hath It in His Humanity; He is Life in Himself, He is the Life of all men.' To use the terms of Theology, He is final Life, meritorious Life, exemplary Life, original Life, objective Life? What follows?

It follows, that Blessedness destroyeth the pains of death; Innocence taketh away its sting, even sin, wherein consisteth all its strength. His Life appearing suddenly through His Wounds, was about to complete its destruction: but death seeing itself disarmed in this first combat, takes flight, and leaving the field of battle to the Conqueror, withdraws into hell, where it thought to be in security. For there it had an absolute power, holding the greatest monarchs of the world beneath its sway. Even Patriarchs, Prophets, and the most faithful servants of God were his prisoners of war, were languishing in prison, sighing for their liberty.

The SAVIOUR of the world, Who would not let His enemy escape Him, follows up His Victory, resolved to break open the prisons of death, and to take from him his prey despite the efforts of the devils, who were interested in his defence. So jealous is He of the glory of this second triumph, that He seems to forget for a time the sacred spoils of His Body, Which He leaves upon the Cross separated from His Soul, but not from His Divinity, Which sustains It and preserves It from corruption; whilst His victorious Spirit goes without delay into Hades, the more promptly to execute His design, and hasten the defeat of death. Hear the Conqueror's sentence on the fugitives: "O death, I will be thy plague; O grave, I will be thy destruction'.

How

moritur amaritudo, nisi in dulcedine; non moritur frigus, nisi in calore; non est mortua mors, nisi in vitâ. Quid est vita? Christus noster, sed vita induta erat mortem. Crucifixus est, occisus est, et resurrexit.-(Serm. 315 in App. S. Aug.)

9 Hosea xiii. 14.

beautiful are these words! It sometimes happens that a noted robber, accustomed to theft from his earliest years, ventures to enter the palace of the prince, and to lay hands upon some article of value. But being discovered, is tortured, and is obliged to confess his crimes and make satisfaction, not only for the last, but also for those which he had committed from his youth'.

In like manner death, ever since the creation of the world, had not ceased to commit thefts innumerable, robbing and pillaging in every corner of the earth, sparing none: and being of a sanguinary nature, it was not content with spoiling men of their goods, it sought also to have their lives, and to be mistress of their bodies and souls. These thefts were numberless; but as death attacked none but sinners and criminals, it still went on exercising its tyranny with impunity. At length, having carried its insolence to such a height, as to enter the royal mansion and attack the King's Son, it is now justly compelled to restore with shame what it had plundered with injustice. This "glorious and terrible Conqueror 2" hath no sooner descended into the region of darkness and death, than He bringeth at once Paradise into Hades, and terror into Hell.

What confusion to the devils, who tremble like owls in the presence of this Sun, and are quite dazzled at the splendour of Its Light! "Who ever saw," say they, "such a guest in these regions? Hell never beheld the like, the world never before cast such an one into our dungeons. He is not a debtor, but a Creditor; not a captive, but the Deliverer of captives; He appears not as a suppliant, but as a Judge; He comes not to serve, but to command; not to abide 1 Isaiah xxxiii. 1.

2 Deprædator splendidus et terribilis.-(Serm. 160 in App. S. Aug.)

in our prisons, but to set our prisoners free 3. If He were a criminal, He would not be so Mighty; if He were defiled with sin, He would not shed such light around. But if He be GOD, what doth He here? If He be man only, who giveth Him power to enter here? If He be living, what doth He in the grave? If He be really dead, how maketh He the dead to go forth from hence? Hath He not overcome the prince of darkness? But He hath been nailed to the Cross. It is, indeed, true; and yet His Cross layeth waste our empire, His Cross troubleth all our joy, destroyeth our hopes, and is the source of our woes."

