Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	appear_v	place_n	zion_n	47	3	9.4577	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16144	The effect of certaine sermons touching the full redemption of mankind by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus wherein besides the merite of Christs suffering, the manner of his offering, the power of his death, the comfort of his crosse, the glorie of his resurrection, are handled, what paines Christ suffered in his soule on the crosse: together, with the place and purpose of his descent to hel after death: preached at Paules Crosse and else where in London, by the right Reuerend Father Thomas Bilson Bishop of Winchester. With a conclusion to the reader for the cleering of certaine obiections made against said doctrine.	Bilson, Thomas, 1546 or 7-1616.	1599 (1599)	STC 3064; ESTC S102011	337,523	436

the second of the Acts could hardly haue any good construction because it seemed farre fet and altogither repugnant to the proper signification of the wordes to take the soule for the bodie and hell for the graue and as for the locall descent of Christ to hell after death they counted that but a fable I was forced to promise that I would openlie deliuer which I thought was the likeliest and safest sense as well of that article in the Creede as of those wordes of Dauid fulfilled in the person of our Sauiour This occasion drew mee to the next question of Christes descent to hell Wherin I resolued as by perusing the later part of this treatise will better appeare that Christs descent to the verie place of hell after his death did best concord both with the Creede and with the truth of Christian religion so we tooke care not to swarue frō the Scriptures in setting downe the cause why he went thither which was to ouerthrow destroy the kingdom might of Satan in the place of his greatest strength euen in hel and as our head to free all his members from daunger and feare of comming thither the sorrowes and terrors whereof hee loosed vvith his presence treading them vnder his feete and rose againe into a blessed and immortall life leading captiuitie captiue and taking from hell and Satan all povver to preuaile against his elect Both these resolutions that Christ suffered not the true paines of hell in his soule on the crosse and that hee personallie conquered and disarmed the powers and terrours thereof before his resurrection some as in such cases is common misremembred some misconstrued and some misliked vvhereupon I vvas both aduised and intreated by men of greater place then I vvill name to put the effect of that vvhich I had deliuered in vvriting that by mine ovvne vvords and not by other mens conceits or reports the learned might iudge of the doctrine Which I did that verie Summer and had it readie for the presse before Bartlemewtide but that the Parliament of States approching wherein men shoulde be otherwise imploied and a great hurle raised against it by certaine popular preachers in that citie through whose mouthes the contrarie had often passed to the people as currant I was desired by the same persons againe to staie till that time of businesse were ouer past that heat of contradiction somewhat alaied and respite giuen that it might be trāslated into Latin which also is now performed as wel as published in English To whole coūsell I yeelded referring the time wholy to their iudgements notwithstanding I were by many traduced in many places as a teacher of strange and false doctrine But I haue beene and am the more willing to beare the reproches of maligners because I seeke not my selfe heerein but that the church of Christ heere in Englande should hold fast that ancient and sure foundation of faith which hitherto it hath kept and professe that doctrine touching our Redemption by Christ which as wel the publike lawes of this realme as all the catholike fathers do vphold and allow In setting downe the summe of that which I preached I neither do nor can promise thee gentle Reader the same words which I then spake I wrote them not but I assure thee before him that knoweth all things that I haue not swarued nor altered anie materiall point from the methode propositions proofes and conclusions which I then vsed nor from the wordes as farre as either my notes or my memory vpon the fresh foote coulde direct mee which I haue yet to shew Manie proofes and authorities I omitted in the pulpit which the time shut me from and some obiections I haue answered here more largelie then the course of Sermons would permit but here is the selfe same in effect which then I vttered and purposed if the time woulde haue suffered The manner of handling this question I alwaies wished might bee temperate and sober as best became christian professours and teachers least by catching aduantages besides the cause wee increased quarrels and so much regarded our credits that wee neglected the truth I haue therfore in the Treatise it selfe touched no mans name oppugned no mans wordes traduced no mans iudgement but admitting and retaining as much as I thought might stande with the truth I haue pared off certaine extremities and reiected certaine additions which the first inuentors did refraine for that Christ suffered the death of the soule or all the same tormentes which the damned do and shall are positions lately coined and deriued from the proportion of Gods iustice