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
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
cont Trypho that the Lamb was so disposed of when they rosted it that it made the Figure of a Crosse The selfe-same Lambe in other ceremonies was one of the most rare Figures of the Eucharist as our Sauiour declareth in generall when after the eating of the Lambe he instituted incontinently the Sacrifice of his body For he ioyned not with any other intention these two ceremonies S. Cyprian serm de Can. Denun but to shew that he accomplished this Figure past in this present verity and that vpon a Picture of most noble and most illustrious antiquitie he made as it were a bed or table for the Sacrifice of the Law of Grace which will appeare if we obserue the very lineaments of the Iudaical shadow expressed in the light of our faith First the Law commandeth to offer the Lambe in the euening of the fourteenth day of the first Moone that is to say of the first month of the yeare as hath been said and afterwards to eate it for it could not be eaten without it were first immolated as Saint Gregory of Nisse noteth S. Greg. Niss Or. 1. de Resur In the next place the selfe-same Law saith that they ought to eate it euery one priuately in his owne family These circumstances as the others of which we will speake hereafter haue infallibly been accomplished in some Sacrifices of the new Law Matt. 5.17.18 for otherwise Iesus Christ should not haue fulfilled the old Law from point to point according as he promised and should haue giuen a Figure or shadow without exhibiting the truth and substance Now this accomplishment hath not been made in the Sacrifice of the Crosse for this Sacrifice fell not out in the fourteenth but in the fifteenth day of the Moone which was the Friday following neither in the euening of the day but at midday when our Sauiour mounting on the Crosse hung thereon three hourses after before he died neither was there then any mysticall refection for none did eate at that time neither was this Sacrifice made priuately in euery Family but publikely and in the sight of the world These Ceremonies then touch not the Crosse whereas all of them agree very well to the Eucharist For our Sauiour offered himselfe therein Matth. 26. Marc. 24. Luc. 22. the true Lambe at the going downe of the Sun on Thursday the fourteenth day of the Moone and gaue himselfe to be catenpresently after and this in priuate onely in the presence of his Family which were his twelue Apostles representing then his deare Spouse the Church to whom he left for his last farewell out of this mortall life his body as a pledge of his infinit loue and an immortall memory of the good that he was to doe to vs and for vs. This ancient Figure then of the Paschall Lambe according to the circumstances thereof hath beed accomplished in the Eucharist and not elsewhere 4. HOW IESVS CHRIST IS IMITATED in the Eucharist BVt if the Lambe was imitated and immolation importeth occasion how is it that our Sauiour hath accomplished the verity of the immolation in the institution of the Eucharist seeing that he was not slaine at that time How can it be that he should now be immolated seeing that he is immortall The Catholike Doctors answere to this question that if one take the word of immolation strictly and in rigour signifying reall occasion it was not properly done but on the Crosse and heere is no immolation of that nature for so much as the body of our Sauiour is now remoued infinitely from the gripes of death and from all hurt not onely on the Altar but wheresoeuer else he is Rom. 6. Iesus Christ saith the Scripture being risen dyeth no more death hath no more power ouer him The same Doctors notwithstanding following the Scripture teach all with one accord that hee is mmolated in the Eucharist howbeit they be different in the explication of this immolation some haue said that there is no other thing but the bare representation of the death of our Sauiour which is not sufficient because so it should be but a Picture of immolation not true immolation nor such as the Catholike Doctrine teacheth vs. Wherefore the exposition of others is better and more agreeable to the Scriptures and to the testimony of antiquitie who hold that this immolation consists in this that our Sauiour gaue himselfe as hee yet giues himselfe for meate and drinke vnder the forme of dead things which are the accidents of bread and wine taking in them a dead being to wit of things that wee eate which is a being that hath neither life nor feeling So that as hee became mortall by taking vpon him our mortal nature in