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. ii. 17. upon the transgressing of it, the curse is pronounced, Gen. iii. 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. iii. 33. and those under it the people of his curse, Isa. xxxiv. 5. Man's curse is often causeless, so it miscarries, it comes not, it does do more harm than a bird flying over one's head, Prov. xxvi. 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 iii. 36.

2. It is the curse of the law, Gal. iii. 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. ix. 11. Of old when men entered into a covenant, they cut a beast in twain, and passed betwixt the parts, so signify the curse on the breaker, that he should be like that beast. Hence the Lord threatens covenant-bakers, Jer. xxxiv. 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. xxiv. 11. 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. xxv. 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. xxix. 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.

2ndly, A binding over of the sinner unto punishment, for the satisfaction of offended justice, Gal. iii. 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 wh ole 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 well being, Deut. xxix. 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: i. 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. ii. 3. The wrath of God abideth on him, John iii. 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. xi. 6. God is ever angry with him, Psal. vii. 11. 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. 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.

v. 5.

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 xxviii. 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. i. 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, Psal. vii. 12, 13. Job complains that he was set as a mark for God's arrows, Job. xvi. 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, Psal. xciv. 23. He shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off. Psal. xxxvii. 22. They that be cursed of him shall be 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. xxvii. 26. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And the apostle plainly designs the persons against whom this sentence is passed, namely, those that are under the law, Rom. iii. 19. compared with chap. vi. 14. Who then can make any doubt of it? It is as firm as the truth of God can make it, in his word, and under his hand and seal.

2. It is evident from the consideration of the justice of God, as supreme Rector and Judge of the world; by which he cannot but do right, and give sin its due. Two things will clear it.

1st, The breaking of that covenant, whereof all under it are guilty, deserves the curse They broke it in Adam, and they are breaking it every day; and so they deserve the curse. Now, sin's deserving of the curse does not arise from the threatening of eternal wrath annxed for a sanction to the commands in the law, as our new divinity would have it; that is