Lastly in the name of the blessed God and the Son of God whose servant Minister and prophet this holy and learned Bishop was I am I say in the name of all these to return you deserved thanks that in the darkness and terror of these last and perillous times you were pleased to express the esteem and respect you had to the worth of this reverend person and the dignity of his Episcopall function Inviting him to such a kind and hospitable reception as was very acceptable and welcome to him because from persons of your worth And although considering his merit and quality you are so ingenuous as to think it was a kind condescention in him to be your honorary preacher yet he esteemed it as an honour and preferment to him And the more because super omnia vultus accessere boni he thought he saw in the serenity of all your countenances the propensity of your generous hearts and unfeined affections to him May you never want a Prophets reward Peroration and Comprecation may your love and respect to him be inscribed on the lasting monument of his great and pretious Name may his renowned memory outlast his mortal remaines which he desired to deposite among you in this Temple May his excellent example be to you and posterity as his presence was while yet alive a sacred charm against all sinful rude unchristian and unmanly debauchery also an incentive to piety learning vertue and true honour So will you never repent of the honour you did him at the last act of his life and in him you did it to your selves and your worthy Societies and in that to the whole Nation Expiating for your part the diminutions and indignities undeservedly cast upon this and other good Bishops by those that knew not how to use or value him and them not understanding at what distance themselves stood from the learned sacred and useful worth of such venerable men § If you please to add to your former favours while he lived among you this last of giving order and leave to adorn your Chappel with any Monument for him you need be at no more cost then to inscribe on a plain stone the name of BISHOP BROUNRIG This will make that stone Marble enough and your Chappel a Mausoleum It onely now remaines that we beg of God Supplictaion to God whose providence sets before us by such great examples of virtue and piety the possibility of being really and eminently good That he would please to give us grace to value and to follow them with high esteem chearful love and constant imitation that at length we may attaine to that crown of glory whither this holy man and others are gone before us non amissi sed praemissi as Cyprian speaks not lost but outstriping us as St. John did St. Peter to the Sepulcher of our Lord Jesus Christ who by dying for us hath suffered sanctified and sweetned death to all true beleivers To this blessed Saviour with the eternal Father and holy Spirit be everlasting glory Amen A good name is better then pretious ointment and the day of death then the day of ones birth Pro. 7.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. Or. 23. Ille and Deum honoratus satis ille opulentus satis adveniet cui adstabunt continentia misericordia patientia charitas fides super omnia Christus Lactant. l. 5. Inst ΕΠΙΤΑΦΙΟΠP. M. S. Augustius solito Virtutum exemplar Sitibi tuisque imitandum velis Mox Moriture Lector Subtus positas ne pigeat contemplari EXVVIAS RADOLPHI BRUNRICI S.T.D. IPSWICI peramaeni Icenorum oppidi Parentibus honestis Tantoque Filiobeatis orti Infantulum terrestri orbum coelestis teneriùs fovit Pater Piaque literaturâ penè ad miraculum imbutum Per omnes Academiarum gradus eductum Ad Aulae Catharinae praefecturam Ad saepius repetitam Procan Cantab. dignitatem Ad Exoniensis Episcopatus Honorem CAROLI Regis favore evexit Quem afflictissimum fidelitate inconoussa coluit Vir undique egregius Doctior an melior dubites Famâ per omnem aetatem immaculatâ immo splendida magnificâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 olim per biennium at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nec conjugii spretor nec coelibatui impar Severus ubique castitatis exactor Tam vultus quà m vitae majestate venerandus Quod enim vultu promisit optimum vitâ praestitit Tacita Sermonum urbana morum sanctitate non jucundus minus quà m utilis Supercilii non ficti non elati non efferi Humillima granditate cuncta gerens Credas nec conscio tantas cumulasse dotes Naturam prodigam benignamque gratiam Adeo omne tulit punctum idque levissima invidia In Concionibus sacris frequens dominator In disputationibus scholasticis semper Triumphator Barnabas idem Boanerges Tam pugno quà m palma nobilis Suavi terrore venerando amore ubique pollens Beatâ uberrimi ingenii facundiâ Honorum omnium votis expectationi nunquam non satisfecit Quadratus undique Deo Ecclesiae Sibi constans A mobili rotundâ aevi figurâ penitus abhorrens Scienter sapienter