as they call it but as I thinke from presumption of mans reason intruding into Gods secrets The doctrine which I defend that we are sufficientlie redeemed by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus without adding of hell paines to bee suffered in the soule of Christ hath the constant full and expresse warrant of the Scriptures and the like approbation from al the fathers without exception And therefore howsoeuer some men may despise all ancient writers and frustrate the scriptures with their figures al sober and wise christians will I doubt not beware how they admit this strange and late found nouelty into their Creede or consciences The second point I presse nor with like vehemencie because it hath not like certaintie So long as we confesse which the Scriptures do confirme that Christs humane nature after his extreame humiliation on the Crosse before his resurrection conquered spoyled not death only but hell Satan also of al their power right ouer y e faithful ascending on hie lead captiuitie captiue tooke the keyes of death and of hell into his owne hands with the precise maner and hower I will not burden anie mans conscience that cannot be perswaded by reading the latter part of this treatise though I my selfe after long diligent search find no sense so agreeable to y e words of the Creede so answerable to the rules of the sacred Scriptures and so fullie followed by all the Fathers as Christs descent to the verie place of hell for the purposes aforesaid Hauing premonished thee Christian reader of thus much I am not willing to detayne thee anie longer from vewing and examining the booke it selfe but onelie to tell thee that whiles I stayed the printing hereof till others did like it as wel as my self one more hastie then either aduised or learned calling himselfe H. I. would needes traduce it and confute it before he saw it resting belike on such notes as his angry mind and brickle memorie tooke at the time when I preached of these points Wherein though others condemne his follie yet I commend his pollicie that least hee should trouble himselfe with more thē he could answere he thought it y e best way to come into the field alone and like a stout Champion fighting with his owne shadow to say no more thē he would be sure to deny or decline with one

conclude he suffered the true paines of hell For those in this life did not suffer as much as their soules doe now in hell make their case neuer so desperate And therefore I maruaile howe wise men were bewitched with the sound of these wordes which hence resolued that out of all question Christ suffered the paines of the damned in hell where as the wordes inferre no such thing though we stretch them neuer so farre For in spite of our hearts before we can bring that conclusion to follow this must be the iointure of our reason All men any way forsaken of God in this life are in the true paines of hell Christ was forsaken of God ergo he was in the true paines of hell Now howe fond false and absurd the generall assertion is that all anie way forsaken of God are in the true paines of hell to men of learning and religion néedeth no long discourse Cain was a runnagate and accursed by Gods mouth Esau was a prophane person and hated of God Saul was verie desperate when he sought to the witch for God was departed from him and become his enemie Iudas was the sonne of perdition and a diuell yea manie were starke mad and possessed with diuels and yet none of them in those verie tormentes which are reserued for the damned in hell The Gentiles as Paul saith were strangers from the life of God and had no hope and were without God in the world yet were they not in the paines of hell here on earth But I hope we be not so far drowned in the depth of hell that wee will for our fansie range the sonne of God and sauiour of the world in this rable of wicked and desperate castawaies and yet though men could be so dangerouslie deuoted to their dreames this prooueth not their purpose Desperation they may stumble at if they will presse the words without anie difference betwéen the dereliction of Gods saintes and his enemies but toleration of hell paines these words will neuer conclude vnlesse we make hell to be no iudgement nor punishment after this life but onelie a terror and horror of conscience such as pursueth the wicked here in reuenge of their sinnes When the godlie complaine as often they do in the scriptures that they were forsaken of God it is not onlie a plaine absurditie but a grosse impietie to conclude of their words that they then suffered the verie paines of the damned in hell For example Sion which is the whole church of God saith in the prophet Esay the Lorde hath forsaken me and God himselfe assureth her words to bee true For a while I forsooke thee for a moment in mine anger I hid my face from thee Was the whole church for that time in the true paines of hell Dauid saith of himselfe Thou hast reiected and abhorred thou hast beene angrie with thine annointed Was Dauid then in the verie paines of the damned of his whole realme he saith O God thou hast cast vs off and beene angry with vs. Did all the people then suffer the torments of hell reiecting and abhorring are wordes of greater dislike and more detestation then forsaking and yet they infer not the paines of hell Whie then doe wee so fondlie misconster the one when we well inough