Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	heart_n	lord_n	word_n	14,837	5	4.3216	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90686	A scripture-rale to the Lords Table; or, Observations upon M. Humphreys his treatise, intituled, An humble vindication of free admission to the Lords Supper. Tending to discover the loose and prophane principles therein suggested. Published for the undeceiving the weak, and removing offences occasioned by it in the practice of reformation. Being the result of the discourses of some preachers in the county of Gloucester near Stow on the Wold, at their weekly meetings. / Digested by Anthony Palmer pastor of the Church of Christ at Bourton on the Water.	Palmer, Anthony, 1618?-1679.	1654 (1654)	Wing P218; Thomason E1496_2; ESTC R208631	72,178	194

if any deny their call by contrary walking to it nothing is here gathered to the contrary but the Church must cast them out Secret election belongs to God but the electing of sitly qualified persons to the Lords Supper belongs to the Church It is the work of the Ministers to offer Christ freely in the Ordinances but in Christs own way and method to offer him first in the preaching Ordinance and if any soul profess to embrace him before the Lord and the Church then to have the seal of his love in the Supper which things indeed he doth confound and mix all the way and which being discovered the snare is broken Secondly That few are chosen that is the work of God yea that the servant brought in the man it was the Lord only took upon him to judge and cast him out Answ Who doubts this but it is the Lords work to choose The Church meddles not with mens election but their calling and profession it is his work to cast out his work alone to discover close hypocrites at the last day But Sir we beseech you Is this exclusive of all other casting out by the Church why then do you speak of Excommunication Your indeed continued contradiction Is not the Church to cast out open scandalous persons or to withdraw from such as scorn at Discipline or have been unduly admitted as compleat members into the Church being grosly ignorant surely you will grant both He concludes this Argument as with a victory from Luke 12.42 Who is that faithfull steward that gives the houshold their portion in due season Answ We answer and may we do it with grief of heart not such as give their Masters bread to dogs his enemies in their wicked lives or such as refuse to profess submission and subjection to him being called thereunto He is a faithfull steward who casts out his masters traiterous enemies who dishonour his family and gives his bread the seal of his love to his houshold onely A stronger Argument needed not be brought against him The Lord forbid the godly Ministers of this Nation should now after all their crying for Reformation be found such Stewards as free Admission would have them What he urgeth from Act. 20.28 is as impertinent where Paul chargeth the Elders of the Church of Ephesus to take heed and to feed the Church of God c. Ephes 2.22 4.16 That Church which is described to be built up as an habitation of God thorow the Spirit fitly framed and compacted together as brought into the order of the Gospel by the holy and powerfull preaching of it by the Apostles Now 1. What 's this to ignorant corrupt carnal formal profane superstitious and malicious Congregations that they must still be fed with this Ordinance to the flattering of them in a miserable sinfull state and send them with a cruel pity to hell with them 2. Such are not fit to be fed with Sacraments which have not feeding souls for it His next place is Mark 1.5 Mat. 3. where he saith John baptizeth all that come unto him for Baptism though he cals them vipers c. This he cals a strong place But Reader see the weakness of it for his purpose Answ 1. It is questioned by many learned men Whether these Pharisees were baptized by John but if we grant they were we answer 2. The Pharisees came to Johns Baptism John seeing them deals roundly with them and cals them a generation of vipers and pleads with them Who had warned them to flie from the wrath to come seeing they were self-righteous persons and need no repentance in their own conceits His Baptism was the Baptism of repentance and sinners lost sinners who saw their need of repentance came to it What made they in the number of them Thus John labours to convince them now such of them as were wrought upon and came to him casting off their own former self-conceitedness and confessing their sins and so submitting to the Baptism of repentance and remission of sins were baptized of him as 't is clear Mark 1.5 They were baptized of him confessing their sins so that 't is not to be understood that John lookt upon those as continuing in their Pharisaism and so a generation of vipers when he baptizeth them but as repenting sinners and so presseth them to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance Now who denieth such persons so confessing their sins generally before the Preachers and Church and so defiring to be received into the fellowship of the Church and the priviledge of all Ordinances but that they ought