semper bonus Reformarae olim in Anglia Religionis priseae doctrinae Liturgiae Regiminis Ecclesiae integrae Contra Veteratores Novatores omnes aequanimus at acerrimus vindex Serò nimis pro temporum morbis remediis Episcopali sublimitate meritissimè auctum Bellorum et Schismatum late flagrantium incendia Optimum Antistitem una cum Coepiscopis omnibus viris ut plurimùm innoxiis eximiis Totâ ecclesiâ Rege Repub. mox deturbarunt Deturbatum facultatibus penè omnibus spoliârunt Jacturam ingenti ut decuit animo tulit de Sacrilegis non spoliis sollicitus Queis non minus carere quà m rectè uti didicerat Tandem ipsa obscuritate illustrior factus Generosae Templariorum Societatis amore allectus Concionatoris Honorarii munus ibidem suscepit Nec diu proh dolor sustinuit Quum enim Testamentum condiderat Quale primaevi solebant Episcopi Gratiarum in Deum Benignitatis in amicos Charitatis in omnes copia refertum Anno Aetatis Sexagesimo septimo Iniqui inquieti ingrati seculi mores Jamque merito recrudescentis belli minas Laetus fefellit Et ad meliorem Dominum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christiana plenus Optata 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beatus Libens migravit Decemb. 7. 1659. Haec verò venerandi Praesulis ramenta aurea Amplissmique viri parva compendia L. M. C. J. G. S. T. D. Magnalia ejus quae nec marmor breve Nec Tabula prolixa nec mens mortalis capiet Beatae Aeternitati Silentio consecranda 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ΕΠΙÎΙΚΙΟΠITe nunc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vestros recensete greges Multis Sectarum maculis variegata pecora Si quos inter vostros Gigantum fraterculos Vilis plebeculae vilia mancipia Pares similesve invenistis Heroas Primaevis nuperisque nostris Episcopis Usserium volo Mortonium Potterum Davenantium Hallum Prideaxium Westfeildium Winneffum Brunricum Alios meliori seculo fato dignos Extra irae invidiaeque vestrae aleam nunc positos Heu tandem pudibundi vobiscum recolite Aurea quae in ferrum mutastis seculaâ— quando Nec merita praemiis deerant nec praemia meritis Quantum à bellis à mendicitate à miseriis A rixis ab hodiernis vulgi ludibriis Tranquilla beata ista distabant tempora Quae molles nimis nec ferre nec frui potuistis Icti afflicti prostrati Phryges tandem sapite Deumque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Authorem Moribus Catholicis antiquis colite Ut quantum à Papae tyrannide plebis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 differat Primaeva paterna Episcoporum Praelatura Sine fuco sciant fruanturque posteri BRVNRICI memores Praesulis Angelici FINIS
these Jesuited enemies of the Reformed Religion and the true Interests of this Church and Nation whose work this hath been many years to make that vile saying of Campian good in his Decem Rationes Clero Anglicano nihil putidius Doubtless The necessaâ—y use of able and orderly Ministers a Church may better in the worst of times want any thing than good Bishops and orderly Ministers for these in the midst of persecution made Religion good against all the powers of men and Devils all the Armies of vain Philosophers Atheists Epicures Hereticks and Schismaticks Heathenish Princes and barbarous people when they made no more to baite Christians and their Ministers or Bishops to death than to kill Bears and other beasts in their Theaters yet being killed they conquered because united and orderly Christianity like a wedg the more driven home the more it splits all Idolatry and it self continued entire But when Pastors and people Bishops and Presbyters are divided when the whole order and Militia or Army is once disbanded or abased starved and despised the very soul is gone from the body the Sun from the firmament the maenia propugnacula forces and defences are taken away from the Frontiers and Garisons we may write Ichabod on all foreheads the glory is departed from our Israel for every good Bishop is as the spiritual Colonel of his Diocesan Regiment and every good Presbyter under him is as a Captain of his Parochial Company the first without the second will be weak and without assistance and the second without the first will be unruly for want of government together they are compleat § What wise and sober Christian doth not see by woful experience that since this late rout and disorder hath been made upon the chariots and horsemen of our Israel we have seen and heard and felt nothing but wars and rumors of wars scarce one good day of secure serenity without black and terrible clouds hanging over us as death full of blood faction fury discontent and mutual destruction little of peace nothing of charity as far from unity as uniformity in doctrine discipline and government § Nor have those mens chariots kept their own wheels very well on their axes but either driven very heavily or some of them into the read sea of