weighty office of a Bishop almost 44. years in which respects I think he hath not left his equal behinde him in Europe but especially considering that there is hardly a day in those years nor scarce an houre in that day whereof some good account may not be given if I should go about such a thing And therefore seeing I must of necessity omit much that might be said in this case according to custome I shall confine my discourse to that which cannot be omitted without violating my Text and prevaricating in a good cause And for the rest if God permit I may have occasion hereafter to give the world an account in some brief narrative of his Life You have seen the copy already in St. Paul I shall now endeavour to shew you how well it was transcribed by this Reverend Bishop who was as great an admirer of him as I have known though indeed no man can sufficiently admire him It is this Apostles exhortation to us all to be followers of him as he was of Christ and it was the special care and endeavour of this pious Bishop to yield obedience to that exhortation we have already seen as far as my Text led me to it how well this Apostle followed Christ it now remains I should shew you how well this Bishop followed the Apostle in those particulars I have already insisted upon And here in the first place if I would allow my self that liberty of wandring from my Text which too many others assume in the contrary cause I could bring my first parallel from their offices in the Church the one an Apostle the other a Bishop and shew you even from St. Hierome himself whose authority is so much urged against Bishops how little difference there is between them seeing as that Father tells us Bishops succeed the Apostles in the Church as a Son doth his Father in his inheritance and consequently that Bishops do now sustain the place of the Apostles or to come closer to my Text that a Bishop is to us instead of St. Paul But this is a subject too large for this time and neither proper for the place nor suitable with the Text and my present intention For it is their actions and sufferings their fight and their course and not their place or their office which my Text leads me to to make up the parallel and even in that I must stint my discourse from those limits which I first intended When I first observed in St. Pauls fight the substance and the quality of it branching the former into his actions and sufferings and the latter into the justness of his cause and justifiableness of the way of managing it and that again both as an Apostle and as a Christian my intentions were to have shewed you in the parallel what this Reverend Bishop did and what he suffered both as a Bishop and as a Christian and again how good his cause was the cause of God and his Church and how Christianly it was managed without running either to the God of Ekron or to the Witch of Endor without worshipping the golden image or vailing the bonnet to Baal Berith without committing murder in the fear of God or shutting up Churches for the propagation of the Gospel And then in the second place my intention was to have extended the parallel to his imitation of the Apostle in the whole course of his life in running with him the same race that was set before them both and then last of all to have shewed you how well he kept the faith till his last gasp both in his fighting and running And I hope I shall say something to all these particulars though neither so largely nor so methodically as I once intended The first thing mentioned by the Apostle here in my Text is the good fight which he fought and the like according to the proportion of his ability was performed by this Bishop 1. His whole life was a fight even as he was a man Militia est hominis vita super terram but a far greater fight as a Christian because it was not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in high places The greater the difficulties are against which we strive the greater is the fight and the victory the more glorious and so the case was with him considered as a Christian and so it still is and ever will be with us For our enemies in this battel are the Devil the World and the Flesh and all of them compleatly armed the world with power the flesh with treachery and the Devil with subtilty Yet such hath been the power of Gods grace in this great Champion that he hath got a clear conquest over them all and left us his good example both for our encouragement and imitation 2. But these enemies being common to others with him though seldome subdued by any so well as by him I shall rather divert my discourse to the other branch which I proposed and shew you what a hot encounter he did undergo in respect of his office in the Church as a Bishop and that both in what he did and what he suffered And in this God was pleased to deal very graciously with him as indeed he did in all other things for while he had strength he wanted not opportunities to be doing something for