Sir Thomas More
Sir Thomas More
Born: 7th February 1478 in Milk Street, London.
Died: 6th July 1535, executed at the Tower of London
Resting Place: Body buried in a common grave at St Peter ad Vincula Chapel, Tower of London, and head said to be buried in the Roper Vault at St Dunstan’s Church, Canterbury.
Family Background: Son of Sir John More (c.1451-1530), lawyer and judge on the King’s Bench, and Agnes Graunger (d.1499), daughter of Thomas Graunger, a Merchant of the Staple of Calais and an Alderman of London.
Education: Firstly St Anthony’s School, then from 1491 More joined the household of John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, then he studied at the University of Oxford. More studied Latin and logic before studying law in London.
Influences: Met and became friends with William Lilye, John Colet and Erasmus while at university.
Early Career: Between 1499 and 1503, More stayed at the Carthusian priory, London Charterhouse, while he considered joining the order. He also considered becoming a Franciscan monk but decided to devote himself to the law after he realised that a life of celibacy did not suit him. More became a Member of Parliament in 1504, an undersheriff of the City of London in 1510, a Master of Requests in 1514, one of the King’s counsellors in 1517 and then a Privy Counsellor in 1518.
Later Career: In 1521, Thomas More was knighted and made undertreasurer after proving himself by carrying out a diplomatic mission to Charles V with Cardinal Wolsey. He rose in influence as the King’s personal secretary and adviser, became Speaker of the House of Commons in 1523 and then the High Steward of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He was appointed the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1525. In 1529, More was made Lord Chancellor after the fall of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.
Scholarly Work: History of King Richard III (unfinished but written 1512-18 and said to have influenced William Shakespeare’s Richard III, Utopia (published in 1516) – an account of a fictional island society and its social, political and religious customs. The book contrasted the chaos of Europe with the ordered life in Utopia where there was religious toleration, communal ownership of land and education for all. Assertio Septem Sacramentorum (1521)- helped Henry VIII write this defence of the Catholic Church and the Seven Sacraments. Responsio ad Lutherum – A counter-response to Luther’s reply to the Assertio. Dialogue (1528) – A book against the writings of Tyndale. Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer (1532) – A six volume work in repy to Tyndale’s An Answer Unto Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue. A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation (1534) – written while imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Spouse: First wife Jane (or Joanna/Joan) Colt (died in 1511). More immediately married Alice Middleton, a widow with money.
Children: More had four children by his first wife – 1) Margaret (Meg) More (1504-1544) who married William Roper in 1521 and had 5 children. 2) Elizabeth More (1506-1564) who married William Daunce in 1525 and had 7 children. 3) Cecily More (1507-?) who married Giles Heron in 1525 and had 3 children. 4) John More II (1509-1547) who married Anne Cresacre in 1529 and had eight children. Thomas More also raised Alice’s daughter from her first marriage as his own. Thomas More went againts convention and gave all of his daughters a top quality classical education.
Study for the Family Portrait of Thomas More by Holbein
Religious Views: Even though Thomas More decided that life as a monk did not suit him, he wore a hair shirt on a daily basis and was said to practise flagellation.
More and the Reformation: Sir Thomas More supported the Catholic Church, which he saw as the true faith, and campaigned against the Reformation and heresy. His actions against the Reformation included helping Cardinal Wolsey to prevent the importation of Lutheran books into England, producing scholarly works against Luther’s writings and persecuting people who he perceived as heretics.
Fall and Death: In 1530 Sir Thomas More refused to sign a letter asking the Pope to annul the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. He offers his resignation in 1531 but the King refuses only to relent in 1532 when More claims that he is having chest pains and is ill – More does not agree with Henry VIII becoming the head of the church in England. In 1533, More did not attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn and this was seen as a snub and Henry VIII is forced to act against More. In summer 1533, Thomas Cromwell launches an investigation into More’s activities and in February 1534 More is linked with Elizabeth Barton, “the holy maid of Kent” and accused of conspiring with her against the King. More writes to the King and Cromwell pleading his case and affirming his loyalty to the King and manages to escape trial.
