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
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