and despise the flesh, and delight yourself only in the Lord. Be penitent for your sins, and yet despair not; be steady in faith, and 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 with the evil servant be found sleeping, and lest, for lack of oil, you be found like the five foolish women, and like him that had not on the wedding garment, and then ye be cast out from the marriage.

Resist, as I trust you do; and seeing you have the name of a christian, as near as you can, follow the steps of your Master, Christ, and take up your cross, lay your sins on his back, and always embrace him. And as touching my death, rejoice as I do, good 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, find an immortal felicity, the which I pray God grant you, and send you of his grace to live in his fear, and to die in the true christian faith, from the which, in God's name, I exhort you that you never swerve, neither for hope of life, nor for fear of death; for if you will deny his truth for to lengthen your life, God will deny you, and shorten your days. And if you will cleave unto him, he will prolong your days to your comfort and his glory; to the which glory God bring me now, and you hereafter, when it pleases him to call you. Fare you well, good sister, and put your only trust in God, who only must help you.

Here follows a certain effectual prayer, made by the lady Jane in the time of her trouble.

O Lord, thou God and Father of my life, hear me, poor and desolate woman, which flieth unto thee only, in all troubles and miseries. Thou, O Lord, art the only defender and deliverer of those that put their trust in thee; and therefore I, being defiled with sin, encumbered with affliction, unquieted with troubles, wrapped in cares,

In another copy this sentence appears to be "Pray God grant you and send you of his grace to live in his fear and to die in the love [of Christ from which I exhort you not to swerve, and which shall be] of joy to you when the hour shall arrive, neither for love of life, nor fear of death.'

overwhelmed with miseries, vexed with temptations, and grievously tormented with the long imprisonment of this vile mass of clay, my sinful body, do come unto thee, O merciful Saviour, craving thy mercy and help, without which so little hope of deliverance is left, that I may utterly despair of any liberty.

Albeit it is expedient, that, seeing our life standeth upon trying, we should be visited sometime with some adversity, whereby we might both be tried whether we are of thy flock, or no; and also know three and ourselves the better; yet thou that saidst thou wouldest not suffer us to be tempted above our power, be merciful unto me now a miserable wretch, I beseech thee, who with Solomon* do cry unto thee, humbly desiring thee, that I may neither be too much puffed up with prosperity, neither too much pressed down with adversity, lest I, being too full,.should deny thee, my God; or being too low brought, should despair, and blaspheme thee, my Lord and Saviour.

O merciful God! consider my misery which is best known unto thee, and be thou now unto me a strong tower of defence, I humbly require thee. Suffer me not to be tempted above my power; but either be thou a deliverer unto me out of this great misery, or else give me grace patiently to bear thy heavy hand and sharp correction. It was thy right hand that delivered the people of Israel out of the hands of Pharaoh, who, for the space of four hundred years, did oppress them, and keep them in bondage. Let it, therefore, likewise seem good to thy fatherly goodness to deliver me, sorrowful wretch, for whom thy Son Christ shed his precious blood on the cross, out of this miserable captivity and bondage, wherein I am now. How long wilt thou be absent? For ever? O Lord, hast thou forgotten to be gracious, and hast thou shut up thy loving kindness in displeasure? Wilt thou be no more entreated? Is thy mercy clean gone for ever, and thy promise come utterly to an end for evermore? Why dost thou make so long tarrying? Shall I despair of thy mercy, O God? Far be that from me. I am thy workmanship created in Christ Jesus; give me grace, therefore, to tarry thy leisure, and patiently to bear thy works; assuredly knowing that as thou canst, so thou wilt deliver me, when it shall please thee; nothing doubting or mistrusting thy goodness towards me, for thou knowest better what is good for me * Or Agur, Prov. xxx.

than I do. Therefore, do with me in all things what thou wilt, and plague me what way thou wilt; only in the mean time arm me, I beseech thee, with thy armour, that I may stand fast, my loins being girded about with verity, having on the breast-plate of righteousness, and shod with the shoes prepared by the gospel of peace; above all things taking to me the shield of faith, wherewith I may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and taking the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is thy most holy word; praying always with all manner of prayer and supplication, that I may refer myself wholly to thy will, abiding thy pleasure, and comforting myself in those troubles that it shall please thee to send me; seeing such troubles are profitable for me; and seeing I am assuredly persuaded that it cannot be but well, all that thou doest. Hear me, O merciful Father, for His sake, whom thou wouldest should be a sacrifice for my sins; to whom with thee, and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory. Amen.

