unto our late Lord Bishop an Exemption from the Annuity of eight hundred eighty pound per Ann. belonging to the late Queen Mother in Reversion after her death unto this our Bishop and his Successours much elder than the Queen Mother and so in the course of nature not likely to enjoy it in his own time but in his intention to procure it for the good of his Successours A special Royal Bounty for which no doubt God will reward the King and his Royal Successours Ninthly His Actions They are so intermixed with his Passions or Sufferings that in our Discourse we can hardly sever them but must sometimes coincide for instance when he was in Exile in France he did with much magnanimity do aforehand some of the Offices of a Bishop one part whereof is to stop the mouths of the gain-sayers to sound doctrine and that in a time of great necessity when both the Church and the King of England were dispersed and the members dissipated here is the patience and faith of the Saints One signal instance of his constancy and courage for the Liturgy of the Church of England may not be omitted that is Anno 1645. He did with the consent of the Ministers of the Reformed Church of Charenton near Paris solemnly in his Priestly Habit with his Surplice and with the Office of Burial used in the Church of England Interr there the body of Sir William Carnaby a Noble and Loyal Knight not without the troublesome contradiction and contention of the Romish Curate there At that time many that were pore-blind and not able to see the then less visible face of the Church of England then in the wain a Church in the wilderness because under persecution when sundry were wavering from the true Religion Our Bishop did then confirm some Eminent Persons against many Imminent and Importunate Seducers another Episcopal Office which is in such ambiguous times especially to confirm the Souls of the Disciples exhorting them to continue in the Faith teaching That we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God One notable instance of this our Bishops Constancy and Zeal in this kind we may not omit which was a solemn conference 〈◊〉 by word and writing betwixt him and the Prior of the English Benedictines at Paris supposed to be Robinson The Argument was concerning the validity of the Ordination of our Priests c. in the Church of England The Issue was our Doctor had the better so far that he could never get from the Prior any Reply to his last Answer This Conference was undertaken to fix a person of Honour then wavering about that point The summ of which Conference as I am imformed was written by Doctor Cosin to Doctor Morley the now Right Reverend Lord Bishop of Winchester in two Letters bearing date June 11. July 11. 1645. His Noble contempt of great preferment on the right hand and on the left if he would comply with or but connive at the erroneous positions and practices of the Seducers to all whom his real and resolute answer was that of St. Peter to Simon Magus Thy money perish with thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So far was this Great Spirit from tottering much more from turning aside from the right way Great was his Communion of Charity towards all Christian Churches if agreeing in the fundamental Articles of Salvation though different in form of Discipline and outward Ceremonies which demonstrateth that he wore in his breast Animum Catholieum that is ready to communicate with all Christians Salvâ veritate if Dissenters would not do so reciprocally for want of Charity he by his Christian moderation would leave the Schism at their doors so far was he from the unseasonable that I say not unreasonable severity of some that presume to Non-Church whole Churches for such circumstantial differences as long as they hold the substance of Christian Doctrine and Worship And in this he did follow happily the wise Example of that Great Prelate Bishop Andrews so eminent for Primitive Piety Christian Prudence and Universal Learning For wise men do not think it safe to multiply Adversaries of whom we have enough already God knows we must be very wary to avoid the mischief of an unnecessary Schisme which may harden the worse Adversaries in Heresie This his Christian condescension towards the Reformed Churches was afterwards requited by a singular respect from the Chief Doctors of those Reformed Churches whom to ccondemn rashly is to storm whole Churches against Charity For our moderate connivance at their inordinate Ordination does not at all legitimate it but only declareth our Christian Charity to pity them for want of Episcopal Ordination because they cannot help themselves So long as they have Episcopatum in voto their words and writings