A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 9
A mysterye.
1 He by his meane. Hath bānyshed cleane.
2 Out of that coste. The holye ghoste.
3 And hath brought inne. Lyberte and synne.
4 Posuerunt templū sanctum. Psal. 78.
The openinge. 1.
GReat busynesse maketh Pantolabus herewith Martyne Luther for bannishynge that sprete of theirs which hath so longe vpholden their popishe churche of proude porkelynges / the synagoge of Sathan / the rose coloured whore / and the spowse of the deuyll. This sprete is not the holye ghost as he is here reported / but the sprete which went out from the manne and returned ageyne with .vii. spretes worse thā himselfe. As with the sprete of errour / the sprete of falshede / the sprete of sorcerye / the sprete of lyes / the sprete of fornicacion / the sprete of hypocresye / and the sprete of the vtter contēpt of God with all other abhominacyons of vayneglorye malyce / muther / and Idolatrye. In these spretes hauehave they gouerned their gloriouse churche of Antichrist / euer sens they sprange vp vndre Phocas wt Mahomete. Specyallye sens Syluester the sorcerer fat the deuyll from hell to graunt to his confirmacion and to geue him the iurisdiccyon of both swerdes. In these fylthye spretes also hauehave their horned whoremongers euer sens by the same auctoryte bannished all godlye veritees and knowlege / ex…rcysynge all tyrannye / cruelte / and vyolence possible / to holde the peple in darkenesse and ignoraunt blyndenesse. And this in dede hath Martyne Luther lyke christes true disciple with all dilygence sought to redresse / which moueth not a lyttle here the sycke stomake of Pantolabus / he beinge the Popes Apostle.
2 But that holye ghost which is the spre of wysdome / knowlege / counsell / force / science / pyte / and the true feare of God / hath not Martyne Luther exyled / as he is here of this lymme of the deuyll most falselye reported. His workes shall in this poynt stande with him as wytnesses ageynst Wynchestre Bonner / Standishe / Wattes / Quarrye the pardoner / Pantolabus / and all their affinite / though they hauehave all the deuyls of hell vponupon their syde. He that shal reade his boke ageynst y• Iewes / quod Christus Iude…s sit natus / & his commentaries vponupon the scripturs with his other treatyses / conferrynge them with the Popes olde diuinite / Decrees / and Decretals / Extrauagantes / Clementynes / and Synodals / shall fynde them so moche to dyffer from them as lyght doth dyffer from darkenesse or Christ frō Belial / yf he be Christenlye lerned. It fareth here by Pantolabus as it doth by him that daunseth naked in a n…t / thinkynge that no manne seyth him whan all the world beholdeth him a presumptuouse Idyote fole. No māne there is which seyth anye truthe / but perseyueth that the sprete which prouoketh Martyne Luther to destroye the Popes kyngedō / is a cleane contrarye sprete to that wc hath regned in the Pope and his clergye. And duplicate page therfor yf the Popes sprete be of y• deuyll as the scripture sayth it is / his sprete must nede… b…: of God. And therfor Pantolabus holye ghost (whom Luther hath bannisshed) is not of God but of the deuyll.
3 What lyberte this is that Pantalabꝰ here coupleth with synne makinge them all one / … cā not wele tell / vnlesse it be fre will. And ther vntounto geueth Martyne Luther no lyberte that is godlye / as testifyeth his boke de Seruo arbitrio. And therfor is Pantolaꝰ moche to be blamed so to slaundre him. But in dede his Lorde of Wynchestre hath brought in that lyberte now of late by y• good helpe of Ecki…s the dowtye doctor of the papystes / and taketh great paynes vponupon him to make it a newe article of the fayth of Englande. I thinke not the contrarye but his great hot stodye is also to sett vp purgatorye ageyne / reparinge the broken chest of y• churches olde suffrages / deseruinges / and merites / to redeme the brent sowles and sende them to hauē by the vertu of Scala cel…. And therfor yf Pantolabus fynde fawte in the bringinge in of that lyberte / lete him blame his good lorde for it & not Luther. The synne that he here speaketh of shuld seme to be Prestes marryage. For that in dede they put out as an horryble synne whan they toke their oyled orders and were marryed to Sodome & Gomor. If Luther hath brought that in ageyne and dryuen out their souerayne duplicate page duplicate page ladye and swete sacred Sodomye / he is worthye to be condempned of them for an heretyqye. For holye Pope Hyldebrāde which was a Necromanser made this constitucion / that non shuld be admitted to holye orders / vnlesse he forsware marriage for terme of his lyfe. Which constitucion hurt him nothinge at all / he hauinge at his pleasur Mawde y• Duchesse of Lotharyne with manye other more out of marryage.
