Earl of Orrery then only Lord Broghil and both out of the respect which those Honourable Personages had to his Worth and sweet Temper Having thô very unwilling to leave his Retirement at Chesterford accepted of the Presentation to Benefield upon the above-mentioned Conditions wherein by the by the Reader may see how careful he was not to make Shipwreck of a good Conscience for any Temporal Benefit or Advancement he managed things there as he had done at Little Chesterford composing all his Prayers for the Church out of the Liturgy which being repeated by him at the Offices of Christening Burial c. by Heart which the Ignorant People not understanding liked well And there he lived with great content and in quietness being kindly treated by that People who roughly treated others of the same Function Before in the course of our History I come to that Great and happy year of 1660 when our late Sovereign CHARLES the Merciful was restored with the joyful Acclamations of all his Loving Subjects to his Crown and Dignity and his Loyal Subjects to their Privileges Laws and Religion I am to inform the Reader That Dr. Rainbow had the satisfaction to hear as the Nation had to know that Oliver Cromwell put a Period to the sitting of that Long Parliament which had ruined three Kingdoms and unhinged the whole Royal Family by pretending to Reform the first And this was done after they had sat about Twelve years in 1653 on that very day in which Dr. Rainbow was born A Transaction at which he not only publickly rejoyced because it happened on the Day of his Nativity but he also noted it in his Diary with a Prayer That God would turn it to the good of the Church and Nation But to proceed In the Year 1660 when the Finger of God signally appeared in bringing in this our Nation a King to the Throne of his Royal Progenitors after Twelve years Exile and without a Stroke struck notwithstanding that there was a Veteran Army flushed in Blood and Victory and trained up in an aversion to Monarchy then in being the Church was also restored with the King. And then all those Worthy Persons who in the preceding Times of Rebellion and Confusion had been Sufferers by loss of Goods or Places or by Imprisonment or by Banishment were either restored to the places which they had formerly possessed or were preferred to higher Honours Among others Dr. Rainbow was restored to his Mastership of Magdalen College and by the favour and solicitation of his Noble Friends was made Chaplain to his late Majesty King CHARLES the Second and in the Year following was made Dean of Peterborough where he had formerly been a Scholar Thither he removed in August 1661 with a design to reside there but his stay there was not long Preferments coming now thick upon him For he was the next Year called to Cambridge being elected Vice Chancellor of that famous University in Nov. 1662. Which early Election of him to that great Trust was not only a public Testimony of the Universities great esteem for him but of his Loyalty too In the discharge of the Vice-Chancellors Office he acquitted himself with sufficient Reputation and in the management thereof forgot not the Care and Interest of that College whereof he was the Head. For whereas the Office of a Proctor came not to that College in 44 Years he got it to be publickly ordered and confirmed by His late Majesty that that Office should return to Magdalen College every Ninth Year and by a Politic fixing the Epocha of this new Circle got a Course to his own College sooner than it could expect And not only so but because some who were put up to Preach in the University Church got for a small sum of Mony others to do it for them who performed it so meanly that it turn'd often to the dishonour thereof to prevent which he procured a Mulct of 40 s. to be imposed on every such Offender and to give a good Example therein to the Masters of Art the Heads of the Colleges by his instigation yielded to Preach there in their Turns And now being fix'd again in his former station with the additional Revenue of the Deanry of Peterborough he had more than satisfi'd his Ambition which never aim'd higher than such a station as wherein he might live decently and might be capacitated to be serviceable to his Country But beyond his Wishes no less than above his Expectation was he Elected Bishop of Carlisle in 1664 upon the Translation of the Right Reverend Dr. Richard Stern to the Archiepiscopal See of York This new Advancement was directly contrary to his mind as he declared it to those Honourable Friends of his who had therein solicited for him His truly Primitive temper put him upon the declining of that high and honourable Employment in the Church the great Care of so many Souls as would thereby be devolved upon him affrighted and deterr'd him a while from embracing that Honour which so many court in vain who so little know how to discharge it He look'd upon himself as did the Ancient Fathers to be unfit for that High Calling which was thô in his Judgment highly honourable yet withal a burthen too heavy for his weak Shoulders to bear and sustain He was desirous as our Most Reverend and Learned Primate Archbishop Parker was in the last Age to be serviceable to the Church thô moving in a lower Sphere and only that he might enjoy those Promotions and Dignities he had then arrived to without ascending higher Thus meanly did he think of himself what others often contradicted him in as not sufficiently qualified for that high Dignity and had still refused it if the Importunity of his Friends had