In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. On this fifth day of November 2020, being Papist Conspiracy Day or Gunpowder Treason Day, celebrated throughout England in nighttime celebrations as Bonfire Night, we thank God for his deliverance from the Roman Catholic or Romanist conspiracy of Guy Fawkes and other Romanists on 5 November 1605 to blow up the Protestant King James I of the King James Bible of 1611. His Protestant son, Prince Charles, who in time became King Charles I, and the Protestant Parliament at Westminster in London. And on this day, we also thank God for the coming of the Protestant King William III of Orange on 5 November 1688, ending the Popish tyranny under the Romanist or Romish King James II, also known as James the Dunghill. And so let us pray two colleagues or prayers from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, Anglican Office of Papists Conspiracy Day. Almighty God, who hast in all ages showed Thy power and mercy in the miraculous and gracious deliverance of Thy Church, and in the protection of righteous and religious kings and states professing Thy holy and eternal truth from the wicked conspiracies and malicious practices of all the enemies thereof, we yield to Thee our unfeigned thanks and praise for the wonderful and mighty deliverance of our gracious Sovereign, King James I, the Queen, the prince and all the royal branches, with the nobility, clergy and commons of England, then assembled in Parliament, by popish treachery, appointed as sheep to the slaughter, in a most barbarous and savage manner, beyond the example of former ages. From this our natural conspiracy, not our merit, but thy mercy, not our foresight, but thy providence, delivered us. And therefore not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name be ascribed all honour and glory in all churches of the saints, from generation to generation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Accept also, most gracious God, of our unfeigned thanks, for filling our hearts again with joy and gladness after the time that thou hadst afflicted us, and putting a new song into our mouths by bringing His Majesty King William for the deliverance from popish tyranny and arbitrary power. We adore the wisdom and justice of Thy providence, which so timely interposed in our extreme danger, and disappointed all the designs of our enemies. We beseech Thee, give us such a lively and lasting sense of what Thou didst then, and hast since that time done for us, that we may not grow secure and careless in our obedience, by presuming upon Thy great and undeserved goodness. but that it may lead us unto repentance, and move us to be the more diligent and zealous in all duties of our religion, which Thou hast in a marvellous manner preserved to us. Let truth and justice, brotherly kindness and charity, devotion and piety, concord and unity, and all other virtues so flourish among us, that they may be the stability of our times, and make this Church with this preacher in it and all those in the true universal Church appraise in the earth. And all which we humbly beg for the sake of our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen. Welcome to all listening to this address. And I modified the second collect on Papers Conspiracy Day to include a reference to the preaching today, and also all those in the Universal or Catholic Church, because I recognize all religiously conservative Protestant Christians who are Orthodox to be part of that Catholic Church. Traditionally in New South Wales, retirement ages for school teachers were either 55 or 60 for a woman and 60 for a man. And although under the new superannuation arrangements that's no longer binding, in practice quite a lot of school teachers will tend to go out at 60. a Quinkagenarian as a man in his 50s, and a Sexagenarian as a man in his 60s. And since January 2020, I'm a Sexagenarian. And since April 2020, I'm a retired schoolteacher of both New South Wales in Australia and London in the United Kingdom. And I thank God for his goodness and mercy unto me. including the fact that in connection with my retirement earlier this year I am privileged to receive a consumer price indexed superannuation annuity for the term of my natural life here on earth or till Christ's second advent, whichever comes first. And so I thank the Lord of heaven and earth for all his goodness and mercy unto me, but most especially for my redemption through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, my associated access to God the Father through Christ, and the gift of eternal life. The first four of the sermons of today, 5 November 2020, is entitled The Spirit of Protestantism I, Gunpowder Treason, Martyrs, and 39 Articles, Homilies, and in it I also make some reference to three relevant matters of religiously conservative Protestant Christianity. To it, firstly, some specific matters of Papist Conspiracy Day. Secondly, an associated matter of remembering some Christian martyrs of importance to Protestant hagiology. and thirdly some comments on the books of homilies in article 35 of the Anglican 39 articles. And an element of the spirit of Protestantism is found in the right balance in understanding and living of the law and gospel as found in the Protestants authoritative Bible. Thus in the book of Romans 3 20 we read, therefore by the deeds of the law There shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Note that the law of the Decalogue of Exodus 20 is not here annulled, but said to be the means by which we gain the knowledge of sin, as opposed to being justified by before God, by keeping it. And this type of usage of the Ten Commandments is also found in Romans 7, 7. I had not known sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But here in Romans 3, we then read in verse 22. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. Meaning between Jews and Gentiles in this matter of salvation. Verse 23. for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And so on the authority of Scripture we have all have sinned, as isolated by the law, through which there is the knowledge of sin. But we are justified before God for the purpose of salvation, not on the basis of our doing the deeds of the law, but rather by faith in the atoning merits of Jesus Christ, who in the words of Romans 5, 6, died for the ungodly." And so we then Do the good works of obedience to God as found in the Ten Commandments, not in order to be saved, but because we are saved, as seen in Romans 13, 9. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And this right understanding and living of the law and gospel, which is part of the spirit of Protestantism, is also found in the book of Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. not of works, lest any man should boast." And while on the one hand the words spoken of Christ in Ephesians 2.15, having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, mean that in the words of Article 7 of the Anglican 39 Articles, the law given from God by Moses as touching ceremonies and rites do not bind Christian men, nor the civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any commonwealth, On the other hand, the words spoken of the Holy Decalogue or moral law found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 and Ephesians 6, 2 and 3, honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth, mean that in the words of Article 7 of the Anglican 39 Articles, no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments, which are called moral. And so the spirit of Protestantism includes in it the right balance in understanding and living the law of Exodus 20 and Gospel of Romans 3, as found in the Protestants' authoritative Holy Bible. Now, today's four sermons are being preached at St Barnabas's Church, Wyombshire, having now relocated from Mangrove Mountain Union Church. My direct sermon audio website is www.sermonaudio.com backslash kingjamesbible. And exactly 11 years ago today on Papers Conspiracy Day 2009, I preached my first internet sermon audio recorded sermon at Mangrove Mountain Union Church, back when my sermons were recorded on cassette tapes. Although to go on to audio sermon internet, or sermon audio internet, so they originally had to be transferred by a computer shop into a digital voice form. And so I later moved over to a digital voice recorder, which is how this, my first internet sermon audio recorded sermon at St. Barnabas's Church, Wyongshire, is being recorded today. And so both my first sermon audio-recorded sermon at Mangrove Mountain Union Church in 2009, and my first sermon audio-recorded sermon at St Barnabas's Church, Wyongshire, in 2020, are preached on Papists' Conspiracy Day. Both of these two churches are in the New South Wales county of Northumberland, which was named in 1804 after the English county of Northumberland, which is in the north-eastern county of England, in which Northumberland means the area north of the Humberland, and the Humber is a large tidal estuary on the north-eastern coast of England, which is sometimes shown on maps as the, quote, River Humber, unquote. St Barnabas's Church, Wyongshire, is located in an attractive leafy forested area of uptown Yarramalong in the county of Northumberland, New South Wales, Australia, and being built in 1885, it has the prestigious heritage distinction of being the oldest surviving church building in Wyongshire, and is listed on the New South Wales State Register. Originally an Anglican church from 1885 to 1977, in 1978 it was acquired by Wyongshire Council just north of Sydney As I say, near Gosford. and St Barnabas's church is now available for general hire. For those looking at my sermon audio page, the keyword section at the bottom of each sermon says at what church it was preached, so that this will show for sermon audio sermons from 2009 to 2019 as a Mangrove Mountain Union Church, or MMUC, and for other sermons from St from 2020 as St Barnabas's Wiong Shire or SBWS. By road, these two churches are about 18 kilometers or 11 miles apart, or about a quarter of an hour drive apart. And if on the first part of my website at www.gavinmcgrabooks.com, you click on Gavin's sermons, or go directly to www.gavinmcgrabooks.com, then scroll down to the bottom of the page you'll see some photos of these churches. The second, third and fourth of the four sermons of today, entitled The Spirit of Protestantism II, James Packer's Damned Soul Splits Hell Wide Open, Parts 1, 2, and 3 respectively, is preached against the backdrop of new or neo-evangelical James Packer's death earlier this year in July 2020. And in it I shall be making some comments on the need to safeguard and protect our Protestant Christian heritage from religious apostasy. And so in the first of four sermons of today entitled the Spirit of Protestantism 1, Gunpowder Treason, Martyrs and 39 Articles, Homilies, and short titled Papists' Conspiracy Day 2020. Firstly, we shall consider some specific matters of Papists' Conspiracy Day, such as the Act of the Westminster Parliament in London, England, known as the Observance of 5th November Act of 16056, in which 5-6 is written like a fraction that looks like five-sixths, but actually means it was 1605 on a 25 March New Year's Day Annunciation Day calendar, or 1606 on a 1 January New Year's Day calendar. On 23 January in what, before 1752, was a 25 March Annunciation Day New Year's Day calendar making this late 1605, or since 1752, on a 1 January New Year's Day calendar making this 1606, a Bill was introduced into Parliament which thereafter required, up till 1859, that Papists' Conspiracy Day be celebrated in Anglican churches, and hence, from just after the events of 1605, Anglican prayer books had the words, quote, Papists' Conspiracy, unquote, on the calendar at 5 November. And while not all prayer book editions