John Banks to Henry Bullinger.*

MOST EXCELLENT FATHER,-You will perhaps wonder that in these turbulent times I should write to you, who never before have done so-the rather as I never had any communication with you, and I am now about to write of matters which would endanger my safety, if these letters should be intercepted before the bearer leaves England. But I do not consider this a sufficient cause to delay what I am about to state, since it is not only right in itself that these details should be known, but especially by you, on account of your affection and kindness towards the Greys, that most noble of our families-which indeed it never hesitated to set forth. Although this family is now ruined, and almost become extinct, for the blessed name of our Saviour, and the sake of the gospel, yet those who are real christians, ought not so much to lament the ruin of that illustrious family, as to rejoice that its last act was a testimony to the name of Jesus.†t The more so, since those

Ep. Helv. Ref. lxxx. In another letter of the same date, written by Banks, intended to be prefixed to a publication, containing the letters of lady Jane to her sister and Harding, and her conference with Feckenham, he gives an account of her short reign, and the cruel proceedings of the papists towards her.

+ He refers to the execution of the duke of Suffolk, about three weeks before.

who rest with our Lord in the kingdom of the Father, no longer are occupied in witnessing the lamentable ruin of our nation. Wretched indeed are we, who daily hear contumelies heaped upon the name of the Saviour, and behold the dreadful slaughter of those who endeavoured to promote his glory, and extend his kingdom.

But to return to the Greys, of whom I intended to write to you, both on account of that great regard towards them, which is so plainly shown in your works, and for my affection towards them when dead, to whom, when living, I was anxious to show my respect. I send you some communications relative to Jane, the daughter of the duke-truly precious;* not so much for her incredible advances in learning, wherein she excelled other females, although but in the seventeenth year of her age, as for the singular courage with which this youthful female surpassed men in the warfare of Christ, so that she could not be subdued by any machinations of the papists, nor deceived by their snares, as may be understood from her conference, which I send to you.

This communication she had with that distinguished and crafty papist, Dr. Feckenham, upon certain controverted points of our religion, her opinion concerning which she cx. plained with learning and ability. It is sufficiently apparent, from what she declared shortly before her execution, that she continued stedfast to the end in this confession of faith. I have joined it to other documents which appear to me worthy to be generally known.

How her precious mind was illumined by the true light of the word of God, may also be discerned from two letters-one which she wrote to her sister the lady Catherine, inciting her to study the sacred writings, the other to a certain apostate, to call him back to the Lord Jesus Christ. I have translated all these from our language into Latin, that you may not consider the labour to have been wholly lost, by which you endeavoured to enlighten that family, and excited them to the pursuit of religion. For I can be a witness, if not the fullest, still an eye witness, to the especial benefits which the whole family, particularly Jane, received from your works. She not only diligently marked all the heads of your second decade, but even committed them to memory.

Filia vere gemmea.

The duke himself occupied in the study of religious works, as much time as he could gain from state affairs, particu larly those written by you, with the pleasing style of which he often expressed himself to be much delighted. Froin this study he gained considerable advantage, when, during his imprisonment, some unreasonable men endeavoured to draw him from the faith and confession of the true Saviour -but they could not move him by any means. To the last breath he confessed the Lord Christ. Although when carried to execution, a papistical adviser, one of the swinish herd, clamoured concerning the catholic church, the mass, the fathers, and their customs confirmed by ancient usage, he would not acknowledge any other sacrifice, than that which is perfected in the death of Christ. By this faith he sustained himself, and in this faith he ended his life.

I would have written you farther concerning the entire subversion of religion, and the antichristian madness now prevalent in England, but those who daily arrive from England at Zurich, that seat of good literature, can better inform you the particulars. It therefore only remains for me, again and again, to beseech you to accept this my expression of duty, and that you would account me among the number of your friends, and pray to God that our England may at length be freed from that popish tyranny whereby it is now oppressed.-Farewell, excellent Bullinger, and whatever you do, continue to enlighten the kingdom of Christ by your writings. London, 15th March, 1554.

Last hours of the Duke of Suffolk.

The last hours of the dukes of Northumberland and Suffolk present a striking contrast. The duke of Nɔr thumberland professed himself a papist, and besought his life in the most abject terms, intimating that he never had really approved the protestant doctrines, but had promoted the reformation only to forward his political designs. The duke of Suffolk died openly professing his belief in the doctrines of truth, as appears from the account of his last hours given by Fox.

"On Friday, the 23rd of February, 1554, about nine of the clock in the forenoon, the lord Henry Grey, duke of Suffolk, was brought forth of the Tower of London, unto