702 A Difcourfe upon Provide11cc. fentation of good in the bbjea, the Will embracerh it and aCl:s accordinoly. So that its Providence is not .violated by any boi~e10~s and compulfivc fw~y, that the firft Caufe hath over it, but God attracts It with fuch a powerful and infinuating Swectnefs, that though the Will can incline to nothing but what it frems to have reafon for, yet withal it. wills nothing but what God by Providence over-rules it unto. So Auftin de Civitare D ei, lib. )• cap. 9• Nos dicimus & Deum Jcire omnia antequam ftr.nr, & 't!olunrate nqs jt?.cere quecquid a Nobis non niji volrmibus fieri fentimus & novim~s. Thoug~ God ~ore-fees and decrees a~l things b~forc they are, yet we do that w1th a free· will, wh1ch we do not otherwife than wllling_ly. Fifthly, The laft Doubt and Query is cbis: If God govern all ACl:ions, and all Affairs, by an exaa and critical Providence ; how then comes it to pafs that there is fo much Evil, Vilhny and Wickednefs committed in it? The Difquifition of this is the more obfcure and intricate, becaufe it is hard to conceive how God who is infinite Goodnefs it felf, Ihonld intcreft his Providence in what is fo con~ trary to his Nature. Now ht;re we :nuft affirm that there is no Evil whatfoever, \'fhether it be of Sin, or of SUffering, that comes to pafs without the Providence of God. As fOr the Evil of l'unilhment dr Suffering, it is clear, .Amos 3• 6. Shall thm~ be Evil in the City, and the Lord hath not done it? But for the Evil of Sin it is not effectively from God; yet doth he by his Providence, for moft holy and wife Ends, permit wicked. Men to commit thofe Sins which his Law prohibirs, and his Nature abhor9. Tho' they refufc to be fubjea to the Written Law, yet they are and muft be fubjea to the eternal Law of his own Counfels, and there is not a Sin they commit, but as his Authority condemns, and his Purity hares it 1 fo his Wifdom both fuffers it to he, and over·rules it when it is, to his own ends. 'Tis true, all Meh naturally are Slaves to [heir Lufts, but God holds their Chain in his own Hands; fometimes flackning it by his Permiffion, and fometimcs flraitning it by his powerful Re· ftraint. And therefore to plead Providence the warrant of our AC\ions (a boifterous Argument which of late bath been moft ufed among us, until Providence it felf had fignally confuted it) is to plead that for the juftification of our AC\ions, without which they could not be finful. Thus Cain killed his Brother by a Providence, and .Achan ltole the Wedge of Gold, and 'Judas betrayed Chrifr, and the '}ewJ Crucified him by a Providence, yea and all the Villany that was ever a8:ed. under the Sun, was all brought forth out of the Cur fed Womb of Mens Lults, by the Providence of God, that is, by his permiflion to the Evil, and concurrence as to the AB: : Neither is this any ilain at all to the infinite Holinefs and Purity of his Nature; for though we fin, if we hinder not the commiffion of Sin in othe rs when it is in our Power to do it, becaufe we are commanded and obliged to it bo£h by the Care we ought to have of his Honour, and the Charity we owe unto the Souls ofothers; yet no fuch obligation lies upon God, who may juftJy give Men over to their perverted Inclinations. And though he can ealily keep the moft wicked Man in the World, from ruJhing into thofe Sins which he daily commits, yet not being bound to interpofe his Power to hinder them, he permils them holily, and at laft will punifh them ju!Uy. But the Qp.eltion is not fo much whether God doth not by his Providence permit Sin, as why he dolh it. And St . .Auflin anfwers it excellently in that known Saying of his; qod,_ faith h~, who is infinitely good_, would never perf!iiE Evi~ were h_e not alfo 1nfimtely Wtfe, and knew how tp bnng Good out of Ev1l. It IS the primary objea of his Hatred, and that alone for which he hates wicked Men. As he is an Holy God, fo he hates it; and as he is a wife God, fo he permits it. And there is a twofold good for which God doth fometimes permit Evil. Firft, The manifeftation of his own Glory. Secondly, The exercife of his Peoples Graces. Firft, God by permitting Sin manifefts the Glory of many of his Attributes. Surely the wrath of Man /ha!J praife thee, faith &:he Pfalmift, Pfal. 76. 10. Every Sin il:rikes at fame of the Divine Attributes. One denies his J uftice, a110ther his Mercy; one his Power,· another his Wifdom, and all are contrary to his Purity. But yet God bath in his own Counfels fuch fecret Screws and Wires whereby he doth fo wreath and invert thefe Pins that eventually they advance what they fcem direCHy to oppofe. A Child perhaps would think when he fees an Husbandman calt Dung and Soil upon his Field, that .it were but improvidently done thus to fpoil
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