The preface. Syr Thomas More knyght to the chrysten reader
WOlde god good chri sten readers as I haue often sayde, ye euery good chrysten man, ye man & woman both, which are of that inwarde good and graciouse mynde, that they wolde not for all thys world forsahe the trewe fayth them selfe, hadde as mych burnynge zefe and feruour in theyr hartes, to se it outwardly kepte and preserued amonge all other, as these that are fallen in false […] and haue forsaken the fayth, […] an hote fyre of hell in theyr hartes, that neuer can suffre thē to reste or ceace, but maketh them bothe day & nyght; by sily labour and worke, to subuerte and destroye the catholyke chrysten fayth, wyth all the meanes that euer they can deuise.
For surely yf all suche as beleue well them selfe, were as loth to here any worde spoken wronge agaynste the fayth, as they wolde be to speke it them selfe: there sholde neyther feles[…]hyppe of theyr matchys, nor fere of any suche as are after the worldly compte accompted for theyr betters, any thynge lette or wythstande them bothe by worde and countenaunce to shewe them selfe playnely, to hate & deteste and abhorre vtterly, the pestylent contagyon of all suche smoky cōmunycacyon.
The tyme hathe bene ere thys, whan honest chrysten people wolde walke so farre of from al lecherouse lyuynge, that they wolde not come so mych towarde it as to abyde the talhynge but folowed thaposties precepte1 that sayth, let not […] or any vnclennesse be so mych as named amonge you.
In that whyle was there myche honest clennesse, & by shame fastnesse mych was chastyte conserued. But after tyme ye in worde, folke fell vnto more lybertye / and suche as wolde forbere the doynge, wolde yet be wel contēt to fall in the feleshyp of foule and fylthy talkynge: than beganne clennesse greately to dekaye. For as2 thapostle also reherseth, euyll communicacyon marreth and corrupteth good maners.
But this dekaye from chastite by declynacyon into foule and fylthy tal kynge, hath bygonne a great whyle agoo, and is very farre growen on. But the tyme hath ben euyn vntyll now very late, that albe it of fleshly watonesse men haue not letted to vse them selfe in wordes bothe lewd and very large: yet of one thynge euer wold euery good man be well ware, that heresye wolde he no man suffre to talke at his table, but wolde bothe rebuke it and detecte it to, all though the thynge touched hys owne borne brother. Such hath ben tyll of late ye comen chrysten zele to warde the catholyke fayth.
And albe it that I dowte not, but that (god be thanked) the fayth is it selfe as faste roted in thys realme styll as euer it was before (excepte some very few places, & yet euyn in those few, the very faythfull folke many mo than are the faythlesse to) yet syth good men haue of late not letted to here the euyll talke, and vncōtrolled to speke blasphemouse wor des in theyr company, the cowrage therof hath out of all questyon mych geuyn occasiō yt heretikes haue spred theyr errous mych ye more abrode.
For it is not only lechery yt […] 3 worde are verified of, where he saith ye euyll cōmunicacyō corrupteth good maners (albe it therof be they veryfyed to) but specyally be they verifyed of heresye. And agaynst the cō municacyon of heretikes dyd saynte Poule specyally speke them in hys fyrst pystfe to ye Corynthyes / among whom some began homely than to talke agaynst ye generall resurrecciō, as some begynne among vs now, to talke agaynst the blessed sacramēte.
And such cōmunicacion it is therfore that thapostle speketh agaynst / of which he sayth also ye the cōtagion4 crepeth forth and corrupteth ferther, after ye maner of a corrupt cankar.
And therfore he byddeth vs that we sholde haue none other cōmunyca cyon with […], but onely of reprouyng theyr heresye & geuyng thē warnyng to seue. And yet not euery man be bold, to taske to long with thē not euyn therof neyther, nor ouer often to medfe with them / fest as the pe stylence catcheth somtyme the leche that fastynge cometh very nere and longe sytteth by the syke man bysy about to cure hym: so some folke faynt and feble in the fayth matched with a felow stoburne & stronge in heresye, may soner hym selfe take hurte than do the tother good.
