better the people should want one Sermon then be deprived of such a Preacher but he replyed It becomes a Bishop to dye in the Pulpit To one weeping at his bed side he used the words of Ambrose I have not so lived that I am ashamed to live longer neither doe I fear to die because we have a mercifull Lord. 23. In his Will he considered his Brother and friends with some kind remembrances but bestowed the rest most liberally upon his servants schollars and the poor of Sarum 24. Before his death he called his houshold about him and after an exposition of the Lord's Prayer among others used these words It was my Prayer alwayes to almightie God since I had any understanding that I might honour his Name with the sacrifice of my flesh and confirm his Truth with the oblation of this my body unto death in the defense thereof which seeing he hath not granted me in this yet I some what rejoice and solace my self that it is worn away and exhausted in the labours of â—y holy Calling Mr. Râ—dley the Steward of his House shut his eyes in the year of our Lord 1571. Sept. 22. about three of the clock in the afternoon Anno aetat 50. Out of his Life prefixed to his-Works VI. Mr. GEORGE HERBERT 1. BEing nobly born and aâ—eminently endued with gifts of the mind and having by industry and happy education perfected them to a great excellency whereof his Fellowship in Trinity Colledge in Cambridge his Oratourship in the University together with that knowledge the Kings Court had taken of him are evidences quitting all opportunities that he had for worldly preferment he betook himself to the Sanctuary choosing rather to serve at God's Altar then to seek the honour of State-employments 2. To testifie his independency upon all others and to quicken his diligence in the Ministry he used in his ordinary speech when he made mention of the blessed name of Iesus Christ to adde My Master 3. Next God he loved that which God himself hath magnified above all things i. e. his Word so as he hath been heard to make solemn Protestation That he would not part with one leaf thereof for the whole World if it were offered him in exchange 4. His obedience and conformity to the Church and the discipline thereof was singularly remarkable Though he abounded in private devotions yet went he every morning and evening with his Family to the Church and by his example exhortations and encouragements drew the greater part of his Parishioners to accompany him dayly in the publick celebration of Divine service 5. As for worldly matters his love and esteem to them was so little as no man can more ambitiously seek then he did earnestly endeavour the resignation of an Ecclesiasticall dignity which he was possessor of But God permitted not the accomplishment of his desire having ordained him his Instrument for râ—edifying the Church belonging thereunto 6. With the remembrance whereof as of an especial good work when a friend went about to comfort him on his death bed he made answer It is a good work if it be sprinkled with the blood of Christ 7. We conclude with his Motto with which he used to conclude all things that might seem to tend any way to his own honour Lesse then the least of Gods mercies Out of the Preface to his Sacred Poems VII Dr. JAMES USSHER Arch-Bishop of Armagh 1. HE had constantly prayers in his Family four times a day At six in the morning and eight at night they were such wherein the gifts of those who were his Chaplains were exercised but before dinner supper in the Chappell the Liturgy was constantly observed which he had in estimation to his last 2. A form of Prayer not onely by way of direction but punctually composed he ever â—udged to conduce to the pubâ—ik benefit especially in the Administration of Baptism and the Communion as well for the shnning and preventing the disorder and scandalous conâ—usion found in some mens performance of them as the testiâ—ying of an unity and unanimiâ—y among us which St. Paul â—refers as the more excellent way before the vanity of all spirituall gifts whatsoever Concerning which he wished the â—udgement of Calvin in his Letter to the Protectour were more known then it is in regard of his esteem with such as have opposed it 3. For Ordination or an ordained Ministry such was his judgement of the necessity of it that he took it to be a Fundmental and one of those priâ—ciples of Christian Doctriâ—â— Heb. 6. 2. called laying on 〈◊〉 hands The great neglect 〈◊〉 which he much lamented 〈◊〉 fearing it would prove to bâ— the undermining the foundaâ—â—on of our Church which 〈◊〉 Cartwright in his Commentâ—ry upon the place confirms tâ— the full and in a higher expreâ—sion as if it were the overthroâ— of Christianity 4. What his judgement was 〈◊〉 the use of the Lords Prayer hâ—â— practise shewed it in the coâ—stant concluding of his Pray before Sermon with it And hâ— approbation of that gesture 〈◊〉 kneeling at the Communioâ— as often apparent before maâ—â— witnesses 5. For Confirmation of chilâ—â—en which Calvin Beza and oâ—â—ers much commend wish it â—ere restored he was not wantâ—ng in observation of it as an anâ—â—ent laudable custome And â—s Benediction was seconded â—â—ith good and spirituall instruâ—â—ion that stuck to the children â—hen they came to further years 6. The Church Catechism â—espised by some for its plainess â—e thought therefore to be