Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	apostle_n	church_n	doctrine_n	4,033	5	6.2595	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60611	A sermon preached on the fourth Sunday in Lent, in the Cathedral Church of Norwich wherein is represented the great sin and danger of neglecting the Holy Communion / by W. Smyth, D.D. ...	Smith, William, b. 1615 or 16.	1680 (1680)	Wing S4282; ESTC R17812	17,831	42

of its blessings with such lofty expressions of its worth or shall we plead for or trust to a Religion or chuse to feed on bread made of the Tares which the devil few in our inclosure since Forty one and refuse the common and substantial wheat the True Christian Catholick Doctrine and Practice that was sown by Christ and his Apostles and which have ever since grown in the Churches field for Sixteen hundred years before But say some This Argument smells rank of Popery How Is that worn and baffled refuge of the non-plus'd and the malicious reviv'd again upon us have not the True Professors of this Reformed Church done suffered wrote sworn pray'd and said enough to confute that false and unworthy scandal and contrivement design'd only to expose us to the peoples hatred that when it 's convenient we should once more be devoured by their fury But I will answer those kind men and tell them that they are mistaken and that the contrary is true And that to urge Primitive and Universal practice is a mighty Argument against Popery it self And that it 's known to the Learned that they never durst stand to that Tryal for the differences between us as the incomparable Arch-Bishop and Martyr challenged them in his Conference with Fisher. But we are now further to consider that this Argument is not only to satisfie your Consciences that by the receiving of this Blessed Sacrament at all you comply with the Primitive and Universal Church but for a further direction that is you are to take notice that they received it not only as being necessary sometimes but frequently and as may be believed as often as they could And is not its frequency peremptorily presum'd in St. Pauls advice when he said As oft as ye eat and drink it c. 1 Cor. 11. 26. Is not the Holy Sacrament by all acknowledged to be the food of our souls and do not the very Sacramental Elements the daily instances of common nourishment intimate a belief that as those bodily nourishments require oft repetitions to preserve our bodies so that which is represented the spiritual food may also require an answerable repetition to preserve our souls Might not our Saviour in the choise of those Elements purposely denote the reasons not only of the necessity of the Sacrament but of the frequently repeated celebration of it I think the instruction is very natural Why are we so desirous to feed our understandings with the word of Christ and yet have little or no appetite after the souls more considerable food the Body and Bloud of Christ If the frequency of Preaching be thought so good and necessary a means for the promoting of the power of godliness let us not forget that in ancient times the frequency of receiving the Lords Supper was as much valued for that very reason But if you should enquire for the measures of that frequency and how often every Christian man is bound to receive it my answer is that it is a case of Conscience that can never be resolved but by every mans doing it as oft as he can that is as oft as the Wisdom of the Church shall think it fit to be Administred fearing lest for want of such a frequent receiving as holds proportion to the nature and reason of the command and the practice of the Ancient and the Universal Church of Christ we should not have so sufficiently discharg'd our duty to God nor acted so securely for our own eternal safety as we ought This the Fourth Fifth Argument to oblige your Consciences to a frequent and constant receiving the Sacrament is because you are bound in Christian justice and charity to recover as much as in you lies the loss of those Graces and the most considerable practices of the Christian Religion which were very much kept up and did considerably accompany the general and constant usage of it and which are in a very great measure either wholly lost or languishing by its long discontinuance and by the slight and sparing performance of it And those Graces and necessary practices are these that follow First the constant use and repetition of the Holy Sacrament kept men up religiously to the rules of justice and was a sence to common honesty in mens dealings one with another The fresh remembrance of the last Sacrament and the thoughts of another ere long returning gave them not respite enough to hatch base contrivements and made the strongest temptations to villanous attempts the weaker and more imprevalent for want of time to ferment in And if any temptation had surprized them they made haste to restitution before the next Sacrament which as they durst not omit so neither durst they receive it with injustice upon their Souls For they understood that if they were not sit to receive the Sacrament neither were they sit to dye and which might next approach they could not tell but they durst not adventure it And thus was Justice and Faithfulness preserved and the present falseness and scandalous neglect of doing Right that is every where complain'd of may in a very considerable proportion be imputed to the small regard the generality of the people have had of this Sacred Institution Secondly the constant use of the Blessed Sacrament did considerably keep up the practice of Christian charity Anciently the Holy Table was the poors and Gods Exchequer the Treasures of Providence were there deposited for the relief of the indigent and good men struck Tallies there for their Heavenly rewards And it 's observable that since that method of doing good hath been dis-used the Law hath extorted what might have been there voluntarily offered and God hath severely punished this nation for the want of keeping up that pious opportunity and occasion of shewing a charitable mind with a greater increase of mens needs and with a prodigious multiplication of the poor in all places that it is now become a burthen and a tax which might have then been a free-will-offering and for that reason more acceptable to and most certainly rewardable by a gracious God And though that pious and ancient custom be almost out-dated yet it is out of question that the frequent and Religious participation of the Blessed Sacrament doth dispose mens minds to the divine temper of love and goodness and engageth them to charitable acts and distributions as gifts reasonably return'd back to God for those eminent mercies which they are just then ready to receive by that excellent expedient of the divine charity to their Souls Neither can we hope that the minds of the people will be ever restored to that heavenly temper till they have recovered the ancient and conscientious regard to the Holy Table which is as it were God's Mercy-seat where we learn mercy Thirdly the frequent use of the Sacrament did very advantageously keep up the Divine Grace of humility in the Souls of men For there the poor Lazar and the meanest of the