testifie this ingenuously though to their grief they cannot have Episcopatum in Facto through Political necessity which rather deserves our compassion as blessed Bishop Morton did often bewail their infelicity for the want of Bishops they being Subjects living under a Great Monarch of a different Religion who for Reasons of State will not suffer in his Kingdome two several Bishops of two several Religions in one Diocess to preserve publick Peace and to prevent Contention and clashing of Jurisdictions to the disquiet of his Loyal Subjects much less would such a King suffer his Native Subjects of the Reformed Religion to go out of his Kingdome to a forreign Kingdome there to receive Episcopal Ordination from Protestant Bishops depending upon a forreign Prince to whom every person that is to be Ordained a Deacon Priest or Bishop must by the Statute Laws and Canons of that Land and Church and by the form of Ordination before he be Ordained swear Allegiance This that King or Prince will not permit neither in point of prudence to prevent defection or the falling away of his Subjects to a forreign Power His Works We pass now from our late Lord Bishops Actions transient to his Works more permanent his Scholastical Works whereof some are Printed and some yet unprinted for he observed the golden maxime of that modest and wise man of Greece Pythagoras who gave this very mystical but wise advice unto his Scholars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By no means to eat their own brains intending thereby as 't is conceived that they should not keep their Reason and Learning of which the brains are an immediate instrument unto themselves but still employ them for the advantage of others for whose benefit this our Learned Prelate did publish these following Tracts viz. Printed 1. Many years agoe he did publish a Book Entituled A Collection of Private Devotions extracted out of the publick Liturgies of the Churches both Ancient and Modern very useful for good Christians well disposed and which may teach them how to offer unto God a reasonable Service every way That work at first was looked upon with an
none of Solomon's Proverbs to be sure This great Man here lying before us may be a standing Monument for a real confutation and may rise up in judgment against all such base slanderers of our Church and Religion Behold how great and goodly works one single English Prelate hath done in so short a time and that after twenty years long Sequestration and voluntary Banishment only for his Religion and Allegiance Neither doth this our Bishop want his Peers even in this present age our great Arch-Bishops Dr. Laud that glorious Martyr Dr. Juxon Dr. Shelden Bishop Warner those constant Confessors and how many more whose eminent magnificence may on the other hand choak the mouth of that English Bel and the Dragon and of all such Rabshakehs who out of their Bulimia or the greedy worm do eat much but as it is observed thrive little are still gaping after the sweet morsel of Sacriledge though in the digestion it will prove first or last a bitter Pill in the maw of their conscience They I say looking upon the Bishops and Clergy with the squint eyes of envy and malice shoot out their venemous tongues against these good men and their whole order inhancing by a false rule of hyperbolical multiplication the Bishops revenues in Fines c. never talking the ingenuous pains to ballance in the account their Incomes with their just deductions in their vast publick and pious expences but through a diabolical detraction and malignant subtraction they do wilfully suppress the great Out-lets of these great Revenues This Example may restrain a third sort of censorious men who being more jealous than zealous of good works object the suspicion of vain Glory in the case wresting to their own damnation that passage of our Lord Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth though this Caution be expresly restrained by our Lord to secret Alms far different from the case of publick works of Charity concerning which our Lord gives an express command to the contrary else what mean these words Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven That they may see your good works not as though the sight of them should be intentio operantis but conditio operandi thereby to provoke others to a Godly imitation to the Glory of God which must be the ultimate end of all our actions for whilst we praise the Instruments such worthy men as in life and death have endeavonred to be beneficial unto their Generations We must not forget the Principal which is God the Father of lights from whom cometh down every good giving and every perfect gift Enough once for all