^ ' Homo Deum uon nisi ex sensu suo metitur, nee de auctoritate ejus cogitat, quin earn circiimcidat, nee de libertate quin ei fibulam impositam velit ; Pelagiani omnes nascimur, immo cum supercilio pharisaico. Hie character vix delebilis est : Homo sibi obnoxium Deum existimat, non se Deo,' &c. — Spanhem. de Gratia Universali, in Prcef. ad Lect.
92 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [J AS. I. 13.
cannot Le Llamcd in all this, paitly because he is not bound to give or continue grace : partly because, when common liglit and restraints are violated, he scemeth to be bound rather to witbdraw what is already given ; and when men put finger in the eye of nature, God may put it out, that thoy tliat will not, may not see ; and if the hedge be continually broken, it is but justice to pluck it up , and then if the vineyard be eaten down, who can be blamed? Isa. v. 5: partly be- cause the subsequent disorders do arise from man's own counsel and free choice ; therefore upon this tradition of God's it is said, ' They walked in their own counsels ; ' that is, according to the free motion and inclination of their own spirits.
[5.] There is a concession and giving leave to wicked instruments, to stir them up to eyil ; as carnal company, evil acquaintance, false ])ro- phets : 1 Kings xxii. 22, ' I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab's prophets ; and God said, Go forth.' In that scheme and draught of providence, the evil spirit is brought in, asking leave for wicked instruments. So Job xii. 16, it is said, ' The deceiver and deceived are his ; ' he is sovereign Lord over all the instruments of deceit, so that they are restrained within bounds and limits, that they can do nothing further than he will give leave.
[6.] There is a presenting of occasions, and disposing of them to such providences as become a snare ; but this can reflect no dishonour upon God, because the providences and objects are good in them- selves, and in their own nature motives to duty, rather than tempta- tions to sin. Wicked men abuse the best things — the word irritateth their corruption ; sin getteth strength by the commandment : Isa. vi. 9, * Go, make the heart of this people fat,' that is, dull and heavy ; as the ass, which of all creatures hath the fattest heart, is the dullest.^ The prophet is bidden to make their hearts fat; the preaching of the word, which should instruct and quicken, maketh them tlie more gross and heavy. So also they abuse mercies and miseries : Ps. Ixix. 22, ' Let their table become a snare, and their welfare a trap.' A sinner, like a spider, sucketh poison out of everything ; or, like the sea, turneth the sweet influences of the heavens, the fresh supply of the rivers, into salt water ; so their table, their welfare, all becomes a curse and a snare to them. In this sense it is said, Jer. vi. 21, 'I will lay stumbling-blocks before this ])eople;' that is, such occasions and i)rovi(lences as are a means to ruin tliem : in all which God most righteously promoteth the glory of his justice.
[7.] A judicial tradition and delivering them up to the power of Satan and tlieir own vile affections; as Rom. i. 2G. ' God gave them up to vile affections ;' this is, when God suffereth those /cotW? evvoia<i, those common notices to be quenched, and all manner of lestraints to be removed: the truth is, we rather give up ourselves; only, because God serveth his ends of it, it is said, he giveth.
[8.] A limitation of sin. As God appointeth the measures of grace according to his own good pleasure, so also the stint of sin ; it runneth out so far as may be for his glory: I's. Ixxvi. 10, ' The wiath of man shall praise thee, the remainder thereof shalt thou restrain.' So far as it may make for God's glory, God letteth the fierceness of man to
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JaS. 1. 14.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 93
have its scope; but wlicn it is come to the stint and bounds that pro- vidence hath set to it, it is quenched in an instant.
[9.] There is a disposal and turning of it to the uses of his glory : Kom. iii. 7, ' Our unrighteousness commendeth his righteousness, and the truth of God aboundetli to his glory through our lie.' God is so good, that he Avould not suffer evil if he could not bring good out of it. In regard of the issue and event of it, sin may be termed (as Gregory said of Adam's fall) felix culpa, a happy fall, because it maketh way for the glory of God. It is good to note how many attri- butes are advanced by sin — mercy in pardoning, justice in punishing, wisdom in ordering, power in overruling it ; every way doth our good God serve himself of the evils of men. The picture of providence would not be half so fair were it not for these black lines and darker shadows. Well, then, let me never blame that God for permitting sin, wiio is willing to discover so much mercy in the remitting of it.