the which he was immolated in his owne person on the Altar of the Crosse albeit his Diuinity remained still immortall Euen so taking heere an exteriour being of a thing dead and giuing himselfe vnder such a being he exhibits himselfe as dead and after this manner he is truely immolated in regard of the formes though he remaine still in himselfe altogether impassible And although the humanity alone of the Sonne of God endured the strokes of death yet notwithstanding we say that God is truely dead because the Humanity and the Diuinity made then but one to wit one person God and man 1. Cor. 2.8 Iesus Christ In like manner we say that the body of our Sauiour is truely immolated albeit nothing but the species earieth the marks of death not because the forms make not one person but one Sacrament with the body of our Sauiour and this body is truely immolated and truely broken by reason of the species of bread which endures this breaking and likewise his bloud is truely shed not as the bloud which is drawne from the veines but after the maner as the substance of wine might a little before haue bin powred out in his owne kind to which succeeded the substance of bloud immolated without occasion as the first Councell of Nice explaines it Concil 1. Nicen. Cap. 5. and shed without bloudy effusion and truely immolated according to the order of Melchisedech vnder the dead formes of bread and wine Concil Trident. Sess 22. cap. 1. as speakes the Councell of Trent immolated not in Figure as of old in the Hebrew Sacrifices where his body was not present and immolated not in him himselfe and in his proper forme as it was on the Crosse but as it is said vnder the formes of bread and wine vnder which his body is present and it is in this sense that the holy Scripture and the Doctors teach that our Sauiour is offered or immolated in the Eucharist as shall be euident by the testimonies following 5. THE IMMOLATION OF THE BODY of our Sauiour in the Masse confirmed by the testimonies of the Scripture and ancient Fathers SAint Paul saith 1. Cor. 5.7 Christ our Paschall Lambe hath been immolated wherefore let vs feast with
bread without leauen bread of sincerity It is certaine that the Apostle meant the immolation of our Sauiour made in the Eucharist with refection and not that of the Crosse which was a Paschal Feast accompanied with torments of ignominies of distresses and wants and of other circumstances repugnant to a holy refection Saint AMBROST S. Ambros in cap. 1 Luc. When we Sacrifice Christ is present Christ is immolated for Christ our Passcouer hath been offered Saint Hierom after Origen giues the same exposition Orig. S. Hier. in 26. Mat. Concil 1. Nic. can 5. that Saint Ambrose of the words of Saint Paul and the first Councell of Nice saith that our Sauiour is immolated without effusion of bloud as we said euen now Saint Cyril of Hierusalem tells vs speaking of the Eucharist S. Cyril Hieres Catech. Mist 5. Christ is offered to God the Father for our sins Saint Gregory Nisse proueth it by the Figure of the Paschall Lambe saying S. Greg. Niss Or. 1. de Resur Euery man knoweth that man could not eate the Lambe but first it was immolated wherefore Iesus Christ gining his body to be eaten shewes manifestly that there was before a true and entire immolation Saint AVGVSTINE Iesus Christ S. Aug ep 23. ad Bonis hauing been once immolated in himselfe is he not neuerthe lesse immolated for the people euery day After the same language speake the other Doctors of the Church of God whom it is not needfull to cite we ought rather to admire heere the infinite power wisdom and bounty of our Redeemer in that he will vouchsafe to giue himselfe in such a fashion for the benefit of his members and that so much the more because the gift surpasseth not onely our merits but euen our thoughts For who could euer dare to hope who would euer thinke that he would so much abase himselfe after his triumphant Ascension that he would become meate for vs To apparell himselfe with mortality to make vs immortall To take a mortall Robe vpon him for to giue vs an immortall garment Is hee not truely all puissant in this effect all wise in this ordinance and al good in this charity As who for example would euer haue expected those other things which now wee see are come to passe if they were not done alreadie Who would haue thought that this selfe-same Sonne of God equall in all things to his Father immortall impossible most rich Creator and nourishers of all creatures could haue had the power and will to make himselfe Man a mortall man a needy little Insant sucking the breast of a Virgin to