Selected quad for the lemma: end_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	lord_n	receive_v	supper_n	1,604	5	9.1492	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42092	The compleat conformist, or, Seasonable advice concerning strict conformity, and frequent celebration of the holy Communion in a sermon preached (on the seventh of January, being the first Sunday after the Epiphany, in the year 1682) at the Cathedral, and in a letter written to the clergy of the archdeaconry of Durham / by Denis Grenville.	Grenville, Denis, 1637-1703.	1684 (1684)	Wing G1938; ESTC R8783	37,668	65

THE Compleat Conformist OR SEASONABLE ADVICE CONCERNING STRICT CONFORMITY AND Frequent Celebration OF THE Holy Communion IN A SERMON Preached on the seventh of January being the first Sunday after the Epiphany in the Year 1682. at the Cathedral And in a Letter written to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Durham By Denis Grenville D.D. Archdeacon and Prebendary of Durham LONDON Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1684. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND Right Reverend Father in God NATHANIEL Lord Bishop of DURHAM AND Clerk of the Closet to His Majesty My Lord AS it hath been matter of great Joy to all Devout Christians that God hath put it into the Heart of our most Reverend Primate of All England to attempt the Revival of Primitive Piety and the long Eclipsed Honour of our Saviour by restoring a weekly Celebration of the Holy Sacrament in his Metropolitical Church so I am confident it must needs be an extraordinary satisfaction to the Regular Clergy of your own Diocess where Conformity hath fluorished in a high measure blessed be God ever since the Restauration As I acknowledge it my Duty my Lord to render my self by all means whether in season or out of season serviceable to God's Church especially to the Jurisdiction under you wherein his Providence hath placed me so the due Obedience and Reverence I justly bear you oblige me to dedicate to your Lordship the pains I have taken to promote a frequent Parochial Celebration of the Holy Communion humbly beseeching your Lordship to Countenance this seasonable performance of my Duty and honest Design to quicken my Brethren in the faithful discharge of their Office And I do assure your Lordship that I shall never Endeavour to promote my own private Phantasies either by adding to or diminishing from the Established Laws of our Church but as firmly as my weakness will permit shall strive to maintain that excellent Order and Discipline which the Publick Authority of the Church hath obliged us all unto and as both your Self and Predecessor have enjoyned me I shall as strenuously and prudently as I am capable administer the same for the promotion of the true end thereof the Glory of God and Salvation of those committed to my Care Since I know I can neither do God nor your Lordship more real and I hope more acceptable service than in so doing That my Sermon which was preached in my ordinary Course at the Cathedral was never intended for the Press will easily appear from the Examination of the Discourse it self and that it was not Vanity nor an Itch to be in Print which was the motive to this Publication will I am persuaded be readily granted by all those who consider that it carries with it no Temptation to expose it to publick View but some well meant Zeal which in a Censorious Age is more apt to procure Contempt than Commendation Had I not in the Applicatory part for the sake whereof I now set it forth pressed with some earnestness the Topick of Conformity and the chief part thereof frequent Communion which to promote is the main design of this Application to my Brethren it had never seen the Light at present But having in the Conclusion of the Sermon set a Scheme of Conformity before the eyes of the Laity as I have in my Letter to the Clergy presented them with another belonging to Ecclesiasticks I judged the Discourses not unfit to accompany since they may strengthen one the other As an honest desire to contribute to the Publick Good was my chief reason for publishing my Sentiments in these matters so is it a considerable motive for my presuming in this manner to present them to your Lordship that I may discharge my own Conscience and demonstrate how much I am My Lord Your Lordships most obedient and most humble Servant D. G. Newly Published SHort Discourses upon the whole Common-Prayer designed to inform the Judgment and excite the Devotion of such as daily use the same by Tho. Comber D. D. The Laver of Regeneration and the Cup of Salvation two plain and profitable Discourses upon the two Sacraments The one laying open the Nature of Baptism and earnestly pressing the serious consideration and religious observation of the Sacred Vow made by all Christians in their Baptism The other pressing as earnestly the frequent Renewing of our Baptismal Vow at the Lords holy Table Demonstrating the indispensible necessity of Receiving and the great sin and danger of Neglecting the Lords Supper with Answers to the chief Pretences whereby the Absenters would excuse themselves The General Catalogue of Books Printed in England since the Dreadful Fire 1666 to the end of Trinity Term 1684. To which are added a Catalogue of Latine Books Printed in Foreign parts and in England since the year 1670. Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in S. Pauls Church Yard A SERMON JOHN I. 29. Behold the Lamb of God THE very first word of my Text doth powerfully command your attention and require you to behold him to day whom the Church presented as manifested yesterday which will be no unseasonable Meditation you will find if you examine the Services of the respective Sundays after the Epiphany till the Purification It is no small matter in Scripture that hath an Ecce prefixed thereunto and nothing can better deserve it than those passages that relate to our Lord 's wonderful Incarnation namely God manifested in the Flesh to be true and very man Born of a Virgin the chief subject of Devotion on the Feast of our Lord's Nativity or the man Christ Jesus manifested to be God the subject of the Devotions on the Feast of the Epiphany three several ways First By the Wise mens coming to worship him twelve days after his Birth Secondly By a Voice from Heaven at his Baptism thirty years after And thirdly By his first Miracle in Cana of Galilee where he turned Water into Wine Which way soever we turn our Eyes to behold either God manifested to be Man or Man manifested to be God the Spectacle will be glorious and wonderful and every way deserving of our highest Admiration and Praise which is in a particular manner proper for our consideration at this Instant when we are approaching to the Table of our Lord to feed on his blessed Body and Bloud And that that holy Duty of the Altar as well as the other of the Pulpit may succeed to the honour of God and comfort of our Souls let us beg the assistance of God's most holy Spirit c. Ye shall pray for the holy Catholick Church of Christ the Congregation of Christian People c. Behold the Lamb of God Never any Spectacle in the world so well deserved a Crier to call the People to behold it as this in the Text Nor was there any man in the world so fit to call Spectators to this Spectacle as the Baptist God is come down into the World in the Form of a

most notoriously displeased God and defiled our own Consciences The Exercise of these things in sincerity though not in Perfection are Essentially necessary to secure unto us the Pardon of our Sins and a Title to the Kingdom of Heaven Which as it is the main design of all our receptions of the Lords Supper so should it be more especially our business when we perform this Duty at great and solemn Festivals and so extraordinary a Time when the very newness of the Year will powerfully invite us to newness of Life Such as are perfectly deaf to this Call and can resist all the Invitations we have from the very Time and Custom to amend our ways are not likely to make it much the business of their Thoughts for the remaining part of the Year To begin well does not absolutely necessitate a good Conclusion but certainly is a considerable step towards the same otherwise it would never have been familiarized into a Proverb What 's well begun is half ended Let us all then I beseech you in the name of God take care how we enter upon the New-year without newness of Life after having received so many Mercies and committed so many Sins the Year past Among those Gifts which Custom doth oblige us to bestow let us in the first place give our Hearts unto God Let the Glutton and Drunkard renounce his sottish Intemperance Let the common Swearer renounce his inexcusable sin of Profanation of God's Name Let the Malicious renounce his Malice and Revenge Let the Proud and Imperious renounce his Haughtiness of Mind Let the wretched Miser renounce his Avarice and oppression of his Brother Let the Furious and wrathful renounce his Anger and Impatience And lastly let the stupid Sluggard I mean chiefly in reference to Religion forsake his Sloth and carelessness of his precious and immortal Soul Let every Sinner renounce his most beloved sin and seasonably discharge himself of that Burthen which may chance as light as he makes it to press him before another Anniversary into Hell We are all yet God be praised alive and have our Day of Salvation continued to us and are capable to lay hold on Eternal Life Our merciful and gracious God hath carried us thus far through the dangers of Body and Soul wherewith we have been from our Cradles incompassed But that we should all here present every individual Person live to see another Year and to enjoy the blessed opportunity which I fear too many of us will wilfully reject of Feasting on our Saviour's Body and Bloud in this very place is hardly possible to conceive It is highly probable that sundry of our Friends and Acquaintance who did with as much confidence as we do at present promise themselves long life a year ago are now mouldred into Durst and gone before us into the Land of Darkness where they inherit as the Wise man speaks as to the state of the Body nothing but Worms and creeping things And that we should think our selves more immortal than those that have gone before us is contrary to all Reason as well as daily Experience Certain it is that it would become us the best of us if we consider our selves but as men indued with Common Sense to take a little more care of our future state and how we do launch forth unprepared into the Ocean of Eternity and descend into the Grave out of which there is no Redemption Upon these and the like Considerations methinks we should without any more ado all resolve for the remainder of our days to be as constant Guests at our Lord's Table as he requires and our Duty obligeth us to and in particular none should dare let slip the present Call we have from the very Season to a Heavenly Banquet where we may have Communion with the God of Heaven Converse with the Holy Angels and Feast on the Son of God and thereby be made partakers of those