times taken for the Grave, the receptacle of the Body dead; therefore it is conceived that the Prophet did intend thefe fignifications in those words, Thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell; and confequently the Article grounded on that Scripture must import no more than this; Chrift in refpect of his Body bereft of his Soul, which was recommended into, and depofited in the hands of his Father, defcended into the Grave.

This expofition hath that great advantage, that he which first mentioned this Descent in the Creed, did interpret it of the Burial; and where this Article was expreffed, there that of the Burial was omitted. But notwithstanding thofe advantages, there is no certainty of this interpretation: Firft, Because he (i) which did fo interpret it, at the fame time, and in the tenor of that expofition, did acknowledge a Defcent of the Soul of Chrift into Hell; and those other (k) Creeds which did likewise omit the Burial, and exprefs the Defcent, did fhew, that by that Defcent they understood not that of the Body, but of the Soul. Secondly, Because they which put these words into the Roman Creed, in which the Burial was expreffed before, muft certainly understand a Defcent diftinct from that; and therefore though it might perhaps be thought a probable interpretation of the words of David, especially taken as belonging to David, yet it cannot pretend to an expofition of the Creed, as now it ftands.

The next opinion is, That the Soul may well be understood either for the nobler part of Man diftinguished from the Body; or else for the Person of Man confifting of both Soul and Body, as it often is; or for the living Soul, as it is diftinguished from the immortal Spirit: but then the term Hell fhall fignify no place, neither of the Man, nor of the Body, nor of the Soul; but only the ftate or condition of Men in Death, during the feparation of the Soul from the Body. So that the Prophecy

VOL. I.

A a

Prophecy fhall run thus, Thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell, that is, Thou shalt not fuffer me to remain in the common state of the Dead, to be long deprived of my natural life, to continue without exercife, or power of exercising my vital faculty and then the Creed will have this fenfe, that Chrift was crucified, dead and buried, and defcended into Hell; that is, he went unto the Dead, and remained for a time in the state of Death, as other dead Men do.

But this interpretation fuppofeth that which can never appear, that Hades fignifieth not Death itself, nor the place where Souls departed are, but the state and condition of the Dead, or their permanfion in Death; which is a notion wholly new, and confequently cannot interpret that which reprefenteth fomething known and believed of old, according to the notions and conceptions of those times. And that this notion is wholly new, will appear, because not any of the ancient Fathers is produced to avow it, nor any of the Heathen Authors which are produced do affirm it: nay, it is evident that the Greeks did always by Hades understand a place into which the Souls of Men were carried and conveyed, diftinct and separate from that place in which we live; and that their different opinions fhew, placing it, fome in the Earth, fome under it, fome in one unknown place of it, fome in another. But especially Hades, in the judgment of the ancient Greeks, cannot confift with this notion of the state of Death, and the permanfion in that condition, because there were many which they believed to be dead, and to continue in the state of Death, which yet they believed not to be in Hades; as (1) thofe who died before their time, and those whofe Bodies were unburied. Thus likewise the ancient Fathers differed much concerning the place of the Infernus; but never any doubted but that it fignified fome (m) place or other and if they had conceived any fuch notion as the ftate of Death, and the permanfion of the Dead

Dead in that ftate, they needed not to have fallen into those doubts or queftions; the Patriarchs and the Prophets being as certainly in the ftate of Death, and remaining fo, as Corah, Dathan, and Abiram are, or any perfon which is certainly condemned to everlasting flames. Though therefore it be certainly true that Chrift did truly and properly die, as other Men are wont to do, and that after expiration he was in the state or condition of the Dead, in deadlihood, as fome have learned to speak ; yet the Creed had spoken as much as this before, when it delivered that he was dead. And although it is true that he might have died, and in the next minute of time revived, and confequently his Death doth not (precifely taken) fignify any permanfion or duration in the state of Death, and therefore it might be added, he defcended into Hell, to fignify farther a permanfion or duration in that condition; yet if Hell do fignify nothing else but the state of the Dead, as this opinion doth suppose, then to defcend into Hell is no more than to be dead; and fo notwithstanding any duration implied in that expreffion, Chrift might have afcended the next minute after he descended thither, as well as he might be imagined to revive the next minute after he died. Being then to defcend into Hell, according to this interpretation, is no more than to be dead; being no man ever doubted but that perfon was dead who died; being it was before delivered in the Creed that Chrift died, or, as we render it, was dead; we cannot imagine but they which did add this part of the Article to the Creed, did intend fomething more than this, and therefore we cannot admit this notion as a full or proper expofition.

