Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	baptize_v	child_n	infant_n	1,168	5	9.1746	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44513	The crucified Jesus, or, A full account of the nature, end, design and benefits of the sacrament of the Lords Supper with necessary directions, prayers, praises and meditations to be used by persons who come to the Holy Communion / by Anthony Horneck ...	Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1695 (1695)	Wing H2823; ESTC R35435	411,793	617

Acceptableness Soundness and Sincerity And he that examines himself without Reserves out of a Christian Simplicity and with an Intent to become more like God and more like that Saviour whose Death is remembred in this Eucharist and more like the Friends of the Bridegroom the holy Apostles acts like a Person for whom is prepared a Feast of fat Things a Feast of Wines on the Lees of fat Things full of Marrow of Wines on the Lees well refined as it is said Isa. 25. 6. 3. With this Self-Examination must be joyned Earnest Prayers to the Father of Lights that he who sees in secret would give us the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding whereby we may see the Errours that creep in the Dark and are not so palpable as others are And he that hath Courage to tell his God Lord thou knowest my Heart and triest my Reins and thy piercing Eye is a Discerner of the Thoughts and Intentions of my Inward Man Thou knowest I do not wilfully hide any thing from my self and I am so far from harbouring any secret Lust or Vanity or Corruption that it is the ardent Desire of my Soul that thou wouldst discover to me what Impurity what Errour what Fault lies lurking in my Breast I am not afraid blessed be thy Name to know the worst of my self Let down I pray thee some of thy gracious Beams into my Heart whereby I may see the Defects which by reason of my Blindness I cannot as yet discover whatever it be O Lord though it be incorporated with my Profit or Pleasure or with my very Heart I am resolved to tear it from my Soul Let me but see it and with that Sight give me Strength and Spiritual Courage and it shall not stay in that House which thou hast pleased to chuse for thy Habitation He that thus dares address himself to God in his Self-Examination discovers the Sincerity of his Soul The preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I IF it be necessary to examine our selves before we eat and drink in this holy Sacrament then certainly the Churches heretofore were in an Errour that gave the holy Communion to Children They did it already in St. Cyprian's Time Innocent I. Pope of Rome established it It continued down to St. Austin's Days and the Custom was as soon as the Children were baptized to give them the holy Communion Under Charles the Great about the Year 800. after Christ they did not only admit Infants to Communicate in the Church after Baptism but kept part of the Eucharist at 〈◊〉 to give it to dying Children To this purpose ●●segisu of Leig● tells us of a Canon made about that ●●e viz. That the Presbyter or Priest should always have ●●charist or Sacrament ready that in case a Person fell sick or a Child should be taken ill suddenly they might receive and not die without the Communion Among the Aethiopian Christians the Custom continues at this Day and they give the Sacrament to Infants as soon as they are baptized The Christians in Moscovy give it to Children of Seven Years of Age because they think that about that time Children begin to commit Actual Sins And Hospinian tells us of a Custom in Lorrain which continued yet in the last Century amongst some Papists as a Relick of that ancient Practice of Communicating Infants The Priest when he had baptized the Infant would fetch from the Altar a Consecrated Wafer and having taken it betwixt his two Fingers shew it to the People when he had done put it up again in the Box and then wash his two Fingers with Wine and put some Drops of that Wine in the Infant 's Mouth But as ancient and as common as this Custom was to give Infants the holy Communion yet the Church of Rome it self was at last ashamed of it and abolished it by a Canon in the Council of Trent That which moved some of the Primitive Churches to begin this Custom was that Saying of Christ Joh. 6. 53. Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you This made them think it absolutely necessary to Salvation and that Children dying in their Infancy might not perish they gave them the Sacrament But their Mistake lay here That they took the Spiritual Eating of Christ's Flesh and Drinking his Blood by a lively Faith spoken of in that Chapter for Sacramental Eating and Drinking or Eating and Drinking in the holy Sacrament 'T is evident that Christ instituted this Sacrament with an Intent we should use it in remembrance of him which Children are not capable of much less of Self-Examination And therefore even under the Law though Infants were circumcised yet they were not admitted to eat of the Passover till they came to the Use of their Reason Not to mention that this Sacrament being designed also for Reformation of our Lives which Infants have no Occasion for at least no Sense of during that State of Innocence they can receive no prejudice by not Receiving the holy Communion seeing there is not that Necessity for it in them in point of Amendment of Life that there is in the Adult II. Yet from the Necessity of Self-Examination before this Sacrament we may very rationally infer that as soon as young People are able to examine themselves they ought to come to the holy Communion There is an Emphasis in the Apostle's Words mentioned before But let a Man examine himself and so let him eat and drink Which imports not only that a Person who hath examined himself may come but withal that when he is capable of examining himself he ought to do it and so come to this holy Ordinance I reckon that as soon as young Men and Women are able to understand what Sin and what Holiness is what the Design of Christ's Death is and what Heaven and Salvation means they are capable also of Self-Examination and consequently of coming to the holy Communion And if the Creator be fit to be remembred in the Days of our Youth the Redeemer of Men can be no improper Object of that Remembrance It must be admitted indeed that the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Apostle in the Precept of Self-Examination is taken from Metallaries and Lapidists or Jewellers that make a very strict Examination whether the Precious Stone be truly Oriental or no and whether there be no Flaw in it And though it being a Word of such Import implies a very accurate Search into our Ways and nice Care to be found worthy which Young Men of Fourteen or Fifteen or Sixteen may be supposed not so very capable of performing yet they are able to discern such Sins as they find forbidden in their Catechism and have been taught to avoid by their Parents from whom they have learned their Duty to God and Man And as the Sins of that early Age cannot be supposed to be very numerous and a great many of those they have

