The like effect of Christ's preaching in hell, is delivered by Anastasius Sinaita, Jobiusd or Jovius, Damascen, Ecumenius', Michael Glycas, and his transcriber Theodorus Metochitesh. The author of the commentary upon St. Paul's epistles, attributed to Ambrose, saith, that "having triumphed over the devil, he descended into the heart of the earth, that the shewing of him might be the preaching of the dead, and that as many as were desirous of him might be delivered." Procopius saith, that "he preached to the spirits that were in hell, restrained in the prison house, releasing them all from the bonds of necessity;" wherein he followeth St. Cyril of Alexandria, writing upon the same place, "that' Christ went to preach to the spirits in hell, and appeared to them that were detained in the prison house, and freed them all from bonds, and necessity, and pain, and punishment." The same St. Cyril in his paschal homilies affirmeth more directly, that our Saviour, "entering into the lowermost dens of hell, and preaching to the spirits that were there," "emptied that unsatiable den of death, spoiled hell of spirits;" and having thus "spoiled all hell, left the

e Anastas. Sinait. vel Nicæn. quæst. 111.

d Jobius, de verbo incarnato. lib. 9. cap. 38. in Photii bibliotheca, volum. 222.

e Jo. Damascen. de orthodoxa fide, lib. 3. cap. ult. et in serm. de defunct. f Ecumen. in 1. Petr. cap. 3.

Mich. Glyc. part. 3. annalium.

h Theodor. Metochit. in historia Romana, a Meursio nuper edita : quæ ex Glyca tota est desumpta.

Triumphato diabolo descendit in cor terræ, ut ostensio ejus prædicatio esset mortuorum, ut et quotquot cupidi ejus essent, liberarentur. Ambros. in Ephes.

cap. 4.

κ Ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς καὶ τοῖς ἐν ᾅδου, καθειργμένοις ἐν οἴκῳ φυλακῆς, ἐκήρυξε πνεύμασιν, ἐκ δεσμῶν ἀνάγκης πάντας ἀνείς. Procop. in Esai. cap. 42.

1 Quod spiritibus in inferno prædicatum abierit et detentis in domo custodiæ, apparuerit Christus, et omnes vinculis liberaverit, et necessitate, et pœna, et supplicio. Cyrill. Alexand. fin. lib. 3. in Esai. cap. 42.

* Καθικόμενος ἐν τοῖς κατωτάτοις τοῦ ᾅδοῦ μυχοῖς, καὶ διακηρύξας Tоiç iketσe πvεúμaoi. Id. Homil. Paschal. 20.

» Τὸν ἄπληστον τοῦ θανάτου κενώσας μυχὸν. Id. hom. 11.

• Σεσύλητο τῶν πνευμάτων ὁ ᾅδης. Id. hom. 6.

- ̔́Ολον γὰρ εὐθὺς σκυλεύσας τὸν ᾅδην, καὶ τὰς ἀφύκτους τοῖς τῶν

devil there solitary and alone." For when "Christ descended into hell," saith Andronicus, "not only the souls of the saints were delivered from thence, but all those that before did serve in the error of the devil, and the worship of idols, being enriched with the knowledge of God, obtained salvation, for which also they gave thanks, praising God." Whereupon the author of one of the sermons upon the ascension, fathered upon St. Chrysostom, bringeth in the devil complaining, that the Son of Mary, "having taken away from him all those that were with him from the very beginning had left him desolate;" and in another sermon, held to be his indeed, our Saviour is said to "have made the whole prison of hell desolate." Whereas the undoubted Chrysostom writing upon the eleventh of St. Matthew, doth at large confute this fond opinion, censuring the maintainers thereof, as the "bringers in of old wives' conceits and Jewish fables." Yea, Philastrius", and St. Augustine" out of him, doth brand such for heretics, whose testimony also is urged by St. Gregory against George and Theodore, two of the clergy of Constantinople, who held in his time, as

κεκοιμημένων πνεύμασιν ἀναπετάσας πύλας, ἔρημόν τε καὶ μόνον, ἀφεὶς ἐκεῖσε τὸν διάβολον, ἀνέστη τριήμερος. Cyril. Alexand. hom. paschal. 7.

4 Nam Christo ad inferos descendente, non sanctorum animæ tantum liberatæ sunt inde; sed omnes adeo prius in diaboli errore, et simulachrorum cultu servitutem servientes, aucti agnitione Dei, salutem sunt consecuti: quare et gratias agebant, Deum laudantes. Andronic. dialog. contra Judæos, cap. 60.

r Omnibus, qui jam inde ab initio apud me fuerant, tanquam accipiter celeriter advolans, abreptis; desertum me reliquit. Chrysost. in Ascens. Domini, serm. 8. a Ger. Vossio edit.

