The. vi. chapyter
WHan that after the myracle of the fedyng so many people with so fewe louys, our lord had (as it foloweth in the gospel) withdrawē hym selfe asyde into the hyll, bycause he sawe the people were mynded to make hym theyre kynge, the dyscyples hadde entred in the euenynge after into a shyppe, and Chryste apperynge to theym walkynge vppon the see, and calmynge the tempest, whan they wolde haue taken hym in to theyr shyppe, the shyppe was sodaynly comen to the land. The people on the morowe longyng to fynde oure lorde agayne, toke other lytell shyppes that came thyther after, and folowed hys dyscyples, from whom they thought he wolde not longe be, allthough they knewe that Chryste wente not in the shyppe with theym. And whan they came on the tother syde of the se to Capharnaū, & foūde not onely them there but him to / thā merueylynge mych therof, they sayd vnto hym, Mayster whan camest ye hyther? Our lord answered agayne & sayd vnto thē: syrs I tell you very trewth, the cause that you seke me now, is not the myracles that you haue sene, but it is bycause that of the louys yt I gaue you you haue well eaten and well fylled your belyes.
In these wordꝭ our sauyour well declared his godhed, in that he tolde them theyr myndes & thoughtes, whiche is a property belongynge onely to god. For as the scripture sayth:1 our lord beholdeth the harte. And specyally syth he told them theyr myndꝭ beynge suche as reason wolde haue went theyr myndes had ben the contrary. For syth that after that god had so fedde and fylled them of that brede, and that they had sene so mych lefte yet besyde, they dyd vppon the syghte of that myracle saye, Thys is the very prophete that shall come in to the worlde / and by those wordꝭ declared clerely yt they thoughte he was Chryste, that is to wytte Messyas, whom they loked for by the pro phecye of Moyses and other prophe tes, that shold come to saue ye world, and that theruppon they wold haue made hym kynge: who could haue went that they could haue hadde so soone vppon the morowe so colde a mynde toward hym, as to go sayle & seke hym for none other deuocyō but for the fedynge of theyr belyes. But our sauyour (whose depe syghte entred into theyr hartes, & labored not vppon any fallible coniecturys) both saw the sykenesse of theyr vnperfait myndes, and as a perfyt phisicyon agaynst theyr dysease, diuised them a good and perfyte medecyn, sayenge vnto them thus, wurke syrs and labour for the meat, not the meate that perystheth, but for the meate that abydeth into euerlastynge lyfe / whyche meate the sone of mā shall gyue you / for hym hath god ye father sealed. As though he wold say, ye labour hither & seke me for such meate as I fedde you with ye tother daye / but yt meat is soone gone and perysheth. Labour & wurke, and make you meat that you maye eate the meat yt shall neuer be gone nor neuer perysh, but shall last with you for euer in euerlasting lyfe.
By these wordes of the meate euerlastynge our sauyour dyd as the olde holy doctours declare, insumate and secretely sygnifye to theym the meat of […], both the spiritual eatyng of his godhed by fruicyō in heuyn, & the bodyly eatyng of his very body here ierth / of which both meates he more declareth after.
For the better perceyuing wherof ye shall vnderstand that ye materyall meate that men eate here, hath two maner of peryshyngs. One by which thorow the naturall operacyō of the body that receyueth yt, it is altered & chaunged, and leseth his own forme, shape, nature, and substaunce, and is tourned into the nature & substaunce of the body which it norisheth. And in this maner of peryshynge perysheth all the meate that euery man eateth, or els it nothyng nurysheth.
The tother maner of perysshyng by which the meate perysheth, is that peryshynge, by which the meate that is taken thorough glotony, is for the inordynate appetyte and vse thereof / destroyed and punyshed by god, and the glotonous bely to. Of whyche maner of peryshynge saynte Poule sayth, The meate for the bely, & the2 bely for the meate / and god shall destroye both the tone and the tother.
This is spoken agaynste those that eate not for the conseruacion of theyr lyfe and theyr helth, to preserue them selfe to the seruyce of god, but eate & drynke onely for the voluptuouse pleasure of theyr body.
Now taught our lord the Jewes in these few wordes adoctryne short and compendyouse, that they sholde neyther be glotons in laborynge for the meate that perysheth of that secunde fashyon, nor so very hyghly esteme the meate that perysheth of the fyrst fasshyon, that is to wyt any maner of meate that onely nurisheth the body / but that they sholde labour and wurke and endeuour them selfe, that they myght be meate to receyue and eate that meate that shall abyde & endure with thē in euerlastinge lyfe / that is to saye that as theym selues were bothe bodyes and soules, so spi rytually to receyue and eate of hys own godhed, with the fruicyō wherof they shold after this lyfe be euerlastyngly fedde among his angellys in heuyn / and for the meane whyle in thys world bodyly to receyue & eate his owne blessed body into theyrs, as an ernest peny of theyr perpetuall cō iūccyon and incorporacyon with hym afterwarde in the kyngdome of hys eternall glory / where our bodies shal also be fedde for euer, wyth the farpassynge pleasure of the bodyly beholdynge of his gloryous body there in his owne bewtyfull forme, whiche we now veryly recepue here, hydde in the blessed sacrament in lykenesse and forme of brede.
