Unto the Christian reader.

I Haue enterprysed
mooste
deare reader amo~ge
the great
riche me~ I meane
of lernynge &
eloque~s of this
our tyme, to offer
wyth the
poore wydow
thys my symple and rude myte into goddes
cheste, towardes the repayrynge &
reedifyinge of Christes churche. Sygnifying
and declarynge herein, howe hartely
I wyshe & desyre, to haue ye church
of Christe that is to saye the christen
people repayred and reedifyed in the catholyke
and syncere fayth. Namelye
suche, as of late are fallen into ruyne &
great decaye in matters of oure faythe,
with the huge stormes and tempestes of
heresyes, that the dyuell hath araysed,
specially agaynst the blessed sacrament
of the aulter, as well by the veheme~t stormes
of pestilent bokes, as also by the venemous
wyndes and blastes of secrete
deuelyshe doctrines. Wherfore I shall
mooste hartely desyre the christian reader
yf he be lerned of hys moost gentle
& charitable censure & iudgement. And
yf eather letter, eather worde hath escaped
me or the printer as there hath some
let the same with his penne gentlye
correct it. Yf he be vnlerned, let hym
take the frutes and commodities thereof,
gyuyng the prayse and thankes therof
to God, bycause I haue laboured it
chefly for him. And yf ye same shal fynd
any worde or sentence here, that semeth
vnto hym obscure or darke, let the same
iuge that eather suche wordes hath escaped
me vnwarelye, eather that I could
not openlye and conueniently set suche
matter so breuely, in playner sentence.
And for as muche as an order in thinges
not onelye delyghteth the beholder as
the bewty therof but also makyng the
matter more sensible and playne it causeth
the reader to beare awaye and retayne
the better, that whyche he hathe
redde, therfore haue I here, set forth breuely,
the order that I haue taken, in the
proces of thys rude thynge. Where the
cristiane reader shall vnderstande, that
the former part of the fyrst Sermon, she wyth
that ye admyrable workes of god,
were wrought of God to manyfest the
glorye of hys synguler power, and to
buylde faythe in vs. And vppon thys
grounde, I haue proued, the possibilitie
of the myracles wrought by God in
the blessed sacrament of the Aulter, by
the other myraculous workes, that the
scripture telleth vs, to haue ben wrought,
by the power of God. And bycause
we beleue suche myracles and yet se the~
not, we ought also of lyke reason to
beleue ye myracles in the holy sacrame~t,
thoughe we se them not, bycause, that ye
scripture affyrmeth them to be trewe,
and sayth in the voyce of Christ. Thys
is my bodye. For vppon the veritie, of
these wordes, dependeth the veritie, of
all the other myracles, wroughte in the
blessed sacrament. And fynally, I do
applye the myracles of the blessed sacrament,
vnto the other myracles of God,
to shewe them to be of equal possibilitie
and impossibilitie.
In the seconde Sermon I haue
fyrste declared certayne fygures, of the
olde lawe, to appertayne vnto the sacrament.
And then I haue brought in, dyuers
places of scripture, to proue that
thynge, to be so in dede, which I shewed
in the fyrste sermon possible. For lyke
as I shewed in the former sermon, the
reall presens of Christes bodye in the sacrament
wyth al the myracles possible,
by the other myraculous workes of
God, so do I in this sermon proue it, by
the scriptures, to be so of a treuth.
In the thyrd, I haue set in place,
fyrste the promyses, that Christe made
vnto the Churche. Wherof I haue iustlye
collected, that standynge the veritie
of those promyses that thyng muste
nedes be of infallible truthe, the whych
the churche hath beleued, and taught so
many hundred yeres. In the seconde
place, I haue brought in, the conselles,
& after them the testimonies of the auncient
wryters, to proue that the churche
hath, alwaye retayned, this same fayth
of the sacrament, that we now do hold,
syth the apostles tyme. Yet here I haue
not recyted, al the wryters of al tymes,
for who can so do? but I haue selected
& chosen onely such, as I haue thought,
of moost antiquitie, and auctoritie, and
that from vii. or viii. hundred yeares &
vpwarde, and haue not mencioned, neather
alleged, any that writ within these
vii. hu~dred yeres, bycause, that they are
in maner innumerable, and moost of the~
so familiar, that theyr faythe in thys
matter, is very manyfest, vnto ye meane
learned. Thyrdlye, I haue answered,
to the moost come~ reasons that semed
vnto me mooste strongest that are made
for the contrarie. And where I haue not
handeled, thys moost excellent mystery
of our fayth, wyth so exquisite lerning,
and exacte iugement, as a man of greate
lytterature and learnynge wolde haue
done, I shall moost humblye and hertelye
desyre the christian reader, to esteme
and waye, not howe homelye, base, and
rude thynge is here co~pyled, but rather,
to iuge, from howe syncere mynde, and
good wyl it hath proceded, and to what
ende, and intent, I thus enterprysed, to
dyuulgate and set it forth. where in,
I haue sought chefly, the settyng
forth of the syncere and catholyke
faythe of the churche of
Christe, and the spirituall
lucre and gayne of my
christiane brother to
the honour of almyghty
god. Vnto
whome be
immortall
glorye
laude
and
prayse
worlde without
ende.
Amen.

ij. Petri vltimo.

VOS fratres prescientes, custodite:
ne insipientium errore traducti,
exidatis a propria
firmitate.