were Relatiues and that after a sort it would redound vpon them both a like there could be no doubt but that howsoeuer he were so vnworthy as not to be gratefull to her for her sake yet he would not faile to be so for his owne What kind of (a) How our Lord was as it were obliged to fill our B. Lady with all perfectiō thing must they therfore make Almighty God who allow him not to haue endued our Blessed Lady withall the priuiledges and prerogatiues of sāctity and grace wherof a pure creature could be capable since he tooke flesh of her and that she was ordayned from all eterniry to giue a new being and nature and life to himselfe Wherby he was to atcheeue the most glorious enterprize which euer he had vndertaken or euer would And so much more wicked is it to thinke any such thing of God euen because he is God and is not a whit the emptier for filling any other with himselfe And because he is supreme goodnes and knowes not how to be ouercome with curtesy But now since he descended to this Incarnation in the B. Virgins wombe especially and expresly for the meere cōmunication of himselfe to all his reasonable creatures what flouds of grace must he needs be beleeued to haue rayned downe vpon that happy soule by whose only meanes vnder himselfe he was afterward to deriue himselfe to others Yea and finally if this blasphemy could be a truth that God had sought his owne and not our end therby and that it were possible to conceaue God to be wise and not conceaue him to be also good yet euen wisedom alone would haue obliged him to doe all that for her which could possibly haue bin done to a created nature since himselfe was to be so highly interessed therby his very body hauing bin wholy hers The glory or shame of any mother and her Sonne are so neere of kinne that they will not part and how much more of this Sonne and mother since this mother gaue this Sonne all the humane nature he had by the operatiō of the holy Ghost And (b) That body which our B. Lady gaue to Christ our Lord is that very body which is to raigne eternally at the right hād of God that very body so bestowed by her as to remaine raigne at the right hand of God for all eternity It is therfore of much honour to Christ our Lord the more honorable and excellent his Blessed Mother was And by this we way also easily discerne the immensity of height to which our Blessed Lady is exalted She being raysed vp so neere to the Deity of Christ our Lord it selfe and beholding that omnipotent God both personally and eternally to subsist and liue in her nature And by the infinite merit of that person of his to be working such store of spirituall miracles in the world adorning men heere with guifts of grace and crowning them afterward with glory So great is our Blessed Lady so much more as shall be shewed afterward and her adnersaries and ours haue no cause to scandalize themselues with vs for saying so For to that which they are wont to say that we equall her to Christ our Lord I will desire them to receaue this short true answere that afterward I may proceed in her prayses without any further feare of offending them By so good a worke we all acknowledge and beleeue our Lord IESVS to be true and perfect God and that our Blessed Lady though the most excellent meere creature that euer was to haue bin no more then a meere creature Now (c) There lyes no comparisort at all betweene our B. Lady and Christ our Lord as God it followes heervpon that there was is more excellency in him as God then her by more millions of degrees then there is greater quātity in the bulke of the whole world then in the least little moate which wanders vp and downe in the ayre For in a word he is infinite she but finite therfore there lyes no kind of comparison betwene them two Let it be also considered that euen what she had of dignity and greatues did all originally as will further be shewed afterward depend vpon that first Grace wherby she was elected without any merit at all of hers through the only goodnes of God who drew her by his diuine vnderstanding before all eternities and did execute it afterwards vpon her when the fulnes of tyme was come out of the whole race of mankind with intention to make her that happy creature which should giue flesh and bloud and life to the increated Word and Wisedome of God the secōd person of the most holy Trinity Which diuine life of his he would afterward lay downe vpon the Crosse for the redemption of the world and the totall destruction of our death That (d) The ground Originall cause of all our B. Ladies sanctity out of the same free goodnes she was made a most pure vessell of the holy Ghost at the very first instant of her sacred and immaculate Conception that so as she was to be the mother of God she might also be made most worthy of so incomparable a dignity And that to this end she was most beloued adorned and enriched withall that plenitude of diuine graces and vertues prerogatiues which might any way be conuenient for the incomprehensible high office to which she was assumed That not only she was infinitely inferiour indeed of her selfe a meere Nothing in respect of God but that she was also incōcomparably of lesse excellency and dignity then Christ our Lord as he was man And that since euen the soule of Christ our Lord himselfe did not deserue that first Grace wherby it pleased God to assume and vnite it hypostatically to the second person of the most blessed Trinity in vertue of which vnion the Grace and merit of that soule after a sort was infinite so much lesse could the soule of the B. Virgin deserue the first Grace which was imparted to it whervpon all her other greatnes did originally depend That (e) The great preheminēce of Christ our Lord euen as he is man beyond our B. Lady Christ our Lord did merit as it were infinitely of himselfe and for himselfe but that the Blessed Virgin could neuer haue merited any thinge but in vertue of the merits of Christ our Lord. That Christ our Lord was absolutely and of himselfe by nature holy and indued at the first instant wherin his soule was vnited to the Word with such an immensity of all diuine graces as was wholy incapable of any increase That he was our sole Redeemer and Sauiour and for himselfe did need no Sauiour nor Redeemer That he was not conceaued in the way of ordinary generation but by way of Obumbration of the holy Ghost in the most pretious and pure wombe of the all-immaculate Luc. 1. and B. Virgin But that she came into
