A boke made by Iohn Frith prisoner in the tower of London / answeringe vnto M mores lettur which he wrote agenst the first litle treatyse that Iohn̄ Frith made concerninge the sacramente of the body and bloude of / christ vnto which boke are added in the ende the articles of his examinacion before the bishoppes of London / winchestur and lincolne / in Paules church at London / for which Iohn Frith was condempned ād after burēt in smith felde with out newgate the fourth daye of Iuli. Anno. 1533.
¶Mortui resurgent.
¶The preface of this boke [...]
GRace and encrea [...]e of knowelege from God the fader thorow oure lord Iesus criste / be with the christen reader / and with all that love the lorde vnfaynedly Amen.
I chaūced b [...]ing in these parties / to be in cōpanie with A christen broder wiche for hys commendable cōuersation / And sobre behavour myght better be a bishop thē many that weare myters yf the reule of. s. Paule were regarded in ther election.1. Tim. [...] Tit. 1. Thys broder after moche communication / desyrid to knowe my mynde as touchynge the sacrrament of the body and blode of oure savioure Christ. Whiche thynge I opened vnto hym accordynge to the gist that god had gevyn me. Firste I proved vnto hym that yt was non article of oure fayth necessarie to be beleved vnder payne of dānaciō Thē I declared that christ had a naturall bodie / evyn as myne ys (savyng synne) and that yt cowde no more be in two places at once then myne can. Thyrdly I shewyd hym that it was not necessarie / that the wordes shulde so be vnderstonde as they sounde. But that yt myght be a phrase of scripture / as ther ar innumerable. After that I shewyd hym certen suche phrases and ma [...]er of speakyng. And that yt was well vsed in oure englishe tong ād finally I recyted after what mauer they myght [Page] receyve yt accordynge to christes institutyon / not fearyng the froward alteracyon that the prestes vse contrarie to the firste forme and institution.
When I had sufficiently published my mynde / he desired me to entitie the s [...]me of my wordes / ād write them for hym / be cause they semed ouer [...]onge to be well r [...]teigned in memorie. And a [...]beit I was loth to take the mater in hande / yet to fullfyll hys instant intercession / I toke vppon me to touche this terrible tragedie / and wrote a treatise / whyche be side my paynfull impresonmēt / ys lyke to purchase me moste cruell deth / which I am redie and glade to receyve wt the sprite and inward man (allthough the fleshe be frayle) when so ever yt shall please god to lay yt vppon me. Notwiths [...]ondinge to say the truthe I wrote yt not to the intent that yt shuld haue byn published For thē I wolde haue touche [...] the mater more ernestly / and haue writyn / as well of the spirituall eatynge and drynkynge whiche ys of necessite / as I d [...]de of the carnall whiche ys not so necessarie / for the treatise that I made was [...]ot expedient for all men / albeit yt weare sufficie [...]t for them whom I toke in hande to ens [...]ructe. For they knewe the spirituall and necessarie eatynge and dryn [...]ynge of his bodie and bloode which ys not receyvyd with the teth and belye / but with the [...]ares and fayth / and only ne [...]ed instruc [...]yon in the ou [...]ward eatynge / whiche thynge I therfore only declared But now yt ys commen a brode and in many mens mowthes / in so moche that master more wc [Page] of late hathe busted hym sellfe to medle in all soche materes (of what zele I wyll not defyne) hath sore labored to cōfute yt but some men thinke that he ys ashamed of his ꝑte and for that cause doth so diligently suppresse the worke wc he prynted. For I my sellfe saw the worke in prent in my lorde of wynchesters howse / vppon S. Stephyns day last paste. But nether I nether all the fryndes I cow [...] make / mighte attayne any copie / but only one wrytyn copie which as yt semed was drawyn oute in great haste natwithstondinge I can not well Iudge what the cause shulde be / that hys boke ys kept so secrette. But this I am right sure of / that he neuer touched the foūdaciō that my treatise was buylded vppon. And therfore syth my foundacion stondith so sure and invincible (for els I thynke verely he wolde sore have labored to haue vndermined yt) I wyl ther vppon buylde a lytle more / and allso declare that his ordinance ys to slender to breake yt downe all though yt were sett vppon a wors foundacyon.
¶The fondacion of that lytle treatise was that yt ys non article of our fayth necessarye to be belevyd vnder payne of dampnacion / that the sacrament shuld be the naturall bodie of christe: which thynge ys proved / on this maner.
FIrste we muste all aknowelege that yt ys non article af o (ur) fayth which can save vs nor which we are bounde to beleve vnder the payne of eternall damnacion. For yf I shulde beleve that hys verey naturall bodye bothe fleshe and bloode were naturaly in the brede & wyne / that shulde not save me / seinge many beleve that / and receyve yt to ther dampnacyon / for yt ys not hys prsense in the brede that [...]an save me / but hys presence in my herte thorough fayth in hys blode / wc hathe washed oute my synnes and pacyfied the faders wrathe toward me. And agayne yf I do not beleve his bodely presence in the brede & wine / that shall / not dampne me / but the absence out of my harte thorough vnbeleffe.Obiectiō Now yf they wolde here obiecte that though yt be truth that the absence oute of the brede coulde not dampne vs: yet are we bounde to bel [...]ve yt / be cause of goddes worde whiche who belevyth not / as moche as in hym lyeth / makythe god al lyer. And therfore of an̄ obstinat mynde not to beleve hys worde / may be an occasiō of dāpnaciō
SoluciōTo thys we may answer / that we beleve goddes [Page] worde and knowelege that yt ys trewe: but in this we dissent whether yt be trewe in the sense that we take yt in or in the sence that ye take yt in And we say agayne / that thought ye haue (as yt apereth vnto yow) the evidēt wordes of christe / ād therfore cōsiste in the barke of the letter: yet are we cōpelled by conferringe of the scryptures to gether within the letter to serche oute the minde of o (ur) sauio (ur) wc spake the wordes And we saye therdly / that we do it not of an obstinate mīde. For he that defendeth a cause obstinatly (whether yt be true or false) ys euer to be rep̄hended. But we do yt to sati [...]fie our cōsciences whiche are cōpelled by other placys of scripture / reasons and doctours so to Iudge of yt And evyn so ought yow to Iudge of youre partie / and to defende youre sentense not of obstinatie / but by the reason of scriptures which cause yow so to take yt. ād so ought nether partie to dispyse other / for eche sekyth the glorie of god / and the trew vnderstondynge of the scripture. This was the fondacyon of my firste treatise that he hathe left vnshakyn / which ys agreat argumēt that yt ys very true For els hys pregnant wit could not haue passed yt so clene over But wolde haue assayled yt with some sophisticall cavellacyon which by hys paynted poetre he might so haue collered / that at the l [...]st he might make the ignorāt some apparēce of trouthe / as he hathe done a gaynste the residewe of my firste treatice / which neuertheles ys true ād shall so be proved.
And firste that yt ys none article of our faythe [Page] necessarie to be beleved vnder payne of dāpnacyon may thus be furder confermed? The same faithe shall save vs which saved the old faderes before Christ ys incarnacyon But th [...]y were not bounde vnder payne of dampnacyon to beleve this poy [...]t / therfore yt shall follow that we are not boūde therto vnder the payne of dāpnacyon, The furste parte of myn argument ys proved by. S. Austen ad Dardamū. And I dare boldly [...]ay almost in an .C places. For I thynke there be no proposicyō wc he dothe more oftyn inculcate then thys / that the same faythe saved vs wt saved o (ur) faders. The seconde parte ys many [...]est / that yt nedeth no proba [...]yon. For how coulde they beleve [...]hat thynge wc was never sayde nor don̄ / and wt out the worde they coulde haue no faythe / vppō the trewth of thes too ꝑtyes mus [...]e the cōclusiō nedes folowe. Not wtstondinge they all did eat Christys bodye ād dronke hys bloode spūally / allthough they had hym not p̄sent to ther teth. And by that spūall eatynge (wc ys the fayth in hys body & bloode) wer saved as well as we ar For assone as o (ur) fore father Adā hade trāsgressed goddes precept,Adam. ād was fallen vnder cōdempnacyō / oure moste mercyfull father of hys gracyous favo (ur) gave hym the ꝓmisse of helthe and cōfort / wherby as many as beleved yt / were saved from the thrauldō of their trāgressyon / the worde ād promyse was this / I shall put enmyte betwene the ād the woman / betwene thy sede and her sede / that sede shall trede the on̄ the hede / and thow shall trede yt on̄ the hele.Gene. 3. In thys promisse they had knowelege [Page] that Christe shulde becom the sede or sone of a womā / ād that he shulde distroye the d [...] vyll wt all hys power / ād d [...]lyver hys faytheful frō ther synnes. And where he sayd that the devyll shulde treade yt on the hele / they vnderstod ryght well that the devyll shulde fynde the meanes by his wyles & wycked ministres to put Christe to dethe. And they knewe that god was true / and wolde fulfyll hys promisse v [...]to th [...]m and hartely longed after this sede / and so dede bothe eate hys bodye and drynke hys bloode / knoweleginge wt infinite thankes / that christe shuld for ther synnys take the ꝑfi [...]e nature of manhode vppon hym / and also suffer the dethe. This promisse was gevyn to Adam / and saved as many as did beleve and were thankefull to God for hys kydenes and after yt was establyshed vnto our father Abraham by the worde [...]f God / which sayd / in thy sed shall all nacyons of the erthe be blyssed.Abrahā [...] Gene. 12. And with hym God made a couenant that he wolde be hys God ād do hym good. And Abraham agayne promised to k [...]pe hys preceptes and walke in hys wayes. Then God gave hym the sacrament of cyrc [...]sion ād cauled that hys covenant which thynge not wt stondynge was not the very covenant in dede / although yt were so cauled. But was only asigne / tokyn / sacrament or memoryall of the couenant that was betwene God and hym (whiche myght expound our matter / yf m [...]n hadyen to see. After that God promised hym a sone when hys wyffe was past chylde bearynge and he allso very old. Neuerthelesse he doubted [Page] not of good [...]s worde. But suerly beleved that he wc promised yt was able to performe yt. And that was recounted vnto hym for ryghtwysnes Thys Abraham did bothe eate hys bodye and dry [...]ke hys blode (thorough faythe) belevinge verely that Christ shoulde take our nature ād sprynge oute of hys sede (as touchynge hys fleshe) and allso that he s [...]ulde suffer dethe to redeme vs. And as Christ testifyeth he hartely desyred to se the day of Chri [...]t.Ioan. 8. And he sawe yt ād reioysed he sawe yt in faythe and had the day of christ / that is to say all those thinges that shulde chaunce hym playnly revelated vnto hym / albeit he were dede many hundred yeres before yt were actualy fulfyllyd & re [...]elat [...]d vnto the worlde. And by that fayth was he saved / ād yet never did eate hys fleshe with hys teth / nor never beleved that brede shulde be hys bodye and wyne hys blode. And therfore sith he was also savyd with oute that faith and the same faythe sha [...] save vs which saved hym I thynke that we shall also be saved yf we eate hym spūally (as he ded) although we never beleved that the brede ys hys bodye furthermore that mercyfull MosesMoses. which brought the childern of Israell oute of Egypte in to the wyldernes optayned of God by prayers / both mana from hevyn to fede hys people & also water oute of the stone to refresh & comforte them. T [...]s mana and water w [...]re evyn the same thyng vnto them that the brede ād wyne ys to vs for as S. Austyn saythe Quicun (que) in manna Christum intellexerūt eundem quem nos cibū spiritu alem manducauerūt [Page] Quicun (que) autē de manna solā saturitatem que siuerunt manducabant & mortui sunt.Aug. de viteagen derum. Sic etiā eundem potum: petra enim erat christus. That ys to say / as many as in that māna vnderstode Christ / did eate that same spirituall meate that we do / but as many as sought only to fyll ther bellyes of that māna (the fathers of the vnfaythfull) did eate & are ded. And lyke wise the same drynke for the stone was christ. Here may yow gather of S. Austyn that the manna was vnto them. As the brede ys to vs and lykewise that the water was to them as the wyne ys to vs / whiche anō shal apere more playnly S. Aus [...]yn sayth furder manducauit & Moses manna / mā ducauit & Aaron / manducauit & Phin [...]es / manducauerunt ibi multi qui d [...]o placuerunt & mortui non sunt.Aug. soper Ioā [...] t [...]acta. 2 [...] Qu [...]re? quia visib [...]iem cibum spi [...]itualiter intellexerūt / spiritual [...]ter esur [...]erūt / spiritualiter gustauerūt / vt spiritualiter satiar [...]nt [...]r. Omnes eandem escam spiritualem manducauerunt / & omnes eundem potum spiritualem biberunt / spiritualem vti (que) eandem: nam corporalem alteram (quia illi manna / nos aliud) spiritualem vero [...]andem quam nos. Ut omnes eundem potū spiritualem biberunt aliud illi / aliud nos: sed spē visibili quod tamē hoc idē significaret virtute spirituali. Quomodo eundem potū bibebant (inquit apostolus) de spirituali sequē ti petra: petra autem erat Christus. This ys to saye Moses allso dede [...]ate māna and Aaron ād Phinees did eate of yt and many other dide there eate of yt / wc pleassed God and are not dede Wherfore? Because they vnderstode the visible [Page] meate spiritualy. They were spiritualy an hongred / they tasted yt spiritualy / that they might spiritualy be replenished. They did all eate the same spirituall meate / and all dranke the same spirituall [...] drynke. E [...]e [...] the same spirituall meate albeit an other bodely meate / for they dede eate manna / and we eate an̄ other thynge / but they did eate the sam [...] spirituall which we doo. And they all did d [...]ynke the same spūall drynke. They dranke one thynge & w [...] an other: but that was in the owtward apparence / which neuerthelesse dyd signifie the same thyng spūally. Howe dranke they the same drynke? They (saythe thapostl [...]) drāke of the spūall stone followyng thē / ād that stone was chryst And ther vnto Beda added these wordes. Videte autem fide manente signa uariata. That ys to say. Behold that the sygn [...]s are altered / and yet the fayth abydeth one.Beda [...]uper. 1. cor 10. Of these [...]laces yow may playnly ꝑ [...]eyve not only that yt ys non article necessarie to be beleved vnder payne of dampnacyon / seinge the old faders never beleved yt. And yet did eate crist in fayth bothe before they had the māna / ād more exp̄ssely thorough the māna and wt no lesse frute whā the māna was ceased. And albeit the māna was to thē as the sacramēt ys to vs / ād they eate evyn the same spūall meate that we do / yet were they never so madde as to beleve that the māna was chaūged in to christes owne naturall bodye. But vnderstode yt spūaly that as the owtward man̄ did eate the materiall mā na wc cōforted the bodye / so did the inwarde man̄ thorough fayth / eate the bodye of christ belevinge that as that māna came downe frō hevī ād cō forted ther bodies / so shulde their savyo (ur) christe [Page] wc was ꝓmised thē of god the fad come downe frō hevyn ād strēgth their soules in everlas [...]yng lyffe redemynge thē frō ther synne by hys deth ād resurrex [...]ciō. And lyke wise do we eate christe in fayth both before we c [...]me [...]o the sacramēt ād more expressly thorough the sacramēt / ād wt no lesse frute after we haue rec [...]yved the sacramēt ād nede no more to make yt hys naturall bodye / then the māna was / but might moche better vnderstōd yt spūalye / that as the owtward man dothe eate the materyall brede wc [...]ōforteth the bodie so doth the inwarde mā thorough faythe [...]ate the bodie of christe / belevynge that as the brede ys brokyn / so was christes bodie brokē on the crosse for o (ur) synnes wc cōforteth o (ur) soules vnto lyffe euerlastynge. And as that faythe did save thē wt oute belevynge that the māna was altered into hys bodie / evyn so dothe thys faythe save vs although we beleve not that the substāce of bred ys torned into hys naturall bodie. For the same fayth shall save vs wc savid thē. ād we are boūde to beleve no more vnd payne of dāpnacyō then they were [...]oūde to beleve. They beleved in god the fader almighty maker of hevyn ād yerth / ād all that ys in thē. They did beleve that christe was the sone of god.Gene. 1. They did beleve that he shoulde take o (ur) nature of a vyrgyn.Psal. 1. Esay. 7. Actes. 3. They beleved that he shulde suffer the deth for o (ur) delyuerāce wc thynge was signified in al the sacrifices / ād besydes that testified in every ꝓphet / for ther was not one prophet but he spake of that poynt.Actes. 2. Psal. 1 [...]. They beleved that hys soule should not be lefte in hell / but that h [...] shoulde arise from deth and reigne euerlastīg wt his fader [Page] And to be shorte / there ys no poynt in ou [...]e crede / but that they beleved yt / as well as wee doo & those articles are only necessarie vnto salvacion For them am I bounde to beleve / ād am dāpned wt ou [...]e excuse yf I beleve thē not. But the other poyntes cōtayned in scrypture allthough they be vndoubted verites / yet may I be saved wt oute them. As beyt in case that I never hard of them / or when I here of them / I can not vnderstond them nor comprehend them / or that I here them and v [...]derstond them / and yet by the reason of an other text misconstrn̄e them / as the bohemes doo the wordes of christe in the .6. chapiter of Ioan̄. All thes I saye may be don wt oute anye ieoꝑdie of dampnacyon. In euery text ys but only one verite [...]or wc yt was spokyn̄ ād yet some textes ther be wc of catholike doctours are expounded in .vi. or .vij. sondry fashions. Therfore we beleve thes articles of our crede: in thother ys no pare [...] / so that we haue aprobable reason to dissent from them. But now to retorne to our porpos [...]e / yf we wyll examen the auctorytyes of s. Austyn and Beda before alleged / we shall espie that besyde the probacyon of this forsayd ꝓposicyon / they open the misterie of all our mater to them that haue eyen to see. For. s. Austyn sayeth that we and y• olde faders do differ as touchynge the bodely meate for they eate māna / and we bred / but albeit yt varyed in the outeward apperance / yet neverthelesse spn̄ally yt did signyfye one thynge. For bothe the manna and bred do signifie christe. And so both they and we do eate one spūall meate / that ys to saye [Page] we bothe eate the thynge wc [...]ignyfieth & rep̄senteth vn [...]o vs the verye one spūall meate o [...] our foules wc ys christe. And beda doth playnly call both the manna and the brede signes / saynge be holde that the sygnes are a [...]tered and yet the fayth abydeth one Now yf they be sign [...]s / thā they do signifie and are not the very thynge yt sellffe wc they do sygnifye for the [...]igne o [...] a thinge defferenth from the thynge yt se [...]f wc yt doth signifie ād rep̄sent As the ale poleys not the a [...]e yt sellfe wc yt dothe signifie or represen [...]. Here thou wylt obiecte agaynste me that yf this faith be sufficient what nedeth the institucyon of a sacrament? I answer that sacramētes are ins [...]ituted for .iij. causes? The firste ys assygned of. s. Austyn which fayth on this maner.Aug. contra Fa [...]stum Li [...] 19. cap. [...] In nullum autē nomen religionis, seu verū, seu falsum, coagu lari homines possunt, nisi signaculorū seu sacramē torum visibiliū consortio colligantur, quorū sacramentorum uis inenarrabiliter ualet plurimum [...] & ideo contempta sacrilegos facit. Impie quippe contēnitur sine qua perfici nō potest pietas. That ys to saye men can not be ioyned in to any kynde / of religion whether yt be trew or fa [...]se except they be knyt in felowshyp by som vi [...]ible tokenes or sacramentes the power of which sacramē tes ys of suche efficacite / that can not be expr [...]ssed. And therfor yt makyth them that dispice yt to be abhorred / for yt ys wickydnes to despice that thynge wt oute which godlines can not be brought to passe [...] Thus yt aperith that necessite ys the first cause. For ther can no cōgregacyō be severed oute of the multitude of men but [Page] they mu [...]te nedes haue a signe token sacrament or comen badge by the wc they may knowe eche other. And ther ys no defference betwene a signe or a badge and a sacramēt / but that the sacrament sygnifyeth an̄ holy thinge and a signe or a badge dothe signy [...]ie a wordly thinge as.Augusti. ad Marcell [...]n [...] 2 s. Austē [...]ayeth / signes whē they are referred to holy thīges are called sacramētes. The secōde cause of their institucyon ys / that they may be a meane to brynge vs vnto hys fayth and to enprent yt the deꝑ in vs / for yt doth costomably the more move a man to beleve / whē he ꝑceyvyth the thynge expressed to diuerse senses at once / as by exāple / yf I promise a man to mete hym at a day apoynted / he wyll somwhat truste my worde. Notwtstondynge he trustyth not so moche vnto yt / as yf I did both promise hym with my worde & allso clape handes wt hym or holde vp my fynger / for he counteth that this promiseys strong & more faythefull then ys the bare worde / because yt moveth mo senses. For the worde doth but only certifie the thynge vnto a man by the sense of herynge / but whē wt my promise immediatly after I holde vp my fynger / then do I not only certifye hym by the sense of hearynge: But allso b [...] hys sight / he perceyvyth that that facte confyrmeth my worde. And in the clapynge of handes he perceyvyth both by hys sight and fealyng (be side the word) that I wyll fullfyll my promise. And lykewise yt ys in this sacramente Christ promised them / that he wolde geve hys bodye to be slayne for their synnes. And for to establishe the faythe of this promise [Page] in them / he did institute the sacramēt wc he called hys bodye / to thentent that the very name yt selfe might put them in rem [...]mbrāce what was ment by yt / he brake the brode before them signifying vnto thē outwardly / evyn the same thynge / that he by his wordes hade before ꝓtested & evyn as his wordes hade enformed thē by their hearynge / that he entended so to do so the brekynge of that brede enformed their ye sight that he wolde fullfyll hys promise. Then he dide distribute yt amonge thē to enprynt the mater more depely in them / signifinig therbye that evyn as that brede was devidid amonge them / so should hys bodie and frute of his passyon be distributed vnto as manye as beleved his wordes. Finaly he caused them [...]o eate yt / that nothynge shoulde be lackynge to cōfyrme that necessarye poynt of faythe in thē / signifyinge therbye that as verely as they fellte that brede wtin them / so sure should they be of hys bodye thorough fayth. And that evyn as that brede doth norishe t [...]e bodye so dothe the fayth in hys bodye breakynge norishe the soule vnto ever lastynge lyffe. This did o (ur) mercyfull savio (ur) (wc knowyth o (ur) fraylte & weakenes) to establishe ād strenghth their fa [...]th in hys bodye breakynge & blode shedynge wc ys o (ur) shoteanker and laste refuge wt oute wc we shoulde all perishe. The th [...]rd cause the inst [...]tucyon & profit that comythe of yt ys this. They that haue receyved thes blessyd tidynges and worde of helth / do love to publishe this felicite vnto other men. And to geve thākys before the face of the congregacyō [Page] vnto their bountteons benefactour / and as moche as in them ys / to drawe all people to the praisinge of God with them / which thinge though yt be partly dō by the prechynge of goddes worde & fructefull exhortacyons / yet dothe that visible token & sacramente (yf a man vnderstond what ys ment therbye) more effectuously worke in them both fayth and thankisgeuynge / then doth the bare worde / but yf a man wot not what yt meaneth / and seketh helthe in the sacrament and outeward signe / then may he well be lykened vnto a fonde fellow / which when he ys very drye / and an honest man shewe hym an alepole & tell hym that ther ys good ale ynough / wolde goo and sucke the ale pole / trustynge to get drynke oute of yt / and so to quenche hys thurste. Now a wise man wyll tell hym that he playeth the fole for the ale pole doth but signifie that ther ys good ale in the howse / where the alepole stondyth and wyll tell hym that he must goo nere the howse / and there he shall fynde the drynke / & not stond suckynge the alepole in vayne. For yt shall not ease hym but rather make hym more drie for the ale pole doth signifie good ale: yet the ale pole yt sellfe ys no good ale / nother ys there ony good ale in the alepole. And lykewise yt ys in all sacramentes. For yf we vnders [...]ond not what they meane / and seke helth in the outeward signe: then we sucke the alepole & labour in vayne. But yf we do vnderstond the meanynge of them / than shall we seke what they signifye / and go to the signyficacions & ther shall we fynde vndoubted helth. As to [Page] oure purpose in thys sacrament wherof we speake / we muste note what yt signyfyeth / and ther shall we fynde oure redempcyon. It signifyeth that Christys bodye was broken vppon the crosse to redeme vs from the thrauldom of the deuell / and that hys blode was shed for vs to washe oure synnes. Therfore we m [...]ste rū ne thider yf we wyll be eased. For yf we thynke to haue our synnes forgeuyn / for eatynge of the sacrament / or for seinge the sacrament onece a day / or for prayinge vnto yt: then suerly we sucke the alepole. And of thys yow may perceyue what profyt comyth of thes sacramentes the which ether haue no signyficacyons put vnto them or els when ther sygnifycacions ar loste and forgotten. For then no doubt they are not commended of God / but are rather abhomynable / for whan we knowe not what they meane / then seke we helth in the outward dede / and so are iniuryous vnto Christe and hys blode. As by example / the sacrifices of the Iewys were well alowed & accepted of God as longe as they vsed them aryght and vnderstode by them the deth of Chryste / the shedynge of hys bloude & that holy oblacyon offered on the crosse once for euer. But when they begon to forgett thys significacion ād sought there helthe & rightwisnes in the bodely worke & in the sacrifice ytsellfe / thē 3 were they abhominable in the sight of God / and then he cryed oute of thē bothe by the ꝓphet Dauid and Isaye: And likewise yt ys wt o (ur) sacramē tes let vs therfore seke vp the significaciōs / and goo to the very thinge wc the sacrament ys set to [Page] pres [...]nt vnto vs. And ther shall we synde such [...] frutefull foode as shall never fayle vs / but com [...]ort our soules in to lyff euerlastynge.
Now wyll I in order answer to master mo [...]es boke and as I fynde occasion gevyn me / I sha [...]l indevoure my sellfe to supply that thynge wc lacked in the fyrste treatise & I trust I shall sh [...]we suche lyght that all men whose eyes the prence of thys worlde hath not blynded / shall ꝑceyve the truthe of the scripture & glorye of christe. And where as in my firste trea [...]ise the truthe was set forthe wt all symplicite / ād nothyng arm [...]d agaynste the assau [...]e of sophesters that haue I somwhat redressed in this boke ād haue brought bones feyt for their teth which yf they be to busye / may chaunce to choke them.
¶The mynde and exposicyon of the olde Doctours vppon the wordes of Christes maundey.
More. ANd where Master More sayth / that yf Christe had not ment after the playne literall sense / that both the hearers at that tyme / and the expositors syns / & all Christen people beside this xv.c. yere wold not haue taken onlye the leterall sens being so straunge and meru [...]lous that yt might seame impossible / and decline from the letter for allegories in all suche other thinges beinge (as he saith) and as in dede they be / so manie ferre in noumbre moo.
Fryth.As touchinge the hearers they were deceiued & vnderstod hym not (I meane as manye as toke his wordes fleslye as you do) And they had ther answer of Christe (when they murmured) that hys wordes were sprite and lyffe: that ys (as. S. Austen sayeth) spiritually to be vnderstond and not fleslye / as ys before declared. And as for the expos [...]tours. I thynke he hath not one of the olde fathers for hym / but certen new fellowys: as Dominic. s. Thomas / O [...]am / and suche other wc haue made the pope a God. And as I haue shewed. s. Austen maketh full for vs / and so doo all the olde fathers / as Oecolampadius hath well declared in hys [...]oke, q [...]id ue [...]eres [Page] senserint de sacramento eucharristiae. And some of theyr sayinges I shall allege anon. And wher you saye that all chrysten people haue so beleued this .1500. yeres / that is very faulse. For ther ys no doubte / but that the people thought as holye Saint austen and other fayth full fathers taught them. Which as I sayd / make with vs. Not with stondynge in dede / sith oure prelates haue byn made lordes & haue sett vp their lawes and decres cōtrarye to the prerogatyue of all prynces / and lyke moste sot [...]e traytours / haue made all men beleue that they maye make lawes and bynde mens conscyences / to obey them: ād that theyr lawes are godds lawes blyndinge the peoples yen with too or .3. textes wrongfullye wrested / to avāce their pryde / where they ought to obeye kynges & prynces / and be subiecte to ther lawes / as christ and hys aposteles were euen vnto the deth. Sith that tyme I saye they haue made mē beleue what they lyst and made articles of the fayth at their pleasure One article muste be that they be the churche / & can not erre: And this ys the groūde of all their doctryne But the trueth of this article ys nowe suffeciētly knowē. For yf quene katerine be kynge hēries wyffe / thē they do erre / & yf she be not / thē thei haue erred / to speake no more cruel lye: It ys nowe be cōe an article of o (ur) fayth that the pope of Rome muste be the hede of the churche & the vicar of christe: & that bi goddes lawe. yt ys an article of o (ur) fayth that what so euer he byndeth in yerth / ys boūde in heuī / in so moche that yf he cu [...]e wrongfullye / yet ye muste be feared [Page] & infinite suche other wc are not ī o (ur) crede but blessed be god that hath geuē some light in to o (ur) prīces herte, For he hath late [...]e putforth a boke called the glasse of trouth wc ꝓueth many of thes articles verye folishe phāta [...]ies & that euyn by theyr owin docto (ur)s / ād so I truste you sha [...]be ꝓued ī this poīt of the sacramēt for though it be an article of o (ur) faith / yt is nō article of o (ur) crede in the .xij. articles wherof are sufficient for our saluatiō. And therfore we may thynke that you lye wt oute all Ieoperdye of dampnacyon.
Neuerthelesse seinge his mastership saith that all make for him / ād I say clene cōtrarie / that all the olde fathers make agaynste hym / or at the lest wise not wt him / It were necessarie that one of vs shulde proue his purpo [...]se. But in ded [...] in this poynt he wold loke to haue the v [...] ̄tayge of me. For he thinketh that men will soner beleue hym wc ys a great man / then me wc am but a poore man / and that therfore I had more nede to proue my parte true / then he to proue his. Well I am content and therfore geue eare dere reader and Iudge betwene vs.
First I will begin wt Tertulian / because he is of moste antiqu [...]te [...] tertulianus libro 2. contra marcionē Tertullian saith. Ipse (Christus) nec panē repro [...]auit qd ipsum corpus suū representat. That ys to saye. Christ him sellfe dyd not reproue or discōmende bred wt doth rep̄sent his very bodie. For the vnderstonding of thys place / you must knowe that there was an hereticke caulled marcion / wc did reꝓue creatures & said that all maner of creatures were euel [...] This thinge doth Tertullyan improue by the sacrament [Page] and sayeth. Christ did not reproue or discomende bred the which dooth represent his bodye: as though he shoulde saye / yf christ had counted the breed euell / then wolde he not haue lefte yt for a sacrament to represent hys bodye meanynge that yt ys a sacrament / signe / token and memoriall of hys bodye / and not the bodye yt sellf. And that this is his mynde / doth playnlye apere in hys fourth boke / wher he sayeth / Christus acceptū panē et distributū discipulis, Tertulianus libr [...] 4. contra marcionē corpus suū illud fecit: hoc e [...]t corpꝰ meū dicēdo, id est figura corpis mei Figura aūt nōfuisset, nisi veritatis esset corpus. Ceteru vacua res qdest phātasma, figurā capere nō posset That is to saye / christ takyng brede & distrybutynge vnto his disciples made it his bodie / sayng this ys my bodye: that ys to saye / a figure of mi bodye but this breed could not haue [...]yn a figure of yt / except christ had had a true bodie For a uayne thīge or a phā tasye cā take no figure. For the vnderstōdynge of this place / you muste marke that this heretycke marcion against whō this auctour wryteth / did holde opinyon that christ had no naturall bodye / but onlye a phātasticall bodye ād this opinion doth this doctour improue bi the sacramēt of the aulter sayinge: the sacramēt ys a figure of his bodye: ergo Christ had a true bodye / & not a phantasticall bodie: For a uaine thīge or pha [...]asie cā take no figure. Loo / here doth this olde father wc was lōge be fore s. au [...]tē: or s. hierome / expoūde thes wordes of christe This is mi bodie: that is to saie / a figure of mi bodie therfore ye are to blāe to call it newe lerīge / Nowe be cause [Page] thei shall not of tem [...]rarious p̄sumpcyon reiect [...] this olde father / I shall establyshe hys wordes by s. Austen wc comendeth Christes meruelous paci [...]nce for suffering so longe that trai [...]our Iudas / as though he had byn a good mā / and yet was not ignorāt of his wicked thoughtes.Augusti [...] in prefa. Psalm. [...] Adhibuit (inqt) ad cōui [...]iū in quo corporis & langu [...]s sui figurā discipulis cōmendauit ac tradidit. That ys to saye he adm [...]tted h [...]m (saye [...]he s. Austen) vnto the mandye wherin he dede betake and dely [...]er vnto the discipl [...]s the figure of his bodie and bloude, Here doth [...]his holye father. s. Austen call yt the figur [...] of h [...]s bodye. And I am sure there is nomā so chyldishe / but that he knoweth that the figure of a thinge ys not the thinge yt sellff. As by exāple the figure of Christe ys not Christe hym sel [...]fe / the figure of s. P [...]ter ys not sa [...]nt Peter hym sellf [...]. And yet we do neuerthelesse cōmenly call thosse figures by the name of the thinge that they do rep̄sent. As I maye saye when I see the figure of. s. Peter. thys ys. s. Pe [...]er to whom Christe deliuered the keyes of the kyndom of heuyn. And yet he were a fo [...]le that wold [...] thinke that figure to be s. Peter hym sel [...]f: for yt ys onlye a representacion of hym. Besides that. s. Austen sayth,Augustī. suꝑ psal. 98. Non hoc corpus quod uidetis estis manducaturi, nec [...]ibituri illū sanguinē quē effusuri sunt qui me crucifigē [...]. Sacramentū aliqd uobis cōmendaui, spiritu-liter intellec [...]um uiuifica [...] uos, caro aūt non prodest quicquam That ys to say you shall not [...]a [...]e thys bodye that you see / nor drinke that bloude wc thei that crucyfie me shall shed oute. I haue geuen a sertayne [Page] sacrament vnto you yf yt be spūally vnderstond / yt quickeneth you: but the fleshe profiteth nothinge. What thinges can be more playnly spoken?
