A SERMON On Occasion of the DEATH OF The Reverend and Learned Mr. STEPHEN LOBB Who Dyed June 3. 1699. By THOMAS GOODWIN The Second Edition LONDON Printed for John Marshall at the Bible in Gracechurch-street near Cornhill Where you may be supplied with most of Dr. Owen's Works Likewise the true Effigies of Dr. Owen sold alone TO Mr. Theophilus Lobb I Knew none to whom I could better direct this Discourse on the Mournful Occasion of your Worthy Father's Death then you his Son Do not fix your Mind too deeply on your Loss of him to aggravate your Sorrow but turn your Thoughts to a Review of the Example of his Life which he hath left you and which deserves to be imitated Be Good and Generous ready to do kind Offices to all and be true to Friendship as he was Seek the God of your Father to be your God in Covenant and devote your self with all Sincerity unto him Love Jesus Christ and his pure Gospel espouse his despis'd Interest and dare to vindicate his Truths so much invaded on every side tho' to do so may be contrary to your Interest in this World Value Humane Learning in subserviency to Divine and more sublime Knowledge industriously pursue it by close and unwearied Studies and after all dedicate it to Christ's Service and zealously employ it for the Defence of his Truth as your Father did But never let Learning through any Vanity of Mind make you to disgust the Plainness and Simplicity of the Gospel That a double portion of the Spirit may rest upon you That you may stand up in your Father's room That your Mature Years may produce that Fruit which your Blooming Youth promiseth and that the God of all Grace would establish strengthen and settle you and make you useful and serviceable in the Churches of Christ is the Hearty Prayer of Your Dear and Faithful Friend Tho. Goodwin There is in the Press and will speedily be Published a Book Intitled the Mystries of God finished Sold at the Bible in Gracechurch-street A SERMON On Occasion of the Death of The Reverend and Learned Mr. STEPHEN LOBB Who Dyed June 3. 1699. HEB. 11. 14. 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 THIS one Thought that our Lord Jesus Christ hath conquer'd Satan and destroy'd the Power of Death may give us Courage and Resolution to look that otherwise formidable Enemy in the Face The same Consideration may comfort us when by Death we lose our Relations and Friends For tho' they depart yet we knowing that they Dye in the Lord and that tho' Death strike them to the Heart yet the Strength and Curse of it is taken off we ought to Regard their departure out of this World as a Happiness to them however it gives an occasion of Mourning unto us I shall briefly explain the meaning of the Words of the Text before I raise my Doctrine from them They declare that our Lord Jesus was partaker of Humane Nature with this design that by Dying he might destroy the Power of Death and at the same time they give us a thought that will suggest the strongest Consolation in a Dying Hour Christ found us to be held equally in the Fetters of Sin as in the Bands of Death He therefore came into the World assum'd our Nature and dyed that by the Sacrifice of himself Expiating our Guilt and satisfying Divine Justice he might deliver us from the Slavery of Sin and the Tyranny of Satan who held us under the Sentence of the Law as condemn'd to Dye and so had the Power of Death over us That we may more clearly understand that sad Condition into which Sin hath brought the Sons of fall'n Adam and by which Satan hath obtain'd such a dreadful Dominion over them we must consider that the Scripture expresseth a threefold Death to which Sinners are obnoxious One is that of which we continually see visible Instances and of which every one of us tho' now alive and in health shall at the appointed hour be an Example This death puts an end to a Man's being in this World and the time will surely come in which we shall cease to dwell here and our Friends shall know us no more tho' they may remember us This Death parts Soul and Body once so dear Companions in this World and mutual partners of Joys and Pains And this Death sends the Immortal Spirit to an everlasting State of Bliss or Misery and lays down the decay'd Body in the Grave to be Rebuilt in a joyful or dismal Resurrection Tho' it is this Death which the generality of Mankind doth most fear who regarding this World as all their Happiness account it the worst thing they can suffer to be remov'd out of it Yet there is another Death which is far more dreadful that Death which tho' stupid Sinners do not feel yet strikes through the Vitals of their Souls and which not only darkens the Mind and damps that holy Fire which in Man's primitive Constitution perpetually flam'd in his Breast and enkindled his Affections and mov'd them toward God but deadens all our Powers and Faculties and makes Man to be dead in Sin Eph. 2. 