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Forgive me for writing and mentioning the word Nelson. Some of you, I know,
will be fed up with all the bi-centenary celebrations. However since this
is the month of the 200th anniversary of the death of Lord Nelson
I did just want to comment on his faith. When was the last time you wrote a
prayer? Nelson did write prayers and some of them are very fine prayers.
However there are also some flaws in them.
I
don’t know how much of the writing was culturally determined or how much of
it was Nelson’s sense of his own place in the scheme of things. What
Nelson’s prayers do convey is many of his emotions at that particular moment
when he wrote the prayers. When did we last write in an emotional way to
God or even convey our emotions in our prayer lives? When I said ‘his own
place in the scheme of things’ I was thinking that Jesus is never mentioned
in his prayers. It is as if Nelson has a direct line to God almost as if
they are co-creators. No intermediary is required not even God’s Son
Jesus. In this sense some of his prayers belong more to the Old Testament
era than the New Testament. The following prayer reflects both the emotion
and the direct access to God.
O
God, who knows the purity of, my thoughts and the uprightness of my conduct,
look down I beseech Thee on me, I own of the most unworthy of thy servants,
help and support me, for thou, O Lord, art my only comfort and to thy
infinite mercy alone do I look for support through this transitory life, and
I beseech Thee O, Most merciful God, that in thy good time thou will take me
to thyself and remove me from this world, where I have no friends to comfort
or relieve me even on the bed of sickness of. Relieves me, O Lord, from the
miseries of this world, speedily, speedily, speedily. Amen,
Nelson was in the habit of going to church I quote this from our new guide
book
When
at Merton Place he came regularly to church at St Mary’s Merton. In 1803
Nelson and Emma had their betrothal rings blessed in church in 1803
after a communion service. Nelson contributed to the Easter offering and
gave the then Vicar’s son (Thomas Lancaster) a place as a Volunteer 1st
class on the Victory.
Nelson described Merton as “Paradise Merton” perhaps because that was where
Emma was domiciled together with their daughter Horatia. Nelson returned to
Merton for the last time, after chasing the French fleet to the West Indies,
on
Tuesday 25 August 1805,
and received a rapturous welcome from the inhabitants. On the following
Thursday many of his relations accompanied him to church with Horatia and
Emma where Horatia, aged 4, and Nelson’s brother and sisters with their
families filled the Merton Place pew. Nelson left “dear, dear, Merton” for
the last time on Friday 13th September!
This
dependence on God was then translated into behaviour as well as into his
prayers. The next prayer illustrates Nelson the servant of God
May
the good God who I adore, enable me to fulfil the expectations of my
country, and if it be His good pleasure that I should return, my thanks will
never cease to be offered up to the Throne of His mercy. If it is His good
providence to cut short my days upon earth, I bow with the greatest
submission, relying that he will protect those dear to me that I must leave
behind. His will be done Amen Amen
In
this prayer he commends those he cares about into God’s hands and into his
providence in a similar way in which he hoped the nation would look after
his dependents when he died. Perhaps the best known of Nelson’s prayers is
the one he wrote on the eve of the Battle of Trafalgar. He unashamedly
prays for victory. He conveys in the prayer his understanding of the
strategic importance of the coming battle in the use of the phrase ‘for the
benefit of Europe’. He prays for ‘humanity’ after the battle and that ‘no
misconduct in any way tarnish it’ This prayer reaches the heights of human
aspirations, courage and chivalry and begins with the phrase ‘the Great God
who I worship’ This echoes the previous openings ‘the good God who I adore’
and ‘the god who knows the purity of my thoughts’
May
the Great God who I worship, grant to my country and for the benefit of
Europe in general, a great and glorious victory; and may no misconduct in
any way tarnish it, and may humanity after Victory be the dominant feature
in the British fleet. For myself, individually I commit my life to Him who
made me, and may his blessings light upon my endeavours for serving my
country faithfully. To him I resign myself and the just cause which is
entrusted to me to defend. Amen Amen
Whatever else you might think about Nelson there is no doubt that he daily
worshipped his God and entrusted himself and those he loved to God’s
keeping. It was a living vibrant faith even if at times slightly partial in
its Christology.
There are many events taking place in church this month. They have been
well documented in the newsletter, on the website and in the diary so I
won’t repeat them here
Your priest and friend
Tom
Leary
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