Works of Joseph Hall, Section 15
SECTION XV.
The vnnaturalneſſe of ſome principal Separatiſts. Ruffin. l. 2. Eccleſ. Hiſt. c. 3. Aug. ep. & Poſid. in vita Aug.BVT who can wonder at your vnnaturalneſſe to the Church, that heares what meaſure you mete to your owne? Error is commonly ioyned with crueltie: The outragious demenors of the Circumcelliones in Auguſtines time, and more than barbarous tyrannie of the Arrians before him, are well knowne by all Hiſtories, and not enough by any: God forbid, that I ſhould compare you to theſe. Heare rather of Nonatus, the father of a not vnlike Sect, of whom Cyprian reports,Euſeb. Hiſt. Eccl. D…mnis grauiſſimis & caedibus afficiebant, armati diuerſis telis. Socrat. l. 2. c. 22. & 30. Cyprian. l. 2. epiſt. 8. Nouati pater in vic… fame mortuus, nec poſtea ab ille ſepultus Sic Optat. lib. 1. Purpurius Donatiſta occidit ſeroris filios, &c. that hee would neither beſtow bread on his father aliue, nor burial on him dead, but ſuffered him both to ſtarue and ſtinke in the ſtreet: and for his wife (leſt he ſhould be mercifull to any) he ſpurned her with his heele; and ſlew his owne childe in her body: What neede I ſeeke ſo farre? I grieue to thinke and report, that your owne Paſtor hath paralleld this cruelty: His owne brother (which is no leſſe ſauage) though one of your Sect, is the publike accuſer and condemner of him in this crime to all the World: who after a pitifull relation of his eight yeeres quarrells with him, and foure yeeres Excommunication, in his Epiſtle before a large Volume to this purpoſe, writes thus:
After all theſe, hath not our kinde, carefull, and olde Father come a long iourney to make Peace? Hath he not laboured with you, the Elders and the Church, to bring you to peace? Hath he not vſed the helpe and counſell of the Reformed Churches herein? Yet will you not be reclaimed; but adding that ſinne aboue all,*G. Iohnſ. Diſcourſe of troubles & excommunications at Amſterdam, printed, 1603. Ibid. p. 5. hauehave alſo monſtrouſly excommunicated your Father, the Peace-ſeeker, &c. And ſtraight; How oft deſired he you (as if hee had beene the ſonne and you the father) euen with teares, that you would repent? In a word, how came He and I to your doore, ſhewing you that it might be (vponupon his departing) you ſhould ſee his face no more? &c. Yet you forced him by your ill dealing, ſtill to leaue vponupon you, his Curſe, and all the Curſes written in Gods Booke againſt vnthankfull and diſobedient children. Thus farr a brother concerning a brother, againſt father and brother, Other ſtrangely-vnkinde vſages of both, I had rather leaue to the diſcouery of Maſter White, and this miſerable Plaintife,Diſcouery of Browniſme. Vid. G. Iohnſ. Booke. who hauehave written enough to make an enemie aſhamed. But wherevpon was all this fearefull broyle in a pure Church? For nothing but a little lace, and Whale-bone in his wiues ſleeue. The Troiane war could not bee ſlandered with ſo weighty a beginning. As for your Elder, Daniel Studly (whom your Paſtor ſo much extolleth) if Maſter Whites Apoſtaſie may be your ſhift againſt his Relation;Inq into Th. Whites Diſcou. let him ſpeake who ſhould hauehave beene a Fellow-Elder with him, baniſhed for your truth, though eiected by your cenſure: Marke (ſaith G. Iohnſ. of this Studly) how the Lord hath iudged him with vnnaturalneſſe to his owne children, ſuffering them to lye at other mens feet, and hang on other mens hands,Same Epiſt. 15. whiles he, his wife, and her daughter fared daintily, and went prankingly in apparell,They ſay, Filia Sponſae. Mihi accuſatio etiam vera contra fratrem diſplacet. Hieron. aduerſus Ruffin. euen in this place of baniſhment. It is no ioy to me to blazon theſe, or your other ſins; would God they were fewer, and leſſe in vsus all. OnelyOnly it was fit the World ſhould know, as how vndutifull you are to your common Parent, ſo that Father, Brother, Children beare part with your Mother in theſe your cruelties.
SEP.
The ſuperabundant grace of God couering & paſsing by the manifold enormities in that Church wherewith theſe good things are inſeparably commingled, and wherein we alſo through ignorance and infirmity were inwrapped. But what then? ſhould we ſtill hauehave continued in ſinne, that grace might hauehave abounded? If God hauehave cauſed a further truth, like a light in a darke place, to ſhine in our hearts, ſhould we ſtill hauehave mingled that light with darkneſſe, contrary to the Lords owne practiſe Geneſ. 1.4. and expreſſe precept? 2 Cor. 6.14.What the Separatiſts thinke themſelues beholden to the Church of England for. Bar. Exam. before the Archbiſhop and L. Anderſon. Browne, ſtate of Chriſtians. p. 39 Qui non habet quod dei, qu… d… dei? vox Donat. Opt. lib. 1.