the good of the Church and when that began to decay God was still graciously pleased to assist him with a plentiful measure of his grace to suffer patiently for righteousness sake In all ages the office of a Bishop was enough to engage the person that sustained it in a fight of action and of late the very name of a Bishop was more then enough to engage him in the fight of suffering I pray God forgive them that occasioned it They might have foreseen at first whither it naturally tended and cannot but now see what it hath undoubtedly brought upon themselves as well as others since the quarrel was improved against all the other offices of Ministery in the Church which at first was commenced only against the Bishops Nay the very Church it self if we look upon her as a branch of the Holy Catholick Church of Christ which we profess in our Creed is now at last assaulted by those that will allow of no Churches but of their own gathering which is a thing of more dangerous consequence then most are aware of I pray God I may be a false prophet in this thing when I tell you my fears that the end of it if not timely prevented is like enough to be confusion and Atheism which begin already to flow in upon us or rather to overwhelm us How worthily this our Champion hath carried himself in this fight is a thing so well known as I shall not need to inlarge my discourse upon it Witness those many learned Volumes he hath written against all the adversaries of this poor afflicted
Vicarage is not sufficiently endowed as any Bishop might formerly have done while Abbies Priories and other Religious houses were in being 72. Having thus fully informed himself of his just power in a matter of so high concerment for the advancement of Christian religion and the good of souls he resolved to put it in practise as far as God should enable him and trust him with the event though he knew it would be a matter of no small difficulty to revive a matter of that nature that had laid buried in the rubbish of religious houses ever since their dissolution And because he was willing to shew his own good example as well as his power he began as charity directed him at home with the parish of Bishop-Aukland so called from one of his houses the Castle there wherein there then was and great pity it is not still a Chappel inferiour to none of any Prince in Christendome here he augmented the stipend of the Mother Church from 16. pound per annum to fourscore and the Chappels belonging to it from about six pounds per annum to thirty intending to extend the like Episcopal care in some proportion over all the rest of his Diocess But this being such a fatal blow to the Prince of darkness was not like to take the wished effect in the middest of this crooked and perverse generation And therefore it is no wonder so pious a work should become abortive by the Scotch invasion which then immediately followed and after that the rest of those troubles and desolations which have given such a mortal wound to a glorious Kingdom and a flourishing Church as makes our friends pity our miserie and our enemies rejoyce at our folly 73. I cannot acknowledge any digression in all this seeing it is one of the principal passages of his life and such an Heroical action as I could not possibly omit it But if any shall accuse me of a voluntary digression in what now followes I shall freely confess the fact and submit to the Readers pardon I know I am here engaged in a Paradox as that word is taken in the proper sense for a truth not commonly taken notice of but that might pass well enough if it were not that I have stretched so far beyond my own last and intrenched upon the noble profession of the Law in a point which self-interest and prepossession hath rendered very ticklish Only this I have to plead for my self that what I say here is no more then a bare report of a matter of fact and I am the more imboldened to report it because I find it so consonant to what that learned and judicious Antiquary Sir Henry Spelman hath delivered as the Law of England in this very case I am as unwilling to put a fallacy upon the Reader as to conceal the truth and therefore though I take the liberty to digress a little I shall set down his own words so far as they concern the point in hand and that also with his own Apologie and Submission to the learned Masters of the Law that I do it not asserendo docere sed disserendo quaerere 74. The appropriation of a Parsonage saith this excellent Author was no more at first but a grant made by the Pope to an Abbat Prior Prebendary or some other spiritual person being a body politick and successive that he and his successours might for ever be Parsons of that Church that is that as one of them dyed another might enter into the Rectory and take the fruits and profits thereof without further trouble of Admission Institution or Induction 75. But shortly after Deans and Chapters obtained like Licenses to them and their