The. xiii. chapyter
WHere as our saurour good readers in the begynnynge vppon accasyō of his miracle wrought vpon the multyplicaciō of the brede, to wched bothe the brede of hys godhed and also of the geuynge them of his owne body to be eaten in forme of bred, & that he som what dyd insinuate & set forththe same in those wordes, wurke you not the bred yt peryssheth but ye bred yt abideth into euerlasting life, which ye sone of mā shal geue you as I som what tolde you before, not of myne own mynde, but of ye mynde of dyuerse holy doctours, Alcuinus, saynte Thomas, Theophylactus, and saynte Cyrill: Ye se that our sauyour in many wordes wpych I haue now declared you, hath opened & shewed vnto theym the brede of hys godhed.
And now good readers take hede how in those wordes that now folow he declareth vnto thē the brede of his own very body, which he gyueth vs verily to eate in the blessed sacramēt. Wherin that exposicyon, that I shall geue you shall be none inuencyon of myne, but the clere fayth and sentēce of all the holy doctours of Chrystes chirch olde and new both, from Chri stesdeth to this daye. Of whome I shall for a sample geue you ere I make an ende, the names and the sen tences of some, as suche as your self shall well se and perceyue for other maner men than I am or mayster Masher eyther / & that yf they were good men and trewe, ye shall than your selfe saye, that mayster Masher is nought and false, and that his exposicion (though it were trewe as is bothe folysshe and false) yet syth it cometh not nere the purpose, is (as I tolde you before) very falsely han deled.
Let vs here now therfore of the […] of Chrystes owne blessed body verify to […] to eate in the blessed sacrament, what Chryste hym selfe sayth.
After his declaracion of the brede of his glorious godhed, these are his wordes. And the brede that I shall geue you, is my fleshe whych I shall geue for the lyfe of the world.
where as before they murmured at the lyght spyrytuall brede of hys godhed / he telleth them now that he wyll not onely geue them that brede to fede vppon, by fruycyon of the by holdynge face to face whan the tyme shall come, as he hath also gyuen yt theym in one maner all redy by his in carnacyon to fede them spyrytually in the meane whyse by spyrytuall doc tryne / but that the brede that he wyll geue them to fede vppon, shall besyde that be his owne flesshe, euyn the very same that he wyll geue for the lyfe of the worlde / menynge that he wolde veryly geue men the same very flesshe to eate and fede vppon, bothe bodyly and spyritually in […] braunce of his deth, that he wold for mannys redempcyon veryly geue to deth, and veryly for a sacryfyce offre vp to god by deth.
But now sayth mayster Masher the aduersary of the blessed sacramēt yt our sauyour ment no more in those wordes, And the brede yt I shal geue you is my flesshe whych I shall geue for the lyfe of the worlde, but that he wold geue it for the lyfe of the world by hysdeth / and ment no thynge at all of the geuynge of his flesshe before his deth, or after hys deth / nor nothynge in these wordes or any that in the same chapyter folowe, entended to speke of any suche maner of geuynge his body to eate, as he is receyued and eaten in the blessed sacrament, nor nothynge ment in thys chapyter any thynge to speke of that mater.
Thus wolde mayster Masker that all men sholde wene, as it appereth playnely by his exposicion. And thus also sayth Luther, & thus sayth Fryth also / & affermeth this sayenge so boldely, that he saith it twyse in his one booke wherin he answereth me. There in sayth he twyse, that all ler ned men are full and whole agreed in that poynt.
And therfore wyll these aduersaryes of the sacramēt say, that in this exposicyon of myne, all that euer I saye wherby it maye apperc that our sauyour in these word writen in this vi. chapiter of saynt Iohn̄, any thyng spake or mēt of ye geuyng of his body to be eaten in the blessed sacrament, is an imaginaciō of myn own hed / […] mayster Masher argueth & speketh […] way of mayster More his fayth, as though it were no mannes essys but myne.
But to the entent good readers that ye may cleresy perceiue maystes Mashers malycyouse fafsed therin, I shall in dyuers places of thys exposycyon, concernyng specyally this poynt of Chrystes spekyng and menynge of the gyuynge of his owne very body in the blessed sacrament, […] you the namye of some of those whom I folow therin, & some of theyr wordes to / by whych ye shal le that I deceyue you not as maister Masher doth, that thorow all his exposycyon flytteth all fro the poynte, and dysimuleth all ye wordes of those olde holy men ye expowned it in suche wyse as he wolde we sholde wene that no good man euer dyd.
Vppon these wordes therfore of our sauyour: And the brede that I shall gyue you is my flesshe, that I shall geue for the lyfe of the worlde: thus sayth Theophysactus.
