Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A20744
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Tvvo sermons the one commending the ministerie in generall: the other defending the office of bishops in particular: both preached, and since enlarged by George Dovvname Doctor of Diuinitie.
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Downame, George, d. 1634.
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1608
(1608)
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STC 7125; ESTC S121022
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394,392
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234
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say that he brought forth Bread and Wine and not to God as an Oblation but to Abraham for his refection If he had offered vp Bread Wine as a Sacrifice to God how commeth it to passe that the Apostle comparing the Priesthood of Christ and Melchizedeck so particularly maketh no mention at all thereof For certainly the point being so materiall and the place so fit it must needs bee great ignorance or negligence to omit it To say nothing that if your owne reason be good the Sacrifice of Melchizedeck shall be inferiour to that of Aaron Bread and Wine being of lesse value and not so evidently representing the death of Christ as the slaying of Beasts doth Secondly you say that the true Flesh of Christ is contained in this Sacrament and that the ancient Fathers with one consent testifie the same which in your sense and meaning is vtterly false For neither is the Flesh of Christ vnder the Accidents of Bread by Transubstantiation neither doth any of the ancient Fathers testifie it as in the sequele God willing shall more plainely appeare Thirdly where you say and many others as my Author setteth downe it seemeth that in this point you beleeue but by an Attornie pinning your Faith vnto the credit of I knowe not whom The true flesh of Christ say you is contained in the Sacrament How knowe you that By the ioint consent of Fathers And how know you they consent therein My Author tells me so And what may he be Peter or Paul or one of them vpon whom clouen tongues descended I trow no but some equivocating Priest or Iesuite A sure rock I promise you to stay your faith vpon You say lastly that the Bloud of the Testament described Exod. 24. Heb. 9. was fulfilled when Christ said This cup is the new Testament in my Bloud False For then hee did but institute the Sacrament of his death and fulfilled it the day following when really hee suffered death vpon the Crosse. And what reason haue you to thinke it was performed in a Commemoratiue sacrifice wherein your selues confesse there is no effusion of Bloud rather then in the true Sacrifice vpon the Crosse wherein the pretious bloud of the sonne of God was plentifully shed N. N. Out of all which Figures is inferred that for so much as there must bee great difference betwixt the Figure and the thing prefigured no lesse if we beleeue S. Paul then betweene the Shadow and the Body whose Shadow it is it cannot be imagined by any probability that this Sacrament exhibited by Christ in performance of the Figures should be only creatures of Bread and Wine as Sacramentaries doe imagine for then should the Figure be either equall or more excellent then the thing prefigured it selfe For who will not confesse but that Elias his Bread made by the Angell that gaue him strength to walke fortie daies vpon the vertue thereof was equall to our English Communion Bread and that the Manna was much better I. D. The Antecedent being as we haue shewed vntrue it is no matter what Consequence soeuer you deduce from it Neverthelesse let vs for the present suppose it to be true What inferre you therevpon The Real Presence and Transubstantiation How so I pray you Because otherwise the Figure would be either equall or more excellent then the thing prefigured which is absurd and contrary to the rule of S. Paul This indeed I confesse would bee absurd but how doe you shew it to be so in this particular By a double instance of Elias his bread and Manna whereof you say the one was equall the other more excellent then our English Communion Bread But still I deny the consequence the weaknesse whereof if you see not in this I hope you will in the like Argument The Cloud the Red sea and Circumcision were all as you say Figures of Baptisme and the Figure is euer inferiour to the thing Figured If therefore Baptisme be only Water and suffer no Transubstantiation at all the Figure is equall or more excellent then the thing Figured For the Water of the Cloud the Red sea was equall to the Water of Baptisme and the Foreskin in Circumcision is