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
clear demonstration of reason that in all his reading he had not met with any that exceeded him And the Pope having heard the Doctor interpret to him a part in Latin said There is no Learning this man hath not search'd into nothing too hard for his understanding this man indeed deserves the name of an Author Books will get reverence by Age for there is in them such seeds of eternity that if the rest be like this they shall last till the last fire shall consume all Books 19. King James also at his first coming into this Kingdom enquiring of the Archbishop Whitgift for his friend Mr. Hooker and being answered that he died a year before Queen Elizabeth who received the sad news of his death with very much sorrow replyed And I receive it with no less that I shall want the desired happiness of seeing and discoursing with that man from whose Books I have had so much satisfaction Adding Though many other write well yet in the next Age they will be forgotten but doubtless there is in every page of Hooker's Book the Picture of a Divine Soul such Pictures of Truth and Reason and drawn in so sacred colours that they shall never Fade but give an immortal memory to the Author Nor did that learned King use to mention him without the title of Learned or Judicious Hooker nor his Son our late King Charles the First without the same reverence enjoyning his Son our present Sovereign to be studious in Mr. Hookers Books What the Learned Cambden where he noteth the death of Hooker and Commends his Modesty and other Virtues wished That for the honour of this and benefit of other Nations those Books were turned into the Universal Language is now accomplish'd by the happy Pen of Dr. John Earl Lord Bishop of Salisbury a man like unto Hooker for his innocent Wisdom sanctified Learning and Pious Peaceable Primitive Temper 20. Mr. Hooker's Parsonage of Borne being near the common Road that leads from Canterbury to Dover many mov'd by the Fame of his Learning and Holiness turn'd out of their way and others Scholars especially came purposely to see the man A man in poor Cloaths his Loyns usually girt in a course Gown or Canonical Coat of a mean Stature and Stooping and yet more lowly in the thoughts of his Soul so mild and humble that his poor Parish-Clerk and he did never talk but with both their Hats on or both off at the same time short-sighted his Body worn out not with Age but Study and Mortification his Face full of Heat-Pimples begot by his unactive and Sedentary Life Here he gave a Holy Valediction to all the pleasures and allurements of Earth possessing his Soul in a Virtuous Quietness in Constant Study Devout Prayers and heavenly Meditations 21. His use was to Preach once every Sunday and hear his Curate to Catechise after the second Lesson in the Evening Prayer his Sermons were neither long nor earnest but uttered with a Grave Zeal and an Humble Voice his eyes always fix'd on one place to prevent his imagination from wandring insomuch that he seem'd to study as he spake The design of his Sermons as indeed of all his Discourses was to shew reasons of what he spake and with these Reasons such a kind of Rhetorick as did rather convince and perswade than frighten men into Piety studying not so much for matter which he never wanted as for apt illustrations to inform and teach his unlearned hearers by familiar Examples and then make them better by convincing Applications 22. He never failed the Sunday before every Ember-week to give notice of it to his Parishioners perswading them both to Fast and then to double their Devotions for a Learned and Pious Clergy but especially the last saying often That the Life of a Pious Clergy-man was Visible Rhetorick and so convincing the most Godless men though they would not deny themselves the enjoyment of their present Lusts did yet secretly with themselves like those of the strictest Lives He did usually every Ember-week take from the Parish-Clerk the Key of the Church-Door and lock himself up there many hours and the like most Fridays and other days of Fasting 23. He would by no means omit the customary time of Procession perswading all both Rich and Poor if they desired the preservation of Love and their Parish-Rights and Liberties to accompany him in his perambulation and most did so In which he would usually express more pleasant discourse than at other times and drop some good Sentences and Observations to be remembred by the Young people still enclining all his Parishioners to mutual Love and Kindness 24. He would often Visit the Sick unsent for supposing that the fittest time to discover those errors to which health and prosperity had blinded them and having by pious Reasons and Prayers moulded them into holy Resolutions for the time to come he would incline them to Confession and bewailing of their Sins with purpose to forsake them and then to receive the Communion both as a strengthening of those Holy Resolutions and as a Seal betwixt God and them of his Mercies to their Souls in case that present Sickness did put a period to their lives 25. He was diligent to