Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	body_n	church_n	mystical_a	1,148	5	10.4023	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38767	The case of kneeling at the Holy Sacrament stated & resolved. Part I ...	Evans, John, 17th cent.	1683 (1683)	Wing E3446; ESTC R226085	40,728	63

one and the same 3. And then Thirdly we may Lawfully observe some things in the Worship of God for which we have no Command or Example in the Holy Scriptures if this Argument of the Table-Gesture be good And this principle viz. that we ought not to do any thing in the Worship of God but what we have some Command or Example for in Scripture is the great battering Engine which hath been constantly imployed against the Ceremonies enjoyned by our Church and it is a Principle wherein the Mystery of Puritanisme doth consist as Bishop Sanderson Notes Therefore it behoves our Brethren not to be fond of this Table-Gesture as they love the Life of their Cause I am sure no greater Argument can be afforded of a routed baffled Cause in the matter of Sitting at the Sacrament than to see the Patrons of it running up and down in Confusion and flying for Refuge sometime to the Command of Christ then to his Example when driven out there then to the Nature of the thing and Civil Customs and about again to the Example For thus the Authors of the fore-mentioned Tracts do Thus much being premised I proceed to Consider the Question proposed for the Resolution whereof I shall 1. Enquire into the Nature of the Holy Sacrament that so we may truly understand what Gesture is agreeable or repugnant to it 2. Shew that the Nature of the Lord's Supper doth not absolutely require and necessarily oblige us to observe a Common Table-Gesture in order to our worthy Receiving 3. That Kneeling is very Comely and agreeable to the Nature of the Lord's Supper though no Table-Gesture 4. That the Primitive Church and Ancient Fathers had no such notion of the necessity of a Table-Gesture as is maintained and urged by Dissenters 1. As to the Nature of the Sacrament I shall endeavour to discover it under these following Heads First the Sacrament in the Holy Scripture is called the Lord's Table and the Lord's Supper and and Banquet by the Ancient Greek Fathers because of that Provision and Entertainment which our Lord hath made for all worthy Receivers It is styled a Supper and a Feast either because it was Instituted by Christ at Supper-time at night or because it represents a Supper and a Feast And so it is not of the same Nature with a Civil and Ordinary Supper and Feast though it bear the same name There is some resemblance between this Holy Feast and Civil Feasts and the shewing wherein it lies will in part explain its Nature There are three things Essential and Necessary to a Feast and included in the notion of it Plenty good Company and Mirth And upon the account of these the Sacrament is considered in its own Nature properly a Banquet a Feast but then it is a Heavenly and Spiritual one consisting of Spiritual Graces and benefits Communion with Christ and with all true believers signified by and tendered under the outward Elements of Bread and Wine and even in these three particulars which are Essential to it considered as a Feast and are necessary ingredients into all Feasts whatsoever it very much differs from Civil and Ordinary Feasts For though there be Plenty yet it doth not consist of Variety of Dishes to gratifie our Palats or satisfie our Hunger as other Feasts do and particularly the Passover did where the Body was filled and Feasted as well as the mind The provision wherewith our Lord hath Furnished out his Table is not of an Earthly and perishing but of an Heavenly and Immortal Nature even the Body and Blood of Christ which we Spiritually Feast upon Alas if we only fix our Eyes and Thoughts upon what is placed on the Table and those small portions of Bread and Wine allotted us to Eat and Drink without lifting up our Hearts as our Church exhorts us to do by the Minister in her Communion-Office to those Heavenly and Invisible good things couched under and signified by the outward Elements of Bread and Wine what is there in all that we see that deserves the name of a Feast or can by the help of any figure but an Irony be called by that name Did ever any Man esteem that a Feast where there was not Meat enough to fill his Mouth nor Drink enough to quench his thirst It is upon the account therefore of those Invisible and Spiritual good things wherewith the Souls not the Bodies of worthy Communicants are Strengthened and Refreshed of which the Bread and Wine are but the Types and Shadows that the Sacrament is and may truly be called a Feast or Banquet And for this reason the Greek Fathers called it a Spiritual Feast and the Table a Mystical Table and the Cup the Cup of Mysteries and the Sacrament take it all together was by them Styled the Mystical Supper the Mystery and Mysteries as Presenting one thing to the Eye and another to the Mind 2. As Plenty is one necessary ingredient into the Nature of a Feast so also is Choice and Select Company Feasts are made in expectation of Friends and Acquaintance A Man may Dine alone but in Proper and Ordinary Speech no Man is said to Feast alone Now though the Sacrament doth resemble our Common Feasts in this Particular and therefore hath obtained the name of Communion and the Guests Communicants which Phrases do naturally import Number or Society yet if we consider what the persons are that constitute this Society and with whom Communion is held the Nature of this Spiritual Feast will further appear And truly our Communion is with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost the three Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity though principally our Lord Jesus the Master of this Feast in and through whom we all have access by one Spirit to the Father as St. Paul speaks This high and inestimable priviledge and Honour of being admitted into the Presence of God and holding a friendly Correspondence and Converse with him at his Table is founded on the Blood of Christ which we thankfully Commemorate at this Solemnity by which we who were afar off are made nigh as the same Divine Writer hath it Moreover by Eating and Drinking at the Lord's Table we are United to and hold Communion with all Faithful Christians and worthy Communicants the Members of his Mystical Body the Church whom he hath redeemed and cleansed by his most precious Blood And that which qualifies a Man for such Communion doth not Consist in External Garbs or Ornaments of the Body but in Holy and Virtuous Dispositions of Soul in a Penitent Humble Charitable Thankful and Obedient Heart 3. Another thing necessary to a Feast is Mirth and Joy which implies also good discourse and in this too the Sacrament resembles our Common Feasts But then the Joy is of a Spiritual Nature and flows from different Causes Not from what we Tast and See not from our Appetites and Phansies pleased and tickled with the richness and Variety of Dishes which

