For 6. Upon the Kings wonderful Restauration He was by His Majesty first designed Dean of Durham but upon the Kings Gracious Reflection on his constant Attendance and Services beyond the Seas he was declared by the King of a Dean intended to be the Actual Bishop of Durham His immediate Predecessour was that great Luminary of our Church Blessed Thomas Morton famous for his Holy Life solid Learning and bountiful works of Charity and Hospitality and for his manifold learned Works against the Adversaries of the Church of England on the right hand and on the left as for the Doctrine against Hereticks so for the Discipline against the Schismaticks of his time beyond any satisfactory Answer to any of his Works unto this day To whose Memory I should be unthankful if I should not acknowledge for which I do still bless God's Providence that I had for above an Apprenticeship the happiness to be brought up as Domestick Chaplain at the feet of such an Eminent Gamaliel To be Bishop of Durham is no ordinary State but an high Dignity for besides the Spiritual Dignity of a Bishop it includes the Temporal Power of Count Palatine of Durham and Sadberge a singular Synastria as I may say or Constellation is this concurrence of two great Dignities the Spiritual with the Temporal For whatever Envy may object to the contrary yet these two are not in reason incompatible Such was the State under the Patriarchs c. the Eldest Son being both Prince and Priest Neither in practice unusual in this noble Kingdome but that the same person may be both a good Minister and also a good Magistrate Provided alwayes that the Clergy-man do not affect it out of Ambition Wise men see no cause why he may not lawfully accept the Commission in due submission to Supreme Authority under which the same person may be without offence both a Bishop and Count Palatine for which respect of two Arch-Bishops and twenty four Bishops in England and Wales the Bishop of Durham is by Act of Parliament ranked in the fourth place next to the Bishop of London And here 't is worth the observing that God the immense Geometer of all the World was pleased by his providence to proportion the height of this great Prelate's Exaltation to the depth of his Humiliation for Loyalty c. under Sequestration and Banishment in that he was by the Royal Bounty promoted from the Order of a Priest immediately to be a Bishop and that Bishop of Durham To fulfill the Rule in the Gospel Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted He was the 68 Bishop of this Diocess from Aidanus the first Bishop of Lindisfarne Anno 637. St. Cuthbert's renowned Cathedral in the Holy Island the Mother of this Church of Durham of Great Antiquity for from the first foundation of this Church Anno 637. unto this present year 1672. the succession of this Church hath out-lasted above 1000 years and so still may it last unto the Worlds end But now to consider a Bishop in general A Bishop A Bishop is the most eminent office in the Order of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy for though the Lords Arch-Bishops be Superiours to the Bishops in their Degree yet in respect of Order the Bishops quatenus Bishops are equal de Jure and therefore need de facto no new Consecration when they are made Archbishops A Bishop is by the judgement of Antiquity and by the major part of sound and sober Modern Divines deemed an Apostolical Office because derived from the Apostles themselves who after they had planted Christian Churches as Oecumenical Ministers of Christ were setled in particular Diocesses where they were to exercise both the Episcopal Powers of Ordination and Jurisdiction this none but Aerian Hereticks will or can deny for 't is clear both from Holy Scripture the Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus and the strong current of Ecclesiastical History A high Office again in respect of Christ every Priest under Christ the Supreme Everlasting Priest bears a part in Christ his Priest-hood so every Bishop being a Successour lawfully descended from the Apostles of Christ bears a part of Christs Apostleship for Christ is styled an Apostle and therefore the Glorious Martyr St. Ignatius who was St. John the Apostle's Disciple gives this Rule to the Christian Churches of his time That we ought to be subject to the Bishop as unto the Lord. However this high Office by furious Fanaticks hath been by a prodigious pride of late in these Rebellious Times much slander-beaten disgraced yea degraded which Crime General Councils have made the stigma or brand of downright Hereticks in a larger sence And here God be thanked that of all the Reformed Churches the Bishops of the Church of England can clearly derive their Succession from the Apostles themselves as hath been made good abundantly by the worthy Champions of our Church And now upon the consideration of the Antiquity Eminency and Utility of a Bishop in this Diocess which is now in the state of an Ecclesiastical Widow-hood or to phrase it with St. Greg. Naz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shepheardless since the King's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water and he turneth it whithersoever he will We pray and hope that it may please God to incline the heart of the King in his Royal wisdome to bless us in due season with a Successour worthy of his Predecessours a Godly Learned