others eat and drink at his cost And for an eminent proof of his Charity but a little before he took his bed in his last sickness he lent freely to one that had dealt falsly enough with him and was likely for so doing to be utterly ruin'd by the fraud of another he lent I say to him notwithstanding a considerable summe of mony to preserve him from perishing So notable was his Charity in returning good for evil 15. It pleased God to enlarge his Patience by the manner of his last sickness which seizing at length on his Lungs deprived him of the use of his Speech for any length or continuance of speaking during which time I never observed in him the least impatient carriage in word or deed or any repining at the heavy hand of God upon him but silently he submitted himself under the scourge like him that said I became dumb and opened not my mouth for it was thy doing 16. And lastly for his Constancy as he approved it in the course of his Life so to the Death constant he was to the Religion he had been born and bred up in an obedient Son of the Church of England as he had ever professed himself to be and suffered for it Heartily he answered to all questions that were asked him about the profession of his Faith willingly and readily submitted himself to Gods will for leaving the world gladly forgave all that had offended him and wherein he had offended any professed himself willing to ask forgiveness and to make restitution 17. Being put in mind of the Sacrament he would not for Reverence sake receive it in the Evening but deferred it till the next morning and then most piously and devoutly like one that bowed the knees of his heart when those of his body failed him with eyes lifted up and hands bent to Heav'n he received it and when he heard after both kinds taken Lord grant it may nourish you to eternal life chearfully and audibly he said Amen After which he dismissed us from longer praying by him being desirous to be left for the present to his own private Devotions and requested us to pray by him again in the afternoon as if he had foreseen the certain time of his departure and in the afternoon according to his own appointment at Prayer we continued by him till toward five in the evening At which time most meekly and silently and like a Lamb he departed and quietly slept in the Lord. Ob. Apr. 1659. VII Mr. John Gregory From Mr. John Gurgany 1. A Mersham in the County of Buckingham ennobled hitherto only by the Honourable Family of the Russels may now boast in the birth of this Learned man Which happened on the tenth of November 1603. And though his Parents were but of mean Extraction and Estate yet of such noted Piety and Honesty as gained them love and respect from the best of that place 2. Whence this their eldest Son about the 15th year of their pious Education of him was chosen by the worthy Dr. Crook to wait upon Sir William Drake and soon after on Sir Robert Crook at Christ-Church in Oxford where they had the happiness to be under the tuition of the most ingenious and learned Dr. George Morley 3. This young Scholar for divers years studied 16 of every 24 hours and that with so much appetite and delight as that he needed not the cure of Aristotle's drowsiness to awake him In his first Academical exercises his worth like the rising of the Sun began to discover it self darting forth such fair hopes and glimmerings of future perfection as were quickly espied by the then vigilant Dean of Christ-Church Dr. Duppa since Lord Bishop of Sarum who immediately received him into favour and soon after made him Chaplain of Christ-Church and after that his own Domestick and Prebendary of Chichester and Sarum 4. For which favours he now began about 26 years old to publish to the world his worth and gratitude in the dedication of his Notes on Learned Ridleys civil Law to his honour'd Patron the Bishop of Sarum In which Notes he made an early discovery of his Civil Historical Ecclesiastical Ritual and Oriental Learning together with the Saxon French Italian Spanish and all Eastern Languages through which he miraculously travelled without any guide except Mr. Dod the Decalogist whose society and directions for the Hebrew Tongue he enjoyed one Vacation near Banburie For which courtesie he ever gratefully remembred him as a man of great Piety and Learning Gravity and Modesty Of which Graces also this person was as great a Possessor as Admirer 5. Hence these many tracts both in English and Latin were bashfully laid by in his youth as Abortives Some whereof are now published and entituled Posthume as so many Testimonies and monuments of his general Learning For which he was much honoured by the acquaintance and favour of men of the greatest honour and eminence that this Age hath produced besides the Correspondence in points of Learning which he held with divers famous men abroad as well Jesuits and Jews as others 6. And now being like the Sun in his Zenith ready to shine in his greatest lustre behold the whole Kingdome began to be clouded Yet the hope of a clear day preserved this Learned man a while sufficiently spirited for study whereby he composed and published a little before his death those his excellent Notes upon some passages of Scripture in which kind of holy study he intended to spend the rest of his life 7. But after 20 years trouble with an hereditary gout improved by immoderate study and now invading his stomach the thred of his life being laboriously spun out but 39 years foreseeing the Glory was now departing from our Israel his spirits began to fail in an extraordinary manner 8. For recovery and supportation whereof his first noble Patron the Bishop of Sarum being disabled by sequestration c the liberal hand of a second Mecaenas was presently extended Ed. Bishop Esq Of whose Charity I may say as our Saviour of that Unguent Was it not to bury him Yes and to raise him too with Fame being very active and free toward the publication not only of his posthumous Tracts but also of some other of greater expectatation 9. And here is to be lamented the loss of that his excellent piece entituled by himself Alkibla In which with very great Judgment and Learning he vindicated the Antiquity of Eastward Adoration 10. Some suspected him a favourer of the Roman way but their jealousie to my certain knowledge was unjust and groundless he having often declared and protested not only to me but also to many of his familiar friends his Abhorrence of Popery and his sincere Affection and constancy to the Protestant Religion as it was established in England by Acts of Parliament 11. And as he lived so he dyed also a most obedient and affectionate Son to his distressed Mother the Church of
as it is the best incentive to great things so to conceal what good God hath wrought by them is great unthankfulness to God and good men 2. This great man whom God hath lately taken from our eies was bred in Cambridge in Sidney Colledge under Mr Hulet a grave and a worthy man and he shewed himself not only a fruitful plant by his great progress in his studies but made him another return of gratitude by taking care to provide a good employment for him in Ireland where he then began to be greatly interested Augustus Caesar gave his Tutor an honourable Funeral Marcus Antonius erected a Statue to his Gratian the Emperour made his Master Ausonius to be Consul and our worthy Primate suffered not the industry of his teacher to pass unrewarded 3. Having passed the course of his studies in the University and done his Exercise with that Applause which is usually the reward of pregnant wits and hard study he was remov'd into Yorkshire where first in the City of York he was an assiduous Preacher but by the Disposition of Divine providence he happened to be engaged at Northalerton in disputation with three pragmatical Romish Priests of the Jesuits order whom he so much worsted in the Conference and so shamefully disadvantaged by the evidence of Truth represented Wisely and Learnedly that the famous Primate of York Archb. Matthews a learned and most excellent Prelate and a most worthy Preacher hearing of that Triumph sent for him and made him his Chaplain In whose service he continued till the Death of the Primate but in that time had given so much testimony of his great dexterity in the Conduct of Ecclesiastical and Civil Assairs that he grew dear to his Master and in that employment was made Prebendary of York and then of Rippon The Dean of which Church having made him his Sub-dean he managed the affairs of that Church so well that he soon acquired a greater fame and entred into the possession of many hearts and admiration to those many more that knew him 4. There and at his Parsonage he continued long to do the duty of a Learned and good Preacher and by his wisedome eloquence and deportment so gain'd the Affections of the Nobility Gentry and Commons of that County that as at his return thither upon the blessed Restauration of his most Sacred Majesty he knew himself obliged enough and was so kind as to give them a Visit so they by their coming in great numbers to meet him their joyful reception of him their great caressing of him when he was there their forward hopes to enjoy him as their Bishop their trouble at his departure their unwillingness to let him go away gave signal testimonies that they were wise and kind enough to understand and value his great worth 5. But while he lived there he may seem like a Diamond in the dust his low fortune cover'd a most valuable person till he became observ'd by Sir Tho. Wentworth Lord President of York whom we all knew for his great excellencies and his great but glorious misfortunes This great person espied the great abilities of Doctor Bramhall and made him his Chaplain and brought him into Ireland as one whom he believed would prove the most fit instrument to serve in that design which for two years before his arrival here he had greatly meditated and resolved the Reformation of Religion and the Reparation of the broken Fortunes of the Church 6. The complaints were many the abuses great the Causes of the Church vastly numerous but as fast as they were brought in so fast they were by the Lord Deputy referred back to Doctor Bramhall Who by his indefatigable pains great sagacity perpetual watchfulness daily and hourly consultations reduc'd things to a more tolerable condition than they had been left in by the Schismatical principles of some and the unjust prepossessions of others for many years before For the Bishops were easie to be oppress'd by those that would and they complained but for a long time had no helper till God raised up that glorious instrument the Earl of Strafford who brought over with him as great affections to the Church and to all publick interests and as admirable abilities as ever before his time did invest and adorn any of the Kings Vice-gerents 7. And God fitted his hand with an instrument as good as his skill was great For the first Specimen of his Abilities and diligence in recovery of some lost Tithes being represented to his late Majesty of blessed and glorious Memory it pleased his Majesty upon the Death of Bishop Downham to advance the Doctor to the Bishoprick of Derry Which he not only adorned with an excellent spirit and a wise Government but did more than double tht Revenue not by taking any thing from them to whom it was due but by resuming some of the Churches Patrimony which by undue means was detained in unfitting hands 8. But his care was beyond his Diocess and his zeal broke out to warm all his Brethren for by the favour of the Lord Lieutenant and his own incessant and assiduous labour and wise conduct he bought in divers Impropriations cancell'd many unjust alienations and did restore them to a condition much more tolerable I say much more tolerable for though he rais'd them above contempt yet they were not near to envy But he knew there could not in all times be wanting too many that envied to the Church every degree of prosperity And for ever since the Church by Gods blessing and the favour of Religious Kings and Princes and pious Nobility hath been endowed with fair Revenues the enemy hath not been wanting by pretences of Religion to take away Gods portion from the Church c. I have heard from a most worthy hand that at his going into England he gave account to the Archbishop of Canterbury of 30000 l. a year in the recovery of which he was greatly and principally instrumental 9. But his care was not determined in the exteriour part only and accessories of Religion he was careful and he was prosperous in it to reduce that Divine and Excellent Service of our Church to publick and constant Exercise to Unity and Devotion and to cause the Articles of the Church of England to be accepted as the rule of publick confessions and perswasions here that they and we might be populus unius labii of one heart and one lip building up our hopes of heav'n on a most holy Faith and taking away that Shibboleth which made this Church lisp too undecently And the excellent and wise pains he took in this particular no man can dehonestate or reproach but he that is not willing to confess That the Church of England is the best Reformed Church in the World God by the prosperity of his labours and a blessed effect gave testimony not only of the piety and wisdom of his purposes but that he loves to bless a wise instructor when he is vigorously
upon a general charge imputing to the Church of England the great crime of Schism and by this they thought they might with most probability deceive unwary and unskilful Readers for they saw the Schism and they saw we had left them and because they consider'd not the Causes they resolved to out-face us in the Charge The Bishop now having an Argument fit to employ his great abilities undertakes the question and in a full Discourse proves the Church of Rome not only to be guilty of the Schism by making it necessary to depart from them but they did actuate the Schism and themselves made the first separations in the great point of the Pope's Supremacy which was the palladium for which they principally contended He made it appear that the Popes of Rome were Usurpers of the Rights of Kings and Bishops that they brought in new Doctrines in every Age that they impos'd their own devices upon Christendom as Articles of Faith that they prevaricated the Doctrines of the Apostles that the Church of England only return'd to her Primitive purity that she joyn'd with Christ and his Apostles that she agreed in all the sentiments of the Primitive Church 18. The old Bishop of Chalcedon known to many of us replyed to this excellent Book but was soon answer'd by a Rejoynder made by the Lord Bishop of Derry in which he so pressed the former Arguments refuted the Cavils brought in so many imimpregnable Authorities and probations and added so many moments and weights to his Discourse that the pleasures of reading the Book would be the greatest if the profit to the Church of God were not greater Whenever men will desire to be satisfied in those great questions the Bishop of Derry's Book shall be their Oracle 19. I will not insist upon his other excellent Writings but it is known every where with what Piety and acumen he wrote against the Manichaean Doctrine of fatal necessity which a late witty man had pretended to adorn with a new Vizor but this excellent person washed off the ceruss and the meretricious paintings rarely well asserted the Oeconomy of the Divine Providence and having once more triumph'd over his Adversary betook himself to the more agreeable attendance upon Sacred Offices and having usefully and wisely discoursed of the Sacred Rite of Confirmation impos'd hands upon the most illustrious Princes the Dukes of York and Glocester and the Princess Royal and ministred to them the promise of the Holy Spirit and ministerially established them in the Religion and Service of the Holy Jesus 20. And one thing more I shall remark that at his leaving those parts upon the Kings Return some of the Remonstrant Ministers of the Low-Countries coming to take their leaves of his great man and desiring that by his means the Church of England would be kind to them He had reason to grant it because they were learned men and in many things of a most excellett Belief yet he reproved them and gave them caution against it that they approached too near and gave too much countenance to the great and dangerous errours of the Socinians 21. He thus having serv'd God and the King abroad God was pleas'd to return to the King and to us all as in the days of old and we sung the Song of David In convertendo captivitatem Sion When King David and all his Servants returned to Jerusalem this great person having trod in the Wine-press was called to drink of the Wine and as an honorary Reward of his great Services and Abilities was chosen Primate of this National Church He had this Remark in all his Government that as he was a great hater of Sacriledge so he professed himself a publick enemy to non-residence and religiously against it allowing it in no case but of necessity or the greater good of the Church 22. There are great things spoken of his Predecessor St. Patrick that he founded 700 Churches and Religious Covents that he ordained 5000 Priests and with his own hands Consecrated 350 Bishops How true the story is I know not but we are all witnesses that the late Primate whose memory we now Celebrate did by an extraordinary contingency of Providence in one day consecrate two Archbishops and ten Bishops and did benefit to almost all the Churches in Ireland and was greatly instrumental to the endowments of the whole Clergy and in the greatest abilities and incompararable industry was inferiour to none of his most glorious Antecessors 23. The Character which was given of that Learned Primate Richard of Armagh by Trithemius does exactly fit this our Father Vir in divinis c. He was learned in the Scriptures skilled in secular Philosophy and not unknowing in the Civil and Canon Laws in which studies I wish the Clergy were with some carefulness and diligence still more conversant He was of an excellent Spirit a Scholar in his Discourses an early and industrious Preacher to the People And as if there were a more particular sympathy between their souls our Primate had so great a veneration to his Memory that he purposed if he had lived to have restor'd his Monument in Dundalk which time or impiety or unthankfulness had either omitted or destroyed So great a lover he was of all true and inherent worth that he loved it in the very memory of the Dead and to have such great examples transmitted to the intuition and imitation of Posterity 24. At his coming to the Primacy he knew he should at first espy little besides the ruines of Discipline a Harvest of Thorns and Heresies prevailing in the hearts of the people the Churches possessed by Wolves and Intruders mens hearts greatly estranged from true Religion and therefore he set himself to weed the Fields of the Church He treated the Adversaries sometimes sweetly sometimes he confuted them learnedly sometimes he rebuked them sharply He visited his Charges diligently and in his own person not only by proxies and instrumental deputations he design'd nothing that we know of but the Redintegration of Religion the Honour of God and the King the restoring of collapsed Discipline and the renovation of the Faith and the Service of God in the Churches and still he was indefatigable and even in the last Scene of his life not willing that God should take him unemployed 25. The last of January God sent him a brisk alarm of Death whereupon he made his Will in which beside the prudence and presence of Spirit manifested in making a just and wise settlement of his Estate and provisions for his descendants at midnight and in the trouble of his sickness and circumstances of addressing death he kept still a special sentiment and made confession of Gods admirable mercies and gave thanks that God had permitted him to live to see the blessed Restauration of his Majesty and the Church of England confessed his Faith to be the same as ever gave praises to God that he was born and bred up in this Religion and prayed
