5. That he might take possession of heaven for us in our nature : John xiv. 2, 3, ' I go to prepare a place for you ; and if I go and pre- pare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.' The devil comes to depress our nature, and Christ came to exalt it ; he endeavoured to make us lose paradise, and Christ gave us heaven. Man fallen is strangely haunted with doubts about the other world. Now he that came to save us and heal us did himself in our nature rise from the dead, that he might give us a visible demonstration of the life to come, which he had promised to us, that we might more regard the offer. He himself hath seized upon it, that the rest of the seed may be possessed of it ; and hath carried our nature thither, that in time our persons may be translated.
6. That after he had been a sacrifice for sin, and conquered death by his resurrection, he might also triumph over the devil, and lead cap- tivity captive, and give gifts to men in the very act of his ascension into heaven : Eph. iv. 8, ' Wherefore he saith, When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.' Having foiled his enemies on the cross, it is fit he should triumph over them, to n.ssure the world of his conquest, and give such a measure of his gifts
SERMON UrON GENESIS III. 15. 245
and graces to his church as might help them to scatter the ranks of the battle. His victory is shown to be complete as to the head ; and as to the rest of the seed of the woman, who are all willing to enter into confederacy with him, he hath left ordinances and an almighty Spirit, that they may get to heaven after him.
II. Tiiat Christ is at enmity with Satan, and hath entered into the conflict with him.
1. We must state the enmity between Christ and his confederates, and Satan and his instruments. For it is said in the beginning of the verse, ' I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed ; ' which is principally to be understood of the Lord Christ, and of his confederates in the second place ; against Satan in the first place, and his instru- ments on the other side. There is a double enmity which Christ hath against Satan, and so he undertakes the war against him as contrary to his nature and office.
[1.] There is a perfect enmity between the nature of Christ and the nature of the devil. The nature of Satan is sinful, murderous, and destructive ; for it is said, he was ' a liar and murderer from the begin- ning,' John viii. 44 ; and 1 John iii. 8, ' He that committeth sin is of the devil ; for the devil sinneth from the beginning : for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil ; ' again, ver. 12, ' Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother : and wherefore slew he him ? because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.' Now the nature of Christ is quite contrary. It is the devil's work to do all the hurt that he can to the bodies and souls of men ; and it is Christ's work to do good, and only good ; Acts X, 38, ' God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed with the devil ; for God was with him.' Christ did nothing by way of malice and revenge ; he used not the power that he had to make men blind or lame, or to kill any ; no, not his worst enemies, when he could easily do it, and justly might have done it. No ; he went up and down giving sight to the blind, limbs to the lame, health to the sick, life to the dead. He rebuked his disciples when they tempted him to destroy some for their contempt by calling for fire from heaven, telling them they ' know not what manner of spirit they were of ; for the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them,' Luke ix. 55, 56. It was unlike his spirit and design. All his miracles were acts of relief and favour, not pompous, not destruc- tive ; bating only two, the blasting the unfruitful fig-tree, which was an emblematical warning to the Jews, and suffering the devil to enter into the herd of swine, which was a necessary demonstration of the devil's malice and destructive cruelty, who, if he could not afilict and destroy men, would enter into the herd of swine, that the poor crea- tures might perish in the sea. Thus there was a perfect contrariety of nature between Christ and Satan.
[2.] An enmity proper to his ofiice and design. For he came * to destroy the works of the devil,' 1 John iii. 8 ; and was set up to dis- solve that sin and misery which he had brought upon the world. The devil sought the misery and destruction of mankind, but Christ sought our salvation. Satan is the great destroyer of the creation, and Christ