The Confutation of the Misshapen Answer to a Wicked Ballad, Part 35 – Part 40
☞The confutacion
I cā not a little maruaile at your follie which driueth you to take in hāde to answere to that you vnderstād not yea & that more is, to deride and laugh to skorne your own follie, makeing as thoughe you vnderstod the mattier thorow lye, when in verie dede you vtter your selfe to be in the cleane contrarie waye.
I pray you what do you meane by your merie talk about your dōbe beast? I think you wuld saye a brute beaste which hath not the gifte of resone to deserue & iudge thinges & therfor you saye you durst depose y• he could scātly vnderstād y• authours words if he should heare them But I praye you how standeth thye wyth the captiuatinge of youre reasone. Is it not al one to hauehave reasonne captiuated and to be a brute beaste? An infaunt that hath not yet the vse of reasone, what differeth it frome a brute beast? And yet hath i… reasone, but not at libertie that shee maye do hir office. Euen so the man that hath his reasone captiuated to any opinion, is …conserneinge that opinion) euen as a chylde or brute beast. So that in your skoffes and geste's wherein you woulde seme to be pleasant, you make an ape of your selfe, and toyewyth your owne shadowe
And thē (wyttily and lyke an Hosyar) you lyken the example of the authour, to the appointtynge of a man to knowe his l…gge frome hys hoose. This done, you turne to your graue st…le agayne as thoughe your former wordes hadde ben excedeynge merie and pleasante. And madly you saye the authour meaneth by hys example, that Chrste poynted to hys naturall body when he sayed Thys is my bodie and in this you declare your selfe not to vnderstande his meaneing, and yet you woulde s…me to answere hym to the ful, saying that you would gladly knowe what Scripture the Authoure hathe to proue that Christ ment nothyng of the bread when he spake those wordes. For if it wyl not be foūde in the scripture: you are not bounde to beleue it (you saye) for it is but his fantacie. And so you conclude, that the authour sayeth by his example, that if Christe ment not of hys naturall bodie, he made a falsely.
I amsorie frend Hogard that your iudgement is so slender, that knowinge this to be an exā ple you can not perceiue wher of it is an example, What r…sonable man woulde be so madde to brabble about a thing so folyshely as you do vnlesse he were either a verie fole or else hadde hys reasone so captiuated and were so maried to hys opinion, that he coulde se nothinge that maketh agaynste hym? The Authour intendeynge to declare that these wordes (Thys is) are not wordes wherwith ought maie be made: bringeth thys example of hym selfe. If I tell the sayeth he, that thys is my head. These wordes, this is do not make it so: But it was so before I spake those wordes. Other wyse I shoulde not saye trulye when I saye Thys is my heade.
For if the speakeynge of the wordes shoulde make it my heade: then should it not be my head tyl the wordes were spoken. And so wet it a lye to say it is my head, when in dede it wer but in turning frō som other substaūce to be my head And thys exāple proueth that it Christ had mēt by these wordes (Thys is my body) y• the bread was turned into his bodye: no doubt it was his bodye before he sayd it, or else he had, lied in s… sayeinge, whiche thynge is not possible, that is that the veritie it selfe shoulde lye wherefore he ment no suche thynge. But in sayeinge thys is my body: he intended to declare vntounto hys faythful disciples & in them to vsus) the misterie of his church and congregaciō which is of many made one euen as the breade is of many graynes, and the wyne of many grapes. As you mought hauehave easily gathered of the sta…e next foloweinge if your reason had not ben captiuated.
¶The ballad.
Wel thē to say lo, Thys is my body
Hath not made it so, Thou seyst wt smal studie
Wherfore shortely go, Make other wordes redi
These wyl do no seruice.
The answere.
Here lo ye triumphe like a noble fyer
As though ye had proued al that ye speak
Which is that our sauioure christe was a lie…
Whē that he dyd say whē he bread did breake
This is my body, his power was to weake
He coulde not performe that he there dyd saye
He muste seeke other wordes that to conuaye.
☞The confutacion
☞Yet you harpe styl on one strenge and that sowneth al a garre. He triumpheth (you say) as one that had proued all that he had sayed, as in dede he hath sufficiently, and then your vnderstandeing is no better but to burden him wyth the affirmeing of that which he neuer thought, and no meruayle for you hauehave captiuated your reason to your fonde flyshly opiniō, and …icke faste vponupon your commune argumente, A posse ad esse. And then you conclud that who so euer denieth the thinge to be done, denieth that god is able to do it, declareinge your selfe to taste nothynge of the spirite of God but altogether of the fleshe euen as the fleshely Caparnaites dyd whiche would hauehave eaten hym euen as he went on the groūde, because he sayed that they could hauehave no lyfe in them onlesse thei did eate his flesh, meaneinge therby the beliefe that thei shoulde hauehave in hym to be y• spiritual fode & so ea…e him by fayeth. For if he had spokē ther of the eateinge of hys naturall and reall bodye in the sacrement it shoulde folowe that all suche as dye before they receyue the Sacrament… shoulde hauehave no lyfe in them, that is shoulde be dampned. And contrarywyse, al that … once receyue the sacramente, shoulde neuer dy… that is, neuer be damned. For he sayeth. He that eateth my fleshe and drincketh my bloude tareth in me and I … him, And agayne he shall …. I would you woulde credite saynte Augustyne vponupon these wordes or else your selfe put of your carnall cies and put on the spectakles of the spirit, and knowe that the wordes whiche Christe spake in the .vi. of Iohn are spirite and lyfe, and not grosse and carnall as you take them.
¶The ballade.
What if in scripiure. Were wrytten one lyne
Wherwith our sauiour, Thy god and myne
Into thys nature, Dyd tourne bread and wine
Couldest thou do thys?
☞The answer
What if in scripture ther be one lyne
As ther is in bede whiche I before tel
To proue that our Lorde doth thy god & myne
Dyd consecrate hys body fleshe and fell
Agaynste them which chiefely ye do repel
Naye, amyte, sa… you that Christ did so d…
Coulde you mayster parsone do the same to
Ye for soth syr, Christe dyd that for oure sake
And not for thapostles at that tyme alone
For priestes for that purpose then he dyd make
Geuynge power to them al euerie one
To consecra…e hys body whē he was gone
Sayenge do thys, in my remembraunce
Which to this day hath had continuance
Ye I graunte say you that the Lorde dyd say…
Do thys in mi commemoracion
Then is it nomore that well se ye maye
But a remembraunce of christes passion
It is lefte for a remembraunce I knowe
And yet christes true body as I wyl showe
The pascal lambe offred in the old law
Was of christes offeringe can onelye …igure
The rocke of stone out of which y• Iewes …
Water flowynge out, for them …
Which stone figured christe as …aith scripture
Then yf the sacrament be now no more
But a fygure onelyonly, then these before
Were as good then as is the sacrament
But christ was a prieste muche more excellente
Which made amendes for our transgression
Leauynge his sacrament of suche perfection
That wher as the other were figures onelyonly
Hys is both a fygure and also truly
The same thynge that is figured therby
The whiche is christes naturall body
Thys to beleue I thynke ye wyll refuse
Ye wil rather leaue christ▪ and folow y• Iewes
Sayeng how can this felowe gyue to vsus
Hys fleshe to eate, it doth seme, …e do thus