The Supper of the Lord, Part 8 – Part 9
…m. …m o … imꝑ…e…¶Now shal ye heare Chrysostome. Nihil fensibile tradidit Christus: licet dederit panem et vinum: non ꝙ panis & vinum non sint sensibilia, sed ꝙ in illis mentem herere noluit. Nam in suum corpus, quod est panis vite, subuehit dicens. Hoc est corpus meum: perinde ac dicat H…c licet panis sit, significat tamen tibi corpus. Thus it is in englysshe. Cryste geuing… brede and wyne, gaue no sensible thynge: not that brede and wyne be not sensible: but that he wolde not our mynde to steke styll in them, For he lyfted vsus vp into his bodye, whiche is the brede of lyfe: sayng. This is my bodye: as though he shuld saye. Thoughe this be but brede, yet it sign…fyethe vntounto the, my bodye. Now iudge thou (Christē reder) whither M More reportethe ryghte, of thys man that alleged these olde holy doctours, or no.
…he cōfu…cion of … papis…s glo….¶Nowe hauehave ye the pure vnderstandynge of the wordis of the lordes souper confirmed wyth the olde holy doctours. That this is my bodye, is as miche to saye, as this signifyeth my body. And this is my bloode: is, this sygnyfyethe my bloode. But yet was there neuer siche maner of speking ī the scripture This is that That is to saye, This is cōuerted & transsubstanciated into that. Or this is contayned in that: the thinge conuerted and changed, kepping styll her forme, qualites, quantite &c. As to saye. This is my body, that is to saye. This brede is conuerted into my bodye, the brede abyding styll in his fasshiō, taste, colour, waight &c. For Cryste when he conuerted water into wyne, dyd not leue the forme, colour, and taste styll in the water. For so had it bene no changing. But let our couetouse conuerters choppe and change brede & wyne tyll we there fele se and taste nether brede nor wyne, & then wyll we beleme them so thei bringe for them the worde of god. For as for their false iug…linge we fele it at our fyngers ende: we se it, had we but halfe an eye: we cast it at our tongues ende, and know it with all our wittis and vnderstanding so manifestly, that we parc…yued thē openly longe a goo, to be the very anticrystis, of whom Cryste and his apostles warned vsus to come in this laste tyme.
¶And if they saye. That this conuersion is made by miracle. Then muste eueryevery one of thē as ofte as he say a misse make vsus many a miracle the very markis of Moris chirche. For it is one grete miracle that Crystis body shulde come so sodenly inuisible and so ofte out of heuē, and that suche a miracle as the worde of god neuer knew: a nother that to grete a body shuld be contayned in so litel a place, and that one bodye shulde be at once in so many placis and two bodyes in one place, an other that it is eten nether the eter feling it, nor the bodye eten suffering nor feling the tethe of the eter. which as many mo meruelouse and lyke miracles or rather absurdites of the brede & wyne, that there muste be the forme, coloure, taste, waight, broken &c. and yet nether to be brede nor wyne in our belife except we wilbe burned of them because we beleue not their iugelinge castis. O mischeuous miracle makers. O cruel conuerters. O blodye vouchers.
¶But herke, Crysten reder, and I shal lernethe to knowe Crystis playn & t…we miracles… frō the sleighthy iugglinge of these crafty conuayers. Cryste wolde neuer hauehave done miracle had men beleued him onelyonly by his wordis, but when he sayd firste these wordis. This is my bodye, noman donted at them, noman was in any vnbeleife of them. wherfore these wordis m…ste nedis be playne single & pure without miracle, as these. The .3. branchis ar .…. dayes: withoute any subtyle tran…substanciacion, siche insensible conuersion, or any false miracle. Cryste wrought al his miracles for the glorye of god to declare him selfe bothe god and man so that all Crystis miracles were cōprehended vnderunder mannes sences or comon writes, which brynge in siche knowlege vntounto the vnderstondyng. As when he changed water into wyne, the miracle was firste receyued withe the syght, open at the eye, tasted withe the mouthe and so cōuayed vntounto the vnderstonding. And now, thoughe we nether se nor taste that miracle, yet we heare it, se it, rede it, and so vnderstōde that it was once a miracle do…e of cryste: whan he restored the syght to the blynde, heled the lame, clensed the leprose, reared the deade: all was seen, herde and so comprehended vnderunder our most suerest sensis: that his very enimes were compelled to confesse them for miracles, But our miracle makers, that make dayly so ofte and so many, ar so farre frō this clere poynt: that their miracles in this mater, be not, nor neuer shalbe contayned nor comprehended vnderunder any of our 5 wyttes, but thei rather delude and deceyue bothe sight, taste, felinge, hering, and smellinge: ye our faith & vnderstāding to. Beware therfore of these mischeuous miracle makers for their owne glorye and profit: and will kyll the to, if thou beleueste not their lyes. Beware I saye of those marchāts that wil sell the wares, whiche the… wil not suffer the to se, …r to taste. nor to touche: but when thei shewe the whight, thou muste beleue it is blak: If they geue the brede, thou muste bele…e it withoute any worde of thy faithe, that it is Crystis body, & that of their owne makinge. If thou taste, se, & fele it brede yet thou muste saye it is none though the scripture calleth it brede .xx. tymes. Beware beware I saye of Anticryste: whose cominge sayd Paule… 1. thess. 2, (he is come al redy saith Iohn. 1. Ioā … 2.… now ar there many anticrystis) shalbe aftir the workinge of Satan with an almighty powr, withe false sygnes & wonders lyinge miracles, and with al deceite of v…rightuousnes. &c.
