Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bondage_n	fear_n	life_n	4,336	5	4.4939	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89597	The Kings censure upon recusants that refuse the sacrament of the Lords Supper. Delivered in three sermons, containing a refutation of some dangerous common errors, and a remonstration of the duties of administration and participation of that holy sacrament. Proving the necessity of receiving it. Reproving the neglect and contempt of it. Disproving the exceptions and excuses alleged against either the giving or taking of it. Set forth to publick view for the hungry and thirsty souls sake that desire to be satisfyed. By Thomas Marshal minister of the doctrin [sic] and sacraments of the Gospel.	Marshall, Thomas, 1621-1685.	1654 (1654)	Wing M808; Thomason E732_24; ESTC R206892	44,049	52

which they that come to this feast contend for either granted or augmented Pet. Lomb. l. 4. dist 4. Adjutrix Gratia omnisque virtus augetur fomes peccati debilitatur As he said of the other so may 〈◊〉 of this all virtue is increased by it and concupisence diminished Briefly there is peace of Conscience freedom from the fear of Death the bondage of sin and Sathan and the pain of condemnation there is strength against temptation and certain hope and assurance of eternal life and salvation purchased by Christs death and suffering here signified and by this Sacrament signed and sealed He that dusy prepares himself for this Feast communes with his own heart calls himself to account for his by-past actions and errors examines his own state and resolves upon amendment of life so that he must needs grow in Grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ But where this mysticall marriage Feast is not made ready sin increaseth errour and Heresie springeth up Prophaness spreadeth Religion withereth Faith fadeth Hope fainteth Charity dyeth true knowledge of God decayeth Reformation goes backward and the danger of Death and Damnation is incurred And thus having made known the good pleasure of the great King to have the Wedding in readiness for his Guests Application First to the Ministers of the feast I shall now for application address my self first to the Servants that minister and expostulate with them the reason of their remisness or rather refusall to do that part of their office in making the Feast ready and then after that speak a word or two to the Guests to make themselves ready for the Feast when it is ready for them And the servants I mean are not all that minister about Holy things but only those which have polluted the Commemorative Sacrifice of the Lord saying with those prophaning Priests Malac. 1.7 The Table of the Lord is not to be regarded They had no regard to the sacrifice these to the sacrament both figurative Feasts of Christs death they cared not what was offerred these care not though nothing be ministred at all to the people And these are they who have sequestred the bodily bread from the Pastors the right owners and since they came into their places have sequestred at their pleasure also the bread of Christs Body which is the life of their Souls from the Parishioners which were their charges and debarred them quite of that right since the Barres that were an offence to some were taken away From henceforth then let them enveigh no more against the Priests of Rome for abridging the Laity of the Cup one half of the Feast when we have them in England that do a great deal worse and deprive them of all both Cup and Bread too And what 's the cause we might not know a long time but as if we were in a confusion like those tumultuous Ephesians Acts 19. The Presbyterians plea against giving the Sacrament answered some cryed one thing and some another and as they knew not the cause why they were met together so the people might not know the cause why they might not meet together Pretences we hear of some rather than causes which have more of will than weight in them One is the peoples unworthiness but this will not excuse their willfullness in not doing their office First touching the peoples unworthiness through sin and ignorance The King makes ready his dinner and sends out his servants to call the Guests though they that were bidden he saies were not worthy And they that are unworthy in one respect may be worthy in another as you shall hear hereafter If we demand wherin lies their unworthiness now which they themselves counted worthy before they usually pretend though somwhat prejudicial to their late preaching the peoples sin and Ignorance which will not be rectified by this long abstinence from the food of their Souls which would make them grow in Grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ but Ignorance in part Note and sin whereof men repent hinder not any of the efficacy of Christ's death nor make them unworthy of that Sacrament The Disciples were ignorant of many things had many infirmities and sins yet Christ made ready this Feast for them They were ignorant of Christs Kingdome dreamed of a temporal Kingdom hoping to atchieve to themselves great Offices and Honours