Of the Common Punishment of Sin

Hitherto we have treated of sin, wherewith all mankind is infected: in the next place succeedeth the punishment of sin, which is threefold.

In This Life

The first is in this life, and that divers ways.

I. The Body

The first concerneth the body, either in the provision with trouble for the things of this life (Genesis 3:17) or a proneness to diseases:

Matthew 9:2
Son, be of good comfort, thy sins be forgiven thee.

John 5:14
Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing fall upon thee.

Deuteronomy 28:21-22
The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he hath consumed thee from the land.

Or shame of nakedness (Genesis 3:7), or in women pains in child-birth:

Genesis 3:16
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy sorrows, and conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children.

II. The Soul

The soul is punished with trembling of conscience, care, trouble, hardness of heart, and madness.

Deuteronomy 28:28
The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and with blindness, and with a stonying of heart.

III. The Whole Man

The whole man is punished:

With fearful subjection to the regiment of Satan.

Colossians 1:13
Which freed us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his beloved Son.

Hebrews 2:14
He also himself took part with them, that he might destroy through death, him that had power of death, that is the devil.

A separation from the fellowship of God, and trembling at his presence.

Ephesians 4:18
Having their cogitation darkened, and being strangers from the life of God.

Genesis 3:10
I heard thy voice in the garden, and was afraid, because I was naked, therefore I hid myself.

IV. A Man's Goods

Upon a man's goods, divers calamities and damages.

Deuteronomy 28:29
Thou shalt ever be oppressed with wrong, and be pouled, and no man shall succour thee.

To this place may be referred distinction of Lordships: and of this cometh a care to enlarge them, and bargaining with all manner of civil servitudes.

V. Authority Over Creation

The loss of that lordly authority, which man had over all creatures; also their vanity, which is not only a weakening, but also a corrupting of that excellency of the virtues and powers which God at the first put into them.

Romans 8:20-21
The creature is subject to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him, which hath subdued it under hope.

VI. Infamy

In a man's name, infamy and ignominy sometimes after his death. See Jeremiah 24:6.

At Death

The second is at the last gasp, namely, death, or a change like unto death.

Romans 6:23
The wages of sin is death.

After This Life

The third is after this life, even eternal destruction from God's presence, and his exceeding glory.

2 Thessalonians 1:9
Who shall be punished with everlasting perdition from the presence of God, and the glory of his power.