the Grace of God by putting false Constructions upon and drawing such impious Consequences from it are guilty of a most Pernicious and Dangerous sin 2. If you refer them as many do and as I shall now understand them to the wicked resolution set down in the Text Let us do evil that good may come then they signifie that it is a Damnable sin to commit any Evil though thereby the greatest Good might be obtained which is the Proposition I shall now Discourse of That we must not venture to do the least Evil no not for the sake of the greatest Good and I am very confident you will all readily grant that this point is very seasonable now to be insisted upon For we need not Travel into Foreign Countries we need not consult the Chronicles of past Ages nor be beholden to Ancient Records to fetch thence Examples of those who have done the vilest and lewdest things imaginable and yet have cloaked all and defended themselves by this Colourable Pretence That what they did was for the Glory and Service of God and the Good of his People We have had too many sad Instances of this amongst our selves in this last Age. For have not the most Execrable Murders Treasons and Villanies been acted in this Nation and yet all pretended to be done for Gods sake for the preservation of Religion and the Gospel and for the Safety and Liberty of the People The old Wheadling Pretences of all Sedition and Rebellion But I shall not look back to former Times Have we not at this present Day heard of Men who have undertaken the Assassination of the most Gracious and Merciful Prince that ever wielded the English Sceptre and of his Royal Brother the overturning the present Government and bringing in all Confusion and Anarchy and God knows what for no one can tell and it makes every Honest mans Heart Bleed within him but to guess what had been the fatal Consequences of such an Horrid Design had not Gods good Providence which hath all along been so watchful over our Soveraign Blasted and Defeated it yet is not all this Wickedness said to have been contrived and resolved upon out of great love to and concern for the Protestant Religion and Liberty of the Subject and to secure us from Popery and Slavery They good Men designed nothing but what was honest for the Interest of Religion and the Nation no matter what the Means were that were used in so good a Cause In nomine Domini incipit omne malum and I think I may truly say that neither Ambition nor Covetousness nor Pride nor Revenge nor Discontent nor any other Lust or Passion that useth to animate Men to make Publick Disturbances have yet been the cause of so much Disorder and Mischief in the World as hath been occasion'd by a Popish or Fanatick Zeal for Religion and Liberty and perhaps more Evil hath been done that Good might come of it than upon any other pretence or account whatsoever This indeed is a weakness that most Men are more or less subject unto When they are once secure of the goodness of the Cause they are ingaged in and of the greatness and necessity of the End they propound to themselves their Eyes are so wholly fixed upon it that they easily become less wary and sollicitous about the Lawfulness of the Means they use for the compassing of it and are apt in their heat to outrun or transgress the limits of their Duty As it is with one who eagerly follows his sport or game when he is in close pursuit he sticks not at any bad road he leaps over all that is in his way and will ride over those dangerous places which at another time he would with the greatest care have avoided So is it with men whom a blind Zeal not cool Reason or sober Religion moves they are rid by an headstrong impetuous passion which violently hurries them through thick and thin through lawful and unlawful they swallow any Camel so that they may at last obtain what they so earnestly desire Let us do evil that good may come whose damnation is just In the prosecution of this Argument I shall first of all explain the Proposition That we must not do any evil that good may come Secondly I shall prove it to you and give you some Reasons to establish you in the belief of it Lastly draw some seasonable Inferences from it 1. For the Explication of this Proposition That we must not do any evil that good may come there need not many words By good here I understand whatever it is that is desirable or for our advantage either considered as Men or as Christians whether it relates to this life or next whether it be publick or private temporal or spiritual whether it be our own or others for the procuring of any or all these good things we must not do any thing that is evil What we call Evil is of two sorts either Natural or Moral or as it useth commonly to be expressed the evil of pain or the evil of sin and of this latter of sins are these words only to be understood As for the former outward temporal evils which concern our Bodies or Estates they must be chearfully endured and undergone in a good Cause for a great End rather than omit a necessary Duty