to gagg those evil men who being out of charity with Charity it self want that Christian Charity which thinketh no evil His Passions or Sufferings For Multa fecit tulitque 1. Publick and that first at home Annis 1640 and 1641. when he was both Sequestred and Angariated before a Sacrilegious and Rebellious Assembly of Lay-men which the seduced Crew did nick-name A grand Committee for Religion his Magnanimity and Constancy in maintaining the truly Apostolick and Catholick Doctrine and Religion of our Holy Mother the Church of England was such that he came off clear from all calumnies laid to his charge in base Articles and Pamphlets to the notorious amazement disappointment and shame at last of his malicious false and furious Adversaries And this I can the better depose for that I had the honour then and there to be a fellow-sufferer not only by Sympathy with him and for him but also by my own Idiopathy yet God delivered him and my self out of all these troubles 2. His sufferings abroad as in France where he underwent another Tryal only for upholding under the King then in the French Court the Publick Liturgy or Common-Prayer-Book of the Church of England for wherever he was he retained still and exerted a publick spirit And his Constancy the Character of sincerity was so much the greater that for all those his Tryals both at home and abroad he was never moved much less removed from his stedfast Belief and Uniform Practice of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England when at home swarms of unstable men were carried away with the terrible torrent of the Times both from the True Religion and their due Allegiance For this great Man was resolved and resolute to be one of those not too many who would never defile his Holy Garment neither his Surplice when a Priest nor his Rochet if he could then have been a Bishop with any Sacrilegious Covenant or Rebellious Engagement and I thank God so was I whereby he saved himself the labour of a sad Repentance and requisite Recantation before God and Men for those great sins of Perjury Rebellion and Sacriledge and so he did wisely prevent that scruple or singultum cordis the hiccough of Conscience for so some do translate it which they of the Clergy who against their multiplyed Oaths to God the Church and the King have committed may be put upon here or hereafter which is the best way to clear themselves from shame and reproach 3. His Personal Sufferings which were by his frequent Sicknesses 1. By Nature acute as the Stone c. which usually he called his roaring Pains whereby he was at last overcome together with a Pectoral Dropsie 2. The length of his Disease for two years before his death he was much crazed by many furious fits and so he did bend his chief care to prepare for his latter end fore-feeled in himself and fore-told by himself to his private Friends and forespoken in his Last Will. 'T is the Observation both of Divines and Philosophers That when the Soul of Man is near its final though not total separation from the Body it withdraws it self and so becomes receptible of a kind of Prophetical or Prognostick Inspiration concerning its departure It was his blessing from God to give him such forewarnings and so to hear his prayer in the Letany to deliver him from suddain death which though to a Godly Man it may prove suddain in respect of expectation for the manner or circumstance concerning time and place for all things come alike to all yet in point of preparation for the matter and substance it 's never suddain This fore-sight of his departure at hand made him often in his sicknesses to ingeminate in the Royal Prophets words O that I had wings like a Dove for then would I fly away and be at rest His Death And thereat his last Actions as 1. His Benedictions to his Children and at their desires his blessing also upon the Divines then present and upon God's Church chiefly for Purity and Peace 2. His Solemn Invitation to God's Priest for his last Viaticum and then the Priest about him asking him whether by reason of his weakness he would have
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. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
