Lady Jane Grey- A Faithful Witness

Series: Steadfast in Faith

Speaker: Janet Schorer

Date: 12th January 2025

00:00:00 --> 00:00:05 How's that? There we go. Thanks, Aidan. That's a comforting thumbs up.
00:00:08 --> 00:00:14 Good morning, everyone. My name's Janet Skora. Lovely to be able to be with you this wonderful
00:00:14 --> 00:00:20 summer's morning. I've been a long-time member of St Paul's and have the great privilege of being
00:00:20 --> 00:00:27 one of our wardens and one of our community group leaders. Really excited to have the opportunity
00:00:27 --> 00:00:36 to speak to you briefly today about the amazing life of Jane Grey. We're in our series over January,
00:00:36 --> 00:00:43 as you may be aware, of looking at steadfast women in faith, and Jane Grey is certainly one of those.
00:00:44 --> 00:00:50 So let me pray for us before we have a short look at this amazing woman's life.
00:00:52 --> 00:00:57 Our Lord and Saviour, we thank you that you have given us the gift of salvation
00:00:57 --> 00:01:03 and thank you for a gospel that is a light for our path and thank you that it was your gospel that
00:01:03 --> 00:01:11 lit Jane Grey's path so many hundreds of years ago. We thank you that she is a part of our faith
00:01:11 --> 00:01:19 heritage and pray that as we at her life today, that you would speak to us by your spirit about
00:01:19 --> 00:01:27 what your gospel means for us here today in this place. Amen. As I said, we continue this week exploring
00:01:27 --> 00:01:33 women of faith and we get the opportunity today to look at the very short life of Lady Jane Grey,
00:01:33 --> 00:01:40 who's often called the Nine Days Queen. She really is a powerful example of unshakable faith,
00:01:40 --> 00:01:50 of personal scriptural conviction and of courage in the face of significant persecution. Though her reign
00:01:50 --> 00:01:57 as Queen was brief, her testimony as a young Protestant martyr left an enduring theological legacy.
00:01:58 --> 00:02:02 So I want to reflect on Jane Grey from the perspective of her commitment to God's Word,
00:02:03 --> 00:02:09 her unwavering trust in Jesus and her bold witness under persecution. But first,
00:02:09 --> 00:02:18 let's have a bit of a look at who she was. Jane Grey was born in 1537 into a very tumultuous time
00:02:18 --> 00:02:25 in English history. She was born into a noble family, she was educated and she was wealthy and
00:02:25 --> 00:02:30 she was very close to the political controversy that surrounded the English Reformation.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:36 Now, I could probably spend all of this talk and most of the day talking about the Reformation and
00:02:36 --> 00:02:42 you'll be very pleased to know that I don't intend to do that. So let's try and give you a short
00:02:42 --> 00:02:46 whistle-stop tour so you've got the context if you're not familiar with it.
00:02:47 --> 00:02:56 From 1517, the German monk and professor Martin Luther challenged the Pope about fundamental issues
00:02:56 --> 00:03:03 of faith. The basis for his argument was that salvation is by faith alone and that scripture
00:03:03 --> 00:03:08 was the ultimate authority on any theological issue. And these were different beliefs to what
00:03:08 --> 00:03:14 the Catholic Church has. And it really marked the beginning of the Protestant movement,
00:03:14 --> 00:03:21 which we are now a part of. As the Reformation spread from Europe into Britain into the 1520s,
00:03:21 --> 00:03:26 Protestant reformers in England were being persecuted for their faith.
00:03:26 --> 00:03:33 This changed somewhat when King Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church. He didn't do that
00:03:33 --> 00:03:37 necessarily for good reasons. He did that so that he could divorce Catherine of Aragon.
00:03:39 --> 00:03:45 But at that time, England broke away from the Catholic Church. As a result, the king and his
00:03:45 --> 00:03:52 successors, for the most part, adopted a Protestant faith. And over time, the English people came to
00:03:52 --> 00:04:02 identify as Protestant. In 1536, the reform-minded Anne Boleyn, who you might have heard of, was out of
00:04:02 --> 00:04:10 favour with Henry VIII and was beheaded, as you are, in somewhat dubious circumstances. And over time,
00:04:10 --> 00:04:16 the king grew less favourable towards reform. And so evangelicals were again forced into the underground.
