Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
death_n blood_n bread_n cup_n 4,095 5 9.9348 5 false
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
A62123 An answer to all the excuses and pretences which men ordinarily make for their not coming to the Holy Communion ... by a divine of the Church of England. Synge, Edward, 1659-1741. 1697 (1697) Wing S6375; ESTC R1735 15,409 38

There are 2 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

AN ANSWER TO ALL THE EXCUSES AND PRETENCES Which Men ordinarily make for their not coming to the HOLY COMMUNION Fitted for the Meanest Capacities And very proper to be given away by such as are Charitably Inclined Price 3 pence By a Divine of the Church of England The Second Edition Corrected LONDON Printed for Richard Sare at Gray's-Inn-Gate in Holborn 1697. AN ANSWER TO All the Excuses and Pretences which Men ordinarily make for their not coming to the Holy COMMUNION A Certain man made a Luk. 6. c. great Supper and bad many And sent his Servant at Supper time to say to them that were ●idden Come for all things are now rea●y And they all with one consent began ●O MAKE EXCVSE c. ●he design of this Parable is to repre●●nt the manner of Gods dealing with ●●e people of the Jews upon their re●●cting the Faith of Christ and refusing to embrace the Gospel The Apostles of Christ who were the Servants of God were sent and commanded in the first place to Preach the glad tidings of the Gospel to them and to invite them to come and partake of that Blessing and Happiness which was offered them by God through Faith in and Obedience unto his Son Christ Jesus But they generally having their hearts wholly in a manner addicted to the Love of this World had no inclination to receive so pure and Spiritual an Institution and did not only themselves reject but also persecuted others for embracing the Christian Profession despising and treading under foot the Son of God and counting the Blood of the Covenant wherewith they should have been Sanctified an unholy thing and even doing despight unto the Spirit of Grace which would have wrought upon their hearts in order to their Conversion As therefore the Man in this Parable who made the Supper was offended with those who did not come when they were Invited and therefore wholly Excluded them from his Table and sent his Servant to call others in their room as you may find it in the latter part of it So did Almighty God cast off the People of the Jews upon their obstinate rejecting of Jesus Christ giving them up to be destroyed and scattered by the power of the Romans And commanded the Apostles to go out into all parts of the World to gather a Church and a peculiar People unto him from among the Gentiles But my present aim in Reflecting upon this Parable lies clear Another way namely to represent and reprove those Excuses and Pretences which so many men do make for their gross neglect of the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ notwithstanding that God by the Mouth of his Ministers does so frequently call and earnestly invite them thereunto And indeed this matter is in so lively a manner represented in the whole design of it that I think it is scarce possible to draw a more exact Parallel For here In the first place we have Almighty God making a Supper for us for the feeding and nourishing of our Souls in Vertue and Piety through the Passion and Death of our Saviour Christ Jesus which he has appointed for ever to be commemorated by our Eating of this Bread and Drinking of this Cup in Remembrance of him To this Supper we are not once only but often bidden by the frequent Admonitions and Exhortations of God's Ministers addressed unto us that we should come and be partakers of this Holy Communion And as the Guests who were invited in this Parable had framed some weak and impertinent excuses for their not coming One had bought a piece of Ground another five Yoke of Oxen and a third had Married a Wife none of which things needed to have hindered them from accepting of the good man's kindness Just so we when from Month to Month and from Year to Year we continually turn our backs upon God's Holy Table have yet some sort of pretences wherewith we endeavour to satisfie our Consciences and to excuse this gross and scandalous neglect of which we are Guilty That our Saviour Christ Jesus died for our Sins that it is only for the sake of his Merits and Sufferings that we can hope for Pardon and Eternal Life at the hand of God That before his Death he left this command with all that should be called by his Name that they should Eat of this Bread and Drink of this Cup in remembrance of him whereby we are obliged to shew forth his Death untill his second coming And lastly that this ordinance is the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ or in other terms the means whereby we do Communicate in the Benefits of that Sacrifice which Christ offered and in the merits of that Death and Passion which he underwent in his Body and by the sheding of his Blood for us and consequently that the Receiving hereof if duly performed is not only our duty but also a great advantage and benefit unto us All these things I say are so universally owned by all who profess Christianity that I need not offer any thing for the proof of them or any part of them But then surely one would think that when men who are thus perswaded do so often and for so long a time absent themselves from this ordinance there must be some insuperable difficulties and obstacles in their way which it is beyond their strength or power to remove or else that they would never at the same time both neglect their Duty and forego their Interest And yet I doubt not but to make it appear as plainly as any thing can be that there is nothing which we can at any time pretend as a hinderance of our coming to the Holy Communion but what either is really or ought to be no hinderance at all or else is such as it is in our power by that grace and assistance which God never denies to those who seek it wholly to remove and put out of the way To come to the matter then and that I may proceed in an orderly method I shall reduce all the impediments which men do ever alledge for their not coming unto the holy Communion to these Five heads that is to say either First that they are Sinners and therefore dare not come or Secondly that they are so continually engaged and taken up with Business that they have not time to prepare themselves for it or Thirdly that when they do endeavour to prepare themselves they find they cannot do it as it ought to be done or Fourthly that having formerly received the Communion they find themselves never the better for it and therefore think it to no purpose to come again or Lastly that they are not well satisfied with the manner of Celebrating Administring and Receiving this Ordinance in our Church and therefore cannot joyn with our Congregations in it Nor is there I think any thing that can be urged by way of Excuse for not coming to the Holy Communion but what I shall
