Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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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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for if as no Body doubts there be any such thing as unlawful Power 't is Frenzy to suppose he should require Subjection to them any other ways than it is consistent with common Prudence and Self-preservation I mean such a Subjection as our blessed Lord tells us of which is paid to a Thief if he be stronger than the strong Man whose House he robs Mat. 12.29 Besides there be few but what knows there is a mighty difference between Subjection and Allegiance for Example If a Man lives in France or Spain or any other Princes Country he must nay ought to be subject to the Customs and Laws of any of those Princes Countries where he lives but at the same time his Allegiance can be due to none but him whose natural born Subject he is But the better to understand this place of St. Paul and to reconcile you if possible to your own former Notions of it let us compare it with another to the same effect for Divines tell us we must for the better understanding the Scriptures Prov. 8.15 compare one Text with another By me Kings reign and Princes decree justice That is all legal and rightful Kings and the Words imply as much for how can any Body be God's Vicegerent upon Earth without his Authority and then if so it naturally follows Eccl. 8.4 That where the word of a King is there is Power and who shall say to him What dost thou And And why Power because he holds his Authority immediate from God and to him only can be accountable for his Faults as several great Lawyers and Divines have often told us But it may be objected Has not any Body that can get themselves possest of a Crown and the Regalities thereunto belonging the same Authority since the Apostle says There is no Power but of God c. To which I answer That the Apostle means the same thing viz. Legal and rightful Power which is likewise there implied for Force and Violence are different things to Power and Authority for Power implies an Authority for its being put in execution which distinguisheth it from Force and Violence which is nought but to Pikes and Staves commanded by the Knave of Clubs knock out Peoples Brains to inform their Understandings But Power we know supposeth another thing and acts by a legal Authority as for Instance A Constable does not commit a Man where there is just Cause to the Stocks or Prison by vertue of the Watchmen and their Staves which attend him but by vertue of a legal Power and Authority which he derives from a Superior and that from another till it come to the Supreme which is under God the King only whose Authority cannot therefore be from the People who are subject to his but he not to theirs unless they could prove a legal Right to such a Power both from the Laws of God and the Laws of the Land where such things are done if not it cannot in the way of speaking be said to be done at all for it is very usual to say such or such a thing cannot be done when it cannot be done legally but in opposition to the Laws of God and Man And yet by sad Experience we know such things have been done nay to the very Alteration of Thorow Settlements I presume you will not deny and that possibly there may be persons in possession of what you call God's Power for there is none as you say but of him without his Authority if not the Holy Prophet was mightily mistaken Hos 8.4 They have set up Kings but not by me They have made Princes and I knew it not Now these Kings the Prophet mentions no doubt were in possession of all the Rights and Prerogatives c. which gave them the Title as the foregoing Text stiles them and yet God himself says He knew it not Which from your Argument of Providence appears very strange for that Providence should permit persons to be invested with God's Authority and he know nothing of the matter save only that they were in actual possession though not by him which is a strong Argument of the permissive and approbative Will of Heaven and none but what are fit for a dark Room and clean Straw but will allow it For how unreasonable is it to suppose that those Kings or Princes that are made so and not by God that is that attains to it by undue Methods can have his Authority And for that Reason God was pleased to shew his just Resentment of the Peoples going contrary to his Rule in those matters by leaving his Complaint upon Record They have set up Kings but not by me c. And since it appears that Kings may be set up and not by God then it naturally follows there may be two ways that persons may come to the exercise of the Supreme Authority that is to say a right and a wrong for I know no other distinction and I am sure our Saviour though in another Case says something to the same purpose Verily I say unno you Joh. 10.1 he that entereth not by the door into the Sheepfold but climeth up some other way the same is a Thief and a Robber And then consequently has but an indifferent Title c. Notwithstanding he may through Power and Strength be in possession c. And I do not doubt but what is required in a Priest having a legal Right to his Office the same will hold good in his Superior the King And so there was the less Reason for St. Paul speaking of the higher Powers to distinguish what sort of Power we ought to be subject to no more than what sort of Parents the Fifth Commandment requires us to honour But to make if possible the Case more plain we will compare St. Peter with St. Paul and though they differed in some other things of less moment 1 Fet. 2.13 14. yet they both agree as to this matter Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governors c. Now there is certainly two Things to be considered before this Submission can become due First The Lawfulness of the Authority that makes the Ordinances and Secondly The Lawfulness of the Ordinances themselves For this Place likewise cannot be taken in your Sense for if it should then it would oblige us to look no further but positively to obey our Prince's Commands without reserve let them be what they will and you know how much that is against the Grain of this Protestant Kingdom Then consequently we must understand St. Peter otherways then you now understand St. Paul viz. a Submitting to every Ordinance of Man that does not contradict those of God So that it is plain that Something is implied in those Words of St. Peter more than you are willing in your Case c. to allow or else they would be a downright Contradiction to what
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-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