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in a Saviour to come fhould be kept out from Heaven till he came, and those which now believe in the fame Saviour already come fhould be admitted thither immediately upon their Expiration.

But fuch as thought the Place in which the Souls of the Patriarchs did refide could not in Propriety of Speech be called Hell, not was ever fo named in the Scriptures, conceived, that as our Saviour went to those who were included in the proper Hell, or Place of Torment, fo the End of his Defcent was to deliver Souls from thofe Miseries which they felt, and to tranflate them to a Place of Happiness and a glorious Condition. They which did think that Hell was wholly emptied, that every Soul was prefently released from all the Pains which before it fuffered, were branded with the Names of *Heretick: but to believe that many were delivered, was both by them* s. Auguftine and many others counted Orthodox.

in his Book
de Hærefibus
reckons this

as the feventy ninth Herefie: Alia, defcendente ad Infernos Chrifto credidiffe incredulos, & omnes inde exiftimat liberatos. And though he gives the Herefie without a Name, as he found it in Philaftrius, yet we find the opinion was not very fingular. For Euodius propounded it to S. Auguftine as a Question in which he defired fatisfaction, an defcendens Chriftus omnibus evangelizavít, omnefque à tenebris & pœnis per gratiam liberavit, ut à tempore refurrectionis Domini judicium exfpectetur exinanitis inferis? And in his Anfwer to that Question, he looks not upon the affirmative. part as an Herefie, but as a doubtful Propofition. His Refolution, firft, is, that it did not concern the Prophets and the Patriarchs, because he could not fee how they should be thought to be in Hell, and fo capable of a Deliverance from thence: Addunt quidem hoc beneficium antiquis etiam Sanctis fuiffe conceffum, Abel, Seth, Noe, & domui ejus, Abraham, Ifaac, & Jacob, aliifque Patriarchis & Prophetis, ut cùm Dominus in infernum veniffet, illis doloribus, folverentur. Sed quonam modo intelligatur Abraam, in cujus finum pius etiam pauper ille fufceptus eft in illis fuiffe doloribus, ego quidem non video: explicant fortafsè qui poffunt. Epift. 99. ad Euodium. Et paulò poft: Unde illis juftis qui in finu Abrahæ erant cùm ille in inferna defcenderet nondum quid contuliffet inverti, à quibus eum fecundum beatificam præfentiam fuæ Divinitatis nunquam video receffiffe. And yet in another he will not blame them that believed the contrary, nor did he think their Opinion abfurd. Si enim non abfurdè credi videtur, antiquos etiam Sanctos, qui venturi Chrifti tenuerunt fidem, locis quidem à tormentis impiorum remotiffimis, fed apud Inferos, fuiffe, donec eos inde fanguis Chrifti ad ea loca defcenfus erueret, &c. De Civitate Dei, 1. 20. c. 15. His fecond Refolution was, That Chrift did by his Defcent relieve fome out of the Pains of Hell, taking Hell in the worst fenfe. Quia evidentia teftimonia & Infernum commemorant & dolores, nulla caufa occurrit cur illuc credatur veniffe Salvator, nifi ut ab ejus doloribus falvos faceret. Epift. 99. Quamobrem teneamus firmiffimè quòd fides habet fundatiffimâ authoritate firmata, quia Chriftus mortuus eft fecundùm Scripturas, & quia fepultus eft, & quia refurrexit tertia die fecundùm Scripturas; & cætera quæ de illo, teftante veritate, confcripta funt. In quibus etiam hoc eft, quod apud inferos fuit, folutis corum doloribus quibus eum erat impoffibile teneri; à quibus etiam rectè intelligitur folvifle & liberâffe quos voluit. Ibid. His third Refolution was, That how many these were which were delivered out, of Hell was uncertain, and therefore temerarious to define. Sed utrùm omnes quos in eis invenit, an quofdam quos illo beneficio dignos judicavit, adhuc requiro. Ibid. Hoc fcilicet quod fcriptum eft, Solutis doloribus Inferni, non in omnibus, fed in quibufdam accipi poteft, quos ille dignos iftâ liberatione judicabat: ut neque fruftra illic defcendiffe exiftimetur, nulli eorum profuturus qui ibi tenebantur inclufi; nec tamen fit confequens, ut quod Divina quibufdam mifericordia juftitiaque conceffit, omnibus conceffum effe putandum fit. Ibid. Poteft & fic, ut eos dolores eum folviffe credamus quibus teneri ipfe non poterat, fed quibus alii tenebantur quos ille noverat liberandos. Verùm quinam ifti funt temerarium eft definire. Si enim omnes omninò dixerimus tunc effe liberatos qui illuc inventi funt, quis non gratuletur, fi hoc poflimus oftendere? Ibid. Thus the Opinion of S. Auguftine is clear, That those which departed in the Faith of Chrift were before in Happiness and the beatifical Prefence of God, and fo needed no Tranflation by the Death of Chrift; and of those which were kept in the Pains of Hell, fome were loofed and delivered from them, fome were not: and this was the proper End or Effect of Chrift's Defcent into Hell. Thus Capreolus Ipfe in homine eft vifitare Inferorum dignatus abftrufa, & præpofitos mortis præfentiâ invictæ majeftatis exterruit, & propter liberandos quos voluit, Inferorum portas referari præcepit. Epift. ad Hifpanos. S. Ambrofe: Ipfe autem inter mortuos liber remiffionem in Inferno pofitis folutâ mortis lege donabat. De Incarn. c. 5. "Oxor go bùs Cruddions & ᾅδίω, καὶ τὰς ἀφύκες τοῖς 7 κεκοιμημβρύων πνεύμασιν ἀναπελάσας πύλας, ἔρημόν τε καὶ μόνον ἀφεὶς ἐκεῖσε το Διάβολον ἀνέση. S. Cyril. Homil. Pafch. 7. Who speaks full as high as those words of Euodius, or that Heretick, whosoever it was, which is mentioned, though not named, by Philaftrius. For en More Alábon is as much as Inferi exinaniti; and xeχώρας τι θανάτε μυχώ (which he ufeth in another Homily) is the fame.

