Passion so insinuated he the victory of his Resurrection by the shipwrack and comming forth of Ionas out of the Whales belly Ionas Iona. 2.2 Matth. 12.19 so the Euangelists and the Apostles vse often the witnesse of the old Testament to giue foote and credit to the faith they preached Secondly the Figures confirme our hope for seeing that which God hath so long before figured and foretold is faithfully accomplished wee are induced to hope that what is yet to come as the iudgement the Reward the glory the paine and the rest shall be likewise accomplished with the same fidelitie Finally they inflame our loue tovvards God because this contemplation of the ancient Figures reported to the present truth maketh vs see the eternall charitie vvith vvhich God hath loued vs preparing for vs by so long Prescience the Good which in the end he hath giuen vs and still promising vs more to come hereafter And because loue and benefits engender loue here-hence it is that if wee be not vnnaturall wee encrease in our loue tovvards God by this meditation These are the causes effects and vse of Figures It remaines to enter into the Temple of God there to see the holy Pictures of the Sacrament and Sacrifice of the body of his Sonne drawne from the writings of his holy Testament explained by his owne Word and that according to the Doctrine of his Diuine Painters and Writers the Interpreters of his Word the dumbe Picture shall be for your eyes the description of them for your eares and the exposition of one and of the other shall serue for your spirits or vnderstandings The first is of the earthly Paradise and of the Tree of Life planted therein set forth as you see in the Picture follovving THE FIRST PICTVRE PARADISE AND THE TREE OF LIFE The Description CHRISTIAN Beholders Gen. 2. â— you know that this admirable Chronicler and diuine Cosmographer Moses said in the History of the Creation that God had in the beginning planted a Garden of pleasure towards the East in which he put the Man that he had formed This is that faire and spacious Region that the Painter represents to you in this Table or Picture It is high in seate rich in goodnesse rare in beautie gratious in habitation and aboundant in all forts of delights The earth in some quarters thereof is leuelled into a plaine champion field and in other places raised vp in little harrowes or hilles replenished with plants and trees of excellent goodnesse In the place where it is highest you may there marke a fountaine which rising in great bubbles is formed into a Riuer winding and watering all the Garden towards the end whereof it is diuided into foure heads and maketh foure great slouds running into diuers quarters of the earth The first of which is called Phison casting vpon the shoare her golden sands and many faire pretious stones but no person gathered them vp because there was none as yet but Adam and Eue in the world their children you may imagine will not lose them for want of gathering The ayre there is most pure and subtill and therefore we see not any token of clouds or mists the Sun shining cleare and bright alwayes As for the fire which is of elements the most supreame it holds it selfe still and quiet in its kingdome aboue the ayre yet contributing notwithstanding light and heate with a sweete temperature as it were after the manner of a Torch lighted in heauen This gay verdure wherewith the earth is still apparrelled and these odoriferous flowers which with a thousand florishing colours adorne the same and wherewith those trees in like sort are all so trimly dressed shew forth the Spring in whose company the other Seasons make heere their quarters all together And therefore Summer hath heere alreadie made yellow the Haruest in this golden field and ripened many fruits in those Meadowes and neighbour Orchards which are readie for the gathering As also Autumne shewes forth her goodly clusters of ripe Grapes in those little hilles where Noah as yet had neuer planted Vineyard And lastly the Winter giues repose without any sharpnesse of colde See Saint Bafil â— Paradis for it is mitigated partly by the light of the Sunne which at al times casts his cleare beames vpon the Horizon of this diuine Region without estranging it selfe very much towards the South partly by the moyste warme breath of those windes which blow sweetely from the South to abate the coldnesse of this Pegising ayre So that there is a perpetuall accord of all the soure Seasons whereof the Spring-time holdeth the preheminence This goodly wood of high trees and thick Cops about it are full of little birds which make the ayre resound with a thousand sorts of warblings and aboue all the Nitinghall incessantly and in many quires make melodious muficke all the yeere long But the Painter could not represent to the eare their sweete harmony as hee represents to the eye the Birds and in particular that Birde which men call the Birde of Paradise hanging heere in this Palme-tree little of body with long feathers all ouer adorned with beautifull colours her head yellow her neck enameled with a gay greene her wings spotted with a cawny purple and the rest of her body with a pale gold colour Citizen of the skye faire wits excellencie and admirable in this that shee is alwayes in the ayre without euer touching the earth for that shee hath no feete and when shee will rest her selfe shee grapples about the trees with two long feathers made in fashion of wyer threeds like as it is represented heere These Lions Elephants S. Bas Orat. de Parad. Aug. lib. 4 de Ciuit. Dâ—i 9.11 Tygers and other liuing creatures that you see in diuers places are not cruell nor furious but gentle and obedient and therefore Eue had not any feare of them no more then Adam her husband who walked neere them in coasting these woods But that which is most exquisite and admirable in this Garden is the Tree of Life or of Liues according to the Hebrew word planted in the middest of the others so called because the fruite thereof is of such vertue that it cannot onely nourish the body for a time as other fruites do but also repaire all defecteousnesse and giue it strength and vigour of life to make it perdurable and immortall And as God hath made in man an Abreuiation of all other creatures euen so hath he comprised in this Tree the vertues and perfections of all other Plants And I beleeue it to be that Nectar and Ambrosia called also Nepenthes Ambrosia and Nectar Nepenthes Moly Plin. lib. 25. cap. 4. and Moly which the ancient Poets inuoluing the truth in fables affirme to haue force to make young againe to preserue from death and to driue away all cause of griefe and discontentment The first Tree which you see on the left-hand towards the West is the Tree of Knowledg