blood who were most active to destroy or disband or disorder our spiritual Militia or Hierarchy and Ministry which was the most-able compleat well-appointed goodliest and gallantest in the Christian reformed world I might say without vain glory in the whole world Some defects and defaults some halts and extravagancies might be in particular persons but the order and the march and the ammunition and the maintenance were as to the main very worthy of the honor and wisdom and bounty and piety of this Nation and Church having as much of ability and courage and more of publique honor and encouragement than any where § Love must not yet despaire of this Church Nor do I yet despair of the wisdom honor piety and gratitude of this Church and State but they may in time return to see the prejudices mischiefs and miseries either felt or feared by the daily incursions as of all manner of errors and confusions in Religion so in civil and secular concernments which easily drive God knows whither to a thousand shipwracking and desperate dangers when once not only the anchors and cables of Religion are broken but the Pilots and Masters either cast over-board or kept under hatches and lost Nothing holds mens hearts so together even in a National peace and harmony as when they all meet in the same center of Religion and can all say Amen to the same prayers and praises of God Nor will any civil cautions coercions keep the publick peace or patch and soder it up when once the hearts and heads of men are cracked and broken in pieces as earthen pitchers by the mutual dashings against one another in differences of Religion where though men get no conquest or booty yet they are strangely pleased with a liberty and animosity only to contest just as Soldiers do in mutinies when they turn the reverence due to Commanders into impudence and insolency § But I have done with this Consideration of Eliahs publique eminency and influence which made him worthy of these appellations of honor and strength of safety and defence to Church and State The chariots and horsemen of Israel being only sorry that so many of my Countrymen seem also to have done with their spiritual Militia seeking so to reduce it as to make it a kinde of Nehustan to bring all Bishops and Ministers as wounded and maimed antiquated and exautorated Soldiers to their almes-houses and Hospitals of publick charity § Of Voluntiers Preachers and Souldiers that will serve gratis If we could maintain our secular Militia at the same rate as some propound for Ministers that every Soldier and Commander would be content with what men will give them it would very much ease the charge of the Nation But some will say there are that will preach gratis for nothing which is no more credible than that any Soldiers will watch and ward and attend their duty and fight for nothing they may do it for a fit of novelty as Voluntiers of a few days standing but they will not long stay by their colours either as Soldiers or Ministers if they must do it for nothing And if they will needs have the Ministerial order and spiritual Militia quite disbanded as chargeable and superfluous that every one may preach and officiate freely that list let them withal try the experiment in the secular Militia lay down their Arms and let every man fight that lists if they will not hearken in reason of State to this motion nor ought they in Religion to the other since men are naturally more prone to defend their Civil than Religious interests These Projectors know well enough that nothing publique is well done which is done occasionally and arbitrarily not as a duty of necessity and conscience but of variety and essay to which neither Ministers nor Soldiers work must be left unless we list to leave all things to Atheism and confusion The Apostle saith expresly 1 Cor. 9.16 A necessity is laid upon him and wo to him if he preach not the Gospel being appointed thereunto by God Acts 20.28 1 Pet. 1.3 and the order of the Church As Ministers are to take heed to the flock over which the Lord by the Church hath set them so others are to take heed what they do to these men so as to hinder or discourage them in so great a work on which the eternal safety and good of souls depends which none but Satan will hinder none but unbelieving Jews or false brethren deceitful workers and evil doers will oppose and seek to oppress Acts 19.24 by a mechanick kind of malice like that of Demetrius or Alexander 2 Tim 4.14 the one a
