from the Wrath to come 1 Thes 1. 10. What tho' his Soul must part from the Body as well as others since it is appointed unto all Men once to die Heb. 9. 27. Yet there is no Curse in his Death nor can the Devil strike any Sting of it into his Heart nor wound his Conscience with Despair nor can all his Malicious Arts do him any Mischief What tho the Believer is not priviledg'd against the common Fate of all Men yet he is secur'd from the bad Effects of it and from all the dreadful Consequents which pursue every wretched Man who dies in Unbelief and with the weight of all his Sins sinking down his Soul But the Believer even in dying is in a state of Safety and Death from being a Curse as it is to all others is chang'd into a Blessing for it doth not extinguish his Life but only translate it to Happiness and Glory I. I shall shew how Satan hath the Power of Death II. I shall prove that our Lord Jesus Christ hath destroy'd the Devil and his Power of Death at once I. How is it that Satan hath the Power of Death Hath he any just Title to his Dominions Is any Authority due to him Or doth he by right sway the Scepter of this Kingdom Or hath he the supream Command over the Lives of Creatures as God hath who kills and makes alive as he pleaseth Deut. 32. 39. 1 Sam. 2. 6. No certainly It is all an usurp'd Tyranny which God permits him to exercise over fallen Man to punish the Rebellion of that Ingrateful Creature who would not be subject to Christ's Milder Scepter But how did Satan gain this Power of Death 1. He obtain'd it by the Conquest of Man and by making him a Rebel against his God subdued him to himself He erected his Empire upon the Ruins of this fallen Creature for ever since he overcame our first Father in Paradise his wretched Posterity have been the Trophies of his Victory till Christ as a mightier Conqueror rescued those whom God had given to him to be Redeem'd Thus it was by Sin that the Devil conquer'd Man and obtain'd the power of Death over him Condemn'd to Dye Thus it was by Sin that he enlarg'd his Dominions beyond the Confines of Hell and got footing here on Earth and set up his dark Kingdom in the World and rules in the Children of disobedience Eph. 2. 3. 2. He hath the Power of Death as he hath brought Men under the Law of Sin and Death insomuch as they are so far from being subject to God and his Righteous Laws as they are enslav'd to those of Sin and the Reward of their wretched Service and Obedience is Death of which the Devil hath the Power and it is Sin that gives it him What is the Scepter of Christ's Kingdom It is Righteousness Heb. 1. 8. What is the Scepter of Satan's Kingdom Nothing but Sin It is by this he gets his Power It is by this he holds Men in Bondage It is by this he wracks and tortures their Consciences and drives them to despair And it is by this he endeavours to keep the Soul in slavish fear and bondage and to hinder it from believing and trusting in Christ 3. Satan more and more encreaseth this Power which he hath of Death by promoting the Efficacy of Sin and tempting Men to commit it How doth he strengthen the Bands of Death and tie them faster on us It is by increasing the force of Sin in drawing us to reiterated Acts and so we are the more entangled and with all our Struglings are unable to get loose How is it that he binds Men over securely to Eternal Death It is by hardening them in Unbelief and Impenitence To treasure up Wrath against the Day of Wrath Rom. 2. 5. If we then did but seriously think that every time the Devil enticeth us to Sin Death is in the Snare and that tho he covers the Mischief with the alluring colours of Pleasure Profit or Honour yet he really tempts us to Murther our Souls we should be more aware of his many Devices and Industriously avoid all those little Artifices by which he exerciseth on us the power which he hath of Death 4. He makes use of this power in torturing the Consciences of Men with the Fears of Death Death indeed is so contrary to Nature and looks so like an utter extinction of Being that if Christ had not given us assurance of a Blessed Immortality there is not even a good Man who would not regret to dye But he is not upon the wrack perpetually tortur'd with the horrors of it as wicked Men are when they see it make near approaches to them For not only the Face of Death it self is dreadful as it comes to hurry them from all enjoyments of this Life in which they plac'd all their happiness but going out of the World they have a prospect of the sad Regions of Despair into which they are entring The Devil who flatter'd them before and gently seduc'd them to Sin now puts on his natural affrighting Visage accuseth and threatneth them with all the merciless Looks of an Executioner And that which makes the thing more dreadful the Law of God accuseth and condemneth the unbelieving Sinner and this gives force to the Devil's Accusations for without it he could not accuse threaten and perplex any Men with the Terrors of Death No! It is Sin which is the sting of death and the strength of Sin is the Law 1 Cor. 15. 56. It is thus the Devil useth his Power to keep Men in a slavish submission to him and as a true Tyrant he Governs his Subjects only by fear 5. The Devil hath the power of Death inasmuch as he is the Instrument of God's Vengeance inflicting the second Death He is the Jaylour and Executioner in Hell where Death keeps its Court and sits on a Throne Now in this respect Satan hath nothing to do with a Believer who being freed from Sin and the Curse and Condemnation of the Law shall never be deliver'd to this Tormentor as the Expression is Matth. 18. 24. Nor hath he power to inflict Temporal Death on the Believer He cannot separate our Souls and Bodies as he pleaseth If this were permitted him what Slaughter and Devastation would he make in the World He destroys indeed the Souls of Wicked Men but it is with their consent and they are their own Murtherers But Men die according to God's Appointment and by those ways and means which he had fore-ordain'd to put an end unto their Lives II. The second part of my Discourse is to prove that Christ by dying hath destroy'd Satan and the power of Death at once He hath destroy'd Satan not by extinguishing his Being for the innumerable Mischiefs which he doth shew him to be alive and very vigorous and active But as a Tyrant is said to be ruin'd when his Throne is overturn'd and his cruel oppressive Government
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
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
