A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 1 – Part 2
A mysterye.
1 The Genealogye of heresye.
2 Compyled by Ponce Pantolabus
¶The openinge.
O Therwyse can I not coni…cture of Pantolabus / but that he hath put forth these preciouse poesyes of some sett purpose / eyther to be seane a famouse poete / or els to apere a mightye vpholder of the Popes holye churche. But yf he thinketh herin to hauehave mynistered vntounto hys natiue region of Englande a doctrine of christen religion / he wonderfullye deceyueth himselfe. What they wyl s…me to be by the towche stone of Gods worde / the sequele of this boke shall declare. I thinke nō other than the verye doctrine of deuyls / y• lyes of a popyshe hypocrite / the errours of a cruell Antichrist / the fylthye drinke of the whores cuppe of Babylon / and the stinkynge frutes of the bo…tomlesse pytt. Expende first of all the tyttle of his tragedye / which ys / the Genealogye of heresye / and ye shall fynde in yt small goodnesse I suppose. Saint Paule ernestlye admonished his derelye beloued disciples Tymothe and Tytus in anye wyse to shurne Genealogyes and fables as thinges most super…luouse and vayne.
2 Panotlabus as one of a contrarye sprete and iudgement hath not onelye taken this for bydden office vponupon him / but also vsed yt here in a moche worse kynde. For there is yt spoken concerninge. Iudaysme or vnnecessarye doubtes in Moyses lawe. Here doth he vsurpe yt in blasphemouse raylinges and vnshamefast lyes ageynst them whose lyues were moste innocent and godlye. He sheweth himselfe therfor in this not onlye a spyghtfull aduersarye vntounto Paules lerning / but also a cruell enemye both to Christ & his kynge / mynistrynge vntounto that people soche doctrine of deuilyshnesse / of whome the one is the head the other his depute / in that he is vndre him a christen gouernour. Of this vnwholsom tyttle is yt easye to iudge / what the frutes are thervpon folowynge. Lete the Reader therfore marke them / and beware of those false Apostles whiche brynge them soche messages of myschefe. The Genealogye of Pantalabus now foloweth in course.
A mysterye.
1 Blynde obstynacye.
2 Begate heresye.
3 By a myschaunce
4 Of dame ignoraunce.
Malicia eorum excecauit eos. Sap. 2.
¶The openinge.
A Monstruouse beginninge hath this Genealogye declarynge at the first flushe both the mōstruouse hart of the author / & also the monstruouse nature of that malignaunt churche of Anticrist / of whom he is a professed membre. Non other frute can the yll tre rendre / I se wele / than his owne frowarde nature permitteth hi. For nought is yt not that manye excellent writers in discribinge Anticristis kyngedome / hath called yt a false / fylthye / fleshlye / whoryshe / preposterouse / prostybulouse / promiscuouse / and abhominable generacion. Here is the childe sayd to begett his father / or the sonnes childe his grandefather / & all in y• femynine gendre. Wherfor yt is lyke to be a straūge hindred by that tyme that it be al brought forth. For here is blinde obstinacie reported to beget heresye / & yet was heresye manye years in the world before him. Non cā be obstynate in errour before he doth erre / nor wilfullye resyst y• verite before he doth hate it.
2 Rather shuld heresye therfore seme to brynge forth obstinacye / than obstinacye to engendre heresye. For after the vocabulystes Tortellius / Valla / Perottꝰ / Polycattus / Crestonus / Calepinus / Guarinꝰ / & soche other vocabulystes: heresis / is not els but a choyse / opiniō / or secte. Not moche vnlyke vntounto this doth Saynt Luke vse yt in the actes / and Saynt Paule also declaringe himselfe there a pharyse. Be it ones cowpled withean obstinate frowardnesse or a wylfull resistaunce of the open verite / no longar is it an heresye / but an obstinacye / rebellion / or diuisyon. Thus doth the scripture call the aduersaryes of Gods truthe …on heretiques / but false prophetes / sewde apostles / deceitful teachers / and Anticristes. Therfore goeth Pantolabus vnlernedlye to worke in his Generacion of heresye. Rather shuld he hauehave begōne at the denyll which first begate darkenesse / and so hauehave gone forth frō darkenesse to ignoraunce / and from ignoraunce to errour / with his bretherne in the captiuite of Babylon. Or els frō Anticrist to auarice frō auarice to symonye / & frō symonye to heresye in that veyne. And in so doynge / he myght at the las… hauehave founde out his owne stinkynge sodomitycall generacion.