of this world not to his torment or consumption but to his honor and consummation This chariot and horses are sent for him as those Joseph sent to Jacob to bring him out of a land of famine Gen. 45.27 to a place of plenty Divine Omnipotence oft makes different use and ends of the same methods and things Same death but different fates of good and bad the death and departure of good and bad out of this world may seem and is most what the same as to the visible way and manner but vastly distant as to the last fate and end as the fool that is the wicked dieth saith Solomon so dies the wise that is the holy and good man there Eccles 2.15 16 is one end to them both by sword or plague or famine or sickness or prison or torment the fire of feavors and the fire of fagots consumes martyrs and malefactors Gods witnesses and the devils witches yet it shall be well with the righteous that fear before God Eccles 8.13 Luke 16. â—2 but not with the wicked Lazarus died and Dives died the one on the dunghil the other on his purple and imbroidered bed but the Angels carried Lazarus to Abrahams bosom to a refrigerating fire and the devils attend Dives as a malefactor to hell that is to a scorching and tormenting fire wicked men are swept as dung from the face of the earth by whatever death they die never so placid and pompous Iob 20.7 Mal. 3.17 without any horrors and pangs in their death but good men as Gods Jewels are made up and laid up in his best cabinet be their deaths never so horrid and painful Tares and wheat are both cut up by the same hand but the one to be cast into unquenchable fire Matth. 13.20 the other to be gathered into everlasting Mansions As the terrors of God and afflictions even to death it self in what way soever God orders our glorifying him Rom. 8.28 become blessings and work together for good to those that love God so to wicked men Psal 6â— â—2 their table is a snare their prosperity cumulates their misery the blessings they enjoy or rather abuse soure as sweet-meats in summer curses to one death is as the blastings of the breath of Gods anger to consume them the Lord is not in that fire which devours the ungodly save only in his power and vengeance which gives this cup of fire and brimstone to drink Ps 11.6 To the other it is as a gentle breath or sweet refreshing gale when God takes their souls to him as he did Moses's with a kiss as some Rabins interpret that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deut. 34.4 Moses died super os Domini at the word or upon the mouth of the Lord. This way of Gods providence to Eliah The Analogy of Eliah's departure to his life by fiery chariot and horses to take him out of the world to glory is remarkable for two things First The Analogy and proportion the Talio or recompence wherewith God testifies his approbation of Eliah's temper as to that high and heroick zeal which he ever shewed to the glory of God and true Religion he had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flagrantissimam animam a most flaming soul not to be quenched or damped in Gods causeâ— he was as a sacred Salamander impatient of any cold or lukewarm or halting or dough-baked constitution in Religion he had not onely wrought miraculous execution of Gods vengeance by fire 2 Kings 1. to chastise the military insolence of some but he had pleaded Gods cause against Baal and his Priests by fire which came down from heaven and decided the controversie whether the Lord or Baal was God a fire not to be obstructed 1 Kings 18.17 damped or quenched by all the effusion of water upon the Sacrifice and Altar giving hereby a reflexive character and commendation of the magisterial and irresistible and unquenchable zeal wherewith Eliah carried on the interests of God and Religion against all the terrors and threats of Ahab and Jezebel also against the ingrateful levities and Apostacies of the people of Israel many times God suits mens deaths to their lives and tempers as he did this milde but majestick Bishops such as are of meek and calme spirits oft die without any great pain sometimes without any yea I have been very credibly informed of one Mr. Lancaster a very milde grave and worthy Minister who died about twenty years past that there was so loud and sweet a consort of musick heard by him and those about him for above half an hour before he died that the good man owned it as a signal token of Gods indulgence to him thus to send for him and to sweeten his death by so heavenly an harmony with the close of which he gave up the ghost On the other side men of high choler of unmortified and unsanctified passions do not only give themselves much trouble in life but many times their deaths are full of no less terror than torment especially if they die in their vigor or before time and infirmity had much mortified and emaciated their natural strength and temper Secondly The honor done Eliah by this fiery convoy The manner of Eliah's departure by chariot and horses of fire was a notable instance of the great value and honor which God would set upon him as his Prophet of whom the world was not worthy and yet it thought him not worthy to live 1 Kings 18 18 Ahab the King hates him as a publick enemy and troubler of Israel Jezebel the Queen abhors him a woman implacably