|More.| ❧ Howbeit as for me (though I be not bounde to yt) I am cōtēt yet to proue, that God maye make the body of Christ to be in all places at ones. And because thys yōge mā coupleth that proposycyō with the other: so wyll I do also. And I wyll proue therfore that God cā make hys bodye be bothe in many places at ones, & in all places at ones, by that he is almyghtye, and therfore can do all thynge.
|Fryth.| ¶ Now ys the good man in hys olde dreame agayne, and thynketh that God is called almyghtye, because he can do all thynges. And then in dede yt shulde folowe that he were not almyghtye. For all thynges he can not do, he can not saue the vnfaythfull, he can not restore virgynyte ones vyolated, he cā not synne, he cā not denye hym selfe. Yf thys mās lernynge were alowed, thā myght not god be called almyghty, because there is somwhat that he can not do. But they that are accustomed with scrypture, do knowe that he is called almyghtye, not because he can not do all thynges, but because there is no superyour power aboue hym, but that he may do all that he wyll, and all that hys pleasure is, maye he brynge to passe. But he hath no wyll nor pleasure, to make his sone a lyer, & to make hys scrypture false and yet notwitstondynge he abydeth almyghtye and may do what he wyll. And euē as it is impossyble to stonde with the processe of the scryptures (wherin God hath declaeed hys wyll) that the unfaythfull shulde be saued (although at the fyrst god myght haue done it, yf he had so wolde) lykewyse it is impossyble the scryptures stōdynge as they do, that the naturall bodye of Christ, shulde be present to our teth in the sacramēt. And as for our fayth, yt neadeth not to haue hym present in the breade. For I may as well eate hym and drynke hym through fayth (that is to say, beleue in hym) though he contynue styll in heauen, as though he were as present in the sacramēt, as he was hangynge on the crosse. But yet hys mastershype hath lefte one thynge vnproued, and that is euen the pyth of hys purpose. For though he had proued (as he hath not) that God by hys almyghtynes myght make Christes bodye in many places, and in all places, & in the sacrament, yet he forgotte to proue that God hath so done. And therfore albeyt I dyd graūte hym (as I wyll not) that he myght so do, yet therof it doth not folow, that he hath so done in dede. For god maye do manye thynges whiche he doth not. And therfore hys argument doth not proue hys purpose. Now yf he do but thynke that God hath so done, I am well pleased ād wyll not put hym to the payne to proue it. For anone ye shall see hym so intaungled in bryars, that he shall not wete where to be come.
|More.| ❧ But yet this yonge man goeth aboute to proue thys poynte by scrypture. For excepte we graunte hym that poynte to be true, he sayeth that els we make the Angell a lyer that sayde, he is not here, ād also that els we make as though Christes bodye in hys assensyon ded not go vp in the cloude in to heauē from earth, but onelye hyd hym selfe in the cloude, and playeth boo pyppe and taryed beneth styll. Here in the ende he forgetteth hym selfe so fowle, that whan he was a yonge sophyster he wolde I dare say, haue bene full sore ashamed so to haue oversene hym selfe at Oxforde at a pervyse. For ye wote well that thynge whiche he sayeth, and whiche he muste therfore proue, is that the bodye of Christ cā not be in euerye place at ones by no meane that God coulde make. And the textes that he bryngeth in for the proue, saye no further but that he was not in all places at ones.
|Fryth.| ¶ There are two thynges dysputed betwene master More and me: the one is whether God cā make the bodye of Christe in manye places, and in the sacramente. And therto hys mastershyppe sayeth yea. For God is almyghtye and maye do all thynges. And I saye naye, and affyrme that God is not called almyghtye because he maye do all thynges, but because he maye do all that he wyll. And I saye that he wyll not make hys sonne a lyer, nor hys scrypture false, and that he can not do it, and yet abydeth almyghtye. The other thynge is thys, whether he haue done it or not. For albeyt I ded graunte hym that it were possyble, yet is he neuer the nere excepte he eyther can proue that he hath done it in dede, or els thynke that God hath so done. For as I sayde God can do manye thynges which he doth not. And the controversye of thys doubte is dyssolued by the Aungell and scrypture whiche (as master More graunteth hym selfe) proueth that he was not in all places at ones, And therof it foloweth, that God hath not done it, although it be possyble. And so is hys mastershyppe at a poynte. For yf I shulde graunte it neuer so possyble, yet yf scrypture proue that it be not so in dede, then is he neuer the nere hys purpose, but moche the further from it. And thys is euen it that I sayde before: that it was not possyble to stonde with the processe of the scrypture which we haue receyued. And now hys mastershyppe hath graunted it hym selfe, which you maye be sure he wolde not do yf he coulde otherwyse avoyde it. And here you maye see howe sore I haue overseane my selfe.
|More.| ❧ God forbyd that any man shulde be the more prone and readye to beleue thys yonge man in thys greate matter, because he sayeth in the begynnynge that he wyll brynge all men to a concorde and a quyetnes of conscyence. For he bryngeth men to the worste kynde of quyetnes that maye be deuysed, when he telleth vs as he doth, that euery man in thys matter, maye with out parell beleue which waye he lyste. Euery man maye in euerye matter without any counsell, soone set hym selfe at reste, yf he lyste to take that waye and to beleue as he lyste hym selfe, ād care not how. But ād yf that waye had bene sure, Saynte Paule wolde neuer haue shewed that manye were in parell of sycknes and death also, for lacke of dyscernynge reuerentlye the bodye of our Lorde in that Sacramente, when they came to receyue hym.
