He was Lord Chancellor of England, the king's closest advisor, the author of Utopia, the friend of Erasmus. He was also a man of prayer who wore a hair shirt beneath his fine robes and rose before dawn each day for meditation. When conscience and power collided, he chose conscience.
King Henry VIII wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope refused. Henry declared himself supreme head of the Church in England. He demanded that all his subjects swear an oath acknowledging his authority over the Church.
"I am the king's good servant," More said,
"But God's first."
This simple sentence was his death warrant.
He would not swear an oath he believed false.
He would not call wrong right to save his life.
They imprisoned him in the Tower of London. His family begged him to take the oath — a few words, they said, just words. What did it matter? He had served the king for decades. Why throw it away for a scruple?
"I do nobody any harm," More replied. "I say no harm. I think no harm. But wish everybody good. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, in good faith I long not to live."
"I have not been a man of such holy living
That I might be bold to offer myself to death.
But I trust in God's mercy
That if I do not consent to the oath,
I shall meet my death with an unclouded mind.
What happens after, I leave to God."
On July 6, 1535, they led him to Tower Hill. He was weak from imprisonment, his beard grown long. He climbed the scaffold with difficulty. At the top, he turned to the crowd: "I die the king's good servant, but God's first."
The executioner asked his forgiveness. More embraced him. He moved his beard aside from the block — "It has not committed treason," he joked. The axe fell.
His head was displayed on London Bridge as a warning. His family bribed the guard to let it fall into the river before the crows could take it. His daughter Margaret recovered it and preserved it until her death.
Teaching 35
There is a line conscience cannot cross, even for kings. Words matter; oaths are sacred. You can serve power faithfully, but you must serve truth first. When the collision comes, choose conscience. Die if you must, but die with an unclouded mind.