shew of peÌ„nance you said he had a deuill my selfe am come to you without any shew of such austerities but I haue applyed my self to your coÌ„uersation And now you say that I am a glution I would fayne win your loue but I know not how I would faine inflame you to the seruice of God but your powder it so wet that no coales of mine can giue it fire And I would to IESVS that through our sinnes we did not see this verified also at this day when the Sectaries and Politiques of the world are so fastidious as that they make faces at his Doctrine whatsoeuer it be Nor will they be conuinced either by the exemplar visible austerity and pennance of some of our holy Religious Ordes which were consecrated in the person of S. Iohn nor by the applyable learned prudent humble charitable endeauour of some other Institutes which hide their mortifications for feare of frighting mens weake mindes and which were designed and recommended by the liuely example expresse Doctrine of Christ our Lord and his Apostles But woe be to them vvho in case of temporall infirmity haue so ill a constitution as to conuert their Phisicke into Poyson And (f) This disease both of body and mind is very dangerous vvoe vvill be to these others in the last day vvho in cases vvhich concerne the soule doe from truth take an occasion of continuing in errour Or rather I beseech our Lord IESVS euen by the memory and merit of that Doctrine vvhich vvith so ardent loue he deliuered heere on earth they may at last find themselues conuinced by it and that imbracing it vvith their vvill they may escape all vvoe The same discourse is continued concerning the great loue which our Lord Iesus expressed in his Doctrine CHAP. 34. I Haue vvillingly entertained my selfe vpon the consideration of some circumstances vvhich concerne the aduantages of this diuine Doctour of our soules beyond all the Doctours vvhich are or euer vvere or are to be Because though no argumeÌ„t should be dravvn from the very Doctrine it selfe to proue the loue of him that taught it yet his person alone and the very manner vvhich he held therin vvas such as ought to oblige the most rebellious mindes that liue to all obedience Our Lord IESVS himselfe notvvithstanding that he had incomparably the greatest humility that euer vvas possessed by any soule did yet vvell vnderstand and iustly prize the dignity of his ovvne person so farre as to knovv that he tooke no authority from his Doctrine but that his Doctrine tooke it all from him Yet so great vvas his goodnes that although he vvere as perfect God as he vvas perfect man he (a) The sectartes will be beleeued vpon their wordes yet Christ Lord would not exact so much of the Iewes vvould not yet oblige vs to beleeue it vnlesse first he had prooued it by infallible testimonies But that being once done he was not to indignify diminish any one vvord of his Doctrine and decrees by alleaging reasons and proofes but only simply to affirme it This point I touch diuers times because occasion is ministred very ofteÌ„ and euen Popes and Princes who are but dust and ashes doe hold this stile and are wont to send out their decrees and to make their Edicts in a positiue and expresse forme And whatsoeuer earnest asseuerations or reasons should be added for the grace strength therof would many tymes be but as a contrary meanes to that end So that the (b) Euen the play nnes of the deliuery of the doctrine of Christ our Lord giues it great authority plainenes of the deliuery of the Doctrine of Christ our Lord is a vehement proose of the diuinenes of it Since being voyd of all those helpes of art in the arme wherof all other Doctrines put their hope this alone is a Doctrine which dares expose it selfe playne and naked And in despight of the whole wicked world it liues it breathes it gathers ground and strength amongst all the venemous weeds of the world And in despite of ignorance sensuality and sinne it strikes at the roote not only of all things which are contrary to God and goodnes but euen of all things which are lesse good and perfect And it (c) The Trophees which the Doctrine of Christ our Lord erecteth in the hart of man erecteth Trophees and keepeth tryumphes in the profoundest part of the harts of the ciuilest the worthiest the learnedst the wisest and the holyest people of the whole world The more sublime authority this Doctrine hath and the more aduantage otherwise the more infinitely are we Catholikes bound to that diuine goodnes which with an eternall loue did make choyce of vs as the disciples thereof And to the end that we might the more easily conceaue it with the vnderstanding and the more faithfully retaine it with the memory it pleased that altitude of diuine wisedome to abase it self to our meane capacity And when the Doctrine of it selse would not perhaps haue bene so well receiued to set it out by allusions and Parables yea and many tymes euen