upon a general charge imputing to the Church of England the great crime of Schism and by this they thought they might with most probability deceive unwary and unskilful Readers for they saw the Schism and they saw we had left them and because they consider'd not the Causes they resolved to out-face us in the Charge The Bishop now having an Argument fit to employ his great abilities undertakes the question and in a full Discourse proves the Church of Rome not only to be guilty of the Schism by making it necessary to depart from them but they did actuate the Schism and themselves made the first separations in the great point of the Pope's Supremacy which was the palladium for which they principally contended He made it appear that the Popes of Rome were Usurpers of the Rights of Kings and Bishops that they brought in new Doctrines in every Age that they impos'd their own devices upon Christendom as Articles of Faith that they prevaricated the Doctrines of the Apostles that the Church of England only return'd to her Primitive purity that she joyn'd with Christ and his Apostles that she agreed in all the sentiments of the Primitive Church 18. The old Bishop of Chalcedon known to many of us replyed to this excellent Book but was soon answer'd by a Rejoynder made by the Lord Bishop of Derry in which he so pressed the former Arguments refuted the Cavils brought in so many imimpregnable Authorities and probations and added so many moments and weights to his Discourse that the pleasures of reading the Book would be the greatest if the profit to the Church of God were not greater Whenever men will desire to be satisfied in those great questions the Bishop of Derry's Book shall be their Oracle 19. I will not insist upon his other excellent Writings but it is known every where with what Piety and acumen he wrote against the Manichaean Doctrine of fatal necessity which a late witty man had pretended to adorn with a new Vizor but this excellent person washed off the ceruss and the meretricious paintings rarely well asserted the Oeconomy of the Divine Providence and having once more triumph'd over his Adversary betook himself to the more agreeable attendance upon Sacred Offices and having usefully and wisely discoursed of the Sacred Rite of Confirmation impos'd hands upon the most illustrious Princes the Dukes of York and Glocester and the Princess Royal and ministred to them the promise of the Holy Spirit and ministerially established them in the Religion and Service of the Holy Jesus 20. And one thing more I shall remark that at his leaving those parts upon the Kings Return some of the Remonstrant Ministers of the Low-Countries coming to take their leaves of his great man and desiring that by his means the Church of England would be kind to them He had reason to grant it because they were learned men and in many things of a most excellett Belief yet he reproved them and gave them caution against it that they approached too near and gave too much countenance to the great and dangerous errours of the Socinians 21. He thus having serv'd God and the King abroad God was pleas'd to return to the King and to us all as in the days of old and we sung the Song of David In convertendo captivitatem Sion When King David and all his Servants returned to Jerusalem this great person having trod in the Wine-press was called to drink of the Wine and as an honorary Reward of his great Services and Abilities was chosen Primate of this National Church He had this Remark in all his Government that as he was a great hater of Sacriledge so he professed himself a publick enemy to non-residence and religiously against it allowing it in no case but of necessity or the greater good of the Church 22. There are great things spoken of his Predecessor St. Patrick that he founded 700 Churches and Religious Covents that he ordained 5000 Priests and with his own hands Consecrated 350 Bishops How true the story is I know not but we are all witnesses that the late Primate whose memory we now Celebrate did by an extraordinary contingency of Providence in one day consecrate two Archbishops and ten Bishops and did benefit to almost all the Churches in Ireland and was greatly instrumental to the endowments of the whole Clergy and in the greatest abilities and incompararable industry was inferiour to none of his most glorious Antecessors 23. The Character which was given of that Learned Primate Richard of Armagh by Trithemius does exactly fit this our Father Vir in divinis c. He was learned in the Scriptures skilled in secular Philosophy and not unknowing in the Civil and Canon Laws in which studies I wish the Clergy were with some carefulness and diligence still more conversant He was of an excellent Spirit a Scholar in his Discourses an early and industrious Preacher to the People And as if there were a more particular sympathy between their souls our Primate had so great a veneration to his Memory that he purposed if he had lived to have restor'd his Monument in Dundalk which time or impiety or unthankfulness had either omitted or destroyed So great a lover he was of all true and inherent worth that he loved it in the very memory of the Dead and to have such great examples transmitted to the intuition and imitation of Posterity 24. At his coming to the Primacy he knew he should at first espy little besides the ruines of Discipline a Harvest of Thorns and Heresies prevailing in the hearts of the people the Churches possessed by Wolves and Intruders mens hearts greatly estranged from true Religion and therefore he set himself to weed the Fields of the Church He treated the Adversaries sometimes sweetly sometimes he confuted them learnedly sometimes he rebuked them sharply He visited his Charges diligently and in his own person not only by proxies and instrumental deputations he design'd nothing that we know of but the Redintegration of Religion the Honour of God and the King the restoring of collapsed Discipline and the renovation of the Faith and the Service of God in the Churches and still he was indefatigable and even in the last Scene of his life not willing that God should take him unemployed 25. The last of January God sent him a brisk alarm of Death whereupon he made his Will in which beside the prudence and presence of Spirit manifested in making a just and wise settlement of his Estate and provisions for his descendants at midnight and in the trouble of his sickness and circumstances of addressing death he kept still a special sentiment and made confession of Gods admirable mercies and gave thanks that God had permitted him to live to see the blessed Restauration of his Majesty and the Church of England confessed his Faith to be the same as ever gave praises to God that he was born and bred up in this Religion and prayed