and this bred great emulation among them Ignorant they were of Christ's Resurrection knew not as yet that Christ must rise from the dead nay I question whether they well understood his Passion The Son of man Iohn 20.9 saith he shall be delivered up to the Gentiles and shall be mocked and spitefully intreated and spitted on and they shall scourg him and put him to death and the third day he shall rise again Luke 18.32 33. Of which St. Luke saies they understood none of these things and the saying was hid from their eyes Nay among these was one worse than any is or can be among us Judas the Traitor a Thief a Devill Our Church seemed to say so that he was there in the Exhortation before the Communion Take heed lest after the taking of that holy Sacrament the Devill enter not into you as he entered into Judas and fill you full of all iniquity and bring you to destruction of Body and Soul St. Augustine saies it and that with reason for it Tunc intravit in eum Satanas quando indigne Corpus Christi suscipiens judicium sibi manducavit bibit Then entered the Devill into Judas when receiving the Body of the Lord unworthily he eat and drank his own damnation And the Evangelists include him among the rest making no mention of his departing till supper was ended When Even was come Jesus sat down with the twelve saith Matthew Matth. 26.25 Mark 14.20 of which number Jndas was one and bade them all drink not Judas excepted Mark saies the Betrayer dipped with him in the dish But St. Luke makes express mention of his remaining after the Sacrament For after Jesus had given the Bread and the Wine Luke 22.19 20. it follows in 21. The hand of him that betrayeth me is on the Table Surely then they that profess Christianity may be admitted to this holy Feast Note though unworthy by reason of sin and ignorance yet this may be done without prejudice to the Minister or Communicants 1 Cor. 11.29 The worst is to themselves who thereby eat and drink their own damnation No Communicants are to be debarred unless openly scandalous and detected That 's St. Augustine's Rule in this case Note Si Christus ipse Judam passus est quem sciebat furem esse nec eum qui accusatus non est abjecit hoc exemplo uti oportet nec eum abjicere qui publice detectus non est If Christ suffered Judas whom he knew a Thief and should betray him and did not refuse him because

none did accuse him this example must we make use of and reject none that are not openly detected of sin and scandalous to the Congregations Many were faulty among the Corinthians but none excommunicated but the Incestuous who was scandalous Tripart hist lib. 9. cap. 30. St Ambrose would not connive in this case at the great Emperour Theodosius who by his rash Edict spilt the blood of seven thousand Citizens the Innocent perishing together with the guilty but excluded him though not in a compulsive but a perswasive way from the Lords Table and Temple for eight Moneths space till he had with tears washed the stain of Blood from his Conscience and given good testimonie of his Repentance And so ought the Governors of the Church indeed to use the power of the Keies and inflict their Censure upon blood-shedders Fornicators and other open scandalous livers to bring them to a sense of their Sins and repentance of the same But to exclude all the Godly and religious as well as the openly vicious and notorious is an act of as litle mercy and discretion to the souls of poor Christians as that of Theodosius was to the lives and bodies of his Citizens he caused the innocent with the nocent to be put to death and these the worthy with the unworthy to be deprived of the bread of life If we had power to raise the faithfull Samuels of our Church which are dead and gone or recall a Councell of the antient fathers I verily believe that none of them upon these grounds would consent to this long suspension of the Sacrament Ours urged much ye know the due and fitting preparation to it and the frequent participation of it excluding none but the ignorant and offensive But the Antients less scrupling simplicity and ignorance gave it to Children and infants That they did so is not unknown in the time of Cyprian Innocentius Augustin and others and that they did as well in Europe as in Africa and Asia That which moved them to it was the saying of our Saviour 6 Joh. 53. Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his Bloud ye have no life in you from whence they concluded not onely the spirituall but also the sacramentall eating and drinking necessary for Children and all that would live the life of Grace Besides other reasons they rendred That Children are capable of the benefits of Christs death and therefore ought partake of the signes of it in the Sacrament That they are members of Christ's mysticall body and therefore not to be abridged of that Communion whereby we are all one body Nay Christ say they invited them to his bodily presence Mark 10. saying Suffer little Children to come unto me and forbid them not why should they not then be admitted to the signe of his body And though the modern Divines in all our Churches