as being such as may very easily be accommodated to our present business and may help us to meditations proper for this occasion For what is the death of Saints but their entrance into glory Every good man at his death ascends as really tho' not as visibly as Elijah and is made as certainly happy as he Their bodies indeed go down to the Grave and mingle again with the dust from whence they were taken so to remain till the happy hour of an indissoluble reunion to their souls shall consummate the bliss of which that better part had taken possession immediately after it was dislodged from the body the spirit springs upwards as soon as ever it feels it self free from the clog and weight that press'd it down the soul of every Saint mounts as swiftly towards Heaven as Elijah himself tho' carried up in a flaming Chariot with Horses of fire Therefore well and wisely has the Church chosen to celebrate the day of their death as the happiest and most memorable of their lives and such as better deserv'd to be accounted as it was stil'd their birth-day then that on which they were born into the world For then they truly begin to live when to us they die Whenas that which we commonly call our Birth is indeed but the first step we take in our advance to death There is a short passage between the womb and immortality call'd life but indeed it lies all along in the region of Death to which we are inrol'd subjects as soon as we enter on that path of mortality and are not a moment free from the malignant influences of his dominion till we are got to the end of it and have shelter'd our bodies in the Grave and our souls in the hands of him that gave them Then and not before are we freed from the imperfections and incumbrances of flesh and blood from all the hidden snares the silent and secret incroachments of Death who begins its approaches as soon as we begin to live for then he first finds us on his own ground and within his reach and instantly quarries upon his prey As soon as we were born we began to draw to our end And there is no standing still in this walk of Death for man that is born of a woman never continueth in one stay He that lives most healthfully dies daily In the midst of life we are in death and every moment ripens us for the Grave to which we are still posting as fast as the wings of time can carry us Our very health is a kind of sickness and whilst we seem to gather strength and lay up plenty of provision to prevent the ruine or decay of our frail nature we are really all that while but making further advances towards our latter end Death is at work as well as we In vain do we endeavour to intrench and fortifie against the assaults of that obstinate and unrelenting enemy An enemy it is that cannot fail of victory either by undermining or by storm by lingring consumptions or more acute and violent distempers Death will certainly demolish our strongest hold and easily reduce the tottering tabernacle which we possess and would still gladly defend to ruine and rubbish dust and ashes out of which it was first rear'd and to which according to its Makers doom it must return by an unavoidable dissolution But when we are once arriv'd at that period and have received the last blow of Death and happily pass'd the common Gate of Mortality we are no longer in its power For what is said of the Head is true of the members That being once dead they die no more Rom. 6. 9. death hath no more dominion over them That then is the blessed hour that compleatly delivers the sons of men who through fear of death were all their life time subject unto bondage It is at that fatal moment as it is call'd which seems to reduce us to the lowest most lamentable and helpless condition that the Righteous man first feels his shackles fall off and himself set free far out of the reach of the malice of Men or Devils For by dying he has overcome his last enemy which is death Strange victory But yet certain such almighty efficacy in it self and such a quickning influence on his members has the Death of our Head the Lord Christ who having first himself overcome it teaches and enables us to triumph in Death over Death it self 'T is true the victory is not in all respects compleat till we have destroy'd and spoil'd as well as vanquish'd this King of Terrors But that last Enemy cannot be so absolutely subdued till the last day when Death shall be swallowed up in victory that is finally and for ever so slain as never to revive for after that it shall be no more Then likewise shall the little victory of the grave be blasted and the poor remains we left behind us wrested out of the jaws of Death and restored to us But how Not worsted and worn as they were by course lodging in the dust and long captivity in the dark dungeons of the Earth but all fresh and new and wonderfully changed for the better That which was swon in corruption will be rais'd in incorruption It s dishonour will be turn'd into glory and its weakness into power of a natural body as we left it it will be rais'd and presented to us all over spiritual and heavenly The same indeed we had before For tho' it be most true 1 Cor. 15. 50. that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God that is as the Apostle immediately explains himself Corruption cannot inherit incorruption yet we know that this mortal must be quickned and have learn'd to believe the resurrection of the flesh Job 19. 