The. xvii chapyter

ANd all be it that I she we you good chrystē readers, saint Cyrilles wordes and hys exposycyon vpon the place, bycause maister Masker shall not make men wene yu I make all the mater of myn owne hed: yet semeth me that our sauyour declareth thys mater wyth playne wordes bym selfe. For what can be playner wordes than are hys owne, whan that vppon theyr wunderynge and theyr murmuryng question, how can he gyue vs his flesshe to eate, he said vnto thē, Ueryly veryly I say to you, but yf you eate the flesh of yt sone of man & drink his bloud ye shall not haue lyfe in you. He yt eateth my flesh & drynketh my bloude, hath lyfe euer lastynge / and I shall rayse hym vppe agayne in the laste daye. For my flesshe is veryly meate, and my bloud is veryly drynke. He that eateth my flesh and drynketh my bloude, dwelleth in me and I in hym.

In these wordes ye se good readers howe playnely that our lorde sheweth theym, bothe the profyte of the receyuynge, and the peryll of the refusynge / and also bothe that he not onely speketh of his very body and bloud (whyche thyng mayster Masker agreeth) but ouer that also that he more playnely and more precysely sayth, that they shold veryly eate it and drynke it (whyche thyng mayster Masker denyeth) and yet is that the thynge that our sauyour in these wor des most specyally laboreth to make theym byleue. For that he spake of hys very flessh, they perceyued well inough. But that he wold haue them verily eate it / that they thoughte such a maner thynge that they neyther wolde do nor could byseue, bycause they myssetoke the maner thereof, wenynge that they sholde eate it in dede peces cutte out as the bochers cutte the bestes in the shammellys.

And Cryst therfore wold at thys tyme for theyr arrogaunt infydelyte (as saynte Cyrill hath told you) no thynge declare them of the maner of hys geuynge it to be veryly eaten, not in the proper forme of flesshe (as they flesshely imagyned) but in the forme of bred in the blessed sacramēt bycause (as Theophilactus declared you) men sholde not abhorre to eate it. But leuynge that vntaught tyll the tyme of hys maundy souper (where as saynte Cyrill hath also she wed you he taught it his faithfull dyscyples at the instytucyon of that blessed sacrament) he laboreth as I say in these wordꝭ here most speciall, wyth as playne wordes as can be de […], to tell them and make them by leue that they shall veryly eate hys flesshe. Whyche thyng for any thyng that he could say to them, they were so hard harted that they wolde not byleue hym.

And yet is mayster Masker here mych more obdurate now, and mych more faythlesse to, than all they were than. For bothe he hauyng herd what Criste sayd to those […] than, & also what he taught his faythfull dyscyples at hys maundy after, and what all holy doctours and sayntes haue sayde theron and byleued euer synnys: yet wyll he with a few fond heretykes, take a folysshe fro warde waye, and byleue the contrary / or at the leste wyse saye that he byleueth ye contrary. But in good sayth yt they veryly byleue as they say that can I not byleue, except that of ye scrypture and the chrysten fayth these folke by leue nothyng at all. And so vpon my fayth I fere me that you shall se it proue at laste / as appereth by somof them that so begynne all redy, and haue in some places put forth suche poysen in wrytynge.

But surely though neyther any man had euer wryten vppon these wordes of Cryste, nor our sauyour bym selfe neuer spoken word therof after, that euer had in wrytyng comē into mēnys hands: yet are these wordes here spokē so playne & so ful, that they must nedes make any man that were wyllyng to byleue hym, clerly perceyue and knowe that in one maner or other, he wolde gyue vs hys awne very flesshe verely to be recey ued and eaten. For whan the Iewys sayd; how can he geue vs his flesshe to eate? He answered them with no sophims, but with a very playn open tale tolde them, they sholde neyther dystruste that he could on hys parte geue them his flesshe to eate, nor yet refuse vppon theyr parte to eate it, if euer they wolde be saued. As though he wold say: Maruayle you and mys truste you my word? and aske how I can geue you mine own flesh to eate? I wyll not tell you how I can geue it, nor in what forme or fasshyon ye shall eate it / but this I wyll tell you, neyther in tropis, allegories, nor parables, but euyn for a very playne trouth, ye eate ye shall my very flessh in dede, yf euer ye purpose to be saued, ye and drynke my very bloude to. For but yf you be content to eate, and wyth a trewe fayth to eate, the flessh of the sone of man, and drynke hys bloude: ye shall not haue lyfe in you. But who so wyth a trewe well wurkynge fayth, eateth my flesshe and drynketh my bloude, he hath euerlastynge lyfe. Not onely bycause he ys as sure to haue it whan the tyme shall come as though he had it all redy, by reasō of the promyse that: Chryste here ma keth, where he sayth, And I shall re suscitate and rayse hym […] at the last day / but also for that the very body of Cryste that he receyueth, is very lyfe euerlastyng of it selfe / and such a lyfe, as to them that well wyll receyue it, in trew fayth, and purpose of good lyuynge, it is the thynge that is able to gyue lyfe & quyknesse euer lastynge. For as the godhed is of his owne nature […] lyfe: so is the flesshe ioyned in vnyte of person to the godhed, by that immedyate cō iunccyon and vnyte, made bothe euer lastyng & lyuely in it selfe, and also euerlasting lyfe to the geuyng of life euerlastyngly to all other, that well and wurthely receyue hym, and wyll perseuer and abyde wyth hym. For though euery mā here naturally dye for the whyle: yet shall Chryst as he promyseth here, reyse & resuscytate hym agayne to euerlastynge lyfe in the laste daye.