committed to this trusty Messenger intercepted the Doctor charged for holding intelligence and presently Voted both out of the Assembly and out of his Estate and Liberty 10. On September 30. a Warrant mentioning no Crime was brought from the Committee to commit the poor Doctor whom they so plundred that he had no more mony left him than one poor five shillings piece of Gold which he bestowed on the Officer that conducted him to Prison There skipped hastily into his Livings those who had long gaped for them While into Lambeth and Nye into Acton Many sad months did our Doctor spend in Prison wanting his sweet Air and the comfortable society of his Books and Friends and indeed all things except a good Conscience which might qualifie the bitterness of a tedious life 11. In the height of these his sufferings it happened that a Papist sent a bold Challenge abroad throwing dirt in the face of the Protestant Church The Parliament recommended the answering of it to our Doctor whom they knew to be well versed in the matters in question Had they first restored him to his Liberty and Estate this had been a just and noble encouragement But he was a poor Israelite under the Egyptian Yoke and must be content to abate the straw yet make the brick only they voted him the use of his Books three of them at one time and by this Vote his Library was a while preserved and himself diverted the irksomness of his sad Imprisonment To work he went and at length he finished and published his Answer to the Challenge Aug. 1. 1644. in a Book intituled Roma Ruens 12. Nor may I forget another Book which he had perfected and published the same year against the Anabaptists and other Sectaries called The Dipper Dipt Whereat the Sectaries being enraged and some others threw upon him a foul and odious aspersion That Dr. Featley was turn'd Papist To vindicate himself he publish'd his Manifesto and therein saith I have thought fit to make known to you all whom it may concern that being chosen Provost of Chelsey-Colledge I have under the Broad Seal of England a Warrant to buy have and keep all manner of Popish Books and that I never bought and kept any of them but to the end and purpose the betttr to inform my self to refute them c. 13. To which Vindication in the same Manifesto he adds this Challenge whereas I am certainly informed that aivers Lecturers and Preachers in London and the Suburbs who have entred upon the Labours of many worthy Divines and reaped their Harvests do in their Pulpits after a most insolent manner insult upon them demanding Where are they now that dare stand up in defence of Church-Hierarchy or Book of Common-Prayer or any way oppose or impugn the new intended Reformation both in Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England I do here protest that I do and will maintain by Disputation or Writing against any of them these three Conclusions viz. 1. That the Articles of Religion agreed upon in the year of our Lord 1562. by both Houses of Convocation and ratified by Queen Elizabeth need no alteration at all but only an Orthodox explication in some ambiguous phrases and a Vindication against false aspersions 2. That the Discipline of the Church of England established by many Laws and Acts of Parliament that is the Government by Bishops removing all Innovations and Abuses in the execution thereof is agreeable to Gods Word and a truly antient and Apostolical Institution 3. That there ought to be a set Form of Publick Prayer and that the Book of Common-Prayer the Ralendar being reformed in point of Apocryphal Saints and Chapters some Rubricks explained and some expressions revised and the whole correctedly Printed with all the Psalms Chapters and Allegations out of the Old and new Testament according to the last Translation is the most complete perfect and exact Liturgy now extant in the Christian World 14. Notwithstanding the great Service which the Doctor had done for the Church of England at the request of the Parliament by his Answer to that Popish Challenge in his Roma Ruens yet they suffered him to continue in Limbo in his old Prison But when through bad Air and bad Diet and ill Lodging and other inconveniences he fell into a Dropsie and other Diseases upon his humble Petition and his Physicians Certificate after sixteen weeks attendance of his Friends the House granted him an Order to remove to the fresh Air of Chelsey-Colledge for six weeks Thither he came about the beginning of March 1644. but neither Physick nor Air nor Diet nor better Lodging nor Company nor Cordials nor any thing else could remove his Diseases or give him hope of Recovery 15. There he spun out a short time in much Piety and Holy Exercises although wearied with pains and worn out with afflictions whereof none were so grievous to him as the presenr Distractions in the Church and State April 14. 