Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	body_n	death_n	soul_n	7,226	5	5.8870	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60588	A sermon preached before the right worshipful company of merchants trading into the Levant, at St. Olaves Hart-Street London, Tuesday June, 2. M.DC.LXVIII. By Tho. Smith, M.A. fellow of Magdalen College in Oxford, and chaplain to the right honourable Sr. Daniel Harvey, His Majesties embassadour to Constantinople.	Smith, Thomas, 1638-1710.	1668 (1668)	Wing S4252; ESTC R222747	24,313	60

Seed of David according to the Flesh that is Christ as man the Son of a Virgin-Mother derived his descent and Pedigree from the Jewish Nation and particularly from the Royal Family the house of David and may be further explain'd by a Parallel place 2 Cor. XIII 4. Though he was Crucified through weakness that is by reason of the infirmity of the Humane Nature which is obnoxious to death yet he liveth by the Power of God where his being Crucified through weakness is the same with his being put to death in the Flesh and his living by the Power of God the same with his being quickned by the Spirit Hereupon the Apostle adds by which He that is Christ went and Preached to the Spirits in Prison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in or by which which according to all Grammatical Analogy does plainly and necessarily refer to the word immediately foregoing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit and therefore I cannot but wonder at the Greek Scholiast who explains them by the Illative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were to make the Apostle argue at a very loose rate and is altogether inconsequent and besides his purpose who in the continued order of his discourse shews how Christ may be said to Preach to the Spirits in Prison Which reference being so plain and easy and natural this Notion of Spirit so agreeable to Scripture and the Articles of our Faith will serve for a Key to open the difficulties of the Text. By which also he went and Preached to the Spirits in Prison This for the Connexion which it was necessary for me to shew in order to the full meaning and understanding of the words which being difficult in themselves and made more so by the fancies and descants of Interpreters it will take up some time to explain them and settle and fix their true meaning before I can raise any doctrinal Propositions to build us up in our most holy Faith as in our ordinary building the Foundation must first be cleared before we can raise any strong or lasting Superstructure 1. Some there are and those great Names justly reverenced for their Learning and their Antiquity men that by their Writings and by their Sufferings have deserved well of the Church of God who relying too much on the Literal sence of the Words which they took in grosse and confounded without any distinction pleased themselves with this Interpretation That Christ in his Soul then really separate from his Body during the intervening space between his Death and his Resurrection Preached to the Souls of men below in Prison which they explain by Hell or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some place separate and distinct from Heaven and accordingly that the Patriarchs and their Posterity together with Plato and other good-natured and enlightned Heathen upon their owning of Him were freed and delivered from that Prison where they had been so long detained and redeemed from that state of Thraldom those only that rejected him continuing there upon the accompt of their Infidelity An Exposition received by several of the Ancients and so dispersed in their Writings that I shall not heap up Citations in the Proof of a Thing that is granted on all hands I shall therefore content my self with that single one of St. Clement of Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Scriptures manifestly declare that our Lord preached the Gospel to those that perished in the Floud yea rather to all them that were enthralled and detained in Prison and held in Ward So that the Text is alleged as the end and design of Christs descent into Hell which They understood Locally and by which They explain it But whatever be the meaning of that Article which I am not in the least obliged to explain which Ruffinus tells us was left out of the Old Creed of the Roman Church and is not extant in the Nicene and was first found in that of Aquileia where He was a Presbyter their Interpretation of these words can no way stand For 1. It supposes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which to refer to the Soul of Christ which before has been sufficiently disproved and the Translating the words by vivens spiritu which perhaps might contribute to the mistake among the Latins is very untrue all the Greek Copyes having not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not living but made alive and by and by shall be more fully evidenced 2. Supposing the meaning of the Article in their sense there may be other ends of the descent assigned this of theirs to free the Patriarchs and to preach to those that were dead long before being impossible to be true