successours who being a body Corporate consisting of a multitude could not joyntly perform this function and in particular none of them was tyed unto it Then was devised that by their common Seal which is the tongue of their Corporation they might appoint a Deputy or Vicar to do it for them which invention gave the wound unto the Church whereof it bleedeth at this day c. 76. By this window crept the Vicars into the Church who for the most part were some of the Monastery whereunto the Appropriation belonged till the Statute of 4. H. 4. cap. 12. provided that in every Church so appropriate a secular person viz. a Priest that was not a Monck be ordained Vicar perpetual Canonically institute and induct in the same and COVENABLY INDOWED BY THE DISCRETION OF THE ORDINARY to do divine service and to inform the people and to keep Hospitality there and that no religious that is none that was a Monck professed of any religious Order be in any wise made Vicars in any Church so appropriate c. 77. Thus came Vicars to get a lock out of the Parsons fleece But yet notwithstanding they were thus indued before this Statute for in a Synod holden at _____ for the Province of Canterbury Anno 1222. cap. 18. it was ordained that less should not be assigned to a perpetual Vicar then five marks a year in Rent which in the proportion that the rents of that time hold to this cannot be less then thirty or forty pounds a year c. 78. It appeareth by that which is afore shewed and the circumstances thereof as this learned Author goes on that the appropriating of a Parsonage or the endowing of a Vicarage out of it do not cut the Parsonage from the Church or make it Temporal but leaveth it still spiritual as well in the eye of the Common Law as of the Canon Law For if it became Temporal by the Appropriation then were it within the Statute of Mortmain and forfeited by that very Act. But it is agreed by the 21. Ed. 3. fol. 5. and in Plowd Com. fo 499. that it is not Mortmain and therefore doth continue spiritual For which cause also the Ordinary and Ecclesiastical officers must have still the same authority over such appropriate Churches as they had before those Churches were Appropriate Therefore in the year 1252. Robert Bishop of Lincoln by Commission from Innocent 4. not only enlarged the endowments that before were made to divers Vicarages as he thought good but endowed others out of those Appropriations which had no Vicarages endowed to the great discontentment of all the Approprietaries of that time as appeareth by Matthew Paris And therefore also the Statute of 15. R. 2. cap. 6. and that of 4. H. 4. cap. 12. that ordained that in Licences of Appropriation in the Chancery it should be contained that the Bishop of the Diocess in EVERY CHURCH so Appropriated should PROVIDE BY HIS DISCRETION that the VICAR were COVENABLY ENDOWED divine service performed and a CONVENIENT PROPORTION of the fruits thereof yearly DISTRIBUTED to the POOR of the Parish did but agnise and affirm the spiritual end whereunto these Parsonages were appropriated and the authority the Church had still over them notwithstanding
the other Ten were sent to the Tower but whether this was in favour to these two as being very old or to the person to whom they were committed as being then reputed rich may best be conjectured by the excessive charge they were at there more then the other in the Tower 87. And though this Fact was never permitted to come to a due examination according to the ancient and known manner of proceeding at law in cases of Treason though it was earnestly desired and endeavoured by these Reverend Bishops yet were they so far prejudged by it as to make all the twelve lyable to Sequestration for it as that word bath been abused of late for the taking away of a mans whole estate Personal and Real Which yet had not been half so grievous to them if they had not seen an occasion taken thereby to rob God of the patrimony as well as of the moveable goods of their several Churches which was shared among those that had long gaped for it or made the price of blood by being put into the Treasurie out of which the War was maintained I pray God it may never be laid to their charge 88. But to let this pass as the common cause of this once flourishing Church I shall return to this Reverend Bishop in particular who being discharged from his first Imprisonment returned to his lodgings in Duresme House and there attended his Devotions and study till such time as his adversaries thought fit to give him another occasion to exercise his patience under a second captivity for which the snare was thus prepared 89. It was represented to the House of Commons by some of his back-friends as a matter of much prejudice to their affairs that he should still have in his custody the Seal of the County Palatine of Duresme The method and motive were both of them near of kin to that which Jezebel practised to get Naboths Vineyard though I shall forbear the