of good and euill loaden with Apples faire to behold and delitious to the taste Eue which is there standing beholds them with an ambitious and eager desire and would faine bee at them but shee is aduertised by her husband that God had forbidden them to be eaten The Enemy to mankinde mooued with enuy and lying in waite for the nonce when he perceiued her weaknesse by her curious beholding tooke occasion to seduce her and cloathed with the body of a Serpent a craftie subtill creature quaâ—ities agreeing to this Deceiuer by many compasses and windings about the Tree hauing now gotten vp began from aboue to speake with her and perswade her to take thereof the poore foole being easily perswaded falls vpon the fruite and begins to â—ate neuer doubting any deceit nor fearing death it selfe that lay hidden therein and which is worst shee will perswade her husband Adam to doe the like Alas how deare must this one bit cost him What a deadly bit will chis be How many wounds and deathes shall he swallow downe with this one morsell Ah good mother lend not your eare to this wicked Abuser who for his reuolt is newly cast downe from heauen and being now full of rage and fury seekes nothing on the earth but your confusion Keepe you for Gods sake from touching these Apples which are onely forbidden you among so much other daintie fruites set before you on the spacious table of this delightfull Garden Offend not for a little pleasure of your tongue the Maiesty of a Lord so bountifull and liberall as he hath been vnto you But if you desire to eat some fruit which is indeed most exquisite and diuine lift vp your hand to this Tree of Life and not to that of death and kill not your selfe with all your race in you by this enormous crime of foule ingratitude for the committing whereof you haue so small occasion 1. THE CHVRCH OF GOD LIVELY set foorth in earthly Paradise GOD teacheth vs celestiall things by terestriall and spirituall by those that are corporall This faire Garden which hath beene heere before represented according to the Historie of Moses by two diuers Pictures the one seruing for the eye the other for the eare is a Figure of the Church of God Cant. 4. Isay 51.61 Aâ—â—â— 2. which the Scripture calleth sometime a Garden sometime a Vineyard planted by the hand of the Almightie And truely if this faire earthly place figured some dwelling it could figure none more reasonably then that where God raignes S. Greg. 5. Cant. 4. S. Aug. lib. 8. de Genes ad lit c. â— and workes after a singular manner and where his children are diuinely nourished which is his Church A heauenly habitation of men and truely eleuated aboue the earth for so much as the desires of those Saints of whom it is cornposed dwell in heauen An abode of spirituall delights the true Pallace and proper Mansion of the children of God S. Aâ—g de Ciuitate Dei lib. 13. cap. 21. S. Augustine hauing proued that this Garden had his being in a corporall place and such a one according to the literall sense as Moses hath described he declareth of what it was the Figure and saith That Paradise is the life of good people the foure Flouds the foure Cardinall Vertues to wit Wisdome Fortitude Temperance lustice the Trees the Artes and the fruits of the Trees the workes of good men the Tree of Life Wisdome the mother of all goodnesse the Tree of Knowledge of good and euill the experience of a Commandement broken And he addes which is more remarkable a second signification That all these things may be vnderstood of the Church for to be the better receiued as signes propheticall of things to come The Church then is a Paradise so called in the booke of the Canticles the foure Flouds are the foure Euangelists Câ—nt â— the fruits of the Trees are good workes the Tree of Life is the Holy of Holies Iesus Christ the Tree of Knowledge of good and euill the free Ithertie of the will S. Aug. lib. de Ciuit. cap. 21. So Saint Augustine allegorizing vpon this Historie of the earthly Paradise 2. OF THE GIFTS AND EXCELLENT qualities of the Church described in the patterne of earthly Paradise IN the Church then may bee seene spiritually all that which corporally was contained in the Garden of Pleasure Shee is situated towards the East for shee is alwaies turned towards Iesus Christ the true Orient and so called because he is the East which shee alwayes beholds adores Zach. 9.11 contemplates loues and admires In signe whereof the materiall Temples of Christians are turned to the East whereas the Temple of the Iewes looked towards the West In her is to be seene the accord of the foure Euangelists foundations and springs of our faith as the foure Elements and the foure vniuersall Flouds of this spirituall Garden The Sunne of Iustice which is God shineth heere alwayes by the bright beame of his truth Sacrament Baptisme Confirmation Penance and the rest the Vertues Faith Hope and Charitie and other like qualities hold there the places of trees and plants the holy actions of the iust are as the greenes the flowers the fruits and the delitious odours thereof the preaching of Gods Word the Writings of the holy Fathers and their cloquence are the gold and pearles cast vpon the shoare by the foure diuine Flouds of the Euangelists the Birdes which sing in this Paradise are the deuout soules which in all times with heart word and deed sound foorth the praises of God the Bird of Paradise so called in particular is euery perfect Christian whose conuersation is alwayes in heauen whose thoughts desires and workes like vnto purple and golden feathers are all gilded and inflamed with charitie the Lions Beares Tygers and other nobleliuing creatures present the Christian Kings and Potentates who notwithstanding their greatnesse and power obey as the least to the voice of our Sauiour speaking and commanding by the Pastors and Gouernors of his Church The Church then is a Paradise on earth figured by the former and is her selfe also a figure of a future Paradise which we looke for in heauen A Figure so much more diuine as the delights of the soules which are found in her are farre more precious and more neerely resembling true felicitie then the corporall gifts contained in that earthly Garden which was prepared for the first Adam Come we now to the Tree of Life the ornament of this Paradise and the propeâ— subiect of our present discourse 3. THE HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE Altar figured by the Tree of Life THe Tree and the fruite of Life Paschasius lib. 1. de corp Domini cap. 7. Philo Iud. de planct Noe ex Platone planted in the midst of earthly Paradise was a Figure of Iesus Christ and of the Sacrament of his body Man is a Tree saith Philo the Iew after Plato but a celestiall Tree and