of the Law and to save from the power of Sin and Death and cruel Dominion of the Devil Forasmuch as these Children were partakers of Flesh and Blood c. If any ask what is meant by Flesh and Blood his own experience may sufficiently resolve him We all feel the Miseries Sorrows and Pains of our corrupt and frail Constitution and after having been weakened by various Diseases which incessantly batter our decaying Frame we must lie down and die By Flesh and Blood in Scripture not mere Humane Nature is always signify'd but 't is often meant as it is deprav'd by Sin corrupted and polluted Rom. 8. 4 5. Gal. 5. 19 24. 1 Cor. 15 50. But in other places of Scripture Flesh and Blood import the Natural Constitution of Man's being without the inherent Malignity of Sin Matth. 26. 41. but yet infirm and frail and subject to Pains and Sorrows Now the Children of Men are partakers of Flesh and Blood not only weak and frail but sinful and defil'd They all communicate of it for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies and this corrupted Mass of Humane Nature tainted first in Adam is diffus'd through all his Posterity and is the common portion in which they participate and Miseries and Sorrows are their wretched Inheritance Now our Lord Jesus assum'd Humane Nature into Union with himself not with those Corruptions and Lusts which Infect it in us No! He was Holy in the first Constitution of his Being Luc. 1. 35. in his Conception and Birth And all the time of his abode here below he was Holy Harmless and separate from Sinners Heb. 7. 26. And the manner of the Expression in the Text implyeth as much For when the Apostle speaks of Christ's assuming this our Nature he alters the Phrase he doth not say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he communicated it with us or possessed it in common as we have it in our Persons with all the Contagion of Sin adhering to it But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he took part of the same the sound part in all the Essentials of Humane Being without the other that was tainted and polluted Now that the Eternal Son should be as truly Man as he was God was necessary that he might be a fit and proper Mediator that the Threatning of the Law might be made good for as it was denounc'd that Man sinning should die this Punishment was inflicted on a Person who was really Man bearing our Sins as imputed to him It was necessary also that our Redeemer should assume Humane Nature that there might be a Change or Commutation of Persons between him and us not Natural as if we were transform'd into his Being or he into ours but Legal so that he truly appear'd in our stead to answer what the violated Law charg'd upon us and to satisfie offended Justice He really represented us in what he suffer'd and acted for our Redemption insomuch as the Sufferings which he endur'd and the Righteousness which he perform'd are plac'd to our Account by God his Father who admitted that he should put his own Person in the room of our Guilty ones taking our Sins upon him and suffering the Punishments due to them and accepted for us what Christ did and suffered in our stead to all the real Intents and Purposes of our Justification as if we had suffer'd and done it our selves And since the manner of making satisfaction for Sin was to be by undergoing the Penalty which it deserv'd and God had threaten'd and this was Death Gen. 2. 17. not only Separation of Soul and Body but the Wrath of God which gives deep and piercing Wounds to a Spirit it was therefore needful that the Person who offer'd up himself as an Expiatory Sacrifice for us should be Man that he might be capable of Dying For God cannot dye nor be susceptive of the Inflictions of his own Wrath and Justice Nor could an Angel dye as Death imports separation of Soul and Body which those Spirits have not and therefore this among others may be given as a reason why the Apostle says Heb. 2. 16. That he took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham For by Death which cannot make any impression on an Angelick Nature but may on the Humane Christ intended to destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil These Words which are the latter part of my Text express the means by which our Triumphant Lord Jesus gain'd the Victory over Satan He might have employ'd his Invincible Power as God to conquer this Enemy of Mankind who had usurp'd a Dominion in the World The same Jesus who made Legions of Devils tremble at his Voice when he forc'd them by a powerful Command to go out of the Man possess'd could by the Power and Glory of his Divinity have entirely not only vanquish'd but destroy'd him without Dying himself But since God was angry with Man and provok'd by his Sin had justly permitted Satan to have Dominion over him and since it was by Man's Sin that the Devil had obtain'd the power of Death therefore his Empire could not be subverted but by taking away Sin the strength of it And Sin could not be remov'd but by an Expiation of its Guilt and abolishing the Curse of the Law and appeasing God's Wrath and satisfying his Justice And all this could not be effected without a Sacrifice sufficient to make an Atonement And no other Sacrifice was there or indeed could be but our Dying Redeemer So necessary was it for him to die That by Death he might destroy him who had the Power of Death that is the Devil This latter part of the Verse which I fix on as the Subject of my Discourse affords a Doctrine suitable to the occasion of it OBSERVATION That tho' a Believer is not excus'd from Dying yet Satan being conquer'd by Christ hath not the power of Death over him He cannot make it a Curse to him for Christ hath taken away Sin which rendred it such He cannot distract him with amazing Fears nor throw his Conscience into the Convulsions of Despair from Apprehensions of Guilt for Christ by his Blood hath purg'd his Conscience from Dead Works that he may draw near unto God in full dssurance of Faith Heb. 10. 22. He cannot affect his Soul with the malignant Influences of a Spiritual Death for tho' indeed it was once dead in Trespasses and Sins yet it is now quickned by Christ Jesus Eph. 2. 1. He cannot bring the believing Soul within the Confines of Eternal Death for there is no Condemnation to him being in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. And he having overcome shall not be hurt of the second Death Rev. 2. 11. Not the least part of it can ever be his Portion none of its Anguish and Woe ever fall upon him nor shall any of the Flames of Divine Anger which burn to the lowest Hell ever pierce his Soul for his Blessed Jesus hath delivered him