The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. The Age of Enlightenment profoundly enriched religious and philosophical understanding and continues to influence present-day thinking. Works collected here include masterpieces by David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as well as religious sermons and moral debates on the issues of the day, such as the slave trade. The Age of Reason saw conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism transformed into one between faith and logic -- a debate that continues in the twenty-first century. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library T059851 Preface signed: Rob Nelson. 'A companion for the fasts of the Church of England' has a separate titlepage dated 1725 but the pagination and register are continuous. London: printed for R. and J. Bonwicke, and R. Wilkin, John Walthoe, and Tho. Ward, 1726. [2], xxii, [4],636, [16]p.; 8°

According to the latest official figures, the popularity of Baptism is on the rise. The opportunities that this presents for mission are clear. Phillip Tovey surveys the Church’s understanding and practice of baptism from the days of the New Testament to today’s secular society, and explores the missional dimension of the liturgy of baptism.

The Glorious Revolution of 1688, which pushed James II from the throne of England, was not glorious for everyone; in fact, for many, it was a great disaster. Those who had already taken an oath of allegiance to James II and “to his heirs and lawful successors” now pondered how they could take a second oath to William and Mary. Those who initially refused to swear the oath were called Nonjurors. In 1691, Archbishop Sancroft, eight bishops, and four hundred clergy of the Church of England, as well as a substantial number of scholars at Oxford and Cambridge, were deprived, removed from their offices and their license to practice revoked, for their refusal. This nonjuring community over time adopted hybridized ideas, long-embraced and called out by the times and circumstances. Five paradigms shaped the English Nonjurors’ mental universe: a radical obedience, a Cyprianist mentality, using printing presses in place of the pulpits they had lost, a hybridized view of time, and a global ecumenical perspective that linked them to the Orthodox East. These patterns operated synergistically to create an effective tool for the Nonjurors’ survival and success in their mission. The Nonjurors’ influence, out of proportion to their size, was due in large measure to this mentality; their unique circumstances prompted creative thinking, and they were superb in that endeavor. Those five ideas constituted the infrastructure of the Nonjurors’ world. This study helps us to see the early eighteenth century not only as a time of rapid change, but also as an era of persistent older religious mentalities adapted to new circumstances, and the Nonjurors were brilliant at this adaptation.