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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02242	A sermon, at the funeral solemnitie of the most high and mighty Prince Ferdinandus, the late Emperour of most famous memorye holden in the Cathedrall Churche of saint Paule in London, the third of October. 1564. Made by the reuerend father in God, Edmund Grindall, bishop of London.	Grindal, Edmund, 1519?-1583.	1564 (1564)	STC 12377; ESTC S103449	21,147	38

right waye to the extirpacion of al supersticion and error and to the true setttng forth and maintenance of sincere religion and to the glory of God who is to be blessed for euer And yet somethyng to aunswer them as concernyng this prince diuers matters may be alledged wherof I will rehearse some which argue that he was not so much addicted to the Romishe religion as some men would haue y e worlde to beleue And herein I will not deale subtilie or craftly as to affirme before this auditorie for a more strength to our cause y t the Emperour afore his death thought in all points of religion as we do for I do not thincke so my self of him onely I will alledge a few thinges which either by the euidēce of the matter or els by good record are manifest to all y e world And first of al it cannot be denied but that he was contēted to be crowned Emperour without a Masse which no Emperour did before him a great many of yeres And if any mā would denie this there be diuers persones here present that were then at Frankford and saw the whole solēnitie of his coronation which was done for more suretie in this case at afternone not afore none as was accustomed Now if the Emperour had so much estemed the Masse as other haue done before him he would not haue suffred it to haue bene left of at his Coronation And if any for excuse hereof should affirme that he was contented at that time to dissēble the matter till he had obteined y e imperiall crowne those vnder coulour of frendship should be his enemies as diffaming him that for ambition sake he would do a thyng cōtrarie to his cōscience whiche who soeuer doth affirme thinketh not honorablie nor as he ought to thincke of so good and so worthy a prince Furthermore I haue heard for a truth that afore his Coronation he faithfull promised the princes Electours that he would neuer be crowned of the Pope and the sequele declared the same verie manifestly to be true for he was neuer crowned of hym in dede remaining so longe in the Empire without the Popes approbation whiche before time was vsed Let it then be indifferently considered whether this was not much derogatorie to the holy sea and whether Saint Peters Prerogatiue was not much touched herein What a schismaticall matter would this haue bene made and what stirres woulde haue ensued if the Emperour Ferdinande had liued in the dayes of Pope Gregory the seuenth who procured the deposing yea and death also of the Emperour Henry the .iiii Or in the dayes of Pope Alexander who set his foote in the necke of the Emperour Fridericus Barbarossa But the Pope is a wise man for although he retaine the same mind that the other his predecessors had yet bycause the tymes do not serue his purpose he dissembleth the matter and is contented rather to take a peece then loose all And surely this one acte is a playne demonstration that this Emperour did not thincke him selfe bound in conscience so much to tender the Popes supremacie as the Canonistes would haue it estemed who make it a matter De necessitate salutis of necessity to saluation For otherwise he would not haue done as he did to haue gayned tenne Empires Besides al this there is extant abroad in printe an Oration pronounced in the late Tridentine Counsell by the Emperour Ferdinandes Ambassadour in whiche Oration there is request made by the Emperour that libertie may be graunted to haue the Communion ministred in both kyndes Wherevpon may very well be gathered that the Emperour was not ignoraunt of the sacrilege of the Romishe Churche in depriuing the people of God of the one halfe of the Sacrament where Christe him selfe instituted both Or els if he had thought the one to be as sufficient as both whiche is the Popishe doctrine what neded he to make any further sute And for further declaration of his earnestnes in this pointe I will adde that whiche I sawe written in Auguste last past by a mā of good credite and estimation that Ferdinandus the Emperour not longe before hys death gaue licence to al his own countreis to haue the vse of y e Sacrament in both kyndes I do not affirme this but of reporte But surely if it bee true I do not doubt but that God reueled vnto hym other partes of religion also whiche we haue not yet heard of But as I haue sayd we will commende that matter vnto God And what soeuer hys religion was thys solemne action for memoriall of him may very well bee vsed notwithstanding And beyng fallen into y e mention of thys publique action and solemnitie it shall not be amisse somewhat to saye of the true vse meanyng and purpose of the same for the better satisfaction of doubtfull mindes For there is no doubte but there will bee two contrarye iudgementes concernynge the same The one parte wyll saye there is to lytle done the other will saye there is to muche The first parte wyll alledge that althoughe they cannot but confesse the action to bee done very honorablye and with muche magnificencie yet the principall matter of all is wantyng wyll they saye for here is an honorable memoriall of the Emperour Ferdinandus but here is saye they no prayer for the soule of Ferdinandus To those I aunswere that the holye Scriptures the woorde of God is the candell and the lanterne for our steppes By it we ought to directe our steppes if we will please God without it we walke in darkenesse and knowe not whether we go But first of all in the Scriptures we finde no commaundemente to praye for the soules departed vnlesse they will cite the place of the booke of Machabees And then Sainte Ierome shall make them aunswere who permitteth in deede these bookes of Machabaees to bee read 〈◊〉 but bycause they bee not of the Canon of the Scriptures they be not sayth Saint Ierome sufficient of thē selues to establishe any doctrines in the Church of God Secondarily we haue no example in y e canonical Scripture of any inuocation for the dead for we read in the olde Testament that the fathers as Iacob and others were buried with mourning and with much honor for a testimonie of the resurrectiō which is here also ment but that any prayers was vsed for them we read not Likewise we read in the new Testament of Stephen and other but of no prayer for thē or any others after their death read we any where in the old Testament or in the new Thirdly where in the olde Testament be Sacrifices and expiatiōs appointed for many and sundry thinges wherof some semed small offences yet was there neuer any Sacrifices appointed for any purgation or expiation of y e dead And therfore if Iudas Machabaeus offred a Sacrifice for the dead seyng none suche is prescribed in the law of Moses in that doyng he added to

