A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 21
A mysterye.
1 And vtterlye He ded denye.
2 That Christ vnfayned Vvas there contayned.
3 Both ryastye And substancyallye.
4 Quotiescunc que manducabitis panem hunc▪ & calicem bibetis &c. 1. Cor. 10.
The openinge. 1.
UErelye these poesyes are straunge & diuerse. They make me to remembre the processyon of Maydston in kent. For some of them daunse lyke greate gyauntes and are eyght syllabes a pece. As this verse here afore. But a significacyon. Some come doppynge after lyke lyttle hoppe on my thombes / and are but .iiii. syllabes as. And vtterlye / with his fellawe as short as he. And therfore it is but madde gere. But what is it (I praye you) that Lambert ded denye? That Christ was his Lorde. No verelye ded he not / but stode stedefastlye by it vntounto the verye death / that he was his onlye sauer / peacemaker / helthe / ryghtuousnesse / and redemer. He alone was the lambe that dyed for him. And he alone was y• head of that churche that he was a membre of. In this fayth perseuered he vntounto his latter ende / and in the same departed vntounto his lorde God. yet sought your generacion by most turkyshe tyrannye to compell him to remoue his fote from that rocke. But mercyfull was that lorde vntounto him. In the myddes of the fyre denyed not he his veryte / but departed hence with the clere victorye ouer you. Non of the Popes sworne subiectes dyed he / but the verye true seruaunt of Iesus Christ.
2 His denyall was in dede that Christ shuld be contayned in the bankett of youre blessynge. Remembre first from whens your blessynges come / and out of whose auctorite they sprange first of all. Saynt Iohan sayth in the Apocalyps that the Dragon (ye wote whom he meaneth) gaue his auctoryte / seate / and power vntounto the great Beast that arose out of the see. And in an other chapter folowyng he sayth also / that y• worldlye gouernours / as emprours / kynges / and princes / shuld applye their strengthes (which consisteth in their lawes / swerdes / & scepturs) vntounto the same fylthye freke. Of this Beast hauehave you that marke wherwith ye bye & sell. youre …yles and shauynges are not of Christ nomore are youre myters and typpettes. If he wolde hauehave sent forth soche minysters / he neded to hauehave gone no farther than to Annas and Cayphas / Ioān…s and Alexander / with other of y• same affynite / for they were of a kyndred prouyded of God to soche offyces of externe obseruacions / but yet not to make newe goddes nor yet to sence ymages. youre vncommaunded exorcysmes and blessynges are non other than the playne practyses of Necromancye. By the vertu wherof / though ye maye with youre Pope fatche the deuyll from hell (for youre sacrifices are all one) yet can ye not drawe the sonne of God out of heauen and so make oure crede of non effecte.
3 yet can ye not out of youre ragged realyte / borowed of the Paganes lernynge / for …ant of scripturs to youre mynde. Ther will ye hauehave him to be reallye / onlye whan ye shall commaunde him. That is to saye / that the thynge there in syght made of flower and water / is verye he in dede by the vertu of youre office. ye will hauehave him there also substanciallye in his owne propre persone / in lengthe and in breadethe / in form… and proporcion / with fleshe / blood / skynne / bones / heare / tethe / and nayles. ye are verye connynge worke menne that ye can do so moche in so lyttle tyme and with so fewe wordes. But ye can not tell vsus whether he sytteth or standeth / lawgheth or wepeth. I thinke verelye he myght wepe in dede yf that naturall affect were now styll regnynge in his glorifyed bodye / lyke as he sumtyme wepte vponupon Hierusalem / to se his dere heryta…e so wretchedlye abused of you. I can not / but moche maruele that ye requyre so great honour to those wares of yowr makinge / & so little worshipp to the eternall testament of Iesus Christ. Whye holde ye not vp that euerlastinge treasure before the people? Whye tell ye thē not that he is therin both reallye and sus…anciallye contained? No / ye will non therof. For it is neyther to yowr spirituall commodite nor yet auaū …age. ye will cruellye persecute it and blaspheme it makinge the people to beleue that it is most detestable heresye.
4. yowr text here of / Quocies…unque mā ducabitis panem hune / et calicem bibetis & c. is nothinge at all vponupon yowr syde / but directlye ageynst yow. So oft as ye shall eate this breade (sayth Saint Paule) and drinke of this cuppe &c. Here is the communion of Christes holye supper not called Christ him selfe / but breade & drynke receyued of christ. Moche lesse than is yowr waffer cake christ which yow hauehave receyued of the Pope. A curtal hauehave ye made of that text / cutting awaye this tayle cleane from his rompe / Mortē dominianunciabitis donec veniat / least other menne shuld knowe the truthe of the thinge & what were the true office in that ministracion. Herin are ye tolde that whan ye so …ate / ye shuld shewe the lordes deathe tyll he come / but that will ye neuer do. If ye marke wele the same (Tyll he come) yowr realite and substancialite of Christes presen…. there bodylye / will sone apere nothinge at all. Both here & afore ye hauehave writē it ryallye with a y in both yowr prented coppyes. If it be yowr fawte / ye are but a fole in yowr owne occupacion. If the fawte be of yowr .ii. prenters / than are both yow lewde for teachinge of them soche wytcherye as they can not vnderstande / and they beastlye also to beleue soche blinde beggerye / mynistrynge it so a brode for moneye. ye off…e vsus here ageyne in both yowr coppyes one chapter for an other / and I am verye glad of it. For in so doinge / ye bringe vsus to the truthe of yowr matter. In that .x. chapter is it writen. Nolo autem vos socios / fieri demonior… I wyll yow in no case (saith Saint Paule) to hauehave felyshyp with deuils. ye cā not at ones be partakers of the lordes table / and of the table of deuils. That is offred to yowr Idols is no mete refecciō for the christianes. As yowr daylye sacrifices are / which ye make before the Images of yowr aulters / and not before the people of God. It shuld seme a farre other catinge and drinkinge that Saint Paule doth meane / than this yowr morninge brekefast is / by that which goth afore there. For he sayth that all y• fathers afore Christes comminge. As Adam / Noe / Abraham / Moyses / Dauid / and soche other ded eate of one spirituall meate / though that Christ came longe after / yet had they neuer yowr whyght God wt so many blessinges.