Part IV (continued, part 2)
(2.) The more they do and the better they do, they look on God to be the more in their debt, like Micah, who said, "Now I know that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest," Judg. 17:13. For it is according to their own doing, not according to their interest in Christ's blood, that they expect favour from the Lord. The publican, Luke 18:13, pleads mercy through a propitiation, "Be propitious to me," according to the Greek; but the Pharisee pleads upon what himself had done more than many others, ver. 12, "God, I thank thee," says he, "that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican! I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." Hence their hearts rise against God, if they find not their works regarded and rewarded, according to the value themselves put upon them; like the Jews of old, who said, "Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Isa. 58:3. Hence ariseth a very considerable difference betwixt the children of the two covenants; those of the first covenant, the better they do their duty, their hearts are the more filled with conceit of themselves, their duties, like wind, puff them up, as in the case of the Pharisee, Luke 18:11, quoted above. But those of the second covenant, the better they do, they are the more humbled and low in their own eyes; like David, who said, "Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? 1 Chron. 29:14, and like the apostle Paul, "In what am I behind the very chiefest apostles," said he, "though I be nothing? 2 Cor. 12:11.
(3.) Their duties make them more easy and secure in some one sin or other; like the adulterous woman, Prov. 7:14, 15, "I have peace offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee." The Jews, as profane as they were in Isaiah's time, brought a multitude of sacrifices to God's altar, Isa. 1:11. Why did they do so, but because they expected that these would make all odds even betwixt God and them? Just so do many with their duties; they pray to God, and many good things; so they can with the more ease do and say many ill things. By their duties they seem to themselves as it
were to pay the old, and they can the more freely take on the new. Thus they "bless God and curse men with the same tongue. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing," James 3:9, 10. They use their duties for an occasion to the flesh, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness; than which there cannot be a more speaking evidence of one under the broken covenant of works. Publicans and harlots will enter into the kingdom of heaven, before such persons.
Thus you have some characters of those who are under this covenant, and may perceive that they deal with God in the matter of his favour and salvation in the way of that covenant, and not in the way of the covenant of grace. But it is hard to convince men of this; therefore,
Secondly, I will discover the vanity of some pleas that such have, to prove that it is not to their own works that they trust for salvation, but to Christ.
1. They are so far, say they, from trusting to their own works in this matter, that they really wonder anybody can do it. I answer, that this is rather a sign of the ignorance of the corruption of man's nature, and unacquaintedness with the deceitfulness of your own heart, than of your freedom from that corrupt way of dealing with God. Hazael said so in another case, "Am I a dog to do this thing?" Yet was he such a dog as to do it. Ye know not, it seems, what spirits ye are of. That way of dealing with God is as natural to us, as to fishes to swim in the sea, and birds to fly in the air. The godly themselves are not quite free from it. The disciples needed that lesson, "When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do," Luke 17:10. For they are too apt to think much of any little they do; like Peter, "Behold we have forsaken all," said he, "and followed thee," Matth. 19:27. The difference then lies here—the godly feel this corrupt way of dealing with God, they wrestle against it, loath themselves for it, and would fain be rid of it; whereas it reigns in others, and has quiet possession.
2. This is rank Popery, and they are true Protestants, believing that we are not saved for our works, but for the sake of Christ. ANSWER, It is indeed the very life and soul of Popery. But what is Popery, but the product of man's corrupt nature, framing a way of salvation according to the covenant of works? So even Protestants have Popish hearts by nature. A floating principle in the head, received by means of education, or other external teaching, will never be able to change the natural bent of the heart. It is the teaching of the Spirit with power which only can do that. It is an article of the profane Protestant's religion, that there is a heaven and a hell, yet they live as if there were neither of them. That the grace of God teacheth to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; yet their life and practice is as far from this principle, as the east is distant from the west. Men do not always live according to their professed principles; therefore, in this point, the head may look one way, and the heart another.
3. They are persuaded that of themselves, without the grace of God, they can do nothing; that there is no strength in them. ANSWER, Many have this in their mouths, who never to this day were let into a view of their own utter inability to help themselves. They take up that principle, rather to be a cover to their sloth, and a pretence to shift duty, than out of any conviction of the truth of it in their own souls. Hence none are readier to delay and put off salvation-work from time to time than they; as if they could really do all, and that at any time. But whatever be of that, this is an insignificant plea; the proud Pharisee might have pleaded that as well as you, and yet he stood upon his works with God, Luke 18:11, forecited. The matter lies here; they profess they can do nothing without the help of grace; but when by the help of grace they have done their duty, they think God cannot but save them, who so serve him; as if God's grace helped men to purchase their own salvation.
4. They are convinced that they cannot keep the law perfectly, but when they have done all they can, they look to Christ to supply all wherein they come short. ANSWER. The truth is, that nobody is so
far from doing all they can, as such men are who pretend most to it; there are many things they never do, which yet are within the compass of their natural powers. But the Pharisees, who, nobody doubt, dealt with God in this way of works, were convinced as well as you, that they did not keep the law perfectly; but then the ceremonial law afforded them a salve, in their apprehension, for their defects in the duties of the moral law. Just so is the case in this plea, where the deceit lies in that the man lays not the whole stress of his acceptance with God and his salvation on the obedience and death of Christ; but partly on his own works, partly on Christ, thus mixing his own righteousness with Christ's, which the apostle rejects; "The law is not of faith, but the man that doth them shall live in them," Gal. 3:12. "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law," chap. 5:4.
Lastly, They trust in Christ for the acceptance of all their duties, and are persuaded they would never be accepted but lot Christ's sake. ANSWER. Men may do this, and yet still keep the way of the covenant of works. Being persuaded that the best of their duties are not without some imperfection, they look to get them accepted as they are for Christ's sake, so as God will thereupon justify and save them, give them his favour, pardon their sin, keep them out of hell, and give them heaven. Thus they make use of Christ for obtaining salvation by their own works; as some Papists teach, that our own works merit by virtue of the merits of Christ, and that they merit not, but as they are dipt in his blood. But the way of the second covenant is to look to Christ alone for the acceptance of our persons, to justification and salvation; and then our persons being accepted, to look to him also for the acceptance of our works, not in point of justification, but of sanctification only. This was Paul's way, Phil. 3:8, 9, "Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."
