beast but by the sword of his owne Father imbrued in the bloud of his sonne O Father what dost thou And into what rigour is thy old age fallen towards the end of thy daies O happie hadst thou been if thou had neuer been a Father Happy if in thy yong and barren veers thou hadst bin plucked downe hastily into thy graue This said Nature to him But faith and charity towards God vsed another Language and of a farre higher nature ABRAHAM thou art to obey the voice of God thy sonne is neither thine nor his mothers but borrowed it is God who hath lent him thee without giuing any certaine tearme of life hee will haue him now it is his right he is Master of life and of death he can be vniust in nothing that he commandeth though it be that he command the father to kill his son He is Almighty to multiply thy race without Isaak S. Aug. lib. 1. de Ciuit. cap. 21. hauing a thousand meanes within the treasure of his diuine secrets to accomplish this which he hath promised thee If thy sonne be faire wise and vertuous so much more is he worthy to be presented before the eyes of his Maiesty No person will blame thee to haue obeyed God and if men blame thee wh◠〈…〉 to doe with the words and iudgement of 〈…〉 â—orld where the voice of the high God resound 〈…〉 And thy wife if shee be wise will take it 〈…〉 â—uing place to necessitie and to the diuine will 〈…〉 shee be not wise thou must not regard her On 〈…〉 and care not for any other thing our Lord Alm 〈…〉 nath so commanded it and his commandement can be for nothing but for thy good nor the execution of it but for thy merit and praise So Nature combated with Faith and Reason with Grace but in the end the victory remained to Faith and Grace Wherefore being come to the top of the Mountaine and hauing laid in order the wood vpon the Altar and made ready euery thing for the Holocaust Abraham doth declare his intention to his sonne and then dearely embracing him saith to him O my deare sonne euen now thou askedst of me where the Lambe was that is to be sacrificed It is thou my beloued which must be that Lambe It is thou that the great God hath chosen thou art no more mine I am no more thy Father thou art the Holocaust consecrated at this time to the honor of God Adew my son and with these words losing his voice sobbing and weeping he kissed him But Isaak said to him O my most honorable Father the will of God and yours be fulfilled my life is his and yours and my death cannot haue a more honorable graue then the Altar of his Maiestie Farewell my most honorable Father accomplish his good pleasure Adew my most honorable Mother without farewell I bewaile your sorrow bewaile not my death since it is so diuinely ordained you shall see me in the Land of the Liuing Abraham now hath bound him and set him vpon the wood and bathing him with teares kisseth him againe and the more that he saw him couragious and obedient the more was his heart wounded with fatherly loue towards him Then Isaak like a little Lambe consenting to all from his heart as hath been said and putting himselfe as he could on his knees after the manner as you see recommends himselfe to God offering himselfe as a liuely Holocaust to his holy will and his necke peaceably to his Fathers hand so to become a perfect Sacrifice Abraham his arme is lifted vp and is ready to strike O God be mercifull to this poore Father and his pious son be thou contented if it please theeâ— with the good will and liuely faith of them both they are already Sacrificed to thee in their hearts Feare you not O meeke and tender soules Behold the Angell which hinders the blow and cries with a high voice ABRAHAM AERAHAM stay thy hand strike not thy childe ABRAHAM stayes and falls on his knees rauished with pleasure and admiration The Angell shewes him a Ramme caught in the bush by the hornes to burne in the Holocaust instead of Isaak Abraham goes and puts it on the Altar with thanksgiuing and so are they both deliuered and both gaue thankes to God for this diuine fauour O great God thy name be blessed as well in this thy command as in thy countermand thereof O thou art wise in both and good in both O how well thou knowest to make triall of the faith and loue of those that thou louest and mightily to deliuer them from paine and to set them in repose 1. ISAAK AND THE RAMME SACRIFIced a Figure of the death of our Sauiour and of the Sacrifice and Sacrament of his body NO person doubts that the Sacrifice made in the person of Isaak and the Ramme containes the Figure of the death of our Sauiour the resemblance consists in these points which Saint Augustine in one of his Sermons no lesse piously then eloquently obserueth S. Aug. Serm. 7. de Temp. Abraham giueth his sonne in Sacrifice and his sonne Isaak also giueth himselfe God the Father gaue his Sonne for our redemption and Iesus Christ for the same cause gaue himselfe to his Father Isaak carrieth his wood to the Mountaine Iesus Christ carrieth his Crosse to Mount Caluary which is the very same Mountaine whereon Isaak was offered saith the same Doctor hauing learned it of Saint Hierom S. Aug. Serm. 71. de Temp. Ioseph lib 1. Antiq. cap. 13. whom he citeth And it importeth not that Iosephus writeth that Isaak was offered in the Mountaine Moria where Salomon builded his Temple for the place of the Temple and Mount Caluary were in one and the same Mountaine though distant in place and the selfe-same Mount Caluary was also the Sepulcher of Adam As for the killing and the burning of the sheepe or Ramme vpon the Altar in stead of Isaak it containeth another mystery accomplished on the Crosse as declareth Saint AVGVSTINE S. Aug. Serm. 71. de Temp. Abraham saith he represented God the Father giuing his onely Sonne ISAAK represents Iesus Christ obedient to his Father and offering himselfe vpon the Altar of the Crosse but the Diuinity represented by ISAAK endures not any hurt but onely the humanity signified by the Ramme hee is tyed by his hornes as Iesus Christ was tyed in power signified by hornes and by his owne power for no other power could master hold or binde him Caught in a bush as our Sauiour was S. Aug. Serm. 71 de Temp. Fastened saith the same Doctor to the bush when he hung betweene the hornes of the Crosse his hands and feete nailed and his head crowned with thornes These are the resemblances of the Crosse to the Sacrifice of Abraham No man also doubteth but this selfe-same Sacrifice was a Figure of the Sacrifice and Sacrament of the Masse seeing that this hath alwayes been the faith of the
Elias sleeping in the shade of the Iuniper tree for herein we see our Sauiour sleeping on the Crosse and acknowledge the memory of his passion the greatest signe of his loue and humility and the most high secret of this Sacrament of his pretious body Plin. l. 16. c. 24. Pâ—in l. 16. c. 25. The Iuniper commonly is a little shrubbe growing in sandy and barren places void of all exteriour beaute hauing for slowers and leaues nothing but sharpe prickles Elias sleepes tyred and weary in the shade of this shrub Is not this a liuely representation of our Sauiour vexed with torments crowned with thornes sleeping a dead sleepe vpon the Crosse Tree of humility shadowing his greatnesse punishment of 〈◊〉 coâ—ering his innocency â—â—ce of thornes paine and pouerty Are not these the markes of the course of the painefull life of our good King and of his dolefull sleepe Moreouer the selfe-same circumstances set forth to vs the qualities of our Sacrament being a memoriall of his life and death for if wee consider it exteorly it shewes nothing but what is little easie without fruit without flowers and without beauty to the sense and all full of thornes to humane iudgement which is backward to beleeue the things which it sindes to bee repagnant to our capacity and as it were pricked and offended therewith as long since it happened to the Capharnaâ—ts Iohn 6. and other children of darknesse which since that time â—â—â—ef â—lowed after them On the otherside the same tree is â—â—â—r greene his thornes are his leaues and beauty the wood being burnt driueth away Serpents Pliâ— l. 24. c. â— and the coale thereof haue such a liuely and burning heate that they will endâ—â—e a whole yeare vnder the ashes For which reason Daâ—â—id calleth them Coales of desolation Psal 119.4 because