those who have better opportunity for such performances And thus much for the Second Impediment Thirdly Some pretend that when they do endeavour to prepare themselves for the Holy Communion they find they cannot do it as it ought to be done and therefore they do not come To the several Scruples of which sort of Men I shall return brief and distinct Answers Some then do apprehend that they are not fit to come because they are Ignorant and not well grounded and instructed in the Principles of Religion To this I Answer that indeed if a Man be Ignorant of those things which are ordinarily necessary to the Salvation of every Christian it is evidently not fit that he should come to the Holy Communion until such time as he be better Instructed But such Instruction as this is so easy to be had at least amongst us that it must be every Man 's own fault if he wants it For how easy is it for every Man who either reads the Scripture or hears it read and Expounded in our Congregations sufficiently to learn all the great and necessary things of Christian Religion As for Example that God Created all things that Jesus Christ is the Son of God that he came into the World and took our Nature upon him to Suffer for our Redemption that after he had Suffered he rose again from the Dead and Ascended into Heaven where he remains for ever in the Glory and Majesty of God making Eternal Intercession for us and that he shall come again at the end of the World to Judge both the living and the dead who shall at that time be raised again and to sentence every man either to Everlasting Happiness or Eternal Misery That every Christian is to be admitted into the Church by Baptism that it is his Duty to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World and that it is by the assistance of the Holy Ghost who is the giver of Spiritual life unto us that we are alone enabled to perform these Duties And Lastly that in remembrance of the Death and Passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ we are Commanded to Eat of that Bread and Drink of that Cup which he has appointed and which is the Communion of his Body and Blood that is to say the means whereby we do Communicate in the benefits of the Sacrifice which he offered and in the merits of his Passion which he underwent in his Body and by the sheding of his Blood for our sakes as I have already said All this I say is so easy to be learnt and understood that it is a great shame for any one who Lives in a Christian Country to be Ignorant of any part of it And he who is thus far Instructed in his Religion and endeavours according to his ability to encrease his knowledge of Divine things and hereunto adds the Honest and Sincere Practice of what he understands needs never fear that God will reject him for want of more knowledge For altho' we must according to our Capacity add to our Vertue Knowledge yet it is not abundance of Knowledge but much Honesty Charity and true Piety that renders us acceptable and Pleasing to God see 1. Cor. 1. 19. to the 7th verse of the 2 d. Chapter Again some do find their Faith to be weak and wavering and perplexed with doubts and Scruples in matters of Religion and therefore are afraid to come To this I answer that indeed the stronger and Firmer a Mans Faith is so much the better and we ought to endeavour as much as in us lies that our Faith may ever be built upon sure and solid Principles as well for our own comfort satisfaction as that we may be the better able upon occasion to give an Answer to every one who shall ask us a Reason of the hope that is in us 1. Pet. 3. 15. But when a Man has done what he can to strengthen and Confirm his Faith if it still continues Infirm and weak yet if he be Honest and Pious in his Life and Practice he is never the less acceptable to God for the weakness of his Faith For strength of Faith is not a thing in our own Power and therefore not so much a Duty in us as a Reward which God is pleased to bestow in such a measure as he thinks fit upon those who are sincere and diligent in his Service And he that is weak in the Faith may yet be a very good Christian and fit to be Received into the Church of Christ altho' he be not qualified for doubtful Disputations Ro. 14. 1. As long as a Tree continues to bring forth plenty of Fruit we are sure it is alive nor do we presently cut it down and cast it into the Fire because it is not altogether so well fixed at the root and therefore it may be subject to be shaken by the violence of the Wind And the weakest Faith if it produces abundance of good Works shall be accepted by God when the strongest Faith if barren and unfruitful shall be rejected and set at nought by him See Jam. 2. 14. c. Whenever therefore an honest and well disposed Man finds his Faith to be any way weak and wavering let him take up the good Man's speech in the Gospel Lord I beleive help thou mine unbelief Mar. 9. 24. And let him never fear but that God who is infinitely gracious and merciful will accept of him Some again are afraid that they do not love God as well as they ought and the reason of this fear is because they do not find in themselves such warm and affectionate motions of their mind towards him as they apprehend to be suitable to his infinite excellency and goodness And for this Reason they dare not venture to come To this I answer that indeed the more ardent and Affectionate our love to God is so much the better is that as well as our Faith for being strong and unshaken But as our Faith is to be judged of by its fruitfulness rather than its Firmness as I have just now shewn so the Holy Scripture teaches us That the Love of God consists altogether in Keeping his Commandments 1. Joh. 5. 3. Some people are Naturally of such a temper as more easily to be moved with a Passionate affection towards those they Love then others are And yet others who do not find such warm Motions within themselves may be as ready and willing as they to do acts of Kindness where they profess a Friendship Nor is the Love of the later sort ever the less to be Valued because it appears to be Seated and fixed more in the Judgment and will which are Subject to less alteration than the Affections As the true Love of a Wife to her Husband is to be measured by her readiness to obey and please him in all things much rather then by the fondness which she expresses to his Person If therefore a Man finds himself stedfastly