Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	covenant_n	faith_n	seal_n	4,746	5	9.5373	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85329	Londons gate to the Lords Table. Where the eldership doth sit doing their office aright, in discovering and shutting out the ignorant, prophane, and meere civill honest man : in suspending the suspected formall, legall, and antinomisticall professor, and in drawing in the weakest humble beleeving soule. In a dialogue betweene a minister of the Gospell. Alexander an ignorant prophane man. Simon a proud professor. And Matthias an humble penitent. Imprimatur Edmund Calamy.	Fisher, Edward, fl. 1627-1655.	1646 (1646)	Wing F995; Thomason E1213_1; ESTC R210120	58,722	302

But yet Sir me thinkes so small a measure of faith as the Lord knowes I have if any at all should not fit a man to receive the Sacrament aright Min. O but you are to Rogers on the Sacra p. 48. consider that it is the kinde of faith that makes a man fit for the Sacrament and not the measure the truth of faith is rather required then any certaine measure and thought you have not that measure of faith that you doe desire yet have you that truth of faith which Christ doth require Mat. But Sir doe you use to admit any to the Sacrament that are so weake as I Min. Yea indeed for we doe consider that a ●● spark of fire is fire as well as the whole Element even so is a sparke of faith faith as well as the flame and we must looke to faith in the sparke as well as in the flame knowing right well that although all Beleevers have not the like strong faith yet have they all the like precious faith whereby they lay hold and put on the perfect righteousnesse of Jesus Christ And we are not ignorant that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was instituted and Rogers on the Sacrament p. 107. ordained to make weake Beleevers strong and not onely nor chiefly to make strong Beleevers stronger Mat. Well Sir I thanke the Lord I doe now begin to see more concerning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper then hitherto I have done for to say nothing of former times when I went unto it and received it hand over head not knowing any other reason why I should receive it but because others did so and I thought I did God some service and that he was as it were beholden to me for doing so even since I have known more then formerly I have therein been much mistaken for I had thought that knowledge faith repentance love and obedience had made a man worthy to receive the Sacrament for I am sure I have either heard some Minister Preach or else read it in some Booke that the wedding garment wherewith a man that commeth to the Sacrament is to be cloathed is made up of all these and that therefore it was for want of these that the man in the Gospell was bound hand and foot and cast into utter darknesse and therefore because I found a want of all these in my selfe I thought I was altogether unworthy to come to the Sacrament and durst not presume to come unto it but now I doe perceive that it is rather an hungering and thirsting appetite after Christ and his Righteousnesse arising from a true sight and sence of the want thereof that makes a man worthy and I hope I may truly say That I doe see and feele a want thereof in some small measure and therefore Sir I doe desire to come to the Sacrament if you be pleased to admit me Min. Neighbour Matthias if you read the contents of the 22. Chapter of the Gospell written by Sr. Matthew where the wedding garment is mentioned in the Bible that containes Bezas notes in the Margent you shall find these words The wedding garment is faith to the which I doe assent for though t is true where faith is truly planted in the heart all the other doe proceed and grow from thence as fruits yet it is faith that is especially exercised in the act of receiving the Sacrament it being as I told you the hand that receiveth Christ and the mouth that feedeth on Christ yea and it is by faith that this hungering and thirsting appetite is stirred up in the soule therefore I said that your hungering and thirsting after Christ and his Righteousnesse is from faith or rather faith it selfe and so you having the wedding garment I doe pronounce you to be one of those guests which Christ inviteth to his Table and therefore I as a messenger sent from Christ doe in the name of my Lord and Master Christ invite you to his Table assuring you that he will bid you kindly welcome and therefore I beseech you faile not to be there the next time it shall be administred and in the meane time I would intreat you to come before me and the Elders together that you may also have their approbation for I of my selfe have not power to admit you Mat. But Sir it may be though you doe think me fit to be admitted yet it may be they will not and then I shall be turned backe and that will much trouble me Min. Feare not man I dare warrant you that they will be all of my minde in that point concerning you Mat. Well then Sir God willing I will come before you and if they also give their consent if the Lord spare me life and health I will come to the Sacrament with my godly neighbours the next time it shall be administred and in the meane time I beseech you Sir pray for me that the Lord would be pleased to fit and prepare me to pertake thereof Min. Yea neighbour Mathias as the LORD shall be pleased to enable me I will pray for you and I beseech you also in the meane time to pray for your selfe and use all other meanes to informe your judgement aright concerning