Works of Joseph Hall, Section 16 – Section 18
SECT. XVI.
YEt were there the leſſe perill of their vehemence, if it were only rude and boyſterous (as in ſome other ſects) that ſo (as it is in Canon ſhot) it might be more eaſily ſhund, than reſiſted: but here, the skill of doing miſchiefe contends with the power; their miſ-zealous paſſions hide themſelues in a pleaſing ſweetneſſe; and they are more beholden to policy, than ſtrength. What Gentleman of any note can croſſe our Seas, whoſe name is not landed in their books before hand, in preuention of his perſon, whom now arriued, if they finde vntractable through too much preiudice, they labour firſt to temper with the plauſible conuerſation of ſome ſmooth Catholike of his owne Nation: the name of his Countrey is warrant enough for his inſinuation. Not a word yet may be ſpoken of Religion; as if that were no part of the errand. So hauehave we ſeene an Hawke caſt off at an Hernſhaw, to looke and flie a quite other way, & after many careleſſe, and ouerly fetches, to towre vp vntounto the prey intended. There is nothing wherein this faire companion ſhall not apply himſelfe to his welcome Countryman. At laſt, when he hath poſſeſt himſelfe of the heart of his new acquaintance, & got himſelfe the reputation of a ſweet ingenuity, and delightfull ſociableneſſe; he findes opportunities to beſtow ſome witty ſcoffes vponupon thoſe parts of our religion, which lie moſt open to aduantage. And now it is time to inuite him (after other rarities) to ſee the Monaſtery of our Engliſh Benedictines, or (if elſewhere) thoſe Engliſh Colleges, which the deuout beneficence of our well-meaning neighbours (with no other intention than ſome couetous Farmers lay ſaltcats in their doue-coats) hauehave bountifully erected. There, it is a wondes if our Traueller meet not with ſome one, that ſhall claime kinred or Country of him in a more intire faſhion. The Society welcomes him with more than ordinary curteſie: neither can he refuſe (except he will be vnciuill) to be their gueſt. He cannot miſlike the louelove of his Country men, he cannot fault their carriage. And now that they hauehave mollified the ſtiffeneſſe of his preiudice, and with much tempting fitted him for their mold, he is a tas…e meet for one of their beſt workmen; who willingly vndertaking it, hath learned to handle him ſo ſweetly, as if he would hauehave him thinke it a pleaſure to be ſeduced. Do we thinke this Doctor will begin firſt with the infallibility of their great Maſter, and perſwade him that a Necromancer, an Heretike, an Atheiſt, cannot erre in Peters Chaire? or tell him that hee may buy off his ſinnes as familiarly as hee may buy wares in the market? or teach him that a man may and muſt both make and eat his God to his breakfaſt? This hard meat is for ſtronger mawes. He knowes how firſt to beginne with the ſpoone, and to offer nothing to a weake ſtomacke, but diſcourſe of eaſie digeſtion: As firſt, that a Catholike ſo liuing and dying (by our confeſſion) may bee ſaued: That there is but one Church, as but one Chriſt; and that out of this Arke, there is no way but drowning: That this one Church is more likely to be found in all the world, than in a corner; in all ages, than in the laſt Century of yeeres; in vnity, than in diuiſion. And now comes in the glorious brag of the Roman Vniuerſality, their inuiolate Antiquity, their recorded ſucceſſions, their harmonious vnity, their confeſſed magnificence: That there is the mother Church, as to the reſt of Chriſtendome, ſo eſpecially to the Engliſh: How well a Monarchy (the beſt forme of gouernment) beſeemes the Church: How vnlikely it is that Chriſt would leaue his Spouſe in the confuſion of many heads, or of none. And now that we are but a rag torne from their coat; and where was our religion before Luther lay with Bora? And what miſerable ſubdiuiſions are there in our Proteſtancie? and what a gleaning are we to the harueſt of Chriſtendome? with infinite ſuggeſtions of this nature; able (as they are plauſibly vrged) to ſhake an vngrounded iudgement: which if they hauehave ſo farre preuailed, as that the hearer will abide himſelfe hood-winkt with this vaile of the Church, how eaſily ſhall time leade him into thoſe hatefuller abſurdities?
SECT. XVII.