After refusing to take the Oath of Succession, promising to uphold the Act of Succession (which declared Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon null and void and established a new line of succession through the King and Anne Boleyn), Sir Thomas More was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London on 17th April, 1534. Sir Thomas More was tried for high treason on 1st July 1535 and even though More believed that he could not be convicted because he had never spoken out against the King or denied his headship of the Church, Richard Rich (the Solicitor General) testified that More had, in his presence, denied that the King was head of the Church. It was also decided that More’s silence was evidence of “a corrupt and perverse nature”.
Sir Thomas More was found guilty under the Treason Act of 1534. Between the jury verdict and sentencing, Sir Thomas More took the opportunity to speak out and declared that “no temporal man may be the head of spirituality”. More was then sentenced to be hanged until “half dead”, then disemboweled and burned. A few days later, King Henry VIII commuted More’s sentence to death by beheading.
Here is an account of Sir Thomas More’s execution on the 6th July 1535 from A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceeding Upon Impeachments for High Treason, etc (London, 1719), cited at http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/more/moretrialreport.html :-
“About Nine he was brought out of the Tower; his Beard was long, his face pale and thin, and carrying a Red Cross in his Hand, he often lift up his Eyes to Heaven; a Woman meeting him with a cup of Wine, he refused it saying, Christ at his Passion drank no wine, but Gall and Vinegar. Another Woman came crying and demanded some Papers she said she had left in his Hands, when he was Lord Chancellor, to whom he said, Good woman, have Patience but for an Hour and the King will rid me of the Care I have for those Papers, and every thing else. Another Woman followed him, crying, He had done her much Wrong when he was Lord Chancellor, to whom he said, I very well remember the Cause, and is I were to decide it now, I should make the same Decree.
When he came to the Scaffold, it seemed ready to fall, whereupon he said merrily to the Lieutenant, Pray, Sir, see me safe up; and as to my coming down, let me shift for myself. Being about to speak to the People, he was interrupted by the Sheriff, and thereupon he only desired the People to pray for him, and bear Witness he died in the Faith of the Catholic Church, a faithful Servant both to God and the King. Then kneeling, he repeated the Miserere Psalm with much Devotion; and, rising up the Executioner asked him Forgiveness. He kissed him, and said, Pick up thy Spirits, Man, and be not afraid to do thine Office; my Neck is very short, take heed therefore thou strike not awry for having thine Honesty. Laying his Head upon the Block, he bid the Executioner stay till he had put his Beard aside, for that had committed no Treason. Thus he suffered with much Cheerfulness; his Head was taken off at one Blow, and was placed upon London-Bridge, where, having continued for some Months, and being about to be thrown into the Thames to make room for others, his Daughter Margaret bought it, in closed it in a Leaden Box, and kept it for a Relique. Hall’s Chron. Vol. 2. S. 2.”
Legacy: Sir Thomas More was beatified in 1886 by Pope Leo XIII and then canonised along with John Fisher on the 19th May 1935 by Pope Pius XI. In 1970, More and Fisher were added to the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints and given the 22nd June as their feast day. In 1980, Sir Thomas More and John Fisher were added to the Anglican Calendar of Saints and Heroes of the Christian Church and given 6th July as a celebratory day. In 2000, Pope John Paul II declared that Sir Thomas More was “the heavenly patron of statesmen and politicians.”
In The History of the English Speaking Countries Winston Churchill wrote of More:-
“The resistance of More and Fisher to the royal supremacy in Church government was a noble and heroic stand. They realised the defects of the existing Catholic system, but they hated and feared the aggressive nationalism which was destroying the unity of Christendom. … More stood as the defender of all that was finest in the medieval outlook. He represents to history its universality, its belief in spiritual values and its instinctive sense of other-worldliness. Henry VIII with cruel axe decapitated not only a wise and gifted counsellor, but a system, which, though it had failed to live up to its ideals in practice, had for long furnished mankind with its brightest dreams.”
and G.K. Chesterton wrote that More was the “greatest historical character in English history”.
Places: Institutions named after Sir Thomas More include The Thomas More Building at the Royal Courts of Justice at The Strand in London, The Thomas More Society: the politics society of Magdalen College, Oxford and the Thomas More Chambers in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London.
