Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	church_n	true_a	truth_n	3,714	5	6.3516	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60518	A letter from Mr. Richard Smith to Dr. Henry Hammond, concerning the sence of that article in the creed, He descended into hell, together with Dr. Hammond's answer.	Smith, Richard, 1566-1655.; Hammond, Henry, 1605-1660.	1684 (1684)	Wing S4154; ESTC R2952	16,798	98

rather with more reason for the unity of the Church worthy to be exploded Answer If it were certain That such an Exposition of Christs Descension into Hell the place of the damned as is before suggested were the true sense and meaning of the said Article of the Creed there would be no reason to leave that ancient Exposition for a new but rather a necessity to subscribe to it and acknowledge it as the true and proper sense of that Article But such Interpretation being questionable dubious and contradicted by many other different Opinions of learned and pious men though of later times the probability or possibility only of the truth of that former Opinion though never so strongly backt by learned pious and Orthodox Fathers and Doctors who may and have had their failings cannot bind the Consciences of other men unto an implicite Faith but they may be at liberty to adhere unto such an Opinion though lately published which may by the judgment of other learned Orthodox Christians compared with the sacred Scriptures savour in their apprehension of more probability of the true sense of that Article than the former Opinion It may peradventure be likewise objected That if this Opinion of Mr. Selden's had been intended by the Composers of the Creed it is likely that the time of such descension into the Grave would have been expressed in that Article as well as the time in the Article of the Resurrection Answer The time of the descension into Hell the place of the damned is not set down in the Article the knowledge whereof would have been as necessary as of this and which is far more intricate to discover than this is and therefore if the time of the descension had been thought material it is likely it would not have been omitted being a point controverted but in this other Exposition it is not so requisite to be set down for that the punctual time of his descension into the Grave is apparent to be at the very instant time of the Resurrection being both acted together as one individual Article in a moment of time For by an old Tradition as some say The division of the twelve Articles of the Creed was first made by the twelve Apostles every one say they setting down one single Article wherein this Article made as goes the report by S. Thomas the Apostle Descendit ad Inferos tertio die resurrexit containing both the descension and the Resurrection is joyned together in one Article and therefore not improperly it may be thence inferred that as they were made at first one Article joyntly so the time of the descension of Christs Soul into Hell or the Grave and of his Resurrection were both at one time and the time of the Resurrection is rather mentioned than of the descension into the Grave to fulfil the Scriptures which mention the time of the Resurrection but not of the descension yet the Lutherans guess at a time when he descended into Hell the place of the damned which was as they say between his Burial and Resurrection in body and soul for they will have it to be after his Burial and before his Resurrection that it might concur with the Order of the place thereof in the Creed which is between his Burial and Resurrection And others think wresting Psalm 119. v. 62. to their purpose That he descended thither in body and soul about Midnight and rose again about five of the Clock the next Morning Cramerus de Descensu Christi Cap. 5. Now Sir my request to you is that you will vouchsafe me your Opinion on which I much relye concerning this Opinion of Mr. Selden which I have opened unto you I hope you shall not find me averse from Reason though I may incline happily to one side more than to another till my Judgment be better informed I have perused some principal places of Scripture cited for confirmation of the Opinion of the local Descent of Christ into Hell noted here in the Margent I have likewise taken notice of several Opinions of the Calvinists and others touching that Article with Answers thereunto all which being well known unto you would be tedious to recite at large wherein I observe that some Opinions are more probable and come nearer to the truth in all likelihood than others But those and all others being but Opinions and not undeniable Truths some more probable than others I know not among so great Variety which one Opinion solely to fasten on for as I said there is but one Truth which cannot consist in contradictions or variable Expositions but to find out that one Truth hic labor hoc opus est I confess I have been too bold with you being as I conceive a stranger to you howsoever an illiterate Old man not worthy of your acquaintance yet a well wisher to Learning and though no Philosopher yet a lover of Wisdom and Wise men I should not have adventured to have been thus bold with you but by the perswasion of Mr. Royston Bookseller my Friend and old Acquaintance and one that I presume will acknowledge himself obliged unto you for real Courtesies If I have been too troublesome to you as I confess I have Mr. Royston must bear part of the punishment being accessary ante factum Thus with my love and respects unto you I commit you to the Almighty resting Your affectionate Friend and Servant R. Smith Little More-fields April 1659. Indorsed To his much Honoured and Reverend Friend Dr. Henry Hammond Dr. HAMMOND's ANSWER TO Mr. SMITH's LETTER SIR TO your Proposal I offer my sense in the Method you have used And first to your suggestion from Athanasius's Creed that without a right understanding of this and all other Articles a man cannot be saved It is sufficient that I mind you That as there is nothing said in the Nicene Creed in lieu of this Article so there is no word of Explication of it in the Athanasian The former Articles concerning the Trinity and Christ incarnate God-man which had been invaded by Hereticks are there largely explained and 't is reasonable thence to say that the right understanding of them such as is there set down and which false Teachers had opposed was strictly required of all men by authority of all those Universal Councils which had thus defined sub Anathemate or pain of Heresie and which that Athanasian Creed recited But for other Articles though it require the believing of them yet not giving any limited sence of them it binds not to what it hath not declared i. e. to any other determinate sence of them which seemeth to me to leave it free and dangerless to use all sober means that search of Scripture or Tradition together with the use of the words especially in the sacred Dialect can help us to for the finding out and resolving the true or if there be a competition of more possible the probablest meaning of it To

