A Christian Directory, Part 4: Christian Politics

Name: A Christian Directory, Part 4: Christian Politics
Author: Baxter, Richard

Baxter, Richard

Casuistry; Christian sociology

A moral prognostication.
           To the reader.                                             905
           Of what must be expected in the churches of christendom,
           till the golden age returns, or till the time of true
           reformation and unity.                                     906
           Of the changes that will be in christendom in the golden
           age, and time of true reformation and unity.               914
           Consectary.                                                920

         The reformed liturgy.
           The ordinary public worship on the Lord's day.             921
           The order of celebrating the sacrament of the body
           and blood of Christ.                                       930
           The celebration of the sacrament of baptism.               934
           Of catechising, and the approbation of those that
           are to be admitted to the Lord's supper.                   936
           Of the celebration of matrimony.                           937
           The visitation of the sick, and their communion.           938
           The order of solemnizing the burial of the dead.           938
           Of extraordinary days of humiliation and thanksgiving,
           and anniversary festivals.                                 939
           Of prayer and thanksgiving for particular members
           of the church.                                             939
           Of pastoral discipline, public confession, absolution,
           and exclusion from the holy communion of the church.       941
           Appendix: prayers to be used at discretion.                945




READER,


Think not by the title of this part, that I am doing the same work
which I lately revoked in my "Political Aphorisms;" though I concluded
that book to be _quasi non scriptum_, I told you I recanted not
the doctrine of it, which is for the empire of God, and the interest
of government, order, and honesty in the world. This is no place to
give you the reasons of my revocation, besides that it offended my
superiors, and exercised the tongues of some in places, where other
matters would be more profitable: pass by all that concerneth our
particular states and times, and you may know by that what principles
of policy I judge divine. And experience teacheth me, that it is best
for men of my profession, to meddle with no more, but to leave it to
the Contzeu's, the Arnisæus's, and other Jesuits, to promote their
cause by voluminous politics. The pope's false-named church is a
kingdom, and his ministers may write of politics more congruously, and
(it seems) with less offence, than we. Saith the "Geographia
Nubiensis" aptly, "There is a certain king dwelling at Rome called the
pope," &c. when he goeth to describe him. Nothing well suits with our
function, but the pure doctrine of salvation; let statesmen and
lawyers mind the rest.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A Christian Directory, Part 4: Christian Politics

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