Historic places associated with Sir Thomas More include: Westminster Hall at the Palace of Westminster, where there is a floor plaque commemorating More’s trial which took place in the original building; Crosby Hall, a privately owned reconstruction of More’s original Thames-side home; Chelsea Old Church whose southern chapel was commissioned by More and which contains the tomb and epitaph which More erected for himself and his wives; Tower Hill, Tower of London, where More was executed; St Peter ad Vincula Chapel, Tower of London, where More’s body was buried; St Dunstan’s Church Canterbury, which is home to the Roper vault where More’s daughter, Margaret Roper, buried More’s head; and Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and St Ignatius Catholic Church in Chideock, Dorset, which claims to have More’s hair shirt as a relic.
The Family of Sir Thomas More by Rowland Lockey after Hans Holbein the Younger
Saint Thomas More
In a moving article entitled “St Thomas More: A Man For This Season”, Deacon Keith Fournier quotes Pope John Paul II as saying of More:-
“Precisely because of the witness which he bore, even at the price of his life, to the primacy of truth over power, Saint Thomas More is venerated as an imperishable example of moral integrity. And even outside the Church, particularly among those with responsibility for the destinies of peoples, he is acknowledged as a source of inspiration for a political system which has as its supreme goal the service of the human person.”
and Fournier writes of how Sir Thomas More stood up for his faith and his beliefs:-
“This champion of heroic courage in the face of a State which has lost its soul never wavered in his fidelity to the Truth. He would not betray the truth or compromise it on the altar of public opinion or for political opportunism. He knew that to do so would not only have dishonored God and led his family and so many others astray, but that it would have given tacit assent to the emerging despotism of his age.
Thomas More was brought to trial for his fidelity to the Truth. Oh, as is always the case with persecution against Christians, it was framed as a charge against the “positive law”. There, this outstanding lawyer defended the Truth for which he would later give his life.”
Fournier then goes on to quote More himself, from an inscription in his Book of Hours:-
“Give me your grace, good Lord, to set the world at naught…to have my mind well united to you; to not depend on the changing opinions of others…so that I may think joyfully of the things of God and tenderly implore his help. So that I may lean on God’s strength and make an effort to love him… So as to thank Him ceaselessly for his benefits; so as to redeem the time I have wasted…”
Conclusion
Although I cannot agree with Sir Thomas More’s persecution of people he perceived to be heretics, I admire his courage, his unshakable faith, his honour and his desire to see a Utopian society. He knew what disagreeing with the King could lead to but he put his faith and his God first.
Sources
- “St Thomas More: A Man For This Season”
- Sir Thomas More Wikipedia Page
- “The Trial of Sir Thomas More Knight, Lord Chancellor of England, for High- Treason in denying; the King’s Supremacy, May 7, 1535. the 26th of Henry VIII”
- “The Family and Descendants of Sir Thomas More”
- “The Trial of Sir Thomas More: A Chronology”
I did not realize that his children were from his first wife and not Alice.
I get the same thought about Sir Thomas More whenever I hear about him, and after reading your “conclusion”, Claire, you summed it up for me.
I want to like him because of his strong faith and he seemed to have been a nice father, but the fact that he persecuted so many people makes me have a negative feeling toward him. Didn’t he have hundreds of people burned at the stake?
That doesn’t sound very Christian to me, murdering people so brutally.
No he did not have hundreds of people burned at the stake. The official number is 4 or 6 — a far cry from ‘hundreds’. By all accounts he tried hard to save those lives as well.
What you need to remember also is that the heresy laws were not his laws but the laws of the country. It was his job as Chancellor to enforce the law. And heresy was regarded at the time as just as serious as treason, perhaps more so because it endangered immortal souls.
So feel free to admire More. In a violent age he was remarkably non-violent.
The names of Thomas More’s victims were:
1. Thomas Hitton
2. Richard Bayfield
3. John Tewkesbury
4. James Bainham
5. Thomas Bilney
If you want more information all of them have Wikipedia entries except for John Tewkesbury, eg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hitton
William Tyndale’s biographer Brian Moynahan also put forward a theory that it was Thomas More who organised Tyndale’s arrest and execution. So there could be six.