Furdermore S. Austen sayeth. Sepe ita loquimur ut pascha appropinquā te crastinā uel perendi nā Dn̄i passionem dicamus: cū ille ante tam multo [...] annos passus sit, nec omnino nisi semel illa passio facta sit. Nempe ipso die dn̄ico dicimus hodie Dominus resurrexit, cū ex quo surrexit totanni trāsierūt Quare nemo tam ineptus est, ut nos ita loquentes arguat esse mentitos, quia istos dies secundum illorū quibus haec gesta sunt similitudinē nuncupamus: ut dicatur ipse dies qui nō sit ipse, sed reuolutione temporum similes eius: & dicatur illo die fieri propter sacramenti celebrationē, quod non illo die, sediam olim sactū est. Nōne semel immolatus est christus in seipso? & tamē in sacramento nō solum per annuas paschae solennitates, sed omnidie pro populis immolatur: nec uti (que) mentitur qui interrogatus, responderit eū immolari. Si enim sacramenta quā dam similitudinē earum rerū quarū sunt sacramenta nō haberent, omnino sacramenta non essent Ex hac autē similitudine plerum (que) etiā ipsarū rerū nomina accipiūt. Sicut ergo se [...]undū quendā modum sacramentum corporis CHRISTI corpus CHRISTI est, & sacramentū sanguinis CHRISTI sanguis CHRISTI est. Ita sacramenta fidei fides est, Nihil est autē aliud credere, q fidem habere, ac per hoc respondetur fidē habere propter fidei sacramenta. Et cōuertere se ad Deū propter cōuersionis sacramentū. Quia & ipsa responsio per [...]inet ad celebrationem sacramenti. Sicut de ipso baptismo apostolus dicit. [Page] consepulti (inquit) sumus Christo per baptismum in mortem, Non ait sepulturā significauimus, sed prorsus ait, consepulti sumus. Sacramentū ergo tantae rei non nisi eiusdem rei uocabulo nuncupauit. That ys sa [...]e: We often vse to saye / when ester drawyth ney / that to morow or the next day is the Lordes passyon / and yett yt ys many yeres sith he suffered / and that passyon was neuer done but once. And vppon that sondaye we saye / th [...]s daye the lorde did ryse agayne / and yet yt ys many yeres syns he rose / Now ys ther no man so folishe to reproue vs as lyars for sayinge / be cause we name thes dayes after the similitude of those in which thes thinges were don̄ so that yt ys cauied the same daye / which is not the verye same / but by the reuolucyon of tyme / lyke yt. And yt ys named to be don the same daye thorough the celebracyon of the sacrament (thorough kepynge the memoryall of the thyng once don̄) which ys not don that daye / but was don longe agoon. Was not CHRIST onece crucyfyed in hys owne person? and yet in a mysterye (which ys the remembrance of hys verye passyon) he ys crucyfyed for the people not onlye euery feast of ester / but euery daye: nether doth he lye whych (when he ys asked) answereth that he ys crucyfyed for yf the sacramentes / had not certayne symilitudes of those thinges wherof they are sacramentes then shulde they be no sacramentes at all. And for thys symilitude for the moste parte they take the names of the very thinges and therfore as after a certayne maner the sacrament of Christys bodye [Page] ys Christis bodye / and the sacramēt of christys bloude ys Christys bloude so the sacramēt of fayth ys fayth. For yt ys no nother thynge to beleue then to haue fayth / and therfore when a man answereth that the infant beleueth which hath not the affecte of fayth / he answerethe that yt hathe faythe for the sacrament of fayth: And that yt turneth yt sellfe to GOD / for the sacrament of conuersyon. For the answere yt sellfe perteyneth vnto the mynistryng of [...]he sacrament. As the apostle wryteth of baptyme: we are buryed (sayeth he) with Christe thorough baptyme vnto deth. He say [...]th not we signyfye buryinge / but vtterlye sayeth we are buryed. He called therfore the sacrament of so great a thynge euyn with the name of the verye thynge yt sellfe. &c. Iff a man wolde auoyde contencyon and loke soberly on thosse wordes of Sayncte Austen / he shall sone perceyue the mysterye of thys matter. For euyn as the next good frydaye shalbe caulled the day of Christes passyon: and yet he shall not suffer deth agayne vppō that daye / for he dyed but onece and ys nowe immortall? euyn so ys the sacrament called Chrystes bodye. And as that daye ys not the verye daye that he dyed on / but onlye a remembrance therof / So the sacrament ys not hys verye naturall bodye / but onlye a remembrance of hys bodye breakynge and bloude she dynge. And lykewyse / as the next ester daye shall be called the day of hys resurrectyon / not that yt ys the very same daye that Chryste dyd ryse in / but a remembraunce of the same. [Page] Euyn so the sacrament ys called hys bodye: not that yt ys hys bodye in dede / but only a remembrāce of the same. And furdermore euyn as the prest doth offer hym / that ys to saye crucyfye hym at masse / euyn so ys the sacramēt his [...] bodye But the masse doth but only rep̄sent his passyō And so doth the sacramēt represent hys bodye. And [...]et though the masse dothe but rep̄sent his crucifying / we maye trulye saye he ys cru [...]ified / eu [...]n so though the sacramēt do but signifie or rep̄sent hys bodye / yet may we trulye saye that yt ys hys bodye. Why so? verely (sayeth he) for the sacramentes haue a certayne similitude of thos [...] thinges wherof the [...] are sacramentes. And for this simi [...]itude for the moste ꝑte / they take the namys of the ver [...]e thynges. Blessed be god wt hathe so clerely discussed this matt by this faith full father. Notwtstonding he doth yet expresse yt more playnlye saying: after a certayne ma [...]er the sacramēt of Christes bodye ys Christes bodye. Be holde deare brethern he sayth after a certayne maner the sacrament ys Christes bodye. And by that you may sone knowe that he neuer ment that yt shulde be hys verye naturall bodie in dede / but onlye a token and memoriall to kepe in m [...]morie the deth of his bodye / and so to norishe o (ur) fayth. Besides that his similitude wc he after al [...]egeth of baptime / doth holye expounde this matter / for (saieth he) the apostle saieth not we signifie buryinge: but he saieth / we are buried (ād yet in dede the baptyme doth but signifie yt). And there vppon s. Austen addeth / that he called the sacramēt of so great a thinge euyn wc [Page] the name of the very thinge yt sellfe. And lyke wise yt ys in o (ur) sacramēt. Finallye to be shorte I wyll passe ouer many places wc I haue gatherred oute of this holye father / and wyll touche but this one moare. Saincte Austen sayth.August [...] cōtra adamantum. Non [...]nim D [...] ̄s dubitauit dicere, Hoc est corpus meū, cū daret signū corporis sui. Et in eodē capite exponit [...] Sic est em̄ sanguis anima, quomodo petra erat christus, nec tamē petra (ait) significabat Christum, sed ait petra erat Christus. That is to say [...] The lorde doubted not to saye / this ys my bo [...]ye / when he gaue a signe of his bodye. And after in the same chapiter he expoundeth yt. For trulye so the bloude ys soule / as Christe was the stone. And yet the apostle sayth not / the stone did signifye Christ / but he sayth the stone was Christe.
Here. s. Austen saith playnlye that Christe called the signe of his bodye / his bodye / ād in this chapiter doth cōpare these thre textes of scripture / this ys my bodye / the bloud [...] ys the soule / and Christe was the stone: and declareth thē to be one phrase and to be expounded after one fasshyon. Now ys there no mā so mad / as to saye / that Christ was a naturall stone (except he be a naturall foole) whose Iudg [...]m [...]nt we nede not greatly to regard therfore we may well cōclude that the sacramēt ys nat his naturall bodie / but is caulled his bodie / for a similitude that yt hath wherin yt signifieth & representeth his bodye. And that the sacrament of so great a thinge ys caulled euyn wt the name of the verye thinge yt sellf / as s. Austen sayde imm [...]diatly before.
This were proffe ynough to cōclude that all [Page] the olde fathers did holde the same opinion / for who wolde once surmise (seinge we haue. s. austē so p [...]ayne for vs wc is the chesest emōge thē all) who wolde once surmise I say / that the dissented in this great matter from the other faithfull fathers / or they frō him? neuerthelesse I dare not le [...]t hī stōde post alone / ieste ye dispice him. And therfore I will shewe you the minde of certaine oth [...]r allso: and fur [...]e of his master s. Ambrose.
Ambrosi: super [...]l [...] mort [...] annūcia.S. Ambrose wrytynge vppon the Epistle of Paule to the Corinthiās in the .xi [...] chap. sayth Quia em̄ morte Dn̄i libe [...]ati sumꝰ, huiꝰ rei in eden do & potādo, carnē & sanguinē q ꝓ nobis oblata sunt, significamus. That is to saye / because we be deliuered by the deth of the lorde / in eatyng and drynkinge of this thynge meanynge of the sacrament / we signifye the fleshe & bloude wc were offered for vs. Here doth s. ambrose saie ynough yf men were not sophisters / but wolde be cōtent wt reason. For he sayeth that in eatyng ād drinkyng the sacrament of Christes bodye we signifie or represent the fleshe and bloude of our sauyour Iesus. Natwtstondynge be cause you are so slybberye / we shall bynde you a lytle [...] better by this mans wordes.
Ambrosi [...] de sacra.S. Ambrose sayth [...] Sed forte dices speciē sanguinis nō uideo, s [...]d habet similitudinē. Sicut em̄ mortis similitudinē sumpsisti, ita etiā similitudinē preciosi sanguinis bibis. That ys to saye. But ꝑaduenture thou wylte saye / I se no apperaūce of bloude / but yt hathe [...] similitude. For euyn as thou haste taken the similitude of deth / euen so thou drinkest the similitude of the p̄cyous bloude. [Page] Here maye ye see by the cōferrynge of thesse two sacramentes / what. s. Ambrose i [...]ged of it For he sayeth euyn as thou haste taken a similitu [...]e of hys deth in the sacramēt of baptyme so doste thou drinke a similitude of his preciouse bloude in the sacramēt of the au [...]ter. And yet as s. Austē sayd before / the apostle saith not we signifie buryinge / but sa [...]th / we are buried. And likewise here Christ sayd not this signifyeth my bodye / but this ys my bodye / call [...]ng the sacramēt / signe / tokē and memoriall of so great a thinge / euyn wt the name of the verye thinge yt sellfe thus doth. s. Ambrose choke our sophisters.
Neuerthelesse I will allege one place more oute of s. ambrose / where he sayth.Ambrosi. libro. 3. de sacramen Dicit sacerdos fac nobis hāc oblationē scriptā rationabilē, qd est figura corporis Dn̄i nostri resu xpi. That ys / the prest saith make vs this oblaciō acceptable. &c. For yt is a figure of the bodie of o (ur) lorde Iesu christ Here he caulleth yt playnly a figure of christes bodie / wc thinge you can not auoyde. Therfore geue prayse vnto God ād [...]ett his trouth sprede wc ys so playnlye testified / bi theis holye fathers How lett vs se what s. Hierom sayth.
Saincte Hierom writynge vppon Ecclesiaste sayth on thys maner.Hieroni: suꝑ eccle: Caro DOMINI uerus cibus est, & sanguis eius uerus potus est, hoc solum habemus in praesenti saeculo bonum, si uescamur carne eius cruoreque potemur, non solum in misterio, sed etiā in scripturarū lectione, verus em̄ cibus est & potus, q ex uerbo dei sumitur scientia scripturarū. That ys to saye: the fleshe of the lorde ys verye meate / and his bloude ys verye drynke. [Page] This ys onlye the pleassure or profite that we haue ī this wordle that we maye eate his fleshe ād drinke his bloude not only in a misterry / but allso in the readinge of scriptures. [...]or yt is very meate and drinke [...] wc ys taken oute of Goddes worde by the knowelege of scriptures. Here maye ye se s. Hieroms m [...]nde in fewe wordes For furste he sayth that we eate his fleshe and drinke his bloud [...] in a misterye / wc ys the sacramēt of his r [...]m [...]mbraunce and memoryall of his passion. And a [...]ter he addeth that we eate hys fleshe & drinke his bloude in the redinge ād knowel [...]ge of scriptures and calleth that very meate & very dri [...]ke. And yet I am sure ye are not so grosse / as to thinke that the letters wc you reade are torned in to naturall fleshe & bloude. And likewise yt ys not necessarie that the bred should be torned in to his bodye / no more than the letters in scripture are tourn [...]d in to his fleshe. And neuerthelesse thorough fayth we may as well [...]ate his bodie in rec [...]yuinge of the sacramēt as eate his fleshe in readinge of the letters o [...] the scripture. Besides that s. Hierom cau [...]eth the vnderstondinge o [...] the scripture verye m [...]ate and very drinke: wc you muste nedes vnderstond in a misterie and spūall sense / for yt ys nother materiall meate nor drīke that ys receiuyd wt the mouth and teth / but yt is spn̄all meate & drinke / and ys so called for a similitude and propertie: be cause that as meate & drinke comforte the bodye and outward man / so doth the readinge and knowelege of s [...]ripture cōforte the soule and inward man. And likewise yt ys of christes [Page] bodye / wc ys caulled verye meate and very drinke / wc you muste nedes vnderstond in a mysterie or spūall sense (as. s. Hierom called yt) for his bodye is no materiall meate nor drinke that ys receyued wt the mouth or teth: but yt is spirituall meate & drinke / and so called for a similitude & ꝓperti [...] / because that as meate and drinke / cōforte the bodye / so doth the fayth in his bodye breakinge & bloudsheding refreshe the soule vnto liff [...] euer [...]asting. We vse yt cūstomablye in o (ur) daylye speache to saye / when a chylde setteth all hys mynde and delyght on sport and playe: It ys meate ād drinke to this childe to plaie. And allso we saye by a man that loueth well hawkinge & huntyng: It ys meate and drinke to this mā to hawke & hunte. Where no man doubteth / but yt ys a figuratiue speache. And therfore I wō d [...]r that they are so blinde in this one poynt / of Christes bodye. And can not allso take the wordes figuratiuelye / as thesse olde doctours did. Agayne s. Hierom sayth.Hieronimus supe [...] Matheū [...] Post (quam) mysti [...]um pascha fuerat impletū & agni carnes cū apostolis comedera [...], assumit panē qui cōfortat cor hominis, & ad uerū paschae transgreditur sacramentū, quomodo in praefiguratione eius Melchisedech uinū & panē pro ferens fecerat, ipse quo (que) ueritatem corporis repraesentaret. That ys to saye after the misticall ester lambe fullfylled and that Christe had eaten the lambes fleshe wt the apostles / he toke brede wc cō forteth the herte of mā / and passeth to the true sacramēt of the easter lambe: that as Melchisedech brought for the bred and wyne figuring hī / so might he likewise rep̄sent y• trueth of his bodie. [Page] Here doth s. Hi [...]rom speake after the maner that tertulliā did before: that [...]hrist wt brede and wine did represent the truth o [...] his bodie, For [...]xcept he had had a [...]rue bodie / he could not l [...]aue a figure of yt nor rep̄sent yt v [...]to vs. [...]or a vayne thinge or phātas [...]e can haue no figure / nor cā not be rep̄sented as by exāple how shoulde a mā make a figure of his dr [...]ame or rep̄sent yt vn [...]o o (ur) memorie? Bu [...] christ hath le [...]t vs a figure ād rep̄sentaciō of his bodie in bred and wine: therfore yt folowyth tha [...] he had a true bodye. And that this was s. Hieroms m [...]de doth ma [...]feastlye apere by the word [...] [...] [...]da / wc doth more copious [...]i [...] sett out this sayinge of Hier [...]m.Beda super Luc. For he writeth on this maner. Fi [...]itis paschae ueterisso lennijs q in cōmemorationē antiquae de aegypto liberatiōis agebant, trāsit ad nouū qd in suae redemptionis memoriā ecclesia frequentare desid [...]rat, ut uidelicet pro carne agni uel sanguine suo, carnis sanguinis (que) sacramentū in panis ac uini figu [...]a substituens, i [...]sum se esse mo [...]s [...]a [...]et cui iurauit Dn̄s. Tu es sacerdos in aeter [...]ū se [...]undū ordinē Melchisedech [...]rangit autē ipse panem quē porrigit, ut os [...]endat corporis sui fractionē non sine sua sponte futuram Similiter & calicem posiq [...] nauit dedit eis. Quia ergo panis carnem confirmat, ui [...]um uero sanguinem operatur in carne, hic ad corpus Christi mystice, illud refertur ad sanguinem. That ys to saye. After the solemnite of [...]he olde [...]aster [...]ambe was fynished which was [...]l s [...]rued in the r [...]membraunce of [...]he olde delyueraunce oute of Egypt / he goth vnto the newe whiche the churche gladlye obseruith in the remembraūce of hys r [...]d [...]mptyon [Page] / that he in the s [...]ede of the fl [...]iche ād bloude of the lambe / myght institute and ordeyne the sacrament of his fleshe & b [...]oude in the fygure of brede and wyne / and so dec [...]are hym sellf to be the [...]ame vnto whom the lorde sware thou arte a perpetuall prest after the order of Melchisedech. And he hym sellf brake the brede which he gaue [...] to shewe that the breakynge of hys bodye shuld not be don with out hys owyn wyll. And l [...]kewise he gaue them the cuppe after [...]e hade soop [...]d. And because brede doth confyrme or strengthe the fleshe / and wyne worketh bloude in the [...]l [...]she / therfore ys the br [...]de misticallye referred vnto the bodye of Christe / and the wyne referred vnto hys bloude.
Here maye you note / furste that [...]s the lambe was a remembraunce of the [...]r delyueraunce oute of Egipt (and yet the lambe delyuered thē not) so ys the sacrament a remembraūce of o (ur) redēptyon (and yet the sacramēt redemed vs not) [...]esydes that he sayth / that Christ in the stede of the fleshe and bloude of the lambe / did institute the sacrament of hys fleshe and bloude in fygure of brede and wyne. [...]arke well he sayth not that in the stede of lambes fleshe and bloude he dyd institute hys owyn fleshe and bloude but [...]ayeth that he dyd institute the sacrament of hys fleshe and bloude. What thynge ys a sacrament? verelye yt ys the sygne of an holye thyng / and there ys no defferrence b [...]twene a sygne and a sacrament / but that the sygne ys referred vnto a wordly thynge and a Sacrament vnto a spirituall or holye thynge.
[Page]As s. Austen sayth.Ad Marcellum. Signa cū ad res diuinas pertinent, sacramenta appellantur. That ys to saye / signes when they partayne vnto godly thinges are called sacramentes. The [...]fore when Beda saieth that thei did institute the sacramēt of his fleshe and bloude in the figure of bred and wine yt ys as moche to saye (by s. Austens diffinitiō) as that he did institute the figure of his holye fleshe and bloude in the figure of bred a [...]d wine that ys to saye / that br [...]ade and wyne shuld be th [...] figure and signe rep̄sentyng his holy fleshe & bloude vnto vs / for a perpetuall remembrāce And afterward he declareth the proꝑtye [...]or wt the brede ys called the bodye and the wyne the bloude: sauynge he speaketh [...]ot so darkelye as I now doo / but playnlye sayth that the brede is mis [...]icallye refferred vnto the bodye of Christe: be cause that as brede doth strengthe the fl [...]she so Christes bodye which ys figured by the brede doth s [...]rengthe the soule thorough sayth in his deth. And so doth he clerlye proue my purpose.
Crisos [...]o. suꝑ. MatNow lett vs se what Chrisostome sayth wc shall describe vs the fayth of the olde greacyās and (I doubte not) he had not loste the treue fayth / how so euer the wordle goo now adayes. Chrisostome sayth in this maner. Si enim mortuus [...]esus nō est cuius signū & simbolum hoc sacr [...] ficiū est? uides [...]uantū ei studium fuerit ut semper memor [...]a teneamus pro nobis ipsum mortuū fuisse That ys to saye / for yf Iesus haue not died / whosse memoriall and signe ys the sacrifyce. Thow seyst what diligēce he gaue that we shulde contynuallye kepe in memorie that he dyed [Page] for vs. Here you maye see that Chrisostome calleth the sacramēt symbolu [...] et signū: that is to saye / a m [...]mory [...]ll and signe of christ / ād that yt was in [...]titute to kepe hys deth in perpetuall remēbraūce. But of one thinge thou muste beware or els thou arte deceyued / h [...] calleth it allso a sacrafice / and there thou muste wyselye vnderstond hym.sacrafice. For yf yt were the sacrafice of Christes bodye / then m [...]ste christes bodye be slayne ther agayne / wc thynge God forbyd. And therfore thou muste vnderstond hym whē he calleth yt a sacrafice / that he meaneth yt to a remembraunce of that holye sacrafice where christes bodye was offered on the crosse once for all. For he cā be sacrafied no more / seinge he ys immortall. Not withstondyng our prelattes will here note me of presumption / that I dare be so boolde to e [...]pounde hys mynde on thys fasyon For in dede they take hym otherwise / & thynke that yt ys a v [...]rye sacrafice. And therfore I wyll brynge one other text / where Chrisostome shall expoūd hī sellf. Chrisostome sayth:Crisosto. ad Hebre. home. 17. N [...]ne ꝑ singulos dies offerrimꝰ? offerrimꝰ qde, sed ad recordationē mortis eiꝰ faciētes. Hoc aūt sacrificiū (sicut pōtifex) [...]ed id ipsum semꝑ facimus: Imo recordati onē sacrificij. That ys to saye / do we not dayly offer or do sacrafice? yes suerlye / But we do yt for the remembraunce of his deth / for this sacrafic [...] ys as an example of that we offer / not an other sacrafi [...]e as the bushop (in the olde lawe) did / but euer the [...]ame: ye rather a remembraunce of the sacrafice. Furst he sayeth that they daylye do sacrafice / but yt ys in remembraunce [Page] of Christes d [...]th T [...]en he sayth that the sacrifice ys an example of that. Thyr [...]ye he sayth that they offer [...]ot an other sacryfyce (that ys to saye an oxe or a goote) as the bushoppes of the olde lawe but euer the same [...] Merke thys poynte [...] for though yt seame at the fyrst syght to make with th [...]m yet doth yt make so derectlye agaynst them [...] that they shall neuer be able to auoyd yt C [...]rysost [...]m [...] sayth they do not offer an other sacrify [...]e a [...] the bushoppes did but euer the s [...]me. They o [...]fer other brede & wyne thys da [...]e then they [...]yd yesterdaye: they shall saye an other ma [...]e to morowe then they dyd thys daye. Now yf thys brede and wyne / or the masse be a sacrifyce [...] then do they offer an other sacrifyce / as well as the bushoppys of the olde lawe. For thys sacrifyes dyd signifie that Christ shulde come and sh [...]d h [...]s b [...]oude / [...]s well as the bred / wine and masse do represent that he hath done yt in dede. And therfore yff yt be a sacrifyce / then do they offer an other sacrifyce / representyng hys passyon / as well as the B [...]shop of the old lawe But that doth chrysost [...]me denye / and sayth that [...]hey offer euery day the same. What same? ver [...]e eu [...]n the same that was done and sacri [...]ed when Christe she [...] his bloude. In thys sacrifyce ys Christe euery daye bounde and buffe [...]d and lede from [...]nna to Cayphas: he ys brough [...] to Pyla [...]e and condempned: he ys scorged and crowned with thorne & nayled on t [...]e cross [...] and hys herte opeynned wt aspere / and so sh [...]deth his bloude. For our redempcion. Why chrisostome, and do you the seelfe [Page] same sacrifice euery daye? ye verelie.Roma. [...] Thē why doth S. Paulle saye that christe ys risyn from deth / and dieth no more? yf he dye no more / how do you daylie cruc [...]fye hym? For sothe Paulle sayeth trouthe. For we do yt not actuallye in dede / but [...]nly [...] in a misterie. And yet we saye / that we do sa [...]rifice hy [...] and that thys ys his sacryfice / for the cel [...]b [...]a [...]iō of the sacramēt ād memorye of the passyō which we kepe:As s. Austen declareth a fore ad Bonifaci [...]m & for this cause yt hathe the name of the thy [...]ge that yt doth represent & signifie. And therfore I expo [...]nde my minde be a rethoricall corre [...]ti [...]n and saye / Imo reco [...]dationē sacrifi [...], that is to saye / yee rather the remēbraū [...]e of the sacrifice. Grauntmercy [...]s good Chrisostome: now do I perceyue the pyth of thys matter: euyn as the masse ys the very deth and passyō of christe / so ys yt a sacryfice. Now yt doth but onlye represent the verey deth & passyō of christe / therfore yt doth folowe that the masse in very dede doth but only represent a sacrifice. And yet nat wt stāding many tymes yt is called a sacrifice of holly [...] docto [...]s / ād hathe the name of the very same thynge that yt doth represent & signifie. And euyn s [...] we maye saye oft [...] is sacramēt / that as the masse is the verye sacry [...]ice and passyō of christ / so ys the sacramēt hys verye bodye and sacrifice that [...]s offered. Nowe the m [...]sse doth b [...]t ōly rep̄sent & signifie the passiō: so the sacramēt doth but ōlye rep̄ sent & signifie th [...] bodye & verye sacrifice onece offered for euer. Natwtstōdinge many times the masse is called a sacrifice of ho [...] [...]octos: & so the the sacrament ys called the bodye ād a sacrifice. [Page] And hathe the name of the verye same thynge that yt doth represent and signifye.
Chrisost. suꝑ matt.Furthermore Chrisostome sayth. Ipse quo (que) bibit ex eo, ne auditis uerbis illis dicerēt. Quid igitur sanguinē bibimus & carnem cōmedimus [...] ac ideo perturbarentur, nam & quando prius de his uerba fecit, etiam uerbis ipsius offendabantur. Ne igitur tūc id quo (que) accideret, primus ipse hoc fecit, utad cōmunionem misteriorum induceret intrepidam. That ys to saye: he allso dranke of yt / lest when they herde his wordes / they shulde saye: why do we than drinke bloude and eate fleshe? and so shuld be trobled. For when he spake before of thosse thinges / they were offended wt his wordes. And because that shulde not now also chaū ce / he hym sellfe drāke furst of yt / that he might cause them to come wt oute feare to the ꝑtakinge of those misteries / here Chrisostome noteth that Christe dranke of yt / to drawe thē from the grosse vnderstondinge of his wordes / and by hys drinking to testifye vnto them that yt was not his naturall bloud nor his naturall fleshe in dede / but only memoriallys and rep̄sentacyones of his bodye and blode. And therfore he calleth thē mister [...]s: that ys to saye sacramētes. For in this place a sacramente ād a misterye ys all one thinge. Notwtstondinge some tyme thys worde misterye ys more comen & large in signifying then this worde sacramēt. And I haue shewed you before / that a sacrament ys the signe of an holye thinge / and not the thinge yt sellfe / that yt rep̄senteth: albeit somtyme yt beare the name of the verye thinge yt sellfe / as the Image of [...]. [Page] Peter ys not saynct Peter hym sellfe and yet yt beareth hys name.
Chrisos [...]ome sayth. Caro nō prodest quicq: hoc est, secundū spiritū uerba mea audienda sunt. Qui secundū carnē audit, nihil lucratur, nihil utilitatis accipit. Quid est autē carnaliter intelligere? simpliciter ut res dicuntur, ne (que) aliud quippiam excogitare Misteria oīa interioribus oculis consideranda sunt, hoc est spiritualiter. That ys to saye. The fleshe profiteth nothing: that ys / my wordes muste be vnderstond after the spryte / he that vnderstondeth them after the fleshe winnith nothing / nor taketh no prof [...]ete what meaneth this / to v [...]derstonde after the fleshe or carnallye? verelye to take the thingys simpl [...]e as they are spoken / and to thinke none other thynge. All misteryes or sacramentes muste be considered wt the inwarde eyes / that ys saye spirituallye.
And after he expoundeth hym sellfe on thys maner, Interiores autē oculi ut panē uiderint, creaturas transuolant, & nō de illo pane a pistore cocto cogitāt: sed de eo qui dixit se panē uitae, qui per misticū panē significatur, That ys to saye. The inwarde eyes as sone as they see the bred / thei passe ouer the creatures / ād thinke not of that bred wc ys bakyn of the bakear / but of hym that called hym sellfe the brede of lyffe wc ys sig [...]ifyed by the misticall or sacramētall brede. Wolde you haue hym sa [...]e any more? he telleth you playne / that Christe wc ys the verye bred of lyffe / ys signifyed by this sacramentall brede. And that ys the thīge wc o (ur) bushoppes so fleshlie deneie now adayes / wc thinge yet you maye set / the olde fathers [Page] conclude wc one a [...]s [...]nt. Notwtstonding yet I will allege mo olde do [...]tours / so that from hence forward they m [...]ye be as [...]am [...]d to calle yt newe [...]errn [...]ng [...]. Fulgentius saith.Fulgentius . [...]. li brode fide In illis em̄ carnalibus ( [...]ꝑe legis) uictimis, significatio f [...]it carnis Christi quā prop [...]tis nostris & ipse si [...]e p [...]t [...] ̄ fuerat oblaturus, & sanguinis quē erat eff [...]surꝰ in re [...]issionē peccatorū nostrorū. In isto aū [...] sacrificio grati [...]rū actio at (que) cōmemoratio est car [...]nis Christi quā ꝓ nobis obtuli [...], & sanguinis quē ꝓ nobis idē D [...]us eff [...]dit. T [...]at is to sa [...]e. In thes carnall sacrificis in the tyme of the law [...] / was a si [...]nifica [...]iō of t [...]e fleshe of christe wc h [...] wt oute sy [...]ne / shulde offer for our synnes / a [...]d of the blo [...]d wc he s [...]uld shede out in r [...]m [...]s [...]on of our synne [...]. But in this sacrifice is a thā [...]es g [...]uīg & remēbraunce of the fleshe of christe wc h [...] o [...]fered for vs / & of t [...]e bloude wc the sa [...] god shed oute for vs F [...]rste note that he calleth y [...] a sacrifice wc notwtstonding [...] is but a remēbraunce of th [...]t sacrifice o [...]fere [...] o [...] the cro [...]se once for all / a [...] yt ys proued before oute of Chrisostome. Then he [...]lay [...]ly calleth [...]t a thankes g [...]uinge / and rem [...]mbrance of Chri [...]tes fles [...]e and bloude: & so cōcludeth with vs. Ne [...]erthelesse because sophysters wolde son [...] thynke to auoyde this pla [...]e / I w [...]ll allege one other sa [...]inge of the same / aucto wc they shall neuer be able to auoyde.
¶ Fulgentius sayeth / as H [...]y [...]o [...]estifieth-Hic calix nouum testamentum est: [...]gen. id est, hic calix quem [...]obis trado, nouum testamentum signifi [...]at. That ys to saye. Thys cuppe or chalice ys the new testament: That ys / thys cuppe or chalice [Page] which I deliuer you doth sygnifye the newe testamēt. In thys place he doth playnlye shewe his mynde / wc can [...]ot be auoyded. For euyn as the cuppe ys the newe testamēt [...] so ys the brede the bodye. [...]owe the cuppe dothe but sygnifye the new testament. And therfore I may cōclude that the brede doth but syg [...]ifye the bodye.