mention of any particular Person The House hereupon sent a Committee of their own members to demand it and the answer he returned was in the Negative but yet as well sweetned with civil expressions as he could make it and among other things he desired the Interposition of the House of Peers for it was while they sate for their fuller satisfaction which they rightly interpreting to be an Appeal from those that were not his competent Judges to those that were sent for him by their Sergeant at Arms to appear at their Bar which he did and made it evident to them 1. That it was not a Seal transmitted from Bishop to Bishop successively but one that had his own Arms and Impress cut upon it 2. That to part with it could not but be of great prejudice to several persons within the County Palatine of Duresme whose estates depended upon it both by way of Patents for Offices and Leases for Lands He added also 3. That it might be prejudicial to himself and successours and to the Person by whom he received the power to make it Which being a very reasonable Plea though the last part of it was not very acceptable to them the House had nothing to object against it and so dismist him for that time And yet manet altâ mente his adversaries that could not then have their wills on him retained their malice against him till another opportunity 90. And that fell out not long after upon this occasion The right Honourable the Earl and Countess of Rutland having alwayes carried a very Reverend respect to this good Bishop and he no less honourable esteem of them and that noble Family desired him to perform the holy Office of Baptisme to a sweet young Lady which God had then newly blessed them withall which he did as he alwayes judged a Bishop ought to do exactly according to the order of the Church prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer And this being taken notice of by his old adversaries and much aggravated by some Zealots of the contrary perswasion whom I hope God hath forgiven was complained of to the House of Commons as a thing superstitious idolatrous or I know not what 91. It is a hard case when the Commons must teach their Bishops whom God hath placed over them in chief as the guides of their souls what is superstition and idolatrie But the world being then turned upside down it was the less wonder the case was so in this particular And accordingly having sent for him as a Prisoner to their Bar they patched up this fault to the former to make an Accumulative crime of both together and so committed him prisoner to their Sergeant under whose custody he continued about 6. Moneths before he could obtain his enlargement 92. Having thus fallen upon a discourse concerning the Sufferings of this Reverend Bishop in relation to the Parliament it will not be amiss to enlarge it a little farther so as to take in a business pretended to be done in the late Parliament wherein he had been a deep sufferer in point of his Reputation if he had not lived to clear himself of it the case was thus 93. In the year 1657. came forth a Book said to be Printed at Rouen intituled A Treatise of the Nature of Catholick Faith and Heresie wherein the Author or Authors N. N. hath conjured up the old over-worn fable of the Nags-head Ordination or Consecration from the place where it was first hatched and imposeth the patronage of it upon this Reverend Bishop in these words 94. In the beginning of the late Parliament some Presbyterian Lords presented to the Upper House a certain Book proving that the Protestant Bishops had no Succession nor Consecration and therefore were no Bishops and by consequence had no right to sit in Parliament Hereupon Doctor Morton pretended Bishop of Durham who is yet alive made a Speech against this Book in his own and all the Bishops behalf then present he endeavoured to prove succession from the last Catholick Bishops who said he ordained the first Protestant Bishops at the Nags-head in Cheapside as was notorious to all the world c. Therefore the said Book ought to be looked upon as a groundless Libel This was told to many by one of the ancientest Peers of England present in Parliament when Morton made his speech and the same he is ready to depose upon Oath Nay he cannot believe that any will be so impudent as to deny a thing so notorious whereof there are as many witnesses living as there were Lords and Bishops that were that day in the Upper House of Parliament 95. And again in the same Chapter Whereas Doctor Morton pretended Bishop of Durham affirmed publickly in the Upper House that the first Protestant Bishops were Consecrated at the Nags-head this answer all the rest approved by their silence and were glad to have that retiring place against the Presbyterians who proved clearly that they were not Consecrated at Lambeth as Mr.
