# The Life of Sir Thomas More/Appendix 5

No. V.
Another Letter written by Sir Thomas More to Mr. Thomas Cromwell.
Right worshipful, after my most harty recommendacion, it may plese you to understand that I have perceived by the relacion of my sonne Roper (for which I beseche Almighty God reward you) your most charitable labour taken for me toward the Kinge's gracious Highnes in the procuringe at his most gracious hande, the relief and comfort of this wofull heauines in which my hart standeth, neither for the losse of goodes, landes or libertie, nor of anye respect either, of this kinde of honesty that standeth in the opinion of people and worldly reputacion; al which manner thinges (I thank our Lord) I so little esteme for any affeccion therin toward my self, that I can wel be content to jubard lese and forgo them al and my lyfe therwith, without any ferther respite than euen this same present day, either for the pleasure of God or of my prince. But surely, ​good maister Cromwel (as I by mouth declared vnto you some part, for all could I neyther than saye nor now write) it thoroughly parceth my pore hart, that the Kinge's Highnes (whose gracious fauour toward me farre aboue al the thinges of thig worlde I have evermore desired, and wherof, both for the conscience of mine own true faithful hart and deuocion toward him, and for the manifold benefites of his high goodnes continually bestowed upon me, I thought my self alway sure) should conceue any such opinion of me, as to think that in my communicacion, either with the nunne or the freres, or in my letter written unto the nunne, I had any other maner minde than might weil stand with the duty of a tender loving subject toward hys natural prince: or that his Grace shold recken in me any maner of obstinate hart against his pleasure, in any thinge that euer I said or did concerning his gret mater of his mariage or concerning the primacy of the Pope. Neuer would I wishe other thing in this world more life than that his Highnes in these thinges.all thre, as parfitelly knew my dealing and as thorougly saw my mind, as I do my selfe, or as God doth himself, whose sight passeth deper into my thoughte than mine owne. For, Sir, as for the first matter, that is to wytte my letter or communicacion (with the nunne) the whole discourse whereof, in my former letter I haue as plainly declared vnto you as I possible can, so pray I God to withdraw that scruple and dout of my good minde out of the Kinge's noble brest: and none otherwise, but as I not only thought none harme, but also purposed good: and in that thing most, in which (as I perceue) hys Grace conceueth moste greife and suspicion, that is to witte in my letter which I wrote vnto her. And therfore, Sir, sith I haue by writing declared the trouth of my dede, and am redy by mine othe to declare the trouth of mine entent. I can deuise no ferther thing by me to be done in the mater but onely beseche Almighty God to put into the Kinge's gracious minde, that as God knoweth the thing is in dede, so hys noble Grace maye take it. Nowe towching the second point, concerning his Grace's great matter of his mariage, to thentent that you maye see cause wyth the better conscience too make sute vnto his Highnes for me, I shall as playnely declare you my demeanure in that mat​ter, as I haue already declared you in the other, for more plainly I cannot.
