Selected quad for the lemma: end_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	action_n	good_a	law_n	1,808	5	5.2167	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29106	A sermon preach'd before the Right Honourable Lord-Mayor, the Aldermen, and citizens of London, at St. Mary Le Bow, on Thursday, November 5, 1696 by Samuel Bradford ...	Bradford, Samuel, 1652-1731.	1697 (1697)	Wing B4119; ESTC R19690	16,720	34

Almighty can ever be suppos'd to need such a justification But Job signifies moreover his Abhorrence of it and that he would be very far from approving what they did though they seem to have been otherwise too good men to have done this knowingly and wilfully He therefore adds in the words following V. 9 10 11. Is it good that he should search you out Or as one man mocketh another do ye so mock him To Lye for God is it seems to mock him that is to abuse and affront him He will surely reprove you if ye do secretly accept Persons Shall not his Excellency make you afraid and his Dread fall upon you But indeed there needs no Authority to vouch for us in this Case We may certainly conclude without the Affirmation of an Apostle or a Prophet or any other Inspired Winter That this is a detestable Principle 'T is absurd and self-contradictory and as directly opposite to all good Sense and Reason as any Principle can possibly be To design and to do good is the proper business of an intelligent and reasonable Being 'T is the Glory of God Himself and 't is what he requires of all whom he hath made after his own Image Now that is good for an intelligent Creature either to design or do which is according to the Will of the Creator his Will being the Rule and the Measure of Goodness So that to do Evil in order to the doing Good is to contradict and thwart his Will in order to the performing it 't is to offend him in order to pleasing him 't is to break his Commandments in order to the keeping them In a word 't is to do that which is directly opposite to the end which we profess to aim at For no Evil has in its own Nature a Tendency to Good but to the just contrary It may indeed be over-rul'd as you have heard to other ends than those to which it has a natural Tendency But then this is not from the Nature of the Thing but from the Wisdom of God The Event only is God's but that does not alter the nature of the Action which is to be measur'd by the Rule which God has given his Creatures to act by But I think no more need be said in so plain a Case I know that 't is commonly pretended by those that act upon this Principle That the Actions they do would not inded be good but only as they are directed to such an end but that the Goodness of the End will Sanctify the Means and take off the evil that otherwise would naturally be in such Actions But let us try how this way of arguing will solve the Difficulty in any of the Instances already given Job's Friends intended to justify and so to Honour God by accusing their Friend and laying to his charge what he was not guilty of Their End was good but it did not for all that it seems alter the nature of the Means 'T was still speaking wickedly for God and talking deceitfully for him it was mocking or affronting God for which as he there tells them they were in danger of being searched out and reproved by him The Jews again propos'd to themselves the doing God Service But this did not render Killing of innocent Men no Murder St. Paul verily thought that he ought to do what he did for the Honour of God no doubt and the good of his Church But yet this would not make Persecution and Injurious Dealing to become Innocent and Righteous Actions And so again in our Text he supposes that the Design may be that Good may come whilst the Action in order to that end is Evil and thereupon detests the Principle The Truth of this matter is in short this There are some Actions so manifestly unlawful in their own nature that they cannot be made lawful by being design'd to bring about the best End that can be thought of There are some Actions so plainly contrary to the Laws of God and to the Reason and Nature of Things establish'd by him that they must not be done upon any account whatsoever And now to Apply this to our present Purpose particularly to that Conspiracy which first gave occasion for the Observation of this Day There can be no great doubt made whether it were begun and carried on upon this detestable Principle which the Apostle renounces in the Text and declares to be damnable 'T is true the Actors in it did not avow That they thought it lawful to do Evil that Good might come No they said according to the Pretence I just now suggested That so Excellent an End as theirs was could not chuse but justify the Means they were about to use in order to it And therefore though from the Remains of Reason and Good Nature some of them startled at the Manner of bringing about their End yet that Scruple was overcome by the Zeal they had for the Interests of their Church and Religion Wherein by the way we see the danger of being engaged in a False Religion and particularly how much the Church of Rome has debauch'd the Consciences of those that have been thorough pac'd in their Profession But need we stand to prove that these were unlawful nay wicked and abominable Means whatever their End might be Was it no Crime then at one Blow to destroy the Lives of so many innocent Persons who had not the least apprehension of their Danger Was it no Crime to offer Violence to the Person of the King and those of the Estates of the Kingdom assembled in Parliament To cut off the Flower of our Nobility and Gentry at once and upon that to involve the whole Nation in Confusion Slaughter and Blood which must necessarily have ensued as soon as the deadly Blow had been given Good God! That ever Human Nature should be capable of being thus wrought upon to throw off all the Principles and Inclinations of Humanity And that ever any Men in order to advance Reveal'd Religion should thus directly contradict and violate all that is Natural The mere naming these things without commenting upon them is abundantly sufficient to declare the Wickedness of the Means they used And after all What was the End to be brought about by these Means which might be able to sanctify them and to purge out the Evil that was naturally in them Why here 's the mischief and thus commonly it falls out That those who make use of such kind of Means as these under the Pretence of pursuing some worthy End are as grosly mistaken about their End as they are about the Means 'T is indeed an observable Instance of the Divine Justice towards men in thus blinding their eyes and hardening their hearts in giving them up to strong delusions that they may believe a lye when they do not sincerely and heartily love the Truth They commonly first propose to themselves very wicked Ends and then no wonder if they chuse Means that are equally

