William Lilly Quotes
After that his Majesty was beheaded, the Parliament for some years effected nothing either for the publick peace or tranquillity of the nation, or settling religion as they had formerly promised.
Lilly, William. William Lilly's History of His Life and Times, From the Year 1602 to 1681. Charles Baldwyn, 1822, p. 132.
England had gone through a bloody Civil War with the Parliament on one side and the King on the other. The King lost and was beheaded later that year. See {597353}.
The King, a religious fanatic, was a great supporter of the Inquisition whose excesses were even more horrible during his reign than others.
Lincoln was a deist but he was never a favorite of the official clergy of any of the religions. When he ran for President in 1860, 20 of the 23 clergymen of his home town, Springfield, IL, opposed him. As he assumed office he was much more prudent in his religious remarks and in the view of some historians political realities and pragmatics caused him to be more circumspect. His oldest friend and law partner believed him to be an unbeliever. See {586285}.
This was Executive Privilege of the time. The result of this type of conflict between the executive and the legislative body was a Civil War in which Parliament won. This concept of executive privilege operates to this day in America where the President typically refuses to have his special assistants and staff be questioned by Congressional investigating committees. IT also extends to documents where the President has refused to allow Congress access to papers. In the Watergate scandal, it was the Supreme Court Decision that President Nixon could not claim Executive Privilege with respect to the Watergate tapes. Their exposure forced his resignation.
Martin Luther not only reformed Christianity but was a catalyst for many religious Christian alternatives thereby ending monolithic worldwide Christian religious doctrine and control. He argues that Islam must have a similar reform process.
William Lilly was a seventeenth century English astrologer. He is described as having been a genius at something "that modern mainstream opinion has since decided cannot be done at all" having developed his stature as the most important astrologer in England through his social and political connections as well as going on to have an indelible impact on the future course of Western astrological tradition.
