And as for those Words of _Peter_ aforenamed, where he saith, _Christ
was put to Death in the Flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which
also he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison, which sometime
were Disobedient, when once the Long-suffering of God waited in the Days
of_ Noah, _while the Ark was a preparing, &c._
The Meaning of those Words are as followeth; that Christ was put to
Death in the Body of his own Flesh, this is confessed by most People
that profess the Scriptures of Truth, but very few do truly believe,
that the Soul or Spirit of Christ did die, or was put to Death at all,
notwithstanding the Scripture saith, that _He poured out his Soul unto
Death_; and he himself saith, _His Soul was heavy unto Death_. Therefore
that the Reader may understand what is meant in that Christ was put to
Death in the Flesh but quickened by the Spirit; mind,
I declare, that it was the Soul or Spirit of Christ, which was the
Godhead-life that dwelt in that Body of Flesh and Bone of Christ; for,
as the Scripture saith, _In him all the Fulness of the Godhead dwelt
Bodily_: And this Godhead-life that dwelt in the Body of Christ's Flesh,
it was put to Death in the Body of Christ's Flesh, and the same
Godhead-life that was put to Death in the Body of his Flesh. And when
Christ's Body was crucified upon the Cross, then was the Soul and Life
of Christ, or the Godhead-life did die, and was put to Death in that
Flesh of Christ; for that Flesh of Christ was God become Flesh, as the
Scripture saith; and the Soul and Life of Christ was the Soul and Life
of God. And,
When Christ poured out his Soul unto Death, it was the Godhead Life that
was poured out unto Death; so that the Godhead Spirit was put to Death,
and did die in the Flesh of Christ when he was Crucified. But this
Godhead Life which was put to Death in the Flesh of Christ, it quicken'd
again where it was put to Death, even in the same Flesh where it was put
to Death. And in its quickening again, it raised the same Flesh again,
and so spiritualized the same Flesh that suffered, and made it uncapable
to suffer Death any more.
For this I say, no Spirit or Life that is put to Death whatsoever, could
possibly quicken again in the same Body, but the Life of God only, so
that Christ must needs be God as well as Man; for it was Christ that was
put to Death in the Flesh, and the same Life that was put to Death, and
did die, that which did die did quicken again, and so is called a
quickening Spirit.
Now observe, it cannot properly be called a quickening Spirit, if it had
not been once dead: For if the Spirit and Life of Christ did not die,
nor was not dead, then I say, there was no need that this Spirit and
Life, should quicken again, for it was always quick and alive.
For the Spirit quickening doth imply, a sensible Life is quickned out of
an insensible Life; as a Child in the Womb before it is quick, it
feeleth no Pain, neither doth it stir in the Womb, and the Midwife doth
not care to destroy it to save the Womans Life, because the Child was
not quick, it was an insensible Life, no more capable of Pain then there
is in Death, or a dead Lump of Earth; but when a Child is quick in the
Womb, it is capable of Pain, though it hath not Strength to express it
to us that are strong, yet it is capable of Pain, because it is
quickened into a sensible Life, that is, a living Soul, a living Spirit,
and so may be called a quickened Spirit of Life, out of that which was
dead; yet by the Appointment of God in his Creation, and the Warmness of
the Womb, there is new Life or Spirit doth quicken in the Womb in its
Season, according to the Appointment of God when he created all Things,
and placed a Law of Generation in them.
So likewise the Spirit or Life of Christ was put to Death in his own
Body of Flesh, as aforesaid; and in its Season he himself had appointed
before, namely three Days and three Nights, this Spirit of Christ so put
to Death, it quickened again in the same Flesh a new and Glorious Life,
which made that Flesh that suffered Glorious also.
And this is the true Interpretation of _Peter's_ Words, and the Faith of
all true Believers, that the Spirit, Life, and Soul of Christ did die,
and was put to Death in the Body of his own Flesh, that was Crucified on
the Cross by the Jews; and that the same Spirit that was put to Death,
it did quicken again out of Death into a new and Glorious Life by his
own Power, therefore called a quickening Spirit.
So that here is no Ground at all for that vain Conceit in People, who do
believe that Spirits may be raised without Bodies, or appear without
Bodies, but altogether to the contrary. And as for that saying of
_Peter_, _By which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison,
which sometime were disobedient, when once the Long-suffering of God
waited in the Days of_ Noah _while the Ark was a preparing_.
These Words do seem to carry some shew, as if the quickening Spirit of
Christ, after he was risen from the Dead, or in the time he did lie in
the Grave, as if his Spirit in that Interim of Time went into some local
Place where Spirits were in Prison without Bodies, to preach unto them,
who had been Disobedient in the Days of _Noah_: This is the vain Conceit
of most People from those Words of _Peter_, who saith, _By which he went
and preached unto the Spirits in Prison_, as if the Spirits of the
Disobedient People in the Days of _Noah_ had been in Prison in some
local Place in the Earth without Bodies, who had been departed in the
Days of _Noah_, in the Destruction of the World by Water.
This the Imagination of Reason in Man doth imagine, that Spirits may be
shut up in Prison without Bodies, and that the quickening Spirit Christ
might Preach unto them without a Body.
But the true Light and Revelation of faith doth know to the contrary,
that no Spirits can have any Being at all without Bodies, neither of
God, Angels, nor Man, nor no other living Creature, who hath the Breath
of Life in it.
