of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword V And how is the deliverance of men con- trived from such persons? Psal. Iviii. 6. ' God breaks their teeth in their mouths, even the great teeth of the young lions.' He keeps this fire from burning, or quencheth it when it is ready to break out into a flame. He breaks their spears and arrows, so that sometimes we are not so much as wounded by them. Some he cuts off and destroys, some he cuts short in their power, some he deprives of the instru- ments whereby alone they can work, some he prevents of their desired opportunities, or diverts by other objects for their lusts, and oftentimes causeth them to spend them among themselves one upon another. We may say there- fore with the psalmist, Psal. civ. 24. ' O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made them all : the earth is full of thy riches :' and with the prophet, Hos. xiv. 9. ' Who is wise, and he shall understand these things ? pru- dent and he shall know them ? all the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them : but tlie trangressors shall fall therein.'
I [3.] If these and the like are the ways whereby God obviates the bringing forth of conceived sin in wicked men, we may learn hence how miserable their condition is, and in what perpetual torment for the most part they spend their days. They ' are like a troubled sea,' saith the Lord, ' that cannot rest.' As they endeavour that others may have no peace, so it is certain that themselves have not any : the principle of sin is not impaired nor weakened in them, the will of sinning is not taken away. They have a womb of sin that is able to conceive monsters every moment. Yea, for the most part, they are forging and framing folly all the day long. One lust or other they are contriving how to satisfy ; they are either devouring by malice and revenge, or vitiating by uncleanness, or trampling on by ambition, or swallowing down by covetousness, all that stand before them. Many of their follies and mischiefs they bring to the very birth, and are in pain to be delivered ; but God every day fills them with disappointment, and shuts up the womb of sin. Some are filled with hatred of God's people all their days, and never once have an opportunity to exer- cise it. So David describes them, Psal. lix. 6. ' They re-
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turn at evening, they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. They go up and down and belch out with their mouths, swords are in their lips ;' ver. 7 ; and yet are not able to accomplish their designs. What tortures do such poor creatures live in ? Envy, malice, wrath, revenge, devour their hearts by not getting vent. And when God hath exercised the other acts of his wise providence in cutting short their power, or opposing a greater power to them, when nothing else will do, he cuts them off in their sins, and to the grave they go full of purposes of iniquity. Others are no less hurried and diverted by the power of other lusts which they are not able to satisfy. This is the sore travail they are exercised with all their days. If they accomplish their designs they are more wicked and hellish than before ; and if they do not, they are filled with vexation and discontentment. This is the portion of them who know not the Lord, nor the power of his grace. Envy not their condition ; notwithstanding their outward glittering shew, their hearts are full of anxiety, trouble, and sorrow.
[4.] Do we see sometimes the floodgates of men's lusts and rage set open against the church and interest of it, and doth prevalency attend them, and power is for a season on their side; let not the saints of God despond. He hath unspeakably various and effectual ways for the stifling of their conceptions, to give them dry breasts, and a miscarry- ing womb. He can stop their fury when he pleaseth. ' Surely,' saith the psalmist, ' the wrath of man shall praise thee, the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain ;' Psal. Ixxvi. 10. When so much of their wrath is let out as shall exalt his praise, he can when he pleaseth set up a power, greater than the combined strength of all sinning creatures, and re- strain the remainder of the wrath that they had conceived. * He shall cut off" the spirit of princes, he is terrible to the kings of the earth;' ver. 12. Some he will cut oft'and destroy, some he will terrify and affi'ight, and prevent the rage of all. He can knock them on the head, or break out their teeth, or chain up their wrath, and who can oppose him ?
[5.] Those who have received benefit by any of the ways mentioned, may know to whom they owe their preserv- ation, and not look on it as a common thing. When you have conceived sin, hath God weakened your power for sin, . or denied you opportunity, or took away the object of your