Sir, vpon a time at my comming from beyond the sea, where I had bene in the Kinge's busines, I repayred (as my duty was) vnto the Kinge's Grace, being at that time at Hampton Court. At which time sodenly his Highnes walking in the galery, brake with me of his great matter, and shewed me that it was now perceued, that his marriage was not onely against the positive lawes of the church and the written law of God, but also in such wise against the lawe of nature, that it coulde in no wyse by the churche be dispensable. Nowe so was it before my going ouer the sea, I had hard certayn thynges moued against the bull of the dispensacion concerning the woordes in the law leuetycall, and the lawe deutronomicall, to proue the prohibition to be de jure divino. But yet perceued I not at that tyme, but that the greater hope of the matter stode in certayne fawtes that were founden in the bull wherby the bul should by the law not be sufficient. And suche comfort was there in that point (as farre as I perceued) a good season, that the counsayle on the tother part, were fayne to bring forth a brief, by which they pretended those defawtes to be supplied; the trueth of whych brief was by the Kynge's counsayle suspected, and much dilygence was there after done for the tryall of that point: wherin what was finally founden, eyther I neuer knewe, or elles I do not remember. But I rehearse you thys, too the entent you shall knowe that the first tyme that euer I hard that poynt moued, that it shoulde be in suche hyghe degree againste the lawe of nature, was the tyme in which as I beganne to tell you, the Kynge's Grace shewed it me hymselfe, and layde the Byble open before me, and there redde me the woordes that moued his Highnes and dyuers other erudite persons so to thynke, and asked me further what my selfe thought thereon. At whych tyme, not presuming to looke that his Highnes should any thyng take that point for the more proued or improued, for my poore minde in so great a matter, I shewed neuerthelesss (as my duety was at hys commaundement) what thyng I thought vpon the woordes which I there redde. Wherevpon hys Hyghnes acceptyng benignely my sodaine vnaduised aunswere, commaunded me to commune further wyth Mayster ​Fox nowe his gracyous almoygner, and to reade wyth hym a booke that then was in making for that matter. After whych booke redde, and my pore oppinion eftstones declared vnto hys Hyghnes thereupon, his Hyghnes lyke a prudent and a verteouse prynce assembled at a nother tyme at Hampton Court, a good nombre of very well learned menne. At which tyme as farre euer I harde, there were (as was in so greate a matter moste lykely to be) dyuers oppinions amonge theim. Howbeit I neuer harde, but that they agreed at that time vpon a certayn forme in whych the booke shoulde be made, whych was afterwarde at Yorke Place in my Lorde Cardynalles chamber redde, in the presence of dyuers bishoppes and many learned men. And they all thought that there appeared in the booke good and reasonable causes that myght well moue the Kynge's Hyghnesse, beying so vertuouse a prynce to conceue in hys mynde a scrupple agaynsts hys maryage: whyche while he coulde not otherwyse auoyde, he dyd well and vertuousely for the acquieting of his conscience, to sewe and procure to haue hys doubte decyded by judgement of the church. After thys the sute beganne, and the legates sate vppon the matter. During all which time I neuer meddled there, nor was a manne mete to do, for the mater was in hande by an ordynarye proces of the spyrytuall lawe, wherof I coulde lyttle skil. And yet while the legates wer sitting vpon the mater, it plesed the Kinge's Highnes to send me in the company of mi Lorde of London, now of Duresme, in embassiate aboute the peace, that at our being there was concluded at Cameraye, betweene his Highnes and the Emperour and the Frenche Kinge. And after my comming home, hys Hyghnes of hys onelye goodnes (as farre vnworthy as I was thereto) made me as you well knowe hys Chauncellour of this relme. Sone after which time, hys Grace moued me agayne yet eftsones, to loke and consider his gret matter, and wel and indifferently to ponder such thinges as I shold find therin. And if it so wer that therupon it should hap me to se such thinges as shoulde parswade me to that part, he would gladly use me among other of his counsailours in that matter. And neuerthelesse he graciously declared vnto me, that he would in no wise, that I should other thing do or say therin, than vpon that that I shold pcrceiue mine own con​science should serue me, and that I shold first loke vnto God, and after God vnto him. Which moste gracious words was the first lesson also that euer his Grace gaue me at my first comming into his noble seruice. This mocion was to me very comfortable, and much I longed beside ani thing that my self either had sene, or by ferther seiche should hap to finde for the tone part or the tother, yet specially to haue some conferens in the matter, with some such of his Grace's learned counsel, as most for his part had labored, and most had found in the matter. Whereupon his Highnes assigned vnto me, the now most reuerent