the â—ore profitable to the vulgar â—nd gave order it should every â—ords day in the afternoon be â—xplained 7. He was indeed as Erasâ—â—us saith of St. Austin Viviâ—â—um quoddaÌ„ exemplar Episcopi omnibus virtutuÌ„ numeris absolutum And I wish all that have 〈◊〉 reverent opinion of him would show it in taking his spirit oâ— Moderation for their Copy Out of Dr. Bernard VIII Mr. JOHN HALES 1. MR Iohn Hales sometime Fellow of Mertoâ— Colledge Greek Professouâ— of the University of Oxford long Fellow of Eton Colledge and at last also Prebendary of Windsore was a man I think of as great a sharpnesse quicknesse and subtilty of Wit as ever this or perhaps any Nation bred 2. His industry did strive if 〈◊〉 were possible to equall the â—argeness of his capacity whereâ—y he became as great a Master 〈◊〉 polite various and universal â—earning as ever yet converst with Books 3. Proportionate to his Readâ—ng was his Meditation which â—urnished him with a judgement â—eyond the vulgar reach of â—an built upon unordinary Notions raised out of strange â—bservations and comprehenâ—ive thoughts within himself So that he really was a most proâ—igious example of an acute â—iercing Wit of a vast and illiâ—mited knowledge of a severe â—nd profound judgement 4. Yet had he never underâ—tood a Letter he had other Ornaments sufficient to endear him For he was of a nature as we ordinarily speak so kind so sweet so courting all mankind of an
upon himself 6. Upon his return to Oxford and admission to his Government they found no alteration by his long absence and more converse with the world but that he appeared yet more humble in his elder times and this not out of coldnesse and remission of Spirit but from a prudent choice experience of a better way He ruled in a most obliging maÌ„ner no man departed from him with a sad heart except they had by some willing errour created trouble to him The Friends as well as the Memory of his Predecessors he used fairly A lover and maker of peace silencing and composing all differences displeasures and animosities by a prudent impartiality and the example of his own sweet disposition It was a new and peculiar Art of Discipline but successefully practised by him that those under his Authourity were kept within bounds and order not so much out of fear of the penalty as out of love of the Governour He took notice of that which was good in the worst men and made that an occasion to commend them for the goods sake and living himself very strictly yet reserved large Pardons for imperfections of others 7. He willingly admitted and was much delighted in the acquaintance and familiarity of hopeful young Divines not despising their Youth but accounting them as Sons and Brethren encouraging and advising them what Books to read and with what holy preparations lending them sâ—ch Books as they had need of This was one of the special advices and directions which he commended to young men Quod dubit as nefeceris Heare the dictates of your own Conscience He was as diffusive of his knowledge counsel and advice as of any other his works of mercy 8. In all Histories of learned pious and devout men you shall scarcely meet with one that disdained the world more generously not out of ignorance of it as one brought up in Cells and darknesse for he was known and endeared to men of the most resplendent fortunes nor out of melancholy disposition for he was he was chearful and content in all estates but out of a due and deliberate scorn knowing the true value that is the vanity of it As preferments were heaped upon him without his suit or knowledge so there was nothing in his power to give which he was not ready and willing to part withall to the deserving or indigent man He knew it was a more blessed thing to give then to receive in all places of his abode distributing to the poor with a free heart a bountiful hand a comfortable speech and a chearful eye How disrespectful was he of Mammon the god of this world the golden image which Kings and Potentates have set up before whom the Trumpets play for war and slaughâ—er and Nations and Languages fall down and worship besides all other kind of Musick for jollity and delight to drown if it were possible the noise of bloud which is most audible and cryes loudest in the ears of the Almighty How easily could he cast that away for which others throw away their lives and salvation running headlong into the place of eternal skreekings weeping and gnashing of teeth If it were not for this spirit of Coveâ—ousnesse all the world would be at quiet Certainly although the nature of man be an apt soil for sin to flourish in yet if the love of money be the root of all evill it could not grow up in him because it had no root and if it be so hard for a rich man to enter into the Kingdome of God and the narrow way which leads unto life then he that stooped so low by humblenesse of minde and emptied himself so neerly by mercifulnesse to the poor must needs find an easier passage Doubtlesse they that say and do these things shew plainly that they seek another Countrey that is an Heavenly for if they had been mindful of This they might have taken opportunity to have used it more advantagiously 9. His Devotions towards God were assiduous and exemplary both in publick and private When he went the yearly progresse to view the Colledge Lands and