1st. That what he doth is just and righteous; for so must all acts of supreme and absolute dominion be.
2dly. That he can be author of nothing but what hath existence and being itself; for he works as the fountain of beings. This sin hath not. So that though every action, whether good or bad, receives its specification from the working of providence, — and to that is their existence in their several kinds to be ascribed, — yet an evil action, in the evilness of it, depends not upon divine concourse and influence; for good and evil make not sundry kinds of actions, but only a dis- tinction of a subject in respect of its adjuncts and accidents.
But now the principle of operation in man is nature vitiated and con-upted ; — I say nature, not that he worketh naturally, being a free agent, but that these faculties, will and understanding, which are the principles of operation, are in nature corrupted, and from thence can nothing flow but evil. " An evil tree bringeth forth evil fmit." " Men do not gather figs from thistles." " A bitter fountain sends not forth sweet waters." " Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" If the fountain be poisoned, can the streams be wholesome? What can you expect of light and tmth from a mind possessed with vanity and darkness? what fi-om a will averted from the chiefest good, and fixed upon present appearances? what from a heart the figment of whose imagination is only evil?
[2.] Consider the difference in the rule of operatioJi. Every thing that works hath a rule to work by ; — this is called a law. In that thing which to man is sinful, God worketh as it is a thing only ; man, as it is a sinful tiling. And how so? Why, every one's sin is his aberration from his rule of operation or working. ' A,aap^a^£/^ is "aber-
158 RIGHTEOUS ZEAL ENCOURAGED ' ,
r.aie a scopo:" to sin is not to collime aright at the end proposed. 'H aiJ^apria hriv yj aco/x/a is a most exact definition of it. Irregnlarity is its fonn, if it may he said to have a form ; a privation's fonn is de- formity. Look, then, in any action wherein an agent exorbitates fi"om its rule, — that is sin. Now, what is God's rule in operation? His own infinite, wise will alone. He takes neither motive, rise, nor occasion for any internal acts from any thing without himself; he doth what- ever he pleaseth, Ps. cxv. 3 ; he " worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will," Eph. i, 1 1 ; — tliat is his own law of opera- tion, and the rule of righteousness unto others : — working them agi-ee- ahly to his own will, which he always must do, he is free from the obliquity of any action. What, now, is the rule of the sons of men? Why, the revealed will of God, " Revealed things belong to us, that we may do them," Deut. xxix. 29. God's revealed will is the rule of our walking, our working; vv^hatever suits not, answers not this, is evil. " Sin is the transgression of the law," 1 John iii. 4. Here, then, comes m the deformity, the obliquity, the ataxy, of any thing. God works, and man worketh ; those agents have several rules. God works ac- cording to his rule; hence the action is good, as an action; — man deviates from his rule; hence it is sinful, in respect of its qualifications and adjuncts. Man writes fair letters upon a wet paper, and they iim all into one blot; not the skill of the scribe, but the defect in the paper, is the cause of the deformity. He that makes a lame horse go, is the cause of his going; but the defect in his joints is the cause of his going lame. The sun exhales a steam from the dunghill ; the sun is the cause of the exhalation, but the dunghill of the unwhole- some savour. The first cause is the proper cause of a thing's being, but the second of its being evil,
[3.] Consider the several operations and actings of God and man ; for instance, in a rebellious people's fighting against their helpers under him.
Now, the acts of God herein may be refen-ed to six heads.
1st. A continuance of the creature's being and life ; — " upholding him by the word of his power," Heb. i. 3, when he might take him off in a moment; — " enduring them with much long-suffering," Rom. ix. 22, when he might cut them off, as he did the opposers of Elijali, with "fire from heaven," 2 Kings i. 12.
2dli/. A continuance of power of operation to them, when he coidil make their hands to wither, like Jeroboam's, when they go about to strike, 1 Kings xiii. 4 ; or their heaits to die within them, like Nabal's, when they intend to be cliurlish, 1 Sam. xxv. 37. But he raiseth them up, or makes them to stand, that they may oj^pose, Rom. ix. 1 7.
'Sdli/. Laying before them a suitable object for the drawing forth their con-u]ition unto opposition, giving them sucli helpers as .shall in