MEDITATIONS, AND DEVOUT DISCOURSES UPON THE B. SACRAMENT COMPOSED BY Ch. M.  
Caro mea verè est cibus,  
& sanguis meus verè est potus.  
My Flesh is meat indeed,  
and my blood is drink indeed.  JOAN 6. 
Printed at DOUAI by L. KELLAM, Anno 1639.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND VIRTUOUS LADY THE LADY CECILIE, COUNTESS AND DOWAGER OF THE LATE EARL OF RUTLAND.  
WRITERS of books (most noble Lady) are spiritual parents, and their books are their broods, & young-ones. And therefore, as carnal parents have no sooner a child borne to the world, but they look about them for a secondary Father or Mother (whom they style Godfather and Godmother) by whose name the child may be graced, and by whose authority it may be protected: So writers of books are no sooner delivered of these their young-ones, the broods of their brains, and fruitful understandings, but they by and by think of a Patron or Patroness, to whom they may commend them: whose examples, because they are common, I being not unwilling to follow, had no sooner finished this little Pamphlet of meditations on the B. Sacrament (my young Benjamin borne to me in my old age) but I bethought myself to whose Patronage, and tuition, I might best commend it. And my cogitation did presently light, and hit upon your Honour, who by your great nobility (as being dowager to the Illustrious Earl of Rutland, Sister to the Lord Nicholas Tufton can grace it, by your credit by your credit (as being of our prime nobility) can protect it, by your piety will embrace it, & by your many noble favours may challenge it. Let others dedicate their Annals and Histories of wars and Martial feats to Kings and Emperors: I will presume to offer a book of Piety to a Lady most noble and pious, and yet so pious that her piety graceth her nobility. Your Honour since the death of your noble Husband, the Illustrious Earl of Rutland, hath embraced the state of a widow, the most noble state & most pleasing to God after Virginity, in which you have carried yourself so like yourself, that you deserve Honour of all, according to that of the Apostle Honour widows, which are widows indeed. You imitate by your retired life that famous widow judith, who in the Higher parts of her house, made herself a secret chamber, in which she lived retiredlie with her maids, serving God by prayer and fasting: yea you follow the example of the widow and Prophetess Anna, whom the Evangelist commendeth for that she departed not from the Temple, but by fasting and prayer served God. For although your Honour wanteth not goodly Houses, Parks, and Gardens, wherein you may recreate yourself, yet to show yourself a widow indeed, you have made choice of your Oratory for your Palace and chief place of abode, and from thence you hardly departed, because there you converse with God, and he with you, and when there you read your Spiritual books, he talketh with you, and when you pray, you talk with him. And although you keep an Honourable Table, suiting with your nobility, yet the fare which most pleaseth you, is Judithes and Annaes' fare, to wit, fasting, which is the food of the Soul, and the Physic of the body, which so weakeneth the body, as it strengtheneth the soul. And although your Honour wanteth neither lands nor livings, nor revenues, which the world calleth Riches, yet you esteem Almesdeeds your greatest treasures, as indeed they are. For as Merchants when they have laid out all their moneys, do then esteem themselves richest, because they expect greater and richer merchandises; so your Honour is the richer by your Almesdeeds, because by this laying out, you purchase greater treasures in heaven. So that, although you be a widow, in respect of your late most noble Husband, yet you are no widow in respect of Christ, to whom you are espoused, not only by faith, hope, and charity, as all good christians are, but in a more perfect manner, by renouncing all marriage with man on Earth, to marry and unite yourself more nearly to your Spouse God and man in Heaven: Not thinking now (to use th' Apostles words) on things that pertain to the world, as the married woman doth, how to please an husband, but thinking on the things that pertain to our lord how to please him. And therefore he now is your spouse, whom you love above all, on whom your love is settled, on whom your thoughts are fixed, to whom all your actions are directed: he is ever in your mind, ever in your thought, ever in your memory: and that time which other Ladies spend in adorning themselves, so to please their Husbands, you spend, in adorning your soul, by prayer, meditation, fasting, Almsdeeds, and other virtues, so to please your Spouse Christ jesus. He therefore, who hath espoused you to him in Earth, by his grace, espouse you also unto him in heaven, by his glory, and in the mean time heap many benedictions upon you. So desireth, so prayeth.  
YOUR HONOUR'S Humble servant CH. M.   

FAVLT'S ESCAPED IN THE printing.  

In the preface to the Reader n. 11.  
Sacraments. Cor. Sacrament.  
Pag. 8. lin. 16. tuee. Cor. thee.  
Pag. 15. li. 17. truobled. Cor. troubled.  
Pag. 20. lin. 9 joseth. Cor. joseph.  
Pag. 21. lin. vlt. tall. Cor. tell.  
Pag. 27. lin. vlt. head. Cor. shed.  
Pag. 45. lin. 21. sayinst. Cor. saying.  
Pag. 53. in margin lib 61. Correct hom. 61.  
Pag. 170. lin. 6. & 17. Manha. Correct Manhu.  
Pag. 189. lin. 10, far. Cor. Fare.    

The Contents of the MEDITATIONS  

THE FIRST MEDITATION. What love Christ shown at his last supper.  
THE SECOND MEDITATIONS. What charity and humility Christ shown before he sat down to his last supper.  
THE THIRD MEDITATION How bountiful a Feastmaker and Host Christ shown himself, and how great a feast he exhibited to his disciples, in the B. Sacrament.  
THE FOURTH MEDITATION. How provident a paterfamilias & Good man of the House of our soul and the Church, Christ is by this B Sacrament.  
THE FIFTH MEDITATION. How Christ shown himself in this B. Sacrament a Father, and more than a Father unto us.  
THE sixth MEDITATION. How Christ shown himself in the B. Sacrament a Mother, and more than a Mother.  
THE SEAVENTH MEDITATION. What a Friend Christ hath showed himself in the B. Sacrament.  
THE EIGHT MEDITATION. How Christ hath showed himself in this B. Sacrament, a most loving spouse.  
THE NINTH MEDITATION. What a Physician Christ hath showed himself in this B. Sacrament.  
THE TENTH MEDITATION. How good a shepherd and Pastor Christ hath showed himself in this B. Sacrament.  
THE II. MEDITATION. With what fear, and reverence, & acknowledgement of unworthiness, the devout receiver is to come to this B. Sacrament.  
THE XII. MEDITATION With what love to our Saviour We should receive this B. Sacrament.  
THE XIII. MEDITATION. To be made immediately after communion: How thankful the Receiver should be.  
THE XIV. MEDITATION How the Communicant or Receiver is enriched by this B. Sacrament, and so should little esteem all worldly losses.  
THE XV. MEDITATION. How by the receiving of this B. Sacrament the Receiver is made the Temple of God.  
THE XVI. MEDITATION. Of the good purposes which after Communion are to be made.    

APPROBATIO.  
HAE meditationes Eucharisticae Ch. M. piae sunt & devotae, nihil fidei catholicae & bonis moribus contrarium continentes, ideoque utiliter excudentur & perlegentur. Actum Duaci 4. julij 1639.  
Georgius Coluenerius S. Theol. Doctor, & Regius, ordinariusque ac primarius Professor Duacen sis Vniversitatis Cancellarius, & librorum Censor.   

To the Reader.  
THE nature of man is desirous of Novelty, change, & variety. No bed is so soft, of which in time we are not weary; no Music so delightful, which by often repetition, becometh not redious: no dish so dainty which if it come often to the table is not loathed: and nothing but the clear vision and fruition of God doth always content.  
The reason of this is the sufficiency of God his goodness & the insufficiency of that which is good in his creatures. For God is Summum bonum, chiefest and infinite Good in which is no defect, and so being seen clearly, & perfectly possessed, as he is of the Blessed in heaven, who see him face to face, 
1. Cor. 15.  doth always delight, never glut the Blessed, or make them desirous of change. But all creatures, and create Goods, as they content and delight for a time, by reason that they are good in their kind, so in time they discontent, and make us weary of them, because in that they are finite, they are also deficient. Whence it is that as sick men cannot lie long on one side or in one posture, but do turn & change often, so we are never long content with any one create thing, seem it at first never so pleasing, but after we have had a taste of it, we are weary of it, and desire to change, though sometimes for worse.  
And this is the cause why after many spiritual books set out heretofore by others, I have not feared to set out mine, though they be of the same subject that other former books were, seeing that, though mine treat of the same matter, yet they do it in a diverse manner, and so for variety may please. I knew well that many had written paraphrases upon the Psalm Miserere and upon all the Psalms: and yet in the year 1635 laduentured to set out mine also, hoping that when devout people are weary of still reading others Paraphrases, they would for variety be content to read mine also, and I was not deceived.  
And although I was not ignorant that many Authors have written meditations upon the B. Sacrament, and the sacred passion of Christ yet for the aforesaid reason, I now diwlge my meditations upon the same subjects, hoping that after often reading of those former books, some out of desire of change willbe content to read mine though inferior.  
And therefore to accommodate myself to human infirmity, to which even spiritual exercises, in time grow wearisome, in these my meditations upon the B. Sacrament, I have so disposed, that every meditation, hath a diverse particular subject, that so the variety at least may allure the Reader; and that the Communicant or Receiver may come with a better spiritual appetite and denotion to receive in this Holy Sacrament, his Saviour & his sacred body and blood, I propose him in diverse manners, as in manner, of a Feast maker, a bountiful house keeper, a Friend, a Pastor, a physician, a spouse, a Father, and the like, that this variety may delight and cause the Receiver to come to this Holy Sacrament without any tediousness, yea with greater spiritual appetite.  
And so I hope my meditations will not be ungrateful, because in them there is variety, and diversity also from the meditations, which others have set forth. others may have something, which I have not, and I may have something, which they have not; they may have their manner, and I may have mine; they may have their inventions, I may have mine; and so both theirs and mine may be pleasing. For as the same meat diversly cooked, may be as pleasing as diverse meats, so the same matter handled by diverse diversly may by reason of this variety, prove no less pleasing then diverse matters, and subjects.  
Otherwise, if because that some have written of a subject, others who succeed them, must not touch that matter, all modern Authors must abstain from writing, because nothing can be now said, which was not in substance said before. For as Ecclesiastes said in his time, so much more may we now say in our time: 
Eccles. 1  nothing under the Sun is new, neither is any man able to say: behold this is new; for that it hath already gone before in the ages that were before. And so we See that there are diverse commentaries upon the same book of scripture, diverse sermons on the same holy day & text, diverse books of the same part of Philosophy & divinity.  
This being premised for my excuse, I will briefly advertise the Reader that Meditation is not whatsoever speculation or discourse upon God or his divine perfections, or the mysteries of our faith, for, this speculation being only to discover the truth, is not worthy the name of meditation, which is a kind of mental prayer: but meditation doth speculate the aforesaid objects, & discourseth on them to move some affection, as love, joy, fear, sorrow, according to the natures of the mysteries or objects, on which we meditate.  
In this exercise of meditation (as the contemplatives do well observe) there are three ways to perfection. The one is Purgative, when by meditation we stir up in us a fear of God & his judgements, and sorrow for our sins or hatred of them, by which our souls are purged from all filth of sin. The second way is illuminative, when by meditation our understanding is so illuminated, as it seethe the excellency of virtue, as of obedience, humility, poverty of spirit, chastity and the like, and seeing the beauty of it, induceth the will to love it, and loving it, to practise and to get it. The third way is Vnitive, when by meditation of God his Divine perfections we stir up in our hearts a love of God, a complacence in his Goodness or mercy, or other his perfections, and divine attributes & by this way our souls are united to God. The first way is of beginners, the second of those that profit in the way of virtue, the third of them that are perfect.  
In my Paraphrasis and meditation of the Psalm Miserere, I have specially shown the Purgative way, inducing the sinner to penance and sorrow for his sins, by which sorrow the soul is purged from sin. In my meditations upon the Passion, I propose the illuminative way, because Christ in his Passion hath set us examples of all virtues. In my meditations upon the B. Sacrament I teach the unitive way, that Sacrament by itself uniting us really to Christ, and the consideration of it stirring up love towards God for such a benefit, by which we are united unto him; although indeed in every one of these my treatises, I show all the aforesaid three ways.  
But because Christ instituted this B. Sacrament before his Passion, and was immolated mystically before he was sacrificed on the Cross really: I first present thee (Gentle Reader) with my Meditations on the B. Sacraments, and after them I will make thee partaker of those of the Passion which shall follow these former. God grant that both thou and I, in them may find out and follow the aforesaid three ways to perfection; that we may attain to the perfection of virtue and grace in this life, and so to the perfection of glory (which is our last and greatest perfection) in the next.   


THE FIRST MEDITATION What love Christ shown at his last supper.  
THE Son of God Christ jesus God & man in the whole decourse of his life, never ceased to give us signs and tokens of his love towards mankind. For besides that he was incarnate, & became man, only for man, not for Angels, he was borne for man in time of a Virgin-Mother without a Father, who was borne of his Father, & of the womb of his divine substance without a Mother from all eternity, 
Psal. 2. & 109.  and he who feedeth all living creatures was fed and nourished by the same Virgin Mother, 
Psal. 135.  was swaddled by her in poor clouts, who was invested with his Father's glory, was rocked by her a sleep, whose divine eyes are ever open, was circumcised & wore the badge of a sinner, who could not sin, fasted, prayed, preached, and all for the love of man: he never breathed, never walked, never talked, never wrought miracles or other good works, but for man's example & redemption. But as S. 
Ep. Io 3.  john testifieth (and his testimony is true) unto the end, and in the end of his life, 
joan. 13.  he loved us, and gave the greatest signs of love that ever he gave.  
Love is showed in two things especially, to wit in giving and suffering. For if you present one with some rich diamant or other precious thing, you shall thereby show your great love unto him, love showing itself by gifts, as fire doth by sparkles, and if you give him nothing yet do suffer much for him, either in your goods or body, you do no less show your love to him, yea somuch the more, by how much it is harder to suffer then to give.  
Our Blessed Saviour the true lover of man kind at his last supper, which was the twye-light of his da●e, and the evening of his life, gave unto man the greatest gift which heaven and earth could show, and which was more worth than a thousand heavens and earth's, to wit his sacred body & blood and even himself God and man in the Blessed Sacrament. And although he then suffered not death really for us, yet he did soon after, and even then, in that in the Blessed Sacrament he represented his body only under the shapes of bread, and his blood only under the forms of wine, and so apart, he was immolated and sacrificed for us mystically, and died for us in representation before he died in verity: and so as some Saints to show their desire to dye, and to prepare themselves the better to death, have put on a winding sheet, or have entered into their Tomb or monument before their death, So Christ jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and at his last supper, to show the great desire he had to dye really for us, did as it were put on the winding sheet of the shapes of bread and wine and wrapped himself in them, and so died in figure and mystery for us, before he died in verity, and by this figurative and mystical death prepared himself to a real death which soon after, that is the next day, he suffered for us, and so in the end of his life he shown his great love unto us both by giving and suffering. But as he first shown his love by giving himself in the Blessed Sacrament, and by immolating himself in it mystically only, and in representation; so let us first employ our best thoughts and meditations upon the Blessed Sacrament, and Christ his last supper, in which for a loving farewell he bestowed upon his disciples the most precious banquet that ever was seen on earth, consisting of no less than his sacred body & blood, seasoned and sauced with the divinity itself: And here after, in an other little treatise we shall contemplate what he suffered for us in his sacred Passion.  
This Son of God and lover of mankind shown great love unto us, in that by Incarnation and hypostatical & personal union of our nature with his divine person, he bestowed his divine nature on it, & therefore S. 
joan. 3.  john expresseth this his love with a Sic or so, saying: So God loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son; and yet thus he bestowed not his divine person on every one in particular, but only on that nature particularly which he took of the Virgin-mothers' womb, & by it on mankind in general: But in the Blessed Sacrament he imparteth himself to every one of us in particular by communion, by which he giveth us his body, blood, soul, and divinity and so at the end of his life, 
joan. 13.  and at his last supper he especially loved us.  
O my soul seeing that thy God and loving spouse Christ jesus hath given himself, soul, body, blood and divinity unto thee, what shouldst thou seek for any other thing? why shouldst thou love 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 happy and infinitely rich, cuius Dominus Deus tuus, whose God is thy Lord: O my soul thy spouse seemeth to content himself with thee, content thyself with him: If he can not content thee, in whom be all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, 
Col. 2.  in whom is all perfection, beauty and goodness, nothing will content thee. No, say unto him. Quid mihi est in coelo, 
Psal. 72.  & a te quid volui super terram? what is to me in heaven? and besides thee what would I upon 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 have thee, as in the B. Sacrament I have, I am rich enough, and without thee I am poor and miserable, though I had all but thee: If I have thee I have all, and if I have not thee, though I had all else which is in heaven and earth I esteem myself to have nothing. Thou o my Lord art my part, my All, let me desire nothing but thee, 
Psal. 75.  let me love nothing but thee, or for thee, and as thou hast loved me all thy life time, but especially at the end, 
Io. 13.  and period of thy life, in bestowing this B. Sacrament on me: so give me the grace by which I may love thee all the time of my life, and especially at the end of it, that then especially I may quite withdraw my love from the world, and all it can afford, and then give it only to thee, who at the end of thy life, in this B. Sacrament hast so kindly loved me, that I may dye loving thee, and so ceasing to live, may never cease to love, because although faith & Hope dye with us (saiths obscurity yielding to the light of glory, and Hope not consisting with the possession of that we hoped for) yet Charity never falleth away, 
1 Cor. 12.  or faileth, and therefore if I die with it, I shall live with it eternally.   