1645. he set his House in order and made his Will beginning thus First for my soul I commend it to him whose due it is by a three-fold right My Creator who infused it into me my Redeemer who freely ransomed it with his dearest Blood my Sanctifier who assisteth me now in my greatest and latest assaults of temptations c. The next day he made a Confession of his Faith to Dr. Loe and others April 17. which was the last day of those six weeks his Enemies had allotted him his spirit waxed faint and drawing near to death he prayed thus Lord strike through the reins of them that rise against the Church and King and let them be as chaff before the wind c. But upon our gracious Sovereign and his posterity let the Crown flourish This said he is the hearty and earnest prayer of a poor sick Creature 16. With which words and many heavenly Ejaculations commending his Soul into the hands of his faithful Creator he fell asleep But his Nephew coming in caused a small dose of Cordial Spirits to be administred to him which made him once more to open his eyes and seeing the tears of his mourning Kinsman said Ah Cousin the poor Church of God is torn in pieces More he said not but sweetly and gently groaned out his wearied and fainting Spirit and resigned his Soul into the extended Arms of his merciful Redeemer 17. In Lambeth-Chappel according to his desire he was solemnly buried Dr. Loe preached the Sermon afterward Printed To add a short Character of his Person and Graces He was low of stature yet of a lovely graceful Countenance and of a convenient strength and health of Body of a most sweet disposition being affable and courteous to all without the least commixture of that sullen morosity which some men mistake for gravity He was generally free from all shews both of pride and anger only when he disputed with Hereticks and Schismaticks in defence of the Sacred Truth his Zeal and
others eat and drink at his cost And for an eminent proof of his Charity but a little before he took his bed in his last sickness he lent freely to one that had dealt falsly enough with him and was likely for so doing to be utterly ruin'd by the fraud of another he lent I say to him notwithstanding a considerable summe of mony to preserve him from perishing So notable was his Charity in returning good for evil 15. It pleased God to enlarge his Patience by the manner of his last sickness which seizing at length on his Lungs deprived him of the use of his Speech for any length or continuance of speaking during which time I never observed in him the least impatient carriage in word or deed or any repining at the heavy hand of God upon him but silently he submitted himself under the scourge like him that said I became dumb and opened not my mouth for it was thy doing 16. And lastly for his Constancy as he approved it in the course of his Life so to the Death constant he was to the Religion he had been born and bred up in an obedient Son of the Church of England as he had ever professed himself to be and suffered for it Heartily he answered to all questions that were asked him about the profession of his Faith willingly and readily submitted himself to Gods will for leaving the world gladly forgave all that had offended him and wherein he had offended any professed himself willing to ask forgiveness and to make restitution 17. Being put in mind of the Sacrament he would not for Reverence sake receive it in the Evening but deferred it till the next morning and then most piously and devoutly like one that bowed the knees of his heart when those of his body failed him with eyes lifted up and hands bent to Heav'n he received it and when he heard after both kinds taken Lord grant it may nourish you to eternal life chearfully and audibly he said Amen After which he dismissed us from longer praying by him being desirous to be left for the present to his own private Devotions and requested us to pray by him again in the afternoon as if he had foreseen the certain time of his departure and in the afternoon according to his own appointment at Prayer we continued by him till toward five in the evening At which time most meekly and silently and like a Lamb he departed and quietly slept in the Lord. Ob. Apr. 1659. VII Mr. John Gregory From Mr. John Gurgany 1. A Mersham in the County of Buckingham ennobled hitherto only by the Honourable Family of the Russels may now boast in the birth of this Learned man Which happened on the tenth of November 1603. And though his Parents were but of mean Extraction and Estate yet of such noted Piety and Honesty as gained them love and respect from the best of that place 2. Whence this their eldest Son about the 15th year of their pious Education of him was chosen by the worthy Dr. Crook to wait upon Sir William Drake and soon after on Sir Robert Crook at Christ-Church in Oxford where they had the happiness to be under the tuition of the most ingenious and learned Dr. George Morley 3. This young Scholar for divers years studied 16 of every 24 hours and that with so much appetite and delight as that he needed not the cure of Aristotle's drowsiness to awake him In his