A letter concerning separation written formerly by a reverend author, and recommended to all (especially the truly Christian and honest-minded) members of the separation within this distracted and divided kingdom. Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656. 1681 Approx. 10 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 3 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2006-06 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A70308 Wing H389A ESTC R9568 13111184 ocm 13111184 97649 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A70308) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 97649) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 744:20 or 1689:3) A letter concerning separation written formerly by a reverend author, and recommended to all (especially the truly Christian and honest-minded) members of the separation within this distracted and divided kingdom. Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656. [2], 2 p. Printed for W.D., London : 1681. At head of p. 1: To Mr. Smith and Mr. Rob[inson], ring-leaders of the late separation at Amsterdam. Although the controversy between Hall and Smith occured 1608-1612, no ed. of this piece at that time has been recorded. Attributed to Hall by Wing and NUC pre-1956 imprints. Item at reel 744:20 identified as Wing L1349 (number cancelled). Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Smyth, John, d. 1612. Robinson, John, 1575?-1625. 2005-11 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-03 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2006-03 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-04 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A LETTER CONCERNING SEPARATION , Written formerly by a Reverend Author ; And recommended to All ( especially the truly Christian and Honest-minded ) Members of the Separation within this Distracted and Divided Kingdom . Rom. 16. v. 17. Now I beseech you , Brethren , Mark them which cause Divisions , &c. Jude . 19. These be they who Separate themselves , Sensual , having not the Spirit . 2. Cor. 13. v. 11. — Be of one Mind , live in Peace ; and the God of Love and Peace shall be with you . London , Printed for W. D. 1681. The Publisher to the well-minded Reader . THe Demeanor and Language of the Conceited Zealot says , Stand by thy self , come not near to Me , I am Holyer than Thou : That of the Pharisee , God I thank thee , that I am not as other men are . The sentiments and expressions of both combined , make one Modern Separatist . Saint Paul's Dialect on the other hand is , We beseech you , Brethren , mark them which cause Divisions , and avoid them . And his motive is founded on this Reason , That he who Loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen ( and can hebe said to love his Brother who separates and divides from him ? ) how can he love God whom he hath not seen ? Our Blessed Saviour has therefore ( who best might ) umpired the business , and assured you , That by this shall all men know you to be his Disciples , if you love one another . In the name , and for the sake of our Common Saviour , I call upon you my Brethren of the Separation ( unless you value them who abuse the Holy name of Jesus more than Jesus himself ) That you weigh and duly ponder our Blessed Saviours words , and study the Advice of his Apostle St. Paul. And you will then upon mature calm thoughts not be so ready to inveigh against the MISCHIEF of IMPOSITIONS , as to abhor the UNREASONABLENESS of SEPARATION . In a word , since Charity is the most extensive , and Humility the foundation of all Christian Graces ; whether it be more equal , That the Established Laws Ecclesiastical should vail to private humour , or you our brethren of the Separation , kindly and modestly submit your selves to these Laws , let your own private Consciences be the Sole Judges . To Mr. Smith and Mr. Rob. Ring-leaders of the late Separation at Amsterdam . Ep. 1. Setting forth their injury done to the Church , the Injustice of your Cause , and Fearfulness of their Offence : Censuring and Advising them . WE hear of your SEPARATION , and Mourn ; yet not so much for You , as for your Wrong : You could not do a greater Injury to your Mother than to flie from Her. Say she were Poor , Ragged , Weak ; say she were Deformed ; yet she is not Infectious : Or if she were , yet she is yours . This were Cause enough for you to Lament her , to Pray for her , to labour for her Redress ; not to Avoid Her : This unnaturalness is shameful , and more heinous in you , who are reported , not Parties in this Evil , but Authors : Your Flight is not so much as your Mis-guidance . Plead not : This fault is past excuse . If we should All follow You , this were the way , of a Church ( as you plead ) imperfect , to make no Church ; and of a Remedy to make a Disease . Still the fruit of our Charity to you is , besides our Grief , Pity . Your Zeal of Truth has misled you , and you others ; a Zeal , if Honest , yet Blind-folded , and led by Self-will . Oh that you loved Peace but half so well as Truth ! then this Breach