deemed with corruptible things, as gold and silver, from you. vain conversations of the tradition of your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled."[1] Besides these inestimable blessings, we have also received another of the highest importance. In the passion alone, we have the most illustrious example of the exercise of every virtue, Patience, and humility, and exalted charity, and meekness, and obedience, and unshaken firmness of soul, riot only in suffering 1 for justice-sake, but also in meeting death, are so conspicuous in the suffering Saviour, that we may truly say, that, on the day of his passion alone, he offered, in his own person, a living exemplification of all the moral precepts, which he inculcated during the entire time of his public ministry. This exposition of the saving passion of Christ the Lord, we have given briefly Would to God! that these mysteries were always present to our minds, and that we learned to suffer, to die, and to be buried with Christ; that, cleansed from the stains of sin, and rising with him to newness of life, we may at length, through his grace and mercy, be found worthy to be made partakers of the glory of his celestial kingdom.
ARTICLE V
" HE DESCENDED INTO HELL, THE THIRD DAY HE AROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD."
"HE DESCENDED INTO HELL"] To know the glory of the sepulture of our Lord Jesus Christ, of which we have last treated, is highly important; but of still higher importance is it to the faithful to know the splendid triumphs which he obtained, by having subdued the devil and despoiled the powers of hell. Of these triumphs, and, also, of his resurrection, we are now about to speak; and, although the latter presents to us a subject which might with propriety, be treated under a separate and distinct head, yet, following the example of the holy Fathers, we have deemed it judicious to imbody it with his descent into hell.
In the first part of this Article, then, we profess that, immediately after the death of Christ, his soul descended into hell, and dwelt there whilst his body remained in the grave: and also that the same Person of Christ was, at the same time, in hell and in the sepulchre. Nor should this excite our surprise; for we have already, frequently said, that although his soul was separated from his body, his divinity was never separated from soul or body.
But as the pastor, by explaining the meaning of the word hell, in this place, may throw considerable light on the exposition of this Article, it is to be observed, that by the word hell, is
- ↑ 1 Pet. i. 18. 19.