The Means by which they did conceive that Chrift did free the Souls of Men from Hell was the Application of his Death unto them, which was propounded to thofe Souls by preaching of the Gospel there: That as he re- * This preachvealed here on Earth the Will of God unto the Sons of Men, and propound- ing of the ed himself as the Object of their Faith, to the End that whofoever believed Gospel to the in him should never die; fo after his Death he fhewed himself unto the Souls the general departed, that whofoever of them would yet accept of and acknowledge Opinion of the him should pass from Death to Life.

Dead, was

Fathers, as the End of his Defcent, or

Means, by which that good was wrought for the Souls below, which was effected by his Death. Eapropter Dominum in ea que fub terra defcendiffe, evangelizantem & illis adventum fuum, remiffam peccatorum exiftentem his

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qui credunt in eum. Crediderunt autem in eum omnes qui fperabant in eum, id eft, qui adventum ejus prænunciaverunt, & difpofitionibus ejus fervierunt, Jufti, & Prophetæ, & Patriarchæ, quibus fimiliter ut nobis remifit peccata. Irenaus, l. 4. c. 45. Ενεργεί γδ, οἶμαι, καὶ ὁ Σωτὴς, ἐπεὶ τὸ σώζειν ἔξ[ον αὐτόν· ὅπερ ὧν καὶ πεποίηκεν, τὰς εἰς αὐτὸν πιςεύσαι βεβολημένες καὶ τὰ κηρύγματα, ὅποι πότ' ἔτυχον γε[ονότες, ἑλκύσας εἰς σωτηρίαν. Εἰ γ' ἂν ὁ ΚύριΘ δὲ ἐδὲν ἕτερο εἰς ᾅδες καλῆλθεν, ἡ εἰς τὸ εὐαγγελίσας, ὥστες καλῆλθεν, ἤτοι πάντας βαγ[ελίσκος, ἢ μόνες Εβραίος. Εἰ ᾗ ἂν πάνας, ζωθήσον) πάντες οἱ πιςεύσαντες, καν ἐξ ἐθνῶν ὄντες τύχωσιν, ἐξομολο[ησάμθμοι ήδη ενεί. Clem. Αlex. Strom. l. 6. Τριήμερο · ἀνεβίῳ κηρύξας καὶ τοῖς ἐν φυλακῇ πνεύματι. Πληρεςάτη γδ' ὅτως ἡ δὲ φιλανθρωπίας ἐπίδειξις, μὲ τῷ μὴ μόνον ἀνασῶσαι φημι, τὰς ἔτι ζῶντας ἐπὶ δὲ γῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἤδη κατοιχομθίοις, καὶ ἐν τοῖς σὲ ἀδύσεις μοχοῖς καθηρίοις ἐν σκότῳ, καὶ τὸ γεγραμμένον, Σακηρύξαι τ' ἄρεσιν. S. Cyril, in Joan, L. 12. Πολλαχό Διαμαρτύρε, ἡ γραφὴ, ὃν τρόπον τοῖς τίωικάδε ζῶσι τ' αὐτὸν καὶ τοῖς ἐν ᾅδε Διὰ Χρισ8 * Σπολύτρωσιν ο αλέας. Λέει δό μαθητών κορυφαίο. Εἰς τό το γδ απέθανε καὶ ἀνέση, ἵνα καὶ νεκρῶν καὶ ζῶντων κυριεύσῃ· καὶ πάλιν, τοῖς ἐν φυλακῇ πορευθεὶς ἐκήρυξε πνεύμασιν, ἵνα κριθῶσι μὲ (αρκί, ζῶσι ἢ πνεύματι· τελέσιν, ὅπως οἱ μ' άπισοι· καὶ τὰ τέτο αμαξιωλοί, με μθρηκότες κατακριθῶσιν, ἅτε δὴ ὁλοκλήρως (ὰρξ γεγονότες, καὶ διχοτομηθέντες τα πνεύματα, ὅποι ἢ καὶ ἐν ᾅδε Χριστῷ τῇ δικαιοσαύη πεπιτεύκασι, το πνευματικῆς συφροσαύης Σπιλαύωσι. Hobius apud Phctium, lib. 2. cap. 38.