THE II. MEDITATION What Charity and humility Christ shown before he sat down to his last supper.  
OUR B. Saviour having eaten with his disciples the Paschall lamb, and used also the ceremonies prescribed for the eating of it, so to show himself an obedient observer and full filler of the old law: he riseth from that Typical Feast of the Paschall Lamb, & murteth them to the eating of the true lamb of God (to wit himself) who taketh a way the sins of the world: 
Io. 1●  who was the verity of that figure, a feast as fare surpassing that feast of the jews, as the verity excelleth the figure, the body the shadow. And before he sitteth down to this Heavenly Feast, behold what preparation he maketh, what ceremonies he useth, to show his disciples with what reverence and humility, with what love and charity, they and all Christians should approach unto this feast.  
Thus S. john describeth it: And when supper was done etc. 
Io. 13.  he riseth from supper (to wit of the Paschal Lamb) and layeth aside his garments, and having taken a Towel, girded himself, after that he put water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the towel, wherewith he was girded. He laid aside his upper garment, that he may with more convenience wash his disciples feet, as also to signify that in this humble act he layeth aside in outward appearance his vestments of glory, to wit the majesty, splendour and light of his divinity, and guirdeth himself with a towel, to signify that he invested himself in the towel of our humane nature, that by it he might wipe ware all the filth and ordure of our sins, and thus prepared he kneeleth down to wash his disciples feet.  
Behold, o my soul, a rare example of humility, and if thou consider it well thou caused not but stand amazed at it. Behold God kneeling at his creatures feet, washing & wiping them. Behold what preparation to this sacred Feast he maketh, what a ceremony he useth, to show to his disciples with what reverence and humility, with what love and charity, with what purity they and all christians should approach to this dread Sacrifice, to this Holy Sacrament, which then he was to institute, to distribute unto them, and to offer to his father for them. O sweet jesus, how dost thou humiliate, and even debase thyself, to control our pride, and to set us an example of humility ever to be used, and especially when we come to this holy Sacrament and dread Sacrifice.  
Abraham washed the feet of three Pilgrims, 
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; Christ is the God of Patriarches whom Abraham served, & he washed not Angels feet but poor fisher-men's feet, whose Lord & Master, whose God and Creator he was. 
Luc. 7.  Marry Magdalen washed Christ's feet with her tears and wiped them with her hairs: but Christ was her God, and she a sinner who had offended, and so there was more humility in Christ in permitting her to wash and wipe his feet, then in her in washing and wiping them: But thou O Saviour of the world, God and man washedst the feet of thy creatures and even of fishermen which are commonly fowl, & even of judas who had betrayed thee, 
Math. 26.  and even then had sold thee to the jews.  
But O Peter, for to thee he offereth first this service, wilt thou permit thy so loving master, thy God and Creator to wash thy feet? wilt thou accept this honour to be done to thee, with so much dishonour redounding unto him? No saith he: 
Io. 13.  thou shalt not wash my feet for ever, yet Christ threatneth Peter, that, unless he wash him he shall have no part with him Hear Peter was troubled with contrary & repugnant thoughts. To permit Christ to wash his feet, was much repugnant to the humble conceit he made of himself and to the high esteem he had of Christ, not to permite him was now after a commandment disobedience, and after a threatening was loss of the heavenly glory, for which he had left all, and of which he had seen a glimpse in the Transfiguration of his master. I am loath (saith Peter to himself) to suffer my Lord God so to debase himself as to wash my feet, I am loath also to disobey him who hath sovereign authority, but rather than I will be disobedient to such a Lord and master, or lose my part with him, that is the bliss of heaven, for which I have left my nets and hooks, and all I had, wash O Lord (saith he) since thou wilt have it so, not only my feet, but my hands also and head: A contemplative soul will here take delight to behold the holy contention betwixt the masters & the servant's humility. But the humility of the Master, as being the greater, in the end overcometh, and so the master and God & man, kneeling at Peter feet, washeth them and wipeth them, & peraduentur kisseth them. And having done this humble office to Peter, he doth the same to the rest of the disciples, & even to the traitor judas.  
O ye Angels who serve this your God, and attend and wait on him in Heaven with all reverence, behold your Lord and God, 
Esa. 4●. Philip. 2.  to whom every knee of the celestials terrestrials, and Infernals boweth: kneeling at the feet of fishermen, girded with a towel, washing and wiping their fowl feet, o humility, and washing & wiping judas his feet, who had traitorously sold him for thirty pence, o Charity. O ye heavenly Spirits, you descended at this your Master's nativity, admiring to see the Son of glory borne in a stable, laid in a manger: but then he was worshipped by the shepherd's: then great troops of you did sing your Christmas Carolle of Gloria in Altissimis Deo, 
Luc. 2.  glory in the highest to God: and then an unwonted star shined at this solemnity, and soon after that, three Kings came from the East to adore him & present him on their knees with kingly gifts: but if you descend now, you shall see him honoured of none, but honouring his own vassals, and debasing himself so fare, as to wash and to wipe their feet. O ye courtiers of the King and court of Heaven, show yourselves courteours, & permit not your King thus to be vilified: but rather do you (who in that you are Courteours know well what ceremonies are most convenient) perform this humble office for your Master, do you wash his disciples feet, and his in the first place, he being your and their king: O ye Heavens & celestial globes and star●s, who have the highest place in this world, with what manners can you keep your so high & ●minent places, seeing your Creator kneeling to his creatures, God, to man. O thou Sun & Prince of the Planets, the lamp and eye of the world, who illuminatest the celestial & terrestrial world, canst thou endure to see thy Sun of whom thou borrowest thy light, in this posture? Descend rather and humiliate thyself with thy Creator, or else withdraw thy light and thy sight from such a spectacle. joseph the Patriarch saw the sun and moon and stars adoring him, 
Gen. 34.  but this he saw done only in a dream and vision, but behold now, not the Sun and moon adoring our true joseth jesus Christ, but himself adoring, that is kneeling to his creatures and disciples.  
O humble God, it is the duty of all creatures even Angels to adore thee who art their creator, 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 becometh us to fulfil all justice. It is convenient that the creator should thus humble himself even to the earth, that his creatures may be exalted, to heaven: It is convenient that he thus should humble himself to teach his disciples, and in them all christians to humble themselves, not only to their betters and superiors, but also to their subjects and Inferiors; to give them to understand by this humble washing and wiping his disciples fowl feet, that it is he who by his blood washeth all sinful souls from the filth and ordure of their sins.  
Who is able to explicate, ●ay to conceive the lownes of this humilities? certes no mortal creature: for all though we may see the earth on which Christ kneeleth, & to which he is descended, yet from how high he ●s thus fallen, none can tall but the Saints and Angels, who see clearly the height of his divinity, and so none but they can see the lownes of this humility Nor can they see it perfectly: only God himself can, who only can comprehend his own height & tallness, which is infinite. To know how lowea valley is, you must know how high the mountain is, & so to know the valley of this our Saviour's humility, you must know how high the mountain of his divinity is, which none but God can perfectly know, because he only comprehendeth himself and his own height and tallness. But as there was never humility so low as this, so was there humility never so exalted as this. The higher in dignity the person is who humbleth himself, the lower is his humility because his fall & descent is so, much the lower, by howmuch his dignity is higher, and the higher the person is who humbleth himself, the more his humllitie is exalted and ennobled, as the lower in dignity & base the person is, the less grace hath his humility, and so humility is graced by the dignity of the person, and graceth also the person, and humility is the honour of honour, and honour is the honour of humility. And consequently this humility of Christ, God and man, was the lowest that ever was, and yet the highest.  
O my soul, learn of this thy God, humility: he the Creator thought not much to humble himself to the disciples his creatures, and in this to thee who also art his creature, and wilt thou think much to stoop to him the Creator? He so noble and so high in dignity humbled himself, and thou (who though thou wert a King) art base in respect of him, wilt thou disdain humility? he humbled himself to his subjects and Inferiors, wilt thou think scorn to humiliate thyself to thy equales, yea to thy superiors? He vouchsafed to wash his disciples fowl feet, thou thinkest scorn to do any base office, though none is base which humility graceth, and yet thou art a creature, he thy Creator. O my soul by this thy Saviour's humble ceremony of washing the disciples feet before he admitted them to the B. Sacrament, learn to rinse and wash thyself clean from all filth of sin in the Sacrament and lavatory of Penance, before thou approach to the holy of holies, and the Immaculate lamb of God contained in this blessed Sacrament, learn by this humility of Christ which he used immediately before the institution and distribution of this Sacred Sacrament, with what reverence and fear thou shouldst approach unto it considering thy Indignity, and with what humility also considering thy baseness and its dignity.   

THE III. MEDITATION How bountiful a feast maker and Host Christ shown himself and how grea● a feast he exhibited to his disciples in the B. Sacrament.  
THIS sweet Saviour after the feast of the Paschall Lamb, having washed & wiped his disciples feet, to prepare them to the feast of his sacred body and blood, the verity of that figure, he sitteth down and inviteth his disciples and even judas to sit down with him, and every one being placed, and expecting what feast he would bestow on them at his farewell, which was then at hand, he taketh bread into his hands, saying unto them, 
Mar. 14. Luc. 22.1. Cor. 11.  take ye and eat, this is my body, and lest they should think that he gave them but a figure of his body as he did when he gave them the Paschall Lamb, he not only calleth it in plain terms but addeth as S. Luke relateth his body which is given for you, as S. Paul telleth us, which shall be delivered for you: to wit on the Cross. And lest they might imagine that he gave them only 〈◊〉 figure of his blood, he not only styleth it in plain terms is blood, but addeth as S. Matthew and S. Marck relate which shall be shed  many; as 〈◊〉. Luke writeth, which shall be ●dd for you: And seeing that bread, or a bare figure of Christ's body (such as was Manna, and the Paschall lamb) was not delivered, or crucified for us, but only Christ his true body, nor wine, or a bare figure of Christ's blood was shed for us, but only his true blood, it followeth that Christ at his last supper gave to his disciples his true body and blood, because h gave that body which was delivered for us on the Cross, and he gave them to drink of that blood which was shed for them on the Cross; And forasmuch as his divinity was so inseparably united both to his body and soul, that death which separated them one from the other, could not separate them from the divinity, it followeth also that Christ then gave to his disciples his body, soul, blood and divinity, all being united in him.  
o bountiful feastmaker, o precious and costly feast: 
Psal. 8.  o Lord what is man that thou shouldst so much esteem of him as to bestow on him thy sacred body & blood sanctified by the divinity, yea thy own self no less than God and man? o liberal Host who entertainest thy guests with so precious a banquet, and yet demandest nothing for their ordinary. 
Hester●. 1.  No Assueru● ever made such a feast as this, whether we respect the Host yea and king that hath made it, to wit Christ jesus, God and man King of Heaven and earth, or the guests who are invited, to wit his Apostles, and their succestours, yea all Christians even Kings and Emperors: or the feast itself which is the holy flesh & blood of Christ seasoned with the divinity, more worth than heaven 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 have redeemed a thousand worlds; or the continuance of the feast which began at Christ his last supper, continueth to this day, and shall continue to the world's end: for as Manna reigned continually from Heaven to feed the jews in the desert and never was wanting till they came to the land of promise, so as long as we live in the desert of this life, this our Manna, of which that was but a shadow and figure, shall rain upon Catholic Christians, by the consecration of the Priest till we come to Heaven our true land of Promise, where in steed of Christ's body and blood, which now we eat & drink by communion, we shall feed of the divinity itself by clear vision & fruition. O my soul, how hard hearted art thou, if this great benefit, this Royal & costly feast, do not melt thee into love, and resolve thee into gratitude.  
O feast of feasts, no Epicurism but Christianisme, no gluttony or drunkenness, to eat and drink often at this feast, but temperance, sobriety, piety, Religion. Of this feast only can be averred those words of Ecclesiastes. 
Eccl. 1.  Laudavi igitur letitiam, quod non esset bonum hominisub sole, nisi quod comederet & biberet: I therefore have praised mirth, that there was no good thing for a man under the sun, but that he should eat and drink and be glad: to wit in this feast of the B. Sacrament.  
o happy we, who are somu●h honoured, as to sit at this Table; where the Angels wait and attend, and we sit down at the table, and are feasted with such costly & precious meats, who are no● worthy the crumbs that fall from this table. o happy we, who being fed with this Princely and Kingly fare, are fatted therewith, and thereby ennobled & made kings. Because as jacob 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 Christ is fatte● and shall give dainties to kings: Either because in that it is eaten by us, it maketh us Kings, or because it is meat only for Kings, and is not to be given to any but those who are Kings and Lords, domineering over their own sensualities, and passions, yea over the world, flesh and devil. O happy we who eating in this holy Sacrament Christ's sacred body and drinking his blood, are made generous and noble, as he is, yea, in a proportion, divine as he is, Gods by participation, as he is God by essence, yea of his blood, kindred and lineage. Happy we who eating Christ's body & drinking his blood are not only Christiani Christians, but also Christiferi bearers of Christ, 
Cyril'us H●eros. Catech. 4. mist.  yea Deiferi, bearers of God, and lodge●s of him within us.   