heauen bread of life immortall and glorious diuine bread and diuine flesh without the substance of any materiall bread both meate and drinke together giuing the nourishment of grace to the soule and the sprout of immortalitie to the body and to both of them the fruit of all blessednesse In that God shewed his diuine wisdome figuring with his prouident pensill the future Priest-hood of his Sonne in the person of Melchisedech and the Sacrifice of the body of his Sonne in the Sacrifice of Melchisedech But in this heere hee hath left markes infinitely more cleare of his omnipotencie wisdome and boundy changing the hidden substance of bread into that of his body without changing the forme of the outward accidents offering himselfe by himselfe being at one instant together the Sacrificer and the thing Sacrificed Could he shew himselfe more great more skilfull and more liberall Could he establish a Sacrifice either more honorable for the acknowledging of his diuine Maiestie then this in which he offered not the body and bloud of beasts but his owne body and bloud or more profitable to man then in which he giues vs his owne body This mystery then so agreeable to the honor of God and so beneficiall to his friends doth it not merit to be eternally continued in the Church according to that which Dauid hath so diuinely prophecied Thou art a Priest for euer according to the order of Melchisedech Not according to the order of Aaron who was the Sacrificer of the bodies of beasts lesse honorable and lesse profitable and therefore worthy to be changed but according to the order of Melchisedech offering without bloud the body of the Sonne of God vnder the formes of bread and wine Sacrifice and Priest-hood most honorable and most worthy to endure euen to the end of the world neither can the world be furnished with a better either for the houor of God or for the good of his children 16. THE GOOD SPIRITVAL SOVLDIERS are worthy of the food and blessing of the body of our Lord. BVt who are the children worthy to feed vpon this Sacrifice and to haue the blessing of the true Melchisedech truely they are Abraham and his souldiers which haue noble soules and are armed in all parts with vertue which hotly pursue the enemies of their saluation fighting valiantly against the forces of the Assyrians pride Couetousnesse Leachery Enuy Gluttony Hate Idlenesse Iniquity Impiety and other vices signified by the Assyrians These then are they that giue the tenth of their victories and of their spoiles to God which giue him thankes for his benefits and acknowledge his assistance as chiefe cause of all their good actions for which they glory in nothing but in him and confesse that all their good commeth from him These are they that are true children of Abraham and like valient warriers know readily how to manage their bodies in all sorts of combates and exercises of spirituall battle This braue Horse of Abrahams so well made and so well taught to the bitt and to the spurre to trotte to gallop to runne and to bee decently ordered resembleth those bodies that are well tamed and well taught to follow the commands and directions of a warlike soule Such was he 1. Cor. 9.27 which said I chastise my body and make it a seruant such haue been a thousand champions of our Sauiour which haue victoriously combated against the greatest forces and armies of their enemies the world the flesh and the diuell Such souldiers are worthy of the bread of God worthy which whom the great Melchisedech should comply in the end of their victories comming foorth to honor them to congratulate with them to inuite them to receiue the holy Repast of his sacred body and to sanctifie them with his great blessing wherewith they returne into their countrey which is heauen rich with reward and enobled with immortall glory THE FOVRTH PICTVRE ISAAK ON THE ALTAR The Description THese two yong men seruants of Abraham attend at the foote of the mountaine with this saddled Asse Abraham himselfe with yong Isaak is ascended to the top of the mountaine hauing commanded them to tarry beneath vntill he had there worshipped and offered Sacrifice this is the third day since they came from home with him hauing neuer vsed to depart from him their face shewes that they are sorrowfull and astonished and it is by all true likelihood for not knowing the cause why he should leaue them and for hauing seene and heard of things they misliked they had seene how their Master all sad had put the wood which the Asse carried vpon the shoulders of Isaak taking himselfe fire in the one hand and a sword in the other Ioseph lib. 1. Antiq. cap. 13. and certainly the teares ran downe in great abundance from their eyes because they see their yong Master loaden with this heauie burden to goe with no little paine for hee is tender and delicate and but fiue and twentie yeeres old They could not also imagine what should be the Sacrifice Abraham would offer seeing it was his custome to Sacrifice before his domesticals without euer hauing vsed such like ceremony But this which puts them yet in more great wonder is that they perceiued not any beast he had to sacrifice whereof Isaak himselfe being sollactous asked of his Father in the way where the Lambe was for the Burnt-offering to whom Abraham answered that God would prouide it The good childe knew not that himselfe was the Lambe appointed for the Sacrifice lesse knew hee what this holy old man thought within himselfe for hee felt a maruailous combate in his soule pressed on the one side with the assaults of Nature which moued him to fatherly compassion and on the otherside with the Word of God which made him stedfast in the execution of his Commandement Nature said to him O Father what dost thou Hast thou begotten a sonne to be his murtherer Hast thou giuen him life in the world to put him with thine owne hand to death Hast thou giuen being to this creature and wilt thou depriue him of it in a moment as soone as it beginneth Wilt thou burie in one moment the comfort of thy age and all the hopes of thy future race within the tombe of thy only sonne Thy only sonne giuen thee of God after so many faire and goodly promises of thy prosperity Thy onely son so tenderly nourished so carefully brought vp so beautifull so gratious so obedient and perfect in all kinde of graces And who euer saw such a Father as thou art And what will thy houshold thy neighbours and thy kindred say And aboue all the rest what will his poore Mother say who sitting at home little thinkeâ—â— of any such matter when shee shall see thee returne all alone and that shee shall heare the pitifull newes of her deare and onely childe slaine not by force of sicknesse nor by the hand of the enemie nor by the teeth of any furious