1. and utterly disabled to do any thing that is Good It is by this Death that Satan hath the advantage and gains a Dominion over us and leads us Captive at his Will and prevailingly tempts us to Sin and Dye were it not for this Spiritual Death which hath disarm'd and weaken'd us and which exposeth us defenceless to his Attacks he could not on all occasions get so easie a Victory over us Nay were it not that this Spiritual Death hath universally seiz'd Mankind the Devil would have little business on Earth and have no more to do here than in Heaven And now consequent to this Spiritual Death is that which is Eternal which is all Anguish and Torture of Mind without Intermission or End and which is that never-ceasing Misery and Woe under which the Devils and Damn'd Spirits do hopelesly groan Whereas then we were dead in Sin and appointed to dye as it was a Curse threatned to the Sinner and were Sentenc'd to undergo all the horrors of Eternal Death Christ came on purpose to take off the Curse of the one and entirely to free us from the other And since it was by dying that he design'd to subvert the Devil's Empire of Death he took Humane Nature into Union with himself that he might be capable of Suffering and Dying Forasmuch as the Children were partakers of Flesh and Blood The Children those of the Sons of Men whom God the Father had given him Thus in the Verse preceding the Text. Behold I and the Children which God hath given me in which he refers to Isa 8. 18. The Children those whom Christ came to redeem from the Curse
is subverted so Satan is said to be destroy'd when his Kingdom is so and this hath Christ accomplish'd by his Death for he hath Redeem'd the Elect Sons of Men out of the Devil's Power and reduc'd them to his own Kingdom insomuch as Satan hath no more Dominion over them 1. It is evident that Christ hath destroy'd Satan and the Power of Death because his great Design in assuming our Nature was to accomplish this Glorious Work He came into the World not to make himself Great and Honourable and to raise an Earthly Empire which he might easily have done whenever he pleas'd But he came to perform a more dreadful and difficult Undertaking He came to suffer the Punishment due unto us that so he might be a proper Sacrifice and the great Propitiation to satisfie God's Justice and appease his Wrath and Redeem us who were obnoxious to it and subject to the Curse of the Law He came to bear our Sins to be wounded for our Transgressions to be bruis'd for our Iniquities to have the Chastisement of our Peace laid upon him that by his Stripes we might be heal'd Isa 53. 5. He came to live miserably as a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief and at last to die for us to endure God's Anger and undergo Divine Vengeance And he dyed on purpose that he might destroy the Power of Death and that the Curse and Sting of it being left in his own Soul it might do us no hurt Thus his great Design was to deliver us from Death that it might not be a Curse and Horrour to us when we pass through its Gloomy Shaddow that it might not have power to hold us in its Bands but that our Souls might immediately at the expiring of our latest Breath pass into a state of Immortal Life and Unfading Bliss and our dead Bodies revive and breaking the Prisons of the Grave rejoyce in a Glorious Resurrection This was the great Performance for which he came into the World It was for this God the Father appointed him in the Eternal Councils between him and his Glorious Son It was for this the Father sent him Joh. 3. 16. And this was the Work which the Son did chearfully undertake Heb. 10 6 7 8 9 10. It was this great Business which he had in his Mind and Thoughts when he liv'd here on Earth and of which he so frequently discours'd to his Disciples And what Can we think it possible for Christ to fail in the Execution of his principal Design How should he who was declar'd to be the Son of God with Power fail in accomplishing that Work which was the aim of his Mind the desire of his Heart That Work concerning which he expresseth the warmest eagerness of Spirit till it were accomplish'd Luke 22. 15. Nothing certainly shall frustrate what Christ so earnestly intended Nothing can hinder the Believer from partaking the Fruits and Benefits of his admirable Performance Rom. 8. 33 34 35 38 39. No! He Travail'd in the Greatness of his Strength as one Mighty to save Isa 63. 1. Sin Satan and the Power of Death are therefore undoubtedly destroy'd by his Death For tho' he dyed yet he fell in the Field of Victory and all those Enemies lay conquer'd by his side and he conquer'd them that we might rejoyce in him as being more than Conquerors through him who hath lov'd us and done so much for us Rom. 8. 37. 