Selected quad for the lemma: body_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
body_n	blood_n	sacrament_n	shed_v	7,504	5	9.6449	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85329	Londons gate to the Lords Table. Where the eldership doth sit doing their office aright, in discovering and shutting out the ignorant, prophane, and meere civill honest man : in suspending the suspected formall, legall, and antinomisticall professor, and in drawing in the weakest humble beleeving soule. In a dialogue betweene a minister of the Gospell. Alexander an ignorant prophane man. Simon a proud professor. And Matthias an humble penitent. Imprimatur Edmund Calamy.	Fisher, Edward, fl. 1627-1655.	1646 (1646)	Wing F995; Thomason E1213_1; ESTC R210120	58,722	302

Covenant and where there is no Covenant there is no Seale and then consequently no Sacrament so that you being an unbeleever you are an unconverted un-regenerate man no childe of God no spiritually living man neither are you under the Covenant of Grace and therefore assure your selfe the sacrament of the Lords Supper was not instituted and ordained for you Alex. Then Sir it seems that you do not intend to admit me to bee a partaker of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Min. Surely neighbour Alexander you not having true faith in Christ you cannot bee a partaker thereof though we should admit you Alex. This is strange to me Sir cannot I come to Church and receive the Bread and Wine and eat it and drinke it if you give it me Min. Yea I do confesse though you have no faith yet you may partake of the Bread and Wine but you are not to come to the Sacrament to partake of the Bread and Wine but to be made a partaker of CHRISTS Body and Blood under the similitude of Bread and Wine but this you cannot doe without Faith for Faith is the hand with which Christ is received as you may see Joh. 1. 12. yea and it is the mouth by which we feed on him as you may see Joh. 6. 53. wherefore I beseech you bee not so simple as to thinke and imagine that you are to come to the Sacrament for a morsell of finer Bread or for a draught of sweet Wine nor that if you receive the outward Elements in a reverend manner and behave your selfe decently during that action and demeane your selfe mannerly for that day that then you have received the Sacrament in honour of Christ and done a right acceptable service to God But know and consider That the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a spirituall Banquet where we are to feast our soules with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ crucified for us and this you cannot do for want of Faith and therefore if you should come and partake of the outward Elements yet would it be no benefit to you Alex. But Sir doe you thinke it would bee any hurt to me if I should receive the Sacrament Min. Yea I know it would be great hurt to you for by reason of your Ignorance and want of Faith in Christ you are neither able to examine your selfe before you come there nor to discerne the Lords Body when you are there and so should you receive the Sacrament unworthily and so not only be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord but also eat and drinke damnation to your selfe as the Apostle tells you 1 Cor. 11. 27. 28 29. Alex. Sir these things are somewhat strange to me and therefore I pray you give me leave to ask you a few questions about them and first of all tell me what I ought to examine my selfe of because you say I am not able to doe it Min. Why you ought to examine your selfe 2 Cor. 13. 5 whether you bee in the Faith whether Christ be in you yea or no whether you be dead to sinne or alive to righteousnesse what graces you have and what you want what corruptions you have overcome and what do overcome you what religious actions you perform and how you performe them in briefe to examine your selfe is to take a true survey of the state and condition of your soule by comparing it with the Scriptures Now you are ignorant both of the state and condition of your soule and also of the Scriptures and therefore I say it is impossible that you should be able to examine your selfe Alex. Well Sir and what is it to discerne the Lords Body Min. To discerne the LORDS Bodie is to put a right difference betweene the outward Elements in the Sacrament and common Pemble on the Sacraments p. 59. Bread and Wine which difference is not at all in substance but in the use the one being prophane the other sacred being set a part to signifie unto us the benefits of Christs death and passion or the discerning of the Lords Body stands in knowledge understanding and Dike on the Sacraments p. 90. judgement of the nature use and necessitie of the Sacrament but you have manifested by that which you said ere while That you put no difference betwixt the Bread and Wine at the Lords Table and common bread and wine but would use them as you doe your ordinarie food without any regard of the spirituall use of them and therefore you are not able to discerne the Lords Body at the Sacrament Alex. But Sir it would be a strange thing if I by receiving the Sacrament should become guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ I pray you Sir shew me the reason of it Min. The reason is because if you should receive the Sacrament you would doe even so as the shedders of Christs Blood did for looke as they that crucified and pierced Christ poured not forth his Blood that they might Dike on the Sacraments p. 56. drinke it but onely that they might poure it forth and shed it so you by your receiving the Sacrament without profit or benefit to your soule would rashly and in vaine shed the Blood of Christ Or to be guiltie of the Body and Blood of Christ Reynolds on the Sacraments p. 180. is to offer some notable contempt unto the sufferings of Christ to finne against the price of our Redemption and to vilifie and set at naught the precious Blood of the new Covenant as if it were a common and prophane thing when men out of ignorant sensuall secure presumptuous formalizing inconsiderate and prophane affections approach unto Christs Table to communicate of him Alex. And do you think that I should eat and drink damnation to my selfe if I should receive the Bread and Wine at the Sacrament Min. I think you would commit such a sinne in prophaning the Sacrament as deserves both eternall and temporall Judgement for though this Table of the Lord be a Feast of choicest delicates for refreshing of the Pemble on the Sacraments p. 66. soule when men come rightly prepared thereto yet doth it become the bane and destruction of soules when men present themselves thereat with unbeleeving impenitent and unholy hearts as you would doe if you should come there Alex. Then Sir it seems you doe absolutely conclude that I am unfit to be admitted to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Min. Surely neighbour Alexander you being wholly ignorant wholly sinfull unbeleeving unregenerate unconverted no Sonne of God no spiritually living man and having neither hand to receive Christ nor mouth to feed on Christ nor being able to examine your selfe nor to discerne the Lords Bodie and an unworthy receiver and so liable to become guilty of the Bodie and Blood of Christ and to eat and drink your own damnation I think it must needs follow that you are unfit to be admitted to the Sacrament of the LORDS Supper Alex. Well

truly have you ever gone to the Lord in prayer about your sins Mat. Yea indeed Sir I have of late divers times gone privately to prayer and have besought the Lord that he would be pleased for Jesus Christs sake to pardon my former sins and give me power to overcome my present corruptions but yet alas all in vaine for they doe still remaine with me Min. But doe you beleeve that your former sins are pardoned Mat. No surely Sir I cannot beleeve that so so long as my present corruptions doe still remaine unsubdued Min. Weepe not I pray you but consider that you have gone a wrong way to worke you would have your sinnes subdued before they be pardoned whereas the Lord doth first pardon sinne and then he gives power against sinne Mat. But Sir I have thought with my selfe that as when I was a childe and had by the committing of any fault displeased my Father he would at my intreating forgive me upon condition that I did so no more but if I committed the like fault againe then he would not forgive the former but reckon with me for them both even so I did conceive the Lord would deale with me Min. But did not you tell me that you did beseech the Lord to forgive you your sins for Christ Jesus sake Mat. Yea indeed Min. And why have you asked it for Christs sake Mat. Because he hath suffered death for my sinnes Min. And doe you no● beleeve that Christ by his death hath fully satisfied the Justice of God for all your sins Mat. Yea Sir I doe beleeve he hath Min. Why then doe you not beleeve that God for his satisfaction sake hath forgiven your sins Mat. Why Sir I doe beleeve it so long as I doe continue obedient unto God in doing his Will and not transgressing his Commandments Min. And can you not beleeve it any longer then you doe so Mat. No indeed Sir Min. Why then you doe not beleeve that God pardoneth your sins for Christs sake but for your owne sake not for Christs obedience sake but for your owne obedience sake Mat. Indeed Sir I cannot tell what to say to that Min. Well neighbour Mathias as you have besought the Lord to pardon and forgive you your sinnes for Christ Jesus sake doe so still but withall beleeve that he hath done so according to your Petition yea and that absolutely and not conditionally as you have done and answerably as you doe so you shall be sure to finde and feele your sinnes mortified and subdued doe but beleeve that you are washt by the Blood of Christ from the guilt of sinne and you shall be sure to finde that you are cleansed by the Blood of Christ from the filth of sinne let a man saith Doctor Preston but beleeve the On the new Cov. the promise of pardon in the Blood of Christ and the very beleeving the pardon will be able to cleanse his heart from dead workes for that faith which doth