or commit a plain Sin there being more real evil in sin than in any outward pain or calamity that can befall us Now of things sinful of which only I discourse some are always such in all Circumstances other things there are which are in their own Nature indifferent but are evil and sinful only because they are forbidden by some positive Command of God which therefore in a case of great necessity or charity may be done for the sake of some good that follows As we all know David and those that were with him to save themselves from perishing by hunger did eat of the Shew-bread which otherwise was not lawful for them to eat and yet were not blamed for it Be pleased therefore to observe that I speak not now of the violation of such positive Commands of God as they are commonly called which he himself hath declared are to give place to Works of mercy and doing good to our Brother the breach of them in such cases not being sinful God himself dispensing with those Laws in such extremities But I speak now of things in their own nature and intrinsically evil and which are forbid by God because they are such not the least thing which is evil in its own nature may be done tho' for the procuring the greatest good Which I shall endeavour 2. To make out to you by Arguments drawn from these four heads First from the nature of moral good and evil Secondly from the consideration of Gods Providence Thirdly from the example of Gods Condemning and Punishing evil Actions tho' donewith good Intention Fourthly from the pernicious Consequences of such a
whatever he thinks fit so his Intention and End be but good What we are to do or what we are to avoid if this Doctrine be admitted for true we are not to learn from Gods Law commanding the one or forbidding the other but then every Man according to his own Prudence is to judge of Things and Actions by their Conveniency and Expediency to promote the Glory of God and publick Benefit and so they are either Good or Evil according as they seem to us and our own Judgment and Opinion is the measure of lawful and unlawful and thus we are wholly at least as to the Choice of Means our own Masters and Law-givers Nay this Principle plainly overthrows all Justice and Faith amongst Men all Peace and Security in Societies and makes all Government precarious and insignificant since every one is an Arbitrary Subject and may obey or resist the Laws and Constistutions of his Superiours as they appear to himself to be for or against the common good of which every Person must judge for himself and every mans Life Estate and Fortune is at my disposal if once I think it most for the Glory of God and the safety of Religion that they should be taken away You know our Saviour tells his Disciples of some that should arise who would think they did God good service in killing of them According to this Doctrine St. Paul was very innocent when he was so mad against the Church and breathed forth nothing but Slaughter and Destruction against the Christians The Gun-powder Traytors deserved to be Sainted the Murtherers of King Charles the First and all our late Plotters of both sorts were Martyrs if a good End or Intention would sanctify an evil action But this is sufficient in so plain a matter What remains is only to draw some few Inferences from what I have already Discoursed 1. Hence we may learn what is the true meaning of that Rule that is commonly given to direct our Practice that Of two evils the least is to be chosen which holds good only in these two Cases 1. When two or more outward Evils are propounded to us and we must undergo one of them ordinarily we may chuse that which is least This was the perplexity David was reduced unto 2 Sam. 24. after he had so grievously offended God by numbering the People God sent to him by the Prophet and put it to his choice whether seven years of famine should come into his land or he would flee three months before his Enemies or there should be three days Pestilence Here David chose the last as the least saying Let us fall now into the hands of the Lord for his mercies are great and not into the hands of men Thus a private evil is to be suffered rather than the publick be endangered and Caiaphas said true tho' he applied it ill that it was better one man should suffer than the whole Nation perish Thus the most Tyrannical and Arbitrary Government is to be preferred before none at all and to be oppressed under a Lawful Power is better than Civil War and Confusion 2. When two Evils are propounded to us the one of Pain which concerns our outward Bodies or Estates the other something to be done that is plainly sinful here we must chuse the greatest outward loss or trouble rather than commit the least Sin and this is our Wisdom so to do a less Evil when by it we avoid a greater having in it the nature of Good This was the Rule the Primitive Christians practised and suffered by when the severest Punishments the cruellest Tortures nay not the appearance of Death it self in its ugliest visage