Selected quad for the lemma: blood_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
blood_n	bread_n	jesus_n	wine_n	12,878	5	7.8448	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19485	The brazen serpent: or, the copie of a sermon preached at Pauls Crosse, Decemb. 31. 1620. By Iohn Andrevves, priest and preacher of the VVord of God at Saint Iames Clerkenwell in Middlesex	Andrewes, John, fl. 1615.	1621 (1621)	STC 591; ESTC S122344	23,076	64

from the Law-giuer Iesus Christ who decreed instituted and ordained that Those Elements of Bread and Wine receiued on these conditions should bee powerfull and effectuall to deriue vnto me such and such Graces So that as the Land groweth not in the Lease yet I doe actually possesse and inioy it with all appurtenances by the Lease as by a Meanes and Instrument ordained to estate me in it So the Body and Blood of Christ Iesus are not within the Consecrated Bread and Wine and yet by them as by a Means or Morall Instrument ordained and appointed by God to confer such Graces vpon me I doe take as True and reall possession of Christ and all his merits as any Tenant hath true and firme possession of his Lands I hope that I am rightly vnderstood and that the simplest doe fully perceiue how grossely the Church of England is belyed when they giue out that we make the Sacraments no more but naked and empty signes So much for the fact or History I come now to the Mysterie or to the figure of the fact in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Sicut together with which ye must be intreated to take the Sic also The Anti-type with the Type for they relate one to another and cannot well be considered apart What then was pointed at and figured by this Brazen Serpent For there is no question but God could haue restored health by a thousand other meanes besides this Wherefore some great Mysterie was fore-signified in that his Wisedome who knoweth all things best made choice of this of the Brazen Serpent rather then of any else For our Sauiour Christ all along this Chapter had to doe with Nicodemus who was a Pharisee a great Doctour in Israel Ioh. 3. 10. and consequently well seene in the Lawes of Moses and therefore hauing before told him of his Godhead verse 13. heere hee comes to shew what his Manhood was to suffer And to make him beleeue it the more firmely he produceth the Figure of the Brazen Serpent For Nicodemus could not but imagine that some great Mysterie was fore-shadowed by that fact of Moses For none so simple but could vnderstand that a Brazen Serpent hanging on a pole had not in it selfe any power at all to cure the poysonfull bitings of liuing Serpents and that God who could by a thousand other meanes haue cured them did vpon Speciall and singular consideration command that because he in it would shaddow forth some deepe Mysterie that was to come To the end therefore that our Sauiour Christ might the better perswade his doctrine by the lifting vp of this Serpent he sheweth Nicodemus before-hand of his Passion That when it should happen he might not be scandalilized And howsoeuer it chiefly aime at his Passion yet to speake the truth there is not in all the Old Testament any one Type or Figure that doth more liuely represent all the parts of the Mysterie of Christ his comming in the flesh then this of the Serpent For first of all it shewes vs his Incarnation For that Serpent of Brasse was but a serpent in shew and shape only it was not a serpent in deed it had no poison or venome in it as other Serpents had So our Sauiour Christ albeit to many he appeared to be a sinfull Man and was reckoned among the wicked Esay 53. 12. yet the truth is Hee did no sinne neither was any guile found in his mouth 1. Pet. 2. 22. Euer since our first Parents did suck poison from the Old Serpent the Diuell euery one that issued from their loynes haue retained much of the Serpentine nature that is of the venome and poison of sinne Hence Dauid speaking of vnregenerate men saith The poison of Aspes is vnder their lips And Iohn the Baptist speaking to the principall of the Iewes Math. 3. 7. termeth them a Generation of Vipers And Vipers you know are Serpents But Christ had no poison in him at all For though he assumed the true flesh and nature of man yet together with the nature he did not take the sinne of man He was true man but not truly sinfull Man God sent his Sonne saith Paul Rom. 8. 