3 If this course had not pleased him for y• obseruacion of his meters / because he is a poete lorrel / he might hauehave taken this waye with him. The false generacion. Of the popishe nacion. Begonne by the deuyll. The grounder of euyll. Of enuye and hate. The deuyll first begate / The subtyle serpēt / Or worme pestilent The serpent by Cayne / Gote the kyndered vayne / Of bretherne vntrewe / That gods seruauntes slewe. And so forth with the carnall chyldren of … / with Cham / Nem roth / the Sodomites / Ismael / Esau / Pharao / Manasses / Antiochus / Phassur / the pres…es of Baall & of Bell. Herode / Cayphas / Iudas / Symon magus / Bariehu / Diotrephes / with their successours the Pope and his college of cardinalles / with his smered swarme of shauelynges both pylled & pye pecked. But this sort he cowde not fynde out / his eye syght is so yll on that syde. If blynde obstinacte were not his father I maruele / so moche lyght of the veryte being a brode and heretayninge so lyttle. I dare boldelye saye he was his leader & his great prouoker …ohā he made this worke. I thinke al discrete readers will hauehave y• same opinion of him in that point that I hauehave here. Iugde thā whether he be out of his own Genealogye or naye.
4 Dame ignoraunce whom he here verefyeth to be y• mother of heresye / shuld seme to hauehave a great stroke in him / all circūstaūces marked / to make vp the generacion towardes him. The myschaunce wherof / though it be not perseyued of him for wāte of grace / yet is it knowne vntounto vsus by the frutes here. For neuer had we known what Pantolabusis / had not these poesyes declared him. All contrarye is he in opynion to the auncient doctours / yf he thinketh that the olde heretiques were ignoraunt & vnlerned. Saint Hierome reporteth of Tacianus / that he famouslye taught the art of rhetoryck / and that he also wrote innumerable workes. Marcellus was excedinge wittye / and Sabinus was naturallye eloquent. Basilides compiled more than. xxiiii. volumes vponupon the scripturs. What Iustinus saith of Marcion / Hireneus of Montanus / Tertulyane of Valentinus / Cypriane of Nouatus / Saynt Augustin of Donatus Faustus and Felix. Saynt Cyryst of Nestorius / Pelagius / and Eunomius and other doctors of Arrius / Eutices / Fotinus / and soche other it were ve …ye moche to wryte. And as concerninge Wyclef / Husse / Luther / Melanchton / and their felawes here regestred / it shall here after apere what they were. So that it shal wele be knowne that dame ignoraūce kepeth howse rather with Pantolabus and with other of his f…llawes more in papistrye / than with them or with soche as they be in their sorte.
5 The text that he boroweth here of Sapience / Masicia corum exce…auit / is as insypientlye bestowed / as it had bene in the hande lynge of a moste insipient alle. The wyse man speaketh it of them whiche cruellye oppresseth the rightouse for rebukinge their euils / takinge for their auctoryte the lawes of vnrightousnesse. And of soche as examineth them wt spyghtfull rebukes and tormentes / so condēpninge them to most shamefull deathe. Their malyce (sayth he) hath blynded them. So that it perteyneth whole to the blodye generacion of anticrist. Beholde therfor the blynde vnderstandinge of this papist / howe he geueth it to blynde obstinacye / therwith to begett heresye of ignoraunce. Thinke ye not this scripture wele handeled? yes / and the deuil of hel shuld hauehave had the handelynge of it. yet is he nō heretyque amonge the bysshoppes / nor his boke founde euyll / but put forth by the kynges pryuilege as a necessarye doctrine of their holye churche. O Englande Englande / miserablye plaged artthou to hauehave soche leaders. Praye to the eternall God to better it / and repēt thy vnthākefulnesse past / least thou perisshe with the wycked. Marke that foloweth in the next clause of the same Chapter of Sapience. Etne scie…unt sacramenta Dei &c. And ye shall fynde there that they which shuld be your instructers / vnderstandeth not the misteryes of God. They neyther hope for the rewarde of tightousnesse / nor yet regarde y• worship that the sayntes shall possesse.