I call on Thee, Lord Jesu Christ, I have none other help but Thee: My heart is never set at rest, Till Thy sweet word have comforted me. And steadfast faith grant me therefore, To hold by Thy word evermore. Above all thing Never resisting But to increase in faith more and more. Lord, print into my heart and mind Thy Holy Spirit with ferventness; That I to Thee be not unkind, But love Thee without feignedness. Let nothing draw my mind from Thee, But ever to love Thee earnestly: Let not my heart Unthankfully depart From the right love of Thy mercy. Give me Thy grace, Lord, I Thee pray, To love mine enemies heartily: Howbeit they trouble me alway, And for Thy cause do slander me, Yet, Jesu Christ, for Thy goodness, Fill my heart with forgiveness, That while I live I may them forgive That do offend me more or less.[57] Coverdale’s hymns prepared the way for more successful efforts in the same direction. And it is pleasant to remember that the brave old reformer, who stood by his friend and tutor, Robert Barnes, the martyr, when he was summoned to appear before Wolsey as a heretic, and who devoted so many years to the translation of the Holy Scriptures, was one of the first who desired to make the English folk love godly hymns. It is an ancient fashion to disparage Sternhold and Hopkins’s version of the Psalms, but it was a great advance upon Coverdale, and ‘marks an era in the history of sacred song.’[58] Sternhold died in 1549, and Coverdale survived him for twenty years. He was Groom of the Robes to both Henry VIII and Edward VI. Probably the popularity of Clement Marot’s[59] French version may have suggested to Sternhold the attempt to provide the English Court with similar sacred songs instead of the profane ballads which pleased both French and English courtiers. Henry had a sincere regard for him, and remembered him in his will. Edward loved to hear these metrical psalms sung by their author, and caused them to be ‘sung openly,’ so that others might learn to love them as he did. Sternhold was a modest man, and did not claim any great merit for his songs. ‘Albeit,’ he says, in his dedication to Edward VI, ‘I cannot give to your Majesty great loaves, or bring into the Lord’s barn full handfuls ... I am bold to present unto your Majesty a few crumbs which I have picked up from under the Lord’s board.’ Part of his version of Ps. xviii. is usually given as the best example of his work. O God, my strength and fortitude, Of force I must love Thee. There are some good verses in Ps. ix., which are of the same type. O Lord, with all my heart and mind I will give thanks to Thee; And speak of all Thy wondrous works Unsearchable of me. I will be glad and much rejoice In Thee, O God, most high; And make my songs extol Thy name Above the starry sky.