vnderstande the other why stumble we at a strawe when we canne step ouer a blocke To be forsaken of God as the wicked are is to bee depriued of his fauour grace and spirit and yet they are not forthwith in hell To be forsaken as the godlie complaine they are is to be voide of comfort or destitute of helpe when their enemies assault or afflict them which is nothing néere the state of the damned For as God is said to be present by his gifts and graces so he hideth his face or forsaketh vs when he refraineth his eie from watching his eare from hearing or his hand from helping vs in the miseries and aduersities of this life If I be thought partiall let vs heare what the ancient and learned fathers purposelie write of our sauiours complaint on the crosse in whome I finde sundrie and all godlie expositions according with the truth of the scriptures and no way bending or inclining to this late deuise of hell paines The first that as Christ is our heade and we his members in such sort ioyned in one bodie wi●h him that hee suffereth in vs and we in him so were we not onlie crucified and buried but also raised and glorified in him and with him and therefore hee shewed and vttered manie thinges in his passion which ought to be referred directlie to vs and not to him but as bearing our person and speaking in our names My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Hanc in se vocem transfigurauit Iesus vocem corporis fui hoc est ecclesiae This speech Christ transferred to himselfe saith Austen being the speach of his body which is the church The church suffered then in him when he suffered for the church euen as hee suffered in the church when the church suffered for him And as we heard the voice of the church suffering in Christ when he saide my God my God why hast thou forsaken me so haue we heard the voice of Christ suffering in his church when hee saide Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee And againe quid voluit dicere dominus non enim dereliquerat illū deus cum ipse esset deus atque filius dei Quare dicitur nisiquia nos ibi eramus nisi quia corpus Christi ecclesia Why would the Lord saie my God my God why hast thou forsaken me God had not forsaken him for so much as he was God and the son of God Why then was it said but because we were there in him the church which was his bodie Sub redemptorum suorum voce clamabat deus deus meus quare me dereliquisti In the name of his redeemed Christ said my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Ex nostra persona verba illa proloquitur non enim ipse à deo destitutus fuit sednos In our person Christ speaketh these wordes for he was not forsaken of God but we The second exposition of these words is that Christes humane nature was not protected from the rage of the Iewes but left without helpe in the power of his enemies to bee vsed at their pleasures which he calleth a kind of forsaking For God then séemeth to leaue vs whē he doth not defend vs from the furie of our foes which séeke our ouerthrow Erat aliqua causa eaque non parua quare Christum de manibus Iudaeorum non liberaret deus cumque in potestate saeuientium vsque ad mortis exitum derelinqueret There was a cause saieth Augustine and that no small cause why God did not deliuer Christ out of the handes of the Iewes but let

and place of his humiliation and when he rose againe all power in heauen and earth was giuen vnto him I was dead saith hee himselfe and behold I am aliue for euermore and I HAVE THE KEIES OF HELL AND OF DEATH that is all power ouer death and hell to shut and no man may open to open and no man may shut The Prophet Esay pointeth to the verie same CAVSE and TIME of Christes exaltation BECAVSE he hath powred out his soule vnto death THEREFORE will I giue him his portion with the great and hee shall diuide the spoiles with the mightie If FOR THAT CAVSE then AFTER THAT TIME Christ diuided the spoyles of the mightie or as the Apostle speaketh hee spoyled powers and principalities And noting exactlie the TIME of Christes triumph the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ASCENDING ON HIGH HE LED CAPTIVITIE CAPTIVE This that hee ascended what meaneth it but that hee first descended into the lower partes of the earth Christ did not leade captiuitie captiue when hee descended into the lower partes of the earth but when hee ascended from thence The Diuels then which helde vs in captiuitie were themselues leade captiue when Christ ascended from the lower partes of the earth and then were powers and principalities SPOILED and openlie SHEVVED Christ TRIVMPHING OVER THEM not on the Crosse at the time of his passion but IN HIS OVVNE PERSON at the time of his resurrection and ascension An effect of this triumph is this that an Angell was sent in the Reuelation of Saint Iohn from heauen hauing the key of the bottomlesse pit and a great chaine in his hand And hee tooke the Dragon that olde Serpent which is the diuel Satan and bound him a thousand yeares And cast him into the bottomles pit and shut him vp and sealed vpō him that he should deceiue the people no more If a messenger from Christ had this power ouer Satan to binde him and shut him vp what commaund then had Christ himselfe ouer hell and Satan And how wholesome and gladsome a thing is it for vs to beléeue and confesse that Christ Iesus our Lord and sauiour hath Satan and all the pawers of hell chained at