A REMEMBRANCER OF Excellent Men. I. Dr. John Reynolds II. Mr. Richard Hooker III. Dr. William Whitaker IV. Dr. Andrew Willet V. Dr. Daniel Featley VI. Walter Norban Esq VII Mr. John Gregory VIII Bishop Duppa IX Archbishop Bramhall X. Bishop Taylor Ecclus. 44. 1. Let us now praise Famous Men. LONDON Printed for John Martyn at the Bel without Temple-Bar 1670. TO THE Noble and Ingenious Gentleman-Scholar J. H. In hopes he will live to increase the Number of Excellent Men. THIS REMEMBRANCER Is Dedicate by C. B. A REMEMBRANCER OF Excellent Men. I. Dr. John Reynolds From Sir Wake 's Latin Oration 1. HOW Frail and uncertain is the Life of Man I wish if it had pleased God we might have learned some other way than by this present spectacle Yet must we not lament overmuch the death of this excellent Person whose happiness we cannot doubt of being well assured of his Piety and Virtue one to whom no part of felicity is wanting but that of Virginius Rufus to have another Tacitus to give him a Funeral Commendation As for me whilst I behold this concourse of Scholars at other times pleasant to me now upon this occasion sad and call to mind the Royal tears of Xerxes poured forth at the view of his numerous Army I cannot choose but mourn and sigh having before my eyes as in a glass the image of your Mortality also 2. For who is there that in confidence of Learning Wisdom and Virtue can far extend the hope of Life when the inexorable power above hath not pleased to spare this great propugnator of the Orthodox Religion notwithstanding the tears of our Mother the University and the importunate Prayers of the grieved Church Certainly if those inestimable riches of the mind and unperishable Graces could impart their efficacy to the Body and give strength and vigour to it Reynolds had still lived here not according to his own desire who preferred Heaven but ours who would enjoy him he had lived so as never to dye to grow old or to be sick 3. But to the great loss of Mankind it falls out contrary that the more any man hath enriched his mind with those Divine Ornaments of Learning and Wisdom so much the more hastily does the Soul it self weary of her earthly Tabernacle aspire to a higher dwelling and the Body having spent all the spirits in those noble but laboursome studies fail and decay This was the Reason why this Learned Man after so many Scholastick Victories and triumphs his strength of Body being wasted breathed forth his glorious Soul and left us to lament his departure Indeed he hath lived long enough for himself long enough for Fame which yet he could not have out-lived but not long enough for the Common-wealth which hath need of so perfect a pattern of all Virtue not for the University which wanteth that Light of Learning now extinguished not for the Common Interest of Religion which being deprived of such a Patron is liable to danger 4. For although he hath pull'd off the disguise from the Roman Idolatry and expos'd it to the hatred of God and Man although he hath almost cut the throat of the Antichristian Monster though he hath transfixed the very heart of Popery through the sides of Hart yet Sanders is still untouch'd but he hath felt the hand of God in the Irish Mountains where he wandred Bellarmine is not quite broken Baronius his frauds are not all discovered not to speak of our growing Adversaries In the midst of so much work how could such a man find the leisure to dye the Harvest being so great and the Labourers so few scarce any at all like unto him 5. This is matter of Lamentation to the Church whereof she is so sensible as if she seemed ready to faint at the Death of Reynolds But our Mother the University hath a countenance more sorrowful if more may be and all bedewed with her tears She thinks upon nothing but her Reynolds seemeth still to see her Reynolds to hear Reynolds and to embrace his shadow I cannot deny that our happy Mother hath in this Age so numerous an off-spring of Learned Sons that she may rather rejoyce in her fruitfulness than complain of her loss and if ever now take up that speech of Brasidas his Mother Brasidas indeed was a Worthy and Valiant man but Sparta hath many more such Nevertheless I cannot choose but favour and excuse her pious tears and just grief when I consider she hath lost a person who let not Envy hear so far outshined the rest of her Sons 8. Now let that foul impudent Railer Weston go vomit forth what scurrilities he will and accuse our Doctor of slowness and of pretending Sickness He thinks us all very dull who held such a person in so high Veneration and believed him to be sick whom alas we see dead And yet Weston himself when he so inveighed against the Heads of our University that even for being Married some of them he by name accusing of wickedness could not find so much as one act to be reprehended in the whole life of this most Holy man 9. But he was far off what did they that stood at nearer distance They all dearly lov'd the man they lov'd his manners and integrity And if perhaps his resolute severity and stiffness of mind without favour and partiality might be blamed in him or if any thing else but what could Verily that fault would sooner become a Virtue than our Saint be made Vitious No question but he is in a blessed condition among the Holy Angels As for us who reverence the Memory of this best and wisest man we shall not doubt to pronounce Oxford will then be happy when any equal and like to him shall succeed into his place For we may have whom their great Eloquence infinite Reading sublimity of Wit gravity of Judgment Virtue Humanity Candor and all these shewed in excellent Monuments and Writings may very much commend Reynolds certainly we shall not have In B. Mariae Ox. Maii 25. 1607. Concerning Doctor Reynolds out of Dr. Crackanthorps Defensio Ecclesiae Anglicanae c. 69. p. 491. An. 1625. DOctor Crackanthorp there tells the Archbishop of Spalato that Dr. Reynolds was no Puritan as he called him but he himself a great Calumniator For first he professed that he appeared unwillingly in the Cause at Hampton-Court and meerly in obedience to the Kings Command And then he spake not one word there against the Hierarchy Nay he acknowledged it to be consonant to the Word of God in his Conference with Hart. And in Answer to Sanders his Book of the Schism of England which is in the Archbishops Library he professes that he approves of the Book of Consecrating and Ordering Bishops Priests and Deacons He was a strict observer also of all the Orders of the Church and University both in publick and his own Colledge wearing the square Cap and Surplice kneeling at the Sacrament and he
himself commemorating their Benefactors at the times their Statutes appointed and reading that Chapt. out of Ecclesiasticus which is on such occasions used In a Letter also of his to Archbishop Bancroft then in Dr. Crackanthorp's hands he professes himself conformable to the Church of England willingly and from his heart his Conscience admonishing him so to be And thus he remained perswaded to his last breath desiring to receive Absolution according to the manner prescribed in our Liturgy when he lay on his Death-bed Which he did from Dr. Holland the Kings Professor in Oxford kissing his hand in token of his love and joy and within a few hours after resigned up his Soul to God II. Mr. Richard Hooker From Mr. Isaac Walton 1. HIS Schoolmaster perswaded his Parents who intended him for a Prentice to continue him at School till he could find out some means by perswading his rich Uncle or some other charitable person to ease them of a part of their care and charge assuring them that their Son was so enriched with the Blessings of Nature and Grace that God seemed to single him out as a special Instrument of his Glory And the Good man whose name I am sorry I am not able to recover told them also that he would double his diligence in instructing him and would neither expect nor receive any other reward than the content of so happy an employment 2. His Parents and his Master laid a Foundation for his future happiness by instilling into his Soul the Seeds of Piety those conscientious Principles of loving and fearing God a Belief that he knows the very secrets of our Souls that he punisheth our Vices and rewards our Innocence that we should be free from Hypocrisie and appear to man what we are to God because first or last the crafty man is catch'd in his own snare These seeds of Piety were so seasonably planted and so continually watered with the dew of Gods blessed Spirit as hath made Richard Hooker honour'd in this and will continue him to be so to succeeding Generations An. 3. Eliz. John Hooker gave Bishop Jewell a Visit at Salisbury and besought him for Charity sake to look favourably upon a poor Nephew of his whom Nature had fitted for a Scholar but the estate of his Parents was so narrow that they were unable to give him the advantage of Learning and that the Bishop would therefore become his Patron and prevent him from being a Tradesman for he was a Boy of remarkable hopes The Bishop appointed the Boy and his Schoolmaster should attend him about Easter next following and then after some questions and observations of the Boy 's Gravity and Behaviour gave his Schoolmaster a reward and an annual Pension to his Parents promising also to take him into his Care 4. An. 1567. About the 14th year of his Age the Bishop commended Hooker to Dr. Cole President of C. C. Colledge who provided for him both a Tutor which was said to be John Reynolds and a Clerks place which though not a full maintenance yet with the Contribution of his Uncle and the continued Pension of his Patron the good Bishop it gave him a comfortable subsistence And in this condition he continued unto the 18th year of his Age still increasing in Learning and Prudence in Humility and Piety 5. About this time of his Age he fell into a dangerous Sickness which lasted two months all which time his Mother having notice of it did in her hourly Prayers as earnestly beg his life of God as