Saynt Poule therfore inspyred with the spiryt of god, cōpendiousely toucheth in very few wordes, bothe these two poyntes at onys, where he wryteth vnto Titus: That man yt 5 is an heretyke after onys or twyse warnynge ([…] here the cōmunicacyō that he wolde we sholde haue wyth hym) voide & esce we hym. So here ye se so that after onys or twyse war nynge of them, the byshop sholde as folhe incorrigihte expell them / & we sholde yf we well dyd, kepe no more cōpany nor no more cōmunycacyon with them / no sayth saynt Iohn, not6 so mych as byd theym good spede or good morow whan we mete them.
These bydddynges of these bles sed appostles, yf all catholyke […] wolde folowe (whych eyther of neclygence or fere, or for synful ciuilyte, whyle we folow not, we neuer dyscharge well our conscyence towarde god). There wolde withoute any great suyt or trouble be shortly farre fewer heretyques than there be. And they yt are, shold shortly ꝑceyue in eue ry place where they wene thē self ma ny, how very few they be / whych as few as they be, wolde god yet they were yet farre fewer than they be. For all be yt there are of heretyques farre fewer than those that are wold haue it seme there were: yet are there vndoutely by suche dyssymysyng suf feraunce, many mo than elles there sholde haue ben.
And this is also the cause, that of these heretyques bookes there be so many now brought in as there be. For whyle men may so boldely speke out theyre heresyes, euen amonge theym whome they knowe none heretykes: this maketh many folke yt elles durst not medle wyth suche bokes, to bye theym and loke on theym, and longe to se what they saye.
But some there are that fyrst begynne but of suche a vayne curyouse mynde, whome the deuyll dryueth af ter forwarde, and fyrst maketh them doute of the trouthe. And after bryngeth theym oute of doute to a full belyefe of heresye.
And thus of suche bokes, as fore as they be forboden: yet are there ma ny bought. Nor the parel refrayneth not myche people from the byenge, syth there is none house lyghtly that hathe so lytle rome, that lacketh the rome to hyde a boke therin.
But when they hadde the bokes, yf men wolde abhorre theyr talkyng gone were all the pleasure that they take therin. But now while men con trolle theym not, but laugh and lette theym bable, pryde maketh theym procede, and they procure mo, and sprede the bokes more abrode, and drawe mo bretherne to theym.
There ys no small nomber of suche erronyouse englyshe bookes prented of whyche yf fewe were boughte, there wolde not of lykelyhed so many be putte in prente / sauynge that some brethern there are in this realme, that of theyr zele to theyr sectes, beyng of such substaūce that they maye forbere yt, geue some money therto before hande, content to abyde thaduenture of the sale, or geue the bokes aboute for nought to brynge men to the deuyl.
And in this wise is there sent oute to be prented, the boke yt Fryth made laste agaynste the blessed sacrament, answerynge to my letter, wherwyth I confuted the pestylēt treatyce that he hadde made agaynste yt byfore. And the bretherne loked for yt nowe at thys bartlemew tyde laste passed and yet loke euery daye, except yt be come all redye, and secretely runne amonge theym.
But in the meane whyle, there is come ouer a nother boke aguynst the blessed sacrament / a boke of that sort, that Frythes boke the bretherne may nowe forbere. For more blasphemouse, and more bedelem rype than this boke is, were that boke harde to be / which is yet madde inough as me say that haue sene yt.
This boke is intytled, The souper of our lord. But I beshre w suche a she wer, as so serueth in the souper, that he conuayth awaye the best dyshe, and bryngeth yt not to the borde / as this man wold yf he could, conuey fro the blessed sacrament Cri stes owne blessed fleshe and bloode, and leue vs nothynge therin, but for a memoryall onely bare brede and wyne.
