Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	day_n	holy_a	sabbath_n	3,953	5	9.8078	5	true

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

the point of Death for the same Reason But in answer as 't is granted that Sins after Baptism may be forgiven on true Repentance so doubtless they may after the other Sacrament for not only the Corinthians but even the Apostles themselves were guilty of failings after the Communion A confirm'd Habit or inveterate Course of Sin is damnable as well before the Sacrament as after it But the devout and frequent receiving of it is the best way to prevent the falling into such a desperate Condition And for lesser failings from which none are free those will be forgiven if we are truly penitent for them and constantly strive against them § XXVI Another Pretence something allied to this last is That Men are at Variance with their Neighbours and that keeps them from the Sacrament In answer 'T is own'd that we ought to come to this Feast of Love with true Charity forgiving all our Enemies which if we do not practise every day we cannot so much as repeat the Lord's Prayer without imprecating a heavy Curse upon our selves But in the present case the matter may be brought to a short Issue Either you have really offended your Neighbour or he has offended you or as it often happens you are both to blame If the former you know your Duty Leave thy Gift before the Altar and be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift If the second and he trespass against thee seven times a day and say I have offended forgive him and receive together with him If both are in fault both must make satisfaction If either refuses to be reconciled the Fault is in the Refuser not in him that is willing who shall not be punish'd for the other's Guilt tho' the uncharitable Person is by no means fit for this Holy Table while he continues in that unchristian Temper § XXVII Multiplicity of Business is another Excuse or Objection against Receiving The Cumber of worldly Affairs and being troubled like Martha about many things while this one thing which is so very needful is too often postpon'd and neglected exactly the same pretence with theirs in the Parable already mention'd who when the King sent to invite them to the Marriage of his Son began with one consent to make Excuses and went their way one to his Farm another to his Merchandise One said I have bought a piece of ground and must needs go to see it which as indifferent an Excuse as it was was yet better than theirs who absent themselves from God's publick Worship only to go and see their Ground when they long before have bought it Another I have bought five Yoke of Oxen and I go to prove them He had his Stock to look after which he thought an unanswerable Reason for his absence As the third did who had married a Wife and could not come but must stay at home to look after the Affairs of his Family 'T is well worthy our Consideration how open the Holy Spirit has here laid the common Springs of Mens neglect and indevotion in these and the like matters All which Excuses are so contriv'd that they seem to insinuate as if the Sacrament were only for recluse Persons such as are abstracted from the World and live like Monks and Hermits whereas it 's evident that 't was designed for all Christians and one great End of it was to take off our Hearts from the World and fit us for Heaven But to be more particular 't will be easie to shew that this pretence of Business to excuse Persons from receiving the Sacrament is almost always either false or vain or wicked or altogether § XXVIII 1. It 's often false in Fact and we are not really so hinder'd by Business but we might be there if we had any regard either to the Feast or to the Inviter since that Business can only excuse us which could not possibly be done before which cannot be done after and which must of necessity be done at the very time when we should receive But if Men would be ingenuous they would be forced to acknowledge that they very rarely have any Business of this nature And indeed what Business unless of such high necessity and mercy has a Christian to do on the Lord's Day the very Name whereof shews the propriety and that 't is none of our own but set apart for a Holy Rest and Christian Sabbath and the immediate Service of our blessed Redeemer Nor is it at all probable that those who can find time notwithstanding all this urgent Business for Visits for the Entertainment of their Friends for idle and unprofitable Discourse both before the Lord's Day and even upon it and it 's well if not for their Sins too should yet be able to find no time for their Saviour when he invites them to his own Table Judge then how wretched an Excuse this is when by a palpable Falshood Men would defend their Disobedience § XXIX But secondly This Excuse is weak and foolish For supposing we should really find out some little Business to employ our selves in just before and during the Celebration yet what can be more foolish than to put off a greater Affair for a less a matter of Life and Death for what 's of little or no moment But what 's the whole World to my own Soul and what a miserable exchange should I make if thro' the Cares of this World and the deceitfulness of Riches I should by gaining the one eternally lose the other Besides if Business could defend a Person for one neglect or omission how immodest as well as foolish is it to bring always the same Excuse and still to postpone our own Happiness included in our Obedience § XXX And such a practice is as wicked as 't is foolish For 't is a high Affront and Injury both to the King and the King's Son and will they not both extremely and justly resent it 'T is a Wrong and Injury done unto them as much as 't is in our Power to injure them like him in the Gospel rather to leave our Saviour than to part with our Possessions or so much as to step out of the World for a few moments To say we 'll not come because we are busie is in effect to say we 'll come when we have nothing else to do To put it off till another time is fairly to own we think it a matter of no great concern for whatever we think so we set immediately about it § XXXI But there 's oftentimes something very bad at the bottom of this Excuse and those who make it would do well seriously to ask themselves whether by Business they mean not something worse some appendage to it which stings their Consciences and dares not let them come to the Sacrament Are they not guilty of Intemperance or Injustice in their Dealings in the World If they are they must be remitted to the Answer given to those under the former Head

