be proper cleare and euident and without doubtfulnesse ambiguitie or incertainty that the Will of the Testator may bee vnderstood without difficulty and without contention Matth. 26. Marke 14. Luke 22. This is the cause why three Euangelists the Registers of this Institution and Notaries of this Testament haue vsed the selfe-same words and S. Paul after them without varying 1. Cor. 11. To the end to hold constant the light of this euidence and strongly to maintaine the ground of that faith which wee ought to haue of this mystery and to declare by a firme and sollide accord of foure diuine witnesses that the sense of the words is that which they literally signifie and that being the words of an Almighty worker to whom nothing can be impossible and the words of a supreme truth who can say nothing which is not true they must needs make that which they signifie By which meanes if any one refusing the literall sense of the Scripture will glose it from his owne head saying This is my body that is to say this is the Figure of my body This is my bloud that is the Figure of my bloud he should herein be opposite to the holy deposition of these foure witnesses not daring so to speake which notwithstanding they would haue done if such had been the sense of the words and should also too boldly change the truth of Gods word giuing a sense cleane contrary to the signification of the words and putting the Figure for the Body against the authority of the forenamed witnesses who haue neuer presumed to giue such a glosse Yea hee should doe contrary to all law of Speech and Grammer which commandeth to take the words of the text according to the ground of their proper meaning without hauing recourse to any metaphoricall and improper signification when they do not giue any absurde or contradictory sense which happeneth not here For heere the proper sense is most cominent and agreeable to the truth and the words do signifie no other thing but the presence of the body of Iesus Christ in this Sacrament which is not onely not contradictory nor absurde but full of wonders most worthy of the power wisdome and goodnesse of our Sauiour When the Scripture calleth the King a Lion the word ought to bee taken by similitude that a King is like a Lion by reason of his royall magnanimity for taking the word according to the sense of the letter the meaning should be that he were a beast which would be false and absurde But these words taken in their naturall signification containe nothing but that which is most agreeable to the Maiesty of the Creator and most heneficiall to his creature wherefore there is not any reason heere to runne to Figures and therefore also it is impiety to say that these clauses This is my body This is my bloud are improper speeches importing no more then that they are Figures of his body and bloud For such deprauation destroyes the truth of a most noble Sacrament and shewes that such Enterpreters are not onely void of faith but also depriued of vnderstanding hastily opening the gate to themselues and to all other senselesse people to reiect all sense of Scripture be it neuer so euident if it displease them and to frame the manner of it according to the vnsteadinesse of their owne braines and to the exorbitant passion of vnbridled flesh 4. TESTIMONIES OF THE FATHERS vpon the Exposition of the same words AS the Scripture is euident in these diuine words so is the Exposition of holy Fathers constant to maintaine the sense they giue in proper signification as hath bin said Saint CYRIL of Hierusalem Since that Iesus Christ S. Cyril Hieres Catech. myst 4 hauing taken the bread saith This is my body Who is he which for euer dare to doubt and he affirming the same and saying This is my bloud Who will refuse to beleeue it He changed water into wine a creature neighbour to bloud by his only will Iohn 2. and shall not we beleeue that hee hath changed the wine to his bloud Beleeue then most constantly that we receiue the body and bloud of Christ for vnder the forme of bread the body is giuen thee and the bloud vnder the forme of wine Saint BASIL hauing asked with what feare faith S. Basil in Regul breu interrog 172. and affection of the soule men ought to take the body and bloud of our Sauiour answeres himselfe saying How great the feare is S. Paul instructs vs Who so eateth this bread and drinketh this Chalice vnworthily he eateth and drinketh his owne damnation What we are to beleeue is taught by the words of Christ who said This is my body giuen for you And there this Doctor consequently sheweth how we ought to beleeue these words This is my body which the same faith with which we beleeue these words of Saint Iohn when he saith The Word was made flesh Iohn 1. and those of Saint Paul Philip. 2. when he extolled the great humility of the same Word in his Incarnation his great obedience in his Passion and his infinit charity in the one and the other as then we beleeue that God was really and truely made flesh and suffered death according as the words of the Scripture tell vs. In the same manner Saint Basil will that wee beleeue the Reall Presence of the body of our Sauiour according as these words This is my body teach vs and concludes that by faith and consideration of these things we are inflamed with a great loue to Iesus Christ which is the affection of the soule that wee ought to bring with vs to the Communion of his body and bloud accompanied with feare and beleefe as hath been said Saint CHRYSOSTOME S. Chrysos hom 83. in Matth 60 ad Pap. Antioch Hom. de prodit Iuda Gen. 1.22 8.17 Let vs beleeue God without doubt for it is he which said This is my body And elsewhere It is not man which makes the body and bloud of Christ in offered things but Christ himselfe crucified for vs Hee said This is my body by this word the offering is consecrated And euen as these words once vttered Increase and multiply and fill the earth alwayes worke their effect in Nature for generation euen so these words vttered This is my body giue certainty to the Sacrifice through all the Tables of the Church euen vnto this day and will giue it vntill the comming of the Sonne of God Saint IOHN DAMASCENE S. Ioan. Damas l. 4. c. 14. The bread and the wine mingled with water supernaturally are changed into the body and bloud of Christ by the innocation of the holy Ghost and are not two but one and the same this hallowed bread it not the Figure of the body neither the wine the Figure of the bloud but the true deified body of our Lord and his true bloud THEOPHILACT Theophil in Matth. 26. a graue
of our Sauiour in the first preparation of this Feast so he hath also raised vp others to disturbe and stoppe the proceedings and fruit thereof already prepared These are they which in this last age do impugne the honor and magnificence of this Feast taking from it the substance and truth saying that the flesh of our Sauiour is not heere but onely a Figure thereof and that there is heere no reall eating of the flesh of our Sauiour present which they call carnall but onely spirituall by the meanes of saith alone which makes the body of our Sauiour spiritually present and eateth it spiritually These people are carnall as well as the Capharnaits and puffed vp with the same blast of pride oâ—erthrowing the truth but by a contrary battery The Capharnaits did interpret the words of our Sauiour altogether fleshly and these men altogether spiritually those were in one extremity beleeuing nothing but flesh these are in another extremity admitting nothing but spirit and both the one and the other not willing to acknowledge but what their fancies tells them and therefore are carnall faithlesse and proud though after a different manner The sensuality of the later in particular doth shew it selfe in that they thinke it a carnall thing that the flesh of our Sauiour should be present in the Sacrament their incredulity is in this that they will not beleeue the word of God who said that hee would truely giue his flesh to eate their pride in that they preferred the iudgement of their sense before his Word and condemne the ordinance of our Sauiour albeit they make faire shewes of defending the same They erre then in three things First in thinking the presence of the flesh of our Sauiour in this Sacrament to be carnall for the presence of a thing makes not the carnality but the manner his flesh was trutly and by reall presence conceiued in the wombe of the Virgin Yet was not that presence carnall because the manner of the conception was from the holy Ghost When he ascended into beauen his body was present in as many places of the beauens as he did penetrate the presence was reall but neuerthelesse spirituall because it depended of a cause spirituall and diuine and not naturall When he made himselfe seene to Saint Paul he was present and his presence was true and reall yet spirituall that is to say not after an ordinary and naturall manner Euen so the flesh of our Sauiour is really present in the Eucharist yet not carnally as common flesh is present vpon the table but by transubstantiation by a way about nature by the all powerfull word of our Sauiour It is there