Redeeming a Nation (Timeless Teaching)

by Philip Quenby

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  Southey, Robert, The Life of Nelson, Constable & Co Ltd 1916.

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  Pelling, Henry, A History of British Trade Unionism, Penguin Book Ltd 1963.

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  Hopkirk, Peter, The Great Game, Oxford University Press 2001.

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  Nutting, Anthony, Gordon: martyr and misfit, The Reprint Society 1967.

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  Kee, Robert, The Green Flag, volumes I-III Penguin Books Ltd 1972.

  Wisdom, Norman, My Turn, Arrow Books Ltd 2003.

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  Preston, Diana, A First Rate Tragedy, Constable and Company Limited 1997.

  Kendall, R.T. Thanking God, Zondervan Publishing 2006.

  Fawcett, Lt.-Col P.H., Operation Fawcett, The Companion Book Club (Odhams Press Ltd) 1954.

  Smith, Colin, England’s last war against France, Phoenix (Orion Books Ltd) 2010.

  Braddon, Russell, The Naked Island, Pan Books Ltd 1973.

  Baxter, John, Missing, Believed Killed, Aurum Press Ltd 2010.

  Bielenberg, Christabel, The past is myself, Corgi Books (Chatto & Windus Ltd) 1984.

  Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand, The story of my experiments with truth, Penguin Books Ltd 2007.

  Chichester, Francis, Alone across the Atlantic, George Allen & Unwin Ltd 1961.

  Chichester, Francis, The lonely sea and the sky, Hodder & Stoughton 1964.

  * * *

  [1] Pace Dean Acheson, former US Secretary of State (from a speech given at West Point on 5 December 1962).

  [2] Crucifixion was finally abolished by Emperor Constantine in AD 337. As Christian influence grew increasingly pronounced, it became widely considered an unduly cruel form of execution.

  [3] The Picts lived in what is now Scotland. The invitation to Hengist and Horsa was extended by the British leader Vitalinus, also known as Vortigern (meaning “supreme leader”). The last Roman commander had departed some time before. He was called Coel Hen by the British, a name which survives in the nursery rhyme Old King Cole.

  [4] Horsa’s memory is still faintly traceable in place-names such as Horsted and Horsham. Following his death, Hengist and his son Aesc ruled in what became the kingdom of Kent.

  [5] Gregory’s remark is a pun on Deira, de ira meaning ‘from anger’ or ‘out of wrath’ in Latin. The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Deira was later absorbed into the kingdom of Northumbria.

  [6] The same phrase appears in identical verses in Isaiah 37:32 and 2 Kings 19:31: “For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”

  [7] Immanuel means “God with us.”

  [8] Einstein posited the existence of what he called the Cosmological Constant, a theory that he initially discarded but to which he later returned. He believed this was mathematically necessary to explain why the universe neither expands to infinity nor collapses upon itself. In that context, it is intriguing that the Bible describes Jesus as “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3, KJV) and says that: “in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).

  [9] The kingdom of Kent had by this time been subsumed within Wessex.

  [10] The white horse now visible on Westbury hill just outside Edington was carved in 1788, obliterating the original carved following Alfred’s victory.

  [11] The capital of Wessex was Winchester.

  [12] After centuries of rivalry, Mercia accepted West Saxon overlordship in 879 or thereabouts.

  [13] Between 991 AD and 1014 AD official payments of Danegeld totalled more than 150,000lbs of silver, equivalent to 36 million coins of the day.

  [14] Cnut had already been awarded half the kingdom as the fruit of his victory at Assandun.

  [15] The kingdom of Athelstan (grandson of Alfred the Great) covered most of modern England by 927. Succeeding kings cemented this achievement. In 973 Aethelred’s father King Edgar was the first ruler to be crowned king of all England.

  [16] The term Atheling literally means a member of the nobility but was often restricted to a prince of the royal blood or the heir apparent.

  [17] So widespread and devastating was this “harrowing of the north” that in 1086 the Domesday Book described hundreds of villages as still being waste or wilderness (In Latin, vasta est).

  [18] Recent research suggests that Hereward was of Danish ancestry and that he was employed as a mercenary by the Count of Flanders before returning to England to confront the Norman invaders.

  [19] By the end of the Conqueror’s reign most of England was owned by the king himself and two hundred of his followers. Only two Englishmen remained great landowners and all the English together held only one twelfth of England’s farmland.

  [20] These are perennial questions. The prophet Jeremiah asked: “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” (Jeremiah 12:1). Job demanded: “Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?” (Job 21:7). David gives God’s perspective: “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.” (Psalm 37:1-2). Asaph provides the same insight: “When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!” (Psalm 73:16-19).

  [21] The Habeas Corpus Act was passed in 1679 during the reign of Charles II.

