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

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66419	A sermon preached July 26, 1685 being the day of publick thanksgiving appointed by His Majesty for the late victory over the rebels, in the parish-churches of St. Mildred's Poultrey, and St. Ann's Aldersgate : published in vindication of that, and the author / by John Williams ...	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1685 (1685)	Wing W2726; ESTC R7297	12,118	36

this in his Eye and doth steer his course according as that shall require and need And therefore it 's both a Temptation to mankind frequently to commit unwarrantable Actions and engage in unlawful Designs for such an end and a Temptation to others to think well of it But now if evil be evil in its nature and is not to be changed then evil is not to be done upon any reason whatsoever and the goodness of the End as long as it cannot change the Nature of the Action cannot make that to be no fault which was so before and will be so after and wherever that good End is not So that whether there be a good End or not evil is not to be done since the evil is as well evil where this End is as where it is not And I may safely say it is as lawful to do evil for evil's sake as to do evil for the sake of what is good And this I shall represent from the following Considerations 1. If Evil may be done that good may come of it it will in Effect confound all difference betwixt Good and Evil since Evil in such Circumstances where ●t may serve a good End is as Eligible and fit to be done as what is really good Now if what is evil in such case is lawful then that which is unlawful becomes lawful and where is then the difference betwixt Good and Evil Vertue and Vice lawful and unlawful betwixt what is commanded and what is forbidden That there is as vast a difference betwixt these two as between Light and Darkness all do acknowledg and setting aside the good End evil will be evil and what is evil will be unlawful to the World's end But though these are never so contrary in Notion and Speculation yet if they unite in Practice and that where good is the End Evil may be used as a means there will be as much confusion as if the difference had not been observed and determined in the Notion And there being no case in which there may not be some good real or imaginary pretended there will be no case in which Evil will not or may not be done And then if Evil may be thus done and allowably too and lose its Name and for the present its Nature then what Evil is there which will not be legitimate For let but a good End such as the Glory of God the Advantage of the Church be placed in the Van and presently Injustice and Extortion Rapine and Violence Oppression and Tyranny Usurpation and Disloyalty and all the Evils of the World may come in the Rear and men need not boggle at whatever such a cause may need or require when they have this to justifie them So that by this means Evil shall be as securely and lawfully practised as if it had nothing of that Nature in it and by being in such good Company comes to lose its malignity and become venial say I nay praise-worthy and meritorious and what without that End was the worst of Villanies shall by it become an Heroical Vertue and Divine Quality 2. It takes away all security and trust amongst men and puts them into a posture of War If there be no Essential Difference between Good and Evil but that all Actions are equally lawful in themselves then no man is safe further than the Laws of the Land the Authority of the Magistrate or his own Power can make him And though there be this Difference yet if it be not observed but that a good End may throw it down and make the Evil to be Good and the unlawful to be lawful then we are no longer quiet or safe than our neighbour hath no good end of his own to serve for if that comes into play of a Friend he may be an Enemy of a Confident he may be a Deceiver a Robber or a Traytor And our Security depending upon a great uncertainty and what a Person doth not now understand he may in a little Time perceive to be his Interest we must be always upon our Guard and every man is bound as far as his safety is concerned to look upon the best of his Friends as in a possibility of being his most dangerous Enemy and to converse and treat with all mankind with Distrust Jealousie and Fear Grant this that Evil becomes lawful by a good End and we that live in Amity and good Correspondence may be in as much Danger as those that live at the Foot of Aetna or Vesuvius which in a Moment do shake and tremble and vomit forth their Flames and discharge them upon the Neighbourhood to their utter Ruin and Devastation and when we think our selves secure may have all compacts broken Oaths dissolved all difference betwixt Superiours and Inferiors confounded It exposes the Church and State to every Pretender and any one that has a mind will never want a Reason for Insurrection and Rebellion For it 's but setting up a good End and it gives him a Right as much if not more to assault as the other to defend himself So that this Principle of doing Evil that Good may come is as uncomfortable as it is unsafe and cannot be true if the Peace and good Order of the World be to be minded and secured and if it be possible for it so to be 3. If this Principle be true it would be a disparagement to the Wisdom and Power of Divine Providence or argue a Distrust in it The Providence of God doth govern the World and as the Glory of God and the Good of Mankind are the Ends it doth respect and prosecute so it 's above all Temptation to use such means for the accomplishing those Ends as are Dishonourable and Inglorious Base and Infamous But if this be allowed that we may do evil that Good may come it would represent the Divine Providence as a Friend to such Courses or that it as much needed our help in order to the attaining those Ends as an evil Course is supposed necessary for those that would attain it But now if the Divine Providence is a displaying the Wisdom and Power the Justice and Goodness of God then it neither needs nor uses any such Arts as will debase his Authority and be a diminution to his Divine Perfections And consequently if such are used it shews a distrust of Divine Providence in those that use them And so what was unlawful without that good End pretended to be respected is for that reason unlawful with it If therefore Persons do pass the Bounds prescribed them by the Divine Law whatever cause they do it for it's to betake themselves to diabolical Arts and to call in the Devil to their Assistance They do like Saul who went to the Witch when God had forsaken him Or as Ahaziah that in his Sickness sent to Baalzebub the God of Ekron when there was a God in Israel 2 Kings 1.2 6. Such do in effect disown the Presence of God in the World

