OCCASION. We call Occasion a Circumstance of Place, or Time, or of the 2 Cor. v. 12.Disposition of a Person, to perform any thing. St. Paul says to the Corinthians, We give you occasion to glory on our behalf. Elsewhere he says, Sin taking Occasion by Rom. vii. 8, 11.the Commandment, wrought in me all manner of Concupiscence. Thus the Law or Commandment is not the Cause, but the Occasion of Sin and Prevarication, since it rais’d a Desire of doing what was forbid. Nitimur in vetitum.
Occasion also is often put for Pretence. He that seeks for Occasions, or a Pretence, to put away his Wife. Samson sought an Deut. xxii. 14. Judg. xiv. 4.Occasion against the Philistines. When the King of Israel received a Letter from the King of Syria, requiring of him to get Naaman cured of his Leprosy, he thought that this Prince was only seeking a Pretence 2 Kings v. 7.to make War against him. Videte quod occasiones quærat adversum me. He that has a mind to forsake his Friend seeks Prov. xviii. 1. 1 Thes. ii. 5.Occasions says the Wise Man. The Hebrew is different from this. He that is separated or dissipated, seeks according to his Desire. He that lives in Dissipation, wanders in his Desires, and is meddling with every thing. Otherwise by joining it with what goes before, he that shuts his Lips passes for a Man of Understanding; he is sought for eagerly when he is absent. St. Paul appeals to the Thessalonians as Witnesses, that among them he never sought for Occasions or Pretences to enrich himself by Flattery, or otherwise. Neque in occasione avaritiæ.