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A57226 Providence and precept, or, The case of doing evil that good may come of it stated and resolved according to Scripture, reason, and the (primitive) practice of the Church of England : with a more particular respect to a late case of allegiance &c. and its vindication in a letter to the author. Richardson, Mr. 1691 (1691) Wing R1377; ESTC R24095 23,343 36

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PROVIDENCE and PRECEPT OR THE CASE OF Doing Evil that Good may come of it STATED and RESOLVED According to Scripture Reason and the Primitive Practice OF THE CHURCH of ENGLAND With a more particular Respect to a Late Case of Allegiance c. and its Vindication In a Letter to the Author The Second Edition And the Lord said unto him Wherewith and he said I will go forth and I will be a lying Spirit in the Mouth of all his Prophets 2 Kings 22.22 A wonderful and horrible Thing is committed in the Land The Prophets prophesie falsly and the Priests bear rule by this means and my People love to have it so and what will ye do in the end thereof Jer. 5.30 31. London Printed in the Year 1691. SIR I Have at last by the help of a good Friend my Circumstances being such I could not purchase them perused your Case of Allegiance c. and its Vindication And finding them both of a Piece I shall not go about to divide what you have so Providentially joyned And therefore it will be needless to speak to the latter by reason it stands only upon the Foundation of your former the Removal of which will be like Sampson's pulling down the Pillars or main Prop so that consequently the whole Fabrick must fall to the Ground But before I enter the Field against such a mighty Champion and brave Challenger that is Armed Cap-a-pe and Charges as it were in Armour I will for some Reasons let you know what I am by telling you what I am not and also the Reason of this my bold Undertaking As to the first know then that I am neither Lawyer Divine nor Physician Scholar or Pretender to Letters and so you need not fear my troubling you with hard Words or philosophical Distinctions with the latter of which your Case c. is pretty well furnished but I presume that was only to let the World see how nicely you could split a Hair or like a good Lawyer for his Client make the best of a bad Cause which in them is tolerable if not commendable But in a Grave Learned Divine it looks methinks as odd as a Protestant Priest preaching up a Mahometan Doctrine in opposition to Christian Precept Pray mistake me not as if nothing was intended by this Letter but a little Railery for you shall find when I come to serious Things I can talk seriously of them and my Designs are honest and fair and therefore will as much as in me lies endeavour to give no Offence by confining my Discourse to Generals without concerning my self with any Particulars For my aim is not to expose bad Men but ill Principles which I am sure are destructive to all Civil Governments in the World And in Prosecution of which I will at your own Game for nothing but Diamonds cut Diamonds play you Text against Text and then leave your self or any other Providential Divine to judge of the matter I consess you have according to your own stating the Case taken a great deal of Pains in transferring an Allegiance from a Legal and Rightful King to a Providential one or in your own Phrase from the Person who hath still a Legal Right and Pag. 26. as you say he may recover it if he can to another whom your self owns for there cannot be two Legal Rights at one and the same time hath no such Title and all by a nice Distinction Pag. 16. Though the Man is in Being still the King is gone which Learned Distinction I presume you took from the Measures that was taken in Forty one by Reason 't is so agreeable with that Rebel Notion which our Law condemns of taking up Arms against the King's Person to defend his Authority which Republican Notion I am sure can never be serviceable to the present nor any thorough Settlement whatever And I am confident you did not meet with any such Doctrine in Bishop Overal's Convocation Book Which happy Book if you had not Providentially met with the Church as well as the State had as to that Point lost a great Champion and poor distressed Subjects the Advantage of knowing their Duties to the Supreme Authority when ever a Civil Government is changed by Peoples following the conduct of your Providence contrary to Precept But it may be objected Why should I concern my self with Things so much out of my way Or as the saying is A Cobler should not go beyond his Last To which I answr A Stander by may as often it happens see more than a Gamester and so it commonly appears when as opportunity serves he discovers the Mistake Besides though I am but poor in Purse yet I am rich in Faith and inclinable to believe with some old Philosophers I have heard talk of my Soul may not be inferior to other Bodies let them shine never so Gay or Glittering And as you use to tell us God is not a Respecter of Persons which is a good Argument for me and every good Christian to set a value upon his Soul let his Body be never so poor and contemptible And that is one Reason of my Enquiry into the Reasons you have given the World both for your conforming and non-conforming to the present c. For you like the Children of Israel did halt along time between two Opinions and I am apt to believe had not you met with Something besides the Convocation Book you had as you tell us perhaps stuck till this time where you did stick for stick you did till Mr. Dr. Sherlock's Pre● Jenkins kind hand more than the Bishop's Convocation Book as I shall shew you by and by relieved and haled you out of the Mire and set you safe upon dry Land on which you now stand as firm as a Rock But before I enter upon the Premises I will give you a second Reason which is indeed the chief for my so doing viz. I having prov'd my Soul of as Noble an Extract as your own and that the Eternal Peace and Welfare of it depends upon our Allegiance and Submission to the Supreme Authority For they as you say that resist shall receive to themselves damnation I judge it well worth the while to observe the Apostle's Rule 1 Thess 5.21 of proving all things and holding fast that which is good Which is I hope a sufficient Reason to excuse my Presumption in enquiring whether you are not more mistaken in St. Paul's meaning as to your New Case c. than you were in the Case you had formerly in your Eye as you tell us in the Preface when you proved he meant no such thing And as to that Case you still think you were in the right and truly so do I and yet you must be mistaken either then or now And that it was then and not now do's not appear to any Body but your self that I know of neither have you produced any Authority to convince the World that you are