* Επέστη, τῷ ᾅδῃ ἔρημον αὐτοῦ τὴν φυλακὴν ἐποίησεν ἅπασαν. Id. Hom. in nomen Cometerii et in crucem, op. tom. 2. pag. 399.

· Μὴ δὴ τοιαῦτα λοιπὸν εἰσάγωμεν δόγματα γραώδη καὶ μύθους Ιουdaikovs. Chrysost. in Matth. homil. 36. op. tom. 7. pag. 411.

"Alii sunt hæretici, qui dicunt Dominum in infernum descendisse, et omnibus post mortem etiam ibidem renunciasse (se nunciasse, corrigendum est ex Gregorio) ut confitentes ibidem salvarentur. Philastr. Brixiens. de Hæresib. cap. 74. ubi respicere videtur ad illa Clementis Alexandrini verba, libro 6. Stromat. pag. 764. σωθήσονται πάντες οἱ πιστεύσαντες, κἄν ἐξ ἐθνῶν ὄντες τύχωσιν, ἐξομολογησάμενοι ἤδη ἐκεῖ.

w Alia (hæresis) descendente ad inferos Christo credidisse incredulos, et omnes inde existimat. liberatos. Augustin. de hæresib. cap. 79.

many others did before and after them, that "our" omnipotent Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ descending into hell, did save all those who there confessed him to be God, and did deliver them from the pains that were due unto them;" and when Clement, our countryman, about one hundred and fifty years after, did renew that old error in Germany, that "the Son of God descending into hell, delivered from thence all such as that infernal prison did detain, believers and unbelievers, praisers of God and worshippers of idols;" the Roman synod2 held by pope Zachary, condemned him and his followers for it.

But to leave Clemens Scotus, and to return unto Cle- « Qu mens Alexandrinus, at whom Philastrius may seem to have aimed specially: it is confessed by our adversaries, that he fell into this error, partly being deceived with the superficial consideration of the words of St. Peter, touching "Christ's preaching to the spirits in prison," partly being deluded with the authority of Hermes, the supposed scholar of St. Paul, by whose dreams he was

* Omnipotentem Dominum Salvatorem nostrum Jesum Christum ad inferos descendentem, omnes qui illic confiterentur eum Deum, salvasse atque a pœnis debitis liberasse. Vid. Gregor. lib. 6. epist. 15. et in evangel. hom. 22.

y Qui contra fidem sanctorum contendit, dicens; quod Christus filius Dei descendens ad inferos, omnes quos inferni carcer detinuit inde liberasset, credulos et incredulos, laudatores Dei simul et cultores idolorum. Bonifac. Moguntin, ad Zachariam. P. epist. 135.

2 Dominum Jesum Christum descendentem ad inferos, omnes pios et impios exinde prædicat abstraxisse, ab omni sit sacerdotali officio nudatus, et anathematis vinculo obligatus; pariterque Dei judicio condemnatus, vel omnis qui ejus sacrilegis consenserit prædicationibus. Synod. Romana sub Zacharia P. ann. 745. habita: Ibid. et Concilior. tom. 3.

a Deceptus fuit superficie verborum Petri; quem non animadvertit longe distinctius loqui, atque prima facie videatur. Henric. Vicus, de descens. Christi ad inferos, sec. 43.

b 1 Pet. cap. 3. ver. 19.

c Delusus authoritate Hermetis, putat Christum evangelium prædicasse damnatis, et eorum aliquos liberasse, qui ex gentilibus sancte vixerant. Alphons. Mendoz. in controv. theologic. quæst. 1. positiv. sec. 4. secutus Andradium, lib. 2. Defens. fidei Tridentinæ.

* Οἱ ἀπόστολοι καὶ διδάσκαλοι, οἱ κηρύξαντες τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ κοιμηθέντες, τῷ δυνάμει καὶ τῇ πίστει αὐτοῦ ἐκήρυξαν τοῖς προκεκοιμημένοις· καὶ αὐτοὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτοῖς τὴν σφραγῖδα τοῦ κηρύγμαVOL. III.

