soul, sets it a shaking. Some fear want, others alarms, others fear loss of relations ; if we rejoice, it is with trembling. Wlienco are all our disappointments of hopes but from sin? Where we look f«)r comfort, there a cross ; where we expect honey, there we taste wormwood. Whence is it that the earth is filled with violence, thaJ " the wicked devoureth the man that i.» more righteous than he ?" Ilab. i. 13. Whence is it that so mucii frauduiency in dealing, so much falseness in friendship, such crosses in relations ? Wlience is it chil- dren prove undutiful ?Tliey that should be as the staff" of the parent's ago, are a sword to pierce their hearts. Whence is it ser- vants are unfaithful to their masters ? The apostle speaks of some who have entertain- ed angels in their houses, Heb. xiii. 2., but how oft, instead of entertaining angels in their houses, do some entertain devils? AVlience are all the mutinies and divisions in a kingdom ? 2 Chron. xv. 5., " In those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in." All this is but the sour core in that apple our first pa- rents ate, viz. fruit of original sin. Besides all the deformities and diseases of the body, fevers, convulsions, catarrhs, — " Mccies et 7iova febrinm ierris incvhuit co/iors" — These are from sin. There had never been a stone in the kidnies, if it had not been first a stone in the heart. Yea, the death of the body, is the fruit and result of original sin, Rom. V. 12., " Sin entered into the world, and death by sih." Adam was made im- mortal, conditionally, if he had not sinned ; sin digged Adam's grave. Death is terri- ble to nature. Lewis king of France for- bade all that came into his court to men- tion the name of death in his ears. The Socinians say that death comes only from the infirmness of the constitution ; but the apostle saith, sin ushered in death into the world, — " by sin came death." CerUiinly, had not Adam ate of the tree of knowledge, he had not died; (icn. ii. 17, " In tiie day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die," implying, if Adam had not eaten, he should not have died. O then see the mi- sery ensuing uj)on original sin ! Sin dis- solves the harmony and good temperature of the body, it ])ulls this fianie in uicccs.
OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE.
105
IV. Orig^inal sin without repentance cx- posetli to hell and damnation. " This is the second death," Rev. xx. 14. Two things in it :
1. Poena donmi, — punisliment of loss. The soul is banished from the beatifical presence of God, in whose presence is ful- ness of joy.
2. Paeiia census, — punishment of sense. The sinner feels the scalding vials of God's wrath. It is penetrating, abiding, John iii. 36., " reserved," 2 Pet. ii. 17. If, when God's anger be kindled but a little, and a spark or two of it flies into a man's con- science here in this life, it be so terrible ; what then will it be when God stirs up all his anger? In hell there is tlie worm and the fire, Mark ix. 44. Hell is the very ac- cent and emphasis of misery ; there's judg- ment without mercy. O what flames of wrath, — what seas of vengeance, — what ri- vers of brimstone, are poured out there up- on the damned ! Bellarmine is of opinion that one glimpse of hell fire were enough to make the most flagitious sinner to turn Christian ; nay, live like an hermit, a most strict mortified life. What is all other fire to this, but painted fire ? Ejus adesse into- lerahile, ejus abe-ise iinpossibile, — to bear it will be intolerable, to avoid it will be im- possible ; and these hell-torments are for ever, have no period put to them, Rev. ix. 6.,
" They shall seek death, and shall not find it." Origen fancied a fiery stream in wliich the souls of sinful men were to be purged after this life, and then to pass into heaven ; but it is for ever. The breath of the Lord kindles tliat fire ; and where shall we find en- gines or buckets to quench it ? Rev. xiv. 11., " And the smoke of their torment ascend- eth up for ever and ever, and they have no rest night nor day." Thank original sin for all.
Use \sL Wliat sad thoughts should we have of this primitive original sin that hath created so many miseries ? What honey can be got out of this lion ? What grapes can we gather off" this thorn ? It sets hea- ven and earth against us : while we choose this bramble to rule, fire comes out of the bramble to devour us.
Use 2d. How are all believers bound to Jesus Christ, who hath freed them from that misery to which sin hath exposed them ? Eph. i. 7., " In whom we have redemption through his blood." Sin hath brought trouble and a curse into the world ; Christ hath sanctified the ti-ouble, and removed the curse. Nay, he hath not only freed believers from misery, but purchased for them a crown of glory and immortality.
Pet. v. 4., " When the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."
OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE.