Lady Jane Grey had three days given her for preparation for death; and to help her, as they thought, in this preparation, Roman Catholic priests, sent by the Roman Catholic Queen Mary, found their way into her prison, and tried to convert her from Protestantism to their own Church, which they told her was the true Church, and if she did not belong to it, her soul would be lost. Happily, however, the condemned prisoner knew better than this; and was able to reply, somewhat like the apostle Paul, when he was within prospect of death, that she knew whom she believed, and was persuaded that He would keep in safety her soul, which she had committed to Him. She met all their arguments with great firmness of mind, as well as sweetness of temper; and, after trying again and again to shake her confidence in the promises of the gospel, and to trust to the empty forms and lying superstitions of their corrupt Church, the priests retired, leaving her to spend the last night of her life alone.

Alone! Ah, no, not alone, happily. There are a large number of exceeding great and precious promises in the Bible, which plainly tell us that God is with all His saints (those who love Him and trust in Him) in every time of trouble, and distress, and danger: not always, indeed, to deliver them from suffering or from death even, but to support and strengthen them, and make them happy and joyful with a certainty of His love, and a hope full of immortality and eternal life. Here is one such promise, only one, out of a multitude of such Divine encourage

"Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee: thou art Mine.

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."

Now, these words of promise belong to every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ: they have supported countless thousands of the poor, distressed, and afflicted people of God in times of deepest sorrow, and in the prospect of a violent death: and that these, or other promises like them, supported Jane Grey, and made her happy in her prison, this last night of her life on earth, is beyond a doubt. We may be sure that she passed this last night of her life in prayer, not for herself only, but for her young husband, that they might both be divinely supported in the hour of coming death; for her friends, also, whom she would leave behind in a troublous world: and not for them alone, but for her enemies also; for did she not remember Him who had left her an example to follow, and who, in His last dying moments, prayed for His enemies, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!"

Almost the last occupations of this amiable young lady was that of writing to one of her sisters. She wrote on the blank leaves of her favourite Greek Testament; and the words written were words of affectionate farewell, together with an urgent appeal to her to cherish in her soul a love for the truths of the gospel. Having done this, and given directions

for the gift to be placed in her sister's hand, she seemed to have done with the present world.

Forasmuteke as you have desired so simple
a woman tomight in so worthyd a booke
foode mayster Spaftimemox Herefore shall

as a frends desyre you and as a dristian caus
you to call yppon add to oroling ware hark to
gus fans to quieath you in his waye and not

youn's as the lorde know the as a
Brende fan? Duddley

FACSIMILE OF LADY JANE GREY'S WRITING.

And now I must tell you, in a few words, the mournful ending of the short and not very joyous life of Lady Jane Grey.

On the morning of the 12th of February, 1554, a sad procession took place from the Tower of London, over the drawbridge to Tower Hill. The most interesting and interested person in the small group was Lord Guildford Dudley; he was surrounded by guards, and accompanied by the sheriff of London. He was going to the place of execution, where a scaffold and block and an executioner were ready to receive him. Arrived at the spot, the young nobleman knelt down and uttered a few words of prayer, then quietly laid his head on the block: the axe descended, and this part of the sad tragedy was over.

But another part was yet to be performed. On this same doleful morning, another scaffold was being erected on the green within the Tower walls. It was soon in readiness, and then the Lady Jane was brought

out of her prison and conducted towards it. She well knew what it all meant, and that her young husband had preceded her by only a small part of an hour to a traitor's doom. She would, probably, have been executed with him, but it was feared that the people would show too great sympathy with her in her sufferings and lamentable death; so it had been arranged that her execution should be private.

Yes, she well knew what awaited her; and she had early that morning declined meeting her husband for the last time-saying that it might unsettle them both in their better thoughts, and that they should shortly meet again, as she hoped, in a better place and more happy estate. She had seen him, however, conducted to his place of execution without being greatly moved; but as she was going towards her own scaffold, supported by her waiting gentlewomen, and attended by those who were to witness her death, she had the sorrow of meeting her husband's headless body as it was being brought back into the Tower to be buried. She bore even this, however, with wonderful strength of mind, and soon reached the spot where her own life was to be ended.

From the scaffold she addressed a few words to the few spectators, stating that she deserved her punishment, because she had suffered herself to be led by others into the ways of their ambition, not her own. Then she knelt in prayer, and, this done, she meekly laid her head on the block.

There are two or three lessons of some importance which this story may teach us. The first is that