Works of Joseph Hall, Section 52
SECTION LII.
I Need no better Analyſer than your ſelfe, ſaue that you doe not onelyonly reſolue my parts,The veiw of the ſinnes and diſorders of others, whereupon obiected, and how far it ſhould affect vsus. but adde more: whereas eueryevery motion hath a double terme, from whence and whither: both theſe could not but all into our diſcourſe. Hauing therefore formerly expoſtulated with you for your (ſince you will ſo terme it) impietie, in forſaking a ceremonious Babylon of your owne making in England: I thought it not vnfit to compare your choice with your refuſall; England with Amſterdam, which it pleaſeth you to intitle a ſubſtantiall Babylon: impiety and madneſſe are titles of your owne choice; let your guiltineſſe be your owne accuſer: The truth is, my charity and your vncharitableneſſe hauehave cauſed vsus to miſtake each other. My charity thus: Hearing both at Middleburgh, and here, that certaine companies from the parts of Nottingham and Lincolne (which Harbinger had beene newly in Zeland before me) meant to retire themſelues to Amſterdam, for their full liberty, not for the full approbation of your Church: not fauouring your maine opinions, but emulating your freedome in too much hate of our Ceremonies, and too much accordance to ſome grounds of your hatred: I hoped you had beene one of their Guides; both becauſe Lincolneſhire was your Countrey, and Maſter Smith your Oracle, and Generall. Not daring therefore to charge you with perfect Browniſme, what could I thinke might bee a greater motiue to this your ſuppoſed change, than the view of our (ſo oft proclaimed) wickedneſſe, and the hope of leſſe cauſe of offence in thoſe forraine parts? this I vrged, fearing to goe deeper than I might be ſure to warrant: Now comes my charitable Anſwerer, and imputes this eaſineſſe of my challenge to my ignorance; and therefore will needes perſwade his Chriſtian Reader, that I knew nothing of the firſt ſeparation, becauſe I obiected ſo little to the ſecond.
It were ſtrange if I ſhould thinke, you gather Churches there by Towne-rowes (as wee in England) who know that ſome one Priſon might hold all your refined Flocke: you gathered here by Hedge-rowes; but there it is eaſier to tell how you diuide than how you gather: let your Church be an intire body, inioying her owne ſpirituall Communion, yet if it be not a corroſiue to your heart to conuerſe in the ſame ſtreets, and to bee ranged in the ſame Towne-rowes with Iewes, Arrians, Anabaptiſts, &c. you are to whit of kinne to him, that vexed his righteous ſoule with the vncleanneſſes of foule Sodme. That good man had nothing but ciuill ſocietie with thoſe impure Neighbours: hee differed from them in Religion, in practiſe; yet could he not ſo careleſly turne off this torment: His houſe was Gods Church; wherein they had the ſpirituall Communion of the Saints: yet whiles the Citie was ſo vncleane, his heart was vnquiet:Separation from the world how required. Iohn 17.16. We may (you grant) hauehave ciuill ſocietie with ill men, ſpirituall Communion onelyonly with Saints: Thoſe muſt be accounted the world, theſe onelyonly the Church; your owne allegations ſhall condemne you. They are not of the World (ſaith Chriſt) as I am not of the World: Both Chriſt and they were parts of the Iewiſh Church: The Iewiſh Church was not ſo ſanctified, but the moſt were extremely vncleane: therefore wee may bee parts of a Viſible vnſanctified Church; and yet bee ſeparate from the World.1 Cor. 1.2. Saint Paul writes to his Corinthians, ſanctified in Chriſt, Saints by calling: True;1 Cor. 3.3. but not long after, he can ſay, Ye are yet carnall. In his ſecond Epiſtle: Come out (ſaith he) from among them: But from whom? From Infidels by profeſſion, not corrupted Chriſtians.
SEP.
Wee indeed hauehave much wickedneſſe in the City where wee liue; you in the Church. But in earneſt, doe you imagine wee account the Kingdome of England Babylon, or the Citie of Amſterdam Sion? It is the Church of England, or State Eccleſiaſticall, which wee account Babylon, and from which we withdraw in ſpirituall Communion: but for the Common-Wealth and Kingdome, as we honour it aboue all the States in the World, ſo would we thankfully imbrace the meaneſt corner in it, at the extremeſt conditions of any people in the Kingdome. The helliſh impieties in the Citie of Amſterdam, doe no more preiudice our Heauenly Communion in the Church of Chriſt, than the Frogs, Lice, Moraine, and other plagues ouer-ſpreading Aegypt, did the Iſraelites, when Goſhen the portion of their inheritance was free, Exod. 8.19. nor than the Deluge, wherewith the whole World was couered, did NOAH, when he and his Familie were ſafe in the ARke, Geneſ. 7. nor than Satans throne did the Church of Pergamus being eſtabliſhed in the ſame Citie with it, Reuel. 2.12, 13.