1. As to the author : Trepuyp-ei avroh 6 0eo?. Here a difficulty ariseth; for God is not, and cannot be, the author of sin. He that is essentially good cannot be the cause of evil ; and he that is idtor pec- cati, the avenger of sin, cannot be auctor p>eccati, the author of it. If he should cause man to sin, how will his punishment of it be just ? I answer — As it is a sin, God hath no hand in it ; but as it is a punish- ment of sin, God hath to do in it.
To clear this to you, consider —
[1.] He that is the supreme Lord and Governor of his creatures is also their Judge ; for legislation and judgment belong to the same au- thority. And therefore God is called sometimes our King, and some- times our Judge : Gen. xviii. 25, ' Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ? ' Rom. iii. 5, 6, ' Is God unrigliteous ? how then shall he judge the world ? ' That is his office and prerogative.
[2.] God's way of judging for the present is either external or in- ternal. As, for instance, there are two acts of judicature — reward and punishment. In rewarding, God's external government is seen iu dispensing outward blessings to his people, as the fruit of their obed- ience : Micah ii. 7, ' Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly ?' His promises speak good, and as fulfilled do good, yield protection, maintenance, and such a measure of outward prosperity as supporteth and maintaineth them during their service. David owned God's dealing with him in this sort : Ps. cxix. 56, ' This I had, because I k'?pt thy precepts.' So as to his internal government, in giving them
8G THE NINTH SERMON. [2 TheS. II. II, 12.
peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost: Eom. xiv. 17, * For the khigdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost ;' Prov. iii. 17, ' Her ways are ways of pleasant- ness, and all her paths are peace.' These are tlie 'internal rewards of obedience. And so also God often rewardeth grace with grace ; as Isa. Iviii. 13, 14, ' If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and slialt honour him, not doing thy own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it ;' Ps. xxxi. 24, ' Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.' Proficiency in the same grace is a reward of the several acts and exercise of it. So in punishing, sometimes he useth the way of external government, by the terrible judg- ments exercised u})on men for the breach of his law : Kom. i. 18, ' For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and imrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness :' Heb. ii. 2, ' Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward ; ' sometimes the way of internal government, by terrors of conscience, or punishing sin conmiitted with sin permitted. Both these parts are seen in punishing both the godly and the wicked ; as, for in- stance, in the godly, in the way of external government : 1 Cor. xi. 32, 'But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.' In the way of internal government, the lesser penal withdrawings of the Spirit, which God's people find in themselves after some sins and neglects of grace, are grievous. But the judgments upon the souls of the ungodly are most dreadful, when the sinner is either terrified or stupefied ; terrified by horrors of conscience : 1 Cor. xv. 56, ' The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law ; ' or stupefied by being given up to their own hearts' counsels : Ps. Ixxxi. 12, ' So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lu.sts, and they walked in their own counsels.' So that the sinner is left dull and senseless and past feeling : Eph. iv. 18, * Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.' By the first, by horrors of conscience, they are made to feel God's displeasure at the courses they walk in ; but when that is long despised, and men sin on still, then the other and more ter- rible judgment Cometh ; for the giving up a sinner to his own lusts, and his losing all remorse, is the last and sorest judgment on this side hell. [3.] As to God's internal judgments, the scripture chiefly insists upon two parts of this internal dispensation — blindness of mind and hard- ness of heart ; they usually go together. Blindness of mind is spoken of, John xii. 30, 40, ' Therelore tliey could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts ; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be convei-led, and I should heal them.' All passages are obstructed whereby the word might enter and work conversion unto God. It was God laid this punishment of blindness upon them.