Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
cause_n body_n sin_n soul_n 4,646 5 5.4196 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
A65465 The pious communicant rightly prepar'd, or, A discourse concerning the Blessed Sacrament wherein the nature of it is described, our obligation to frequent communion enforced, and directions given for due preparation for it, behaviour at, and after it, and profiting by it : with prayers and hymns, suited to the several parts of that holy office : to which is added, a short discourse of baptism / by Samuel Wesley ... Wesley, Samuel, 1662-1735. 1700 (1700) Wing W1376; ESTC R38528 120,677 302

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

Church accordingly tells us That to the End we should always remember the exceeding great Love of our Master and only Saviour Jesus Christ in dying for us he has instituted and ordained Holy Mysteries as Pledges of it And the actual and lively Consideration hereof of Christ's wonderful Love towards us miserable Sinners so ungrateful so unworthy so often guilty of broken Faith and broken Vows who have loved the World and our own Lusts more than him who have grieved him who have wounded him who have crucified him by our Sins and who continue to do so for there is no Man that lives and sins not and all this to him who still loves us and still offers us Peace and Pardon and Grace and Heaven and even his own blessed Body and Blood in this heavenly Feast Shall not all this prevail with us to give him our worthless Love again for the rest of our Lives To give it him without exception and without reserve It must it will it cannot fail of having this happy effect if we carefully regard every part of this sacred Action and intently consider our Saviour's Death as represented therein especially while the Minister is consecrating the Elements the whole Prayer of Consecration being made up of a lively and thankful Recognition of our Saviour's sufferings and of his instituting the Sacrament in memory of them We are therefore in order to the exercising and encreasing of our Love to Christ diligently at that time to regard the Minister with our Eye and Christ with our Hearts When we see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out then to consider with all the Agonies of our Souls and with Hearts pierced and melted with the Love of Jesus what Agonies he himself endured for us both in his Body and Mind Then to look on him whom we have pierced and mourn for him and delight in him and hate those Sins which were the cause of this and which can only divide us from his Love and especially when we actually receive Then are our Souls to be intimately united to his Divine Person Then are we to embrace him as the chiefest of Ten Thousands and fairer than all the Children of Men to adore his infinite Perfections to be lost in the contemplation and admiration of them and to be wholly ravished with his Love § XIII Which will mightily assist us in the exercise of the other branch of Charity Love to our Neighbour for this cannot but be easie to us when our Minds are raised to this happy Temper The Love of Christ will subdue the Enmity of our Natures towards each other that Pride which is the cause of almost all Quarrels that bitterness of Spirit and Rancor and Malice and Revenge and Anger Those obscene Birds will all fly away before the Beams of the blessed Sun of Righteousness as did the Devils of old from their Oracles All our Hatred will be against our Sins all our Indignation our Resentments our Revenge for neither were those in vain implanted in our Minds will be turned quite another way O how happy would the World be did but the Body of Christians frequently and worthily receive the Communion I am confident nothing could sooner heal the wide Wounds of Christendom as I believe the neglect of it has been the great Original of them as well as of all our own Factions and Divisions All good Men must love one another if they often met at this Holy Table They could not they dared not there retain or nourish any pique against each other They would Love much both Christ and his Members because they so often considered that much was forgiven them And tho' this may seem a Digression yet the Truth and Consequences thereof appear so plain and so considerable that I knew not how to omit it But to return Charity is here to be actually exercised towards all Christ's Members especially towards those with whom we communicate We are to knit our Hearts most closely and intimately to them with the Bands of Holy Love Poor and Rich without exception only loving those most that love God most We are to pray for them all and not only in the Offertory but on other occasions to do them all the Good we can by faithful Counsel by tender and prudent Reproof and by all lawful and possible means promoting the welfare of their Souls and Bodies And lastly by devout Prayer to God for them as we are directed That all who are partakers of this Holy Communion may be filled with his Grace and heavenly Benediction But tho' our Charity is to begin there we are not to confine the Exercise thereof to those only who then actually communicate with us for we are also directed by the excellent Spirit of our Church shewing it self in those Holy Confessors and Martyrs who composed her Liturgy humbly to beseech God to grant by the Merits and Death of his Son Jesus Christ and thro' Faith in his Blood that not only we but also his whole Church may obtain Remission of our Sins and all other Benefits of his Passion Which may he grant who has so dearly purchased it for us to whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be all Glory Honour and Dominion now and to Eternal Ages Amen! If there be any time between the Consecration and actual Receiving the Communicant may make use of these following Devotions An Act of Penitence O Infinite offended Goodness who art a consuming Fire to the obstinate Sinner but infinite to pardon those who confess and forsake their Sins I desire earnestly to repent of all my Misdeeds I will acknowledge my Transgressions before thee and mine Iniquities will I not hide I have sinned I have sinned O Father against Heaven and before thee Against thy Mercies and thy Judgments the Thunder of thy Law and the still small Voice of thy Gospel Against the clearest Manifestations of thy wonderful Love in sending thy Son to shed his Blood as an attonement for the Sins of the whole World which precious Blood of his I have too often trampled under Foot and crucified the Son of God afresh by my repeated Iniquities Not all his bitter Agonies have been so far able to pierce my hard Heart as to make me entirely forsake my Sins which were the Cause of them Tho' he sweat Drops of Blood in the Garden tho' his Soul was exceedingly sorrowful even unto Death tho' he endured the Contradiction of Sinners tho' he was mocked and buffeted and spit on and crowned with Thorns and scourged and fainted under his Cross and was nailed unto it and raised in the Air a spectacle to Men and Angels tho' he there groaned under the weight of our Guilt and of our Sins imputed unto him tho' he thirsted tho' he fainted tho' he cried out as if thou thy self couldst have forsaken him tho' he bowed his Head and gave up the Ghost O! shall all this nothing move me shall my Heart be as hard as the nether Milstone