have changed that custome uppon Consideration of St. Pauls examination which he prescribeth every Communicant 1 Cor. 11.28 Which Children for want of the use of reason and discretion cannot do yet that may be answered like the Anabaptists argument against their Baptism when they plead they are uncapable through the want of saith and repentance namely That such things are required before Sacraments onely in them that have the use of reason and are grown up to years of discretion not in Children I deny not that Children have all the benefits of Christs death in their Baptism which is the proper Sacrament for them But for my part I should rather follow the practice of the Fathers in their charitable judging Children worthy than our Presbyters in their uncharitable censuring all Men and Women under their charge unworthy of that sacred Mysterie Christ ordained to be a means to convey his merits and they at their entrance upon their Ministry undertook to dispense to them in that Sacrament But this is not all the Peoples unworthiness The second pretence Not to give the Sacrament for want of due Fxamination answered but another Exception is they come not to them to Examination and St. Paul saies Let a Man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. Mr. Calvin and his Fellows whom the Presbyterian Reformadoes follow perceiving what a Jewel they have lost of Auricular Confession which hangs still at the Priests ears in the Church of Rome would fain recover this loss and by strict examination before the Communion unlock the Cabinets of counsels and skrew themselves into the secrets of their Peoples hearts the best way that can be devised to keep them in awe under their new Discipline But to make any imperious search or scrutinie into other Mens Consciences is not St. Paul's sense but that every Man should look into his own He saies not Let the Pastors examine the Parishioners that indeed was an antient and usefull way to instruct and prepare the younger sort and such as were to be catechized but as speaking to well-grounded Communicants he saies Let every one examine himself 1 Cor. 11.28 and so eat of this Bread c. In the new constituted Church of Corinth there were Offendors of many sorts and them that had need of purgation as well as we Some that were ignorant 1 Cor. 15.34 Some have not the knowledge of God I speak this to your shame Some that said there was no Resurrection 5.1 Fornicators there were and Contentious persons 6.1 that went to Law before Infidels 1 Cor. 3.3.4 11.21 Carnal persons that were makers of Sects and Schisms given to envy strife and divisions and some that he taxes for Drunkenness and irreverence at the Lords Table And for remedy of these iniquities and enormities he prescribes not an Enquiry to be made by the Presbyters into the Lives and Consciences of these Sinners but that every one who best knows his own iniquity should examin his own heart 11.28 Let every Man examin himself c. And that to teach and exhort the People to do with the manner how is the duty of them that have the charge of Souls and to admonish them of the danger if they suspect them unworthy but not to refuse to make preparation of the Feast for their sakes unless first they come all to them to Catechize and Examination before their Elders A thing which most of themselves are loath to do and turn the point of Examination upon themselves which is the hindrance rather as some suppose For how can he that hath thrust himself into anothers Place and Possession without a rightfull Investiture put that subsequent Interrogatory in the Text to himself Quomodo hùc intrasti which the King did here to him that came without his Wedding-garment and say to his own Soul How camest thou in hither This before that be received which we speak of is a thing to be thought of must be repented of and what is wrongfully detained Augustin must be restored

is angred and offended at Recusancy 11. 12. They refused to harken pulled away the shoulder and stopped their eares that they might not hear and it follows Therefore came great wrath from the Lord of hosts 13. who scattered them with a wherlwind among the nations Numb 16.12 Yea so provoked when murmurring and insurrection against his Messemgers is joyned with it 14. that wrath comes out from the Lord for it against Corah and his confederats that said we will not come up 40. which consumed part of them with strange fire that came out from the Lord and the rest the earth swal owed up alive for an example to all seditious Separatists And though in our dayes it be free for any so long as there is no penalty to mock Gods messengers Cron. 2.36.16 despise his word and abuse his Prophets yet for this the wrath of the Lord arose against his people Israel till there was no remedy but a ruine of their nation To resuse the grace and abuse the means and not come when called is dangerous though counted among us but a thing indifferent God give you all the understanding to consider it But that I aime at chifly at this time The danger of refusing the Sacrament Sam. 1.20 is to shew the danger of denying grace offered in the