laborious and vigilant Bishop the more necessary both for Spiritual and Temporal Government in these Northern parts being so far remote from the Sun of Justice and Honour the King and too near to some ill affected neighbours only blinded by prejudice or ignorance and so much the rather because of the conjunction of this Bishoprick the Spiritual Dignity with the Temporal Power of the County Palatine perpetual County Palatine 1. For Antiquity as old at least as William the Conquerour as we are informed by our Learned Antiquaries and that not by Creation or by Act of Parliament as other Counties Palatine but by long Prescription confirmed afterwards by several Acts of Parliament and by the Protection of our Gracious Kings from time to time 2. For Authority the Bishops of Durham freely enjoying alwayes under the King as Supreme Jura Regalia within this County insomuch that 't is a maxime in Law that Quicquid Rex potest extra Episcopatum potest Episcopus intrà Salvo semper Domino Regi supremo jure vitae necis c. In regard whereof by way of compensation for the Court of Wards belonging of old to this County Palatine but for the exigence of the bad Times taken away of late by Act of Parliament His present Majesty our Gracious King Charles II. whom God long preserve out of his wonted Royal Equity was graciously pleased to Grant
learned and laborious Work Entituled Of the Government c. in the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas p. 13. See Dr. Steward at Paris Anno 1647. when this was put to the Question Dr. Deodat Epist ad Convent Eccl. c. Rom. 12. 1. St. John 20. 21 22 23. See in the Book of Common Prayer the first Exhortation before the Communion Psal 1. 4. 1 Kings 4. 29. Tit. 3. 14. Heb. 13. 16. * See my Book of sacriledge pag. 45. 49. c. Luk. 16. 2. * V. Capitula Caroli M. item Miraeum de Donat. Belgiâ— Mat. 25. * V. Speed's Chron. p. 1 Tim. 5. 8. Mat. 23. 23. Luk. 16. 9. Phip 11. 4. Luk. 7. 5. * Si Centurio commendatur Domino qui aedificavit Synagogam quanto est commendatior qui aedificavit Ecclesiam si is meretur gratiam qui Iimpietati Receptaculum praestitit quanto majorem meretur Gratiam qui Religioni Domicilium praeparavit Et si ille Coelesti misericordiâ visitatur qui construxit locum ubi Christus semper negatur quanto magis visitandus est qui fabricari fecit Tabernaculum ubi Christus quotidiè praedicatur St. Ambro. Serm. 89. de Dedic Basilic Heb. 11. 32. * Those Bishops Benefactors in the See of Durham were eight Isaackson's Chronology Aldwinus Godwin Fol. 99 Egelrius 101 Ranulphus Flambard 112 Hugo Pudsey 113 Anthonius Beake 125 Walterius Skirlaw 134 Tho. Hatfield 133 Cuthbertus Tunstal 138 Cardinal Tho. Langley may be the ninth to make up the number of the Muses but we crave pardon that some are of Opinion upon the survey of his works that he came short of this our Bishop * Master Knox the Jesuite Mat. 6. 3. Mat. 5. 16. 1 Cor. 10. 31. Jam. 1. 17. 1 Cor. 13. 5. Rev. 3. 4. 1 Sam. 25. â—1 * It is observed of that Civil Lawyer Mathaeus Wâ—sembecius that for his sharp Diseases in his latter Age he did change his Sir-name and would be called Mathaeus de Afflictis Eccles 9. 11. Psalm 55. 6. Manasses Prayer Virg. Heb. 8. 1. Mat. 12. 42. Eccl. 9. 2. 1 Cor. 14. 40. Exod. 29. 39. Hos 14. 2. * Bishop Latimer Bishop Hooper both Martyrs Bishop Jewel Bishop Andrews c. used no other Our Liturgy being so Comprehensive there needs no other See this at large made good both for Antiquity and Conformity in the practice of the form of Bidding Prayer in that excellent work in Latine of the Learned and Laborious Dr. Durel Entituled S. Eccles Anglic. Vindic. Cap. 9. p. 66. where he proves clearly that the practice of the Reformed Churches in Poland Lithuania and Zurick in Switherland is the same with ours in England Nay the same Author further affirms that Calvin himself did use such a form See Calvin's Sermons upon Job translated into English Printed at London Anno 1580 whereâ—â— the latter end you have a plain form of Bidding of â—â—ayer by way of Allocution of the people and not of dâ—rect Invocation of God saying Let us pray and alway concluding with the Lords Prayer as we do See further The Alliance of Divine Offices c. by Hamon L' Estrange Esq chap. 6. p. 180. 1 Tim. 3. 2. Rom. â— 3 4 5. Psal 112. 9. 2 Cor. 9. 9. John 4. 46. Hier. in Isa 65. Princ. By the Sages of the Law he is styled Dominus Regalis who hath thus long enjoyed the Jura Regalia See Rotul Parl. Pasch 21 Eliz. Rotul quint. which the Lord Cook calls a notable Record of the Liberties of the Bishop of Durham and is therefore allowed for such in the Kings Courts Isa 57. 1. Omnia mors aequat Claudian Rev. 14. 13. Eccl. 1. 2. Luke 1. 15. John 10. 41. Heb. 12. 22. to 24.