desperate the Court Parasites are all generally to the same tune except good Obadiah the common people as always are pleased with any liberty that lets them plough and sow buy and sell novelty and apostacy hating all men that are out of favour persecuted and unprosperous though never so pious On all sides good Eliah is driven to fly into wildernesses to prefer wilde beasts before vile men Quorum societas omni solitudine tristior whose society was more sad than any solitude yet this poor yet precious man 1 Kings 19.4 who was even weary of life and petitioned to dye out of a despondency of minde in desperate times God not onely sets miraculous marks of his favour upon him by frequent intercourse of Angels to him and by working wonders by him and for him while he lives thus persecuted and despised of men but he must not die an ordinary death either with that squallor pallor or pain which usually attends the sordidness of sickness and those languishings with which the souls of poor mortals usually take their leave of their bodies as prisoners do of their sad and nasty prison no such an extaordinary pomp and honor must be had at his vale and departure as shall declare him to all ages a man as high in Gods favour as Solomon was in Davids 1 Kâ—ngs 1.33
any Parents It was stoning to death Deut. 21.20 by which God would have the honor of the meanest Parents though poor and old weak and simple asserted against their sturdy and proud children while yet under their roof and discipline § Next these Princes and Magistrates have the name as of Gods and Lords so of Fathers Patres Patriae and of nursing Mothers after these the Priests and Prophets of old were called Fathers So the King of Israel returns the very same compellation to Elisha dying which he gives here to Eliah thus in the Gospel St. 1 Cor 4.15 Paul owns his merit so far though you have had many teachers or instructers yet not many Fathers for he had first begotten them to the faith by his preaching the Gospel to them so in the antient Christian-Churches though they had many Presbyters as Instructers or Consecrators yet the Bishops were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a special honor as Successors to the Apostles in paternal inspection and authority as begetting Sons to the Church by instruction and patres minores lesser Fathers or Presbyters by Ordination called Patres then also Patriarchs were Patres patrum which by way of gemination brought in the two first syllables Pa Pa not from the Syriack Abba transposed but from the first syllables of Pater and Patriarcha or Pater Patrum into the Church as before into the Imperial State from Pater Patriae to make up Papa which title the Bishop of Rome hath monopolized when of old it was given to other Patriarchs and Bishops § This is certain The duty as well as dâ—gnity implyed in the name Father God that communicates the name of Father to Magistrates in State or Pastors or Bishops in the Church doth withal teach and exact the duties imported in the name Father First Father in Magâ—stracy Both Governors in Church and State should delight rather in that exercise which is Paternal than despotical fatherly than imperious or Lordly much less tyrannick to remember they govern sons not slaves and for Gods glory not for their own profit pomp and pleasure their design and work must be to glorifie God and by doing good with a fatherly freedom and indulgence to deserve the love of others Although they cannot have it from ingrate and ungracious children yet they shall finde God a Father to them when they have carried themselves as Fathers to others Specially Church Governors which were of old in England Fathers in the ministry of the Church and in all Christian Churches Bishops as chief Fathers chosen by the Presbyters approved by the people and endowed with estate and civil honor by Christian Princes these as such must not in their greatest eminency affect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 5.3 to exercise dominion after the way of the secular sword and severity over Ministers or people but only as Fathers and Spiritual Lords for edification not destruction with gravity not austerity with meekness of wisdom not rigidness of passion yea and as to that civil Dominion which is consistent with spiritual jurisdiction when any are both Bishops and Soveraign Princes which may very well meet in one man for what hinders a Prince as George of Anhalt to be a Bishop or Preacher of his Gospel who is Prince and Priest of his Church here they must the more make the world to see they bear the double name of Father to their people such paternal Bishops we had heretofore in England and such indeed was this worthy Prelate and such Fathers we might have had still if that had not been fulfilled among us Filius ante diem c. some Sons are impatient not to antidate their Fathers death and