used red ink for required holy days, the words Papists' Conspiracy were printed in red ink in those editions in which holy days of required observance in the Anglican Church were printed in red ink, and hence the general name, Red Letter Day. as opposed to black letter days on the calendar for which there is no required observance. And though in conjunction with other calendar changes in 1859, this day was sadly removed from the calendar, nevertheless the importance of the day has continued in England since that time, with the continued associated night-time celebrations of Bonfire Night annually on 5 November, in which it's remembered that the papist conspirators under Guy Fawkes sought to blow up the Protestant King and Parliament with gunpowder, but God delivered the Protestants from the Papists and hence the appropriateness of using gunpowder or something similar in fireworks on this night. By one tradition that I've seen in England, just the effigy of the chief papist's conspirator, Guy Fawkes, known as the Guy, is placed at the top of the bonfire. And by another tradition that I've seen in England, both the Guy and an effigy of the Pope in 1605, Pope Paul V, known as the Pope, is placed at the top of the bonfire. And when I saw a bonfire with both the Guy and the Pope on top of it, they were roped together back to back on two chairs. Now, before the Office of Papists' Conspiracy Day, which dates from 1662, Anglican Protestants remembered Papists' Conspiracy Day from 1606 as a red-lettered day without and office. For the observance of 5th November Act of 16056 required that this day be remembered in Anglican churches with a service of morning prayer and the reading of the said act in that service. Among other things, this Act of 16056 to 1859 describes King James as, quote, the most great learned and religious king that ever reigned therein, unquote. that is, in the Kingdom of England and its Dominions, in which King means this excludes consideration of his immediate predecessor, the Protestant Queen of happy memory, Elizabeth I. And so James I is considered a greater, more learned, and religious king than any kings of four, Henry VIII, as they were pre-Reformation figures. James I is considered a greater, more learned, and religious king than Henry VIII, whose regnal years were 1509 to 1547, and who moved slowly in stages to Protestantism, not completing the transition till his deathbed, at which time he squeezed the hand of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, as a sign that he trusted in Christ alone. and thus embraced Protestant truth. He also had his son, and known successor, Edward VI, raised as a Protestant Christian. And James I is considered a greater, more learned and religious king than Edward VI, whose regnal years were 1547 to 1553, presumably due to his fairly short reign and young death. Furthermore, while the word inspiration is used of God's infallible divine revelation of Holy Scripture in 2 Timothy 3.16, it can have a lesser meaning that God illuminates the mind with wisdom and understanding on certain matters, so that this illumination is miraculous, but in no sense makes the recipient a prophet. Thus Job 32.8 says, But there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. And so, as part of man's being created, in the image of God in Genesis 1.26, like Adam in Genesis 2.7, each man has a spirit or soul, so that we read in Zechariah 12.7 of how the Lord formeth the spirit of man, or in Psalm 139.14, I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and that my soul knoweth right well. And Ecclesiastes 12.7 saith that upon death this soul or spirit shall return unto God who gave it. and we also read in Proverbs 20 27 the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord and further in St. John 1 9 of God as the true light which lighteth every man and so to the Lord's A question of Job 38-36, who hath put wisdom in the inward parts, or who hath given understanding to the heart? The answer of Job 32-8 is, the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Which answer is also found in, for example, Proverbs 2-6, the Lord giveth wisdom. Or Ecclesiastes 2-6, God giveth to a man wisdom. Or James 1-5, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally. And so when Anglicans pray at the communion service in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, Almighty God, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit. Contextually, this is a prayer for God to give wisdom and understanding in order that we may know how to perfectly love God and worthily magnify His holy name through Christ. The teaching of Job 32.8, the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding, is not that a man naturally gets wisdom as he ages, but rather that God giveth the man wisdom. The teaching of James 1.5 is that men should ask of God for wisdom. And the teaching of Psalm 111.10 is, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments. Which is why, for example, there are so many old fools around as lawmakers in the contemporary Western world, who do not attain to anything like the wisdom of the observance of 5th November Act of 1605 or 6 to 1859. And this Job 32.8 meaning of inspiration as the supernatural or miraculous illumination by God of a man, not as a prophet as in 2 Timothy 3.16, but as an Adamite with a spiritual soul in which God gives him wisdom. is relevant to the usage of the words inspiring and miraculously, when this observance of 5th November Act of 16056 says, quote, "...it pleased Almighty God by inspiring the King's most excellent Majesty with a divine spirit to interpret some dark phrases of a letter, above and beyond all ordinary construction, thereby miraculously discovering this hidden treason." Unquote. These are very favourable references to King James I in the Westminster Parliament's observance of the 5th November Act of 1605, 6 to 1859, thus gave a background promotion to the St James Bible that was dedicated to King James I in 1611, and which was commissioned by King James I in connection with the Hampton Court Conference of 1604. And it's notable that after His Majesty King James I, Supreme Governor of the Church of England and Church of Ireland commissioned this great Protestant Christian Bible in 1604, the response of Roman Satan was the Roman Catholic Guy Fawkes Papists conspiracy of 5 November 1605 to blow up the Protestant King and Protestant Parliament with gunpowder. Neither the devil nor Rome has ever responded that way to any of these so-called modern versions. Because in broad terms, they are also degraded and unreliable and inaccurate relative to the King James Bible of 1611. But both the devil and Rome have preferred them as substitutes for the King James Bible of 1611. On the one hand, if it's a case of a man having a modern version or nothing, then he's better off with a modern version. I do not wish to condemn the generality of the modern versions per se, for though they dissent from the original, as found in the best manuscripts in many places, and nor do they come near the higher standards of the King James Version for perspicuity, gravity and majesty, yet is it possible with them to still know enough of God's truth? for a precious soul to be saved through justification by faith, and thereafter to undertake a lower level of sanctification through edification of the word, than one may by the grace of God attain unto with a higher level of sanctification through edification of the word with the much superior authorized King James Bible of 1611. But on the other hand, with such important qualifications, I do say that the sort of person in the English-speaking world who just doesn't make the effort to learn the poetical and archaic forms of English, such as, for example, the King James Bibles, thee, thou, thy, and thine, for you singular, addressing one person, and you, ye, and your, for you plural, addressing two or more persons, as this is a more accurate rendering of the underpinning Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek text. The sort of person who just doesn't make the effort to learn and master the English of the King James Bible because of its connection to Protestant Christian culture in the English-speaking Western world. The sort of person who just doesn't make the effort to learn and master the English of the King James Bible because he's satisfied with the superficial and in varying degrees inaccurate renderings of the modern versions in various passages. The sort of person who just doesn't make the effort to learn and master the English of the King James Bible, because he doesn't trust God to have preserved the underlying Neo-Byzantine text. Greek New Testament received text, and prefers to put his faith in anti-supernaturalist, Neo-Alexandrian Greek New Testament theories of textual transmission. The sort of person who just doesn't make the effort to learn and master the English of the King James Bible, because it further connects him to great Protestant documents, such as the Anglican 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and 39 articles, and various Bible commentaries of much greater value than the generality of the modern ones. That sort of person who just doesn't make the effort with the oracles of the living God, lacking suitable character development in connection with sanctification in the spirit, is in comparison to what he could be, and should be, a spiritually stunted pygmy or dwarf. He still may be some kind of threat to the world, the flesh, and the devil. But his partial accommodation to the world, the flesh, and the devil, means he's correspondingly a much less serious threat to the world, the flesh, and the devil, in opposing, for example, the offers of papal antichrist, in which Satan's personally devil-possessed every pope of Rome since 606-7. He's a less serious threat because Ephesians 617 says that the sword of the spirit is the word of the Lord. And the sort of person who just doesn't make the effort to learn and master the English of the King James Bible, is contempt to use the blunted blade of one of the greatly inferior modern versions, rather than the sharper word of God found in the authorized version of 1611. And so, for example, in Broderick's 1957 concise encyclopedia, with a 1956 imprimata from the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Francis Spellman, we find under the heading, quote, King James Version of the Bible, this translation of the Bible known as the Authorised Version was undertaken at the order of King James I. It is a revision of the Bishop's Bible, 1568. The King James Version became the official Bible of the Church of England, unquote. And after referring to the fact that there are, quote, now other versions, unquote, it then concludes by saying that Roman, quote, Catholics are forbidden to use it, unquote. Please note, that, on the one hand, in this 1957 Popish work, with a 1956 Romish imprimata, though other versions are now said to exist, such as at that time the revised version of 1881 to 1885, American Standard Version of 1901, Moffat's Bible of 1926 and 1935, or the revised Standard Version of 1952, it does not say that Romanists are forbidden to use them. But on the other hand, adding the word Roman before Catholic, so as not to commit one of the Revelation 13 blasphemies of papal Rome, it does say of the, quote, King James version of the Bible, Roman Catholics are forbidden to use it, unquote. And when in connection with the 1604 Hampton Court Palace meeting in London, King James I commissioned the King James Bible, the devilish fury of hell was unleashed via his instrument. of the Church of Rome, which is the Church of Antichrist. with a papist conspiracy of 5 November 1605 to blow up the Protestant Christian King and Protestant Christian Parliament with gunpowder, hoping thereby, if