the nature use and end of the Sacrament that so you may receive that fruit and benefit which the Lord doth thereby tender and offer to such as you are Mat. Sir I doe acknowledge that I am very ignorant in these points and therefore have great need to use all the meanes I can to be better informed and truly for the present I know no better meanes then to intreat you to give me some further instruction concerning the same Min. God willing you shall not want the best instructions that I am able to give you and therefore I pray you understand that the Sacrament of the LORDS Supper was by Christ himselfe instituted and ordained for three especiall ends 1 As first of all to keep Beleevers in a continuall remembrance of that propitiatory Sacrifice which he once for all offered by his death upon the Crosse Doe this saith he in remembrance Luk. 22. 19. of me that is to say Do this in remembrance that my Body was broken and my Blood shed for the remission of your sinnes 2 Secondly Christ did institute and ordaine it to be a seale of the righteousnesse Rom. 4. ●● of faith to ratifie and confirme the Covenant of promise made with all beleevers for indeed that Covenant is as a last Will and Testament and the Sacraments are as Seales set thereunto whereby all the promises in the Covenant of Grace or the Gospell are ratified and confirmed to every faithfull soule that so they having both Christs hand and seale their faith may be the better confirmed and strengthned 3 Thirdly Christ did institute and ordaine it to be spirituall nourishment to every hungry and thirsty soule yea and to be spirituall Physick to heale and cure every sensible sick and

Covenant and where there is no Covenant there is no Seale and then consequently no Sacrament so that you being an unbeleever you are an unconverted un-regenerate man no childe of God no spiritually living man neither are you under the Covenant of Grace and therefore assure your selfe the sacrament of the Lords Supper was not instituted and ordained for you Alex. Then Sir it seems that you do not intend to admit me to bee a partaker of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Min. Surely neighbour Alexander you not having true faith in Christ you cannot bee a partaker thereof though we should admit you Alex. This is strange to me Sir cannot I come to Church and receive the Bread and Wine and eat it and drinke it if you give it me Min. Yea I do confesse though you have no faith yet you may partake of the Bread and Wine but you are not to come to the Sacrament to partake of the Bread and Wine but to be made a partaker of CHRISTS Body and Blood under the similitude of Bread and Wine but this you cannot doe without Faith for Faith is the hand with which Christ is received as you may see Joh. 1. 12. yea and it is the mouth by which we feed on him as you may see Joh. 6. 53. wherefore I beseech you bee not so simple as to thinke and imagine that you are to come to the Sacrament for a morsell of finer Bread or for a draught of sweet Wine nor that if you receive the outward Elements in a reverend manner and behave your selfe decently during that action and demeane your selfe mannerly for that day that then you have received the Sacrament in honour of Christ and done a right acceptable service to God But know and consider That the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a spirituall Banquet where we are to feast our soules with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ crucified for us and this you cannot do for want of Faith and therefore if you should come and partake of the outward Elements yet would it be no benefit to you Alex. But Sir doe you thinke it would bee any hurt to me if I should receive the Sacrament Min. Yea I know it would be great hurt to you for by reason of your Ignorance and want of Faith in Christ you are neither able to examine your selfe before you come there nor to discerne the Lords Body when you are there and so should you receive the Sacrament unworthily and so not only be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord but also eat and drinke damnation to your selfe as the Apostle tells you 1 Cor. 11. 27. 28 29. Alex. Sir these things are somewhat strange to me and therefore I pray you give me leave to ask you a few questions about them and first of all tell me what I ought to examine my selfe of because you say I am not able to doe it Min. Why you ought to examine your selfe 2 Cor. 13. 5 whether you bee in the Faith whether Christ be in you yea or no whether you be dead to sinne or alive to righteousnesse what graces you have and what you want what corruptions you have overcome and what do overcome you what religious actions you perform and how you performe them in briefe to examine your selfe is to take a true survey of the state and condition of your soule by comparing it with the Scriptures Now you are ignorant both of the state and condition of your soule and also of the Scriptures and therefore I say it is impossible that you should be able to examine your selfe Alex. Well Sir and what is it to discerne the Lords Body Min. To discerne the LORDS Bodie is to put a right difference betweene the outward Elements in the Sacrament and common Pemble on the Sacraments p. 59. Bread and Wine which difference is not at all in substance but in the use the one being prophane the other sacred being set a part to signifie unto us the benefits of Christs death and passion or the discerning of the Lords Body stands in knowledge understanding and Dike on the Sacraments