Laws of it He encouraged 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 13. How he demeaned Himself then is known in both Vniversities where he governed with praise and left a very gratefull Remembrance behind him How in the next Times since is well known in London And having 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 dayes 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 14. 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 Diocese Though he was as before very tender to those that differ'd 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 cause to expect much Good to the Church 15. He was in perfect Health in all other respects when a known Infirmity from an unknown Cause that had been easier to cure then it was to discover stole upon him and soon became incurable He was for many dayes in a prospect of Death which he saw as it approached and felt it come on by degrees Some dayes before he dyed he found within himself as he often said A sentence of Death In all this time who ever saw him dismaid who ever found him surpriz'd or heard a word from him unbecoming a wise man and a true Christian At the times I was with him I saw great Cause to admire his Faith towatds God his Zeal for his Church his Constancy of Mind his Contempt of the World and his chearfull Hopes of Eternity That the Memory of this Worthy Prelate may not be abused I declare and that upon most certain Grounds That he dyed in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Communion of the Church of England as it is by Law established 16. He dyed only too soon for the Church and for his Friends but for Himself he had lived long enough He has lived long enough that dies well As for us we must submit to the Will of God Our Comfort is that we shall follow and come together again in due Time Doctor Edward Reynolds Lord Bishop of Norwich Obiit 1676. From Mr. B. Riveley VIr nec tacendus nec dicendus A Man of whom I can't be silent without detriment to the Church and dishonor to God and yet a Man of whom I can't speak without loss to his Merit and diminution to his Worth 1. He was a Good Man He was of a most sweet and obliging temper of great Candor and Integrity He had a comely Countenance a gentle Disposition a pleasantness of Conversation Reason sat as Queen in his Soul Passion and Appetite were as Handmaids 2. He was a Good Christian Revelation was a great Mistress with him and he was a great Adorer as well as Practicer of the will of God Religion sanctifyed his Reason and Grace his Nature and of all Accomplishments he accounted it his Glory to be a Disciple of Christ The Fear of the Lord was to him the top of his Wisdom He endeavoured that his ways might be found perfect before God He was carefull to maintain good Works I speak it knowingly as the necessary Fruits of Christian Faith and such Works as are due to Men as well as those that have a more immediate respect to Cod. To honour his King to speak well of his Superiors to be obedient to Laws in Church and State to govern his Tongue to love his Neighbors and to take the worst Enemies he had in the world into the number This was his Religion 'T was a piece of his Conscience to do these things as well as to preach and to pray and to frequent the worship of God 3. He was a good Minister of the Gospel For this he had a great name all his undignified time and when he came to the high place he did not make an end of prophecying He was built and framed on purpose to be an Instructor and Curate of Souls For he was sober and wise able to salve difficulties to determine cases to quiet consciences He was an Interpreter one of a thousand another Apollos mighty in the Scriptures He was of a sedate mind of a tender Compassionate Spirit heartily desirous of Mens eternal Good and not only his Industry but his delights run out that way how to bring it about 4. He was a good Bishop There are two sorts of People and they differ among themselves toto coelo that can hardly allow him to have been a good Bishop The one sort think him not good because a Bishop at all making those terms Good and Bishop inconsistent but these are absurd and unreasonable Men and their tongue is no slander and I trouble my self no further with them the other can't afford him to be good in his capacity because he was not so much a Bishop as they would have had him that is to say because he would not drive their pace he would not govern by their Rules not execute censures at their heights nor interpret Canons in their sense What truer Indication would you have of wise and good Government then from its natural and proper effects And for that matter I dare appeal to your own observation whether in any Diocese in the Kingdom caeteris paribus there be to be found a more sober regular and loyal Clergy a more conformable People more decent and well repaired Churches and a greater alteration both of Judgment and Manners of Men since the late Times of Anarchy and Confusion which is especially visible in matter of the Sacrament then in this Diocese Resolve this into the