they bâ—â—ne scorchingly and consume forcibly These qualities doe secretly paint vnto vs the inward vertue and beauty of the Crosse of our Sauiour and of his Sacrament For all that which appeares there repugnant to sensuality is verdure and beauty to the faithful soule as also a proofe of the omnipotencie and loue of Iesus Christ towards vs. The wood of this Crosse and of this Sacrament which is it that appeareth hardest in the one and in the other being burned in meditation with the heauenly fier of which Dauid said The fier shall burne in my meditation being Psal 8.3 I say set a sier by this meditation chaseth away Sernents that is to say the wicked thoughts which the old Serpent hisseth into our soule to poyson and sting vs to death It eagendereth also in vs coales of charity which being hidden vnder the imbers of humility neuer die Thus you 〈◊〉 the Iuniper decyphered But vnder the shadow of this Iuniper Elias slept that is the Christian soule taketh his rest in meditating vpon the Sacrament of the Altar which is the shadow that is to say the memorial of the death of our Sauiour as hath been said for as the shadow represents the body so the Sacrament represents the Passion and as the body is present with the shadow so is our Sauiours body with the holy Sacrament 4. ELIAS HIS WALKE AFTER THE SHAdow of the Iuniper tree to the Mountaine Horeb and of the water that was giuen him with the bread VNder this shadow truely wee ought to repose our selues in the wearisomnesse of our persecutions as Elias slept vnder the figuring shadow of this tree when he fled from the rage of Iezabel For there is not any where a more sweete and sound rest amidst the trauailes of this painfull life then in receiuing his body to meditate vpon his death Which Dauid by the Spirit of Prophecy taught vs of olde saying to God in the person of euery afflicted Christian Psal 22.5 Thou hast preyared in my sight a Table against them that trouble me And therefore the Angell as it were interpreting the Figure awaketh Elias and exhorts him to eate the Bread figuring this Table the which he doth and there with is so well refreshed that hee takes strength and courage to walke forty dayes and forty nights enen to the Mountaine of God freeing himselfe from the persecution of the Queene Where we haue yet two other mysteries in the Figure appertaining to the truth For this space of forty dayes signifieth the painefulnesse of our mortall pilgrimage diuided into foure ages as into foure tens into Infancy Yong age Mans age and Old age consisting of dayes and nights of good and euill of consolation and persecution The walke of Elias continued euen to Horeb signifieth the progresse which is conuenient for vs to make ascending by holy desires and aspirations and by good works euen to the top of Christian perfection according to the measure of the grace of God communicated to euery one and from this toppe to zoare vp with a victorious flight aboue death and the world to the high Mountaine of our celestiall felicity But now in this pilgrimage our true Bread and sustenance is the body of our Sauiour giuen by his Angell to wit by his Priest as hath been said 5. THE SIGNIFICATION OF THE pot of Water BVT what signifieth the pot of Water giuen with this bread surely nothing else but the grace of God giuen with this Sacrament for so it was figured by the Creator himselfe when he promised it by his Prophet Ezechiel saying I will powre out vpon you cleane water to wit his Grace and our Sauiour crieth in the Temple Ezech. 36 25. Iohn 7.37 If any man thirst let him come to me and drinke speaking of the same Grace It is this water which is giuen vs to refresh our wearinesse which giues vs force and makes vs able to ascend with ease the Mountaine of God that we may so obtaine the possession of heauen Who would haue thought at the first show that in the shadow of this Figure these excellent mysteries were hidden And how many more be there that a contemplatiue soule might heere obserue But are not these sufficient to make vs admire the infinite wisdome of God in the delineation of his secrets His Soueraigne powerfulnesse in the greatnesse of his workes His surpassing bounty in the largenesse of his benefits Truely this was an euident testunony of his most wise prescience to draw so long before such a liuely Picture of the Sacrament of his body a goodly marke of his vertue to haue giuen to Elias Bread of sâ—ch force that it could maintaine life and furnish with strength for forty whole dayes trauell an ouer-trauelled body an euident signe of his great mercy with so fatherly care to defend one of his owne mortall creatures and to send him an immortall Spirit and one of his owne Court to serue him as his Pantler and Cup-bearer in his necessity But what is this in respect of that hee hath done leauing this Sacrament to his militant Church this pretious pledge which is both armour
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
Passion so insinuated he the victory of his Resurrection by the shipwrack and comming forth of Ionas out of the Whales belly Ionas Iona. 2.2 Matth. 12.19 so the Euangelists and the Apostles vse often the witnesse of the old Testament to giue foote and credit to the faith they preached Secondly the Figures confirme our hope for seeing that which God hath so long before figured and foretold is faithfully accomplished wee are induced to hope that what is yet to come as the iudgement the Reward the glory the paine and the rest shall be likewise accomplished with the same fidelitie Finally they inflame our loue tovvards God because this contemplation of the ancient Figures reported to the present truth maketh vs see the eternall charitie vvith vvhich God hath loued vs preparing for vs by so long Prescience the Good which in the end he hath giuen vs and still promising vs more to come hereafter And because loue and benefits engender loue here-hence it is that if wee be not vnnaturall wee encrease in our loue tovvards God by this meditation These are the causes effects and vse of Figures It remaines to enter into the Temple of God there to see the holy Pictures of the Sacrament and Sacrifice of the body of his Sonne drawne from the writings of his holy Testament explained by his owne Word and that according to the Doctrine of his Diuine Painters and Writers the Interpreters of his Word the dumbe Picture shall be for your eyes the description of them for your eares and the exposition of one and of the other shall serue for your spirits or vnderstandings The first is of the earthly Paradise and of the Tree of Life planted therein set forth as you see in the Picture follovving THE FIRST PICTVRE PARADISE AND THE TREE OF LIFE The Description CHRISTIAN Beholders Gen. 2. â— you know that this admirable Chronicler and diuine Cosmographer Moses said in the History of the Creation that God had in the beginning planted a Garden of pleasure towards the East in which he put the Man that he had formed This is that faire and spacious Region that the Painter represents to you in this Table or Picture It is high in seate rich in goodnesse rare in beautie gratious in habitation and aboundant in all forts of delights The earth in some quarters thereof is leuelled into a plaine champion field and in other places raised vp in little harrowes or hilles replenished with plants and trees of excellent goodnesse In the place where it is highest you may there marke a fountaine which rising in great bubbles is formed into a Riuer winding and watering all the Garden towards the end whereof it is diuided into foure heads and maketh foure great slouds running into diuers quarters of the earth The first of which is called Phison casting vpon the shoare her golden sands and many faire pretious stones but no person gathered them vp because there was none as yet but Adam and Eue in the world their children you may imagine will not lose them for want of gathering The ayre there is most pure and subtill and therefore we see not any token of clouds or mists the Sun shining cleare and bright alwayes As for the fire which is of elements the most supreame it holds it selfe still and quiet in its kingdome aboue the ayre yet contributing notwithstanding light and heate with a sweete temperature as it were after the manner