As being 1. Repugnant to the plain words of the Text which says expresly that the Souls preached to were disobedient in the days of Noah marking out that Generation of men that was contemporary with Noah and the particular time of their being disobedient the time before the Floud while the Ark was a preparing But this cannot belong to the Fathers who lived in the Ages before Noah and yet they reckon Adam among those that ascended with Christ which they grounded on the XXVII St. Matthew 52. and the Graves were opened and many bodies of Saints which slept arose and consequently that He enjoyed the benefit of this descent nor can They be said to be disobedient or refractory Abel and Seth and Enoch served God in their Generations and had this testimony that They were righteous Heb. XI 13. These dyed in Faith 2. It is Repugnant to the condition of departed Souls whether those of the righteous or those of the disobedient 1. The Souls of the righteous were in a blissful and happy condition and needed not that Christ should be preached to them They had when they were upon Earth a praenotion and belief of Messias that was to be born in the fullness of Time and by his Merits they were saved who was The Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World that is in the Divine decree and appointment and to all intents and purposes the merits of his death were applicable to those that lived before his coming in the Flesh as to those that live after It was by virtue of his pretious bloud that was shed upon the Cross they were accepted that were accepted I know it was maintained of Old that notwithstanding this supposed descent and deliverance the Souls of departed Saints are still in abditis receptaculis exterioribus atriis in some secret recesses where they expect the Resurrection of the Body But the holy Scriptures make no mention of a Third estate no Limbus Patrum or Purgatory to be met with there 'T is true They are not in that perfection and glory in Heaven to which They shall be advanced after the Resurrection when their souls and bodyes shall be re-united yet however They are in a state of Bliss and Happiness The Souls of the Just are in the hands of

notion of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brought in first by St. Hierome and taken up by the same Grotius and others which I shall briefly examine They taking the Greek word which we justly render Prison in a large and unconfined sense for any kind of close receptacle thereby understand the Body in which the Soul is detained and shut up as a Sword in a Sheath Thus Grotius Hinc interpretari liceat illud 1 Pet. III. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illis Spiritibus humanis quos velut in vagina detineri inutiles Deus querebatur who is herein followed by a late most Excellent and Learned Person of our own Nation who takes also these Spirits in Prison to be the Souls of men that lay so sheathed Sensless and unprofitable in their Bodies immersed so deep in carnality as not to perform any Service to God who inspired and placed them there But to this I Answer That the ground of this Conjecture is very uncertain as being built upon an interpretation of another place of Scripture whereto they suppose this to refer which yet may be otherwise accompted for it is Gen. VI. 3. which our Translators have thought fit to render thus And the Lord said my Spirit shall not alwaies strive with man but They by reason of some affinity in sound the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence they will have it derived though contrary to all Analogy and form which signifies a Sheath or Scabbard and metaphorically a Body thus And the Lord said my Spirit shall not alwaies be sheathed in man which They are pleased to Paraphrase And God said the Souls which I have breathed and given to men the Sons of Adam and which are sheathed in them imprisoned detained uprofitably shall no longer continue and abide in them But to this I have several things to say As that 1. There is no need in favour of this Interpretation to fancy with Cappellus in his Critica Sacra and others that the Greeke Interpreters read otherwise in their Copies either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as He or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who thus render the Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Spirit shall not abide or continue in these men for ever who are herein followed by the Syriack and Arabick Translators and with them Onkelos in his Chaldee Paraphrase which indeed in the general is nothing but a strict and rigid version a few words some time being added over and above only for explication does well enough agree This wicked Generation shall not be established before me for ever But this without any reference to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the abiding and continuing of a Sword in a sheath and they may in their Translation be very probably supposed to allude to and have in their mind the Syriack Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the New Testament is set down to express the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it being usual for