Selected quad for the lemma: church_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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not how any Body in the last Reign as well as in this that have wilfully or by chance in keeping ill Company fallen into such a miserable state can get free of it unless by a true and hearty Repentance And Restitution where it can be done is as you use to tell us the only Evidence of its being Sincere And without it I cannot be persuaded but that such must remain in that lamentable state let them be never so prosperous and successful unless you think Success can alter the very Nature of Things which is something difficult to suppose though your Case c. seems to imply it which Case had it came out in a time of such a Thorow Settlement as where there were no Competitors or any to make a Claim I dare appeal to all Mankind Whether it would not have been burnt by the Common Hangman as a Libel against all Established and in your own Words Thorow Setled Governments in the World And whatsoever your private Advantage may be I am sure the Church nor the present State are no great Gainers by it For I am of the Opinion your Case of Allegiance will no more preserve either from the Attempts of wicked and rebellious Wretches in this Reign than your Case of Resistance did in the last And therefore you may spare your pains unless it be to oblige your Bookseller for you know this is a wicked and rebellious Nation which are more apt to follow Example than Precept And therefore you did well in leaping like the Belweather over the Hedge which was I suppose in hopes the rest of the Sheep would follow by the noise only And truly if they do not I can attribute it to nothing more than their being better taught heretofore by your self and others in those Times when People generally thought them both orthodox and honest And if what was said to St. Paul of Learning might be truly said of Honesty I am persuaded most of our Learned Clergy are pretty well in their Wits For if Possession gives a Right they ought for that Reason not to Abdicate their Livings let what will happen for fear People should think they were mad in not acting according to their own Principles But as the World goes we may observe People act not as if Godliness is great Gain but as if great Gain is Godliness And if so we may easily then guess who are the Babes of Grace and the Providential Favorites of Heaven For since as you say there are Providential Kings as well as Kings by Divine and Humane Intail and by your Notions they have Right or no Right but as they shall be by Providence in the Possession then it consequently follows that when ever it happens that a Dispute is between a Legal which I take to be the same as a Divine Right and a Providential or an Accidental one for by your Rule there can be no difference God is then by his Providence if I may so say fighting not only against his Divine Intail but his own Eternal Rule which distinguisheth what is Right and Wrong And also the Doctrine of our Lord and the Apostles viz. the least evil in the World ought not to be done to procure the greatest good For St. Paul positively says Rom. 3.8 They that do evil that good may come of it their damnation is just Which is a dreadful Consideration for all those that act by such pernicious Principles and therefore the Apostle does justly stile such Enemies to the Cross of Christ Phil. 3.8 And indeed so they are and to all Religion and Civil Government that promotes such Providential Notions which seems to run counter to the positive Commands of the Almighty And your self and others of your Coat has often told us We are not to follow Providence contrary to Precept And St. Paul himself which I presume was as great and as knowing as any of you bids us be followers of him 1 Cor. 11.1 no other ways than he was of Jesus Christ Which I think is a good Argument for others dissenting from you when you dissent from your self and the Truths which formerly you have taught But blessed be God though you have Recanted and as it were taken leave of them yet they are nevertheless Truths for that and we know where to find them and it is no small comfort to an honest Christian that no such Republican Principles are to be found in the Doctrines of our blessed Saviour and his Apostles nor in the Canons of our Church notwithstanding the present Opinion and Practices of many of our Churchmen And therefore 't is highly rational what St. Paul adviseth Rom. 16.17 18. Now I beseech you Brethren mark them which cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Which we find too true but 't is to be feared they will deceive themselves too at the last and then how significant and to the purpose will it be to ask the Apostle's Question What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed Rom. 2.21 But to draw as you use to say towards a Conclusion I will end where you began viz. with one Observation on the Title of your Book in the following Words c. The Case of Allegiance to Sovereign Powers stated and resolved according to Scripture and Reason and the Principles of the Church of England c. Now as for Scripture I think I have and from your own former Sentiments of it demonstrated that your Case will not stand that Test But then secondly for it 's being agreeable to Reason I shall as being no Pretender to it leave that to those who think themselves the only Criticks and Masters of it But for the third and last it being according to the Principles of the Church of England is so astonishing that I know not well what to answer save only that if it be 't is a Secret that has lay'n a long time concealed as if Providence had not only reserved it for these times but also designed you the happy Instrument of discovering so convenient a Mufftich Providential Doctrine so absolutely necessary in a Christian Church And now I dare appeal to all the proper Judges of Scripture and Reason and the Principles of the Church of England not excepting your self though you set up for one of the chief whether your Case c. have answer'd save only in the price of the Copy your own Expectations which were I presume to convince all Protestants of the Reasonableness of your Providential Hypothesis which you indeed take for granted and drive Jehu-like as if you had receiv'd Heaven's Commission to banish all the contrary Opinions out of the World For you argue with all the Assurance as if it was as plain as a Pike-staff
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 Preâ— 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