were some of the reasons by which Mr. Herbert instructed his Congregation for the use of the Psalms and the Hymns appointed to be daily sung or said in the Church-service He inform'd them when the Priest did pray only for the Congregation and not for himself and when they did only pray for him as namely after the repetition of the Creed before he proceeds to pray the Lords prayer or any of the appointed Collects the Priest is directed to kneel down and pray for them saying The Lord be with you And then they pray for him saying And with thy spirit and he assur'd them that when there is such mutual love and such joint prayers offered for each other then the holy Angels look down from Heaven and are ready to carry such charitable desires to God Almighty and he as ready to receive them and that a Christian Congregation calling thus upon God with one heart and one voyce and in one reverend and humble posture look as beautifully as Jerusalem that is at peace with it self He instructed them why the prayer of our Lord was pray'd often in every full service of the Church namely at the conclusion of the several parts of that Service and pray'd then not only because it was compos'd and commanded by our Jesus that made it but as a perfect pattern for our less perfect Forms of prayer and therefore fittest to sum up and conclude all our imperfect Petitions He instructed them that as by the second Commandment we are requir'd not to bow down or worship an Idol or false god so by the contrary Rule we are to bow down and kneel or stand up and worship the true God And he instructed them why the Church requir'd the Congregation to stand up at the repetition of the Creeds namely because they did thereby declare both their obedience to the Church and an assent to that faith into which they had been baptizâ—d And he taught them that in that shoâ—ter Creed or Doxology so often repeated daily they also stood up to testifie their belief to be that the God that they trusted in was one God and three persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost to whom the Priest gave glory And because there had been Heretic â—s that had denied some of these three persons to be God therefore the Congregation stood up and honour'd him by conâ—essing and saying It was so in the beginning is now so and shall ever be so World without end And as gave their assent to this beâ—â—ef by saying Amen He instructed them what benefit they had by the Churches appointing the â— elebration of Holy-dayes and the excellent use of them namely that they were set apart for particular Commemorations of particular mercies received from Almighty God and as Reveâ—end Mr. Hooker sayes to be the Land marâ—s to distinguish times for by them we are taught to take notice how the years pass by us and that we ought not to let them pass without a Celebration of praise for those mercies which they give us occasion to remember and therefore the year is appointed to begin the 25th day of March a day in which we commemorate the Angels appearing to the B. Virgin with the joyful tydings that she should concâ—ive and bear a Son that should be the redeemer of Mankind and she did so Forty weeks after this joyful salutation namely at our Christmas a day in which we commemorate his Birth with joy and praise and that eight dayes after this happy Birth we celebrate his Circumcision namely in that which we call New-years day And that upon that we call Twelfth-day we commemorate the manifestation of the unsearchable riches of Jesus to the Gentiles And that day we also celebrate the memory of his goodness in sending a Star to guide the three wise men from the East to Bethlem that they might there worship and present him with their oblations of Gold Frankincense and Myrrhe And he Mr. Herbert instructed them that Jesus was Forty dayes after his Birth presented by his blessed mother in the Temple namely on that day which we call the Purification of the blessed Virgin Saint Mary And he instructed them that by the Lent-fast we imitate and commemorate our Saviours humiliation in fasting Forty dayes and that we ought to endeavour to be like him in purity And that on Good fryday we commemorate and condole his Crucifixion And at Easter commemorate his glorious Resurrection And he taught them that after Jesus had manifested himself to his Disciples to be that Christ that was crucified dead and buried that then by his appearing and conversing with them for the space of Forty dayes after his Resurrection he then and not till then ascended into Heaven in the sight of his Disciples namely on that day which we call the Ascension or Holy Thursday And that we then celebrate the performance of the promise which he made to his Disciples at or before his Ascension namely that though he left them yet he would send them the Holy Ghost to be their Comforter and he did so on that day which the Church calls Whit sunday Thus the Church keeps an Historical and circular Commemoration of times as they pass by us of such times as ought to incline us to occasional praises for the particular blessings which we do or might receive at those holy times He made them know why the Church hath appointed ember-Ember-weeks and to know the reason why the Commandements and the Epistles and Gospels were to be read at the Altar or Communion Table why the Priest was to pray the Litany Kneeling and why to pray some Collects standing and he gave them many other observations fit for his plain Congregation but not fit for me now to mention for I must set limits to my Pen and not make that a Treatise which I intended to be a much shorter account than I have made it but I have done when I have told the Reader that he was constant in Catechising every Sunday in the Afternoon and that his Catechising was after his second lesson and in the Pulpit and that he never exceeded his half hour and was always so happy as to have a full Congregation But to this I must add That if he were at any time too zealous in his Sermons it was in reproving the indecencies of the peoples behaviour in the time of Divine Service and of those Ministers that hudled up the Church-prayers without a visible reverence and affection namely such as seem'd to say the Lords prayer or a Collect in a breath but for himself his custom was to stop betwixt every Collect and give the people time to consider what they had pray'd and to force their desires affectionately to God before he engag'd them into new Petitions And by this account of his diligence to make his Parishioners understand what and why they pray'd and prais'd and ador'd their Creator I hope I shall the more easily obtain the Readers belief
charitable life may so win upon others as to bring glory to my Jesus whom I have this day taken to be my Master and Governour and am so proud of his service that I will alwayes observe and obey and do his Will and alwayes call him Jesus my Master and I will alwayes contemn my birth or any title or dignity that can be conferr'd upon me when I shall compare them with any title of being a Priest and serving at the Altar of Jesus my Master And that he did so may appear in many parts of his Book of Sacred Poems especially in that which he calls the Odour In which he seems to rejoyce in his thoughts of that word Jesus and to say the adding these words my Master to it and the often repetition of them seem'd to persume his mind and leave an oriental fragrancy in his very breath And for his unforc'd choice to serve at Gods Altar he seems in another place the Pearl Matth. 13. to rejoyce and say He knew the wayes of Learning knew what nature does willingly and what when 't is forâ—'d by fire knew the wayes of honour and when glory â—nclines the Soul to noble expressions know â—â—â— Court knew the wayes of pleasure of loâ—â— of wit of musick and upon what terms he declined all these for the service of his Master Jesus and concludes saying That through these Labyrinths not my groveling Wit But thy Silk-twist let down from Heaven to me Did both conduct and teach me how by it To climb to thee The third day after he was made Rector of Bemerton and had chang'd his sword and silk Cloaths into a Canonical Coat he return'd so habited with his friend Mr. Woodnot to Bainton And immediately after he had seen and saluted his Wife he said to her You are now a Ministers Wife and must now so far forget your fathers house as not to claim a precedence of any of your Parishioners for you are to know that a Priests Wife can challenge no precedence or place but that which she purchases by her obliging humility and I am sure places so purchased do best become them And let me tell you That I am so good a Herald as to assure you that this is truth And she was so meeâ— a Wife as to assure him it was no vexing News to her and that he should see her observe it with a chearful willingness And indeed her unforc'd humility that humility that was in her so original as to be born with her made her so happy as to do so and her doing so begot her an unfeigned love and a serviceable respect from all that converst with her and this love followed her in all places as inseparably as shadows follow substances in Sun-shine It was not many dayes before he return'd back to Bemerton to view the Church and repair the Chancel and indeed to re-build three parts of his house which was fall'n down by reason of his Predecessors living at a better Parsonage house namely at Minal 16 or 20 miles from this place At which time of Mr. Herberts coming alone to Bemerton there came to him a poor old Woman with an intent to acquaint him with her necessitous condition and with some troubles of her mind but after she had spoke some few words to him she was surpriz'd with a fear and shortness of breath so that her spirits and speech fail'd her which he perceiving did so compassionate her that he took her by the hand and said Speak good Mother be not afraid to speak to me for I am a man that will hear you with patience and will relieve your necessities too if I be able and this I will do willingly and therefore Mother be not afraid to acquaint me with what you desire After which comfortable speech he again took her by the hand made her sit down by him and understanding she was of his Parish he told her He would be acquainted with her and take her into his care And having with patience heard and understood her wants and it is some relief to be but hear'd with patience he comforted her by his meek behaviour and counsel but because that cost him nothing he reliev'd her with money too and so sent her home with a chearful heart praising God and praying for him Thus worthy and like Davids blessed man thus lowly was Mr. George Herbert in his own eyes At his return that Night to his Wife at Bainton he gave her an account of the passages 'twixt him and the poor Woman with which she was so affected that she went next day to Salisbury and there bought a pair of Blankets and sent them as a Token of her love to the poor Woman and with them a Message That she would see and be acquainted with her when her house was built at Bemerton There be many such passages both of him and his Wife of which some few will be related but I shall first tell that he hasted to get the Parish-Church repair'd then to beautifie the Chappel which stands near his house and that at his own great charge He then proceeded to re-build the Parsonage-house which he did also very compleatly and at his own charge and having done this good work he caus'd these Verses to be writ upon or ingraven in the Mantle of the Chimney in his Hall TO MY SUCCESSOR If thou chance for to find A new House to thy mind And built without thy Cost Be good to the Poor As God gives thee store And then my Labour 's not lost We will now by the Readers favour suppose him fixt at Bemerton and grant him to have seen the Church repair'd and the Chappel belonging to it very decently adorn'd at his own great charge which is a real Truth and having now fixt him there I shall proceed to give an account of the rest of his behaviour to his Parishioners and those many others that knew him Doubtless Mr. Herbert had consider'd and given Rules to himself for his Christian carriage both to God and man before he enter'd into Holy Orders And 't is not unlike but that he renewed those resolutions at his prostration before the Holy Altar at his Induction into the Church of Bemerton but as yet he was but a Deacon and therefore long'd for the next ember-Ember-week that he might be ordain'd Priest and made capable of administring both the Sacraments At which time the Reverend Doctor Humphrey Hinchman now Lord Bishop of London who does not mention him but with some veneration for the life and excellent learning of Mr. George Herbert tells me He laid his hand on Mr. Herberts Head and alas within less than three Years lent his Shoulder to carry his dear Friend to his Grave And that Mr. Herbert might the better preserve those holy Rules which such a Priest as he intended to be ought to observe and that time might not insensibly blot them out of his memory but the next year shew him his variations from
