Excerpt from A History of the Evangelical Party: In the Church of England Party has been defined1 as a section of a larger society, united to carry out the objects of the whole body on principles and by methods peculiar to itself. It is in this sense that the word can be used of the Evangelicals. They have never been a party of the parliamentary type, drilled and disciplined to respond promptly to the crack of the whip. Though they have shown almost a genius for organization the great Missionary Societies are evidence of this they have always refused to use this power merely for party purposes. Every attempt to create a counterpart to the English Church Union has failed. Wesley's sneer,2 They are a rope of sand, and such they will continue, has been quoted against them in every generation. Nevertheless they have worked together for a century and a half, a distinct group within the larger Society of the Church, with methods and principles more or less peculiar to themselves, but with no object, except that for which the whole Church exists, the salvation of souls and the training of citizens for the Kingdom of Christ. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.