| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | July 16 | | From “The Fight of Faith” | | By Anne Askew (1521–1546) |
| | | | Anne Askew was an Englishwoman who, in the reign of Henry VIII., was accused of heresy in regard to the sacraments and was burned on July 16, 1546. |
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LIKE as the armed knight | |
| Appointed to the field, | |
| With this world will I fight, | |
| And faith shall be my shield. | |
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| Faith is that weapon strong, | 5 |
| Which will not fail at need; | |
| My foes, therefore, among | |
| Therewith will I proceed. | |
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| Thou sayst, lord, whoso knock, | |
| To them wilt thou attend, | 10 |
| Undo, therefore, the lock, | |
| And thy strong power send. | |
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| More enemies now I have | |
| Than hairs upon my head; | |
| Let them not me deprave, | 15 |
| But fight thou in my stead. | |
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| Not oft I used to write | |
| In prose, nor yet in rhyme; | |
| Yet will I show one sight, | |
| That I saw in my time: | 20 |
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| I saw a royal throne, | |
| Where Justice should have sit; | |
| But in her stead was one | |
| Of moody, cruel wit. | |
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| Absorpt was rightwiseness, | 25 |
| As by the raging flood; | |
| Satan, in his excess, | |
| Sucked up the guiltless blood. | |
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| Then thought, I—Jesus, Lord, | |
| When thou shalt judge us all, | 30 |
| Hard is it to record | |
| On these men what will fall! | |
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| Yet, Lord, I thee desire, | |
| For that they do to me, | |
| Let them not taste the hire | 35 |
| Of their iniquity. | | | |
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