  [22] The courageous and dutiful seem to have been the majority: the disease is estimated to have killed 45% of English parish priests.

  [23] The earliest known painting of the Dance of Death dates from 1424. It is in the Cemetery of the Innocents in Paris.

  [24] Derived from the Dutch lollen, meaning to sing in a low voice. The same root gives us the word lullaby.

  [25] Wycliffe’s teachings influenced Bohemian religious reformer Jan Hus (1369-1415) and, through him, Martin Luther (1483-1546). Tradition dates the start of the Protestant Reformation to 1517, when Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Schlosskirche (castle church) in Wittenberg.

  [26] The thirty pieces of silver that were paid to Judas Iscariot for his betrayal of Jesus was the price of a slave among the Israelites in ancient times: see Exodus 21:32.

  [27] An axiom in this context is an assumption used as a basis for deductive reasoning. Goedel’s first Theorem of Undecidability states that, if axiomatic set theory is consistent, there exist theorems that can neither be proved nor disproved. Goedel’s second Theorem of Undecidability states that there is no constructive procedure that will prove axiomatic set theory to be consistent. The impact of these theorems was so profound that when they were published they led to the immediate abandonment of the so-called Hilbert programme (named after German mathematician David Hilbert), which had aimed to establish an agreed foundation of fundamental assumptions underpinning mathematics.

  [28] The Bible was originally translated into Latin by St Jerome from AD 382, though subsequently several times revised. In 1546 the Council of Trent promoted the Vulgate as the official translation.

  [29] Fidei Defensor in Latin. The initials F.D. still appear on British coins. Henry wrote Assertio Septem Sacramentorum in response to Martin Luther’s De Captivitate Babylonica. In May 1521 Henry ordered that all Luther’s books be burned.

  [30] Thought to be
1494 or thereabouts.

  [31] Latimer had not always been so brave. In 1532 (during the reign of Henry VIII) he saved himself from burning by signing a full recantation of Protestant views.

  [32] From 1580 Philip II of Spain was also king of Portugal, herself the ruler of a considerable overseas Empire, which included Brazil as well as possessions in Africa and the East Indies and trading posts in India. The two countries remained united under the Spanish Crown for the next sixty years.

  [33] Neither was lost as a direct consequence of English action. The Nuestra Señora del Rosario collided with another Spanish vessel, facilitating her subsequent capture by Drake, whilst the San Salvador accidentally caught fire and exploded.

  [34] The Spaniards’ misery was increased by the fact that many of the casks in which food and drink were stored were made of unseasoned wood, with the result that they leaked and their contents spoiled. (Large quantities of seasoned wood that had been intended for the Armada were destroyed by Sir Francis Drake during his attack on Cadiz in 1587, an event that he termed “singeing the King of Spain’s beard.’) Even when shipwrecked crews made it ashore, their safety was not assured. Whilst some were treated hospitably, others were butchered by the local inhabitants.

  [35] The Lord’s very first command to the newly created Adam and Eve is to “Be fruitful ...” (Genesis 1:28). The same command was earlier given to the animal kingdom (Genesis 1:22) and is later repeated both to Noah and his sons when mankind is given a new start after the Flood (Genesis 9:1 and 7) and to Jacob as a representative of the “nation and ... community of nations [that] will come from you” (Genesis 35:11).

  [36] Queen Elizabeth had been excommunicated by the Pope in February 1570. As far as the Papacy was concerned, this absolved Englishmen of any duty of loyalty to her. There were in fact various Catholic plots during her reign. A number of these centred on plans to put Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne in place of Elizabeth, who reluctantly authorised Mary’s execution on 8 February 1587.

  [37] The poet John Donne was another famous recusant. Catholicism did not prevent his taking part in two expeditions against the Spanish sponsored by the Earl of Essex in 1596 and 1597. He eventually took Anglican orders in 1615.

  [38] The extent to which modern science increasingly corroborates the existence of God is conveniently overlooked. For example, we can now measure the microwave radiation generated since the universe began. Like a musical note, the wavelength of this radiation has harmonics associated with it which reflect the shape of the object in which the waves were generated. Using these observations, researchers at the Paris Observatory deduce that the universe is shaped like a dodecahedral space and that it is finite. The obvious questions are: if the universe is finite, what came before it and what lies beyond it?

  [39] As a starting point we should apply the same tests that hold good in other walks of life when seeking to discern truth from falsehood, by looking to (1) first-hand evidence, preferably from eyewitnesses and corroborated by a number of independent sources, (2) correspondence between assertion and attested fact, (3) consistency between words and deeds, (4) unity of theory and practical experience, and (5) ultimate outcomes rather than initial results. Christianity passes such tests with flying colours. Other religions do not.

