MarginaliaAn. 1556. March.not be opened vntill it be deliuered vnto her graces owne handes. I haue written al that I remember I sayd, except that which I spake agaynst the byshop of Glocciters own person: which I thought not meete to write. And in some places I haue written more then I sayd, which I would haue answered to þ^e byshop, if you would haue suffered me.

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You promised I should see myne aunswere to the. xvj. Articles, that I might correct, amende and chaunge them where I thought good, whiche your promise you kept not. And myne aunswere was not made vppon my othe, nor repeated nor made in Iudicio, but Extra iudicium,MarginaliaCranmers aunsweres before B. Brookes extra iudiciall. as I protested: nor to the Byshop of Glocester as Iudge, but to you the Kynges and Queenes Proctours. I trust you deale sincerely with me without fraude or craft, and vse me as you would wish to be vsed in like case your selues. Remember that, Qua mensura mensi fueritis, eadem remetietur vobis. i.  

What measure you meate, the same shall be measured to you agayne. Thus fare you well, and God send you his spirite to induce you into truth.

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Ye heard before how the Archbyshop Doctour Cranmer, in the moneth of February was cited vp to Rome, and in the moneth of Marche next followyng was degraded by the Bishop of Eley, and Bishop Boner. In tyme of which his degradation he put vp his Appellation.

In this his Appellation, because he needed the helpe of some good and Godly Lawyer, hee writeth to a certaine frende of his, about the same: the copy of whiche Letter in Latine is before expressed in the old booke of Actes there to be read, page. 1492. The English of the same I thought here to inserte, as vnder ensueth.  

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MarginaliaAn other letter of the Archb. to a certayne learned Lawyer his frend, about his Appeale.THe law of nature requireth of all men, that so farre forth as it may be done without offence to GOD, euery one should seeke to defende and preserue his owne lyfe. Which thyng, when I about three dayes ago bethought my selfe of, and there withall remembred how that Martin Luther appealed in his tyme from Pope Leo the tenth, to a generall Councell (lest I shoulde seeme rashly and vnaduisedly to cast away my selfe) I determined to appeale in like sorte to some lawfull and free generall Councell. But seyng the order and forme of an Appeale perteyneth to the Lawyers, wherof I me selfe am ignorant, and seyng that Luthers Appeale commeth not to my hand: I purposed to breake my mynde in this matter to some faythfull frēd & skilful in the law, whose helpe I might vse in this behalfe, and you onely amōg other, came to my remembraūce, as a man most meete in this Vniuersitie for that purpose. But this is a matter that requireth great silence, so that no mā know of it before it be done. It is so that I am summoned to make myne aunswere at Rome, the xvj. day of this moneth: before the which day I thinke it good, after sentence pronoūced, to make myne Appeale. But whether I should first Appeale from the iudge delegate to the Pope, and so afterward to the general Coūcell, or els leauyng the Pope, I should appeale immediately to the Councell: herein I stand in neede of your Councell.

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Many causes there be for the which I thinke good to appeale. First bycause I am by an othe boūd, neuer to cōsent to the receiuyng of the Byshop of Romes authoritie into this Realme. Besides this, where as I vtterly refused to make aūswere to the Articles obiected vnto me by the Byshoppe of Glocester appoynted by the Pope to be my iudge, yet I was content to aunswere Martin and Story, with this Protestation, that myne aunswere should not bee taken as made before a iudge, nor yet in place of iudgement, but as pertayning nothyng to iudgement at al: and moreouer, after I had made myne aunswere, I required to haue a copy of the same, that I might, either by addyng thereunto, or by alteryng or takyng from it, correct and amende it, as I thought good. The which, though both the Byshop of Glocester and also the Kyng and Queenes Proctours promised me, yet haue they altogether brokē promise with me, and haue not permitted me to correct my sayd aunsweres accordyng to my request, and yet notwithstandyng haue (as I vnderstand) registred the same as Actes formally done in place of iudgement.

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Finally for asmuch as all this my trouble commeth vpon my departyng from the Byshop of Rome and from the Popish Religion, so that now the quarell is betwixt the Pope himselfe and me, and no mā can be a lawfull and indifferent iudge in his owne cause: it seemeth (me thinke) good reason, that I should be suffered to appeale to some generall Coūcell in this matter: specially seing the law of nature (as they say) denieth no man, the remedy of appeale in such cases.

