Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	cup_n	drink_v	eat_v	8,062	5	7.8137	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58787	The Christian life from its beginning, to its consummation in glory : together with the several means and instruments of Christianity conducing thereunto : with directions for private devotion and forms of prayer fitted to the several states of Christians / by John Scott ...	Scott, John, 1639-1695.	1681 (1681)	Wing S2043; ESTC R38893	261,748	609

comes 1 Cor. xi 26 And that this doth not like the Precept of Baptism oblige us for once only and no more is evident from the foregoing words of this last recited Text as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup which plainly shews that these sacramental Elements are to be more than once received by us 'T is true how often 't is to be done neither Christ nor his Apostles have any where defined but if we consult primitive Example which in the Absence of express Precept is the best Rule to determine our selves by we shall find that it was very frequently received For from some Passages in the Acts of the Apostles it seems probable that Christians did then communicate every Day as particularly Acts ii 46 where they are said to continue daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the house that is as it seems probable in some upper room of the Temple though perhaps this daily may refer only to the Lords Day agreeably to that Acts xx 7 on the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break bread Paul preached unto them But it 's certain that whensoever they assembled to the publick Worship they closed it with the Lords Supper which they did for a great while in the Western Churches every day in the Week and in the Eastern as St. Basil tells us Epist. 289. four times a Week besides Festivals So that allowing for our Declensions from the primitive Zeal and Devotion one would think that to communicate now once in four Weeks should be a very moderate Proportion But as for those that wholly neglect this sacred Institution for my own part I see not how they can excuse themselves from being guilty of a wilful Rebellion against their Saviour or with what Confidence they can expect either that he should assist them with his Grace on the Way or crown them with his Salvation in the End when they so perversly turn their backs upon an Ordinance which he hath solemnly instituted for a Conveyance of the one and a Seal of the other BUT would we take that Care that becomes us to prepare our selves for and frequent this holy Institution there is no doubt but we should find it of mighty Advantage to us in the whole Course of our Religion For till we are arived to a confirmed State of Good our holy Fervours will be very apt to cool our good Purposes to slacken and unwind and our vertuous Endeavours to languish and tire and therefore unless we take care frequently to revive our Religion with this spiritual Repast and Restorative and still to add new Fewel to it as the Flame decays it will quickly pine away and expire But if upon the solemn Returns of this sacred Festival we would constantly come with due Preparation to our masters Table and here renew our Vows re-invigorate our Resolutions repair our Decays and put our sluggish Graces into a new Fermentation we should find our Religion not only live but thrive and be still acquiring new Degrees of Strength and Activity But because this Argument hath been already so fully handled in our Practical Treatises particularly by the Reverend Dr. Patrick in his Mensa Mystica and Christian Sacrifice I shall refer the Reader thither for the farther Consideration of it And thus with all the Brevity I could I have indeavoured to give an Account of those Duties which are necessary in the Course and Progress of our Christian Warfare SECT IV. Containing certain Motives to animate men against the Difficulty of these Duties which appertain to the Course of our Christian Warfare HOW necessary and useful to us those aforenamed Duties are in the Course of our Christian Warfare hath been sufficiently shewn So that now there is nothing that our Sloth and Vnwillingness can object against them but only this that they are very difficult and do require more of our Time and Care and Pains than we can conveniently spare from our other necessary Occasions that the Practice of them is so unpleasant and severe and attended with so much Cumber and Trouble that we very much doubt we shall never be able to go through with them And therefore to remove this Objection out of mens way and to excite them to the Practice of these necessary Duties I shall for a Conclusion of this Argument add to what hath been said of it these following Considerations 1. That whatsoever Difficulty there is in the Practice of them we may thank our selves for it 2. That in the Course of our Sin there is a great deal of Difficulty as well as in our Warfare against it 3. That how difficult soever this Warfare may be it must be indured or that which is a great deal worse 4. That though it be difficult yet there is nothing in it but what the Grace of God will render possible to us if we be not wanting to our selves 5. That the Practice of these Duties is not so difficult but that it is fairly consistent with all our other necessary Occasions and Diversions 6. That the Difficulty of them is such as will certainly abate and wear off by Degrees if we constantly practice them 7. That with the difficulty of them there is a World of present Peace and Satisfaction intermingled 8. That their Difficulty is abundantly compensated by the final Reward of them I. CONSIDER that whatsoever Difficulty there is in the Practice of them we may thank our selves for it For if we had betaken our selves to the Practice of Religion as soon as we were capable of it before we had entered our selves into sinful Courses and had therein contracted sinful Habits and Inclinations we might have prevented those Difficulties which we now complain of For our Religion was made for and adapted to our Nature and would have sweetly accorded with all its Affections and Propensions had we not vitiated them by our own wilful Sin and clapt a preternatural Biass upon them But though the Light be naturally congruous to the Eye yet if through a Distillation of ill Humours into it the Eye grow sore and weak there is nothing more grievous and offensive to it And so it is with Religion which to the pure and uncontaminated Nature of a Man is the most grateful and aggreeable thing in the World but if by our own ill Government we disease our Nature and deprave its primitive Constitution it is no wonder that Religion which was so well proportioned to it in its Purity should sit hard and uneasie upon it in its Apostacy and Corruption For to a man that is in a Feaver every thing is bitter even Honey which when he is well is exceeding sweet and grateful but the Bitterness which he tasts is not in the Honey but in the Gall which overflows his own Palate and so to a Nature that is diseased with any unnatural Lust that which is most congruous to it self will be

