Selected quad for the lemma: blood_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
blood_n	body_n	bread_n	consecration_n	9,959	5	11.0641	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61434	Of prayers for the dead whether the practice and tradition thereof in the Church be truly Catholick, and a competent evidence of apostolick original and authority? : humbly tendred to the consideration of ...	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.	1699 (1699)	Wing S5432; ESTC R24617	43,790	52

they bring such Profit to the Dead as these Men Dream pag. 236. 3. He doth not at all charge him with forsaking the Doctrine of the Scripture or the Faith of the Catholick Church but with rejecting the Order p. 237. 4. Aerius his Argument would have been in force indeed if the whole Church had held as many did That the Judgment after Death was suspended until the General Resurrection and that in the mean time the Sins of the Dead might be taken away by the Suffrages of the Living But he should have considered as Gobarus as great an Heretick as himself did that the Doctors were not agreed upon the Point p. 238.5 It was a foolish part in him to confound the Private Opinion of some with the Common Faith of the Universal Church 6. That he reproved this particular Error he did well but that thereupon he condemned the General Practice of the Church he did like himself headily and perversly ibidem As to the first of these I must refer the Reader to Epiphanius himself for the Character he gives of the Person and Opinions of Aerius a very Vile man a thorough-pac'd Arian and who exceeded Arius himself in his new Opinions which he imputes to the operation of the Devil though he doth not particularly name them Heresies yet it is plain he and S Austin too accounted them such and of the rest the Reader may judge by what is here laid plainly before him S. Ephraem was not much before these but because he was neither Greek nor Latin but a Syrian and a Man of Parts and extraordinary Sanctity greatly esteemed by the most excellent Persons of that time and of so great Reputation that his Writings were read publickly in divers Churches after the Holy Scriptures I cannot pass him by without taking notice of his Testament his Discourse to his Disciples upon his Death-Bed wherein he tells them he is Dying and desires to be mentioned in the Commemoration of their Holy Prayers and bewailing his Sins and declaring his Sense of the terrible Judgment of God he doth admonish exhort and strictly enjoyn them to remember him constantly after his exit and passage in their Prayers and after some Admonitions to them and account of himself he again desires to be remembred in their Prayers Then he strictly forbids his being Buried under the Altar or in the House of God all Solemn Pomp and Funeral Orations and Encomiums and all cost of rich Vestments of Grave Cloaths of Spices of Odors of Candles and the like but desires that all that Cost may be bestowed upon the Poor and for himself that in the place of all such Pomp and Funeral Orations they will accompany him with Psalms and help and assist him with their Prayers and Bury him in the Church-yard where the contrite in heart are Buried Then he bids them come near and imbrace him for his Spirit fails him and again intreats them diligently to make Oblations for him and prettily represents the Communion of Saints by a Simile of the Sympathy of things in Nature the Wine which flowers in the Cellar when the Vine Buds in the Vineyard and the like And tells them that the Oblations of Priests under the Law were effectual for those who were slain in their Sins and how much more the Priests of Christ under the New Testament And gives great caution that when they come to his Memory I suppose he means the Thirtieth Day which he expressly mentioned before and his Anniversaries ne quisquam in Sancta peccet that none commit any thing unmeet for holy things by any Excess but that the Vigil be kept attentively and reverently and humbly and holily and purely for it would be a miserable thing for him if by occasion of his Memory he should be accountable to his God for their inordinate Actions Thus this Holy Man an Instance equal to a very ample Testimony of the Practice in those parts About the same time was S. Cyril Bishop of Jerusalem He in his Mystagogick Catechism concludes all with a Description and Scheme of the Liturgy then in use wherein after mention of the Holy Trisagium Hymn * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore saith he do we recite this Seraphick Theology delivered to us that in that Coelestial Hymnody we may communicate with the supra-mundain Militia the Heavenly Host and thus by such kind of Hymns sanctisying our selves we pray the most benign God that he will send out his Holy Spirit upon the proposited Elements that it may make the Bread the Body of Christ and the Wine the Blood of Christ. For certainly whatever the Holy Spirit doth touch it is sanctified and transmuted Then after that Spiritual Sacrifice that unbloody Worship is done that is after the Consecration and Oblation in Commemoration of the Passion of Christ over that very Host of Propitiation do we obsecrate God for the common Peace of the Churches for the Tranquility of the World for Kings for their Armies and Confederates for the Sick and Afflicted and in sum for all who need Help We commemorate also those who have fallen asleep before us First the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs that God at their Prayers and Deprecations would accept ours Then we pray for the Holy Fathers and Bishops deceased and lastly for all who are deceased amongst us believing it to be a very great Help to the Souls for whom the Obsecration of that tremendous Sacrifice which is placed on the Altar is offered I will add but one instance more for the flourishing times of the Church and so comprize the whole time of the four first General Councils from first to last Eusebius in his 4th Book of the Life of Constantine describing the Martyrium of the Apostles built by him at Constantinople adds chap. 60. All these did the Emperor dedicate that he might consign to Posterity the Memory of our Saviour's Apostles But he had another Design in his Mind when he built this Church which was at first concealed but in the end it became known to all For he had designed this place for himself after his Death foreseeing by a transcendent Alacrity of Faith that his Body after Death should be made Partaker of the Apostles Apellation that even after Death he might be esteemed worthy of the Prayers which should be performed there in Honour of the Apostles believing that their Memory would be useful and advantagious to his Soul And afterward describing the Solemnity of his Funeral chap. 71. he saith that a vast Number of People together with those Persons consecrated to God not without Tears and great Lamentation poured forth Prayers to God for the Emperor's Soul thereby performing a most grateful Office to this pious Prince And herein also God demonstrated his singular Favour towards his Servant because after his Death agreeable to his own most earnest Desire the Tabernacle of his thrice blessed Soul was vouchsafed a place with the Monument of the Apostles and that it might be