this Sacrament the solemn Seal of God's Covenant with us and of the Nature of that Covenant which he has made with us by his Son is presupposed in every Communicant Tho' where any are ignorant of these first Principles they may find some account of them in the first Chapter of this Manual Nor ought any to presume to receive without they have such knowledge however an equal clearness in these Matters cannot be expected nor is it required from all sorts of People but a Man shall be accepted according to what he hath if he has made the best of his Opportunities of Knowledge And after all a Person that is truely humbled for some degrees of ignorance in these and other spiritual Matters is in a much safer Condition than those whom Knowledge puffs up without either Humility or Charity § IV. A competent Knowledge being presupposed of the Nature of these Holy Mysteries there will not need much proof that some actual Preparation is highly requisite before we receive them 'T is true the Preparation of Man's Heart in this as well as all other Cases is from the Lord But none are so weak as not to know their own Endeavours are also necessary we must judge our selves if we would not be judged of the Lord. We must purify our selves before we eat the Passover for he that presumes to eat it in his uncleanness that is without repenting of his Sins that Soul shall be cut off from among his People We ought to be cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary and if we have done our Endeavours the good Lord will pardon what is unavoidably wanting Iosiah commanded the Levites to prepare and sanctify themselves and to prepare their Brethren against that famous Passover which was kept in his time And if Preparation was so necessary for the Jewish Passover we cannot think it altogether needless when we are to partake of this Christian Feast which we ought to keep neither with the Old Leaven of Judaism or Heathenism or an open notorious wicked Life neither with the as dangerous Leaven of malice and hypocrisie but with the unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth Without such preparation we may eat and drink unworthily kindle God's Wrath against us and provoke him to plague us with divers Diseases and sundry kinds of Death § V. But a great part of this Preparation as has been said consists in Examination For how can we know how Accounts are between Heaven and us unless we look into them What our Debts are What Mercies we receive What we still want and which the best way to obtain them What Sins we are to confess and to fight against Where we are to plant our Batteries Where to expect an Assault What the best methods of Defence What Auxiliaries we want and where to obtain them This the Apostle strictly commands every Man to do to examine or prove himself and so to come to the Holy Table not to come without Examination or to stay away on pretence of not being examined Something indeed of this Nature is the Practice of every good Christian every Day of his Life as it has been even of moral Heathens to examine his Conscience before he sleeps what Sins he has that day committed and by what Steps he fell into them and penitently and earnestly to implore Forgiveness for what 's past and Grace for the future to do better And 't is not easie to imagine how any Man should be a very good Christian without it whereas whoever does constantly and carefully practise it for which he may find excellent Rules and Directions among the Devotions annexed to the Whole Duty of Man and for want of that there are some Questions added at the End of this Treatise must needs make a more than ordinary Progress in Christianity and will more especially find a wonderful advantage therein as to the easiness of his actual Examination and Preparation for the Communion § VI. Which actual Preparation and Examination immediately before we receceive are highly requisite because they may make up for defects in the habitual as being more exact and more solemn than our daily Inquisition into the State of our Minds And this may be done with very great Advantage by setting apart some one day in the Week before the Communion where a Person is at his own disposal and his necessary Affairs will permit him entirely for this great Concern in order to search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. This would be near the End of the Week because otherwise the Impression made by it may be apt to wear away again before the Sacrament or at least not to be so deep and lively as at less distance Nor might it be so convenient to put it off to the very last Day of the Week lest something or other should intervene and hinder it But for those who have not really leisure for such a solemn Preparation or in the case of an accidental Communion which could not be foreseen if they are before habitually prepared we have already seen the Opinion of our best Divines that they ought not to reject such an Opportunity for want of a more solemn actual Preparation However he who has but a little time ought to do his diligence to give of that Little A Servant or labouring Man may at least redeem an Hour or two either in Mornings or Evenings for this great Work which they can do for their worldly Interest on any extraordinary Occasion Few have so much Business but they can find time for their Diversions many for their Sins and are our Souls only not worth a few Hours which he who bought them so dearly assures us are more worth than all the World Besides most of the following Directions may be observed while a Person is employed in many sorts of Work especially in the Fields and concerns of Husbandry And for many Tradesmen they have yet greater leisure which one would think should be much better filled up this way than in a shameful Idleness or in what is yet worse the reading ill Books and profane and immoral Plays which scarce ever fail of rendring the mind not only weak and trivial but even averse to Piety and unfit for all the Offices of a Holy Life For those who are really straitned as to time there will be particular Directions for Examination and for their Ease the following Rules are abbreviated But this is not the case of so many Persons as plead that Excuse since we shall frequently hear Men complain that their Time lies upon their Hands and they know not how to employ it And for such as these and all those who can command so much time as to go through them the larger Directions which now follow are chiefly intended § VII When the Day approaches whereon we expect one happy Opportunity more to meet our Saviour at his own Table whose Invitation by his Ministers we are to receive with the

