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A47412
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A sermon preached at the funeral of the R' Reverend Father in God, Bryan, Lord Bp. of Winchester, at the Abby Church in Westminster, April 24, 1662 by Henry, L. Bp. of Chichester.
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King, Henry, 1592-1669.
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1662
(1662)
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Wing K505; ESTC R4884
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16,120
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47
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Preach up the Highest Rebellion in the State Fowlâ—st Disorder in the Church that any Age ever knew Yet their umbrageous Phantasies startle now at any thing of Decency Order As if Popery were obtruded in that Sign which hath no other meaning but to signify to the world that we are not ashamed of the Cross of Christ crucified â—iturgy in Publick Bapâ—ism Or Antichrist lurked under that Innocent habit used in the Ministerial Office But I am upon a Theam of Burial due to Christians and in Christian Charity I would Bury these weaknesses too if They be so or not rather Obstinacies only putting Them in mind There cannot be too much Dignity given to the Body when Dead which Living was a Temple of the Holy Ghost That Body which Christ assumed when He took our Flesh That Body In which and For which He Died paying the price of his unvaluable Blood to redeem it Lastly That Body which He will hereafter Glorify and make it Like unto His own Glorious and Incorruptible Body Philip. 3.1 Sure if the Prophet tells you with sorrow That it pitty'd all Eies to see the ruins of decay'd Sion and that the dust and rubbish of it was priz'd and favour'd by them Psal 102.14 Let none disvalue the Bodies of Saints demolished by Death which are more Considerable than the Stones of Sion in her greatest beauty But rather let it be a motive in the Honour of their Funeral Rites to declare how Pretious their Death is in the sight of Men when the Text assures you that it is Pretious in the sight of God 4. In the sight sight of God Should man's ingratitude lose the Remembrance of Those who in their time have best deserved in the World Yet God is not as Man to forget His Servants They need no Monument to preserve nor Epitaphe to innoble them who live in God's Remembrance The Memorial and Name of the wicked Men perisheth like the Dung Psal 9.5 and rotts faster than their Corrupted Bodies but the Just shall be had in everlasting Memory Psal 111.6 There can be no greater motive for Christians to live well than to think Deus videt Senec. God is a spectator of all their Actions whilst They live here Nor can there be a greater terrour to any who by Violence deprive them of that life Than to consider He is the Avenger of His Servants and Saints So the Price He puts upon Them is in Rewarding Them in the next world and Avenging Their Blood in This. Yet I must tell you 1. He Avengeth this speculation of God's Vengeance upon their Destroyers if taken by our own Perspective may deceive us As God doth not alwaies at first Call hear our Prayers when we Invoke His Mercy but takes His own Time to perform what we desire So He doth not ever when we implore His Justice let loose His Thunder to strike Those Men of Blood to whom His severest vengeance is due Thou God to whom vengeance belongeth shew Thy self Psal 93.2 is the Prophets excitation of Him And yet for al this Cry He tells you in another place God makes as if he heard not Yea though he hath pronounced that the Blood-thirsty and deceitful should not live out half their dayes Psal 55.23 we have seen the Gray-hair'd Murtherer finish a large Account of Time and number many years Nay dye in his Bed when Those who deserv'd to be Canoniz'd for Saints and Martyrs have dy'd upon the Scaffold If These men dy the Common death of all men Num. 16.29 then the Lord hath not sent me saith Moses with some indignation in the case of Korah and his fellow Conspirators O Beloved Yee must neither misdoubt us who preach the Certainty of God's Judgments If in Your Ey these Judgments fall not on Them so soon or so severe as you expect Much less must you misjudge God Himself either from the delay of His Vengeance or by permitting them to enjoy Augustus his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suetor a quiet and Calm Death We are no competent Judges of God's motion to Revenge no more than of the Means by which He doth accomplish it God sayes Their foot shall slide in due time Deut. 32.35 But then he asks who shall appoint Me the time Jer. 50.44 If He strikes not presently we must not think Him slow or forgetfull 2 Pet. 3.9 The Lord is not slack as some men count Slackness Or if He permits any notorious Offenders to finish their dayes by a Natural Death in their Bed do we know Qualem in conscientiâ sustinent Gehennam what hard contests what sharp Conflicts what Hell their Consciences endure When God threatens He will cast Jesabel upon a Bed Rev. 2.22 Think you this done in favour of Her who seduced His servants to commit Fornication No but to revenge Her Adulteries upon the very Bed whereon she committed them So when He suffers the fowlest Assasinates to dy in their Bed it is not alwayes Mercy but rather as if He Hanged Them at their Own Door making those very Beds on which they proudly stretcht themselves Amos 6.4 and where They contrived their Hellish Machinations the Place of Execution and Torment to Them For my part I shall ever reckon these inverted forms of Justice among the Prodigies which Christ predicted of the Last and worst Times When the Stars should fall from Heaven