last sequestred himself from every exercise of Piety used in the Family and though he must be present at Grace for fear of losing his Dinner would not so much as uncover his head Which being observed by the Doctor Grace being ended he snatch'd his Hat from his head and thrust him out saying He shall not lodge or eat or drink with me that will not give God thanks with me 18. It happened about the end of Michaelmas Term An. 1621. some occasions having called him up to London in the midst of his way homeward his Horse stumbling both Horse and Rider fell to the ground in which fall his right Leg was broken being lifted up and set upon his Horse again he rode on a little to a Town called Hodsdon where he turned into an Inn and sent for a Bone-setter by whom after his Leg was set he was directed to keep his Bed ten days unto which direction he willingly submitted resolving to make that place his Study for the time and I had almost said his Pulpit too c. Thus he continued all the ten days when December 4. after the singing of Psal. 146. having occasion for some ease to stir himself a little he suddenly fetch'd a deep groan and fell into a Trance His Wife presently cryed out for help and presently some came in and upon means used he began to rouse himself a little and to look about and then uttered these his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 last words wherein he breathed out his soul Let me alone I shall be well Lord Jesu Next day his Body was conveyed by Coach to his Town of Barley and on the third day there honourably interred After the Funeral was over I remember well how the several Lecturers of Royston in their Courses for a long time after making some worthy Commemoration of their friend departed bewailed the loss of him and besprinkled his Ashes with their Tears before the People Vixit annos 59. III. Dr. Daniel Featley From Mr. John Featley 1. HIS right name was Fairclough and by that name he was ordained as his Letters of Orders witnessed All the antient Deeds of the Family ran in the name of Fairclough and his elder Brother so wrote his name but evenin his days by the mistakes of people the word varied from Fairclough to Faircley then to Fateley and at length to Featley which name he first owned in print of all our Family He was extracted originally out of Lancashire where many of the same House do to this day retain the Primitive name and give the same Coat of Arms with us The name at first rose from that Fair cliff where his Ancestors long since were seated for in the Dialect of that Country a Cliff was antiently written Clough 2. The Family of the Faircloughs in former times growing numerous their Estate lessened by increase of their Issue for the Land was given by parcels to their Children and among those many slips from the first root some were transplanted into other Countries The good old Father of Dr. Featley was one whom providence removed and placed in Oxfordshire Daniel his second Son was born at Oatmoor and being a studious and ingenious Child he profited at School beyond expectation insomuch as when he was but twelve years old he gained no small credit and applause by the Latin and Greek Verses which he frequently wittily and elegantly composed 3. His Father entertaining an employment in Oxford gained an opportunity to prefer his forward Son to be also gratified Dr. Featley with a Fellowship or Brothers place in the Savoy whereof he was then Master After this the Archbishop gave him the Rectory of Alhallows Broadstreet but by reason of the thickness of London Air and the many inconveniences which he daily met with his Grace yielded to an exchange of Broad-street for Acton six miles from London and in a pleasant healthful situation 6. To pretermit his many Disputes with Fisher and other Jesuits his Cygnea Cantio his handmaid to Devotion and many more passages of his former life and to hasten to his last times in the year 1642. the soft and wanton Peace of our Nation was soon turned into rough and bloody Wars Jusque datum sceleri at which time some Parliament Souldiers having first spoiled Acton Church and the Doctors House pursued him to Lambeth where he then resided and on the Lords Day Feb. 19. five of them rushed into the Church where he was then to preach even in the time of Divine Service with Pistols and drawn Swords to murther him But missing the Doctor who had been advertised of the danger in their fury they mortally wounded one of the Parish and shot another dead breathing out malice against this Reverend Person and threatning to chop him as small as Herbs to the Pot for suffering the Common-Prayer which in high contempt they called Porrage to be read in his Church 7. In Lambeth Church he so scourged the Times according to his Custom that in July 1643. three Mechanick Brownists there present exhibited against him no less than Seven Articles to the Committee of plundred Ministers The Articles are extant in a Book intituled The gentle Lash together with the Doctors Answer He began his Answer with this heavy complaint Hoc uno die plus vixi quam oportuit But he comforted himself with the example of Christ the Prince of our Salvation who was consecrated through Afflictions And with that Apology of St. Cyprian Nec mihi ignominiosum est pati à meis quod passus est Christus nec illis gloriosum facere quod fecit Judas In brief the