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"with the Philistines." The expression, Psalm xvi. 10, might be explained in the same sense: "Thou wilt "not leave my soul," that is, MYSELF. But, what is more in point, Nephesh signifies even a dead animal, or a corpse: "He that toucheth the dead body of any man, shall be unclean seven days:" "Whosoever "toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead," &c. Innumerable phrases of the same sort might be quoted. Why then may we not, with the venerable Beza, in his first edition of the New Testament, understand at least, if not translate, the Psalmist's expression thus; "Thou wilt not leave my dead body in the grave." For we have now seen that a dead body is sometimes meant by Nephesh; and from what was formerly said, it is sufficiently evident that Scheol sometimes means the grave.

XIV. We acknowledge, nevertheless, that, even with respect to the soul, Christ descended into hell; but truly not in that sense which was maintained by several of the ancients, and is now embraced by the Church of Rome. These hold, that the soul of Christ, when separated from the body by death, actually, properly, and locally visited certain subterranean places, either in the abode of the damned, that he might display to the men consigned to everlasting punishment, and even to the Devils themselves, the power of his kingdom, and the victory which he had obtained over sin ;—or in a kind of Limbus, a region alleged to be situated on the confines of the place of torment, that he might announce to the souls of the fathers the salvation which

P Judges xvi. 30.

.11 .Num. xix .לכל נפש האדם 4

.13 .Iid. v במת בנפש האדם ז

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he had procured, and might bring them thence along with him, and exalt them to heaven.

t

S

xv. The Scriptures, the only rule of our faith, give us no intelligence respecting any such descent of Christ's soul into hell; nor was such a descent at all necessary or expedient. The Saviour, when about to die, in solemn and express language, commended his spirit into the hands of his Father. This he did, doubtless, with the same views with which it was done, by David before him, and by Stephen after him :" of the latter of whom, at least, it is certain, that he had no conception of descending to hell. Besides, the same day on which he suffered, Christ assured the penitent thief that he should be with him in paradise. Now paradise is not in hell. Nor is it probable that the soul of Christ, after conducting the soul of the malefactor to paradise, straightway left it, descended into hell, called out the fathers, and forthwith hastened back again, and introduced them to heaven; whence, at the commencement of the third day he returned to the body,-having, within so short a period, travelled over the space of the whole world, no less than four times.

XVI. And what purpose could be served by the soul of Christ taking such a journey to the place of the damned? Was making a show of his victory among devils and condemned spirits of so great moment, that he should have preferred an excursion to the centre of the earth to the enjoyment of rest in heaven? Was that the most proper season for a triumph, when, being still bound with the chains of death, he rather resem

s Luke xxiii. 46.

Acts vii. 59.

VOL. II.

U

t Ps. xxxi. 5.
Luke xxiii. 43.

25.

bled a vanquished person than a conqueror? Who ever saw the leader of an army betake himself to a prison for the purpose of a triumph? What is there, too, so terrible in the soul of Christ, when separated from the body, that it should cause so great a consternation amongst the inhabitants of hell? Would not a more intense sense of the Divine wrath, have been more powerful to produce that effect? Or will it be necessary, that, after the last judgment, the soul of Christ should reside eternally amongst the damned, that they may be increasingly tormented by his presence?

XVII. As to that Limbus Patrum which accurate surveyors of the infernal regions place in the vicinity of the lowest hell, it is evident that it has no existence at all; for God brought many sons to glory previously to Christ's being perfected through sufferings. Nor if it did exist, was it requisite that Christ should deseend into it, in order to rescue the fathers. Neither the purchase, nor the revelation, nor the application, of their salvation, rendered this necessary. Not the first; because a right to salvation was fully acquired by the death of Christ.-Not the second; because the Divine Spirit, who illuminated holy souls, and inspired them with a most certain hope of things to come, could by his influence more easily unfold to them the Gospel, than Christ's human soul.-Not the last; for, as the body of Christ will not descend at the last day into the graves of believers, to bring forth their bodies from the dust; so, supposing that the souls of the godly had heen, even in the strongest sense of the expression, in the infernal regions, it was by no means necessary for the soul of Christ to penetrate to their abode. He

Heb. ii. 10.

could, without difficulty, have called forth their souls, by the power of the same Spirit, by whom he will raise up their bodies at his glorious appearing. 25

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XVIII. But in what manner, then, according to our apprehensions, did Christ, as to his soul, descend into hell? Not indeed properly, but metaphorically; nor after it was separated from his body by death, but when, being yet united to the body, it wrestled with dreadful agonies. As men who mean to affirm that they have attained the summit of happiness and glory, boast that 'they have reached the stars," and that they "strike "the stars with their lofty head," why may it not be said, with reference to those incredible pains to which Christ's soul was subjected, that "he descended into "hell?" When things usually happen only in a certain place, it is quite common for them, even though transacted at a distance from that place, to receive their denomination from it.

XIX. Expressions of this sort are not unexampled in Scripture. The arrogance and imaginary felicity of the king of Babylon are called an "ascending into "heaven;" and his ignominious fall, his being "brought "down to hell, to the sides of the pit." Heman, too, speaking of himself, or of the church, or perhaps personating Christ, says; "For my soul is full of troubles, "and my life draweth nigh unto the grave, scheol." And again; “Thou hast laid me in the lowest pits, "in darkness, in the deeps." These words cannot be understood but in a figurative sense, as relating to the sorrows of an afflicted spirit; for this is not the complaint of a man dead and buried, or of a separate soul,

* Rom. viii. 11.

* Ps. lxxxviii. 3.

y Is. xiv. 13, 15, 11.

a Verse 6.

25 See NOTE XXV.

agonizing in subterranean dungeons, but of a man living on the earth, and confounded by impressions of the divine anger. Similar expressions occur in many other passages of sacred writ.b

xx. Nor let it be imagined, that it was necessary Christ should suffer in his soul in the separate state, in order to his having a more exquisite sense of the pains of hell. It is manifest, on the contrary, that the bodies of those who shall be condemned at the last judgment, will be re-united to their souls in hell, that the sense of their torments may be the more exquisite. Accordingly, as the celebrated Cloppenburg has acutely observed, our Lord had a peculiarly exquisite feeling of the curse, when "the travail of his soul," conflicting with a sense of Divine wrath, sharpened the bitterness of his bodily tortures. The Compilers of our Catechism, therefore, and other Theologians, have done nothing wrong, when, to illustrate the article respecting his descending into hell, they have exhibited the doctrine of the agonies of Christ's soul, which is one of the most mysterious, essential, and useful doctrines of our holy Religion."26

XXI. We shall briefly explain three things relative to those agonies of Christ. First, their NATURE or QUALITY. Secondly, their CAUSE. Thirdly, the ADVANTAGES that redound from them to us. Under their QUALITY I include two things, their severity and their purity.

XXII. Their Severity may be gathered from the accurate descriptions of them by the Evangelists. Here

b Ps. xviii. 4, 5. xxxi. 4. cxvi. 3, &c.
d Mat. xxvi. 37-39. Mark xiv. 33-35.

See also Heb, v. 7, 8.

26 See NOTE XXVI.

e Is. liii. 11. Luke xxii. 42—44.

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