Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	believe_v	faith_n	grace_n	8,077	5	5.8830	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41384	The fundamentals of the Protestant religion asserted by reason as well as Scriptvre written in French by the famous Monsieur de Gombaud ; made English by Sidnet Lodge ; to which is added his Letters to Monsieur de Militiere and other personages of the French-court upon the same subject.	Gombauld, Jean Ogier de, d. 1666.; Lodge, Sidney, b. 1648 or 9.	1682 (1682)	Wing G1024; ESTC R14808	82,659	180

may urge to these Doctors to be eaten by the most abject Creatures of the Earth But let us pass by in silence these many Inconveniences which they themselves infer from this so ill-grounded Doctrine and to palliate 'em are oblig'd to have Recourse to Rules and Canons which were they not Superstitious we would call Ridiculous Let us only add that if the Body of Jesus Christ be inclos'd in the Sacrament we may eat it without believing in him Thus Infidels obtain more than they require They eat of Celestial Food they have not asked for nay their very Contempt of it does not hinder 'em from it since they cannot receive the Sacrament without eating it but they are so far from eating it that Believers themselves do it not as 't is understood by the Church of Rome They receive not with the Sacrament the Divine Essence but the Virtue and Essicacy of the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ and since the Wicked cannot partake of his Graces it follows that those Graces are not joyn'd to it by Consecration 'T is not the Words pronounc'd but believed that make Jesus Christ communicated in the Sacrament 'T would be strange if he must be unworthily eaten by his very Enemies and that he who is Holiness it self should every day enter into their defiled bodies only to render 'em more guilty and that he might have more Reason to condemn and punish ' em On the contrary 't is the Devil that would enter into 'em as he did Judas when our Lord gave him the Sop. How is it possible these two Guests so irreconcileable can agree together It is not credible that being fill'd with the most sovereign Good we should only have a sense of Evil from it we receive our Saviour that we may be saved the Wicked take only the consecrated Signs and because such they commit Sacriledge and render themselves guilty of Treason against the Divine Majesty because they have no regard to the Institution of Our Lord contemn his Offers in it and deny it's Vertue They publickly take his Enemies part they again spit in his Face they crown him with Thorns they strike and crucifie him 'T is thus they eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup unworthily 't is thus they eat their own Condemnation not discerning the Body of Jesus Christ For the Symboles Seals and Pledges of his Love are accounted himself by those who believe in him it being Faith alone which makes the Signs inseparable from the thing signified 'T is heavenly Food given to no one for his Condemnation but only for his Justification for Life and not for Death not being under the Accidents of Bread or in the Bread it self but in the Heart of those who receive it Thus the Bread ceases not to be Bread but to be common Bread it loses not it's Substance but acquires Sanctification which changes not it's Nature but adds Grace to Nature for the sake of those that believe The Mystery of the Incarnation unites us to the Body of our Saviour Faith with which he inspires us by his Word unites us to his Spirit which double Union is confirm'd to us by the Communion of Sacraments But as our Union with Jesus Christ cannot be perfect in this World by reason of our Sins and Death which is a Consequence of 'em so though we take the Symboles he gives us corporally yet 't is neither possible or necessary for us to take what they signifie but spiritually For if we take his Body as the Church of Rome imagines it does our Infirmities could not bear his Glory the stronger would overcome the weaker we shou'd doubtless perish or his Vertue would even then blot out all our sins we should in an instant be transform'd and become incorruptible and glorious we should be assured never to see Death But we partake not of one of all these but by the comfort the Spirit gives us but by Faith by which we rely on his Promises and but by that Hope we have of a Life to come Thus to eat the Body of Jesus Christ is to hear his Word is to believe in him to behold him on the Cross loaded with our Sins to be truly sensible of his Wounds and Sorrows and to confess that by the Satisfaction of the Son whose Merit is infinite we satisfie the Father whom we have infinitely offended 'T is to be inflam'd with the love of him who has so very much loved us and to assure him as we do all those we love that he is alwayes in our Thoughts that he fully possesses our Hearts that he is the Soul of our Souls and to use his own terms that He dwells in us and we in him In fine To eat the Body of Jesus Christ is to have a fresh and lively sense of those Favours he has bestow'd on us and to think that we are not only his Servants and Friends but his Brethren his own blood bone of his bones flesh of his flesh and that we are part of that Church whom he has honour'd so far as to make his Eternal Spouse Behold what is the Meat and the Drink which are not given to all sorts of Persons which satisfie and quench the Thirst of those only who hunger and thirst after Righteousness But the Men of this World have not truly relish'd the Simplicity of this Institution they would heighten the Lustre of this double Sacrament and do all things according to the Example or rather in Emulation of the Superstitions of the World The Name of Religion of a Church and even of God himself who serv'd 'em but as a pretence to make themselves more honourable to procure with more Ease earthly Advantages and Preferments Besides this I have often thought what lawful and necessary use they could make of this Transubstantiation 't is what they themselves could scarce tell if so be they would consider the common cause of Salvation as well that of the Jews as of the Gentiles These prodigious Errors are the true Causes of all that Mischief which happens in the World and Mankind will be so long infested with Judgments as Superstition continues to corrupt Religion But the Divine Oracles give us Reason to hope that the days of Sorrow will be shorten'd and that God will confound the Wicked by the Breath of his Mouth The Time will come that Children shall abhor and detest the Belief of their Fathers and will say Is it possible that our Predecessors have been so silly and stupid or so extreamly harden'd by Custom or so very careless in search of the Truth to have believ'd things altogether incredible What Spirit of Pride what high Presumption has possess'd these Councils who have imagin'd they could appoint better Orders for Divine Service than the Providence of God himself had done by the Mouth of his own Son I will then conclude with the Wise Man or at least with his Translator who makes him speak after this manner Ecclesiastes chap. 3.