after a diuine manner Plin. lib. 11. c. 14 lib. 12. c. 4. Gal. l. 3. de aliment The naturall Philosophers haue well acknowledged a kinde of naturall Manna which is a certaine dew of honny which the labourers of Syria gather from the trees of the mount Lybanus whereof the Apothecaries make vse but this heere was far otherwise in his effects causes as hath bin said it was produced miraculously in the Desert and fel euery day but the Sabbath in Winter and in all times and it was a miracle that it fell not on the Sabbath It continued in this manner forty yeeres and no more and this was one of the miracles that this people saw there continually in the Desert this was then a celestiall food supernaturall and diuine This quality agrees very well to our Sacrament For first the body of our Sauiour was not begotten after a naturall manner Luke 1. but by vertue of the holy Ghost in the wombe of the Virgin which are two extraordinary causes Secondly this body is made present in the Altar vnder the formes of bread and wine by the ministery of Priests which are the Angels of God in the Church These are those which as instruments make this body in the Sacrament vsing to that end the omnipotent word of Iesus Christ THIS IS MY BODY and in this sense it is made by Angells and is the true bread of Angels Thirdly Manna was giuen for prouision in the Desert of Arabia euen vntill they entred into the Land of Promise the Sacrament is giuen vs in the Desert of this world vntill the Church militant shall enter victoriously and triumphantly into the Land of the liuing which is her heauenly countrey Fourthly Manna gathered in little or great quantity was neither more nor lesse for neuer a one had in the end more then the measure of a Gomer bee it that he had gathered more or lesse and this measure was equally sufficient to euery one nourishing a man growne and not ouer-charging the stomack of a yong childe A thing in truth most admirable that in a multitude of more then six hundred thousand of people and so great inequalitie of complexions and of stemackes the selfe-same quantity was equall and proportionable to the condition of euery one This also is more admirably seene in the Eucharist for it is not greater in a little Hoast then in a great one in a piece then in all and the body of our Sauiour is all in all the Hoast and all in euery part of it and is giuen equally to all vnder vnequall pieces how be it that in regard of the effect it profits more to those that are prepared Fiftly Manna serued both for meat and drinke for it baked into bread before the fire and ranne into water before the Sunne here-hence is that the Doctors said that the Iewes asking water murmured malitiously without cause Exod. 16. for so much as hauing Manna they had whereof to eate and drinke neither more nor losse then long time after them the fiue thousand which did cate in the Desert the bread and fishes multiplied had both meat and drinke by that miraculous food in Figure of our Eucharist Euen so the Eucharist it selfe giueth the body and the bloud of our Sauiour true bread and true drinke together though it be but vnder one kinde Sixtly Manna was couered and hidden betweene two dewes Glossa ex Rab. Salan Exod. 16. the body and bloud of our Sauiour is couered and hid from our sense and iudgement vnder the outward accidents of bread and wine Are not heere resemblances enough to make vs see the very face and Figure of our Sacraments And if God hath bin admirable figuring long since the patterne of the truth is he nor yet much more admirable in making perfect from point to point the truth it selfe according to the patterne and in laying so faire and so measurable a resemblance of the liuely colours of a new Mystery vpon the lineaments of the ancient Figure But let vs see yet some other draughts 3. WHAT SIGNIFIED THE LIKENES of Manna to Coriander PHILO a great Doctor writeth Philo. l. 2. Alleg. post med That the peeces of the graine of Coriander burst and cast in the earth grow as well as the whole graine euen as the grafts of a tree set or planted will liue and grow An admirable property of this graine and which is not found in any other seede that I haue read of not in Wheat which is a graine that hath the sprout most full of life The Scripture which puts not one tittle to paper without reason compares Manna to Coriander to the end no doubt wee should marke a wonder hidden in the Iudaicall shadowes to be discouered in the light of our faith the which wonder consists in this that one part alone of our Sacrament hath life as well as the the whole and that euery peece of an Hoast broken containes as much as the whole Hoast This wonder was signified as I said before in the quantity of