Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	lord_n	pay_v	tenant_n	1,537	5	9.6349	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41720	The communicants guide directing the younger sort, which have never yet received, and the elder, and ignorant sort, which have hitherto received unworthily, how they may receive the sacrament of the Lords Supper to their souls comfort together with a treatise of divine truths, collected out of ancient and moderne divines / by R. Gove ...	Gove, R. (Richard), 1587-1668.	1654 (1654)	Wing G1452; ESTC R17638	26,688	79

which are made and pretended by Ignorant People for not Receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper so often as they should do but the chiefest of them and those that are most common in the mouths of the ignorant are these that follow I. Excuse They have no leisure HAve they leisure to fill their bodies every day and want they leisure to feede their soules Our Saviour in Ioh. 6. 27 gives them better counsell Labour not saith he for the meate that perisheth but for the meate that endureth to eternall life II. Excuse They want Cloathes IT is not outward apparell but the inward ornaments that make us gracious in the sight of God And therefore be our outward apparell never so meane if wee have on us the wedding garment of Faith made of the fleece of that Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the World lined inwardly with humility and trimmed outwardly with Charity God will bid us welcome to his Table III. Excuse They are not in Charity WHat is this but to excuse one sinne with another Our neglect or contempt of Gods Ordinance by our uncharitable affection to our brother and that is so farre from excusing us in the sight of God that it doth much aggravate our sin For why are they not in Charity What is the cause of it Is it not their owne rankorous heart their owne malitious and revengefull will and nothing else that keepes them from it And because their neighbour hath wronged them will they rather than they will forgive their Neighbours wrong more wrong God and their own soules IV. Excuse They are not prepared ARt thou prepared to pray and art thou not prepared to receive the Communion The same things that make us unfit to receive the Communion make us as unfit to pray for except a man abandon the purpose of sinne Psal. 66. 18. and except he be in Charity Mat. 6. 14. hee is no more fit to pray than to communicate and therefore should abstaine from the one as well as from the other V. Excuse Their Wives are sick or lie in or their Husbands are from home or not well and therefore they will stay till they be returned or well againe and then they will come and receive together INdeed for matter of sicknesse of the one or other party where there is a necessity of our attendance on them there may be some excuse for I make no question but in this case God will have mercy rather than Sacrifice But where there is no such necessity I see not how we can be excused And as for the other viz. the Husbands or Wives being from home how that can excuse any from communicating when God calls them thereunto I know not For our Receiving of the Sacrament must not depend upon others Receiving of it albeit they be never so neere or deare unto us VI Excuse They use to Receive at Easter every yeare and they hope that it is sufficient THis Communicating once a yeare at Easter was hatched in Popery when ignorance prevailed in the Church and is by no meanes to be followed of us to whom God hath afforded better meanes of knowledge And indeed it were a shame that Protestants in profession should be Papists in opinion But what is it that makes them to put off their Receiving to this time If it were their respect and reverence to the Sacrament as fearing if they should receive it oftener they should not come so well prepared to it as they hope to be then that indeed were some though but a poore Excuse But that is not it it is rather either because they place more holinesse in that time above other and so thinke the better the day the better the worke which is meere popish superstition or rather because it is the custome and fashion so to doe which is prophane irreligion Whereas good Christians looke rather to Christs Command and their own necessity than to any thing else and because he commands it they doe it and their own need and necessity of it makes them to do it not once in a yeare but as often as it may be done VII Excuse They would come and Receive but their Ministers will not suffer them IF their Ministers doe hinder them without cause they shall beare their condemnation but if for want of Knowledge Repentance Charity and the like which their profession or practise doe witnesse he do stay them from it and be diligent and willing to teach and warne them and they continue still in their obstinacy and wickednesse their bloud shall be upon their own heads VIII Excuse That they are conscious to themselves of some great and crying sinnes which they have committed and of which they have not