2!4 Chap. s. ,Bn. Expoftion upon the Bvpk gf } O B. Vetf. t 3: crafty ones are for any work, for various works, you may turn them loofe to any fervice they are ready to do good for a need to ferve their own ends, and they will not flick at any evil, for their. own ends. Their byas is not within them, but apon them, and they can clap it to which fide they pleafe, or may be rnofl pleating to, or taking withothers ; yet thisTurn. coat Craf-- tineft (hall not ferve their turn: For faith the text , He takerh the wife tn their own craftineft. The word which we tranflate [ He taketh ] is very fignifi- cant. It imports a taking by force or flrength , and it im- ports a taking by skill or firatagem. God will have them . bosh wayes If thole cunning men work by their wits, He can take them : The Lord bath more flratagems to take them, then they have had to take others : Or if they work by pow- er and by plain ffrengrh, be can take them. The Lord hath more ftrength to take them , then they have had to take o- thers. The word is applyed to the taking inof Chies or Fors,places cepit, app flrengthened both by art and nature, and to the taking of them iteenditde loco ( which includes both fenfes)eitüer by liege or hidden furprifal; aur"betcx- Read Nam. 21.; 2. 7ofh.6.2. Drut.2. 34. And fo the fenfe may pugnav:rzn ° be, tla.ar,althouIe thefementhink,'.hc have fonitrenched and pinata vio . teura expugna- fortiñed themfelvesby their wits , polities and counfels ( as it lithe. wete iti a (bongCity or Caflle )that they feem impregnable,and laugh at all oppofire power : Yet, then God befteges, batters,& rakes them p.cfently;he takes in, andHeights their w,:rks with eafe,he levels to the ground their great thoughts, even the high tower of their imaginationsjhat may be the force of the word [Fie taketb thetn7For as every natural man labours to fecure him- (elf and his lufls,againfl the power of the word of God, by car. nal reafonings and pleadings for them, all which the Apoftic calls ffrong bolda(2 Cor.io.4,1. ) Theweapon: rfear warfare are not carnal:but they are mighty through God to the cafling down ofgong held,. Now(I fay )as natural men fecure themfelves(asit were in flrong-holds) by their carnal reafonings; fo wicked Poli- ticians think to f °cure themfelves, andfortifie their defigns by Blots and platforms of craftycounfel. But as God in the Mi- tAiffery of his Word, ca(leth' down all the atgumenis, which aman frame in hisheart;to protea his lofts. So the Lord in the adminif}rations of his grovidence,ihrows down all the fortifica- tions
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