defective Verbs of these kinds mutually to exchange their significations The Hebrew and the Greek being thus reconciled I say 2. That the Notion of the Word as it refers to sheathing is very forced and strained and not to be parallell'd in Scripture nor in any of the Languages that derive from the Hebrew as neither can the Notion of my Spirit for the Spirit that I have breathed in them 3. That the ordinary and common acception of the word for striving or contending is very applicable to the scope and design of the Text And the Lord said my Spirit shall not alwaies strive with man I will no longer endure the perversness and obstinacy of this evill and sinfull Generation I will no longer bear with their Provocations and sure as long as God forbears He may well be said to strive with man but now am resolved to punish for that he also is Flesh that is hath corrupted his waies and has polluted himself by abominable acts of uncleaness yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years so long time I will forbear saith God and no longer So that Three things are here plainly observable I. A judgment denounced in the Threat that his Spirit should not alwayes strive with man Gods patience was provoked and he expresses his resentments and threatens Revenge II. The equity of the judgment in the reason of the Denuntiation For that he also is Flesh because of their fleshly lusts and abominations III. A mercifull forbearance of the judgment threatned in the time alloted for their repentance Yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years not as if the life of man was to be shortned and brought within the compass of this term of years but that beyond this time God would not defer his vengeance as it is excellently Paraphrased by the forementioned Onkelos The space of one hundred and twenty years shall be given to them to this end that they may return and repent God would not cut them off in their sins but gave them space and time to repent if they would make a right use of it All which being so agreeable in themselves and following so naturally one from the other and suitable to the scope and design of the Text and to the common and ordinary signification of the words do sufficiently confirm and justifie this interpretation 3. I come now in the Third place to fix upon the right meaning of the words which you may take in this short and plain Paraphrase that Christ by his eternal Power and Godhead preached to the Generation of men immediately before the Floud whose Souls are now shut up in Hell upon the accompt of their disobedience and infidelity All which may be clearly and demonstratively made out from the Text. 1. That Christ is here meant is evident beyond all possibility of contradiction for about Him the discourse proceeds He that once suffered for sins the just one that He might bring us to God He that was put to death in the Flesh but quickened by the Spirit the same preached to the Spirits in Prison Which plainly supposes and proves too his Godhead in that He praeexisted long before his Incarnation For operari sequitur esse How could He be said to Preach unless He were Before Abraham was I am said Christ to the Jews St. John VIII 58. Here in the Text before Noah was He is yea before the Foundations of the World were laid St. John I. 1. In the beginning was the Word in the beginning of the Creation for it is a plain allusion to Gen. I. 1. In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth when as yet there was nothing made for v. 3. All things were made by him and so Hebr. I. 2. By whom also he made the Worlds the Word the Son of God the Second Person in the Sacred Trinity had his being and existence and consequently is God Eternal

when we are thus lost to our selves God will not leave us so He is pleased to find us out His Goodness still pursues us He is unwilling to punish till all his Methods are frustrated and disappointed and rendered ineffectual Thus when the Inhabitants of the Old World had forsaken God and themselves too had corrupted their wayes the whole course of their life and given up themselves to work wickedness and that with greediness and delight He inspires Noah and sends him among them to re-mind them of their duty to shew them how much they had degenerated from their Nature to rouse them out of their carnal security by thundering Judgment in their ears and to bring them home if possible to himself And after the same manner God proceeds with Vs He condescends to entreat and beseech us to accept of his mercy He woes us by his loving kindness He frights us by his Judgments He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of men if he useth sharp Medicines it is in order to our recovery because gentle ones could not work the cure 'T is true God will not force us to be happy against our wills He will use no violence to our Faculties He treats us as Rational Creatures He invites He threatens He uses all Arguments to perswade and work upon us to repent and accept of his mercy So far is God from decreeing the eternal ruine of myriads of his Creatures meerly to shew his Soveraignty and Power as some maintain to the great prejudice of his