Friends and the strong perswasions of his own conscience he came to a resolution to doe his duty as a Minister of Christ and leave the issue to God But he did not onely look upon this prohibition in general as a severe punishment inflicted upon the Nation by removing their Teachers into Gorners nay remote corners of the world if they disobey'd that Edict but in particular at first view of it as some punishment or infliction on himself as if God had refused him and laid him aside as not fit to serve him and this he referred to his former remisnesse in the discharge of that high Function whereunto he was separated and called And now did he superabundantly exercise that grace of charity to all persons distrest and ruined by this sad occasion what his own small Estate could not do he helped out by exhorting and perswading all men of his acquaintance or Congregation for so was the Church of England reduced even in that to the form of that Schisme that ruined it or select Auditory so that what by his powerfull Example and as strong perswasions he did minister effectually to their RELIEF Not to omit one particular charitable office of this Doctor to the same kind of Sufferers from the expiration of the War he constantly retained one that had been a Captain in the Royal Army and whose fortunes and condition could neither keep him according to that degree nor sustain or relieve him in any other This the good Doctor did out of a Loyall and Honourable sense of such persons sufferings and contempts far unworthy their Cause or their Desert and did therefore allow him 10 l. yearly besides dyet and lodging till the Captain died About this time the Doctor became Chaplain to the right Honourable the Lord Berkley having quitted Waltham in lieu whereof this Lord presented him with the Living of Cranford in Middlesex where his Body is now deposited how infinitely well beloved he was there needs not be added to those accumulations of respect he found every where for fear especially of resuscitating the recent grief of those Parishioners for his late lamented losse He was a little before wooed also to accept of a Living at in Essex which for some respects he owed the Patron and to employ that rich Talent with which God had so bountifully trusted him he undertook and piously there continued his Labours till his Settlement at London In the Interim came out a Book of Dr. Heylins called Animadversions upon Mr. Fuller ' s Ecclesiastical History wherein somewhat tartly though with that judicious learning for which that Doctor is most deservedly honoured he taxâ—… that Book of some Errors c. To this the Doctor replyed by a Book styled The Appeal of injured Innocence to the learned and ingenious Reader being a very modest but a most rational and polite defence to the aforesaid exceptions against that elaborate Piece The Dispute and Controversie was soon ended the Oyl the Doctor bestowed on this labour being poured into the fresh Wound of this Quarrel did so asswage the heat of the Contest that it was soon healed into a perfect amicable closure and mutual endearment Indeed the grace that was supereminent in the good Doctor was Charity both in giving and forgiving as he had laboured during our civil broils after peace so when that could not through our sins be attained did he with the same earnestnesse presse the Duty of Love especially among Brethren of the same afflicted and too much already divided Church and therefore was most exemplary in keeping the band of it himself though in a matter that most nearly concerned his credit and fame the chiefest worldly Thing he studied and intended This constrained retrospection of the Doctors to secure and assist the far advanced strength of his foremost works did a little retard and impede the arriere of his labours which consisted of the flower and choice of all his Abilities and wherein his WORTHIES were placed howbeit this proved but a Halt to those encumbrances and difficulties which he had all along before met and soon set that Book on foot again This was the last Remora to it the Doctor going on a smooth swift pace while all things else were retrograde in the Kingdome through the tyrannical plots and stratagems of the Usurper Cromwell so as toward the beginning of that mirabilis Annus 1660. he had it ready for the Press to which assoon as the wonders of his Majesties Restitution was over in the thankful contemplation whereof the good Doctor was so piously fixt as nothing else might presume to intrude upon his raised gladded spirits he brought it taking the auspicia of that happy and famous juncture of time for the Commencement of this Everlasting Monument of himself as well as all other English Noble deceased Persons A while before to compleat the Doctor 's contentment as to his Ministry also he was invited to his former Lecturers place at the Savoy who even from his departure had suffered under an