PREFACE. As the following work offers a form and principles of Government for universal adoption, the author has ventured to inscribe it to all countries and because it places the internal as well as external policy of states, upon that scripture basis, which will be acknowledged in the Universal Reign, he has given it the designation that appears on the title page. He writes on Politics in the character of a disciple of Jesus Christ, glorying only glorying fully in his Cross; in the face of a general persuasion, by their enemies industriously circulated and strenuously encouraged,that Christians should not meddle with the subject; and he does so pur» posely to vindicate his right, and overthrow this preposterous opinion. Some may express an apprehension lest the design of the volume is the erection of ecclesiastical states, and may anxiously enquire whether any thing analogous to the Jewish Theocracy is to be attempted? but the alarm so far as we are concerned is gratuitous. We leave the fruitless endeavour to the Romish sect, the Episcopalian of England, or a Cromwell. The civil polity of the Israelites regarded that people as the visible Church of God; was inseparably connected with their religious economy; passed away with the rest of their dispensation, and we have no more to do with it than with the ceremonial law and its sacrificial observances. Moreover the absense of any scheme of Government in the pages of the New Testament, enjoined upon the followers of our Lord and Saviour, clearly evinces that the Christian Church is never to establish itself as a civil community: still I demand whether the Gospel forbids to believers the rights of citizenship, or the exercise of those just privileges enjoyed by their fellow countrymen; and seeing the question must be answered in the negative by every one instructed in the word of God, is a Christian bound in the ordinary affairs of life, to consult the Bible declarations, of what is proper or unbecoming, and yet left in unrestrained license to act as he please in the high concerns of his country's weal? Is he at liberty to sanction in this important sphere theories and measures utterly opposed to the general principles of rectitude and benevolence, to which he stands pledged by his religious faith; or ought he not rather to glorify his father who is in heaven, in all his intercourse with society, both of a Private and Public nature? Then he must have a standard in this as in other scenes of useful labour, and since he will not find it in systems of temporal rule originating with worldly parties, either in the instance of those now acted upon, or such as belonged to other days, his only recourse is to the inspired writings.There is no system of Government formally recommended in the Evangelists and Apostles, for this obvious reason, lest the members of Christ's mystical body, should strive to form themselves into a secular kingdom, contrary to their Lord's intention: but there are principles of righteousness laid down in scripture of universal application, to which Christians may, and certainly ought to bring the science of Politics. This is all we require: by referring it to this unerring criterion, they will expunge whatever is pernicious, insert much that is beneficial, and in the end furnish a system worthy of themselves, and that will be welcomed by others, as the deliverance of the world. Thus, and only thus, can the Disciples accomplish those vast and desirable revolutions which they are destined to effect and which are intimated in the revelations of St. John. Thus, and only thus, can they introduce the Golden age, when according to Daniel's prophecy, the kingdom and the greatness of the Kingdom, under the whole heaven, shall be given to the saints of the most High; and the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom and possess it for ever, even for ever. The author takes leave of the reader with this fair request, that, since he gives in the first part a simple view of the system continuous and without comment, to enable him more clearly to consider it as a whole, judgment should be suspended where any thing may seem novel or startling, until the subsequent parts supply the necessary proof and elucidation. Lambeth, August, 1837. JAMES CARTWRIGHT. |