A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 18
A mysterye.
1 Vvhye vvist thu then / Sett to thy penne.
2 And so playnelye Christes vvordes denye /
3 Thy peuyshe pyld reasons Vvere not vvorthe .ii. peasons
4Vvherfore in a …yre Thu haddest thy hyre.
5 Iuste patiebantur secundum suas nequitias. Sapien. 19.
¶The openinge. 1.
RIallye styll ruffleth this rutter in his ragged rymes of rustycall rudenesse. He reasoneth here his matter full clarkelye with this dead manne / whye he sett his penne to b…oke aganyst the profytable wares of their markett. But so longe as he was alyue he wolde not meddle with him. Lyke a valeaūt warryour of the Popes armye / he thynketh the victorye sone gotten of him that is gone awaye. The manne alredye ouerthrowne / is sone beatten. But lete him not thynke so to wynne anye greate worshyp at Iohan Frithes hande. For thoughe his corps be dead / his sprete is alyue. Whan his fleshe was in burnyng / his fayth was most quycke / the veryte in him remaynynge inuincyble. The power of hell with the whole swarme of Antichrist shall neuer pre…ayle agaynst that stronge buysdynge. Non other victorye hauehave ye / than had Cayphas ouer Christ / and the deuyll ouer Iob / tryumphe ye neuer so fast. ye maye ponnyshe the bodye and geue it to death / but ouer the sowle ye hauehave no power. Blessed is that mā ne that euer he was borne / which perseuereth faythfull to the ende / as Iohan Frith hath done. That he penned by his lyfe concernynge the sacrament and their popyshe purgatorye / is not greatlye hyndred here as yet ōy Pantolabus dyrtye dartes. The greatest acte he hath done / is that he hath here paynted vsus out a fole of himselfe.
2 Here is it layed vntounto Iohan Frithes charge / that he shulde denye Christes wordes / because he wolde not in his boke admyt Aristotles realyte in their sacramēt. In dede he neuer denyed Christes worde / for than he shulde hauehave done as you do alwayes / & so hauehave denyed Christ himselfe which is all one with his worde. He euermore affermed that Christes fleshe was verye meate & his blood verye dryncke / but not for the bodye. yet denyed he not the corporall eatynge. He graunted also that he was verye bread / and that he which eateth that breade shall lyue for euer. yet wolde he not hauehave that bread which came from the waffer backers / to be all one with that breade which came from heuen. For saynt Augustine sayth that their eatynges be diuerse. The one is eaten with the mouthe / the other with y• fayth. The one with the lyppes / the other with the harte. The one with the bodye / the other with the sowle. He wolde in no case hauehave them to come in both at one dore. youre …ordes wolde not Frith afferme / because they are not Christes but Aristotles. youre wayes are all after the Master of your sentēces / which was in an whoryshe nonne a fylthye frute of your vowed chastyte. ye folowe in youre fayth the fore steppes of Bonauenture / Thomas / Dons / Osbert / Albert / Baconthorpe / Gerarde / Gyles / Gandauus / Guido / Ockham Helyoth / Holcoth / Brulifer / Dorbel / & other dyrtye diuynes forth yssuynge from him (in whom sathā hath wrought euer sens he was sett at large) refusynge the Apostles doctryne. And that caused Iohan Frith neuer to agre vntounto you.
3 His reasons are neuer the worse that youre pylde popyshe brayne do not allowe them. Peuysh ynough are your poesyes / and more peuyshe a great deale youre pylde wyttes. What youre reasons are / it is playne to all them / which hath eyther wytt or lernynge. The value of them is sone rekened now that they are come to y• towche stone. I thynke verelye they are neyther worth two peasons / nor yet worth two nyttes or antes egges. The reasons and auctorytees of Iohan Frith concernynge Christes bodye & blood / standeth yet vntowched for all you. Moche more vndischarged. It is ynough for you to rayle and to prate / to bragge & to lye / though ye do nothynge els. ye fare lyke a gargull in a wall with a spowte in his mouthe / which doth nothynge els but spewe oute water. ye sett a greate face here vponupon the matter / as though the Popes churche were holden vp by you / and nothynge do ye at all but vomete fylthye swyllynges. More lyke are you and a sort of youre fellawes more / to pull downe youre holye mother / than to kepe her vp longe / yf ye hauehave no better lernynge than ye shewe here. Iohan Wyclef prophecyed that your churche shuld hauehave an ende / had veryte ones the victorye. Which is in short space lyke to be founde true / yf ye plye not youre matters apace.
4 Disdaynefullye cast ye it in Iohan Frithes teathe here / that he dyed in the fyre at … procuremēt of your prelates. As though it were a greate ignominye to dye for the Lordes veryte. But precyouse in y• syght of that lorde was the death of that faythfull yonge manne / though it were verye wretched in your syghtes regardynge nothynge but that which is pleasaunt to the fleshe. What your ende shall be / the Lorde of heauen knoweth. ye hauehave yet layser ynough to playe the felde bysshop / and to blesse with youre heles in an hempen corde / as a great sort of youre fellawes hauehave done which were as true menne as you are here. Therfore ye are not wyse to disdayne anye mannys ende / nor yet to iudge him yll that departeth in Christes fayth. ye maye wele knowe that Christes deathe was not verye precyouse to your proude predecessors the bysshoppes / pharysees / & lawers / whan they went vp and downe there mockynge and mowynge as you do now here with youre meters. No better is the seruaūt than his master / nor yet the disciple than he that sent him. Full vnlyke is y• syght of god to youre syght / and his ins…rutable iudgementes to youre carnall iudgemētes. Blessed is Iohan Frith that he suffreth styll at your handes these obprobryes for his holye names sake / for sure is he of the kyngedome of heauen.
5 The clause that ye hauehave here ins…pientlye raught out of the last chapter of S…pience / to make good with it your malicyouse meters agaynst Iohan Frith / will not Sapience allowe now for his / ye hauehave so disuygured yt. If ye had gentyllye borowed it / & not so theuishlye stolne it / he wolde gladlye hauehave receyued it of you agayne. But now it is youre owne ragged stuffe & not his. He hath there / Iuste patiebātur secundum suas nequitias / and not patiebatur. The Egypcyanes (sayth he) which cruellye persecuted the chosen people of God vndre Pharao / hath worthelye sufferd accordynge to their many folde wyckednesses. He is not contented wt you nor yet with soche other false Prophetes as will so preposterouslye bestowe his scripturs / as to geue that to gods fryndes which belongeth to his enemyes. In the ende of that chapter is this text folowynge / wherin Iohan Frith hath now his porcyon / but that coude not Pantalabꝰ perseyue. In omnibus enim magnificasti populum tuum Domine / & honorasti. In all thynges lorde hast thu done the best for thy people / & so brought them to honoure. Thu hast not despysed thē but alwaye and in all places hast thu gracyouslye stande by them. The Egypcyanes now are you / as wytnesseth saynt Iohan in the Apocalyps. 11. youre greate cyte (sayth he) hath a spirituall name / youre churche is called Sodoma and Egyptus. For there ye daylye crucifye the Lorde in his members / besydes that ye do in youre daylye Masses / or newe founde sacrifices for the quycke and the dead.