Articles were so false scandalous and indigested that the Doctor was acquitted and the Compiler of them dismiss'd with sufficient disgrace 8. When the Solemn League and Covenant hatched in Scotland was sent to the Assembly of Divines in England for their concurrence and proposed in the Synod our Doctor being one of the Members in a grave and learned Speech and with solid and judicious Arguments so strongly opposed it that those who wanted Learning to Answer him wanted not malice to ruine him The Reader may peruse a Book intituled Sacra Nemesis or The Levit's Scourge and there find not only this Speech printed at large but others of great concernment as also his sixteen Reasons for Episcopal Government and many other things well worthy of his notice 9. About the middle of September 1643. one of the Sectaries made Application to the Doctor under pretence of friendship and privately informed him as from the Lord Primate of Armagh at Oxford from whence he pretended he was newly come That the King was very much offended at his complying with the Assembly c. This pretended Messenger seemed to be grieved for the Doctor and advised him to write a Letter back to his Grace and acquaint him with some passages of the Assembly with his desire of his Majesties leave to continue his attendance there Something of a Letter was written
A REMEMBRANCER OF Excellent Men. I. Dr. John Reynolds II. Mr. Richard Hooker III. Dr. William Whitaker IV. Dr. Andrew Willet V. Dr. Daniel Featley VI. Walter Norban Esq VII Mr. John Gregory VIII Bishop Duppa IX Archbishop Bramhall X. Bishop Taylor Ecclus. 44. 1. Let us now praise Famous Men. LONDON Printed for John Martyn at the Bel without Temple-Bar 1670. TO THE Noble and Ingenious Gentleman-Scholar J. H. In hopes he will live to increase the Number of Excellent Men. THIS REMEMBRANCER Is Dedicate by C. B. A REMEMBRANCER OF Excellent Men. I. Dr. John Reynolds From Sir Wake 's Latin Oration 1. HOW Frail and uncertain is the Life of Man I wish if it had pleased God we might have learned some other way than by this present spectacle Yet must we not lament overmuch the death of this excellent Person whose happiness we cannot doubt of being well assured of his Piety and Virtue one to whom no part of felicity is wanting but that of Virginius Rufus to have another Tacitus to give him a Funeral Commendation As for me whilst I behold this concourse of Scholars at other times pleasant to me now upon this occasion sad and call to mind the Royal tears of Xerxes poured forth at the view of his numerous Army I cannot choose but mourn and sigh having before my eyes as in a glass the image of your Mortality also 2. For who is there that in confidence of Learning Wisdom and Virtue can far extend the hope of Life when the inexorable power above hath not pleased to spare this great propugnator of the Orthodox Religion notwithstanding the tears of our Mother the University and the importunate Prayers of the grieved Church Certainly if those inestimable riches of the mind and unperishable Graces could impart their efficacy to the Body and give strength and vigour to it Reynolds had still lived here not according to his own desire who preferred Heaven but ours who would enjoy him he had lived so as never to dye to grow old or to be sick 3. But to the great loss of Mankind it falls out contrary that the more any man hath enriched his mind with those Divine Ornaments of Learning and Wisdom so much the more hastily does the Soul it self weary of her earthly Tabernacle aspire to a higher dwelling and the Body having spent all the spirits in those noble but laboursome studies fail and decay This was the Reason why this Learned Man after so many Scholastick Victories and triumphs his strength of Body being wasted breathed forth his glorious Soul and left us to lament his departure Indeed he hath lived long enough for himself long enough for Fame which yet he could not have out-lived but not long enough for the Common-wealth which hath need of so perfect a pattern of all Virtue not for the University which wanteth that Light of Learning now extinguished not for the Common Interest of Religion which being deprived of such a Patron is liable to danger 4. For although he hath pull'd off the disguise from the Roman Idolatry and expos'd it to the hatred of God and Man although he hath almost cut the throat of the Antichristian Monster though he hath transfixed the very heart of Popery through the sides of Hart yet Sanders is still untouch'd but he hath felt the hand of God in the Irish Mountains where he wandred Bellarmine is not quite broken Baronius his frauds are not all discovered not to speak of our growing Adversaries In the midst of so much work how could such a man find the leisure to dye the Harvest being so great and the Labourers so few scarce any at all like unto him 5. This is matter of Lamentation to the Church whereof she is so sensible as if she seemed ready to faint at the Death of Reynolds But our Mother the University hath a countenance more sorrowful if more may be and all bedewed with her tears She thinks upon nothing but her Reynolds seemeth still to see her Reynolds to hear Reynolds and to embrace his shadow I cannot deny that our happy Mother hath in this Age so numerous an off-spring of Learned Sons that she may rather rejoyce in her fruitfulness than complain of