yet sufficiently repented and therefore they will stay till the next opportunity of receiving hoping by that time to have more fully repented of them and to be better prepared THis Excuse indeed might be the more tolerable if hee that hath committed such sinnes were sure of these two things First that he shall have longer time to repent in and Secondly that he shall have grace to repent having had such a time But of neither of these can any man for the present be assured of 'T is true God hath promised indeed to have mercy upon a Sinner at what time soever he shall truly repent and turne unto him but he hath no where promised to give him either time or grace to repent when he will And therefore if thou art wise or desirest to be wise for the everlasting good of thy Soule dispeede thy Repentance out of hand and take the present opportunity that God offereth thee as not knowing whether God will ever offer thee the like opportunity againe being also assured of this for thy comfort that God in all our graces and so in Repentance too looketh not so much at the measure of them as at their sincerity Plaine EXPRESSIONS OF Sacramentall Truths TO Uulgar Capacities By the helpe of which the younger and ignorant sort may easily understand and remember the most necessary things belonging to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper EXPRESSION I. Of this That the Sacrament of the Lords Supper doth truely and really exhibite to the worthy Receiver the Body and Bloud of Christ with all the benefits of his Death and Passion FOr it is here as it is in a Lease A Lord of a Mannor makes seales and delivers a Lease of a Farme to a Tenant containing two or three hundred Acres of Land butting and bordering thus and thus upon condition that the Tenant shall pay him such a Fine and so much yearly Rent The Tenant● receives the Lease and having it in his hand shewes it to his friend and tells him that he hath for two hundred pounds a yeare three hundred Acres of Land The Parchment Inke and Wax of the Lease have not the very Acres of Ground nor Trees nor other appurtenances thereunto belonging being and growing therein

he must have a care also to have it in a convenient frame during the time of the whole action For though a Man have bestowed much paines with his heart before his comming yet if there be not a care of due behaviour in the action all his former paines may be lost See Prov. 23. 1. second Epist. of Iohn v. 8. Mat. 22. 11. EXPRESSION XIIII Of this That it is not enough to come to the Sacrament and to see what is there done unlesse wee can by Faith applie them to our selves and get the efficacy and vertue of Christs Death to become ours A Conduite we know is full of Water now a Man that would fill his Vessell with the Water thereof must bring it to the Conduite to the Cocke and set it there but yet that is not enough nay if that be all and he doe no more he may goe home againe with an empty Vessell therefore the Man that would fill his Vessell when hee hath brought it to the Conduite and set it under the Cock doth also turne the Cock and then the Water runnes forth and fills his Vessell So 't is in the Sacrament Christ is the Conduite of all grace and spirituall good and he that would be f●lled must come to him His Ordinances the Word and Sacrament they are the Cocks of this Conduite so that a man that would be filled with grace must not onely goe to Christ in his Ordinances and bring his Vessell to these Cocks but when he hath so done he must turne them too and let them runne into his Vessell and this onely can a mans faith doe by applying of Christ and what he hath done for mans salvation to a mans selfe in particular See Luke 1. 17. Iohn 20. 28. Gal. 2. 20. EXPRESSION XV Of the same A Child we know may see and looke upon the Mothers Breasts may handle them kisse them and play with them but all this while the Child is never the fuller Therefore the Child when it would be satisfied it layes its mouth to the Breast gets the Nipple into his mouth and then suckes and drawes with all the strength and might it hath and so fetcheth forth the Milk out of the Mothers Breast So must it be done in this case of the Sacrament Men may come to the Sacrament and there gaze upon the Elements and eate and drinke them and yet not receive the sweete of the Ordinance but if they would have the milke out of this breast they must fall to sucking and to drawing with all their might and strength And this doe men doe when in the use of it they set their faith on worke which sucks vertue out of the Sacrament and from Christ in it mortifying vertue to kill their lusts healing vertue to cure their soules and quickning vertue to enable them to the duties and actions of spirituall life A Catalogue of certaine grosse Ignorances touching the Sacrament of the Lords Supper yet remaining and reigning in the hearts and mindes of the vulgar sort of Communicants in most places and Parishes of this Land Purposely Set downe that such ignorant Soules may see their Errours and learne to