insufficient or disloyal and malicious Clergy and therefore stood in need of an able and dutiful Son of the Church to reduce and lead them in the right way and the old paths For this People his ancient flock the Doctor had alwayes a more especial respect and kindnesse which was the rather heightned in him out of a compassion to their state and condition Nor did he more tenderly affect them then they universally respect him receiving him as indeed he was as an Angel of God sent to minister unto them heavenly things in exchange whereof they freely gave him their hearts and hands The Doctor through the injury and iniquity of the times had for neer 20 years been barred of all Profits of his Prebendariship of Salisbury of which before but upon the return of the King those Revenues and Possessions so sacrilegiously alienated from the Church reverted also to their rightful Proprietors This accession and additional Help did very much encourage the Doctor in the carrying on of his Book which being large would require an able Purse to go through with and he was very sollicitous often presaging he should not live to see it finished though satisfied of his present healthy constitution to have it done out of hand to which purpose part of the Money accrewing to him from his Salisbury Prebendariship was designed He therefore hastned his Book with all Expedition and whereas he had intended to continue it but till 1659. and had therefore writ it in such language as those times of Usurpation during the most part of which it was compiled would suffer such a subject concerning Matter to be drest in he now reviewed it over giving Truth and his own most excellent Phansie their proper becoming Ornaments Scope and Clearnesse But neither the elevation of the Usurpers nor the depression of the Royallists and the Vice-versa of it did ever incline or sway him to additions intercalations or expunctions of persons whom he
hath recommended to the world for Worthies no such thing as a Pym or Protector whom the mad world cryed up for Brave Drops of compassionate tears they did force from him but his resolute Inke was not to be stained by their black actions A Pen full of such would serve to blot out the whole Roll of Fame This constancy of the Doctors to his first model and main of his design doth most evidently argue his firm perswasion and belief of the reviving of the Royall Cause since he wrote the most part during those improbable times of any Restitutions and he had very ill consulted his own advantage if he had not well consulted the Oracles of God As the last felicity of this Doctors life he was made Chaplain in Extraordinary to his Majesty being also in a well grounded expectation of some present further advancement but here Death stept in and drew the Curtain betwixt him and his succeeding Ecclesiastical Dignities And would a Curtain were drawn here too that the sad remainder of this Task were enjoyned to the last Trump when we shall know likewise wherefore God was pleased to take him from us and be satisfied with his providence Pity the envious should find such an imperfection in him as Death pity the grateful should mourn so long and so much for the losse of him and his most incomparable Gifts and Endowments without any redress but infandos Fullere jubes renovare Dolores we must continue our discourse though upon a discontinued subject and write the much deplored Death of Doctor Fuller Having in August returned from Salisbury whither he went to settle and Let his Revenue as Prebend of that Deanery he returned to his Charge at London It was a very sickly time in the Country the distempers most rife were Feavorish Agues the disease of which our Doctor dyed and therefore it was judged that he had brought the infection of his disease thence which broke out violently upon him soon after his return Doctor Nicholas the reverend Dean of Pauls dying neer the same time upon his coming from the same place For being defired to preach a Marriage Sermon on Sunday the twelfth of August for a Kinsman of his who was to be wedded the day after the good Doctor lovingly undertook it but on that Sunday dinner felt himself very much indisposed complaining of a dizinesse in his Head whereupon his Son intreated him that he would go and lie down on bed and forbear preaching that Afternoon informing him how dangerous those symptomes were but the Doctor would not be perswaded but to Church he would go and perform his promise to his Friend saying he had gone up often into the Pulpit sick but alwayes came well down again and he hoped he should doe as well now through Gods strengthning grace Being in the Pulpit he found himself very ill so that he was apprehensive of the danger and therefore before his Prayer addrest himself thus to his Congregation I find my self very ill but I am resolved by the grace of God to preach this Sermon to you here though it be my last