to the following account of Mr. Herberts own practice which was to appear constantly with his Wife and three Neeces the daughters of a deceased Sister and his whole Family twice a day at the Church-prayers in the Chappel which does almost join so his Parsonage-house And for the time of his appearing it was strictly â—t the Canonical hours of Ten and Four and then and there he lifted up pure and charitable hands to God in the midst of the Congregation And he would joy to have spent that time in that place where the honour of his Master Jesus dwelleth and there by that inward devotion which he testified constantly by an humble behaviour and visible adoration he like David brought not only his own Houshold thus to serve the Lord but brought most of his Parishioners and many Gentlemen in the Neighbourhood constantly to make a part of his Congregation twice a day and some of the meaner sort of his Parish did so love and reverence Mr. Herbert that they would let their Plow rest when Mr. Herberts Saints-Bell rung to Prayers that they might also offer their devotions to God with him and would then return back to their Plow And his most holy life was such that it begot such reverence to God and to him that they thought themselves the happier when they carried Mr. Herberts blessing back with them to their labour Thus powerful was his reason and example to perswade others to a practical piety And his constant publick Prayers did never make him to neglect his own private devotions nor those prayers that he thought himself bound to perform with his Family which alwayes were a Set-form and not long and he did alwayes conclude them with that Collect which the Church hath appointed for the day or week Thus he made every dayes sanctity a step towards that Kingdom where Impurity cannot enter His chiefest recreation was Musick in which heavenly Art he was a most excellent Master and compos'd many divine Hymns and Anthems which he set and sung to his Lute or Viol and though he was a lover of reâ—iredness yet his love to Musick was such that he went usually twice every week on certain appointed dayes to the Cathedral Church in Salisbury and at his return would say That his time spent in Prayer and Cathedral Musick elevated his Soul and was his Heaven upon Earth But before his return thence to Bemerton he would usually sing and play his part at an appointed private Musick meeting and to justifie this practice he would often say Religion does not banish mirth but only moderates and sets rules to it And as his desire to enjoy his Heaven upon Earth drew him twice every week to Salisbury so his walks thither were the occasion of many happy accidents to others of which I will mention some few In one of his walks to Salisbury he overtook a Gentleman that is still living in that City and in their walk together Mr. Herbert took a fair occasion to talk with him and humbly begg'd to be excus'd if he ask'd him some account of his faith and said I do this the rather because though you are not of my Parish yet I receive Tythe from you by the hand of your Tenant and Sir I am the bolder to do it because I know there be some Sermon-hearers that be like those Fishes that alwayes live in salt water and yet are alwayes fresh After which expression Mr. Herbert asked him some needful Questions and having received his answer gave him such Rules for the tryal of his sincerity and for a practical piety and in so loving and meek a manner that the Gentleman did so fall in love with him and his discourse that he would often contrive to meet him in his walk to Salisbury or to attend him back to Bemerton and still mentions the name of Mr. George Herbert with veneration and still praises God that he knew him In another of his Salisbury walks he met with a Neighbour Minister and after some friendly Discourse betwixt them and some Condolement for the wickedness of the Times and Contempt of the Clergy Mr. Herbert took occcasion to say One Cure for these Distempers would be for the Clergy themselves to keep the Ember-Weeks strictly and begg of their Parishioners to joyn with him in Fasting and Prayers for a more Religious Clergy And another Cure would be for them to restore the great and neglected duty of Catechising on which the salvation of so many of the poor and ignorant Lay-people does depend but principally that the Clergy themselves would be sure to live unblameably and that the dignified Clergy especially which preach Temperance would avoid Surfeting and take all occasions to express a visible humility and charity in their lives for this would force a love and an imitation and an â—nfeigned reverence from all that knew them And for proof of this we need no other Testimony than the life and death of Dr. Lake late Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells This said Mr. Herbert would be a Cure for the wickedness and growing Atheism of our Age. And my dear Brother till this be done by us and done in earnest let no man expect a reformation of the manners of the Laity for 't is not learning but this this only that must do it and till then the fault must lie at our doors In another walk to Salisbury he saw a poor man with a poorer horse that was fall'n under his Load they were both in distress and needed present help which Mr. Herbert perceiving put off his Canonical Coat and help'd the poor man to unload and after to load his horse The poor man blest him for it and he blest the poor man and was so like the good Samaritan that he gave him money to refresh both himself and his horse and told him That if he lov'd himself he should be merciful to his Beast â—hus he left the poor man and at his coming to his musical friends at Salisbury they began to wonder that Mr. George Herbert which us'd to be so trim and clean came into that company so soyl'd and discompos'd but he told them the occasion And when one of the company told him He had disparag'd himself by so dirty an employment his answer was That the thought of what he had done would prove Musick to him at Midnight and the omission of it would have upbraided and made discord in his Conscience whensoever he should pass by that place for if I be bound to pray for all that be in distress I am sure I am bound so far as it is in my power to practise what I pray for And though I do not wish for the like occasion every day yet let me tell you I would not willingly pass one day of my life without comforting a sad soul or shewing mercy and I praise God for this occasion And now let 's tune our Instruments Thus as our blessed Saviour after his Resurrection did take
Viri seraphici Joannis Donne Quadragenarij Effigies vera Qui post eam aetatem Sacris initiatus Ecclesiae S ti Pauli Decanus obijt An̄o Dōm 1631 o AEtatis suae 59 o THE LIVES Of D r. John Donne Sir Henry Wotton M r. Richard Hooker M r. George Herbert Written by IZAAK WALTON To which are added some Letters written by Mr. George Herbert at his being in Cambridge with others to his Mother the Lady Magdalen Herbert written by John Donne afterwards Dean of St. Pauls Eccles. 44. 7. These were honourable men in their Generations LONDON Printed by Tho. Newcomb for Richard Marriott Sold by most Booksellers 1670. To the Right Honorable And Reverend Father in GOD GEORGE Lord Bishop of Winchester and Prelate of the most noble Order of the Garter My Lord I Did some years past present you with a plain relation of the life of Mr Richard Hooker that humble man to whose memory Princes and the most learned of this Nation have paid a reverence at the mention of his name And now with Mr. Hookers I present you also the life of that pattern of primitive piety Mr. George Herbert and with his the life of Doctor Donne and your friend Sir Henry Wotton all reprinted The two first were written under your roof for which reason if they were worth it you might justly challenge a Dedication And indeed so you might of Doctor Donnes and Sir Henry Wottons because if I had been fit for this Undertaking it would not have been by acquir'd Learning or Study but by the advantage of forty years friendship and thereby the hearing of and discoursing with your Lordship which hath inabled me to make the relation of these Lives passable in an eloquent and captious age And indeed my Lord though these relations be well-meant Sacrifices to the Memory of these Worthy men yet I have so little Confidence in my performance that I beg pardon for superscribing your name to them And desire all that know your Lordship to apprehend this not as a Dedication at least by which you receive any addition of honour but rather as an humble and a more publick acknowledgment of your long continued and your now daily Favours of My Lord Your most affectionate and most humble Servant Izaak Walton To the Reader THough the several Introductions to these several Lives have partly declared the reasons how and why I undertook them yet since they are come to be review'd and augmented and reprinted and the four are become one Book I desire leave to inform you that shall become my Reader that when I look back upon my mean abilities 't is not without some little wonder at my self that I am come to be publickly in print And though I have in those Introductions declar'd some of the accidental reasons yet let me add this to what is there said that by my undertaking to collect some notes for Sir Henry Wottons writing the life of Doctor Donne and Sir Henry's dying before he perform'd it I became like those that enter easily into a Law-sute or a quarrel and having begun cannot make a fair retreat and be quiet when they desire it And really after such a manner I became ingag'd into a necessity of writing the life of Doctor Donne Contrary to my first Intentions And that begot a like necessity of writing the life of his and my honoured friend Sir Henry Wotton And having writ these two lives I lay quiet twenty years without a thought of either