lay hold on Christ crucified saith another godly Divine doth Dyke on the Sacr●ment p. 292. fetch a Crucifying vertue from him whereby the body of corruption is enfeebled and weakned Mat. O but Sir I feare I shall not beleeve that my sins are pardoned so long as they remaine unsubdued Min. If you will not beleeve that your sins are pardoned till they are quite subdued then will you not beleeve it whilst you live for so long as you live here you shall finde and feele some remainders of sinfull corruptions unsubdued though you doe beleeve and if you doe not beleeve you shall not have them subdued at all by the sanctifying Spirit of Christ Indeed it is possible that after much striving against your corruptions in your owne strength you may see there is no strength in you to subdue them as you would and may thereupon goe unto Christ by Prayer for grace and power to leave sinne and doe better and so live upon Christ that you may live upon your selfe I say you may goe unto Christ for power to doe your worke that so you may earne your wages and it is possible you may hereupon grow in legall righteousnesse as the stony and thorny ground seed sprung up and increased much and came neare unto maturity and yet this not be the worke of the sanctifying Spirit of Jesus Christ wherefore I beseech you goe not this way to worke doe not seeke to have the righteousnesse of sanctification infused into you before you seeke to have the righteousnesse of Justification imputed unto you and so as much as in you lyeth to goe about to pervert the Lords owne order and method Doe you not remember how I told my neighbour Simon that the Lords order and method in justifying and sanctifying a sinner is First to justifie him by imputing the righteousnesse that is inherent in Christ unto him and enabling him to apprehend it by faith and then to sanctifie him by infusing of righteousnesse into him by his Spirit and this is the method which the Prophet Micah proclaimes by way of admiration saying Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Here is the righteousnesse Micah 7. 18. of Justification and then in the next Verse he proclaimes the righteousnesse of Sanctification saying He will turne againe he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities c. And this method the Prophet David was well acquainted with and therefore in the first Verse of the 51. Psalme he beseeches the Lord According to the multitude of his mercies to blot out his transgressions and then in the tenth ver he saith Create in me a cleane heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Wherefore I beseech you againe and againe to acquit your selfe with this way and endeavour to goe on in it Mat. O Sir that I could doe so for surely I should thinke my selfe a happy man if the Lord would both pardon mine iniquities and subdue them for truly Sir I have lately had in my heart such a deale of feare terrour of the direfull displeasure of God and of Death and Hell for want of being assured that my sinnes are pardoned and I doe so hate loath and abhor those corruptions which are still in me that I verily thinke I shall never be quiet in my minde whilst they and I live together Min. Weep not I pray you except it be for joy for surely this feare is a worke of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus for ordinarily after conviction he lets into the hearts of his Elect such feares as these for although t is true there may be in a meare naturall man certaine naturall feares arising from the accusation of his naturall conscience yet they never affect his heart so as to worke a separation betwixt his heart and his sinnes but your feares doe so affect

But yet Sir me thinkes so small a measure of faith as the Lord knowes I have if any at all should not fit a man to receive the Sacrament aright Min. O but you are to Rogers on the Sacra p. 48. consider that it is the kinde of faith that makes a man fit for the Sacrament and not the measure the truth of faith is rather required then any certaine measure and thought you have not that measure of faith that you doe desire yet have you that truth of faith which Christ doth require Mat. But Sir doe you use to admit any to the Sacrament that are so weake as I Min. Yea indeed for we doe consider that a ●● spark of fire is fire as well as the whole Element even so is a sparke of faith faith as well as the flame and we must looke to faith in the sparke as well as in the flame knowing right well that although all Beleevers have not the like strong faith yet have they all the like precious faith whereby they lay hold and put on the perfect righteousnesse of Jesus Christ And we are not ignorant that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was instituted and Rogers on the Sacrament p. 107. ordained to make weake Beleevers strong and not onely nor chiefly to make strong Beleevers stronger Mat. Well Sir I thanke the Lord I doe now begin to see more concerning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper then hitherto I have done for to say nothing of former times when I went