inuisible impalpable immorrall and inconsumptible and so spiritually and so diuinely that nothing but the eyes of faith can perceiue it and because these heere haue not but the eyes of their flesh and carnall iudgement therefore they deny this presence and same another according to the blindnesse of their flesh against the truth and leaue the true faith by an imaginary no faith and are blockish and infidels in their sensuall faith 8. CONTRADICTIONS OF HERETIKES in their false and imaginary faith THe same Heretikes inwrap themselues in contradiction denying on the one side the flesh of our Sauiour to be really present in the Eucharist and saying on the other side that it is there by Spirit and faith For if it bee not really there it cannot bee present by Spirit and by faith for as much as no strength neither of the Spirit nor of Faith doth make a thing present that is absent Neither faith nor the Spirit makes that the Hebrewes at this present doe passe the red sea or eate Manna in the Desart or that Iosua now doth stay the Sunne or that our Sauiour is now conceiued in the wombe of the Virgin or that he now riseth from death or ascends into heauen or that hee comes now to iudge the liuing and the dead though it beleeue all this if these men answere that faith imagineth these things as present albeit they bee absent they confesse that as the presence of these things is but imagination so the faith which they haue of the presence of the flesh of our Sauiour in the Sacrament is imaginary and that they cate it not but by imagination Like vnto them who sleeping dreame that they make good cheare and yet make no good cheare but in their fancie Such faith is not the faith that makes a faithfull man in this point neither is such sustenance truely sustenance neither such meate truely meate it is a faith a refection a meate of fancie Now our Sauiour said Iohn 6. that his flesh is meat indeed and his bloud drinke indeed then the faith or rather no faith of these men is a carnall infidelity and a froward imagination contrary to the faith of God They are the children of the Catholike Church which by faith doe eate indeed the body of our Sauiour that is to say in a spirituall manner as it hath been said and with the faith required thereunto by the which they doe beleeue the word of God beleeuing that his body is there present as his word saith beleeuing that they take it really and eate it really as he hath promised beleeuing that he could doe that which he said and that he doth nothing which is contrary to his goodnesse and wisdome And as their faith is farthfull so their eating is true and contrariwise the eating practised by these Heretikes in their Supper is altogether carnall for they take nothing heere more excellent then bread and neither doe they eath but bread nor beleeue any thing but what the faith of a Turke of a Iew and of a Pagan all carnall could not beleeue For what difficulty had there been to beleeue the presence of a morsell of bread that they see taste and perceiue by their sense to be so 9. THE LITERALL SENSE FOVNDAtion of others against the same Heretikes THese good people therefore lose themselues in the by-wayes of their spirituality for willing to interpret the flesh of our Sauiour and his bloud and all this eating spiritually according to their owne sense saying that men cate not this flesh but by Spirit and by faith alone they leaue the proper and fundamentall vnderstanding of the words of our Sauiour and take onely a metaphoricall one against the law of all good Diuinity which first ought to vnderstand and establish the literall and proper sense of the Scripture and after vpon that foundation to ground the spirituall For example the Scripture saith Gen. 2. Exod. 14. Iud. 15. 1. Reg. 17. that God planted an carthly Paradise that the Hebrewes did passe the red Sea that Sampson tyed Foxes by the tayles that Dauid did sight in single combate with Goliah and such like things if euery one would so spiritualize these histories that they would deny the literall truth and say that earthly Paradise is no other thing but the Church the red
he had loued so much An action worthy of such a Father and of such a Sonne and of such a Louer all powerfull all good and all wise A Sonne spares nothing to honor his Father how liberall then will such a Sonne be to such a Father A father reserueth nothing from his children that may tend to make them happy and departing from them hee leaueth them all the best that he hath What then will such a Father doe for the aduancement and happinesse of his children Wherefore our Sauiours desire was to accomplish this his chiefe worke in a little time but with such magnificence as was agreeable to his greatnesse gaue with the ornament of those wonders which wee haue mentioned before his owne body in Sacrifice to his Father and in food to his Church commanding her to continue this soueraigne honor and this table of immortâ—â—◠〈◊〉 〈…〉 as shee shall be a traueller in the desart of this mortallty And so he fulfilled that which Saint Iohn would signifie by those words that he hath set in the beginning of his Dircourse for giuing his body to his Father in Sacrifice hee made him a present most worthy of his Maiesty and giuing it in food to his Church he leaues her a most precious gage of his loue And by the changing of the bread into his body and of the wine into his bloud which hee doth in this mystery he doth a proper act of an infinite power and more noble then the creation of the world Wherefore as the manner of the worke is worthy of God so the Present is mest magnificent and of greater value then ten thousand worlds for it is the bady of a Prince the body of a King the body of God and the Sacrifice made therof is indeed a Sacrifice of Soueraigne honor especially being ostered by such a Priest who is the Sonne of God himselfe and the food of this pretious body and the manor of giuing and taking it vnder the formes of bread and wine is most agreeable to the wisdome of the Giuer and to the profit of the receiuers The vnwonted ceremony of washing of feete did signifie no lesse then the former words the Maiesty of the future mystery And whereas the other Euangelists note that our Sauiour before he Instituted this holy banquet said I haue greatly desred to eaâ— this Pasche with you Luke 22.151 Manto 26. Marke 14. Luke 22. And againe That he tooke bread and blessed it with thankesgiuing the Cup also and blessed it All these words tended to the same end to declare that our Sauiour was going to do some admirable worke vpon the bread and the wine in the end of his dayes before hee died Let vs now search into the words of the Institution 2. THE EXPOSITION OF OVR SAVIours words THIS IS MY BODY OVR Sauiour being set againe at the Table with his Apostles in such manner as hath been said tooke bread and hauing blessed it brake it and said Matth. 2â— Marke 14. Luke 22. This is my body and in so saying the creature obeyed one substance gaue place to the other and the bread was transubstantiated into the body of our Sauiour that is to say the substance of bread departed and the substance of our Sauiours body taked the place thereof Howbeit the colour the taste and the other accidents of bread do still remaine to serue for the outward robe to couer our Sauiours body and to make an entire Sacrament which is euer composed of two things euen as a man is made of soule and of body the one inuisible for the soule and the other visible for the sense so to speake and so to doe appertained to an omnipotent Lord mans word onely signifieth but the word of God both signifieth and worketh The Kings and the Potentates of the world command indeed their subiects and their subiects obey them but if they command their trees their riuers their mountains and other insensible creatures their commandements are in vaine to the eares of such vassals for that which hath neither sense nor soule cannot vnderstand the voice of any but the Creator King Xerxes threatened the mountaines Plut. de Ira. and made to be heaten the waues of the Sea but the mountaines were dease to his threatnings and the Sea contemned his whip It is God alone that can make himselfe to be vnderstood and felt of all that is S. Hieron in c. 8. Matth. All creatures saith Saint HIEROM haue feeling of the Creator for they vnderstand him when hee threatens them or commands them not that all things haue vnderstanding as the Heretikes dreame but by reason of the Maiestie of him that hath made euery thing of nothing He commandeth all and not onely things depriued of sense but euen that which yet hath neither nature nor being Rom. 4.17 Matth. 