THE FIRST MEDITATION VVhat loue Christe shewed at his last supper.

THE Sonne of God Christe Iesus God & man in the whole decourse of his life, neuer ceased to giue vs signes and tokens of his loue towards mankind. For besides that he was incarnat, & became man, onlie for man, not for Angells, he was borne for man in tyme of a Virgin-Mother without a [Page 2]Father, who was borne of his Father, & of the wombe of his diuine substance without a Mo­ther from all eternitie, Psal. 2. & 109. and he who feedeth all liuing creatures was fedd and nourished by the same Virgin Mother, Psal. 135. was swad­led by her in poore clowts, who was inuested with his Fathers glorie, was rocked by her a sleepe, whose diuine eyes are euer open, was circumcised & woare the badge of a sinner, who could not sinne, fasted, praied, preached, and all for the loue of man: hee neuer brea­thed, neuer walked, neuer tal­ked, neuer wrought miracles or other good workes, but for mans example & redemption. But as S. Ep. Io 3. Iohn testifieth (and his testimonie is true) vnto the end, and in the end of his life, Ioan. 13. he loued vs, and gaue the greatest [Page 3]signes of loue that euer he gaue. 2

Loue is shewed in twoe thinges especiallie, to wit in giuing and suffering. For if you present one with some rich dia­mant or other pretious thing, you shall thereby shewe your great loue vnto him, loue she­wing it self by guifts, as fire doth by sparcles, and if you giue him nothing yet do suffer much for him, ether in your goods or bodie, you do no lesse shewe your loue to him, yea somuch the more, by how much it is har­der to suffer then to giue. 3

Our Blessed Sauiour the true louer of mā kind at his last supper, which was the twye­light of his da [...]e, and the eue­ning of his life, gaue vnto man the greatest guift which heauen and earth could shewe, and which was more worth then a [Page 4]thowsand heauens and earthes, to wit his sacred bodie & bloud and euen himself God and man in the Blessed Sacrament. And although he then suffered not death reallie for vs, yet he did soone after, and euen then, in that in the Blessed Sacrament he represented his bodie onlie vnder the shapes of bread, and his blood onlie vnder the for­mes of wine, and so apart, he was immolated and sacrificed for vs mysticallie, and dyed for vs in representation before he died in veritie: and soe as some Saints to shew their desire to dye, and to prepare themselues the better to death, haue put on a winding sheete, or haue en­tred into their Tombe or mo­nument before their death, Soe Christ Iesus in the Blessed Sa­crament, and at his last supper, [Page 5]to shew the great desire he had to dye reallie for vs, did as it were put on the winding sheete of the shapes of bread and wine and wrapped himself in them, and so died in figure and my­sterie for vs, before he died in ve­ritie, and by this figuratiue and mysticall death prepared him­self to a reall death which soone after, that is the next daie, he suffered for vs, and soe in the end of his life he shewed his great loue vnto vs both by gi­uing and suffering. But as he first shewed his loue by giuing himself in the Blessed Sacra­ment, and by immolating him­self in it mysticallie onlie, and in representation; so let vs first imploy our best thoughtes and meditations vpon the Blessed Sacrament, and Christ his last supper, in which for a louing [Page 6]farewell he bestowed vpon his disciples the most precious ban­quet that euer was seene on earth, consisting of no lesse then his sacred body & bloud, seasoned and sauced with the diuinitie it selfe: And heere af­ter, in an other litle treatise we shal contemplate what he suffe­red for vs in his sacred Passion.

This Sonne of God and lo­uer of mankind shewed great loue vnto vs, 4 in that by Incar­nation and hypostaticall & per­sonall vnion of our nature with his diuine person, he bestowed his diuine nature on it, & ther­fore S. Ioan. 3. Iohn expresseth this his loue with a Sic or soe, saying: So God loued the world, that he gaue his onlie begotten Sonne; and yet thus he bestowed not his diuine person on euerie one in parti­cular, but onlie on that nature [Page 7]particularlie which he tooke of the Virgin-Mothers wombe, & by it on mankind in generall: But in the Blessed Sacrament hee imparteth himself to euerie one of vs in particular by com­munion, by which he giueth vs his bodie, bloud, soule, and diuinitie and so at the end of his life, Ioan. 13. and at his last supper he especiallie loued vs.

O my soule seing that thy God and louing spouse Christ Iesus hath giuen himself, soule, 5 body, bloud and diuinitie vnto thee, what shouldst thou seeke for any other thing? why shouldst thou loue any other thing then him, or for him? He is thine in this Blessed Sacrament, thy possession thy inheritance and richesse: Psal. 143. O thou thrice happie and infinitlie rich, cuius Domi­nus Deus tuus, whose God is thy [Page 8]Lord: O my soule thy spouse see­meth to content himself with thee, content thy self with him: If he can not content thee, in whom be all the treasures of wise­dome and knowledge, Col. 2. in whom is all perfection, beautie and goodnes, nothing will content thee. Noe, say vnto him. Quid mihi est in coelo, Psal. 72. & a te quid volui super terram? what is to me in hea­uen? and besides thee what would I vpon the earth? my heart is so ample & capable, that as it can not, so neither desireth it to be enriched but by tuee? If I haue thee, as in the B. Sacrament I haue, I ame rich enough, and without thee I ame poore and miserable, though I had all but thee: If I haue thee I haue all, and if I haue not thee, though I had all else which is in heauen and earth I esteeme myself to [Page 9]haue nothing. Thou o my Lord art my parte, my All, let me de­sire nothing but thee, Psal. 75. let me loue nothing but thee, or for thee, and as thow hast loued me all thy life time, but espe­ciallie at the end, Io. 13. and period of thy life, in bestowing this B. Sa­crament on me: so giue me the grace by which I may loue thee all the time of my life, and espe­ciallie at the end of it, that then especiallie I may quite with­draw my loue from the world, and all it can afford, and then giue it onlie to thee, who at the end of thy life, in this B. Sacra­ment hast so kindlie loued me, that I may dye louing thee, and so ceasing to liue, may neuer cease to loue, because al­though faith & Hope dye with vs (saiths obscuritie yeelding to the light of glorie, and Hope [Page 10]not consisting with the posses­sion of that we hoped for) yet Charitie neuer falleth away, 1 Cor. 12. or fayleth, and therefore if I die with it, I shall liue with it eter­nallie.

THE II. MEDITATION VVhat Charitie and humilitie Christe shewed before he satte down to his last supper.

OVR B. Sauiour hauing ea­ten with his disciples the Paschall lambe, and vsed allso the ceremonies prescribed for the eating of it, so to shew him­selfe an obedient obseruer and ful filler of the old lawe: he ri­seth [Page 11]from that Typicall Feast of the Paschall Lambe, & murteth them to the eating of the true lambe of God (to witt him­selfe) who taketh a way the sinnes of the world: Io. 1 [...] who was the veri­tie of that figure, a feast as farre surpassing that feast of the iewes, as the veritie excelleth the figure, the bodie the sha­dowe. And before he sitteth downe to this Heauenlie Feast, behold what preparation he maketh, what ceremonies he vseth, to shew his disciples with what reuerence and humilitie, with what loue and charitie, they and all Christians should approch vnto this feast.

Thus S. Iohn describeth it: 2 And when supper was done &c. Io. 13. he riseth frō supper (to witt of the Paschal Lambe) and laieth aside his garments, and hauing taken a [Page 12]Towell, girded himselfe, after that he putt water into a bason, and be­gane to wash the feete of the disci­ples, and to wipe them with the towel, wherewith he was girded. He laied aside his vpper gar­ment, that he may with more conuenience wash his disciples feete, as allso to signifie that in this humble act he laieth aside in outward apparance his vest­ments of glorie, to wit the ma­iestie, splendour and light of his diuinitie, and guirdeth himself with a towell, to signifie that he inuested himself in the towel of our humaine nature, that by it he might wipe aware al the filth and ordure of our sinnes, and thus prepared he kneeleth downe to wash his disciples feete.

Behold, o my soule, 3 a rare ex­ample of humilitie, and if thow [Page 13]consider it well thou caust not but stand amazed at it. Behold God kneeling at his creatures feete, washing & wiping them. Behold what preparation to this sacred Feaste he maketh, what a ceremonie he vseth, to shew to his disciples with what reuerence and humilitie, with what loue and charitie, with what puritie they and all chri­stians should approach to this dread Sacrifice, to this Holy Sacrament, which then he was to institute, to distribute vnto them, and to offer to his father for them. O sweete Iesus, how dost thou humiliate, and euen debase thy selfe, to controle our pride, and to set vs an example of humilitie euer to be vsed, and especiallie when we come to this holy Sacrament and dread Sacrifice.

Abraham washed the feete of three Pilgrims, 4 Gen. 18. or at least fetched water for them to wash, whom after, he found to be An­gels, but they were but Angels and he but a Patriarch; Christe is the God of Patriarchs whom Abraham serued, & he washed not Angels feete but poore fi­shermens feete, whose Lord & Master, whose God and Crea­tour he was. Luc. 7. Marie Magdalen washed Christs feete with her teares and wiped them with her haires: but Christ was her God, and she a sinner who had offen­ded, and so there was more hu­militie in Christ in permitting her to wash and wipe his feete, then in her in washing and wi­ping them: But thou O Sauiour of the world, God and man washedst the feete of thy crea­tures and euen of fishermen [Page 15]which are commonlie fowle, & euen of Iudas who had betraied thee, Math. 26. and euen then had sold thee to the Iewes.

But O Peeter, for to thee he offereth first this seruice, wilt thou permit thy so louing ma­ster, thy God and Creatour to wash thy feete? wilt thou ac­cept this honour to be done to thee, with so much dishonour redounding vnto him? No saith he: Io. 13. thou shalt not wash my feete for euer, yet Christe threatneth Pe­eter, that, vnles he wash him he shall haue noe parte with him He­ere Peeter was troubled with cōtrarie & repugnāt thoughts. To permitte Christ to wash his feete, was much repugnant to the humble conceit he made of himself and to the high esteeme he had of Christ, not to permite him was now after a comman­dement [Page 16]disobedience, and after a threatning was losse of the heauenlie glorie, for which he had left all, and of which he had seene a glimse in the Trans­figuration of his master. I ame loath (saith Peeter to himself) to suffer my Lord God so to debase himself as to wash my feete, I ame loath allso to di­sobey him who hath soueraigne authoritie, but rather then I will be disobedient to such a Lord and master, or loose my parte with him, that is the blisse of heauen, for which I haue left my nettes and hooks, and al I hadd, wash O Lord (saith he) since thou wilt haue it so, not onlie my feete, but my hands allso and head: A contemplatiue soule will heere take delight to be­hold the holie contention be­tuixt the masters & the seruants [Page 17]humilitie. But the humilitie of the Master, as being the greater, in the ende ouercommeth, and so the master and God & man, kneeling at Peeters feete, wa­sheth them and wipeth them, & peraduentur kisseth them. And hauing done this humble office to Peeter, he doth the same to the rest of the disciples, & euen to the traitour Iudas.

O yee Angels who serue this your God, 5 and attend and waite on him in Heauen with all re­uerence, behold your Lord and God, Esa. 4 [...]. Philip. 2. to whom euerie knee of the celestials terrestrials, and Infernals boweth: kneeling at the feete of fishermen, girded with a towel, washing and wiping their fowle feete, o humilitie, and washing & wiping Iudas his feete, who had traiterouslie sold him for thirtie pence, o Charitie. O yee [Page 18]heauenlie Spirits, you descen­ded at this your Masters nati­uitie, admiring to see the Sonne of glorie borne in a stable, layed in a manger: but then he was worshipped by the shepheardes: then great troups of you did sing your Christmas Carolle of Gloria in Altissimis Deo, Luc. 2. glorie in the highest to God: and then an vnwonted starre shined at this solemnitie, and soone after that, three Kings came frō the East to adore him & present him on theire knees with kinglie guifts: but if you descende now, you shall see him honoured of none, but honouring his owne vas­sals, and debasing himself so farre, as to wash and to wipe their feete. O yee courtiers of the King and court of Heauen, shew your selues courteours, & permitte not your King thus to [Page 19]be vilified: but rather do you (who in that you are Cour­teours know well what cere­monies are most conuenient) performe this humble office for your Master, do you wash his disciples feete, and his in the first place, he being your and their kinge: O yee Heauens & celestiall globes and star [...]s, who haue the highest place in this world, with what manners can you keepe your so high & [...]mi­nent places, seing your Crea­tour kneeling to his creatures, God, to man. O thou Sunne & Prince of the Planets, the lam­pe and eye of the world, who il­luminatest the celestiall & ter­restriall world, cāst thou endure to see thy Sunne of whome thow borrowest thy light, in this posture? Descend rather and humiliat thy selfe with thy [Page 20]Creatour, or else withdrawe thy light and thy sight from such a spectacle. Ioseph the Patriarch saw the sunne and moone and starrs adoring him, Gen. 34. but this he saw done onlie in a dreame and vision, but behold now, not the Sunne and moone adoring our true Ioseth Iesus Christ, but himself adoring, that is knee­ling to his creatures and disci­ples.

O humble God, 6 it is the dutie of all creatures euen Angels to adore thee who art their crea­tour, how then hoppeneth it that thou in a manner adorest thy disciples, that is kneelest be­fore them? But he answereth sine modo, Math. 3. sic enim decet nos implere omnem iustitiam: suffer me, thus to humble myself for this time, for so it becommeth vs to fullfill all iustice. It is conuenient that the [Page 21]creatour should thus humble himselfe euen to the earth, that his creatures maie be exalted, to heauen: It is conuenient that he thus should humble himself to teach his disciples, and in them all christians to humble them­selues, not onlie to their betters and superiours, but also to their subiects and Inferiours; to giue them to vnderstand by this humble washing and wiping his disciples fowle feete, that it is hee who by his bloud washeth all sinfull soules from the filth and ordure of their sinnes.

VVho is able to explicate, 7 [...]ay to conceaue the lownes of this humilities? certes no mortal creature: for all though we may see the earth on which Christe kneeleth, & to which he is des­cended, yet from how high he [...]s thus fallen, none can tall but [Page 22]the Saints and Angels, who see clearlie the hight of his diui­nitie, and so none but they can see the lownes of this humilitie Nor can they see it perfectlie: onlie God himself can, who on­lie can comprehend his owne hight & tallnes, which is infini­te. To know how lowea val­lie is, you must know how high the mountaine is, & so to know the vallie of this our Sauiours humilitie, you must know how high the mountaine of his diui­nitie is, which none but God can perfectlie know, because he onlie comprehendeth him­selfe and his owne hight and tallnes. But as there was neuer humilitie so low as this, so was there humilitie neuer so exalted as this. The higher in dignitie the person is who humbleth himself, the lower is his humi­litie [Page 23]because his falle & descent is so, much the lower, by how­much his dignitie is higher, and the higher the person is who humbleth himselfe, the more his humllitie is exalted and ino­bled, as the lower in dignitie & baser the person is, the lesse gra­ce hath his humilitie, and so hu­militie is graced by the dignitie of the person, and graceth allso the person, and humilitie is the honour of honour, and honour is the honour of humilitie. And consequentlie this humilitie of Christ, God and man, was the lowest that euer was, and yet the highest.

O my soule, 8 learne of this thy God, humilitie: he the Creatour thought not much to humble himself to the disciples his crea­tures, and in this to thee who allso art his creature, and wilt [Page 24]thou thinke much to stoupe to him the Creatour? He so noble and so high in dignitie hum­bled himselfe, and thou (who though thou wert a King) art base in respect of him, wilt thou disdaine humilitie? he humbled himself to his subiects and Infe­riours, wilt thou thinke scorne to humiliate thy selfe to thy equales, yea to thy superiours? He vouchsafed to wash his dis­ciples fowle feete, thou thin­kest scorne to do any base of­fice, though none is base which humilitie graceth, and yet thou art a creature, hee thy Crea­tour. O my soule by this thy Sauiours humble ceremonie of washing the disciples feete be­fore he admitted them to the B. Sacrament, learne to rinse and washe thy self cleane from all filth of sinne in the Sacrament [Page 25]and lauatorie of Pennance, before thou approach to the holie of holies, and the Im­maculate lambe of God con­teined in this blessed Sacra­ment, learne by this humilitie of Christe which he vsed im­mediatlie before the institu­tion and distribution of this Sacred Sacrament, with what reuerence and feare thou shouldst approach vnto it con­sidering thy Indignitie, and with what humilitie allso con­sidering thy basenes and it's dignitie.

THE III. MEDITATION How bountifull a feast maker and Oste Christ shewed himselfe and how grea [...] a feast he exhibi­ted to his disciples in the B. Sacrament.