O deal impartially with yourselves in this matter, and be not too easy in this important point. The heart of man is a depth of deceit, and if you are not exercised to root up this weed of legality, and have felt the difficulty of so doing, it is a shrewd sign ye are yet under the covenant of works; the misery of which condition I am now to open up to you in the second doctrine from the text.
SECT. II
THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO ARE UNDER THE BROKEN COVENANT OF
WORKS
DOCTRINE II. Man in his natural state being under the broken covenant of works is under the curse.
Here is the case in which Adam left all his children, the case of all by nature. Behold here as in a glass the doleful condition of sinners by the breach of the first covenant,—they are "under the curse." I shall consider this dreadful condition,
I. More generally.
II. Take a more particular view of the dreadful condition of the natural man under the curse of the broken covenant of works.
III. Apply the subject.
A General View of the Curse under which Men in their Natural State are
I. I shall consider the dreadful condition in which men in a natural state are, under the broken covenant of works. And here let us consider,
1. What curse that is which they are under.
2. What it is to be under the curse.
3. Confirm the doctrine, that man in his natural state, being under the broken covenant of works, is under the curse.
What the Curse is which Natural Men are under
First, I shall consider what curse that is which they are under. It is the sentence of the law as a covenant of works, binding over and devoting the sinner to destruction. Thus the covenant being made with the awful sanction of death, Gen. 2:17, upon the transgressing of it, the curse is pronounced. Gen. 3. And so it is,
1. God's curse, as the sinner's lawgiver and judge; it is his sentence of death against the transgressor, the doom pronounced by him on the malefactor that has not continued in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. It is expressly called "the curse of the Lord," Prov. 3:33; and those under it "the people of his curse," Isa. 34:5. Man's curse is often causeless, so it miscarries, it comes not, it does no more harm than a bird flying over one's head, Prov. 26:2. But God's curse is ever on a valid weighty cause; so his justice requires, and it cannot miss, by reason of his truth, to come, and lie heavy where it does come by reason of his almighty power, John 3:36.
2. It is the curse of the law, Gal. 3:13, the curse of the broken covenant of works, whose penalty is death. So it runs in our text, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." The law is armed with a curse against the disobedient, and therefore when obedience is not performed it is poured out, Dan. 9:11. Of old when men entered into a covenant, they cut a beast in twain, and passed betwixt the parts, to signify the curse on the breaker, that he should be like that beast. Hence the Lord threatens covenant-breakers, Jer. 34:18, "And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant,—which they had
made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof," &c. Compare Matth. 24:51, "And they shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites," &c. As for the curse of the gospel, as the scripture mentions no such thing, it is needless; the law secures the curse and a double curse on those who despise the gospel.
Now, in this curse there are three things to be considered: —
1st, The revenging wrath of God is in it, Matth. 25:41, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." It is the breathing of fiery indignation by vindictive justice against the sinner. Sin is so opposite to the nature of God, that he cannot endure it; but his wrath (may I say it with reverence) takes fire against the sinner, at the very sight of it, and makes the curse to fly against him. See this awfully represented, Deut. 29:20, "The anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him."
2dly, A binding over of the sinner unto punishment, for the satisfaction of offended justice, Gal. 3:13, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." As the judge, by his sentence of death, binds over the criminal to death; so God by his curse, binds over the sinner unto death in its whole compass, as in the threatening of the covenant of works. Thus he is bound to suffer till justice is satisfied, which being without the sinner's reach, the punishment comes to be eternal. It is not a punishment for the amendment of the party, as under the covenant of grace; but for reparation of the honour of the Lawgiver and law.
3dly, A separating of the sinner unto destruction, though not of his being, yet of his wellbeing; Deut. 29:21, "The Lord shall separate him unto evil—according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law." Hereby the sinner is exterminated and excommunicated from the society of God's favourites, and set up as a
mark for the arrows of wrath. As accursed things were to be destroyed, and not kept for use; so the curse on the sinner is a devoting of him to destruction, as a vessel of wrath, in which justice may be glorified; 2 Thess. 1:9, such "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power."
What it is to be Under the Curse
SECONDLY, Let us consider what it is to be under the curse. Man in his natural state, being under the broken covenant of works, is under the curse, and so,
1. He is under the wrath of God, "a child of wrath by nature," Eph. 2:3. "The wrath of God abideth on him," John 3:36. God is displeased with him; he is not, and cannot be pleased with him; as "without faith it is impossible to please God," Heb. 11:6. God is ever angry with him, Psalm 7:1, "every day," however he spend the day, better or worse." He cannot endure the sight of him; "The foolish cannot stand in his sight," Psal. 5:5. That black cloud of the wrath of God is over his head from the moment of his being a living soul, and all along during his continuance in his natural state, under the broken covenant of works. He may be well pleased with himself, and others may be so too, saints as well as sinners; but God is still wroth with him.
2. He is bound over to revenging justice. It has him by the throat, saying," Pay what thou owest;" though perhaps he neither feels the gripe, nor hears the terrible demand, because his conscience is asleep, and all his spiritual senses are fast bound up; "Now we know," says the apostle, "that what things the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God;" "guilty" (Gr.) compare Acts 28:4, that is, under revenging justice. The holiness of God gave out the holy commandment in the covenant, justice annexed the threatening of death to the breach of it, truth secures the
accomplishment of the threatening, and so lays the sinner under justice, without relief. So that there is no parting of them, till the utmost farthing be paid (2 Thess. 1:9, "punished with," Gr., "suffer justice" or "vengeance, everlasting destruction,") by the sinner himself, or a cautioner.
3. He stands as a mark for the arrows of vengeance; he is a devoted man in law, tied to the stake, that the law and justice of God may disburden all their arrows into him, and that in him may meet all the plagues flowing from avenging wrath; "If he turn not," says the Psalmist, "He [God] will whet his sword; he has bent his bow and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death: he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors," Psalm 7:12, 13. Job complains that he was set as a mark for God's arrows, Job. 16:12, 13, but natural men have better reason for that complaint. They are in law devoted heads; on which the law has laid its hand as on the head of a sacrifice, as a signal for cutting off; Psalm 94:23, "He shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off." Psalm 37:22, "They that be cursed of him shall he cut off."