not at last prevailed with him to decline it no longer And there was one thing which contributed not a little to his accepting of it the great respect which he had for two ancient and very deserving Friends which upon his removal to Carlisle were to succeed him in his present Promotions the one in his Deanry and the other in his Mastership Overcome at last with the Desires and Arguments of his Friends he accepted of that Honourable Dignity that was procured him by his Noble Patrons Mediation and accordingly was Consecrated in July 1664 at London by the Most Reverend Father in God Dr. Gilbert Sheldon then Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and came to settle at Rose Castle in Cumberland the Palace for the Bishops of that See on Sept. 3. following I ought to mention That his generosity in this Case was so great that thô perhaps he was at that time in such Circumstances as to need some assistance to defray the necessary Charges of his Consecration First-Fruits and his Journy to and Settlement in his Diocess yet did not he so much as desire to hold the Mastership of Magdalen College in Commendam for a while with his Bishoprick but presently and freely resigned
that expectation and hopes which had been conceived of him To understand this the better we will consider him under a double capacity as a Preacher and as a Tutor As to the former of these thô I cannot as I have already mentioned find the Time when he entred into Holy Orders yet I am informed That after his fixing again in the University he preached two Sermons at S. Pauls Cross the one in Sept. 28. 1634 upon Joh. 6. 27 which he printed at the entreaty of his Friends and Entituled it Labour forbidden and commanded and Dedicated the same to Sir John Wray Baronet and his Brother Mr. Edward Wray And another in 1639. And in the University he became a very celebrated Preacher as he had formerly been highly respected for some other Exercises performed by him there in his younger years For his Sermons before the University were heard with great applause His Audience was always crowded and thronged and to give you one Instance of the great esteem he had publickly gained as an eminent Preacher I need only mention that when he who was appointed to Preach in the Vniversity Church failed to perform that duty the Vice Chancellor that then was earnestly desired Mr. Rainbow to supply that public Defect which thô unwilling to undertake as having neither any Notes about him nor time for Premeditation at last through the solicitation of that Public person he condescended to it And his ready Parts and great Abilities enabled him by Gods Blessing thereon to perform that difficult Task to satisfaction and even admiration which his Modesty would have disswaded him from attempting This was indeed a Public Trial and Attestation of his Worth and that before so Eminent and Learned a Society and therefore when in the sequel of this performance he found himself but too apt in Cases of this nature to be pleased and elated with the vain Praises as he styled them of a frothy Wit he upon serious consideration with himself finding such Encomiums to be but glittering Nothings and no fit Objects for his Contemplation which should not six upon any thing but more lasting and solid Joys and begging the Divine Assistance to the compleating of that pious Design did set himself to bend his studies another way thô with much more difficulty and toil to himself since those by him unaffected Flowers of Rhetoric which appeared and those sparkling Rays of Wit which shon forth in his first Performances at the University as well as in the late mentioned Sermon Labour forbidden and commanded thô they came to him naturally in a manner and with much ease did not in his Judgment at least tend to the advancement of God's Glory which is the principal end of our Nativity and which he wisely and truly judged ought to be the chief end and design of every Sermon He did not think that a Sermon or rather an Harangue garnished with Tropical and Figurative Flowers and beautified with gay Similies taken from the Historians or Poets could contribute much to the saving of a Soul. 'T was not a laboured Oratorial Sentence a round Period or a Quaint expression that could in his Opinion much assist to the compleating of that grand Affair among the Unlearned He judged a plainness of Matter a clearness and perspicuity of Style in the expounding of the Sacred Oracles of the Old and New Testament and adapting and applying them home to the Consciences and Spiritual Necessities of the meanest Persons and that in an easie and familiar Language was the grand design of a true Christian Orator in perswading his Audience to the love and imitation of the Great Captain of our Salvation Jesus Christ to adore him sincerely here and to enjoy him eternally hereafter by our being adopted into that happy number of his Brethren For the perswading of one poor Soul whom our Blessed Saviour hath redeemed with his dear Blood to live as a Christian ought to do first by working upon the Judgment and then by engaging the Affections is of an infinite more value than to acquire the empty glory of being accounted a Christian a Demosthenes or a Cicero to rival in Eloquence a Lactantius a Chrysostom or a Bernard And in this method of Preaching did he continue till Death put a Period to his Labours and Toils You have seen him in a Public Capacity as a Preacher now consider him in his Private one as a Tutor In the Year 1635 he begun to take Pupils which he instructed with so much care