unto it and received it hand over head not knowing any other reason why I should receive it but because others did so and I thought I did God some service and that he was as it were beholden to me for doing so even since I have known more then formerly I have therein been much mistaken for I had thought that knowledge faith repentance love and obedience had made a man worthy to receive the Sacrament for I am sure I have either heard some Minister Preach or else read it in some Booke that the wedding garment wherewith a man that commeth to the Sacrament is to be cloathed is made up of all these and that therefore it was for want of these that the man in the Gospell was bound hand and foot and cast into utter darknesse and therefore because I found a want of all these in my selfe I thought I was altogether unworthy to come to the Sacrament and durst not presume to come unto it but now I doe perceive that it is rather an hungering and thirsting appetite after Christ and his Righteousnesse arising from a true sight and sence of the want thereof that makes a man worthy and I hope I may truly say That I doe see and feele a want thereof in some small measure and therefore Sir I doe desire to come to the Sacrament if you be pleased to admit me Min. Neighbour Matthias if you read the contents of the 22. Chapter of the Gospell written by Sr. Matthew where the wedding garment is mentioned in the Bible that containes Bezas notes in the Margent you shall find these words The wedding garment is faith to the which I doe assent for though t is true where faith is truly planted in the heart all the other doe proceed and grow from thence as fruits yet it is faith that is especially exercised in the act of receiving the Sacrament it being as I told you the hand that receiveth Christ and the mouth that feedeth on Christ yea and it is by faith that this hungering and thirsting appetite is stirred up in the soule therefore I said that your hungering and thirsting after Christ and his Righteousnesse is from faith or rather faith it selfe and so you having the wedding garment I doe pronounce you to be one of those guests which Christ inviteth to his Table and therefore I as a messenger sent from Christ doe in the name of my Lord and Master Christ invite you to his Table assuring you that he will bid you kindly welcome and therefore I beseech you faile not to be there the next time it shall be administred and in the meane time I would intreat you to come before me and the Elders together that you may also have their approbation for I of my selfe have not power to admit you Mat. But Sir it may be though you doe think me fit to be admitted yet it may be they will not and then I shall be turned backe and that will much trouble me Min. Feare not man I dare warrant you that they will be all of my minde in that point concerning you Mat. Well then Sir God willing I will come before you and if they also give their consent if the Lord spare me life and health I will come to the Sacrament with my godly neighbours the next time it shall be administred and in the meane time I beseech you Sir pray for me that the Lord would be pleased to fit and prepare me to pertake thereof Min. Yea neighbour Mathias as the LORD shall be pleased to enable me I will pray for you and I beseech you also in the meane time to pray for your selfe and use all other meanes to informe your judgement aright concerning the nature use and end of the Sacrament that so you may receive that fruit and benefit which the Lord doth thereby tender and offer to such as you are Mat. Sir I doe acknowledge that I am very ignorant in these points and therefore have great need to use all the meanes I can to be better informed and truly for the present I know no better meanes then to intreat you to give me some further instruction concerning the same Min. God willing you shall not want the best instructions that I am able to give you and therefore I pray you understand that the Sacrament of the LORDS Supper was by Christ himselfe instituted and ordained for three especiall ends 1 As first of all to keep Beleevers in a continuall remembrance of that propitiatory Sacrifice which he once for all offered by his death upon the Crosse Doe this saith he in remembrance Luk. 22. 19. of me that is to say Do this in remembrance that my Body was broken and my Blood shed for the remission of your sinnes 2 Secondly Christ did institute and ordaine it to be a seale of the righteousnesse Rom. 4. ●● of faith to ratifie and confirme the Covenant of promise made with all beleevers for indeed that Covenant is as a last Will and Testament and the Sacraments are as Seales set thereunto whereby all the promises in the Covenant of Grace or the Gospell are ratified and confirmed to every faithfull soule that so they having both Christs hand and seale their faith may be the better confirmed and strengthned 3 Thirdly Christ did institute and ordaine it to be spirituall nourishment to every hungry and thirsty soule yea and to be spirituall Physick to heale and cure every sensible sick and