A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 34
A mysterye.
1 For though they be gone. yet is there behinde That are as blynde.
2 As the other before VvhichWhich kepe in store.
3 Full close and pryuelye Their cankered heresye.
4 Stultorum infinitus est numerus. Eccles…. 1.
¶The openinge. 1.
NArrowlye doth Pant…labus loke to his matters now / least all wolde away frō his holye mother / to the great detryment of his popishe lyuinge. Though frith / Lambert / Barnes / and soche other be gone / yet are there (he sayeth) of the same sort styll remayninge / as yll to his generaciō as they Whose blood he wolde hauehave his holye mother to drinke / so bloodthurstye is the spirituall hart of the manne and zelouse in her quarell. He is verye glad that his good graciouse lorde of wynchestre doth sturre so wele aboute him as he doth. He turmoyleth in their kynde these newe Gospell readers / to cause all Englyshe menne to abhorre Christes testament / but vntounto the Stewes of Lō don he is a full gentyll benefactor and founder. Not onlye doth he leaue them vnrebuked of verye tendre sauer and louelove / but also full fatherlye he mainteyneth them with y• lordelye wages of his seruauntes / and sumtyme with the delycates of his owne table by the lyberalite of them. I thinke this fatherlye beniu…lence of his / is for some respect that he hath to the common welthe / or els to qualyfye the great heates of his hote howsholde / which euerye where tosseth lyke termagauntes with the blood of oure lorde / the sowle / the hart / the fleshe / the bodye / the bones. This is the holye Gospell that he maynteyneth. Blynde are they called here of Pantolabus / which will not folowe these vertuouse rewles to the vpholdynge of their markett in confessyons at lent. But the eternall father delyuer his flocke from the abhominable blyndenesse of them.
2 Non can ryghtlye se after the blynde opinion of Pantolabus / vnlesse they be ledde blyndefelde in the darke / by the sprete of his holye mother. She must sett vponupon their noses y• spotted specularyes of her olde tradicions and customes / or els is yt nothynge worth. If they shulde be now without their Latine houres (wherwith neuer manne yet was Christenlye edifyed) their Christen relygyon were clerelye lost. If they shuld not hauehave their accustomed wainlynges in the temple / their processionynges / their sensynges / their holye water swyngynges with soche other ioyes of olde Troye / they wolde thynke that heauen were out of the worlde and hell comen home to their dores. This is the syght that Pantolabus requyreth / non other wolde he the people to hauehave / least they shulde in a whyle be moche godlyar wyse than he. This houglye syght despysed Iohan Wyclef and Iohan Husse. This fylthye syght contempned Mariyne Luther & Melanchton. It was nothynge for the appetyte of Oecolampadius and zwinglius / with soche other more. And that is the verye cause whye they are regestred here of Pantolabus for heretyques. These are they that were blynde afore / because they had not that syght of his holye mother. And they which cometh after kepeth now yet styl in store the same selfe blyndenesse in his folyshe opinion / and therfore he is not contented with them / but wolde verye fayne hauehave them burned for heretyques yf yt myght be.
3 Afore grefe is yt to the stomake of Pantolabus / that anye shulde be alyue which fauoreth not the Pope. This parauenture will be rekened a slaundre / but the denyll of lye yt is. What other is yt but to preferre a manne / whan we magnifye his workes? Are anye other thynges called vponupon here than matters of Papistrye? No verelye. Not one poynt is sought here of Christes clere institucion. Neyther his holye Supper nor Baptym / compassion of y• poore nor mutuall charyte / nor yet the true preachynge of repentaunce by the Gospell of saluacion. But here seketh Pantolabus with all power possyble to holde vp Antichristes kyngedome for fallynge / and that with the most spyghtfull …omempt of his Christen bretherne which is but a fylthye buyldynge. For more enclynynge to Christes clere veryte than to their vnwolsom Papistye / he accuseth them here most malyciouslye of preuye vpstorynge and close enclosynge togyther of cankred heresye. As though the Gospell of y• lorde (which they hauehave receyued as his onlye power to saue them) were most cankred and pestylent heresye. Thus do they to cause the people to abhore yt / and to brynge the worlde in an yll opinion of them that oweth yt fauer. Non other is the nature of soche execrable lo…ustes / which are crept out of the smoke of the bottomlesse pytt / but alwayes to stynge / hurte / sle… / and destroye all that is grene vponupon the earth. All that hath receyued anye quyekenesse of beleue by the worde of the lyuynge Lorde / wolde they wyther vp to the fyer of hell.
4 True is the clause of Ecclesiastes that Pantolabus here allegeth for a full confirmacion of his matter / yf yt were trulye bestowed. Stultorum infinitus est numerus. Of foles is there an infynite noumbre or an innumerable sort. This was not spoken for the small flocke of Christes persecuted members / whom the worlde reputeth for foles / for they are but fewe in nombre. Manye are called (sayth he) but verye fewe are chosen. But this was first vttered for that pleasaūtlye disposed multitude of this worlde / whō God hath reputed / and styll doth yet repute foles in his scripturs, The noumbre of those foles are infynite in dede / and their swarme innumerable. Of his faythfull seruauntes doth the Lorde knowe the noumbre / for he hath their names wrytten in the boke of lyfe. But of these ruffelynge rutters he knoweth no noumbre / for his knowlege most cō monlye is his acceptacion / which they shall neuer enioye. Wysdome had yt bene for Pantolabus to hauehave consydered this text there also. Vidi cunc…a que fiunt sub sole. Et ecce vniuersa vanitas & afflictio spiritus. I behelde all thynges (sayth the wyse manne) done vndre the sunne. And I perceyued wele they were all but vanyte and vexacion of mynde. By this myght he hauehave consydered / what his folyshe Papistrye is / not rysynge of the expresse worde and commaundment of God / but of the syckle fantasyes of men. That yt is but mere vanyte and madnesse / and that the obseruacion therof is execrable fylthynesse.