Caunterbury.
IF thou takest not very good heed, reader, thou shalt not perceiue where the cuttill becometh. He wrappeth himself so about in darcknesse, and he commeth not neere the net by a myle, for feare he should be taken. But I will draw my net nearer to him, that he shall not escape. I say that the words which Christ spake of the eating of his flesh and drinking of his bloud were spoken by a figure, and he would auoyd the matter, by say∣ing that those words haue a spirituall mistery in them, which is most true, and nothing contrary to my saying, but confirmeth the same. For ye words of eating and drinking be figuratiue speches, because they haue [ 1] a secret and hid spirituall mistery in them, and cannot be taken otherwise then in that spiritual mistery, which is a figure. And moreouer you plain¦ly here confesse, that to eat Christes flesh and to drinke his bloud be figu∣ratiue speches. But you trauesse the cause wherfore they be figuratiue spe¦ches, which is not materiall in this place, where my processe is onely to proue, that they be figuratiue speches. Aud forasmuch as you graūt here all that I take vpon me to proue (which is, yt they be figuratiue speches) what needeth all this superfluous multiplication of words, when we a∣gree in the matter, which is here in question?
[ 2] And as for the cause of the figure, you declare it far otherwise, then S. Augustine dooth, as the words of S. Augustine do playnely shew to eue¦ry indifferent reader. For the cause (say you) is this, that in the Sacra∣ment we eat not the carnal flesh of a commō man (as the letter soundeth) but the very spiritual flesh of Christ, God and man, and in that respect it is well noted for a figuratiue spech.
In which one sentence be three notable errors or vntruthes. The first is, that you say the letter soundeth than we eat the carnall flesh of a com∣mon