4 Farre out of frame is the scripture / which he hath here alleged to conferme wt his folyshe purpose / Polluerunt templum tuum. O lorde God (sayth Asaph the prophete) a peple is broken into thyne herytage / which hath defyled thy holye temple. If the Popes churche were ment by that temple / this text is falselye applyed to Luther and his companye. For they hauehave not broken into that churche / but gone out of it as all the worlde knoweth. And in the verses folowinge are they mencyoned / that destroyed the faythfull seruaūtes of God by sheding their blood and geuynge their fleshe to the fowles of the ayre. Effuderunt sanguinem corum tanquam aquam. What they are that hauehave y• true beleuers in soche deadlye derysiō / it were easye ynough to perseyue though we had nothinge els to proue it but this present Genealogye. Neuer shall ye …e that spiritualte of theirs persecute anye other / thā the louers of the truthe. Wynchestre at this houre honteth nether for thefe nor murtherer / aduouterer nor whore keper. If he ded / there shuld not so manye of them so boldelye diuell at the next dore to him. But there shall not apere a reader of Christes gospell / that he shall not hauehave by the sleue by and by. He s…yth not Pantolabus here / which is an heretyque in dede / yf an heretyque be a peruerter of y• scripturs / for they are of an other veyne that he coueteth. He shuld not els be his mothers owne darlynge.
HEre though I seme sumwhat to digrede / yet shall it be no digressyon / but a necessarye rela…yon / consyderyng that Pantolabus hath so spyghtfullye accused matrymonye for synne. Sumwhat shall it be nedefull to shewe here to the commendacyon of that godlye estate of lyuynge / and to the vtter reproche and shame of the contempners therof by the scriptures & chronicles. To non other ende ded y• Pope wt his prelates first inhybyt prestis their marryage / but to apere therby an holy spirituall kyngdome deuyded from the prophane multitude / & to lyue in all voluptuousnesse & deceyt. Marke fyrst their vngodlye sprete by this. The lorde cō maunded not Dauid to put from him Bersabe after the death of Vrias for the aduouterye afore committed / but both allowed her after for his wyfe / & also greatlye loued the seconde frute of her begotten which was Salomon. The Rome churche as a congregacyon cleane contrarye to God in that / cō maunded their prestes first not onlye to forsake their most lawfull wyues / but also to leaue their most dere chyldren as frutes of fornicacyon / which cruelte we hauehave also felt in this age. And thus hath holye wedlock bene vntounto them euer sens a most pernycyouse poyson / and stynkynge whoredome with buggerye a most suffren remedye of their naturall dyssease. Soche hath bene their sathanycall tyrannye euer sens.
A great aduersarye to that holye office was Pope Nycolas the first in the yeare of oure lorde. D.ccc.lxiiii. tyll Huldrichus the good bishop of Augus…a in Germanye withstode his deuyllyshe hypocresye. yet was a wyfe non impediment to holye …aynt Nycolas longe afore that / which was of a cōmon cytezen made the archebisshop of Myr…hea and metropolytane of all the whole lande of Lycia. Nomore was it to Ignaciꝰ / Hermas / An…anus / Pheleas / Spiridion / Valens / Hilarius / Polycrates / Dionysius Corintheorum / Tartulianus / Cheremon / Basilius senior / Gregorius Nazianzenus / Eupsichtꝰ / Philogonius / Vitalis / Apollinaris / Vrsinꝰ / Pharo Burgundus / Genebaudus / Geroldus / and a great sort more / which had both wyu…s and chyldren / & yet they all were prestes and bisshoppes. Moche better (sayth Baptista Mantuanꝰ) was their …yfe in marryage / than is now the lyfe of the spiritualte without it. For a great consyderacyon (sayth Pius the Seconde Pope / otherwyse called Eneas Siluius) was marriage first inhibited to prestes / but for a moche greatter ought yt ageyne to be graunted them. Saynt Peter y• holye Apostle was not ashamed at Antiochia / whan his wyfe was ledde vntounto death to cal her by her name (which was Eolam / or in the latyne Perpetua after writers) And to saye vntounto her in the myddes of the multitude. Swete wyfe remēbre thy Lorde Iesus Christ / & feare not thē which sleyth the bodye / for they can do no harme to the sowle.
