Works of Joseph Hall, Section 15
SECT. XV.
ALl this miſchiefe is yet hid with a formall profeſſion, ſo as eueryevery eye cannot finde it: in others it dares boldly breake forth to an open reuolt. How many in our memory, whiles with Dinah they hauehave gone forth to gaze, hauehave loſt their ſpirituall chaſtity, and therewith both the Church, and themſelues? How many (like vntounto the brooke Cedron) run from Hieruſalem thorow the vale of Iehoſaphat, and end their courſe in the dead ſea?Robert Pointz in his preface to the teſtimonies for the reall preſence. 2 Chron. 24. A popiſh writer of our Nation (as himſelfe thought) not vnlearned, complaining of the obſtinacy of vsus hereticks, deſpaires of preuailing, becauſe he findes it to be long agoe fore-prophecied of vsus in the Booke of the Chronicles, At illi Proteſtantes audire noluerunt. It is well that Proteſtants were yet heard of in the old Teſtament, as well as Ieſuites; whoſe name, one of their owne by good hap hath found, Num. 26.24. Like as Eraſmus found Friers in S. Pauls time, inter falſos Fratres. Socrat. in Ioſuam l. 1. c. 2. q. 19. Gretſer contra Lerneum, c. 1. & 2. Vere aiquidam haereticus Ieſuitas in ſacris literis repertri.But it were better, if this mans word were as true, as it is idle. Some of ours hauehave heard to their coſt, whoſe loſſe ioyned with the griefe of the Church, and diſhonour of the Goſpel, we hauehave ſufficiently lamented. How many hauehave wee knowne ſtroken with theſe Aſpes, which hauehave died ſleeping? And in truth, whoſoeuer ſhall conſider this open freedome of the meanes of ſeducement, muſt needs wonder that we hauehave loſt no more; eſpecially if he be acquainted with thoſe two maine helps of our Aduerſaries, importunity and plauſibility. Neuer any Phariſee was ſo eager to make a Proſelyte, as our late factors of Rome: and if they be ſo hot ſet vponupon this ſeruice, as to compaſſe ſea and land to winne one of vsus, ſhall we be ſo mad as to paſſe both their ſea and land, to caſt our ſelues into the mouth of danger? No man ſetteth foot vponupon their coaſt, which may not preſently ſing with the Pſalmiſt, They come about mee like Bees. It fares with them as with thoſe which are infected with the peſtilence, who (they ſay) are carried with an itching deſire of tainting others. When they hauehave all done, this they hauehave gained, that if Satan were not more buſie and vehement than they, they could gaine nothing. But in the meane time, there is nothing wherein I wiſh we would emulate them; but in this heat of diligence, and violent ambition of winning. Pyrrhus did not more enuy the valour of thoſe old Romane ſouldiers, which he read in their wounds, and dead faces, than we doe the buſie audacitie of theſe new. The world could not ſtand before vsus, if our Truth might be but as hotly followed, as their falſhood. Oh that our God, whoſe cauſe we maintaine, would enkindle our hearts with the fire of holy zeale, but ſo much as Satan hath inflamed theirs with the fire of fury and faction. Oh that he would ſhake vsus out of this dull eaſe, and quicken ourſlacke ſpirits vntounto his owne worke. Ariſe, O North, and come, O South, and blow vponupon our garden, that the ſpices thereof may flow forth. Theſe ſuters will take no deniall, but are ready (as the faſhion was to doe with rich matches) to carry away mens ſoules whether they will or no. Wee ſee the proofe of their importunity at home: No bulwarke of lawes, no barres of iuſtice (though made of three trees) can keepe our rebaniſhed fugitiues from returning, from intermedling. How hauehave their actions ſaid in the hearing of the world, that ſince heauen will not heare them, they will try what hell can doe? And if they dare bee ſo buſie in our owne homes, where they would ſeeme ſomewhat awed with the danger of iuſtice; what (thinke we) will they not dare to doe in their owne territories, where they hauehave not free ſcope onelyonly, but aſſiſtance, but incouragement? Neuer generation was ſo forward as the Ieſuiticall, for captation of wils amongſt their owne, or of ſoules amongſt ſtrangers. What ſtate is not haunted with theſe ill ſpirits? yea what houſe? yea what ſoule? Not a Princes Councell-Table, not a Ladies chamber can be free from their ſhameleſſe inſinuations. It was not for nothing, that their great Patron Philip the ſecond King of Spaine, called them Clerices negotiadores; and that Marcus Antonius Columna, Generall of the Nauy to Pius Quintu… in the battell of Lepanto, and Viceroy of Sicile, could ſay to Father Don Alonſo, a famous Ieſuite, affecting to be of the counſell of his conſcience, Voi altri padri di Iheſu hauete la mente al ciclo, le mani al mondo, l'anima al diauolo.