A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 39
A mysterye.
1 Cōpyled by Ponce Pātolabus
2 Imprynted at London In Pater noster rovve.
3 At the signe of our ladye pytye By Iohan Redman Ad imprimendum solum. ¶The other coppye.
4 Imprented by me Robert Vvyer. Ad imprimendum solum.
¶The openinge. 1.
NOw shuld soche a famouse worke / made in defence of holye churche / apere notable vntounto the readers therof / except the name of a notable clarke (as master Pantolabus is) were putt ther vntounto? fytt is yt that the carpenter shuld stande by his carpētrye / and the buylder by his buyldynge. A broken wall of Babylon hath Pantolabus dawbe…d vp here of old fauer and louelove / but his dyrtye dawb…rye holdeth not. For lyke an vnworke manlye dawber he hath done yt with vntempred claye / contrarye to all godlye admonyshmentes. Most dampnably hath he peruerted the sacred scripturs here / to maynteyne his Popyshe malyce agaynst all Christen charyte. But Hieremye / Ezechiel / Micheas / and Aba…uk / with other holye Prophetes / byddeth him and soche other to sett their hartes at rest. For the cyte which is buylded with blood / and the howse that standeth by vnryghtousnesse / shall not alwayes contynue in the worlde. I shall cast donge in youre faces …sayth the Lorde by his Prophete Malachias) euen the verye donge of youre solempne feastes and ceremonyes. And yt shall cleaue fast vponupon you and take you with yt to eternall perdicion. What Ponce Pantolabus is (which putteth himselfe forth here for y• Author of this Iest) I nede not to describe. For the verye worke it selfe setteth forth his lyuelye ymage. It manyfestlye declareth him a braynelesse babler / a presumptuouse ydyote / a frantyck Papist / a peruerter of the scripturs / a stynkynge heretyque / an enemye to God / a secrete louer of Antichrist / & a preuye conspyrer agaynst his prince for the Pope.
2 Moche accordinge to the ryght nature therof / is the settinge out here of this heretycall Genealogie. Abhominably blasphemouse it is / and therfor it passeth forth vndre some tytles of abhominacion. It is seyd first of all to be imprinted at London / which is a most noble cyte. Verye sorye I am that soche sylthye frutes shuld come from so worthye a place. Notwithstandinge I ascribe not this partycular euyll to that worshypful cyte / wherin (I knowe) to be people most vertuouse and godlye. But of this am I certayne. Though Hierusalem were holye and the verye cyte of the lorde allowed by the scripturs / yet was it in conclusion most greuouslye ponnyshed for sufferinge blasphemers / and for vnthankefullye receyuinge of Christ and his verite. Pater noster was wont to be a most wholsom prayer / ordayned and commaunded of Christ to dwell onlye within mannys sowle / and from thens to be sent in dayly massage to the eternall father of heauen. And now he is becomen an out strete dweller) the name of a lane / or the sygne of a tauerne. Farre is he changed from Christes first institucion / a…d from the office that he appointed him. A farre meane… change from a pylde popyshe ceremony / wolde be called a great heresye of y• Bysshoppes. What this is I leaue it to yowr coniecture.
3… In this Pater noster rowe / or in bedealleye whether ye wyll / was this Genealogye imprinted / at the signe afowr ladye pyte. What that pyteouse ladye is I can not tell / but wele I wote she hath no …ust tyttle to be called owr ladye. No true fygure is she to Marye the mother of Christ. For neuer was she so farre from the ryght faythe / that she sorowed so largelye for that thīge which was vntounto vsus all most necessarye. I knowe she neuer wept so vndyscretely for the deathe of Christ / which was owr vniuersall helthe / but most hyghly reioysed therin. If she euer mourned / it was for the synnes of the people / and for that she sawe his veryte contēpned of the cruell clergye / as it is yet styll. They therfor which worshyp that sorowfull pyte of Marye / do honour that infydelyte wt she neuer had / and make them therof an Idoll. Thus is the sygne that Iohan Redmā dwelleth vndre / an exercrable Idoll / and he for so magnifyenge her with that tyttle / a verye Idoll worshypper. The lesse maruele is it / that soche fylthye frutes cometh out of his howse. Here is he not ashamed openlye to confesse / that he hath sett his handes to most wycked Papystrye / and vntounto an heape of peruerted Scripturs / to the great dyshonour both of God and of his kynge. Adioyninge ther vntounto his pryuylege / Ad imprimē dum solum / the rather to infect his people.
4 Now foloweth Robert wyer / & he graunteth also by his owne handye worke / that he hath promoted forewarde these Popyshe Poesyes and Scripturs abhominablye peruerted. Wherin he hath done all that hath lyen in him / to assure the kīges faythfull subiectes to geue their good hartes to y• Popes olde faythe. An vngodlye cruell waye were it / yf menne ded but mynistre that thinge wt shuld but poyson the bodyes of the people. What shall we than recken it / whan that fylthynesse is ministred of them / which infecteth their sowles to eternall deathe. Soche is the vnsacyable thirst of thē that are couetouse / that they care not what myschefes they do to get money. If the deuyll had geuen them a matter ageynst Christ / as his sworne Chaplayne hath done here ageynst his true seruauntes / and hauehave monyed them wele / they wolde surely hauehave done by that / lyke as they hauehave done by this. And the daye wyll ones come that they shall fynde it all one. The kynges priuylege. Ad imprimē dum solum / is put to the same / to bringe him also vndre the selfe same curse / of God / yf anye chaunce for it at the latter daye (whom he defende) so good subiectes are thy vntounto him. By soche diuersite of printes is it easy to perseyue that the sale hath bene great & the profyghtes therof plentuouse. If the worke had bene Godly / yt neuer had gone so frelye abrode / nor with so moche fauer of y• Bysshoppes. The lorde ones be mercyfull to his afflicted famelye / and delyuer thē frō their my…cheues. Amen. ¶The conclusion.
¶Expreslye is it here to be seane (dere frynde in the lorde) what Pantolabꝰ was at the makinge of this iest / and what manye other are yet styll in the same synefull lyne of Antichrist. I perseyue by him and soche other more / that Leuiathan had than great strengthe in his loynes / to sende forth soche sturdye babes. Not longe afore that they hydde their heades / and durst not be seane abrode. But thā ded they on their mothers shamelesse face / and were ageyne as bragginge as in their Popes tyme. Small harme is it to them that the Beastes head was wounded / it is so wele and workemanlye healled vp ageyne. Not to Christes glorye hauehave they fashyoned thē a newe churche now after the Gospell preachinge / but after their owne vayne glorye ageyne yet for aduauntage. Destroyed yet vtterly shall that execrable mōstre be within short space (trust vponupon it) by y• only breathe of y• lordes eternall mouthe For now doth he call to remembraunce the blood of his elect Seruauntes whō she hath slayne & seduced to establyshe her kyngedō of lyes & abhominaciōs. Now shal she be subdued of that heauenlye verite / whō she hath of so longe tyme suppressed / the beast peryshinge wt her whō she hath worshypped in so manye kyndes of Idolatrye. That lorde make spede to fulfyll his euerlastinge promes / to the confort of his electes. Amen.
¶Thu… endeth y• openinge of a darke mysterye of inyquite latelye spredde a brode in England… / by Ponce. Pantolabus / and dysclosed by Iohan Bale. 1542.
End of the text · John Bale, A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted (1545)