p. 90. judgement of the nature use and necessitie of the Sacrament but you have manifested by that which you said ere while That you put no difference betwixt the Bread and Wine at the Lords Table and common bread and wine but would use them as you doe your ordinarie food without any regard of the spirituall use of them and therefore you are not able to discerne the Lords Body at the Sacrament Alex. But Sir it would be a strange thing if I by receiving the Sacrament should become guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ I pray you Sir shew me the reason of it Min. The reason is because if you should receive the Sacrament you would doe even so as the shedders of Christs Blood did for looke as they that crucified and pierced Christ poured not forth his Blood that they might Dike on the Sacraments p. 56. drinke it but onely that they might poure it forth and shed it so you by your receiving the Sacrament without profit or benefit to your soule would rashly and in vaine shed the Blood of Christ Or to be guiltie of the Body and Blood of Christ Reynolds on the Sacraments p. 180. is to offer some notable contempt unto the sufferings of Christ to finne against the price of our Redemption and to vilifie and set at naught the precious Blood of the new Covenant as if it were a common and prophane thing when men out of ignorant sensuall secure presumptuous formalizing inconsiderate and prophane affections approach unto Christs Table to communicate of him Alex. And do you think that I should eat and drink damnation to my selfe if I should receive the Bread and Wine at the Sacrament Min. I think you would commit such a sinne in prophaning the Sacrament as deserves both eternall and temporall Judgement for though this Table of the Lord be a Feast of choicest delicates for refreshing of the Pemble on the Sacraments p. 66. soule when men come rightly prepared thereto yet doth it become the bane and destruction of soules when men present themselves thereat with unbeleeving impenitent and unholy hearts as you would doe if you should come there Alex. Then Sir it seems you doe absolutely conclude that I am unfit to be admitted to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Min. Surely neighbour Alexander you being wholly ignorant wholly sinfull unbeleeving unregenerate unconverted no Sonne of God no spiritually living man and having neither hand to receive Christ nor mouth to feed on Christ nor being able to examine your selfe nor to discerne the Lords Bodie and an unworthy receiver and so liable to become guilty of the Bodie and Blood of Christ and to eat and drink your own damnation I think it must needs follow that you are unfit to be admitted to the Sacrament of the LORDS Supper Alex. Well

Well Sir I doe perceive by that which you said to me the other day and by your words to me now that you are somewhat jealous of me though I hope there is no cause but Sir may not both you and the Elders be deceived in a man though you doe examine him either in thinking a man hath faith in Christ when he hath not or in thinking he hath no faith when he hath Min. Yea indeed I thinke it is possible that we may be deceived both wayes for we have none of us the spirit of infalibility Sim. Why then Sir me thinkes it should be in vaine for a man to come before you to be examined Min. No not so neither for though it be possible that we may be deceived yet considering the course that we take in our way of examining I hope we are seldome deceived if at all Sim. Why Sir I pray tell me what course you take Min. Why when any one commeth before us to be examined we first of all desire him either to make some briefe Confession of his faith or else to answer us some Questions which we shall propound unto him and if a man give us satisfaction concerning his knowledge of Christ of himselfe and of the Sacrament then we aske him what evidences he can shew of his Conversion or New Birth and so consequently of his true faith in Christ and if he also give us satisfaction therein then if we know not his life and conversation we make inquiry of it and when we have satisfaction touching that also we doe admit him to the Sacrament Sim. Surely Sir I doe like this very well and therefore because you seeme to question whether I have true faith in Christ or no I am contented now I am here to give you leave to examine me if you thinke good to take the paines Min. Yea indeed I am very willing to doe it for your good and therefore I pray you in the first place tell me Who made the world and all things therein Sim. God Min. And what is God Sim. God is a most holy Spirit infinite and eternall Min. And how many Gods be there Sim. There is but only one true God distinguished into three Persons Father Sonne and Holy Ghost Min. And in what an estate did God create man at the first Sim. He created him holy and righteous Min. And did man continue in that holy righteous estate Sim. O no he fell from it by breaking of Gods expresse Commandment in eating of the forbidden fruit Min. And was the first man onely guilty of that sinne Sim. O no all Mankinde did also become guilty in that they were all of them then in his Loynes yea they are not onely become guilty by having his sinne imputed unto them but they are also become filthy by having his corruption infused into them Min. And what punishment are all Mankind made liable and subject unto by reason of their guiltinesse and filthinesse Sim. Even to eternall death and damnation in Hell fire Min. And shall all Mankinde then partake of that