of a Torch lighted in heauen This gay verdure wherewith the earth is still apparrelled and these odoriferous flowers which with a thousand florishing colours adorne the same and wherewith those trees in like sort are all so trimly dressed shew forth the Spring in whose company the other Seasons make heere their quarters all together And therefore Summer hath heere alreadie made yellow the Haruest in this golden field and ripened many fruits in those Meadowes and neighbour Orchards which are readie for the gathering As also Autumne shewes forth her goodly clusters of ripe Grapes in those little hilles where Noah as yet had neuer planted Vineyard And lastly the Winter giues repose without any sharpnesse of colde See Saint Bafil â— Paradis for it is mitigated partly by the light of the Sunne which at al times casts his cleare beames vpon the Horizon of this diuine Region without estranging it selfe very much towards the South partly by the moyste warme breath of those windes which blow sweetely from the South to abate the coldnesse of this Pegising ayre So that there is a perpetuall accord of all the soure Seasons whereof the Spring-time holdeth the preheminence This goodly wood of high trees and thick Cops about it are full of little birds which make the ayre resound with a thousand sorts of warblings and aboue all the Nitinghall incessantly and in many quires make melodious muficke all the yeere long But the Painter could not represent to the eare their sweete harmony as hee represents to the eye the Birds and in particular that Birde which men call the Birde of Paradise hanging heere in this Palme-tree little of body with long feathers all ouer adorned with beautifull colours her head yellow her neck enameled with a gay greene her wings spotted with a cawny purple and the rest of her body with a pale gold colour Citizen of the skye faire wits excellencie and admirable in this that shee is alwayes in the ayre without euer touching the earth for that shee hath no feete and when shee will rest her selfe shee grapples about the trees with two long feathers made in fashion of wyer threeds like as it is represented heere These Lions Elephants S. Bas Orat. de Parad. Aug. lib. 4 de Ciuit. Dâ—i 9.11 Tygers and other liuing creatures that you see in diuers places are not cruell nor furious but gentle and obedient and therefore Eue had not any feare of them no more then Adam her husband who walked neere them in coasting these woods But that which is most exquisite and admirable in this Garden is the Tree of Life or of Liues according to the Hebrew word planted in the middest of the others so called because the fruite thereof is of such vertue that it cannot onely nourish the body for a time as other fruites do but also repaire all defecteousnesse and giue it strength and vigour of life to make it perdurable and immortall And as God hath made in man an Abreuiation of all other creatures euen so hath he comprised in this Tree the vertues and perfections of all other Plants And I beleeue it to be that Nectar and Ambrosia called also Nepenthes Ambrosia and Nectar Nepenthes Moly Plin. lib. 25. cap. 4. and Moly which the ancient Poets inuoluing the truth in fables affirme to haue force to make young againe to preserue from death and to driue away all cause of griefe and discontentment The first Tree which you see on the left-hand towards the West is the Tree of Knowledg
should be left in his liberty working after the nature of man as the other creatures do according to theirs Gods will is that the fier doe heate necessarily that the water moysten necessarily and so of the rest of other like creatures But that man made according to the Image and likenesse of his Maker should haue freedome and libertie in his actions like vnto him and therefore hath bestowed a free-will vpon him Eccles 15.17 and hath set before him water and fier permitting him to stretch foorth his hand to which he will with this charge that if he choose Vertue he shall haue reward if he transgresse his Lawes he shall cary his punishment This is it that God said to Caine a little before Genes 4.6.7 If thou doe well shalt thou not receiue good and if thou doe euill thy sinne shall it not be also before the doore but thy appetite shall bee in thy power and thou shalt rule it Without this liberty Man should not be man but a beast working not with election and choise but by force of nature as a horse and if God should binde the armes of the wicked men should not be able to know the good from the bad He suffered then Caine to kill his brother for to demonstrate his wisdome permitting sice working to a free creature as by the selfe-same wisdome a little before he had suffered Adam to transgresse his Commandements and to giue himself and all his race a deadly blow because he had created him with such freedome The second reason wherefore he suffered this murther as many other â—uils is drawne from his power and bounty his power can turne to good all the euill which is done by his permission and his bounty will and therefore he permits it Men ought neuer to permit euill if they can hinder it for they are not all powerfull to repaire it being done but God permits it because he can draw profit from it Vpon which â— Aug. lib. de â—iuit cap. 8. excellently saith Saint Augustine It hath bin agreeable to the omnipotencie of God to permit euils comming from free-will for his almighty bounty is so great that he can doe no ill be it in pardoning the euill done be it in the healing of it be it in turning it to the profit of the iust be it in reuenging the same by iust punishment And a little after There is none of the better or more mightie power then he which not doing any ill turnes the euillinto good and drawes profit from it In another place giuing the reason wherefore God did permit the Angels to fall S. Aug. lib. 22. de Ciuit. cap. 1. It is saith he because God iudged it to be a thing more worthy his power and bounty to draw good from an euill committed then not to permit any euill to be done At that time then for this reason he suffred Caine to doe as he did and for the same reason he permitted many others as bad as he to exercise their malice euen to the killing of his owne proper Sonne which was the greatest enormity that euer was committed nay that euer could be committed or imagined for God was put to death the Creator by his creature the Father by his children the King by his vassals a crime which surpasseth the atrocitie of all other crimes And yet notwithstanding from this death from this ignominy and enormity his power and diuine bounty hath drawne foorth not onely his owne glory and the honour of his Sonne but the life and saluation of all mankinde Which is it that Saint Augustine admireth S. Aug. in Psal 73. saying How great a good hath God giuen vs from out the euill of the Traytor Iudas and how great good haue all the Gentiles from the sentence of the Iewes condemning our Sauiour to death Euen death Euen so conuerted he the cuill which his seruants endured to their good and honour the death of Abel to the profit and honor of Abel and to the confusion of Cain the one is made an honorable Martyr the other became an infamous Murtherer Abel is honoured with glory to be the first Martyr Caine marked with the ignominy of the first Paracide and so of other persecuted Saints and their wicked Persecutors They heere exercise their fury S. Aug. lib. de Contin cap. 6. Psal 115. God making by them Martyrs saith Saint AVGVSTINE the good seeme to be neglected but their death is protious before God they haue been esteemed dead before the eyes of fooles Sap. 3. but they are in pease and the wicked which seeme to triumph shall in the end haue their change punished in the meane while euen in this life For if sinne S. Aug. lib. de Contin cap. 6. saith Saint AVGVSTINE which seemes vnpunished carry after it the paine it deserueth so that there is no person which is not grieued to haue committed it or if he feele not any griefe for it he is starke blinde in soule how then askest thou wherefore deth God permit sinne if sinne displease him and I would aske of thee againe if he punish sinne how can sinne be pleasing to him Saint Chrysostâ—me shewes in this very History the experience of the Doctrine of Saint