been acknowledged as a part of the Apostles' Creed ever since.

The English Church, in her third article of religion, says, "AS CHRIST died for us, and was buried, so also it is to be believed that He went down into hell." And in the earlier articles of 1552 it is said, "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 S. Peter testifieth."

The Greek Church teaches to this effect :—

66 'Q. What should we think of the state in which JESUS CHRIST was after His death, and before His resurrection?

"A. This is described in the following hymn of the Church :- In the grave as to the flesh, in hades with Thy soul, as GoD in paradise with the thief, and on the throne wert Thou, O CHRIST, together with the FATHER and the SPIRIT, filling all things, Thyself uncircumscribed.

66 Q. What is hades, or hell?

"A. Hades is a Greek word, and means a place void of light. In divinity by this name is

understood a spiritual prison; that is, a state of those spirits which are separated by sin from the sight of God's countenance, and from the light and blessedness which it confers.

'Q. Wherefore did JESUS CHRIST descend into hell?

"A. To the end that He might there also preach His victory over death, and deliver the souls which with faith awaited His coming.

66

'Q. Does Holy Scripture speak of this?

"A. It is referred to in the following passage: - For CHRIST also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He may bring us to GOD, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit: in which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison.' (1 S. Pet. iii. 18, 19.)"

The Latins on this subject assert, maximè quidem refert nosse gloriam sepulturæ Domini nostri Jesu Christi, sed plus interest fideles populos cognoscere illustres triumphos quos ex decreto diabolis et spoliatis infernorum sedibus deportavit. . . . Hoc nobis credendum proponitur, Christo jam mortuo ejus animam ad inferos descendisse, ibique tamdiu mansisse quamdiu ejusdem corpus in sepulchro fuit. Hoc autem verbis simul etiam confitemur, eandem Christi

...

...

personam eo tempore et apud inferos fuisse et in sepulchro jacuisse. . . . Inferorum nomen illa abdita receptacula significat in quibus animæ detinentur quæ cœlestem beatitudinem non sunt consecutæ, ita verò sacræ litteræ hanc vocem multis locis usurparunt; nam apud apostolum legimus: In nomine Jesu omne genu flecti cœlestium terrestrium et infernorum; et in Actis Apostolorum D. Petrus testatur Christum Dominum suscitatum, solutis doloribus inferni. Neque tamen ea receptacula unius et ejusdem generis sunt omnia. Of the difference between our LORD's descent into hell and that of the rest of mankind, it is written :-Cæteri omnes captivi descenderant: Ipse vero inter mortuos liber et victor ad profugandos dæmones, a quibus illi ob noxam inclusi et constricti tenebantur, descendit. Præterea alii omnes descenderant, partim pœnis acerbissimis torquebantur, partim verò, ut alio doloris sensu carerent, tamen Dei aspectu privata et spe beatæ gloriæ quam expectabant, suspensi torquebantur. At Christus Dominus descendit, non ut aliquid pateretur, verùm ut sanctos et justos homines ex misera illius custodia molestia liberaret, eisque passionis suæ fructum impertiret.

Bishop Pearson sums up his exposition of

the article in these words:

"I give a full

and undoubting assent unto this as a most certain truth, that when all the sufferings of CHRIST were finished on the Cross, and His soul was separated from His Body, though His Body were dead, yet His soul died not; and though it died not, it underwent the condition of the souls of such as die; and being He died in the similitude of a sinner, His soul went to the place where the souls of men are kept who died for their sins, and so did wholly undergo the law of death. But because there was no sin in Him, and He had fully satisfied for the sins of others which he took upon Him: therefore as GOD suffered not His holy One to see corruption, so He left not His soul in hell, and thereby gave sufficient security to all those who belong to CHRIST of never coming under the power of Satan, or suffering in the flames prepared for the devil and his angels."

The fathers of the Christian Church all ac

66

knowledge this truth. Though they differ much," says Bishop Beveridge, “about the end of His going, yet that He did go thither they all agree. Some said that He went to preach ; others to loose whom Himself thought fit; others

to triumph over His conquered enemy, the devil." In another place he says, "His Body, that was laid where the bodies of sinners are in the grave, and so His soul, as was fitting, that should go whither the souls of sinners go, to hell; and that He that died for sin should go to the same place whither such go who die in it. Not to be tormented there as sinners are, because He had not committed sins here, as sinners had."

JOSEPH MASPERS, PRINTER, ALDERSGATE STREET.