8.27 Marke 4.41 He calleth saith the Apostle the things which are not as if they were So the Sonne of God by his Word puts the bridle in the mouth of the windes and waues and calmes the raging of the Sea Euen so he commanded the sicke Death it selfe and the Sepulcher and his commandement was fulfilled Gen. 1. So he commanded Nothing when he created the world of Nothing and that nothing was obedient and became a world by the commandement of his voice The word of man is significatiue Gods word is also operatiue If a man say in the night O that it were day he signifies that he hath a desire that the Sunne should rise from his Horizon to make it day but the Sunne for his saying hasteneth neuer the more the course of his Chariot to make day approach But God saying Gen. 1. Let there be light the light appeared presently and his word was not significatiue onely but moreouer the effectrix of his will saying then This is my body that which a little before was bread is truely his body and his word doth outwardly signifie to the eare and maketh inwardly that which it did signifie It said that it was the body of the Sauiour and saying so it made it so for otherwise he had not said so of it Ioan. 14. for so much as a lye cannot proceed from the mouth and heart of Truth it selfe which assureth nothing that is not true 3. OF THE CLEARENES OF THE SENSE of these words THIS IS MY BODY by Scripture and by reason THese words This is my body are most cleare if there be any in the whole volume of the booke of God and good reason they should be cleare For they containe the Law and Institution of thy greatest Sacrament and mystery of our Faith in ordaining whereof it was fit to speake clearely and intelligibly to the end to take away all occasion of error in a matter of such importance They containe also the principal clause of the testament or Pact which the Sonne of God did then make with his Church wherein the Language which is vsed ought to
littlenesse whereon it wrought and on the otherside he will no lesse admire his infinite vertue which of so little a sprout could produce such a goodly tree then praise his bountie which in fine hath made a Present of all this for the vse of man This manner of proceeding is as cleare as meruailous in all the parts of this vniuersall world but thrise illustrious and thrise admirable it is in that Monarchie which God the Sonne hath established in the rule of his Church whereof the foundations haue been meruailous in the Law of Nature the progresse yet more meruailous vnder the Law of the Iewes but the accomplishment made in the Law of Grace surpasseth all admiration The foundations in the Law of Nature and the progresse in that of Moses are meruail ous because that in their littlenesse they containe the modell and the figure of the greatnesse of our Sauiours Law and in this Law of our Sauiour the accomplishment is infinitely more admirable because it containeth the perfection of all that which of old was conceiued and figured in the other Lawes that went before it And this is it which the Scripture sets before vs so often as a cleare demonstration of the Maiesty and greatnesse of our Creator Saint Paul writeth that all things chanced in Figure to the Iewes that is to say 1. Cor. 10. that the old Law was a Picture of the new and our Sauiour protesteth often that he will accomplish the Law euen to a little lot One ior Matth. 5.18 meaning that the Law of Grace was a most absolute accomplishment of the other Lawes before it Now then God shewes himselfe God in the reserence of things past to things present Esay 41.23 if in any other worke of his Almightie God most diuinely hath made himself appeare to be God he hath in this connection and reference of things past to things to come so farre distant one from the other In the first place foretelling that which was to ensue hee hath shewed to haue present before his eyes all things were they passed or to come a signe of supreame dignitie For without this knowledge he could not haue ordained and foretold these so great and so faire designes of so many mysteries which were not to be effected till after the ensuing of many thousand yeeres neither haue pointed out the Lineaments of the Law of Moses in the Law of Nature and haue made in the Law of Moses a body of Figures which represented the Law of the Messias as we see he hath For the Circumcision giuen to Abraham the Redâ—ses the Desert the Manna the Mountaine of Sina in summe all the Iudaicall Mysteries were but so many Pictures containing in signification the truth of our Religion Who then could know how to draw these so Diuine draughts from time to time S. Cyril de Adoratione from season to season except he which holds in his vnderstanding the knowledge and the face of times and seasons and of all things passed present and to come And who could make accord the past with the present and the present with the past Who is it can ioyne the figure to the body Against Atheists and the body to the figure the shaddow to the truth and the truth to the shaddow And with so faire iust and equall proportion consummate the worke from point to point according to the first designe except he which can all that he will As this manner of working by little beginnings and figures arising to perfection and to the truth it selfe by meanes proportioned both to the beginning and to the ending was conuenient to witnesse the Maiestie of God so also it was necessary for to iustruct the Iewes when the Law was in her childe-hood and meruailously proper to perfect the Christians when it came to the perfection of mans estate These Iewes were rude like yong children and therefore their Law was a Schoole-master God taught them by Figures threatened them with the whip promised them milke and hony thus were they taught according to their capacitie bridled with their owne bitt and drawne by their owne cords which were most agreeable with their owne dispositions Plato Plato saith that yong people ought to begin their Schoole with the Mathematikes because it is a Science which teacheth them by things agreeable to their wits by lines by triangles squares rulers figures which enter sweetely into their spirits The Iewes then being children were to be taught Religion by figures of Religion as familiar Alphabets to their infancie and such was the vsage of them amongst the Iewes but with Christians it is farre otherwise If the Iewes fed vpon Figures by vvhich they vvere taught as their Paschall Lambe their Manna their Sacrifices their Offerings and their other more remarkable signes wherein if they were spirituall they did contemplate the future truth of the Law of Grace the Christians doe not so but contrariwise they hold the truth it selfe present and in it they contemplate the Figures past without any more vsing of them after the manner of the Iewes From which contemplation they draw to themselues many good vses The first whereof is That they admire this supreme wisdome of God who hath from the beginning so vvell grounded the Kingdome of his Sonne and conducted it to the perfection of the Law of Grace from so little beginnings in appearance and yet so great in signification seeing hee hath so diuinely laid the liuely and last colours of the Law of Grace vpon those shaddowes and lineaments which he had drawne before in the Lawes of olde The second is that they admire the selfe-same wisdom contemplating the faire report of the nevv and old Testament to one another beholding each other like the two Cherubims vvhich vvere turned face to face before the Arke the one containing the true portraiture the other the liuely truth the one saying the Messias shall come the other the Messias is come the one the Messias shall endure the death of the Crosse the other the Messias hath endured the death of the Crosse the one the Messias shall institute an eternall Sacrament and Sacrifice of his body the other that hee hath instituted the eternall Sacrament and Sacrifice of his body and so of other mysteries These two admirations bring vs three other fruits First they illustrate our faith for when the mysteries which we beleeue are declared to vs by Figures and Prophecies giuen many ages agoe our faith takes foundation and roote vpon the authoritie and certaintie of things past And this is the reason why the Scripture to plant this faith in the heart of the hearer sendeth him so often to the Tables and Testimonies of the ancient Law So our Sauiour going about to make a faithfull Christian of his secret Disciple Nicodemus Ioan 3. Num. 21. illustrates the mystery of his Passion by the historie of the Serpent of Brasse long before erected in the Desert to be a Figure of his
