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A68467 A treatise of the sacraments according to the doctrin of the Church of England touching that argument Collected out of the articles of religion, the publique catechism, the liturgie, and the book of homilies. With a sermon preached in the publique lecture, appointed for Saint Pauls Crosse, on the feast of Saint Iohn Baptist, Iune 24. 1638. / By T.B. Pr. Pl. Bedford, Thomas, d. 1653. 1638 (1638) STC 1789; ESTC S113179 66,854 266

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this form of Administration together with the proper element of Baptism by which even the Priests of the worst times baptised Infants into the true faith of Christ and like a leprous and infectious mother is the present Church of Rome she beareth and bringeth forth sound children but presently hazardeth the infection of them with her milk as it were with deadly poyson That this Element together with the Ceremony and the form of words used in the Administration were all of them ordeined by Christ is so plain by that text Mat. 28. that it cannot be denied thus have we manifested both the Essence and Originall of Baptism CHAP. III. The manifestation of the Essence and Originall of the Lords Supper TOuching this our Church saith that the Element or outward part in the Lords Supper is Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded to be received thereby teaching us both the number and names of the Elements and also the Originall of this sign or which is all one the ground of our receiving For the NVMBER of Elements there are two yet not two Sacraments no both make but one Sacrament for which they are joyned together in this sacred action to teach us the full sufficiencie of spirituall nourishment which is in Christ. Corporal nourishment must consist of something moist and something dry and he that partaketh not of both hath not sufficient so here we have both in Christ and therefore need not seek elsewhere The NAMES of these two Elements are Bread and Wine not Flesh and Blood which happly would have carried a greater resemblance of that which is thereby signified lest it might have been impiously thought to have been prepared for Cannibals not for Christians but Bread and Wine which have an excellent proportion and Analogicall Representation of what is here remembred as shall be shewed in the seventh Chapter The ORIGINALL of these Elements and the ground of our receiving is the cōmand of the Lord expressely mentioned by S. Matthew Mark and Luke and out of S. Luke repeated verbatim by S. Paul Whence appeareth the abominable impietie and horrible sacriledge of the present Church of Rome which hath not only appointed new ends and uses of the Sacraments Circumgestation and Adoration which Christ and his Church never did once dream of but also hath deprived the Laity of the Cup altogether And whereas Christ saith drink ye all of this She saith no not all of you but only the Clergie must the rest must be content with their wafer cake for more they get not Object That word Omnes All of you is to be restrained to the Apostles who alone were present Sol And to whom must the other Omnes which tho not expressed is yet understood in the precept of eating to whom I say must that be extended To whom doth Saint Paul direct that Canon Cor. 11.28 Let him eat let him drink Why do they not also take away the Bread from the Laitie as well as the Cup since none but the Apostles were present But to let these bellies passe all that desire the benefit of the Sacraments must know it to be their dutie to eat and drink the Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded to be received Ob. But blood was never used for nutrition nay the eating or drinking thereof is directly prohibited Gen. 9.4 and Levit. 7.14 and much more the blood of man why then are these men blamed that forbeare to drink that in its type and figure which manifestly was forbidden to be drunk in its proper substance Sol We are not to depart from the letter of Christs Precept because we cannot untie the knots of humane Curiosity Blood indeed was never lawfully drunk much lesse the blood of man but alwayes shed for expiation and therefore it might to carnall reason seem as incongruous to drink it in its type and figure as it is congruous to eat flesh in its figure which was allowed for the proper food and nourishment of the body yet since Christ hath commanded us to drink that Wine which he himselfe hath called his blood we must do what he biddeth and leav him to stop the mouths of Cavillers when God calls for obedience by the letter of his word we must not stand to ask him the ground and reason of his Commandement Duties belong to us Reasons to God Note that as the Bread accidentally was unlevened that Bread I mean which Christ our Saviour used at the first institution so also the wine in the Cup was not intentionally provided for this new Sacrament our Saviour took such ordinary provision as the custome of the country used in the Passeover happily also the wine that he used was mingled with water it being the custome of the country to dash their wine to prevent Drunkennesse which things are fit to be noted lest we should place any superstition in the imitation or not imitation of those things whih were but accidentall The Catholick Church hath appointed Wine to be used yet indulgence was granted to the Norwegians to use other drinks The reformed Churches some of them put leaven into the bread some of them banish water out of the wine And in these things tho the text of Scripture impose no necessity but leav a liberty yet is it fitting that men should in conscience use their liberty according to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church CHAP. IV. The inward Grace signified by the outward Elements THE Sign in either of these two Sacraments as we have heard is externall and visible now what is signified by these Elements cometh to be enquired this is called a Grace and it is said to be inward and spirituall Particularly the inward part and thing s●gnified by the Bread and Wine saith our Church is the body and blood of Christ by the bread is signified the Body and by the wine the Blood both which being found in Christ do set forth the truth of his Humanity but being considered in their separation that is as separated really one from the other they do set forth the truth of Christs death A reall separation of the blood from the body is here in the Sacrament represented and set forth in the locall distance of the two Elements the bread in one vessell by it selfe the wine in another by it selfe for which cause the Elements ought not to be mingled together The Elements are bread and wine Not a sopp because not the blood of Christ while it was running in the veins but when it was shed upon the ground is signified in the Sacrament so much is plain out of the words of our blessed Saviour touching the Cup This is my blood of the new Testament which is shed for many plain also it is out of the speciall end of the Institution of this Sacrament which saith our Church out of Saint Paul is for a continuall remembrance of the death of Christ c. But of this hereafter Now
