penitent, rebuked the other for blaspheming, and said to him, We indeed suffer justly, but this man hath done no evil. Then he he said to Jesus, remember me, O Lord, when thon shalt come into thy kingdom; and Jesus replied, This day thou shalt be with me in paradise. Blessed fruit of repentance! Q. How long did he hang on the cross? A. For three hours, and then expired. Q. How did his crucifiers behave to him, whilst he hung on the cross? A. The people who were looking on, with the chief of the Priests, the Scribes, and Ancients, passed by the cross, and reproached him, bidding him come down from the cross and save himself, if he were Christ, the king of Israel, and the son of God. The soldiers also insulted him; divided his garments, and drew lots for his seamless coat. Q. Where was the blessed Virgin Mary, his mother, when he was crucified? A. She, with Mary Magdalen, and another, called Mary, and John the son of Zebedee, stood near to the cross. Q. What said Jesus to them? A. To his mother he said, Woman behold thy son. To his disciple John, Behold thy mother. Q. At what hour was Jesus crucified? A. About the sixth hour, or noon; and for three hours the sun was darkened, and darkness covered the whole earth. Q. When did he expire, and what were his last words? A. About the ninth hour, or the third after noon, he cried out with a loud voice,. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me! (that is, why hast thou left me to suffer this bitter torment!) And soon after he said, I thirst; and they gave him vinegar and gall to drink. Having tasted of it, he said, All is accomplished; and then with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; and bowing down his head, gave up the ghost. Q. What happened at his death? A. The earth trembled, the Focks were rent, the vail of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom, the graves opened, and many of the dead rose up to life. Q. Did not these prodigies convert the Jews? A. The captain and the soldiers confessed, Certainly this man was the Son of God; and the people returned to Jerusalem, knocking their breasts; but the nation in general remained impenitent

Q. What became of the body of Jesus when he was dead? A. It was taken down the same day from the cross, and honourably buried by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who were his disciples, by a grant of Pilate, in a new monument which Joseph had made in a garden near to Mount Calvary.

For

EXHOR. Place yourself, O christian, at the foot of the cross, and make the following reflections. Who is it that suffers ? God the Son made man suffers and dies. From whose hands doth he suffer? From all sorts of people, from the highest to the lowest; from Jews and Gentiles; from friend and from enemy: put not your trust in man, who is all deceit; trust only in God, who is truth itself. What doth he suffer? All manner of torments; he is wounded from head to foot, and at last dies a most painful and ignominious death. Murmur not at your afflictions, but look on the face of Christ crucified. For whom doth he suffer? you and all mankind, to restore you to immortal happiness in the kingdom of heaven. What had become of all if he had not died to redeem man? All had been lost for evermore, like the fallen Angels. O what ingratitude after all this, to offend him? How doth he suffer? With divine patience; he murmers not, he complains not, as one that is mute, not opening his mouth. See you behave in like manner: Again how doth he suffer? In the height of charity, he prays for his enemies; he forgives those that were tormenting him; he promises heaven to the penitent thief: he suffers with the greatest meekness, when reviled, did not revile, but took all their mockeries, insults, and reproaches. Learn here to do good for evil, and to pray for those that persecute you. Learn how to die; these were his dying words, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; and thus was obedient unto death: learn to live the life of Jesus, if you would die the death of Jesus; and let a true love of him, true contrition for sin; obedience to God, and resignation to his will, conduct you to the grave.

ART V. SECT. I.

He descended into Hell, the third day he rose again from the dead.

Q.

Q. WHI HITHER did our Saviour descend? A. Into that part of hell called Limbus Patrum, the Limbus of the fathers. Q. Why did he descend thither? A. To release the souls that were there. What souls? A. The souls of all the just, patriarchs, prophets, and saints, who died before our Saviour's coming. Q. How did he descend? A. Not in weakness or by force. like other dead, but in power; not as a captive, to be detained there as others, but as a conqueror, triumphant over the devil, sin, and hell, and free among the dead, Psalm lxxviii. 4. as it became the Son of God made man.

