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
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. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
of the cry of Sodom and of the cry of the hireling's wages kept from him and here Abel's blood hath a voice that cries aloud for Justice in God's eares and as it were prefers a Bill of Indictment upon which God the just Judge immediately arraigneth Cain passeth Judgment and doth Execution upon Cain the Fratricide stamping a curse both upon his person and estate saying What hast thou done the voice of thy brothers blood cries unto me from the Ground and now art thou cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thine hand When thou tillest the Ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth Now as sin hath a voice so grace hath a voice also calling upon us as for our Imitation of the vertues of the Saints departed so calling upon God for a gracious compensation of their works which follow them after death not at all by way of merit but of God's free mercy for what proportion betwixt man's works which are but temporary and therefore finite all our best works are no more and besides imperfect all and God's high reward which is Infinite both for weight and for duration to all eternity Some Interpreters add a fifth way by which Abel being dead yet speaketh to wit as a Type by his blood shed by Cain his Brother prefiguring the blood of Christ shed by his brethren the Jews And thus many ways Abel being dead yet speaketh And so all good men though dead yet speak by their good works of Faith and Patience In which blessed number this dead man before our eyes was through God's grace listed and so speaketh by his good deeds to his Generation and seems by his example to preach unto us all St. Paul's Apostolical Admonition Not to be weary of well doing for in due season we shall reap a reward if we faint not as our Christian hope is the deceased Prelate findeth it now to his everlasting comfort O how gladly would I make an end here and so come down Sorry I am that I must now pass and descend from the Literal Text to this our Real Text lying before us But 't is a Rule of Christian practice that when God hath been pleased to reveal his will by the event our humble resignation of our selves and friends and all with submission of our will to God's will is our duty and the best remedy to allay all our sorrows and to say in the words and with the spirit of Holy Job The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord which is part of our office for burial in all this Job sinned not no more should we if we would be followers of Job's faith and patience which God grant us all through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed from Angels from us and from all men all praise power Majesty and Dominion now and for ever Amen A BRIEF OF THE Life and Dignities OF THE BENEFACTIONS AND Principal Actions c. OF The Right Reverend Father in God JOHN Lord Bishop and Count Palatine of Durham c. LONDON Printed for James Collins at the Sign of the Kings-Arms in Ludgate-street 1673. THE Dead Man's REAL SPEECH BUt before we enter into this due Office of Commemoration for to preach or pray over the dead is Justa persolvere we must by way of prevention enter this solemn Protestation against this our censorious Age That we do abjure all manner of flattery passive or active being God be thanked settled above all slavish fear or base hope from the living much more from the dead Was King David a Flatterer for composing and publishing those goodly Epitaphs upon Saul and Abner who yet were no very good men or were the godly widows flatterers for shewing the Coats and Garments which Dorcas made whilst she was alive In the ensuing rehearsal our intention is and our endeavour shall be to publish nothing but vera utilia As for the verity as I am confident of the Ingenuity of my Instructors Persons of Quality and of good credit so as I said before I am convinced and confirmed of the verity of the matter by the last will a sacred thing in Law of our late Lord Bishop And as for the utility of this due office of Commemoration we commit our Meditations to Gods direction and commend them to your attention If there be any Adder that dare hiss against this dead Prelate or the liveing for giving the dead his due or shall object Was this man one in quo Adam non peccavit Was he a man all made of Vertues Had he no faults Our answer is that Proverb of Charity De mortuis nil nisi benè 't is an honest old say as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to gnaw on dead mens bones is an inhumane brutish unnatural humour Such Cannibals as do delight to feed on dead mans flesh by tearing of their Fame do take the Devils Office out of his hand Yet the Devil if one may say so was more a Gentleman more civil to Job for the Devil slander'd him indeed but 't was when he was alive and so might and did answer for himself Far be it from me to usurp the Office of a Coroner over the state of the Dead the Rule of Charity and practice of our Church in the Office for the dead have taught me better Divinity I know by experience that an evil eye looking upon the Dead through the wrong end of the