Thus did they think the Soul of Chrift defcended into Hell to preach the Gofpel to the Spirits there, that they might receive him who before believed in him, or that they might believe in him who before rejected him. But this cannot be received as the End, or way to effect the End, of Chrift's Descent; nor can I look upon it as an Illustration of this Article, for many Reasons. For first, I have already fhewed that the Place of S. Peter, fo often mentioned for it, is not capable of that Senfe, nor hath it any relation to our Saviour after Death. Secondly, The Ancients feem upon no other Reason to have interpreted this place of S. Peter in that manner, but because other Apocryphal Writings led them to that Interpretation, upon the Authority whereof this Opinion only can rely. A place of the Prophet Je* Justin Mar- remy was firft* produced, that the Lord God of Ifrael remembred his dead, which flept in the land of the grave, and defcended unto them, to preach Dialogue with unto them his falvation. But being there is no fuch Verse extant in that Trypho the Few, Kaidi Prophet or any other, it was alfo delivered that it was once in the Tranfla* λόγων το tion of the Septuagint, but rafed out from thence by the Jews: which as αὐτῇ Ἰερεμία ὁμοίως ταῦτα it can scarce be conceived true, fo, if it were, it would be yet of doubtful exo, Authority, as being never yet found in the Hebrew Text. And Hermes in Εμνήθη 5 his Book, called the Paftor, was † thought to give fufficient Strength to this IrOpinion; whereas the Book it felf is of no good Authority, and in this Par-. Exgar, ticular is most extravagant: for he taught, that not only the Soul of Christ, 7 κεκοιμημέ but also the Souls of the Apostles, preached to the Spirits below; that as xx, they followed his Steps here, fo did they also after their Death, and therefore xalis defcended to preach in Hell.

tyr in his

Κύριθ ὁ Θεὸς

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αὐτὸς εὐαγΓε

λίσας αὐτοῖς

c. 39.

