prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing that is if the event does not answer his Prediction I have deceived him or confuted his vain Lying Prophesy And how would God deceive him that immediately follows I will stretch out my hand upon him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel and they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity both Prophets and People This did effectually deceive them as being a terrible confutation of their Prophesies and what God expresly threatened Because they have seduced my people saying peace and there was no peace 13. Ezek. 8 9 10. This is what God attributes to himself as his peculiar Prerogative and Glory That it is He that frustrateth the tokens of the seers and maketh diviners mad by deceiving them in the events of things and confuting their Prophesies by his Judgments 44. Isaiah 25. as he expresly threatned against these lying Prophets and Diviners 3. Micah 5 6 7. which is a plain Comment upon this Text. As for what is objected about David's numbering the People it is hardly worth naming â— Sam. 24. â— it is said The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he moved David against them to say Go number the people But in 1 Chron. 21. 1. it is expresly said That Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel From whence we learn in what sense this is attributed to God when Satan was the immediate Tempter only because God in anger against Israel suffered Satan to tempt David to number them But that is more considerable that is objected from St. Paul concerning the Heathens whom God delivered up to all manner of Wickedness in punishment of their Idolatry They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonour their own bodies between themselves And for this cause God gave them up to vile affections And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient being filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness c. Now is not this a Reflection on the Holiness of God that because Men are guilty of one Sin he delivers them up to all other Sins For can a Holy God punish Sin with Sin Can he who hates all Wickedness contribute any thing to make Men more wicked than otherwise they would be But in answer to this we need only consider what is meant by God's giving them up to all uncleanness and to a reprobate mind which signifies no positive Act of God but only his leaving them in the Power and Management of those Evil Spirits whom they idolatrously worshipped For most of these Vices to which God is said to give them up were the necessary Effects of their Idolatry were the sacred Rites and Mysteries of their Religious Worship and if they would worship such Gods they must worship them as they would be worshipped And this corrupted the Lives and Manners of Men and destroy'd all the Notions of Good and Evil and then they were prepared for any Wickedness which their own vicious Inclinations and the Circumstances of their Condition and Fortune or those wicked Spirits could tempt them to This very Account we find in the Book of Wisdom where we have such another Catalogue of Vices as the Apostle here gives us charged upon their Idolatry as the natural Effects of it Now if Men will worship such Gods as delight in Uncleanness and Impurity and all manner of Wickedness and who will be worshipped with the most infamous Vices to the utmost Reproach and Contempt of Human Nature there is no avoiding it but that their Religion must corrupt their Lives they give themselves up to the Worship of Evil Spirits and God leaves them in their Hands for who should have the Government of them but the gods they worship They reproach the Divine Nature by vile and sensible Representations and God gives them up to vile Affections to dishonour their own Natures They corrupt the natural Notions they have of God and God gives them up to a Reprobate mind not to distinguish between Good and Evil. The Devil had erected a Kingdom of Darkness in the World and God thought fit for some time to permit it till he sent his own Son to destroy the Works of the Devil and those who gave themselves up to Idolatry became his Slaves and Vassals for he is the Prince of the Power of the Air the Spirit that ruleth in the Children of Disobedience And this is God's giving them up to vile Affections his casting them out of his Protection when they had first renounced him and giving them up to the Power of wicked Spirits to whom they had given themselves So that here is no other Objection against the Holiness of God but that there is a Devil who is a very impure Spirit and affects Divine Honour to be the god of this World and that God suffers him to govern those who worship him and to seduce them into all the Wickedness of a Diabolical Nature And yet that barbarous Tyranny which the Devil exercised over his Votaries that impure flagitious Worship which he instituted and that Excess of Wickedness wherewith he corrupted the Lives of Men was the most effectual way to convince Mankind what sort of gods they worshipped and did make the wiser Heathens asham'd of their gods and of their Worship and as Learning and Civility increased they reformed their Worship and allegoriz'd away their gods which disposed them for the more ready Reception of that Holy Religion which the Son of God preach'd to the World Wickedness is its own Punishment and many times proves its own Cure and God could not have inflicted a more Just Punishment upon the Idolatrous World than to deliver them up to the Tyranny of those wicked Spirits whom they worshipped and there was not a more likely way to convince men of their fatal Error than those inhuman and impious Rites of Worship and that Excess of Wickedness which their Idolatry betray'd them to which was enough to make Human Nature start and fly back The like objection is made from the Antichristian State the appearance of the Man of sin whose coming is after the working of satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they shold believe a lie That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 1 Thess. 2. 9. 10 11 12. Now what can be more just than this for God to suffer the Devil to blind those men who