6 is a very small number and one of thes men actually died of ill health before getting to his trial. It was Henry who arranged Tyndale’s betrayal and he was hunted down by both the German authorities and a man called Phillips who betrayed him to his enemies. Sir Thomas More had to enforce the heresy laws, but he did also hate heretical beliefs and books and had many burnt on the orders of the King. When it came to the people accused of heretical practices he tried to save them and convert them with gentler means than he could have done. These gentlemen named above where repeated offenders and it was for the most serious of lapsed heresy and on a third offence that the death penalty could be enforced. It was not a personal crusade against heretics, it was part of the age in which he lived.
We cannot judge the actions of Thomas More or anyone else from the 16th century by the hypocritical ‘we know better’ standards of the 21st century. Most people were raised to believe the same things as More was and it was part of their world. In England things were not as bad as in Europe: it was a common site having heretical offenders burnt and strangled at the stake for offending the Laws of God. Luther encouraged the Emperor Charles V to send his army to put down the Peasants Revolt in Germany against the first Protestants and wrote to congratulate the Emperor for a job well done. Even in Edward’s time 16 people were burnt at the stake. We look to the terrible example of Mary Tudor as our focal point when thinking of heretical dealings and punishment of offenders, but this was an extreme example as it was in such a short period of time. Had it been over a longer period or on the Continent then her rule and actions would not have been condemned. Heresy was a capital offense and as the man who had to prosecute those who practised it Thomas More had to enforce those laws. Unfortunately from time to time that included the death penalty.
Whatever our views on Thomas More as occasional prosecuter of heretical offenders, we can only be amazed at his ultimate courage when he himself was prosecuted for the belief that the Holy Father and not King Henry was the Head of the Church on Earth and in the Catholic Church was the ultimate truth. For being prepared to die as a martyr and his defense o his faith in a public trial he should be praised. It was a shameful loss to England and to the world of the scholar that More was executed. It was also a loss to King Henry although he did not admit it publically as he had lost a great friend and honest advisior. his death was to send shock waves around Europe.
More had heretics executed, not for their BELIEFS, but for their actions. William Roper, the man who was to eventually become his son-in-law, was a convert to Lutherism. More didn’t have him arrested, he talked with him, argued with him, and prayed for him. When Rope returned to Catholicism, he credited More’s prayers to that end.
Thomas More did not have hundreds of people burnt at the stake: 5 were condemned by him, some others did penance and some went to prison but that was the law. Heresy was a capital offense if the person persisted or repeated the offences. There are many fine books about Thomas More that can educate you about him, his times and his belief. I recommend that you read one of them.
alas, we are judging people in the 16th century by 21st century standards.
Heresy was a capital crime in Greece, Rome as well–and not without reason, as upstart religious sects not uncommonly led to wholesale wa.r Not trying to defend everything here, just saying, you can’t judge people by modern standards. I think if the Reformation were only a religious issue, More would not have resorted to such extreme measures. Read about the Peasant’s Rebellion in Luther’s Germany or the Albigensians (Cathars) and you can see why monarchs and Church-men would have been concerned to the point of executing those they considered to be ‘heretics.’ Plus they saw themselves as responsible before God for the souls of those in their kingdom. Just offering some food for thought.
The War of the Roses would have still been going on in More’s youth and he would have heard stories of atrocities throughout his childhood. He feared that religious wars would tear England apart. That said, his stand on the treatment of heretics is lamentable. It’s hard to know exactly how much persecuting More actually did; Fox tried to blacken his name with tales of torture chambers in More’s home which hardly seem credible. As Lord Chancellor, however, More was responsible for implementation sentences that included death by burning.
It was shocking to the rest of Europe that a man of the intellectual stature and accomplishments of Thomas More should have been executed by Henry VIII. Such audacity, even by one of the world’s ‘great’ tyrants, was seen as almost beyond belief.
Many felt that if Henry could execute a man like More, there would be no depths to which he would not sink.