Deed another of the same Tenour written in Paper which he signed with his Manual Seal in the presence also of the same witnesses All this I heard saw and therefore know to be done In testimony whereof I have subscribed and thereto put my usual and accustomed Notaries signe Tob. Holder 99. To this Protestation were annexed these three following Attestations from the Bishops Temporal Lords and Clerks The Attestation of the Bishops WHereas we the surviving Bishops of the Church of England who sate in the Parliament begun at Westminster the third day of November 1640. are requested by our Reverend Brother the Lord Bishop of Duresme to declare and attest the truth concerning an Imputation cast upon him in the Pamphlet of that nameless Author mentioned in his Protestation and Declaration here prefixed and whereas we are obliged to perform what he requesteth both for the justification of the truth and for the clearing of our selves of another slanderous aspersion which the same Author casteth upon us as if we had heard our said Reverend Brother make such a speech as is there pretended and by our silence had approved what that Libeller falsely affirmeth was delivered in it we do hereby solemnly Protest and Declare before God and all the world that we never knew of any such Book presented to the House of Peers as he there pretendeth nor believe any such was ever presented and therefore could never hear any such Speech made against it as he mentioneth by our said Reverend Brother or any other much less approve of it by our silence And if any such Book had been presented or any such Speech had been made there is none among us so ignorant or negligent in his duty in defending the truth but would have been both able and ready to have confuted so groundless a Fable as the pretended Consecration of Bishops at the Nags-head out of the Authentick and known Registers of the Church still extant mentioned and faithfully transcribed and published by Mr. Mason so long before For the Confirmation of which Truth and Attestation of what our said Reverend Brother hath herewith Protested and Declared we have hereunto set our hands dated the nineteenth day of July Anno Dom. 1658. Guil. London Will. Bath and Wells Ma. Elie. Ro. Oxon. Jo. Roffens Br. Sarum The Attestation of the Lords Temporal 100. WE of the Lords Temporal whose names are he under written who sate in the Parliament begun at Westminster the third day of November 1640. being desired by the Bishop of Duresme to testifie our knowledge concerning an Imputation cast upon him about a Speech pretended to be made by him in that Parliament more particularly mentioned and disavowed in his prefixed Protestation do hereby Testifie and Declare that to the best of our knowledge and remembrance no such Book against Bishops as is there mentioned was presented to the House of Peers in that Parliament and consequently that no such Speech as is there pretended was or could be made by him or any other against it In witness whereof we have signed this our Attestation with our own hands Dated the nineteenth day of July Anno Dom. 1658. Hertford Dorchester Lindsey Rutland T. Southamton T. Lyncoln W. Devonshire E. Manchester Berkshire Cleveland Monmouth Hen. Dover M. Newport F. Willughbye J. Lovelace The Attestation of the Clerks of the House 101. WE whose names are hereunto subscribed being Clerks in the Honourable House of Peers during the Parliament begun at Westminster the third day of November 1640. who according to our several places and Offices did give continual attendance in the said House and as our duty required did respectively and particularly observe whatsoever was debated and concluded in it do hereby Testifie and Declare that to the best of our knowledge and remembrance no such Book was presented to that honourabe House nor any such Speech made in it by the Reverend Bishop of Duresme or any other as are mentioned and disavowed in his Lordships Protestation and Declaration here prefixed And therefore we have freely voluntarily given this our Attestation for the Confirmation of the Truth of what is affirmed and declared by the said Bishop in his said Protestation In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands Dated the twenty seventh day of December Anno Domini 1658. Jo. Browne Cleric Parliamentorum Jo. Throckmorton Sam. Smith 102. This is so full a vindication of this Reverend Bishop from this foul aspersion and so clear and honourable an Attestation to the cause of the Church of England in point of Succession that I cannot see what more needs be added to it excepting only this ensuing Certificate out of the Journal of the House of Peers which I must ascribe to the great pains and civility of Mr. Scobel who after a long and diligent search wrote these following words over against the place where the objection is made Page 9. in the Margine of the Book which I have in my custody Upon search made in the Book of the Lords House I do not finde any such Book presented nor any entry of any such Speech made by Bishop Morton Hen. Scobell Clerk of the Parliament 103. And now I speak