Chapter V
An enumeration of the particulars of the curse which Christ endured. That
assuming our nature, he took also those infirmities which sin hath brought upon us. That a painful wretched life being the curse of our first father s
sins, the life of Christ answerably was filled with miseries and sorrows.
Now for the particulars of this curse, it were endless to go over all those that he endured. We will therefore have recourse to, and instance only in that first curse which was laid on that first Adam, and in his name upon all his posterity, as we find it recorded, Gen. iii. 1719, And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast
eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it : cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life : ver. 18,
* Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth
to thee ; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field : ver. 19, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return. Compared with chap. ii. 17,
* But of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die. And to shew how all the particulars of the curse there mentioned were by him undergone will suffice, that curse being indeed the sum and epitome of curses, as the Lord s prayer is of prayers.
It consists of three parts
1. The frailties man s nature became subject to, tending in themselves to death and dissolution :
* dust thou art, &c. The curse then seizing on him wasted his body and spirit, and made both subject unto frailties, and
* Thou art dust, says God, and to dust thou shalt return.
to be of a mouldering nature :
2. The miseries and sorrows which man s nature meets with, until he returns unto dust ; which are either,
(1.) The labour and travail he must take to get his living, expressed by eating his bread in the sweat of his brow ; sweat being put (by a synechdoche) for all the labour and travail that man is born unto, as the sparks
fly upwards, Job v. 7 ; or,
(2.) The sad and cross events and accidents which befall men from the
creature, in the course of occurrences and various passages of God s pro vidence : in that all creatures are at enmity ; the earth brings forth thorns, the forests wild beasts, &c.
3. The third part of this curse is death ; both bodily, to dust thou shalt return, and of the soul, dying thou shalt die. Now to go over all these, and shew how they were undergone by Christ, and how from the cradle to the cross the curse followed him.
It seized on him in the first assumption of the human nature : which was dust as well as our nature is, and subject to the same frailties. The
simple assumption of the human nature was no part of the curse, and there-
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fore is nowhere represented to us as such in the Scripture. It was a con
descending indeed to take it, though at first it had been as glorious as now
it is in heaven ; but it was no part of the curse. And therefore when the
Scripture speaks of his abasement in assuming our nature, it speaks of it under the investment of frailties ; as in Philip, ii. 7, 8, where it is said he humbled himself, &c., in taking the form of a servant, that is, the nature
of man as now made servile and debased, which is therefore expounded in
* and was found as a man, in the likeness of man. And
the next words,
so being found, he humbled himself, &c., and therein, in that he was not
only a man, but such a man as we, his body of the same metal, rnouldry, and weak as ours is : herein became his humiliation. So likewise, Eom.
viii. 3, 4, in that God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, it is indeed made part of his satisfaction, so to condemn sin in the flesh. But
otherwise simply to assume our nature, though it was the foundation of all
his satisfaction, yet it was not reckoned as a part of it ; and though it was
that which formerly gave the value to it, yet was it not part of the dis
charge. I confess it to have been a minoration or lessening of him in some
respects ; for let him take our nature how he will, never so glorious, yet then it will be said of him,
* My Father is greater than I, which cannot be
said of the Holy Ghost ; yet this is not satisfaction ; the assuming our nature simply considered is not part of the curse. Again, that it was an
action merely of the second person ; but satisfactory acts are of Christ God-man, and so he must be supposed to be God-man first. That the second
person would undertake to lower himself so that he might be capable of
making satisfaction (which without assumption had not been) is the foun
dation of the merit of it ; but materially is no part thereof. But in that
this flesh assumed was frail, that makes the assumption of it to be satisfac
tory ; in that he was found hungry, weary, sleepy, sad and heavy, ignorant of many things, &c., in that he was
* tempted in all, and after that manner
that we are, Heb. iv. 15, these frailties were to be accounted as part of
satisfaction. And though he bare not all our frailties personally, as not
sickness for his body saw no corruption, neither after nor before
death, for it would have interrupted and hindered him in the work of our
salvation yet in sympathy and pity he bare them all ; and in that sense
fore-mentioned, that place, he bare our sicknesses, may be understood, he
having a heart soft, and framed to compassion ; therefore, when any of his
elect were sick, and brought unto him, he by a feeling pity took their griefs on him, and so freed them. Diseases also, being rather personal than com mon infirmities, it was not absolutely necessary that he should bear them. But he bare our sorrows, Isa. liii. 4, even ours in common.
Secondly, For the miseries incident to man s life ; and herein,
1. For his eating his bread in the sweat of his brows (besides that it was
in so eminent a manner fulfilled at Christ s death, as it never was in any man ; for in drinking that cup he sweat dodders of blood), how eminently was it fulfilled in doing his Father s will when he lived a public life, tra
velling over, and preaching in all towns and villages ; his zeal for God s house eating him up, and wasting his spirits, together with his watching whole nights, and many nights together, to pray, &c.; and when he lived a
private life, in following a calling of a handicraftsman, and living upon it alone (for his parents were poor, as appears by their offering a poor man s
ottering, a pair of turtles). So that by his daily labour he got his food from hand to mouth (as we say), he never working any miracles to supply his own necessities ; but as, when in his public life, he depended upon VOL. V. N
194 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK V.