3. in the similitude of sinfull flesh Similitudo non ad carnis veritatem sed ad peccati imaginem referenda est saith Cassianus collat 22. cap. 11. Where the word similitude hath relation not to Flesh for that was true but to this word sinfull for though to some he appeared a sinner in shew yet he neuer committed any sinne g In veritate quidem Corporis sed sine veritate peccati suscepit Dominus speciem peccatoris Ambros de Spiritu Sanct. li. 3. ca. 9. Non alienus ab Hominum genere sed alienus à crimine Leo. Hom. 11. de Pass Dom. And heerein the wisedome of the New Serpent went beyond the craft and subtiltie of the old Serpent the Diuell as h Leo de Pass Dom. ser 11. Christus vt humanum genus vinculis mortiferae praevaricationis absolúeret Et saeuienti diabolo Potentiam suae Majestatis occultauit Et infirmitatem nostrae humilitatis objecit Leo tels vs. For the Diuell because Christ was a Man in deed and truth albeit he were a very Holy-man thought that he was also guilty of Originall sin deriued from Adam because all else euen the best are so by naturall generation and also though sometimes he had seene the effects of his Deitie and Godhead and had confessed him to be God indeed Marke 1. 24. Yet at other times his vnderstanding was so dazeled that he did not stedfastly beleeue that in him all the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelt bodily Colos 2. 9. i Si. n. crudelis superbus inimicus consilium misericordiae Dei nosse potuisset Iudaeorum animos mansuetudine potiùs tēperare quàm iniustis Odijs studuisset accendere ne ominum Captiuorum amitteret seruitutem dum nihil-sibi-debentis persequitur libertatem Fefellit igitur eum Malignitas sua c. Id. Ibid. for had he known certainly that Christ had beene not only very Man without sinne but also very God in humane flesh no doubt but he would haue beene as wise as the Princes of this World And Saint Paul saith 1. Cor. 2. 6. That If the Princes of this World had knowne it they would neuer haue crucified the Lord of Glory Wherefore the Diuell not beleeuing firmely that Christ was very God and taking him to be but a man as others were subiect to sinne at least to Originall guilt he makes at him and vseth all meanes to put him to death And Christ comming to redeeme the World did imitate the Fishers k Damascenus lib 3. de Orthod Fide cap. 27. Gregor Nyssen orat Cat. cap. 23. Naturae nostrae integumento celatae fuit Diuinitas vt instar piscium cum escâ carnis simul attraheretur hamus Diuinitatis sic vitâ ad mortem introductâ Luce apparents in tenebris Luce vitâ deleretur

perswaded that what hee commands he doth will and what he promiseth he will most assuredly performe The Causes why all promises of men are not alwaies kept I haue obserued to be commonly two viz either want of power and ability to performe or want of will to bee as good as their word neither of which can be said of Christ For he is God omnipotent potent and able to doe whatsoeuer hee promiseth And he is Optimus of a good and gracious disposition willing to performe whatsoeuer hee promiseth So that as I told you though the Brazen Serpent considered in it selfe be but a very weake and vnlikely meanes to heale such as were stung to death by fiery Serpents yet because God did ordaine it to that end and purpose as a Morall Instrument to conuay health to all such as did looke towards it Hee being able to doe what he will by what meanes how weake soeuer it pleaseth him to make choice of therefore whosoeuer looked towards it was actually healed Consider the like to this in the Cursed water drunke by the suspected Wife Num. 5. 27 28. If shee were guilty of breach of wedlock the water being drunk caused her thigh to rot and her belly to swell if not guilty she vpon the drinking thereof conceiued with child I demand then Whence had the water power to distinguish betwixt a chast and an vnchast Wife how chance it did not rot the thigh of the woman that was not guilty as well as of the other The simplest may perceiue it did not these things by any vertue or power it had in it selfe but because God had ordained and appointed it so that it being thus vsed should produce such effects And this will giue some light vnto vs in the matter of the Sacrament so much controuerted betwixt vs and the Church of Rome from whom as in diuers other points of Religion so also in this wee suffer slander They would faine beare the World in hand that we make the Sacraments of Christ but bare emptie signes of certaine graces and no more But heerein they doe vs great wrong For howbeit we say truely that they are Signes yet not bare signes