to be received What is this to such who either were never called upon so to professe repentance and faith or being so called upon do yet scornfully refuse to do it as it is too evident where ever Reformation hath been set on foot in this Nation He makes such another instance in that of Acts 2.41 Where saith he they immediately communicate with them distributing freely not only the Word but Sacrament But what were these Such as at the Apostles preaching were pricked at the heart crying out in deep conviction of conscience Men and brethren what shall we do to be saved and professing openly their repentance What is this again to such whose hearts rise up against the Gospel-Ministry who cry up a Service-book above Gospel-preaching full of obstinate ignorance The Author knows he need not go farre to finde such which are those godly men stick at as to Admission to the Lords Supper and not poor convinced repenting souls who profess it before the Lord and his people His next Scripture is Acts 10.28 which he cals a peculiar place Peter saith he Was very scrupulous of admitting Christian Communion With any but the Jews it being held pollution under the Law to partieipate in any thing with the Gentiles but after the vision God instructed him to call no man unclean Reader observe this Because Peter had a vision that the Gospel was to come to the Gentiles and therefore he might have converst with them therefore every Gentile every leud ignorant profane person is to be accounted so elean as to be admitted to the Lords Supper For this is the whole force of the Argument Every man knows that by that vision nothing else is meant but the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles sure considerate unprejudiced persons will not be heightned against Reformation by such kinde of reasoning when the nakedness of it is discovered Now saith he further I have learned to count no man unclean unless excommunicated No What if half or more of a Congregation be actually unclean persons living in known sins and the Minister and the rest do not excommunicate or withdraw from them Doth not sin lye upon them for the neglect of their duty And are not such persons to be accounted as unclean by them Many do finde a shift for conscience this way It had indeed more colour if the people had professed a

blot out as p. 18. l. 13. for souled r. found l. 26. after commit r. iniquity p. 182. l. 13. for him r. them AN ANSVVER to a Book of Mr HVMPHREYS Entituled A free Admission to the Lords Supper BEfore we yet enter upon the subject it self give us leave Reader further to import unto thee what hath given us this encouragement and indeed laid an invincible engagement upon our spirits as to the bearing witness against this vile piece We the unworthiest of the servants of Christ having with many others long waited for the practice of Reformation in the Parochial Congregations of this Nation as the fruit of the prayers tears and bloud of the Lords people And though there have been expedients held forth yet finding they lay dead upon the spirits of too many it pleased the Lord to stirre us up though the last and least of our Brethren to enquire after him in this matter labouring as far as we were able to lay aside all prejudices and prepossessions as to the different wayes were held forth by holy men in the Nation and so to pursue in the Lords strength what he should please to clear unto us to be his will and to impress upon our hearts and accordingly to practise it Upon this we betook our selves to publick Humiliation in Fasting and Prayer in our respective places as also to private weekly seeking the Lord together and conference in which duties we found the Lord greatly abasing our spirits before him for the great neglects which had been upon u as to this duty and we were even afraid to plead with our God considering how greatly we had failed and put off the work of Reformation from our spirits and the many sore and great evils the Lord was pleas'd to discover upon our hearts specially that great snare which we desire with all humility to declare to the praise of God and the admonition of our Brethren in which we had been long held viz. That reforming our Congregations could not be attain'd but by a Law from the Supream Magistrate thereby exonerating our selves of the duties the Lord required from us and the laying the guilt at their door which the Lord hath now shew'd us to be a very shift and we consider 't is a great mercy that we have protection from the Magistrate in the peaceable practice of our consciences 2. We are convine'd and finde that 't is the power of the Gospel the Spirit working by it that is the only expedient to bring a people to a more close and holy fellowship together by their willing and mutual subjection to the rule of the Lord Jesus over them We take it to be derogatory from him for a people to be forc'd by humane power into the full fellowship of the Church sutable to these convincements we endeavour'd to clear unto our people the nature of Church-fellowship and the way of it and the necessity of Discipline and so to call upon them to joyn with us in the Lords work that we might give up