and dying Persons and he the well and sound He received with great desire the Absolution of the Church from the mouth of the Minister who sate up all night with him and some few hours after About eight a Clock in the morning fetching one single Sob he died and sweetly reposed himself in the Bosom of the Blessed Jesus He died a Good Christian as he had lived like a Gentleman his own wish and often repeated Expression He died a True and Loyal Protestant a sound Member of the Church of England he departed in her Faith which they of Rome call Heresie and they of Geneva Popery His Death was such as Augustus used to wish for himself an Euthanasia a Civil Easie and Well-Natur'd Death Thus was he taken from our Eyes in the same manner the Jews say Moses was by a Kiss of Gods Mouth A Death indeed but Gentle and Serene without Trouble and Amazement without Impatience and Temptation And in the very Point of Death he seemed to taste of the Sweet of Eternal Peace that Happy Rest of the Life Above where he sits among them That are about the Throne clothed in White with a Crown of Gold upon his Head And let it be our Care so to live that every one of us may have a Place within the Rounds there to sing Eternal Halelujahs to him that siteth upon the Throne To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost Three Persons and One God be all Blessing and Honour and Power and Glory for Ever and Ever Amen Glory be to God on High POSTSCRIPT READER IT not being in may Power to keep this Sermon any longer from going abroad I thought good to Advertise Thee now thou hast perused it that there is nothing omitted nor added to what was said in the Pulpit But having there not said all that was in my Papers I present thee with this Postscript to shew thee That the Five Corporations in the County of Norfolk as earnestly strove to have a Share in this most Noble Peer as those Cities intimated in the Sermon did to have a Right to the Birth of Homer Thetford The First that called him Hers was Thetford who chose him her Representative in that Happy Convention that brought in his Gracious Majesty whose Reign God grant may be Long and Prosperous out of his almost Twenty Years Exile where this Honourable Lord then Sir Robert Paston offered up his First Fruits of Loyalty in putting it to Vote as I am credibly informed What Day should be set for his Sacred Majesties Restauration His Majesty being set upon the Throne our Noble Earl served in the succeeding Parliament for Rising Rising where as the Sermon tells thee he put the Vote for two Millions and an half For which he was celebrated in a Peotical Pamphlet under the Character of Maximillian Paston The Honourable House of Commons having that Bill sent it up by him to the House of Lords at whose Bar he presented it to His Majesties own Hand and that Night received Thanks for it from the Kings own Mouth Not many Years since he made a Visit to Kings-Linne Kings Linne where he was welcomed with a most extraordinary Reception and Magnificent Feast and upon their Invitation given him he honoured that Loyal Town with taking up his Freedom amongst them Yarmouth enjoyed him several Years their Lord High Steward and gave him when admitted Yarmouth a Reception answerable to that Character and made him a very Noble Present Norwich was as near in Service and Affection to his Person as it stands in Situation to his House Norwich took all Occasions of manifesting their High Esteem of him always gave him a Welcom in a Body when he came into the County Four times chose his Eldest Son William Lord Paston now Earl of Yarmouth their Burgess in Parliament and at last Vnanimously resigned their Charter to their Most Gracious Soveraign by the Hands of this Noble Lord and his Son Whose Affections are as great to that City as his Fathers were And in Memory of their many Obligations to his Father and himself is pleased to own himself their present Recorder It were but just here to tell thee with what Courage this Young Gentleman in all those Parliaments opposed the then growing Faction who as it now appears had then contrived a most Bloody Conspiracy against the Sacred Life of our King and his Royal Brother together with all that dar'd when they were in the height of their Ruff appear to be Loyal But being to give the Just Praise of the Dead I shall only tell thee that the whole County of Norfolk shewed at once the Value and Honour they had for this our deceased Lord when in their Address from Thetford Assizes 1682. to his most Sacred Majesty to Congratulate his Royal Highness the