punishment Sim. O no for God hath from all Eternity elected and chosen some to eternall life and glory and all those shall certainely be saved Sim. And by what meanes shall they be saved Sim. Onely by Jesus Christ Min. And what is Jesus Christ Sim. He is the eternall Son of God who in time became Man for his Elect. Min. And what hath Christ done for their Salvation Sim. He hath fulfilled the Law and suffered death for them Min. And by what meanes are the elect made partakers thereof Sim. Onely by meanes of faith Min. And what is faith Sim. It is a speciall gift and grace of God bestowed onely upon Gods elect and wrought in their hearts by the power of his Spirit whereby they doe receive and apply Christ unto themselves particularly Min. And what is the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Sim. It is a signe or a seale wherein by the Ministers blessing and delivering of Bread and Wine according to the institution of Christ is signified exhibited and sealed to the faithfull Receiver the nourishment of the soule to eternall life by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ crucified and so his further confirmation in the covenant of grace Min. And doe you intend to come before me and the Elders when we are together and so to be admitted to the Sacrament the next time it shall be administred Sim. I doe desire to partake of the Sacrament but I am not yet very willing to be examined any more Min. And why doe you desire to partake of the Sacrament Sim. Because I doe conceive it is a duty which God requireth at my hands and which tends much to the comfort and benefit of my soule Min. Well neighbour Simon I like all these answers well except it be the last how ever such answers as these though 't is true they are all fundamentalls yet if as they come from you they be rather Catechisticall then experimentall if they come onely from your head and not also from your heart it matters not greatly whether they had been better or worse for in a Catechisticall manner a man may answer better and yet want faith in Christ and he may not answer so well and yet have faith in Christ and therefore for a more sure Testimony of your faith in Christ I would pray you to let me heare what heart knowledge you have let me heare what Evidences you can shew for your Regeneration or new Birth Sim. Why truly Sir whilst I was a young man and unmarried I was very wilde and given to much vanity and many sinfull courses but when I came to be a married man I left them all and betooke my selfe to a very civill course of life dealing uprightly and justly with all men not doing the least wrong to any being very diligent in my Calling endeavouring thereby to get where withall to maintaine my selfe and my Family and to bring up my children in learning and good manners and to keepe my selfe out of debt and danger and to live in credit and fashion amongst my neighbours and though I say it my selfe I did so and had the love of all that knew me especially of the poorer sort for the truth is I was good to them and I was also very carefull to goe to the Church every Sabbath day and to see that my wife children and servants did the like and when we came home I did usually read a Chapter either before or after supper commanding my children and servants to doe the like and afterwards we used to sing a Psalm together and then I commonly went to Prayer with them though I must confesse I then did it upon a Booke and this course of life I led for the space of full seven yeeres together and now Sir before I goe any further I would intreat you to tell me what state and condition you thinke I was in at this time

did so it is cleare that you doe put confidence in your owne performances Againe I pray you answer me another question truly and that is Did you ever see so many imperfections and so much rottennesse and corruption as touching the manner and end of performing duties that you have even loathed your selfe and have been wearied and tired in your owne endeavours by reason of the same Sim. No truly Sir I cannot say I have for I have alwaies had great delight in the performance of religious exercises Sim. Then I doe assure you this is another signe that you have rested and put confidence in your owne performances for till a man see and take notice of his wandring and worldly thoughts and of his drowsinesse and heavinesse if not sleepinesse in Prayer and hearing the Word and such like exercises and till he see and take notice of his selfe ends in doing good actions he will rest and put confidence in them and be thereby kept from Christ and beleeve it neighbour Simon before that a man doe take up his rest in Christ the Lord doth discover unto him so much imperfections in his owne performances that he cryes out within himselfe I see now what a vile undone wretch I am I can doe nothing well all that I am is vile and all that I doe is vile I see now that I am indeed poore and blinde and naked and hereupon he is quite tired out and sits down wearie not seeing any hopes of healing the breach betweene God and himselfe and this saith a godly Writer I take to be the meaning of Mat. 11. 