Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	church_n	religion_n	true_a	7,548	5	5.1593	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

wicked And thus it was in this case The End was to root out God's true Religion from amongst us and to reestablish the Errors and evil Practices of the Romish Church which had been justly discarded by us Had their Religion been true and ours false nothing but a strong Delusion could have led them to the taking this course for the introducing the one and the rooting out the other It cannot be from God with his approbation or allowance that men should violate those Laws of his which are so plainly written in our very Nature that they should renounce all Justice and Mercy and put off Humanity it self for the Advancement of the truest Religion or the best Church in the world And what then shall be said when the greatest Barbarities are exercised for the establishing Error Superstition and Idolatry for the ruining an Excellent Church and the subverting a well-order'd Government We may very well say in the Words of our Text Those who presume to do Evil that such Good may come their Damnation is just But let us pass from this to the last Observation I laid down from the Words viz. III. That it is 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 This is in truth so lewd a Principle that those who do act upon it will probably not be so hardy as to own that they do so But however if they do evidently act upon it then 't is no Slander no Injustice to say they do But if on the contrary they not only disavow the Principle but have given no just ground for such a Charge then it is without all question a slanderous Report So St. Paul affirms in the Text using the same word which when applied to God is render'd Blasphemy and when to Men 't is translated by evil speaking or as here by slanderously reporting or calumniating And he adds Whose damnation is just by which as I took notice in the Explication of the Text some understand his meaning to have been That those Jews who rais'd this slanderous Report upon the Apostles when they did or at least might easily if it had not been their own fault have known that it was a slander were justly liable to damnation for so doing so that God would punish them not only for rejecting the Gospel when preach'd to them but also for calumniating the Doctrine of Christianity and slandering its Preachers I need not stand to prove the Truth of the Observation Every one will readily allow it that to lay so soul an Imputation upon any that have not deserved it is the worst sort of Calumny and Injustice But the reason of my mentioning it is both because it is evidently implied in the Text and because there are Some who have slanderously reported and affirmed That We of this Church and Nation have acted upon this Principle and this particularly in One of those Instances which we have made a new Reason for our assembling at this Time They own indeed That the Preservation of our Government and our Religion in our Fathers days was a signal Act of Divine Providence for which we ought still to express our Thankfulness But they say That our late Deliverance however permitted by God for wise and good Ends was nevertheless brought about by unlawful Means so that instead of rendring Thanks to God as we now do we ought rather to humble our selves before Him for the great Transgression we have been guilty of I thus plainly relate what has been too often said upon this occasion which if it were not notorious ought not to have been mentioned But seeing some have the Confidence thus to charge us it seems reasonable nay necessary on such Occasions as this to shew that the Imputation is false and slanderous and this partly to do right to our selves partly for the fortifying such as may be liable to be shockt by the bold Assertions of Confident Men and partly for the convincing those amongst them whose Prejudices and Passions have not set them out of the reach of all calm and sober Reasoning To come to the point therefore with the Reporters of this slander The second Occasion of this Solemnity was the happy Arrival of His Present Majesty on this Day for the Deliverance of our Church and Nation It was I am sure an Arrival which was eagerly desired and expected by a considerable number of those who have appear'd dissatisfied at the Event By the soberer part of them I think it is not now made a Matter of Dispute Whether our Laws and Liberties and Religion were at That time in imminent Danger or not nor whether His Majesty's Undertaking were not very desirable in order to the rescuing us from the Evils we then fear'd were coming upon us But according to these Mens present Apprehensions we did not it seems make a right use of the Blessing which Providence bestow'd upon us that is things were order'd and setled in such manner as prov'd contrary to their expectations and to some Schemes which they had form'd to themselves Well be it so for once But who was it that made this Settlement for us Even Those who alone at that time were in a Capacity of doing it We were first reduced to that State that we wanted some Deliverer from Abroad we were generally desirous of his Speedy Arrival among us soon after his Arrival we were left in a state of Anarchy and Confusion and put under a new Necessity of taking up some speedy and effectual Resolutions of securing the Publick Peace we were by those who had through their unhappy Management first brought us to these straits and afterwards deserted us in the midst of them left to do the best we could for our selves Now I would fain know of our disaffected Countreymen Who in such a Case must determine what was to be done When the Legal Constitution whereby any Society or Body of Men is held together is once broken let it be by what means it will there are but two ways that I can think of to bring things to an Issue viz. Either Fighting or Voting The latter certainly is the more Human way of the two and such as it much better becomes Reasonable Creatures to use than the former and if once matters come to a Publick Vote as in this Case of ours they necessarily did the Law of Reason which is Eternal and Immutable dictates That the Lesser Part should yield to the Greater and this so that in all matters of purely Civil Right every Private Man is in reason bound either to submit to the Major Vote or to leave the Society or to be contented with what they shall please to inflict upon him for his Singularity This is so plain a Case that it often seems to me matter of wonder and what is not to be accounted for from any Reason but

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