Selected quad for the lemma: book_n
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A57226
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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.
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Richardson, Mr.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing R1377; ESTC R24095
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23,343
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36
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more in the right now notwithstanding you have possibly another Case in your Eye so that for ought I can see you may be as much out now as you were before and if so what are we the better for your new Discoveries in your Case of Allegiance when you give us so little Encouragement from your being so liable to mistake to believe you 'T is true you have taken a great deal of pains to make the Convocation Book speak as you would make the World think very plain to the Point but how much it serves your turn notwithstanding your nice Distinctions and ringing the Changes between Divine and Humane Entails Legal and Providential Kings and Thorow Settlements c. hath already been demonstrated by more skilful hands But though that Book did you but little service yet there was other Writings that would have done the trick to an hair such as Hobs Baxters Owens and Jenkins c. But I presume your not strengthening your Case c. with quoting those Authors was because their Tenents did not so well agree with the Doctrine of that Church which you pretend to be of But to the Point in hand and the better to inform my self and others I will as well as I can observe some kind of method viz. I will first lay down your providential Hypothesis on which your Case is built and as you have very wisely observed if the World do not judge it a right Rule to go by you know not where to fix one Pag. 24. Secondly I will examine those Texts of Scripture which you quote to prove it Thirdly I will draw up some useful Inferences very necessary for practical Reformers of Church and State But before I proceed Dr. Sherlock's Pre◠I cannot but take notice of that one thing you thought necessary to recant but though it is but one yet it is the only one on which the Case turns c. And truly you were in the right for otherways you had given room for Richard against Baxter c. Besides your Case of Allegiance if compar'd with your Case of Resistance would have been very little to the purpose save only to serve a present Case which has possibly fallen in your Eye And if so 't is but reasonable your Judgment should vary not so much with the Times but according to the different Cases that at different Times chance to fall in your Eye And also 't is but just upon every such occasion to strain I do not mean Conscience but your Art and Skill to make our blessed Lord and the Apostles to go hand in hand with you to gain the Point But now if any Body should ask me this Question viz. How shall we know the Doctor did better understand St. Paul when he writ his Case of Allegiance than he did when he writ his Case of Resistance Let me perish if I could tell what to answer and therefore I leave that Sir to your self and so proceed to what I promis'd viz. the laying down the Hypothesis on which your Case c. is built And I cannot do that better than in the words of a great Man when Time was as I have found them ready drawn up to my hand about 40 Years ago and I dare be bold to say they would have been as good a Preface to your Book as that you have writ and do but read your own Name for his and you will perhaps be pleased to see how exactly it agrees with your own Notions of Providential Rulers and Civil Governments but take them in the Author 's own words and then judge of the matter Mr. Jenkins's Recantation Or his Acknowledgment by way of Petition to the Parliament wherein he confesseth his Sorrow for his acting against the State and the unsutableness of it to his Calling and Profession As also the Parliaments Answer to his Petition as it was printed in the Year 1651. To the Supreme Authority the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England The humble Petition of William Jenkins Prisoner Humbly sheweth THat Your Petitioner is unfeignedly sorrowful for all his late Miscarriages whether testified against him or acknowledged by him and for the great and sinful unsutableness of them to his Calling and Condition That upon earnest seeking of God and diligent enquiring into his Will Your Petioner is convinced that the Alteration of all Civil Governments are ordered by and founded by the wise Providences of God who removeth Kings setteth up Kings ☞ ruleth in the Kingdoms of Men and giveth them to whomsoever he will That the Providences of this God have in the Judgment of Your Petitioner as evidently appeared in the Removing of others from and Investing Your Honours with the Government of this Nation ☞ as every they appeared in the taking away or bestowing of any Government in any History of any Age in the World That he apprehends that a Refusal to be Subjects to this present Authority ☞ under the Pretence of upholding the Title of any upon Earth is a Refusal to acquiesce in the wise and righteous Pleasure of God such an opposing of the Government set up by the Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth as none can have Peace either in Acting in or Suffering for And Your Petitioner looks upon it as his Duty to yield to