Augustine S. Chrysost ep â—d Rom. Hom. 8. act siâ—â—m Thinke saith he vpon this CAINE hath committed a murther ABEL was murthered which of these died he that cried being dead who was ABEL the blood of whom cryed or he that feared and trembled which is a greater misery then death it selfe And towards the end of his Homily hee maketh God speake thus to CAINE Thou hast not feared ABEL liuing now then feare him dead thou hadst no feare to kill him be now in continuall feare after thou hast killed him liuing he feared thee and thou wouldest not endure him endure hurs now dead as a terrible Lord. So sheweth he that the condition of Abel was better then that of Caine and that it is much more desirable to suffer iniury Plato Seneta and others then to doe it much more great vnhappinesse to commit ill then to suffer it 4. ABEL AN IMAGE OF THE IVST AND CAINE of the wicked ABEL was the Image of the head Iesus Christ so was he the Image of the children of God members of this Head and Caine contrariwise of the wicked Abel simple meeke seruing God in sincerity of heart sighing vpon the earth without house without possession and altogether despising the vanity of this vaine life called therefore ABEL which is to say a Breath But Caine a Louer of the earth and of this present world forward to build a Citie calling it Enoch from the name of his sonne and not caring for any thing but for the earth Abel then was an Image of the Iust which inhabite the earth as strangers meditating and seeking after their heauenly Countrey After this manner Abraham walked as a Pilgrim vpon earth not purchasing any thing therein but
Greeke Fathers vpon the Figure of MELCHISEDECH SAint Clement S. Clem. lib. 4. Stre. MELCHISEDECH King of Salem Priest of the most high God gaue the bread and wine sanctified in figure of the Eucharist Saint Chrysostome S. Chrysost hom 35.36 in Gen. speaking of the same Sacrifice of MELCHISEDECH Beholding the Figure thinke I pray you vpon the truth that is to say if thou makest account of the Offering of Melchisedech how much more of the Sacrament and Sacrifice of the body of our Sauiour which is the truth signified of old by the ancient Figure And againe Idem After that MELCHISEDECH King of Salem had offered bread and wine for hee was the Priest of the most high ABRAHAM tooke from his hand part of that which had been offered that is to say he did eate and drinke of the sacrificed bread and wine Theodoret 〈◊〉 Pas 109. Idem in Gen. 4.63 hauing declared how our Sauiour had begun his Priest-hood after the order of Melchisedech in the institution of the Sacrament of his body addeth Wee haâ—e found Melchisedech Priest and King affirming to God not Sacrifices of beasts deprined of reason but of bread and wine as if he should say that the Priest-hood and offering of our Sauiour is not with effusion of blood of beasts as that of Aarons but without killing and that his body is giuen in Sacrifice vnder the formes of bread and wine according to the order of Melchisedech Saint IOHN DAMASCENE S. Ioan. Damâ—â— lib. 4. de Fid. cap 24. The Table of Melchisedech figured out our mysticall Table euen as Melchisedech carried the Figure and the Image of the true Prelate Iesus Christ TMEOPHILACT vpon the Epistle to the Hebrewes Theophil in 〈◊〉 5. ad Heb. Psal 109. explaning the words of the Psalmist Thou art a Priest for euer according to the order of Melchisedech It is most cortaine saith he that this Prophecie is to be vnderstood of Iesus Christ for it is he onely that hath sacrificed bread and wine according to the order of Melchisedech And a little after He saith eternally as well for that Iesus Christ maketh intercession for vs incessantly to his Father as for that he is offered euery day this Oblation is made without ceasing by the Officers and Seruitors of God hauing for Priest and for Sacrifice Christ the Sauiour it is hee that breaketh and distributeth himselfe 13. TESTIMONIES OF THE ANCIENT Latine Fathers SAint CYPRIAN S. Cyprian l. 2. ep 3. ad Cecil Who hath been more Priest of the highest then our Lord Iesus Christ who hath offered Sacrifice to God the Father and offers the same that Melchisedeth did Ioan. 6. bread and wine to wit his body and his bloud for his body is the true bread and his bloud is the true wine and the true drinke Saint Hierom S. Hieron epist 126. ad Euagr. S. Hieron in ep ad Marcel nomine Paula Eustoch scripta giuing a reason to Euagrius wherefore Melchisedech was compared to our Sauiour It is saith he because he sacrificed not victimes of flesh and blood of beasts but dedicated the Sacrament of Christ with bread and wine a simple and pure sacrifice And elsewhere Reade Genesis Thou shalt finde the King of Salem Prince of the Citie who then offered in Figure of Christ bread and wine and dedicated the mystery of Christians in the body and bloud of our Saniour Againe Our mystery the Masse is signified by the word Order not in imolating victimes of beastes according to the order of Aaron but in offering bread and wine that is to say the body and bloud of our Sauiour Saint Ambrose speaking of the Eucharist S. Ambrel l 5. de Sacra cap. 1. We know saith he that the Figure of this Sacrament hath gone before in Abrahams time then when Melchisedech offered Sacrifice Saint Augustine speaking of this Sacrifice of MELCHISEDECH S. Aug. lib. 16. de Ciuitate Dei cap. 22. Then first was shewed in Figure the Sacrifice which now is offered by Christians throughout the vniuersall world S. Aug lib. 1. Cont. Aaâ—â—â—s â—â— cap. 20. And elsewhere Those that reade know what Melchisedech brought forth when he blessed Abraham and are made partakers thereof they see that through all the world such a Sacrifice is offered And he meaneth the Sacrifice of the Masse which is offered ouer all the world 14. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEENE THE Sacrifice of the Crosse and that of the Eucharist THe Sacrifice of the Crosse was bloudie Of this Oblation speaketh Saint Paul Hebr. 7.27 offered but once in Hierusalem onely this of the Eucharist not bloudie it is offered and shall be throughout all the world where the Church is dispersed and that euen to the end of the world That of the Crosse is the chiefe cause of our good the treasure and the generall exchequer of our redemption and the fountaine of our sanctification for by this death our Sauiour hath purchased vs all the good vnlesse we hinder or neglect it the Sacrifice of the Masse is the instrument to apply the fruit of all these purchased goods vnto vs it is the key which opens this treasure it is the meanes to haue part of this substance and the bucket to draw vp from the spring of this fountaine where with to cleanse vs and as when some one is washed in Baptisine or absolued in Penance the merite of the Crosse flowes into him or her that is baptised or absolued from sinne by meanes of these Sacraments euen so the fruit of the Crosse is distributed by the Sacrifice of the Eucharist to all those which offer it and for whom it is offered and it is the same body that was offered vpon the Altar of the Crosse and that which is offered on the Altar in the Church and giuen for food of immortalitie to all those which will receiue it The Masse then celebrating this Mystery makes the Sacrament and Sacrifice of the body of our Saniour and in them both is as of olde the ancient Sacraments and Sacrifices were an instrument to make vs participate the merit of the Passion of our Sauiour but so much more efficatious and precious as Iesus Christ who is in it the Priest and the offering for the man is but the Vicar surpasseth in dignity the ancient Priests and their earthly victimes This is the difference betweene the Sacrifice of the Crosse and that of the Masse and the glory of God is manifested diuersly thereby in two diuers mysteries 15. THE DIFFERENCE OF THE SACRIfice of Melchisedech and of this of the Masse THe Sacrifice of Melchisedech was but the shadow and the Figure this of the Masse the body and the truth In that there was nothing but bread and wine terrestriall materiall and insensitiue nourishing nothing but the body and that for a little time in this there is offered the body and bloud of our Sauiour the true bread and the true drinke bread of
