An Ordinary Girl of Extraordinary Faith
Here's an excerpt from An Ordinary Girl of Extraordinary Faith, Simonetta Carr's contribution to the September issue of Tabletalk:
As sixteen-year-old Lady Jane Grey stood on the scaffold on a gray winter morning, she looked calmly out over the crowd of spectators. Then, mustering the strength she had asked God to provide, she spoke with such a poise and conviction that even her executioners were moved.
After a brief and customary admission of guilt (all those condemned to death had to admit to the justice of their punishment), Jane emphasized what mattered to her more than anything in the world. "I pray you all, good Christian people," she said, "to bear me witness that I die a true Christian woman, and that I look to be saved by none other means but only by the mercy of God and the merits of the blood of His only Son Jesus Christ." She confessed some past sins, particularly love of self and the world, thanked God for His mercy, then asked for prayer, but was careful to add, "while I am alive," thereby pointing out the futility of the Roman Catholic belief in prayer for the dead.
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