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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bread_n	cup_n	lord_n	7,751	5	4.8519	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68467	A treatise of the sacraments according to the doctrin of the Church of England touching that argument Collected out of the articles of religion, the publique catechism, the liturgie, and the book of homilies. With a sermon preached in the publique lecture, appointed for Saint Pauls Crosse, on the feast of Saint Iohn Baptist, Iune 24. 1638. / By T.B. Pr. Pl.	Bedford, Thomas, d. 1653.	1638 (1638)	STC 1789; ESTC S113179	66,854	266

a spirituall strengthning and refreshing of the soul to cure those spirituall diseases to which the soul is subject These diseases are spirituall weakness and weariness faintings and defectiveness Apostacie and declination That this is so not only the frequent admonitions and exhortations in sacred Scripture do pre-suppose but also is confirmed by reason and evidenced by too wofull experience Reason to confirm this may be drawn from the nature of grace it self which is no part of the soul nor any faculty in the soul but only a quality dwelling in the soul as light in the Ayr heat in the water or rather as sap in the branches for as they dry up and wither if either the union of them to the root be cut off or the passage of the sap be hindred and interrupted so is it here that is except there be a conscionable use and attendance upon the word and Sacraments we cannot expect that grace should live The seed of the New-birth is termed incorruptible by S. Peter because by using the means appointed it is preserved from decay Not so is it in the naturall birth no use of means no food nor physick can preserv the liveliness of that beyond an appointed time Nay even the preparation of a Remedy is the supposition of a malady As therefore the ordination of Baptism to incorporate us first into Christ doth prov that by nature we are wild Olives so the ordination of this Sacrament to continue this Union and from this Union continued to convey spirituall strength and refreshing doth sufficiently prov what would become of us after we are in the state of grace if God should leav man to himself Behold then the goodness of our God who knowing our malady hath provided a Remedy this Remedy is to partake of the holy Sacrament of Christs most blessed body and blood for which cause our duty is to frequent the same both to prevent but especially to repaire the decays of grace in the soul so then dost thou keep thy standing in grace hast thou as yet not failed nor faultred yet be not high-minded but fear the worst thou knowst not what tentations may encounter thee nor how much strength thou shalt need Go therefore to the Sacrament that thy soul may be strengthned thy strength increased prevent a mischief But now hast thou failed stumbled fallen oh then make haste to this blessed Ordinance that thou mayst be refreshed and recovered See then how much they are Enemies to their own souls who suffer themselvs to be hindred and kept away from this blessed Ordinance whether it be through covetousness or consciousness While men covet revenge or as they use to speak while they desire to right themselves by following the Law they lose the benefit of Receiving not that they must needs forbear but Sathan doth so disturb the passion in them while they prosecute the Law that they cannot settle their thoughts to so holy a work Consciousness also keeps many back from the Sacrament when sinn hath gotten into the soul and guilt hath crept into the conscience we dare not present our selvs before God but like our father Adam do hide our selvs and prov the greatest enemies to our own souls To shut up this point see how each Sacrament doth work as a convenient means to produce that end for which they were ordained Baptism is appointed to admit us into the Covenant of grace to give us our first title and interest in Christ and in it we have wrought in us Remission and Renovation a death unto sinn and a new birth unto Righteousness The Lords Supper doth strengthen and refresh our souls and therefore fitly appointed and designed to this end to be the Sacrament of our Confirmation By Baptism as we heard the soul was regenerate and made partaker of the seeds of grace These seeds being watered and as it were hatched up by the Ministry of the word are strengthned ripened and confirmed by the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and now is the faithfull soul confirmed in the state of grace and certain expectation of eternall Salvation For the close of all that hath been said touching the efficacy of the Sacraments peruse those few lines which our Church hath set down in the first part of that Homily which intreateth of the worthy receiving and reverend esteeming of the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ. The words are these We need not to think that such exact knowledg is required of every man that he be able to discuss all high points of the doctrin thereof But this much we must be sure to hold that in the Supper of the Lord there is no vain ceremony no bare sign no untrue figure of a thing absent But as the Scripture saith the Table of the Lord the bread and cup of the Lord the memory of Christ the annuntiation of his death yea the Communion of the body and blood of the Lord in a marvelous incorporation which by the operation of the holy Ghost the