The. vi. chapyter

BUt yet to se now how craftely he could betrappe me if I wold let hym alone: Let vs graunte hym for hys lordly pleasure, that the dyscyples and apostles vnderstode Christes wordes well in all thre pla ces, not onely whan he sayd he was¹ the dore / and whan he sayde he was² the vyne / but also whan he sayde, my flesshe is veryly meate. What now? Mary than sayth mayster Masker, If More answere ye or yes: than do I aske hym ferther, whyther Chrystes dyscyples and apostles thus […] and vnderstandynge hys wordes in al the thre chapyters, wōdered & merueyled (as More sayth) or murmured (as hath the texte) at theyr may sters speche. what thynke you More muste answere here? here maye you se why ther thie olde holy vpholder of the […] & chyrche is brought, euyn to be taken in hys own trappe. For the dyscyples and hys apostles neyther murmured nor metuayled, nor yet were not offended wyth this theyr mayster Chrystes wordes and maner of spekynge.

In what trappe of myne owne or his eyther; hath mayster Masker caught me here? Mine argumēt was³ ye […] well, yt at the herynge Cryst saye, I am the dore, & I am the very⁴ vyne: no man meruayled at the maner of spekynge, bycause that euery man perceyued his wordes for allegoryes⁵ & parables. But in the thyrd place where he sayde, My flesshe ys veryly meate, And the brede that I shall geue you is my flesshe. And ex cepte you eate the flesshe of the sone of man, and drynke his bloude, you shall not haue lyfe in you: so many meruayled bycause they perceyued well it was not a parable but that he spake of very eatynge of his flesshe in dede, that of all his herers very few could abyde it, but murmured & sayd how can he gyue vs his flesshe to eate. And his own dyscyples sayd, Thys worde is harde, who maye here hym / and went almost all theyr way. Now whan theffecte of myne argument is, that in this poynt many meruayled at the thynge, as a thynge playnely spoken, and not a parable, but a playne tale that men sholde veryly eate his flesshe / and that no man meruayled at the tother two maner of spekynge, bycause they perceyued them for parables: what maketh it agaynste me, that in the thyrde place there were some that meruayled not nor murmured not syth that though some dyd not, yet many dyd, & bothe meruailed & murmured & went theyr war, & that farre the moste part, and saue the apostles almost euerichone. And veryly the tother dyscyples as saynt Chrysostome sayth, those that than were present (agaynst mayster maskers sayeng) went theyr wayes all the maynye.

Where is now good readers thys trappe of myne owne makynge, that I am fallen in? hath mayster Masker caste me downe so depe, with prouynge me that some meruayled not, where I sayd many dyd? Be these two proposicions so sore repugnaunt and so playne contradyctory: Many meruayled, and some meruailed not, that bycause I sayd the fyrste, and he proueth the secund, therfore I am quyte caste and caught in myne owne trappe? This man is a wyly shrewe in argument I promyse you.