Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	great_a	sin_n	soul_n	8,809	5	5.0614	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43619	The fourth part of naked truth, or, The complaint of the church to some of her sons for breach of her articles in a friendly dialogue between Titus and Timothy, both ministers of the Church of England / by a legal son and since conformist to the Church of England, as established by law.; Naked truth. Part 4	Hickeringill, Edmund, 1631-1708.	1682 (1682)	Wing H1806; ESTC R14467	65,265	43

Hell c. No doubt his Soul was in Hell before his Body was in the Grave and yet his Burial is put first by our Saviour and his Soul-sufferings afterwards as being onely a higher and farther degree of Misery So in the Creed it is said or in the Article Christ was Dead Buried and descended into Hell or suffered in his Soul Hellish Torments as the sense of Gods Wrath the loss of Gods sight and presence for a time due for our Sins Not that his Death was before his Sufferings in his Soul but these are mentioned last as being the greatest far greater than the Death of the Body and the highest degree of Christs Passion and Humiliation And to Conclude otherwise as that Christ could not or did not suffer in his Soul these Hellish Torments before his Death or Burial because mentioned after both is all one as if you should infer that never any went to Hell before they were Buried because it is said in that fore-mentioned Text That the Rich man Died was Buried and when he was in Hell c. which were a gross Error and contrary to Scripture Nay then it will follow that the Soul cannot go to Hell so long as the Body remains unburied an inference so absurd that a man of any Reason or Religion will neither make nor own it What say you Tim. are we over this stile Tim. Pretty well Thanks to you for the good lift you gave me but there is another yet behind as hard to clamber as the former at which I doubt we shall both stick Tit. Never fear it man I 'le heave with both hands but I 'le have you over now we are come thus far What is it Tim. Seeing these words He Descended into Hell are so dubious and have caused such a Controversie why are they not wholly left out of our Articles and Creed Tit. I see you were more afraid than hurt for your frightful Objection is dwindled into a little Question this Bar is so low you may almost go over without help were you not so very weak However that I may not leave you behind know first that every thing that is a Controversie is not an Heresie either in matter of Doctrine or Faith and therefore not presently to be Expunged out of our Creed And since it hath been received by the Church in all Ages since the Fourth Century as Bellarm. tells us and being rightly understood contains in it a truth according to godliness yea necessary to be believed unto Salvation as the Sufferings of Christ in his Soul and continuing in the state of the Dead for a time I say it being so antient and rightly understood so necessary we may not leave it out but retain it to the Edification of our Faith and Consolation of our Souls Secondly If because there hath been some difference or dispute about the meaning of this Phrase in our Creed or Articles we should presently abandon it by the same Rule we must expunge many Texts of Scripture out of our Bible as those that concern the Doctrine of Election and Reprobation Free-will Falling away from Grace c. Controverted by Learned men on both sides and of different Perswasions This is no Rule for putting out of the Articles of our Faith therefore barely because Controversies have risen about the meaning and sense of it But I have been too prolix already therefore let us dismiss this Point Tim. No I am so well satisfied that I must entreat you to give me the Sum of what you said as brief as you can for my Memory is very short and I would fain retain somewhat if Possible Tit. The short then is this There are I say these two different senses of these words He Descended into Hell Which is the Opinion of some of the Antients and all the Papists Some thereby understand literally a Local Descension into the Place or State of the Damned to conquer the Devils and so set free those Souls that were kept in Hell till Christs Descension Others understand no more than a further degree of Humiliation then his Death and Burial Namely the continuing under the Power of Death for a time or of the Sufferings in his Soul on the Cross whereon our Blessed Saviour was humbled usque ad Inferni tremenda tormenta or endured for a time those Torments Quae reprobi in aeternum sensuri sunt Which the wicked shall Eternally suffer in Hell As the loss of the sense of Gods favour This is the Opinion of some Fathers and most of our Modern Reformed fines the Malediction or Wrath of God in his Soul which is Hell or that Fire which shall never be quenched In which Christ himself for a time was scorched for our Sins And therefore may truly enough be said To Descend into Hell These Brother Tim. are the two senses which of