|Fryth.| ¶ When Christe shulde departe thys worlde and go to hys Father, |Ioan. 15.| he gaue hys dyscyples a commaundement that they shulde loue eche other, sayenge by thys shall all men knowe, that ye are my dyscyples, yf ye loue eche other, as I haue loued you. Thys rule of charyte wolde I not haue broken, which notwithstondynge is often in Ieopardye a monge faythfull folke. This thynge consydered, I thought it necessarye to advertyse both partyes to saue thys rule of charyte, and proued in the fyrste chapter of my treatyse, that it was none artycle of the fayth necessarye to be beleued vnder payne of dampnacyon, and therfore that they were to blame that wolde be contencyous for the matter. For syth it is none artycle of the fayth, they may lawfullye dyssente without all Ieoperdye: and neade not to breake the rule of charyte, but rather to receyue eche other lyke weake bretherne.
This I saye I proued in the fyrste chapter agaynste which master More maketh no busynes, and improueth it not. Wherbye you maye soone gather that it is very true. For els syth hys mastershyppe so laboureth in these other poyntes, he wolde not haue lefte that vntowched you maye be sure. Thys is the concorde that I wolde brynge them vnto. And as towchynge quyetnes of conscyence, I haue knowen manye that haue sore bene combrede wyth it. And amōge all, a certayne master of arte which dyed in Oxforth, confessed vpon hys death bedde, that he had wepte lyenge in hys bedde an hundreth nyghtes wythin one yeare space, because he coulde not beleue it. Now yf he had knowen that it had bene no necessarye artycle, what cōforte and quyetnes shulde it haue bene vnto hym. Furthermore, euerye man can not so quyet hymselfe, as master More Imageneth. For there are manye that thynke them selfes no smalle foles, which whan they haue receyued some folyshe superstycyon, eyther by their owne Imagynacyon, or by belevynge their gossepes gospell ād olde wyfes tales, by and bye thynke the cōtrarye to be deadly synne, and vtterly forbydden by Chrystes gospell. As by example, I knowe an house of relygyon, wherin is a parson that thynketh it deadly synne to go ouer astrawe yf it lye acrosse. And yf there be vpon the pauemente any paynted pycture, or any Image grauen vpon a deade mans graue, he wyll not treade vpon it, although he shulde go a forelonge a bowte. What is thys but vayne superstycyon wherewith the conscyence is combred and corrupted? May not thys be weded out wyth the worde of God, shewynge hym that it is none artycle of the fayth so to thynke, & then to tell hym that it is not forboden by the scrypture, ād that it is no synne? Now albeyt hys conscyence be so cankered that the ruste wyll not be rubbed out: yet wyth Godes grace, some other whome he hath infected with the same, maye come agayne to Godes worde and be cured full well, whiche shulde neuer haue bene able to quyete them selfes. And lykewyse there are some whiche beleue as your superstycyous hartes haue informed them, and these can not quyete thēselues, because they beleue that you haue featched your doctryne out of scrypture. But when it is proued to them, and they themselues perceyue that scrypture sayeth not so, then can they be contente to thynke the contrarye, ād Iudge it no synne at all. And as towchynge S. Paule, surelye ye take hym wronge. For I wyll shewe you what processe he taketh, and how he is to be vnderstonde. But because it is not possyble to fynyshe it in fewe wordes, I shall deferre it vnto the bokes ende, and then I shall declare hym at large.
|More.| ❧ And what a fashyon is thys, to saye that we maye beleue yf we lyste, that there is the verye bodye of our Lorde in dede, and then to tell vs for a trouth, that suche a faythe is impossyble to be true: for GOD hym selfe can neuer brynge it abought, to make hys bodye to be there.
|Fryth.| ¶ Yf a man take the bare wordes of Christe, and of symplycyte be deceyued, and thynke that hys verye bodye be in the sacramente present to their teth that eate it, I dare not saye that he synneth therin, but wyll referre the matter vnto Godes Iudgement, and yet without doubt, I dare saye he is deceyued. As by example, yf a man deceyued by the litterall sence, wolde thynke that men shulde preache to fysshes (as S. Fraunces ded) because Christe badde hys dyscyples go preache to all creatures, yet wolde not I thynke that he synned therin. But wyll referre hym vnto Goddes Iudgement. But yet I wene euerye woman that hath anye wytte, wyll saye that he was deceyued.
|More.| ❧ I am verye sure that the olde holye Doctours which beleued Christes bodye and bloode to be there, and so taught other to beleue, as by their bokes playnelye doth apere, yf they had thought eyther that it coulde not be there or that it was not there in dede, they wolde not for all the good in thys worlde haue wryten as they haue done. For wolde those holye men (wene you) haue taught that men be bounde to beleue, that the verye bodye and bloode of CHRISTE is there, yf they them selfes thought that they were not bounde thervnto? Wolde they make men honoure and worshyppe that thynge as the very bodye and bloode of Christe whiche they thē selues thought were not it? Thys gere is to chyldyshe to speake of.