prevent Law-Suits still urging his Neighbours to bear with each others infirmities and live in love Because he that lives in Love lives in God for God is Love And to maintain this holy fire of Love constantly burning on the Altar of a pure heart his advice was to watch and pray and always keep themselves fit to receive the Communion and then to receive it often for it was both a confirming and increasing of their Graces This was his advice And at his entrance or departure out of any house he would usually speak to the whole Family and bless them And though in this declining Age such examples are almost incredible yet let his memory be blest with this true Recordation Because he that praises Mr. Hooker praises God who hath given such gifts unto men And let this invite posterity to imitate his Virtues 26. In the year 1600. and of his age 46. he fell into a sickness occasion'd by a cold taken in his passage betwixt London and Gravesend But a submission to his will that makes the Sick mans bed easie by giving rest to his soul made his very Languishment comfortable And yet all this time he was solicitous in his Study and said often to Dr. Saravia Prebend of Canterbury with whom he entred into a sacred Friendship at his coming to Borne who saw him daily and was the chief comfort of his life That he did not beg a long life of God for any other reason but to live to finish his three remaining Books of Politie and then Lord let thy Servant depart in Peace said he And God heard his Prayers although he denied the Church the benefit of them as Completed by himself and 't is thought he hastned his own death
Manners and Learning of other Nations that they might thereby become the more serviceable unto their own made to put off their Gowns and leave Mr. Hooker to his Colledge and private Studies 10. Thus he continued his Studies in all quietness for the space of three or more years about which time he entred into Sacred Orders and was made Deacon and Priest and not long after in obedience to the Colledge Statutes being to Preach at St. Pauls Cross London to London he came to the Shunamites house a house so called for that beside the Stipend paid the Preacher there is provision made for his Lodging and Diet two days before and one day after his Sermon but to this house Mr. Hooker came so wet so weary and weather-beaten that hardly with much diligent attendance was he enabled to perform the office of the day which was in or about the year 1581. 11. An. 1584. Decemb. 9. he was presented by John Cheney Esquire to a Country Parsonage which was Draiton-Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire not far from Alesbury and in the Diocess of Lincoln where he continued about a year in which time his two Pupils Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer were returned from Travel and took a Journey to see their Tutor where they found him with a Book in his hand it was the Odes of Horace being then tending his small allotment of Sheep in a common field which he told his Pupils he was forced to do for that his Servant was gone home to dine and assist his Wife to do some necessary houshold business When his Servant returned and released him his two Pupils attended him to his house where their best entertainment was his Company and having stayed till next morning which was time enough to discover and pity their Tutors condition and having given him as much present comfort as they were able they return to London Then Edwin Sandys acquaints his Father of his Tutors sad case and solicits for his removal to some Benefice that might give him a more comfortable subsistence 12. Not long after Mr. Alvie Master of the Temple died a man of strict Life of great Learning and of so venerable behaviour as to gain such a degree of Love and Reverence from all men that he was generally known by the name of Father Alvie into whose place Bishop Sandys commended Hooker with such effectual earnestness and so many testimonies of his worth that he was sent for to London and there the place was proposed to him by the Bishop as a greater freedom from cares and the advantage of a better Society a more liberal Pension than his Country Parsonage did afford him and at last notwithstanding his averseness he was perswaded to accept of the Bishops proposal being by Patent for life made Master of the Temple March An. 1585. 