or the Concernment he hath for the managing of things in it For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God Jam. 1.20 And his cause doth not need any unjust Arts to defend and support it And if by all that men can lawfully do they are not able to maintain or promote it they are to proceed no farther but to leave it to the Wisdom and Power of God to contrive and prosecute what may serve for the accomplishing so excellent an end We are always to resign up our Wills and Understandings and Devices to him and to believe that when we have done all we lawfully can he will in his good time and by ways of his own do what we cannot and we cannot do what is unlawful and Evil. As long as we thus do and contain our selves within the Bounds of our Religion we give a due respect to Divine Providence but if we once venture to pass them we must either suspect our cause or God's Concernment in it and so disparage our selves or the Protection we profess to depend upon I shall close this with the Observation of the Son of Syrach Ecclus. 15.11 12 13. Say not thou it is through the Lord that I turn back or aside for thou oughtest not to do the things that he hateth Say not thou he hath caused me to err for he hath no need of the sinful man The Lord hateth all the abomination of Error and they that fear God love it not Ver. 20. He hath commanded no man to do ungodly neither hath he given any man license to sin 4. The Principle of doing Evil that Good may come doth evacuate and disannull the Authority of God's Commands as if we were no further to respect them than may be for our own private Convenience and Interest or the Convenience and Interest of the Church or State For if the Goodness of the End may make the Means to be Good how wicked and unjust soever they otherwise are then the Law of God which forbids that Evil is of no Obligation when that End comes between and so what the Law doth condemn it would allow and what it doth forbid it would set us again loose from it would leave it wholly in our own Power whether we would keep or break it and to break it would be as much to obey as to keep it By this Means the Commands of God would be contriv'd rather to serve our ends than his and be made more to provide for our ease and security than his Honour and Glory How would this overthrow the Authority and disparage the Excellency of Gods Law and render the Threatning of our Saviour insignificant Matth. 5.19 Whosoever shall break one of the least commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in and be utterly excluded the Kingdom of Heaven 5. If this were true it would change the very Notion and Character of a Good Man who is described with Job to be an upright man one that fears God and eschews evil With David to be a man after God's own heart 1 Sam. 13.14 With Nathaneel to be an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile Joh. 1.47 Christians are to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves Matth. 10.16 They are to be Free and Ingenuous Candid and Open Plain and Sincere they are to love and their Love is to be without dissimulation Rom. 12.9 But to allow the doing evil that Good may come would be to be wise without Innocency to fear God and not to eschew evil to be an Israelite and yet full of Guile that is to be a Christian and to be none to pretend one thing and be another 6. If this Doctrine be true it would be a great disparagement to Religion and make that in Conclusion to be a Patron of Vice which in its Precepts and Directions it 's a declared enemy unto It was to little purpose that the Heathens had a Religion and gods when their gods were supposed to be inclinable to and enslaved by the same Passions which ruled amongst men And what Veneration could such Persons give to those kind of Deities who abhorred those Vices which reigned amongst the Objects of their Adoration And tho our Religion is never so pious in its Institution yet if by some collateral Ways it permits Men to be impious it would be as contemptible as the gods among the Heathens It 's the Excellency of the Christian Religion that by its Precepts and Commands its Arguments and Motives its Considerations and Rewards it doth drive at the Perfection of Humane Nature and bring men into a propinquity to God and a Capacity of conversing with him here and enjoying him hereafter It purifies the Heart rectifies the Intentions governs the Actions of Men. It makes them humble and lowly gentle and meek contented and satisfied It 's a Religion contrived for the good of Mankind in every Capacity and State But if this should be tolerated and maintained by it That men might do evil for a good end it would take in again all the Mischief it did discountenance and controul threaten and condemn and the World would be filled with the spawn of all manner of wickedness whatsoever under the profession of Religion This would effectually destroy the Honour and put a stop to the success of it It would turn the minds of all good and vertuous men against it and induce them to think it no more worthy of their respect than Mahomet's Paradise would be of their choice nay than the Sands and Deserts of Africa where each Creature preys upon its Fellow as it hath an opportunity for it And therefore from these and the like Reasons it is no wonder that the Apostle did with Indignation cast off the Aspersion charged upon him by the false Apostles that he declared against it with all his might and doom'd it to the Pit of Hell And which again we find him defying Rom. 6.1 2. What shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid Which Leads us to the next General III. This Principle of doing evil that good may come is not only thus evil in its Nature and mischievous in the direful Consequences of it in this World but is also as pernicious to the souls of Men in the other For saith the Apostle their damnation is just that is those that hold it and act according to it are in such a dangerous condition that nothing less than a full sincere and speedy Repentance can prevent their final and Eternal Destruction it being not only the Will of God so resolving and the Word of God so declaring that damnation belongs to them but there is the reason of the Thing for it implied in the Phrase whose damnation is just For if we reflect upon the Principle to sum up what I have said it leads to such manifold and desperate mischiefs doth so evidently tend to and most commonly conclude in the overthrow of