26 27. and are assur'd that we our selves and not another for us in our flesh shall see God Even after worms have destroy'd our bodies It will therefore be the same I say and yet not that vile thing which once it was but chang'd and fashioned like unto his glorious body who was the first fruits of them that slept and who is the resurrection and the life Prudent therefore and pious is the Churches choice in celebrating the death under the notion of the nativity of such to whom the day of their death must needs be better then the day of their birth according to the observation of the Royal Preacher Eccles 7. 1. For then it is that they are born members of the Church Triumphant not only heirs but possessours of Eternal life For they shall not come into condemnation but are actually and properly pass'd from death unto life Their Saviour hath wip'd away all tears from their eyes Revel 21. 4. and to them there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain This alone is life properly so called in comparison of which that of this world which hath usurp'd the
Name is a very Death only that it continues longer is more vexatious and tormenting then Death it self Born indeed we are but unto trouble Job 5. 7. as the sparks fly upward Cares and fears tears and temptations doubts and disappointments distract the mind whilst the body which partakes in those agonies of the soul is also miserably subjected to racks and tortures of its own to pains and diseases that would be desperate and insupportable were they not as it were the earnest and Harbingers of Death which puts an end to all those tragical miseries of life And is not this a goodly thing for men to be so fond of as generally they are that is it self so great a disease that nothing but death can cure That therefore is often call'd for even by those who yet are much unprepar'd for such a remedy But how welcome then are or ought to be the approaches of Death stingless Such it is to those that die the death of the righteous as they all do to be sure that have liv'd their life which was well known and consider'd by the Holy Prelate whom I now commemorate Conscious to himself of a race happily run of talents well improv'd and a fight well fought with a clear conscience and an undisturb'd mind in a well grounded reliance on the Mercies and Merits of his Redeemer the Holy Man like just and devout Simeon or this very Elias in the Text humbly pray'd for his departure in my hearing as I kneeled by him tho' as I have reason to believe against his will as well as without his knowledge For He seem'd to mind nothing but his God his eyes then shut and his words whisper'd tho' both before and after he spoke strongly and aloud It was the only Prayer I ever heard him make to which I could not heartily say Amen I could have wished that He should still have walked before the Lord in the Land of the Living and therefore must confess was afraid He would be heard and that God would not deny him the request of his lips but would bestow Death upon him so pressing and importunate was his Prayer for He seemed to groan earnestly like St Paul 2 Cor. 5. 2. to have that his earthly Tabernacle dissolv'd and to be cloth'd upon with his house from heaven And yet were those breathings of his soul sent up to Heaven with that same Christian resignation and submission to the Divine will which so qualifies and recommends a Good mans Prayers that they cannot fail of a favourable audience and success Thus He whose Conversation had been so much in Heaven even whilst Himself was on Earth did in heart and mind thither ascend even before his soul could get loose from the troublesome embraces of the body And thus like Elijah He was not only carried but went up to Heaven That Holy Prophet gladly mounted up into his Heavenly Chariot leaving most willingly Elisha and the world below The whirlwind it self was not in more haste then He the Chariot and Horses and Fire could not move quicker and fly swifter then did his own ardent desires toward his everlasting bliss So did our dying Bishop joyfully part with all that He valued here on Earth and in a chariot of fire mounted unto the Heavens if I may be allowed so to stile the Feavour that snatch'd him from us But if that may seem too remote a Metaphor I know I can truly say that his soul still soared higher and higher in raptures of fervent and devout desires of being dissolv'd and being with God his exceeding great Reward This indeed was most like the fire in which Elijah ascended unto Heaven A fire that needed no fewel but the devout mind that kindled it A fire that burn't but consumed not Such a fire as warms and heats the Holy Angels themselves and kindles those Divine Ministers into a flaming fire And perhaps They were the Chariot and the Horses in the Text. Prompt and ready they are to execute all the commands of their great Maker and most cheerfully do those Triumphant spirits of Heaven fly down to succour and assist Holy men on Earth and promote the happiness of Militant Saints But Angels or clouds or whatever it was fiery it did appear a fit embleme of that Heroick Zeal that did so illustriously discover it self and shine forth in the life of that great Prophet A zeal for the honour of him that sent him like that which afterwards in a more Divine manner appear'd in our blessed Saviour of whom Elias himself was a type and in some sence a forerunner as well as the Baptist who came in his Spirit and Power A zeal it was that even consum'd him stuck nearer and closer to him then any earthly concern of his own A zeal that He durst own and stand to before the Searcher and Judge of hearts 1 Kings 19. 