or at the Circumcision or in March. Before the time of K. Charles the ninth in France men began it at Easter and since at the Circumcision and according to this yeere wee count at this present 1600. since the Natiuity of our Sauiour comming into the world to repaire our ages and to giue vs eternity for time Our Ciuill yeare is variable and according to the diuersitie of the Countrey or condition of persons good husbands and Schollers begin at Saint Rhemigius many at Saint Martin some at Saint Iohn Baptist and others at other seasons but the Holy yeare hath his vniforme limits as it ought and there is little difference through all the Catholike Church Well then God commanded the Hebrewes to keepe their yearely Sacrifice of the Paschall Lambe in this first month and in the fourteenth day of it because this was the nearest time to their going forth and deliuerance for they went forth the next morning after the first-borne of the Aegyptians were slaine at midnight the night before So as the Ceremony was iustituted at that time precisely to put them in minde of the benefit as also the day and houre of it which was alwayes religiously obserued vntill the truth of this Figure at the same time many yeares after was accomplished by our Sauiour deliuering vs out of a greater seruitude and substituting the true Lambe in memory thereof as after we shall see The same Hebrewes had commandement to offer Sacrifice euery new Moone that is to say Num. 10. 28. Ioseph lib. 3. Antiq. cap. 10. vpon the Calends or first dayes of euery month which solemnity the Hebrews called Hodesch as who would say beginning the Septuagint haue translated it Neomenia a Greeke word which signifies a new month or a new Moone This Feast was not instituted to serue as a Sacrifice to the new Moone as the Pagans made it but for a thanksgiuing to God for the benefits of his bounty and wisdome in the gouernment of the world for to instruct vs that we ought to make our entrie into all the seasons and to begin euery action with the praise of God and inuocation of his holy name And hereby they were inuited to honour the Creator of the Moone Genes 1.14 and of all the world seruing themselues of the course of that Planet for signe of times for the which end it was created 2. WHEREFORE THE YEARE OF THE Hebrewes was Lunary and how the Synagogue was compared to the Moone THe causes wherefore God would that the Hebrews should take their years from the course of the Moone rather then from the Sunne as now the Church doth are worthy to be knowne if they were also easie to be found out For it ought not to be doubted but that this ordinance was founded in great reason comming from so wise a Law-maker Amongst many others I finde three The first is taken from the rudenesse of this people to which God hauing regard commaunded them to reckon their yeares and months by the Moone as more facill and easie then if they accounted by the twelue celestiall signes deuised by the Chaldeans and other Heathenish people For euery one seeth the new Moone and all his quarters and the most simple can obserue that shee ends her whole course within one moneth whereas none knowes the signes of the Zodiaque but Astronomers S. Greg. Naz. Or. 2. de Pasch The second is more important touched by Saint Gregory Nazianzen that it was to keepe in order by this ceremony the Iewes from following the superstition of the Pagans who were extreamely giuen to the worship of the Moone for they adored it in heauen as a Queene in the earth and vnder earth as a Goddesse vnder the name of Luna Diana Proserpina whose example might giue occasion to that people vainely giuen and of themselues inclined to imitate the foolish Pagans to suffer themselues to be head-long carried to Idolatry so much in practise in those dayes if they had not some true and lawfull vse of the Moone thereby to be held from the abuse therof against the Law of God Therfore God commanded them to order their months and yeares Feastes and Ceremonies according to the course of the Moone adored the true God in his Law and seruing themselues of the creature to the honour of their Creator Exod. 25. And with like wisdome hee ordained the Arke of Couenant to the end they should haue some visible thing before which to honor God without running to Idols The third cause is full of mystery and it was to giue a secret and mysticall signification of the condition of the Synagogue by the qualities of the Moone very significant of it The Moone is the lowest Planet of all terrestriall and grosse and yet celestiall notwithstanding the Iudaicall Law also was earthly and carnall the Ceremonies Sacrifices Promises and the rest no better and yet giuen of God notwithstanding and therefore celestiall in this respect the Moone is a cold and mutable Planet the Synagogue a Law of feare which is a cold passion a temporall Law and mutable which was to be changed into the Law of Grace The Moone by her light doth not ripen any fruit though shee giue by her influence encrease to Plants Trees and liuing creatures The Synagogue giueth not any perfection by his ceremonies Hebr. 7.19 The Law saith Saint PAVL bringeth nothing to perfection and neuerthelesse vnder her direction and light the children of God did receiue from his Maiesty grace and encrease of vertue not by force of Iudaicall Sacraments as now by the Christian but onely by the faith and obedience that they brought with them to those Sacraments For these reasons amongst others the Lunary yeare was the yeare and the time of the Synagogue Such as are more spirituall will draw better reasons hereof from the treasures of the Book of God whose wisdome is infinite in all things The Christians rule themselues by the Solary yeare because the foresaid causes neither touch them nor their religion We shall now decypher the sense of the Picture and shall see how the Paschall Lambe figureth the Sacrament and Sacrifice of the body of our Sauiour 3. THE PASCHALL LAMBE A FIGVRE of the Sacrifice of the Crosse and of the Eucharist THE Paschall Lambe did Figure Iesus Christ true Lambe without spot descended from heauen to bee killed and by his bloud to deliuer vs from the death and seruitude of the Aegyptians to wit from ignominie and eternall damnation This Ceremony in certaine circumstances carried the signe of the Sacrifice of the Crosse in the reall slaughter in the bloudy effusion in the roasting of the Lambe and such like Saint Iohn also in the Sacrifice of the Crosse Tem. 19.36 Exod. â—2 46 applieth the prohibition of not breaking the bones of the Lambe to that fact of the Iewes when they breake not one bone of our Sauiour crucified Saint Iustin singularly remarketh S. iustin Dialo