If the despair of the devils be exceeding great, not less great is the joy of the Patriarchs and Prophets, who were in Hades, " sitting in the shadow of death," as saith the Scripture, and buried during so many ages in the blackness of the abyss. How great was the joy of those blessed captives, when they saw their Deliverer enter their prisons, to "break the gates of brass," and remove the children of light from the children of darkness! Rejoice, holy souls, and bless the Author of your liberty; sing new songs, yea make the lowest pit resound with His praise *. Adam, behold the Tree of Life which shall repair all thy loss! Abel, behold the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world!" Isaac, behold the victim which has taken thy place upon Mount Moriah! Jacob, behold thy mystic Ladder which shall lead thee into Heaven! Moses, behold the Manna of the desert, and the miraculous rod, which divided the Red Sea that thou mightest go through!

3 Nunquam talem noster excepit Tartarus, nunquam in nostram cavernam talem invomuit mundus. Invasor iste, non debitor; exactor est, non precator; judicem videmus, non supplicem ; venit jubere, non succumbere; eripere, non manere. -(Ibid. from Eus. Hom. i. de Pasch.)

4 Psalm exlix. 1.

Joshua, behold the Sun Which standeth still, that It may give thee the light of blessedness! Isaiah, behold the fruitful "rod out of the stem of Jesse!" Jeremy, behold "the Man of Sorrows Who hath borne our iniquities!" O Prophets! behold the Messiah Whom ye proclaimed so long before His coming! O glorious Conqueror of Death! who will henceforth refuse to visit the darkest prisons, since Thou Thyself disdainest not to visit the gloomy caves of hell? O Heavenly Lamb! come into the prison of our hearts, descend through the Communion into these dark dungeons, loose the bands of our sins and of our evil habits: grant that my soul, which is but a dreary chaos by reason of its disorderly passions, may become a paradise through Thy dear Presence; and I will offer Thee "the sacrifice of praise" and thanksgiving for ever".

Death, ashamed to see itself thus despoiled of its greatest wealth, and of the most considerable portion of its property, by the loss of this second victory, now thonght only of going to hide itself in the graves amid dust and ashes. That was the only place left to it, which Tertullian calls "the asylum of death," because it had till then been so strongly entrenched, that no one had as yet been able to dislodge it. True, indeed, it is, that the Prophet Elijah and his disciple Elisha had forced it to come out thence for a little while, by raising to life two children whom it had carried off sooner than they would. But it quickly recovered its rights, and with usury, avenging itself of the insult it had sustained upon those very persons who had dared to achieve this enterprise. So that this would have been a most favourable place for its retreat, had it had to deal only with a man like other men; for their

5 Psalm cxvi. 17.

6 Apol. c. 37.

с

power extends not to the grave; their wisdom seeth not into the shades of death; holiness itself, which renders their souls incorruptible, saveth not their bodies from the corruption of the grave. But in vain would it resist the efforts of Infinite Power, Supreme Wisdom, and Uncreated Holiness, Which the Son of GOD employed in this third combat, in order to make His Triumph more glorious. Samson, finding himself shut up in the city of Gaza, tore away the gates of the town by night, laid them upon his shoulders, and bore them in triumph to the top of a neighbouring hill. Hell and the grave are the two prisons of death: in the former, it thought to shut up the Soul of the Son of GOD, and in the latter His Body but it perceived not that together with Them it shut up the Godhead also, Which is the very Fount of Life. The Soul was separated from the Body, and the Body from the Soul; but neither the Body nor the Soul were separated from the Divinity?. When a valiant man draws his sword to attack his enemy, the sword is no longer in the scabbard, and the scabbard is no longer with the sword, yet both belong to the wearer; the scabbard hangs by the side, the sword is in the hand of him who wields it. In like manner, the Soul of the Saviour of the world, when in hell, was separated from His Body, and in this state, St. Thomas Aquinas says, that "JESUS CHRIST during this separation, ceased to be Man, but He was still GoD, and His Godhead Which sustained His Body and Soul, gave to Both victorious strength to overthrow the empire of death. Oh marvel of marvels! At the same time that His Blessed Spirit bursts open the gates of hell, and robs it of its prisoners, His Body triumphs over the grave; and by a miracle never before seen,

7 Quod semel assumpsit, nunquam dimisit.