A sad presage and more sadly verified He proceeded in his Prayer and Sermon very perfectly till in the middle never using himself to Notes other then the beginning word of each Head or Division he began to falter but not so much out but that he quickly recollected himself and very pertinently concluded After he had a while sate down he was not able to rise again but was fain to be led down the Pulpit stairs by two men into the Reading place He had promised also to Christen a Child of a very good friend of his then in the Church and the Parent did earnestly importune him to do it and the good Doctor was as willing as he desiring but the Doctor 's son shewing him the extreme danger there was of his Father he desisted from his request Much adoe there was to perswade the Doctor to go home in a Sedan he saying still he should be well by and by and would go along with them but at last finding himself worse and worse he yielded to go but not to his old Lodgings which were convenient for him in the Savoy but to his new One in Covent-garden Being come thither they had him to bed and presently sent for Doctor Scarborough but he being in the Country Doctor Charlton came who with the exactest skill and care possible addrest himself to the recovery of the Good Doctor The Disease was judged by him to be a violent malignant Feavour such as then raged every where and was better known by the name of the new Disease which like a Plague had swept away a multitude of people throughout the Kingdome Therefore Phlebotomy was directed and some Twenty Ounces of blood taken from him and yet neverthelesse the Paroxysmes continued having totally bereft the Doctor of all sense so much as to give any the least account of his Condition the Physicians Art being at a losse and not able to advise any further against the unsuperable violence and force of the distemper Yet in this Sad and Oppressed Condition some comfortable signes and assurances were given by the Good Doctor by his frequent lifting up his Hands and his Eyes which Devotion ended in the folding of his Armes and Sighes fetcht questionlesse from a perfect Contrition for this Life and from an earnest desire after and hope of that to come Tuesday Aust. 14. the good Doctor gave sad symptoms of a prevailing disease and Dr. Charlton despair'd of his recovery his Feaver being so fierce and pertinacious and which resisted all Remedies As was said almost from the very first decumbency which was neer as soon as he was ill his senses were seised and surprised with little or no remission of the distemper which caused him to talk sometimes but of nothing more frequently then his Books calling for Pen and Ink and telling his sorrowful Attendants that by and by he should be well and would write it out c. But on Wednesday noon the presages of a dislodging soul were apparent in him for Nature being overpowered the Vitals burnt up by such a continual Heat his lamp of life began to decay his Feaver and strength abating together so that it pleased God to restore to him the use of the faculties of his soul which he very devoutly and thankfully imployed in a Christian preparation for Death earnestly imploring the prayers of some of his reverend Brethren with him who then were sorrowful Visitors of him in these his last Agonies which accordingly was performed the good Doctor withall the intentnesse of piety joyning with them and recommending himself with all humble thankfulnesse and submission to Gods welcome Providence Nay so highly was he affected with Gods pleasure concerning him that he could not endure any person to weep or cry but would earnesty desire them to refrain highly extolling and preferring his Condition as a translation to a blessed eternity
teaching it was in some kind different from the usuall Preachers method of most Ministers in those times for he seldome made any excursions into the handling of common places or drew his subject matter out at length by any prolixely continued discourse But the maine frame of his publique SERMONS if not wholy consisted after some briefe and genuine resolution of the Context and Explication of the Termes where need required of Notes and Observations with much variety and great dexterity drawn immediately from the Text and naturally without constraint issuing or flowing either from the maine body or from the several parts of it with some useful Applications annexed thereunto which though either of them iong insisted upon yet were wont wirh that vivacity to be propounded and pressed by him as well might and oft did pierce deep into the Hearts of his Hearers and not only rectifie and clear their Judgements but have a powerful work also upon their Affections Nor was it his manner to quote many Scriptures finding it troublesome to himselfe and supposing it would be so to his Auditors also besides deeming it the lesse needfull in regard that his observations