to be cut in peeces but spiritually of a liuely flesh which my Spirit will make present to be giuen in a spirituall manner without death or detriment as he wrought the conception of this same body in the wombe of the Virgin without carnall operation and without any hurt to her Virginity 11. THE MASSE BEGAN TO BE CELEbrated by the Apostles at Pentecost IT was then at Pentecost that the Apostles new Sacrificers did giue beginning to the practise of a new Sacrifice in the new Law offering a full and sufficient Oblation and celebrating the Messe with a pacifying Hoist of the bread from heauen and of the immortall Lambe Saint Iames was one of the first that offered in Hierusalem as all Antiquity witnesseth and after him the other Apostles both in Hierusalem and elsewhere Then began this diuine and first troupe as the first fruites of the Spirit of Grace to eate these delitious Cakes promised at the comming of the Messias and to communicat not once a yeare onely or once a month or once a weeke but euery day for it was a food they had neuer eaten of before exceeding delight full to the taste and these good foules had a continual appetite Aâ—â— 2. They were perseuerant saith the Scripture in the doctrâ—ne of the Apostles in the communion of the breaking of bread and in prayer They went to it euery day but this was after that the holy Ghost was descended For before it was said onely that they did perseuer in prayer they communicated euery day after the descent of the holy Ghost Great worker of this mystery Spirit which brought celestiall fier into their stomackes quicknesse to their tongues charity to their harts did let forth the pure water foretold by the ancient Lauarites of Salomons Temple Fountaine of Dauid Fzech 36.25 Ioel. 3 2â— Zach. 13.1 water of Grace and of the Sacrament of Baptisme of Penance and the rest appropriated to cleanse the entrals and the feete of the Hoasts to be offered and of the Offerers themselues that is to say to purifie the hearts the actions intentions and affections of them which offered the Sonne of God their good workes and themselues as whole burnt Sacrifices vpon the Altar of his Maiesty O if Moses had been at this Pentecost at this new Oblation and Sacrament of truth whereof so long before he had drawne the Picture With what reuerence would hee haue adored it O if Dauid could haue had a place at the table of this pacifique Bread and of this immortall Wine as he had in the ancient Sacrifices with what appetite would he haue fed vpon this celestial flesh and with how earnest desire would he haue said of this diuine drinke Psal 115. I will take the cup of salnation and call vpon the name of the most high If Salomon after hauing finished his magnificent Temple had had this body for to haue offred it to God after the manner of Melchisedech without effusion of bloud and without death how much more rich and honorable would he haue thought the dedicating of that Temple in respect of this Sacrifice alone then in regard of thousands of Oxen sheepe and Bulles burnt vpon the Altar of Holocausts O Christian soules lifted vp by contemplation acknowledge the gift of your Lord often celebrate this Pentecost offer this oblation take the first fruits of this deified Wheate and offer him yours to the end that one day you may haue place at the Table of felicitie where this same Lord shal be both the meate and the drinke of that banquet THE NINTH PICTVRE THE BREAD OF ELIAS The Description HAVE you not compassion of this good Elias 1. Reg. 19. â— who sleepeth vnder the shadow of this Iuniper tree more resembling one dead then a man sleeping Behold his face pale and wanne and bathed with a cold sweat his head carelessely bending towards the earth vpon the left side his eyes halfe open his armes cast heere and there and no signe of breath in his mouth and all his body stretched out as if he were yeelding vp the ghost Surely a little before being as it were beside himselfe with feare and ouercome with wearinesse hee asked of God if it were his good pleasure to take him out of this world that he might be deliuered once for all from the griefes that his soule felt by reason of the persecution of this cruell Tygresse Iezabel who had sworne by her gods that shee would put him to death within foure and twenty houres and in the feruour of his Prayer he is fallen a sleepe vnder this shrubbe where he is but euill accommodated either for shadow or any rest or repose for it is little and the leaues are like so many thornes which doe not keepe off the Sunne but pricke and pierce the flesh and the earth is sowed round about him Wherby I coniecture that the holy man without election or choise cast himselfe downe where he was finding himselfe in a manner out of breath and where the feeblenesse of his body had placed him But God who hath alwayes his eyes open to behold the paines of his seruants and his armes stretched out for their deliuerance hath sent for his comfort and succour this heauenly youth who stands hard by him with bread baked vpon the cinders â— â—â—g 19.5.6 and a pot of water It is an Angell in figure and shape of a man for so the Spirits commonly appeare vnto men The Painter hath made his visage bright in forme of lightning representing by this sudden flash his spirituall and subtill nature his lockes flying backe behinde are of a golden colour he hath also wings set on his backe according as the Scripture it selfe doth paint them forth to signifie the Swistnesse of their motion You see them vnequally spred forth in the ayre the one of them shewing the inside the other the outside wonderfully faire artificially drawne The two great feathers guides of the rest are of a bright greene colour as the wing of a Peacock the other next to them are intermingled with yellow oring-tawnie red and blew after the fashion of a Rainbow the little feathers which cloath the quills of both these and of the others that follow in diuers rankes are of diuers colours as the former the downe which couers the backe of the wing is like a heape of little small scales of diuers colours sette vpon cotten His garment is a stole of fine linnen embrodered with a curious work all about The refection which he brought for this good Prophet seemes not great at the first show consisting onely of bread and water which are the two most common and vulgar parts of the food of man but experience will shew that it is a diuine meat and drinke for Elias shall by it be sustained and fortified to walke the space of forty dayes and forty nights vntill that he come to the wonderfull Mountaine where of old God gaue the Tables of
and food bestowing vpon her his Humanity and Diuinitie giuing himselfe and all that he is and that in a manner so diuine and so agreeable to our infirmity That which he did for Elias was it any more then a Picture a representation and a shadow compared to the liuely Image to the truth and to the Body Who shall then O Lord be able to vtter yea or to conceiue thy wisdome in this Bread thy omnipotent greatnesse in this mystery thy infinite mercy in this Feast And what can seeble mortall creatures doe but fumble in speaking and admire in silence the height of thy Councells and the sweetnesse of thy Graces and thanke thee from the bottome of their hearts in humbly confessing their owne insufficiency THE TENTH PICTVRE THE PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE The Description THE Iewish Priest commeth to offer the yearely Propitiatory Sacrifice Leuit. 