her loss and if ever now take up that speech of Brasidas his Mother Brasidas indeed was a Worthy and Valiant man but Sparta hath many more such Nevertheless I cannot choose but favour and excuse her pious tears and just grief when I consider she hath lost a person who let not Envy hear so far outshined the rest of her Sons 8. Now let that foul impudent Railer Weston go vomit forth what scurrilities he will and accuse our Doctor of slowness and of pretending Sickness He thinks us all very dull who held such a person in so high Veneration and believed him to be sick whom alas we see dead And yet Weston himself when he so inveighed against the Heads of our University that even for being Married some of them he by name accusing of wickedness could not find so much as one act to be reprehended in the whole life of this most Holy man 9. But he was far off what did they that stood at nearer distance They all dearly lov'd the man they lov'd his manners and integrity And if perhaps his resolute severity and stiffness of mind without favour and partiality might be blamed in him or if any thing else but what could Verily that fault would sooner become a Virtue than our Saint be made Vitious No question but he is in a blessed condition among the Holy Angels As for us who reverence the Memory of this best and wisest man we shall not doubt to pronounce Oxford will then be happy when any equal and like to him shall succeed into his place For we may have whom their great Eloquence infinite Reading sublimity of Wit gravity of Judgment Virtue Humanity Candor and all these shewed in excellent Monuments and Writings may very much commend Reynolds certainly we shall not have In B. Mariae Ox. Maii 25. 1607. Concerning Doctor Reynolds out of Dr. Crackanthorps Defensio Ecclesiae Anglicanae c. 69. p. 491. An. 1625. DOctor Crackanthorp there tells the Archbishop of Spalato that Dr. Reynolds was no Puritan as he called him but he himself a great Calumniator For first he professed that he appeared unwillingly in the Cause at Hampton-Court and meerly in obedience to the Kings Command And then he spake not one word there against the Hierarchy Nay he acknowledged it to be consonant to the Word of God in his Conference with Hart. And in Answer to Sanders his Book of the Schism of England which is in the Archbishops Library he professes that he approves of the Book of Consecrating and Ordering Bishops Priests and Deacons He was a strict observer also of all the Orders of the Church and University both in publick and his own Colledge wearing the square Cap and Surplice kneeling at the Sacrament and he
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
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
Christian. And by these he soon got a great Reputation among all persons of judgment and indifferency and his Name will grow greater still as the world grows better and wiser 8. When he had spent some years in this retirement it pleased God to visit his Family with Sickness and to take to himself the dear pledges of his favour three Sons of great hopes and expectations within the space of two or three months And though he had learn'd a quiet submission unto the Divine will yet the Affliction touch'd him so sensibly that it made him desirous to leave the Country And going to London he there met my Lord Conway a person of great Honour and Generosity who making a kind profer the good man embrac'd it and that brought him over into Ireland and settled him at Portmore a place made for study and contemplation which he therefore dearly loved And here he wrote his Cases of Conscience a Book that is able alone to give its Author Immortality 9. By this time the wheel of Providence brought about the Kings happy Restauration and there began a new world and the Spirit of God mov'd upon the face of the Waters and out of a confused Chaos brought forth Beauty and Order and all the three Nations were inspir'd with a new Life and became Drunk with an excess of Joy Among the rest this Loyal Subject went over to Congratulate the Prince and Peoples Happiness and bear a part in the Universal Triumph 10. It was not long after his Sacred Majesty began the settlement of the Church and the Great Doctor Jeremey Taylor was resolv'd upon for the Bishoprick of Down and Conor and not long after Dromore was added to it And it was but reasonable that the King and Church should consider their Champion and reward the pains and sufferings he underwent in the defence of their Cause and Honour 11. With what care and faithfulness he discharg'd his Office we are all his witnesses what good Rules and Directions he gave his Clergy and how he taught us the practice of them by his own Example Upon his coming over Bishop he was made a Privy Counsellor and the University of Dublin gave him their Testimony by recommending him for their Vice-Chancellor which honourable Office he kept to his dying day 12. During his being in this See he wrote several excellent Discourses particularly his Disswasive from Popery which was received by a general Approbation and a Vindication of it from some impertinent Cavillers that pretend to answer Books when there is nothing towards it more than the very Title Page 13. This great Prelate improv'd his Talent with a mighty industry and managed his Stewardship rarely well and his Master when he call'd for his Accounts