10 14. I have been very jealous saith He more then once for the Lord God of Hosts It vex'd his righteous soul to see the Apostacy of a whole nation as He reckon'd from God and all goodness The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant thrown down thine Altars and slain thy Prophets with the sword the desolation of the Church lay heavy on the Good man's heart For Ahab walked in the sins of Jeroboam 1 Kings 12. 28 c. who for fear the heart of the people should turn again to their Lord the king of Judah that he might secure his usurpation and establish himself thought it necessary to invade the Religion as well as the Government of the Nation And so he sets up Gods of his own and made Priests of the lowest of the people such as were not of the sons of Levi and therefore having no lawfull Ordination uncapable to succeed in the holy Function Verse 33. and he ordained Feasts and made Sacrifices according to his own fancy even as he had devised in his own heart Ecclus 48. 1. Then stood up Elias the prophet as fire and his word burnt like a lamp as it is express'd by the son of Sirach Even then when there was not a man on Earth to second him did he couragiously keep his ground assert the Church and its cause and made stout and vehement protestations against the Schism and all their unreasonable and irreligious Innovations Full of God and the Commission that He had from Him He put himself in the gap withstood the torrent of Apostacy that had overrun the land boldly rebuk'd vice and called often and aloud both to Prince and People to return to God and his Holy Church The haughty and bloody Jezebel with all her cruel instruments and the many hundred Prophets of Baal and of the groves that did eat at her table could not persuade or fright him from his integrity still the holy fire was kept alive in his religious breast and flam'd brightly out on all occasions into acts of devotion and zealous undertakings for the
Christ also hath loved us And St Peter when He was to recommend the most difficult duty even suffering patiently tho' wrongfully and for doing well found it necessary to have recourse to Example rather than precept And whether should He go for that but to him who taught both by his Life and Death Even to our Saviour Christ 1 Pet. 2. 20. who saith He suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps And this practice of our Saviour is an awfull Precept to all his followers but especially to those whom He sent as his Father sent Him that they in like manner should not be only Teachers but Doers of his will that so they may more happily confirm and propagate their Doctrine by their Practices according to the Example of their Lord and Master They that do otherwise whatever they say are rather Enemies than Friends do really more oppose than promote the Cause they would seem to own St Paul warneth the Philippians to mark Phil. 3. 17. that is to emulate and imitate those that walk'd after such an Example as He had given but to apprehend of others as the enemies of the Cross of Christ That great Apostle had often denied himself innocent and lawfull Liberties that He might the more effectually gain others to the performance of necessary duties Not because we have not power says He to the Thessalonians but to make our selves an example unto you to follow us 2 Thes 3. 9. And therefore not to them alone did He come in more then Word only as he expresseth it in his first Epistle to them but others and on other occasions He frequently provokes to follow his Example to be followers of him 1 Thes 1. 5. to be followers together of him Using frequently other exhortations of the same kind Great pains did He take and much watching and mortification did He use and undergo lest that by any means 1 Cor. 9. 27. when He had preach'd to others He himself should be a cast-away After such Authorities as these I need not tell you that a good Life is the main Ingredient or the Grand Qualification which the Philosopher requires in him that sets up for a Teacher and for this reason because it is not the discourse but the opinion the Auditory has of him that speaks that instructs and edifies those that hear him Such indeed are the most of men They will not lead but follow You cannot perswade them even to happiness or Heaven unless you go before them It cannot be denied but that this is their fault and folly They are not so willfull and blind in Temporal concerns But when you advise them to quit present and palpable for future and invisible advantages and satisfactions they require encouragement from your own Example for so doing If they observe their Teacher to do otherwise himself then He would perswade them they are apt to suspect or pretend that his Doctrine is impracticable or doubtfull or that some design forgery collusion some dishonest artifice and practice is in hand and ready to be impos'd upon them But our blessed Saviour who himself took such care to inforce his Doctrine by his example forgot not for all that to condemn this madness of the people and to cure or prevent it if possible for the future by commanding obedience even to the Scribes and Pharisees as being the appointed publick Guides and Doctours of the Law And yet in the same breath He took care to caution against the contagion of their bad example The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat Matt. 23. 