The best of us all at Dooms-day would be glad to have their grains of allowance and why should we grudge them to our betters Therefore now to draw the curtain over all humane infirmities and imperfections which may God cover in mercy and clear us all by his free pardon through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so to proceed It is certain that no man is born a Saint but 't is as certain that every good man that dies in the exercise of Repentance Faith and Charity dies a Saint such as our Hope is this our Brother died First his Name His Name was John which in the Holy Tongue signifies the Grace of God Here by the way Parents and Godfathers may take out this good Lesson not to put upon their Children fantastical much less profane and superstitious Names but prudently to chuse such Names as may be continual Memorials of some good duties to the parties so named as oft as they shall hear read or write their own Names that they may endeavour by their lives to become as good as their names Secondly His Sirname His Sirname was Cosin in Latine Cognatus quasi à Con Natus which as the famous Civilian Modestinus expoundeth it signifies a Cosin in primo gradu in his own Family This Sirname of Cosin is become famous by diverse learned men of that Name I saw once in our Prelates hand Cognati Opera and we have in our hands that excellent Apology for the Ecclesiastical Lawes by Dr. Richard Cosin that Renowned Civilian and now our Church enjoyeth that solid work Intituled A Scholastical History of the Canon of the Holy Scripture brought forth in his banishment by this our deceased Lord. Thirdly His Birth His Temporal Birth was on St. Andrews day 1594. His birth to Glory I mean the day of his death was Jan. 15. 1671-72 his Age 78. current greater by so much than King David's first measure 70. So that to phrase in Jobs words He came to his grave in a full age like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season Length of dayes is by Gods favour annexed to the fifth Commandment Honour thy Father c. which the Apostle maketh the first Commandment with promise and 't is a Glory For the hoary head is a Crown of Glory if it be found in the way of Righteousness A good evidence of Gods acceptance upon his obedience to his Superiours Spiritual Political and Natural Parents for want of which due obedience to Parents God many times shortens the dayes of the Sons of Belial Rebellious Children Fourthly His Person God and Nature did frame his earthly Tabernacle of a goodly structure for he was both tall and erect a fit presage aforehand of the stature of his future preferments and dignities he had a Prelatical presence which he over-topped with his liberal beneficence This I am sure of he was no Dwarf neither in Stature Dignity nor Bounty as will appear by the ensuing discourse Fifthly His Family 1. Paternal his Fathers Name was Giles Cosin of Fox-hearth a Citizen of no mean City to use St. Pauls phrase who did glory in Tarsus his birth-place His City was Norwich of which more anon when we come to his Countrey He was a good Citizen a man of substance witness his liberal education of this his great Son 2. By his Maternal descent he was Son to Mrs. Elizabeth Remington of Remington-Castle an antient Family and which is worth all the rest both his Parents were of the Household of faith both born and bred in the true antient Apostolick and Catholick Religion of the Church of England which this their Son did so early imbibe that he lived and died a constant Professor and Patron of the same Thus was his Family in Lineâ rectâ As for his Collateral Line he took a Wife out of an antient Noble Family in this Countrey Frances the Daughter of Mr. Marmaduke Blakiston a Dignitary both in the Metropolitical Church of York and in this of Durham Marmaduke was Son to John Blakâ—ston of Blakiston Esq whose other Son was Sir William Blakiston Father to Sir Thomas His Wife was a prudent Wife and therefore from the Lord To my knowledge a true yoke-fellow not only in Prosperis as too many worldly-minded Wives but chiefly in Adversis which is the tryal of a good Wife and of a true friend indeed and these are blessings For to have the Burthen of a Wife and not the blessing of a good wife is a great cross if not a curse And here I stop from attending the rest of his Family any further perhaps I have gone too far already in presuming to blazon a Pedigree being no Herald Sixthly His Countrey To pass from his Family to his Countrey he was born a Britain and an English Man A Nation so famous for situation plenty and victories If Plato did thank the Gods that he was born a Grecian and bred a Philosopher but still a Heathen how much more ought every true English-Man to be thankful unto God for his birth under a Christian Monarchy Christian indeed if as the current of Historians do report it received the Christian Religion from one of the Apostles or one of their Apostolical Disciples some say Simon Zelotes others Joseph of Arimathea and if England as they say was the first Kingdome in all the world that first received the Gospel with the countenance of Supreme Authority under King Lucius a Britain whom Historians do place Anno Christi 170 and 't is no small addition