On this day in 1554, Lady Jane Grey (the ‘Queen of Nine Days’) was tragically executed during the reign of Queen Mary I (‘Bloody Mary’). On the night before her execution, she wrote the following at the end of her Greek New Testament, which she sent as a gift to her sister:
“I have here sent you, my dear sister Katherine, a book, which although it be not outwardly trimmed with gold, or the curious embroidery of the artfulness 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, and best-loved 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…
.. My good sister, once more again let me entreat thee 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…
… 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.”