A SERMON At the Funeral of the Right Reverend Father in GOD JOHN Late Lord Bishop and Count Palatine of Durham THE EPITAPH OF THE DECEASED Prescribed by himself in his WILL was this Rev. xiv 13. Beati Mortui qui moriuntur in Domino requiescunt enim à Laboribus suis The dead Mans real Speech A FUNERAL SERMON Preached on Hebr. xi 4. Upon the 29 th day of April 1672 TOGETHER WITH A brief of the Life Dignities Benefactions Principal Actions and Sufferings and of the death of the said late Lord Bishop of DVRHAM Published upon earnest Request By Isaac Basire D. D. CHAPLAIN in ORDINARY to his MAJESTY and ARCH-DEACON of NORTHUMBERLAND LONDON Printed by E. T. and R. H. for James Collins at the Kings Arms in Ludgate-street 1673. TO THE Christian Reader THis untimely Conception might have proved an Abortive or if born a Benoni to the Parent then in sore Travel through sickness both in the Preparation deproperated as also in the present Production being at the earnest intreaty of the Noble Relations of our Lord Bishop deceased now pressed unto the Press When this was delivered vivâ voce out of a due Regard to the Solemn Confluence of so many Worthy Persons for some of them came from far as also out of a respect to the day then far spent I did purposely contract my Meditations and express them then under the Ancient Canonical measure of an Hour Esteeming it a point of Commendable Prudence and also of plausible Thrift to boote on such Solemn Occasions to shorten the double pains both of the Speaker and of the Hearers But since the delivery being desired as by sundry Worthy Relations of the deceased so at the request of my Friend the Honest and Industrious Book-seller I have been perswaded to enlarge the Sermon with the Addition of a Brief of the Life of the deceased Prelate and so my Brooke is become a River I wish it may not prove a Sea to deterr the Reader from launching out into it For the matter of Right done to the dead in General I refer my self to Gods Word For the matter of Fact in particular concerning the Person of the deceased I Report my self to their Report whose Information I have diligently and severally desired and faithfully delivered here relying upon their verity confirmed by the Authority of our late Lord Bishops Last Will in English which should be Sacred My honest Request to the Christian Reader is only for the same Candour in the Reading as was intended by me in the Writing All which commending to God for a Blessing I take leave Praying in K. Davids words That God would spare me a little that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more seen AMEN Imprimatur Tho. Tomkins R. R. mo in Christo Patri ac Domino D no Gilberto Divinâ Providentiâ Archi-Episc Cant. à Sacris Domesticis Ex Aedibus Lambethanis Feb. 10. 1672. ERRATA PAg. 6. lin 1. deest but before upon l. 2. an bef uniform 1. 14. in comparison of eternity after span long l. ult and felicity after innocence p. 8. l. 12. for how read which way p. 9. l. 5. dele comma after Statute p. 24. l. 25. r. the Holy p. 37. l. 4. phrase it in p. 42. Marg. for Covarrus r. Covarruvius p. 43. l. 4. r. Calligraphy p. 50. l. 11. r. domestical p. 54. Marg. ad lin 11. r. Constantinopol p. 57. l. 2. add he before much p. 59. l. 29. after teaching add them p. 70. l. 12. after thrive add the. p. 71. l. 16. r. Proprietary p. 85. l. 15. after Character add Conscience p. 92. l. 13. r. Brâ—nâ— p. 93. l. 22. for with r. of p. 97. Marg. r. Switzerland p. 110. l. ult for still r. yet p. 118. after the Latin Will dele Vid. J. Will. c. p. 119. before Our help insert The Translation of the Latin Will. p. 121. l. 13. for shading r. shadowing THE Dead Man's REAL SPEECH Hebr. 11. 4. By it he being dead yet speaketh KNow you not that a great man is faln in Israel This was David's noble Epitaph over Abner though his Rebel and how much more may this be our Just Preface to this solemn Funeral to be sure over a better Man than was Abner Therefore in King David's words I may truly say again Know you not that a great Man is now faln in our Israel A great Man indeed as shall appear before we take our Final Leave of him We may be sure greater than Abner not only in his State but which is the crown of all true greatness in his Graces and Beneficence in this indeed and in truth greater than Abner yet Abner was a great man for he was a General in the Field but on the wrong side the Rebels side Our great man a General not only in the Field but which is much more a General in this Church I mean his Diocess a great one and in both these great Capacities constantly Loyal ad Exemplum And yet as high as this great man was so lately behold how low he is laid down now who yet must be laid down lower as you shall see by and by Such Spectacles of Mortality ought to be to us Survivours tot Specula so many true Looking-glasses wherein whatever our Artificial Looking-glasses may flatter us with what our living faces seem to be now this Natural Looking-glass tells us plainly to our faces what all our dead faces shall be must be then God knows how soon He being Dead yet speaketh out Mortality to us all so many Funerals so many Warning-pieces to us all to prepare for our last and greatest Issue This in the Judgment of the wise man is the best use we can make of our Access to the House of Mourning such as this house is at present therefore the Living should lay it to his Heart which that we may all do Let us pray with the Spirit and in the words of King David O teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Ye shall further pray for Christ's Holy Catholick Church c. Hebr. 11. 4. THe Scope of this Text which must be the Aim of the Sermon is this to stir up all the faithful living to imitate the faithful that are dead whereof this Chapter is the sacred Roll upon the Divine Records down from Abel unto the Patriarchs the Judges the Kings the Prophets c. that is that we should endeavour to become the followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises The Text is short but the Lesson is long that is to live so now as we may die well at last and by our good works speak when we are dead The Parts are two which do express two States of Man 1. The state of Death He being dead which is the privation of the life of nature common to all men on which frail life