our selves unto him in a professed subjection to the Gospel and to grow to a more close fellowship together that all Ordinances might be duly administred to the honour of Christ and that formality and lukewarmness might be in some measure broken Accordingly an Expedient or Profession was drawn up wherein we acknowledging our former abominations in Worship and professing our Repentance before the Lord for them do solemnly enter into and renew our Covenant with God that he may be our God and we his people to own the Lord Jesus in his Offices to submit to godly Order and Discipline to watch over one another to walk in mutual edification knit together in love and so receiving others as the Lord shall over-power their hearts some account of themselves being given and no just exception in a charitable judgement to be made against them This being the known duty of every compleat member in a particular Church as in effect granted by both the godly parties we conceived few or none who were for purity would stick at it the want of which practice we take to be the main reason of such great corruptions in the mixt Congregations which corruptions we humbly conceive do put us inevitably upon this practice if Reformation be really effected That the substance of this is practised by the Presbyterian Brethren though differing in the expedient is sufficiently clear by the practice of the London Presbytery who call upon all and receive such as freely tender themselves and require an account of them waiting for the coming in of the rest which are much the greater party in most Parishes without Excommunicating such as refuse upon what account soever to our best information and so the minor party do withdraw from the greater which the corruption of the greater part in their enmity to Reformation doth put them and us upon unless we will content our selves with the setting up a meer form of Discipline but indeed sit down again on the fame lees of formality which the Lord hath in sore judgements so much witnessed against and his soul abhorreth To take the boldness of a word more as to our godly Brethren We humbly conceive that if that our Principle agreed upon by the most of the different wayes viz. That every particular Congregation hath power to reform it self and so Ministers to be helpfull to each other in it were really practis'd the controversie of Appeals would quickly cease And further which is also on both hands granted that an Assembly of the Officers of several Churches in the Name of Christ is an Ordinance of Christ for the healing of differences the contest Whether this power shall be stiled Juridical or Declarative and whether this Assembly should actually excommunicate or declare the fact to be excommunicable would surely cease It is very sad that a controversie about Appeals which happily in well-order'd Churches may rarely be needfull should hinder us in the practice of the first Principles which all agree in for the substance of them and should make us draw harsh consequences from one anothers premisses which both disavow and so lay stumbling blocks in the wayes of the weak and hinder the hoped success of the Gospel and Reformation in the Nation Let us first have our Churches form'd up and order'd according to Gospel-rules the ignorant and profane withdrawn from since 't is clear they cannot be regularly cast out by Discipline and then the way of those Churches holding Communion together would naturally fall in To this practice by the good hand of the Lord we have mutually given up our selves and engaged in the Lord to be helpfull to each other and to hold Communion together and a day of small things is wit us yea we have had very precious testimonies of the Lords presence with it with some of us for which we bless him and our eyes are upon him to bring his own work to pass who is able to work

be evil c. Ans So may the Act of murder be said to be good as 't is an action or any other vile action because it hath being and so good in a Metaphyficall sense which we will not puzzle our Reader with speaking chiefly to the deceived people Know Reader the Scripture cals it damnable sin to come unworthily and be not flattered into sin by such unsound niceties There 's no morall good in the coming God hates thee in thy coming thou bring'st greater sin upon thy soul if thou comest unworthily Ah how are poor ignorant souls strengthned by this reason they beleeve there 's some good and they do some good in coming and this makes amends for much prophanesse He may indeed say as much for the foulest sin in the world T he act is good as it hath being but the sinne is in the manner Eating and drinking simply considered at the Sacrament is not sin but ignorance and unworthinesse makes it so But saith he There 's unworthinesse upon a Person if he do not come p. 71. Answ But not so great To be unworthy and come in that unworthinesse to a holy action which the Word stiles damnable is an aggravation of it and a greater sin and an abominable mocking of God and defiling his Ordinances His second Query is Whether receiving the Sacrament be otherwise damnable then hearing and praying which he concludes is not