Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A37437
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Reflections upon the late great revolution written by a lay-hand in the country for the satisfaction of some neighbours.
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Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing D844; ESTC R9630
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42,486
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74
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REFLECTIONS Upon the Late GREAT REVOLUTION LICENSED April 9. 1689. James Fraser REFLECTIONS UPON THE Late Great Revolution Written by a LAY-HAND in the COUNTRY For the Satisfaction of some Neighbours LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXIX REFLECTIONS Upon the Late GREAT REVOLUTION PRovidence having placed me in so low a Sphere that I have had nothing to do in the great Revolutions of which our Land has lately been the Scene I must not pretend to judge of what has past But altho I have not been an Actor I cannot say I have been altogether an unconcern'd Spectator of the great Changes these last Three Months have produced For what I did not know in the Cause I thought I might yet lawfully admire in the Effects which truly have been so miraculous that 't is as much the Worlds Wonders as ours So that if ever People had cause to apply the Words of the Psalmist Psal. 118. ver 23. we certainly may say This is the Lord 's doing and I 'm sure it ought to be marvellous in our Eyes But alas as if we meant to vie Miracles and to shew that we can be as obstinate as God can be gracious we are so far from admiring that we will neither own nor accept the Wonderful Deliverance that God has wrought for us A sign I fear that we are unworthy of so great a Mercy while we can be so insensible of and so unthankful for it And like the Children of Israel in the Wilderness instead of going on to possess that Canaan God seems to have design'd for us we are for making a Captain to return again into Egypt and to put our Necks into that Yoke which neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear And I wish our present Murmurings and Discontents do not provoke God to deal with us as he did with the Israelites and swear that we shall not enter into nor enjoy that Rest we so despise But if Passive Obedience be so necessary a Duty and we are indispensibly obliged to obey our Kings whatsoever they be the Children of Israel had certainly a great deal of reason to quarrel with Moses and Aaron for making them Rebels depriving them of the Honour of suffering for a good Cause and making them do so many ill things For certainly the Children of Israel were as much and as truly the Subjects of Pharaoh as any body can be to any of our Modern Kings For they were all born in his Land govern'd by his Laws and he and his Ancestors had reigned over them by a long Prescription of Four hundred Year and if this is not enough to give a King a Title I doubt most of our Monarchs may despair of shewing a better But to that I know it will be answer'd That 't was God Almighty's own Doings and that as Abraham might lawfully sacrifice his Son when God commanded it so they might lawfully Rebel when they had God's Authority for it for God being the Great King may dispose of Kingdoms as he pleases To which I shall make no other Return but humbly offer this Quere which I should be glad to see resolved Whether God can or ever did command an unlawful thingg For his Proposal to Abraham was only for Trial for you see he would not permit him to kill his Son when it came to it But the Children of Israel went through with their Design therefore if in it self it had been so great a Sin he would not have commanded much less assisted the Israelites in the Execution of it To see Men then murmur against God and quarrel with Providence only because it would not suffer them to be opprest as the Israelites were nay destroy'd and ruin'd seems so unaccountable a Ground for Dissatisfaction that it deserves to be examined into And I must own that I have so much both of Esteem and Reverence for some of our Discontents that I cannot think them so weak as to have a Platonick Love of Suffering or so wilful as to oppose the Truth if they are convinced of it Therefore suppose they have at least as it seems to them some good Reason which makes them thus not only deny but resist their own Interest And here Conscience and Zeal both stand up for them the two best Champions in the World when in the right but the most unruly and dangerous when in the wrong and Conscience telling them they cannot comply Zeal tells them they must oppose and declare against such Proceedings But yet for all this how hard a Task soever it seems I should not fear encountring nay overcoming these two had I not two greater Difficulties to contest with that is Prepossession and Prejudice For we daily see by sad experience that People may be as fully perswaded of and as zealous for an Error as 't is possible to be for Truth it self For which I need go no further for an Instance than St. Paul who says Acts 26.9 I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth Of which he gives us an account in the two following Verses Being as he himself terms it exceedingly Mad against them But that we might not be ignorant what we are to ascribe this extravagant Zeal and extraordinary Fierceness to he tells in the preceding Verses of this 26 th Chap. and also in the 3 d Verse of the 22 th That from his Youth up he had been brought up in Jerusalem at the Feet of Gamaliel taught according to the perfect manner of the Law of the Fathers and was zealous towards God as ye all are this day So that 't is very apparent it was his Education that inspired him with his Zeal For the Pharisees were not only the strictest but the most dogmatical Sect among the Jews and while they thought they and only they had the Law of their sides they not only despised but hated all that were not of their Opinion and thought it not enough to instil their own Doctrines and Principles into their Disciples unless at the same time they imprest upon them an absolute Horror and Detestation of all others So that here was Prepossession and Prejudice to the height and we may see the Effects of it in St. Paul for it made him proof against all the Miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles for living in Jerusalem it cannot be supposed but that he must both see and hear of them so that nothing but a Call from Heaven it self could convince him But I say not this that I intend to apply it particularly to any of our Times but only to shew in general the Unhappiness of such a grounded Prepossession and Prejudice and the difficulty of treating with it because Truth it self will appear unwelcome to such if it contradict their received and admired Opinions But after all this it must be allow'd that never any prejudice was taken up on so justifiable grounds