Eus [...]b [...]us sayeth.Eusebi [...] Quia corpus assumptum ablaturus erat ex oculis nostris & syderibus allaturus, n [...]c [...]ssarium erat ut nobis in hac die [...]acramentum corporis & sanguinis consecraret, ut coleretur iugiter per mysterium quod semel offerebatur in precium. That ys to saye: Because he wolde take awaye out [...] of oure eyes the bodye that he toke and carye yt in to heuyn / It was necessarie that in thys tyme he s [...]ulde cōsecrate to vs the sacrament of his bodie and bloude: that that wc was once offered for the price of o (ur) redēptyō / might cōt [...]nuallye be honored thorough the mysterye.
To cōsecrate a thinge / is to apply [...] yt vnto an holy [...] vs [...].Cōsecr [...] Here you maye see that he call [...]th yt the sa [...]ramēt of his bodie and b [...]oude / wc bodie is cary [...]d vp in the heuen: And allso he calleth yt a mist [...]rye wc is ynowe for them that will see.
Allso druthmarius expoundeth thes wordes this is my bodye on thys maner:Druthmarius. Hoc est corpus meum in misterio. That is to saye: this remy bodye i [...] a myst [...]rie. I thynke you knowe what a misterye meaneth [...]hriste is crucifi [...]d euery daye in a misterie: that is to saye / euery daye his deth ys represented by the sacramentes of remē braunce. The masse is Christes passyon is a misterye: that ys to saye: the masse doth rep̄sented [Page] hys passion ād kepeth yt in oure memorie. The brede ys Christes bodye in a misterie: that is to saye / [...]t rep̄senteth h [...]s bodye that was brokyn for vs [...] and kep [...]th yt in oure remembraunce.
Yow haue herde all redye the mynde of the doctours / how the sacrament ys Christes bodye. And now I shall shewe you how the sacrament ys oure bodye / wc doth not a lytell help [...] to the vndstōding of theis wordes wc are in cōtrouersie
The sacramēt of the aulter ys oure bodye as well as yt ys christes bodye. And euyn as yt is oure bodye / so ys yt Christes. But there ys no man that can saye that yt is oure naturall bodie in dede / but onlye a figure / signe / memoriall or rep̄sentacyon of o (ur) bodie Wherfore yt must allso folow [...] that yt ys but onlye a figure / signe / memoriall or rep̄sentacyon of Christes bodie. The furste ꝑte of this argumēt ma [...]e thus be proued S. Austen wryting in a sermone sa [...]eth on this maner [...] Augusti [...]us ī ser [...]one ad [...]antes. Corpus ergo Christi si uu tis intelligere, apostolū audite dicentē, Vos estis corpus Christi & mē bra. 1. Cor. 12. Si ergo estis corpus Christi & membra, mysteriū uestrum (que) in mensa Dn̄i positū est, mysteriū Dn̄i positū est, misteriū Dn̄i accipitis, ad id quod estis, Amen respondetis & respōdendo subscribitis. That is to saye: Yff you will vnderstō [...] the bodye of Christe / here the apostle wc sayeth / ye are the bodye of Christe and membres. [...]. cor. 12. th [...]rfore yf ye be the bodye of christe ād membres / [...]our misterie ys put vppon the lordes table / ye receiue the misterie of the lorde / vnto that you are you answer Amen. And in answ [...]ringe subscribe vnto yt. Here you maye see that the sacrament [Page] ys allso o (ur) bodye / and yet ys not o (ur) nat [...]ral bodye / but onlye our bodye in a misterye / that ys to saye / a figure signe / memoriall or rep̄ sentation of our bodye / for as the brede ye made of many graynes or cornes / so we (though we be many) are one brede ād one bodye. And for this ꝓpertie and s [...]militude yt ys called oure bodye and beareth the name of the verye thynge wc yt doth represent and signifye.
Agayne s. Austen sayth [...] Augusti [...] in sermo [...] de sacrate riapasch [...] Quia Christus passusest pro nobis, cōmendauit nobis in isto sacramento corpus & sanguinē suū, quod etiam fecit & nos ipsos, Nam [...] nos ipsius corpus facti sumus, & per misericordiā ipsius quod accipimus nos sumus. Et postea dicit. Iam in noīe Christi tan (quam) ad calicē Dn̄i uenistis, ibi uos estis in mensa & ibi uos estis in calice [...] That ys / because christ hath suffered [...]or vs / he hath betaken vn [...]e vs in this sacramēt his bodie and bloude wc he hath allso made euyn our sellfes. For we allso are made hie bodye / and by his mer [...]ye we are euyn the same thinge that we receyue. And after he sayth / now in the name of christe / ye are come / as a man wold saye / to the chalice of the lorde: there are ye vppon the table and there are ye in the chalice. Here you maye see / that the sacrament is oure bodye. And yet yt ys not oure naturall bodye / but onlye in a misterye as yt ys before sayd.
Furthermore s. Austen sayeth [...] Angusti [...] de sacra [...] riapasch [...] Hunc ita (que) cibū & potū societatē uult intelligi corporis & membrorum suorū qd est sancta ecclesia in predestinatis & uocatis & iustificatis & glorificatis sanctis & fidelibus [...]ius. Huius rei sacramentū alicubi quotidie, alicubi [Page] certis interuallis dierum in dominico preparatur [...] & de men [...]a Domini sumitur, quibusdam ad uitam, quibusdam ad exitium. Res uero ipsa cuius est sacramen [...]um, est omni homini ad uitam, [...]ulli ad extium, qui [...]un (que) eius particeps su [...]rit. That is to saye / he wyll that [...]his meate ād drike s [...]ulde be vnderstond to be the felowship of his bodye & membris which is the holye churches in the predestinate and called and iustifyed and glorifyed hys saynctes and faythfull, The sacrame [...]t of this t [...]inge ys prepared in some place daylye / a [...]d in some place at certayne appoynted dayes as on the sondaie And yt is receiued [...]r [...]m t [...] table of the lorde / to some vnto [...]ffe and to some vnto distruc [...]ion. Bu [...] [...]he thing yt s [...]fe whose sacram [...]nt this is [...] ys re [...]y [...]ed of all me [...] vn [...]o [...]iff / and of no man v [...]to [...] who so euer is partaker of yt. Here doth [...] [...]u [...]en furs [...]e saye / that thys sacrament ys the [...]owshyp of hys bodye and mem [...]res which are we. And yet yt ys not oure naturall bodye / as ys before sayd. And then he sayth that t [...]e sacrament of thys thing ys r [...]ceyued of some vnto lyff and saluacyon and of s [...]me vnto d [...]t [...] and dampnation. For both [...]ayth [...]ull and [...]faythfull maye receyue the sacra [...]ent. And after he sayeth / that the [...]hyng yt sellff whose sacrament yt ys / ys receyued of al men vnto lyffe [...] and of no man vnto destructyon / who so [...]u [...]r ys partaker of yt. And of thys say [...]nge yt muste nedes follow / that onlye the [...]aythfull eate CHRISTES bodye / and the vn [...]aythfull eate him not [...] For he ys receyued of no man vnto destructyon [Page] And of this yt muste allso followe that the sacrament ys not Christes bodye in dede / but onlye in a mysterye. For yff the sacrament were hys na [...]urall bodye / then shulde yt fo [...]owe / that the vnfaythfull sh [...]lde receyue hys bodye. Whych ys contrarye to the mynde of sainct Aus [...]en / a [...]d agaynst all truth? Thus haue we suffecyentlye proued the [...]yrst part of oure argument / that the sacrament ys oure bodye / as well as yt ys CHRISTES. And nowe wyll I proue the second parte more playnly (although yt be ynough declared all redye / to them that haue eares) that ys / that euyn as yt ys oure bodie so ys yt Christes.
Furste you shall vnders [...]ond that in the wine which ys called Christes bloude / is admixed water / which doth signifye [...]he people that are redemed wt his bloude: so t [...]at t [...]e heed wc is Chris [...]e / ys not wt oute hys bodye wc ys the faythfull people nor the bodye wt oute hys heed. Now yf the wyne when yt is cōsecrated / be torned bodelye in to Christes bloude / then is yt also necessarie that th [...] water wc is admixed be bodelie torned in to the bloude of the fay [...]hfull people. For where as is one cōsecratiō muste followe one opera [...]ion And where as is like reason there mus [...]e followe like misterie. But what so euer is signified bi the water as cōcerninge the fay [...]hfull people / is takē spūall [...] Therfore what so [...]uer is spokē of the bloud [...] ī the wine / muste also ned [...]s betakin spūallie.Bartrā. This reason is not mine / but yt is made bi one bartrā vppō a .700. yeres sins / whē this matt was furs [...]e ī disputacō. Where vppon [Page] at the instance of great Char [...]es the Emperour [...] he made a boke ꝓfessynge euyn the same thinge that I doo / and ꝓueth by the olde doctours and faythfull fathers / that the sacramēt is Christes bodye in a misterie / that ys [...]o saye / a signe / figure or memoriall of his bodye whiche was brokē for vs / and not his naturall bodye. And therfore that doctrine ys newe wc otherwise teacheth / and not myne wc ys not myne / but the doctrine of Christe and of the olde fathers of Christes churche / tyll Antichriste began to sytt and reigne in the temple of God,
[...]prianus ad [...]ec [...]i [...]u [...],Besydes that Cypriane sayth that the people ys annexed in the sacramēt thorough the mi [...]ture of water. Therfor I meruell me moche that they are so cōtentious and will not see / that as the water ys the people / so the wyne ys christes bloude / that ys to saye in a misterye / because yt representeth christes bloude / as the water doth the people.
eusebiusFurthermore Eusebius sayth [...] Dū in sacramē tis uino aqua miscetur, christo fidelis populus incorporatur & iungitur & quadā ei copula perfecta charitatis unitur. That ys to saye / why [...]es in the sacrament water ys admixte wt the wyne / the faithfull people ys incorporate & Ioyned wt Christe ād ys made one wt hym / wt a cert [...]yne knott of ꝑfayte charite. Now where he sayeth / that we are Ioyned and in corporate wt Christe / what fondenes were yt to cōtende / syth we are there onlye in a misterye / and not naturallye: to contend I saye wt suche pertinacite that his naturall bodye muste be there: and not rather that he ys [Page] Ioyned with vs / as we are Ioyned with hym and both in a misterie / bi the knott of parfay [...]e charyte.
The yonge man perceyuith well ynough thatMore. an allegorie vsed in some place is not a cause sufficient to leue the proper significations of godes worde in euery other place and seke an allegorye / and forsake the playne comen sense, For he confesseth that he wolde not so do saue for necessite: because (as he sayeth) that the cōmen lyterall sense is impossible. For the thinge he sayth that is mēte therbye can not be true? That is to wite / that the verye bodie of christe can be in the sacrament / because the sacramēt ys in many diuerse places at onece / and was at the maundye: that ys to wite / in the handes of Christe ād euerye of his appostellis mouthes. And at that tyme yt was not glorified. And then he saieth that Christes bodye not beinge glorified / coulde no more be in to places at once than his awne can. And yet he goth after furder / and sayeth no more yt can whan yt is glorified to. And that he ꝓueth by the sayinge of S. Austen whose wordes be / that the bodye with which Christ arose muste be in one place. &c.
Hertherto hath maister More resoned reasonablie:Frith. but now he beginnith to decline from the dignite of diuinite in to the dirtye dregges of vayne sophistrie. For where I saye that I muste of necessite seke an allegorie because the literall sense is impossible and can not be true / meaning that yt can not stōde wt the processe of scripture / but that other textes do of necessi [...]e constraine [Page] me to construe yt spirituallye. There ca [...] chet he this worde / can / and this worde impossible / and wolde make men beleue that I ment / yt could not be true because reason can not reache yt / but thinketh yt impossib [...]e. And there he triumpheth (be [...]ore the victorie) & wold [...] know what article of o (ur) faith I could ass [...]gne / in wc reason shall not dreue awaie the strēgthe of mi pruffe [...] a [...]d make me leue the literall sense wherin my proffe shuld s [...]ōd / & sende me to seke an allegorie that might stond wt reason / and driue away [...] the faith. But now deare brethern / siht I speake not of the impossibilite of reason / but of the impossibilite to stōde wt other textes of scripture / ye maye see that this ryall reason is not worth a rishe. Then wolde he faine knowe the place were s. Aus [...]ē so saieth, wc thīge allthought / [...]t were harde for m [...] to tell / sith I haue not his bokes to loke for yt [...] yet I thāk [...] god my memorie is not so bad / but I can shewe him wh [...]re he shall fi [...]de yt. And because I thinke that he is more accustomed to the popes lawes then [...]o S. Aus [...]ens workes [...] sith he is become the p̄lates proctoure and patrone: I saye he shall not fayle but finde yt in hys lawes de cōsecratione. And where as he wolde wreste the wordes of s. Austen / which saith that the bodie in wc Christe arose muste nedes be in one place: sayinge that he might meane / not that his bodie might not le ī [...]iuerse places at onces / but that yt muste be in one place / that is to saie / in some one place or other / he speaketh (sayth master more) nothinge of the sacramēt nor saieth not his bodie wt wc he rosse muste [Page] nedes be in one place / that yt can by no possibilite be in any mo. This seameth to some a good lie glose / ād yet yt shall ꝓue but a vayne euasiō For yf a man wold saye that the kinges graces bodye muste be in one place / and then a nother wolde expoūde that natwtstōdynge his wordes hys graces bodye myght be in two places at once / I thinke m [...]n myght sone Iudge that he delicted to delaye / and myght saye / what nede he to determye / that he muste be ī one pla [...]e / except he thought in dede / that he myght be in no mo but onlye on [...]? And though men myght so argue on other mens wordes / yet of sainct Austēs wordes this muste nedes follow / for he bryngyth them in (as god wold) by a contrarie antithesis sayinge,Ad Hieronimū. Corpus in quo r [...]surrexit in uno loco esse oportet, ueritas autem eius ubi (que) diffusa est. That ys to saye / hys bodye wherin he rose / muste be in one place / but hys truth ys disper [...]ed in all places. Where he playnlye concludeth by the contrarye antithesis that as hys truth ys disp [...]rsed in all places / so muste hys bodye nedes be in one place onlye. As by example / yf a man shulde saye. The kynge hys graces bodye muste n [...]des be in one place / but hys power ys thorough out hys Realme. Where no man doubteth / but that in saying one place / he meaneth one place onlye. And therfore though in some place / that worde muste / doth not signifie suche a necessite as excludeth all possibilite / yet ī this place yt doth so signifie / as the contrarye antithesis doth euidently expresse.
And where ye saye / that h [...] speaketh nothi [...]g [Page] of the sacramēt / I wolde ye shulde sticke still to that saynge. For this ys plaine / that he speakyth of hys naturall bodye. And therfore yf he speake not of the sacrament / then haue you concluded that the sacrament ys not hys naturall bodye: the contrarie wherof you wold haue mē beleue. Thus haue I shewed euidence / bothe where he shall finde the wordes of s. Austen and all so that I haue ryght allegeth them.
¶ Nat wtstondyng syth he maketh so moche of [...]ys paynt [...]d sheth / I shall a l [...]e hym more auetorite that christes naturall bodye ys in one place o [...]lye. wc thynge proued doth vtterly conclude that the sacrament ys not his naturall bodye / but onlye a memoryall representynge the same. And [...]urste let vs [...]ee s. Austens mynde.
August. ad Dardanium.Saynte Austē wryting vnto dardanus deth playnlye proue that the naturall bodye of Christe muste nedes be in one place onlie / & allso that his soule can̄ be but in one place at once. The occasion of hys pistle ys this: darda [...]s did wryte vnto s. Austen for the exposition of thosse wordes that christe spake vnto the theiffe saynge: this daye shalt thou be with me in paradise: ād wi [...]t not how he shulde vnderstond yt / whether christe mēt that the theffe shulde be in paradise wt christ [...]s soule / or wt hys bodye [...] or wt hys godhed Ther vppon s. Austē wryteth that as touchinge christes bodye / that daye yt was in the sepulchre. And sayeth that yt was not paradise / although it were in a gardē that he was buried For christe he sayeth ment of a place of Ioye. And that was not (sayth s. Austē) in hys sepulchre. [Page] And as For christes soule / yt was that dye in hell. And no man will saye [...] that paradise was there. Wherfore (sayth s. Austen) the text muste nedes be vnderstond / that christ spake yt of hys godhed. Now marke this argumēt of. s. Austen / and ye shall se my purpose playnlie proued. For seinge he expoundeth thys text vppon christes godhed / because hys māhod astouchinge the bodye / was in the graue / & as touchyng hys soule / was in hell: you maye sone ꝑceyue / that Aust [...] thought / that whiles his bodie was in the graue / yt was not in ꝑadise to: ād because his soule was in hell / yt coulde not be in paradise also. And therfore he verefyeth the texte vppō his diuinite. For yf he had thought that christes bodie or soule might haue byn ī diuerse places at once / he wolde no [...] haue said / that the text muste nedes be vnderstōd of his diuite / but yt might full well / ye and moche better haue bin vnderstond of his manhode. Marke well thys place wc doth determine the doubte of this matter. Notwtstondinge the faythfull father leueth not the matter on this fa [...]yon / but allso taketh a waye soche fonde ymaginationis as wolde cause men to surmise / that Christes bodie shulde be in mo places at once then one. For he sayeth. Cauendum est ne ita diuinitatem astruamus hominis ut ueritatē auferamus corporis. Non est aūt consequens ut quod in deo est, ita sit ubi (que). Nam & de nobis ueracissime scriptura dicit, quod in illo uiuimus, mouemur & sumus. Nec tamē sicut ille, ubi (que) [...]umus, sed aliter homo ille in Deo, qm̄ & aliter deꝰ in illo ho [...]e, proprio quodā & singulari modo. Vna [Page] enim persona deus & homo est, et Vtrū (que) est unus Christus resus, vbi (que) ꝑ id quod deus est, in celo aūt ꝑ id quod homo. That ys to saye we muste beware that we do not so a [...]fyrme the diuinyte of the mā / that we take awaye the truth of his bodie. For yt followyth not that the thynge wc is in god / shuld be ī euery place as god ys. For the scripture doth trulye [...]estefie on vs / that we lyue / moue & be in hym. And yet are we not in euerie place as he is. How bey / [...]hat mā is other wise in god / & god otherwise in that mā by a certen peculier & syngler waye. For god ād mā is one person / ād bothe of thē one christe Iesu wc ys in euery place in that he is god, ād in heuyn / in that he is mā. Here Austē doth saye / that yf we shuld gra [...] ̄t christe to be in all places as touchyng his māhode / we shuld take awaye the truth of his bodye. For though his māhode be in god and god in hys manhode yet yt followeth not / that yt s [...]ulde be in euerie place / as god is. And a [...]er he cōcludeth that as touching his godhed he ys in euery place / ād as thouchyng his manhode he is in hevin. What nede he to make thes wordes & ant [...]thesies / but because he thought verelye that though hys godhed were in euery place / yet hys māhode was in heuyn onlye.
But yet thys holye doctoure goth furder (so that they maye [...]e ashamed of ther pertye) and sa [...]eth.Augustinus [...]bidē Secundū hominē nam (que) in terra erat, non in coelo (vbi nūc est) quādo dicebat. nemo ascendet in coelū nisi qui descēdit de coelo, fiilius hoīes q est in coelo. That is to saye / as touchyng hys manhod he was in the yerth & not in heuyn (where [Page] he now ys) when he sayd / no mā ascendeth into heuyn but he that descended from heuyn / the sone of man wc is in heuin. Now I truste ye will be cōtent and lett the truth spred. For I am sure yt ys not possible for you to auoyde yt for he sayeth / that as touching his māhod he was in the erth ād not in heuin / when he spake those wordes: & so proueth that he was not in [...] places at once then onlie one place. For els yf s. Austen had thought that he coulde haue byn in mo places at onece thē one wt his bodye / then myght he not haue sayd / that he was in yerth and not in heuyn. For then a man might sone haue deluded hym & haue said [...] Austen you can not tell / for he maie be in euery place. But they that so thinke a [...]ter Austēs mynde / do take awaye the truthe of his naturall bodye / and make yt a very phantasticall bodye: frō the wc heresie god deliuer his faythfull. Besides this S. Austen doth saye. Christum Dominū nostrum unigenitū DEI filium equalē patri, eundem (que) hoīs filium quo maior est pater, & ubi (que) totum presentem esse non dubite [...] tan (quam) Deum, & in eodem templo DEI esse uerum DEVM, & in aliena parte coeli propter corporis modū. That is to saye / doubt not but that christe o (ur) lorde the onlie begottō soune of god equall to the father / and the same beinge the sonne of man wherein the father ys greater / is hole p̄sent in all places as touchyng hys godhed and dwellythe in the same temple of GOD as GOD and in some place of heuē for the cōdicion of his very bodie. Here is yt euidēt bi s. austēs word [...]s that as touchyng his godhed he is ī all places. [Page] And as touching his manhod he is onlye in heuin [...]ye and not that onlye / but that he being in heuin as touching the measure [...] nature / condicyon and qualite of his naturall bodie / is only in one certayne place in heuin / and not in many places at once. Thus moche is proued oute of Saincte Austen.
This truth is not onlye proued by s. Austēs auctorite / but allso by the noble clarke Fulgentius wc wryteth on this maner Vnus idem (que) homo localis ex homine, qui esi Deus immensus expa [...]e, unus idem (que) secundū humanam substantiā absens coelo cū esset in terra, & derelinquens terrā cū ascendisset in coelū. Secu [...]d [...]m diuinā uero immen sam (que) substant [...]ā, nec co [...]lū dimittens cū de coelo descendit, nec t [...]rrā des [...]ens, [...]um ad co [...]lum ascendit. Quod ipsius Dn̄i certissimo s [...]mone potest cogno sci [...] qui ut lo [...]alem os [...]enderet suā humanitatē, dicit discipulis suis: Ascendo ad patrem meū & patrem uestrū, Deum meū & Deū ues [...]rū, [...]e Lazaro qu [...] (que) cū dixisset, Lazarus mortuus est, adiun [...]it dicens, e [...] gaudeo propter uos (ut credatis) quoniā non erā ibi [...]mmensita [...]em uero su [...] diuinitat [...] oftendens discipulis dicit: Ec [...] [...]go uo [...]is [...]ū s [...]m us (que) ad cōsummationem saecu [...]. Quomodo autē as [...]endit in coelū nisi quia localis & uerus est homo, aut quomodo adest fidelibus suis, nisi quia idem inmensus & uerus D [...] us est. That is to saye. The same one man is locale (that is to say / conteined in one place) as thouching his manhod / wc is also God vnmesurable from the father: the same one man as touching the substance of his manhod / was absen [...] from heuin / when he was in erth / and forsakinge [Page] the yerth / when he ascendid in to heuin / but as touching his godlie and vnmeasurable substā ce he nether for soke heuin when he descended frō heuen / nor forsoke the erth / when he ascēded vnto heuen. Which maye be knowen by the moste sure worde of the lorde wc to schew his humanite to be localle (that is to saye / contayned in one place onlye) did saye vnto his disciplis. I ascende vnto my father and your father / my God & your God / of Lazarus also when he sayd / Lazarus is ded / he sayd futher, I am glade for yo (ur) sake (that you may beleue) for that I was not there. And againe / schewing the vnmeasurablenes of his godhed / he sayd vnto his disciples / beholde I am wt you vnto the worldes ende / how did he ascend in to heuen / but because he is locall & a verye man? Or howe is he present vnto hys faythfull / but because he is vnmeasurable & verye God? Here maye you conclude by the auctorite of this doctoure also / that Christes bodie is onlye in one place to onece. For he sayeth that christ as touchinge his māhed is locall: that is to saye / conteyned in one place onlye. And that he proueth by the scripture euen of Christes awyn wordes. Now yf this be true (as mi cōscience doth testifie / how so euer other men shall Iudge) Then muste yt nedes followe that his naturall bodye can not be in the sacramēt. And the auctorite. I am sure no man can auoide / yt ys so playne.
Now as for his naturall reasons be not worthie the reasoning.More. For furste that the bodie of christ vnglorified coulde no more be in two places [Page] at once then his owyn can / because he is a naturall bodye / as he is. I will not examine no cō parison betweyn there to bodyes: but yf christe wolde tell me that he wolde eche of both there bodyes to be in [...]yft [...]ne places at once / I wolde beleue hym / and wolde neuer aske hym whether he wolde fyrst gloryfye them or not. But I am sure gloryfyed or vnglorified / yf he sayd yt / he ys able to do yt [...] For the matter ys not ympossible to God.
Fr [...]h.Truthe yt is that yf christe so sayde and in so sa [...]ing so ment / th [...]re is no doubte / but he were able so to doo. but that he in dede so gross [...]lie mēt ye shall neuer proue. And in dede yf he had so ment that his owyn bodye naturall shuld haue cōtinued in the sacramēt wt is the meate of the so [...]e thorough [...]ayth / and not of the bodye by [...]atinge yt / and maye as will be eatyn thorough [...]ayth although yt Remayne in heuyn / as yf yt were here present to oure mouthes: yf I saie he had so ment / then wolde he neuer haue geuen vs suche scriptures as he did. For I saye that this grosse imaginacyon may not stonde wt the processe of the scripture wc ys receyued as yt shall appere by certayne t [...]xtes.
Furste where o (ur) sauioure sayth: the fleshe profiteth nothīg. The waight of those wordes doth cōpell vs to vnderstōd oure matter spūalye / for by this short sentense we are no lesse plucked bake frō the carnall eatinge [...] then was Nichodemꝰ that he shuld not once dreame of the carnall regeneracyon / when christe sayd vnto hym: that what so euer was of the fleshe was fleshe. For [Page] this ys a playne conclusion / that when Christe sayd / the fleshe profytyth nothynge / he ment yt euyn of hys owyn fleshe that yt coulde not profyte (as they vnderstod hym) to be eaten with the [...]eth. Albeyt yt doth moche profyte to be slayne for o (ur) redēption & eaten thorough fayth. Which thīge we may doo although his naturall fleshe be not ī the sacramēt. [...]or I may [...] as well beleue in him though he be in heuen / as yf he were in yerth and in the sacrament / ād b [...]for [...] myn eyes. And that Christe spake these wordes of hys owyne bodye / yt ys playne by S. Aus [...]ens wordes wrytinge vppon the same place.Augusti. tract suꝑ 6. Ioan. And therfore he sayeth / that they muste be vnderstōd spūallye / and addeth: yf thou vnderstond them spirituallye / they are sprite and lyffe. And though thou vnderstond th [...]m carnallye / yet neuerthelesse they are spryt and lyff: But vn [...]o the they are not sprite and lyff / which vnderstondest not spirituallye those thynges that I haue spoken.
Allso Athanasius sayth.Athanasius [...]. li. qu [...] dix. verb [...] Spūs est q uiuificat, caronō [...]dest quicq: uerba q ego locutus sum, spūs sunt & uita. Nam & hoc loco utrū (que) de seipso dicit carnē & spiritū, & spiritū ab eo quod est secundū carnē distinxit, ut nō solū uisibile, sed etiā inuisibile quod in ipso erat credētes dis [...]ār, qd et ea q dicit nō sunt carnalia sed spūalia. Quod em̄ comedentibus suffecisset corpus, ut totius mūdi alimonia fiat? Sed ea ꝓpter meminit ascēsus filij hoīs in coelū ut illos a corporali cogitatione auelleret, & post hac discāt carnē dictā cibum coelestem superne uenientem & spiritualem alimoniā quā ipse det, nā quae locutus [Page] [...]um (inquit) uobis spiritus sunt & uita. That is to saye / yt is the sprite that qui [...]ken [...]th / the fleshe profieteth nothinge the wordes wc I speake vnto you / are spirite and liffe. For in this place also he meaneth both of his owne fleshe and his owyn spirite / and he deuided the spirite from the fleshe: that they might knowe thorough fayth not onlye the visible parte / but also the inuisible parte y• was in hym / and also that the wordes wc he spake were not carnall but spūall. For what bodye shuld haue suff [...]sed to haue byn the meate of all the wordle? And euyn therfore did he make m [...]ntion of the as [...]e [...]sion of the sonne of man in to heuen / that he might wtdrawe them from the bodelye imagina [...]ion / that they might here after lerne / that the fleshe was called heuynlye meate whych com [...]th from a boue & spirituall meate wc he wolde g [...]ue. For (saythe Christe) the wordes that I haue spoken vnto you / are spirit and liffe. Here you maye see that christe spake yt of his ow [...]n fleshe / and ment playnlie that yt did nothinge profi [...]e / as infideles did vnderstond him. For els yt geuithe lyffe / as yt is receyued of the faithfull in a misterie. For as bartramBartrā. sayeth / in this misterie of the bodie & bloude / is a spirituall operation wc geueth lyffe. With oute the wt operation those misteries do nothinge profite / for surelye (sayth he) they may fede the bodye / but the soule they can not fede.
Besides that the scripture sayth / that that entreth in by the mouth doth not def [...]le a man / for as christe sayeth / yt is caste forthe in to the drawght. And by the same reason yt foloweth [Page] that yt doth not sanctifie or make a man holye. But the sacramēt entreth ī by the mouth: therfore yt doth folowe that (of yt sellfe) y [...] doth not sā ctifie or make holie / & of this text shuld followe two incōueniēces / yf the sacramēt were the natural [...] bodie of christe Furste yt shuld folow that the bodie of christ shuld not sanctifie the faithful because yt entreth in by the mouthe. And agayne yt shuld followe / that the bodie of christe shulde be caste oute in to the drawght / wc thinge is abominable, Wherfore yt muste nedes followe / that the sacramēt can not be his naturall bodie.
Furthermore Christ wold not suffer that deuoute woman wc of loue sought hym at his sepulture / to touche his naturall bodye / because she lacked a poynt of fayth / and did not count him to be equall wt his father. And moche more yt shall followe that the wicked wc haue no faith nor loue towardes h [...]m / shall not be suffered to eate his fleshe wt ther teth / & swallow yt in [...]o their vnclene bodies: for that were moche more then to touche hym. And yet not withstādinge they receyue and eate the sacrament. Where vppon yt shuld followe yf the sacrament were his naturall bodie / that they shulde in dede eate his bodie [...] wc thinge may be recounted a blasphemye agaynst God. More ouer Christe sayth he that eateth my fleshe & drinketh my bloude dwelleth in me & I in him: Nowe we knowe right well that the wicked do eate the sacrament / and yet nether dwell in christe / nor christ in then. Wherfore yt muste followe that the sacrament is not the very fleshe of Christe. And surelye I can [Page] not excuse th [...]m of blasphemie whiche so direct [...]lye contrarye Chri [...]es wordes.
Howe can you auoide these textes wc christ speaketh vnto his disciples sayinge: y [...]t a litell wh [...] le am I wt you.Ioan. 6. And then I d [...]parte to him that sent me. And agayne yt ys expedyent for you that I de [...]arte.Ioan [...] 6. For except that I departe / that com [...]orter shall [...]ot come vnto you.Ioan. 6. And agayne he sayth / I forsake the worlde and goo to mi father.Math. 26 [...]. 14. And to be sh [...]rt he say [...]th pore men ye shall euer haue wt you [...]ut me shall you not euer haue [...] Ioan [...] 12 [...]ow we knowe right well that hys godhed ys in all plac [...]s / and t [...]a [...] as [...]ouchynge his godhed he forsoke not the word [...]e / when he ascended vnto hys fa [...]er. Wherfore yt muste nedes followe that he for [...]oke yt as [...]ouchyng hys fleshe and manhode And ther [...]o agreeth the expositions of Sainct Austen [...] a [...]d Fulgentius before alleged / yee and all o [...]her olde faythfull fathers. Now yf he ha [...]e forsake [...] the worlde as touchynge the pres [...]nce of hys naturall fleshe and māhode (as all doctours defyne) then ment he not that hys naturall fleshe shulde be present in the sacrament [...] to be [...]aten with oure teth And therfore though Christe so tell you / yet mus [...]e you take hym as he meane [...]h / or [...]ls you be begyled, For yf ye thynke that GOD both maye and wyll fullf [...]ll and veryf [...]e all thynges accordynge to the letter as he sp [...]aketh thē / I maye call you an [...]bedyent man / as Saynct BARNARD doth hys monke Adam And maye saye (as he doth) that yf that be the right waye / so symplye to receyue all thynge / [Page] we maye put oute the text of scripture which warnyth vs to be wise as sarpeni [...]s. For the text followynge is sufficient / [...]hich biddeth vs to be simple an doues.