TO Cather OUTS. This place is first brought by Irenæus, to prove that he which died for us was not only Man but God: Et quoniam non folùm homo erat qui moriebatur pro nobis, ait Efaias, Et commemoratus eft Dominus Sanctus Ifrael mortuorum fuorum, quia (leg. qui) dermierant in terra fepultionis, & defcendit ad eos, evangelizare falutem que est ab eo, ut falvaret eos. Adv. Hæref. 1.3. 23. Only he names Efaias inftead of Jeremias, whom he rightly names again, 1. 4. Sicut Hieremias ait, Recommemoratus eft Dominus Sanctus Ifrael mortuorum, &c. And as there, fo more plainly, 1.5. c. 26. applies it to the Soul of Christ while it was abfent from his Body: Nunc autem tribus diebus converfatus eft ubi erant mortui, quemadmodum Prophetia ait de eo, Commemoratus eft Dominus Sanctorum, (lege, San Etus Ifrael) mortuorum fuorum, eorum qui antè dormierunt in terra ftipulationis (lege, fepultionis) & defcendit ad eos, extrahere eos, & falvare eos. Thus did Irenæus make use of this Verfe, to fhew Chrift preached unto the dead, rather than that of S. Peter; and yet there is no Authority in it. For it is not to be found in the Hebrew Text, and Justin Martyr charges the Jews only of rafing it out of the ĹXX. which how they could do out of thofe Copies which were in the Chriftians hands is fcarce intelligible; and yet it's not now to be found there. † Clemens Alexandrinus firft brings a strange place of Scripture to prove Chrift's preaching in Hell, Strom. 1.6. Alówię • Kuel LinyTexicalo xy Tois ἐν ᾅδε. Φησὶ γ' ἐν ἡ “ραφή, Δέξει ο ᾄδος τῇ δπολείᾳ, Εἶδα με αὐτῷ ἐκ εἴδωρο, φωνία, ἢ αὐτό ηκέσαμθρ' which he thus interprets, εχ ὁ τύπων δήπε φωνα λαβὼν εἶπεν τὰ προειρημθρα, ἀλλ' οἱ ἐν ᾅδε καταλαλύτες καὶ εἰς Σπέλειαν αὐτὸς ἐνδεδωκό τες, καθάπες ἔκ τινΘ νέως εἰς θάλασσαν εκόντες απερρίψαντες· αὐτοὶ τοίνιν εἰσὶν οἱ ἐπακέσαντες σε θείας δυνάμεως καὶ φωνῆς· and then feeming to aim at the place of S. Peter, he paffes to another Proof, which he had produced in his fecond Book: Δέδεικ·) ἢ κἂν τῷ δευτέρω Στρωμαλε, τις ̓Αποςόλος, ακολύθως τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ τὰς ἐν ᾅδε σηγ[ελισμυρίες which he there proved by the Authority of the Book called Paftor, and attributed to Hermes: O 'Egμns 5-ni tus 'Amosódus & To's διδασκάλες, τις κηρύξαντας τὸ ὄνομα τῷ δ τῇ Θεό, καὶ κοιμηθέντας, τῇ δυνάμει καὶ τῇ πίσει κηρύξαι τοῖς προκεκοιμημλύοις, Strom. 1. 2. which words are thus in the old Latin Tranflation of Hermes, lib. 3. Similit. 9. Quoniam hi Apoitoli & doctores qui prædicaverunt nomen Filii Dei, cum habentes fidem ejus & poteftatem defuncti effent, prædicaverunt his qui antè obierunt. And then Clemens fupplies that Authority with a Reason of his own, that as the Apofiles were to imitate Chrift while they lived, fo they did alfo imitate him after Death: 'Exeli, oiμan, wale navlaita, &ING I κακεῖσε τὰς ἀρίσεις 7 μαθητῶν μιμητὰς γυέως το διδασκάλω. Stromat. 1. 6. And therefore they preached to the Souls in Hell as Chrift did before them. This is the Doctrine of Clemens Alexandrinus out of his Apocryphal Authorities.

Nor is this only to be fufpected in reference to those pretended Authorities which first induced Men to believe it, and to make forced Interpretations of Scripture to maintain it; but also to be rejected in itself, as falfe, and inconfiftent with the Nature, Scope and End of the Gofpel, (which is to be preached with fuch Commands and Ordinances as can concern thofe only which are in this Life) and as incongruous to the State and Condition of thofe Souls to whom Chrift is fuppofed to preach. For if we look upon the Patriarchs, Prophets, and all Saints before departed, 'tis certain they were never difobedient in the days of Noah; nor could they need the Publication of the Gofpel after the Death of Chrift, who by vertue of that Death were accepted in him while they lived, and by that Acceptation had received a Reward long before. If we look upon them which died in Disobedience, and were in Torments for their Sins, they cannot appear to be proper Objects for the Gospel preached. The Rich Man, whom we find in their Condition, defired one might be fent from the Dead to preach unto his Brethren then alive, left they also should come unto that Place: but we find no Hopes he had that any fhould come from them which were alive to preach to him. For if the living, who heard not Mofes and the Prophets, would not be Luc. 16. 31. perfuaded though one rofe from the dead; furely those which had been difobedient unto the Prophets, fhould never be perfwaded after they were dead.