giue himselfe afterwards on the Crosse remaining alwayes what hee was before Who without particuler reuelation would euer haue thought this Wee know that he would doe it and that he hath done it and we admire it in our attentiue silence Admire then likewise the same God for that he giueth and continueth to giue his glorious body hidden vnder such base elements impassible vnder corruptible garments immortall vnder the robe of immortality and a great Creator vnder the cottage of a little creature a great God vnder the forme of a little Lambe 6. HOW THE PASCHALL LAMBE sheweth the vse and end of the Eucharist THere is yet one noble consideration more in the Paschall Lambe which shewes the vse and the end for which our Sacrifice was ordained The Paschall Lambe was instituted in signe of the deliuery of the Iewes Exod. 8.12.12 and in memory of it For they immolated it about the euening at the going downe of the Sunne and did eate it a little after towards night Deut. 16. and at midnight following was the Pasque or the Fast that is to say the passage of our Lord when passing thorow Aegypt hee slew by the hand of his reuenging Angell all the first borne which was the great blow he gaue for the deliuerance of the Iewes that was to follow the next day and Moses by the ordinance of God aduertised the Iewes to teach their posterity that this Sacrifice of the Lambe was commanded in memory of this deliuerance Exod. 12.14.26 Wherefore this was a signe of the benefit to be receiued and a memoriall thereof after it was receiued The resemblance of this Figure hath been perfectly accomplished in the verity For our Sauiour ordained the Sacrament and Sacrifice of his body vpon the euening of that night in which he was taken to be crucified the next morning and passe from this world into another to stisle by his death the true first-borne of Aegypt to wit the sinnes of mankinde and to bury afterwards in his precious bloud as within the depth of a red-Sea of his infinite merits the powers of hell for the true deliuerance of his Elect. This Sacrifice then was a signe of the victory which was to be gotten and a memoriall of the same after it was gained this our Sauiour signified when instituting the same he foretold the Apostles of his death and commanded them to doe what hee had done in remembrance of him Doe this in remembrance of me that is to say Luc. 22.19 1. Cor. 11.24 celebrate this Sacrifice in remembrance of that I shall haue done for your redemption For as the night which followed the institution of the Paschall Lambe was the great Vigil and immediate signe of the deliuerance of the Hebrewes so also the midnight of our Sauiour which followed the institution of this Sacrifice was the great brunt and the immediate ensigne of our redemption The time of this midnight was at ful midday whē he moūted on the Crosse to encounter the enemy and to ouerthrow our sins with out-stretched armes this was a profound midnight indeed of spirituall darknesse in which they were buried which procured his death a midnight also of corporall darknesse for the Sunne and the Moone enraged with the indignity of such a crime committed against the person of their Creator were suddenly colypsed and caused a profound darknesse extraordinary and a dreadfull night in the midst of the day And as the Ceremony of the Paschall Lambe continued in memory of the good receiued in Aegypt so long as the Synagogue endured So in like maner the Sacrifice of the Masse was instituted to continue in memory of the victorious Passion of our Lord so long as the Church shall be militant heere on earth and this is it which Saint Paul saith 1. Cor. 11.26 writing to the Christians of Gorinth As often as you shall eate of this Bread and drinke of this Chalice you shew the death of the Lord vntill he come that is to say euen vntill the great day 7. OF THE CEREMONIES VSED IN eating the Paschall Lambe THere were a great number of Mysticall Ceremonies vsed in eating of the Iewes Paschall Lambe which in their shadowes Figure to vs the truth of ours and together instruct vs how we ought to eate it for to draw substance of life from it The Iewes