THIS sweete Sauiour after the feast of the Paschall Lambe, hauing washed & wiped his disciples feete, to prepare them to the feaste of his sacred bodie and bloud, the veritie of that figure, he sitteth down and inuiteth his disciples and euen Iudas to sitte downe with him, and euerie one being placed, [Page] [Page] [Page 27]and expecting what feast he would bestowe on them at his farewell, which was then at hand, he taketh bread into his hands, saying vnto them, Mar. 14. Luc. 22.1. Cor. 11. take ye and eate, this is my bodie, and least they should thinke that he gaue thē but a figure of his bodie as he did when he gaue thē the Paschall Lambe, he not onlie calleth it in plaine tearmes but addeth as S. Luke relateth his bodie which is giuen for you, as S. Paule telleth vs, which shall be deliuered for you: to witt on the Crosse. And least they might [...]magin that he gaue them onlie [...] figure of his bloud, he not on­ [...]ie stileth it in plaine tearmes is blood, but addeth as S. Mathew and S. Marck relate which shall be shed sor many; as [...]. Luke writeth, which shall be [...]dd for you: And seing that [Page 28]breade, or a bare figure of Christs bodie (such as was Man­na, and the Paschall lambe) was not deliuered, or crucified for vs, but onlie Christe his true bo­die, nor wine, or a bare figure of Christes bloud was shed for vs, but onlie his true bloud, it fol­loweth that Christ at his last supper gaue to his disciples his true bodie and bloud, because h gaue that bodie which was deliured for vs on the Crosse, and he gaue them to drinke of that bloud which was shed for them on the Crosse; And forasmuch as his diuinitie was so insepa­rablie vnited both to his bodie and soule, that death which se­parated them one from the other, could not separate them from the diuinitie, it followeth also that Christe then gaue to his disciples his bodie, soule, [Page 29]bloud and diuinitie, all being vnited in him.

ô bountifull feastmaker, 2 ô precious and costlie feast: Psal. 8. ô Lord what is man that thou sh [...]udst so much esteeme of him as to bestow on him thy sacred bodie & bloud sanctified by the diuinitie, yea thy owne selfe no lesse then God and man? ô li­berall Oste who entertainest thy guests with so precious a banquet, and yet demaundest nothing for their ordinarie. Hester [...]. 1. No Assueru [...] euer made such a feast as this, whether wee respect the Oste yea and kinge that hath made it, to wit Christ Iesus, God and man King of Heauen and earth, or the guests who are inuited, to wit his Appostles, and their succestours, yea all Christians euen Kings and Em­perours: or the feast it selfe [Page 30]which is the holie flesh & bloud of Christ seasoned with the di­uinitie, more worth then hea­uen and earth, yea then a thou­sand worlds, or the cost at which the feast maker was in preparing this feast, for it cost him his death & passion, which was the price of our Redemp­tion, and was suffieient to haue redeemed a thousand worlds; or the continuance of the feaste which began at Christ his last supper, continueth to this day, and shall continue to the worlds end: for as Manna rained continuallie from Hea­uen to feede the Iewes in the desert and neuer was wanting till they came to the land of promise, so as long as we liue in the desert of this life, this our Manna, of which that was but a shadow and figure, shall rayne [Page 31]vpon Catholicke Christians, by the consecratiō of the Priest til we come to Heauen our true land of Promise, where in steed of Christs bodie and bloud, which now wee eate & drinke by communion, we shall feede of the diuinitie it selfe by cleare vision & fruition. O my soule, how hard hearted art thou, if this great benefit, this Roiall & costlie feaste, do not melt thee into loue, and resolue thee into gratitude.

O feast of feasts, 3 noe Epicu­risme but Christianisme, no gluttonie or drunkennesse, to eate and drinke often at this feast, but temperance, sobrietie, pietie, Religion. Of this feast onlie cā be auerred those words of Ecclesiastes. Eccl. 1. Laudaui igitur letitiam, quod non esset bonum ho­minisub sole, nisi quod comederet [Page 32]& biberet: I therefore haue praysed mirth, that there was no good thing for a man vnder the sunne, but that he should eate and drinke and be glad: to wit in this feast of the B. Sacrament.

ô happie wee, 4 who are so­mu [...]h honoured, as to sit at this Table; where the Angels waite and attende, and we sit downe at the table, and are feasted with such costlie & pretious meates, who are no [...] worthie the crum­mes that fall from this table. ô happie we, who being fedde with this Princelie and Kinglie fare, are fatted therewith, and therby inobled & made kings. Because as Iacob said of the bread of Aser▪ so we may much more say of this bread; Gen. 49. Pinguis est panis Christ [...] & praebebit delicias Regibus: The bread of Christe is fatte [...] and shall giue dainties to kinges: [Page 33]Either because in that it is eaten by vs, it maketh vs Kings, or be­cause it is meate onlie for Kings, and is not to be geuen to any but those who are Kings and Lords, domineering ouer their owne sē ­sualities, and passions, yea ouer the world, flesh and deuill. O happie wee who eating in this ho­lie Sacrament Christes sacred bo­die and drinking his bloud, are made generous and noble, as he is, yea, in a proportiō, diuine as he is, Gods by participation, as he is God by essence, yea of his bloud, kinred and linage. Happie wee who eating Christs bodie & drin­king his bloud are not onlie Christiani Christians, but allso Christiferi bearers of Christe, Cyril'us H [...]eros. Catech. 4. myst. yea Deiferi, bearers of God, and lod­ge [...]s of him within vs.

THE FOVRTH MEDITATION How prouident a Paterfamilias and good man of the howse of our soule and the Church, Christe is by this B. Sacrament.

ALmightie God out of his infi­nite goodnes & bountie, hath shewed himselfe in this B. Sa­crament, to be a moste wise and prouident, and liberall Paterfa­milias or howsekeeper, hauing laied vp in store such prouision for the Howse of his Church, and for euerie one of vs in particular. He is a howsekceper most proui­dent [Page] [Page] [Page 35]in respect of all liuing crea­tures. The whole worlde is his howse, all liuing Creatures his familie, for euerie one of which he prouideth meate and drinke according to euerie ones nature. Plants and hearbes he feedeth with moysture, which by their rootes as by mouthes, they drawe from the earth, beastes with plants, hearbes, corne, and grasse: Fishes with water and other foode which they findc in the water, & mens bodies he fedeth with flesh, fishe. hearbes and fruites of the earthe, and therefore Dauid saith that it is God: Ps. 146. Qui dat iumentis es­cam ipsorum, & pullis coruorum inuo­cantibus eum, who giues to beasts their foode, and to the yong rauens that call vpon him. He specifieth yong rauens, partlie to signifie that God hath care of all his crea­tures euen the vilest, partlie be­cause, [Page 36]as S. Serm. de. He­lia. Chrisostome auerreth the old crowes do often tymes neglect their young ones (as when they suspect them not to be their owne broode) and then God is the nurse of the young ones, fee­ding them with flies, or the thicke ayre or such like.

But more bountifullie, 2 & care­fullie God Almightie prouideth for man, and feedeth him in bodie with the best meates, and in soule with learning and vertue, and aboue all; this great howsekeeper hath euer and cheeflie prouided for his Church, though not alwaies in the same manner. For otherwise did he prouide for it before Christs comming, other­wise after his cumming, other­wise for the Iewes, otherwise for the Christians: For the Iewes being children in spirituall life who liued vnder the Pedagogue [Page 37]of the lawe, which brought no­thing to perfection, Heb. 4. and could not giue them full-groughe, nor make them men, they were to be fedde like children with the light mea­tes of the figuratiue Sacrificies & Sacraments of the old lawe: Heb. 5. And therefor S. Paule saith that they had need of milke, and not of strong meat, but strong meat is for the per­fect, that is Christians, who be­cause they are perfect men in a spirituall life, are not to be fed with light figures, but with the solid verities of those figures. They were fedde with Manna and the Paschall lamb, we who are Christians, are fedde with the sa­cred body and bloud of Christe which are solid verities of those figures, and meat for the strong and perfect, not for weake­lings and children, as the Iewes were.

Ioseph the Patriarch, 3 as we reade in Genesis, whoe was as the Paterfamilias of Pharao his house yea and of all Egipt, Gen. 43. and who in a dearth of seauen yeares, proui­ded them of corne aboundantlie; when his brethren resorted allso vnto him for corn, he inuited them to a feast, and gaue to euerie one of them his portion, but to Beniamin his yongest brother, he gaue a portion fiue times bigger then was the portion which he gaue to his elder brethren. Euen soe our Ioseph Christ Iesus; who furnished not Egipt with corne, as Ioseph did, but the whole Church of God with the sacred Euchariste, Io. 6. which the Prophet calleth, Zach. 9. frumentum electorum, the wheate of the elect: and wine spin­ging virgins: gaue thereby to the Christinns the younger brother in regarde of time, a portion of the [Page 39]B. Sacrament, which is greater & more precious, not by fiue times onlie, but by fiue thousand times then was the portion of Manna, or the Paschall lambe, or all those Sacrifices and Sacraments which he gaue to the Iewe the elder brother.

O liberall & magnificent house­keeper, 4 whoe hast made so great and so Roiall prouision for thy familie, the Church. VVhen I consider the aboundance of corn, grasse▪ hearbes, fruits, which God hath prouided for the suste­nance of all liuing creatures, euen the litle sparowes, and yong ra­uens, I stand as a man amazed, & Isaie vnto myself; out of what granarie or store howse, or Barne commeth all this prouision? But when I behold the aboundance of the wheate of the Elect, Zach. 9.10.6. & of the bread of life, of which whoesoeuer [Page 40]eateth liueth for euer, VVhich our B. Sauiour God and man, hath prouided for vs in this B. Sacra­ment, I cease to admire there, & can neuer cease to admire heere, and I saie vnto my selfe: Out of what granarie commeth this wheate of the Elect, Zaca. 8.10.6. out of what pā ­terie cometh this bread of life, which feedeth our soules and gi­ueth them spirituall nourishment, and life of grace? of which we feede dailie, and yet the bread is neuer consumed, neuer dimini­shed. VVhen I consider the va­rietie of fountaines, springes, wells, and riuers, which our Bles­sed God hath prouided for men and beastes to drinke on, I stande amazed, and I saie to my selfe: out of what brewhowse cometh all this drinke? who is the Butler that continuallie draweth it [...] but when I Behold the wine [Page 41]which springeth Virgins, Zac. 9. & which is drunk dailie & by many thou­sands in this B. Sacrament: I stand amazed heere and I cease to ad­mire there, and saie to my selfe, out of what celler commeth this wine? who draweth it? who filleth it out? And which maketh me more to admire, I see many thou­sands doe drinke dailie of this wine, and yet the Celler is neuer emptied, the wine neuer dimini­shed. O bountifull and prouident howsekeeper (sweete Iesus) who prouidest such meate and drinke as neuer consumeth: for I see that:

VVhen I call to minde, 5 ô Lord, how once thow fedst in the [Page 42]desert, the Israelits with Quailes and Manna from Heauen and ga­nest them water to drink out of a hard rock, Excodi. 16. & 17. I ame astonished: But when I consider with what an heauenlie Manna, made not in the aire by the fingers, of Angels, as that Manna was, but by the fin­gars of the Holy Ghost in the Heauen of the B. Virgins wom­be, thou feedest vs in the Bles­sed Sacrament, during our aboade in the desert of this life, & wilt feed vs till we come to our land of promise; I cease to wonder there, and I onlie wonder heere.

VVhen I call to minde how thou, 6 Math. 14. o Blessed Sauiour, the wor­ker of all those former miracles, didst feed with fiue barlie loaues & two fishes, fiue thousand men, besides woemen and children, & ganest to euerie one his fille, and yet after that all the guetsts had [Page 43]eaten asmuch as satisfied them, the leauings and fragments filled twelue boskets, and so was grea­ter then the feast was at the be­ginning; I wonder: But when I consider how in this B. Sacra­ment, thou, ô Lord, feedest with a farre lesser quantitie, so many millious of Christians since thy last supper, and shalt feede them to the ende of the world, and yet the feast neuer diminisheth, but is as great now as it was at the be­ginning, I cease to wonder there, and I stand alltogether amazed heere.

Behold my soule what a pro­uident and bountifull howse­keeper thy Lord Iesus is. 7 O the happines of Catholikes who haue such aboundance of bread and wine alwaies prepared for them: and ô the miserie of the Here­ticke, who hauing, I [...]ac. 15. like the Pro­digall [Page 44]sonne, left the Church, his heauenlie fathers howse, is fed onlie with the husks and chaffe of figures, but hath not the solid corne to feede on. Lett him re­turne to the Church his Fathers howse, lett him returne againe & crye with the Prodigall sonne. How many of my Fathers hirelings haue aboundance of bread, Luc. 15. and I heere perish for famin? I will arise, and goe to my Father, and saie to him, father I haue sinned against heauen and before thee: I ame not worthie to be called thy sonne, make me one of thy hire­lings. VVhich if the Hereticke doth, God will admitte him to the heauenlie prouision in the B. Sa­crament: he will make him par­taker, Io 6. Zac. 9. of the bread of life, and wine that springeth Virgins, of which who eateth and drin­keth shall neuer be hungrie or thirstie again.

This sacred bread which our Paterfamilias hath prepared for his howsehold, 8 was kned by the fingers of the Holy Ghost, baked in the sacred ouen of the B. Vir­gins wombe, not by the heate or fire of concupiscence, but of the Holy Ghost, drawne out of the ouen in Christ his natiuitie, set at the table at Christes last supper, and euerie daie vpon the Altar, for the nourishement of our hea­uenlie fathers howsehold. The wine which all of this howsehold do drinke is most pretious, Psal. 22. A cha­lice inebriating: which inebriateth spirituallie, and maketh vs sleepe to the world: The vine from which this sacred wine origi­nallie procedeth, is Christe Iesus, who called hīselfe a vine, Io. 15. sayinst to his disciples I ame the vine: you the branches, which vine was plan­ted in the vinyard of the B. Vir­gins [Page 46]wombe, when God the sonne tooke flesh of her, the gra­pe of this vine was Christes bo­bie pressed on the crosse, the wine was his sacred bloud giuen to the Apostles at the last supper before the pressing on the Crosse, but is giuen in the B. Saerament to their successours aftet the pres­sing. By the force which this bread of life giueth, we walke with Helias, 3. Reg. 19. not to the mount Horeb but to the mount of hea­uen, and by this sacred fare we ouercome all difficulties, which either the deuill or the worlde, or our owne flesh doe laye in our wa [...]e. By this wine the Apostles, disciples and martyrs of the pri­mitiue Church being spirituallie drunke, encouraged, and infla­med, could not be daunted with all the instruments of crueltie, with all the torments and death [...] [Page 47]which the Tyrants could deuise, but were readie to suffer all tor­ments for h [...]m, who suffered for them, yea to giue their liues for him, who offered his for them on the Crosse, & in the B. Sacrament gaue his body and bloud to them.

O my soule, 9 say vnto this thy bountifull oste and howsekeeper as Dauid saied; Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus que retribuit mihi? what shall I giue to God (to this my Iesus God and man) for all things, which he hath giuen to me? I am lesse then the least of them, what then shall I render thee for this benefite of the B. Sacra­ment, in which thou so often gi­ [...]est thyselfe, thy bodie, bloud and soule, and diuinitie? I can not giue thee enough for the least [...]rumme of this liuing bread of thy sacred body, for the least drop of this sacred wine of thy sacred [Page 48]bloud, though I should giue all I ame and haue, & though what I ame were as perfect as the most perfect Angell, and though what I haue were asmuch as Heauen and Earth. O Lord be contente that I confesse myselfe to be ouercome by thee a thousand ti­mes in curtesies and fauours, be content that I giue thee my All, for I know thou art noe litle contented, when we giue our All, be it neuer so litle.

THE FIFTH MEDITATION How Christ hath shewed himselfe in this B. Sacrament a Father and more them a Father vnto vs.

GOd Almightie is our Father by Creation, 1 by which he giueth vs our naturall being, which is a participation of his di­uinē substance, Phil. li­de de­cal. Magi­ster Confor lib. 1. con. 12. and by the same Creation he is a Common Father to all Creatures, especiallie man, and they are (as Philosaith) in respect of God who created them [Page] [...] [Page 49] [...] [Page 50]bretheren amongst themselues and children of one Father, for which cause the deuout Saint Francis called them his brethren and Sisters. Yet there is in this a difference betwix man and other creatures, because man is not only a participation of God his substance as other creatures are, but is allso an Image of God, in regarde of his intellectual nature, and his vnderstanding, will and memorie, by which he repre­senteth God and resembleth him, as the Sonne doth the Father: And therefor God when he was to create man, he said not onlie be man made, as he saied, be light made, Gen. 1. Be a Firmament made, be there lights made, but he said, let vs make man to our Image and likenes. And so God euen by creation is in a more perfect manner a Father of man, and man is in a more per­fect [Page 51]manner his Sonne, resem­bling him as the child doth the Father.