Whether therefore we confider the Authorities firft introducing this Opinion, which were Apocryphal; or the Testimonies of Scripture, forced and improbable; or the Nature of this Preaching inconfiftent with the Gofpel; or the Perfons to whom Chrift fhould be thought to preach, (which, if dead in the Faith and Fear of God, wanted no fuch Inftruction; if departed in Infidelity and Disobedience, were unworthy and incapable of fuch a Difpenfation:) this Preaching of Chrift to the Spirits in Prifon cannot be admitted either as the End, or as the Means proper to effect the End, of his Descent into Hell.

Nor is this Preaching only to be rejected as a Means to produce the Effect of Chriff's Defcent; but the Effect it felf pretended to be wrought thereby, whether in reference to the Juft or Unjuft, is by no means to be admitted. For though fome of the Ancients thought, as is fhewn before, that Chrift did therefore defcend into Hell, that he might deliver the Souls of fome which were tormented in thofe Flames, and tranflate them to a Place of Happiness yet this Opinion deserveth no Acceptance, neither in respect of the Ground or Foundation on which it is built, nor in respect of the Action or Effect it felf. The Authority upon which the Strength of this Doctrine doth rely, is that place of the Acts, whom God hath raised up, loofing the pains of Hell, for fo they read it; from whence the Argument is thus deduced: God did loose the Pains of Hell when Chrift was raised. But those Pains did not take hold of Chrift himself, who was not to fuffer any thing after Death; and confequently he could not be loofed from or taken out of those Pains in which he never was: in the fame manner the Patriarch's and the Prophets, and the Saints of old, if they should be granted to have been in a Place fometimes called Hell, yet were they there in Happiness, and therefore the delivering them from thence could not be the loofing of the Pains of Hell: It followeth then, that thofe alone which died in their Sins were involved in thofe Pains, and when those Pains were loofed then were they released; and being they were loofed when Chrift was raised, the Confequence will be, that he defcending into Hell, delivered fome of the damned Souls from their Torments there.

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*The Vulgar Latine ren

fufcitavit,

folutis dolo

*

But first, tho' the Latine Tranflation render it fo, the Pains of Hell; ders it thus, though fome Copies and other Tranflations, and divers of the Fathers, read Quem Deus it in the fame manner: yet the Original and Authentick Greek acknowledg eth no fuch Word as Hell, but propounds it plainly thus, whom God hath ribus inferni: raifed up, loofing the pains of death. Howfoever if the Words were fo exSo alfo the Sy- preffed in the Original Text, yet it would not follow that God delivered "Chrift out of thofe Pains in which he was detained any time, much less that • the Soul of Chrift delivered the Souls of any other; but † only that he was ancient Fa- preferved from enduring them.

riack,

חבלי

So fome of the

thers read it:

as Irenæus, 1. 3. c. 12. or rather his Interpreter, Quem Deus excitavit, folutis doloribus inferorum: Capreolus Bifhop of Carthage, Refolvere, ficut fcriptum eft, inferorum parturitiones: And before thefe Polycarpus, veg & Eds, Xucas Tas Noivas T8 ade, Quem refufcitavit Deus, diffolvens dolores inferni. Epift. ad Phil. whom I fuppofe Grotius understood, when he cited Barnabas: and thus S. Auguftine read it, and laid the Stress of his Interpretation upon this Reading. Quia evidentia teftimonia & infernum commemorant & dolores, &c. But in the original Greek it is generally written woivas Javáry, and in all thefe many Copies of it, only that of Petrus Fraxardus, and two of the fixteen Copies which Robertus Stephanus made ufe of, read it ads. And this Miftake was very eafie for in the eighteenth Palm, verfe the fifth, there is an oves Javáty, and verfe the fixth, an, dives ady. And we find twice in the Proverbs 14. 12. and 6. 15. tranflated vade, and 2 Sam. 22. 6. ban, ὠδῖνες θανάτε. Quòd fi movet aliquem, quemadmodum accipiendum fit, Inferni ab illo folutos dolores: (neque enim cœperat in eis effe tanquam in vinculis, & fic eos folvit tanquam fi catenas folviffet quibus fuerat alligatus) facile eft intelligere, fic eos folutos, quemadmodum folvi poffunt laquei venantium, ne teneant, non qui tenuerunt. 8. Auguft. Epift. 99.

