knowne to vs then bread and wine which as they are the two most noble and proper sustenances of mans life euen so the Sacrifice and Sacrament of the body of our Sauiour is the most diuine food and strength of our soules and bodies Bread and wine is very prositable and necessary in the beginning midst and end of repast and the Hebrewes vnder the word Bread comprehend all meat as being the chiefe and a companion of all other meates and the ancient Sages haue of old called wine the King of the banquet 〈◊〉 6.46 〈◊〉 25. 〈◊〉 4. Our Sauiour then hath instituted the Eucharist with these two Symboles or signes to teach vs by them that in the Law of Grace the Sacrifice and Sacrament of his body holds the first ranke amongst all the presents of meate that can be set vpon the table of his Altar for to honour his Maiestie and feede our soules withall 4. THE BREAD AND WINE SIGNES of the Passion of our Sauiour in his Sacrament THe second cause wherefore our Sauiour hath instituted the mystery of his body in these elements is to set before our eyes that which he hath endured for vs making himselfe bread and drinke vnto vs. The corne is cast into the earth to come vp in eares and to encrease it dyeth to come forth it endureth winde haile frost heate and cold in the field it is threshed in the barne-floore ground in the Mill wrought in the kneading and baked with fire in the Ouen The Grape carries the markes of the same torments for after it escapeth the iniuries of the ayre as the Corne doth it is troden and trampled vnder feete it is wrung in the Presse it endures to be shut vp in the Tunne and inclosed in the caue for to become good wine These actions and passions are the draughts that paint foorth to vs the trauailes which our Sauiour hath endured that hee might be to vs the celestiall bread and wine which hee giueth vs in the Sacrifice and Sacrament of his body 5. THE BREAD AND WINE IN THE Eucharist signes of the Mysticall body of our Sauiour THe third cause of this institution made in these elements is to represent the mysticall body of the Church of Iesus Christ for as the bread and wine is made of many cornes and wrought into one paste so the Church also is composed of many members vnited vnder one head therefore it is that the Greekes call this Sacrament Sinoxis that is to say collection S. Chrysost hom 24. in 1. Cor. 10. S. Aug. 26. in Ioan. and the Latines Communion as much to say as a common vnion For these reasons and likenesses our Sauiour hath instituted this mystery in bread and wine in such sort that the bare elements speaking without words doe teach vs these three godly lessons the charity of our Sauiour in nourishing vs with himselfe his patience in suffering for vs and our vnion with him Such was his diuine wisdome in this institution that it learneth also for Doctrine 6. THE BODY OF OVR SAVIOVR CALled Bread and his Blood Wine FOr the same cause aforesaid the Scripture calleth the body of our Sauiour Bread Ierem. 1. and his blood Wine Ieremie saith in the person of the Iewes Let vs cast wood vpon his bread that is to say Let vs put his body on the Crosse as the ancient Fathers haue interpreted it Againe Hee shall wash his stole in wine Gen. 49.11 and his garments in the bloud of the grape that is to say he shall shed his bloud in abundance figuring his bloud by the wine 1. Cor. 10.16 Saint Paul also calling the Sacrament bread and wine explaines it to be the body and bloud of our Sauiour 1. Cor. 11.27 Hee that shall eate saith he this bread and shall drinke this Chalice vnworthily he shall be guiltie of the body and bloud of our Lord. Ioan. 6 Our Sauiour himselfe calleth himselfe Bread and his bloud Drinke because he offered himselfe to his Father in Sacrifice and giueth himselfe to men in this Sacrament vnder the formes of bread and wine 7. WHAT THIS SACRAMENT IS THe Eucharist is a Sacrifice as was the Oblation of Abel and both a Sacrifice and Sacrament as was the Paschall Lambe and many other ancient mysteries for the body of our Sauiour as it is offered to God in the Masse is sacrificed and the self-same body as it is giuen for food to Christians is a Sacrament And heere-hence some sigures represent it onely as it is a Sacrament so did the Tree of Life others as a Sacrifice onely so did the Oblation of Abel others as both a Sacrifice and a Sacrament together and so did the Oblation of Melchisedech the Paschall Lambe and such like Well then a Sacrament is a signe and an instrument of a holy thing so Baptisme signifies the internall and holy washing of the soule and as an instrument effects it if he which receiueth it doe not hinder the same In like manner the Eucharist containes the body and bloud of our Lord inuisibly which feed the soule and is also a signe thereof by the outward materiall visible formes of bread and wine and in this respect is a perfect Sacrament 8. WHAT A SACRIFICE IS AND HOW it is offered in the Masse THe