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
A71235	The pamphlet entituled, Speculum ecclesiasticum, or, An ecclestiastical prospective-glass, considered, in its false reasonings and quotations	Wharton, Henry, 1664-1695.	1688 (1688)	Wing W1568; ESTC R1230	19,142	32

yet even our Author will grant that Prayers are not in a strict and proper sense to be addressed In this Fire of Devotion saith he let us fall down to their Reliques let us embrace their Repositories for even the Repositories of Martyrs have great Virtue as the Bones of Martyrs have great Force These Rhetorical Apostrophes are frequent to all Orators and ought not to be drawn into Dogmatical Propositions I return now to consider our Authors Columns separately The Second is about the Primacy of the Pope and consists of some Testimonies of the Fathers which abating the spurious ones insinuate no more than that St. Peter was Prince or First of the Apostles the Foundation upon which the Church was built and the Keeper of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven all this we readily acknowledg None ever denied a Primacy of Order to St. Peter the Scripture assures us that the Apostles were all Foundations of the Church and our Saviour committed the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to them all If any of these Testimonies seem to attribute somewhat greater and more eminent to St. Peter we are to consider that Orators seldom contain themselves within the severe bounds of truth when they set themselves to make an Encomium of any The Ancients speak no less things of St. Paul and attribute to him no less swelling Titles as might easily be proved if our intended brevity would permit it I will produce only some passages of St. Chrysostom who calls him The Tongue of the World the Light of the Churches the Foundation of Faith the Pillar and Ground of Truth the Vessel of Election the Temple of God the Mouth of Christ the Harp of the Holy Ghost the Doctor of the World the Teacher of Divine Opinions the Schoolmaster of the World upon whom the eyes of the whole World were cast and upon whom the care of all the Churches in the World depended to whose Government God had committed the whole World to whom the whole World was committed and all the Churches under the Sun who governed all the Churches People Nations and Cities of the Earth to whom none can be equalled who had the Primacy greater than all others to Michael was committed the Government of the Jews but to Paul the Earth the Sea both the habitable and inhabitable World the Illuminator of the World the greatest of all Men who alone possessed all the perfections of the other Patriarchs Apostles Saints and Martyrs who is admired and honoured beyond all the other Apostles None of them was greater than him yea none was equal to him I am confident no passages can be found in all Antiquity in favour of St. Peter which can equal these produced out of one Author in favour of St. Paul. The most express passage which our Author alledgeth is that of Tertullian where he is supposed to call the Pope Chief Pastor Bishop of Bishops and Blessed Pope But alas all these are Ironical Expressions directed to not the Pope but the Bishop of Carthage as hath been invincibly proved by a Learned Man now of our Church The more express Testimonies which remain are only the first and the last of this Column The first our Author thought so considerable that he chose against his usual custom to give it us in Latin It is part of the Inscription of St. Ignatius's Epistle to the Romans wherein he calls them the sanctified and illuminated Church which presides in the Country of the Romans These inscriptions of Epistles were according to the Custom of the Eastern Nations filled with great and swelling Titles of which unhappily this to the Romans was one of the most modest for he bestows far greater Titles upon other Churches in some of his Epistles and particularly calls the Church of the Philadelphians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 raised to the utmost pitch of perfection as for the word illuminated it is a Title which the Ancient Christians bestowed upon all Baptized Persons whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Baptism was commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And then for presiding in the Countrey of the Romans every particular Episcopal See presideth in her own Diocess and therefore Ignatius doth not say which presideth in the whole World but which presideth in the Province of Rome The last Testimony is taken from Socrates and Sizomen attesting that the Eastern Synods were not valid unless confirmed by the Pope that he had a peculiar Priviledge of restoring Bishops unjustly deposed and that to him belonged the care of all the Churches But first neither of the Historians affirm That the Pope had any such priviledge which was not common to the other Patriarch For it was the constant custom of the Ancient Church that in all emergent occasions of the Church the Patriarchs should interpose their judgments as being more peculiarly obliged to it by that eminent station which they held among other Bishops Not that the judgment of every one was authoritative or immediately put in execution for their judgments were oft-times contrary but they thereby only declared what they thought just and Canonical which if it was not performed they with the Bishops subject to them used to deny communion to the other party Besides there was a particular reason in the case mentioned by these Historians For Athanasius being deposed by the Arians both Catholicks and Arians had submitted the Arbitration of the whole cause to Pope Julius As for the confirmation of Councils no Council could be General till approved by all the Patriarchs therefore if a Synod were held in the East wherein the Roman Patriarchs was present neither by himself nor by his Legates no wonder if the Decrees of it obliged not the Western Patriarchate till confirmed by the Pope For no more did the Western Synods oblige the Eastern Churches till confirmed by the Eastern Patriarchs The Fifth Column treateth of Transubstantiation wherein most of the Testimonies produced by our Author say no more than that the Eucharistical elements after Consecration are the Body and Blood of our Lord. This we also assert and believe but then the question remaineth still in what sense they are the body and blood of Christ of the remaining citations the most express are those of Just in Martyr St. Ambrose and St. Augustin The first even in the words cited by our Author affirms That our Flesh and Blood are nourished by the Eucharistical elements and therefore could not believe Transubstantiation The Second indeed saith that a preternatural change is made in the elements after Consecration and the Bread then becomes the Body of Christ which was born of the Virgin Mary was crucified and buried But that he means his typical not natural body is manifest from the beginning of this Chapter where he compares this heavenly food to Manna or the Bread of Angels and prefers it because that is subject to corruption if it be kept

