Works of Joseph Hall, Section 14
SECTION XIIII.
INGRATITVDE and vnnaturalneſſe to your mother is obiected,The Separatiſts acknowledgements of the graces of the Church of England. in that you flie from her, yea now (woe is me) that you ſpet in her face, and marke her for an Harlot: Would God the accuſation were as far from being iuſt, as from being triuiall: Yet perhaps you intend it not in the lightneſſe of this charge, but the commonneſſe: you hauehave cauſed me to ſmart for my charitie, yet I forbeare it not: What is your defence? That you hauehave done her no wrong, to your knowledge. Modeſtly ſpoken, that doubtfully: we know your wrong, but we know not your knowledge: it is well, if your wrong bee not wilfull: an ignorant wrong is both in more hope of amends, and of merciemercy: But is not this caution added, rather for that you thinke no hard meaſure can poſſibly be a wrong to ſo vile a Church? I aske, and would bee denied: No, you doe freely, and with all thankfulnes acknowledge eueryevery good thing ſhee hath: Whatſoeuer you doe to vsus, I will not any more in fauour of you, wilfully wrong my ſelfe: you hauehave bidden me now to take you as a complete Separatiſt: and ſpeake this for your ſelfe and yours, Let the Reader now iudge, whether the wrong of your Sect be wilfull; and acknowledgment of our good,H. Barr. Praef. to the ſepar. defended. Cauſes of ſepar. def. p. 12. Confer. with Doctor Andr. free and thankfull. Your firſt falſe-named Martyr ſhall giuegive the firſt witneſſe of the titles of our Church: Who (ſaith he) that were not drunke and intoxicate with the Whores Cup, could affirme this confuſe Babel, theſe cages of vncleane Birds, theſe Priſons of foule and hatefull Spirits, to be the Spouſe of Chriſt? And elſe-where, he calls the people of our Church, Goats and Swine. Is this any wrong to your knowledge? The ſame Author: They hauehave not (ſaith he) in their Churches any one thing in their practiſe & proceedings, not one pin, naile, or hooke according to the true patterne:Pref. to ſepar. def. Do you not now freely and thankfully acknowledge our Churches good things? What is more ordinarie with him, and his brother in euill, Iohn Greenwood, than to call our Miniſters Baals Prieſts, Cainites, the marked ſeruants of Antichriſt, Sellers of the Whores wares, Worſhippers of the Beaſt? Is this yet any wrong to your knowledge? Paſtor Iohnſon ſticks not to ſay, that the Miniſterie & Worſhip of the Church of England were taken out of the Whores Cup;Gyff. refuted touch. Donat. Obſeruat. of M. H. Bar. p. 239. Fr. Iohnſ. Reaſon. 9. againſt M. Iac. p. 74. Iohnſ. againſt M. Iac. Excep. 3. Nota Bene. and plainly ſtiles our Church (as which of you doe not?) Daughter of the great Babylon, that mother of Whoredomes and abominations of the earth: yet more; That Hierarchie, Worſhip, Conſtitution, and Gouernment, which they profeſſe and practiſe, being directly Antichriſtian, do vtterly deſtroy true Chriſtianity, ſo as their people and Churches cannot in that eſtate be iudged true Chriſtians: Do you not now freely and thankfully acknowledge our good things? What can any Deuill of Hell ſay worſe againſt vsus than this, That we are no Chriſtians? Or what good can there be in vsus, if no true Chriſtianitie? If we denied eueryevery Article of the Chriſtian Creed: if we were Mahumetans (as your good Paſtor ſticks not to compare vsus) if the moſt damned Heretiques vnderunder Heauen,Ibid. what could he ſay, but no Chriſtians? Your Teacher and Paſtor (which is a wonder) agree: For your Doctor Ainſworth makes this one head of his poyſonous Counterpoyſon, that Chriſt is not the Head, Mediator,Counterpoyſ. p. 127. & 131. Prophet, Prieſt, King of the Church of England: You, their Diſciple, are not yet promoted to this height of immodeſtie; yet what are your good things? Euen to you, we are Apoſtates, Traytors, Rebels, Babyloniſh: this is well for a Learner: Hereafter (if you will heare me) keepe our good things to your ſelfe, and report our euill.
Yea, that your vncharitableneſſe may be, aboue all examples, monſtrous; You do not onelyonly denie vsus any intereſt in the Church of Chriſt, but exclude vsus (what you may) from all hope and poſſibilitie of attaining the honor of Chriſtendome: For when a godly Miniſter proteſted to Maſter Barrow, Barr. Conference with M. Sperin. as Barr. himſelfe hath written. p. 9the truth of his Miniſterie; vponupon the approbation alſo of his people, he receiued this anſwer from him: Though you had ſuch allowance, it could nothing auaile, but rather ouerthrow your Miniſterie, they being as yet vngathered to Chriſt, and therefore neither may not in this eſtate chuſe them a Miniſter, nor any exerciſe a Miniſterie vntounto them, without hainous ſacrilege. O deſperate iudgment; we neither are Chriſtians, nor can be! No Chriſtianitie without Faith, no Faith without the Miniſterie of the Word,Fr. Iohnſ. ſeuen Reaſ. againſt Iac. p. 46. G. Iohnſ. Pref. to the Paſtor. no Word to vsus without Sacrilege: What are we, that the very offer of bringing vsus to God ſhould bee criminall? Theſe are your acknowledgements of our good; who hauehave learned of your Paſtor to kiſſe and kill all at once; to bleſſe and curſe with one breath: your mercies are cruell.