2 3. All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do but do not you after their works for they say and do not So that it will prove but a bad plea at the last dreadfull Tribunal and a worse comfort after the Sentence of condemnation for any to say that they would have done better had they seen their Teacher do so and that they chose to go out of the way for his good company tho' they had all the reason in the world to believe and He himself told them that they trod the paths of death and that the end of that road was ruine But since it is so that the Holy Life of the Teacher is the Life of his Doctrine and that He is the most successfull Instructour that preaches by his good Example The great Prophet in the Text and the great Prelate of whom I speak do from hence derive another good plea to the meaning of the Phrase in the Text and may justly be esteemed to have been in their generations chariots and horsemen as that signifies Strength and Defence unto the Church and Commonwealth to which they did belong If the lips of the Priest are to keep knowledge If the Teachers be also on that account the Guardians of our Faith If sound Doctrine be the shield and buckler the Spiritual Safeguard and Protection of Religion and consequently of the people that profess it and the dispensers of it be therefore themselves Chariots and horsemen when the virtue of a good Example Holiness of life upright and unblameable Conversation shall be join'd to their other Excellencies a great Strength and Ornament will thereby be added to them and being now thus compleatly arm'd safe and invulnerable all over they will appear still more redoubted and accomplish'd Champions and so further qualified for that honourable compellation in the Text. This is that which helps to put to shame the Adversaries of the Church and as such it is recommended by an Apostle to a Bishop by St Paul to Titus Tit. 2. 7. that to the incorruptness of his Doctrine He should be sure to add that of his own Example In all things saith He shewing thy self a pattern of good works that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed having no evil thing to say of you A great victory easily obtain'd If we run not upon the Enemies weapons they will either cast them away or turn them upon themselves Verse 8. Sound speech that cannot be condemned as the Apostle there expresseth it and a suitable practice must needs either convince or confound the Gainsayers They will sure be silenc'd if they are not satisfi'd which last another Apostle hopes well from the influence of a good Example which He enjoyns on this very consideration 1 Pet. 3. 1 2. That if any obey not the word they also may without the Word be won over whilst they behold such chaste conversation coupled with fear There are those that desire occasion 2 Cor. 11. 12. as St Paul tells us in one place 1 Tim. 5. 14. therefore we must be sure to give the Adversary no occasion to speak reproachfully as He admonisheth in another Very busie are the Enemies of Religion always endeavouring to discountenance and undermine the Professours of it This is the way to countermine those deceitfull workers to
would have done But I must hasten to an end As for his Common converse it was pleasant affable and courteous and yet still grave and highly becoming his Sacred Character That doubtfulness and fear which his Venerable Presence his high Station and Quality together with his great and just Renown did frequently produce in strangers at their first approach was by the easiness of the access they met with by his humble and courteous deportment and all-obliging affability and condescension soon converted into perfect Delight and Love So sweet and heavenly a temperament there was in him of Greatness and Goodness of Meekness and Majesty of Gravity and Courtesie of every thing indeed that is amiable and Reverend that it was impossible to know him well and not to Honour and Delight in him Something like this has perhaps been fancied in many but the whole Character was hardly ever more truly applied to any then to this Bishop If ever that which we call Good nature did abound in any man it did in him but so refin'd beautified and set off by Religion that surely it scarce ever shin'd with more lustre and loveliness in any then in our Prelate Even they that went from him disappointed of their hopes which none did that had not unreasonably entertain'd them could never find in their hearts to be displeas'd with him So much reason did He always give for his denial such kind pains would He take to satisfie the Petitioner tho' He could not grant his request so loath was He to dismiss him from his presence till He had scatter'd all signs of discontent if any did arise from his countenance That it was evident the Good Prelate was more troubled that He could not give then the other that he did not receive The subject of his discourse