from day to day but this is free from corruption which whosoever religiously tasts cannot suffer corruption From which words Three several Arguments of a typical sense may be formed For first as Manna was not truly but typically the Bread of Angels So neither is the consecrated Bread truly but typically the Body of Christ Secondly The consecrated elements are as to the matter of them subject to corruption And therefore St. Ambrose believed not the matter of them but only what they represented to be the body of Christ Thirdly He affirms this incorruptible Body of Christ to be received only by the Religious communicant Whereas if Transubstantiation be true it is equally received by the most Irreligious person St. Augustin in the place cited by our Author expresly denieth all natural presence His words are these When our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of his Body He said Whosoever eateth not my flesh and drinketh not my blood shall not have eternal Life For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed His Disciples who followed him were afraid and scandalized at that speech and not truly understanding it thought that our Lord spoke somewhat harsh as if they were to eat that flesh and drink that blood which they saw They could not bear this as if they had said How can this be Error ignorance and folly had possessed them Where he goes on to shew that this aversion of the Apostles proceeded from a misapprehension of our Lord's meaning as if he intended to give them his natural flesh and blood to eat Whereas our Lord knew what he meant he spoke of Sacraments or a sacramental presence This passage sufficiently explains the following Clause cited by our Author unless we can suppose St. Augustin in this obscure sentence to have contradicted the Doctrine by him plainly delivered in the precedent Words The Sixth Column corncerns Sacramental Confession Priestly Absolution and Penance and in all respects is wholly impertinent as may appear by these few considerations First Then the Church of England retaineth and adviseth to her Children Confession Absolution and Penance But then she maketh not the first absolutely necessary to Salvation nor the Second a judicial but only declaratory act nor the Third properly satisfactory for sins Nor do any of the Testimonies produced by our Author prove these positions Secondly The Confession used in the ancient Church was not Auricular but publick not lodged in the breast of the Priest but made before the whole Congregation And when afterwards about the time of the Decian Persecution these confessions became so numerous that the Church could not hear them all a Paenitentiarius was chosen out of the Presbyters to receive them he did not keep them secret to himself but only pass judgment which were fit to be made known to the whole Church and to be performed in the publick Congregation and which not 3. Absolution of the Priest was not believed to be judicial or authoritative and immediately to absolve before God but only declaratory of the promises of pardon made by God to all penitent sinners and to have no other necessary effect than the restoring of the penitents to the peace of the Church This may be proved by that very passage of St. Hierom which our Author citeth where he compareth the Priestly absolution to the cleansing of Lepers by the Priests under the old Law a comparison very frequent with the Fathers For as the Jewish Priests made not the Lepers clean but only declared them so to be and supposed them to be clean before their declaration otherwise the declaration would not in the least have contributed to their cleansing So a sacerdotal Absolution remits not the guilt of sins but supposeth them to have been before remitted by God and declareth so to be otherwise the absolution of a Priest will avail the sinner nothing nor set him right in the Court of Heaven 4. Penance in the ancient Church was chiefly intended not as a satisfaction to God for the violation of his Laws but as a satisfaction to the Church for the scandal given to others and reproach drawn upon the whole Church by the former crimes or irregular practice of the penitents And therefore was ever augmented or relaxed according to the various exigencies or necessities of times 5. In the ancient Church Penance ever preceded Absolution and was the means of obtaining it Whereas in the Church of Rome the Penitent is first absolv'd and then some subsequent Penance is imposed on him Which takes away the very nature of Penance Confession and Absolution as they were used and designed the ancient Christians and tends only to the interests of the Priest and delusion of private souls The Seventh Column undertaketh to prove the lawfulness of Invocation or Prayer to Saints and that they pray for us the latter we need not deny but maintain that that will not warrant the former So that when all the spurious Testimonies those which we have already answered and those which prove only that the departed Saints pray for us be expunged there remain no more than one of St. Ambrose for that of St. Hierom is a plain historical Apostrophe and one of Theodoret. As for the first I might justly oppose the authority of some learned men who maintain this Book de Viduis whence the passage is taken to be supposititious But I will content my self to say That our Author hath falsely translated the place by rendring Obsecrandi sunt Angeli pro nobis ut c. Obsecrandi sunt Martyres We are to desire the assistance of the Angels we are to pray to the Martyrs Whereas the words do not in the least insinuate an Exhortation of Prayer to be made to them by us but only a wish that they would pray for us and that we should gratefully accept their charitable kindness in so doing The Passage of Theodoret as cited by our Author is a plain forgery For Theodoret speaks not one Syllable of praying to the Martys and what our Author translates beseech them as Holy men to intercede to God for them is no more in the Greek than this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We honour or reverence them as holy men The last Column treateth of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead The first we believe to be a Fable and to have no ground either in Scripture or Antiquity The second our Church doth not condemn only hath prudently omitted it in the publick Service because it is a thing dubious in it self and not approved by Scripture The use of it in the Ancient Church doth not in the least prove the belief of Purgatory For they anciently prayed for all Saints departed whatsoever even for the blessed Virgin Apostles Martyrs and Confessors and their Prayers respected not alleviation of freedom from any internal Punishment but only the day of Judgment that God would hasten it and when that comes receive all departed Souls into the beatifical Vision which