very bond of our Conjunction with Christ is through faith wrought in the souls of the faithfull wherby not only their souls live to eternall life but they surely trust to winn their bodies a Resurrection to immortality The true understanding of this fruition and union which is betwixt the body and the head betwixt the true beleevers and Christ the Ancient Catholick Fathers both perceiving themselvs and commending to their people were not afraid to call this Supper some of them the salv of immortality and sovereign Preservative against death Others a Deificall Communion Others the sweet dainties of our Saviour the pledg of eternall health the defence of faith the hope of Resurrection Others the food of immortality the healthfull grace and the Conservatory to everlasting life All which sayings both of the holy Scriptures and godly men truly attributed to this celestiall banquet and feast if we often call to mind oh how would they inflame our hearts to desire the participation of these mysteries and oftentimes to covet after this bread continually to thirst for this food CHAP. X. Corollaries drawn from the Premisses FRom the observation of the particular and speciall ends of either Sacrament may the reason be givē why Baptism is administred and received but once the Lords Supper oftentimes The ground of which practice binding us to obedience under correction I speak it I take to be not any direct text of Scripture either commanding the one or prohibiting the other but the tradition of the ancient Church received and approved by the constitution of the present Church Neither is this therfore in the liberty of the Church to alter both because the Antiquity and Universality of it doth prov it to be Apostolicall and also because the originall of this custome may in a certain sence be said to be Divine This originall is the analogie and proportion which holdeth between the Sacraments of the old Testament and the

this form of Administration together with the proper element of Baptism by which even the Priests of the worst times baptised Infants into the true faith of Christ and like a leprous and infectious mother is the present Church of Rome she beareth and bringeth forth sound children but presently hazardeth the infection of them with her milk as it were with deadly poyson That this Element together with the Ceremony and the form of words used in the Administration were all of them ordeined by Christ is so plain by that text Mat. 28. that it cannot be denied thus have we manifested both the Essence and Originall of Baptism CHAP. III. The manifestation of the Essence and Originall of the Lords Supper TOuching this our Church saith that the Element or outward part in the Lords Supper is Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded to be received thereby teaching us both the number and names of the Elements and also the Originall of this sign or which is all one the ground of our receiving For the NVMBER of Elements there are two yet not two Sacraments no both make but one Sacrament for which they are joyned together in this sacred action to teach us the full sufficiencie of spirituall nourishment which is in Christ. Corporal nourishment must consist of something moist and something dry and he that partaketh not of both hath not sufficient so here we have both in Christ and therefore need not seek elsewhere The NAMES of these two Elements are Bread and Wine not Flesh and Blood which happly would have carried a greater resemblance of that which is thereby signified lest it might have been impiously thought to have been prepared for Cannibals not for Christians but Bread and Wine which have an excellent proportion and Analogicall Representation of what is here remembred as shall be shewed in the seventh Chapter The ORIGINALL of these Elements and the ground of our receiving is the cōmand of the Lord expressely mentioned by S. Matthew Mark and Luke and out of S. Luke repeated verbatim by S. Paul Whence appeareth the abominable impietie and horrible sacriledge of the present Church of Rome which hath not only appointed new ends and uses of the Sacraments Circumgestation and Adoration which Christ and his Church never did once dream of but also hath deprived the Laity of the Cup altogether And whereas Christ saith drink ye all of this She saith no not all of you but only the Clergie must the rest must be content with their wafer cake for more they get not Object That word Omnes All of you is to be restrained to the Apostles who alone were present Sol And to whom must the other Omnes which tho not expressed is yet understood in the precept of eating to whom I say must that be extended To whom doth Saint Paul direct that Canon Cor. 11.28 Let him eat let him drink Why do they not also take away the Bread from the Laitie as well as the Cup since none but the Apostles were present But to let these bellies passe all that desire the benefit of the Sacraments must know it to be their dutie to eat and drink the Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded to be received Ob. But blood was never used for nutrition nay the eating or drinking thereof is directly prohibited Gen. 9.4 and Levit. 