such a thing were possible, to destroy the wonderful truths of Protestantism, and to reintroduce the horrible errors of Romanism, and cruelly impose the Church of Rome, which is the Church of Antichrist, upon Protestant Christian England and its dominions. Hear now that Act of 16056 to 1859, which was required by law of the Westminster Parliament in London to be read in Anglican churches on this Red Letter Day of Papers to Conspiracy Day in connection with a church service. The celebration of this day having been announced to parishioners at morning prayer on the previous Sunday. It says, Quote, an act for a public thanksgiving to almighty God every year on the fifth day of November. For as much as almighty God hath in all ages showed his power and mercy in the miraculous and gracious deliverance of his church, and in the protection of religious kings and states, and that no nation of the earth hath been blessed with greater benefits than this kingdom now enjoyeth, having the true and free profession of the gospel under our most gracious sovereign Lord, King James, the most great, learned, and religious king that ever reigned therein, enriched with the most hopeful and plentiful progeny, proceeding out of his royal loins, promising continuance of this happiness and profession to all posterity. The witch, many malignant and devilish papists, Jesuits and seminary priests, much envying and fearing, conspired most horribly, when the King's most excellent Majesty, the Queen, the Prince and all the Lord's spiritual and temporal and commons, should have been assembled in the Upper House of Parliament, upon the 5th day of November, in the year of our Lord, 1605, suddenly, to have blown up the said whole house with gunpowder. and invention, so inhuman, barbarous, and cruel, as the like was never heard before of, and was, as some of the principal conspirators thereafter confessed, purposely devised and concluded, to be done to the said house. That where sundry necessary and religious laws for preservation of the church and state were made, which they falsely and slanderously termed cruel laws, enacted against them and their religion, both place and person should be all destroyed and blown up at once. which would have turned to the utter ruin of this whole kingdom had it not pleased Almighty God by inspiring the king's most excellent majesty with a divine spirit, to interpret some dark phrases of a letter showed to his majesty above and beyond all ordinary construction, thereby miraculously discovering this hidden treason not many hours before the appointed time for the execution thereof, Therefore, the King's most excellent majesty, the Lord's spiritual and temporal, and all his majesty's faithful and loving subjects, do most justly acknowledge this great and infinite blessing, to have proceeded merely from God, his great mercy, and to his most holy name, to ascribe all the honour, glory and praise, and to the end, this unfeigned thankfulness, may never be forgotten. but be had in perpetual remembrance, that all ages to come may yield praises to His Divine Majesty for the same, and have in memory this joyful day of deliverance. Be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, the Lord Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by authority of the same, that all and singular Ministers in every Cathedral and Parish Church, or other usual place for common prayer, within this realm of England, and the Dominions of the same, shall always, upon the fifth day of November, say morning prayer, and give unto Almighty God thanks for this most happy deliverance, and that all, and every person and persons inhabiting within this realm of England, and the dominions of the same, shall always, upon that day, diligently and faithfully resort to the parish, church, or chapel accustomed, or to some usual church or chapel, where the said morning prayer, preaching, or other service of God shall be used, and then, and there to abide orderly and soberly during the time of the said prayers, preaching, or other service of God there to be used, and minister." and because all and every person may be put in mind of this duty and then better prepared to the said holy service be it enacted by authority aforesaid that every minister shall give warning to his parishioners publicly in the church at morning prayer the Sunday before every fifth day of November for the due observation of the said day and after that and that after morning prayer or preaching, upon the said 5th day of November, they shall read publicly, distinctly, and plainly, this present act." Unquote. And I should also mention the papal conspiracy day tradition of Anglican churches ringing bells on this day in celebration of God's deliverance of Protestantism from potpourri. Before the 19th century rise of such undesirables as Puseates, semi-Puseates and religious liberals, this was formerly a much more common practice than what it now is. Although when I was at Lewes in England for Bonfire Night 2008, and by tradition the Bishop of Lewes is meant to be an evangelical, an Anglican church in downtown Lewes, that uses only the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, was in harmony with this tradition, ringing the church bells throughout the day on 5 November. And on Papist Conspiracy Day, the associated nighttime celebrations of Bonfire Night, remember the tradition of Anglican churches ringing church bells on this day in celebration of Protestant Christianity with a firework known as a Catherine Wheel. Now that's because St Catherine is remembered in the Anglican 1662 Book of Common Prayer with a black letter day on 25 November. And the tradition that she was martyred on a spiked wheel gave rise to an old English tradition that when church bells were rung by a wheel and rope mechanism, these Catherine wheel bells might be used as a reminder of St Catherine the Virgin and Martyr. And so Anglican bell ringers might be said to pull the rope on the Catherine wheel. Hence the bonfire night lighting of the firework known as a Catherine Wheel, to some extent continues the memory of bell ringing on this day in Anglican churches. And it's also found in the words, quote, make the bells ring, unquote, in the traditional bonfire night ditty that I shall now rehearse, which I should mention uses the word God Save the King as a historic reference to King James I. Remember, remember the 5th of November, the gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot. Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent, To blow up the King and Parliament, Three score barrels of powder below, For all England to overthrow, By God's providence he was catched, With a dark lantern and burning match, HALOA BOYS! HALOA BOYS! Make the bells ring! HALOA BOYS! HALOA BOYS! God save the King! HIP HIP HURRAH! HIP HIP HURRAH! and having firstly made some reference to some specific matters of Papists' Conspiracy Day. Secondly, given that Papists' Conspiracy Day and the associated nighttime celebration of Bonfire Night are by tradition a celebration of Protestantism and used more generally to remember and thank God for his truthfulness of Protestant Christianity as opposed to the falsehood of Romanism and semi-Romanism, and any other religion. I now come to an associated matter of remembering some Christian martyrs of importance to Protestant hagiology. Now, Foxe's Book of Martyrs is the classic Protestant hagiology, although watch out for any religiously apostate edition, such as Chadwick's Bridge Logos edition of 2001 from Florida, USA, whose section one on the first 16 centuries is broadly normative, but it's then got other parts added to it which falsely claim that various religious apostates should be likewise celebrated, such as a false prophet claiming new revelations of the spirit, seditious persons, cultists, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox. But a decent edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs is the classic Protestant hagiology. It is the hagiological matching half to the calendar on the Anglican 1561 and 1662 calendars, as now found in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. And under Queen Elizabeth I, it was ordered that a copy of Foxe's Book of Martyrs be chained into every Anglican church, that a minister might read from it, or When a service was not on, men might go in and read it, or it might be read out loud to any listeners to the church. And the relative big sevenfold overview of Protestant hagiology in Foxe's Book of Martyrs is firstly, pagan Rome persecuting and martyring Christians. Secondly, some others like the Aryan heretics also persecuting Christians. And of course, a later form of such Aryanism is the Mohammedan persecution of Christians. And then thirdly, Papal Rome persecuting and martyring Christians. Fourthly, following the rise of temporal power in the Roman Church, with the first of the Papal States in 756, and later misnamed, quote, holy, unquote, Roman Empire from 800 AD, the true believers were pushed out of the Roman Church on the continent. Although, with the lone exception of the trial of Knights Templars in England, with enforcement provisions, were generally absent, such enforcement provisions were generally absent in England to the late 14th and early 15th centuries because the English government didn't generally persecute those disagreeing with Rome. And so, the fourth division of this sevenfold division in Foxe's Book of Martyrs is found in the Associated Record of Persecution by Papal Rome on the European Continent. of the Proto-Protestant Waldensians, who at the time of the Reformation became Protestants. And in that context, you can refer to the Waldensians at Albi, France as Albigensis, in which Fox picks up the trail of the Waldensians from about 1000 AD. Then, fifthly, the Papal Rome's persecution, as seen in the martyrdoms of the Proto-Protestant reformers, Huss of Bohemia and Jerome of Prague, both of whom were martyred by Rome in the mid-15th century. Sixthly, other than for the trial of Knights Templars, the Romish Inquisition didn't come to England until after John Wycliffe's death in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and so inside the Roman Church, as it was more leniently and tolerantly administered under the English government, than on the continent in England, comes the Morning Star of the Reformation, John Wycliffe in the 14th century, and then the Proto-Protestant Lollards are persecuted and martyred by Rome, till at the time of the Reformation the Lollards become Protestants. And seventhly, in the 16th century the Reformation started under Martin Luther, recovers the Gospel of Justification by faith alone and an authoritative Bible, and the Protestants of the Reformation are then persecuted and martyred by Rome, for example in the 1550s under Bloody Mary, ending with the triumph of Protestantism under Elizabeth I in 1558. And then Rome continues to persecute and martyr Protestants such as, for example, those in France in the 1572 massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, Now, one needs that relevant, big, seven-fold picture of Protestant hagiology from Foxe's Book of Martyrs to understand an important component of what it means to be a Protestant Christian. And in this context, while there are many worthy Protestant Christian confessors and martyrs that might be remembered today, as set forth in various editions of the classic Protestant hagiology of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, it being 2020, on this Papist Conspiracy Day, I wish to especially remember two groups of martyrs whose anniversary year it is in 2020. Firstly, it's the 500th anniversary year, that's 1520 to 2020, of the Lollards known as the Coventry Martyrs. And secondly, it's a 200th anniversary year, that's 1820 to 2020, of Protestant