Sacrifice taken in his proper signification is an outward action of religion and soueraigne honour done to God in acknowledgement of his supreame Maiestie by a proper officer in offering some present and in making some change thereof In this manner the offerings of beastes and other bodies in the Law of Nature and of Moses were Sacrifices And in this sense the Eucharist also is a Sacrifice in the Law of Grace and that of so much more excellencie aboue the former as the bodie of the Sonne of God offered in it surpasseth all the other bodies which could be presented to the diuine Maiestie This Sacrifice is made as hereafter we shall shew more at large by the words of Consecration This is my body this is my blood by which Iesus Christ transubstantiates the bread and the wine into his body and bloud and by the same action hee offers it to his Father for his Church though he vse not any formall words of oblation as by saying I offer thee my body for it is enough that he make it present vpon the Altar with that intention for he did no more in offering the Sacrifice of the Crosse as neither did the ancient Sacrificers in their Sacrifices God vnderstands sufficiently the language of the heart The Church hauing this body from the liberality of God offers it with Iesus Christ and by it doth honor him with homage of diuine and soueraigne whorship shee also prayeth to him by the merits which were purchased in this body afterward taketh it for her food and refection And as in olde times God gaue beasts to the Iewes which the Iewes offered to him againe honouring him in them and
after a diuine manner Plin. lib. 11. c. 14 lib. 12. c. 4. Gal. l. 3. de aliment The naturall Philosophers haue well acknowledged a kinde of naturall Manna which is a certaine dew of honny which the labourers of Syria gather from the trees of the mount Lybanus whereof the Apothecaries make vse but this heere was far otherwise in his effects causes as hath bin said it was produced miraculously in the Desert and fel euery day but the Sabbath in Winter and in all times and it was a miracle that it fell not on the Sabbath It continued in this manner forty yeeres and no more and this was one of the miracles that this people saw there continually in the Desert this was then a celestiall food supernaturall and diuine This quality agrees very well to our Sacrament For first the body of our Sauiour was not begotten after a naturall manner Luke 1. but by vertue of the holy Ghost in the wombe of the Virgin which are two extraordinary causes Secondly this body is made present in the Altar vnder the formes of bread and wine by the ministery of Priests which are the Angels of God in the Church These are those which as instruments make this body in the Sacrament vsing to that end the omnipotent word of Iesus Christ THIS IS MY BODY and in this sense it is made by Angells and is the true bread of Angels Thirdly Manna was giuen for prouision in the Desert of Arabia euen vntill they entred into the Land of Promise the Sacrament is giuen vs in the Desert of this world vntill the Church militant shall enter victoriously and triumphantly into the Land of the liuing which is her heauenly countrey Fourthly Manna gathered in little or great quantity was neither more nor lesse for neuer a one had in the end more then the measure of a Gomer bee it that he had gathered more or lesse and this measure was equally sufficient to euery one nourishing a man growne and not ouer-charging the stomack of a yong childe A thing in truth most admirable that in a multitude of more then six hundred thousand of people and so great inequalitie of complexions and of stemackes the selfe-same quantity was equall and proportionable to the condition of euery one This also is more admirably seene in the Eucharist for it is not greater in a little Hoast then in a great one in a piece then in all and the body of our Sauiour is all in all the Hoast and all in euery part of it and is giuen equally to all vnder vnequall pieces how be it that in regard of the effect it profits more to those that are prepared Fiftly Manna serued both for meat and drinke for it baked into bread before the fire and ranne into water before the Sunne here-hence is that the Doctors said that the Iewes asking water murmured malitiously without cause Exod. 16. for so much as hauing Manna they had whereof to eate and drinke neither more nor losse then long time after them the fiue thousand which did cate in the Desert the bread and fishes multiplied had both meat and drinke by that miraculous food in Figure of our Eucharist Euen so the Eucharist it selfe giueth the body and the bloud of our Sauiour true bread and true drinke together though it be but vnder one kinde Sixtly Manna was couered and hidden betweene two dewes Glossa ex Rab. Salan Exod. 16. the body and bloud of our Sauiour is couered and hid from our sense and iudgement vnder the outward accidents