A Supplycacion

to our moste Soueraigne Lor

de Kynge Henry the Eyght /, Kynge of England, of Fraunce, and of Irelande /, & moste ernest Defender of Christes Gospell : Supre

me Heade vnder God here in Erthe /,

next & immedyatly of his Chur

ches of Englande and

Frelande. *.*

Matthei ix.

The harweste is greate, but the laborers are fewe. Wherfore praye the

lorde of the harweste to sende forthe laborers into his harweste. .'.

A Supplication to our moste
Soueraigne Lorde Kynge Henry the Eyght,
Kynge of England/, of Fraunce /,
and of Irelande, &c.

When I rememness in which

ber the blind

the clergy and

laity of England

have wandered many hundred years,

1M Ost dreade Soueraigne Lorde & most Christen Prynce, when I remembre the lamentable & wonderfull great blyndnes wherin the most parte of all Englande, not onely of the layete, called the temporaltie /, but also of the clergie, / haue pytuousely erred and wandered many hundereth yeres /, acceptinge /, reputynge, & most vngodly, erronyousely, and blyndely, estemynge the bysshop of Rome to be supreame head ouer & aboue all Christen congregations; and in dyuerse other poyntes suche as be touchynge the necessarye articles of our faithe; I coulde not but I can but meruell how, and by what meanes, suche pestilent errours and horrible darke blyndenes coulde, or myght, continue. entre /, invade, & ouerflowe this your realme /, & to contynewe so longe in the same /, not espied /, perceyued /, nor repelled. Consideringe, that by all that Considering the tyme and space, this your realme (as the most parte of men dyd then iudge and esteame) was well endowed /, replenyshed/, and furnyshed with many profounde lerned clerkes /, wherof some were bysshops, arche- clerks of both deacons, deanes /, prebendaries, parsons, doctours, bachelars in deuinite /, & other profounde

1 A six-line ornamental initial letter in the original.

marvel why such errors have been allowed to

number of learned
men in this
realm,

universities,

lerned clerkes in bothe the Vniuersytees, which were / graue, sage, & auncyent fathers. Contemplatinge and reuoluinge these things in my mynde-not a lytle I tried to find out moued /, troubled /, and vexed with the same /—I applyed me with all my powre & dyligence, exquysytely

the cause of this

blindness,

read the fifth

of knowledge was the cause of all the harm.

Mar. xij.
I had forgotten

to serche & to knowe the originall grounde & cause and happening to therof. And, in conclusyon, amongest other things it chapter of Isaiah, chaunced me to reade in the .v. chapiter of Ezay a proposition that muche lamenteth the captyuite and bondage which commeth & groweth to all people for lacke of knowleage in Godds Worde /; sayeng /, "Therfore commeth my flocke also into captyuite /, because they haue not vnderstandinge /; their glory is famyshed with hunger, & their pryde marred with thyrste. Therfore gapeth hell and openeth her mouthe meruelI found that lack ousely wyde." By this text, graciouse Lorde, it appeareth that all myserable blyndenes, captyuite, & bondage vnder synne /, commeth for lacke of knowleage in Gods Worde. I had forgotten, at that tyme /, that Christ reproued the Pharasees /, sayeng /, "You erre not knowinge the Scriptures;" which reproue and rebuke shulde haue ben a suffycient admonycion and doctryne to me, and to all other; wherby we myght haue knowen that all erroure commeth for lacke of vnderstandinge & knowleage in the Scriptures. But from not knowing by what reason, then, coulde there be suche erroure and blyndenes for lacke of knowleage in Gods Worde in this your realme, most gracyouse Lorde /, seing there were suche profounde clerkes, & auncyent fathers /, bysshops, and studentes in the same /, which dyd teache & preache vnto the people contynually? The Apostle Paul, in the .vi. chapiter to Timothe, descrybeth two kyndes of doctrynes ; / the one he calleth a godly doctryne & a doctryne of helth /; the other he calleth

that Christ said,

"Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures," which rebuke ought to have been sufficient.

But how could there be error

the Scriptures ?

There are numbers of profound clerks and ancient fathers in the country who teach the people.

But Paul says there are two kinds of knowledge,

one a doctrine

of health,

the other unprofit. a proude doctrine, full of vnprofitable questions /, stryuynge more for wordes than for godly knowleage /;

able

WANT OF KNOWLEDGE.

ourselves.

ij. Ti. iij.

much vain,

23

There is too ungodly learning, the preaching

and this comes of

and teaching of

the Schoolmen,

for which the blame,

clergy are to

because they do

not sincerely

"wherof spryngeth envy, stryffe /, raylings /, euyll surmysyngs, & vayne dysputacions of men with corrupte myndes, destytute of the trueth /; which thinke that lucre is godlynes." This kynde of lernynge and subtle dysputacyons vnto this daye we call scole -from the latter matters /; from the which Paul commaundeth all Chris- we must separate tyans to separate them selues. Soche clerkes, sayeth Paul/, be 66 euer lernynge, but neuer atteyne to the knowleage of the trueth." With suche wayne, vngodly, and vnprofitable lerninge /, this your realme, most redoubted Soueraigne, was ouer moche replenyshed through the preachinge and teachinge of suche scole men & subtyll disputers /; otherwise called deceyuers. Which was one of the causes of our myserable blyndnes /, and of dyuerse errours and abuses spronge vp and crept into this your Graces realme. For certeynely, if the clerkes, of this your Graces realme /, had bene endowed with true knowleage of Gods Worde /, and had also syncerely preached the same, althoughe suche errours and blyndnes had entered into this realme; yet they shulde neuer haue so longe contynewed in the same, but we shulde haue bene delyuered through the Worde clerely from them. As Christe saieth: "If you continewe in my wordes /, Io. viij. then are you my very disciples /, & shall knowe the trueth /, & the trueth shall delyuer yow /, and make you free." Therfore, most dread Soueraigne Lorde /, seinge that all erroure /, spyrytuall blyndnes /, myser- As all errors able captyuite /, and seruyle bondage vnto synne, com- lack of knowmeth for lacke of knowleage and syncere vnderstandinge Scriptures, in the Holy Scriptures /; and, of the contrarye parte,/ through the knowleage & syncere vnderstandinge of and through the Holy Scripturs, we knowe God our Father and his them we know Sonne, Ihesus Christ, our Lorde /, which is eternall Ioa. v. liffe ; we be also become free from all condempnation Io. xvij. of synne. And through the syncere and true know

preach God's

word.

spring from a

ledge of the

knowledge of

God,