amend them The I. Ignorance Touching Preparation THe Preparation especially of the younger sort is to put on their best dresse their siner apparell and to be a little braver when they come to the Sacrament than at other times But for a Spirituall preparation of the heart to fit it for so holy a duty and service that is a thing that is never once looked after nor thought upon The II. Ignorance Touching their demeanour at the time of Receiving IT is pittifull to behold the demeanour of the ordinary sort of people at the Sacrament they come thither they know not wherefore and they doe there they know not what they know not which way to looke or turne themselves about any holy Meditations Many times their mindes are like a Clock that is over-wound above his ordinary pitch and so stands still their thoughts are amazed at the height of these mysteries and for the time they are like a block thinking nothing at all or else their thoughts fall flat on the Earth to base and bodily things Yea some are so wonderfully simple as to imagine they come thither for a draught of sweete Wine and a morsell of finer Bread Or at the best they raise their thoughts no higher than the Communion Table thinking that if they have received the outward Elements in a reverent manner behaved themselves decently during that action forborne their worldly businesse before and after tempered their tongues from all uncivill speech and demeaned themselves mannerly for that day then that they have done a right acceptable piece of Service to God The which stupidity of theirs cannot but be much commiserated of those unto whom it is given to know any thing concerning the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God The III. Ignorance Touching their comming at certaine times to Receive though never so unpreparedly MAny have a conceipt that if they come at such and such times what ever their lives be yet it skilleth not the very comming at such times is a disposition sufficient for the Service they come about But let such men know that at what time soever they come if they come not preparedly be the time never so solemne yet shall they instead of a blessing meete with Gods curse and heavy indignation See Iob 20. 23. Psal. 78. 29 30 31. Psal. 69. 22. but especially 1 Cor. 11. 27. 29 30. IV. Ignorance Touching their good meanings as if that were a sufficient Preparation IGnorant persons use to pleade for themselves that 't is true they have not the knowledge and understanding that others have and cannot answer as others doe yet they hope they have as good meanings and come with as good minds as the best But poore soules how miserably doe they delude themselves For ignorant mindes cannot be good minds neither can such mindes have good meanings for without knowledge the minde is not good Pro. 19. 2. And the minde being not good how can the receiving of such a one but be an abomination to God See Pro. 21. 27. And therefore let such poore ignorant Soules looke to themselves and for all their good mindes and meanings labour to get some competent measure of the knowledge of God and Christ before they offer to meddle with this holy Ordinance of God And especially let such looke to themselves that have the meanes and may be taught and instructed but yet in a wilfulnesse and Rebellion of Spirit will not be taught nor instructed that they may be fitted before they come to the Sacrament but will continue in their ignorance and wilfully come to the Sacrament therein For what can such expect but that God should say to them as he doth to others of the like kinde Psal. 50. 16. 17. What hast thou to doe that thou shouldst take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest

and yet by vertue of that Parchment Inke and Wax made a Lease and sealed and delivered by the Land-lord the Tenant will possesse them all I demand then how it commeth to passe that this piece of Parchment and this Inke and Wax thus made a Lease and thus sealed and delivered hath power to conveigh really and actually this ground with his appurtenances to this Tenant To which the Answer is that the power it hath to performe this commeth not from the Parchment Inke and Wax but from the legall power and authority of the Law-giver who did decree and ordaine that a Deed conceived in such and such forme of words and thus sealed and delivered should be effectuall and powerfull to give a Tenant reall possession of such Lands and all the appurtenances thereof And just so is it in the Sacrament for by it Christ doth give us his very Body and Bloud his Merits and his Righteousnesse by it he passeth over unto us a Deede of all the joyes of Heaven he Seales unto us a pardon of all our sinnes and of all the Punishments belonging unto them but upon this condition still that wee doe truely pay unto him his Rent to wit true Repentance for all our sinnes true Charity towards our Neighbours true Faith in his Bloud and a new and sincere obedience to his Commandements So that when we receive this Sacrament after this manner we may say Here