As I wrote on Monday, I have been learning about the reign of Queen Elizabeth I with Mr. E (Our Island Story) and Miss A (The New World). It’s interesting to see the bias of each author: Marshall declares that Elizabeth had no right to have Mary, Queen of Scots executed, and that her remorse after the fact might have been just a show. Churchill paints a more sympathetic picture of a conflicted queen who had her hand forced. Yet another example of the ambiguity of history. 😉
But Marshall does touch on the good character traits of Queen Elizabeth I as well, and this passage describing her return to the Tower of London after she became queen (she had been a prisoner of her sister Mary there) stood out to me:
As the Queen passed through the gates, she paused “Some,” she said, “have fallen from being Princes in this land to prisoners in this place; I am raised from being prisoner in this place to be Prince in this land. That was the work of God’s justice, this a work of His mercy. So must I be myself to God thankful, and to man merciful.”
How much more should this be true of those who have been freed from the bondage of sin and will someday reign with Christ (2 Tim. 2:12)?
Wednesdays with Words is hosted by ladydusk.