and by his frequent Lectures both in the Mysteries of Philosophy and in that to which the other ought always to be subservient the Fundamentals and necessary superstructure of Religion as well as by his constant inspection into their Manners and Behaviour fearing that otherwise while they perused the large Volumes of the sage and quick-sighted Heathen Philosophers they should forget that they were Christians and should not remember God the First Cause and Author of all while they wandred in the Maze and Labyrinth of Second Causes and lastly lest while they dwelt upon the study of Ethicks they should contradict the Divine Precepts of their own Religion by a deplorable Immorality So that Dr. Henry Smith whom I have had occasion to mention twice as his great Friend pleas'd with his real Industry as well as satisfied with his acute Parts which he had the opportunity of knowing better by the assiduity of his Company committed to his Care the two Sons of Theophilus Earl of Suffolk who had been recommended to his own when at the same time another Nobleman my Lord Daincourt had entrusted Mr. Rainbow with the like number Which Trust he did so far answer that that joyned to the often Visits he made the Earl of Suffolk in the Company of the Earls Sons from Cambridge during the time of that Noble Persons long affliction upon the racks of the Gout acquired him not only an high esteem at that time but made way for his higher advancement in the Church afterwards through the Favour and Kindness I might have added the true Gratitude of that Noble Family For the Earl by this means came to have a true knowledge of Mr. Rainbow's real worth and from thence contracted an high value for him and a Kindness proportionable thereto To return again to Cambridge from whence we have been absent a while at Audley Inn 't was after his Settlement in the College that the frequency of his Visits to Dr. Smith occasioned an Acquaintance and Kindness betwixt Mr. Rainbow and Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Daughter to the said Worthy Doctor whose Vertues I would have mention'd in this place if her Modesty she being yet alive did not restrain me from doing it and withal make that Character I might now give her look like Flattery in me to her now living which would be but Justice and a debt to her Vertues when dead Therefore to wave this just Panegyric I must only add that then began that vertuous Affection
both by sympathizing with the Losses of others and by his particular Sufferings The Royal Martyrs death was that which in a terrible manner opened the Eyes of all those who before would not or could not see that under the Masque of Piety Rebellion Lorded it over Loyalty when one of the most horrid Villanies that the Sun ever saw in this Nation was perpetrated in open Day A Pious King and one who held his Crown of none but his Great Creator first haled to a Tribunal an Act not to be paralleld in all preceding Ages who when he had justly deny'd that Usurped Power before whom he was Conven'd after he had suffered all the Indignities that the deluded Rabble and the ruder Souldiery could throw upon him was Beheaded upon a Scaffold purposely erected before his own Palace An Act so heinous that it could not be equalled by any thing but by the Malice of His Majesties Enemies from whom it had its Original In the fall of this tall Cedar the other Trees of our Forest were rudely shaken and thô they were not all hewn down by the fatal Ax yet were they sore cut their Boughs and Branches at least lopt off unless that some of the Shrubs escaped because their Lowness excused them from the Levelling Stroke Thus several Persons truly Noble both for Descent and proper Merit attended their most Gracious Sovereign in his Sufferings even to his Fall and their Death whose greatest Crime was that for which disinterested Posterity will have them in the highest admiration their Loyalty Because they could not consent to Usurpations in the Civil Government and to Innovations in the Ecclesiastical they must be Martyrs or taught to obey in that new way of Gospelling by Pike Gun and Dragoons This among many other Confessors was the Fate of our Dr. Rainbow who for refusing a Protestation against the King in 1650 lost his Mastership of Magdalen which he had hitherto kept by the powerful â—ntercession of his Noble Friends and which he was very willing to sacrifice rather than to make a Sacrifice of his Conscience to those Anakims which had nothing to Entitle them to the Government but Violence and Rapin. He had been a Mourner before this in the general loss of the Nation in the horrid Murther of their Gracious Sovereign and was a particular one in the Interment of that truly Religious Lady the Lady Susanna Countess of Suffolk the History of whose Vertues is far from being Apocryphal Nor did she want a faithful Historian in Doctor Edward Rainbow who in May 13. 