There is yet left another interpretation grounded upon the general opinion of the Church of Chrift in all ages, and upon a probable expofition of the prophecy of the Pfalmift, taking the Soul in the most proper fenfe, for the Spirit or rational part

A a 2

of

Matth. x.

18.

of Chrift; that part of a Man which, according to our Saviour's doctrine, the Jews could not kill; and looking upon Hell as a place diftinct from this part of the world where we live, and distinguished from thofe Heavens whither Chrift afcended, into which place the Souls of Men were conveyed after or upon their Death; and therefore thus expounding the words of the Pfalmift in the person of Chrift; Thou shalt not fuffer that Soul of mine which fhall be forced from my Body by the violence of pain upon the Crofs, but refigned into thy hands, when it fhall go into that place below where the Souls of Men departed are detained; I say, thou shalt not fuffer that Soul to continue there as theirs have done; but fhalt bring it fhortly from thence, and re-unite it to my Body.

For the better understanding of this expofition, there are several things to be obferved, both in refpect to the matter of it, and in reference to the authority of the Fathers. First therefore, this must be laid down as a certain and neceffary truth, That the Soul of Man, when he dieth, dieth not, but returneth unto him that gave it, to be difpofed of at his will and pleasure; according to the ground of our Saviour's counfel, Fear not them which kill the body, but cannot kill the foul. That better part of us therefore in and after Death doth exift and live, either by virtue of its fpiritual and immortal nature, as we believe; or at least by the will of God, and his power upholding and preserving it from diffolution, as many of the Fathers thought. This Soul thus existing after Death, and feparated from the Body, though of a nature fpiritual, is really and truly in fome place; if not by way of circumfcription, as proper bodies are, yet by way of determination and indiftancy; fo that it is true to fay, this Soul is really and truly present here, and not elsewhere.

Again, the Soul of Man, which, while he lived, gave life to the Body, and was the fountain of all

vital actions, in that feparate existence after Death, must not be conceived to fleep, or be bereft and ftript of all vital operations, but ftill to exercise the powers of understanding and of willing, and to be fubject to the affections of joy and forrow. Upon which is grounded the different estate and condition of the Souls of Men during that time of feparation; fome of them by the mercy of God being placed in peace and reft, in joy and happiness; others by the justice of the fame God left to forrow, pains and mifery.

As there was this different ftate and condition before our Saviour's Death, according to the different kinds of Men in this life, the Wicked and the Juft, the Elect and Reprobate; fo there were two focieties of Souls after Death; one of them which were happy in the prefence of God, the other of those which were left in their fins and tormented for them. Thus we conceive the righteous Abel the firft man placed in this happiness, and the Souls of them that departed in the fame faith to be gathered to him. Whofoever it was of the fons of Adam which firft died in his fins was put into a place of torment; and the Souls of all those which departed after with the wrath of God upon them were gathered into his fad fociety.

Now as the Souls at the hour of Death are really feparated from the Bodies; fo the place where they are in reft or mifery after Death is certainly diftinct from the place in which they lived. They continue not where they were at that inftant when the Body was left without life; they do not go together with the Body to the Grave; but as the Sepulchre is appointed for our Flesh, fo there is another receptacle, or habitation and manfion for our Spirits. From whence it followeth, that in Death the Soul doth certainly pass by a real motion from that place in which it did inform the Body, and is tranflated to that place, and unto that fociety, which God of his mercy

A a 3