inestimable benefits Christ purchased for us by his bitter and bloudy Death and Passion namely pardon of Sins sanctifying Grace and a Title to the Kingdom of Heaven Here here is the best 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and truest Trial not only of our growth in Grace but of our sincerity in Religion I mean how we stand affected to the holy Sacrament of Christs pretious Body and Bloud If we make that which if rightly performed is the most Essential part of God's Service a Ceremony to be done when we have little or nothing else to do and can contentedly without just or lawful Impediment absent our selves from God's House even at the most solemn times of Celebration or can boldly without scruple turn our backs on the Lord's Table a higher Act of profane Contempt than the former when we see it ready furnished and hear our Dear Lord and Saviour summoning us by his Ministers and inviting us to Sup with him in order to our being Everlastingly happy we are either grosly ignorant stupendiously negligent or egregiously profane To produce in our Souls an earnest longing to be united to our Dear Lord and Saviour by Faith Hope and Charity and to receive these Pledges of his Love in these holy Mysteries is the main End both of our Prayers and Sermons And therefore to dote so much on a Sermon as to justle out the Sacrament the highest Office of Christian Religion is a most Preposterous way of Devotion and a Piece of Anti-Christianism rather than Christianity for the chief design of Sermons is to fit and prepare for this Sacrament without doing whereof no Sermon can be prevalent and effectual to a holy life which made a great and holy Writer of our own Country declare in his Works That he knew not what those Sermons did signifie that did no ways dispose towards the Reception of the blessed Eucharist which cannot be denied to be the most undoubted Instrument and best means to convey Grace to and promote Vertue in a Christian Soul This caused the Church of England too we may conceive to keep her ground in the Reformation in retaining part of her Communion Service on all Sundays and Holy-days even when there is no Celebration Proclaiming that she is always ready to give it as a worthy Church-man notes whensoever any People shall be so Religiously disposed as to desire it nay absolutely enjoyning it in all those solemn places whether Collegiate Churches or Colledges where she was assured of an Assembly of Priests and Deacons from whom she might justly expect more constant attendance and higher Devotion taking care that when she rejected the Corruptions Superstitions and Idolatries of the Mass she might pay as much respect as a degenerate and indevout Age would bear unto the Communion no where condemning the Daily Celebration heretofore practised or yet retained in any Christian Church but the solitary Communion of the Popish Priests and their way of Offering up Christ daily as a Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead neither of which can be

I fear more than in these relating to this City on this Account I leave to God and your own Consciences to judge Beseeching him that by a seasonable shunning of the Sin you may effectually avoid the Punishment Now to God the Father c. Soli Deo Gloria ADVICE CONCERNING Strict Conformity and frequent Celebration of the Holy Communion c. Reverend Brethren SINCE the most Reverend PRIMATE of all England hath at this time judged it expedient to restore the Blessed Eucharist in his own Metropolitical Church and sundry other Cathedrals so far to its due Honour as to revive those Rubricks which necessarily suppose a weekly Celebration thereof in all Cathedral Collegiate Churches and Colleges and that there is reasonable ground to hope that other Cathedrals will speedily follow so good an Example I humbly conceive it the Duty of every Arch-Deacon and other Ordinaries that have Jurisdiction to improve this present occasion by stirring up all the Clergy committed to their charge to imitate as far as in them lies an Example so pious and worthy of their high Station by celebrating the Holy Communion more frequently than of late hath been accustomed in Parish Churches even as often as the Circumstances of their People and Cures do require and will bear it being the Duty of every Parson of a Parish to quicken his Flock to repair more frequently and with more zeal to God's Altar since God's Providence and the care and wisdom of our Governours do now at an extraordinary conjuncture of Affairs invite them thereto when not onely the Church of England but other Reformed Churches nay all the Christian Churches in the World call for solemn Devotions Prayers and Praises to God Accordingly I do very gladly embrace this happy occasion to invite you my Brethren to put your helping hand to this pious work of Reforming the unaccountable neglect of the blessed Sacrament the most necessary and assured means of Grace and Edification which has by the Indevotion of the Age too far prevailed whereof our Governours now seem very sensible not onely in Parochial Churches but even in Cathedrals themselves to the great scandal of our Religion and detriment of Mens Souls Craving therefore the liberty to remind you that as God hath put it into the Hearts of our Reverend Prelates to rectify this great abuse in sundry Cathedrals so it seems to be in a particular manner the Duty of the Clergy of our Diocese to lead on others within the Province by their good Examples in this great piece of Piety and Devotion since we did by the zeal care and vigilance