Prayers of the Righteous

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5.16b)

It is reported that Mary, Queen of Scots, confessed that she feared the prayers of John Knox more than an army of ten thousand men.

Puritan prayer warrior and catechist Thomas Lye (d. 1684) said in his second ejection sermon preached on August 17, 1662 that "I had rather stand against the canons of the wicked, then against the prayers of the righteous."

John Whitecross, The Shorter Catechism Illustrated From Christian History and Biography, p. 157:

Theodorus, speaking of Luther, says, 'Once I overheard him in prayer; but oh! with what life and spirit did he pray! It was with so much reverence as if he were speaking to God; yet with so much confidence as if he had been speaking to a friend.' Perceiving the interest of religion to be low, he be took himself to prayer. Rising off his knees, he came out of his closet triumphantly saying to his friends, 'We have overcome, we have overcome.' At which time it was observed, there came out a proclamation from Charles V that none should be further molested for their profession of the gospel.

Martin Luther, Table Talk CCCXXXIII:

It is impossible that God should not hear the prayers which with faith are made in Christ, though he give not according to the measure, manner, and time we dictate, for He will not be tied. In such sort dealt God with the mother of Saint Augustine; she prayed to God that her son might be converted, but as yet it would not be; then she ran to the learned, entreating them to persuade and advise him thereupon. She propounded unto him a marriage with a Christian virgin, so that thereby he might be drawn and brought to the Christian faith. Nothing worked. But when our Lord God came thereto, He came to purpose and made of him such an Augustine, that he became a great light to the church. Saint James says: "Pray for one another, for the prayer of the righteous availeth much." Prayer is a powerful thing, for God has bound and tied Himself thereunto.

Father of English Botany

The "Father of English of Botany" and "the first ornithologist in the modern scientific spirit" is William Turner (c. 1508-1568).

A student at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, he was stimulated early on by both an interest in scientific investigation and a love of the evangelical gospel. In the latter, he was influenced by his friends Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer.

In 1537, he published A Comparsion Between the Old Learning & the New (the old learning being the pure gospel and doctrine of God's Word, the new learning being the corrupt Romish doctrine). In 1538, he published Libellus de re herbaria. In 1543, he published a satirical attack on the Papal Church called The Huntying and Fynding Out of the Romish Fox. It opens with a quote from Horace, Sat. l.1. 26.: "Why may not Truth be uttered with a smile?" He followed up this work with another in 1545, The Rescuying of the Romishe Foxe, which etymologically may be the first published instance of the proverbial phrase "Birds of a feather flock together" -- Turner wrote: "Byrdes of on kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together." As an orinthologist, he knew about birds:

In 1544, Turner [had] published Avium praecipuarum, quarum apud Plinium et Aristotelem mentio est, brevis et succincta historia [read the English translation, Turner on Birds, online here] which not only discussed the principal birds and bird names mentioned by Aristole and Pliny the Elder but also added accurate descriptions and life histories of birds from his own extensive ornithological knowledge. This is the first printed book devoted entirely to birds.

In 1548, he published The Names of Herbes. His ground-breaking A New Herball was published in three parts (1551, 1562 and 1568). Preview part one here and parts two and three here. This work was a landmark in the study of botany and herbalism.

He was one of the Marian Exiles when "Bloody Mary" was on the throne, but returned to England after she died. Throughout his life he wrote on divinity and his scientific studies (concerning herbs, birds and medicine), paving the way both as a religious dissenter and as a scientist until his death in 1568.

He was famous for his opposition to the ceremonial use of vestments in the Church of England. It is reported that he taught his dog to steal corner caps from the heads of visiting bishops.

Anecdotes of the Puritans (1849), pp. 18-20:

THE FIRST DISSENTER IN ENGLAND.

WILLIAM TURNER was the first, or one of the first, who, after the Church of England was settled, opposed both its Episcopal government and its rites and ceremonies. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he was distinguished, for his literary attainments, and for his attachment to the doctrines of the Reformation. As he could not, with a good conscience, submit to the ceremonies required in the ordination of ministers, he went through the towns and villages preaching the gospel, without being ordained. For this he was arrested and cast into prison, and afterwards banished from the country.

When Edward the Sixth became king, Turner returned to England, was licensed to preach, and became chaplain to the Duke of Somerset, the lord protector, and was made dean of Wells. In the persecuting times of Mary, he fled to Switzerland. Upon the accession of Elisabeth, he again returned to England, and was restored to his deanery. He continued to enjoy a high reputation for his knowledge, both of medicine and divinity, and for his writings. He was very decided in his rejection of Episcopacy, and refused to conform to the ceremonies enjoined by the prayer-book, and to wear the clerical vestment. For so doing he was at length sequestered and deprived of his living, together with nearly forty other London ministers. He died, full of years, in 1568.

Birth of the Boy King

On October 12, 1537, a baby born was born, the first male heir of King Henry VIII. England rejoiced at the birth of Edward VI, and though his life was brief, he shined brightly as England's first Protestant king (as some describe him).

He died at the age of 15 having left an example of personal piety and having steered his country and his church away from Romanism and towards developing Anglicanism. His Literary Remains include for example a poem on the Eucharist that shows forth his Protestant conception of the Lord's Supper.

Among his papers is a treatise that he wrote identifying the Pope as Antichrist. He wrote this treatise against the supremacy of the Pope in French, having commenced it in December 1548 and completing it on August 31, 1549 at the age of 11. It can be read in French and English translation online here.

When he died on July 3, 1553, Protestant England had great fears for the future, despite Edward's specific appointment of Lady Jane Grey to the throne in his stead, and her brief 9-day reign, followed by her arrest and execution by Queen 'Bloody' Mary, and the failure of Wyatt's Rebellion, led to a reign of terror that grieved the hearts of god-fearing people in England and elsewhere. But, like Camelot, for one brief shining moment, a godly boy king ruled England, and indeed his light still shines.