Cranmer - the Master of English Sacred Prose

Whilst visiting my brother in Australia we reminisced in the presence of our extended families. We spoke of our early years at Grammar School, in the Scouts, Wartime experiences and our involvement in our local Church - both in the choir and as servers. We regaled our captive audience with considerable chunks of literature, liturgy, poetry and prose which we had learned by heart and which could still be effortlessly called to mind.

I do still recall soliloquys from Shakespeare, the verses of Chaucer, the poetry of François Villon, Joachim du Bellay and much more, including considerable material from the Book of Common Prayer. My brother and I swapped Versicles and Responses, being miserable over the response to “The Lord be With You” - being now the feeble “And also with you” instead of “And with Thy Spirit”. We supported each other before the audience in verbatim recall to the most magnificent prayer in the English Language, now largely neglected:

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving kindness to us and to all men. We bless thee for our creation, preservation and all the blessings of this life, but above all for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace and for the hope of glory. And we beseech thee give us that sense of all thy mercies that our hearts may be unfeigned thankful, and that we show forth thy praise not only with our lips but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to thy service and walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.”

We declared that this Prayer of General Thanksgiving was pure Cranmer - and then had to explain that this giant of the sacred literary art had been superseded by the banality of modern simplified English which, in our opinion did not improve the sense but ditched the majestic elegance of the 16th Century master, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.

Cranmer was born in 1489 and educated at Oxford. He entered the Church, it is said, because his father could not bestow upon him as the younger son, the land that his elder brother would inherit. He was ordained in 1523 and, coming to the notice of Henry VIII, became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1533. His involvement in the marriages and divorces and disposals of the monarch are well known. Later he was an advisor to Edward VI and on the accession of Mary I, was tried, convicted of heresy and burnt at the stake.

The Archbishop lived in turbulent political times and his achievements are monumental. He is credited with ensuring that the Bible in English was installed in every Parish Church. In his preface to the ‘Great Bible’ of 1540 he wrote:

“I would marvel much that any man should be so mad as to refuse, in darkness - light, in hunger - food, in cold - fire. For the Word of God is light: ‘Thy word is a lantern unto my feet’. It is food: ‘Man does not live by bread only, but by every word of God’. It is fire: ‘I am come to send fire on the earth, and what is my desire but that it be kindled?’

Cranmer was much influenced by the reformist movements which were at that time taking place on the continent. He published a Book of Homilies and in 1549 and 1552 was the principal author of the original Book of Common Prayer. One can but marvel at his superb range of expression, his deep reverence and his gift for putting into words the religious feelings of all Christians. His legacy must not be forgotten, nor our considerable debt to him. Who knows, the traditional ways may again become fashionable! Change is not synonymous with improvement.

Rod Dawson