A Question on the Lymbe of Faders

Capitulo liii

I am', quod I, `hugely desmayed of many thynges that ye haue told me. Holy Chirche maynteneth and holdeth for trouthe, as I haue wel in mynde, that Ihesu Crist in his godhede descendid with the soule, the body lyeng in sepulture, down in to Helle for to releuen the lygnage of Adam, that long tyme had lyen in peyne, and specially his chere loued frendes to visite & comforte^a. And ye seyn that he fond them fastned & lokked in the spere aboue, and fro thens he delyuerd them that were banysshed & put in exyle. This thynge ameuith me gretely, and sothly me semyth that it may not be, but yf that spere shold be the pyt of Helle, & that me semyth not, for Helle may haue no clernesse, as Holy Chirche holdeth.

'Also whan ye speken of Abraham, that this place shold be cleped his bosome, whiche as meuyng of^a Ihesu Crist & his Gospel sholde be a place of comforte & of recreacion, and Helle a place of meschyef and desolacion. For the riche man lyeng in Helle clepyd to Abraham and prayed hym of socour and comforte, and Abraham answerd and seide that a grete chaos, a depthe or a derkenes, was fastned bytwene them two, in so moche that neyther myght passen to other.'