Works of Joseph Hall, Section 20 – Section 22
SECTION XX.
THe firſt of theſe then, is eaſily vntwiſted: your ſecond is neceſſity:The neceſſity of their pretended ordinance. Than which what can be ſtronger? what law, or what remedy is againſt neceſſity? What wee muſt hauehave wee cannot want▪ Oppoſe but the publike neceſſity to yours: your neceſſity of hauing, to the publike neceſſity of withholding: and let one of theſe neceſſities (like two nailes) driue out another: So they hauehave done,Nulla neceſſit… maior eſt charitate Hieron. Apol. ad Ruff. Fr. Iun. de Eccl. Sed accidunt per ſaepe tempora quibus aut noua Eccleſia generatur, aut altera pars interrumpitur (ſcilicet foreign) & tamen Eccleſia eſſe non definit, forma nimirum eſſentiali adhuc permanente. Act. 7. beg. Cypr. l. 3. Ep. 9. Mem. niſſe Diacom debent quoniam Apoſtolos (id eſt) Epiſcopos & praepoſitos Dominus elega. Diaconos autem poſt aſcenſum Domini in coelos Apoſtoli ſibi conſtituerunt Epiſcopatus ſui et Eccleſiae miniſtros. Rom. 1.8. 1 Cor. 1.5. 1 Theſ. 1.7. Gal. 4.15. and your owne neceſſitie (as the ſtronger) hath preuailed; for that other neceſſity might bee eluded by flight: you hauehave ſought and found elſe-where what the neceſſity of our lawes denied, and the neceſſitie of your conſcience required. Beware leſt vniuſtly: Sinne is as ſtrong bond to a good heart as impoſſibility; Chriſtians cannot doe what they ought not: contrary to the lawes of your Prince and Country: you hauehave fled not only from vsus, but from our Communion. Either is diſobedience no ſin, or might you doe this euill, that good may come of it? But what neceſſity is this? ſimple and abſolute, or conditionall? Is there no remedie but you muſt needs hauehave ſuch Elders, Paſtors, Doctors, Releeuers, ſuch offices, ſuch executions? Can there bee no Church, no Chriſtians without them? What ſhall wee ſay of the families of the Patriarks, of the Iewiſh congregations vnderunder the Law, yea, of Chriſt and his Apoſtles? Either deny them to hauehave beene viſible Churches, or ſhew vsus your diſtinct offices amongſt them: But as yet (you ſay) they were not: Therefore God hath had a true Church (thouſands of yeeres) without them: Therefore they are not of the eſſence of the Church: You call me to the times ſince Chriſt: I demand then, was there not a worthy Church of God in Ieruſalem from the time of Chriſts Aſcenſion, till the election of the ſeuen Deacons. Thoſe hundred and twenty Diſciples, Act. 1.15. and three thouſand Conuerts, Act. 2.41. Thoſe continuall Troupes that flocked to the Apoſtles, were they no true Church? Let the Apoſtles and Euangeliſts be Paſtors and Doctors: where were their Elders, Deacons, Releeuers? Afterwards, when Deacons were ordained, yet what newes is there of Elders, till Act. 11? yet that of Ieruſalem was more forward than the reſt: We will not (as you are wont) argue from Scriptures negatiuely: no proofe, yet much probabilitie is in S. Pauls ſilence: He writes to Rome, Corinth, and other Churches: thoſe his Diuine letters in a ſweet Chriſtian-ciuility ſalute euen ordinary Chriſtians: And would hee hauehave vtterly paſſed by all mention of theſe Church-officers, amongſt his ſo preciſe acknowledgement of leſſer titles in others, if they had beene ere this ordained? yet all theſe more than true Churches, famous ſome of them, rich, forward and exemplary. OnelyOnly the Philippian Church is ſtiled with Biſhops and Deacons,Phil. 1.2. but no Elders beſides them. The Churches of Chriſt ſince theſe, (if at leaſt you will grant that Chriſt had any Church till now) hauehave continued in a recorded ſucceſſion through many hundreds of yeeres. Search the Monuments of her Hiſtories: ſhew vsus where euer in particular Congregations all theſe your neceſſary Offices (as you deſcribe them) were either found or required. It was therefore a new-no-neceſſitie that bound you to this courſe, or (if you had rather) a neceſſitie of Fallibilitie: If with theſe God may be well ſerued, he may be well ſerued without them. This is not that v…m neceſſari… that Chriſt commends in Marie: you might hauehave ſate ſtill with leſſe trouble, and more thankes.
SEP.
But alſo in our moſt ſinfull ſubiection to many Antichriſtian enormities, which we are bound to eſchue as hell.
SECTION XXI.