But to give the Interpretation of this Scripture, that the Reader may
understand, it is thus; the Spirit of Christ, that quickened from the
Dead to Life again, I say, is the same Spirit that preached to the
Spirits in Prison in the Days of _Noah_, and the Spirits of the
disobedient World were in Prison in their own Bodies in the Days of
_Noah_, as they were when Christ came upon Earth, for then he opened the
Prison to them that were bound, by preaching Glad-tidings of Freedom to
those that were bound, and Liberty to those Spirits that were in
Captivity.
Now (as I said before) this Captivity is Spiritual Captivity, and to be
bound and in Prison, it is meant a Spiritual Imprisonment in the Mind,
and not a natural Imprisonment of the Body. And this I say, the very
same Spirit of Christ that preached to the Jews when he was upon Earth,
did preach to the old World in the Days of _Noah_, though in a twofold
Manner.
And as the Spirits of Men were in Prison in their own Ignorance,
Blindness and Darkness of Understandings, in that they were led Captives
and Prisoners by their wicked and unnatural Lusts in the Days of _Noah_:
So were both Jews and Gentiles in the Days of Christ when on Earth,
their Spirits were led Captive, and into the Prison of Unbelief and
Persecution of the Lord of Life, in that their Fathers persecuted the
Lord's Prophets and Messengers he did send; so did these Jews persecute
the Lord himself, when he preached to their Spirits that were in Prison,
and led Captives by their wicked murdering Wills into the Prison of
Unbelief; for he did preach when on Earth, that whosoever did believe in
him should be saved. And as many as did truly believe in him, their
Spirits were brought out of that Captivity of Unbelief, and out of the
Prison of Darkness in the Mind, into a glorious Liberty and Light of
Life Eternal. And thus did the preaching of Christ Spirit deliver many
Spirits of Men and Women out of Prison, in the Days when he was upon
Earth.
So likewise this quickening Spirit of Christ, it preached unto the
Spirits in Prison in the Days of _Noah_. And why were their Spirits in
Prison in the Days of _Noah_? Because they were disobedient. And how may
they be said to be disobedient? Because they did not believe that good
Man _Noah_, who was a Preacher of Righteousness. And how did he preach
Righteousness unto that wicked People? In that he prepared the Ark, and
being so many as a hundred Years in building, all that while God is said
to wait for their Repentance, and that they might believe that God would
destroy the World by Water.
But instead of Repentance and believing they hardened their Hearts, and
mocked at _Noah_ and the Ark; so that while the Ark was preparing, God
waited for the People's Repentance; and all that while that _Noah_ was
building he preached to the People, that the World would be drowned.
And the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of God which was put to
Death in the Flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which he went and
preached unto the Spirits in Prison in the Days of _Noah_, it was the
same Spirit that instructed _Noah_ to build the Ark; so that the
building of the Ark by _Noah_, he being a Preacher of Righteousness, in
that he believed God, and built it as the Spirit of God had commanded
and instructed him; as God did _Moses_, shewed him the Pattern of the
Tabernacle in the Mount.
And in as much as _Noah_ did obey the Commandment of the Lord, according
as the Spirit of the Lord did reveal unto him, _Noah_ may be said to be
a Preacher of Righteousness; and he doing all things by Inspiration of
the Spirit of Christ, which was not at that time made of Flesh, but in
the Fulness of time became pure humane Flesh, and suffered the Pains of
Death. And the same Spirit that suffered Death, that very same Spirit
that quickened, was that Spirit that preached to the Spirits in Prison
in the Days of _Noah_, as aforesaid.
And the making of the Ark by the Inspiration of God's Spirit in the
Sight of the People, who were in Prison in Ignorance and Darkness of
Mind, is called by the Revelation of Faith, _A preaching to the Spirits
in Prison_: So that the Spirit of God in _Noah_ may be said to preach
unto those Spirits in Prison, in the Days of _Noah_, and that there was
but eight Persons saved from the Flood.
So that this Place of Scripture doth no way prove, that the Spirit of
Christ did ever preach to Spirits in Prison without Bodies; neither did
Christ's Spirit preach in the Days of _Noah_ without a Body; for he
always preached with a Body himself, or else chose Men that have Bodies,
and gave them Power to preach to Spirits in Prison, and to deliver the
Captives, and to set the Prisoner at Liberty, and the bound in Prison to
go free.
So that the Reader may see how and in what Manner the Spirit of Christ
did preach unto the Spirits in Prison in the Days of _Noah_, and how
their Spirits may be said to be in Prison, and how their Unbelief in the
Days of _Noah_ was called Disobedience, to the preaching of _Noah_ all
that while the Ark was building. And being built by the Inspiration of
the Spirit of God, it may and is called the preaching of Christ's Spirit
to them that were in Prison in Spiritual Darkness in their Minds; for
their Minds being darkened, they did those Things that were unseemly;
yea, unnatural as the People of _Sodom_ did. Now, were not the Spirits
of these People in Prison, and led Captive of those unnatural Lusts, I
think no sober Man will deny; yet these were those Spirits in Prison
that Christ's Spirit preach unto in the Body of _Noah_, in the Days of
_Noah_; and that there was but eight Persons in the Days of _Noah_, that
were saved from the Destruction by Water, by the preaching of that
Spirit of God in _Noah_. This is the true Interpretation and Meaning of
those Words of _Peter_ the Apostle aforementioned; and how the Spirit of
Christ went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison in the Days of
_Noah_.