we did no where at all read this in the ancient Writings yet is not the Authority of the Vniversal Church which is clear in this Custom a small matter when in the Prayers of the Priest which are poured out to the Lord God at his Altar the Commemoration of the Deceased hath also its proper place In this Testimony are divers things observable and very considerable 1. The Authority of the Universal Church not of a Particular Church of a City of a Province of Hippo or Africa but of the Universal Church which however manifested or declared is no small matter 2. But in this it is declared in the most Solemn Acts of the Church her most Solemn Address to Almighty God at his Altar So that here is the greatest Authority that is among Mankind and that most solemnly declared 3. It is no new Resolution but a Custom Consuetudo Vniversae Ecclesiae an ancient Custom and a universal Custom which he elsewhere upon another occasion expresseth in this manner * Hoc à Patribus traditum Universa observat Ecclesia ut pro eis qui in Corporis Sanguinis Christi Communione Defuncti sunt cum ad ipsum Sacrificium suo loco commemorantur oretur pro illis quoque id offerri commemoretur S. Aug. de verb. Apost Ser. 32. c. 2. This being delivered from the Fathers à Patribus traditum doth the Vniversal Church observe that for them who are departed in the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ when they are remembred at the Sacrifice it self in their place Prayer be made and it be commemorated that that is offered for them also Not only for the Living but for the Dead also and in their proper place 4. This Custom and Tradition was not only for a general Commemoration but for a special Commendation And here because this excellent Person hath written much and therefore affords more observable matter than is ordinary in any one Author I will indeavour out of him alone to present the honest and ingenuous Reader with a Scheme of the whole Custom and Practice of the Ancients whereby he will the better understand their Testimonies and decern the Fallacies Evasions Cavillings and Shufflings of the Adversaries of it What was done by them on behalf of the Deceased was either Publick or Private What was done in Private was Prayers such as S. Augustin offered for his Mother in his Confessions lib. 9. cap. 13. Fasting and Alms c. What was Publick was done either by the Relations or Friends of the Persons deceased and that was presenting their Oblations whether ordered by the Deceased or freely offered by their Friends on their behalf Which if they departed in Communion of the Church were received otherwise rejected unless they were in the State of Penitents and were surprized in such case as the Priest should have absolved them if he could have been present or what was done by the Bishop or Priest with the rest of the Clergy and People And this was either a general Commemoration pro omnibus in Christiana Catholica Societate defunctis as he speaks de Cura pro Mat. c. 4. for all departed in the Christian and Catholick Society or Communion without any particular recitation of their Names or a more particular Memory of them by Name with others or a more special Commendation of a particular Person at his Death and besides certain other days upon their Anniversaries And these were all performed at the Altar and with the Holy Sacrifice except that at his Death in case that happened after the Priest had eaten and then by some Canons it was to be performed solis Orationibus with Prayers only but otherwise Orationibus Oblationibus that is with Prayers and Sacrifice both for that is there to be understood by Oblationibus And as S. Augustin did intend all this in what he saith of the Universal Custom by Tradition from the Fathers so did he believe that the Souls departed were benefitted by them all For his words immediately preceeding those before-recited out of his Serm. de Verb. Apost are * Orationib vero S. Ecclesiae Sacrificio salutari Eleemosynis quae pro eorum spi●itibus erogantur non est dubitandum mortuos adjurari ut cum eis misericordius agatur à Domino quam eorum peccata meruerunt It is not to be doubted that the Dead are helped by the Prayers of the H. Church and the Salutary Sacrifice and the Alms which are distributed for their Spirits that the Lord should deal more mercifully with them than their Sins have deserved This was one End and Benefit of those Commemorations and Prayers and therefore was not only comprehended in the general Intendment of the general Commemorations but was expressly prayed for both in the Common Prayers and in the more special Commendations as we shall see further hereafter but this does not exclude Others of which I think fit to take notice of one in this place which is mentioned by S. Austin and others and which concern two Articles of our Creed but little understood or consider'd amongst us It is in his Book de Civ Dei lib. 20. cap. 9. in these words † Neque enim piorum animae mortuorum separantur ab Ecclesia quae etiam nunc est regnum Christi Alioquin nec ad altare Dei fieret corum memoria in communione Corporis ● Christi Nor are the Souls of the Pious deceased separated from the Church which even now is the Kingdom of Christ Otherwise neither at the Altar of God should Memory be made of them in the Communion of the Body of Christ. In these words is couched one general Intendment of the Church For as the Holy Rite of the Eucharist was intended not only for the Peculiar Solemnity of the Churches Address to God here upon Earth with the Memorials of our Saviour's Passion the great Propitiation for the Sins of the World but also for Communion between our Head and the Members of his Mystical Body here upon Earth and also between the Members of his whole Mystical Body themselves so the Church in that Holy Solemnity hath always performed Acts of Communion not only with the Head but with all his Members both present in external Communion and Participation of the sanctified Creatures and with all absent whether in the Body or out of the Body by Commemorations Thanksgivings and Prayers And because they were in several States they were accordingly remembred distinctly in order which is what S. Augustin expresseth suo loco This Communion was by the ancient Christians reputed a matter of very great Importance and accordingly they were equally careful whose Oblations they did receive and whose Names they did remember whether Living or Dead and those who were ejected or rejected or refused were looked upon as out of Communion and excluded from all the Privileges of the Church both on Earth and also in the separate State according to