of honour for this Kingdome that the first Christian Emperour even Constantine the Great was born in England Thus our deceased Prelate was blessed in the place of his birth but much more blessed for the state of his New Birth in such a Christian Church the most Apostolical and the purest of all Christian Churches Expertus loquor for in 15 years Ecclesiastical Pilgrimage during my voluntary banishment for my Religion and Loyalty I have surveyed with an impartial eye of observation most Christian Churches both Eastern and Western and I dare pronounce of the Church of England what David said of Goliahs Sword There is none like it both for Primitive Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government Episcopal Hierarchy the most moderate and regular For it was a singular providence of God to inspire the first Reformers of the Church of England with the Spirit of wisdome to conjoyn the zeal for verity with due reverence to Antiquity for by Cardinal Baronius his own Confession the Church of England is for her Christendome acknowledged antienter than Rome it self by nine years and 't is strange in reason and more strange in nature that the pretended Mother should be younger than the Daughter but that any thing which is rational is rejected by such as only relie upon a Magisterial pretence of Ipsa dixit which false principle smells rank of wilfull schism
that adhere to the Church of England The Roman Catholicks 1. SAy and believe as by the Articles of their new Creed they are bound to believe that we are all damned and accursed persons 2. They call us Hereticks 3. They excommunicate us and abhorr to joyn with us in any Sacred action either of Prayer or Sacraments 4. Not long since they burnt us both alive and dead at their stakes and where the Edicts of Princes restrain them not they do so still as by their own Laws they have obliged themselves to do which Laws if civil respects suspend them not for the time they can put in execution at an hours warning when they please 5. They will allow us no other burial of our dead than the burial of a dog accounting their Churches and their Church-yards to be polluted if any of our people be there put into a Grave and whoever it is among them be it a Son that shall bury his Father or a Wife her Husband that dye in our Religion if they venture to make a Grave there and put the dead Corps either of a Father or a Husband or other the like into it they are bound to scrape up that Corps again with their own fingers and carry it away to be buried in a ditch or a dunghill or where else they can finde roome for it Prince or Peasant are hereni alike if they be not Roman Catholicks they shall be used no better The reformed Churches 1. SAy and believe as we do that we profess and believe whatsoever is necessary to salvation and that it is an accursed belief which the Roman Catholicks have of us 2. These acknowledge us to be true Catholicks 3. They do most willingly receive us into their Churches and frequently repair to ours joyning with us both in Prayers and Sacraments 4. These men whose Predecessors were burnt up and martyr'd as ours have been being in such times of persecution received and harbour'd in our Churches gave us the like Relief in theirs both in Germany and France where when at any time we come they have obtained freedom for us from this kind of persecution under which we might otherwise suffer and be in continual danger to lose our lives 5. They allow us not onely to bury our dead among theirs in the Church-yards which they have purchased and peculiarly set apart for that purpose but they give us leave also to use our own Office and Order of Burial at least they hinder us not to do it if the Roman-Catholicks permit it and to set up our Monuments and Inscriptions over the Graves hereby professing Vnity with us both alive and dead In all which Regards we ought no lesse to acknowledge them and to make no Schisme between our Churches and theirs however we approve not some defects that may be seen among them This remains written by the Bishop's own hand when he was in France Adjutorium nostrum in Nomine Domini qui fecit Caelum Terram In Nomine Honore ejusdem Domini Dei nostri Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti Summae ac individuae Trinitatis QVoniam Statutum est omnibus semel mori Corpus uniuseujusque dissolutum iri tempus verò dissolutionis meae cùm incertum sit de qua tamen quasi in propinquo esset assiduâ animi meditatione sollicitus frequenti Corporis infirmitate pulsatus subinde cogito Ego Johannes Cosinus humilis Ecclesiae Dei Administer modò permissione altissimi Episcopus Dunelm non ponens spem meam in praesenti hac vitâ sed ad alteram quae