The best of us all at Dooms-day would be glad to have their grains of allowance and why should we grudge them to our betters Therefore now to draw the curtain over all humane infirmities and imperfections which may God cover in mercy and clear us all by his free pardon through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so to proceed It is certain that no man is born a Saint but 't is as certain that every good man that dies in the exercise of Repentance Faith and Charity dies a Saint such as our Hope is this our Brother died First his Name His Name was John which in the Holy Tongue signifies the Grace of God Here by the way Parents and Godfathers may take out this good Lesson not to put upon their Children fantastical much less profane and superstitious Names but prudently to chuse such Names as may be continual Memorials of some good duties to the parties so named as oft as they shall hear read or write their own Names that they may endeavour by their lives to become as good as their names Secondly His Sirname His Sirname was Cosin in Latine Cognatus quasi à Con Natus which as the famous Civilian Modestinus expoundeth it signifies a Cosin in primo gradu in his own Family This Sirname of Cosin is become famous by diverse learned men of that Name I saw once in our Prelates hand Cognati Opera and we have in our hands that excellent Apology for the Ecclesiastical Lawes by Dr. Richard Cosin that Renowned Civilian and now our Church enjoyeth that solid work Intituled A Scholastical History of the Canon of the Holy Scripture brought forth in his banishment by this our deceased Lord. Thirdly His Birth His Temporal Birth was on St. Andrews day 1594. His birth to Glory I mean the day of his death was Jan. 15. 1671-72 his Age 78. current greater by so much than King David's first measure 70. So that to phrase in Jobs words He came to his grave in a full age like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season Length of dayes is by Gods favour annexed to the fifth Commandment Honour thy Father c. which the Apostle maketh the first Commandment with promise and 't is a Glory For the hoary head is a Crown of Glory if it be found in the way of Righteousness A good evidence of Gods acceptance upon his obedience to his Superiours Spiritual Political and Natural Parents for want of which due obedience to Parents God many times shortens the dayes of the Sons of Belial Rebellious Children Fourthly His Person God and Nature did frame his earthly Tabernacle of a goodly structure for he was both tall and erect a fit presage aforehand of the stature of his future preferments and dignities he had a Prelatical presence which he over-topped with his liberal beneficence This I am sure of he was no Dwarf neither in Stature Dignity nor Bounty as will appear by the ensuing discourse Fifthly His Family 1. Paternal his Fathers Name was Giles Cosin of Fox-hearth a Citizen of no mean City to use St. Pauls phrase who did glory in Tarsus his birth-place His City was Norwich of which more anon when we come to his Countrey He was a good Citizen a man of substance witness his liberal education of this his great Son 2. By his Maternal descent he was Son to Mrs. Elizabeth Remington of Remington-Castle an antient Family and which is worth all the rest both his Parents were of the Household of faith both born and bred in the true antient Apostolick and Catholick Religion of the Church of England which this their Son did so early imbibe that he lived and died a constant Professor and Patron of the same Thus was his Family in Lineâ rectâ As for his Collateral Line he took a Wife out of an antient Noble Family in this Countrey Frances the Daughter of Mr. Marmaduke Blakiston a Dignitary both in the Metropolitical Church of York and in this of Durham Marmaduke was Son to John Blakâ—ston of Blakiston Esq whose other Son was Sir William Blakiston Father to Sir Thomas His Wife was a prudent Wife and therefore from the Lord To my knowledge a true yoke-fellow not only in Prosperis as too many worldly-minded Wives but chiefly in Adversis which is the tryal of a good Wife and of a true friend indeed and these are blessings For to have the Burthen of a Wife and not the blessing of a good wife is a great cross if not a curse And here I stop from attending the rest of his Family any further perhaps I have gone too far already in presuming to blazon a Pedigree being no Herald Sixthly His Countrey To pass from his Family to his Countrey he was born a Britain and an English Man A Nation so famous for situation plenty and victories If Plato did thank the Gods that he was born a Grecian and bred a Philosopher but still a Heathen how much more ought every true English-Man to be thankful unto God for his birth under a Christian Monarchy Christian indeed if as the current of Historians do report it received the Christian Religion from one of the Apostles or one of their Apostolical Disciples some say Simon Zelotes others Joseph of Arimathea and if England as they say was the first Kingdome in all the world that first received the Gospel with the countenance of Supreme