these now do you apprehend the most agreeable to Scripture and the Analogy of Faith Tim. The latter clearly Tit. Then we have done with this your satisfaction being all I aim at in this Discourse Tim. No there is one little Question more comes into my mind though I question whether you can Answer it Tit. It may be not for you know the Proverb Tim. But let 's hear it Tim. Why did not our Bishops when by His Majesties Command at his first Return they inspected the Common-Prayer and Corrected some things in it put some gloss upon these words in the Creed that we might not have been in the Dark as to their sense of them which now we are Tit. It had been very easie for them to have done it and why 't was omitted I can give no reason unless it was either because we should not know their Opinion or because it may be they were divided in their Opinions about it Or else that they would not assume the Honour of doing all that was needful to be done of this Nature but leave some things to their Successors among which this may be one And in the next Edition or next Generation God grant the Liturgy and Bishops to stand till then you may expect it Tim. 'T is well Reply'd I will inquire no further Let us proceed Article IV. Christ did truly rise again from Death and took again his body with Flesh Bones and all things appertaining to the perfection of Mans Nature wherewith he Ascended into Heaven and there sitteth until he return to Judge all men at the Last Day Tit. The principal intents of this Article are the Resurrection Ascension of our Saviour with his Coming to Judgment in either of which I confess I cannot charge you nor I hope any one else Tim. No I am sure they cannot the People to whom I have Preached now Two Sundays together can bear me Witness I am found here for I have handled these main Doctrines amongst them though I never knew they were part of the Articles of the Church before Tit. That 's not material to you whether you

You begin to shake me when I thought I had been invincibly setled and unconquerable you give me soft words but hard Arguments have you any more behind for I think long till this combat is ended Tit. Yes 2. I say further that if Christ descended to the place or seat of the damned it was either in his soul which the Scripture testifies went the day or moment of his Death into Paradise Luke 23.43 a place of Joy not torment and in the same Chapter he saith himself He commended his soul into the hand of his father in the same sense no doubt that St. Stephen did after his example Or else in his Body which we are assured by the same Infallible Spirit was in the grave till the third day the day of his Resurrection Mat. 12.40 Or else in his Godhead but to attribute descension to the Godhead is improper which is in all places at one and the same time nor is the Godhead subject to passion How then did he descend Tim. Nay I cannot particularize them but surely it was necessary he should do so Tit. Doubtless then it was done for Christ omitted nothing necessary to be done or suffered in order to the great redemption he was sent to accomplish But as the Scripture doth not clearly affirm it so to me it seems not of absolute necessity in order to our redemption that our surety should descend to the place of the damned and suffer there Tim. What are your reasons for this opinion Tit. Because the place of suffering is but a circumstance Hell the place of the damned is no part of the debt Christ was to pay nor suffering there locally any part of payment that we read of in the Gospel As the surety may satisfie the creditor in any place appointed for payment or in open Court which being done the debtor and surety are both acquitted and need not go to Prison If they be cast into Prison 't is because they do not pay the debt for all that Justice requires is the payment of the debt to which the Prison is meerly extrinsecal So the Justice of God cannot be satisfied for the transgression of his law but by the death of the sinner Now it doth not require that this be done or this satisfaction be made in Prison or in the place of the damned for the wicked go thither because they cannot pay the debt or make satisfaction But our surety Jesus Christ who undertook the debt for us hath made such full satisfaction on the Cross that himself said just before he gave up the Ghost Consummatum est the work was finished And the Apostles so understood Christ which made them ascribe all to his suffering or to the merit of his sufferings on the Cross as spoiling of principalities and powers by which is meant the power of darkness the Devils Col. 2.15 and the blotting out the hand-writing that was against us Col. 2.14 our reconciliation to God Col. 1.20 and tell us that he is able now to render us unblameable and unreproveable in the sight of God Col 22. Having by that offering of himself for ever perfected them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 And if God is satisfied Mans Redemption perfected and Believers perfected by his Death I can see no