4.6.7 there with to appease God and obtaine of him grace and pardon for his owne sinnes and for the sinnes of the people One of them hath caried the bloud of the Victime to the Altar of Perfumes placed before the doore of the Sanctuary called Holy of Holies where the Arke of God is and the flesh of that Victime together with the head and skinne was consumed with fier out of the City of Ierusalem no body eating thereof They that burnt it wash themselues without the gates of the Towne for that according to the Law they were reputed vncleane by this seruice and could not enter againe into the company of their brethren vntill they were purified by the water of Expiation There is also in this Picture represented another Sacrifice for sinne but in ceremonies much differing from the former For this is iterated daily and the bloud of the Victime is not carried into the Sanctuary but is offered vpon the Altar of Holocausts in a basen of gold as you see The men of the Priestly linage doe eate in this roome apart the flesh of the Hoast and are sanctified whereas in the other Sacrifice all was consumed by fier and they were vncleane which burnt it as hath been said There is not any woman neither any vncleane man admitted to this banquet for the Law receiued none but men and those sanctified 1. THREE KINDS OF SACRIFICES VVEE haue said elsewhere that there were three kindes of Sacrifices obscurely practised in the Law of Nature and expresly ordained in that of Moses The first was the Sacrifice of Holocaust the second of thanksgiuing the third Propitiatory for the appeasing of God In this last Sacrifice three kindes of beasts might lawfully be offred Bulls sheepe or Goats and three kinds of birds Pigeons Sparowes or Turtles All of them figured either the Sacrifice of the Crosse or that of the Masse or both together The first then of which mention is made in the present Picture signified manifestly the Sacrifie of the Crosse and the second that of the Eucharist Let vs see the resemblance betweene them 2. OF THE PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE which Properly signifies that of the Crosse IF we attentiuely consider the Figure wee shall easily see the resemblance it hath with the truth The first Propitiatory Sacrifice was offered but once a yeare and no more painting forth thereby the one onely Sacrifice of the Crosse Leuit. 25.10.11 Luke 4.19 which was offered but once in the yeare of our Sauiour that is to say during his life which was the yeare and time of the true Iubily of our Lord and so offered as it might neuer be reiterated This is Saint Pauls discourse writing to the Hebrewes In this will saith he we are iustified by the Oblation of the body of Iesus Christ once made And afterwards hauing shewed that the Iewish Priests could not take away sin with their bloudy Sacrifices he addeth Hebr. 10 10 But Iesus Christ hauing offered one Hoast for sins sâ—teth now for euer at the right hand of God This Sacrifice then could not be reiterated our Sauior hauing so triumphed ouer death as he could die no more neither was it necessary The second circumstance was that in this yearely Sacrifice the bloud of the Victime of Propitiation was carried and set vpon the Altar of Incense seated before the Sanctuary a Figure of heauen as Saint Paul allegoriseth The bloud of our Sauiour also that is to say the price of his bloud was carried vp to heauen and set before the eyes of God Who in consideration of that bloud shed for men to his honor giues them pardon of their sinnes if it bee not long of themselues Thirdly the flesh of the Victime was all consumed in the sier with the head and skinne without the Campe whilest they were in the Desart or without Hierusalem after it was chosen for the place of Sacrifice Our Sauiour was crucified on Mount Caluary out of Hierusalem his body burnt by three fiers and consumed euen to death by the fier of his infinit loue which made him a voluntary Victime to his Father for our sinnes by the fier of our sins themselues which caused him to die by the fier of those reproaches blaspemies and torments which hee endured in his Passion And it was easie to see how his skinne felt this fier when it was cruelly torne with whips as also his head crowned with thornes and his sacred visage defiled with spittle Finally none of those which sacrificed did eate of this Propitiatory Sacrifice no man also did eate of this And they that did burne the flesh of the ancient Victime were vncleane and were to purifie themselues in the water of Expiation before they came againe into the City They also which did put our Sauiour to death became thereby abominable in the sight of God and if they would enter into the City of Hierusalem which is his Church they were first to be purified by the water of Baptisme Behold from point to point and tittle to tittle the Figure accomplished in the Sacrifice of the Crosse which hath truely wiped away our sinnes and giueth abeundant grace of peace and Propitiation so it be applied as God hath ordained that is by the Sacraments but aboue all by the Sacrament and Sacrifice of the Eucharist 3. THE SECOND KIND OF PROPITIAtory Sacrifice a Figure of the Eucharist NO doubt but as the first kinde of Propitiatory Sacrifice was accomplished in the Oblation of the Crosse so the second was fulfilled in some other For if nothing passed in the olde Law were it neuer so little which our Sauiour was not to fulfill in the Law of Grace and if he himselfe hath so often protested that hee would accomplish all the Law euen to the least tittle and that heauen and earth should passe Matth. 5.18 Luke 16.17 before one tittle thereof should be left vnperfected who dare thinke that so remarkable a Sacrifice as this hath not been fulfilled according to all the circumstances thereof And surely the accomplishment of it is manifestly seene in the Eucharist which is iterated euery
remission of sinnes and of the Kingdome of heauen Of remission saying This bloud shed for you and for many Luke 22.29 vnto remission of sinnes And of the Heritage he saith I dispose to you as my Father disposed to me a Kingdome that you may eate and drinke vpon my table in my Kingdome and may sit vpon thrones iudging the twelue Tribes of Israel Behold a wonderful sauourable conclusion David making his Will enioyned King Salomon his sonne his sonne 3. Keg 2.7 that he should make the children of Berrellay to eate at his table in token of great honor and friendship but he made them not inheritors of his Kingdome nor sharers of his Royall honors Heere our Sauiour communicates his Table his Kingdome and his Throne to his friends his Table in which is serued for meate and for drinke his proper flesh and bloud it could not be more royall nor more exquisite neither the Heritage greater nobler nor worthyer of such a Testator The Testament was written also with the Law not in Tables of stone as the old but in the hearts of the Apostles and of all those which shall be called to this inheritance after them And this is that which was foretold by Ieremy Hier. 31.32.33 I will giue my Law within their ontrals and will write it in their hearts According to which manner of speech Saint Paul said to the Corinthians You are the Epistle of Christ 2. Cor. 3.3 ministred by vs and writen not with inke but with the Spirit of the liuing God not in tables of stone but in tables of the heart consisting of flesh It was signed by the hand and bloud of the Testator when holding the Chalice and changing the wine to his bloud he said This is my bloud of the new Testament Matth. 26.28 Marke 14.24 The Altar which was our Sauiour himselfe was besprinkled when he tooke it the people Inheritor and the Book was also sprinkled when the Apostles did drinke and did wet their brests which were the tables wherein the Law and the Testament were written The refection of the Victim sacrificed was made betweene the Priest and the people when our Sauiour hauing offered his body to his Father tooke it himselfe and gaue it to his Apostles to eat concluding his eternall Couenant with the refection of his body and with the drinke of his bloud He left a pledge of loue by his Testament and a pretious Iewell of his remembrance when he left this self-same body and this self-same bloud for an eternall memory of his charity towards vs his heires Luke 12.18 saying Doe this in remembrance of me So our Sauiour hauing written and accomplished his Testament according to the draughts of the old Figure died the next day and his Testament shall remaine eternally confirmed by his death O diuine and powerfull work-man O sweet Iesus O great God! What shall we heere amidst so many wonders first admire thy Powerfulnesse thy Wisdome thy Goodnes thy Greatnes thy Prouidence thy sweetnesse thy Liberality altogether or all apart where all is great and admirable together all great and admirable apart What a work-man art thou O Redeemer of the world to haue so long agoe so diuinely drawne the Figure of thy Testament and to accomplish the truth vpon that Figure with so diuine tracts of improuement What a Master art thou to haue left so heauenly instructions and so faire lawes of amity