THE FOURTH MEDITATION How provident a Paterfamilias and good man of the house of our soul and the Church, Christ is by this B. Sacrament.  
Almighty God out of his infinite goodness & bounty, hath showed himself in this B. Sacrament, to be a most wise and provident, and liberal Paterfamilias or howsekeeper, having laid up in store such provision for the House of his Church, and for every one of us in particular. He is a howsekceper most provident in respect of all living creatures. The whole world is his house, all living Creatures his family, for every one of which he provideth meat and drink according to every one's nature. Plants and herbs he feedeth with moisture, which by their roots as by mouths, they draw from the earth, beasts with plants, herbs, corn, and grass: Fishes with water and other food which they findc in the water, & men's bodies he feedeth with flesh, fish. herbs and fruits of the earth, and therefore David saith that it is God: 
Ps. 146.  Qui dat iumentis escam ipsorum, & pullis coruorum invocantibus eum, who gives to beasts their food, and to the young ravens that call upon him. He specifieth young ravens, partly to signify that God hath care of all his creatures even the vilest, partly because, as S. 
Serm. de. Helia.  Chrisostome averreth the old crows do often times neglect their young ones (as when they suspect them not to be their own brood) and then God is the nurse of the young ones, feeding them with flies, or the thick air or such like.  
But more bountifully, & carefully God Almighty provideth for man, and feedeth him in body with the best meats, and in soul with learning and virtue, and above all; this great howsekeeper hath ever and chiefly provided for his Church, though not always in the same manner. For otherwise did he provide for it before Christ's coming, otherwise after his coming, otherwise for the jews, otherwise for the Christians: For the jews being children in spiritual life who lived under the Pedagogue of the law, which brought nothing to perfection, 
Heb. 4.  and could not give them full-groughe, nor make them men, they were to be fed like children with the light meats of the figurative sacrifices & Sacraments of the old law: 
Heb. 5.  And  S. Paul saith that they had need of milk, and not of strong meat, but strong meat is for the perfect, that is Christians, who because they are perfect men in a spiritual life, are not to be fed with light figures, but with the solid verities of those figures. They were fed with Manna and the Paschall lamb, we who are Christians, are fed with the sacred body and blood of Christ which are solid verities of those figures, and meat for the strong and perfect, not for weaklings and children, as the jews were.  
joseph the Patriarch, as we read in Genesis, who was as the Paterfamilias of Pharaoh his house yea and of all Egypt, 
Gen. 43.  and who in a dearth of seven years, provided them of corn abundantly; when his brethren resorted also unto him for corn, he invited them to a feast, and gave to every one of them his portion, but to Benjamin his youngest brother, he gave a portion five times bigger than was the portion which he gave to his elder brethren. Even so our joseph Christ jesus; who furnished not Egypt with corn, as joseph did, but the whole Church of God with the sacred Euchariste, 
Io. 6.  which the Prophet calleth, 
Zach. 9  frumentum electorum, the wheat of the elect: and wine spinging virgins: gave thereby to the Christinns the younger brother in regard of time, a portion of the B. Sacrament, which is greater & more precious, not by five times only, but by five thousand times then was the portion of Manna, or the Paschall lamb, or all those Sacrifices and Sacraments which he gave to the jew the elder brother.  
O liberal & magnificent housekeeper, who hast made so great and so Royal provision for thy family, the Church. When I consider the abundance of corn, grass▪ herbs, fruits, which God hath provided for the sustenance of all living creatures, even the little sparowes, and young ravens, I stand as a man amazed, & isaiah unto myself; out of what granary or store house, or Barn cometh all this provision? But when I behold the abundance of the wheat of the Elect, 
Zach. 9.10.6.  & of the bread of life, of which whoesoever eateth liveth for ever, Which our B. Saviour God and man, hath provided for us in this B. Sacrament, I cease to admire there, & can never cease to admire here, and I say unto myself: Out of what granary cometh this wheat of the Elect, 
Zaca. 8.10.6.  out of what panterie cometh this bread of life, which feedeth our souls and giveth them spiritual nourishment, and life of grace? of which we feed daily, and yet the bread is never consumed, never diminished. When I consider the variety of fountains, springs, wells, and rivers, which our Blessed God hath provided for men and beasts to drink on, I stand amazed, and I say to myself: out of what brewhowse cometh all this drink? who is the Butler that continually draweth it 〈◊〉 but when I Behold the wine which springeth Virgins, 
Zac. 9  & which is drunk daily & by many thousands in this B. Sacrament: I stand amazed here and I cease to admire there, and say to myself, out of what cellar cometh this wine? who draweth it? who filleth it out? And which maketh me more to admire, I see many thousands do drink daily of this wine, and yet the Cellar is never emptied, the wine never diminished. O bountiful and provident howsekeeper (sweet jesus) who providest such meat and drink as never consumeth: for I see that: 
Sumit unus, sumunt mille  
Quantum isti tantum ille  
Nec sumptus consumitur.  
One takes it and a thousand may  
As much as he so much do they  
Nor is it consumed at all.   
When I call to mind, o Lord, how once thou fedst in the desert, the Israelits with Quails and Manna from Heaven and ganest them water to drink out of a hard rock, 
Excodi. 16. & 17.  I am astonished: But when I consider with what an heavenly Manna, made not in the air by the fingers, of Angels, as that Manna was, but by the fingers of the Holy Ghost in the Heaven of the B. Virgin's womb, thou feedest us in the Blessed Sacrament, during our abode in the desert of this life, & wilt feed us till we come to our land of promise; I cease to wonder there, and I only wonder here.  
When I call to mind how thou, 
Math. 14.  o Blessed Saviour, the worker of all those former miracles, didst feed with five barley loaves & two fishes, five thousand men, besides women and children, & ganest to every one his fille, and yet after that all the guetsts had eaten as much as satisfied them, the leave and fragments filled twelve boskets, and so was greater than the feast was at the beginning; I wonder: But when I consider how in this B. Sacrament, thou, o Lord, feedest with a fare lesser quantity, so many million of Christians since thy last supper, and shalt feed them to the end of the world, and yet the feast never diminisheth, but is as great now as it was at the beginning, I cease to wonder there, and I stand altogether amazed here.  
Behold my soul what a provident and bountiful howsekeeper thy Lord jesus is. O the happiness of Catholics who have such abundance of bread and wine always prepared for them: and o the misery of the Heretic, who having, 
I●ac. 15.  like the Prodigal son, left the Church, his heavenly father's house, is fed only with the husks and chaff of figures, but hath not the solid corn to feed on. Let him return to the Church his Father's house, let him return again & cry with the Prodigal son. How many of my Father's hirelings have abundance of bread, 
Luc. 15.  and I here perish for famine? I will arise, and go to my Father, and say to him, father I have sinned against heaven and before thee: I am not worthy to be called thy son, make me one of thy hirelings. Which if the Heretic doth, God will admit him to the heavenly provision 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 never be hungry or thirsty again.  
This sacred bread which our Paterfamilias hath prepared for his howsehold, was kned by the fingers of the Holy Ghost, baked in the sacred oven of the B. Virgin's womb, not by the heat or fire of concupiscence, but of the Holy Ghost, drawn out of the oven in Christ his nativity, set at the table at Christ's last supper, and every day upon the Altar, for the nourishment of our heavenly father's howsehold. The wine which all of this howsehold do drink is most precious, 
Psal. 22.  A chalice inebriating: which inebriateth spiritually, and maketh us sleep to the world: The vine from which this sacred wine originally proceedeth, is Christ jesus, who called himself a vine, 
Io. 15.  sayinst to his disciples I am the vine: you the branches, which vine was planted in the vineyard of the B. Virgin's womb, when God the son took flesh of her, the grape of this vine was Christ's booby pressed on the cross, the wine was his sacred blood given to the Apostles at the last supper before the pressing on the Cross, but is given in the B. Saerament to their successor's aftet the pressing. By the force which this bread of life giveth, we walk with Helias, 
3. Reg. 19  not to the mount Horeb but to the mount of heaven, and by this sacred fare we overcome all difficulties, which either the devil or the world, or our own flesh do say in our wa●e. By this wine the Apostles, disciples and martyrs of the primitive Church being spiritually drunk, encouraged, and inflamed, could not be daunted with all the instruments of cruelty, with all the torments and death's which the Tyrants could device, but were ready to suffer all torments for h●m, who suffered for them, yea to give their lives for him, who offered his for them on the Cross, & in the B. Sacrament gave his body and blood to them.  
O my soul, say unto this thy bountiful host and howsekeeper as David said; Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus que retribuit mihi? what shall I give to God (to this my jesus God and man) for all things, which he hath given to me? I am less than the least of them, what then shall I render thee for this benefit of the B. Sacrament, in which thou so often gi●est thyself, thy body, blood and soul, and divinity? I can not give thee enough for the least ●rumme of this living bread of thy sacred body, for the least drop of this sacred wine of thy sacred blood, though I should give all I am and have, & though what I am were as perfect as the most perfect Angel, and though what I have were as much as Heaven and Earth. O Lord be content that I confess myself to be overcome by thee a thousand times in courtesies and favours, be content that I give thee my All, for I know thou art no little contented, when we give our All, be it never so little.   

THE FIFTH MEDITATION How Christ hath showed himself in this B. Sacrament a Father and more them a Father unto us.  
GOd Almighty is our Father by Creation, by which he giveth us our natural being, which is a participation of his divinen substance, 
Phil. lied decal. Magister Confor lib. 1. con. 12.  and by the same Creation he is a Common Father to all Creatures, especially man, and they are (as Philosaith) in respect of God who created them brethren amongst themselves and children of one Father, for which cause the devout Saint Francis called them his brethren and Sisters. Yet there is in this a difference betwixt man and other creatures, because man is not only a participation of God his substance as other creatures are, but is also an Image of God, in regard of his intellectual nature, and his understanding, will and memory, by which he representeth God and resembleth him, as the Son doth the Father: And  God when he was to create man, he said not only be man made, as he said, be light made, 
Gen. 1.  Be a Firmament made, be there lights made, but he said, let us make man to our Image and likeness. And so God even by creation is in a more perfect manner a Father of man, and man is in a more perfect manner his Son, resembling him as the child doth the Father.  
secondly God is Man's Father, and in a more perfect & eminent manner by sanctifying grace by which man reccaveth from God a supernatural being, and as S. Peter saith, 
2. Pet 1.  is Censors divinae naturae, partaker of the divine nature by which he is the adopted child of God, & he is his adoptive Father. 
Rom. 5.  We were borne of our natural Parents dead spiritually in soul by original sin: but we are regenereted and borne again spiritually to a supernatural life by the Grace which we receive in, and by Baptism, 
jon. 3. jon. 3.4. & 5. jon. 1. Rom. 8. Gal. 3. & 4.  by which God is our Father, the grace of Baptism is our regeneration and second nativity, 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, Christ the Son of God, God and Man, showeth himself a perfect Father, and more than a Father. A man is said to be Father of his Son, because he imparteth unto him his own nature flesh and blood, not the same individual, but another of the same Kind. But our B. Saviour in this Holy Sacrament imparteth unto us his own nature, substance, flesh, and blood, of which he himself consisteth. And so if the Son be called flesh of his Father's flesh, blood of his blood though he reccave not from him the same flesh and blood which he hath, but other flesh and blood of the same Kind: much more may Christians by receiving this Blessed Sacrament, be called flesh of Christ his flesh, and blood of his blood they receiving the self same flesh and blood of which he consisteth. And so not only by Baptism but also by this B. Sacrament Christ is our Father, and more substantially by this Sacrament then, by that because by that we receive only grace, which is only a supernatural, & accidental participation of God, by this we receive really Christ's own body and blood, yea soul and divinity, and by his and our burning love, meeting together, our substancies are (as S. Cyrill of Alexandria saith) as it were melted, and united as wax is to wax. 
Lib. 4. in joan. ca 17. Chris. lib. 61. ad Pop. Antioc.  We are as S. Chrysostome saith, unum corpus & membra, ex carne cius & ex ossibus eius, one body and members of his flesh and of his bones: we are not only by charity but reipsa in very deed mingled with his flesh for he semetipsum nobis immiscuis & corpus suum in nos contemperavit ut unum quid efficiamur tanquam corpus capiti coaptatum, ardenter enim amantium hoc est: he hath mingled himself to us, and hath contempered his body into us that we may be one thing, and as one body linked to the head, for this is the property of those that love ardently.  
O my soul how grateful shouldst thou be to such a Father who hath bestowed on thee his own substance in so admirable a manner? how shouldst thou scorn this world and all it can afford? how shouldst thou disdain to be aslave to the world, flesh and devil, thou being so nobly descended of so noble a Father, as is Christ jesus God and man, King of heaven and Earth? divers heathen Emperors imagined themselves to be born of the Gods, and this imagination made them to disdain all baseness. Do not thou then o my soul debase thyself, do not degenerate from this dignity to thy former vility and baseness of life, who art made partaker of Christ's body and blood, and nourished therewith.  
Let sinners who think of no other heaven than earth, nor of any other pleasure or delight but carnal, content themselves with their hoggish fare of wordly trash, and carnal pleasures: do thou take thy only delight in feeding of this Manna, which hath all delight, in eating of this bread of life which bringeth eternal life with it, and in drinking of this wine of Christ's ●loud which springeth Virgins, ●ebriateth the spirit and reioi ●eth the heart; Let worldlings ●ragge of their noble blood, ex●action and noble descent, thou art more nobly descended, to wit from Christ the Son of God, who in this B. Sacrament is thy Father and more than a Father: thou art of a more noble blood, because by this B. Sacrament thou art flesh and blood of Christ's flesh & blood; who was conceived & born of a Virgin-mother & by no other seed then the Holy Ghost.   

