“How Far Is It the Duty of a
Christian Minister to Preach Politics?” This was the title and the
question posed in a short essay written by the Rev. John Wesley in 1782. Like many people of his time John Wesley
appears to have still been a believer in the “Divine Right of Kings” at a time when England was steadily moving
into a state of Constitutional Monarchy.
In his sermon on Sunday 16th August, the Rev. John said; “Unfortunately, he (Wesley) confines the
preaching of politics to defending the King, and the King’s ministers, against
slanders and lies”.
History
is sometimes unkind to the memory of certain historic figures and poor old King
George 111 is one such maligned figure; with any mention of him quickly leading
to stories of his “madness” and the loss of the American Colonies after the War
of Independence from 1775 to 1783 during his reign. But George 111 was actually a much more
interesting King in changing times with problems like the threat of the
Jacobites and Bonny Prince Charlie and France eager to retaliate against Great
Britain following their defeat during the Seven Years' War. There were also various conflicts against
Napoleonic France which started in 1793 and led to the Battle of Waterloo in
1815.
In
1751 young George’s father died, making him the heir to his grandfather King
George 11 who died in 1760. George 111
was only 22 when he became King and he was the first of the Hanoverian kings to
be born in England and call English his first language, although he spoke
fluent German and also learned to speak French.
He
was one of Britain’s most cultured monarchs and he set a good example by loving
and respecting his wife and taking no mistress.
George 111 and his wife Charlotte had 15 children with 13 surviving into
adulthood.
George
111 seems to have shared some of the interests that inspired the Rev. John
Wesley and it is easy to understand that the King would have gained the
approval of Wesley. The King started a
new royal collection of books and 65,000 of his books were later given to the
British Museum, as the King’s Library and the nucleus of a national library. He also had two other private book
collections at Windsor which indicate the diversity of the King’s interests,
like science, agriculture and farming.
He was nicknamed “Farmer George” for
his great interest in agriculture. George 111 studied science as part of his
education and he had his own astronomical observatory. The Science Museum now has a collection of
some of his scientific instruments on display.
George 111 made accurate drawings and calculations of the Transit of
Venus across the Sun on 23rd June, 1769 and accurately forecast
further transits in 1874 and 2004.
To
be fair, I should write something of the genetic illness called porphyria, long
thought to be the cause of the mental instability and blindness that increasingly
afflicted him with serious bouts of illness in 1788-89 and again in 1801. It was not until 1810 that King George 111
became permanently deranged and was declared mentally unfit to rule. His eldest son – who later ruled in his own
right as George IV - acted as Prince Regent from 1811. As a result of new
studies of King George 111’s letters and analyses of language and style of
writing, there is growing belief the King may have been suffering from
hypomania which is now called bipolar disorder as far as I can work out. It appears that he was given arsenic poison
to “cure” him and that could have made his situation so much worse. I am so glad that I live in the 21st
century aren’t you?
I
should return to the Rev. John’s thoughts about John Wesley’s essay; “Three times in this short essay, he says
that the chief business of the clergy is to preach Christ, and Christ
crucified. That seems to sum up Wesley’s attitude toward the political system.
That attitude is almost a hands-off one. Don’t bother with politics, except to
set the record straight when people lie about the King or the King’s
ministers.”
“Wesley did advise Methodist
voters about voting. He told them they should vote morally, that is, they
should not accept bribes or other favours in return for their votes. In
addition, he said, they should vote for the candidate that “loves God”. If
there were no candidate who loves God, then they should vote for the one who
supports King George. That’s a pretty direct statement, in terms of telling people
how to vote!”
There
is no doubt that apart from basic moral advice, any advice on dealing with the
political system and voting offered by the Rev. John Wesley would indeed have
little relevance to the world today. In
the world we live in today politics seem to be freely discussed and are no
longer considered “taboo” in polite society, but I still personally prefer to
refrain from serious political discussions because each person is entitled to
their own opinion and I would hate to restrict my list of dear friends to those
who vote the same way that I do. Although
many people freely share their views, I would not even ask my children or
grandchildren about their political leanings.
As
I look back and consider the formation of my childhood impressions about the
social, political and religious issues of that time I realise that probably
most children of the forties and fifties were as confused and ill-informed as I
was. There was still a great deal of
discussion about, and residual poverty and pain from “the depression” and “the
war”, although these two occurrences were never explained to young children at
the time - and of course - having been born during the war, I had no personal
memories to draw on.
History
seems to indicate that the decade before my birth was an age of confusing
attitudes about “patriotism”, fear of the development of a distinctly
Australian political identity, and a desperate clinging to the protection of
“the Mother Country”. As time passes and
Australians become more generations removed from British ties and begin to mix
with people of many other cultures these British traditions are perhaps harder
for younger people to fully understand.
However, when I consider that the largest proportion of both mine and my
husband’s great-grandparents were born in England, Scotland or Ireland this
loyalty was not surprising. I could only remember the Liberal Party being in
power and Robert Menzies being Australia’s Prime Minister (1949 to 1966) and he
and Britain’s Winston Churchill were highly regarded by my parents although
they never actually revealed their support in so many words. With the passage of time most of us realise
that perhaps history is not always reliable! As some bright spark quoted; “History is always written by the winners!”
However,
I will give the Rev. John Wesley the last word with a quote from a letter he
wrote on the 8th February 1772.
“I commend you for meddling with
points of controversy as little as possible.
It is abundantly easier to lose our love in that rough field than to
find truth.”
Although
I think I also need to point to the Rev. John’s summing up of John Wesley’s
thoughts; “All through his life, Wesley
leaned on the biblical idea of obedience to the powers that be. See Romans 13
for an expression of this idea. Wesley would also warn us to be humble about
confusing our own political opinions with the will of God. And, incredibly
important for a time when only a small majority of eligible voters actually do
vote, Wesley would urge us to get to the polls!
Wesley would return us to
Jesus. The same Jesus who calls us to our true, ultimate, and permanent
citizenship. He makes that possible for us through his life, teaching, death,
resurrection, and continuing presence with us. Our true citizenship will be at
the heavenly banquet. The seating arrangements at the heavenly banquet are
going to be interesting.
The ticket into the heavenly
banquet is salvation, by grace, through faith. It is not connected to our
works, either good or bad. It is a free gift from God. The passport to heaven
is not something of this world. We receive it when we surrender to the love of
God and claim Jesus as Saviour.”
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