came into the Tenants House it was his constant custome before any other businesse discourse or care of himself were he never so wet or weary to call for a retiring room to pour out his Soul unto God who led him safely in his Journey And this he did not out of any specious pretence of Holinesse to devour a Widows house with more Facility rack their Rents or enhance their Fines for excepting the constant Reuenue to the Founder to whom he was a strict accountant no man ever did more for them or lesse for himself 1. As he was alwayes a Reconciler of Differences in his private Government so he seriously lamented the publick breaches of the Kingdome He well knew that war was commonly attended with ruin and calamity especially to Church and Church-men But God took him from the evils to come It was a sufficient degree of punishment to him to foresee it it had been more then a thousand deaths unto him to have beheld it with his eyes When his death was approaching he was ever heard repeating to himself with a soft voice these and the like ejaculations I wait for the Lord c. Gratious is the Lord c. Return unto thy rest O my Soul c. And having thus spoken soon after he rendered up his Spirit to Him that gave it X. The LADY FALKLAND 1. THis elect Lady set out early in the wayes of God in the dawn of her age She came not from her Nurses armes without some knowledge of the Principles of Christian Religion 2. Her obedience to her Parents was so exact that her Mother would say She remembred not any one particular wherein at any time she disobeâ—ed her self or her Father 3. When she was very young she wrought a purse for her own Almes and would importunately begge her Mothers single money to fill it that she might empty it again to the poor 4. She was ost tims at a book in her closet when she was thought to be a bed Hours of private prayer she constantly observed and if strangers were in her own room she would retire into some other for that purpose 5. After her Marriage though she acknowledged Gods great goodnesse to her for her temporal preferments yet was not her heart any whit perceiv'd to be exalted with joy for them 6. Vpon the death of her Lord she addresses her self to a Divine of great eminency for piety and learning and from him she takes direction for a more strict course of life in this her widdowhood 7. Her grand employment was to understand and practice our Saviours Sermon in the Mount and she began with those virtues to which the beatitudes are annexed Humility Meeknesse c. 8. She excelled in mercifulnesse Some of her neighbours that were very old and not able to work or very young and not fit to work were wholly maintained by her To other poor Children she contributed much both for their spiritual and temporal well-being by erecting a School for them where they were to be taught both to read and to work And she accounted that the best contrivement of her estate which set most poor people to work 9. When it was objected that idle beggers were relieved at her doors she said I had rather relieve five unworthy vagrants then that one member of Christ should go empty away 10. She was wont to send plentiful relief privately to prisons and needy persons with a strict charge that it should not be known from whence it came And she failed not to relieve her enemies as oft as occasion required 11. She used to provide Cordials for the sick and to visit them her self even the poorest and carry with her some â—ook of spiritual exhortation and read to them 12. The morning and evening prayers of the Church were constantly used in her family and her servants charged to be present And on the Lords day she rose earlier then ordinary and enjoyned her self much private duty besides the publick 13. She had two Cautions for her Tongue Never to speak evill of any but onely to reclaim him and that her words should not be idle but tending to edification 14. She agreed with her familiar friends to take the liberty of reproving one another saying There is no true friendship without this If you suffer me to be undone for ever how are we friends FINIS
think them useful And 't was the mark of an excellent judicious Spirit that he valued me most for my greatest freedome in that particular even then when our Heads were most at enmity by their over great influence of his Fathers perswasion upon his own there still remained in both our Hearts a most inviolable Friendship He had impartially considered that sacred Aphorism That to refuse instructions is to despise ones own Soul 3. The manner of his departure did most remarkably resemble Sir Spencer Compton's a person so singularly qualified by grace and nature and education that however his extraction was highly noble I may confidently say it was the lowest thing in him who dyed at Bruges about the time wherein the man of our desires expir'd at Compton Never did I hear of a more heavenly Valediction to all the contentments of the earth then was given by these two at their dissolutions Never yet did I hear of any two farewells so much alike Never were any more admired by those that saw them whilest they were going or more desired when they were gone 4. As he deserves a noble Elegy so he needs none at all being one of whom I have seldome or never heard an ill word spoken And he was so much the lesse obnoxious to the dishonesty of