Ob.serve, again, how God's wisdom is set forth by these three words, v.nderstandinrj, counsel, ivisdom, to assure the hearts of the faithful that ' the gates of hell shall not prevail against' the church of God, Mat. xvi. 18. In the gates anciently was their strength, and there their magistrates and council sat. Now, they that believe that God is wise, of whom should they be afraid ? Prov. xxi. 30, ' There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord.' There may be wisdom, counsel, and understanding in the enemies of the gospel ;
388 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeU. XCII.
and in the Lord there is wisdom and strength, counsel and understand- ing. Only against him there is the wisdom, counsel, and understanding of the creature ; in him, of the creator. Surely the wisdom, counsel, and understanding of the creature can do nothing without him, nothing against him. Not without him, for it is dependent ; whatever the crea- ture hath it Cometh from him ; otherwise our understanding is hut ignor- ance, our counsel rashness, our wisdom folly. Pharaoh thought to go wisely to work, Exod. i. 10 ; but that wisdom costs dear when it tends to suppress God's interest. Ahab, when God threatened to cut off his posterity, begets seventy sons, bestowed them in fenced cities, 2 Kings X. 1 ; but those seventy sons were slain. Herod thought to go wisely to work, to destroy him that was born king of the Jews in the cradle ; but Christ was preserved for all that. The synagogue of Satan is hatching crafty counsels to destroy the spouse of Christ, 1)ut with what eftect ? The man of sin is consumed more and more. We are afraid of our subtle enemies, but are we in such straits as God knoweth not how to bring us out ? They cannot outwit the Lord. Whatever is plotted in Rome or hell against us, God knoweth it, for he hath understanding ; God counter- worketh it, for he hath counsel ; therefore they will but play the fool, for he hath wisdom. He heareth every word they say, knoweth their secret juggling, is at work for those that depend upon him ; therefore let us rest in God's wisdom, and not be disquieted with every rumour.
2. The care and vigilancy of his providence. It is emphatically expressed in two places : Heb. xiii. 5, 6, ' He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee ; so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me ;' and Ps. cxxi. 4, ' Behold, he thatkeepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.' In both there is a negative gradation. His eyelids try the children of men ; the Lord waketh for us all.
Secondly, That usually he doth protect his people against the plots of the proud, and bringeth the mischief they intend to others upon their own heads : Job xv. 35, ' They conceive mischief and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit,' But to keep the notion of the text : Ps. vii. 15, ' Jle made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made ;' Ps. ix. 15, 16, ' The Lord is known by the judgment wliicli he executeth : the wicked is snared by the work of his own hand : they are sunk down into the jiit they digged ; in the net which they hid is their own feet taken.' So Ps. xxxv. 7, 8, ' For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul. Let destruction come upon him at unawares, and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall ;' and Ps. x. 2, ' Let them be taken in the device they have imagined ;' and Ps. Ivii. 6, ' They have prepared a net for my step ; my soul is bowed down : they have digged a pit before me, in the midst whereof they ai-e fallen themselves.' All these places show how usual it is that their devices do not succeed ; yea, that the wicked cannot take a nearer course to ruin themselves than to seek the overthrow of God's church and people. All their machi- nations turn to their own loss, and the mischief they design to others falls constantly on themselves. As a stone thrown up or an arrow shot
VeR. 85.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 389
up against heaven returnetli upon the head of him that throweth it, their acts and attempts of hurting others are converted to their own ruin, and destruction seizeth upon them by that very means by which they thought to bring it upon other men. This God doth, partly as they are proud, as they despise God and his people : Ps. x. 4, ' The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God ; God is not in all his thoughts.' They are so confident of all they design, that they will not so much as call upon God for a blessing : this is so firmly laid, that all things shall succeed. They will not seek after God through the pride of their countenance ; or suppose they should pray, it is but as Balaam offering sacrlhce to entice God to curse his own people. The Lord telleth us, Prov. xxi. 27, ' The_ sacri- fice of the wicked is an abomination : how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind ? ' Partly because of God's care and respect to his people : ' The poor committeth himself unto thee ; thou art the helper of the fatherless,' Ps. x. 14. He trusts his all with God, who is the patron of the innocent and oppressed.