VOL. vin. I
130 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SePv. CXX.
wisdom of God for lis is greater than the wisdom of any against us. And also because of his watchful providence ; he hath a waking love and care of us night and day : Ps. cxxi. 4, ' Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neitlier skunher nor sleep.' He will be so far from sleep- ino-, that he will not so much as slumber. When we know nothing, liis providence finds out the secret contrivances that are against us. I tell you, God is our father ;• he will maintain us and take care for us, when we live by faith, and not by shifts, in a good ])lain downright course of honesty : Gen. xvii. 1, ' I am God all-sufficient : walk before me, and be thou perfect ;' that is, they slionld go on doing their duty, and refer the care of their safety to God. Oh ! then, cast yourselves upon the Lord ; ho will either direct your way to eschew these snares, or pluck your feet out of them if you be taken tlierein : Ps. xxv. 15, ' Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord ; he shall pluck my feet out of the snare.' Look to him for direction and counsel.
2. Bless God for your safety and preservation ; it is a mercy to have a being, in the midst of so many dangers and snares as waylay us everywhere; especially should we bless God when we have escaped some notable trap and pit that was digged for us : Ps, cxxiv. 7, ' Our soul is esca})ed like a bird out of the snare of the fowler : the snare is broken, and we are escaped.' This is a passage we may use to God this day. There are two grounds usually of thanksgiving for this deliverance: —
[1.] That their devices came to nonght : Job xv. 35, 'They con- ceive mischief and bring forth vanity.' It discovereth the wisdom, power, goodness, and watchfulness of God, that this dark and hellish machination, that they thought so wisely laid that all devils in hell could not discover it, yet the God of heaven brought it to light : Prov. xxi. 30, ' There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord.'
Those three words set out the quintessence of parts. Wisdom notetli a quick apprehension ; iindersianding a wise foresight grounded upon exi)erience ; counsel a designation of some rare artifice : Isa. viii. 9, 10, ' Associate yourselves, 0 ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces ; and all ye of inv countries : gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought ; speak the word, and it shall not stand : for God is with us.'
[2.] The mischief returned back upon themselves : Ps. vii. 15, ' He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. Higgaion. Selah.' Their instruments ; it is a high note that we may observe it. An iron heated red-hot burnetii their fingers that hold it ; they are taken in their own pit, poisoned in their own cup, holden in cords of their own vanity, so that in the issue it appearetli they laid a snare for themselves rather than for us.
Use 2. As they are enticements to sin ; so we may make many uses of it.
1. You ought to ask God's counsel, for you walk in the midst of snares, that he would guide you and lead you : Ps. xxvii. 11, ' Teach me thy way, 0 Lord ; lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.' Those that watch for our halting are many, their craft is great; therefore go to the wise God for counsel ; ask of him what your way and course shall be, for he seath that which you see not.
VeK, 110.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 131
2. Get spiritual wisdom and understanding. An ignorant, credulous heart is soon seduced, but a man of understanding, that seeth his danger, is not easily drawn and allured into it : Pro v. i. 17, ' In vain is the snare laid in the sight of any bird/ The vain, credulous, simple young man is soon enticed by the lewd woman, in the 7th of the Proverbs.
3. Keep the highway of duty, and walk by a sure rule, and then you are safe. David saith here, 'I erred not from thy precepts.' In a time of snares, often consult with your rule. It is Satan's aim to put us out of our way ; as when the fisherman would get the fishes into the net, he seeketh to rouse them out of their place. Take a man out of God's way, and he becometh a ready prey to Satan. In doubtful cases there is no man chooseth the worst, but first he breaketh some known rule and clear moral precept. Therefore be punctual, and keep close to God's directions in clear and known cases, and you are safe.
4. There needs a mortified heart to worldly interests ; our temporal interest is to be shaken off. A man of carnal affections seeketh out the snare : Job xviii. 8, ' He is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.' If we will find the sin and disposition of heart, God will find the occasion ; and a man that hath a commodity to put off (faith and a good conscience), will soon find a chapman to truck with him. Judas was thinking of betraying Christ, and the high priests were plotting how to do it just at the same time. Worldliness layetli us open to the snare : 1 Tim. vi. 9, 'But they that will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, Avhich drown men in destruction and perdition.' But he that is dead to worldly interests remaineth firm, whatever bait be proposed.