Works of Joseph Hall, Response – Book 1
THE ANSWER TO THE ADVERTISEMENT.
THE man begins with a threat; I may not but tremble; Hee frights me with an vniuerſall Detection of my errors. It is almoſt as eaſie to finde faults, as to make them. Perhaps the Time had been as well ſpent in toſsing of his Beads: How happie a man am I that ſhall ſee all my ouer-ſights? My comfort is, that if my Tree were fruitleſſe, there would bee no ſtone throwne at it. In the meane while, how well doth the title of a Detector become him that hides himſelfe? If hee be not afraid or aſhamed of his cauſe, let his name bee knowne, that his victories may be recorded. It is an iniurious and baſe aduantage to ſtrike and hide; and after a pitcht Duell to gall a fixed Aduerſarie out of loope-holes. If his perſon be vponupon ſome treaſonable act obnoxious, it is hard if ſome of his names be not free: But if I muſt needs be matcht with the ſhadow of a Libeller, I wil ſo take him, as he deciphers himſelfe: C. E. Cauillator Egregius; and vnderunder this true ſtile of his, am ready to encounter him, and doe here bid Defiance to an inſolent, and vniuſt aduerſarie: And firſt, let me tell my Cauiller, this order is prepoſterous. If all my errors be at the mouth of the Preſſe, how is it that two or three of them are thus ſuffered to outrunne their fellowes? Was his malice ſo bigge with theſe, that it could not ſtay the time of the common deliuerie? Needs muſt they be notorious falſhoods, that are thus ſingled out from the reſt. Let them appeare in their owne ſhapes, vgly, (doubtleſſe) and prodigious. The firſt is,Ex Decad. Ep. 3. Epiſt 5. Reckoned out of Pappus his Enumeration; My peace of Rome makes vp 103. That moſt ſhameleſſe aſſertion that Bellarmine vnderunder his owne hand acknowledges, 237. Contrarieties of Doctrine amongſt his Catholikes. Could the man but hauehave patience, he ſhould finde aboue three hundred: What ſayes my Detector to this? He hath not ſeene the ſeuerals, yet (like a braue man at Armes) he profeſſes to kill his enemie ere he can appeare; and tels vsus thoſe 237 Contrarieties, are nothing but 237 lyes in one aſſertion. That there are in them ſo many vntruths I eaſily grant; for in Contradictions one part muſt needs be falſe; And Truth is but ſingle: They are vntruths then, (lyes are too broad a word) but their owne. My aſſertion ſhall onelyonly iuſtifie that they are told; let him take care for the reſt: Obiect. But they are not in points belonging to Faith and Religion, only in matters vndecided, and diſputable: The ſequell ſhall try that ſhift; Why doe wee foreſtall our Reader?Sol. Who knowes not that there cannot be ſo many points fundamentall? Let him take them as they are, I aggrauate nothing; It is but onelyonly in ſuch light chaffe, as this; In the number and extent of Bookes Canonicall, wherein Driedo, Eraſmus, Genebrard, Caietan, Sixtus Senenſis, are acknowledged to oppoſe the reſt; In the Popes infallibilitie of iudgement, wherein Gerſon, Almayne, Pope Adrian, Eckius, Hoſius, Pichius, Waldenſis, are at quarrell; In the reach and originall of ſpirituall iuriſdiction, wherein Abulenſis, Turrecremata, Fran. à Victoria, Alphonſus de Caſtro, &c. proclaime to differ: what ſhould I inſtance in more? It is but in the Popes power in Temporalities, in the inerrableneſſe of Councels, whether particular, confirmed by the Pope, or Generall; in the authoritie of Councels aboue Popes, in the force of Vowes, in the worſhip due to Images, and the like. Theſe and ſuch other are the ſlight Trifles (ſince all cannot be weightie) impertinent to faith, wherein the Romiſh Doctors varie.
Neither doth my aſſertion of their diſcord gall him more, then of our Vnity: O the forehead of Heretikes! I ſaid that we in our Church differ onelyonly in Ceremonies, they in ſubſtance. Let him giuegive leaue to the contra-diuiſion of theſe two, and I will take leaue to maintaine the indiuiſion of the Church of England, in the dogmaticall points of Faith.
This boldneſſe, together with my eminent ignorance, makes him admire the ſcarcitie of learned men in our Countrey, that could finde no better Doctors to ſend to Dort-Conference then Maſter HALL. To your griefe, Sir, it was a Synode, and that noble and celebrious; Neither was it out of want that your ſilly Aduerſarie was ſent thither. This happy Iland (which hath no blemiſh but that it yeelds ſuch Vipers as your ſelfe) abounds (as you too well know) with ſtore of incomparable Diuines; ſuch as may ſet your Rome to ſchoole. So as the Meſſenger of Pyrrhus long ſince called your Italy, a Countrey of Kings,foreign. and Egypt was wont to be called the Countrey of Phyſicians: ſo may this bleſſed Iland of ours iuſtly merit the title of The Region of DIVINES. For me, I can bee content to bee baſe enough in mine owne eyes, but if my diſparagement ſhall redound to my betters, I dare tell him it is my comfort, that I was ſent thither by a iudgement no leſſe infallible, then of Paul the Fift. Let himſelfe or any of his Eaues-dropping companions (to whom that place ſtood open) ſay wherein I ſhamed thoſe that ſent me. It was my iuſt griefe that the neceſsitie of my health,Neceſsitate propellente proditie eſt ea tacere quae quis flu…e perfecerit. Chryſoſt. in ill.: vtinam toter aſſetis, &c. yea of my life, called me off immaturely: but ſince either death or departure muſt be yeelded to, others ſhall iudge whether I went away more laden with infirmitie, then (how-euer vnworthy) with approbation.