futura est in Caelis aeternam ex divina tandem misericordiâ adipiscendam semper anhelans humiliter orans pro salute animae meae ut per merita Jesu Christi Filii Dei vivi Redemptoris ac Mediatoris nostri unici omnia mea mihi remittantur delicta hoc Testamentum continens ultimam voluntatem meam sanâ mente puro corde condo ordino facio in hac formâ quae sequitur Ante omnia Domino nostro Deo Omnipotenti gratias ago quas possum maximas quòd me ex Fidelibus bonis Parentibus in hanc vitam nasci atque in Ecclesiâ suâ per Sanctum Baptismi Lavacrum ab ipso institutum ad vitam aeternam renasci voluerit meque à juventute meâ in doctrinâ sanâ erudiverit sanctorum suorum participem effecerit fidemque non fictam vel mortuam sed veram vivam in animo meo impresserit unà cum adjunct â spe firmâ fore posthac ut perducar ad vitam sempiternam Quae quidem fides in co consistit ut adoremus veneremur deum in eumque credamus in quem misit filium ejus dilectissimum verbum aeternum ante secula genitum Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum qui propter nos nostramque salutem ex beatissimâ Virgine Mariâ superveniente in eam spiritu sancto carnem in saeculo sumpsit homo factus est deinde natus passus crucifixus mortuus ac sepultus postquam ad inferos descendisset ex sepulchro suo resurrexit captivam ducens captivitatem adscendit in Coelos ubi ad dexteram Dei Patris sedet regnat in aeternum inde verò spiritum sanctum in quem pariter nobis credendum est misit a Patre Filioque procedentem per quem largissimè dona distribuit hominibus Ecclesiam suam Catholicam in communione sanctorum in Divinis Sacramentis in verâ fide in doctrinâ sanâ ac moribus Christianis instituit unà cum remissione peccatorum piis omnibus dignos in eadem Ecclesiâ paenitentiae fructus proferentibus impertiendâ quibus etiam quum in supremo saeculi die de Coelis rediturus ut mortuos resuscitet omnes judicet collaturus est aeternam beatitudinem reliquis verò infidelibus aut qui secundum carnem vixerint converti sive paenitentiam agere nolentibus aeternum supplicium irrogaturus In hac Fide quae totius sacrae Scriptur ae summa est absolutissimum compendium sanctis Judae vers 3. semel tradita ab Apostolis eorumque successoribus propagatâ atque ad nos usque derivata vivere me profiteor ut in ea ad ultimum vitae spiritum constanter ac sine haesitatione perseverem moriar assiduis quantum possum precibus à Deo contendo unitaetem intereà colens servans vinculum pacis ac charitatis cum omnibus ubique Christianis qui inter tanta Ecclesiae mala distractiones calamitates quibus equidem non possum non illachrymari hanc fidem integrè admittunt nullamque ejus partem in dubium vocant Spero etiam quae est Dei Christique 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Servatoris nostri benignitas omnes eos qui haec à Deo revelante tradita simpliciter nobiscum crediderint piè vixerint in magno illo die Domini salvos fore etiamsi
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccles 1. â— Eccles 12. 7. Psal 39. 7. John 1. 29. Gen. 3 15. Iren. Epiph Chrysost Augustin c. Mat. 25. 41. Galat. 4. 4. Genes 9. 22 23. * This Curse sticks to this day above 4000 years as a foul brand upon Cham in his cursed Posterity for the Egyptians and Ethiopians or Blackamoors are the Descendants of cursed Cham Lexic Geographic Ferrarii ad vocem Aethiopiam Sam. Bochart geographia saera parte 1. lib. 4. cap. 1. A People of all Nations most inconvertible even to a Prophets Proverb Jerem. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin c. A standing dreadful Monument and a thundering Warning piece to all such young Chams as dare to disgrace their Parents privately or rebel against them publickly Vers 4. Luke 18. * Syriack Vulgar Aethiopick Arabick French English Germain Italian Clem. Alex. Chrysest Vatablus Zegeâ—us Grotiuâ— Tena Prov. 31. 31. Revel 14. 13. Luke 20. 38. Prov. 10. 7. Psalm 19. 1. Hebr. 11. 6. James 11. 18. Hebr. 11. 4. Theodotian Theophyl Alii Lev. 9. 24. 2 Chron. 7. 1. Kings 8. 8. Cornel. Bâ—rtram Judges 1. 7. 2 Sam. 12. 10. Gen. 18. 20. James 5. 4. Gen. 4. 10 11. Revel 14. 13. Rom. 8. 18. Galat. 6. 9. Job 1. 21. 2 Sam. 1. 3. Acts 9. 39. Job 1. seq * James 5. 17. James 5. 11. Job 42. 3 5 6. Ecclus. 44. 1. Let us now praise famous men and our Fathers that begat us Dan. 5. 27. Psal 90. 10. Job 5. 26. Eph. 6. 1 2. Prov. 16. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. Acts 21. 39. Gal. 6. 10. Prov. 19. 14. 〈◊〉 Cambd. Brit. c. Vegetius above 1200 ago witnesseth that the climate of Britain is of that temperature out of which 't is fittest to chuse valiant Souldiers * Sabellicus R. Archiep usher Praefat. ad Britan. Eccles Primond ex Euseb Theodoret. 1 Sam. 21. 