being grounded immediately on the Scripture he handled by necessary consequence thence deduced seemed to receive proof sufficient from it A Constant form of prayer he used as in his Family so in his publique Ministry onely varying or adding upon speciall occasions as occurrences intervening required because not only hesitation which the Good Doctor for all his strength of Memory and invention was afraid of before so awful a presence as the Majesty of Heaven was in prayer more offensive then other discourse but because such excursions in that Duty in the Extempore way were become the Idol of the Multitude In his mixt Contemplations read these words Let such new Practises as are to be brought into our Church be for a time Candidates and Probationers on their good behaviour to see how the temper of people will fit them and they fadge with it hefore they be publiquely enjoyned Let them be like Saint Paul's Deacons 1 Tim. 3. first be proved then be used if found blamelesse I cannot therefore but commend the Discretion of such Statesmen who knowing the directory to be but a stranger and considering the great inclination the Generality of our Nation had to the Common-Prayer made their Temporary Act to stand in force but for three years He could as well declare his mind and errand and of all others likewise with as much plainnesse clearnesse and which is more reverence as any of those who cryed up the Spirit and their own way in opposition to the Laws and the Judgement of Antiquity so to take the people with their new Fangled words and licentious easinesse of discoursing with GOD Almighty whose Attributes they squared to their Petitions that it be not said Wills As he was an Enemy to the inventions of men obtruded upon the Blessed Spirit in that irreverend and profane manner of praying and revelation so was he likewise on the other side a professed and avowed adversary to the Masse and Traditions which caused him no little Slander and Obloquie But the Spirit of this pious Doctor was exceedingly stirred in him against all Popish Insinuators because he was too sensible that through the mad zeale of the Vulgar whom they had by Jesuitical practises inflamed the House of God in these Kingdomes was set in combustion Therefore with much Prudence Courage and Boldnesse did he every where in his Books as occasion offered Unmasque the deceits and designes resist and curb the pride convince and lay open the errors of the Church of Rome though he never wrote any thing particularly by way of Controversie against it because as he said there was no end of it and more then sufficient had already been wrote if any ingenuity had been in the adherents of that Sea to have submitted to Truth Nor was there ever any of that Religion who were so hardy as to Challenge or Tax the Doctor but Obliquely for any thing wherewith he had charged them either of Apostacy Heresie or manifest Idolatry their abuse of Antiquity in their Rasures and Additions which did very often occurr to him in most of his books from which they were sure to hear of them to the purpose It much rejoyced the Roman Party when that misunderstanding hapned betwixt Doctor Heylin and himself about his Ecclesiastical History though they caught no fish in those Troubled Waters while they tossed of their proud billowes forward and backward the Protestant Cause was safely Anchored and Moared between them And as he never had occasion to engage in any Polemical discourse with any of that Party so in these miserable bandyings of our late unhappy times did he alwaies refrain from stickling in any side though it was sufficiently known how firmly grounded and addict to the true Protestant Religion in opposition to the innovations of Presbytery and the Schisme of Independency against whom also he had a zeale but allayed with a greater compassion then to the Papist distinguishing betwixt the Seducers and the Seduced whom not withstanding he did very severely deal withal in his writings one instance whereof take in his mixt Contemp. I am sad that I may add with too much truth that one man will at last be divided in himself distracted often betwixt many Opinions that what is reported of Tostatus lying on his Death Bed In multitudine controversiarum non habuit quod crederet amongst the Multitude of perswasions through which he had passed he knew not where to cast Anchor and fix himself at Last So that he may be said to have been a Right-Handed Enemy to the stubborn Romanist and a Left Handed one to the cunning Sectary He was wont to call those controversies concerning Episcopacy and the new invented Arguments against the Church of England with the Answers and Refutation thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things of a daies Life and of no permanency the Church being built upon a Rock as no stormes could shake or move it so needed it not any Defences of Art or Learning Being of the same