the Mother of St. Augustin did that he might become a true Christian and their Prayers were both so heard as to be granted Which Mr. Hooker would often mention with much joy and as often pray That he might never live to occasion any sorrow to his good Mother whom he loved so dearly that he would endeavour to be good even as much for hers as for his own sake 6. As soon as he was perfectly recovered from this Sickness he took a Journey from Oxford to Exeter to satisfie and see his good Mother and by the way visited the good Bishop After his return to his Colledge came sad news of the death of his Learned and Charitable Patron But Dr. Cole raised his Spirits and bad him go chearfully to his Studies and assured him he should not want 7. A little before his death Bishop Jewell meeting with Bishop Sandys who had been his companion in exile began a story of his Hooker and in it gave such a Character of his Learning and manners that though Bishop Sandys was educated in Cambridge where he had obliged and had many Friends yet his Resolution was that his Son Edwin should be sent to Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford and by all means be Pupil to Mr. Hooker though his Son Edwin was then almost of the same Age. For said the Bishop I will have a Tutor for my Son that shall teach him Learning by Instruction and Virtue by example And doubtless as to these two a better choice could not be made For by great industry added to his great Reason He did not only know more but what he knew he knew better than other men And such was his pious behaviour that in four years he was but twice absent from the Chappel-Prayers and there he shewed an awful Reverence of that God which he worshipped He was never known to be angry or passionate or extreme in any of his desires never heard to repine or dispute with Providence but by a quiet gentle submission bore the burthen of the day with patience And when he took any liberty to be pleasant his wit was never blemish'd with Scoffing or the utterance of any conceit that bordered upon or might beget a thought of looseness in his hearers 8. In the 19th year of his Age Decemb 24. 1573. he was chosen to be one of the 20 Scholars of the Foundation And Feb. 23. 1576. his Grace was given him for Inceptor of Arts Dr. Herbert Westphaling a man of note for Learning being then Vice-chancellor The Act following he was compleated Master his Patron Doctor Cole being Vicechancellor that year and his dear Friend Mr. Henry Savil of Merton Colledge being then one of the Proctors That Savil which afterward founded two famous Lectures in the Mathematicks and enriched the world with that laborious and chargeable Edition of St. Chrysostomes Works in Greek 9. And in this year 1577. Mr. Hooker was chosen Fellow of the Colledge happy also in being the Contemporary and Friend of Dr. John Reynolds and of Dr. Spencer both which were after successively made Presidents of that Colledge men of great Learning and Merit and famous in their Generations Happy he was also in the Pupillage and Friendship of his Edwin Sandys after Sir Edwin Sandys known by his Speculum Europae and of George Cranmer the Great Archbishop and Martyr's grand Nephew a Gentleman of Singular hopes both whom a desire to know the Affairs and
by hastning to give life to his Books But this is certain that the nearer he was to his Death the more he grew in Humility in holy Thoughts and Resolutions 27. In this time of his Sickness and not many days before his death his house was rob'd of which he having notice his question was Are my Books and written Papers safe And being answered that they were his reply was Then it matters not for no other loss can trouble me 28. About one day or two before his death Dr. Saravia who knew the very secrets of his soul for they were supposed to be Confessors to each other came to him and after a Conference of the benefit of the Churches Absolution it was resolved that the Doctor should give him both that and the Sacrament the day following Which being performed he returned early the next morning and found Mr. Hooker deep in Contemplation and not inclinable to discourse which gave the Doctor occasion to require his present thoughts to which he replyed That he was meditating of the number and nature of Angels and their blessed Obedience and Order without which peace could not be in Heaven And oh that it might be so on earth And a little afterward Lord shew Mercy to me and let not death be terrible and then take thine own time I submit to it let thy will be done And after a little slumber Good Doctor said he God hath heard my daily Petitions for I am at peace with all men and he is at peace with me And from that blessed assurance I feel that inward joy which this world can neither give nor take from me Then after a short conflict betwixt Nature and Death a quiet sigh put a period to his last breath and he fell asleep 29. He died in the 46. or 47. year of his Age Mr. Cambden who hath the year 1599. and the Author of that Inscription on his Monument at Borne who hath 1603. are both mistaken For it is attested under the hand of Mr. Somner Canterbury-Register that Hooker's Will bears date Octob. 26. 1600. and that it was prov'd Decemb. 3. following He left four Daughters and to each of them 100. l. his Wife Jone his sole Executrix and by his Inventory his Estate a great part of it being in Books came to 1092 l. 9 s. 2 d. His youngest Daughter Margaret was Married unto Ezekiel Clark a Minister neer Cant. who left a Son Ezekiel at this time Rector of Waldron in Sussex 30. Dr. Henry King Bishop of Chichester in a Letter to Mr. Walton My Father's knowledge of Mr. Hooker was occasion'd by the Learned Dr. John Spencer who after the Death of Mr. Hooker was so careful to preserve his three last Books of Ecclesiastical Politie and other Writings that he procur'd Henry Juckson then of C. C. Colledge to transcribe for him all Mr. Hookers remaining written Papers many of which were imperfect for his Study had been rifled or worse used by Mr. Clark and another of Principles too like his These Papers were endeavoured to be completed by his dear Friend Dr. Spencer who bequeathed them as a precious Legacy to my Father then Bishop of London After whose death they rested in my hand till Doctor Abbot then Archbishop of Canterbury Commanded them out of my Custody They remained as I have heard in the Bishops Library till the Martyrdom of Archbishop Laud and were then by the Brethren of that Faction given with the Library to Hugh Peters and although they could hardly fall into a fouler hand yet there wanted not other endeavours to corrupt them and make them speak that Language for which the Faction then fought which was to subject the Sovereign power to the people Thus for Bishop King 31. Soon after Mr. Hooker's death Archbishop Whitgift sent for Mrs. Hooker to Lambeth and examined her concerning those three last Books to whom she confessed That Mr. Clark and another Minister near Canterbury came to her and desired that they might go into her Husbands Study and III. Dr. Will. Whitaker From the Latin Life before his Works 1. NAzianzen saith Let a Minister teach by his Conversation also or not teach at all Herein shewing his Zeal rather than his Judgment for Christ would have the Doctrine even of the impure Pharisees sitting in Moses Chair to be heard and his Apostle rejoyceth that Christ is preached howsoever though out of Envy and Contention Nevertheless it is true the Doctrine is more accepted when it is delivered by a Clean hand and when the Will of God is declared to us by one that does it The more worthy is the holy and learned Whitaker to be set forth whose great care was Vertere verba in opera as St. Jerom speaks to be an example of what he taught and who deserved a better Pen an Homer to describe this Achilles than mine yet shall I endeavour to recompence the want of Oratory by my diligence and Fidelity in the Narration 2. He was born in Lancashire at Holme in the Parish of Burnbey a mountainous place in such an Air as is fittest to cherish a purer Wit his Parents both of good Families and noble Alliance Having passed his Childhood under their Tuition and learned the first Rudiments of Grammar under his Master Hartgrave to whom afterward he was a good Benefactor at 13 years of age his Uncle Dr. Nowell the famous Dean of Pauls for his better Education sent for his Nephew into his house and kept him in Pauls-School till he was fit for the University 3. At the age of 18. the good Dean sent him to Cambridge and placed him in Trinity-Colledge under the care of Mr West where for his proficiency in Manners and Learning he was chosen first Scholar then Fellow of the House and performed both his private and publick Exercises with such commendation that in due time he was honoured with his Degrees in the Arts and having with much applause attained them gave not himself to ease as many do but followed his Studies with greater vehemence 4. His first-fruits he gratefully paid to his Reverend Uncle in the Translation of his Elegant Latin Catechism into as Elegant Greek And further to shew his Affection to the Church of England he rendred the Liturgy or Divine Service into pure Latin Lastly he adventured upon a greater work and excellently translated into the Latin Tongue that learned Defence of Bishop Jewell against Harding wherein 27 Theses are maintained out of the Monuments of Fathers and Councils within the first 600 years after Christ A work of great use to the Church and promising that the Translator would in time be Author of the like 5. After he had performed a solemn exercise at the Commencement being upon a dissention between the Proctors chosen to be Father of the Artists whose office is to praise encourage and exhort the proceeders and to handle some Questions in Philosophy and had thereby filled the University with admiration of his Learning and
