tians wholly abstained from consuming the dead bodies with fire, and followed the example of our Saviour's funeral,* making use of precious ointments for the dead, which they refused while they lived, and spending the spices of Arabia in their graves. The description of the persons who interred Christ, and the enumeration of their virtues, and the everlasting commendation of her who brake the box of precious ointment for his burial, have been thought sufficient grounds and encouragements for the careful and decent sepulture of Christians. For as natural reason will teach us to give some kind of respect unto the bodies of men, though dead, in reference to the souls which formerly inhabited them; so, and much more, the followers of our Saviour, while they looked upon our bodies as living "temples of the Holy Ghost,” (1 Cor. vi. 19.) and "bought" by Christ, (2 Pet. ii. 1.) to be made one day "like unto his glorious body," (Phil. iii. 21.) they thought them no ways to be neglected after death,§ but carefully to sime exurit, quos postmodum gulosissime nutrit, iisdem ignibus et promerens et offendens. O pietatem de crudelitate. ludentem! sacrificet, an insultet, cum crematis cremat?' Idem de Resur. Carn. c. 1.

*The heathens objected it to the primitive Christians: Reservatis unguenta funeribus.' Minutius Fel. c. 12. And Tertullian confesseth it: Thura plane non emimus. Si Arabiæ queruntur, sciant Sabæi pluris et cariores suas merces Christianis sepeliendis profligari, quam Diis fumigandis.” Apol. c. 42. And speaking of spices, lib. de Idololat. c. 11. Etiam hominibus ad pigmenta medicinalia, nobis quoque insuper ad solatia sepulturæ usui sunt.' So Clemens Αlex. Μυρίζονται οἱ γὰρ νεκροί· and again: Αἱ γὰρ ὑπέρμετροι χρίσεις τῶν μύρων κηδείας, οὐ συμβιώσεως ἀποπνέουσιν. Pædag. 1. ii. c. 8.

+ Ipse Dominus die tertio resurrecturus religiosa mulieris bonum opus prædicat, prædicandumque commendat, quod unguentum pretiosum super membra ejus effuderit, atque hoc ad

eum sepeliendum fecerit. Et laudabiliter commemorantur in Evangelio, qui corpus ejus de cruce acceptum diligenter atque honorifice tegendum sepeliendumque curarunt. Verum istæ auctoritates non hoc admonent, quod insit ullus cadaveribus sensus: sed ad Dei providentiam, cui placent etiam talia pietatis officia, corpora quoque mortuorum pertinere significant, propter fidem resurrectionis adstruendam.' S. August. de Civitate Dei, l. i. c. 13.

† Οὐδὲν δὲ λυπεῖ ἡμᾶς, οὐδὲ τὸ ὑπὸ Ηρακλείτου λεγόμενον, ὅπερ Κέλσος, παρείληφεν, ὅτι νέκυές εἰσι κοπρίων ἐκβλητότεροι, καίτοιγε εἴποι τις ἂν καὶ περὶ τούτου, ὅτι τὰ μὲν κόπρια ἔκβλητά ἐστιν, οἱ δ ̓ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων νέκυες, διὰ τὴν ἐνοικήσασαν ψυχὴν, καὶ μάλιστα ἐὰν ᾖ ἀστειοτέρα, οὐκ ἔκβλητοι. Κατὰ γὰρ τοὺς ἀστειοτέρους τῶν νόμων, μετὰ τῆς ἐνδεχομένης ὡς πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα τιμῆς, ταφῆς ἀξιοῦται· ἵνα μὴ ὑβρίζωμεν τῇ δυνάμει τὴν ἐνοικήσασαν ψυχὴν ἀποῤῥιπτοῦντες, μετὰ τὸ ἐξελθεῖν αὐτὴν, τὸ σῶμα, ὡς καὶ rà rõv krηvwv owμara. Orig. adv. Celsum, l. v. §. 24.

Νεμεσσῶμαί γε μὲν οὐδὲν

Κλαίειν, ὅς κε θάνῃσι βροτῶν καὶ πότμον ἐπίσπη.
Τοῦτό νυ καὶ γέρας οἷον διζυροῖσι βροτοῖσι,

Κείρασθαί τε κόμην, βαλέειν τ ̓ ἀπὸ δάκρυ παρειῶν.—Odyss. Δ. 195.