Authority under King Lucius a Britain whom Historians do place Anno Christi 170 and 't is no small addition of honour for this Kingdome that the first Christian Emperour even Constantine the Great was born in England Thus our deceased Prelate was blessed in the place of his birth but much more blessed for the state of his New Birth in such a Christian Church the most Apostolical and the purest of all Christian Churches Expertus loquor for in 15 years Ecclesiastical Pilgrimage during my voluntary banishment for my Religion and Loyalty I have surveyed with an impartial eye of observation most Christian Churches both Eastern and Western and I dare pronounce of the Church of England what David said of Goliahs Sword There is none like it both for Primitive Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government Episcopal Hierarchy the most moderate and regular For it was a singular providence of God to inspire the first Reformers of the Church of England with the Spirit of wisdome to conjoyn the zeal for verity with due reverence to Antiquity for by Cardinal Baronius his own Confession the Church of England is for her Christendome acknowledged antienter than Rome it self by nine years and 't is strange in reason and more strange in nature that the pretended Mother should be younger than the Daughter but that any thing which is rational is rejected by such as only relie upon a Magisterial pretence of Ipsa dixit which false principle smells rank of wilfull schism
evil eye and hissed at by some serpentine Tongues and Pens to suppress it they were none but Schismaticks but yet to this present time it hath had the blessing to out-live a fifth publick Edition 2. During his Sequestration and Banishment when through the iniquity of the Times he was not suffered to preach in England he did in France compose an excellent Book Entituled A Scholastical History of the Canon of the Holy Scripture drawn out from the Judaical Church to the Sixteenth Century of years A fundamental work which proves him to have been a perfect Herald of the true Pedigree of the Holy Scripture This Work was first Printed 1657. when still Sequestred and in Exile and since reprinted Anno 1672. but to this day unanswered for the space of fifteen years and more we may suppose the reason is because the Evidences therein are unanswerable 3. By the same method he did compose a Book against Transubstantiation part whereof is already printed Vnprinted 1. The other part is unprinted but ready for the Press written twenty four years ago Entituled Historia Transubstantiationis Papalis 2. An Answer to a Popish Pamphlet pretending that St. Cyprian was a Papist 3. An Answer to a Paper delivered by a Popish Bishop to the Lord Inchequin 4. An Answer to four Queries of a Roman Catholick about Protestant Religion 5. Annales Eccl. Opus Imperfect 6. Dr. Cosin's Answer to Father Robinson's Papers concerning the validity of the Ordinations in the Church of England 7. Summarium Doctrinae Ecclesiae Anglicanae 8. The differences and agreement of the Church of England from and with the Church of Rome 9. Historia Conciliorum opus imperfect 10. Against the forsakers of the Church of England and their Seducers in this time of her Tryal 11. Chronologia sacra opus imperfectum 12. A Treatise concerning the abuse of Auricular Confession against the Church of Rome For though the Church of England both by grave Exhortation and Godly practice in her Holy Offices doth allow of private Confession to the Priest as Gods Deputy by express Commission whosoever's sins you remit they are remitted in the cases of a troubled conscience And that her Children may come to the Holy Communion with full trust in God's Mercy Our Church doth admonish them that such a Confession may then be very Medicinal Yet our Church guided by the Word of God and by good Antiquity justly denies Auricular Confession to be absolutely necessary to the Remission of sins provided the party be truly penitent With much more reason doth our Church deny private Confession to God's Priest to be Sacramental as the Church of Rome doth affirm without any solid ground of Verity or from Antiquity These remains are earnestly recommended to his Pious Executor's care for publication for by these Fruits of his we may charitably conclude He obtained the character of the blessed Man whose leaf shall not wither and by these his excellent Works our dead Prelate being dead yet speaketh His Benefactions To pass now from his forreign Actions abroad to his Countrey-Benefactions at home That great Prelate had this blessing from God to enjoy a large heart that is an heart capable not only to know but also to do great things for his time both to his Chruch and Country He was indowed with an Active Spirit to design and with an able Body to perform his designs as God gave him Wealth so he gave him Artem fruendi for it is one thing to have wealth and another thing to enjoy and use it well by maintaining good works for necessary uses chiefly Publick and Pious Works for he was mindful of the Apostles precept To do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased and therefore he was both more careful of and also chearful in the distribution of his Munificence for these pious uses and his Posterity may from thence raise up their hope to thrive better for it for after God in the Poor and God's Church out of the