Mat. 24.29 the Sun be darkned the Moon turn'd to Blood How many Stars in the Sphear of the Church for those Lights are Stars in the Spirit 's compellation have since these unhappy times been darkned Rev. 1.20 How many Nobles have been strook off by violent Death who are Stars in the Orb of the Kingdom How hath the Moon languished under Her Eclipse Queens mourned in Widdowhood and Exile Nay which is a Portent greater than that how hath the most Glorious Sun which ever shone in the Firmament of our English Throne been turn'd to Blood It was a Bloody Time wherein we liv'd of late and sure it was believ'd the New Modell'd State could not thrive unless like the Vine Blood were powr'd at the Root of it Tertullian tells us the Heathen Persecutions gave the President who if the Seasons prov'd unkindly or the Aspect of Heaven frown'd on them in ill weather If they suffer'd Famine or Pestilence If their Designs miscarried by Land or their Adventures by Sea they ran down to the Amphitheater crying Christiani ad Leones Tertui Apologet. Some Christians must be sacrifized to the Teeth of Beasts to mend those Mischiefs You may remember how some Seduced People were incited to run down with Tumultuous Petitions and Confused Clamours for Justice upon Delinquents Alleging their Trade was improsperous for lack of execution done upon Delinquents When they had prevayl'd and by Gross prevarication Law and no Law Laws made for that purpose then Abrogated when the Turn was
In This very College where He was admitted a Kings Scholar of that Noble Foundation which hath sent out so many excellent Proficients in Learning to each University For Both those Fair Rivers doth this Spring by contributing some Supplies to Them annually feed Here He had the greatest Dignity which the School could afford put upon Him to be the Paedonomus at Christmas Lord of His Fellow-Scholars Which Title was a pledge and presage that from a Lord in Jeast He should in His riper Age become One in Earnest From Hence He was translated by Election to Christs-Church in Oxford where having run through some Offices in the College conferr'd both as Rewards and Trials upon the best Deservers He was remov'd to All-souls and when His Degree and Time made Him capable of Publick Employment Chosen Proctour of the Vniversity After the taking His Degree of Doctor in some few years He was by His Royal Master whose Chaplain He had been made Dean of Christ-Church so becoming Head of that College into which He was first admitted Student The more Publick Office of Vicechancellour was then cast upon Him by that Martyr'd Archbishop who well understood the Universities advantage from so deserving a Substitute These Offices he supply'd with such Ability and Integrity That His Gracicious Master thought Him worthy to receive the Greatest Trust He possibly Could plant in Him To be the Tutour and Educator of our Soveraign in His Minority together with His Princely Brother This Trust brought on Him the Honour of a Bishoprick for His Reward first Chichester then Salisbury Thus being lifted up Two Ascents by the bounty of His Old Master He was easily raised to the Third by His Present Soveraign The Bishoprick of Winchester in which He became Ex Officio Prelate of the Garter That Honour being alwayes annexed to This Office He so well Became That None before Him Did nor Any who follow can Better For He was every way Qualified both in the Comeliness of His Person and the Gracefulness of His Deportment and the Excellency of His Parts All which Capacities rendred Him worthy the service of a Court and every way fit to stand before Princes Prov. 2â— â—9 He had this happiness That from the very First Relation to those Tender years of His Gracious Soveraign during His Care and Tuition of Him He held the same Degree and Station in His Favour which never abated in the least measure but continued to His Death And as He was ever acceptable to the Presence of His Master whilst able to make His approaches to the Court So when Infirmity which confin'd Him to His Chamber render'd Him fit onely to be visited He wanted not those Royal Visits made to Him by His Lord. Who though He could not say as Christ to the Centurion imploring His Goodness to His sick servant Ego veniens sanabo I will come in presence to perform His Cure Yet He perform'd the First part Ego veniens He came not seldome neither both to see Him in His weakness and to comfort Him amidst His Pains I must not omit to tell you As once the King of Israel came to see the Dying Prophet Elisha 2 King 13.14 that he might take his Farewell and with that Farewell a Blessing from One he never should see again So did a Better King than He the King of our Israel repair to This dying Prelate a few hours before His Expiration not onely to See but to require a Benediction from Him at Parting which in the lowest Posture of Humility He besought And let me tell you not to Flatter Him amongst His other Virtues never was there a more affable Sweetness or less Pride in so great a Prince Both which He fairly expressed when Kneeling down at the Bed-side He begg'd His last Blessing which He like Jacob on His Death-bed and now as Dim-sighted as Jacob with one Hand laid upon His Masters Head Gen. 48.10 and the other lifted up to Heaven He with a most Passionate Zeal Bestowed And I Hope and Pray that like the Last Blessing of Old Jacob pronounced over His Princely Son Judah It shall remain in all Glorious Successes confirmed to Him Gen. 49.10 That unto Him the People may be Gathered in all Loyalty never seduc'd again to Run after the Seditious Trumpet of Those Sons of Bichri 2 Sam. 20.1 who in these late Years usurped His Scepter That His Hand may bee upon the Neck of His implacable Enemies Gen 