could ever make them consent to do any thing unworthy of their holy Profession And there is nothing that redounds more to the Glory of God and the Advantage of Religion than the couragious suffering of Evil for Righteousness sake infinitely more than the doing of any Evil for the sake of our Religion can ever effect In these two Cases this Rule holds good But 3. In another Case which is sometimes put and to which this Rule is applied it doth not hold at all That is when two Evils are propounded to us both of them sinful but one of necessity to be done what must we do in this Case May we chuse the less Sin to avoid the greater I Answer no certainly In this Case we must avoid both and that it can never be allowed to commit a less Sin to avoid a greater appears sufficiently from this one Reason that if it were so it would then be in the power of any Man to commit what Sin soever he pleased For if I have a spite against any private Person and would take away his Life it is but Swearing or Vowing that I will either kill the King or him Now it being a less sin to kill any private man than the King according to this Rule of chusing the least sin it would become lawful to do it and by the same Artifice I might make any sin I had a mind to commit innocent and allowable by bringing it into Competition with a greater sin But if two or more sins are propounded to us when we can chuse any of them we must chuse none nor can there be any such real case wherein a man is under a necessity of committing some sin or other nor can any Circumstances make it safe or adviseable to venture on the least sin So that in this instance this Rule that of two Evils that is of two sins the least is to be chosen does not hold 2. From what I have said I would take occasion to intreat you all to beware of being led into or ingaged in any Factious or Seditious Courses by the specious pretences of Ambitious or Discontented men For the carrying on any evil Plot against the Publick it is absolutely necessary that the true Ends be concealed and such offered to open view as may be most apt to take with the generality of men An outward form of Godliness must be put on by all those who intend any very mischievous and black design by which they may gain Credit and good Esteem to themselves and procure greater Countenance and Reputation to their Party Never almost was there any great Sedition Mutiny or Rebellion contrived or brought to any Fortunate success but by men pretending to greater Zeal for and Care of Gods Honour and love to Religion and hatred of Errors and Abuses and concern for the Peoples good and for preserving their just rights than other men tho' all this while they secretly intend the inslaving of them and overturning all Law and Order by which fair glozing shews and disguises they deceive if possible the very Elect men otherwise sober and Loyal At the beginning of our late troubles here in England had those who set on foot and afterwards continued that unnatutal Rebellion at first clearly told the world what they aimed at the
subversion of the Ancient Monarchy the taking away the Kings life and banishing his Children setting up themselves and subjecting the whole Nation to the power of the Sword had this design been but smelt and suspected at first it had in all probability been crushed and defeated as soon as discovered and believed At first therefore nothing was talked of but Religion pure Ordinances liberty of Conscience Freedom from Popish Innovations and Antichristian Ceremonies true Gospel worship a preaching Ministry and when by such pretences and Artifices many were engaged to their side then by degrees they began to appear in their own proper colours And have we not been lately in great danger of being cheated and undone the second time by the same Arts and Fears and Jealousies and pretences of Reformation and Religion and almost by the same men too And may we not at last hope that this repeated Experience will open mens eyes that they may see what tools they have been made by designing heads how they have been cajoled and imposed upon by fair pretences and some perhaps honest men so I would in charity believe in the simplicity of their hearts made use of to serve the most horrid and treasonable Designes which they never thought of or little suspected were driving on 3. And especially Let us all now be exhorted to take great care that our Zeal for Religion never transport us beyond the bounds of our Duty Religion is certainly the greatest interest and concernment of Mankind Dearer it ought to be to us than our lives for infinitely more than our lives are worth depend upon it And of all the several Religions that are professed in the World I am in my Conscience perswaded that which is taught here and maintained in our Church of England as by Law established is most Divine most Christian most Apostolical and Primitive most Pure and Rational and for the continuance of this Inestimable Blessing of God amongst us and to our Posterity after us of