necessity of the following descension into Hell Tim. This is all very rational and convincing But what makes you think that our Church doth not understand it of a local descension and require the belief of it as necessary to Salvation Tit. Two things have raised in me such an opinion viz. 1. Because she doth not here nor any where else that I can find give any such sense or interpretation of the words which were a very dangerous omission if the belief of it were necessary to salvation And 2. Because in her 8th Article where she mentions the 3. Creeds which she affirms agreeable to Scripture viz. the Apostles the Athanasian and Nicene Creed which she not only allows but enjoyns the use of in her Liturgy or publick Service hath in the last of these left the descention of Christ into Hell wholly out which she certainly would not have omitted but have inserted it here as well as in the Athanasian had she thought the belief of it necessary to salvation or designed to bind us to the belief of it for this were to render that Creed imperfect which she allows as perfect and according to Scripture Tim. Really my Stomach begins to turn at a local descention yet ere you can work a full Conversion you must Answer an Objection or two which I have swimming in my Noddle against what you have said Tit. Out with them Tim. and I 'le do the best I can to cleanse thy Stomach and Head too the latter being I fear as much oppressed with ill Notions as the former is with ill Humours Tim. My first Objection is this The Terrours and Torments which Christ Suffered in his Soul upon the Cross went before his Burial but his descention into Hell follows it in our Creed and Article therefore his descention in Hell concerns not these Torments Tit. Cunningly offered this discovers thee either Knave or Fool in Logick which you like best for the Minor of this Syllogism is faulty alledging Non Causa pro Causa or that for a Cause which is none For know 1. In the Creed our Saviours Descention into Hell is put after his Burial as an Illustration of what went before touching his Sufferings or Passion least any thing should be detracted from it and not that it was performed after it As if it had been said He not only suffered in Body and Dyed and was laid in the Grave but also suffered extream Tortures Hellish Torments in his Soul too such as made him cry-out on the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me 2. And if you observe it Tim. you will find all along in the Creed a Procession in the Passion of our Lord from a lesser to a greater Suffering from the grief and pains of his Body to those of his Soul That he did suffer in his Soul greatly himself Affirms and we all believe Now where in all the Creed can you find any thing that may express his Soul-sufferings if not these Words He descended into Hell He suffered under Pontius Pilate was Crucified dead and buried is all which all might be and he suffer in his body only and this the Thieves suffered which were Crucified with him But his Descending into Hell implys somewhat more viz. Suffering in his Soul which is all the Judicious and Learned Hamon saith on that Text Ham. Act. 2.27 Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell And it is therefore put last or mentioned after his Death and Burial to shew that it was the greatest and sharpest part of Christs Sufferings 3. Moreover for the order of expressing it I meet with the very same Luke 16.23 The rich man dyed and was buried and when he was in

there promised to do you shall be an able and faithful Minister of the Church of Christ The exhortation runs in these Words YOV have heard Brethren as well in your private Examination as in the Exhortation which was now made to you and in the holy Lessons taken out of the Gospel and the Writings of the Apostles of what Dignity and of how great Importance this Office is whereunto ye are called And now again we exhort you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you have in remembrance into how high a Dignity and to how weighty an Office and Charge ye are called That is to say to be Messengers Watchmen and Stewards of the Lord to teach and to premonish to feed and provide for the Lords Family to seek for Christs Sheep that are dispersed abroad and for his Children who are in the midst of this naughty World that they may be saved through Jesus Christ for ever Have always therefore printed in your remembrance how great a Treasure is committed to your charge For they are the Sheep of Christ which he bought with his Death and for whom he shed his Blood The Church and Congregation whom you must serve is his Spouse and his Body And if it shall happen the same Church òr any Member thereof to take any hurt or hindrance by reason of your negligence ye know the greatness of the fault and also the horrible punishment that will ensue Wherefore consider with your selves the end of your Ministry towards the Children of God towards the Spouse and Body of Christ and see that you never cease your Labour your Care and Diligence