as far as Decenty and Company would allow was generally about matters of Religion and Learning It was his great business to be doing or receiving good considering that so employed He was most acceptable to that One Master whose service He had chosen He gladly put all that came near him upon discourses of things of which they were most likely and able to give the best account which was the most probable way to oblige them and benefit himself Tho' for the most part Those who He seem'd to hear and confer with for his own instruction He really taught and sent away better informed in the very things wherein they thought themselves to excell Never was that Apostolical qualification of a Bishop's being apt to teach more eminently present then in him Whether we consider the word as it signifies ability or else inclination to instruct and edifie others Of the first I have discoursed already The other is as famously known as that Some greatly Learned men have been noted to be very reserv'd in conversation as if they envy'd or grudg'd the world or at least their company the riches of their discourse That they could seldom be perswaded to deliver their judgements or that when they did it was in so dark and perplex't a manner that it edified but little Much further were they from freely giving the reasons of their opinion and submitting them to the debate and examination of others But it was quite otherwise with the Bishop He was as an open fountain free plentifull and communicative Always asking and answering questions in all parts of Learning but especially such as might conduce to the clearing of obscure places of Scripture or the confirming some Doctrine or Article of Faith or some other Theological Verity For that was the end of all his Studies To this He directed all his endeavours and well understood how to keep and use other Arts and Soiences in due subordination and subserviency to the study of Divine matters to the knowledge of God and his own duty for which He knew He was born and which He desir'd and valued above all other acquisitions in the world This eager bent of his heart fram'd and season'd all his conversation giving it the tincture of his inward thoughts so that it plainly appear'd out of what abundance it was that his mouth spake In my Text it is observ'd that the chariot and horses of fire appear'd whilst the two Prophets walk'd and talk'd together Some will be guessing at the particulars of their discourse But whether we consider the men the occasion or that part of the conference which is recorded we have reason to conclude that it was all holy and good relating either to Gods honour on Earth or the now approaching felicity of Elijah in a better place But sure I am that our Holy Prelate was almost constantly speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God It was the language of his Life and Health of his hail and Youthfull days as well as of his Old Age and the bed of sickness and death And truly in all other Religious respects as well as this his Death was but like his Life his latter end exactly conformable to his more early days I could not observe of him as Pliny from his friend Nuper me cujusdam amici languor admonuit optimos esse nos dum infirmi sumus Plin. Ep. 26. lib. 7. did of all men that He was best in sickness A pious disposition of mind express'd by a constant uniform Tenour of Holy and Devout Practice had been very visible through the whole course of his Life and it accompanied him to the last He had no new promises and professions of Reformation to make Tales esse sani perseveremus quales nos futuros profitemur infirmi ibid. as the same Authour in that same Epistle intimates and common experience shews to be the custom of men on the bed of sickness He had liv'd so as He would be contented to die and all the usual or necessary business of the sick bed Repentance Mortification and Holy Vows had been the happy Work of his strongest and healthfull days By a Religious use of those frequent Communions which to his everlasting Praise this Holy Bishop establish'd or practis'd weekly in all places where He liv'd and which were subject to his Jurisdiction He had nourish'd and encreas'd in his Bosome a watchfull and wary disposition of mind that kept him perpetually upon his Guard his Saviours Death and his own being always so before his eyes that He could not easily be surpriz'd by the most hasty summons to leave the world Indeed his whole Life was in a manner a perpetual Fast and Mortification and so a good preparation for Death Plenty of all things flowed round about him but for the use of others rather then himself His study and his business was his meat and drink for of any other He had as little regard and made as little use as was well possible to flesh and blood He that had writ so irrefragably for the Fasts of the Church kept them as rigidly himself But that suffic'd him not He oblig'd himself to so