BVT beſides that we ought to hauehave had ſomewhat which we want,The enormities of the Church in common. wee hauehave ſomewhat which we ſhould hauehave wanted: Some? yea, many Antichriſtian enormities. To ſay we are abſolute, and neither want nor abound, were the voyce of Laodicea or Tyrus in the Prophet: Our Church as ſhee is true ſo humble: and is as far from arrogating perfection, as acknowledging falſhood: If ſhe hauehave enormities, yet not ſo many:Fr. Iohnſ. againſt M. Iacob. Bar. Gyff. refuted, i. Tranſgreſſ. p. 28. or if many, not Antichriſtian. Your Cham hath eſpied ninetie one nakedneſſes in this his mother, and glories to ſhew them; All his malice cannot ſhew one fundamentall error: and when the foule mouth of your falſe Martyr hath ſaid all, they are but ſome ſpots and blemiſhes, not the old running iſſues, and incurable botches of Aegypt: the particulars ſhall plead for themſelues. Theſe you eſchew as hell: While you goe on thus vncharitably both alike; Doe you hate theſe more, than Maſter Smith, and his faction hates yours? His Character ſhall be iudge: So do we value your deteſtation, as you his. It were well for you, if you eſchewed theſe enormities leſſe, and hell more: Your ſinfull ſubiection to theſe vnchriſtian humors, will proue more fearefull than to our Antichriſtian enormities.
SEP.
Shee is our mother: ſo may ſhee be, and yet not the Lords Wife: eueryevery mother of children is not a wife. Ammi and Ruhamah were bidden to plead with their mother Apoſtat Iſrael, and pleads that ſhee was not the Lords wife, nor He her husband, Ho. 2.1, 2. And though you forbid vsus a thouſand times, yet muſt we plead: not to excuſe our fault, but to iuſtifie our innocencie: and that not onelyonly not ſo much in reſpect of our ſelues, as of the truth: which without ſacrilege wee may not ſuffer to bee condemned vnheard. And if you yet heare her not, rather blame your ſelues as deafe, than vsus as dumbe. Hierom. ad Euſtoch. Epitaph. Paulae ex Pſal. 67.
SECTION XXII.
The Church of England is the Spouſe of Chriſt. Cypr. de ſimplic. Praelator. Adulterari non poteſt ſp…ſa Chriſti, incorrupta eſt & pudica. 1 King. 12.29. Hoſ. 2.16.2.13.SHE may be your Mother (you ſay) and not the Lords Wife. It is a good Mother that hath Children, and no Husband: Why did you not call her plaine Where? Your old Embleme is, As is the mother, ſo is the Daughter. Theſe are the modeſt circumlocutions of a good Sonne, who cares not to proue himſelfe a Baſtard, that his Mother may be markt for an Harlot: be you a true Lo-ammi; but England ſhall neuer (I hope) proue an Apoſtate Iſrael: We hauehave no Calues in our Dan and Bethel, none of Ieroboams Idolatrie: We hauehave ſtill called God ISHI, and neuer burnt incenſe to Baali…: It is your Synagogue that hath fallen away from vsus, as Iſrael from Iuda: But theſe Children were bidden to plead: Gods command ſhields them from the note of vngracious. Abraham muſt ſacrifice his Sonne; and this Sonne muſt condemne his Mother: ſhew vsus either our equall deſert, or your equall warrant. Where hath God proclaimed our Church not his? By whoſe hand hath he publiſhed her diuorce? You hauehave ſhamed her wombe, not ſhe her bed, not God her demeanour.
Your tongues are your owne, who can forbid you? We know you will plead, and excuſe; and cenſure, and defend; till all the world be weary: we may pray with Hierom to this ſenſe that of the Pſalmiſt, Increpa Domine Beſtiaes Calami: yet we ſee your Pens, Tongues, and Preſſes, buſie and violent. I will not applie to you that which Auguſtine of his Donatiſts.Aug. cont. Epiſt. Parmen. l. 1. Though truth compell you to be dumbe, yet iniquitie will not ſuffer you to be ſilent. But if you write whole Marts and worlds of Volumes, you ſhall neuer be able either to iuſtifie your Innocence, or excuſe your fault: In the meane time, the noyſe of your contentions is ſo great, that your truth cannot be heard. Learned Iunius, and our learnedſt Diuines, and neighbour Churches, hauehave oft heard your clamors, neuer your truth:Epiſt. Iunij ad Separ. So little hauehave you of this, and ſo much of the other, that wee are ready to wiſh (as he of old) either ourſelues deafe, or you dumbe.
SEP.
Is not Babylon the Mother of Gods people? whom he therefore commandeth to depart out of her, leſt being partakers of her ſinnes, they alſo partake of her plagues. And to conclude, what ſay you more againſt vsus, for your Mother the Church of England, than the Papiſts doe for their Mother, and your Mothers Mother, the Church of Rome, againſt you, whom they condemne as vnnaturall Baſtards and impious Patricides in your ſeparation from her?