confessors and martyrs of Nimes in France who were martyred from 1814 to 1820. A memorial in Coventry, England, remembers nine Lollards martyred for their Protestant for Proto-Protestant and Protestant Christian beliefs in connection with their derivation from the teachings of the Morning Star of the Reformation, John Wycliffe, who died in 1384, and also from the teachings of Luther. And there was an article on the Lollard Martyrs of Coventry in the March-April 2019 edition of the Reformer, which is published by the Protestant Alliance, founded in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century, by the Low Church Evangelical Anglican Lord Shaftesbury, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. And I should also mention that the General Secretary of the Protestant Alliance from 1993 to 2014, Stephen Scott Pearson, who was a Baptist minister and personally known to me, passed away earlier this year on 6 May 2020, aged 73. Now, in this 2019 Protestant Alliance article on the Lollard Christian Martyrs of Coventry, it says, quote, the Lollards were present in many parts of England and reached Scotland. They came from various social classes. They took great risks to preach the Gospel and disseminate handwritten copies of the Scriptures. These spiritual forebears of ours stood for the truth of the Bible. They were not ashamed of the Saviour. They did not unnecessarily court martyrdom, yet they gave their lives for Christ and His Gospel. In our days of spiritual decline, political correctness, anti-Christian attitude, we are faced with challenges which demand a firm stand. We will face persecution. Do we love our Saviour as to make ours the words of the Apostle Paul, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." With that, a final reference from Philippians 1.21 in the Saint James Bible. Exact dates are not always known, but as background to the nine Lollards who were martyred between 1511, plus or minus one year, and 1522, that we shall in due course come to, the reformer article of the Protestant Alliance refers to a Lollard spiritual revival in Coventry, England in the 1480s, which resulted in the Roman Catholic Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield prosecuting eight Lollard Christian men for heresy, who were then forced to do penance. and persecution of the Lollards then continued under his successor as Romish Bishop of Coventry-in-Litchfield, Geoffrey Blythe. Nine Lollards were martyred between 1511, plus or minus one year, and 1522, and around 1511 to 1512, 74 Christian Lollards were summoned to appear before the Romanist court of the Popish Bishop of Coventry-in-Litchfield, Geoffrey Blythe, a bigoted papist. Under duress a number signed abdurations and nine of them were later martyred by being burnt at the stake. Records of the time indicate that the Christian Lollards were persecuted and killed between 1511, plus or minus one year, and 1522, because, for example, they had in their possession scriptures in English. And those martyred in 1520 had in their possession Protestant literature. And so these Protestant Christian martyrs were transitional figures from being proto-Protestant Lollards to being Protestant Christians. Thus those Christians martyred by papal Rome in 1520 and 1522 have the unusual distinction of being classified by the Bible as both Lollards and Protestants. For as the Reformation progressed, the Lollards became Protestants. The relevant nine Christian Lollard martyrs who were firstly, before the Reformation, which started under Martin Luther in 1517, Joan Ward or Washingby in 1511, plus or minus one year. A Christian lady who had been persecuted and made to abjure Lollard beliefs in about 1495 at Maidstone. And lastly, after the Reformation, which started under Martin Luther in 1517, in 1522, Robert Silkby or Silksby, who appears to have served a central organizational role as a librarian to other lalads, being the central point librarian from which various portions of scripture in English, tracts and commentaries were borrowed from and returned to. Robert Silksby would have been burnt at the stake with the other seven Lollard martyrs of Coventry in 1520, that we shall in due course come to, but he escaped from Romish hands, though was then later tracked down by the papist hounds of hell, who smelt the sweet heavenly aroma of a Protestant Christian Lollard. Reflective of some of the dating difficulties, the Coventry Memorial gives the martyrdom date for the remaining seven martyrs as 1519, but it's more commonly dated to 4 April 1520, at which time the remaining seven of the nine Coventry martyrs were made victims of Antichrist papal Rome. which, in the words of Daniel, 725, did wear out the saints of the Most High. The records indicate those remaining seven Lollards martyred of 15, martyrs of 1520, had not only scriptures in English, but also some early Protestant literature from the Reformation, commencing in 1517. They were both at the stake in 1520, and so this is the 500th anniversary year of their martyrdom. The seven martyrs were firstly Mr. Archer, a shoemaker. Secondly, Mr. Thomas Bond, a shoemaker. Thirdly, Mr. Hawkins, a shoemaker or skinner. Fourthly, Mr. Robert Hockett or Hatchet or Hatches, a shoemaker or leather dresser. Fifthly, Mr. Ringsham, a glover. And sixthly, Mr. Thomas Lansdale, a tailor. The seventh was a widow, Joan, known variously by her former marriage surname of Lansdale, as Joan Lansdale, as she was widowed from the Lollard Richard Lansdale, or by the surname of her second husband as Mrs. Joan Smith. And so Joan Lansdale, later Joan Smith, was possibly, though not definitely, a closer family relative, such as a widowed first cousin by affinity, or a widowed sister-in-law of the fellow 1520 martyr, Thomas Lansdale. But when the widow, Mrs. Joan Smith, formerly Mrs. Joan Lansdale, was about to be discharged by a Romish court, a super-snooper-papist prison guard suddenly found something tucked up and concealed in her sleeve. To her captive, popish, Church of Antichrist horror, she had in English copies of the Lord's Prayer. the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles' Creed. These, together with baptism and communion, are three of five great symbols of the Christian faith, found in Protestant catechisms, such as Luther's short catechism of 1529, or the Anglican short catechism of the 1662 prayer book, and the possession, in English, of not one, not two, but three of these five great symbols of the Christian faith. To wit, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Apostles' Creed immediately sealed her doom at the hands of papal Rome, who ordered her to be done to death by being burnt at the stake with the other six Lollard martyrs of 1520. Now, in connection with the Romanist counter-Reformation, the Church of Rome felt forced to produce some things, such as the Latin text-based Dewey Rheams Bible and Ten Commandments in English. But before the Reformation, they generally concealed it all in Latin. And the Anglican 39 Articles, Article 35, Homily 21, Book 2 says, quote, Lest the poor people should know too much, the Bishop of Rome would not let them have as much of God's Word as the Ten Commandments, holy and perfectly, withdrawing from them the Second Commandment." And so the Roman Church is selectively antinomian, in that it circulates a form of the Ten Commandments that splits the Tenth Commandment of Exodus 20.17 into two, which in its summary form in Romans 7.7 is, Thou shalt not covet, and then leaves out the Second Commandment of Exodus 24-6, prohibiting idolatry, which in its summary form is, Thou shalt not make, bow down to, nor serve any graven image, such as the idolatrous Romish veneration of statues of saints. or the idolatrous Roman adoration of the consecrated communion elements at the Roman Mass. Now, bearing in mind that the Coventry Lollards used Mr. Robert Silkby, or Silksby, as a central point librarian from which literature was borrowed and returned to, we can reasonably deduce that the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles' Creed in English, that was found concealed on the person of Mrs. Joan Smith, and which constituted evidence in the Roman Catholic Court requiring the death of this Lollard Protestant Christian, would have been more generally reflective of the more general beliefs and practices of these Coventry Lollard Christians. And the 2019 Reformer article of the Protestant Alliance says that under the Romish Bishop of Coventry in Litchfield, Geoffrey Blythe, Lollards, quote, were burned in Coventry for having taught their children the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles' Creed in the English tongue. It is interesting to notice that they were burned for knowing the Ten Commandments in English, which would have made them aware of the idolatry of Rome. The Lord's Prayer would have made them compare the prayer Jesus taught his disciples with the blasphemous litanies offered to dead saints, the Virgin Mary, and angels. Prayer was now offered directly to God, without the necessity of man-made mediators." And I would add that given these Christian law laws had holy scripture in English and some early Protestant Christian literature, it follows that important elements of the Apostles' Creed concealed by Rome would, by the illuminating power of God the Holy Ghost, have also been knowable to them. For instance, the fact that they had access to Wycliffe's English Bible of 1388, which uses in where the King James Bible of 1611 uses on, in the words of St. John 3.36, he that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life, would have meant that they could understand the need for saving faith in Christ as man's only saviour from sin. And so the true meaning of the words of the Apostles Creed, I believe in Jesus Christ, And so let me say to any professing evangelical Protestant Christians who come under the sound of this message, that when we consider these three great symbols of the faith, namely the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Apostles' Creed, we would do well to remember the cost paid by such Lollards, some of whom were early Protestants, for the freedom, which by the grace of God we Protestant Christians now have, to say and study the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Apostles' Creed in English, and to also have and study the Holy Scriptures in the English tongue, such as found in the 1611 King James Bible. And so on this 500th anniversary year of 1520 to 2020, let us thank God for the witness made by the Lollard Christian Martyrs of Coventry, who were made by the Church of Rome, which is the Church of Antichrist, to pay for what, by the grace of God, are our religiously conservative Protestant Christian freedoms, to pay for these with nothing less than the price of their very lives. And so in harmony with the more general spirit of Papist Conspiracy Day, in which God is thanked for his deliverance of Protestantism from potpourri, let us honour the memory of these brave Lollard Christian martyrs of Coventry, who are the spiritual forebears of we religiously conservative Protestant Christians. And on this Pope's Conspiracy Day 2020, let us also remember it's a 200th anniversary year, that's 1820 to 2020, of Protestant confessors and martyrs at Popish hands in Nimes in France, who were martyred from 1814 to 1820. Now a record of these confessors and martyrs may be found in William Byron Forbush's 1926 edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, which was reprinted in 1962 by Zondervan in Michigan, USA, in chapter 21 entitled, Persecutions of the French Protestants in the South of France during the years 1814 and 1820. This edition of Fox's Book of Martyrs records how in this part of France, there was almost a continual persecution of Protestant Christians