Manna which was so equall in the prouision although it were gathered in vnequall measure Then the Scripture saying that Manna the olde Figure was like to the graine of Coriander gaue an outward Picture to the Iewes and signified to vs the inward life of our Manna in all his parts hauing the likenesse of Coriander albeit this be in one respect infinitely more perfect for none of the parts of Coriander is all the Coriander but all the parts of the Sacrament are all the Sacrament and all containe the body of our Lord and all are the whole yet if we respect the formes the parts of the Hoast are not the whole Hoast but only a part thereof 4. THE HOLY SACRAMENT KEPT IN the Tabernacle as Manna in the Arke VVEE haue heard how Moses commanded his brother Aaron to take of Manna to bee reserued within the Tabernacle for a memoriall of the benefits receiued from God which was put in execution so soone as the Arke was prepared Exod. 16.33 within the which Aaron put a golden pot full of Manna and the Arke and the pot in it was seated in the most holy place Heb. 9.4 as Saint Paul witnesseth writing to the Hebrewes So as Manna not onely serued for meat and all manner of sustenance but also for a memoriall The truth of these shadowes continue from age to age in the Church of God in which the body of our Sauiour as celestiall Manna is giuen for food and a viaticum and withall is kept and rescrued for a memoriall of benefits receiued from God For wheresoeuer the blessed Sacrament is found euery where it is a memoriall of the bountie of our Sauiour towards vs it is also kept and it shall be kept in Churches euen to the end of the world to be caried to the sicke and others who haue need of it and cannot come to the Church S. Iust. ep 2. S.
all now it makes present his body in a place where it was not a little before There it changed nothing into the creature heere it changeth one creature into another and in a certaine manner into the Creator himselfe so as the Priestes working in the Consecration by vertue of this omnipotent words are in this respect Creators of their Creator For changing the bread into the body of our Sauiour and making this body present they make also by necessary concomitance that his Soule and his Diuinity which neuer abandons the body be also present and by such operation they produce after a certaine manner the diuine Person and their Creator neither more nor lesse then the glorious Virgin brought forth Iesus Christ God and Man and is truely called the Creatrix and Mother of her Creator although shee bred neither the Soule nor the Diuinitie of him but onely the body conioyned to a reasonable Soule and hypostatically vnited to the Diuine Person which accompanieth it vnseparably Therefore the mystery of the Incarnation as also of Transubstantiation is greater and nobler then that of Creation For the effect of the Creation was a creature to wit the World but the effect of the Incarnation as also of Transubstantiation is the Creator by reason of this consequence and concomitance And if one should consider the body of our Sauiour alone the effect is alwayes more pretious seeing that this body surpasseth the price of a thousand worlds God then sheweth himselfe greater in this change then he did in the Creation And therefore after the Creation and before the Mystery of Transubstantiation when he would giue proofe of his power it was first by the change of one creature into another because such an operation did most properly testifie the soueraigne Master of Nature but therewithall to facilitate the faith of Transubstantiation which he was to make in the Law of Grace of bread and wine into the body and bloud of his Sonne So for the first proofe of his omnipotencie he changed the Rod of Moses into a Serpent and before Pharoe and the Aegyptians Exod. 3. 4. he conuerted the waters of Aegypt into bloud So likewise the first miracle by which Iesus Christ made man shewed himselfe God was by changing the water into wine the last remarkable miracle that he wrought in his mortall life Ioan. 2. was in changing the bread into his body the wine into his bloud which he continueth euery day and shall continue in witnesse of his omnipotencie so long as his Church shal walke in the Desert of this world as he continued the Figure of Manna in the Desert of Arabia during the peregrination of the Hebrewes in which Manna this admirable mutation was figured for as it is said in the booke of Wisdome Sap. 16.21 it was turned into that euery man would haue it 8. THIS CHANGE IS A MIRACLE FOR the Faithfull NOw this changing of substance into substance appeareth not to the bodily sense but to the eyes of faith onely and therefore it is made for the faithful which beleeue