Tea at Trianon: Shame

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, March 12, 2021

Shame

From LifeNews:

Two things about this. Liberal Christians like to speak of other issues, such as immigration (how’s that going for them?), the environment and helping the poor, along with personal character qualities as having equal importance — and for some, greater importance — than abortion. The problem with that argument is that the right to life is the most fundamental of rights. It is mentioned first in the Declaration of Independence. If you can’t be born, nothing else matters.

Second, Evangelical Christians are called to devote themselves to a higher kingdom and King that is not of this world. Just as Scripture says one cannot serve God and money, neither can one equally serve God and temporal political kingdoms that soon pass away.

Here are some reminders for people who may not have heard sermons on the topic. Paul writes, “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. (1 Corinthians 2:6). John the Apostle put it this way: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. … The world and its desires pass away…” (1 John 2:15-17).

These and other verses don’t prohibit one from voting, but they do call for the right priorities and for not “marrying” one’s self to a political leader or party.

Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden might have learned from recent history and how identifying one candidate and claiming he (or she) are more favorable to God and to Christian voters than another is a form of idolatry and ultimately futile.

Humankind’s greatest needs are less economic and political than spiritual and moral. No politician can redeem the soul, though Biden vowed to “restore the soul of America.” (Read more.)