46.

bonis non

a

:

Again, As the Authority is most uncertain, fo is the Doctrine most incongruous. The Souls of Men were never caft into Infernal Torments, to be delivered from them. The Days which follow after Death were never made for Opportunities to a better Life. The Angels had one Inftant either to ftand or fall eternally; and what that Inftant was to them, that this Life is unto us. We may as well believe the Devils were faved, as those Souls Mat. 25. 41, which were once tormented with them. For it is an everlafting Fire, an Mark 9.44. everlasting Punishment, a Worm that dieth not. Nor does this only belong to us who live after the Death of Chrift, as if the Damnation of all Sinners now were ineluctable and eternal, but before that Death it were not fo; as if Faith and Repentance were now indifpenfibly neceffary to Salvation, but then were not. For thus the Condition of Mankind before the Fulness of This is the Time, in which our Saviour came into the World, fhould have been far Argument of more + happy and advantageous than it hath been fince. But neither they Great; Si fi- nor we fhall ever escape eternal Flames, except we obtain the Favour of God deles nnnc before we be fwallowed by the Jaws of Death. We must all appear befine operibus fore the judgment-feat of Christ, that every one may receive the things vantur, & in- done in his body: But if they be in the State of Salvation now by the virtue fideles ac re- of Chrift's Delcent into Hell, which were numbred among the Damned bena actione, fore his Death, at the Day of the general Judgment they must be returned Domino ad into Hell again; or if they be received then into eternal Happiness, it will Inferos de- follow either that they were not justly condemned to thofe Flames at first, falvati funt; according to the general Difpenfations of God, or elfe they did not receive mellior illo- the things done in their Body at the laft; which all fhall as certainly receive, qui incarna- as all appear. This Life is given unto Men to work out their Salvation tionem Do- with Fear and Trembling, but after Death cometh Judgment, reflecting on mini minimè the Life that is paft, not expecting Amendment or Converfion then. He quam horum that liveth and believeth in Chrift fhall never die; he that believeth though qui poft In- he die, yet fhall he live; but he that dieth in Unbelief fhail neither carnationis believe nor live. And this is as true of those which went before, as of um nati funt. those which came after our Saviour, because he was the Lamb flain befor Quodquanta the Foundation of the World. I therefore conclude, That the End for dicere ipfe which the Soul of Christ defcended into Hell, was not to deliver any Dominus te- damned Souls or to tranflate them from the Torments of Hell unto the ftatur, difcipulis dicens, Joys of Heaven.

probi fine bc

fcendente,

rum fors fuit

viderunt,

ejus myfteri

fatuitatis fit

Multi Reges & Propheta voluerunt videre qua vos videtis, & non viderunt. 1.6. Epist. 179.

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ter he had

The next Confideration is, whether by Virtue of his Defcent the Souls of thofe which before believed in him, the Patriarchs, Prophets, and all the People of God were delivered from that Place and State in which they were before; and whether Chrift defcended into Hell to that end, that he might tranflate them into a Place and State far more glorious and happy. This hath been in the later Ages of the Church the vulgar Opinion of most Men, and that as if it followed neceffarily from the Denial of the former, He delivered * so Gregory not the Souls of the Damned, therefore he delivered the Souls of them the Great, afwhich believed, and of them alone: Till at laft the Schools have followed proved that it fo fully, that they deliver it as a Point of † Faith and infallible Certainty, none of the that the Soul of Chrift defcending into Hell, did deliver from thence all the Damned were released by Souls of the Saints which were in the Bofom of Abraham, and did confer up- Chrift's Deon them actual and effential Beatitude, which before they enjoyed not. And cent, thus this they lay upon two grounds: first, that the Souls of Saints departed faw cludes: Hæc not God; and fecondly, that Chrift by his Death opened the Gate of the itaque omnia Kingdom of Heaven.