will not see To deceive those with signs and lying wonders and all deceivableness of unrighteousness who do not love the trath but have pleasure in unrighteousness who endeavour to deceive themselves and desire to be deceived For this is all that is meant by sending them strong delusions to believe a lie that God suffers the Man of sin to erect his Kingdom after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders When men are in love with their Sins and therefore do not love the Truth because it discovers and reproves their Sins they are out of the protection of Gods Grace and are delivered up to the Cheats and Impostures of Crafty Men or of Wicked Spirits This is the rule and method of God's Grace he forces truth on no man but those who love the truth shall find it Those who cry after knowledge aud lift up their voice for understanding who seek her as silver and search for her as for hid treasures they shall understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God 2. Prov. 2 3 4 5. But if men wilfully shut their own eyes against the light God suffers the God of this world to blind them as St. Paul teaches 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. But if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which belive not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them Which should make us all afraid of prejudice and the love of this world which bar up the mind against truth and by degrees betray us to a judicial blindness There are some other Texts which do indeed attribute the supreme Disposal of all Human Actions to God but without charging his Providence with mens sins 16. Prov. 9. A mans heart deviseth his ways but the Lord directeth his steps 19. 21. There are many devices in a mans heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand 20. 24. Mans goings are of the Lord how then can a man understand his own ways The meaning of which is that men advise and deliberate and choose freely what they intend to do but when they come to action they can do nothing they can bring nothing to pass but what God will God can change their Counsels or can disappoint them when they are ripe for action or can make what they do serve quite another end than what they intended Now this only proves what I have already observed That the Issues and Events of all things are in God's hands as they must be if he governs the World Men may choose what they please but they shall do only what God sees fit and what he orders for wise ends God does not act immediately but makes use of Natural causes or of the Ministries of men both good and bad men Men choose and act freely and pursue their own Designs and Imaginations and therefore the moral Good or Evil of the action is their own and God does as freely with unsearchable Wisdom over-rule all Events which are therefore God's doing as well as mens being directed by him to serve the wise ends of Providence in rewarding or punishing Men or Nations as they deserve Thus I have as briefly as I could examined most of those Texts which have been thought to attribute to God some kind of Causality and Efficiency in the Sins of Men and I hope have made it appear that there is no such thing intended in them And for the conclusion of this Argument concerning the Holiness of Providence I shall only add some few Practical Inferences by way of Application 1. Not to attribute our own or other Mens sins to God Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed 1. James 13 14. This is absolutely necessary to be observed for without it there is an end of all Religion If God can influence mens Minds to wicked Purposes and Counsels it is impossible he should hate Wickedness or be so Holy as many Holy men are who would no more incline or tempt other men to sin than they would sin themselves And who will hate sin or think that God will love him ever the less for being a Sinner who believes this If God want the Sins of Men to accomplish his own Counsels they must either be very unholy Counsels which cannot be accomplished without the Sins of Men or he must be a weak or unskilful Being which is down-right Blasphemy for a wise and powerful Being can do whatever is Wise and Holy without the Sins of Men. It is excellent Wisdom indeed when men do and will Sin for God to accomplish his own wise and gracious Counsels by their Sins but to incline or tempt or over-rule or determine men to sin on purpose to serve himself by their Sins this would be a just Impeachment both of his Holiness his Wisdom and his Power and a God who is neither Holy Wise nor Powerful would be no very fit Object of Religious worship To say that God decrees the Sins of men for his own Glory to magnifie his Mercy and Justice in saving some few and in condemning the greatest part of Mankind to eternal Miseries is so sensless a Representation both of the Glory of the Mercy and of the Justice of God as destroys the very Notion of all For if Man be a meer Machine who moves as he is moved how can he deserve either Well or Ill Necessity destroys the very Notion of Vertue or Vice both which suppose a free Choise and Election and if ther be no Vertue nor Vice there can be no Rewards nor Punishments and then there is no place neither for Justice nor Mercy and then God can neither glorify his Mercy nor his Justice in forgiving Sins or in punishing the Sinner How can any man who believes that he is over-ruled by God to do all the Evil he does ever be a true Penitent or heartily beg God's Pardon or reverence his Judgments or endeavour to do better All Religion is founded in this Persuasion That God hates every thing that is wicked for if there be no Essential difference between Good and Evil there is no pretence for Religion and if God makes none there is none and if he can be the Author of what is Evil as well as of what is Good he makes no difference between them 2dly The Holiness of Providence teacheth us never to do any Evil to serve Providence under pretext of doing some great Good by it which we think may be acceptable to God God never needs the Sins of men and can never approve them whatever good ends they are intended to serve God indeed does many times bring Good out of Evil but he allows no Man to do evil that
