were accepted in him while they lived, and by that acceptation had received a reward long before. If we look upon them who died in disobedience, and were in torments for their sins, they cannot appear to be proper objects for the Gospel preached. The rich man, whom we find in their condition, desired one might be sent from the dead to preach unto his brethren then alive, lest they also should come unto that place; but we find no hopes he had that any should come from them which were alive to preach to him. For if the living, who "heard not Moses and the prophets, would not be persuaded though one rose from the dead;" (Luke xvi. 31.) surely those who had been disobedient unto the prophets, should never be persuaded after they were dead.

Whether therefore we consider the authorities first introducing this opinion, which were apocryphal; or the testimonies of Scripture, forced and improbable; or the nature of this preaching, inconsistent with the Gospel; or the persons to whom Christ should be thought to preach (which, if dead in the faith and fear of God, wanted no such instruction; if departed in infidelity and disobedience, were unworthy and incapable of such a dispensation), this preaching of Christ to the spirits in prison cannot be admitted either as the end, or as the means proper to effect the end, of his descent into hell.

Nor is this preaching only to be rejected as a means to produce the effect of Christ's descent; but the effect itself pretended to be wrought thereby, whether in reference to the just or unjust, is by no means to be admitted. For though some of the ancients thought, as is shewn before, that Christ did therefore descend into hell, that he might deliver the souls of some which were tormented in those flames, and translate them to a place of happiness: yet this opinion deserveth no acceptance, neither in respect of the ground or foundation on which it is built, nor in respect of the action or effect itself. The authority upon which the strength of this doctrine doth rely, is that place of the Acts, (ii. 24.) whom God hath raised up, loosing the pains of hell, for so they read it; from whence the argument is thus deduced: God did loose the pains of hell when Christ was raised. But those pains did not take hold of Christ himself, who was not to suffer any thing after death; and consequently he could not be loosed from or taken out of those pains in which he never was: in the same manner the patriarchs and the prophets, and the saints of old, if they should be granted to have been in a place sometimes called hell, yet were they there in happiness, and therefore the delivering them from thence could not be the loosing of the pains of hell: it followeth then, that those alone who died in their sins were involved in those pains, and when those pains were loosed, then were they released; and being they were loosed when Christ was raised, the conséquence will be, that he, descend

ing into hell, delivered some of the damned souls from their torments there.

But, first, though the Latin translation render it so, the pains of hell; though some copies, and other translations, and divers of the fathers, read it in the same manner; yet the original and authentic Greek acknowledgeth no such word as hell, but propounds it plainly thus, whom God hath raised up, loosing the pains of death. Howsoever, if the words were so expressed in the original text, yet it would not follow that God delivered Christ out of those pains in which he was detained any time, much less that the soul of Christ delivered the souls of any other; but only that he was preserved from enduring them.+

us.

Again, as the authority is most uncertain, so is the doctrine most incongruous. The souls of men were never cast into infernal torments, to be delivered from them. The days which follow after death were never made for opportunities to a better life. The angels had one instant either to stand or fall eternally; and what that instant was to them, that this life is unto We e may as well believe the devils were saved, as those souls which were once tormented with them. For it is an "everlasting fire," (Matt. xxv. 41.) an "everlasting punishment," (Ibid. 46.) a "worm that dieth not." (Mark ix. 44.) Nor does this only belong to us who live after the death of Christ, as if the damnation of all sinners now were ineluctable and eternal, but before that death it were not so; as if faith and repentance were now indispensably necessary to salvation, but then were not. For thus the condition of mankind before the fulness of time, in which our Saviour came into The Vulgar Latin renders it thus, of Petrus Fraxardús, and two of the Quem Deus suscitavit, solutis dolo- sixteen copies which Robertus Steribus inferni: so also the Syriac, phanus made use of, read it adov.

And this mistake was very easy, for ושרא חבליה דשיול

So
some
of
the

ancient fathers read it: as Irenæus, 1. iii. c. 12. or rather his interpreter: Quem Deus excitavit, solutis doloribus inferorum:' Capreolus bishop of Carthage: "Resolvere, sicut scriptum est, inferorum parturitiones.' Epist. ad Vit. et Constant. p.48. and before these Polycarpus : Ὃν ἤγειρεν ὁ Θεὸς λύσας τὰς ὠδῖνας τοῦ ᾅδου· Quem resuscitavit Deus, dissolvens dolores inferni. Epist. ad Phil. §. 1. whom I suppose Grotius understood, when he cited Barnabas; and thus St. Augustin read it, and laid the stress of his interpretation upon this reading: Quia evidentia testimonia et infernum commemorant et dolores, &c.' Epist. 99. al. 164. §. 8. But in the original Greek it is generally written divas Oavárov, and in all these many copies of it, only that

in the eighteenth Psalm, verse the fifth, there is an wdives laváTov, and verse the sixth, San diveç adov. And we find twice in the Proverbs, xiv. 12. and xvi. 25. 7 translated veμέva ädov, and 2 Sam. xxii. 6. ban wiiνες θανάτου.