destinies or longer to expect the reversion of their estates § It is true that double honor which the piety and munificence of Christian Princes and States had bestowed on Bishops as Fathers in chief and other Ministers of the same relation though a lower station in the Church both as to ample revenues and some secular jurisdiction or dignity to give them greater advantages to improve their spiritual and paternal authority more to the glory of God and the good of Christian people as to instruction protection and relief these ought not in any sort to leaven or overlay those condescending Graces and paternal tendernessse which are the greatest eminencies of any Church-man and which may with all pious industry humility charity and hospitality be maintained and exercised by them without any diminution of their civil dignity or ecclesiastical authority as was frequently evidenced by our learned religious hospitable charitable and honorable Bishops in England when they lived both as Lords and as Fathers governing and doing good § Of civil honour added the Fathers the Church So that it cannot be other than a most partial and sinister perverseness in men of evil eyes and envious hearts to fancy that no learning study devotion diligence and prudence in any Minister or Clergyman is capable to merit or enjoy either such honorable estates and salaries or such eminent places and dignities as Counsellors and Senators as Lords and Peers in Parliament to which we see many mens meer riches and worthless money or their lower abilities and industries in legal and civil affairs or their military hardiness and prowess may actually advance them yea and this in a civil intestine War where victory it self is sad and untriumphant yet we have lived to see many short-lived Gourd-Lords created in a chaos of times from very small principles or preexistency of birth estates breeding or worth and this in one day by a kinde of superfetation of honor and these to sit as right honorable ones in another House and to supply the vacant Seats of the antient Barons of England which were Peers in Parliament and consisted of Lords Spiritual and Temporal who had not either forfeited their honor or deserted their places and duties but were driven out by such power as they could not withstand § But not to touch that harsh string too hard we see the Bishops of England have had no great cause to envy those that cast them out as to that honor of having a place in Parliaments since from that time the Nation hath scarce enjoyed one good day nor themselves that fulness and freedom that honor and happiness which of old belonged to the majesty of English Parliaments § This is certain that the name of Lord did not as it ought not to make a venerable Bishop of the Church forget his former name and softer relation of a Father the first is now confined much to denote civil order and secular dignity but the second implies not only natural temporal and humane but spiritual divine and eternal endearments importing that plentitude of paternal love and goodness as is never to be exhausted scarce obstructed for what such unworthiness was ever in children which the benignity and bowels of a Father is not ready to forgive and
overcome yea and to deplore the justest miseries which fall upon them 2 Sam. 18.33 as David did his Son Absoloms death when by a most popular and prodigious rebellion he sought to take away both his Kingdom and his life Of Bishops as Fathers if not Lords § If we may not enjoy Bishops as Lords in the State I wish we might enjoy them as Fathers in the Church if they be truly venerable for their vertues and graces they will not much want honorable Titles nor that real love and value which all good Christians and ingenuous persons are more ambitious to pay to real worth and useful merits for Quis tam perditus ut dubitet Senecam praeferre Neroni Si libera dentur suffragia than to supercilious vanity empty formality and an idle kind of pompous luxury which are but the rust and excrements of hydropick and sick estates or of diseased and dwindling honors The eased and dwindling honors The name of Lord hath more of vulgar and secular pomp but the name of Father more of spiritual power and divine authority the first hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in Gods name or in Christs stead for the good of the Church § To wind up the thread of this discourse no doubt Elisha's humility and obsequiousness to Eliah was such as he would willingly have called him his Lord and Master as the Sons of the Prophets call him but he rather chose the name of My Father as more suitable to Eliahs comportment both to him and to all the Church of God First Because in this one name Magistrates and Ministers Princes Bishops Priests and Prophets were as in the fairest letter or print to read or learn their duty in their dignity and so to be