2. That our Lord Jesus Christ hath destroy'd the Power of Death is apparent from his having disarm'd it of its Sting and Power What is the Power of Death 'T is Sin and when this is taken off from our Consciences the other in whatever unpleasing Forms of Diseases it approacheth us is really nothing more but an easie Sleep in the Bosom of Jesus What makes Death a Curse 'T is Sin What puts a Sting into it Nothing but Sin and when that is remov'd Death hath no Curse in it to blast us no Sting to annoy us but is chang'd into a Blessing Now our Lord Jesus hath made an end of Sins Dan. 9. 24. He hath taken off the Guilt of them from the Conscience of the Believer and purg'd it from dead Works that he may draw nigh to a reconcil'd God and to his satisfied Justice in full assurance of Faith Heb. 10. 22. How hath he remov'd the Guilt from us By taking it on himself And how did he become Guilty in the Judgment of a Just God and his Righteous Law Not as having committed any Sin not as having any inherent in him but as having our Iniquities imputed to him He was made Sin for us and so was adjudg'd Guilty and oblig'd to suffer the Punishments which he had deserv'd And this was absolutely necessary for our Pardon and Justification We could not have been made the Righteousness of God in him unless he had first been made Sin for us 2 Cor. 5. 20. Thrice Blessed then is the Believing Soul whose Sins and Guilt and Punishment Christ hath born For whom Christ hath sufferd the Anger of an Incensed God which he the wretched Sinner had provok'd For whom Christ hath satisfy'd Divine Justice and answer'd the Law To whom therefore Iniquity is not imputed Rom. 4. 8. And for that reason Death is depriv'd of its Power and can do him no hurt And for whom Christ hath brought in everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9. 24. That his naked Soul being cloath'd with it may when divested of the Body appear with confidence before a Holy and Righteous God 3. It cannot be deny'd that our Redeemer hath destroy'd Satan and the Power of Death Forasmuch as he hath put a stop to his Accusations Put a stop did I say I did not speak enough Christ hath invalidated them they are of no force and vertue they are frivolous Gavils and are rejected at God's Court of Justice Is Satan thus thrown over the Bar that he cannot implead the Believer nor lay any thing to his charge Rom. 8. 33 Why then truly he is destroy'd for it is the Pleasure the Strength the very Life of his Soul to be an Accuser This is the Name that is given him to express that Temper and Disposition which is inseparable from his Nature Rev. 12. 10. And therefore when he is cast down when he is thrown out of this ill Office which was his Malicious Delight he is wholly dis-spirited Nor is Satan's Courage and Strength only enervated but the Power of Death is broken too When doth the fear of Death prevail over a Man 'T is when his Apprehensions of are not only disquieting but tormenting 'T is when Conscience flasheth Guilt in a Sinner's Face and Satan joyning with it enforceth the Accusation and urgeth it with the greatest vehemence on purpose to drive the wretched Soul to despair But our Lord Jesus disanulls these Accusations insomuch as they are of no force against a Believer Were it not for this Satan would perplex the poor Soul all its Days
raiseth the Dead Bodies of Believers from the Grave by his Spirit which develleth in them Rom. 8. 11. This last Day is the Day of Christ's compleat Victory when as himself was Victorious over it at his own Resurrection so all his Members in theirs shall Triumph over it too Then he will appear with all whom he Redeem'd and whom he now makes entire Conquerors by vertue of his Victory and he will appear as having made a Conquest over the Grave it self 1 Cor. 15. 25 26. For he must Reign 'till be put all his Enemies under his Feet and the last Enemy which shall be destroy'd is Death Then the Bodies of all the Elect which have lain for so many Ages in the Grave shall at last have the dark Prisons open'd and ascend Triumphant over Death it self How Great and Glorious will that Day be in which at one Word of Command from Christ the Earth and Seas shall give up the Dead which are in them Rev. 20. 13. and all the Bodies of the Saints shall come forth new form'd like unto Christ's Glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3. 