or in hell, and preached to them, as the place in St. Peter testifieth.

Q. When was this interpretation dropped?

A. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth; when the descent was delivered without any explication or reference to a particular place of Scripture. "As Christ died for us, and was buried, so also it is to be believed that he went down into hell," (Art. iii. 1562.)

Q. As this article was first used in the Aquileian Creed, how was it there expressed?

Q. What was the meaning attached to this expression?

A. It found a double interpretation among the Greeks; some translating "inferna," hell; others, the lower parts. The first, with relation to St. Peter's words of Christ," thou wilt not leave my soul in hell," (Acts ii. 27.) The second, to those of St. Paul, "he descended into the lower parts of the earth." (Eph. iv. 9.)

Q. Was there any mention in the Aquileian Creed of Christ's burial ?

A. No; the words of the confession ran thus : crucified under Pontius Pilate, he descended in inferna.

Q. What was the first intention, in inserting these words?

A. To express the burial of our Saviour, or the descent of his body into the grave.

Q. But since the Roman creed has added the descent unto the burial, and expressed that descent by words signifying hell; does the Creed, as it now stands, signify only the burial of Christ, by his descent into hell?

A. No; there is a reference to some other descent besides his burial.

Q. Show then in what that descent consists. A. The words, he descended into hell, being nowhere formally expressed in Scripture, they can be illustrated only by a reference to those passages in which they are virtually contained. The first that may be mentioned, is that passage in St. Paul to the Ephesians, where he says, "Now that he ascended, what is it but that he first descended into the lower parts of the earth?" (Eph. iv. 9.)

The second is that text from David, applied by St. Peter," For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also, my flesh shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption," (Ps. xvi. 8-10.); which words the apostle repeats and applies, he "being a prophet, and seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Cl.rist, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption," (Acts ii. 25-27, 30, 31.) From this place, the article is clearly and infallibly deduced: if the soul of Christ were not left in hell at his

resurrection, then his soul was in hell before his resurrection: but it was not there before his death; therefore upon or after his death, and before his resurrection, the soul of Christ descended into hell.

Q. Do not the words of St. Peter, "put to death in the flesh, and quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison," (1 Pet. iii. 18, 19.); signify the end of Christ's descent, and that part of his humanity by which he descended?

A. They cannot be so proved, except we were certain that the spirit there spoken of were the soul of Christ, at the time intended for that preaching, after his death, and before his resurrection. But the Spirit by which he is said to preach, is that spirit by which he was quickened; as appears by the coherence of the words, " put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison." Now the spirit by which Christ was quickened, is that by which he was raised from the dead, that is, the power of his divinity; in respect of which he preached to those that were disobedient in the days of Noah.

Q. Having shown the truth of the proposition, explain the sense and meaning of it.

A. Considering the soul in the most proper sense, as the spirit or rational part of Christ, that part of a man, which, according to our Saviour's doctrine, the Jews could not kill; and looking on hell, as a place distinct from the world in

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which we live, and distinguished from the heavens whither Christ ascended, into which place the souls of men are conveyed after death: we conceive this soul, or rational part of Christ, when separated from his body by death, to have passed into this separate state of souls after death.

Q. What was the end of this descent?

A. That Christ might undergo the condition of a dead man, as well as of a living. He appeared here in the similitude of sinful flesh, and went into the other world in the similitude of a sinner.

Q. Had this any thing to do with the satisfaction necessary to our redemption?

A. All that was necessary to our redemption, by way of satisfaction and merit, was performed on the cross.

Q. What did Christ effect for us by his descent into hell?

A. By his descent he freed us from our fears, as by his ascension he secured to us our hopes. "Through death he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil," (Heb. ii. 14.) and by his actual descent into the dominions of him whom he destroyed, secured to all which have an interest in him, the same freedom which he had.

Q. Shew that Christ was to rise again.

A. When God said of his anointed, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee," he foretold, and promised that he would raise the

Messias from death to life. Again, the spirit of God, speaking by the mouth of David, says, "my flesh shall rest in hope; for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption," (Ps. xvi. 10.) But the patriarch David "is both dead and buried," and his flesh consumed in his sepulchre; but "being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne ; he seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption," (Acts ii. 29-31.)

Further, God declares to his people, "I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David," (Isa. lv. 3.); which must signify that Christ, who was first given to us in a frail and mortal condition, in which he was to die; should afterwards be given to us in an immutable state, and consequently, that he, being dead, should rise unto eternal life.

That the Messias was to rise again, was also typified. Joseph, who was ordained to save his brethren from death, who would have slain him, represented the Son of God, who was slain by us, and yet dying saved us; and his being in the dungeon, typified Christ's death: his being taken out from thence, represented his resurrection; as his evection to the power of Egypt, next to Pharaoh, signified the session of Christ at the right hand