THE sixth MEDITATION How Christ hath showed himself in the B. Sacrament a Mother and more than a Mother.  
THe love of a Mother towards her child is so great, that none can imagine it but mothers themselves: It is greater than the love of the Father, because the Mother suffereth more for it then the Father doth, she bearing it in her womb nine months with great pain, bringing it to light with fare greater, she giving it her milk, swaddling it, rocking it, carrying it in her arms. And so as we love that best which we get with most difficulty, so she loveth the child most because she most endureth for it in performing the former offices; and her most familiarity with it from its birth, engendereth the greatest love and affection: Hence it is that when holy Scripture would express great love, it compareth it to the love of a mother, 
2. Reg. 1.  As the mother saith David) loveth her only son so did I love thee, jonathas: yea God himself explicateth his love to us by the love of a Mother, as by the greatest love, Why (saith he) can a woman forget her Infant etc. and if she should forget yet will not I forget thee. 
Isa. 49. Isa. 66.  And again: As if the mother should speak one fair, so will I comfort thee. And yet again: 
Io. 16.  A woman when she travaileth hath sorrow, but when she hath brought forth the child, now she remembreth not the anguish for joy that a man is borne into the world: and this the great joy of the mother is grounded on her great love, and this her great love on her great sorrow and pains which she suffered, and on her great familiarity with her child from its birth, If the love of a mother be so tender towards her child, how great must we think was the love of Christ towards us in the B. Sacrament, where he hath showed himself a mother and more than a mother?  
The mother by her paps giveth her child her milk, and so nourisheth it, so our B. Saviour by his sacred pap of this B. Sacrament, giveth us to suck his own blood, 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 blood the milk also of his sanctifying grace, and therewith nourisheth our souls. Mother's use to chew the meat which they give to their little Infants, so to make it fit for their eating, & our B. Saviour in the First in stitution of this B. Sacrament, did eat and as it were, chew his own flesh, and did drink to us all, in a draft of his own blood, to make it fit for our eating and drinking: and as nature in the mother converteth her blood into milk, and so covereth it with the white colour of milk lest the child should abhor to take it in the colour of blood, so our B. Saviour hath covered his Sacred flesh & blood, which he giveth us to eat and drink, under the usual colour of bread, & wine, knowing that we would abhor to eat his flesh & drink his blood in their own shape and form.  
And to show himself not only as a mother, but more than a mother, he giveth us to eat of his own flelsh, & to drink his own blood, which Mothers do not; They give their milk which aboundeth in them, not their flesh or blood. Christ shed for us on the cross not his superfluous blood, but even that blood which was necessary to keep life, and this blood he giveth us by the dug, pap, and teat of this B. Sacrament.  
O mother and more than any mother, for as S. Chrysostome saith, mothers do often times give over their children, to be nursed by others; but our B. Saviour to make us generous as he is, to make us suck with his blood his divine conditions, would not, out of his love, permite this, but he nourisheth us (which no mother will do) with his own flesh & blood. 
Chrys. hom. 60. ad pop. An troch.  O love above the love of Mothers, o love above the love of all creatures, proper only to God and the lover of mankind.  
With what spiritual greediness then, and hunger, should we come to this B. Sacrament, to suck out of this dug the blood of Christ and the milk of grace? Nun videtis (saith S. 
Hom. 60. ad pop. An tioch.  Chrysostome) quanta promptitudine paruuli papillas capiunt, & quanto impetu labia uberibus insigunt, accedamus ●nm tanta nos quoque alacritate ad hanc meusam: quivimo cum longe maiori trahamus tanquam infantes lactanei Spiritus gratiam, & unus sit nobis dolor hac escaprivari: Do you not see with what promptitude and greediness little Infants take their Mother's paps, with what a violence they fasten their lips on the paps? let us also come with the like alacrity, yea with a fare greater, let us like sucking Infants suckr the spirit of grace, and let it be our only grief to be deprived of this food.  
O my fweet saviour, o my dear Father and Mother (for so thou hast showed thyself in this holy Sacrament) be unto me a Father and Mother, provide for me all necessaries for a fpirituall life, provide for me an inheritance in the next, for that it pertaineth to Fathers and Mothers to lay up treasures for their children.  
O my dear Father and Mother, bestow for ever thy love on me, for that it is natural for parents to love their children, and love me not for a while but for ever. The more perfect parents are the longer they love their young ones. The beasts of the Earth and the fowls of the air, do love and care and provide for their young ones, only for a time, that is, till they be able to shift for themselves, and after that, they make no distinction betwixt them and others, but the Father and Mother amongst men, because they are more perfect parents, do love their children even to death, and provide an Inheritance for them to live on after the parent's death. God almighty therefore who is our Father not only by creation, but also by grace and Sanctification, and a most perfect Father also, loveth his Elected children for all eternity, even before they were, as he, loved jacob before he was borne and (as Hieremie saith) in an everlasting charity he loved his chosen people: 
Rom. 9 Hierm. 22.  he loveth them here by grace, and in heaven, and that eternally, by eternal glory.  
Wherhfore O my sweet Saviour, thou who in this B. Sacrament hast showed thyself a supernatural and most perfect Father, and Mother to all that receive thee in it, and even to me though otherwise a wretched sinner, love me I beseech thee as thy child (for parents do naturally love their children) & love me perpetually, here by thy grace and in heaven by thy eternal glory: & if thou shouldst vouchsafe so to love me, I care not though all the world should hate me, for if thou by thy love stand for me, who can stand against me? And because by this Holy Sacrament thou art my Father & Mother give me grace always to love thee also because children do naturally love their parents, and grant me grace to love thee above Father and Mother, for that in this B. Sacrament thou art become unto me more than any Father and Mother. And if thou love me how can I miscarry, thou protecting whom thou lovest? And if I love thee, nothing can come amiss unto me, be it prosperity or adversity, health or sickness, riches or poverty, because to them that love thee all things cooperate unto good, 
Ro. ms.  and so even my sincnes (o Lord) though they dishonour thee, and hurt me for a time, yet if I love thee, they will turn to thy greater honour, & my greater spiritual profit, because through thy grace they will turn, as were the sins of Marie Magdalen to her, motives to a greater penance, and spurs to a better life than otherwise I should have led.  
Thou comawndest us (o Lord) to honour our Father and mother, 
Exod. 20  that we may be long livers upon the Earth. Every effect if it had reason would honour its cause, of which it hath its being, and by which it subsisteth, and so the light would honour and love the Sun, the rivers their fountains, the fruits their trees, the young birds their oldones, the young beasts 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 gave him his life and being, and to this he is obliged by the Law of God and nature. How much then, o swear jesus, should I honour thee who in this B. Sacrament art a Supernatural Father and Mother unto me, and more than any Father and Mother?  
Thou commandest us o Lord to acknowlge no other Father than God, saying: 
Matt. 23  call none Father to yourself upon earth for one is your Father, he that is in heaven. Because although our Carnal Fathers be our true Fathers, yet in comparison of thee, o Lord, they are no Fathers, thou by creation being more our Father then they, and by sanctification, and this B. Sacrament, being our Supernatural Father & more than our carnal Father and mother. Our carnal parents are but half Fathers and Mother's generating only our body, whereas thou art our total Father, that is of soul aswell as body; Give me grace then o heavenly Father to love and honour thee above my carnal Father and Mother, to forsake them rather than offend and foresake thee by sin, that so honouring and loving thee, I may be a long liver, 
Exod. 20.  not upon earth, but in heaven where my life shall be eternity.  
And because children do willingly follow their Fathers and Mother's steps, and do imitate them in all their actions be they good or bad, thinking it convenient for them to do what they see their parents do before them; give me, o Lord, by thy grace a desire & a delight to imitate thee in all thy holy actions & virtues, in thy humility, 
Phil. 2.  patience, charity & obedience even unto death.  
Thou saidst once to the jews, 
Io. 8.  If you be the children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham: wherefore seeing that by this Holy Sacrament, thou o Lord, art my Father & Mother, & they who receive it worthily, are thy children, give me grace to imitate thy virtues and holy actions, let them be patterns and examples for me to follow, let them be always before my eyes that I may ever behold them, let them be always in my heart, that I may ever love them, let them be always in my hands, that I may ever practise them, so I shall be to thee as an obedient child doing in all things thy holy will, and thou wilt be to me a loving Father, furnishing me not with a temporal estate, as carnal parents only can do, but providing for me here grace, and an inheritance in heaven of glory, which thou hast laid up in store for all eternity, for those that are thy true and obedient children, fullfilling in all things thy holy will and commandment.   

THE SEAVENTH MEDITATION What a friend Christ hath showed himself in the B. Sacrament.  
ARistotle the Prince of Philosophers who dived as fare almost into the secrets of nature as natural reason could permit, 
Eib 2. Lth●c.  thought there could be no perfect and proper friendship betwixt God and man, because there could be no equality or parity betwixt them, God being infinite in Majesty, and sovereign and supreme in authority & dignity, man infinitely beneath him in degree, base also of condition (though he be an Emperor) in comparison of God, with which disparity he thought familiarity would not consist, which yet he thought was belonging to friends and friendship.  
Wherein all though he erred yet his error was excusable, because by natural reason he could not discover the Excellency of Grace, much less of th' Incarnation the fountain of all grace. For grace being a supernatural gift of God, elevateth nature above nature, and maketh such a kind of equality betwixt man & God that S. Peter saith, we are consortes divinae naturae, 
2. Pet.  partakers of the divine nature. And by Incarnation God became man & man God, and so man was consubstantial to God, and equal to him, though not as man, but as God. And so God and man by these means were made friends: to which honour God out of his goodness hath exalted us and hath made us equal to him by his descending, & as it were debaling himself so low, as to be man with us. O the goodness of God that would not only be content but also desirous to contract friendship with us his creatures, as though God could not be God unless he were good to us, or could not live contentedly unless we were his friends, and he ours. O my soul do thou here stand amazed, and in amazement fay to thy God, who am I that thou shouldst so esteem of me as to vouchsafe to accept of me as thy friend? I am not worthy o Lord to be thy vassal, and slave, how then dost thou take me for thy friend? What Emeprour will stoop so low as to be a friend to his vassals, and yet man though an Emperor is but thy vassal? It is honour o Lord, to much for me to be servant to such a Prince, how much more than to much, to be thy friend? Speak David what thinkest thou of this honour which God doth to men in accounting them his friends? To me (saith he) thy friends are become honourable exceedingly, nimis honorati, 
Psa. 38.  to much honoured.  
Nay God is not content only to be our friend, but hath contracted with us a firmer friendship, and more indissoluble, then ever was betwixt man and man. Damon and Pythias. Pylades & Orestes and others are famous for their friendship, which was so great that the one esteemed th● other another himself, and therefore the one was ready to dye for the other: but this friendship, o Lord is, not comparable to thy friendship which thou hast contracted with man.  
Thou first hast contracted friendship betwixt thyself and man by Incarnation, by which thou art linked to man, in a most admirable unity in one person, by which God is man and man is God, which friendship is so fast firm, and indissoluble, that so long as, God shall be God, he shall be man: and man shall be God. O my soul be thou never so ungrateful as ever to forget this friendship, It is the ground of all other freindships', & the most honourable. Damon and Pythias were linked only in affection, so was lonathas and David, 
1. Reg. 1●.  whose soul is said to have been g●●ed to jonathas his soul, but by this friendship of Incarnation God & man were united in one person really and substantially. O Lord what is man that thou shouldst so grace & favour him, as to Vouchsafe to be so nearly linked in friendship to him, as to be one person with him.  
secondly thou hast linked thyself in friendship with man by grace and charity, and this is an effect of the former friendship, because the Incarnation is the fountain of all grace. 
jac. 2.  Abrahamindewed with this grace, is called by S. james. Amicus Dei, the friend of God. And Christ speaketh to his Apostles in those friendly and comfurtable words: 
joa. 15.  You are my friends if you do the things that I command you, now I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth, but you I have called friends, because all things whatsoever I heard of my Father I have notified unto you. And all the Just, by this friendship are friends to him, and he to them. This friendship once made, on God his part, is never dissolved, for he never ceaseth to be our friend till we turn his enemies by mortal sin. And although by sin this friendship be to often broken on our part by particular men, yet it is generally so firm, that there was never so firm a friendship betwixt man and man, as there is by grace and charity betwixt God and man.  
There is no greater friendship or charity saith our B. Saviour, then that a man yield his life for his friends (which few friends have done for one another) and yet our 
Io. 15.  B. Saviour hath died not only for his friends, but even for his foes, to make them friends, and those his friends have been so loving and so constant to him, that many millions of Christians have died for him, as appears in our so many Martyrs, whom no threatening of Tyrants could so daunt, no promises so allure, no torments so terrify, no deaths so scar, as to make them deny Christ or his religion, but strengthened with grace & charity, they triumphed over all, and for his love they forsook all, (as lands, livings, life) rather than they would forsake him: and as he first died for them, so did they dye for him. O Lord tie me by this link of friendship unto thee, that I may prefer thy love before the love of all but thee, or for thee, confirm me so in this friendship, that by no mortal Sin it may be dissolved, but that I may remain thy fast friend even to death, and may never again shake hands with the world, flesh, and devil, thy sworn enemies, or any creature whose love is offensive to thee, that I may not only live but also dye loving, and so love thee for ever.  
The third friendship, o Lord, which out of thy most ardent love thou contractest with us, is by this B. Sacrament of the Altar, by which thou art united unto us not only in affection, as commonly friends are, but also in substance. The first friendship of Incarnation (if we may judge of the cause by the effect) is the greatest and noblest, because it causeth a greater and more noble union with God, for that by Incarnation man was made the natural son of God, whereas by the friendship of grace and charity, he is only th' adopted son of God, and the friendship of Incarnation is altogether indissoluble, in so much that death, which separated Christ's soul from his body, could not separate his humane nature from his divinity, the friendship of grace and charity in this life, is often broken by mortal sin. The friendship also of Incarnation in some respects exceedeth the friendship 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 soul and substance, yet in one respect the friendship made by the Blessed Sacrament is greater than that of the Incarnation, because by Incarnation precisely taken, that friendship was contracted only with that particular human nature which God assumed unto him in the unity of person; but by the B. Sacrament, Christ uniteth himself in substance to all those who receive him in it. By Incarnation none but Christ's humane nature was formally deified and sanctified, by the B. Sacrament all are sanctified who worthily receive it.  
Yet in this B. Sacrament Christ hath showed himself a greater friend than ever man was to man. men's friendship consists only in affection, but the friendship made by the B. Sacrament, importeth a real union of Christ's substance with ours, and therefore human friendship causeth only a metaphorical union betwixt those who are friends, but this friendship implieth a real union of our substance with the substance of Christ and of our flesh and blood with his. And by humane friendship external goods of fortune, as riches, lands, monies are common betwixt friends, according to the common saying. Inter amecos omnia sunt communia, amongst friends all things are common. But the goods of their bodies as health, strength, beauty etc. are not common, nor can they: but by this friendship made in and by this B. Sacrament, Christ's body blood soul yea and divinity are imparted to us, and made common to us, and our substance is really united to his. o the admirable friendship.  
Friends although they be sepated in bodies and places, yet by mutual love they are united in wills, soul and spirit, and especially if their friendship be contracted by grace and charity, and therefore of the first Christians though separated in bodies & place, 
Act 4.  S. Luke giveth this testimony: the multitude of believers had one heart and soul. And jonathas his soul by freinship & love was said to be conglutinata joined fast & as it were glued to the soul of David; 
1. Reg. 18.  
Lib. 4. Confess. c. 6.  And S. Austin speaking of a great friend of his who was dead saith. I thought my soul and his soul to have been one soul in two bodies, and therefore my life to me was an horror, because I would not live half, and therefore perchance I feared to die lest he should dye wholly whom I much loved. But this union betwixt these friends was only metaphorical and in affection, whereas by the friendship made in and by the B. Sacrament there is a realle union not only of Christ's substance with those that receive him by communion but also of the receivers & communicants amongst themselves, because they all receiving the same individual body of Christ, are all really united in it and by it to one another.  
O admirable freinship and no less admirable union, greater than is the union betwixt children of one Father and mother, their union is called consanguinity, by which they are united in flesh and blood which they receive from the same parents, which is counted a greater tie than any human friendship can make, and yet they receive not from their parents the same individual flesh and blood, either with their parents or with one another, but another, and that distinct, though of the same Kind; they who receive this B. Sacrament, do receive the same individual flesh and blood which he hath, and so are united to him and amongst themselves in one & the selfsame flesh and blood. By this friendship we live not only together in one house, as other friends do, but as Christ saith joan 6. 
joan. 6.  he that eateth his flesh, and drinketh his blood, abideth in him, and Christ in him, and so they live not only together in one house, but also one with in another.  
O friendship excelling all humane friendship and even carnal consanguinity and the nearest kindred. O how should we love this noble friend who out of his excessive love hath linked us unto him, not only in affection, as friends are, nor in the like flesh and blood, as children of one Father and Mother are, but in the selfsame Individual substance of which he consisteth. O how should we love one another, and even more than we do our brethren and sisters, because we are linked not only in flesh & blood of the same kind taken from the same parents as they are, but in one individual flesh, and blood of Christ which we all receive in this B. Sacrament.  
Friends at their departure by death or by a long journey do leave only their friends an Image or a ring or some other gift for a remembrance, and this argueth their great love: But Christ at his departure out of this world (in respect of his visible presence) hath left us in this B. Sacrament the best thing he had, not an Image or a ring, or such like, but even his own flesh & blood, his own self, and so leaving us visible, remaineth with us invisibly in this B. Sacrament, and will so remain with us to the world's end. How should we embrace and love this our so great friend? What shall we give him for this gift? he is more worth ten thousand times then we are or have, yet let us give him ourselves, as he hath given himself to us, and though there be infinite disparity betwixt him and us, yet he will accept of our gift, because it is as much as we can give.  
Some friends and Confederates who have made a firm league or friendship, to make it firmer and more inviolable, have let themselves blood, and have signed it with their blood. So our B. Saviour to make a firmer league & friendship with us, did let himself blood on the cross, and this his blood he gives us to drink daily, and his flesh also to eat in the B. Sacrament, thereby to sign this league, and to make it inviolable. O let us not on our part break this friendship, but let us rather sign it with our blood, if the occasion be offered, as Christ hath signed it with his, which also he gives us to drink, that we may never forget this league and friendship.  
True friends are ready to dye for one another, as they say Pylades and Orestes and others were, thinking themselves to live (though dead) so long as their friend liveth, and to dye (though living) when their friend dieth. Our B. Saviour hath sacrificed himself once on the Cross by a real death, and he daily sacrificeth himself mysticalie in the B. Sacrament for us, let us be then always ready in preparation of mind to dye for him who first died for us, let us not think it much to give our life for him who gave his life for us, which being the life of God & man, infinitely surpassed the lives of all men, though never so great and many; yea and of Angels also if they could dye, as they may be annihilated.  
O my soul do thou resolve thyself into love, to show thyself grateful to so loving a friend, do thou imitate the Phoenix, burn thyself in thine own flames of love, that dying in this Fire to the world, this life, and thyself, thou mayst rise to heaven to an eternal life; o my soul stick to this friend so fast, as that neither Father nor Mother, sister nor brother, prosperity nor adversity, life nor death, nor all the creatures in the world may separate thee from him, but as friends live willingly together, so thou mayst live in him, and he in thee in this B. Sacrament, so thou mayst live with him in the Church militant, that thou mayst ever live with him in the Church triumphant, so thou mayst live with him here by grace that thou mayst reign with him in heaven by glory.   

