Though the role of a woman was often muted on the subject
of religious uprisings and formations of new institutions during the
Reformation, there were several contributions made to the world of rhetoric by
the women, albeit they were often only granted publishing opportunity because
of their social or political status. Nonetheless, there is some fascinating
literature by these Reformation women that add to the concept of freedom to
personal religious devotion and that ultimately influenced the type of
relationship Latter-day Saints seek with God in the restored Church.
Jane's Rhetoric of Adversity and Faith
Lady Jane Grey experienced an incredibly difficult life
when she was forced (beaten) into marrying some duke of somewhere when her
cousin Edward VI didn’t want to marry her, forced to the position of successor
to her cousin King Edward VI after his death, and forced to the execution block
for accepting (unwillingly) that position which her cousin Mary believed was
rightfully hers and revolted for. Cue awkward family reunions…
However, the legacy of rhetoric that Lady Jane Grey is
too beautiful to overlook. This written prayer of hers titled “A Certain Prayer
of the Lady Jane in the Time of Her Trouble” speaks profoundly of her spiritual
maturity (by the way, she was only 15 when she was executed): “I, being defiled
with sin, encumbered with afflictions, unquieted with troubles, wrapped in
cares, overwhelmed with miseries, vexed with temptation, 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 the
which so little hope of deliverance is left, that I may utterly despair of
my liberty.”
Jane & Joseph: Under the Same Divine Pavilion
This excerpt from Lady Jane Grey reminds me of another
well-known declaration of faith in the Church of Jesus Christ: “O God, where art
thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding
place? How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure
eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy
servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries? Yea, O
Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and
unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them,
and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them? let thine
ear be inclined; let thine heart be softened, and thy bowels
moved with compassion toward us."
This scripture from Doctrine and Covenants section 121 is
a plea from Joseph Smith when he is imprisoned in liberty jail. Similar to Lady
Jane Grey, in their adversity they only had faith, a concept that Christian Rounds and Peter Cables both described in their blogs: “ I may not live to see all of my questions answered either, but I
can[…]proceed with what I do have: Faith.”
The rhetorical legacy of Lady Jane Grey and her written
relationship with God is only a small part of the profound influence that the
Reformation era concept of Christian humanism had on the restoration of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Image Credit: Lady Jane Grey (Public domain image via WikiCommons)
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