00:04:16 --> 00:04:24 And so Jane Grey was born into the midst of this, into the rumbling times between church and politics.
00:04:25 --> 00:04:32 So she would have known, had grown up with the knowledge of this context and what had happened
00:04:32 --> 00:04:40 prior to Henry VIII's death in 1547. But she had also been exposed to the gospel of grace.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:47 She came from a family who was deeply connected to evangelical theology. Her father, Henry, was a
00:04:47 --> 00:04:54 passionate man committed to the gospel of grace, and he was reform-minded. So when King Henry VIII died,
00:04:55 --> 00:05:00 Jane went to live with his widow, Catherine Parr, who actively fostered and nurtured her faith.
00:05:02 --> 00:05:08 When she was 11 years old and Catherine died, Jane went back to live with her family and resumed her
00:05:08 --> 00:05:15 extensive studies, benefiting from learning of many of the evangelical thinkers who visited her family
00:05:15 --> 00:05:22 home. At the heart of what she learned, though, was that an understanding of scripture must be joined
00:05:22 --> 00:05:30 with developing a character of godliness. As a young woman, Jane Grey is described in what I've read as
00:05:30 --> 00:05:37 someone who was intelligent, she was loyal, she was studious, she was loving, she was honourable,
00:05:37 --> 00:05:43 and she was a bit stubborn. There's no doubt she was raised by her family in a way that acknowledged
00:05:43 --> 00:05:48 and perhaps took advantage of the world that she would live in as a woman of noble heritage,
00:05:49 --> 00:05:55 receiving a broad and rich education, but equally having a deep understanding of God's word
00:05:55 --> 00:06:02 and what it meant to live as his servant. And so we find Lady Jane Grey was deeply committed to
00:06:02 --> 00:06:10 scripture. It shaped her theological understanding and it shaped her moral compass. At just 16 years
00:06:10 --> 00:06:16 old, when her life ended, she had a remarkable grasp of the Bible and of what the Reformation was all
00:06:16 --> 00:06:24 about. She had a deep personal devotion to scripture. Her education was provided to her by people who were
00:06:24 --> 00:06:31 critical to evangelical thinking in England. She was fluent in ancient languages and had read a wide range
00:06:31 --> 00:06:38 of philosophy and literature. Her education had encouraged her to have a curious mind, but her faith
00:06:38 --> 00:06:46 demanded that everything she read be tested against the scripture as a source of truth. And so she became
00:06:46 --> 00:06:54 one of the best educated women in England. What stood out consistently though is that Jane was devoted to the
00:06:54 --> 00:07:01 gospel of the Lord Jesus. Knowledge of scripture was not enough. It had to grow alongside faith and a
00:07:01 --> 00:07:07 character that was shaped towards godliness. What Jane was learning, she had to put into practice.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:13 And as her life went on, the depths in her understanding of scripture enabled her to speak
00:07:13 --> 00:07:19 confidently about her faith, even in situations where people with many more years and much more life
00:07:19 --> 00:07:26 experience would find daunting. It shaped her character, it shaped her worldview and her moral framework.
00:07:26 --> 00:07:38 Later in her young life, when Jane is, she needs to debate her faith with some of the Catholic
00:07:38 --> 00:07:44 Christians. And she did that with, she did, Jane defended the authority of scripture over human tradition
00:07:44 --> 00:07:52 and was able to quote the Bible to counter arguments. This was because it conveyed the importance of God's
00:07:52 --> 00:07:56 word, not the church as the authority over her life, as it should for any believer.
00:07:58 --> 00:08:03 Jane's life really illustrates the power of scripture to guide and sustain us as believers.
00:08:04 --> 00:08:10 Her knowledge of God's word enabled her to stand firm in her convictions, even when she was facing death.
