SERMON CIII.
Tliou, through thy commandments, hast made me iviser than mine enemies ; for they are ever loith me. — Ver. 98.
In the former verse you shall find the man of God had expressed his affections to the word, ' Oh, how I love thy law !' Now he renders the reason of his great affection, because he got wisdoni thereby ; a benefit of great value, as being the perfection of the reasonable nature, and a benefit highly esteemed in the world. Those which care not for the reality of wisdom yet affect a reputation of it : Job xi. 12, ' Vain man would be accounted wise, though he be born like the wild ass's colt ;' tliough he be rude and brutish, yet he would fain be accounted wise. Knowledge was the great bait laid for our first parents ; and so much of that desire is still left with us, that we had rather be accounted wicked than weak, and will sooner entitle ourselves to the guilt of a vice in mo]"als than own any weakness in intellectuals. No m^m would be accounted a fool. Well, then, David's affection is justified ; he might well say, ' Oh, how I love thy law !' because he got wisdom thereby, and such wisdom as carried him through all his trouble, tliough he had to do with crafty adversaries, as Doeg, Achitophel, and others, ^
VeR. 98.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 4S3
that excelled for worldly policy ; yet, ' Ob, liow I love thy law 1' For, * through thy commandments/ &c. In which words you have —
1. The benefit gotten by the word, ivisdom.
2. The original author of this benefit, thou.
0. The means, through thy commandments.
4. The benefit amplified, by comparing it with the wisdom and craft of his enemies, the politicians of Saul's court, men advanced for their great wisdom and subtlety, Thou hast made me wisei' than mine enemies.
5. The manner how he came to obtain this benefit, /or they are ever with me.
Doct. Til at God, through his commands, doth make his people wiser than their enemies.
It is but David's experience resolved into a proposition. I shall —
1. Illustrate the point by explaining the circumstances of it.
2. Then prosecute it.
First, The benefit obtained is wisdom. Mark—
1. It is not craft, or wisdom to do evil — that is to be learned in the devil's school — but divine wisdom, such as is gotten by study and obed- ience of God's laws : Gen. iii. 1, ' The serpent was the subtlest of all the beasts in the field.' Satan's instruments are very acute in mischief, 'wise to do evil, but to do good have no knowledge,' Jer. iv. 22; cunning enough in a way of sin, but to seek in every point of duty ; your souls must not enter into their secrets. This wisdom should rather be unlearned ; better be fools and bunglers in a way of sin, than wise to do evil : 1 Cor. xiv. 22, ' Brethren, in malice by ye children, but in understanding be ye men ;' and Kom. xvi, 19, ' I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.' Simplicity here is the best wisdom.
2. It is not worldly policy, or a dexterous sagacity in and about the concernments of this life. There are some which have ' the spirit of the world,^ 1 Cor. ii. 12, and a genius or disposition of soul which wholly carrieth them out to riches, honours, and pleasures, and are notable in this kind of skill, in promoting their secular ends in these things. A child of God may be a fool to them for this kind of wisdom ; for it is our Saviour's observation, Luke xvi. 8, ' The children of tliis world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.' Though David was wiser than his enemies, yet the children of this world are wiser in their generation, that is, as to carnal fetches and devices to accomplish their worldly purposes ; in their generation, that is, about the course of their affairs. TMis David is not wiser than his enemies.
3. It is not great skill in arts and civil discipline. This is indeed a gift of God, but given promiscuously, sometimes to the good and some- times to the bad ; sometimes to the good, for Solomon could unravel all the secrets of nature, and dispute of everything from the cedar to the hyssop, 1 Kings iv. 23, 29-31 ; and sometimes to the bad, as the heathen philosophers, many of whom knew all things almost within the circuit of the world. Yet how little this wisdom is to be valued in regard of that wisdom which we get by God's commandments, God hath in some short shown, in that he hath suflfered those- books which
484 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. GUI.
Solomon wrote concerning trees, plants, beasts, to be lost ; whereas to tins day the writings of the heathens are preserved, as Aristotle's book De A7iimalihus, &c. But now those books in which Solomon taught the fear of God and true wisdom, which is godliness, are, by the singular care of God's providence, conserved for our use and benefit. God hath herein shown that we might want those other books with- out the loss of true wisdom, but those books that indeed make us wise to salvation, these are kept. Learning is a glorious endowment indeed, but God would give us that gift by the writings of heathens ; but grace, which is true wisdom, he would give us that by the holy scripture. A man may excel in learning, yet, after all the profound researches and inquiries of his high-flown reason into the mysteries of nature, he may be a very fool, and be damned for ever ; for Paul saith of the philosophers : Eom. i. 22, ' Professing to be wise, they became fools ;' since they had not the true knowledge of God and the way of salvation.