in his conversation His discourse was commonly of Useful things it never caused trouble or weariness to the Hearer Yet he would venture to displease one for his good and indeed he was the man that ever I knew for that most needful and least practised point of Friendship He would not spare to give seasonable reproof and wholesome advice when he saw occasion I never knew any that would do it so freely and that knew how to manage that freedom of speech so inoffensively It was his way of Friendship not so much to Oblige men as to do them good He did this not slightly and superficially but like one that made it his Business He durst do for his friend any thing that was Honest and no more He would undertake nothing but what well became him and then he was unwearied till he had effected it As he concerned himself for his friend in all other respects so especially in that which went nearest to him of all earthly concernments He would not suffer any blot to be thrown or to ly upon his friends good name or his Memory And that Office I am obliged to Requite in giving some account of that which has been spoken by some to his disadvantage I shall neglect for he did so any frivolous reports but that which seems to have any weight in it as far as I have observed is that he had not that zeal for the Church that they would seem to have that object this He seemed to look upon the Dissenters with too much favour to their persons and ways As to the persons No doubt that goodness of Nature that true Christian principle which made him willing to think well of all men and to do good or at least no hurt to any might and ought to extend it self to them among others But besides he was inclined to it by his education under his Grandfather Mr. Dod a truly pious learned man who yet was a Dissenter himself in some things Not that he had any delight in contradiction or could find in his heart to disturb the peace of the Church for those matters He was so far from it that as I have frequently heard from this his Grandchild and others when some thought their dissents ground enough for a War he declared himself against it and confirmed others in their Allegiance he profest to the last a just hatred of that Horrid Rebellion Now his Relation to this man and conversation with those of his Principles might incline him to hope the like of others of that way And when he found them farther off from the unity of the Church he might possibly overdo through the vehemence of his desire to bring them off of their Prejudices and to reduce them to the Unity of the Church in which his Grandfather lived and dyed Why might he not hope the same of other Dissenters As for himself he was so far from Approving their ways that in the worst of times when one here present bewailed to him the Calamities of the Church and declared his Obedience even then to the Laws of it He incouraged him in it he desired his friendship and protected both him and many others by an interest that he had gained and made use of chiefly for such purposes How he demeaned himself then is known in both Universities where he governed with praise and left a very grateful Remembrance behind him How in the next times since I cannot speak in a better Place And when I have named this City and the two Universities I think he could not be placed in a better light in this Nation There were enough that could judge and he did not use to disguise himself I appeal to you that conversed with him in those days What zeal he hath exprest for the Faith and for the unity of the Church How he stood up in defence of the Order and Government How he hath asserted the Liturgy and the Rites of it He conformed himself to every thing that was commanded Beyond which for any man to be vehement in little and unnecessary things whether for or against them he could not but dislike and as his free manner was he hath oft been heard to call it Fanaticalness How this might be misrepresented I know not or how his design of comprehension might be understood Sure I am that since he came into the Government of the Church to which he was called in his Absence He so well became the Order that it out-did the expectation of all that did not very well know him He filled his place with a Goodness answerable to the rest of his life and with a Prudence above it considering the two extreams which were no where so much as in his Diocess Though he was as before very tender to those that differed from him yet he was as before exactly conformable himself and brought others to Conformity some Eminent men in his Diocese He endeavoured to bring in all that came within his reach and might have had great success if God had pleased to continue him But having given full proof of his Intentions and desires it pleased God to reserve the fruit for other hands from which we have great cause to expect much good to the Church He was in perfect Health in all other respects when a known Infirmity from an unknown cause that had been easier to cure than it was to discover stole upon him and soon became Incurable He was for many days in a prospect of Death which he saw as it approached and felt it come on by degrees Some days before he died he found within himself as he often said a Sentence of Death In all this time first of Pain then of dreadful Apprehension At last in the presence of Death Who ever saw him dismaid Who ever found him surprized or head a word from him unbecoming a wise man and a true Christian It was my Infelilicity to be so engaged that I could not duly attend him and so deceived with vain hopes that