troubling my self or others by any new ingagement in this kind But about that time Doct. Ga. then Lo. B. of Exeter publisht the Life of Mr. Ric. Hooker so he called it with so many dangerous mistakes both of him and his Books that discoursing of them with his Grace Gilbert that now is Lord Arch bishop of Canterbury he injoyned me to examine some Circumstances and then rectifie the Bishops mistakes by giving the World a truer account of Mr. Hooker and his Books and I know I have done so And indeed till his Grace had laid this injunction upon me I could not admit a thought of any fitness in me to undertake it but when he had twice injoyn'd me to it I then trusted his judgment and submitted to his Commands considering that if I did not I could not forbear accusing my self of disobedience And indeed of Ingratitude for his many favours Thus I became ingaged into the third Life For the life of Mr. George Herbert I profess it to be a Free-will-offering and writ chiefly to please my self but not without some respect to posterity for though he was not a man that the next age can forget yet many of his particular acts and vertues might have been neglected or lost if I had not collected and presented them to the Imitation of those that shall succeed us for I conceive writing to be both a safer and truer preserver of mens Vertuous actions then tradition I am to tell the Reader that though this life of Mr. Herbert was not by me writ in haste yet I intended it a Review before it should be made publick but that was not allowed me by reason of my absence from London when 't was printing so that the Reader may finde in it some double expressions and some not very proper and some that might have been contracted and some faults that are not justly chargable upon me but the Printer and yet I hope none so great as may not by this Confession purchase pardon from a good natur'd Reader And now I wish that as Josephus that learned Jew and others so these men had also writ their own lives and since 't is not the fashion of these times that their friends would do it for them before delayes make it too difficult And I desire this the more because 't is an honour due to the dead and a debt due to those that shall live and succeed us For when the next age shall as this do's admire the Learning and clear Reason which Doctor Sanderson the late Bishop of Lincoln hath demonstrated in his Sermons and other writings who if they love vertue would not rejoyce to know that this good man was as remarkable for the meekness and innocence of his life as for his great learning and as remarkable for his Fortitude in his long and patient suffering under them that then call'd themselves the Godly Party for that Doctrine which he had preach'd and printed in the happy daies of the Nations and the Churches peace And who would not be content to have the like account of Doctor Field and others of noted learning And though I cannot hope that my example or reason can perswade to this Yet I please my self that I shall conclude my Preface with wishing that it were so J. W. ERRATA If these mistakes which spoil the sence be first corrected by the Reader he will do me some and himself a greater Courtesy Doct. Donne Pag. 29. lin 15. r. perform 30.
judged to hold proportion with many who had made that study the employment of their whole life Sir Francis being dead and that happy family dissolved Mr. Donne took for himself an house in Micham near to Croydon in Surrey a place noted for good air and choice company there his wife and children remained and for himself he took lodgings in London near to White-Hall whither his friends and occasions drew him very often and where he was as often visited by many of the Nobility and others of this Nation who used him in their Counsels of greatest consideration Nor did our own Nobility onely value and favour him but his acquaintance and friendship was sought for by most Ambassadours of forraign Nations and by many other strangers whose learning or business occasioned their stay in this Nation He was much importuned by many friends to make his constant residence in London but he still denyed it having setled his dear wife and children at Micham and near some friends that were bountiful to them and him for they God knows needed it and that you may the better now judge of the then present Condition of his minde and fortune I shall present you with an extract collected out of some few of his many Letters And the reason why I did not send an answer to your last weeks letter was because it found me under too great a sadness and at present 't is thus with me There is not one person but my self well of my family I have already lost half a Child and with that mischance of hers my wife is fallen into such a discomposure as would afflict her too extremely but that the sickness of all her children stupifies her of one of which in good faith I have not much hope and these meet with a fortune so ill provided for Physick and such relief that if God should ease us with burtals I know not how to perfome even that but I flatter my self with this hope that I am dying too for I cannot waste faster then by such griefs As for Aug. 10. From my hospital at Micham JOHN DONNE Thus he did bemoan himself And thus in other letters For we hardly discover a sin when it is but an omission of some good and no accusing act with this or the former I have often suspected my self to be overtaken which is with an over earnest desire of the next life and though I know it is not mearly a weariness of this because I had the same desire when I went with the tide and injoyed fairer hopes then I now doe yet I doubt worldly troubles have increased it 't is now Spring and all the pleasures of it displease me every other tree blossoms and I wither I grow older and not better my strength deminisheth and my lode grows heavier and yet I would fain be or do something but that I cannot tell what is no wonder in this time of my sadness for to chuse is to do but to be no part of my body is as to be nothing and so I am and shall so judge my self unless I could be so incorporated into a part of the world as by business to contribute some sustentation to the whole This I made account I began early when I understood the study of our Laws but was diverted by leaving that and imbracing the worst voluptuousness an hydroptique immoderate desire of humane learning and languages Beautiful ornaments indeed to men of great fortunes but mine was grown so low as to need an occupation which I thought I entered well into it when I subjected my self to such a service as I thought might exercise my poor abilities and there I stumbled and fell too and now I am become so little or such a nothing that I am not a subject good enough for one of my own letters I fear my present discontent does not proceed from a good root that I am so well content to be nothing that is dead But Sir though my fortune hath made me such as that I am rather a Sickness or a Disease of the world than any part of it and therefore neither love it nor life yet I would gladly live to become some such thing as you should not repent loving me Sir your own Soul cannot be more zealous of your good then I am and God who loves that zeal in me will not suffer you to doubt it you would pity me now if you saw me write for my pain hath drawn my head so much awry and holds it so that my eye cannot follow my pen. I therefore receive you into my Prayers with mine own weary soul and Commend my self to yours I doubt not but next week will bring you good news for I have either mending or dying on my side but If I do continue longer thus I shall have Comfort in this That my blessed Saviour in exercising his Justice upon my two worldly parts my Fortune and my Body reserves all his Mercy for that which most needs it my Soul that is I doubt too like a Porter which is very often near the gate and yet goes not out Sir I profess to you truly that my lothness to give over writing now seems to my self a sign that I shall write no more Sept. 7. Your poor friend and Gods poor patient JOHN DONNE By this you have seen a part of the picture of his narrow fortune and the perplexities of his generous minde and thus it continued with him for about two years all which time his family remained constantly at Micham and to which place he often retir'd himself and destined some dayes to a constant study of some points of Controversy betwixt the English and Roman Church and especially those of Supremacy and Allegiance and to that place and such studies he could willingly have wedded himself during his life but the earnest perswasion of friends became at last to be so powerful as to cause the removal of himself and family to London where Sir Robert Drewry a Gentleman of very noble estate and a more liberal mind assigned him a very choice and useful house rent-free next to his own in Drewry-lane and was also a cherisher of his studies and such a friend as sympathized with him and his in all their joy and sorrows Many of the Nobility were watchful and solicitous to the King for some secular preferment for him His Majesty had formerly both known and put a value upon his company and had also given him some hopes of a State-employment being alwayes much pleased when Mr. Donne attended him especially at his meals where there were usually many deep discourses of general learning and very often friendly debates or disputes of Religion betwixt his Majesty and those Divines whose places required their attendance on him at those times particularly the Dean of the Chappel who then was Bishop Montague the publisher of the learned and eloquent Works of his Majesty and the most reverend Doctor Andrews the late learned Bishop of
become so humble as to banish self-flattery and such weeds as naturally grow there yet they have not been able to kill this desire of glory but that like our radical heat it will both live and dye with us and many think it should do so and we want not sacred examples to justifie the desire of having our memory to out-live our lives which I mention because Dr. Donne by the persuasion of Dr. Fox easily yielded at this very time to have a Monument made for him but Dr. Fox undertook not to persuade how or what it should be that was left to Dr. Donne himself This being resolved upon Dr. Donne sent for a Carver to make for him in wood the figure of an Urn giving him directions for the compass and height of it and to bring with it a board of the height of his body These being got then without delay a choice Painter was to be in a readiness to draw his picture which was taken as followeth Several Charcole-fires being first made in his large Study he brought with him into that place his winding-sheet in his hand and having put off all his cloaths had this sheet put on him and so tyed with knots at his head and feet and his hands so placed as dead bodies are usually fitted to be shrowded and put into the grave Upon this Urn he thus stood with his eyes shut and with so much of the sheet turned aside as might shew his lean pale and death-like face which was purposely turned toward the East from whence he expected the second coming of his and our Saviour Thus he was drawn at his just hèight and when the picture was fully finished he caused it to be set by his bed-side where it continued and became his hourly object till his death and was then given to his dearest friend and Executor Dr. King who caused him to be thus carved in one entire piece of white Marble