21. when we shall meet the Patriarchs and Prophets the Apostles and Martyrs and all our Relations and Friends who have slept in Jesus in the Morning of the Resurrection and see them shining in Glory and our Lord Jesus with refulgent Majesty at the head of them What an Illustrious appearance of things will this be Never was there brighter day then this when Christ shall make an utter End of Death as he hath conquer'd and destroy'd Satan who had the power of it As there is no Truth in the Gospel but may and ought to be practically applyed let us see what use we may make of this Important Doctrine which I have endeavour'd to Explain and prove to you USE 1. Is it so that Satan hath the Power of Death over the Soul and Conscience of every unbeleeving Sinner Then every one of you who have not believ'd in Christ tremble at the thoughts of your dismal condition Seriously reflect upon your present misery and future danger What can be more deplorable then your present misery You are not only under the Tyranny of Satan and a base vassal of his dark Empire You are not onely servilely addicted to his obedience but you are also expos'd unto all mischeifs which he may and will do you by exercising that power which he hath of Death He will strengthen and increase that spiritual Death which is in your Souls for he will prevailingly tempt you to Evil and sad experience may convince you that a Man by continuing in Sin and frequent commission of it grows more and more Insensible and Dead and all the powers of his mind are more weaken'd to any Holy or good Action and the more he Sins the more he becomes Slave to it What a dismal consideration is this And yet this is the woful state of every unbeleever And now do but look beyond the spaces of Time and this World and take a due prospect of your future danger If you Dye in this condition it is not more certain you are now alive then that you will be condemn'd nay are 〈◊〉 condemn'd already to Eternal Death The indignation and wrath of a provok'd God will be pour'd out upon you Rom. 2. 8. 9. And who knows the power of his Anger Psal 90. 11. Who then can bear it USE II. Hath Death entred into the World by Sin let then our sorrow for our Dead Relations and Friends sharpen our hatred and indignation against it In every Sickness we see or feel the effects of it and tho' our Freinds Dye in the Lord yet their Death shows us what Sin brought into the World and when we hear them breathing out their last Groans this may bring to our minds what mischief Sin does Let us consider that tho' our Lord Jesus Christ has obtain'd the pardon of Sin and taken away the infliction of Vindictive justice yet it is true that by every Sin which we commit we displease God and so displease him that he will make us to feel his Fatherly correction He will put us in mind by some severe chastisement how we have been wanting in our duty and that we have done that which has not been right in his sight This sad occasion then which causes us to Mourn for the loss of our Freind may at the same time make us Mourn for our Sins Were it not for them this had never been for both he and we should have been Immortal and so never have parted Therefore the greater our loss is let us detest our Sins the more Now to Press this thought upon you and to excite in you and my self a just hatred and indignation against Sin by which we have displeas'd God and which is the cause of that loss under which we Mourn Let us consider the worth and excellency of the Person who God has been pleas'd to move from us I know very well that Sermon 's Preacht upon such occsions are too much abus'd to flattery but there is no fear of it in this case for there is no need of it I shall onely speak that of our Friend and Brother Deceas'd which all that were acquainted with him must acknowledge to be true And to speak the truth can't be imputed to Favour Affection or any prejudicate opinion If we consider him as a Man or as a Christian there was every thing in him to endear him to us He was of an excellent benign temper rarely provok'd to anger and if he were it must be from some weighty cause and yet even then his passion was soon over He was a Man prone to do good ready to receive the distressed active to promote any publick interest any cause of Christ and the prosperity of his Church He was a Man of a discerning penetrating Spirit of great strength of mind of a firm and sound judgment and yet which was an excellency most to be admir'd He was not proud of these admirable endowments And as God had bestow'd upon him these natural abilities and therefore to praise them is to praise God the author of them and to give him the Glory So he took care to improve them and to cultivate the rich Soyl. He was industrious to encrease his knowledge by a severe application to God and useful studies But you 'll say these are but humane accomplishments knowledge Learning and Generosity of Spirit were found in many of the Philosophers who knew not Christ 'T is true but our dear Friend and Brother knew and loved Jesus Christ and his Gospel and in the whole course of his Study those were most delightful to him that led him into the Mysteries of our Redemption The knowledge of Divine things most ravisht his Soul and was the Element in which his Spirit breath'd and as he lov'd the Gospel so he understood the truths of ît