singulorum rationem reddere vel modum exponere vel quaestiones circa ea exortas solvere vel dum fortè satagunt Hallucinationes aliquot effugere penitùs ab errore immunes esse nequiverint Sed quà scunque olim Haereses quaecunque etiam Schismata quibuscunque tandem nominibus appellentur prisca universalis sive Catholica Christi Ecclesia unanimi consensu rejecit condemnavit ego pariter condemno rejicio unà cum omnibus earundem Haeresium fautoribus hodiernis Sectariis Fanaticis qui spiritu malo acti mentiuntur sese spiritu Dei afflari Horum omnium inquam Haereses Schismata Ego quoque Ecclesiae nostrae Anglicanae imò Catholicae Symbolis Synodis Confessionibus addictissimus pariter improbo constanterque rejicio atque repudio In quorum numero pono non tantùm segreges Anabaptistas eorum sequaces proh dolor nimiùm multos sed etiam novos nostrates Independentes Presbyterianos genus hominum malitiae inobedientiae seditionis spiritu abreptum qui inauditâ à seculis audaciâ perfidia tanta nuper perpetrarunt facinora in contemptum opprobrium omnis Religionis Fidei Christianae quanta quidem non sine horrore dici aut commemorari queant Quinetiam à corruptelis ineptis nuperque natis sive Papisticis quas vocant superstitionibus doctrinis assumentis novis in Avitam ac Primaevam laudatissimae olim tam Orthodoxae Catholicae Ecclesiae Religionem ac fidem jamdudum contra sacram Scripturam veterumque Patrum Regulas ac mores introductis me prorsus jam alienum esse atque adeò à Juventute mea semper fuisse sanctè animitùs adsevero Vbicunque verò Terrarum Ecclesiae Christiano nomine censae veram Priscam Catholicam Religionem Fidemque profitentur ut Deum Patrem Filium spiritum sanctum uno ore mente invocant ac colunt eis si me uspiam actu jam nunc jungi prohibet vel distantia Regionum vel dissidia hominum vel aliud quodcunque obstaculum semper tamen animo mente affectu conjungor ac coalesco id quod de Protestantibus praesertim benè reformatis Ecclesiis intelligi volo Fundamentis enim salvis diversitatem ut opinionum ita quoque rituum circa res juxta adnatas minùs necessarias nec universali veteris Ecclesiae praxi repugnantes in aliis Ecclesiis quibus nobis praesidendum non est amicè placidè pacificè ferre possumus atque adeo perferre debemus Eis verò omnibus qui malè consulti quoquo modo me iniquis calumniis insectati sunt vel adhuc insectari non desinunt ego quidem ignosco deum seriò precor ut ipse quoque ignoscere meliorem eis mentem inspirare velit Operam interim mihi aliis omnibus fratribus praesertim Episcopis Ministris Ecclesiae Dei quantum ex illius gratiâ possumus dandam conferendam esse existimo ut tandem sopiantur vel saltem minuantur Religionis dissidia atque ut pacem sectemur cum omnibus sanctimoniam Quod ut fiat quà m ocyssimè faxit Deus Pacis Autor Amator concordiae Cujus immensam misericordiam oro obtestor ut me in peccatis iniquitatibus conceptum ab omni humanae infirmitatis labe corruptela repurget dignumque ex indigno per magnam clementiam suam faciat mihique passionem immensa merita dilectissimi sui filii Domini nostri Jesu Christi ad delictorum meorum omnium expiationem applicet ut quum novissima vitae hora non improvisa venerit ab Angelis suis in sinum Abrahae raptus in societate sanctorum electorum suorum collocatus aeternâ foelicitate perfruar Haec praefatus quae ad Religionem Animae meae statum ac salutem spectant quaeque Latino Sermone à me dictata atque exarata sunt reliqua quae ad sepulturam corporis bonorum meorum temporalium dispositionem attinent sermone patrio perscribi faciam ac perorabo Vid. J. Will. c. Our help is in the Name of the Lord who made Heaven and Earth In the Name and Honour of the same Lord our God the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost the most High and undivided Trinity FOrasmuch as it is appointed for all men once to die and that every mans body shall be dissolved but the time of my dissolution is uncertain of which notwithstanding as if it were nigh at hand being mindful in my daily Meditations and shaken with the frequent infirmities of my body I ever and anon think thereof I John Cosin an humble Minister in the Church of God and by the permission of the most High now Bishop of Durham not putting my hope in this present life but ever aspiring to that other which is to come eternal in the Heavens and which by the mercy of God ere long I hope to obtain and humbly praying for the salvation of my own Soul that through the merits of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God our only Redeemer and Mediator all mine offences be forgiven me being of a