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evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.' His natural Actions, fuch as Eating and Drinking, are Sin: Zech. vii. 6. ‹ And ' when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?" His civil Actions, fuch as Plowing and Sowing, are Sin: Prov. xxi. 4. The plowing of the wicked is 'fin.' And his religious Actions are Sin, Prov. xv. 8. The facrifice of the wicked is an abomi " nation to the Lord.'

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Queft. 19. What is the Mifery of that Eftate whereinto Man fell?

Anf. All Mankind, by their Fall, loft Communion with God, are under his Wrath and Curfe, and fo made liable to all Miseries in this Life, to Death itself, and to the Pains of Hell for ever.

EXPLICATIO N..

Our natural State is a miferable State too. And all Mankind is in that miferable State by Nature. That comes to pafs, by their Fall in Adam: Rom. v. 12. ( By one man fin entered into the 'world, and death by fin; and fo death paffed up( on all men, for that all have finned.' Our natural State is a miferable State, in refpect of what Lofs Man fuftains, what he lies under, and what he is liable to, in it.

The Lofs which Man fuftains in his natural State, is the Lofs of Communion with God. Communion with God is a friendly Intercourfe between God and a Soul, arifing from a peculiar Interest

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in one another: Cant. ii. 16. My beloved is mine, ⚫ and I am his.' Man had fuch Communion with God before the Fall; and that without a Mediator: Gal. iii. 20. Now a mediator is not a me, diator of one; but God is one.' But he loft it, by the Fall: Gen. iii. 8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the 'cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the prefence of the Lord God, ' amongst the trees of the garden.' And none attain to this Communion again, as long as they are in their natural State, whatever Duties of Worship they go about: Eph. ii. 12. At that time ye were without Chrift, being aliens from the commonwealth of Ifrael, and ftrangers 'from the covenants of promife, having no hope, and without God in the world.' It is recovered, only in the Way of Union with Jesus Christ, verf. 13. But now in Chrift Jefus, ye who fometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of 'Chrift.'

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What Man lies under in his natural State, is God's Wrath and Curfe. The Wrath of God he lies under, is revenging Wrath: And all Men in their natural State are under that Wrath: Eph. ii. 3. "We were by nature the children of wrath, even as • others.' John iii. ult. He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life: and he that believeth " not the Son, fhall not fee life; but the wrath ' of God abideth on him.' The Curfe he lies under, is the Sentence of the broken Law, binding over the Sinner to revenging Wrath, to the full : And all Men in their natural State are under it, Gal. iii. 10. Curfed is every one that continueth

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not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.'

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What Man is liable to in his natural State, is, all Miferies in this Life, Death itfelf, and the Pains of Hell for ever, in virtue of the Curfe. The Miferies in this Life the natural Man is liable to, are all inward and outward Miseries of Life, laid on in virtue of the Curse: Lam. iii. 39. Wherefore 'doth a living man complain, a man for the pu'nishment of his fins ? The inward Miseries of Life he is fo made liable to, are fpiritual Plagues, fuch as Blindnefs of Mind, Hardnefs of Heart, Vileness of Affections, Horror of Confcience, and the like: Eph. iv. 18. Having the un-. 'derstanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.' Rom. ii. 5. But, after thy hardness and impenitent 'heart, treasureft up unto thy felf wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.' Chap. i. 26. For this 'caufe God gave them up unto vile affections.' I. xxxiii. 14. < The finners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites: who among us fhall dwell with the devouring fire?. 'who amongst us fhall dwell with everlasting burn'ings?' The outward Miseries of Life he is fo made liable to, are fuch as befal the outward Man, as Sickness, Poverty, Difgrace, and the like: Deut. xxviii. 15. to the End. But it fhall come to pafs, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to obferve to do all his commandments, and his ftatutes which I command thee this day; that all these curfes fhall come upon thee, and overtake thee. Curfed fhalt thou

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'be in the city, and curfed fhalt thou be in the field, &c.' The Death the natural Man is liable to, is the Diffolution of the Soul and the Body in virtue of the Curfe: Rom. vi. 23. The wages of fin is death.' That kind of Death is ftinged Death: I Cor. xv. 5. The fting of death ⚫is fin; and the strength of fin is the law.' It is true, Believers in Christ also are liable to Miseries in this Life, and to Death itself; but they are not fo made liable to them, not by the Curse, not with the Sting in them: 1 Cor. xv. 55. O death,

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where is thy fting? O grave, where is thy victo'ry?' Howbeit, if Man had not finned, he would never have died: Gen. 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 there-, of, thou shalt furely die.' The Miseries in this Life, and Death itself, are, to Believers in Christ, Marks of God's Displeasure with the Sin in them, while yet he loves their Perfons in Chrift: Pfal. xcix. 8. Thou answeredft them, O Lord our God: thou waft a God that forgaveft them, though thou tookeft vengeance of their inven'tions. Gen. iii. 15. 17. 18. 19. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and 'between thy feed and her feed: it fhall bruise thy. head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. And unto Adam he said, Because thou haft hearkened unto 'the voice of thy wife, and haft eaten of the tree ' of which I commanded thee, faying, Thou shalt not eat of it: curfed is the ground for thy fake; in forrow fhalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns alfo and thiftles fhall it bring forth < to thee and thou fhalt eat the herb of the field. In the fweat of thy face falt thou eat bread,

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'till thou return unto the ground; for out of it waft thou taken for dust thou art, and unto duft 'fhalt thou return.'

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The Pains of Hell, that natural Men are liable to, are, the Pain of Lofs, and the Pain of Senfe. The Pain of Lofs in Hell, is total and final Se paration from God: Matth. xxv. 41. Then shall 'he fay alfo unto them on the left hand, Depart 'from me, ye curfed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.' That Separation from God, is not a local Separation from him, as if God fhould not be in the Place where they fhall be Pfal. cxxxix. 8. If I make my 'bed in hell, behold, thou art there.' But it is a relative Separation, in an eternal blocking up of all comfortable Communication between God and them: And the Effect of that will be, a total Eclipfe of all Light of Comfort, and Eafe whatfo. ever, of Body and Mind, in the Damned: Matth. xxii. 13. Then faid the king to the fervants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and 6 caft him into outer darkness: there fhall be weeps ing and gnashing of teeth.' Hof. ix. 12. 'Wo to them when I depart from them.' The Pain of Senfe in Hell, is unfpeakable Torment, both in Soul and Body, without Intermiffion; Matth. xxv. 41. above cited. Mark ix. 43. 44. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands, to go into hell, into the fire that never fhall be quenched where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.' And these Pains of Hell will never have an End with them: Matth. XXV. · 41. Departinto everlafting fire.'

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