9. Casaub Epist. ad Salmasium Baron ad an Christi 35. ad an Tib. Imp. 10. where he affirms that Britain was converted by Joseph of Arimathea The like is affirmed by Gildas Covarrus and others Cambd. Brit. 1 Cor. 3. 5. Psal 45. 2. Judg. 5. 14. Injunct Quint. Lev. 19. 15. Prov. 18. 5. Rom. 11. 11. Gal. 11. 5. c. Luk. 19. 21. Gal. 6. 5. Bishop Bramhals Vindication c. An. 1672. pag. 16. 31 H. 8. c. 10. Plato ' O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 14. 11. 1 Tim. 5. 22. Titus 1. 5. Euseb Heb. 3. 1. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Ignatius Epist ad Tâ—allianos princ The Father grounds his Injunction upon the Apostles Canon Heb. 13. 17. Ignat. Ep. Coucil Constant Hooker Eccles Polit. Mason de Minist Anglic. Dr. Bramhall c. Prov. 21. 1. Cambden Selden Titles of Honour part 2. cap. 5. who observes that the Bishop of Durhams style in his Patents c. runs thus Dei Gratiâ Episcopus Dunelm c. And I have observed for this forty years that at the General Assizes and Sessions the Publick Cryer concludes in this usual form God save the King and my Lord of Durham 11 H. 6. Pasch 21 Eliz. 1. Tit. 1. 9 10 11. Rev. 13. 10. This truth is confessed by some body otherwise a good man who yet seems no great friend to our Bishop but being convinced by the reality of these his Actions especially abroad hath these words This must be reported to the due commendation of Dr. Cosin that when he was in France he neither joyned with the Church of French Protestants at Charenton nigh Paris False nor kept any Communion with the Papists therein but confined himself to the Church of Old English Protestants therein where by his pious living and constant praying and preaching he reduced some Recusants to and confirmed more doubters in the Protestant Religion Many were his Incounters with Jesuites and Priests defeating the suspicions of his Foes and exceeding the expectation of his friends in the success of such Disputes Church-History by Mr. Tho. Fuller Cent. 17. Book 11. Sect. 38. pag. 173. His many mistakes about Mr. Peter Smart his Prosecutions or rather Persecutions of our Bishop are confuted by the Bishops own express Letter to Mr. Waring and Dr. Reves April 6. 1658. in which Letter also our Bishop censures at large Mr. Fullers Calumny wherein he affirms that Dr. Cosin did not joyn with the French Protestants at Charenton against which Assertion the Dr. declares to all the world that he never refused to joyn with the Protâ—stants there or any where else in all things wherein they joyn'd with the Church of England And that our Dr. was constant in this his judgement may further appear by a former full Letter of his from Paris Feb. 7. 1650. written to one Mr. Cordel then at Bloys who seemed shy to communicate with the Protestants there upon this very scruple of their inorderly Ordination c. as Dr. Cosin styled it who there and then determined the Question in the Affirmative for our Communion with them Salvo semper jure Ecclesiae Anglicana Tit. 1. 11. Acts 14. 22. Act. 8. 20. * Nec tamen si nostra Politeia divini juris sit inde sequitur vel quod siue ea salus non sit vel quod stare non possit Ecclesia Caecus sit qui non videat stantes fine ea Ecclesias Ferreus sit qui salutem eis neget Nos non sumus illi Ferrei latum inter ista discrimen ponimus Potest abesse aliquid quod Divini Juris sit in exteriore quidem Regimine ut tamen substet salus Item Epist tertia Quaeris tum peccéntue in Jus Divinum Ecclesiae vestrae non dixi Id tantum dixi abesse ab Ecclesiis vestris aliquid quod de Jure Divino sit Culpâ autem vestrâ non abesse sed Injuriâ Temporum Non enim tam propitios habuisse Reges Galliam vestram in Ecclesiâ reformandâ quam habuit Britannia nostra Interim ut dabit meliora Deus hoc quoqùe quod jam abest per Del Gratiam suppletum iri Opuscula posthuma D. Ep. Andrews in Epist secunda ad V. L. D. Peter Molin See more at large the Reasons of this our Christian Moderation towards those forreign Churches in the learned Bishop Bramhal's vindication of the Episcopal Clergy c. against Mr. Baxter Printed Anno 1672. p. 30 31 c. * It is an express Article in our Bishops last Will we might call it his Spiritual Will written in Latine which because of the Excellency of it both for matter and form hath been thought fit by his Executors to be annexed to this Brief of his Life which contains a full Confession of his Faith and Religion the first occasion and chief matter as of the Patriarch's Gen. 49. so of the Primitive Christians Testaments In this also a worthy imitator of his Predecessour learned Bishop Morton who hath left the like free full Confession in his Last Will. Amyrald * See Dr. Durel ' s
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