they are borrowed but from the figures of meane bodies See euery where in the holy Ghospell as of Plowes of Corne of Netts of Fishes of Leauen of Mustard-seed and the like Establishing by that familiar and easy meanes a kind of commerce and traffique betwene things diuine humane in the mindes of men And indeed if this Doctrine had not bene brought by the sweet hand of God to carry a great proportion to mans nature assisted by his holy grace what possibility had there bene that it could haue wrought such wonders in the world Making (d) The diuine wonders which the doctrine of Christ our Lord hath wrought in the world so many Kings and Queenes for the loue of Christ our Lord become voluntary beggars Making youth become chast old age obedient knowledge humble austerity so sweete and pleasant as that there are and haue bene millioÌ„s of people in the Catholike Church and our Lord be euer blessed and praysed for it and he knoweth that it is true vvhatsoeuer any Soctary shal either say or thinke to the contrary vvho insteed of fine lynnen haue inclosed claspedthemselues vvithin Girdles of wyâ—e and shirts of haire Insteed of delighfull bathe haue taken frequent disciplines in bloud Insteed of curious and costly beds haue spent their vvhole nights vpon the hard ground Insteed of sumptuous banquets haue entertayned themselues in rigorous fasts And lastly insteed euen of lavvfull pleasures haue exercised themselues vvith great attention in the mortification of the faculties and senses both of the body and mind This I say they doe they haue done and that vvith all the secresy they could and only in conteÌ„plation of the loue of our Lord Iesvs in conformity to his diuine life and Doctrine vvhich requires men to looke vpon his example to liue therafter which proclaimes
Hierusalem that this bread which is seene by vs is not bread although the tast esteeme it to be bread but that it is the body of Christ Many mothers saith (i) Chrysost hom 83. in Matt. S. Chrysostome put out their children when they are borne to be nurst by others but Christ our Lord would not doe soe but doth nourish vs with his owne body and so doth conioyne glew vs to himselfe O miracle (k) Chrysost l. 3. de Sacerde tio O benignity of God sayth the same S. Chrysostome He that sitteth aboue with the Father at the same instant is handled by the hands of all and he deliuers himselfe vp to such as will receaue and imbrace him And in (l) Chrysost hom 24 c. 10.1 Epist ad Corinth another place he sayth thus That which is in the Chalice flowed out of his side and of that doe we communicate This indeed as sayth S. (m) Saint Ephrem who was familiar with Saint Basil the great lib. de natura Dei non serutanda cap. 5. Ephrem exceedeth all admiration all speach and all conceipt which Christ our Sauiour the only begotten sonne of God hath done To vs who are clad with flesh he hath giuen fire and spirit to eate namely his body and his bloud My bread sayth (n) Ambros l. 4. de Sacra menâ—is S. Ambrose is vsuall bread but this bread is bread before the words of the Sacrament but wheÌ„ the coÌ„secration once doth come of bread it is made the flesh of Christ. Let vs therfore settle this point how that which is bread can be made the body of Christ By consecration This consecration of what speach and words doth it consist Of the words and speach of our Lord Iesus For all the rest which is said is either prayse giuen to God or there are particular prayers made for the people and for Kings and others But when he comes to the tyme of making the B. Sacrament the Priest doth no longer speake in his owne words but in the words of Christ The speach therfore of Christ is that which makes this Sacrament What speach of Christ Thevery same wherby al things were made Our Lord commaunded and the heauen was made Our Lord commaunded and the earth was made Our Lord commaunded and the sea was made Our Lord commaunded al the creatures were made Thou seest therfore how effectually the speach of Christ doth work If (o) Note this consequence then there be such power in the speach of our Lord Iesus as to make those things be which were not how much more effectually will it worke towards the making of them be which are and to make them be changed into other then what they were Therefore (p) Marke well the expresse authority of this Saint that I may answere thee I say That it was not the body of Christ before the consecration but after the consecration I say to thee that then it is the body of Christ. Christ was carried sayth (q) Aug. in Psal 33. Conc. 1. Ibid. S. Augustine in his owne hands when commending his body to his Apostles he said Hoc est corpus meum this is my body for then he carried his body in his hands And agayne Our Lord would place our saluation in his body and bloud But how did he commend his body and bloud to vs In his humility For vnlesse he were humble he would not be eaten and drunke The good Pastour sayth (r) Greg. in hom 14. in Euang. S. Gregory the great laid downe his life for his sheepe that he might turne his body and bloud into our Sacrament might feed the sheepe which he had redeemed by the nutriment of his flesh Vnder the species of bread sayth S. (s) Cyril Ierosol in Catech. Myst 4. Cyrillus Ierosolymitanus the body is giuen thee and vnder the species of bloud the wine that so thou maist become participant of his body bloud So shall we by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Carryers of Christ when we shall haue receiued his body and bloud into our body and so as S. Peter saith we shall be made consorts of the diuine nature And according to that of S. (t) Cyril l. 10. in Iohn c. 11. Cyrill if any man shall mingle wax which