have I the Body and Bloud of Christ my Saviour here have I Remission of all my sinnes and the Kingdome of Heaven passed over unto mee And yet that bit of Bread which I have eaten hath not the Kingdome of Heaven lying in it nor the Body of Christ moulded up in it or converted into it neither hath the Wine which I have drunken the Bloud of Christ within it or is converted into it Whence then have they this power In their owne nature they have it not whence then can they convey all this to mee I answer the power which they have comes from the Law-giver Jesus Christ who Decreed Instituted and Ordained that those Elements of Bread and Wine received in his manner and on his conditions should be powerfull and effectuall to convey unto me and make me partaker of his blessed Body and Bloud and of all the benefits of his Death and Passion EXPRESSION II. Of this That a wicked man and an unworthy Receiver may at the Sacrament Receive the outward Elements of Bread and Wine without receiving any benefit by the Body and Bloud of Christ FOr it is here as in the usance of a conveyance Now we know that if a conveyance made to Peter lying upon a Table be given to Richard or to any other person to whom it doth not belong or which Richard or any other person fraudulently taketh away it doth them no good at all by reason the Covenant was not made with any of them but with Peter onely So the unworthy Receiver being not the party to whom the promise is made of receiving Christ with the benefis of his Death and Passion receives onely the bare outward Elements and not the things signified thereby EXPRESSION III. Of this That the consecrated Bread and Wine are not to be taken as common Bread and common Wine FOr it is with this as it is with Wax stamped with the great Seale for as that in substance differs not from other Wax but yet in value is farre more excellent and may not be abused or unreverently used without contempt or great wrong offered to the King or State whose the Seale is So the Bread and the Wine in the Sacrament though in substance it differ not from other Bread and Wine yet concerning the use to which it is now put and designed it is much more pretious than any other Bread or Wine in the World being now appointed by God to be a Signe and Seale and an exhibiting instrument of the Body and Bloud of Christ and therefore cannot be profaned or abused without contempt of Christ Jesus and his holy Ordinance EXPRESSION IV. Of this What a shamefull thing it is to come unprepared to the Lords Table IT were a matter of foule shame for a Man to come and sit downe at a great Mans Table in rags and in nasty and filthy cloathes and in such a case how apt would every one be that sees him to take him up and say Art thou not ashamed to come to such a Mans Table in so base a fashion What an uncivill fellow art in such a garbe and pickle to come into such a presence And is it not then a matter of fouler shame to come rudely unpreparedly and in so unbeseeming a manner to the Lords Table EXPRESSION V. Of this That the receiving of the Lords Supper without those graces that are to be in a worthy Receiver will do us no good FOr what is this but the having of a Seale to a blanke And what is a Man the better for that What is a Man the better for having the Broade Seale to a piece of Parchment that hath nothing written in it He hath nothing but a piece of Parchment and Wax hee hath neither Land nor Living sealed and conveyed unto him thereby And just so it is in this case EXPRESSION VI Of this That ignorant persons though they pretend never so much their good meanings and their good minds cannot be worthy Receivers IGnorant persons use to plead for themselves that they have not the knowledge and understanding that others have and cannot answer as others doe yet they hope they have as good meanings and come with as good minds as the best But alas how sillily is this spoken for 't is as if one should say though I have a blinde Eye yet I have as good an Eye as he that can see farthest For wherein lieth the goodnesse of the Eye but in the sight and the goodnesse of the minde but in the knowledge of God Prov. 19. 2. EXPRESSION VII Of this That without Faith we can be no worthy Receivers FOr he that will receive Christs Body and Bloud for his Soules Comfort must have an Eye to see Christ and his Worth must have a foote to come unto him must have an hand to receive and lay hold upon him and must have a mouth to feed on him Now Faith is all these to a worthy Receiver It is the Eye of the Soule John 8. 56. Esay 17. 7. 2 Chron. 20. 12. It is the foote by which we come unto Christ John 6. 35. It is the hand by which we receive him John 1. 12. Yea it is the mouth by which we feede on him John 6. 53. Now can a man see without an Eye Come without a foote Receive without an Hand Feede without a mouth No surely he cannot No more can we see Christ in the Sacrament without the Eye of Faith come unto him without the foote of Faith receive him without the hand of Faith or feed on him without the mouth