Foundations of Founders' Day

I preached to my largest ever congregation last week in a place to which I am unlikely to be invited back. It was Founders’ Day at the grammar school at which I used to teach, and the Headmaster had kindly asked me to give an address at the commemoration of the school’s establishment, which was sometime before the year 1492. The venue was the town’s parish church, under the roof of which its first pupils received instruction, until they were transferred in the next century to a dedicated school room (which also still stands, below).

Although any pupil or staff member was excused on religious grounds and may have remained on the school site, about 500 were crammed into the pews, in addition to staff, governors, parents, Old Boys and the Worshipful Mayor of Skipton, suitably bedecked in civic scarlet, topped with gold chain of office. I had less than ten minutes and elected to quote from the school’s second foundation deed of August, 1548:

Whereas amongst other Remembrances of Human Piety [it is a] Duty most pious and it hath especially pleased the Most High that Boys should be rightly educated from their very Infancy and, with God's Mercy, be informed or drawn along to Virtue and Discipline, according to the Strength and Endowments to them by Heaven granted to promote this, that the Commonwealth may from Time to Time not only have learned and wise Men, but also especially Men fearing God and knowing that which is divine and reverent, and that Divine Worship may be augmented and be had more in Celebration…

Drawn along to discipline. I advised those assembled that indiscipline, laziness and low personal standards were unbecoming intelligent young men, and that the founder’s ambition for them would only be realised if they worked hard and only ever gave their best.

Drawn along to virtue. They could not all be top of the class or make every rugby or cricket team, nor all be appointed Head Boy or House Captain, but they could all choose to be virtuous; this is something over which each had full control. They should therefore speak up for the weak, be kind, forgiving, courteous and trustworthy.

Yet the Founder also stated that learned and wise men might be desirable, but he hoped they might also 'fear God' and 'know that which is divine'. I explained that the earlier scripture reading, which I had chosen from Matthew 2, described the wise men of the east seeking -and finding- the divine, the person of Jesus Christ. The Founder hoped that they, too, would seek Him and find Him, and so did I. There is more to life than working hard and even being virtuous: one must find Him who is the very meaning of life. Too many people of their age, I warned, ended their lives early, for having thought there was no reason to live. There is always a reason to live, and that is why we must 'fear God and know the divine'.

The rector invited us to close with Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer (‘Jehovah’, we nonconformists would sing), which was surprisingly tuneful and melodic considering the bulk of the congregation. After a few farewells and thankyous, I caught the bus home. Will anyone remember what I said? Probably not. Yet I pray God caused several to ponder it.