Nec ideo tamen contemnenda carius est posteris, quanto erga paet abjicienda sunt corpora defunctorum, maximeque justorum atque fidelium, quibus tanquam organis et vasis ad omnia bona opera sanctus usus est Spiritus. Si enim paterna vestis et annulus, ac si quid hujusmodi tanto

rentes major exstitit affectus; nullo modo ipsa spernenda sunt corpora, quæ utique multo familiarius atque conjunctius quam quælibet indumenta gestamus. Hæc enim non ad ornamentum vel adjutorium, quod adhibe

be laid up in the wardrobe of the grave, with such due respect as might become the honour of the dead, and comfort of the living. And the decent custom of the primitive Christians was so acceptable unto God, that by his providence it proved most effectual in the conversion of the heathens and propagation of the Gospel.*

Thus I believe the only-begotten and eternal Son of God, for the confirmation of the truth of his death already past, and the verity of his resurrection from the dead suddenly to follow, had his body, according to the custom of the Jews, prepared for a funeral, bound up with linen clothes, and laid in spices; and after that accustomed preparation, deposited in a sepulchre hewn out of a rock, in which never man was laid before, and by rolling of a stone unto the door thereof, entombed there. Thus I believe that Christ WAS BURIED.

He descended into hell: the third day he rose again

from the dead.

THE former part of this Article, of the descent into hell, hath not been so anciently in the CREED,† or so universally, as the tur extrinsecus, sed ad ipsam naturam hominis, pertinent.' S. August. de Civit. Dei, l. i. c. 13. Ταῦτα τελέσας ὁ ἱεράρχης, ἀποτίθησιν ἐν οἴκῳ τιμίῳ τὸ σῶμα μεθ' ἑτέρων ὁμοταγῶν ἱερῶν σωμάτων. Εἰ γὰρ ἐν ψυχῇ καὶ σώματι τὴν Θεοφιλῇ ζωὴν ὁ κεκοιμημένος ἐβίῳ, τίμιον ἔσται μετὰ τῆς ὁσίας ψυχῆς καὶ τὸ συναθλῆσαν αὐτῇ σῶμα κατὰ τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἱδρῶτας, ἔνθεν ἡ θεία δικαιοσύνη μετὰ τοῦ σφετέρου σώματος αὐτῇ δωρεῖται τὰς ἀμοιβαίας λήξεις, ὡς ὁμοπορεύτῳ καὶ συμμετόχῳ τῆς ὁσίας ἢ τῆς ἐναντίας ζωῆς. Dionys. Eccl. Hierarch, e. 7. Propter patrem militiam Christi deseram, cui sepulturam Christi causa non debeo, quam etiam omnibus ejus causa debeo ? S. Hieron. Epist. 5. al.1. ad Heliodorum, de Laud. Vit. Sol. c. 3. * This was observed by Julian the apostate, who, writing to an idolatrous high-priest, puts him in mind of those things by which he thought the Chris tians gained upon the world, and recommends them to the practice of the heathen priests. Of these he reckons three; the gravity of their carriage, their kindness to strangers, and their care for the burial of the dead. Τί οὖν ἡμεῖς οἰόμεθα ταῦτα ἀρκεῖν, οὐδ ̓ ἀποβλέ

