The Eye and Wheel of Providence, Chapter 21
CHAP. XXI. How God governeth the evil Actions of Men by his Providence. Of Gods ends, Satans ends, and Sinners end in one and the ſame Action.
4. IN the fourth place, I ſhall ſhew how God governeth the moſt ſinfull actions of Men by his Providence; all things are governed by Divine Providence, therefore the moſt ſinfull actions of the wicked: Yet are we to underſtand, that God is moſt juſt and righteous, that loveth righteouſneſs and hateth wickedneſs, Pſal. 45.7. And that every man when he is tempted being enticed is drawn away of his own luſt, Jam. 1.12, 13. and his destruction is of himſelf, Hoſ. 13.9. But the Scriptures frequently uſe ſuch phraſes of ſpeech from whence wicked wretches take occaſion to make God the authour of ſinne, as a Learned man hath well noted:Pet. du Moulin. Buckler of Faith. As for inſtance; it is ſaid, That the ſons of Eli hearkned not unto their father, becauſe the Lord would ſlay them, 1 Sam. 2.25. & 1 King. 25.10. an evil ſpirit came before the Lord, and offered to be a lying ſpirit in the mouth of all Ahab's Prophets, to whom God ſaith, Thou ſhalt perſwade them, and prevail alſo, goe forth and doe ſo. And 2 Sam. 16. Shimei curſeth David bitterly, whereupon David ſaith, Let him alone, becauſe the Lord hath bid him curſe David. And Peter ſpeaking of the conſpiracy of the Jewes, of Herod, and of Pontius Pilate againſt Chriſt, ſaith, They gathered themſelves together to do whatſoever thy hand and counſel had determined before ſhould be done, Act. 4.28. So though the ſons of Jacob by a wicked conſpiracy ſold their brother to be carried into Aegypt; yet he tells them, Geneſ. 45.8.Providere Deum peccata, quo ſenſu providere eſt procurare, dictu nefas aſſerimus. At de peccatis Deum providere, dici nòn ſolùm poſſe, ſed etiam debere, nòn dubitandum praevidet enim peccara, & permittere vult, & praeviſa ordinat, ad bonum aliquod vel univerſale, vel particulare, ſivè ad ſotentionem miſerleordiae ſuae ſivè juſtitiae, &c. de iiſdem provider… rectè dicitur. Synopſ purior. Theolog. Diſput. 11. It was not you that ſent me hither but God.
1. But to this I ſhall anſwer, firſt, That God is the author of every action, as it is an action, by giving unto ſinners even common aſſiſtance, without which the leaſt ſinne could never be committed. Man acteth (even in ſinfull actions) as he is Gods creature, upheld and maintained by him; In him we live, move and have our being; but he ſinneth by reaſon of the corruption of his nature, having no free-will to any thing that is good ſince the fall of Adam, but free-will and full power to that which is evil.
2. When God withholdeth or ſuſpendeth that power from ſinners by which they might avoid that which is evil. Thus when God departeth from Saul, withdrawing the common aid of his Spirit, then an evil ſpirit vexeth him, and he groweth worſe and worſe. The degenerate nature of man (which one termeth ſins Coach) doth then runne which way the Devil driveth,Claph…m in Cantic. as Wheels and Axel-tree, till Jeſus Chriſt free our Chariot-nature from the power of hell, and withall joyn himſelf by his own ſpirit to our nature, that ſo with Ezekiels. Chariot it may go forth and return according to the conduct of his holy Spirit.
3. When God permits and ſuffers men to go on long in a courſe of ſin, and doth not reſtrain them; for if it pleaſed him, he could hinder men from doing evil. Now the will of God is two-fold,
An approving Will,
A permitting Will.
1. An approving Will, whereby he decreeth the actions of all good men.
2. A permitting Will, whereby he decreeth not to worke any evil, but onelyonly permit it to be wrought.
The actions of men are either good or evil; God willeth good actions by his approving will. Evil actions may come under a double conſideration.
1. In regard of the entity and being of them, ſo God decreeth them by his permitting will, for no ſinne could be without his permiſſion, Act. 17.18.
2. In regard of the evil adjunct and vitioſity of them,Et potentius & melius eſt, bonum ex malo elicere, quam eſſe mala, nòn ſinere. Auguſt. Bonum eſt mala eſſe vel fieri, alioquìn ſummè bonus nòn permitteret ea fieri. Lombard. Sent. lib. 1. diſtinct. 46. and ſo they proceed not from God, but from the corrupt will of man, as a deficient cauſe. We may conſider the ſins of men, as they are evil, and ſo God is not the authour of them, but as they may be reduced to ſome good, as the manifeſtation of his own glory, &c. and ſo he ſuffereth evil to be committed, being able to bring good out of evil, as water out of a flinty Rock; for though evil be not good, yet out of evil God can bring good. It is better and more powerfull, ſaith Auſtin, to draw and bring good out of evil, than not at all to ſuffer evil to be; out of the greateſt evil God can produce the greateſt good. So then God is the Author of every action, but not of the deformity, enormity, and obliquity of the action; as the Planets are moved by a direct motion by the primum mobile, the obliquity of their motion, is à ſuâ naturâ. The Sunne maketh the Earth hard, the Wax ſoft, flowers to ſmell ſweetly, dead Carrion to ſtink noiſomly; ſo then the diverſity of effects proceedeth not from the nature of the cauſe, but of the things wrought upon, and God moveth and ruleth things according to their natures.Multa ſine voluntate Dei geruntur, nihil ſine providentia, providentia eſt quae diſpenſat & providet, voluntas quae vult & nòn vult aliquid. Origen. To explain this point by an inſtance or two: In the ſelling Joſeph into Aegypt, Joſephs brethren were agents, and God was an agent, and had an hand in the buſineſſe, but their ends were divers: they ſold him to be rid of him, becauſe they thought their father loved him better than themſelves, and becauſe they thought ſo to falſifie his dreams, that he might not rule over them; but God's end was to provide ſuccour and ſhelter for their father and themſelves, and all their families, Gen. 50.20. Item, in the temptations and afflictions of Job, the Devil was an agent, the Chaldeans, and the Sabeans agents, God an agent, and all theſe had their ſeveral ends: The Devils end was to have made Job forſake God, that ſo he might have fallen to his ſhare, the Sabeans and Chaldeans end were to impoveriſh him, and enrich themſelves; and God's end was to prove the Devil a liar, and to manifeſt and declare the faith and patience of Job, and make him famous for the ſame to the whole world.