28. Yea that labour Mr. Shepheards sound Beleever p. 134. you that are weary in your owne way in seeking rest to your soules by your owne hard labour or workes as the word signifies and are tired out therein and so are now laden indeed with sinne and the heavie pressure of that finding no ease by all that you doe Come to me saith Christ you shall then finde rest unto your soules Againe I pray you let me aske you one question more and that is this Have you not prized the bare performances of duties wonderfully that is Have you not thought when you have prayed so many times in a day and heard so many Sermons in a weeke and turned to all the places of Scripture that the Minister hath coted and folded downe the leafe in your Bible or else writ their Sermons after them and made some repetition thereof to others and the like I say have you not in so doing rested satisfied without looking for a returne of your Prayers or what good you have gained to your owne soule by your hearing and so whether you have met with God in Christ in all these waies and meanes I pray you answer me truly from your heart Sim. Beleeve me Sir I must confesse I have done so Min. Then I beseech you take this as another evident signe of your resting and putting confidence in your owne performances for if a man doe not put confidence therein then he makes use of such performances but onely as a Bridge or Ferry-boat to carry or waft him over to God in Christ and resteth not contented till hee bee brought thither other signes I might lay downe touching this matter but I hope these will be sufficient for you to try your selfe by if the Lord be pleased to make them effectuall to you Sim. Well Sir and suppose that I should thereby finde that I have been guilty of resting and relying upon mine owne duties and performances and should come before you and the Elders and acknowledge the same would you thereupon conclude me to be but a formall legall Professor without true faith in Christ and therefore not fit to be admitted to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Min. Neighbour Simon to the intent you may more clearely see and perceive what we doe when we meet together and also declare it unto others if you see occasion I pray you understand and take notice that if we upon examination finde a man to be wholly ignorant and wholly sinfull as you know I found our neighbour Alexander to be then we doe absolutely conclude that he hath no true faith in Christ and therefore we shut the Gate against him and keepe him from the Sacrament under the notion of an ignorant prophane man and suffer him not to come there whilst he remaines in that condition Yea and though we know a man that he lives honestly and peaceably amongst his neighbours and deales uprightly and justly with all men giving every man his due and for ought we know or can heare is free from all grosse and scandalous sins yet if upon examination we finde him to be grosly ignorant then doe we likewise conclude that he hath no true faith in Christ and so shut the Gate against him also and keepe him from the Sacrament under the notion or a meere civill honest man and suffer him not to come there whilst he remaines in that condition But if upon examination we finde a man to have a competent measure of knowledge especially if it be experimentall of himselfe and neither know nor can upon enquiry heare any thing to the contrary but that he leads both a civill and religious honest course of life though he be accused to be but a formall legall Professor yea and though we upon examination doe finde him not to be so cleare and distinct in his knowledge touching the difference betwixt the Law and the Gospell or Covenant of workes and Covenant of Grace as we could wish he were yea and though for want of so cleare a light betwixt Justification and Sanctification as some have he seemes to confound the righteousnesse of justification with the righteousnesse of sanctification yet if he be an humble man shew it by confessing his ignorance and his willingnesse to be better instructed herein then we judge in charity that he hath true faith in Christ and so open the gate of the Sacrament and let him in but if upon examination we finde a man ignorant in these points and yet because of his great measure of knowledge in others though not so necessary points to be knowne he be puffed up and by reason of his righteous course of life be kept back from seeing his need of Christ as it seemes to me you are then are we jealous over 2 Cor. ii 2 him with godly jealousie as the Apostle was over the Corinthians but yet we dare not absolutely conclude that he hath no true faith in Christ and therefore we pray him as I doe now pray you before you come to the Sacrament to command with your owne heart upon your bed as David exhorts Psal 4. 4. and to examine himselfe as you know the Apostle exhorts 1 Cor. 11. 28. and if he come unto us againe and acknowledge that upon serious examination of himselfe he hath found that that with zealous Paul before his conversion he

heart of unbeleefe and therefore shall perish as it is written Hos 3. 6. My people perish for want of knowledge Alex. And Sir do you also thinke that I am wholly sinfull Min. Yea indeed do I for an ignorant heart is alwayes a sinfull heart and a man without knowledge is alwayes a man without grace Alex. But Sir when you say I am wholly sinfull I pray you tell me what you meane for I do not well understand you Min. Why I meane you are wholly given over to sinne you commit sinne with greedinesse without any strife in your will and affections against it you love sinne and delight in the committing of it Alex. Nay now Sir I see you are deceived in me for I thanke God I doe strive against my sins and would faine leave off my sinfull courses and as the saying is My Spirit is willing but my Flesh is weake The Lord bee mercifull unto mee and forgive me all my sinnes as I hope he will Min. But what is your