πομεν ὃ μάλιστα τὴν ἀθεότητα (so he calls Christianity, because they rejected all the heathen gods) συνηύξησεν, ἡ περὶ τοὺς ξένους φιλανθρωπία, καὶ περὶ τὰς ταφὰς τῶν νεκρῶν προμήθεια, καὶ ἡ πεπλασμένη σεμνότης κατὰ τὸν βίον; ὧν ἕκαστον οἴομαι χρῆναι παρ' ἡμῶν ἀληθῶς ἐπιτηδεύεσθαι. Epist. 49. ad Arsacium. And as Julian observed the care of burial as a great encouragement to the heathens to turn Christians, so Gregory Nazianzen did observe the same to the great dishonour of the apostate, comparing his funeral with his predecessors. . 'O μèv yàp (that is Constantius) παραπέμπεται πανδήμοις εὐφημίαις τε καὶ πομπαῖς, καὶ τούτοις δὲ τοῖς ἡμετέροις σεμνοῖς, ᾠδαῖς παννύ χοις καὶ δαδουχίαις, αἷς Χριστιανοὶ τιμᾶν μετάστασιν εὐσεβῆ νομίζομεν· καὶ γίνε ται πανήγυρις μετὰ πάθους ἡ ἐκκομιδὴ τοῦ σώματος. Orat. iv. in Jul. ii. p. 118. But as for Julian: Μῖμοι γελοίων ἦγον αὐτὸν, καὶ τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς αἴσχεσιν ἐπομπεύετο- -ἕως ἡ Ταρσέων αὐτὸν ὑποδέχεται πόλις- —ἔνθα δέ οἱ τέμενος ἄτιμον, καὶ τάφος ἐξάγιστος καὶ ἀπόπτυστος, καὶ οὐδὲ θεατὸς εὐσεβῶν ὄψεσι. Ibid. p. 119, 120.

† First, It is to be observed, that

rest. The first place we find it used in, was the Church of Aquileia; and the time we are sure it was used in the Creed of that church was less than 400 years after Christ. After that it came into the Roman Creed,* and others,+ and hath been acknowledged as a part of the Apostles' Creed ever since. Indeed, the descent into hell hath always been accepted, nos, attributed to St. Augustin; not in that which is expounded by Maximus Taurinensis, nor in that so often interpreted by Petrus Chrysologus; [Yet in the 2d Homily of Maximus De passione et cruce et sepultura Domini, we read: Post illam nativitatem (scil. de utero Virg. Mariæ) ad inferos descenditur, post hanc (scil. de sepulcro) remeatur ad coelos.' And in the 60th Sermon, or 4th in Symbolum Apostolorum, of Pet.Chrysologus:

Sepultum dicis, ut veram carnem Christi, mortemque non perfunctoriam probet confessio sepulturæ, mortem suscepisse et vicisse, intrasse inferos et rediisse, venisse in jura tartari, et tartari jura solvise, non est fragilitas, sed potestas. Ed. Theo. Raunaud. Lugd. 1633. Editor.] nor in that of the Church of Antioch, delivered by Cassianus, De Incarn. 1. vi, c. 3. neither is it to be seen in the MS. Creeds set forth by the learned Archbishop of Armagh. Indeed, it is affirmed by Ruffinus, that in his time it was neither in the Roman nor in the Oriental Creeds: 'Sciendum sane est, quod in Ecclesiæ Romanæ Symbolo non habetur additum, descendit ad inferna; sed neque in Orientis Ecclesiis habetur hic sermo.' Ruff. in Exposit. Symboli, §. 20. It is certain therefore (nor can we disprove it by any acknowledged evidence of antiquity) that the Article of the descent into hell was not in the Roman or any of the Oriental Creeds.

the descent into hell was not in the ancient creeds or rules of faith. Some tell us that it was not in the confession of Ignatius Epist. ad Magnes. But indeed there is no confession of faith in that Epistle; for what is read there was thrust in out of Clemens's Constitutions. In like manner, in vain is it objected that it was omitted by Polycarp, Clemens Romanus, and Justin Martyr, because they have not pretended any rule of faith or Creed of their times. But that which is material in this cause, it is not to be found in the rules of faith delivered by Irenæus, l. i. c. 2. by Origen, I. Tepi ȧpxwv, in Procem. or by Tertullian, adv. Praxeam, c. 2. De Virg. veland. c. 1. De Præscript. adv. Hæret, c. 13. It is not expressed in those Creeds which were made by the Councils as larger explications of the Apostles' Creed: not in the Nicene or Constantinopolitan, not in that of Ephesus or Chalcedon; not in those confessions made at Sardica, Antioch, Seleucia, Sirmium, &c. It is not mentioned in several confessions of faith delivered by particular persons: not in that of Eusebius Cæsariensis, presented to the Council of Nice, Theodoret. Hist. Eccles. I. i. c. 2. not in that of Marcellus, bishop of Ancyra, delivered to Pope Julius, S. Epiphan. Hær. lxxii. §. 11. not in that of Arius and Euzoius, presented to Constantine, Socrat. I. i. c. 26. not in that of Acacius, bishop of Cæsarea, delivered in to the Synod of Seleucia, Socrat. 1. ii. c. 40. not in that of Eustathius, Theophilus, and Silvanus, sent to Liberius, Socrat. I. iv. c. 12. There is no mention of it in the Creed of St. Basil, Tract. de Fide, in Asceticis, c. 4.; in the Creed of Epiphanius, in Ancorato, §. 120. Gelasius, in Biblioth. Patr. Lat. t. v. par. 3. p. 669. Damasus, inter. Op. S. Hieron. t. v. p. 122. Macarius, in Hom. &c. It is not in the Creed expounded by St. Cyril (though some have produced that Creed to prove it), it is not in the Creed expounded + As in the Creed attributed to St. by St. Augustin, De Fide et Symbolo; Athanasius, which though we cannot not in that De Symbolo ad Catechume- say was his, yet we know was extant