1649. made her Funeral Sermon in a pathetical and moving Air but did it as far from Flattery as she was above it since he spoke nothing but what he believ'd and was not her Orator to present her Vertues in a gaudy Dress but her faithful Historian to deliver what he knew upon good grounds to be true Dr. Rainbow being exiled from Magdalen College by the Order of the Rump Parliament which College now became a Mourner for losing her Orthodox Governour was Presented by the Earl of Suffolk to a small Living aâ— little Chesterford near Audley Inn in Essex in 1652 which he accepted when he saw no probability of that dark Cloud 's dispersing which still hung oveâ— this then distemper'd Nation But he who had lost the Mastership of a College for his Loyalty was resolved not to stain his Conscience by a base submission to those Usurpers in the acceptance of that place and therefore held it only by my Lord of Suffolk's Presentation without being setled therein according to the prevalency of those Licentious Times by their Tryers In which privacy since we have found him setled we will see how he manages in that Critical Juncture after I have subjoyned That it was in this Year of 1652 that he married Mrs. Elizabeth Smith his Predecessors Daughter who without Flattery I speak it were so happy in each other that those who had the longest Acquaintance with them never heard an harsh Word fall from them against each other A Felicity rarely to be found and which ought to be mentioned to their Honour and which doubtless was a true sign that they were both unfeigned Votaries to Vertue In this his Recess a place much more agreeable to his Inclination than Merit did Dr. Rainbow continue for some years And thô he was so far retired from the Noise and Bustles of those Tumultuous Times yet he knew he could not retire out of the piercing Eye of the Almighty with whom he had to do He knew it was as much incumbent upon him to do his duty there as in a more conspicuous station and therefore thô he could not openly use the English Liturgy yet he used some of those excellent Prayers of which it is compos'd and that not only in his private Family but also composed such Prayers as he used in the Church out of those in the Liturgy and so gradually brought the Ignorant People to affect the Common Prayers a little transformed and altered who disliked the Common Prayer Book it self they knew not why Nor was he satisfied with his own Practice alone in this Case when therefore he lodged one Night at a Clergyman's House an old Acquaintance of his who then used other Prayers in his Family he out of civility to him commended his Friends form of Prayer but advised him for the future to use the Prayers of the Church for there were none other like them Nor did this Pious Doctor look upon his constant Preaching to be a sufficient discharge of his duty and that which would serve to clear him when he was to give an account of his Stewardship to his great Master He believd That many of his Hearers came to Church purely out of Custom and Form and consequently that their Attention was not very profitable and advantagious to their Souls in minding what was delivered to them from the Pulpit and therefore often went to their Houses to Catechise and instruct them and to those who were indigent he often gave Mony to oblige them to attend to his Instructions thereby making their Temporal Necessities to contribute to the supplying their Spiritual Wants A double Charity for which I doubt not he hath long since met with a double reward from the Liberal Dispenser of all good things In this place did our Dr. Rainbow reside pleased with his present condition and his Parishioners no less pleased with him till April 1659 when the Rectory of Benefield in Northamptonshire valued at 200 l. or 300 l. per Annum and of the Gift of the Earl of Warwick fell Vacant and was profered him by the said Noble Earl which he utterly refused because the Tryers with whom he was resolved to have nothing to do were then in power till there was sent him a Presentation from the Earl of Warwick with an Assurance That he might be possest of Benefield without going to the Tryers Which last Favour had been procured him by the
both that Place and his Deanry of Peterborough to his Successors in them both althô such Favours as the retaining one of them for some time had not unusually been granted to others upon the like Promotion We have now seen him ascend by Steps into the Episcopal Throne a Dignity which the Primitive Church of Christ had so great a Veneration for and which in Times of hot Persecution had been so often sprinkled with the Blood of those who sat thereon they exchanging that ticklish Honour for an Immortal Crown of Glory by that of Martyrdom we will now take a stand and view how he discharges that Sacred Office. He found his Palace at Rose-Castle much ruinated a great part of it being burnt down by the Rebels in the late times of Rebellion and but little Repaired by his immediate Predecessor thô he had receiv'd great Advantages by entring upon that Bishoprick after so long a Vacancy and the Expiration of the Tenants Leases which engaged him in a Suit about Dilapidations with his Predecessor then his Metropolitan In which Trouble he was unwillingly embark'd as that which was both repugnant to his Meek Nature and was in his Thoughts unbecoming Persons of that Sacred Character After the conclusion of that long Suit he was at great Expence in Building at Rose-Castle for he built the Chapel anew and made several other Additions and Conveniences there But thô these Edifices were Costly as well as Troublesom yet there was another sort of Building which he was more intent upon the Building of God's Church in the Spiritual sense and that either by himself or his Assistants his Brethren the Clergy in the diligent Preaching of Gods Word in the due Administration of the Holy Sacraments in Catechising of Youth which word is rendred by some Grammarians To build up in the Holy Faith in advising them to walk in the Paths of Vertue and Holiness and in admonishing and reclaiming the more Loose from their Immoralities As this was his great Province so was it his desire and endeavour to see