perspective I mean Envy will not only spear out but also espy and that with aggravation the infirmities or faults of the dead I wish all such seriously to consider themselves and well to weigh St. James his Observation Was not Elias a man subject to the like passions as we are and yet by the Pens of the Prophets and Apostles dipt in Charity we read nothing but commendations of Elias nor of Job Ye have heard of the patience of Job not a word of his impatience tho' confessed by himself whom some think to be the Authour of the most part of that Book When I have done with the due praises of this Great Man some Shimei with his Serpents tongue may still hiss at though he can never hurt this dead man To stop all such foul mouths I wish them to reflect upon themselves and let them know that there must be faults as long as there are men and with a serious reflexion upon themselves let them fore-know that after him who lies here before us we must all every one of us be weighed in the ballance at last and for my own part I must confess I am perpetually afraid to have my share in that Article against Belshazzar I dread his Tekel that final doom Thou art weighed in the ballance and found wanting
and also wrongful in causa propria And here without suspicion of ingratitude I cannot but bless God that by his providence he was pleased to ingraft me into this Holy Church wherein I have had the honour to bear the office of an unworthy Priest above 43 years To pass on from England the general Countrey of the deceased to his particular Countrey He was born in Norwich an Ancient Great Famous and Opulent City and the more opulent now by his late liberal Gifts and Legacies to that City expressed in his English Will. Seventhly His Education To pass from his Countrey to his Education He was planted in the Free School of Norwich watered by that famous Fountain of this Land the University of Cambridge and God gave the increase both of solid Piety and sound Learning first in Caius Colledge whereof he was Fellow and afterwards he had the honour to be brought up at the feet of that great Gamaliel Dr. John Overall an Apostolical Bishop first of Litchfield after of Norwich whose Secretary he was for his Learning and Coeligraphy for he had the Pen of a ready Writer in a singular way and so might deserve the praise of the Tribe of Zabulon so well could he handle the Pen of the Writer Bishop Overal who sent him from time to time to the University to keep his Acts advised him to direct his studies in order to Divinity His Elias being taken from his head he was preferred to be Domestical Chaplain to that great Patron of the Church Dr. Richard Neile who having passed thorow five Bishopricks ascended at last to the Archiepiscopal Throne of York and this gives me a fair hint to pass from his Education to Eighthly His Dignities Our great Prelate did not as some more ambitious than worthy ascend to the Episcopal Throne per Saltum but by the Canonical Degrees As first he was lawfully Ordained Priest and afterwards was installed Prebendary of this Church of Duresme wherein he was not slack to search and study the Rights and Antiquities of the same and among others to promote one of the Honours of it by his constant Residences both Ordinary and Extraordinary with laudable Hospitality according to the Statutes Salvis Canonibus sealed with a Sacred Oath and therefore to be observed for he was so far from pressing upon his Majesty for importunate Dispensations which are alwayes the Soveraigns most just Prerogative in cases of real and legal necessity that upon search of our Churches Register I find not one dispensation for him in all the time he continued Prebend which was about 36 Years And I knew a man who in two cases of invincible necessity had the Royal favour of two dispensations the one unsought for by him who yet preferring the publick good and honour of the Church to his own private interest did voluntarily wave both The first for the Peace of the Church then but newly restored the other for the honour of the Church then for sundry months destitute of Residentiaries which also proved an effectual Precedent to restrain some from troubling the King for Dispensations intended otherwise After he became Bishop of the same Church he was so careful to preserve this honour of Hospitable residence that at his last personal visitation of the Dean and Chapter An. 1668. among other Injunctions this was one That such Prebends as do not keep due Residences according to the Statutes shall be deprived of their Quotidians and Dividends grounding also this his injunction upon right reason viz. Qui enim Emolumentum alicujus loci percipiunt onera etiam ejusdem loci sentire ferre debent which practice is conformable to good Conscience and Equity and worthy the imitation of his Colleagues whether Incumbents or Successors for 't is a Rule in Law Beneficium propter Officium and therefore for causeless habitual Non-Residents chiefly in Cathedrals or Mother Churches which admit not such Deputies or Coadjutors in their Chapters as by the Laws are allowed in particular cures for Non-residents without real necessity to claim or to enjoy equal profits with the Residents who do bear the burdens