VOLUME 3

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE

LOCATION
KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural

the true interpretours and preachers of it. And even so no thankes vn to oure ypocrites that the scripture is kepte / but vn to the botomlesse mercie of god.

95/15–19 And when . . . Masse. Cf. CWM 6/1.148/8–11; quoted exactly by CWM 8/1.315/29–33.

For as they haue destroyed the right sens of it with their leuen / and as they destroye dayly the trewe preachers of it / and as they kepe it from the laye people / that they shuld not se how they iugle with it / even so wolde they destroye it also / coude they brynge it aboute / rather then we shuld come by the true vnderstondynge of it were it not that god prouided other wise for vs. For they haue put the stories that shuld in many thynges helpe vs / cleane out of the waye / as nye as they coude. They haue corrupte the legend and hues all most of all sayntes. They haue fayned false bokes and put them forth / some in the name of S. Hierome / some in the name of saynt Augustine / in the name of S. Ciprian / S. Deonise & other holy men. Which are proued none of theirs / partly by the stile & latine / & partly by autenticke stories. And as the Iewes haue sett vpp a boke of tradicions called talmud / to destroye the sens of the scripture / Vn to whych they geue faith & vn to the scripture none at all be it never so playne / but saye it can not be vnderstonde / saue by that talmud: even so haue oures set vpp their dunce / their Thomas & a thousand like draffe / to stablish their lies / thorow falsifienge the scripture / & saye that it can not be vnderstonde with out them / be it never so playne. And if a man allege an holy doctoure agenst them they glose him out as they doo the scripture / or will not heare / or saye the church hath other wise determined.

95/19 christes soper. Cf. 1 Cor. 11.20. Tyndale debates the more appropriate name of the Eucharistic celebration here and at 179/1–2n. For Tyndale's rejection of the Mass as a sacrifice, cf. 15o/9n, 178/11n. For his rejection of transubstantiation, cf. 164/ 1on, 180/27–30n; of consubstantiation, cf. 179/12n.

95/20–21 A greate ... do it. CWM 8/1.317/10–11.

95/22 water . . . wine. Cf. CWM 6/1.148/19–28.

95/22–32 A greate . . . haue. Cf. CWM 8/1.318/11–20.

95/28–29 For ... 1 corin. xiiij. Cf. 1 Cor. 14.2–3, CWM 8/1.161/29–30.

95/30–31 sheperdes . . . shere. Cf. Ezek. 34.2–3.

96/1–2 Iames . . . workes. Cf. Jas. 2.24 and CWM 6/1.149/7.

96/2 Mammon. Tyndale assumed public responsibility for his writings when he put his name at the head of the preface of Mammon (May 1528). He refers to Mammon in Obedience (I2v, Q3v), the afterword to Genesis (TOT 82) and Answer (here and 201/29–30). For Tyndale's gradual acknowledgment of authorship, see O'Donnell , "Editing the Independent Works of William Tyndale," in Editing Texts From the Age of Erasmus (U of Toronto P, 1996) 49–70.

96/4–12 And as for . . . with out it. Cf. CWM 6/1.149/21–28; quoted exactly by CWM 8/1.321/6–14. In the OT the Sabbath is characterized by abstention from work (Exod. 20.8), a festive spirit (Isa. 58.13), and religious instruction (Lev. 23.3). The early church moved the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday to commemorate Christ's Resurrection. Tyndale's freedom regarding which day to observe the Sabbath is based on Col. 2.16, Rom. 14.5 (NCE 12.778–82; OER 3.459–60). Between 1527 and c1540, Anabaptists in Silesia and Moravia celebrated the Lord's Day on Saturday. This development prompted Luther to write Against the Sabbatarians in 1538 (WA 50.312–37; LW 47.65–98).

Now therfore when they aske vs how we kno

96/6 holy daye. 1531's "dage" could be a mispelling by the Flemish compositor.