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 2. 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 hastened 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 3. As for his Preaching it was sometimes Famous at St. Laurence London 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 Colors 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 he applyed himself rather to their Understanding then 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 4. 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 5. 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 Vniversal Knowledge And this he promoted with much zeal and sincerity in hope of the great Benefit that may accrue 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 6. His Prudence was great I think it never failed in any thing to which he applyed 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't 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 7. 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 lookt down upon Wealth as much as others admire it He knew the Vse of an Estate but did not covet 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 8. As for Revenge how could it enter into the Breast of him that hated nothing but that which makes us hatefull 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 de 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 8. Yet it was not so desireable 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 in his Conversation His Discourse was commonly of usefull 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 needfull and least practiced point of Friendship He would not spare to give seasonable reproof and wholsome advice when he saw occasion I never knâ—w any that would do it so freely and that knew how to manage that freedom of Speech so inoffensively 9. 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 til he had effected it 10. It hath been spoken by some that he had not that zeal for the Church that they would seem to have that object this He seemed to look upon Dissenters with too much favour to their persons and wayes 11. As for 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 turly pious and 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 when some thought their dissents ground enough for a War Mr. Dod declared himself against it and confirmed others in their Allegiance professing to the last a just hatred of that horrid Rebellion Now his Relation to this Man and Conversation with those of his Principles might encline him to hope the like of others of that way and vehemently desire to reduce them to the Vnity of the Church in which his Grandfather lived and dyed 12. As for himself He was so far from approving their Wayes that in the worst of Times when One bewailed to him the Calamities of the Church and declared his Obedience even then to the
was he only a Man of words his goodness was not only at his Tongues end but at his Fingers ends That of our Saviour concerning himself is in an inferior way verifyed of him My Works testifie of me So that he was not only in respect of his words a sweet and pleasing Voice but of his works a Burning and Shining Light 3. God was pleas'd so far to bless his honest endeavors in that calling wherein his Providence had placed him that he enjoyed a liberal Portion of this Worlds goods nor did he want those honors which were suitable to him Whatsoever honor in the City he was capable of he was chosen to Master of his Company Alderman of a Ward President of St. Thomas Hospital several times Burgess in Parliament though the iniquity of the times would not permit him to sit Sheriff and Lord Major After which he at length became and so continued for some Years the first among the Twenty Six the Eldeâ— Alderman upon the Bench that had served in the Office of Lord Major to whom is given that Honorable Title The Father of the City Nor had he only this Honor from the City but his King also gave him the greatest Honor he was capable of in his Station making him not only a Knight but a Baronet which descends upon Posterity I mention these in as much as they are Instruments of Virtue and so they were to him he being a bountiful Steward of his Riches nor did his Dignities so much Honor him as he them 4. Throughout the Age of his Life he was by God's Providence instated in manifold Relations intrusted with various Offices conversant in several imployments in all which he had no cause to complain with him who said Omnia fui nihil profuit All of them being as so many Channels through which run his several Virtues and Graces 5. I will begin with that which is the beginning of Wisdom the Fear of the Lord. He was eminent for Religion and Devotion That Orthodox Religion which is professed in the Church of England he faithfully adhered to cordially owning Her Doctrine and Discipline Hierarchy and Liturgy and though he lived in an unconstant Age wherein it was the mode to change Religions as Women do Fashions he proved not a Reed or a Willow but an Oak stedfast and immovable Great was his respect to the Orthodox and Orthoprax Clergy Those who were sufferers he charitably relieved Those who were Laborers he bountifully encouraged Schismatical Conventicles he abhorred but duly frequented the Church Assemblies a Judicious Hearer of Gods Word a diligent Receiver of the Lords Supper and though it was an Age wherein irreverence was in Fashion and devotion decryed as Superstition he was exemplary for his reverent behavior in Gods House Nor was he only Religious in the Church but in his Family resolving with Joshua I and my House will serve the Lord and dayly setting apart time for his private Meditations and Prayers beginning and closing up every day with God 6. Thus served he God and no less careful was he to serve the King remembring that Fear the Lord and the King are join'd together He was a strenuous assertor of Monarchical Government nor can I pass by one Argument which he often used upon that account where Almighty God by his Prophet Ezekiel 16. 