Challenging thoughts from William Wilberforce

As I was reading my book about William Wilberforce's life last night, I came across a couple of things that I thought would be good for you all to read to give you a challenge and something to ponder.

To set the stage for the first quote, William is talking with Hannah More, one of the few that came along side of William in his pursuit to abolish slave trade and other things as well. At this point in time, he is seeking advice regarding his book, "A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christian's in the Higher and Middle Class in this Country Contrasted with Real Christianity"

He says,
"My main message would be that many of those who call themselves Christians fall short of living out the essence of real Christianity. As long as we allow this inadequate form of Christianity to go unchallenged, those who are spiritually needy will never come to faith in Jesus Christ. Our nation faces many challenges at home and abroad, and now is the time for us to return to a radical faith in Jesus Christ."

The second quote comes from his book discussed above

"The very tendency that we feel to hide our faith from the world's view confirms that we are more influenced by the world's opinions that we are by God's. I would hope that simply because our faith is secret, having vanished from our conversations, replaced by a pretended freedom of feeling and conduct, that it still does exist in our private hearts. I fear, though, that we are not merely paying attention, our faith may have quietly smothered. By complying with the world's habits, participating in the manners of this dissipated age, we have removed every external distinction between the Christian and the nonbeliever. We seldom find anyone who is brave enough to be different for Christ, someone who "is not ashamed of Christ."

I would be interested in what you all think, especially as I feel that though this was written so many years ago it reflects Christianity today in most cases if not all especially as we face so many uncertainties regarding our future as a Nation and beyond. :)