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enemy_n	day_n	jew_n	month_n	1,213	5	9.4256	5	true

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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

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

CLARKE Mayor Martis decimo die Novembr ' 1696. Annoque R. Rs. Wilhelmi Tertii Angliae c. Octavo THis Court doth desire Mr. Bradford to Print his Sermon preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of this City at the Parish-Church of St. Mary-le-Bow on Thursday last being the Fifth of this Instant November GOODFELLOW A SERMON Preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor THE ALDERMEN AND Citizens of LONDON At St. MARY LE BOW On Thursday November 5. 1696. By SAMUEL BRADFORD RECTOR of the said Church LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill MDCXCVII Mr. BRADFORD's SERMON Preach'd before the Lord-Mayor c. November the Fifth 1696. To the Right Honourable Sir EDWARD CLARKE Lord-Mayor of the City of London AND THE Court of Aldermen Right Honourable IN Obedience to Your Commands I present You with this Plain Discourse heartily wishing it may be of Use to those Ends for which I preached it I charitably believe That the greater part of those who yet remain dissatisfied with the Establishment we are under are not so from Malice but from Prejudice and that if they could once get into a just way of Thinking calmly and sedately they would soon change their present Opinions This I have endeavour'd to lead them to without giving them any just Cause of Offence whereby to increase their Prejudices instead of removing them Could we of this Nation once again be so happy as to become thoroughly One Body both as Members of Society and as Christians as it would be one of the best Expressions of our Gratitude to Almighty God for the many Deliverances he hath granted us so it would be the shrewdest Revenge we could take upon our Romish Adversaries and effectually dishearten them from attempting any farther upon us I am persuaded that the Greater Part of the Nation in general and of this City in particular stand well-dispos'd towards such an Union and 't is pity that the Weakness of some and the Design of others should hinder the Effect Your Lordship is what I would persuade others to be I mean An Hearty and Constant Friend to the Church and State and Your Practice as well as Your Profession exemplifies what in this Discourse I aim at That it may please Almighty God to Preserve Direct and Bless Your Lordship and by his good Providence to Increase the Number of such Magistrates is the Prayer of Right Honourable Your most Faithful and Humble Servant SAMUEL BRADFORD A SERMON Preach'd before the Lord-Mayor c. ROM III. 8. And not rather as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say Let us do Evil that Good may come whose Damnation is just THE Double Occasion of this Day 's Solemnity moved me to treat on these Words which will naturally lead me both to condemn that accursed Principle upon which the avow'd Enemies of our Church and Nation acted on the former of these Occasions as also to vindicate our selves from the Calumny which some have spread about concerning us as if we had acted upon the same Principle on the latter of them In the days of our Fathers the Romanists form'd a Plot against us for the subverting our Government and especially for the changing our Religion in order to which excellent Ends as they accounted them they did not stick at making use of the vilest Means that either Men or Devils could invent But that Divine Providence which hath from one Age to another taken especial Care of us discover'd their Design and by that means defeated it and this in so conspicuous a manner that it was then and has been ever since generally owned with Thankfulness to Almighty God and with Detestation both of the Contrivance it self and of the Principle from which it proceeded In our own days the same sort of men had again form'd a very dangerous Design against us and by other Methods hoped to bring about the same End But in this Instance also the Providence of God hath given them a very remarkable Disappointment which altho it be likewise by the Body of the Nation thankfully ascribed to Almighty God as the Great Author of our Deliverance yet there are not wanting some even amongst our selves that charge us with having used unlawful Means for the attaining a good End and openly declare against our annexing the Second Occasion of this Day 's Thanksgiving to the First as if in doing so we were guilty of a manifest Contradiction It seems highly reasonable therefore when we are assembled in this Solemn Manner to offer up our devout Thanks to God for the Deliverance he hath reiterated to us to vindicate our selves from so gross an Absurdity and to make it evident that in Both these Instances we have great reason to give Thanks to God and that we may with a good Conscience ascribe our Deliverance to Him in the Later Case as well as in the Former The Words of the Text are St. Paul's and the Occasion of them was this The Apostle in his preceding Discourse had been intimating That the Jews by disbelieving the Gospel of our Saviour V. 3. had not made void the faithfulness of God nay on the contrary That their unrighteousness did commend the righteousness of God V. 5. that is it render'd it more conspicuous and illustrious Upon which he brings in the Jew objecting But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God what shall we say Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance That is How can God justly punish those who by their Iniquity advance his Glory To this he answers with abhorrence it being an Objection so plainly unreasonable that it needed not be confuted by Argument but only disclaim'd God forbid V. 6. for then how shall God judge the world That is If he were chargeable with Unrighteousness how could he be a fit Governor or Judge of the World For shall not the Judge of all the earth do right But here he goes on with the Jews Objection V. 7 8. 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 That is If the Truth of God be render'd more illustrious by the Falseness of Men with what Justice can the man that is thus false be dealt with as a sinner Seeing his falseness is a means of bringing Glory to God surely it can be no Crime Why may we not rather argue thus Let us do evil that good may come This says he we Apostles and particularly I Paul are slanderously reported to say some affirm that we do say so either directly or at least by consequence It may be they might not have so little honesty as to charge them with saying it expresly however they charged it as a necessary Consequence upon the Doctrine