of good and euill loaden with Apples faire to behold and delitious to the taste Eue which is there standing beholds them with an ambitious and eager desire and would faine bee at them but shee is aduertised by her husband that God had forbidden them to be eaten The Enemy to mankinde mooued with enuy and lying in waite for the nonce when he perceiued her weaknesse by her curious beholding tooke occasion to seduce her and cloathed with the body of a Serpent a craftie subtill creature quaâ—ities agreeing to this Deceiuer by many compasses and windings about the Tree hauing now gotten vp began from aboue to speake with her and perswade her to take thereof the poore foole being easily perswaded falls vpon the fruite and begins to â—ate neuer doubting any deceit nor fearing death it selfe that lay hidden therein and which is worst shee will perswade her husband Adam to doe the like Alas how deare must this one bit cost him What a deadly bit will chis be How many wounds and deathes shall he swallow downe with this one morsell Ah good mother lend not your eare to this wicked Abuser who for his reuolt is newly cast downe from heauen and being now full of rage and fury seekes nothing on the earth but your confusion Keepe you for Gods sake from touching these Apples which are onely forbidden you among so much other daintie fruites set before you on the spacious table of this delightfull Garden Offend not for a little pleasure of your tongue the Maiesty of a Lord so bountifull and liberall as he hath been vnto you But if you desire to eat some fruit which is indeed most exquisite and diuine lift vp your hand to this Tree of Life and not to that of death and kill not your selfe with all your race in you by this enormous crime of foule ingratitude for the committing whereof you haue so small occasion 1. THE CHVRCH OF GOD LIVELY set foorth in earthly Paradise GOD teacheth vs celestiall things by terestriall and spirituall by those that are corporall This faire Garden which hath beene heere before represented according to the Historie of Moses by two diuers Pictures the one seruing for the eye the other for the eare is a Figure of the Church of God Cant. 4. Isay 51.61 Aâ—â—â— 2. which the Scripture calleth sometime a Garden sometime a Vineyard planted by the hand of the Almightie And truely if this faire earthly place figured some dwelling it could figure none more reasonably then that where God raignes S. Greg. 5. Cant. 4. S. Aug. lib. 8. de Genes ad lit c. â— and workes after a singular manner and where his children are diuinely nourished which is his Church A heauenly habitation of men and truely eleuated aboue the earth for so much as the desires of those Saints of whom it is cornposed dwell in heauen An abode of spirituall delights the true Pallace and proper Mansion of the children of God S. Aâ—g de Ciuitate Dei lib. 13. cap. 21. S. Augustine hauing proued that this Garden had his being in a corporall place and such a one according to the literall sense as Moses hath described he declareth of what it was the Figure and saith That Paradise is the life of good people the foure Flouds the foure Cardinall Vertues to wit Wisdome Fortitude Temperance lustice the Trees the Artes and the fruits of the Trees the workes of good men the Tree of Life Wisdome the mother of all goodnesse the Tree of Knowledge of good and euill the experience of a Commandement broken And he addes which is more remarkable a second signification That all these things may be vnderstood of the Church for to be the better receiued as signes propheticall of things to come The Church then is a Paradise so called in the booke of the Canticles the foure Flouds are the foure Euangelists Câ—nt â— the fruits of the Trees are good workes the Tree of Life is the Holy of Holies Iesus Christ the Tree of Knowledge of good and euill the free Ithertie of the will S. Aug. lib. de Ciuit. cap. 21. So Saint Augustine allegorizing vpon this Historie of the earthly Paradise 2. OF THE GIFTS AND EXCELLENT qualities of the Church described in the patterne of earthly Paradise IN the Church then may bee seene spiritually all that which corporally was contained in the Garden of Pleasure Shee is situated towards the East for shee is alwaies turned towards Iesus Christ the true Orient and so called because he is the East which shee alwayes beholds adores Zach. 9.11 contemplates loues and admires In signe whereof the materiall Temples of Christians are turned to the East whereas the Temple of the Iewes looked towards the West In her is to be seene the accord of the foure Euangelists foundations and springs of our faith as the foure Elements and the foure vniuersall Flouds of this spirituall Garden The Sunne of Iustice which is God shineth heere alwayes by the bright beame of his truth Sacrament Baptisme Confirmation Penance and the rest the Vertues Faith Hope and Charitie and other like qualities hold there the places of trees and plants the holy actions of the iust are as the greenes the flowers the fruits and the delitious odours thereof the preaching of Gods Word the Writings of the holy Fathers and their cloquence are the gold and pearles cast vpon the shoare by the foure diuine Flouds of the Euangelists the Birdes which sing in this Paradise are the deuout soules which in all times with heart word and deed sound foorth the praises of God the Bird of Paradise so called in particular is euery perfect Christian whose conuersation is alwayes in heauen whose thoughts desires and workes like vnto purple and golden feathers are all gilded and inflamed with charitie the Lions Beares Tygers and other nobleliuing creatures present the Christian Kings and Potentates who notwithstanding their greatnesse and power obey as the least to the voice of our Sauiour speaking and commanding by the Pastors and Gouernors of his Church The Church then is a Paradise on earth figured by the former and is her selfe also a figure of a future Paradise which we looke for in heauen A Figure so much more diuine as the delights of the soules which are found in her are farre more precious and more neerely resembling true felicitie then the corporall gifts contained in that earthly Garden which was prepared for the first Adam Come we now to the Tree of Life the ornament of this Paradise and the propeâ— subiect of our present discourse 3. THE HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE Altar figured by the Tree of Life THe Tree and the fruite of Life Paschasius lib. 1. de corp Domini cap. 7. Philo Iud. de planct Noe ex Platone planted in the midst of earthly Paradise was a Figure of Iesus Christ and of the Sacrament of his body Man is a Tree saith Philo the Iew after Plato but a celestiall Tree and
was acceptable to God Iesus Christ by his Sacrifice appeaseth God Abel offered his Lambe Iesus Christ himselfe the true Lambe Abel was slaine through enuy Marc. 15.10 Iesus Christ was crucified out of enuy Abel was killed in the fields Iesus Christ without the gates of Hierusalem That this was also the Figure of the Sacrifice of the Eucharist it is euident by the faith of the Church which hath alwayes so beleeued as is witnessed by the ancient Prayer shee vseth in offering that Sacrifice which is inserted in the Canon of the Masse and is to be found in the writings of Saint Ambrose S. Ambros lib. 4. de Sacr. cap 6. in Can. Miss in these tearmes Vpon which Oblations vouchsafe to looke downe Lord with a gratious eye as thou didst look downe vpon the Presents of thy iust seruant ABEL But let vs see the workes and lineaments of this Figure 2. THE ACCORD OF THE FIGVRE OF the Sacrifice of ABEL with that of the Masse BEhold now some draughts of this Figure answering to the truth The Sacrifice of Abel was the first Sacrifice of the Law of Nature for albeit that Adam no doubt did Sacrifice yet notwithstanding the Scripture makes no mention thereof but setteth downe this of Abel as the first and without doubt this was also the first in dignity In like manner the first Sacrifice offered by Iesus Christ true ABEL is this of the Eucharist for that on the Crosse was the second As Abel sacrificed his first-borne Lambe so Iesus Christ offereth in the Eucharist the First-borne of his Father and of his Mother and First-borne amongst many brethren As Abel a little after he had sacrificed was led by his brother out of the house and by him put to death So our most happy Sauiour after that he had offered his first Sacrifice was made prisoner and the morrow after was led out of the Citie of Hierusalem to Mount Caluary and there crucified The Sacrifice of Abel was pleasing by reason of the innocency and piety of the Offerer the Sacrifice of the Eucharist is alwayes pleasing to God by reason of his Beloned Sonne in whom he is well pleased for it is he which is alwayes the first and principall Offerer in the Masse as he is also the principall agent in all the other Sacraments for as it is he which makes his Body it is he also that Baptiseth it is he that Confirmeth it is he that Absolueth vs from our sinnes and which doth all the rest the Priest being no more but his Vicar and Instrument therein but the Sacrifice of the Eucharist in one thing farre excelleth the other of ABEL because it is an Offering gratefull of it selfe to God for it is Iesus Christ himselfe it is he which is the Offerer and Offering together Finally the Sacrifice of ABEL containes alone three Sorts of Sacrifices which after were instituted by God in the Law of Moses as it shall be shewed in the Type of Melchisedech which are the Holocaust the Hoste Pacificall and the Hoste Propitiatory In the first all the Offering was burnt and offered directly to the honor of God in acknowledgement of the homage which wee owe to his diuine Maiesty The second was offered in giuing thankes and in signe of a ioyfull vnion and alliance betweene the Creator and the creature The third was offered to obtaine remission of sinnes These three sorts were in the Sacrifice of ABEL and are found clearely in the Sacrament of the Masse for all is offered to God and to his honor In it is a thankesgiuing of the highest degree by a Returne as it were made vnto him of the most excellent gift that euer he bestowed and therefore it is called the Eucharist by it we haue Propitiation for finnes by it are pardoned As for the Sacrifice of the Crosse although it was truely an Holocaust and vertually a thanksgiuing to God yet was it properly Propitiatory and therefore the Scripture assigning the cause wherefore Iesus Christ died Rom. 4 25. 