Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	faith_n	scripture_n	word_n	10,157	5	4.8947	4	true

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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

the Lord and therefore there was no need they should long and wish for Christs descent into the lower Parts who before had been made Partakers of the benefits of his death and passion as some strangely gloss from Zach. IX 11 12. As for thee also by the bloud of thy Covenant I have sent for thy Prisoners out of the Pit wherein is no Water Turn ye to the strong hold ye Prisoners of Hope Which words in their Literal sense import only thus much That God either had or would for his Covenants sake free the Jews the People of the daughter of Sion v. 9. out of their Babylonian slavery bring them from the dry and parched and sandy places of Chaldaea where they were carried Captive according to their hopes and expectations And 2. For the Souls of the unfaithful and disobedient who dyed in their sins and at defiance with God They were shut up in Prison never to be released The Sentence was past upon Them and there is no hope or possibility of ever getting it reversed nor were they in a capacity of receiving benefit by the Preaching of Christ. There is no saving faith no effectual repentance in those infernal Regions Rivers of tears there poured out cannot wash off the stain and guilt of Sin After death immediately follows the Judgment and the Soul at its departure knows its Doom and what it must trust to for ever 3. It is contrary to the end and design of the Gospel which only respects the living in its Publication Go ye and teach all Nations St. Mat. XXVIII 19. and more fully St. Marke XVI 15. Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature was the Commission Christ gave the Apostles after his Resurrection that is Publish the Gospel through all the Parts of the known and Habitable World make known the Doctrine of the Cross to all the Nations of the Earth and make Proselytes and Disciples by Baptism and instruct them in the true Faith it is not Descend into the Regions below and there Preach me as some have fancyed the Apostles to have done after their death that they might speak congruously to their Hypothesis But we know and are assured from Scripture that He that now refuses and slights the overtures of Life and Salvation that rejects the offers of a Saviour and prefers a few brutish Pleasures which perish in the enjoyment and yet leave a deadly sting behind them before the Promises of unmixt Joy and Glory must never expect the benefit of an after-Faith or Repentance in another World If we would be happy hereafter it must be procured in the time of life Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of Salvation even while we live and the night cometh that I may apply that of our blessed Saviour St. John IX 4. the night of death wherein no man can work Thus you see this First Exposition however it was so greedily swallowed down by some of the Antients and gained credit from their Authority is very weak and bottoms upon a Sandy Foundation and signifies just nothing as to the true sense and meaning of the Words 2. Others there are who rejecting the Literal sense fly to a Mystical one understanding by the Spirits in Prison sinners in general who are imprisoned and shut up in darkness and infidelity while they live and are in the Flesh and are slaves to their carnal desires who were disobedient after the manner and likeness of those that lived in the times of Noah But against this Exposition I have these Two things to allege 1. In General That it is a sure Rule of the Schools and ought to be followed in the explaining of Scripture Scripturae verba proprie accipienda sunt quando nihil inde absurdi sequitur that the words of Scripture are to be taken properly and according to their Literal meaning and as they are vulgary understood when nothing of absurdity nothing that is disagreeable to Faith or the common notices of Mankind can follow from such a literal acception And therefore to seek for Allegoryes in plain sense and find out Mysteries where none were intended is neither safe nor proper for if a liberty be once indulged herein what bounds can be set to a roving fancy which loves to sport it self with pleasing Idaeas and Phantasms it self has raised and men too are very favourable to the issue of their brain those fine and nice conjectures and interpretations that owe their conception and being to a strong and ungoverned imagination And how much Religion has been prejudiced and the truth of Scripture-story brought into question by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this vein and humour of Allegorizing which Origen by his great Name and Learning brought into the Church having borrowed it from Philo the Jew I wish there was no cause to complain especially in this Age of ours wherein every Pretender out of an itch of vain-glory to seem wiser then others presently sets up for an Origenian and vents his ill-grounded conjectures for proofs and demonstrations and revives Old opinions very uncertain and vain and heretical and justly condemned as such by the Zeal and Learning of former Ages as the great Truths of God as if Providence could not be justified without their admittance nor the Articles of Faith and the Attributes of God Salved unless we believe a Praeexistence of Souls Genii living in the Air and vehicles formed out of Aether by the Plastick life and virtue of the Soul after its departure out of the Body But it is to be feared that while they follow Origen too close even in his errors and take up his way of interpreting some parts of Scripture according to a pretended Cabbala and a mystick Theology fetched from Plato and Proclus they have given occasion to Atheists and profane Persons to deny the Truth of all 2. In special That the Text does expresly refer as was said before to the times of Noah and to those that lived in them and therefore cannot be meant as the learned Grotius would have it of Christs preaching by the Apostles to the Gentiles after his Ascension For this would be to confound two distant Ages of the World together and to make St. Peter speak unintelligibly and contrary to all usage and custom for who can rationally imagine that St. Peter when he saith Christ preached to the Spirits in prison which were sometimes disobedient should mean this preaching of his own and after Ages who is so careful first to tell us of what persons he meant it of and then is so express and punctual about the right timing of it for the Spirits that were preached to were disobedient but when why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Old which being a general reference of time and so might comprehend all from the Creation He limits and restrains to the Age just before the Floud Besides this there is another Figurative

