natural things: they are blinded, stupified, and deceived in moral things. And as God is said to perform the acts in the former case, He is also, with great uniformity of plan, said to perform them in the latter. But now we must observe, that God is said to do that Himself, which He does by the agency of others. By a strong usage of this language it is said, that "unto Adam and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them."* Thus Hooker observes:† "Of Moses it is said that he wrote all the words of God, not by his own private notion and device: for God taketh this act to himself: I have written : Hos. viii. 12." But, indeed, this manner of attributing immediate agency to the Divine Being, is common to language in general. If, therefore, God is said to have hardened Pharaoh's heart, undoubtedly it is to be understood that He did so by the instrumentality of another: that is of Satan. Thus God is represented as having put it into the heart of Satan to tempt Job: "The Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth?"+ * Gen. iii. 21. † Eccl. Pol. b. i. 13. + Job i. 8. Now it can be easily seen that there may be a point in a sinner's career, where God "gives him up to a reprobate mind,"* where He leaves him to himself, or "lets him alone,"+ and commits him to the consequences of his sin. The state of such a man becomes worse and worse; he becomes hardened to all sense of shame, and is, in the Scripture phrase," past feeling." He is under a judicial blindness, and is in the situation of a man who has thrown himself from a precipice, and who cannot but roll forward. Such a person, then, has been hardened by the Divine Being through the instrumentality of Satan, "to whom he has been delivered."‡ And if there appears any objection to such a state of things as this, this objection should lead us, not to a rejection of Revelation merely, but to the rejection of the Being of God: for we cannot comprehend the reasons why evil exists at all in the government of an all-powerful and all-merciful Being. It should lead us not timidly and meanly to stop in mid-course, but to carry our assault to the very throne of God: for, if I mistake not, it is not only Scrip+ Hos. iv. 17. * Rom. i. 28. ture which teaches us the doctrine objected to, but Nature, which utters her voice through a Syrian Pagan:* "Whom God wishes to destroy, He makes madt first." But particularly through the Roman orátor:-" Phrenzy and madness is the punishment irrevocably ordained by the immortal gods against the impious and the guilty. Personal villany, personal guilt, personal crimes and presumption, rob me of the use of reason and soundness of judgment." And the fact that there is a point beyond which correction is impossible, is plainly supposed by the Grecian orator in his eloquent address to the gods :-"Hear me, ye immortal gods; infuse a better spirit into these men; inspire their minds with purer sentiments; or, if their natures are not to be reformed, pursue them by land and sea, pursue them to destruction." And by Seneca, in a passage which will be found quoted in p. 72. Publius Syrus. + Cic. in Pison. 20, Duncan. For I cannot but understand the verb dementat in an active sense." SDemosth. de Coron. in fin. : SECTION IX. Exod. xiv. 16. -" Lift up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.” 1 KINGS Xvii. 6." And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening." JOHN ix. 7.- "And Jesus said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam." It is thought strange that, in the operation of a miracle, any external means should be necessary, as God should be supposed to work the miracle in an immediate manner. But why should we think that God should act differently here from His general plan of bringing about His designs? In the natural world He gives His blessing: and it follows that, if we till and sow, we reap; or if we open our windows, we receive the light of the sun. We ought then to expect, that when He gives His preternatural blessing, the same order should be maintained: that we must stretch forth our hands,* or wash in the pool, if we would be healed; and that we must let down our nets for a draught,† if we would take the fish. We ought to expect that God will have His wonders performed in the manner and mode He particularly chooses: nor be surprised if, after St. Paul had declared that "there should be no loss of any man's life" in the storm at sea, yet he should declare with as strong an assurance, "Except ye abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved."‡ By this procedure God would show us, that we must not be indolent, but use our endeavours, even when He deigns to help us out of the course of His Providence: He would compel us to use means, that we might see and confess our dependence on His power: He would make us know that He is not another, but the same God as ever; and that He is determined to preserve that connexion between means and end, which marks His general dealings with mankind. Far, then, from throwing blame on Scripture for these representations, we should acknowledge their agreement with the divine economy • Matt. xii. 13. + Luke v. 4. Acts xxvii. 22, 31. |