Duke of York's Return to Court the whole Body of the Gentry subscribed their Thanks for setting this Lord in Lieutenancy over them owning the Happiness of the County to the Prudent Management of this their Loyal Lord Lieutenant Thus died our Noble Earl upon the 8th of March 1682. who was born upon the 29th of May. 1631. As if Nature had eminently designed him to follow his Soveraign in all Future Services Whose Birth was on the same Day in the Year preceeding He lived most Beloved of all and died by all most Lamented and with great Appearance and Concourse of all Degrees of Men was Honourably Interred at Oxnead WHERE GOD GIVE HIM A JOYFUL RESURRECTION FINIS ERRATA Page 27. line 3. for enclined read enlivened The same Page line 4. for real read zeal
A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL OF THE Right Honourable ROBERT EARL and VISCOUNT Yarmouth Baron of PASTON and Lord Lieutenant of the County of NORFOLK By JOHN HILDEYARD D. LL Commissary of the Arch-Deaconry of Norfolk and Rector of Cowston in the Diocess of Norwich Mors aequo pede pulsat Pauperum tabernas Regumque Turres Horat. LONDON Printed by S. Roycroft for George Rose Bookseller in Norwich and Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-yard in London 1683. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE The Truly Vertuous and Regularly Pious Lady THE LADY REBECCA COUNTES DOWAGER Yarmouth The Author wisheth all Prosperity on Earth and Eternal Happiness in Heaven And in all Humility as a Testimony of his Gratitude Dedicates this Sermon owning himself Her Honours Most Faithful and Ever Devoted Servant and Chaplain JOHN HILDEYARD Revel IV. 4. And round about the Throne were four and twenty Seats and upon the Seats I saw four and twenty Elders sitting cloathed in white Rayment and they had upon their Heads Crowns of Gold IT is our Christian Priviledge that sometimes we May and when Spectacles of Mortality lye before us as now it is our Christian Duty that we should take a View of the Top of Tabor even whilst we dwell upon this our Native Calvary mount up our Thoughts and fix our Meditations on the Thrones in Heaven whilst we have our Conversations on Earth 'T is true the Excellency Glory and Splendor of Heaven no finite Brain no created Understanding can possibly perceive or comprehend according to its full Proportion for it is a Fruit of our Fall with Adam and an Inseparable Adjunct of this mortal and unglorified State here below concerning things Coelestial That what we know we know it but in part Yet as a tender affectionate Father by giving of his Child a Glimps of some Rich and Orient Pearl makes the Child big with Desire and Impatient for a full Sight thereof and a grasping of it in his own Hand So our Heavenly Father full of Compassion to the Sons of Men though he detains from the Eye of our Sense a full Comprehension of that Glorious State while we are in the body yet now and then he is pleased to give us a glimpse to let fall in his Word some Sparkles of it that he may Inflame our Affections and set our Faith on Tip-toes that so we having the Eyes of our Souls within the Vail in this Valley of Tears and Troubles may always be refreshed with the very Remembrance of those Glories that are about His Throne A Telescope is an Instrument of Man's Invention that he may take a better View than his weak Eyes of themselves can have of those splendid Lamps that so much beautifie the Cope of the nearest Heavens Whereto the Apostle seems to allude when he tells us that we can only behold the things placed above this Region of our Mortality as through a Glass Such a Glass such a Telescope is this my Text which gives a general Description to us of that great and unexpressible Glory which the Saints have who are glorified with God in Heaven There were some indeed called Chiliacts whom later days by exposition of the Name have stiled Millinaries who looking for a New Heaven on this Old Earth would have these words understood of the Church Militant But I could produce a Cloud of Witnesses to make good his Words who tells us it is not imaginable that any Company of Men any Congregation of Saints should ever be found on Earth of so unmixt a Purity and so exact Perfection as is here described The words then must be understood of the Church Triumphant as clearly appears from the 2d ver of this Chapter which testifies That the Throne about which the Seats of these Elders stood was fixed not on Earth but in Heaven And round about the Throne were four and twenty Seats c. From what hath been said you see my Text