That the descent into hell came afterwards into the Roman Creed appeareth, not only because we find it there of late, but because we find it often in the Latin Church many ages since: as in that produced by Etherius against Elipandus in the year 785, in the 115th al. 241st sermon, de Tempore, falsely ascribed to St. Augustin, where it is attributed to St. Thomas the apostle; and in the exposition of the Creed falsely ascribed to St. Chrysostom.

but with a various exposition ;* and the Church of England at the Reformation, as it received the three Creeds, in two of which this Article is contained, so did it also make this one of the Articles of Religion, to which all who are admitted to any benefice, or received into holy orders, are obliged to subscribe, And at the first reception it was propounded with a certain explication, and thus delivered in the fourth year of King Edward the Sixth, with reference to an express place of Scripture interpreted of this descent: 'That the body of Christ lay in the grave until his resurrection; but his spirit, which he gave up, was with the spirits which were detained in prison, or in hell, and preached to them, as the place in St. Peter (1 Ep. iii. 19.) testifieth.' So likewise after the same manner in the CREED set forth in metre after the manner of a psalm, and still remaining at the end of the Psalms, the same exposition is delivered in this stave:

'And so he died in the flesh,
But quickened in the spirit:
His body then was buried,
As is our use and right.

His spirit did after this descend
Into the lower parts, -

Of them that long in darkness were,
The true light of their hearts.'

But in the Synod ten years after, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, the Articles, which continue still in force, deliver the same descent, but without any the least explication or reference to any particular place of Scripture, in these words: 'As Christ died for us and was buried, so also it is to be believed that he went down into hell.' Wherefore being our Church hath not now imposed that interpretation of St. Peter's words, which before it intimated; being it hath not delivered that as the only place of Scripture to found the descent into hell upon; being it hath alleged no other place to ground it, and delivered no other explication to expound it: we may with the greater liberty pass on to find out the true meaning of this Article, and to give our particular judgment in it, so far as a matter of so much obscurity and variety will permit.

First, then, it is to be observed, that as this Article was first in the Aquileian Creed, so it was delivered there not in the express and formal term of hell, but in such a word as may be about the year 600, by the epistle of Isidorus Hispalensis ad Claudium Ducem. It was also inserted into the Creed of the Council of Ariminum, Socrat. Hist. Eccl. 1. ii. c. 37. and of the fourth Council of Toledo, held in the year 633: and of the sixteenth Council of the same Toledo, held in the year 693.

* Quis nisi infidelis negaverit fuisse apud inferos Christum? S. August. Epist. 99. al. 164. §, 3.

+'Nam corpus usque ad resurrectionem in sepulcro jacuit; Spiritus ab illo emissus cum spiritibus qui in carcere sive in inferno detinebantur fuit, illisque prædicavit, ut testatur Petri locus,' &c. Articuli ann. 1552. Which place was also made use of in the Exposition of the Creed contained in the Catechism set forth by the authority of King Edward, in the seventh year of his reign. t Article III. 1562.

capable of a greater latitude, descendit in inferna:' which words as they were continued in other Creeds,* so did they find a double interpretation among the Greeks; some translating ́ ́inferna,' hell; others, the lower parts: the first with relation to St. Peter's words of Christ, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;" (Acts ii. 27.) the second referring to that of St. Paul, "He descended into the lower parts of the earth.” (Eph. iv. 9.)

