Prophecy and Quotation
Lowell's faith and my own have decidedly differing views of prophecy, yet when I was recently reading the book I am about to quote I could not help but be struck by how very prophetic the words were, in the sense that either of us would use the word.
The book I was reading is called The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter, and it is a classic of creedal Christian ecclesiastical literature. Written in 1656, just a few years after the Reformation, the book is a guide to pastors in the then very new reformed faith as to the demands and expectations on their lives and work. From its pages a couple of passages jumped out at me in light of this blog.
And it is not ourselves only that are scorched in this flame, but we have drawn our people into it, and cherished them in it, so that most of the godly in the nation are fallen into parties, and have turned much of their ancient piety into vain opinions and disputes and envyings and animosities. Yea, whereas it was wont to be made the certain mark of a graceless wretch to deride the godly, how few are there now that stick at secretly deriding and slandering those that are not of their opinions! A pious Prelatical man can reverently scorn and slander a Presbyterian; and a Presbyterian an Independent; and an Independent both. And, what is the worst of all, the common ignorant people take notice of all this, and do not only deride us, but are hardened by us against religion; and when we go about to persuade them to be religious, they see so many parties, that they know not which to join; and think that it is as good to be of none at all, as of any, since they are uncertain which is the right; and thus thousands are grown into a contempt of all religion, by our divisions; and many poor carnal wretches begin to think themselves in the better case of the two, because they hold to their old formalities, when we hold to nothing. [Emphasis added.]
And then a few pages later:
Besides, consider what a disadvantage you cast upon your cause, in all your disputations with men of different views. If your principles be better than theirs, and their practice be better than yours, the people will suppose that the question is whether the name or the thing, the shadow or the substance, be more desirable, and they will take your way to be a mere delusive formality, because they see you but formal in the use of it, yea, that you use it not at all.
More than a century before the founding of the United States of America, almost 200 years before Joseph Smith received his revelations and the LDS were born, this humble pastor in England seemed to see precisely the kinds of issues we would be facing in the greatest nation in history.
Would that we listened.
Technorati Tags: Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, prophecy, Reformation, religious plurality, strife, genuineness
Posted in Book Reviews, Doctrinal Obedience, Understanding Religion | 1 Comment » | 
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One Response to “Prophecy and Quotation”
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ninadawn on 29 Apr 2007 at 4:21 pm #
As a Mormon, I am interested in Romney’s campaign because I am interested in how people perceive Mormons. So I sometimes peruse this blog. As a liberal leaning Democrat (as liberal leaning as an Oklahoma-bred Mormon can reasonably be, anyway), I am sometimes annoyed at the “conservatives are misguided, liberals are evil” attitude that seems to permeate your (in a plural sense) commentary on various news pieces. You accuse “liberals” of being out to destroy religion. I have three objections:
1. This blanket statement is used in an unjustifiably broad sense. I have no doubt that some liberals are out to destroy religion. I also have no doubt that some Baptist pastors use gay prostitutes, some Mormons are alcoholics, and some 12 yr-old boys don’t want a Playstation (completely random list). I just don’t know many of them. For example, round these parts, we open Democratic precinct meetings with a word of prayer. You also conveniently ignore that fact that liberals like the folks at the ACLU are frequently at the forefront of protecting minority religious rights.
2. As this excerpt from The Reformed Pastor discusses, religious people often bring their religion into contempt without help from outsiders. For example, it seems that just about every election in Oklahoma the Christian Coalition is fined for illegal and dishonest campaign activities. Then their members complain about immorality of the Democratic candidates. It turns liberals off.
3. This is really all about politics. I postulate that the only reason you can find more liberal anti-Mormon attack pieces is because Romney is conservative. If he were a Democratic candidate, there would be more conservative anti-Mormon pieces.