The. iiii. chapyter

BUt mayster Masker to shewe you a ferther declaracyon of his wytte, forth with vpon his wyse and wurshypfull exposycyon of those wordes of Chryst, he repeteth that fonde argument agayne, that Chryst ment not of eatynge his flesshe in the sacrament / bycause that yf he hadde ment it, he coulde and wolde haue de clared his menynge more playnely. And in that mater thus maister Mas ker sayth.

Here myght Chryste haue […] his […] the trouth of the eatynge of hys fieshe in forme of brede, had thys ben his menynge. For he […] them neuer in any perplexite or dowt, but sought all the wayes by symylytudes and famylyare examples, to teche them playnely, he neuer spake them so harde a parable, but where he perceyued theyr feble ignoraunce, anone he helpt them and declared it them.

ye and somtymes he preuented theyr askynge wyth his owne declaracyon. And thynke ye not that he dyd not so […] veryly. For he came to teache vs and not to leue vs in any dowt and ignoraunce, especyally the chyefe poynt of our saluacyon, […] standeth in the bylyefe in hys deth for our synnys.

Wherfore to put them out of all dowt as concernyng this eatyng of his flessh and drynkyng of his bloud, that sholde geue euerlastynge lyfe, where they […] it for his very body to be eaten with theyr tethe: he sayed, It is the […] that geueth this lyfe. My flesshe profyteth nothynge at all to be eaten as […] meane so […]: It is spyrytuall meate that I here speke of. It is my spyryt that draweth the har tes of men to me by fayth, and so refresheth them gostesy. ye be therfore carnal to thynke that I speke of my flesshe to be eaten bodyly. For so it profyteth yow nothynge at all. How longe wyll you be wyth out vnderstandyng? It is my spyryte I tell you that geueth lyfe. My flesshe profyteth you nothynge to eate it, but to byleue that it shalbe crucyfyed & suffre for the redempcyon of the worlde it profyteth. And when ye thus byleue, than eate […] my flesshe and drynke my bloude / that is ye byleue in me to suffre for your synnes. The veryte hath spoken these wor des: My flesshe profyteth nothyng at all: it canne not therfore be false. For bothe the Iewes and hys dyscyples murmured and dysputed of his flessh, how it sholde be eaten / and not of the offerynge therof for our synnes as Chryst ment. Thys therfore is the fure anker to holde vs by, agaynst all the obieccions of the […], for the eatynge of Chrystes body as they say in forme of brede. Chryst sayd, My flesh profyteth nothyng, menyng to eate it bodely. Thys is the key that solueth all theyr argumentes & openeth the waye to shew […] all theyr false and abomy nable […] lyes vppon Chrystes wordes, and vttereth theyr sleyght ingesynge ouer the brede to mayntayne […] kyngdome therwyth.

And thus when Chryste had declared it, and taught them that it was not the bodyly eatynge of hys materyall body, but the eatynge wyth the spyryte of faythe: he added sayenge, The wordes whyche I here speke vnto you […] spyryte and lyfe / that is to saye, thys mater that I here haue spoken of with so many wordes, must be spyrytually vnderstanden, to geue ye this lyfe euerlastynge. wherfore the cause why ye vnderstand me not, is that ye byleue not.

Here is lo the conclusyon of all hys sermon.

Many a fonde processe haue I redde good chrysten readers, but neuer redde I neyther a more folysshe nor a more false than this is. For the effecte and the purpose of al this pro cesse is, that Chryst in all his wordes spoken in thys syxte chapiter of saint Iohn̄, ment nothynge of the eatyng of his blessed body in the blessed sacrament, but onely of an alle gorycal eatynge of his body / by whyche he ment onely that they sholde byleue that he sholde be crucyfyed […] shedde his bloude and dye for redempcyon of the worlde.

Now that our saniour bysyde al such allegories & other spirituall vnderstādings, playnely ment of ye very eatyng of his blessed body in the bles sed sacrament, you haue good reders all redy sene by so many holy doctours and sayntes / whose playn wor des I haue rehersed you, that no mā can dowte but that in the whole conclusyon of his argument and his exposycyon, mayster […] hath a shamefull fall / except any mā dowt whyther mayster Masker be better to be byleued alone, or those holy doc tours amonge them all.

But now thys false conclusyon of hys, how febly and how folyshely he defendeth, yt is euyn a very great pleasure to se.

In this processe hath he. ii. poynts The fyrste is that Chryste coulde & wolde haue made it open and playne in thys place by clere and euydent worde, yf he had ment of the eatynge of his flesshe in the sacrament.

The second is, that by these wordꝭ It is the spyryte that geueth lyfe, my fleshe profyteth nothynge at all, The wordes that I haue spoken to you be spyryte and lyfe: Chryste doth playn and clerely declare, both that he ment not the eatynge of his flesshe in the sa crament, and also that he ment onely the bylyefe that he sholde dye for the synne of the worlde.

Now touchynge his fyrste folysh poynt, I haue confuted it all redy, & shewed you some samples, where Chryste coulde at some tyme haue declared the mater mych more openly than he dyd, and that in great maters of our fayth.

For I thynke the sacrament of baptysme, is a pryncypall poynt of our fayth. And yet Chryste taught not Nichodemus all that he coulde haue tolde hym therin as I sayd before.

And longeth it nothyng to ye fayth to byleue the remyssyon of mortall sinnes? I suppose yes. And yet could Chryste yf he had wolde, haue decla red more clerely those worde of his,¹ who so blaspheme the sone of man it shalbe forgeuen hym. But he that blasphemeth the holy gooste, it shall neyther be forgeuē him in this world nor in the world to come.

No good chrysten man thynketh other, but that it is a pryncypall artycle of the chrysten fayth, to byleue yt Chryst is one equale god with his father. And yet Chryste (albe it that by all places sette togyther, he hath declared it clere inough in conclusion, to them that wyll not be wylfull & contencyouse) yet dyd he not in euery place where he spake therof, declare the mater so clerely as he could haue done yf he than hadde wolde. whiche appereth by that that in some other places, he declared it more clerely af ter. And yet in all the places of the scrypture set togyther, he hath not, nor wolde not, declare it in so playne wordes / as he coulde haue done. For than sholde there neuer haue neded any of those commētes, that all the holy doctours haue made vppon it synnys. And surely so sayth Luther and these other heretykes, that there neded none. For all the scrypture (they saye) is open & playne inough. And therfore they put euery manne and woman vnlerned in boldenesse and corage, to be in the scrypture suf ficyently theyr owne maysters them selfe. But whyle they thus teache them, they forgete that by theyr own techyng they shold holde theyr peace thē selfe. And indede so were it good they dyd, but yf they taught better.

And thus for his fyrst poynt; you se good readers that mayster Masker maketh men perceyue hym for a dowble fole whan it was not inough for hym to come forth with this foly onys, but he muste a goddes name brynge in this his one foly twyse.

Footnotes

1. Matth. 12 ↩