Consyder that that brede that we1 eate in the sacrament, is not onely a fygure of the fleshe of our forde / but it is also the fleshe of our lord it self. For he sayd not: ye brede that I shall geue is a fygure of my flesshe, but he sayd it is my flesshe. For the same breade by secrete wordes, thorow the mysticall benedyccpon, & by the cummyng also of the holy sppryte therevnto, is transfourmed and chaunged into the flesshe of our lorde. And lest that any man sholde be trowbeled in his mynde, wenynge that it were not to be byleued yt brede sholde be flesh / this is well knowen that whyle our lorde washed in his fleshe, & of brede receyued his noryshynge, that brede whyche he than eate was than chaunged into hys body, & was made suche as his holy flesshe was, and dyd susteyne and increace his flesshe after ye comen maner of men. And therfore now also is the brede chaunged into the flesshe of our forde. And how is it than (wyll some man say) that it appereth not to vs flesshe but brede. That hath Chryste prouyded, to the entent we shold not […] from the eatynge of it. For yf it were geuē vs in lykenesse of flesshe, we sholde be dysplesauntly dysposed towarde the receyuyng of our howsle. But now by the goodnesse of god condescendynge to our infyrmytye, this sacramentall meat appereth vnto vs such as we haue at other tymes bene accustomed wyth.
These are not my wordes so good christen reader, but the word of that old̄ holy cunnyng doctour Theophilactus, whyche was also no satyn man but a greke / bycause mayster Masher speketh so mych of papyst as though ye catholike fayth wherby the catholike chyrch byleueth, yt in the blessed sacrament is the very blessed body of Crist, were a thing but made & imagyned by some pope of rome.
Now yf mayster Masker wyll say yt myne exposicion is in this poynt false: here you se good readers that myne exposicyon is not myne, but the exposiciō of Theophilactꝰ. And the fore let hym leue daūcynge with me & daūce another white with hym.
But marke well two thinge now good reader ī these wordꝭ / one yt this good holy doctours calleth ye blessed sacramēt brede as saint Paule doth,2 and oure sauyour hym selfe also, in these wordes of his in this syxte chapyter of saynt Iohn̄, and so doth also euery doctour of the chyrche almost. Vppon whyche callynge of it brede, frere Luther and Melancton & theyr felowes, take theyr holde to saye and affirme that it is very brede styll, as vell after the consecracyon as afore. And frere Duskyn, with zuynglius, George Joye, Johan Fryth, & Tin dale turne forth ferther to the deuyll and not onely say that it is very bred styll; but also that it is no thynge els.
But now consyder therfore as I say, that Theophilactꝰ here calleth it brede as well as they / sayenge, the brede that we receiue in the misteries or sacrament, is not onely a certayne fygure of the fleshe of our lorde, but it is also the fleshe of our lord it self. But than expresseth he plainely that though he calleth it brede, he meneth not that it is very materyall brede styll as it was / but that the brede ys transformed, gone, and changed into the very fleshe of Chryste. And he setteth it out also with an ensample of the brede that is eaten and turned in to the flesshe of the man whom it nurysseth, whyche euery man well woteth that any wytte hath that it is no lenger brede than.
And therfore Theophilactus cal leth it brede, bycause it was brede / as in the scrypture the serpēt in to which Aarons rodde was turned is called a rodde styll, whyle it was no rodde but a serpent. For there is it thus wri3 ten. The rodde of Aron dyd deuour the roddes of the magycianis. And as the scrypture calleth the serpent there a oodde: so calleth it the […] brede. And as Theophilactꝰ calleth here the blessed sacrament by the name of brede, and yet declareth that it is no brede: euyn so do all holy doctours that call it by that name of brede bothe mene indide, and also do clerely declare, that though they call it brede, they know well it is no brede but in lykenesse and forme of brede vnder the sacramentall signe, ye very blessed body of Cryst, flesh, bloude, bonys and all, & neyther wythout the soule nor the godhed neyther.
Marke also good reader, ye Theo phylactus sayth, The brede whyche we eate in the misteryes or sacramēt, is not onely a fygure of the flesshe of our lorde, but it is also the flesshe of our lorde it selfe.
In these wordes good readers marke wel that he sayth it is a figure and yet for all that the very fleshe of Chryste.
Thys thynge I specyally desyre you to note, bycause that by the markynge of thys one poynt / ye maye voyde almoste all the crafte, wyth whiche mayster Masker, Fryth, and Tyndale, and all these heretykes la bour to deceyue you in the wrytynge of all the olde holy doctours.
For where so euer any of thē call the blessed sacrament a fygure, there wolde these felowes make vs wene that he ment it were nothynge ellys. But here you se that Theophylactus saith it is a figure as it is in dede / but he telleth vs that it is also (as in dede it is) the very flesshe of oure lorde.
And therfore marke well these. ii. poynts in this one place, yt whā these heretikes proue that the blessed sacra mēt is called bred, they proue nothing agaynst vs. For they that call it brede declare yet that in dede it is not brede but the body of Chryste. And whan they proue that it is called a fygure / they proue no thynge agaynste vs. For they that saye it is a fygure, saye it is not onely a fygure, but also the flesshe of Chryste. But whan we proue that the blessed sacramēt is not onely called the body and bloude of Chryst, but also ye the olde holy doctours and the exposytours of holy scrypture do playnely declare that it is so / than proue we playne agaynst them. For we denye none of ye tother two poyntes / but thys poynt do they denye.
Footnotes
Chapter 15 of 70