THE EIGHT MEDITATION How Christ hath showed himself in this B. Sacrament, a most loving spouse.  
O My B. Saviour, o lover of souls, thou confoundest me with thy love showed to me in this B. Sacrament, by so many ways. I have found thee in it & by it a bountiful feastmaker, & provident howse-holder, a Father, a Mother, a Friend; & now I find thee to be in it and by it a most amorous spouse of our souls, that so by one Title or other or altogether, thou mayst wrest out a reciprocal love of ours towards thee. As thou hast contracted three freindships' with us, as we have seen in the former chapter, so hast thou contracted three Marriages with us: the first by Incarnation, the Second by grace, the third by this B. Sacrament.  
By Incarnation thou art so fast wedded unto us, and linked unto us by a knot so indissoluble, that it excelleth the bond of carnal mariaage betwixt man and wife, because carnal marriage is dissolved by death of both or one of the parties, but the marriage of Incarnation betwixt God & man is absolulie indissoluble, insomuch that death which separated Christ his soul from his body, could separate neither soul nor body from the divinity, to which they were united: and so, so long as God shall be God, he shall be man, and man shall be God, and the marriage shall be eternal, and whereas by marriage all things are common betwixt man and wife, by Incarnation God imparted to our humane nature all his Goods, and divine attributes, for that after Incarnation, man became God, and consequently eternal, omnipotent, immense etc. by a certain communication which divines call communicatio idiomatum, and man gave to God all his riches, or rather poverties, for that after Incarnation God became man and consequently was borne in time of a Virgin-mother, who was borne of a Virgin Father before all worlds, and so became hungry and thirsty, hot and cold, passable and mortal as other men are: and as by carnal marriage man and wife are una caro one flesh, 
Ephes. 5.  so by this marriage God and man is one flesh, yea one person. The Church in which this marriage was made was the sacred womb of the Virgin; the Bride's God and man: the Priest that married them the Holy Ghost, the words by the which the marriage was contracted were. Ecce Ancilla Domini siat mihi secundum verbum tuum: 
Luc. 1.  Behold the handmaid of our Lord be it done to me according to thy word: the paranimphe was S. john baptist. But this marriage was made immediately only betwixt the second person in Trinity God the Son and that human nature which he took of the B. Virgin's womb; yet this marriage is the ground of the two ensuing marriages.  
The second marriage betwixt God and man, is contracted by grace & charity. Of which speaketh the Prophet Osee, 
Osee cap. 2.  in the name of God: I will despouse thee to me for ever, and I will despouse thee to me in justice etc. and of this th' Apostle also speaking saith, I have despoused you to one man, 
1. Cor. 11.  to present you a chaste Virgin unto Christ. By this marriage we are so despoused and linked to God, that as man and wife are one flesh, so we and God are one spirit, because as S. 
1. Cor. 6.  Paul saith. Qui adhaeret Domino unus spiritus est, he that cleaneth to our Lord, (by charity) is one spirit with him.  
Man and wife by their bond of marriage are to live, and use to live in one house: but by this marriage, God dwelleth in us and we in him, according to those our saviours words: 
Io. 14  If any love me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make abode with him: and that this dwelling and abiding is not only with us, but in us, 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. john saith: 
1. Io. 4.  God is charity, and he that abideth in charity abideth in God and God in him. So that by this marriage God dwells in us as in his Temple and mansion place, & we in him: yea by this marriage we are as S. 
S●pra 1. Cor. 6.10.17.  Paul saith one spirit with God: And Christ himself prayeth that his Apostles and they that believed their preaching may be one in spirit of Charity, as he and his Father are one in substance.  
Whereupon the devout S. 
Bern. ser. 17. in cant.  Beanard saith. Quid ergo dicit Fi lives? etc. What doth the Son (of God) say? I am in the Father and the Father in me and we are one. Man saith, I am in God, and God is in me, and we are one spirit. And in the same place: none but a mad man will usurp that voice of the only begotten: I and the Father are one: 
Bern. ibid.  yet I, though I be but dust, will not be afraid to say this: I am one spirit with God. He addeth that man was in God from all eternity, because God loved man from all eternity; but God began in time to be in man when man began to love him. O how should we love this Spouse of our souls, who is by Charity so wedded unto us, as he is not only with us but also in us? because as man and wife are una caro, one flesh, so is he one Spirit with us. who would forsake the love of such a Spouse, as God is, who is our Creator and Saviour, for the love of any creature though never so dear?  
The thirde marriage betwixt Christ and us, is by means of the B. Sacrament, by which Christ to us and we to him are united, not only in mutual love, but also in substance; because by this B. Sacrament we receive his body, blood, soul, yea and divinity, & our substance is united to his in that his is united to ours. And as in carnal marriage all goods are common, even bodies, because as S. 
1. Cor. 7.  Paul saith the woman hath not power of her own body, but her husband, and the man also hath not power of his body but the woman. So by this Sacrament Christ communicateth more abundantly his grace● then by any other, & his substance, that is his body and blood, soul, divinity, are ours by communion, & he as it were taketh possession of our body & soul when by communion he dwelleth in us. And as by carnal marriage the man and wife are una caro, one flesh, 
Hom. 61 Cyrill Alex li. 4. in joa. c. 17.  so doth he in a manner by our receiving 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 wax united to wax. And so as carnal marriage betwixt man and wife is contracted by mutual consent expressed by their words, but is consummated by union of their bodies, so a spiritual marriage is contracted betwixt us & Christ by charity, but is not consummated but by union of our substance with his by means of this B. Sacr.  
O my soul what an honour is it to be married to such a spouse; more certes than for a poor maid to be married to Turrian Emperor, because there is a greater distance & disparity betwixt Christ & thee, then betwixt the poorest begget and the richest Emperor. o how didst thou love me sweet Saviour! who vouchsafest to take me thy poor creature for thy spouse. And if I consider what thou suffered'st to purchase me for thy Spouse, thy love will more appear: If an Emperor should hazard his life to win the love of a poor maid, how amorous should he be thought to be of her. Thou o Lord shedst thy blood to win my love and boughtest me with it to be thy spouse, so that as Sephora said to Moses that he was a bloody spouse unto her, 
Exod. 4  because she was enforced to circumcise her son to save Moses his life, so much more o my soul mayst thou say to thy spouse Christ jesus. Thou a●t a bloody spouse unto me, who sheddedst thy blood and sufferdst thy bitter passion to marry me by thy grace and by this B. Sacrament, give me grace to be always ready in mind to shed my blood for thee, if occasion shall present itself, that I may also be a bloody spouse to thee. To this I am invited by thy blood which I so often drink in the B. Sacrament.  
It is commanded in Genesis that man should leave Father and Mother toad here to his wife, and, 
Gen. 2.  the same commandment is given to the wife in regard of her husband: much more shouldst thou (my soul) rather leave carnal parents and wordly riches & pleasures; then to leave by sin this thy so loving spouse; 
Ephes. 5.  Thou commandest also o dear Spouse that men should love their wives, do thou observe this law which thou hast made, and do thou love me thy Spouse, betrothed to thee by charity and this B. Sacrament, and give me grace always to love thee, never to offend thee. O how happy art thou my soul, who art espoused to so noble and so chaste a Spouse as Christ, 
In officio S. Agnetis.  whose Father knew no woman, whose Mother knew no man, who is a Spouse more beautiful than the Sun, more rich than heaven and earth, more noble than all the Emperors that ever were: Whom if thou lovest thou art chaste, 
Ibid.  if thou touchest thou art clean, and undefiled, if thou marriest thou remainest a Virgin. O my sweet Saviour love me, I am thy Spouse, o my soul love thy Saviour, he is thy Spouse: And as man and wife do so love that they are never well but when they are together; so o sweet jesus my dear Spouse let me never think myself well but when I am with thee, and thou with me, by frequent communion and receiving of this B. Sacrament, that living with thee in this B. Sacrament, and consequently in the Church militant, where only it is lawfully ministered and received, I may live and dwell with thee for ever in the Church Triumphant.   

THE NINTH MEDITATION What a Physician Christ hath showed himself in this B. Sacrament.  
GOD Almighty created man in good health, sound and whole both in body and soul, bestowing on him the tree of life which would have preserved his body from distemperatures, diseases and death, and endewing him with original justice, which so subjected his body to his soul, and sensuality to reason, the inferior part of his soul to the superior, and that to God, that in his soul there was no inordinate passion, no sin, nor spiritual infirmity, But he not knowing how to use this his felicity, by a wilful surfeit taken by eating the forbidden fruit, distempered his body with mortality, from whence all diseases of the body and death itself proceed, and by his disobedience cast his soul at one time into as many diseases as inordinate passions, which diverse have reduced to four, which they call, vulnera animae, wounds of the soul, residing in four principal powers and faculties of the soul. The understanding, whose object is truth, and whose perfection is knowledge, was obscured and darkened by ignorance. The will, whose mark, at which she aimeth, is good, & whose perfection is love, was infected with malice, The irascible part, whose object is difficulty, and whose glory is victory over difficulty, was weakened with infirmity. The concupiscible part, whose object was moderate delight, and whose felicity was contentment, was galled with the itching and ill pleasing sore of concupiscence.  
And thus this Samaritan descending from Herusalem that is Paradise, from which now he was banished, unto Hierico this mortal and miserable world, the vale of misery, fell into the hands of thiefs, the devils, who despoiled him of his armour of original justice and wounded him in body and soul, 
Luc. 10.  yet semiuiu● relicto. Leaving him half alive because though he was despoiled of all supernatural graces, yet he lost no natural perfection, though he was also weakened in that. By this miserable and woeful wight thus miserable spoiled & wounded the priest & Levite passed, 
Luc. 10.  but could not cure him, or help him, because the old law could only tell the disease, but could not cure it by grace, because though their law was given by Moses, yet grace by jesus Christ.  
Thou therefore o sweet saviour, o most expert and merciful physician, who camest to save sinners, and to heal the wounded, and diseased, by the oil of thy merc e, & wine of thy blood, which thou sheddest in thy passion & appliedst, & as it were powredst forth in the B. Sacrament, hast on thy part cured this miserable wight, man, and all mankind.  
Thy Sacraments o Lord, which thou institutedst, are so many salves, and remedies against the sores, wounds, and diseases of our soul. Baptism cureth the wound of original sin: the Sacrament of Penance is a remedy against the sins that are committed after Baptism: Matrimony is a salve ordained against the wound of concupiscence, which galleth the concupiscible part: Confirmation against infirmity in the Irascible part: The B. Sacrament after we are cured, nourisheth us in a spiritual life: Extreme unction taketh away the relics of sin: Order maketh under Physicians, who under Christ, and by virtue and authority from him do minister the aforesaid Sacraments and remit sins. 
Io. 20.  o Sovereign and saving Physician.  
By thy holy word also, and sacred scripture thou hast showed thyself to be our Physician, for that every word of this sacred scripture is a simple, every sentence a salve against sin, & therefore by reading holy scripture or hearing of it read and rightly interpreted, many thousand have been converted, many thousands have been saved: O sweet jesus in whose name dwelleth salvation: O heavenly Physician who hast provided so many remedies against sin, so many helps to salvation.  
Nay all Christ his life was a shop full of drugs, salves, & remedies against sin. Every prayer he made, every exhortation: every parable he spoke, every miracle he wrought, every word he uttered, every good work he did, every step he walked, every tear that fell from his eyes, every drop of blood he shed for us, every lash at the pillar, every prick of the thorns, every piercing of the nails in his hands and feet, the hunger and thirst he endured, every pain & pang he sustained on the cross, were a salve and remedy against sin. So that if now the prophet Hieremie should ask of us Christians, as he did heretofore of the jews, 
Hier. 8.  is there no rosin in Galaad, in the Church of God? is there no Physician there? we might answer, yes Hieremie in the Church of Christ there is rosin and all manner of salves and remedies, against all our spiritual wounds & diseases. And in this Church there is a head Physician Christ jesus, and thousands of under-physitians, even as many as there are lawful Priests, who can absolve from sins, and minister Sacraments, and preach the word of God, and thereby remit all sins and cure all our spiritual diseases.  
Physicians do company more with the sick than the whole, they are much in hospitals by sick & infirm persons, with them they device about their sickness, them they seek to comfort. And thou o heavenly Physician, leaving thy Father's Palace descendedst into the Hospital of this world, where are as many Lazars, sick and infirm persons, as there are sinners, and with them whilst thou livedst on earth was thy conversation, sometimes with scribes and pharisees, sometimes with Publicans, sometimes with harlots; and all thy talk and discourses, parables, and preachings & miracles were practised amongst them, and for them; yea thou sattest at table with Publicans and sinners & by that familiarity gainedst them, 
Math. 9 Mat. 2.  and by thy wholesome exhortations curedst them of their sins. And when the Scribes & pharisees found fault with this, 
Luc. 5.  thou answerdst them. The whole have no need of a Physician, but they that are ill at ease, for I came not to call the lust but Sinners.  
But especially o my good God thou hast showed thyself a most loving and merciful Physician in this B. Sacrament, where thou givest us in a most admirable manner thy sacred body and blood, which are most sovereign medecines, against all spiritual diseases, for as whilst thou livedst a mortal life with us in this world, virtue went forth from thee and healed all of their corporal diseases, 
Luc. 6.  so in this B. Sacrament, where thou art really, virtue issueth from thy sacred body and blood, and healeth and cureth all spiritual diseases, and whereas corporal medecines and potions do restore us only to health of body, and so conserve life for a time. This medicine of thy flesh and blood giveth life everlasting both to soul and body, and therefore thou thyself sayest, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, 
Io. 6.  hath life everlasting and I will raise him up in the last day; and he giveth the reason hereof, for my flesh (saith he) is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed.  
Other Physicians to cure divers diseases must prescribe diverse medecines and potions, composed of diverse ingrediences: but thou with one potion of thy sacred blood, which we drink in this B. Sacrament, curest all diseases. Other Physicians will minister to their patients bitter potions, but themselves will not drink of them, but thou at thy last supper dranckst a health to us of thy blood, which was bitter to thee in thy passion, when it was shed, but pleasant to us, and so pleasant that it taketh away the bitterness from all the sufferances and adversities 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 patience of their ague will let them blood, yea and sometimes lance them and scarify them, but will not lose a drop of their own blood for them: but thou o loving Physician! didst let thyself blood even at the heart to cure our ague of sin. And this thy blood thou givest unto us in this Blessed Sacrament.  
Other Physicians will prescribe to their patient's abstinence and fasting, for to diminish the heat of their ague, by diminishing the humours which nourished it, but will not fast themselves, but thou fastedst forty days and for●ie nights for us. Other Physicians will endeavour to take the ague and disease from the sick person, 
Math. 4.  but will not take it to themselves to rid him of it, but thou hast taken our spiritual ague of sin on thyself to free us from it, according as thy Apostle S. Peter testifieth, saying, 
1. Pet. 2.  who himself bore our sins in his body upon the tree. Not that thou tookst the malice of sin (of which thy sacred humanity was uncapable) but that thou enduredst in thy body, and on the Cross the pain due to sin, in satisfying for it by thy death and bitter passion, and by suffering the pain, thou hast cured the ague, and this thy passion is represented and applied by this Holy Sacrament.  
O most charitable Physician: o my soul what thankes shouldst thou give to this thy Physician for this B. Sacrament, so sovereign against all our spiritual diseases? O with what disposition shouldest thou come to receive this so wholesome Physic, which cureth all venial sins, yea & mortal also, if thou have no knowledge nor conscience of them?  
O my soul when by this B. Sacrament thou art cured of thy spiritual diseases, remember those words spoken by this thy Physician to the lame man at the Probatica Piscina. 
joan 5.  I am sanus es noli amplius peccare, now thou art made whole sin no more: now that thou art cured by such sovereign Physic, do thou take heed of recidivation and falling into sickness again, for that this thy ingratitude will be greater, and thy sin and sickness more hardly cured: But do thou frequent often this B. Sacrament, by devout communion and receiving, and then by it thou wilt be more and more nourished in grace, & fortified against sin; then by virtue of this Spiritual food thou shalt one day come to sit at table with the Angels and Saints; and then thou shalt feed not of Christ his body and blood, as now thou dost in this B. Sacrament, but of the divinity of God, by clear vision and fruition of him; then thou shalt taste how sweet God is in his Godhead, than thou shalt ever feed of the divinity, yet never loathe it, than thou shalt always drink of that fountane of pleasure, and yet be ever more and more desirous to drink: Then all bliss, happiness and pleasure shall ever fill thee, and yet thou shall never be satisfied, 
Aug●trac 3. ●n Euang. Io. in fine.  yea (to use S. Austin's words) thou shalt ever be satisfied, & yet never satisfied, for if I say thou shalt not be satisfied, hunger shall be there; if I say that thou shalt be satisfied I fear loathing There shall neither be hunger nor loathing I know not what to say.   