  [40] As with many prophesies, this may have a number of levels of fulfilment, with each age having its “man of lawlessness.” One instance of someone elevating himself to the status of God is provided by Napoleon Bonaparte. Whilst occupying the Roman States, French troops distributed his picture with the inscription: “This is the true likeness of the holy saviour of the world!”

  [41] At the Army Debates in 1647 (see chapter 27) Cromwell vetoed demands for overthrow of the monarchy.

  [42] Jews were expelled in 1290, during the reign of Edward I.

  [43] Cromwell was 42 in 1642. Life expectancy at the time made this a fairly advanced middle age.

  [44] Compare God’s words as recorded by the prophet Zechariah and quoted by two of the gospel writers: “I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” (Zechariah 13:7, Matthew 26:31 and 56, Mark 14:49-50)

  [45] Leibnitz, as lampooned by Voltaire in Candide.

  [46] The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, published in 1649 following the execution of Charles I.

  [47] Amongst other things that caused him to fall foul of the authorities, Wilkes published the scurrilous broadsheet The North Briton, issue number 45 of which implied that it would be a sacrilege if King George III were to attend a thanksgiving service at St Paul’s cathedral. It was called The North Briton since all references to Scotland were forbidden following the 1745 Jacobite uprising in favour of the last Stuart claimant to the throne, Young Pretender Charles Edward Stuart (otherwise known as Bonnie Prince Charlie).

  [48] See Appendix 1

  [49] Modern science acknowledges light to be both waves and particles.

  [50] Boyle was born in Ireland.

  [51] So highly was Newton regarded by contemporaries that the poet Alexander Pope wittily proclaimed in an intended epitaph: “Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night; God said, Let Newton be! And all was light.” The path to the top was not smooth, however. Newton was born in the year civil war broke out, left school the year Cromwell died, went to Cambridge University as the monarchy was restored, graduated in the year of the Great Plague and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society as war broke out with the Dutch. He was of modest means and was only able to study at Cambridge through receiving financial help from his college.

  [52] The present consensus amongst cosmologists is that less than 5% of the universe is comprised of the matter that we see around us (of which only a minute proportion has been explored). The remainder is said to be composed either of ‘dark energy’ or ‘dark matter.’ Nobody currently knows what either of these is. On this hypothesis, it follows that more than 95% of the universe consists of things of which we are entirely ignorant. In view of that, the atheist’s confident assertion that the non-existence of God is definitively proven seems curious.

  [53] The qualities that Peter lists in 2 Peter 1:5-7 are similar to the fruits of the Spirit that St Paul enumerates in Galatians 5:22. Peter includes knowledge, perseverance and godliness, which St Paul does not. St Paul includes joy, peace, patience and gentleness, which Peter does not. They have in common faith, goodness, self-control, kindness and love.

  [54] The difference in the second half of the nineteenth century is partly accounted for by emigration. In the thirty years after 1850 some six and a half million people left the British Isles. Most went to Canada, South Africa, Australia or New Zealand.

  [55] That British naval supremacy could not be taken for granted was shown in the closing years of the American War of Independence, when France drew Spain into alliance with the colonists and organised the so-called ‘League of Armed Neutrality’ involving Russia, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. Britain was temporarily isolated and surrounded by hostile or unfriendly powers. In consequence, the French were able to achieve temporary naval superiority off the American coast, leading directly to British defeat at Yorktown in 1781 and consequent loss of the Thirteen Colonies.

  [56] Nahum means ‘comfort.’ The name of this prophet who spoke of restoration is related to the name of another Israelite who was to play a large part in catalysing rebuilding of the nation after the return from exile in Babylon: Nehemiah, which means ‘The Lord comforts’ or ‘comfort of the Lord.’

  [57] It is likely that ‘his’ in this verse refers to the commander of the attacking forces. Since the attack is brought about by God working through human agency the reference can ultimately be seen as being to the Lord himself.

  [58] The Act of Union to merge England and Scotland into the United Kingdom was passed in 1707.

  [59] See chapter 31. The Act to abolish the slave trade was passed in 1807, an event all the more remarkable given that at the time Britain was still fighting for her life against Napoleon.
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  [60] The debates took place over three days from 28 October 1647. Colonel Rainsborough, the highest-ranking Leveller sympathiser, said in the course of them that: “the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, Sir, I think it’s clear that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government ...”

  [61] The First Law of Thermodynamics (otherwise known as the law of conservation of mass and energy) states that matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed: matter can be converted into energy and energy into matter, but their sum total must remain the same. The law is sometimes expressed in the Latin dictum Ex nihilo, nihil fit (nothing comes out of nothing). Isaac Asimov called it “the most powerful and fundamental generalisation about the universe that scientists have ever been able to make.” It confirms the need for a divine act of creation to form the universe.