Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	blood_n	flesh_n	meat_n	9,640	5	9.2298	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58941	Sacramentorum encomium: or The praise of the sacraments in a letter written in the year 1654 to the preacher then at Barham in the county of Kent, with-holding the holy sacraments from a great number of godly souls, unless they would subject themselves against laws and good conscience to a rigid Presbyterian government. Wherein the said government is plainly and undeniably proved to be (of all other) the most injurious to the magistrate, most oppressive to the subject, &c. Published by a member of the parish of Barham, for the satisfaction of all wel-affected subjects, and good Christians.	Member of the parish of Barnham.	1661 (1661)	Wing S223B; ESTC R219820	25,942	69

on the truth of his heavenly promise doubteth not but from creatures despicable in their own condition and substance to obtain grace of inestimable value or rather not from them but from him yet by them as by his appointed means and howsoever he by the secret wayes of his own incomprehensible mercy may be thought to save without Baptism this cleareth not the Church from guiltiness of blood if through her superfluous scrupulositie le ts and impediments of less regard should cause a grace of so great moment to be witheld wherein our merciless strictness may be our own harm although not theirs towards whom we shew it and we for the hardness of our hearts may perish albeit they through Gods unspeakable mercy may live God which did not afflict that innocent whose circumcision Moses had overlong deferred was about to have killed a Exod. 4.24 Moses himself for the injury which was done through so great neglect giving us thereby to understand that they whom Gods own mercy saveth without us are on our parts notwithstanding and as much as in us lyeth even destroyed when under unsufficient pretences we defraud them of such ordinary outward helps as we should exhibit Not that we hereby make Baptism a cause of grace but say that the grace wh ch is given with baptism doth so far forth depend on the outward Sacrament that God will have it embraced not only as a sign or token what we receive but also as an instrument or mean whereby we receive Grace And as concerning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper we say that he which hath said of the one Sacrament wash and be clean hath said concerning the other Eate and live Life being therefore proposed unto all men as their end they which by Baptism have laid their foundation and attained the first beginning of a new life have here their nourishment and food prescribed for the continuance of life in them Such as will live the life of God must eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man because this is a part of that diet which if we want we cannot live whereas therefore in our infancy we are incorporated into Christ and by Baptisme receive the grace of his Spirit without any sence or feeling of the gift which God bestoweth in the Eucharist we so receive the gift of God that we know by grace what the grace is which God giveth us the decrees of our increase in holiness and vertue we see and can judge of them we understand that the strength of our life began in Christ is Christ that his flesh is meat and his blood is drink not by surmized imagination but truly even so-truly that through Faith we perceive in the signs of the Body and Blood Sacramentally presented the very taste of Eternal Life The grace of the Sacrament is here as the food which we eat and drink The Sacrament is a true and real participation of Christ who thereby imparteth himself even his whole intire person as a mystical head into every soul that receiveth him and every such receiver doth thereby incorporate or unite himself unto Christ as a Mystical member of him yea of them also whom he acknowledgeth to be his own And to whom the person of Christ is thus communicated to them he giveth by the same Sacrament his Holy Spirit to sanctifie them as it sanctifieth him which is their head and what merit force or vertue soever there is in his sacrificed body and bloud we freely fully and wholy have it by this Sacrament the effect whereof in us is a real transmutation of our Souls and Bodies from sin to righteousness from death and corruption to immortality and life and though the Sacrament it self be but a corruptible and earthly creature yet he by the strength of his glorious power will bring to pass that the Bread and Cup which he giveth us shall be truly the thing he promiseth This Sacrament keepeth Christians in a continual remembrance of that propitiatory sacrifice which Christ once for all offered by his death upon the Cross to reconcile us to God He was himself once really offered and as oft as this Sacrament is celebrated so oft is he spiritually offered by the faithfull This Sacrament confirmeth our Faith for God by it doth signifie and seal unto us from Heaven that according to the promise and new Covenant which he hath made in Christ he will truly receive into his grace and mercy all penitent believers who duly receive this holy Sacrament and that for the merit of the