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out of it wast thou taken For dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return 3. Gen. 17 18 19. This was a very severe Sentence which deprived man of Immortality and of the easy and happy life of Paradise condemned him to labour and sorrow while he lived and then to return unto dust and yet the Wisdom as well as Justice of Providence is very visible in it it was not fit that when man had sinned he should be immortal in this World and an industrious and laborious life is the best and happiest state for fallen man as I have elsewhere shown at large We know little more than this of the Antediluvian World till we hear of the general corruption of Mankind That the earth was filled with violence for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth insomuch that it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth and it grieved him at his heart 6. Gen. This was so universal a Corruption that there was but one righteous Family left only Noah and his three Sons and therefore God resolved to sweep them all away with an universal Deluge excepting that one righteous Family whom he preserved in the Ark which he appointed Noah to prepare for that purpose The justice of this no man can dispute for if all Flesh corrupt its ways God may as justly destroy a whole world of Sinners as he can punish or cut off any one single Sinner But that which I am now concerned for is to shew the wonderful Wisdom of Providence in the destruction of the Old World by a deluge of Water and rightly to understand this we must consider the several Circumstances of the Story and what God intended by it Now though that wicked Generation of men deserved to be destroyed yet God did not intend to put a final end to this World nor to cut off the whole Race of all Mankind but to raise a new Generation of men from a Righteous Seed and to make the destruction of the Old World a standing Warning and a visible Lesson of Righteousness to the New And a few Observations will satisfy us that nothing could be more wisely designed for this purpose 1. Let us consider the Wisdom of Providence in destroying the Old World without the utter destruction of Mankind It was too soon to put a final end to the World which he had so lately made without reproaching his own Wisdom in making it There had been very little of the Wisdom of Government yet seen but one Act and that concluding in all disorder and confusion and had God left off here and put a final end to the Race of Mankind it had been but a very ill spectacle to the Angelical World to see a whole Species of Reasonable Beings so soon destroyed The Old Serpent who deceived our first Parents would have gloried in his Voctory that he had utterly spoiled and ruined the best part of this visible Creation and even forced God to destroy the most excellent Creature he had made on Earth But God had threatned the Serpent that the Seed of the Woman should break his head and therefore the whole Posterity of Eve must not be destroyed but a Righteous Seed must be preserved to new-people the World But besides this The destruction of the Old World being intended as a warning to the New it was necessary there should be some living Witnesses both of the destruction and the resurrection of the World to assure their Posterity of what they had seen and to preserve the memory of it to all Generations Of which more presently 2dly The Wisdom of God was very visible in delaying so terrible an Execution till there was no remedy To destroy a World carries great horror with it and makes a frightful representation of God if it be not qualified with all the most tender and softning Circumstances And I cannot think of any thing that can justify Providence in it excepting the last Judgment when the Divine Wisdom thinks fit to put a final end to this World but the irrecoverable state of Mankind and the absolute necessity of some new methods of reforming the World And therefore God delayed the destruction of the Old World till all Flesh had corrupted his ways and there was but one Righteous Family left which must be in danger of being corrupted too by the universal wickedness of the Age. However it is certain That though Noah might have preserved his own Integrity and have taught his own Family that Fear and Worship of God yet he could do no good upon the rest of the World he was a Preacher of Righteousness but his Sermons had no effect It is generally concluded by the Ancients that he was an hundred years in building the Ark and all this while he gave visible warning to them of the approaching Deluge Now when it was impossible by any ordinary means to put a stop to the wickedness of Mankind what remained but to destroy that corrupt and incurable Generation and to preserve righteous Noah and his Sons to propagate a new Generation of men and to train them up in the fear and worship of God Had he delayed a little longer the whole World might have been corrupt without one righteous man in it and then he must either have maintained or preserved a World of Atheists and profligate Sinners or must have destroyed them all But it more became the Divine Wisdom when Religion was reduced to one Family to defer Vengeance no longer while he had one righteous Family to save to preserve the Race of Mankind and to restore lost Piety and Vertue to the World 3dly The Wisdom of Providence in destroying the Old World is very visible in the manner of doing it 1st For first it was a Miraculous and Supernatural Destruction and therefore an undeniable evidence of the Power and Providence of God There are no visible Causes in Nature to do this and therefore it must be done by a Power Superior to Nature Some men think it sufficient to disparage the Mosaical Account of the Deluge if they can prove the natural impossibility of it and others who profess to believe the Story think themselves much concerned to give a Philosophical Account of it without having recourse to Miracles and a Supernatural Power which they say unbecomes Philosophers But if it unbecomes Philosophers to believe Miracles I doubt they will think it very much below them to be Christians which no man can be who does not believe Miracles and if they will allow of Miracles in any case methinks they should make no scruple to attribute the destruction of the World to a Miraculous and Supernatural Power The comfort is the truth of the Story does not depend upon any Philosophical Hypothesis we do not believe that the whole World was drowned because we can tell by what Natural Causes it might be drowned but