¶To be to curiouse in so playn a sacramēt and sygne, to cauill Crystis clere wordis with sophistical sophismes, & to tryful out the tro… the withe tauntis & mockis, as More dothe, is no crysten maner. And if our papistis, & sc… lasticall sophisters will obiecte & make answer to this souper of the lorde, bringing yn for them, their vnwrytē wordis, dede dremes (for we hauehave cōpelled More withe shame to flitte frome the scripture) strewed withe their vayn strange te…mes wihche Paule damneth, & geueth Timothe warning of. I shall, by goddis grace, so set the almihgty worde of god agenst thē that all christen shall se their falshed & deceite in this sacrament: & so disclose their deuilessh doctryne & …eighe iugelynge, that all that ca… rede englysshe, shall se the trouthe of Goddis worde openly …ere downe their vnwrytē lyes. For it is verely the thinge that I desyer, euen to be wrytē agenste in this mater, for I hauehave the solucions of al their obiecciōs redye. And knowe right wel, that the more thei stere this sacramēt, the broder shal their lyes be sprede, the more shal their falshed apere and the more gloriously shal the trowthe triumphe: as it is to se this da…e by the longe contencion in this same, and other lyke articles: whiche the papi…tis hauehave so lōge abused, & how More hys lyes vtter the tr…the eueryevery daye more & more. For had he not come begging for the clergye from purgatory, withe his supplicacion of soulis, and Rastel & Rochelter had they not so wysely playd their partis: purgatory paraduēture had serued them yet a nother yere: nether had it so sone hauehave ben quenched, nor the pore soule & proctour ther be with his blody bisshop crystē catte so farre cōiured into his owne Utopia with a sechel about his necke to gather for the proude preistis in Synagoga papi…tica.
¶Whan Cryste was ascended into heuen: and had sent his Apostles the spirit of trouthe, to leade them into all trouthe perteyning vntounto our saluacion euen in to him that sayd: I am the trouthe of whyche trouthe he enstructed them aftir his resurrectiō. Luk. 24. and thei had preched the same trouthe nowe in Ierusalē Act. 2. at which preching ther were that receyued their wordes & where baptized, abouthe, z. M. his apostels rememebringe how their master Cryste at his last souper did institute & leue them this holy sacrament of his body & blood to be celebrated & done in hys rememberance emonge siche as had receyued his gospell, were baptized, had professed his faythe, and wolde perseuer in his religion, dyd nowe in this firste congregaciō celebrate the lordis souper brekinge the brede & etinge it as Cryste dyd …eche them, whiche souper, Luke & Paule called afterwarde the brekinge of the brede. As Acto, 2. saynge. That they which gladly had nowe receyued Peters acte, & were baptized: were perseuerynge in the doctrine of the apostles, and in the communion, & in the breakinge of the brede, and in prayer, whiche sacramente was now a token of the perseuerance in theyr cristen religion nowe professed. Off thys brekinge of brede, Luke wrytynge of Paule coming… vponupon Troadem, sayth Act. 20… also, that there vponupon a sabbot daye, whē the disciples were come togyther vntounto the brekinge of the brede: Paule made a sermon during to mydnight &c. And that this was no comē nor prophane vse but an heuenly sacrament and a reuerent ryte and vsage, the cricumstancis of the accion declare, bothe in Luke and Paule, shewyng it to be the very institucion that Cryste ordened at his soupere, Paule thus recy…ynge this brekeynge of the brede: say…g. The brede which we breke, is it not the felawship of the bodye of Cryste? that is to saye dothe it not signify vsus to be the bodye of Criste that is his congregacion and his peple, as dothe the wordes folowinge declare? Paule addinge the cause saynge For we being many are all togyther signifyed by the one lofe to be one bodye: for that we be partakers of the same brede. Also before, he callethe in the same souper, the cuppe of thankis geuinge the felawshyp of the blode of Cry…t…, that is to saye, the congregacion redemed with Crystis bloode.