both real and personal seems to be against the Rule of Proportion which forbids Dare aequalia inaequalibus and comes near also to a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a partial respect of persons which God so frequently forbids I would I could say God forbid and also that I may prove a false Prophet for unless things be amended I fear partiality and non-residence may prove the ruine of the Church But there is another Rule in Equity That though some Dispensations in case of manifest necessity may pass as lawful in foro soli yet if without that necessity they may prove unlawful ad hominem in foro poli where he may appear in the shape of the austere man in the Gospel if he reap there where he does not sow in proportion for in every Society every good man should bear his own burthen And it may further be offered to common prudence nay as a case of Conscience whether such Dispensees who presume upon the Grace of the Royal Dispensor only upon pretence or chiefly out of covetousness ought not to make restitution to the extent of their Power for what sentence is justly left upon Record by a grave Prelate against the old Sequestrators may sub modo be applyed also to the case of the new wilful Non-residents His Sentence is this That of all the Commandments the eighth is most dangerous for the breach of other Commandments obligeth to Repentance but the breach of the eighth Commandment obligeth both to Repentance and Restitution according to St. Austins Rule of good Conscience Non remittetur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum And certainly there is appointed a great day of account for both at which day Lord have mercy upon us all and pardon our sins of Omission from which in this particular our Bishop was clear 2. He was Arch-deacon of the East-riding in the Diocess of York 3. He was Master of Peter-house 4. He was Vice-Chancellour of that University Anno 1640. when he had the honour to send the publick Plate to the King then in his Recess to supply in part his Princes necessity for the present and then also I had the honour to be admitted Doctor of Divinity between his hands and with his Benediction 5. He came to be Dean of Peterborough from whence he had the honour to be preferred to the Order of Confessors that is for his Religion and Allegiance to become a Sequestred Man for near upon 20 years Here by the way I may insert an Observation it may be called a Prediction that as I am informed Doctor Easedale in the year 1636. gave him some small thing upon condition he should pay a greater summ when he were made a Bishop Such was the expectation men of understanding had then of his future greatness
wise Laws in England as any Nation under Heaven but Execution is the life of the Law which is but a dead Letter yea deadly if some do make a conscience of observing the good Laws and others neglect it The lawful remedy of this too publick mischief is wholly and humbly represented and submitted to God and to the King under God 2. Clergy-men are obliged to bestow part of their Ecclesiastical estates upon Gods Material Houses Churches and Chancels and Ecclesiastical Houses to repair or preserve them from ruine which would defraud their Successours and oppress their miserable Relicts and Relations upon the account of just dilapidations 3. The Premisses being well provided for which is left to the Chancery in his breast that is to the Clergy-mans conscience and prudence out of the just remainder of his Ecclesiastical Estate the honest Clergy-man may lawfully provide for himself and Family for by the Apostle's Canon he is worse than an infidel that provideth not for his own especially those of his own house Herein our Saviour's Rule is the best guide these things you ought to have done and not to leave the other undone But if contrary to the pious intentions of the Religious Founders and Donors Clergy-men do intervert the spiritual estate of the Chruch chiefly or only to raise up or enrich their private temporal Families with the neglect of the publick God's Houses whether moral or material They may as too many leave their Children beggars besides which I am afraid of a strict Audit at the great day of account that they may clear themselves from Ecclesiastical Sacriledge from which now and at Dooms-day good Lord deliver us all For my part I do here profess and protest with thankfulness to God that out of my signal experience of God's eminent providence over me though unworthy this hath been my honest intention and constant endeavour in this world to make friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness in hope of God's word That when we fail they may receive us and ours into everlasting habitations and I am confident that neither I nor mine shall fare the worse for it what ever Carnal Relations may murmur against this just and honest course objecting the worlds false maxime contrary to God's true maxime look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others That every man must make much of his own Time to which this may be a full reply That we all must make much more of Eternity By these Godly methods our late Lord Bishop did proceed in providing as for the Poor Gods moral Houses so