Carnis Christi, quam pro nobis obtulit. In this Sacrifice is a Thankesgeu••nge,
and a Remembrance of the Fleashe of Christe, whiche he hath offered for vs. Likewise
Eusebius saithe, Christe after al other thinges donne, made a marueilous Oblation, and
a passinge Sacrifice vnto his Father (vpon his Crosse) for the Saluation of vs al: geuinge
vnto vs to offer continually vnto God a Remembrance in steede of a Sacrifice. So Na∣zianzenus
calleth the Holy Communion, A Figure of that greate Mysterie, of the
Deathe of Christe.
This it is, that Eusebius calleth, The Sacrifice of the Lordes Table: Whiche
also he calleth, Sacrificium Laudis, The Sacrifice of Praise.
But Eusebius saithe further, This Sacrifice is dreadful, and causeth the harte to
quake. M. Hardinge may not wel geather by any force of these woordes, that
the Sonne of God is Really offered vp by the Prieste vnto his Father. For
al thinges, what so euer, that put vs in remembrance of the Maiestie, and
Iudgementes of God, of the Holy Fathers are called Dreadful. Saincte
Cyril saithe, Lectio Diuinarum, & Terribilium Scripturarum: The readinge of the
Diuine, and Terrible Scriptures. S. Chrysostome calleth the woordes of Baptisme,
Verba arcana, & metuenda, & horribiles Canones dogmatum de Coelo transmissorum:
The Secrete, and Dreadful woordes, and Terrible Rules of the Doctrine, that came
from Heauen. And speakinge of the Hande, and Uoice of the Deacon, he saith
thus, Manu illa Tremenda, & continua Voce clamans, alios vocat, alios arcet: With
that Terrible Hande, and continual Voice crieinge, somme he calleth in, and somme he
putteth of.
This Sacrifice maketh the Harte to tremble, for that therein is laide
foorthe the Mysterie, that was ••idden from Worlds, and Generations: The
horrour of Sinne: The Deathe of the Sonne of God: That he tooke our hea∣uinesse,
and bare our sorowes, and was wounded for our offenses, and was
Rente, and Tormented for our Wickednesse: That he was carried like an in∣nocent
Lambe vnto the Slaughter: that he cried vnto his Father, O God, O
my God, why haste thou thus forsaken mee?
There wee cal to Remembrance al the Causes, and Circumstances of Christes
Deathe: The Shame of the Crosse: The Darkeninge of the Aire: The Sha∣kinge
of the Earthe: The rentinge of the Uele: The cleauinge of the Rockes:
The opening of the Graues: The Descendinge into Hel: and the Conqueringe
of the Diuel. Therfore Chrysostome saith, Quamuis quis lapis effet, illa nocte audita,
quomodò cum Discipulis tristis fuerit, quomodò traditus, quomodò ligatus, quomodò
abductus, quomodò iudicatus, quomodò deni{que} Omnia Passus, cera mollior fiet, & terrā,
& omnem terrae cogitationem abijciet: Any man, hearinge of the order of that night, how
Christe was moorneful emonge his Disciples, how he was deliuered, howe he was bounde,
howe he was leadde away, howe he was arreigned, and howe meekely he suffered al, that
was donne vnto him, were he as harde as a Stoane, yet woulde he be as safte as Waxe,
and woulde throwe bothe the Earthe, and al Earthely Cogitations away from him.
Thus saithe Nicolaus Cabasilas, one of Maister Hardinges late Gréeke
Doctours: Hoc facite in meam Commemorationem. Sed quaenam est haec Comme∣moratio?
&c. Doo yee this in Remembrance of mee. But what is this Remembrance?
Howe doo wee consider Our Lorde in the Holy Ministration? What doo wee conceiue
him dooinge? Howe dealinge? what sufferinge? what thinke wee? what speake wee
of him? Doo wee imagin of him (in that time of the Holy Mysteries) that he healed
the Blinde? That he raised the Deade? That he staied the Windes? Or that with a fewe
loaues he fead thousandes: whiche are tokens, that he was God Omnipotente? No, not
so. But rather wee cal to remembrance suche thinges, as declared his weakenesse: his Crosse,
his Passion, his Deathe. In respecte of those thinges he saide, Doo yee this in my