VOLUME 3

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE

LOCATION
KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural

and passion for oure synnes. As the garmentes and straunge holy gestures / helpe vs not / but in that they putt vs in remembraunce of thinges that Christ sofered for vs in his passion. Euen so the shewenge breakynge and eatynge of the host / the shewenge and drinkynge of the cuppe of Christes bloude / and the wordes and the consecracion / helpe vs not a pinne ner ar gods serues / saue only in that they stere op oure repentynge faith to call to mynde the deeth and passion of christ for our synnes. And therfore to call it a sacrifice / is but abused speach / as when we call one that is new come home to breakefast & sett a capon before him and saye / this is youre wellcome home / meanynge yet by that speach / that it is but a signe of the loue of mine herte which reioyseth and is glad that he is come home saffe and sounde. And euen so is this but the memoriall of the very sacrifice of christ once done for all. And if ye wold no nother wyse meane / ye shall haue my good wyll to call it so styll / or iff ye can shewe me a reason of some other meaninge. And therfore I wold that it had bene called (as it in dede is and as it was commaunded to be) Christes memoriall / though that I doute not but that it was called masse of this Ebrue worde Misach / whych signifieth a pensiongeuynge / because that at euery masse men gaue euery man a porcion accordynge vn to his power vn to the sustentacion of the pore. Which offerynge yet remayneth. But to a false vse and profyt of them that haue to moch / as all other thynges are peruerted.

eatynge of the host. Frequency of reception of the Eucharist by the laity had diminished to the minimal communion at Easter as legislated by Lateran IV in 1215 or at Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost as encouraged by local synods. Aquinas argues that, although the paschal lamb was eaten once a year, manna had been eaten daily (Summa III, Q. 80, Art. 10, Reply to Obj. 2).

drinkynge of the cuppe. Perhaps in compensation for the withdrawal of the cup from the laity during the 12c, the host and chalice were elevated after the consecration for all to see from the late 12c (Rubin 70–72, 55). The followers of Jan Hus urged the restoration of the cup to the laity, but this practice was rejected by the Council of Constance in 1415, considered but not accepted by the Council of Basel in 1433, requested again at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 and 1548, and at the Council of Trent in 1562. Reception from the cup was allowed in certain Roman dioceses of Central Europe in 1564 and to the whole Roman Church after Vatican II. For Constance and Basel, cf. Karl August Fink in Jedin and Dolan 4.456, 476; for Augsburg, cf. Erwin Iserloh in Jedin and Dolan 5.262, 291; for Trent, cf. Hubert Jedin in Jedin and Dolan 5.491, 497. The policy of extending the communion cup to the laity was begun by Karlstadt and continued by Luther; it was adopted wherever the Reformation was established. In England, the laity were prohibited from receiving the cup by the second of the conservative Six Articles, 1539, 31 Henry VIII, Ch. 14 (Statutes 3.739). The practice of communion under both kinds was reinstated in 1547, 1 Edward VI, Ch. 1 (Statutes 4/1.3). It was promoted by a royal proclamation of 8 March 1548 (TRP no. 300, 1.417–18) and affirmed by the Prayer Books of 1549 and 1552. Cf. The Two Liturgies ... of King Edward VI, ed. Joseph Ketley, Parker Society 29 (Cambridge UP, 1844) 92, 279. The statute of Edward VI was repealed in 1553 by 1 Mary, St. 2, Ch. 2 (Statutes 4/1.202), and restored in 1559 by 1 Elizabeth, Ch. 1 (Statutes 4/1.351) for the Prayer Book of 1559.

capon. Tyndale's image of the dish of capon as a sign of welcome home is developed by Frith into an analogy of the Eucharist eaten by both faithful and unfaithful Christians (Wright 432).

Misach . . . pensiongeuynge. For the Lord's Supper Tyndale would use the term "Christes memoriall" (178/34), from Jesus ' command (e.g. 1 Cor. 11.24) because the biblical name focusses on the essential content of the rite. Tyndale mistakenly derives the word "Mass" from the Hebrew misach for gifts to the poor rather than from the dismissal at the end of the Latin rite, Ite, missa est. Cf. Joseph A. Jungmann SJ, "Messe," LThK 7.321; 95/19 n. (JW)

Fynally it is the same thynge that it was when Christ institute it / at his last soper. If it were then the very sacrificinge of Christes bo