13. Mr. Walter Travers was Lecturer at the Temple for the Evening Sermons a man of competent Learning of a winning Behaviour and a blameless Life but ordained by the Presbytery in Antwerp He had hope to set up the Geneva Government in the Temple and to that end used his endeavours to be Master of it and his being disappointed by Mr. Hookers admittance proved some occasion of opposition betwixt them in their Sermons Many of which were concerning the Doctrine Discipline and Ceremonies of this Church insomuch that as one hath pleasantly express'd it The Forenoon Sermon spake Canterbury and the Afternoon Geneva 14. The oppositions became so visible and the Consequences so dangerous especially in that place that the prudent Archbishop put a stop to Mr. Travers his Preaching by a positive Prohibition Mr. Travers appeals and Petitions her Majesty and the Privy Council to have it recalled but in vain For the Queen had entrusted the Archbishop with all Church Power Hereupon the party intending the Archbishop's and Mr. Hooker's disgrace privately printed the Petition and scattered it abroad Now is Mr. Hooker forced to appear publickly and print an Answer to it which he did and it proved a full Answer writ with such clear Reason and so much Meekness and Majesty of Style that the Bishop began to wonder at the man to rejoyce that he had appeared in his cause and disdained not earnestly to beg his friendship even a familiar friendship with a man of so much quiet Learning and Humility 15. The Foundation of his eight Books of Ecclesiastical Politie was laid in the Temple but he found it no fit place to finish what he had there designed and therefore solicited the Archbishop for a remove saying When I lost the freedom of my Cell which was my Colledge yet I found some degree of it in my quiet Country Parsonage But I am weary of the noise and oppositions of this place And indeed God and Nature did not intend me for Contentions but for Study and Quietness I have begun a work in which I intend the Justification of our Laws of Church Government and I shall never be able to finish it but where I may study and pray for Gods Blessings upon my Endeavours and keep my self in peace and privacy and behold Gods Blessing spring out of my Mother Earth and eat my own Bread without oppositions and therefore if your Grace can judge me worthy such a favour let me beg it that I may perfect what I have begun 16. About this time the Rectory of Boscum in the Diocess of Sarum and six miles from that City became void to which Mr. Hooker was presented in the vacancy of that Bishoprick by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1591. And in the same year July 17. was he made a minor Prebend of Salisbury the Corps to it being Neather Havin about ten miles from that City which Prebend being of no great value was intended chiefly to make him capable of a better preserment in that Church In this Boscum he continued till he had finished four of his eight proposed Books and these were publish'd with that large and affectionate Preface An. 1594. 17. The Parsonage of Bishops-Borne in Kent three miles from Canterbury is that Archbishops Gift In the latter end of the year 1594. Dr. William Redman the Rector of it was made Bishop of Norwich by which means the power of presenting to it was pro ea vice in the Queen And she presented Hooker whom she loved well to this good living of Borne July 7.1595 In which Living he continued till his death without any addition of dignity or profit His fifth Book of Eccl. Politie was Printed first by it self being larger than his first four and dedicated to his Patron Archbishop Whitgift An. 1597. 18. These Books were read with an admiration of their excellency in this and their just same spread it self into Forein Nations Dr. Stapleton having read the first four boasted to Pope Clement VIII That a poor obscure English Priest had writ four such Books of Laws and Church Politie and in a style that express'd so grave and such humble Majesty with
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
Eloquence he applyed himself mainly to the study of Divinity and to the reading of Holy Scripture to which he ever attributed all Authority in matters of Faith and Controversies of Religion Yet he dilihently turned over the Writings of Modern Divines and such was his indefatigable pains within few years he read over all the sound and most useful Books of the Fathers both Greek and Latin setting himself a daily task which if he were interrupted and lost any time in his daily business by visit of friends his manner was to make it up by his night watchings But by this custom though he gained knowledge he impaired his health neither the firm constitution of his Body nor his temperate diet nor the Recreation he sometimes used by Shooting by Angling and when the season of the year would not suffer these by the Philosophical Game at Chess I say none of these could make amends for the injuries his health received from his immoderate Studies 6. However he pleased himself in the daily increase of his large stock of Learning and thereby was most dear to the Learned Master of his Colledge Doctor Whitgift not only intimate with him whilst he continued Master but after he was advanced to the highest place of the Church still accounted as a most beloved Son Together with daily and nightly reading of good Authors he was much and frequent in all exercises Common-placing in the Chappel CountryPreaching and Domestick Catechising in the same Colledge to which adde his three solemn Lectures for his degree of Batchelor in Divinity In all which I know not whether he shewed himself a more learned Divine or more pious Christian. 