X

persuaded to believe, that not only Christ himself, but his apostles also did descend into hell, to preach there unto the dead, and to baptize them. But touching the words of St. Peter, is the main doubt, whether they are to be referred unto Christ's preaching by the ministry of Noah unto the world of the ungodly, or unto his own immediate preaching to the spirits in hell after his death upon the cross. For seeing that it was the spirit of Christ which spake in the prophets, as St. Petere sheweth in this same epistle, and among them was "Noef a preacher of righteousness," as he declareth in the next, even as in St. Paul, Christ is said to have "comes and preached to the Ephesians," namely, by his spirit in the mouth of his apostles; so likewise in St. Peter may he be said to have gone and preached to the old world, by his spirit in the mouth of his prophets, and of Noah in particular, when God having said that his "Spirit should not always strive with man, because he was flesh," did in his long suffering wait the expiration of the time which he then did set for his amendment, even an hundred and twenty years. For which exposition the Ethiopian translation maketh something, where the Spirit, by which Christ is said to have been quickened and to have preached, is by the interpreter termed : P Manephas Kodus, that is, the Holy Spirit: the addition of which epithet we may observe also to be used by St. Paul in the mention of the resurrection, and by St. Luke in the matter of the

τος. Κατέβησαν οὖν μετ ̓ αὐτῶν εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ πάλιν ἀνέβησαν· ἀλλ' οὗτοι μὲν ζῶντες κατέβησαν, καὶ πάλιν ζῶντες ἀνέβησαν· ἐκεῖνοι δὲ οἱ προκεκοιμημένοι, νεκροὶ κατέβησαν, ζῶντες δὲ ἀνέβησαν· διὰ τούτων οὖν ἐζωοποιήθησαν, καὶ ἐπέγνωσαν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ συνανέβησαν μετ ̓ αὐτῶν καὶ συνήρμοσαν εἰς τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ πύργου καὶ ἀλατόμητοι συνῳκοδομήθησαν, ὅτι ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ ἐκοιμήθησαν καὶ ἐν μεγάλῃ ἁγνείᾳ, μόνην δὲ τὴν σφραγῖδα ταύτην οὐκ ἔσχον. Hermes in Pastore, lib. 3. similitud. 9. Citatur a Clemente Alexandrino. lib. 2. Stromat. e 1 Pet. chap. 1. ver. 11. f 2 Pet. chap. 2. ver. 5.

Ephes. chap. 2. ver. 17.

h Nehem. chap. 2. ver. 30. Zach. chap. 7. ver. 12. 2 Sam, chap. 23. ver. 2. Gen. chap. 6. ver. 3.

preaching of our Saviour Christ; for of the one we read', that he was" declared to be the Son of God, with power, according to the Spirit of holiness," or, the most holy Spirit, "by the resurrection from the dead;" and of the other, that he "gave commandments to the apostles by the holy Spirit."

Thus doth St. Hierome relate, that "a" most prudent man," for so he termeth him, did understand this place: "He preached to the spirits put in prison, when the patience of God did wait in the days of Noah, bringing in the flood upon the wicked;" as if this preaching were then performed, when the patience of God did expect the conversion of those wicked men in the days of Noah. St. Augustine more directly wisheth us to "consider", lest haply all that which the apostle Peter speaketh of the spirits shut up in prison, which believed not in the days of Noah, pertain nothing at all unto hell, but rather to those times which he compareth as a pattern with our times." For "Christ," saith he, "before" ever he came in the flesh to die for us, which once he did, came often before in the spirit to such as he pleased, admonishing them by visions in the spirit as he pleased, by which spirit he was also quickened, when in his passion he was mortified in the flesh." Venerable Bede, and Walafridus Strabus in the ordinary gloss after him, set down their minds herein yet more resolutely: "He" who in our times co

Rom. chap. 1. ver. 4.

m Act. chap. 1. ver. 2.

n Vir prudentissimus. Hieronym. lib. 15. in Esai. cap. 54.

• Prædicavit spiritibus in carcere constitutis, quando Dei patientia expectabat in diebus Noe, diluvium impiis inferens. Ibid.

P Considera tamen, ne forte totum illud, quod de conclusis in carcere spiriti bus, qui in diebus Noe non crediderant, Petrus apostolus dicit, omnino ad inferos non pertineat; sed ad illa potius tempora, quorum formam ad hæc tempora transtulit. August. ep. 164. op. tom. 2. pag. 578.

¶ Quoniam priusquam veniret in carne pro nobis moriturus, quod semel fecit, sæpe antea veniebat in spiritu ad quos volebat, visis eos admonens sicut volebat utique in spiritu; quo spiritu et vivificatus est, cum in passione esset carpe mortificatus. Ibid. pag. 580.

Qui nostris temporibus in carne veniens iter vitæ mundo prædicavit, ipse etiam ante diluvium eis qui tunc increduli erant et carnaliter vivebant, spiritu veniens prædicavit. Ipse enim per spiritum sanctum erat in Noe, cæterisque