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

had burned with unnatural Lusts and were set on Fire of Hell before they were form Heaven God sent his Angels to rescue Lot from the Flame And thus the believing Jews that were in Jerusalem a Voice from Heaven heard by some of them admonishing and inviting them to depart thence as Eusebius relates after the Siege was unexpectedly raised by Gallus laid hold on the opportunity and went over Jordan to Pella and so were freed from all those unparalell'd miseryes which their obstinate and perverse and unbelieving Country-men were forced to endure from the close Siege of Titus that happened some Months after To Conclude As the Old World was once drowned and overwhelmed by Water so we believe God will one day let loose upon it that other more fierce and raging Element of Fire which shall consume all its Glories into Ashes and make it but as one Funeral pyle at the dissolution of Nature We all profess to believe that Christ will come to judge both the quick and the dead and we have had frequent Warnings and Alarms of his Coming How doth it concern us to prepare for that Day wherein we and all the Generations of men that ever were or ever shall be must stand before his Throne and not delay our repentance one moment lest Death surprise us on a suddain and as Death leaves us Judgment will find us but secure an Interest in CHRIST and make him our Advocate who is to be our Judge And then happy shall we be at that day amidst the noyse of the perishing World and as Noah and his Family were saved in the Universal Deluge as the Text says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through or in the midst of Water so shall we be saved in the time of that Universal Conflagration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through or in the midst of Fire Page 43. l. 24. in some Copies r. impious p. 47. l. 5. we p. 47. l. 23. incomparably FINIS Verse 1. 〈◊〉 11.7 8. Verse 18. * Oecumenius in Loc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et Paulò pòst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Oecumen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Stromatum lib. 6. p. 270. ex Editione Fr. Sylburgii Graec A. C. 1592. Who taking this for granted presently after argues thus p. 271. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For other Testimonies I refer the Learned Reader to Vsher's answer to the Jesuites challenge Chap. of Limbus Patrum and to the Learned Dr. Pearsons Exposition of the Apostles Creed on the Article of Christs descent into Hell * Inconveniens erat ut cum multi ex eo nati remissionem acciperent peccatorum beneficium resurrectionis consequerentur non magis ipse Pater omnium hominum hujusmodi gratiam consequeretur Origen Tract XXXV in D. Matth. cap. 27. Revel XIII 8. * Which Vatablus renders in the Future and thus interprets Liberaturus sum Te Intelligit Patres qui decesserunt ante adventum Christi in fide ipsius Christi venturi mortui sunt Herein followed by several Pontifician Writers who cite this Text to prove a Limbus Patrum Heb. XI 27. * Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. VI. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 271. 2 Cor. VI. 2. * Glossa Interlinearis iis qui eram in ca●cere tenebrarum vel infidelitatis vel in carcere i.e. in carnalibus de Adertis vivebant * Grot. in loc Loquitur quasi iidem fuissent fuerant iidem Spiritus sive animi non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut Aristoteles loquitur sed genere i.e. an mi pariter Deo inutiles illi scil qui Noae praedicationi non ●rediderunt † Per quem Dei spiritum missum in Apostolos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 post quam in coelum ascendit Christus dicitur praedicasse Gentibus quia Apostoli id ejus nomine as virtute fecerunt in loc † Annot. in Gen. VI. 3. * In the Hebrew the Words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Annot. p. 800. Grotius in loc Non permanebit i.e. nolo diù permaneat Spiritus à me datus homini non manebit in homine diù inclusus velut in vaginâ quippe nulli bono usui non magis quam ensis tectus Nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est vagina 1 Paral. XXI 27. Et Corpus Chaldaicè sic dicitur Dan. VII 15. nempè quòd Spiritum intrà se contineat Hinc interpretari liceat illud I Pet. III. 19. ut supra And to the same purpose in his Commentary upon the Text Si proprietatem vocum sequimur id dicit non erit ut in vaginâ detentus sic spiritus meus in homine i.e. non erit inutilis animus quem ei dedi sicut ensis in vaginâ qui nihil efficit ejus ad quod factus est Est autem vagina carcer gladio Chaldais 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vagina Eodem modo corpus Hominis Chaldaei vocant ut Dan. VII 15. Et in Talmudicis saepè Sic Tertullianus Caro vagina afflatûs Dei lib. de Resurrect carnis Haec interpretatio non nova est sed Hieronymi ad Esaiam † Lib. IV. c. 4. p. 248. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * So Mr. Fuller in his Learned Miscellanies Lib. V. cap. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Jud. vers 6. 2 St. Pet. II. 4. † vers 9. * Hereto perchance may be referred that difficult place in Job Ch. XXVI v. 5. which the Vulgar Latin hath thus Gigantes gemunt sub aquis the LXX render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from another signification of the Verb Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so may denote the Gyants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those mighty Apostates that fell from the belief and Service of God into Atheism and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 open rebellion against Heaven who were upon the Earth in those dayes Gen. VI. 4. that is in the dayes of Noah and the manner of their punishment by being overwhelmed by Water and that They and their Accomplices are now troubled and forced by reason of the horrour and sadness of their condition to sigh and lament and Rephaim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is so rendered by the LXX in other places and particularly Prov. IX 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Symmachus again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which name may be well applyed to the men in Noah's time and hence the Heathen in all likelyhood borrowed the story of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 T●●dotion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and St. Hierome Gigantes This I take to be the meaning of the words as deeming it in no degree probable that they are to be understood of Sea-Monsters such as Titans and Whales as Grotius or of Metals or Seeds as Others * Archb. Vsher Grotius and the Learned Dr. H. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Micha VI. 8. * Eccl. XII 7. Luke xxiv 43. Act. I. 25. 2 Cor. V. 1. Phil. I. 23. and many others * 2 Pet. II. 5. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By which Ark so built though it may also refer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the former sense seems to be the most Natural and right * In one Word as in several places of the N. T. Gen. XIX 15. St. Pet. II. 6 7. * Historiae Eccles. lib. III. cap. V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