are of great Use to us in the Course and Progress of our spiritual Warfare For as for the Lords Day it is instituted and ever since the Apostles Time hath been observed in the Christian Church as a Day of publick Worship and weekly Thanksgiving for our Saviours Resurrection in which the great Work of our Redemption was consummated And certainly it must needs be of vast Advantage to be one day in seven sequester'd from the World and imployed in divine Offices in solemn Prayers Praises and Thanksgivings and be obliged to assist and edifie one another by the mutual Example and Vnion of our Devotions to hear the Duties of our Religion explained the Sins against it reprehended and the Doctrins of it unfolded and reduced to plain and easie Principles of Practice what a mighty advantage might we reap from all these blessed Ministries if we would but attend to them with that Concern and Seriousness which the matter of them requires and deserves Especially if when the publick Offices are over we would not let loose our selves all the rest of the Day as we too frequently do to our secular Cares and Diversions and thereby choak those good Instructions we have heard and stifle those devout and pious Affections which have been raised and excited in us but instead of so doing we would devote at least some good Portion of it to the Instruction of our Families and to the private Exercise of our Religion to Meditation and Prayer to the Examination of our selves concerning our past Behaviour and the reinforcing our Resolution to behave our selves better for the future if I say we would thus spend our Lords Day we should doubtless find our selves better Men for it all the Week after we should go into the World again with much better Affections and stronger Resolutions with our Graces more vigorous and our bad Inclinations more reduced and tamed and whereas the Jews were to gather Manna enough on their sixth Day to feed their Bodies on the ensuing Sabbath we should gather Manna enough upon our Sabbath to feed and strengthen our Souls all the six days after BUT to this we must also add frequent Communions with one another in the Holy Sacrament which is an Ordinance instituted on purpose by our blessed Saviour for the improving and furthering us in our Christian Warfare For besides that herein we have one of the most puissant Arguments against Sin represented by visible Signs to our Sense viz. the bloody Sacrifice of our blessed Lord to expiate and make Atonement for it besides that those bleeding Wounds of his which are here represented by the breaking of the Bread and pouring out of the Wine do proclaim our Sins his Asassines and Murderers the thought of which if we had any ingenuity in us were enough to incense in us the most implacable Indignation against them besides that his Sufferings for our Sins of which this sacred Solemnity is a lively Picture do horribly remonstrate Gods Displeasure against them who would not be induced to pardon them upon any meaner Expiation than the Blood of his Son than which Hell it self is not a more dreadful Argument to scare and terrifie us from them in a word besides that his so freely submitting and offering up himself to be a Propitiation for us of which this holy Festival is a solemn Commemoration is an expression of Kindness sufficient to captivate the most ungrateful Souls and extort Obedience from them besides all this I say as it is a Feast upon the Sacrifice of his Body and Blood it is a Federal Rite whereby God and we by feasting together do accordingly to the antient Customs both of Jews and Heathens mutually oblige our selves to one another whereby God by giving us the mystical Bread and Wine and we by receiving them do mutually ingage our selves to one another upon those sacred Pledges of Christs Body and Blood that we faithfully perform each others Part of that everlasting Covenant which was purchased by him And what can be a greater Restraint to us when we are solicited to any Sin than the sense of being under such a dreadful Vow and Obligation With what face dare we listen to any Temptation to Evil when we remember lately we solemnly ingaged our selves to the contrary and took the Sacrament upon it And verily I doubt 't is this that lies at the bottom of that seeming modest Pretence of Vnworthiness which men are wont to urge in Excuse for their Neglect of the Sacrament namely that they love their Lusts and cannot resolve to part with them and therefore are afraid to make such a solemn Abjuration of them as the eating and drinking the consecrated Elements implies And I confess if this be their Reason they are unworthy indeed the more shame for them but 't is such an Vnworthiness as is so far from excusing that it only aggravates their Neglect For for any man to plead that he dares not receive the Sacrament because he is resolved to sin on is to make that which is his Fault his Apology and to excuse one Sin with another Wherefore if we are heartily resolved by the Grace of God to reform and amend let us abstain no longer from this great Federal Rite upon Pretence of Vnworthiness For 't is by the use of this among other Means that we are to improve and grow more and more worthy For the very Repetition of our Resolution as I have shewed above is a proper Means of strengthning and confirming it and certainly it must needs be much more so when 't is renewed and repeated with the Solemnity of a Sacrament And therefore it is worth observing how much Care our Lord hath taken in the very Constitution of our Religion to oblige us to a constant solemn Repetition of our good Resolutions For at our first Entrance into Covenant with him we are to be baptized in which Solemnity we do openly renounce the Devil and all his Works and religiously devote our selves to his service But because we are apt to forget this our baptismal Vow and the Matter of it is continually to be performed and more than one World depends upon it therefore he hath thought fit not to trust wholly to this first Engagement but hath so methodized our Religion as that we are ever and anon obliged to give him new Security For which End he hath instituted this other Sacrament which is not like that of Baptism to be received by us once for all but to be often reiterated and repeated that so upon the frequent Returns of it we might still be obliged to repeat over our old Vows of Obedience For he hath not only injoyned us that we should do this in remembrance of him Luk. xxii 19 i. e. that we should celebrate this sacred Festival in the Memory of his Passion but by thus doing the Apostle tells us we are to continue the Memorial of it to the end of the World or to shew his death till he