much better as being part of the Flesh of man What say you now Doth this Argument follow yea or no If yea then haue wee a Real Presence also in Baptisme by Transubstantiation of Water which I suppose you will not admit If no then neither doth it follow in the Eucharist for the reason is exactly the same in both Would you yet more plainely see your errour It is this your Disiunction is not sufficient either there is a Real Presence or the Iewish Figures equall our Sacraments For there are diuers other waies wherein our Sacraments excell theirs although there be no such Presence at all What waies will you say Verily not in the worth or value of the outward Elements for therein they may be exceeded nor in the thing signified for it is one the same in both even Christ Iesus Wherein then Even in these particulars First their Sacraments respected Christ yet to be exhibited in the flesh our Christ alredy exhibited Now as the Faith of things future is ever more languid and faint then of things past so is the adumbration and shadowing of them vnto Faith more obscure also Secondly although Flesh may perhaps seeme better to expresse Christs body then Bread the killing of the sacrifice his death then the breaking of Bread yet in regard of the word annexed vnto ours plainly declaring what they are to what end instituted and what proportion there is betweene the signe and the thing signified ours must needs be more evident and cleare then theirs Even as a Picture to vse S. Chysostomes similitude when it is perfected and set forth with liuely colours better representeth the person of the Prince then when no more but the first lineaments thereof are drawne or it is yet but darkly coloured Thirdly in the Eucharist are figured two things the Death of Christ our Communion with him That without this availes no more to our soules health then the sight of meat without touching it to the nourishment of our bodies That is shadowed by the breaking of Bread and powring out of Wine Not so expresly will you say as by the Leviticall sacrifices Suppose it though in regard of the Sacramentall words the cleare knowledge we haue of this mysterie it is far otherwise Yet this I meane our Communion with Christ is as exactly represented by the Eating of Bread and Drinking of Wine as nothing can be more Finally seeiâ—g the Iewes were strictly commanded to abstaine from Bloud and we on the other side are charged Sacramentally in the Wine to drinke Bloud and in the Bread to eate Flesh our Sacrament even in regard of the externall ceremonie is to bee preferred to the Iewish And thus you see wherein our Sacraments excell theirs Now where you affirme that
even of that which is only by Reading which is the first office of the Ministery method and order would that in the next place I speake of Prayer which is the second And herevnto am I also invited by this Text. For to forbeare further prefacing this seuenteenth Chapter containeth in it a most heauenly and divine Prayer which our blessed Saviour and Mediator addresseth vnto his Father in behalfe of Christ mysticall as the Fathers tearme it that is the whole Church consisting both of Head and Members The Parts thereof are two a short Preface prefixed by S. Iohn and the Corps or body of the Prayer The Preface is my Text wherein relation is made of an Act invested with certaine circumstances The Act is Prayer The Circumstances are three Quis Quando Quomodo Quis the Orator who prayes Iesus These things spake Iesus and lift vp his eyes Quando when he prayes after he had spoken these things These things spake Iesus and then lift vp his eyes Quomodo after what manner he prayed The Manner is externall and standeth in two things in gestu oculorum and in Sermone oris In the Gesture of the Eyes He lifted vp his eyes vnto heaven in the Speech of his Mouth He said Of these things breefely plainely as it shall please God to assist Of all duties vniversally required of all men Prayer seemes to mee the most noble So noble that by it all the whole worship and service of God is in Scripture vsually denominated And although the Houses of God be consecrated to other vses as well as it yet are they not called Houses of Preaching or Houses of Sacraments but Oratories or Houses of Praier Prayer as Damascen expresseth it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mounting or flying vp of the soule vnto the throne of Grace It is the Sweet incense that sweet smelling sacrifice that savoureth so pleasingly in in the nostrills of our God It is that strong cord that draweth downe all blessings and graces from Heauen vpon vs. The importunity whereof of Iacobs makes vs Israels wrestlers prevailers with God that if