Selected quad for the lemma: life_n
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A30916
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A letter to a lady furnishing her with Scripture testimonies against the principal points and doctrines of popery
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Barecroft, Charles.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing B757; ESTC R20623
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57,234
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84
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Heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And there St. Stephen afterwards saw him Acts 7. 56. In which place as St. Peter testifies Acts 3. 21. he must remain till the times of the restitution of all things When and not before he shall so come in like manner as he was seen to go into Heaven Acts 1. 11. Now I suppose you know the last shift they that believe this Doctrine are fain to fly to is God's Omnipotency and this they know we dare not contradict But we know that though God is able to do any thing yet 't is evident in many things he does not apply his Will to his Ability And on this account though John Baptist told the Jews Matth. 3. 9. That God was able of the Stones of the Earth to raise up Children unto Abraham we must not presently make the Fable of Deucalion and Pyrrha an Article of our Faith. For if this wou'd do the bus'ness how soon wou'd the World be fill'd with Absurdities and yet all pass for Miracles But if we consult the Sacred Writings we shall find that though God is sufficiently declar'd to be Omnipotent yet he never acted any thing contrary to himself his Power never appear'd contrary to his Will. Now in the present case if we believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God and that his Will is declar'd in his Word it sufficiently appears that Christ must be Corporally present in Heaven 'till the end of the World and then to say that he is Corporally present on Earth too and in so many Thousand places at the same time because nothing is impossible with God is to say in effect that God to shew his Power does some things which are repugnant to his Will and to preserve the Prerogative of his Omnipotence inviolate will upon occasion contradict his own Word But the Apostles had no such thoughts some of 'em saw Christ ascend Bodily into Heaven and others as St. Stephen and St. Paul afterwards saw him Bodily present there Accordingly St. Paul tells the Hebrews Chap. 8. Verse 1. that he is set on the Right Hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens And Chap. 10. Verse 12. After he had offer'd one Sacrifice for Sins for ever he sat down on the Right Hand of God. Where be pleas'd to observe two Errors confuted in one Text The Sacrifice of the Mass in that Christ has offer'd one Sacrifice for Sins for ever and the Doctrine of Transubstantiation in that after he had offer'd the Sacrifice he sat down on the Right Hand of God. Therefore his Advice to the Colossians Chap. 3. Verse 1. is If they are risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the Right Hand of God. For Phil. 3. 20. our Conversation says he is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore Madam I think the Counsel of our Lord himself is best to be follow'd Matth. 24. 23. If any Man shall say unto you Lo here is Christ or there believe it not Secondly Another Argument deducible from Scripture against this Doctrine I told you was That we eat the Body and drink the Blood of Christ only by Faith. John 6. 47 c. Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me hath Everlasting Life I am that Bread of Life Your Fathers did eat Manna in the Wilderness and are dead This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven that a Man may eat thereof and not die I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven If any Man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever And the Bread that I will give is my Flesh which I will give for the Life of the World. Where we are to consider First That Faith in Christ is made the Condition of having Everlasting Life Verse 47. Secondly The Bread of Life which Verse 51. is call'd his Flesh is only that Spiritual Nourishment of the Soul which comes by that Faith in Christ And therefore he says that if any Man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever Whence I think it plainly appears that eating Christ's Flesh and believing on him are only terms used promiscuously one for t'other and so make nothing at all for Transubstantiation But the chief of the Argument is to come Verse 52 c. The Jews therefore strove among themselves saying How can this Man give us his Flesh to eat Then Jesus said unto them Verily verily I say unto you Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you Whoso eateth my Flesh and Drinketh my Blood hath Eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last Day For my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him As the Living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me This is that Bread which came down from Heaven not as your Fathers did eat Manna and are dead He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever Perhaps you may think Madam that these reiterated expressions are Indications plain enough that our Saviour here intends Transubstantiation But I assure you they mean nothing less For first he says Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you And on the contrary Whoso eateth his Flesh and drinketh his Blood hath Eternal Life and he will raise him up at the last Day Now if our Saviour speaks all this of his natural Flesh and Blood with which he was cloathed and which was nail'd to the Cross and split on the Ground and lastly which he carried with him into Heaven and if according to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation his natural Flesh and Blood are as really eaten and drunk in the Lord's Supper Then all Men bad as well as good nay any living Creature that is but capable of eating and drinking may be in as fair a way to Heaven as the devoutest Professor of Christianity For if eating the Flesh of Christ will carry one to Heaven give a Dog a piece of the Transubstantiated Bread and why may not he by eating it go thither too However to seclude Beasts it wou'd be a blessed World certainly if the worst of Men were in as sure a way to Salvation as the best which must be if the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and our Saviour's Words hold together For he says his Flesh is Meat indeed and his Blood is Drink indeed And Transubstantiation gives all Men the real Flesh and Blood of Christ and by eating and drinking them we get Salvation which is here call'd Eternal Life But Secondly He that eateth Christ's Flesh and drinketh his Blood dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him Now can Christ dwell in a Wicked Man or Unbeliever What fellowship hath Christ with
