A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 38
A mysterye.
1 And the quene also Vvhere so euer she go.
2 And for the sauegarde Of oure prince Edvvarde.
3 Vvhom I praye Iesu Longe to contyne vve / Amen.
The openinge. 1.
ERnest is Pantolabus yet styll in requestes sprynggynge out of his gentyll Genealogye of stynkynge heresye. For therin he homblye requyreth all these thynges by his owne confessyon afore. Herin he desyereth the dilygent readers of his worke / to praye for the quene also / which was sumtyme called the ladye kateryne howarde.
He shulde seme to be some blynde chaplayne of hers / by the blynde zele he sheweth here. For he wolde hauehave her remembred where so euer she go / in the waye or out of the waye. Trulye that prayer were of a straunge kynde / yf yt shuld so be made as yt is here requyred. Who hath harde prayers made for menne to go where they will / or whan they are out of the ryght waye to contynue so styll? I thynke fewe menne lyuynge I wolde hauehave no soche querestre of Baals quere / nor yet soche a chaplayne of Bels college to praye forme / as poore a man as I am Moche better grace parauenture had bene hers / yf she had chaunced of no soche ghostlye fathers. For where as the scripturs are / contempned / & their verytees sett at nought what els can folowe but vyce? which alwayes requyreth an yll ende. The true louelove of Gods worde / is neuer without his feare. Neuer can that creature outragyouslye offende / which foloweth the true lyne therof. A …anterne to oure fete is that worde of the Lorde / and a lyght vntounto oure pathe wayes in this shadowe of deathe / the eternall father geue vsus his grace to folowe yt.
2 Fynallye Pantolabus exhorteth all his readers to praye for the sauegards of our most worthye prince Edwarde. If this were out of the Genealogye of stynkynge heresye / as yt is also therin / yt were moche more pleasynge vntounto God. He abhorreth all that is straunge / and not lyke fashyoned to the exemplar that he hath left in the scripturs. He turneth awaye his face dysdaynouslye from all mockynge sacrifyces inuented by menne and not commaunded of him. As is the Papistycall Masse with all other blasph…mouse obseruacions of that mon…truouse madame / the …athanycall Synagoge of Antichrist. Nadab and Abihu the sonnes of Aaron the hyghe Prest / were consumed in the Lordes wrathe / for offerynge s…raunge fyre vncommaunded. Accursed is he which addeth his owne inuencyon vntounto the Lordes seruyce / or anye thynge els that the scripture commaundeth not. I counsell therfore all faythfull beleuers / syncerelye to praye in sprete and in veryte after Christes holye doctryne / for their most worthye kynge and the prince his naturall sonne / that the one maye succede the other as Salomon ded Dauid / & as Iosaphat ded Asa / in the faythfull wayes of the Lorde. And this hauehave they good cause to do yf they remembre all thynges. As their delyueraunce from the greate Golye of Rome / with sufferaunce to reade the scripturs which is their syngular sowle… helthe. What though some of them at tymes be brent in the fyre for Christes testymonye / through the Bisshoppes olde tyrannye. Nothynge is there lost / but their corruptyble bodyes. Wheras he suffreth one bodye in their malyce so to peryshe / he saueth that …owle and a thousande more by the fredome of Christes Gospell. Blessed be the Lorde therfore that euer he was borne.
3 I coūsell no manne to make this prayer with Pantolabus nor with soche other execrable Papistes / so damnablye vayne in the corrupt practyses / stodyes / and deuyses of their wretched hartes / though yt semeth verye good and godlye. But praye after y• scripturs with y• dere heretage of Christ / which is a churche persecuted as he was / and not pampred vp here in pryde and in vayne glorye. It is a congregacion not knowne to the worlde nor regarded of fleshlye lyuers / nomore than he was knowne and receyued of them whan he came into his owne. Praye all from within / as that churche is from within lyke as Dauid wytnesseth with all the Apostles and Prophetes. And lete this be youre specyall prayer for youre kynge and prince euermore. Thu eternall God of our fathers thre distyncte persones in one euerlastynge Godhede. Thu omnypotent father and creatour of all. Thu eternall sonne and redemer Iesus Christ. Thu euerlastynge holy ghost & conforter equall vntounto them both / all one God in power / substaunce / and nature of the Godhede / for thy tendre mercyes sake hauehave respect vntounto oure kynge and yonge prince. And lyke as thu hast of thy munyfycence and lyberalyte geuen vntounto them the imperyall crowne and scepture of Englande. So graunt them to lyue in thy feare / to walke in thy worde / and to do that is ryghtouse in thy syght euermore. Graunt them also Lorde with the swerde that they beare / that they carrye yt not in vayne / but alwayes to the ponnyshment of the yll doers / and to the syngular solace of thy faythfull seruauntes. For so is thy eternall will. Thus ought true subiectes to praye without all hypocresye / dissymulacyon / and glosynge flatterye.