Works of Joseph Hall, Section 29
SECTION XXIX.
HOw many and grieuous errors are mingled with our Truths, ſhall appeare ſufficiently in the ſequell; If any want, let it bee the fault of the accuſer.Our Errors intermingled with Truth. It is enough for the Church of Amſterdam to hauehave no errors. But ours are grieuous: Name them, that our ſhame may be ſequell to your griefe: So many they are,Barr. Confer. with M. Hutchinſ. &c. and D. Andr. & ſo grieuous, that your Martyr, when he was vrged to inſtance, could finde none but our opinion concerning Chriſts deſcent into Hell; & except he had ouer-reached, not that. Call you our Doctrines ſome generall truths? Looke into our Confeſſions, Apologies, Articles, and compare them with any, with all other Churches; and if you finde a more particular, ſound, Chriſtian, abſolute profeſſion of all fundamentall truths in any Church, ſince Chriſt aſcended into Heauen, renounce vsus as you do, & we will ſeparate vntounto you: But theſe truths are not ſoundly practiſed: Let your Paſtor teach you,Inquir. into M. W…te, p. 35. Mat. 13.33. that if errors of practiſe ſhould bee ſtood vponupon, there could bee no true Church vponupon earth: Pull out your owne beame firſt: wee willingly yeeld this to bee one of your truths, that no truth can ſanctifie error: That one hereſie makes an Heretike: but learne withall, that eueryevery error doth not pollute all truths: That rhere is hay and ſtubble, which may burne, yet both the foundation ſtand, and the builder bee ſaued: Such is ours at the worſt, why doe you condemne where God will ſaue? No Scripture is more worne with your Tongues and Pens, than that of the Leauen, 1 Cor. 5.6. If you would compare Chriſts Leauen with Pauls, you ſhould ſatisfie your ſelfe. Chriſt ſayes, The Kingdome of Heauen is as Leauen; Paul ſayes, A groſſe ſinne is Leauen: Both leauens the whole lumpe: neither may be taken preciſely, but in reſemblance: not of equalitie,M. Bredwell. (as he ſaid well) but of qualitie: For notwithſtanding the Leauen of the Kingdome, ſome part you grant is vnſanctified; So notwithſtanding the Leauen of ſinne, ſome (which hauehave ſtriuen againſt it to their vtmoſt) are not ſowred: The leauening in both places muſt extend onelyonly to whom it is extended: the ſubiects of regeneration in the one; the partners of ſinne in the other: So our Sauiour ſaith, Yee are the ſalt of the earth; Yet too much of the earth is vnſeaſoned: The truth of the effect muſt bee regarded in theſe ſpeeches, not the quantitie: It was enough for S. Paul to ſhew them by this ſimilitude, that groſſe ſinnes where they are tolerated, hauehave a power to infect others: whether it be (as Hierome interprets it) by ill example, or by procurement of iudgements:Hierom. In hoc ignoratis, quia malo exemplo poſſunt plurimi interire? Sed & pe… vntus delictū in omn… populū Iudaeorum …am Dei legimus adveniſſe. and therevpon the inceſtuous muſt bee caſt out: All this tends to the excommunicating of the euill, not to the ſeparating of the good: Did euer Paul ſay, If the inceſtuous bee not caſt out, ſeparate from the Church? Shew vsus this, and we are yours: Elſe it is a ſhame for you, that you are not ours: If Antichriſt hold many truths▪ and wee but many, wee muſt needs be proud of your praiſes: We hold all his truths, and hauehave ſhewed you, how we hate all his forgeries, no leſſe than you hate vsus: Yet the myſterie of iniquitie is ſtill ſpun in the Church of England; but with a finer threed: So fine, that the very eyes of your malice cannot ſee it; yet none of our leaſt Motes hauehave eſcaped you: Thanks bee to our good God,1 Tim. 3.16. we hauehave the great myſterie of godlineſſe ſo fairely and happily ſpun amongſt vsus, as all, but you, bleſſe God with vsus, and for vsus: As ſoone ſhall yee finde Charitie and Peace in your Engliſh Church, as hereſie in our Church of England.
SEP.
Where (ſay you) are thoſe proud Towers of their vniuerſall Hierarchie? One in Lambeth, another in Fulham: and whereſoeuer a Pontificall Prelate is, or his Chancellor, Commiſſarie, or other Subordinate, there is a Tower of Babel vnruinated. To this and I deſire to know of you, whether the office of Archbiſhops, Biſhops, and the reſt of that ranke, were not parts of that accurſed Hierarchie in Queene MARIES dayes, and members of that Man of ſin? If they were then as ſhoulders & armes vnderunder that head the Pope, and ouer the inferiour members; and hauehave now the ſame Eccleſiaſticall Iuriſdiction deriued and continued vponupon them, whereof they were poſſeſſed in the time of Popery (as it is plaine they hauehave by the firſt Parliament of Queene ELIzABETH) why are they not ſtill members of that bodie, though the head the Pope be cut off?