THE TENTH MEDITATION How good a Shepherd and Pastor Christ hath showed himself in this B. Sacrament.  
ALthough (o my sweet Saviour) thou art not only man but also God, yet thou stilest not thyself so willingly by names taken from thy Godhead, as Creator of heaven and Earth Omnipotent, Immense, King of Kings, 
2. Reg.  Lord of Lords, God and Lord of hosts, (which are names of Majesty & terror, and by which thou wast most often called in the old law) as by names taken from thy human nature, to wit, jesus and Saviour, Redeemer, light of the world, bread of life, and the like, which are names sounding and importing love, mercy and benignity; but above all the name of Pastor pleaseth thee, that implying greatest love and charity; and therefore thou professest thyself to be a Good Pastor, and such an one, as is ready to give his life for his sheep, 
Io. 10.  than which there can be no greater charity.  
Other shepherd's in some Countries, to win the love of their sheep, and to familiarize themselves the better with them, do invest themselves with sheep-skinnes, with the wool outwards; and thou (o loving Pastor) that thou mights be the less terrible, and more amiable to us thy sheep, wouldst not appear in thy glorious habit and weed of thy divinity, 
Exod. 19 & 20.  nor in fire, nor lightning, nor thunder, nor in dark and terrible clouds, as thou didst in the old law, which was a law of terror; but wouldst put on the habit and fleece of our human nature, and so appear & be man with men: that so men might converse with thee with less fear, more love, and familiarity: 
Phil. 2.  for thou exinanitedst thyself, taking the form of a Servant, made into the similitude of men, and in shape found as man: that being man thou mightst the better converse with thy sheep, who are men. In this shape of man, thou wast so grateful to the jews, that whereas before that thou putst on this alluring habit, they durst not approach to the mountain, where thou exhibitedst thy presence, nor could endure to hear thy voice, 
Ex●. 20.  but cried to have Moses, not thee to speak unto them; since that thou appearedst in the form of man, 
Tit. 3.  and that the benignity and kindness towards man of our Saviour God, appeared, Thousands of the jews, followed thee to hear thy preaching, and to see thy miracles, and good examples: and since that like a good shepherd in this form of man (for in the form of God thou couldst not) thou diedst for mankind, all nations have flocked unto thee, and will do till the world's end. O happy we, who are governed by a Pastor of our own Kind, in our own shape, and him so benign, mild, and charitable.  
Pastors and shepherds do govern their sheep by their Pastoral staff or hook, by their own call or whistle, or by their dog; & these shepherds bring them to pastures, or fields most fit for them to graze in, and where is most fit nouriture for them: so thou a loving Pastor, governest us by the staff of thy Pastoral authority, which thou hast imparted to thy under Pastors, and doctors of the Church, yet so, as whilst they direct us outwardly by laws and commandments, thou directest us inwardly by grace, which giveth us force to obey them; whilst they govern and feed us outwardly, by preaching & expounding scripture, thou preachest inwardly by thy grace & inspirations; whilst they minister the external signs of the Sacraments, thou feedest us inwardly by the grace, which thou givest, as the principal Agent; and they give, 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 sheep. And if whilst thy sheep are grazing and feeding in the meadows of holy Scripture (of which every sentence is as grass to feed them) if whilst they are feeding on the sodder of the holy Sacraments, the Infernal wolf, the devil, or the world and flesh seek to molest them by their tentations; if the Heretic by his false call, and whistle, seek to deceive them, than the under Pastors do lay about them with their Pastoral staff, yea and as Christ his dogs they bark at them, and chase them away, being not, as the jewish pastors were, 
Esai. 36.  dumb dogs not able to bark.  
In the old law (o loving Pastor) thou fedst thy sheep with figurative Sacraments, which were no causes, but bare signs of grace, and so could give no grace, & therefore by thy Apostle are called egena elementa, 
Gal 4.  poor elements; but in the new law thou feedest us with Sacraments, which are not only signs, but also causes of grace; and which do sanctify, nourish, and feed our souls; and therefore thy prophet Ezechiel overseeing these our happy times, in which thou feedest us so abundantly, 
Ezech. 34.  saith in thy name: In the most plentiful Pastures will I feed them, and in the high mountains of Israel shall be their pastures: there shall they rest on the green grass, and in fat pastures they shall be fed upon the mountains of Israel: O the love thou hast showed to thy Christian sheep, in providing them so fat pastures!  
And in this thy love hath showed itself the greater, because thou show'dst it unto them, after that they had forsaken thee by sin, and were quite lost; for thou leftest the 99 sheep to wit the 9 orders of Angels in the desert, 
Mat. 12.  that is in heaven, which before thy coming into this world by Incarnation, was a desert place, and inaccessible to men, because thou wast not Incarnate for Angels, much less didst thou suffer for them, but leaving them, thou camest to us by Incarnation in our form and shape; and thou camest to seek mankind thy lost sheep, & having found him, thou carriedst him upon thy shoulders, when thou suffered'st on the cross for him, and brought'st this strayed sheep to the fold of the Church, where he is fed in plentiful and fat pastures: 
Tertul. lib. de pudi. cap. 7.  And therefore in the primitive Church (as Tertullian witnesseth) thou wast pourtraited upon the holy chalices, like a shepherd carrying his lost sheep on his shoulders.  
jacob the Patriarch a shepherd and figure of thee our good Pastor, 
Gen. 31.  said to Laban, that he had kept his sheep twenty years, and that none of his sheep or goats perished, but he restored the damage. Day and night (saith he) was I parched with heat, and with frest, and sleep did fly from mine eyes. But thou, (o my Saviour, o my careful Pastor) playedst the Pastor amongst us above thirty years (for even by the merits of thy Infancy thou feddst us dare and n●ght) thou travelledst for us, by night by prayer, by day by preaching, teaching, and working of miracles; thou suffered'st heat and cold, hunger & thirst; thou fastedst forty days, and forty nights to feed us; thou wast circumcised, thou wast whipped at a pillar, crowned with thorns, nailed on a Cross, where like a good shepherd thou diedst for us, lest the Infernal wolf should devour us. O how great must thy love to thy sheep be, which made thee suffer so much for them? jacobs' love was so great to Rachel that he served Laban twice seven years for her; 
Gen. 29.  but thy love was so great that it caused thee to suffer a most painful life of more then, 3 years for thy sheep; and this thy painful life thou also concludedst with a most painful and shameful death for them. O my soul never do thou so much as think of leaving so loving a Pastor; never do thou straic from his fold, nor from his so plentiful pastures, as sinners, and especially Heretics do.  
But especially, o my sweet Iesus● thou hast showed thyself a good Pastor, 
Io. 10.  in this B. Sacrament: A good Pastor will die for his sheep, so didst thou dye really on the Cross for us; and mystically in this B. Sacrament; where thy death and passion is represented, and applied to thy sheep, & whereas other shepherds do only feed their sheep with hay, grass and such like fodder, thou, o most loving Pastor, givest us thy own flesh to eat and thy own blood to drink, which by their union with the divinity are the most nourishing food that can be, next unto the divinity itself, on which thy glorious sheep, the Saints & Angels in Heaven, do feed by clear vision and fruition of it. O wonderful love of a Pastor! o love and charity above all other love's & charities. O love above all love's not only of Pastors, but even of Fathers and Mothers. Quis Pastor (saith S. 
Chrys. hom. 60. ad pop. Antioc.  Chrisostome) oves 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 Pastor doth feed his sheep with his own blood? And what do I say, pastor? many mothers there are who give their children to other nurses; but he would not suffer this, but he himself doth feed us with his own blood, and altogether doth join us unto him.  
O my soul how canst thou be cruel like a wolf, who feedest on this mild lamb? how canst thou be otherwise then chaste, who feedest of the Virgin Mother's Son, and of his chaste flesh and blood? how canst thou be profane, who art nourished with so holy and sacred meat & drink? how canst thou be carnal, who art fed with so spiritual food, as is the flesh & blood of Christ, spiritualised by the divinity itself? how divine shouldst thou be, who art a God on earth (by participation) who art feasted with such divine meat and drink?  
Grant me (o sweet jesus) that as thou hast showed thyself a good Pastor, to me, & to us all, so I may show myself a good & grateful sheep. The sheep is obedient to the shepherd's whistle, & followeth none other; make me obedient to thy vocations, and divine inspirations; and let me not hearken to the false whistle of false Prophets, nor to the enchanting voices of the devil, world, and flesh. A sheep is a most fearful creature, who when he runneth with the rest of the flock, is afraid of the noise of his own & his fellow's feet; and if he espy the wolf, though a fare of, he fleeth from him sudden lie & repaireth to his flock, fold, and shepherd. Give me grace to fear, as job did, all my own actions, and as soon as either world, flesh, or devil do begin to tempt me, to fly from them, & to avoid presently all occasions of sin, and to have present recourse to thee, my careful shepherd, and to thy Sacraments and other means thou hast provided us against sin.  
Sheep are simple, my●de, and free from gall; and even when they are carried to be butchered, they kick not, as the horse doth; they cry not, as the hog doth; they durre not with their horns, as the bull and cow doth; they bite not, as the wolf and dog doth; but they suffer patiently without crying, without resisting: Only, whethere they be grazing or chewing the cud, whethere they have grass in their mouth, or the Butcher's knife at their throat, before the shearer, and the butcher they are mute; or they use only their innocent Basilius; that only is their cry in prosperity and adversity; grant me, o my dear Pastor, and sweet saviour, to imitate this m●●de patience and in adversity and prosperity, in sickness and health, in riches and poverty, to be ever the same and to use the same sheepish Basilius, which job used: 
job. 1.  Our Lord gave, and our Lord hath taken away, 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 giving; aswell for sickness, as health; aswell for poverty, as riches; aswell for adversity, as prosperity; yea more for this, then that; because adversity borne patiently is a greater benefit than whatsoever prosperity. O sweet jesus! make me simple and meek, as a sheep, as thou thyself waste, who therefore biddest us to learn of thee; 
Mat. 11. 2. Pe●. 2.  for that thou art meek and humble of heart: make me innocent as a lamb, yea as an infant newly borne.  
The shepherd knoweth his sheep, 
Io. 10.  & they him, & as he hath his eye always on them, so they have always their eyes open to him. O loving Pastor and Saviour, let thy careful eye be ever on me, and then I can not perish; and let my eye be always on thee, let me always think on thee, and thy commandments, and the benefits thou hast bestowed on me. It is a great honour to be known of thee, to have but thy good look, and gracious regard; and it is as great a misery not to be known thus of thee, and to hear that doleful voice, 
Mat 25.  nescio vos, I know you not. O let me never hear that voice. And for me to know thee always, to have mine eyes so settled on thee, as to have thee always in my sight, is a great comfort, a great security, a great bridle, and restraint from sin; and as great a spur to all virtue: for who can do ill, who can do otherwise then well, who hath thee always in his sight? who knoweth that thy eyes are upon him, that he is never out of thy kenning.  
O sweet jesus, o loving Pastor, my soul is a sheep of thy flock and fold, & it hath wandered and strayed from thee, and thy flock by sin; but thou hast by thy grace sought it, and found it, & brought it back on thy shoulders: give me constancy that I never stray from thee again. O dear Pastor, my soul is a sheep of thy flock and fold; I commend it to thy care; it is thy sheep bought and redeemed with thy precious blood; it is thy sheep fed in this B. Sacrament with thy flesh and blood; it is thy sheep, govern it, rule it, direct it, protect it, guide it in the paths of Salvation, that it may one day graze and feed with thy Angels and Saints in the mountain of Heaven, and on thy sacred divinity, which only can make it happy: Grant this o my loving Pastor, o grant it.  
These former 10. Meditations may be read more, or fewer according to the devotion of him who intendeth to receive this B. Sacrament; and either immediately, or some day or days before communion; But these which follow are to be read either immediately before, or immediately after communion.   