7.14 and much more the blood of man why then are these men blamed that forbeare to drink that in its type and figure which manifestly was forbidden to be drunk in its proper substance Sol We are not to depart from the letter of Christs Precept because we cannot untie the knots of humane Curiosity Blood indeed was never lawfully drunk much lesse the blood of man but alwayes shed for expiation and therefore it might to carnall reason seem as incongruous to drink it in its type and figure as it is congruous to eat flesh in its figure which was allowed for the proper food and nourishment of the body yet since Christ hath commanded us to drink that Wine which he himselfe hath called his blood we must do what he biddeth and leav him to stop the mouths of Cavillers when God calls for obedience by the letter of his word we must not stand to ask him the ground and reason of his Commandement Duties belong to us Reasons to God Note that as the Bread accidentally was unlevened that Bread I mean which Christ our Saviour used at the first institution so also the wine in the Cup was not intentionally provided for this new Sacrament our Saviour took such ordinary provision as the custome of the country used in the Passeover happily also the wine that he used was mingled with water it being the custome of the country to dash their wine to prevent Drunkennesse which things are fit to be noted lest we should place any superstition in the imitation or not imitation of those things whih were but accidentall The Catholick Church hath appointed Wine to be used yet indulgence was granted to the Norwegians to use other drinks The reformed Churches some of them put leaven into the bread some of them banish water out of the wine And in these things tho the text of Scripture impose no necessity but leav a liberty yet is it fitting that men should in conscience use their liberty according to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church CHAP. IV. The inward Grace signified by the outward Elements THE Sign in either of these two Sacraments as we have heard is externall and visible now what is signified by these Elements cometh to be enquired this is called a Grace and it is said to be inward and spirituall Particularly the inward part and thing s●gnified by the Bread and Wine saith our Church is the body and blood of Christ by the bread is signified the Body and by the wine the Blood both which being found in Christ do set forth the truth of his Humanity but being considered in their separation that is as separated really one from the other they do set forth the truth of Christs death A reall separation of the blood from the body is here in the Sacrament represented and set forth in the locall distance of the two Elements the bread in one vessell by it selfe the wine in another by it selfe for which cause the Elements ought not to be mingled together The Elements are bread and wine Not a sopp because not the blood of Christ while it was running in the veins but when it was shed upon the ground is signified in the Sacrament so much is plain out of the words of our blessed Saviour touching the Cup This is my blood of the new Testament which is shed for many plain also it is out of the speciall end of the Institution of this Sacrament which saith our Church out of Saint Paul is for a continuall remembrance of the death of Christ c. But of this hereafter Now

not unfitly termed Beleevers because they are born within the Profession of Christianity As also the Infants of Pagans are justly accounted Infidels because they are born in the Profession of infidelity And if Saint Paul had disputed the cause I doubt not but as he said of Levi that in Abraham he paid tithes to Melchisedec so he would have said that the seed of the faithfull do in their Parents profess the faith of Christ Add this that this virtuall profession is actuated by the promise of the Sureties and Parents at Baptism And this is the answer of our Church to the former objection And it is plain that that Ab-renunciation is the profession of Repentance in the name of the child so also the Recitation of the Articles a profession of Faith and reputed his according to that well known saying of Saint Austin peccavit in alio credit in alio as his offence so his profession is the act of another but his by Imputation Yea but saith the Anabaptist this is the blasphemous Invention of Pope Higinius where mark I pray you the spirit of Envy and Detraction that can speak well of nothing that is not framed in the modell of his own brain Higinius is said indeed to have appointed Godfathers and Godmothers But the Interrogatories in Baptism were yet more ancient might be the sponsion and profession of Parents in behalf of their children in use long before Higinius The profession of faith as it appeareth by records was at the first direct and plain by recitation of the Creed and forms of Confession Afterward it seemeth that for help of memory to provide a remedy against bashfulness that which the party repeated was put into questions propounded by the Minister and answered briefly as now the form is by the party And what the Men grown answered by themselvs the same did Parents for their children before the time of Higinius But why doth his blackmouth call this custome blasphemous why calls he Higinius by the name of Pope had it not bin enough to have stiled this custome of Interrogatories in Baptism answered by deputed Sureties to have stiled it I say as some others do ridiculous and unreasonable had it not been enough to have stiled this Higinius Bishop of Rome as he was indeed but he must call him Pope But this is the vehemency of the Anabaptisticall spirit to lay on load of rayling words