AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE

VOLUME 3

The Independent Works

LOCATION

KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural

bounde vn to the piler / when he was scorged: And the corporiscloth / the sindon wherin he was buryed: & the altare is the crosse or haply the graue and so forth. And the castynge abrode of his handes / the splayenge of Christ vppon the crosse. And the light and stickinge vpp of candels and beringe of candels or tapers in procession happlye signifyed this texte. Mat. v. ye be the light of the worlde / and let youre light so shyne before men / that they maye se youre good workes & glorefye youre father which is in heven. And the salt signifyeth the wysdome of Christes doctrine / and that we shulde therwith salt oure dedes and do nothinge with out the auctorite of goddes worde. So that in one thynge or other / what in the garmentes and what in the gestures all is playde / in so moch that before he will goo to masse / he wilbe sure to sell him / lest Iudases parte shuldbe left out.

bounde . . . scorged. Cf. Matt. 27.26, Mark 15.15, John 19.1.

Matt. 27.26, Mark 15.15, John 19.1

The corporescloth [1531]

sindon . . . buryed. Cf. Matt. 27.59.

] Matthew

The altare [1531]

amice . . . handes. The use of allegory in explaining the vestments and gestures of the celebrant of the Mass goes back to the Carolingian epoch, especially to Amalar of Metz, De ecclesiasticis officiis (PL 105.985–1242). Rupert of Deutz (d. 1135) set the pattern for connecting each vestment with an event of Jesus' passion. William Durandus' Rationale divinorum officiorum (late 13c) was the source for numerous popularizations. Cf. Jungmann 1.87–91, 107–18, 177f. More claims that Durandus was Tyndale's source (cf. CWM 8/1.111/7 and n). Gabriel Biel devotes one preliminary chapter to relating the vestments allegorically to events in the passion of Jesus and another to a tropological account connecting the vestments to the virtues of Jesus set forth for imitation. Cf. Canonis Missae expositio (Reutlingen , 1488; seven further printings before 1530), ed. H.A. Oberman and W. J. Courtenay, 1 (Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1963) 86–99. The earliest German explanation of the whole Mass (c1480) offers a lengthy table of the different allegorical meanings ascribed by the author to the parts of the Mass. Cf. Die älteste deutsche Gesamtausle- gung der Messe, ed. F.A. Reichert, CC 29 (Münster: Aschendorff, 1967) XCIII-CVII.

splayenge . . . crosse. Cf. Matt. 27.35, Mark 15.24, Luke 23.33, John 19.18.

Matt. 27.35, Mark 15.24, Luke 23.33, John 19.18

Candels [1531]

Mat. 5. [1531]

ye . . . heven. Matt. 5.14 and 16.

] Matthew

salt. Cf. Matt. 5.13, Mark 9.50, Luke 14.34.

Matt. 5.13, Mark 9.50, Luke 14.34

Salt [1531]

is] ed., his [1531], [1573]

[Hand] [1531]

And so thorow out all the sacramentes / ceremonies or signes (.iij. wordes of one significacion) there were significacions vn to them at the beginninge. And so longe as it was vnderstond what was ment by them and they did but serue the people and preach one thinge or a nother vn to them / they hurted not greatly / though that the fre seruaunt of Christ ought not to be brought violently in to captiuite vnder the bondage of tradicions of men. As S. Augustine complayneth in his dayes / how that the condicion & state of the Iewes was moare easy then the christens vnder tradicions: so sore had the tyranny of the shepardes invaded the flocke all redy in those dayes. And then what iuste cause haue we to complayne oure captiuite now / vn to whose yocke

All ceremonyes at the begynnyng had significations.[1573]

S. Augustine. Unio Dissidentium (1. T5) gives a long excerpt on religious practices made obligatory without the warrant of Scripture, a council, or universal custom from Ep. 55, Augustine to Januarius (AD c400) 19.35 (PL 33.221–22; CSEL 34/2.209–10; Parsons 1.290–91). Erasmus cites this passage from Augustine in his annotation on Matt. 11.30, Iugum meum suaue.) 1519 NT (Reeve 1.54), an essay sharply critical of sacramental practice, fasting laws, marriage legislation, use of excommunication, dispensations, etc. For Erasmus it is high time to reclaim the evangelical freedom preached by St. Paul.

] Matthew

Austyne [1531]

The state of the Iewes more easie then the Christians vnder traditions .[1573]