Charleses, Jameses, and an Oliver

 Fourth Thursday of Lent

Lectionary texts:

Ephesian 5:8-14

John 9:1-17

 

Occasionally in this two year lectionary there are two NT and no OT readings.

I'm going to blast through seventeenth century England today. The Stuart dynasty beginning with James 1(1603-1625) was dominant. Under his reign it would appear that the Church of England became entrenched. Not so. His successor, Charles I (1625-1649) married a French Catholic princess. Charles, like his grandmother, Mary Queen of Scots, had strong Catholic sympathies. 

Meanwhile a new and powerful force emerged on thr English religious scene, the Puritans. They are best known to Americas for sailing to Plymouth rock on the Mayflower in 1620, an insignificant event as far as the English were concern. Remember that the idea of religious tolerance is unknown at this time. The Puritans hated Charles I for his Catholicism, loose living, and reckless spending.

The Puritans started the English Civil War in the 1640's. In 1649 they deposed Charles I and the entire English monarchy. Their leader, Oliver Cromwell, declared himself Lord Protector. There would be no English king or queen for the next 11 years. 

Cromwell and the Puritans were brutal, especially against Catholics, or those suspected of being Catholic. Many heads rolled. They disdained the arts and anything else that might be suspected of being fun. It was a terrible time in English history. Cromwell died in 1658 and was succeeded by his son Richard. 

 

In 1660 the Puritans were overthrown and the Stuart monarchy was restored. Charles II was king until 1685 and his son James II till 1688. The period was known as the Restoration and saw a reflowering of the arts in England. Both Charles II and his successor James II (1685-1688) were Catholics, but were not able to impose their religion on their entire nations. 

 

James II was deposed on 1688 in "The Glorious Revolution," a bloodless coup. Mary II (a Stuart) and her husband, a Dutch royal, William of Orange ruled jointly. A college in Virginia would be named after them. They passed through Parliament The Act of Toleration (which wasn't what the name implies). This Act declared that all future kings and queens of England, Scotland, and Wales, would be members of the Church of England and that the Church of England would be the state religion. The matter of England's state religion was finally resolved.

 

Mary died in 1694 of smallpox; William, in 1702. He was succeeded by their daughter Anne, who ruled from 1702 to 1715.

 

John Wesley was born in 1703. There begins the history of Methodism.

 

God of our Church,

For our English, Scottish, and Welsh ancestors of what became Methodism, we are thankful. Lead us as we seek to learn more of the history of our faith. Amen

 

Faithfully,

Chrsitian