A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 33
A mysterye.
1 yet are they as frovvarde And as vntounto vvarde.
2 As the other vvere Of vvhom ye ded here.
3 For vvithout doubt It vvill not out.
4 That is bred by the bone.
¶The openynge. 1.
ALwayes is Pantolabꝰ one manne / styll yet blasphemynge these poore innocēt sowles. True is that Lorde of his worde and promes / which tolde them afore hande that they shulde alwayes hauehave the worlde an aduersarye. And that they shulde loke for non other frutes of gentylnesse therof / but scornefull rebukes and slaunders. In cō fyrmacion of this / Saynt Iohan sayth also in his reuelacion / that as the true preachers hath at anye tyme fynyshed their faythfull testimonye or massage / the beast that came out of the bottomlesse pyt (which is the great bodye of Sathan or swarme of Antichristes broode) shuld euermore make warre ageynst them / and styll ouercome them as cō cerninge the body / their faythe remayninge alwayes inuincible. Here doth Pantolabus (which is a maliciouse membre of the same mad mustre) report the true seruauntes of y• lorde to be verie frowarde in opinion & full vntowarde in faithe to his mynde. They be leue not the newe articles which his holye churche hath taught of Saintes / Images / relliques / ragges / rotten rodes / confessiōs / Masses / suffrages / diriges / purgatorye / processions / pylgrimages / and pardons withe soche other b…astlye beggeryes for their auauntage. But euermore blessed be the eternal name of that lorde for so visytinge his poore people with knowlege from aboue / which hath taught them to abhorre that fylthinesse / wherin is nothinge els but dampnacion.
2 As a naturall membre of the afore named bodye of Sathan / doth Pantolabus shewe himselfe here. For lyke as the seyd Sathan accused Iob before the lorde / and hath bene euer sens an accuser of owr bretherne in his members / so doth Pantalabus nowe accuse them also / as one naturallye geuē vntounto the same feate. They are as frowarde (sayth he) ageynst holye churche / and as vntowarde to do anye thinge to her commodite / as the other sort / that is to saye / frith / Lambert Barnes / and soche other were afore / of whom ye hauehave harde here in this worshypfull Genealogye. Of them in dede we hauehave harde sufficientlye that they coude in no wyse awaye with the whoredome of your holye mother in her Idolatrouse ceremonies and sacrifices. If these be now in the same selfe takinge also / we hauehave cause moche to reioyce / and to geue hygh thankes vntounto God so to delyuer thier consciences from your Babilonishe burdenes. It is a full manifest token that his persecuted churche is not yet all dead / but that he styll lyueth in his trobled members according to his iust promes and shall do to the ende of the worlde. For the churche that is his dere spouse / is not gloriouslye painted out to the worlde withe golde / syluer / preciouse stone / & pearle. But inwardlye decked with faythe / hope / charite / and the rightousnesse of Christ. And outwardlye she is adourned with calamitees / ve…acions / most slaunderouse rebukes / and deathe.
3 Glad are we to heare it / that the ernest sprete of Christ is not yet extinguished in them for all yowr most cruell assaultes of penaltees / inprisonmentes / famishemētes / halters / swerdes / faggottes / fryre / and all other tormentes els. A remnaūt is there yet lest of them which hath not bowed their knees to yowr false God Baal. To them hath the lorde promised a crowne of lyfe / yf they perseuer stedefast to the ende. For these do we praye dayly with teares wt are a brode in exyl… / that they do not swetue from that stedefast rocke at the venemouse suggestions of your fylthye generacion / as some fleshly wantons hath done now of late to their sowles detriment. Better had it bene for them that they neuer had geuen that is holye to dogges and swyne after Christes premonishementes / than thus shamefullye to become swyne with them and so to treade his preciouse pearles vndre their fete. For in so denienge the lordes verite before menne / they hauehave shewed themselues what they are / euē the flesshlye louers of themselues / and vnworthye of Christ. More harme hauehave they done than they which hyd the lordes treasure / neuer openinge their mouthes to declare it. Those are they which are neyther hote nor colde / whom the lorde hath promised to spewe out of his mouthe / or vtterlye to reiect them from the eternall her…tage of his / clerlye racinge their names out of the boke of lyfe / yf they repent it not sore.
4 If those good creaturs (whom Pātolabꝰ here spyghtfullye reporteth) cleaneth fast vntounto their bone / we are greatlye ioyfull therof. For a more manifest token cā not be that they are Christes members than that. By that inseperable saythe apere they to be his naturall spouse in dede / a bone of his bones and a rybbe of his rybbes. Now are they by that meanes become his own dere mēbers / his misticall fleshe and bodye. He that shall now persecute them / shall persecute the apple of his eye / so dere and preciouse are they vntounto him. For their faithfull perseueraūce make we daylye intercessions with teares from our hartes / which are now dispersed or scattred abrode in the regions of Samaria and Iudea / for the persecuciō that is at Hierusalē. With the wiges that the lorde hath graciouslye geuē vsus which are his wordes and examples ded we flye into the wyldernesse / so sone as we perseyued that the rode Dragon vometed waters to destroye the saythe which we gat… by his worde▪ ye shall be persecuted (saith Christ) from cyte to cyte. For yf they hauehave persecuted me / they shall also persecute you. But as they shall pursue yow in one cyte / flee yow alwayes into an other. Not onlye was this Christes counsell but he ded it also in effect. He fledde into Egypt in his yowthe / he declyned from the malice of his enemies / and he absented himselfe from the Iewes. In that wyldernesse hath he prepared for vsus as he ded for Helias to fede vsus there for the space of a thousande ii. hondred and thre score dayes.