A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 35 – Part 36
A mysterye.
1 But I praye God To spare the rod.
2 And that vvith hart They maye conuert.
3 And call for grace Vvhyle they hauehave space.
4 Dum lucem habetis, credite in lucem, vt filij lucis sitis. Ioan. 12.
¶The openinge. 1.
By all p…uyshe pathwayes of Papistrye hath Pantolabꝰ wandered here / & at the last he playstreth vpp his pedlarye poesyes / and falleth full vndeuoutlye to his prayer. He desyereth God without that fayth which riseth of his veryte / to spare that rodde which he neuer yet threttened vntounto manne. For the crosse of contynuall persecuciōs which cōmonlye lyghteth vponupon the elect members of Christ / are not threttened vntounto them but promysed with his eternall rewarde / yf they faythfullye beare them Only are plages threttened to the disobedient brea…e…s of the Lordes commaundementes. And those plages are the verye curses of God / where as persecu…ions for his truthes sake are his most wholsom blessynges. Blessed are your (sayth he) whan mēne reuyle yow / and falselye report yow for my names sake. For great is youre rewarde in heauen. A moche better waye therfore were yt for Pantolabus and for his bloodthurstye generacion / to leaue their murtherynge vp of innocentes / and to repent from the hart their manyfolde myscheues past. And that ones done / than to praye vntounto the Lorde in faythe / to withdrawe from them that vengeaunce of innocent blood she dynge which hangeth ouer their heades as a perpetuall plage / rodde / or scourge of eternall dam…nacion. Thus doynge they myght beccome of publycanes true Apostles with Matthew / & of cruell murtherers faythfull minysters with Paule the elect vessell of God.
2 Charytable wolde Pantolabus gladlye apere / now that he hath spewed out all his poyson and myschefe agaynst y• true seruaū tes of God. A fayre colour sett they alwaye… vponupon the matter / be their workynges neuer so vengeable. And in that they agre with their spirituall head the serpent / which temptynge Eua / shewed a bewtyfull face outwardlye with swete and pleasaunt wordes. Whan they sytt in their consistoryes vponupon condempnacion of the innocētes with Cayphas / they outwardlye pretende all godlynesse. They first call vponupon the name of God openly protestyng that they hauehave his ryght honour before their eyes in all that they go abought. They sweare also vponupon the holye Euangelyes / that they will there do nothynge of displeasure / hate / percyalyte / nor malyce. Yet is the poore innocent in the ende cō dempned / accursed / geuen to the deuyll / disgraded / fyered / and burned / onlye for his fayth in the Lorde Iesus Christ. Neuer the more is Pantolabus here to be trusted / that he prayeth so bytterlye for their conuersyon. For abhomynable is that charyte which foloweth of so moche malyce as he hath afore here vttered / and that apereth by the fylthye frutes therof. Not vntounto Christ and his holye verytees wolde he hauehave them here with all their hartes to conuert / but vntounto the Antichrist of Rome by a newe obedience of his olde cankred customes whō their lorde God doth detest and abhorre. This is y• dissemblynge charite of this worme of way wardnesse or maliciouse membre of Sathā. This is the conclusion he seketh.
3 Fayne wolde Pantolabus hauehave them to conuert to that false obedience of Antichrist / that he might lyue lyke a gentylman and hauehave his dishes the fatter / and his purse the waghtyer. Oh / it is a pleasaunt thinge to hauehave the people on both sydes of the way salutinge them with cappe and knee. It is a good syght / (saye they) whan the flocke foloweth the shepeherde / and y• parryshynes their curate. yea / but alas what is it whan the lambes folowe the wolfe / which is a cruell thefe / a destroyer / and a murtherer? For whose grace wolde Pantolabus hauehave Christen menne to call? For the grace of holye churche / of his holye father the Pope / of his good lorde of Wynchestre / his good lorde of London. His good lordes of lyncolne / yorke and Durham / with soche other ghostlye fathers. If he meaneth the grace of God / I maruele that he forgetteth himselfe & his owne generacion. Me thinketh they ought in soche prayer / to be had most in remembraunce / consideringe they are fardest of all mē ne frō his grace. yf they seke not for it whil… they hauehave here space and layser / it wyll be wyde with them whan they shall come ones to their strayght reakininge. But they thynke it safe ynough / so longe as they hauehave y• Popes powr still in their handes / wt / Ego absoluote vndre a stulticia a stole I shuld saye. For yf they maye geue grace vntounto others / they hauehave grace ynough for themselues / & so hauehave lyttle nede of Gods grace.