death and passion of Christ he will as verily forgive them all their sins as they are made partakers of this Sacrament It is also a pledg and Symbole of the most neer and effectual communion which Christians have with their Head from which communion there followeth to the faithfull many inestimable benefits as his taking by imputation all their sins and guiltiness upon him to satisfie Gods justice for them and he freely gives by imputation unto us all his righteousness in this life and all his right unto eternal life when this is ended and counteth all the good or ill that is done unto us as done to his own person there likewise floweth from Christ nature into our nature united unto him the lively spirit and breath of Grace which reneweth us unto a spiritual life and so sanctifieth our minds wills and affections that we dayly grow more and more conformable to the Image of Christ he also bestoweth upon us all saving graces necessary to attain eternal life as the sence of Gods love the assurance of our election with regeneration sanctification and grace to do good works This Sacrament also feeds the Souls of the faithfull in the assured hope of life everlasting and withal doth seal unto them the assurance of the injoyment of that life Manna Angels food fed the Israelites forty years in the wilderness but behold a better food is prepared for them even the body and blood of our most blessed Saviour the bread of life on which whosoever by a sincere and stedfast faith do feed it will nourish their souls for ever unto a blessed life without end in order to which it is an assured pledg of the spiritual resurrection of our souls from the death of sin here and of the corporal resurrection of our bodies at the last day of the first resurrection our Saviour hath said a John 6.57 He that eateth me even he shall live by me of the second He himself hath also said b 57. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him at the last day for this Sacrament signifieth and sealeth unto us that Christ died and rose again for us and that His flesh quickeneth and nourisheth unto eternal life and that therefore our bodies shall surely be then raised unto that life for seeing our Head is risen all the members of the body shall likewise surely rise

us they knew them to serve as bonds of obedience to God strict obligations to the mutual exercise of Christian Charity provocations to godliness preservations from sin memorials of the principal benefits of Christ annexed for ever unto the new Testament as other Rites were before with the Old they knew them to be warrants for the more security of our belief marks of distinction to seperate Gods own from strangers heavenly Ceremonies sanctified by God himself and ordained to be administred in his Church as signs to know whereby God doth impart the vital or saving grace of Christ unto all that are capable thereof and as means which God requireth in them unto whom he imparteth Grace For sith God in himself is invisible and cannot by us be disc●rned working therefore when it seemeth good in the eyes of his heavenly wisdome that men for some special intent and purpose should take notice of his glorious presence he giveth them some plain and sensible token whereby to know what they cannot see For Moses to see God was imposible yet a Exod. 2.3 Moses by fire knew where the glory of God extraordinarily was present The b Joh. 5 4. Angel by whom God endued the waters of the Pool called Bethesda with supernatural vertue to heal was not seen of any yet the time of the Angels presence known by the troubled motions of the waters themselves The Apostles c Act. 2.3 by fiery tongues which they saw were admonished when the Spirit which they could not behold was upon them In like manner it is with us Christ and his holy Spirit with all the blessed effects though entring into the soul of man we are not able to apprehend or express how do notwithstanding give notice of the times when they use to make their access because it pleaseth Almighty God to communicate by sensible means those blessings which are incomprehensible Our Predecessor knew the necessity of receiving the Sacraments that grace is a consequent of them a thing which accompanieth them as their end that it is not Gods ordinary will to bestow the grace of the Sacraments on any but by the Sacraments which grace also they that receive by Sacraments or with Sacraments receive it from him and not from them they knew that saving grace which Christ originally is or hath for the general good of the whole Church he severally deriveth 〈◊〉 every member thereof by Sacraments and that they serve as the Instruments of God to that end and purpose Hooker moral instruments the use whereof is in our hands the effect in his they knew that for the use of them we have his express commandment for the effect his promise so that without our obedience to the one there is of the other no apparant assurance and we are not to doubt but that they really give what they promise and are what they signifie they knew that the Sacraments are not bare resemblances or memorials of things absent or naked signs and Testimonies assuring us of grace received bef●re but as they are