this Authority all active and chearful Obedience in the Lord even for Conscience sake To promise he being required Truth and Fidelity to it and to hold forth the ground of his so doing to any as God shall call him thereunto c. The rest relates only to his particular Condition and Imprisonment an Inlargement from which he very humbly and submissively prayed for which was granted him in the following Words Resolved that Mr. ☞ Jenkins be pardoned both for his Life and Estate and that Mr. Attorny General be required to prepare the Pardon to be passed under the Great Seal of England and that his Body be forthwith discharged from Imprisonment and his Estate from Sequestration Which extraordinary Favour he obtained through the Mildness of that Government to poor Delinquents And here give me leave to observe viz. Had such a Case been printed in Oliver's time it would have posed a good Divine no dispraise to your self to know whether you had taken your Notions of Providence from Mr. Jenkin's Petition or he his from your Case of Allegiance For in truth they are so very like that it creates a just Supposition of your being one of his Pupils And this is the first Thing I promised viz. The laying down the Hypothesis on which the Foundation of your Case c. stands And I will appeal to all Mankind Whether this Providential Principle would not serve for the French King the Grand Signior nay a Marssinello or a Protestant Joyner provided he could but get enough of the Mob on his side to knock out the Brains of their Opposers the better to instruct them to whom the Sovereign Power do
and as demonstrable as any Point in the Mathematicks and that your self was never in the Right as to your Providential Rulers till this happy Juncture c. But what makes it more acceptable at present is the advantage the Protestant Religion has gained by your not complying with the Providential Settlement till such time as you were in danger to have lost all which no doubt was likewise the Providential Occasion of your more earnest seeking of God and making inquiry into not the revealed but the secret Will of God which is a Note beond Elah touching those matters without which the Church of ENGLAND perhaps might have continued another Century or two without the happiness of such a convenient Doctrine And that which makes it so to you is worth observing for if hereafter some ill Men which neither understands you nor Hobbs should throw it in your Dish that you writ in defence of King William and Queen Mary's Right c. You may truly answer it was no more for them than it was for Captain Tom or any Body else that can get into the Saddle for there your Providence centers them And when they are so fixt they cannot as you say be without the Divine Authority so that you need never write more on that Subject for 't is impossible for any Government to trump up that your Case c. will not as well serve as it does the present for which I think our most Gracious King and Queen have no great Cause to thank you But if they do not there are others that will viz. our Common-wealth Friends only I must tell you by the way they are angry with you for two things The first is that you did not sooner meet with their spiritual Shuff to the heavy A Christian And the second for your making it a Church of England Doctrine when their Belief of the contrary was one of the chief Reasons of their deserting from it But now you have taken down as to that Point the Partition-wall and if you would be but as kind in other matters as they think of less moment no doubt you might bring them all within the Pale c. And truly since you have been so generous as to part with your darling distinguishing Doctrine of constant steady and unsophisticated Loyalty to your Prince which you learned from the Principles of your Church as the London Clergy pleased to say * London Gazette Febr. 16. 1684. in their Address to the late King James I think it would not be amiss for so great a good to gratifie them with the rest without which 't is to be feared they will still stick where they did stick and you know how closely they always stuck to the Interest of the Crown and the Church and therefore it would be worth while to gain to you so considerable a number of Friends But as our Lord told the Scribes and Pharisees you are so nice and exact in paying of Mint and Cumin that you omit the more weighty things of the Law viz. Justice Mercy and Truth c. though indeed neither is to be left undone And yet if ever it could be thought convenient I confess this is the only time to judge it tolerable if not necessary to settle as in Scotland a Religion suitable to the Inclinations of the People and that may possibly fill up the Vacancies of those that cannot swallow your Turkish Providential Pill notwithstanding its being so nicely and Philosophically prepared and gilded over by so famous a Christian Doctor But the Experiment is altogether new and till of late hardly amongst us known but never practised by good Christians and therefore the Apostle may very justly upbraid us as he once did the Galatians Gal. 3.1 O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth c. And truly unless we are so we could not be so grosly imposed upon as to be whiffled about with every new wind of Doctrine To prevent which Solomon I think gives the best Advice in the World Prov. 24.21 My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change But I will conclude all with an Observation of one remarkable