In the divers and ſundry captivities of the children of Iſrael by the Caldeans, Babylonians, Aſſyrians, and laſtly in their finall ruine by the Romans, their enemies had their ends, and God had his. The ends that the Caldeans, Aſſyrians, Babylonians, and Romans aimed at, was their own pride and ambition, and the enlargement of their Territories and Dominions, but Gods end was the puniſhment of them to admoniſh others, and to fulfill the propheſies and predictions thereof. To be brief: in the death of Chriſt, the Devil had his end, Judas his end, the Scribes and Phariſees their end, the Jews theirs, God his end: the Devils end was to make ſo many murderers, and guilty of ſhedding innocent bloud; Judas his end was covetouſneſs to get thirty pieces of ſilver; the Scribes and Phariſees end was envy and malice, becauſe they thought he eclipſed their glory; Pilates end was partly to pleaſe the people, but principally not to diſpleaſe the Emperour; the Jews end was hatred and malice, becauſe he reproved their ſins; but Gods end was to fulfill the Propheſies, and to bring to paſs the ſalvation of mankind, by that means which he had appointed. Shimei by curſing would ſhew his hatred of David, but God would make known the patience of David, Deus & homo idem faciunt, Deus pro aequitate laudatur, homo pro iniquitate damnatur. Aug. Epiſt. 48. ad Vincent. Non fit abſ que Dei voluntate quod fit contra ejus voluntatem, efficit bona, permittit mala, dirigit univerſa. Res mala nòn habet cauſam efficientem, ſed deficientem. Aug. de civit. Dei. l. 12. c. 7.which was good. Auſtin ſheweth, how God and man may will the ſame thing, and God in willing it doth well, and yet man ſinneth in willing the ſame thing. The Father of an ungracious child is ſick, God will have him to die in his juſt judgement, the Son deſireth the death of his father, that he may the ſooner come to his inheritance: God willeth it juſtly, the ſon wickedly. And ſaith he further, God and man do the ſame thing, God is praiſed for equity, and man is condemned for his iniquity. When God the Father delivered his Son, and Chriſt delivered his own body, and Judas his Maſter, why in this delivery is God juſt and man ſinfull, but only in all one thing which they did, there is not all one cauſe for which they did it? Great are the works of the Lord, being ſought out according to all his wills, inſomuch that by a marvellous and unſpeakable manner, that is not beſide his will, which yet is done againſt his will, becauſe it ſhould not be done if he did not ſuffer it: he doth that which is good, permitteth that which is evil, directeth both good and evil. Although God doth order and govern ſins that be done, yet he is not properly the efficient cauſe of ſin; therefore Auſtin again ſaith well, An evil thing hath not a cauſe efficient but deficient, as the corruption of judgement, and the perverſeneſs of the will of man. I might ſhew through the whole current of the Scriptures, how God at his pleaſure ordereth the actions of evil men and Devils, to the bringing to paſs whatſoever he will have done: he maketh the hard dealing of Laban turn to the benefit of Jacob, Gen. 31. he turneth the cruelty of Jacobs ſons to the advancement of Joſeph, Gen. 39. and Chap. 41. the Aegyptians oppreſſions to the encreaſing of the Iſraelites, In the ſame thing there is vertue both to kill and cure, as in Achilles ſpear. The Flies Cantharides having their bodies applied to any parts of our bodies exulcerate the ſame, and especially the bladder: and the wings applied to the ſame place help what the body hurteth. The Scorpion and Vipers diſſected and applied to the wounds, heal what the ſting of the one and biting of the other hand hurt. Dr Bright. Tract. de Melanchol.Exod. 1.12. the perſecution of Saul to the benefit of David; the hatred of the Caldeans to the exaltation of Daniel, Dan. 6. the envy of Haman to the preferment of Mordecai, and the delivery of the Jews; the contempt of the Phariſees to the admiſſion of the Publicans; the perſecution of the Apoſtles among the Jews to the calling of the Gentiles. And to this I may adde, that not only the ſinfull actions of other men, but even the Saints own ſins, through Gods wiſe diſpoſing providence, are turned to their benefit, as of Serpents fleſh Triacle is made, which is a preſervative againſt poiſon; ſo the evils and ſins of the faithfull are turned finally to their good. When we grow dull, he quickens us; we wax proud, he humbleth us; we abuſe his creatures, he takes them from us, dealing with our vices and ſins, as a good Gardiner with the weeds that would over-run his ground, pulling them up, and pruning his trees to bear good fruit.