is melted by fire with other wax which is also melted in such sort that they both doe seeme to be but one made of both so by the coniunction of the body and bloud of Christ our Lord he is in vs and we in him S. (u) Greg. l. 4. Dialog c. 58. Gregory doth surther say What faithfull soule can doubt but that in the very hower of the Sacrifice the heauens doe open at the voyce of the Priest and that in this mystery of Christ Iesus the Quires of the Angells doe assist the highest and the lowest things doe meete Terrestriall and Celestiall things are ioyned and there is made one thinge of things which are visible and inuisible Heere then we are taught by the holy Fathers of the Church whome I might haue cited to this purpose both more at large and more in number the inscrutable loue of our Lord IESVS to mankind expressed in these high mysteries of the blessed Sacrament and the holy Sacrifice of the Masse But how shall we be able to disingage our selues for being euen ouerwhelmed with the huge weight therof since the superexcellent Humanity of our (x) The incompable dignity of the person of Christ our Lord. Lord IESVS consisting of that pretious body which first was framed out of purest bloud of the all-immaculate Virgin by the only hand of the holy Ghost and of that glorious soule which in the first instaÌ„t of the creation therof was hypostatically vnited to God the sonne the second person of the most B. Trinity and the same person being indiuisible from the other two of God the Father and God the holy Ghost that this person I say of Christ our Lord should be communicated to all the Priests of the holy Catholike Church to be offred daily ouer all the world and to be receiued into the brest both of them and al the other faithfull children of that mother as often as theÌ„selues should desire What Cherubim is able to discouer the greatnes of this benefit and what Seraphim hath his hart hoat inough to breath out such ardent flames of loue as grow due to God vpoÌ„ this account How full of reason was the exclamation and admiration of holy Dauid when he said Psalm 34. 9. That there was none like to God in the cogitations which he interteyned for our Good No man no creature could euer haue aspired to such a happines or so much as to haue conceaued that euen the diuine nature it selfe had bene able to expresse such goodnes But God is God and God is loue and the loue euen of Creatures is full of (y) How full of Inuention great loue is inuention for
transfigured before them That his face did shine like the sunne That his garments were as white as snow That Moyses and Elyas appeared also and were speaking with him That their discourse was of that excesse of loue which he would shew in the passion through which he was to passe in Hierusalem That S Peter was so rapt with ioy as to say That it was good being there and to beg of our Lord that there they might haue still remayned but that before he had ended his speach a bright cloud came downe which ouershadowed them and this voyce was thundred out from thence This is my beloued sonne in whome I am well pleased heare him Vpon the noyse of this voyce the Disciples fell prostrate vpō their faces as being much a frayd but our Lord Iesus drew neere and touched them said withall rise vp and doe not feare and when they looked vp they saw none but only Iesus And as they were going downe the hill he cōmaunded them not to speake of that vision till he should be risen from the dead This glorious miracle did shine in the exteriour of our Lord so vehemētly as to send the beames therof to his Disciples but it vvas the flame of loue which burning so hot in his diuine hart did breake out much more vpon them that so their soules and ours by theirs might be set on fyre He had then lately been telling them of his passion which was to come That he was to endure many and grieuous things That he was to be condemned by the high Priests That he was to suffer death and then to rise He had further said that for their good they must be imitatours of him and that howsoeuer the way of the Crosse might fall out to be hard and stony yet there was no remedy but they must runne it through And now least their mindes might haue bene oppressed with inordinate griefe or else assaulted afterward with vnbeliefe or at least discouraged by the difficulties of this life which he knew was to proue so painfull to them for the seruice of God his (c) A particular reason why our Lord would be transfgured before some of his Apostles hart of loue could no longer hould from expressing it selfe towards thē in some such kind as might not only strengthen them against all feare of future harme but might solace them also in aboundant māner both with the present sense of excessiue ioy and an infallible expectation of much more to follow afterward And when he had conueyed the notice of his passion like a bitter dose of pills into their mindes he did like a carefull Phisitian put a spoonfull of Conserue after it into their mouthes least otherwise they might chance to haue cast their Phisicke As generally in holy Scripture so particularly in this mistery of the Transfiguration and of the ioy which was commuicated to the Disciples by meanes therof the expressiōs euen of things which are very great are yet very positiue and playne as I shall also shew elsewhere And Saynt Peter only said Bonum est nos hic esse It is good for vs to be heere But (d) This seemes to haue been but a smal expressiō of ioy but inded it was very great and why though this may seeme to be but a leane and hungry kind of signification of his ioy for his hauing beene made participant of that high vision yet indeed it vvas such a one