Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

aggravate their distress by imputing it to their iniquities; it does not at all concern us to pry curiously into the matter; but, instead of doing this, we are to think of ourselves, to take warning, to relinquish our evil ways, and amend our lives, since we have the word of our Saviour, that "unless we repent, we shall all likewise perish."

SERMON XXXVI.

THE SINS OF MEN NOT CHARGEABLE ON GOD.

JAMES I. 13, 14.

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.

It happens, I believe not unfrequently, that those who are guilty of any great degrees of wickedness, charge their guilt either immediately or by implication, upon God; they either reflect on Providence, for having placed them in such situations and circumstances, that to avoid sin was not in their power, or, for having given them such violent and headstrong passions, that their reason was utterly unable to contend with them. To something, either external or internal, which it depended not on themselves to order otherwise, they would willingly impute their depravity. But this the Apostle St. James, in the words which I have just read, tells us is very unjust, inasmuch as it is very untrue;-" Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God;--for God cannot be tempt

[ocr errors]

ed with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but
every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of
his own lust, and enticed." Think not to excuse
yourselves, when ye give way to temptations, by
attributing your fall to the Almighty; for as God
cannot be tempted to commit evil himself, so nei-
ther certainly would he be the instrument of ex-
citing it in his creatures; but rather believe, what
is evidently the case, that it is your own evil
sions and desires, by which ye are led astray.

pas

Here are two assertions-first, that God is not, cannot be, the author of our sins;-secondly, that they arise from ourselves.-Let us examine if this be not really the case.-That God is not the author of sin, St. James assigns this as a reason-it is impossible he should be tempted to evil himself, and therefore it is not credible he should be the cause of it in his creatures.-Both the light of nature and the Scriptures concur in representing the Almighty as a Being of infinite purity; he is the author of all that is right and good he is, in himself, absolutely perfect-he has neither desires nor fears, and consequently cannot be tempted, for the gratification of the one, or, under the influence of the other, to a deviation from the exact line of goodness: but he is not only good in himself he is also an ardent lover of it in his creatures; or, to express the same in other words, he is an hater of all manner of evil-he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Add to this, that he is constantly set forth,

[ocr errors]

in the Scriptures, as anxious for the salvation of mankind;" He would not, that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance; he desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live." Now let me ask you-is it likely, or rather, is it not impossible, that such a Being as this, infinitely holy himself-of purer sight than to tolerate vice in his creatures-and likewise greatly desirous of the happiness of all men-should himself be the means of enticing them into wickedness, which, in its issue, unavoidably leadeth to destruction?→→ No-it is not likely-it is impossible;-ye cannot but own it. But yet you will say, there seem to be several places, in Scripture, in which God is described (at least so it appears to you) as instigating or over-ruling men to the perpetration of wicked actions;-to this I reply-consider all those places carefully, and examine accurately, who the persons are, whom you think God is described as leading to wickedness, and you will find that they are not good and virtuous persons, but persons already impious and depraved; so that God does not tempt them originally from righteousness; but as a punishment for their having already deserted it, he gives them up to their own depravity. Consider the case of Pharaoh ;--the Lord is often said to harden his heart to prevent his permitting the children of Israel to depart out of Egypt; but this was not before he had hardened his own heart, and it means therefore not

that God infused bad qualities into him, but that he gave him up to those he already had, he with

drew from him the sense of his guilt and folly, and left him to himself, as a fit recompense for his prior obstinacy.

By the way I should observe to you, that it is sometimes translated in our Bible," he hardened Pharaoh's heart," when it should be, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, so that in those places it is manifest it was not God's doing, but his own; but it cannot mean, at any event, that God was actually the cause of his guilt.

Again, it is said, with respect to those nations of the Canaanites, who were extirpated by the children of Israel after their wanderings in the wilderness, it is said of them, that it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly; but what is the meaning of this? Surely, that as a punishment for their former iniquities, the measure of which was now full-iniquities which arose not from God, but from themselves, Providence did justly bring them into such circumstances as proved fatal to them.

In one word, we must never explain one or two detached passages of Scripture, in such a manner as to make them contradict all the rest of it; when we are not able to reconcile them, we must attribute it to our own defect of understanding, which certainly is its true source. The Scriptures every where assure us of the infinite holi

« ZurückWeiter »