following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which had granted religious tolerance to Protestants. And from 1685 to the French Revolution, the Papists persecuted the Protestants through to 1790, and they would run through the city of Nimes and freely attack Protestants with swords and forks. Now, while the French Revolution went through different phases in its attitude to both Roman Catholics and Protestants, in time it did give religious freedom to Protestants, such as the great French scientist, Cuvier. But following the demise of Napoleon Bonaparte and the arrival of King Louis XVIII in Paris in 1814, while tolerance to Protestants such as Baron Cuvier continued in Paris and elsewhere in France, down in the south, in and around Nimes, where there had been a strong practice of persecuting and martyring Protestant Christians before the French Revolution, The return of the king, Louis XVIII in 1814, was interpreted by those in and around Nimes to mean they could now reintroduce the type of persecution and murder of Protestants that they had engaged in before the French Revolution under, for example, Louis XVI. And so during the years 1814 to 1820, while the French government did not overtly condone these actions in Nimes, nor did they seek to realistically restrain them by, for example, sending culturally Parisian French troops down to Nimes with orders to protect the Protestants. And so in practice, there was a non-enforcement of law and order provisions against those persecuting or murdering Protestants. For example, the mayor of Nimes, Mr Castleton, was a Protestant, and when he appeared in public, potatoes were thrown at him, with those doing these things exempt from legal restraint, with similar things happening in towns in that general area of southern France. There were a number of persecutions and martyrdoms of Protestants during these years of 1814 to 1820. For example, some NIMS Protestants first fled to Convenes and the Garden Anchor. At the country houses of Mrs. Ray, Guy Ray, and others, their houses were vandalized. And when a papist entered, he asked an old woman if she was a Roman Catholic. And in order to save her life, she said she was. He then asked her to say the Latin, Pati nostra and Ave Maria, which she couldn't do. And so he bashed her to the ground with his musket. She then escaped. The Papists then demanded to know of a man named Laudet. Quote, are you a Protestant? Unquote. He replied, I am. And he was immediately shot with a musket and he fell to the ground, wounded but not dead. The Papists then lighted a fire with straw and boards and threw him into the flames while he was still alive. And this is just one of a number of permitted murders perpetrated against Protestants by Papists at this time. The Protestant Christians in Paris presented a petition to Louis the 18th on behalf of their brethren in Nimes, among other things saying, quote, ''We lay at your feet our acute sufferings. In your name our fellow citizens are slaughtered and their property laid waste.'' On the 15th of July 1815, the houses of the principal inhabitants, professing the reformed religion, were attacked and plundered. Terror has driven from our city, the most respectable inhabitants. Your Majesty has been deceived if there has not been placed before you the picture of the horrors which make a desert of nymphs. Arrests are continually taking place and religious opinions the only cause. The Protestants attacked Save us, Sire, a single act of your will would restore its population. Demand an account of their conduct from the chiefs who have brought our misfortune upon us. We place before your eyes all the documents that have reached us." But while I do not know if it was because the King was unwilling to do so, or politically unable to do so, in either instance, sadly, nothing was done by the King to help the Protestants of Nimes at that time in 1815. And so it was that between 1814 and 1820, the Papists of Nimes in southern France, without restraint, persecuted and killed Protestant Christians of the Reformed religion. At times chanting, quote, we will wash our hands in Protestant blood and make black puddings from Calvin's children's blood. Unquote. And so on this papist conspiracy day in which God is thanked for his deliverance of Protestantism from potpourri, on this 2020, 200th anniversary year of 1820, we thank God for the termination of this persecution in 1820. And we remember our Protestant Christian confessors and martyrs of Nimes in France, who were made confessors and martyrs for the faith of Christ between 1814 and 1820. And so, having firstly considered some specific matters of paper's conspiracy day with the gunpowder treason plot of 5 November 1605 to blow up the Protestant Christian King in Parliament, and secondly an associated matter of remembering some Christian martyrs of importance to Protestant hagiology in both the Lollard Protestant Christian martyrs of Coventry in England, with special reference to those of 1520, and also the reformed Protestant Christian confessors and martyrs of Nimes in France from 1814 to 1820, We now come to the third of three issues being considered in this sermon on this paper's Conspiracy Day 2020. To it, some comments on the books of homilies in Article 35 of the Anglican 39 Articles, and the spirit of Protestantism in them, for which Thomas Cranmer and others were made Protestant Christian martyrs in the 1550s under the Popish Queen, Bloody Mary. Now, with respect to the 39 articles, the first thing I would say is, we are low church evangelical Anglicans upholding the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and 39 articles, take a plain and literal grammatical sense interpretation, which means that they are understood in a classic reformed Protestant manner, which, for instance, entirely repudiates the absurd and ridiculous anti-Protestant interpretations brought to these articles of religion. religion by the semi-Romanist Pusiates then, semi-Pusiates from the 19th century. Secondly, some matters in the 39 articles are understood to refer to how Anglican churches should be run and are not intended to be imposed on Protestants meeting in non-Anglican churches. Thus, for instance, in the words of articles 23 and 26 requiring a bishop over ministers preaching or ministering, contextually this applies to Anglican churches, and it's not meant to be imposed on Protestants with different views, or indeed on Anglicans preaching in a non-Anglican church. And this is seen, for instance, in the presence of a Lutheran church in London with the minister Pastor Gerhard Martens, who died in 1686, appointed in 1668, making the point that Episcopal church government was not required. by divine law, as Archbishop Lord had falsely claimed, but rather something found to be useful and good, and so retained by Anglicans at the Reformation. And under Article 34 of the 39 Articles was something every particular or national church had authority to ordain, change or abolish. And so on the site of All Hallows, the great church of England, which burnt down in the Great Fire of London in 1666, King Charles II issued a Royal Warrant in 1669 for Lutherans to have, quote, a late parish of Trinity under Yised residence following the Lutheran confession and their successors residing in our City of London." Which was consecrated in 1674 as Trinity Lutheran Church London, although after about 200 years it was demolished in 1873 for the building of the London Underground Railway Station. mansion house near St Paul's Cathedral. Or in 1683, Princess, later Queen Anne, married the Lutheran Prince George and he had two Lutheran chaplains. And later came the 1689 Act of Toleration. And so some matters in the 39 articles refer to how Anglican churches should be run and are not intended to be imposed on Protestants meeting in non-Anglican churches. And the third thing I would say, of some importance given that I am known to quote Article 35 of the Anglican 39 Articles, is that while Article 35 doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, and necessary for these times, it doth also contain some other material. Let us consider three examples of this. one from Book 1 and two from Book 2 of the homilies. The first example shall show that the words of Article 35 of the homilies doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, and necessary for these times, contextually recognize that it doth also contain some other material not applicable beyond the Elizabethan times that they were first issued in. The second and third examples shall show that the words of Article 35, the homilies, doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, and recognize that it doth also contain some other erroneous material. The first of three examples we shall consider shall show that the words of Article 35, the homilies, doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, and necessary for these times, contextually recognized, but it does also contain some other materials not applicable beyond the Elizabethan times that they were first issued in. Thus, at least in its present form, this other material should in later times be either explained in its historical context or in some way modified to later times. This is seen in the fact, with reference to Queen Elizabeth I, whose regnal years were 1558 to 1603, Book II, Homily XXI, says at the end of Part 1, quote, let us make continual prayers unto Almighty God, even from the bottom of our hearts, that he will give his grace, power and strength unto our gracious Queen Elizabeth, to vanquish and subdue all, as well rebels at home as foreign enemies, unquote. And then this homily has not once, not twice, but thrice. A first at the end of part one, a second time at the end of part two, and a third time at the end of part three, a prayer to quote, most mighty God, unquote, which includes the words, quote, oh Lord, thy servant and our governor under thee, our Queen Elizabeth and all thy people committed to her charge, unquote. And so while the principles in that prayer may be modified to pray for a subsequent monarch, after the Elizabethan times of Queen Elizabeth I, whose regnal years were 1558 to 1603, it's clear that in its present form as found in the homilies and as printed in the homilies after the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, that the words of article 35 of the 39 articles of the homilies, quote, doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine and necessary for these times, unquote, was in some matters understood to mean what is said is not applicable beyond Elizabethan times. The second three examples we shall consider shall show that the words of Article 35, the homilies doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, recognize that it doth also contain some other erroneous material. As is more fully discussed in my St. Brice's Day sermon of November 2019, the books of homilies, book 2, homily 4, part 4, refers to, quote, the Chalcedon Council, one of the four first general councils, the fathers assembled there, considering with themselves how acceptable a thing fasting is, decreed in that council, unquote, but then erroneously refers to what was said by the Council of Chalon in France on fasting, rather than what was said by the Council of Chalcedon in Asia Minor on fasting. Now the big point that this homily makes is still correct, namely that the Council of Calc... the Calcidon... sorry, that, quote, the Calcidon Council, one of the four general councils, decreed fasting, unquote. And so in ancient times, quote, this teacheth fasting was used, unquote. And this post-New Testament teaching of fasting, quote, continued usage both by the prophets of other godly... and other godly persons before the coming of Christ, and also of the apostles and other devout men in the New Testament