234 EEV. CANON MACOULLOCH^ D.D.^ ON THE DESCENT 



which, or part of which, was extant in writing or tradition, even in 

 the days of the Apostles. 



Peter, in his first Epistle, Chap, iii, verses 18 to 20, tells of this 

 descent into, and preaching to the Spirits in Prison, by Our Lord 

 between death and resurrection. There is no ambiguity in, or dispute 

 about, the text. No unbiassed mind could interpret it otherwise. 

 Jude also quotes a prophecy of Enoch. Neither of these writers 

 writes as if he were revealing something new, as Paul does, in 

 1 Cor. XV, when revealing the resurrection of the dead. 



Supposing that some such Bible, oral or written, existed in pre- 

 Mosaic days, those who were scattered abroad after the confusion of 

 tongues at Babel would carry away the oral tradition with them — 

 and speedily corrupt it. 



The history of the Early Church, and even of the Church in our 

 own day, shows how pure teaching can become rapidly corrupted. 

 The idea of a coming deliverer is one of these doctrines, and that 

 of the Descent into Hades would appear to be another. The former 

 is outlined in Genesis iii, " It shall bruise thy head " ; the latter is 

 not hinted at in that book, or in Job, which is believed to have been 

 written by Moses. 



The fact that nations which, from a very early period, lost all 

 right knowledge of God, have preserved a tradition, however 

 corrupted, of the Descent into Hades — is strong evidence in favour 

 of the earlier Patriarchs possessing a fuller Bible than Genesis 

 i to xi. Having served its purpose, Divine Wisdom has given us in 

 its place His complete Revelation as we now have it. 



The Lecturer in reply said : Mr. Chairman, ladies and 

 gentlemen, I must express my thanks to you for the kind reception 

 you have given to my paper, and also for the honour which the 

 Council has conferred upon me in asking one who is a stranger, 

 to read a paper here. 



Mr. Tuckwell is of opinion that I have confused " Hades " with 

 " Hell." In reply to that I would point out that the same confusion 

 is found generally in early Christian literature. In the New 

 Testament " Gehenna" means roughly what we now understand by 

 "Hell," but probably a place of punishment after judgment. 

 " Hades " is the place of all the dead, including (as in the Jewish 

 idea of Sheol) the wicked. " Paradise " may mean a division of 

 Hades, or a region in one of the heavens. It has this latter sense 



