The. xv. chapyter
WHan the Iewes harde our lord saye, that bysyde the spyrytuall meat of the brede of his godhed, the brede that he wolde gyue theym sholde be hys owne […] / than began they to contende and dyspute amonge them vpon that worde, as one of the moste meruelouse and straūge wordes that euer they had herde before. And therfore they sayd how can this man geue vs […] flesshe to eate?
[…] Bede sayth here, and so sayth saynt Austayne both, that they had conceyued a false opinyon, that1 our lorde wold cut out hys own body in gobettes, and make them eate it so, in such maner of dede peces, as men bye byefe or […] out of ye bouchers shoppys. Thys thyng they thought that he neyther coulde do / and also that though he could, yet wolde they not eate it as a thynge fowle and lothsome.
We fynde good readers of one or2 two mo bysyde these Iewes here, ye at the worde of god asked how. For bothe our lady asked how, and […] also asked how.
Our blessed lady whan thangell3 told her that she shold̄ conceyue and brynge forth a chyld, asked this questyon, how shall that […] For man I know none / not for that she any thing dowted of the trewth of godde word sent her by godde messenger, but bycause she wold know the meanis, for as mych as she had determyned her selfe vpō perpetuall virginite / and therof a promyse had passed & a vow was made, and Ioseph well agreed therwith; as it maye welbe gathered vppon the gospell.
For thangell sayd not ye hast cōceyued, but thou shalt cōceyue. And therfore whā she answered, how shall yt be syth I know no man, this answer had not ben to the purpose, yf she had ment no more but yt she knewe none yet / for he sayd not yt she was cōceyued yet but shold cōceiue after. which she myght after do by ye knowlege of her husbād after, though she knewe no mā yet. And therfore we may wel gather of his wordꝭ & hers togyther as I haue shewed in my dialoge, yt whan she sayd how shall this be for I knowe no man, she ment therin not onely that she knew none alredy, but also that she hadde promysed and vowed that she neuer wolde knowe man afterwarde / vsynge therin such a maner of spekynge, as a mayed myghte saye by one whom she wold neuer haue, we may well talke togyther but we wedde not togyther.
Now that her determinacyō was not with her selfe onely, but confermed also with ye cōsent of her spouse, it maye well appere. For without his agrement she coulde not reken her selfe to be sure to kepe it.
And that her determynacyon of perpetuall vyrginite, was a promyse and a vow to god, it may well appere by this, that els whan she had worde from god by the angell that she shold conceyue and beare a chylde, she had had no cause to aske ye questyon how. For if she were at lyberty to lye with a man, than had that reuelacion ben a commaundement vnto her to labour for the concepcyon, whyle there were vppon her part no let or impedimēt, neyther of nature nor conscience.
And very lyke it is that yf she had ben in that poynt at her libertye / than though she had mynded perpetuall virgynite, yet syth she had entended it neyther for auoydyng of the bodyly payne of the vyrth, nor for any abo minacyon of goddes naturall ordynaunce for procreacyon (for suche respectes be bothe vnnaturall and synfull) but onely for goddes pleasure & of deuocyon, it is well lykely that he rynge by the messenger of god, what maner of chyld that was yt god wold she shold haue, she wolde haue made no questyon of the mater, but gladly gone about the gettynge.
But here may some man happely say, that this reasō by which I proue ber vow, wyll serue well inough to soyle it selfe, and proue that it appereth not that she had made any vow at all, but had onely some mynde and desyre of perpetuall virginyre, but yet styll at her lybertye / without any promyse or bonde. For syth she hadde now by reuelacyon from god, that his pleasure was she sholde haue a chylde / a bare purpose of virgynyte & a vow of virginyte were all of one weyght. For god was able as well to dispence with her vow, as to byd her leue of her vnuowed purpose.
Of trouth yf our lady had wayed her vow as lyght as happely some lyght vowesse wold / thys mynd she myght haue had. ye & some vowesses peraduenture there are, which as yet neuer entend to breke theyr vow but thynke they wolde not with the brekyng of theyr vow fall in ye dyspleasure of god, though they wist to wyn therwith al this hole wretched world whiche yet wold be ꝑaduenture well content, yt god wold sende them word & vyd them go wedde & gete chyldrē.
