Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	law_n	life_n	sin_n	22,698	5	5.7840	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03345	The defence of the article: Christ descended into Hell VVith arguments obiected against the truth of the same doctrine: of one Alexander Humes. All which reasons are confuted, and the same doctrine cleerely defended. By Adam Hyll, D. of Diuinity.	Hill, Adam, d. 1595.; Hume, Alexander, schoolmaster.	1592 (1592)	STC 13466; ESTC S104102	102,647	138

the 18. 19. and 20. verses saith It is better if the will of God be so that ye suffer for well dooing then for ill dooing for as much as Christ hath once suffered for sinnes the iust for the vniust to bring vs to God and was killed as pertaining to the flesh but was quickened in the spirite in which spirit he also went and preached to the spirites that were in prison which sometime had been disobedient when the long suffering of God was once looked for in the dayes of Noah while the arke was a preparing wherein a few that is to say 8. soules were saued by the water For the better vnderstanding of this place because the woord spirite is diuerslye taken in the woord of God I will first set downe the diuerse acceptation of the woorde spirite and afterward by many vncontrollable reasons out of the text I will by Gods assistance confirme my assertion that Christ in soule descended into hell They that know not the signification of the woord spirite are often deceiued for somtimes it signifieth the wil and authority of a man as in the 1. Cor. 5 ver 3. I truly as absent in body but present in spirit c. Sometimes it is taken for doctors Prophets 1. Ioh. 4. 5. Proue the spirits whether they are of God or no Sometimes for a Ghoast Luke 24. 37. And they supposed that they had seene a Spirite Sometime for winde or breath as Ioh. 3. 8. the winde bloweth where it will Sometime for a voice or woord 1. Cor. 84. 15. I wil pray with the spirit I will pray with the vnderstanding Sometime for the life of the Lawe 2. Cor. 3. 17. Now the Lord is the life Sometimes it is taken for a kinde of deceipte whereby any pretendeth to haue a spirite of reuelation 2. Thes. 2. 2. Be ye not troubled neither by spirite neither by word nor by letter So is it taken in Micheas 2. 11. Sometimes it is taken for the animal life Psalm 104. 29. If thou take away their spirite they dye Sometime for wrath Pro. 25. and last verse A man that refraineth not his anger is like a Cittie which is broken down and without wals Somtimes for the gifts of the spirit first for ioy in the holy ghost Ephe. 5. 18. But be ye filled with the spirite Secondly for spirituall vnderstanding 1. Thes. 5. 23. I pray God that your whole spirite soule and body may be kept blameles vnto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. So it is vsed Ephe. 2. 22. Thirdly it is vsed for seruencye of zeale sedulity and constancy 1. Timo. 4. 12. But be thou an ensample in word in cōuersation in loue in spirit Fourthly it is taken for the true doctrine of the Gospell which worketh effectually in our harts by the spirit 2. Cor. 3. 6. which hath made vs fit Ministers of the new testament not of the letter but of the spirit Where the letter signifieth the vtter preaching which toucheth not the hart Fiftly for a spirituall life Gal. 6. 8. He that soweth in the spirit shall in the spirit reap eternall life Sixtly it is taken for prophecy 1. Thes. 5. 19. quench not the spirit Which he interpreteth in the verse following despise not prophecying It signifieth sometime a thing of nothing Esa. 26. 18. We haue conceiued we haue borne in paine as though we should haue brought forth winde Sometime for euery creature that hath breath Psal. 150. and last verse Let euery thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Sometime it signifieth the diuine or immortal essence of y e soule Eph. 4. 4. There is one spirite Acts 7. ver 59. Stephen saith Lord Iesus receiue my soul. Somtime it signifieth God Ioh. 4. 24. God is a spirit And so the woord spirit is common to the whole 3. persons Sometimè it signifieth the holy Ghoste the 3. person in Trinity wherunto is alwaies put the Gréeke article Mat. 4. 5. Mar. 1. 12. Luc. 4. 1. 1. Tim. 4. 1. Act. 8. 29. Because then the word hath so many significations we must proue by the circumstances of y e text what is héer his proper meaning They that say that by this place is meant Christs preaching in the spirit in y e time of Noah are many waies cléerely confuted First because that mortificatus and viuificatus two contrary particles of one tense are attributed to Christ so that Christ being dead was aliue and that at one time and in respect of his humanity Secondlye he sheweth how he was dead and how he was aliue by putting to mortificatus carne he was killed in the flesh and viuificatus spiritu he was quickned in the spirit or in the soule for to say the Godhead was quickned is a grosse error For as Augustine saith in his 99. Epistle it is very euident that the Lord killed as concerning the flesh went into hell Thirdly in his soule while he was yet dead in the bodye hée went downe into hell the Gréek woord is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which woord must néeds be vnderstood of the soule of Christ because it is a motion from vs to another place and not of the Godhead and therfore is vsed again in y e 22. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he went into heauen and thus proueth he the death of Christ in the 18. verse the descending of Christ into hell in the 19. verse his resurrection in the 21. verse and his ascending into heauen in the last verse Fourthly the Scripture doth straightlye ioyne together the passion of Christ with this perfection and preaching so that Christ went immediatly after his passion to preach to the spirits Neither dooth he deuide them as though now he did suffer preach long before for the resurrection and ascension héer spoken of succéeded this passion so did this iourney and going into Hell Fiftly the Scripture doth plainely attribute the preaching of Noah properly to the holy Ghoste not to y e second person as it appeareth Gen. 6. 3. My spirit shall not alway striue with man As all the scripture doth ascribe the doctrine and ministry of preaching to the 3. person and that the 3. person receiueth it of Christ doth speak by the mouth of holy Doctors inspireth the scripture and reproueth the world or comforteth Sixtly if the woord spirit must be vnderstoode of God héere of whom Christ is quickned as some would haue it it must néedes also be vnderstood of the first person that he preached in hell for the scripture attributeth the resurrection of Christ to the Father Last of all that we heap not to manye thinges in an euident matter the participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were disobedient doth fignifie and plainely shew this inobedience to be long before this preaching so also the woord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in times past and all the annotation of time following

resurrection of our soules is by the humble comming of Christ of our bodies by his glorious comming And this is made manifest also in diuers other such like places of Scripture In the 6. chapter of the Romans ver 5. S. Paul thus writeth For if we be grafted with him to the similitude of his death euen so shall we be to the similitude of his resurrection Where the Apostle thus exhorteth vs that euen as y e death of Christ teacheth vs to seperate our selues both in body and soule from sinne so the resurrection of Christ doth teach vs to arise from sinne both in soule and body By these places of Scripture it is to be considered that as Christ did arise both in soule and body so must we and therfore as Christs resurrection is not a full resurrection vnlesse both partes did arise for otherwise he did but arise in body as we doo so these exhortations grounded vpon that doctrine are to no purpose vnlesse Christs soule did arise from hell aswell as his bodye from the graue and last of all there is no more miracle in the buriall of Christ then in any other godly mans which as I proued before ought to be in all the personall actions that Christ wrought for our saluation Thus much of the primitiue place in the 16. Psalme as also of the deriuatiue place in the 2. of the Acts wherby I hope I haue sufficiently proued that Christs soule descended into hell But yet for a farther proofe I thought it not vnfit to adde these that followe namelye in the 2. Chapter to the Phillippians the 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. verses Let the same minde be in you which was in Christ Iesus who being in the forme of God thought it no robberye to be equall with God but hee made himselfe of no reputation and tooke on him the forme of a seruant and was made like vnto men and was found in shape as a man hee humbled himself and became obedient vnto the death euen vnto the death of the crosse wherefore God hath also highly exalted him and giuen him a name aboue euery name that at the name of Iesus euery knee shuld bow both of things in heauen things in earth and things vnder the earth In which place this I conceiue y t Christs death was manifested in heauen in earth and in hell and that the very damned spirits did confesse to the glory of God the Father that Iesus Christ was Lord both of heauen and the Angels of earth and of them that dwell therein and of hell and the diuels But some will say how is it possible that the spirits which are damned should confesse Christ. To this I answere there is the cōfession of our faith and of our sins which is proper only to the elect there is an other confession which is called the confession of experience which is in the wicked and the damned In the 5. of Marke the legions of diuels thus cry in y e 7. ver What haue I to do with thee Iesus the sonne of the most high God Where we sée the diuel is constrained to confesse Jesus Christ and yet dooth rysist him And in the 8. of Mathew the 29. verse the diuels cry Iesus thou Sonne