it unfainedly I know not what N.N. can reply to all these clear Testimonies either in truth or modesty but only by confessing his error If all these persons of Honour and ingenuity after such a solemn charge laid upon them by this pious Bishop to speak nothing but the truth in sincerity must be thought to conspire together in a Lye rather then his Ancient Peer shall incur the suspicion of being mistaken yet the Authentick Record of the proceedings in the Lords House will sufficiently justifie them against that Calumnie Or if on the other side the journal of the House shall be condemned by N.N. either as imperfect or obliterated in this particular yet the Readers even of the Romish perswasion will be satisfied as many of them as will be satisfied with reason that this is a poor and groundless shift when they shall seriously consider these concurrent testimonies of so many persons of all ranks and orders that are most likely both to know the truth and remember it But both of these concurring together will make it as clear as the sun at noon-day that either N. N. or his Ancient Peer is mistaken 104. And hence I conceive it is that N. N. as I here in a late reply which I have not yet seen to the above-mentioned Book of the learned Bishop of Derrie hath not the confidence to deny the truth of what is both there and here testified but only betakes himself to the last reserve of a bad cause downright railing venting all the malice he can upon the innocent Ashes of this deceased Bishop Wherein I shall not gratifie him so much as to make even that return which Michael the Archangel did to him that suggested this Topick to him but rather that which better becomes a Christian and was
should use the liberty of his own Conscience in Voting in Parliament 19. But there is yet more contained in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then I have yet observed For the Vulgar Latine in this place renders it Modestia which signifieth Modesty and implieth Moderation both which were very observable in this Reverend Bishop 20. First His Modesty was remarkable in refusing the Honour of being a Bishop till a kinde of Necessity cast it upon him and yet undertaking the work when it did as I have already shewed In this particular he was perfectly of the same temper with S. Gregory Nazianzen who would neither take a Bishoprick before it was profered nor reject it when it was because as that Father hath resolved the case the one is an effect of Rashness the other of Disobedience and both of Ignorance 21. Secondly His Moderation was very great in order to matters both of Doctrine and Practise whereof there are so many clear instances given in that excellent codicill annexed to his will and herewith printed that I should have very little to add here if it had not been for a Question concerning that Codicil which was put to me by a reverend and learned person that heard it read both at his Death and Funeral whereunto I shall now publish the Answer I then gave though I suppose the Question proceeded chiefly from curiosity 21. The Question was Why this Reverend Bishop had not in all that Codicill declared any thing of his opinion concerning the matters of Controversie between the Remonstrants and Anti-remonstrants And though the Answer was easie That I could give no account of the Actions much less of the omissions of another man especially my Superior yet I added withall and gave him some Instances of it that I conceived his great Moderation made him unwilling to interpose in that controversie 22. My Instances were 1. That ever since I had the happiness to be near him I had found him very reserved in his Discourses upon that subject 2. That though he had a very high esteem of Mr. Calvin yet in a discourse with a very learned Lay Gentleman whereat I was present he much disliked Mr. Calvins opinion concerning Reprobation and would not believe he was so rigid in it as it appeared he was upon perusal of the place And 3. I shewed him afterwards the Duplicat of a Letter which I found among the papers of this Reverend Bishop to the late most Reverend learned Primat of Ireland concerning a passage in Corvinus which the late Reverend and learned Bishop of Salisbury hath objected and answered in his Book entituled DISSERTATIONES DVAE c. p. 201. whereupon he saith in that Letter he must have a Melius inquirendum to finde out the subtlety how creatió hominis damnandi non sit subordinatum medium ad damnationem c. By which it appeareth his Moderation in that Controversie was greater then that of the learned Bishop of Salisbury though he was one of the British Divines at the Synod of Dort who surpassed all that were there present for Moderation 23. I cannot omit one instance more of his Moderation which relates to practise as the former did to Doctrine because there are still some that are willing to mistake him and to abuse that repute and reverence which he hath in many good mens minds to the ingendring