I believed him not dying till he was dead But at the times I was with him I saw great cause to admire his Faith towards God his zeal for his Church his Constancy of mind his Contempt of the World and his Chearful hopes of Eternity I have heard much more upon these heads from those that were with him Some of you may have heard other things from other men It hath been the way of our Adversaries to entitle themselves to dying men even those whose whole life was a Testimony against them Thus after the Death of our Famous Jewel the Papists were pleased to say he dyed of their Religion Militiere hath ventured to Insinuate the same of our late King of blessed glorious memory Mens tongues and pens are their own But lest they should abuse them and you and the Memory of this worthy Prelate as they have abus'd others Though nothing needs to be said to such Groundless Calumnies I declare and that upon most certain grounds That he died in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Communion of the Church of England as it is by Law established He died only too soon for the Church and for his Friends But for Himself he had lived long enough He has liv'd long enough that dies well For whatsoever he wants of that which we call time it is added though it adds nothing to Eternity As for us that are now to try how we can bear the want of those many blessings we enjoyed in him What shall we say We must submit to the Will of God Our Comfort is that we shall follow and come together again in due Time Till when Farewel pious and virtuous Soul Farewel great and excellent man Farewel worthy Prelate and faithful Friend We have thy Memory and Example Thou hast our Praises and our Tears While thy Memory lives in our Breasts may thy Example be fruitful in our Lives That our Meeting again may be in Joy unspeakable when God shall have wiped away all Tears from our eyes FINIS
shall remember them and he commands that we should do it especially for good Bishops departed this life Our remembrance of them doth not differ in kind but in degree from what we ow to the memory of others 'T is a duty we are to pay them above others In our Thoughts In our Affections In our Words and In our Actions and Lives First in our Thoughts 't is not a simple Remembrance that God requires for that being an act of the sensitive soul as I conceive doth not directly fall under precept For it is not in our power to remember or forget either what or when we please But it is in our power to do those acts which conduce to the exciting or to the helping of our memory This is that which God requires at our hands that we should endeavour to turn our minds towards such objects and contemplate in them the gifts and graces of God that as oft as we think of them we should acknowledge that good which was in them and which we have received by their means That we should pay them that honorable esteem which we ow to our spiritual Parents and Benefactors If we think of them heartily in this manner it will work something upon our Affections We cannot but be sensible of the want of such men and therefore grieved for our loss when they are taken from us as the Asian Bishops were at those words of S. Paul when he said they should see his face no more Though God intend it for their gain whom he takes to himself and he takes them in that time which suits best with their Circumstances Yet even then we have cause to grieve for our selves and for the Church who are deprived of the presence and use of such men How much more when for ought we know they are taken away for our sins When for ought we know it was because the age was not worthy of them For ought we know 't is in order to some judgement of God which will come the sooner when they are gone when we have filled up the measure of our Iniquities When Elijah was taken away in a very evil age Elisha cryed out O my Father my Father the Chariots and horse-men of Israel What will become of Israel now thou art gone We dare not think so highly of any one man We have no such cause to despond of our Nation When it is bad we are to do our parts to make it better to pray that God would send more Labourers into his Harvest that he would double his gifts and blessings on those that are Left And for those we have Lost we must Resign them to God both acknowledging his bounty in giving them to us and submitting to his will in taking them to himself So S. Bernard on the death of his Brother Gerard Lord says he thou hast given and thou hast taken away though we grieve that thou hast taken away yet we cannot forget that thou didst give him Yea we ow not only submission to God but Thankfulness too for their sakes who are delivered by this means from so great and such manifold evils as continually hover about us in this life From sickness and pain from labour and danger from sorrow and fear and care and what not being delivered from Sin which is the Cause and from that Flesh which is the Center of all this They are past all evils else that have overcome Death They leave sorrow to us who call our selves the living their life the only true life is Immutable Joy eternal Rest Peace and Felicity Which if we seriously believe if we desire to be with them we cannot Sorrow for our loss without Joy for their gain and thanksgiving on their behalf to that good God who hath given them the Victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. But thus much we ow upon the death of every true Christian though of never so mean a rank and condition We are to be Thankful to God for his mercies and to profess it as we