A Mystery of Iniquity Disclosed and Confuted, Part 6
A mysterye.
1 Vvylfulnesse verelye. Nygh cosyne to heresye.
2 Begate myschefe. Father of vvyclefe.
3 VvhichWhich ded bringe inne. His grand father synne.
4 Qui facit peccatum ex diabolo est, quoniam ab inicio diabolus peccat. Ioan. 3.
The openinge. 1.
DIuerslye doth this popishe poete resemble himselfe / alwayes as blynde as a byttle / and wotteth not wele which waye to wandre. yet will he styll forewarde with his pedlarie wares Wilfulnesse he saith (whō he hath preferred here in his Genealogye to his other brethern / I am sure for some olde familyar acquayntaunce) beynge nigh cosyne to heresye / begate mischefe. It shuld seme here vntounto me / that Pantolabꝰ is not verie wele seane in genealogyes / or els he daunseth withe Iacke of Bedlem a voluntarye rounde or a galearde at his pleasure. For here he calleth heresye cosyne to wylfulnesse / and yet he is .vi. degrees afore him. yea / and to make his owne asynishe rudenesse more manifest therin / he calleth him here his nigh cosyne. Trulye this is to folyshe to hauehave yt scripturs coupled withe it / yf Boner and Wynchestre with other holye fathers wynke not vponupon it whā they honte for heretyques. But parauenture he doth it here that wylfulnesse shuld be known to be all one with heresye / or els to make good his purpose folowinge / as to proue Ioan Wyclef an heretyque. But as the Prophete sayth / he that prepareth a snare for an other / most cōmonlye falleth into it his selfe / as Pantolabꝰ hath done here / yf the abhominable peruertige of Gods worde be a kinde therof.
2 He saith that wylfulnesse begate mischefe / and I beleue it wele. For Pope Hyld…brandus (which inhibited prestes mariage) poysoned: vi. of his predecessours to optaine the papacye. Pope victor the thirde was poysoned at his masse by a spirituall chaplayne of his. So was henrye the .vii. Emprour by one Bernardinus de monte policiano a dominick fryre / in receyuinge the sacrament. Pope Clement the seconde / vigilius. Sisinnius / Ioannes septimus / Alexander / and aboue .xl. of them more / were sent out of the worlde by the same spirituall polecye. How manye poore cristen innocentes the .ii. horned termagauntes of Englande hath put vntounto deathe for the onlye truthe of God / it were moche to write. Wynchestre yet aliue is foūde no sluggarde in tha… tormēting office of Anticrist though he neyther s…yth Standyshe nor Pantolabꝰ fryre wattes nor quarry y• pardoner / wt soche other abhominable blasphemers of Gods worde. Therfor tyrannye also might hauehave … in for a childe of wyckednesse and a brother of myschefe / yf it had pleased master Pantolabus. So might cruell murther / the slaughter of saintes / and the vtter contempt of God / hauehave bene called the fylthye of springe therof / and not poore Iohan wycclef the verie manne of God / for withstandinge Anticrist and his false kingedome / yf the true quarell of Christ had here bene so ernestlye sought as is the Popes quarell / though it be not so spoken.
3 That anye manne shuld be father to his grande father / as Pantolabus here noteth Iohan Wyclef / it is a matter impossible in the right course of generacion. But as he hath a monstruouse wytt / so sendeth he forth mōstruouse frutes to deceyue y• simple. Of a spyghtfull malice is it / not of Wyclef but of the verite that he taught / that he thꝰ nameth him the sonne of mischefe. For Wycleues father as cōcerninge the fleshe was a christen beleuer / and a manne geuen to nō yll …ha… we rede of. I can not tell what euill sprete hath taught Pantolabus to be a slaū derouse accuser of his brother / vnlesse it were he that accused Iob. And as concerninge the inwarde manne / he was a sonne of God / lyke as all they are by his heauenlye gyft that beleue in his name. For non can protest that Iesus is the Lorde God / as he ded most constauntlye ageynst the whole regne of Anticrist / but in the holye ghost. For so moche as raylinge Pantolabꝰ falselye reporteth of Iohan Wyclef without auctorite that he brought in his grandefather synne / I am enforced to answer in his behalfe by y• auctorite of soche notable writers as I hauehave seane and redde.