of our deceased Prelate sooner than other Dioceses arrive to a high pitch of Conformity and more exact observation of the Laws and Rules of our Church established by Authority and expressed in our Common-prayer Book I may say it without Injury to others than any other part of England In this Order established among us by Bishop Cosins we have been encouraged to continue by our present Diocesan in his publick Discourses to the Clergy in his primary and later Visitations and more particularly in his last Discourse which he made to the Clergy in the Church of St. Oswalds in August 1683. when he advised all Ministers to take heed how they governed themselves by their own Fancies in the Execution of their Office rather than the Rule of their Book And I hope you will all do me that Justice as to ackowledg that I have always endeavoured ever since I did relate to the Arch-deaconry of Durham which is somewhat more than twenty years faithfully though weakly according to my bounden Duty to see the Injunctions of both these my Lords the Bishops put in Execution without allowing any Liberty to any of the Clergy to vary from the clear Rules of the Church whereto they have given their assent and consent and that among other matters I have not failed to use some honest zeal to move you to the frequent celebration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper the main end both of our Services and Sermons desiring that it should be administred in every Church so frequently that all Persons might have an opportunity to participate so often at least as the Law requires under Penalty which is thrice in the year But sundry of the Clergy notwithstanding mine and more powerful Arguments in several Episcopal Visitations having not been prevailed on to administer the very Sacrament it self oftner than so which renders it impossible for a confiderable part of the People to comply with that important Obligation I could not satisfie my Conscience to let slip this very fit occasion of pressing them to the performance of their Duty in this particular that tho' through the profaneness of the Age the number of Guests may chance to be very few at the Lord's Table yet that there might not lie so much Guilt at the Clergies door as not to furnish the Table and give the People frequent Invitations thereto nor more Guilt at the door of the Arch deacon in ceasing to press them to a Duty of so great moment as the frequent and Reverend Administration of the Holy Sacrament I have judged meet at this time thus to apply my self unto you The serious consideration of such a Duty now incumbent upon me did first put into my Thoughts the publication of the foregoing Sermon the conclusive and Applicatory Part being an Exhortation to that Duty which not onely your unworthy Arch-deacon but our Superiours at the Helm call you unto hoping that it may by God's Blessing give you some occasion to consider the greatness of the Sin of this Age in the contempt of this most holy Institution of our blessed Lord and Saviour and the fitness of this present Conjuncture for all us of the Clergy to return to the discharge of this most essential part of our Ministerial Function which hitherto we have to our shame and sin too generally neglected It is now a matter of Prudence as well as Piety to remove so great a scandal since this Return to our Duty begins regularly and is the result of the wise and godly Counsels of our Governours The chief Metropolitical Church by its Example inviting all Cathedrals to Celebrate the Eucharist according to the Rubrick every Lord's Day at least The Example of Cathedrals begins already God be praised to encourage this good work of Piety for the encrease of Devotion wherein they seem decently to admonish the Parochial Churches to a proportionable frequency That as the Mother Churches advance on towards the Primitive practice of a daily celebration of the Sacred Memorials of Christ's Death and Passion so may they as obsequious Children advance as far as is practicable and morally possible for them towards a weekly Communion by celebrating the Holy Sacrament at least Monthly in all considerable Towns and populous Villages For even a daily celebration of the Sacrament was retained by the Apostolic zeal of our Blessed Reformers and required

but also in Parish Churches not only in great Cities and Towns but even in the Country whereof God be praised in this Diocese we want not some Instances we of the Clergy ought to proceed farther towards a right and due administration of the holy Sacrament using our utmost diligence in the administration thereof in our Churches and utmost zeal in quickning of people to repair to it with due Reverence and frequency not doubting but that in a short time by God's blessing we shall see the Lord's Table as well furnished once a Month in Country Parishes as it hath been of late even in some Cathedrals and Weekly Sacraments in them ●re long as well frequented as Monthly have been for the time past For these means of Grace being of Christ's own Institution must be acknowledged the most effectual to revive Devotion and encrease Religion in a profane Age. And consequently the frequent and Reverend Administration of the holy Sacrament and the peoples right use of the same being the most probable course that can be taken in order to the salvation of their Souls it becomes the duty of every faithful Priest zealously to embrace this blessed opportunity to concur with the will of their Superiours for the enjoyment of more frequent opportunities As the decay of true devotion