According to the logic of the law, More should have been ‘safe’ by his silence – for the maxim of the law was that ‘silence gives consent’. As More himself said at his trial, “God knoweth how” the court could find him guilty.
i had a renasiance project and this was very important
helpful
I work at a Catholic Hospital in the United States named “St. Thomas More” Hospital. Such a remarkable man. I know Showtime Networks the “Tudors” isn’t all historcally correct, but anything Tudor related is absolutely fascinating to me 🙂 Great Website! I love reading the articles about Anne and all those involved with the Tudor Dynasty.
Because Saint Thomas More would not say outright his reasons for not accepting the oath of Henry as Supreme Head of the Church it seems to me that the Council, Thomas Cromwell and the KIng moved the goalposts in order to convict Him of treason. Although Henry tried everything to save More he needed More’s oath above anyone else as he was very well thought of amongst ordinary people. Where Sir Thomas went ot what he did others would follow. More was a champion of the law and a clever expert in legal arguments; if he found that the Oath was sound and could swear to it then Henry hoped this would mean that others inclined to object may change their minds. His refusal to take the Oath and his refusal to say what he believed about the divorce and so on could easily be seen as him trying to influence others to also refuse the Oaths. (If Sir Thomas More thinks there is something wrong with it then there must be)
The strange conversation with Richard Rich in the Tower was the key to his conviction. It was meant to be a hypothetical question and debate: off the record if you will, but Rich used it against him, twisted it around and committed perjury. But Sir Thomas was quite correct: Henry did not have the right to call himself Head of the Church and was assuming a title that belonged to the Pope; as descendent of Saint Peter; conferred on him by Christ himself. More believed this and that Henry was acting against the Law of God that he claimed to uphold. Henry had even changed his Coronation Oath retrospectively to include the Supremacy. Henry had also collected togethr all sorts of histories and books to give weight to his title and his divorce and give backing to his claim to be Supreme Head. The Act declared that our island was an Empire and as an Emperor Henry would not be answer to any other power besides God. Thomaa More and Saint John Fisher could not accept any of this.
More was one of the great scholars of his day and it was a pity that he was forced into this situation. The Commission tried to twist his intentions and his words even falsely accusing him of forcing the King to write the Defence of the Seven Sacraments in 1521 in which he denounced the Lutheran heresy and praised the Holy Father, against his will. This More denied and claimed it was Henry who had convinced him of the importance of the papacy and the book was the Kings work and he wrote it freely, although More had advised him upon it. Recall that King Henry was interested in theology and had at one time been destined for the Church. He had a deep and genuine religious faith and he debated and wrote much upon religious matters. With all this background it was vital that More accept the Kings titles and the Treasons Act 1534 condemned him if he did not. It was a great loss to England when More and Fisher were arrested and executed, but again the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.
I honestly believe that Henry was troubled about the prospect of having to execute More; as he had been his teacher and they shared much together. There is some evidence that he regretted the execution and blamed it on Anne Boleyn. But in the end Henry was in charge and he could have left More to retire and live in peace in his home down the river. Anne of course was not responsible for More’s death, Henry was; but it was one of the many tragic consequences of their passionate and turbulant lives together.
Saint Thomas More pray for us. Saint John Fisher pray for us. Both holy martyrs against a background of turning England upside down.
Basically, if you are Catholic, you will support More. if not, then you will have doubts. I’m a believer that sees God and Jesus Christ as greater than any man, and the Pope is NOT no freaking descendent of Peter, thats preposterous, are you telling me The Pope is Jewish? Absurd, as absurd to even think More is worth following, save his example of being another self righteous asshole.
cheers
The Pope is not a literal descendant of Saint Peter because St Peter was not his actual ancestor through a blood line. As you rightly say the Pope is not Jewish.
However Jesus passed on His power to the apostles after His resurrection when he breathed on them and conferred the Holy Spirit. Likewise the apostles transfered power to their followers by the laying on of hands, so the successors to the apostles were the early Christian bishops. They likewise consecrated other bishops. This continued until the Reformation when the bishops were chosen by the sovereign instead, breaking the link with the apostles.
King Henry made himself head of the Church because he could not persuade the Pope to give him a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. At the time due to war between Italy and Germany, the pope was a prisoner of the Holy Roman Emperor,(a German) who happened to be Catherine of Aragon’s nephew.