of fasting, unquote. Nevertheless, to the extent that this homily does not actually cite what the Council of Chalcedon said on fasting, but rather erroneously cites what the Council of Shallon says on fasting, we see how this homily doth contain a mix of both error in its incorrect citation and also godly and wholesome doctrine. such as the biblical teaching on fasting found in St. Matthew 6, 16-18, and St. Mark 2, 18-20, where Christ clearly expects that his followers will undertake some form of fasting, which includes the option of the lesser discipline of abstinence, such as, for example, forgoing milk in one's tea or coffee or chocolate, or something sweet during Lent, other than on a feast day such as Sunday, not as some Romish act of works righteousness, but in order to remember the sourness of sin. And the third of three examples we shall consider shall once again show that the words of Article 35, that the homilies doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, are recognized that it doth also contain some erroneous material. Now, with regard to the third example, which I'll shortly consider, let me first say that it should be noted that book one of the homilies was published in 1547, receiving the assent of convocation in 1552-3, and book two of the homilies was first published in 1559, whereas the 39 articles were composed in Latin in 1562, and first published in Latin in 1563, and rendered into English in 1570, and first published in English in 1571. And so between the time of the 39 articles composition in 1562 and the second book of homilies in 1559 is about three years. And back to the first book of homilies in 1547 is about 15 years. And during this time, the Church of England was working through and advancing through various issues as part of the Anglican Reformation. And so there are some things in the homilies that the Anglican Church herself came upon more, more study and matured reflection of God's Word to jettison in the wider 39 articles. For example, it is thought Cranmer personally wrote some of them. For instance, it is thought he most likely wrote Book 1 homilies 1, 3, 4, and 5, and that as Archbishop he was some kind of editor and or approver of others. For instance, Book 1 homily 2 was written by the Archdeacon of London, John Harpsfeld, or Harpsfield. And some think book 1, homilies 8 and 9 were composed by Bishop Nicholas Ridley, martyred for his Protestant Christianity by the Romish Queen Bloody Mary in 1555. And some think book 1, homily 12 was composed by Bishop Hugh Latimer, martyred for his Protestant Christianity by the Romish Queen Bloody Mary in 1555. But while the identifications of Latimer and Ridley as the composers of these homilies is not certain, it is certain that the first book of homilies of 1547 circulated under bishops Latimer and Ridley, and indeed, referring to them in March 1549, Bishop Latimer says, the priest read them never so well, unquote. And in 1550, Bishop Ridley issued an injunction, quote, that the homilies be read orderly, without omission of any part, unquote. And the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace Thomas Cranmer, martyred for his Protestant Christianity by the Romish Queen, Bloody Mary, in 1556. was strongly associated with the first book of homilies, first published in 1547, some 15 years before the 39 articles of 1562. Thus the first book of homilies of 1547 came before the sad horrors of the popish reign of Bloody Mary, whose regnal years were 1553 to 1558. And so after the associated happy restoration of Protestant Christianity under Queen Elizabeth II, whose regnal years were 1558 to 1603, it came to be regarded as part of the cultural treasures from the time of freedom under Protestantism during the reign of King Edward VI, whose regnal years were 1547 to 1553. And hence the first book of homilies as restored under Queen Elizabeth I was a celebration of the freedom of the gospel under Edward VI. and in Anglican hagiology regarded as memorials of its confessors and martyrs, so cruelly persecuted and killed under the Roman Catholic Queen Bloody Mary. And like other Protestant reformers, Cranmer worked through issues, as seen in the difference between his semi-Romanist 1549 prayer book and his Protestant prayer book of 1552. And we shall shortly consider an issue in the first book of homilies that Anglicans were still working through and ultimately changed their mind on in the 39 articles of 1562, in which a pre 39 articles erroneous view is stated in the first book of homilies. But before considering that issue, which is the third of three examples we shall consider. Let me say that while the issue of why any such error was not corrected is interpretive, by deductive reasoning, three reasons appear to emerge. Firstly, as recorded in the great Protestant Christian hagiology, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, for his embrace of Protestant Christianity, Thomas Cranmer died as a Protestant martyr, in 1556, at the hands of the Romish Queen Bloody Mary, and so the 1662 Anglican Book of Common Prayer traditionally has printed in the front of it the 1559 Act of Queen Elizabeth I, reviving Cranmer's 1552 Protestant Prayer Book, and this says that whereas Cranmer's 1552 Protestant quote Book of Common Prayer was taken away by Queen Mary to the great decay of the due honour of God and discomfort to the professors of the truth of Christ's religion, be it therefore enacted by the authority of this Parliament that the repealed shall be void and of none effect." And so the first reason that the first book of homilies was not so corrective appears to have been out of respect for the memory of this Marian martyr, whose name is so strongly associated with the first book of homilies. Secondly, in the context of a Protestant Christian state, the importance under the establishment principle of a godly king. This is seen in the fact that in the Anglican 1662 Book of Common Prayer, The anniversary of accession day of a reigning sovereign, which for Queen Elizabeth II is 6 February, receives the Anglican Church's highest liturgical honour, of a red-letter day with its own office. The underpinning theology for this is largely found in Article 37 of the 39 Articles, which means that because the Sovereign is Supreme Governor of the Church of England, even though that is now very largely a titular position, it means that no one else holds this position. And hence the words of Article 37, quote, the Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction, unquote. gives rise to a traditional Anglican usage of Accession Day, dating from the time of Queen Elizabeth I, in which Accession Day is used as a celebration of Protestant Christianity, in connection with the Anglican Reformation, dating from the time of King Henry VIII's break with Rome in 1534. Now, King Edward VI is referred to in Book 2, Homily 21, in analogy with the reforming King Josiah, or Josias, who in 2 Kings 22 and 23 was, in the words of 2 Kings 22, 1 and 2, 8 years old when he began to reign. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. For example, in 2 Kings 23, 5 and 7, we read, he put down the idolatrous priests, them that burned incense unto Baal. And he broke down the houses of the Sodomites that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove, which was also idolatrous." And so, Book 2, Homily, 21 refers to, quote, our good Josias, King Edward, in his young and good days, unquote. And further says, quote, in King Henry VIII, his day, and King Edward VI, neither the Pope's kisses nor God's manifold blessings were wanting. But the Bishop of Rome, unquote, by way of contrast, is, quote, the Babylonical beast. of Rome", which in reference to Revelation 13 and 17, is in harmony with the Protestant Historicist School of Prophetic Interpretation, recognizing the Pope of Rome as the Antichrist. And so, as with Article 37 of the 39 articles, we find that Article 35, Book 2, Homily 21, draws a comparison between a good king, such as Henry VIII or Edward VI, and the Bishop of Rome as a bad figure, which Article 37 says, hath no jurisdiction in the Anglican Church. And Article 35 says, is the Antichrist foretold in Revelation 13, 17, as, quote, the Babylonical beast of Rome, unquote. And so to understand this importance of a godly king in the Protestant Christian state of Queen Elizabeth I, when the Thirty-Nine Articles were drawn up, is to understand another reason why the first book of Homilies of 1547 was not more generally revised, either in 1559, or when the Thirty-Nine Articles were composed in Latin in 1562, and then published in 1563, and translated into English in 1570, and then published in 1571. Namely, to uphold the memory of good King Edward VI." And indeed, when one looks at the preface to the 1562 publication of the the first of two books of homilies, the preface says with respect to Queen Elizabeth I that, quote, the Queen's most excellent majesty, tendering the sole health of her loving subjects, is the chief and principal points of Christian religion, and willing also the pure declaring of God's word to expel and drive away ungodly living. as also erroneous and poisoned doctrines, tending to superstition and idolatry, hath caused a book of homilies which heretofore was set forth by her most loving brother, a prince of most worthy memory, Edward VI, to be printed anew, wherein are contained certain wholesome and godly exhortations, to move the people to honour and worship Almighty God, and diligently to serve Him," and is then followed by, quote, a table of sermons contained in this present volume, unquote. And these words of the 1562 preface to the First Book of Homilies further leads us into a third reason why the matter that we shall shortly consider was not corrected in the First Book of Homilies. Namely, that Anglicans did not claim to come to all the truth of Protestantism all at once. but like Luther, by a slow process as they were coming out of the darkness of Roman Catholicism. In a process whose highlights in the English and Irish Reformation include Henry VIII's break with Rome in 1534 on the issue of biblical authority rather than purported papal authority in connection with the biblical teaching against incest, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's Protestant Edwardian Prayer Book of 1552, the 1559 Elizabethan edition of Cranmer's 1552 Protestant Prayer Book, and the 39 articles of 1562 and 1570. And in this context, the fact that Article 35 says that the two books of homily doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, but clearly allows that it doth also contain some other material, means that providing they are used in the words of Article 35, quote, by the ministers diligently, unquote, It follows that a minister can read such an erroneous matter and explain to his listeners that in the stages of the Anglican Reformation, the Anglican Church came in time to progress to the fuller Protestant position after the homilies of 1547 and 1559 in the 39 articles of 1562 and 1570. And this type of interpretation of Article 35 is reinforced by the preface words we have heard from the 1562 printing of the homily, which says, quote, wherein are contained certain wholesome and godly exhortations, whereas Article 35 says they doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine. And the fact that the 1562 Preface then refers to, quote, a table of the sermons contained in this present volume, unquote, means that this edition contains more than just these homilies, it also contains this preface. And so this is making the point that the 39 articles of the same year of 1562, in saying the two books of homily doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, also clearly allows that it doth contain some other material as well, and that one should thus explain these matters