1. Cor. 15.3 mentioneth alwayes sinne He was deliuered saith Saint Paul for our sinnes and often elsewhere it is then Propitiatory The Sacrifice of ABEL therefore containing the three fore-named sorts of Sacrifices was an expresse Figure of the Eucharist and so you may behold how the truth hath accomplished the ancient Figure Of two sorts of Sacrificers BEsides the proper Sacrifices which are made by Priests and ordained Officers with such Oblations and Presents as Abel and Caine did offer vpon the Altar of stone there are other called also Sacrifices in a more ample signification of the word Sacrifice which are the workes of vertue as of Faith Hope Charity Prayers Almes Fasting Mercy Teares good Desires and other actions of pietie that not onely Priests but euery one ought to offer on the Altar of his soule after the fashion of ABEL in innocencie and sincerity and in a word to offer himselfe also as ABEL offered himselfe taking from him the paterne of a perfect Sacrificer Saint Cyprian speaking of Christian Sacrifices S. Cyprian de â—ra Domi. ABEL saith he innocent and iust sacrificing to God with puritie teacheth others that they ought to come to the Altar with the feare of God and simplicitie of heart S. Ambros de Ord. Dominic Incar cap. 1. And Saint Ambrose ABEL offered sacrifices of the first-borne of his flocke teaching vs thereby that the Presents of the earth please not God but onely those in whom shined the grace of diuine mystery But as for Caine he is a patterne and example of the wicked he offered negligently by way of acquitance deceitfully giuing of the worst and thinking to deceiue God so doe peruerse men after his imitation offer alwayes the worst vpon the Altar of God the worst corne the worst grapes for their Tithes the worst bread for their almes their worst children to the Church for men of the Cleargie and this not for the honor and glory of God but for the vanity of the world for particular interest and temporall commoditie Such Sacrificers are imitators of Caine and partakers of his crime and shall be contemned of God and be made companions of his paine 3. GOD PERMITS EVILL TO DRAW good foorth of it for his glory and the profit of his children BVt Abel was slaine by his brother Caine what is O Lord the secret of thy prouidence in this permission How hast thou endured that thy first Iust first Sacrificer first faithfull seruant in thy house should be so vniustly oppressed and that the enuious hath had the vpper hand against the innocent Such a demaund mans heart might make at the first view admiring the iudgements of God which he doth not vnderstand But we must know that God permitteth nothing which is not holy and honorable to his Maiesty he doth then permit that the vniust oppresse the innocent for two principall reasons of which the first is taken from his wisdome which requires that Caine
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
Lambe was offered in the euening Iesus Christ gaue himselfe in the Eucharist and on the Crosse in the euening of the world and at the last howre of the day Ioan. 2.18 as speaketh the Apostle Saint Iohn The Lambe was to be roasted thereby to shew the burning charitie of our Sauiour in giuing his body in this Sacrament seasoned and coloured with the flame of his burning charity teaching vs withall that wee must bring with vs feruent loue when we come to eate it for this is the preparation and the appetite with which spirituall meates ought to be taken for the good nourishment of our soules Exod. 12. Those which did eate it ought to be Iewes by bloud or by Religion no person may eate our Lamb that is not a Christian borne of Christians or made Christian by Baptisme They did eate it in the night to shew that our Eucharist is a hidden mystery and inuisible to sense and humane iudgement and knowne onely to faith The Father of euery Family was to eate it euery Pastor in his Parish as in his Family and euery Church as a Family vnder her Pastor eates the Lambe of God but with this difference that the Iewes did eate diuers Lambes in diuers houses and in diuers times their Lambe being corruptible the Christians eate all one selfesame Lambe in all times Iesus Christ incorruptible Lambe and immortal and onely sufficient for all and alwayes They did not breake the bones to Figure the impassibility of the Diuinitie of our Lambe Iesus Christ hid vnder the Humanity as the bones are hidden vnder the flesh and further to represent the impassibilitie of his body hid vnder the formes of bread and wine And therefore the Figure is perfectly accomplished in our Banquet for we eate our Lambe not onely without breaking his bones but without hurting whatsoeuer of his flesh all whole all vnited all immortall without euer consuming of it The Figure giues but a little touch concerning the bone onely the verity goes further and accomplisheth it also in the body They were to eate it hastily to shew that this mystery ought to be deuoured with a liuely and blessed faith without the narrow sifting curiosity of reason and humane sense Of the selfe-same signification was the Ceremony which commanded to burne what remained to teach vs what we cannot comprehend in our mystery that we ought to burne in the fire of Charity The bread without leauen signifies the sinceritie of conscience that men ought to bring to this Table 1. Cor. 5.8 as S. Paul interprets it the bitter Lettice signifies Penance and herehence it is that the children of the Church of God before they present themselues to receiue the blessed Sacrament put their soules in good estate bewailing their sins confessing themselues and doing penance for them The Iews were gyrt eating their Lambe in signe that we ought aboue all things to be chast when we eate of this virginall flesh of the Lambe without spor For Luxury proceedeth from the Reines and to girde the Reines is to take away the first causes of the sinne of the flesh and make whoredome to dye in its spring and therefore Saint Gregory saith S. Greg hom 13. We then put the girdle to our reines when we represse the lasciuiousnesse of the flesh by the bridle of continency The staffe in their hands and shooes of dead skinne on their feete after the fashion of people which are to take a iourney teach vs that we should liue in this mortall flesh as pilgrimes dead to this world hauing for the soueraigne strength of our Pilgrimage the staffe of the Crosse †and for our shooes of our feet the meditation of death and this at euery pace and moment of our life as indeed in euery steppe we approach to the graue There are then in all these faire lineaments and mysteries figured and accomplished sufficient markes whereby to acknowledge as well the truth which is the Sacrament of our Lambe the Redeemer as also the bounty and supreame wisdome of him who hath figured it by his seruant Moses and by his owne proper hand fulfilled the same But who shall giue vs eyes to penetrate sufficiently these workes words to praise them highly affection to loue them holily except thou O soueraigne Master who art the worker of them Who shall make vs touch the fruit of thy flesh and of thy bloud except thou which giuest them vs to vse Who shall deliuer vs from Pharoe and from Aegypt except thou that hast certainly deliuered vs But we vnthankfull and forgetfull wretches haue taken againe the iron chaine of seruitude by our sinnes vpon vs. O sweet Lamb that didst come into this world to wipe away the sins of the world in the purple colour of this noble bloud imployed to dye red the poasts of the Crosse and to turne from vs the violence of the destroying Angel Defend vs against our enemies in this bloud wash vs from our sinnes in this bloud refresh vs with this bloud and in this bloud powred into our breasts stifle the first-borne of spirituall Aegypt which are seldome from vs and which too often we carry with vs the loue of this world fleshly pleasures follies and smoakes of vanities stifle the high desires of our obdurate soules which as the first-borne of Man push vs forward to the vanity of worldly honours Smother the concupiscenses and fiers of our flesh which as the first-borne of our brutish and vnreasonable appetites which seeke after nothing but the hay of the earth and the baits of sense Enkindle in our hearts this celestiall fire with which thou art seasoned to be our Paschall Lambe and the delicious dainty of our Feast to the end that we may receiue it with gaine of incorruption seasoning our soules by this receiuing to become an Holocaust of delicious smell and of good taste to thy Maiesty Make vs wise well to acknowledge thy gifts make vs good to the end we may be worthy of them and strengthen vs in vertue that we may perseuer in the way of thy holy Lawes to be receiued at last to thy Mariage-feast where thou shalt be the Spouse and the Lambe the Giuer and the meate of eternall felicitie THE SIXT PICTVRE MANNA IN THE DESERT The Description YOV see heere the Desert of Arabia Exod. 16. in the confines of Aegypt and Moses conducting the multitude of the Hebrewes in number more then six hundred thousand lately deliuered from the bondage of the Aegyptians Exod. 12.37.38 and from the hands of Pharoe who came to be swallowed vp with all his armie in the depthes of the waues of the Sea So soone as the meate and the bread which they brought with them from Aegypt began to saile then they fell a crying for hunger for the belly hath neither patience nor eares especially in so rude a people and enclined to murmure as these are God of his liberality and benignity towards them makes this day
