The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1862-10-23
FOR THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN.
Exposition Of list Peter iii; 1920.
(Read it,

ton Of the reader will be chiefly directed,
is that in which Christ is said to have
"pye9cied unto The spirits IN prison."
WhQt spirits were these? They were the
spi,ia of those who lived "in the days Of
Noah, while the ark was preparing" y
This wicked generation vas suddenly and
avfally destroyed by the food. They
we're eating and drinking, and marrying
and giving in marriage and knee not till
the food came, and took them eli away"
They went down in q moment into the pit
of destruction, the prison of he'll, and here
they remained,-" spirits in prison at
the ti@e when the passage before Us was
written.
| H9w did Christ preach to those, who
lived in tho days of Noah, who persisted in
the flood, and whose spirits we're afterwards
Imprisoned in the world Of darkness2 Ee
preached to them, net personally but by
bis SPIRIT. OF this We are expressly as
sarej by The apostle -" Being put to
death in the aesh, but quickened by the
Spirit, BY WHICH also, be went and preach
ed unto toe spirits in prison" Some have
imagined that Christ went personally, and
preached unto the spirits in prison. But
this 10 contrary to the letter Of the passage !;
for the Apostle assures US that he preached
to them, not personally, but By his Spirit
Vim was the preaching spoken Of ia
the passage before rs performed? Those
who believe that Christ performed this
preaching in person, have Supposed that
ne performed it during the space that inter.
veued between his death and his resurrec-
ton. While his lifeess body lay ia the tomb,
bis soul, they think, descended into hell for
the purpose Of preaching to the imprisoned
spirits Of darkness. Now this strange sup.
position ID expressly contradicted By tFe
declaration Of the Saviour to the dying thief
upon tho cross: =" This dug shalt tbou be
with nee in paradise" The HUMAN soul Of
Christ, when released from the body, iu-
stead Of descending into he'll. went directly
into the paradise Of God. This suppositon
is also contrary to the plain import OF the
passage under consideration. The APOSTLE
here definitely fires tie time when he preach
ing in question. was performed. 1t was
"when the long suffering of God waited in
the days of Noah, while the ark was pre-
pairing" This adyerb raea must either ex.
press the time when Christ went and preach
ed to the spirits in prison, or the time when
these spirits were disobedient Thatit does
not express the latter is evident from this,
that although the spirits in prison were dia-
obedient in the days of Noah, this was not
the only, or the principal period of their
disobedience They have been disobedient
ever since. We see then, that the adverb
,chea does not fix the time, when the spirits
in prison were disobedient; but rather the
time, when Christ preached to them by bis
Spirit. And this, os we have already said,
was "Shen the long suffering of God waited
in the days of Noah, while the ark was
preparing" lie preached to these while
they lived here on the EARTH before they
we're oyertaken and destroyed by the food.
The phrase in the passage under considera-
tiou-"vlich sometime were disobedient"
is obviously an interjected one, and might
with propriety be included in parcnthesis.
If it were thus included. the sense Of the
whole would be more plain. Christ P'e1ch-
ed By lis Spirit" TO tho spirits in prison,
tgho sometimes we're disObedien) ,ctea the
! long suffering Of God waited in the days Of
Noah"
It nay be inquired sill further, how
Christ can be said to have preached, by his
Spirit. to those who were alive in the days
Of Noah.
In TIE first place, he preached to them
5y his Spirit. IN sending his Spirit to strjrt
,gifh them. We read in Genesis that the
Spirit actually did strive with them and
when they had long resisted him, God saio
in anger, My Spirit shall not always strive
With man" By tue striving Of his Spirit
with those VINO lived and persisted in the
days Of Noah, Christ suggested truth tc
their minds, aud impressed it npon THEN
hearts, and in this way may be said to have
preached to them.
Bnt secondly, Christ preached to the au-
tediluyiaus by his Spirit, since, through the
influence of his Spirit, he callcd, qualified
and disposed Noah 10 pyCach to them. Noah
we are told, was preacher Of righteous
ness" During tho whole period in whicE
the ark was preparing, be ceased not &c
warn the wicked Of their danger, and ex
hort them to escape from the impending
ruin. He was called qualified and impeleC
to Go this, by the Spirit of Christ So that
through the fundamentally of Noah. anG
by the influence Of his Spirit, Christ himself
may be said to nave preached to that wick,
ed generation. In common language, the
/ Sovereign is said to DO what his accredited
Ambassador does. Ministers of the 0ospe
at the present day are ambassadors fol-
Christ, and when they speak in his name
Christ himself is said to speak by them
Thus Christ preached to sinners before the
| aood, by means of Noah. Through the in
Auerce of his Spirit, calling and qualifying
Noah as preacher of righteousness" he
sounded his messages in their guilty ears
and warned them 10 fee from the wrath to
come.
The substance of the foregoing explana-
ton may be given, in few words, in the fol-
lowing parap1rase-yiz:
When once the long suffering of God
waited in the days Of Noah while the ark
was preparing, Christ preached, by his
Spirit, TO uOgodly men; or in other words,
he sent his Spirit to strive with them, and
constituted Noah his ambassador, to pro-
claim bis warnings in their ears. But they,
refusing to listen, were Swallowed up in the
food, and their souls were confined, where