The. xi. chapyter

NOw where he sayth ferther, So that pryncypally by fayth wherby we […] to goddes goodnes and mercy, we abyde in god and god in vs, as declare hys wordes fo […], sayenge, As the lyuynge father sent me, so lyue […] by my father. And euen so he that eateth me, shal lyue bycause of me or for my sake.

This is a very false noughty de claracyon of Chrystes wordes. For where as the holy doctours do declare those wordes as I byfore haue shewed you, that lyke as our […] […] sauiour had his eternall lyfe of hys father before any beginnyng of tyme in that his father eternally before all tyme begate hym and his flesshe, not of his owne nature but by the coniunccyon that it had with the godhed, had now the same lyfe and so lyued for the father, so shold he that eateth that flesshe accordynge to Chrystes iustytucyon with dew cyrcūstaunces of fayth and good hope, and cheryte well wyllyng to worke, attayne euer lastynge lyfe also, by reason of hys […] and incorporacyon with hys euerlastyng flesshe, so I say […] way if the eater eate it wyth […] de we cyrcūstaunces requisyte / so yt lyke as they receyue not his holy flesshe dede as the Iewes had went, but quycke wyth holy spyryte ioyned therto, so theyr soules may ioyne with his spyryt as theyr flessh ioyneth wyth his: where as the holy doctours I say do expoune these wordes thus, now cō meth maister Masker and saith, that in these wordes Chryst techeth vs yt we abyde in hym and he in vs, not pryncypally by cheryte but pryncypally by fayth.

Now good reder what one word of those wordes of Cryst, any thyng so […] to the mayntenaūce of mayster Maskers […], that god is in vs and we in hym, pryncypally by fayth? The scrypture sayth, God is cheryte, and he that dwelleth in cheryte dwelleth in god, & god in hym.

Now yf mayster Masker wolde haue […], ye by fayth a man myghte eate the flesshe of Chryste, and by fayth myghte dwell in god: yf mayster Masker were a good catholyke manne, I wolde for so farre fynde no fawte in hys exposycyon.

For it myghte haue a menynge good inough, bysyde the lyterall sence of Chrystes wordes. But now whan he contendeth that this is the lytteral sense, and therwith wolde shake of the very eatynge that our sauyour ment in ye blessed sacrament, and bere vs in hande that our sauyour mente not so, but ment an onely eatynge of his flesshe by a bare bylyefe of hys deth, and not the very bodyly eatyng at all / & that in those wordes he ment that though we dwell in god by loue, yet not pryncypally by loue, but pryn cypally by fayth, as to whych vertu the vertu of cheryte were but a folower and a perpetuall hand mayde, where there is in those wordes of Chryste not one syllable sownynge towarde it: what good chrysten man can abyde it? namely whyle the scryp ture by playne wordes condempneth it, & sayth, fides, spes, charitas, tria¹ hec maior horū charitas. Faith, hope, and cheryte, these thre, but the pryncypall of these is cheryte.

Footnotes

1. 1. […]. 13
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