first Academical exercises his worth like the rising of the Sun began to discover it self darting forth such fair hopes and glimmerings of future perfection as were quickly espied by the then vigilant Dean of Christ-Church Dr. Duppa since Lord Bishop of Sarum who immediately received him into favour and soon after made him Chaplain of Christ-Church and after that his own Domestick and Prebendary of Chichester and Sarum 4. For which favours he now began about 26 years old to publish to the world his worth and gratitude in the dedication of his Notes on Learned Ridleys civil Law to his honour'd Patron the Bishop of Sarum In which Notes he made an early discovery of his Civil Historical Ecclesiastical Ritual and Oriental Learning together with the Saxon French Italian Spanish and all Eastern Languages through which he miraculously travelled without any guide except Mr. Dod the Decalogist whose society and directions for the Hebrew Tongue he enjoyed one Vacation near Banburie For which courtesie he ever gratefully remembred him as a man of great Piety and Learning Gravity and Modesty Of which Graces also this person was as great a Possessor as Admirer 5. Hence these many tracts both in English and Latin were bashfully laid by in his youth as Abortives Some whereof are now published and entituled Posthume as so many Testimonies and monuments of his general Learning For which he was much honoured by the acquaintance and favour of men of the greatest honour and eminence that this Age hath produced besides the Correspondence in points of Learning which he held with divers famous men abroad as well Jesuits and Jews as others 6. And now being like the Sun in his Zenith ready to shine in his greatest lustre behold the whole Kingdome began to be clouded Yet the hope of a clear day preserved this Learned man a while sufficiently spirited for study whereby he composed and published a little before his death those his excellent Notes upon some passages of Scripture in which kind of holy study he intended to spend the rest of his life 7. But after 20 years trouble with an hereditary gout improved by immoderate study and now invading his stomach the thred of his life being laboriously spun out but 39 years foreseeing the Glory was now departing from our Israel his spirits began to fail in an extraordinary manner 8. For recovery and supportation whereof his first noble Patron the Bishop of Sarum being disabled by sequestration c the liberal hand of a second Mecaenas was presently extended Ed. Bishop Esq Of whose Charity I may say as our Saviour of that Unguent Was it not to bury him Yes and to raise him too with Fame being very active and free toward the publication not only of his posthumous Tracts but also of some other of greater expectatation 9. And here is to be lamented the loss of that his excellent piece entituled by himself Alkibla In which with very great Judgment and Learning he vindicated the Antiquity of Eastward Adoration 10. Some suspected him a favourer of the Roman way but their jealousie to my certain knowledge was unjust and groundless he having often declared and protested not only to me but also to many of his familiar friends his Abhorrence of Popery and his sincere Affection and constancy to the Protestant Religion as it was established in England by Acts of Parliament 11. And as he lived so he dyed also a most obedient and affectionate Son to his distressed Mother the Church of
England for whose sufferings he sorrowed unto death Those and the foresight of that barbarity wherein Learning and Learned men were to be the objects of scorn and cruelty broke his heart 12. Time was even amongst the Heathen that Learning was a sufficient protection against Tyranny witness Antonius Triumvir who when Varro his Enemy and of a contrary part was listed for death He thus gallantly superscribed his Name Vivat Varro Vir doctissimus 13. This our Learned Friend deceased at Kidlington Mar. 13.1646 And was buried in Christ-Church in Oxford Where lives the memory of his Virtues especially of Courtesie and Humility not disdaining the meanest Scholar nor proud of his Victorious discourses with the most learned And all that knew him will testifie how free and liberal he was of his treasury to the full satisfaction of all Inquisitors Epitaphium Joannis Gregorii NE premas Cineres hosce Viator Nescis quot sub hoc jacent lapillo Graeculus Hebraeus Syrus Et qui te quovis vincet idiomate At ne molestus sis Ausculta caussam auribus tuis imbibe Templo exclusus Et avita Religione Jam senescente ne dicam sublata Mutavit Chorum altiorem ut capesseret Vade nunc si libet imitare R. W. VIII Dr. Brian Duppa L d. Bp of Winchester From D. Jasper Maine 1. WHen I look back upon our late suffering times the saddest which I think any History hath recorded where oppression backt with power made the Ruine of our Church the horrid step and ladder to the Usurpation of the Crown and where the very name of Bishop was criminal and odious And when