his will and by his conquest ouer them so ruleth and restraineth them that they can not stirre but by his leaue and appointment and thus shall he hold them captiue till hee deliuer the kingdome to God his father and throughly tread both death and Satan vnder our feete This doctrine I trust maintaineth no superstition but sound and true religion as well touching the partes as the time of Christs conquest and triumph ouer death and hell It resteth now to search what part of Christ had this triumph ouer hell for so much as Christ consisted of two natures diuine and humane his manhood by death was then diuided into two places the bodie being separate from the soule and lying in the dust of the earth but without corruption And first we must not referre this triumph to his diuine nature by reason it was no maisterie for god to conquer his vassall The seede of the woman must bruize the serpents heade and not the maker of heauen and earth with his almightie power maiestie Besides the godhead of Christ coulde neither truly DESCEND nor ASCEND as being euery where present nor be EXALTED as being equall with the highest nor RECEIVE GIFT as hauing all fulnes in it but that nature which led captiuity captiue did first DESCEND into y e lower parts of the earth after ASCENDED was EXALTED and RECEAVED this power and honour as a GIFT from God in respect of his obedience patience and humilitie The places are before alleaged there is no néede to repeat them It was then Christes humane nature which God so highlie EXALTED for his former obedience vnto death and to which all power was giuen in heauen and earth his diuine was euer in euen degree with his father full of maiestie power and glorie It is not to be neglected that Ireneus saith Si homo non vicisset inimicum hominis non iusté victus esset inimicus If a man had not ouercome the enemy of man the enemie had not lawfully beene ouercome Which proportion of iustice the Apostle vrgeth when he saith as by a man came death so by a man came the resurrection of the dead Since then the humane nature of Christ by condition might and by desert must bee exalted aboue all creatures and by the rule of iustice had the conquest of satan and his kingdome it is no harde matter to discerne which part of Christs manhood must ouerthrow death and which must triumph ouer hell The bodie of man whiles the first death lasteth is not due to hell it must lie dead and senselesse in the earth and so can neither liue nor feele the paines of hell Christes bodie then lying in the graue without SENSE MOTION OR LIFE could haue no conquest ouer hell ouer death it had being preserued in the graue without all corruption and raised from the deade to a blessed and immortall state without all imperfection Ouer hel it had none because that part of Christ which did conquere hel must haue as well MOTION TO DESCEND thither and POVVER TO REPRESSE there the rage of satā as also LIFE AND SENSE TO SPOILE powers and principalities and by leading them captiue to make an open shewe of them from al which the first death kept the bodie of Christ till the time that his soule ascending with triumph from hell tooke his body from death and so made a perfect conquest ouer hell and death not onlie for his owne person to whome all power was giuen in heauen and earth but for his members also for whose safety he tooke from Satan the keyes of hell and of death that he himselfe might be Lord of the dead the liuing So that now the power of hell is destroied and Satan restrained and the faithfull freed from all feare assured that the gates of hel shal not preuaile against them And this is that victorie which God threatened to death and hell by his prophet saying I will redeeme them from THE POVVER OF HEL I will deliuer them from death O death I will be thy death O HEL I VVIL BE THY DESTRVCTION repentance is hid from mine eyes So agréeable is this doctrine to the christian faith so comfortable to all the godly that few would refuse it except such as are waspishlie wedded to their owne fansies if it might appeare where this is written in the scriptures The which desire of religious mindes whiles I labor to satisfie I must forwarne them how easie it is for cōtentious spirits to frustrate the strength of all that God saith if they may be suffered with diuerse significations figuratiue interpretations to elude when they list the words of the holie ghost decline the literall

shalbe verified of any man we must no more deny y t he descended into the bottomles pit which is hell then y t he ascended into y e heauens both are necessary partes of our redemption euident proofes of his mighty operatiō We must be fréed frō hel before we can be placed in heauen and if Christ haue omitted either he hath performed neither What maruaile then if the ancient fathers with one consent make Christs descent to hel a material point of our redemption and presse it as an appendix to faith since it hath so good ground and iust proofe in the scriptures howsoeuer they or we doubt where the soules of the righteous were before Christs suffering Crux mors inferi salus nostra est saith Hilary The crosse death and descent of Christ to hell are our saluation Diuinitas neque corpus in monumento neque animā in inferno destituit hoc est enim quod dictū est per prophetā non relinques animā meā apud inferos neque dabis sanctū tuū videre corruptionem Quoc●rcain ANIMA