The. xx. chapyter

THys communycacyon wyth the Hewys had our lorde, techynge in the synagoge at Caparnaū. And many therfore of hys dyscyples herynge these thynger sayde, Thys word is hard, and who can here hym.

The more and more that our sauyour playnely tolde them that he wolde geue them hys very fsesshe to eate, the more and more meruelouse harde they thought his sayenge, and rekened that it was impossyble for any man to byleue it. And therfore for lacke of bylyefe they loste the profyt. And these that thus thought thys mater so meruelouse harde and straunge that they wolde not byleue, but for lacke of bylyefe lost the profyte, were not onely such Iewes as were his enemies, but many of those also that were his owne dyscyples.

But oure sauyour knowynge in hym selfe (as he that was god and neded no man to tell hym) that hys dyscyples murmured at his wordes, bycause he tolde them so often and so playnely that men shold haue no life, but yf they wolde be content veryly to eate hys owne flessh he sayd vnto them, Doth thys offende you? do you stumble at thys? what than yf you shall se the sone of man ascende vppe where as he was before? The spyryt is that that quyckeneth, the flessh auayleth nothing. The wordes that I haue spoken to you be spirit & lyfe.

In these […] our lorde […] tely to […] all theyr objectyōs gro wynge vpon theyr infydelyte, & also confuteth theyr infidelyte / and in hys word? after folowyng, putteth them yet agayne in mynde of the medicine yt might remoue theyr vnfaithfulnes & geue them the very fast fayth.

The Iewes had byfore murmu red agaynst that that he had sayde, yt he was descēded frō heuyn. Agaynst whiche they sayd, Is not he the sone of Ioseph whose father and mother we know? And how sayth he thā that he is descended from heuyn? And a great pyece of theyr murmure therin arose as ye se, vppon that poynt that they had mysse conceyued, wenyng yt Joseph had ben his father. For had they beleued that his māhed had ben conceyued by ye holy goste, they wold haue murmured yt lesse. And had they byleued yt his godhed had descēded in to it from heuyn, they wold not haue murmured at all.

In Lyke wise they murmured at the secūd poynt, in that he shewed thē so playnely yt he wold geue them his very flesshe to be theyr very mete, & sayd how can he gyue vs his flesh to eate. And many of his dysciples sayd also, this is an hard word, & who may here hym. And a great parte of theyr murmure was, bycause they thought that they shold haue eaten his fleshe in ye self fseshly forme / & bycause (as¹ sait Austayn saith in sundry […]) yt they thought they shold haue eaten his fleshe in dede gobbettes, cut out piecemele as the meat is cut out in ye shamelles / & also bycause they knew him not to be god. For had thei knowē that the maner in whyche he wolde geue them hys very flesshe to eate, shold not be in the self same fleshelp forme, but in the pleasaunt forme of brede: though they wolde yet haue meruayled, bycause they woide haue thought it wonderfull, yet wold they haue murmured the lesse, bycause they wold not haue thought it lothely. But thā had they ferther knowē that he had ben god / than wolde they not I suppose haue murmured at the mater at all. For I wene veryly that there were neyther of those disciples nor of those Iewes neyther, any one so euyll as now be mayster Masker, & fryth, & hys felowes, that seynge the receyuyng nothynge lothesome, and byleuynge that Cryst was god (yf they byleue it) wyll not yet byleue he can do it / but murmur & grudg agaynst it styll.

For though mayster Masker say that yf Cryst sayd he wold do it, than hym selfe wold byleue he could do it: yet it shall appere ere we part, both that Cryst sayth it. And he wyll not byleue that Cryst though he say it meneth it. And also that the cause why he wyll not byleue that Cryste meneth it, is bycause he byleueth that god can not do it.

But now sayd our sauyour vnto them in answerynge all thys gere. Do you stumble at thys? what yf ye se the sone of man ascende vp where he was before? what wyl you thā say? For than could they haue no cause to distruste that he descended downe, whan they shold se hym ascende vp. For that thynge semeth in mennys madde eyen suche as they were that wolde not take hym but for a man, farre the gretter maystry of the both.

Also whan they sholde se hym ascende vp to heuyn whole / than sholde they well perceyue that they mysse toke hym by a false imagynacyon of theyr owne deuyce, whan they constre wed the geuynge of hys fleshe to eate, as though he ment to gyue it thē in such wyse, as hym selfe shold lose all that they sholde eate.

And whan he sayde they sholdse the sone of man ascend vp there as he was byfore / he gaue them agayne a sygnyfycacyō that hym selfe ye sone of man was the sone of god also, and therby hym selfe god also, & into the worlde comen and descended from heuyn.

In these wordes our sauyour she weth that his ascensyō shold be a sufficient cause to make them knowe his power & leue theyr murmuryng. And therfore they that leue not murmuryng at his blessed sacramēt yet, shew a great token that they byleue not his wonderfull ascensiō neyther. For yf they byleued well that he had power of hym selfe to ascende vp in body, and syt in heuen one equale god with his father & the holy goost: than wold they […] wene as they do, yt god lacked power to make hys owne body to be in dyuer se places at onys, and be both in heuen and erth.

Footnotes

1. August. […] enatta. in psal. 168. et in serm. 2 de verbisi […]. ↩