what was ministered unto him, so, when in his private life, he lived by his
labour. Those who knew his education, and for whom haply he might have wrought, those of his own country, who, ver. 3, are said to have known his brethren and sisters, and himself particularly those did not
only call him the carpenter s son, but more expressly, the carpenter ; so Mark vi. 1-3. And it is noted that, at twelve years old, he disputed with the doctors, which was God
* his Father s business ; so that after wards he was obedient to his parents, Luke ii. 51, that is, doing their
business, and helping them in their trade of carpentering ; this 51st verse,
relating to what the evangelist before had said, ver. 49, thereby intimating, that as in that other work of disputing he had been about his heavenly Father s business (which ver. 49 shews), so that now he was answerably employed in his earthly father s work (which the 51st verse declares, say
* he was obedient to his parents ). 2. For sad occurrences and events befalling him from the dispensation of providence, and the enmity of the creatures, there were more befell him than ever befell any man. He was vir dolorum, a
ing,
* man of sorrows, which
did all wear and waste him, as griefs use to do us, so that in the judgment of those that saw him, he looked nearer fifty years old than thirty, as that known speech may seem to import. Furthermore, we never read that he once laughed in his lifetime. And,
(1.) For the enmity of the creatures, besides that in a literal sense the
earth might be said to bring forth thorns and briars to him, to such a pur pose as scarce ever befell any man, namely, to crown his temples with them ;
at his birth, he is denied a lodging in a common inn ; then, the wilderness
denies him bread for forty days, the fig-tree affords him no fruit, and the sun withdraws its light from him. The fathers have many pretty interpre tations of that great eclipse, but more witty than solid. The truth is, it was an evidence of God s anger, and of the enmity of all the creatures. Is
it in the sunbeams to afford some glimmering comfort to a man in misery ?
They are denied him. Can darkness add to one s distress, and render it more horrid ? Why, he is enveloped with a Cimmerian darkness, and that in
the very meridian and midday. Yea (the which was never denied to any but
to a man in hell), a drop of water to quench his thirst may by no means be granted him, but instead thereof, sharp vinegar, which their cruelty and
scorn do hand unto him.
The sea and winds were once arising up in arms against him, but that he made use of his prerogative and extraordinary power to quell their fierce
ness. And then at the last he was by all left, and by one of his disciples
betrayed, which how it grieved him the psalmist foretold. Then,
(2.) For sad and cross events from the dispensation of God s providence. He met with those which great spirits account the most sad and heavy. He was crossed ere he was crucified, even through his whole life ; as,
[1.] By a mean and poor birth and breeding, which was often cast in his
teeth : Is not this the carpenter s son ?
[2.] By a poor outward condition. He was not a beggar indeed, for then he had not fulfilled the judicial law, that there should be no beggar in Israel ; but poor he was : for our sakes he became poor. It appears his parents were poor; for at the purification of Mary, they offered only a pair of
turtles, which (according to the law) were to be the offering of the poorer sort. Again, he wrought daily ; surely, therefore, it was for his living. And further, he had nothing at his death to leave his mother, and therefore
it was that he bequeathed the care of her unto John. Now, how heavy a
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clog is poverty to a great spirit, and how does it keep him under ;* it puts a contempt upon the greatest virtue, and prejudices the most solid wisdom
* No man regarded that poor wise man.
against esteem.
[3.] By a mean calling. Thirty years lived he in a mechanic trade, and that no better than of a carpenter. Now, for him to be hid under chips, who was born to sit upon the royal throne of Israel ; for those hands to make doors and hew logs that were made to wield the sceptre of heaven and earth ; and that he who was the
* mighty counsellor should give his advice only about squaring of timber ; what an indignity, what a cross is
this ! Do but think with yourselves what an affliction it would be to a
professor of divinity in an university, to a privy councillor, or (much more) to a prince, for thirty years together to be put to cart and plough.
[4.] By company unsuitable to him, which to a great and noble spirit is as
great a burden as anything else whatsoever. For him who from everlasting enjoyed the sweet society of his Father in heaven, and might there have
for ever had it ; for him to leave such company, and come down to earth, and here converse with sinners ; how harsh and unpleasing must it needs be to him. And therefore the apostle might well say,
* Christ pleased not
himself, Rom. xv. 3, meaning it of his company. To a man wise and holy, there is nothing more burdensome than the company of men ignorant and
sinful ; and the best company he had were his apostles, who, how ignorant were they
! Even so far, that they lay as a burden upon his spirits, inso much that once he cries out, How long shall I suffer you, men of little
faith, or wisdom? Mat. xvii. 17. They being so incapable of what he said or taught, that most would have been lost, had not his Spirit after wards brought all unto their remembrance. And, besides their ignorance, they were men clothed with infirmities and sins, and more gross corruptions of foolish ambition and contention. What a burden, therefore, must they needs have been to him who was holiness itself! Yea (to conclude), every man was a briar and a thorn unto him (as the prophet speaks), and he went through the world against the stream of a perverse and crooked gene ration, and was a contention to the whole land where he came, which therefore contradicted, opposed, and reviled him, &c. And therefore it is reckoned among his sufferings, that
* he endured the contradictions of
sinners, Heb. xii. 3, which was so heavy unto Jeremiah, that it made him
* Woe is me, says he, my mother hath born me a man of contention to the whole earth, Jer. xv. 10. So Elias complains that he was left alone, &c., and thus was it with Christ in his times ; yea, all the sins he saw or heard became crosses to him, and went to his heart ; so Rom. xv. 3, where those words are applied to Christ,
weary of his, life :
* the reproaches of them that reproached thee (speaking of God) are fallen upon me. All the blows that blasphemers at any time gave his Father, he takes upon his
spirit. And what a life then must he needs live, whose soul was so right eous ? If Lot s soul were vexed, how must his needs be, whose spirit was so tender of his Father s glory ?
* Nil habit infclix paupertas durius in se, Quam quod ridicules homines facit. Juvenal, Sat. 3, v. 153.
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