without seeing and not for vnfaithfull and carnal people S. Aug. in serm de Temp. 147. Whose rule is to vnderstand nothing except that which they touch saith Saint Augustine The mutations and changes that Moses made to fight against the infidelity of Pharoe and the Aegyptians and to giue manifest proof of Gods omnipotency strucke their senses with admiration as also the miracles of our Sauiour did and those of his Saints which were done to plant the faith The miracle that hee worketh in this change as also in the accidents is not for the planting of faith but for the exercise and encrease thereof he that requireth to see it with sense shewes that he hath no more faith then an Infidell and that he more beleeues his sense then the words of God which denounceth to him this change saying This is my body this is my bloud he shewes also that he vnderstands not reason for there are diuers natural changes which are made in secret without the senses perceiuing when they are made as when the water changeth it selfe into the juyce of wine in the Vine and into the juyoe of a Cherry in a Cherry-tree when the corne changeth it selfe into the substance of an eare and when an Egge is turned into a Chicken the shell remaining whole and without any exteriour mutation 9. OF THE SAME POWER OF GOD shewed in the accidents of bread and wine AS our Sauiour sheweth himselfe in this Sacrament Lord and Master of Nature by changing the substance as it hath been said so he maketh it appeare that he is omnipotent in the accidents of the same substance distributed into those nine Orders which wee haue set downe before First in generall because he giues to them all a manner of being supernaturall which is to support themselues without subiect an effect so farre aboue the power of common nature as it is for a man to hold himselfe in the ayre without stay And in particular he giueth force to the quantity of bread not onely to be without subiect but also to doe the office of substance and to serue for foundation to the quality to the sauour Gen. 21. and to other accidents and produceth with them a substance in giuing nourishment by them 2. Reg. Luke 1. Luke 1. And as by commanding the barrennesse of Sara of Anna and of Elizabeth and the Virginitie of his blessed Mother to conceiue and bring forth he made proofe of his omnipotencie Euen so he shewes himselfe heere omnipotent when he commandeth the barren accidents themselues and without all sappe of substance to bring forth and which is more to bring foorth an effect farre aboue their ranke to wit a substance which is a nature without comparison more noble then the accident and of whom the accidents altogether depend as simple officers and vassalls hauing nothing of their owne but what they haue from the power of substance These are then so many markes of an omnipotent Lord in this Mystery 10. THE SELFE-SAME POWER VERIFIED in the accidents of the body of our Sauiour and first in respect of the quantity THe diuine Power is yet more euident in the managing of the accidents of the body of our Sauiour 2 for it there holds his quantity all entire with his dimensions without possessing place all in all the Hoast and all in euery part how little soeuer it be which is to giue to his body that manner of being that naturally belongeth to a spirit thereby to shew himselfe God omnipotent So God is all through all and all in euery part of the world and our soule through all the body and all in euery part The body of our Sauiour is not euery where that being a prerogatiue reserued to the Diuinitie alone but it is in many places in one selfesame time and in all parts of the Hoast which is naturall to spirits and
a priuiledge giuen to this body vnited to the Diuinitie And since God giueth the power to Angells which are spirits to take a corporall being and to cloath themselues with some humaine or other visible forme and to possesse a place after the manner of a body it is not to be doubted but he can giue contrariwise to a body especially his deified body the prerogatiue to be in this Sacrament after the manner of a spirit without possessing any place and it repugnes no more to the nature of a body not to possesse a place then to the fier not to burne wherefore as the fier ceased not to bee fier within the furnace Van. 3. though it burnt not the Hebrew children so the body of our Lord ceaseth not at all to remaine a body in this Sacrament though it occupie no place and if God hath made that the virginity remained entire with the conception and bringing forth of a childe an effect most repugnant to virginity wherefore shall it be hard to him to make that a body remaine a body without possessing place seeing that virginity and facundity