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Thomas Watson on permission of sin

Thomas Watson explaining his view of Divine "sovereignty" (contrast Watson's view to the BIBLICAL view set forth with clarity in Isaiah 10:5-15; compare Watson's violin (viol) and horse analogy to the axe, saw, and rod; cf. http://www.calvinism.us/2016/08/zanchius-on-god-as-author-of-all-actions.html):

"The wisdom of God is seen in this -- that the sins of men shall carry on God's work; yet He Himself should have no hand in their sin. The Lord permits sin -- but does not approve it. He has a 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 concurred; 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 which is out of tune; the musician is the cause of the sound -- but the jarring and discord is from the viol itself. Just so, men's natural motion is from God, but their sinful motion is from themselves. When a man rides on a lame horse, his riding is the cause why the horse goes, but the lameness is from the horse itself. Herein is God's wisdom -- that the sins of men carry on His work, yet He has no hand in them!" (Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity; italics mine--CD).