as it now stands in the Cathedral Church of St. Pauls and by Dr. Donne's own appointment these words were to be affixed to it as his Epitaph JOHANNES DONNE Sac. Theol. Professor Post varia Studia quibus ab annis tenerrimis fideliter nec infeliciter incubuit Instinctu impulsu Sp. Sancti Monitu Hortatu REGIS JACOBI Ordines Sacros amplexus Anno sui Jesu 1614. suae aetatis 42. Decanatu hujus Ecclesiae indutus 27. Novembris 1621. Exutus morte ultimo Die Martii 1631. Hic licet in Occiduo Cinere Aspicit Eum Cujus nomen est Oriens Upon Monday following he took his last leave of his beloved Study and being sensible of his hourly decay retired himself to his bed-chamber and that week sent at several times for many of his most considerable friends with whom he took a solemn and deliberate farewell commending to their considerations some sentences useful for the regulation of their lives and then dismist them as good Jacob did his sons with a spiritual benediction The Sunday following he appointed his servants that if there were any business undone that concerned him or themselves it should be prepared against Saturday next for after that day he would not mix his thoughts with any thing that concerned this world nor ever did But as Job so he waited for the appointed time of his dissolution And now he had nothing to do but to dye to do which he stood in need of no longer time for he had studied long and to so happy a perfection that in a former sickness he called God to witness he was that minute ready to deliver his soul into his hands if that minute God would determine his dissolution In that sickness he beg'd of God the constancy to be preserved in that estate for ever and his patient expectation to have his immortal soul disrob'd from her garment of mortality makes me confident he now had a modest assurance that his Prayers were then heard and his Petition granted He lay fifteen dayes earnestly expecting his hourly change and in the last hour of his last day as his body melted away and vapoured into spirit his soul having I verily believe some Revelation of the Beatifical Vision he said I were miserable if I might not dye and after those words closed many periods of his faint breath by saying often Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done His speech which had long been his ready and faithful servant left him not till the last minute of his life and then forsook him not to serve another Master but dyed before him for that it was become useless to him that now conversed with God on earth as Angels are said to do in heaven onely by thoughts and looks Being speechless he did as St. Stephen look stedfastly towards heaven till he saw the Son of God standing at the right hand of his Father and being satisfied with this blessed sight as his soul ascended and his last breath departed from him he closed his own eyes and then disposed his hands and body into such a posture as required not the least alteration by those that came to shroud him Thus variable thus vertuous was the Life thus excellent thus exemplary was the Death of this memorable man He was buried in that place of St. Pauls Church which he had appointed for that use some years before his death and by which he passed daily to pay his publick devotions to Almighty God who was then served twice a day by a publick form of Prayer and Praises in that place but he was not buried privately though he desired it for beside an unnumbred number of others many persons of Nobility and of eminency for Learning who did love and honour him in his life did shew it at his death by a voluntary and sad attendance of his body to the grave where nothing was so remarkable as a publick sorrow To which place of his Burial some mournful Friend repaired and as Alexander the Great did to the grave of the famous Achilles so they strewed his with an abundance of curious and costly Flowers which course they who were never yet known continued morning and evening for many dayes not ceasing till the stones that were taken up in that Church to give his body admission into the cold earth now his bed of rest were again by the Masons art so levelled and firmed as they had been formerly and his place of Burial undistinguishable to common view Nor was this all the Honour done to his reverend Ashes for as there be some persons that will not receive a reward for that for which God accounts himself a Debtor persons that dare trust God with their Charity and without a witness so there was by some grateful unknown Friend that thought Dr. Donnes memory ought to be perpetuated an hundred Marks sent to his two faithful Friends and Executors towards the making of his Monument It was not for many years known by whom but after the death of Dr. Fox it was
denied them for Richard was call'd to rock the Cradle and the rest of their welcome was so like this that they staid but till next morning which was time enough to discover and pity their Tutors condition and having in that time remembred and paraphrased on many of the innocent recreations of their younger dayes and other like diversions given him as much present comfort as they were able they were forced to leave him to the company of his wife Joan and seek themselves a quieter Lodging But at their parting from him Mr. Cranmer said Good Tutor I am sorry your lot is fall'n in no better ground as to your Parsonage and more sorry that your Wife proves not a more comfortable Companion after you have wearied your self in your restless studies To whom the good man replied My dear George If Saints have usually a double share in the miseries of this life I that am none ought not to repine at what my wise Creator hath appointed for me but labour as indeed I do daily to submit mine to his Will and possess my soul in patience and peace At their return to London Edwin Sandys acquaints his fatherâ— who was then Bishop of London and after Archbishop of York with his Tutors sad condition and sollicits for his removal to some Benefice that might give him a more comfortable subsistence which his father did most willingly grant him when it should next fall into his power And not long after this time which was in the year 1585 Mr. Alvie Master of the Temple dyed who was a man of a strict Life of great Learning and of so venerable Behaviour as to gain so high a degree of love and reverence from all men that he was generally known by the name of Father Alvie At the Temple-Reading next after the death of this Father Alvie he the said Archbishop of York being then at Dinner with the Judges the Reader and Benchers of that Society met with a Condolement for the death of Father Alvie an high commendation of his Saint-like life and of his great merit both to God and man and as they bewail'd his death so they wish't for a like pattern of Virtue and Learning to succeed him And here came in a fair occasion for the Bishop to commend Mr. Hooker to Father Alvies place which he did with so effectual an earnestness and that seconded with so many other Testimonies of his worth that Mr. Hooker was sent for from Draiton Beauchamp to London and there the Mastership of the Temple proposed unto him by the Bishop as a greater freedom from his Countrey cares and the advantage of a better Society and a more liberal Pension than his Countrey Parsonage did afford him But these Reasons were not powerful enough to incline him to a willing acceptance of it his wish was rather to gain a better Countrey living where he might see Gods blessings spring out of the Earth and be free from Noise so he exprest the desire of his heart and eat that bread which he might more properly call his own in privacy and quietness But notwithstanding this aversness he was at last perswaded to accept of the Bishops proposal and was by Patent for Life made Master of the Temple the 17 th of March 1585. he being then in the 34 th year of his age And here I shall make a stop and that the Reader may the better judge of what follows give him a character of the Times and Temper of the people of this Nation when Mr. Hooker had his admission into this place a place which he accepted rather than desired and yet here he promised himself a virtuous quietness that blessed Tranquillity which he alwayes prayed and labour'd for that so he might in peace bring forth the fruits of peace and glorifie God by uninterrupted prayers and praises for this he alwayes thirsted and yet this was denied him For his admission into this place was the very beginning of those oppositions and anxieties which till then this good man was a stranger to and of which the Reader may guess by what follows In this character of the Times I shall by the Readers favour and for his information look so far back as to the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth a time in which the many pretended Titles to the Crown the frequent Treasons the Doubts of her Successor the late Civil War and the sharp Persecution that raged to the effusion of so much blood in the Reign of Queen Mary were fresh in the memory of all men and begot fears in the most pious and wisest of this Nation lest the like dayes should return again to them or their present posterity And the apprehension of these dangers begot a hearty desire of a settlement in the Church and State believing there was no other probable way left to make them sit quietly under their own Vines and Fig-trees and enjoy the desired fruit of their Labours But Time and Peace and Plenty begot Self-ends and these begot Animosities Envy Opposition and Unthankfulness for those very blessings for which they lately thirsted being then the very utmost of their desires and even beyond their hopes This was the temper of the Times in the beginning of her Reign and thus it continued too long for those very people that had enjoyed the desires of their hearts in a Reformation from Rome became at last so like the grave as never to be satisfied but were still thirsting for more and more neglecting to pay that Obedience and perform those Vows which they made in their dayes of adversities and fear so that in short time there appeared three several Interests each of them fearless and restless in the prosecution of their designs they may for distinction be called The active Romanists The restless Non-conformists of which there were many sorts and The passive peaceable Protestant The Counsels of the first considered and resolved on in Rome the second in Scotland in Geneva and in divers selected secret dangerous Conventicles both there and within the bosom of our own Nation the third pleaded and defended their Cause by establisht Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil and if they were active it was to prevent the other two from destroying what was by those known Laws happily establisht to them and their Posterity I shall forbear to mention the very many and dangerous Plots of the Romanists against the Church and State because what is principally intended in this digression is an account of the Opinions and Activity of the Non-conformists against whose judgement and practice Mr. Hooker became at last but most unwillingly to be ingaged in a Book-war a War which he maintained not as against an Enemy but with the spirit of meekness and reason In which number of Non-conformists though some might be sincere well-meaning men whose indiscreet Zeal might be so like Charity as thereby to cover a multitude of their Errours yet of this party there were many that were
