A65285:300
A Body of Practical Divinity
A body of practical divinity consisting of above one hundred seventy six sermons on the lesser catechism composed by the reverend assembly of divines at Westminster : with a supplement of some sermons on several texts of Scripture / by Thomas Watson ...
London: printed for Thomas Parkurst, 1692
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
4. The wisdom of God is seen in this, that the sins of Men shall carry on God's work, yet that he should have no hand in their sins. The Lord permits sin, but doth not approve it. He hath an Hand in the Action in which sin is, but not in the sin of the Action. As in the crucifying of Christ, so far as it was a Natural Action, God did concur; if he had not given the Jews Life and Breath, they could not have done it: but as it was a sinful Action, so God abhorred it. A Musician plays upon a Viol out of tune, the Musician is the Cause of the sound, but the jarring and discord is from the Viol it se•f; so Men's natural Motion is from God, but their sinful Motion is from themselves. A Man that rides on a lame Horse, his riding is the Cause why the Horse goes, but the lameness is from the Horse it self. Herein is God's wisdom, the sins of Men shall carry on his Work, yet he hath no hand in them.
4. The wisdom of God is seen in this, that the sins of Men shall carry on God's work, yet that he should have no hand in their sins. The Lord permits sin, but doth not approve it. He hath an Hand in the Action in which sin is, but not in the sin of the Action. As in the crucifying of Christ, so far as it was a Natural Action, God did concur; if he had not given the Jews Life and Breath, they could not have done it: but as it was a sinful Action, so God abhorred it. A Musitian plays upon a Viol out of tune, the Musitian is the Cause of the sound, but the jarring and discord is from the Viol it se•f; so Men's natural Motion is from God, but their sinful Motion is from themselves. A Man that rides on a lame Horse, his riding is the Cause why the Horse goes, but the lameness is from the Horse it self. Herein is God's wisdom, the sins of Men shall carry on his Work, yet he hath no hand in them.
5. The wisdom of God is seen in helping in the desperate Cases. God loves to show his wisdom when Humane Help and Wit fail. Exquisite Lawyers love to wrestle with Niceties and Difficulties in the Law, to show their skill the more. God's wisdom is never at a loss, but when Providences are darkest, now appears the Morninst-star of Deliverance,