The Holy Roman Emperor could put pressure on the pope (his prisoner) not to grant the divorce which would have humiliated his aunty Catherine. That’s one reason the pope could not grant the divorce.
Another reason was that a previous pope had given Henry a dispensation to marry Catherine who was Henry’s deceased brother Arthur’s widow.
Henry’s beliefs at the time were still basically Catholic but he just wanted to marry Anne Boleyn because Anne refused to have sex with him before marriage. Henry also was anxious to have a male heir as Catherine had been pregnant 12 times but all the offspring were miscarriages except Princess Mary. So it was not so much a love of the Protestant religion that made Henry decide to change the religion of the country, but that he was desperate for a divorce. Cromwell also persuaded him that he could make a lot of money for himself by disolving all the monasteries and grabbing the loot. So although the change from Catholic to Protestant religion happened, it was not a choice for many people. The Tudor monarchs forced the population to change back and forth depending on the sovereigns views at the time, and Henry was one who continually changed his mind, sometimes burning Catholics and sometimes “heretics”.
One thing is clear to me from all of the above events…that religion causes more mayhem than anything else in the world
what religion the atheists Hitler, Stalin & Mao Zedong practice?
Yet they murdered millions.
More advocated BURNING of heretics. He reaped what he had sown.
To be fair, and this is in no way condoning the burning of people seen as heretics, it wasn’t just More and he was, of course, backed by the King. As John Guy points out in his article on More on the History Today website, More believed that “Heresy was a poisonous cancer eating away the good in society. It must be ruthlessly eliminated, punishment of offenders being especially valuable as a deterrent to those still unaffected. Heresy was often incurable, and the burning of heretics was necessary when nothing would do but ‘clean cutting out’ of the part infected in order to safeguard the remainder of society. As the highest magistrate under the King, More believed he had a fiduciary duty to this end by virtue of his Chancellor’s oath, and by ‘plain ordinance and statute’.” He would have believed that he was protecting the English people and the country from evil and unrest, just as Mary I did too.
John Guy’s article is at http://www.historytoday.com/ja-guy/sir-thomas-more-and-heretics
The Lord Mayor of London honoured Sir Thomas More this morning at The Tower of London, in the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula. She was chief guest attending the Epiphany Carol Service, accompanied by Sheriffs and guests from the disabled charity, Livability. She wore Sir Thomas More’s historic Chain of Office, allowed only for special occasions, and read one of the lessons. After the service, Lord Mayor Woolf paid homage to his shrine in the Crypt. I live nearby at St Katharine’s and feel so privileged to be able to use the Chapel regularly; what a wonderful extra thrill us all to witness such an important historical event.
By today’s standards, burning people and executing people are atrocities. Putting it into perspective though, this was the mid 16th century and violence was a daily occurrence. He also had a job to do and faced execution for treason if he refused. He was actually worried that violence was splitting the country into two because of religion. He’s a product of his times and to be honest, there are far worse examples than Thomas More.
More had his flaws. He was no different from Saint Cyril who participated in the murder of the intellectual Hypatia. Saints Ambrose and John who condemned Jews for the “murder” of Christ. Hell, Saint Peter who was the first pope persecuted Christians. God in the Old Testament was intemperate, cruel, and ruthless when things didn’t go His way and Jesus got pissed and flipped tables when he believed His Father’s house was being violated. Point is, even the Divine is flawed.
