The Harrowing of Hell
(Here the Spirit of Christ comes to the gates of hell.)
SPIRIT OF CHRIST
Open your gates, devil princes, and if you do not, certain will be your woe before I pass onward. For the everlasting gates shall, in their turn, be flung wide that the King of Glory may come in.
LUCIFER
It will do you no good to trifle with me. Rather tell me at once, who is this king of glory?
SPIRlT
A lord strong and mighty, marvelous in battle. Open, therefore, on the instant, princes all!
LUCIFER
It is idle to contend with me. Hence, tell me again, who is this king of glory? As for you, go your way at once since you shall never enter these gates.
SPIRIT
A lord strong and mighty, against whose entry the gates of hell shall not prevail nor withstand the power of his grace. Princes, he is the King of Glory, mighty in battle!
(The gates of hell are broken as challenge and response are exchanged a third time. Then Jesus shall enter hell, and Lucifer says:)
LUCIFER
Ah, out upon it! Help, oh, help! Thieves! The gates are smashed to pieces, their supports a rubble. Beelzebub, Leviathan, release the lightning and thunder that they may consume him utterly
BEELZEBUB
For us there is no help since even a thousand thousand devils would prove feeble against this spirit. Let's just hide in some hole until the heaven-bound people have quit our domain.
TULFRlC
Ah, Leviathan, my pig, you and I are in for it even while we stoke the fire under the cauldron where I was simmering more than a million souls into a first-class broth.
(Here the Spirit extends his hand.)
ADAM
I see the hand that made me; an odor sweeter than honey envelops me. Through my sin I was lost to you, and by your blood I am redeemed. I pray mercy.
EVE
Now do we owe honor in the highest to Christ Our Lord, who has delivered us from hell. The time is blessed when he was born of woman, of Mary precious and virgin.
(Here the Spirit, accompanied by all, comes onto the platea.)
SPIRIT
All of you, O souls, who have done the will of my Father, come
with me rejoicing. As for those who have not done his will, let them
remain behind, dwelling forever in joyless torment.
To you, Adam, and to each and every one of my children who are
loyal, peace. Come, then, to my sanctuary in Paradise, you for whose
redemption I gave my heart's blood.
(Here the Spirit leads them.)
ADAM
Lord, our thankfulness is great since we knew no joy where we were but rather scorching and burning and, like dogs, we reeked and stank.
EVE
Jesus, King of Heaven, you have heard our cry from the depths. Woe, oh, woe to the unbeliever, in hell's agony doomed to remain even to the end of the world.
SPIRIT
Go now into Paradise, those whom I redeemed with so great a
measure of suffering, and tarry there until I ascend to heaven. At that
time, I desire to take a number of you with me.
Michael, lead them on their way to that exceeding happiness which
was formerly lost to them through sin, and when I rise to heaven, I
shall have about me not only angels but, in addition, saints.
(The Spirit goes to the sepulchre with a company of angels. Then Adam, when he sees Enoch and Elijah present, asks in amazement:)
ADAM
You flesh-born creatures who were not among us in hell, how is it that you are here? I am most eager to learn the truth concerning you. Tell me who you are.
ENOCH
My name is Enoch. I was brought to this place a natural man, destined to return to the world in order that I may undergo death before the day of judgment.
ADAM
Alas, how will you fare in the world where suffering and grief are
ever present? It saddens me to think that you, who have tasted pure
joy, should again endure a mortal's crushing load of anguish.
Let me tell you the truth about myself. I lived long in the world,
a life of labor and sorrow. I also disobeyed God's command and for
that was condemned to hell through all eternity.
Yet in his mercy, my Lord Christ saved me from damnation by the
sacrifice of his body and blood. He brought my soul and those of
certain others from that pain and darkness into this light. So I say
to you in all honesty, do not seek to return to the earth.
ENOCH
It is my obligation to enter the lists and do battle against the Antichrist, in that struggle forfeiting my life. After some three days, my risen spirit shall take its place in heaven on high with Christ, the transcendent king.
(Adam speaks to Elijah)
ADAM
I cannot comprehend how you, a mortal, are here in the flesh. I beg you, also, to give me your name, seeing that doomsday is yet to come.
ELIJAH
I am Elijah, who was brought to this place in a chariot of fire. I wait for the day of Antichrist when I shall go to encounter him on earth.
ADAM
Why is it that you undertake this thing? Christ, whose suffering redeemed us, brought you here from the world, that harsh abode of toil, sweat, and trouble by night as by day.
ELIJAH
Everywhere he journeys, Antichrist will turn men from God. We
revisit the world to meet him and overcome his wicked tongue through
Christ's grace.
Antichrist will order us to be killed because he is unable to vanquish
us with words, and surely you will know that before we may
enter into rest we must submit ourselves to death and the grave.
(And then let Adam turn to the thief, and he says to him:)
ADAM
How did you, one of the blessed and not with us in hell, come to peace? Tell me who you are since your presence in this region is beyond my understanding.
THE THIEF DISMAS
I am the thief who was sentenced with Jesus Christ and raised
beside him on the cross. I cried out to him when in his agony he had
nowhere to rest his head.
I hailed him as the Son of God, making sure that he would remember
me when he came into his kingdom. This was his unhesitating
answer: "Before the night is come, you shall stand in Paradise."
ADAM
Ah, God, how fortunate you are! Although you underwent the earthly suffering of crucifixion, you will never have felt the anguish of the evil of hell, nor what it is to be in that baneful furnace, roasting in the perpetual torment of fire and smoke.
THE THIEF DISMAS
Christ is the Lord of Mercy. Whoever will believe and pray to him will surely be saved. And when such a man has passed from the world, he goes to heaven.
(Tulfric speaks in hell.)
TULFRIC
By the Infernal, if only I had him by the wing this minute, I'd toss him right into the middle of the fire! What a shame that I didn't let go from my backside a blast of lightning and a thunderclap to blast him.
BEELZEBUB
Sad to say, it's no use our trying to burn him with lightning and thunder. And the worst thing of all, as far as I'm concerned, is the fact of so many souls going from us to heaven.
SATAN
Our greatest misfortune was simply in our being devils! The light almost blinded us when that fellow appeared, while all those souls have escaped from pain and darkness. Bad, bad!
(Then Joseph speaks from his prison.)
JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA
God the Father, Maker of all the world and Creator of man from clay, and Jesus our Savior, Son of Grace, come to us and help us!
NlCODEMUS
Amen to that, and send your angels to rescue us, O King of Kings-we, who laid you in the tomb.
GOD THE FATHER
Go, angels, to my faithful servants who are in prison and free them without opening a door or breaking down a wall.
MICHAEL
Instantly and with whole heart, precious Lord, we will do your will as at all times and in all places is befitting.