fathers Archbishoppes of Canterbury and York, with Maister Doctour Fox, now his Grace's Almoigner, and Maister Doctor Nicholas the Italion frere. Wherupon I not only sought and red, and as far forth as my pore witte and learning serued me, wel waied and considered euery such thing as I could find my self, or rede in any other man's labour that I could get, which any thing had written therin, but had also diligent conferens with his Grace's counsellers aforesaide: whose honours and worships I nothing mistrust in this point, but that they both haue and will report vnto hys Highnes, that they neuer found obstinate maner or fashion in me, but a minde as toward and as confirmable as reson could in a matter disputable require. Wherupon the Kinge's Highnes being farther aduertised both by them and by my self, of my pore oppinion in the matter, (wherin to haue bene able or mete to do him seruice, I wold as I then shewed his Highnes, haue ben more glad, than of al such worldly commodities, as I either than had, or euer shold come to) his Highnes graciously taking in gre my good mind in that behalf, vsed of his blessed dispocicion in the persecuting of his gret matter, only those (of whom his Grace had good nombre) whose consciens his Grace perceyueth, wel and fully perswaded vpon that part. And as well me as any other to whom hys Highnes thought the thing to seme otherwise, he vsed in his other busines: abiding of his aboundant goodnes neuerthelesse gracious Lord vnto euery man, nor neuer was willing to put any man in ruffle or trouble of his conscience. After this did I neuer nothing more therein nor neuer anye worde wrote I therein to thempairing of his Grace's part, neither before nor after: but setling my minde in quiet to serue his Grace in other thinges, I would not so ​much as loke nor let lye by me any boke of the tother part, albeit that I gladly red afterward diuers boxes that were made on his part. Nor neuer would I rede the boke that Maister Abel made on the tother side, nor other bokes which wer (as I hard say) made in Latten beyonde the sea, nor neuer gaue eare to the Pope's proceding in the mater. Moreouer where I had found in my study, a booke that I had before borrowedde of my Lord of Bathe, which boke he had made of the matter at such time as the legates sate here thereupon, which boke had ben by me neglegently cast aside, and that I shewed him I wold sende him home his boke againe, he told me that in good faith he had longe time before discharged hys minde of the matter, and hauing forgotten that coppy to remaine in my hand, had burned his own copy that he had therof at home: and because he no more minded to meddle any thing in the matter, he desired me to burn the same boke to. And vpon my faith so did I. Besides this, dyuers other ways have I so vsed my self, that if I rehersed them al, it should wel apere that I never haue had against his Grace's marriage any maner demenure wherby his Highnes might have ani maner cause or occasion of displesure toward me. For likewise as I am not he which either can, or whom it could become to take vpon me the determinacion or decision of such a weighty matter, wherof diuers pointes a gret way passe my lerning, so am I he, that among other his Grace's faithful subjects, his Highnes being in possession of his marriage, will most hartely pray for the prosperous estate of his Grace, longe to continue to the pleasure of God. As touching the thirde point, the primacy of the Pope, I nothing meddle in the mater. Trouth it is, that as I told you, when ye desired me to shew you what I thought therin, I was my self sometime not of the minde that the primacy of that se, should be begun by thinstitucion of God, vntil that I red in that mater those thinges that the Kinge's Highnes had written in his most famous boke against the heresies of Martine Luther. At the first reding whereof, I moued the Kinge's Highnes, either to leaue out that point, or els to touch it more slenderly, for dout of such thinges as after might hap to fal in question betweene his Highnes and some pope, as betweene princes and popes diuers times haue done. Wherunto his Highnes answered me, that he would ​in no wise any thing minishe of that matter, of which thing his Highnes shewed me a secret cause, whereof I neuer had any thing herd before. But surely after that I had red his Grace's boke therein, and so many other thinges as I have sene in that point by this continuance of this vii yeres sins and more, I haue founden, in effect the substans of al that holy doctours fro Saint Ignatius disciple of Sainct John the Euangelist, vnto our owne daies both Latins and Grekes, so consonant and agreing in that point, and the thing by such general counsailes so confirmed also, that in good faith I neuer neither red nor hard any thing of such effect on the tother side, that euer could lead me to think that my conscience were wel discharged, but rather in right gret perill, if I shoulde follow the tother side and deny the primacy to be prouided bi God. Which if we did, yet can I nothing (as I shewed you) parceiue any commodite that euer could come by that denial. For that the primacy