O! If men did believe this to be their condition under the broken covenant of works, what rest could they possibly have while in that state? How would they anxiously inquire, what way they might be discharged from that broken bargain? But alas! as the unbelief of the threatening was the cause of the desperate adventure to break the covenant; so the unbelief of the curse following thereupon, is the cause why they are easy under it. Therefore I shall next confirm the truth of the doctrine.
Confirmation of the truth of this doctrine, That man under the broken covenant of works is under the curse
THIRDLY, I shall confirm the doctrine, that man in his natural state, (being under the broken covenant of works,) is under the curse.
1. This is evident from plain scripture testimony. Our text is express. Therein it is proved from the records of the court of heaven, as to this process; "It is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." This sentence is extracted out of Deut. 27:26 "Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them." And the apostle plainly designs the persons again (whom this sentence is passed, namely, those that are under the law Rom. 3:19, compared with chap. 6:14. Who then make a I doubt of it? It is as firm as the truth of God can make it, in word, and under his hand and seal.
2. It is evident from the consideration of the justice of God, an supreme Rector and Judge of the world; by which he cannot-do right, and give sin its due. Two things will clear it.
1st, The breaking of that covenant, whereof all under it the guilty, deserves the curse. They broke it in Adam, and the breaking it every day; and so they deserve the curse. Now, of deserving of the curse does not arise from the threatening of all nal wrath annexed for a sanction to the commands in the hant our new divinity would have it; that is framed for bringings lievers under the curse of the law too. But it arises from sin's contrariety to the command of the holy law; for it is manifest, that sin does not therefore deserve a curse, because a curse is threatened against it; but because it deserves a curse, therefore a curse is threatened.
Now look at sin in the glass of the holy commandment, and you will see it deserves the curse. For the commandment is,
(1.) An image of the sovereign spotless holiness of God; "The law is holy," Rom. 7:12. When God would let out the beams of his own holiness to man, he gave him the law of the ten commandments, as a transcript of it, and wrote them in his heart; and afterwards, the writing being much defaced, he wrote them to him in his word. So the commandment is holy without spot, as God is. So that the creature rising up against the commandment, riseth up against God.
(2.) It is an image of his righteousness and equity, whereby he does justly to all; "the commandment is just," Rom. 7:12. The commandment is all right in every part, and of perpetual equity; "I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right," Psalm 119:128. Look to it as it prescribes our duty to God, to our neighbour, and to ourselves, Tit. 2:12. It is of spotless and perfect righteousness, as that God is whose righteous nature and will it represents.
(3.) An image of his goodness: "The commandment is good," Rom. 7:12. It is all lovely, lovely in every part; lovely in itself, and in the eyes of all who are capable to discern truly what is good, and what evil, Psalm 119:97, "O how love I thy law!" Conformity to it is the perfection of the creature, and its true happiness, as rendering the creature like unto God, 1 John 3:2.
Thus the breaking of the covenant, by doing contrary to the holy commandment, is the transgressing of the holy, just, and good will of our sovereign Lord; a defacing of and doing violence to his image, who is the chief good and infinite good. Therefore sin is the chief or greatest evil, and consequently deserves the curse.
2dly, Since it deserves the curse, the justice of God, which gives everything its due, ensures the curse upon it, Gen. 18:25; 2 Thes. 1:6. If sin did not lay the sinner under the curse, how would the rectoral justice of God appear? He will rain a terrible storm on the wicked, not because he delights in the death of the sinner, but because he loves righteousness, Psalm 11:6, 7, and his righteousness requires it.
3. It appears from the threatening of the covenant; Gen. 2:17, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." That threatening being a threatening of death in its whole extent, ensures the curse on the sinner whenever he transgresseth the command. And the truth of God requires that it take effect, and be not like words spoken to the wind. Here is the case then, man came under the covenant of works, wherein death was threatened in case of transgression; now the covenant is broken. It behoved then of necessity, that that moment
man sinned, he should be bound over to the revenging wrath of God, or fall under the curse. And in that case all natural men lie. And thus the sentence of the law passeth immediately on sinning; Gal. 3:10, "Cursed is every one that continueth not," &c., in the present tense; agreeable to the tenor of the threatening, "In the day that thou eatest," &c.
4. If man had once run the course of his obedience, being come to the last point of it, be behoved to have been justified and adjudged to eternal life, according to the tenor of the covenant; Rom. 10:5, "The man which doth those things shall live by them;" the sentence of the law would immediately have passed in his favour, according to the promise. And therefore man, having once broken the covenant, falls under the curse, and is adjudged to eternal death; for the curse bears the same relation to the threatening, that law-justification bears to the promise. Hence it is that the unbeliever is declared to be condemned already, John 3:18.
Lastly, Christ's being made a curse for sinners is a clear evidence of sinners being naturally under the curse; Gal. 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." He took their place in the broken covenant of works, Gal. 4:4, 5, that bearing the curse due to them, they might be set free upon their union with him. Hence they who by faith are united to Christ having his satisfaction imputed to them, are delivered from the curse, as borne for them, and away from them, by their Surety, but all others remain under it, as not being reputed to have satisfied it.
Thus far in the general, concerning this dreadful condition. But,
A more Particular View of the dreadful condition of the Natural Man, under the curse of the broken Covenant of Works
II. We must take a more particular view of the dreadful condition of the natural man under the curse of the broken covenant of works.
And here opens the most terrible scene that men are capable of beholding, in time or eternity. Happy they who timely behold it, so as to be thereby stirred up to flee to Christ. It comprehends both the sinfulness and the misery of a natural state, the curse being the chain by which the sinner is bound over to death in its full latitude, as it stands in the threatening of the covenant, Gen. 2:17, and by which he is staked down under that death. And we shall take a view of this in the natural man's condition, by the breach of the covenant of works, in this life, and after this life.
