Selected quad for the lemma: blood_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
blood_n drink_v flesh_n meat_n 16,917 5 9.1789 4 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A37245 A letter to friend concerning his changing his religion Davies, Rowland, 1649-1721. 1692 (1692) Wing D412; ESTC R5643 30,321 32

There is 1 snippet containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

to the nature of Man or to the justice of God especially if he should punish us for being so deceived I refer to any Man of reason to determine I will not trouble you with the recital of any of those Arguments which demonstrate this Change to be impossible and that the Doctrin doth imply so many contradictions that it is no proper Object for Almighty Power But this I must desire you to observe that if a substantial change were made of the Elements by the words of Consecration then the act of the Apostles was manifestly different from the command of Christ whereon it was founded For nothing can be clearer from the Text than that our Saviour gave the Bread and commanded them to take and eat that is Bread the words of its Consecration being not yet pronounced If then they did eat another substance and not Bread who can truly say that they fulfilled the Commandment of the Lord or Received the Sacrament according to his order § 10. As to the Design in this most Sacred Institution it appears to be the same in relation unto Christians as that of the Passover was unto the Jews That as they did believe in a Messias that was to come and of whom their Sacrifices were but Types and Shadows and so were partakers of the Sacrifice that he was to offer by eating of those Sacrifices that did Typically represent it So we that now believe in a Messias already come should in a parallel manner become Partakers of the same Oblation and by an external act like unto what they did in every Circumstance we should obtain the benefit of that propitiatory Sacrifice and really and truly be made Partakers of it And therefore our Saviour Christ appointed that Bread and Wine should be received by his Disciples in the place and stead of his Body and Blood which were the real Sacrifice that he offered unto God for Man and very improper things to be actually eaten or drank by Christians and therefore he calls the Bread his Body and the Wine his Blood not as being really the things themselves but as Instituted by him to represent them to us So that by a due participation of these Creatures according unto Christ's appointment it is certain that all Christians are partakers of that Sacrifice which he offer'd to God for them and the Bread and Wine being duly Consecrated and Received in the nature of a Sacrament the Body and Blood of Christ is really and truly received by the Faithful in them not that the Elements are changed in themselves or that there is any real alteration of their substance but the act is Spiritual in respect of the Receivers who take them not for Food but as a Mystery in Religion and therefore they do not receive them in their common notion as they are Bread and Wine that is proper Food to nourish or sustain the Body but as they represent the Body and Blood of Christ and are appropriated by Faith to nourish and support the Soul And since then this Sacrament was ordained to become a Sacrifice to Christians as St. Augustin● tell us and that those Patriarchs of old who believed in a Messias that was to come were as actual Partakers of that Sacrifice which he hath offered as we can be For they all eat the same spiritual Meat and they all drank the same spiritual Drink 1 Cor. x. 3. Neither is there Salvation in any other Acts iv 12. And yet it was impossible that they should eat the Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood according to the Letter because his Body was not framed yet nor actually born It is therefore rational to conclude that we are still Partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ in the same manner that they were not in a Literal but a Spiritual participation Since the reception of them by Faith only was fully sufficient to the Salvation of the one and therefore is all that is necessary to the Salvation of the other § 11. And this gives us a fair light into the reason or occasion of this Figurative Expression in that the Sacrament of the Eucharist being Instituted by our Saviour in the place of the Jewish Passover which was now to be abolished many of the External Rites were still retained to shew that all those Types are now compleated And therefore as it was usual at the introduction of the Paschal Lamb for the Priest or some other of the Company to tell the People that this is the Lamb that was slain in Egypt when the Lord passed over the houses of our Fathers and slew the Egyptians And again after Supper was ended distributing Bread and Wine to every one in order was wont to tell them This is the Bread of Sorrow which our Fathers eat in Egypt Whereas all Men know that it could not possibly be that very Lamb that was slain nor that very Bread that was eaten in Egypt but another Lamb and other Bread Instituted by God's order in the stead or commemoration of it So our Saviour likewise at the Institution of the Sacrament using the same Phrase upon the like occasion ought to be understood in the same manner of expression And since it was in conformity to their constant way of speaking that when he Instituted Bread and Wine to be Received by Christians in the Commemoration of his own death as that Lamb was of the Passover he said of the Bread This is my Body and of the Wine This is my Blood we are to understand by it no more than if he had told us that they are Elements Sacramentally to be Received in the stead and commemoration of his Body and Blood So that although there is nothing Corporeally upon the Table after the Co●●e●ration but the same things that were there before nor eat●● by the Receivers but very Bread with the very same substance that it always had Yet in the notion of a Sacrament and as a Religious Mystery it is not to be received as meer or common Bread by any true or faithful Christian But we verily believe that the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ is actually and truly partaken of in those Elements and as the Church of England Emphatically expresses it The Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and Received by the Faithful in the Lord's-Supper § 12. This you cannot but know to be the Doctrin of the Sacrament as it is received in the Church of England and if you will consult Antiquity you shall find that it hath not only been the general Doctrin of the Universal Church but particularly of the Church of Rome in former Ages For the Antient Fathers generally speak of the Spiritual and Figurative Being of Christ's Body in the Sacrament and do expresly call the same thing at the same time both Bread and the Body of Christ which is impossible to be a truth in the Literal sense and therefore it is necessary to