But his handes are to lumpyshe and this messe also to great for hym to cōuey clene / specyally syth ye dishe is so dere and so dayntye, that euery chrystē man hath his hart bent therto and therfore his yie set theron to […] where yt bycometh.
The man hath not set his name vnto his boke / nor whose yt is I can not surely say. But some reken yt to be made by Wyllyam Tyndale / for that in a pystle of his vnto Fryth, he wryteth that in any thynge that he cando,' he wolde not fayle to helpe hym forthe.
Nowe be yt some of the brethern reporte that the booke was made by George Jay. And of trouth Tyndale wrote vnto Frith, that George Jay hadde made a boke agaynste the sacrament, whych was as yet partly by his meanes partely for lacke of money, reteyned and kepte fro the prent. Nowe be yt what George Joy wolde do therin afterward whā hys money were come / that coulde he not (he sayth assure hym.
Nowe of trouthe George Joye hath longe hadde in hande and redy lyenge by hym, his boke agaynst the sacrament. And nowe yf this be yt / he hathe somwhat enlengthed yt of late, by a pyece that he hath patched in agaynst me, wherin he wolde seme to soyle myne argumentes, whyche in my letter I made in that mater agaynste the deuely she treatyce of Fryth.
And in very dede, dyuerse that are lerned and haue redde the booke, reken yt veryly to be the booke of George Jaye, whereof Tyndale wrote vnto Fryth / specyally by certayn wordes that were in that letter, For therin wryteth Tyndale, that yf George Jay dyd put forth his boke, there shold be founden in it many rea sons & very few to the purpose.
Nowe be yt me thynketh by that marke, that this boke sholde not be that. For in this boke be there very fewe reasons, and of them all neuer one to the purpose.
The maker of the boke in ye ende of his boke, for one cause why he put teth not his name therto, wryteth in thys wyse, Mayster mocke whom the veryte moost offendeth, and doth but mocke it out whan he can not soyle it, he koweth me well inough.
Thys sadde and sage ernest, mā that mockyng at myne name calleth me mayster Mocke, dothe in these wyse wordes nothynge but mocke the readers of his boke / saue that his reason is so rude and folysh, that the mocke returneth to hym selfe.
For syth he wryteth not his booke to me, nor sendeth me none of theym, but the bretherne kepe theym fro me as closely as they cā: what if I wyst neuer so wel who he were that wrote yt, what were this to the bretherne that reade yt? know they therby who yt is to?
Now for my selfe also, though I knowe Tyndale by name, & George Jay or George Joy by name also, and twenty such other fond felowes of the same secte mo: yet yf tenne of those wolde make tenne suche folysh treatyses and sette theyre names to none, coulde I know therby whych of those madde foles, made whyche folyshe boke?
Dyuerse there are in dede, of those that are lerned and haue redde the boke, that thynke for the lacke of lernynge and of wytte also, that they fynde euery where therin, the booke sholde neyther be made by Tyndale nor by George Jay neyther / but rather by some yonge vnlerned fole.
Nowe be it as for me, I thynke the boke myghte be for all that made by Tyndale or by George Jaye eyther. For the mater beynge dyuysed agaynst the blessed sacramēt, the wy sest or the moste fole, the moste lerned or the leste, is all in maner one, and in that mater maketh lytle dyfference. For I neuer founde yet any man so wel lerned, and so naturally well wytted wythall, but after that he fell ones to ye defense of heresies, & specyally of this abomynable here sye agaynst the blessed sacramēt: ney ther lernyng, nor wyt, neuer wel ser ued hymafter.
For as for Tyndale the captayne of our Englyshe heretyques (who byfore he felto these fransyes, mē had went had had some wyt, and was taken for full pretyly lerned to) ye se good chrysten readers playnly tryed by his bokes, that an vnlettered man myghte be ashamed to write so vnler nedly / and a madde man wolde all most wax rede for shame, to wryte in some thynges so frantykely.
