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AS for wysdome I wyll not cō pare wyth mayster Masker therin / nor wolde waxe myche the prowder in good faythe though menne wolde saye that I had more wytte than he. I praye god sende vs bothe a sytell more of his grace, and make vs bothe good.
¶ But where as he iesteth concer∣nynge my defence of the chyrch: who so loke my bokes thorow, shall fynde that the chyrch, in the treuth of whose catholyke fayth concernynge the bles sed sacramēt I wryte agaynst fryth and Tyndale, and mayster Masker and such false heretykes mo, is none other chyrch but the trewe catholyke chyrche of Cryst, the whole congre∣gacyō of al trew chrysten nacyōs / of whyche chyrche I take not my selfe to be any specyall defender, how be it to defende it / is in dede euery good mannys parte. And as for hytherto, the thynges that I haue wryten are (I thanke god) stronge inough to stand, as it is playnely pued agaynst all these heretykes yt haue wrestsed therwith, wherof they coulde neuer yet ouerthro we one lyne / and no man more shamefully sowsed in ye myre /
than mayster Masker here hym self that bosteth his victory while he fieth in the dyrte. But the catholyke chyr∣che hath another maner defender thā is any erthely man. For it hath god hym selfe therin, and his holy spyryt, permanent and abydyng by Crystes own promise to defende it frō falshed vnto thende of the worlde. And ther∣fore it can not fall flatte in the myre / * 1.1 but god maketh heretykes fall flatte in the fyre.
¶ Yet to thentent good readers / that you sholde well se that I lefte not vnto wched the point of repugnaūce, with whych mayster Masker hath al this whyle set out his hygh solempn reason agaynst godde almyghtynes: hym selfe she weth here at laste, that of repugnaūce I dyd speke my self. Now be it in dede, somwhat more moderately than he / as ye shall not
onely perceyue by the wordes of my letter, but also by the word{is} of may∣ster Masker hym selfe whyche be these.
Then sayth maister More / though it semeth repug¦naunt bothe to hym and to me / one body to be in two places at onys: yet god seeth how to make theym stonde togyther well inough. This man wyth hys olde eyen and spectacles seeth farte in goddes sight / and is of his preuey counsell: that knoweth belyke by some secrete reuelacyon how god seeth one body to be in many places at onys / includeth no repug∣naunce. For worde hath he none for hym in all scrypture no more thē one body to be in all places at onys. It implyeth fyrst repugnaūce to my syght & reason / that all thys worlde shulde be made of nothynge: & that a vyrgyn sholde brynge forth a chyld. But yet when I se it wryten wyth the wordys of my fayth / whyche god spake / and brought it so to passe: then implyeth it no repugnaunce to me at all. For my fayth recheth it and receyueth it stedfastly. For I knowe the voyce of my herdeman / whyche yf he sayd in any place of scrypture that hys body shulde haue bene contayned vnder the forme of brede and so in many places at onys here in erth / and also aby∣dynge yet styll in heuyn to / veryly I wolde haue byleued hym I / as sone and as fermely as mayster More. And therfore euen yet / yf he can shew vs but one sentence truely taken for hys parte, as we can do many for the contrary / we muste gyue place. For as for his vnwryten verytees, and thautoryte of his
antichrysten 〈◊〉〈◊〉, vnto whyche (the scrypture forsaken) he is now at laste wyth shame inough cō∣pessed to flee: thēy be proued starke 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and very deuefrye.
Math. 〈◊〉〈◊〉