all now it makes present his body in a place where it was not a little before There it changed nothing into the creature heere it changeth one creature into another and in a certaine manner into the Creator himselfe so as the Priestes working in the Consecration by vertue of this omnipotent words are in this respect Creators of their Creator For changing the bread into the body of our Sauiour and making this body present they make also by necessary concomitance that his Soule and his Diuinity which neuer abandons the body be also present and by such operation they produce after a certaine manner the diuine Person and their Creator neither more nor lesse then the glorious Virgin brought forth Iesus Christ God and Man and is truely called the Creatrix and Mother of her Creator although shee bred neither the Soule nor the Diuinitie of him but onely the body conioyned to a reasonable Soule and hypostatically vnited to the Diuine Person which accompanieth it vnseparably Therefore the mystery of the Incarnation as also of Transubstantiation is greater and nobler then that of Creation For the effect of the Creation was a creature to wit the World but the effect of the Incarnation as also of Transubstantiation is the Creator by reason of this consequence and concomitance And if one should consider the body of our Sauiour alone the effect is alwayes more pretious seeing that this body surpasseth the price of a thousand worlds God then sheweth himselfe greater in this change then he did in the Creation And therefore after the Creation and before the Mystery of Transubstantiation when he would giue proofe of his power it was first by the change of one creature into another because such an operation did most properly testifie the soueraigne Master of Nature but therewithall to facilitate the faith of Transubstantiation which he was to make in the Law of Grace of bread and wine into the body and bloud of his Sonne So for the first proofe of his omnipotencie he changed the Rod of Moses into a Serpent and before Pharoe and the Aegyptians Exod. 3. 4. he conuerted the waters of Aegypt into bloud So likewise the first miracle by which Iesus Christ made man shewed himselfe God was by changing the water into wine the last remarkable miracle that he wrought in his mortall life Ioan. 2. was in changing the bread into his body the wine into his bloud which he continueth euery day and shall continue in witnesse of his omnipotencie so long as his Church shal walke in the Desert of this world as he continued the Figure of Manna in the Desert of Arabia during the peregrination of the Hebrewes in which Manna this admirable mutation was figured for as it is said in the booke of Wisdome Sap. 16.21 it was turned into that euery man would haue it 8. THIS CHANGE IS A MIRACLE FOR the Faithfull NOw this changing of substance into substance appeareth not to the bodily sense but to the eyes of faith onely and therefore it is made for the faithful which beleeue without seeing and not for vnfaithfull and carnal people S. Aug. in serm de Temp. 147. Whose rule is to vnderstand nothing except that which they touch saith Saint Augustine The mutations and changes that Moses made to fight against the infidelity of Pharoe and the Aegyptians and to giue manifest proof of Gods omnipotency strucke their senses with admiration as also the miracles of our Sauiour did and those of his Saints which were done to plant the faith The miracle that hee worketh in this change as also in the accidents is not for the planting of faith but for the exercise and encrease thereof he that requireth to see it with sense shewes that he hath no more faith then an Infidell and that he more beleeues his sense then the words of God which denounceth to him this change saying This is my body this is my bloud he shewes also that he vnderstands not reason for there are diuers natural changes which are made in secret without the senses perceiuing when they are made as when the water changeth it selfe into the juyce of wine in the Vine and into the juyoe of a Cherry in a Cherry-tree when the corne changeth it selfe into the substance of an eare and when an Egge is turned into a Chicken the shell remaining whole and without any exteriour mutation 9. OF THE SAME POWER OF GOD shewed in the accidents of bread and wine AS our Sauiour sheweth himselfe in this Sacrament Lord and Master of Nature by changing the substance as it hath been said so he maketh it appeare that he is omnipotent in the accidents of the same substance distributed into those nine Orders which wee haue set downe before First in generall because he giues to them all a manner of being supernaturall which is to support themselues without subiect an effect so farre aboue the power of common nature as it is for a man to hold himselfe in the ayre without stay And in particular he giueth force to the quantity of bread not onely to be without subiect but also to doe the office of substance and to serue for foundation to the quality to the sauour Gen. 21. and to other accidents and produceth with them a substance in giuing