IN all which proceeding, theſe impoſtors hauehave a double aduantage: Firſt, that they deliuer the opinion of their Church with ſuch mitigation and fauour, as thoſe that care to pleaſe, not to informe: forming the voice of the Church to the liking of the hearer, not the iudgement of the hearer to the voice of the Church: wherein it is not hard to obſerue, that Popery ſpoken and written are two things; In diſcourſe, nothing is more ordinary than to diſclaime ſome of their receiued poſitions, to blanch others. It is the malice of an aduerſary that miſ-reports them; they doe not hold that images ſhould bee adored; that the wood of the Croſſe ſhould be worſhipped with the very ſame deuotion that is due to Chriſt himſelfe; that the Church is the Iudge of Gods writings; that Paul the fift cannot erre; that a man may merit of his maker, much leſſe ſupererogate; that a mouſe may run away with that which either is, or was God Almighty; that it is lawfull to kill an hereticall King, and all other thoſe monſters of opinion, which their moſt claſſicke Authors hauehave both hatcht and ſhameleſly thruſt into the light of the world. They defie thoſe ridiculous Legends which we father vponupon their Church; & how much do they ſcorne S. Francis his Bird, or his Wolfe, or his wounds, or his Apoſtles of Aſſiſe. Pope Ioane was but a fancy: Neuer Pope was an hereticke. If now we cry out of impudence, and call their allowed Writers to witnes; Loe, euen they alſo are forged by vsus, and are taught to play booty on our ſide. Thus reſolued to out-face all euidence, they make faire weather of their fouleſt opinions, and inueigh againſt nothing ſo much as the ſpightfulneſſe of our ſlanders. It is not poſſible that any wiſe ſtranger ſhould be in louelove with the face of their Church, if he might ſee her in her owne likenes, and therefore they hauehave cunningly masked one part of it, and painted another, ſo as thoſe features of hers, which are vgly and offenſiue, ſhal not appeare to any but her own eyes. And becauſe bookes are dangerous blabs, and will be telling the generations to come, how ſtrangely that face is altered with Age and Art, therefore their tongues are clipped alſo, and made to ſpeake none but her owne words. Out of this licence,Exemplar. Eſiſt. ſcriptae ad Dominum Paulinum quondam datarium ſub Clementis 8. beatae memorie Pontificatu. Ibid. Ibid. and hope to winne, they can fit their diſhes to eueryevery palate, and are ſo ſawcy, as to make the Church belie it ſelfe. Hence it was that a Spaniſh Father could teach, that it is not of the neceſſity of faith, to beleeue that the preſent Pope is the Vicar of Chriſt, and the ſucceſſor of Peter. That Hoſtius the Ieſuite could ſay, that the Pope abuſed his keyes, and the authority of the Church, in receiuing Henry the fourth. That another of his fellowes in a diſcourſe with a French Biſhop, could diſparage the deciſion of his Holineſſe in compariſon of a Generall Councell. That Menas the Reader of Diuinity at Valledolid, following Salas the Ieſuite, could affirme the lawfulneſſe of the mariage of religious perſons vponupon a doubtfull reuelation. That more than one of that Order, hauehave dared to broach Confeſſion by letters, againſt the Bull of Clement the 8. And if theſe men bee not ſparing of their contradictions to that Vice-God of theirs, whoſe vaſſals they are by peculiar profeſſion, how much more boldly will they ſwimme againſt the ſtreame of any common opinion, that may concerne the bodie of that head?
SECT. XVIII.
THeir ſecond aduantage is, that they regard not with what vntruths they make good their own aſſertions: It is all one with what morter or rubbiſh they build vp a ſide. From hence flow the confident reports, both of their miracles to conuince vsus, and their ſlanders to diſgrace vsus. Father Hayndius, a Ieſuite of 33. yeeres ſtanding, amongſt 52. complaints, which (out of an honeſt remorſe) he put vp againſt his owne Society, to their Generall Aquaviua, findes this not the leaſt, that his fellowes ſhamed not to ſeeke the honour of their Order, by cogging of miracles. What packets flie about daily of their Indian wonders? Euen Cardinall Bellarmine can abide to come in as an auoucher of theſe couzenages; who dares auerre that his fellow Xauier had not only healed the deafe, dumbe, and blinde, but raiſed the dead, whiles his brother Acoſta, after many yeeres ſpent in thoſe parts, can pull him by the ſleeue, and tel him in his eare, ſo loud that all the world may heare him,Lib. 4. de ſaiut. Ind. c. 12. &c. Prodigia nulla producimus, ne que vero eſt opus. Of the ſame ſtampe are the daily-renewed miracles, reuelations, viſions, wherewith any mans eares muſt needs be beaten amongſt them. Africke was at the beſt but barren of nouelties, in compariſon of Rome; and yet the world is incredulous, if it will not ſuffer it ſelfe gulled with theſe holy frauds. And no fewer are thoſe lewd calumniations (the ſtuffe of all their inuectiues) whereby they labour to make vsus loathſome to the world: our perſons, our doctrines are loaded with reproaches; neither matters it how iuſt they are, but how ſpightfull. What other meaſure can bee expected of vsus, when their beſt friends hauehave thus (vponupon ſome priuate diſlikes) ſmarted from them? Their owne holy Fathers, Clement the eighth, and Sixtus Quintus, and with them (the honour of the Ieſuiticall Order) Cardinall Tollet, can all ſhew bloudy wales in their backes, from their laſhes. Their late Patron of famous memory, whoſe heart they well merited, and keepe it (as their deare relique) enſhrined in their La-Fleſche, was after his death in their Pulpits proclaimed Tyran and worſe:Exemplar. Epiſt. ſup. cit. no maruell then if after the virulent declamations of our Gifford (their Gabriel) and the malicious ſuggeſtions of others of that viperous brood, we hauehave much adoe to perſwade our neighbours, that we hauehave any Churches, Baptiſme, Liturgie, Religion. I appeale then to all eyes and eares, how eaſie it is for a man that will take leaue to himſelfe, of making what truth he liſts, and defending them by what vntruths he pleaſeth, to leade a credulous heart whither he pleaſeth.