49 Vers 8. whom no Acts of favour or Indulgent Clemency can Reconcile And lastly that the Scepter may not depart from Him and from His Royal Tribe untill Shiloh come Verse 9. I have very little more to say Onely tell you in addition to His former Honour He was dignified with the Office of High Almoner being intrusted with the bestowing His Majesties Charity which like a faithful Steward He so justly dispensed That in evidence of His Integrity He Copy'd out that Office in his own Practice Not only in His Legagacies to Christ-Church in Oxford and to Alsoules to the Churches of Salisbury of Chichester and Winchester But to a Famous Almehouse erected at His peculiar charge in Richmond the place of His retirement whch stands a Conspicuous Monument and Memorial of Him whilst the World lasts 'T is well when our Good deeds follow us but much better when they goe before In works of Charity perform'd whilst we live here we are God's immediate Almoners what is done when we are Gone is more properly Our Executors than Ours They are happy who by any hand bestow their Almes but it is more honour and better sarisfaction when Our Charity needs no Executor but the Doners Hand to dispense nor overseer but His own Eye From His Charity you will easily Calculate His other Virtues His Bounty was alwaies eminent according to His ability And when He came to be owner of a large and full Fortune He so well practis'd St. Pauls Lesson 1 Tim. 3.2 A Bishop must be given to Hospitality that in His generous way of living to His own and the Honour of His whole Order He demonstrated That his Heart was no way undersiz'd or too Narrow for His Fortune Nor did He since His Advancement study the sordid Art of Gain but rather how He might nobly Spend and Lay out what He got His Disposition was most free open His Heart without close Angles or oblique Corners And in His long Relation to the Court had never studied that first Principle of the Court Grammar Erasmus â—…gust To speak one way and mean Another Vbique sentires Illum hoc assici quod loquebatur As Erasmus said of St. Augustine His Learning was Great and General and as Nicephorus Gregoras said of One He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A walking Library His Gifts in Preaching elegant and very excellent yet not intended to delight the Eare but to inform the Conscience And I heartily wish Those elaborate Peeces of Devotion may not die with Him but in their Publication remain amongst His other Legacyes bequeathed to the World I may apply to Him that Eulogy which Nazianzen bestowes upon His Father Gregor Nâ—ziarzâ—â— Orat. in Landem Patris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was alwaies so faithfull to God in the service of His Church wherein He liv'd that He never receded from His first Principles in any slackness either towards Hir Doctrine or Hir Discipline Insomuch that His Sacred Majesty desirous to preserve the Succession of His English Church sensible of His Bishops Decay Most whereof were Dead Those Few who remaind not likely to last long was pleas'd to commit this Trust principally to His Solicitation In discharge whereof how industrious He was some who yet live know and none better than My self who was His only associate in several travels undertaken to bring it to effect 'T is true divers waies were propounded yet all found dangerous Under the Inquisition we then liv'd both to the Undertakers and the Actors His Majesty therefore at last thought of a safer more certain Expedient to call over to Him Two of the remayning Bishops Bp. â—â—â—â—hall now L. Primate of Armach who joyned to a worthy Praelate residing with Him in His Exile might Canonically Consecrate some of Those eminently deserving Divines who then attended Him Thus Preserving the Order in a Few untill God gave opportunity to fill up the Other Vacancies This desire was by a trusty Messenger sent over by His Majesty communicated only to Five Rom. 11.31 whereof I shall not Magnifie my Office to say My self was One who in the integrity of my Conscience can profess that in the willing acceptance of this Summons I never declin'd any hazard when I might doe the King my Master or the Church Service But great Age and greater Infirmity denying the concurrence of any One of the Rest though otherwise most ready that designe fell And God hath in the Miraculous Restoration of His Sacred Majesty Restor'd the Church to that Luster wherein blessed be His Name you now see it He in whose presence I here stand bears me record I mention not these Circumstances to any other End than my Soveraign's Honour For it is not fit so meritorious an Act should be conceal'd and smothered but that all might take notice how Carefull He was to Preserve and Support the Church at that Time when in His Exil'd condition He could not well Support Himself To conclude This worthy Person now gone before us often professed to Mee that He desired only Two Blessings in this World and then He should cheerfully sing His Nunc Dimittis Depart in Peace To see the King His Gratious Masters Return unto His Throne And the Churches happy Restitution to Hir Rights God gave Him the desire of His Lipps He liv'd to see Both And in a good old Age full of Dayes having compleated Seaventy and three yeares Psal 90.10 which is above the Standard of Humane Life in Moses his Calculation with some few dayes over He exchanged His Painful Life for an everlasting Rest Leaving His Virtues to bee Imitated by Those that can And His Loss to be Lamented by All who are left behind God for his Mercies sake grant Our Death may be so Pretious in His sight That when the Eyes which see us now must see us no more We may with These Eyes of Ours Aeternally see Our Redeemer in His Kingdome Amen FINIS