(I.) The serpent hath a sul)tilty in liis eye, he hatli a singnhir sharpness of sight ; therefore among the Grecians, a serpent's eye was a proverbial speecli for one of a quick understanding; in tliis we should be like the serpent. Get the serpent's eye, have a quick insight into the mysteries of the Christian religion. Knowledge is the beauty and ornament of a Christian, Prov. xiv. 18., " The prudent are crowned with knowledge." Get the serpent's eye, be di- vinely illuminated. Faith without know- ledge is presumption ; zeal witliout know- ledge is passion, Prov. xix. 2. Without knowledge, the heart is not good ; for one to say he hath a good heart, who liath no knowledge, is as if one should say he hath a good eye, when he hath no sight. In this be like the serpent, of a quick under- standing.
(2.) The serpent hath a prudence and subtilty in his ear ; the serpent will not be deluded with the voice of the charmer, but stops its ear : in this we must be " wise as serpents," — stop our ears to false teachers who are the devil's charmers. 1. We must stop our ears to Arminian teachers, who place the chief power in the will, as if that were the helm that turns about the soul in conversion, 1 Cor. iv. 7., " Who maketh thee to differ from another ?" ILgo me ip- sum discerno, said Grevincho\'ius, I have made myself to differ. Be as the serpent, stop your ears to such doctrine. 2. We must stop our ears to Socinian teachers, who raze the foundation of all religion, and deny Christ's divinity. This the apostle calls "a damnable heresy," 2 Pet. ii. 1. 3. We must stop our cars to Popish teacli- ers, who teach merit, indulgencies, tran- substantiation ; who teach that the pope is the head of the church. Christ is called *' the head of the church," Eph. v. 23. : for the pope to be head, is, to make the cliurch monstrous, to have two heads. Pojiish teachers teach the peo|)le nonsense and blasphemy; they cause tlie people to pray without understanding, — to obey witliout reason, — to believe without sense; it is a damnable religion ; therefore worshi|)ping the beast, and drinking the cup of God's
indignation are put together. Rev. xiv. 9. Oh, in this be "wise as serpents;" stop your cars to the charming of false teachers ! (lod hath given his people this wisdom, to stop their ears to heretics, John x. 5., " A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him."
(3.) The serj)ent hath a chief care to de- fend his licad, — a blow there is deadly : so in this we should " be wise as serpents ;" our chief care sliould he to defend our head from error. The phigue in the head is worst. Loose principles breed loose prac- tices. If the liead be tainted with erro- neous opinions, — that believers are free a lege morali, — that there is no resurrection, — that \yc may do evil that good mav come of it, — what sin will not this lead to? Oh keep yotir head ! Error is a spiritual gan- grene, 2 Tim. ii. 17., which spreads, and, if not presently cured, is mortal. Heresies destroy the doctrine of faith, they rend the mantle of the church's peace, and eat out tlie heart of religion. The Gnostics, as E|)lphanius observes, did not only pervert the judgment of their proselytes, but brought them at last to corporeal uncleanness : er- ror damns as well as vice. Vice is like killing will) a pistol, and error killing with poison. Oh be wise as serpents; defend your head ! " Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." Our Savloiir Christ here commends to us the wisdom of the serpent, and the innocency of the dove. The elect are called wise virgins, Mat. xxv. 4. ; virgins, there is the dove ; wise, there is the serpent. We must have innocency with our wisdom, else our wisdom is hut craftiness ; and we must have wisdom witli our innocency, else our innocency is but weakness. We must have the innocency of the dove, that we may not circumvent others ; and we must have the wisd(»m of the serpent, that others may not circum- vent us.
This union of the dove and serpent is hard to find, but it Is possible ; Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, Acts vii. 22. ; there was the prudence of the serpent ; and 1 e was " meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth," Numb. xli. 3. ; there was the inno- cency of the dove. But the most famous
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SELECT SERMONS.