Onlye couetousnesse & ambycion interdicted this marryage / which hath geuen or casion to wonderfull mischeues / as I hauehave declared at large in my answer for Tolwyn ageynst the Bysshop of London. To whom I hauehave added these historyes folowynge vponupon iust occasyons here geuen me / bycause they are yet so good vntounto marriage. Pope Iohan the. viii. was a woman / & was begotten with chylde by her owne dere chaplayne & chamberlayne a Cardinall / which God at that tyme wolde hauehave known to the worlde that their churche might apere as it was in dede / all whorishe / fylthye / and beastlye / lyke as the Apocalips hath described her. yet was the worlde so blynde / that it neuer perseyued it / tyll nowe of late years. Marozia caused her husbande Guido / which was duplicate page duplicate page than Marques of Chuscia / to strangle Pope Iohan the .ix. with a pyllowe and to slee his brother Peter / that the bastarde which she had by Pope Sergi…s the thirde whan she was his concubyne / myght be saynt Peters vycar after his father. As he was sone after in dede / and was called Pope Iohan the .x. Iohan the .xii. Pope begate of his whore Iohan the .xiii. Pope / & in short space after was stryken to death of the denyll as he was in doynge an other holye acte of bytcherye.
By the auctorite and commaundement of this holye vycar of sathan / ded saynt Donstane here in Englande forbydde Prestes their wyues / and had thervnto the assistence of kynge Edgare. By the which occasyon Oswaldꝰ than bisshop of Worcestre / expelled the canons out of their cathedrall churche and out of .vi. churches more of his dyocese / and thrist in monkes there to supplye their romes / onlye bycause they worlde not leaue their wyues / for he his selfe had also bene a monke. E…helwoldus in lyke case the bisshop of Wynchestre / ded the same selfe holye acte also at the same tyme in his dyocese / for …e arose also of y• same generacyon. The prestes not cōtented wt so spyghtfull an …niurye / thought they wolde be euen with saynt Donstane for it / as they were in dede. For whan he shuld make his purgacyon before the kynge in y• generall synode / for soche matters as they had by that tyme bulted out / he had moche a do to saue all thynges honest / yet had he both the prelated and kynge vponupon his syde. For holye fathers wyll at a tyme be as wanton as other poore menne / and smell after smockes for all their holynesse. Holye Tomas Becket wold sumtyme for his pleasure make a iournaye of pylgrymage to the prymerose peerlesse of Stafforde / as his holye lyfe mencyoneth.
He that shall narrowlye serche saynt Hieromes Epistles / shall fynde him sumwhat famylyar with Marcella. So shall he fynde Saynt Gregorye with Domicella / and also saynt Bonifacius the archebisshop of Magunce with Tecla and Lieba .ii. Englysshe women of his owne cuntre natyue. After the death of kynge Edgare this bredde moche trouble in Englande. For the great menne of the realme put out y• monkes by vyolence / and restored agayne the Prestes with their wyues / tyll soche tyme as a counsell was holden at Wynchestre. Where as the prestes were agayne dyscharged / by vertu of a voyce which came from a rode in the freyter wall (here was propre packynge) or els from the deuyll speakynge in him. For in dede the deuyll loueth wele / and first sought out that holye kynde of chastyte for to bewtyfye therwith the Popes holye churche / & also to fyll hell. We rede of a watchynge deuyll (whether he were a prest or no that can I not tell) but he begate Marlyne the great Prophete of Wales of an holye nonne of saynt Peters in Carmalyn / which was the dowter of the kynge of Demecia / to conferme this blessed storye with all.
About a fourescore yeares after that was one Alwinus then bysshop also of Wynchestre accused of yll rule with Emme kyng Edwardes mother / & so commytted to the examynacyon of the clergye in the yeare of oure Lorde a thousande & fyftye / but through spirituall fauer he escaped it full well. As wytnesseth Rhegino pruniensis / whan Charles the seconde Emprour returned agayne into Almanye from his warres with the Norm̄ nes / he founde Limphardus the bysshop of Versell (which was his chefe councellour) so famylyar with his wyfe or empresse Richarda / that he coude do no lesse than laye aduouterye to his charge. Remigius the bisshop of Dorcestre / was depryued of his bisshoprycke by Pope Alexander the seconde / bycause he was proued a prestes sonne. Eyther had prestes wyues of their owne in those dayes / or els there was some other good workemanshyp a brode. As …uda…icus y• archebisshop of …adeburge was daunsynge at mydnyght in a towne called Ca…ua with her that he loued best / he sodenlye fell dead and neuer recouered it / in the yeare of oure Lorde a M.CCC.lxxxiii.