THE 11. MEDITATION With what fear and reverence, and acknowledgement of unworthiness, the devout receiver is to come to this Blessed Sacrament.  
NOw therefore, o my soul! seeing thou perceivest what a Good man of the house, what an Host, what a Father, Mother, friend, spouse, Physician, and Pastor thy B. Saviour hath showed himself to thee in this B. Sacrament, & what he bestoweth on thee by it, and in it, to wit, his own flesh and blood, himself, God and man, infinite in all perfection, and the fountain of all grace; endeavour as much as thou canst, by his grace, to dispose thyself to come unto him, and to receive him in this Holy Sacrament, as worthily, as human frailty and poverty will permit.  
And first thou must come to him with a great filial fear, and reverence, his Majesty (though vailed with the forms of bread and wine) requiring it. David in spirit overseeing this great and wondrous mystery of the B. Sacrament saith: memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum, 
Psa. 110.  misericors & miserator dominus, escam dedit timentibus se: He hath made a memory of his marvelous works, a merciful and pitiful Lord: he hath given meat to them, that fear him. This memory of his marvelous works is this feast of the B. Sacrament, where is nothing but marueills & wonders, which also consist not in folding up of napkins in many fashions, but in the cookery and art showed in this feast; in which, bread by the force of Christ's own words, is converted into his body, wine into his blood; in which the accidents and external forines of bread and wine stand alone without bread and wine, which were their subjects; in which Christ's body extended in itself, is wholly contained in a little host, and in every part of it, in which one body is on diverse Altars, and in divers places; in which Christ's body is daily eaten his blood daily drunk, yet never consumed; in which the same Christ is conviva & convinium, the feast maker, guest, and feast, in which the same Christ is the Priest, the sacrifice, and the God to whom this sacrifice is offered: and therefore David explicating what the memory of these marvels is, saith: Escam dedit timentibusse: 
Psa. 110.  he hath given meat to them that fear him, as if he had said, he hath made a memory of marueilles in the meat which he hath given; and this meat he giveth to them, that fear him: who only can frutefullie receive it.  
O my soul thou believest, that Christ God and man, is as truly in this B. Sacrament, which thou intendest to receive, as he was in his Virgin Mother's womb, as he was here on earth, and as he is now in Heaven, though in an other manner; and thou believest that there is no more betwixt him and thee, when thou approachest tereceave him, than the thin curtains of the accidents and forms of bread and wine drawn betwixt him and thy sight. And if thou wouldst stand with great reverence in the presence of a mortal Emperor or King, though a man as thou art; and though there were a thin courtaine drawn betwixt him and thee, especially if the courtaine were so thin, as he might see thee through it: with what reverence shouldst thou stand or kneel in the presence of Christ jesus, God and man, and King and Emperor of heaven and earth; there being no more betwixt him and thee, than the curtains of the forms of bread and wine, which are thinner than the thinnest taffata or cypress, because in those, though never so thin, 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, seethe thee and all thy actions both interior and exterior? With what reverence (I say) shouldst thou come to this B. Sacrament, in which thou believest to be the King of glory, though with corporal sight thou canst not see him?  
O consider (my soul) that when thou receivest this dreadful sacrifice and Sacrament, thou hast on thy tongue more than tongue can explicate, in thy mouth more than heaven & earth contain, in thy heart more than heart can conceive. Thou receivest him, whom the Angels adore, and tremble to behold his Majesty. In the old law the jews were commanded not so much as to touch the mountain, on which the law of God was given; 
Exod. 29.  and shalt thou think thyself worthy to touch the Altar, where the law giver is resident, yea to touch himself, & to receive him into thy mouth and stomach? If the Bethsamites to the number of seventy men of the people, 
1 Reg. 6.  and fifty 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 irreverently, were stricken with sudden death; shalt thou, o my soul! if irreverently or unworthily thou receive this B. Sacrament, the Ark of the new law, think to go scotfree? No, Noe. S. Paul assureth thee, 
1. Cor. 11.  that he that eateth and drinketh unworthily (the body and blood of Christ) eateth and drinketh judgement to himself, not discerning the body of our Lord. Yea, saith he, because you eat and drink this B. Sacrament unworthily, there are among you weak and feeble, and many sleep, that is dye. How then oughtest thou to prepare thyself? Knowing that this B. Sacrament, as it giveth spiritual health, life, & nouriture to them that receive it worthily, so it always bringeth death of the soul to them, that receive it unworthily, & sometimes death of the body also, yea and eternal death of soul and body, unless they repent in time.  
O my soul! the Angel's compass the Altar, when the Priest offereth this dread sacrifice, and they compass thee also, when thou receivest it, and they wait at this Table, and upon this King of glory with great fear and reverence, and goest thou to this Table as boldie as to an ordinary, 
1 Cor. 11.  not discerning the body of our Lord: not putting a difference betwixt it and other meats? O Lord when I think of these things, to wit, of mine own unworthiness, and thy worth and Majesty, I am afraid to approach so near unto thee; and if thou didst not invite me to come, I should never dare to come in thy presence, much less to receive thee into my breast; I should say with S. 
Luc. 5.  Peter, Go forth from me, because I am a sinful man, o Lord. 
2. Cor. 6.  I should say with S. Paul, what participation hath justice with iniquity. Or what society is there betwixt light and darkness? what proportion betwixt thy light and my darkness, my baseness and thy Majesty, thy sanctity and my sins? But what shall I do, o Lord? If I approach not to this Holy Sacrament, I shall show myself unmanerlie, thou having so courteously invited me, yea disobedient, thou not only inviting, but also commanding me. 
Io. 6.  If I come not to this feast I shall st●rue for hunger; If I drink not of this fountain of grace I shall dye for thirst; If I come not to this sun I shall live in darkness; If I come not to this fire I shall shaver for cold; If I eat not of this bread of life, 
Io. 6.  I amea dead man, and yet considering my unworthiness, I dare not approach to this worthy of worthies, considering my impurity I dare not come to this, speculum sine macula, 
Sap. 7.  this glass without spot.] Considering my profanes, I dare not touch this Holy of Holies, considering my bafenes, I dare not appear before such majesty.  
O my sweet Saviour, thou wouldst have 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 oil, the chalice to be consecrated, the Altar, corporals, Altar clothes, the Priests vestments, yea the Church and all to be hallowed, for the reference and respect they have to this B. Sacrament: Consecrate, I beseech thee, and sanctify me by thy grace, this Sacrament being instituted for me, not for those other things, & I being to receive it sacramentally, and spiritually, as those other things can not receive it. And seeing that thou commandest me to receive it, give me grace to receive it worthily. Thou who commandest the end, give the means.  
Thy Blessed Virgin-Mother was to receive thee but once into her sacred womb, and yet, o Lord, how didst thou sanctify her? how didst thou prepare her? with what grace, purity, and sanctity, didst thou endue her? Sanctify me, o Lord, by thy grace, cleanse me from sin, purge me from all, even venial sins, seeing I am not to receive thee once only, but often and many times.  
Thou wouldst after thy death, have thy dead body to be buried in a new monument, wherein none had been buried before; to be laid in a winding sheet of fine and clean ; and wilt thou permit me to receive the same body now not dead, but living and glorified, into the grave and monument of an old & foul soul and body, in which the world, flesh, & devil have been lodged by inordinate affection? wilt thou lay this thy glorified body in the foul linen of a defiled soul? o purge me, o cleanse me, o renew me, that I may be a new monument, a clean syndon, to receive thine, now not dead, but living, but immortal and glorified body.  
O do not cast such Margarites before hogs. Thou shalt, 
Matth 7  if thou do not wash me from sin; O do not permit me to sit down to this feast without my nuptial garment of charity; I shall, unless thou restore it, and put it on again.  
None but the high Priest in the old law might enter into Sancta Sanctorum, the Holies of Holies, 
Exod. 30. Hebr. 9  and he also but once a year, 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 me, thou being the verity of that figure? 
Exod. 30.  Moses though a choose servant of thine, was forbidden to approach to the bush that burned, but consumed nor, until he had put of his shoes; and shall I presume to come to this B. Sacrament, and thy sacred body in it, the verity of that figure, and which burneth with the Divinity, yet is never consumed, unless I first lay aside the shoes of all carnal affections? The Priests of the old law were forbidden to ascend to the Altar to offer their carnal Sacrifices before they had washed themselves in the brazen laver. 
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 laver of penance, with the waters of contrition? S. john baptist, of whom thou thyself, o Lord, pronounced, that, 
Luc. 7.  a greater Prophet among the children of women than john Baptist there was none; thought himself not worthy to unloose the latcher of thy shoes; 
Mat 8.  The Centurion deemed him self not worthy to receive thee into his house, which yet, as it is likely was cleanly swept & richly adorned, and shall I think myself so worthy, as to touch not thy shoe strings, but thy sacred body, and to receive thee into me who am defiled both in body & soul. 
job. 25.  The stars are not clean in thy sight, and how shall I dare to appear before thy divine eyes more bright than the Sun itself, I being no star, but rather a candle put out and smoky?  
Solomon, when he had built for thee, o Lord, that goodly Temple, the master piece of masonry, and had adorned it with gold, silver, and precious stones, yet he thought it no fit place for thee, and therefore said; 
2 Paral. 6.  Ergone credibile est ut habitet Deus cum hominibus super terram? Si coelum & coeli coelornm, non te capiunt, quanto magis domus ista quam aedificavi; Is it cred●bile then that God should dwell with men upon the earth? If heaven and the heavens of heavens, do not take thee, how much more this house, which I have built? And shall I whose body is made but of mud, and whose soul is defiled with sin, think myself a fit palace for thy majesty? O Lord I am not worthy the air I breath, the ground I stand on, the bread I eat, the wine or water I drink, how then can I be worthy of this B. Sacrament, which I am to receive, and which is the greatest benefit thou ever bestowedst on man, because this gift is as good as thyself, who art the gift, and the giver.  
And yet thou wilt have me to receive it at thy Priests hands; and receive it I may, seeing thou hast so ordained, but unless thou, who givest it, give me also worthiness, I can not receive it worthily. Thou therefore who invitest me to this holy Sacrament, and forbiddest men to receive it unworthily, vouchsafe to give me that grace, that reverence, that devotion, which may make me worthy. It is thy desire that I should come worthily, & it is also my desire; & seeing that I can neither fulfil thy desire, nor my desire, but by thy grace, I beseech thee grant me the grace to fulfil thy desire, and then I shall fulfil my desire, which is to receive this Holy Sacrament worthily; and although by thy grace I receive thee worthily, yet give me the humility, always to think myself, of myself, unworthy: for the more I esteem myself unworthy, the more by thee I shall be esteemed worthy.   

THE 12. MEDITATION With what love to our Saviour we should receive this B. Sacrament?  
WHEN thou hast, O my soul, by the considerations alleged in the former meditation, stirred up thyself to a filial fear and reverence, thou must also endeavour to move thyself to a fervent love, and charity towards thy Saviour, whom thou art to receive. To this all thy former meditations will conduce; for that by them is showed what a good house keeper, how liberal an Host, what a Father, what a Mother, what a Friend, Spouse, Physician and Pastor (all which are titles of love) Christ hath showed himself unto the in this B. Sacrament.  
Say then unto him: thou hast showed they self in this B. Sacrament a noble house keeper, give me the love belonging to one of thy family: thou hast showed thyself a bountiful Host, give me the love of a loving guest; thou hast showed thyself a Father and Mother, make me a loving and obedient child; Thou hast showed thyself a loving friend, make me love thee reciprocally, yea a Spouse make me a loving spouse, yea a Physician, make me a loving patient, yea a Pastor, inflame my heart with the love of a loving sheep.  
Thou never show'dst more love to me then in this B. Sacrament, by which, out of a great love, thou givest to me, and after so admirable a manner (as love is ingenious) thy body, blood, soul and divinity. By Incarnation; thou impartedst thyself only to that nature which thou tookest of the B. Virgin; But by this Sacrament, thou bestowest thyself on all in particular, who receive it. With what love shall I pay this love? Thou givest thy All unto me, and can I give less than my All to thee? and yet so shall I not render like for like, because my All is nothing to thy All, nothing somuch as if a beggar should give his rags for the King's purple robe, crown, sceptre, and kingdom.  
I use to take kindly all which a friend giveth, be it but a ring, or Image, because I imagine that he giveth his love in his gift, yea and himself also in his gift, though not in person; with what love then should I answer to thy love, who givest thyself unto me not only in thy gifts and effects, as thou givest by creation justification, and glorification, but also by this B. Sacrament in thine own person? Children love their parents and nurses, because they feed and nourish them: brute beasts love them, who give them meat, be it but crusts and bones, hay or straw: how then should I love thee, O Lord, who feedest me with thy own flesh & blood; seasoned and sauced with the Divinity. O my heart to show thyself that thou art not made of flint, marble, or steel, but of soft flesh, resolve thyself into love for thy Saviour's love showed in this B. Sacrament, and being so resolved, and transformed, employ thyself and all thou are for his love and honour.  
If thou thus prepare thyself by a great reverence and love to this B. Sacrament, in which the Son of God resideth, as in his cabinet, not only he, but his Father also the first person in Trinity, and their holy Spirit the Holy Ghost, the third person, who proceedeth from them both, consubstantial and coequal unto them, will all three come unto thee, not only to visit thee, but also to dwell with thee: for this God the Son promiseth saying; If any love me he will keep my word, 
joa. 14.  and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make abode with him: And because thou art notable of thyself to furnish thy house so, as it may be fit for the entertainment of so great personages, they will bring with them their tapestry and ornaments of grace and virtues, by which thou shalt be adorned to their liking; And because thou canst not prepare a feast worthy such guests, though thou shouldest seek sea and Land for it, they will bring their feast with them, to wit this Blessed Sacrament, the Manna which containeth all that can delight thy spirit, and with it they will bring abundance of all grace, by which they will feast thee, and will be feasted of thee.   

THE 13. MEDITATION To be made immediately after Communion: How than●kefull the Receiver should be.  
When thou hast received this B. Sacrament, pause awhile, and think what thou hast received, Thou hast received more than the worth of Heaven and earth, the Son of God, in whom be all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden: 
Coloss. 2.  in whom dwell the fullness of the God head corporally, who is the head of all principality and power, thou hast received him, who is worth so much that he is inestimable, no price can be set on him. Antonius and Cleopatra did on a time vainly strive, who should make the greatest feast; And Antonius prepared all that Sea and Land could afford: Cleopatra not solicitous for any such fare, took an union which hung at her ear, and resolving it drank it at a draft; and putting her finger to the other ear, to take another union, he, who was elected arbiter and judge betwixt them, bad Cleopatra hold her hand for that she had already surpassed Antonius his feast, having drunk already the price of all Egypt. But thou O my soul, by receiving this B. Sacrament eatest and drinkest at once, the body and blood of Christ (for with his body, his blood always is by concomitance and inseparable union) which is more than the price of Egypt, yea then a thousand worlds, And therefore if thou shouldest resolve thy heart into gratitude and thankes giving, thou couldst not show sufficient gratitude for this so great benefit.  
Say then to thy bountiful jesus with grateful David; 
Psa. 115.  Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi? what shall I render to our Lord for all things that he hath rendered to me? nay what shall I render to my Lord for this only thing which he hath bestowed on me? thou hast o Lord, not only bestowed on me great benefits, and this the greatiest of all● but thou hast also rendered good for evil, mercy and grace for my sins, what can I render thee for this? 
Psa. 115.  I will follow King David's counsel: I will take the chalice of salvation and I will invocate the name of our Lord: I will take the chalice of thy Passion, which thou didst drink on the Cross, & I will offer that sacrifice for this, and both for all thy benefits, and by them I will invocate and praise thy name for ever.  
If I could speak at once with all the tongues of men and Angels, I could not, o Lord, give thee sufficient thanks for this so great a benefit, which containeth thy sacred self, and thy holy flesh and blood, Deified by thy Divinity. Wherhfore in an astonishment at this great benefit, and thy great liberality, I will be silent, and by my silence I will testify and confess that thou hast bestowed on me in this B. Sacrament more than tongue can express, yea more than heart can conceive.  
But although I can not give thee, O Lord, any thing of mine own (though heaven and earth were mine own) which can have any proportion with this thy so great gift, yet I can pay thee with thine own sufficiently. O eternal Father, thou hast given me a gift equivalent to this great benefit, and with this I can pay thee, though I pay thee with thy own. And what is that? It is thine own Son Christ jesus, God & man, whom thou bestowest on me in this B. Sacrament, & him I render again unto thee for this and all thy benefits. He is thine, I know, by eternal generation, because by that he was borne consubstantial to thee, but he is mine also by temporal generation, because by that he is borne consubstantial to me, and he is mine again by this holy communion, and in a manner as much mine, 
Io. 6.  as the meat I eat & the drink I drink: because his flesh is truly meat, and his blood is truly drink. I therefore render unto thee, o Eternal Father, thy own son, whom thou hast given to me, and I render him not only for thy other benefits, but also and especially for this, which by communion of this B. Sacrament I have received at thy bountiful hands.  
And although in so doing I give thee but thine own, yet I give thee also mine, and him who is twice mine, by Incarnation, and by this Holy communion, yea as often mine, as I communicate. And this gift, which I offer to thee in thankes giving for this & all thy benefits, thou will not, thou canst not refuse; 
Matth 3 & 17.  because it is thy well beloved Son, in whom thou art well pleased.  
And if thou wilt have also of mine, I offer thee all I can & have; I offer thee my hart, and that also inflamed with love, and in a manner (as I desire it should be) resolved into love of thee, and all I am and have by thy grace, shall be hereafter for thee and thy service.  
If my tongue speak hereafter, it shall speak of thee, who hast made it the bridge, by which thou hast made thine entry into me. If I think of any thing, it shall be of thee, who now art so present an object, that thou art not only by me, but also in me. If I do any thing, it shall be by thy direction, who now art in me to direct me in all my actions, as my first Mover. If I live, I will live by thee & in thee, because now thou livest in me to make me live hereafter thy life, not my own former life; that so I may say with S. Paul; vivo ego, iam non ego, vivit vero in me Christus: 
Gal. 2.  I live now, not I, but Christ liveth in me. If I love any thing hereafter, it shall be thee or for thee, for thou hast first loved me, 
1. joan. 4.  and best loved me, and by this B. Sacrament thou hast showed thyself my greatest benefactor, my greatest friend and lover, Thou therefore here after shalt have me for thy servant.  
Thou hereafter shalt have my love, for that I can never bestow myself better then on thee; I can never bestow my love on a better object than thee, who art Summum bonum, chiefest good; good by essence, and not good only in thyself, but good to me by creation, by which thou givest me my natural being; by justification, by which thou givest me a supernatural being; and by this B. Sacrament, by which thou givest thy own being, to wit thy body, blood, soul and divinity, of which thou consistest.   