+ Quod si movet, quemadmodum accipiendum sit inferni ab illo solutos dolores (neque enim coeperat in eis esse tanquam in vinculis, et sic eos solvit tanquam si catenas solvisset quibus fuerat alligatus): facile est intelligere, sic eos solutos esse quemadmodum solvi possunt laquei venantium, ne teneant; non quia tenuerunt,' S. August. Epist. 99. al. 164. §. 3.

the world, should have been far more happy and advantageous than it hath been since.* But neither they nor we shall ever escape eternal flames, except we obtain the favour of God before we be swallowed by the jaws of death. "We must all

appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body:" (2 Cor. v. 10.) but if they be in a state of salvation now by the virtue of Christ's descent into hell, which were numbered among the damned before his death, at the day of the general judgment they must be returned into hell again; or if they be received then into eternal happiness, it will follow either that they were not justly condemned to those flames at first, according to the general dispensations of God, or else they did not receive the things done in their body at the last; which all shall as certainly receive as all appear. This life is given unto men to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, but after death cometh judgment, reflecting on the life that is past, not expecting amendment or conversion then. He that liveth and believeth in Christ shall never die; he that believeth though he die, yet shall he live; but he that dieth in unbelief, shall neither believe nor live. And this is as true of those which went before, as of those which came after our Saviour, because he was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. I therefore conclude, that the end for which the soul of Christ descended into hell, was not to deliver any damned souls, or to translate them from the torments of hell unto the joys of heaven.

The next consideration is, whether by virtue of his descent the souls of those which before believed in him, the patriarchs, prophets, and all the people of God, were delivered from that place and state in which they were before; and whether Christ descended into hell to that end, that he might translate them into a place and state far more glorious and happy. This hath been in the later ages of the Church the vulgar opinion of most men, and that as if it followed necessarily from the denial of the former: He delivered not the souls of the damned,† there

* This is the argument of Gregory the Great: Si fideles nunc sine operibus bonis non salvantur, et infideles ac reprobi sine bona actione, Domino ad inferos descendente, salvati sunt; melior illorum sors fuit qui incarnationem Domini minime viderunt, quam horum qui post incarnationis ejus mysterium nati sunt. Quod quantæ fatuitatis sit dicere, ipse Dominus testatur discipulis dicens, Multi reges et prophetæ voluerunt videre quæ vos videtis, et non viderunt.' I. vi. c. 179. epist. 15.

were released by Christ's descent, thus infers and concludes: Hæc itaque omnia pertractantes nihil aliud teneatis nisi quod vera fides per catholicam ecclesiam docet; quia descendens ad inferos Dominus illos solummodo ab inferni claustris eripuit, quos viventes in carne per suam gratiam in fidé et bona operatione servavit.' I. vi. c. 179. Epist. 15. So Isidore Hispalensis by way of opposition: Ideo Dominus in inferna descendit, ut his, qui ab eo non pœnaliter detinebantur, viam aperiret revertendi ad coelos.' Sentent. 1. i. So Gregory the Great, after he c. 16. So Venerable Bede upon the had proved that none of the damned place of St. Peter 1 Ep. iii. 19. Ca

fore he delivered the souls of them which believed, and of them alone: till at last the Schools have followed it so fully, that they deliver it as a point of faith and infallible certainty,* that the soul of Christ descending into hell, did deliver from thence all the souls of the saints which were in the bosom of Abraham, and did confer upon them actual and essential beatitude, which before they enjoyed not. And this they lay úpon two grounds: first, That the souls of saints departed saw not God; and secondly, That Christ by his death opened the gate of the kingdom of heaven..

But even this opinion, as general as it hath been, hath neither that consent of antiquity, nor such certainty, as it pretendeth, but is rather built upon the improbabilities of a worse. The most ancient of all the fathers,† whose writings are extant, were so far from believing that the end of Christ's descent into hell was to translate the saints of old into heaven, that they thought them not to be in heaven yet, nor ever to be removed from that place in which they were before Christ's death, until the general resurrection. Others, as we have also shewn, thought the bosom of Abraham was not in any place which could be termed hell: and consequently, could not think that Christ should therefore descend into hell to deliver them which were not there. And others yet, which thought that Christ delivered the patriarchs from their infernal mansions, did not think so exclusively or in opposition to the disobedient and damned spirits, but conceived many of them to be saved as well as the patriarchs were, and doubted whether all were not so saved or no. Indeed I think there were very few (if tholica fides habet, quia descen- 3tiam partem D. Thoma, Disputat. dens ad inferna Dominus non incre- 43. sect. 3. dulos inde, sed fideles tantummodo suos educens, ad coelestia secum regna perduxerit; neque exutis corpore animabus et inferorum carcere inclusis, sed in hac vita vel per seipsum, vel per suorum exempla sive verba fideJium, quotidie viam vitæ demonstret.' These are the words of Suarez: Primo ergo, certum est Christum descendendo ad inferos animabus sanctis, quæ in sinu Abrahæ erant, essentialem beatitudinem et cætera c. 1. animæ dona quæ illam consequuntur contulisse. Hoc de fide certum existimo; quia de fide est, illas animas non vidisse Deum ante Christi mortem. Deinde est de fide certum, Christum per mortem aperuisse hominibus januam regni; ideoque de fide etiam certum est, animas sanctorum omnium post Christi mortem decedentium (si nihil purgandum habeant) statim videre Deum. Ergo idem est de prædictis animabus. In