And those vowesses lo that hapen to haue any suche mynde / let them at the fyrste thought make a crosse on the yrb rest and blesse it a waye. For though it be no breking of theyr vow yet is it a waye well to warde it, and draueth (yf it be not […]) very nere the pyttys brynke of synne, whā they wolde be gladde that god wold sende thē theyr pleasure without any sinne.
And surely yf vpō ye delite in such a noughty mynde, god wold suffre ye deuyl to illude such a vowesse, & trās fygure hym self into the sykenesse of an angel of light, & call hym self Labuel, & tell her ye god greteth her well and sendeth her worde that she shall haue a chyld: though he there wyth went his way & neuer tolde her more whyther it shold be good or bad, her secrete in ward affeccyon to ward her flesshely luste lurkynge in her harte vnknowen vnto her selfe, couered & hyd vnder the cloke of that mynde, that she wold not for all the worlde take her own pleasure without goddes wyll, wold make her vnderstād this message for a dyspensacyon of her vow, and for a commaundement to brehe it / and so go forth and folow it wythout any ferther questyon, and go gete a chylde, and make the […] a prophete.
But […] blessed virgyn Wary, was so surely sette vpon the kepyng of her vowed virginyte, that she neuer neyther longed nor loked for any messenger from god, that sholde byd her […]. And therfore was she so dyscrete and cyrcumspecte, that she wolde not onely consyder who spake to her […] dyscerne whyther it were man or spyrite, and also whyther it were a good spyryte or an euyll / but she wolde also way well the wordes were the spyryte neuer so good, leste her own mysse takyng by neglygēce, myght marre the reuesacyon. And therfore at Gabrielys fyrste apperaūce, bycause he was goodly, & hys wordes were faire and plesaūtly set and spoken somwhat lyke a […]/ she was somwhat abasshed and troubled in her mynde at the maner of his salutacyon. But after vpon his ferther wordes whan she aduysed hym and hys message well / than perceyuynge hym to be, not a man but an angell, not an euyl angell but a good, and specyally sent from god; and […] mater no worldly wowyng but an he uynly message: she was not a sytell ioyful in her hart. And as I sayd had she not vowed virgynyte, but hadde ben at her lybertye, she had as me semeth had no cause to do wte what god wolde haue her do / namely hauynge an husband allredy. Nor neuer wold̄ she haue thought that it had ben better for her to lyue styll in virgynyte, than to go about yt generacyō wherof god had sent her word. But now for as mych as she was by her vow […] den to virginite, wherof she wist wel she myght not dispence with her self / and the angell bode not her go about to cōceyue, but onely tolde her as by way of prophecye, that she shold con ceyue / & wel she, wyst god frō whom the message came, could make her cō ceyue without man yf he wold: therfore she neyther wold tempte god in desyryng hym to do that myracle, nor by mysse takynge of his message for hast & ouersyght, offend his mayster by the brekyng of her vow / but dyscretely dyd aske the messenger, how & in what wyse she shold cōceiue. wher upon he shewed her that she shold be conceyued by the holy goost.
Here you se good reders that the cause of her question in her askynge how, rose of no diffidence, but of veri sure faith / bicause she surely byleued yt he could make her cōceyue & her vir ginite saued. For els had she not had fermely yt faith, she had had no cause to aske the questyō, but myght haue rehened clerely / that he wolde haue her conceyued by her husband.
And therfore was her questyon4 farte fro the question of zachary, the father of saynt Iohn̄, whiche asked not the angell how, but what token he sholde haue that he sayd trew / for ellys it semed that for all his worde, bycause of theyr bothe agys, he was mynded no more to medle with hys wyfe, syth he thought possybylite of generacyon passed. And for that dyffydens was he punyshed by losse of hys speche tyll the byrth of ye chyld.
And her questyon was also very farre fro this questyō of the Iewys here, and from theyr askynge how / whyle the cause of her questyon was fayth, and the cause of theyr questyō dyffydens.
Nichodemus also whan our lord5 bygan to tell hym of the sacramēt of baptysme, and sayd vnto hym, verily veryly I tell the, but if a man be born agayne he can not se the kyngdome of god / answered our sauyour & sayd how may a man be borne agayn whā he is olde: maye he entre agayne into hys mothers vely & be born agayne?