preached in the beginning of every year Brief determinations of Theological Questions in the Schools very many and written with his own hand Fuller and more exact determinations of questions at the Commencement of the same number with his Latin Sermons a Book against Stapleton De originali peccato written fair and prepared for the Press The loss of these we may impute to his Immature Death For by a winter Journey to London and immoderate watching he contracted a Disease whereof he died peaceably breathing out his Spirit sweetly as an infant and saying He desired to live no longer unless for Gods Honour and the Churches service He was honourably buried in his Colledge having been Regius Professor An. 16. Head of St. Johns An. 9. Decemb. 1595. AEt 47. IV. Dr. Andrew Willet From Dr. Peter Smith 1. THere is no way more expedite of instruction to good life as Polybius wisely observeth than by the knowledge of things past and of the noble acts of famous Worthies their Histories are our Documents and their honours our incitements whereas Fame contemned brings contempt of Virtue We are not easily moved with Precepts Examples are more powerful Wherefore I have adventured briefly to sum up a few remarkable passages of the Life and Death of the Laborious and Learned Dr. Willet whose worth in the full Latitude cannot easily be expressed and my guide herein shall be either certain knowledge or most credible relation 2. It was ever esteemed no mean blessing to be well descended and though thy Fathers goodness shall avail thee little if thou beest not good yet it availeth much to make thee good Such a good Father had this worthy man by name Mr. Thomas Willet a grave Divine who in his younger time was Sub-Almoner unto that Reverend Prelate Dr. Cox Eleemosynary and Schoolmaster unto Edward VI. our Englands young Josiah of most blessed memory After whose death Dr. Cox being in Exile during the Reign of Queen Mary this Mr. Willet was not only deprived of his Service but enforced for his Conscience to forsake his first Promotion in the Church of Windsor and to betake himself to the House of a truly noble Gentleman who was a faithful Obadiah and hid him in those days of persecution But when Dr. Cox by Queen Elizabeth was advanced to the Bishoprick of Ely his antient Chaplain then repairs unto him is lovingly embraced and preferred to a Prebend in his Church And afterward when a Messenger told the good Bishop the Parson of Barley in Hartfordshire was dead the Bishop replied He is not dead And when the party avowed he was dead the Bishop again replies I tell you the Parson of Barley is not dead for there he sits pointing at Mr. Willet who was then sitting at the Table 3. The Rectory being thus added to his other means did now enable him to do works of Charity and as he had freely received so he freely gave He remembred that he had been the Dispenser of a Princes Alms and still retained a magnificent mind that way His Wife was as nobly minded and as free In her elder years when her Children were disposed of in the world her manner was to call her poor Neighbours in and feeding them to say Now again have I my Children about me Thus they laid up blessings for their seed were preserved upon an unexpected accident befalling a Proctor of their Colledge undertook his Office at the Commencement and being as Thucydides saith of Themistocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very dexterous and ready to perform any thing well upon the sudden his Orations were such as gained the approbation and applause if not the admiration of all his Auditors both their own and strangers who knew the straits of time wherein he was confined 7. After he had spent 13 years in that University his Father now grown old resigned his Prebend in the Church of Ely which by the Favour of Queen Elizabeth sede vacante was conferr'd upon him Hereupon he left his Fellowship and betook himself to the Society of a Wife of the Kindred of old Doctor Goad Provost of Kings Colledge In this estate God bless'd him with a numerous Issue 8. His manner was to arise early in the morning and to get half way on his Journey before others could get out he came down at the hour of Prayer taking his Family with him to Church after he was preferred to the Rectory of Barley upon the death of his Father there Service was publickly read either by himself or his Curate to the great comfort of his Parishioners before they went out to their daily Labours Prayers being ended he returns unto his task again until near dinner time then he would recreate himself a while either playing upon a little Organ or sporting with his young Children and sometimes he would use cleaving of Wood for exercise of his Body At his Table he was always pleasant to his Company telling some pretty Apothegme or Facete Tale and seasoning it with some profitable Application After dinner his custom was to refresh himself a little sometime sitting in Discourse sometime walking abroad and now and then taking some view of his Husbandry after which straightway to his better employments again till supper time so that commonly without extraordinary avocations he spent no less than eight hours a day in his Study 9. By which long continued course he had read the Fathers Councils Ecclesiastical Histories c. and published Books to the number of 33 besides nine more unprinted He hath much variety of matter in his larger sixfold Commentaries where he hath collected and judicially disposed those things which you have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scatteringly in many several Books and saving the Readers cost and pains hath molded up together the choicest flour of Commentaries old and new that appear upon those parts of the Scripture but his Synopsis Papismi carrieth away the prize before all other Writings wherewith Dr. Willet hath adorned our Church being now the fifth time and that by special Commendation from his Royal Majesty published Justly is he numbred by Bishop Hall sometime his Collegue in the Service of Prince Henry among those Worthies of the Church of England to whom he gives this Elogy Stupor mundi clerus Britannicus 10. Amidst all his pains of Writing and his other Studies he never omitted his usual exercise of Preaching In his younger time he read the Lecture for three years together in the Cathedral Church of Ely for one year in St. Pauls in both with singular Approbation of a most frequent Auditory Sometimes he preached in Cambridge both Ad Clerum and Ad Populum discovering himself to be the only man Quem rus non infuscavit whom the Country had not stained and therefore at his last Degree was chosen to answer in the Divinity Act. 11. This being over he returns to his people again daily teaching them and instructing them in a plain Familiar way applying himself to their capacity and
committed to this trusty Messenger intercepted the Doctor charged for holding intelligence and presently Voted both out of the Assembly and out of his Estate and Liberty 10. On September 30. a Warrant mentioning no Crime was brought from the Committee to commit the poor Doctor whom they so plundred that he had no more mony left him than one poor five shillings piece of Gold which he bestowed on the Officer that conducted him to Prison There skipped hastily into his Livings those who had long gaped for them While into Lambeth and Nye into Acton Many sad months did our Doctor spend in Prison wanting his sweet Air and the comfortable society of his Books and Friends and indeed all things except a good Conscience which might qualifie the bitterness of a tedious life 11. In the height of these his sufferings it happened that a Papist sent a bold Challenge abroad throwing dirt in the face of the Protestant Church The Parliament recommended the answering of it to our Doctor whom they knew to be well versed in the matters in question Had they first restored him to his Liberty and Estate this had been a just and noble encouragement But he was a poor Israelite under the Egyptian Yoke and must be content to abate the straw yet make the brick only they voted him the use of his Books three of them at one time and by this Vote his Library was a while preserved and himself diverted the irksomness of his sad Imprisonment To work he went and at length he finished and published his Answer to the Challenge Aug. 1. 1644. in a Book intituled Roma Ruens 12. Nor may I forget another Book which he had perfected and published the same year against the Anabaptists and other Sectaries called The Dipper Dipt Whereat the Sectaries being enraged and some others threw upon him a foul and odious aspersion That Dr. Featley was turn'd Papist To vindicate himself he publish'd his Manifesto and therein saith I have thought fit to make known to you all whom it may concern that being chosen Provost of Chelsey-Colledge I have under the Broad Seal of England a Warrant to buy have and keep all manner of Popish Books and that I never bought and kept any of them but to the end and purpose the betttr to inform my self to refute them c. 13. To which Vindication in the same Manifesto he adds this Challenge whereas I am certainly informed that aivers Lecturers and Preachers in London and the Suburbs who have entred upon the Labours of many worthy Divines and reaped their Harvests do in their Pulpits after a most insolent manner insult upon them demanding Where are they now that dare stand up in defence of Church-Hierarchy or Book of Common-Prayer or any way oppose or impugn the new intended Reformation both in Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England I do here protest that I do and will maintain by Disputation or Writing against any of them these three Conclusions viz. 1. That the Articles of Religion agreed upon in the year of our Lord 1562. by both Houses of Convocation and ratified by Queen Elizabeth need no alteration at all but only an Orthodox explication in some ambiguous phrases and a Vindication against false aspersions 2. That the Discipline of the Church of England established by many Laws and Acts of Parliament that is the Government by Bishops removing all Innovations and Abuses in the execution thereof is agreeable to Gods Word and a truly antient and Apostolical Institution 3. That there ought to be a set Form of Publick Prayer and that the Book of Common-Prayer the Ralendar being reformed in point of Apocryphal Saints and Chapters some Rubricks explained and some expressions revised and the whole correctedly Printed with all the Psalms Chapters and Allegations out of the Old and new Testament according to the last Translation is the most complete perfect and exact Liturgy now extant in the Christian World 14. Notwithstanding the great Service which the Doctor had done for the Church of England at the request of the Parliament by his Answer to that Popish Challenge in his Roma Ruens yet they suffered him to continue in Limbo in his old Prison But when through bad Air and bad Diet and ill Lodging and other inconveniences he fell into a Dropsie and other Diseases upon his humble Petition and his Physicians Certificate after sixteen weeks attendance of his Friends the House granted him an Order to remove to the fresh Air of Chelsey-Colledge for six weeks Thither he came about the beginning of March 1644. but neither Physick nor Air nor Diet nor better Lodging nor Company nor Cordials nor any thing else could remove his Diseases or give him hope of Recovery 15. There he spun out a short time in much Piety and Holy Exercises although wearied with pains and worn out with afflictions whereof none were so grievous to him as the presenr Distractions in the Church and State April 14. 