gland somewhat more than three
hundred years ago. Young King Josiah, swearing to govern according to
the law of the Lord, was to them the pattern of young King Edward VI.
determining to govern according to the laws of the Bible. The finding of
the law of the Lord in Josiah's time, after it had been long lost, was to
them the pattern of the sudden spread among them of the Bible, which had
been practically hidden from them for hundreds of years, and was then
translated into English and printed, and put freely into the hands of
every man, rich and poor, who was able to read it. King Josiah's
destruction of the idols, and the temples of the false gods, and driving
out the wizards and workers with familiar spirits, were to them a pattern
of the destruction of the monasteries and miraculous images and popish
superstitions of every kind, the turning the monks out of their convents,
and forcing them to set to honest work--which had just taken place
throughout England. And the hearts of all true Englishmen were stirred
up in those days to copy Josiah and the people of Jerusalem, and turn to
the Lord with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all
their might, according to God's law and gospel, in the two Testaments,
both Old and New.

One would have thought that at such a time the hearts of our forefathers
would be full of nothing but hope and joy, content and thankfulness. And
yet it was not so. One cannot help seeing that in the prayer-book, which
was put together in those days, there is a great deal of fear and
sadness. You see it especially in the Litany, which was to be said not
only on Sundays, but on Wednesdays and Fridays also. Some people think
the Litany painfully sad--too sad. It was not too sad for the time in
which it was written. Our forefathers, three hundred years ago, meant
what they said when they cried to God to have mercy upon them, miserable
sinners, and not to remember their offences nor the offences of their
forefathers, &c. They meant, and had good reason to mean, what they
said, when they cried to God that those evils which the craft and
subtilty of the devil and men were working against them might be brought
to nought, and by the providence of His goodness be dispersed--to arise
and help and deliver them for His name's sake and for His honour; and to
turn from them, for the glory of His name, all those evils which they
righteously had deserved. Th