mentators; and of modern Critics and Expositors of great name, among whom rank, Bishop PEARSON, Bishop HORSLEY, Dr. CAMPBELL, Dr. DODDRIDGE, and Dr. ADAM CLARKE*.

Bishop PEARSON's views of this passage have been already fully stated.

Bishop HORSLEY observes + that "these words of the Creed he descended into Hell,' declare what was done by his rational soul in its intermediate state." And afterwards quoting the passage which has been under discussion, "Thou wilt not leave my soul," &c. proceeds thus "From this text if there were no other, the Article, in the sense in which we have explained it, is clearly and infallibly deduced; for if the soul of Christ were not left in hell at his resurrection, then it was in hell before his resurrection. But it was not there either before his death or after his resurrection, for that never was imagined: therefore it descended into hell after his death, and before his resurrection; for as his flesh, by virtue of the divine. promise, saw no corruption, although it was in the grave, the place of corruption, where it remained until his resurrection, so his soul, which by virtue of the like promise was not left in hell, was in that hell where it was not left, until the time came for its reunion to the body for the accomplishment of the resurrection. Hence it is so clearly evinced that the soul of Christ was in the place

* None of these authors, however, present a full and particular answer to the formidable argument, urged with great force by respectable Commentators and Critics, that soul in this passage means the animal life. Bishop Horsley takes no notice of it. Dr. Campbell merely adverts to it. Bishop Pearson answers it somewhat in detail. King incidently notices it in his history of the Apostles' creed,

+ Ser. Vol. ii. 88.

called hell, that none but an infidel,' saith St. Augustine, ' can deny it." "

Dr. CAMPBELL vindicates the same construction of this passage.

Dr. DODDRIDGE paraphrases the words, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell," thus, "I am fully satisfied, that thou wilt not leave my soul while separated from it (the body) in the unseen world." And, in opposition to the opinion advanced by WHITBY and others, that the soul here is put for the animal life or dead body, and dns, Hades for the grave, he observes in a note, " As Yʊxn which is the word here used, can hardly be thought to signify a dead body, and ä♪ns is generally put for the state of separate spirits, the version here given seemed preferable to any other."

Dr. ADAM CLARKE interprets the same words of the soul of Christ not being left in the state of separate spirits.

The opposite construction which has been given of this passage, and the hostility to the doctrine of an intermediate state, and of the descent of Christ into Hell, among many Protestant Divines, appear to have arisen from an apprehension of countenancing the papal doctrine of purgatory, to which, however, the primitive and correct doctrine of the state of separate spirits gives no countenance.

But it is of primary importance, in this discussion, to ascertain the correct meaning of the word which, in this passage and many others of the sacred writings, is translated Hell. If this mean a place of departed spirits, then of course the existence of this place is not only established, but also the descent of the spirit or soul of Christ into the same abode.

The word Hell in our English translation of the Bible, answers in the original to two distinct words, ä♪ns (Hebrew Sheol) Hades, denoting merely a secret, invisible place, and hence applied to the place of departed spirits ; and yέɛvva gehenna signifying the place of final torment. There can be no doubt that the acceptation of the word dns, or adns, Hades among the Greeks, was the place of the departed. In the commencement of the Iliad, it was "aidi" "Pluto's gloomy reign" that the anger of Achilles hurled

to

"The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain."

Answering to the dns of the Greeks, is the orcus of the Romans. It was the boast of Virgil's Heroes*.

46

-Multos Danaûm dimittimus Orco."

"With gods averse we follow to the fight
"And undistinguished in the shades of night
"Mix with the foes, employ the murdering steel
"And plunge whole squadrons to the depths of Hell.”

The existence of a region where the departed shades resided was the popular belief of the Greeks and Romans, and was denoted by the adns or adns of the one, and the Orcus or inferi of the other. And it is reasonable to conclude that the Apostles would use the word ä♪ns, hades, in its popular signification, as denoting the place of the departed.

But to denote the place of final torment they employed another word yέɛvva, gehenna, a compound of two Hebrew words signifying the valley of Hinnom. It was originally a pleasant valley, planted with trees and watered with fountains, near to Jerusalem, by the brook of

* Eneid ii. 398.

Kedron. The Jews placed there the image of Moloch, to which they sacrificed their children. When these horrid sacrifices were abolished by Josias the pious king of Israel, the place became so abominable, that they cast there the carcases of animals and the dead bodies of criminals, where they were consumed by fire. Hence it was used, to denote the place of future torment, not only by the Jews, but by Christ and his Apostles. Tophet, from Toph, which signifies a drum, was a name also applied to this place; the noise of drums being employed at the sacrifices, to drown the cries of the victims. And hence Tophet also, among the Jews, denoted the place of future punishment *.

These two words ä♪ns and yéɛvva, Hades and Gehenna, are indiscriminately rendered Hell in the New Testament. But wherever the former word Hades is translated Hell, the place of departed spirits is meant; and wherever gehenna is rendered Hell, the place of the damned is de

noted.

The idea of the place of torment is now commonly connected with this word Hell. But the original meaning of the word "Hell" was no more than a hidden or invisible place, from the Saxon word "helan" to cover over. In this acceptation it is used as the translation of the Greek word ans, hades. Dr. DODDRIDGE observes (Com. on Rev. i. 18.) "Our English, or rather Saxon word Hell, in its original signification (though it is now understood in a more limited sense) exactly answers to the Greek word hades, and denotes a concealed or unseen place, and this sense of the word is still retained in the eastern and especially the western counties of England; to hell over a

* See Schleusner's Lexicon, Art. Féevva, and Campbell's Prelim. Dissert. Part ii. 1, and Calmet's Dict. Art. Gehenna and Tophet.

thing is to cover it." Dr. CAMPBELL observes, (Prelim. Dissertations vi. Part ii. 2.) "The term dns hades was written anciently didns, ab a priv. et adw video, and signifies obscure, hidden, invisible. To this the word hell in its primitive signification perfectly corresponded. For, at first it denoted only what was secret or concealed. This word is found with little variation of form and precisely in the same meaning in all the Teutonic dialects." "The term hades implies properly, neither hell nor the grave, but the place or state of departed souls."

"The word hell, (says Dr. Adam Clarke *) used in the common translation conveys now an improper meaning of the original word; because hell is only used to signify the place of the damned. But as the word hell comes from the Anglo Saxon helan, to cover or hide, hence the tyling or slating of a house is called in some parts of England (particularly Cornwall) heling to this day, and the covers of books (in Lancaster) by the same name; so the literal import of the original word "Adns was formerly well expressed by it +."

"The word Hell in its natural import," (says Bishop Horsley "signifies only that invisible place which is +) the appointed habitation of departed souls in the interval between death and the general resurrection."

In this acceptation of the word Hell as the place of the departed, answering to the adns of the Greeks and the

* Com. on Matt. xi. 23.

+ Dr. JOHNSON, in his Dictionary, gives, as one meaning of Hell, "the place of departed spirits whether good or bad." But Mr. WEBSTER, Omits this acceptation of the word which is founded on its Saxon derivation; though he professes that his acquaintance with the Saxon language, "the mother tongue of the English,” qualifies him eminently for accurately defining English words.

Sermon, Vol. ii. 89.