where in the meane waye Saunders leader gaue hym a writyng, contayning the cause, or rather the accusation of the sayde Saunders, whiche when he had perused, where is þ^e man sayde the Bishoppe? Then Saunders beynge broughte foorth to the place of examination, fyrst moste lowly and mekely he kneled down and made curtesy before the Table, where the Bishop did sit: vnto whome the Bishop spake on this wise.

Howe happeneth it (sayde he) that notwithstanding the Quenes Proclamation to the cōtrary, you haue enterprysed to preach? Saunders denied that he did preache: but onelye, for so muche as he sawe the perillous tymes nowe at hande, that he dydde but accordynge as he was admonished and warned by Ezechiell the Prophete exhorte his flock and Parishioners to perseuer and stande stedfastlye in the doctrine whiche they had learned, saying also that he was moued and pricked forward therevnto by that place of the Apostles wherein he is commaunded rather to obey god then man: & moreouer that nothynge more moued or stirred him therevnto, then his owne conscyence. A godly conscience surely sayde the Byshoppe. This your conscience coulde make our Quene a Bastard or misbegotten: would it not I pray you?

Then sayde Saunders: we (sayde he) do not declare or say that the Quene is base or misbegotten, neyther goe about any suche matter. But for that let them care, whose wrytynges are yet in the handes of menne, witnessyng the same, not without the greate reproche & shame of the autoure: priuily taunting the Bishoppe hymselfe, MarginaliaThe booke of Wint. de vera obedientia.whiche hadde before (to get the fauor of kyng Henry the eyght,) written & set foorth in printe a booke of true obedience, wherein he hadde openly declared, Quene Mary to bee a Bastarde. Nowe maister Saunders goyng forwardes in his purpose, sayde: We do onely professe and teache the sinceritie and purity of the woorde, the whiche albeit it bee nowe forbidden vs to preache with oure mouthes: yet notwithstanding I do not doubt, but that our bloude hereafter shall manifest the same. The Byshop beyng in this sorte pretily nipped and touched, saide: Cary away this frensye foole to pryson. Vnto whome maister Saunders aunswered, that he did geue god thankes, whiche hadde geuen hym at the last, a place of reste & quietnesse, where as he might pray for the Bishoppes conuersion.

MarginaliaA notable example of the lord, cōforting hys seruauntes in theyr troubles.Furthermore he that dyd lye with hym afterwardes in prison, in the same bedde, reported that he harde him say that euen in the time of his examination, he was wonderfully comforted, insomuche as not onely in spirite, but also in bodye, he receyued a certayne taste of that holy Communion of Sainctes, whylest a

most pleasaunt refreshyng dyd issue from euery parte and member of the body vnto the seat and place of the hearte, and from thence dyd ebbe and flowe to and fro vnto all the partes agayne. This Saunders continued in prison a whole yeare and thre monethes. In all whiche space he sent diuers letters to diuers men: as one to Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer: another to his wyfe, and also to others, certifying them bothe of the publike calamitie of the tyme, and also of his priuate afflictions, and of sondrye his conflictes with his aduersaries. As in wrytyng to his frende, he speaketh of Weston cōferring with him in prison, whereof you shall here anone, (by the leaue of the Lorde) as followeth in the storye. In the meane tyme the Chauncellour, after this litle talke with Mayster Saunders, as is aforesayd, sent hym to the prison of Marshalsey, &c. For the Cayphas (Winchester I meane) did nothyng but bayte hym with some of his currishe eloquence, and so committed hym to the prison of the Marshalsey, wher he was kept prisoner one whole yere and a quarter. But of his cause and estate, thou shalt now see, what Laurence Saunders him selfe did wryte.

A parcell of a certayne Letter of Laurence Saūders, touching the cause of his imprisonment, and concernynge the truthe of his doctrine taken out of a rent copye, so muche as remayned vntorne. 

Commentary    Close

After it was first printed in 1563, this letter was reprinted in Letters of the Martyrs, pp. 201-03, and edited by Bull in the process. Bull's version was then reprinted in all subsequent editions of the Acts and Monuments. Ecl 260, fol. 123r-v is a copy of this letter, which was used by Bull as his cast-off.

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TOuchynge the cause of my imprisonment, I doubt whether I haue broken any lawe, or proclamation. In my doctrine I did not, for as much as at that time it was permitted by the MarginaliaHe meneth the proclamation of which mentiō is made before.proclamation to vse according to our consciences suche seruice as was then established. My doctrine was then agreable vnto my conscience and the seruice thē vsed. The acte whiche I did (he meaneth publike teachyng of goddes woorde in his own parish, called Alhallowes in Bredestreate in the Citie of London,) was such, as being indifferently weyed, sounded vnto no breaking of the proclamation, or at the leaste no wilfull breakyng of it, for as muche as I caused no Bell to bee ronge, neyther occupyed I any place in the Pulpit, after the order of Sermons or Lectures. But be it that I dyd breake the Proclamation: this longe tyme of continuaunce in prison maye bee thought to be more then a sufficient punishement for such a fault.

Touchyng the chargyng me with my religion, I saye with sainct Paule: MarginaliaAct. xxiiiiThis I confesse that after the way whiche they call Heresye, so woorshyp I the god of my fathers, beleuing al thinges whiche are written in the law and the