nourishment by them 2. Reg. Luke 1. Luke 1. And as by commanding the barrennesse of Sara of Anna and of Elizabeth and the Virginitie of his blessed Mother to conceiue and bring forth he made proofe of his omnipotencie Euen so he shewes himselfe heere omnipotent when he commandeth the barren accidents themselues and without all sappe of substance to bring forth and which is more to bring foorth an effect farre aboue their ranke to wit a substance which is a nature without comparison more noble then the accident and of whom the accidents altogether depend as simple officers and vassalls hauing nothing of their owne but what they haue from the power of substance These are then so many markes of an omnipotent Lord in this Mystery 10. THE SELFE-SAME POWER VERIFIED in the accidents of the body of our Sauiour and first in respect of the quantity THe diuine Power is yet more euident in the managing of the accidents of the body of our Sauiour 2 for it there holds his quantity all entire with his dimensions without possessing place all in all the Hoast and all in euery part how little soeuer it be which is to giue to his body that manner of being that naturally belongeth to a spirit thereby to shew himselfe God omnipotent So God is all through all and all in euery part of the world and our soule through all the body and all in euery part The body of our Sauiour is not euery where that being a prerogatiue reserued to the Diuinitie alone but it is in many places in one selfesame time and in all parts of the Hoast which is naturall to spirits and
vs the truth of our Eucharist but principally three The first the Leauen the second the Time the third the Sacrifices foregoing this Oblation It hath been said that these Loaues were made of Leauen-paste and were eleuated in Oblation by the High Priest with the Lambes Leuit. 23.20 Then saith the Scripture the Sacrificers shall-eleuate the Lambes with the Loaues of the First-fruits turning them before the Lord. In such sort as the Loaues were put aboue the Lambes and all was eleuated together This is a diuine draught of Gods Pensell in the Table of the Figure teaching vs not only the presence of the body of his Sonne true Lambe without blot in the Sacrifice of the Masse but also the manner of his being there which is by transubstantiation that is to say by changing of the substance of bread into the substance of the body of our Sauiour hiddeÌ„ vnder the formes of bread The Leauen heretofore hath been a signe vnto vs of some bad thing but heere by a contrary quality it is a signe of that which is good as often in Scripture one selfesame thing hath sundry and contrary significations by reason of contrary references and respects So the Lion Gen. 49 9. Apoc. 5.5 1. Pet. 5.8 if we consider him as a Royall and strong beast is a signe of God as he is cruell and fierce a signe of the Diuell For which cause our Sauiour himselfe expresseth Vice by Leauen in one place Matth. 16.6 Luke 13.21 and in another he compares his Church to Leauen The Leauen then in the Loaues of the First-fruits figureth to vs the transubstantiation which is made in our Eucharist as already often hath been said and must bee said hereafter behold the picture The Leauen by a naturall property changeth the paste heates it puffes it vp and giues it in a certaine manner soule and life so farre forth as it is capable thereof The word of God supernaturall Leauen changeth also the bread and because it is of more force then nature it passeth also further for it chaÌ„geth not the qualities as the natural leaueÌ„ in the paste but the substaÌ„ce it leaues the visible qualities chaÌ„geth the bread within it animateth truly this bread makes it liuing bread changing the substance of it into the flesh of the Lambe of God Iesus Christ signified by the Lambes offred with the Loaues in this Sacrifice The Loaues the Lambes eleuated by the High Priest were diuers things and did make one onely oblation heere where the truth is liuely accomplished diuers elements also make one self-same Oblation for the Lambe is vnder the formes of bread and wine and when those elements are multiplied and offered in diuers places it is alwayes one selfesame Lambe and one selfesame Sacrifice So as this draught drawne in the old Figure tells vs that the Sacrifice figured by the bread of First-fruits should be one Sacrifice of flesh vnder the shewes of bread and wine to which draught our Sauiour gaue liuely colours when he instituted the Sacrament of his body vnder these elements Neither is it without mystery that the Loaues and the Lambs were of two diuers natures for they signified