A Dickens of a Time

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was a season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." 

Describes the time we live in perfectly, doesn't it? I guess that's what makes good literature - transcendence. Very seldom is the full paragraph quoted. Many are satisfied with the first two phrases. But how powerful those two phrases are in describing the times that people often lived in - our own as well. How much more the remaining paragraph. It truly is a degree of comparisons. 

This, of course, is the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities written by Charles Dickens in 1859. Written as if one were in the year 1777  prior to the French Revolution (1789) and the potential English uprising, the cities were London and Paris. How different the outcomes would be. But why? 

British historian, Thomas Carlyle, described this time in England as "Stomach well alive; soul extinct." Sir William Blackstone visited numerous Christian churches in the area at that time and said that it was hard to tell if the preacher was a follower of  Confucius, Mohammed, or Jesus. Drunkenness was rampant. Gambling was so bad, so prolific, one historian wrote that England was "one giant casino." Unwanted babies were left in the streets to die. A 97% child mortality rate was found among the working poor. The common man found himself in a hopeless situation watching the social rumblings and turmoil of neighboring France and wondering if that would be the solution/course for themselves. 

Then why did France fall into a bloody revolution for 10 years and England not?  Three names:  George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley. 

People prayed and the Lord brought three men to begin a great revival. They preached in the open fields to those hungering and thirsting for righteousness. They preached Christ, repentance from sin, faith, holiness, and good works that flowed out from a personal relationship with Jesus. And the masses responded. They needed hope. They needed change. They had two choices: Do it themselves (France) or seek the Lord's intervention (England). 

As a result antislavery organizations took hold, prison reform happened, relief agencies for the poor opened, orphanages were created (spurring on future men like George Muëller), literacy programs began. God heard the cries of the English people and he gave them Jesus in the form of men and women who were willing to turn people's heart's away from fear and hatred, toward a living, loving God. Cited:  4-15-20; https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/evangelical-revival-in-england-11630228.html

O Church, it is the best of times, it is the worst of times... It truly is a degree of comparisons. Let us choose rightly which path our nation should take, our churches should take, our personal lives should take. Let us be people of prayer who repent, who desire holiness, who humbly seek our Savior's face and his return. 

From Charles Wesley, Lamb of God Whose Bleeding Love, verse 3. 

"Let thy blood by faith applied
The sinners pardon seal; 
Speak us freely justified,
And all our sickness heal;
By they passion on the tree,
Let our griefs and sorrows cease,
O remember Calvary, 
And bid us go in peace."