of bread and wine Are not heere resemblances enough to make vs see the very face and Figure of our Sacraments And if God hath bin admirable figuring long since the patterne of the truth is he nor yet much more admirable in making perfect from point to point the truth it selfe according to the patterne and in laying so faire and so measurable a resemblance of the liuely colours of a new Mystery vpon the lineaments of the ancient Figure But let vs see yet some other draughts 3. WHAT SIGNIFIED THE LIKENES of Manna to Coriander PHILO a great Doctor writeth Philo. l. 2. Alleg. post med That the peeces of the graine of Coriander burst and cast in the earth grow as well as the whole graine euen as the grafts of a tree set or planted will liue and grow An admirable property of this graine and which is not found in any other seede that I haue read of not in Wheat which is a graine that hath the sprout most full of life The Scripture which puts not one tittle to paper without reason compares Manna to Coriander to the end no doubt wee should marke a wonder hidden in the Iudaicall shadowes to be discouered in the light of our faith the which wonder consists in this that one part alone of our Sacrament hath life as well as the the whole and that euery peece of an Hoast broken containes as much as the whole Hoast This wonder was signified as I said before in the quantity of Manna which was so equall in the prouision although it were gathered in vnequall measure Then the Scripture saying that Manna the olde Figure was like to the graine of Coriander gaue an outward Picture to the Iewes and signified to vs the inward life of our Manna in all his parts hauing the likenesse of Coriander albeit this be in one respect infinitely more perfect for none of the parts of Coriander is all the Coriander but all the parts of the Sacrament are all the Sacrament and all containe the body of our Lord and all are the whole yet if we respect the formes the parts of the Hoast are not the whole Hoast but only a part thereof 4. THE HOLY SACRAMENT KEPT IN the Tabernacle as Manna in the Arke VVEE haue heard how Moses commanded his brother Aaron to take of Manna to bee reserued within the Tabernacle for a memoriall of the benefits receiued from God which was put in execution so soone as the Arke was prepared Exod. 16.33 within the which Aaron put a golden pot full of Manna and the Arke and the pot in it was seated in the most holy place Heb. 9.4 as Saint Paul witnesseth writing to the Hebrewes So as Manna not onely serued for meat and all manner of sustenance but also for a memoriall The truth of these shadowes continue from age to age in the Church of God in which the body of our Sauiour as celestiall Manna is giuen for food and a viaticum and withall is kept and rescrued for a memoriall of benefits receiued from God For wheresoeuer the blessed Sacrament is found euery where it is a memoriall of the bountie of our Sauiour towards vs it is also kept and it shall be kept in Churches euen to the end of the world to be caried to the sicke and others who haue need of it and cannot come to the Church S. Iust. ep 2. S.
turned vp-side downe for earthly trees haue their heads fixed in the ground to wit their roote Man contrariwise hath his lifted vp to heauen he is then a diuine heauenly Tree Mat. 7.17 12 13. Marke 6.24 Our Sauiour oft compareth the good man to a good tree and the wicked to an euill and one of the blinde which were healed by him being asked if hee saw any thing answered that he saw men like trees walking vpon the earth If then this meruailous Tree were the picture of any man or meate what could it more worthily figure in the Church of God then Iesus Christ God and Man and his body the most diuine meate of all But the better to know the correspondencie of this Picture to the truth we ought to note the draughts or lines of the olde mystery and so compare them with the qualities of the new 4. RESEMBLANCES OF THE TREE of Life to the holy Sacrament of the Alter THe portraitures and lineaments of the resemblances and likenesse that is betweene our Sacrament and the Tree of Life are these that follow The Tree of Life was the Tree of Trees that is to say the collection of the vertue of all trees and plants as man of all creatures and the Sunne of all lights the body of Iesus Christ also is the most noble of all bodies the rich storehouse of all vertues and the treasure of the Diuinitie it selfe conceiued in Virgin earth by the worke of the holy Spirit and borne of a Virgin a Body wherein dwelleth truely the fulnesse of all goodnesse S. Aug. lib. 1. cont aduers legis cap. 18. The Sacrament also of this body is the collection of all the ancient Sacraments and Sacrifices and for this cause Sacrament of Sacraments and Sacrifice of Sacrifices as the Tree of Life was the Tree of Trees and the Fruite of Fruites Sacrament truely planted in the midst of the Church that is to