the Heart of the Earth, as it is in Matth. xii. 40. which is a Place that they generally applied to our Saviour's Soul, during the three Days of its Separation from his Body. About the beginning of the Prophet Jonah's Prayer out of the Fish's a Jonah ii. 3. Belly, there is this Expreffion, h Per cor maris fignificatur in fernus, pro quo in Evangelio legimus, in corde terræ ; quomodo autem cor animalis in medio eft, ita & infernus in medio terræ effe perhibetur. Tom. 5.Com. in Fonam. c. 2. p. 138. 2 For thou hadst me into the Deep, in the midst ofthe Seas; where, what we render in the midft, S. Ferom more exactly, according to the original Hebrew Word 7 tranflates it, in the Heart of the Seas; and on it writes, That b by the Heart of the Sea, Hell is fignified; for which, we read in the Gospel, the Heart of the Earth, for, as the Heart of an Animal is in the midft thereof, fo Hell is fuppofed to be in the middle of the Earth: For the Proof of which, he elsewhere produces that Text of the Pfalmift, in Pfal. cvi. 17. The Earth opened, and Swallowed up Dathan, and covered the Company of Abiram; and that Paffage of c Quod autem infernus in inferiori parte terræ fit, & Pfalmifta teftatur,dicens, aperta eft ter. ra & devoravit Dathan, &c. Tom. 6. Com. in Ephef. 4. p. 178. the d d Infernus fub terrâ fit,dicente laci. Tom. 4. Com. in Efai. c. 14. Scripturâ, ufque ad fundamenta p. 47. e Regionem inferum fubterraneam. De Anim. c. 32. p. 576. f In foffa terræ & in alto vaftitas, & in ipfis vifceribus ejus abftrufa profunditas. De Anim. .31. p. 574. the Prophet Ifaiah, Chap. g Infra terram locus-quo piorum animæ impiorumq; ducuntur, futuri judicii præjudicia fen Q4 tientes. De Trinitas. p. 493. h Kai h Lib. p. 200. (μυοίο Η Καὶ τότε δὴ ποταμός τε μέγας πυρός αίθο Ῥάσει ἀπερανόθεν καὶ πάντα τόπον δαπήσει Γαΐαν τ' ὠκεανόν τε μέγαν γλαύκων τε θαλάσαν Λίμνας και ποταμός, πηγὰς καὶ ἀμείλιχον δω Sub terra, lib. 4. c. 45. p. 280. "Tπò ylu. Orthodox. Fid. lib. 3. c. 29. p. 278. 1 τῷ καταχθονίῳ τόπῳ. Vol. 1. Homil. de Engafirym. p. 35. K i Ireneus, Damaf cen, and others, believed it also to be a place under the Earth; and Origen likewise one where, terms it 1 a place under Ground; though he elsewhere speaks ve ry doubtfully and uncertainly of the "Osis ole ens into Hell, m wherefo Vol. 2. Comment.in Joban. Tom. ever it be, or, in what 8. p. 126. place foever it is. And indeed, though every one be lieved Hell to be the receptacle of all Souls, yet they were not agreed in the exact Situation thereof; Tertul lian, wherein he is followed by the Schoolmen, placeth it in the very Bowels of the Earth; Novatian, Damafcen, and others, fix it beneath the Earth, infra terram, yb, by which they understood the Southern Hemifphere; which space we now find to be filled with Earth and Air, as our Nor e Northern one is: Others knew not where to fettle it; but in general, very one meant by it that Place, wherefoever it was, into which separated Souls do pafs; only whatsoever their particular Opinion was, in conformity to the usual Dialect and common manner of Speaking, they termed a going thither a Defcent into Hell, as the forementioned Reverend Archbishop. inftanceth in Cicero, who, where ever An Answer he hath occafion to mention any thing that to a Challenge concerneth the Dead, Speaking ftill of In-fuit in Ireferi, according to the Vulgar Phrase ; land, p. 392. although, he mifliked the vulgar Opinion which bred that manner of Speaking, and professed it to be his Judgment, That made by a Fe the Souls when they depart out of o Anima the Body, are carried up on high, and cum è corpore not downward unto any Habitations un-excefferint, in der the Earth. fublime ferri. Lib. 1. Tufcu So that when the Greed affirms, thatlan. Quest. our Saviour defcended into Hell, the meaning thereof is no other than this, viz. that his Soul being feparated from his Body by a real Tranfition and local Motion, went into the unseen Region of Spirits, where, according to the Laws of Death, it remained amongst other religious and pious departed Souls till the Resurrection of his his Body, which was the Third Day after. Now that this is the true and proper Signification of Chrift's defcending into Hell, will be farther proved from the Confideration of the Ends for which he defcended thither; fome of the most pertinent whereof to our present Purpose, are as follows. First, One End thereof was, to fanEtify and sweeten unto us the State of Separation, to abate its Dread and Terrour, and to render it the more comfortable and joyful, in that our Head and Saviour endured it before us; for as Irenæus obferves, after that our Lord had passed through the feveral Ages of Man's Life to fanctify them unto us, he P at length came unto Death, that be might be the Firft-born of the Dead, and have the pre-eminency in all things: According unto which Athanafius writes, That Chrift condemned Sin in his Life on Earth, took away the Curfe on the To Javá-Crofs, Corruption in the Grave, and Death in his Defcent into Hell, paf Deinde & ufque ad mortem pervenit, ut fit primogenitus ex mortuis, ipfe primatum tenens in omnibus. Lib. 2. c. 39. p. 137. Τα καλά λυσιν ἐν τῷ ἅδη πανί ἐπὶ ἂς τόπῳ, ἵνα τὸ σύμπαν 10 ανθρώπο * σωτηρίαν λαζαρά στ) μορφω, ημετέρας εικόν ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἐπιδεικνύναι G. Tom. I. de Incarn. Chrift. cont. Apollin. p. 618. |