The Condition of the Natural Man under the Curse, in this Life
FIRST, The natural man's condition, under the curse of the broken covenant, is very terrible in that part of it which takes place in this life. The execution of the curse is not quite delayed to another world; it is begun in this life, carried further on at death, and full and final execution comes at the last day. As to that part of this condition which takes place in this life, we shall have the more distinct view of it, if we take it up in these following parcels; as to the soul, the body, and the whole man.
The Condition of the Natural Man's Soul under the Curse
First, Let us view the condition of the natural man's soul under the curse. The natural man's soul is under the curse. It is the most noble part of the man, but the heaviest part of the curse lies upon it. And therefore Christ's soul-sufferings, when he was made a curse for us, were the most terrible of all his sufferings. That is the inward man into which the curse sinks, like water or oil, Psalm 109:18. In the moment man sinned, his soul fell under the curse. And so,
1. His soul was separated from God, in favour with whom its life lay, Psalm 36:5; Deut. 29:21. The course of saving influences was stopt, the sun went quite down on him, and he lost God, his friend, his life, the soul of his soul. Thus natural men live without God, Eph. 2:12, separated from him, Isaiah 59:2. There is no saving intercourse
betwixt God and them, more than there is betwixt us and our friends now lying in the grave, Psalm 5:5, Amos 3:3. They hear his word preached; but, alas! they hear not his own voice, John 5:37. They pray to him, but he hears them not neither; John 9:31, "God heareth not sinners." They hang on about the posts of his doors, but they never get a sight of the King's face. Be where they will, in the church or in the tavern, in duty or out of it, they are ever at a distance from God. The reason is, they are under the curse, which is as a great gulf fixed betwixt God and them, that there can be no communication between them, none by any means, but what can dry up the gulf, or remove the curse; which the blood of Christ only, applied to the soul, can do.
2. Hence man's soul-beauty was lost; death seizing on him by sin, his beauty went off. As when Christ cursed the fig-tree, it withered away; its blossoms went up as dust, its verdure and greenness were lost; so the cursed sinner was stript of his original righteousness, the light of his mind, the rectitude of his will, the orderliness of his affections, and the right temper of all the faculties of his soul, Gen. 3:7, 8. Thus, under the curse, the natural man's soul lies in ruins, "dead in trespasses and sins," Eph. 2:1, dead to God, dead to righteousness, dead to its primitive constitution and frame, though in a living body.
A dead corpse is an awful sight, where the soul is gone. But thy dead soul, from which God is gone, O natural man! is a more awful one. Couldst thou see thy inward man, as well as thou seest the outward, thou wouldst see a soul within thee of a ghastly countenance, the eyes of its understanding set, its speech laid, all the spiritual senses now locked up, no pulse of kindly affection towards God beating any more; but the soul lying speechless, motionless, cold and stiff like a stone, under the curse.
3. Hence the whole soul is corrupted in all the faculties thereof, Gen. 6:5, "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually," Jer. 17:9. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked: who can know it?" As the soul being gone, the body corrupts; so the soul, being divested of its original righteousness, is wholly corrupted and defiled, having a kind of verminating life in it; Psalm 14:3, "They are altogether become filthy." And as when the curse was laid on the earth, the very nature of the soil was altered; so the souls of men under the curse are quite altered from their original holy constitution. This appears in all the faculties thereof.
(1.) Look into the mind, framed at first to be the eye of the soul; there is a lamentable alteration upon it under the curse. "O how is the fine gold become dim!" There is a mist upon it, whereby it is become weak, dull, and stupid in spiritual things, and really incapable of these things; 1 Cor. 2:14, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Darkness has sat down on the mind; Eph. 5:8, "Ye were sometimes darkness:" and there spiritual blindness and ignorance reign, not to be removed by man's instruction, or any power less than what can take off the curse. This cursed ground is fruitful of mistakes, misapprehensions, delusions, monstrous and misshapen conceptions in divine things; doubtings, distrnst, unbelief of divine revelation, grow there, of their own accord, as the natural product of the cursed soil; while the seed of the word of the kingdom sown there does perish, and faith cannot spring up in it, for such is the soil that they cannot take with it.
(2.) Look into the will, framed to have the command in the soul, and it is in wretched plight. Its uprightness for God is gone, and it is turned away backward from him. It is not only under an inability for good, but having lost all power to turn itself that way, Rom. 5:6, "We were without strength"; Phil. 2:13, "For it is God which worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure;" but it is averse to it, as the untrained bullock is to the yoke; Psal. 81:11, "My people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me"; Luke 19:14, "We will not have this man to reign over us"; John 5:40, "Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life." The will is set in direct opposition
and contrariety to the will of God; Rom. 8:7, "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." It is a heart of stone, that will break ere it bow to the will of God; and will remain refractory and contumacious against him, till the curse be removed, and the nature of the soul changed, though it should be plied with all the joys of heaven and all the terrors of hell. It is prone to evil, having a fixed bent unto sin; Hos. 11:7, "My people are bent unto backsliding from me;" and this proneness to sin nothing can alter but an omnipotent hand.
(3.) Look into the affections, framed to be the arms and feet of the soul for good, and they are quite wrong. Set spiritual objects before them to be embraced, then they are powerless, they cannot embrace them, nor grip them stedfastly; they presently grow weary, and let go any hold they have of them; like the stony-ground hearers, who because they had no root withered away, Matth. 13:6. But as for carnal objects, agreeable to their lusts, they fly upon them, they clasp and twine about them; they hold so fast a grip, that it is with no small difficulty they can be got to let go their hold. Summon them to duty, they are flat, there is no raising of them, they cannot stir; but on the least signal given them by temptation, they are like Saul's hungry soldiers, flying on the spoil.
(4.) Look into the conscience, framed to be in the soul God's deputy for judgment, his spy, and watchman over his creature; and it is miserably corrupted; Tit. 1:15, "Their mind and conscience is defiled." It is quite unfitted for its office. It is fallen under a sleepy distemper, sleeping and loving to slumber. So it is a dumb conscience, often not meddling with the work of directing, informing of the will of God, warning against sin, and exciting to duty; and thus men are left as when there was no king in Israel, every one doing that which is right in their own eyes. Sometimes being consulted, it gives quite wrong orders, calling darkness light, and light darkness, having lost its right judgment; like those of whom our Lord speaks; John 16:2, "The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth God service." And accordingly it excuseth where it should
accuse; and accuseth where it should excuse. And if it be once thoroughly awakened, it drives towards despair.