Why doth youre mastership graunt a necessarye allegorye / when Paull sayth / CHRISTE ys a stone / or when CHRIST saith that he ys a dore? The scripture sayth he ys both twayne. And syth GOD so sayth / he ys able so to make yt. And ther [...]ore by your reason we shall nede none allegorie in all scripture / & then he that is moste simple & folishe / may be counted moste faythfull. And so shall we nede no faythfull fathers to expound the text / but yt shalbe moste merite / to beleue the letter. Thys I denye not / but that God could haue don yt / yf he had so entended / when he spake the wordes: But nowe the scrypture stondynge as yt doth / I thinke he can not do yt. As by exāple I thinke that god by the bloude of his sone Christe myght haue saued all men / both faythfull and vnfaithfull / yf he had so intended / & that yt had so pleassed him. But nowe the scripture s [...]ondyng as they doo / I saye he can not doo yt / and that yt is impossible for hym. For then he might Make his sone a lyer wc sayth / he tha [...] be [...]eueth not is dāpned.Ioan, [...]. And againe / he that beleueth not shall not se lyffe / but the wrathe of god abideth vppō him. And euen as yt is impossible to stōde wt the proces of scriptures (wherin god hath declared his will) that the vnfaithfull shulde be saued although god myght haue dō yt at the furst yf he hade so wolde. Lykewise yt ys impossible [Page] the scriptures stōdinge as they doo / that the naturall bodye of Christ shulde be p̄sent to o (ur) teth in the sacramēt. And as for o (ur) fayth / yt nedeth not to haue him p̄sent in the brede. For I maye as well eate hī and drinke hym thorough fayth: that ys to saye / beleue in him / as though he were as present in the sacrament / as he was haugyng on y• crosse.
1 And because you saye / that my naturall reasons be not worth the reasoning. I will allege you some mo / to se what you can saye to them. Furste euery sacrament is the signe of an hollye thinge: but the sacrament of the aulter is a sacrament (as all faythfull men confesse) ergo yt must follow that the sacrament of the aulter is y• synge of an hollye thinge. Nowe yf yt be the sygne of an hollye thinge / then yt is not the hollye thinge yt sellfe wc yt doth signifye & represent. Why shulde we then feare / to call that bred a figure / that ys to sa [...]e / a sacrament of that holye bodye of our lord & sauiour.
Besides that I wolde knowe of what necessite or profite his fleshe muste be present in the sacrament. For the p̄sence of his fleshe can no more profit vs / then doth the remembraunce of his bodie / but this remembraunce maye as well be don by the sacramēt / as though hys bodie were present. And therfore sith God and nature make nought in vayne / yt followethe consequentlye / that his naturall fleshe is not there / but onlye a memoriall therof.
Furthermore the ende ād finall cause of a thinge 3 is euer beter then those thinges wc are prouided [Page] for the ende (as the howse is better than the lyme / stone and timber / which are prouided for the howse) but the ende and finall cause of the sacrament is the remembraunce of Christes bodye: and ther vppon yt muste followe that yf the sacramēt be his naturall bodie / that the remembraunce of Christes bodie shulde be better then his bodie yt sellfe Whiche thinge is to be abhorred of all faythfull men.
4 It were fondenes to fayne that the soule did other wise eate then do the angellys in heuen / ād their meate is onlye [...]e Ioye and delectatyon that they haue of god and of his glorie. And euen so doth the soule wc is here vppon the yerth eate thorough fayth the bodye of Christe wc ys in heuen. For yt deliteth & reioyseth whyles y [...] vnderstondeth thorough faith / that christ hath taken our synnes vppon him / and pacified the fathers wroth. Nether yt is necessarie that for that or for thys cause / that hys fleshe shulde be p̄sent. For a man maye as well loue and reioyse in the thinge wc ys from hym & not present / as though yt were p̄sent by him of that maner.
5 Moreouer the brede is Christes bodye / euin as the breaking of the brede is the deth of his bodie. Nowe y• breakīge of bred at the maūdey is not the verye deth of Christes bodie / but onlye a representation of the same (allbeyt the minde thorough fayth doeth sp [...]allye beholde his verye deth) and euyn likewise that naturall brede is not the verye bodie of our lorde / but onlye a sacrament / signe / memoriall / or representatyon of this same / albe yt thorough the monision therof [Page] the mynde thorough fayth / doth sp [...]alye beholde the verye bodye, And surely therof yf a mā be faythfull / the sprite of God worketh in hys harte verye swetlye at his communion.
Finallye / yt was not lawfull to eate or drinke the bloude not onlye of man / but also of a brute beaste / and the apostelles them [...] selues moued by the rule of charite / did institute that men shulde abstayne from bloude somwhat fauorynge the infyrmyte of the Iewes. Now yf the apostellys had taught (as ye doo) that in the sacrament hys verye fleshe and bloud [...] ys [...]aten and dronke with the teth and mouthe of faythfull and vnfaythfull / what coulde haue be ne a g [...]eater occasyon to haue excluded the Iewes from crystes fayth euyn at once? Thynke you that the appostellys wolde not haue byn to scrupulous to haue dronken hys very bloude / seynge yt was so playne agaynst Moses lawe / yf they had vnderstonde hym so grosselye as ye doo? [...]ct. 10. Pet [...]r had a clothe sent downe from heuyn / in whych were all maner of beastes [...]orbidden by the lawe / and was commaunded to s [...]e and [...]at [...] them. And he answered / God forbyd for I neuer eate any vnclene thynge / meanynge therbye that he neuer [...]ate any thynge forbydden by the lawe. Wherof yt moste nedes followe that ether he neuer rec [...]yued the sacrament (wc ys playne false) or els that he more spiritually vnderstode the wordes of Chris [...]es maundie then ye falselye fayne. For yt was playnely forbydden by the lawe / to eate or drinke any maner of bloude, [...]ection And I knowe but one reason that [Page] they haue wc they count an insoluble: how beyt by goddes grace we shall sone auoyde yt. There reason is this Paule sayth / he that eateth and drinketh this sacrament vnworthylye / shalbe gyltye of the bodye & bloude of the lord. Now saye they [...] how s [...]uld they be gyltie of the lordes bodie & bloud wc receiue yt vnworthelie / except yt were the verye bodye and bloude of the lorde
This argument I saye / is verye weake & slender.solution. For I can shewe many example [...] by the wc yt may be dissolued for he that dispisseth the kinges sealle or letters offendeth agaynst his owē parson / and yet the letter or seale ys not hys owen parson. He that vyolently plucketh downe hys graces armes or breakyth hys brode s [...]ale wyth a furyo [...]se mynde or vyolence / committeth treason agaynst hys owyn parson. And yet hys armes and brode seale are not hys owyne person / he that clepyth the kyngys coyne cōmitteth treason agaynst the kynges parson and the commen welth: and yet the mony ys nether hys graces parson nor the cōmon welth And therfore your argument ys but weake and slender. For euyn as a man doth offend agaynste the prynces parson by dispising hys armes / seale or letters / so doth a man offende agaynste Christes bodye and bloude / by abusynge the sacrament of hys bodye and bloude / although he be not there present / as the kynges parson ys not present in his armes / seale or letters.
Besides that s. paule saieth that euerye mā wc praieth or p̄cheth wt couered h [...]ed shameth his heed & his heed is christe: shall we therfore Imagē [Page] that christe is naturallye in euerye mans he [...] / as yo (ur) argument concludeth For soth that were a pretye phātas [...]e. Finally S. Aus [...]en sai [...]th that he doth no lesse synne wc negligentlye heareth the worde of god / thē doth the other wc vnworthelye receyuith the sacrament of Christes bodye ād bloude. Nowe yf thys be true / thē ys your reason not worth a rishe / for christes naturall bodie ys not in the worde wc is p̄ched / as all men knowe. And yet he s [...]un [...]h no lesse that negligētly heareth yt / thē dooth he that vnworthelye receyuyth the sacrament. And thus you see their insoluble easely dissolued.
More.¶But now muste this yong mā consider agayne that hym self confesseth that the cause for wt himsellf saieth that christ in so saying did so meane / ys because that yf he shuld haue mēt soo / yt was impossible to god to brynge his meanenynge a bought: that ys to saye / that christes bodye might be in two places at once. And therfore but yf he proue that thynge impossible for god to doo / els he confessyth that god not onlye sayd yt but allso ment yt in dede. And yet ouer thys / yf christ had neuer sayde yt / yet doubted I nothinge / but he ys able to doo yt / or els were there sum what that he coulde not doo: And thē were god not allmyg [...]tye
Frith.¶Here master more wolde myre me wt his sophistrie / & wt wiles wolde winne his spores. For as he before dyd discāt on thes wordes / cā / & [...] possyble / ād wolde haue made mē beleue that I mēt yt could not be / because yt could not be by reason / & that I mēt yt was impossyble because [Page] reasō could not reache yt. So now he disputeth wc lyke maner of sophisticatiō cōcludinge that I cōfesse that yt ys imposyble ād cā not be / because that yf god shuld so haue mēt / yt was impossyble for god to bryng hys meanynge a bought. Deare brethernē / thys babelyng ys suffecyēlye discussed all readye. For I mēt not that yt was impossible. For god to brynge yt aboute / yf he hade so mēt / but I mēt that yt ys impossyble to stōde wt the processe of the scripture wc we haue receyued. And I saye more ouer that though yt was possible for god to haue dō yt (yf yt had pleased hym) yet now / the scrypture thus stondynge / yt is imposs [...]ble for hym to do yt for thē he muste make his sone a lyer. And I saye / that yf he had so m [...] ̄t as the letter stōdith / that he wolde thē haue geuī vs other scripture / & wolde not haue said that he muste deꝑte to hī that sent him with other textes as are before reherssed.
And where master more saieth that yf there were sumwhat that he could not doo / thā were god not allmightie. I saie yt is ashame for oure p̄lates that thei haue gotton suche an ignoraūt proctoure to defend thē. And I am sure that they them sellues coulde haue said moche better. For els how shuld they enstructe other and leade thē in the right waye / yf they thē sellues were so r [...] de & vnlerned? shuld they not knowe what this meaneth that god is almightie wc is apece of the first article of our Crede / then how shuld ther ship haue any sure sight? More thīketh that god is called allmightie / because he can doo all thinges. And then in dede yt shuld follow that he were [Page] not almightye For all thinges he cā not doo he can not saue the vnfaythfull / he can not restore virgynyte once vyolate / sayth s. Thomas & also (as I remēber) s. Hierom wrytinge of verginite vnto paula & Eustoch [...] ̄ [...]he cā not synne sayth dunce: he can not deney hymsellf sayth s. paule. [...]. Tim. [...] Now yf this mās lerninge were alowed thē myght not god be allmightye / because there ys sūwhat that he cā not doo. But they that are a costomed wt scripture / do knowe that he is called almightye / not because he can doo allthing: but because ther is no superiour powere aboue hym / but that he may doo all that he wyll: & all that hys pleassure ys to doo that maye he brynge to passe / And no power ys able to resyst hym But he hath no pleassure nor wyll to make hys sone alyer ner to make hys scripture [...]alse / & in dede he may not doo yt. And yet notwtstōding he abideth allmigtye [...] or he may doo all that he wil.
More.Then master more touching the reason of repūgnaunce sayth / that many thinges may seame repugnaunt both to him and me wc thinges god seeth how to make thē stonde to gether well ynough / & addeth suche blynde reasons of repungnaūce as induce manye mē in to a great erroure: some ascribyng all thynge vnto destenye wt oute any power of mās frewyll at all / And some geuyng all to mās owyn wyll And no fore sight at all to the prouidence of god / and all because the poore blynde reason of mā can not see so ferre / as to perceyue how goddes prescience and mans frewyll can stond to gether / but seme clerely to be repungnant.
[Page]As For his degressiō of mans frewyll I will not greatlye wrestle wt hym.Frith [...] But thys one thynge I maye saye / that yf the sone of god delyuerIoan. 8 [...] vs / then are we verye free.2. Cor. 3. And where the spiret of god ys / there ys fredom. I meane not fredō to do what you will:Roma. 6 but fredō frō sinne / that we may be the saruātes of righteousnes But yf we haue not the spiret of christe / thē will I saie wt s. Austē / that oure frewyll ys wreched / & can do nought but s [...]nne.Augustinus de spiritu & litera. And as touchīge suche textes of repūgnaūce / if they be so diffuse that mās reasō (wc is the lyht of his vnderstōdyng) cā not attayne to set thē to gether / thē were you beste to make thē none articles of o (ur) faith. For I thinke as manye as are necessarye vnto o (ur) saluaciō / are cōteyned in the crede wt I thinke euery mā beleueth: I beseche you laye no bigger burthen vppon vs then those faythfull fathers dyd wt thought that suffy [...]yent. And then I am sure / we shuld haue fewer heretickes. For I neuer harde of heretycke that euer helde agaynste any artycle of oure Crede / but all that ye desfame / by this name / are onlye put to deth / because thei saye that we are not boūde to beleue euery poynt that the lawes and tyrannye of the clargye alowe and mayntene / whych thynge how true yt ys (blessed be GOD) ys meatlye well know in all readye For els had I and many mo byn deed are thys daye.
I wot well that many good folke haue vsid inMore. this matt many frutefull exāples / as of one face beholden in diuerse glasses / & ī euerie pe [...]e of one glase brokē in to twenti: & of one word cominge [Page] hole to an hundrethe eares at once: and the sight of one litle eye present and beholdinge an hole great contrye at once [...] wt a thousand suche meruelles mo / suche as those that see them daylye done (ād therfore meruell not at them) shall yet neuer be able [...] no not this yonge man hym sellfe [...] to geue suche a reason by what meane thei maye be don / but that he may haue suche repugnaū ce layde agaynste yt [...] that he shalbe fa [...]ne in conclusion ( [...]or the ch [...]ffe & moste [...]uident reason) to saye / that the cause of all those thinges is because god that hath so caused them to be don / is allmightye of hym sellfe / & may do what hī li [...]t [...]
Frith.As t [...]ouchinge the examples that master more doth here allege [...] I maye sone make answer. For they that are like our matter [...] make cl [...]ne agaynste hym / and the o [...]her can not make for hī The glase I graunt is a good exāple. For euen as the glasse dothe rep̄sent the verie face of man so doth this sacramēt represent the v [...]rie bodye and bloude of Christe. And like as euery pece of the glase doth represent that one face / so doth euery pece of that sacrament represent that one bodye of Christe. But eu [...]ry mā knoweth right well that though the glasse rep̄sent mi face / yet the substance of the glasse is not my verye face / nether is my very face in the glass [...]. And euyn so though the sacrament do represent the bodie of Christe / yet the substance of the sacrament is not his ver [...]e bodie (no more then the glasse ys my face) n [...]ther is his verye bodye in the sacram [...]nt / no more th [...]n my verye face is ī the glasse ād thus this example maketh well for vs. And [Page] for that o [...]e worde cōmyng hole to an hundre [...]h eares / I say that worde is but a sound ād a qualite and not a substance / and therfore yt is nothinge to our purposse / and can not be likened [...]o Christes bodie wc is a substance & as concerninge the sight of the lytle eye / I say [...] that though the eye discrye and see an hole cōtrye / yet is not that hole contrye in the eye: but as the cōtrie is knowen by the sight of eye (though the contrye be not in yt). So is the deth of Christe and his bodye breaking and bloude shedinge knowyn by the sacrament [...] though his naturall bodye be not in yt. And thus his examples make nothinge wt him / but rather moche agayns [...]e him. And where he sayeth that the yonge man hym sellfe can geue hī no reason / by what meane they may be don: I maye saye vnto hys mastership / that whan I was seuē yere yonger then I am [...]his daye / I wolde haue byn ashamed yf I could not haue geuyn an euident reason at the austens in oxford before the hole vniuersite. And albeyt I now wochesaffe / not to spend labour and paper abought Aristoles doctrine / yet haue I so moche touched his examples / that he may be werye of them.
Also I can not see why yt shuld be more repugnantMore. that one bodye maye be by the power of God in two places at once / then that two bodyes maye be to gether ī one place at once. And that p [...]int I thinke this yonge [...]an denyethe not.
The beinge of our bodye in two places at once ys agenst nature / and scripture can not a loweFrith: [Page] yt. But that two bodies shuld be in one place seameth more reasonable. For I haue good experience that though my bodie can not be ī two places at once (both in the tower & where I wolde haue yt beside) yet blessed be god in this one place / I am not wt ou [...]e cōpanye. But yf master more meane that in one proꝑ & seuerall place / maye be two bodies at once / that I will denye / tyll he haue laiesure to proue yt. And yet at the length I am sure / hys proffe shall not be worth a podyng prycke. For I am sure yt muste be, Ratione porositatis ut in igne & ferro: nā penetrationem dimen [...]ionum nunq probabit. And then he is as nere as he was before.
More.Now hys laste reason wt wc he prou [...]th yt impossib [...]e for the bodye of chri [...]te to be in two places at once / is this: you can (sayth he) shewe no reason whye he shulde be in many places at once & not ī all. But in all places he can not be. Wherfore we muste cōclude that he can not be ī many places at on [...]e. This is a mer [...]elous concluded argum [...]nt. I am sure that euery chyld [...] maye sone see that this consequent can neuer follow vppon thes two premisses of t [...]is antecedent.
Frith.When I made this reason & cōpiled mi treatise I had no regard to the cauillaciōs of sot [...]e sophisters: for I thought no sophisters shuld haue medled wt that meate but neuerthelesse sith now I per [...]yne that they principallye are porynge on [...]t / seking some praie to sett their teth a warke. In this boke I haue sumwhat ꝓuided for them [...] ād haue brought suche harde bones / that yf they be to bus [...]e / maye chaunce to choke them [Page] And yet is not the argument so feble as he fayneth. For the first part (yf he list to cōs [...]der the sense & minde / ād be not to curious) where I saie that they can shewe no reason why he shuld be in many places & not in all [...] is thus to be vnderstōd of wise men / that the verye reason & cause / that he shuld be in manye places [...] muste be because the bodie is so annexed wt the godhed / that yt is in euery place as the godhed is. This I saie muste be the cause & reason of his beinge ī many places. And nether you nor no mā else cā [...]u [...]l [...]e assigne any other. Now of this ma [...]or or f [...]st ꝓposition thus vnderstond doth t [...]e coc [...]usion follow directlye. For yf this shulde be the ca [...]se (as th [...]y muste nedes graunt). And thys cause proued false by scripture: then muste they ned [...] graunt that the thynge whiche so followeth of thys cause / muste nedes be false. And so ys my purpose proued / and they concluded As by example / the astronomers saye: that the naturall course of the sonne ys from the west to the e [...]st. Nowe yf a man shuld aske them w [...]at ys then the cause that we see hym daylye take the contrarye course / from the e [...]st to the west agaynste hys nature: they answer. Be [...]ause the [...]eyghest spere (whose course ys from the [...]est to the west) with hys swifte mouynge doth vyol [...]ntly drawe the inferio (ur) speres wt hī. This is the cause that they allege / and no man can assigne any other. And now syth I can proue this sense fallse by scrypture. And S. Austen (for scripture sayth that the spere is fastened Hebrewes .vii [...] Chapiter. And s. Austen expoundinge that text [Page] improueth the astronomers wc affyrme that y [...] moueth (syth I saye this cau [...]e y [...] proued false by scripture / they muste nedes graunt that the thinge wc followeth of this cause muste nedes be false. And so we may conclude agaynste thē all / that the naturall course of the sonne ys not frō the weste to the [...]st (as the astronomers saye). But contr [...]rie from the eest to the west. And lykewise syth the cause that Christes bodie sh [...]ld be in many places / ys assigned of lerned men to be / because hys bodye ys so annexed wt the Godhed (w• ys in euery place) that yt is allso ī all places wt yt [...] and no mā can assygne any other. And th [...]t this cause is proued false by scripture / for when the wom [...]n sought Christ at his graue / an angell gaue the answ [...]r that he was not there.Ma [...]. 14. But yf his bod [...] h [...]d byn in euer [...]e place / then had the angell l [...]ed.Luc. [...]6. Also Christ sayd vnto his disciples of Lazarus wc died at bathania. La [...]arus ys dede. [...]an. 11. And I am glade for yo (ur) sakes (that you maye beleue) because I was not ther. Now yf his bodye were in euery place as is the Godhed / then Christ sayd not trulye / when he sayd he was not there. Therfore sith (as I sayd) this ys the cause assigned / and yet proued [...]alse by scripture / they m [...]ste nedes graunt / that the thī ge wc followeth of this cause / muste also nedes be false. And so we maye cōclude agaynste them all that Christes bod [...]e is in one place onlye. And now you maye see how my consequent followe the premisses.
More.For he can no farther conclude / but [...]hat we can shewe no reason whye he shuld be in many [Page] places at once What had he wone bi that? might he than conclude ther vppon / that he could not be in manye places at once? As though yt w [...]re not possible for God to make hys bodye in tw [...] places at once / but yf we w [...]re ab [...]e to tell how / and why / and wherbye / a [...]d sh [...]we the reason.
How far I can conclude is shewed imm [...]diatly before.Frith. For though of the bare wordes as ye toke them / yt was hard to conclude any thinge yet haue I nowe declared them / and so farre cō clud [...]d / that you can not auoyde them. And where he sayth that though they can shewe no reason / yet I had wōne nought by yt: I thynke he wolde be angrye yf I shuld so ans [...]er. But surely they are in good case / for yt is ynough for them to saye / thus yt is / and nede neuer so shewe any cause or reason whye they so saye. For they are the churche and can not [...]rre: so that yf they teache contrarye thinges / yet all ys good ynough. And when they see that no man can make the scriptures to agre wt their doc [...]rine / then they saye / that ther doctrine ys true ynough / but no man can vnderstond the scripture. And though the scripture seme neuer so repungnant both to thē ād to vs / yet god seeth well ynough (saye they) how to set them to gether / a [...]d yt ys possible for god to make yt agree / though they can not tell how. But this doctrine hath longe ynough desayued vs. For men haue sene to longe wt yo (ur) spectacles yet now (thankes be to god) they begyn to se wt theyr ow [...]n [...]yen. And as [...]o [...] chinge how this mater was possible to god and how yt ys not possible / ys suff [...]ciently declared [Page] before to all that liste to loke.
More.How be yt as for me (though I be not bound [...] to yt) I am content yet to proue / that god maye make the bodie of Christ to be in all places at once. And because this yonge man coupleth that proposityon wt the tother: so wyll I do to. And I proue therfore that god can make hys bodye be bothe in many p [...]aces at once / and in all places at once / by that that he ys almightye / & therfore can do all t [...]ynge.
Frith: [...]ow is the good man in his olde dreame againe [...] and thinketh that god is called al [...]mightye / because he can do all thinges. And then in dede yt s [...]uld [...]olowe that he were not alm [...]ghtie. For all thīges he can not doo [...] he can not saue the vnfaythfull / he cā not restore / vginitye once violated / he can not sinne: he can not denie hym sellfe. Now yf this mans lerninge were alowed / than might not god be called almightie / because there is sumwhat that he can not doo. But they that are accustomed wt scripture / do knowe that h [...] is called almightie / not because he cā not do all thinges / but because ther is no superio (ur) power aboue hym / but that he may do all that he will / and all that hys pleassure ys / maye he brynge to pase. But he hath no wyll / pleasure nor power to make his sone a lyer and to make his scripture false / and yet natwtstonding he abydeth almightye and may do what he will. And euyn as yt is impossible to stōde wt the processe of the scriptures (wher in god hath declared his will) that the vnfaythfull shuld be saued (although at the fyrste god might haue dō yt / yf he had so wolde) likewise [Page] it is impossible the scriptures stōdīge as they doo / that the naturall bodie of christ [...] shuld be present to o (ur) teth ī the sacramēt. And as for o (ur) faith yt nedeth not to haue hī p̄sent in the bred. For I maye as well eate hī & drinke him / thorough faith (that is to saie / beleue in hī) though he continue s [...]ill in heuyn / as though he were as p̄sent in the sacramēt / as he was hāging on the crosse But yet his mastership hathe lefte [...]ne thīge vnproued / & that is euin the pith of his purposse. For though he had ꝓued (as he hath not) that God bi hys almightines might make Christ [...]s bodie in many places / & in all places / ād in the sacramēt / yet he forgotte to ꝓue that god hath so done. And therfore albeyt I did graūt him (as I will not) that he might so doo / yet therof yt do [...]h not followe / that he hath so dō in d [...]de. For god maye do many thinges wc he doth not. And therfore his argumēt doth not ꝓue his purpose Now yf he do but thinke that god hath so don / I am well pleased and wyll not put hym to th [...] payne to ꝓue yt. For anon ye shall se hī so intāgled in briars / that he shall not wette where to be come
But [...]et this yonge man gooeth aboute to proue the poynt by scripture.More [...] For except we graūt him that poynt to be true / he sa [...]eth that [...]is we make the angell a ly [...]ar that sayd / he is not here / and also that els we make as though Chrystes bodye in his assension did not goo vp in the cloude in to heuyn from ye [...]th [...] but onlie hid him selfe in the cloude / and playeth boo pipe and tayried beneth still [...] here in the e [...]de he forgetteth hī sellfe so fowle / that whan he was a iōge sophis [...]er [Page] he wolde I dare saye / haue [...]yn full sore ashame [...] so to haue ouer sene hym sellfe at oxford at a peruise. For ye wott well that thinge wc he sayeth / and wc he muste therfore proue / is that the bodie of Christe can not be in euery place at once bi no meane that god could make. And the textes that he bring [...]th in for the proffe / saye no furder but that he was not in all places at once.
Frith.There are two thinges disputed betwene master more & me: the one is whether god can make the bodye of Christe in manye p [...]aces / & in the sacrament. And therto his mastership sayth ye. For god is allmightye and maye do all thynges. And I saye naye / and affyrme that GOD ys not called almightye because he maye do all thinges but because he maye do all that he will / and I sa [...]e that he will not make h [...]s sonne a lyear nor his scripture false / and that he can not do yt and yet abydeth almightye. The tother thynge is this / whether he haue done yt or not. For albeit I did graunt him that yt were possible / yet ys he n [...]uer the nere / [...]xc [...]pt he other can proue that he hath done yt in dede / or els thinke that god hath so done. For as I sayd god can do manye thinges wt he doth not. And the controuers [...]e of this doubte is dissolued by the angell and scripture wt (as m [...]ster more graunteth hym sellfe) proueth that he was not in all places at once And therof yt followeth / that god hath not don yt / although yt be possible. And so is his mastershype at a poynt. For yf I shuld graunte yt neuer so possible / yet yf scripture proue that yt be not so in dede / then is he neuer the nere his purpose [Page] / but moche the furder from yt. And thys y [...] euyn yt that I sayd before: that yt was not possible to stonde wt the processe of the scripture wc we haue receiued. And now his mastership hath graunted yt himsellf / which you maye be sure he wold not doo yf he coulde otherwise auoyde yt [...] And here you maye se howe sore I haue ouer sene my sellfe.
God forbid that any man shuld be the moreMor [...] prone & readye to beleue thys yonge mā in this great mater / because he sayeth in the begynyng that he wyll brynge all men to a concord and aquietnes of conscience. For he bryngeth men to the worst kinde of quietnes that may be deuised when he telleth vs as he doth / that euery mā in this mater / maye wt oute parell beleue whyche waye he lyste, Euery man maye in euerye mater wt oute any counsell / sone set hym sellfe at reaste / yf he lyste to take that waye and to beleue as he list hym sellfe / and care not how But and yf that waye had byn sure / S. Paule wolde neuer haue shewed that manie were in parell of sekenes and deth to. For lacke of discernynge reuerently the bodye of our lorde in that sacramēt when they came to receyue hym.
When Christe shulde departe this worlde &Frith. goo to his father he gaue his disciples a commaundemētIoan. 1 [...] that they shuld loue eche other / sayinge by this shall all men knowe / that ye are my disciples / yf ye loue eche other / as I haue loued you. This rule of charite wold I not haue broken / wc notwtstondyng ys often in Ieopardie amōge faythfull folke / for this sacramēt of vnite [Page] This thynge con [...]ered / I thought necessarye / to aduertise both partyes to saue thys rule of charite / and proued in the fyrste chapter of my treatis [...]e / that yt was none article of the fayth necessarie to be beleued vnder payne of dāpnacion / and th [...]rfore that they were to blame that wolde be contencious for the mater. For sith yt ys non article of the fayth / they maye lawfullye dissent wt oute all Ieoperdye: & nede not to breake the rule of charite / but rather to receyue eche other like weake brethern. As by exāple / some thīke that the mariage betwene o (ur) moste redoubt [...]d prince ād quen kateryn is lawfull and maye stonde wt the lawes of god: and some thinke that yt is vnlawfull & ought to be disanulled. Now if we shuld for this ma [...]er breake the rule of charit [...] / and euery mā [...] ha [...]e his neighboure that wolde not thynke as he doth / then were we greatly to blame & in Ieoperdie of cō [...]empnacion. This I saye I proued in the fyrst chapter againste wc more maketh no busines / and improue [...]h yt not Wherbye you maye sone gather that yt is verye true. For els sith hys mastership so laboureth in thesse other poynt [...]s / he wold not haue lefte that vntouched / you maye be sure. This is the concord that I wolde bringe thē vnto. And as touchynge quietnes of conscience / I haue knowen manye that haue sore byn cōbured wt it And amōge all / a certayne master of arte which dyed in oxforth / confessed vppon his deth bed / that he had wept lying in hys bed an hundreth nyghtes with in one yere space / because he coulde not beleue yt. Now yf he had knowen / yt had [Page] byn no necessarye article / what comfort & quyetnes shuld yt haue byn vnto him. Furthermore euery man can not so quyet hymsellf / as master more Imageneth. For there are many that thynke thē sellfes no smalle foles / wc whā they haue receyued some folishe superstitiō / ether bi ther owyn Imaginacyō / or by b [...]leuinge ther gosshepes gospell & olde wyffes tales by & bye thynke the contrarye to be dedly synne / and v [...] terly for bydden by chrystes gospell. As by exāple / I knowe an house of relegyō / wherin is a person that thynketh yt dedly synne / to goo ouer astrawe yf it ley acrosse. And yf ther be on the pauemēt any paynted picture or any Image grauē on a deed mās graue / he wyl not trede vppon yt / although he shuld goo a forelonge aboute. What ys thys but vayne supersticyon wherewt the cōscience ys combred & corrupted? May not this be weded oute with the worde of god / shewyng him that it ys none article of the fayth so to thinke / and then to tell hym that yt ys not forboden by the scripture / and that yt is no synne? Now albeit hys cōsciēce be so cākerd that the ruste wyll not be rubbed oute: yet with godes grace / some other whom he hath enfecte with the same / maye come agayne to godes worde and be [...]ured full well / wc shuld neuer haue byn able to quiete themsellffes. And lyke wise there are some which beleue as your suppersticious hartes haue informed them / and these can not quiet them selues / because they beleue that you haue [...]et your doctryne out of scrypture / But whē yt ys proued to thē / & they thēselues [Page] ꝑ [...]eyue that scripture sayeth not so / thē cā they be cōtent to thinke the cōtrarye / & Iudge yt no synne at all And as touchyng S. Paule / suerelye ye take hym wrong. For I wyll shew you what ꝓcesse he taketh / & howe he his to be vnderstōd. But because yt is not possible to fynyshe it in fewe wordes / I shall deferre it vnto the bokes ende / ād thē I shall declare hym at large.
More [...]And what a faciō ys this / to saye that we maye beleue yf we list / that there ys the verye bodye of our lorde in dede / and thē to tell vs for a trouth / that suche a fayth ys imposs [...]ble to betrue: For god hym sellfe can neuer brynge yt abought / to make hys bodye be there.
Frith.Yf a mā take the bare wordes of christe / & of simplicite be deceyued / ād thinke that his veri [...] bodye be in the sacrament present to their teth that [...]ate yt / I dare not saye that he sinneth therin / but will referre t [...]e matter vnto godes Iudgemēt / & yet wt oute doubt / I dare saye he ys deceyued. As by example / yf a mā deceyued bi the leterall sense / wold thynge that men shuld preache to fyshes (as S. Fraūces did) because christ bade his disciples goo preache to all creatures / yet wolde not I thynke that he synned therin / But wyll referre hym vnto goddes Indgemēt. But yet I wene euerye woman that hath any wyte / wyll saye that he was deceyued.
I am verye sure that the olde holye doctours More.wc beleued christes bodye ād bloode to be there / ād so taught other to beleue / as by ther bokes playnlye doth apere. Yf they had thought ether that it could not be there or that yt was not there [Page] in dede / they wold not for all the good in this worlde haue wryten as they haue done. For wold thosse holye men (wene you) haue taught that mē be boūd to beleue / that the verye bodie and bloude of christe ys there / yf them sellfe thought they were not bounde there to? wolde they make mē honoure and worship that thynge as the very bodye and bloude of christe whiche them sellues thought were not yt? this ge [...]e ys to chyldishe to speake of.
That the olde douctoures & faythfull fathers so taught or thought as ye fayne of thē / ys verye false.Frith [...] For s. Austen as I haue shewed / maketh whollye for vs. Besides that / there is none o [...] the old fathers but they call yt a sacrament a misterie and misticall meate / wc is not eaten wt toth or belye: but wt cares and fayth. And touchinge the honour and worship done vnto yt. I saye yt is plaine Idolatrye. And I saye / that he falselye reporteth on the olde holie doctoures. For they neuer taught men to worshyp yt / nether can he allege one place in any of them all which wolde haue men to worship the sacrament. Peraduenture he maye allege me certayne new fellowes for hys purposse / as dunce / Dorbell / durand and suche draffe wc by ther doctryne haue drenched the worlde with dampnable Idolatrie But I speake of the olde holye fathers and doctours Sainct Austen / Ambrose / Hi [...]rom / Cy [...]rian / Cirille / Chrisostome / Fulgentius / and suche other: these I saye / do not teache men to worship yt / and by that I dare abyde. Of thys [...]oint I am so sure / that I will vse yt for a contrarye [Page] argumēt / that his naturall bodye is not there present. For yf the holie fathers before namyd had taken this text after the letter and not only spūallye / then in there workes they wolde haue taught mē to worshipe yt but they neuer taught men to worship this sacrament / therfor [...] yt followeth they toke not the text after the l [...]tt [...]r / but onlye spūallye. Now do I prouoke you to seke a pro [...]fe of yo (ur) purposse. Neuerthelesse I will not deney / but that these holy doctoures in dyuerse places / do calle yt his bodie / as christ [...] & paule doo / and so do we lykewise: & saye a [...]so that hys very bodie ys there eaten. But y [...]t we meane / that it ys eatē wt fayth (that is to saye by beleuing that hys bodye was brokē for Notevs) & haue hys bodye more in memorie at this maundye thē the meate that we there eate.☞ And therfore yt hathe the name of his bodie: because the name yt sellfe shulde put vs in remembraū ce of hys bodye / And that hys bodye ys there ch [...]flye [...]aten / [...]uyn more (thorongh fayth) then the m [...]ate with the mouth. And so are they also to be vnderstond.
More.Yet one great pleasure he doth vs / in that he [...]utteth vs all at lybertye / that we maye wt oute parell of dampnacyō beleue as we did before: that ys to witte / that in the blessed sacramēt the whole substāce of the bred ād the wyne is trāsm [...]ted & chaunged in to the verye bodie & bloude of christe. For if we maye with oute parell of dampnacyon beleue thus / as hym sell [...]e graunteth that we maye / thē graūteth he that we maye allso wt oute parell of dampnacyō beleue that [Page] hym sellf lyeth / where he sayeth / the trouth of that beleue ys impossible.
The beleuynge of this poynt / is of yt self notFrith. dāpnable as it ys not dāpnable to thynke that christe ys a very stone or auyne / because the leterall sense so sayeth: or yf you beleue that you ought to preache to fyshes and goo christen thē a nother whyle / as ye do belles. And I insure yow / if there were no worse mischef that ensued of this beleue / thē yt ys in yt selfe / I wolde neuer haue spokē agaynst yt. But now there followeth vppō yt dampnable Idolatrye. For thorough the beleue that thys bodye ys there / mē fall downe and worshipe yt / And thynking to pleasse god / do dāpnable synne agaynst hī This I saye / ys the cause that I so ernestly wryte agaynste yt / to auoyde the Idolatrye that ys cō mitted thorough yt. Parte of the germanes do thynke that hys naturall bodye ys present in the sacrament & take the wordes fleshelye / as martē taught thē. But none of thē worship yt for that martē forbedeth both in his wordes ād workes / & so blessed be god they auoyde that Ieoperdie wc thinge yf you wyll allso graūt & publishe☜ but this one proposityon / that yt ought not to be worshipped / I promise you I wyll neuer wryte agaynste yt. For thē is the Ieoperdie taken awaye / and then I am content that your mastership thynke I lye. But in the meane season I muste thynke that ye fulfyll the wordle with dampnable Idolatrye. And thus haue you allso answer vnto the conclusyon which you allege oute of the kynges graces boke. [Page] For I saye in your waye ys no hurte / as longe as you doo but onlye beleue the bare wordes of [...]h [...] text (as S. Fraunces did / when he preached to fishes. But yf thorough the occasion of thosse wordes / ye falle in to the worshypynge of yt / then I saye that in your waye ys vndoubted dampnacyon. And so ys there great Ieopardie in your waye / & non at all in oures. For though he were there in dede / yet do not we synne yf we worship yt not / for we are not commaunded to worship the sacrament. But yf he be not there / then do you dampnable Idolatrye.
¶The consecracyon of the Sacrament.
More. NOw as for a nother quietnes of euery mans cōsciens this yongman byddeth euery man be bolde / whether the blessed sacrament be cō secrate or vnconsecrate (for though he moste specyallye speaketh of the wyne / yet he speaketh yt of both) and byddeth not [...]are / but take yt for all that vnblessed as yt ys because the prest (he sayeth) cā not deceyue vs nor take from vs the profiet of christes ins [...]itucion / whether he alter the wordes or leaue them all on sayd. Is not thys a wōderfull doctrine of this yonge man. We wotte well all / that the prest can not hurte vs by his ouersight [Page] or malice / yf there be no faulte vppō oure owin partye / for that perfectyon that lacketh on the prestes parte / the great mercye of god as we truste of hys owyn goodnes supplyeth. And therfore as holye Chrisostome saieth / no man can take harme but of himselfe. But now yf we se the thynge disordered oure owyn sellfe by the prest and Christes institucion broken / yf we thā wittingly receyue yt vnblessed and vnconsecrated / and care not whether christes instituciō be kept and obserued or no / but reakon yt is as good wt oute yt as wt yt / then make we our sellffes partakers of the faute and lese the profyte of the sacrament / and receyue yt wt dampnacyon: not for the prestes faute / but for oure owyn.
I had thought that no turke wolde haue wrestedFrith. a mannes wordes to vnfaythefullye for he leauith oute all the pith of mi mater for my wordes are these. I wyll shew you a meanes how ye shall euer receyue yt according to Christes institucion / although the prest wolde wt drawe yt frō you. Fyrst ye nede to haue no respecte vnto the prestes wordes wc ministreth yt. For yf ye remēber for what entent Christ did institute this sacrament / and knowe that yt was to put vs in remembraunce of hys bodye breakynge & bloud sheding / that we might geue him thankes for yt and be as sure of yt thorough faith accordinge to his promises / as we are sure of the brede b [...]eatinge of yt: yf as I saye / ye remember this thynge (for wc intent only the preste speaketh those wordes) then yf the prest leue oute those wordes or parte therof / he can not hurte you. For [Page] you haue all readie the effecte ād finall purpose for the wc he shuld speake thē. And againe yf he shuld whollie altre thē yet he cā not deceiue you For then ye be sure that he is a lyear / ād though you se the prest brynge you the wine vncōsecrated yet neuer sticke at that. For as surelye shall yt certifie youre cōscience and outwarde senses [...]hough he cōsecrate yt not (so thou cōsecrate yt th [...] sellf [...] that ys to saye / so thou know what ys ment therbye and geue hym thākes) as though he made a thoussand blessynges ouer yt. And so I saye that yt is euer consecrated in hys harte that beleueth / though the prest cōsecrate yt not. And contrarye wyse yf they cōsecrate yt neuer so muche [...] and thy cōsecracion be not bye / yt helpeth the not a rishe. For except thou knowe what ys ment therby / and beleue / geuinge thankes for his bodye breakinge and bloudshedynge / yt can not profyte the.
More [...]Nowe where you saye / that yf we se the thinge disordered by the prest / & Christes institucyon broken / & wyttinglye receyue yt / we make o (ur) selffes partakers of the cryme.
Frith.I answer that yf the reformacyon therof laye in o (ur) hādes / then sayd you trouth / but sith this ys writin to priuate parsones wc maye not reforme this mater / and that the reformacyō therof reasteth onlye in the hande of your prince ād parliament (for the erroure cōsisteth not in the misorderyng of the mater by one prest onlie but rather of the doctrine of thē all / sauyng suche as god hath lightened) to thes p̄uate ꝑsons I saye that youre doctrine shuld soner be the occasion [Page] of an insurrexion wc we labour to eshew) then [...] ny quietinge of them by Christes doctrine. And therfore syth there ys an other waye to wode / sauyng all vpright / we wyll auoyde that parylous pathe. But when ye se Christes institucyon broken and y• one kynd left out vnto ye laye peple / why ar ye partaker therof?
How be yt as for his beleue that taketh yt noMore. better but fore bare bred & wine yt maketh him lytell matter cōsecrated or not / sauynge that the better yt is consecrated the more yt is euer noyous to him that receyuyth yt hauinge his cōsciens combred wt suche an execrable heresie / by wc well aperreth that he putteth no defference betwene the bodye of our lorde in the blessed sacrament / and the comon brede that he eatyth at hys dynner / But rather he estemeth yt lesse. For the tone yet I thynke or he begyn / yf he lacke a prest / he wyll blesse yt hym sellfe / the tother he careth not as he sayeth / whether yt be blessed or no.
What I reaken yt more then bred and wyneFrith. I wyll shew you here after in declarynge the mynde of S. paule vppon thys sacrament / and that in the conclusion of this boke. And in the meane season I will saye no more but that he be lyeth me. And as for there blessinges & cōsecracion profite not me / except I cōsecrate yt my selfe with fayth in Christes bloude / and with geuynge hym prayse and thankes for hys inestimable goodnes / which when I was his enemie reconciled me vnto his father bi his owin deth This consecracy [...] [...] muste I set by yt / yf I will [Page] haue any profyete of his deth wc the sacrament representeth vnto me. And yf I my self do thus consecrate yt / then shall I be sure of the frute of his deth. And I saye againe / that as the prestes do now vse to cōsecrrate yt / yt helpeth not the poore comēs of a rishe. For there cōsecraciō shuld stonde in preachinge vnto thē the dethe of christe wc hath delyuered them oute of the Egypt of synne and from the fyry fornace of Pharo the deuell. And as for theyr wagginge of ther fingers ouer yt / and sayng, vi. or .vij. wordes in laten / helpeth them nothing at all for how can they beleue by the meanes of his wordes whē they knowe not what he sayeth? And as touchinge the comen breade that I eate at my dynner / whether I haue a preste or not / I blysse yt wt my harte (and not wt my fyngers) and hartely geue God thankes for yt. For yf I haue an hundreth prestes to blesse yt / yet am not I excused therbye. For except I blesse yt my sellfe / yt profiteth me no more then yf yt were vnblessed. And yf I blesse yt my sellfe / than I care not what the preste prate. For as longe as I vnderstonde hym not yt profiteth me nothinge. But in good faieth I wene the bushoppes & ther proctoure w [...]te not what a blessinge meaneth. Therfore deare brethern hearkyn to me. To blysse god / ys to geue him praise and thankes for his benefites: to blisse a kynge or a prence / is to thanke him for hys ☞kindenes / and to praye to god for hym / that he maye longe reigne to the lawde of god ād welth of his cōmens.To blesse To blisse a mans neyghboure ys to praye for him and to doo hym good. To blisse [Page] my brede or meate / is to geue god thākes for yt To blysse my sellfe / is to geue god thāke for the great benefites that I haue receyued o [...] him / & to pray god that of his infinite goodnes he will increase those gyftes that he hath geuin me and fynishe his worke wc he hath begon in me / vnto his lawde and prayse / and as touching this fleshe / to fullfyll his will in yt / and not to spare yt but scorge / cut and burne yt: onlye that yt maye be to his honore and glorie. This ys the forme of blessynge / and not to wage two fyngers ouer them. But a lacke / of thys blessing our bushoppes be ignorant.
But as for those that are good and faythfullMore. folke and haue any grace or any sparcle of reason ī there hedes / wyll (I verely thīke) neuer be so farre ouer sene / as in this article (the trouth wherof god hath him sellfe testified by as many open miracles as euer he testified any one) to beleue this yonge man vppon his baren reasons agaynste the faithe and reason both of al [...] olde holy wryteres and all good christen people thys xv.C. yeres.
As for the miracles / I meruell not at them / Frith. neither may they make me the soner to beleue yt for Christe told vs before that suche delusionsMat. 14 shuld come / that yf yt were possible / the very electe shuld be deceyued by them.2 Thes. 2 And s. Paule exorteth vs to be ware of suche signes & wonders And therfore I doo as moses teacheth me whē Detrorm. I here of suche a wonder / then strayght I loke on the doctrine that is annexed wt yt. Yf yt teache me to referre all the honour to god & not to [Page] creatures / ād teache me nothinge but that will stond wt goddes worde / then will I saye / that yt is of god. But yf yt teache me suche thinges as wyll not stond wt his worde / then wyll I determyne that yt ys done by the deuell / to deiude the people wt damnable Idolatrye.Acte. 24. When Paule and Barnabas preached at Lystra and had don a myracle emonge them / the people ranne and wold haue don sacrifice vnto them. But the apostles ranne amonge them and [...]are their clothes cryinge vnto them / syrs what you doo? we are euyn corruptible men as ye are and preache vnto you / that you shuld la [...]ue this vayne superstition / & worship the leuynge god / wc made heuen erth / the see / & all that in thē [...] &c. here the apostelles refused suche hono (ur) & worship. And therfore I am sure they wolde not suffer ther Images to haue yt [...] Now whē I see a miracle done at any Image / & ꝑceyue that yt brīgeth men to the worshipping of yt sellfe / cōtrarye to the facte & doctrine of the apostelles / whiche wold not receyue yt thē selues / I must nedes cōclude / that yt is but a delusiō done by the deuell to deceiue vs & to brī ge the wrath of god vppō vs. Euin soo I saie of the sacramēt / sith the miracles that are done by yt / do make mē thīke otherwise then scripture will / & cause mē to worship yt: I doubte not but they are done by the deuell / to delude the people Thou wilt ꝑauenture saie that god will not suffer him to abuse the sacramēt of his bodie & bloude. Yes verelye / god will suffer yt / and doth suffer yt / to see whether [...] we will be faithfull ād abide by his worde or not. And meruell not ther [Page] of / for god suffered hym to take vppe the veryMath. 4 naturall bodye of his sonne Christ and set hym on a pynnacle of the temple. And after he toke hym vppe agayne / and leade him to an exceding mountaine. And therfore thīke not but that he hath mo [...]e power ouer the sacramēt then he hade ouer Christes owyn bodie. And therfore when they tell me / loo here is christ: [...]oo there is christ (as Christ prophecyed) loo he is at this auitre loo he is at that / I will not beleue them.
Neuerthelesse yf I shuld graunt that all the myracles whyche were done / and ascrybed vnto the sacrament / were very true miracles ād done of god himsellf (as I doubt not but some of them be true) yet there vppon yt doth not [...]olowe that the Sacrament shulde be the verye, naturall bodie of Christe. For we haue euydent stories that certayne persones haue byn deliuered frō bodelye diseases thorough the sacramēt of baptime. And yet the watter is not the holye gost nor the very thinge yt sellfe wherof yt is a sacrament.Actes. [...] The shadow of Peter hath healed many. And yet was not that shadow Peters owyn person We reade also that napkyns & hād [...]herchers were caryed from Paule vnto themActes. 1 [...] that were syke and possessed wyth vnclene spiretes / and they receyued ther helth. And yet yt were neuerthelesse madnes / to thinke that Paules bodye had byn actuallie or naturallie in thosse thynges. And therfore thys ys but a verye weake reason / to Iudge by the myracles the presence of Chrystes bodye. And surelye you mought be ashamed to make so slender reasons. [Page] For god maye worke miracles thorough many thinges wc are not his naturall bodye. And as touchinge the olde doctoures whom you fayne to make wt you / and the trouth of your opinyon wc you saye hath byn beleued of all good christē p [...]ople this .xv.C. yeres / is suffecyentlye declared before / & proued to be but a poynt of your old poetrye.
¶Doctoure barnes did graciouslye escarpe master mores hādes
More, ANd also frere barnes albeyt that as ye wett well he is in many other thinges a brother of this youngmās secte: yet in thys heresie he sore ab [...]orreth his heresye or els he lyeth hym sellfe. For at his laste beinge here he wrote a letter to me. Wherin he writeth that I laie that heresie wrongfullye to his charge. And shewyth him sellfe so sore greued therewt that he sayeth / he will ī my reproche make a boke agaynst me. Wherin he wyll professe & proteste his fayth concernynge this blessed sacrament, But in the meane season yt well contenteth me / that frere barnes beyng a man of more age. And more rype discrecyon & a doctour of diuinite / and in those thinges better lerned then this yongmā ys / abhorreth this yongmānes heresie in this poynt / as well as he [Page] lyketh hym in many other.
The more your mastershipe prayseth doctourFrith: barnes / the worse men maye like yo (ur) mater. For in many poītes he doth cōdēpne yo (ur) dānable doctrine / as in his boke apereth. And therfore if suche credēce must be geuē to him / then moche the lesse will be geuin to you. But ꝑaduenture you will saye / that he is to be beleued in this poynt / although he erre in other. Wher vnto I answer that yf you will cōsent vnto him I wolde be well☜ apayd and will promise you to wryt no more in that mater. For in thys we both agre / that yt ought not to be worshipped (ye and blessed be god all the other whom you calle heretyckes). And so both of vs do auoide the Idolatrye wc you wc so great daunger do daylye cōmit. And therfore yf you alowe his lerning then am I content that you dissent frō me. For lett yt not be worshipped / and thinke as yow will: for then is the parell paste. And sith we agre in thys poynt / doubt not but we shall sone agre in the residou and admitte eche other for faythfull brothers. And where yo (ur) mastership sayeth / that he wrot you a letter prote [...]tinge that you laye that heresie wrongfullye to his charge. I thinke yt was more wisdom for hym twise to haue wryten to you / then once to haue comen and tell you of yt. For yt was playnly told hym / that you had conspiryd his deth / ād that notwtstondinge his saffe conduyte / you were minded to haue murthered hym. And for that cause he was compelled bothe being here / to kepe hym sellfe secreatlye / & also preuelye to departe the realme.
[Page]And blessed be god you haue suffeciēt [...]ye publyssed your purposse in your answer agaynst W tindale / where you saye / that you myght lawfullye haue brun [...]e hym. Here mē maye see how ꝑciable yow are addicte to our prelates. And how ꝓne ye were to ful [...]yll ther plea [...]ures contrarye to our princes p̄rogatiue royall. And thankes be to god wc gaue yow suche grace in the sight of o (ur) soueraig [...]e / that [...]e s [...]rt [...]ye wtdrewe yo (ur) power. For els yt ys to be [...]eared that you wold further haue proceded agaynste his graces p̄rogatiue / wc thynge whether yt be treason or not let other men d [...]fyne. But this I dare saye / that yt is printed and publyshed to our princes great dishonore. For what l [...]rn [...]d mā maye in time to come truste to hys graces saffe cō [...]uyte or come at his graces instāce or requeste / sith not onlye the spūallye (wc of ther professiō resy [...]e hys prerogatiue) but also a laye man ꝓmoted to suche ꝓminence by hys graces goodnes / dare presume so to depresse hys prerogatyue / & not onlye to saye / but also to publishe yt in prēt: that notwtstondyng hys graces saffe conduyte / they myght lawfullye haue burnte hym.
But here he wold saye vnto me as he dethe in his boke / that he had forfayted his saffe cōduyte ād therbye was fallyn in to his enemyes handes. Where vnto I answer / that this yo (ur) sayinge is but a vayne glose. For I my sellfe did reade the saffe cōduyte that came vnto hym / wc had but onlye thys one conditiō annexed vnto yt / that if he came before the feaste of christmas thē next insuynig / he shuld haue fre lyberte to deperte [Page] at his pleasure. And this cōdicyō I kn [...] we was fullfylled, How shulde he than forfayte hys saufe conduyte? But master more hath lerned of hys masters our p̄lates (whose procture he ys / to depresse oure princes p̄rogatiue) that men ought not to kepe any promisse wt heretyckes. And so his sa [...]fe cōduyte cold not saue hym As though the kynges grace myght not admitte any mā to goo and come frelye in to hys graces realme / but that he muste haue leue of our p̄ lates. For els they myght laye heresye agaynst the parson / and so [...]ley hym cōtrarye to the kynges salfe cōduyte wc thynge all wyse mē do knowe / to be preiudiciall to his graces prerogatiue ro [...]all. And yet I am sure that of all the tyme of hys beynge here / you can not accuse hym of one cryme / albeit (vnto your shame) you saye that he had forfayted his salfe conduyte. These wordes hade be very extreme and worthy to haue byn [...]oked vppon / allthough they had byn wretyn by som presumptuōs prelate. But that a laye man so heighlye promoted by hys pryn [...]e / shuld speake them and also cause them openlye to be publyshed amonge hys graces comes / to de [...]ecte the estymacyon of hys royall power / doth in my minde / deserue [...]orrection. Natwithstondynge I leue the iudgem [...]nt and determinacyon vnto the discrecyon of hys graces honorable counsell.
And as for that holy prayer that this deuouteMore. yōgmā as a new christe teacheth to make at the receiuīge of this blessed sacramēt / all his cōgregaciō: I wold not geue the parīge of a pare for [Page] hys praier / though yt were better thē yt is / pullynge awaye the true fayth therfro / as he doth. How be yt hys prayer there ys so dyuised & pē ned and paynted wt laysure & studye / that I truste eueri good christē womā maketh a moche better prayer at the tyme of hyr howsell / by faythfull affectyō ād by goddes good inspiraciō sodē lye. Fryth ys an vnmete master to teache vs what we shuld praie at the receyuīge of the blessed sacramēt / when he will not knowelege it as it is / but take christes blessed bodie for nothing but bare bred / & so lytle esteme the receyuyng of the blessed sacramēt / that he forsyth lytle whether yt be blessed or not.
Frith.Where he discōmendyth my prayer & sayeth that I am an vnmete master to teache mē to praye / seyng I take awaye the true fayth from yt / and sayeth that euery woman cā make a better / whē she receyuyth the sacramēt. I wolde to god that euery womā were so wyll lerned that they coulde teache vs both. And sureli I intēded not to prescrybe to all men that prayer onlye but hoped to help the ignorant / that they might ether speake those wordes / or els (takyng occasion at thē) to saye some other to the lawde ād prayse of god, And as for your fayth (wc you call the true fayth) mus [...]e I nedes improue. For yt wyll not stonde wt the true text of scripture as yt playn [...] apereth. But to the fayth in christes [...] bloude I exhorte all mē / and teach thē to eate hys bodye wt fayeth (and not wt teth) wc is by hauynge his deth in contynuall remembraunce / And degestynge yt in to the bowels of the soule. And because [Page] yow so sore improue mi prayer / to conclude my answer agaynst you / I wyll wryte agayne. And lett al mē Iudge betewne vs. Blessed be thou moste deare & mercifull father wc of thy tēder fauour & benignite / not wtstōding our greuous enormytis cōmitted agaynst the / wouchsauedst to send thyn owine & onlie deare sone / to suffre moste vile deth for our redēptiō. Blessed be thou Christ Iesu our lorde & sauiour wc of thine abundāt petye cōsidering oure miserable estate / willyngly tokest vppon the to haue thy moste innocēt bodie brokin & bloude shed / to purge vs ād washe vs wc are ladyn wt iniquite. And to certifie vs therof / hast left vs not only thy worde wc maye enstruce o (ur) hartes: But allso a visible token to certifie euē our outward sences of this great benefyte that we shuld not doubt / but that the bodie and frute of thy passyon are oures (thorough fayth) as surelye as the brede / which by our senses we knowe that we haue with in vs. Blessed be also that spirite of verite which ys sent from god our father thorough our sauiour Christ Iesu / to lyghten our darke ignoraunce / And leade vs thorough fayth in to the knowelege of hym which ys all verite. Strengthe we beseche the our frayle nature and encrease our fayth: that we maye prayse god our moste mercifull father and Christe his sonne our sauiour and redemer.
AMEN.
The paschal lambe and oure sacrament are here compared to gether.
NOw we shall shortly expresse the pith of our mater and borow the figure of the paschall lambe. Which is in all poītes so lyke. That the offeringe of the pascall lambe did signyfye the offerynge of Christes bodye / is playne by Paule which sayeth Christe our paschall lambe ys offered vp for vs 1. Cor. 5.When the childern of Israell were very sad and heuye for theyr sore appressyon vnder the power of Pharrao (for the mo myracles were shewed / the worse were they handeled). God sent vnto them by [...]oyses / that eu [...]ry hows [...]old shuld kyl a lambe to be a sacrifyce vnto GOD and that they shuld eate hym / with their staues in their handes / ther loynes gyrded and showes on their fee [...]e: euin as men that were going an hastye Iorney. Thys lambe muste they eate hastelye and make a merye maundye. Now because th [...]y shuld not saye / that they could not be merye [...] For ther oppressyon / and what coulde the lambe help them: he added glad tydynges vnto yt and sayd / thys ys the passing bye of the lorde. Whiche thys nyght shall passe by you and [...]e all the fyrste begotton / with in the Lond [...] of Egipt / and shall delyuer you oute of [Page] your bondage / and brynge you in to the lond that he hath promissed vnto yo (ur) fathers. Marke the processe and conueyaunce of thys m [...]ter / for euyn lyke wisse yt is in our sacramēt. The aposteles were sad & heuye / partlye considering the bōdage of synne w [...]erwt they were oppressed & partlye because he told thē that he muste depute frō thē in whō they did put all their hope ofIoan. 1 [...]. ther deliueraunce. W [...]yle the [...] were in this heuynes / Christ thought to cōfort them & to geue them the seale of their delyueraunce / ād toke in his hande bred / blessed and brake yt / and gaue yt to his disciples sayinge: this is my bodye wc shalbe geuyn for you. For this nyght shall the power of pharo the dewell be distroyed / and to morow shall you b [...] deliuered from the egipt of synne [...] and shall take your iourneye towardes that heuenlye mansion which ys prepared of of god for all that loue hym. Now compare thē to gether.
The paschal lambe was institute and eaten the night before the chyldern of Israell were in dede delyuered from egipt, Like wise was the sacrament institute & eaten the night before we were deliuered from our sinnes.
The paschal lambe was a verye lambe in dede And so is the sacrament very brede in dede.
The pasch [...]l lābe was called the passynge bye of the lorde which distroyed the power of pharo & delyuered thē. The sacrament is called the bodie of the lorde which distroyed the power of the deuell and delyuered vs.
¶ As manny as did eate the pascal lambe [Page] in fayth / were very merye and gaue god great thankes. For they were sure the next daye to [...]e deliuered oute of egypt / as many as did eate his sacrament in fayth / were merye and gaue God great thankes / for they were sure the next daye to be deliuered from there synne.
5 They that did not eate the paschal lambe in fayth / could not be merye. For they were not sure of deliuerāce from the powre of pharo. They that did not eate this sacrament in fayth / could not be mery: For they were n [...] sure of deliuerā ce from the power of the deuell.
6 They that beleued the worde of the lorde did more eate the passinge bye of the lorde wc shuld deliuer them / then they did the lābe. They that dide beleue the worde of the lorde did more eate the bodye of the lorde wc shulde be geuin for their deliueraunce / then they did the bred. For that thinge doth a man moste eate that he moste hath in memorie and moste reuolueth in minde: as appereth by Christe Ioan. 4. I haue meate to eate that ye knowe not,
They that beleued not the next daye to be delyuered 7 from Egypt / did not eate the passynge bye of the lorde / although they eate the lamme. They that beleued not the next daye to be delyuered from synne did not eate the bodye of the lord [...] / although they eate the bred [...]
8 The chylderne of Israell were but onece delyuered from Egypt / natwtstondinge they did euery yere eate the lambe / to kepe that facte in perpetuall remembraunce. Eu [...]n so Christ bought ād redemed vs but once for all and was offered ād [Page] sacreficed but once for all though ye sacrament therof be daylie broken amonge vs to kepe ye benefite in continuall memorye.
9 As manye as did eate the paschal lābe in faith and beleued godes worde as touchinge their deliueraunce from Egypt / were as sure of their deliueraunce thorough fayth / as they were sure of the lābe by eatinge yt. As many as doo eate this sacramēt in fayth & beleue godde [...] worde as touchinge their deliueraunce from synne / are as sure of ther deliuera [...]nce thorough fayth / as they 10 are sure of the br [...]de by eatinge yt.
As many as did eate of that paschal lambe did magnifie their god / testifienge that he onlie was the god allmightie / and they his people styckinge to hym / to be deliuered by his power from all daūger. As manie as doo eate of this sacramēt do magnifie theyr god testifying that he ōlie is the god allmightiy & they his people styckinge by hī to be deliuered by his power frō all dāger.
11 Whē the Israelytes were deliuered frō egipt / they eate neuerthelese the paschal lambe wc was styll called the passing bye (because yt was the remembraunce of the passing [...] bye of the lorde) and hertelye reioysed / offering him sacrifice and knoweleginge wt infinite thankes / that they were the fellowship of them that had suche a mercifull god, Now Christes electe are deliuered frō synne / they eate neuerthelesse the sacramēt wc is styll called his bodye that once dyed for their deliuera [...]nce / and hartelye reioyse / offeringe to hī the sacrifice of prayse & knowelegen wt infinite thankes / that they are of the fellowship of them [Page] that haue suche a mercifull GOD.
The paschal lambe after their deliueraunce yt was yerlye eaten / brought as moche myrth & Ioye vnto thē that did eate yt in faith / as yt ded to their [...]athers wc felt pharo his furie / & were not yet delyuered. For they knewe ryght well that except god of his mercye and wonderfull power had so del [...]uered them they shuld also them sellfes haue byn bonde in the londe of Eg [...]pt and vnder that wicked prince Pharo / of wc bondage they greatlye reioysed to be rid all readye / & thanked God h [...]elye because they founde them sellfes in that plentuose Londe wc god prouided for thē. The sacramēt wc after oure delyueraunce is yerlye & daylye eaten / bringyth as muche myrth & Ioye vnto vs that eate yt in faith / as it did to the apo [...]teles wc were not yet deliuered. For we knowe right well that except god of his merc [...]e and thorough the bloude of hys sonne / had so del [...]uered vs / we shuld also o (ur) sellffes haue byn bounde in the egi [...]t of synne vnder that wicked prince the deuill / of wt bondage we greatly reioyse to be ryd all redye / and thāke God hyelye because we fynde our sellues in the state of grace & haue receiued thorough faith the first [...]ructes & a taste of the spiret wc testifyeth vnto vs that we are y• childern of God.
This maundie of remembraunce was yt that paule receyued of the lorde & del [...]uered to the corinthians in the .xi. chaptre. For though he borowe one propertie and similitu [...]e of the sacramēt in th [...], x. chapter / that in my mynde maketh nether wt vs nor agaynst vs / albeit som thinke [Page] that yt maketh hole for the exposiciō of christes wordes / this is my bodie.1. Cor [...]1 But in my minde they are deceyued. [...]or the occasion that paule spake of yt in the .x. chapter was this. The Corinthians had knowelege that all meates were indifferent and wh [...]ther yt were offered to an Idole or not / that th [...] meate was not the worse / and that they myght lawfullye eate [...]f yt / whether yt were solde them in the shambles or set before th [...]m when they dyned or souped in an vnfaithfull mānes howse / askynge no questyons: except some man dyd tell them that yt was offerred to an Idolle / and then they shulde not [...]ate of yt for offendynge hys conscyence that so told them (albe yt they were els fre and the thynge indifferent) thys knowelege because yt was not annexed wyth charyte was the occasyon of great offendyng. For by reason therof they sate downe amonge the gentyles at there feastes / Wher they eate in the honour of their Idolles / and so dyd not onlye wounde the conscyens of their weake bretherne / but also committed Idolatrye / in dede: And therfore s. paule sayd vnto thē.Paule My deare beloued fle frō worshyppinge of idolles.☜ I speake vnto th [...] wc haue discreciō Iudge ye what I saye. Ys not the cup of blessing wc we blysse the fellowship of the bloude of christe? ys not the brede wc we breake the f [...]llowship of the bodie of Christe? For we though we be manye are yet one bred and one bodye / in as moche as we are partakers of one bred. Christ did calle hym sellfe bred and the brede hys bodye: And here Paule calleth vs bred & the brede o (ur) bodye [Page] Now maye you not take Paule that he in this place shuld derectly expound Christis mynde. And that the verie exposicion of Christes wordes / whē he sayd this is my bodye / shuld be that yt was the fellowship of his bodye (as some saie wc sekynge the kaye in this place of paule locke them sellffes so faste in / that they can fynde no waye oute) For Christe spake those wordes of his owyn bodye wc shulde be geuyn for vs / but the fellowship of Christes dodye (or congregacyō) was not geuyn for vs. And so he ment not as P [...]ule here sayeth / but ment hys owyn bodye. For as Paule calleth the bred oure bodye for a certayne propertie / euyn so doth Chryste calle yt his bodye for certayne other properties In that the brede was broken / yt was christes owyn bodye signifying that as that bred was broken / so shulde his bodye be brokyn for vs. In that yt was distributed vnto his disciples yt was his owyn bodie / signifyinge that as verelye as that bred was destrib [...]ted vnto them / so verelye shulde the deth of his bodie and frutte of his passiō be distributed to all faithfull folke. In that the bred strengtheneth oure bodies yt is his owin bodye / signiyfing that as owre bodies are strengthened ād cōforted by bred / so are owre sowles by the faith in his bodie brekīg And likewise of the wyne in that yt was so distrib [...]ted and so cōforteth vs and maketh vs merye. Furthermore the bred and wine haue a nother propertie / for the wc yt is called our bodie. For in that the bred is made one brede of manie graynes or cornes / yt is o (ur) bodie signifieng that [Page] we though we be manie / are made one brede that is to saye one bodie. And in that the wine is made one wyne of manye grapes / yt is our bodye signifieng that though we are manie yet in christe and thorough Christe we are made one bodie and membres to eche other. But in this thinge Paulle and Christe agre. For as Paule calleth the brede oure bodye and vs the br [...]d because of this propertie that yt is made one of manie euin so doth Christe call yt his bodye because of the ꝓpertyes before rehersed. Furthermore in this they agre / that as Paulles wordes / muste be taken spūallye (for I thinke there is no man so mad / as to Iudge that the bred is our bodye in dede although in that proꝑtie yt rep̄senteth our bodie). Euyn so muste Christes wordes be vnderstond spirituallye that in thosse properties yt representeth his verye bodie. Now when we come to gether to receyue this brede then by the receyuing of yt in the congregacion / we do openlye testifie that we all (wc receyue yt) are one bodye / ꝓfessing one god / one faith & one baptyme / and that the bodie of Christe was broken and his bloude shed for remission of oure sinnes Now sith we so do / we maye not a cōpanye nor sit in the congregacion or fellowship of thē that offer vnto ydolles and eate before them. For as Paule sayeth / ye can not drinke the cupe of the lorde and the cupe of the deuells:Paule. ye can not be partakers of the table of the lorde and of the table of the deuylles. I wold not that you shuld haue felowship wt deuelles. The hethen whiche offerred vnto Idolles were the fellowship of deuellis [Page] / not because they eate the deuelles bodye or drāke the deueles bloude / but because they beleued & put their confydens in the ydole or deuill as ī their god and all that were of that faith hade their ceremonies / & gaue hart ye thākes to their god wt that feaste wc they kept. They came to one place & broug [...]t their meate before the Idole & offered yt. And wt their offering gaue vnto the deuill godlye honour. And then they sate downe and eate the offeryng to gether geuyng prayse and thankes vnto their God / and were one bodye and one fellowship of the deuell whyche they testiffye by eating of that offeringe before that idolle. Now dothe s, Paule reprehend the Corinthiās for berynge the gyntiles cōpanie in eatinge before the idolle. For they knowe that the meate was like other meate. And therfore though them sellues fre to eate yt or leue yt. But they ꝑceyued not that that congregacyon was the fellowship of deuelles wc were there gathered (not for the meate sake) but for to thāke and prayse the ydolle their God in whom they had their confidence. And all that there assembled ād did there eate / & did openly testifye / that they all were one bodie / professynge one faith in theyr god that ydolle, So pauie rebuked them / for because that b [...] their eating (in that place ād fellowship) they testified openlye / that they were of the deuelys bodye & reioysed in the ydolle their god in whom they had fayth and cōfidence And therfore sayth paule / that they can not both drinke the cupe of the lorde testifynge hym to be their God in whom onlye they haue truste and [Page] [...]iaūce / and the cupe of the deuell testifyinge the Idolle to be their god and refuge.
Here you maye note that the meate & the eatinge of yt in this place & fellowship is more then the comō meate & eating in oth [...]r places. For el [...] they might lawfullye haue dronken the deuelles cup wyth them the one daye / and the cup of the lorde the next daye wt hys disciples. What was yt more verelye yt was meate wc by the eatinge of yt in that place and fellowship / did testifie openlye vnto all mē / that he was ther god whos [...]e cup they dranke / and before whom they eate in that fellowshyp: and so in their eatynge they praysed and honored the idole, And therfore they that had their trus [...]e in the leuinge god and in the bloude of hys sonne Christ / myght not eate with them. And likewise yt ys in the sa [...]rament / the brede and the eatinge of yt in the place and fellowship where yt ys [...]eceyued / ys more then comen bred. What ys yt more? Uerelye yt ys brede which by the eatinge of yt in that place and fellowship / doth testy [...]ye openlye vnto all men / that he ys oure verye God whose cup we drinke & before whom we eate in that fellowship / and that we put all our fyaunce in hym & in the bloude of hys sonne Christe Iesu / geuinge god all honoure & infinite thankes for his great loue wher wt he loued vs / as ys yt testifyed / in the bloude of his sonne / wc was shed for oure synnes. So that in this place and fellowship maye no man eate nor drynke with vs / but he that is of our fayth & knowelegeth thesame god that we doo. As by example / yf mā were [Page] well beloued emonge his neyghboures (albe yt he haue some ennemyes) and were longe abs [...]nt from his frendes in a strange contrye: when he were come home / his neighboures that loued hī wolde greatlye reioyse & ꝑaduenture wolde bi [...] a copō or a nother pece of meate to geue him his welcō home / & get thē to some honest mās howse or to a tauerne / and make good chere to gether / to testifie openlye that he is welcome home / and that they all whiche are at that bāket reioyse of his cominge home. Nowe I saye / that this banket is more then another meale / for at this banket his enemyes maye be loth to come / because they can not reioyse at his cominge home / & therfore can not make good chere amōge them / testifying that he is welcome home: but reather abhorreth the meate and drinke that is there eaten because their hart doth not fauoure the parson for whose sake yt is prepared. Natwtstondinge yf a capons legge were reserued for one of hys ennemyes and afterward geuyn hym whan the banket were don / he might lawfullye eate yt. For then yt were but bare meate suche as he eatyeh home. And likewise the ennemyes of christe which beleue not that they haue remissyon of sinnes thorough his bloude sheding / can not reioise of his bodye breaking. And therfore can not make good chere amonge them / but yf any be reserued after the maundye / he maye lawfullye eate yt for yt is but bred. And his loueres that are ther present do rather come thider to geue hī his welcome home then for the meate / and they more eate his welcome home then the meate. [Page] But yf any of his enemyes fortune to be there / they eate onlye the meate / ād not his welcom home. For they reioyse not at his cōmynge home. Lykewise the faithfull that are there present / doo rather come thether to reioyse in the fayth of his bodye breakyng / then in breakinge or eatinge of the bred or meate. But yf any of the vnfaythfull fortune to be there they eate only the brede / and not his bodie breakyng. For they reioyse not at his bodie breakinge. Here ꝑaduenture some wold suppose that I were contrarye to my sellfe. For before I sayd / that yt was more then meate that was [...]aten at the gētiles feaste / & more then meate that was eatē at my neighboures welcome home / & more then bred that ys eaten at the receyuing of the sacramēt of the bodie & bloude of christe. And nowe I saye / that yf a mās enemie be there / he eateth onlye the meate and not the welcom home. And lykewise the vnfaythfull eateth onlye brede and not the bodye and bloude of Christe. How maye these wordes stonde to gether? I answer / that they eate but onlye bred or meate that profyteth them / but in dede they eate more to theyr hynderaunce / and euyn there owyn dampnacyon. For they that did eate in the fellowship of gentiles / dit but onlye eate the meate to there profyte / but in eatynge theyr meate their facte dyd openly testyfye that they honoured that Idolle for ther GOD (althought their herte were other wise) wherin they comitted Idolatrye.1. Cor. [...] And besydes that they wounded the co [...]scyences of their weake brethern and so synned agaynst God. Besydes [Page] that / he that enuieth hys neighboure & comyth to that banket / [...]ateth but onlye the meate that profiteth him: natwtstonding in his owē harte / he eateth the rancor ād malice of his mynde / to his greate greuaunce / whē he seeth them so reioyse. And of his owē cōpanyōs wc are also these mannes enemyes / he doth purchase himsellfe hatred / because wt his facte he testyfi [...]th that he loueth him / although his harte be wotherwise / & of god shalbe condēpned. For he that hat [...]th his brother / ys a murtherer. Furthe [...]more he that ys vnfaythfull and comyth to the manudie 1. Ioan. 3/ eateth but onlie the bred that ꝓfiteth him / notwtstondyng he eateth beside that hys owyn dampnacyon / because he beleueth not that the bodie of our sauyour wc the sacrament representeth / is broken for his synnes / and his bloudeshed / to washe thē awaye. This I am compelled to do / to stope the chat [...]ringe mouthes of sophisters / albe yt to thē that he sober / yt had byn ynough to haue said / they eate onlie bred / & not the bodie breaking &c. For they ryght well vndstōd yt by the cō [...]rarye antithesie / & knowe that I mēt not by that (onlye) that he shuld eate th [...] brede and nothinge els but onlye bred: but that I mēt by this worde (onlye) that he shulde eate the brede with oute the bodye / And so lykewyse in other exāples. Thus haue we suffecientlie declared paules mynd in the .10. Chapter.
In the .xi. chapter paule maketh moche mēciō of the maūdi [...] & discribeth yt to the vttermoste.1. Cor. 11. First (he saith) whē ye come to gether ī one place / a man cā not eate the lordes souꝑ. For euery [Page] mā begynnyth afore to eate his owyn souꝑ / ād one is hoūgrye & an other ys dronkē. Haue ye not howses to eate & drīke in? or els dispice ye the cōgrigaciō of god & shame thē that haue not what shall I saye vnto you? shall I prayse you? In this I prayse you not. Paule did instructe accordinge to christes mynde / that the Corynthians shuld come to gether to eate the lordes souꝑ Whiche lyeth not so moche in the carnall eatynge as in the spirituall: and is greatly dyssyred to be [...]atē / not by the hoūger of the bodie / but by the hounger of the faythful harte. wc ys gredye to publyshe the prayse of the lorde & geue him hartie thākes / & moue other to the same that of many / praise might be geuin vnto o (ur) moste mercifull father for the loue wc he shewed vs in the bloude of his owī moste deare sonne christ iesu. Wherwt we are washed frō o (ur) sinnes & suerlie sealed vnto euerlastīge liffe. wt suche hoūger did christe eate the paschal lāde / sayinge to his diciples: I haue inwardlye dessired to eate this ester lambe wt you before that I suffer.Luc. 2 [...]. Christes inwarde desyre was not to fyll his bellye wt his disciples / but he had a spūall honger: bothe to praise his father wt thē / for their bodelie deliuerā ce oute of the lande of egypt: & speciallye to alter the paschal lābe & memorie of the carnall deliuerāce / in to a maūdie of myrth & thā [...] geuing for o (ur) spūall deliuerāce oute of the bōdage of synn [...] In so moche that whē christ knewe that yt was his fathers will & pleasure / that he shuld suffer for o (ur) [...]innes (wherin his hono (ur) / glorie & prayse shulde be published) then was yt a pleasure vnto hī / to declare [Page] vnto his disciples that great benefite / vnto hi [...] fathers prayse and glorie: and so did institute that we shuld come to gether ād breake the brede in the remēbraūce of his bodye breakynge & bloudeshedīge: & that we shuld eate it to gether reioysinge wt eche other & declarīge his bn̄fites [...]
Now were the corinthians fallin frō this hoū ger / and cā not to gether to thentēt that goddes prayse shuld be published by thē in the myddes of the congrygacion / but cā to fede their fleshe & to make carnall chere. In so moche that the ryche wolde haue meate and drincke ynough / ād take suche aboundaūce that they wolde be drō ke (and so made yt ther owyn souper & not the lordes / as paule sayth / ād did eate onlye the brede and meate / ād not the bodye breakynge as I sayd before) and the poore which hade not (that is to saye that had no meate to eate) where shamed & hongrye / ād so could not reiose ād prayse the lorde: by the reason that the delicate fare of the riche was an occasion for the pore eo lamēt their pourtye ād thus the riche did nether prayse god thēselues / nor suffered the poore to doo yt / but were an occasiō to hynder them.
They shulde haue brought their meate & drinke ād haue deuided yt wt their poore brothern / that they might haue byn mery to gether / ād so to haue geuyn thē occasion to be merye ād reioyse in the lorde wt thākes geuinge. But they had nether luste to prayse god nor to cōforte their neighboure. Ther fayth was feble ād their charite cold / and had no regard but to fyll their bodye & fede there fleshe: And so dispised the poore [Page] congrygacion of god whom they shuld haue honoured for the spyrite that was in thē & fauour that god had shewed indifferentlye vnto them in the bloude of his sonne christe. When Paul [...] perceyued that they were thus fleshlie minded & had no mynde vnto that spūall maundye which chefelye shuld ther be aduertised / he reproueth thē sore / rehersinge the wordes of christe That wc I gaue vnto you I receyued of the lorde. For the lorde Iesus the same night in the wc he was betrayed / toke bred & thāked and brake yt & sayd: take ye and eate ye / this ys my bodie wc ys brokē for you / this do ye in the remēbraūce of me. After the same maner he toke the cup whē souper was don sayinge / this cup is the new testamēt in my bloude / this do ye as ofte as ye drinke yt in the remembraunce of me. For as ofte as ye shall eate thys bred and drynke this cup / ye shall shewe the lordes deth / tyll he come. As though he shuld saye / ye corinthians are moche to blame wc at this souper seke the foede of yo (ur) fleshe. For yt was institute of christe / not for the entēt to noryshe the belye / but to strēghthē the harte & soule in god. And bi this you maye knowe that christe so mēt. For he callyth yt his bodye wc is geuin for you / so that the name yt sellf might testifie vnto yow / that in this souꝑ you shuld more eate hys bodye wc is geuyn for you (by digestyng that in to the bowelles of yo (ur) soule) thē the breed wc by the breakīge / & the distributyng of yt / doth rep̄sent his bodie breakīge & the distributyng theroff vnto all that are faythfull. And that he so meaneth ys euydent by the [Page] wordes following / wc saye / this do in the remembraunce of me: and likewise of the cup. And finallie [...]oncluding of both / Paule sayth / as often as ye shall eate this brede ād drinke this cup (in this place and fellowship) ye shall shewe the lordes deth vntill he come / praisinge the lorde for the dethe of his sonne and exortinge other to do the same / reioysinge in him wt infinite thankes And thefore ye are to blame wc seke onlye to fede the bellye wt that thinge wc was onlye institute to fede the soule. And ther vppon yt followyth.
Wherfore who so euer doth eate of this bred or drīke of this cup vnworthelie / is giltye of the bodye & bloude of the lorde. He eateth this brede vnworthelie / wc regardeth not the purpose for the wc Christ did ins [...]itute yt. wc comith not to it wt spūall honger / to eate thorough faith his verye bodye / wc the bred representeth by the breaking ād distributinge o [...] yt: whiche comith not wt a merye harte geuinge God hartye thankes for their deliuerance from synne: Whiche do not moche more eate in their harte the deth of his bodye / then they do the bred wt their mouth. Now sith the Corinthians dyd onlye seke their bely and fleshe / & forgat goddes honour and prayse (for which [...]t was institute / that thankes shuld be geuyn by the remembraunce o [...] his bodie breakinge for vs) they eate yt to goddes dishono (ur) & to their neighboures hinderrance / and to ther owin condempnacion / and so for lacke of fayth were g [...]ltye of Christes bodie wc (by faith) they shulde there cheffelye haue eat [...]n to ther soules helth. And therfore yt followith.
¶Lett a man therfore examyne hym sellfe / and so let hym eate of the brede / and drinke of the cup.
THis prouynge or examinynge of a mans selfe is fyrste to thinke wt him sellfe wt what luste and disyre he comyth vnto the maundye & wyll eate that b [...]ed: whether he besure that he is the childe of god & in the fayth of Christe: And whether h [...]s consc [...]ence do beare hym wytnes that Christes bodye was brokyn for hym: And whether the luste that he hath to prayse god ād thanke hym wt a faythfull harte in the myddes of the brethern / do dryue hym thither warde. Or els whether he do yt for the meates sake or to kepe the custome: for then were yt better that he were awye. For he that eateth or drinketh vnworthelye / eateth ād drinkethe his owyn dā nacyon / because he maketh no difference of the lordes bodye. That ys / as yt ys sayd before / he that regardeth not the purpose for which it was institute / ād puteth no defference betwene this eat [...]ng and oth [...]r eating (for other eatynge doth onlye serue the bellye) but thys eatynge was institute and ordeyned / to sarue the soule and inwarde man. And therfore he that abuseth yt to the fleshe / eateth and drinketh hys owyn dampnacyon, And he comyth vnworthelye to the maundye where the sacrament of Christes bodye ys eaten: ye / where the bodye of the lorde ys eaten / not [...]arnallye wt the teth and b [...]llye but spiritually wt the harte and faythe. Uppon this followeth the text that master More allegeth and wresteth for his purpose.
[Page]For this cause manye are weake and sike amō ge you / & manie slepe. Yf we had trulie Iudged oure selues / we shuld not haue byn Iudged Whē we are Iudged of the lorde / we are chastened because we shuld not be dampned wt the worlde Wherfore my brethern / when ye come to gether to eate / tarye one for another. Yf any man hunger / lett him eate at home / that ye come not to gether vnto condempnacyon.
For this cause (that is) for lacke of good examininge of oure selues (as ys before touched) manie are weake and syke in the fayth / & manye slepe / and haue loste their fayth in Christes bloude / for lacke of remembraunce of his bodye breaking and bloude shedinge: ye and not that onlie but manye were weake and sike euyn striken wt bodelye diseases for abusinge the sacrament of his bodye / eatinge the bred wt their teth ād not his bodye wt their hart and mynde and ꝑaduenture some slayne for yt / by the s [...]rocke of god. wc yf they had truly Iudged and examined thē selues for what intent they cam thither and why yt was institute / shuld not haue byn so Iudged and chastened of the lorde. For the lorde doth chasten / to bringe vs vnto repentaunce and to mortifie the rebellious membres / that we maye remēber hym Here ye maye shortly perceyue ye minde of Pau [...]e.
¶An Epitome and short rehersall of all this boke shewynge in what poyntes Frith dissenteth from our prelates.
NOw to be short / in thes .iij. poyntes frith dissenteth from oure prelates & from master [Page] More wc taketh vppon him to be their proctoure. 1 Oure prelates beleue that in the sacrament remayneth no bred / but that yt ys torned in to the naturall bodye of Christ both fleshe bloude & bones. Frith sayth that yt is none article of oure Crede: and therfore let them beleue yt that will. And he thinketh that there remayneth bred styll. And that he proueth, iij. maner of wayes.1. Cor. 1 [...] Fyrste by the scripture of Paule / wc calleth yt bred sayinge the brede wc we breake / ys yt not the fellowship of the bodie of christe? For we though we be manye / are yet one bodye and one bred / as mannye as are partakers of one bred.1. Cor. [...] And agayne he sa [...]eth / as oftē as ye eate of this bred or drīke of this cuppe / you shall shewe the lordes deth vn [...]yll he come. Also luke callethe yt bred saying in the ActesActes. [...] they continued in the fellowship of the aposteles / & in the breakinge of the brede and prayer.Mat. 2 [...] Mar. 1 [...] Luc. 22. Also Christe called the cuppe the frute of a vyne / saying I shall not from hence forward drinke of the frute of the vine vntill I drinke that newe in the ki [...] dom of my father.
Furthermore nature doth teache you that both the bred and wine contin [...]e in their nature. For the bred muldeth yf yt be kept longe / ye & wormis bred in yt. And ye poore mouse will runne awaye wt yt and eate yt / wc are euidence ynough that there remaynith bred. Also the wine yf yt were reserued / wold wax sower / as they confesse them selues [...] And therfore they howsell the laye people / but wt one kinde onlye: because the wine can not cōtinue nor be re [...]rued to haue readye [Page] at hande / when nede were. And surelye as y [...] there remayned no bred / yt could not mould nor wax full of wormes / euyn so yf there remayned no wine / yt could n [...]t wax sower. And therfore yt is but faulse doctrine tha [...] our p̄lates so long haue taught & published.
Finallie that ther remaineth bred / might be ꝓuyd by the auctorite of manie doctoures wt calle yt bred & wine / euyn as Christe & his appostelis ded And though some sophisters wolde wreste their sayinge / and expoūd thē after their owyn [...]hantas [...]e / yet shall I allege thē one doctoure wc was pope / that maketh so plaine wt vs that they shall neuer be able to auoyde hym.
Gelasiuꝰ in conci [...]io Ro.For pope Gelasius writeth on this maner. Certe sacramēta q sumimus corporis & sanguinis Christi [...] diuinae res sunt, propter qd & per eadē diuinae efficimur cōsortes naturae. Et tamē nō de [...]init esse substātia uel natura panis et uini, sed ꝑmanet in suae ꝓprietate naturae. Et certe imago et similitudo corporis & sanguinis Christi in actiōe misteriorū celebrantur. That is to saie / surelye the sacramēt of the bdye & bloude of Christe wt we receyue / are a godlye thynge / & therfore thorough th [...]m are we made ꝑtakers of the godly nature. And yet doth yt not cease to be the substāce or nature of bred and wine / but they continue in the propertie of their owyn nature. And surely the image and similitude of the bodye and bloude are celebrated in the acte of the misterys This I am sure / that no mā can auoyd yt / nor so wrest yt / but that all men shall sone espye hys folye / and therfore I maye conclude that there remayneth the [Page] substance and nature of brede & wine.
The seconde poynte wherin Frith dissenteth from oure prelates and their proctoure.
THe prelates beleue that his verie fleshe is p̄sent to the teth of thē that eate the sacrament / and that the wicked eate his verye bodye Frith sayth that yt is none article of our Crede and therfore he rekenith that he is in no Ieoperdye though he beleue yt not. And he thinketh that his fleshe is not p̄sent vnto the teth of thē that receyue the sacrament. For hys fleshe ys onlye in one place at once. And that he proue [...]h both by the auctorite of Sainct Austen ad Dardanum / and also by the auctorite of Fulgentius ad Thrasuuādum libro 20. as before apereth in the boke. And Fryth sayth that the wicked eate not hys verye fleshe allthough they receue the sacrament. And that he proueth by the scripture / doctoures and good reason grounded vppon the scryptures.
The scripture is this / he that eateth christesIoan. 6 bodie hath euerlastīge liffe / but the wicked hath not euerlastinge liffe / ergo then the wicked eate not his bodye. Agayne the scrypture sayeth he that eateth christes fleshe & drinketh his bloude abydeth in christe & christe in hī but the wicked abyde not in christe nor christe ī hī / ergo the wicked eate not his fleshe nor drinke his bloude.
2 This maye also be confyrmed by good auctorite.August [...] in ser. d [...] sacra fe pasche. For sainct Austen sayeth he that ab [...]deth not in christe & in whō christe abydeth not / wt ou [...]e doubte he eateth not his fleshe nor drīketh his [Page] bloude / allthough he eate & drinke the sacramēt of so great a thinge vnto his [...]ampnacion.
Beda [...]And euen the same wordes hathe beda vppon the tenth chapter of the fyrste pistle to the Corinthians.
Augusti. de ciuitate Dei in libro. 21. cap. 25.Agayne. s. Austene sayeth / he that abideth not in me & in whom I abyde not / let him not saye nor thinke / that he eateth my bodye or drinketh my bloude. And euen the same wordes hath Beda vppon the sixt chapter of the firste epistle to the Corinthiās. And euen the same sentēce hath Ambrose / and Prosper / ād Beda vppon the .xi chapter of the firste pistle to the Corinthians.
Finallye this maye be proued by good reason grounded vppon the scripture. Christ wold not suffer marye (though she loued him well) to touche him / because she lacked one poynt of faythe / and did not beleue that he was equale wt his father. And therfore be reason yt muste followe / that he wil not suffer the wicked (wc nether haue good faith nor loue towardes hī) both to touche him and eate him in to their vnclene bodies
Now sith this is proued true that the wicked eate not his bodie / yt must also therof nedes followe / that the sacramēt is not his naturall bodie For they do eate the sacramēt as all men knowe
Besides that the faithfull do not eate christes bodye wt their teth. And therfore yt muste followe that the wicked do not eate yt wt ther teth. The antecedēt or first ꝑte of the reason is ꝓued by the wordes of christe wc saith that the fleshe ꝓfiteth nothinge at all / meaning that yt doth not ꝓfite as they vnderstode him:Ioan. 6 that is to saie / yt [Page] profiteth nothinge to be eaten carnallie wt their teth & bellye / as they vnderstode him. For els yt profyteth moche to be eatē spūallye / that ys to saye / to beleue that thorough his bodye breakinge and bloud shedinge oure sinnes are purged. And thus doth Origene / s. Aus [...]en / Beda / Chrisostome / and Athanasius expoūd yt / as apereth in the boke before. And therfore Frith saith that onlie faithfull mē eate his bodie: not wt ther teth and mouth / but wt their faieth ād harte / y• digest yt in to the bowelles of their soulles thorough beleuing that yt was brokē on the crosse / to washe awaye their synnes. And the wicked eate not his bodye but on [...]ye the bred and there dāpnacyon / because they eate him not spūallie: that is / because they beleue not in his bodie breakinge and bloude shedinge.
¶The third poynt wherin Frith dissenteth from your prelates and their proctoure.
THe p̄lates beleue that men oughte to worship the sacrament but Frith saith naye / ād affyrmith that yt is Idolatrye to worship yt [...] And he sayth that Christ and hys appostyllis taught vs not so to do: nether did the holy fathers so teache vs. And Frith saith that the auctoures of this worshipinge are the childerne of ꝑdicion wc haue ouerwhelmed this worlde wt synne. Neuerthelesse we muste receyue yt reuerentlye because of the doctrine that yt bryngith vs. For it preacheth christes deth vnto vs / & discribeth yt before oure eyen / euen as a faithfull p̄char by the worde doth in still yt in to vs by our eares ād hearing. And that yt supplieth [Page] the Roume of a pr [...]char is euident by the wordes of s. Aus [...]en wc sayeth. Paulus quis portaret sarcinā corporis quod aggrauat animā, potuit tamen significando predicare Dominū [...]esum Christum, aliter perlinguā suam, aliter per epistolam, aliter per sacramentū corporis Christi, That is to saye / though Paule did [...]ere the burthen of the bodye wc doth honorate the soule / yet was he able in syg [...]ifying to preache the lorde Iesus christe / one waye by his tonge / and a nother waie bi a pistle / and a nother waye by the sacrament of Christes bodye. &c. For as the people by vnderstonding the sygnifycacion of the wordes wc he spake did heare the glorious gospell of god / ād as by the readynge of his pistle they vnders [...]od his m [...]nde and receyued the worde of the soules helth / so by the ministra [...]yon of the sacrament they might see wt ther eyen the thīge wc they harde & reade & so haue their sences occupied about the misserye / that they might the more ernestlie pr [...]ynt it in their minde. As by exāple: The prophet Hieremie beinge in Hierusalem in the tyme of [...]ed [...]chias kynge of the Iewes / prophesyed [...]se [...]e. 27& p̄ached vnto thē / that they shuld be takē p̄soners of Nabugo done [...]ar the kynge of Babylon, And the Iewes were angrye wt him & wold not beleue his wordes. And therfore he made a chaine or [...]etters of wode & put thē a bout his n [...]cke & ꝓph [...]sid agayne & preached that they shuld be taken p̄soners & l [...]de captiue in to Babylon. And as his wordes did certifye their [...]ares that they shuld be subdued / so the chayne did p̄sent their captiuite euen before their eyen. wc thinge [Page] did more vehemētlye worke in thē th [...] th [...] [...]are wordes could doo / & euen so yt is in the sacramēt For likewise as the wordes di [...] in still yt in to o (ur) eares / that his bodie was geuin for vs / & his bloude shed for the remission of o (ur) sinnes / euē s [...] did the ministratiō of the sacramēt expresse the same thinge vnto o (ur) sight / & do the more effectuouslye moue vs / then the bare wordes might do and make vs more attent vnto the thinge / that we maye wholye geue thākes vnto god & prayse hym for his bountuous benefites. And therfore seynge yt is as a p̄char / expressinge vnto our sight the same thinge that the wordes doo to oure [...]ares / you muste receyue yt wt reuerēs & sober behavyoure / aduertisinge the thing / that yt rep̄ senteth vnto you. And euē the same honoure is dewe vnto yt wc is geuin vnto the scripture that is the worde of god. For vnto that muste a mā deuoutlie geue eare / & r [...]uerentlie take the boke in his hāde: ye & yf he kisse the boke for the doc [...]r [...] nes sake that he lerneth there oute / he is to be c [...] ̄ mēded, Neuerthelesse yf he shuld goo sence his boke / men might well thinke that he were verie childyshe. But yf he shuld knele downe & praie to his boke then he did cōmitte playne idolatrie
Consider deare brethern what I saie & auoyde this Ieoꝑdie. wc thinge auoyded / I care not as touchinge the presence of his bodye / though you beleue that his naturall fleshe be there in dede (& not onlye in a misterye as I haue taught) For whē the Ieoperdye is paste / he were a fole that wolde be contentyous for a thinge as longe as there comyth no [...]urte therbye.
[Page]The germanes wc beleue the presence of his bodye / do not worship yt / but playnly teache the contrarye and in that poynt (thankes be to god) all they whom you call herytickes / do agre full-well. Onlye auoyde thys Idolatrye and I desyre no more.
¶The conclusion of this treatise.
NOwe deare brethern I beseche you for the mercye that ye loke fore in Christ Iesu / that you accept thys worke wt a syngle eye and no contentyons harte For necessite hath cōpelled me to wryte yt / because I was informed both of my lorde of winchester and other creadyble persons / that I had by the meanes of my fyrst treatise offended many men. Which thinge maye well be true: For yt was to slender to enstructe all thē wc haue sins sene yt / alb [...] yt yt were suffecyent for their vse to whom yt was fyrst deliuered, And therfore I thought yt not onlye expedient but also necessarie / to enstructe them further in the truth / that they might se plaine euidēce of that thing wher in they were offended.
By this wearke you shall espye their blasphemies & the venemous tonges wher wt they s [...]launder not onlye them that publyshe the truthe / but euyn the truth yt seelfe. They shame not to saye / that we affyrme yt to be onlye bred and nothinge els. And we saye not so: but we saye that besyde the substance of bred / yt is the sacrament of Christes bodye and bloud. As the yuye hangyng [Page] before the tauerne doore ys more then bare yuye. For beside the substance of yuye / yt ys a signe / and signifyeth that there is wyne to be sould. And this sacrament signifyeth vnto vs and poynteth oute before oure eyes that as verely as that bred is broken / so verely was christes bodye broken for our synnes: And as that bred is distributed vnto vs / so is hys bodie and fructe of hys passyon distributed vnto all hys faythfull. And as the bred comforteth the bodie so doth the fayth in Christes deth cōforte oure soules. And as surelye as we haue that bred and eate yt wyth oure mouth and teth / and knowe by our senses that we haue yt wt in vs / and are partakers therof: no more nede we to doubte of hys bodye and bloud / but that thorough fayth / we are as sure of thē / as we are sure of that bred As yt is sufficientlye declared in my boke.
Agayne you maye perceyue how wyckydlye they report on vs wc affyrme that we dishonoure yt wc geue yt the right honoure that yt ought to haue. And you do playnlye dishonoure yt / wc geue vnto yt the honoure that is onlye dew vnto god. We geue yt the same honoure that we geue vnto the holye scripture & worde of god / because yt expresseth vnto our senses the deth of our sauyoure / and doth more dypelye prent yt wt in vs. And therfore we calle yt an holye sacrament / as we calle goddes worde / holye scripture. And we receyue this sacrament wt great reuerence / euyn as we reuerrentlye reade or heare preached the holye worde of God wc conteyneth the helth of o (ur) soules. And we graunt that [Page] hys bodye ys present with the bred as yt ys wt th [...] word / and with both yt ys verelye receyued and eaten thorough fayth. But yf we shuld knele downe and praye vnto the holye scrypture / men might count vs soles / and might lawfullye saye / that we do not honoure the s [...]ripture by that meanes / but rather dishonoure yt. For the right honoure of a thinge ys / to vse yt [...]or that entent that yt was institute of god. And he [...]hat abuseth yt to any other purpose / doth in dede dishonoure yt. And lykewise yt is in the sac [...]amēt wc was institute to kepe in memorye [...]he d [...]th of christ / wc [...]f we do any other wise honoure / then we do the holye scripture (vnto the wc we maye in no wise make our prayers) I saye that then we shulde v [...]ter [...]ie dishonoure yt. Auoyde therfore this poynt of Idolatrye / and all ys saffe.
Finallye we saye that they speak [...] well and faythfullye wc saye that they goo [...]o the bodie & receue the bodye of Christ / and that they speake vilynously & wickedlye wc saye that t [...]ey onlye receyue bred or the signe of his bodye for in so sayinge they declare theyr inside ly [...]e. For the faythfull wyll reakyn that he is euyll reported of and reputed [...]or a traytoure and a nother Iudas / yf me [...] shuld saye of hym that he did onlye receyue the sacramēt / and not also the thynge which the sacramēt doth signifye. For albe it he onlie eate [...]h the bred & sacramēt wt his mouth and teth: yet wt his harte and fayth i [...]wardlye / he eatethe the very thinge yt sellfe wt the sacrament owtwardlye dothe represent
And of this springe the maner of speakinges [Page] that the old fathers do somtyme vse / wc at the [...]irst sight mought seame cōtrarie to o (ur) sentense But yf they be will pōdered / yt ma [...]e sone be sen [...] / [...]ow they shuld be taken. For many tymes when they speake of the sacrament & outward eatyng / they applye vnto the sacrament & owtward eatinge / the frute and cōditions of the inwarde eatinge and thinge yt s [...]llfe [...] because that in a [...]aythfull man they are so Ioyn [...]t [...]ye Ioyned that the one is neuer wt oute the other. As by [...]xāple / Marye is named the mother of god and yet she is not the mother of hys godhed by the wc parte onlye he is called god / but because she is hys mother / as touchinge his manhode / and the godhed is so annexed wt the mā [...]ed that they both / make but one person / therfore ys she called the mother of god / wc in dede yf y [...] b [...] wyselye weyed / sha [...]be founde to be [...]bused speache And yet neuerthelesse yt may very will be vsyd yf men vnderstond what ys ment therbye / but yf thorough the vse of thys speache / men shuld fal [...] in to suche an erroure that wold affyrme oure ladye to be in dede the mother of hys godhed / then necessyte shuld compell vs to make a dystynctyon betw [...]ne the nature of hys godhed and the nature of hys manhod / and so to expound the mater vnto them / and bringe them home agayne in to the ryght vnderstondynge. As we are now cons [...]rayned to do in thys sacrament / because you mis [...]construe the sayinges of the scrypture and Doctoures. Whych notwyths [...]ondyng (yf a man vnder [...]ond them) saye verye well.
[Page]And many suche maner of speaches are conta [...] ned in the scripture: As where christ sa [...]eth Ioan. 3. there shall no man ascend in to heuin / but he that discēdeth frō heuē / the sone of mā wc ys in heuin. Thys text doth saye tha [...] the sonne of mā was thē in heuē / whē he [...]pake thes word [...]s vnto n [...]codemus here o [...] yer [...]h wc thinge all wise mē cōsent to be vnderstond / propter unitatem personae: That is to saye / for the vnite of the person. For albe it his godhed was in euerie place at that tyme / yet was not his māhod (by the wc he was called the sonne of man) in heuin at that tyme. And yet christ sayd that yt was in heuen for the vnite of his ꝑson, For his godhed was in heuen ād because the godhed ād manhode made one ꝑson / therfore yt was ascrybed vnto the August.manhod wt was on [...]ye vere [...]ied vppon the godhed / as saint Au [...]ten ad Dardanum doth delygentlye declare.
And lyke wise in the sacramēt o [...] baptime / because the inward workinge of the holye gos [...] is euer ānexed in the faythfull / vnto the outward ceremonye: therfore somtyme the frute of the inward baptyme ys ascrybed onto the outward warke. And so the scripture vseth to speake of the outward bapt [...]me as though yt were the inward: that is to saye / the spryt of god. And therfore s. Paule sayeth that we are buried wt christe thorough baptime. And yet as s. Austene expoundeth yt / the outeward baptime dothe but signifie this buriall.Augustinus ad bonifacium And agayne paule sayeth / as manye as are baptised haue put christ vppō thē. And yet in dede oure outeward baptyme [Page] doth but signifie / that we haue put christe vppon vs. But by the inward baptime (which is the water of liffe and spirite of god) we haue in dede put him vppon vs and lyue in hym and he in vs. Whiche notwithstondynge ys verye false for all the outeward baptyme / in them that receyue yt not in fayth. And vnto them yt is but abare sygne / Wherof they get no profyte / but dampnacyon.
And here you maye euydentlye ꝑceyue howe yt ys some tyme in scripture ascrybed vnto the outeward worke & ceremonye / wc ys onlye true in the inward veryte. And this place shall expound all the old doctoures whiche seame contrarye to our sentense, And therfore Marke yt well.
Thus haue you my mynde further vppō the sacrament of the bodie and bloud of Christe. Wherin yf you reaken that I haue byn to longe in repeting one thinge so often / I shall praie you of pardon. But surelie me thought I cold not be shorter. For the worlde is suche now a dayes that some wolde heare and can not: and some do heare and will not. And therfore I am cōpelled so often to repete that thinge whiche a wise man wolde vnderstond with halue the wordes.
¶Praye Christen reader that the worde of GOD maye encrease & that God maye be glorifyed thorough my bondes AMEN.
¶The articles wherfore Iohan Frith died which he wrote in newgate the .23. [...]aye of Iune / the yere of oure Lorde 1533.
I Doute not deare brethern / but that yt dothe / some deale vexe you / to see the one parte haue all the wordes / and fr [...]aly to speake [...]hat they lyste / ād the other to be put to sy [...]ence / and not to be hard [...] indifferently. But referre youre maters to god / whiche shortly shall Iudge after a nother fasyon. But in the m [...]ane ceason / I shall reherse vnto you the articles for whyche I am condempned.
¶ They examined me but of two articles whyche are these.
Fyrste whyther I thoughte / there were no purgatory to purg [...] the sowle after this present ly [...]fe.Articl [...] And I sayd / that I thoughte there was none. For man ys made but of two partes / the body and the sowle. And the body ys purged by the crosse of Christe / whyche he layeth apon [...]uery chylde that he receauyth: as affliction / worldly opressyon / persecucion / emprisonment & cet. and dethe finishith synne. And the sowle is purged by the worde of god / whiche we receaue thorow faythe / vnto the healthe and salluacyon bothe of body & sowle.
Now & yf I dyd knowe any thirde ꝑte wherof we are made / I wolde also gladly graūt them 3. purgatory but seyng / I knowe none suche / I must [Page] denye the popes purgatory. Neuertheles I counte nether parte a necessary article of our faythe / necessarely to be beleauyd vnder payne of dampnacyon / whyther ther be suche a purgatory or not.
article.The seco [...]de article was thys / whyther that I thoughte / that the sacramēt of the aulter was the body of Christe. And I sayd ye / that I thoughte that yt was bothe christes body / and also our body / as s. Paulle saythe. 1. Cor. 10. cha.
In that yt ys made one brede of many graynes yt is our body sygnifying that we though we be many / are yet one body: and lyke wyse of the wyne in that yt is made one wyne / of many grapes.
And agayne in that yt is broken / yt is Chr [...] stes body / signyfyeng that hys body shulde be broken / that is to say suffer dethe / to redeme vs from our inquites,
In that yt was distributed / yt was christes body / sygn [...]fyeng that as verely / as that sacrament is distributyd vnto vs / so verely ys Christes body / and the frute of hys passyon distributed vnto all faythfull men.
In that yt ys receauyd / yt is Christes body sygnifying that as verely / as t [...]e outwarde mā receauyth the sacrament with his tethe / & mouthe / so verely dothe the inward mā / thorow faythe / receaue Christes body & frute of his passyon / and ys as sure of yt / as of the brede that he ea [...]yth.
Another question.Well sayd they / do you not thincke / that hys very naturall body / bothe flesshe and bloude ys [Page] really contayned vnder the sacrament / and there actually present / besyde all similitudes. No sayd I / I do not so thincke.¶An answere. Notwtstonding I wolde not that any shulde counte that I make my saynge (whiche is the negatiue) any artycle of the faythe. For euen as I saye that you oughte not to make any necessary article of y• faythe of youre parte (whiche is the affyrmatiue). So I saye agayne / that we make none necessary article of the faithe of owre parte / but leue yt indifferent for all men to Iudge therin / as God shall open his harte / and no syde to condempne or dispise the tother / but to nourishe in all thinges brotherlye loue / and to beare others infyrmytes.
The texte of saīt Austyn whiche they ther alegyd agenst me / was this:S. Austins tex. that in the sacrament Christe was borne in his owne handes. Whervnto I sayd / that s. Austyn dothe full well expounde him sellfe. For in a nother place he saythe Ferebatur tan (quam) in manibus suis. That is / he was borne after a certen maner / in his owne handes And by that he saythe after a certen maner / ye may sone perceaue what he meanythe.
How be yt yf s. Austyn had not thus expoundid hym sellfe / yet the saythe ad Bonifacin̄ / that the sacrament of a thinge / hathe a similitude or propertie of the thinge whiche yt sygnifyethe. And for that cause yt hathe many tymes / the name of the verye thīge which yt sygnifieth. And so he saythe that he bare him sellf / because he bare the scrament of his body and bloude whiche dyd so ernestly expresse him sellfe / that nothyng [Page] myght more do yt, If you reade the place of S [...] Austen ad Bonifacium / wh [...]che I allege in my laste boke / ye shall sone see them answeryd.
Chrisostomus.A nother place they allegyd out of Chrisostum / which at the fyrste blusshe semyth to make well for them. But yf yt be well wayed / yt maketh moche lesse for them then they wene. The wordes are these.
Chrisostom [...]s wordes.Doist thou see brede & wine? do they departe from the into the draug [...]te as other meates do? God forbidde for as in ware when yt cōm [...]th to the fyer / nothynge of the substance remayn [...]th nor abundyt [...]: so lyke w [...]se thyncke that the mysteryes are consumyd by the substance of the bod [...].
These wordes I expound [...]d / by the wordes of the same doctor sainct Chrisostum / whiche in a nother hom [...]lye saythe on this maner. The inwarde eyes as sone as they se the breade / they flye ouer all creatures and thyncke not of the breade that is baken of the baker / but of the brede of euerlastyng lyffe / whiche ys sygnifyed by the misticall brede.
Now conferre these places to g [...]ther ad you shall [...]erceaue / that the laste expoundyth the firste clerely. Fyrste he saythe / doyst thou see brede and w [...]ne / I answere by the seconde / nay. For the inwarde [...]es as sone as they see the brede / thynck [...] not of yt / but of the thynge yt sellfe that [...]s sygnyfyed therby. And so he seyth yt and se [...]th yt not. He seyth yt wyth hys outwarde and carnall eyen / but hys inward eyen seyth yt not, That ys to saye / regarde not the [Page] brede or thyncke not on yt Euē as we cōme [...]ly saye / whē we playe a gayme necglygēly (by my truthe I see not what I doe) meanyng that oure mindes / is not apō that thīge whyche we [...]ee wt o (ur) outwerde eyn. And like wise we may answere the next parte / where he saythe.
Doo they departe from the in to the draughte / as other meates doo?The exposicyo [...] of [...]aync [...] Chrysosto. text. Nay forsouthe sayd I for other meathes doe ōly come to nouryshe the body / and to departe in to the draughte. But thys meate that I here receaue / ys spyrytuall meate / receyuid with faythe / ād nourysheth vs euerlastyngly / bothe body and sowle / ād neuer enterith into the draughte. And euē as before the outwarde eyn doe see the breade / and yet the inwarde eyn doe not regarde that or thyncke apon yt. So lyke wise the outwarde man dyges [...]yth the breade / & castythe yt in to the draughte. And yet the inwarde man dothe not regarde that nor thyncke apon yt [...] But thynkythe on the thyng yt sellfe that ys sygnyfyed / by that breade.
And therfore said Crysostum euen a lytle beforethe true meaning of Chrisostomꝰ wordes. the wordes whyche they here allegyd / lyfte vp youre mynde ād hartes (sayde he) where by he monishith vs / to loke apon & cōsyder those heuenly thinges / wyche are represented and sygnyfied by the breade ād wyne / and not to marke the breade and wyne in yt sellfe.
Here they wil saye vnto me / that yt is not crysostūs mynde (for by his exāple he playnly she wyth that there remanyth no brede nor wyne) that I denye. For the example in thys place / [Page] prouith no more but that ye shall not thinke on the brede and wine / no more then yf they werre not there / but only on that thinge which i [...] sign [...] fied by them. And that ye may [...]uidently p [...]rceue by the wordes folowing where he saith / thinke that the misterys are consumed by the substā c [...] of the body.
SolutiōNow wither Chrisostum thought that there remayned brede or non [...] bothe wayes shall oure purpos [...] be prouyd. Firste yf he thought there remayned still brede & wine / then we haue our purpose. Now yf he thought that the brede and wine remayned not / but were chaunged / then are the br [...]de & wine nether misteries nor sacrament [...]s of the body & bloude of christe. For that that is not / can nether be mister [...] nor sacrament.
Finally yf he speake of the outwarde apperaūce of breade:Conclu [...]ion. then we knowe that that remaynith styll and is not consumed by the substance of the bodie. And therfore he muste nedes be vnd [...]r [...]tond as I take him.
I thincke many m [...]n wonder how I cā dye in this article / seyng that yt is no necessary article of oure faythe / for I graunte that neyther ꝑte is an article necessary to b [...] beleauyd vnder payne of dampnacion / but leue yt as a thinge in different / to thincke therin as god shall instyll in euery mans minde / and that neyther parte cō dempne other for thys mater / but receyue eche other in brotherly loue / reseruinge eche others inffirmite to god.
Beholde he cause of my dethe.The cause of my dethe is this / because I can not in consciens abiure and swere / that our prelates [Page] opinion of the sacrament (that is / that the substaunce of brede and wine is verely chaunged in to the fleshe and bloude of our sauiour Iesus Christ) is an vndouted / article of the faythe / necessary to be beleauid vnder paine of dāpnacyon.
Now thoughe thys opynion wer in deade true (wiche thinge they can nether proue true by scripture nor doctors) yet coul [...]e I not inNote. consciens graunte that yt shulde be an artycle of the faythe necessari [...] to be beleuid &c. For there are many verites / whiche yet may be no [...]uche articles of our faithe. Its true that I lay in [...] I wrote this / how be yt I wolde not receaue rōs whē this truthe for an article of oure faythe For you may thinke the contrary wt out all Ieoperdy of damnacion.
¶The cause why I can not beleue there opinion of transmutacion is this.
- 1 Fyrste because I thincke verely that yt ys3. ca [...]es.faulse ād can nether be proued by scripture nor faithfull doctoures / yf th [...]y be well pondered.
- 2 The second cause is this / because I will not bynde the congregacion of Chris [...]e (by myn example) to admitte any necessary article by syde oure crede / and specialy none suche as can not be proued true by s [...]ripture. And I say that the churche / as they cau [...]e yt / can not cōpelle vs to receaue any su [...]he articl [...]s to be of necessite vnder payne of dampnacion.
- 3 The thirde cause is / because I dare not be so presumptuous in entering in to goddes Iudgment / as to make the prelates in this poynte an [Page] necessary article of oure faythe. For then I shulde dampnably condempne all the germanes ād Allmaynes / wyth infinite moo / whyche in deade do not bealeue nor thyncke that the substance of brede and wine ys chaunged in to the substance of Christes naturall body. And surely I can not be so folishe hard [...] as to condempne suche an infinite nombre for oure prelates pleasures.
Thus all the Germaynes and Allmaynes / bothe of Lutherrs syde and also of Oecolampadius / doo hooly approue my mater. And surely I thincke ther ys noman that hathe a pure conscience / but he wyll thyncke that I dye ryghtuously. For that this transubstāciation shuld be a necessary article of the faythe / I thyncke no man can say yt wt a good conscience / all though yt were true in dede.
Per me Iohn Frythe
¶ Imprintid at Monster / Anno. 1533 By me Conrade Will [...]ms.
¶ Thus begynnyth the preface of master Mores boke.
Master. [...]ore IN my moste hartye wise I recō mēde me vnto yow ād sende yow by thys brynger the wrytynge agyane whiche I receyved from yow. Wherof I haue byn offered a cople of copies mo / in ye meane while / as late as ye wot well yt was.Frith Deare brotherne cōsider thes wordes and prepare yow to the crosse that Christe shall laye vppon yow / as ye haue ofte byn counseled.Petri. 2 Luc. 22. For evyn as whan the wolffe howleth the sh [...]pe hade nede to gather them sellfe to their shepard / [Page] to be dely [...]ered from the assaulte of the blodyeLuc. [...] beaste / lykewise hade yow nede to flye vnto the shepard of your soules christ Ihesus / ād to sell youre coetes and bye hys spūall swerd (wc is theEphe. [...] word of god) to defende and deliure yow in this p̄sent necessyte for now ys the tyme that Christ tould vs of / math. 10.Math. [...] that he was come (by hys word to seet variaunce betwene the sonne and hys fader / betwene the doughter and her mother / betwene the doughterlawe ād her motherlaweMich. [...] / and that a mans owne househould shalbe hys emnyes. But be not dismayed nor thynke yt no wonder / for christ chose .12. and one of thē was the devyll and betrayed hys master.Ioan. [...] And we that are hys disciplis may loke for no better than he hade hym sellfe:Mat. 1 [...] for the scoler ys not aboue hys master.
¶Saynt Paul protesteth that he was in perell2. Cor [...] emōge the false bretherne / and suerly I suppose that we are in no lesse yeopardye. For yf yt be so that hys mastership Receyvyd one copye and hade a coeple of copyes mo offered in the meane while / then maye ye besure that ther are many faulse brethern̄ which pretend to haue knowelege / and in dede be but pykthankes ꝓuidyng for ther belye prepare ye therfore clokys / for the wether wexeth cloudye and rayne ys lyke to folowe. I meane not faulse excuses and forsweringe of your fellfes: but that ye loke substancially on goddes worde / that yow may be able to answer ther sotle obiectiōs And rather chose māfully to dye for crist ād hys worde / thā cowardli to denye hym / for this vaine ād trāsitory lyffe / cōs [...] deringe [Page] that they haue no furder power but ouer this corruptible bodye / wc yf they put yt not to deth / muste yet at the length perishe of yt sellfe Cor. 10But I truste the lorde shall not suffer yow to be tēpted aboue that yow may beare / but acordinge to the sprite that he shall poure vppon yow / shall he allso sende yow the scorge / and make hym that hath receyuyd more of the sprite / to suffer more & hym that receyuyth lesse therof to suffer accordinge to his talēt. I thought yt necessarie first to monyshe yow of thys matter and nowe I wyll recite more of master Mores boke.
[...]ore.Wher bye men may see how gredely thes newe named brethern wryt yt oute / & secretly spred yt a brode.
[...]ryth.The name ys of great antiquite / allthoughe yow [...]iste to iest. For thei were called bretherner [...] our bushoppes were called lordes / and had the name geuyn them by Christe say [...]ge / Math. xxiij all ye are brethern. And luke the .xxij: Confyrme they brethe [...]n. And the name was continued by the aposteles / and ys a name that norysheth loue & amite. And very glad I am to here of ther gredye affection in wrytynge oute and spredynge a brode the worde of god / for by that I do perceyue the ꝓphesie of Amos [...]mos 8. to haue place / whiche sayth in the ꝑson of god I wyll send hōger & thurste in to the yerth [...] not honger for m [...]ate nor thurste for drynke. But for [...]o here the worde of god. Nowe begynyth the kyngdom of heuyn to suffer violence: [...]at. 11. Now runne the pore publicanes which knowelege them sellfys synners / to the worde of god [...]uc. 18.puttynge / bothe goodes and bodye in Ieoperdy [Page] for the soule health and though our Bishopes do caule yt heresye / and all them herytyckys that honger after yt / yet do we knowe that yt ys the gospell of the leuynge god / for the helth and saluacyon of all that beleue.Roma. [...] And as for the name doth nothing offende vs / though they calle yt heryse a thousand tymys.Actes. 2 For sainct Paulle / testifyeth that the pharises and prystes whyche were counted the very churche in hys tyme did so calle yt / and therfore yt forsyth not though they / rulynge in ther roumes / vse thesame namys.
¶Whiche youge man I here say hathe latelymor [...] made diuers other thynges that yet runne in hoker moker so close amōge the brothern that ther comyth no copies abrode.
¶I answer that surely I can not spynne / and I thinke noman more hateth to be idle than I doo.Frith Wherfor in suche thyngys as I am able to doo / I shalbe deligent as longe as god lendyth me my lyffe. And yf ye thynke I be to busye / yow may rid me the sonner for euyn as the shepys in the bochers handes ready bounde and loketh but euyn the grace of the bocher when he shall shede hys blode: Euyn so am I bounde at the bushopes pleasures / euer lokynge for the day of my dethe. In so moche that playne worde was sent me / that the chaun [...]elour of London sayd yt shuld coste me the best blode in my body / which I wolde gladly were shede to morow / yf so be / yt myght opyn the kynges graces eyen.
[Page]And verely I marvyll that any thynge can rune in hoker moker or be hyde from yow. For sythe yow mought haue suche store of copyes / cōcernynge the thynge which I moste desyred to haue byn kept secreat / how shu [...]d yow thā lake a copye a those thynges wc I moste wolde haue published? And here of ye may be sure / I care not though yow & al [...] the bushoppes wt in englo [...]d loke on all that euer I wrote / but rather wolde be glade that ye so did. For yf there be any sparke of grace in youre breastes / I trust yt shulde be an oc [...]a [...]iō somwhat [...]o kyndle yt / that you may cōsyder and knowe your sell [...]es / wt ys the fyrst poynt of wysdom
More [...]And wolde God for nys mercye (sayth M more that syth ther can nothynge refrayne ther [...]tudye / from deuise and compassyng of euyll & vngracyous wryting that they wolde & coulde kepe yt so secreatly tha [...] neuer man shulde se yt. But suche as are so ferre corrupted / as neuer wolde be cured of ther canker.
FrythIt ys not possyble for hym that hathe hys eyen and seth hys brother wc lackyth sight in Ieoꝑdye of peryshynge at a pery [...]ous pyt / but that he must com to hym and guyde hym tyll he be past that Ieoꝑdye / and at the lest wi [...]e / yf he can not come to hym / yet wyll he calle & crye vnto hym to cause hym chose the better waye / excepte hys herte be [...]ankered wt the contagion of suche hatered that he can reioyse in hys neighbours distructyon. And euyn so ys yt not possyble for vs whiche haue receyuyd the knowelege of goddes worde / but that we moste crye and call to [Page] other / that they leue the ꝑillous pathys of ther owy [...] folishe phantasyes.Dene [...] 12 And do that only to the lorde / that he cōmandeth thē / nether addinge any thinge nor diminishyng. And therfor vntyll we se som meanes founde / by the wc a reasonable reformacyon may be had on the on ꝑtye / And suffecyent instructyon for the pore comens I insure yow / I nether wyll nor can cease to speake / for the worde of God boylyth in my bodye / lyke a feruent fyere / and wyll [...]edes haue an issue and breakyth oute / whan occasyon ys geuyn.
But this hath byn offered yow / ys offered / and shall be offered? Graunt that the worde of God / I meane the text of scrypture / may goo a brode in oure ynglyshe tonge / as other nacyons haue yt in ther tonges / and my brother Wyllyā tendale / and I haue don / & wyll promisse you to wryte no more. Yf yow wyll not graunt this cō dicyon then wyll we be doynge w [...]yle we haue brethe and shewe in f [...]we wordes that the scrypture doth in many: and so at the lest saue some.
But a lacke this wyll not be / for as S. Paul sayth / the contagion of heresye crepyth on / lyke a canker.More. For as the cāker corrupteth the bodye forther and forther and torneth the hole partyes in to the same dedly syknes / so dothe thes heresyes crepe forth amonge good symple soules / tyll at the laste yt be almoste past remedie.
Thys ys a uery true sayinge & makyth well agaynst hys owyn purposse / for in dede thys cō tagyon began to sprynge evyn in.Fryth [...] S. Paulles tyme. In so moche that the Galathians were [Page] in a maner hole seduced from hys doctrine. An [...] he sayd to the Thessalonians the mistery of iniquite euyn now beginnith to worke. [...] Thes. [...] And. S. Iohn testifie [...]h that ther were all redie many antichristes rysyn in his dayes.1. Ioan. 4 [...] And allso Paule prophesied what should folow after hys tyme / Actes. xx. sayinge:Actuū 20 take ye hede to your sellffys and to all the flocke / ouer whiche the holy gost hathe put yow ouerseers / to feede the congrigacion of GOD whiche he purchased with hys owyn bloude. For I knowe this well / that a [...] ter my departing shall enter in greuous wolues amonge yow / which shall not spare the flocke. And euyn of your s [...]llffes shall aryse men / speaking peruerse thinges / to drawe disciples after them and therfore wache. &ce. Thys canker then began to sprede in the congrigacyon / and did full sore noy [...] the bodie / in so moche that with in .iiii.C. yere there were very many sectes scatered in euery cost. Natwithstondinge there were faithfull fathers that diligently subdued them with the swerde of Goddes worde. But suerly syns SiluesterSiluest. receyued suche possess [...]ons / hath the canker so crept in the churche / that yt hath almoste lefte neuer a founde mē ber. And as Cistercensis wrytith in the .viij. bocke / that day that he receiuid reuenuens was a voice herde in the ayere / cryinge ouer the courte which sayd / this day ys ve [...]ime shed in to the churche of god. Before that time ther was no bishope greadye to take a cure. For yt was non honour and profit as yt ys now / but only a [...]refull charge which was like to cost hym his [Page] liffe at one tyme or other. And therfore no man wolde take yt / but he that bare suche a loue and zele to god and his flocke / that he coulde be content to shede his blode for them. But after that yt was made so honorable and profitable / they that were worste bothe in ler [...]ynge and [...]euynge / moste labored for yt. For they that w [...]re vertuous wolde not entangle them sellffys with the vayne pryde of thys worlde / and weare .iij.Mat. [...]7. Marc. 15 Crounes of golde / where Christe weare one of thorne.Io [...]. 19 And in conclusion yt cam so fare / that who so euer wolde geue moste mony for yt or beste could flater the prince (which he knewe well all good men to abhore) had the preheminēce ād goote the best bushoprike / & then in sted of goddes worde / they publisched ther owyn cōmandemētes / ād made lawys to haue all vnd thē / & made men beleue thei coulde not erre what so euer they did or sayd ād euyn as in the roumes & stede of Moses / Aaron / Eliazer / Iosue / Calib / and other faythfull folke / came Herode / Annas / Caiphas / Pilat & Iudas / wc put christe to deth So now ī the stede of christe / peter / paulle / iames ād Ihon & the faithfull folowers of christe / we haue the pope / cardinallis / archebushoppes / bushoppes / & proude p̄lates wt their ꝓctour / the malytious minister of ther masters the deuill / wc no [...]wt stōdinge trāsforme thē selues in to a likenes / as1 C [...]r. 11. though thei were the ministers of rightousenes whose ende shalbe acordīge to ther workis. So that the bodye ys cākered lōge agoon / & now are lefte but certaine smale membris / wc God of his puyssant power hath reserued vncorrupted [Page] and be cause they see that they can not be cankered as ther owyn flesheys / for pure anger they bourne thē / leste yf they contynued there might se [...]me some deformyte in their owne cankered carkase / by the cōparing of thes hole membres to ther s [...]bed bodye.
MoreTeacheth in a fewe leeues shortly all the poyson that wycliff / huskyn / Tenda [...]e ād Zwyng [...]ius haue taught in all their bokes before. C [...] ̄cerninge the blessed sacrament of the aulter: not only affyrmyng yt to be very bredde styll (as Luther doth) but allso (as thes other beastes doo) sa [...]eth yt ys nothyng els. And after the same ser Thomas more sayeth. Thes dregges hathe he dronkyn of Wiclyff / E [...]olampadius / Tendale / and Zwinglius / and so hathe he all that he argueth here beside / whiche .iiij what maner folke they be ys metely well perceyuyd and knowyn / and God hathe in parte / with hys open vengā ce declared.
Fryth.Luther ys not the prycke that I rūne at / but the scripture of God I do nether affyrme nor denye any thing because Luther so sayeth: but because the scrypture of God doth so conclude & determe [...] I take not Luther for soche an auctour that I thynke he can not erre / but I thynke verely that he both may erre and dothe erre in certayne poyntes allthough not in suche as concerne salua [...]yon and dampnacyon / for in thes (blessed be God) all thes whom ye call heretykys do agre ryght well. And lykewise I do not alowe this thinge because Wycly [...]fe / Oecolampadius Tendale & Zwinglius so saye / but because I see [Page] them in that place more purely expoūde the scripture / and that the processe of the text do thomre fauour their sentence.
And wher yow saye that I affyrme yt to be bred styll as Luther doth / the same I say agayne / not because Luther so saythe / but because I can proue my wordes true by scrypture / reason of nature / ād doctours. Paulle calleth yt brede saynge:1 Cor. 10. the brede wc we breake / ys yt not the felowship of the bodye of christe? For we though we be manye / are yet one bodye and one brede: as manye as are pertakers of one brede. And agayne he sayeth / asoftyn as ye eate of this brede / or drinke of this cuppe / yow shall shewe the lordes deth vntyll he cōme.1. Cor. 11. Allso luke caulleth yt brede in the actes saying:Actuū. 2 they cōtinued in the felowshyp of the apostylles and in breakinge of brede / and in prayer.Luc. 22. Allso Christe caulyd the cuppe / the frute of vyne sayinge / I shall not frō hence forthe dryncke of the frute of the vyne / vntyll I drynke that newe in the kyngdom of my father Furthermore nature doth teache yow that both the brede and wyne cōtynewe in their nature, For the brede mouleth yf yt be kepte lō ge / ye and wurmes brede in yt. And the poore mouse wyll ronne awaye wt yt / and de [...]yre no nother meate to herdynner / whiche are euident ynough that there remayneth brede. Allso the wyne yf yt were reseruyd wold wex souer as they confesse them selues / and therfore they housell the laye people but wt one kynde only / because the wyne can not continue nor be reserued / to haue ready at hande when nede were. And surely [Page] as yf ther remayned no brede yt coulde not mould nor wex full of wormes. Euyn so yf ther remayned no wyne / yt coulde not wex sower / and therfore yt ys but faulse doctryne / that our prelates so longe haue puplyshed. Finally that there remaynethe bred might be proued by the auctorite of many doctours / which caule yt bred and wyne / as Christ and his apostels did. And though some sophysters wolde wreast their sayings and expound them after their phantasie / yet shall I allege them one doctour (which was allso pope of Rome) that makyth so playne with vs that they shalbe compelled with shame to holde their tonges. For pope Gelasius wryteth on this maner. Certe sacramenta que. sumimus corporiset sanguinis [...]hristi diuinae ressun [...] & propterea per illa, participes facti sumus diuinae naturae, & tamen non de [...]init esse substantia uel panis & uini, sed permanent in suae proprietati naturae. Et certe imago & similitudo corporis & sanguinis christi in actione misteriorum celebrantur. That ys to saye / suer [...]y the sacramentes of the bodye and bloude of Christe / are a godly thynge / and therfore thorough them are we made partakers of the Godly nature / And yet doth yt not cease to be the substaunce / or nature of bred and wyne / but they co [...]tynewe in the propertye of ther owyn nature. And suerly the Image and similitude of the bodye of blode ād christe are celebrated in the acte of the mysteries? Thys I am sure was the olde doctryne which they can not auoyde. And therfor with the scrypture / nature / and fathers / I wyll conclude [Page] that there remayneth the substaunce and nature of brede and wyne.
And where ye saye that we affyrme yt to be nothing els I dare saye that ye vntruly report on vs all.More. And here after I wyll shewe yow what yt ys more th [...]n brede. And where ye saye that yt ys metely well knowyn what maner of folke they be / and that GOD hath in parte wyth hys open vengeaunce declared.
I answer that master WycleffWicliffe. was noted while he was liuyng / to be a man not only of moste famous doctryne / but allso of a very sencere lyff & conuersacyon. Neuerthelesse to declare your malicyous myndes & vengeable hartes (as men say) .xv. yere after he was buryed / yow toke hym vp and brunt hym / whiche facte declared youre furye / allthough he fe [...]te no fierMath. 1 [...] but blessed be GOD whyche hathe g [...]uyn suche tyrantes no further power / but ouer thys corruptible bodye. For the soule ye can not binde nor burne / but God maye blesse where yow curse / and curse where you blysse.Mala. [...]