More was doing right by the King not granting him a annulment with the wife so he could marry another women , the King wasn’t God only acting as gods over Gods heritage flocks herbs on a thousand hills belong to God ! More shouldn’t had been afraid to tell the truth out of his mouth ! Only thing I can see in these shot synopsis of mores life works is he shouldn’t kept the position of being Lord Councillor position for the State as a Job ! his first work was to believe on Christ and keep himself unspotted from the world , (from sin) and not as Lord over Christ heritage for the people if it involved him ordering Death!God word is the sword to remove the soul whom Christ died for from out of the land of the living not Gods plan after Christ ! Turn the other cheek , dont rest judgment or repay evil with good evil will not turn away from your door step ! If your brother sin against you’re rebuke him if he repent forgive him 70x 7 in a day, reprove rebuke with all long suffering, your not your own you’ve been bought with a price there fore glorify God in your body and your mind which is God’s! Raise a child up delicately you will have him to become your son at length! all men will turn their way to God ! I am fully persuaded i can do nothing by my ownself but all things through Christ who Strengthens me! The Flesh seeks the Things of the Flesh and the Spirit the Spirit these two are contrary to one another so i can not do the thing i would so with my mind i serve the law of God, With my Flesh Sin! Oh who will Save me from this Body of death! I thank God through Jesus Christ ! God wills my will to will his will, Wash your hands you sinners purify your hearts you doubled minded draw close to God he will Draw Close to you , The Holy Ghost we Know him and he is with us and he shall be in us , He will take us into all truths . For as many as are lead by the Spirit these are the sons of God ! Pray in your most holy faith Building you yourselves in the Holy Ghost ! God word in of no Private interpretation, Pray without ceasing ! The one lord one faith one hope of our callings! Make you calling and elections sure ! Lay up a good reward against the evil day of wrath having done all to stand stand yea therefore having on the breast plate of righteousness , loins gird about with he Gospel of peace and she shield of faith whereby your able to cast down every fiery dart of the devil ! we get understandings DOING EXPLOITS IN THE gospel ! don’t SET A King OVER YOU THAT TRANSGRESSES IN judgement ! he IS TO READ THE holy bible DAILY , NOT multiple wives unto himself or chariots ! Divorce is only given on the grounds of Adultery ! I dont believe This Kings wives of H3nery the v111 had committed adultery to be put away Gospel Good news doctrine Therefore Thomas More was right to not partake with the King wimes,thats not lined up with Gods Doctrine Good news plan for mans salvation there only one given whereby man must be save its Gods plan! it is no private interpretation! God cant be expected to Changes his laws to suit Kings moods ! All men must put off their sins of the flesh and mood of high imagination to put being clothed upon with Christ Jesus ! All run in a race only one gets he praise run reaching for the prize of the high calling of God thats in Jesus Christ ! This mortal mys first put on immorality then that saying Oh death where is your sting of Grave where is your victory will be swallowed up by life ! The sting of sin is death the strength of sin is the laws of God Deuteronomy 28-30 Chapter see, & levitation 11 And Isaiah 66 . sin first reaps corruption in the flesh and afterwards death! if not confessed and repented of and turned away form practicing living any longer there in that sin! under grace in Christ we have forgiveness for sin if we sin and repent God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness ! Mark those who walk disorderly and avoid them they serve their own belly’s , were to have no god Above God God called us gods ! even The Kings strength belongs to God ! dont fear what man will do to you , but fear God who can kill the body and afterwards throw you into hell! render to everyone their due fear to who fear honor to whom honor , reverence to whom reverence, By taking vengeance resting grace from whom Christ died , made them gods over heritage ! The earths is the Lords and the Fullness thereof ! If you live by the sword you will die by the sword ! dont rest Judgment eye for a eye tooth for a tooth, under he laws of God not one jot or titile will fail or pass away till all is fulfilled ! we have a better covenant and more sure promises in Christ ! That King was spiritually Drunk liven Mystery Babylon See Revelation chapter 17-22 Chapters all the blood that slain upon the earth is found in her ! she has the souls of men and slaves ! God going to Judge her for her sins have reached unto heaven ! Christ filed all abodes and inside us so that the life we live its not us But Christ working in us ! I read once i remembered it to said heaven also within us ! Had that King no been living deliciously in her he had his head on straighter it hard to see things fro what they really are with your mouth full of Bacon Pork, Ham , Shrimp Lobster and the wrath’s their beastly proud high minded ! Truce breakers ,covenant breaker disobedient to parent, sit lit by parents , railer mocking scoffers in the last day, and such like sins of the flesh that Christians are to put off and be clothed upon with Christ humility doing judgment showing mercy walking humbly with your God ! being full belly unkosher flirting with death! like raving wolves not temperate temperament over their belly’s fully and thy apt to forget God ! Give me meat that is meet for me Not to mush least I” forget the ! Be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves Satan your adversary like a roaring lion roaming about he heavens seeking whom he may devour,accusing the brothern before God day Give God here with the answer him that reproaches him, God will Bruise Satan under your foot Shortly! If you build gain the thing you destroy you make yourself a transgressor! the law is holy just and good if you use it lawful but if you say thats what saved you you’ve fallen from your faith! for by faith through grace you are saved not of your ownselfs it is a free gift ! What ever you do in word of dead do all the the glory of God and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ ! before many witness, lay up a good reward against the evil day of Wrath ! Let him that slain the blood of another person flee to the pit let no mans hand stay him , what sword taking this man out of the earth looks like that and jealousy of the King he didn’t like being reproved over his affairs in this life with his wives ! what this sounds like happened here with Thomas More and The King Henry the V111! I believe I have al my T’s crossed and I’s Dotted !
