vii. Psalm xxiii

THE Lorde is my shepehearde: therfore can I lacke

Tnothing. He shall fede me in a grene pasture,

He

and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort. shall conuerte my soule, and bryng me foorth in the pathes of righteousnesse for his name sake. Yea, though I walke through the valley of the shadow of death, I will feare no euil : for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staffe comfort me. Thou shalt prepare a table before me, against them that trouble me: thou haste anointed my hed with oyle, and my cup shalbe full. But thy louing kindnesse and mercy shal folow me al the dayes of my lyfe and I will dwell in the house of the Lorde for euer.

:

viii. Psalm xc

LOR Deneration

ORDE, thou hast bene

generation to another.

oure refuge from one Before the mountayns

were brought foorth, or euer the earth & the worlde were made, thou art God from euerlasting, and world without ende. Thou turnest manne to destruction. Agayne thou sayeste, come agayne ye chyldren of men. For a thousand yeres in thy sight ar but as yesterday, seing that is paste as a watche in the night. Assoone as thou scatterest them they ar euen as a slepe, and fade away sodeinly lyke the grasse. In the morning it is greene & groweth vp, but in the euening it is cut downe, dried vp and withered. For we consume away in thy displeasure: and are afrayde at thy wrathfull indignation. Thou hast set our misdedes before thee, and our secrete sinnes in the lyght of thy countenaunce. For when thou art angry, al our dayes are gone we bryng our yeares to an end, as it were a tale that is tolde.

The Navy Prayer

[added to the Book of Common Prayer 1662, and probably composed by Bishop Sanderson]

ETERNAL Lord God, who alone spreadest

out the heavens, and rulest the raging of the sea; who hast compassed the waters with bounds until day and night come to an end; Be pleased to receive into thy Almighty and most gratious protection the persons of us thy servants, and the Fleet in which we serve. Preserve us from the dangers of the sea, and from the violence of the enemy, that we may be a safe-guard unto our most gratious soveraign lord King Charles and his Kingdoms, and a security for such as pass on the seas upon their lawfull occasions ; that the inhabitants of our Island may in peace and quietness serve thee our God, and that we may return in safety to enjoy the blessings of the land, with the fruits of our labours; and with a thankfull remembrance of thy mercies to praise and glorifie thy holy Name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

35

THOMAS CRANMER

Uses of Holy Scripture

1489-1556

OEST thou not mark, & consider how the smith,

DOEST not mar, of

mason, or carpenter, or any other handy craftesman, what nede soeuer he be in, what other shift so euer he make, he wil not sel, nor lay to pledge the toles of his occupation, for then how should he worke his feate or get his liuing therby? Of like minde & affection ought we to be towardes holy Scripture, for as mallets, hammers, sawes, chesils, axes, & hatchets 23 worke his feate) do his job

be the toles of their occupation : So be the bokes of the Prophetes, & Apostles & al holy writers inspired by the holy ghost the instrumentes of our saluation. Wherfore let vs not sticke to bye & prouide vs the Bible, that is to say, the bokes of holy Scripture. And let vs thinke that to be a better Iuel in our house then either gold or siluer. For like as theues bene lothe to assault an house, where they know to be good armoure & artillary, so wheresoeuer these holy & ghostly bokes bene occupied, there nether the deuil, nor none of his angels dare come nere. And they that occupy them bene in much sauegarde, & haue a great consolation, and bene the readier vnto all goodnesse, the slower to al euil : and if they haue done any thing amisse anone euen by the sight of the bokes, their consciences ben admonished, & they waxen sory and ashamed of the facte. Preface to the Great Bible

37

MY

HUGH LATIMER

Decay of the Yeomanry

1491-1555

Y father was a Yoman, and had no landes of hys own, only he had a farme of iii. or iiii. pound by yere at the uttermooste, and here upon he tilled so much as kept halfe a dosen men. He had walke for a hundred shepe, and my mother milked . kyne. He was able and did finde the kyng a harnesse, with himselfe, and his horse, whyle he came to the place that he shoulde receive the kynges wages. I can remembre, that I buckled hys harnesse, when he wente unto Blacke heathe felde. He kept me to schole, or els I hadde not bene able to have preached before 21 walke) pasture

the kinges majesty now. He maryed my systers wyth v. pounde, or xx. nobles a piece, so that he brought them up in godlinesse, and fear of God. He kepte hospitality for his pore neighboures. And some almesse he gave to the pore, and al thys dyd he of the said farm. Where he that now hath it, payeth xvi. pound by yere or more, and is not able to do any thing for his prince, for him selfe, nor for his children, or geve a cup of drink to the pore. Thus al the enhansyng and rearing goth to your private commodity and welth. So that where ye had a single to much, you have that: and sins the same, ye have enhansed the rent, and so have encresed another to muche. So nowe ye have double to muche, which is to to muche. But let the precher preach til his tong be worn to the stomps, nothing is amended. We have good statutes made for the common wealth as touching commeners, enclosers, many metings and sessions, but in the end of the matter, there commeth nothing forthe. Well, well, thys is one thing I wil say unto you, from whence it commeth I know, even from the devil. I know his intent in it. For if ye bring it to passe, that the yomanry be not able to put their sonnes to schole (as in dede universities do wondrously decay al redy) and that they be not able to marrye theyr daughters to the avoidynge of whoredome I say ye plucke salvation from the people, and utterly destroye the realme. For by yomans sonnes, the faith of Christe is, and hath bene maintayned chieflye. Is this realme taughte by rich mens sonnes? No, no, read the chronicles, ye shall finde somtime noble mennes sonnes, whych have bene unpreaching bishops and prelates, but ye shal fynde none of them learned men. But verily, they that shoulde looke to the redresse of these thinges, be the

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greatest againste them. In thys realme are a great many of folkes, and amongest many, I knowe but one of tender zeale, at the mocyon of his pore tenauntes, hath let down his landes to the old rentes for their relief. For Gods love, let not him be a Phenix, let him not be alone, let him not be an Hermite closed in a wal, some good man folow him, and do as he geveth example.

38

AN

First Sermon preached before King Edward VI

Cause and Effect

ND here by the way I wyll tel you a mery toy. Maister Moore was once sent in commission into Kent, to help to try out (if it might be) what was the cause of Goodwin sandes, and the shelfe that stopped up Sandwich haven. Thyther commeth maister More, and calleth the country afore him, such as wer thought to be men of experience and men that could of lykelyhod best certify hym of that matter concerning the stopping of Sandwich haven. Among others came in before hym an olde man with a white head, and one that was thought to be lytle lesse then an hundereth yeares olde. When maister Moore saw thys aged man, he thought it expedient to heare hym say hys mynd in thys matter (for being so olde a man it was lykely that he knewe most of any man in that presence and company.) So Maister Moore called this old aged man unto hym, and sayd: Father (sayd he) tel me if ye can what is the cause of thys great arising of the sandes and shelves here about thys haven, the which stop it up that no shippes can arive here? Ye are the eldest man that I can espye in al thys company,