for Gods material Houses in both which regards we may truly say our Bishop held his See ad Aedificationem yet not neglecting those of his own Houshold and for a reward of those his Pious Works God gave him leave to live so long as not to leave his Relations unprovided for God be thanked And now should I launch out into the deep of his great Benefactions I fear the particulars will overflow both your attention and my expression you may see them at large in his Temporal Will written in English where you may read so many Items so many good Works 1. To the Quire of Durham 2. To the Preacher at his Funeral 3. Tokens to the Dean and Prebends for memorials of their mortality 4. To the vicar of St. Andrews Auckland an addition of sixteen pound per annum 5. To his Almes-men of Durham and Auckland 6. After his Burial to the Countrey-Poor 7. For the magnificent repairing of the Episcopal Chappels of Durham and Auckland and for Furniture Plate Books and other Ornaments c. in the said Chappels freely left to the Bishops his Successours And in this he was a good imitator of his great Patron Bishop Neile who in less than ten years did bestow upon the same as I am informed about seven thousand pound for indeed he was Vir Architectonicus 8. He did erect a goodly Chappel in the Castle of Auckland consecrated by himself on St. Peters day 1665. Two goodly Chappels formerly erected there in which I have also officiated for some years of peace being blown up by Sir Arthu Hasterig in the Gunpowder-plot of the late Rebellion Now if the Centurion who built only a Synagogue wherein Christ was never worshipped deserved praise how much more he who built such a house of God wherein Christ is constantly worshipped 9. For several other Publick Works as the repairing the boysterous Banks of Howden-shire belonging to this Bishoprick 10. To two Schools at Durham 11. For five Scholars places in St. Peter's Colledge in Cambridge ten pound a piece per annum For Three Scholars in Gonvile and Caius Colledge twenty Nobles a piece per annum Eight pounds yearly for the Common Chest of those Colledges respectively But for the particulars of his Benefactions and Legacies I have referred my self to the Bishops Will it self written in English in which the Bishop modestly declares that He mentions these as works of Duty and not for Ostentation 12. The next is for the Redemption of Christian Captives 13. For the Relief of the distressed Loyal Party 14. For a great Publick Library in Durham 15. To the poor Prisoners of all places where he had relation by birth or preferment 16. To the poor the like 17. For the re-building of St. Paul's Church London c. And what shall I say more for the time will fail me to tell of his manifold Legacies to his Friends dead and living as monuments of his gratitude to his Domestical Relations Kindred and Servants all which particulars as I am still informed do amount to above twenty five thousand pound 'T is to be observed that his Lordship was Consecrated Anno 1660. and was translated from Earth to Heaven Anno 1671. so that he enjoyed his Bishoprick but Eleven years and so computing his premised Benefactions he spent above two thousand pound a year in these pious uses A worthy Example of Episcopal Magnificence and Christian Charity Upon a serious search of the whole Line of the Bishops of Durham from the first of Lindisfarm to this our late Bishop sixty eight in number there are found upon the Ecclesiastical Records but eight Bishops in 1034. years that may seem to have equalled but not exceeded this our Bishop in the noble vertues of Magnificence and Beneficence and 't is worthy the consideration of our Age that the valuation of workmen and materials c. was far less in those antient times than in ours now much dearer every way We have been the longer in setting forth this notable Example of Episcopal bounty in the Church of England that it may burst with envy such of the Church of Rome for all amongst them are not alike some being more ingenuous till they vomit out their false foul and rotten say That Pater Noster built Churches but Our Father pulleth them down The Devils Proverb
singulorum rationem reddere vel modum exponere vel quaestiones circa ea exortas solvere vel dum fortè satagunt Hallucinationes aliquot effugere penitùs ab errore immunes esse nequiverint Sed quà scunque olim Haereses quaecunque etiam Schismata quibuscunque tandem nominibus appellentur prisca universalis sive Catholica Christi Ecclesia unanimi consensu rejecit condemnavit ego pariter condemno rejicio unà cum omnibus earundem Haeresium fautoribus hodiernis Sectariis Fanaticis qui spiritu malo acti mentiuntur sese spiritu Dei afflari Horum omnium inquam Haereses Schismata Ego quoque Ecclesiae nostrae Anglicanae imò Catholicae Symbolis Synodis Confessionibus addictissimus pariter improbo constanterque rejicio atque repudio In quorum numero pono non tantùm segreges Anabaptistas eorum sequaces proh dolor nimiùm multos sed etiam novos nostrates Independentes Presbyterianos genus hominum malitiae inobedientiae seditionis spiritu abreptum qui inauditâ à seculis audaciâ perfidia tanta nuper perpetrarunt facinora in contemptum opprobrium omnis Religionis Fidei Christianae