that the Clergy subordinate to him should do their Duties In the management of which when some who had been sufficiently Criminal and Neglectful in the discharge of their Function were justly reproved by him for so doing thô that was done too at the first with Meekness enough yet he met with a very rude Treatment from them and much unbecoming their station nevertheless both that and the Ill Returns made him from persons whom he had highly obliged was far from making him Vindictive if his public Character and the interest of the Church were not interwoven with his own Concern For then he would take care to rescue both from Contempt lest the Common Cause might suffer by his own supine Negligence I shall not here revive the remembrance of those Affronts to that Sacred Order by particularizing those which were offered to him and therefore will forbear to mention the offending Persons Names wishing that the Faults of some of them may be buried in the same Graves with their Authors and only add That generally the Troubles which befel him after his advancement to the Episcopal Authority were occasioned by his Conscientious discharge of that Sacred Office which doth not seldom make the best of Men fall under the weight of popular Odium For althô I am far from pretending to exempt him in his Management of that Dignity from Mistakes and Errors and 't is certain his own Humility taught him another Lesson than to aspire to the swelling Title of Infallible yet generally his Failings were such as might admit of an easie Apology without the assistance of Political Refinings to which he was very much a Stranger But to return from whence I have digressed As he inspected the Lives and Manners of his Clergy and their performance of their Pastoral Charge so was not he wanting to set them a good Pattern himself being assured that nothing won more upon the Minds and Consciences of Men than a good Example especially in those who attend at Gods Altar and dispense his Holy Word and unfold the Sacred Mysteries of our holy Religion He therefore resoved to set them a Copy as legible as his human Frailties would permit it to be written that they fairly imitating it the Laity might be invited to transcribe it from them Pursuant of his Pious design he Preached not only in his Courses at the Cathedral but often there also upon occasional days as also frequently at his own Chappel at Ross at Dalston Church and the adjacent Chappels till hindred from this performance by the Gout the Racks of which were not probably more troublesom than their Consequence his being thereby forc'd to omit his Public Duty And Catechising he so much kept up that to oblige some indigent Persons to attend it to their own Spiritual advantage and the building themselves in the most Holy Faith he gave them Mony. Neither was his Hospitality offending against the Canons of the Church but like that of a Bishop His Entertainment was free his Table was well furnished with Varieties his Conversation pleasant and yet grave divertive and yet instructing often feeding the Minds as well as the Bodies of his Guests We have observed his way of Procedure as to what related to the Church now the ordering of his Family challenges our next Consideration The Government of his private Family was modelled in imitation of that of the Church that is Regular Four times a day was God publickly call'd upon by Prayers in that Family twice in the Chappel which part his Lordships Chaplains perform'd and twice in the Dining-Room the later of these at Six in the Morning and Nine at Night was the usual Task of our Right Reverend and Worthy Prelate himself if not disabled by Sickness As if he who was the Master of the Family would open it every Morning and lock it up every Night by the Key of Prayer All known Profaness and Swearing were banished thence For this made as much discord in that Family as an ill Musician did in Plato's Schools Offenders in Debauchery were at first reproved and admonished and if they relapsed into the same Fault they were often dismiss'd the House unless there appeared visible signs of Repentance and those ushered in with fervent Promises to make those good by their utmost endeavours While the Suit was continued betwixt the then Archbishop of Tork and our Worthy Prelate viz. in the Year 1668 he was once offered to be removed from the See of Carlisle to that of Lincoln by the most Reverend Father in God Gilbert Sheldon Lord Archbishop of Canterbury A Prelate who besides the Monuments he erected to his Name by his truly primitive Vertues hath left one at Oxford that famous Theatre built at his own charge and dedicated to the uses of the Public the service of the Church and the Muses A Structure which if the World last so long may continue the Name of that Pious Archbishop