is a true Jacobs Ladder on which our Souls in their Meditations may ascend from Earth to Heaven And in this Ladder I shall remark to you five most beautiful Rounds or Staves which in plainer Terms I would call the Parts of the Text. First The transcendent Excellency of those Places in which the Saints were made Conspicuous to St. John 24 Seats 2dly The Transcendent Dignity of the Persons upon those Seats they were Elders 3dly Their Posture they were sitting the Saints of God were represented to St. John in the same posture our Creed describes the Blessed Jesus sitting in Heaven to express their permanent perpetual and unalterable Rest they are at Quiet they are at Ease without Molestation without Trouble and that to all Eternity 4. Their Vesture clothed in White Whence we note that however Foul-mouths may bespot it yet White Rayment is the fittest most comely and significant Habit for those that wait at God's Altars yea for them too to be represented in that sit about his Throne 5thly Their Ornament And they had upon their Heads Crowns of Gold We in England borrowed our Proverb from the Latines That The End Crowns the Work give me leave here too to borrow from a Latine Author the Observation That a Crown ends my Text importing that the greatest Men Kings on Earth can have no greater Glory than to be Saints in Heaven And Saints on Earth shall have so much Glory as to be Kings in Heaven And being met to Celebrate the Funeral of a Person Great Indeed Great in his Descent Great in his Worth Great in the Favour of his Prince and what is best of all Great in the Favour of God I shall not doubt with all your Approbations to determine his Earthly Coronet is changed into an Heavenly Crown and so the Text and the Occasion will friendly conclude alike From the first General of the Text the Transcendent Excellency of those Places in which the Saints were made Conspicuous to St. John I must denote unto you Three eminent Circumstances First Their. Names Seats 2dly Their Situation Round about 3dly Their Number Their Names Twenty Four First their Names Seats So indeed our English Translation renders it and so the Vulgar with respect I presume to the following word Sitting But Cornelius a Lapide Beza Complutensis Regius with our own Learned Hamond and a Multitude more express them by the Name of Thrones according to the Original and agreeable to the Title our Blessed Lord gives them St. Matthew the 19th where telling his Disciples it is equally impossible for a Camel to be squeezed through the Eye of a Needle as for a Man whose Heart is swelled with pride of and enlarged with desires after Riches to enter in at the straight Gate of Eternal Life At which Doctrine whilst the Disciples stood mute and astonished St. Peter breaks silence and saith But we have forsaken all and followed thee and what shall we have therefore What Reward what Compensation shall be given us for this To whom our
begin or how shall I make an End they seem alike difficult But to pursue my proposed Method I will begin with that from which he took his Beginning his Descent He was Great in his Descent His Descent At this Quintilian adviseth us to begin when we commend to Posterity the Memory of a Friend that 's dead And I can produce many Authors that say that St. Luke begins here when he speaks the Praise of St. John Baptist But this is the Work of an Herauld not a Preacher and the Escoucheons speak enough if I be silent They speak him a Branch of an Honourable Stock a Gentleman of an Ancient Race whose Family ever flourished in the First Rank of Norfolk Gentry and is now admitted into Alliance with the Blood Royal Whose Name came into England three Years after the Conquest Lord Cokes Collection of the Pedigree of the Paston Family Mss. The First of them was Wolstanus Paston who was Buried at Backton and after translated with William de Glanvill his Cousin to Bromhall-Abby Founded by the said William This Family was possessed of the Mannors of Paston and Edingthorp in the time of Richard the 2d In the Year 1314 there was a Grant to Clement Paston to have a Chaplain in his House a thing very rarely allowed by Authority and without it never In the 8th Year of Henry the 6th William Paston was made Judge of the Common Pleas to whom the King granted as a special Mark of Favour 100 l. and 10 Marks a Year with two Robes more than the ordinary Fee of the Judges This Judge married the Daughter and Heiress of Sir Edmond Berry by whom he had the Mannors of Oxnead and Marlingford and divers other Lands in Norfolk William Paston Kt. the 