The fyrste chapyter
IN the fyfthe lefe vppon his exposycyon of these wordes, and the brede which I shal geue for the lyfe of the the worlde thus he argueth.
And euyn her syth Chryste came to teche, to take […] waye all dowt and to breke stryfe, he myghte ([…] wordes otherwyse declared than he hath declared & wyll hereafter expoune them) haue soluted theyr questyon: sayenge (yf he had so ment as More expouneth) that he wolde haue ben conuayed and connerted (as our iuglers sleyghtly can conuaye hym with a fewe worde) into a syngynge lofe, or […] (as the Chomystycall papystes saye) ben inuisyble wyth all […] dymencyoned body vnder the forme of bredetranssubstancyated into it. And after a lyke Chomistycall mystery, the wyne transsubstancyated to into hys blonde, so that they sholde eate his flesh and drynke his blonde after theyr owne carnall […] andynge (but yet in another forme) to put away all grudge of stomake. Or syth saynt […] (yt he had thus vnderstode hys maysters mynde, and toke vpon hym to wryte hys maysters wordee) wold leue this sermon vnto the worlde to be redde, he my […] now haue delyuered vs and them from this dowte. But Chryst wolde not so satysfye theyr questyon, but answered, veryly veryly I say vnto you, excepte ye eate the flesshe of the sone of man and drynke his bloude, ye shall not haue that lyfe in your selues. He that eateth my flessh and drynketh my blonde, hath lyfe euerlastynge, and I shall steve hym vp in the laste daye. For my flesshe is very meate & my bloude the very drynke. He sayth not here that brede shalbe transsubstancyated or conuerted into his body, nor yet the wyne into his bloude.
[…] good chrysten readers thys man here in a folysshe iestynge and mych blasphemouse raysyng maner, agaynst the conuersyon of the brede and wyne into the blessed body and bloude of Chryste in the hlessed sacrament, in conclusyon as for a clere confutacyon of me & of saynt Thomas bothe, vppon whyche holy doctour and saynt he foly shely iesteth by name, he argueth as youse, that […] Chryst had entended to haue geuen them his flesshe and his bloude in the sacrament, than myght he haue decla red it more openly with mo wordes and more playnly. And than mayster Masker deuiseth Chryst the wordes that he wold haue had hym say yf he had so ment. And therin the blasphemouse beste deuyseth, that he wolde haue had our sauyour say, yt he wold play as iuglers do, and slyly conuay hym selfe into a singyng lofe / & that our sauyour so doth, he sayth is myne opinion. wherin the man is shameles & shamefully bylyeth me. For I saye as the catholyke fayth is, that he not conuayeth but conuerteth the brede into his owne body, and chaungeth it therin to / and neyther conuayeth (as he speketh) his body into the brede (for than were the brede and his bles sed body bothe together styll, which false opinion is Luthers heresy and that knoweth this man well inough, and therefore sheweth hym selfe shamelesse in layenge that opinion to me) nor also conuerteth not his blessed body into brede, for that were yet mych worse. For thā remaineth there nothynge ellys but brede styll / & that is ye wote well mayster Maskers owne heresy for whiche he wryteth agaynste me / and therfore is he dowble shamelesse (as you se) to say any suche thynge of me.
But in conclusion theffecte of all his fonde argumēt is, that euynthere in that place to breke stryfe & to soyle all theyr dowte, our lorde myghte & wolde haue done at the selfe cōmunicaciō, or els at ye lest wyse […] at ye tyme of his wrytyng, myght and wold haue told thē playnly that they shold ete it, noti forme of flesh but in forme of bred. But neyther our sauyour than tolde them so, nor theuangrelyste hath tolde vs so in the reportynge of his wordes spoken to them: ergo it must nestes be that Chryste ment not so.
This is mayster Maskers argu ment whiche he lyketh so specyally, that afterwarde in another place, he harpeth vppon the same strynge agayne. But surely yf the man be in scrypture any thynge exercysed, than hath he a very poore remembraunce. And whrthet be be scryptured or not he hath a very bare barayne wytte, whan he can wene that this argumēt were aught.
For fyrste (as for the scrypture) can he fynde no mo places than one, in whych our sauyour wolde not tell out playnely all at onys?
