10 - Last years and conclusion

Summary

On Christmas Eve 1618, when King James's hopes of being able to negotiate a peace in central Europe remained strong, he began to write A Meditation vpon the Lords Prayer, which he finished at the end of March 1619. It was intended to guide, especially, the members of his own court, including the marquis of Buckingham, to whom the work was dedicated. James's little book is valuable in showing the importance he attached to personal religious devotion. “The service of God is the most due, necessary, and profitable action of a Christian man,” he wrote, and prayer “is to be preferred to all other actions of a Christian man.” The book is also valuable in suggesting where he stood on contemporary issues of faith and practice at the time the Synod of Dort was in session. He considered St. Paul's admonition to “Pray continuallie,” as especially needed in an age when the Puritans had turned it into “Preach continually.” James defended the use of the Lord's Prayer against those Puritans who objected to its being said more than once during particular services of the Church of England and those sectarians called Brownists who objected to any set prayers at all. He commended private confession, especially as preparation for the sacrament of Holy Communion, citing Calvin in his support. But he objected to the mandatory use of confession in the Roman Catholic Church as inviting a priestly tyranny over Christians.