Sometimes a few of her sayings reached us, to be treasured up in our
minds, as, for instance, when she replied to his arguments about
transubstantiation. Her words were these: '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? What brake He but bread? Look, what He
took He brake, and look, what He brake He gave, and look, what He
gave they did eat; and yet all this while He Himself was alive and at
supper before His disciples, or else they were deceived.'
But the priest would not admit that she was right in that, or in the
other statements she made so clearly and forcibly; he was, however,
so won by her gentle and courteous demeanour that he prevailed upon
the queen to allow her to live three days longer than the time at
first specified, that he might be able more effectually to convince
her mind.
This short reprieve was the only good he did, to my thinking. But
Lady Jane said that having to answer his arguments strengthened and
fortified her mind against all doubts, because whilst searching in
her Bible for the right answers to give him she gained a deeper
insight into the Truth.
'You must remember always, dear Margery,' she said to me, 'that a
really good thing does not lose by being examined. For examination
only reveals more and more of its intrinsic worth.'
The fact was that she answered all Dr. Feckenham's arguments with
such strength and clearness and such firm conviction as showed
plainly that religion had been her chief study, and that now it
fortified her, not only against the fear of death, but also against
all doubts and apprehensions.
It was always with relief, however, that we saw the priest depart,
for the strain of all this arguing upon our lady's mind was extremely
great, and indeed she was looking worn and tired out.
On the Sunday evening, which was to be her last in this world, she
wrote a letter in Greek to her sister Catherine, and put it with a
New Testament in the same language which she was bequeathing to her.
At my request she translated for me the first part of her letter,
which ran, as nearly as I can remember, as follows;--
'I am sending you, my dear sister Catherine, a book which, though not
outwardly trimmed with gold or curious embroidery made by the most
artful fingers, yet intrinsically is worth more than all the precious
mines of which this world can boast. It is the book, my best loved
sister, of the law of the Lord; it is His Testament and last Will,
which He has bequeathed to us--it will lead you to the path of
eternal joy, if you read it desiring to follow its counsels, and will
bring you to an immortal, everlasting life. It will teach you how to
live and how to die.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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