A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 37
A mysterye.
1 Vvherin I requyre. And humblye desyre.
2 All menne y vvys. That shall rede this.
3 Aboue all thinge. To praye for our kynge.
4 Domine in virtute tua letabitur rex, & super salutare tuum exultabit vehementer. Psal. 20.
¶The openinge. 1.
LAst of all now cometh Pantolabus in … his humble requestes / as lowlye as the foxe whan he seketh his praye / and as false as the fryre whan he stodieth to deceyue. But marke his rhetoricall style / how manerlye it passeth here. Wherin (sayth he) I requyre. That is to saye / in that stinkinge heresye (for that goeth inmediatlye afore) to praye for the kynge. Is not this (thinke you) full workemanlye handled and lyke a pregnaunt Poete of the Popes pultrye / thus to regestre his kynge in the Genealogye of stinkinge heresye as he calleth it. And to desyre his subiectes to praye for hī in y• same stiking heresye also? Abhominable is that prayer / whiche riseth out of so stinkinge a desyre. Is not Pantolabus (suppose ye) a pure handed artyficer and a cleane fyngered gentylmanne / that so can polyshe his poesyes? yes verelye is he / and lyke one of the scole that he cometh from. In the mart that he occupyeth / shall ye fynde nonother wares. All that is there done / commeth out of stinkinge heresye / yf antichrist their Pope be an heretyque. For all that they do in their churche as yet / are his dyrtye leauinges / not one obseruacion bournisshed with the verite of the lorde. If Pantolabus hath no better thinge to bestowe vponupon his kynge but a prayer made out of stinkinge heresye / it were best for hi to kepe it styll vntounto himselfe. For he hath no nede of that curse of God / for all their blessinges are curses / and their prayers synne after Malachias Prophecye.
2 Certayne / verelye / and ywys cometh neuer into owr meters / but whan we lacke matter and wytt to fulfyll them / as I tolde yow afore. ywys master Pantolabus the great grounded poete of the Popes greasye grauell pyttes / requireth all menne that shall reade with a good deuocion to Antichrist / this Genealogye of stinkige heresye (which he hath of an ydle Idyotes brayne compyled to pondre his good zele vntounto holye churche / & to praye for the kynge whan they may wele intende it. For it is no gret good deuocion that here moueth him vntounto prayer that waye / but that he must nedes saye sumwhat though it were but for maner sake. Great pyte were it but the manne shuld desyre to hauehave readers of his worke / it is so notable. As full is it of good Christen erudicion / as a dogges date is full of swete honye. How shuld they be stinkinge heretyques / styff necked scysmatyques / and obstynate Papistes / yf they shuld not reade soche pratye Poesyes amonge. Lete no manne thinke other wyse but that Pantolabus and soche other intē deth sumwhat by soche subtyle workemanshippe. The Bisshopes winketh at it / as though there were in it non heresye / whan it is all stinkinge heresye by their owne confession. They are wele contented whā they playe soch bussye partes / and wyll not be acknowe of it / but leteth them alone. If anye of them leape so farre that he is hanged vp for treason / they care lyttle for it / for they thinke thy hauehave so lost but a knaue.
3 After a farre fett style / and curyouslye compassed processe / cometh Pantolabus at the last to his full desyre. Exhortynge all menne to praye here for the kynge / with as lyttle true deuocion as he that myndeth nothynge lesse. And yt maketh no matter neyther. For moche better yt is to be vnprayed for / than to be prayed for out of stynkynge heresye / as all their Papistrye is non other. The prayer which ought to be made for kynges & for them that are in auctoryte / ought to aryse of the sacred scripturs whereof they hauehave their auctorytees / and not out of s…ynkynge heresye as yt is here requyred. Saynt Paule exhorted Timothe / which was no papistycall masse sayer but a preacher of the Gospell sufferynge daylye persecucions for the same / before all other thynges to praye for kynges and for all other which were in hyghe power / that Christes disciples and true beleuers myght lyue vndre them a peaceable lyfe in all godlynesse. And this is our prayer also with contynuall teares. Wherin we desyre the lorde for his eternall mercyes sake / alwayes to preserue him. But oute of stynkynge heresyes we praye not for him / neyther out of Mattenses nor Masses / euē songes nor complynes / which are the verye frutes of the Beast of Rome / least we shulde by those blasphemouse prayers brynge vponupon him the great indignacion of God. The frutes are euermore all one with their tree in goodnesse / as those fylthye obseruacions with their first fylthye begynner / hauehave they neuer so fayre colours of gods seruice / gods owne worde / Christes Gospell / the vttera… ce of his name / with soche other / yet are they abhomynacions vnspekeable after that ydo latrouse handely…ge.
4 So farre are these blynde Papistes from the true sprete of Christ / that nothynge they ryghtlye vnderstande of the scripturs. This text of Dauid: Domine in virtute tu…let…bitur rex / & super salutare tuum exul…abit vehementer: Perteyneth alone vntounto Christ / and not to anye earthlye kynge. For in that whole Psalme is described his triū phaunt glorye / with his reuengement ouer them wt hath him persecuted of cruell hate & spyght. Christes humanyte is it / that is so ioyfull of the strengthe that yt hath gotten / which is the Godhede. That is yt which reioyseth so ernestlye / & is so excedynge glady for the sauynge helthe of mankynde which yt hath by y• gyft of God obtayned. He hath his hartes desyre with the ful request of his lyppes / which is the eternall mercye of the Lorde. That manhode was preuented with lyberall blessynges / & now yt hath a crowne of immortalyte. He axed lyfe for him and for his / & lyfe was geuen him for euer and euer. Magna est gloria eius in salutari tuo / &c. His glorye is great / Lorde (sayth Dauid) in that sauynge helthe / and compassed he is now of the / wt eternall felycite. Soche mockers as is Pantolabus shall ones fele his hande / ones will he fynde out all them that so spyghtfullye hateth him. As an hote kyndeled ouen shall they at that daye apere / the fyre euerlastynge will deuoure them for euer …ot ashamed is this dissemblynge mocker and pestylent hypocrite / in his glosynge flat teryes ydolatrouslye to abuse his Prince. For what is ydolatrye els / but a worshyppe geuen to a creature / which peculyarlye belongeth vntounto God. And full therof is all the seruyce / homages / and doynges of the Papistes / the Lorde ones delyuer all Christen princes from them.