are taught in the Offices of our Church which have the same words of burial for the meanest of our communion as for those that are highest in their Graces and Gifts But there is a Remembrance in Words that is due to these and not to the other namely the due praise of those their excellent Graces and Gifts which though they have not of themselves but through the bounty and liberality of God who is therefore to be chiefly respected and glorified in all the praise that we give to his creatures Yet since he is pleased to do them this honour above others and to make choice of them whom he so dignifies We are bound to allow it them we are to follow Gods choice to give them praise whom he hath so qualified for it Only with this care that we do it truly not to flatter the dead and profitably for the example and imitation of the living We have so much reason to do this that they who had only reason to guide them the Gentiles upon the death of any eminent persons had Orations made publickly in their praise The Jews without any particular Law for it had honour done to the Memory of Worthy persons at their Funerals 2 Chron. 32. ult The Rites of it are partly described 2 Chron. 16. 14. They laid their dead in a bed full of the richest perfumes which also were publickly burnt at the Interment To which I conceive the Preacher alludes Eccles. 7. 1. where he says A good name is better than precious oyntment and the day of ones death than the day of ones birth When one cometh into the World none knows how he may prove if he do well in it he goes out with this Publick testimony After which the Jews never mentioned such persons without a blessing on their memory But above all others the Primitive Christians were very observant this way They saw it was the will of their Lord and Master that the good work which was done upon him by Mary should be kept in perpetual memory and is therefore recorded in the Gospel They saw how the works of Dorcas were shewn at her death the Coats and Garments which she made for the poor They saw what need there was of great Incentives in those days when Christianity was a most dangerous Profession It is of no small force to make men love a Religion when they see it infuses excellent Principles that it excites so suitable practises that it is proof against suffering and death And the experience of that power it hath in some provokes and animates others to the same Upon these and the like considerations and perhaps with allusion to that Text where S. John is said to have seen the souls of the Martyrs under the Altar They had their Memorias Martyrum their places of Worship where they placed the Altars over the bodies of their Martyrs What with any intention to worship the Martyrs It was so suggested by the
Adversaries and as vehemently denied by the Christians of those times By those of Smyrna in the undoubted acts of Polycarpus We cannot say they worship any other than Christ We love the Martyrs as being followers of Christ We celebrate the days of their passions with Ioy We do it both in remembrance of those Champions of God and to train up and prepare others for the like conflicts Besides this which was peculiar to the Martyrs they had a lower degree of remembrance for Bishops and Confessors and all other eminent persons departed this life whom they not only praised in Orations at their Funerals but writ their names in their Diptychs or two-leaved Records which contained in one page all the names of the Living in the other the Dead that were of note in the Church All these were recited in the Communion Service Where as the Living for themselves so far the Dead came their Friends and gave Oblations and Alms Which before they were distributed among the poor were first offered up to God in a prayer like that which we use for the Church Militant here on Earth These Doles were their only Sacrifices for the dead Only Alms to the poor with which sacrifices God is well pleased And their prayers were not for any deliverance from pains unless the Patriarchs and Prophets and the Apostles and Virgin Mother of Christ were in the same pains too and needed the same Deliverance For they were all mentioned alike and together as it is to be seen in the ancientest Liturgies Among all these Innocent Offices and Rites of the Primitive Christians was there any thing of prayer for souls in Purgatory Was there any thing of prayer to Saints departed this life Was there any foundation for those superstitious Observances Of adoring their Relics of Prostration to their Images of Pilgrimage to their Shrines of making Vows of saying Masses of offering to them and the like The Papists say there was they plead the practice of the Church for it they wrest places of Scripture to their Purpose Nay the Rhemists and others alledge this very Text without which I should not have mention'd them at this time But as the Learnedst men among themselves have been so just not to charge this upon my Text and some of them confess they have no ground for these things in any one Text of Canonical Scripture So they would do us but right to acknowledge that none of these things was practis'd for some hundreds of years after Christianity came into the world In those Primitive times all their Offices for the Dead were either to give Testimony of that Faith in which they died and that death had not dissolv'd their Communion with the Living or they were to bless God for their holy Life and happy Death or to Pray to him not for their deliverance from Purgatory of which there was no Faith in those times but for the