ox is the word employed for we in Acts ii. 27, 31. Yox, as Parkhurst observes, sometimes signifies "the human body though dead," and is the term employed by the Seventy not only in Ps. xvi. 10. but also Lev. xxi. 1, 11. Num. v. 2. vi. 6. Besides, the authenticity of the words i un auto, his soul, which occur in Peter's comment on the Psalm, verse 31st, is at least exceedingly doubtful. They are wanting in the Alexandrian Manuscript, and no expression corresponding to them occurs in the Syriac or Vulgate. Griesbach therefore rejects them, and reads the 31st verse thus;ότι ο κατελείφθη εις άδες, εδε ή σαρξ αντε 'ειδι διαφθοραν.—Nor is there any force in the objection, that if nephesh does not mean the soul, both clauses of the verse express the same idea. On the supposition that the verse runs thus, "For thou wilt not leave my corpse in the grave, nor wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption;" there is still a manifest and important difference betwixt the two parts of the verse. Both indeed relate to the resurrection of the body; but the first is a general prediction of the event, and the second an intimation of the time when it should happen, namely, before the process of putrefaction should commence.

The interpretation now contended for, or one very similar, is embraced by many respectable writers. Bishop Horne explains the verse thus ;-" that after the death of the Messiah, his animal frame (nephesh) should not continue like those of other men in the grave (sheol,) nor should corruption be permitted to seize on the body by which all others were to be raised to incorruption and immortality."† See also Hammond's Paraphrase, and Whitby's Note on Acts ii. 26, 27. Beza's Note on the same passage is highly worthy of attention. -Compare Notes xxiv. and xxv.

NOTE XXII. Page 129.

Interpreters have differed considerably with regard to the precise meaning of the words in Isaiah liii. 9. rendered in the common version; " And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death." Calvin is of opinion that the expressions refer to the Father's delivering Christ into the hands of the ungodly,-that both the wicked and the rich are to be understood of those cruel and violent men who took an active part in his last sufferings,—and that the Messiah is represented as having his grave from the wicked and

VOL. II.

Greek Lex. tuxa Iv.

+ Commentary on the Psalms, in loc.
3 U

39.

outrageous of various classes, because he was in a manner overwhelmed and buried by bloody hands.'

The interpretation of Witsius, however, seems more eligible; and, amongst other arguments in its favour, it is worthy of notice that, while the term rendered wicked is in the plural number, the word translated rich is unquestionably in the singular. Bishop Lowth renders the clause thus ;-" and his grave was appointed with the wicked, but with the rich man was his tomb;" and he vindicates this translation in a learned Note.

NOTE XXIII. Page 134.

The remark quoted by our Author from Isidorus, respecting the possibility of a precise correspondence in point of duration between. Jonah's confinement in the belly of the fish and our Saviour's abode in the tomb, discovers at least considerable acuteness. Witsius, however, justly prefers the common interpretation of "the three days and three nights" to the ingenious refinements of Ambrose, Cloppenburgh, and Cocceius. It is much better to rest satisfied with a natural interpretation justified by the established use of speech among the Jews, than to resort to glosses, which, to say the least, have some appearance of being far-fetched, and are calculated to expose the truth to the ridicule of enemies.

This subject is placed in a clear and striking light by Mr West in his excellent "Observations on the Resurrection of Christ." It may suffice here, to cite the following short illustration from Doddridge. "It is of great importance to observe, as many good writers have done, that the Easterns reckoned any part of a day of twenty-four hours for a whole day, and say a thing was done after three or seven days, &c. if it was done on the third or seventh day from that last mentioned, (compare 1 Kings xx. 29. 2 Chron. x. 5, 12. and Luke ii. 21.) And as the Hebrews had no word, exactly answering to the Greek wxnuɛgov, to signify a natural day of twentyfour hours, they use night and day, or day and night for it. So that to say a thing happened after three days and three nights, was the same as to say it happened after three days, or on the third day. (Compare Esther iv. 16. with verse 1. Gen. vii. 4, 12. Exod. xxiv. 18. xxxiv. 28.) See the Miracles of Jesus vindicated, p. 6-8."+

Comm. in Esaiam in loc. Calvin renders the expressions, "Et exposuit impiis sepulchrum ejus, et diviti mortem ejus."

The Family Expositor, Vol. ii. sect. 63. Note f.

NOTE XXIV. Page 143.

The Creed, as it has stood for many centuries past, contains beyond doubt this affirmation respecting our Lord—κατελθοντα εις ὧδε, that he DESCENDED INTO HELL, or rather HADES. Nor is this article to be objected to, if rightly understood.

In order to prevent mistakes, it is of importance to form a correct idea of the meaning of the term dns, Hades, which is rendered Hell in the English translation of the Creed. The meaning of this term has already been slightly adverted to in a Note relative to "the gates of hades," mentioned Mat. xvi. 18.* That Note, it is acknowledged, should have contained a reference to a passage in another work, in which Witsius particularly discusses the meaning of this remarkable verse. † He states that Hades in Greek, and Sheol in Hebrew, signify, in Scripture style, the place and state of the dead. Adns, he observes, " properly signifies Toy didn ToжTov, the unseen place in which they who are, do not appear; and Sheol denotes that place in which he who is, is to seek-whom you may seek, but not find." This account of the primitive sense of Hades is generally admitted. Our author's explanation of Sheol is also substantially the same that is given by Parkhurst, and some other critics, and appears to be embraced by Dr Campbell. But the explication adopted by Whitby in a Note on Acts ii. 27, namely, "It craves for all men," seems to be better founded. It is supported by the Author of "Strictures on Campbell" mentioned in a preceding Note, and by Dr Magee. It indicates, says Magee, insatiable craving,—a character attached to it Is. v. 14. Hab. ii. 5. Prov. xxvii. 20. xxx. 16. It has been thought, he adds, that it signifies to demand in loan, and so implies that what is given is to be returned back.

The Hebrew term Sheol, we have already seen,§ sometimes refers to the body, and denotes the grave. That it sometimes refers to the soul, and signifies the world of spirits, is readily admitted. The Greek word Hades, too, in whatever way it was used by classic authors, appears to have been employed by the Grecian Jews in all the different acceptations of Sheol. Accordingly, it is the term made use of for Sheol in the Septuagint, even in the various passages

• VOL. I. NOTE LX.

Treatise on the Covenants, Book iii. Ch. 13.

21-24.

Discourses and Dissert. &c. Vol. i. pp. 374–386. § NOTE XXI.

"Of Conservation," sect.

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. "In 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 a doctrine of the Creed. The article under consideration may

Critical History of the Creed, Ch. iv. p. 193.

be

+ Etymological Dictionary 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.