Secondlie God is Mans Fa­ther, 2 and in a more perfect & emi­nent manner by sanctifieng grace by which man reccaueth from God a supernaturall being, and as S. Peeter saith, 2. Pet 1. is Consors diuinae naturae, partaker of the diuine nature by which he is the adopted childe of God, & he is his adoptiue Fa­ther. Rom. 5. VVe were borne of our na­tural Parents dead spirituallie in soule by originall sinne: but we are regenereted and borne againe spirituallie to a supernaturall life by the Grace which we receaue in, and by Baptisme, Ion. 3. Ion. 3.4. & 5. Ion. 1. Rom. 8. Gal. 3. & 4. by which God is our Father, the grace of Baptisme is our regeneration and second natiuitie, by which we are said to be borne to God and to be his children, he our Father.

But although this be true, yet by and in the B. Sacrament of the Altar, Christe the Sonne of God, God and Man, sheweth himselfe a perfect Father, and more then a Father. A man is said to be Fa­ther of his Sonne, because he im­parteth vnto him his owne nature flesh and bloud, not the same in­diuiduall, but another of the same Kinde. But our B. Sauiour in this Holie Sacrament imparteth vnto vs his owne nature, sub­stance, flesh, and bloud, of which he himselfe consisteth. And so if the Sonne be called flesh of his Fathers flesh, bloud of his bloud though he reccaue not from him the same flesh and bloud which he hath, but other flesh and bloud of the same Kinde: much more may Christians by receauing this Bles­sed Sacrament, be called flesh of Christ his flesh, and bloud of his [Page 53]bloud they receauing the selfe same flesh and bloud of which he consisteth. And so not onlie by Baptisme but also by this B. Sa­crament Christ is our Father, and more substantiallie by this Sacra­mēt then, by that because by that we receaue onlie grace, which is onlie a supernatural, & accidental participatiō of God, by this we re­ceaue reallie Christs owne body and bloud, yea soule and diui­nitie, and by his and our burning loue, meeting together, our sub­stancies are (as S. Cyrill of Alex­andria saith) as it were melted, and vnited as waxe is to waxe. Lib. 4. in Ioan. ca. 17. Chris. lib. 61. ad Pop. Antioc. VVe are as S. Chrysostome saith, vnum corpus & membra, ex carne cius & ex ossibus eius, one body and mem­bers of his flesh and of his bones: we are not only by charitie but reipsa in verie deed mingled with his flesh for he semetipsum nobis immiscuis [Page 54]& corpus suum in nos contemperauit vt vnum quid efficiamur tanquam corpus capiti coaptatum, ardenter enim amantium hoc est: he hath min­gled himselfe to vs, and hath contem­pered his bodie into vs that we may be one thing, and as one body linked to the head, for this is the propertie of those that loue ardentlie.

O my soule how gratefull shouldst thou be to such a Father who hath bestowed on thee his owne substance in so admirable a manner? 4 how shoulds thou scorne this worlde and all it can afforde? how shoulds thou disdaine to be aslaue to the world, flesh and de­uill, thou being so noblie des­cended of so noble a Father, as is Christe Iesus God and man, King of heauen and Earth? Diuers hea­then Emperours imagined them­selues to be born of the Gods, and this imagination made them to [Page 55]disdaine all basenes. Doe not thou then ô my soule debase thy selfe, do not degenerate from this dignitie to thy former vilitie and basenes of life, who art made par­taker of Christes body and bloud, and nourished therewith.

Lette sinners whoe thinke of noe other heauen then earth, 5 nor of any other pleasure or de­light but carnall, content them­selues with their hoggish fare of wordlie trashe, and carnall plea­sures: do thou take thy onlie de­light in feeding of this Manna, which hath all delight, in eating of this bread of life which brin­geth eternall life with it, and in drinking of this wine of Christs [...]loud which springeth Virgins, [...]ebriateth the spirit and reioi [...]eth the hearte; Let worldlings [...]ragge of their noble bloud, ex­ [...]action and noble descent, thou [Page 56]art more noblie descended, to wit from Christe the Sonne of God, who in this B. Sacrament is thy Father and more then a Father: thou art of a more noble bloud, because by this B. Sacrament thou art flesh and bloud of Christs flesh & bloud; who was conceaued & born of a Virgin-mother & by no other seed then the Holy Ghost.

THE SIXT MEDITATION How Christ hath shewed himselfe in the B. Sacrament a Mother and more then a Mother.

THe loue of a Mother towards her childe is so greate, that none can imagin it but mothers [Page] [Page] [Page 57]themselues: It is greater then the loue of the Father, because the Mother suffereth more for it then the Father doth, she bearing it in her womb nine monthes with great paine, bringing it to light with farre greater, she giuing it her milke, swadling it, rocking it, carying it in her armes. And so as wee loue that best which wee gett with most difficultie, so she loueth the child most because she most endureth for it in perfor­ming the former officies; and her most familiaritie with it from i'ts birth, engendreth the greatest loue and affection: Hence it is that when holy Scripture would expresse great loue, it compareth it to the loue of a mother, 2. Reg. 1. As the mother saith Dauid) loueth her onlie sonne so did I loue thee, Ionathas: yea God himself explicateth his loue to vs by the loue of a Mo­ther, [Page 58]as by the greatest loue, VVhy (saith he) can a woeman forget her Infant &c. and if she should forget yet will not I forget thee. Isa. 49. Isa. 66. And againe: As if the mother should speake one faire, so will I comfort thee. And yet againe: Io. 16. A woeman when she tra­uaileth hath sorrow, but when she hath brought forth the child, now she remembreth not the anguish for ioye that a man is borne into the world: and this the great ioy of the mother is grounded on her great loue, and this her great loue on her great sorrow and paines which she suffered, and on her great familiaritie with her child from its birth, If the loue of a mother be so tender towards her child, how great must we thinke was the loue of Christ towards vs in the B. Sacrament, where he hath shewed himselfe a mother and more then a mother?

The mother by her pappes gi­ueth her childe her milke, 2 and so nourisheth it, so our B. Sauiour by his sacred pappe of this B. Sa­crament, giueth vs to sucke his owne bloud, and that which (as S. Chryl. serm. admon. de Euchar in En­cenijs &c hom. 24 in 1. ad Cor. 11. hom. [...]1 in cap. Io. 19. Chrisostome affirmeth) issued out of his sacred fide, and with his bloud the milke also of his sancti­fying grace, and therewith nou­risheth our soules. Mothers vse to chew the meate which they giue to their litle Infants, so to make it fit for their eating, & our B. Sauiour in the First in stitution of this B. Sacrament, did eate and as it were, chew his owne flesh, and did drinke to vs all, in a draft of his owne bloud, to make it fitt for our eating and drinking: and as nature in the mother conuer­teth her bloud into milke, and so couereth it with the white colour of milke least the childe should [Page 60]abhorre to take it in the colour of bloud, so our B. Sauiour hath couered his Sacred flesh & bloud, which he giueth vs to eate and drinke, vnder the vsuall colour of bread, & wine, knowing that we would abhorre to eate his flesh & drinke his bloud in their owne shape and forme.

And to shew himselfe not onlie as a mother, 3 but more then a mo­ther, he giueth vs to eate of his owne flelsh, & to drinck his owne bloud, which Mothers do not; They giue their milke which aboundeth in them, not their flesh or bloud. Christ shed for vs on the crosse not his superfluous bloud, but euen that bloud which was necessarie to keepe life, and this bloud he giueth vs by the dugge, pappe, and teate of this B. Sacrament.

4 O mother and more then any [Page 61]mother, for as S. Chrysostome saith, mothers do often tymes gi­ue ouer their children, to be nur­sed by others; but our B. Sauiour to make vs generous as he is, to make vs sucke with his bloud his diuine conditions, would not, out of his loue, permite this, but he nourisheth vs (which no mother will doe) with his owne flesh & bloud. Chrys. hom. 60. ad pop. An t [...]och. O loue aboue the loue of Mothers, ô loue aboue the loue of all creatures, proper onlie to God and the louer of mankind.

VVith what spirituall gree­dines then, and hunger, 5 should we come to this B. Sacrament, to sucke out of this dugge the bloud of Christe and the milke of grace? Nonne videtis (saith S. Hom. 60. ad pop. An tioch. Chryso­stome) quanta promptitudine par­uuli papillas capiunt, & quanto im­petu labia vberibus insigunt, acceda­mus [...]nm tanta nos quoque alacritate [Page 62]ad hanc meusam: quiuimo cum longe maiori trahamus tanquam infantes lactanei Spiritus gratiam, & vnus sit nobis dolor hac escapriuari: Do you not see with what promptitude and greedines little Infants take their Mothers pappes, with what a violence they fasten their lippes on the pappes? lett vs also come with the like alacritie, yea with a farre greater, let vs like sucking Infants suckr the spirite of grace, and let it be our onlie greefe to be depriued of this foode.

O my fweet sauiour, 6 ô my deare Father and Mother (for so thow hast shewed thyself in this holie Sacrament) be vnto me a Father and Mother, prouide for me all necessaries for a fpirituall life, prouide for me an inheritance in the next, for that it pertaineth to Fathers and Mothers to laie vp treasures for their children.

O my deare Father and Mo­ther, 7 bestow for euer thy loue on me, for that it is naturall for pa­rents to loue their children, and loue me not for a while but for euer. The more perfect parents are the longer they loue their young ones. The beasts of the Earthe and the fowles of the ayre, do loue and care and prouide for their young ones, onlie for a time, that is, till they be able to shift for themselues, and after that, they make no distinctiō betwixt them and others, but the Father and Mother amongest men, because they are more perfect parents, do loue their children euen to death, and prouide an Inheritance for them to liue on after the parents death. God almightie therefore who is our Father not onlie by creation, but also by grace and Sanctification, and a most perfect [Page 64]Father also, loueth his Elected children for all eternitie, euen be­fore they were, as he, loued Iacob before he was borne and (as Hiere­mie saith) in an euerlasting charitie he loued his chosen people: Rō. 9. Hierm. 22. he loueth them heere by grace, and in hea­uen, and that eternallie, by eter­nall glorie.

VVherefore O my sweet Sa­uiour, 8 thow who in this B. Sa­crament hast shewed thyselfe a supernaturall and most perfect Father, and Mother to all that re­ceaue thee in it, and euen to mee though otherwise a wretched sin­ner, loue mee I beseech thee as thy child (for parents do natu­rallie loue their children) & loue me perpetuallie, heere by thy gra­ce and in heauen by thy eternall glorie: & if thou shouldst vouch­safe so to loue me, I care not though all the world should hate [Page 65]me, for if thou by thy loue stand for me, who can stand against me? And because by this Holy Sacra­mēt thou art my Father & Mother giue me grace alwaies to loue thee also because children do na­turallie loue their parents, and graunt me grace to loue thee abo­ue Father and Mother, for that in this B. Sacrament thou art be­come vnto me more then any Fa­ther and Mother. And if thou loue me how can I miscarrie, thou protecting whom thou louest? And if I loue thee, nothing can come amisse vnto mee, be it pros­peritie or aduersitie, health or si­knes, riches or pouertie, because to them that loue thee all things coope­rate vnto good, Ro. ms. and so euen my sinc­nes (ô Lord) though they disho­nour thee, and hurte me for a time, yet if I loue thee, they will turne to thy greater honour, & my [Page 66]greater spirituall profite, because through thy grace they will turne, as were the sinnes of Marie Mag­dalen to her, motiues to a grea­ter penance, and spurrs to a better life then otherwise I should haue ledd.

Thou comawndest vs (ô Lord) to honour our Father and mother, 11 Exod. 20 that we may be long liuers vpon the Earth. Euerie effect if it had reason would honour it's cause, of which it hath it's being, and by which it subsisteth, and so the light would honour and loue the Sunne, the riuers their fountaines, the fruites their trees, the yong birds their oldones, the yong beastes those that did generate them, if they had reason; Man then who is en­dued with reason, must honour his Father and Mother, who be­got him & brought him to light, and after God gaue him his life [Page 67]and being, and to this he is obli­ged by the Lawe of God and na­ture. How much then, o swere Ie­sus, should I honour thee who in this B. Sacrament art a Superna­turall Father and Mother vnto me, and more then any Father and Mother?

Thou commaundest vs ô Lord to acknowlge no other Fa­ther thē God, saieng: 0 Matt. 23 call none Fa­ther to yourself vpon earth for one is your Father, he that is in heauen. Be­cause although our Carnal Fat­hers be our true Fathers, yet in cō ­parison of thee, ô Lord, they are no Fathers, thou by creation being more our Father then they, and by sanctification, and this B. Sacrament, being our Superna­turall Father & more then our car­nall Father and mother. Our car­nall parents are but halfe Fathers and Mothers generating onlie [Page 68]our bodie, whereas thou art our totall Father, that is of soule aswell as bodie; Giue me grace then ô heauenlie Father to loue and honour thee aboue my carnal Father and Mother, to forsake them rather then offend and fore­sake thee by sinne, that so ho­nouring and louing thee, I may be a long liuer, Exod. 20. not vpon earth, but in heauen wher my life shall be eternitie.

And because children do wil­linglie followe their Fathers and Mothers stepps, 10 and do imitate them in all their actions bee they good or badde, thinking it conue­nient for them to do what they see their parents do before them; giue me, ô Lord, by thy grace a desire & a delight to imitate thee in all thy holie actions & vertues, in thy humilitie, Phil. 2. patience, chari­tie & obedience euen vnto death.

Thou saydst once to the Iewes, Io. 8. If you be the children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham: wherefore seing that by this Holie Sacramēt, thou ô Lord, art my Father & Mother, & they who receaue it worthilie, are thy children, giue me grace to imitate thy vertues and holy actions, lett them be patterns and examples for me to followe, let them be alwayes before my eyes that I may euer behold them, let them be alwaies in my heart, that I may euer loue them, lett them be alwaies in my hands, that I may euer practise them, so I shall be to thee as an obedient child doing in all things thy holie will, and thou wilt be to mee a louing Father, furnishing me not with a temporall estate, as carnall pa­rents onlie can doe, but proui­ding for me heere grace, and an inheritance in heauen of glorie, [Page 70]which thou hast layed vp in store for all eternitie, for those that are thy true and obedient children, fullfilling in all things thy holy will and commandement.

THE SEAVENTH MEDITATION VVhat a freind Christ hath shewed himself in the B. Sacrament.

ARistotle the Prince of Phi­losophers who diued as farre almost into the secrets of nature as naturall reason could permit, Eib 2. Lth [...]c. thought there could be no per­fect and proper freindship be­tuixt God and man, because there could be no equalitie or paritie [Page] [Page] [Page 71]betwixt them, God being infinite in Maiestie, and soueraigne and supreme in authoritie & digni­tie, man infinitlie beneath him in degree, base also of condition (though he be an Emperour) in comparison of God, with which disparitie he thought familiaritie would not consist, which yet he thought was belonging to freinds and freindship.

VVherein all though he erred yet his errour was excusable, 2 be­cause by naturall reason he could not discouer the Excellencie of Grace, much lesse of th' Incarna­tion the fountaine of all grace. For grace being a supernaturall guift of God, eleuateth nature aboue nature, and maketh such a kind of equalitie betwixt man & God that S. Peeter saith, we are consortes diuinae naturae, 2. Pet. partakers of the diuine nature. And by Incar­nation [Page 72]God became man & man God, and so man was consub­stantiall to God, and equall to him, though not as man, but as God. And so God and man by these meanes were made freinds: to which honour God out of his goodnes hath exalted vs and hath made vs equal to him by his descē ­ding, & as it were debaling him­selfe so lowe, as to be man with vs. O the goodnes of God that would not onlie be content but also de­sirous to contract freindship with vs his creatures, 3 as though God could not be God vnles he were good to vs, or could not liue con­tentedlie vnles wee were his freinds, and he ours. O my soule do thou heere stand amazed, and in amazment fay to thy God, who am I that thou shoulds so estee­me of me as to vouchsafe to ac­cept of me as thy freind? I am not [Page 73]worthie ô Lord to be thy vassall, and slaue, how then doest thou take me for thy freind? VVhat Emeprour will stoupe so low as to be a freind to his vassals, and yet man though an Emperour is but thy vassall? It is honour ô Lord, to much for me to be ser­uant to such a Prince, how much more then to much, to be thy freind? Speake Dauid what thin­kest thou of this honour which God doth to men in accounting them his freinds? To mee (saith hee) thy freinds are become honoura­ble exceedinglie, nimis honorati, Psa. 38. to much honoured.

Nay God is not content onlie to be our freind, 4 but hath con­tracted with vs a firmer freind­ship, and more indissoluble, then euer was betwixt man and man. Damon and Pythias. Pylades & Orestes and others are famous for [Page 74]their freindship, which was so greate that the one esteemed th [...] other another himself, and there­fore the one was readie to dye for the other: but this freindship, ô Lord is, not comparable to thy freindship which thou hast con­tracted with man.