more sollicitous to do what becomes them than to exact the respects of others which best follow where they are best deserved as water flows easiest when the channel is clearest and a little descendent or falling Paternum est docendi munus The Officers of Fathers c. the duty of Fathers is to teach and educate their children that they may be Fathers of souls as well as of bodies to feed and provide for to defend and protect to be bountiful and munificent to give good counsel and example which are the best pillars to bear up authority to reprove and correct yet with love and moderation having always an intercessor in their own brests Gen. 27.4 Lastly Father are to bless their children in the name of the Lord and to transmit or deliver that by their hands and mouths to their children which is truly Gods act and deed but these are to God as the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal is to the King the King grants but the other legally conveys or passeth the blessing § Secondly The duty of Sons Such Sons and Subjects in Church and State as well as nature that hope with Elisha to be the inheritors of their Fathers blessing and Gods by that means will from this name see their happiness in that divine indulgence which hath set over them in Church or State not Pharoahs and Nero's hard Masters and severe Lords but tender and compasvionate Fathers whose power and authority they will justly value rejoycing in the Fathers superiority and their own subjection humbly desiring and defending their paternal care benediction and comprecation for them and also dreading their sad imprecations or deserved curses for oft as Plato observes the divine hand sets to the seal and says fiat to Parental curses as well as blessings § As the lives of all Fathers natural civil and spiritual ought to be a Commentary on the name and a compendium of the divine goodness that every thing they do or say may have a relish and tincture or politure and guilding of this sacred sweet and divine name so ought inferiors to learn their duty also by it to reverence those for Gods sake who bear the Name and Office of Fathers in Church and State to love and honor them if worthy to pray for them and bear with them if bad and froward Vt parentum sic principum ferenda sunt ingenia saith Tacitus Parents are forbidden to provoke causelesly their children to wrath Eph. 6.4 much more ought children to avoid provoking their Parents rather wink at hide conceal excuse palliate and cover as Noah's more pious and blessed Sons did Cen. 9.23 a Fathers nakedness and infirmity as Constantine the Great professed he was ready to do the failing of any Bishop or Churchman Be not curious to be conscious to their faults nor forward to complain of them never reproach them rudely but intimate thy sense to them with respect and reverence We read of some parents by a barbarous superstition making their children pass through the fire to Moloch but we never read of children casting their parents alive into the fire as an acceptable sacrifice to any gods Had we all done our duties in England on all hands we had had I believe better dayes and not onely our tranquillity civil peace and plenty but our religious piety order and charity which are the life of our lives and the honor of all honors had been prolonged in the land of the living where now our neglect of duty as Fathers and Sons hath divided and destroyed us so far that like wretched children we cannot see the things which belong to our peace unless it be to avoid them much less can we peaceably and chearfully enjoy them they are for our sins and by our undutiful doings Luke 19.42 so hidden from our eyes § Of a Fatherly condition in Church and State How this penal and sad providence of God hath deprived us of our nursing Fathers in Church and State exposing us either to be Orphans and Fatherless vagabonds under no setled Orders or safe protection or else betraying us to such various strange and numerous Step-Fathers not fathers in Law but without all Law as have more of Lordly tyranny and Soldierly insolency by meer power than fatherly benignity or authority by any relation I leave it to wise men to judge and to God in time to teach us our errors and defects when our eyes are more open by another twenty years mutations miseries burdens exactions Wars terrors and confusions possibly we may with the Prodigal so arise from our husks and go to our Father and return to the duty we owe to God and man § If God had taken away the Fathers or Prophets of any people as Eliah to himself they had been excusable but for Sons to destroy and extirpate their deserving Fathers this seems to be not Turbo de coelo a whirlwind or fire from heaven but rather the effect of Turba gravis paci c. a fire and tempest from a lower region § I fear the end of our fatherless condition in Church and State will only turn at