c. Ans Though to pray and hear in a carnall manner be great sins yet unworthinesse of Receiving is greater which those dreadfull Expressions in 1 Cor. 11. do witnesse beside there lie absolute commands upon every one to hear and pray Rev. 13.9 If any man have an ear to hear let him hear Jer. 10.25 The action of receiving is of a more tender and holy nature and the sin of prophaning it greater So that if a prophane person refrains to come he sinnes lesse though this doth not at all excuse his continuing in prophanesse But he helps himself with a distinction whereby he pretends to salve all There 's a presumptuous prophane way of coming to an Ordinance or a Christian coming in conformity to God c. Ans Here 's a skinning soul-flattering plaister for the Enemies of Reformation It 's a sweet bit for the devil to keep up rotten formality Sir Doth not he come in a prophane presumptuous way who comes but in an outward Conformity Doth not the most prophane wretch do so and thinks he doth enough and covers many sins by it he will tell you he comes in a conformity to Gods worship How many Scriptures might we give him and we presume not unknown to him where the Lord expresseth his abhorrency of such worship See Isa 1.11 66.5 Jer. 6.7 Chapt. c. The people there came before God as his people in such waies of worship as he appointed But they came but in an outward conformity therefore saith the Lord 't is an abomination to me an iniquity my soul hateth it c. Therefore this is a distinction abhorred of the Lord whoever comes in a meer outward conformity comes in a presumptuous prophane way His third Query Whether an unregenerate man conceiving himself not worthy must never come to the Sacrament c. He answers Herein my thoughts are apt to run comparatively on the word Ans An unregenerate person finding himself such is not as such to come 't was not ordained for his good Not to sow the first seed of his new birth but to strengthen it 2. We deny to be the same reason of coming to the Word and Sacrament for though he hath been and is an unworthy hearer yet he is to go because the Word preached is ordained for conversion but not the Sacrament which is for the Communion of Saints whereas he saith 't is a means of grace 't is a fallacy 't is not a means of the first grace He speaks in the close of a soul laying to heart the horrour of his sinne in being guilty of Christs Bloud and so to come This is true and granted If he doth lay it to heart and professe to do so then the Church doth encourage him to come But we say This horrour of his sin is wrought by the preaching of the Word not by the Act of receiving And we beleeve a soul made sensible of this dreadfull guilt in his frequent former comings will tremble to come at that instant though he is afterwards upon the profession of his sin to be encouraged 't will not hurt him to lie under these humblings yea if a poor creature shall doubt of his regeneration and so open his condition to the Minister or the godly people he is to be encouraged if any appearance of regeneration in a charitable judgement be upon him But saith he If coming unworthily makes a man guilty of Christs bloud how much more shall open refusing it that tramples upon it in this Ordinance Ans Briefly By continuing in sinne and coming to this Ordinance there 's a more abominable trampling under foot the bloud of Christ because they make it an unclean thing Heb. 10.29 by continuing in their uncleannesse and so trampling upon and despising the ends of Christs bloud purity and holinesse It matters not which is precisely the greater sin 't is enough to make a prophane wretch to tremble that in coming unworthily he becomes guilty of the Lords bloud c. So to make him refrain The ninth Objection against his judgement which he brings on to answer is The Ordinance is polluted if all be admitted He grants it To the unworthy Receivers to whom all things are unclean but not to the Admitters unlesse the unworthy are convicted Ans But Sir What if the Minister and the rest of the Admitters do not their duty to convict an ignorant or a prophane person but suffer him to come When they have power and command from Christ as they are a Church to do so is it not then both Ministers and Peoples sin We dare averre the Lord will require it of them without their Repentance or else Mat. 18. stands for a blank and Christ will never take an account of it But though this duty be not performed by them yet they may come fearlesly as Mr Humfreys conceives No more scruple saith he then if the cloth be not clean enough on the table Ans Satis profanè an expression unworthy a Christian that we may not flatter him and an abhorring to the Lords people That a godly soul seeing a company of profane wretches enemies to godliness as what Congregation abounds not with such come to this holy mystery and though he doth not his duty by private admonition and labouring their conviction yet he is no more to be troubled to see the blood of his Saviour made an unclean thing then for an unclean cloth Now Reader thou feest this Author in his own shape His profane Proselytes sure will say he hath stretcht conscience a little too much for them