quidē CHRISTI MORS DEVICTA EST resurrectioque ab inferis deprompta spiritibus annunciata est in corpore vero dei corruptio abolita est et incorruptibilitas é sepulchro emicuit Christs deity neither forsooke his body in the sepulchre nor his soule in hel For y t is y e meaning of the Prophet whē he saith Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hel nor suffer thine holy one to see corruptiō Wherfore in THE SOVLE OF CHRIST DEATH VVAS CONQVERED and the rerurrection from hell performed and signified to the spirits that rose with him In the body of him that was God corruption was abolished incorruption shined out of the graue Yea Austen himself putteth great difference betwixt the certainly of Christes descent to hell and the vncertainty of deliuering of some soules thence which he found there as he imagineth Teneamus firmissimé Quod fides habet fundatissimâ auctoritate firmata quia Christus mortuus est secundum scripturas et caetera quae de illo testante veritate conscripta sunt in quibus etiam hoc est quod apud Inferos fuit solutis eorū doloribus quibus eū erat impossibile teneri Let vs hold most firmly y t which y e faith containeth confirmed with most assured authority that Christ died according to the scriptures the rest y t is written of him by the testimony of the truth amongst y e which this is also to be nūbred y t he was in hel dissoluing y e pains therof Of which it was impossible he shuld be held Thus far doth Austen vrge the very articles of our faith confirmed by the scriptures that maketh him infer who then but an infidel wil deny that Christ was in hell But when he commeth to the second point of deliuering some from hel that were in the paines thereof he tempereth his stile and saith à quibus recte intelligitur soluisse liberasse quos voluit from which paines Christ may well be conceaued to haue loosed and deliuered whom he would that which Peter saith loosing the sorrowes of hel accipi potest in quibusdā may be vnderstood of some whom he thought worthy to be deliuered For which since there can bee no sure proofe brought out of the worde of trueth we shall doe best to giue eare to his owne aduise in the like case Ergo fratres siue illud siue istud sit hîc me scrutatorem verbi dei non temerarium affirmatorem teneatis Therefore brethren whether this or that bee it heere take me as a searcher of the word of God and not as a rash affirmer All the defence that may be made out of the Scriptures that Christ deliuered some of the saints out of the present possession and power of hell is that which is written in the gospell of Saint Matthew touching the bodies of the saintes rising from death When Iesus yéelded vp the ghost Behold the vaile of the temple rent in twaine and the earth did quake and the stones did cleaue and the graues did open themselues and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose and came out of the graues after his resurrection and went into the holy cittie and appeared to many The death of the bodie as it is parte of the wages of sinne so is it the gate of hell and the Diuell is saide in the scriptures to haue the power thereof So that howsoeuer the soules of the iust were in the handes of God and at rest in Abrahams bosom their bodies lying dead in the graue rotten with corruption were within Satans walke and when Christ raised them out of their sepulchers to an happie life he tooke them from the power of darknes and translated them into the kingdome of light Death is an enemie though the last that shall be destroied and death as well as hell shall be cast into the lake of fire and therefore Christ tooke the keyes both of death and of hell and by his rising from the dead insulted against both ô death where is thy sting ô hell where is thy victory It is the force of sinne that killeth the bodie and likewise the force of sinne that rotteth the bodie sinne being the strength of hell against bodie and soule As then our soules are freed from the power of hell when our sinnes are remitted so our bodies are deliuered from the handfast of hel when corruption the consequent of sinne is abolished In this sense it may bee saide that Christ deliuered some from the power of hell that is their bodies from the sepulchers where they laie turned into dust For by death and corruption the sinnefull flesh of man is till the resurrection subiected to the range of Satan hee beeing the Prince of the ayre and gouernour of darknesse and ruler of death Saint Austen doubteth whether those bodies of the saints were wholie freed from corruption or laie down againe in death after they had giuen witnesse to Christs resurrection Scio quibusdam videri morte domini Christi iam talem resurrectionem praestitā iustis qualis nobis in fine promittitur Qui vtique si non iterum repositis corporibus dormierunt videndum est quemadmodum Christus intelligatur primogenitus a mortuis si eum in illa resurrectione tot praecesserunt I know saith Austen some thinke that at the death of the Lord Christ the same kind of resurrection was performed to the iust which is promised to vs in the ende of the worlde but if they slept not againe by laying downe their bodies we must looke howe Christ can be vnderstood to be the first borne of the dead if so many went before him in that resurrection But his reasons are of no such force as to perswade that the bodies of the saintes which rose with Christ slept