when there wanteth weight of solid reason By the Anabaptists own confession the custome is very ancient for Higinius was the eighth Bishop of Rome lived in the year of Grace 150. long before the Pope was bred and born ever since when it hath continued in the Church Boniface in his Epistle to Saint Augustin seemeth to acknowledg that in his dayes it had Antiquity only to plead for the continuance But neither he nor any since till of late years counted it ridiculous much less blasphemous But passe we over the bitterness of words examine the matter Why should Infants be catechised and asked for a profession of their faith Answer out of Lombard and Bonadventure that it is done not for their instruction but for their obligation not as if the Infant should therby be taught but that therby he may be bound to the profession of Religon So that this is the meaning of the words I forsake I beleev that is I bind my self to do these hereafter And this interpretation I preferr before others as being more reasonable and more agreeable to that which our Church doth resolv upon for the Minister speaking to the Sureties saith This Infant must promise and afterward hath promised In the Catechism they did promise and vow and again they did promise and vow them both in their names Hence the Church doth stile Godfathers and Godmothers not by the new-fangled name of Witnesses but Sureties which doth intimate an obligation the which is so much the more apparent to be the intent of our Church because that in private Baptisms where there is a present expectation of death neither are these interrogatories used nor sureties appointed By all which it is manifest that this is the sense and meaning of interrogatories in the judgment of our Church which Lombard and Bonaventure do give and confirm out of Dyonisius Hard it may seem and harsh I grant thus to explain these phrases which being of the present tense are strained to the future but he is over-squeamish which will not bear with the harshness of a speech when the explication of it given cannot be rejected To shut up this point since partly in their propagation partly by their Sureties a profession of Repentance and Faith is made the want of actuall profession is no barr to hinder infants from the Sacrament of Baptism The second thing objected is this that there is no more reason why children should be admitted to Baptism than to the Lords Supper in as much as if the profession of faith made by Sureties may admit them to the one Sacrament it may also qualifie them for the other True indeed so it might if this were all that were required but there is much difference betwixt the two Sacraments and so divers reasons why infants may be admitted to the one and not to the other Baptism is for Admission and Regeneration the Lords Supper for Confirmation and Preservation they are fit to receiv the beginnings ●hat as yet are not fit to receiv the ending and consummation Baptism requireth no Sacramentall actions from the party so doth the Lords Supper in that he is a meer patient in this he must be an agent he must take and eat which the infant cannot do Lastly tho Repentance and Faith be required in the way of qualification to both Sacraments yet to fit a man for the worthy partaking of the Lords Supper other graces and gracious actions are required which are incompatible with the age of infancy To the handling of which I now return having thus fairly rid my hands of these brain-sick and froward spirits the Anabaptists and their Abetters CHAP. XVI Of the Qualification peculiar to the Lords Supper and first of Thankfulness THankfulnes for the Death of Christ is a speciall branch of our Qualification for the right and worthy receiving of the Supper of the Lord for which cause the Church hath put words into the mouth of the Minister that after he hath exhorted the people to Repentance Faith and new-obedience he should add this And above all things you must give most humble and hearty thanks to God the Father Sonn and holy Ghost for the Redemption of the world by the Death and Passion of our Saviour Christ both God and Man And in the Catechism amongst other things touching which a man ought to examin himself before he come to the Lords Supper the Church hath interserted this A thankfull Remembrance of the Death of Christ. Note here 1. A REMEMBRANCE The reason

wherof is this because this Sacrament was ordained for the continuall Remembrance of the Sacrifice of Christs Death His Death was a Sacrifice this Sacrifice must be remembred God made it remarkable at the first by those prodigies in Nature the Sunns eclipsing Earths-quaking Vail-renting graves opening But we must remember it in respect of the Commandement of Christ Do this in Remembrance of me yet is not this a repetition of that Sacrifice what need that be daily renewed that was at the first compleat and perfect whatsoever needeth daily repetition and renewing is in it self imperfect and incompleat As therfore this Sacrifice doth agree with the legall propitiations in this that it was a bloody Sacrifice so in this doth it differ and super-excell them that it being at once compleat needeth not as did they daily renewing and reduplication 2. A THANKFULL REMEMBRANCE must there be that is so must we remember the Death of Christ as that therby we be stirred to thankfulness for it The reason wherof is becaus the Death of Christ was not only a meer separation of the body and soul but a