twig of hope, and flatter themfelves with SER M. the moft groundless expectations. The for- XII. mer of these we may well fuppofe at this time to have been David's cafe under the melancholy circumftance of Abfalom's rebellion, when he was probably induced to think his condition much worse than it was, and fufpect that God had utterly rejected and forfaken him.

(2.) These words of David may be taken only for a modeft acknowledgment of his former fins; and, when he says, the Lord bath bid him curfe David, his meaning may be nothing more than this, that he had, by his manifold iniquities, juftly incurred the displeasure of Almighty God, and therefore it was no more than the deferved punish, ment of his fins, that God fhould (not direct, but) permit Shimei to curfe him after this manner. He may not therefore be faid to charge that fin upon God, but rather upon his own former tranfgreffions of the Divine law.

Nay, (3.) It is evident that Shimei could have no fuch real warrant or authority for his proceedings, because he repented of it afterwards, and fubmiffively begged pardon of King David for it in the following terms; Let not my Lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy fer-. vant did perverfely, in the day that my Lord the King went out of Jerufalem, that the King

fhould

SERM. Should take it to his heart; for thy fervant XII. doth know that I have finned; therefore bebold

I am come, the first this day of all the house of Jofeph, to go down to meet my Lord the King, 2 Sam. xix. 19, 20. Once more,

(4.) The last inftance I would produce of this kind is, in 1 Kings xxii. 20, &c. where the impofture of the lying prophets feems to be afcribed to God, who is faid to have commiffioned a lying spirit to deceive Abab, to perfuade him, and prevail against him. Whence follows this conclufion, at the 23d verfe, by the true Prophet Micaiah; Now therefore behold, the Lord hath put a lying Spirit in the mouth of all these thy Prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.

For our fatisfaction in this cafe, let it be first of all obferved, that this paffage is parabolical and figurative, as may appear from the beginning of Micaiah's difcourfe, where the matter is proposed by way of vifion or fimilitude: I faw the Lord (fays he) Jitting on his throne, and all the host of beaven ftanding by him, on his right-hand, and on his left *. After this, God is reprefented as asking for a method to perfuade Ahab, which is a farther argument that the difcourfe is only parabolical, and confequently the expreffions are not to be infifted on with a literal exactnefs; and God's bidding the * 1 Kings xxii. 19.

fpirit go, in fuch a kind of defcription, may SERM. imply nothing more than his permiffion of XII. it, in the course of his Providence, his leav- ing Ahab to be deluded by thofe falfe Prophets, whom he loved to hear, whilst he fought not for truth but flattery, and even hated Micaiah, however true he might be in his predictions, because he prophefied not good concerning him but evil. Mean while we fhould remember, that this permiffion implies not any approbation of the impofture. For then Micaiah, the true Prophet fhould not have been sent to him with a contrary commiffion, moft plainly calculated to prevent his ruin, had he been poffeffed of candour and humility enough to have hearkened to him. And thus far the SECOND Clafs of exceptions to St. James's doctrine, namely, thofe pofitive commands of God, whereby it is alledged that he has fometimes appointed men to do evil. I fhould now proceed to the THIRD, but that must be reserved to another time.

Now to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, be all honour and glory, now and benceforth for evermore. Amen.

SER

SERMON XIII.

Objections against the foregoing

Doctrine answered.

SERM.

XIII.

JAMES i. 13.

Let no man fay, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.

HA

AVING, in my FIRST Difcourfe upon these words, eftablished the doctrine of the Text, I proceeded, in the SECOND, to folve the principal difficulties which may feem to lie against it. And, having dispatched what concerned the former Affertion, That God cannot be tempted with (or to) evil; thofe which concerned the latter (viz. that God doth not tempt) were, for method's fake, diftinguished into fix claffes. Two of these have been already spoken to, the

(HI.) THIRD

(III) THIRD is to take in thofe Texts SER M. of fcripture, whereby that evil in which XIII. men were the inmediate Agents, is often attributed to Almighty God. The

First inftance to be mentioned of this fort is that of Jofeph, who, upon making himself known to his brethren, and perceiving that they were troubled at the remembrance of those injuries which they had done him formerly, ftrove to divert this anxiety of mind, by afcribing the management of that affair to the Divine Providence, Gen. xlv. 5. Be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye fold me hither, for God did fend me before you to preferve life. Again, ver. 7,8. God fent me before you to preServe you a pofterity in the earth, and to fave your lives by a great deliverance; fo now, it was not you that fent me hither, but God.

Now here indeed it is to be confeffed, that every event of life, ought to be received. as the difpenfation of God towards us, and the working of his Providence. And, if that difpenfation be grievous and calamitous, yet this is no objection against its com-, ing from the Supream Governor and Author of the univerfe. For, fhall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? that evil, which (as the schools diftinguish it) is only natural, and implies not any moral obliquity, or breach Job ii. 10. X

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