possest with a high degree of spiritual wickedness I mean with an innate restless pride and malice I do not mean the visible carnal sins of Gluttony and Drunkenness and the like from which good Lord deliver us but sins of a higher nature because they are more unlike God who is the God of love and mercy and order and peace and more like the Devil who is not a Glutton nor can be drunk and yet is a Devil but I mean those spiritual wickednesses of malice and revenge and an opposition to Government Men that joyed to be the Authors of misery which is properly his work that is the enemy and disturber of Mankind and greater sins than Gluttony or Drunkenness though some will not believe it And of this party there were also many whom prejudice and a furious Zeal had so blinded as to make them neither to hear reason nor adhere to the wayes of peace Men that were the dregs of Mankind whom Pride and Self-conceit had made to overvalue their own pitiful crooked wisdom so much as not to be asham'd to hold foolish and unmannerly Disputes against those men whom they ought to reverence and those Laws which they ought to obey Men that labour'd and joyed to find out the faults and to speak evil of Government and then to be the Authors of Confusion Men whom Company and Conversation and Custom had at last so blinded and made so insensible that these were sins that like those that perisht in the gainsaying of Core so these dyed without repenting of these spiritual wickednesses of which the practises of Copinger and Hacket in their lives and the death of them and their adherents are God knows too sad examples and ought to be cautions to those men that are inclin'd to the like spiritual wickednesses And in these Times which tended thus to Confusion there were also many others that pretended a tenderness of Conscience refusing to take an Oath before a lawful Magistrate and yet these men in their secret Conventicles did covenant and swear to each other to be assiduous and faithful in using their best endeavours to set up the Presbyterian Doctrine and Discipline and both in such a manner as they themselves had not yet agreed on To which end there were many that wandred up and down and were active in sowing Discontents and Sedition by venemous and secret murmurings and a dispersion of scurrilous Pamphlets and Libels against the Church and State but especially against the Bishops by which means together with indiscreet Sermons the common people became so phanatick as to believe the Bishops to be Antichrist and the only obstructers of Gods Discipline and then given over to such a desperate delusion as to find out a Text in the Revelation of St. John that Antichrist was to be overcome by the Sword So that those very men that began with tender and meek Petitions proceeded to Admonitions then to Satyrical Remonstrances and at last having numbred who was not and who was for their Cause they got a supposed certainty of so great a Party that they durst threaten first the Bishops then the Queen and Parliament to all which they were secretly encouraged by the Earl of Leicester then in great favour with Her Majesty and the reputed Cherisher and Patron general of these pretenders to Tenderness of Conscience his design being by their means to bring such an odium upon the Bishops as to procure an Alienation of their Lands and a large proportion of them for himself which avaritious desire had so blinded his reason that his ambitious and greedy hopes had almost put him into a present possession of Lambeth-house And to these undertakings the Non-conformists of this Nation were much encouraged and heightned by a Correspondence and Confederacy with that Brotherhood in Scotland so that here they became so bold that one told the Queen openly in a Sermon She was like an untamed Heyfer that would not be ruled by Gods people but obstructed his Discipline And in Scotland they were more confident for there they declared Her an Atheist and grew to such an height as not to be accountable for any thing spoken against Her nor for Treason against their own King if spoken in the Pulpit shewing at last such a disobedience to Him that His Mother being in England and then in distress and in prison and in danger of death the Church denied the King their prayers for her and at another time when He had appointed a day of Feasting the Church declared for a general Fast in opposition to His Authority To this height they were grown in both Nations and by these means there was distill'd into the minds of the common people such other venemous and turbulent principles as were inconsistent with the safety of the Church and State and these vented so daringly that beside the loss of life and limbs they were forced to use such other severities as will not admit of an excuse if it had not been to prevent Confusion and the perillous consequences of it which without such prevention would have been Ruine and Misery to this numerous Nation These Errours and Animosities were so remarkable that they begot wonder in an ingenious Italian who being about this time come newly into this Nation writ scoffingly to a friend in his own Countrey to this purpose That the Common people of England were wiser than the wisest of his wiser Nation for here the very Women and Shop-keepers were able to judge of Predestination and determine what Laws were fit to be made concerning Church-government and then what were fit to be obeyed or abolisht That they were more able or at least thought so to raise and determine perplext Cases of Conscience than the wisest of the most learned Colledges in Italy That men of the slightest Learning and the most ignorant of the Common people were mad for a new or Super or Re-reformation of Religion and that in this they appeared like that man who would never cease to whet and whet his knife till there was no steel left to make it useful And he concluded his Letter with this observation That those very men that were most busie in Oppositions and Disputations and Controversies of finding out the faults of their Governors had usually the least of Humility and Mortification or of the power of Godliness And to heighten all these Discontents and Dangers there was also sprung up a generation of Godless men men that had so long given way to their own lust of delusion and so highly opposed the blessed motions of his Spirit and the inward light of their own Consciences that they had thereby sinned themselves into a belief which they would but could not believe into a belief which is repugnant even to humane Natuâ—e for the Heathens believe that there are many gods but these had sin'd themselves into a belief that there was no God so finding nothing in themselves but what was worse than nothing began
of the Church and owe it a protection and therefore God forbid that You should be so much as Passive in her Ruines when You may prevent it or that I should behold it without horrour and detestation or should forbear to tell Your Majesty of the sin and danger of Sacriledge And though You and my self were born in an Age of Frailties when the primitive piety and care of the Churches Lands and Immunities are much decayed yet Madam let me beg that you would first consider that there are such sins as Prophaneness and Sacriledge and that if there were not they could not have names in Holy Writ and particularly in the New Testament And I beseech You to consider that though our Saviour said He judged no man and to testifie it would not judge nor divide the inheritance betwixt the two Brethren nor would judge the Woman taken in Adultery yet in this point of the Churches Rights he was so zealous that he made himself both the Accuser and the Judge and the Executioner too to punish these sins witnessed in that he himself made the Whip to drive the Prophaners out of the Temple overthrew the Tables of the Money-changers and drove them out of it And consider that it was St. Paul that said to those Christians of his time that were offended with Idolatry yet committed Sacriledge Thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit Sacriledge Supposing I think Sacriledge the greater sin This may occasion Your Majesty to consider that there is such a sin as Sacriledg and to incline You to prevent the Curse that will follow it I beseech You also to consider that Constantine the first Christian Emperour and Helena his Mother that King Edgar and Edward the Confessor and indeed many others of Your Predecessors and many private Christians have also given to God and to his Church much Land and many Immunities which they might have given to those of their own Families and did not but gave them as an absolute Right and Sacrifice to God And with these Immunities and Lands they have entail'd a Curse upon the Alienators of them God prevent Your Majesty from being liable to that Curse And to make You that are trusted with their preservation the better to understand the danger of it I beseech You forget not that besides these Curses the Churches Land and Power have been also endeavoured to be preserved as far as Humane Reason and the Law of this Nation have been able to preserve them by an immediate and most sacred Obligation on the Consciences of the Princes of this Realm For they that consult Magna Charta shall find that as all Your Predecessors were at their Coronation so You also were sworn before all the Nobility and Bishops then present and in the presence of God and in his stead to him that anointed You To maintain the Church-lands and the Rights belonging to it and this testified openly at the holy Altar by laying Your hands on the Bible then lying upon it And not only Magna Charta but many modern Statutes have denounced a Curse upon those that break Magna Charta A Curse like the Leprosie that was intail'd on the Jews for as that so these Curses have and will cleave to the very stones of those buildings that have been consecrated to God and the fathers sin of Sacriledge will prove to be intail'd on his Son and Family And now what account can be given for the breach of this Oath at the last great day either by Your Majesty or by me if it be wilfully or but negligently violated I know not And therefore good Madam let not the late Lords Exceptions against the failings of some few Clergy-men prevail with You to punish Posterity for the Errors of this present Age let particular men suffer for their particular Errors but let God and his Church have their right And though I pretend not to Prophesie yet I beg Posterity to take notice of what is already become visible in many Families That Church-land added to an ancient Inheritance hath proved like a Moth fretting a Garment and secretly consumed both Or like the Eagle that stole a coal from the Altar and thereby set her Nest on fire which consumed both her young Eagles and her self that stole it And though I shall forbear to speak reproachfully of Your Father yet I beg You to take notice that a part of the Churches Rights added to the vast Treasure left him by his Father hath been conceived to bring an unavoidable Consumption upon both notwithstanding all his diligence to preserve them And consider that after the violation of those Laws to which he had sworn in Magna Charta God did so far deny him his restraining Grace that as King Saul after he was forsaken of God fell from one sin to another so he till at last he fell into greater sins than I am willing to mention Madam Religion is the Foundation and Cement of humane Societies and when they that serve at Gods Altar shall be exposed to Poverty