A LETTER FROM Mr. RICHARD SMITH TO Dr. HENRY HAMMOND CONCERNING The Sence of that Article in the CREED He descended into Hell Together with Dr. Hammond's Answer LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-yard 1684. TO THE READER THESE two Letters are no spurious things obtruded upon the Names of the Worthy Persons betwixt whom they passed as some have shamefully done of late with the Reverend Author of the Whole Duty of Man and some Others but are real and genuine They were found in the Study of Mr. Richard Smith a Gentleman well known to most of the Learned of his time amongst many other choice Papers which he had carefully collected and laid up with a more than ordinary regard and are now made publick with Advice R. Chiswell Reverend SIR TAKING notice not long ago of the various Expositions of learned Men of the Sence of the Article of the Creed of Christs Descension into Hell and therewithal considering that the right understanding of that Article as well as of any of the rest is of such concernment that if we believe Athanasius's Creed Whosoever doth not believe it with the other Articles therein contained he cannot be saved I made more diligent Inquisition hereinto which having done by perusal of the Works of divers Writers and Expositors of the Creed the Arguments Reasons and Testimonies produced by them to justifie their several Opinions of the true meaning of this Article seemed to me to be much contradictory obscure and uncertain so that I could not resolve how any man confidently or assuredly could fix a firm Belief or relye upon any one of those different Expositions cashiering all the rest which must be done there being but one Truth to insist upon for to believe this or that is to believe we know not what Thus being not able to give my self any satisfaction herein at last I called to my remembrance that once it was told me that Mr. John Selden that learned Lawyer and famous Antiquary now in Abraham's bosome held a singular Opinion of his own touching this Article different from all others much afterwards approved by many judicious Men Hereupon for my own satisfaction being desirous to know what was his Opinion herein I went purposely unto him to be resolved thereof who freely at my request declared to me his Opinion thereof which was this That by these words in the Creed He descended into Hell was meant that the Soul of Christ resting in Heaven whither it went immediately after his death like as we believe all the Souls of the faithful do making good his promise to the good Thief on the Cross saying to him To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luk. 23. 43 That Soul of Christ I say the third day after his Body had lyen interred in the Grave according to Christs prediction and application of the Prophet Jonas lying three days and three nights in the Whales belly Matt. 12. 40. did descend from Heaven into Hell that is into the Grave usually in the Scripture call'd Hell and then uniting it self to his Body did quicken and raise it up again from the dead or place of the dead which was the Grave unto life in an instant all which is undeniable herein fulfilling the Prophecy of King David Psal 16. 10. though otherwise expounded Thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption Which place of Scripture granting that by this word Hell in the Creed is meant the Grave as the Original will carry it may very aptly be applied to this Descension into the Grave thus It cannot be denied but that his Soul was in the Grave in his Body the third day after his burial descending thither to raise it up again to life for without the Soul the dead Body of it self naturally could not move nor remove and so the Soul being thus descended into Hell or the Grave was not left there at all as it must be granted by them of the other Opinion that it was left in Hell the place of the Damned though for no long time For if it had continued any space of time in the Grave termed Hell it so continuing there though never so little time might have been said to have for that time been left there and so this Prophecy in that point had not been fulfilled But I think no man will deny that the Soul so soon as ever it descended into Hell or the Grave into the Body there lying both Soul and Body without any staying there was not left there but in the twinkling of an Eye being united together immediately rose again from the Dead that is from the Grave the place of the Dead and so I say was not left at all in Hell that is in the Grave Whereby the Prophecy in this point in leaving the Soul in Hell was upon the Resurrection fulfilled The last part of the Verse of this Psalm is also fulfilled by the raising of the Body incorrupt by the power of the Deity of which there is no Question or Scruple made In this Opinion of Mr. Selden's granting the word Hell to signify the Grave there is no Tautologie or twice re-iteration of the self same thing no acurologie or impropriety contradiction or absurdity no hysteron-proteron no disorder in the position of it in the Creed but placed orderly in its proper place according to the Series of the Creed nor is it involved in any Mystical Sense Trope or Figure unmeet for an Article of our Faith But it is a true and Orthodox Opinion according to the Exposition thereof plain and easie to be understood of the meanest Capacity Moreover I observe that there may be a considerable use made thereof thus expounded according to Mr. Selden's Opinion to wit That hereby is manifested the Re-union of Christ's Soul unto his Body in the Grave at or immediately before his Resurrection with the time and maner thereof which in no other Article of the Creed not yet in any plain place of the Scripture that I remember not having a various Exposition is directly averred Now besides the several Texts of Scriptures produced for proof of this Opinion of Christs Descension into Hell the place of the Damned variously expounded the constant belief and profession of the Catholick Church for many Ages hitherto and the Opinions and Judgments of many of the ancient Orthodox Fathers and learned and pious Doctors of the Primitive times agreeing unanimously in the same Opinion are strongly urged in behalf of that Opinion which are not easily to be expunged thereby inferring That say they to introduce a new Opinion of yesterday's standing into an Article of our Faith never heard of before against and disagreeing with the general Opinion of the Church throughout all Ages hitherto observed might prove a matter of very ill consequence and breed much disturbance and confusion in the Church not to be approved of by discreet rational men but