ABSTRACT
In September 1563, nearly five years after the accession of Elizabeth I, William Dane, alderman of the City of London, drew up his will. He bequeathed his soul to God,
the which hast made me and given thy only son to become man and die for my sins, and the third day he rose again for my justification, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all true believers. Also I bequeath my body to the earth to be buried in Christian burial according to the order of Christ’s church. This I believe whether I live or die; I am our Lord’s. I hope that I shall find both grace and mercy for my sins of God the Father, even for Jesus Christ’s sake, in him I believe, he my redeemer, he liveth for ever and ever. This my faith and hope I lay up in my mind, the mind of my soul, trusting only to be saved through the merits of Jesus Christ, God and man, which is in heaven on the right hand of God the father. He shall in the end of the world be judge over all the quick and the dead, to whom with God the father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory, for ever, world without end, amen.1
