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A86366 The voyce of Providence asserted, and the followers of God in the waies of His Providence justified in a letter sent by John Hinde to a minister in London, who denied the former and condemned the latter. Hinde, John, 17th cent. 1653 (1653) Wing H2055A; ESTC R42444 12,453 16

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THE Voyce of Providence ASSERTED AND The Followers of God in the Waies of his PROVIDENCE justified In a Letter sent by John Hinde to a Minister in London who denied the former and condemned the latter Micah 6.9 Hear ye the Rod. Psal 107.43 Whoso is wise and will observe those things even they shall understand the Loving kindness of the Lord. LONDON Printed for Peter Cole at the Printing-press by the Royal Exchange 1653. To the READER Good Reader HEre is presented to your view the Copy of two Letters sent to Mr. White Minister at Mary-Hill London to which he hath refused to give Answer The grounds of my publishing of them is not in the least to bespatter the Person of the man but to vindicate two precious Truths from the injuries offer'd to them by him the one That it is the Saints duty to follow God in the waies of his Providences For should the Lord declare his Anger and we not fear should the Lord give us merciess and we not return praises we should not only cease to be Saints but Men the other is That there is a Voyce in every Providence which he was pleased absolutely to deny unto me The former Truth hath been confirmed by the constant practice of his Brethren our City Ministers in giving thanks to God for the several Victories he was pleased to vouchsafe the Parliaments Forces under the Command of the late Lord General Essex If this their practice be not also a confirmation of the latter Truth some of them in their Pulpits have formerly held it forth for a truth who I hope will not now deny it and one of them a learned and godly * Divine in a Comentary lately published hath this passage Every Providence hath a Voyce though sometimes it be so still and low that it requireth some skill to hear it When I first put pen to paper it was far from my thoughts to appear in publick but upon perusal of the Letters you will find how I was necessitated thereunto for I dealt so civilly with him as to crave by my Messenger an Answer to my Letter which he flatly denied and since the expiration of the Months time mentioned in my last by providence meeting with him in the street and assuring him that I held my resolution to publish my Letter unless he would yet promise me an Answer which he would not then acquainting him that if upon the sight of my Letter in Print he thought fit then to answer me I should take it kindly and if I received satisfaction by it return him thanks but if not I should reply whereupon he told me that he scorned to answer me a speech unbecoming a Minister of Christ to the meanest of his Members What he scorns to answer I here humbly submit to your Christian and candid Judgment and shall count it a glory to be any waies serviceable to the least of the Truths or Servants of Christ Now that the Lord would open the eyes of our minds that we may see and approve things that are excellent and perswade our hearts to receive the Truth in the Love of it and direct our steps to follow him in the waies of his Providence is the prayer of Your unworthy Brother in the common Savior John Hinde February 11. 1652. Honored Sir IN your Sermon at Pauls on the last Lords Day you were pleased to speak against the following of Providence a Truth which lies upon my spirit as a Duty and that from Scripture grounds yet though you spake against following of Providence I hope you light not the hand of Providence as too many do amongst us but finding you in your Discourse with me after Sermon to deny the Voyce of Providence and to acknowledg your self only an admirer of Providence which I was the more confirmed in by your negligent I will not say wilful omitting to take notice in your Prayers of the great Works of Providence now on foot amongst our selves and betwixt us and the neighbor Nation which certainly call for more than meer admiration from us and questionless do speak forth Instruction and Caution to all the People of the Land I therefore thought it might be very seasonable to cleer up if I may this Truth unto you That there is a Voyce in the Providence of God and that his Providential Workings do hold forth unto us both Instruction and Caution And that I may not exceed the bounds of an Epistle I will wave al Apologies and come presently to the Work it self which shall be in the first place to set down that stumbling-block which you laid before me and then to endeavor the removal of it by asserting it to be your duty as well as mine to follow God in the waies of his Providence For the First You laid down this Position That they only which love Gods Law can have the peace of a good Conscience In prosecution of which you shewed that there were many people in the world who neglecting the Rule of the Law thought to find peace of Conscience by following the imaginations of their own hearts and then you told us of one sort of men that cry up Custom as if that were the only Rule to walk by And secondly Of another generation of men more holy than the other who will follow the examples of the Saints And then thirdly Of another sort of men and they forsooth are followers of Providences men that pretend themselves followers of Providences and these men let a thing be never so wicked if it be successful they will mask it over with the name of Vertue Those that are followers of Providences had they been in the same Ship with Dyonisius when he did rob and spoyl the Temple they would have been of the same mind with him that the gods did approve it because he had a prosperous gale and a fair wind to carry him away These people had they lived in Jeroboams daies they would have worshiped Jeroboams Calves had they lived in Jeremiahs daies they would have had their hands busied in making Cakes for the Queen of Heaven Beloved I am as great an Admirer of Providences as any and I know God is holy in all his waies and righteous in all his Works but God did never ordain that his Providences should be the Rule of Life God will not have us to follow his Providences but his Precepts shew me a place in all the Scriptures that directs us to follow the Providences of God Beloved those that are followers of Providences assure your selves they are seekers of themselves and what ever they find in the present in the end they shall find no peace to their souls for there can be no peace to those that follow this Rule These are your own words Now I shall appeal to your Conscience whether herein you have not condemned the just with the unjust in saying That let a thing be never so wicked if it be successful the followers of Providence will