INSTRUC. It is an impious error to believe, as some do, that hell here signifies the grave, while the fourth article sufficiently declares his death and burial in the grave; the fifth then saying, that he descended into hell informs us, that while his body was in the grave, his soul departed elsewhere; not indeed into that part of hell, (as some still more impiously hold) where the damned spirits suffer everlasting torments, and deprivation of the sight of God, since, as his soul was ever united to the divine person, it could suffer no more than God could suffer in human nature: as then his body was without corruption in the grave, so his soul was without harm or blemish in hell: Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption, Psalm xv. 10. By the hell then, to which he descended, is meant, not the place of eternal pain, but the place which detained for a time, the souls of those who died in the grace of God, from the beginning of the world, whether they had yet some remains of sin to expiate; or whether they were at rest in Abraham's bosom, as the scripture speaks. All these waited. for the Saviour of the world, to enter with him into the glory of Paradise, whose gate was shut against Adam,

Nor

and his whole posterity, till the Redeemer came.
"must we imagine, that he descended thither only in
power, or that only his power descended thither; but
his soul itself, which was still united to his divine per-
son, descended into hell, to shew the power he had ob-
tained, as man, by his passion and death; that in the
name of Jesus every knee might bow, not only in hea-
ven and upon earth, but even in hell below, where he
released the innocent and distressed souls that were
there detained until his coming.

EXHOR.-Adore, O christian, every mystery of your Saviour and Redeemer; adore his descent into hell, since he descended into hell to prevent our descending thither for the future; in token whereof, the souls of the saints now do not descend into those lower receptacles of the dead, as formerly, but ascend to the joys above. Go, however, in thought, into those lower regions, and behold the dismal effects of sin. There in one part of hell, you may see the despairing torment of the damned; weeping, mourning, torture, deprivation of the sight of God for all eternity. There, in another part, you may also see the effects of venial sin in purgatory, which must be blotted out by torments exceeding great, before those souls can enjoy the sight of God. Repent then and make your pardon secure here; do penance for what is past, and with great care avoid all sin for the future, even the least, that your present tears may prevent those future ones. The tears of a few moments here, may deliver your soul from hell; there your tears will be eternal, and eternally unfruitful.

SECT. II.

The third day he arose again from the dead.

How

8.
OW long did our Saviour remain in the
sepulchre? A. Part of three days. Q. On
what day did he rise again? A. On the third day, or
Sunday, Q. By whom was his resurrection revealed ?
A. By an angel. Q. Why did he remain so long in

1

the grave? A. To shew that he was truly dead. Q. Why did he retain the print of the nails in his hands and feet, and the mark of the spear in his side, after his resurrection. A. To shew that he was risen again in the self-same body in which he was crucified; and that those adorable wounds might continually plead in our behalf before God. Q. What benefit do we reap from his resurrection ? A. It confirms our faith and hope, that we shall also rise again. Q. To whom did he first appear? A. The first apparition recorded in scripture, was to Mary Magdalen; the second to the holy women, who came with her to embalm his body; the third, to St. Peter; the fourth, to the two disciples, going to Emmaus; the fifth, to all the apostles met together, except St. Thomas, who was absent; all these were upon the day of his resurrection. Q. Did he appear at other times? A. Many other times, until his ascension. Q. What discourse had he with them? A. He discoursed of many things concerning the kingdom of God.

INSTRUC-Jesus Christ being dead on the cross, and his body laid in the sepulchre the same day, which was Friday, the Eve of the Jewish Sabbath, on the third day, which was Sunday, he arose, alive and glorious; and the guards the Jews had set about the sepulchre, were struck as dead; there was a terrible earthquake at the time when he arose; an Angel also descended from heaven, whose aspect was as lightning; and some of the holy women, who came betimes in the morning to embalm his dead body, were much surprised to find the sepulchre opened, and to see Angels there, who said to them, You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified; he is risen again, he is not here, but go tell his disciples and Peter, that he goes before you into Galilee, there you shall see him, as he told you. St. Mark xvi. 6.

The Apostles had great difficulty to believe his resurrection, and were not persuaded of it, till they had seen him with their eyes, touched him with their hands, and had eaten and drank with him. He appeared to them many times, during the forty days be