Sacrament God expects they should come that are bidden to it You see that in the Text he misses them that absent themselves from it and makes their empty seats as Saul did Davids at the feast And as he put the Question here Quomodo huc intrasti how camest thou in hither to him that came unready without his wedding Garment So will he inquire for him that absents himself from his presence there as he did for Adam Gen. 3.9 for that sault in the garden when he said Adam ubi es Adam where art thou God takes notice of mens absence at this feast Nor is that all the prejudice but a further danger for if we look into the text we shall find they were but dead men that denyed and came not when they were bidden They made light of it v. 5.6 and went one to his Farm another to his Merchandize and evilly intreated the servants that were sent such usage as many of us have found at Recusants hands But when the king heard of it he was wroth and sent forth his men of war and slew those murderers and burnt up their City whereby appears Gods anger and their danger who either out of neglect or contempt come not when they are called to that Sacrament Judge in your selves brethren If a King as in the text or great states-man shall prepare a costly feast for his poor neighbours send out his servants that wait on his person first to invite then again to call them at the hour and they slight him and his cheer will it not be taken as an Indignity to him and a just cause of indignation against them So is it when you are bidden to the Supper of the Lord if ye accept not the Grace there is indignity done to that and indignation to be feared against you ver 7. Nay more than Indignation The men that made light on 't and went another way were put to fire and sword for it and that was Execution And the fathers for this feared more than that too more than a temporall death and destruction even eternall death and damnation Joh. 6.53 for they understanding the saying of our Saviour Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his bloud ye have no life in you not simply of a spirituall eating and drinking but which is more safe to do of a Sacramentall also for it is a figurative speech sayes St. Augustin commanding in passione Pomini communicandam mente suaviter recondendum Lib. 3. de doct Christiana to communicate in the Lords passion and to lay up in our memories how Christs flesh was Crucified for our sakes And therefore held they it necessary for all to takes it Sacramentally uppon pain of death and damnation which to prevent Cypre de lapsis They gave it for a sureness to sucking children and infants And indeed what man that is wise unto Salvation will hazzard his soul on his spirituall eating by saith onely and from time to time neglect to eat Sacramentally with the mouth also which is a fruit of that faith that must save and a means to increase it and without which it can hardly be counted any other but a dead faith for faith without the work is but dead Jam. 2.26 But a lively faith will make this effectuall application to thy soul to bring thee hither and say when the Minister gives warning to prepare for a Communion he is the servant of the great King sent to invite the guests to the marriage feast of his Son shall I not make ready and go and at the time of administration say Christs flesh and bloud with all the benefits of his Passion are now offered under the Elements of bread and wine shall I not taste and take the copy of my pardon is there to be renewed signed and sealed to my soul and conscience shall I not accept it The earnest of Salvation is there given and shall I refuse it If I do I may not have the like opportunity again and so resolve with thy self to come when thou art bidden that the King complain not of thee among the rest which for none appearance are censured not worthy The recusants plea for absence answered Luk. 14.18 But before we come to that to the Censure It is fit we hear the Recusants plea or give them leave to speak for themselves St. Luke sayes They all with one consent began to make Excuses to the Servant that invited them one said I have bought a Farm and goe to see it 19. I pray thee have me excused 20. another I have bought five yoak of Oxen and I goe to prove them The excuses of them in the not I pray thee have me excused a third I have married a Wife and cannot come Sr. Matthew in short sales They made light on 't and went their way one to his Farm Vërs ● another to his Merchandize Bad excuses all and not satisfactory For shall the marrying of a carnal Wife stay thee from the wedding of thy Soul to Christ Shall the Conjugal Society in House or Family be preferred before the comfortable communion with the Bridegroom of thy Soul in the Sacrament Or shall the Country-farm be prized above the Kingdome of Heaven And a company of Oxen Horses and Swine be more desired than the communion of the Saints and Angels God calls thee to come to him then Et post ponitur Deus Bovibus qui te aequavit Angelis And shall God be served after the Oxen and Beasts that hath made thee equal with the Angels Or will your Merchandize answer