mask it over with the name of Vertue I deny not but some men may do so in some particular act I justifie them not but must the followers of Providence be condemned for them Remember what Solomon saith He that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just even they both are abomination to the Lord. And whereas you take upon you to affirm what they would have done had they lived in such and such time take heed lest in judging another you condemn not your self saith our Savior to his Disciples ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of and faith the Apostle Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall And though you take upon you to pronounce them that are followers of Providences to be seekers of themselves I dare not judg others I desire to look inwards and to know my own heart which never yet told me though I have followed Providences that I sought my self and not the publick good or my self more than the publick good and I wish that the jeerers at the slighters of and the admirers of Providences prove not indeed self-seekers And although you peremptorily conclude That there can be no peace to those that follow Providences and what ever they find in the present in the end they shall find no peace to their souls I dare not beleeve it because you say it but desire your Rule for it and I shall be so charitable as to hope that there may be peace in the end even for them that slight Providences yea for them that for the present oppose and walk contrary unto Providences if the Lord take but off the vail that is before their eyes Your affirmation that God did never ordain that his Providences should be the Rule of Life if you mean the only Rule of Life I agree it and your saying that God will not have us to follow his Providences but his Precepts and your desire to see a place in all the Scriptures that directs us to follow the Providences of God brings me to the fecond part of my work which is The asserting it to be your duty as well as mine to follow God in the way of his Providences and here I shall lay down this Position That the Providential Works of God are Instructions and Cautions to lesson men they are not casual indeterminate wild childish arrows shot at random none knows from whom or at what scope or mark no all the Works of Providence they are grounded in a wise and fixed Cause and they are carried on unto most excellent ends It is true the Providential Works of God they are many times dark and mysterious and I confess likewise as to our narrow conceptions and apprehensions they seem to admit of changes and contradictions one to another and I acknowledg likewise that many persons cannot see into the intentions and meanings of God in Providential Works partly from the imbecillity of their judgments and partly from the obduration of their hearts but notwithstanding all the difficulty mysteriousness and contrariety in the works of Providence it is yet a real truth that Providential Works are Instructions and Cautions not only personal Providential Works such as are terminated in this or that particular person but also the common and publick Works of Providence which are conversant about Nations or Churches in all their Changes and turnings all of them contain Instruction and Caution And that Instructions and Cautions are not only to be taken out of the Word of God but out of the Providential Works of God I shall cleer to you First by Scriptures and then by Arguments First by Scriptures In the 2. Psalm 10. Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth In the beginning of that Psalm is reported unto us the rage of the great ones of the Earth against the Lord and against his Christ there is likewise reported the successlessness of all that rage and counsel in the 6. verse Yet have I set up my King and then the dreadful judgments of God upon all those that did so oppose Jesus Christ in his Government Thou shalt break them with a rod of Iron thou shalt dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel now from all these works of Providence doth Instruction and Caution follow in the 10 verse Be ye therefore now wise O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Kiss the Son lest he be angry In the 3. of Zephaniah 6 7. I have cut off the Nations their Towers are desolate I made their streets wast that none passeth by their Cities are destroyed so that there is no man that there is none inhabitant I said surely thou wilt fear me thou wilt receive Instruction so their dwelling shall not be cut off Howsoever I punished them but they rose early and corrupted their doings Here are strange works of Providence destruction upon destruction and here also is an expectation of God himself that his people should have received instruction should have feared him and amend their waies even upon their consideration of those judicial acts of Providence In the 5. of Daniel 18 19 20. and so on There we reade of Gods Providence in raising up Nebuchadnezzar to a Kingdom and Majesty and Glory and Honor this ascribed to the Providence of God and likewise of his being deposed from his Kingly Throne because of his exceeding pride and loftiness of heart in the 20. verse and these Providential Works did continue so long upon Nebuchadnezzar until he had taken out the right Lesson that which God meant by these Providential Works of his which is set down in the 21. verse Till he knew that the most high God ruled in the Kingdoms of men and that he appointeth them to whomsoever he will And besides this God did upbraid his son that he was no more cautioned by these his Providential Works upon his Father And thou his Son O Belshazzar hast not humbled thy heart though thou knewest all this but hast lifted up thy self against the Lord of Heaven c. and because he went on in the same sins of his Father God hath numbred thy Kingdom and finished it at the 26. verse In the 46. Psalm 10. which Psalm Luther stiles Speculum Providentiae which containeth in it First a Narration of the neer and effectual Providence of God with all his people in all their straights and distresses In the 1. verse God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble Secondly the Heroical faith of the People of God in the apprehensions of that gracious and Providential presence of God in the 2. verse We will not fear though the Earth be removed in the 3. verse Though the Waters roar and swell Thirdly Advice unto the Enemies and to the People of God the matter of which advice is three-fold First To a wise consideration of the wonderful Works of God in the 8.