vpon the euening to flye great flockes of Quailes vpon the Campe wherewith they were fed and you see some of them yet remaining and this morning the first day of the weeke he hath made raine to them Manna which serued them and shall serue them for food vntill they be arriued in the Land of Promise which are these round white graines of the bignesse and forme of Corianders Exod. 16. which falling thick and small from heauen haue made white the Land all couered therewith and so haue ceased to fall Wherefore all the world runneth greedily to gather it vp some carry panniers full vpon their backes some their baskets in their hands some their wallets the housholders send their seruants who thereof make their prouision with al diligence But aboue all it is a pleasure to see the little children halfe naked who hauing tasted of these white sweete things runne to it as to an haile of sugred comfits and thrusting one another away striue who shall put most in their pockets They fall on eating greedily remembring no more the Quailes that fell the night past The elder sort contemplate this small bread and admire it and euery one said in the beholding it Man-hu that is to say What is this and not without reason for it was meate neuer seene before neither had the heauens euer rained downe any such especially in this Desert barren of all good fruit They also saw it fall from the skie when it was cleare without knowing any originall or naturall cause thereof they see it laid betweene two snowes Exod. 16.14 or dewes as betwixt two white sheetes For a little before that it descended a little dew was spread ouer the earth to receiue it Rab. Salom. Lyra. ibid. and being already descended another couered it These meruailes astonished the Hebrewes and made them say Man-hu Man-hu But they shall be yet more amazed when they shall see that it shal not fall on the Sabbath day as it were to keepe the Feast that he which shall gather all the morning more then the measure of a Gomer for his prouision Exod. 16.26 shall not haue more then the other which shall haue gathered lesse Exod. 16.18 and that this Gomer shall be the measure of food that euery one shall eate great or little that it shall melt and desolue into water with the beames of the Sun and it shall harden being put to the fire Exod. 16.21 to be prepared and baked into bread that it shall conuert it selfe to that which euery one would haue it and he which would haue the taste of the flesh of Chickens Exod. 16.23 of Veale of Partridge or of other things to eate he shall haue it taste according to his owne desire that it shall putrifie if they keepe it till the next day if it were not the Sabbath day For these maruailes they said alwayes Man-hu as nor being able to comprehend what it is and that name remained alwaies to the thing in witnesse of the admiration Moses contemplates this present Sacrament and casteth the eyes of his cleare sighted vnderstanding vpon the greatnesse of the future mystery and highly praysing the gifts of the diuine boundy instructeth this grosse people how they ought to cary themselues in the gathering and vse of this bread He also commanded his brother Aaron Exod. 16.33.34 to reteine one vessell thereof to put in the Tabernacle there to be reserued when it shall be framed Hebr. 9.4 in eternall memory of the gifts receiued from the diuine hand euery one already hath gotten his prouision and the Manna fallen begins to melt the Sunne being high risen aboue the Horison and drawing neare the South 1. MANNA A FIGVRE OF THE SAcrament of the Altar OVr Sauiour hath euidently declared that Manna was a manifest Figure of the Sacrament of his body when instructing the Iewes vanting of their Ancestors Ioan. 6. Exod. 16.14 Num. 11.7 Psal 77.24 whom they said to haue eaten Manna in the Desert as it is written Thou hast giuen them bread from heauen and taking occasion thereby to speake to them of the eating of his flesh true Manna from heauen he answeres them saying Verily verily I say vnto you Ioan. 6.31.32.44 that it is not Moses which gaue you the true bread from heauen but it is my Father which giueth you the true bread from heauen And a little after Your fathers haue eaten Manna in the Desert and are dead who eateth this bread shall liue for euer Teaching by this allusion and comparison that Manna was but the shadow and Figure of his flesh and that Moses had giuen but the figuratiue bread of that bread which he was to leaue to his Church true bread descended from heauen to wit his pretious body exhibited vnder the formes of bread Saint Paul according to the Spirit of his Master compares Manna to the Eucharist S. Chrysâ—st S. Cyril Alex. Theâ—ph S. Aug. in cap. 6. Ioan. G. Ambros lib. de imâ—tat c. 8. 9. lib. de Sac. cap. 1. and the Red-sea to Baptisme as shadowes to the body The holy Fathers of like faith and doctrine speake of Manna as of a faire Picture made in the Schoole of Moses and extoll the holy Sacrament of the Altar as the truth exhibited in the Law of grace well then for the better conceiuing thereof let vs contemplate the semblance of the one to the other and compare the Manna of the Iewes with the Manna of the Christians 2. THE CORRESPONDENCE OF MANna to the Sacrament of the Altar MANNA was called bread from heauen Psal 77.24 because it came from the ayre called heauen in the holy Scripture as when it saith Matth. 13.4 The birds of heauen that is to say of the ayre which is their element our Sacrament is truely bread from heauen for it containes him which is truely descended not from the ayre but from heauen it selfe And this is that which our Sauiour said to the Iewes as aboue we haue heard Ioan. 9.31.32 It is not Moses which giueth you true bread from heauen but it is my Father which giueth you the true bread from heauen Secondly Manna was a food extracted from an extraordinary cause and made by the ministery of Angels and not a worke of Nature and this is the cause Glossa in 16. Exod. why it is called the bread of Angels For to say that it was because they did eate it were an impertinent exposition seeing that the meat of such Spirits is spirituall and proportioned to their nature according to that which Raphael said to Tobias Toâ— 12.19 It seemed indeed that I did eate and drinke with you but I vse a meate and a drinke inuisible and which none can see For the selfe-same reason it is called by Saint Paul Spirituall meate 1. Cor. 10. not that it was not visible and palpable but because it was prepared by an inuisible hand and