Thou first hast contracted freindship betwixt thy self and man by Incarnation, 5 by which thou art linked to man, in a most admirable vnitie in one person, by which God is man and man is God, which freindship is so faste firme, and indissoluble, that so long as, God shall be God, he shall be man: and man shall be God. O my soule be thou neuer so vn­gratfull as euer to forget this freindship, It is the ground of all other freindships, & the most ho­nourable. Damon and Pythias were linked onlie in affection, so [Page 75]was lonathas and Dauid, 1. Reg. 1 [...]. whose soule is sayd to haue been g [...]ed to Ionathas his soule, but by this freindship of Incarnation God & man were vnited in one person reallie and substantiallie. O Lord what is man that thou shouldst so grace & fauour him, as to Vouch­safe to be so neerlie linked in freindship to him, as to be one per­son with him.

Secondlie thou hast linked thy­selfe in freindship with man by grace and charitie, 6 and this is an effect of the former freindship, because the Incarnation is the foūtaine of al grace. Iac. 2. Abrahamin­dewed with this grace, is called by S. Iames. Amicus Dei, the freind of God. And Christ speaketh to his Apostles in those freindlie and comfurtable words: Ioa. 15. You are my freinds if you do the things that I commaund you, now I call you not [Page 76]seruants, for the seruant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but you I haue called freinds, because all thinges whatsoeuer I heard of my Father I haue notified vnto you. And all the Iust, by this freindship are freinds to him, and he to them. This freindship once made, on God his part, is neuer dissolued, for he ne­uer ceaseth to be our freind till we turne his enemies by mortall sinne. And although by sinne this freindship be to often broken on our part by particular men, yet it is generallie so firme, that there was neuer so firme a freindship be­twixt man and man, as there is by grace and charitie betwixt God and man.

There is no greater freindship or charitie saith our B. Sauiour, 7 then that a man yeald his life for his freinds (which few freinds haue done for one another) and yet our Io. 15. [Page 77]B. Sauiour hath died not onlie for his frends, but euen for his foes, to make them freinds, and those his freinds haue bene so lo­uing and so constant to him, that many millions of Christians haue died for him, as appeares in our so many Martyrs, whom no threat­ning of Tyrants could soe daunt, no promises so allure, no tor­ments so terrifie, no deaths so scar­re, as to make them denie Christ or his religion, but strengthened with grace & chatitie, they trium­phed ouer all, and for his loue they forsooke all, (as lands, li­uings, life) rather then they would forsake him: and as he first died for them, so did they dye for him. O Lord tye me by this linke of freindship vnto thee, that I may preferre thy loue before the loue of all but thee, or for thee, con­firme me so in this freindship, that [Page 78]by no mortall Sinne it may be dissolued, but that I may remaine thy fast freind euen to death, and may neuer againe shake hands with the world, flesh, and deuill, thy sworne enemies, or any crea­ture whose loue is offensiue to thee, that I may not only liue but also dye louing, and so loue thee for euer.

The third f [...]eindship, 8 ô Lord, which out of thy most ardent loue thou contractest with vs, is by this B. Sacrament of the Al­tar, by which thou art vnited vnto vs not only in affection, as comonlie freinds are, but also in substance. The first freindship of Incarnation (if we may iudge of the cause by the effect) is the greatest and noblest, because it ca [...]seth a greater and more noble vnion with God, for that by In­carnation man was made the na­turall [Page 79]sonne of God, whereas by the freindship of grace and chari­tie, he is only th' adopted sonne of God, and the frendship of Incar­nation is altogether indissoluble, in so much that death, which se­parated Christs soule from his bo­die, could not separate his hu­maine nature from his diuinitie, the freindship of grace and chari­tie in this life, is often broken by mortall sinne. The freindship also of Incarnation in some respects exceedeth the freindship made by the B. Sacrament, because by In­carnation man became God and God man, whereas by the B. Sa­crament man is not Deus, but dei­fer, not God, but a bearer of God, in soule and substance, yet in one respect the freindship made by the Blessed Sacrament is greater then that of the Incarnation, because by Incarnation preciselie taken, [Page 80]that freindship was contracted onlie with that particular humain nature which God assumed vnto him in the vnitie of person; but by the B. Sacrament, Christ vni­teth himself in substance to all those whoe receaue him in it. By Incarnation none but Christs hu­maine nature was formallie dei­fied and sanctified, by the B. Sa­crament all are sanctified who worthilie receaue it.

Yet in this B. 9 Sacrament Christ hath shewed himself a greater freind then euer man was to man. mēnes freindship cōsisteth only in affection, but the freindship made by the B. Sacrament, importeth a reall vnion of Christs substance with ours, and therefore humain freindship causeth onlie a me­taphoricall vnion betwixt tho­se who are freinds, but this freind­ship implieth a reall vnion of our [Page 81]substance with the substance of Christ and of our flesh and bloud with his. And by humaine freind­ship external goods of fortune, as riches, lands, monyes are common betwixt freinds, according to the common saieng. Inter amecos om­nia sunt communia, amongst freinds al things are common. But the goods of their bodies as health, strength, beautie &c. are not common, nor can they: but by this freindship made in and by this B. Sacrament, Christs bodie bloud soule yea and diuinitie are imparted to vs, and made common to vs, and our sub­stance is reallie vnited to his. ô the admirable freindship.

Freinds although they be sepa­ted in bodies and places, 10 yet by mutuall loue they are vnited in wills, soule and spirit, and espe­ciallie if their freindship be con­tracted by grace and charitie, and [Page 82]therefore of the first Christians though separated in bodies & pla­ce, Act 4. S. Luke giueth this testimo­nie: the multitude of beleeuers had one heart and soule. And Iona­thas his soule by freinship & loue was said to be conglutinata ioyned fast & as it were glued to the soule of Dauid; 1. Reg. 18. Lib. 4. Confes. c. 6. And S. Austin spea­king of a great freind of his who was dead saith. I thought my soule and his soule to haue been one soule in two bodies, and therefore my life to me was an horrour, because I would not liue halfe, and therefore perchance I feared to die least he shoud dye who­lie whom I much loued. But this vnion betwixt these freinds was onlie metaphoricall and in affe­ction, whereas by the freindship made in and by the B. Sacrament there is a realle vnion not only of Christs substance with those that receaue him by communion but [Page 83]also of the receauers & commu­nicants amongest themselues, be­cause they all receauing the same indiuiduall bodie of Christ, are al reallie vnited in it and by it to one another.

O admirable freinship and no lesse admirable vnion, 11 greater then is the vnion betwixt chil­dren of one Father and mother, their vnion is called consangui­nitie, by which they are vnited in flesh and bloud which they re­ceaue frō the same parents, which is counted a greater tye then any humain freindship can make, and yet they receaue not from their parents the same indiuiduall flesh and bloud, either with their pa­rents or with one another, but another, and that distinct, though of the same Kind; they who receaue this B. Sacrament, do re­ceaue the same indiuiduall flesh [Page 84]and bloud which he hath, and so are vnited to him and amongest themselues in one & the selfsame flesh and bloud. By this freind­ship we liue not onlie together in one howse, as other freinds doe, but as Christ saith Ioan 6. Ioan. 6. he that eateth his flesh, and drinketh his bloud, abideth in him, and Christ in him, and so they liue not onlie together in one howse, but also one with in another.

O freindship excelling all hu­maine freindship and euen car­nall consanguinitie and the nee­rest kinred. 12 O how should we lo­ue this noble freind who out of his excessiue loue hath linked vs vnto him, not onlie in affection, as freinds are, nor in the like flesh and bloud, as children of one Fa­ther and Mother are, but in the selfsame Indiuiduall substance of which he consisteth. O how [Page 85]should wee loue one another, and euen more then wee doe our bre­thren and sisters, because we are linked not onlie in flesh & bloud of the same kind taken from the same parents as they are, but in one indiuiduall flesh, and bloud of Christ which we all receaue in this B. Sacrament.

Freinds at their departure by death or by a long iorney do leaue onlie their freinds an Image or a ringe or some other guif [...] for a re­membrance, 13 and this argueth their great loue: But Christ at his departure out of this world (in respect of his visible presence) hath left vs in this B. Sacrament the best thing he had, not an Ima­ge or a ring, or such like, but euen his owne flesh & bloud, his owne selfe, and so leauing vs visible, re­maineth with vs inuisiblie in this B. Sacrament, and will soe re­maine [Page 86]with vs to the worlds end. How should we imbrace and loue this our so great freind? VVhat shal we giue him for this guift? he is more worth ten thousand times then we are or haue, yet lett vs giue him ourselues, as he hath gi­uen himself to vs, and though there be infinite disparitie be­twixt him and vs, yet he will ac­cept of our guift, because it is asmuch as we can giue.

Some freinds and Confede­rates who haue made a firme lea­gue or freindship, 14 to make it fir­mer and more inuiolable, haue let themselues bloud, and haue sig­ned it with their bloud. So our B. Sauiour to make a firmer league & freindship with vs, did let him­self bloud on the crosse, and this his bloud he giues vs to drink day­lie, and his flesh also to eate in the B. Sacrament, thereby to signe [Page 87]this league, and to make it inuio­lable. O let vs not on our part break this freindship, but let vs ra­ther signe it with our bloud, if the occasion be offered, as Christ hath signed it with his, which al­so he giues vs to drinke, that we may neuer forget this league and freindship.

True freinds are readie to dye for one another, 15 as they say Pylades and Orestes and others were, thin­king themselues to liue (though dead) so long as their freind li­ueth, and to dye (though liuing) when their freind dieth. Our B. Sauiour hath sacrificed hīself on­ce on the Crosse by a reall death, and he daylie sacrificeth himself mysticalie in the B. Sacrament for vs, lett vs be then alwaies readie in preparation of minde to dye for him who first died for vs, let vs not thinke it much to giue our [Page 88]life for him who gaue his life for vs, which being the life of God & man, infinitlie surpassed the liues of all men, though neuer so great and manie; yea and of Angels also if they could dye, as they may be annihilated.

O my soule do thou resolue thy­selfe into loue, 16 to shew thyself gratefull to so louing a freind, doe thou imitate the Phenix, burne thyself in thyne owne flames of loue, that dying in this Fire to the world, this life, and thyself, thou maist rise to heauen to an eternall life; ô my soule stick to this freind so fast, as that neither Father nor Mother, sister nor brother, pros­peritie nor aduersitie, life nor death, nor al the creatures in the world may separate thee from him, but as freinds liue willinglie together, so thou maist liue in him, and he in thee in this B. Sa­crament, [Page] [Page] [Page 89]so thou maist liue with him in the Church militant, that thou maist euer liue with him in the Chuch triumphant, so thou mayst liue with him heere by gra­ce that thou maist raigne with him in heauen by glorie.

THE EIGHT MEDITATION How Christ hath shewed himself in this B. Sacrament, a most louing spouse.

O My B. Sauiour, ô louer of soules, thou confoundest me with thy loue shewed to me in this B. Sacrament, by so many waies. I haue found thee in it & [Page 90]by it a bountifull feastmaker, & prouident howse-holder, a Fa­ther, a Mother, a Freind; & now I finde thee to bee in it and by it a most amorous spouse of our sou­les, that so by one Title or other or altogether, thou maist wrest out a reciprocall loue of ours tow­ards thee. As thou hast con­tracted three freindships with vs, as we haue seene in the former chapter, so hast thou contracted three Mariages with vs: the first by Incarnation, the Second by grace, the third by this B. Sacra­ment.

By Incarnation thou art so fast wedded vnto vs, 2 and linked vnto vs by a knott so indissoluble, that it excelleth the bond of carnall mariaage betwixt man and wife, because carnall mariage is dissol­ued by death of both or one of the parties, but the mariage of [Page 91]Incarnation betwixt God & man is absolulie indissoluble, inso­much that death which separated Christ his soule from his bodie, could separate neither soule nor bodie from the diuinitie, to which they were vnited: and so, so long as God shall be God, he shall be man, and man shall be God, and the mariage shall be eternall, and whereas by mariage all things are common betwixt man and wife, by Incarnation God imparted to our humaine nature all his Goods, and diuine attributes, for that after Incarnation, man became God, and consequentlie eternall, omnipotent, immense &c. by a certain communication which diuines call communicatio idiomatum, and man gaue to God all his riches, or rather pouerties, for that after Incarnation God became man and consequentlie [Page 92]was borne in tyme of a Virgin-mother, who was borne of a Vir­gin Father before all worlds, and so became hungrie and thirstie, hoat and cold, passible and mor­tall as other men are: and as by carnall mariage man and wife are vna caro one flesh, Ephes. 5. so by this ma­riage God and man is one flesh, yea one person. The Church in which this mariage was made was the sacred wombe of the Virgin; the Brides God and man: the Priest that maried them the Holy Ghost, the words by the which the mariage was contracted were. Ecce Ancilla Domini siat mihi se­cundum verbum tuum: Luc. 1. Behold the handmaid of our Lorde be it done to me according to thy word: the para­nimphe was S. Iohn Baptiste. But this mariage was made imme­diatlie onlie betwixt the second person in Trinitie God the Sonne [Page 93]and that humain nature which he tooke of the B. Virgins wombe; yet this mariage is the ground of the two ensuing mariages.

The second mariage betwixt God and man, 3 is contracted by grace & charitie. Of which spea­keth the Prophet Osee, Osee cap. 2. in the name of God: I will despouse thee to me for euer, and I will despouse thee to me in Iustice &c. and of this th' Apostle also speaking saith, I haue despoused you to one man, 1. Cor. 11. to present you a chast Virgin vnto Christ. By this mariage we are so despoused and linked to God, that as man and wife are one flesh, so wee and God are one spirit, because as S. 1. Cor. 6. Paul saith. Qui adhaeret Domino vnus spiritus est, he that cleaneth to our Lord, (by charitie) is one spirit with him.

Man and wife by their bond of mariage are to liue, 4 and vse to liue [Page 94]in one howse: but by this maria­ge, God dwelleth in vs and we in him, according to those our sa­uiours wordes: Io. 14 If any loue me he will keepe my word, and my Father will loue him, and we will come to him, and will make abode with him: and that this dwelling and abi­ding is not onlie with vs, but in vs, it appeareth by other his words: Io. 14. In that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you: and his disciple S. Iohn saith: 1. Io. 4. God is charitie, and he that abideth in charitie abideth in God and God in him. So that by this mariage God dwell [...]th in vs as in his Temple and mansion place, & we in him: yea by this mariage we are as S. S [...]pra 1. Cor. 6.10.17. Paule saith one spirit with God: And Christ himself prayeth that his Apostles and they that beleeued their preaching may be one in spirit of Charitie, as he [Page 95]and his Father are one in sub­stance.

VVhereupon the deuout S. 5 Bern. ser. 17. in cant. Beanard saith. Quid ergo dicit Fi lius? &c. VVhat doth the Sonne (of God) say? I am in the Father and the Father in me and we are one. Man saith, I ame in God, and God is in me, and we are one spirit. And in the same place: none but a mad man will vsurpe that voice of the onlie be­gotten: I and the Father are one: Bern. ibid. yet I, though I be but duste, will not be afraid to say this: I am one spirit with God. He addeth that man was in God from all eternitie, because God loued man from al eternitie; but God began in time to be in man when man began to loue him. O how should we loue this Spouse of our soules, who is by Charitie so wedded vnto vs, as he is not onlie with vs but also in vs? because as man and wife [Page 96]are vna caro, one flesh, so is he one Spirit with vs. who would for­sake the loue of such a Spouse, as God is, who is our Creatour and Sauiour, for the loue of any crea­ture though neuer so deare?

The thirde mariage betwixt Christ and vs, 6 is by meanes of the B. Sacrament, by which Christ to vs and we to him are vnited, not onlie in mutual loue, but also in substance; because by this B. Sacrament we receaue his body, bloud, soule, yea and diuinitie, & our substance is vnited to his in that his is vnited to ours. And as in carnall mariage all goods are common, euen bodies, because as S. 1. Cor. 7. Paule saith the woman hath not power of her own body, but her husbād, and the man also hath not power of his bodie but the woman. So by this Sa­crament Christ communicateth more aboundantlie his grace [...] [Page 97]then by any other, & his substan­ce, that is his bodie and bloud, soule, diuinitie, are ours by com­muniō, & he as it were taketh pos­session of our bodie & soule when by communion he dwelleth in vs. And as by carnall mariage the man and wife are vna caro, one flesh, Hom. 61 Cyrill Alex li. 4. in Ioa. c. 17. so doth he in a manner by our receiuing of him mingle his substance (as S. Chrisostome saith) with ours, and of two maketh one: and as S. Cyrill saith our substance is made one with his, as waxe vnited to waxe. And so as carnal marriage betwixt man and wife is contracted by mutual consent expressed by their words, but is consummated by vnion of their bodies, so a spiritual mariage is contracted betwixt vs & Christ by charitie, but is not consumma­ted but by vnion of our substance with his by meanes of this B. Sacr.

