hold thee. If ye fay, Surely the darkness fhall cover you, even the night shall be light about you; for the darkness hideth not from him, but the night Shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to him, Pfal. cxxxix. 7. - 12. There is no darkness nor fhadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themfelves, Job xxxiv. 22. from his eye, or fecure themselves against the inquiry God will make, or the strokes that his almighty arm will inflict. Punished then finners must be. And if ye afk, what fatisfaction will he have of fuch finners? I anfwer, 1. He will have you punished in your estates, by a forfeiture of all. You invaded God's poffeffion; he will cast you out of yours. This is the ordinary punishment of rebellion; and we have proven you guilty of rebellion of the worft fort. Man, when God made him, was mafter of a fair eftate. The fons of men now may value themfelves upon fome petty tenements which many of them hold by no good right, as we shall see anon; but none of them can vy poffeffions with Adam in innocency. He had a paradife replenished with all the rarities of innocent, of incorrupted nature, all the delicacies which the earth did yield, before it loft its ftrength by that curfe which man's dif obedience brought it under, while it was impregnated by the bleffing of God: and as he had this in poffeffion, so he had heaven in expectation, a noble and feemingly unfailing profpect of a paradife above. This was Adam's eftate; and this fhould have been the estate of his pofterity, his defcendants: but all is forfeited by fin. Had Adam stood, he had then tranfinitted to us a goodly heritage, and none should have had reason to complain of his poffeffion: but now we have by fin forfeited all; we have no eftate, no heritage. O finners, by your fin ye have loft the right to all your enjoyments here, and all prospect of any comfortable being hereafter. Adam when he finned was banished out of paradife, and that was guarded against him. But ye will fay, We are not forfeited; for we enjoy houses, lands, meat and clothing, and a great many other fuch things: how can ye then say that we loft all; by what means get we these things? I anfwer, (1.) A rebel fentenced to die, is by the king allowed food, raiment, and other neceffaries for the fuftentation of nature, till the time of the execution come: just fo, God, for holy ends not now to be enquired into, having reprived man for a while, fuffers him to enjoy fome fuch things, till he fee meet to put the fentence of death in execution, and then the forfeiture will take place. (2.) We fay, ye have no right to any enjoyment fave that juft now mentioned. The grant where by innocent man held all his poffeffions, was the covenant of works: this was the ground of his fe curity as to what he poffeffed, and the foundation of his hope as to what he further expected. Now, this covenant being broken by your fin, ye have no more right to any enjoyment. (3.) As ye have already loft the right and title, fo ye have loft the fweetness of all your enjoyments. Ye toil and fweat, but ye are not fatisfied. What profit have ye of all your labour under the fun? It is not able to give you fatisfaction. This we have at great length made appear in our lectures upon Ecclefiaftes. (4.) To conclude, in a very little ye will be entirely deprived of all. The day of the execution of the fentence draws on, when God will fnatch all your enjoyments out of your hands. Now indeed, fome have inore, and fome have lefs, according to the pleasure of the great Judge, who has allowed every one their portion, till the day of execution come, and then all will go. 2. God, at whofe inftance ye have been impeached of fin, will have fatisfaction in the death of the offenders. God threatened death to Adam in paradife In the day that thou eateft thereof thou shalt furely die, or, dying thou fhalt die, Gen. ii. 17. and the foul that finneth fhall die, faith the Lord by the prophet, Ezek. xviii. 20. for the wages of fin is death. This is not to be limited to a natural death; no, but is of a huge extent. It takes in a threefold death, a death fpiritual, natural, eternal. Man in innocency had a threefold life, either in poffeffion or profpect. (1.) A fpiritual life, which confifted in the union of his foub to God, in a measure fuited to his prefent condition, and in the fitnefs of all his faculties and powers for acting and doing what was well pleafing unto God. (2.) A natural life, which confifted in the union of foul and body. That lovely pair, his innocent foul and pure body, were matched together, and linked to one another by a thought furpaffing art; fo that they had a most near alliance, being compacted into one perfon, by a ty fo ftrong, as to occafion a notable fympathy; and yet fo fecret, that no eye could ever fee, no mind ever difcover this imperceptible chain. (3.) Man had then a fair profpect of eternal life, in a full and clofe union to God, never to admit of any interruption, or of any fuch interpofition, as was between man and him in this lower world. But now upon his fin, he loft all by virtue of the primitive threatening of death to the foul that fins. Anfwerably hereunto, God will have you punished with a threefold death. O finners, his heart will not pity you, his eye will not fpare you. You are already condemned to die. He that believeth not, that is, every finner by nature is condemned already, fays the spirit of God. Nay more, ye are not only condemned already, O finners, but moreover the execution is begun; the fire of God's wrath is already kindled against you; there are fome drops begun to fall, before the shower come that will entirely deftroy you. (1.) You are fpiritually dead. I fpeak to all of you who are not favingly changed by grace, being begotten again from the dead, by the refurrection of Jefus Chrift. You are dead in trefpaffes and fins, utterly unmeet to entertain communion and fellowship with God. As a dead man cannot fpeak, act, or exercife any vital power; fo neither can ye act anything that is fpiritually good, or well pleafing to God. This is a heavy punishment, though as yet ye be not fenfible of it. (2.) Natural death, that confifts, in the feparation of the foul from the body, is already begun. Every disease that feizes upon our bodies, is like the posts that run to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon, that his city was taken at one end, Jer. li. 31. Every difeafe makes a breach in our walls, and tells that all will in a little fall down flat. Your very life is nothing else but a fucceffion of dying: every day and hour wears away part of it; and fo far as it is already spent, fo far are ye already dead and buried. Difeafes and natural decays do lay clofe fiege as it were to your bodies, routing their guards, battering the walls of your flesh, and forcing your fouls to quite the out-works, and retire into the heart and every minute, ye have reafon to fear that ye may be taken in and become a prey Do prey to death. In one word, O finners, ye are the mark at which juftice fhoots its arrows. not ye fee fometimes the arrow flee over your head, and flay fome great perfon your fuperior? Sometimes it lights at your feet, and kills a child or a fervant, or those who are inferior; fometimes it paffeth by your left hand, and kills an enemy,at whofe death poffibly ye rejoice; and anon it ftrikes the friend of your right hand; and poffibly the very next arrow may ftrike you dead, be ye young or old, eternally dead, and hurry you into hell. 3. Your death will not do all; this punishment reaches your honours. Rebels are wont to have their honours torn: and fo God has determined with refpect to you, O finners. Man was in his firft eftate advanced to a high dignity, he was the friend as well as fubject of God; and he was his deputy in this lower world, as the Pfalmift tells us, Thou madeft him to have dominion over the works of thy hand; thou haft put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the fea, Pfal. viii. 5. Thus was he crowned with glory and honour: but now, O finners, the fentence is past against all the race of finful Adam: thus faith the Lord, Remove the diadem, and take off the crown from the head of finners. The crown is fallen indeed from your head. Now, tell me, O finners, do not ye already feel the direful effects of this part of your punishment? Thefe beafts which were once man's fubjects, are now turned his enemies, because he is God's enemy. Do not the very flies infult you, and make fometimes your life uneafy? Do not the wild beafts of the field terrify you? Are not fome of them daily making inroads upon you, devouring your cattle, car. |