Secondly, I observe that in the Aquileian Creed, where this Article was first expressed, there was no mention of Christ's burial; but the words of their confession ran thus: crucified under Pontius Pilate, he descended in inferna. From whence

Descendit in inferna, or ad inferna, is the general writing in the ancient MSS. as the learned Archbishop testifieth of those in the Benedictine and Cottonian Hibraries; to which I may add those in the library at Westminster: we see the same likewise in that of Elipandus, Descendit ad inferna. Which words are so recited in the Creed delivered in the Catechism set forth by the authority of Edward VI. An. Dom. 1553.

cording to the Greek composition, is nothing else but væоxdóvio. Etym. ̓́Ενεροι, οἱ νεκροὶ, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐν τῇ ἔρᾳ κεῖσθαι, ὅ ἐστιν, ἐν τῇ γῇ· and Suid. Ενέροις, νεκροῖς, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐν τῇ ἔρᾳ κεῖσθαι. "Epa is anciently the earth, from whence pale, xapale, to the earth: vepot then are in the earth, as they supposed the manes or spirits of the dead to be; from whence Homer, Iliad. O. 188.

̓Αΐδης ἐνέροισιν ἀνάσσων, of Pluto; and Hesiod, Theog. 850. Τρέσσ ̓ ̓Αΐδης ἐνέροισι καταφθιμένοισιν ἀνάσσων

+ So the ancient MSS. in Bennet college library, Κατελθόντα εἰς τὰ κατώτατα" and the confession made at Sirmium, εἰς τὰ καταχθόνια κατελθόν- and in imitation of them Eschylus in τα Since that it is Descendit ad in- Persis, v. 635. ed. Blomf. feros, and κατελθόντα εἰς ᾅδου, or De- Γῆτε, καὶ Ἑρμῆ, βασιλεύς τ' ἐνέρων, scendit ad infernum, as Venantius Πέμψατ' ἔνερθεν ψυχὴν εἰς φάος. Fortunatus. I. xi. art. 1. in Biblioth. Thus Evepoi are those which Eschylus Patr. Lat. t. vi. par. 2. p. 382. For rà elsewhere calls rovç yãç véplev et roùç κατώτατα is a fit interpretation, if we γῆς ἔνερθεν. And as ἔνεροι, the souls take inferna according to the vulgar of the dead in the earth, so are inferi etymology; as St. Augustin: Inferi, in the first acceptation; that is månes. eo quod infra sint, Latine appellantur.' Pomponius Mela, de Sit. Orb. I. i. De Gen. ad lit. 1. xii. c. 34. or as No- c. 9. Augylæ manes tantum Deos nius Marcellus, c. i. §. 221. ́ Inferum putant;' which Pliny delivers thus, ab imo dictum, unde inferi quibus Hist. Nat. l. v. c. 8. Augylæ inferos inferius nihil.' Again, inferna may tantum colunt ;' and Solinus, Polyhist. be well translated aons, if it be taken c. 31. Augylæ vero solos colunt inaccording to the true origination, feros.' Inferi were then first eveρol, which is from the Greek Evepot, with the souls of men in the earth: and as the Eolic digamma, from which dia- manes is not only put for the souls belect most of the Latin language came, low, but also for the place, as in the "EvFepos, inferni. Now ἔνεροι, ac- poet;

and

-Manesque profundi,

Virg. Georg. i. 243.

-Hæc manes veniat mihi fama sub imos;

so inferi is most frequently used for the place under ground where the souls departed are, and the inferna must then be those regions in which they take up their habitations. And so descendit ad inferna, кaτñλ0ɛv ɛiç adov, and descendit ad inferos, are the same.

En. iv. 387.

So are the words cited in Ruffinus: 'Crucifixus sub Pontio Pilato, descendit in inferna.' §. 16. And his observation upon them is this: Sciendum sane est, quod in Ecclesiæ Romanæ Symbolo non habetur additum, descendit ad inferna: sed nèque