The History of the Rise, Increase, and Progress of the Christian People Called Quakers: Intermixed with Several Remarkable Occurrencs.Sewel, William
History
The History of the Rise, Increase, and Progress of the Christian People Called Quakers: Intermixed with Several Remarkable Occurrencs.
Sewel, William
Society of Friends -- History -- Early works to 1800
The Jesuit now finding no other scriptural proof for the tradition of
the church of Rome, let that point fall, and came to the sacrament of
the altar, to prove the reality of which, he began with the paschal
lamb, and the showbread, and so came to the words of Christ, “This is
my body,” and to what the apostle writ to the Corinthians, concluding
from thence, that after the priest had consecrated the bread and wine,
it was immortal and divine, and that he who received it, received the
whole Christ. To this G. Fox said, that the same apostle told the
Corinthians, after they had taken bread and wine in remembrance of
Christ’s death, that they were reprobates if Christ was not in them.
But that if the bread they eat was Christ, he must of necessity have
been in them, after they had eaten it. Besides, if the bread and wine
which the Corinthians ate and drank, was Christ’s body, how then
(continued he,) hath Christ a body in heaven? And he also signified
to him, that both the disciples at the supper, and the Corinthians
afterwards, were to eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of
Christ, and to show forth his death till he came; which plainly proved
that the bread and wine which they took, was not his body. For if it
had been his real body that they ate, then he had been come, and was
then there present; and it would have been improper to have done such
a thing in remembrance of him, if he had been then present with them;
as he must have been, if that bread and wine, which they ate and drank,
had been his real body. And as to the words of Christ, “This is my
body,” G. Fox told him, ‘Christ calls himself a vine and a door, and is
called in Scripture a rock: is Christ therefore an outward rock, door,
or vine?’ ‘O,’ said the Jesuit, ‘the words are to be interpreted.’
‘So,’ said G. Fox, ‘are those words of Christ, “This is my body.”’ And
having thus stopped the Jesuit’s mouth, he made this proposal: that,
seeing he said the bread and wine was immortal and divine, and the very
Christ, and that whosoever received it, received the whole Christ; a
meeting might be appointed between some such Papists as the pope and
his cardinals should appoint, and some of those called Quakers: ‘And
then,’ said he, ‘let a bottle of wine, and a loaf of bread be brought,
and divided each into two parts, and let them consecrate which of
those parts they will; and then let the consecrated and unconsecrated
bread and wine be set in a safe place, with a sure watch upon it;
and let trial then be made, whether the consecrated bread and wine
will not lose its goodness, viz. the bread grow dry and mouldy, and
the wine turn dead and sour, as well and as soon as that which was
unconsecrated; for by this means the truth of this matter may be made
manifest. And if the consecrated bread and wine change not, but retain
their savour and goodness, this may be a means to draw many to your
church. But if they change, decay, and lose their goodness, then ought
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