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Friday, 31 May 2024

King As Evangelist

 


Imagine what a blessing it is to a nation, and its people, to have a king like this:

“It happened quite the contrary with one in the province of the Mercians, whose visions and words, and also his behavior, were neither advantageous to others nor to himself. In the reign of Coenred, who succeeded Ethelred, there was a layman in a military employment, no less acceptable to the king for his worldly industry, than displeasing to him for his private neglect of himself. The king often admonished him to confess and amend, and to forsake his wicked courses, before he should lose all time for repentance and amendment by a sudden death.[1]

People wonder why there is still so much trust among the population for the ruling classes, despite everything we have learned about how they are bought and paid for by various interests. Well the answer is simple. It is because we are descended from a long line of people who had good, not perfect, but good and decent rulers that actually took care for the things of God, and for their nations.

Here we have Bede writing this account of a king, Coenred, who was concerned for the soul of one of his military men. This man was highly regarded by the king because of his work ethic and abilities, but this king did not like how this soldier acted in his private time. So, he warned him and exhorted him continually to repent and turn to the Lord, before it was too late.

Imagine how different our nation would be, if our government leaders cared for the souls of their civil and military servicemen, more than they cared about their own advancement, wealth and privilege? Imagine the blessing this would bring on the nation. It was a culture like this that caused the western nations to advance beyond the rest of the world. China was more advanced militarily and in knowledge at this point in history. But it didn’t have godly kings like this, that were turning small backwater kingdoms at the edge of the civilized world, into the foundations for great societies.

You have to be a modern supremacist to think that we have advanced in every way, we truly have not.

List of References


[1] The Venerable Bede. The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (pp. 158-159). Neeland Media LLC. Kindle Edition.

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