Christ Preaching to the Spirits in Prison [pp. 636-650]

1874.] CHBrST PIIEACHING TO THEE SPIRITS IN PIiSON.
641
scended into hlell,"' but wihich, as David originally used the
words, could not have meant, hell, the place of punislhment, but
s7eeol or kacles, the p)lace of the dead.dt Peter therefore must have
believed that Christ's visit to Hades, and his preaching to the
spirits in prison, took place at tlhe same time, namely, during the
three days intervening between his death and his resurrection.
Bish1o01 Pear-s.On (on the Cr0ecd) seay s that these words were less anci(it thanl t)he.
other p l'ts of the Cred 1ntcd that as first; found in the creed of Aquileia (4tht Cent.)
theyi only, expressed the 7 zr(t! of Ch'lrist, or the descent of his I)coly into the
grave," yet ttha;t amen[4 t]- Favths-: generdlly " there is nlothing in whlieli they miore
agree than in the -' dscen tn o0 the soul of Chr ist into the Iabitation (of the souls
of tale ded: rtd." 5,/ t',tlsm s.ys, rferrin to 1samlii xvi. 10, las qlot(I l)y Peter in
Acts ii. 27, Whe lot ain it fdl cI aln dy that C(,hrist w ias q -ved iojeos.
t Teo imon -cl, i: s wM'ais h -,uld reldelr this, "Thou shalt,,o noL( t doliover my
sou)l to Hdtdes;" i'. e. not allo- it to entor there at all is entirely inadmissible, be causlle contra-rv t o th oios meaniog )othl- of the Ilebrel w enad Greek, and contrary
to the fact that the sl iit of Christ did pass intio the state of the (enad without
which he would nlot h-.ave coue fully under the power of death, a-nd his w orlk of s itt isfaction w ould he be e lef t -omplet e
I How far the iagery e mplo yed in the Scriptures in regard to the world of the
unseen [l//i:es' is used in accommroodationL to human conceptionls anLd modes of
speech, it is not for us to say. It represents, no doubt, substantial truth, so far as
God has seen fit to reveal it. But in regard to the local,ita of t'is world of spirits
we cannot doubt but that the language employed is not to be literally understood,
but is uise I in afla-pti-ti-on to the conceptions then prevalent anJonlg tI ebrews, Greeks,
an i Po. mas alike w ho tlhouglht of shieel, Ih rades, and oceits, a,s a vast sub-)terranean
region -whither the spirits or s/ties of the departed went down to their separa'.e
ahodles, whether of happiness or misery. lut that there is actually such a recep tacle in the interior of the earth. or that Lazarus literally lies in Abrath-m's bosoim,
we no more believe than thLat the sun literally rise.s and sets, or that the firoament
over our heads is a great solid ar,ch. Paul speaks of being c(zte/ht 01) into Paradise,
and Chri-t himlself say-s to thLe dying thief,' To-da(y thou shalt be with mi3 in Ptar adise," without indicatiing its locality as above or below. Or, possibly, the Para adclise of Hades rii'- be a dlifierent region from that Paradise or "Third Heaven" to
which Paul was ea _blt up' the one bhing the intermediate ab)ode of departed
saints and thIe other tfhit to which th ey ascend ate the resurection. Indeed this
seems probahle. flrorm the fact that although our Lord conducted the sp)irit of the
penitent thie immeidi.ately to the Paradise of la es, to which he "descended," he
sas aelft r his resurrectioIs, I am not )et asc ded to nmy Father," iIswplyinrg tltiat
du,ring the thlree days he had not yet gone to that heaven whither he afterward as cended to sit tt the rigalt hand oi' God.
We are too apt to forget, however, that Poriclse and Abutrc7 1(s bosomi, alid the
words (iscee(tl and e tsce rd, are le figiratioe forms of speech. Paradise mneans a
pe(ltsti'e eg u n, and ii applied litersliT to the garden of Eden, asid then figuratively
to heasven, as in the words of Christ and Paul, and in,ohn's descriptions of the
"paradise of God," in PPea-. ii. 7: xii. 1-2. Abrahanm's bosom represents heaven
also, under the sisirilitude of a feast, where, according to the custom of the ancients,
the guests reclined on couches, with the feet thrown back, and leaning on the left