from heauen and saying That this bread is his flesh which he will giue for the life of the world He declareth that he will giue his body for our food and redemption And adding after He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath life euer lasting and I will rasse him vp at the last day for my flesh is meate indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed Hee signified the effects of this meate contrary to the effects of the meate of Adam The meate of Adam cause of death a deadly morsell an carthly food a food of anguish The meate of our Sauiour spring of life bread of life bread from heauen flesh of ioyfulnesse and of resurrection When he said Hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud abideth in me and I in him He sheweth that he giues his flesh for this vnion for a bond of amity and perpetuall pledge of his loue towards vs. Hee hath then giuen his body in this life for our good as many waies as it could be giuen for our redemption for our meat for our remedy for a pledge vnto vs to deliuer vs to nourish vs. to heale vs and to comfort vs and will giue it in heauen to glory for vs. Hath he giuen sufficiently is he sufficiently liberall to giue himselfe so liberally and at so many time and by so many wayes on earth and to promise himselfe vnto vs yet another way in heauen And are not wee exceedingly vngratefull in not acknowledging his goodnesse no lesse vniust in not giuing our selues to him that haue nothing but from him And most ingratefull in making no better vse of his gifts ordained to vnite our selues vnto him and amongst our selues for the attaining of life euerlasting What hath this diuine Spouse done What hath he inuented What doth he not What hath he not deuised to gaine the loue of a faithfull soule And what doe we In what doe we employ our selues to gaine his loue And who is it of whom this Prince so infinitly rich mighty and beautifull is so much inamored but of a poore caytiffe and deformed creature whom he would enrich nobilitate and beautifie to make him worthy of his Kingdome And how would he seeke to purchase by so many meanes the loue of such a creature if he were not goodnesse it selfe O infinit Goodnesse infinit Wisdome infinite Power fulnesse Make our soules holily inamored of thy beauty enlighten them with the diuine beames of thy celestiall knowledge and make them worthy of thy sacred loue 5. PRIDE AND LICENTIOVSNES ENEmies of Faith and the first aduersaries of the holy Sacrament PRide and sensuality are vncapable to vnderstand the wonders of God and vnworthy to receiue his benefits Wee haue heard the diuine promises of our Sauiour speaking of the eating of his flesh and of the euerlasting fruits thereof heere was cause to wonder at the height of the mystery and liberality of the Giuer and good occasion to say as Saint Peter a little after wondering said Thou bast the words of eternall life Iohn 6.63 They were heere neuerthelesse who in stead of being lifted vp in admiration were strucke downe to death by the words of life because pride and sense had made them bad hearers of the truth enemies of the light and vnable to behold further then humane iudgement could reach In so much as though truth it selfe did speake vnto them they murthered themselues by the voice of truth thinking that eyther he could not doe as he promised and giue his flesh to eate or that if hee could doe it it should be a very inhumane and barbarous act They vnderstood of flesh saith S. Augustine as if one should dismember a dead body or as men sell it in the market S. August Trust 27. in Ioan. in Psal 98. and flesh vnderstood not what it was he called flesh They thought that our Sauiour would cut his body into little bits and serue it to the table boyled and dressed as the body of a beast and standing vpon the bulwarke of their carnall imaginations and pushed forward by the spirit which blindes the soule in stead of being edified they were scandalized and became perfidious in their heart rude in their thought and blasphemers in their language and did say How can this man giue vs his flesh to cate Behold Iohn 6.52.60 a hard saying and who can endure it By the first question they did shew their incredulity not perswading themselues that our Sauiour could accomplish that which he did promise by the second they made their pride appeare condemning our Sauiour as if he intended to commit an horrible crime by killing himselfe and giuing mans flesh to eare if he should be able to doe that which he said People extreamely blinded with pride and sensuality for they had seene a little before a thousand of miracles done by the hand of our Sauiour and beleeued them without asking How And in stead of learning by those so many rare workes to beleeue more easily they heere aske How more incredulous then euer But why are they now so little obedient to the voice of our Sauiour Why were they not before more scrupulous and wary Wherfore did they not as well aske how he made the blinde to see the lame to walke the diuels to flye and of the fresh miracle how hee satisfied fiue thousand men with fiue Loaues and two Fishes Heere their How had been much more to purpose and more pertinent for they might haue vnderstood thereby that he did these things in the authority power of a Master Al-wise and Al-mighty and this knowledge would haue perswaded them that hee could powerfully and wisely accomplish this which hee so manifestly did promise of his flesh although it seemed impossible and absurde to their sense and iudgement But what will you They were proud and their pride had made them to lose the memory of what was past and bound their eyes not to see the truth present nor to fore-see the truth to come and in one word did make them obstinately erronious that is to say Heretikes Behold the first controulers the first persecutors and first Herenkes stirred vp against the truth of this holy Sacrament behold the first authors of Quomodo How out of which mould the Diuell hath shaped all the rest which sithence haue conspired against God for to assault the mysteries of his Church by Quomodo and by How and namely to shake this heere as the most high and most repugnant to their senfuality It was pride and the flesh that made them mutiners and rebels against the doctrine of Iesus Christ and presumptuous to comdemne that which they vnderstood not So the Arrians mocked at the Catholike faith concerning the generation of the Sonne of God whilest they would vnderstand that which they could not and would not beleeue that which they should to wit that God had begotten a Sonne Psal 3.7 Psal 109.1 and in stead of saying Christianlike I beleeue
Sea Baptisme Sampsons Foxes the Heretikes Golish the enemy of mankinde Danid Iesus Christ and that there is no other thing meant thereby he should make a spirituall fense indeed but should ouerthrow the ground of the history and commit Sacrilege against the Scripture which writeth the foresaid things as truly performed they should do in this as the Priscillianists did long since who did allegorize according to their fantasie all the passages and literall senses of the Scripture which were against their Herefie S. August lib. de Hares 70. as writeth S. Augustine In like manner these heere allegorize and say that there is nothing heere but a spirituall and mysticall eating of the flesh of our Saulour Iohn 6. For since that our Sauiour hath said that his flesh is meate indeed and his bloud drinke indeed and that who so eateth his slesh shall haue eternall life we must necessarily suppose a reall eating of a reall thing adde the spirituall allegoricall afterwards We sinde indeed in the Scriptures the word Lion put for the Diuell 1. 〈◊〉 18. Matth. 