meaning when you say You doe strive against your sinnes and would faine leave them Alex. Why my meaning is That when I am overcome by drinking too much and do thereupon fall to cursing and swearing quarrelling and some other sinnes when I come to my selfe againe and have considered what I have said and done I am much vexed at my selfe and wish from my heart that I had never done so yea and I have many a time resolved never to do the like againe and yet by occasion of going into the company of some men with whom I have some dealing who are too subject to that vice though otherwise very honest faire conditioned men and also by reason of mine own naturall inclination to those sinnes I am now and then overcome and so commit the like sinnes againe Min. And what hath beene the reason of this your striving against your sinnes as you call it Alex. Why truly Sir it hath been because I have considered that in so doing I have mis-spent my time and my money and have disgraced my selfe and endangered the salvation of mine owne soule if the Lord were not the more mercifull Min. Surely it appears to me that all this striving hath beene onely betwixt your Judgement and Affections or betwixt your Conscience your Lusts You doe in your Judgement conceive these courses to be evill because of the evill effects that follow them and therefore your conscience tells you that you do evil in cōmitting them and you thinke it were good for you to leave them because of the punishment that follows or is like to follow upon the committing of them but your Affections and Lusts do like and approve of them and therefore doe prevaile with you to act and commit them and in the committing of them you take great delight so that I say this your striving against sinne is nothing but Conscience and Lusts by the ears together which striving Herod Balaam and Pilate had within them and so may the vilest Reprobate in the world have But all this while there is no strife in you betwixt will and will nor betwixt Affection and Affection as there is in every true Beleever for he having the Spirit of Christ within him is a regenerate man and in part renewed and therefore the strife that is in him is betwixt the Flesh and the Spirit betwixt the regenerate part and the unregenerate part and it is against sinne as it is sinne and hated and loathed by him and therefore assure your selfe that notwithstanding all your striving you are wholly sinfull Sim. But stay a little I pray Sir this your speech seemeth to imply as though a true Beleever might commit the like grosse sinnes that he doth and that there were no other difference betwixt him and a true Beleever in the point of sinning but onely this different striving Min. But assure your selfe neighbour Simon that my meaning is not so for I doe fully agree with that worthy man of God who saith That a true Repentant and that is a true Beleever forsakes all sinne in affection and all grosse sinne in action and therefore I pray you neighbour Alexander consider of it for this doth more fully prove that you are wholly sinfull as well as wholly ignorant Alex. Well Sir though I be wholly ignorant and wholly sinfull as you say yet would I faine know the reason why I may not have true faith in Christ for all that Min. The reason why there can be no true faith in Christ when a man is wholly ignorant of him is because it is the nature of faith to beleeve that which it knoweth so that wheresoever there is no true knowledge of Christ there can be no true faith in Christ and therefore Reynolds on the Sacraments p. 138. Christ himselfe makes the knowledge of him all one with beleefe in him Joh. 17. 3. And the reason why there can be no true faith in Christ when a man is wholly sinfull is because holinesse of life and conversation is an unseperable companion and fruit of faith for faith purifieth the heart Acts 15. 9. and faith worketh by love Gal. 5. 6. Alex. Well Sir suppose I have no true faith in Christ and so be an unbeleever as you say Yet why was not the Sacrament of the Lords Supper instituted and ordained for unbeleevers as well as for beleevers Min. The reason is because the Sacrament of the Lords Supper being not the Sacrament of Regeneration but of sustentation and nourishment Christ did not institute and ordaine it for the regenerating or converting of any man nor for the breeding of grace in him but for the strengthning of the regenerate man that is borne againe and for the nourishment of grace already bred and begun in him so that indeed the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is childrens bread even the bread of Gods children that are borne againe not of corruptible 1 Pet. 1. 23 seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever and therefore it is not to bee given unto dogs yea it is spirituall food ordained for spiritually living men and therefore it is not to bee put into the mouthes of spiritually dead men but into the soules of spiritually living men and a man is made a sonne of God onely by faith in Christ as it is written Joh. 1. 12. To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that beleeve on his Name And so Gal. 3. 16. Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus yea it is faith that quickens a man and maks him spiritually alive according to that of the Apostle Gal. 2. 20. I live by the faith of the Son of God Furthermore the Sacrament is the Seale of a Covenant Rom. 4. 11. and Covenants essentially include conditions and the condition on our part is Faith so that where there is no Faith there is no