(5.) Lastly, Look into the memory, framed to be the storehouse of the soul, and the symptoms of the curse appear there too. Things agreeable to the corruption of nature, and which may strengthen the same, stick fast in the memory, so that often one cannot get them forgotten, though they would fain have their remembrance razed. But spiritual things natively fall out of it, and are soon forgotten; the memory, like a leaking vessel, letting them slip.
4. Man being in these respects spiritually dead, the which death was the consequent of the first sin, the curse lies on him as a gravestone, and the penalty binds it upon him, that he cannot recover. So he is in some sort, by the curse, buried out of God's sight. Thus sinners are said to be "concluded in unbelief," Rom. 11:32; shut up, as in a prison, "under the law," viz. with its curse, Gal. 3:23. So when Christ comes to sinners with his offers of life and salvation, he finds them hound in a prison, Isa. 61:1, "He hath sent me—to proclaim—the opening of the prison to them that are bound." They are under chains of darkness, even the chains of the curse on all the faculties of the soul; which they can no more shake off them, than a dead man can loose and throw off him his dead clothes, hoise up his grave-stone, and come forth to the light. The curse cuts off the communication between God and the sinner, and so closes up all door of hope, while it remains, but by that which can remove the curse.
5. Hence that corruption of the soul grows more and more. As the dead corpse, the longer it lies in the grave, it rots the more, till devouring death has perfected its work in its utter ruin; so the dead soul under the curse grows worse and worse in all the faculties thereof, till it is brought to the utmost pitch of sin and misery in hell; 2 Tim. 3:13, like "evil men and seducers waxing worse and worse." Sin continuing its reign in the soul, must needs gather strength; and the longer the corruption of nature continues, the stronger it grows.
And hence it is, that ordinarily the longer one has lived in an unregenerate state, the pangs of the new birth are the more severe.
6. And hence the corruption of nature shoots forth itself in innumerable particular lusts, according to its growth, Mark 7:21, 22, 23, "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evil things come from within, and defile the man." These all spring up in the soul under the curse, in such plenty as at length to cover the face of the whole soul, as the cursed earth brings forth thorns and thistles without the pains of the husbandman, and as nettles do the face of the sluggard's vineyard, Prov. 24:30, 31. The man thinks himself very far from such a sin as he has not been tried with; but when a fit temptation offers, he appears in his own colours? why? but because the soul under the curse was fit to conceive by such a temptation.
7. And these lusts grow stronger and stronger. The man who "first walks in the counsel of the ungodly," proceeds to "stand in the way of sinners," and at length "sits down on the seat of the scornful," Psalm 1:1. The more corrupt one's nature grows, the more nourishment it sends forth to feed and flesh particular lusts. And these lusts, acting according to their nature, gather strength by exercise; so that custom makes their acting so easy and ready, that they come at length to refuse to be managed, like those of whom Peter speaks; 2 Epist. 2:14, "having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin." And the man must quit the reins to them, they are quite beyond his control, Jer. 13:23.
But this is not all the misery of the soul under the curse; there are additional plagues, which by the curse they are liable to, who are under it. These soul-plagues are of two sorts; silent strokes, and tormenting plagues.
1. Silent strokes, which make their way into the soul with no noise; but the less they are felt, they are the more dangerous; such as,
(1.) Judicial blindness; Eph. 4:18, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." They are naturally blind, and love not to have their eyes opened; John 3:19, "Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." However, some gleams of light get into their minds, while it shines in the word round about them. But they rebel against the light, shut their eyes upon it, and so make themselves more blind; Job 21:14, "Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." Wherefore God, in his just judgment, causes the light to withdraw, that it shall not enter into their souls, and leaves them to Satan, to be by him blinded more than ever; 2 Cor. 4:3, 4, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
(2.) Strong delusions. Men living under the gospel-light, having the truth clearly discovered to them, do often keep the truth prisoner; Rom. 1:18, "Who hold the truth in unrighteousness." They receive the true principles into their heads, but they will not allow them to model their lives in conformity to the truth. So they receive not the truth in love. For avenging of which quarrel, they are given up to a spirit of delusion; 2 Thess. 2:10, 11, "Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.—For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." This is the curse beginning to work at this day, for the contempt of the glorious gospel; and how the fearful plague of delusion may spread ere it end, God only knows.
(3.) Hardness of heart, Rom. 2:5. Men's hearts are naturally hard and insensible; but under softening means they harden them more; and
God hardens them judicially; Rom. 9:18, "Whom he will he hardeneth;" withholding his grace from them; Deut. 29:4, as Moses said to the Israelites, "The Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear;" blasting all means to them, whether providences or ordinances, whereby others are bettered, so that they do them no good; Hos. 4:17, "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone;" exposing them in his holy providence to such objects, as their corruptions make an occasion of sinning more, Deut. 1:30; giving them over to their lusts, leaving them to the temptations of the world, and to the power of Satan, and suffering them to prosper in an evil course. Whereby it comes to pass that they are hardened in sin more than before.
(4.) A reprobate sense, Rom. 1:28, whereby men lose the faculty of discerning betwixt good and evil, as those who are deprived of the sense of tasting know no difference betwixt bitter and sweet. Thus men, who being wedded to their lusts, and can by no means be brought to part with them, but treat that light which discovers the evil of them as an enemy, are sometimes, in the fearful judgment of God, suffered to proceed this length, that they can see no evil even in gross sins, but vile abominations are in their eyes harmless things.
(5.) Lastly, Vile affection, Rom. 1:26. Many a time vile affections stir in the soul, and the grace of God in some, and reason and a natural conscience in others, do strive against them, and repress their fury. These are the product of the corruption of nature in all men; but this soul-plague is more dreadful. In it the soul is given up to these vile affections, so that by them they are commanded, and ruled, and led, like beasts without reason. A fearful case; reason and conscience are imprisoned, all power and rule over the soul is taken out of their hands; and the rabble of vile passions and affections manage all, without control. So that the soul is like a ship at sea without a governor, that is tossed hither and thither, being entirely under the management of the winds and waves.