THE 14. MEDITATION How the Communicant or Receiver is enriched by this B. Sacrament, and so should little esteem all worldly losses.  
COnsider how much thou art enriched by this precious Sacrament, more than if thou wert Emperor, not only of this terrestrial, but also of the Celestial world, for thou possessest him by receiving this B. Sacrament, who is more worth than all that is in heaven or Earth, yea then all that can be, but God. For he whom thou receivest is the Son of God, consubstantial and equal to his Father, and his body and blood which he bestoweth on thee in this Holy Sacrament by reason of their union with the divinity, are more precious than all that is in heaven and earth. If every prayer or good work of Christ was more worth than a world's redemption, if every drop of his blood is of that value, that it could have redeemed a thousand worlds, of what worth and value is whole Christ, whom thou wholly receivest?  
O my God, o my Saviour, what bounty is this, to bestow so much on me, so poor a creature, & who have so little deserved at thy hands? I should call it prodigality, but that thou canst not be prodigal, because thou canst not give above thy state and means: O my soul how happy wert thou, if thou knewest, or couldst conceive thy riches and happiness: As therefore an Emperor of the whole world would not care if some little 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 as much to be taken from thee, as was taken from job; if thou lose lands and goods, kinsfolks, friends, and all; if thou suffer damage in thy fame, honour, or liberty; if thou be never so poor for worldly wealth; If thou be never so crossed with adversities, say with job: Our Lord, 
job. 3.  hath given, and our Lord hath taken away, as it hath pleased our Lord, so is it done; the name of our Lord be blessed.  
Say unto thy God though thou make me as poor as job, thou shalt take nothing from me but that which thou gavest me, and beside in this B. Sacrament thou hast given me that which is more worth than all thou caused take from me, to wit thyself, body blood, soul and divinity: which whilst I possess, I can not be poor, lose I never so much, because I possess thee, who art all riches; which whilst I possess I can not be miserable, I can not be but happy, though all the miseries of the world should fall at once upon me; because, I possess thee who art the bliss of men and Angels. If then I want temporal goods, if I want health of body, if adversities cross me, give me o Lord grace to bear all patiently, and not to think what I have lost, but what I have gotten by receiving thee in this B. Sacrament, to which all I can lose is nothing.  
Thou rainedst o Lord, Manna upon the jews which was like the seed of a Coriander, 
Exod. 16.  and yet the jews were so grateful for it that they cried, Manha, what is this what largess, what riches doth God rain on us? and yet that was but as a crumb which felle from thy Table. But now thou raynest on me by means of this B Sacrament, not a crumb of bread, but the whole bread of life, 
joa. 6.  the whole feast, thy only begotten Son, & with him the riches of his divinity and humanity, which are inestimable. Manha, what is this? what a precious gift is this? what bounty is this? That manna was so precious, so delicious, that it made the jews for a time to contemn their flesh pots of Eg●pt. This Manna of the B Sacrament, the verity of that figure, hath all delights that the spiritual appetite can desire.  
I therefore will hereafter contemn all worldly and carnal pleasures, all the riches the world can afford, as only flesh pots of Egypt, and will content myself with this Manna only, which containeth all spiritual delight, and which in a little room containeth more than the price of heaven & earth. O my soul if thou wilt play the wise merchant, sell all, give all, lose all for this precious Margarite, this Holy and most rich Sacrament, and when thou hast it, as thou hast it so often as thou receivest it, desire no more, it is enough to content an infinite appetite, because it is infinite in all goodness.   

THE 15. MEDITATION How by the Receiving of this B. Sacrament the receiver is made the Temple of God.  
THe Foundation of thy Temple, o my soul, is thy faith which is the ground work of all spiritual bvilding, The walls are thy hope, which erecteth thy mind and elevareth it to heaven, The roof is Charity, which sheltreth thee from the winds and tempests of all temptations, and covereth the multitude of thy sins, 
1. Pet 4.  and hideth them from the sight of God, because it quite effaceth them, The Bishop who consecrateth this thy Temple, is Christ jesus, the high Priest & Bishop of the new law, and his presence is the consecration, the Altar is thy hart, the Sacrifice is the sacred body & blood of Christ.  
The Temple of Solomon was esteemed so holy, that God preferred it before all other places in the world, and took more pleasure in it, and heard the prayers that were made in it more willingly then in any other place, And yet thou (o my soul) by receiving this B. Sacrament art made a more holy Temple then that was. That was an unliving and inanimat Temple, thou a living temple, in that was the propitiatory, in thee is the propitiatour himself, who also is a propitiation for our sins: 
1 joa 2.  in 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 wait and attend in troops with all reverence on their Lord when the Priest consecrateth, and he and thou receivest this Sacrament; for where the King is, there are his courtiers; In that Temple was the glory of God which was but a cloud which filled the Temple, 
2. Paral. 17.  & was only a figure and representation of God his divinity, in thee is Christ jesus God and man the splendour of his Fashers' glory and verity of that figure; 
Hebr. 1.  in that were golden candlesticks on which were lights to illuminate the Temple, 
2. Par. 4.  in this is Christ's humanity, which was the candlestick that bore the light of the Divinity, and shown it to the world. In that Temple were the figurative Priests who offered the figurative Sacrifices of the old Law, in thee is the high Priest of the new law Christ jesus, who offered himself in a bloody manner on the Cross, & in an unbloody manner in the Sacrament which is in thee: That Temple was vested and limmed with pure gold, thou art adorned with a richer gold, Charity, without which thou canst not be the Temple of God.  
O my Soul seeing that by this B. Sacrament thou art made the Temple of God, behave thyself, comport thyself, be like his holy Temple. A Temple is instituted to worship & honour God, by sacrifices psalms & prayers, be thou such a temple; let the sacrifices of prayer, thanksgiving, of a contrite he art be always offered in thee; Offer unto him daily an holocaust of thyself by a perfect resignation, and denial of thyself: offer in this thy Temple, 
Mar. 11  daily prayer, for his house and Temple is the house of prayer, offer unto him this Sacrifice of his sacred body and blood which thou hast received. Temples and Churches are swept cleanly, and adorned richly; let then no unclean thing be in thee, no mortal sin, yea (as much as human frailty will permit) Noah venial sin, no carnal, no worldly cogitations or affections. Sweep the Temple of thy Soul from all such filth and dust, nay wash it with the tears of contrition, 
Mar. 11  from all such ordure. Whip out (as Christ did out of the jews Temple) all buyers and sellers, all mortal sins, by which thou buyest at a dear rate the world and its pleasures, and sellest thyself to the devil for a vain pleasure, or a little trash; Let thy Temple rather be adorned with faith, hope, charity, & all manner of virtues, with chaste, pure, and holy cogitations, with the seven gifts of the holy Ghost, 
Esa 11.  and especially let it be guilded with the Gold of Charity; That God only, whose Temple now thou art, may be honoured, praised, and loved by thee.  
If thou thus sweep, cleanse & adorn thy Temple, God will willingly dwell in thee, as in his own proper palace, as in his own 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 company, for he will not be an unwellcome guest. thou must take heed, lest by any sin thou expel or disgust him, for he is light and cannot consort with such darkness, thou must  enter ta'en him by chaste and holy cogitations, and meditations and especially by love and charity, for he hath showed thee great love in making thee by this B. Sacrament his Temple, and therefore expecteth love for love.  
And now that thou hast him dwelling with thee and in thee, lay hold on him, link him to thee by the golden chain of Charity, leave him not, and he will not leave thee. Say unto him, as jacob said unto the Angel, who represented the person of God non dimittam te nisi benedixeris mihi: 
Gen. 32.  I will not let thee go, unless thou bless me: and because I will never want thy blessing, I will never let thee go. 
2. Reg. 6  Obededon, and all his house was blessed with many a benediction for receiving into it the Ark of the old law, & shall not I, o Lord, receive many blessings by receiving thy Son Christ jesus the Ark of the new law, & the verity of that figure? O let not this Ark bring fewer blessings with it, then that did.  
I desire not the temporal blessing which Isaac gave to his son jacob, to wit, the dew of heaven, 
Gen. 27  the fatness of the earth, and abundance of corn and wine. 
Ephes' 1  But I desire the benediction, by which thou hast blessed us in all spiritual blessing in celestials. 
Luc. 2.  And seeing that I now have thee in my arms with Simeon, I desire his benediction, that I may depart and dye in peace, with thee, and all thy Saints and Angels; 
Matth. 5  I desire those eight beatitudes & blessings of poverty in spirit, of meekness, of mourning for my sins, of hunger after justice, of mercifulness, of cleanness of heart, of peace making, of patiented suffering persecution for justice sake. And lastlie I desire thy eternal benediction which consisteth in the clear vision and fruition of thee, by which all the Angels and Saints are blessed, and this I most humbly crave and in a manner claim by virtue of that thy promise made to all worthy receivers of this B. Sacrament, 
Io. 6.  He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath life everlasting, and I will raise him up at the last day. Bestow on me then, o Lord, a benediction of thy grace now, and after my death a benediction of thy glory in the next life, where I ma●e live in bliss with thee and thy Saints for ever.   

THE 16. MEDITATION Of the good purposes which after Communion are to be made.  
AFter that thou hast received this B. Sacrament and no less than thy Saviour's flesh, blood, soul and divinity in it, to show thyself grateful for so great a benefit and so noble a guest, thou shalt do well and pleasinglie unto him, if thou make these ensewing good purposes; for not only to do good, or to promise good, but even to purpose what is good, is a disposition to doing good and so pleasing unto him.  
Say therefore unto him: thou hast vouchsafed to enter into me by my mouth, as by the door 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 pass 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 only shalt have the command for the opening or shutting of it. The world, flesh, or devil shall never enter by it, none but thou, or for thy sake.  
And therefore hereafter my mouth shall never speak but of thee, or things belonging to thee, and thy honour: It shall be opened only to praise thee, or to pray unto thee, 
Psal. 70.  Repleatur os meum laude ut cantet gloriam tuam: let my mouth be filled with praise that I may sing thy glory. 
Ephes. 4  All naughty speech let it not proceed from it. It is the gate of thy Temple, let no unclean thing have entrance by it. It is the gate of the City, keep it shut, and fortify it by thy grace that it may keep out thy enemies and withstand all the battery & assaults of their tentations: It hath been filled with thy sacred body & blood, let it here after be filled with praises of thy name & thanksgiving.  
And because my tongue hath been the bridge by which thou hast passed, and which thou hast sanctified with thy sacred body, & embrued, as it were with thy holy blood, I purpose never to profane it by idle & vain speeches, much less to pollute it by detraction, calumnious and reproachful speeches, by lascivious talk, by lying, or swearing, or blaspheming, but I will with thy grace exercise it hereafter in praising thy holy name, in praying to thee, in talking of thee, of thy life and death, of thy great benefits, and in particular of this B. Sacrament, which so often I have received, of heaven and heavenly things. And therefore hereafter I will not adventure without thee to govern this voluble, variable and inconstant creature, moved with every wind like a reed: I could never govern it, and no marvel because Linguam nullus hominum domare potest. 
Ia●obi 3  No man can tame the tongue; thou only canst because Domini est gubernare linguam, 
Proverb 16.  it appertaineth to our Lord to govern the tongue, and so to thee I yield up the rule of it, to thy direction I commend it, that it may be silent when thou wouldst have it be silent, and that it may speak only, when thou wouldst have it speak, and what thou wouldst have it speak.  
And because thou, o Lord, by this B. Sacrament art my noble & fast friend, 
See the med. 12.  I will never shake hands with thy enemies the world, flesh & devil, nor shall I love any thing which is offensive to thee. 
See above m 12. Se medit 12.  Thou by this holy Sacrament art my Father and Mother, I shall therefore honour thee, fear thee, love thee, obey thee. Thou art the loving Spouse of my soul, and the marriage betwixt it and thee is consummated by this B. Sacrament. I will therefore wed myself to no creature by inordinate affection; that were to play th' Adulteress, and to break the bond of this sacred wedlock, nor will I love any but thee, or for thee. And being married to so great an Emperor as thou art, and thereby made also of high and noble condition, who by sin before was base. I will put on the Imperial robes of holy conversation fit for thy spouse; my old habit of my old base behaviour and conditions, I will lay aside; I will become a new creature, and in thoughts, words, and deeds I will carry myself nobly as becometh thy chaste spouse.  
Thou hast feasted me with the royal fare of thy sacred flesh and blood, which maketh me noble and of Princely blood; I will therefore behave myself Princelike, 
Luc 14.  not as assave to my passions, and sensualities, but as a Lord and commander over them; And as the Prodigal son after that his Father received him into grace, & had feasted him, never returned again to his hoggish fare, so I being now fed with heavenly fare, will scorn hereafter to taste any more of any worldly or carnal delights, the hoggish fare of sinners. I am by receiving this Holy of Holies thy sacred body & blood, sanctified, consecrated, & dedicated to thee only, and to thy service, I will therefore never profane myself again, I will never employ myself to the service of the world, or flesh, or devil or to any but thee, or for thee.  
The holy Chalice though it be but of earthly metal, be it silver or gold, yet it is oever employed to any other use then to receive thy sacred blood. The Church after Consecration is never used but for thy service. And shall I who am better consecrated and sanctified than they, because I am more capable of Sanctity than they, permit myself to be put to profane uses: I am by this Sacrament made the Temple of God, which is the house of prayer; thou then o Lord shalt be only served in this temple, thou only shalt be honoured & praised in it.  
Thy entrance into me hath sanctified my body and all the parts of it, my soul, and all her powers, and faculties, all therefore that is in me shall hereafter be employed to thy honour and service. To my soul, and all that is in me I will say with David. 
Ps 102  Benedicanima mea Domino, & omnia quae intra me sunt nomint sancto e●us. My soul bless thou our Lord, and all things that are within me his holy name. My understanding do thou think and meditate always of him; my will do thou ever love him; my memory do thou ever remember his benefits, and this B. Sacrament in particular, which he hath bestowed on me; my eyes look on heaven and this Blessed Sacrament, where he is; my hands lift up yourselves in thankes giving; my feet follow his steps, & traces, and examples, which he hath given, because I and you all are consecrated and dedicated to him by receiving this B. Sacrament.  
And if it be an unworthy thing to cast a consecrated Chalice into the dirt, is it not far more unworthy to defile hereafter my body and soul by sin, which are wholly consecrated and dedicated to God. O my soul do not thou presume to profane that, which by God is sanctified, lest he punish thee as a profaner of holy things. Wherhfore as my body and soul, and all the parts of my body, and faculties of my soul, by this B. Sacrament are consecrated to thee; So, o Lord, let them ever be, and so they shall be, if to my will thou join thy 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 worthy Communion, and by virtue of it, after m● death may be admitted to feed 〈◊〉 on thy Divinity with their B● Saints in Heaven by a clear vision and fruition of thee, the Father, and the Holy Ghost thre● persons, and one God to whom be all Honour, and glory fo● ever.   
FINIS.