Adam, which first died in his sins, was put into a place of torment; and the souls of all those which departed after with the wrath of God upon them were gathered into his sad society. Now as the souls at the hour of death are really separated from the bodies; so the place where they are in rest or misery after death, is certainly distinct from the place in which they lived. They continue not where they were at that instant when the body was left without life: they do not go together with the body to the grave; but as the sepulchre is appointed for our flesh, so there is another receptacle, or habitation and mansion, for our spirits. From whence it followeth, that in death the soul doth certainly pass by a real motion from that place, in which it did inform the body, and is translated to that place, and unto that society, which God of his mercy or justice hath allotted to it. And not at present to inquire into the difference and distance of those several habitations (but for method's sake to involve them all as yet under the notion of the infernal parts, or the mansions below), it will appear to have been the general judgment of the Church, that the soul of Christ contradistinguished from his body, that better and more noble part of his humanity, his rational and intellectual soul, after a true and proper separation from his flesh, was really and truly carried into those parts below, where the souls of men before departed were detained; and that by such a real translation of his soul, he was truly said to have descended into hell. Many have been the interpretations of the opinion of the fathers made of late; and their differences are made to appear so great, as if they agreed in nothing which concerns this point: whereas there is nothing which they agree in more than this which I have already affirmed, the real descent of the soul of Christ unto the habitation of the souls departed. The persons to whom, and end for which he descended, they differ in; but as to a local descent into the infernal parts they all agree. Who were then in those parts, they could not certainly define; but whosoever were there, that Christ by the presence of his soul was with them, they all determined. That this was the general opinion of the Church, will appear, not only by the testimonies of those ancient writers who lived successively, and wrote in several ages, and delivered As Irenæus Cum enim Dominus in medio umbræ mortis abierit, ubi animæ mortuorum erant, post deinde corporaliter resurrexit-manifestum est, quia et discipulorum ejus, propter quos et hæc operatus est Dominus, animæ abibunt in invisibilem locum definitum eis a Deo, &c.' l. v. c. 26. Clemens Alexandrinus was so clearly of that opinion, that he thought the soul of Christ preached salvation to the souls of hell. Strom. 1. vi. c. 6. And Tertullian proves that the inferi are a cavity in the earth where the souls of dead men are, because the soul of Christ went thither: Quod si Christus Deus, quia et homo mortuus secundum Scripturas, et sepultus secundum easdem, huic quoque legi satisfecit, forma humanæ mortis apud inferos functus, nec ante adscendit in sublimiora cœlorum quam descendit in inferiora terrarum, ut illic Patriarchas et Prophetas compotes sui this exposition in such express terms as are not capable of any other interpretation; but also because it was generally used as an argument against the Apollinarian heresy: than which nothing can shew more the general opinion of the catholics and the heretics, and that not only of the present, but of the precedent ages. For it had been little less than ridiculous to have produced that for an argument to prove a point in controversy, which had not been clearer than that which was controverted, and had not been some way acknowledged as a truth by both. Now the error of Apollinarius was, That Christ had no proper intellectual or rational soul, but that the Word was to him in the place of a soul: and the argument produced by the fathers for the conviction of this error was, That Christ descended into hell, which the Apollinarians faceret; habes et regionem inferum sub- Καταβὰς μέχρι καὶ χθονὸς Θάνατος νέμεν ἔθνεα. Φρίξει σε γέρων τότε ̓Αΐδας ὁ παλαιγενής, Synes. Hymn. ix. 7. Ψυχὴ δὲ ἡ θεία, τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν λαχοῦσα συν δρομήν τε καὶ ἕνωσιν, καταπεφοίτηκε μὲν εἰς ᾅδου, Θεοπρεπεῖ δὲ δυνάμει καὶ ἐξουσίᾳ χρωστ μένη, καὶ τοῖς ἐκεῖσε πνεύμασι κατεφαίνετο. S. Cyril. Alex. Dial. de Incarn. t. v. par. i. p. 693. Ὁ μὲν τάφος αὐτοῦ σῶμα μόνο ὑπεδέξατο, ψυχὴν δὲ μόνην ὁ ᾅδης. Anast. apud Euthym. Panopl. par. ii. tit. 17. Postquam igitur exaltatus est, id est, a Judæis in cruce suspensus, et spiritum reddidit, unita suæ Divinitati anima ad inferorum profunda descendit.' Auctor Serm. de tempore. Corpore in sepulcro seposito, Divinitas cum anima hominis ad inferna descendens vocavit de locis suis animas sanctorum.' Gaudentius Briz. Tract. 