2. Tormenting plagues, which make the soul to feel them, to its great pain and uneasiness. Many are the executioners employed against the soul fallen under the curse, who together do pierce, rack, and rend it as it were in pieces. These are tormenting passions, which had never appeared in the soul had it not fallen into sin, and so under the curse. Such tormenting plagues, which the soul under the curse is liable to, are chiefly these following:—
1st, Discontent. This haunts the soul like a ghost, ever since men fell from God, sometimes in greater, sometimes in lesser measure. He would not rest contented in God, and from that time he could have no more content within himself. He must have all his will, otherwise he is discontented; and that he shall never get, till God's will be his will; and that will never be till he be delivered from under the curse. Hence wretched man is born weeping, lives complaining and discontented, and dies disappointed. What saws, axes, and harrows of iron does this discontent draw through the soul, in fretfulness, impatience, murmuring, grudging, repining, quarrelling with God and men; whereby men become a burden to the Spirit of God, a burden to others, and a burden to themselves? The discontented soul is ruffled and rankled with very small trials, like Ahab, Haman, &c., yea, and often with it knows not what; only there is something wanting, and the mind is uneasy. The mystery lies here, the peace of God is not ruling in the heart, Col. 3:15; Phil. 4:7.
2dly, Wrath. This is a fire in the man's bosom, to burn him up; an arrow, a dagger, a sword piercing to the very soul; Job 5:2, "For wrath killeth the foolish man." This fills him with rage and fury, and makes the whole soul like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, but its "waves toss themselves" and roll up and down, "casting up mire and dirt." The proud heart with temptation swells; and these will no more he wanting to us while here, than the air will be free from midges in the heat of summer, that the man may travel undisturbed. The secret discontent in the soul, following on its loss of God, is the cause of this, as well as of other tormenting passions. Hungry folk are soon angry. The gnawing hunger in the soul after happinness and
satisfaction, from which it is barred under the curse, makes them so peevish and wrathful.
3dly, Anxiety, whereby the soul is as it were stretched on tenter hooks, and is drawn asunder by divers thoughts, and put on the rack. Many are the grounds of this torture to the soul. Sometimes it is on the account of carnal things, which come under the name of "the cares of this life," Luke 8:14, and so as many lusts as a man has to satisfy, so much anxiety how to get them satisfied falls to the share of the wretched soul. Ahab is racked how to get his covetousness satisfied, Haman is racked with his ambition and revenge, &c. Hence the man travaileth with iniquity, Psalm 7:14, is in pain as a woman with child to bring forth. Sometimes it is on the account of his soul's state before God, how to escape the wrath and curse of God, while the dreadful sound is in the man's ears; Acts 2:37, "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said,—Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Acts 16:30, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" This, though it comes to nought in many, yet the Lord makes use of for bringing the elect to Christ.
4thly, Sorrow of heart, which is a weight on the soul pressing it down, the native fruit of sin and the curse. There is a flood of sorrow let out on man under the curse, which divides itself into two great streams. (1.) The sorrow of the world, 2 Cor. 7:10. Here run over the soul, the floods of sorrow arising from worldly losses, crosses, disappointments, which men meet with in worldly things, in their bodies, estates, reputation, relations, and the like. And this stream never dries up, every day has the evil thereof, Matth. 6 ult. And as if the evils coming on men themselves mediately, or immediately, could not sufficiently cause these waters to swell, such is the disposition of the soul under the curse, that the good which others meet with, often serves to increase them, by means of envy, ill will, and grudge at their prosperity, Job 5:2, "Envy slayeth the silly one." (2.) The sorrows of death, Psalm 116:3, arising from a sight of the guilt of sin lying on the soul before the Lord, which will make the most stout-hearted bow their heads under the weight, Matth. 27:3, 4.
These are the most bitter waters caused by sin and the curse; and wo to him with whom they swell to the brim, if Christ be not a lifter up of the head to him.
5thly, Fear and terror, which seizing on the soul puts an end to its ease and quiet. This covereth the soul with blackness, darkness, and tempest; takes away its courage, strikes a damp upon it, and makes it restless. And it is twofold, both effects of the curse on the soul.
(1.) Terror of heart, from the apprehension of danger and misery approaching. Man, having sinned, is by the curse denounced a rebel, yea and adjudged to death; hence he is in God's world like a man under sentence of death, wandering here and there within the King's dominions, ready to be frightened at every accident, and no where secure or in quietness, like Cain, Gen. 4:14. How can they be fearless among God's creatures, to whom God is an enemy? Guilt is a mother and nurse of fears; and hence it comes to pass, that the sinner sometimes is made to tremble at the shaking of a leaf. In a special manner, any token, presage, or likelihood of the approach of death, the king of terrors, fills the soul with tormenting fear. This is awfully described, Deut. 28:65, 66, 67, "And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest; but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind. And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life. In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even; and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning, for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see."
(2.) Horror of conscience, arising from the sense of guilt, and apprehension of God's wrath against the soul, Isa. 33:14, "The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" This is of all terrors in the world the greatest, and maks a deep wound in the soul, Prov. 18:14, "A wounded spirit who can bear?" Cain could not bear it,
Gen. 4:13. Judas could not endure it, Matth. 28:3, 4. Jeremiah prays against it, Jer. 17:17, it made Pashur a terror to himself, chap. 20:4. This is the dreadful workings of the curse in the soul, giving it a foretaste of hell. And we may observe three degrees of it.
(1.) A confused fear as to one's soul's state, making the person uneasy with suspicions and jealousies that matters are all wrong betwixt God and the soul; like that of Herod, Matth 14:1, 2, who, hearing of the fame of Jesus, said unto his servants; "This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him." Conscience may sleep long very sound, and yet at length begin to speak, as it were betwixt sleeping and waking, so as it may fill the man with uneasiness with its very may-be's. For under the curse it can never be true to a man's ease, but will one time or other give alarms.