Passage in your Preface in the following Words viz. I prayed heartily to God that if I were in a Mistake he would let me see it that I might not forfeit the Exercise of my Ministry for a mere Mistake and I thank God I have received that Satisfaction which I desired Which I presume no Body doubts And I suppose the foregoing Words are to satisfie the World that you received better satisfaction from your hearty praying to God than from the convocation-Convocation-Book If not why is it made use of as an Argument of freeing you from a supposed Doubt for you were or you were not satisfied before your praying c. Now if you were then it was needless and impertinent to pray to God to let you see your Mistake when there was none If not then 't is plain your Satisfaction was not owing to B. Overill's Book but to your hearty praying c. But after all how shall any other Body be satisfied that your Satisfaction in that Case was owing to your praying to God c. Or that he was pleased to illuminate your Understanding so as to give a better Exposition of Rom. 13. than you had done heretofore in your Case of Resistance But give me leave to put a Case Suppose a Man had a mind or inclination to do some particular thing which is Ill in its own Nature or perhaps he is in some doubt whether it be or no but the better to inform his Judgment he goes and prays heartily to God for a Satisfaction touching the Lawfulness of the Matter though possibly he might be resolved to do it before After which finding his desires more strong and his inclination to do it rather increased than abated is he then to take it for granted that God has answer'd his Request and that he is sure he is in the Right in doing the said Ill or doubtful Thing If so then Cromwel and others of the Regicides that murder'd Charles I. was in the Right also for divers of them made use of the same Plea And Harrison at his Tryal seem'd to be angry at those Words in his Indictment Of not having the Fear of God before his Eyes but by the Instigation of the Devil c. For he said He always had the Fear of God before his Eyes and sought him Night and Day with Tears till he received like you such Satisfaction as be desired And so consequently it was the Lord's Work as it was called in those Days though done by the ways of the Devil But we all know this ridiculous Plea would be admitted before an earthly Tribunal and whether it will before an heavenly one do you judge For then I am afraid it will be to little purpose our saying We thought or we believed and heartily prayed and received such Satisfaction as we desired that we were in the Right though at the same time perhaps we were conscious of breaking God's positive Commands Mat. 7.22 23. And though we should press the matter yet further as our Lord says Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and in thy Name do many wonderful Works And then I will profess unto them I never knew you depart from me that work Iniquity From all which 't is rational to conclude That the receiving of such a Satisfaction as you and others before you talk of after praying c. is not a sufficient Reason for their doing any thing they have a mind to do unless it be in its own Nature good and not contrary to the written Word of God which is a better Rule to direct us in those matters than any such Phanatical Enthusiastick Notions I do not mean of praying to God which without doubt nothing if sincere can be better but drawing from thence such unwarrantable Consequences which you cannot but know have been made use of as a colour for the worst of Villanies and I am persuaded there are few but believe you were as well satisfied as to your Mistake before as after praying c. for what relation had such sort of Cant to Mr. Jenkins and your Turkish Predestinarian Hypothesis for if that were ever true it will always remain so if neither ne nor you had never preachd or pray'd in your Lives And supposing it true in spite of all your nice Distinctions there is no successful Villany that has been done since the Creation but may be justifi'd Nay the very Surrender of Mons to the French King by the same Rule must be thought very just and reasonable because he having set down before it armed with your Authority of having Power to crush them into Obedience and by shutting your Reasons into the Town Pag. 6. gave the Inhabitants a Mathematical Demonstration of his having a Providential Title to be their Lawful King and Governor Pag. 6. without intrenching upon the K. of Spain's legal Right for he as well as the late King James may recover it again if he can From which Argument we may infer That the same Providence that removes a Prince from his Crown and Legal Rights or Them from him may as in King Charles the Second's Case restore them again without Wrong being done to any Body all the while because as you say 't is the work of Providence and the Person in Possession is always in the Right Which I confess is good News for great Princes though bad for little ones for if Strength and Force be the only determination of Right and Wrong Religion and Laws will quickly become useless and then I am sure your Profession as well as mine will be none of the best But such wise and great Men as you may say what they please But for my part I could as easily be persuaded that there is no God as believe his most holy Commandments may be broke for the publick Good or that we may follow our own scanty Notions of Providence contrary to Precept FINIS