of God what haue we to do with thee art thou come hither to torment vs before the time By which scriptures we learne that the diuels by experience of the maiestie and authoritie of the Sonne of God doo confesse him to haue all power and as ouer these so ouer all hellish spirits therfore did manifest his death by shewing the presence of his soule in hell So Father Damascene interpreteth this place of Scripture the soule of Christ deified descended into hell so that as to thē which are in earth there arose the Sonne of righteousnes so likewise to them which were vnder earth in darkenes and in the shadowe of death a light did appeare and as in earth he preached peace remission to the captiues sight to the blinde and was the cause of saluation to thē that did beléeue and did vpbraid and reproue the vnbeléeuers of infidelitye so did he vpbraide them that are in hell that euery knée may be bowed vnto him both in heauen earth and in hel Robert Samuel Martir is of this iudgement who giuing an account of his faith in the 2. volume of the monuments of Martirs Fol. 1206. hath left this testimony the same Christ went down to the hels and truely rose again y e third day and ascended into the heauens that he might there still raigne and haue dominion ouer al creatures this then is one end of christs going down into hel that y e infernall spirits might be subiected to him and that they might confesse him to be the Sonne of God to their endles shaine and euerlasting glory of God the father The like proofe to this is in the Epistle to the Collossians 2 chapter 14. and 15. verses He hath taken away the hand writing of ordinances which was against vs which was contrary to vs he euen took it out of the way and fastened it to the crosse and hath spoyled the principalityes and the powers and he hath made a shew of them openly and hath triumphed ouer them in his own person I translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in himself so doth Hierome Erasmus Stephanus Pellicanus Pagninus Iunius Tremellius and M. Foxe with many other learned men so translate it yet I sée it otherwise translated in some Bibles now a daies which gréeueth me for it is a false translation as euery learned man knoweth For in the Gréek it is the Masculine gen der and they translate it in Latin in y e feminine gender whō Musculus a very good learned man thus reproueth there be some saith he referre it to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and turne it in Illa these are perswaded it is an incommodity if it be saide that Christ did triumph ouer the principalities and powers But if all these things be attributed to God the Father that hée did them with Christ and in Christ according to the order of all things going before we may truely read héere triumphing ouer them in his own person And for this cause many learned men doo proue the descending of Christ into hell by this place Eusebius writing of the resurrection of our Sauiour thus saith we must know that in the selfe same houre wherin our Sauiour bowing his head gaue vp the ghoste his body being left in the graue his soule with the dignitye went down to spoyle hell Mollerus a learned Minister of Germany in his commentaries on the 16. Psalm hath the like Christ would shew his victory ouer the diuels in a certaine sorte and would strike perpetuall terrors into them and take away from vs the feare of his tiranny To this agréeeth Musculus on the 68. Psalm This God which was in Christ

that pertained vnto God who was in stéed of the voice Moreouer in the holy places who might enter but one and that not euer but once a yéer Heb. 9. Who might carry the arke but the Leuytes 1. Leuit. 15. And they as they were appointed for some were of a high office some of a lower as euery one was worthye and because that ought to be kept it was appointed also who should kéepe it euerie way for some should kéep one side some an other side neither should any thing remaine indistincted or disordered in their smallest matters Marke good Reader what is y e conclusion of this swéet discourse for it toucheth most néerelye our disordered Martinists but we if we haue gotten a little glory and excellency of name and haue learned two or thrée woords of Scripture not often but by chaunce and these vnskilfully and ill couched together by and by we furiously rebell against Moses and followe the importune contumelye and impiety of Dathan and Abiram whose contumelye I becéech you let vs flée and let vs flée their madnes least we be ouerthrowne with the same punishments Nazianzene affirmeth that order is beautifull in naturall thinges in sensible and in reasonable but more beautifull in houses Citties and common weales but most beautifull in the house and Church of God For God is not the God of confusion but of order 1. Cor. 14. 33. And for this cause all thinges in the Church must be doone in order 1 Cor. 14. 