say lifted vp to a most noble height amongst the other celestiall mysteries as the Tree of Life was planted in the midst and most eminent place of the Garden among the other Trees The Tree of Life was ordained not to nourish the body by little and little as did the other fruits but for to repaire all the defects thereof at once to render it vigorous to giue it a perfect life without end and to nourish it in the highest degree that a body can possibly be nourished Even so the body of our Sauiour is left in refection to his Church not to sustaine vs after the fashion of corruptible meates which are conuerted into the substance of our bodies but rather to conuert our bodies into it imprinting in them his diuine qualities and giuing them a liuing spring of immortalitie according to that which our Sauiour said Hee that eateth this bread shall liue eternally Ioan. 6.51.44 Hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood bee hath life eternall and I will raise bins vp in the last day The tree of life was no where to bee found but onely within the inclosed earthily Paradise neither was there any more then one alone the Sacrifice also and Sacrament of the body of our Sauiour is not made but in his Church by such as are lawfully called thereunto and if it be found amongst Heretikes they haue it from the Church and it is euery where one selfesame body and not many so as there is no profitable Sacrament of this precious meate neither any Tree of Life in the assemblies of Heretikes no more then in that of the Paynims and if they carry it out of the Church with them and take it being Infidels it is to their damnation because they are foorth of the holy Church the true and onely earthly Paradise in which is planted the Tree of Life for the children of God Exod. 12. S. Aug. Serm. de Temp. 181. c. 12. The Lambe saith Saint Augustine is sacrificed in one onely house for that the true Sacrifice of the Redeemer is sacrificed in one Catholike Church the flesh of which the Law forbids to bee carried forth for so much as wee must not cast to dogges that which is holy The Tree of Life was prepared for meate vnto Adam no longer then hee remained in state of Innocencie and therefore after he had sinned hee was excluded from it which depriuing him thereof was Gods Iustice and Mercy together Iustice because that sinfull man merited by his disobedience to be depriued of the vse of that fruit which was reserued for the reward of his obedience saith Saint Chrysostome and Theodoret. S. Chrysost hom 〈◊〉 Gen. 18. Theâ—d â— 126. in Gen. Mercy for that hauing been condemned to many miseries if he had eaten he had bin made immortall and so immortally miserable vpon the earth whereas in liuing but a little time his misery is so much shortned Tren l. 3. c. 37. S. Greg. Naz. â—â— at 2. de Pasch Wherefore saith Saint Gregory Nazianzen after Saint Ireneus his punishment is turned into mercy for if he had tasted of this fruit his life had become immortall and his euils endlesse And euen so the fruit of our Sacrament is also prepared for those which haue a cleane soule so that if any one take it with conscience of mortall sinne he takes death and puts himselfe in danger to be eternally miserable This is it which Saint Paul saith 1. Cor. 11.27 Whosoeuer shall eate and shall drinke the Chalice of our Lord vnworthily hee shall bee guiltie of the body and bloud of our Lord and for that cause let euery one proue himselfe and so eate of this bread and drinke of this Chalice for whosoeuer eates and drinkes vnworthily he eates and drinkes his owne condemnation not discerning the body of our Lord. He exaggerates the greatnesse of the crime and threatens the criminals by great and piercing words to make euery Christian attentiue and wary that he do his endeauour to prepare himselfe worthily to the eating of this bread and herewith he sheweth in what consisteth the meanes to make this preparation which is by cleansing the soule by an holy confession of all the sinnes which we can remember in doing penance and making satisfaction for the same for this the examining and proouing of which he speaketh S. Chrysost hom 24. in 1. Cor. hom 3. ep Ephes S. Amb. lib. 6. in Luc. c. 37. S. Cyp. l. 3. ep 14. S. Aug. tract 16. in Ioan. and that he commands is no other thing then this as Saint Chrysostome Saint Ambrose Saint Cyprian Saint Augustine and all the holy Fathers haue explaned To this purpose said Saint Iohn Blessed are those which wash their robes to the end that their strength be in the wood of life that is to say happy are those which doe penance and cleause themselues of all their sinne Apoc. 12. to the end that they may worthily participate the fruite of this diuine Sacrament the Tree planted in the
