father, the Lord that hitherto hath strengthened, so continue you, that at last we may meet in heaven, with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." To Lord Guildford Dudley, her husband, she said, that in the other world "friendships were happy, and unions indissoluble, and that theirs would be eternal, if their souls carried with them nothing of terrestrial, which might hinder them from rejoicing." Her last words were, "Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit."

An exhortation written by Lady Jane Dudley, the night before her execution, at the end of the New Testament, which she sent to her sister, the Lady Catharine Grey:

"I have here sent you, my dear sister Catharine, a book, which although it be not outwardly trimmed with gold, or the curious embroidery of the artfullest needles, yet inwardly it is more worth than all the precious mines which the vast world can boast of; it is The Book, my only best beloved sister, of the Law of the Lord; it is the Testament and last will, which He bequeathed unto us wretches and wretched sinners, which shall lead you to the path of eternal joy; and if you with a good mind read it, and with an earnest mind follow, no doubt it shall bring you to an immortal and everlasting life; it will teach you to live, and learn you to die; it shall win you more and endow you with greater felicity than you should have gained of our woeful father's lands; for as if God had prospered him, you should have inherited his honours and manors, so if you apply diligently to this book, seeking to direct your life according to the rule of the same, you shall be an inheritor of such riches, as neither the covetous shall withdraw from you, neither the thief shall steal, neither yet the moths corrupt.

Desire with David, my best sister, to understand the law of the Lord your God: live still to die, that you by death may purchase eternal life, and trust not that the tenderness of your age shall lengthen your life; for unto God, when He calleth, all hours, times, seasons are alike; and blessed are they whose lamps are furnished when He cometh, for as soon will the Lord be glorified in the young as the old. My good sister, once more, again, let me entreat you to learn to die: deny the world, defy the devil, and despise the flesh, and delight yourself only in the Lord. Be penitent for your sins, and yet despair not; be strong in faith, yet presume not; and desire with St. Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ, with whom, even in death, there is life. Be like the good servant, and even at midnight be waking, lest when death cometh and stealeth upon you, like a thief in the night, you be, with the servants of darkness, found sleeping; and lest when for lack of oil you be found like the five foolish virgins, or like him that had not on the wedding-garment, and then you be cast into darkness or banished from the marriage. Rejoice in Christ, as I trust you do: and seeing you have the name of a Christian, as near as you can, follow the steps, and be a true imitator of your master, Christ Jesus, and take up your cross, lay your sins upon his back, and always embrace Him.

66

Now, as touching my death, rejoice, as I do, my dearest sister, that I shall be delivered of this corruption, and put on incorruption; for I am assured that I shall, for losing of a mortal life, win one that is immortal, joyful, and everlasting. The which I pray God grant you in his most blessed hour, and send you his all-saving grace to live in his fear, and to die in the true Christian faith; from which, in God's name, I exhort you, that you never

swerve, neither through hope of life, nor fear of death; for if you will deny Him, to give length to a weary and corrupt breath, God Himself will deny you, and by vengeance make short what you by your soul's loss would prolong; but if you will cleave to Him, He will stretch forth your days to an uncircumscribed comfort, and to his own glory; to the which glory, God bring me now, and you hereafter, when it shall please Him to call you. Farewell, once again, my beloved sister, and put your only trust in God, who only must help you. Amen.

"Your loving sister,

"JANE DUDLEY 2."

REFLECTION. In trouble, sickness, and the approach of death, let us seek our consolations in the Word of God, and we shall not be disappointed; for heaven and earth shall perish, but the word of the Lord endureth for ever.

JOHN REDMAYNE, D.D.

DIED 1551. AGED 51.

He was one of the compilers of the Liturgy of the Church of England. In his last sickness, at Westminster, finding himself decay apace, he sent for Dr. Alexander Nowell, afterwards Dean of St. Paul's, and some other of the reformed divines; and to prevent any misinterpretation after his death, he made before them a full declaration of his

2 Writings of Edward VI., Lady Jane Grey, and others. 8vo. London, 1831.

judgment concerning the chief controversies of those times, which he desired them to attest.

When Dr. Redmayne had finished his declaration, he discoursed more largely on some of these points, and that in so pathetic and affecting a manner, that Dr. Young, one of the divines there present, who was not then entirely free from the prejudices of his education, declared that he was so moved and convinced, that he now doubted of the truth of some things, for which, before, he would have suffered martyrdom.

After this, Dr. Redmayne's whole discourse was of the joys of heaven, the last judgment, and of our redemption through the merits of Jesus Christ; with whom he earnestly longed to be. He would often, with tears of joy, praise and extol the ineffable love of our gracious Redeemer to us miserable sinners; and exhorted his friends to be always prepared for Christ's coming, to love one another, to beware of this corrupt world, and entirely to wean their affections from its transitory glories and deceitful pleasures. He bore his sickness with the greatest patience, and a perfect resignation to the will of God, whether for life or death; yet he wished rather, if it were God's blessed will, to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, and to be delivered from the troubles and temptations of this miserable world; and when he found his end approaching, he broke out into this fervent prayer, "Thy will, O blessed Lord, be fulfilled! Oh! God of all comfort, give me grace to have comfort in Thee, and to have my mind wholly fixed on Thee!" And, after a short pause, he added, "God grant us grace, that we may have the true understanding of his word, the true use of his sacraments, and ever preach and maintain the truth, to the glory of his most holy

name." Then he offered up another short petition for the unity of the Church, and soon after resigned his pious and holy soul to God'.

MEDITATION. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit *."

THIS excellent prince was the son of King Henry VIII. and Queen Jane Seymour, and was born at Hampton Court. His promising qualities, and his great zeal in promoting the reformed religion, will give an interest to the following particulars of his last hours.

In the time of this good king's illness, Dr. Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, in a sermon

3 Downe's Lives of the Compilers of the Liturgy, prefixed to Dr. Sparrow's Exposition of the Book of Common Prayer.

41 Cor. ii. 9.