indeed and in verity means effectual whereby God when we take the Sacraments delivereth into our hands that grace available unto eternal life which grace the Sacraments signifie or represent and are they such effectual means are they necessary to salvation are they by God himself for ever annexed unto the new Testament how great then is the neglect how great the Offence how detestable the wilfulness of those men who though impowred set apart in a great measure for that purpose and required by God himself to communicate them in order to the salvation of his people shall notwithstanding be careless in performance of his will yea peremptorily deny to put his most sacred and saving Ordinances in execution Hath the great Judg of all the world said that a Joh. 3.33 unless a man be born of water the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven except you eat of the b Joh. 6.53 flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood ye have no life in you and hath the mirror of piety and Learning affirmed that we may with consent of the whole ●hristian world Hooker conclude the Sacrament of Baptism and the Supper of the Lord to be necessary the one to initiate or begin the other to consummate and make perfect our life in Christ who then can imagine otherwise but great must be the ignorance or obstinacy of those kind of men who deny the administration of those heavenly Mysteries which are so necessary to eternal life For as concerning the Sacrament of Baptism in the first place we believe as we are not naturally men without birth so neither are we Christian men in the eye of the Church of God but by new birth nor according to the manifest ordinary course of divine dispensation new born but by that Baptism which both declareth and maketh us Christians In which respect we justly hold it to be the door of our actual entrance into Gods house the first apparant begining life a seal perhaps to the grace of election before received b●t to our sanctification here a step which hath not any before it The Law of Christ tyeth all men to receive this baptism expresly specified by water and the Spirit water as duty required on our parts the Spirit as a gift God bestoweth for unless as the Spirit is a necessary inward cause so water were a necessary outward means to our regeneration what construction should we give unto those words to be new born and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even of water why are we taught a Eph. 5.2 that with water God doth purifie and cleanse his Church wherefore do the Apostles of Christ term baptism b Tit. 3.5 a bath of Regeneration what purpose had they in giving men advice to c Act. 2.38 receive outward baptism and in perswading them it did avail to remission of sins If then Christ himself who giveth salvation do require baptism it is our duty who look for salvation seriously to do that which is required and religiously to feare the danger which may grow by the want thereof and it behooveth all Ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who have any fear of God in their hearts and care of delivering mens souls from sin to teach men the necessity thereof not omit when ocasion is offered this their necessary duty in their own persons For though we grant that those sentences which make Sacraments most necessary to eternal life are no prejudice to their salvation that want them by some inevitable necessity and without any fault of their own yet we say it ought in reason to be acknowledged likewise that for as much as the Lord himself maketh Baptism necessary necessary whether we respect the good received by it or the Testimony yeilded unto God of that humility and meek obedience which reposing wholy it self on the absolute authority of his commandment and

again for how can those bodies fed and nourished with the body and blood of the Lord of life but be raised up with him again at that day unto life it being given by Him for their eternal salvation It was neither Saint nor Angel but the Son of God himself who ordained this holy Mystery and is the chiefest memorial left by Him of our Redemption our Redemption which was the chiefest benefit that ever man needed from God or that God ever bestowed up on man and there fore every Christian should account this holy supper the chiefest and most joyful feast in this world and come unto it with praise and thanksgiving the sinner laying aside his sins must come to this feast the envious man his enmitie and come he that hath variety of secular imployments must lay aside his secular imployments and and come and converse with God He that is well grounded in grace must come because he is excellently disposed to so holy a feast but he that is but in the infancy of his piety had need to come that so he may grow in grace the strong must come least they become weak and the weak that they may become strong the sick must come to be cured the healthful to be preserved they that have leasure must come because they have no excuse they that have no leasure must come hither that by so excellent Religion they may sanctifie their business The penitent sinners must come that they may be justified and they that are justified that they may be