Increase of that Good which they believ'd them to be possest of already or for the Atteinment of that farther good which they thought they were sure of namely for their speedy and happy Resurrection for their perfect discharge at the day of Judgement for the Consummation of their bliss with their own in the Kingdom of Glory Not to say how the Fathers differ among themselves in these particulars or how many of these particulars are omitted in the Roman Church as well as ours it is enough that here is nothing makes for them but much against those their Errors and Corruptions All that is agreed on all hands or that we find in the Practise of the first Ages being sufficiently contein'd in those Offices of our Church in the prayer for the Church Militant in the Collect on All-Saints day and in the Office for the burial of the Dead where we pray That it would please God of his gracious goodness shortly to accomplish the number of his Elect and to hasten his Kingdom that we with all those that are departed in the true faith of his holy Name may have our perfect consummation and bliss both in body and soul in his everlasting glory Lastly Remembrance in Action is the other duty enjoyn'd in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imitate their Faith that is their Christian profession and practise their whole Life and Conversation according to their own belief of that word which they have spoken The Reason of this duty is plain for it is our business in this world to recover the image of God in which he created us to be like him here in Righteousness and Holiness that we may be like him hereafter in Glory and Happiness To this End God has given us those Lineaments of himself which are written sufficiently in our Nature but more fully and distinctly in Scripture In which Scripture he so oft and so vehemently requires us Be ye Holy as I am Holy be ye Iust as I am Iust be ye Merciful as I am Merciful be ye Pure as I am Pure be ye Perfect as your heavenly Father is Perfect This good word of God which was given by the Prophets and Apostles is still inculcated on us by them that speak to us the word of God Which Office being primarily of Bishops as appears in my Text They are first and above all others to conform themselves to it to shew others how possible and how practicable it is Our Apostle suppos'd this in those Primitive Bishops in my Text. God requires it of all that succeed them in the Church So of Timothy though he were young in Age yet being in that Place Be thou an Example to believers in word in Conversation in Spirit in faith in truth 1 Tim. 4 12. and in the last Verse Take heed to thy Self and to thy Doctrine Do this constantly and Continually and so thou shalt save both thy self and them that hear thee Whether they do this or no they are our Teachers and Rulers therefore in the 17 Verse of this Chapter while they live we must obey their word and submit to their Government When they are dead both for what they are and were we may do well to say no ill of them and since we can say no good e'en Forget them and leave them to God But if they are such as they ought which the Apostle supposes in my Text if they live as men that believe themselves what they say 'T is our duty not only to submit and obey them while they live but also to Remember them when they are dead Remember them in our thoughts with that honour they deserve In our Affections with a due sense of our loss and their gain Remember them in words with the just praise of their actions and lives In our prayers to God with due thankfulness for their graces and gifts in this life and for the glory they receive after death Lastly remember to follow them in that holy way which leads to so happy an end In our Apostles words follow their Faith considering
A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL OF THE Right Reverend Father in God JOHN Late Lord Bishop of Chester At the Guildhal Chappel LONDON On Thursday the 12 of December 1672. By WILLIAM LLOYD D. D. Dean of Bangor and one of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary LONDON Printed by A. C. for Henry Brome at the Gun at the West-end of S. Pauls 1672. HEB. 13. 7. Remember them which have the Rule over you who have spoken to you the word of God whose Faith follow considering the end of their conversation IN handling this Text of holy Scripture that we may mingle nothing of Humane Affections that our Passions may give no Interruption to you in hearing or to me in speaking I should desire to suppress them quite if it were possible And possible it is where they are slightly raised as upon common and ordinary occasions But where they are grounded and strong where they dare argue and seem to have Reason on their side as there is too much in Sight for ours there I think it is in vain to endeavour it The only way in this case is to give them some kind of Vent to discharge them in part and to govern what remains of the Affections You will I hope the rather bear with my Infirmity that I cannot contain from deploring the Loss the irreparable Loss that we suffer I think all suffer in the death of this Eminent Person He was the man in whom his Friends had experience of much good and had hopes of much more not so much for his greatness or power as abstracting from these for what they found in himself which was a great and manifold Blessing to all that lived within his conversation He was a Father a Counsellor a Comforter a Helper a sure Friend He was all they could wish in every Relation and by the course of Nature might have been for many years