the tongue because as far as his Quality would give him leave he ever delighted in that obscurity which most young Gentlemen are wont to shun For although his extraction was noble and his Fortune extreamly fair though his natural parts and abilities were truly great as well as greatly improved by art and industry yet still his modesty and his meeknesse were so much greater then all the rest that in a perfect contrariety to the vain glorious and hypocritical he ever turn'd his worst side outward 5. It was no doubt an effect of those two Virtues his Modesty and his meeknesse that he so constantly observed that precept of S. Iames For he if any man living was swift to hear but slow to speak And when he thought it his turn to speak it was rather much then in many words As the speech of Menelaus * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 describ'd by Homer so perfectly free were his Discourses from the fault of impertinencie or superfluity 6. So far was he from sitting down in the chair of the scornfull as too many of his Quality are wont to do nay so far from walking in the Counsels of the ungodly from the time that he found them to be such that he made it his care and chiefest caution in his later years more especially not so much as to stand in the way of sinners 7 He was a true Nathaniel an Israelite indeed in whom was no guile a right honest man which is a nobler title then right honourable though I may say very truly that he had many due titles of honour too For not to speak of his Ancestors who came in hither with the Conquest and that from the City Poâ—ton in France from whence they derive the name of Peyto I think it more for his honour to have been many wayes * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good viz. a good Husband and a good Father a a good Master and a good Friend a good Neighbour and a good Landlord a good Christian and a good Man And which is a sign of more goodnesse then all the rest he never thought he was good enough especially in the first and in the two last Particulars 8. He was so eminently sober that I believe he was never known to have sin'd against his own body in any kind so eminently righteous that he was in pain till he had rendered to every man his due Being so sober and so righteous he is inferred to have been Godly too For the most material part of Godlinesse is moral honesty nor was there any thing more conspicuous in the life of our blessed Lord. The second Table is the touchstone of our Obedience to the first 2. He enjoyed that Euthanasia that happy calmnesse of death which the Emperour Augustus was wont to pray for and that in both acceptions of the word For first however he was sick of a burning Fever yet without the least taint of deliration That knot of union betwixt his body and his soul was not violently broken but very leisurely untyed they having parted like two friends not by a rude falling out but a loving Farewell And secondly whereas two things make death terrible suddeÌ„ness and sin he was so armed against the first that he did not onely take care for the setting of his house in order but sent for the Divine to assist his devotion and farther told his Physitian that God had sent him his Summons And he used the help also of our Englissh Letany which prompts us to pray against suddain death which he commanded one of his servants to assist him with upon his death bed bestowing upon it when he had done a great deal of holy admiration 10. Again so well was he prepared against the second that for the tendernesse of his Conscience and his deep resentment of all his sins those of the times more especially in which he deplored his unhappinesse that he had had a share next for his hatred of himself in the remembrance of them and his stedfast resolutions of better life and of making ample satisfaction for every ill that he had done and last of all for his sollicitude that all his Family might live in the fear of God in all these respects I say he appears a more then ordinary Example 11. Marks of his sincerity were 1. That he lookt upon his failings as through a macroscope which made them seem nearer and very much greater then they were 'T was his own expression That all the sins of his former life did even kick in his very face warning all those who stood about his sick bed to beware of those sins which the world cals little and of the no-little sins which the world calls none yea of the least appearances and opportunities of sin 2. That he was not meerly a death bed penitent but began the great work in his time of health 3. That he insisted on the nature of true repentance which still importeth an amendment and reformation of life abhorring and deploring those desperate notions of repentance which the world is so coÌ„monly mistaken in 4. That after some Conflicts he had with the Ghostly enemy that so he might be happier in a Victorious then he could possibly have been in an untempted innocence God was pleas'd very signally to speak peace unto his Conscience and to give him a foretast of Glory 5. That he extended his care to the souls of others with as true a Charity as to his own exhorting one against the love of this world charging another to be watchfull against intemperance exciting a third unto frequent and servent prayer In general and in special he was by his precepts as well