10. In hoc Divinitas Christi virtutem suæ impassibilitatis ostendit, quæ ubique, semper et ineffabiliter præsens, et secundum animam suam in inferno sine doloribus fuit, et secundum carnem suam in sepulcro sine corruptione jacuit; quia nec carni suæ defuit, cum animam suam in inferno dolere non sineret; nec animam suam in inferno deseruit, cum in sepulcro carnem suam a corruptione servaret.' Fulgent. ad Thrasimund. l. iii. c. 31. What the Apollinarian heresy was, is certainly known: they denied that Christ had a human soul, affirming the Word was to him in the place of a soul. 'Apollinaristas Apollinarius instituit, qui de anima Christi a catholicis dissenserunt, dicentes, sicut Ariani, Deum Christum carnem sine anima suscepisse. In qua quæstione testimoniis evangelicis victi, mentem, qua rationalis est anima hominis, non fuisse in anima Christi, sed pro hac ipsum Verbum in ea fuisse, dixerunt.' S. August. de Hæres. 55. Against this heresy the catholics argued from the descent into hell, as that which was acknowledged by them all, even by the Arians (with whom the Apollinarians in this agreed), as we have shewn before by three several creeds of theirs in which they expressed this descent. This is the argument of Athanasius in his fourth dia could not deny; and that this descent was not made by his Divinity, nor by his body, but by the motion and presence of his soul, and consequently, that he had a soul distinct both from his flesh and from the Word. Whereas if it could have then been answered by the heretics, as now it is by many, that his descent into hell had no relation to his soul, but to logue De Trinitate, which is particularly with an Apollinarian : Ωσπερ οὐκ ἠδύνατο ὁ Θεὸς ἐν μνήματι καὶ ἐν ταφῇ γενέσθαι, εἰ μὴ εἶχεν τὸ τιθέμενον σῶμα· οὕτως οὐκ ἂν ἐλέχθη κατακεχωρίσθαι τοῦ σώματος, πανταχοῦ ἂν καὶ τὰ πάντα περιέχων, εἰ μὴ εἶχε τὴν χωρι ζομένην ψυχήν, μεθ ̓ ἧς καὶ τοῖς ἐν ᾅδου εὐηγ γελίσατο· διὰ γὰρ αὐτὴν ἀναχωρεῖν τοῦ σώμα τις λέγεται καὶ ἐν ᾅδου γεγενῆσθαι· καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐν ᾅδου γενέσθαι διὰ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ἐν μνήματι τεθῆναι διὰ τὸ σῶμα. §. 7. But because these dialogues may be questioned as not genuine, the same argument may be produced out of his book De Incarnatione Christi, written particularly against Apollinarius: Πείσθητε οὖν, ὅτι ὁ ἔσωθεν ἡμῶν ἀνθρωπός ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή τοῦ το καὶ τῆς πρώτης πλάσεως δεικνυούσης, καὶ τῆς δευτέρας διαλύσεως δηλούσης, οὐ μόνον ἐφ' ἡμῖν τούτων δεικνυμένων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ θανάτῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐδείκνυτο· τὸ μέντοι μέχρι τάφου φθάσαν, ἡ δὲ μέχρι ᾅδου διαβᾶσαι διαι ρετῶν δὲ ὄντων τῶν τόπων πολλῷ μέτρῳ καὶ τοῦ μὲν τάφου σωματικὴν ἐπιδεχομένου τὴν ἐπίβασιν, ἐκεῖσε παρῆν τὸ σῶμα, τοῦ δὲ ᾅδου ἀσώματον· πῶς ἐκεῖ παρὼν ὁ Κύριος ἀσωμάτως, ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἐνομίσθη ὑπὸ τοῦ θανατοῦ; ἵνα ψυχαῖς ταῖς ἐν δεσμοῖς κατεχομέναις, μορφὴν ἰδίας ψυχῆς ἀνεπίδεκτὸν ὡς δεκτικὴν τῶν δεσμῶν τοῦ θανάτου παραστήσας, παροῦσαν παρούσαις, διαρρήξῃ τὰ δεσμὰ ψυχῶν τῶν ἐν ᾅδου και τεχομένων. 