in a historical context. And with this background information, we now come in specific terms to the error that I'm selecting in a third of three examples, in which, as with the second example, the third example shall show that the words of Article 35, the homilies doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, recognize that it doth also contain some other erroneous material. The third example is from Book 1 of the Homilies, which was first published in 1547, about six months after the death of King Henry VIII under King Edward VI, and was a work that Archbishop Thomas Cranmer had long had in view. And this is an issue that, like Lutherans, Anglicans had been struggling and praying and working through of exactly which books of the Bible were canonical and which were not. Now, Anglicans came to the correct Protestant understanding of the 39 canonical Old Testament and 27 canonical New Testament books of the Bible in Article 6 of the Anglican 39 Articles, and in doing so, considered that the Apocrypha still had some value to it, more so than the Puritans later considered it had, but that nevertheless the Apocrypha was not part of the, quote, canonical books, unquote, and, quote, the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners. but yet doth not apply them to establish any doctrine." But that was in 1562. And 15 years earlier, in 1547, Anglicans were still struggling with the issue of whether or not an apocryphal book like Wisdom, also known as the Wisdom of Solomon, with an erroneous implication that it was written by King Solomon, was or was not canonical. And so in Book 1, Homily 10, either Cranmer wrote or consented to a quotation from the Apocryphal Book of Wisdom 6, 1 to 3, erroneously regarded as authoritatively part of canonical scripture. For having first introduced this as, quote, in the Book of Wisdom, unquote, this quote is then immediately followed by the words, quote, let us learn also here by the infallible and undeceivable Word of God, unquote. And so this apocryphal book of wisdom is here erroneously regarded by Cram as part of, quote, the infallible and undeceivable Word of God, unquote. Now, as I say, that position of 1547 was worked through and very specifically rejected. 15 years later, in the 39 articles of 1562 at article 6, which specifically says of such apocryphal books as, quote, the Book of Wisdom, unquote, that it is not one of the, quote, canonical books, unquote. And of such books of the apocrypha, quote, the Church doth not apply them to establish any doctrine, unquote. And so, in applying to book 1, homily 10, the words of article 35 of the Anglican 39 articles, concerning when they, quote, be read in churches by the ministers diligently, it follows that any such diligent minister should point out that while the books of homilies doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, that they also contain some other erroneous material. And so the earlier view found here that the Apocryphal Book of Wisdom was part of canonical scripture, was in fact, upon further study, to be found to be outside the canon of scripture, and so not part of the, quote, infallible and undeceivable Word of God, unquote, as erroneously thought 15 years before 1562, which gives the correct view on canonical books in Article 6 of the Anglican 39 Articles. Now, as part of this third point on the Anglican 39 articles, it also follows from the words of the article, quote, that the generality of the homilies in Article 35 are correct, even if some small bits and pieces here and there are erroneous, and require correction or qualification when they are read in church by ministers diligently, in order that they may be understanded of the people. That is to say, any such errors are rare and unusual exceptions for what in general terms is the godly and wholesome doctrine they contain. And so, when they are read diligently, commentary may be made by the ministers, so that if and when they occasionally contain some erroneous material, this material is to be judged by the higher authority of canonical scripture. For the authority of canonical scripture is upheld in, for example, articles 6, 8, 21, and 22 of the 39 articles. For instance, article 8 says certain things, quote, ought thoroughly to be received and believed, for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy scripture, unquote. Article 21 refers to, quote, authority, unquote, of things where, quote, it may be declared that they be taken out of holy scripture, unquote. In contrast to the following Article 22, where it says certain things are, quote, vainly invented and grounded upon no warranty of scripture. but rather repugnant to the Word of God." Put simply, the subordinate standard of Article 35 is to be diligently tested by the authority of Scripture, and if occasionally in error relative to the higher standard of canonical Holy Scripture, and after consideration of the wider subordinate standards of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and 39 Articles, it is to be corrected in a minister's associated usage of the homily. And here the proof of the pudding is in the eating. For when the spirit of Protestantism was more generally in the Anglican Church, these homilies were more commonly read and cited for the generally godly and wholesome doctrine they contain, notwithstanding the fact that these homilies doth contain a mix of both a small amount of error and a large amount of godly and wholesome doctrine. But with the inroads of Pusyism, with lip service While lip service was given to the basic idea that these homilies contain this mix, they tried to abuse the words of this article for these times, and in practice the emphasis was reversed, so that the Puseyites considered there was so much bad in the biblical Protestant Christian spirit and doctrine of the homilies, that they went out of any serious general usage in Puseyite-infected Anglican churches. And so that they were misinterpreting the proper distinction of what the homilies contain, is once again a case of the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Since if their views of these homilies were correct, the words, quote, we judge them to be read in church by ministers diligently and distinctly, that they may be understanded of the people, unquote, would not be present in this article. And these homilies would never have been part of the 39 articles. And so, in terms of the spirit of Protestantism, consider, for example, Article 11 of the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles, a quote, We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely expressed in the homily of justification." Now, what Article 11 calls the homily of justification is found in Article 35, Book 1, Homily 3, which being composed before 1611, does not use the King James Version, nor give verse numbers. And the spirit of Protestantism is seen in the general thrust of this homily, which was written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, and first published in 1547, so that when listening to the following quotation of this homily, one should remember that His Grace Thomas Cranmer paid with the price of his very life. at papist hands, becoming a Marian martyr in 1556, in connection with the spirit of Protestantism found in this homily. And on this Papists Conspiracy Day 2020, I do declare under any of them which cometh under the sound of this message, that when thou dost hear this homily, whose message was so hated by the Church of Rome, which is the Church of Antichrist, that in their unholy rage they did kill Protestant Christians remorselessly under the Popish Queen Bloody Mary, as recorded in Foxe's Book of Martyrs, that this does ensure that thou dost listen with great respect for the price paid in Protestant Christian blood, for the proclamation of the precious words of this homily, sealed with the very blood of its original composer, the martyr Thomas Cranmer, and entitled, Of Salvation. and harmony with Anglican tradition, that sometimes uses the Latin form of Jesus, which is Jesu, it saith, for example, quoting Romans 3, 20, 22, and 24, and Galatians 2, 16, quote, This is that justification or righteousness which St Paul speaketh of when he saith, Romans 3, No man is justified by the works of the law, but freely by faith in Jesus Christ. And again he saith, We believe in Christ Jesus. that we be justified freely by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law, because that no man shall be justified by the works of the law. And although this justification be free unto us, yet it cometh not so freely unto us that there be no ransom paid therefore at all. If a ransom be paid for our redemption, then it is not given us freely. For what is it else to go freely than to be set at liberty without payment of ransom? This reason is satisfied by the great wisdom of God in our redemption, who hath so tempered His justice and mercy together, that He would neither condemn us, remedieless, for ever without mercy, nor by His mercy deliver us clearly without justice or payment of a just ransom. His great mercy has showed unto us in delivering us from our captivity. He provided a ransom for us that was the most precious body and blood of our dear son, of his own dear son, Jesus Christ. who, besides this ransom, fulfilled the law for us perfectly. And so the justice of God and His mercy did embrace together and fulfilled the mystery of our redemption. And of this justice and mercy of God knit together, speaketh St. Paul in the third chapter to the Romans, all who have offended and have need of the glory of God, but are justified freely by His grace, by redemption, which is in Jesus Christ, whom God has set forth to us for a reconciler and peacemaker through faith in His blood to show His righteousness. And in the 10th chapter, Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every man that believeth. And in the 8th chapter, that which was impossible by the law, insomuch as it was weak by the flesh, God sending His own Son in the similitude of sinful flesh, by sin, damned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, which walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. In these four set places, the Apostle toucheth especially three things which must go together in our sanctification upon God's part. His great mercy and grace upon Christ's part. Justice, that is, the satisfaction of God's justice, or the price of our redemption, by the offering of His body and shedding of His blood, with fulfilling of the law perfectly and thoroughly, and upon our part, true and lively faith in the merits of Jesus Christ. which yet is not ours, but by God's working in us, so that Christ is now the righteousness of all them that truly believe in Him. He for them paid their ransom by His death. He for them fulfilled the law in His life, so that now in Him and by Him every true Christian man may be called the fulfiller of the law, for as much as that which their infirmity lacketh, Christ's justice hath supplied. He hath heard of whom all men ought to seek their justification and righteousness, and how this righteousness cometh unto men by Christ's death and merits. And St Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians, proveth the same, saying, Galatians 3, If there had been any law given which could have justified, verily righteousness would have been by the law. And again he saith, If righteousness be by the law, then Christ hath died in vain. And again he saith, You that are justified by the law are fallen away from grace. And furthermore he writeth to the Ephesians on this wise, Ephesians 2, By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. For it is the gift of God, and not of works, lest any man should glory. And to this end teacheth all the prophets, as St Peter saith in the tenth of the Acts, Of Christ all the prophets, saith St. Peter, do witness, that through his name they, all they that believe in him, shall receive remission of sins. And after this wise to be justified, only by this true and lively faith in Christ, speak all the old and ancient authors, both Greeks and Latins. of whom I will specifically rehearse three, Hilary, Basil and Ambrose. Saint Hilary saith in the 9th Canon upon Matthew, faith only justifieth, and Saint Basil, a Greek author, writeth thus, this is a perfect and a whole rejoicing in God, when a man avaunteth, or advances, not himself for his own righteousness, But knowing himself to lack true justice and righteousness, and to be justified by only faith in Christ. And Paul doth glory in the contempt of his own righteousness. "...and that he looketh for the righteousness of God by faith." These be the very words of St Basil. And St Ambrose, a Latin author, saith these words, "...this is the ordinance of God, that he which believeth in Christ should be saved without works, by faith only, freely receiving remission of his sins." Consider diligently these words, without works, by faith only, freely we receive remission of our sins. These and other like sentences. That we be justified by faith only, freely and without works, we do read oft times in the best and in the most best and ancient writers. as Hilary, Basil and St. Ambrose before rehearsed, and many other authors, Greek and Latin. Nevertheless, this sentence, that we be justified by faith only, is not so meant of them that the said justifying faith is alone in man, without true repentance, hope, charity, dread, and fear of God, at any time or season. But this saying that we be justified by faith only, freely, and without works, is spoken for to take away clearly all merit of our works, and being unable to deserve our justification at God's hands. and thereby most plainly to express the weakness of man, and the goodness of God, and the most abundant grace of our Saviour Christ, and thereby wholly to ascribe the merit and deserving of our justification unto Christ only, and His precious bloodshed. This faith the Holy Scripture teacheth, this is the strong rock and foundation of Christ's religion. This doctrine all old and ancient authors of Christ's church do approve. This doctrine advances and set forth the true glory of Christ and beateth down the vain glory of man. This, whosoever denieth, is not to be counted for a true Christian man, nor for a set-aforth of Christ's glory, but for an adversary of Christ in his gospel, and for a set-aforth of men's glory. For man cannot make himself righteous by his own works, neither in part nor in whole. or in the whole, for that were the greatest arrogancy and presumption of man, that Antichrist could set up against God to affirm that a man might by his own works take away and purge his own sins, and so justify himself. But justification is the office of God only, and is not a thing which we render unto Him, but which we receive of Him, not which we give to Him, but which we take of Him, by His free mercy and by the only merits of His most dearly beloved Son, our only Redeemer, Saviour and Justifier, Jesus Christ. So that the true understanding of this doctrine, we be justified freely by faith, without works, or that we be justified by faith in Christ only, is not that this our own act, to believe in Christ, or this our faith in Christ, which is within us, doth justify us, and deserve our justification unto us, but that were to count ourselves to be justified by some act or virtue that is within ourselves. But the true understanding and meaning thereof is that although we hear God's Word and believe it, although we have faith, hope, charity, repentance, dread and fear of God within us, and do never so many works thereunto, yet we must renounce the merit of all our said virtues of faith, hope, charity and all other virtues and good deeds. which we either have done, shall do, or can do, as things that be far too weak, and insufficient, and imperfect, to deserve remission of our sins and our justification. And therefore, we must truly trust only in God's mercy, and in that sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour Christ Jesus, the Son of God, once offered for us upon the cross, if we truly repent, and turn unfaintedly to Him. So, St. John the Baptist, saying thus, Beyond yonder is the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. Even so, as great and as godly a virtue as the lively faith is, yet it putteth us from itself, and remitteth us unto Christ. for to have only, by his remission of our sins, our justification." Our remission of our sins or justification. So that our faith in Christ as it were, saith unto us this, It is not I that take away your sins, but it is Christ only. And to Him only I send you for that purpose, forsaking therein all your good virtues, words, thoughts, and works, and only putting your trust in Christ. Here you have heard the office of God in our justification, and how we receive it of Him freely, by His mercy, without our deserts, through true and lively faith. Now you shall hear the office and duty of a Christian man unto God, what we ought on our part to render unto God again for His great mercy and goodness. For that faith which bringeth forth without repentance, either evil works or no good works, is not a right pure and lively faith, but a dead, devilish, counterfeit and feigned faith, as St. Paul and St. James call it. For even the devils know and believe that Christ was born of a virgin, that he wrought all kinds of miracles, declaring himself very God. They believe also that Christ for our sake suffered most painful death, to redeem us from eternal death, and that he rose again from death, the third day, they believe that He ascended into heaven, and that He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, and at the last end of the world shall come again and judge both the quick and the dead. These articles of our faith the devils believe, and so they believe all things that be written in the New and Old Testament to be true, and yet for all this faith they be but devils, remaining still in their damnable estate, lacking the very true Christian faith. For the right and true Christian faith is not only to believe that Holy Scripture and all the aforesaid articles of our faith are true, but also to have a sure trust and confidence in God's merciful promises to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ, whereof doth follow a loving heart to obey His commandments." And I end this quotation of Article 35 of the Anglican 39 Articles, Book 1, Homily 3, where I started it. by saying it was written by its original composer, the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, and first published in 1547, albeit with some minor alterations thereafter made in subsequent editions of the first book of homilies. And for the spirit of Protestant Christianity found in this homily, together with his wider belief in and promulgation of Protestant truth, Cranmer was martyred by papal Rome in 1556. And so the defense of these biblical truths came to us religiously conservative Protestant Christians at a high price. For Rome made many Protestants pay for the acceptance of these biblical truths with the price of their very lives. And so on this papal conspiracy day 2020, in harmony with the more general spirit of this holy day, in which God is thanked for his deliverance of Protestantism from papery, Let us honour the memory of the Marian martyrs, such as Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, Bishop Nicholas Ridley, Bishop Hugh Latimer, and the other Protestant Christian martyrs, Marian confessors and Marian martyrs, as more fully documented in the classic Protestant hagiology of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, who are the spiritual forebears of we religiously conservative Protestant Christians. And so, In this first of four sermons today, the spirit of Protestantism 1, to be followed after a break with the second sermon, the spirit of Protestantism 2 part 1, which like the third and fourth sermons, the spirit of Protestantism 2 parts 2 and 3 respectively, shall consider the need to safeguard and protect our religiously conservative Protestant Christian heritage from religious apostasy. In the spirit of Protestantism, We have in the first sermon been reminded that an element of the spirit of Protestantism is found in the right balance in understanding and living of the law and gospel as found in the Protestants authoritative Holy Bible. Thus in the book of Romans 3.20 we read, Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. On the one hand, this teaches that the law of the Decalogue of Exodus 20, as quoted in Romans 7, 7 and 13, 9, is not here annulled, but is the means by which we gain the knowledge of sin, as opposed to being justified before God by keeping it. For we then read in Romans 3.22, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe. Verse 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And so as taught in the religiously conservative Protestant Christians Bible, all have sinned, as isolated by the law, through which there is the knowledge of sin. But we are justified before God for the purposes of salvation, not on the basis of our doing the deeds of the law, but rather by faith in the atoning merits of Jesus Christ, who died in our place and for our sins at Calvary. Our faith is the means by which we accept God's gift of eternal life, given by God's grace alone, that is, by God's unmerited favor. In the words of Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And so, in the spirit of Protestantism, firstly, we have considered some specific matters of Papists' Conspiracy Day with the gunpowder treason plot of 5 November 1605 to blow up. the Protestant Christian King and Parliament. Secondly, an associated matter of remembering some Christian martyrs of importance to Protestant hagiology in both the Lollard Protestant Christian Martyrs of Coventry in England, with a special reference to those of 1520, and also the Protestant Christian Confessors and Martyrs of Nimes in France from 1814 to 1820. And thirdly, We have considered the books of homilies in article 35 of the Anglican, 39 articles, and the spirit of Protestantism in them, for which Thomas Cranmer and others were made Protestant Christian martyrs by papal Rome under Bloody Mary in the 1550s. Let us pray. Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, of one substance or one Supreme Being in three Divine Persons, we worship and adore the Trinity in unity, and in the spirit of Protestantism we thank Thee, O Lord, that on this great holy day we may render the thanks for the deliverance of Protestant Christianity from Popery on this day in 1605 and 1688. We thank thee for the faithful witness of the Lollard Protestant Christian Martyrs of Coventry 500 years ago in 1520, and the faithful witness of the Protestant Christian Confessors and Martyrs of Nimes in France from 1814 to 1820. We are most grateful, O Lord, that in this lukewarm Laodicean Church Age, we are privileged to have a faithful witness to the spirit of Protestantism in Protestant Christian documents from the preceding Philadelphia Church Age, such as the Anglican 39 Articles that we have considered today. In this day of so much darkness and apostasy, give us grace, O Lord, to give a faithful witness unto Thee. And we thank Thee, O Lord, for the promise given by Jesus Christ to those in this lukewarm Laodicean church age, that if any man hear his voice and open the door, he will come into him and will sup with him and he with Christ. May any sins that stand betwixt us and thee go. May thy voice to us be always one that we know. As in thy presence we do humbly bow down low through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.