found him busie and at his work and employ'd upon an excellent Subject A Discourse upon the Beatitudes Which if finish'd would have been of great use to the world and solv'd most of the Cases of Conscience that occur to a Christian in all the varieties of states and conditions But the All-wise God hath ordained it otherwise and hath call'd home his good Servant to give him a portion in that blessedness that Jesus Christ hath promised to all his faithful Disciples and Followers 14. Thus having given you a brief account of his Life I will add a Character of his person although the Subject can hardly be reach'd by any expressions for he was none of Gods ordinary works but his Endowments were so many and so great as really made him a Miracle 15. Nature had befriended him much in his constitution for he was a person of a most sweet and obliging Humour of great Candour and ingenuity and there was so much of Salt and fineness of Wit and prettiness of address in his familiar Discourses as made his Conversation have all the pleasantness of a Comedy and all the usefulness of a Sermon His Soul was made up of Harmony and he never spake but he charm'd his Hearer not only with the clearness of his Reason but all his words and his very Tone and Cadencies were strangely Musical 16. But that which did most of all captivate and enrich was the gaiety and richness of his Fansie For he had much in him of that natural Enthusiasm that inspires all great Poets and Orators and there was a generous ferment in his Blood and Spirits that set his Fansie bravely a work and made it swell and teem and become pregnant to such degrees of Luxuriancy as nothing but the greatness of his Wit and Judgment could have kept it within due bounds and measures 17. And indeed it was a rare mixture and a single instance hardly to be found in any Age. For the great Tryer of Wits has told us That there is a peculiar and several Complexion requir'd for Wit and Judgment and Fansie and yet you might have found all these in this great Personage in their eminency and perfection 18. But that which made his Wit and Judgment so considerable was the largeness and freedom of his Spirit For Truth is plain and easie to a mind disintangled from Superstition and prejudice He was one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sort of brave Philosophers that Laërtius speaks of that did not addict themselves to any particular Sect but ingenuously sought for Truth among all the wrangling Schools And they found her miserably torn and rent to pieces and parcell'd into rags by the several contending parties and so dis-figur'd and mishapen that it was hard to know her but they made a shift to gather up her scatter'd Limbs which as soon as they came together by a strange sympathy and connaturalness presently united into a lovely and beautiful Body 19. This was the Spirit of this great man he weighed mens Reasons and not their Names and was not scar'd with the ugly Vizars men usually put upon persons they hate and opinions they dislike nor affrighted with the Anathema's and Execrations of an Infallible Chair which he looked upon only as Bugbears to terrifie weak and childish minds He consider'd that it is not likely any one party should wholly engross Truth to themselves that Obedience is the only way to true knowledge which is an Argument that he hath manag'd rarely well in that excellent Sermon of his which he calls Via intelligentiae that God always and only teaches docible and ingenuous minds that are willing to hear and ready to obey according to their Light that it is impossible a pure humble resigned God-like Seul should be kept out of Heav'n whatever mistakes it might be subject to in this state of Mortality that the design of Heav'n is not to fill mens Heads and feed their Curiosities but to better their Hearts and mend their Lives Such considerations as these made him impartial in his disquisitions and give a due allowance to the Reasons of his Adversary and contend for Truth and not for Victory 20. To these advantages of Nature and excellency of
himself commemorating their Benefactors at the times their Statutes appointed and reading that Chapt. out of Ecclesiasticus which is on such occasions used In a Letter also of his to Archbishop Bancroft then in Dr. Crackanthorp's hands he professes himself conformable to the Church of England willingly and from his heart his Conscience admonishing him so to be And thus he remained perswaded to his last breath desiring to receive Absolution according to the manner prescribed in our Liturgy when he lay on his Death-bed Which he did from Dr. Holland the Kings Professor in Oxford kissing his hand in token of his love and joy and within a few hours after resigned up his Soul to God II. Mr. Richard Hooker From Mr. Isaac Walton 1. HIS Schoolmaster perswaded his Parents who intended him for a Prentice to continue him at School till he could find out some means by perswading his rich Uncle or some other charitable person to ease them of a part of their care and charge assuring them that their Son was so enriched with the Blessings of Nature and Grace that God seemed to single him out as a special Instrument of his Glory And the Good man whose name I am sorry I am not able to recover told them also that he would double his diligence in instructing him and would neither expect nor receive