as could not well be more endeared To haue said that it had beene better to be in the top of that high mountaine with Christ our Lord then to haue bene in the midst of all the treasures and pleasures of the world below had bene to allow a kind of goodnes to these other things though infeririour to that which there he felt For to say that one thing is better then another doth leaue a power in that other thing to be good But by only saying that this was good it rather seemes to follow that whatsoeuer vvas lower and lesse then this would not be good S. Peter was heere in a kind of midle Region of the ayre betewne ordinary grace below glory aboue And as he could not say that his then present condition was any more then good in regard that nothing of this life was so good or indeed that it was absolutely good at all so neither could he say that it was any more then good in regard of the ioyes which are felt in heauen And therfore he said not that it was a soueraigne or an infinite good which is only enioyed in that next life by the sight of God Exod. 33. That sight is that Omne bonum which was promised by our Lord God that he would shew his seruant Moyses in heauen This other is that bonum which now was shewed to his Apostles heere on earth But though it were but bonum in comparison of that infinite good yet if this such as it vvas had bene set by the vvhole vvorld of worldly pleasures they would all haue streight appeared to be but durt and trash and this would haue shined like a second heauen of glory in comparison of them We must therfore be farre from thinking meanely of it but rather we are to call our wits about vs and to argue thus If some (e) What wonders the holy ghost doth worke in the soule of man influence or visitation of the holy Ghost whilst it doth but slip into the soule of man be able to comfort him when he was laid though neuer so low in the bed of distresse and desolation If some extraordinary communication of Gods Spirit can eleuate the soule not only aboue all other creatures but euen aboue it selfe so as not only to disgust it and that for euer from all humane hopes or feares but to make it halfe forget that there is any other thing but God If some true Reuelation or diuine imaginary vision such as our Lord doth sometymes cōmunicate to his friends fauorites in this life when and why it pleaseth him as we find recorded in their liues doth sometymes so inebriate and fixe and transforme thē into him as they may rather be said to swym and bath at ease in a sea of comfort then to trauell and trudge by land in a desert full of difficulties distresse what effect shall we thinke this vision of visions did worke in the mind of the B. Apostles Who saw not what they saw by imagination only but they had before the eyes both of their body and minde the humanity of Christ our Lord all in glory with Moyses and Elias doing him homage in the name of both those worlds which liued eyther vnder the law of nature or the written law The incomparable ioy which the Apostles tooke through the loue which our Lord Iesus shewed them in his Transfiguration and how himselfe was content to want the glory of it both before and after for the loue of them CHAP. 30. THE sunne
all the rest which hath bene said as himselfe doth incomparably surpasse whatsoeuer other thing which it is euen in his power to giue I will also in this place sorbeare to hearken to that other diuine consort of Musicke which he made in that least Sermon of his next before his sacred Passion which S. Iohn relates in his holy Ghospell For that of the B. Sacrament is considered in a discourse therof a part and that of the infinite loue of our Lord in his last Sermon is toucht in the beginning of that of the Passion And we haue heere I hope bene shewed inough to make the loue of our B. Lord appeare Not only in regard of what he conceaued in his owne pretious hart towards man but moreouer for the abundant blessings which he hath imparted to the world exteriourly For we see to what greatnes and happines the meanest of vs is sublymed through the high account into which we are taken by Almighty God Only we must be sure that his infinite goodnes do not giue vs occasion and colour for contynuance in our wickednes For as much as in God all is infinite a like (i) All is a like Infinite in God and therfore euen the very infinitenesse of his Mercy doth shew vs how Infinite his Iustice also is and euen by the excesse of his mercy when men are sory for their sinnes we may inferre the intollerable rigour of his Iustice against such as are impenitēt The holy Scripture is also ful of most particular proofe how deepely our Lord doth detest al sinne and willfull sinners This hath bene pointed at before vpon another occasion in the discourse of the infinite power of God and in the end of the Passion it will also be resumed agayne For the present therfore I conclude concerning the most excellent Doctrine of Christ our Lord deliuered especially in holy Scripture and I passe on to the consideration of his Miracles Of the excessine Loue which our Lord Iesus shewed to man by the Mirac'es which he wrought on earth CHAP. 41. THE excessiue loue of our Lord Iesus was farre from being content to expresse it selfe towards man by any one single way alone but it was solliciting him in euery minute of his most holy life to try as many as might be found for our good He therfore considering with diuine wisedome that men were composed of flesh and spirit and consequētly (a) Men being cōposed of flesh and spirit are to be wrought vpō both by spirituall and sensible meanes that they must be wrought vpō aswell by sensible as by spirituall meanes knowing also that through the miserable disorder of their mindes they were then more capable would be more obliged by ease health of body then by graces powred into the soule he was therfore pleased to accompany the purity and perfection of his Doctrine with the power and Maiesty of his miracles And as by creation of the world he led men vp by meanes of visible things towards a knowledge and beliefe of the inuisible so in the case of our reparation and redemptiō he would also vse the corporall cure of men from sicknes as a disposition wherby theyr soules might be recouered from sinne Heerby our Lord doth euidently discouer to be a true perfect louer of mankind For as the property of loue is not (b) The measure of our loue of God is to exceed all measure to be tyed vp within the compasse of any ordinary law and the measure which that power vseth is to exceed all measure so did our Lord out of the nobility of his loue to man refuse to walke within so small a circle as the lawes of nature did lead him to These lawes of nature were made by almighty God at the creation of the world it is not al the power of heauen or earth vnder him which can inuert that order Psal 148. Praeceptum posuit non praeteribit He gaue the precept and it shall not passe away And it was good cheape for him who made al things of nothing to commaund that nothing should faile of that inuiolable course wherin all things were appointed to proceed According to the law of nature no returne is made from priuation to the habit as from a fixed blindnes to sight and much lesse from death to life But the law of the loue of our Lord IESVS did ouertop that other law made those things grow true and samiliar which otherwise were not only hard but impossible Moyst bodies were appointed by the law of nature to giue place and such as are heauy and solid to sinke downe below thē But yet when there was question of giuing comfort to his poore Apostles Matt. 14. the loue of Christ our Lord made him lay those lawes aside and he went walking towards them vpon the sea which was glad to performe the Office of a pauement to his pretious feete Penerration of bodies is a thing wherof nature cannot endure to heare but yet for the vnspeakeable loue which he bare to (c) The honour which was done by Christ our Lord to the purity of his B. Virgin mother the honour and excellency of his all-immaculate mother that ornament and glorious gemme of heauen earth he was not affrayd to giue that principle of Philosophy the lye And he passed out of those bowells of supreme Purity into those armes of matchlesse Piety without the least offence to her most entire Virginity But yet in this there is the lesse wonder because he wrought the like in fauour of his Apostles whom he loued by innumerable degrees lesse then his most excellent mother Isa 7. For in their case also his loue was transcendent in the selfe same kind vnto his lawes For hauing first passed through the sepulcher he went afterward through Ioan. 20. Ibid. through those doores which were shut betwene them him that so he might as it were perfume them all at once with his sweet breath of Peace But why doe I name those persons who were so highly priuiledged as if our Lord had only bene in loue with them and not indeed as yet indeed he was enamoured of all mankind so farre as to make his miracles distill down vpon them like so many drops of dew for their reliefe or comfort in all occasions And although these miracles of Christ our Lord could not haue bene wrought but by the omnipotent power of almighty God yet may that power be accounted to haue been but as a kind of instrumēt wherby he wrought them and that indeed they flowed from his loue as from their prime cause and roote He wrought no miracles for the ostentation of his power and therfore we see how often he precisely comaunded both men and deuills Marc. 3. 5. 7. Luc. 5. Luc. 4. Matth. 20. Matt. 21. Marc. 11. that they should not publish what he had done He wrought none for any commodity of
himselfe Of the great Loue of our Lord in conueying the Blessed Sacrament to vs vnder the species of bread and wine Why it is neyther necessary nor conuenient nor scarce possible for all Christians to communicate of the Chalice Of diners kinds of Vnion And how liberall our Lord is to vs in letting vs all frequent these diuine Mysteries so often CHAP. 49. AS the loue of our Lord IESVS was full of inuention in disposing him to performe this worke so (a) The great loue of our Lord doth admirably appeare by diuers circumstances was it also in the manner of contriuing and dispensing it according to the capacity of man And first concerning the formes or species vnder which he is presented to vs what other could haue bene thought of either more agreable or more gustful to the nature of man thē they of bread wine If for the punishmēt of our sinnes or the mortification of our senses he had bene pleased to ordaine that we should haue receiued him in the formes of pitch or inke as himselfe would therby haue bene subiect to no indignity at all so yet still we must haue acknowledged that it had bene infinite mercy for vs to haue receiued such a pretious Iewell as that in how course or homely case soeuer it had come But bread and wine are the very stanes of corporall strength and comfort and he confined his body and bloud to the species of these two creatures that so this superscription as it were of the Loue-letter which he was writing to vs might prepare vs for an expectation of those sublime and sweet contēts which lay within Yet (b) The Bloud of our Lord is alwayes together with his body and for that reason it was necssary for lay people to receaue both the body and the bloud