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A COMMON APOLOGY

OF THE

CHURCH OF ENGLAND,

AGAINST

THE UNJUST CHALLENGES OF THE OVER-JUST SECT,

COMMONLY CALLED

BROWNISTS.

WHEREIN THE

GROUNDS AND DEFENCES OF THE SEPARATION

ARE LARGELY DISCUSSED.

OCCASIONED BY A LATE PAMPHLET, PUBLISHED UNDER THE NAME OF

"AN ANSWER TO A CENSORIOUS EPISTLE :"

WHICH THE READER SHALL FIND PREFIXED to the SEVERAL SECTIONSa.

BY JOSEPH HALL.

"Which the reader shall find in the margin," is the expression of the original edition, 4to. 1610; as the different parts of the " Answer," were, in that edition, dispersed through the margin of the "Apology." The above expression is that of the folio; wherein the passages are collected together before each section. I have, however, placed them in the text, immediately before their respective answers.-PRATT.

ΤΟ

OUR GRACIOUS AND BLESSED MOTHER,

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND;

THE MEANEST of her CHILDREN DEDICATES THIS HER APOLOGY,

AND WISHETH ALL PEACE AND HAPPINESS.

No less than a year and a half is past, Reverend, Dear, and Holy Mother, since I wrote a loving monitory Letter to two of thine unworthy Sons"; which, I heard, were fled from thee in person, in affection, and somewhat in opinion supposing them yet thine, in the main substance; though, in some circumstances, their own.

:

Since which, one of them hath washed off thy font-water, as unclean; and hath written desperately, both against thee and his own fellows.

From the other, I received, not two months since, a stomachful Pamphlet ; besides the private injuries to the monitor, casting upon thine honourable name blasphemous imputations of Apostacy, Antichristianism, Whoredom, Rebellion.

Mine own wrongs I could have contemned in silence; but, For Sion's sake, I cannot hold my peace: If I remember not thee, O Jerusalem, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. It were a shame and sin for me, that my zeal should be less hot for thine innocency, than theirs to thy false disgrace.

How have I hastened therefore, to let the world see thy sincere truth, and their perverse slanders!

Unto thy Sacred Name then, whereto I have in all piety devoted myself, I humbly present this my speedy and dutiful labour whereby, I hope, thy weak Sons may be confirmed, the strong encouraged, the rebellious shamed. And, if any shall still obstinately accurse thee, I refer their revenge unto thy Glorious Head, who hath espoused thee to himself, in truth and righteousness: let him, whose thou art, right thee.

In the mean time, we, thy True Sons, shall not only defend, but magnify thee. Thou mayest be black, but thou art comely. The Daughters have seen thee, and counted thee blessed; even the Queen and the Concubines, and they have praised thee: thou art thy Well-beloved's, and his desire is towards thee. So let it be, and so let thine be towards him for ever; and mine toward you both, who am the least of all thy little ones,

JOSEPH HALL.

See Epistles: Decade iii. Epistle 1. at vol. vi. pp. 179–181 of this Edition.-H.

b Smith and Robinson.

Meam injuriam patienter tuli: impietatem contra Sponsum Christi ferre non potui. Hieron. ad Vigilant.

A COMMON APOLOGY

AGAINST

THE BROWNISTS.

INTRODUCTION.

IF Truth and Peace, Zechariah's two companions, had met in our love, this controversy had never been. The severing of these two hath caused this Separation: for, while some unquiet minds have sought Truth without Peace, they have at once lost Truth, Peace, Love, us, and themselves.

God knows how unwillingly I put my hand to this unkind quarrel. Nothing so much abates the courage of a Christian, as to call his brother, Adversary. We must do it. We must do it. Woe be to the men, by whom this offence cometh".

Yet, by how much the insultation of a brotherly enemy is more intolerable, and the grief of our Blessed Mother greater for the wrong of her own; so much more cause I see to break this silence. If they will have the last words, they may not have all.

For our carriage to them: they say, when fire, the God of the Chaldees, had devoured all the other wooden deities, that Canopis set upon him a caldron full of water, whose bottom was devised with holes stopped with wax; which no sooner felt the flame, but gave way, to the quenching of that furious idol. If the fire of inordinate zeal, conceit, contention, have consumed all other parts in the Separation, and cast forth (more than Nebuchadnezzar's furnace d) from their Amsterdam hither; it were well, if the waters of our moderation and reason could vanquish, yea abate it. This little Hin of mine shall be spent that way. We may try and wish, but not hope it: the spirits of these men are too

Zech. viii. 19.

b Matt. xviii. 7.

Otho Frising, ex Philon. Ur Chaldæorum. Ruffin. Eccl. Hist. 1. ii. c. 26. d Dan. iii.

well known, to admit any expectation of yieldance. Since yet, both for prevention and necessary defence, this task must be undertaken, I crave nothing of my reader but patience and justice; of God, victory to the truth: as for favour, I wish no more than an enemy would give against himself.

With this confidence, I enter into these lists; and turn my pen to an adversary, God knows whether more proud or weak.

SECT. 1.

The Answerer's Preamble.

Sep." It is a hard thing, even for sober-minded men, in cases of controversy, to use soberly the advantages of the times upon which, whilst men are mounted on high, they use to behold such as they oppose too overly, and not without contempt: and so are ofttimes emboldened to roll upon them, as from aloft, very weak and weightless discourses; thinking any slight and slender opposition sufficient to oppress those underlings, whom they have, as they suppose, at so great an advantage. Upon this very presumption it cometh to pass, that this Author undertaketh, thus solemnly and severely, to censure a cause, whereof, as appeareth in the sequel of the discourse, he is utterly ignorant: which had he been but half so careful to have understood, as he hath been forward to censure, he would either have been, I doubt not, more equal towards it, or more weighty against it."

Retorted:

Ir is a hard thing, even for those which would seem soberminded men, in cases of controversy, to use soberly the frowns and disadvantages of causes and times: whereby, while men are dejected and trodden down, they use to behold their opposites mounted on high, too repiningly, and not without desperate envy and so are ofttimes moved to shoot up at them, as from below, the bitter arrows of spiteful and spleenish discourses; thinking any hateful opposition sufficiently charitable to oppugn those adversaries, which have them, as they feel, at so great an advantage. Upon this impotent maliciousness it cometh to pass, that this Answerer undertaketh, thus severely and peremptorily, to censure that charitable censure, of ignorance, which, as shall appear in the sequel, he either simply or willingly understood not; and to brand a dear Church of Christ with Apostacy, Rebellion, Antichristianism. What can be more easy, than to return accusations?

• Vid. Treatise of Certain Godly Ministers against Barrow.

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