any other reward than the content of so happy an employment 2. His Parents and his Master laid a Foundation for his future happiness by instilling into his Soul the Seeds of Piety those conscientious Principles of loving and fearing God a Belief that he knows the very secrets of our Souls that he punisheth our Vices and rewards our Innocence that we should be free from Hypocrisie and appear to man what we are to God because first or last the crafty man is catch'd in his own snare These seeds of Piety were so seasonably planted and so continually watered with the dew of Gods blessed Spirit as hath made Richard Hooker honour'd in this and will continue him to be so to succeeding Generations An. 3. Eliz. John Hooker gave Bishop Jewell a Visit at Salisbury and besought him for Charity sake to look favourably upon a poor Nephew of his whom Nature had fitted for a Scholar but the estate of his Parents was so narrow that they were unable to give him the advantage of Learning and that the Bishop would therefore become his Patron and prevent him from being a Tradesman for he was a Boy of remarkable hopes The Bishop appointed the Boy and his Schoolmaster should attend him about Easter next following and then after some questions and observations of the Boy 's Gravity and Behaviour gave his Schoolmaster a reward and an annual Pension to his Parents promising also to take him into his Care 4. An. 1567. About the 14th year of his Age the Bishop commended Hooker to Dr. Cole President of C. C. Colledge who provided for him both a Tutor which was said to be John Reynolds and a Clerks place which though not a full maintenance yet with the Contribution of his Uncle and the continued Pension of his Patron the good Bishop it gave him a comfortable subsistence And in this condition he continued unto the 18th year of his Age still increasing in Learning and Prudence in Humility and Piety 5. About this time of his Age he fell into a dangerous Sickness which lasted two months all which time his Mother having notice of it did in her hourly Prayers as earnestly beg his life of God as the Mother of St. Augustin did that he might become a true Christian and their Prayers were both so heard as to be granted Which Mr. Hooker would often mention with much joy and as often pray That he might never live to occasion any sorrow to his good Mother whom he loved so dearly that he would endeavour to be good even as much for hers as for his own sake 6. As soon as he was perfectly recovered from this Sickness he took a Journey from Oxford to Exeter to satisfie and see his good Mother and by the way visited the good Bishop After his return to his Colledge came sad news of the death of his Learned and Charitable Patron But Dr. Cole raised his Spirits and bad him go chearfully to his Studies and assured him he should not want 7. A little before his death Bishop Jewell meeting with Bishop Sandys who had been his companion in exile began a story of his Hooker and in it gave such a Character of his Learning and manners that though Bishop Sandys was educated in Cambridge where he had obliged and had many Friends yet his Resolution was that his Son Edwin should be sent to Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford and by all means be Pupil to Mr. Hooker though his Son Edwin was then almost of the same Age. For said the Bishop I will have a Tutor for my Son that shall teach him Learning by Instruction and Virtue by example And doubtless as to these two a better choice could not be made For by great industry added to his great Reason He did not only know more but what he knew he knew better than other men And such was his pious behaviour that in four years he was but twice absent from the Chappel-Prayers and there he shewed an awful Reverence of that God which he worshipped He was never known to be angry or passionate or extreme in any of his desires never heard to repine or dispute with Providence but by a quiet gentle submission bore the burthen of the day with patience And when he took any liberty to be pleasant his wit was never blemish'd with Scoffing or the utterance of any conceit that bordered upon or might beget a thought of looseness in his hearers 8. In the 19th year of his Age Decemb 24. 1573. he was chosen to be one of the 20 Scholars of the Foundation And Feb. 23. 1576. his Grace was given him for Inceptor of Arts Dr. Herbert Westphaling a man of note for Learning being then Vice-chancellor The Act following he was compleated Master his Patron Doctor Cole being Vicechancellor that year and his dear Friend Mr. Henry Savil of Merton Colledge being then one of the Proctors That Savil which afterward founded two famous Lectures in the Mathematicks and enriched the world with that laborious and chargeable Edition of St. Chrysostomes Works in Greek 9. And in this year 1577. Mr. Hooker was chosen Fellow of the Colledge happy also in being the Contemporary and Friend of Dr. John Reynolds and of Dr. Spencer both which were after successively made Presidents of that Colledge men of great Learning and Merit and famous in their Generations Happy he was also in the Pupillage and Friendship of his Edwin Sandys after Sir Edwin Sandys known by his Speculum Europae and of George Cranmer the Great Archbishop and Martyr's grand Nephew a Gentleman of Singular hopes both whom a desire to know the Affairs and