and Divine Charity in the World did first occasion among Priests this deplorable negligence whereof there is great ground of complaint so the inexcusable neglect of Administring the holy Eucharist hath sadly encreased Indevotion and uncharitableness among Men. If we then do heartily and sincerely desire the Revival of Christian Piety and brotherly Love let us betake our selves to the right use of those admirable means that our dear Lord and Saviour instituted to the very end and purpose to beget and encrease those and all other necessary Graces in Mens Souls Whether we consider the present circumstances of our own Church and Kingdom or the publick state of Christendom we have at this time an especial Call to the Duties of the Altar We have here in this Nation of late received some never to be forgotten Mercies at the hands of our Heavenly Father nay God hath extended his Love also this year past in an extraordinary manner to all Christendom in preserving the Christian Army against the Infidels and some very remarkable returns of Gratitude to Almighty God are incumbent upon all that profess Christianity For God having removed in a good measure our Fears at home and defeated in a signal manner our common Enemy abroad gratulatory Sacrisices were never more seasonable Such stupendious Mercies as we have been partakers of deserve more than one single day of Thanksgiving and the most acceptable returns of Thanks that we can possibly make to our gracious God will be those praises that are from Reformed Lives sincere Hearts and mortified Souls devoutly offered to him at his Altar Gratitude is the most essential Grace to a good Communicant and doth denominate the Eucharist The best standing Monument then of our thanks unto God will be our vigorous endeavours to restore this blessed Sacrament to its due Reverence and esteem being to us the communication of the Body and Blood of Christ This seems to be the sence of the Fathers of our Church in chusing this critical Minute to restore the holy Eucharist to a Weekly Celebration in Cathedrals to their high honour and praise and the great comfort of truly devout Souls We have had more than sufficient experience both in Church and State of the dismal effects of Irregularity in God's publick Worship and there is little ground of hopes that we shall ever be delivered from the contagion of Conventicles as long as the example of our own People and too often God knows our own Clergy spawn new Nonconformists i. e. while they are but half Conformists themselves they give wrong measures to disaffected or indifferently affected people and insinuate into them very wrong Notions of Conformity so that much more exactness of obedience to the Laws of the Church both in Priest and People must be concluded absolutely necessary towards our settlement And therefore all Priests would do well to remember that their publick assent and consent to their Common-prayer Book the subscription of the 3d Article in the 36. Canon and the sealing with their Saviours Blood at their Ordination all their holy Vows and Resolutions to practise such diligence in their Office and holiness of Life as is incumbent upon a good Priest do render those that have not made it their serious endeavours to observe their Rule of Conformity grounded on the Law of God established by the Authority of the Church and State and confirmed by their own Acts and Deeds highly guilty both before God and Man In the next place Lay-people also would do well to consider that they have publick Obligations to observe their Common-prayer Book when they are in the publick Assembly as far as it concerns them as is shewn in the conclusion of the Sermon To which Law there must be better regard had than there hath been or we are like to continue in very tottering circumstances But all the noise that hath been or can be made by Clergy or Laity about Conformity will signifie nothing but aggravate mens guilt if both are not really Conformists which no Man can be who is a contemner of the holy Sacrament of our Lord's Supper Our respect thereto is the best Argument that we can give either of our Conformity or Christianity And truly those that pay no more regard to the Sacrament than they are driven to by the very penalty of the Law give very bad proof of their sincerity in either The right and due Administration of the holy Communion of our Saviour's Body and Blood is equal to all our Services and therefore the exactest Conformity without the due reception of the blessed Sacrament makes a person but half a Conformist nay indeed but half a Christian And it is matter of greatest wonder that such multitudes who live in the constant neglect of those sacred Mysteries and pledges of Christ's Love so as not to receive once a year can imagine themselves either They are indeed so far from giving undeniable proofs that they are true Conformists that they give no demonstration that they are not Papists nay very Heathens The Nation blessed be God begins to be somewhat sensible hereof as we may judge by those advances that have been lately made towards good order and regularity even among the people of London who if they go on as they have done for these two years last past they may by their good make some amends for the evil Example that they have given to the Nation and contribute to the cure of those Wounds which so bad a President hath given to Conformity To compleat then that excellent Rule of Conformity which the Church of England aims at there is an absolute necessity to restore these sacred Pledges and highest