A PRACTICAL IMPROVEMENT Of the Articles of Christ's descent into AND Rising again from the Dead IN A SERMON Preach'd in the Parish Church of Bridgewater on Easter-Day Anno Domini 1697. By WILLIAM ALLEN â— â— Vicar of Bridgewater in Somerset What will this Babler say because he Preached unto them Jesus and the Resurrection Acts 17.18 Am I therefore become your Enemy because I tell you the Truth Gal. 4.16 London Printed for J. Taylor at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-Yard and J. Miller Bookseller in Sherborne and at his Shop in Yeavill 1697. TO JOHN HARVEY Of the Castle in Bridgewater Gent. T IS a Priviledge that the Country Ministers are bless'd with above your great Towns Vicars or Lecturers that their People remembring their Catechisms presume not to think themselves more Learned or Wiser than their Teachers but according to Christian Primitive Modesty and Doctrine they Learn of and Obey Reverence and are Ruled by their Spiritual Pastors But your Corporation Catechumens your Men of Gath are big of themselves especially if Opulent and Thriving and will not allow Master Parson whether he belongs to Church or Conventicle for that 's the diminitive word they scornfully Salute with the Levitical Order whether in Gown and Cassock or in Coat and long Cloak they will not I say allow them so much as to think otherwise than they think nor to speak otherwise than they would have them speak nor grant that their University Education or much Study or many years Exercise in the Ministry gives them any ascendant above their Level If they will not say their Pater-Noster the way they would have them they shall have no Peter's Pence from them Thus stands the Case of your Town and City Clergy And some of the Sons of the Church I am loath to think them Sons of Belial but they have appear'd such Sons of strife and stiffness as indeed provok'd me against mine inclination to publish the following Sermon at the Preaching of which two of your discontented Pew-Mates carried themselves as at other times ever since the * Tho' they have very early taken the Oaths to K. W. and Q. M. Revolution with all the proud and insolent contempt imaginable yea and in seeming great rage and wrath quitted the Congregation as if I had been about overturning Foundations and deny'd the Faith once deliver'd to the Saints and were running apace to the Dissenters and was doing their work This is the Charge and this is the Crime and I think it a very great one too if I should think say or do any thing against the Church But I have deliver'd no more than what you may read in the Bishop of Worcester's Discourse against the Socinians or in Dr. Lightfoot Bishop Peirson Dr. Towerson and others of our Learned Church of England The Dissenters as the Novatians of Old may be right in their Doctrine except in that which causes or occasions their separation And I heartily wish all that are Zealous for or against Ceremonies were as warm for Peace and Holiness Truth and Concord and that all of us as Disciples of the humble and holy Jesus under the Ministry of Paul or Apollo would as new-born-Babes desire the sincere Milk of the word that we may grow thereby in Grace and substantial Knowledge which is the earnest and sincere Prayer of the Minister of the Parish and Parish Church of Bridgewater and therefore your very Humble Servant William Allen. From my Study Bridgewater April 1697. THE PREFACE IT was an early Custom in the Asian Church and continues so to this very day says Sir Paul Ricaut for Christians to Salute each other with this Chearful Congratulation on Easter Morning Christ is Risen and the Return is Christ is Risen indeed For 't was a melancholy interval with Christ's first Disciples which he foretold them of that they should mourn when the World did rejoyce All the while the Son of Righteousness was in an Eclipse his poor Disciples were in a state of darkness and fear and trouble and almost despondency as we may gather from their faint hopes in their way to Emaus Luke 24.21 We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel But in a farther Conference our Saviour chides and rebukes them for their little confidence O Fools and slow of Heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken whereof this is one Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption He descended into Hell is one of the Articles of that which we call the Apostle's Creed Not that I believe it is in totidem verbis any more the Apostle's-Creed than it is yours or mine Indeed there was a certain Writer tells us a Story That the Apostles before their parting from Jerusalem into the several parts of the World to Preach the Gospel agreed upon a form of Christian Faith and that every one cast in his Symbolum or Article which made just Twelve But for this we have only this one Man's word but all the other Ancients know nothing of this Matter Or that the present Creed commonly call'd the Apostle's-Creed was as Ruffinus reports theirs All the Learned now a-days in Church-History are agreed it was never composed by them Not but that there was a form of sound words but not as now Some were derived from the Apostles or from their days As I Believe in God the Father Or as the Greeks read it in One God the Father in opposition to the Polytheism of the Heathens And in Jesus Christ his only begotten Son our Lord I Believe in the Holy Ghost the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting These are all we can call Primitive from the Apostles Tho' all the other are true yet the others were added since in opposition to Heresies as they sprang up in the Church As was Conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost was put in in opposition to the Carpocratians Ebonites and Corinthians who taught that Christ was born in the ordinary and common way as other Men and Women are Was Born of the Virgin Mary Suffer'd under Pontius Pilate was placed in the Creed in contradiction to the Docetae Simonians and others who affirmed Christ to be a Man not really but phantastically and in appearance I believe the Remission of Sins was added to the form of words against the Basilidians and Novatians They only held that not all Sins but only involuntary ones would be remitted The other deny'd remission to the lapsed But to come more immediately to my Theam and to trace no longer the rest The Article of the descent into Hell was brought in toward the latter end of the Fourth Century From this account of the Creed I may again assume my assertion that that we commonly call the Apostles as it stands in our Liturgy is no more their Creed than it is mine or yours That is you and I believe all these Articles because they are in the Scriptures and