Coulde Chryst of the sacrament1 of Baptysme haue tolde no more to Nichodemus yf he had wolde?2
Coulde he to the Iewes that asked hym a token, haue told them no more of his deth, sepulture, and resurreccyon, but the fygure of the prophete Ionas thre dayes swalowed in to yt whalys bely?
Whan his dyscyples asked hym3 […] the restytucyon of the kyngdome of Israell, and mysse toke his kyngdome for a worldely kyngdome: dyd he forth with declare theym all that euer he coulde haue tolde theym? or all yt euer he tolde them therof at any other tyme after? nay nor theuangelyste in the rehersynge neyther.
[…] this mā eyther neuer redde or ellys forgotten, that all be it our sauyour came to be knowē for Cryst & somtyme declared hym so him self: yet at some other tymes he forbode his dysciples to be a knowen therof? So that as for ye scripturys (excepte he haue eyther lytell redde, or lytell remēbered of them) wold haue made mayster Masker to forbere thys folysshe argument for shame.
But now what wyt hath this mā that can argue thus, whan he sholde (yf he had wytte) well perceyue his argumēt answered, by the lyke made agaynste hym selfe vppon the very selfe same place.
For mayster masker sayth here that our lorde ment nothynge ellys, but to tell them of the geuyng of his flesh to ye deth for ye life of the world, and to make them byleue that. Now aske I therfore mayster Masker, whyther Chryste coulde not haue tolde them by more playne wordes than he dyd there (yf it had so ben his pleasure) that he sholde dye for the synne of the world, and in what wyse also. If mayster Masker answere me no: I am sure euery wyse man wyll tell hym yes. For he spake there not halfe so playnely of the geuynge of his body to be slayne, as he dyd of geuynge it to be eaten. For as for his deth, not so myche as onys named it, but onely sayeth, And the brede that I shall geue you is myne owne flesshe, whyche I shall geue for the lyfe of the worde. In whyche wordes he not onys nameth deth. But of the eatyng, he spe keth so expressely by and by, and so spake before, all of eatynge, & mych more afterwarde to, that he gaue them lytle occasyon to thynke that he ment of his deth any worde there at all, but of the eatynge onely.
And some greate holy doctours also, construe those whole wordes, And the brede that I shall gyue is my flesshe which I shall gyue for the lyfe of the worlde, to be spo ken onely of the gyuynge of hys bles sed body in the sacramēt, and neyther the fyrste parte nor the seconde to be spoken of his deth. But that in the fyrste parte Chryste sheweth what he wolde gyue them to eate, that is to wytte his owne flesshe, and in the seconde parte he shewed them why he wolde geue the worlde hys flesshe to eate, and what commodyle they shold haue by the eatynge of it / sayenge, yt he wolde geue it men to eate for the lyfe that men sholde haue by the eatynge of it. And therfore he pursueth forth bothe vpon the eatynge therof, and vppon the lyfe that they shall lacke that wyll not eate it, and of the lyfe that they shall haue that wyll eate it. So that as I saye Chryste spake and ment after the mynde of some holy cunnynge men, but of the eatynge onely / but by all good men of the eatyng specyally, and without any maner questyon of the eatynge moste playnely, as of whiche he speketh by name expressely. And of hys deth (yf he there spake of it as diuers holy doctours thynke he dyd) yet he spake it so couertly, yt he rather ment it than sayd it / as the thynge wherof he nothynge named, but onely the ge uynge to eate. So that where as mayster Masker argueth, yt Chryste nothynge ment of geuynge of hys flesshe to be eaten in the sacrament, but onely of his flessh to be crucified bycause that yf he hadde ment of his flesshe to be eatyn in the sacrament, he coulde and wolde haue tolde them playnely so: ye se now good readers very playne proued by the self same place, that syth mayster Masker can not saye nay, but that of his body to be geuyn by deth, Chryst could haue spoken myche more playnely than he dyd in that place, as well as he could haue spoken more playnely of the geuynge of hys body to be eaten in the blessed sacrament, mayster Mas kers owne argument (yf it were aught as it is nought) vtterly destroyeth all his owne exposycyon whole. And therfore ye maye se that the man is a wyse man and well ouer seen in arguynge.
Footnotes
Chapter 41 of 70