Works of Joseph Hall, Letter 1
TO IACOB VVADSVVORTH lately reuolted, in Spaine. EPIST. I. Expoſtulating for his departure, and perſwading his returne.
HOw vnhappily is my ſtyle changed! Alas, that to a friend, to a brother, I muſt write as to an Apoſtate, to an aduerſary! Doth this ſeeme harſh? You hauehave turned it, by being turned your ſelfe. Once the ſame walls held vsus in one louing Society; the ſame Dioceſſe, in one honourable function: Now, not one Land, and (which I lament) not one Church. You are gone, we ſtand and wonder. For a ſheepe, to ſtray through ſimplicity, is both ordinary and lamentable: but, for a Shepheard, is more rare, more ſcandalous. I dare not preſume ouer-much, vponupon an appeale to a blinded conſcience. Thoſe that are newly come from a bright candle into a darke roome, are ſo much more blinde, as their light was greater; and the pureſt yuory turneth with fire into the deepeſt blacke. Tell vsus yet by your old ingenuity, and by thoſe ſparkes of good which yet (I hope) lie couered vnderunder your cold aſhes, tell vsus, what diuided you? Your motiues ſhall once be ſcanned before an higher barre. Shame not to hauehave the weake eyes of the world ſee that, which once your vndeceiueable Iudge ſhall ſee and cenſure. What ſaw you, what heard you anew, that might offer violence to a reſolued minde, and make it either to alter, or ſuſpend? If your reaſons be inuincible, informe vsus, that we may follow you: but if (as they are) ſlight and feeble, returne you to vsus: returne, and thinke it no ſhame to hauehave erred, iuſt ſhame to continue erring. What ſuch goodly beauty ſaw you in that painted, but ill-fauoured Strumpet, that ſhould thus bewitch you, ſo to forget your ſelfe, and contemne the chaſte louelove of the Spouſe of your Sauiour? I ſaw her at the ſame time in her gayeſt dreſſe: Let my ſoule neuer proſper, if I could ſee any thing worthy to command affection. I ſaw, and ſcorned: you ſaw, and adored. Would God your adoration were as farre from ſuperſtition, as my ſcorne from impietie. That God iudge betwixt vsus, whether herein erred: yea, let men iudge, that are not drunke with thoſe Babyloniſh dregs! How long might an indifferent eye looke vponupon the comicall and mimicke actions in thoſe your myſteries that ſhould be ſacred, (your magical exorciſmes, your clericall ſhauings, your vncleanly vnctions, your croſſings, creepings, cenſings, ſprinklings, your coozning miracles, gariſh proceſſions, burning of noone-day, chriſtning of bels, marting of pardons, toſſing of beads, your ſuperſtitious hallowing of candles, waxe, aſhes, palmes, chriſme, garments, roſes, ſwords, water, ſalt, the Pontificall ſolemnities of your great Maſter, and whateuer your new mother hath, beſides, plauſible) before he ſhould ſee ought, in all theſe, worthy of any other entertainment, then contempt! Who can but diſdaine, that theſe things ſhould procure any wiſe proſelyte? Cannot your owne memory recount thoſe truly religious ſpirits, which hauing fought Rome as reſolued Papiſts, hauehave left the world as holy Martyrs; dying for the deteſtation of that which they came to adore? Whence this? They heard and magnified that, which they now ſaw and abhorred. Their fire of zeale brought them to the flames of Martyrdome. Their innocent hopes promiſed them Religion: they found nothing but a pretence; promiſed deuotion, and behold, idolatry: they ſaw, hated, ſuffered, and now raigne; whiles you wilfully and vnbidden, will loſe your ſoule, where others meant to loſe, and hauehave found it. Your zeale dies, where theirs began to liue: you like to liue, where they would but dye. They ſhall comfort vsus, for you: they ſhall once ſtand vp againſt you: While they would rather die in the heat of that fire, then liue in the darkneſſe of their errors; you rather die in the Egyptian darkneſſe of errors then liue in the pleaſant light of Truth: yea, I feare, rather in another fire, then this Light.
Alas! what ſhall we looke for of you? Too late repentance, or obſtinate error? Both miſerable. A Spira, or a Staphylus? Your friends, your ſelfe, ſhall wiſh you rather vnborne, then either.
O thou, which art the great Shepheard, great in power, great in mercy, which leaueſt the ninety and nine to reduce one, fetch home (if thy will bee) this thy forlorne charge: fetch him home, driue him home to thy Fold, though by ſhame, though by death. Let him once recouer thy Church, thou him, it is enough. Our common Mother I know not whether more pities your loſſe, or diſdaines thus to be robb'd of a ſon: not for the need of you; but her owne piety, her owne louelove. For, how many troops of better informed ſoules hath ſhe eueryevery day returning into her lap; now breathing from their late Antichriſtianiſme, and embracing her knees vponupon their owne? She laments you, not for that ſhee feares ſhee ſhall miſſe you, but for that ſhee knowes you ſhall want her. See you her teares, and doe but pitty your ſelfe as much as ſhe you. And from your Mother,Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge. to deſcend to your Nurſe: Is this the fruit of ſuch education? Was not your youth ſpent in a ſociety of ſuch comely order, ſtrict gouernment, wiſe lawes, religious care (it was ours; yet let me praiſe it, to your ſhame) as may iuſtly challenge (after all bragges) either RHEMES or DOVVAY, or if your Ieſuits hauehave any other denne more cleanly, and more worthy of oſtentation? And could you come out, freſh and vnſeaſoned, from the middeſt of thoſe ſalt waues? Could all thoſe heauenly ſhowres fall beſide you; while you, like a Gedeons fleece, want moiſture? Shall none of thoſe diuine principles, which your youth ſeem'd to drinke in, check you in your new errors? Alas! how vnlike are you to your ſelfe, to your name? Iacob wreſtled with an Angell, and preuailed: you grapple but with a Ieſuit, and yeeld. Iacob ſupplanted his brother: and Eſau hath ſupplanted you. Iacob changed his name for a better by a valiant reſiſtance: you, by your cowardly yeelding, hauehave loſt your owne. Iacob ſtroue with God, for a bleſſing: I feare to ſay it, you againſt him, for a curſe; for, no common meaſure of hatred, or ordinary oppoſition, can ſerue a reuolter. Either you muſt be deſperately violent, or ſuſpected. The mighty One of Iſrael (for hee can doe it) raiſe you falne, returne you wandred, and giuegive you grace at laſt to ſhame the Deuill, to forſake your ſtepmother, to acknowledge your true Parent, to ſatisfie the world, to ſaue your owne ſoule. If otherwiſe, I will ſay of you, as Ieremy of his Iſraelites (if not rather with more indignation) My ſoule ſhall weepe in ſecret for your reuolt, and mine eyes ſhall drop downe teares, becauſe one of the Lords flocke is caried away captiue.