two natures in one Iesus Christ the Diuinity and the Humanity two things in one Sacrament the earthly which are the visible accidents and the heauenly which is the body of the Sonne of God and his Grace Finally they signified two peoples the Gentiles and Iewes vnited vnder one Head reduced into one and made one by meanes of this Sacrament and Sacrifice And so his diuine Wisdome not only teacheth vs by this figuratiue Lineament the presence of his Flesh in the Eucharist but also the quality of his Person and after what manner he makes vs his flesh and vniteth vs therein Let vs see what the Scripture and the ancient Hebrew and Christian Doctors say hereof enriching the Figure with the embroderies of their learned Expositions 6. THE SACRAMENT AND SACRIFICE of the body of our Sauiour vnder the formes of bread foretold in the Scripture and taught by the Hebrew Doctors DAVID by these eleuated Loaues foretold our Sacrament and Sacrifice Psal 71.72 There shall be saith hee a firmament in the earth in the tops of wountaines the fruit thereof shall be extolled farre aboue Libanus Or according to the Hebrew phrase There shall be a little wheat in the earth vpon the top of the mountaines and the fruit thereof shall be lifted aboue Lybanus These words cannot signifie other wheate or any other thing more liuely then our consecrated Hosts containing the body of our Sauiour true wheat on earth true bread and solid stabilitie of our soules and bodies fruit truely lifted vp not onely vpon the toppe of Libanus but aboue the highest of the celestiall powers Wherefore the Hebrew Doctors conformably hereunto Rab. Salomon in Psal 72.16 vol say that Dauid heere did sing of a certaine kinde of little Cakes or thinne delitious wafers that should bee offered in Sacrifice in the time of the Messias Psal 71.16 Our Masters saith he of happy memory vnderstood by this word a certaine kind of Cakes which shall be made in the time of the Messias of the which also all the Psalme is written And all their Hebrew Commentaries extoll extoll euen to heauen the eating and mystery of this Bread and of these Cakes which say they shall be of the bignesse of the palme of a mans hand And one amongst them Rab. Derachias â—â—â—eans illad â— Eccles quid est quod fuit id quod crit Eccles 9. named Barachias explaining these words of Ecclesiastices What is that which was the same that shall be addeth further As their first deliuerer to wit Moyses had giuen them bread of wonder which was Manna so the second Redeemer the Messias should giue them a more wonderfull bread to wit these Cakes And hereunto the same Redeemer alludeth Ioan. 6. saying It is not Moyses which gaue you the bread from heauen vnderstanding his body as it hath been declared in the Figure of Manna Rab. Ionathas in suo â—aigum Gal. l. 10. c. 4. Psal 71.17 And the Rabbins Paraphrastically interpret in the same sense the words of the Psalme before alledged There shall bee saith one of them a parcell of bread in the earth on the top of the mountaines that is to say saith hee there shall bee a Sacrifice of bread on the head of the mountaines of the Church or on the head of the Priests which shall bee in the Church For the Mountaines of the Church are the Prelats and Priests of it if they be such as are worthy of that name for so much as they are lifted vp aboue the vulgar as spirituall Mountaines aboue the earth by holinesse in manners and sublimity of Doctrine This Figure then is euery day literally fulfilled in the Church when the Priests say Masse eleuating the holy Hoast aboue their head and when the faithfull Christians eate
the Church in her first increasings Shee sheweth the Church vnder the Law of Nature at the Change in the weaknesse of her beames and on the fourteenth day when shee is at the Full shee hath a resemblance of the Church in the Synagogue as we haue said but in that she became a new Moone after a new manner in her fifteenth day she signified the Church in the Law of Grace The newnesse and new manner consists in this that shee drew neare to the Sun by an extraordinary meanes for being on Thursday so farre from it as the East from the West the next day shee was euen against it which approachment shee should not make according to her naturall course but in the space of fourteene dayes supernaturally also and with no lesse wonder shee returned to the East on Friday euening at Sun-set where shee had been the night before And so in six houres shee put on the seuerall roabes of all her states for shee was new shee was in he first quarter shee was in her fulnesse and in the beginning of her third seuenth to wit in her fifteenth day In these circumstances and in these wonders happening neuer before nor since shee marketh out the Church in the state of Grace a state of singular renouation of a third seuenth of a third time in the new Pasch in the new and great Sacrifice and Feast instituted by the Sonne of God in his body To which purpose Saint Augustine writeth in these words Because wee are in the third time of all the worlds continuance 〈◊〉 Aug. 