The. x. chapyter

ANd nowe good readers to fynyshe at laste this mater of may ster Maskers agaynste my secunde argument (whyche he calleth my fyrste, bycause my fyrste is suche as he is lothe to loke vppon) I retorne ones agayne to mayster maskers two sore captyouse questyons / and lykewise as he hath asked theym of me, and I haue as you se so well auoyded his gynnys and his grinnes and all his trymtrams, that he hathe not yet trayned me into no trappe of myne owne, as you se him solēpnely boste: so wyll I now be bolde to aske of hym fyrst, whyther saynt Chri sostome, here, ye and saynt Austayne to, and saynte Cyrille, saynte Bede saynte Nyreneus, and saynt Nilary, were of the mynde, that thapostles vnderstode theyr mayster Chry stes wordes whan he sayd, And the¹ brede that I shall gyue you is my fleshe &c. And my flesh is very meate &c. And I tell you very trouth, except you eate the flesh of yt sone of man &c. If mayster masker answer me to thys questyon naye or no, than shall he make me bolde to answere ye same to hym. For than shall he not fere me wyth his owne sayenge, that the gospell sayth contrary in the syxte chapyter of saynte […], yf he graunte and confesse hym selfe / that all those holy doctours saye therin agaynste his owne sayenge / whyche amonge them all, vnderstode that gospell as well as hym selfe alone, ye & though he take Fryth and frere Nuyskyn to hym to. And therfore yf he answere naye or no: than is he quyte ouerthrowen as you se / and his secunde questyon quyte gone to, for than can he neuer come to it.

Now on the tother syde, yf he answere me ye or yes: than se good readers wherto mayster Masker bryngeth hym self euyn to be taken in his owne trappe. For than he marreth all hys mater. For syth you se clerely good readers, that all these holy doctours and sayntes, openly do declare by theyr playne worde which your selfe haue here all redy herde, that Chryste in those worde veryly spake and ment of the very eatynge of his very flesshe in dede: it muste nedes folow agaynste mayster Maskers mynde (in the earys & the hartes of al such as byleue better al those holy doctours than hym) that this is the ryght vnderstandynge of Chrystes wordes / and that thapostles yf they vnderstode his wordes, vnderstode them after the same fashyon / that is to wyt, that he spake & ment of ye very eatyng of his very flesh in ded. And so serueth hym his secunde questyon of nought. For the cause why they meruaysed not in any murmurynge maner, was bycause they byleued it well at theyr maysters word, whych mayster masker doth not / and ye cause why therwere not by & by curyouse & inquisitiue, was asyou haue herd saīt Chrysostome declare', bycause they were meke and obedyent, and not so presūptuouse and malapert; as maister Masker wolde haue ben.

[…] mayster masker here may you se lo, what wurship you haue wonne with your questions / with which you haue not onely missed of trayning me into myn own trappe, as you triūphe & boste, but are also dreuyn into your own trap your self, out of which you can neuer clymbe vp your self nor al the bretherhed be able to drawe you vp, as longe as the deuyll the very father of your lyuynge bretherhed, lyeth in the depe denne of hell.

Thus haue I good readers my fyrste argument (as he calleth it) that he bosteth to haue twyse so substancially soyled, that he maketh me therin such a feble babe, that I were not able to stande in his strong hand: that argumēt haue I so strongely now de fended, and geuyn hym in his owne turne so many gret & fowle fallys, in euery part of his processe, that if this great clerke had so many so great fal lys geuen hym at Clerken well at a wrestelynge, he wolde haue had I wene neyther rybbe, nor arme, nor legge lefte hym hole longe ago, nor at thys laste lyfte, his necke vnbrokē neither. And now therfore let vs loke how he soyleth my thyrde argument, whych hym selfe calleth my second, bycause he wold haue yt fyrst forgotē

Footnotes

1. […]. 6. ↩