sound mind out of a sincere heart do make ordain and constitute this Testament containing my Last Will in this form as followeth First of all I heartily thank our Lord God Almighty that he hath vouchsafed me to be born in this life of faithful and vertuous Parents and that it hath pleased him that I should be Regenerate and born a new in his Church unto Life Eternal by the holy Laver of Baptism which he hath instituted and that he hath instructed me from my Youth in sound doctrine and hath made me partaker of his Saints that he hath imprinted in my mind a Faith not feigned nor dead but true and living together with a firm confidence that hereafter I shall be brought unto eternal life which Faith doubtless consists in this That we adore and worship one God and believe in him and in him whom he hath sent his most beloved Son the Eternal Word begotten before all Ages Jesus Christ our Lord who for us and for our Salvation took flesh of the most blessed Virgin Mary the Holy Ghost over-shading her in this life and was made man afterward was born suffered was crucified dead and buried and after he had descended into Hell rose again from his Grave and leading captivity captive ascended into Heaven where sitting at the right hand of God he reigneth for ever but sent from thence the Holy Ghost in whom we ought equally to believe proceeding from the Father and the Son by whom he most bountifully gave gifts unto men and founded his Catholick Church in the Communion of Saints in the Divine Sacraments in true Faith sound Doctrine and Christian Manners together with the remission of Sins to be conferred on all the Godly and that in the same Church bring forth fruits meet for Repentance to whom also
when in the last day of the world he shall come from Heaven to raise the dead and judge all he will give eternal happiness but to the rest that are Infidels or that have lived according to the flesh and would not repent or be converted he will inflict eternal punishment In this Faith which is the summary and most absolute Abridgement of all the Holy Scripture Jude vers 3. once delivered to the Saints and which the Apostles and their Successors have spread abroad and derived down even to us I profess my self to live and that I may persevere in it constantly without doubting unto my last breath is my daily prayer in the mean time seeking after Unity by preserving the bond of Peace and Love with all Christians every where who among the great Evils Distractions and Calamities of the Church which truly I cannot but heartily bewail entirely receive this Faith and call no one part of it in question I hope also through the goodness of God and Christ God and Man our Saviour that all they that have together with us sincerely believed these things that are revealed and delivered from God and have lived a Godly life shall be saved in the great day of the Lord who although they are not able to give an account or explain the manner of every of them nor resolve the questions raised about them and though perhaps when they endeavour it they cannot avoid some mistakes and be altogether free from errour But whatsoever Heresies or Schisms heretofore by what names soever they be called the antient Catholick and Universal Church of Christ with an unanimous consent hath rejected and condemned I do in like manner condemn and reject together with all the modern Fautors of the same Heresies Sectaries and Phanaticks who being carried on with an evil Spirit do falsely give out they are inspired of God The Heresies and Schismes I say of all these I also as most addicted to the Symbols Synods and Confessions of the Church of England or rather the Catholick Church do constantly renounce condemn and reject Among whom I rank not only the Separatists the Anabaptists and their Followers Alas too too many but also the New Independents and Presbyterians of our Countrey a kind of men hurried away with the spirit of Malice Disobedience and Sedition who by a disloyal attempt the like whereof was never heard since the world began have of late committed so many great and execrable Crimes to the contempt and despite of Religion and the Christian Faith which how great they were without horrour cannot be spoken or mentioned Moreover I do profess with holy asseveration and from my very heart that I am now and have ever been from my youth altogether free and averse from the corruptions and impertinent new-fangled or papistical so commonly called superstitions and doctrines and new superadditions to the Ancient and Primitive Religion and Faith of the most commended so