Iohan Wyclef beynge an Englyshe mā ne borne / and a doctor of diuinite / aboute y• year of owr Lorde a .M.CCC. and .lx. redde the common lecture at oxforde / and so cō tynued many yeares after. And as cōcerninge his eloquence / witt / manyfolde lerninge and most innocent lyfe / Philippus repingedon Bysshop of Lyncolne / Nicolaus herforde a Doctor / Ioannes Treuisa / Galfridus Chawcer / Ioannes Husse / Eneas Siluius Hermannus Shedel / and now in owr tyme O tho Brunfelsius hath in most ample forme described them / besides the large witnesse of his enemies / as of Iohan kyuyngham / Thomas Walden / and soche other. yea / soche tyme as Wyllyā Thorpe in his examinacion reported him to be a manne of most christen sobryete / conforminge his lyfe and lerninge to the doctrine of Christ and the lyuinge of his Apostles. Thomas Arondell than Archebysshop of Canterberye / beinge both an aduersarye to him and to the verite that he had taught / affermed him with his owne mouthe to be a great clarke and a perfight lyuer. The stomake that he bare ageīst him was for his doctrine. For that (he sayd) was▪ not agreable to the lawes of holye churche. And yet he graunteth afore that it was agreable to Christ and to his Apostles. He coude not awaye in dede with their popishe tradicions / but called them the fylthye frutes of Anticrist. He sayd he wolde no longar aparell the Asse that Christ shuld ryde vpō with their vayne rytes and ceremonies / but folowe the clere doctrine of his Sauer Iesus / which glorified in heauē / hath nede of no soche Idell offices to be done to him.
kynge Edwarde the thirde sumwhat fauored him for his godlye giftis / as I hauehave sufficientlye to proue it. So ded kinge Rycharde the seconde as he durst preuylye / wt afterwarde cost him his lyfe. In this beleue Iohan Wyclef contynued / and was person of Lutterworth in lyncolne shere. And in the year of owr lorde a .M.CCC.lxxxvii. this true Apostle of Christ most constantlye and cristenlye departed from this worlde commēdinge his sowle into the handes of God. His workes were wonderful and manye / as I intende to declare God lendinge me lyfe in an other worke. Of whom Subinco lepus than Bysshop of Prage / brent more than .ii. hondreth great volumes fayre written / as witnesseth Eneas Siluius in his boke de origine Bohemorum. The .xli. yeare after his deathe / which was the year from Christes incarnaciō a M.CCCC. and .xxviii. by a cruell decree from the generall counsell of Cōstance / were his bones taken vp ageyne and brent by the clergye of Englande / as testifieth Walden in lib. de sacramentalibꝰ Cap. 89. et fo. 199. to make foles afrayed. Nō hath condempned this wyclef for an heretyque / but the Pope and his sworne soudiours whose cause / matter / and quarell Pantolabꝰ hath here taken vpō him to defende / though it be with a small faythe to God & his Prince / and moche lesse honeste to his owne preciouse persone.
4 As touchinge his allegacion out of Iohans first Epistle. Qui facit peccatum exdiabolo est / to proue that mischefe begate Wyclef. The deuyll his master (of whom it is there spoken) might hauehave vttered … as godlye and to as moche edificacion of y• … the as he hath done here. He that doth synne (sayth the text) is of the deuill. For the deuill styll synneth after his olde wō …e and can do non other. I maruele of Pantolabus that he coude thus with this clause blaspheme his dead brother in the handes of God / without all godlye feare / & thinke not therin to synne. If he had marked the argumēt of that chapter wele / he shuld hauehave founde in it Gods singular louelove towardes vsus / to that ende that we shuld louelove here one an other. And not to condempne by name or to make raylinge rymes of him bycause the Pope hath condempned him afore. For by non other auctorite is Wyclef condēpned. Who securses God doth blesse / and ageyne doth curse his blessinges. Lete Pantolabus therfor be ware. For though he hath nowe both his good lorde of Wynchesters blessynge and the Popes / he maye chaunce yet to dwell vndre Gods curse.
I Wondre that the Bysshppes so narrowlye serchinge for heretiq̄s / cā not here smell out both an heretique and a traytour. Happlye thei are so vsed to that sauer out of their owne bosomes / that thei knowe not the one from the other. But maye saye. Thu and I are both one mannis children. Saye wele by me / and I shall do as moche forthe. By this text folowinge is Wyclef discharged of that Pantolabus layeth to him. Qui natus est ex deo / peccatum non facit / quoniāsemen ipsius in Deo manet. He that is borne of God (as Iohan Wyclef was receyuynge Christes doctrine in faythe) synneth not / he folowing that doctrine in his lyfe though he doth despyse all the Popes tradicions / as he ded also. For the sede of God which is his eternall worde remayninge styll in him / wyll not permyt hī to synne by no soche blasphemouse popetrye. Thys strayght waye hauinge the sure promises of God perseyueth not Pantolab que / but strayeth wyldelye a brode with the renegate Cain / desperatlye trustinge to the promises of menne syckle and vncertayne / as their tradicions hath non other.