are more disagreeing from accord then to be a body and not to occupie any place The Scripture makes to vs easie the faith of this miracle teaching that our Sauiour went forth of the Sepulcher it being shut and that he entred into the chamber of the Apostles the doores being shut his body then possessed no place at that time or two bodies were in one selfesame place with penetration of dimensions which is an effect as difficult and hard to Nature and onely depending of the omnipotencie of God 11. THE MARVAILOVS POWER OF GOD about the qualities of the body of our Sauiour in the blessed Sacrament THe brightnesse colour 3 and such like qualities of the body of our Sauiour are also heere by prerogatiue of his omnipoteucie inuisible to the eye and vnknowne to all the other senses The eye seeth well a whitenesse the tongue tasteth a rellish the hand toucheth a quantity but these are the qualities of bread and wine and not of the body of our Sauiour which our mouth taketh without any feeling of the proper qualities of it When he conuersed with men the Diuinity appeared not but by the body of his Humanitie heere the body is hidden not appearing but by the accidents of bread and wine hee hath his body inuisible vnder the visible accidents disposing his body at his pleasure So he made it inuisible by miracle before his resurrection so he walked without heauinesse vpon the waues so after his resurrection hee hid the splendor of his body and vanished from the sight of his Apostles so he mounted vp to heauen not hindered by any heauinesse of his body 12. THE WONDERFVLL RELATIONS OF the body of our Sauiour in the same Sacrament VVHen a body is in a naturall place 4 euery member hath diuers relations to the diuers parts of the place The head to one the feete to another the hands to a third and so of the rest For there it is extended but heere the parts of our Sauiours body haue euery of them relation not to the parts of place but to one or other The head is not where the rest of the members are and all is heere distinct and apart and yet all notwithstanding in a little Hoast and sometimes in so little a quantitie of the Sacrament that it seemes to be impossible that all should not be in confusion And indeed it is impossible to Nature to make such an experiment or but to comprehend it much lesse yet to explaine it It is thy Power O Iesus omnipotent and soueraigne Master of Nature thy knowledge and thy word can doe it There is yet another diuine relation of this Sacrament figured in Manna For as Manna gathered in vnequall quantity was alwayes found in equall measure euen so here a little Hoast applied and compared to a great one is found equall for that in both the body of our Sauiour is as great in the one as in the other and which is more admirable it is one and the same body So as the equalitie is not onely by reason of equall taking but of the selfe-same thing in number to wit the body of our Sauiour all whole receiued of euery one We also admire Exod. 13.21 as a meruailous relation in another kinde that the Cloud the Pillar and the fiery Tongues representing the holy Ghost Ioan. 3.22 Act. 2.3 were all one thing Let vs admire that the visible formes distinct in themselues referred to the body of our Sauiour make one Sacrament Let vs admire that according to diuers relations Eue was a sprout of Adam and in a manner as his daughter being extracted from his body and notwithstanding in another respect his wife and that our Sauiour was Sonne of the Virgin by reason of his Humanity and Father of the selfe-same Virgin in regard of his Diuinitie If we admire these things certainly vnderstanding the relations which are in this Sacrament of a great body to one so little of the members one to another in so little a space and of them all to the visible accidents we haue whereat to wonder and in our wonder to magnifie the power of almighty God 13. ADMIRABLE ACTIONS OF THE body of our Sauiour THe actions of the body of our Sauiour 5 is heere diuinely admirable for it nourisheth without being disgested it nourisheth not as corruptible meats for a little space of time but for euer to immortality For it soweth in the body the seed by which it shall be one day inabled merise gloriously and the presence of this body giues vertue of nourishing to the accidents which they cannot do naturally without substance This deified body mounts yet more high for it nourisheth the Spirit and workes in the Spirit a prerogatiue denied to all other bodies so that as it is heere present after the maner of a Spirit it hath the operation of a Spirit and penetrates the Soule by his action beautifieth it illuminateth it makes it chast and ingraues in it other spirituall ornaments If