Belial Thirdly This is that Bread which came down from Heaven not as our Fathers did eat Manna and are dead he that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever Whence observe If one thing is to be understood according to the Letter another is also And then if the Letter intends Transubstantiation according to the Letter likewise they who eat the Flesh of Christ presently become Immortal And thus the Jews understood our Saviour when they cried out Lord evermore give us of this Bread Verse 34. But 't is appointed for all Men once to die Therefore eating the Flesh of Christ and drinking his Blood can mean nothing but our feeding on him by Faith unto Salvation And if by eating the Flesh of Christ and drinking his Blood we shall live for ever and yet no Man can be saved unless he believes in him either our Saviour must be thought to contradict himself or else this overthrows the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and proves that we only eat and drink the Flesh and Blood of Christ by Faith. And I appeal to your self Madam to judge which of the two 't is most reasonable to believe But that what our Saviour says here is not to be understood according to the Letter will appear if we pursue it a little farther Verse 60. Many therefore of his Disciples when they heard this said This is a hard Saying who can hear it When Jesus knew in himself that his Disciples murmured at it he said unto them Doth this offend you What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life But there are some of you that believe not From all which I cou'd tell you Madam and upon good ground too that there is nothing in this Chapter or very little at most touching the Eucharist but all that our Saviour says concerning his Flesh and Blood is to be understood of his exemplary Life and wholsome Doctrine which is Meat and Drink indeed But supposing the whole discourse to be upon that subject yet there can be nothing of Transubstantiation contain'd in it Which will yet more fully appear by considering how often he urges the necessity of believing on him in order to Salvation Verse 29. This says he is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent So Verse 35. He that believeth on me shall never thirst But I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not Again Verse 40. And this is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have Everlasting Life and I will raise him up at the last Day So likewise Verse 47. He that believeth on me hath Everlasting Life And this believing on him in other places of the Chapter he calls coming to him as Verse 35 37 44 45. And in other places again it is call'd eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood. Whence 't is evident they are all Synonymous terms used to express one and the same thing But to proceed The Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 1. tells us that all our Fathers were under the Cloud and all passed through the Sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same spiritual Meat and did all drink the same spiritual Drink for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ Now the Paschal Lamb was as lively a representation of Christ the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World as our Bread and Wine are of the breaking his Body and shedding his Blood upon the Cross yet 't was never thought that they in the Passover did eat and drink Christ's real Flesh and Blood but only in that Feast they fed on him by Faith. And so when we come duly prepar'd to the Lord's Table we are Partakers of his Body and Blood by Faith by which also Christ dwelleth in our hearts Ephes 3. 17. Our Saviour Joh. 15. 5. says I am the Vine ye are the Branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing Now if all our Saviour's words must be taken according to the letter which must we rather believe that his Flesh is Bread to be eaten by us as we do our ordinary Food or that he is a great Tree and we Christians are so many Branches growing from him or that we are mere Sheep feeding on a Common and he the Shepherd to look after us or lastly that he is a Door hung upon Hinges thro' which we Sheep must enter into our Pasture I wou'd fain know if all these were to be taken literally what we shou'd do to know which was true and which not Such Expressions as these must be taken Metaphorically and so As we usually enter into a House by the Door so we go to Heaven by Christ As a Shepherd takes care that none of his Sheep go astray so Christ the good Shepherd of our Souls will lose none of all them that are his As a Vine gives Nourishment to its Branches so is Christ a Vine to us by whom we live and grow ripe for a joyful Harvest or Vintage And lastly as Bread is eaten to sustain this Temporal Life so Christ is that Spiritual Food on which we feed by Faith unto life Everlasting To what has been said on this Subject we may add many Texts of Scripture which assert the Elements which are the Matter of this Feast to be the same after Consecration as they were before Thus the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 16 The cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ So again Chap. 11. v. 26 As often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew the Lord's death till he come But that which is chiefly insisted on is what our Lord himself said at the Institution of his Supper Matth. 26. 26. And as they were eating Jesus took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body And he took the Cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink ye all of it For this is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins If here is not plain Transubstantiation I know not where to find it Our Saviour himself in the presence of his Disciples takes a piece of Bread and plainly affirms that 't is his Body and shall not we believe him yes surely But what follows Vers 29 But I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of this Fruit of the Vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom I think he tells