sacrifice yea a propitiation that is a sacrifice for expiation of sin and reconciliation Indeed it was the substance of all the legall shaddows the perfection and accomplishment of all the Typicall expiations under the Law Nay more it was the grand and great deliverance of the Church If therfore the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt deserved a yearly feast of thankfull remembrance if the Reduction of the Church from the captivity of Babylon was so thankfully acknowledged as that it almost drowned the memoriall of their Exodus ought not the death of Christ by which our Redemption from sin and Sathan was wrought ought not this I say to be thankfully remembred The practise of the Church doth plainly manifest it whence had the whole sacred action that famous name of the Eucharist so frequent in the writings of the Fathers and Doctours of the Church but from the sacrifice of thanks and praise at that time offered to God the Father Son and holy Ghost for the Redemption of the world by the Death and Passion of our Saviour Iesus Christ For this cause it is that in the Liturgie of the Church this is so carefully remembred that by the Minister the whole Congregation should be exhorted to give thanks to our Lord God adding that as it is meet and right and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to the Lord God our heavenly Father so for the present with Angels Arch-angels and all the holy company of Heaven we laud and magnifie his glorious Name c. But to proceed The way and means to stir us up to thankfulness for the Death of Christ is seriously to consider of the benefits which we receiv therby Here is a large field of meditation here cannot the devout soul want matter wherin to inlarge it self if we take notice of these particulars First what we had been without it Secondly what our hopes are by it Thirdly how unworthy we either were of it or as yet are Fourthly by how worthy a person this was wrought Fiftly how bitter the cup was which he drank how painfull and shamfull the Death was which he suffered Here therfore and in these meditations let the soul dwell till admiration of the benefit so good so great so freely so undeservedly bestowed cause the heart to burst forth into that of David Lord what is man that thou art so mindfull of him Oh dear Saviour who would not love thee Oh heavenly Father who would not bless thee Oh blessed spirit who would not obey thee Oh eternall God! who would not devote himself soul body all to the honour and service of this glorious Trinity that hath done so great things for so unworthy so wretched sinners Well Thankfulness is a branch of the Qualification of our souls for the worthy partaking But how is it to be expressed Answer briefly by bearing our part in the Psalms and Alms of the congregation For the first we read that after the Passover our Saviour and his company sung a Psalm It is Saint Iames his rule in the time of mirth to sing Psalms when have we more cause of spirituall mirth than at this sacred banquet all dull and earthly is that heart that is not now even filled with holy and heavenly raptures Did Moses sing and Miriam dance and shall not we sing forth the praises of our dearest Saviour For the other viz. the Alms of the Congregation we have the laudable custome of the Church in all ages and the ground therof is taken from that of David Psal. 16. My goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight What we cannot therfore return to our blessed Saviour himself in token of thankfulness and who would not in this kind even part with all that he hath that must we for his sake bestow upon his poore members Collections for the poore are perpetuall attendants upon Communions the illiberall hand is the evidence of an unthankfull soul freely we have received freely let us give and Christ shall thank us Mat. 10.42 25.34 To say nothing of Deo-dands most proper also upon this occasion CHAP. XVII Of Love and Charity BY love and charity we do not in this place understand that loving affection which we owe to God our heavenly Father by virtue of that great commandement Matt. 22. nor that generall act of love to our Neighbours enjoyned in the second Table which manifesteth it self in a mutuall and reciprocall interchanging of affections with them viz. that we rejoyce with them in their causes of joy and greev with them when God calls them to it nor yet that speciall act of sanctified love which is terminated in and upon the holy brethren whose truth is thence discerned if it be as it ought indifferent to all without respect of persons and constant without respect of times if neither penury and necessity nor trouble and adversity can cool the heat of our affections but notwithstanding these we love them in whomsoever we find grace and holiness this is brotherly love indeed yet is not this nor any of these that love which is here properly understood all these are pre-required But by love and charity we do properly understand a reconciled affection towards all even our enemies much more toward others which is indeed the perfection of all love and the Nil ultra of that affection So much we know is intimated by that phrase to be in Charity malice and heart-burning must be laid aside when we address our selvs to the holy Communion If in hearing the word Iam. 1.21 Pet. 2.1 if in praying Tim. 2.8 how much more when we approach the Table of the Lord God hath appointed this Sacrament in a speciall