justified still they that have fears and great reverence to these mysteries and think no preparation to be sufficient must receive that they may learn to receive the more worthily and they that have a less degree of reverence must come often to have it hightned Here are remedies for all sick and sorrowful sinners the very letter of the word of Christ giveth plain security that these mysteries do as nails fasten us unto his very Cross that by him we draw out as touching efficacy force and vertue even the blood of his gored side in the wounds of out Redeemer we there dip our tongues we are dyed red both within and without our hunger is satisfied and our thirst for ever quenched they are things wonderful which he feeleth great which he seeth and unheard of which he uttereth whose souls is possest of this Paschal Lamb and made joyful in the strength of this new wine this Bread hath in it more then the substance which our eyes behold this Cup hallowed with solemn benediction availeth to the endless life and welfare both of soul and body in that it serveth as well for a medicine to heal our infirmities and purge our sins as for a sacrifice of thanksgiving which touching it sanctifieth it enlightneth with belief it truly conformeth us unto the Image of Jesus Christ who by vertue of his divine benediction with hands and eyes lifted up to heaven first blessed and consecrated those chosen elements of bread wine made them for ever instruments of life for the endless good of all generations O how inexpressibly comfortable are the benefits devolved upon us hereby O how infinite are the joyes such as eye hath not seen nor eare heard nor can enter into the heart of man prepared for the worthy receivers to such belongs life life indeed life everlasting with those is the Tabernacle of God and God himself shall be their God and He will wipe away all tears from their eyes no more death no more sorrow no more crying no more pain shall trouble them He that is Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end will be their God and they shall be his Sons they shall inhabit the great City the holy Jerusalem enlightned with the glory of God and walled with a great and high wall founded upon twelve foundations garnished with all manner of precious stones and the names of the Lambs twelve Apostles the gates belonging to this City being no less in number then twelve and every one of them made of Pearl Rev. 21.21 and the pavement of it of pure Gold a City having no need of Sun or Moon to shine in it having the glory of God to light it and the law to be the light of it to this City all the Kings of the Earth shall bring honor and glory and all those who religiously hunger and thurst after the body and blood of this Lamb and worthily partake of it shall walk in the light of it And shall any hunger and thirst after this soul-saving heavenly banquet Shall some be set apart on purpose by an Almighty gracious and liberal inviter freely to deliver it unto them And are all these mentioned benefits and priviledges yea Heaven it self promised to them that hunger and thirst and partake of it and yet shall there be any who will not only wilfully neglect but also peremptorily deny to minister at this holy feast and thereby suffer the hunger and thirst of poor souls to remain unsatisfyed Shall any in like manner whom our most mercifull Saviour Jesus Christ hath commanded to Suffer little children to come unto him for to such belongs the Kingdom of Heaven be so wickedly hard-hearted so maliciously bent so without all natural compassion as to shut the door against those poor little infants deny them a little water Sacramentally to wash away their sins with keep back from them the sign and seal of Gods promise and as much as in them lieth put them out of the Covenant of Grace and thrust them into the wofull pit of everlasting Perdition Certainly if we had not seen such creatures with our eyes wee should hardly have believed our ears at any mens mentioning of them such there are amongst us and our children after us will declare the mighty work of division they have wrought in our days which they first prepared under colour of Religion to accomplish their own crooked ends thereby And these people do separate themselves from others desiring to be thought more holy then they These the Apostles long since foretold should come to deceive in the latter times they have thrust out pious and learned men out of their seats and exalted Dunces and themselves in the room of them they have caused Schismes and Heresies amongst the people which happen by reason of our sins through the just judgment of our God wherewith from on high he hath visited us by permitting those false lights to shine in these times of darkness to lead our feet out of the way of peace and deny us the Holy Sacraments which were ordeined for the remission of our sins such strange lights there are now and what makes them such Semblably it is to be feared ignorant obstinacy and self-seeking ends for who can imagine it to be other then ignorant obstinacy in these crabbed Doctors who alledge no other then unsatisfactory reasons for their omission of holy and necessary duties as because forsooth the