Chruches Patrimony is well served a little well gotten and left by an honest Clergy-man may stretch much further and stick much longer in his Godly Posterity than a Church-Estate ill-gotten by some Lay-Nimrod who seldom out-lives much less transmits his Sacrilegious Estate to the third Generation which commonly and visibly verifies the old Proverb De malè quaesitis vix gaudet tertius Haeres And here I must crave leave for a very material digression concerning the Clergy's Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Estates for although as I hope I have else-where sufficiently proved that by the Law of God and Man the Clergy of England have as good and as legal that I say not a better Title to their Benefices and Dignities pro tempore as any Lay-Subject of England to their temporal Inheritances and so may justly call their Estates their own in foro externo yet indeed and in truth and by sad experience to Clergy-mens Widows and Children not so well provided for here as beyond the Seas we Clergy-men are but Vsufructuaries God is the great Proprietor Paramount of all that Clergy-men enjoy which gives them an high Title to what they enjoy under God to whom at last they all must one day give a strict account when they must hear of a Redde Rationem God knows how soon and then we must be no longer Stewards here for it is evident by the forms of the antient Donations to and Dotations of the Church that God himself is the Chief Treasurer of the Churches Estate The antient forms run thus Concedimus Deo Ecclesiae c. So that God himself is Entituled the Chief Lord and Proprietary to all Clergy-men's Estates to whom all their Church-Lands under God are granted 1. To provide for God's Moral Houses 2. God's Material Houses 1. Gods Moral Houses are chiefly the Poor to bestow upon the truly poor and impotent through Age or made so by Providence through fire or other involunâ—ary mischances or to such who though they labour by their industry to maintain their own Families yet being over-burthened by their Wives and many Children are not able to relieve them all these are the best poor and therefore most worthy to be relieved in the eye of prudent Charity As for Vagrants or common wandring Beggars whereof this Kingdome swarms to the contempt of so many good Laws and to the great scandal of our Christian Religion Correction is the best Charity for such Wise men say that two things general Experience and Memory make up a wise man Modesty will not suffer me to pretend to that wisdom but if I may declare my observation I have lived some years in Holland and never saw a Beggar there I have lived some other years in Turkey and never saw a Beggar there The reason is plain because to the Authority of their good Laws they add the severity of due Execution We have as good and as
the Bread only dipt he answered No but he would receive it in both kinds according to Christ's Institution and being through weakness lifted up into his Chair and having a violent pain in his head for the ease whereof it was fast bound he would needs have it all undone and sit bare-headed and so he received it an hour and a half before his death from the hands of Mr. William Flower his Lordships Domestical Chaplain 3. And when being so near unto death he could not kneel he then devoutly repeated often that part of the penitent Prayer of King Manasses Lord I bow the knee of my heart 4. Having often reiterated his Invitation of Christ in the words of the Spirit and of the Church Lord Jesus come quickly His last act was the Elevation of his hand with this his last Ejaculation Lord wherewith he expired without pain according to his frequent prayer to God That he might not dye of a suddain or painful death such was his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Augustus his wish and I pray God for every one of us that from heart and mouth our last breath may prove like that of our late Bishop Amen His Burial The Ecclesiastical Office was solemnly Celebrated by the Right Reverend Father in God Guy Lord Bishop of Bristol The Political Offices were performed decently and in order which was in all publick actions the method of our late Lord Bishop when living and the same he enjoyed at and after his death the particular Narration of which I do civilly recommend to those Dunmviri the worthy Heralds for the Funeral pomp was very solemn who did constantly attend his late Lordship's state at London and all the way to Durham and there and at Auckland the place of his Rest where requiescat in pace and from thence God send him a joyful Resurrection at which prayer none but ignorant or malicious men will take offence for the meaning is no more but that the dead may enjoy a happy Re-union of the Soul with the body at the general Resurrection and a final and full consummation of both in bliss and after the utter abolition of sin by death a blessed conjunction of us that survive with them that are dead which is the Orthodox sence of our Office at Burials the ancient sence of the Primitive Church when we pray over the dead whose Souls in Christian Charity we hope are past the necessity of our Prayers for their Relief or Release from any imaginary first Pagan after Popish Purgatory The Summ of all The Text and Sermon is a dead mans real speech To hear a dead man speak now were such a Prodigy as would certainly both stir up attention and