mind with Sir Henry Wootton Disputandi pruritus Scabies Ecclesiae He was wholy conversant dūring the Broiles and Dissentions of the Clergy in the thoughts and considerations of that Text Let your Moderation be known to all men on which place he once Preached a while before his Majesties Restitution to a very great Auditory little imagining the subsequent words for the Lord is at hand were so near the fulfilling in the merciful Visitations of GOD towards these Miserable Nations In this he was the same still but more sollicitous in the Glimmering of that happy Revolution when he plainly saw how indispensably necessary the mutuall condiscentions of all parties were to the establishment consolidating of Peace Mixt Contemplation to this purpose againe Peace in our Land like St. Paul at Athens betwixt two Sects of Philosophers
that they might prove such as he in his best thoughts had wished them He was most earnest in this duty of Prayer and his often Accesses to that Mercy Seate had made it a place of acquaintance and free reception As his Study importuned him at very unreasonable Hours so it opportuned his Devotion in the early and late Sacrifices which he indispensably and firstly offered to the God of Heaven a phrase for its comprehensiveness of the Divine Majesty in the Glory and perfection of it above all other his Creatures very Familiar and usuall with the Doctor by way of Emphasis or Reverend instance If it may passe here without any Rigid Adversion a very excellent passage of the Doctors in the beginning of the Anarchy under a Commonwealth would seek admittance having relation to this Duty in hand Soon after the Kings Death he Preached in a Church near London and a Person then in great power now Levelled with his Fellowes was present at the Sermon In his Prayer before which he said God in his due Time settle our Nation on the true Foundation thereof The then Great Man demanded of him what he meant by the true Foundation he Answered he was no Lawyer nor Statesmen and therefore skill in such matters could not be expected from him But being pressed further to explain himselfe whether thereby he did not intend the King Lords and Commons he answered that It was a part of his Prayer to GOD who had more knowledge then he ignornce in all things that he knew what was the True Foundation and so remitted the Factious Querist to Gods Wisedome and Goodness This was a kind of his experiments in Prayer which were many and very observable GOD often answering his desires in kind and that immediately when he was in some distresses and Gods providence in taking care and providing for him in his whole course of Life wrought in him a firme resolution to depend upon him in what Condition so ever he should be and he found that providence to continue in that Tenour to his last end Indeed he was wholy possest with a holy Fear of and relyance in GOD was conscionable in his private Duties and in sanctifying the Sabbath being much offended at its Prophanation by disorderly Men and that both in reference to the Glory of GOD and the scandal brought on the Church of England as if it allowed as some have impudently affirmed such wicked Licentiousnesse For his own particular very few Sundaies there were in the year in which he Preached not twice besides the duties performed in his own house or in his attendance on those Noble persons to whom successively he was Chaplain So that if he had not been helped by a more then Officious Memory which devoured all the Books he read and digested them to easie nutriment that supplyed all the parts and the whole body of his Learning for his service and furtherance of his Labours it had been impossible but that the Duties he performed as a Divine must have hindred and justled out those his happy productions as a most Compleat Historian which study being tyed to the Series and Catenation of Time and Truth could ill brook or breake through those Avocations though no doubt it thrived the better under the kindly influence of his Devotion It will make it also the lesse wonder why a Man of so Great merit and such conspicuous worth snould never arrive to any eminent Honour and Dignity or Church Revenue save that of Prebend in Salisbury being also of competent Age to become the Gravity of such preferments For he could not afford to seek great matters for himself who designed his All for the publique good and the concerns of his precious Soule Questionlesse he could not have wanted Friends to his advancement if he would have pursued such ends who would have been as great furtherers of himselfe out of a particular affection which is alwaies ambitious of laying such obligations upon Vertue to his person as they had assisted him in his works and Labours He was reward and recompence enough to himself and for his fame and Glory certainly he computed it the best way t is the Jewel that graces the Ring not so contrary High