Jews at the Passover and it no where appears from Scripture that our Lord did not comply in this matter then we cannot know for certain what the particular Gesture was which Christ used at the Institution of the Sacrament it might be Lying along and it might be Sitting upright it might be Standing in an adoring posture with his hands and eyes lifted up to Heaven which is much more probable than either of the former for the reasons forementioned we cannot certainly say which and yet we must be certain of one before we can build upon it as an Infallible Rule of Conscience Let it be therefore granted to our Brethren who differ from us in this point that our Saviour Sate at the Passover that the Sacrament was Instituted by him before the Paschal Feast was fully ended that the Disciples Eat the Sacramental Bread and Drank the Sacramental Cup in the same posture as they Eat and Drank at the Passover What of all this how will the necessity of a Sitting Gesture appear from these premises Why thus Therefore our Lord Instituted and Administred the Holy Sacrament Sitting say they How doth this follow of course I ask Since they Eat and Drank in several postures at the Paschal Feast I confess the Argument had been strong if they could make it appear that throughout the whole Solemnity of the Passover no other Gesture but Sitting was used by our Lord. But this I am sure can never be done and consequently their conclusion can never be good From the whole I conclude thus much Since the example of our Lord cannot be certainly known in this matter our Church cannot be charged for deviating from it And consequently to scruple Conformity to the practice of our Church because she doth not Conform to the practice of Christ which no body can certify us of is very Unjust and Unreasonable 2. Supposing our Lord did Sit as they will have it yet his bare example doth not oblige all Christians to a like Practice 1. Because naked examples without some Rule or Note added to them to signify that it is the mind and will of God to have them constantly followed and perpetually Imitated by us have not the force of a Law perpetually obliging the Conscience Thus in our present Case though our Lord did Sit at the Sacrament yet his example alone doth not become an everlasting Rule for all Ages to observe because he hath no where discovered his binding will and pleasure in this particular And consequently since he hath left us in the Dark we may act contrary to his will and intention when we so zealously press and follow his example especially in this matter relating to Gesture For even under the Law where all other Circumstances of Time Place Habits and the Ceremonies relating to Divine Worship were with great particularity described this of Gesture was left free and undetermined God never obliged them to use any particular Gesture in any particular part of his Worship but left it to their choice whether to Kneel or Stand or Bow down their Heads and Bodies or fall prostrate on the Earth to use all or any one of these as Custom and their own Pious Prudence should prompt and direct them Seeing then that the Gesture in the Worship of God was never determined under the Law Since it was and is in its own nature a Mutable Ceremony in the Service of God it remains so unto this day Our Lord left it as he found it unless it can be proved that he hath by some Command or Note of Immutability fixt and determined it to all succeeding Ages But because no such Command or Note is to be found therefore we are not tyed in Conscience to a strict Imitation of his Example A few instances will clear this point Our Lord was not Baptized till he was about thirty years of Age but this example is not esteemed by the generality of Dissenters a Law or Warrant for us to defer our Baptism so long So he Instituted the Sacrament a little before his Death But is there no obligation upon us to receive it but when we are near our Graves and under a Prospect of Death He also Instituted and Administred the Sacrament after a full Meal in an upper Room to Men onely Doth his bare example oblige us to observe punctually all these Circumstances or no If it doth why do our Brethren of the Separation take the liberty to depart from his example in these things if his example layeth no necessity upon us to follow it in these particulars how doth Sitting become necessary barely upon the account of his example I desire them therefore Seriously and impartially to examine this matter and see if they can assign any reasons for this liberty they take of following the example of our Saviour in some things and not in others where there is no other Rule to guide them I believe they will be constrained to do one of these two things either to withdraw their Suit against Kneeling and quit their own Principle or condemn their own practices as shamefully repugnant to it 2. The bare example of Christ is no Warrant for us to act by because the great end and usefulness of that Glorious example he left us consists in this viz. that it shews the possibility and clears up the sense of his Laws and excites and encourages us to the Practice of them it puts the Rule into activity and sets it forth to the life It is to our lives as Exhortation is to Doctrine it thrusts us forward to do that which we were obliged in Conscience to do before Whatsoever our Lord hath Commanded us to do in that onely we are necessarily bound to Imitate him But where there is no Precept there is no Necessity We may do it if we will and if we can innocently as in the case of a single Life but we are not under Constraint and an indispensable Obligation He hath Commanded us to be Meek and Lowly to be Just and Merciful to be Patient under all our Troubles and Afflictions to follow Peace with all Men to be ever contented and resigned to the Will of our Heavenly Father in all States and Conditions of Life and the like And in all these things he became an Example to us that we might follow his Steps He Commands us to do what he performed himself and that which we are concerned in if we would walk surely is first to look for our Rule and then for our encouragement to look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith It 's true indeed we are Commanded in Scripture to follow the Examples of the Apostles so far forth as they follow Christ and the Example of our Lord is made the Touchstone to try all others by but then if we would know what is our Duty we must bring his Example to the Rule For as to Preach Christ and to Preach the Gospel to Obey Christ and Obey the