is at the least wise instituted by the corps of Christendome, and for a gret urgent cause in auoiding of scismis, and corroborate by continual succession more than the space of a thousande yere at the lest (for there are passed almost a thousand yeres sith the time of holy Saint Gregory.) And therefore sith al Cristendome is one corps, I cannot perceiue how any membre therof, may withoute the comon assent of the body, depart from the comon-hedde. And than if we maye not lawfully leue it by our self, I cannot perceiue but if the thing wer a treating in a general counsail, what the question could auaile, whither the primacy were instituted immediately by God, or ordeined by the churche. As for the generall counsails assembled lawfully, I neuer could perceiue but that in the declaration of the truth, it is to be beleved and to be standen to, the aucthoritie wherof ought to be taken for vndoutable. Or els were there in nothing no certeintie, but thorough Cristendome vpon euery man's affectionate reason al thinge might be brought fro day to day into continuall rufle and confusion. From which by the general counsailes, the spirite of God assisting euery such counsell wel assemblid, kepeth and euer shall kepe the corps of his catholick church. And verely, sith the Kinge's Highnes, hath (as by the boke of his honorable counsaile appeareth) appeled to the general counsaile from the Pope, in which counsaile I beseche our ​Lord sende his Grace comfortable spede, me thinking in my pore minde it coulde be no furtherance thereunto his Grace's cause, if his Highnes should in his own realme before, either by lawes making, or bokes putting forth, seeme to derogate and deny, not onely the primacye of the see apostolike, but also the aucthorite of the general counsailes to. Which I verely truste his Highnes intendeth not. For in the next general counsail it may well happen, that this pope may be deposed and another substitute in his rome, with whom the Kinge's Hignes may be very wel content. For albeit that I haue for mine own part such opinion of the Pope's primacie as I haue shewed you, yet neuer thought I the Pope aboue the general counsaile, nor neuer haue in anye boke of mine, put forth among the Kinge's subjects in our vulgare tonge, auaunced gretly the Pope's auctorite. For albeit that a man maye paraduenture finde therein, that after the comen maner of al cristen realmes, I speke of him as primate, yet neuer do I stick theron with resoning and prouing of that point. And in mi booke against the Masker, I wrote not I wote wel v. times, and yet of no mo but only Saint Peter himself, from whose person many take not the primacy, euen of those that graunt it none of his successours. And yet was that boke made, printed, and put forth of very trouth, before that any of the bokes of the counsaile was either printed or spoken of. But wheras I had written therof at length in my confutacion before, and for the proofe thereof had compiled together all that I could finde therefore, at such times as I little loked that there should fall betwene the Kinge's Highnes and the Pope, such a breche as is fallen sins, when I after that sawe the thinge likely to draw toward such displeasure betwene them, I suppressid it vtterly, and neuer put worde therof into my booke, but put out the remenant without it. Which thing well declareth, that I neuer entended any thing to medel in that mater against the Kinge's gracious plesure, whatsoeuer mine owne oppinion were therein. And thus haue I good Maister Cromwel, long troubled your maistership, with a long proces of these matters with which I neither durste, nor it coulde become me, to encomber the Kinge's noble grace. But I beseche you for our Lorde's loue, that ye be not so wery of my most cumberouse sute, but that it may like you at such ​opportune tyme or times as your wisedome may finde, to help that his Highnes may by your goodnes be fully enformed of my true faithful minde, that he may the rather by the meanes of your wisedome and dexterite consider that in the mater of the nonne, there was neuer on my parte any other minde than good: nor yet in any other thing elles, neuer was there, nor neuer shall there be, any further faute founde in me, than that I cannot in euery thing thinke the same way that some other men of more wisedome and deper learning do: nor can finde in mine hart otherwise to say, than as mine owne conscience gyueth me. Which condicion hath neuer growne in any thing that ever might touch his gracious pleasure, of any obstinate minde or misse affectionate appetite, but of a timerouse conscience, rising happely for lakke of better parceyuing, and yet not without tender respect vnto my most bounden duty towardes his noble Grace: whose only fauour I so muche esteme, that I nothing haue of mine owne in al this worlde except only my soule, but that I will with better wyll forgo it, than abyde of hys Highnes one heauye displeasant loke. And thus I make an ende of my long troubelous proces, beseching the blessed Trinite for the great goodnes ye shewed me, and the gret comfort ye doe me, bothe bodely and ghostely, to prosper you and in heauen rewarde you.