Holy Spirit and Wisdom and grant that I may improve my left Talent and all the remaining Moments of my Life to gain a comfortable assurance That Death shall open a Gate to let my Soul pass out of the old Prison of this Body into that Freedom to which the Son of God gives right even to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God. O that I might so preach him in his Kingdom of Grace that I may be one thô the meanest in his Kingdom of Glory Meditations on Jan. 30. 1652. after a Recovery from a Cold with a Cough LOrd thy Mercy is most seen in Judgment when it is not lengthened to Eternity If I had not now felt the smart of this one Twig of thy Rod I had utterly persevered in an incorrigible Disobedience But by this Touch thou hast graciously healed me of that giving me time and opportunity to look up at thee now admonishing by thy Finger From this I see nothing but the sweetness indulgence and mercy of a wise Father In my self nothing but the stubbornness and rebellion of a perverse Child O how have I abused a longer reign of Health for now well nigh Thirty years If I should write all his Meditations I might transcribe a good part of his Diary You have here had a Specimen of his private Devotion in the next and last place we shall consider whether his Liberality to the Poor and Needy was agreeable to his Sacred Character or no. In examining his Actions by the Test of this Vertue we shall find that he left a large Inventory of charitable Deeds And as Nerva Coesar was called Pater Patrioe the Father of his Country by reason of his gentle and kind Government so might he be termed Pater Pauperum the Father of the Poor for his liberal Donative to them unto whom his Compassion was never deny'd nor his Hand closed up without something to warm their Hearts and chear their Spirits and what was still more obliging what he bestowed was with a free heart taking pleasure in the good Offices he did any of those Mystical Members of Jesus Christ To descend to particularize the several methods of this Bishops Charity after he came to be so would look something like Flattery such variety did he use in the dispensing the Goods of Fortune to his Indigent Brethren since the Proverb in these Dregs of Time proves too true which asserts the great disuse of that most extorting Usury when the Use out-strips the Principal To proceed He usually gave 20 s. to the Poor at Carlisle when it was his turn to Preach there that his Liberality might tempt them to listen to his Doctrin His Allowance to the Poor of Dalston Parish within the Limits of which Rose Castle stands was 30 s. a Month besides what was given them at his Castle-Gates and to Sick People not to mention what was given them at Sacraments and upon other occasions In Dear Years when his own stock of Corn was spent he ordered Barley to be bought at 12 s. or 14 s. per Bushel and to be given to the Poor which came then in such great numbers to the Gates that the Porter who served them having sometimes the curiosity to tell them affirmed that he often serv'd Seven or Eightscore People in one and the same day He allowed Mony to a School Master for teaching Eight Poor Children to Read at Dalston He put out Poor Boys to Apprentices In Pensions to Poor Scholars at the University and to some Indigent Persons he gave 32 l. per Annum constantly for several Years To which may be added his share with other Bishops in yearly Pensions to Forein Converts and to other publick Charities as the Rebuilding of S. Paul's Church to French Protestants large Sums c. Nay his Charity was often so extensive that he forgat his own Secular Interest to lend unto God by his Largesses to the Needy At his Death he gave to the Poor of eight or nine Parishes and in some other Modes of Charity which amounted to the Sum of 200 l. And what that pious Prelate left his Widow punctually performed For as she loved him entirely so did she shew her true respect for his Memory in enlarging his gift And thus that Religious Couple as they strove whether should love more so did they rival each other in Charity Moreover I should be injurious the memory of this good Bishop if I should not further add that besides these Public Acts of Liberality his Charity was yet in some respects so secret according to our Blessed Saviour's Advice that he kept a Private Purse for that end and that so private that even his dear Consort the Partner of all his Joys and other Counsels was a Stranger to it not knowing how he disposed of it till he himself discovered to her a little before his death whereabout 20 l. of that Mony lay which he desired might be given to three or four of the French Protestants or to some decayed Gentleman of honest Conversation and that without naming of him Which his Loving Consort accordingly performed This last Act is not only a plain demonstration of his extensive Bounty but how far he was from that pompous and ostentous Charity which is made by too many the foundation of Merit in another Communion And as his Kindness was unlimited to the corporal Wants of the Needy so no less compassionate was he to those who went astray from the true Fold To such he used lenity and mildness endeavouring to bring them into the way by strong Argumenrs and soft Words convincing their erronious Judgments by Reason and Scripture rather than by affrighting them with Corporal punishments out of that by-way into which they had fallen by mistake As to his own Practice none could be more observant of the Rules of the Church of England than he was thô he pitied the Errors of others who differed from him in Opinion To conclude May this mean Monument which I have erected to the Memory of this Right Reverend Prelate suffice to continue his Name and the History of his Vertues to succeeding Ages and that thereby the lustre of his Pious Actions may so shine forth in this debauched and profligate Age that others may be induced to Copy after so fair an Example serving God faithfully and sincerely in this Life and enjoying him eternally in that which is to come Ephes 3. 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all Ages World without end Amen FINIS A SERMON Preached at the Funeral of the Right Reverend Father in God Edward Lord Bishop of Carlisle REV. XIV 13. And I heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their