00:08:11 --> 00:08:18 Her example challenges us to deepen our engagement with scripture for ourselves and to make it a foundation
00:08:18 --> 00:08:27 for our faith. At a very young age, Jane's life took a very swift turn as she's drawn more into the
00:08:27 --> 00:08:34 controversy of the English throne. The Duke of Northumberland, which sounds very grand, wanted his son,
00:08:34 --> 00:08:40 Guildford Dudley, to marry royalty. And so he persuaded the dying King Edward to change his will
00:08:40 --> 00:08:51 so that Lady Jane Grey would inherit the crown and then he had to his son. Now Lady Jane wasn't aware
00:08:51 --> 00:08:57 that this had occurred. And so when the King died, people turn up at her door to inform her that she
00:08:57 --> 00:09:04 is his successor and will be appointed Queen. And she wasn't thrilled about this idea, it's safe to say,
00:09:04 --> 00:09:12 saying, the crown is not my right, it pleases me lot, not Lady Mary is the rightful heir, Mary being the
00:09:12 --> 00:09:20 Queen, the Princess. Eventually she was persuaded to take the throne, but there was no fanfare, there
00:09:20 --> 00:09:26 wasn't the usual ceremony that went with the proclamation of the Queen, because she was well aware
00:09:26 --> 00:09:35 that Princess Mary expected to be Queen. One of Jane's only actions during her very short reign was to
00:09:35 --> 00:09:43 oversee a ceremony baptising a baby. Edward Underhill was a man who had been transformed by the gospel of
00:09:43 --> 00:09:50 Jesus and had gone from living a very wild life to becoming a man of faith. He wanted to have his son
00:09:50 --> 00:09:57 baptised and Queen Jane stood as his godmother. As she was praying that the baby would trust in Christ
00:09:57 --> 00:10:04 all his life and fight for the gospel, Mary became Queen and things changed again for young Jane.
00:10:06 --> 00:10:13 Lady Jane had a personal theology that was centred on salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone.
00:10:14 --> 00:10:20 The principle of the Reformation was at the heart of her disagreement with what the
00:10:20 --> 00:10:25 Reformation was about and it was central to her personal faith, and she lived that out in how
00:10:25 --> 00:10:30 she wanted to see other people understand who Jesus was. In her writings, in her conversations,
00:10:31 --> 00:10:37 she made that very clear, that her hope was in Christ's atoning work, not in rituals and not in
00:10:37 --> 00:10:45 human effort. In the passage that Gary read to us earlier, this is affirmed. It is by grace you have
00:10:45 --> 00:10:51 been saved through faith. It's not from yourselves, it's a gift from God. And these are the words that
00:10:51 --> 00:10:58 Jane Grey was convinced of, that salvation came by God's grace, not by anything any of us do. Not all
00:10:58 --> 00:11:04 the good deeds in the world, not for the most noble, not for the best dressed or the well educated.
00:11:05 --> 00:11:09 Salvation is for all people a gift of God and we don't work for gifts.
00:11:09 --> 00:11:17 Even as she faced circumstances well beyond her experience as a young woman, Jane declared her
00:11:17 --> 00:11:24 trust in Jesus saying, I look to be saved by no other means but only by the mercy of God in the
00:11:24 --> 00:11:31 blood of his only son, Jesus Christ. Her faith in the sufficiency of Christ calls us to examine
00:11:31 --> 00:11:36 where we place our hope and whether we fully trust in his grace in all our life circumstances.
00:11:36 --> 00:11:44 And so soon after Queen Mary took the throne, Lady Jane and her husband were imprisoned in the
00:11:44 --> 00:11:50 Tower of London. Now the Queen was very determined to make a spectacle of Lady Jane and so she was set
00:11:50 --> 00:11:57 to have a very public trial which meant a very long walk through the very busy streets of London to
00:11:57 --> 00:12:03 where her trial would happen. She was charged with treason and she was condemned to be beheaded.
00:12:03 --> 00:12:11 Those in attendance expected that she would break down but she stood firm. In the aftermath of the
00:12:11 --> 00:12:21 trial she wrote a prayer. O merciful God, consider my misery best known unto thee and be thou now unto me
00:12:21 --> 00:12:30 a strong tower of defence. I humbly require thee, suffer me not to be tempted above my power but either be
00:12:30 --> 00:12:37 a deliverer unto me out of this great misery or else give me the grace patiently to bear the heavy hand
00:12:37 --> 00:12:45 and sharp correction. In such extreme circumstances this young woman displayed a sense of peace and
00:12:45 --> 00:12:52 calm that could only be a reflection of her spiritual composure. She continued to be unwavering in her
00:12:52 --> 00:12:59 faith, her dependence on God and her proclamation of it. So while she's imprisoned, she lives with a
00:12:59 --> 00:13:06 jailer in his house and soon learned that her father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland, had
00:13:06 --> 00:13:14 denied his faith prior to his execution in the hope of receiving a pardon. Lady Jane was horrified at this
00:13:14 --> 00:13:18 and it seemed to bolster her own convictions even further. She wrote,
00:13:18 --> 00:13:26 Should I, who am so young and few in years, forsake my faith for the love of life? No, God forbid it.
