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Foundry Wesleyan Chapel, London

The importance of the material

"I don't object to Gladstone always having an ace up his sleeve, but merely to his belief that the Almighty put it there. "

Henry Labouchere on William Ewart Gladstone, Victorian Prime Minister and evangelical

From humble and controversial beginnings, the Revival came to exert huge influence across the English-speaking world. Progressive causes in the century that followed were often championed and led by evangelical Christians including the movements for the abolition of slavery, working class education, factory reform and temperance.

This primary text collection provides a unique insight into the birth of an extraordinary popular movement. These narratives were not written by the leadership, but by ordinary men and women struggling to reconcile deep theological concepts with the reality of daily life.

"If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever..."

Evangelical and leader of the antislavery movement William Wilberforce, 1816

The collection provides entry into a strange and often misunderstood world and places the Revival into its social and religious context. Through the words of this first generation of converts, we can see how the evangelical message was received and why it was embraced by some but reviled by others.

Foundry Wesleyan Chapel, London (jrl16040783)