But that ſecond lye of mine is ſo loud, that all my Brethren of Dort muſt heare it, and they which were lately the Witneſſes of my ſinceritie (gracing mee with the deare Teſtimonie of their approofe) are now made the Iudges of my impudencie. What monſter of falſhood will come forth? In my cenſure of Trauell, glancing at the Ieſuiticall bragge of their Indian Miracles (whereat their very friends make ſport) I charge Cardinall Bellarmine for an auoucher of theſe Cozenages, who dares auerre that his fellow Xauier, not onelyonly healed the Deafe, Dumbe, and Blinde, but raiſed the Dead, to which I adde (whiles his Brother Acoſta, after many yeares ſpent in thoſe parts, can pull him by the ſleeue, and tell him in his eare, ſo loud that all the World may heare, Prodigia nulla producimus.) This is my Indictment; Let me come to my Tryall: Caſt me, if ye can, ye reuerend heads; I craue no fauour. Where lyes this ſo lewd lye, and malicious abuſe? That Bellarmine ſayes thus of the Ieſuite Xauier, is not denyed; That Acoſta ſayes thus of himſelfe, and his fellow Ieſuites, is granted; The firſt lye yet is, Acoſta was neuer in the Eaſt-Indies at all, nor Xauier in the Weſt; and how then could Acoſta ſpend many yeares in thoſe parts? A perilous Plea! Who euer, I beſeech you, mentioned either Eaſt or Weſt? I ſpake of the Indies in common;Bell de notis Eccleſ. l. 4. c. 14. ſo did his Bellarmine, from whom I cited this, Claruit etiam in Indiis omni genere miraculorum, &c. Here is not one of the Indies mentioned, but both or either; If both liued in the Indies, though not in one Towne, in one Country, in one Indie; wherein hauehave I offended; whiles ſpeaking of the Indies in generall, I ſaid that Xauier and Acoſta liued there? Yet this is one lye (he ſaith) and that ſo long a one, as that it reacheth as farre as it is from the Eaſt to the Weſt, from the Artick to the Antarctick Pole; wherein I doubt not but your reuerences wil eaſily marke the skill of this learned Coſmographer. Some parts of thoſe inſtanced Indies differ not ſo farre; not to ſpeake of the ſmall ſtrait of Anian; the mentioned Region of Mexico is not aboue foureſcore degrees from Iapan: Either your conſtruction muſt fauour him, or elſe this muſt goe into the Booke of ouer-ſights.
The ſecond lye is, that Acoſta pulled Bellarmine by the ſleeue in this aſſertion, as if hee denyed thoſe Eaſterne Miracles, which he elſewhere confeſſeth. Indeed, this ſawcineſſe were dangerous: The red Hat (you ſay) is fellow to a Crowne. But ſhall I confeſſe where I erred? My dull head could not conceiue that God ſhould be the God of the Mountains, and not of the Valleys; Of the Eaſt Indies, not of the Weſt; and yet be the Ieſuites God in both: Eſpecially, ſince the reaſon that Ioſeph Acoſta fetches from the perſons (which ſhould be the ſubiect of thoſe Wonders) holds as equally for both Indies, Ioſ. Acoſta l 2. de ſ…l. Ind. c. 9.as an Almanack made for the Meridian of one Citie, ſerueth the Neighbours.
Hitherto then the Prologue of my infamous falſhoods, ſuch, as if all my Writings could hauehave afforded any equally hainous, theſe had neuer beene choſen out to grace the front of his Detection; There must needs be much terrour in the ſequel.
The reſt of this ſtorme fals vponupon our learned Profeſſor, D. Collins; one of the prime ornaments of our Cambridge; the partnerſhip of whoſe vniuſt diſgrace doth not a little hearten my vnworthineſſe. The world knowes the eminency of that mans Learning, Wit, Iudgement, Eloquence; His workes praiſe him enough in the Gate; Yet this Malapert Corner-creeper doth ſo baſely vilifie him, for ignorance, fillineſſe, pratling, ruſticitie, lying, as if in theſe onelyonly he were matchleſſe. Indeed whom doth the aſperſion of that foule hand forbeare? Vilium eſt hominum alios viles facere? I appeale to all the Tribunals of Learning thorow the World, whether all Doway hauehave yeelded ought comparable to that mans Pen: whether he hauehave not ſo*This Booke of Doctor Coll. C. E falſly inſinuateth to hauehave bin ſuppreſſed. All Stationers ſhops can conuince him of a lye: Nothing euer fell from that learned hand, without applauſe. coniured downe his Caco-Daemon Ioannes, that he neuer dares to look backe into the light againe; whether his Ephatha be not ſo powerfull, that if his Aduerſarie were any otherwiſe deafe then the blocke which hee worſhips, it might open his eare to the Truth. It angers C.E. to heare that Kings ſhould not dye, or perhaps, that they whoſe heads are anointed, ſhould dye by any other then anointed fingers; The ſentence of his Cardinall and Ieſuites both de facto, and de jure, of depoſing and murdering Kings, is now beſide our way; OnelyOnly we may reade afarre off in capitall Letters, Ariſe, Peter, kill and eate: Hee knowes the word, with ſhame enough. I will not ſo much wrong that worthy Prouoſt, as to anticipate his quarrell; rather I leaue the ſuperfluitie of this malice to the ſcourge of that abler hand; from whom I doubt not but C. E. ſhall ſmart and bleed ſo well, that he may ſpare the labour of making himſelfe his owne Whipping-ſtocke on Good-Friday.