1. i. φ. 13. Thus Euthymius, in his commentary upon the words of the Psalmist, Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell:” Τίθησι καὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος τὴν αἰτίαν. Καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψεις, φησὶ, τὴν ψυχήν μου εἰς ᾅδην, ὅπου τῶν τετελευτηκότων αἱ ψυχαὶ κατέχονται· τόπος γὰρ ὁ ᾅδης ὑπὸ γῆν ἀποκεκληρωμένος ταῖς τῶν ἀποθνησκόντων ψυχαῖς· ποῦ τοίνυν ὁ λῆρος ̓Απολλινάριος, ὁ τὴν προσληφθεῖσαν σάρκα δογματίζων ἄψυχον καὶ ἄνουν, ὡς ἀνόητος. And from hence we may understand the words of Theodoret, who at the end of his exposition of this Psalm thus concludes: Οὗτος ὁ ψαλμὸς καὶ τὴν ̓Αρείου καὶ τὴν Εὐνομίου καὶ ̓Απολλιναρίου φρε νοβλάβειαν ἐλέγχει. Which is in reference to those words, "Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell.” In the same manner, Leporius Presbyter ('quod male senserat de Incarnatione Christi, corrigens,' as Gennadius observeth, Illust. Vir. cat. 60. and particularly disavowing that of the Arians and Apollinarians, Deum hominemque commixtum, et tali confusione carnis et verbi quasi aliquod corpus effectum') does " thus express the reality and distinction sed of the soul and body of the same Christ: Tam Christus filius Dei tunc mortuus jacuit in sepulcro, quam idem Christus filius Dei ad inferna descendit; sicut beatus apostolus dicit, Quod autem ascendit, quid est nisi quod descendit primum in inferiores partes terre? Ipse utique Dominus et Deus noster Jesus Christus unicus Dei, qui cum anima ad inferna descendit, ipse cum anima et corpore ascendit ad Coelum. Libel. Emendationis, p. 23. And Capreolus, bishop of Care thage, writing against the Nestorian heresy, proveth that the soul of Christ was united to his Divinity when it descended into hell, and follows that argument, urging it at large; in which discourse among the rest he hath this passage: • Tantum abest, Deum Dei filium, incommutabilem atque incomprehensibilem, ab inferis potuisse concludi; ut nec ipsam adsumptionis animam, aut exitiabiliter susceptam aut tenaciter derelictam nec carnem ejus credimus contagione alicujus corruptionis infectam. Ipsius namque vox est in Psalmo, sicut Petrus interpretatur apostolus, Non derelinques animam meum apud inferos,neque dabis sanctum tuum videre corruptionem.' Epist. ad Hispan. p.50. Lastly, The true doctrine of the incarnation against all the enemies thereof, Apollinarians, Nestorians, Eutychians, and the like, was generally expressed by declaring the verity of the soul of Christ really present in hell, and the verity of his body at the same time really present in the grave; as it is excellently delivered by Fulgentius: Humanitas vera Filii Dei nec tota in sepulcro fuit, nec tota in inferno; sed in sepulcro secundum veram carnem Christus mortuus jacuit, et secundum animam ad infernum Christus descendit; et secundum eandem animam ab inferno ad carnem, quam in sepulcro reliquerat, rediit, secundum divinitatem vero suam, quæ nec loco tenetur nec fine concluditur, totus fuit in sepulcro cum carne, totus in inferno cum anima: ac pro hoc plenus fuit ubique Christus; quia non est Deus ab humanitate quam susceperat separatus, qui et in anima sua fuit, ut solutis inferni doloribus ab inferno victrix rediret, et in carne sua fuit, ut celeri resurrectione corrumpi non posset.' Ab Thrasimund. 1. iii. c. 34. his body only, which descended to the grave; or that it was not a real, but only virtual, descent, by which his death extended to the destruction of the powers of hell; or that his soul was not his intellectual spirit, or immortal soul, but his living soul, which descended into hell, that is, continued in the state of death: I say, if any of these senses could have been affixed to this Article, the Apollinarians' answer might have been sound, and the catholics' argument of no validity. But being those heretics did all acknowledge this Article; being the catholic fathers did urge the same to prove the real distinction of the soul of Christ both from his Divinity and from his body, because his body was really in the grave when his soul was really present with the souls below; it followeth that it was the general doctrine of the Church, that Christ did descend into hell by a local motion of his soul, separated from his body, to the places below where the souls of men departed were. Nor can it be reasonably objected, that the argument of the fathers was of equal force against these heretics, if it be understood of the animal soul, as it would be if it were understood of the rational; as if those heretics had equally deprived Christ of the rational and animal soul. For it is most certain that they did not equally deprive Christ of both; but most of the Apollinarians denied a human soul to Christ only in respect of the intellectual part, granting that the animal soul of Christ was of the same nature with the animal soul of other men.