8th Son of the Judge married Anne the Daughter of the Duke of Somerset After this I find Sir John Paston by several Adventures there atchieved great Reputation in France and was chosen to be on the Kings Side in the Days of Edward the 4th at the great Turnament against the then Lord Chamberlain and others and was sent to conduct the Kings Sister when she was to be married to Charles Duke of Burgundy Why should I name another Sir John Paston who was appointed amongst others to receive the Princess Catherine from Spain afterwards married to King Henry the 8th From which King there is a Letter of Thanks to be produced to Sir William Paston for his Care in his Preservation of the Emperors Vice-Admiral and other Matters of Courage and Prowess I will but name Clement the Son of Sir John Paston who being Captain of a Ship in a War with France brought the French Admiral St. Blaukert home with him and kept him Prisoner at Castor till he ransomed himself with seven thousand Crowns He was Pentioner to four Kings and Queens and in his declining Years built Oxnead-House and lived in it till Fourscore years Old One of his Daughters was married to Thomas Earl of Rutland Kt. of the Garter This Clement was called by King Henry the 8th his Champion by the Protector in Edward the 6th's time his Souldier by Queen Mary her Seaman and by Queen Elizabeth her Father And what need of more This minds me of the Father of our deceased Lord who was a Kt. and Baronet whose Fame both at Home and Abroad was as great as his Original and who left in the Place he lived in a fresh Memory of his great Parts and Abilities and lasting Monuments of his Travels and Foreign Acquaintance His Mother was the Lady Catherine Bertue Daughter to the late Loyal Valiant and thrice Noble Earl of Lindsey whose Renown shall flowrish as long as our Chronicles shall remember us of Edg-hill Fight where he being General valiantly fought though with the loss of his Life the Battel of his Soveraign No wonder then our Lord was so great so eminent an Assertor of Majesty and of the Religion in the Church of England as established by the Law as a late Dedication justly stiles him when sprang from such Progenitors From two Families mixt with the Noble Blood of many others neither of which was ever sullied with Faction or Rebellion taunted with Error or Schism or blackned with Irreligion or Atheism and to a Mind inclined to Vertue it availeth much to be born well The Place in which he was born was Oxnead Lift up thy Head then Oh Happy Oxnead yea grow Proud and boast that it can be said This Good this Great and Noble Lord was born in thee More Reason hast thou for thy Ostentation in this than any of the seven Cities had which challenged and laid claim unto the Birth of Homer But bar thy Gates against Men of Levelling Principles who deny all Deference and Honour to such as this Lord in his Descent whose Veins were filled in succession of many Ages with Heroick and Generous Blood The glorious Deserts of Honourable Parents are no small Patrimony and ought to be had in Reverence and Esteem But as for me I must confess I have much more delight much more satisfaction in blazoning the Vertues of any Man than his Arms I hasten therefore to the Greatness of his Worth which shall be my second General upon this Occasion He was Great in his Worth His Worth And here oh for the Pencil of an Apelles that I might be able to promise a Draught something worthy the Original The only Commendation of his Picture would be its Likeness to him and this puts me in mind to say something of his Face which will be ever before me which God had adorned with an exact Symmetry and Pleasant Countenance so that every Look was a Prevailing Argument to beget Love and Admiration in the Beholders But the Cabinet is not so Beautiful as the Diamond that shines in its Bosom And it will please me and profit you most to speak of his Intellectual Worth whereof I might mention as many Branches almost as I have Minutes left for the Remainder of my Discourse To avoid Prolixity what I can I will reduce all to these His Friendship his Affability his Learning his Prudence his Magnanimity His Friendship towards Men was as general as his Acquaintance with them Friendship He was of a Nature so Kind so Sweet so Courting all of a Disposition so Prompt so ready so chearful in receiving all that he had no Enemies except such as deserved no Friends Where he placed Affection and allowed of Intimacy his Friendship let my Experience give its Grateful Testimony was as firm as immoveable as a Rock It was not all the starch'd Stratagems of Politick Heads nor crafty Artifices of pretending Admirers that could unsettle him to his Friend He was very unapt very uneasie to hear Ill of those of whom himself had conceived Well It was a Disease to him and made him Sick to have an Accusation brought against any whom he had set his Love on the Accuser in thi kind always lost