quanta quidem non sine horrore dici aut commemorari queant Quinetiam à corruptelis ineptis nuperque natis sive Papisticis quas vocant superstitionibus doctrinis assumentis novis in Avitam ac Primaevam laudatissimae olim tam Orthodoxae Catholicae Ecclesiae Religionem ac fidem jamdudum contra sacram Scripturam veterumque Patrum Regulas ac mores introductis me prorsus jam alienum esse atque adeò à Juventute mea semper fuisse sanctè animitùs adsevero Vbicunque verò Terrarum Ecclesiae Christiano nomine censae veram Priscam Catholicam Religionem Fidemque profitentur ut Deum Patrem Filium spiritum sanctum uno ore mente invocant ac colunt eis si me uspiam actu jam nunc jungi prohibet vel distantia Regionum vel dissidia hominum vel aliud quodcunque obstaculum semper tamen animo mente affectu conjungor ac coalesco id quod de Protestantibus praesertim benè reformatis Ecclesiis intelligi volo Fundamentis enim salvis diversitatem ut opinionum ita quoque rituum circa res juxta adnatas minùs necessarias nec universali veteris Ecclesiae praxi repugnantes in aliis Ecclesiis quibus nobis praesidendum non est amicè placidè pacificè ferre possumus atque adeo perferre debemus Eis verò omnibus qui malè consulti quoquo modo me iniquis calumniis insectati sunt vel adhuc insectari non desinunt ego quidem ignosco deum seriò precor ut ipse quoque ignoscere meliorem eis mentem inspirare velit Operam interim mihi aliis omnibus fratribus praesertim Episcopis Ministris Ecclesiae Dei quantum ex illius gratiâ possumus dandam conferendam esse existimo ut tandem sopiantur vel saltem minuantur Religionis dissidia atque ut pacem sectemur cum omnibus sanctimoniam Quod ut fiat quà m ocyssimè faxit Deus Pacis Autor Amator concordiae Cujus immensam misericordiam oro obtestor ut me in peccatis iniquitatibus conceptum ab omni humanae infirmitatis labe corruptela repurget dignumque ex indigno per magnam clementiam suam faciat mihique passionem immensa merita dilectissimi sui filii Domini nostri Jesu Christi ad delictorum meorum omnium expiationem applicet ut quum novissima vitae hora non improvisa venerit ab Angelis suis in sinum Abrahae raptus in societate sanctorum electorum suorum collocatus aeternâ foelicitate perfruar Haec praefatus quae ad Religionem Animae meae statum ac salutem spectant quaeque Latino Sermone à me dictata atque exarata sunt reliqua quae ad sepulturam corporis bonorum meorum temporalium dispositionem attinent sermone patrio perscribi faciam ac perorabo Vid. J. Will. c. Our help is in the Name of the Lord who made Heaven and Earth In the Name and Honour of the same Lord our God the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost the most High and undivided Trinity FOrasmuch as it is appointed for all men once to die and that every mans body shall be dissolved but the time of my dissolution is uncertain of which notwithstanding as if it were nigh at hand being mindful in my daily Meditations and shaken with the frequent infirmities of my body I ever and anon think thereof I John Cosin an humble Minister in the Church of God and by the permission of the most High now Bishop of Durham not putting my hope in this present life but ever aspiring to that other which is to come eternal in the Heavens and which by the mercy of God ere long I hope to obtain and humbly praying for the salvation of my own Soul that through the merits of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God our only Redeemer and Mediator all mine offences be forgiven me being of a sound mind out of a sincere heart do make ordain and constitute this Testament containing my Last Will in this form as followeth First of all I heartily thank our Lord God Almighty that he hath vouchsafed me to be born in this life of faithful and vertuous Parents and that it hath pleased him that I should be Regenerate and born a new in his Church unto Life Eternal by the holy Laver of Baptism which he hath instituted and that he hath instructed me from my Youth in sound doctrine and hath made me partaker of his Saints that he hath imprinted in my mind a Faith not feigned nor dead but true and living together with a firm confidence that hereafter I shall be brought unto eternal life which Faith doubtless consists in this That we adore and worship one God and believe in him and in him whom he hath sent his most beloved Son the Eternal Word begotten before all Ages Jesus Christ our Lord who for us and for our Salvation took flesh of the most blessed Virgin Mary the Holy Ghost over-shading her in this life and was made man afterward was born suffered was crucified dead and buried and after he had descended into Hell rose again from his Grave and leading captivity captive ascended into Heaven where sitting at the right hand of God he reigneth for ever but sent from thence the Holy Ghost in whom we ought equally to believe proceeding from the Father and the Son by whom he most bountifully gave gifts unto men and founded his Catholick Church in the Communion of Saints in the Divine Sacraments in true Faith sound Doctrine and Christian Manners together with the remission of Sins to be conferred on all the Godly and that in the same Church bring forth fruits meet for Repentance to whom also