by burning candels is signified the light of faith and Christian conuersacion the very fruite of true fayth and so in sūme that we should be altogether in a readines Saint Peter also when he maketh mention of the ende of al thinges to be at hand vseth much like exhortacion Be ye sober saith he and vigilant in praier signifieng thereby that temperaunce in meates and drinkes sobrietie of conuersation in al the partes of our life vigilancie and continuaūce in praier and other godly exercises are sure signes that we make preparation for death and for the comming of Christ. Of such like exhortaciō to prepare against death the scriptures are most full so plaine that this part needeth no long prosecution Now for the second part there be two causes that ought if we be not altogether vnsensible to moue vs to prepare for death The one is the necessitie of death The other is the vncertaintie therof The ineuitable necessitie of death is very wel expressed by saint Paule in these wordes Statutum est omnibus hominibus semel mori post hoc iudic●um It is ordained or it is a statute concluded and enacted in the high court of the heauenly Parliament such a statute as neuer shalbe repealed y t al men of what estate o● condicion so euer they be shal once die and after that foloweth the iudgement The wise man sayth Moritur doctus simul et indoctus The learned vnlearned both die The Ethnickes also did very wel expresse this necessity of death For Horace saith thus Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas regumque turres Pale death or death that maketh the most beutyfull and best couloured faces pale doth knocke as indifferently at princes palaces as at poore mens cottages An other Poet hath these woordes Mors sceptra ligonibus aequat Death maketh scepters and mattockes equal and assone arresteth he the Prince that carieth the scepter as the poore man that diggeth with the mattocke Dauid calleth death Viam vniuersae carnis the way● of all flesh But what needeth many testimonies in so plain a matter so vniuersally knowen by dayly experience in all places and times Now as concerning the vncertaintie of death which is the second and greatest cause to moue vs to be in redines This may be truly affirmed that as nothing is more certaine then that death wil come so is there nothing more vncertaine then the houre when it wyll come And therfore is our life in the scriptures cōpared to things that vpon light and sodaine causes are alterable as grasse a flower shadow smoke vapour and death resembled to the stealing in of a theefe to a snare intangling the 〈◊〉 and the hooke catching the fishe vnwares This 〈◊〉 is also touched in my text Quia qua hora nō putatis c For the Lord will come at the houre which ye thincke not But both these things shall appeare more clerely by examples And to begin first with thexamples of the latter parte Nothing doth more euidently declare the vncerteinty of death thē the sodaine deathes of persons of all ages and degrees of which we finde plenty both in prophane histories and in the Scriptures Plinie in the seuenth booke of his naturall history hath a whole Chapiter intituled De mortibus repentinis And the like Chapiter hath Valerius Maximus where they write that many vpō most light causes sodenly haue died One at Rome as he went forth at his chāber doore did but stricke his finger a litle on the dore cheke and immediatly fel downe deade An other did but stumble as he wēt forth and died forthwith An Ambassadour of the Rhodians after he had declared his message to the Senate departing forth of the Counsell chamber fell downe by the waye sodenly and there died Aeschilus the Poete lieng on slepe bare headed nere the Sea a great seafowle thinkyng his head to be a stone whereon he might breake the shelfishr whiche he caried lette it fall on hys heade wherewith he was killed out of hande Luciane a man in deede learned and eloquent but a derider of all religion and namely a blasphemer of Christian religion trauailing by the way was sodeinlye set vpon wurried with dogs a death worthy such a blasphemer and a terrible example to all cōtemners and deriders of religiō and pietie The Scriptures also want not like exāples The churlish rich mā Nabal who at his sheepeshearing held a feast in his house like a kyng but denied to relieue Dauid thē persecuted and in distres within ten dayes after was smitten of the Lorde so di●d Ananias and Sapphira pretēding y t they gaue their whole patrimonie to y e relief of the poore in the primitiue Church but in dede reseruing a portion to them selues and so lieng to the holy Ghost were immediatly stricken of God and so ended their lyues to the fearefull example of all hypocrites and dissemblers namely in matters pertayning to Gods religiō Herodes Agrippa being in his most glorious magnificencie contented to heare him self magnified and extolled as a God and not a man was sodenlie smitten by the Angell of the Lord and dyed a most miserable death The riche man of whom mētion is made in the xii of Luke that entended to pull downe hys barnes and granaries and to builde larger sayd to his soule Soule thou hast prouision layed vp in store for many yeares and therfore take thyne ease Eate drinke and be merie But what became of him God sayd vnto him Thou foole euen this very night shall thy soule be taken from thee and then who shall haue that thou hast prouided Thexample of Nabuchodonosor is veri terrible who walkyng in his pallace and glorieng in his strong and stately Citie Babilon whiles the wordes were yet in his mouth was sodenly stricken with a plague worse then death for the vse of reason was taken from hym and he him self turned forth among beastes became as a beast eating hay like an oxe to teach al posterities ensuing not to glory in things of this world which are but vaine but that he which glorieth should glory in the Lord. It shal not be amisse if I adde one example of myne owne knowledge For Gods Iudgemētes exercised in our dayes are also to be obserued and marked I knew a Priest who had rapped together foure or fiue benefices but was resident vpon neuer a one of them All this sufficed him not and therfore he longed for a prebend also there to spende at ease the milke and the fleese of the flockes whiche he had neuer fed At length by mediation of money he obteyned a Prebende and when his man brought him home the seale thereof cast into a maruelous ioye hee brust foorth into these woordes of the Psalme taken out of his Portesse whiche was all his study Hec requies mea This is my rest saith the Priest this is my place of