O my soule what an honour is it to bee married to such a spouse; 6 more certes thē for a poore maid to be married to ā Emperour, be­cause there is a greater distance & disparitie betwixt Christ & thee, then betwixt the poorest begget and the richest Emperour. ô how didst thou loue me sweete Sa­uiour! who vouchsafest to take me thy poore creature for thy spouse. And if I consider what thou suffredst to pourchase me for thy Spouse, thy loue will more ap­peare: If an Emperour should ha­zard his life to winne the loue of a poore maide, how amorous should he be thought to be of her. Thou ô Lord sheddest thy bloud to winne my loue and boughtst me with it to be thy spouse, so that as Sephora sayde to Moyses that he was a bloudie spouse vnto her, Exod. 4 because she was enforced to [Page 99]circumcise her sonne to saue Moi­ses his life, so much more ô my soule maist thou saie to thy spou­se Christ Iesus. Thou a [...]t a blou­die spouse vnto me, who sheddedst thy bloud and sufferdst thy bitter passion to marrie me by thy grace and by this B. Sacrament, giue me grace to be alwaies readie in mīde to shed my bloud for thee, if occa­sion shall present it self, that I may also be a bloudie spouse to thee. To this I ame inuited by thy bloud which I so often drinke in the B. Sacrament.

It is commaunded in Genesis that man should leaue Father and Mother toad here to his wife, and, Gen. 2. the same commandement is gi­uen to the wife in regarde of her husband: much more shouldst thou (my soule) rather leaue car­nall parents and wordlie riches & pleasures; then to leaue by sinne [Page 100]this thy so louinge spouse; Ephes. 5. Thou commandest allso ô deare Spouse that men should loue their wiues, do thou obserue this lawe which thou hast made, and do thou loue me thy Spouse, betro­thed to thee by charitie and this B. Sacrament, and giue me grace alwaies to loue thee, neuer to offend thee. O how happie art thou my soule, who art es­poused to so noble and so chast a Spouse as Christ, In offi­cio S. Agnetis. whose Father knew no woman, whose Mother knew no man, who is a Spouse more beautifull then the Sunne, more rich then heauen and earth, more noble then all the Emperours that euer were: VVhom if thou louest thou art chast, Ibid. if thou tou­chest thou art cleane, and vndefiled, if thou marriest thou remainest a Vir­gin. O my sweete Sauiour loue me, I ame thy Spouse, ô my soule [Page 101]loue thy Sauiour, he is thy Spouse: And as man and wife do so loue that they are neuer well but when they are together; so ô sweet Iesus my deare Spouse let me neuer thinke my selfe well but when I ame with thee, and thou with me, by frequent com­munion and receauing of this B. Sacrament, that liuing with thee in this B. Sacrament, and con­sequentlie in the Church mili­tant, where only it is lawfullie ministred and receiued, I may liue and dwell with thee for euer in the Church Triumphant.

THE NINTH MEDITATION VVhat a Physiciā Christ hathe shewed himselfe in this B. Sacrament.

GOD Almightie created man in good health, sound and whole both in body and soule, bestowinge on him the tree of life which would haue preserued his bodie from distemperatures, di­seases and death, and endewing him with originall Iustice, which so subiected his bodie to his soule, and sensualitie to reason, the in­feriour part of his soule to the su­periour, and that to God, that in [Page 103]his soule there was no inordinate passion, no sinne, nor spirituall in­firmitie, But he not knowinge how to vse this his felicitie, by a willfull surfette taken by eating the forbidden fruit, distempered his bodie with mortalitie, from whence all diseases of the bodie and death it self proceed, and by his disobedience cast his soule at one time into as many diseases as inordinate passions, which diuers haue reduced to fowre, which they call, vulnera animae, woundes of the soule, residing in fowre princi­pall powers and faculties of the soule. The vnderstanding, whose obiect is truth, and whose perfe­ction is knowledge, was obscu­red and darkned by ignorance. The will, whose marke, at which she aimeth, is good, & whose per­fection is loue, was infected with malice, The irascible part, whose [Page 104]obiect is difficultie, and whose glorie is victorie ouer difficultie, was weakned with infirmitie. The concupiscible part, whose obiect was moderat delight, and whose felicitie was contentment, was galled with the itching and ill pleasing sore of concupiscence.

And thus this Samaritan des­cending from Herusalem that is Paradise, 2 from which now he was banished, vnto Hierico this mor­tal and miserable world, the vale of miserie, fell into the hands of theeues, the deuills, who dispoi­led him of his armour of originall Iustice and wounded him in bo­dy and soule, Luc. 10. yet semiuiu [...] relicto. Leauing him halfe aliue because though he was dispoiled of all su­pernaturall graces, yet he lost no naturall perfection, though he was also weakened in that. By this miserable and woefull wight [Page 105]thus miserablie spoiled & woun­ded the Preiste & Leuite passed, Luc. 10. but could not cure him, or helpe him, because the old law could onlie tell the disease, but could not cure it by grace, because though their law was giuen by Moyses, yet grace by Iesus Christ.

Thou therefore ô sweete sa­uiour, 3 ô most expert and merci­full physitian, who camest to saue sinners, and to heale the woun­ded, and diseased, by the oyle of thy merc e, & wine of thy bloud, which thou shedst in thy passion & appliedst, & as it were powredst forth in the B. Sacrament, hast on thy parte cured this miserable wight, man, and all mankind. 4

Thy Sacraments ô Lord, which thou institutedst, are so many salues, and remedies against the sores, wounds, and diseases [Page 106]of our soule. Baptisme cureth the wound of originall sinne: the Sa­crament of Pennance is a reme­die against the sinnes that are committed after Baptisme: Ma­trimonie is a salue ordained a­gainst the wound of concupis­cence, which galleth the concu­piscible part: Confirmation a­gainst infirmitie in the Irascible part: The B. Sacrament after we are cured, nourisheth vs in a spiri­tuall life: Extreme vnction taketh away the reliques of sinne: Order maketh vnder Physitians, who vn­der Christ, and by vertue and au­thoritie from him do minister the aforesayd Sacraments and remitte sinnes. Io. 20. ô Soueraigne and sauing Physitian.

By thy holy word also, 5 and sa­cred scripture thou hast shewed thy self to be our Physitian, for that euerie word of this sacred [Page 107]scripture is a simple, euerie sen­tēce a salue against sinne, & there­fore by reading holy scripture or hearing of it read and rightlie interpreted, many thousādes haue been conuerted, many thou­sands haue been saued: O sweet Iesus in whose name dwelleth sal­uation: O heauenlie Physitian who hast prouided so many reme­dies against sinne, so many helpes to saluation.

Nay all Christe his life was a shoppe full of drugges, salues, 6 & remedies against sinne. Euerie praier he made, euerie exhorta­tion: euery parable he spake, euerie miracle he wrought, euerie word he vttered, euerie good worke he did, euerie stepp he walked, euerie teare that fell from his eies, euerie droppe of bloud he shed for vs, euerie lash at the pillar, euerie pricke of the [Page 108]thornes, euerie pearcing of the nailes in his hands and feete, the hunger and thirst he endured, euerie paine & pange he sustained on the crosse, were a salue and re­medie against sinne. So that if now the prophet Hieremie should aske of vs Christians, as he did heretofore of the Iewes, Hier. 8. is there no rosen in Galaad, in the Church of God? is there no Physitian there? we might answer, yes Hie­remie in the Church of Christ there is rosen and all manner of salues and remedies, against all our spirituall wounds & diseases. And in this Church there is a head Physitian Christ Iesus, and thou­sands of vnder-Physitians, euen as many as there are lawfull Priests, who can absolue from sin­nes, and minister Sacraments, and preach the word of God, and thereby remitte all sinnes [Page 109]and cure all our spirituall diseases.

Physitians do companie more with the sicke then the whole, 7 they are much in hospitalls by sicke & infirme persons, with thē they deuise about their sicknes, them they seeke to comfort. And thou ô heauenlie Physitian, lea­uing thy Fathers Pallace descen­dedst into the Hospitall of this world, where are as many Lazars, sicke and infirme persons, as there are sinners, and with them whi­lest thou liuedst on earth was thy conuersation, sometimes with scribes and Pharisies, sometimes with Publicans, sometimes with harlots; and all thy talke and dis­courses, parables, and preachings & miracles were practised amon­gest them, and for them; yea thou satest at table with Publicanes and sinners & by that familiaritie gai­nedst them, Math. 9. Mat. 2. and by thy wholsome [Page 110]exhortatiōs curedst them of their sinnes. And when the Scribes & Pharisies found fault with this, Luc. 5. thou answerdst them. The whole haue no need of a Physitian, but they that are ill at ease, for I came not to call the lust but Sinners.

But especiallie ô my good God thou hast shewed thy self a most lo­uing and mercifull Physitian in this B. Sacrament, 8 where thou gi­uest vs in a most admirable man­ner thy sacred bodie and bloud, which are most soueraigne me­decines, against all spirituall di­seases, for as whilest thou liuedst a mortall life with vs in this world, vertue went forth from thee and hea­led all of their corporall diseases, Luc. 6. so in this B. Sacrament, where thou art reallie, vertue issueth from thy sacred body and bloud, and healeth and cureth all spiri­tuall diseases, and whereas cor­porall [Page 111]medecines and potions do restore vs only to health of bodie, and so conserue life for a time. This medecine of thy flesh and bloud giueth life euerlasting both to soule and bodie, and therefore thou thy selfe saist, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud, Io. 6. hath life euerlasting and I will raise him vp in the last daye; and he giueth the reason hereof, for my flesh (saith he) is meat indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed.

Other Physicians to cure diuerse diseases must prescribe diuers medecines and potions, 9 compo­sed of diuers ingrediences: but thou with one potion of thy sa­cred bloud, which we drinck in this B. Sacrament, curest all disea­ses. Other Physitians will mini­ster to their patients bitter po­tions, but themselues will not drinck of them, but thou at thy [Page 112]last supper dranckst a health to vs of thy bloud, which was bitter to thee in thy passion, when it was shed, but pleasant to vs, and so pleasant that it taketh away the bitternes from all the suffrances and aduersities which we endure, as it appeareth in the Apostles and our martyrs who with [...]o [...]e suf­fered for thee. Act. 5.

Other Physicians to cure their patiens of their ague will let them bloud, 10 yea and sometimes launce them and scarifie them, but will not loose a drop of their owne bloud for them: but thou ô lo­uing Physician! didest let thyselfe blood euen at the heart to cure our ague of sinne. And this thy bloud thou giuest vnto vs in this Blessed Sacrament.

Other Physicians will pres­cribe to their patients abstinence and fasting, 11 for to diminish the [Page 113]heate of their ague, by dimini­shing the humours which nouri­shed it, but will not fast them­selues, but thou fastedst fortie daies and for [...]ie nights for vs. Other Physitians will endeuour to take the ague and disease from the sicke person, Math. 4. but will not take it to themselues to ridd him of it, but thou hast taken our spirituall ague of sinne on thy selfe to free vs f [...]ō it, according as thy Apostle S. Peeter testifieth, sayeng, 1. Pet. 2. who himself bare our sinnes in his bodie vpon the tree. Not that thou tookst the mallice of sinne (of which thy sacred humanitie was vnca­pable) but that thou enduredst in thy bodie, and on the Crosse the paine due to sinne, in satisf [...]ing for it by thy death and bitter passion, and by suffering the paine, thou hast cured the ague, and this thy passion is represented and applied [Page 114]by this Holy Sacrament.

O most charitable Physitian: ô my soule what thankes shouldst thou giue to this thy Physitian for this B. Sacrament, so soue­raigne against all our spirituall diseases? O with what disposition shouldest thou come to receaue this so wholesome Physicke, which cureth all veniall sinnes, yea & mortall also, if thou haue no knowledge nor consciēce of thē?

O my soule when by this B. Sacrament thou art cured of thy spiritual diseases, remember those words spoken by this thy Physi­tian to the lame man at the Pro­batica Piscina. Ioan 5. I am sanus es noli am­plius peccare, now thou art made whole sinne no more: now that thou art cured by such soueraigne Phy­sicke, do thou take heede of reci­diuation and falling into sicknes again, for that this thy ingratitude [Page 115]will be greater, and thy sinne and sicknes more hardlie cured: But do thou frequent often this B. Sacrament, by deuout com­munion and receauing, and then by it thou wilt be more and more nourished in grace, & fo [...]ti­fied against sinne; then by vertue of this Spirituall food thou shalt one day come to sitte at table with the Angels and Saints; and then thou shalt feede not of Christ his bodie and bloud, as now thou doest in this B. Sacra­ment, but of the diuinitie of God, by cleare vision and fruition of him; then thou shalt tast how sweet God is in his Godhead, then thou shalt euer feede of the diuinitie, yet neuer loath it, then thou shalt alwaies drinke of that fountane of pleasure, and yet be euer more and more desirous to drinke: Then all blisse, happines [Page 116]and pleasure shall euer fill thee, and yet thou shall neuer be satis­fied, Aug [...] ­trac 3. [...]n Euang. Io. in fine. yea (to vse S. Austines words) thou shalt euer be satisfied, & yet neuer satisfied, for if I saye thou shalt not be satisfied, hunger shall be there; if I say that thou shalt be satis­fied I feare loathing There shall nether be hunger nor loathing I know not what to saye.

THE TENTH MEDITATION How good a Shepheard and Pastour Christ hath shewed himselfe in this B. Sacrament.

ALthough (ô my sweet Sa­uiour) thou art not onlie man but also God, yet thou stilest not [Page 117]thyself so willinglie by names ta­ken from thy Godhead, as Crea­tour of heauen and Earth Omni­potent, Immense, King of Kings, 2. Reg. Lord of Lords, God and Lord of hostes, (which are names of Maiestie & terrour, and by which thou wast most often called in the old law) as by names taken from thy hu­main nature, to wit, Iesus and Sauiour, Redeemer, light of the world, bread of life, and the like, which are names sounding and impor­ting loue, mercie and benignitie; but aboue all the name of Pastour pleaseth thee, that implying grea­test loue and charitie; and there­fore thou professest thyself to be a Good Pastour, and such an one, as is readie to giue his life for his sheepe, Io. 10. then which there can be no grea­ter charitie.

Other shepheardes in some Countries, 2 to winne the loue of [Page 118]their sheepe, and to familiarize themselues the better with them, do inuest themselues with sheep-skinnes, with the wooll out­wards; and thou (ô louing Pa­stour) that thou mights be the lesse terrible, and more amiable to vs thy sheepe, wouldst not ap­peare in thy glorious habit and weed of thy diuinitie, Exod. 19. & 20. nor in fire, nor lightning, nor thunder, nor in darke and terrible clouds, as thou didst in the old law, which was a law of terrour; but wouldst put on the habit and fleese of our humain nature, and so appeare & bee man with men: that so men might conuerse with thee with lesse feare, more loue, and fami­liaritie: Phil. 2. for thou exinanitedst thy­self, taking the forme of a Seruant, made into the similitude of men, and in shape found as man: that being man thou mightst the better con­uerse [Page 119]with thy sheepe, who are men. In this shape of man, thou wast so gratefull to the Iewes, that whereas before that thou putst on this alluring habit, they durst not approach to the mountaine, where thou exhibitedst thy pre­sence, nor could endure to heare thy voice, Ex [...]. 20. but cried to haue Moy­ses, not thee to speake vnto them; since that thou appearedst in the forme of man, Tit. 3. and that the be­nignitie and kindnes towards man of our Sauiour God, appeared, Thou­sands of the Iewes, followed thee to heare thy preaching, and to see thy miracles, and good examples: and since that like a good shep­heard in this forme of man (for in the forme of God thou couldst not) thou diedst for mankind, all nations haue flocked vnto thee, and will do till the worlds end. O happie wee, who are go­uerned [Page 120]by a Pastour of our owne Kind, in our owne shape, and him so benigne, milde, and chari­table.