Reply to Jess
You do not know what you are talking about
Peter did not persecute Christians
That is one point
As for everything else,no offense, you are talking rubbish.
Thomas More was a great scholar, a man of truth and integrity, who yes, hated heresy, as did everyone. He worked for Thomas Wolsey when he hunted heretical works and it was his job as Lord Chancellor to prosecute and try and if found guilty, to condemn to death heretics who refused to recant or who had recanted but gone back to their beliefs. Henry Viii had him carry out the laws on heresy, so Henry Viii is to blame, not Thomas More who enforced the law, which existed before he was born. Heresy laws were introduced into England by King Henry iv and made tighter by More’s time. He disputed on the subject as well and his works were international and highly popular. Nobody can condemn the execution for religious beliefs, either hanging, drawing or quartering of Catholics or burning of heretics and Evangelical reformers or the execution of Anabaptist by Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cramner, who are never condemned for anything. Thomas More was fanatical in his condemnation but he was also moderate in his treatment of people. He didn’t use torture, that myth has been disproved years ago. He didn’t always even interrogate them. He can be linked to five deaths and two of those not directly. Nobody denies he was involved in these cases but it is totally unacceptable to spout about him killing hundreds of people and treat him like a murderer. That shows a lack of understanding of the man or the history. For one thing only 43 people in the reign of Henry Viii were executed for “heresy” most of them after the martyrdom of Thomas More. Another 39 Anabaptist people were executed under Thomas Cromwell. Similarly several batches of monks were killed for their faith and leading Catholic families suffered for not accepting the Supremacy. All of them are regarded as victims of the Reformation and as martyrs. Thomas More freed most people brought before him on suspicion of heresy because they were ratted on by neighbours with personal grudges. Other people were freed as orthodox or they had recanted. People who were condemned were serious dangers to society as the Government saw it and stood by what they believed. It was a last resort. Again, I am not condoning this practice, merely showing it was brutal but accepted by most of society at that time. It was practised under every Tudor King and Queen and some Stuart Kings. It was a European wide thing and contrary to myth torture was not a normal practice in trials and interrogations in England, although there are a few exceptions, the terrible torture and racking of Anne Askewe for example, which was illegal but allowed, but had nothing to do with Thomas More.
Thomas More was a great scholar who should be celebrated. He was the mentor of Henry Viii for many years, although sadly Henry turned from him, he was a humanist, he taught his daughters and wife with the equivalent of a University education and Meg was a renowned scholar, he discussed science and astronomy on the roof of the palace with Henry, he was a diplomatic and fun loving man, he was loyal and he was brave. He wrote against William Tyndale who wrote against him back and their duel of words is famous. He wrote Utopia but he knew the ideal society was not a reality. He tried to get freedom of speech in Parliament but Henry would see no sense in this. More also wrote a Dialogue and many spiritual works and was well respected. His last letters to his daughter, Margaret Roper are very moving and very beautiful. His integrity and stance he took, faithful to his true beliefs right to the end and his brave last hours, the speech he made after he was condemned, on the lies of Richard Rich, a man without honour, the declaration of loyalty to Henry and his God first and his resignation rather than hold office when he couldn’t uphold the changes that denied England as part of Christendom, all mark him out as a great man of honour and honest to himself.
Great article. Thanks.