other church in the world for five hundred years after Christ, did follow the Aquileians in putting the one of these additions to the apostolical creed, more than the other, can hardly, I suppose, be shewed by any approved testimony of antiquity. Cardinal Bellarmine noteth, that "St. Augustine" in his book De fide et symbolo, and in his four books, De symbolo ad Catechumenos, maketh no mention of this part, when he doth expound the whole creed five several times." Nay, Petrus Chrysologus, who was archbishop of Ravenna four hundred and fifty years after Christ, doth six several times go over the exposition of the creed, and yet never meddleth with this article. The like also may be observed in Maximus Taurinensis' his exposition of the creed. For as for the two Latins expositions thereof that go under the name of St. Chrysostom, (the latter whereof hath it, the former hath it not) and the others that are found in the tenth tome of St. Augustine's works among the sermons De tempore (four of which do repeat it, and two" do omit it), because the authors of them, together with the time wherein they were written, be altogether unknown, they can bring us little light in this inquiry. Only for the Greek symbol this is certain, that as it is not found in the recital which Marcellus Ancyranus maketh thereof in his epistle to Julius bishop of Rome; so is it likewise wanting in the Greek creed written in Saxon characters, which is to be seen at the end of king Æthelstan's psalter in Sir Robert Cotton's rare treasury. And after it came to be admitted more generally into the Latin, as it was there at first Descendit ad inferna, and at last De P Augustinus in libro de fide et symbolo, et quatuor libris de symbolo ad Catechumenos, non meminit hujus partis, cum totum symbolum quinquies exponat. Bellarm. de Christo, lib. 4. cap. 6. Petr. Chrysolog. serm. 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62. r Maxim. homil. de traditione symboli. * Tom. 5. oper. Chrysost. Latin. Serm. de tempore, 115. 131. 181. 195. u Serm. 119. et 123. x Vid. veterem ordinem Romanum; et Innocentium III. de mysteriis missæ, ib. 2. cap. 15. scendit ad inferos: so with a like diversity do I find the same added to the Greek also; κατελθόντα εἰς τὰ κατώτατα being put to express the one, and kareλ0óvтa ɛis adov to answer the other; the latter whereof is to be seen in our common printed copies: the former in a manuscript of Bennet college library in Cambridge, where the symbol of the apostles, together with the whole psalter is set down in Greek and Latin, but the Greek written in Latin letters. Neither is there by this which hath been said any whit more derogated from the credit of this article, than there is from others, whose authority is acknowledged to be undoubted and beyond all exception, as namely that of our Saviour's death, and the Communion of Saints; the one whereof as sufficiently implied in the article of the crucifixion as a consequent, or the burial as a necessary antecedent thereof; the other as virtually contained in the article of the Church, we find omitted not in the Con stantinopolitan symbol alone, and in the ancient apostolical creeds expounded by Ruffinus, Maximus, and Chrysologus, but also in those that are extant in Venantius Fortunatus, five hundred and eighty, and in Etherius and Beatus, seven hundred and eighty-five years after Christ; as in the two Greek ones likewise, that of Marcellus, and the other written in the time of the English Saxons. In all which likewise may be noted, that the title of Maker of heaven and earth is not given to the Father in the beginning of the creed, which out of the creed of Constantinople we see is now every where added thereunto. Of which additions, as there is now no question any where made, so by the consent of both sides, this of the descent into hell also is now numbered among the articles of the apostles' Creed. For the Scripture having expressly testified that the prophecy of the Psalm y Fortunat. lib. 11. num. 1. exposit. symboli. z Ether. et Beat. lib. 1. contra Elipandum Toletan. pag. 51. edit. Ingolstad. a Descensum ad inferos nunc, consentientibus sectariis, inter germanos symboli apostolici articulos numeramus. Jo. Busæus, de descens. Thess. cap. 33. b Act. chap. 2. ver. 27. 31. ist, "Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell," was verified in Christ; St. Augustine's conclusion must necessarily be inferred thereupon. "Whod therefore but an infidel will deny that Christ was in hell?" Thus "alle agree, that Christ did some manner of way descend into hell," saith cardinal Bellarmine: "but the whole question is touching the exposition of this article." The common exposition which the Romish divines give thereof, is this: that' by hell is here understood, not that place wherein the wicked are tormented, but the bosom of Abraham, wherein the godly fathers of the old Testament rested, for whose delivery from thence, they say, our Saviour took his journey thither. But St. Augustine in that same place, wherein he counteth it a point of infidelity to deny the going of Christ into hell, gainsayeth this exposition thereof, professing that he could find the name of hell no where given unto that place wherein the souls of the righteous did rest. "Wherefore," saith he, "if the holy Scripture had said, that Christ being dead did come unto the bosom of Abraham, not having named hell and the pains thereof; I marvel whether any would have been so bold as to have avouched that Christ descended into hell. But because evident testimonies do make mention both of c Psalm. 16. ver. 10. d Quis ergo nisi infidelis negaverit fuisse apud inferos Christum ? Augustin. epist. 