Goodness that most lovely Attribute of a God that He protests solemnly with an Oath and sure God is to be believed upon his bare saying so much more upon his so vehement asseveration and He commands the Prophet to tell them so in his Name Ezech. XXXIII 11. As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the Wicked To these disobedient obedient and ungodly ones in the Text Noah is sent in hope that he might reclaim them God puts the Question to us and that most seriously in the same verse Why will you dye Why will you so foolishly make your selves away Why will you ruine your sleves for ever When we are at the brink of the Pit and hovering over the mouth of Hell He calls to us to draw back our adventurous Feet lest we tumble down the Precipice Turn ye turn ye Why will ye dye And as we value our own eternal concern in another World let us obey this Heavenly call let us fly to his mercy which he so freely offers to us now in the time of life for hearafter it will be too late The Justice of God will exact punishment on those hereafter which refused his mercy here and dyed in disobedience Which brings me to 2. The Second Proposition That the Souls of the disobedient are now shut up in Hell The Spirits that are now in Prison which sometime were disobedient I am not obliged by the nature of the Proposition to vindicate the Justice of God in the punishment of a Sinner with Eternal Torment but only am hence briefly to shew the groundlesness of their fancy that so easily perswade themselves to the great damping and cooling the heats and ardors of devotion and to the making men suspicious and mistrustfull of its ever being awakened out of such a long and stupid Lethargy that the Soul sleeps during the interval between death and the Resurrection that it enters the same Grave with the Body without any reflexive knowledge or expectation of the last Day that in a manner it is dead for a time and as sensless as the Body that is dissolved into its first Principles as if when freed and disentangled from Flesh it was confined to and shut up in the Grave there to sleep out some Thousands of years if the Goodness of God shall reprieve the World for so long a space void of all perception and without exerting any vital operation A conceipt as wild as the Poets concerning the stupifying Waters of Lethe which they fancied to drown and overwhelm the sense and memory of things done here upon Earth But not now to allege the several Texts of Scripture that assert the contrary and that it was the cheif design of our Blessed Saviour in the Parable of the Rich man and Lazarus to assure us of the survival of the Soul after its Emigration either in a state of bliss or woe nor to lay before you the Physical Arguments that might be fetched from the Nature of the Rational Soul and the independency of its Operations I shall only urge at present this Moral Consideration The Soul we know in some of its nobler flights soars far above the Earth and seems oftentimes not only in its raptures and extasies but ordinary contemplations to have no intercourse with the Body and when raised and advanced by Grace and Holiness grows weary of its confinement and with furious and impatient desires and longings gasps and pants after a more close and immediate enjoyment of the Divine Presence breathing out When shall I come and appear before God! While the disobedient and the ungodly that have made their Souls drudges and slaves to the brutal Part to procure for their Lusts and forced them to comply with their appetites and their humours and have abused all their faculties contrary to the end and design of the Creatour when they come to dye then begin to have too quick a sense that there is something within them that will prove immortal that will pass beyond the Grave and in all its flittings and wandrings will never be able to shake off the horror of that guilt which it contracted here upon Earth These general sentiments these hopes and fears that attend the innocent and guilty at such times when they have the least reason to flatter or abuse themselves and when They are the likeliest to make the most impartial judgments seem to me if there were no express Scripture or other Argument to induce or compel my belief conviction enough that the Soul immediately knows its eternal Doom upon its first entry on a new Stage and that it is very absurd and irrational to doubt of or deny the possibility of a Souls existing separately because we cannot fully comprehend the manner of it or solve all the difficulties that some mens Curiosity and Scepticism have raised with convincing Demonstrations and evidence no less than Mathematical 3. That God notwithsanding mens daily and great Provocations oftentimes vouchsafes to them time and space to repent The long suffering of God once waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing How much and how greatly God was provoked by their sins before He threatened them with his Judgments you may read in the Sixth of Genesis Wickedness had overspread the Face of the whole Earth There was a General Apostacy amongst men They had forgot God that made them They had thrown off all fear of his