grauen in such liuing tables as are the hearts of thy Disciples What a King to haue made so amiable and honorable a combination with thy poore subiects What a Father of a Family to haue written so fauourable a Testament vnto men and of thy enemies to haue made them thy children and thy heires of so great a Kingdome O Redeemer what were we without this Testament we were eaytifes and vagabonds vnworthy to be supported vpon the earth and worthy of eternall confusion but by it we haue gotten a right to heauen and to immortall glory and nothing remaineth but to take possession and there to reioyce in peace for euer so soone as we shall haue fought the good fight as thy Apostle speakes 2. Tim. 4.7 kept the faith and consummated the course of our yeares in the good workes of thy loue and charity according to thy Commandement For thy victorious death hauing made this Testament of force and irreuocable hath done vs this fauour aboue thy ancient friends and children which departed before it who albeit they did leaue this world with the hope of heauen yet they enioyed not heauen immediatly in recompence of the workes they had done in thy Grace and seruice as true children noe this was a Grace referned to the time of thy new Testament which was to be eternall by thy death and to put in full possession without delay those thy children which like true heires shall haue executed the will of their Father and what thanksgiuing shall be able or sufficient for to acknowledge worthily the least part of these so great fauours 9. IN WHAT MANNER OVR SAVIOVR hauing made his Testament left his body to his Heires OTher fathers hauing disposed of their goods and signed their testament dye and leaue their bodies to be put in the earth where they rot and their soules goe to their places so as their heires haue no other better pawne of the presence and person of their father then their ashes and bones Our Sauiour hath obserued the substance of this Ceremony but after a different maner for he gaue his body to his Apostles in an impassible manner albeit mortall also then and from that time he left it to his Church clothed indeed with the first mortall robe made of the accidents of bread and wine but vnited with his Soule and his Diuinity now a liuing body immortall and glorious For his tombe also hee hath the bodies and soules of his heires a liuing tombe and ennobled with a reasonable soule which if it be well prepared with requisite qualities doth from his harbouring receiue a wonderfull reward for whereas other tombes reape from the bodies buried in them nothing but spoiles of death and horror and are by them defiled the bodies of Christians doe receiue life immortality sanctification and celestiall ioy from the body of our Sauiour whereby it appeareth that we ought to vse exceeding great diligence in well preparing our selues to lodge worthily in vs this pretious body The principall apparell is Loue and Chastity and then after these all the other vertues of the soule which accompany the former We reade that Artemissia Câ—â—â— Tuscal Herod Liu. 8. Plut. l. 36. c. 5. Vâ—â— lib. â— Queene of Carya after shee had consumed her treasures in a magnificall and admirable Sepulcher that shee had prepared for the dead body of the King her husband in the end made them to pound his bones and tooke them in a drinke for to be her selfe the liuing Sepulcher of his dead body whom shee
inssituted to be celebrated once alone Hest 1. as that of Assuerus was but foâ— to be continued euen vntill the end of the world as the Paschal Lamb continued vntill the end of the Synagogue Exod. 12. as hath been declared Wherfore our Sauiour hauing communicated his Apostles and established the Institution of his banquet in this first refection commandeth the continuation thereof and declareth the end why hee would it should be continued saying Luke 22.19 1. Cor. 11.24 Doe this for a commemoration of me In y selfe will alwayes be the Sacrifice and the principall Sacrificer but inuisible I ordaine you Priests to be my Vicars and visible Sacrificers in my Church euen as I haue giuen you the authority of Doctors and Pastors to keepe my place in the Chaire of truth and to feed and rule my slocke Doe this then do this action the noblest that shal be done in my Family and continue therein a memory of the Sacrifice which shall be offered by me to morrow on the Crosse for you and all mankinde Do it in memory of the Passion that I shall haue suffered for you in memory of the infinite price of my bloud which I shall shed for you in memory of the victory that I shall obtainâ— for you ouer the enemies of your soules health ouer the infernall powers ouer the tyrants of your spiries ouer the Prince of darknesse ouer the flesh and the world in memory of the immortall glory that I shall haue purchased for you and for those which will be my members giuing my flesh in Sacrifice vpon the Altar of the Crosse Do this Feast and celebrate this Sacrifice in memory of these exploits continuing it without limit of time and when my Passion shall be once past let it be alwayes liuing and pâ—â—serued by your seruice in the memory and in the face of my Church and as the benefit is of infinite merit so let the acknowledgement also be eternall This is the sense of these words Luke 23 19â— Doe this for a commemoration of 〈◊〉 As well Diuine as Humane Iustice requiteth that men giue praise to great exployts of vertue and that they be mindfull of a benefit that the remembrance be so much more liuely and honorable as the benefit is great Exod. 20.8 This is it why our Lord commanded the Sabbath day in remembrance of the Creation of the world the Feast of new Moones in memory of the conseruation thereof the Paschall Lambe 2. Par. 2.4 Exod. 12. in memory of the deliuery of the Hebrewes captiues in Aegypt The same Hebrewes did celebrate the victory of Mordecheus gained ouer their enemies 2. Mâ—â—b vlt. Iudis 16. and that of the valiant Iudith obtained ouer Holofernes Was it not then reason and iustice that there should be a memoriall of the Passion of the Sonne of God it being the most admirable worke that euer was and the true worke of an Almighty and all mercifull Lord his highest prowesse his noblest victory his greatest benefit towards men and for which alone hee descended from heauen taking the garment of our mortality Especially considering that this Redemption could not haue saued vnlesse it had been applied and made proper to euery one by this memory reiterated with faith loue deuotion contemplation fasting watching and other workes of piety which are the doores by which this infinite merit of his Passion-entereth into our soules euen as the windows of an house are the means by which they that are within doe pertake of the Sun-beames and enioy them as if it shined onely for them 13. THE MASSE A MOST PROPER MEmoriall of our Sauiours Passion AS it were very reasonable and very important that the memory of our redemption were alwayes fresh and liuing in our soules so the diuine Wisdome hath chosen a most agreeable meanes to represent it most honorably and with fingular efficacie to that end instituting a Sacrifice in his house and a solemne refection amongst his children for these are the two principall acts among men whereby God is Soueraignely honored and the memory of any thing most effectually preserued The Sacrifice acknowledgeth God reuerenceth him and doth him homage rendering him thankes for his benefits and the refection assembles and vnites men together and makes their meetings more famous and more capable to retaine the remembrance of things Pâ—st and more powerfull to ingraue and send their memory forward to the future ages of posterity And so wee see as well in holy Histories as prophane that the greatest actions of men of Kings of Captaines and Princes and Common-wealthes in the world for Peace for Warre for Victory for Triumphes for Funerals and other workes of great importance haue been begunne and ended with Sacrifices and Feasts Salomon celebrated the Dedication of his magnificent Temple 3. Reg. 2.63 2. Por. 7.8 which he built for God with innumerable Sacrifices and Feasts the Persians the Aegyptians the Grecians the Romans and all the Nations of the world vsed the same meanes to honour their Actes and make the memory