render that Wound incurable which if wise impartial and charitable Men had the handling of might be heal'd up with great Facility III. It was indeed a Rule in the Rubrick of the Passover Exod. 12. 46. That a Bone of the Paschal Lamb should not be broken but that Type doth not interfere with Christ's Breaking the Sacramental Bread For though the Paschal Lamb represented the Lamb of God which was to die for the Sins of the World yet that particular Rite had relation only to that Providence in the Scene of Christ's Passion in which Care was taken that his Legs should not be broken as those of Malefactors commonly were as St. John expresly explains it Joh. 19. 21. And this shews the wonderful Exactness of Providence that both foretold and fulfilled that Particular in our great Redeemer's Funeral And though he was numbred with the Transgressors yet in many Things his Usage was different from theirs to let the World see that a special Dispensation attended him and that in the midst of all his Misery an unknown Hand restrain'd the unruly Wills of Men and made them against their Intent and Design correspond with God's Prescience and Determination This was so minute a Circumstance that one would have thought it deserved no Cognisance or Prediction But as inconsiderable as it appears to vulgar Eyes God knew it was of Consequence and hereby he taught future Ages at once to admire the Treasures of his Wisdom and his Care of his only begotten Son who though he condescended to die so ignominious a Death yet was to enjoy this Privilege above other Malefactors that even Infidels might see he was no common Creature So that this Rite in the Passover must be stretched no farther than it was at first intended and if so it clashes not with Christ's Breaking the Bread for other Designs and Purposes The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. SInce Christ broke the Bread and the Act is so significant the Church of Rome is certainly in the wrong who neglects this Breaking and gives the Wafer whole But we need not wonder at their Neglect of this Practice in their Rituals who have made bold with the one half of the Sacrament and deprived the Laity of an Essential Part of it viz. The Cup whereof we shall have occasion to speak more largely in the Sequel Men who are resolved to establish their Errours into which Ignorance first led them must be bold and daring and since the Word of God doth contradict them invent and erect an Authority equal with that of God and set up an Infallible Chair to bear the World in hand that they can do nothing that is unlawful and while Oral Tradition that Nose of Wax which you may turn and set which way you list is pretended there is no Doctrine so absurd but may be water'd from that impure Spring And who can question it when the Laity are kept ignorant of the Word of the Living God and the Scriptures as much forbidden as the Tree of Life was to Adam lest he should eat thereof and live II. As Christ broke the Bread so it is justly supposed that he did eat of it himself for this was the Custom among the Jews for the Master of the Family who broke the Bread to eat of it himself And though he had no need of it and the Mercy intended by this Sacrament was intended altogether for the Benefit of his Disciples and Followers yet as he was baptized to shew a good Example and that he might be in all Things like unto his Brethren so he did eat of the Sacramental Bread thereby to encourage all Christians to come and participate of that blessed Symbol And we may add he did it to shew that those that did eat worthily had Communion with him and that he would be in them and they in him as those who are admitted to eat of the same Meat the Prince himself eats of are supposed to be his Favourites But if Christ did eat of the consecrated Bread himself the Doctrine of Transubstantiation that Idol of the Church of Rome falls to the Ground For from hence it will follow that Christ did eat and devour himself which as it is absurd so it wants very little of being ridiculous III. See here what Reflections thou art to make when thou seest the holy Bread broken before thine Eyes in this Sacrament This thou must not look upon as an empty Ceremony but thy Soul must flee away to Gethsemane walk about Golgotha take a Turn on the Mount of Olives and stand still a while on Moriah and behold how the innocent Isaac is bound upon the Altar how the Son of God hangs on the infamous Tree a Spectacle to Angels and to Men And here the Tremendous Object must arrest thy Thoughts and infuse such Reflections See here my Sins what Work ye have made what Injury ye have done The Son of the Living God could not be quiet for you in Heaven ye pulled him down from the Mansions of Glory ye afflicted persecuted broke him here on Earth and left him not till ye had kill'd and murther'd him How shall I be reveng'd upon you How shall I testifie my Concernedness at the Sufferings of the Lord Jesus How shall I convince the holy Angels that stand about me that I condole with him Pride and Desire of Vain-Glory thou shalt die Envy and Malice thou shalt live no longer in my Soul Wrath and Anger thou shalt be dispatch'd Hypocrisie and Covetousness thou shalt be broke to pieces Intemperance and Luxury thou shalt breath thy last I 'll harbour no Murtherers in my Bosom no such Traitors shall lodge in my House O Blessed Master Shall I see thy Head broke with Thorns and not cry out O that my Head were Water and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears Shall I see thy Face broke with Grief and not blush at my daring Sins that broke it thus Break stubborn Heart Break my perverse and ungovernable Will Break my head-strong Passions O Jesu break these Cockatrices Eggs and let all the Poyson evaporate then then thy Servant shall be whole IV. Hear this thou broken thou contrite Penitent Hear this thou distressed Soul that art broken with a Sense of Sin who feelest the Burthen heavy and bowest under it Behold the Rock that was broken for thee and of the Waters that flow from it drink yea drink abundantly This Water is cordial thou needest not be afraid of Intemperance here Hide thy self in the Holes in the Clests of this Rock hither flee for Refuge When Devils haunt thee when Temptations follow thee when Despair like the Avenger of Blood is at thy Heels run into this City of Refuge save thy self in this Zoar here fear no Storm no Waves no Tempest here all travelling and weary Souls find Rest here Devils have no Power for they are conquered their Dominion is taken away their Empire broken here is Balm of Gilead here lives the Physician whose Blood