until you have done all that lieth in you according to your bounden duty to bring all such as are or shall be committed to your Charge unto that agreement in the Faith and Knowledge of God and to that ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ that there be no place left among you either for Errour in Religion or for Viciousness in Life Forasmuch then as your Office is both of so great excellency and of so great difficulty ye see with how great care and study ye ought to apply your selves as well that ye may shew your selves dutiful and thankful unto that Lord who hath placed you in so high a Dignity as also to beware that neither you your selves offend nor be occasion that others offend Howbeit ye cannot have a mind and will thereto of your selves for that will and ability is given of God alone Therefore ye ought and have need to pray carnestly for his holy Spirit And seeing that you cannot by any other means compass the doing of so weighty a Work pertaining to the Salvation of Man but with Doctrine and Exhortation taken out of the holy Scriptures and with a Life agreeable to the same consider how studious ye ought to be in reading and learning the Scriptures and in framing the Manners both of your selves and of them that specially pertain unto you according to the Rule of the same Scriptures And for this self same cause how ye ought to forsake and set aside as much as you may all Worldly Cares and Studies We have good hope that you have well weighed and pondred these things with your selves long before this time and that you have clearly determined by Gods Grace to give your selves wholly to this Office whereunto it hath pleased God to call you So that as much as lieth in you you will apply your selves wholly to this one thing and draw all your Cares and Studies this way and that you will continually pray to God the Father by the mediation of our only Saviour Jesus Christ for the heavenly Assistance of the Holy Ghost that by daily reading and weighing of the Scriptures ye may wax riper and stronger in your Ministry and that ye may so endeavour your selves from time to time to sanctifie the Lives of you and yours and to fashion them after the Rule and Doctrine of Christ that ye may be wholesom and godly Examples and Patterns for the People to follow Tim. I confess this is very serious and weighty and do acknowledge I never perused or pondered it before Tit. Add to this that daily Prayer at the end of the Confession And grant O most merciful Father for his sake that we may hereafter live a godly righteous and sober life to the glory of thy name Is not the Minister concerned in this as well as the People when he saith and grant that we may c Tim. Yes without doubt and by Gods help hereafter my Practice shall be more conformable to my Prayers Tit. Pray God it may for evil Ministers 't is the phrase used in this Article are most odious to God and injurious to his Church of all others One such impious Wretch by his ungodly life gives such a wound to Religion and the Cause of God as many of his Brethren though exemplary both in life and Doctrine are not able to heal Besides I tremble to think of the Reward of such a Minister in another world and what he will be able to plead for himself to the great Bishop of Souls the Lord Jesus at his general and final Visitation Rev. 22.12 I beseech you therefore Tim. remember the weight and excellency of your Calling and the solemn Promises in the face of the Congregation made to God then when you were admitted to it Not forgetting your Obligation by Baptism which is the subject of the following Article you are next to read Tim. I give you my hearty thanks and hope these things will make an impression upon me for good Tit. I shall rejoice to see it Go on ART 27. Tim. Baptism is not only a sign of Profession and mark of difference whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not Christened but it is also a sign of Regeneration or New Birth whereby as by an Instrument they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church the Promises of the Forgiveness of Sin and of our Adoption to be the Sons of God by the Holy Ghost are visibly signed and sealed Faith is confirmed and Grace increased by vertue of Prayer unto God The Baptism of young Children is in any wise to be retained in the Church as most agreeable with the Institution of Christ Tit. You see here what high and noble priviledges are signified and sealed to us by our Baptism Regeneration Adoption and Remission To which our Church explaining this Article in her Catechism adds Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven What Obligations to an holy Life can there be greater or stronger than these Tim. None surely Tit. Add hereto the Covenant on our part to renounce the Devil and all his Works to believe the Articles of the Christian Faith and obediently to keep Gods Holy Will and Commandments and to walk in the same all the days of our Lives Which Covenant unless we perform and keep we have no right to or benefit by the