_The Entry into Jerusalem; The Last Supper; The Betrayal;
King Herod; The Trial of Christ; Pilate's Wife's Dream_ come next; to the
subject of the last of which the curious but generally accepted origin is
given, that it was inspired by Satan, anxious that Jesus should not be
slain, because he dreaded the mischief he would work when he entered
Hades or Hell, for there is no distinction between them either here or in
the Apocryphal Gospel whence the _Descent into Hell_ is taken. Then
follow _The Crucifixion_ and _The Descent into Hell_--often called the
_Harrowing of Hell_--that is, the _making war upon_ or _despoiling of
hell_,[16] for which the authority is a passage in the Gospel of
Nicodemus, full of a certain florid Eastern grandeur. I need hardly
remind my readers that the Apostles' Creed, as it now stands, contains
the same legend in the form of an article of faith. The allusions to it
are frequent in the early literature of Christendom.
The soul of Christ comes to the gates of hell, and says:
Undo your gates of sorwatorie; _place of sorrow._
On man's soul I have memorie;
There cometh now the king of glory,
These gates for to breke!
Ye devils that are here within,
Hell gates ye shall unpin;
I shall deliver man's kin--
From woe I will them wreke.
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