Orthodox and Catholick Church long since introduced contrary to the Holy Scripture and the Rules and Customes of the ancient Fathers But in what part of the World soever any Churches are extant bearing the name of Christ and professing the true Catholick Faith and Religion worshipping and calling upon God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost with one heart and voice if any where I be now hindred actually to be joyned with them either by distance of Countries or variance amongst men or by any other let whatsoever yet alwayes in my mind and affection I joyn and unite with them which I desire to be chiefly understood of Protestants and the best Reformed Churches for where the foundations are safe we may allow and therefore most friendly quietly and peaceably suffer in those Churches where we have not Authority a diversity as of Opinion so of Ceremonies about things which do but adhere to the Foundations and are neither necessary or repugnant to the practice of the Universal Church As for all them who through Evil Counsel have any way inveighed against or calumniated me and even yet do not forbear their invectives I freely pardon them and earnestly pray to God that he also would be pleased to forgive them and inspire them with a better mind In the mean while I take it to be my duty and of all my Brethren especially the Bishops and Ministers of the Church of God to do our utmost endeavours according to the measure of Grace which is given to every one of us that at last an end may be put to the differences of Religion or at least that they may be lessened and that we may follow Peace with all men and Holiness which that it may be accomplished very speedily God the Author of Peace and Concord grant whose infinite Mercy I humbly beseech that he would cleanse me who was conceived in Sin and Iniquity from every spot and corruption of humane frailty and that through his great clemency he would make me who am unworthy to become worthy and that he would apply to me the Passion and infinite Merits of his most beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord to the expiating of all mine Offences that at the last hour of my Life which I daily look for I may be carried by his Holy Angels into Abrahams bosome and being placed in the fellowship of his Saints and Elect may fully enjoy Eternal Felicity Having now declared what belongs to my Religion and the State and Salvation of my Soul which I have now delivered here in Latine The rest that belongs to my Burial and the disposal of my Temporal Estate I shall cause to be written in my Native Language and so conclude Durham Jan. 18. 1672. Vera Copia Examinata per me William Stagg Not. Publicum FINIS Gen. 35. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Basil Homil xxiii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem S. Basil Homil 2. in Psalm xiv Non adhaerendum rebus secularibus ** Conctonator non ultra Horam ne fastidium pariat auditoribus Canon Hungaricus c. Eccles 24. 31. Psal 39. 15. 2 Sam. 3. 38. * The Lord Bishop of Durham is Lieutenant General of this County as ab Antiquo ex Officio so ex abundanti per Mandatum by the Kings gracious Commission cumulativè and so still under the King who is always the Sovereign of all Estates in his Realms Eccles 70. 2. Psal 90. 12. Can. 55. Hebr. 11. Hebr. 6. 12. Exod. 14. 20. with Hebr. 12. E. Ephes 4. 18. Psal 39. 5. Gen. 2. 17. Psal 30. 5. Ephes 2. 1. Revel 20. 6. * St. Aug. de Discipl cap. 2. non potest malè mori qui benè vixerit Audeo dicere non potest malè mori qui benè vixerit Deut. 32. 29. Hebr. 9. 27. 1 Cor. 15. 51. Gen. 5. 5. Rom. 8. 19. Phil. 1. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 11. 35. Rom. 1. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thes 4. 13. Genes 50. 3. 10. Rom. 14. 7 8. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
A SERMON At the Funeral of the Right Reverend Father in GOD JOHN Late Lord Bishop and Count Palatine of Durham THE EPITAPH OF THE DECEASED Prescribed by himself in his WILL was this Rev. xiv 13. Beati Mortui qui moriuntur in Domino requiescunt enim à Laboribus suis The dead Mans real Speech A FUNERAL SERMON Preached on Hebr. xi 4. Upon the 29 th day of April 1672 TOGETHER WITH A brief of the Life Dignities Benefactions Principal Actions and Sufferings and of the death of the said late Lord Bishop of DVRHAM Published upon earnest Request By Isaac Basire D. D. CHAPLAIN in ORDINARY to his MAJESTY and ARCH-DEACON of NORTHUMBERLAND LONDON Printed by E. T. and R. H. for James Collins at the Kings Arms in Ludgate-street 1673. TO THE