142 / 808
EpheJan.r,Chap.r.
VER.ti.
of
man
could not doe
it
,
did not the
will
of
God
give way by
his
permiffion.
I fee
Theeves comming
to robbe,
and
ready
to
enter
at fuch
a
doore,I
have
power to
fhoote
the boult
and
locke it,fo
thatthey
could
not
enter
;
notwithftanding having company
aboutme to
take
them
at
pleafure,
I
leave
all,
that
they may freelyenter and take fome
booty,
that
fo
I
may come on
them,
apprehend
them,
and bring
them to their
deferved
end;
in
fuch an
example,
thoughtheunjuft
will
of
thefe men
did
immediately
make
this
robbery
exift,
yet
I
doe make
it exift
more
principally
then they,
in
as
much
as
they
could
not
have done it, had
not
I Riven
way to them ; yet howbeit
I
am
a
caufe
why
this robbe-
ry
is
committed
in
thisplace, and at this
time,
in
which
I
could
have
withftood,yet
am
I
no
caufe
to them
of
committing
it.
s.
Sin, though it hath
an
outward
difagreement ,
fuch
as
maybe
in
a
creature from
the Creator
;
yet
it
hath no inward pofitiverepugnancie
or
contrariancie
to Gods nature,
fuch
as is
twixt
fire
and
water:
Even
as
the good created, though
it
hath
an
outward agreement with,
and re-
femblance
to the Creator, yet
it
hath
no
inward agreement, fuch
as
is
twixt
nourifhmenr, and
a
thing
nourifhed,for
then
fhould
the
divine
na-
ture
inwardly
in it felfe
be
better for the
one,
and
worke
for
the
being
of
the
other,
and
fo
fhould neceffarilywill
the one,
and
nil
the other.
Againe finne,
though
as
finne,
it
hath
an
outward difagreement,
and be
evill
in
the
nature
ofit,yet
is
it not abfolutely
evill
to God
as it
is finne,
but
to
the inftrument finning,in
as
much
as
God
can make fin as it
is
fin,
ferve todivers good
ufes.
No
wonder then wicked
men can ufe
Gods
belt thingsto evill.
Sin,as
fin,God
can turn
to
an occafion
of
his
glory;for
not
permiffion,
yut the thing permitted,
is
it
which
God doth
take occafion
hy,to
give
the promife
of
the
Mediator. He
can
ufe fin as
fin,
for
a
punifhment,Rem.
.
iq.Becaufe they
did
provoke him by
idolatry,he
did punifh
themwith
giving them
up
to
buggery:Thefe
latter finswere
not
punifhments,'in
re-
gard they deferved
further punifhment&condemnation then the former,
yea,
a
further
defection
of
God
:
but
in
regard
of
committing thefe
acts
themfelvcs
:
Had
God
byconverfion preventedfurther defertion
&
con-
demnation
in
one
of
thefeidolaters,now
come to mafculine
filthineffe,
his
idolatry
even
in
this
ad
once exercifed, fhould have beene
punifhed.
The
finful refpedt in
this
fad
is
more
penal
thendefertion
or
punifhment
following
after. God
may
ufefin as
fin,for
exercifing his
children;The
cup
of
fuffering
God
reacheth us,is to be
finfully and injurioufly hand-
led
;
God would
have
Chrift
not onely dye,
but
fuller being innocent,
an
unjuft
condemnation,yea, the
finfull
manner
of
affli
king
is
heavier
to
Gods
children, then the
afllidìion
it
felfe.Befide
that,
in
many
of
their
exercifes,
it
is
not the
ad
which doth or could
afflidt
them,
but the
fin
of the
ad
:
not
fpeech
from
Shemei,but finful
reviling fpeech was
Div-yids
exereife. Whereforebeing
not abfolutely
evill,
but good to God
in re-
gard
of
the
ufe
of
it, he may ordaine and will
it as
good, or
rather,
the
good
ufe
of
it.
6.
Though Gods
will and
worke may be
in
finne,
yet it
is not
alike