7. Those were but Specimens and Documents of his future excellencies For at the publick Commencement An. 1578. at St. Maries he preached the Latin-Sermon Learned Pious Eloquent Then he handled two Theological Questions and answer'd in the Schools solidly and subtilly to the satisfaction of all And yet they were not satisfied for our Whitaker was called again into the Battel to defend certain Theses which he did with great sufficiency against the opposition and assault of the Heads of Colledges and other the most able Doctors of the University 8. This Victory being obtained he rested himself a while in his Colledge yet so as to prepare himself for more work And that was cut out for him when by the remove of Doctor Chaderton from the Doctoral to the Episcopal Chair our Whitaker was chosen Regius Professor in his room the Electors passing by his Seniors and preferring him for his great reading and judgment surpassing his years and standing Although this high dignity was conferred on him not by his own ambitious suit but for his merit and worth and the good trial the University had of him yet his friends were a little doubtful how he would bear the Envy and burden of the place comforting themselves nevertheless and hoping good success as being assured by his Sobriety and Prudence in such years together with his industry in Studies and his unfeigned Piety and Devotion 9. Nor were they deceived in their hopes for no sooner had he settled him to his Lectures but they found all things in him requisite in an excellent Divine and a most exercised Professor various Reading sharp Judgment easie and pure Expression sound and solid Doctrine all these which indeed are all commendable shined forth in his first prelections Whereupon his Fame is spread through the University and the Students flock unto him in greater Numbers and attend with greater earnestness and write his Dictates His first endeavours were in the interpretation of the three first Chapters of St. Luke next he ran over all the Epistle to the Galatians then he attempted St. Pauls First to Timothy whence he proposed many useful observations for young Divines Lastly he explained the Song of Solomon And so laying aside the Interpretations of Scriptures An. 1585. Feb. 17. he began to bend his Forces to the Controversies of Religion between us and the Papists 10. But before this An. 1581. in his answer to Campians 10 Reasons he disarmed that vaunting Adversary and after him replyed to Duraeus who engaged in the quarrel on Campians behalf and stopped the mouth of that railer using such civility and wit and evidence in these two Books that himself was thereby much honoured and the Cause of our Church very much advantaged His next opposite was Saunders a notable English Papist against whose demonstrations of Antichrist our Whitaker published an Answer with an Appendix his Thesis de Antichristo when he commenced Doctor This Answer to Saunders gave him another Adversary Reynolds whose aspersions he vouchsafed to wipe off and then set upon a more noble Champion Bellarmine 11. And first he began with the Controversie de Scripturis which he proposed Methodically and treated on accurately in six questions published by himself An. 1588. So proceeding orderly he went through the Controversies De Ecclesia De conciliis De Romano pontifice De Ministris De Mortuis De Ecclesia Triumphante De Sacramentis De Baptismo De Eucharistia All which as he had handled with the Admiration and Applause of his Auditors so they wished he had time to revise them and set them forth in Print But the Professor being carried on with a desire of confuting Bellarmine throughout laid by his former Lectures expecting at length some convenient time to publish them which God was not pleased to afford him but took him away too soon for us from fighting his Battels in defence of truth to receive the Crown he had ready for him In all those Controversies his assiduity and diligence was very great reading twice or thrice every week in Term time except hindred by some weighty business which seldom happened and was carefully avoided He dealt with his Adversary civily and ingenuously not disparaging but making the best of his Arguments finding out and shewing the Knot and then dexterously untying it such was his Candor that Bellarmine himself is said to have gratefully acknowledged it 12. Nevertheless Stapleton Bellarmine being silent finding a sore place of his lib. 9. Princip Doct. gently touched by Whitaker kicks at him and casts upon him whole loads of Reproaches and Slanders without wit or modesty in a Book written as he pretends at his spare hours in answer to the third Question of the second Controversie To which Whitaker speedily prepares a Reply somewhat more sharp than his manner was for some Diseases must have strong Medicines and so fully and clearly refutes all his Reasons and Reproaches that the Lovain Doctor had no more spare hours not play days to write any more against Whitaker neither are those mad and unsavory words Doctor indocte disputator absurde professor asinine Magister mendax c any more heard touching the most perfect and most Modest Divine of our Age. 13. It is to be wished that the rest of Dr. Whitakers Writings may come to light namely several Sermons ad clerum
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