the tree of Life renewing the body and Manna changing the taste were admirable in their actions how much more the body of our Sauiour in respect of the action it hath in this Sacrament For they worked not but vpon the body but this body worketh vpon body and soule and that not onely to immortality but also to eternall felicitie as we haue said 14. THE BODY OF OVR SAVIOVR impassible THe body of our Sauiour in this Sacrament endures not any hurt although it may be iniured by vngodly soules that take it vnworthily or by the wickednesse of Infidels which doe iniury the outward signes where with it is cloathed as the King with his Royall roabe The impassibility of Manna resisting the fier Sap. 16.17 and the not cortupting thereof on the Sabbath which putrified on other dayes Exod. 3.3 the impassibility of
Secondly we could not haue endured the brightnesse of so ghstering a body nor the presence of so glorious a Maiestie if he had snâ—wed himselfe in it Saint Paul was become blinde for hauing seene the brightnesse of this body 〈…〉 Coâ— 3.23 and if it behooued Morses speaking to the Hebrewes to veile his shining face which they could not otherwise haue beheld how much more sit was it that Iesus Christ should veyle his body without comparison more resplendent then the face of Moses to come neare vnto vs and to be eaten of vs A third reason may be added that this inuisibility giues vs a singular meane to exercise our faith and to marit happinesse in beleeuing and not seeing according to the Maxime of our Sauiour Ioh. 20.29 who called them happy which beleeued without seeing that is to say which did giue faith and credit to the Word of God although sense and humane reason penetrate not the thing beleeued nay rather finde in it a repugnance to their Lawes as it comes to passe heere where we beleeue the body of our Sauiour to be though sense seeth onely the outward accidents of bread and wine vnder which it is present and humane iudgement cannot comprehend the possibility of this presence But if the body of our Sauiour by this conuersion were made visible and the accidents of bread changed as it was done in the miracle at the mariage in Cana in which the water â—â—ax 2â— with the qualities was changed into the substance and qualities of wine there should be no exercise of faith it not being an obiect of faith or hidden secret but an effect Hebr. 11. not onely euident to reason but also to sense There should also haue been no merit For looke where eyther sense or reason giues any proofe faith hath no reward saith one of our Doctors S. Greg. bow 26. Ioan. 2. In the Miracle of Cana and in other such like there is not any need of faith but of good sense for to make triall as the Master of the banquet did who witnessed that the wine was excellent hauing had no more but a taste thereof for he could not haue faith not knowing any thing then of that which our Sauiour had done howsoeuer hee saw the effect And that which the Apostles did beleeue therein was not the conuersion of water into wine for that they saw with their owne eyes and vision is not faith but the Diuinity of the Soane of God secret worker of that apparent miracle and the merit also of their faith was not in seeing the conuersion of the water into the wine but in beleeuing with the eyes of faith the Diuinity of Iesus Christ which they did not see with their corporall eyes A soâ—rth reason wherefore God giues vs his body hid vnder these signes was secretly to hid the mystery of this diuine meate from the view and sight of Infidels and to take from them al occasion of calumniating the Christians For if they called them Andropâ—phages Tertal in Apol. cap. 7. Minutius Feliâ— in Ocla â—io Eusch l. 5. hist cap. 1. Orig. cont Cels lib. 6. Athenagâ—orat pro Christâ—â—â— and eaters of humane flesh as witnesse Tertullian Euse bius Minutius and other ancient Fathers because they heard say that they fed vpon the body of Iesus Christ in a certaine banquet where notwithstanding they see nothing but bread and wine what might they haue said and what crimes might they haue laid to their charge if they had either vnderstood or seene that they did eate that body in the naturall forme Finally hereby our Sauiour hath preserued the Maiesty of his body from many inconueniences of beasts and of men to which it had been exposed and in danger to bee often iniured in his proper forme whereas by hiding the same al the indignities are receiued in a garment which is not his owne that is to say in the shew of bread and wine albeit such as are guilty of those crimes must expect iust condemnation from God for the iniury which they haue done to this Sacrament 10. AS THE OLDE OBLATION OF FIRST fruits began in Pentecost so our new THe two last draughts figuring the Masse consist partly in the circumstance of time in which the old Oblation was instituted and put in practise partly in the Sacrifices which were to be offered before These two Lineaments haue been diuinely accomplished The time of this Sacrifice was the fiftith day Leuit. 