I Die His Majesty’s Good Servant but God’s First

As one of the most famous speeches by Thomas More in the movie A Man for All Season, speech that I die his majesty’s good servant but God’s first strongly shows More’s persistence in his conscious and beliefs—that is clinging to God. There is some evidence to illustrate his ideas.

In 1534, the Parliament passed The Act of Supremacy in which claimed that King was the head of both the Great Britain and church and did not admit all the religious power overseas. Moreover, in 1535, the passing of The Act of Treasons regulated that any person who attempted to deprive the power of King would be sentenced to treason, and the conviction of treason even did not need the performances of languages or behaviors. In the movie, when More was judged in London Tower, the judge asked More to make some comments about King becoming the head of the Church. More answered that the King knew exactly his attitude towards this event. That is, he did not suspect the power of King, neither of the Pop. And he finally was sentenced to death for treason with his last words—I die his Majesty’s good servant but God’s first.

The movie showed that Thomas More was a firm believer in the Christianity. The belief of the Christianity asserted the value of the secular power, but people should obey the orders from the secular rulers and God as well. In other words, people followed the orders of the secular rulers in secular business and spiritual business they should obey the decrees of God. However, due to the legality of the secular power coming from God, when the authority of God and secular rulers clashed, Christian would select to obey God, not secular rulers. In the movie, Henry VIII intended to control the secular world and Church and got all the loyalties of his citizens both secular and spiritual aspects. The dilemma More faced with was a result that secular power challenged the value of the Christianity in Middle Ages. As a citizen, More had the obligation to follow the order of the King. However, when the demands of the King excelled the ranges of God permitted and affected the soul of a Christian to get salvation, this Christian must fight against the authority of the King. As More always stressed, he did not agree to the oath against his conscious.

However, what is More’s conscious? The movie manifested his conscious. When More was convicted to death, he stated his mind clearly. He believed the accusations based on the laws were contradictory to the laws established by God through the holy church because any earthly king could not pass laws personally to represent the doctrines of God. The representative of God should be Saint Peter and his successors, pontiff. For More, his conscious is very simple, which clings to the God. He could not agree that King claimed to be the agent in the world because a human being could never be God, even King and also God had already pointed to his servants.

Also, the day before More’s death, More said goodbye to his family by a letter. The letter was written to his old daughter, Margaret. He prayed in the letter and asked his daughter to pray with him. Let God bless his entire family, his all friends and a reunion in heaven. From this scene, it can see that even before death, More still clings to what he believe and obey the doctrines of Christianity till death.

All in all, More was a great person who used his death to give a message to the whole world that was he died for his beliefs. He would always obey the orders of the God and respected the authority of the Church. Any person could not force him to sin against his conscience even the most powerful man in the world.