which we have been for so long time thro' Gods Infinite Patience to us possessed for this we ought surely to be very Zealous No lover of God or his own Soul or his Country can be indifferent or careless about such a Matter And as for my own part I do profess to have so am I sure all true Orthodox Sons of the Church of England must have as ill thoughts and as great a detestation of the Popish as of any other Sect whatever that calls it self Christian The Church of Rome is undoubtedly the most corrupt and degenerate part of the Visible Church of Christ now upon Earth and I thank God it is my Resolution and it is the Resolution of all true and hearty Members of our Church and I pray God give us all Grace to stand to it if ever we be put upon the tryal I say it is our Resolution to part with all that this World calls Dear even Life it self rather than ever own their Novel Articles for true or submit to their Usurpations or Communicate in their Idolatrous Worship But yet for all this neither for the Preservation of this our most Holy and Excellent Religion professed here in England nor for the keeping out Popery it self and then I have named the worst thing that I can will I ever by the Grace of God go beyond the Duty of my Calling and that Station Divine Providence hath placed me in nor will I ever lift up my Finger nor open my Mouth against the Lords Anointed whatever his Religion may be whether he hath any or none whether he be a Nero or a Constantine whether he Rules by Law or against it We must not wish him Evil no not so much as in our secret thoughts whatever hard things we suffer from him we must on no account disturb or oppose his Government or resist his Authority and if we have not opportunity of flying from such a Persecution as I now suppose because I would put the worst Case that can happen or cannot by prudence decline it I know no other remedy the Gospel allows us but Meek and Patient Suffering for our Religion after the Example of our Blessed Lord and Master This is the plain Loyal Doctrine of the Church of England which her Ministers have always Preached and Defended both against Papists and Fanaticks of all sorts and for which such an Out-cry and Clamour of late Years hath been raised against the Clergy And whenever we Teach you otherwise give me leave in Gods Name to charge you all to forsake us and despise us at as high a rate as our greatest Enemies now can do Nay if an Angel from Heaven preach any other Doctrine let him be accursed Zeal for the best and the greatest things in the World will not excuse private mens taking upon themselves to reform publick abuses either against or without the consent of the Supreme Magistrate nor will it hallow any action for which we have not sufficient Warrant and Authority from Gods word Ye remember the Answer which our Saviour gave to his Disciples when they called for Fire from Heaven to consume that Village of the Samaritans that would not receive their Master Ye know not what manner of Spirit you are of They were much mistaken when they thought they might do as Elias had done that was no waies agreeable to that Meek and Lowly Spirit which our Saviours Doctrine was to beget in men or to that taking up his Cross which our Lord called his Disciples unto or to that Patience and Resolution in suffering by which Christianity was to be propagated and glorified in the World For Conclusion of all would we engage Gods Favour and Protection that he should continue to us those singular Mercies we yet enjoy let us then at all times adhere close to our Duty as well when it is against our temporal Interest as when it is for it Let us inviolably in all things observe the Commands of our Religion not only propound good ends but be as careful to chuse Lawful means and then God wâ—â— in some measure think himself as it were obliged 〈◊〉 shew Mercy and Favour to us If ever any thing provokes God Almighty tâ— bring those Calamities upon us which we seem 〈◊〉 much to fear it is our using indirect unlawful meanâ— to prevent their falling upon us And is it not thuâ— with us at this day For could our Common Enemy I mean the Papists have ever invented a morâ— successful Plot for the bringing in of Popery could they have hoped for a better opportunity or greater advantages for the recommending and introducing their Religion than what the abominable Wickedness and Treasons of those who would be accounted the greatest Zealots against it have now given them By doing of such horrid Evils under pretence that good may come have they not given the greatest Blow and Wound to the Reformed Religion and done their best to bring that misery upon us which they would be thought to have designed to have kept off The Lord still in his infinite Mercy continue to preserve our most Gracious Soveraign and the Church and these Kingdoms from all either secret Conspiracies or open Assaults of Wicked Men of what Sect or Denomination soever who think it Lawful to do evil that good may come whose damnation is just FINIS