makes mention of the custome of the Church to say Masse for the fruits of the earth and the testimony of Saint Cyril of Hierusalem is cleare in this matter who in one of his Lessons speaking of the Masse saith After that the spirituall Sacrifice and vnbloudy worship is done ouer the same Heast of Propitiation we pray to God for the common peace of all the Churches for the tranquillity of the world for Kings for Souldiers for the sicke for the afflicted In conclusion for all those which haue need of succour 9. THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASSE profitable to the Faithfull departed which are in Purgatory and honorable to those which raigne in heauen THe faith and custome of the Church hath euer been to offer also to God the Sacrifice of the Masse for the soules of the faithfull departed not to procure pardon for their sinnes but to obtaine of God release of the paine due to their sinnes who are in Purgatory For they which are in hell are cut off eternally from the body of Iesus Christ and incapable of succour from his precious bloud Saint Chrysostome S. Chrysost hom â—9 ad Pap. Anâ—ie â—â—m 3. 〈◊〉 ad Philip. speaking of this custome Not without cause saith he it was or daâ—â—ed by the Aposiles that commemoration should be made of the faith full departed in the dreadfull mysteries for so he calleth the Sacrifice of the Masse for they well knew it would bring them great benefit and profit According to which faith S. Aug. l. 9 â—â—â—sess c. 11.12.13 S. Augustine was entreated by his Mother to pray to God for her after her death in the Masse Shee saith hee charged me not to prepare for herâ— sumptuous toâ—be but onely signified that shee l sâ—râ—d that remembrance should be made of her at the Altar at which emery day shee religiously serued God knowing that from it was the Victime distributed 〈◊〉 2.14.15 which wâ—ped out the hand writing of decree that was against vs and led the enemy in triumph Which he performed like a faithfull childe causing the office for the dead and Masse to be said for her at her burial helping her rather after this manner then bewailing her with teares as himselfe witnesseth saying to God We wept not O Lord in the prayers which we made when the Sacrifice of our price was offered vp to theâ— Whereby he shewes what was the faith and religion of all the Church in his dayes S. Epiphanâ— also puts this custome amongst the Articles of Catholike Doctrine and witnesseth Epiph. heres 57. in Aâ—acephaleâ—â— S. Aug. de 〈◊〉 cap. â—3 as after him did also S. Augustine that Aerius was Anathematized as an Heretike for hauing held that the Sacrifice of the Masse was not to be offered for the dead The same Church hath also at all times offered Sacrifice of thankesgiuing for the Victime of the blessed Saints which are raigning in heauen And here-hence it is that men say Masse vpon their Feasts in which they are called vpon remembred not that men offer Sacrifice to them for that was the slander of the old Heretikes and Pagans but to giue thanks to God who made them victorious and to shew that we reioyce in their glory And this is it Saint Augustine declareth S. Aug. l. 8. de Ciuit. cap. 27. answering to the calumnies of Heretikes Who is he amongst the Infidels saith he that euer heard the Priest being at the Altar say in his Prayer I offer Sacrifice to thee O Peter O Paul O Cyprian for it is to God and not to them that that Sacrifice is offered within the Churches dedicated to their memory And elsewhere Ideâ— coâ—â—â—â— Faâ—st l. 20. c. 21. almost in the same tearmes We erect not Altars to Martyrs but onely to God in remembrance and memory of them For who did euer heare any Prelate doing his office at the Altar where Saints bodies lye say We offer Sacrifice to the O Peter O Paul O Cyprian but what is offered is offered to God who crowned the Martyrs though it be done in places dedicated to their memorie By which Doctrine it appeares how the Sacrifice of the Masse is not onely Propitiatory for sinnes but profitable to obtaine of God all kind of benefits And that it extends it selfe to all sorts of persons except the damned And that as the Sacrifice of the Crosse is a generall and fundamentall treasure for all the members of the Church of God liuing and dead present and to come so the Sacrifice of the Masse is an instrument and vniuersall meanes to apply the merit of this treasure to euery one THE ELEVENTH PICTVRE THE FIVE LOAVES AND TVVO FISHES The Description HEE which is in company of Iesus Iohn 6. Matth. 14.21 Marc. 6.40 can want nothing Doe you behold this great number of people set by hundreds and fifties vpon these beds and Tapestries of hearbes and flowers of the Spring taking their refection in the midst of the Desart they are about fiue thousand men besides women and little children Matth. 