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faith_n covenant_n grace_n seal_n 4,967 5 9.5543 5 false
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A77379 A Catechisme for communicants. Set forth for the benefit of the willing to be well prepared for the receiving of that great mystery of the Lords Supper. / By A wel-willer [sic] unto all the children and servants in this great citie, and the suburbs, but most especially those of the parish of Dunstans East, London. Bridges, Walter. 1645 (1645) Wing B4483C; ESTC R173262 50,770 119

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signified a signe is either of things past and then it is called commemorative that is a signe wherein something past is remembred or of things present and then it is called demonstrative that is wherein something present is shewed forth or of things to come and then it is called prenunciative that is foretelling some things to come or else a signe is that that shewes forth all these or at least partly things past and partly present and partly to come 2. That these signes in the Sacrament do either serve the understanding and then they are called shewing signes or the memory and then they are called warning signes or the faith and then they are called sealing signes or of these all three together and this is that which is needfull to be known concerning signes Thus of the signe Now 2. of the word outward Qu. What meanes that by saying outward and visible An. That which may bee seene by the bodily eye and in this place the question is concerning the signes in the Sacrament of what force and power they are In which I find the opinion of former times to bee threefold 1. They said and taught that the Sacramentall signes did conferre grace now this by no meanes is to bee admitted for the reason expressed afterwards First they give to the signes that which is to be given to God alone and then the people understand not what God and what the signes doe severally performe Secondly they give all unto man in the conferring of grace and nothing to Christ and from thence arises the Priests forgivenesse of sin the tyranny lording it over mens consciences and that desperate point of denying heaven to the Infants that die without baptisme a great deale of these dregs doe yet rest and stay amongst our people that in the very signe there is some more then ordinary holinesse 2. They spake of the signes dispositively that is to say that signes were instituted of God not onely to signifie grace but to dispose it and so they say that whosoever was baptized and did receive confirmation did beare the badge and character of a Christian 3. Another opinion they had whereby all was taken from the signes and they reputed to bee no more then other things in a profane use For the right understanding therefore of the doctrine of these outward signes the truth is the signes do offer but in their owne nature they do not conferre grace they are not without grace for God hath instituted them but presently and of themselves they doe not indeed they cannot give it For conclusion then of this point observe these things or considerations following that is to say 1. It is onely of God to give that which these signes do represent and shew forth so Esa 43 25. I am hee which blot out thine iniquity and Jer. 31.34 2. By a necessitie of the meanes the signes are helpfull and not to be neglected no more then the looking up to the brazen Serpent of that Israelite which would have cure but the Spirit blowes where it listeth John 3.8 By grace yee are saved Ephes 2.8 3. The Scripture speakes plainely that grace is given before the receiving of the signe Rom. 4.11 and after also as is to see Act. 2. and 8. and 10. 4. Instances are given which cleare it and put it out of question that many have received the signes without ever receiving grace it was the case of Simon Magus Act. 8.23 John 13.27 1 Cor. 10. Thus of the second part the word outward signe Now of the third part which is grace Qu. What is that thing which you call the grace or the inward grace of the Sacrament A. Here we shall see the difference now between a Sacrament and a testament all the whole Scripture is indeed Gods testament but the Sacrament is the Seale of the Testament Now in this Testament of God there were two Covenants unto which the Lord did set the Seales or the Sacraments as is to see in holy Scripture 1. In the Old Testament there was a Covenant of workes which ran thus with Adam As long as thou continuest holy in obeying my word thou shalt so long continue happy in enjoying my presence And to this Testament or Covenant there were two Seales put the tree of life which was the Sacrament of their immortality if they persisted in their obedience to God and the tree of the knowledge of good and evill which was the Sacrament of their obedience or of their tryall rather whether they would abstaine from eating of the forbidden fruit 2. In both Old and New Testament there is one Covenant of Grace which runs thus What the Law could not doe in as much as it was weake through the flesh God did by sending his owne Sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh Rom. 8.3 4. That the righteousnesse of the Law might bee fulfilled in us and that whosoever beleeveth in him might not perish but have everlasting life See Jerem. 31.33.34 Gal. 3.10.13 John 3.16 17 18. Now unto this Covenant God sets his two Seales the white Seale of Baptisme and the red Seale of the Lords Supper And thereby doth ascertaine every faithfull man and woman using the Sacrament rightly faithfully that the Covenant of grace in Christ and all the benefits which are promised therein doe not onely belong to the whole Church and all the faithfull in generall but unto them and their soules in particuler And not onely so but 1. They using the Sacrament according to divine institution do hope for it 2. And do also professe themselves bounden by that Sacrament to shew forth all possible holinesse of life before God his holy Angels and all good men See Tit. 2.10 11. See also Luke 1.74.75 And to draw to the conclusion of this point also corcerning this Testament and Sacrament or Covenant and the Seales thereof let these things following be observed 1. That the Sacraments of the Covenant of Grace are onely instituted for the faithfull for as it is said of the Word of God that it profited not them of whom the Apostle speakes because it was not mixed with faith Heb. 4.2 in those that heard it So it must bee said and thought of the Sacrament also 2. That therefore the most excellent things of God may and do in some cases lose their power of profiting the soule See Rom. 2.25 Thy circumcision is made uncircumcision Jer. 9.26 not a penny difference between thee and a heathen in the heart 1 Cor. 11.20 three notable places 3. That likewise the profit reaped and the benefit gotten out of the Sacraments is not by the worke done as the Papists say and too many of our people thinke but another way surely 4. That one and the same thing is given to and received by the faithfull both in the Word and Sacrament namely Christ with all his benefits no difference in the thing that is all one nor in the