Iren. epist ad vict Pap. quae est apud Erseb lib. 5. hist c. 24. Euseb l. 6 c. 36. or be present at Masse to receiue it Such was the practise in the time of the Apostles and in the ages following vntill this day as it appeareth by the writings of Saint Iustin and other Doctors of holy antiquitie 5. THE BREAD OF THE IEWES BEARES the name of wonder in Figure of our wonderfull Sacrament of the Altar AS Manna was wonderfull in his causes in his nature and in his effects so it carried a name signifying nothing but wonder and admiration for Manna comes from the word Man-bu which is as we haue said before nothing but What is this a word which importeth admiration and desire to know in him that speakes it who because he is ignorant of the nature of the thing admires it and asketh What is this Our Manna and our Sacrament is so admirable that no name câ—n declare it and after that one hath well considered it hee shall finde it much more easy to admire it then to expresse it by a name correspondent to the excellencie by which meanes of all the names that it beares there is none which is more agreeable to it then Manna the name of admiration which Dauid declared by Periphrasis when he called the Eucharist Psal 110. The memoriall of the wonders of God which is not so much a name as a marke of wonder and to this of Dauid it is likely our Sauiour had regard when instituting the Sacrament of his body he said to his Apostles Luke 22.29 Doe this in remembrance of mee as if he had said vse this as a memoriall of my wonders Well then in this very name of Manna wee shall obserue another resemblance of admiration betweene the old Manna and the institution of the new Exod. 16. For when the Hebrewes hauing taken theirs in their hand said wondering Man-hu what is this Moyses answered onely in generall to their demand this is the bread that our Lord hath giuen you to eate but our Sauiour taking the bread and instituting the Sacrament answeres in particular saying This is my body Matthew Marke Luke and taking the Cup This is my bloud as if he had said Your Fathers long since asked What is this holding in their hand the food that I made raine downe vnto them and you still pronouncing Manna aske what is this I answere both to you and your Fathers This is my body this is my bloud their Manna and their wonder was this my body in Figure but the Manna which I make and the memoriall that I institute is my body not in Figure but in truth Behold then the wonder of our Sacrament figured in the name of the ancient Manna and the admirable resemblance betweene the old Manna in the Law of Moses and our new Manna in the Law of Grace And since that all heere is admirable and that the admiration hereof is profitable to vs and honorable to God in this great Mystery let vs further contemplate the springs and causes of this admiration arising out of his omnipotencie wisdome and bountie and let vs see wherefore the holy Fathers haue so extraordinarily admired it 6. THE WONDERFVLL POWER OF GOD in the Sacrament of the Altar GOd shewes himselfe admirable three wayes by his Power by his Wisdome and by his Bountie to the which end he hath grauen the workes of these three vertues in euery worke of his be it neuer so little The naturall vertues of Stones or Plants and the armour of beasts set forth the power of their Creator the ordering of the parts of euery creature the industry of the great and little beasts and their agilitie make vs to see his wisdome the essence and propertie of all things giuen vs doe witnesse his bountie vnto vs all that he did long since in the Law of Nature and of Moses and all that he hath done or shall doe hereafter in the Law of Grace is marked with these three markes and there is nothing wherein hee becomes not admirable by meanes of these three to all those that exercise the eyes of their soules in contemplation of the greatnesse of his works But aboue all he hath shewed himselfe maruailous in this diuine Sacrament as the last and principall worke of his hands and the admirable new Schedule or Codicill of his Testament And first he hath made appeare in it his wonderfull Power by so many sundry waves as there be diuersities in the nature of things we must explaine them after a stammering manner For how can we doe otherwise O Lord speaking of so high an effect of thy infinite power We finde in all visible nature the Substance the Qualitie the Relation the Action the Passion the Place the Time the State the Habite and nothing more Man for example hath a reasonable soule and a body which make his substance He hath his quantity which are his length breadth and thicknesse Hee hath his qualities which are his colour his beauty his bounty and such like He hath his relations compared to another which is lesse great lesse good or as great and as good as himselfe and is thereby surnamed greater better or equall He hath also his actions for hee speaketh hee writeth or doth other things He hath his passions for he receiues in his body or in his soule some impression of cold of heate of ioy of knowledge of sorrow and such like He is in some place as in the City in the fields and that at sometime either in the morning or in the euening in Summer or in Winter He hath his situation for hee is sitting or standing or lying Finally he hath his vesture or clothing his cloake his shooes c. And all whatsoeuer which is found in Man or in any other corporall creature is referred to one of these heads which are the ten orders by the Philosophers assigned to Nature Arist in Meta. Logic. comprehending all the parcells of euery creature According to all which our Sauiour sheweth himselfe omnipotent in this Sacrament let vs see it first insubstance 7. OF THE OMNIPOTENCIE OF GOD in Transubstantiation AS for Substance which is the foundation of all and holds the first ranke amongst things Categoria sub 〈◊〉 our Sauiour shewes his supreame power in this Sacrament in that hee changeth by his Word the substance of bread into his bodie and the substance of wine into his bloud a kinde of miracle very like vnto creation and more noble in this Mystery then creation it selfe and most fit to make vs know and acknowledge him an omnipotent workman In the creation Dexit facia 〈◊〉 Psal 32.9 God did speake and it was done he commanded and it was created as Dauid singeth Heere he saith This is my body and his body is found there This is my bloud and his bloud is there present Then his omnipotent Word made that to be which was not before at