As that holye nonne laye a dyenge which brought forth at one byrthe / Petrus Lombatdus the master of the sentēces / Petrus Commestor the master of the hystories / and Gracianus monachus the master of the Popes lawes or decrees / and was admonisshed of her ghostlye father to be sorye for that aduo… trye / for soth father (quoth she) I can not repent it / consyderynge that holye churche hath receyued soche thre lyghtes thereof. Iohan Eckius that impudēt warryour of anticrist / and the onlye instructour of Englande in that article and certen other / in the boke which he farelye made agaynst Martyne Luther / graūteth himselfe not to be Amartiton / o… a māne all without synne. He can not (he sayth) excuse himselfe / but that he hath bene as other menne are which hath not obserued the chastyte of Hypolitus / for yf he ded we knowe the cōtrarye. yet will not that brent consciensed hypocrite / afferme it to be lawfull for a prest to marye in the lorde / so indurate is he to this houre.
Though Benedict the .xii. Pope graunted to Franciscus Petrarcha / which was a Canon of Padua / & archedeacon of Parma to take one Laureta to wyfe / retayninge styll his benefices / yet wolde he not afferme it lawfull that prestes myght marrye / but onelye by soch blynde dispensaciōs for his owne carnall purpose. For this was the chefe cause of his beneuolence towarde him. Petrarcha had a fayre syster in Auinion in the howse of his brother Ghirarde / whose felyship the holy father ded inwardlye couete / workynge manye feate polycies for it. He promised besydes this speciall prerogatiue vntounto y• seyd Petrarcha / to make him a Cardinall / and to geue him greate goodes / in case he wolde bringe it to passe. VntoUnto whom as a manne fearynge God Petrarcha made this answer. The lorde of heuen forbydde (sayth he) that euer so fylthye a diademe shulde couer my head. And with this he departed the Popis court / and so fled into Italie / recompensynge there shortlye after by wrytinge this vnworthye demaunde of the Pope / as testifyeth Philelphus. His impacable furye not yet qualyfyed / this holye father by manyfolde gyftes and rewardes made Ghirarde his brother a mannefyt for his hande and so at the last abhominably corrupted the mayde. For the which the seyde Ghirarde hauynge great remorse of conscience / made himselfe a Charterose monke in Materne not farre from Marsilia / to make all to the deuyll.
Petruo Ryarius a mynorite or graye fryre of Genua / and prest cardinall of saynt Sixte in Rome / procured of Pope Sixtus y• fort his vncle by the helpe of his brother Hierome / a dispensacyon for the whole how sholde of the cardinall of Saynt Lucie / to hauehave the fre occupyenge of buggerye boyes for the .iii. hotter monthes of the yeare / with this clause in the ende / F…at vt petitur. O fylthynesse no… to be spoken / but that their hypocresye requireth it in these latter dayes / the vengeaūce of God most depelye hangynge ouer them. Nomore am I now ashamed to open their abhominacions / than they are yet styll with the dissemblynge tytle of their stynkinge chastyte to couer them. The seyd religions… cardinall Peter spent within the space of two yeares .ii. hondred thousande florence in most prodigiouse lecherye. And dyed all rotted in that fylthynesse in the .xxviii. yeare of his age / the yeare of oure lorde … M .CCCC.lxxiiii. Petrus Mendosa the cardinall of Valencia in Spayne was not onlye satisfyed with y• quene vndre kyng Ferdinandus nose / besydes other whores / but he sent to the Pope for a lycence to occupye his owne sonne the marques of zanet. What ruff…lynge Pope Iulius made with the cardinall of Nantes in Brytayne for two yonge laddes which the French quene Anne cō mytted vntounto him / it wolde abhorre honeste eares to heare.
Pope Clement the .vii. was reported of some wryters to be a bastarde / a manqueller a po…sener / abawde / a symonyake / a Sodomyte / a periure / a rauysher / a sorcerer / a sacreleger / & a worker of all other myscheues / as Wynchestre is now in Englande / whose chast lyfe men maye cōiecture by his chekes and ordre. Oh / that the earthe open not at soche wretchednesse. I thinke in Sodome and Gomorre were neuer soche prodigiouse kyndes of fylthynesse as are yet in that spiritualte / yet will they be styll a chast generacyon and holde marryage for synne. The syster of Alexander farnesius (which is now saynt Peters vycar / yf he hath anye / vndre the name of the .iii. Paule) was at this narraw poynt with Pope Leo the .x. no longar to be his owne swete lemanne vnlesse he wold make her brother a cardinall after his wyfe was dead / which was than but his scrybe and cōueyar. In all hast possyble was this graunted and perfourmed / he constitute bysshop of Hostyense. These and soche other lyke examples of holye churche are the frutes of Pantolabus holye ghost / that Luther hath bannysshed by his manyfolde heresyes. And in the sted of them hath he brought in maryage / whom Pantolabꝰ hath dyffyned to be synne here / though it be the clere institucyon of God? But parauenture Pantolabꝰ God is not the God that made marryage / and therefore he dare do that wele ynough.