VER. 7-11.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 75
forth, which not only smell of the cask, but receive thence princi- pally their whole moral nature, whether they are good or bad.
2dly. Look for all relief and for help against sin merely from grace. A wilderness will not help you, nor a paradise. In the one Adam sinned, in whom we all sinned; in the other all Israel sinned, who were an example unto us all. Men may to good purpose go into a wilderness to exercise grace and 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 favour of God, and nowhere else can they be found. See Job xxviii. 12-28. Do not expect that mercies of themselves will do you good, or that afflictions will do you good, that the city or the wilderness will do you good; it is grace alone that can do you good. And if you find inward benefits by outward things, it is merely from the grace that God is pleased to administer and dis- pense 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, which fed the bodies of the people whilst leanness possessed their souls.) And he can send afiliction that shall have nothing in it but affliction,—present troubles leading on to future troubles. Learn, then, in all places, in every state and condition, to live in the freedom, riches, and efficacy of grace; for other helps, other advantages have we none.
3dly. Let us learn, that whithersoever sin can enter punish- ment can follow. “Culpam sequitur poena pede claudo.” Though vengeance seems to have a lame foot, yet it will hunt sin until it overtake the sinner: Ps. cxl. 11, “ 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, 5072, “ to thrustings down,” until he be utterly thrust down. Saith the Targum, “ The angel of death shall hunt him until he thrust him down into hell.” The heathen owned this:—
“ Quo fugis, Encelade? quascunque accesseris oras, Sub Jove semper eris.”
Punishment will follow sin into the wilderness, where it is sepa- rated from all the world; and climb up after it to the top of the tower of Babel, where all the world conspired to defend it. 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 éd.xoy supa, “an eye of revenge,” that nothing can escape. “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lorp. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lorp,” Jer. xxiii
76 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. III.
24, God declares whence it is that none can hide from his presence or escape his justice. It is from his omnipresence; he is everywhere, and all places are alike unto him. Adam when he had sinned went behind a tree; and others, they would go under rocks and moun- tains; but all is one, vengeance will find them out. This is that Aixn which the barbarians thought would not let a murderer live, however he might escape for a season, Acts xxviil. 4
Obs. XX. Great works of providence are a great means of in- struction; and a neglect of them, as to their instructive end, is a great aggravation of the sin of those who live when and where they are performed.
“ 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; and this shall be 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, strange, and unusual,—as thunder, lightning, fire, smoke, earth- quakes, the sound of a trumpet, and the like. The usual working of the minds of men towards these unusual effects of the power of God, is to gaze on them with admiration and astonishment. This God forbids in them: Exod. xix. 21, “ Charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lorp to gaze.” This is not the end or 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 and by them? It was to enstruct them unto a due fear and awful reverence of God, whose holiness and majesty were represented unto them; that they might know him as “a consuming fire.” And this was declared in the issue. For the people coming up unto a due fear of God for the present, and promising obedience thereon, God took it well of them, and approved it in them, as that which answered the design of his works: Deut. v. 23-29, “And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me” (these are the words of Moses to the people), “even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; and ye said, Behold, the Lorp our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire:..... Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us... ... Go thou near and hear all that the Lorp our God shall say; and speak thou unto us all that the LorpD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it. And the Lorp heard the voice of your words when ye spake unto me; and the LorD said unto me, I have heard the voice