This is the meat that Cryste in those worde ment, & wold they shold labour to make them selfe mete for. For this meat wyll in no wyse perish. But where as the bodyly meate that the man eateth of the shepe in the nuryshynge of the man, perysheth and leseth his owne nature, not turnynge the flesh of the man in to the flesh of the shepe / but beynge turned from the owne proper nature of shepys fleshe, in to the naturall fleshe of the man / this meate is of suche vigour & strength; that in the nuryshyng of the man it abvdeth whole and vnchaunged / not beynge turned into the flesh of the man, but afterynge, turnyng, & trāsformyng, as holy saynt Austayn sayth the fleshely man frō his groce […] into a certayn maner of the pure nature of it selfe, by particy pacyon of that holy blessed flesh and immortall, that is with his siuely spy ryte imedyately ioyned and vnseparably knitte vnto ye eternall flowyng foūtayn of all lyfe, ye godhed. This meat therfore Cryste byddeth them labour & wurke for in those wordes: wurke you not the meat yt peryssheth but that abideth into euerlasting lyfe
But yet though Cryst tōmauded them that they shold not be idle slougardes & slouthfull of them self, but that they sholde wurke & labour for theyr owne parte to gete this meate, and make them selfe mete therfore: yet he let them knowe that no man could by hys owne onely power attayne it. And therfore he added these wordꝭ, whych meate the sone of man shall gyue you / tellyng them therby that hym selfe which had fedde them before wyth that other meate whiche was peryshable, wold also (yf them selfe wold wurke and labour for it) geue theym the tother meate, that is permanent in to lyfe euerlastyng to. And therfore (as dyuerse holy doctours say) whan the preste minystreth vs this mete, let vs not thinke that it is he that gyueth it vs / not the preste I saye whome we se, but the sone of man Chryst hym self, whose own fleshe not ye preste there geueth vs, but as Chrystes mynystre delyuereth vs. But ye very geuer therof is our blessed sauyour hym selfe, as hym selfe in these wordꝭ wytnesseth, where he sayth, quē filius hominis dabit vobis, whyche meate the sone of man shall gyue you.
Now lest the Iewes myght haue cause to mystruste, that he yt were the sone of man could̄ gyue thē yt meate, that were fre from all peryshynge & permanent into euerlastynge lyfe: he taketh awaye that obieccion, and sheweth them that he is not onely ye sone of man but also the sone of god / and no more verily man by that that he is the sone of man (that is to wyt not of Ioseph but of our forefather Adam the fyrst man) than he is veryly god in that he is the sone of god, as veryly and as naturally begotten of god the father by generacyon, as he was veryly and naturally descended of our forefather Adam by liniall dyscent and propagacyon. Which thynge our sauyour shewed theym in these wordꝭ: Hunc enim pater significauit deus. For hym hath god the father sealed. This is to say, that hym hath god the father specyally sequestred and seuered and set asyde out of the nomber of all creaturs, and hath sent hym in to ye world̄, anoynted, sygned, and marked with the very prent of his owne seale. For (as the olde holy doctours declare, and amonge other saynt Cyrill and saynt Hilary) the seale of the father with which he sealed his sone is nothynge els but hym self his own very nature & substaūce And therfore hath god caused these wordꝭ to be writen in holy scrypture, that god the father hath sealed hys sone, as our sauyour sayd here to the Iewes / and that Crist is the image, prent, and character of the father, as saith saint Poule, bycause we therby sholde lerne and vnderstand, that as a trewe seale trewly prented, leueth in the tother the very whole expresse thynge that it is it selfe, not as it is iron, stele, or coper, syluer, brasse, or golde, but as yt is a seale, that ys to wytte thys fasshyoned fygure or ye, and yet hepeth it whole styll […] the lesse it selfe, so dyd god the father in the sealyng of god the sone, that is to wytte in hys eternall bygettynge, gyue hym all that euer was in hym selfe, all hys whole wyll, all his hole wysedome, all hys whole myghte and power, and fynally all his whole nature substaunce and godhed, and yet kepe neuer the lesse all the same styll hym selfe.
And thus the sone of god so sealed by his father and not onele expres sely representynge, but also veryly beynge one equale god, in nature, sub staunce, wysedome, wyll, myghte, & power, with almyghty god hys father beynge sent in to the worlde by hys father and hym selfe, and theyre bothe holy spyryte equale god wyth theym bothe, toke vppon hym the manhode, the very flesshe, and the very soule of our sauyour Chryste,3 anoynted aboue all other creaturys with fulnesse of all graces, by the cō iunccion of his manhed in wonderful vnite with hys omnipotent godhed, meruelousely makynge one perfyt persone and one farpassynge perfyte person of god and man togyther.
Thus hath our sauiour not onely she wed them the great gyfte of euer lastynge lyuely meate, that yf they wold wurke for it he wold gyue thē / but hath also she wed them that hym self is equale god with his almighty father, and therby well able to gyue it them, and also sent into the worlde for the nonys, bycause he sholde to such folke as wold be well wyllyng to labour and wurke therfore, wurke with theyre good wyl and wyllyngly gyue it them.
Footnotes
Chapter 8 of 70