where that word signifies the grave. It is also employed to signify the abode of departed spirits. That it is frequently taken in the Scriptures in an unfavourable sense, to denote the place of torment, our Author seems to have proved in the passage of his work on the Covenants now referred to, where he directs the attention of his readers to Luke xvi. 23. Prov. v. 5. vii. 27. xv. 24. Schleusner also remarks, as was formerly noticed, that Hades sometimes signifies the place of punishment, or the condition of the damned, and refers to Luke xvi. 23. 2 Pet. ii. 4, and Mat. xvi. 18. Yet it seems indisputable that in some passages of Scripture, particularly Rev. i. 18, Hades denotes in general the world of spirits.

It deserves to be remarked too, that the English word Hell, though in common language it is now exclusively applied to the region of suffering, had originally a more extensive import, and included alike the place of happiness and the place of woe. the ancient English dialect," says Lord King," the word hell was taken in a larger sense as the general receptacle of all souls whatsoever, and even no longer ago than the old translation of the Psalms, which is still retained in the Common Prayer-book, it was used in this general acceptation, as in Psalm lxxxix. 47. --- Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of hell?' Where hell must be understood as the general receptacle of all souls, or otherwise the words of the Psalmist would not be true, for all souls do not go to that hell which is the place of the damned. And even long before that, as Dr Towerson (Commentary on the Creed) informs us, in a Saxon discourse written above 700 years ago, it is said of Adam, after he had lived 900 years, he went with sorrow into hell. --- Which ancient sense of the word hell may be farther confirmed from the primary and original signification thereof, according to which it imports no farther than an invisible and hidden place; being derived from the old Saxon word hil, which signifies to hide, or from the participle thereof helled, that is to say, hidden or covered. So in the western parts of England at this very day, to hele over any thing signifies among the common people to cover it. - - -” With this extract, however, the curious reader may compare Dr Jamieson's explanation of the word hell.t

From what has been said it is evident that no one can justly affirm, that the descent of Christ's soul into the place of torment is doctrine of the Creed. The article under consideration may be

f the Creed, Ch. iv. p. 193.

tionary of the Scottish Language, on the word Heild, &c.

understood, as Witsius observes, merely "to express, in striking terms, our Lord's condition in the grave, and in the state of death." In this sense it is explained in the marginal Note appended, it appears, by the Westminster Assembly-which contains the following paraphrase on the expression," he descended into hell," i. e. Continued in the state of the dead, and under the power of death, till the third day. Lord King too states, that although in the Articles of the Church of England, as set forth in the reign of Edward VI. the descent of our Saviour into hell was expounded as the going of his soul to the spirits in prison, or in hell, to preach to them; yet ten years after, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, when the Articles were revised by a Synod, it was judged proper to omit that comment, and barely to mention the descent into hell, without any explanation whatever, that on a point so intricate and obscure, every one might be left to embrace that sense which should appear to himself most proper. Let the reader also attend particularly to what the Author says in the 6th section of this Dissertation, in order to show that Christ's descending into Hades was anciently understood to denote the same thing with his burial.

The doctrine of Christ's soul descending locally into hell for any purpose whatever, has no foundation in the word of God. It cannot be proved, as we have seen in a foregoing Note,† from Psalm xvi. 10. All the other passages to which its advocates have appealed, are equally inconclusive. Ephes. iv. 9. for example, is well explained by our Author as relating merely to Christ's incarnation, death and burial.‡ Another passage on which much stress has been laid, namely, 1 Pet. iii. 19. will be adverted to immediately.

NOTE XXV. Page 147.

Our Author proves, in a manner sufficiently convincing though concise, that our Lord's soul was at his death received into glory, and that to imagine he descended either into the place of torment, or into a supposed adjoining region, denominated by the Roman Catholics Limbus Patrum, is contrary to Scripture. No valuable purpose, he shows, could have been served by the descent of Christ's soul, either into the one or the other.

Witsius seems to have been of opinion, that it may be argued from Heb. ii. 10. that "God brought many sons to glory, previously to

Hist. of the Creed, Ch. iv. P. 184.

+ NOTE XXI.

See also Doddridge and Macknight on the Place; Pearson on the Creed, pp. 227, 228. and "Strictures on Campbell," in Ch. Repository, Vol. iv. p. 657.

Christ's being made perfect through sufferings." But whether his view of that verse be correct or incorrect, it is evident from Psalm lxxiii. 24. and many other passages, that in the ages preceding, as well as in those which have followed the death of Christ, the souls of believers were not shut up in any Limbus, but immediately after death admitted into the presence of God in heaven.

The supporters of Christ's descent into the Limbus, have considered 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20. as very favourable to their opinion. But on this contested passage, let us hear the devout Leighton:* “They that dream of the descent of Christ's soul into hell, think this place sounds somewhat that way; but being examined, it proves no way suitable, nor can it by the strongest wresting be made to fit their purpose: For, 1st, That it was to preach he went thither, they are not willing to avow; though the act they assign is as groundless and imaginary as this is. 2dly, They would have his business to be with the spirits of the faithful deceased before his coming; but here we see, it is with the disobedient. 3dly, His Spirit here is the same with the sense of the foregoing words, which mean not his soul, but his eternal Deity. 4thly, Nor is it the spirits that were in prison, as they read it, but the spirits in prison; which, by the opposition of their former condition sometimes or formerly disobedient, doth clearly speak their present condition as the just consequence and fruit of their disobedience."-For some further notice of this passage, see NOTE XXX. See also Pearson,† and Whitby, Doddridge and Macknight on the place.