it self Hence also is the translation of phrases that what is peculiar to the sign is translated to the signified and what is proper to the signified grace is applyed also to the externall sign Thus Baptism is said to wash the soul from sinn and the Lords Supper to feed the soul with grace because it is united and conveigheth that grace to the soul which indeed can work upon the soul and the blood of Christ is said to wash the body and blood are said to feed because they are united to and conveyed by these Elementall signs whose proper operation is to wash and feed Qu. Doth not this then prov the Reall Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament Ans. A Reall presence the Church of England holdeth if we rightly understand the phrase and against the Sacramentarians we maintain that the body and blood of Christ are verely and indeed taken and received of the faithfull in the Lords Supper Nor do we fear to say that as in Baptism water washeth the body and as in the Lords Supper the bread feedeth the body so also doth the blood of Christ wash the soul and the body of Christ feed it to eternall life Nor do we understand this to be a truth only thus that as the one washeth and feedeth the body so certainly doth the other wash and feed the soul nor thus only that at the same time when the one doth wash and feed the body the other doth wash and feed the soul both these are truths but neither of them enough to expresse the whole truth The first noteth no relation at all betwixt the sign and the grace the other only a relation of time not of causality more or less But thus we understand it That in that the body is washed with this water and nourished with this bread the soul is also cleansed by the blood of Christ and nourished with his body Thus I say and in this sence we grant a reall presence according to the Scriptures our Saviour saith of the bread this is my body and Saint Paul doth well explain the meaning of it in that Quaere of his The bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ as who should say it is so indeed the same may be said of the water in Baptism that it is the Communion of the blood of Christ that is more than a bare sign of representation even a mean of receiving that grace which to the faithfull is really present and of them verily received in the Sacrament This is confessed of all both Romish and Reformed and had not the Curiosity of mens brains proceeded further to determin preremptorily of the speciall manner of this Reall Presence we might in this have held Communion But as in other matters of Religion and mysteries of Godlinesse so also in this mans restless head and curious brain ready enough to pry into things reserved and rash too much to determine of them and to defend his determinations hath put the Church to much toyl and labour and to continuall vexation And here by the way it may be worth the noting that the most of those hereticall pravities which have alwayes vexed the Church have been not of the truth of the thing but of the manner of explication The Articles of the Trinity of Christs Incarnation Descens●on Ascension personall Union Sacramentall presence The article of the Procession of the holy Ghost of Justification by faith of the concord and co-operation of Gods grace and mans will these and others of the same nature have not been so much denied or questioned of their truth as of the manner of truth And had not Curiosity been seconded by pertinacy we might happily have filled the Schools with questions not the Church with Heresies How much better had it been to have followed the modestie of our Church in this question which setteth down what is received from Scripture but wadeth no further Certainly as touching these modalities better it is Christianly to beleev than curiously to inquire And the use which we ought to make of all mysteries of Godliness when we meet with them and their inexplicable difficulties is 1. To admire the infinite and incomprehensible wisdome of God whose wayes are past finding out so Saint Paul Rom. 11.33.2 To be humbled in the sight and sence of our own Ignorance thus Agur Prov. 30.2.3 To sigh and long for the time of Revelation saying Oh when shall I come thither where I shall see and know as I am known 4. To cleav fast to the truth that is revealed blessing God for it and striving to gain the benefit therof Would men take this course when they meet with intricate positions they should provide much better for the practice of Piety Quest. What then must we sit down and rest with a generall and implicite faith Resp. Certainly an implicite Faith were it joyned with an explicite Obedience would be more beneficiall to many to whom it would be much more profitable if lesse time were spent in seeking knowledg and more in practising what they know But further I add that the Church and Ministery may yea ought to examine the curiosities of them that will determine and to censure them accordingly Thus because the Papist will peremptorily determine his Reall presence to be by the way of Transubstantiation The Lutheran his by the way of Consubstantiation we stand bound to examine what truth or falshood is in either of them This the Reformed Churches have done particularly the Church of England hath done and findeth that Transubstantiation or the change of the substance of the bread and wine in the Supper of the Lord that this I say cannot be proved by holy writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of the Scripture overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many superstitions The same may be said of Consubstantiation yea the Church findeth that this kind of reall presence doth overthrow the grounds of Reason and Religion 1. Of Reason and Philosophy Quoniam naturae humanae veritas c. Seeing that the verity of humane nature requireth that the body of one and the same man cannot be present in many places altogether but must needs remain in some definite and certain place therefore the body of Christ cannot be present in many and divers places at one and the same time 2. Of Religion and Divinity Quoniam ut tradunt c. Because according to the Doctrine of the sacred Scriptures Christ was taken up into heaven there to abide till the end of the world therfore no faithfull Christian ought either to beleev or profess any as they call it corporall presence of Christs flesh and blood in either Sacrament upon these grounds the corporall presence of Christ in the Sacrament is refused yet is not therfore the Sacramentarians naked signification admitted because it commeth farr short of the