1645. he set his House in order and made his Will beginning thus First for my soul I commend it to him whose due it is by a three-fold right My Creator who infused it into me my Redeemer who freely ransomed it with his dearest Blood my Sanctifier who assisteth me now in my greatest and latest assaults of temptations c. The next day he made a Confession of his Faith to Dr. Loe and others April 17. which was the last day of those six weeks his Enemies had allotted him his spirit waxed faint and drawing near to death he prayed thus Lord strike through the reins of them that rise against the Church and King and let them be as chaff before the wind c. But upon our gracious Sovereign and his posterity let the Crown flourish This said he is the hearty and earnest prayer of a poor sick Creature 16. With which words and many heavenly Ejaculations commending his Soul into the hands of his faithful Creator he fell asleep But his Nephew coming in caused a small dose of Cordial Spirits to be administred to him which made him once more to open his eyes and seeing the tears of his mourning Kinsman said Ah Cousin the poor Church of God is torn in pieces More he said not but sweetly and gently groaned out his wearied and fainting Spirit and resigned his Soul into the extended Arms of his merciful Redeemer 17. In Lambeth-Chappel according to his desire he was solemnly buried Dr. Loe preached the Sermon afterward Printed To add a short Character of his Person and Graces He was low of stature yet of a lovely graceful Countenance and of a convenient strength and health of Body of a most sweet disposition being affable and courteous to all without the least commixture of that sullen morosity which some men mistake for gravity He was generally free from all shews both of pride and anger only when he disputed with Hereticks and Schismaticks in defence of the Sacred Truth his Zeal and
dexterity made them unjustly suspect that he had been cholerick He was a Compendium of the learned Tongues and all the liberal Arts and Sciences most seriously and soundly pious and devout freely charitable both in giving and forgiving and a faithful and true Son of the Church of England Ob. An. AEt 65. VI. Walt. Norbane Esq From Dr. Haywood 1 HIS natural parts were so eminent by Gods great blessing as to out-strip many of his rank at School when he was a Child and being quickly removed from School to the University from the University to the Inns of Court he there grew so eminent as to be called to the Bar betimes with much honour daily increasing in repute and renown till he performed his publick Reading with great applause nor could he have missed the degree of a Serjeant had times been as favourable as his Worth was great 2. Though one of the youngest Sons of his Father and by a second Wife yet so highly he gained his Fathers good opinion by his constant dutifulfulness and his known ability and worth that long after the Death of his Mother his Father at his decease ordained him sole Executor left him all his personal Estate besides his proportion of Land suitable to the rest of his Children Which overplus bequeathed to him alone he yet with such Charity and Tenderness imparted to his Brothers again that of his meer voluntary goodness he gave them as I am informed to the value of two thousand pound 3. In his honest industry God so blest him that he grew to a fortune such as scant any of his Family had the like yet not to be charged for ought I could ever hear of ruining any Person or Family or rising by the fall and impoverishing of others but eminent for his faithful diligence and honest trustiness and wise secresie and abundant sufficiency in his profession so that great and eminent ones in the same profession and some elder than he have repaired to him for his opinion and to be assisted with his Advice 4. In all the time of his life and practice never heard I of any that could tax him of the least breach of trust of any extortion bribery or injustice or of being feed on both sides or for deserting any cause which he thought just for want of his poor Clients purse-ability Well might he say with Samuel Whose Oxe or whose Ass have I taken or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes withal Notable late instances might be given of this if particulars of this nature were fit here to be mentioned 5. His integrity so great and his abilities so eminent could not fail to have preferred him to a Seat of Judicature among the highest had not the tempest of the Wars cover'd him with a cloud Wherein yet he preferred his Conscience before all worldly ends nor followed any side because he thought it would prosper nor forsake that side when he saw it prospered not but persevered as he had first engaged and engaged not weakly but fervently actively and courageously And yet so prudently that though he suffer'd imprisonment and paid large Compositions yet he scaped easier than some that were less active So great was his Wisdom and in such esteem was his worth had by the adverse party I will not say he was courted by some of them to accept of preferment among them but such things have been averred in my hearing and to my knowledge his constancy was such the world could not have wrought him to accept of promotion against his Conscience for all that was offer'd to our Saviour upon the Mountain 6. During the time of Wars and troubles though he were far in years yet he made no haste to marry no nor in times more quiet before the to fail him and newer customs to creep in which he fansied not a devout receiver of the Blessed Sacrament and a frequent Communicant in publick when he might receive it in the beauty of Holiness as he desired to see it Seldom failed he at three Solemn times of the year especially to make one at the Commumunion if he were in the Country 10. To the suffering party of the Clergy to those of his own perswasion very loving kind respectful and bountiful To none of any sort as I know uncivil though in more special manner he favoured and countenanced Divines of known Learning Gravity and Experience not much respecting other whom he thought time-serving hypocritical ignorant raw or scandalous 11. A friend to peace he was though his Profession rather thrived by strife a willing reconciler and taker up of differences where both parties would hear reason rather than a prolonger of suits A man such as Moses would have chosen for a Judge fearing God and hating covetousness hating it not only in himself but in others yea not caring to my knowledge to displease some of his very good friends where he thought them too worldly inclined Very bountiful he was to the poor himself and would fain have had all of ability like him Far from flattering lying and soothing up Loving Truth and delighted in them that loved it as one rightly sensible of the great calamities this Kingdom hath been involved in through the licentious and unconscionable liberty of lying tongues 12. Therefore was he honoured and respected far and near scant a Nobleman or Gentleman in these parts that made not much use of him and frequently as their occasions required resorted to him So that he was the eminent Beauty Ornament and shelter of this poor place wherein he liv'd a staff to the poor a Counsellor to the rich a sanctuary to the oppressed a terrour to the unconscionable deceitful and worldly minded a comfort to those in need and to such as for need desired his help 13. Our hearts sorrow it was that so soon in his bodily health he began to decline having yet scant added three years to threescore but to his joy in the end it proved I doubt not Near upon two years I have perceived him declining when as his outward man perished so his inward man seemed to renew day by day During which time he exercised his Piety addressing himself to read Books of Religion his justice paying every one his own And the four Virtues of the Cross Humility Charity Patience and Constancy appeared more and more to manifest themselves in him the nearer he drew to his end 14. Humility for he was courteous to the meanest ready to put off and yield reverence to any as fast as any to him nay to prevent in courtesie and to give place to some his inferiours Charity for he exceeded in bounty to the poor witness his last charitable gift to this Parish and divers pious Legacies in his Will to the value well nigh of a thousand pound Witness his loving invitation of his poor Neighbours in his weakness at Christmass last even when himself could not eat yet it joyed him to walk by and see
