Wednesday, January 30, 2013

"It is all I have now left me . . . a power to forgive" (Charles, King & Martyr)


Today marks the 364th anniversary of the beheading of King Charles I (1600–1649). Go HERE for a previous blog entry about his martyrdom. In the light of yesterday’s post (on forgiveness), I share with you this passage from the last letter Charles wrote to his son:

It is all I have now left me, 
a power to forgive those that have deprived me of all; 
and thank God I have a heart to do it, 
and joy as much in this grace, which God hath given me, 
as in all my former enjoyments; 
for this is a greater argument of God’s love to me 
than any prosperity can be. 
Be confident (as I am) 
that the most of all sides, who have done amiss, 
have done so, not out of malice, 
but misinformation, or misapprehension of things.
. . . 
Farewell, till we meet, if not on earth, yet in Heaven.


And, courtesy of the Society of King Charles the Martyr, here is the well known hymn by Dorothy Frances Gurney, 1858 -1932, usually sung to the tune Redhead No. 76(English Hymnal 477):

Royal Charles, who chose to die
Rather than the Faith deny,
Forfeiting his kingly pride
For the sake of Jesu’s Bride;
Lovingly his praise we sing,
England’s martyr, England’s king. 

Mirror fair of courtesy,
Flower of wedded chastity,
Humble follower day by day,
Of the Church’s holy way;
Lovingly his praise we sing,
England’s martyr, England’s King.

All the way of death he trod
For the glory of his God,
And his dying dignity
Made a bright Epiphany;
Lovingly his praise we sing,
England’s martyr, England’s king.

Bless we God the Three in One,
For all faithful ’neath the sun,
For the faithful gone before,
And for those our country bore,
Chiefly him whose praise we sing,
England’s martyr, England’s King.


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