distinct Nay there are many other reasons which make it neyther conueniēt nor yet possible to receaue them so because there are some who haue a naturall auersion from the tast and euen from the very sent of vvine which no man euer had from bread Because there are some countries so remote both from the Sunne and from the Sea as that there wine is hardly to be found Because in the infinite multitudes of Christians it would be impossible for all to receaue of the sacred Chalice without indangering yea and committing much irreuerēce Because some would be so sicke of pestilent feauers as that euen a drop of wyne would doe them hurt Because persecutions would be sometymes so great as that it might be fit to leaue the blessed Sacrament in the custody of some particular men and women to be receiued by themselues for their comfort in some great exigent of distresse and danger as was often done in the primitiue Church by the testimony of Tertullian and others and which could not be done with the Chalice for any long tyme or euen almost at all in any hoat country For these reasons I say and for many others which by the wisedom and loue of our Lord IESVS were thought conuenient and especially because his body is a liuing body and consequently it cannot be without the bloud he was pleased that both the bloud the body should remaine vnder the species both of bread wine that so he who receaued one might be sure to receaue them both And (c) In the sacrifice of the Masse the reason is very different howsoeuer for as much as concernes the Sacrifice of the Masse both the bread and wine are seueraly to be offered consecrated and consummated by the Priest for in these three acts the substance of the holy Sacrifice doth confist and not in the prayers or Scriptures which doe either precede or follow or interlace them since these latter doe but serue as an addition for deuotion for a spirituall ornament to that high action For as much I say as this Sacrifice which is dayly offered vp vpon the Altar is to be a most liuely representation of the bloudy Sacrifice of our Lord vpon the Crosse a representation for as much as concernes the manner of it but no representation for as much as concernes the thinge because both the one and the other is but only one and the very selfe same Sacrifice yet when there is only questiō of receauing the blessed body and bloud of our Lord ' IESVS in the nature of a Sacrament the same Lord was pleased (d) The Church is to ordaine of many things according to that spirit of discretion which reigneth in it to leaue it to that spirit of discretion wherwith he would eminētly indue his Church to ordaine when it should be conuenient for necessary it could no way be to vse both the bread the wine distinct and when but the one of them alone It is also well obserued by spirituall writers that the very species of bread and wine doe inuite and bespeake our soules to a very intrinsecall vnion both with God and our neighbour In these species we may cōsider that there is an vnion of two sorts The one of them hauing bene setled by nature the other growing on by industry or art The naturall (e) Two kinds of vnion which are shewed by bread wine vnion consisteth in this That many graynes doe grow vpon one eare of corne and many grapes vpon one cluster of the vine with great resemblance to one another The artificiall vnion which is made betwene them doth defeate the former naturall vnion that so that former may become more perfect For first by plucking off or pressing the grapes or breaking and grinding the graynes of Corne and then by separating the chaff and husks and branne and skinnes stones it growes to be one paste or liquor which is perfected and purified afterward by heate the must by the naturall heate which it hath and the bread by the heate of fire And thē we can not know which graine of corne in particular was white and which was browne or which grape was great which was small These (f) How these two kinds of Vnion are found in men Vnions also there are and are to be in men The naturall as they are men of flesh and bloud and the other supernaturall as they are faithfull Christians regenerated by grace and animated therin by his diuine Sacraments In vertue of the former vnion we loue our kindred and friends And because this loue doth vse to carry imperfection with it through the influence of selfe loue and the mixture of temporall vayne respects Christ our Lord commeth to vs in this supernaturall Sacrament and doth take as it were our soules and the desires therof all in peeces casting away that which is inordinate vnmortified and any way vnfit concerning honour or estate or delight or any other earthly thing whatsoeuer and he doth so boyle and bake vs in the blessed Sacrament by the fire of his charity as that we may grow to be perfectly vnited both to him
