The. xiiii. chapyter

YEt to thentent that ye may se that mayster Masker in his exposicyō, doth but playnely mocke you: consider yet agayne these vordes well, Et panis qnem ego dabo caro […] est, quam ego dabo pro mundi […]. whyche texte, albe it that in the latyn it be som what otherwyse, that is to wytte. Et panis quem ego dabo caro mea est pro mūdi uita, without these wordes, quem ego dabo, in the secūd place / whiche laten texte were yet more for my purpose, yet syth not onely the greke texte is as I rehersed you fyrst, whyche was the language wherin the uangelyst wrote, but that also bothe the greke expositours and many of the laten exposytours to, do so expowne it / and that though those wordes were out, yet they be such as the sentence wolde well requyre to repete and vnderstande / and finally bycause I fynde that mayster Masker hym selfe doth in his exposycion take that texte in the fyrste fasshyon, onely chaungynge one worde in the secund place, ye is to wytte this word (geue) into thys word (paye) whiche chaunge he maketh as for an exposicyon: I am content to take the texte as hym selfe dothe, that is to wytte after the fyrst maner thus, And the brede that I shall geue you is my flesshe, which I shall geue for ye lyfe of the world.

Consyder now good reader that in these wordes, our sauiour here spe keth of geuynge his flesshe twyse, by whyche he meneth, that in the tone ge uyng he wold geue it to them / and in the tother geuynge he wolde geue it for them. The tone geuynge was in the blessed sacrament / the tother was on the crosse.

And loke now whyther the very wordes of Chryst agre wyth this ex posycyon or not / the wordes ye wote well be these: and the brede that I shall geue you is my flesshe. Mere is lo the tone geuyng, by which he shall sayth he geue his flesshe to theym.

Than sayth he ferther, whyche I shall gyue for the lyfe of the world. So here he telleth them of the tother gyuynge, by whyche he sholde geue it for them. And bycause hys geuyng to them sholde be a memoryall of his geuynge for them, therfore he spake of them both to gether. But yet bycause his princypall purpose was to speke in that place, not of his geuyng of hys flesshe for them, but of his ge uynge it vnto them: therfore of hys geuynge it to them he maketh after a very playne and expresse declaracyō in many playne open wordes / but of hys geuynge it for theym, he spake but a lytell, and as is were but for a declaracyon of the tother geuynge. For whan he had sayd, and the brede whyche I shall gyue you shalbe my flesshe / than to declare that he ment to geue them hys very fleshe, he added therto these wordes / whiche I shall gyue for the lyfe of the worlde. As though he wolde saye, wyll you wytte what flesshe this brede is that I wyll gyue to you: veryfy the selfe same that I wyll geue for you / and not onely for you, but for the lyfe of the whole worlde to, that is to wytte for as many of the worlde as whan they here it preched, wyll not refuse to take it. And therfore whā ye know hereafter whiche flesshe of myne I shall haue gyuen for you vppon the crosse / thā shal you not nede to do […] whiche flesshe of myne I shall giue you in the brede of the sacrament, excepte you […] not to byleue me. For now I tell you as playne as I can, that it shalbe the fame flesshe.

This exposycyon good readers ye se is euydent open and playne. But now se good readers for godde sake the falsehed of mayster Masker in hys exposycyon vppon ye same wordes. Where as our sauyour as you se speketh in these few wordes of these two geuynges, the geuynge to eate and the geuynge to dye, the ge uynge in the sacrament & the geuyng on the crosse / cometh me now maister Masker, and expowneth Chrystes wordes all to gether of the tone geuynge, that is to wytte the geuynge by deth on the crosse / and letteth the tother geuynge go by, as though he saw it not, albe it that Chryst speketh of that gyuynge both fyrst and most.

Now yf mayster Masker wyll say that I do but fayne these two ge uynges, and saye as he sayth often that Chryste ment there but one geuynge, that is to wytte by hys deth, and wyll saye that Cryste speketh there no worde of the sacrament / I shall tell hym agayne that so myghte mayster Masker marre all his owne exposycyō vtterly. For Cryst whan he sayth, whiche I shall gyue for the lyfe of the worlde, speketh no word in the world neyther of his crosse nor of his deth. If he say that they be vn derstanden, thā must he geue me leue to say the lyke for my parte, that as deth & the crosse are vnderstondē in ye tone geuing, so eatyng & the sacramēt is vnderstonden in ye tother geuynge. Now be it for my part yet touchyng the fyrst geuyng, I may say yt Cryst speketh of the sacramēt, & signyfyeth his menyng in this word, brede, whā he sayth the brede that I shall geue you is my fleshe. And of the eatynge therof he speketh expressely after. And therfore shall mayster Masker neuer wade out therof, but that I ha ue the wordes of the scrypture mych more clere for the fyrst geuyng, than he for the secund. And ye may se that of the two geuynges mayster Masker to mocke vs with, hath in hys exposycion of a folysh wylynesse wynked and dyssembled the tone.

But yet if maister Masker striue with me styll vpō this point, whither our sauyour speke of two geuynges of hys fleshe, or but of one / albe it ye I haue proued my part therin metely playne my selfe, yet am I content that a better than we both shall breke yt stryfe bytwen vs. I shall therfore name you yt holy cūnyng doctour sait Bede, whose worde I trust euery wyse man wyll byleue a lytell better thā eyther maister Maskers or myn. So thus sayth saint Bede vpō these¹ wordes of Chryste, And the brede whych I shall gyue is my body, whiche I shall geue for the lyfe of the worlde. Thys brede (sayth saynte Bede) dyd ourforde gyue whan he gaue the sacrament of hys body and hys bloude vnto his dyscyples, and whan be offered vp hym selfe to god hys father vppon the awtre of the crosse.

Here you se good readers that saynte Bede telleth you playne the same tale that I tell you, that is to wytte that our sauyour in those wordes speketh of two geuynges of him selfe, the tone to his dyscyples in the sacrament, the tother to deth for hys dyscyples on the crosse. And therfore whyle mayster Masker with his heresye doth vtterly denye the tone, & by his exposiciō affermeth that Crist in thys place dyd speke but of the tother / saynt Bede hereth me recorde that maister Masker lyeth, and hath made his exposicyon false. And the ferther ye go in the wordes of thys gospell, the more shall mayster Mas kers false dyceappere.

Footnotes

1. S. Bede. ↩