eate for he is extreame hungry Achimelech ignorant of the cause and wondering to see him so vnprouided with so little a traine being one of the greatest Captaines and Princes of the King speakes as if he were astonished and tells him that he hath nothing but the Breads of Preposition dedicated to the onely vse of Priests notwithstanding he and his people in such necessity might eate of them so that they were cleane and not defiled especially with womer Dauid answereth if there be no hinderance but that wee are cleane for we haue not had the company of our wiues these many dayes And so he went and tooke his refection and will carry away with him the sword of Golias which before hee had dedicated and left in the House of God where it hung wrapped in an holy linnen cloath He will serue himselfe of it in the warres of God and cut in pieces with it the enemies of his name 1. THE BODY OF OVR SAVIOVR CONceiued of a Virgin by the operation of the holy Ghost signified by the Loaues of Proposition kneaded of the purest flower without leauen THese Loaues and these Offerings did long since Figure footth our Eucharist which we haue declared to haue been the true Bread But none sauing those S. Cyril Hieros Catech. mist 4. S. Hier. in lib. 1. in cap. 1. epist ad Tim. that were spirituall men amongst the Iewes could penetrate the secret of this hidden mystery now it is easie for all Christians to see it the shell being broken that the kernell may appeare and the curtaine of the Figure drawne that the truth may be seene we need but cast our eyes vpon the ancient Lineaments to know the present truth The most pure flower and without leauen whereof the Loaues were kneaded signifieth the body of Iesus Christ conceiued by the operation of the holy Ghost of the most pure substance of the Virgin without leauen that is to say without originall sinne or any corruption For leauen in the Scripture oftentimes signifieth malice and infection and in that sense our Sauiour said to his Apostles Take heed of the leauen of the Pharisies which is hypocrisie Matth. 16.6.11 Marc. 8 1â— Luke 12.1 Marke 8.15.1 Cor. 5.6 And in another place Beware of the leauen of HEROD The like sayings he hath elsewhere After the same manner spake S. Paul saying Let vs feast not in the old leauen nor in leauen of Malice and wickednesse but in the aâ—inâ—es of sincerity and verity The ground of the similitude is in this that as leauen altereth and maketh sowre the paste so sinne changeth puffeth and corrupteth the beautie and goodnesse of the soule The Breads then without leauen are a Figure of our Sauiours body conceiued without infection of sinne They were called Loaues of faces or of two faces and therein lay two Mysteries as the ancient Hebrewes haue prophetically written Rabbi Ionathas in cap 25. Exod. Caâ— 10. c. 6. and namely Rabbi Ionathas who liued long time before the comming of our Sauiour The Mysteries are that in the future Sacrifice of the body of the Messias there should be a Change of one Substance into another as of one Face into another and also that two Natures and two Faces the Diuine and the Humane should be vnited in the Person of the Messias offered and sacrificed vnder the forme and face of bread and in the substance of Flesh And therefore the holy Loaues of the Table of our Sauiour are truely Loaues of two Faces and of two Natures containing the foresaid mysteries in truth as these heere did containe then in name and Figure They were offered euery day for the Children of Israel by the sacrifycing Priests of the Iewes as the body of our Lord in the Masse by Christian Priests for all Christians The Iewish Priests onely did make them and Christian Priests onely make the Sacrament and Sacrifice of this body for to them only is giuen this power and to no other seruants in the House of God be they men or Angels 2. HOW THE BODY OF OVR SAVIOVR is offered euery day and renewed euerie weeke THis body is offered euery day in the Masse and reserued as were the Loaues of Proposition for the children of God in memory of the death of our Sauiour and in thankesgiuing for all his benefits bestowed vpon vs for the sustenance of soule and body This is our true weekly and daily bread saith Saint Cyprian Matth. 6.9 Luke 11.3 S. Cyprian l. de or domin S. Ambros l. 5. de Sacra c. 4. S. August l. 2. de Serm. Dom. in Monte cap. 12. and the other Doctors of the Church which he himselfe hath taught vs to aske of him It is renewed once a weeke for although it bee offered euery day it is principally offred vpon the Sunday of rest to Christians substituted in the place of the Iewes Sabbath in which men are gathered together in the Church to renew the offering of that bodie with feruent and fresh deuotion in the presence of all faithfull soules This is alwayes one selfesame body immortall and glorious but it is renewed and multiplied because it is found in many new formes of bread and wine 3. THE BEGINNING AND END OF THE Communion is Charity Prayer and Contemplation THe Loanes of Proposition were placed vpon the gilded Table and vpon the vpper-most of them was sett a Violl of gold full of the purest Incense Which ceremonie teacheth vs that the body of our Lord requireth a soule cloathed with Charity which is the gold of the Temple of God to rest in and that the end of the Communion of his body ought to be inward prayer and contemplation signified also by the Violl of gold and by the Incense set aboue the Loaues For the Violl and Incense in holy Scripture doth signifie the prayers of Saints Psal 140.2 Apoc. 5.8 and gold the most pretious mettle of all other signifieth loue and heauenly charity the most noble affection of the soule wherewith the celestiall Ierusalem is enriched and of it all Christian workes ought to bee composed or at least gilded therewith but especially the communion of this Sacrament which is the Sacrament of loue and charity 4. THE BODY OF OVR SAVIOVR SIGnified by the Table vpon which were set the Loaues of Proposition THe Table made of the wood Setim incorruptible Guilded with fine gould crowned with a double crowne and framed with a wonderfull arte euen to the feete of the tressels signified the same body of our Sauiour conceiued as hath been said of the substance of the Vigin cleare from all corruption and endued with all sorts of perfectian that may be in a humane body after the likenesse of this Table excellent in matter and admirable in forme Iesus Christ then celestiall bread reposeth on Iesus Christ as the Bread of Proposition stood vpon this Table and as he himselfe is offered by himselfe as the ancient Loaues by the Priest Achimelech So as he