Lo. here the man was deceyued in that he thoughte vpō a bodyly byrth, where as our sauyour ment of a spyrytuall byrth, by fayth and by the sacrament of baptysme. And therfore our lorde tolde hym forthwyth, that he ment not that a man sholde be bodyly borne agayne of his mother, but ment of a spyrytuall regeneracyon in soule, by the water and ye holy goost.
Now be it he told hym not for all that all the forme and maner of that sacrament, but what the substaunce sholde be, and by whose power, and wherof it shold take effecte.
Now these iewes here, to whome Cryste preched of the geuyng of his body to them for meat, were not fully in the case of Nichodemus, but in some point they were nerer ye trewth than he was at the begynnynge. For they toke our sauyours worde ryght in that they vnderstode that he spake of his owne very fleshe, and that he wold geue it them to eate / where as Nichodemus vnderstode no part of the generacyon and byrth that Cryst spake of. But they myssetoke the ma ner how he wolde geue it them, & ran forth in the deuyce and imagynacyon of theyr owne fantasy. But in dyffydence & dystrust they were lyke Nichodemus which sayd, how maye a man be borne agayn whan he is old? And peraduēture the farther of frō endeuour to warde byseuynge. For in Nichodemus though I fynd no cō sent of faith in conclusyon / yet ye gospell speketh not of any finall contradyccyon in hym, nor of any desperate departynge, as these Iewes & these disciples dyd. And Nichodems spake in his cause after, but these discyples neuer walked after with hym.
Now Cryste there vnto Nichodemus, bycause he was slene fro the mater, told him yt it shold be no bodyly byrth but a spiritual / and bode hym meruayle not therof no more thā of ye spiryng or mouyng of the spiryt or of ye wynd (for yt word diuerse doctours take diuersely) whose voice though he herd, he neither wyst frō whens it came nor whyther he wold go. But now whā yt Nichodemꝰ ꝑceyuynge what ye thyng was, dyd yet wōder on styl & sayd: how may these things be.
Thā our lord dyd no more but leue hym with ye same tale styll, & byd him byleue, & tell hym why he so sholde; syth hym self yt so told hym came frō heuyn, and therfore could tell it / and gaue hym a sinificacyon of hys deth, wherby that sacramēt shold take the strength. But as for hys questyon how this myght be, other wyse thā ye it was by the power of god, that questyon Cryst lefte vnsoyled.
Now dyd he lyke wyse with these ie wys here. Syth it was so that they perceyued all redy that he spake of his very flesshe, and yet for all that word not byteue he could geue it thē / but thoughte the thynge so straunge and wonderfull, that they thought he could not do it, & therfore asked how he could do it: he dyd no more but styl tell them that he wolde do it, and that he veryly wold gyue them his fleshe to eate and his very bloud to drynke / and tolde them the profyte that they shold haue, yf they byleued hym and dyd it, and what losse they shold haue yf for lacke of bylyef they wold seue it vndone / and that he was come frō heuyn, and therfore they ought neyther to myssetruste hys word nor his power to performe hys worde. And […] for otherwyse how and in what maner he could or wold do it, he lefte theyr questyon and theyr how vnsoysed.
But now lest mayster Masker Masher make men wene, that I make all thys mater of myne own hede, ye6 shall here good readers vppon thys questyon of the Jewys what saynte Cyryll sayth.
The Iewes (sayth he) wyth greate wyckednes cry out and saye agaynst god: How may he gyue vs his flesh? & they forgete that there is nothynge impossyble to god. For whyle they were fleshely, they could not (as saint Poule sayth) vnderstande spyrytuall7 thynges / but thys great sacrament & mystery semed vnto theym but foly. But lette vs I beseche you take profyte of theyr synnes, and let vs geue ferme fayth vnto the sacramentes, & lette vs neuer in suche hygh thynges eyther speake or thynge that same how. For it is a Iewes worde that same, and a cause of exterme ponysshement. And Nicodemus therfore when he sayd: How may these thynges be, was answered as he wel was worthy, Art thou the mayster in Isra ell and knowest not these thynges. Let vs therfore (as I sayd) be taught by other folkes fawtes, ī goddes wor ke not to aske: How: but leue vnto hymselfe the science and the way of hys owne worke. For lyke wyse as though no man knoweth what thing god is in hys owne nature and substaūce, yet a man is iustified by fayth when he byleueth that they that seke hym shalbe ryally rewarded by hym: so thowgh a man know not the reasō of goddys workys yet when thorow fayth he dowteth not but that god is able to do all thyng, he shall haue for thys good mynde great, rewarde And that we shold be of thys mynde, our lorde hym selfe exhorteth vs by the prophete Esaye, where he sayth8 thus vnto men.