As touchynge frere Barons and George Jay, the bretherne & systern them selfe se theyr wyttes so wasted and theyr lernyng waxen so slender, that the bretherhed hath lytle lyste to reade them. And some of the bre therne that say this new worke was made by George Jay, thynke that the cause why he sette not his name therto, was bycause he wyst well the brethern dyd not regarde hym. And Tyndale had in his letter also decla red him for a fole, by reasō wherof he thought yt if yt came vnder his name, the stimacyon therof were but loste.
Fryth was lo a proper yonge man and a towarde, tyll he fell vnto these folyes. After whyche to what dekay both his wyt and his lernynge came, euery wyse man myche meruayled, that in his open examenacyon herd and consydered his answeres.
For all be yt that in the booke that the bretherne that are here haue sent ouer to prent, Tyndale and hys felowes to bydylde the worlde wyth all, purpose to make many chaunges, and amende and aduaunce hys parte, vnderpropyng yt wyth theyre own proper lyes: yet shal ye meanes be metely well founden to controll theyre falshed I truste, and to take awaye theyr clokes, and lyue hys foly bare. And than shall men playnely se, that of one whome the bretherne boste for so wyse, there neuer dyed in Englange byfore, any false heretyque so folyshe.
But now as touchynge this new come ouer boke, whyche the maker hath entitled The super of the lord: though the man haue named yt the souper of our sauyour Chryste, yet hathe the man made yt the souper of the deuyll.
The specyall effecte of all hys whole purpose is to fede vs wyth the moste poysoned heresye that laboreth to kyll the catholyque christen fayth, concernynge the blessed sacra ment of the autare / all be yt by the waye he putteth forthe dyuerse other heresye besyde.
Thys vsauerye souper of his, withoute any corne of salte, and spyced all wyth poyson, he dyuydeth as yt were into two courses / that ys to wytte into the treatynge and […] of two specyall thynges spe cyfyed in the gospell of Chryste, wherby chrysten people playnely perceyue, that in the blessed sacramēt of thaulter, is the very blessed bodye of Chryste, his very fieshe and hys bloude.
In the fyrste parte whych I call here his fyrst course, occupyenge the tone halfe of his boke, he treateth the wordes of Chryste spoken in the syxte chapyter of saynte Iohn̄ / why che wordes our sauyour speketh, of the eatyng of his flesh and drynkyng of hys bloude.
In his secunde parte, whyche I call hys secund course, he treateth ye maundye of Chryste wyth hys apostles vpon shere thursday, wherin our sauyour actually dyd instytute yt blessed sacrament, & therin veryly gaue his awne very fleshe and blood to his twelne apostles hym selfe.
I shal therfore diuyde this worke of myne into two partes in lyke wise, of whyche twayne this shall be the fyrste, wherin I shall detect & make euery man perceyue thys mannys euyll coquery in hys fyrste course, concernynge the treatynge of Chrystes wordes in the syxt chapyter of saynte Iohn̄.
And all be yt yt I shall afterward send you forth my secunde parte also agaynst his secunde course: yet shall I so handle thys mannes myscheuouse heresye in this fyrst part, that though I neuer wrote worde more herafter of the mater, yet to the perceyuynge of the trouth, and deteccyon of his falsed, this fyrst part might suffyse for all the whole mater.
In hys fyrste parte, he forste expowneth the later parte of his syxte chapyter of saynte Iohn̄ / and by hys declaracyon laboreth to drawe men from the perceyuynge of the trouth, and setteth forth also both his pryncypall heresye, and ouer that dyuerse other.
Also in the same parte he argueth agaynste all men in generall that expowne any of those wordes of Crist there spoken, to be ment by Chryste of the very eatynge of hys fleshe (as the catholyque chyrch byleueth) in the blessed sacrament.
In that fyrste parte also he argueth agaynste me by name in specyall / and pretendeth to soyle such argumentes as I made in my letter agaynste the poysoned treatyse, that John Fryth had before made in that mater agaynst the blessed sacrament.