00:13:26 --> 00:13:33 But God be merciful to us for he says, whoever denies him before men, he will not know him in the Father's
00:13:33 --> 00:13:42 kingdom. Now it seems that Queen Mary was willing to be somewhat lenient on Lady Jane. She afforded her
00:13:42 --> 00:13:49 some freedoms while she was imprisoned that made it a little more bearable. However, some senior nobles,
00:13:49 --> 00:13:56 including Lady Jane's father, unfortunately, made an attempt to remove her from the throne and this
00:13:56 --> 00:14:04 really extinguished any chance of leniency and so Lady Jane's fate was sealed. One of the most gripping
00:14:04 --> 00:14:11 accounts of Lady Jane is the conversation that happened between her and the Catholic chaplain,
00:14:11 --> 00:14:18 John Feckernam, in the days before she was beheaded. The chaplain goes to Jane in an attempt to save
00:14:18 --> 00:14:24 her soul, to convince her that her faith was a fraud and that she should go back to her Catholic belief.
00:14:25 --> 00:14:32 So think for a moment about that scene. You have a 16-year-old girl, imprisoned for days and
00:14:32 --> 00:14:38 imprisoned and days away from what she knows will be a horrific death and you have a seasoned,
00:14:38 --> 00:14:46 older, experienced minister of the church who has authority and perhaps influence over what the
00:14:46 --> 00:14:53 Queen might do to spare Jane's life. Now this conversation happened over three days and so I
00:14:53 --> 00:14:58 don't, I'm not going to go over the detail of it but Feckernam asked her at one point what is required
00:14:58 --> 00:15:05 in a Christian and she answered, to believe in God the Father, in God the Son, in God the Holy Ghost,
00:15:05 --> 00:15:11 three persons and what God. Is there anything else required in a Christian but to believe in God?
00:15:12 --> 00:15:18 She answered, yes, we must believe in him, we must love him with all our heart, with all our soul,
00:15:18 --> 00:15:26 with all our mind and our neighbour as ourself. After three days of talking the chaplain concluded
00:15:26 --> 00:15:33 that Jane was not to be persuaded to deny her faith and he left her saying that they would not meet
00:15:33 --> 00:15:41 again. She replied, true that we shall never meet again unless you, unless God turn your heart,
00:15:41 --> 00:15:49 for I am sure unless you repent and turn to God you are an evil case. I pray to God in the bowels of
00:15:49 --> 00:15:57 his mercy to send you his Holy Spirit. Jane Gray doesn't let her youth or her diminished status,
00:15:57 --> 00:16:06 or her status diminished her testimony. She engages in a debate with Feckernam and stands firm in what
00:16:06 --> 00:16:12 she believes and she knows what she believes. She's spent time in scripture herself, she's asked
00:16:12 --> 00:16:20 questions, she understands what she's saying, she is out, she's compelled, she's assured. The chaplain
00:16:20 --> 00:16:26 presses that we can be saved by our works, that the scripture has authority over the church,
00:16:26 --> 00:16:33 not the other way around. It demonstrated that she had that unwavering faith and strength in her
00:16:33 --> 00:16:40 belief and that she was convinced that faith is by Christ alone and in the authority of the scripture.
00:16:42 --> 00:16:49 And so Queen Mary pressed on with her efforts to stamp out evangelicalism and have her reign preserved.
00:16:50 --> 00:16:56 Knowing that her fate was now inevitable, Jane wrote words of encouragement. In small Bibles,
00:16:56 --> 00:17:02 for her sister and for the jailer who had kept her, urging them to consider the gospel for themselves
00:17:02 --> 00:17:10 and to stay true to their faith. As she stood in the public arena before her death, she shared her
00:17:10 --> 00:17:13 final testimony, including these words.
00:17:13 --> 00:17:19 Jane's martyrdom is a testimony to her courage and her faith. Offering a chance to recantate,
00:17:19 --> 00:17:34 she said, she was led to her death on the 12th of February, 1554.