imitated by it the most Apostolick and truly Catholick Constitution that did arise from it and all the happy Advantages that were obtained by that blessed undertaking to which we owe as our Bishop with much thankfullness and comfort was wont to acknowledge and avouch that at this day by a singular felicity we enjoy the envied Communion of a Church the most exactly conformable to the Primitive and purest of any other Christian Society upon Earth On the other side He knew as well how most effectually to expose the Uncatholick impositions and Anathema's of the Romish Church and to shew plainly how unlike She is become to Her First Self how prodigiously deform'd and overgrown with monstrous Innovations in Doctrine and Discipline how unchristian in Her Usurpation and in Her Tyranny insupportable To explain and maintain such Truths as these was the business of the Bishop's study spent a great deal of his Time and was some part of his daily work even to the last But all this could not secure the Good Man from the malicious and impudent Calumnies and Railing of such as were Enemies to Him because they were so to Religion and the Publick The most Heavenly Innocence is not Antidote sufficient against the venome of the Tongue that is it cannot prevent the malignant assaults of a Serpentine brood of people that will be vomiting out poison tho' they cannot hurt Malice will be gnawing at the most entire and solid Virtue which tho' it be impenetrable armour and a sure defence yet is it still the Envy and Aime of those men Psal 57. 4. whose teeth are spears and arrows and their Tongue a sharp sword All the Zealous endeavours I say of our Learned Bishop against the Romanists and his many Victories and Successes in that Cause could not hinder as doubtless you remember and not without much indignation at the very thought of it but that the Faction voted and reported this unwearied Champion of the English Church a very Papist But it was at a time indeed when it seemed very behoofull for their purposes that the best Subjects and the best Churchmen should be so reputed And accordingly it was in such good company that the Bishop suffer'd For almost all the Loyal Nobility Clergy and Gentry fell under the same injurious imputation But all that popular Madness and Malice did but serve to exercise and Illustrate new Graces in our Holy Prelate and bring still further into the light the more hidden and undiscover'd Beauties of his soul By this means it did appear how smoothly and evenly He could go through or lie under good and evil report and how perfectly He had learn'd from the Apostle both to labour and suffer reproach 1 Tim. 4. 10. All their tumult and noise was not able to discompose the sweet calmness and serenity of his mind which the inward testimony and applause of his own Conscience had made sure and perpetual to him The slanders and clamours of people against him could not rise higher and louder then his Wishes and Prayers for them He bless'd as fast as they could curse And when the rage of the Rabble began to swell high and at last became threatning and dangerous yet was He not then concern'd for any interest of his own so much were his thoughts possess'd with the generous apprehensions He had for those miserable people themselves and the fatal Mischiefs which their unbridled Fury might bring upon the Government and the Publick But I have done The time will not admit of any more I must leave both the Death-bed and the Grave of this Great Man And I am e'ne glad that I am to procede no further You could bear it seems with the prolixness of my Discourse whilst I was speaking of his Life but may not perhaps so well endure the galling of your Memories with sad Reflexions upon his Death Elisha himself could not look on with Patience when Elijah was parted from him tho He saw him ascending into Heaven Nor can you I dare say reflect upon the last Hours of your late Bishop's Life tho' they were the last of his labours too without troubled and sorrowfull hearts For it is to your almost irreparable Loss tho' to his unspeakable Advantage that He was taken from you To conclude therefore Let Virtue have its perfect work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. Peric that effect I mean upon you which the Moralist tells us is natural unto it that is to dispose men not only to Praise or Admire things well done but likewise to imitate the doers of them I dare say this Holy Bishops memory is precious to you and you would do it Honour Then use your best endeavours to practice his Doctrine and imitate his Virtues Recollect some atleast of the many Divine Precepts and Rules He has often with so much Religious vehemence deliver'd explain'd and press'd upon you from this place and make conscience to put in practice those his Pious Admonitions which you know the Holy Bishop recommended both by Word and Deed. This as it will best express your esteem of him by testifying your value of his Advice and your confidence in his Abilities and Integrity So will it likewise speak your care and kindness for your selves Such practice made your Bishop Famous and Honourable here and has rais'd him without doubt to a very high degree of Glory in another world The same means will produce the same happy effects for you that they did for him Imitate I say his Excellencies all of you in your several Stations as far as they are imitable by you and persevere in well doing And then you will not fail to be made partakers of those inestimable Rewards of Glory and Immortality which God hath laid up for them who diligently seek him which that we may all endeavour faithfully and constantly God of his infinite mercy grant to whom be glory and honour and praise now and for evermore Amen THE END