The. vii. chapyter
BUt now that I haue good readers so fayre escaped my trappe I truste with the helpe of some holy saynt, to cach mayster Masker in his owne trappe, that his maystershyppe hath made for me.
Ye wote well good readers, that the trappe whiche he made for me, were these two wyly capcyouse questyons of his, with whych he thought to cache me / that is to wytte, fyrste whyther the dyscyples and apostles hard and vnderstode our sauyour in all thre places / and than vpon myne answere ye or yes, his other questyō ferther, whyther they meruayled or murmured. Unto whyche whyle I haue answered no: now by the trappys of his questyons he rekeneth me dreuyn to be caught in myne owne, bycause I sayd that many merueyled / as though many other might not bycause the apostles dyd.
Now before I shewe you howe hym selfe is taken in his own trappe ye shall here his owne gloryouse wor des with which he bosteth yt he hath taken me, & wolde make men wene it were so. […] these are his, wordes.
Here may you se, whether thys olde holy vpholder of the popys chyrche is brought, euyn to be taken in hys owne trappe. For the dyscyples and his […] neyther murmured nor meruayled, nor yet were not offended wyth this theyr mayster Chrystes worde […] and maner of speche. For they were well acquainted wyth such phrases, & answered theyr mayster Cryst when he asked theym, wyll ye go hence fro me to? Lorde sayd they to whome shall we go […] thou […] the wordes of euevlastyng lyfe, & we byleue yt thou art Chryste the sone of the lyuynge god. Lo maysters more, they neyther merueyled nor murmured. And why? For bycause as ye saye, they vnderstode it in an allegorye sence, and petceyued well that he ment not of hys materyall body to be eaten wyth theyr teth / but he ment it of hym selfe to be byleued to be very god and very man, hauynge flesshe and bloude as they had, and yet was he the sone of the lyuynge god. Thye bylyefe gathered they of all hys spyrytuall sayenges, as hym selfe expouneth hys owne wordes sayenge, My flesshe profyteth nothynge, meanynge to be eaten: but it is the spyryte that geueth this lyfe. And the wordes that I speke vnto you are spyryte and lyfe. So that who so byleue my flesshe to be crucyfyed and broken, and my bloude to be shede for hys synnes, he eateth my flesshe and drynketh my bloud, and hath lyfe euerlastyng. And thys is the lyfe wherwyth the ryghtuouse lyueth euen by fayth. Abacuk. 2.
Lo good reader here haue I reher sed you his wordes whole to thende. And yet bycause you shall se that I wyll not hyde from you any pyece of hys, that may make for any strength of his mater: I shal reherse you fer ther his other wordes wryten in his 13. lefe, whyche I wolde haue touched before, sauynge that I thought to reserue it for hym, to strength with all thys place of his, where it myght do hym best seruyce / where he wold proue agaynst me to trappe me with, that the cause why the dyscyples and apostles merueyled not, nor murmured not, nor were not offended, was bycause they vnderstode Chrystes wordes to be spoken not of very eatynge of hys flesshe, but onely of the bylyefe of his passyon by waye of a parable or an allegorye / as he spake those other worde whan he sayed, I1 am ye dore, & whan he sayd, I am the2 vyne. The worde lo of M. Masker with which he setteth forth the profe of this point in his. 13, lefe be these, in the ende of all his exposycyon vpon the syxt chapyter of saynt Iohn̄.
Here is lo the conclusyon of all thye sermon. Chryst very god and man had set hys flesshe byfore them to be reteyed with fayth, that it sholde be broken and suffre for theyr synne. But they coulde not eate it spi rytually, bycause they byleued not in hym. wherfore many of hys dyscyples fyll from hym and walked no more wyth hym. And than he sayd to the. xii. wyll ye go away to? And Symon Peter answered: Lorde to whome shall we go? Thou haste the wordes of euerlastynge lyfe, and we byleue and are sute that thou arte Chryste the sone of the lyuynge god. Here it is manyfest what Peter and his felowes vnderstode by this eatynge and drynkynge of Chryste. For they were perfytely taught that it stode all in the bylyefe in Chryst, as theyr answere here testyfy eth. If this mater had stode vppon so depe a myracle as our papystes fayne, wythout any word of god not comprehended vnder any of theyr comen senses, that they shold eate hys body vnder forme of brede, as longe, depe, thycke, and […] brode as it hangeth vppon the crosse, they beynge yet but feble of fayth not confermed with the holy goost; […] here nedes haue wondered, stonied, and staggered, and haue ben more inquisytyue in and of so strange a mater, than they were. But they neyther dowted, nor merueyled nor murmured, nor nothynge offended wyth wyth ma ner of speche, as were the other that slypte awaye / but they answered fermely: Thou hast the wordes of euerlastynge lyfe, and we byleue &c. Now to the exposycyon of the wordes of our lordes sowper.
Lo good readers, ye wyll I trow nowe bere me recorde, that I dele playnly with mayster Maskar here, and hyde nothynge of his a syde that maye do hym any substancyall seruyce / towarde the profe of hys purpose. And I warraunt you yt shalbe long ere you fynde hym or any of all that secte, deale in suche playne ma ner wyth me.
But nowe good Christen reader, reade al these whole wordes of hys in both ye places as often as you lyst, and consyder theym well / and than shal you perceyue in conclusyon, yt he proueth hys purpose by none other thynge in all this worde, than onely by his owne wordes expownynge al way the wordes of Chryste as may ster Maskar lyste hym self. And vppon that that hym selfe sayeth, that the cause wherfore the disciples and apostses […] not, not murmured not at these wordes of Christ, The brede yt I shall geue you is my flesh &c. was bycause they per ceyued that Chryste spake yt in a pa table (as I say of his other wordes, I am the dore, and I am the very vyne) vppon these wordes of mayster Maskere owne, mayster Maskar concludeth for his. purpose, the selfe same thynge that he fyrste pre supposeth the thyng that he shold not presuppose but preue, that is to wyt that Chryst spake yt but by way of a parable.
But agaynste mayster Maskar and his presumptuouse presuppo synge, the mater appereth playne. For as I haue byfore sayde, our sauyour3 4 whan he sayd, I am the […], and when he sayde, I am the very vyne, dyd so psecute and declare in bothe the places his owne wordes, that there coulde no man haue cause to meruayle at the maner of spekynge for his owne declaracyon in prosecutynge his owne wordes was suche, that it muste nedes make any man (but yf he were an idiote or an asse) perceyue that Chryste spake in those two places yt he was the […] & the dore but by waye of a parable.
And this may euery mā sone se yt syst to […] on ye places. And therfore no man sayd howe can he be a vyne, nor how can he be a dore, as many sayd in the thyrde place, How can he geue vs his fleshe to eate. whyche wordes yf they were so […] spoken but by waye of parable, as the tother twayne were, yt were farre […] that so many wyse men wolde haue taken it so farre other wyse euer synnes, that take the tother twayne / for none other. And namely such holy doctours and sayntes, as are well acquaynted wyth Chrystes phrases and parables / and in the studye therof, haue spent the great parte of all theyr lyues. And therfore mayster Maskar agaynst so many wyse men and so good, goynge about nowe to proue this poynte but a parable, by none other substancyall meane, than onely by thauthoryte of hys owne worshypfull worde, proueth […] purpose very faynte and slender, for all his […] Mayster More, as though hys purpose appered very clere.
Footnotes
Chapter 52 of 70