Christian Reader THis untimely Conception might have proved an Abortive or if born a Benoni to the Parent then in sore Travel through sickness both in the Preparation deproperated as also in the present Production being at the earnest intreaty of the Noble Relations of our Lord Bishop deceased now pressed unto the Press When this was delivered vivâ voce out of a due Regard to the Solemn Confluence of so many Worthy Persons for some of them came from far as also out of a respect to the day then far spent I did purposely contract my Meditations and express them then under the Ancient Canonical measure of an Hour Esteeming it a point of Commendable Prudence and also of plausible Thrift to boote on such Solemn Occasions to shorten the double pains both of the Speaker and of the Hearers But since the delivery being desired as by sundry Worthy Relations of the deceased so at the request of my Friend the Honest and Industrious Book-seller I have been perswaded to enlarge the Sermon with the Addition of a Brief of the Life of the deceased Prelate and so my Brooke is become a River I wish it may not prove a Sea to deterr the Reader from launching out into it For the matter of Right done to the dead in General I refer my self to Gods Word For the matter of Fact in particular concerning the Person of the deceased I Report my self to their Report whose Information I have diligently and severally desired and faithfully delivered here relying upon their verity confirmed by the Authority of our late Lord Bishops Last Will in English which should be Sacred My honest Request to the Christian Reader is only for the same Candour in the Reading as was intended by me in the Writing All which commending to God for a Blessing I take leave Praying in K. Davids words That God would spare me a little that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more seen AMEN Imprimatur Tho. Tomkins R. R. mo in Christo Patri ac Domino D no Gilberto Divinâ Providentiâ Archi-Episc Cant. à Sacris Domesticis Ex Aedibus Lambethanis Feb. 10. 1672. ERRATA PAg. 6. lin 1. deest but before upon l. 2. an bef uniform 1. 14. in comparison of eternity after span long l. ult and felicity after innocence p. 8. l. 12. for how read which way p. 9. l. 5. dele comma after Statute p. 24. l. 25. r. the Holy p. 37. l. 4. phrase it in p. 42. Marg. for Covarrus r. Covarruvius p. 43. l. 4. r. Calligraphy p. 50. l. 11. r. domestical p. 54. Marg. ad lin 11. r. Constantinopol p. 57. l. 2. add he before much p. 59. l. 29. after teaching add them p. 70. l. 12. after thrive add the. p. 71. l. 16. r. Proprietary p. 85. l. 15. after Character add Conscience p. 92. l. 13. r. Brâ—nâ— p. 93. l. 22. for with r. of p. 97. Marg. r. Switzerland p. 110. l. ult for still r. yet p. 118. after the Latin Will dele Vid. J. Will. c. p. 119. before Our help insert The Translation of the Latin Will. p. 121. l. 13. for shading r. shadowing THE Dead Man's REAL SPEECH Hebr. 11. 4. By it he being dead yet speaketh KNow you not that a great man is faln in Israel This was David's noble Epitaph over Abner though his Rebel and how much more may this be our Just Preface to this solemn Funeral to be sure over a better Man than was Abner Therefore in King David's words I may truly say again Know you not that a great Man is now faln in our Israel A great Man indeed as shall appear before we take our Final Leave of him We may be sure greater than Abner not only in his State but which is the crown of all true greatness in his Graces and Beneficence in this indeed and in truth greater than Abner yet Abner was a great man for he was a General in the Field but on the wrong side the Rebels side Our great man a General not only in the Field but which is much more a General in this Church I mean his Diocess a great one and in both these great Capacities constantly Loyal ad Exemplum And yet as high as this great man was so lately behold how low he is laid down now who yet must be laid down lower as you shall see by and by Such Spectacles of Mortality ought to be to us Survivours tot Specula so many true Looking-glasses wherein whatever our Artificial Looking-glasses may flatter us with what our living faces seem to be now this Natural Looking-glass tells us plainly to our faces what all our dead faces shall be must be then God knows how soon He being Dead yet speaketh out Mortality to us all so many Funerals so many Warning-pieces to us all to prepare for our last and greatest Issue This in the Judgment of the wise man is the best use we can make of our Access to the House of Mourning such as this house is at present therefore the Living should lay it to his Heart which that we may all do Let us pray with the Spirit and in the words of King David O teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Ye shall further pray for Christ's Holy Catholick Church c. Hebr. 11. 