(2.) A sharp pang, though passing like a stitch in one's side, which, while it lasts, fills the soul with horror, and makes the man's heart melt in him like wax, under clear apprehensions that God, is his enemy. Such was that of Belshazzar, Dan. 5:6, and Felix, Acts 24:25, "And as Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season I will call for thee." He felt the fire kindled in his bosom, that it was too strong for him; and therefore immediately orders that there be no more fuel laid to it, lest it should quite burn him up. Such one-day fevers of conscience, no doubt, many natural men do feel under the curse, though by methods of their own, they find means to cause the fit wear off.
(3.) A vehement and abiding horror which they can no more shake off, as in Judas' case, Matth. 27:3, 4. Then the guilt that lay on the conscience like brimstone, is fired, and burns so that they cannot quench the flame. The arrows of wrath, dipt in the poison of the curse, and shot into the soul by an almighty hand, work so as the poison of them drinks up their spirits. The beginnings of hell then are felt. The conscience is, like Mount Sinai, all in fire and smoke.
The terrors of God are round about them, as set in battle array against them, and they become a terror to others too. The threatenings of the holy law are no more looked on as scare-crows, by the most obstinate sinner once brought to pass; their lusts then are bitter to them as death; and all the comforts of the world sapless.
Lastly, Despair; Isa. 17:11, "In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish; but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow." This is the very height of the soul's torment in this world, and puts the copestone on its misery here, and no wonder, for it is the tormenting plague of the damned. A man may be under great horror of conscience, and yet there may be a secret hope of an outgate which supports him; but who can conceive, without experience, the torment of that soul on whom despair hath seized, and hath shut up all doors of hope? What a fearful case must that soul be in, against which the sea of the Lord's wrath so swells and rages, that it is in that case, Acts 27:20, "And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away." This leaves the soul no ease at all, and sometimes hath a most fearful issue, as in Saul and Judas.
The Body is under the Curse
SECONDLY, The natural man's body is under the curse. The first sin was completed by an action of the body; man ate the forbidden fruit, and with it swallowed down death, by virtue of the curse, which followed sin hard at the heels. God made man a compend of the universe, by his creating power raised a body, a beautiful fabric, out of the dust, and lodged the soul, a spirit, an immortal substance, in it, as in a glorious and convenient habitation, and he blessed the house as well as the inhabitant, Gen. 1:28. But the house he commanded to be kept clean; being defiled by the soul, suddenly he cursed the soul's habitation, and the original blessing was succeeded with a heavy curse; Deut. 28:18, "Cursed shall be the fruit of thy
body." And surely the cursing of the fruit implies a curse on the tree it grows on, viz., the defiled body. The condition of the body, thus laid under the curse, we may view in the following particulars:—
1. It is liable to many defects and deformities in the very constitution thereof. Adam and Eve were at their creation not only sound and entire in their souls, but in their bodies, having nothing unsightly about them. But O how often now is there seen a variation from the original pattern, in the very formation of the body! Some are born deaf, dumb, blind, or the like. Some with a want of some necessary organ, some with what is superfluous. Some with such a constitution of body as makes them idiots, the organs of the body being so far out of case, that they are unfit for the actions of the rational life; and the soul is by them kept in a mist during the union with that body. All this is owing to sin and the curse, without which there had been no such things in the body of man. It is purely owing to mercy that these things are not more frequent; for by the curse all the sons and daughters of Adam are liable to them; and it may be an humbling question, therefore, to the most handsome and beautiful, 1 Cor. 4:7, "Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?" And God makes some such instances, that all may see in them what by the curse they are liable to, John 9:3.
2. As the temperature of the body was by the first sin altered, so as it disposed to sin, Gen. 3:7, so by the curse that degenerate constitution of it is penally bound on, by which it comes to pass that it is a snare to the soul continually. The seeds of sin are in it; it is "sinful flesh," Rom. 8:3, "a vile body," Phil. 3:21, and these seeds are never removed while the curse lies on it, being a part of that death to which it is bound over by the curse. Thus the case of the man must needs be very miserable, while a sinful soul and sinful flesh remain so closely knit together, in the nearest relation, each a snare to the other; the soul disposing the body to sin, and the body and the soul on the other hand, the corruption of the whole man must make fearful
advances under the curse. To this is much owing the crowd of "fleshly lusts which war against the soul," 1 Pet. 2:11; such as sensuality, gluttony, drunkenness, filthiness, &c. which more and more drown the soul in destruction and perdition. And the sad effects of this distemperature of the body are never wanting, of one kind or another, in all the periods of life; and by means thereof it comes to pass, that the souls of many are in their bodies as sunk in and overwhelmed with a mire of flesh and blood.
3. It is under the curse a vessel of dishonour. By its original make, it was a vessel of honour, appointed to honourable uses, and was so used by the soul before sin entered; and every member had its particular honourable service, serving the soul in subordination to God. But now it is brought down from its honour, and its "members are yielded instruments of unrighteousness unto sin," Rom. 6:13, and is abused to the vilest purposes; and it is never restored to its honour till, the curse being removed, it becomes the temple of God, by virtue of the purchase of it made by the blood of Christ. But while the curse remains its honour lies in the dust, being bound to such service as it was at first put to, in looking to, taking, and eating the forbidden fruit. See a melancholy description of this, Rom. 3:13, and downwards, It is made by the drunkard like a common sink, by the glutton like a draught, and often like a weary beast under the load of divers lusts. Every natural man's soul makes it a drudge; in some it must be a slave to the vanity of the mind, in others to covetousness, in others to wrath and revenge; in a word, its union with the sinful soul under the curse is become a yoke of iron.
4. It is liable to many mischiefs from without, tending to render it uneasy for the time, and at length to dissolve the frame of it. From the heavens above us, the air about us, the earth underneath us, and all that therein is, it is liable to hurt. All the creatures are in a state of enmity to man, while he is an enemy to God; and the least fly that passeth through the air is able to annoy him now; so that the natural man is ever in the midst of his armed enemies. The promise of the covenant was his guard, that while he kept the commandment, no
evil could approach unto him; but now the guard is removed, and he is laid under the curse, having broken the covenant, whereby not only his covenant defence is departed from him, but heaven has proclaimed war against him, armed the whole creation against the men of his curse, and ordered them to be ready to attack him on a moment's warning. Hence the waters swallow up some, the fire hurts others, beasts wound and bruise others, and man is not safe from the stones of the field, yea, every creature's hand is against him. And not only so, but by the curse men are become mischievous one to another, fighting, beating, wounding, and killing one another.
