DISCOÜRSE 385 purposes it shouldbe done by degrees. His blood was ofsuffi- cient value to have procured for his elect a deliverance from every enemy at once, and a translation to heaven as soon as they were born ; but it was wiselyconcerted betwixt the Father and the Son, that we should pass through temptations, difficulties, and death itself ; thatby feeling the sharp assaults of our enemies, we might be better acquaintedwith the greatness of our salvation, andpay a larger tributeof thanks and honours to our deliverer. The steps whereby death his destroyed, are these : 1 . Itis subdued by the death of Christ ; Its sting was then taken away, that is, the guilt of sin ; 1 Cor. xv. 56, 57. The sting of death is sin, and the strength ofsin is the law ; but thanks be to God who girelle us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Which verses may be thus explained : Death was the punishment threatened by the law of sin, but Christ, as our surety, having sustained the execution of that threatening, -and answered the law by a satisfaction equal to the offence, death has no power over Iaim. Godhas raisedhint up, having loosed thepainsof death, be- cause it was-not possible that he should he holden of it ; Acts ii. 24. And as Christ by his dying is said tofinish transgression, and ruche an end ofsin, because he has taken away its power to Condemn believers, though he has not yet utterly destroyed its being, so heis said to have abolished death; 2. Tim. L 10. Because he has so far diminished, and made void its power, that it shall not downy final mischiefto the saints. It is likea serpent whose sting is ta- ken away, and whose teeth are broken out ; it may fright us, and do us some injury,'but it cannot inflict avenomous or fatal wound. Now the believer, by a lively faith, shares in this victoryof Christ over death, and gives thanks to God for it. He knows that though it may hurt his body, and bring it down to the grave for a season, yet it cannot send the soul to destruction, nor confine the body to the dust any longer than Christshall permit.: 2. Death is taken captive and enslaved by Christ at his re- surrection and ascension, and made to serve his holy purposes ; Ps. lxvüi. 18. Thou last ascended on high, thou Isastled cap- tivitycaptive. This is spoken of our Lord Jesus, who has taken into his own dominion death and the devil, who led the world captive. The enemy is not escaped out of the hands of this con- queror, but is put under his yoke, and constrained into hie service. Death, in its first character, was the very threatening and curse of the law of God, and includes in it all misery : but Christ having borne the curse; has redeemed his people froth it; Gal. iii. 13. 'Andnow he has taken as many as he pleases of the threatenings and terrors of the law into his own new covenant, thecovenant of grace ; andhas sanctified their nature, and made them blessingsto the saints ; he has turned the curse into a bles- sing ; Dent. xxüi. 5. so that afflictions, and pains, and sorrows,
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