of jealousies concerning those ancient practises which have been derived from the Fathers and continued by uninterrupted custome in his Majesties Chappel and Cathedrals and in many Colleges and other places And because I will not go beyond my warrant in what I shall say upon this particular I shall keep me to the express words of a letter from him to St. Johns College in Cambridge dated the 20. of April 1635. which stands still upon record in the said College and was thus occasioned 24. I have formerly mentioned one Mr. Loe a person of very good parts but especially of a singular Memory whom this Reverend Bishop maintained in that College at his own Charge when he came to be capable of it the Bishop was desirous and the College willing to make him one of the Fellowes only he had been wrought upon by some that laboured to inveigle so hopeful a young man to their party to express some dislike to the Ceremonies and practises then used in Gods publick Worship and service Whereof this Reverend Bishop being informed by a Letter from the College returned his Answer to them expressing the same dislike of him in this particular which they did His words are these LOVM nostrum quod attinet saepe equidem inaudivi per totam Universitatem vestram extare prorsus neminem qui Ceremoniis illis quarum ego innocentiam sartam tectam olim defendendam suscepi repugnet aut reluctetur Quod si vero gestui illi flectendi se versus sacram Domini mensam hic juvenis adversetur me multo seniorem habebit sibi utique adversarium Nec sane immerito Cum c. And then he proceeds on to prove his assertion by reasons and Authorities which would be too long here to insert 25. There are still some other Qualifications of a Bishop which I have not yet mentioned whereof one is that he must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the word being rendred Modest in the margin of our English Bible makes it to be of so much affinity with the last as to view it in the next place The Vulgar Latine translates it Ornatus which St. Hierom tels us signifieth such a person as keeps a Decorum in his motion walking habit and speech which is all comprised in our English phrase in that place A person of good behaviour And this complex Qualification was so eminent in him that his greatest enemies could not tax him of the contrary in any branch of it His motion was upright his walking sprightfull his speech grave and sober and his habit Episcopal even then when it was hazardous to be seen in a Clerical garment wherein he was decent in his lowest ebb and never excessive in his highest tide As St. Augustine usually took his example from St. Cyprian so did this Reverend Bishop from both With St. Augustine he was neither too spruce nor too mean in his bodily apparel and furniture of his house and for the fashion it was such as was commonly used by others of his own rank and quality And with St. Cyprian beside the comeliness of his Apparel there was in his carriage such an exact mixture of gravity and courtesie as carried him in an equal line between pride on the one hand and meanness of spirit on the other 26. It is not without cause that I have fetched down this Practise as high as St. Cyprian and St. Augustine seeing the contrary corruption began to infest the Church even in those ancient times which extorted very grievous complaints from St. Ambrose
and St. Gregory of bringing the Bishops and Clergy into contempt And would much more excuse me now that the fault is grown almost epidedemical if I should take the liberty to make a Digression upon the same subject For it is that which the very Vulgar cry shame at to see the professors of the Law from the Judge to the Petty Attorny and Clerk and the Citizens from the Mayor to the Sergeants and Yeomen preserve the gravity of their places by their Gowns and other ancient formalities and only the Clergy whose office it is or should be to teach all others by their example as well as doctrine should throw them aside and expose themselves to the just censure of levity and inconstancy and their places and callings to the great hazard of scorn and contempt The Priests among the Jewes preserved their ancient and proper Apparel even after their return from Captivity And S. John wore his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was a peculiar Clerical habit even in the times of Persecution And long experience ever since hath confirmed it unto us that such helps as these are very necessary to preserve that reverence and respect which is due from the People to their Bishops and Clergy 27. I shall not abuse the Readers patience by insisting upon those Qualifications of a Bishop which were so conspicuous in him as none can be ignorant of them As that of being the Husband of one wife whereas he never was of any leading his whole life in a holy Caelibate or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which whether we render Vigilant as in the English or Sober as in the