manner of receiving for that is all one namely by faith onely the difference is in the outward forme for in the word preached God onely deales with the eare but in the Sacraments with the eares and eyes too for hee addeth Signes and Seales to them So wee have done with the third part which is the Grace of the Sacrament Now of the fourth part inward and spirituall grace or invisible Qu. Why is this grace called inward An. It is so called amongst other for these two Reasons 1. With respect unto the Signe for that is but meerely externall and altogether outward is received with an outward part the mouth digested with an outward part the stomach and gives nourishment onely to the outward man the body but the other is received with an inward act to wit Faith and yeelds spirituall nourishment to the inner man in which respect it is called Meat indeed and Drinke indeed Iohn 6.55 and the Manna and it sweetly compared together 1 Iohn 6.49.50 2. With respect unto the Seat for this hath place in the heart and soule and inner man See Rom. 10.9 Beleeve with the heart called the heart-answer Psal 73.7 and the answer of a good conscience 1 Pet. 3.21 not the washing away the filth of the flesh Qu. Why is it called spirituall An. From the qualitie of it for the more of grace any thing hath in it the more spirituall it is which may bee shewed by that speech of Ioshna to the people Iosh 24.19 Yee cannot serve the Lord for hee is an holy God hee is a jealous God c. what is the meaning yee cannot serve him 1. as you ought 2. as hee will accept unlesse you bee very spirituall and leave your idolatry See Iohn 4.24 The quantity of it for grace fits the Spirit unto the greatest services and fills it with all abundances and satisfaction therein too Psal 63.5 Psal 90.14 Qu. Why is it called invisible An. It is so called 1. In regard of others the eye of man cannot see the provision that God hath made for his both in grace and glory 1 Cor. 2.9 the perswasion the satisfaction the heart-raysings and soule-quicknings which God in an ordinance or Sacrament feeds and fils his people with which the world sees not as our Lord said John 4.32 I have meat you know not of so can the Christian too say to the world and to every unbeleever There 's meat for me in the word and Sacrament which you know not of 2. It is called invisible in regard of us too for the time was when the very beleever came blindfold to the Sacrament We were darknesse though wee bee now light in the Lord Ephes 5.8 And it is by faith onely that wee see invisibles See Heb. 11.27 Some uses must bee made of this point and first of the first part in order wherein these two things in order Qu. What is the first An. To learne what a Signe any Signe but especially a Signe in the Sacrament is viz. a thing instituted by God in that holy businesse of our soules unto that end 1. That I might see what things God intends by it to put mee in mind of in the Sacrament which are the things past those are Christs death and suffering and satisfaction for me and the sinnes of all the elect The things present those are the grace of perswasion and obsignation or sealing that all these belong to mee I being a beleever and rightly using the Sacrament The things to come namely that I shall in glory have a full and free communion with him there for ever Ioh. 6.35.40.58 2. That I might also see what parts of my soule or faculties thereof these Signes in the Sacrament serve to benefit whilst I am receiving and after that is to say 1. As they shew mee any thing and so they serve to my understanding for when I see those Sacramentall actions of breaking bread and powring out of wine I am put in mind of the breaking of the body and the powring out of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ 2. As they doe warne mee of any thing and so they doe serve my memory for in the receiceiving of the Sacrament I am put into remembrance to bee thankfull for and to preserve the remembrance of the death of my Saviour untill hee come as one friend gives another a booke or a peece of gold 3. As they seale any thing and so they doe serve my faith for as I doe receive bread and wine into my body with which I am secretly yet certainly nourished and grow up to the things of a man so I doe beleeve that I have and shall receive the Lord Jesus into my soule that holding the head whereof all the body is knit together and having nourishment ministred I may increase with the increases of God Col. 2.19 Thus of the first part Qu. What uses are to bee made of the second part that is to say of the doctrine of the Signes in the Sacrament An. They are sweetly usefull to a discerning receiver 1. To try his obedience whether hee will with reverence use them in obedience to the command of the great God and with a heart so disposed that if the Lord had bidden some greater thing hee would have done it 2 King 5.13 2. To try a Christians wisedome for hee hath more of heavenly grace and direction in him then to depend upon any thing under God for that which hee knoweth must onely come from God for it is God that worketh the will and the deed 2 Phil. 3. It serves greatly to make a man fitted for his acknowledgments of the Lord for if the Spirit blow where when and on whom it listeth then it is not of him that runneth nor of him that willeth but of God that sheweth mercy Rom. 9.16 And see Rom. 11. last verse 4. It puts a Christian into a trembling posture all the time of receiving to remember Iudas his sop Ioh. 13.27 and Magus his Baptisme Act. 8.23 Thus of the second part Signe outward Qu. What is the use of the third part which is the Grace of the holy Sacrament An. It serves for many sweet purposes as for example In that the first Covenant of workes could not save I learne to remember the misery of man Oh woe unto us for ever if wee were put to our own desert at the hands of God! In the second Covenant of Grace I learne to remember the exceeding great bottomlesse yea indeed boundlesse mercy of God who when we were lost was pleased to recover us againe in the Lord Jesus For the Sacraments I do desire to esteeme them no otherwise then the Seale of the Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ And therefore think my selfe bounden unto these things following 1. The most sober and sanctified use of them that possibly I may or can that God bee not provoked to curse that to me which to others is a blessing 1 Cor. 10.1 2 3. 2. That