4. THe Scope of this Text which must be the Aim of the Sermon is this to stir up all the faithful living to imitate the faithful that are dead whereof this Chapter is the sacred Roll upon the Divine Records down from Abel unto the Patriarchs the Judges the Kings the Prophets c. that is that we should endeavour to become the followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises The Text is short but the Lesson is long that is to live so now as we may die well at last and by our good works speak when we are dead The Parts are two which do express two States of Man 1. The state of Death He being dead which is the privation of the life of nature common to all men on which frail life
pant for the Final Redemption of the Sons of God how much more we being the Parties principally concerned This made St. Paul as it were with hoised-up sails of Hope and Desire the Affections of his Soul to long to be dissolved and to be with Christ The Original imports to loosen or to launch forth as a Ship from a Forreign Port for a happy voyage towards her wished for Haven at home 5. I have so much Christian charity for the surviving noble Relations of the Great man deceased as to believe that if they could with their wishes and tears waft him over back from Heaven to labour again on Earth they would not do it if they loved him indeed and not rather themselves 'T is an excellent observation of Isidore Pelusiota he lived above 1200. years ago who commenting on these words of our Saviour's compassion for Lazarus expressed by his tears that it was not at the Death of Lazarus but that it was at his Resurrection that Jesus wept a real demonstration of his Humanity both natural and moral This Father's note upon that difference is this That our Saviour Christ's Love towards Lazarus was a Rational Love yea a Divine Love not as Ours towards our dead Friends too too oft too carnal or natural or at the best a humane love if not a self-love we wish them alive for our own ends True it is that 't is very lawful and also very fit to pay our deceased Friends their due Tribute of Grief and to let Nature have her course lest we should seem or appear without natural affection but provided always that the Current of Nature do not overflow the Banks of Reason much more the Banks of Religion settled by St. Paul who would not have Christians to be sorry for their deceased Friends as others who have no hope For there is a lively hope of a joyful meeting again in the state of Glory if we in the state of Grace do follow the Saints deceased Upon this consideration is worth the observing the different manner of mourning of Joseph for his Father Jacob his dear and near Relation for Joseph mourned seven days only and of the Egyptians mourning seventy days for the same Jacob a stranger to them The reason of the difference is because the Egyptians were unbelievers but Joseph was a Believer of the Resurrection and of a glorious meeting once again with his deceased Father from thenceforth never to be separated This Posie of sacred Meditations I do now present to the Noble Relations of the deceased desiring them to accept this offer and to use it as a Spiritual Handkercheif to wipe off if not drain the Spring of Tears for this their deceased support 6. Mean-while our main care must be not to forfeit that glorious meeting by a course of life contrary to the good example of the Saints departed but instantly to resolve earnestly to study constantly to endeavour to live well that is to say To make the Will of God the Rule of our Life and the Honour of God the End of our Life This is to live unto the Lord that is in Subjection unto him and then we may be sure to die in the Lord that is under his Protection both of Body and Soul for evermore 7. You may be pleased to remember that our Text was two faced and therefore we compared it to the Israelites Guide through the Wilderness a Cloud we are now past the dark side of it Death He being Dead we must now face about and chearfully behold the bright side of the cloud wherein the Dead speaketh and here we have 1. The Speaker He 2. The Speech implied He speaketh 3. The time expressed Yet that is after Death He being Dead yet speaketh 8. First the Speaker is Abel whose name bears mankinds universal Motto in the Holy Tongue that is Vanity for