7.15 and the word Woulse for a faise prophet These are metaphoricall and spirituall significations but the same words are placed elswhere in their proper vsage and do signifie beasts and out of a resemblance of these words in their proper signification they are translated to signifie the Diuell and false Prophets Wherefore if there bee heere an eating of the flesh of our Sauiour all spirituall that is to say which is done onely by the Spirit without any reall taking of that flesh it is necessary to finde a proper and reall ground foundation thereof the which reall eating cannot bee but in the Eucharist containing really the flesh and bloud of our Sauiour true and proper meat true and proper drinke But is it not a carnall vnderstanding to admit a reall eating of the flesh of our Sauiour Yes doubtlesse if we should vnderstand as did the Capharnaiâ—s an humane and sensuall eating but the manducation which the Catholike Church teacheth and which we haue declared is reall indeed but spirituall but diuine and full of wonderous effects testimonies of the powerfulnesse goodnesse and wisdome of the Creator And when the ancient Fathers refute the carnall eating they neuer meane this heere but onely that which the Capharnalts did forge to themselues and which our Sauiour doth correct by the words we haue expounded as they sufficiently testifie of themselues For as often as the Fathers speak of this carnall eating they propose the Capharnaits as authors of that fond imagination and doe also pâ—â—nely shew that the eating of which our Sauiour did preach is of the reall flesh of him though the manner of taking be spirituall Let vs cite one or two for all Saint HILLARY S. Mill. 〈◊〉 8. de Trin. It is our Sauiour that said my flesh is mâ—â—te indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed Who shall 〈◊〉 my flesh and drinke my bloud dwelleth in mee and I in him Heere is no occasion to doubt of the truth of the flesh and bloud of our Sauiour for according to his word and according to our faith it is flesh indeed 〈◊〉 bloud indeed and those things taken and drunke by vs make that we are in Iesus Christ and Iesus Christ in vs. Is not this the â—â—th to them let it not be true which doe not beleene that Iesus Christ is true God He would say that the words of our Sauiour ought to be taken in their liuely and literall signification The same faith Saint AVGVSTINâ— Wee haue heard saith he the true Master the diâ—ine Rodâ—â—â—â—r and the Sauiour of mankinde recommending vnto vs his bloud our price He hath spoken to vs of his body and of his 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 said that his â—â—dy is 〈◊〉 and his bloud deinke when recommending to vs such meat and such drinke he said If you eate not my flesh and drinke not my bloud you shall 〈◊〉 haue life 〈◊〉 you And who could say this of life but Life himselfe Phâ—â— then shall bee deâ—â— to him and not life who shall thinke Life to be a lyer That is to say whosoever shal think that our Sauiour cannot or will not gine his flesh and his bloud as his words did fignifie he is an Insidell 〈◊〉 shall â—â—e and be damned for 〈◊〉 The other Doctors speake after the same manner that those two beere doe 10. TWO KINDES OF COMMVNION THE one Spirituall the other Sacramentall THe ancient Fathers haue clearely acknowledged an eating altogether spiritual of the flesh of our Sauiour which is done in hearing the Masse in meditating vpon the greatnesse of this banquot in taking the flesh of our Sauiour onely by sight by desire and by dâ—uotion But they haue deliuered thâ—â— doctrine without preiudice to that other which you haue heard for they haue euer beleeued and esteemed this reall eating which by proper name they haue called Sacramentall and haue preserâ—ed it before the other when it is holily done as also they haue preferted the Spirituall alone before the Sacramentall if it be not done with due preparation Rightly iudging that it is better to heate Masse deuoutly and contemplate the mysteries of this meate and communicate in â—b is spirituall maner then to communicate with a consciousâ— defiled with morâ—â—ll finno and by fiâ—â— to pâ—ophane the table of our Lord. And this Sacramentall eating though it bee reall ceaseth notto be spirituall because the 〈…〉 is supernaturall and diuiâ—e as hath been 〈…〉 is called Sacramentall for distinctions sake because heere men take the Sacrament The other simply bears the name of Spirituall because it is only done by Spirit without receiuing really the flesh of our Sauiour This Spirituall communion properly is but deuotion towards the Sacrament as the Sacramental is the reall receiuing of the Sacrament the which ought for an vnseparable companion alwayes to haue the Spirituall for otherwise it profiteth nothing and hurteth exceedingly much whereas the Spiritual may be profitable without the Sacramentall The children of God vse both sorts for they communicate both Sacramentally and Spiritually but the mis-beleeuers are depriued of both For denying the presence of the body of our Sauiour they take away the heart of the Sacrament and depriue themselues of the Sacramentall communion and not hauing the true faith of the Sacrament they cannot communicate spiritually For without faith no holy Spirit quickeneth no Sacrament profitath so that still they remaine carnall in their fancie as the Capharnaits did in theirs 11. OF THE DIVINE WISDOME AND goodnesse of God in this Sacrament and of the folly and ingratitude of men BVt before wee turne away our face from beholding this Picture let vs a little fixe the eyes of our vnderstanding vpon the contemplation of this diuine Widome preaching to vs of the communion of his flesh and vpon our owne basenesse not knowing how to acknowledge the sweetnesse of his diuino benefits On the one side let vs
when he shall be condemned crowned and crucified as a theefe as a tyrant as a notable offender conuicted Expect but till these things come to passe and then thou wilt see that this humility which now seemes infinite to thee is but a small parcell of the humility of thy Sauiour thou wilt see that his humility is a bottom without end and without any bounds O diuine Humility how great art thou become in the littlenesse of the Sonne of God how beautifull in his base seruices and ignominies rich and aboundant in his pouerty O Iesus thou art a great Master and teachest well a godly Lesson teaching humility in thy humiliation teaching not in saying only but in doing teaching by worke and by example and not onely by word and by councell And who euer dare amongst the sonnes of men lift vp themselues by pride hauing seene the Sonne of God bow downe himselfe to this little Boteswayne and poore fisher and to abase himselfe before the worthlessenesse of vile and wretched sinners and that with so great humiliation And who will not for euer make account of humility since that Wisdome himselfe hath taken it to himselfe who will not learne it with loue and respect since that the Sonne of God teacheth it on his knees Who will not entertaine the greatnesse of this little vertue and the littlenesse of this great Dame since the eldest borne of so great a Lord descended from heauen and made man loues her embraces her praises her and made himselfe little to make her great and to procure her authority amongst the sonnes of men O holy Huâ—niilty foundation of true Christian vertue and ladder to the glory of heauen O welbeloued Christians Let vs loue hereafter the example of our Redeemer let vs humble our selues vpon earth with him to be exalted with him aboue the celestiali Arches 1. OVR SAVIOVR CELEBRATES THE Iewish Passouer before he institutes the Sacrament of his body OVR Sauiour celebrates the Iewes Pasche when hee would institute the Sacrament and Sacrifice of his body according to the order of Melchisedech laying with a diuine skill the liuely colours of the truth vpon the dimme Picture of the ancient portraiture The manner then which hee vseth in celebrating this Pasch was the same which the Iewes did then obserue different from the old Pasch celebrated in Aegypt in some ceremonies Exod. 12. added or changed since that time which neuerthelesse were kept by our Sauiour In the number of these ceremonies one was to be cloathed in eating with a feasting Roabe named from a Greeke word Synthesis Sueton. in Nere. cap. 51. and in the Gospell A wedding garment and in Latine words Pallium lana vest is coenatoria accubitoria which in English is a Sleeuelesse garment Cloake or Roabe in which one sitteth at the table It was decent and of good stuffe and often of a purple colour or of skarlet or of a crimson violet The Iews custome was also to eat the Pasch not standing but as at other ordinary refections after the maner of Persians leaning on the one side vpon their beds and hauing the table before them and for this reason they had no shooes on their feet of which manner of eating the Scriptures as well the new as the olde make mention in sundry places The History of Hester describing to vs the magnificent banquet of King Assuerus saith That they had little beds vpon the which men did repose themselues in taking their repast Tobiâ— 2.3 We learne the same out of Tobias booke Luke 38. and in the Euangelists we haue many signes therof namely in Saint Luke when he resites how Magdalen comming to the banquet remained behinde our Sauiour washing his feete with her teares and wiping them with her haire which giues vs to vnderstand that he was vpon a bed raised vp holding his naked feete from the ground behinde him otherwise she standing behind could not haue washed him and done him this seruice The Romans did keepe the same custome as well in their apparell as in their fitting at table and as they were careful to keep it they also thought it vnseemely publikely to be seene in one of these garments which they did eate in This Suetâ—nius noteth in Nero Neron Sueton. in Nor. cap. 5. saying That he one day went out into the streete cloathed with his Synthesis or mantle for the table without a girdle without shâ—â—es with a hand-kercher about his necke From this truth we gather that the Hebrewes as well as the Romans did in this fashion imitate the people of the East At this day it is no more in vse neuerthelesse there be diuers manners of eating In all Europe almost all men eat sitting as wee see in Spaine in Italy and elsewhere which is the honestest and comliest maner The Iaponians eate fitting vpon the ground after the maner of Taylors sowing vpon a table and so doe the Turkes in many places The Iewes then took their repast and did eat their Lamb lying halfe a long vpon one side in their beds We also learne out of their rituall that in eating the Paschall Lambe a pottage made of wilde lettice and endines was serued in according to the Law Exod. 12. into which the Father of the family did first dip his sweete bread that is to say vnleauened then the rest after him So as that which the Euangelist doth recite Matth. 