Thomas Cranmer (July 2, 1489-March 21, 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI. He was responsible for establishing the first doctrinal and liturgical structures of the reformed Church of England. He wrote and compiled the first two editions of the Book of Common Prayer, a complete liturgy for the English Church, from which the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican statement of faith were derived.
Thomas Cranmer was tried for treason and heresy under Mary I, imprisoned for over two years, then executed.
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, stated on the Holy Scriptures:
<If there were any word of God beside the Scripture, we could never be certain of God's Word; and if we be uncertain of God's Word, the devil might bring in among us a new word, a new doctrine, a new faith, a new church, a new god, yea himself to be a god.
If the Church and the Christian faith did not stay itself upon the Word of God certain, as upon a sure and strong foundation, no man could know whether he had a right faith, and whether he were in the true Church of Christ, or a synagogue of Satan.> 1489TC001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1489TC001. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, statement. +Jerry L. Ogles, D.D., Presiding Bishop, Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide, www.anglicanorthodoxchurch.org standrews.church@gmail.com.