Pastours and shepheards do gouerne their sheepe by their Pa­storall staffe or hooke, 3 by their owne call or whistle, or by their dogge; & these shepheards bring them to pastures, or feelds most fit for them to grase in, and where is most fit nourriture for them: so thou a louing Pastour, gouernest vs by the staffe of thy Pastorall authoritie, which thou hast im­parted to thy vnder Pastours, and doctours of the Church, yet so, as whilest they direct vs out­wardlie by lawes and comman­dementes, thou directest vs in­wardlie by grace, which giueth vs force to obey them; whilest they gouerne and feede vs out­wardlie, by preaching & expoun­ding [Page 121]scripture, thou preachest inwardlie by thy grace & inspira­tions; whilest they minister the externall signes of the Sacra­ments, thou feedest vs inwardlie by the grace, which thou giuest, as the principall Agent; and they giue, as ministers, the Sacra­ments, as instruments instituted by thee for our sanctification; and in these pastures, by this fodder most fatting and nourishing, thou feedest thy sheepe. And if whilest thy sheepe are grazing and fee­ding in the medowes of holy Scripture (of which euerie sen­tence is as grasse to feed them) if whilest they are feeding on the sodder of the holy Sacraments, the Infernall wolfe, the deuill, or the worlde and flesh seeke to molest them by their tentations; if the Heretike by his false call, and whistle, seeke to deceaue [Page 122]them, then the vnder Pastours doe lay about them with their Pastorall staffe, yea and as Christ his doggs they barke at them, and chase them away, being not, as the Iewish pastours were, Esai. 36. dumme doggs not able to barke.

In the old law (ô louing Pa­stour) thou fedst thy sheepe with figuratiue Sacraments, 4 which were no causes, but bare signes of grace, and so could giue no grace, & therefore by thy Apostle are called egena elementa, Gal 4. poore ele­ments; but in the new law thou feedest vs with Sacraments, which are not onlie signes, but also causes of grace; and which do sanctifie, nourish, and feed our soules; and therefore thy pro­phet Ezechiel forseeing these our happie times, in which thou fee­dest vs so aboundantlie, Ezech. 34. sayth in thy name: In the most plentifull Pa­stures [Page 123]will I feed them, and in the high mountaines of Israel shall be their pastures: there shall they rest on the greene grasse, and in fatte pastures they shall be fedde vpon the mountains of Israel: O the loue thou hast sh [...]wed to thy Christian sheepe, in prouiding them so fatte pas­tures!

And in this thy loue hath shewed it self the greater, 5 because thou shewedst it vnto them, after that they had forsaken thee by sinne, and were quite lost; for thou leftst the 99. sheepe to witt the 9. orders of Angels in the desert, Mat. 12. that is in heauen, which before thy comming into this world by Incarnation, was a desert place, and inaccessible to men, because thou wast not Incarnat for An­gels, much lesse didst thou suffer for them, but leauing them, thou camest to vs by Incarnation in [Page 124]our forme and shape; and thou camest to seeke mankind thy lost sheepe, & hauing found him, thou carriedst him vpon thy shoulders, when thou sufferedst on the crosse for him, and broughtst this strayd sheepe to the folde of the Church, where he is fedde in plentifull and fatte pastures: Tertul. lib. de pudi. cap. 7. And therefore in the primitiue Church (as Tertullian witnesseth) thou wast pour­traited vpon the holy chalices, like a shepheard carying his lost sheepe on his shoulders.

Iacob the Patriarch a shepheard and figure of thee our good Pa­stour, 6 Gen. 31. said to Laban, that he had kept his sheepe twentie yeares, and that none of his sheepe or goates perished, but he restored the damage. Daie and night (saith he) was I parched with heate, and with frest, and sleepe did flie from myne [Page 125]eyes. But thou, (ô my Sauiour, ô my carefull Pastour) playedst the Pastour amongest vs aboue thirtie yeares (for euen by the merites of thy Infancie thou feddst vs dare and n [...]ght) thou trauelledst for vs, by night by praier, by daie by preaching, teaching, and wor­king of miracles; thou suffredst heate and colde, hunger & thirst; thou fastedst fortie daies, and for­tie nights to feed vs; thou wast circumcised, thou wast whipped at a pillar, crowned with thornes, nailed on a Crosse, where like a good shepheard thou diedst for vs, least the Infernal wolfe should deuoure vs. O how great must thy loue to thy sheepe be, which made thee suffer so much for them? Iacobs loue was so great to Rachel that he serued Laban twice seauen yeares for her; Gen. 29. but thy loue was so great that it cau­sed [Page 126]thee to suffer a most painfull life of more then, 3 yeares for thy sheepe; and this thy painfull life thou also concludedst with a most painfull and shamefull death for them. O my soule neuer do thou so much as thinke of leauing so louing a Pastour; neuer do thou straic from his fold, nor from his so plentifull pastures, as sinners, and especiallie Heretikes do.

But especiallie, 7 ô my sweet Ie­sus [...] thou hast shewed thyself a good Pastour, Io. 10. in this B. Sacrament: A good Pastour will die for his sheepe, so didst thou dye reallie on the Crosse for vs; and mysti­callie in this B. Sacrament; where thy death and passion is represen­ted, and applied to thy sheepe, & whereas other shepheards do onelie feede their sheepe with haye, grasse and such like fodder, thou, o most louing Pastour, gi­uest [Page 127]vs thy owne flesh to eate and thy owne bloud to drinke, which by their vnion with the diuinitie are the most nourishing food that can be, next vnto the diuinitie it self, on which thy glorious sheepe, the Saints & Angels in Heauen, doe feede by cleare vision and fruition of it. O wonderfull loue of a Pastour! ô loue and charitie aboue all other loues & charities. O loue aboue all loues not onlie of Pastours, but euen of Fathers and Mothers. Quis Pastor (saith S. Chrys. hom. 60. ad pop. Antioc. Chrisostome) oues pascit proprio cruore? & quid dico Pastor? Matres multae sunt quae post partus dolores si­lios alijs tradunt nutricibus; hoc au­tem ipse non est passus, sed ipse nos pro­prio sanguine pascit, & per omnia nos sibi coagmentat; what Pastour doth feede his sheepe with his owne bloud? And what do I say, pastour? many mothers there are who giue their chil­dren [Page 128]to other nurces; but he would not suffer this, but he himself doth feed vs with his owne bloud, and altogether doth ioyne vs vnto him.

O my soule how canst thou be cruell like a wolfe, 2 who feedest on this milde lambe? how canst thou be otherwise then chast, who feedest of the Virgin Mo­thers Sonne, and of his chast flesh and bloud? how canst thou be prophane, who art nourished with so holie and sacred meate & drinke? how canst thou be car­nall, who art fedde with so spiri­tuall foode, as is the flesh & bloud of Christ, spiritualized by the diuinitie it selfe? how diuine shouldst thou bee, who art a God on earth (by participation) who art feasted with such diuine meate and drinke?

9 Graunt me (ô sweet Iesus) that as thou hast shewed thyself a [Page 129]good Pastour, to me, & to vs all, so I may shewe my selfe a good & gratefull sheepe. The sheepe is obedient to the shepheards whistle, & followeth none other; make me obedient to thy voca­tions, and diuine inspirations; and let me not harken to the false whistle of false Prophets, nor to the inchanting voices of the di­uell, world, and flesh. A sheepe is a most fearfull creature, who when he runneth with the rest of the flocke, is afraid of the noise of his owne & his fellowes feete; and if he espie the wolfe, though a farre of, he fleeth from him su­dain lie & repaireth to his flocke, folde, and shepheard. Giue me grace to feare, as Iob did, all my owne actions, and as soone as ether world, flesh, or deuill do beginne to tempte me, to flie from them, & to auoid presentlie [Page 130]all occasions of sinne, and to haue present recourse to thee, my care­full shepheard, and to thy Sacra­ments and other meanes thou hast prouided vs against sinne.

Sheepe are simple, 10 my [...]de, and free from galle; and euen when they are carried to be butchered, they kicke not, as the horse doth; they cry not, as the hogge doth; they durre not with their hornes, as the bull and cowe doth; they bite not, as the wolfe and dogge doth; but they suffer patientlie without cryinge, without re­sisting: Onelie, whethere they be grazing or chewing the cudde, whethere they haue grasse in their mouth, or the Butchers knife at their throate, before the shearer, and the butcher they are mute; or they vse onelie their innocent Ba; that onelie is their crye in prospe­ritie and aduersitie; graunt me, ô [Page 131]my deare Pastour, and sweet sa­uiour, to imitate this m [...]de pa­tience and in aduersitie and pros­peritie, in sicknes and health, in riches and pouertie, to be euer the same and to vse the same sheepish Ba, which Iob vsed: Iob. 1. Our Lord gaue, and our Lord hath taken awaye, as it hath pleased our Lord, so is it done, the name of our Lord be blessed, aswell for the one, as for the other; aswel for takeing away, as giuing; aswell for sicknes, as health; aswell for pouertie, as ri­ches; aswell for aduersitie, as prosperitie; yea more for this, then that; because aduersitie borne patientlie is a greater benefite then whatsoeuer prosperitie. O sweete Iesus! make me simple and meeke, as a sheepe, as thou thyself wast, who therefore bid­dest vs to learne of thee; Mat. 11. 2. Pe [...]. 2. for that thou art meeke and humble of heart: [Page 132]make me innocent as a lamb, yea as an infant newlie borne.

The shepheard knoweth his sheepe, 11 Io. 10. & they him, & as he hath his eye alwayes on them, so they haue alwaies their eyes open to him. O louing Pastour and Sa­uiour, let thy carefull eye be euer on me, and then I can not perish; and let my eye be alwaies on thee, let me alwaies thinke on thee, and thy commandements, and the benefits thou hast bestowed on mee. It is a great honour to be knowne of thee, to haue but thy good looke, and gracious regard; and it is as great a miserie not to be knowne thus of thee, and to heare that dolefull voice, Mat 25. nescio vos, I know you not. O let me neuer heare that voice. And for me to know thee alwaies, to haue myne eyes so setled on thee, as to haue thee alwaies in my sight, is a great [Page 133]comfort, a great securitie, a great bridle, and restraint from sinne; and as great a spurre to all vir­tue: for who can do ill, who can do otherwise then well, who hath thee alwaies in his sight? who knoweth that thy eyes are vpon him, that he is neuer out of thy kenning.

O sweet Iesus, 12 o louing Pa­stour, my soule is a sheepe of thy flock and fold, & it hath wandred and straied from thee, and thy flocke by sinne; but thou hast by thy grace sought it, and found it, & brought it backe on thy shoul­ders: giue me constancie that I neuer straie from thee againe. O deare Pastour, my soule is a sheepe of thy flocke and fold; I commend it to thy care; it is thy sheepe bought and redeemed with thy precious bloud; it is thy sheepe fedde in this B. Sacrament [Page 134]with thy flesh and bloud; it is thy sheepe, gouerne it, rule it, direct it, protect it, guide it in the pathes of Saluation, that it may one day graze and feede with thy Angels and Sainctes in the mountaine of Heauen, and on thy sacred diui­nitie, which onelie can make it happie: Graunt this ô my louing Pastour, o graunt it.

These former 10. Meditations may be read more, or fewer according to the deuotion of him who intendeth to receaue this B. Sacrament; and either immediatlie, or some daye or dayes before communion; But these which follow are to be read either immediatlie before, or imme­diatlie after communion.

THE 11. MEDITATION VVith what feare and reuerence, and acknowledgment of vnwor­thines, the deuout receauer is to come to this Blessed Sa­crament.

NOw therefore, ô my soule! seeing thou perceiuest what a Good man of the house, what an Hoste, what a Father, Mo­ther, friend, spouse, Physitian, and Pastour thy B. Sauiour hath shewed himself to thee in this B. Sacrament, & what he bestoweth on thee by it, and in it, to witt, his owne flesh and bloud, himself, [Page 136]God and man, infinite in all per­fection, and the fountaine of all grace; endeuour as much as thou canst, by his grace, to dispose thyself to come vnto him, and to receaue him in this Holie Sacra­ment, as worthilie, as humain frailtie and pouertie will permit.

And first thou must come to him with a great filiall feare, 2 and reuerence, his Maiestie (though vailed with the formes of bread and wine) requiring it. Dauid in spirit forseeing this great and wonderous mysterie of the B. Sa­crament saith: memoriam fecit mi­rabilium suorum, Psa. 110. misericors & mise­rator dominus, escam dedit timentibus se: He hath made a memorie of his marueilous works, a mercifull and pitifull Lord: he hath giuen meat to them, that feare him. This memorie of his marueilous works is this feast of the B. Sacrament, where [Page 137]is nothing but marueills & won­ders, which also consist not in folding vp of napkins in many fashions, but in the cookerie and art shewed in this feast; in which, bread by the force of Christs owne words, is conuerted into his bodie, wine into his bloud; in which the accidents and exter­nall forines of bread and wine stand alone without bread and wine, which were their subiects; in which Christs bodie extended in it selfe, is wholie contained in a litle hoste, and in euerie parte of it, in which one body is on diuers Altars, and in diuerse places; in which Christs bodie is dailie eaten his bloud dailie drunke, yet ne­uer consumed; in which the same Christ is conuiua & conuinium, the feast maker, guest, and feast, in which the same Christ is the Priest, the sacrifice, and the God [Page 138]to whom this sacrifice is offered: and therefore Dauid explicating what the memorie of these mar­ueils is, saith: Escam dedit timenti­busse: Psa. 110. he hath giuen meate to them that feare him, as if he had said, he hath made a memorie of marueil­les in the meate which he hath giuen; and this meat he giueth to them, 3 that feare him: who only can frutefullie receaue it.

O my soule thou beleeuest, that Christ God and man, is as trulie in this B. Sacrament, which thou intendest to receaue, as he was in his Virgin Mothers wōbe, as he was here on earth, and as he is now in Heauē, though in an o­ther manner; and thou beleeuest that there is no more betwixt him and thee, when thou approachest tereceaue him, then the thinne courtaines of the accidents and formes of bread and wine drawne betwixt him and thy sight. And [Page 139]if thou wouldst stand with great reuerence in the presence of a mortall Emperour or King, though a man as thou art; and though there were a thinne cour­taine drawne betwixt him and thee, especiallie if the courtaine were so thinne, as he might see thee through it: with what reue­rēce shouldst thou stand or kneele in the presence of Christ Iesus, God and man, and King and Em­perour of heauen and earth; there being no more betwixt him and thee, then the courtaines of the formes of bread and wine, which are thinner then the thinnest taffeta or cypres, because in those, though neuer so thinne, there is matter and substance, whereas in the accidents of bread & wine there is no substance at all of bread and wine; and through the which Christ, God & Man, seeth thee and all thy actions both interiour [Page 140]and exteriour? VVith what reue­rence (I say) shouldst thou come to this B. Sacrament, in which thou beleeuest to be the King of glorie, though with corporall sight thou canst not see him?

O consider (my soule) that when thou receiuest this dread­full sacrifice and Sacrament, 4 thou hast on thy tongue more then tongue can explicate, in thy mouth more then heauen & earth containe, in thy heart more then heart can conceaue. Thou recea­uest him, whō the Angels adore, and tremble to behold his Ma­iestie. In the old law the Iewes were commaunded not so much as to touch the mountaine, on which the law of God was gi­uen; Exod. 29. and shalt thou thinke thy­selfe worthie to touch the Altar, where the law giuer is resident, yea to touch himself, & to receaue [Page 141]him into thy mouth and stomake? If the Bethsamites to the number of seauentie men of the people, 1 Reg. 6. and fiftie thousand of the common people, for curious he gazing at the Ark, which was but a figure of this B Sacrament; 2 Reg. 6. if Oza for touching it irreuerentlie, were stricken with sodaine death; shalt thou, ô my soule! if irreuerentlie or vnwor­thilie thou receaue this B. Sacra­ment, the Ark of the new law, thinke to goe scotfree? Noe, Noe. S. Paule assureth thee, 1. Cor. 11. that he that eateth and drinketh vnworthilie (the bodie and bloud of Christ) eateth and drinketh iudgment to himself, not discerning the bodie of our Lord. Yea, saith he, because you eate and drinke this B. Sacrament vnwor­thilie, there are among you weake and feeble, and many sleepe, that is dye. How then oughtst thou to pre­pare thy selfe? Knowing that this [Page 142]B. Sacrament, as it giueth spiri­tuall health, life, & nourriture to them that receaue it worthilie, so it alwaies bringeth death of the soule to them, that receaue it vnworthilie, & sometimes death of the bodie also, yea and eternall death of soule and body, vnles they repent in time.

O my soule! 5 the Angels com­passe the Altar, when the Priest offereth this dread sacrifice, and they compasse thee also, when thou receiuest it, and they waite at this Table, and vpon this King of glorie with great feare and re­uerence, and goest thou to this Table as boldie as to an ordi­narie, 1 Cor. 11. not discerning the bodie of our Lord: not putting a difference be­twixt it and other meates? O Lord when I thinke of these things, to wit, of myne owne vnworthines, and thy worth and Maiestie, I am [Page 143]affraid to approach so neere vnto thee; and if thou didst not inuite me to come, I should neuer dare to come in thy presence, much lesse to receaue thee into my breast; I should saye with S. Luc. 5. Pee­ter, Goe forth from me, because I am a sinfull man, o Lord. 2. Cor. 6. I should saie with S. Paule, what participation hath Iustice with iniquitie. Or what societie is there betwixt light and dar­knes? what proportion betwixt thy light and my darknes, my ba­senes and thy Maiestie, thy san­ctitie and my sinnes? But what shall I doe, ô Lord? If I approach not to this Holie Sacrament, I shall shew my self vnmanerlie, thou hauing so courteouslie inui­ted me, yea disobedient, thou not onely inuiting, but also com­maunding mee. Io. 6. If I come not to this feast I shall st [...]rue for hunger; If I drinke not of this fountaine [Page 144]of grace I shall dye for thirst; If I come not to this sunne I shal liue in darknes; If I come not to this fire I shall sh [...]uer for cold; If I eate not of this bread of life, Io. 6. I amea dead man, and yet considering my vnworthines, I dare not ap­proach to this worthie of wor­thies, considering my impuritie I dare not come to this, speculum sine macula, Sap. 7. this glasse without spotte.] Considering my prophanes, I dare not touch this Holie of Holies, considering my bafenes, I dare not appeare before such maiestie.