6.26.21 Marke 14.20 Luke 22.21 our Sauiour to haue said in supping He which putteth his hand into the dish to eat with me it is he that will betray me doth shew that the Iewish ceremony was kept by him And further teacheth wherefore Iudas was not discouered by these words and why euery one was in trouble to know of whom our Sauiour meant them for euery one did dippe his sop together with our Lord so as the true betrayer could not bee discerned amongst the rest and so euery one was afraid to be noted because euery one did put his hand into the dish with Iesus Christ The same father of the family did take a great cake kept vnder the table-cloath and diuided it into as many peeces as he had there people at the table and did giue to euery one his share saying these words This is the bread of Auguish which our Fathers haue eaten in the Land of Aegypt whosoeuer is hungry let him come neere and make his Pasche This done he tooke the cup saying Thou art blessed O Lord who 〈◊〉 created the fruit of the Vuse And hauing drink 〈◊〉 gaue it to the next and he to his neighbour and 〈◊〉 â—om hand to hand euen to the last This ceremony had been also added by the Iewes and our Sauiour condemned it not but mended it seruing himselfe of it as a shadow and laying vpon it one part of the preparation of his Sacrament for he blesseth the bread and wine changing them into his body and into his bloud offers them
and ancient Doctor Iesus Christ saying This is my body sheweth that the bread sanctified vpon the Altar is his body and not the Figure of it seeing that he saith not this is the Figure of my body but This is my body for it is thansformed in an explicable manner though outwardly it seemeth bread Saint AMBROSE S. Ambros de Sacr. l. 5. c. 4. 5. It is the word of Christ which made this Sacrament by which Word all hath been made Our Lord commanded and the earth was made seest thou then how working his Word is If then his Word hath been so mighty as it made that to be which was nothing before how much more easy will it be vnto him to change one thing into another the bread before consecration is bread but after the vttering of these words This is my body it is the body of Christ Heare him saying This is my body take you all and eate of this It is Iesus our Lord which testifieth that wee receiue his body and his bloud shall we doubt of his fidelity or testimony Saint CYPRIAN This saith our Lord is my body S. Cyp. de cun Dom. They had according to the visible forme eaten of the same bread and drunke of the same wine But before these words that food was onely for the nourishment of the body and to giue strength to the corporall life but after that Iesus Christ had said Doe yee this in remembrance of me This is my flesh The forme of Consecration are these words THIS IS MY BODY This is my bloud as often times as the same words are pronounced with the same faith this substantiall bread and this consecrated Chalice with solemne benedicton hath been profitable for the health of the whole man He teacheth then that the words of our Sauior are vnderstood according as they do signifie and that they are the forme by which the bread and the wine are consecrated into the body and bloud of our Sauiour Saint AVGVSTINE writing the ancient enstome of Christians who did answer Amen S. August l. 22. cont Faust c. 10. in Psal 33. Concil 1. after that the Priest had vttered the words of Consecration This is my body this is my bloud saith thus The bloud of Christ giueth a cleare voice on earth then when as the Christians hauing receiued answered Amen It is the cleare voice of bloud that the bloud it selfe pronounceth by the mouth of the faithfull receiued by that bloud The same Author elsewhere Iesus saith hee carried himselfe in his hands when recommending his body he said This is my body It was then according to the literall sense of the Word the body of our Sauiour Saint ANSELME S. Anselm in 1. Cor. 11. expounding the selfe-same clauses maketh Iesus Christ to speak thus Eate this that I giue you because it is my body It plainly appeares bread to the outward senses but acknowledge by the sense of faith that this is my body the same in substance that shall be giuen for you to death This is the Exposition of the ancient Fathers and there hath neuer been any Doctor of the Catholike Church which gaue to these words This is my body other sense then these heere doe giue And this is the meaning of Iesus Christ and whosoeuer followeth any other he is gone out of the Schoole of Christ Iesus taking a lye for truth and damnation for food of eternall life 5. MYSTICALL REFERENCES OF OVR Sauiours words THIS IS MY BODY to the ancient Figures and to all other bodies THis is my body saith our Sauiour We haue said something vpon these words but it is nothing in comparison of that which may yet be said they are cleare but yet they are full of hidden meanings They alone containe the old and new Testament and flye in signification farre aboue the height of heauen more profound then the depthes of the Ocean and more in widenesse then is the compasse of the world in sweetenesse they surmount all the hony and milke of the Land of Promise in vertue the power of all men and Angels and in greatnesse the Maiesty of all Kings that euer were vpon the earth The words which made the world out of nothing were great in effect in heauen they made the Starres the Fishes in the sea Gen. 1 in the ayre the Fowles vnder earth the stones and mettells and vpon earth the Plants the Trees the Lions the Elephants and other creatures in number infinite and in beauty admitable but that which our Sauiour saith and in saying effecteth by these words This is my body is more infinite then all that together this body is more then a thousand worlds if so many had been produced The most excellent name of God is the Tetragram expressed vnder the voice Idoney composed of foure letters not to be vttered by the Iewes This clause This is my body it the clause Tetragram wouen of foure words euident to the eares of faith but vnexplanable by the tongue either of man or Angell What shall we say then to expresse the vertue of it And who can or shall expresse it but he who is the Author of these words and mysteries It is he must do it that is the all-knowing Word and all powerfull able to know to say and to doe whatsoeuer he will What said then this great God by these words This is my body He said that it is his body and saying this he said all that is precious admirable and diuine amongst bodies Hee distinguisheth all the bodies that he had euer made or created from his owne and prefetreth it before them all Hee said I haue made the Sunne and the Moone the Starres and all those immortall bodies which on high make the wainscot of my Fathers Pallace but these are not my body neither substances allied to my person these to me are strange bodies This is my body which I haue formed by an extraordinary way in the wombe of an holy Virgin which I haue diuinely appropriated to my greatnesse and which I haue made the habitation of my dignity The other bodies are parts of my possession this heere is the body of my particular person surpassing the excellency of all the bodies long since consecrated to God and were propheticall Figures thereof The Tree of Life planted in the earthly Paradise the Lambe of innocent Abel offered in Sacrifice the bread of Melchi adech giuen in blessing the Sacrifice of Abraham accomplished by rare faith and obedience the Hebrewes Paschall Lambe the Manna from heauen the Loaues of Proposition the First-fruit offerings the bread of Eliah the Sheepe the Lambe the Ewes the Heifers the Beefes the Oxen the Doues the Sparrowes the Turtles and all the bodies of beasts which the Law of Moses set vpon the Altar in Holocaust in action of thanks in Propitiation all the bodies that men haue offred to the Maiesty of my Father haue been sacred bodies the Figures of this my