14.21 who following our Sauiour many dayes heard his Word with such feruour and delight that before they were a ware all their prouision was spent and were vtterly destitute of necessary food in these high mountaines and barren places fruitfull onely of grasse and flowers Yet notwithstanding they banquet to their fill hauing meruailous aboundance of food though all their prouision was but fiue Barly-loaues and two fishes which a yong Boy of the troope had by chance brought with him O this Boy shall one day vnder the name of Marshall be a great feeder and nourisher of Christian soules in the Countrey of Aquitan This prouision was onely casuall and very insufficient for so great a number of people but the Diuine prouidence was neither casuall nor nigardly which knowes well how to prouide for want and to make abundance of new Manna spring vp in the midst of the Desart and to feed them after with materiall food whom he had fed before with the bread of his holy Doctrine For hee multiplied the Loaues and the Fishes by his blessing in such abundance as they did suffice to fill all this people set at so many tables who brought with them as good appetites to eate as they had strong stomackes to disgest All cat as much as they will of these Loaues and these Fishes And the Apostles are the diuiders and deliuerers no lesse wondering then ioyfull to see that the bread and fishes encreased in their hands as fast as they distributed them to their guests But Philip and Andrew aboue all other were astonished for they also aboue therest apprehended the greatnesse of the multitude and the little quantitie of food which was to be had in that place The good Philip said Two hundred pentworth of bread will not suffice that euery ont may haue a little bet as the custome is to distribute holy-bread Whereas these fiue Loaues brought by this
Iewes saith the Euangelist contend amongst themselues saying How can this man giue vs his flesh to eate Iesus said vnto them Verily verily I say vnto you if you eate not the flesh of the Sonne of Man and drink not his bloud you shall not haue life in you Who so eateth my flesh and drinke my bloud he hath life eternall and I will raise him vp at the last day For my flesh is meate indeed and my bloud it drinke indeed who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud he dwelleth in me and I in him As the liuing Father hath sent mee and I liue by the Father Hee that eateth mee hee also shall liue by mee This is the bread that came downe from heauen not as your Fathers did eate Manna and died hee that eateth this bread shall liue for euer I hese are the words of our Sauiour The Apostles and they which did beleeue in him are ranished but there are others that haue deafe eares and grosse conceits iudging amisse of his words rashly taking scandal at the mystery which they vnderstood not â—on 6.60 and murmuring said This is a hard saying who can abide to heare it But Iesus Piercing their thoughts and secret murmurings corrected them said vnto them Doth this scandalize you if then you shall see the Son of Man ascend where he was before it is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profileth nothing the words that I haue pinken to you bee Spirit and Life So hee endeauoureth to make them capable but they notwithstanding remaine still blind and obstinate in their misbeleefe and got themselues out of his company Behold you how they wrinkle their fore heads in going away and looke behinde them These are carnall and ouerweyning people beleeuing nothing which comes not vnder the comprehension of their sense These are the Patriarches of all those which make warre against the Sacrament of the body of our Sauiour 1. WHEREFORE OVR SAVIOVR MADE a Sermon of the Eucharist before hee anstituted it THe Painter who knoweth how to dispose well of his worke hee hath in hand endeauours amongst other things to ioyne dexteriously the beginnings to their ends and so to smooth the knots of parts disagreeing that nothing appeare hard or constreined in the connexion but all to be aptly guided and brought to an end with due proportion of draught and colour The supreame Wisdome Master of Sciences and Artes obserued this law in all his creatures And it is vsuall with him Sap. S. 1. 11.12 to reach in his strength from end to end and to gouerne all things sweetly and to dispose them in measure in number and in weight According to this rule he continueth the course of this mouable world coupling extremities with their extremities by conuenient meanes So hee made the day to succeed the night by interposing of the morning and the night to the day by the euening neighbour to both the Sommer to Winter by the Spring comming betweene and the Winter to Sommer by interposing of Autumne and so in all his other workes of this world When the Sonne of God Soueraigne Wisdome had decreed in the Councell of his Father and of the holy Ghost to marry one day the greatnesse of his Diuinity to the littlenesse of our Nature and resolued at the same time to bestow also vpon vs as well for food as ransome the body which he had taken of Adams Posterity he began euen then by little and little to ordaine these Figures which we haue hitherto runne ouer and other such like which are in his booke making as it were the first preparations for this Feast which was to follow And being at length made Man and the time being come when he was to fulfill the verity of them and to couer the holy table with the food of his pretious flesh hee made a wonderfull proofe vpon the bread Matth. 