* If therefore the fathers had proved only that the animal soul of Christ had descended into hell, they had brought no argument at all to prove that Christ had a human intellectual soul. It is therefore certain that the catholic fathers in their opposition to the Apollinarian heretics did declare, that the intellectual and immortal soul of Christ descended into hell. The only question which admitted any variety of discrepance among the ancients was, Who were the persons to whose souls the soul of Christ descended? and that which dependeth on that question, What were the end and use of his descent? In this indeed they differed much, according to their several ap • At first indeed the Apollinarians did so speak, as if they denied the human soul in both acceptations; but afterwards they clearly affirmed the Jux, and denied the vous alone. So Socrates testifies of them: Πρότερον μὲν ἔλεγον ἀναληφθῆναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ Λόγου ἐν τῇ οἰκονομία τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως ψυχῆς ἄνευ· εἶτα ὡς ἐκ μετανοίας ἐπιδιορθούμενοι, προσέθηκαν ψυχὴν μὲν ἀνειληφέναι, νοῦν δὲ οὐκ ἔχειν αὐτὴν, ἀλλ' εἶναι τὸν Θεὸν Λόγον ἀντὶ τοῦ εἰς τὸν ἀναληφθέντα ἄνθρωπον. Hist. l. ii. c. 46. 'Nam et aliqui eorum fuisse in Christo animam negare non potuerunt. Videte absurditatem et insaniam non ferendam. Animam irrationalem eum habere voluerunt, rationalem negaverunt; dederunt ei animam pecoris, subtraxerunt animam hominis.' S. August. Tract. 47. in Ioan. §. 8. This was so properly indeed the Apollinarian heresy, that it was thereby distinguished from the Arian. Nam Apollinaristæ quidem carnis et animæ naturam sine mente adsumpsisse Dominum credunt, Ariani vero carnis tantummodo.' Facundus, l. ix. c. 3. prehensions of the condition of the dead, and the nature of the place into which the souls before our Saviour's death were gathered; some looking on that name which we translate now hell, hades, or infernus, as the common receptacle of the souls of all men,* both the just and unjust, thought the soul of Some of the ancient fathers did believe that the word ; in the Scriptures had the same signification which it hath among the Greeks, as comprehending all the souls both of the wicked and the just; and so they took infernus in the same latitade. As therefore the ancient Greeks did assign one ang for all which died, Πάντας ἐμῶς θνητούς ἀίδης δέχεται" and και νὸν ἄδεν πάντες ἥξουσιν βροτοί· as they made within that one ang two several recepta cles, one for the good and virtuous, the other for the wicked and unjust (according to that of Diphilus, ap. Clem. Alex. Strom. v. c. 14. p. 721. Καὶ γάρ καθ ̓ ᾅδην δύο τρίβους νομίζομεν, Hic locus est, partes ubi se via findit in ambas : as they did send the best of men to ans, Τοῖσι λάμπει μένος ἀελίου Piut. de Consolat. ad Apollon. St. in the same place. Οἱ δὲ δίκαιοι ἐν τῷ ᾅδη νῦν μὲν συνέχονται, ἀλλ ̓ οὐ τῷ αὐτῷ τόπῳ καὶ οἱ ἄδικοι. Μία γὰρ εἰς τοῦτο τὸ χωρίον xados, &c. There was but one passage into the bades, saith he; but when that gate was passed, the just went on the right hand to a place of happiness, (TouTo δὲ ὄνομα κικλήσκομεν κόλπον ̓Αβραὰμ) and the unjust on the left to a place of misery. Οὗτος ὁ περὶ ᾅδου λόγος, ἐν ᾧ ψυχαί πάντων κατέχονται ἄχρι καιροῦ ἂν ὁ Θεὸς ὤρισεν. p. 923. Tertullian wrote a tract, De Paradiso, now not extant, in which he expressed thus much: Habes etiam de Paradiso a nobis libellum, quo constituimus omnem animam apud Inferos sequestrari in diem Domini.' De Anima, c. 55. Jerome on the third chapter of Ecclesiastes: Ante adventum Christi omnia ad inferos pariter ducebantur: unde et Jacob ad inferos pariter descensurum se dicit; et Job pios et impios in inferno queritur retentari: et Evangelium, chaos magnum interpositum apud inferos; et Abraham cum Lazaro, et divitem in suppliciis, esse testatur.' ad fin. And in his 25th, al. 22nd, Epistle: Perfacilis ad ista responsio est; Luxisse Jacob filium, quem putabat occisum, ad quem et ipse erat ad inferos descensurus, dicens, Descendam ad filium meum lugens in infernum: quia necdum Paradisi januam Christus effregerat, necdum flammeam illam romphæam et vertiginem præsidentium Cherubin sanguis ejus exstinxerat. Unde et Abraham, licet in loco refrigerii, tamen apud inferos cum Lazaro fuisse scribitur.' col. 57. And again: Nequeo satis Scripturæ laudare mysteria, et divinum sensum in verbis licet simplicibus admirari: quod, Moyses plangitur: et Jesus Nave, vir sanctus, sepultus fertur, et ta |
