disobedience:" witness the name of Tempter given to him in the gospel history, Matt. iv. 3. The Scripture informs us, II. That he accuses men before God of those very crimes which he solicited them to commit: witness the prophet Zechariah, who was "shewed Joshua the high-priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him;" or, as it might have been rendered, to be his adversary or accuser; witness the descriptive appellation of calumniator or accuser given him by St. John in the Apocalypse. The scripture tells us, III. That he sometimes torments men; witness the history of Job; witness what St. Paul says of his delivering up unto Satan the incestuous person at Corinth. This power of delivering up to Satan, to mention it by the way, was a part of the miraculous gifts conferred on the apostles; gifts transmitted to the immediately succeeding ages of the Church, at least if Paulinus is to be credited on this subject, who relates that an abandoned wretch was, by St. Ambrosius, delivered up to Satan, who tore him in pieces. Finally, IV. We find the Devil designed in Scripture, the God of the world, 2 Cor. iv. 4. " and the Prince of the power of the air," Eph. ii. 2. You likewise see him represented as acting on the waters of the sea, as raising tempests, and as smiting the children of men with various kinds of plagues.

But if the devil be represented as exercising an influence over the ills of human life, he is still more

*Paulin. de Vit. Ambros.

woes.

especially represented as exerting his power over our death, the last and the most formidable of all our The Jews were impressed with ideas of this kind. Nay, they did not satisfy themselves with general notions on this subject. They entered into the detail, (for, my brethren, it has been an infirmity incident to man in every age, to assert confidently on subjects the most mysterious and concealed,) they said that the Devil, to whom they gave the name of Samael,† had the empire of death: that his power extended so far as to prevent the resurrection of the wicked. St. Paul, in the words of our text, adopts their mode of expression, as his custom is, without propagating their error; he describes the evil Spirit as the person who possesses the empire of death, and who, "through the fear of death, subjects men all their life-time to bondage."

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But Christians, be not dismayed at beholding this fearful image. Surely there is no inchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel," Numb. xxiii. 23. Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb," Rev. xii. 10, 11. Let us, however, reduce our reflections on the subject to method. Three considerations render death formidable to man three considerations disarm death in the apprehension of the Christian; 1. The veil which con+ Thalm. in Libr. Capht.

ceals from the eyes of the dying person, the state on which he is about to enter: 2. The remorse of conscience which the recollection of his guilt excites : 3. The loss of titles, honours, and every other earthly possession. In these respects, chiefly, "he who has the power of death subjects men to bondage :" these are the things which render death formidable.

In opposition to this, the death of Jesus Christ, 1. Removes the veil which concealed futurity from us, and constitutes an authentic proof of the immortality of the soul. 2. The death of Jesus Christ is a sacrifice presented to divine justice, for the remission of our sins. 3. The death of Jesus Christ gives us complete assurance of a blessed eternity. These are the three considerations which disarm death, in the apprehension of the dying believer. And this is a brief abstract of the important truths delivered in this text.

The Devil renders death formidable, through uncertainty respecting the nature of cur souls; the death of Christ dispels that terror, by demonstrating to us that the soul is immortal. The Devil renders death formidable, by awakening the recollection of past guilt; the death of Jesus Christ re-. stores confidence and joy, for it is the expiation of all our sins. The Devil clothes death with terror, by rendering us sensible to the loss of those possessions of which death is going to deprive us the death of Jesus Christ tranquillizes the mind, because it is a pledge to us of an eternal felicity. The first of these ideas represents Jesus Christ to us as a mar

tyr, who has sealed with his own blood, a doctrine which rests entirely on the immortality of the soul.

The second represents him as a victim, offering himself in our stead, to divine justice. And the third represents him as a conqueror, who has, by his death, acquired for us a kingdom of everlasting bliss.

Had we nothing farther in view, than to present you with vague ideas of the sentiments of the sacred authors, on this subject, here our discourse might be concluded. But these truths, treated thus generally, could make but a slight impression. It is of importance to press them one by one, and, opposing in evry particular, the triumph of the Redeemer, to the empire of the wicked one, to place in its clearest point of light, the interesting truth contained in our text, namely, that Jesus Christ, "through his own death, has destroyed him who had the power of death, that is, the Devil; that he might deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their life-time subject to bondage."

I. The first consideration which renders death formidable; the first yoke imposed on the necks of the children of men, by that tremendous prince who has the power of death, is the fear of falling back into nothing, which the prospect of death awakens. The greatest of all the advantages which we possess, and that which indeed is the foundation of all the rest, is existence. We accordingly observe that old people, though all their faculties are much impaired, always enjoy a certain nameless superiority over young persons. The reflection, that there was a time when they existed, while as yet the young did

not exist, constitutes this superiority; and young persons, in their turn feel a superiority suggested to them by the thought, that a time is coming when they shall exist, whereas the others shall be no more. Death terminates, to appearance, an advantage which is the foundation of every other. And is it any wonder that the heart of man should sink under such a consideration?

In vain will we flee for refuge, from this depressing reflection, to the arguments which reason, even a well-directed reason, supplies. If they are satisfying of themselves, and calculated to impress the philosophic mind, they are far beyond the reach of a vulgar understanding, to which the very terms spirituality and existence are barbarous and unintelligible. To no purpose will we have recourse to what has been said on this subject, by the most enlightened of the Pagan world, and to what, in particular, Tacitus relates of Seneca, on his going into the bath which was to receive the blood, as it streamed from his opened veins: he besprinkled the by-standers with the fluid in which his limbs were immerged, with this memorable expression, that he presented those drops of water as a libation to Jupiter the deliverer. In order to secure us against terrors so formidable, we must have a guide more safe than our In order to attain a persuasion of the immortality of the soul, we must have a security less suspicious than that of a Socrates or a Plato. Now that guide, my brethren, is the cross of Jesus Christ: that security is an expiring Redeemer. Two prin

own reason.