LIMBO
434
LIMBO
strongly excited my attention.' On this Dr. Lindley observes, 'It is clear that neitlier the white lily, nor the Oponiiitlius luteus, nor Ixiullrion, will answer to Dr. Ik)wring's ilescription, which seems to point to the Chal- cedonian or scarlet marttigon lily, formerly called the lily of Byzantium, found from the Adriatic to the Le- -\ant, and which, with its scarlet turban-like flowers, is indeed a most stately and striking object' {Gardeners' Chronicle, ii, 854)" (Kitto). As this lily (the Lilium Chalcedonicum of botanists) is in flower at the season of
Scarlet Martagon {Lilium Chalcedonicum),
the year when the Sermon on the Mount is supposed to have been spoken (May; but it is probable that our .Saviour's discourse on Providence, containing the allu- sion to the lily, occurred on a diiferent occasion, appar- ently about October; see Strong's Harmony of the Gos- pels, § 52), is indigenous in the very locality, and is conspicuous, even in the garden, for its remarkable showy flowers, there can now be little doubt that it is tlie plant alluded to by our Saviour. " Strand (Flor. Palicst.') mentions it as growing near Joppa, and Kitto {Phys.Hist. of Palest, p. 219) makes especial mention of the L. cundidum growing in Palestine ; and, in connec- tion with the habitat given by Strand, it is worth ob- serving that the lily is mentioned (Cant, ii, 1) with the rose of iShamn" (Smith).
Hy some the lily is supposed to be meant by the term r?U2n (chabatstse'leth, "rose"), in Isa. xxxv, 1 ; Cant, ii, 1. For further details, consult Oken, Lehrb. d. Xatur- gesch. II, i, 757 ; IJosenmuller, Bihl. A Iterth. iv, 138 ; Cel- sius, niei-ohot. i, 383 sq. ; BiUcrbeck, Flora Class, p. 90 sq. ; (Jesenms, Thes. Ihh. p. 1385 ; Penny Cyclopwdia, s. V. Lotus.
Limbo or Limbus, meaning a border or depart- ment, is used by Komanists as the name of the place of some of the departed, which the schoolmen who first held this doctrine (see below) believed to be situated on the hmb, i. e. the edge or border of hell. See Inter- jiEDiATt; State. There are five places to which the Churdi (if liome consigns departed spirits. Heaven is the residence of the holy, and hell of the (inally damned. Besides these she enumerates limbus infinitum, the de- partment for infants; limbus patrum, the department of the fathers; and pui-t/atory. Hell is placed lowest, pur- gatory next, then limbus for infants; and finally is enu- merated a place for those who died before the advent
of Christ. According to the Roman Catholic view, un- til Christ's death and resurrection, which constituted the decisive moments of the work of redemption, the doors of heaven were closed to all {Catech. Rom. i, 2, 7) ; since then they have been permanently open to siWjKr- fect saints. This doctrine was first advanced by pope Benedict XII, and afterwards sanctioned by the Council of Florence (Perrone, v, 213). According to this theory, until the coming of Christ, the souls of all departed were, without exception, sent into the place of punishment, or infernus, as is (according to liomish views) still the case with those who die without having arrived at per- fection, or with some penance stiU to be performed for sin. At present they use the word infenius to convey the idea that all sinners are in some place outside of heaven, and that, on account of their different personal qualities, thej- are divided into different classes, which have nothing in common except their exclusion from the happiness of heaven, and therefore divide these ab- dita receptacula (Augustine, Enchiridion ad Laurent. § 109), of which the place of punLshment consists, into, 1, hell, in its fullest sense, that terrible, immense prison in which the damned, who died in a state of mortal sin, are to remain forever {Cat. Rom. i, G, 3, 5) ; 2, purga- tory, in which the souls of believers, and of those who are justified, suffer until they are entirely free from sin; 3, the bosom of Abraham, where the saints who died before the coming of Christ were received, and where, while free from torments, they were nevertheless, on account of original sin, prevented by the dremons from beholding the glory of God until the coming of the Ee- deemer, whose merits freed them from these bonds, and opened to them the doors of heaven. Compare here the statement of the early English reformers in " the Insti- tution of a Christian Man," on the fifth article of their creed : " Our Saviour Jesus Christ, at his entry into hell, first conquered and oppressed both the devil and hell, and also death itself , , , afterwards he spoiled hell, and delivered and brought with him from thence all the souls of those righteous and good men which, from the fall of Adam, died in the favor of God, and in the faith and belief of this our Saviour, which was then to come." The doctrine of the Church, as expressed in the sym- bols, names no otlier divisions. The third place which, in ecclesiastical phraseology, is usually called Limbus patrum, is even represented sometimes as a quiet habi- tation, and at other times as an unpleasant prison (mis- era illius custodies molestia'), which two views, being difficult to conciliate, gave rise to manj- intricate ques- tions unavoidable as soon as an attempt is made to es- tablish such a detailed topography of the places of future life. The limbo of Dante is placed in the outer- most of the nine circles of his Inferno. No weeping is heard within it, but perpetual sighs tremble on the air, breathed by an infinite crowd of women, men, and children. atHictecl, but not tormented. These inhabi- tants are not condemned on account of sin, but solely because it was their fortune to live before the birth of Christ, or to die unbaptized. The poet was grieved at heart, as well he might be, when he recognised in this sad company many persons of great worth (comp. Mil- mauj Latin Christianity, bk. xiv, chap. ii).