SERMON XV.

CHRIST'S DEATH A VICTORY OVER THE DEVIL.

(Lincoln's Inn, 4th Sunday after Trinity, July 9, 1854.)

HEBREWS II. 14, 15.

'Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.'

I ALLUDED, last Sunday, to the opening clause of these verses. The words, Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same,' proved, I said, clearly, that there was a relation between Christ and men which did not depend upon flesh and blood, which did not commence when He assumed our nature, which was the reason of His assuming it. The more you consider the previous part of this chapter, the more, I think, you will feel that it is the intention of the writer to make us conscious of this truth. In the sixth verse he quotes the eighth Psalm: What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou

madest him a little lower than the angels

Thou hast

put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare Thy Name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto Thee. And again, I will put my trust in Him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.'

That Christ is here put forth as fulfilling the words which were spoken of man on the creation day; as exercising that dominion over things which was committed to man, finally; as triumphing over the death which denoted the humiliation of man, is evident to the most careless reader. But we are not permitted to stop here. Passages are quoted from the Old Testament, in which the divine Word of God speaks of human creatures as His own brethren, in which He says that He will declare His Father's Name to those brethren,

in which He speaks of trusting in God as if He were one of them. That this is the meaning of the writer, there has never, I believe, been any doubt among his commentators. Nor have they failed to perceive that the principle, of which these are instances, may be applied to the interpretation of the Old Testament generally. We have not, I think, followed out the hint which he has given us, as much as we might have done, and as we were bound to do, considering the authority of the teacher. But we have all acknowledged, to some extent, that the language of psalmists and of prophets would be unintelligible, if we did not suppose that Christ, the divine Word, was speaking in them and through them, was discovering His own sympathy with those to whom they were sent, through the sympathy which He awakened in their hearts. If a holy man sorrowed over the sins of his countrymen, or of the world, or of himself, he felt that another, who was higher than he was, had first and had imparted it to him. have had the same source.

experienced that sorrow, His joys, his hopes, must No single man could have

known them in their depth and power. There must be some one in whom they were all gathered up, some universal Brother, to whom each particular brother owed his place in the family and the affections which corresponded to it.

There must, therefore, be a deep below even this. It is indicated in the words, 'It became Him, for whom

He

are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to perfect, or initiate, the Captain of their salvation through sufferings.' The ground of that brotherhood, which the passage is setting forth, lies in the will of Him who has created all things. He does not regard men as included in these things. They are sons; they are to be saved or delivered out of the mass of things in which they have lost themselves. purposes to bring them to glory, to His own glory, to a knowledge of Himself. The Only-begotten is the deliverer. That He may be so fully, He is initiated through sufferings. He enters into the inmost mystery of human sorrow. He becomes acquainted with grief; it is His bosom companion. Men have had familiarity with it in its different forms and measures, He has familiarity with it in its root and essence. To give Him this perfect fitness for His work of a Leader and Saviour a work which could never be performed for His creatures if they were apart from Him-which implies the most entire fellowship and incorporation with Him, became, he says, the Father of all. It belonged to the character of His inmost being that so it should be. In no way but this does that character and inmost being fully declare itself; this interprets all other manifestations of it. What ultimate explanation, then, must not be weaker and less satisfactory than this— 'It became Him?'

This idea of the humiliation and incarnation of Christ

is essentially the same with that in the passage of the Epistle to the Philippians, upon which I spoke last week. The difference is, that Obedience and Humility were the aspects of the sacrifice which were brought out prominently before us there-that Sympathy is the great subject here. That sympathy, as the necessary qualification of a Priest, as implied in all he does and all he is, we hear much more of as the Epistle proceeds. Through it the writer is enabled to teach us a truth, which when first stated it is most hard to apprehend, that when the Sacrifice is perfect, and the Priest is perfect, they must be one. That great argument I shall not touch upon to-day. There is another presented to us in the words, that through death He might destroy him which had the power of death, that is, the Devil,' which will be enough, and more than enough, for one discourse. It might be expanded through a series of discourses; the whole doctrine of sacrifice might be deduced from it; but I only take it as describing one of the effects of our Lord's death, connected closely and inseparably with reconciliation and propitiation, but still distinguishable from them.

I do not think the word Diabolus is ever used in the New Testament without a direct reference to its derivation and meaning. There are other words,-the Tempter, the Adversary, the Destroyer, which all point to the spirit of evil; but they denote him by different characteristics, each of which we have used to