〈◊〉 119. ad lanâ—er c. 3. herehence it is that our Sauiour rose vpon the third day The first time was before the Law the second in the Law the third vnder Grace in the which is manifested the Sacrament which was hid in the folds of the Propheticall bookes This it is that which was signified by the number of the Moones and for that 〈◊〉 the Scripture the number of seuen hath a mysticall signification of perfection the Pasche was celebrated in the third weeke of the Moone which is betweene the fourteenth and the â—â—e and twentieth day Behold how God reades vs a lesson by his Starres teaching vs Paradise by the skie and communicating to vs the beames of his intellectuall light by the condition and course of the corporall 18. OVR SAVIOVR HAVING INSTITVted the Sacrifice and Sacrament of his body goeth foorth of his ledging to goe to the Garden of Oliuet THe sweete Lambe being offered this euening and giuen in refection to his Apostles and hauing abolished the olde Pasche and instituted the new as hath been said sung an Hymne with his Apostles after the tradition of the Iewes and went forth to goe to the garden of Oliuet where he was to be deliuered by Iudas to the wicked who had already the watch-word to apprehend him This only remained to accomplish all the proofes of his infinite loue towards mankinde He was first offered to his Father by an vnbloudy Sacrifice without death and passion he went forth to be taken afterwards as a Lambe and to be made a victime on the Crosse there shedding his bloud and giuing his life He had giuen his body to his friends he goeth now to offer it to his enemies He had refectioned the soules of the humble he went soone after to bee fed with gall to drinke viniger to surfet with the torments and reproaches of the proud He long since planted a Garden of delights of rest and of honor he is now gone to a garden of sorrowes of combate and of disgrace He planted the Tree of Life in that delightfull Garden he commeth to plant another in the Orchard of his Church more exquisit and more excellent without comparison And himselfe walkes in this solitary Garden to repaire the fault committed in the first Garden In that the debt was made by disobedience in this it began to be paid by humility In planting the first Garden and the first tree of life he only imployed his word who commanded and all was made but in this it is not so one houres stay in this will cost thee thy bloud O my sweet Redeemer and with the droppes of that pretious purple the beds of this garden must be watred And the Tree of Life which thou hast planted in the Paradise of thy Church is not any meane effect as that was of thy holy word but thy pretious body and bloud it selfe accompanied with the aray of thy holy Diuinitie O my Lord what can I say to prayse thy magnificency I say that thou art magnificent euery way in taking and giuing in feeding and in suffering euery way good and euery liberall of thy goods and of thy selfe euery way rich in mercy and euery way aboundant in propitiation herehence it is that for thy last retraite thou goest to the Garden of Oliuet to make for vs and to giue vnto vs the oyle of thy mercies Oliues for vs but Apples of anguish for thee O my soule thy Redeemer goeth in the night and goeth to subiect himselfe for thee to paines in this Garden doe something for him accompany him amidst this darknesse haue compassion on him admire his loue towards thee loath thy sinnes that haue cast him into these vexations weepe and pray with him offer him thy heart and seruice in this perplexed high-way of his Agony And fince thou art written in his Will called to his Heritage and placed at the Table of his Kingdome to eate of his fruit of life giue some signe of a grateful soule and mindfull of so many benefits make him some present of thy gifts that he hath giuen thee and giue him something of that which he hath made thine albeit thou art nothing yet giue him thy selfe in giuing thy selfe thou shalt become something giue thy selfe to him since he hath giuen himselfe to thee and when I say himselfe what say I an infinite depth of goodnesse giuen many wayes vnto thee in his birth in his conuersation in