2. To divide between them and their rulers. The devil knoweth what an advantage it is to religion to have the countenance of princes, and, on the other side, how jealous they are of their authority and prerogative; and therefore by his instruments seeketh to prejudice and prepossess them against it, and those that profess it in strictness and power. Thus ' Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos liath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel : the land is not able to bear all his words,' Amos vii. 10. He chargeth him with treason and open rebellion, that he withdrew sub- jects from their duty, and excited the people against his authority, and this by clancular insinuation, when Amos was not called or heard. Thus they pretend great friendship to authority, to sharpen the rage of princes against God's servants. So Ezra iv. 12, 'Be it known unto the king that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city,' &c. So Saul against David, as appears by his expostulation with him about it: 1 Sam. xxiv. 9, 'Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt ? ' So Haman against the Jews : Esther iii. 8, ' Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad, and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom, and their laws are diverse from all people, neither keep they the king's laws : therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them.' So in primitive times ; thus did they take the Christians, who were most innocent, though they were more numerous ; yet still they were faithful to their prince : Bibamus pro salute imperatoris ; they would rather endure to die than venture upon it, for they did apprehend it as a heathen sacrifice. Thus whisperers make princes conceive an ill opinion of religious men.
3. To divide between them and God. The devil turneth every stone. Would you ever think malice should rise so high as to dis- engage God from the protection of his people, and to disaffect him against them ? How can it be? Have Satan and his instruments a plot upon God himself ? What else should be the meaning of all his temptations ? But see Balaam's plot, Micah. vi. 5, ' 0 my people,
384 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR, XCII.
remember what Balak the king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered from Shittim unto Gilgal,' &c. Balak and Balaam are framing a project how to overcome the Israelites, and that can never he as long as Grod is with them ; and how shall they do to get away God from them ? Jehovah was not as a heathen god, to be called out by sacrifices and enchantments, as they had their charms and rites among the heathens to call out their tutelar gods from among the nations against whom they came to fight. Macrobius hath a chap- ter, De Ritu evocandi Deos. They were now to deal with the God of Israel, who would not be moved with such deceits and blandishments ; therefore they will have a plot to disengage him from his people. It is insinuated, Num. xxiv. 14, ' Come now, and I will advertise thee what thou shalt do.' Moses doth not express the counsel given, be- cause it was whispered secretly into Balak's ear ; therefore you see the sense is imperfect in that place, and indeed there is a pause in the Hebrew, to show that something must be supplied. But what the plot was may be known by the effect, in the 25th of Numbers, and is in brief set forth. Rev. ii. 14, where it is said of Balaam, that ' he caused Balak to lay a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.' This was the plot, to send some beautiful women of Midian to wander about the camp of Israel, to tempt their lusty youth and martial men first to un- cleanness and then to idolatry, that so God might be provoked against them — a plot so full of refined malice, that it can hardly be paralleled. Thus the devil and his instruments play their part sufficiently, to divide God's people, to prejudice their rulers, yea, to disaffect God himself.
Secondly, Plots to discourage and suppress religion. So there are many ways which wicked men take. Who can name them all ? I shall only instance in two policies of Julian the apostate, the most re- fined instrument the devil used either for wit or malice ; two ways especially did he seek to undermine religion.
1. One was to forbid the use of schools to the Christians, and sup- press human learning. To make a people irreligious, the way is to make them ignorant ; discourage learning, and piety will not be long in fashion, not able long to maintain itself : in the dark men will adore any fancy. This was like Nahash his condition to Jabesh Gilead, ' Put out their right eye.' God's two famous instruments who wrote most both of the Old and New Testament, Paul and Moses, were both excellently skilled in secular learning.