+ We have shewn this before to have been the opinion of the most ancient, producing the express testimonies of Justin Martyr, Irenæus, Tertullian, Hilary, Gregory Nyssen. So also Novatian: Quæ infra terram jacent, neque ipsa sunt digestis et ordinatis potestatibus vacua. enim est quo piorum animæ impiorumque ducantur, futuri judicii præjudicia sentientes.' Lib. de Trinitate,

Locus

We have already shewn that many did believe all the damned souls were saved then; and St. Augustin had his adhuc requiro, when he wrote unto Euodius concerning that opinion. Beside, the doubt of that great divine Gregory Nazianzen is very observable, who in his 2nd Oration de Paschate hath these words: "Av ɛiç ᾅδου κατίῃ, συγκάτελθε· γνῶθι καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖσε τοῦ Χριστοῦ μυστήρια· τίς ἡ οἰκονομία τῆς διπλῆς καταβάσεως; τίς ὁ

any) for above five hundred years after Christ, which did so believe Christ delivered the saints out of hell, as to leave all the damned there; and therefore this opinion cannot be grounded upon the prime antiquity, when so many of the ancients believed not that they were removed at all, and so few acknowledged that they were removed alone.

And if the authority of this opinion in respect of its antiquity be not great, the certainty of the truth of it will be less. For, first, if it be not certain that the souls of the patriarchs were in some place called hell after their own death, and until the death of Christ; if the bosom of Abraham were not some infernal mansion, then can it not be certain that Christ descended into hell to deliver them. But there is no certainty that the souls of the just, the patriarchs, and the rest of the people of God, were kept in any place below, which was, or may be called the hell: the bosom of Abraham might well be in the heavens above, far from any region where the devil and his angels were; the Scriptures no where tell us that the spirits of just men went unto or did remain in hell; the place in which the rich man was in torments after death is called hell, but that into which the angels carried the poor man's soul is not termed so. There was a vast distance between them two, nor is it likely that the angels which see the face of God should be sent down from heaven to convey the souls of the just into that place, where the face of God cannot be seen. When God translated Enoch, and Elias was carried up in a chariot to heaven, they seem not to be conveyed to a place where there was no vision of God; and yet it is most probable, that Moses was with Elias as well before as upon the mount: nor is there any reason to conceive that Abraham should be in any worse place or condition than Enoch was, having as great a "testimony that he pleased God" as Enoch had. (Heb. xi. 5.) Secondly, It cannot be certain that the soul of Christ de

λόγος; ἁπλῶς σώζει πάντας ἐπιφανείς, ǹ Kάkel Toùs πLOTεvovτas; Orat. xlii. p. 693. Where his question is clearly this, Whether Christ appearing in hell did save all without exception, or did save there as he does here, only such as believed? To this it is answered by Suarez two ways, that it is the ordinary and universal law; that none of the damned should be saved: An vero ex speciali privilegio sua voluntate et arbitrio aliquem damnatum ex Gehenna Christus eduxerit, dubitari quoquo modo potest-Et juxta hæc possent intelligi Nazianzenus et Augustinus.' In tertiam partem D.Thoma, disp. 43. sect. 3. But this will by no means solve their authorities; for neither of them did doubt or question whether some of the damned were released, but whether all were released

or some only: which Suarez did very well perceive, and therefore was ready in the same sentence with another answer: Quanquam Nazianzenus non videatur illa scripsisse verba, quoniam de hac veritate dubitaret, sed solum ut proponeret quid de hoc mysterio inquirere ac scire oporteat.' Ibid. Which is as much as to say, that he was satisfied of the truth, but desired to satisfy no man else: whereas it is clear that it was a doubt in his age, as we have before shewn, and that he would leave it still a doubt and undetermined. And as for the other: Augustinus recte petest intelligi de animabus Purgatorii:' Ibid. it is certainly false, unless they will enlarge that purgatory as wide as hell; for the question was of emptying that.