had never been ; and you that are yet Brethren had been still Companions . Go out of Babylon , you say ; the Voice not of Schism , but of Holiness . Know you where you are ? Look about you , I beseech you , look behind you ; and see if we have not left it upon our Backs . She her self feels , and sees that she is Abandoned ; and complains to all the World , that we have not only forsaken , but spoyl'd Her ; and yet you say , COME OVT OF BABYLON . And except you will be willingly Blind , you may see the Heaps of her Altars , the Ashes of her Idols , the Ruines of her Monuments , the Condemnation of her Errors , the Revenge of her Abominations . And are we Yet in Babylon ? Is Babylon Yet among us ? Where are the main Buildings of that ACCVRSED CITY ? Those high and proud Towers of that Vniversal Hierarchy , Infallible Judgment , Dispensations with the Laws of God , and sins of Men : Disposition of Kingdoms and Deposion of Princes , parting stakes with God in our Conversion , through Freedom of Will ; in our Salvation , through the Merit of our Works ? Where are those Rotten heaps ( rotten , not through Age , but Corruption of Transubstantiating of Bread , Adoring of Images , multitude of Sacraments , power of Indulgencies , necessity of Confession , profit of Pilgrimages , constrained and approved Ignorance , unknown Devotions ? Where are those deep Vaults ( if not Mines ) of Pennances and Purgatories , and whatsoever else hath been devised by those Popelings , whether profitable or glorious , against the Lord and his Christ ? Are they not all razed , and buried in the Dust ? Hath not the Majesty of her Gods , like as was done to Mithra and Serapis , been long agone offer'd to the publick laughter of the Vulgar ? What is this but to go , yea , to run ( if not to flie ) out of Babylon ? But as every man is an hearty Patron of his own Actions , and it is a desperate Cause that hath no Plea ) you alledge our comorting in Ceremonies , and say , still we tarry in the Suburbs . Grant that these were as ill as an Enemy can make them , or can pretend them : You are deceived , if you think the Walls of Babylon stand upon Ceremonies . Substantial Errors are both her Foundation and Frame . These Ritual observations are not so much as Tile and Reed , rather like to some Fan upon the Roof ; for Ornament , more than use : not parts of the Building but necessary Appendances . If you take them otherwise , you wrong the Church ; if thus , and yet depart , you wrong it and your self : As if you would have persuaded Righteous Lot not to stay in Zoar , because it was so near Sodom . I fear , if you had seen the Mony-changers in the Temple , however you would have pray'd or taught there : Christ did it , not forsaking the place but scourging the Offenders : And this is the Valour of Christian Teachers : To oppose Abuses , not to run away from them : Where shall you not thus find Babylon ? Would you have run from Geneva because of her Wafers ? Or from Corinth , for her disorder'd Love Feasts ? Either run out of the World , or your flight is Vain . If experience of Change teach you not , that you shall find your Babylon every where , return not . Compare the place you have left , with that you have chosen : Let not fear of seeming to repent over-soon , make you partial . Lo , there a common harbour of all Opinions , of all Heresies ; if not a mixture . Here you drew in the free and clear Air of the Gospel , without that odious composition of Judaism , Arrianism , Anabaptism : There you live in the stench of these and more . You are unworthy of pity , if you will approve your misery . Say , if you can , That the Church of England ( if she were not yours ) is not an Heaven to Amsterdam . How is it then , that our Gnats are harder to swallow , than their Camels ? And that whilst all Christendom magnifies our happiness and applauds it ; your handful alone , so detests our Enormities , that you despise our Graces ? See whether in this you make not God a loser . The thanks of all his favours is lost , because you want more : and in the mean time , who gains by this Sequestration , but Rome and Hell ? How do they insult in this Advantage , that our Mother 's own Children condemn her for Unclean , that we are dayly weakened by our Divisions , that the rude multitude hath so palpable a mortive to distrust us ? Sure , you intended it not : but if you had been their hired Agent you could not have done our Enemies greater service . The God of Heaven open your Eyes , that you may see the unjustice of that Zeal which hath transported you : and turn your heart to an endeavour of all Christian satisfaction : otherwise , your Souls shall find too late , that it had been a Thousand times better to swallow a Ceremony , than to rend a Church : yea , That even Whoredoms and Murders shall abide an easier Answer than SEPARATION . I have done if only I have advised you of that fearful threatning of the Wise man. The Eye that mocketh his FATHER , and despiseth the Government of his MOTHER , The Ravens of the Valley shall pick it out , and the young Eagles eat it . FINIS .