not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God Against this the Apostle doth suppose it will probably be objected What advantage then hath the Jew or what profit is there of circumcision chap. 3.1 To this he replies v. 2. Much every way chiefly because that unto them were committed the Oracles of God by which they had the best means in possession of knowing what the Will of God is and the best Encouragements in many Excellent Promises for obeying it But if in the mean while with all these Advantages they do not believe nor obey is it reasonable to suppose that they should yet stand in the same condition as if they believed and obeyed And that God could not withdraw his Favour and disfranchise them of those Priviledges without being false to his Word For what if some did not believe shall their unbelief make the Faith or Faithfulness of God without effect God forbid v. 3. Against which the Apostle considers it may be further objected But if it happen that our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God v. 5. And that by the unbelief of the Jews and their rejection upon it God doth enlarge his Church and make the Gentiles Partakers of the same Priviledg is God unrighteous that taketh vengeance To this he replies with great Indignation God forbid for then how shall God judge the world And then what an horrid consequence would follow from it viz. Let us do evil that good may come For saith he if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lye unto his Glory why yet am I also judged as a sinner And not rather as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say Let us do evil that good may come Which Words and the Coherence will be better understood if it be considered that the 7 th verse is but the Repetition of the Objection made verse 5. And the 8 th verse is a continuation of the objection in verse 7. As will appear more evidently 1. If the Word rather which is not in the Original be left out And 2. If the following words as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say be read by way of Parenthesis And 3. That the word why be repeated after this manner If the truth of God hath more abounded through my lye unto his Glory why yet am I also judged as a sinner And why not as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say Let us do evil that good may come whose damnation is just So that the words let us do evil that good may come are an Inference from the objection contained in the Words If the truth of God hath more abounded c. And which it seems some maliciously reported that the Apostle held and charged upon him as his Principle and Doctrine But he protests it is a notorious calumny and a Doctrine he abhors and so can be none of his that it 's a Doctrine of pernicious Consequence and what no man can hold without apparent hazard of his Salvation whose damnation is just Which censure tho it immediately refers to the Authors of that slander cast upon him yet hath also a respect to the impiety of the Doctrine he disavows and the danger such are in that do maintain it This is at least implyed for if the Damnation of such as invented the Calumny and threw it upon him be just then no less certainly is it true of such as do hold the Doctrine it self they calumniated him with In Treating upon these Words 1. I shall consider what evil it is which Persons may pretend to do for the sake of what is Good and what Good it is that they may respect in doing Evil. And 2. I shall shew the unreasonableness and unlawfulness of doing evil that good may come 3. I shall shew the danger in so doing from the event of it whose damnation is just 4. I shall shew the prevalency of this Principle in the Christian World Of these as the time will permit 1. What Evil it is that Persons may pretend to do for the sake of some Good c. By Evil all Sins are to be understood whether they be a Transgression of the Law of Nature or of Divine Revelation whether they be Sins of Omission or Commission 1. When I say Sins against the Law of Nature and Revelation are hereby forbid I understand thereby what is intrinsecally and of its own nature evil and not what is so upon mutable Reasons such as that which is forbid by Temporary and Arbitrary Laws depending upon the mere will of the Law-giver or some present Reasons For in this case that which is evil by such circumstance may not only be done when that circumstance ceaseth but also where there is an absolute necessity for it tho the general Reason for the observation of that Law continue Thus it was in the case put by our Saviour when the Law forbad the People to eat the Shew-Bread and yet David with his Company entred into the house of God when he was an hungred and did eat it Matth. 12.3 4. But if the Matter forbidden be intrinsecally evil the case is otherwise and no circumstance of things can alter it as it is in violation of Oaths Blaspheming of God c. 2. When I say Sins of Omission and Commission are forbidden to be done for a good end we are to understand that the Omission of a Duty is not concerned in it when two duties do interfere so that both cannot be performed together and one must be omitted for the other for then the more necessary takes place of the less and the omission of the less is so far then from being an evil that it is a Duty So our Saviour did when he healed on the Sabbath day Luke 13.15 and so he determined the case when he saith God will have mercy and not sacrifice Matth. 12.7 The Good which will not warrant any evil to be done for it may be of Two Sorts 1. Positive Privative The preventing avoiding or removing any Evil which we fear foresee or suffer by 2. Positive The procuring promoting or establishing any Good whether Publick or Private whether Civil or Religious The thing called Good and especially that kind of Good which is evidently known and own'd so to be such as the Cause of God and Religion the good of the Church and Salvation of Mankind is so Excellent that he that doth most of all employ himself in it and takes the most effectual course for preserving or obtaining it is justly to be esteemed one of the best of men And since this is so eminent and useful a Good it 's hard to think he can err that in any Action or undertaking has and keeps