Works of Joseph Hall, Book 1 · Section 1 – Section 2
SECT. I.
NEither my Charitie, nor my Leiſure, nor my Readers Patience, vvill allow me to follow my Detector in all his Extrauagancies, nor to change idle vvords of Contumely with a Babbler.Declarationes ambitioſorum o era, ot…orum cihi ſunt Scal. Exer. His twelue firſt Pages, are but the light froth of an impotent Anger; wherein hee accuſeth my bitterneſſe, and profeſſeth his owne. For me I appeale vntounto all eyes; if my Pen hauehave been ſometimes zealous, it was neuer intemperate: Neither can he make me beleeue, that my Paſſions need to appeare to my ſhame, in calling Rome Proſtitute, or himſelfe ſhameleſſe;Proſtituta illa Ciuitas. or in citing from the Quodlibet of his owne Catholike Prieſts, the Art of his Ieſuites, ina…he particulars of this …iſtorie he ſhall receiue in due place. Drurying of young Heires. There is neither Slander, nor Shame in Truth. For himſelfe, hee confeſſeth to hauehave ſharpened his Pen, and to hauehave dipt it (perhaps too deepe) in Gall: But where his Inke is too thicke, hee ſhall giuegive mee leaue to put a little Vineger to it, that it may flow the better. In the meane time he ſhall goe away with this glory, That a fouler Mouth hath ſeldome euer wip'd it ſelfe vponupon cleane Paper.
After thoſe waſte flouriſhes, his thirteenth page begins to ſtrike;Refut. p. 13. wherein hee chargeth me with odious baſeneſſe, and inſufficiencie, in borrowing all my proofes from Bellarmines Obiections, diſſembling their Solutions. The Man were hard driuen, that would go to borrow of an Enemy. If al my proofes be fore-alledged and fore-anſwered by his Bellarmine; to what purpoſe hath this Trifler blurred ſo much Paper? There (he ſaith) ſhall the Reader ſee all my Scriptures anſwered, the Doctrine of Deuils explicated; there, that other, Let him bee the Husband of one Wife, and, Mariage is honorable: Anſwered indeed; but as he ſaid (foreign) anſwerleſſely. Such cleare Beames of Truth ſhine in the face of theſe Scriptures, that all the Cob-web Vayles of a Ieſuites ſubtiltie cannot obſcure them.
Their very Citation confutes their Anſwer. And where had we this Law, That if a Ieſuite hauehave once medled with a Scripture, all Pens, all Tongues are barred from euer alledging it? If Satan hauehave miſ-cited the Pſalme (Hee ſhall giuegive his Angels charge ouer thee) for Temptation, may not we make vſe of it, for the comfort of Protection? Briefely, let my Cauiller know, that it is not the friuolous illuſion of any ſhuffling Ieſuite, that can driue vsus from the firme Bulwarke of the holy Scriptures. In this, they are clearely ours, after all pretences of Solution (as he ſhall well feele in the Sequel) and ſhall ſecure vsus againſt all humane Oppoſition. Before the diſquiſition whereof, ſomewhat of muſt force be premiſed, concerning the ſtate of our Queſtion.
SECT. II.
WHere, that all Readers may ſee, how learnedly my wiſe Aduerſary hath miſtaken me, and himſelfe; I muſt tell my Detector, That all his tedious Diſcourſe ſits beſide the Cuſhion:Refut. p. 12. For thus he writes of my Epiſtle (ſo as his whole Scope is to diſproue the ſingle life of Catholike Prieſts, and thereby to oppugne our Doctrine in that behalfe) vponupon which conceit, he runs into a large proofe of the ſtrong Obligation of Vowes, the neceſſitie of their Obſeruation, the penaltie and danger of their Violation, the praiſe of Virginitie, the poſſibilitie of keeping it; and vponupon this very ground builds he the tottering wall of his whole enſuing Confutation: inſomuch, as (pag. 130) he ſayes, That Mariage all times, without contrary Iniunction, was lawfull, is not denyed; nor will it be proued in haſte, That Prieſts, or ſuch as had vowed the contrary, might vſe that libertie: and we ſay not, that Virginitie is violently to be oppoſed on any, for it commeth by free election; but where the Vow is free, the Tranſgreſsion is damnable. Thus he.
Now let all indifferent eyes ſee, whether the onelyonly drift of mine Epiſtle be not to iuſtifie our Mariages, not to improue their Singleneſſe; to defend the lawfulneſſe of the Mariage of our Clergy, not to iuſtifie the Mariages of the Romiſh; to plead for the mariage of our Eccleſiaſtiques, not of Popiſh Votaries.
In expreſſe tearmes, I diſ-auowed it. The interuention of a Vow makes a new ſtate. Let Baal plead for himſelfe. What is it to me, if the Romiſh Clergie may not bee Husbands? or if, according to the French Prouerbe, they hauehave a Law not to marry, and a Cuſtome not to liue chaſte? Let it be their care whom it concernes; onelyonly I will hauehave leaue to ſpeake for our owne. Neither did I euer derogate ought from ſacred Virginitie, or lay it leuell (whether abſolutely, or in all circumſtances) with holy Matrimonie; neither did I euer conceiue of an impoſsibilitie of Continence in ſome perſons: Take away theſe three Grounds, (which I vtterly diſclaime before God and Men) together with his petulant Raylings, and idle Excurſions; and what is become of the Volume of my great Aduerſarie…? Thoſe three vaſt Paragraphes are ſhrunke into ſo few ſheets of Paper, that a Mouſe may as ſoone runne away with his Book, as with his god.
My Maſters of Doway, if ye bee the Superiors, vnderunder whoſe permiſsion this worthy Worke ſees the light; for ſhame keepe vp your lauiſh Vnthrifts of good time, and ſend vsus ſuch Antagoniſts, as may not faine Occaſions to empty their Note-Bookes. One daſh of a Pen might thus iuſtly anſwer the moſt part of his bloughtie Volume; wherein, like a drunken Man, he makes a fray with his owne ſhadow, and like an idle Whelpe, runnes about after his owne Sterne. But, that he may not complaine to bee caſt off too contemptuouſly, he ſhall receiue a faire account of Particulars.