out of all Nations to admit Children among others by Circumcision tho' they could not actually signify their Belief of the Law nor promise Obedience to it then the Apostles who were sent to make Proselytes to Christianity by Baptism could never think of excluding Children whom the Iews before admitted seeing the Reason for their admission was the same in both cases unless our Saviour had expresly forbidden it If it be asked wherefore Infants are not as capable of receiving the Lord's Supper as of Baptism we answer that the Reason is plain because the Lord's Supper is a confirming Seal Baptism only the entring Seal of the Covenant by which Children may now be admitted into it as they were of old by Circumcision But we may argue more strongly that the Apostles did admit Children for Proselytes by Baptism as well as we know they admitted Women tho' neither of them actually mentioned in their Commission because it was the Custom of their Country to do both and neither was forbidden by our Saviour As if any of our Ministers goes among the Heathens and converts them he would certainly baptise Infants and give the other Sacrament in both kinds to the adult because such was the practice of those Protestant Churches whence he went § XIX A fifth Argument for the Baptising of Infants is because it is very probable if not positively certain that the Apostles themselves did baptise them Supposing those two Instances of Baptising Women had not been recorded in the Acts of the Apostles yet we might fairly have concluded that when so many Thousands so many entire Housholds were baptised Women were not excluded especially when it was the known Custom of the Iews to admit them Proselytes by Baptism and the same holds of Children nay more strongly on the account of Circumcision three Thousand were baptised in one day by the Apostles Acts 2. 41. and it is likely five Thousand in another Acts 4. 4. And can it rationally be supposed that there were no Children among such vast Numbers Nay does it not seem highly probable there might be many such there some in their Mothers Arms others in their Hands as is usual in such a publick Concourse especially when there were Children present at the Repetition of the Law already mentioned and likewise at our Saviour's preaching who in his miraculous Feast is said to have sed five Thousand Men besides Women and Children St. Matt. 14. 21. Again the Apostles baptised many Families or Housholds nay we hardly read of the Master of a Family who was made a Convert and baptised but his whole Family as was before the Custom among the Iews were converted proselyted and baptised together with him Thus the Iaylor's Houshold Acts 16. 33. He and ALL his The Houshold of Gaius which was so large that he is called the Host of the whole Church Rom. 16. 23. of Stephanus and Crispus the chief Ruler of the Synagogue and ALL his House Can we I say suppose that in all these Housholds which we read were without exception baptised there should not be so much as one Child or Infant when we may observe very few of our own little Families taking them one with another that are wholly without Children But what if besides all this we should find someting still more express for the Baptising of Children in the Acts of the Apostles In St. Peter's Sermon already mentioned Acts 2. 38. thus he exhorts Repent and be baptised every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the Remission of Sins c. For the Promise is to you and to your Children The Answer was indeed to those adult Persons who ask'd What shall we do These he bids Repent and be baptised but it reacht further than to those that made the Question and tho' Children could not actually Repent yet they might be baptised and there are two things in the words which shew they were here included 1. Because the Apostle addresses himself to every one of them and among every one Children must be contained 2. They are expresly mentioned The Promise is to you and to your Children without any exception and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord your God shall call That is all Gentiles to whom the Apostles or their Successors should come to gather Proselytes from among them § XX. The last Argument for baptising of Infants may be taken from the general Practice of the Christian Church in all Places and all Ages since the first planting of Christianity For the Truth whereof we have unexceptionable Evidence in antient Writers St. Austin St. August de Genesi ad Literam Lib. X. Cap. 23. for the Latin Church who flourished before the Year four Hundred and Origen Origen on the 6th of the Rom. for the Greek who was born in the Second Century and famous about the middle of the Third both affirming not only that the universal Church did then Baptise Infants but likewise that they received this Custom of Baptising them from the Apostlos themselves as we know they also did the change of the Sabbath and other things of like nature not clearly asserted in the Scriptures St. Austin speaks of it in the most posicive Expressions proculdubio says he without doubt it was delivered down from our Lord and his Apostles St. Cyprian is likewise clear for it and a whole Council with him as appears in his Epistle to Fidus and other places So is Athanasius who flourished Anno Three Hundred Twenty Six and he founds Infant-Baptism on the same places which we still make use of to the same purpose suffer little Children to come unto me Now are your Children Holy c. St. Chrysostom is of the same mind and proves the Necessity of Children's Baptism from their being guilty of original Sin And even Gregory Nazianzen is for having them baptised in mere Infancy in case of Danger which he founds on the Circumcision on the eighth day and tho' in no Danger he would not have it deferred till they were above three Year old Tho' even this was a singular Opinion of his but such as does no Service to the Cause of the Antipoedobaptists since they are for baptising adult Persons only Siricius Bishop of Rome about the middle of the fourth Century was for the baptising of Infants So was St. Ambrose And to go higher tho' Tertullian seems to have been much of the same mind with Nazianzen as to the delaying their Baptism yet his very Advice in this matter fairly implys that it was then the general Custom to baptise Infants And he in other places affirms that of Baptism which is a sound Argument for admitting Infants to it namely that it is necessary to Salvation and that without it none can enter into Heaven Iustin Martyr says that the outward Circumcision which was to be performed on the eighth day was a Type of the true Circumcision that Christians received this true spiritual Circumcision by Baptism thro' God's