but f Confessio Anglicana articulo de Baptismo morall instruments and meanes by which God doth confer those graces really and truly on vs which those signes doe represent So saith the Catechisme of our Church What doest thou meane by this word Sacrament Ans I meane an outward and visible signe of an inward and Spirituall grace giuen vnto vs ordained by Christ himselfe as a meanes or Instrument whereby wee receiue the same Grace and a pledge to assure vs thereof Indeed a man would thinke that a little Bread and Wine consecrated with solemne benediction were but poore and feeble meanes to conuay vnto vs the Body and Blood and Godhead of Gods eternall Sonne together with all his benefits purchased for vs as namely to free vs from the wrath of God from the endlesse torments of Hell from the curse of the Law to cloath vs with the righteousnesse of Christ and to conuay vnto vs a sure firme title to the Kingdome of Heauen and euerlasting life one would thinke this were impossible to be performed by a morsell of Consecrated Bread and a sup of hallowed Wine And so it is if wee consider the things as they are in their owne nature But if we weigh with our selues that Christ himselfe being God omnipotent hath ordained and appointed them to this end that we by them shall receiue such Benefits and hath faithfully promised that He by them as by a morall instrument will bestow such vnconceiueable graces vpon vs though those Graces be not Naturally contained in the Symboles and outward Elements of Bread and Wine themselues It remaineth that we doe but fit and prepare our selues to receiue them and so to beleeue vndoubtedly that he is and will be as good as his word in bestowing all them vpon vs at the very instant that we receiue the Bread and Wine into our bodies As whosoeuer was fitted for it and as God had commanded did but looke vp to the Serpent did immediatly recouer his bodily health Not because a piece of molten Brasse had that power in it selfe to giue life hauing none in it selfe but because God had ordained it to that end and did really performe what he did promise Let me torment your patience a while longer vpon this point I haue often compared those Holy mysteries to a Lease which is a morall Instrument A Gentleman makes seales deliuers a Lease to a Tenant of a Farme containing two or three hundred Acres of Land lying butting and bordering thus and thus vpon condition that the Tenant shall pay him so much Rent The Tenant receiues the Lease and hauing it in his hand shews it to his Friend and tels him that he hath there two hundred pounds a yeere three hundred Acres of Land The Parchment and Inke and Waxe of the Lease haue not the very Acres of Ground nor Trees nor Houses growing in them and yet by that Parchment or Lease the Tenant will possesse so much I demand then how commeth it to passe that this piece of Parchment and these drops of Inke This Lease hath power to conuay so much ground Really and actually to mee to a Tenant It hath no ground growing within it whence then hath it power to giue it to me The answer is that the Power it hath to performe this commeth not from the Waxe Inke and Parchment but from the legall Power and Authoritie of the Law-maker who did decree and ordaine that a Deed conceiued in such and such forme of words should be effectuall and powerfull to giue to a Tenant reall possession of such Lands and Houses So it is in the Sacrament euen as in an Indenture By it Christ doth giue vs his very Body and Blood his Merits his righteousnesse By it he passeth ouer to vs a Deed of all the Ioyes of Heauen he seales vnto vs a pardon of all our sinnes and of all the punishments belonging vnto them Mary on this Condition that we doe truly pay to him his Rent viz. True Repentance of all our sinnes True Charitie with our Neighbours True Faith in his Blood and a New sincere Obedience to Gods Commandements When we receiue this wee say This is the Body and Blood of Christ heere haue I Remission of all my sinnes and the Kingdome of Heauen passed ouer vnto me Yet that bit of bread hath not the Kingdom of Heauen contained in it nor the Body of Christ growing in it or conuerted into it neither hath the Wine the Blood of Christ within it and yet by That Bread and Wine the worthy Receiuer doth really and truly receiue whole Christ with all his Graces and benefits mentioned Whence haue they this Power In their own Nature they haue it not Whence then can they conuay All this to me I Answer The power which they haue comes