follow him in the streets would not sayle to place theÌ„selues in the windowes making vp like some kennell of wide-mouthed dogs the full cry of Traytour Deuill Sorcerer Drunkard Idiot False prophet Hypocrite Blasphemer and a hundred reproaches more then these which their immortall malice would be sure to dart out against him And besides it is very probable that they would accompany these bitter words with barbarous deeds for what should hinder them since they had all power in their hands and such springs of poyson in their harts They below kicking him on as they would haue done some mad musled dogge when through the excesse of weaknes he was scarce able to goe and they aboue whilst he was resting would be casting vncleanesses vpon his sacred head Our Lord the while had his holy eyes cast down but his hart was raysed his hands were bound but his affections were at liberty and enlarged He went fulfilling the Prophesies Isa 53. Sicut homo non audiens sicut mutus non aperiens os suum Like a man who had not bene able to heare what they sayd against him and as farre from speaking to them as if he had bene wholy dumbe and as S. Gregory sayth Greg. in 3. psal pâ—enitent Qui cogitationes iniquorum nouerat blasphemantium voces non audiebat And he who knew euen all their wicked thoughts would not so much as seeme to heare their blasphemous words To confound our great impatience or to speake more properly our want of Faith and loue when we will not for the glory of God and in imitation of his diuine exaÌ„ple who endured so infinitely much for vs endure the least reproach or so much as any touch that way without reply and perhaps reuenge The Crucifixion of our Blessed Lord his quicke sense and seuerall paynes distinctly felt and of his vnspeakeable patience and Loue to vs therein CHAP. 69. THE hower was then all run out and our Lord IESVS who according to that of the blessed Apostle Philip. 2. Thought it no wrong to esteeme himselfe equall to his Father did empty himselfe not only by taking the nature of man vpon him but he did also humble himselfe withall to death yea and to the very death of the crosse which was the most opprobrious of all others They had stripped him thrice before starke naked in the Court of Pilate First when they went to scourge him then when they put on the Purple Robe and after when they disrobed him and led him towards the Crosse in his owne cloathes And now (a) The fomer scornes were put againe vpon our Lord but with circumstances which did much increase both his paine and shame they did the same againe but with the addition of two circumstances which did extremely increase both his shame and paine For his garments were euen baked as it were to his sacred body both by the length of tyme which had occurred betwene his beginning and ending that last and most dolorous procession of his betwene Pilats house and Mount Caluary as also by the weight of the Crosse which during part of that tyme lay with intollerable paine vpon his shoulders and lastly by the binding of his armes and hands both to his body and to one another These cloathes being growne so fast to his flesh and pluckt off by those rude hands with as much rigor as they could tel how to vse must needs increase his torment to a strange proportion It could not also choose but that his seÌ„se of shame was also raysed to a great height For before that sacred humanity was seene but by as many as could throng into Pilates Court But now vpon the top of Mount Caluary as if it had bene at a kind of generall day of Iudgement Romans Grecians Pagans Iewes and they of all the Prouinces of the East Priests and people men and women of all conditions and ages and in fine an Epitome of the whole world was present For the increase of his confusion and to hide the hatefull spots of their iniustice they led in his company two murthering theeues to execution that (b) Why they lead him in the company of thee us their notorious crimes might make some impression or influence of bad aspect vpon the innocency of our Lord IESVS And to the end that the worst in all respects might not be wanting to him they resolued that his Crosse should stand in the midst of the other two Marc. 15. as in the more honorable place of infamy This crosse they now brought him to and as before they laid it vpoÌ„ him they laid him now vpon it It was already bored through And if perhaps they had made those holes which were meant for his hands further off from those others which were deputed for his feete theÌ„ the leÌ„gth of his body would beare they must be faine to add to the rest of his tormeÌ„ts that other of the rack to make theÌ„ reach For their particular coÌ„fort who for his sake should be afflicted in the same kind by the persecutours of his Church The executioners being there with their haÌ„mers and nayles did extend spread him vpon that hard bed of death and they transpierst those hands of Charity and those seete of humility purity with sharpe stroÌ„ge nayles driuen in by a multitude of blowes making his pretious body the very anuile whervpon the hammer of our (c) Our sinnes were they which crucified our Lord by the hands of the Iewes sinnes did by the hands of those crucifiers beat so hard If any one of them relented at the sight of that diuine sweet sadnes through the compassion which such an obiect as that could not easily choose but exact euen of Tygars it tended but to the increase of his paine For the more kind they were the longer they were likely to dwell about doing that office and so the more cruell they fell out to be If on the other side as they woÌ„ded his hands with theirs so they had also in their will a vehement desire of his destruction and death that cruelty and sinne of their hart went streight to his and wounded him worse through his loue to them then through their hate they wounded him So that whether they were cruell to him more or lesse being considered in theÌ„selues yet in regard of him all wrought by (d) All wrought by way of increasing torment to our Lord. way of increasing torment The extreme parts of our body which be our head our hands and our feete haue all those veines and arteries and sinewes shut vp and as it were driuen by the direction of nature into a narrow compasse which goe at ease through larger parts The fleshly parts of the body are dull in comparison of those others and indeed so dull as that compared with these they can scarce in effect be said to feele Yet who is he that if being a person of honor he were content that his flesh