Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
saint_n	church_n	communion_n	creed_n	2,413	5	10.5759	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03325	An ansvvere to master William Perkins, concerning Christs descension into Hell: By John Higins	Higins, John, controversialist.; Higgins, John, fl. 1570-1602, attributed name.	1602 (1602)	STC 13442; ESTC S117336	17,085	58

AN ANSVVERE TO MASTER WILLIAM PERKINS CONCERning Christs Descension into Hell By JOHN HIGINS AT OXFORD By IOSEPH BARNES Printer to the Vniversitie 1602. TO THE CHRISTIAN Reader Iohn Higins wisheth perfect knowledge of the Creed in Christ Iesu AT first Christian Reader I vvrote these things more at large interposed with the other which I tooke vpō mee to aunswere But now I thought it farre better thus to set them at view after this maner which I could not with out the much abridging of that my first copie And this I did for two causes the one to saue my labor in writing them out the other to ease thee in reading thē over I haue prefixed each of our names and by the letters A. B. C. D. E. c. applied the reasons and answers of the one to the other that so thou maiest the easier compare the places of both togither and better consider sentence of both This I doe because I thinke plaine dealing a Iewell and this order is better Now if it please thee I pray thee on kindenesse with conscience and charity to read thē read regard and then iudge but beware thou iudge not amisse least thy iudgment endamage thy selfe And so wishing thee to beleeue all the Articles of the Creede and withall wishing thy health in Christ Iesu Iende At Winsam the 22. of Iune 1602. Iohn Higins WILLIAM PERKINS It seems very likely that these words hee descended into hell were not placed in the Creed at the first or as some thinke they crept in by negligence Because aboue threescore Creedes of the most Ancient Councels and Fathers want this clause and amongst the rest the Nicen Creede But if the Ancient learned Fathers assembled in those Counsels had beene perswaded or at least had imagined that these wordes had bin set downe at the first by the Apostles no doubt they would not in any wise haue left thē out And an Ancient father saith directly that these wordes He descended into hell are not found in the Creede of the Romane Church nor vsed in the churches of the East if they be that then they signifie the Buriall of Christ IOHN HIGINS It seemed to some men that certaine bookes of the Newe Testament were not Canonical but in that seming their thoughts were not worthy to be made accoumpt of Wherefore these words some mē of yesterday thinke they crept in are no sufficiēt groūd to build on in matters of such antiquity weight authority as these are I reckon not of Erasmus in the imitatiō of Luciās Dialogues but I know he writeth on the Acts of the Apostles that Christ descēded into hel If we deny al the clauses which those 60. Creedes want the Creed wil be very short For example your Nicen Creed hath not these borne of the Virgin Mary he was buried he sitteth on the right hand of God the Catholike church the Cōmunion of Saints the resurrectiō of the body and the life everlasting did al these therefore creepe in by negligēce I thinke not The Ancient Fathers were perswaded of the descension as they were of the other Articles which they left out But in that Counsell they chiefely hādled the herisie of Arrius cōcerning the two natures of Christ applying al their saying in that Creed vnto the plague of that time The same Ancient father saith there but that hee descended into hell is evidently foretolde in the Psalmes alleadging certaine places and a little after he saith Peter also hath said for Christ vvas mortified in the flesh but quickened in the spirite in which he went and preached to the spirits also which vvere shut vp in prison in the daies of Noah in which text is declared what work he did in hel But the Lord himselfe saith by the Prophet as of the time to come because thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell neither vvilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption Which againe he sheweth prophetically to bee fulfilled when he saith Lorde thou hast led forth my soule out of hell thou hast saved mee from them which go downe into the lake Thus your Ruffinus expoundeth this clause he de scended into hell WILLIAM PERKINS And it must not seeme strange to any that a worde or two in processe of time should creepe into the Creede Considering that the Originall Copies of the old and new testament haue in them sundry varieties of readings words otherwhiles which frō the margin crept into the texte Neverthelesse considering that this clause hath long cōtinued in the Creed that by the common consent of the Catholike Church of God and that it may carry a fit sense and exposition it is not as some would haue it to be put forth of the Creede Therefore that we may come to the meaning thereof we must know that it hath foure vsual expositions which we will rehearse in order and then make choise of that which shall be thoughte to be fittest The first exposition is that Christes soule after his passion vpon the crosse did really and locally descende into the place of the damned But this seemes not to be true IOHN HIGINS It seemes both strange and vnture For Irenaeus beleeued the same clause 1400. yeares since Athanasius Creede had the same clause 1200 yeares since Chrysostome and Ruffinus expounded the same 1100. yeares since Fulgētius beleeved the same aboue 1000. yeares since it was in the prophetical Scriptures aboue 1000. yeares before Christ and hath continued in the newe Testament And in the Creede 1550 yeares since Christ in this processe of aboue 1550 years these words crept out of the Scriptures into the Creede and yet they remaine in both still The olde and new Testaments in a 1000. pages haue a fewe diverse readings but the old and new scarse 60 pages of Creeds haue no such sundry readings at all But you note in your Margin Ieremy put for Zacharie Mat. 27. 9. Loe thus is the text Then was fulfilled that vvhich vvas said by the Prophet Ieremy saying c. The holy Ghost in S. Matthew knew who said it saying and who wrote it writing For Zachary livedafter Ieremy and might as Baruch c. write that which Ieremy spake or prophesied before him It is neither to bee put foorth of our Creede not to be expounded by sense because it is a matter of faith These fowre expositions as in order you place them shall in order bee examined and refuted or aunswered because as I take it they are handled amisse The first exposition Christ descended into hell that is Christ in his humane Soule after his death did really and locally actuallie and effectually descend into hell where the wicked are tormēted This is a true exposition WILLIAM PERKINS The reasons why this first exposition seemes not to be true are these All the Evangelistes and among the rest S. Luke intending to make an exact Narration of the life and