25 10.11 Num. 4. a number importing remission of sinnes and of liberty and freedome In signe whereof euery fiftith yeare each one entered into the possession of the goods which they had formerly sold without repaying any money backe In the same yeare the Land was neither tilled nor sowne And the Leuites were freed from the seruice of the Temple after they were come to the fiftith yeare of their age As then the ancient offering was ordained in the Desert and practised only in the Land of Promise in the prefixed time of Pentecost that is to say Haruest being gathered in fifty dayes after Easter number of remission In like manner the Sacrifice of the Eucharist was instituted by our Sauiour being yet a traueller in the Desert of this world and put in practise by the Apostles after the descent of the holy Ghost vpon the day of Pentecost fiftith day day of pardon and remission putting the children of God in possession of the promised Kingdome which they had lost before a day of generall Haruest in which were to be reaped all sorts of celestiall fruits And as the three sorts of bloudy Sacrifices Holocausts Propitiatories and Pacifiques did goe before the old Oblation of First fruits in the same manner the bloudie Sacrifice of the Crosse figured heere by them weâ—thefore the practise of our new Oblation At this time then and according to the Figure the Apostles did begin to celebrate the Masse and to offer to God the First-fruits and the admirable and immortall wheat of the body of the Sonne of God cast on the Crosse to die springing out of the Sepulcher for to reuiue mounting to the right hand of his Father and gathered into his celestiall barnes there to raigne for euer The Oblation of First-fruits which vntill then had bin made in Figure eyther in the Law of Nature or of Moyses was but Barly as it were the beginning of Haruest but this heere was the great Haruest the great solemnitie of First-fruites and the great Oblation of celestiall Wheat and of the Bread that liueth and giueth life the true Pentecost and the true Iubily of the holy Ghost chiefe worker of this Sacrament and Sacrifice Of which our Sauiour speaking said The words Ioan. 6â— which I say vnto you are Spirit and Life as if he had said The words I speake vnto you concerning the eating of my flesh are not to bee vnderstood carnally after the manner of the Capharnaits who dreamed of dead flesh
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
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
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
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
as it was the next day by bloudy a effusion on the Crosse And when the holy Fathers did sometimes turne the words of Consecration into the Future tense saying This is my bloud which shall be shed in stead of that is said which is shed they contraried not the sense which we now giue for they all did affirme the Reall Presence of our Sauiours bloud in the Chalice but they referred the words of our Sauiour not onely to that present powring foorth which was then made but also to that which was to bee made as well on the Crosse by bloudy Sacrifice once as in the Eucharist by vnbloudy Sacrifice euen vntill the end of the world Behold how our Sauiour Sacrificed and offered his body to his Father by these words This is my body giuen for you This is my bloud shed for you And this is the new Sacrifice and offering in the Law of Grace which the holy Fathers say was instituted in this mysticall Supper as we shall learne by the ensuing witnesses 7. THE SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENT of our Lords body to haue been instituted in the mysticall Supper declared by the testimonie of Fathers SAint Gregory of Nisse speaking of the institution of the Sacrifice of the Eucharist S. Greg. Niss or 1. de Resur made in the Supper of the Paschall Lambe Our Sauiour saith hee by his ordinance preuenteth the violence of his enemies with a secret manner of Sacrifice ineffable and inuisible to the eyes of mortall men He himselfe offers himselfe for vs Oblation and Victime Priest and Lamb of God together And when was this this was then when hee gaue to his familiars his body to eate and his bloud to drinke Saint CHRYSOSTOME S. Chrysost hom 2. in 2. Tim. Be it Peter be it Paul bee it another Priest of like merits which offereth the holy Oblation this is euer the selfe-same