Captives bound in chains, made free by Christ their surety

7. Christ hath set believers free from the curse of the Law. The Law hath its use under the Gospel; by it we come to the knowledge of sin, Rom. 3.20, and 5.20 by it we are convinced of our misery, that by sin we have deserved death and damnation, Rom. 7.10. that we might see the necessity of Christ, and hasten the more to him. Gal. 3.24. It serveth for a rule to direct us in our walking, and for a glass in which we see imperfection of our duty and obedience, that we might not rest in them, nor trust unto them for life and salvation. But from the condemning sentence and curse of the Law, Christ hath made believers free, by being made himself a curse for them, Gal. 3.10, 13.

4. Christ hath set believers free from the hurt of death. The Lord's Free-men must die as well as the Devil's Bond-men; but Death will be another thing to a Free-man, than it is unto a Captive: so that which is formidable to a sinner, is desirable to a Saint. Christ hath taken away the sting of Death, 1 Cor. 15.55. of an Enemy is become a Friend; and Death, that is one of the plagues that befall the Devil's Captives, is become part of the Charter of the Lord's Free-men, 1 Cor. 2.22.

1. Death to Free-men of the Lord is the utter abolition of their sin; it shall free them from the very being and in-dwelling of sin: when the soul shall be separated from the body, all sin, and all corruption shall be separated from the soul: whereas the Devil's bond-men die in their sin, and after death do still retain their hatred unto God, their enmity to Christ, and are more confirmed and hardened in it than before.