withal I do consider by what unlookt for way of providence the Order and Religion like a Treasure snatcht from Shipwreck was stupendiously restored after many years confusion Methinks that bush which Moses saw was the Emblem of our Church kept safe by miracle in the midst of hungry fire and the ship in the Gospel was presented to my eies where Christ and his Apostles were lost in a hideous storm but he awaked and stilled the winds and put a calmness to the Sea 2. In those daies of publick calamity I saw some take for their Pattern the Prophet Jonas and sleep securely in the storm Other to preserve their wretched fortunes compounded with the Tempest and made a League and friendship with the winds others of a nobler and more Christian temper whose just reward is now to shine like stars of honour in the Church immoveably resolute to maintain their Loyalty and Conscience with the loss of their lives as they had already with their fortunes 3. Yet I hope it will be no diminution of their Virtues if I say that the Bishop of Salisburies Carriage in those times of persecution was to me most remarkable who by this happy restitution and addition of more honour was made a greater Bishop but not a greater person than he had been in his lowest ebbe of Fortune 4. The payment of his vow in building of an Alms-house on the place at Richmond where himself so often sate weeping ore the prospect not then pleasant to his eye His large bounty to the Colledge of which I am a member which if I should name the Sum would make the world believe he meant to found a new Colledge and not complete an old His dying liberalities bequeathed to others in his Will even to his meanest Servants who were his Servants in distress are things which do proclaim him a great and noble Benefactor 5. But these are but the good deeds of his Fortune done by the Bishop of Winchester the Charities of one possessed with plenty and abundance his Rents and Mannors share with him as Co-founders and his new Alms-house might have it written on the Walls A poor Bishop vow'd this house but a great and mighty built it 6. That which made him truly great and Reverend in my eies was to look into his Noble heart his large and bounteous mind where his good deeds now were then but wishes and designs He was truly great to me when I saw him in his poverty anticipate his Alms-house and liberal at his door and the poor people in his house now had then places at his gate when being reduced to his last cruse of oyl he made the drops run to others and when there was but a handful of meal left in the little barrel he then dealt his loaf to them that wanted daily bread In short when he had but two Coats left to give one to the Naked when he had hardly more than one dish to make the poor his guests to see him walk on the Hill with not much money in his purse and return back with none But then to think of laying up treasures in Heaven when he had so little left on earth was a Charity which raised in me a Religious admiration and lookt something like the Miracle wrought by our Saviour in the Gospel where Multitudes were sed with two fishes and five loaves 7. Nor may I without some injustice to his Virtues forbear to let the world know That I never saw Afflictions born with a more serene and even temper than he did his who in the worst of times stood like a firm unshaken Rock in the midst of angry waves his Courage still the same unbroken or undisturbed with any sad Disasters not more publick than his own 8. The Old Church of England still kept up in his house with all its Forms and Rites though publickly forbidden Prayers constantly and twice a day read by him for the King at a time when such Devotions were made Treason by the Tyrant and weekly Sermons preacht before him filled with so much loyalty and truth as would any where else have cast the preacher into bonds if not sent him from the Pulpit to the place of Execution 9. To all this his Lordships continued kindness to me his encouragement of my younger studies which grew up under his example his Rescue of me from a shipwrack in the late undoing times when being tost and stript of all he was a plank to save me and threw me out a line which drew me safe to shore are Reasons sufficient to let the world receive this publick Testimony of my Gratitude Ob. An. Dom. 1663. IX Dr. John Bramhall L d. Archb. of Armagh From Bishop Taylor 1. THe Death of our late most Reverend Primate the Church of Ireland hath very great reason to deplore and we have great obligation to remember his very many worthy deeds done for this poor afflicted and despised Church S. Paul that excellent Preacher Heb. 11. made a Sermon in Commemoration of the Saints For since good men while they are alive have their Conversation in Heaven when they are in Heaven it is also fit that they should in their good names live upon Earth Their great examples are an excellent Sermon to the Living and in praising them when envy and flattery can have no interest to interpose