The. xii. chapyter

NOw where he goth good reader forther forth yet vppon these wordes, and sayth,

My father sent me, whose wyll in all thynges I obey, for I am hys sone. And euen so veryly must they that eate me, that is byleue in me, forme and […] them after my ensample, […] theyr flesshe and chaungynge theyr lyuynge, or […] they eate me in vayne and dyssemble theyr bylyefe.

Though these wordes here seme very good: yet whyle they be all wryten vnto thys one entēt, that this gay floryshe sholde so glytter in our eyen, that we myght therby be blynded and not beware of the perylouse pytte into whyche he goth aboute to caste vs, that is to make vs wene that our sauyour in sayenge that we sholde eate his flesshe, ment no very eatynge therof in yt blessed sacrament but onely a spyrituall eatynge by byleuyng that he dyed for our synnys, as here he declareth agayn, they that eate me that is byleue in me &c: while all draweth I saye to that ende, hys tale is nought all togyther.

And yet it is a worlde also to se, the blyndnesse that the deuyll hath dreuyn into hym, by whyche he can not be suffered to se, that by these selfe same wordes with whyche he wolde auaunce his purpose, he very playnely destroyeth it.

For his purpose is ye wote well, to make vs wene that faith were not onely the pryncypall / but also that fayth hath euer loue waytyng vpon her, and folowynge her as her vnseparable seruaunt / as hete euer foloweth the fyre. And now you se that he sayth here, that who so do not forme and fasshion them after Chry stes ensample, do eate hym in vayne. And than to eate hym he sayth is but to byleue in hym. And so he sayeth wythout good lyuyng, that is to […] wythout cheryte, the bylyefe is but in vayne. Now to byleue invayne, is ye wote […] to byleue, and yet haue hys bylyefe frutelesse for lacke of that loue, that is the theologicall vertue called cheryte.

And thus ye se good readers how well and cyrcumspectely mayster Masker loketh to hys mater, that whan he hath tolde vs that fayth neuer lacketh cheryte forgetynge […] selfe forth wyth, telleth vs hym self within tenne lynes after, that fayth maye lacke cheryte, and therfore be but invayne.

Now where he sayth, or els they dyssemble theyr bylyefe: I wyll not dyssemble with hym, but tell hym very playne, that as great a dyssembler as he is, he woteth not as it semeth what this worde dyssemblyng meneth, or ellys wote I nere what he meneth therby. For a man dyssembleth the thynge yt he hath and wyll not be a knowen therof / as a man dyssembleth hys ha tered, whan he hateth one & fayneth hym selfe his frende to couer his hatered with. And so we say that a man dyssembleth a thynge yt he secth it and wyll not se it, but maketh as though he saw it not. But no man dis sembleth the thynge that he seeth not in dede, nor the thynge that he hath not in dede, but maketh as though be sawe it or had it. For he fayneth or lyeth, and not dyssembleth. As in the latyne tonge (wherof thys englysshe worde cometh) ille simulat non dissimulat. And therfore yf mayster mas ker mene here by these wordes, or ellye they dyssemble theyr bylyefe, any other thing than they fayne a byleyfe, makynge as though they byleued and do not: lette hym not dyssemble with me, but tell me what other thyng he meneth. And yf he mene by those worde none other thynge than that: than wyll I not dyssemble with hym, but tell hym the playne trewth that he maye peraduenture mene wysely inough, but he speketh but like a fole. For by that worde he sayth the clere cōtrary that is to wytte that they make as though they byleued not, but yet they do.