tten from the dead," says, "Christ was in fact the
first who enjoyed the privilege of a resurrection to eternal glory
and he was constituted the leader of all who should afterwards be
thus raised from the dead."31 All who had died, with the sole
exception of Christ, were yet in the under world. He, since his
triumphant subdual of its power and return to heaven, possessed
authority over it, and would ere long summon its hosts to
resurrection, as he declares: "I was dead, and, behold, I am alive
for ever more, and have the keys of the under world." The figure
is that of a conqueror, who, returning from a captured and subdued
city, bears the key of it with him, a trophy of his triumph and a
pledge of its submission. The text "Thou hast redeemed us unto God
by thy blood" is not received in an absolutely literal sense by
any theological sect whatever. The severest Calvinist does not
suppose that the physical blood shed on the cross is meant; but he
explains it as denoting the atoning efficacy of the vicarious
sufferings of Christ. But this interpretation is as forced and
constructive an exposition as the one we have given, and is not

31 Stuart, Comm. in Apoc. i. 5.

warranted by the theological opinions of the apostolic age, which
do, on the contrary, support and necessitate the other. The direct
statement is, that men were redeemed unto God by the blood of
Christ. All agree that in the word "blood" is wrapped up a
figurative meaning. The Calvinistic dogma makes it denote the
satisfaction of the law of retributive justice by a substitutional
anguish. We maintain that a true historical exegesis, with far
less violence to the use of language, and consistently with known
contemporaneous ideas, makes it denote the death of Christ, and
the events which were supposed to have followed his death, namely,
his appearance among the dead, and his ascent to heaven,
preparatory to their ascent, when they should no longer be exiled
in Hades, but should dwell with God. Out of an abundance of
illustrative authorities we will cite a few.

Augustine describes "the ancient saints" as being "in the under
world, in places most remote from the tortures of the impious,
waiting for Christ's blood and descent to deliver them."32
Epiphanius says, "Christ was the first that rose from the under
world to heaven from the time of the creation."33 Lactantius
affirms, "Christ's descent into the under world and ascent into
heaven were necessary to giv