of them immortall Thus to doe is an imprinted Law of Nature and holily practised in the House of God It is no wonder then that Iesus Christ Author of all good Lawes hath established an Altar and a Table a Sacrifice and a Feast to ingraue his Honor and make the memory of his triumphant Death to liue for euer But that which in this preparation is more efficatious to represent this death and more to be considered then all the rest in this preparation is that same body which suffered which died and which suffering and dying had triumphed is actually present in this Sacrifice and refection as the matter both of the one and of the other He hath not ordained that it should be celebrated as it was of old by words and mysteries and by the bodies of beasts but he himselfe would be present in the action Neither more nor lesse then as a King who desirous to celebrate some great Victory of his owne not onely would make it to be recounted and sung and represented by Orators Poets and Painters but he himselfe in person would be present acting the principall personage in the representation thereof For so our Sauiour hath represented his owne victorious death being therein himselfe the chiefe Actor the Sacrifice and the Sacrificer giuing his body immolated and his bloud shed his body as dead and yet liuing his bloud as drawne forth of his body and yet still vnited with his body in conclusion exhibiting himselfe in Sacrifice and refection after a most effectuall and pregnant manner to set forth clearely liuely and profitably the resemblance and memory of his sacred Passion to the honor of his Father and the saluation of his welbeloued And therefore hath also commanded this Sacrifice and Feast to bee celebrated from yeere to yeere Exod. 12. not in one place only as that of the Iewes Lamb but euery day and many
there the food is heere immortall thy food there will be immortall Hee which hath of his owne free cost and charges prepared this Feast on earth for the food of his Pilgrims the selfe-same will prepare according to his magnificency the Feast of felicity in heauen for a glorious triumph of those who shall haue runne couragiously in the pathes of his diuine Lawes Yet there is a difference For in this Feast nothing but faith soberly perceiues the sauour of the meate and the sweetnesse of the drinke humane sense and iudgement seeth nothing heere but couered dishes without power to touch them In that there the meate shall bee exposed to the appetite of the soule to the full in a magnificent and open table and the senses shall haue also their good part In this heere we are mortall growing in the Land of the dying in that wee shall bee immortall without feare of death or disquiet set in the possession of the Land of the Liuing and of the eternall kingdome but who can vtter by word or imagine by thought the magnificency of that royall Feast The great Apostle rapt vp euen into the third heauen to learne the lessons of those diuine mysteries 1. Cor 2.9 Esay 6.4.4 knew not how to doe it and shewed himselfe learned in the confession of his ignorance in the mysteries of God This is a Feast vnknowne to any that is not set at the Table to eate and drinke there Well then O faithfull soules and trauellers in this Desart redeemed by this Lord beloued of this Spouse inuited to those nuptiall banquets purely vse the meat that he hath prepared and that he offereth you in pawne of his loue in this mortall life liue holily 〈…〉 attend patiently keepe your lampes replenished with the oyle of your good workes and kindled with the light of your conuersation to the end that when the time of the celestiall mariage shall come the doore may be opened to you that you may enter to the Feast And thou O sweete Lambe which shall bee the great King and the great food of this immortall table effect if it please thee by the infinite merite of thy Crosse that wee may sit downe there according to the promise of thy Testament and that wee there may liue eternally there to praise thee euerlastingly Amen FINIS Laus Deo beataequeVirgini MariaÌ„ omnibus sanctis A TABLE OF THE PICTVRES DESCRIPTIONS AND EXPOSITIONS OF THEM PICTVRE I. Paradise and the Tree of Life THe Description Page 13 1 The Church of God liuely set forth in earchly Paradise Page 16 2 Of the benefits and excellent qualities of the Church described in the patterne of earthly Paradise Page 18 3 The holy Sacrament of the Altar figured by the tree of life Page 19 4 Resemblances of the tree of life to the holy Sacrament of the Altar Page 20 5 Of the excellency of the holy Sacrament of the Altar farre aboue the tree of life Page 23 6 The body of the Sauiour nourishment of the soule and cause of the glorious resurrection of the body Page 24 7 The Sacrament of the body of the Sonne of God tree of all the earth Page 25 8 Certaine spirituall aspirations of the soule desiring the cleare vision of the body of our Sauiour and a giuing thankes for the same Page 26 PICTVRE II. The Sacrifice of Abel THe Description Page 29 1 The Sacrifice of Abel a Figure of the Crosse and of the Eucharist Page 31 2 The accord of the Figure of the Sacrifice of Abel with that of the Masse Page 32 Of two sorts of Sacrifices Page 34 3 God permits euill to draw good forth of it for his glory and the profit of his children Page 35 4 Abel an Image of the Iust and Cain of the wicked Page 38 PICTVRE III. The Sacrifice of Melchisedech THe Description Page 42 1 Melchisedech the Figure of our Sauiour Page 45 2 The Priest-hood of the Son of God figured in that of Melchisedech Page 46 3 Wherefore our Sauiour hath Iustituted the Sacrament and Sacrifice of his body vnder the formes of bread wine Page 47 4 The bread and wine signes of the Passion of our Sauiour in his Sacrament Page 48 5 The bread and wine in the Eucharist signes of the mysticall body of our Sauiour Page 49 6 The body of our Sauiour called bread his bloud wine Page 50 7 What this Sacrament is ibid. 8 What a Sacrifice is and how it is offered in the Masse Page 51 9 The difference betweene a Sacrament and a Sacrifice Page 53 10 No Religion without Sacrifice Page 54 11 Testimonies of the Hebrew Doctors vpon the same subiect that is of the Sacrifice of Melchisedech Page 55 12 Testimonies of the ancient Greeke Fathers vpon the Figure of Melchisedech Page 56 13 Testimonies of the ancient Latine Fathers Page 58 14 The difference betweene the Sacrifice of the Crosse and that of the Eucharist Page 59 15 The difference of the Sacrifice of Melchisedech and of this of the Masse Page 60 16 The good spirituall souldiers are worthy of the food and blessing of the body of our Lord. Page 61 PICTVRE IV. Isaak on the Altar THe Description Page 63 1 Isaak and the Ramme sacrificed a Figure of the death of our Sauiour and of the Sacrifice and Sacrament of his body Page 67 2 The height of the mystery of the Eucharist signified by the Mountaine and by Abraham and how wee are to appreach to it Page 69 PICTVRE V. The Paschall Lambe THe Description Page 73 1 Of the time of Immolation of the Paschall Lambe and of the Holy and Ciuill yeare of the Hebrewes and of their Neomenia or new Moone Page 75 2 Wherefore the yeare of the Hebrewes was Lunary and how the Synagogue was compared to the Moone Page 78 3 The Paschall Lamb a Figure of the Sacrifice of the Crosse and of the Eucharist Page 80 4 How Iesus Christ is imitated in the Eucharist Page 82 5 The Immolation of the body of our Sauiour in the Masse confirmed by the testimonies of the Scripture and ancient Fathers Page 84 6 Hom the Paschall Lambe sheweth the vse and end of the Encâ—arist Page 86 7 Of the ceremonies vsed in eating the Paschall Lambe Page 88 PICTVRE VI. Manna in the Desert THe Description Page 93 1 Manna a Figure of the Sacrament of the Altar Page 95 2 The correspondence of Manna to the Sacrament of the Altar Page 96 3 What signified the likenesse of Manna to Coriander Page 99 4 The holy Sacrament kept in the Tabernacle as Manna in the Arke Page 100 5 The Bread of the Iewes beares the name of wonder in Figure of our wonderfull Sacrament of the Altar Page 101 6 The wonderfull power of God in the Sacrament of the Altar Page 102 7 Of the omnipotemcie of God in Transubstantiation Page 104 8 This Change is a miracle for the faithfull Page 106 9 Of the same power of God shewed in