Nowe deare bretherne I beseche you for the mercye that ye loke for in Christ Iesu, that you accepte thys worke with a syngle eye ād no contencyous harte. For necessyte hath compelled me to wryte it, because I was informed both of my Lorde of Wynchester ād other credyble parsons, that I had by the meanes of my fyrst treatyse offended many mē. Which thynge maye well be true: For it was to slender to enstructe all them which haue sens seane it, albeit it were suffycyent for their vse to whome it was fyrst delyuered. And therfore I thought it not onelye expedyent but also necessarye, to enstructe them further in the truth, that they myght see playne euydence of that thynge, wherin they were offended.
By thys worke you shall espye their blasphemyes ād venemous tonges wherwith they slaunder not one ly thē that publyshe the truthe, but euen the truth yt selfe. They shame not to saye, that we affyrme yt to be onelye breade, and nothynge els. And we saye not so: but we saye that besyde the substaunce of breade, it is the Sacrament of Christes bodye ād bloode. As the yvye hangynge before the taverne doore is more then bare yvye. For besyde the substaunce of yvye, it is a sygne, and sygnyfyeth that there is wyne to be solde. And thys sacrament sygnyfyeth vnto vs, and poynteth out before our eyes, that as verely as that breade is broken, so verelye was Christes bodye brokē for our synnes: And as that breade is dystrybuted vnto vs, so is hys bodye and frute of hys passyon dystrybuted vnto all hys faythfull. And as the breade comforteth the bodye, so doth the fayth in Christes death comforte our soules. And as surelye as we haue that breade and eate it with our mouth and teth, and knowe by our sences that we haue it within vs, and are partakers therof; no more neade we to doubte of hys bodye and bloode, but that through fayth, we are as sure of thē, as we are sure of that breade. As it is suffycyentlye declared in my boke.
Agayne you maye perceyue how wyckedly they reporte vs which affyrme that we dyshonour it which geue yt the ryght honoure that it ought to haue. And you do playnlye dyshonoure it, which geue vnto it the honoure that is onelye due vnto God. We geue yt the same honoure that we geue vnto the holye scrypture ād worde of God, because it expresseth vnto our sences the death of our sauyoure, and doth more depely prynte it within vs. And therfore we call it an holye sacrament, as we call Goddes worde, holye scrypture. And we receyue thys sacrament with greate reuerence, euen as we reuerentlye reade or heare preached the holye worde of God, which conteyneth the healthe of our soules. And we graunte that hys bodye is presente with the breade as it is with the worde, and wyth both it is verelye receyued and eaten through faythe. But if we shulde knele downe and praye vnto the holye scrypture, men myght cownte vs foles, and myght lawfullye saye, that we do not honoure the scrypture by that meanes but rather dyshonoure yt. For the ryght honoure of a thynge is, to vse it for that intent that was instytute of God. And he that abvseth it to any other purpose, doth in dede dyshonoure it. And lykewyse it is in the sacrament which was instytute to keape in memorye the death of Christe, which yf we do any other wyse honoure, then we do the holye scrypture (vnto the which we maye in no wyse make our prayers). I saye that then we shulde vtterlye dyshonoure it. Avoyde therfore thys poynte of Idolatrye, and all ys safe.
Fynallye we saye that they speake well and faythfullye, which saye that they go to the bodye and receyue the bodye of Christ, and that they speake vyllenouslye and wyckedlye which saye that they onelye receyue breade or the sygne of hys bodye. For in so sayenge they declare their infydelyte. For the faythfull wyll reaken that he is euell reported of and reputed for a traytoure and a nother Iudas, yf men shulde saye of hym that he ded onelye receyue the sacrament, and not also the thynge whiche the sacrament doth sygnyfye. For albeit he onelye eateth the breade ād sacrament with hys mouth and teth: yet with hys harte and fayth inwardlye, he eateth the verye thynge it selfe whiche the sacrament outwardlye dothe represente.
And of thys sprynge the maner of speakynges that the olde fathers do somtyme vse, which at the fyrste syght mought seame contrarye to our sentence. But yf they be well pondered, it maye soone be seane, how they shulde be taken. For manye tymes when they speake of the sacramente and outwarde eatynge, they applye vnto the sacrament and outwarde eatynge, the frute and condycyons of the inwarde eatynge and thynge it selfe, because that in a faythfull man they are so Ioyntlye Ioyned, that the one is neuer without the other. As by example. Marye is named the mother of God, and yet she is not the mother of hys Godhed, by the which parte onelye he is called God, but because she is hys mother, as towchynge hys manhode, and the Godhed is so annexed with the manhode that they both make but one parson, therfore is she called the mother of God, whiche in dede yf it be wyselye weyed, shalbe founde to be abvsed speache.
And yet neuerthelesse it maye verye well be vsed, yf men vnderstonde what is ment therbye, but yf through the vse of thys speache, men shulde fall in to suche an erroure that they wolde affyrme our lady to be in dede the mother of hys Godhed, then necessyte shulde compell vs to make a dystynccyon betwene the nature of hys Godhed and the nature of hys manhod, and so to expounde the matter vnto them, and brynge them home agayne in to the ryght vnderstondynge. As we are now constrayned to do in thys sacrament, because you mysconstrue the sayenges of the scrypture ād Doctours. Which notwythstondynge (yf a man vnderstōde them) saye verye well.
And manye soche maner of speaches are contayned in the scrypture: As where Christ sayeth in, Iohā in the .iii. chap. There shall no man ascende in to heauen, but he that dyscendeth from heauen, the sone of man whiche is in heauen.
Thys texte doth saye that the sonne of man was then in heauen, when he spake these wordes vnto Nicodemus here vpon earth, whiche thynge all wyse men consente to be vnderstonde, propter unitatem personæ: That is to saye: for the vnite of the parson. For albeit hys Godhed was in euerye place at that tyme, yet was not hys manhod (by the whiche he was called the sonne of man) in heauen at that tyme. And yet Christe sayde that it was in heaven for the vnite of hys parson. For hys Godhed was in heauen, and because the Godhed and manhode made one parson, therfore it was ascrybed vnto the manhod which was onelye verefyed vpō the Godhed, as |August.| S. Austen ad Dardanum doth delygentlye declare.
And lykewyse in the sacrament of baptyme, because the inwarde workynge of the holye Goste is euer ānexed in the faythfull vnto the outwarde ceremonye: therfore somtyme the frute of the inwarde baptyme is ascrybed vnto the outwarde worke. And so the scrypture vseth to speake of the outwarde baptyme as though it were the inwarde: that is to saye: the spyryte of GOD. And therfore Saynte Paule sayeth that we are buryed wyth Christe through baptyme.
And yet as Saynte Austen expoundeth it, the outwarde baptyme dothe but |Augustinus ad Bonifacium.| sygnyfye thys buryall. And agayne Paule sayeth, as manye as are baptysed haue put Christe vpon them. And yet in dede our outwarde baptyme doth but sygnyfye, that we haue put Christe vpon vs.