then Religion it self will be exposed to scorn and become contemptible as You may already observe in too many poor Vicaridges in this Nation And therefore as You are by a late Act or Acts of Parliament entrusted with a great power to preserve or waste the Churches Lands yet dispose of them for Jesus sake as the Donoâ—s intended let neither Falshood nor Flattery beguile You to do otherwise but put a stop to Gods and the Levites portion I beseech You and to the approaching Ruines of his Church as You expect comfort at the great day for Kings must be judged Pardon this affectionate plainness my most dear Soveraign and let me beg still to be continued in Your favour and the Lord still continue You in his The Queens patient hearing this affectionate Speâ—â— and her future Care to preserve the Churches Rights which till then had been neglected may appear a fair Testimony that he made hers and the Churches Good the chiefest of his Cares and that she also thought so And of this there were such daily testimonies given as begot betwixt them so mutual a joy and confidence that they seemed born to believe and do good to each other she not doubting his Piety to be more than all his Opposers which were many nor his Prudence equal to the chiefest of her Council who were then as remarkable for active Wisdome as those dangerous Times did require or this Nation did ever enjoy And in this condition he continued twenty years in which time he saw some Flowings but many more Ebbings of her Favour towards all men that opposed him especially the Earl of Leicester so that God seemed still to keep him in her Favour that he might preserve the remaining Church Lands and Immunities from Sacrilegious Alienations And this Good man deserved all the Honour and Power with which she trusted him for he was a pious man and naturally of Noble and Grateful Principles he eased her of
charity ought to be imitated for though the spirit of revenge is so pleasing to Mankind that it is never conquered but by a supernatural grace being indeed so deeply rooted in humane Nature that to prevent the excesses of it for men would not know Moderation Almighty God allows not any degree of it to any man but sayes Vengeance is mine And though this be said by God himself yet this revenge is so pleasing that man is hardly perswaded to submit the menage of it to the Time and Justice and Wisdom of his Creator but would hasten to be his own Executioner of it And yet nevertheless if any man ever did wholly decline and leave this pleasing passion to the time and measure of God alone it was this Richard Hooker of whom I write for when his Slanderers were to suffer he laboured to procure their pardon and when that was denied him his Reply was That however he would fast and pray that God would give them repentance and patience to undergo their punishment And his prayers were so far returned into his own bosom that the first was granted if we may believe a penitent behaviour and an open confession And 't is observable that after this time he would often say to Dr. Saravia Oh with what quietness did I enjoy my Soul after I was free from the fears of my Slander and how much more after a conflict and victory over my desires of Revenge About the Year 1600 and of his Age 46 he fell into a long and sharp sickness occasioned by a cold taken in his passage betwixt London and Gravesend from the malignity of which he was never recovered for till his death he was not free from thoughtful Dayes and restless Nights but a submission to his Will that makes the sick mans Bed easie by giving rest to his Soul made his very languishment comfortable and yet all this time he was sollicitous in his Study and said often to Dr. Saravia who saw him daily and was the chief comfort of his life That he did not beg a long life of God for any other reason but to live to finish his three remaining Books of POLITY and then Lord let thy servant depart in peace which was his usual expression And God heard his prayers though he denied the Church the benefit of them as compleated by himself and 't is thought he hastened his own death by hastening to give life to his Books But this is certain that the nearer he was to his death the more he grew in Humility in Holy Thoughts and Resolutions About a month before his death this good man that never knew or at least never consider'd the pleasures of the Palate became first to lose his appetite then to have an aversness to all food insomuch that he seem'd to live some intermitted weeks by the smell of meat only and yet still studied and writ And now his guardian Angel seem'd to foretell him that the day of his dissolution drew near for which his vigorous Soul appear'd to thirst In this time of his Sickness and not many dayes before his Death his House was rob'd of which he having notice his Question was Are my Books and written Papers safe And being answered That they were his Reply was then it matters not for no other loss can trouble me About one day before his Death Dr. Saravia who knew the very secrets of his Soul for they were supposed to be Confessors to each other came to him and after a Conference of the Benefit the Necessity and Safety of the Churches Absolution it was resolved the Doctor should give him both that and the Sacrament the day following To which end the Doctor came and after a short retirement and privacy they return'd to the company and then the Doctor gave him and some of those friends which were with him the blessed Sacrament of the body and blood of our Jesus Which being performed the Doctor thought he saw a reverend gaity and joy in his face but it lasted not long for his bodily Infirmities did return suddenly and became more visible in so much that the Doctor apprehended Death ready to seize him yet after some amendment left him at Night with a promise to return early the day following which he did and then found him in better appearance deep in Contemplation and not inclinable to Discourse which gave the Doctor occasion to require his present Thoughts to which he replied That he was meditating the number and nature of Angels and their blessed obedience and order without which peace could not be in Heaven and oh that it might be so on Earth After which words he said I have lived to see this world is made up of perturbations and I have been long preparing to leave it and gathering comfort for the dreadful hour of making my account with God which I now apprehend to be near and though I have by his grace lov'd him in my youth and fear'd him in mine age and labour'd to have a conscience void of offence to him and to all men yet if thou O Lord be extreme to mark what I have done amiss who can abide it and therefore where I have failed Lord shew mercy to me for I plead not my righteousness but the forgiveness of my unrighteousness for his merits who dyed to purchase pardon for penitent sinners and since I owe thee a death Lord let it not be terrible and then take thine own time I submit to it let not mine O Lord but let thy Will be done with which expression he fell into a dangerous slumber dangerous as to his recovery yet recover he did but it was to speak only these few words Good Doctor God hath heard my daily petitions for I am at peace with all men and he is at peace with me and from that blessed assurance I feel that inward joy which this world can neither give nor take from meâ— More he would have spoken but his spirits failed him and after a short conflict betwixt Nature and Death a quiet Sigh put a period to his last breath and so he fell asleep And here I draw his Curtain till with the most glorious company of the Patriarchs and Apostles the most Noble Army of Martyrs and Confessors this most learned most humble holy man shall also awake to receive an eternal Tranquillity and with it a greater degree of Glory than common Christians shall be made partakers of In the mean time bless O Lord Lord bless his Brethren the Clergy of this Nation with effectual endeavours to attain if not to his great learning yet to his remarkable meekness his godly simplicity and his Christian moderation for these bring peace at the last And Lord let his most excellent Writings be blest with what he design'd when he undertook them which was Glory to Thee O God on High Peace in thy Church and Good Will to Mankind Amen Amen This following Epitaph was long since presented to the World
Sonnet to usher them to your happy hand Micham July â—â— 1607 Your unworthiest Servant unless your accepting him have mended him Jo. Donne To the Lady Magdalen Herbert of St. Mary Magdalen HEr of your name whose fair inheritance Bethina was and jointure Magdalo An active faith so highly did advance That she once knew more than the Church did know The Resurrection so much good there is Deliver'd of her that some Fathers be Loth to believe one Woman could do this But think these Magdalens were two or three Increase their number Lady and their fame To their Devotion add your Innocence Take so much of th' example as of the name The latter half and in some recompence That they did harbour Christ himself a Guest Harbour these Hymns to his dear name addrest J. D. These Hymns are now lost to us but doubtless they were such as they two now sing in Heaven There might be more demonstrations of the Friendship and the many sacred Indearments betwixt these two excellent persons for I have many of their Letters in my hand and much more might be said of her great prudence and piety but my design was not to write hers but the life of her Son and therefore I shall only tell my Reader that about that very day twenty years that this Letter was dated and sent her I saw and heard this Mr. John Donne who was then Dean of St. Pauls weep and preach her Funeral Sermon in the parish-Parish-Church of Chelsey near London where she now rests in her quiet Grave and where we must now leave her and return to her Son George whom we left in his Study in Cambridge And in Cambridge we may find our George Herberts behaviour to be such that we may conclude he consecrated the first fruits of his early age to vertue and a serious study of learning And that he did so this following Letter and Sonnet which were in the first year of his going to Cambridge sent his dear Mother for a New-years gift may appear to be some testimony But I fear the heat of my late Ague hath dryed up those springs by which Scholars say the Muses use to take up their habitations However I need not their help to reprove the vanity of those many Love-poems that are daily writ and consecrated to Venus nor to bewail that so few are writ that look towards God and Heaven For my own part my meaning dear Mother is in these Sonnets to declare my resolution to be that my poor Abilities in Poetry shall be all and ever consecrated to Gods glory And MY God where is that ancient heat towards thee Wherewith whole showls of Martyrs once did burn Besides their other flames Doth Poetry Wear Venus Livery only serve her turn Why are not Sonnets made of thee and layes Upon thine Altar burnt Cannot thy love He ghten a spirit to sound out thy praise As well as any she Cannot thy Dove Out-strip their Cupid easily in flight Or since thy wayes are deep and still the same Will not a verserun smooth that bears thy name Why doth that fire which by thy power and might Each breast does feel no braver fuel choose Than that which one day Worms may chance refuse Sure Lord there is enough in thee to dry Oceans of Ink for as the Deluge did Cover the Earth so doth thy Majesty Each Cloud distills thy praise and doth forbid Poets to turn it to another use Roses and Lillies speak thee and to make A pair of Cheeks of them is thy abuse Why should I Womens eyes for Chrystal take Such poor invention burns in their low mind Whose fire is wild and doth not upward go To praise and on thee Lord some Ink bestow Open the bones and you shall nothing find In the best face but filth when Lord in thee The beauty lies in the discovery G. H. This was his resolution at the sending this Letter to his dear Mother about which time he was in the Seventeenth year of his Age and as he grew older so he grew in learning and more and more in favour both with God and man insomuch that in this morning of that short day of his life he seem'd to be mark'd out for vertue and to become the care of Heaven for God still kept his soul in so holy a frame that he may and ought to be a pattern of vertue to all posterity and especially to his Brethren of the Clergy of which the Reader may expect a more exact account in what will follow I need not declare that he was a strict Student because that he was so there will be many testimonies in the future part of his life I shall therefore only tell that he was made Minor Fellow in the year 1609. Batchelor of Art in the year 1611. Major Fellow of the Colledge March 15. 