thy meate in his death and in all the kindes that a thing can be giuen After thou hast contemplated thanked followed and serued him in the Garden of Oliues at the Iudgement Barre of Pilate in the Mount Caluary at the Crosse with teares and sighes of loue of compunction and compassion make him often thy Host by means of this diuine Table which he hath prepared for thee of his immortall and glorious body to giue himselfe to thee and to lodge with thee so often as thou wilt and taking the healthfull refection of his dish contemplate moreouer in this Table the delicates of Paradise and of eternall life which shall follow after For as the Altars of the Hebrewes were Figures of this Feast so this Feast is the Image of the celestiall Table Heere thou eatest the bread of Angells in heauen thou shalt also liue of the bread of Angels Heere thy meat is God himselfe the self-same God will be thy food at that Table
folly and ingratitude of men Page 239 12 To the strayed sâ—â—epe of our age Page 242 PICTVRE XIII The washing of the feete going before the Institution of the Eucharist THe Description Page 245 1 Our Sauiour celebrates the Iewes Passouer before he institutes the Sacrament of his body Page 249 2 What is signified by the washing of feete Page 252 PICTVRE XIV The Institution of the Eucharist THe Description Page 255 1 The entrance that Saint Iohn maketh by which has declareth the greatnesse of the mystery of the Eucharist which our Sauiour was to institute Page 258 2 The Exposition of our Sauiours words This is my body Page 261 3 Of the clearenesse of the sense of these words This is my body by Scripture and by reason Page 263 4 Testimonies of the Fathers vpon the Exposition of the same words Page 265 5 Mysticall references of our Sauiours words This is my body to the ancient Figures and to all other bodies Page 268 6 How our Sauiour offers himself to God in Sacrifice saying This is my body Page 271 7 The Sacrifice and Sacrament of our Lords body to haue been instituted in the mysticall Supper declared by the testimony of Fathers Page 274 8 Our Sauiours Testament made in the Institution of the Sacrifice and Sacrament of his body Page 275 9 In what manner our Sauiour hauing made his Testament left his body to his heires Page 279 10 Two great wonders happened in the Institution of this Sacrament Page 281 11 S. Iohn first receiueth of all the Apostles The Eucharist the true refection and the Present at the refection Page 283 12 Of the words of our Sauiour Doe this in my remembrance Page 284 13 The Masse a most proper memoriall of our Sauiours Passion Page 286 14 The Masse the Feast of God wherein he is singularly called vpon in the Law of Grace and the Christians are perfectly heard Page 288 15 The redemption of mankind and the end of the Synagogue signified by the Institution of the Eucharist in the full of the Moâ—ne Page 291 16 The end of the Synagogue and the beginning of the Law of Grace signified by the eclypse of the Moone and Sunne which fell out the next day of the Pasche and after the Eucharist ordained Page 293 17 The Church signified by the Moone and of the Pasche and Christian renouation Page 294 18 Our Sauiour hauing instituted the Sacrifice and Sacrament of his body goeth foorth of his lodging to goe to the Garden of Oliuet Page 297 FINIS Faults escaped PAge 14. line 21. pegising reade picreing p. 15. l. 23. cause r. sorts p. 18. l. 25. like quallities r. like heauenly quallities P. 25. l. 13. tree of all r. tree for all p. 27. l. 9. practise r. praise P. 32. l. 12. workes r. markes p. 38. l. 10. he feared the r. serâ—â—ed thee p. 47. l. 15. mystery r. ministry p. 57. l. 7. affirming r. offering p. 63. l. 33. salactous r. solicitous p. 64. l. 16. prosperity r. posterity p. 76. l. 1. wasting r. rosting p. 120. l. 14. wee haue r. wee heare p. 125. l. 20. workes r. markes p. 131. l. 27. conuersation r. conseruation p. 151. l. 43. holy r. honny p. 172. l. 22. Lauarites r. Lauatories p. 183. l. 11. celestiall r. eternall p. 212. l. 27. freed r. fed p. 221 l. 7. boundy r. bounty p. 225. l. 29. glory for vs r. glorifie vs. p. 230. l. 23. explanation r. â—â—plication p. 236. l. 15. writeth r. reciteth p. 264. l. 16. cominent r. connenient p. 267. l. 26. S. Augustine writing r. S. Augustine reciting p. 269. l. 7. Idonay r. Adonay p. 276. l. 17. Iesus r. Iosua p. 292. l. 2. fourteeth r. fourteenth and l. 7. Hierusam r. Hierusalem p. 292. l. 23. was not com r. was now com p. 295. l. 9. the Church shewes r. the Church shinâ— and l. 31. shee should not make r. shee could not make p. 229. l. 29. in that we shall be r. in that there we shall be