which they taught To which he again replies not by Arguing but by Detestation Whose Damnation is just Whose Damnation that is Theirs whosoever they are that either own or act upon such a Principle as this That it is lawful to do evil that good may come or Theirs who thus calumniate us as if this Principle were ours that is as if this were a Christian Principle either taught or allowed by the Apostles of our Lord For the word Whose may refer to either of them This I take to be the plain meaning of the Words from which we may make these Three Observations which are evidently contained or implied in them I. That Almighty God can and often doth over rule the evil Actions of men to his own Glory and cause bad Means to conduce to a good End II. That notwithstanding this 't is a detestable and damnable Principle That unlawful Means may be used in order to the bringing about an End that is good III. That it is moreover a slanderous and therefore a very unjust and detestable Practice to charge this Principle upon those who not only disown it but whose Actions have given no just occasion for such an Imputation Of each of these I design to discourse briefly and as I go along apply them to the Occasions of our present meeting I. That Almighty God can and often doth over-rule the evil Actions of men to his own Glory and cause bad Means to conduce to a good End This is sufficiently intimated in our Apostle's Discourse at the beginning of this Chapter and his asserting this was as I have shewn that which gave occasion to the Reflection made in the Text. The Jews had been favoured by God with especial Advantages for the knowing the Messias when he should appear amongst them yet we know how they disbeliev'd and rejected him when he did appear even to the ruin of their Church and Nation But yet this their Sin illustrated the Glory of God's Justice in punishing them so remarkably for their heinous Crime and by giving occasion also to the Apostles to turn from them to the Gentiles it proved a means of advancing God's Glory by propagating the knowledge of him in the world The Gentiles on the other hand had been grievous Sinners not only strangers to the living and true God but living in open violation of those Laws which he had given them in their very Natures yet upon their hearing the Christian Doctrine preach'd many of them embrac'd it with great readiness which likewise gave occasion to the magnifying the Grace of God towards them in pardoning their past Offences and receiving them into his favour upon their Repentance and Amendment which again prov'd another occasion of the ●●ws blaspheming the Doctrine of St. Paul and imputing to him falsly the same Principle which they here do in the Text as he seems to intimate in that Passage Rom 6.1 What shall we say then Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound Answering there as he does here by rejecting such a Position with Abhorrence God forbid Indeed as to both these Instances St. Paul afterwards in this same Epistle resolves the whole of God's Dispensation into Infinite Wisdom when speaking both of the Sin of the Jews in rejecting and the Happiness of the Gentiles in embracing the Gospel of our Saviour he concludes chap. 11.33 36. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever Amen Whoever is acquainted with the History of the Holy Scriptures needs not be at much pains to find out abundance of Instances of the like kind And if we would reflect upon one that has a fair Resemblance to those which I shall have occasion presently to mention from among our selves it may be that in the Book of Esther which Book was written on purpose to declare the Wisdom and Goodness of God in over-ruling the Pride and Malice of a wicked man to his own Glory and the Good of his Church ordering it so that the Conspirator should erect a Gallows for himself to be hang'd on and that he should by Lot chuse out a Month and a Day for the destruction of the Nation and Church of the Jews Esth 9.22 which did in effect prove the day in which the Jews rested from their enemies and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow into joy and from mourning into a good day as we read in the Sequel of that History But to pass by all other Instances that might be given we Christians have one at hand which may serve instead of all namely When the greatest Sin that ever was committed the Crucifying the Son of God was by the Divine Wisdom and Goodness over-ruled to become a Means of the greatest Good that was ever conferr'd upon the Children of Men viz. putting them into a new Capacity of Eternal Life and Happiness And the reason of all this is evident That Being who seeth all things at one view who not only knoweth what is now doing but what will be done nay what will be attempted or design'd hereafter who farther discerneth the tendency of every Action and what will be the natural Consequence of it and who at the same time hath all Power in his Hands so that he can either permit or prevent the Execution of any Design can Confirm or Annul every Purpose and Intention He certainly can easily out-wit and over-reach the craftiest and the worst of Men and consequently can dispose and order what they intend wickedly or foolishly to quite other purposes than what were in their Hearts And forasmuch as his Goodness is equal to his Power and Wisdom we may safely conclude that as he can so he will govern Affairs in such wise as to bring good out of evil As we may reasonably argue from the Perfection of his Nature that he never would have permitted Evil to have come into the world unless he could have over-rul'd it to some wise and good ends So we may also That he never will permit any of his Creatures to do that evil thing which he cannot and which he will not make to issue in the Glory of his Holy Name and the Good of his Creation And now if we would apply this to our present purpose it will not be difficult That the Conspiracy of this Day in the time of our Fathers was a Notorious Wickedness I will at present take for granted and if it were I am sure it prov'd an Eminent occasion also of God's Manifesting the Glory of several of his Attributes His Wisdom for instance evidently appear'd in permitting the Conspirators to proceed just to Execution and then all on a sudden discovering their dark Designs nay making one of themselves the occasion of this Discovery His Justice was manifest in turning the Mischief upon themselves and