1615. And that in that year he was also made Master of Arts he being then in the 22 d year of his Age during all which time all or the greatest diversion from his Study was the practice of Musick in which he became a great Master and of which he would say That it did relieve his drooping spirits compose his distracted thoughts and raised his weary Soul so far above Earth that it gave him an earnest of the joyes of Heaven before he possest them And it may be noted that from his first entrance into the Colledge the generous Dr. Nevil was a cherisher of his Studies and such a lover of his person his behaviour and the excellent endowments of his mind that he took him often into his own company by which he confirm'd his native gentileness and if during this time he exprest any Error it was that he kept himself too much retir'd and at too great a distance with all his inferiours and his cloaths seem'd to prove that he put too great a value on his parts and parentage This may be some account of his disposition and of the employment of his time till he was Master of Arts which was Anno 1615. and in the year 1619. he was chosen Orator for the University His two precedent Orators were Sir Robert Nanton and Sir Francis Nethersoll The first was not long after made Secretary of State and Sir Francis not long after his being Orator was made Secretary to the Lady Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia In this place of Orator our George Herbert continued eight years and manag'd it with as becoming and grave a gaity as any had ever before or since his time For He had acquir'd great Learning and was blest with a high fancy a civil and sharp wit and with a natural elegance both in his behaviour his tongue and his pen. Of all which there might be very many particular evidences but I will limit my self to the mention of but three And the first notable occasion of shewing his fitness for this employment of Orator was manifested in a Letter to King James who had sent the University his Book
this years resolutions he therefore did set down his Rules in that order as the World now sees them printed in a little Book call'd The Countrey Parson in which some of his Rules are The Parsons Knowledge The Parson on Sundayes The Parson Praying The Parson Preaching The Parsons Charity The Parson comforting the Sick The Parson Arguing The Parson Condescending The Parson in his Journey The Parson in his Mirth The Parson with his Church-wardens The Parsons Blessing the People And his behavior toward God and man may be said to be a practical Comment on these and the other holy Rules set down in that useful Book A Book so full of plain prudent and useful Rules that that Countrey Parson that can spare 12 d. and yet wants is scarce excusable because it will both direct him what he is to do and convince him for not having done it At the Death of Mr. Herbert this Book fell into the hands of his friend Mr. Woodnot and he commended it into the trusty hands of Mr. Bar. Oly. who publish't it with a most conscientious and excellent Preface from which I have had some of those Truths that are related in this life of Mr. Herbert The Text for his first Sermon was taken out of Solomons Proverbs and the words were Keep thy heart with all diligence In which first Sermon he gave his Parishioners many necessary holy safe Rules for the discharge of a good Conscience both to God and man And deliver'd his Sermon after a most florid manner both with great learning and eloquence And at the close of his Sermon told them That should not be his constant way of Preaching and that he would not fill their heads with unnecessary Notionsâ— but that for their sakes his language and his expressions should be more plain and practical in his future Sermons And he then made it his humble request That they would be constant to the Afternoons Service and Catechising And shewed them convincing reasons why he desir'd it and his obliging example and perswasions brought them to a willing conformity to his desires The Texts for all his Sermons were constantly taken out of the Gospel for the day and he did as constantly declare why the Church did appoint that portion of Scripture to be that day read And in what manner the Collect for every Sunday does refer to the Gospel or to the Epistle then read to them and that they might pray with understanding he did usually take occasion to explain not only the Collect for every particular day but the reasons of all the other Collects and Responses in our Service and made it appear to them that the whole Service of the Church was a reasonable and therefore an acceptable Sacrifice to God as namely that we begin with Confession of our selves to be vile miserable sinners and that we begin so because till we have confessed our selves to be such we are not capable of that mercy which we acknowledge we need and pray for but having in the prayer of our Lord begg'd pardon for those sins which we have confest And hoping that as the Priest hath declar'd our Absolution so by our publick Confession and real Repentance we have obtain'd that pardon Then we dare proceed to beg of the Lord to open our lips that our mouths may shew forth his praise for till then we are neither able nor worthy to praise him But this being suppos'd we are then fit to say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost and fit to proceed to a further service of our God in the Collects and Psalms and Lands that follow in the Service And as to these Psalms and Lauds he proceeded to inform them why they were so often and some of them daily repeated in our Church-service namely the Psalms every Month because they be an Historical and thankful repetition of mercies past and such a composition of prayers and praises as ought to be repeated often and publickly for with such Sacrifices God is honour'd and well-pleased This for the Psalms And for the Hymns and Lauds appointed to be daily repeated or sung after the first and second Lessons were read to the Congregation he proceeded to inform them that it was most reasonable after they have heard the will and goodness of God declar'd or preach't by the Priest in his reading the two Chapters that it was then a seasonable Duty to rise up and express their gratitude to Almighty God for those his mercies to them and to all Mankind and say with the blessed Virgin That their Souls do magnifie the Lord and that their spirits do also rejoyce in God their Saviour And that it was their Duty also to rejoyce with Simeon in his Song and say with him That their eyes have also seen their salvation for they have seen that salvation which was but prophesied till his time and he then broke out in expressions of joy to see it but they live to see it daily in the History of it and therefore ought daily to rejoyce and daily to offer up their Sacrifices of praise to their God for that and all his mercies A service which is now the constant employment of that blessed Virgin and Simeon and all those blessed Saints that are possest of Heaven and where they are at this time interchangeably and constantly singing Holy Holy Holy Lord God Glory be to God on High and on Earth peace And he taught them that to do this was an acceptable service to God because the Prophet David sayes in his Psalms He that praiseth the Lord honoureth him He made them to understand how happy they be that are freed from the incumbrances of that Law which our Fore-fathers groan'd under namely from the Legal Sacrifices and from the many Ceremonies of the Levitical Law freed from Circumcision and from the strict observation of the Jewish Sabbath and the like And he made them know that having receiv'd so many and so great blessings by being born since the dayes of our Saviour it must be an acceptable Sacrifice to Almighty God for them to acknowledge those blessings and stand up and worship and say as Zacharias did Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath in our dayes visited and redeemed his people and he hath in our dayes remembred and shewed that mercy which by the mouth of the Prophets he promised to our Fore-fathers and this he hath done according to his holy Covenant made with them And we live to see and enjoy the benefit of it in his Birth in his Life his Passion his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven where he now sits sensible of all our temptations and infirmities and where he is at this present time making intercession for us to his and our Father and therefore they ought daily to express their publick gratulations and say daily with Zacharias Blessed be that Lord God of Israel that hath thus visited and thus redeemed his people These
