fore us, without doubt, matter of the deepest humiliation.

$37. Obs. 19. No place, no retiredness, no solitary wilderness will secure men from sin or suffering, provocation or punishment. These persons were in a wilderness, where they had many motives and encouragements to obedience, and no means of seduction and temptations from others, yet there they sinned, and there they suffered. They "sinned in the wilderness," and "their carcases fell in the wilderness." They filled that desert with sins and graves. Men have the principle of their sins in themselves, in their own hearts, which they cannot leave behind them, or get rid of by changing their stations. And the justice of God, which is the principal cause of punishment, is no less in the wilderness than in the most populous cities. The wilderness is no wilderness to him; he can find its paths in all its intricacies. In this very wilderness, on the top of Sinai, there is at this day a monastry of persons professing themselves to be religious, who live there for cultivating superior piety. I once, for some days, conversed with their chief; they call him Archimandrite, here in England. For ought I could perceive, he might have learned as much elsewhere. I remember old Jerome somewhere complains, that when he was in his horrid cave at Bethlehem, his mind was frequently amongst the delecies of Rome. And this will teach us,

(1.) In every outward condition to look principally to our own hearts. We may expect great advantages from various conditions, but shall indeed meet with none of them, unless we fix and water the root of them in ourselves. One thinks he could serve God better in prosperity, if freed from the perplexities of poverty, sickness, and persecution. Others that they should serve him better if called to afflictions and tri

als. Some think it would be better with them if retired and solitary; others if they had more society and company. But the only way to serve God better, is to abide in our station and condition, and therein to get better hearts. It is Solomon's advice (¶D DD) Prov. iv, 23, "Above, or before, every watch, or keeping, keep thy heart." It is good to keep the tongue, and it is good to keep the feet, and it is good to keep the way, as he farther declares in that place; but, saith he, above all keepings, keep thy heart; and he adds a great reason for his caution, for, saith he, "out of it are the issues of life." Life and death, in the means and causes of them, come out of the heart. So our Savior instructs us, that in our hearts lie our treasure; what they are, that we are, and nothing else. Thence are all our actions drawn forth, which not only "smell of the cask," but receive thence principally their whole moral nature, whether good or bad.

(2.) Look for all relief, and for help against sin, merely from grace. A wilderness will not help you; no, nor a paradise. In the one Adam sinned, in the other all Israel sinned. Men may to a good purpose go into a wilderness to exercise grace and the principles of truth, when the acting of them is denied elsewhere. But it is to no purpose to go into a wilderness to seek for these things; their dwelling is in the love and favor of God, and no where else can they be found. Do not expect that mercies of themselves will do you good, that the city or the wilderness will do you good; it is grace alone that can do that. And if you find inward benefits by outward things, it is merely from the grace that God is pleased to administer with them. And he can separate them when he pleaseth, he can give mercies that shall be so materially, but not eventually; like the quails that fed the bodies of the people,

whilst leanness possessed their souls. Learn, then, in all places, in every state and condition, to live in the freedom, riches, and efficacy of grace.

(3.) Let us learn, that whithersoever sin can enter, punishment can follow; (culpam sequitur pœna pede claudo) though vengeance seems to have a lame foot, yet it will hunt sin until it overtake the sinner. Psal. cxl, 2, "Evil shall hunt the violent man to overtake him." Go where he will, the fruits of his own evil and violence, the punishment due to them, shall hunt him and follow him; and though it should sometimes appear to be out of sight, or off from the scent, yet it will recover its view and chase, until it hath brought him to destruction. It will follow it into the dark, the dark corners of their hearts and lives; and overtake them in the light of the world. God hath (εvdinov oμpa) an eye of revenge that nothing can escape, "Can any hide himself in secret places that I cannot find him? saith the Lord, do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord," Jer. xxiii, 24. God declares whom it is, that none can hide from his presence, or escape his justice. It is from his omnipresence; he is every where, and all places are alike to him. Adam, when he had sinned, went behind a tree. And others would go under rocks and mountains; but all is one, vengeance will find them out. This is that (d) vengeance, which the barbarians thought would not let a murderer live, however he might escape for a season, Acts xxviii, 4.

$38. Obs. 20. Great works of Providence are a great means of instruction, and a neglect of them as to their instructive end is a great aggravation of sin. "They saw my works," saith God; works great and wonderful, and yet continued in their sin and disobedience. This heightened their sin, and hastened their

punishment. We shall take an instance in one of the works here intended, which will acquaint us with the design, end, and use of them all; I mean the appearance of the majesty of God on mount Sinai at the giving of the law. The works accompanying it, consisted much in things miraculous and unusual; as thunder and lightnings, fire and smoke and earthquakes, the sound of the trumpet, &c. The usual workings of the minds of men towards these uncommon effects of Divine power is to gaze on them with admiration and astonishment. This God forbids, Exod. xix, 21, "Charge the people lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze." This is not the design of God in these works of his power, in these appearances and evidences of his Majesty, that men should gaze at them to satisfy their curiosity. What then was aimed at in them? It was to instruct them in the due fear and awful reverence of God; whose holiness and majesty was represented to them; that they may know him as "a consuming fire." God doth not often utterly destroy men with great and tremendous destructions, before he hath given them previous warnings of his indignation. But yet men that are secure in sin, will have so little a sense of these warnings, that they will be crying, peace and safety when their final destruction is seizing upon them, 1 Thes. v, 3. God speaks out the curse of the law in his works of judgments. For thereby "is the wrath of God revealed from heaven against the ungodliness of men," Rom. i, 18. But yet, even when men hear the voice of the curse so pronounced, if they are secure they will bless themselves and say, "they shall have peace, though they add drunkenness to thirst," Deut. xxix, 19. And this for the most part blinds the eyes of the wise men of this world. They neither see nor understand any of the works of God,

though never so full of dread and terror; because being secure in their sin, they know not that they have any concernment in them. If at any time they attend to them, it is as the people did to the voice that came from heaven to our Savior; "some said it thundered, others that an angel spake;" one says one thing of them, another another thing, but endeavor not to come to any certainty about them. This is complained of, Isa. xxvi, 11, "Lord, when thy hand is lifted up they will not see." But they who will wisely consider their own condition, how it is between God and them, will discern the voice of God in his great works of providence, Dan. xii, 10, "Many shall be purified and made white and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." And when shall this be? When there is a time of great trouble, ver. 1. When God's judgments are greatly in the world, the end of these troubles is to purify them, to cleanse them by the removal of all filth of flesh and spirit that they may have contracted, as dross is taken away from silver in the furnace; and to make them white, by causing their sincerity, constancy, and perseverance in their holy profession to appear in their trials. But the wicked, men secure in their sins, shall yet continue in their wickedness; and thereby shall be so blind, that none of them shall understand the mind of God in his great works and tremendous dispensations. All the works of God, if duly considered, will be found to be as his image and superscription. They have on them marks and tokens of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness. Those of Providence, which he intends to be greatly instructive, have a peculiar impression of the design of God upon them; and a wise man may see the eye of