great Stassord fell and Canterbury who both in their Stations like this Noble Lord supported nothing more For the Rule is sure the Axiom infallible To defend the Kings Prerogative is the best way to secure the Peoples Liberties nay Lives But then such is the blind Zeal of Malice He must be impeach'd for Invading the Kings Prerogative the Honour and Maintenance whereof was dearer to him than his Life Nay themselves had just before made his advancing it too High his Crime Their own Surmises were the Bills of Accusation but the Splendor of his Integrity to the King and Government soon dispersed all these Clouds and set him in a higher Sphear as we shall hear presently I have read that Hippasus the Pythagorean being asked after his Advance what he had done made Answer I have done nothing yet for no man envies me They that do Great things as this our Lord did cannot escape the Tongues and Teeth of Envy but if Envy be the Accuser there is no defence for Innocence if Calumnies must pass for Evidence the bravest Heroes the best Men in the World shall always be the most reproached Persons Well! in despight of all they said and of all they did this Magnanimous Heroe remain'd firm in his Worth unblemished in his Honour and what I must speak to as my third General unshaken and therefore Great in his Loyalty Here I heartily wish that Speech he made To justisie the Succession of the Crown in its Lineal Descent when so many were made against it had passed the Press 〈…〉 it would loudly have proclaimed his Parts and Loyalty together His Loyalty which he brought into the World with him which he derived from his Ancestors Loyal Blood running in their Veins through all Successions This he improved in his Education it being to my knowledge the great Endeavour of his forementioned Schoolmaster even in the worst of Times to plant Loyalty in the Hearts of the Youth under his Tuition and Care where he found kind and apt Ground This his Loyalty I mean he consummated by his own Judgment and Approbation he thought of nothing he valued nothing that concern'd himself when the Kings Honour or Interest fell in his way His Father yet alive and his Domestick Circumstances very streight out of his Superfluities shall I say yea Necessities he supplied his Majesty with Money whilst in Exile Nay I had it from himself That he borrowed to give fearing his Soveraign might Want His Father being dead at his First Step into Publick Affairs when he entred the Honourable House of Commons and took his place as Burgess for Rising-Chase in this County the First Parliament after his Majesties most Happy Restauration he was the Member he the Person that moved and put to vote A Supply proportionable to His Majesties Great Necessities at that Time upon which that Parliament to their Eternal Honour be it spoken gave the King Two Millions and an Half of Money Sometime after this he entertained the King Queen and Duke and all their Nobles and Servants in Attendance a Night in Oxnead-House where was prepared a most Sumptuous Supper which cost him three times more than Earls Daughters had heretofore unto their Portions Provisions superabundantly Plentiful and all Accommodations answerable Thus as it is said Araunah did to David did he as a King give unto the King Nor can I omit to remark from his own Mouth that the King had no sooner put himself under his Roof but he told this Honourable Baronet That he was now Safe in the House of his Friend The Tables being spread and Sideboards richly adorned with Plate the King took Notice of some more Remarkable Pieces which gave occasion to Sr. Robert to tell him That his House was once better furnished and he could have welcomed his Majesty with greater Plenty of it had not a Blew Ribbon that attended on his Majesty with a White Staff plunder'd it from his Father by Trunks full Here the King diverted himself with a delightful View of the House and its Situation and what he found within Left many Gracious Acknowledgments of Kindness from his Host and next day took his Leave But not long after as an honorary Reward his Majesty by Letters Patents changed Sir Robert Paston into Viscount Yarmouth Baron of Paston the Ancient Seat of