NOTE XXVI. Page 148.

The venerable Author is not unwilling to allow that the article respecting Christ's descent into hell may be understood, not merely of his BODY, but also of his soul. Let it be observed, however, that he decidedly rejects the supposition of his soul being subjected to any species of pain subsequently to his death, or descending into infernal or subterranean regions for any purpose whatever. He merely considers the phrase in a metaphorical light, and regards it, by way of accommodation, as capable of expressing with energy those agonies of soul which our Lord endured on the earth before he expired on the cross.

In this instance, Witsius agrees with the compilers of the Confession of Faith, which was embraced by the English Congregation at

• Exposition of the First Epistle of Peter, on the place.

+ On the Creed, Art. v. p. 228.

Geneva, and received and approved by the Church of Scotland at the commencement of the Reformation. That Confession consists of a paraphrase on the Creed; and upon the article-dead and buried; he descended into hell, it is said,-" suffered his humanity to be punished with a most cruel death, feeling in himself the anger and severe judgment of God, even as if he had been in the extreme torments of hell, and therefore cried with a loud voice, God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'"

My

The observations of Calvin on this article are to the same effect.* Bishop Horsley, indeed, in his Sermon on 1 Pet. iii. 18-20. imputes to this illustrious Reformer "the extravagant assertion, that our blessed Lord actually went down to the place of torment, and there sustained the pains of a reprobate soul." Calvin, it is allowed, uses the expression, that "not only was Christ's body delivered up as the price of our redemption, but that he gave a greater and more valuable price by suffering in his soul the dreadful torments of a condemned and reprobate man."+ But, so far as we can perceive, this venerable Divine doth not affirm that our Lord actually went down to the place of torment. He appears merely to represent him as enduring in his soul on earth torments similar in some respects to those of the wicked in hell. And notwithstanding the strong expressions he employs, Calvin particularly shows that the sufferings of Christ differed materially from those of the reprobate in that place of misery, inasmuch as when sustaining the tremendous pressure of divine wrath, he remained altogether without sin, and far from resigning himself to despair, exercised a firm confidence and hope in God.-Pearson disapproves of Calvin's interpretation; but he does not seem to have understood him to hold that Christ actually descended into the place of torment.‡

Another interpretation suggested by Whitby may be barely mentioned here. "These words," says that Author, referring to the expression, descended into hell," may be admitted as a distinct article of faith contained in the holy scriptures, in a very good sense, very agreeable to the word descend and to the import of the word hades. For the scripture doth assure us that the soul of the holy Jesus, being separated from his body, went to paradise, Luke xxiii.

• Instit. lib. ii. cap. 16. sect. 8-12.

+

"Ut sciamus non modò corpus Christi in pretium redemptionis fuisse traditum sed aliud majus et excellentius pretium fuisse, quòd diros in anima cruciatus damnati ac perditi hominis pertulerit." Ibid. sect. 10.

Exposition of the Creed, p. 230.

to the latter than the former idea. But in either case, the deep veneration which these worthy counsellors entertained for the crucified Jesus, as a person of extraordinary dignity, was testified by the magnificent abundance of the spices.

NOTE XXI. Page 127.

Our Author justly numbers Psalm xvi. 9, 10. among the predictions of the Messiah's burial; for whilst these important verses refer directly to his resurrection, they clearly presuppose his death and sepulture. Though in a subordinate sense they are in part applicable to David the son of Jesse and to every genuine saint, yet, as the Apostle Peter shows, in the passage quoted by Witsius, it is in the Messiah alone that they receive their proper and complete fulfilment. Nor does our Author propose a rash or ill-supported version, when he remarks that the first clause of the 10th verse, which our translators have rendered, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell," should be translated, "Thou wilt not leave my corpse in the grave.”

Notwithstanding the elaborate reasonings of Campbell, Bennet,† and others, to the contrary, it is certain that Sheol sometimes signifies the grave. In proof of this, Witsius himself in another passage‡ produces Ps. cxli. 7. xlix. 14. Gen. xxxvii. 35. See also "Strictures on Dr Campbell's Dissertation on 'Ads," § where the respectable writer considers particularly Ps. cxli. 7. Jer. viii. 1, 2. Ezek. xxxii. 27. and Is. xiv. 15. as well as Ps. xvi. 10. and appears irrefragably to establish his assertion, that Sheol doth sometimes mean the grave. The same opinion, too, is maintained by Pearson. ||

With regard to Nephesh, the word which the common version renders soul, Campbell admits that "it is sometimes used for a dead body." But the truth is, that it is often used in this sense, and that it is difficult, if at all possible, to specify any passage where it decidedly means a departed spirit. See the remarks of Witsius in his 16th Dissertation, sect. 13th; Parkhurst on wɔ VI. and the "Strictures" just referred to." Thou wilt not leave my dead body in the grave," appears, therefore, to be a just interpretation of the clause in question.-To this rendering it is vain to object, that

Preliminary Dissertations, Diss. vi. Part 2.

+ Olam Haneshamoth, or a View of the Intermediate State, by the Rev. George Bennet, chap. xvi. pp. 275-313.

Diss. xvi. Sect. 10, 11.

§ By T. T. Christian Repository, Vol iv. pp, 389–399, 648–658. Expos. of the Creed, Art. v. p. 232.