vulgar Latin will be all one as to this particular seeing he was sober in his person and vigilant in his office 28. And this also will supply another Qualification that he was not given to wine which he never drank but at meals and that sparingly till extream old age made it necessary for him by way of Physick to drink a glass sometimes in the interim to chear his spirits and warm his stomach Timothy the Bishop of Epâ—esus was so abstemious as not to drink wine without the Apostles command but this Bishop would hardly drink any with it even then when his stomach and often infirmities required it 29. Now these Qualities being so conspicuous in him we may easily believe there was nothing wanting in him which the Apostle requires 1 Tim. 3.4 For his single life gave a supersedeas to that part of it which requires that a Bishop should have his children in subjection with all gravity And his vigilance and good example in abstemiousness and sobriety made him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good ruler of his own house as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good Bishop in the Church even then when his family was so numerous as would have taken up a mans whole endeavours to govern it He had no children but those whom God had given him in the Gospel which made him have the more fatherly care of his servants whom he loved as his children and had them in subjection with gravity These he educated and instructed so well that he could require nothing in the flock under his charge whereof they might not see the pattern in his own family which was as S. Bernard adviseth the mirror and samplar of all honest conversation and good order 30. This made the Right Honourable the now Earl of Lindsey Lord Great Chamberlain of England make choice of his Family as the fittest place for the education of one of his Sons and many of the chief Gentry to say nothing of the Nobility thought it not below them to get their Sons received into his service which was indeed rather an Academicall institution in piety virtue and learning then any servitude 31. There was not one Qualification of a Bishop required by S. Paul that was not conspicuous in him And of all others there must be much Ignorance or Malice in the mistake if any shall say he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a Novice or newly Baptized Christian not heri Catechumenus hodie pontifex as S. Hierom paraphraseth the word And therefore this is not to be understood of a man in respect of his age but of a Christian in respect of his growth in grace For in the ancient Church when the office of a Bishop was of more consideration then the honour there was respect had to the strength of Body as well as of Minae in the person that was chosen to that heavy charge so that maturity of parts and aptitude for Government was more regarded in such a person then multitude of years S. Paul himself that prescribes this qualification to Timothy made Timothy Bishop of Ephesus even in his youth S. Ambrose was chosen Bishop of Milan at 42. years of age S. Augustin of Hippo at 41. Remigius of Rhemes at 22. Vigilius of Trent at 20. yet all of these were excellent Bishops and famous men in their generations 32. It is not therefore to be imputed as any blemish to this reverend person that he should ascend to the honour of being a Bishop in the two and fiftieth year of his age but rather esteemed as an honour that he was so soon fitted for so great a work For he was no Novice in the literal sense because being baptized in his Infancy he had been trained up in the Discipline of Christianity 52. years nor in the vulgar sense being a person of great learning and then in the full strength of his parts and age Nor in S. Gregories sense as it signifieth a man that is but a New-beginner in sanctity of life and conversation for he was a person of exemplary piety from his youth S. John reduceth all manner of sin to three Heads the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life in all which he had got so clear a victory over himself that what S. Gregory Nazianzen saith of S. Cyprian in these particulars may very fitly be applied to him The Discipline of his Mind was great in opposition to Covetousness and Ambition and the Discipline of his Body was no less in purity of Conversation 33. That which is generally reputed the greatest Qualification of a Bishop is that he must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apt to teach and this I have reserved for the last place S. Hilary cals it the chief of all Episcopal virtues Theophylact makes it the very characteristical note and the Council of Trent it self the principal office of a Bishop I cannot therefore without too large a repetition of what I have already said make it appear in every respect how well this Character befitted him He that is apt to teach indeed must be a person 1. Of great Learning and so was he as his Works will declare 2. Of great Industry and his