may be proved from them which is our Rule to prove that called the Apostle's-Creed by and particularly that of Christ's descent into Hell which is founded upon this Text Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption ACTS II. 27. Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption SAint Peter in a short but notable Sermon demonstrates Jesus to be the Messias The Holy One of God The Lord the Christ First From the Miracles he did in his Life-time they being witnesses of the same v. 22. Secondly By the fulfilling of Prophecy in being not only rejected by his own but Crucified by them according to the determinate Counsel of God ver 23. Thirdly From the Wonders he did not in Life only but in Death he brake thro' the bonds of it the Grave could not detain his Body nor Hades his Soul And this according to Prophecy and Promise Psal 16. v. 10. Which is the Apostle's Quotation and my Text. And the Doctrine or Article of Faith grounded upon it is this That Jesus the Christ and Saviour of the World made a Sacrifice for Sin and actually dead and buried went into the Region of Spirits but returned speedily from thence and reassuming his Body rose victoriously from the Grave In discussing this Doctrine I will shew 1. What is the meaning of Christ's Soul being in Hell 2. The Reason and Occasion of this Article boing inserted in our Creed 3. The Incorruptibility of his Body it did not see Corruption Tho' the Jews gave its Death-wounds yet the wounds putrified not Together with the Use we ought to make of these Considerations I shall not mention the various Opinions about this Article they rather disgrace than instruct but speak the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth and that as concisely and clearly as I can 1. What is the meaning of Christ's Soul being in Hell For with respect to his Godhead we may say of him in the words of the Psalmist Psal 139.7 8. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there If I make my bed in Hell behold thou art there But our Discourse is of the Soul of the Messias and that was for a while in Hell Not in the sense the Damn'd are who are in a State of Torment in a Region of Woe and Misery which is full of Flame and Fire as the Rich Man roars out in the Text Luke 16.24 Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame But the Soul of the Messias when he gave up his Ghost passed into the Receptacle of Blessed Souls into that Paradise where the Redeemed and Pardoned are Lodged and where with him went the Repenting Thief on the Cross Luke 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise 'T is this Receptacle of good Souls this Paradise for those that die in Christ that is called Hades that is an invisible State a Being tho' in a remote Region which Eye cannot reach or penetrate I confess 't is a hard matter to beat out of the vulgar Heads the gross conception of the word Hell which sounds to them no other than horrour and blackness of darkness and fire and brimstone The word Hell in our English is harsh and dreadful and speaks to us the place of the Damn'd A * D. Lightfoot place very improper to look for the Soul of Christ when departed out of his Body for Him and His Betrayer Judas to meet in the same place He that had by Death purchased Heaven for others himself after death to descend into Hell This therefore cannot be no is not the meaning of the word Hell where Christ went he came not near that Abyss nor was at all among those Reprobated Crew The word Hell is a word of Latitude and hath a larger signification as all that understand Greek know And I cou'd wish for the sake of the People we cou'd find a softer and more expressive word to speak in for the true easie and natural sense of Hades is an invisible Region the Mansion of blessed Souls which in Scripture is called Paradise Heaven Abraham's-bosom Object If Hades means Paradise why should Christ pray against his being left in Hades and hope that his Soul shall not be left in Hades as he hopes his Body shall not see Corruption Answ He doth not pray thus as if it were not well with his Soul in Hades as to what he enjoyed For his Soul was the Soul of the Messias the Soul of a Redeemer a Soul that was to Conquer Death and not to stay any considerable time from his Body born of the Virgin Mary He had work to do which other Souls had not he was to rise for others justification He was to ascend into the Holy of Holiest as the great High-Priest of our Souls and therefore he must return to his Body that he may as God-Man in Humane flesh for ever enter into the Vale. As if he should say thou wilt not leave me under Death that is my Soul in separation This wou'd be the triumph of the Devil But tho' the Messias's Soul when in its separation was in Bliss and all Holy Souls departed are so yet Christ's Soul had an undertaking that surmounted that of all Humane Souls and therefore to accomplish that he prays for the fulfilling of the Promise That tho' his Soul as others of Humane Kind were really separated yet that his might speedily be re-united for the perfecting of the work he took upon him the form of a Servant and came into the Body at first Secondly The Occasion and Reason of this Article being inserted in our Creed Not that it was there at first but it came in afterward and that occasion'd by a new Heresie that started up in the Church and therefore to obviate that this Article was added as a Truth proveable from Scripture that Christ went into Hades The Errour was this that Christ had no proper Intellectual or Rational Soul Which Heresie was begun and propagated by one Appolonius and his Followers That the Word or the Divinity supplied the place of a Soul and that therefore he was not properly dead when his Body was in the Grave But in opposition to this Error the Christians assert that Christ had a humane Soul that it underwent all the Offices of one in the Body and out of the Body of a humane Soul that first it was infused as other Souls are when a Body was prepared and when in the Body it actuated as other Souls by opening and enlarging its faculties as the Body grew in stature and the Man in years and he hungred and thirsted as other Men did the Union of his Soul and Body being to be preserv'd by