4 Manye a manne (they saye) shall vttre the thinge which he vnderstandeth not / lyke as Pantolabus doth here. And as we hauehave for example of Balaam / kynge Saul / Cayphas / and Pylate / whiche prophecyed they knewe not what. Dum lucem habetis (sayth he) credite in lucem / vt filii lucis sitis. Whyle ye hauehave the lyght / beleue on the lyght / that ye maye be the chydren of lyght. This hath he borowed of the. xii. Chapter of Iohā to clought vp his matter / yet doth he not knowe what it meaneth. For yf he ded he wolde not persecute that lyght as he hath done here most spight fully. The light that is there mentioned is the lordes eternall worde / which Pantolabus with soche other craftye cloyners calleth heresye / and wolde hauehave the people so to esteme it. But y• lyght that he wolde hauehave thē to beleue / is y• faythe of his holy mother with y• olde croked customes of her Papistrye / and that is no lyght but darkenesse most dampnable. Omnis qui credit in me / in tenebris non mane…. Non that beleueth in me (sayth Christ in y• same selfe Chapter) abydeth in that darkenesse / meaninge therbye the doctrine of hypocresye or of outwarde obseru…cions inuented by mēne. This promised he there to cast out with the prince of this worlde / by the mightye aperaunce of his worde / whiche shuld iudge those infidels also at the latter daye. The cause whye they se not this light nor beholde the misteryes therof / is that he hath blynded their eyes and hardened their hartes for their vnbeleues sake least they shuld be saued.
A mysterye.
1 And for this tyme Here endeth my ryme.
2 The Genealogye. Of stynkynge heresye.
¶The openinge. 1.
ACcordinge to the head and bodye / hath Pantolabus here fashyoned vsus out a tayle. He hath geuen vsus as folyshe a cō clusion / as he gaue vsus a processe afore. And for this ryme (he sayth) thus endeth his ryme / as though he were mynded here after to compyle more fumouse workes. As for this / it had made no great matter yf it had ended before it beganne / for anye witte / grace / or good lerninge is in it. For non other frutes it containeth but the cruell contempt of our Christen bretherne and abhominable pe…ertinge of the scripturs. I call them Christen bretherne for the porcion that they hauehave in Christ / wherof no worldlye power can depryue them / though they maye take from them both bodye / goodes / and lyfe. For god is of no soche malyce as is manne neyther is he displeased alwayes whan manne is displeased. But euermore is he mercifull / whā he is called vponupon in faythe. He receyued the thefe whan all the worlde had forsaken him and geuen him ouer vntounto deathe / moche more his faythfull seruauntes which suffreth for his veritees sake. The tyme that Pantolabus here speaketh of is full wretchedlye bestowed / and that he shall wele knowe / as he shall geue the accountes therof. As for his tymes what they are / we nede not to describe them. For they euerye where declare the insipient head and the Idell brayne of their fantasticall author / sumtyme to short sumtyme to longe / with barbarouse termes / and more barbarouse matter.
… What his ryme is in qualite & quantite / and what it contayneth in lengthe and in bredthe / he manifesteth here in these .ii. verses folowinge. Confessinge them as he shuld do / to be his owne propre goodes / and he by them to be a stinkinge heretyque in dede. For he sayth that his ryme / which is a frute of his own propre popyshe faythe / witt and stodye / is the Genealogye of stynkinge heresye. Ergo he must be a stinkīge heretyq̄ / no remedy. For the tree in goodnesse is all one with his frute / and alwayes the frute declareth it. For a ranke Papyst and Antichristes great frynde had we neuer knowne Pā tolabus / had not these papysticall Poesyes so vttred and declared him. To stinkinge a matter is it to go vndre y• kynges pryuylege Ad imprimendū solū to y• vtter poyseninge of his people / the Scripturs so shamefullye torne / and their truthe so deuilyshlye peruerted. yet is it no m…ruele though this heretyque Pantolabus doth vtter soche pestilent poysons / consyderinge that a worme of that nest and a locust of that lake / canne geue nō other commodite.