O my sweete Sauiour, 6 thou woldst haue thy Priest, (by reason that he must consecrate & touch this B. Sacrament) to be conse­crated, his fingers in his ordina­tion to be anointed with holy oyle, the chalice to be consecra­ted, the Altar, corporalls, Altar clothes, the Priests vestments, [Page 145]yea the Church and all to be hal­lowed, for the reference and res­pect they haue to this B. Sacra­ment: Consecrate, I beseech thee, and sanctifie me by thy grace, this Sacrament being instituted for me, not for those other things, & I being to receaue it sacramental­lie, and spirituallie, as those other things can not receaue it. And seeing that thou commaūdest me to receaue it, giue me grace to re­ceaue it worthilie. Thou who commandest the end, giue the meanes.

Thy Blessed Virgin-Mother was to receaue thee but once into her sacred wombe, and yet, 7 o Lord, how didst thou sanctifie her? how didst thou prepare her? with what grace, puritie, and san­ctitie, didst thou endew her? San­ctifie me, o Lord, by thy grace, cleanse me from sinne, purge [Page 146]me from all, euen veniall sinnes, seeing I am not to receaue thee once onlie, but often and many times.

Thou wouldest after thy death, 8 haue thy dead body to be buried in a new monument, wherein none had beene buried before; to be laied in a winding sheete of fine and cleane laune; and wilt thou permit me to receaue the same body now not dead, but li­uing and glorified, into the graue and monumēt of an old & foule soule and body, in which the world, flesh, & deuill haue been lodged by inordinat affectiō? wilt thou laie this thy glorified body in the foule linnē of a defiled soule? ô purge me, ô cleanse mee, ô renew mee, that I maye be a new monument, a cleane syndon, to receaue thine, now not dead, but liuing, but immortall and glo­rified [Page 147]body.

O doe not cast such Margarites before hoggs. Thou shalt, Matth 7 if thou do not wash me from sinne; O doe not permit me to sitte downe to this feast without my nuptiall garment of charitie; I shall, vnles thou restore it, and put it on a­gaine.

None but the high Priest in the old lawe might enter into Sancta Sanctorum, the Holies of Holies, 9 Exod. 30. Hebr. 9. and he also but once a yeare, and this by reason of the Ark of the old law, where thou wast present in figure; and shall I not so much enter into thee the Sancta Sancto­rum, and the Ark of the new law, as to let thee enter into mee, thou being the veritie of that figure? Exod. 30. Moyses though a chosē seruāt of thine, was forbidden to approach to the bush that burned, but consumed nor, vntill he had put [Page 148]of his shooes; and shall I presume to come to this B. Sacrament, and thy sacred bodie in it, the veritie of that figure, and which burneth with the Diuinitie, yet is neuer consumed, vnles I first laye aside the shooes of all carnall affectiōs? The Priests of the old law were forbidden to ascend to the Altar to offer their carnall Sacrifices be­fore they had washed themselues in the brazen lauer. Exod. 30 And shall I dare to approach to the Altar, & to this so holy a Sacrifice and Sacrament, before I be rinsed in the lauer of penance, with the waters of contrition? S. Iohn Bap­tiste, of whom thou thy self, o Lord, pronounced, that, Luc. 7. a greater Prophet among the children of woemē then Iohn Baptist there was none; thought himself not worthie to vnloose the latcher of thy shooes; Mat 8. The Centurion deemed him [Page 149]selfe not worthie to receaue thee into his howse, which yet, as it is likelie was cleanlie swept & rich­lie adorned, and shall I thinke my self so worthie, as to touch not thy shooe strīgs, but thy sacred bo­die, and to receaue thee into mee who am defiled both in body & soule. Iob. 25. The starres are not cleane in thy sight, and how shall I dare to appeare before thy diuine eyes more bright then the Sunne it selfe, I being no starre, but rather a candle put out and smoakie?

Salomon, 11 when he had built for thee, o Lord, that goodlie Temple, the master peece of ma­sonrie, and had adorned it with gold, siluer, and precious stones, yet he thought it no fitte place for thee, and therefore saied; 2 Paral. 6. Ergone credibile est vt habitet Deus cum ho­minibus super terram? Si coelum & coeli coelornm, non te capiunt, quanto [Page 150]magis domus ista quam aedificaui; Is it cred [...]bile then that God should dwell with men vpon the earth? If heauen and the heauens of heauens, do not take thee, how much more this house, which I haue built? And shall I whose bo­dy is made but of mudde, and whose soule is defiled with sinne, thinke my self a fitte pallace for thy maiestie? O Lord I am not worthie the ayre I breath, the ground I stand on, the bread I eate, the wine or water I drink, how then can I be worthie of this B. Sacrament, which I am to re­ceaue, and which is the greatest benefite thou euer bestowedst on man, because this guift is as good as thy selfe, who art the guift, and the giuer. 12

And yet thou wilt haue me to receaue it at thy Priests hands; and receaue it I may, seeing thou hast so ordained, but vnles thou, who [Page 151]giuest it, giue me also worthines, I can not receaue it worthilie. Thou therefore who inuitest me to this holie Sacrament, and forbiddest men to receaue it vnworthilie, vouchsafe to giue me that grace, that reuerence, that deuotion, which may make mee worthie. It is thy desire that I should come worthilie, & it is also my desire; & seeing that I can neither fulfill thy desire, nor my desire, but by thy grace, I beseech thee graūt me the grace to fulfill thy desire, and thē I shall fulfill my desire, which is to receaue this Holy Sacramēt wor­thilie; and although by thy grace I receaue thee worthilie, yet giue me the humilitie, alwayes to thinke my self, of my selfe, vnwor­thie: for the more I esteeme my selfe vnworthie, the more by thee I shall be esteemed worthie.

THE 12. MEDITATION VVith what loue to our Sauiour we should receaue this B. Sa­crament?

VVHEN thou hast, 1 O my soule, by the considera­tions alleadged in the former me­ditation, stirred vp thy selfe to a fi­liall feare and reuerence, thou must also endeauour to moue thy selfe to a feruent loue, and charitie towards thy Sauiour, whō thou art to receaue. To this all thy former meditations will conduce; for that by them is shewed what a good house keeper, how liberall [Page] [Page] [Page 153]an Hoste, what a Father, what a Mother, what a Friend, Spouse, Phisitian and Pastour (all which are titles of loue) Christ hath shewed himself vnto the in this B. Sacrament.

Saye then vnto him: 2 thou hast shewed they self in this B. Sacra­ment a noble house keeper, giue me the loue belonging to one of thy familie: thou hast shewed thy selfe a bountifull Hoste, giue me the loue of a louing guest; thou hast shewed thy selfe a Father and Mother, make me a louing and obediēt childe; Thou hast shewed thyselfe a louinge friend, make me loue thee reciprocallie, yea a Spouse make me a louing spouse, yea a Phisitian, make me a louing patient, yea a Pastour, inflame my heart with the loue of a louing sheepe.

3 Thou neuer shewedst more loue [Page 154]to mee then in this B. Sacrament, by which, out of a great loue, thou giuest to me, and after so admira­ble a manner (as loue is ingenious) thy bodie, bloud, soule and diui­nitie. By Incarnation; thou im­partedst thy self onlie to that na­ture which thou tookest of the B. Virgin; But by this Sacrament, thou bestowest thyself on all in particular, who receaue it. VVith what loue shall I paye this loue? Thou giuest thy All vnto me, and can I giue lesse then my All to thee? and yet so shall I not rendre like for like, because my All is nothing to thy All, nothing so­much as if a begger should giue his raggs for the Kinges purple robe, crowne, scepter, and king­dome.

I vse to take kindelie all which a freind giueth, 4 be it but a ring, or Image, because I imagine that [Page 155]he giueth his loue in his guift, yea and himself also in his guift, though not in person; with what loue then should I answer to thy loue, who giuest thy selfe vnto me not onelie in thy guifts and ef­fects, as thou giuest by creation iustification, and glorification, but also by this B. Sacrament in thine owne person? Children loue their parents and nurces, be­cause they feed and nourish them: brute beasts loue them, who giue them meate, be it but crustes and bones, hay or strawe: how then should I loue thee, O Lord, who feedest me with thy owne flesh & bloud; seasoned and sauced with the Diuinitie. O my heart to shew thy self that thou art not made of flint, marble, or steele, but of soft flesh, resolue thy self into loue for thy Sauiours loue shewed in this B. Sacrament, and [Page 156]being so resolued, and transfor­med, imploy thy selfe and all thou are for his loue and ho­nour.

If thou thus prepare thy selfe by a great reuerence and loue to this B. Sacrament, 5 in which the Sonne of God resideth, as in his cabinet, not onely he, but his Fa­ther also the first person in Trini­tie, and their holy Spirit the Ho­lie Ghost, the third person, who procedeth from them both, con­substantiall and coequall vnto them, will all three come vnto thee, not onely to visit thee, but also to dwell with thee: for this God the Sōne promiseth saying; If any loue me he will keepe my word, Ioa. 14. and my Father will loue him, and we will come to him, and will make abode with him: And because thou art notable of thyself to furnish thy howse so, as it may be fitt for the [Page 157]entertainement of so great per­sonages, they will bring with thē their tapistrie and ornaments of grace and vertues, by which thou shalt be adorned to their liking; And because thou canst not pre­pare a feast worthie such guests, though thou shouldest seeke sea and Land for it, they will bring their feast with them, to witt this Blessed Sacrament, the Manna which conteineth all that can de­light thy spirit, and with it they will bring aboundāce of all grace, by which they will feast thee, and will be feasted of thee.

THE 13. MEDITATION To be made immediatlie after Com­munion: How than [...]kefull the Receauer should bee.

VVHen thou hast receaued this B. Sacrament, pause awhile, and think what thou hast receaued, Thou hast receaued more then the worth of Heauen and earth, the Sonne of God, in whom be all the treasures of wisedom and knowledge hidden: Coloss. 2. in whom dwelle the fulnesse of the God head cor­porallie, who is the head of all princi­palitie and power, thou hast recea­ued him, who is worth so much [Page 159]that he is inestimable, no price cā be sett on him. Antonius and Cleo­patra did on a time vainlie striue, who should make the greatest feast; And Antonius prepared all that Sea and Land could affoard: Cleopatra not sollicitous for any such fare, tooke an vnion which hung at her eare, and resoluing it drank it at a draft; and putting her finger to the other eare, to take another vnion, he, who was elected arbiter and Iudge betwixt them, bad Cleopatra hold her hand for that she had alreadie surpassed Antonius his feast, hauing drunk alreadie the price of all Egypt. But thou O my soule, by recea­uing this B. Sacrament eatest and drinkest at once, the bodie and bloud of Christ (for with his bo­die, his bloud alwayes is by con­comitance and inseparable vniō) which is more then the price of [Page 160]Egypt, yea thē a thousand worlds, And therefore if thou shouldest resolue thy heart into gratitude and thankes giuing, thou coulds not shew sufficient gratitude for this so great benefit.

Say then to thy bountifull Iesus with gratefull Dauid; Psa. 115. Quid retri­buam Domino pro omnibus quae retri­buit mihi? what shall I render to our Lord for all things that he hath ren­dred to me? nay what shall I render to my Lord for this onlie thing which he hath bestowed on mee? thou hast ô Lord, not onlie be­stowed on mee great benefites, and this the greatiest of all [...] but thou hast also rendred good for euill, mercie and grace for my sinnes, what can I render thee for this? Psa. 115. I will follow King Dauids counsell: I will take the chalice of saluation and I will inuocate the name of our Lord: I will take the chalice [Page 161]of thy Passion, which thou didst drink on the Crosse, & I will offer that sacrifice for this, and both for all thy benefites, and by them I will inuocate and praise thy name for euer.

If I could speake at once with all the tongues of men and An­gels, I could not, ô Lord, 3 giue thee sufficient thanks for this so great a benefit, which conteineth thy sacred self, and thy holie flesh and blood, Deifyed by thy Diuinitie. VVherefore in an astonishment at this great benefit, and thy great liberalitie, I will be silent, and by my silence I will testifie and con­fesse that thou hast bestowed on me in this B. Sacrament more then tongue can expresse, yea more then heart can conceaue.

But although I can not giue thee, O Lord, 4 any thing of mine owne (though heauen and earth [Page 162]were mine owne) which can haue any proportion with this thy so great guift, yet I can pay thee with thine owne sufficientlie. O eter­nall Father, thou hast giuen me a guift equiualent to this great be­nefit, and with this I can pay thee, though I pay thee with thy owne. And what is that? It is thine owne Sonne Christ Iesus, God & man, whom thou bestowest on mee in this B. Sacrament, & him I render againe vnto thee for this and all thy benefites. He is thine, I know, by eternall generation, because by that he was borne consubstantiall to thee, but he is myne also by tē ­porall generation, because by that he is borne consubstantiall to me, and he is mine again by this holie communion, and in a manner as much mine, Io. 6. as the meat I eate & the drinke I drinke: because his flesh is trulie meate, and his bloud is [Page 163]trulie drink. I therefore render vn­to thee, ô Eternall Father, thy owne sonne, whom thou hast giuen to me, and I render him not onelie for thy other benefites, but also and especiallie for this, which by communion of this B. Sacrament I haue receaued at thy bountifull hands.

And although in so doeing I giue thee but thine owne, 5 yet I giue thee also mine, and him who is twise myne, by Incarnation, and by this Holy communion, yea as often mine, as I communicate. And this guift, which I offer to thee in thankes giuing for this & all thy benefites, thou will not, thou canst not refuse; Matth 3 & 17. because it is thy well beloued Sōne, in whom thou art well pleased. 6

And if thou wilt haue also of myne, I offer thee all I can & haue; I offer thee my hart, and that also [Page 164]inflamed with loue, and in a man­ner (as I desire it should be) re­solued into loue of thee, and all I am and haue by thy grace, shall be hereafter for thee and thy ser­uice.

If my tongue speake hereafter, 7 it shall speake of thee, who hast made it the bridge, by which thou hast made thine entrie into mee. If I think of any thing, it shall be of thee, who now art so present an obiect, that thou art not onelie by mee, but also in mee. If I doe any thing, it shall be by thy dire­ction, who now art in me to direct me in all my actions, as my first Moouer. If I liue, I will liue by thee & in thee, because now thou liuest in mee to make me liue hereafter thy life, not my owne former life; that so I may say with S. Paul; viuo ego, iam non ego, viuit vero in me Christus: Gal. 2. I liue now, not I, [Page 165]but Christ liueth in me. If I loue any thing hereafter, it shall be thee or for thee, for thou hast first loued me, 1. Ioan. 4. and best loued me, and by this B. Sacrament thou hast shewed thy self my greatest benefactour, my greatest friend and louer, Thou therefore here after shalt haue me for thy seruant.

Thou hereafter shalt haue my loue, 8 for that I can neuer bestow my self better then on thee; I can neuer bestow my loue on a better obiect then thee, who art Summum bonum, cheefest good; good by es­sence, and not good onelie in thy self, but good to me by creation, by which thou giuest me my na­turall being; by iustification, by which thou giuest me a superna­turall being; and by this B. Sacra­ment, by which thou giuest thy owne being, to witt thy bodie, bloud, soule and diuinitie, of [Page 166]which thou consistest.

THE 14. MEDITATION How the Communicant or Receiuer is enriched by this B. Sacrament, and so should litle esteeme all worldlie losses.

COnsider how much thou art enriched by this precious Sa­crament, 1 more then if thou wert Emperour, not only of this terres­triall, but also of the Celestiall world, for thou possessest him by receiuing this B. Sacrament, who is more worth then all that is in heauen or Earth, yea then all that can be, but God. For he whom [Page] [Page] [Page 167]thou receauest is the Sonne of God, consubstantiall and equall to his Father, and his bodie and blood which he bestoweth on thee in this Holy Sacrament by reason of their vnion with the di­uinitie, are more precious then all that is in heauen and earth. If eue­rie prayer or good worke of Christ was more worth then a worlds redemption, if euerie drop of his blood is of that value, that it could haue redeemed a thousand worlds, of what worth and value is whole Christ, whom thou who­lie receiuest?

