The application of redemption

Hence Christ is said by Death to destroy him that had the Power of Death, that is the Devil. Heb. 2. 14. To destroy him (in the Original) is to take off the Activity of Satan, and by a deadly blow to stay the prevailing virtue of any temptation, as that it shall not sway the soul to its bent, though it may hinder the soul and dull the acts of it in the daily exercise of spiritual Duties. Look as it is in a Bowl that is strongly biassed one way, and so carried to the mark, however by many rubs and ruggedness of the way, it may be turned aside and jostled out of the right tract, yet it sets toward the mark, and is carried that way, and will fall that way by the force of the bias that doth over-sway it. So it is here, The Spirit of the Lord that lays hold upon the soul, is like the weight of this bias, that is fastened to it, and closeth with it: So that however the strength of temptation or corruption may by a ⟨p. 401⟩[…] violence jostle the soul out of the way, and out of that right and righteous proceeding in which […] ought to walk, yet the over-swaying hand of the Spirit will keep the bent and set of it towards the Lord and his Truth. 1 John, 3. 8. Christ was manifested that he might destroy the works of the […]; that he might Analyse and unravel, and undo […] it were, and take in pieces that frame of wickedness which Satan had set up in the heart, and turn it up-side-down. When the Soul was turned from God, unto sin, and the Creature, Christ came that […] might be turned from sin and the Creature to God again: The word is the same with that Joh. 2. 19. [Greek or Hebrew], destroy, or take down this Temple: And here, 1 Joh. 3. 8. [Greek or Hebrew]: So to loosen one tied in Bands. So the Lord Christ doth the works of Satan; Satan may grapple with the Soul, and lay violent hands upon the Heart, but bind it he can never more, or make it a servant to himself.¹

Hence Christ is said by Death to destroy him that had the Power of Death, that is the Devil.