[The loss of the soul most fearful.]
Thirdly, As the loss of the soul is a loss peculiar to itself, and a double loss, so, in the third place, it is a loss most fearful, because it is a loss attended with the most heavy curse of God. This is manifest both in the giving of the rule of life, and also in, and at the time of execution for, the breach of that rule. It is manifest at the giving of the rule—' Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen (Deu 27:26; Gal 3:10). It is also manifest that it shall be so at the time of execution—"Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels' (Matt 25:41). What this curse is, none do know so well as God, who gives it, and as the fallen angels, and the spirits of damned men that are now shut up in the prison of hell, and bear it. But certainly, it is the chief and highest of all kinds of curses. To be cursed in the basket and in the store, in the womb and in the barn, in my cattle and in my body, are but flea-bitings to this, though they are also insupportable in themselves; only in general may it be described thus. But to touch upon this curse, it lieth in deprivation of all good, and in a being swallowed up of all the most fearful miseries that a holy, just, and eternal God can righteously inflict, or lay upon the soul of a sinful man. Now let Reason here come in and exercise itself in the most exquisite manner; yea, let him now count up all, and all manner of curses and torments that a reasonable and an immortal soul is, or can be made capable of, and able to suffer under, and when he has done, he shall come infinitely short of this great anathema, this master curse, which God has reserved amongst His treasuries, and intends to bring out in that day of battle and war, which He purposeth to make upon damned souls in that day.16 And this God will do, partly as retaliation, as the former, and partly by way of revenge. 1. By way of retaliation: 'As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.'
Again, 'As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones; let it be unto him as a garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually' (Psa 109:17-19). 'Let this,' saith Christ, 17 'be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord' (vs. 20, etc.). 2. As this curse comes by way of retaliation, so it cometh by way of revenge. God will right the wrongs that sinners have done Him, will repay vengeance for the despite and reproach wherewith they have affronted Him and will revenge the quarrel of His covenant. And the beginning of revenges are terrible, (Deu 31:41,42); what, then, will the whole execution be, when He shall come in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ? And, therefore, this curse is executed in wrath, in jealousy, in anger, in fury; yea, the heavens and the earth shall be burned up with the fire of that jealousy in which the great God will come when He cometh to curse the souls of sinners, and when He cometh to defy the ungodly, (2 Thess 1: 7-9).
It is little thought of, but the manner of the coming of God to judge the world declares what the souls of impenitent sinners must look for then. It is common among men, when we see the form of a man's countenance change, when we see fire sparkle out of his eyes, when we read rage and fury in every cast of his face, even before he says aught, or doth aught either, to conclude that some fearful thing is now to be done (Dan 3:19, 23). Why, it is said of Christ when He comes to judgment, that the heavens and the earth fly away, as not being able to endure His looks, (Rev 20:11, 12); that His angels are clad in flaming fire, and that the elements melt with fervent heat; and all this is, that the perdition of ungodly men might be completed, 'from the presence of the Lord, in the heat of His anger, from the glory of His power' (2 Pet 3:7; 2 Thes 1:8–9). Therefore, God will now be prevented, and so ease Himself of His enemies, when He shall cause curses like millstones to fall as thick as hail on 'the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses' (Psa 68:2l). But,
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