wee will hee cannot goe from vs vntill he hath granted vs his blessing For it hath annexed vnto it the gratious promise of impetration Aske and yee shall haue seeke and yee shall finde knocke and it shall be opened vnto you Neither is there any thing so difficult or impossible with man but by Prayer it may be obtained By Prayer Abraham when hee was farre stricken in yeares and the wombe of his wife Sarah was now dead obtained a sonne of God even Isaackâ— By Prayer Iacob escaped the fury and danger of his brother Esau. By Prayer the children of Israell were delivered from their cruell servitude and bondage in Egypt By Prayer Moses stood in the gap pacified the wrath of God that he destroyed not his people By Prayer and the lifting vp of his hands the same Moses overthrew the host of the Amalekites By Prayer Iosua stopped the course of the Sunne and God was obedient vnto the voice of a man By Prayer Sampson revenged himselfe vpon his enimies and ruined the house of Dagon vpon the Philistines By Prayer Solomon obtained an incomparable measure of Wisdome from God By Prayer Hezekiah being at the point of death had fifteene yeares more added to his life By Prayer Daniell stopped the mouths of Lions the three children quenched the fiery fornace that not a haire of their head perished Ionas was discharged out of the whales bellie and the prison gates opened of their owne accord to enlarge St Peter It is a Panchreston available for all things It cureth diseases dispossesseth divils it sanctifieth the Creatures vnto vs vnlocketh the gates of heauen and procureth the coming of the Holy Ghost It is seasonable for all times fit for all places necessary to all persons without it no businesse whatsoeuer we vndertake can thriue or prosper It extendeth it selfe farre and wide to the benefit of all and in that regard excelleth Faith For the iust man shall liue not by anothers but by his owne faith and therefore we say I beleeue But Prayer is an act of Charity which seeketh not her owne but the good of others also and therefore wee pray Our Father Had not St Stephen prayed for his persecutors haply St Paul might still haue continued in his Pharisaisme And had it not beene for the continuall teares of holy Monica perhaps her sonne Augustine had perished in his Manicheisme Infinite are the brands that prayer hath pulled out of the fire vnspeakable the benefits it hath procured vnto others But what speake I of men It makeeth wondrously to the â—â—â—â—ing forth of Gods glory Could wee of our selues command all good wee would neuer become sutors for any thing but according to the counsell of Seneca fac te ipse faelicem wee would make our selues happy But by making our addresses vnto him we acknowledge our selues to bee Mendicos Dei Gods beggars every way insufficient in our selues and that we depend for all whatsoever either we are or haue vpon his alsufficiency alone which maketh so much to the advancement of Gods bounty and inexhaustible goodnesse as nothing can doe more you see beloued brethren how large a field I haue to expatiate in and how easie it is to overflow the bankes in the commendation of this holy exercise but that I remember how my Text limiteth me vnto the aboue named circumstances And therefore leauing this generality I come vnto them in particular The first circumstance is Quis the Orator who prayes Iesus These things spake Iesus and lifted vp his eyes That Iesus was very frequent in Prayer all the Evangelists with one consent testify Sometimes he went vp into a mountaine to pray sometimes he retires himselfe into a solitary place to pray sometimes he prayeth by himselfe alone at other times he takes some of his Disciples with him some times he spendeth whole nights together in Prayer when he was baptized he prayed and now that the time of his Passiâ—n is at hand he is carefull to prepare himselfe by making this heavenly Intercession to his Father In a word the whole course of his life seemeth to haue beene no other then a continuall practice of this duty This Duty I say for indeed so it was hee being a Priest and it being the office of a Priest to pray Wherefore hee that bestowed that Honor vpon him even then when hee annointed and consecrated him chargâ—â— him therewith Thou art my sonne saith he this day haue I begotten thee Aske of mee According to which Charge now being made a Priest after the order of Melchizedek In the dayes of his flesh he offered vp prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him that was able to saue him from death And although he be now set at the right hand of his father crowned with glory and maiestie yet being a Priest for ever he never ceaseth in such sort as becometh