$flti 66RQUE$T 07E8 DEATtt. and death itself, are no longer a curse to them, for they are,órs deified by the wisdom and grace of Christ to promote their best interest. Death; in its original design, was the under servant of God's àvenging justice ; it wasthe jailorto bring the soul out ofthe body before the divine tribunal, there to receive its condemnation to hell. It was the executionerboth to torment and to destroy the 'flesh, and send the spirit. into everlasting misery. Bot Christ having answeredallthe demandsof this avengingjustice,bas also purchased thesovereignity over death ; and though sometimes 'when it seizes. a saint, it may for the present signify his displea- sure, as in 1 Cor. xi. 30. yet it always fulfils the designs of his love, and conveysthem into his own delightful presence ; there- fore as soon as we are absentfrom the body, weare said to bepre- sent with the Lord ; 2 Cor. v. 8. andwhen we depart 'from the flesh, it is to be with Christ ; Phil. i. 23 Death wits ordained at first to be a slave to Satan, by the righteous appointment of God; both death and the devil are exécutioners of his wrath ; and Satan is said to have some power over death ; Heb. ii. 14. But Christ by dying, has subdued Satan, spoiled him of his destroying wee- lpons, has Made void his authority, especially with regard to be- ievers ; he has taken death out of his power, and manages it him- self ; and thus he delivers them who through fear of death were held in a longandpainful bóndage ; vet. 15. Ít is in such views as thesethat the apostle says to theCorin- thian believers, all things areyours, things present, and things to come, this world in the joys or sorrows of it, life and death, all are ?/ours, and ye are Christ's; 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23: Youhave an in- terest and a share in the possessions and the power of Christ over all things so far as may promote your happiness : Christ makes all things, even death, work together for the good of his people ; Rom. viii. 28. By death he puts an end to the body of sin, and frees the soul from all those rufflingpassions, those inquietudes of the blood, and disorders of nature ; those strong andperverse ap- petites, that cost the christian so much toil to subdue, and brought Will so oftenunder guilt, darkness, and sorrow. By deathhe deli- vers the believerfrom thepains and infirmities ofthe body, the per- petual lauguishings'of a weakly constitution, and the anguish of acute diseases. Heconstrains death-to give the weary saint release from all the miseries ofthe present state, and to hidehim from the furyof the oppresser. Thegrave is God'shiding -place from the storms and tumults of the world ; there the weary are at rest, and the wickedceasef om troubling: and instead ofconsigning usover to the full malice of the devil, death is made a means to conyey us assay from all his assaults, and translate us into that country, wherehe lias no power to enter. Andwhen the soul is dismissed into the bosom of a reconciled God, by the ministry of death ? the
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