40. Take away order from naturall things all thinges would come to annihilation take away order from men and we become brutish but take away order from Christian men and they become very diuels In these last and dangerous times like beastes voide of reason we despise gouerment and like diuels that haue come out of the horrible pit of shameles confusion we ouerthrowe all the orders which are established in the Church of England Obedience by the woord of God is a sacrifice but we holde it to be a superstitious yoke S. Paul sayeth we should obey not for feare of wrath but for conscience but now a daies they are accounted the holyest men which haue no conscience and doo stubbornlye resist all the orders of the Church and desperately continue in their confused disobedience euery man will be a head no man a foote euery man a tung no man a eare S. Iames saith we should be slow to speak and swift to heare but we haue peruerted his woords in our déeds and are slowe to heare and swifte to speake against Prince and Ministers And euen as the Donatists wrote against Augustine in his time and the Catharoi against Ciprian in his time aud as the Pharasies withstoode our Sauiour and his Apostles in their time so are the Martinistes now bent against the Church of God and Ministers in our time For as their hart is full of enuy so their tung is as kéene as a rasour as sharpe as a Swoord as hotte as coles asvenymous as vipers and as they are swift to speak without number waight or measure of their woords so are they slowe to heare for they will not heare the voice of the charmer charme he neuer of wiselye Of these men Gregory Nazianzene in the place before quoted saith very well it is a shame truelye when thou doost embrace not magnificence but basenes in thy apparrell and dyet and to pretend humilitye in the hardnes of thy knées in thy fastings and watchings and in the asperitye of thy bed being laide in the ground and in thy labours and in al manner of pyning and subduing thy body and to challenge to thy selfe a principalitye and tirannye in diuine disputations neither to yéeld to any man but to aduance your self aboue the Preachers of the Law where humility hath not only glory but also securitye What then will some of them which are of a hotte spirite obiect doost thou by this Oration forbid to talke of God what shall we talke off or how thinke you of this place his praise shall euer be in his mouth Psal. 33. I will blesse the Lord alwaies Psal. 29. My throate shal meditate on his truth and beholde I haue not forbid my lippes and so will bring many testimonies meditated and quoted to that purpose To whome I answere gentlye and without bitternes of minde that héereby we may teach also the moderation of the minde I doo not exhorte a wise man to silence but I studye to feare thée from stubborne contention neither doo I bid thée to suppresse or hide the truth but I forbid thée that thou teach not besides Lawe For I my selfe doo professe my selfe to be a chéefe man among them which praise wisedome and learning and either doo spend or desire to spend their times in holy Sermons and sacred studies and God graunt that I neuer be turned aways from this busines least of wisedome it selfe I be pronounced a wretch and an vnhappy man because I haue despised learning and wisedome In the mean season I auoide the excesse and doo bridle the vnsatiable desire of man and am so minded that if I could not auoide both faults and kéep a mediocrity I had leyffer be too slowe then a busie body or too fearful rather then too bolde or rash He addeth shortly after holde fast those woords in the which thou hast béene instructed in thy infancy commit the care of reasoning and disputation to the learned it is inough for thée to holde fast the foundation let a wise maister builder build vpon it it is sufficient for thée to strengthen thy hart with bread leaue dainty dishes to the rich and wealthye No sober or wise man will accuse thée if thou furnish not thy supper with liberall and bountiful fare But if thou wilt not set bread or giue a cup of water to the Disciple of Christ. Mat. 10. Or to any other when thou art able then art thon iustly and worthily condemned also Be not swift in thy woords saith the wise man Eccle. 5. And being poore compare not thy selfe with the rich affect not to be wiser thē the wise It is a poynt of wisedom to know thy self and not to be immoderately proud and so to be affected as the voices who whē they are strained too high by reson of the immoderatiō they do altogither faint Thus this auntiēt father perswaded the people of God to a moderation in his time that knowledge might not make them proud for pride is the cause of singularitye singularitye bréedeth schismes schismes disorder disorder confusion God saith in the 4. Ephe that he hath made vs Pastors and Doctors héereby it is manifest that we are not the ordering or appointment of man nor of angel but of God himself How dare euery man then being scarse skilfull in his owne mistery take vpon him our office being in dignety the highest in labours the painefullest in disposing the wisest and in abusing the most daungerous function of