14.21 Iohn 5.10 as we haue seene and incontinently after he preached this excellent Sermon which was as it were a generall proclamation of the banquet colouring by the brightnesse of a famous miracle and by his liuely voice those Characters of the old Figures and ioyning the Images past to the Verity present by the interposition thereof before the full accomplishment of his worke The selfe-same method vsed hee for preparatioÌ„ to the faith of other mysteries of his death of his Resurrection of his Ascension of the comming of the holy Ghost of Baptisme and of other Sacraments For besides the ancient Figures of them which he ordained long before he made many discourses a little before they were effected and the Sacraments themselues were instituted Wherefore this Sermon was as it were the connexion of things passed to things present of the shadow to the body and as a speaking morning declaring the comming of the Sacrament of the Altar which is the summe of all the other mysteries in the Church of God 2. THE FIRST CAVSE WHY OVR SAuiour would giue his flesh to eate and his bloud to drinke which was to shew his goodnesse THe first cause why our Sauiour would giue his flesh to eate his bloud to drinke is for as much as he is admirably good exceedingly liberall towards vs as hath been often already declared He tooke his body of vs and because he did that for vs he will in ploy it vpon vs and giue it vs againe like a magnificent Lord as many wayes as a body might profitably be ginen and imployed to wit for a price for food for vnion and signe of amity Hee which giues a pearle of great value to redeeme his friend from captiuity giues it as a price he that sets some delicate fruit vpon the table doth it that it may be eaten and the husband which giues himselfe in mariage giues his body that by vnion hee may become one flesh with his wise and the ring which hee leaues departing from her is a pledge of his loue Our Sauiour gaue his body on the Crosse for our redemption and thereby paid the tribute due to the diuine Iustice for the Ransome of mankinde he giues the same body in the Table of his Sacrament as a nuptiall Feast for meat vnto vs for to make a diuine vnion with vs and for a pledge of his loue Then the master and chiefe cause why he gaue vs his flesh to eat and his bloud to drinke is his boundy his liberality and his infinite loue 3. THE SECOND CAVSE TO GIVE A remedy to our misery THe second cause why our Sauiour did giue vs his body to eate is our miserable condition which out of his exceeding loue to vs he was desirous to repaire as hee hath in ample maner by the gift of his body For by communicating vnto vs his diuine flesh and deified bloud he hath both performed the part of a true Father and of a naturall Mother towards his children and withall hee hath wisely and effectually repaired all the breaches of our spirituall
from heauen and saying That this bread is his flesh which he will giue for the life of the world He declareth that he will giue his body for our food and redemption And adding after He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath life euer lasting and I will rasse him vp at the last day for my flesh is meate indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed Hee signified the effects of this meate contrary to the effects of the meate of Adam The meate of Adam cause of death a deadly morsell an carthly food a food of anguish The meate of our Sauiour spring of life bread of life bread from heauen flesh of ioyfulnesse and of resurrection When he said Hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud abideth in me and I in him He sheweth that he giues his flesh for this vnion for a bond of amity and perpetuall pledge of his loue towards vs. Hee hath then giuen his body in this life for our good as many waies as it could be giuen for our redemption for our meat for our remedy for a pledge vnto vs to deliuer vs to nourish vs. to heale vs and to comfort vs and will giue it in heauen to glory for vs. Hath he giuen sufficiently is he sufficiently liberall to giue himselfe so liberally and at so many time and by so many wayes on earth and to promise himselfe vnto vs yet another way in heauen And are not wee exceedingly vngratefull in not acknowledging his goodnesse no lesse vniust in not giuing our selues to him that haue nothing but from him And most ingratefull in making no better vse of his gifts ordained to vnite our selues vnto him and amongst our selues for the attaining of life euerlasting What hath this diuine Spouse done What hath he inuented What doth he not What hath he not