A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 20
A mysterye.
1 VvhichWhich vvolde make good. Vvith tonge and penne. Before all menne.
2 That in the Masse. Nothinge els vvas.
3 But a signifycacion. Of Christes passion.
4 Ne sis sapiens a pud te ipsum. Prou. 1.
¶The openinge. 1.
THough this verse agreeth with his other fellawe in sownde / yet doth he not agre with him in matter / & therfor I hauehave disseuered them. It is not all one to be wood or madde and to do good / & therfor I hauehave put the good doer from the madde. Pantolabꝰ saith here that Lambert wolde make. Than is he moche better by his owne report than is his holye generacyon / for they hauehave euer marred▪ yea / farthermor he saith that he wolde make good. He cānot so report of his owne monstruouse mustre / for they hauehave made all thinges euyll. No… one thinge is there vndre the heauens / that they hauehave not defyled with one kynde of Idolatrye or other. Besydes their hypocresye whoredome / Idelnesse / buggerye / and the deuill and all of soche vyces / their shameful abhorringe of marryage / their superstic…ouse forbyddynge of meates / and their abhominable peruerting of the scripturs with their sophistrye / sorcerye / wyles / wytchecraftes / decrees / decretals / actes / clementynes / extrauagantes / pryuileges / bulles / & prouinciall synodals / makynge playne merchandyce both of the bodyes and sowles of menne. This have they done before all menne both with tunge and penne / lyke as Pantolabus here reporteth of Lambert.
2 I wyst wele this goodnesse had a tayle which at the latter ende wolde not seme verye good. Lambert both with tunge and penne was a contynuall aduersarye to their holye Masse / which is their princypall market / and that is the cause that he is here regestred for an heretyq̄ … yea / marrye set / now vnderstande the matter moche better than I coude afore. Now can I tell yow what heresye is as ye take it / and who be the heretyques that yow meane. Not they that speake ageynst the father of heauen with Sabellius and Arrius. Nor they that blaspheme y• sonne with Porphirius and Photinus / Nor yet they which impugne the holye ghost wt Macedonius and Eunomius. But they onlye which replye ageynst yowr Masse / made by so manye holye Popes. They poore sowles are alone in this yowr Genealogye / and non other heretyques els. By this we perscyue that ye are those yll stewardes whō saint Paule speaketh of / that seke yowr owne and not Iesus Christes / makynge of yowr bellyes your God. yowr vayne glorye (sayth he) wyll be yowr confusion / for nothinge ye sauer but that which is earthlye. What is yowr Masse els but a gawdishe fopperye or a toye of yowr owne ymaginacyon? Nomore is it lyke the holye supper of Christ / than y• earthe is lyke heauē or fylthye dyrt lyke golde. No / make of it the best ye cāne with your lyghtes / vestymentes / copes / Iewels / aultres / Images / organes / prycksonge / sensynges / & the deuyll and all / as y• paganes ded in their olde sacrifices before their Idols.
3 If Lambert graunted yow that in yowr Masse so patched and peced with papystrye was a synifycacion of Christes deathe / ye were moche to blame so to burne him. For he graunted yow more than anye māne will do els / that is godlye wyse and lerned. But surelye he neuer graūted that to yowr Masse / but to the most holye supper of the lorde / and therfor ye hauehave mysvnderstande his saynges. In yowr Masse is nothinge but that ye make yowrselues by the vertu of Arystotles realyte. No / though ye .vii. tymes breathe ouer it / Hoc est corpus meum. For christ is neuer made but in vsus / and that is by the vertu of his worde trulye taught. And that is the cause that Saynt Paule ded saye. So oft as ye shall eate this breade and drynke of this cuppe / ye shall shewe the lordes deathe tyll he come. Whan Christ badde ye do it in his remembraunce he badde ye not make him ageyne. The trayuelynge womā which is with childe in the Apocalyps / betokeneth Christes people / hauinge him within them and not without them. More ouer Dauid sayth that the bewtyfull dowter of y• kynge is all from within. yowr Masse mongers turne their tayles to the people & preache to the wall as Antichrist hath thaught them / but neuer turne they to them declaringe the true meaninge therof / as Christ hath commaūded. And therfor their fylthye sacrifyces are Antichristes and not Christs and that they make there is an Idoll and no God / and therfor vnmete to be worshipped. They shal aryse in the morninge (saith the lorde) and not fynde me / they shall call vntounto me whan I shall not heare them / and whan they holde vp their polluted handes / I shall turne awaye my face.
4 Nothynge to the purpose is this allegacyon of Salomons Prouerbes. …esis sapiens apud temetipsum. To proue that the Masse is sumwhat more than a signifycacyon of Christes passyon. And agayne y• text is falselye placed / for it is not in y• first chapter / but in the .iii. This craftye cōueyaunce of yours / is to playe boo pepe with the symple people. ye ruffle out youre scripturs / but whan menne shall seke them / they shall be sure not to fynde them where you appoynt them / least they shulde with them fynde out also youre iuglynges. This is now the .iii. tyme ye hauehave played this towche / lete youre conueyaūce be sumwhat cleaner. If ye laye that text vntounto Lambertes charge / that he was to wyse in his owne conceyt / ye do him moche wronge / for that cōcept is yours and not his. you hauehave for that folyshe conceyt of yours / putta syde all the wysdome of God. Vtterlye despyse you Christes institucyon / accountynge him / but an ydyote fole that coude not make soche solempne preparaciōs as ye hauehave made. Full lyttle consydered you in the same selfe chapter. Quod abominatio Domino est omnis illusor / & cum simplicibus sermocinatio eius. Abhominable to the Lorde is e…eye disdaynefull scorner / where as the simple disdayned shall knowe his secrete counsels. The mocker will he lawgh to scorne / and yet will he geue his grace to the lowlye. The wyse shall possesse his glorye / and the braggynge of foles / confusyon.