But for our sins though for his unspeakable advantage the great and wise God was not pleased to continue that Blessing He took him out of this World when for ought we could judge there was most need of such men to live in it and when we had much reason to expect more good than ever by his living in it Oh the Unsearchable ways and Counsels of God! Oh the Blindness of Humane hopes and expectaons While we please our selves with the good we have in hand while we reach out for more as if there would never be an end within a few days all withers all vanisheth to This We have Nothing left but what it grieves us to see We have nothing remains but what we are willing to be rid of a poor shell of earth that we make haste to bury out of our sight Yes of wise and good men which is their Priviledge above others there remains after Death a Memory an Example which they leave behind them as a sacred Depositum for us to keep and use until we see them again Are these things Nothing in our sight They are above all price in the sight of God who that they may be so to us both telleth us the worth and recommends them to our esteem and requires the fruit of them in many places of Scripture But in none with more Application to our present Occasion then in my Text. I shall sufficiently Justifie my choice of it if I can but make it be understood I shall shew the full Import of it in those duties which it contains I shall endeavour to stir you up to practise them with respect to this present occasion First For the understanding of my Text we are to look for no help from what goes next before it or after it For the whole business of it is contained within its self It lies in the heap among other directions which without any certain connexion between them were given by the Writer of this Epistle to the Hebrews that is to those Jews who were converted to be Christians For the time when it was written we are certain of this that it was while Timothy lived for he is mentioned as living in the 24 Verse of this Chapter And he being there said to have suffered Imprisonment for the Gospel this brings us a little nearer to the knowledge of the time For then it must be after both S. Pauls Epistles to Timothy In the last of those Epistles which was some years after the other S. Paul speaks much of his own imprisonment for the Gospel He warns Timothy oft that he must suffer for the Gospel he instructs him what to do when God shall call him to suffer Not a word of any thing that he had suffered already Nay he counsels him as a young man that had never been tried He invites him to Rome which was the great place of tryal in which place as it appears in the close of this Chapter Timothy did suffer that Imprisonment for the Gospel from which he was deliver'd when this Epistle was written It appears that after the Epistle to Timothy how long after we know not he did go to Rome as Paul will'd him How long he staid there we know not ere he did suffer imprisonment How long he was in Prison we know not ere he was set at liberty Only we know it was a considerable time we have reason to think it might be some years it might be many years that this Epistle was written after the second Epistle to Timothy And if so then it was written not only as Theodoret says long after the death of James the Brother of John But account it how you will this Epistle was written after the death of James the Brother of our Lord Which James being the first Bishop of Jerusalem and the other James an Apostle that is a Bishop at large and both these being put to death at Jerusalem Not to search into Church History for those others of their order who dyed before this time in other places nor to guesshow many others were dead that are not recorded in Church History If we think of no more but these two eminent servants of Christ we cannot be to seek of the understanding of this Text nor of the application to our particular purpose I say not but it may have a more general extent There is a memory due not only to the Apostles of Christ and to the Bishops their Successors but to all other good Ministers of Christ yea to all other exemplary Christians But if the Apostle had meant this only of Bishops I cannot guess that he would have it exprest otherwise than he hath done in my Text. To prove this I must have recourse to the Original and not wholly depend upon our English Translation For that he meant this of Bishops it appears not sufficiently and of them being dead not at all in our Translation And yet from the Original I see no reason to doubt that our Apostle in this Text meant no other but Bishop and those departed this life For the order of
the event the blessed end of their good conversation What my Text says in general of Bishops deceased 't is most easie to apply I know it hath been done all this while by them that knew the virtuous and great mind that lately dwelt in this body They know the truth of all I shall say and much more that might be said in his Just commendation But the little I can bring within the time I have left being said from many years experience will at least stir up those that knew him not to enquire and if they find these things true they know their duty of Remembrance and Imitation I shall not be minute in drawing all I say under these heads for I speak to them that can distinguish and sort things as they belong to the one or to the other To begin with the Natural endowments of his mind I cannot think of him without Just reflection upon that Paradox of the equality of souls He was surely a great Instance to the