00:17:34 --> 00:17:43 Jane's martyrdom is a testimony to her courage and her faith. Offering a chance to recant and to
00:17:43 --> 00:17:50 embrace her Catholicism, Jane chose instead to remain faithful to her beliefs. She faced her death
00:17:50 --> 00:17:58 with serenity, reportedly quoting the Apostle Paul, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race
00:17:58 --> 00:18:05 and I have kept the faith. And so what can we reflect on from the life of Lady Jane Grey?
00:18:07 --> 00:18:15 Her death at 16 reminds us that faithfulness to Christ comes at a cost. Her example challenges us
00:18:15 --> 00:18:20 to consider whether we are prepared to stand firm in our faith when we're facing difficult
00:18:20 --> 00:18:28 circumstances, opposition or suffering. Her life is a profound example of commitment to God's word,
00:18:29 --> 00:18:35 of trust in Christ alone for everything we need and boldness in witness. Her faith, though tested,
00:18:35 --> 00:18:42 never wavered. I have also reflected on the fact that this is a young woman in extraordinary times
00:18:42 --> 00:18:48 and certainly extraordinary circumstances, but she's still a teenager. I think Jane is a tremendous
00:18:48 --> 00:18:53 encouragement to our young people. You need to know that you believe, know what you believe,
00:18:53 --> 00:18:59 know why you believe it. Search the Bible for yourself, ask questions, be courageous in your
00:18:59 --> 00:19:05 faith. Don't underestimate the impact that you can have. Your faith and your testimony is just as
00:19:05 --> 00:19:12 powerful as someone who's older. Lady Jane Grey, known as the Queen of Nine Days, was remembered at the
00:19:12 --> 00:19:19 time and we remember through her history for her faith, for her hope and her deep love. Her life
00:19:19 --> 00:19:26 and her death are equally inspiring for their passion for the truth, courage under trial and an
00:19:26 --> 00:19:33 unwavering hope in Christ. I'm also impressed by how deeply invested in the scriptures she was
00:19:33 --> 00:19:41 and to constantly learning more, being educated, having the word of God in her heart, in her mouth,
00:19:41 --> 00:19:47 and knowing that it gave her life and hope. Her love of the scriptures gave her a firm grasp of the
00:19:47 --> 00:19:53 truth. It gave her the foundation for her life and her character. It's the same word that we open today,
00:19:54 --> 00:19:59 the same word that we use to teach, rebuke, correct and train in righteousness.
00:20:00 --> 00:20:06 And so maybe your next step this year is spending more time in God's word so that you might have the
00:20:06 --> 00:20:13 same assurance, hope and courage that she showed. Read the Bible four or more times a week. Ask God
00:20:13 --> 00:20:20 to speak to you about what you're about, to speak to you through what you read. Meet with other people
00:20:20 --> 00:20:25 and be challenged and encouraged through his word to continue in faith. We've already heard this morning,
00:20:25 --> 00:20:31 it's a great time of year to join a community group. We'll spend some time with someone one-on-one
00:20:31 --> 00:20:36 and open the scripture together. Commit to that investment in yourself this year.
00:20:38 --> 00:20:43 Lady Jane was also compelled that everyone should hear and respond to the gospel. She knew that
00:20:43 --> 00:20:49 salvation was only to be found in Jesus and she wanted people to know that. Even in the faith,
00:20:50 --> 00:20:57 she had fought in her short life to proclaim that it isn't a works-based gospel. It's not something we
00:20:57 --> 00:21:04 can earn or buy. God loved the world so much that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him
00:21:04 --> 00:21:12 shall not perish but have eternal life. Jane knew that God loved her that much. She had nothing to fear
00:21:12 --> 00:21:19 in this world because her eternal life was assured. Her words after darkness, I hope for light,
00:21:20 --> 00:21:25 were realised in her own life and convey for us too the assurance that we can have in Christ.
00:21:25 --> 00:21:33 If that's not your assurance today, my encouragement is that you will take your next step and find out
00:21:33 --> 00:21:37 before you leave what God has done for you. Let's pray.
00:21:40 --> 00:21:46 Heavenly Father, thank you for the example of Lady Jane Grey, who remains steadfast in her faith,
00:21:46 --> 00:21:54 even to death. Teach us to value your word, trust in Christ alone and to boldly proclaim your truth.
00:21:54 --> 00:22:01 Strengthen us to follow her example that we might glorify you in all we do. In Jesus' name. Amen.