And as for OecolampadiusEcolampadius. / whom yow allso calle huskyn / hys mos [...]e aduersaries haue euer commended hys conuersacion / and Godly lyff / which when God had appoy [...]ted hys tyme / gaue place vnto mature (as euery man muste) and died of a canker.
And TyndaleTindale I truste leuyth / well cōtent with suche a poore apostylis lyffe / as god gaue hys sone christe / and hys faythfull ministers in this worlde wc ys not sure of so many mi [...]es / as [Page] ye be yerly of poūdes / allthough I am sure that for hys lernynge and Iudgement in scrypture / he were more worthye to be promo [...]ed / then all the bus [...]oppes in england. I receyuyd a le [...]ter from hym [...] wc was wrytyn sy [...]s [...]rystmas wherin amonge other maters he wrytyth thus. I calle God to record agaynst the day we shall apere before o (ur) lorde Iesus to geue a reconynge of our doynges / that I never altered one sillable of goddes worde / agaynst my conscyence nor wolde do this daye [...] yf all that ys in yerth [...] whether yt be honour / pleasure or rychis / mighte be geuyn me Moreouer I take God to record to my cōscience that I desyre of God to my sellf in this world no more [...]hen that wt oute wc I can not kepe his law [...]s &c, Iudge Christen reader whether thes wordes be not spoken of a faythfull / [...]lere innocent harte. And as for hys behauyour ys suche that I am sure no man can reproue hym of / any synne [...] howbe yt no mā ys innocent before god which beholdeth the harte.
Zw [...]nglius.Finallye Zwinglius was a man of suche lernyng and grauite (beside eloquence) that I thinke / noman in christindom myght haue cōpared wt hym not withstondynge he was slayne in batayle in defendynge hys cytye / and comē welth agaynste the assaute of wycked enemyes / wc cause was moste ryghtwyse. And yf his mastership meane that / that was the vengeaunc [...] of God / and declared hym to be an euyll parson because he was slayne. I may say nay / and shewe euidēt examples of the contrarie / for somtyme god gevyth the victorye agaynst them that haue moste [Page] rygtuouse cause / as yt is evydēt in the boke of Iudicū Iudicum 20. / wh [...]r all the chyldern of ysraell were gathered to gether to punyshe the shamfull zodomitrye of t [...]e trybe of b [...]niamyn / which were in nombre but .2 [...] thousand And the Israel [...]tes were .cccc. thousand fygtinig men / wc came in to Silo / ād asked of god who shulde be ther captaigne agaynst beniamyn. And they beinge but xxv: thousand slew of the other Israelites .12, thousand in one day: Then fledde the chyldern of Isarell vnto the lorde in Silo ād made great lamentacyon before hym evyn vntyll nyght And asked hym counsell sayinge: shall we goo any more to fyght agaynste the trybe of beniamī our [...] brethern or not? God sayd vnto thē yes / goo vp and fyght agaynste thē. Then wēt they the next day and faught agaynst them / and there were slaine agayne of the Israelites .18. thousand men: Then came they backe agayne vnto the house of god / and sat [...] downe and wepte before the lorde and fasted that day vntyll evyn and asked hym agayne / whether they shulde any more fight agaynst theyr brethern or not. God sayd vnto thē yes [...] to morow I will deliuer thē in to yo (ur) hādes. And the n [...]xt day was the trybe of beniamin vtterly distroyed / sauyng .600. men whych hyd them selves in the wildernes. Here yt ys evydent that the chylderne of Israell loste the victorye twise and yet not with sonding had a iu [...]e cause / and faught at goddes commandement. Besides that / Iudas machabeus / was slayne / in a ryghtwyse cause / as yt ys manyfest in the fyrst boke of the Machab [...]es1. Machabeorum. [...] And therfore [Page] yt can be no euydent argument of the veng [...]aunce of GOD / that he was slayne in ba [...]ayle in a ryghtwise cause / and therfore me thinketh that this man ys to malaparte so bluntly to enter in to Goddes Iudg [...]ment / and geue sentence in that mater before he be caulled to counsell. Thus [...]aue I sufficiently touched hys preface / for those pointes that [...]e afterward touched more larg [...]ly / haue I wyllyngly passed be cause I shall touche th [...]m [...]rnestly here after. Nowe lett vs se what he proueth.
Master More¶It ys a great wonder to see vppon how light & sleight occasions / he ys fallen vnto thes abhomynable heresyes [...] [...]or he de [...]yeth not nor can not say nay [...] but that our sauyour sayd him selfe my fleshe ys verely mea [...]e and my blode ys verely [...]rynke / he denyeth not allso that Christ hym sellfe at hys last souper / ta [...]ynge the br [...]de in to hys blessed handes / after that he had bless [...]d yt sayd vnto h [...]s disciples [...] Take yow thys and eate yt / thys ys my bodye [...] that shalbe geuyn for yow. And lykewise gaue them the chalece after hys blessyng and consecracyon / and sayd vnto them / thys ys the chalice of my bloude of the new testament / whyche shalbe shed oute for many / do ye thys yn remembrance of me.
Frith¶It ys a great wounder to see howe ygnoraunt theyr proctour ys / in the playne textes of scrypture. For yf he had any Iudgement at all he might well perceyue that when Chryste spake thes wordes / my fleshe ys verely meate and my bloude ys verely drynke / he spake nothynge [Page] of the sacrament. For yt was not institute vntyll hys laste souper. And these wordes were spokyn to the Iewys longe before / and mēt thē not of the carnall eatynge or drynkynge of hys bodye or bloude / but of the spirituall [...]atynge / which is done by faythe ād not with tothe / or / bellye. Wher of Saint Austyn sayeth vppō this gospell of Iohn̄ whi preparest thou other tothe or bellye [...] beleue and thou haste eatyn hym. So that chrystys wordes mu [...]t here be vnderstonde spiritualy. And that he cauleth hys fleshe very meat because that as meate by the eatyng of yt and disgestyng yt in our bodye dothe strengthen thes corruptyble membres / so lykewise doth christes f [...]eshe by the bel [...]uynge that yt taketh our synne vppō yt selfe ād suffered the d [...]th to delyuer vs ād strengthē our immortall soule. And lykewise as drynke when yt ys dronkyn / doth comforte and quickyn our fray [...]e nature / So lykewise doth Christes bloude by the drynkinge of yt in to the bouwells of our so [...]le that ys by the beleuyng and rem [...]mbryng that yt ys shed [...]or oure synnes / comforte and quicken our soule vnto euerlastyng lyffe. And this ys the eatyng and drynkyng that he speakyth of in that place. And that yt ys so yow may perceyue by the text followyng which sayth / he that eatyth my bodie ād drynketh my bloude dwellyth in me ād I in hym / which ys not possible to be vnders [...]onden of the sacramēt For it is fals [...] to say that he that eateth the sacramēt of his bodye and drynketh the sacramēt of hys bloude / dwelleth in christe [Page] & christ [...] in hym. For some man rec [...]yueth yt vnto his condempnacion / And thus doth S. Austen expound yt saying [...], Hoc est enim Christum manducare, in illo manere, & illum manentem inse [...]a [...]ere. This ys the very eatinge of Christ to dwell in hym and to haue hym dwelling in vs / So that who so euer dwellith in Christ (that ys to saye beleueth that he is sent of God to saue vs from our sinnes) doth verely eate & drinke his bodie and bloude although he neuer receyued the sacrament. This is the spūall [...]a [...]ing necessarie for all that shalbe saued for there is no man that [...]mith to God wto [...]te this eating of Christ / that is the b [...]leuing in hym. And so I deney [...]ot but that Christ speaketh thes word [...]s but surelye he ment spiritually [...] as. s. Austen declareth / and as the place playnly proueth.
Math. 26And as touching the other word [...]s that Christe spake vnto his disciples at the laste souꝑ / I deney not but that he sayd so but that he so flesly ment as ye falsely faine / I vtterley deney. For I saye that his wordes w [...]re then allso sprite and liff / and were spiritually [...] to be vnderstō den / and that he called yt his bodie.Ioan. 6. Ioan. 15. For a certaine propartie / euyn as he c [...]lled him self a v [...]ry vine / and his disciples very vine braunches / ād Ioan. 10.as he called him sellffe a doremot that he was so in dede [...] but for certayne propert [...]es [...]n the s [...]militudes / as a man for some proꝑtie saieth of his ne [...]g [...]bours horsse / this horsse is myn vp & downe / meaning that yt is in euery thinge so lyke.Gene. 35. Gene. 32. And lyke as Ia [...]ob buylded an̄ aulter and caulled yt the God of Israell / and as Iacob called [Page] the place where he wrasteled wt the angell / the face of god / and as the pascal lābe was caulled the passing bye of the lorde.Ezeche. 5. And as a brokyn potsherd was caulled Hierusalem not for that they were so in dede / but for certayne similitudes in the properties / and that the very name yt sel [...]fe might put men in remembrance what ys m [...]nt by the thing / as I suffeciently declared in my fi [...]ste treatise.
He muste nedes confesse / that they [...]ha [...] beleueMore that yt is the very bodie and his very bloude in dede / haue the playne wordes of o (ur) sauio (ur) hym sellfe vppon ther syde for the groūde and foundac [...]on of ther fayth.
That is very true and so haue they the veryF [...]yth. wordes of god / which saye a brokē pottsherd ys Hierusalem / and that Christe is a stone / ād that Christe is a vine and a dore. And yett yff they should beleue or think [...] that he were in dede any of thesse thing [...]s / they were neuerthelesse deceyued. For though he so sayd / yet I saye his wordes were spirituall & spiritually to be vnderstōd
And were yow saye that I flye from the faytheMore of playne and open scriptures / and for the allygorie destroie the true sence of the letter.
I answer that some textes of scripture are onlye to be vnderstonden after the letter:Fryth As whē Paulle sayth / Christ died for our synnes and arose agayne for our iustification.Roma. 4. And some textes are only to be vnderstond spūally or in the waye of an allegorye:Corin. x. As when Paule sayeth / Christe was the stone / and when Christe saythIoh. x [...]. Ioh [...] [...]. hym sellfe / I am a very vyne I am the doore / [Page] and some muste be vnderstond both literalye / & spiritualie: As when God sayd / oute of egipte called I my sonne / whiche allthough it were literalye Ozee. 11 [...]fulfillyd in the childern of Israell when he brought them oute of Egipte with great power and wonders [...] yet was yt allso ment and verified in Christ hymsellfe / hys very spirituall sonne / which was caulled oute of Egipt after the deth of Herod.Math. [...] And agayne yt is very spūally fulfi [...]l [...]d in vs whiche thorou Christes blode are deliuered from the Egipt of synne / and from the power of P [...]arro the deuyll, An [...] I say that this text of scripture? This ys my bodie / ys only spūally to be vnderstondē [...] and not lit [...]eralie And that doth S. Austen allso cōfirme / wc wryteth vnto adamantus & sayth [...] Thes sentenses of scripture / christ was the [...]one / The bloude ys the soule / and this ys my bodie [...] are figuratiuelie to be vnderstōden (that ys to say spūally or by the way of an allegorie) and thus haue I S. Austen whollie on my side / whiche thinge shall yet here after more playnly apere.
MoreNowe his exāple of his bridgromes ring I very well a lowe / for I take the blessed sacramēt to be left wt vs for a very tokē & a memoriall of christe in dede. But I say that the hole substance of the same tokē & memoriall / is his owyn blessed bodie. And so I saye that christe hathe lefte vs a better tokyn then this mā wolde haue vs take yt for. And therin he fareth like a mā / to whō a bridgrome had deliuered a goodlye golde ringe wt a riche rubie therin / to deliuer to his bryde for a token. And then he wolde like a faulse shrewe [Page] / kepe awaye that golde ring / and geue the bride in stede therof / a proper ringe of a rishe / and tell hyr that the bridgrō wolde sende hyr no better. Or els like one that when the bridgrom hade geuyn soche a ring of golde to his bride for a token / wyll tell her playne / and make hyr beleue that the ringe were but coper or brasse / to minishe the bridgromes thanke.
¶ I am right glad that ye admit teth myn exā pleFryth / and graunte that the sacrament ys left to be a very token and a memoriall of Christe in dede. But where you saye / that the hole substance of the sam [...] token and memoryall ys hys owyn blessed bodye / that ys soner sayd than proued. For Saynt Austen shewyth the contrary / as yt is partelye before touched / and here after shalbe d [...]clared more playnlye. And where yow saye that we fare lyke a faulse shrew that wolde kepe the gold ringe from the bride / and geue hyr a ringe of a rishe / or tell hyr that hyr golde ringe were coꝑ or brasse / to minishe the bridgromes thanke. I answer that we denye not but that the ringe ys moste fine gold / and is sett wi [...]h as ryche Rubyes as can be gotton. For that ringe (I meane the sacrament) ys not onl [...] a moste parfayte tokyn and a memoryall of they brydgromes benefytes and vnfayned fauour on hys partye but yt is allso on the other partye eucharistye:Eucharistia. that ys to saye / a thankes geuynge / for the gracyous gyftes which she vndoubtedly knowelegeth her sellf to haue receyued. For as verely as that bred ys broken amō ge them / so verely was Christes bodye brokyn [Page] for ther synnes. And as ver [...]ly as they receyue that brede in to ther bellye thorough eatinge yt so vere [...]ye do they receyue the frute of his deth in to ther soulys by beleuinge in hym And therfore they assem [...]le to that so [...]ꝑ / not for the valure of the bred [...] wyne or meate that ys ther eatin but for thentent to geue / hym thankes commenlye amonge them all / for hys i [...]est [...]mab [...]e goodnes. But to procede vnto oure purposse yt a mā wolde cōme vnto the bryde / & tell hyr that t [...]is goodly gold ringe were her owyn brydgrome / both fleshe bloude and bones (as you doo) then I thy [...]ke yf she haue any wyt / she might answer hym / that he mocked and the more he sayd yt the lesse she might be [...]eue hym [...] and saye that yf that were her owyn brydgro [...]e / what shulde she then nede any remembraunce of hym or why shoulde he geue yt her for a remembrā [...]e? For a remembrāce p̄suposeth the thynge to be abse [...]t / and therfore yf this be a remembrance of hym / t [...]an can he no [...] here be present. [...]ore
I meruell me therfore moche / that he ys not aferde to affirme that thes wordes of Christe / of hys bodie and of his bloude muste nedes be vnderstond by waye of a similitude or an allegorye as the wordes be of the vyne and the doore. Nowe this he wottes well / that though some word [...]s spokyn by the mouthe of Christ [...]e to be vnderstonden only by way of a similitude or an allegorye / yet followyth yt not ther vppon / that euery l [...]ke worde of christe in other places was non other but an allegorie / for suche was the shyfte and cauillacion that the wycked arrians [Page] vsed wc toke from Christes parson his omnipotent godhed.
I graunt that the Arrians erred / for as masterFrith More sayth / though in some place a worde be taken figuratife [...]y / yt followyth not therfore in euery other place / yt shulde likewise be takē But one questyon muste [...] aske hys mastership how dothe he knowe that ther ys any worde or text in scripture that muste be taken figuratuely / that ys by the waye of a similitude or as he cauleth yt a necessarie allegorie? I thīke (though some men may assygne other good causes & euidences) that the first knowelege ys by other textes of scr [...]pture. For yf other textes be conferred vnto yt [...] and wyll not stonde wt the literall sence / then I thynke yt muste nedes be takē spiritua [...]l [...] or figuratiuelie as ther are infinite textes in scripture. Now when I see that S. Thomas wt felt Christe his wondes & put his fynger in hys syde / called hym hys lorde a [...]d god / and that no t [...]xt in scripture repungneth vnto the same / but that they may well [...]tond to gether me thynketh yt were folye to affirme that thys word / god / in that text shulde be taken figuratiuely or by waye of an allegorye: But nowe in o (ur) mater the processe of scripture wyll not s [...]onde with the li [...]terall sense / as shall here after apere / And therfore necessite cōpell [...]the vs to expounde yt figuratiuelye / as doth allso. S. Austen & other holy doctors / as here after shall playnly apere.
If euery man that can finde out [...] a newe fondeMor [...]. phantas [...]e vppon a text of holy scripture / may [Page] haue his owyn minde taken / & his owyn exposiciō beleued agaynst [...] the expos [...]ciōs of the old coninge doctors & sayntes / then may you surely see that non article of the christen fayth / can stō de & endure lōge. And then he allegith. s. Hierom wc sayeth / that yf the e [...]posi [...]ō of other interpretours / ād the cōsent of the cōmen catholike churche / w [...]re of no more strēgth / but that euery mā might be beleu [...]d that coulde b [...]inge som textes of scripture / for h [...]m expounded as yt pleassed h [...]m self / then coulde I (sayt [...]e thys holy man) brynge vppe a new sect allso / and saye by scrypture [...] that no man were a true Chrysten man nor a m [...]mbr [...] of the churche [...] that kepeth two cotes. And in good fayt [...] (sayth master More) [...]f that wa [...]e were [...]ow [...]d / I were able my s [...]llfe to fynde oute fyftene newe sectes in one fore none.
[...]Sayncte Peter sa [...]th that the scripture ys not expounded after the appetyte of any priuate person / but [...]uyn as yt was geuyn / by the sprite of god & no [...] by mannes wyll / So m [...]ste yt be declared by the same spryte. And therfore I wyll not that any man s [...]albe beleued / by bringinge hys owyn mynde and phantasie. But yf he wyll be beleued / lett hym brynge eyther an other playne texte / which shall expounde the firste / or els at the leste he muste bringe suche a sentense / as wyll stonde with the processe of the scrypture. Whye was Saynct Hierom alow [...]d agaynst the determ [...]nacyon of the counsell of meldelcy / syth he was alone / and they a great multitude [...] but onlye be cause he brought euydent [Page] scrypture / which at the tyme of their sentense / non of them remembred: and yet when yt was brought / they coulde not auoyde yt. And lykewise except I brynge euydent scrypture which they all shall expounde as I doo / I desyre not to be beleued. And where master More sayeth / that in good fayth he w [...]re able to [...]ynde oute fyftene newe sectes in one sore none / he may thanke GOD that he hathe suche a preng [...]ant wytte: But yet I truste he shulde not fynde one (yf there were any par [...]ll of dampnacyon therin) but that we wolde with a playne texte confute yt / which he shuld not be able to auoyde.
¶And ouer this the very circumstances ofMore the places in the gospell in which our sauyour speaketh of that sacrament / may well make open the defference of hys speache in this mater and of all those other / and that as he spake all those but in an allegorye / so spake he [...]ys playnly meaninge that he spake of hys very bodye and hys very bloud / besyde all all [...]goryes. For when our lorde sayd / he was a very vyne / nor when he sayd he was the dore / there was non that harde hym / that any thynge meruelyd therof. And whye? For be cause they perceyued well / that he ment not that he was a materyall vyne in dede / nor a dore nether: But when he sayd that hys fleshe was very meate / and hys bloude very drynke / and that they shuld not be saued / but yf they did eate hys fleshe and drynke hys bloude / then were th [...]y all in suche a wonder therof / that they coulde not [Page] they coulde not abyde. And wh [...]rfore / but because they perceyued well by hys wordes and hys maner of cir [...]unstaunces / that C [...]riste spake of hys very fles [...]e and hys very bloude in dede?
Frit [...]It ys openly knowen & confessed amonge all lerned men t [...]at in the .6. chapitre of Ioā Ioan. 6. / christe spake not one worde concernynge the sacracramēt of hys bodye and bloude (wc at that tyme was not yet institute) but all that he ther spake was of the sp [...] ̄all eatinge & drinkynge of his bote / & bloude / in to o (ur) soule [...] wc ys the fayt [...]e in h [...]s bodye / and bloude / as I haue touched before. And the cy [...]cunstances of this place do [...]n dede proue that they were fleshly mynded / and vndersto [...]e not the spirituall wordes of our savio (ur) Christ / and thefore wondered & murmered In somoch that Christ sayd vnto thē / doth this o [...]fende [...]o [...]? What w [...]l [...] ye say then whē ye shall see the sone of man ascendynge thither where he was before? Then (addeth S. Austen) you s [...]all knowe t [...]at he ment not to geue hys fleshe to eate wt youre teth: for he shall ascende hoole. And Christ addeth [...] yt ys the spirete that quickneth the fleshe profiteth not [...]nge / the word / that I speak [...] / are spiret ād lyste: that ys to saye / saith S. Austyn / are spūaly to be vnderstond. And where Christ sayeth [...] that the fleshe profiteth nothyng (meanyng of hys owne fleshe / as S Austen sayth) he m [...]aneth that yt profit [...]th not as they vnderstode h [...]m that ys to saye / yt profiteth not / yf [...]t were eatē, But yt doth moche ꝓfite to be slayne / that thorough yt and the shedīge of hys bloude / the w [...]athe of god o (ur) father ys pacified [Page] / and oure synn [...]s for geuē. And wher his mastership saythe / that the people ꝑcey [...]ed well what he ment / and therfore wōd [...]red so sore and cou [...]de not abyde / be cause they perceyued well by his wordes and maner of circunstāces what his meaning wa [...]. I wyll saye as I did before / that they vnd [...]rs [...]ode h [...]m not. Fowe here he will saye vnto me / yf yt be but yo (ur) naye and my yee / then I wolde thynke to be beleued as so [...]e as yow / and surelye that were but re [...]son. [...]ot wtstondyng (thāk [...]s be to god) I am able to bringe in auctorite to Iudge b [...]twene vs bothe whose Iudgement I truste his mastership wyll admyt.Augusti. in sermo. ad infan. This auctor ys. S. Aus [...]yn wc sayeth. Dis [...]ipuli en [...] eius qui eum sequebantur expauerunt & exhorruerunt sermonē nō intellegentes. That ys to saye his disciples wc [...]ol [...]owed hym / were a stoyned / and abhorred his wordes and vnderstode them not. And be cause yo (ur) mas [...]ershipe shall [...]ot thynke that he ouer schott hym sel [...]fe / and spake he wyst not what we shall aliege hym saytnge the same wordes in an other place [...] Augu. [...] Cum diceret. Nisi quis manducauerit carnem. &c. Illi non intellegentes dixerunt ad inuicem. Durus est hic sermo, quis potest eum audire? That ys when christ sayd / except a man eate my fleshe and drinke my bloude [...] he shall haue no lyff in hym / they be [...]aus [...] th [...]y v [...]derstode hym not / sayde to eche other this ys an harde sayinge / who can heare hym? Thus I trust [...] you will geue place (allthough not to me) yet at the lest vnto. S. Austen / and recey [...]e the trueth wc ys so playnly proued.
And where his mastership alleget [...] this text [Page] for the sacrament / that except they did eate his fleshe & drynke his bloude they could not be saued yt semeth that he ys fallē in to the erro (ur) of pope innocēt [...] whiche like wise vnderstondyng this text vppon the sacramēt (as master More doth) caused yōge chyldern & infantes to receiue the sacramēt [...] as though thei had all by a dāpned wc died & had not receyued yt. And of this carnall minde were many mo Bushoppes a great while (as are now the bohemes [...] whom he after disprayseth [...] and yet expoūdeth the text as they doo [...] but afterward they loked more spūally vppo [...] the matter and cōfessed ther ignorāce (as I truste master more wyll) but nowe will I shew you. s. Austēs minde vppō this text wc shall h [...]lpe for the exposiciō of all this matter s. Austē in the thirde boke de doctrina christiana the .16. chapitre teachīge howe we shall knowe the tropes figures / allegories and phrases of the scripture saith.Augustinus libro 3. de doctrina Chris [...]i [...]a. Si aūt flagitiū aut facinus iubere uidet, figurata locutio est. Nisi māducaueritis (inqt) carnē fili [...] hoīs et biberitis eiꝰ sanguinē, nō habebitis uitā ī uobis, [...]acinusuel flagitiū uidetur iubere [...] Figura est ergo precipiēs passiōis dn̄icae esse cōicandū et suauiter at (que) utiliter in memoria recondendū, qd pro nobis caro eius c [...]ucifixa & uulnerata sit. That ys to saye when so euer the scripture or Christ / semeth to cōmaunde any fowle or wicked thynge / than muste that text be takē figuratiuelye (that ys yt ys a phrase / allegorie / and maner of speaking / and muste be vnderstōd spūally & not after the letter). Except (sayth christ) ye eate the fleshe of the sonne of mā and drinke his bloude [Page] ye shall haue no lyffe in you. He [...]eamethe (saith S. Austen) to cōmaunde a fowle and a wycked thinge. It ys therfore a figure / commau [...]ding vs to be partakers of his passyon / and swe [...]ly and ꝓfitablye to prent in oure mynde that hys fleshe was crucifyed and wonded for vs. This trueth thākes be to god / doth S. Austen declare vnto vs / wc thinge beside the openīge of this text agaynst master mores mynde / doth playnlye shew what he thought in the wo [...]des of christes souper. For syth he cau [...]ed yt a sow [...]e and a wicked thinge / to eate his fleshe / than may you sone ꝑceyue / that he thought yt as sowie ād as wicked a thinge / to eate his bodye / seinge hys bodie ys fleshe and then cōs [...]quently yt shall folowe / that ether this worde [...]a [...]e (wher Christe sayd take this & eate yt) muste be takyn spūally / or els that this sayng of christe / this ys my bodie / muste be figuratiuely spoken / but thys worde eate ys takē after the lett [...]r ( [...]or thei did in dede eate the bred) therfore yt muste nedes folowe / that this sentence (this ys my [...]odie) muste be figuratiuely spoken, Or els ys. s. Austen not to be approued in this place / wt thynge our bushoppes I thynke / wyll not saye naye.
Besydes that [...] s. Austen sayeth.Augustinus ī sermone ad infantes. Quādo loquebatur dn̄s noster Iesus Christus de corpore suo, nisi (inqt) qs māducauerit carnē m [...]ā et biberit sangui nē meū, non habe [...]it in seuitā. Caro em̄ mea uere est cibus, & sanguis meus uere est potus, intellectꝰ spiritualis credentem [...]aluū faci [...], quia littera occidit spūs est q uiuificat. That ys to saye, whē o (ur) lorde Iesus Christe spake of his bodie / except (quod [Page] he) a man eate my fleshe and drynke my bloude / he shall haue no lyff in hym sellf / for my fleshe ys verye meate / and my bloude ys verie drinke The spirituall vnderstonding saueth hym that beleue [...]h / for the letter ky [...]h / but the spir [...]te quy [...]keneth. Here may you playnlie perceiue / that this text muste onlye be taken spirituallie. For he sayeth / that to take yt after the letter / yt killeth and profiteth nothyng at all and therfore I wonder that we haue ben ledde so longe in this grosse erroure.
Origi. [...]n l. [...]1 ho. 7This sayinge doth that famous clark Origine / confirme sayng. Agnosce ꝙ figurae sunt quae in uolumi [...]ibus Domini scriptae sunt: & ideo tanq spirituales & non tanq carnales, examinate & intel [...] gite quae dicuntur. Si enim secundum literam seq [...]atis hoc ipsum quod dictum est, Nisi manduc m [...]ritis carnem &c. occidi [...] h [...]c li [...]era. That is to saye Marke that th [...]y are figures wc are wryten in t [...] scripture of god. And th [...]rfore examine thē as sp [...]rituall m [...]n and not as carnall / and vnd [...]rstond those thinges that are spoken. For if thou followe after t [...]e letter this thinge that ys spoken: excepte ye eate the fl [...]she o [...] th [...] sone of man and drynke his bloude / you can haue no liffe in in you / this le [...]t [...]r killeth. Alas deare brethern why shoulde a [...]y m [...]n be offended wt this doctrine syth yt ys [...]proued so playnlie / by suche aun [...]ient and ho [...]ie fa [...]hers?
Augusti. sermo. [...]ir [...] sacrafe riapascheAgayne. S Austen sayeth. Qui manducat carnem meam & bibit meum sanguinem in me manet & ego in illo, Hoc est ergo māducare illā es [...] am & illum bibere potum, in Christo manere & illum [Page] manentem in se habere, ac per hoc qui nō manet in Christo & in quo non manet Christus procu [...]dubio non manducat eius carnem nec bibit sanguinē, etiā si tantae rei sacramentū ad iudicium sibi manduce [...] & bibit [...] That is to say / he that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my blode / abideth in me / and I in hym. This is therfore the eatinge of that meate & drinkinge of that blode / to abyde in christ and haue him abiding in vs. And therfore he that abideth not in Christ / and in whom Christ abideth not / wt oute doubt he eateth not his fleshe nor drinketh not h [...]s bloude / although he eate and drinke the sacrament of so great a thinge vnto his dāpnacion. And euyn the same wordes hath bede vppon the Corinthians. 1. Corin 10.Idem B [...] da super [...] Cor. 10. This one place is sufficient for to proue mi purposse though he sayd not one worde more For here he doth playnlye determin / that he wc abideth not in Christe: that is to saye: he that is wicked or vnfaythfull / doth not eate his fleshe nor drinke his bloude / although he eate and drinke the sacramēt of so great a thinge. And so must yt nedes followe / that the sacrament yt not the verye naturall bodie of christe. For then the vnfaythfull shuld eate his fleshe / seing he eateth the sacrament of his bodye. But that doth s. Austē deney / wherfore yt muste nedes followe / that yt is but only a token of a remembrance / & a signe of his bodie breakinge / and a representaciō of his passiō / that we might kepe hys [...]acte in memor [...]e / Ro [...]a. [...]. & geue him thankes for his tender loue ād kindenes / wt when we were his ennemies toke vppon him to suffer moste vile deth / to reconcile vs vnto [Page] his father / and make vs his frendes. Thys sainge hath s. Austen in a nother place allso where he wry [...]eth on this maner.Augusti de ciuita: [...]ei. lib. 21 [...]api. 25. Qui non in me manet, & in quo ego nō maneo, nō se dicat aut existimet māducare corpus meū, aut bibere sanguinem meū. Non ita (que) manēt in Christo qui non sunt eiu [...] membra: nō sunt a [...] ̄t membra Christi qui se faciūt membra meritricis. That ys to saye / he that bydeth not in me. And in whom I abyde not / lett hī not saye or thinke that he eateth mi bodie or drīketh mi blode? They abyde not in Christ wc are not his membres. And they are not his mē bres wc make thē selues the membres of an harlete. And these are allso the very wordes of Bede.Beda su [...]. 1. cor. 6. Here ys yt playne proued agayne by the auctorite of s. Austen & Bede / that the wicked and vnfaythfull (wc are not the membres of Christ) do not eate his bodye nor drinke his blo [...]de / ād yet they do eate the sacrament as well as the other. Wherfore you muste nedes / graūt that the sacramēt ys not the naturall bodye of christ but a figure / tokē or memoriall therof. Nowe good christē people count not this new lerninge wc is firmed by suche olde doctors & faithfull fathers
Nowe were this ynough for a Christen man that loued no cōtencyon. But because there are so many sophisters ī the world wc care not what they saye / so they hold not ther peace. I muste nedes sette som bulwarke by this holye doctoure to helpe to defende hym / for els they will shortly ouer rūne hym (as they do me) and make hym an here [...]yck to. Therfore I wyll allege hys master s. Ambrose.Ambrosi. [...] sacra. Sainct Ambrose sayth. Nō iste [Page] panis q uadit in corpus, a nobis [...]am anxie queritu [...] sed panis uitae aeternaeq aīae nr̄ae substāciā fulscit, q aūt discordat a christo nō manducat carnē eiꝰ, nec bibit sanguinē eius, & si tātae rei sacramētū iudiciū sue perditionis accipit. That ys / thys bred that goth in to the bodye ys not so gredelye sought of vs / but the bread of euerlasting liffe wc vpholdeth the substāce of o (ur) soule. For he that discordeth from Christ / doth not eate his fleshe / nor drinke hys bloude / allthough he receyue / the sacrament of so great a thinge vnto hys dampnacyon and distructyon. Forthermore the great clarke prosper cōfyrmeth the same sayinge.prosꝑ. in libro se [...] tentiarū. Qui discordat a Christo nec carnē Christi manducat, nec sanguinē bibit, etiā si tantae rei sacramentū ad iudiciū suae praesumptiōis quotidie indifferēter accipiat That ys / he that discordeth from Christ doth nether eate hys fleshe nor drinke hys bloude / allthough he receyue indifferently euery day the sacramēt of so great a thinge vnto the cōdempnation of his p̄sumption.Idem B [...] da super [...] Cor. 11. And thes are allso the very wordes of bede vppon the .xi. Chapiter of the fyrste pystyll to the Corinthians
Nowe you may see / that yt ys not Saynct Austens mynde onlye / But allso the sayinge of many mo. And therfore I truste you wyll be good vnto hym. And yf ye condempne not thes holye fathers / then am I wrongfullye punished. But yf you condempne them / then muste porefryth be content to beare the burthen wt them.