of our Sauiour in the first preparation of this Feast so he hath also raised vp others to disturbe and stoppe the proceedings and fruit thereof already prepared These are they which in this last age do impugne the honor and magnificence of this Feast taking from it the substance and truth saying that the flesh of our Sauiour is not heere but onely a Figure thereof and that there is heere no reall eating of the flesh of our Sauiour present which they call carnall but onely spirituall by the meanes of saith alone which makes the body of our Sauiour spiritually present and eateth it spiritually These people are carnall as well as the Capharnaits and puffed vp with the same blast of pride oâ—erthrowing the truth but by a contrary battery The Capharnaits did interpret the words of our Sauiour altogether fleshly and these men altogether spiritually those were in one extremity beleeuing nothing but flesh these are in another extremity admitting nothing but spirit and both the one and the other not willing to acknowledge but what their fancies tells them and therefore are carnall faithlesse and proud though after a different manner The sensuality of the later in particular doth shew it selfe in that they thinke it a carnall thing that the flesh of our Sauiour should be present in the Sacrament their incredulity is in this that they will not beleeue the word of God who said that hee would truely giue his flesh to eate their pride in that they preferred the iudgement of their sense before his Word and condemne the ordinance of our Sauiour albeit they make faire shewes of defending the same They erre then in three things First in thinking the presence of the flesh of our Sauiour in this Sacrament to be carnall for the presence of a thing makes not the carnality but the manner his flesh was trutly and by reall presence conceiued in the wombe of the Virgin Yet was not that presence carnall because the manner of the conception was from the holy Ghost When he ascended into beauen his body was present in as many places of the beauens as he did penetrate the presence was reall but neuerthelesse spirituall because it depended of a cause spirituall and diuine and not naturall When he made himselfe seene to Saint Paul he was present and his presence was true and reall yet spirituall that is to say not after an ordinary and naturall manner Euen so the flesh of our Sauiour is really present in the Eucharist yet not carnally as common flesh is present vpon the table but by transubstantiation by a way about nature by the all powerfull word of our Sauiour It is there inuisible impalpable immorrall and inconsumptible and so spiritually and so diuinely that nothing but the eyes of faith can perceiue it and because these heere haue not but the eyes of their flesh and carnall iudgement therefore they deny this presence and same another according to the blindnesse of their flesh against the truth and leaue the true faith by an imaginary no faith and are blockish and infidels in their sensuall faith 8. CONTRADICTIONS OF HERETIKES in their false and imaginary faith THe same Heretikes inwrap themselues in contradiction denying on the one side the flesh of our Sauiour to be really present in the Eucharist and saying on the other side that it is there by Spirit and faith For if it bee not really there it cannot bee present by Spirit and by faith for as much as no strength neither of the Spirit nor of Faith doth make a thing present that is absent Neither faith nor the Spirit makes that the Hebrewes at this present doe passe the red sea or eate Manna in the Desart or that Iosua now doth stay the Sunne or that our Sauiour is now conceiued in the wombe of the Virgin or that he now riseth from death or ascends into heauen or that hee comes now to iudge the liuing and the dead though it beleeue all this if these men answere that faith imagineth these things as present albeit they bee absent they confesse that as the presence of these things is but imagination so the faith which they haue of the presence of the flesh of our Sauiour in the Sacrament is imaginary and that they cate it not but by imagination Like vnto them who sleeping dreame that they make good cheare and yet make no good cheare but in their fancie Such faith is not the faith that makes a faithfull man in this point neither is such sustenance truely sustenance neither such meate truely meate it is a faith a refection a meate of fancie Now our Sauiour said Iohn 6. that his flesh is meat indeed and his bloud drinke indeed then the faith or rather no faith of these men is a carnall infidelity and a froward imagination contrary to the faith of God They are the children of the Catholike Church which by faith doe eate indeed the body of our Sauiour that is to say in a spirituall manner as it hath been said and with the faith required thereunto by the which they doe beleeue the word of God beleeuing that his body is there present as his word saith beleeuing that they take it really and eate it really as he hath promised beleeuing that he could doe that which he said and that he doth nothing which is contrary to his goodnesse and wisdome And as their faith is farthfull so their eating is true and contrariwise the eating practised by these Heretikes in their Supper is altogether carnall for they take nothing heere more excellent then bread and neither doe they eath but bread nor beleeue any thing but what the faith of a Turke of a Iew and of a Pagan all carnall could not beleeue For what difficulty had there been to beleeue the presence of a morsell of bread that they see taste and perceiue by their sense to be so 9. THE LITERALL SENSE FOVNDAtion of others against the same Heretikes THese good people therefore lose themselues in the by-wayes of their spirituality for willing to interpret the flesh of our Sauiour and his bloud and all this eating spiritually according to their owne sense saying that men cate not this flesh but by Spirit and by faith alone they leaue the proper and fundamentall vnderstanding of the words of our Sauiour and take onely a metaphoricall one against the law of all good Diuinity which first ought to vnderstand and establish the literall and proper sense of the Scripture and after vpon that foundation to ground the spirituall For example the Scripture saith Gen. 2. Exod. 14. Iud. 15. 1. Reg. 17. that God planted an carthly Paradise that the Hebrewes did passe the red Sea that Sampson tyed Foxes by the tayles that Dauid did sight in single combate with Goliah and such like things if euery one would so spiritualize these histories that they would deny the literall truth and say that earthly Paradise is no other thing but the Church the red