Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
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A41542
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A sermon on occasion of the death of the reverend and learned Mr. Stephen Lobb, who dyed June 3, 1699 by Thomas Goodwin.
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Goodwin, Thomas, 1650?-1716?
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1700
(1700)
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Wing G1270A; ESTC R32448
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23,607
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49
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and weary it out by continually accusing it and distract it at the last moment of Life It must be acknowledg'd indeed that the Devil is often permitted to disturb many Holy Persons with his Accusations But what then Christ who hath ruin'd his Power in this respect steps in to the Soul's Rescue and driving Satan off prevents the attempted Mischief and restores Peace to the Afflicted Conscience 4. It is evident that this our mighty Saviour hath deliver'd us from the Power of Satan because he hath recover'd our Souls out of that Spiritual Death into which Sin and the Devil had thrown them This was the Strength of the Devil's Empire in us for he could never have rul'd us had we not been dead in Sin nor have led us Captive had we not been thus weaken'd 'T is this Spriritual Death that makes Men an easie Conquest to him and secures the Peace of his Dominion in their Hearts Christ therefore by quickening the Soul which is dead in Trespasses and Sins Eph. 2. 1. frees it from the Power of Satan and Death He thereby gives us a new Life from the dead and we are not within the Dominions of the Devil any longer for the Spirit of a Believer is Life Rom. 8. 10. and he is therefore no Subject of Death's Kingdom And to strengthen our Assurance that if we are Believers we are quickned with Christ Col. 2. 13. and so are no more any part of Satan's Empire than he himself is Let us consider that our Lord Jesus hath Life in himself for this purpose that as he Lives we may live also God hath therefore given to the Son to have Life in himself as he hath Life in himself Joh. 5. 26. This assigns the cause of what is said V. 25. Why the Dead should hear the Voice of the Son of God and they which hear shall Live It is the Soul's Vivification by the Voice of Christ in the Gospel that is meant For the Hour that Christ speaks of as now coming and instantly present must import the time of the Preaching of the Gospel which was very near whereas the Day of the Resurrection was Seventeen Hundred Years distant in Futurity The cause why the Voice of Christ makes dead Souls live is assign'd v. 26. The Son hath Life in himself and therefore Quickens whom he will v. 21. Thus that Spiritual Death in our Souls by which Satan once kept us under his Subjection is remov'd and so his Power and Dominion over us is destroy'd 5. It is plain it is openly visible that Christ hath destroy'd Satan who hath the Power of Death inasmuch as he hath broken his dark Kingdom subverted his Throne depos'd him from that Authority so arrogantly assum'd by him and thrown him out of that Empire which he had usurp'd in the World This Christ hath done not by Arms but by Dying As Sampson his Type kill'd more at his Death than he had through his whole Life and tho he dyed yet fell a Conqueror So our Great Saviour destroy'd all his and our Enemies by dying and in the sight of all the Angels triumph'd over them when he Ascended after his Victory and will at last openly triumph before the Eyes of all the World when he shall sit on his Throne having all his Enemies put under his Feet Hoh 1. 13. Heb. 10. 13. 6. The Believer knows by his own Experience which is more convincing than all Arguments which can be urg'd that Christ hath deliver'd him from the Power of Satan and Death because he feels himself freed from the fear and bondage of it He knows that Christ hath made his Peace with God and brought him into a Justified State insomuch as nothing can be laid to his charge and therefore is not afraid to go to a Reconciled God who hath fully Pardon'd and perfectly Justified him He sees his Soul sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus as that of the Paschal Lamb was on the Posts of the Israelites Houses Exod. 12. 13. and knows himself secure from any destroying Angel the Instrument of God's Vengeance In what a Horror were they on that dismal Night when Death march'd in pompous Destruction through all the Cities of Egypt But how were they re-assur'd and comforted when they saw the badge of their Safety on the Posts of their Doors In what a Consternation is a poor Soul when he regards Death not only as his Dissolution but as having the Wrath of God his offended Justice and all the Horrors of Hell joyn'd with it to render it terrible But when he sees his Conscience sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus and purged from Dead Works that he may draw nigh to God in full Assurance of Faith he dreads Death no longer when he sees Christ the Captain of his Salvation to be with him to hearten comfort and support him in charging through this difficult Pass he is not apprehensive of any danger but encouraged by his Presence tho he go through the Valley of the Shadow of Death yet he fears no Evil Psal 23. 4. And is so far from thinking it to be any Unhappiness to die as he desires to depart and to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. 7. Every Instance which we have of a Believer's dying proves the Assertion of my Text and Doctrine for even by this Death our Lord Jesus finisheth the Ruine of Satan and of the Power of Death The Believer's Victory is now compleated who is more than Conqueror through the Power and Strength of Christ he had before fought many a Battle with Satan and put him to flight He had often resisted Sin successfully and given it a Repulse And now he conflicts with his last Enemy and overcomes and his Death is a Triumphant Chariot to carry him to Heaven where he rejoyceth in a safe Retreat from all Sin and Misery It is there he is out of the reach of all Evils It is there that being freed from the Body of Sin and Death under which he groan'd Rom. 7. 24. he feels Diseases and Pains and Pangs of Dying no more It is there he is plac'd out of the reach of Satan's Temptations and violent Assaults for tho that Active and Malicious Spirit pursued him with the fiercest Rage while in this World yet he cannot follow him to Heaven nor will any of his Batteries carry so far Thus the Day of Death is the Day of a Believer's finish'd Victory in which he may truly say he is more than a Conqueror Rom. 8. 37. And then the Blessed Soul is remov'd from a wretched Abode to an happier Mansion and by Death comes to be more closely united unto God the Spring of all Life and to the compleat Enjoyment of that which is Eternal which is God's Gift to him who first begun it in him by his renewing Spirit and brought him to the entire possession of it at last 8. The last and most signal Evidence of Christ's destroying the Power of Satan and Death will be when he
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