My deuyces be not as your deuyces be nor my wayes suche as your wayes be fayth our lorde: but as the heuyn is exalted from the erth, so be my wayes exalted aboue yours, and my deuyces aboue your deuyces.
Chryste therfore whyche excelleth in wysedome and power by his godhed how can it be but that he shall worke so wonderfully, that the reason and cause of hys workes shall so farre passe and excelle the capacyte of man nes wytte, that our mynde shall neuer be possyble to perceyue it. Doste thou not se oftentyme what thynge men of hande crafte do. They tell vs somtyme that they can do some thinges wherin theyr wordes seme of thē self icredyble. But yet bycause we haue sene them somtyme done suche other thynges lyke, we therby byleue them that they can do those thynges to. Now can it be therfore but yu they be worthy extreme torment, that so cōtempne almyghty god the worker of all thynges, that they dare be so bolde as in hys wordes to speke of how, while he is he, whō they knowe to be the geuer of all wysedome, and whyche (as the scrypture techeth vs) is able to do all thynge. But now thou Iewe yf thou wylte yet cry out and aske how, than wyll I be cōtent to playe the fole as thou doest, and aske how to. Than wyll I gladly axe ye, how thou camest out of Egipt, how Moyses rodde was turned into the serpent, how the hand strykken wyth lepry, was in a moment restored to hys formare state agayne / how the waters turned into bloude / how thy fore fathers went thorow the mydde sees as though they had walked on drye grounde / how the bytter waters were chaunged swete by the tree / how the fountayne of water flowed out of the stone / how the runnyng ryuer of Iordane stode styll / how the inexpugnable walles of Ieryco were ouerthro weē with the bare noyse and clamour of the trumpettes. Innume rable thynges there are in whyche yf thou aske how, thou must nedes subuerte and set at nought all the whole scrypture, the doctryne of the prophe tes, and Moyses owne wrytynge to / wherupon you Iewes ye shold haue byleued Cryste / & yf there semed you than any hard thynge in his wordes, humbly than haue asked hym. Thus sholde ye rather haue done, than lyke dronken folke to crye out: Now can he gyue vs hys flesshe, do ye not per ceyue that when ye say such thynges there appereth anone a great arrogaunce in your wordes.
Nere you se good readers, that S. Cyriss in these wordes psaynesy shewed yt Crist here in these wordꝭ, The brede that I shall geue you is my flesh whych I shall geue for the lyfe of the worlde, ment of ye geuyng of hys flesshe in the sacrament. And that the Iewes wondered that he sayd he wolde geue them his flesshe, and asked how he could do it, bycause they thought it impossyble. And in reprofe of theyr incredusyte and that folyshe mynde of theyrs (by whiche they could not byleue that god could geue them his owne fleshe to eate) S. Cyriss both sheweth that many hand crafted men do thynges such as those that neuer sawe the lyke wolde wene impossyble, and also that in any worke of god it is a madnes to putte any dowt and aske how he can do it, syth he is asmyghty and able to do all thynge. And to the entent that no chry sten man sholde dowt of the chaunge and conuirsyon of the bred into Cry stes blessed body in the sacrament, Saynt Cyriss here by waye of obieccyon agaynste the Iewes, putteth vs in remembraunce (for vs he teacheth though he spake to thē) among other myracles he putteth vs I say in remembraunce of dyuerse conuersyons and chaunges out of one nature into another, that god wrought in the olde sawe. As how the hande was turned from hole to sore, and from sore to hole agayne sodaynly.
Now the waters were sodaynly tur ned from bytter into swete / and how the waters were turned from water to bloude / and how the dede rodde of Moyses was turned into a quyche serpent.
Footnotes
Chapter 17 of 70