James Stuart

The name James Stuart may not sound familiar to most Americans today, but it is a name of someone who we have all heard. James Stuart was King James VI of Scotland; at the death of Queen Elisabeth, he became King James I of England. Today his name is well known throughout the English speaking world, because he is the one who authorized the translation of the Bible we call the “King James Version.” James Stuart is also important in American history in a way that few people realise.

The first permanent English settlement in the New World, Jamestown, Virginia, is named for him. But this is not his greatest influence on America. It is another aspect of his rule that influenced the growth of America’s English colonies. James' policies, religious and civil, in Britain contributed greatly to the growth of English settlements in North America. The Pilgrims were trying to escape his tyranny when they landed at Plymouth. A little latter, the Puritans arrived in large numbers to escape his oppressive reign. James hated the devout Presbyterians of Scotland and the Puritans of England, mostly because they denied the pagan teaching of “the Divine Right of Kings ” and once announced that he would drive them from the land. He did drive the Puritans from England in large numbers.

James had the Bible translated for political reasons. It wasn't done because he loved the Christian faith. He was, in fact, a very immoral man. His personal habits would have been readily accepted by the folks of Sodom, Gomorrah and San Francisco. James was a both a drunk and a homosexual. God, in His sovereignty, used this drunken, sexually immoral and evil king to authorise and publish one of the most important translations of the Bible ever made available to the Church. The Authorized Translation has been greatly used in spreading the Gospel into all parts of the world.

God can, and does, use evil rulers to do his will. God's will and providence shall accomplish good for His people. In the case of the Puritans, they suffered harassment and persecution and God used those trying times to establish the Gospel solidly in the New World.

It is vital to remember that the most evil act ever performed by men, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is also used of God to accomplish the greatest good in all of history. It is through this greatest act of human evil that salvation is made possible in Christ Jesus.

God, in his absolute sovereignty over His creation, uses even the evil acts of men to accomplish his will. Man's feeble actions can not thwart God's plans for the present or the future. King James, though an evil ruler, laid the base for America’s Christian foundations. He persecuted the Puritans because of the evil intentions of his heart, but God used it for good. James also gave us the most important translation of the Bible in history.

When things look badly, we must remember that God’s reigns and rules all of His-story. All that takes place in space, time and history is leading to his predetermined holy purposes and will bring glory to the True and Living God.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Kenith