contrary having that largeness of soul in every respect which was much above the rate of ordinary men He had an Understanding that extended to all parts of useful learning and knowledge a Will always disposed to great and Publick and generous things He had a natural aversion from all Idle speculations and from the eager pursuit of small and frivolous designs In great matters he judged so well that he was not usually surprized with events He pursued his intentions with such equalness of mind that he was never carried beyond the calmness of his Natural Temper except through his zeal for Publick good or where his Friend was concerned What he was in his studies I have reason to know that have often been tired with studying with him He was Indefatigable and would have worn himself out if he had not been relieved with multiplicity of business However he impaired by it a Body which seemed to have been built for a long Age and contracted those Infirmities that hastned his death The effect of his studies in his Preaching and Writings are sufficiently known and would have been much more if God had given him Time As for his Preaching it was sometimes famous near this place though he sought rather the profit than the praise of his hearers He spoke solid truth with as little shew of Art as was possible He exprest all things in their true and Natural Colours with that aptness and plainness of Speech that grave Natural way of Elocution that shewed he had no design upon his hearers His plainness was best for the Instruction of the simple and for the better sort who were in truth an Intelligent Auditory it was enough that they might see he had no mind to deceive them He applied himself rather to their understanding than Affections He saw so much of the beauty of Goodness himself that he thought the bare shewing of it was enough to make all wise men as it did him to be in love with it In his Writings he was Judicious and plain like one that valued not the Circumstances so much as the substance And he shewed it in whatsoever Argument he undertook sometimes beating out new untravel'd ways sometimes repairing those that had been beaten already No subject he handled but I dare say is the better for him and will be the easier for them that come after him If in these he went sometimes beside his Profession it was in following the Design of it to make men wiser and better which I think is the business of Universal Knowledge And this he promoted with much zeal and sincerity in hope of the great Benefit that may accrew to mankind It was his aim as in all things so especially in that which I conceive is much more censured than understood I mean in the design of the Royal Society He joyned himself to it with no other end but to Promote Modern knowledge without any Contempt or lessening of those great men in former times With due honor to whom he thought it lawful for others to do that which we have no reason to doubt they themselves would have done if they were living I would not seem to Excuse that which dedeserveth Commendation and encouragement or to commend other things for want of Subject in him Therefore leaving this Theme in better hands I proceed next to speak of his Virtues and Graces and these the rather as being both to be remembred and followed And in speaking of these where shall I begin Nay when shall I end if I say all that may be spoken I think it not worth while to speak of those that are Vulgar though he had them also in no common degree Nor would I seem to make any Virtue a Propriety But there are those which are not common to many and were generally acknowledged to be in him though they appeared not so to some other men as they did to those that intimately knew him His Prudence was great I think it seldom failed in any thing to which he applied himself And yet he wanted that part which some hold to be Essential He so wanted Dissimulation that he had rather too much Openness of heart It was sincerity indeed that was Natural to him he so abhorred a Lye that he was not at all for shew he could not put on any thing that look'd like it And presuming the same of other men through excess of Benignity he would be sometimes deceived in believing they were what they seem'd to be and what he knew they ought to have been His greatness of mind was known to all that knew any thing of him He neither eagerly sought any Dignity nor declined any Capacity of doing good He look'd down upon Wealth as much as others admire it He knew the use of an Estate but did not cover it What he yearly received of the Church he bestowed in its service As for his Temporal estate being secured against want he sought no farther he set up his rest I have heard him say often I will be no richer and I think he was as good as his word As for Revenge how could it enter into the breast of him that hated nothing but that which makes us hateful to God I say not but he had a sense of personal injuries and especially of those that reflected upon his name when they proceeded from those that had good names of their own What others said he despised but by those he would often wish he had been better understood That he was not he bore as his Misfortune He would not Requite them with the like but mention'd them with all due Respect and was always ready to Oblige them and to do them Good Yet it was not so Desirable I say not to be his Enemy for He did not account them so but to be at those terms with him as to be his Acquaintance or Friend They that were never so little familiar with him could not but find as well Benefit as Delight