O my God, ô my Sauiour, 2 what bountie is this, to bestow so much on me, so poore a creature, & who haue so litle deserued at thy hāds? I should call it prodigalitie, but that thou canst not be prodigall, because thou canst not giue a­boue thy state and meanes: O [Page 168]my soule how happie wert thou, if thou knewest, or couldest con­ceaue thy riches and happines: As therefore an Emperour of the whole world would not care if some litle cottage should be burnt or taken from him, because it is nothing to the whole world, which he possesseth; so hereafter if God should permit asmuch to be taken from thee, as was taken from Iob; if thou loose lands and goods, kinsfolkes, friends, and all; if thou suffer domage in thy fame, honour, or libertie; if thou be neuer so poore for worldlie wealth; If thou bee neuer so cros­sed with aduersities, say with Iob: Our Lord, Iob. 3. hath giuen, and our Lord hath taken away, as it hath pleased our Lord, so is it done; the name of our Lord be blessed.

Say vnto thy God though thou make me as poore as Iob, 3 thou [Page 169]shalt take nothing from me but that which thou gauest me, and besides in this B. Sacrament thou hast giuen me that which is more worth then all thou caust take from me, to witt thy self, body bloud, soule and diuinitie: which whilest I possesse, I can not be poore, loose I neuer so much, be­cause I possesse thee, who art all riches; which whilest I possesse I can not be miserable, I can not be but happie, though all the miseries of the world should fall at once vpon me; be­cause, I possesse thee who art the blisse of men and Angels. If then I want temporall goods, if I want health of bodie, if aduersities cros­se me, giue me o Lord grace to beare all patientlie, and not to think what I haue lost, but what I haue gotten by receiuing thee in this B. Sacrament, to which [Page 170]all I can loose is nothing.

Thou rainedst ô Lord, 4 Manna vpon the Iewes which was like the seed of a Coriander, Exod. 16. and yet the Iewes were so gratefull for it that they cried, Manha, what is this what largesse, what riches doth God raine on vs? and yet that was but as a crumme which felle from thy Table. But now thou raynest on me by meanes of this B Sacra­ment, not a crumme of bread, but the whole bread of life, Ioa. 6. the whole feast, thy only begotten Sonne, & with him the riches of his diuini­tie and humanitie, which are ine­stimable. Manha, what is this? what a precious guift is this? what bountie is this? That manna was so precious, so delicious, that it made the Iewes for a time to con­temne their flesh pots of Eg [...]pt. This Manna of the B Sacrament, the veritie of that figure, hath all [Page 171]delights that the spirituall appe­tite can desire.

I therefore will heerafter con­temne all worldlie and carnall pleasures, 5 all the riches the world can afford, as only flesh pots of E­gipt, and will cōtent my self with this Manna onlie, which con­taineth all spirituall delight, and which in a litle roome containeth more then the price of heauen & earth. O my soule if thou wilt play the wise marchant, sell all, giue all, loose all for this pretious Margarite, this Holy and most rich Sacrament, and when thou hast it, as thou hast it so often as thou receiuest it, desire no more, it is enough to content an infinite appetite, because it is infinite in all goodnes.

THE 15. MEDITATION How by the Receiuing of this B. Sa­crament the receiuer is made the Temple of God.

THe Foundation of thy Tēple, 1 ô my soule, is thy faith which is the groūd work of all spirituall buildīg, The walles are thy hope, which erecteth thy minde and e­leuareth it to heauen, The roofe is Charitie, which sheltreth thee from the winds and tempests of all temptations, and couereth the multitude of thy sinnes, 1. Pet 4. and hideth [Page] [Page] [Page 173]them from the sight of God, be­cause it quite effaceth them, The Bishop who consecrateth this thy Temple, is Christ Iesus, the high Priest & Bishop of the new lawe, and his presence is the consecra­tion, the Altar is thy hart, the Sa­crifice is the sacred body & bloud of Christ.

The Temple of Salomon was esteemed so holie, 2 that God pre­ferred it before all other places in the world, and tooke more plea­sure in it, and heard the prayers that were made in it more willin­glie then in any other place, And yet thou (o my soule) by receiuing this B. Sacramēt art made a more holy Temple then that was. That was an vnliuing and inanimat Temple, thou a liuing temple, in that was the propitiatorie, in thee is the propitiatour himself, who also is a propitiation for our sinnes: 1 Ioa 2. in [Page 174]that were two pictures or statues of two Cherubins, in thee is the Lord of Cherubins, & Seraphins, and of all the Angels, who as S. Chrisostome affirmeth do waite and attende in troupes with all reuerence on their Lord when the Priest consecrateth, and he and thou receauest this Sacramēt; for where the King is, there are his courtiours; In that Temple was the glorie of God which was but a cloud which filled the Temple, 2. Paral. 17. & was onlie a figure and representa­tion of God his diuinitie, in thee is Christ Iesus God and man the splendour of his Fashers glorie and veritie of that figure; Hebr. 1. in that were golden candlesticks on which were lights to illuminate the Temple, 2. Par. 4. in this is Christs humanitie, which was the candlestick that bare the light of the Diuinitie, and shewed it to the world. In that Temple [Page 175]were the figuratiue Priests who offered the figuratiue Sacrifices of the old Law, in thee is the high Priest of the newe lawe Christ Iesus, who offered himself in a bloudie manner on the Crosse, & in an vnbloudie manner in the Sacrament which is in thee: That Temple was vested and limmed with pure gold, thou art adorned with a richer gold, Charitie, with­out which thou canst not be the Temple of God.

O my Soule seing that by this B. 3 Sacrament thou art made the Temple of God, behaue thy self, comport thyself, be like his holy Temple. A Tēple is instituted to worship & honour God, by sacrifi­ces psalmes & prayers, be thou such a tēple; let the sacrifices of prayer, thankesgiuing, of a contrite he art be alwaies offered in thee; Offer vnto him daily an holocaust of [Page 176]thy self by a perfect resignation, and denyall of thy self: offer in this thy Temple, Mar. 11 daylie prayer, for his howse and Temple is the house of praier, offer vnto him this Sacri­fice of his sacred body and bloud which thou hast receiued. Tēples and Churches are swept cleanlie, and adorned richlie; let then no vncleane thinge be in thee, no mortall sinne, yea (asmuch as hu­main frailtie will permit) noe ve­niall sinne, noe carnall, no world­lie cogitatiōs or affectiōs. Sweepe the Temple of thy Soule from all such fylth and dust, nay wash it with the teares of contri­tion, Mar. 11 frō all such ordure. VVhippe out (as Christ did out of the Iewes Temple) all buyers and sellers, all mortall sinnes, by which thou buyest at a deare rate the world and its pleasures, and sellest thy self to the deuill for a vaine plea­sure, [Page 177]or a litle trashe; Let thy Temple rather be adorned with faith, hope, charitie, & all manner of vertues, with chast, pure, and holy cogitations, with the seauen guifts of the holy Ghost, Esa 11. and espe­ciallie let it be guilded with the Gold of Charitie; That God one­lie, whose Temple now thou art, may be honoured, praysed, and loued by thee.

If thou thus sweepe, 4 cleanse & adorne thy Temple, God will willinglie dwell in thee, as in his owne proper pallace, as in his owne house and home: for this is his desire, Prou. 8. whose delights are to be with the children of men. But as he desireth to lodge and dwell in thee, so must thou also desire his companie, for he will not be an vnwellcome guest. thou must take heede, least by any sinne thou ex­pell or disgust him, for he is light [Page 178]and cannot consort with such darknes, thou must therefor en­ter taine him by chast and holy co­gitations, and meditations and especiallie by loue and charitie, for he hath shewed thee great loue in making thee by this B. Sa­crament his Temple, and there­fore expecteth loue for loue.

And now that thou hast him dwelling with thee and in thee, lay hold on him, linke him to thee by the golden chaine of Charitie, leaue him not, and he will not leaue thee. Saye vnto him, as Ia­cob sayd vnto the Angell, who represented the person of God non dimittam te nisi benedixeris mi­hi: Gen. 32. I will not let thee goe, vnlesse thou blesse mee: and because I will neuer want thy blessing, I will neuer let thee goe. 2. Reg. 6 Obededon, and all his house was blessed with many a benediction for receiuing [Page 179]into it the Ark of the old law, & shall not I, ô Lord, receiue many blessings by receiuing thy Sonne Christ Iesus the Ark of the new law, & the veritie of that figure? O let not this Arke bring fewer blessings with it, then that did.

I desire not the temporall bles­sing which Isaac gaue to his sonne Iacob, to wit, the dew of heauen, 6 Gen. 27 the fatnes of the earth, and aboundance of corne and wine. Ephes 1 But I desire the be­nediction, by which thou hast blessed vs in all spirituall blessing in celestials. Luc. 2. And seing that I now haue thee in my armes with Si­meon, I desire his benediction, that I may departe and dye in peace, with thee, and all thy Saints and Angels; Matth. 5 I desire those eight beatitudes & blessings of pouertie in spirit, of meeknes, of mourning for my sinnes, of hunger after Ius­tice, of mercifulnes, of cleanes of [Page 180]heart, of peace making, of patient suffering persecution for iustice sake. And lastlie I desire thy eternall benediction which consisteth in the cleare vision and fruition of thee, by which all the Angels and Saints are blessed, and this I most humblie craue and in a manner claime by vertue of that thy pro­mise made to all worthie recea­uers of this B. Sacrament, Io. 6. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath life euerlasting, and I will raise him vp at the last daie. Bestow on me then, ô Lord, a benediction of thy grace now, and after my death a benediction of thy glorie in the next life, where I ma [...]e liue in blisse with thee and thy Saints for euer.

THE 16. MEDITATION Of the good purposes which after Communion are to be made.

AFter that thou hast receiued this B. 1 Sacrament and no lesse thē thy Sauiours flesh, blood, soule and diuinitie in it, to shew thyself gratefull for so great a be­nefit and so noble a guest, thou shalt do well and pleasinglie vnto him, if thou make these ensewīg good purposes; for not onlie to do good, or to promise good, but euen to purpose what is good, is a disposition to doing good and so pleasing vnto him.

Say therefore vnto him: 2 thou hast vouchsafed to enter into mee by my mouth, as by the dore and gate of my house. This gate hereafter shall be shut (as was the Eastern gate of which Ezechiel speaketh) It shall not be opened and men shall not passe through it, Ezech. 44. it shall be shut for the Prince. This gate, o Lord, shall be shut to all but thee the Prince, thou onelie shalt haue the cōmand for the opening or shutting of it. The world, flesh, or deuill shall neuer enter by it, none but thou, or for thy sake.

And therefore hereafter my mouth shall neuer speake but of thee, 3 or things belonging to thee, and thy honour: It shall be opened onelie to praise thee, or to praye vnto thee, Psal. 70. Repleatur os meum laude vt cātet gloriam tuam: let my mouth be filled with praise that I may sing thy glorie. Ephes. 4 All naughtie speech let [Page 183]it not proceed from it. It is the gate of thy Temple, let no vn­cleane thinge haue entrance by it. It is the gate of the Citie, keepe it shut, and fortifie it by thy grace that it may keepe out thy enemies and withstand all the batterie & assaults of their tentations: It hath been filled with thy sacred bodie & blood, let it here after be filled with praises of thy name & thākes­giuing.

And because my tongue hath been the bridge by which thou hast passed, 4 and which thou hast sanctified with thy sacred body, & embrued, as it were with thy holy blood, I purpose neuer to pro­phane it by idle & vaine speeches, much lesse to pollute it by detra­ction, calumnious and reproche­full speeches, by lasciuious talk, by lying, or swearing, or blasphe­ming, but I will with thy grace [Page 184]exercise it hereafter in praising thy holy name, in praying to thee, in talking of thee, of thy life and death, of thy great benefites, and in particular of this B. Sacrament, which so often I haue receaued, of heauen and heauenlie things. And therefore hereafter I will not aduenture without thee to go­uerne this voluble, variable and inconstant creature, mooued with euerie winde like a reed: I could neuer gouerne it, and no meruaile because Linguam nullus hominum domare potest. Ia [...]obi 3 No man can tame the tongue; thou only canst because Domini est gubernare lin­guam, Prouerb 16. it apperteineth to our Lord to gouerne the tongue, and so to thee I yeeld vp the rule of it, to thy dire­ction I commend it, that it may be silent whē thou wouldest haue it be silent, and that it may speake onelie, whē thou wouldest haue it [Page 185]speake, and what thou wouldest haue it speake.

And because thou, ô Lord, 5 by this B. Sacrament art my noble & fast friēd, See the med. 12. I will neuer shake hāds with thy enemies the world, flesh & deuill, nor shall I loue any thing which is offensiue to thee. See a­boue med 12. Se me­dit 12. Thou by this holy Sacrament art my Father and Mother, I shall therefore honour thee, feare thee, loue thee, obey thee. Thou art the lo­uing Spouse of my soule, and the mariage betwixt it and thee is cō ­summated by this B. Sacrament. I will therefore wed my self to noe creature by inordinate affection; that were to play th' Adulteresse, and to breake the bond of this sa­cred wedlock, nor will I loue any but thee, or for thee. And being married to so great an Emperour as thou art, and thereby made also of high and noble condition, who [Page 186]by sinne before was base. I will putt on the Emperiall robes of holy conuersation fit for thy spouse; my old habit of my old base behauiour and conditions, I will laie aside; I will become a new creature, and in thoughts, words, and deeds I will carrie myself no­blie as becometh thy chast spouse.

Thou hast feasted me with the royal fare of thy sacred flesh and blood, 6 which maketh me noble and of Princelie blood; I will therefore behaue my self Prince­like, Luc 14. not as assaue to my passions, and sensualities, but as a Lord and commaunder ouer them; And as the Prodigall sonne after that his Father receiued hī into grace, & had feasted him, neuer returned againe to his hoggish fare, so I being now fedde with heauenlie fare, will scorne hereafter to tast any more of any worldlie or car­nall [Page 187]delights, the hoggish fare of sinners. I ame by receiuing this Holie of Holies thy sacred bodie & bloud, sanctified, consecrated, & dedicated to thee onlie, and to thy seruice, I will therefore neuer prophane myself again, I will neuer employ my self to the ser­uice of the world, or flesh, or deuill or to any but thee, or for thee. 7

The holie Chalice though it be but of earthlie metall, be it siluer or gold, yet it is oeuer im­ployed to any other vse then to receiue thy sacred blood. The Church after Consecration is neuer vsed but for thy seruice. And shall I who am better conse­crated and sanctified then they, because I am more capable of Sanctitie then they, permitte my self to be put to prophane vses: I am by this Sacrament made the Temple of God, which is the [Page 188]house of prayer; thou then ô Lord shalt be onelie serued in this tēple, thou onelie shalt be honoured & praised in it.

Thy entrance into me hath san­ctified my bodie and all the partes of it, 8 my soule, and all her powers, and faculties, all therefore that is in mee shall hereafter be emploied to thy honour and seruice. To my soule, and all that is in mee I will say with Dauid. Ps 102 Benedicanima mea Domino, & omnia quae intra me sunt nomint sancto e [...]us. My soule blesse thou our Lord, and all things that are within me his holy name. My vnder­standing do thou think and me­ditate allwayes of him; my will do thou euer loue him; my memorie do thou euer remember his bene­fites, and this B. Sacrament in par­ticular, which he hath bestowed on mee; my eyes looke on heauen and this Blessed Sacramēt, where [Page 189]he is; my hands lift vp your selues in thankes giuing; my feete follow his steppes, & traces, and exāples, which he hath giuen, because I and you all are consecrated and dedicated to him by receiuing this B. Sacrament.

And if it be an vnworthie thing to cast a consecrated Chalice into the dirt, 9 is it not fare more vn­worthie to defile hereafter my bodie and soule by sinne, which are wholie consecrated and dedi­cated to God. O my soule do not thou presume to prophane that, which by God is sanctified, least he punish thee as a prophaner of holy things. VVherefore as my bodie and soule, and all the partes of my body, and faculties of my soule, by this B. Sacrament are consecrated to thee; So, ô Lord, let them euer be, and so they shall be, if to my will thou ioyne thy [Page 190]will, and to my force thy grac [...] this is now my mind and purpose [...] and I desire to die in this mind, [...] with it, that at my death bein [...] thus prepared, I may feed on th [...] sacred body and blood in the B [...] Sacrament by a worthie Commu­nion, and by vertue of it, after m [...] death may be admitted to feed [...] on thy Diuinitie with their B [...] Saints in Heauen by a cleare vi­sion and fruition of thee, the Fa­ther, and the Holie Ghost thre [...] persons, and one God to whom be all Honour, and glorie fo [...] euer.