as it is the best incentive to great things so to conceal what good God hath wrought by them is great unthankfulness to God and good men 2. This great man whom God hath lately taken from our eies was bred in Cambridge in Sidney Colledge under Mr Hulet a grave and a worthy man and he shewed himself not only a fruitful plant by his great progress in his studies but made him another return of gratitude by taking care to provide a good employment for him in Ireland where he then began to be greatly interested Augustus Caesar gave his Tutor an honourable Funeral Marcus Antonius erected a Statue to his Gratian the Emperour made his Master Ausonius to be Consul and our worthy Primate suffered not the industry of his teacher to pass unrewarded 3. Having passed the course of his studies in the University and done his Exercise with that Applause which is usually the reward of pregnant wits and hard study he was remov'd into Yorkshire where first in the City of York he was an assiduous Preacher but by the Disposition of Divine providence he happened to be engaged at Northalerton in disputation with three pragmatical Romish Priests of the Jesuits order whom he so much worsted in the Conference and so shamefully disadvantaged by the evidence of Truth represented Wisely and Learnedly that the famous Primate of York Archb. Matthews a learned and most excellent Prelate and a most worthy Preacher hearing of that Triumph sent for him and made him his Chaplain In whose service he continued till the Death of the Primate but in that time had given so much testimony of his great dexterity in the Conduct of Ecclesiastical and Civil Assairs that he grew dear to his Master and in that employment was made Prebendary of York and then of Rippon The Dean of which Church having made him his Sub-dean he managed the affairs of that Church so well that he soon acquired a greater fame and entred into the possession of many hearts and admiration to those many more that knew him 4. There and at his Parsonage he continued long to do the duty of a Learned and good Preacher and by his wisedome eloquence and deportment so gain'd the Affections of the Nobility Gentry and Commons of that County that as at his return thither upon the blessed Restauration of his most Sacred Majesty he knew himself obliged enough and was so kind as to give them a Visit so they by their coming in great numbers to meet him their joyful reception of him their great caressing of him when he was there their forward hopes to enjoy him as their Bishop their trouble at his departure their unwillingness to let him go away gave signal testimonies that they were wise and kind enough to understand and value his great worth 5. But while he lived there he may seem like a Diamond in the dust his low fortune cover'd a most valuable person till he became observ'd by Sir Tho. Wentworth Lord President of York whom we all knew for his great excellencies and his great but glorious misfortunes This great person espied the great abilities of Doctor Bramhall and made him his Chaplain and brought him into Ireland as one whom he believed would prove the most fit instrument to serve in that design which for two years before his arrival here he had greatly meditated and resolved the Reformation of Religion and the Reparation of the broken Fortunes of the Church 6. The complaints were many the abuses great the Causes of the Church vastly numerous but as fast as they were brought in so fast they were by the Lord Deputy referred back to Doctor Bramhall Who by his indefatigable pains great sagacity perpetual watchfulness daily and hourly consultations reduc'd things to a more tolerable condition than they had been left in by the Schismatical principles of some and the unjust prepossessions of others for many years before For the Bishops were easie to be oppress'd by those that would and they complained but for a long time had no helper till God raised up that glorious instrument the Earl of Strafford who brought over with him as great affections to the Church and to all publick interests and as admirable abilities as ever before his time did invest and adorn any of the Kings Vice-gerents 7. And God fitted his hand with an instrument as good as his skill was great For the first Specimen of his Abilities and diligence in recovery of some lost Tithes being represented to his late Majesty of blessed and glorious Memory it pleased his Majesty upon the Death of Bishop Downham to advance the Doctor to the Bishoprick of Derry Which he not only adorned with an excellent spirit and a wise Government but did more than double tht Revenue not by taking any thing from them to whom it was due but by resuming some of the Churches Patrimony which by undue means was detained in unfitting hands 8. But his care was beyond his Diocess and his zeal broke out to warm all his Brethren for by the favour of the Lord Lieutenant and his own incessant and assiduous labour and wise conduct he bought in divers Impropriations cancell'd many unjust alienations and did restore them to a condition much more tolerable I say much more tolerable for though he rais'd them above contempt yet they were not near to envy But he knew there could not in all times be wanting too many that envied to the Church every degree of prosperity And for ever since the Church by Gods blessing and the favour of Religious Kings and Princes and pious Nobility hath been endowed with fair Revenues the enemy hath not been wanting by pretences of Religion to take away Gods portion from the Church c. I have heard from a most worthy hand that at his going into England he gave account to the Archbishop of Canterbury of 30000 l. a year in the recovery of which he was greatly and principally instrumental 9. But his care was not determined in the exteriour part only and accessories of Religion he was careful and he was prosperous in it to reduce that Divine and Excellent Service of our Church to publick and constant Exercise to Unity and Devotion and to cause the Articles of the Church of England to be accepted as the rule of publick confessions and perswasions here that they and we might be populus unius labii of one heart and one lip building up our hopes of heav'n on a most holy Faith and taking away that Shibboleth which made this Church lisp too undecently And the excellent and wise pains he took in this particular no man can dehonestate or reproach but he that is not willing to confess That the Church of England is the best Reformed Church in the World God by the prosperity of his labours and a blessed effect gave testimony not only of the piety and wisdom of his purposes but that he loves to bless a wise instructor when he is vigorously
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
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