when all is done Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity until the Spirit of man return to God who gave it till then whatever Pride may prompt vain man verily every man living in his best estate is altogether vanity Selah Secondly For his Trade he was an Heardsman for he offered to God the best of his Flock in due Homage and as a Figure of that Lamb of God which was to come to take away the sins of the World no doubt he was well instructed by his Parents Adam and Eve of whose Conversion and Salvation to doubt since the promise of the Blessed Seed preached unto them by Almighty God himself after their fall and which we must in reason suppose was apprehended and applyed by them to themselves through Faith lest God's preaching should prove vain such a suspicion or doubt of their eternal state were in us their Posterity an odious want of charity and against the Current of the Antient Fathers who give for it this probable reason That God did expresly curse the Serpent and the Earth but God did not at all curse either Adam or Eve but contrarywise God in mercy did bestow upon Adam and Eve the original and fundamental blessing of the Promised Seed the Messiah which is Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour in whom all Adam and Eve's Posterity should be blessed and therefore they are not to be concluded within the number of the damned crew upon whom shall be pronounced that dreadful final sentence of Ite maledicti Go ye cursed As a clear evidence of Adam and Eve's Faith we produce their Works namely the Godly Education of their Children Cain and Abel in God's true Religion to offer corporal sacrifices c. with a spiritual reference and therefore with faith in the only expiatory and satisfactory sacrifice to be performed in the fulness of time by the person of the Messiah the second Adam for the saving of mankind as the first Adam was in the damning of mankind both the Adams being publick Representatives of all mankind as the first in the Fall so the second in the Resurrection 9. This just Apology for our first Parents Adam Eve I thought it my filial duty to offer unto all mankind Adam's off-spring once for all to stop the mouths of censorious Children unmindful of their original duty and of the Rule Parentum Mores non sunt Arguendi Shem and Japhet were blessed for turning away their faces from their Father's nakedness but wicked Cham was for outfacing it cursed with a grievous curse 10. 'T is very observable that God had respect unto Abel first and then to his sacrifice to intimate that God first accepts the Person and then his service for Abel offered by Faith but Cain without Faith for want of which God rejected the person of Cain though the Elder Brother and consequently his sacrifice Hence observe that two men may come and worship God with the same kind of outward worship and yet differ much in the inward manner and success of their service
of the cry of Sodom and of the cry of the hireling's wages kept from him and here Abel's blood hath a voice that cries aloud for Justice in God's eares and as it were prefers a Bill of Indictment upon which God the just Judge immediately arraigneth Cain passeth Judgment and doth Execution upon Cain the Fratricide stamping a curse both upon his person and estate saying What hast thou done the voice of thy brothers blood cries unto me from the Ground and now art thou cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thine hand When thou tillest the Ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth Now as sin hath a voice so grace hath a voice also calling upon us as for our Imitation of the vertues of the Saints departed so calling upon God for a gracious compensation of their works which follow them after death not at all by way of merit but of God's free mercy for what proportion betwixt man's works which are but temporary and therefore finite all our best works are no more and besides imperfect all and God's high reward which is Infinite both for weight and for duration to all eternity Some Interpreters add a fifth way by which Abel being dead yet speaketh to wit as a Type by his blood shed by Cain his Brother prefiguring the blood of Christ shed by his brethren the Jews And thus many ways Abel being dead yet speaketh And so all good men though dead yet speak by their good works of Faith and Patience In which blessed number this dead man before our eyes was through God's grace listed and so speaketh by his good deeds to his Generation and seems by his example to preach unto us all St. Paul's Apostolical Admonition Not to be weary