¶ Deade men shall ryse agayne.
The Preface
Grace and increace of knowelege frō God the Father through oure Lorde Jesus Christ, be with the Christen reader, and with all thē that loue the Lorde vnfaynedly Amen.
1. Tim. 3. Tit. 1.
I chaunced beynge in these partyes, to be in companye with a Christen brother which for hys commendable conversaciō, and sobre behaueoure myght better be a Byshoppe thē many that weare myters, yf the rule of .S. Paule were regarded in their electyon. Thys brother after moche cōmunycacyō, desyred to knowe my mynde as touchynge the sacramēt of the body ād bloode of our sauyoure Christ. Which thynge I opened vnto hym accordynge to the gyfte that God had geuen me. Firste I proved vnto hym that yt was no article of oure fayth necessarye to be beleued vnder payne of dampnacyon. Then I declared that Christe had a naturall bodye, euen as myne ys (savynge synne) and that yt coulde no more be in two places at ones then myne can. Thyrdly, I shewed hym that it was not necessarye, that the wordes shulde so be vnderstonde as they sownde. But that yt myght be a phrase of scrypture, as there are innumerable. After that I shewed hym certen suche phrases ād maner of speakynges. And that yt was well vsed in oure Englyshe tongue. And fynally, I recyted after what maner they myght receyue yt accordynge to Christes institucyon, not fearynge the frowarde alteracyon that the Prestes vse, contrarye to the fyrste forme and institucion.
When I had suffycyently publyshed my mynde, he desyred me to entitle the some of my wordes, ād write them for hym, because they semed ouerlonge to be well reteyned in memorye. And albeit I was loth to take the matter in hāde, yet to fullfyll his instaunte intercession, I toke vpon me to touche this terryble tragedye, and wrote a treatyse, whiche beside my paynfull impresonment, is lyke to purchace me moste cruell death, which I am readye ād gladde to receyue with the spiryte and inwarde man (although the fleshe be frayle) when so euer yt shall please God to laye yt vpon me. Notwithstondynge to saye the truthe, I wrote yt not to the intent that yt shulde haue bene publyshed. For thē I wolde haue towched the matter more earnestlye, and haue wryten, as well of the spyrytuall eatynge & drynkynge whiche is of necessyte, as I ded of the Carnall, whiche is not so necessarye. For the treatyse that I made was not expedyent for all men, albeit yt were suffycient for thē whō I toke in hande to instructe. For they knewe the spyrytuall and necessarye eatynge and drynkynge of his bodye and bloode, whiche is not receyued with the teth and belye, but with the eares and fayth, and onely neaded instructyon in the outwarde eatynge, which thynge I therfore onely declared. But now it is commen a brode and in many mens mowthes, in so moche that master More which of late hathe busyed hym selfe to medle in all soche mattres (of what zele I wyll not defyne) hath sore laboured to confute yt. But some mē thynke that he is ashamed of his parte, ād for that cause doth so dylygently suppresse the worke whiche he prynted. For I my selfe sawe the worke in prynte in my Lorde of Wynchesters howse, upon S. Stephens day last paste. But neyther I, nor all the fryndes I coulde make, myght attayne any copye, but onely one wryten copye whiche as yt semed was drawen out in greate haste. Not withstondynge I can not well Judge, what the cause shulde be, that hys boke is kept so secrete. But this I am ryght sure of, that he neuer touched the foundacyō that my treatyse was buylded upon. And therfore syth my foundacyon stondeth so sure and invyncyble (for els I thynke verely he wolde sore haue laboured to haue undermyned yt) I wyll therupon buylde a lytle more, and also declare that hys ordynaunce is to slender to breake it downe although it were sett vpon a worse foundacyon.
❧ The foundacyon of that lytle treatyse was, that it is no artycle of our fayth necessarye to be beleued under payne of dampnacyon, that the Sacramēt shuld be the naturall bodye of Christe: which thynge is proued after this maner as foloweth.
Firste we muste all aknowlege that it is no artycle of our fayth whiche can saue vs nor whiche we are bounde to beleue under the payne of eternall dampnacyon. For yf I shulde beleue that hys verye naturall bodye bothe fleshe and bloode were naturally in the breade and wyne, that shulde not save me, seynge many beleue that, and receyue it to their dampnacyon, for it is not hys presēce in the breade that cā saue me, but hys presence in my harte through fayth in hys bloode, which hathe washed out my synnes and pacyfyed the Fathers wrathe towarde me.
Obiection.
And a gayne yf I do not beleue hys bodelye presence in the breade and wyne, that shall not dampne me, but the absence out of my harte through vnbeleue. Now yf they wolde here obiecte that thoughe yt be true that the absence out of the breade coulde not dampne vs: yet are we bounde to beleue it because of Goddes worde, whiche who beleueth not, as moche as in hym lyeth, maketh God a lyer. And therfore of an obstynate mynde not to beleue hys worde, maye be an occasyon of dampnacyon.