strike amazement into us and all the hearers yet that Great Chancellour of Paris John Gerson relates a strange History which happened about the year 1060. at the Funeral of a Grave Doctor there a man otherwise reputed for the strictness of his life at the interring of whom when the Priest came to the then used form Râ—sponde mihi or answer me the Corps sat upright in the Biere and to the amazement of all there present the first day cryed out Justo Dei judicio accusatus sum At the Just Tribunal of God I am accused and so laid immediately down in its first posture the astonished Company deferring the burial till the next day when the dead man with a hideous noise cryed out again Justo Dei judicio judicatus sum By the just judgement of God I am judged whereupon the burial was deferred a day longer and the dead man rose up the third time and cryed out his last Justo Dci judicio condemnatus sum By the Just judgement of God I am condemned whereat as the whole company was sadly affrighted so Brimo then an Eminent Doctor in the same University being effectually affected calling his Scholars together retired from the world and as the manner of those Times was then became the Founder of the Order of the Carthusians A strange Prodigy and a loud warning-piece to us all living to admonish us not to confide much less presume upon our outward Righteousness for I dare not deny Historical Credit to this premised Relation from John Gerson But blessed be God dead Abel in the Text and the dead Bishop on this Hearse speak better things This Hearse is now our Bishop's Throne or his Pulpit and so our Bier must be the last Pulpit of us all of the Clergy high and low all must come to this God knows how soon I may be the next God send us all an happy Nunc dimittis of which we may live and dye assured if we imitate them for they being dead yet speak and as you have heard at large do preach unto us all Faith Hope and Charity the only strait way to Heaven all evidenced by their works of Piety which if not imitated by us may justly rise up in judgement against us To Recapitulate and summ up our Bishops Vertues under three Heads I will remind you with 1. His Intellectual 2. His Moral 3. His Theological Vertues 1. As to his Intellectual Vertues his Natural understanding he was endowed with a sound understanding which he enjoyed to the last a great blessing for though for the outward manner of death all things come alike to all and there may be one event to good and bad both may lose their understanding at their latter end through the malignity or vehemency of some acute sicknesses which should teach us all in health to make good use of our understandings yet for a man to dye sanâ mente or in his right wits is a great comfort both to the dying party and to the surviving friends 2. His acquired learning witness his writings fore-mentioned and his diligent researches into the magazine of the best Antiquity I may truly say Here lies now dead before us one of our Chief Ritualists 3. He was punctual in his Methods for to my knowledge he loved Order in his Studies and Functions and he often repeated and generally observed the Apostles Canon Let all things be done decently and in order He was so exact in putting in practice the Discipline of our Church that he strictly enjoyned according to the Rubrick the daily Publick Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer within the Churches of his Diocess which since the decay of the Primitive Devotion of daily Communions in the old Christianity is instead of the Juge Sacrificium of the Jews the daily sacrifice of a Lamb Morning and Evening And 't is both our sin and shame that since God is graciously pleased under the Gospel to spare our lambs we Christians should in requital grudge our good God except in case of real necessity the Calves of our lips to praise him daily in the publick Congregations Without vanity I have through Gods providence travelled and taken an impartial survey of both the Eastern and Western Churches and can assert upon
when in the last day of the world he shall come from Heaven to raise the dead and judge all he will give eternal happiness but to the rest that are Infidels or that have lived according to the flesh and would not repent or be converted he will inflict eternal punishment In this Faith which is the summary and most absolute Abridgement of all the Holy Scripture Jude vers 3. once delivered to the Saints and which the Apostles and their Successors have spread abroad and derived down even to us I profess my self to live and that I may persevere in it constantly without doubting unto my last breath is my daily prayer in the mean time seeking after Unity by preserving the bond of Peace and Love with all Christians every where who among the great Evils Distractions and Calamities of the Church which truly I cannot but heartily bewail entirely receive this Faith and call no one part of it in question I hope also through the goodness of God and Christ God and Man our Saviour that all they that have together with us sincerely believed these things that are revealed and delivered from God and have lived a Godly life shall be saved in the great day of the Lord who although they are not able to give an account or explain the manner of every of them nor resolve the questions raised about them and though perhaps when they endeavour it they