occasion to interpret the Scripture to Cleopas and that other Disciple which he met with and accompanied too in their journey to Emmaus so Mr. Herbert in his path toward Heaven did daily take any fair occasion to instruct the ignorant or comfort any that were in affliction and did alwayes confirm his precepts by shewing mercy And he was most happy in his Wifes unforc'd compliance with his acts of Charity whom he made his Almoner and paid constantly into her hand a tenth penny of what money he receiv'd for Tythe and gave her a power to dispose that to the poor of his Parish and with it a power to dispose a tenth part of the Corn that came yearly into his Barn which trust she did most faithfully perform and would often offer to him an account of her stewardship and as often beg an inlargement of his bounty for she rejoyc'd in the employment and this was usually laid out by her in Blankets and Shooes for some such poor people as she knew to stand in most need of them This as to her Charity And for his own he set no limits to it nor did ever turn his face from any that he saw in want but would relieve them especially his poor Neighbours to the meanest of whose Houses he would go and inform himself of their wants and relieve them chearfully if they were in distress and would alwayes praise God as much for being willing as for being able to do it And when he was advis'd by a friend to be more frugal because he might have Children his answer was He would not see the danger of want so far off but being the Scripture does so commend Charity as to tell us that Charity is the top of Christian vertues the covering of sins the fulfilling of the Law the life of Faith And that Charity hath a promise of the blessings of this life and of a reward in that life which is to come being these and more excellent things are in Scripture spoken of thee O Charity and being all my Tythes and Church-dues are a Deodate from thee O my God make me O my God so far to trust thy promise as to return them back to thee and by thy grace I will do so in distributing them to any of thy poor members that are in distress or do but bear the image of Jesus my Master Sir said he to his friend my Wife hath a competent maintenance secur'd her after my death and therefore as this is my prayer so this my resolution shall by Gods grace be unalterable This may be some account of the excellencies of the active part of his life and thus he continued till a Consumption so weakned him as to confine him to his House or to the Chappel which does almost join to it in which he continued to read Prayers constantly twice every day though he were very weak in one of which times of his reading his Wife observ'd him to read in pain and told him so and that it wasted his spirits weakned him and he confess'd it but said His life could not be better spent than in the service of his Master Jesus who had done and suffered so much for him But he said I will not be wilful for Mr. Bostock shall be appointed to read Prayers for me to morrow and I will now be only a hearer of them till this mortal shall put on immortality And Mr. Bostock did the next day undertake and continue this happy employment till Mr. Herberts death This Mr. Bostock was a learned and vertuous man an old friend of Mr. Herberts and then his Cuâ—are to the Church of Fulston which is a mile from Bemerton to which Church Bemerton is but a Chappel of ease And this Mr. Bostock did also constantly supply the Church-service for Mr. Herbert in that Chappel when the Musick-meeting at Salisbury caus'd his absence from it About one month before his death his friend Mr. Farrer for an account of whom I am by promise indebted to the Reader and intend to make him sudden payment sent Mr. Edmund Duncon who is now Rector of Fryer Barnet in the County of Middlesex from his House of Gidden Hall which is near to Huntington to see Mr. Herbert and to assure him he wanted not his daily prayers for his recovery and Mr. Duncon was to return back to Gidden with an account of Mr. Herberts condition Mr. Duncon found him at that time lying on his Bed or on a Pallet but at his seeing Mr. Duncon he rais'd himself vigorously saluted him and with some earnestness inquir'd the health of his brother Farrer of which Mr. Duncon satisfied him and after a conference of Mr. Farrers holy life and the manner of his constant serving God he said to Mr. Duncon Sir I see by your habit that you are a Priest and I desire you to pray with me which being granted Mr. Duncon ask'd him what Prayers to which Mr. Herberts answer was O Sir the Prayers of my Mother the Church of England no other Prayers are equal to them but at this time I beg of you to pray only the Litany for I am weak and faint and Mr. Duncon did so After which and some other discourse of Mr. Farrer Mrs. Herbert provided Mr. Duncon a plain Supper and a clean Lodging and he betook himself to rest This Mr. Duncon tells me and that at his first view of Mr. Herbert he saw majesty and humility so reconcil'd in his looks and behaviour as begot in him an awful reverence for his person and sayes his discourse was so pious and his motion so gentile and meek that after almost forty years they remain still fresh in his memory The next morning Mr. Duncon left him and betook himself to a Journey to Bath but with a promise to return back to him within five dayes and he did so but before I shall say any thing of what discourse then fell betwixt them two I will pay my promis'd account of Mr. Farrer Mr. Nicholas Farrer who got the reputation of being call'd Saint Nicholas at the age of six years was born in London and doubtless had good education in his youth but certainly was at a fit age made Fellow of Clare-Hall in Cambridge where he continued to be eminent for his temperance and learning About the 26 th year of his Age he betook himself to Travel in which he added to his Latin and Greek a perfect knowledge of all the Languages spoken in the Western parts of our Christian world and understood well the principles of their Religion and their manner and the reasons of their worship In this his Travel he met with many perswasions to come into a communion with that Church which calls it self Catholick but he return'd from his Travels as he went eminent for his obedience to his Mother the Church of England In his absence from England Mr. Farrers father who was a Merchant allow'd him a liberal maintenance and not long after his
return into England he had by the death of his father or an elder brother an Estate left him that enabled him to buy Land to the value of 500 l. a year the greatest part of which Land was at Little Gidden four or six miles from Huntington and about 18 from Cambridge which place he chose for the privacy of it and the Hall which had the Parish-Church or Chappel belonging and adjoining near to it for Mr. Farrer having seen the manners and vanities of the World and found them to be as Mr. Herbert sayes A nothing between two Dishes he did so contemn the World that he resolv'd to spend the remainder of his life in mortifications and in devotion and charity and to be alwayes prepar'd for Death And his Life was spent thus He and his Family which were like a little Colledge and about Thirty in number did most of them keep Lent and all Ember-weeks strictly both in fasting and using all those prayers that the Church hath appointed to be then used and he and they did the like on Fridayes and on the Vigils or Eves appointed to be fasted before the Saints dayes and this frugality and abstinence turn'd to the relief of the Poor but this was but a part of his charity none but God and he knew the rest This Family which I have said to be in number about Thirty were a part of them his Kindred and the rest chosen to be of a temper fit to be moulded into a devout life and all of them were for their dispositions serviceable and quiet and humble and free from scandal Having thus fitted himself for his Family he did about the year 1630. betake himself to a constant and methodical service of God and it was in this manner He did himself use to read the Common prayers for he was a Deacon every day at the appointed hours of ten and four in the Church which was very near his House and which he had both repair'd and adorn'd for it was fall'n into a great ruine by reason of a depopulation of the Village before Mr. Farrer bought the Mannor And he did also constantly read the Mattins every morning at the hour of six either in the Church or in an Oratory which was within his own House And many of the Family did there continue with him after the Prayers were ended and there they spent some hours in singing Hymns or Anthems sometimes in the Church and often to an Organ in the Oratory And they sometimes betook themselves to meditate or to pray privately or to read a part of the New Testament or to continue their praying or reading the Psalms and in case the Psalms were not all read in the day then Mr. Farrer and others of the Congregation did at Night at the ring of a Watch-bell repair to the Church or Oratory and there betake themselves to prayers and lauding God and reading the Psalms that had not been read in the day and when these or any part of the Congregation grew weary or faint the Watch-bell was rung sometimes before and sometimes after Midnight and then a part of the Family rose and maintain'd the Watch sometimes by praying or singing Lands to God or reading the Psalms and when after some hours they also grew weâ—â—y or â—aâ—nt then they rung the Watch-bell and were reliev'd by some of the former or by a new part of the Society which continueâ— their devotions as hath been mentioned until morning And it is to be noted that in this continued serving of God the Psalter or whole Book of Psalms was in every four and twenty hours sung or read over from the first to the last verse and this done as constantly as the Sun runs his Circle every day about the World and then begins it again the same instant that it ended Thus did Mr. Farrer and his happy Family serve God day and night Thus did they alwayes behave themselves as in his presence And they did alwayes eat and drink by the strictest rules of Temperance eat and drink so as to be ready to rise at Midnight or at the call of a Watch-bell and perform their devotions to God And 't is fit to tell the Reader that many of the Clergy that were more inclin'd to practical prety and devotion then to doub ful and needless Disputations did often come to Gidden Hall and make themselves a part of that happy Society and stay a week or more and join with Mr. Farrer and the Family in these Devotions and assist and ease him or them in their Watch by Night and these various Devotions had neverless than two of the domestick Family in the Night and the Watch was alwayes kept in the Church or Oratory unless in extreme cold Winter-nights and then it was maintain'd in a Parlor which had a fire in it and the Parlor was fitted for that purpose and this course of piety and great liberality to his poor Neighbours Mr. Farrer maintain'd till his death which was in the year 1639. Mr. Farrers and Mr. Herberts devout lives were both so noted that the general report of their sanctity gave them occasion to renew that slight acquaintance which was begun at their being Contemporaries in Cambridge and this new holy friendship was maintain'd without any interview but only by loving and endearing Letters And one testimony of their friendship and pious designs may appear by Mr. Farrers commending the considerations of John Valdesso a Book which he had met with in his Travels and Translated out of Spanish into English to be examin'd and censur'd by Mr. Herbert which Book Mr. Herbert did read and return back with many marginal Notes as they be now printed with that excellent Book and with them Mr. Herberts affectionate Letter to Mr. Farrer This John Valdesso was a Spaniard and was for his Learning and Vertue much valued and lov'd by the great Emperour Charles the fifth whom Valdesso had followed as a Cavalier all the time of his long and dangerous Wars and when Valdesso grew old and weary of the World he took his fair opportunity to declare to the Emperour that his resolution was to decline His Majesties Service and betake himself to a quiet and contemplative life because there ought to be a vacancy of time betwixt fighting and dying The Emperor had himself for the same or other reasons put on the same resolutions but God and himself did then only know them and he did for those or other reasons desire Valdesso to consider well of what he had said but keep his purpose within his own breast till they two had another like opportunity of a friendly Discourse which Valdesso promis'd In the mean time the Emperour appoints privately a day for him and Valdesso to receive the Sacrament publickly and appointed an eloquent and devout Fryer to preach a Sermon of contempt of the World and of the happiness sand benefit of a quiet and contemplative life which the Fryer did most affectionately