164. op. tom. 2. pag. 574. e Ac primum omnes conveniunt, quod Christus aliquo modo ad inferos descenderit, &c. At quæstio tota est de explicatione hujus articuli. Bellarm. de Christo, lib. 4. cap. 6. f In 3. sent. dist. 22. D. Thom. Bonavent. Richard. Gab. Pallud. et Marsil. quæst. 13. et reliqui in hoc conveniunt, quod ad locum damnatorum non descendit. Fr. Suarez, tom. 2. in 3. part. Thom. disp. 43. sect. 4. Non descendit ad inferos reproborum ac in perpetuum damnatorum, quoniam ex eo nulla est redemptio igitur ad eum locum descendit, qui vel Sinus Abrahæ, vel communiter Limbus patrum appellatur. Fr. Fevardent, dialog. 6. contr. Calvinian. pag. 509. edit. Colon. Quapropter si in illum Abrahæ sinum Christum mortuorum venisse sancta scriptura dixisset, non nominato inferno ejusque doloribus: miror si quisquam ad inferos eum descendisse asserere auderet. Sed quia evidentia testimonia et infernum commemorant et dolores; nulla caussa occurrit, cur illo credatur venisse Salvator, nisi ut ab ejus doloribus salvos faceret. August. epist. 164. op. tom. 2. pag. 576. hell and pains, I see no cause why our Saviour should be believed to have come thither, but that he should deliver men from the pains thereof." And "therefore what benefit he brought unto those just men that were in the bosom of Abraham when he did descend into hell, I have not yet found." Thus far St. Augustine. For the better understanding of this, we are to call unto mind that saying of the philosophers', that "they who do not learn rightly to understand words, use to be deceived in the things themselves." It will not be amiss therefore, to consider somewhat of the name of hell, that the nature of the word being rightly understood, we may the better conceive the truth of the thing that is signified thereby; carrying always in remembrance that necessary rule delivered by Severus, bishop of Antioch, in his exposition upon Job, chapter thirty-eight, verse twentyeight, that "it' is fit we should understand names according to the quality of the matters subject, and not regulate the truth according to the abuse of words." We are to know then first of our English word hell, that the original thereof is by divers men delivered diversly. Some derive it from the Hebrew word Sheol, either subtracting the first letter, or including it in the aspiration. For this letter S," saith Priscian, "hath such an affinity with the aspiration, that the Boeotians in some words were wont to write H for S, saying Muha for Musa." Others bring it from the Greek word λos, which signifieth a lake: others from the English hole, as signifying Unde illis justis qui in sinu Abrahæ erant, cum ille in inferna descenderet, nondum quid contulisset inveni; a quibus cum secundum beatificam præsentiam suæ divinitatis nunquam video recessisse. August. ep. 164. op. tom. 2. pag. 576. i *Αριστα λέγεται παρὰ τοῖς φιλοσόφοις, τὸ τοῦς μὴ μανθάνοντας ὀρθῶς ἀκούειν ὀνομάτων, κακῶς χρῆσθαι καὶ τοῖς πράγμασι. Plutarch. in lib. de Iside et Osiride. Plato, in Cratylo. κ "Ος ἂν τὰ ὀνόματα εἰδῇ, εἴσεται καὶ τὰ πράγματα. · Πλὴν καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα προσήκει νοεῖν πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὑποκειμένων πραγμάτων ποιότητα, καὶ οὐ πρὸς τὴν κατάχρησιν τῶν λέξεων τ' ἀληθῆ KavovíčεIV. Sever. in Catena Græca in Job, pag. 491. edit. Venet. m Adeo autem cognatio est huic literæ, id est S, cum aspiratione; quod pro ea in quibusdam dictionibus solebant Booti pro S, H scribere, Muha pro Musa dicentes. Priscian. lib. 1. a pit-hole; others from hale, as noting the place that haleth or draweth men unto it. Some say, that in the old Saxon or German, hell signifyeth deep, whether it be high or low. But the derivation given by Verstegan", is the most probable, from being helled over, that is to say, hidden or covered. For in the old German tongue, from whence our English was extracted, hil° signifyeth to hide; and hiluh, in Otfridus Wissenburgensis, is hidden. And in this country, with them that retain the ancient language which their forefathers brought with them out of England, to hell the head is as much as to cover the head; and he that covereth the house with tile or slate, is from thence commonly called a hellier. So that in the original propriety of the word, our hell doth exactly answer the Greek ᾅδης, which denoteth τὸν ἀϊδή τόπον, the place which is unseen or removed from the sight of man. We are in the second place therefore to observe, that the term of hell, beside the vulgar acception, wherein it signifieth that which is called the place of torment, is, in the ecclesiastical use of the word, extended more largely to express the Greek word Hades, and the Latin Inferi, and whatsoever is contained under them. Concerning which St. Augustine giveth this note: "The name of hell is variously put in Scriptures, and in many meanings, according as the sense of the things which are entreated of doth require." And Master Casaubon, who understood the property of the Greek and Latin words as well as any, this other : They' who think that Hades is properly the state of the damned, be no less deceived 66 n Rich. Versteg. restitution of English antiquities, chap. 7. • Vid. Goldasti animadvers. in Winsbekii Paræneses, pag. 400. P Luke, chap. 16. ver. 28. 4 Varie in scripturis et sub intellectu multiplici, sicut rerum de quibus agitur sensus exigit, nomen ponitur inferorum. Augustin. quæst. super. numer. cap. 29. Qui ad proprie sedem damnatorum esse existimant, non minus hallucinantur, quam illi qui cum legunt apud Latinos scriptores, inferos, de eodem loco interpretantur. Casaub. in Gregor. Nyssen. epist. ad Eustath. Ambros. et Basiliss. not. 116. |