of well doing for in due season we shall reap a reward if we faint not as our Christian hope is the deceased Prelate findeth it now to his everlasting comfort O how gladly would I make an end here and so come down Sorry I am that I must now pass and descend from the Literal Text to this our Real Text lying before us But 't is a Rule of Christian practice that when God hath been pleased to reveal his will by the event our humble resignation of our selves and friends and all with submission of our will to God's will is our duty and the best remedy to allay all our sorrows and to say in the words and with the spirit of Holy Job The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord which is part of our office for burial in all this Job sinned not no more should we if we would be followers of Job's faith and patience which God grant us all through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed from Angels from us and from all men all praise power Majesty and Dominion now and for ever Amen A BRIEF OF THE Life and Dignities OF THE BENEFACTIONS AND Principal Actions c. OF The Right Reverend Father in God JOHN Lord Bishop and Count Palatine of Durham c. LONDON Printed for James Collins at the Sign of the Kings-Arms in Ludgate-street 1673. THE Dead Man's REAL SPEECH BUt before we enter into this due Office of Commemoration for to preach or pray over the dead is Justa persolvere we must by way of prevention enter this solemn Protestation against this our censorious Age That we do abjure all manner of flattery passive or active being God be thanked settled above all slavish fear or base hope from the living much more from the dead Was King David a Flatterer for composing and publishing those goodly Epitaphs upon Saul and Abner who yet were no very good men or were the godly widows flatterers for shewing the Coats and Garments which Dorcas made whilst she was alive In the ensuing rehearsal our intention is and our endeavour shall be to publish nothing but vera utilia As for the verity as I am confident of the Ingenuity of my Instructors Persons of Quality and of good credit so as I said before I am convinced and confirmed of the verity of the matter by the last will a sacred thing in Law of our late Lord Bishop And as for the utility of this due office of Commemoration we commit our Meditations to Gods direction and commend them to your attention If there be any Adder that dare hiss against this dead Prelate or the liveing for giving the dead his due or shall object Was this man one in quo Adam non peccavit Was he a man all made of Vertues Had he no faults Our answer is that Proverb of Charity De mortuis nil nisi benè 't is an honest old say as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to gnaw on dead mens bones is an inhumane brutish unnatural humour Such Cannibals as do delight to feed on dead mans flesh by tearing of their Fame do take the Devils Office out of his hand Yet the Devil if one may say so was more a Gentleman more civil to Job for the Devil slander'd him indeed but 't was when he was alive and so might and did answer for himself Far be it from me to usurp the Office of a Coroner over the state of the Dead the Rule of Charity and practice of our Church in the Office for the dead have taught me better Divinity I know by experience that an evil eye looking upon the Dead through the wrong end of the perspective I mean Envy will not only spear out but also espy and that with aggravation the infirmities or faults of the dead I wish all such seriously to consider themselves and well to weigh St. James his Observation Was not Elias a man subject to the like passions as we are and yet by the Pens of the Prophets and Apostles dipt in Charity we read nothing but commendations of Elias nor of Job Ye have heard of the patience of Job not a word of his impatience tho' confessed by himself whom some think to be the Authour of the most part of that Book When I have done with the due praises of this Great Man some Shimei with his Serpents tongue may still hiss at though he can never hurt this dead man To stop all such foul mouths I wish them to reflect upon themselves and let them know that there must be faults as long as there are men and with a serious reflexion upon themselves let them fore-know that after him who lies here before us we must all every one of us be weighed in the ballance at last and for my own part I must confess I am perpetually afraid to have my share in that Article against Belshazzar I dread his Tekel that final doom Thou art weighed in the ballance and found wanting