XXX Apprecìatien ofthe Work,
imagination too often runs away with his judg- ment; and moreoyer, his " authorities " are for the most part worthless, or untrustworthy. There is another and a fatal objection to regarding the boolc as a valuable contribution to historical research : the author lived at a time when the unity and prosperity of the Church were in the greatest peril, on the one hand, through apathy in religious matters, and the rise of deistic doctrines; and on the other, because of the certain though gradual growth of Noncon- formity. Nonconformity had already taken a hold upon the nation, and a shrewd observer at the beginning of the i8th century could easily detect ominous signs of other and greater divisions about to arise within the Established Church. 7 o leave the Church was to him a departing from the faith. The Drych was a powerful though sober appeal to the people to reflect upon the evils of neglecting the truc worship of God, and, to a less extent, the un- wisdom of dissensions and paralysing divisions among Christians. The Welsh are to him God's chosen race under the New Dispensation, just as the Jews were under the Old. Thc histories of the two nations arc therefore parallcl. In the first part of the text we are repeatedly reminded that the Cymry, however small their numbers, were invincible as long as they were united and believed in God. The moment dissension appeared and they neglectcd true Christian worship, the Lord gave them over to their enemies ; but even then, a return to thc true faith was foUowed by prosperity and thc routing of the foe. This, I believe, is the con- ception of his work, and abundant evidence may be adduced in support. Not that I think the