and who are Ministring Spirits to those that are Heirs of Salvation do at the moment of their separation from their Bodies await the good Soul's coming forth and immediately guard it through the Region of the Air the Principality of Daemons into those Blessed Abodes where good Souls await the redemption of the Body by a Resurrection and Re-union Thus we read of Lazarus's Soul being carried by Angels into Abraham's bosom Luke 16.22 I need urge no more on this Head with reference to the Followers of Jesus in the Regeneration for their assurance of following him in Life in Death and after Death than the great and triumphant Challenge and Conclusion of the Apostle Rom. 8.34 39. Wherefore let us comfort one another with these words Christ is Risen or rather with these of the Apostle apposite to my Sermon 1 Thes 4.15 16 17 18. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which believe in Jesus will God bring with him For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and the Dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words You shall as your Redeemer's Soul go into Paradise but that is not your Eternal Rest It is a Mansion but not the Everlasting Kingdom that is yet to come and Christ will come to carry all and every of you both Body and Soul into the Kingdom prepared for you Wherefore comfort one another with these words Thirdly The incorruptibility of his Body it was not to see Corruption Tho' the Jews or Souldiers gave him his death-wounds yet they did not fester nor his Body see Corruption The immaculate Lamb was without spot he was pierced but he was not putrified he was butcher'd but not blemish'd his Body was cast into the Grave but it did not see Corruption Worms were neither his Brothers or Sisters his Body was of a purer make and had none of that taint that could attract such Vermin But tho' this may look plausibly yet it is not powerful without proof I shall therefore besides my Text represent to you some Considerations why Christ's Body was not to see Corruption First Because he was in three days to re-assume it according to Promise and his own Prediction He that laid it down had power and time prescribed by himself to take it up and that he limited according to the Laws of Nature I mean of material Nature because after such a Season of Stagnation and Incirculation of Animal Spirits according to the Laws of motion the Body would Corrupt A piece of Philosophy we read a Woman's Capacity reach'd to as in the instance of Lazarus's Body being in the Grave Martha the Sister of him that was dead said unto him Lord by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four days Joh. 11.33 The time of our Saviour's Body's being in the Grave was therefore prefix'd And as a Bone of him was not to be broken according to the Text So neither was his Body to see Corruption This he often intimated to his Disciples tho' they were dull of hearing or understood not his Sayings They would not believe that he must die that he must be Crucified and the third day rise again though he had very seriously and solemnly Preach'd this Doctrine to them and that too as an Evidence of his being the Messias deliver'd in the Scriptures But as he upbraids them after his Resurrection They were slow of heart to believe what the Prophets had said of him and what he had said unto them Luke 21.25 Which is proof to us that his Body was not to see Corruption For why should he chide them for their distrust and their unbelief but that it was a thing they ought to have believ'd that the Body of the Messias was not to see Corruption His Body in this sense was not to be a Mortal Body as ours to return to Dust That was the melancholly Sentence past on the Posterity of Adam but not to reach him that is the second Adam who was tho' the Son of Adam as says St. Luke yet not according to an ordinary Generation His Mother knew not Joseph nor was he Conceiv'd after the manner of Men and whatever the Virgin Mary was he was not born in Original Sin But of this more under the subsequent Consideration He that laid down his Earthly Tabernacle had power to raise it up again and he would stay no longer in the Region of Spirits when he saw it was time for him to return to his Body from the beginning prepared for him which he was in every sense to keep immaculate He had said destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up again and he spake says the Text of the Temple his Body John 2.21 All the whole stress of his Undertaking lay upon this of his raising his Body No body would have believ'd him had he not rais'd his Body This was the main Point that kept such a stir in Jerusalem that rais'd the Scribes and Pharisees all in an uproar that the Body they Crucified was risen again They took all the pains and made use of all the craft imaginable to suppress the Report They persecute the Disciples at a grievous rate for their preaching and publishing the truth of his Resurrection They own that he had said so that he would raise his Body again We remember what that Deceiver said while he was yet alive after three days will I rise again Matth. 27.63 And they would fain make him a Liar and his Disciples too and to that end they tamper with the Souldiers They gave large money unto the Souldiers saying say ye his Disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept Matth. 28.12 13. But he that was the Truth was the Life the Life to his own Body he came back with his Spirit and quickned it again And according to Promise and Prediction made good his word of both and rose the third day But we go on to Consider Secondly His Body was not to see Corruption because he was the second Adam and was not under the guilt of the first He was the Lord from Heaven and the Lord of Glory and his Body was to be a glorious Body His Body was never stain'd by Sin or Sickness and his Death-wounds only open'd a passage for his Spirit but the Cabinet tho' broken or bruised was not disjoynted the Temple was destroy'd without dislocation of any part or fracture of any joynt and the whole compages remain'd sound and safe 'till the good Soul