In that parte also the man bryngeth in two placys all in great, which he hath pyked out by longe leysoure amonge all my bokes / in eyther of whyche two places, he sheweth that I haue notably contraryed myn own wrytynge, that I haue wryten my self in other places before & sheweth also the places where.
I shall therfore good readers in thys fyrste parte of myne gyue you fyue bokes / and some of them very shorte.
In the fyrst wyll I geue you the exposycion of the selfe same wordes of Chryste, mencyoned in the syxte chapyter of saynt John / by whyche who so conferre them and consyder them togyther, shall I trust perceiue well the fashed of his exposycyon, & not be deceiued therby. And for myne exposycyon ye shall not geue me the thanke. For I haue but pyked it out here and there out of the wrytynges of dyuers olde holy menne.
The seconde shall shew you for a sample, some of the fawtes both in folies and errours, that the man hath made vs in his exposycyon.
The thyrde shal answere & soyle hys wyse reasons, wyth whyche he wolde make all men folys, that haue expowned that place before, cōtrary to hys here sye now / that is to wytte, all the olde holy doctours and saynte frome thapostses dayes vnto oure owne tyme.
In ye fourth shall ye se what wyt and what sernyng he sheweth, in soysynge of myne argumentes made be fore in that mater agaynst his felow Iohn̄ Fryth.
The fyfth shall declare you the dylygence that the man hath done, in sekyng out my neglygence, leuynge some places in my wrytynge, repugnaūt & contrary the tone place to the tother. And of such place ye shall (as I sayd) se hym with dylygent serche of thre yere, at laste brynge you forth twayne. And there shall you se good chrysten reders, that in those twayn, my neglygence shall for all his dylygence proue hym twyse a fole.
But in the treatyng of this mater with hym, I shall lacke somwhat of the commodyte that the man hath in dysputynge wyth me. For he hath a greate pleasure of tetymes, nowe in one maner, now in another, now to talke of me, and nowe to speke to me by name, wyth, thus sayth More, and, […] mayster More, and sometyme, maysier Mocke, and, let More mocke on and lye to / and many such goodly garnyshynge mo. But he wyll be for hys owne parte sure that I shall not dyspute wyth hym by name, and therfore he kepeth it awaye.
And therfore what foly and what falsed be founden in his boke, he forceth very lytell. For shame he thynketh he can none take therby, whyle folke knowe not hys name.
Wherin he fareth myche lyke to some bestely body, yt wolde not care to sytte downe wyth hys face to the walwarde, and ease hym selfe in the open strete / and though all the towne at onys tote in his tayle, take it for no shame at all, bycause they se not hys face.
And veryly as we se somtyme, that suche as walke in visours, haue mych the lesse fere and shame, bothe what they do and what they saye, bycause they thynke theym selfe vnknowen: so do these folke oftentymes lytell force what they wryte, that vse to putte out theyr bookes, and set not theyr names vnto theym. They thynke theym selfe vnsene whyle […] name is vnknowen / and therfore they fere not the shame of theyr foly. As some haue I sene […] thys, full boldely come daunce in a maske, whose dauncynge bycame thē so well; that yf theyr visours hadde ben of theyr facys, shame wolde not haue suffred theym to sette forthe a fote.
And mayster […] vnder his […] face forceth not myche to shyfte a false caste amonge, wyth a payre of false dyce.
And therfore syth thys man by wythdrawynge his name from hys booke, hath done on a visour of dyssimulacyon, dyssimulynge his person to voide the shame of his fashed, and speketh to mych to be called mayster […], whyche name he were els well worthy for hys false dyce: I shall in this dyspicyon bytwene hym and me, be […] for thys onys (syth by some name muste I call hym) for lacke of hys other name to call hym mayster […].
And thus finishynge […] preface, we shall begynne the mater.
Footnotes
Chapter 2 of 70