The people have ultimate power in law over Monarch, Church and Parliament, says Philip Quenby
King Charles’s coronation on 6 May 2023 will largely follow a tried and trusted format.
As for the last 900 years, it will take place at Westminster Abbey. An Archbishop of Canterbury will preside, as he has since 1066.
Like his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Charles will pledge to “rule according to law, to exercise justice with mercy … and to maintain the Church of England.”
What is the point of maintaining the Church of England if it no longer upholds biblical truth?
Look behind the façade, though, and all may not be quite as it seems. The problem is, our constitutional forms increasingly lack substance.
What is the point of maintaining the Church of England if it no longer upholds biblical truth? How can we agree what justice and mercy look like if we no longer accept Judaeo-Christian morality? And what does it mean to rule according to law if what we used to call rule of law has increasingly given way to rule by lawyers?
God urged ancient Israel to “stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Jeremiah 6:16). When we stand at the crossroads of our nation today, an unwelcome sight greets us.
The newly crowned king will receive an orb (a globe topped by a cross) and sceptre. The orb symbolises Christ’s dominion over the world, and asserts that our kings and queens are Jesus’ representatives on earth.
The sovereign’s sceptre also has a cross, representing the earthly power of the monarch. But in a nation that no longer recognises our heavenly King, the coronation oath threatens to be meaningless and the crown hollow. King, Church, and nation all need our prayers.
People power
A book called ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ by Edward Fitzgerald asserts that the people ultimately hold the power and contains a Petition of Right to the King for the Restoration of the Rule of Law under the constitutional provisions laid down in 1215 (the year Magna Carta was signed), and reasserted over the next 800 years.
In her foreword, Professor Dolores Cahill writes: “These absolute natural rights are above all else, above the creations, documents, constructions of men/women, the so-named man-made, written documents, above the role of Monarch, Church and Parliament.”
Too clever by half
ChatGPT wrote a four page essay in about three seconds, according to a viral video by Professor Jordan Peterson. Peterson’s verdict was that even he wouldn’t be able to tell he hadn’t written it.
In six months’ time, it will be far more intelligent. Elon Musk thinks the world will be controlled by the person who produces the most functioning AI system, the fastest. He, like many others, including the Chinese Communist Party, are working on these systems.
From Trumpet Sounds issue no 146 by Philip Wren: www.trumpetsounds.net
Conservative councillor suspended after Facebook post
Conservative councillor Angela Kilmartin, from Braintree District Council in Essex, was suspended for 21 days after posting on Facebook that she did not want “Pride sex flags” along her high street. She believes that “sex is for the bedroom and private life, not for displaying preferences in public.”