5. There is a seed-plot of much misery within it. It is by the curse become a weak body, and so liable to much toil and weariness, fainting and languishing under the weight of the exercise it is put to, Gen. 3:19. And not only so, but it hath in it such seeds of corruption, tending to its dissolution, as spring up in many and various maladies, which prove so heavy many times, that they make life itself a burden. By virtue of the curse, death works in the body, all along from the womb, as a mole under ground, till at length it lays the whole fabric in the dust, and leaves not, as it were, one stone on another, in the grave. No part of the body, without or within, is beyond the reach of diseases and torturing pains. The greatest care of the body cannot altogether ward them off. The curse has turned this world into an hospital, where some are groaning under one distemper, some under another; some at one time, some at another; and some in that respect are dying daily, knowing little or nothing of perfect health. The strongest are liable to be so weakened by diseases, as to be unable to turn themselves on a bed; those who enjoy the greatest ease, to tormenting pains; the most beautiful may be a prey to loathsome diseases and sores; and the soundest constitution to infections plagues.
6. Lastly, In all these respects the body is a clog to the soul in point of duty, often hanging like a dead weight upon it, unfitting it for, and hindering it from its most necessary work. The sinful soul is in itself most unfit for its great work, in this state of trial, by reason of the evil
qualities of it under the curse. But the wretched body makes it more so. The care of the body doth so take up its thoughts with most men, that, caring for it, the soul is lost. Its strength and vigour is a snare to it, and its weakness and uneasiness often interrupt or quite mar the exercises wherein the soul might profitably be employed. And one may see the forlorn case of the soul of man in this body under the curse, how it is on every hand pulled back from salvation work, in the case of many to whom health and strength is such a powerful snare while it remains, that they will not, and when they are gone, trouble and distress of body do so fill their hand, that they cannot mind their salvation work to purpose.
But it may be objected, That by this account of the condition of those under the curse, the case of natural men and of believers in Christ is alike; since it is evident, that not only these bodily miseries, but many of these soul miseries are common to both. I answer, Though it seem to be alike in the eye of beholders, in regard these miseries are materially the same on natural men and on the children of God; yet really there is a vast difference. On the former they are truly effects of the curse; on the latter they are indeed effects of sin, but not of the curse; "For Christ hath redeemed them from the curse of the law, being made a curse for them," Gal. 3:13. Sin entering into the world was a fountain of miseries; and till it be dried up, there will be miseries on men's bodies and souls; but the poison of the curse is mixed with these bitter streams to some, but not to others; and that makes as great a difference betwixt the case of the godly and ungodly, as betwixt the case of one man to whom poison, and another to whom medicine is administered. And,
(1.) The stream of miseries on soul or body to a natural man, runs in the channel of the covenant of works; but to a believer, in the channel of the covenant of grace. To the former it comes by virtue of the threatening, Gen. 2:17, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;" To the latter it comes by virtue of that, Psalm 89:30, 31, 32, "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my
commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes." Running in the channel of the first covenant, they bring the curse along with them; but in the channel of the second covenant, the curse is not to be found; the waters are healed, however bitter they may be, Isa. 54:9. When one has a slave, he punishes him for his misdemeanors, by virtue of his masterly authority over him. But if he be freed and adopted for a son, he chastens him, but no more as a slave, but as a son.
(2.) There is revenging wrath in the one, but fatherly anger only in the other, Isa. 54:9, "For this is as the waters of Noah unto me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." If it was never such a small stroke on the natural man, it is in part of payment of law-debt, for he is under the law, in its commanding, cursing, and condemning power; if it were ever such a heavy stroke on a child of God, it is no part of payment of law-debt, which he is for ever discharged of in his union with Christ. An ungodly man's basket of bread miscarries; it is no great loss, one would think, he may bear it; but alas! there is an impression of wrath upon it, it miscarried by virtue of the curse, Deut. 28:17, "Cursed shall be thy basket;" and so it is heavier than the sand of the sea, though he, being insensible of his case, feels not the weight of it. Good Eli falls from off his seat, and breaks his neck, 1 Sam. 4:18. O heavy stroke! we are apt to say; yea but there was no worse in it than fatherly anger; the covenant was not broken, though his neck was broken, Psalm 89:34, "My covenant will I not break." He got a soft fall; as hard as it appeared to spectators, he fell on a pavement of love, Cant. 3:10.
(3.) The miseries of the ungodly in this life are an earnest of eternal misery in hell; but those of the godly are medicines, to keep back their soul from death; 1 Cor. 11:32, "When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." Every stroke a man under the curse gets, he may call it "Joseph;" for "the Lord will add another." The least brook that runs,
is making towards the sea, as well as the deepest river; and the least affliction, by virtue of the curse, laid on a man, looks towards hell, as well as the greatest stroke he meets with. Though a piece of money be but small in itself, if it be an earnest-penny of a great sum, it is valued accordingly. And so the least stroke would be frightful to a natural man, if he discerned the nature of it. But in the worst afflictions of God's people, there is a seed of joy, Psalm 97:11, "Light is sown for the righteous; and gladness for the upright in heart;" and the darkest night will have a fair clear morning. There was more of heaven in Heman's hell, Psalm 88:15, than there is in the greatest ease, joy, and prosperity of the wicked.
The Whole Man is under the Curse
Thirdly, The whole man is under the curse. The sinner fallen from God, fell under the curse; and like a deluge it has gone over him, and surrounded him on every hand. Hence our Lord Christ, being made a curse for us, was beset with sorrows, Matth. 26:38, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death," like a man when the devouring waves are compassing him round about, and from every hand coming in upon him, ready to swallow him up. Thus stands the natural man under the curse; it is upon him, it is round about him; go where he will, there is no shifting of it, all his days he wades through these waters; he is in the deep mire, where there is no firm standing. He is cursed,