The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Lady Jane Grey

Lady Jane Grey I thought that some might be interested in reading the debate between 16 years old Lady Jane Grey, briefly Queen of England, and John Feckenham, a Roman priest, who was sent to convert her. The debate took place on 10th Feb, 1554, two days before Lady Jane was executed.

What I found quite amazing, is that she was only 16.

Feckenham: What is then required of a Christian?

Lady Jane: That he should believe in God the Father, in God the Son, and in God the Holy Ghost; three persons, one God.

Feck: Is there nothing else to be required or looked for in a Christian but to believe in Him?

Jane: Yes; we must also love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and our neighbour as ourself.

Feck: Why, then faith only justifies not, or saves not.

Jane: Yes, verily, faith, as Paul saith, only justifieth. Why, St. Paul saith, “If I have all faith, without love it is nothing.” True it is; for how can I love Him whom I trust not? Or how can I trust Him whom I love not? Faith and love go together, and that love is comprehended in faith.

Feck: How shall we love our neighbour?

Jane: To love our neighbour is to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked and to give drink to the thirsty, and to do to hom as we would be done to.

Feck: Why, then it is necessary unto salvation to do good works also; it is not sufficient only to believe.

Jane: I deny that, and I affirm that faith only saveth; but it is meet for a Christian to do good works, in token that he follows the steps of his Master, Christ; yet we may not say that they profit to our salvation; for when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants, and faith only in Christ saves us.

Feck: How many sacraments are there?

Jane: Two- the one the sacrament of baptism; and the other, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.

Feck: No; there are seven.

Jane: By what scripture find you that?

Feck: We will talk of that hereafter. But what is the signification two sacraments?

Jane: ……….The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper offered unto me, is a sure seal and testimony that I am, by the blood of Christ which He shed for me on the cross, made partaker of the everlasting kingdom.

Feck: What do you receive in that sacrament? Do you not receive the very body and blood of Christ?

Jane: I do not so believe. I think that at that supper I receive neither flesh nor blood, but only bread and wine; which bread, when it is broken, and the wine, when it is drunken, puts me in mind how that for my sins the body of Christ was broken, and His blood shed on the cross; and with that bread and wine I receive the benefits that come by the breaking of His body, and shedding of His blood on the cross for my sins.

Feck: Why, does not Christ speak these words, “Take, eat, this is My body”? Require you plainer words? Does He not say it is His body?

Jane: I grant you He saith so; and so He saith, “I am the vine”, “I am the door”, but He is never the more for that a door or a vine. Does not St. Paul say, “He calleth those things that are not, as though they were”? God forbid that I should say that I eat the very body and blood of Christ; for then either I should pluck away my redemption, or else there were two bodies, or twelve bodies, when His disciples did eat His body and it suffered not until the next day. So finally one body was tormented on the cross; and if they did eat another body, then He had two bodies; or, if His body were eaten, then it was not broken upon the cross. Or if it were broken upon the cross, it was not eaten of His disciples.

Feck: Why is it not possible that Christ by His power could make His body to be eaten and broken, as to be born of a virgin, as to walk upon the sea, having a body, and other such-like miracles as He wrought by His power only?

Jane: Yes, verily; if God would have done at His supper any miracle, He might have done so. But I say that He minded to work no miracle, but only to break His body, and to shed Hios blood on the cross for our sins. But I pray you, answer me this one question; where was Christ when He said, “Take, eat, this is My body”? Was He not at the table when He said so? He was at that time alive, and suffered not ‘till the next day. What took He but bread? And what gave He but bread? Yea, what He took, that He brake; and look, what He brake, that He gave; yea, and what He gave, He did eat; and yet all this while He Himself was alive, and at supper before His disciples, or else they were deceived.

Feck: You ground your faith upon such authors as say and unsay, both with a breath, and not upon the church, to whom you ought to give credit.

Jane: No, I ground my faith upon God’s word, and not upon the church; for if the church be a good church, the faith of the church must be tried by God’s word, and not God’s word by the church, nor yet by my faith. Shall I believe the church because of antiquity, or shall I give credit to the church that takes away from me one half of the Lord’s Supper, and will suffer no layman to receive it in both kinds? But surely I think if they deny it to us, then deny theyb to us part of our salvation. And I say, that it is an evil church, and not the spouse of Christ, but the spouse of the devil, that alters the Lord’s Supper, and both takes from it, and adds to it. To that church say I, God will add plagues, and from that church will He take theirpart out of the book of life. Do they learn that of DT. Paul, when he ministered to the Corinthians in both kinds? Shall I believe this church? God forbid!

Feck: That was done for a good intent of the church, to avoid a heresy that sprung upon it.

Jane: Why, shall the church alter God’s will and ordinance for good intent? How did king Saul? The Lord God forbid!

Taken from the book, 'Lady Jane Grey, Nine Day Queen of England' by Faith Cook (Evangelical Press: ISBN 0-85234-579-8 )

Tom, thanks for sharing that! Wow, quite a young lady. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Yes, thank you for posting that. That sounds like a biography I would enjoy!

Hi Tom,

Thanks for those quotes. Your post spurred me to do some reading on Lady Jane Grey. She was truly an amazing woman, yet her life was quite tragic. I'm amazed at the the wisdom she had since she was only 16. Even now, I don't think I could have answered as well as she did.

John