this Family and so he qualified him for what in a short space he put into his Hands his own Vicegerency and made him Lord Lieutenant in this County of Norfolk In the Conduct whereof his unusual Diligence and unexpected Zeal in Publick Affairs begat Wonder and Admiration in most and by his great Care and noble Designs for his Majestics Interest and Service he soon made himself great and dear to the King his Master I have often heard him tell with great Complacency The Free Access he had unto his Majesty upon all Occasions What a Kind Ear his Majesty gave unto all his Addresses Proud of nothing that ever I observed but that great Trust and Confidence his Majesty placed in him Proud And well he might for when all others frowned upon him the King smiled and Publickly Embraced him in the House of Lords more than once declaring He had found him Trusty and Faithful Nay some that hear me heard the King say That whatsoever Service and Respects they shewed the Lord Yarmouth their Lord Lieutenant in this City he took it done to himself or to that purpose In a word such was his Loyalty he valued not his Ease though his Body was unwieldy he spared not his Cost tho' his Pocket did not overflow he regarded not his Health though for many years it hath not been much when Publick Occasions called him forth to his Princes Service But whatever Wonder and Admiration all this had raised it soon passed into the natural Daughters of Envy Suspicion and Detraction into the Spirit of Obloquy and Slander and brought upon him great Vexation and many Troubles Envy that lâ—ke the Fire of Vetruvius broke out upon him and might with the very Ashes have buried another enclined and enspirited him with the more real and greater Vigour And now though his best Actions had an ill Name and an ill Sense put upon them by others yet his Majesty who sees as an Angel of God made better Constructions of them and as a further Testimony of his Royal Favour gave him another Title yet more Honourable and made him Earl of Yarmouth and so restored him to that Fame and Reputation in which his first Procedures had invested him And because both the Daughters of Envy have blown upon it I will be his Assertor That great was his Love to the Ancient Loyal and Honourable Corporation of Norwich because the Members of that Body generally speaking loved the King This one Qualification was enough to Entitle an Enemy to his Love But I am sure they found him their Friend and manger the blasts of Calumny the New Charter shall remain a Token of it
I must say he spared no Cost no Pains as themselves can witness to make the World believe that he loved them Most of the Tables in his House have been often spread together for their entertainment and all his Friends employed to bid them welcome Nay his very Sleep to my knowledge was often broke to find out ways how best to serve them And he commended the Care of the City with his last Breath to all his best Friends and the Blessing of God who takes care for their Reputations as for their Lives and by the Orders of his Providence confutes the Slanderer that the Actions of the Just may be had in Everlasting Remembrance Therefore the Mouths of Slanderers stopt the Memory of our Lord shall be Embalmed in Honour And so I am methodically almost at unawares brought to my last General his Piety He was great in the Favour of God great was he in his Piety Piety Such was his Piety that he always whatsoever Business happened opened and shut the Day with the same Key of Prayer in private unto God and seldom mist whatever Company he had Publick Service in his Chappel where without regard to his Ease of Body or greatness of Quality I never saw him otherwise than Kneeling at Prayers and Standing at Hymns well knowing that the first resembles our Fall with Adam and must be humble the other puts us in mind of our Rise with Christ and so must be a Posture of Praise and Thankfulness And what in this profane Age wherein Men generally neglect it or if not only take it to qualifie themselves for some Place or Preferment will hardly be believed yet can be proved by many Witnesses What great strictness he did use what holy Preparation he did make when Sacrament days came and to him they never came too often He always sequestred himself from all Business and Company a day before at the least And these were his own words That he feared that Act of Parliament which designed so much good would in time take away the Reverence due to that Holy Ordinance and make it a formal thing only to be done of Course But it was not so with