places are levelled in death and crumble into dust leaving no impression of those that possessed them and are onely retrievable to posterity by some excellent pourtraits of their nobler part wherein it will on all hands be confest the Doctor hath absolutely drawn himself beyond the excellentest counterfeit of Art and which shall outlive all addition of monument and outflourish the pomp of the lasting'st sepulchrall glory But had the worthy Doctor but some longer while survived to the fruition of that quiet and settlement of the Church of which by Gods goodnesse and favour we have so full a prospect and that the crowd of suiters for Ecclesiastical promotions had left thronging and importuning their great friends to the stifling and smothering of modest merit it may be presumed the Royal bounty would favourably have reflected on and respected that worth of the Doctor which was so little set by and regarded of himself in his contented obscurity by a convenient placing and raising of that light to some higher Orb from whence he should have dilated and dispenced his salutiferous rayes and influences Some little time after his death his course would have come to have preached before his Majesty for which the Doctor made preparations and that most probably would have proved a fit opportunity of notifying himself to the King whose most judicious and exact observation the remarques of the Doctors learned preaching would have happily suted This honour was designed him before by a Right Noble Lord in whose retinue as Chaplain he went over to the Hague at the reduction of his Majesty into these his Kingdoms But the hast and dispatch which that great Affair required in the necessity of the Kings presence here afforded him not the effect of that Honourable intendment But what he was disappointed of here is fully attained by his happy appearance before the King of Kings to praise and magnifie him and to sing Halelujahs for ever So ADIEV to that Glory of the Doctor which is incommunicable with the World and Ave and all Prosperity be to those his remains which he hath to the General advantage of Learning and Piety most Liberally imparted Too Customary were it to recite the several kinds and sorts of Honourable Epithets which his equal Readers have fixt on him but this under Favour may be assigned peculiarly to him that no man performed any thing of such difficulty as his undertakings with that Delight and Profit which were as the Gemelli and Twins of his hard Labour and superfaetations of wit not distinguishable but by the thred of his own Art which clued men into their several and distinct appartiments And so impertinent it will be to engage further in a particular account of his Books whose sure and perpetual Duration needs not the Minutes of this Biography especially that his ultimate piece and partly Posthumous his often mentioned Book the Worthies Generall of England whose designe was drawn by Eternity commencing from their before unknown Originalls and leading into an Ocean of New Discoveries And may some happy as hardy Pen attempt the Continuation The Names of his other Books having had their due Reception need no other mention to Posterity then what you have in this ensuing Catalogue Books of Dr. Fuller Poems HAinousnesse of sinne Heavy punishment and Hearty Repentance 8. Holy War 2 Folio Josephs Party Coloured Coate and Sermons on the Corinths 4. Holy state and prophane state Folio Sermon of Reformation 4. Truth maintain'd or an answer to Mr. Saltmarsh that writ against his Reformation Sermon 4. Inauguration Sermon Preached at St. Westminster Abbey 4. A Sermon of Assurance 4. Good thoughts in bad times in 12. Thoughts in worse times 12. Life of Andronicus 8. Cause and cure of a wounded Conscience 8. Infants Advocate 8. Pisgah sight of Palestine or a description of the holy land Folio with Cuts Fullers Triple Reconciler stating the Controversies 8. Whether 1. Ministers have an Exclusive power of barring Cōmunicants from the Sacrament 2. Any person Unordained may Lawfully preach 3. The Lords prayer ought not to be used by all Christians A fast Sermon◠preacht upon Innocents Day 4. Sermons on Matthew upon the Temptations 8. A Sermon of Life out of Death 8. Sermons on Ruth 8. Best name on Earth 8. Another 8. of Sermons Speeches of the Beast and Flowers 8. Church History of Brittaine Folio Mixt Contemplations in these times Folio Lives of several Modern Divines in the 4to book by Fuller 4. The Appeale of Injured Innocence to the Learned and Impartial Reader In Answer to some Animadversions of Dr. Heylins on his Church History Fullers History of the Worthies General of England now finisht Folio An excellent Piece A Tract in Latine concerning the Church not perfected by him These Elegant pieces are the best Epitaph can be inscribed on his Tomb where though he Rest himselfe yet shall the World never see an end of his Labours FINIS