The Kingdom of Christ

Contents

The one-line summaries are guides drafted with the help of AI, not Maurice’s words.

1. Contents
2. Part II. (Continued) of the Catholic Church and the Romish System

   Baptism’s promise of a universal, spiritual family is confirmed by the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, recited unchanged by peasant and philosopher for sixteen centuries, against Quaker, Protestant, Rationalist, and Romanist accounts of doctrine and tradition.

   1. Chapter IV. (Continued) the Signs of a Universal and Spiritual Society
      1. Section II. The Creeds
         1. Objections. The Quaker
         2. Modern Protestant Objections
         3. Rationalistic Objections
         4. The Romish System
      2. Section III. Forms of Worship

         Prayed unchanged across nations and centuries, the Church’s ancient liturgies prove that worship is the common speech of one family, not the private impulse Quakers require or the extempore prayer Protestants prefer.

         1. Objections. The Quaker
         2. The Pure Protestant
         3. The Philosopher
         4. The Romish System
      3. Section IV. The Eucharist

         The Eucharist, kept for eighteen centuries by every rank and nation, is a sacrificial feast where Christ’s finished sacrifice is truly present, not a bare memorial or a change in the elements.

         1. Objections. The Quaker
         2. 2. The Zuinglian, the Calvinist, the Lutheran
         3. Rationalistic Objections
         4. The Romish System
      4. Section V. The Ministry

         An unbroken succession of bishops, preserved despite Christendom’s divisions, embodies Christ’s headship and absolving power, a claim the Quaker reduces to inward impulse, the Presbyterian denies, and the Romanist turns into a vicar’s authority.

         1. The Quaker
         2. The Presbyterian
         3. Objections to an absolving power in ministers
         4. The followers of Mr. Irving
         5. The Philosophical Objector
         6. The Romish System
      5. Section VI. The Scriptures

         Scripture records a real, developing kingdom, so its canon, its inspired but undictated language, and its miracles all confirm one order, against rationalist dissection and the Romanist habit of hiding the Bible from the laity.

         1. The Romish System
   2. Chapter V. On the Relations of the Church with National Bodies

      Oaths, marriage, property, and just war rest on a national order visible already in the Ten Commandments and in pagan Greece and Rome, carried forward into the nations of Christian Europe.

      1. Introductory
      2. Section I. Objections of the Quaker

         The Sermon on the Mount fulfils rather than abolishes judicial oaths and just retribution, answering the Quaker’s case against war, oaths, and a paid clergy.

      3. Section II. The Pure Theocratist

         The Covenanter and Nonjuror would have the nation punish heresy by the sword as ancient Israel did, while the Separatist would keep Church and State wholly apart, but each misreads their true relation.

      4. Section III. The Separatist
      5. Section IV. The Patrician

         Those who idealize the early Church’s first centuries as a golden age of discipline and unity forget its persecutions, heresies, and corruption, so national churches mark not decline but further providence.

      6. Section V. The Modern Statesman

         A statesman who claims sole authority over education, fearing the Church more than divided sects, cannot properly nurture family life, science, art, or morality, as a national Church can.

      7. Section VI. The Modern Interpreters of Prophecy

         Restoring the Jews would testify to the sanctity of nations without displacing the universal Church, Christ’s return will unveil rather than replace the kingdom already here, and Rome’s corrupt system calls for reform, not abandonment.

3. Part III. The English Church and the Systems Which Divide It

   Read through its Liturgy and Articles, the English Church holds Catholic, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Quaker truths together without their rival systems, its bond with the nation forged by history rather than contract.

   1. Chapter I. How Far This Subject Is Connected with Those Previously Discussed
      1. Section I. Do the Signs or a Universal and Spiritual Constitution Exist in England?
      2. Section II. Does the Universal Society in England Exist Apart from Its Civil Institutions, or in Union with Them?
      3. Section III. What Is the Form of Character Which Belongs Especially to Englishmen? to What Kind of Depravation Is It Liable?
   2. Chapter II. Modern English Systems

      Liberal, Evangelical, and Catholic parties each hold a truth that collapses into its opposite once made a system, so a national Church free of party spirit can better serve dissenters, the poor, and the colonies.

      1. Section I. The Liberal System; the Evangelical System; the High Church or Catholic System
      2. Section II. Reflections on These Systems, and on Our Position Generally
4. Note on the Athanasian Creed

   The Creed’s language of equality and subordination completes rather than contradicts Nicene doctrine, and its damnatory clauses warn against a sin anyone can commit, not license to judge others.