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Now, since it is very requisite that this matter should be

kept as close as may be, if perhaps for lacke of perfect skyll herein you shall haue neede of further aduise: then I beseech you euē for the fidelitie and loue you beare to me in Christ, that you will open to no creature alyue, whose the case is. And for asmuch as the tyme is now at hand, and the matter requireth great expedition, let me obteine this much of you, I beseech you, that laying aside all other your studyes and busines for the tyme, you will apply this my matter onely, till you haue brought it to passe. The chiefest cause in very deede (to tell you the truth) of this myne Appeale is, that I might gayne tyme (if it shall so please God) to liue vntill I haue finished myne answere agaynst Marcus Antonius Cōstantius,MarginaliaThis Constantius was Stephen Gardiner, as constant in deede as a wether-cocke: who thus named himselfe, writing agaynst this good Archb.which I haue now in hand.  

But if the aduersaryes of the truth will not admitte myne Appeale (as I feare they will not) Gods will be done: I passe not vpon it, so that God may therein be glorified, be it by my life or by my death. For it is much better for me to dye in Christes quarell and to raigne with him, then here to be shut vp and kept in the prison of this body, vnlesse it were to continue yet still a while in this warrefare, for the commoditie and profite of my brethren, and to the further aduauncing of Gods glory: to whō be all glory for euermore, Amen.

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There is also yet an other cause why I thinke good to Appeale, that where as I am cited to goe to Rome to aunswere there for my selfe, I am notwithstandyng kept here fast in prison, that I can not there appeare at the tyme appointed. And moreouer, for asmuch as the state I stand in is a matter of lyfe and death, so that I haue great neede of learned counsell for my defence in this behalfe: yet when I made my earnest request for the same, all maner of counsell and helpe of Proctours, Aduocates, and Lawyers was vtterly denyed me.

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Your louyng frend Thomas Cranmer.

MarginaliaAn other letter of the Archb. to Mistres Wilkinson.THe true comforter in all distresse, is onely GOD thorough his sonne Iesus Christ, and who soeuer hath hym, hath company enough, although hee were in a wildernesse all alone: and he that hath twenty thousand in his company, if GOD be absent, is in a miserable wildernesse and desolation. In hym is all comfort, and without hym is none. Wherfore I besech you seeke your dwellyng there as you may truely and rightly serue GOD, and dwell in him, and haue him euer dwellyng in you. What can be so heauy a burden as an vnquyet conscience, to be in such a place as a man can not bee suffered to serue GOD in Christes true Religion? If you be loth to depart from your kynne and frendes, MarginaliaMath. 3.remember that Christ calleth them his mother, sisters, and brothers that do his fathers will. Where we finde therfore God truely honoured accordyng to his will, there we can lacke neither frend nor kynne.

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If you bee loth to departe for sclaunderyng of Gods woorde, remember that Christ, when his houre was not yet come, departed out of his countrey into Samaria,MarginaliaIohn. 4. to auoyde the malice of the Scribes and Phariseis: and MarginaliaMath. 5.commaunded his Apostles that if they were pursued in one place, they should flye to an other. And was not PauleMarginalia2. Cor. 12. let downe by a basket out at a window, to auoyde the persecution of Aretas? And what wisedome and policie he vsed from tyme to tyme to escape the malice of his enemyes, the Actes of the Apostles doe declare. And after the same sorte dyd the other Apostles: albeit when it came to such a poynt, that they could not longer escape daunger of the persecutors of Gods true Religion, then they shewed themselues, that their flying before came not of feare, but of Godly wisedome to do more good: and that they would not rashly without vrgent necessitie, offer themselues to death, whiche had bene but a temptation of God. Yea, when they were apprehended and could no longer auoyde, then they stode boldly to the profession of Christ: then they shewed how little they passed of death: how much they feared God more then men: how much they loued and preferred the eternall lyfe to come, aboue this short and miserable lyfe.

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Wherefore, I exhorte you, aswell by Christes commaundement,as by the example of hym and his Apostles, to withdrawe your selfe from the malice of yours and Gods enemyes, into sume place where GOD is most purely serued: whiche is no sclaunderyng of the truth, but a preseruyng of your selfe to GOD and the truth, and to the societie and comfort of Christes little flocke. And that you will do, do it with speede, lest by your owne folly you fall into the persecutors handes. And the Lord send his holy spirite to leade and guyde you where soeuer you goe, and all that be Godly, will say, Amen.

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