deuised to gaine the loue of a faithfull soule And what doe we In what doe we employ our selues to gaine his loue And who is it of whom this Prince so infinitly rich mighty and beautifull is so much inamored but of a poore caytiffe and deformed creature whom he would enrich nobilitate and beautifie to make him worthy of his Kingdome And how would he seeke to purchase by so many meanes the loue of such a creature if he were not goodnesse it selfe O infinit Goodnesse infinit Wisdome infinite Power fulnesse Make our soules holily inamored of thy beauty enlighten them with the diuine beames of thy celestiall knowledge and make them worthy of thy sacred loue 5. PRIDE AND LICENTIOVSNES ENEmies of Faith and the first aduersaries of the holy Sacrament PRide and sensuality are vncapable to vnderstand the wonders of God and vnworthy to receiue his benefits Wee haue heard the diuine promises of our Sauiour speaking of the eating of his flesh and of the euerlasting fruits thereof heere was cause to wonder at the height of the mystery and liberality of the Giuer and good occasion to say as Saint Peter a little after wondering said Thou bast the words of eternall life Iohn 6.63 They were heere neuerthelesse who in stead of being lifted vp in admiration were strucke downe to death by the words of life because pride and sense had made them bad hearers of the truth enemies of the light and vnable to behold further then humane iudgement could reach In so much as though truth it selfe did speake vnto them they murthered themselues by the voice of truth thinking that eyther he could not doe as he promised and giue his flesh to eate or that if hee could doe it it should be a very inhumane and barbarous act They vnderstood of flesh saith S. Augustine as if one should dismember a dead body or as men sell it in the market S. August Trust 27. in Ioan. in Psal 98. and flesh vnderstood not what it was he called flesh They thought that our Sauiour would cut his body into little bits and serue it to the table boyled and dressed as the body of a beast and standing vpon the bulwarke of their carnall imaginations and pushed forward by the spirit which blindes the soule in stead of being edified they were scandalized and became perfidious in their heart rude in their thought and blasphemers in their language and did say How can this man giue vs his flesh to cate Behold Iohn 6.52.60 a hard saying and who can endure it By the first question they did shew their incredulity not perswading themselues that our Sauiour could accomplish that which he did promise by the second they made their pride appeare condemning our Sauiour as if he intended to commit an horrible crime by killing himselfe and giuing mans flesh to eare if he should be able to doe that which he said People extreamely blinded with pride and sensuality for they had seene a little before a thousand of miracles done by the hand of our Sauiour and beleeued them without asking How And in stead of learning by those so many rare workes to beleeue more easily they heere aske How more incredulous then euer But why are they now so little obedient to the voice of our Sauiour Why were they not before more scrupulous and wary Wherfore did they not as well aske how he made the blinde to see the lame to walke the diuels to flye and of the fresh miracle how hee satisfied fiue thousand men with fiue Loaues and two Fishes Heere their How had been much more to purpose and more pertinent for they might haue vnderstood thereby that he did these things in the authority power of a Master Al-wise and Al-mighty and this knowledge would haue perswaded them that hee could powerfully and wisely accomplish this which hee so manifestly did promise of his flesh although it seemed impossible and absurde to their sense and iudgement But what will you They were proud and their pride had made them to lose the memory of what was past and bound their eyes not to see the truth present nor to fore-see the truth to come and in one word did make them obstinately erronious that is to say Heretikes Behold the first controulers the first persecutors and first Herenkes stirred vp against the truth of this holy Sacrament behold the first authors of Quomodo How out of which mould the Diuell hath shaped all the rest which sithence haue conspired against God for to assault the mysteries of his Church by Quomodo and by How and namely to shake this heere as the most high and most repugnant to their senfuality It was pride and the flesh that made them mutiners and rebels against the doctrine of Iesus Christ and presumptuous to comdemne that which they vnderstood not So the Arrians mocked at the Catholike faith concerning the generation of the Sonne of God whilest they would vnderstand that which they could not and would not beleeue that which they should to wit that God had begotten a Sonne Psal 3.7 Psal 109.1 and in stead of saying Christianlike I beleeue