A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 30
A mysterye.
1 And on the lefte hande One Hierome ded stande.
2 One of that nest As blynde as the best.
3 And thus they thre Novv burned be.
4 Ipsi sibi grauiores tenebrae. Eccless. 17.
¶The openinge. 1.
I Ngenyouse wolde Pantolabus apere in this descripcion / leauynge oute no circumstaūce of doctor Barnes burnynge. Now bryngeth he forth Hierome the persone of Stepnaye / declarynge him to stande vponupon his lefte hande / as though it had not bene knowne afore. But fetherstone he forgetreth which was a ryght brother of hi… / & was hanged there for treason the same selfe daye. ye heare him not tell here on which syde he honge. As for the kynges matters he passeth not gr…atlye vponupon them / but holye churches matters are an other maner of thynge. He will not describe a trayterouse Papist / least he shulde so s…t forth his owne propre ymage. Wyllyam Hieriome in dede / a bachelar of diuynite also / & a manne eloquentlye lerned / for the veryte preachynge agaynst Antichrist / stode on the leftehande of Barnes in the fyre and was brent with him to ashes. And blessed is he that euer he had a lyfe so to bestowe agaynst that abhominable kyngdome of yours. That fyre was vntounto him but a delyueraunce from miseries / restorynge his sowle to that quyet which he hath now in Christ Iesu. Not the more vnpure was that offred vp treasure which the lorde left with him in an carth…n vessell / though the vessell were scorfled in the heate of that flame / but the moche more oriēt and precyouse. For matters stande no… a fore god as yow do iudge them / but as he hath determyned them by his holye worde & promyse.
2 To enlarge his poesyes with some blynde thetoryckes / he sheweth that Wyllyam Hierome was one of that nest. But what that nest is / he declareth not / but leaueth it all blynde / as he is alwayes a blynde leader. A nest in the scripturs hath both a good origynall and a godlye significacion / though Pantolabus here mocketh with it for want of good lerninge. By the wysdome & apointment of God was it first fashioned / & sumtyme it betokeneth the true churche / sumtyme the conscience of manne. The false counterfet churche which Pantolabus here mainteyneth / is no wholsom nest in dede / but y• insaciable chaos or bottomlesse pyt that S. Iohan speaketh of / whiche hath darkened the sunne that is Gods worde / and sendeth forth nothinge els but a fylthie smoke of tradicions & of mennes lowsye lerninge with an innumerable swarme of their lecherouse locustes. As are mytred Byshopes / Gorgio… se Prelates / Prestes smered with grese / shauen sorcerers / and chaplaynes disgised lyke disardes in a mommerye in manye straūge kyndes and colours. Who can with lesse honeste call a man blynde / than he that is blinde all togither? Of all that Pantolabꝰ hath here taught in this Genealogye / is not one scripture trulye applyed nor yet after anye honest sort declared. But as a blinde sorgeon or dogge leche / he hath turned it all into one blynde eyesalue to blynde menne all togither. True is it in him that Saint Iohan ded saye. Though the lyght doth shyne in the darkenesse / yet wyll not the darkenesse receyue it. Moche water cometh by the myl … (they saye) that the myller taketh not in.
3 Now cōcludeth Pantolabus his lon… lowsye circumstaunce conceruinge Doctor Barnes and his companye / shewinge vsus hete that all they thre are burned. And not a lyttle glad is he and his generation therof / for so moche as they thre ded them so deadlye noyaunce by their preachinges. It cost them no small stodye to bringe it to passe / nor yet small diligence and labour to hauehave it so to their mynde. But yet had they wt it a sowle displeasure / for so moche as there were the same selfe daye & houre .iii. mightye captaynes of their holy assemblye / hanged and quartered for treason / before the same selfe people. Lyke as the deathes of these. ii. companyes were diuerse / so were their opinions and causes. The one sort dyed for Christ / the other for the Pope. For vphold … ge of Antichrist was powell / Abell / and fetherston hanged. For helpinge downe his kingedom was Barnes / Garade / and Hierome burned. Fortunate are they which suffred for Christ / for their rewarde is sayed forth in the scripturs and promises of the lorde. For the other is there neyther scripture nor promise. Though they were most greuouslye tormented before menne / yet was their hope full of immortalyte which now they fele ineffect. Their sowles are now in the hā des of God / and sure to suffre nomore tormē tes. Though they semed before the vnwyse to dye / yet are they n…w in a lyfe moche better. As sunne beames shall they shyne in y• daye appointed / and iudge y• nacions which are now vnfaithfull.
4 Wele maye that spyghtfull spiritual t… be called the kyngedom of Antichrist or beasi…ye bodye of Sathan / as the Apocasyps doth name it / for their beastlye workinge. I thinke the deuyll of hell coude not more vnreuerently and mockingly handle the sacred scripturs / than this wreched fellawe doth. For here he bringeth in a text. Ipsi sibi grauiores tenebre / which he hath both spoyled of wordes / astered in sentēce / and distroyed for the true vnderstandinge / puttinge / the nominatiue case for the ablatiue. And bycause he wolde be behinde with vsus in no point of falshede / he hath sent vsus to seke it in the .xvii. Chapter of Ecclesiastes / and there is no Chapter so called in the whole Byble. In dede in the .xvii. Chapter of Sapience I fynde this clause. Ipsi ergo sibi erant grauiores tenebris. yea / they were worse vntounto them selues (sayth Sapience) than anye other darkenesse possible. This was at that tyme spoken for the Egipcianes / and now it extendeth to yow Papystes folowinge them in the same selfe steppes of Idolatrye. The cause whye ye do so dāpnablye erre / is that ye will not be reformed by the wysdō of God as the beginninge of that Chapter specify…th / but ye take your owne wayes in all thinges. Frequenter enim (sayth he) preoccupāt pessini… / redarguente consciencia. Oft tymes do they those wicked thīges / that their conscience rebuketh them of Whan ye hauehave practised deceyt / spoken lyes / exercysed fylthynesse / done the innocent to deathe / with soche other feates / your myndes are not alwayes in quiet. In token wherof ye go oft to confession / yet are your lyues seldon the better.