which Iesus Christ in person gaue to his Disciples and that which the Priests yet make daily this heere is no lesse then that there Wherefore Because they are not the men that sanctifie it but it is the same Christ who hallowed it before Saint AMBROSE S. Ambros in Psal 8. We haue seene the High Priest comming to vs and haue heard him offering his bloud for vs Let vs follow him according to our power since that we are Priests to the end to offer Sacrifice for the people we are certainly vnequall in merit but honored by the Sacrifice For albeit that Christ now seemes not to offer he is neuerthelesse offered on the earth then when his body is offered heere Saint AVGVSTINE S. Aug. in Psal 33. cont 2. Psal 109. Iesus Christ hath instituted of his body and bloud a Sacrifice according to the order of Melchisedech AESICHIVS of the same time with Saint Augustine Aesich lib. 2. in Leuit. c. 8. Our Lord God supping with his Apostles did first offer the Lambe which made the Figure and after his owne Sacrifice RVPERT Rupert lib. 2. in Exod. c. 6. Our Saniour extreamely perplexed in the beginning of his Passion first immolated himselfe to his Father with his owne proper hands These passages and the rest that haue been cited in the Types of Melchisedech and of the Paschall Lambe teach how our Sauiour instituted the Sacrifice and Sacrament of his body after the old ceremony of the Paschall Lambe was accomplished which is the Faith that the Church hath euer held and will hold for euer 8. OVR SAVIOVRS TESTAMENT MADE in the Institution of the Sacrifice and Sacra ment of his body IT was in this admirable actiō that our Sauiour made his new Testament of the new Couenant with his Church amending the old and drawing neere to his death it was a time fit and agreeable for him to bequeath and leaue an eternall testimony of his last Will and affection towards his children The words of the Testament Gal. 4.24 Heb. 8.7 vlt. Exod. 24. Matth. 26.28 Marke 14.24 Luke 22 20. Exod. 24.7.8 Heb 9.16.17.18.19.20 of the Testator are cleare as also the Ceremony according to S. Matthew and S. Marke our Sauiour said This is my bloud of the new Testament that shall be shed for many vnto the remission of sinnes And according to S. Luke This is the Chalice the new Testament in my bloud which shall be shed for you in the same sense he saith new Testament of his bloud making allusion to the old which he long since had written by the meanes of his seruant Moyses and marked with the bloud of beasts to Figure forth this heere that there was made in the Desart at the foot of the Mount Sinay where Moyses as a royall Notary read the Law and the cenure of the written Testament and gaue the aduertisements of the Father of the Family before seuenty of the Ancients assembled by name and before the people that were to inherit In it the goods also were be queathed to wit the Land of Promise a Figure of Paradise And in Figure the death of the Testator also was interposed for there was Sacrifice offered whereby the death of the future Testator Iesus Christ made Man was represented and promised for confirmation of the Testament to which Ceremony that hath reference which Dauid said Psal 49. Iosue 8.31 Leuit. 23. Gather yee together his Saints vnto him which ordaine 〈◊〉 Testament and alliance with Sacrifice The same Ceremony was practised by Iesus when he renewed the Couenant of this Testament obserued also by the Iewes euery yeare in the Feast of Pentecost and by Salomon 3. Reg. 9.25 three times in one yeare These Victims then after they were offered to God were taken by the Priest and by the people in ordinary refection and the Altar Exod. 24. Heb. 9. and the Booke of the Law was sprinkled with the bloud of them According to the trace of all these Ceremonies Our Sauior made this Testament in this last euening in the desart of this world in Mount Sinay where the old was made but in another part thereof to wit in Sion and Hierusalem part of Sina and adioyning to it as Saint Paul said In Sion more noble then the other part of Sina Gal. 4.24 and in Hierusalem a more liuely Figure of his Church then was the Desart whereof Esay hath written The Law shall goe foorth of Syon Psay 2.3 and the word of God from Hierusalem In it then our Sauiour published in two words his Law and gaue his Aduertisements saying in this same Supper Ioan. 13.34 I giue you a new Commandement that you loue one another A Law of Loue and not of Feare as the Law of the old Testament Matth. 26.28 Marke 14.24 Luke 22.20 1. Cor. 11.24 He made the Recitall of his Testament in these words This is my bloud of the new Testament He made his Legacies and promises to his inheritors not of a Land of Canaan as of old to the Hebrewes but of the