A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 8
A mysterye.
1 And after that. Came in a gnat.
2 Of the same kynde. Vvhose sovvle is blynde.
3 His name you shall here. Menne call him Luthere.
¶The openinge .1.
F…rth halteth Pantolabus and styll taketh great paynes hereto manifest his owne madnesse / and to defende y• smal veriu & lesse grace of his popishe generaciō: The gnat that his blinde predecessers hath so longe strayned out / hath he no grace to perseyue / for all the lyght that hath bene in the worlde these .xx. years and more. He fareth lyke a frowarde curre which barketh ageynst the mone for shyninge in his face in the nyght. He seyth not that those blinde gydes of his are curyouslye busyed in thinges of no value / but in the wayghtye causes of the gospell they are all negligēt & vntowarde. Great religion sh…we they in foppryes for auaūtage / but the holye cōmaūdemētes of God they miserablye contēpne. Bysshop Bōner made To…wyn to stande forth at Paules Crosse for a notoryouse heretyque nowe of late / bycause he made not his holye water relygiouslye after the popes olde rewles & by cause he went not procession with Orapro nobis at …uensonge But ye neuer se him nor other of his f…llawes put anye to open shame for not preachinge the Gospell / or for doinge Idolatrye / sorcerye / murther / rape / & violence. Or for misusinge mēnis wyues / dowrers / seruauntes / & children / with soche other fysthye enormite…s. Of all the Sodomitee they hauehave as there are amonge them innumerable) ye neuer sawe one yet stande forth for an heretyque. No / alsoche mattere are discharged in y• court without consciēce.
2 Whom Pantolabus meaneth by that gnatt that shuld be of the same kynde with Wyclef & Husse / & whom he iudgeth in sowle to be blinde / we vnderstāde by that which foloweth here after. It is Mariyne Luther the verye trompet of this latter age of Christes Churche / whose bootes to rubbe / & to folowe him with a wyspe to the Iakes Pantolabus shuld seme to be more fyt / than eyther to iudge his lerninge or decerne his faythe. Who hath s…ane a more dodypoll fole and a more blynde assehead / than he sheweth himselfe here in these dyrtye Poesyes? He that iudgeth them not to be the frutes of a sowle supersticiouse & most wretchedly darkened / hath verye small godlye vnderstādinge. If that sowle be not blinde wt iudgeth whight to be blacke & vertu to be synne / there is no sowle blinde in my opinion. Sum tyme was he rekened for an heretyque that dissented in opinion from the Gospell & from the speciall articles of owr Christen faythe. But now is it nothinge so. For in this whole descripcion of heresye is not one founde of that hinde / as I hauehave shewed twyse afore. But here are they noted onlye for heretyques which hath renounced the Popes obedience. Therfor it is a newe maner of heresye that is here set out for menne to be ware of / than was in those dayes.
3 God hath at a tyme permitted the false Prophete to speake that was true. As we hauehave for exāple. Balaam the sorcerer / Saul the disobedient kynge / Cayphas the cruell Bysshoppe / and Pylate the vnryghtfull iudge. But he gaue them not with it to vnderstande that they vttered. Pantolabus hath here mencioned Martyne Luther to be of the same kynde that Wyclef and Husse were of. yet hath he done yt of a wycked sprete / and knoweth not what he hath written. But the Prophecye of the seyd Iohan Husse whiche he vttred at the houre of his deathe / shall make that saynge good. Centum reuolutis annis / Deo respondebitis e… mihi. An hondreth years ones past (sayth he to the papystes) to God shall ye answer and to me. By this he ment that after an hondreth years / they shuld beginne to cō sent to his doctrine whō at y• tyme they condempned / and in proces of tyme graunt it to be agreable to the scriptures of God. This Prophecye ded the Bohemes inprint vponupon the one syde of their coynes and so reserued it from the yeare of owr Lorde a. M.CCCC and .xv. tyll vntounto the yeare of owr Lorde ageyne a. M.CCCCC. and .xvii. In the wc Martyne Luther impugned the Popes pardons / power / and auctorite by the open worde of God. And therfor Pantolabꝰ hath spoken it trulye / that Luther is of the same kynde. But where as he hath done it of spyght and malyce / he sheweth himselfe to be of a contrarye part. As where that Luther is the popes great enemye / he is his trustye frinde and louer.