cannot avoid some mistakes and be altogether free from errour But whatsoever Heresies or Schisms heretofore by what names soever they be called the antient Catholick and Universal Church of Christ with an unanimous consent hath rejected and condemned I do in like manner condemn and reject together with all the modern Fautors of the same Heresies Sectaries and Phanaticks who being carried on with an evil Spirit do falsely give out they are inspired of God The Heresies and Schismes I say of all these I also as most addicted to the Symbols Synods and Confessions of the Church of England or rather the Catholick Church do constantly renounce condemn and reject Among whom I rank not only the Separatists the Anabaptists and their Followers Alas too too many but also the New Independents and Presbyterians of our Countrey a kind of men hurried away with the spirit of Malice Disobedience and Sedition who by a disloyal attempt the like whereof was never heard since the world began have of late committed so many great and execrable Crimes to the contempt and despite of Religion and the Christian Faith which how great they were without horrour cannot be spoken or mentioned Moreover I do profess with holy asseveration and from my very heart that I am now and have ever been from my youth altogether free and averse from the corruptions and impertinent new-fangled or papistical so commonly called superstitions and doctrines and new superadditions to the Ancient and Primitive Religion and Faith of the most commended so Orthodox and Catholick Church long since introduced contrary to the Holy Scripture and the Rules and Customes of the ancient Fathers But in what part of the World soever any Churches are extant bearing the name of Christ and professing the true Catholick Faith and Religion worshipping and calling upon God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost with one heart and voice if any where I be now hindred actually to be joyned with them either by distance of Countries or variance amongst men or by any other let whatsoever yet alwayes in my mind and affection I joyn and unite with them which I desire to be chiefly understood of Protestants and the best Reformed Churches for where the foundations are safe we may allow and therefore most friendly quietly and peaceably suffer in those Churches where we have not Authority a diversity as of Opinion so of Ceremonies about things which do but adhere to the Foundations and are neither necessary or repugnant to the practice of the Universal Church As for all them who through Evil Counsel have any way inveighed against or calumniated me and even yet do not forbear their invectives I freely pardon them and earnestly pray to God that he also would be pleased to forgive them and inspire them with a better mind In the mean while I take it to be my duty and of all my Brethren especially the Bishops and Ministers of the Church of God to do our utmost endeavours according to the measure of Grace which is given to every one of us that at last an end may be put to the differences of Religion or at least that they may be lessened and that we may follow Peace with all men and Holiness which that it may be accomplished very speedily God the Author of Peace and Concord grant whose infinite Mercy I humbly beseech that he would cleanse me who was conceived in Sin and Iniquity from every spot and corruption of humane frailty and that through his great clemency he would make me who am unworthy to become worthy and that he would apply to me the Passion and infinite Merits of his most beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord to the expiating of all mine Offences that at the last hour of my Life which I daily look for I may be carried by his Holy Angels into Abrahams bosome and being placed in the fellowship of his Saints and Elect may fully enjoy Eternal Felicity Having now declared what belongs to my Religion and the State and Salvation of my Soul which I have now delivered here in Latine The rest that belongs to my Burial and the disposal of my Temporal Estate I shall cause to be written in my Native Language and so conclude Durham Jan. 18. 1672. Vera Copia Examinata per me William Stagg Not. Publicum FINIS Gen. 35. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Basil Homil xxiii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem S. Basil Homil 2. in Psalm xiv Non adhaerendum rebus secularibus ** Conctonator non ultra Horam ne fastidium pariat auditoribus Canon Hungaricus c. Eccles 24. 31. Psal 39. 15. 2 Sam. 3. 38. * The Lord Bishop of Durham is Lieutenant General of this County as ab Antiquo ex Officio so ex abundanti per Mandatum by the Kings gracious Commission cumulativè and so still under the King who is always the Sovereign of all Estates in his Realms Eccles 70. 2. Psal 90. 12. Can. 55. Hebr. 11. Hebr. 6. 12. Exod. 14. 20. with Hebr. 12. E. Ephes 4. 18. Psal 39. 5. Gen. 2. 17. Psal 30. 5. Ephes 2. 1. Revel 20. 6. * St. Aug. de Discipl cap. 2. non potest malè mori qui benè vixerit Audeo dicere non potest malè mori qui benè vixerit Deut. 32. 29. Hebr. 9. 27. 1 Cor. 15. 51. Gen. 5. 5. Rom. 8. 19. Phil. 1. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 11. 35. Rom. 1. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thes 4. 13. Genes 50. 3. 10. Rom. 14. 7 8. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