into hell is to be understood alone of our Sa viour's soul.

For the farther proof whereof, I might cite St. Jerome, who writes, "That it was the soul of Christ which went into hell as also Epiphanius, Ambrose, Origen, Athanasius, with many others, who all apply this action of our Saviour's to his soul alone; employing for this end that text of the apostle, cited by him from the psalmist, on which this article is principally founded, [Acts ii. 27.] "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption," whereby the soul of Christ, which God would not leave in hell, they understood the rational part of man, that spirit which distinguishes him from a brute, and subsists after its disunion and departure from the body; wherein it is most probable, they were in the right; for although the word soul may by a metonymy be sometimes taken in scripture for the body, yet it cannot be so understood, where it is pla ced in opposition to, and contradistinction from it, as in this text it is. And, as for the creed itself, the burial of our Lord's body having been already asserted, the bare repetition of the same in other terms, would be an unaccountable tautology, and contrary to that bre

vity which this short summary of faith intends. But then:

Secondly, the descent into hell respecs not only our Saviour's soul, but relates to something done by it in its separate state, after it was disunited from its body by death; which excludes its having any refference to the mi-. series and agonies that he suffered in his soul whilst alive. Now this will most evidently appear from the sermon of St. Peter, recorded. in the second of the Acts, wherein he applies that text of the psalmist, That God would not leave his soul in hell, unto our Saviour, after that the Jews had by wicked hands crucified and slain him; assuring his auditors therefrom, that although they had crucified and put to death the Lord of life, by means whereof his body was buried in the earth, and his soul gone to hell, yet those two essential parts should return from their respective separated mansions, and be conjoined in the same perfect living man again, according to the pro-, phesy of David, who seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see, corruption; where it is manifest, that the being, or descending into hell, related unto the soul of Christ during the interval betwixt his death and resurrection; that, as during that time,

his body was laid in the grave, so his soul went into hell, where each of them remained in their particular habitations, till the re-union of them again by his glorious resurrection, which was the third day after his death and passion."

Now, suitable to this explication of the forementioned texts, were the notions of the pri mitive fathers; Athanasius, in his third tract against Apollinarius, concerning the incarnation of our Lord, shews in sundry places, "That whilst his body lay buried in the grave, his soul went into hell, to performn in that place those several actions and operations which were necessary for the complete redemption and salvation of mankind; that he performed af. ter his death, different actions by his two essential parts; by his body he lay in the grave and conquered corruption; by his soul he went into hell, and vanquished death."— Wherefore he writes in another tract against the said heretic, "That after the death of Christ, his body lay in the grave, and his soul went to hell; neither of which were deserted by his divinity, according to that saying of the psalmist, Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see. corruption." And the author of the dialogues. concerning the holy trinity, extant amongst the works of the said father, writes, "That

Christ, for our sakes, went down by his soul into hell, whilst his body was laid in the grave." But, what need I multiply quotations to prove a point so universally attested by the ancients in innumerable places of their writings? Let therefore the superaddition of the single tes timony of Fulgentius suffice, "That after the death of the son of God, his whole humanity was neither in the grave, nor in hell, but that he lay dead in the grave with his body, whilst he went into hell with his soul." From all which it is most evident, that the descent into, hell relates only to the soul of Christ during its separation from the body, or the time that intervened between his death and resurrecti on; which being premised, I come now to consider the article itself, or what is predicated therein concerning our Lord's separated soul,, which is, that he descended into hell; wherein these two things shall be examined: first, the, place whither he went, which was hell: secondly, the manner of his going thither, viz., by descending, he descended into hell.

Only before I speak to either of these, I must be forced to premise one thing more, which is, that I do not pretend to affirm, that all the fathers and primitive writers had the same exact notions and conceptions of this ar

ticle of the creed, since without any reflection it is too manifest, that several of them had no distinct and clear apprehensions thereof, but were uncertain and confused in their notions thereabouts: Wherefore, it will be sufficient for my purpose, to prove what follows to have been the generally received opinion, and that it is the most natural, easy, and unconstrained interpretation of this perplexed and obscure article," he descended into hell."

Now, as for the first thing, the place whither Christ descended, which is said to be hell; it is most certain that we have not any one word in our modern English dialect, nor by what I could ever understand, in any other of the present European tongues, to express the Greek word by: the word in Greek, which is hades, signifies an invisible place, wherein all separated souls, whether good or bad, righteous or unrighteous, are received and contained, as shall be hereafter proved; the half of which signification, is only expressed in the French word L'Enfer, and in the English and Dutch words hell and helle, seeing they are always taken in an evil sense, and do solitarily denote the mansion and habitation of wicked and ungodly souls.

It is true indeed, that in the ancient English