him for as my instructions tell me he received this Holy Communion as his Viaticum just before his Passover not long before his death with as much Comfort as Devotion Had I not Been too long already I would branch his Piety into as many Particulars as I did his Worth But why should I mention the Parish Church at Oxnead where he lived which he adorned and beautified Why should I speak of the Chappel in the House which he built and consecrated to the Service of God Why should I mind you of that Rich and Noble Plate he furnished God's Altar with were I silent they should remain as Jacobs Pillars lasting Monuments of his Piety and to the Generations yet to come the Stones out of the Walls shall speak his Praise as the Noble Fabrick of the Free School in North-walsham plentifully endowed doth to this And the weekly Lecture maintained there by the Bounty of his Ancestors hath transmitted the Honour of their Piety down to us Let the Tongues of the Poor the Relief of the Widdow the Succour he gave the Fatherless the Clothing of the Naked speak his Charity Indeed he was made up of Pity and Tender-heartedness of Christian Kindness and Compassion As to that Charity which implies Forgiveness of Injuries he was most Eminent Injuries and Vnkindnesses at present made deep Impressions gave sudden wounds to his tender Heart where all things were so contrary but upon his recollecting of himself whether they were by mistake or out of Malice it was the same thing or the same nothing in his Account or Memory I told you how Tenacious his Memory was but if it were to lay up an ill turn it took no hold but let that slip into Forgetfulness After some as I intimated had set to work all their Engines and like the Roman Retiaries spread their Nets to entangle him whom otherwise they could not destroy He often protested to me Though he feared not their Contrivances yet he heartily forgave the Contrives And when I saw him last he repeated the Saving with this Addition So far he forgave them that he had forgot the Particulars And at his very Hour of Death it seems declared He was in perfect Peace and Love with all the World and so was ready to resign his Soul to God that gave it his Life to God who had preserved it with particular Marks of Favour and Providence None of the least whereof was that wonderful Rescue which was effected for him by no less than a Divine Hand when on the ninth day of August about eight years ago a knot of Villains beset him in the Night shot five Bullets through the Coach and one into his Body but proved not Mortal For which Deliverance he kept an Anniversary Thanksgiving upon that day unto his death and now keeps a Jubile with his Deliverer for evermore But you 'l ask Had this good Lord no Faults was he all Vertue all Sweetness all Goodness I answer He had Infirmities he was no Angel yet let not that Customary Sin contracted in his younger time of Swearing be his Reproach for he hath often bewailed it and with abundance of Tears in his Sickness about four years since lamented it in himself and ever since utterly abhorred it in all others I have seen him shake his Head sit Uneasie and at last withdraw when he hath heard some Young men extravagantly imbellish or rather imboss their Discourse like a Face with Carbunkles with wicked and unprofitable Oaths He did it more than once when last amongst us He had his Failings and indeed were it not for some Grains of allowance given in what Pieces could there be weight in none of Mortality surely but they are impure Flies that feed upon other Mens Sores and they have too much Corruption in themselves that love to hear of the Corruption of others His Faults Frailties Sins and Infirmities so much by him bewailed and through his True Repentance buried in the Grave of Christ in whom was his Strength and Hope his Faith and Salvation I doubt not but your Christian Charity will think fit to bury with him in a deeper Grave the Grave of Oblivion whilst his Vertues shall live and flourish and find a perpetual Monument in every one of your Hearts And here now I bespeak my Excuse for not insisting much upon the great Affections he bore unto all his Relations None understood Relations more non observed them better I left it to the last because my Instructions tell me after he commended his Soul to God in the Church her Prayers which during his whole Sickness he devoutly heard twice in his Chamber every day he gave Counsel and administred Comfort to them about him his dear Consort his beloved Children his respected Servants as if they had been the sick