England for whose sufferings he sorrowed unto death Those and the foresight of that barbarity wherein Learning and Learned men were to be the objects of scorn and cruelty broke his heart 12. Time was even amongst the Heathen that Learning was a sufficient protection against Tyranny witness Antonius Triumvir who when Varro his Enemy and of a contrary part was listed for death He thus gallantly superscribed his Name Vivat Varro Vir doctissimus 13. This our Learned Friend deceased at Kidlington Mar. 13.1646 And was buried in Christ-Church in Oxford Where lives the memory of his Virtues especially of Courtesie and Humility not disdaining the meanest Scholar nor proud of his Victorious discourses with the most learned And all that knew him will testifie how free and liberal he was of his treasury to the full satisfaction of all Inquisitors Epitaphium Joannis Gregorii NE premas Cineres hosce Viator Nescis quot sub hoc jacent lapillo Graeculus Hebraeus Syrus Et qui te quovis vincet idiomate At ne molestus sis Ausculta caussam auribus tuis imbibe Templo exclusus Et avita Religione Jam senescente ne dicam sublata Mutavit Chorum altiorem ut capesseret Vade nunc si libet imitare R. W. VIII Dr. Brian Duppa L d. Bp of Winchester From D. Jasper Maine 1. WHen I look back upon our late suffering times the saddest which I think any History hath recorded where oppression backt with power made the Ruine of our Church the horrid step and ladder to the Usurpation of the Crown and where the very name of Bishop was criminal and odious And when withal I do consider by what unlookt for way of providence the Order and Religion like a Treasure snatcht from Shipwreck was stupendiously restored after many years confusion Methinks that bush which Moses saw was the Emblem of our Church kept safe by miracle in the midst of hungry fire and the ship in the Gospel was presented to my eies where Christ and his Apostles were lost in a hideous storm but he awaked and stilled the winds and put a calmness to the Sea 2. In those daies of publick calamity I saw some take for their Pattern the Prophet Jonas and sleep securely in the storm Other to preserve their wretched fortunes compounded with the Tempest and made a League and friendship with the winds others of a nobler and more Christian temper whose just reward is now to shine like stars of honour in the Church immoveably resolute to maintain their Loyalty and Conscience with the loss of their lives as they had already with their fortunes 3. Yet I hope it will be no diminution of their Virtues if I say that the Bishop of Salisburies Carriage in those times of persecution was to me most remarkable who by this happy restitution and addition of more honour was made a greater Bishop but not a greater person than he had been in his lowest ebbe of Fortune 4. The payment of his vow in building of an Alms-house on the place at Richmond where himself so often sate weeping ore the prospect not then pleasant to his eye His large bounty to the Colledge of which I am a member which if I should name the Sum would make the world believe he meant to found a new Colledge and not complete an old His dying liberalities bequeathed to others in his Will even to his meanest Servants who were his Servants in distress are things which do proclaim him a great and noble Benefactor 5. But these are but the good deeds of his Fortune done by the Bishop of Winchester the Charities of one possessed with plenty and abundance his Rents and Mannors share with him as Co-founders and his new Alms-house might have it written on the Walls A poor Bishop vow'd this house but a great and mighty built it 6. That which made him truly great and Reverend in my eies was to look into his Noble heart his large and bounteous mind where his good deeds now were then but wishes and designs He was truly great to me when I saw him in his poverty anticipate his Alms-house and liberal at his door and the poor people in his house now had then places at his gate when being reduced to his last cruse of oyl he made the drops run to others and when there was but a handful of meal left in the little barrel he then dealt his loaf to them that wanted daily bread In short when he had but two Coats left to give one to the Naked when he had hardly more than one dish to make the poor his guests to see him walk on the Hill with not much money in his purse and return back with none But then to think of laying up treasures in Heaven when he had so little left on earth was a Charity which raised in me a Religious admiration and lookt something like the Miracle wrought by our Saviour in the Gospel where Multitudes were sed with two fishes and five loaves 7. Nor may I without some injustice to his Virtues forbear to let the world know That I never saw Afflictions born with a more serene and even temper than he did his who in the worst of times stood like a firm unshaken Rock in the midst of angry waves his Courage still the same unbroken or undisturbed with any sad Disasters not more publick than his own 8. The Old Church of England still kept up in his house with all its Forms and Rites though publickly forbidden Prayers constantly and twice a day read by him for the King at a time when such Devotions were made Treason by the Tyrant and weekly Sermons preacht before him filled with so much loyalty and truth as would any where else have cast the preacher into bonds if not sent him from the Pulpit to the place of Execution 9. To all this his Lordships continued kindness to me his encouragement of my younger studies which grew up under his example his Rescue of me from a shipwrack in the late undoing times when being tost and stript of all he was a plank to save me and threw me out a line which drew me safe to shore are Reasons sufficient to let the world receive this publick Testimony of my Gratitude Ob. An. Dom. 1663. IX Dr. John Bramhall L d. Archb. of Armagh From Bishop Taylor 1. THe Death of our late most Reverend Primate the Church of Ireland hath very great reason to deplore and we have great obligation to remember his very many worthy deeds done for this poor afflicted and despised Church S. Paul that excellent Preacher Heb. 11. made a Sermon in Commemoration of the Saints For since good men while they are alive have their Conversation in Heaven when they are in Heaven it is also fit that they should in their good names live upon Earth Their great examples are an excellent Sermon to the Living and in praising them when envy and flattery can have no interest to interpose
employed in a wise and Religious Lahour 10. These were great things and matter of great envy At first the product was nothing but great admiration at his stupendious parts and wonder at his mighty diligence and observation of his unusual zeal but this quickly past into the natural daughters of envy obloquy and slander His zeal for recovery of the Church Revenues was called oppression and rapine his care of reducing Religion to wise and justifiable Principles was called Popery and Arminianism and I know not what names which signifie what the Authors are pleas'd to mean and the people to construe and to hate This made him to walk more warily and do justly and act prudently and conduct his Affairs by the measure of Laws as far as he understood and indeed that was a very great way And though every slanderer could tell a story yet none could prove that ever he receiv'd a bribe to blind his eyes to the value of a pair of Gloves It was his own expression when he gave Glory to God who had preserv'd him innocent 11. See the greatness of truth and prudence and how greatly God stood with him When the numerous Armies of vexed people heaped up Catalogues of Accusations when the Parliament of Ireland imitated the violent procedures of the then disordered English when his glorious Patron was taken from his head and he was disrobed of his great defences when Petitions were invited and Accusations furnished and Calumny was rewarded and managed with Art and Power when there was above 200 Petitions put in against him and himself denyed leave to answer by word of mouth when he was long imprison'd and treated so that a guilty man would have been broken into affrightment and pittiful and low considerations yet then he himself standing almost alone like Callimachus at Marathon invested with Enemies and cover'd with Arrows defended himself beyond all the powers of guiltiness even with the defences of Truth and the bravery of Innocence and answer'd the Petitions in Writing sometimes 20 in a day with so much clearness evidence of truth reality of fact and testimony of Law that his very enemies were asham'd and convinc'd they found they had done like AEsop's Viper they licked the File till their tongues bled but himself was wholly invulnerable 12. They were therefore to leave their Muster rolls and decline the particulars and fall to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to accuse him for going about to subvert the Fundamental Laws the way by which great Stafford and Canterbury fell Which was a device when all reasons fail'd to oppress the Enemy by the bold affirmation of a conclusion they could not prove But the Martyr-King Charles the first of most glorious and eternal memory seeing so great a Champion likely to be oppress'd with numbers and despair sent what rescue he could his Royal Letter for his Bail which was hardly granted to him and when it was it was upon such hard terms that his very delivery was a persecution He that does great things cannot avoid the tongues and teeth of Envy but if Calumnies must pass for Evidences the bravest Heroes must always be the most reproached persons in the world But God who takes care of Reputations as he does of Lives by the orders of his Providence confutes the slanderer that the memory of the righteous man might be embalm'd with Honour And so it hapned to this great man For by a publick warrantry by the concurrent consent of both Houses of Parliament the Libellous Petitions against him the false Records and publick Monuments of injurious shame were cancell'd and he was restor'd in integrum to that fame where his great Labours and just Procedures