infers and con

pertractantes nihil aliud te

neatis nifi

quòd vera fides per Catholicam Ecclefiam docet, quia defcendens ad Inferos illos folummodò ab Inferni clauftris eripuit, quos viventes in carne per fuam gratiam in fide & bonâ operatione fervavit. l. 6. Epift. 179. So Ifidore Hifpalenfis by way of Oppofition; Ideo Dominus in Inferno defcendit, ut his qui ab eo non poenaliter detinebantur viam aperiret revertendi ad cœlos. So Venerable Bede upon the place of S. Peter; Catholica fides habet, quia defcendens ad Inferna Domiuus non incredulos inde, fed fideles tantummodò fuos, educens ad coeleftia fecum regna perduxerit: neque exutis corpore animabus & inferorum carcere inclufis, fed in hac vita vel per feipfum, vel per fuorum exempla five verba fidelium, quotidiè yiam vitæ demonftret. †Thefe are the Words of Suarez in 3 Thoma Difputat. 43. Sect. 3. Primò ergo, certum eft Chriftum defcendendo ad Inferos animabus fanctis, quæ in finu Abrahæ erant, effentialem beatitudinem & cætera animæ dona quæ illam confequuntur contuliffe. Hoc de fide certum exiftimo quia de fide eft, illas animas non vidiffe Deum ante Chrifti mortem. Deinde eft de fide certum, Chriftum per mortem aperuiffe hominibus januam regni: ideoque de fide etiam certum eft, animas Sanctorum omnium poft Chrifti mortem decedentium (fi nihil purgandum habeant) ftatim videre Deum. Ergo idem eft de prædictis animabus.

But even this Opinion, as general as it hath been, hath neither that Confent of Antiquity, nor fuch Certainty as it pretendeth, but is rather built upon the Improbabilites of a worse. The + moft ancient of all the Fathers, We have Shewed this whofe Writings are extant, were so far from believing that the End of Chrift's before to have Descent into Hell was to tranflate the Saints of old into Heaven, that they been the Opithought them not to be in Heaven yet, nor ever to be removed from that nion of the most ancient, Place in which they were before Chrift's Death, until the general Refurre- producing the ction. Others as we have alfo fhewn, thought the Bofom of Abraham was exprefs Teftimonies of Junot in any Place which could be termed Hell; and confequently could not fin Martyr, think that Chrift fhould therefore defcend into Hell to deliver them which Irenæus, Terwere not there. And others yet which thought that Chrift delivered the tullian, Hilary, Gregory Patriarchs from their Infernal Manfions, did not think fo exclufiyely or in Nyffen. So aloppofition to the disobedient and damned Spirits, but conceived many off Novatian, them to be faved as well as the Patriarchs were, and *doubted whether all

1. de Trinitate,

Quæ infra

terram jacent neque ipfa funt digeftis & ordinatis poteftatibus, vacua. Locus enim eft quo piorum animæ impiorumque ducantur futuri judicii præjudicia fentientes, *We have already fhewn that many did believe all the damned fouls were faved then; and S. Auguftine had his adhuc requiro, when he wrote unto Euodius concerning that Opinion. Befide, the Doubt of that great Divine, Gregory Nazianzen, is very obfervable, who in his Oration de Pafchate hath these words, *Αν εἰς ᾅδες και η συΓκάτελθε· γνῶθι καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖσε το Χριςό μυςήρια· τίς ἡ οἰκονομία - διπλῆς καταβάσεως; τίς ὁ λόγω; από λῶς σώζε πάντας ἐπιφανείς, ἢ κἀκεῖ τις πιςεύοντας; Where his ueftion is clearly this, Whether Chrift appearing in Hell did fave all without exception, or did fave there as he does here, only fuch as believed. To this it is anfwered by Suarez two ways, that it is the ordinary and univerfal Law; that none of the Damned fhould be faved: An verò ex fpeciali privilegio fua voluntate & arbitrio aliquem damnatum ex Gehenna Chriftus eduxerit, dubitari quoquo modo poteftEt juxta hæc poffent intelligi Nazianzenus & Auguftinus. But this will by no means falve their Authorities; for neither of them did doubt or question whether fome of the Damned were released, but whether all were releafed or fome only: which Suarez did very well perceive, and therefore was ready in the fame Sentence with another Answer, Quanquam Nazianzenus non videatur illa fcripfiffe verba, quoniam de hac veritate dubitaret, fed folùm ut proponeret quid de hoc myfterio inquirere ac fcire oporteat. Which is as much as to say, that He was fatisfied of the Truth, but defired to fatisfie no Man elfe. Whereas 'tis clear that it was a Doubt in his Age, as we have before fhewn, and that he would leave it ftill a Doubt and undetermined. And as for the other, Auguftinus rectè poteft intelligi de animabus Purgatorii, it is certainly falfe, unless they will enlarge that Purgatory as wide as Hell; for the Question was of emptying that.

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