The. xix. chapyter

[…] the surety and vnfallyble profe wherof, our sauiour said forth with vpō his worde afore remē bred forther vnto the Jewes, as the lyuynge father sent me, so also do I lyue for my father. And he that eateth me, shall lyue also for me.

The father of heuyn beynge the orygynall substaunce of lyfe, before all begynnyng begate hys coeternall sone, and gaue vnto hym his owne whole substaūce, & therfore his own whole lyfe, as to hym whome he begate one equale god wyth hym selfe, in nothynge dyfferent but in onely persone.

The father I saye gaue all hys owne whole lyfe to his sone, and yet none therof from hym self. And ther fore sayth our sauyour Cryste, that hym selfe lyueth for or by his father. And so yt man saith he that eateth me, shall lyue thorow me. For syth that by the very eatyng of hys very blessed body, the eater (but yf hym selfe be the let,) is ioyned wyth the flesshe of Chryst (as holy saynt Cyrill hath declared) and therby with that holy spyryt of hys also whyche from that holy flesshe is vnseparable, and so ioyned vnto the very substaunce of lyfe, that is lyfe and geueth lyfe to: he can not but lyue thorow Chryste.

[…] this our sauyour fynally for conclusyon telleth them, that this brede also is come frō heuyn sayeng, Thys is the brede that is descended from heuyn. Not meanynge that his flesshe was fyrst in heuē, and so sent downe from thense as some heretyhes haue ere this holden an opynyō / but that hys body was in the blessed virgyn hys mother, by the heuynly obumbracyon of the holy goste. And also syth hys godhed and hys manhed were ioyned and knytte togyther in very vnite of person: our sauyour vsed that maner of spekynge by the tone, that he vsed by the tother. And therfore as he sayde vnto Nichodemus, the sone of man descēded from heuyn: so sayth he here of hys flessh, this is the brede that is descended frō heuyn.

And bycause that the Iewys had in the begynnynge of this cōmunicacyon, bosted vnto hym the brede of manna, bryngynge forth for ye preyse therof the wordes of the prophete,¹ Thou hast geuyn them brede from heuyn: Our lord here shewed theym that thys brede that he wolde geue them to eate, that is to wyt his owne very flesshe (as hym self very playnely declared them) is of an other ma ner descēded down frō heuen, thā the manna, whose descendynge from heuyn they in the begynnynge bosted so. And therfore he sayd, Thys is the brede that is descended from heuyn / not as your fathers dyd eate manna & are dede. He that eateth thys bred, shall lyue for euer. As though he wold say. This is another maner of brede, otherwyse come from heuyn than manna was that ye boste of so. For that bred was gyuen you but for the sustenaunce of the lyfe in thys worlde / but this brede yt is myne own body, conceyued by the holy goost, & in vnyte of person ioyned wyth my godhed, as verily as it is ioyned with myne own soule, is another maner of heuynly brede, and shalbe gyuen you to eate for another maner of purpose For manna that was geuen your fathers to eate for the onely sustinaūce of theyr tēporall lyfe, was but a fygure of this brede thus geuyn you to eate, as I shal begyn to geue it at my maūdy souper, the maner wherof I wyll not tell you now. And therfore as the figure or ye shadow of a thyng, is farre fro the propertye of ye thyng it selfe: so was the brede of manna farre fro the propertye of this brede yt is my flesshe. For lyke wyse as bycause it was a fygure of thys brede that is very lyfe, it serued for the sus stynaunce of lyfe: so bycause it was but a fygure, and not the very lyfe it selfe, it serued therfore not to geue lyfe, but to sustayne life / not for euer but for a whyle. But this brede that is my flesshe / (whyche I shall geue you as veryly to eate as euer your fathers dyd eate manna) bycause it is not the fygure onely of the thynge that is lyfe, but is also (by cōiuncciō with the godhed) the very lyfe it self that was figured: I shall geue it you to eat in such a maner, that it shal not onely mayntayn, fede, and sustayne the body of the eater in thys present lyfe, but it shall also gyue lyfe, ye & that euersastynge lyfe in glory / not onely to ye soule, but also to the body to, in tyme mete and conuenyent, raysynge it vy agayne from deth, and settynge it wyth the soule in eternall lyfe of euerlastynge blysse.

Footnotes

1. Psal. 77. ↩