolerance in the previous century. Churchmen and
Dissenters had unanimously denounced it, and Baxter, large-minded as he
often proved himself, denied its adherents all hope of salvation. But
the sect throve under persecution; and; in proportion as its follies and
extravagances became somewhat mitigated, the spirituality of belief,
which even in its most exaggerated forms had always been its soul of
strength, became more and more attractive to those who felt its
deficiency elsewhere. Between the passing of the Toleration Act and the
end of William III.'s reign it made great progress. After that it began
gradually to decline. This was owing to various causes. Some share in it
may perhaps be attributed to the continued effects of the general
religious lethargy which had