had first instated him Which though it was but justice yet it was also such an honour that it is greater than the virulence of tongues which Stratagem they did in part by open Force they turned the Bishop out of the Town and upon trifling and unjust pretences search'd his Carriages and took what they pleas'd till they were asham'd to take more However though the usage was sad yet it was recompenc'd to him by his taking Sanctuary in Oxford where he was graciously receiv'd by that most incomparable and divine Prince But having serv'd the King in Yorkshire by his Pen and by his Counsels and by his Interest he return'd back to Ireland where under the excellent conduct of his Grace the now Lord Lieutenant he ran the risque and fortune of oppressed Virtue 15. But God having still resolv'd to afflict us the good man was forced into the fortune of the Patriarchs to leave his Country and his Charges and seek for safety and bread in a strange Land He was not asham'd to suffer where the Cause was honourable and glorious Thus God provided for the needs of his banished and sent a man who could minister comfort to the afflicted and courage to the persecuted and resolution to the tempted and strength to that Religion for which they all suffered 16. And here this great man was indeed triumphant for so it was that he stood in publick and brave defence for the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England There wanted not diligent Tempters in the Church of Rome who taking advantage of the Afflictions of his Sacred Majesty in which state men commonly suspect every thing and like men in sickness are willing to change from side to side hoping for ease and finding none flew at Royal Game and hop'd to draw away the King from that Religion which his most Royal Father the best Man and the wisest Prince in the world had seal'd with the best Blood in Christendom and which himself suck'd in with his Education and had confirmed by choice and reason and confess'd publickly and bravely and hath since restor'd prosperously Millitier was the man witty and bold enough to attempt a zealous and a foolish undertaking and address'd himself with ignoble indeed but witty Arts to perswade the King to leave what was dearer to him than his eyes It is true it was a Wave dash'd against a Rock and an Arrow shot against the Sun it could not reach him but the Bishop of Derry turn'd it also and made it fall upon the Shooters head For he made so ingenious so learned and so acute Reply to that Book he so discover'd the Errours of the Roman Church retorted the Arguments stated the Questions demonstrated the Truth and shamed their Procedures that nothing could be a greater Argument of the Bishops Learning great Parts deep Judgment quickness of Apprehension and sincerity in the Catholick and Apostolick Faith or of the Follies and Prevarications of the Church of Rome 17. But this most Reverend Prelate found a nobler adversary and a braver Scene for his Contention He found that the Roman Priests being wearied and baffled by the wise Discourses and pungent Arguments of the English Divines studiously declin'd any more to dispute the particular questions against us but fell at last
his Spirit he added an indefatigable Industry and God gave a plentiful Benediction for there were very few kinds of Learning but he was a Mystes and a great Master in them 21. He was a rare Humanist and hugely verst in all the polite parts of Learning and had throughly concocted all the antient Moralists Greek and Roman Poets and Orators and was not unacquainted with the refined Wits of the later Ages whether French or Italian 22. But he had not only the Accomplishments of a Gentleman but so universal were his parts that they were proportion'd to every thing And though his Spirit and Humour were made up of smoothness and gentleness yet he could bear with the harshness and roughness of the Schools and was not unseen in their subtilties and spinosities and upon occasion could make them serve his purpose And yet I believe he thought many of them very near a kin to the Famous Knight of the Muncha and would make sport sometimes with the Romantick Sophistry and phantastick Adventures of School-Errantry 23. His skill was great both in the Civil and Canon Law and Casuistical Divinity And he was a rare conductor of Souls and knew how to counsel and to advise to solve difficulties and determine Cases and quiet Consciences And he was no Novice in Mr. S.'s new Science of Controversie but could manage an Argument and make reparties with a strange dexterity He understood what the several Parties in Christendom have to say for themselves and could plead their cause to better advantage than any Advocate of their Tribe and when he had done he could confute them too and shew that better Arguments than ever they could produce for themselves would afford no sufficient ground for their fond Opinions 24. I shall adde only his great acquaintance with the Fathers and Ecclesiastical Writers and the Doctors of the first and purest Ages both of the Greek and Latin Church which he has made use of against the Romanists to vindicate the Church of England from the Challenge of Innovation and prove her to be truly Antient Catholick and Apostolical 25. But Religion and Virtùe is the Crown of all other Accomplishments and it was the Glory of this great man to be thought a Christian and whatever you added to it he look'd upon as a term of diminution And yet he was a zealous Son of the Church of England but that was because he judg'd her and with great reason a Church the most purely Christian of any in the world 26. In his younger years he met with some assaults from Popery and the high pretensions of their Religious Orders were very accommodate to his devotional Temper But he was always so much Master of himself that he would never be govern'd by any thing but Reason and the evidence of Truth which engag'd him in the study of those Controversies and to how good purpose the world by this time a sufficient witness But the longer and the more he consider'd the worse he lik'd the Roman Cause and became at last to censure them with some severity but I confess I have so great an opinion of his Judgment and the Charitableness of his Spirit that I am afraid he did not think worse of them than they deserve 27. But Religion is not matter of Theory and Orthodox Notions and it is not enough to believe aright but we must practice accordingly and to Master our Passions and to make a right use of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and power that God has given us over our own actions is a greater glory than all other Accomplishments that can adorn the mind of man And therefore I shall close my Character of this great Personage with a touch upon some of those Virtues for which his Memory will be precious to all Posterity 28. He was a person of great Humility and notwithstanding his stupendious Parts and Learning and eminency of place he had nothing in him of Pride and Humour but was courteous and affable and of easie access and would lend a ready ear to the Complaints yea to the impertinences of the meanest persons 29. His Humility was coupled with an extraordinary Piety and I believe he spent the greatest part of his time in Heaven His solemn hours of Prayer took up a considerable portion of his life and we are not to doubt but he had learn'd of St. Paul to pray continually and that occasional ejaculations and frequent aspirations and emigrations of his Soul after God made up the best part of his Devotions 30. But he was not only a good man God-ward but he was come to the top of St. Peters Gradation and to all his other Virtues added a large and diffusive Charity And whoever compares his plentiful Incomes with the inconsiderable estate he left at his Death will be easily convinc'd that Charity was steward for a great proportion of his Revenue But the Hungry that he fed and the Naked that he cloath'd and the distress'd that he supply'd and the fatherless that he provided for the poor Children that he put to Apprentice and brought up at school and maintain'd at the University will not sound a Trumpet to that Charity which he dispersed with his right hand but wouldnot suffer his left hand to have any knowledge of it 31. To sum up all in a few words This Great Prelate had the Good Humour of a Gentleman the Eloquence of an Orator the Fansie of a Poet the acuteness of a Schoolman The profoundness of a Philosopher the Wisdom of a Chancellor the Sagacity of a Prophet the Reason of an Angel and the Piety of a Saint He had Devotion enough for a Cloister Learning enough for an University and Wit enough for a Colledge of Virtuosi And had his Parts and Endowments been parcell'd out among his poor Clergy that he left behind him it would perhaps have made one of the best Diocese in the world 32. But alas Our Father Our Father The Horses of our Israel and the Chariot thereof He is gone and has carried his Mantle and his Spirit along with him up to Heaven and the Sons of the Prophets have lost all their beauty and lustre which they enjoy'd only from the reflection of his Excellencies which were bright and radiant enough to cast a glory upon a whole order of Men. But the Sun of this our world after many attempts to break through the crust of an earthly Body is at last swallow'd up in the great Vortex of Eternity and there all his Maculae are scatter'd and dissolv'd and he is fix'd in an Orb of Glory and shines among his Brethren-stars that in their several Ages gave Light to the world and turn'd many Souls unto Righteousness 33. And we that are left behind though we can never reach his perfections must study to imitate his Virtues that we may at last come to sit at his feet in the Mansions of Glory which God grant for his infinite Mercies in Jesus Christ. Ob. Aug. 13. 1667. Soli Deo Gloria FINIS * Duacens Praef. ad Lib. de triplici Hom. officio * See a former Vol. * AEnea Pila Diog. Laert. * Archbish Laud B Mentague B. Lindsey Mr. John Selden c. * Jo. Antioch hist. tran out of Greek into Latine with Annot.