13. reckoning up the manifold Blessings he had confer'd upon his People Israel mentioneth this among other as none of the least Thou didst prosper into a Kingdom by which is clearly intimated that those Nations are most prosperous which are under Kingly Government nay that Kingly Government is the prosperity to a People 7. Upon the account of his Loyalty to Charles the first of Blessed Memory when Lord Mayor his House was searched by those in Power supposing there to have found the King the Year after he was cast into the Tower and there kept a Prisoner and for several Years put by all Offices and Imployments Upon the account of his Loyalty to Charles the Second during his Exile he hazarded his Estate and Life by sending him considerable Sums of Money beyond Sea and when the Blessed time came of his joyful Return to his Throne though he was in the Seventy Third Year of his Age which might have been a just excuse for his staying at home this Aged Barzillai went not only over Jordan-river but crossed the Sea to attend his Soveraign home 8. Next to God and the King I dare say the City of London was written upon his Heart wherein he spent by far the greatest part of his Life and hath now breathed his last Here through Gods Blessing he got and here he spent a considerable part of his Estate in the Cities Service He was of so publick a Spirit that when his Son in Law brought him the first news of his being chosen Sheriff of London he immediatly dismissed the particular business about which he was and never after personally followed his Trade but gave himself up to the City Concerns It was his Study to know the Customs and Usages the liberties and priviledges of the City and accordingly his endeavor in his several capacities to preserve and maintain them He was not only in Word but in Deed an Assistant a Guardian yea a Pillar of the Company of Drapers He was a Vigilant President of St. Thomas Hospital which probably had been ruin'd before this but that his sagacity and industry discover'd the fraud of an unjust Steward In the Court of Aldermen he was as an Oracle very subservient by his Grave and Prudent Counsels to the Cities Government He was so far from self seeking that when he was Lord Mayor he did not make those advantages which usually are by selling the vacant places Whilst a private Trades-man he was exact so far as I ever heard in Commutative Justice in his Bargains and Contracts of buying and selling and when a Publick Magistrate he was no less Conscientious of Distributive Justice between Man and Man 9. At the Town where he received his first Breath he Built a Free-School endowing it with a considerable maintenance for the Education of Children In the University of Cambridge he erected an Arabic Lecture and setled upon the Lecturer Forty Pounds per annum for his pains in Reading it Nor were these munificent works to bear the date of their beginning from his Death but the one began Twenty and the other Thirty Years ago nor is their maintenance only settled for some term of Years but as we usually express it for ever He was at the charge also at the desire of the Reverend Mr. Wheelook now with God of Printing the Persian Gospels and transmitting them into the Eastern parts of the World By these ways he endeavored to promote the Christian Religion throwing a Stone to use his own Language at the Forehead of Mahomet that grand Impostor 10. His Hands were frequently open whilst he lived upon all occasions and notwithstanding many late great damages to his Estate he hath given considerable Legacies to the Poor of several Parishes to Hospitals to Ministers Widows and such like at his Death 11. To the rest of his Graces and Virtues I add his Patience whereby he served God in Suffering The truth is this good Goat like Joseph's was particolor'd his Wine mixt with Water nay with Gall and Wormwood such Crosses as he could not have born were it not said he for this Book pointing to the Bible which lay before him frequently among others making use of that passage of Job Shall we receive good at the Hands of God and shall we not receive Evil 12. He Dyed of the Stone a Stone so weighty that it exceeded Twenty Five Ounces so grievous that a little before his Death it made him roar but yet not murmur God Graciously sustaining him under the Pain of it And had there not been a Channel by a remarkable Providence cut through the Stone for his Water to pass the stoppage of it must of necesssity have very much added to his smart and lessen'd his days But now he hath taken his leave of this World and I may well say with St. Ambnose In illo uno c. In this one Person there is a manifold loss The King hath lost a loyal Subject the Church a Faithful Son the City a Prudent Senator He is departed from the Inn of this World to the home of his Grave of which he was before mindful frequently saying Solum mihi superest sepulchrum where he shall sleep in the dust till he awake and arise to Glory FINIS