Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A30956
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A remembrancer of excellent men ...; Remembrancer of excellent men
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Barksdale, Clement, 1609-1687.
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1670
(1670)
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Wing B806; ESTC R17123
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46,147
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158
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his Spirit he added an indefatigable Industry and God gave a plentiful Benediction for there were very few kinds of Learning but he was a Mystes and a great Master in them 21. He was a rare Humanist and hugely verst in all the polite parts of Learning and had throughly concocted all the antient Moralists Greek and Roman Poets and Orators and was not unacquainted with the refined Wits of the later Ages whether French or Italian 22. But he had not only the Accomplishments of a Gentleman but so universal were his parts that they were proportion'd to every thing And though his Spirit and Humour were made up of smoothness and gentleness yet he could bear with the harshness and roughness of the Schools and was not unseen in their subtilties and spinosities and upon occasion could make them serve his purpose And yet I believe he thought many of them very near a kin to the Famous Knight of the Muncha and would make sport sometimes with the Romantick Sophistry and phantastick Adventures of School-Errantry 23. His skill was great both in the Civil and Canon Law and Casuistical Divinity And he was a rare conductor of Souls and knew how to counsel and to advise to solve difficulties and determine Cases and quiet Consciences And he was no Novice in Mr. S.'s new Science of Controversie but could manage an Argument and make reparties with a strange dexterity He understood what the several Parties in Christendom have to say for themselves and could plead their cause to better advantage than any Advocate of their Tribe and when he had done he could confute them too and shew that better Arguments than ever they could produce for themselves would afford no sufficient ground for their fond Opinions 24. I shall adde only his great acquaintance with the Fathers and Ecclesiastical Writers and the Doctors of the first and purest Ages both of the Greek and Latin Church which he has made use of against the Romanists to vindicate the Church of England from the Challenge of Innovation and prove her to be truly Antient Catholick and Apostolical 25. But Religion and Virtùe is the Crown of all other Accomplishments and it was the Glory of this great man to be thought a Christian and whatever you added to it he look'd upon as a term of diminution And yet he was a zealous Son of the Church of England but that was because he judg'd her and with great reason a Church the most purely Christian of any in the world 26. In his younger years he met with some assaults from Popery and the high pretensions of their Religious Orders were very accommodate to his devotional Temper But he was always so much Master of himself that he would never be govern'd by any thing but Reason and the evidence of Truth which engag'd him in the study of those Controversies and to how good purpose the world by this time a sufficient witness But the longer and the more he consider'd the worse he lik'd the Roman Cause and became at last to censure them with some severity but I confess I have so great an opinion of his Judgment and the Charitableness of his Spirit that I am afraid he did not think worse of them than they deserve 27. But Religion is not matter of Theory and Orthodox Notions and it is not enough to believe aright but we must practice accordingly and to Master our Passions and to make a right use of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and power that God has given us over our own actions is a greater glory than all other Accomplishments that can adorn the mind of man And therefore I shall close my Character of this great Personage with a touch upon some of those Virtues for which his Memory will be precious to all Posterity 28. He was a person of great Humility and notwithstanding his stupendious Parts and Learning and eminency of place he had nothing in him of Pride and Humour but was courteous and affable and of easie access and would lend a ready ear to the Complaints yea to the impertinences of the meanest persons 29. His Humility was coupled with an extraordinary Piety and I believe he spent the greatest part of his time in Heaven His solemn hours of Prayer took up a considerable portion of his life and we are not to doubt but he had learn'd of St. Paul to pray continually and that occasional ejaculations and frequent aspirations and emigrations of his Soul after God made up the best part of his Devotions 30. But he was not only a good man God-ward but he was come to the top of St. Peters Gradation and to all his other Virtues added a large and diffusive Charity And whoever compares his plentiful Incomes with the inconsiderable estate he left at his Death will be easily convinc'd that Charity was steward for a great proportion of his Revenue But the Hungry that he fed and the Naked that he cloath'd and the distress'd that he supply'd and the fatherless that he provided for the poor Children that he put to Apprentice and brought up at school and maintain'd at the University will not sound a Trumpet to that Charity which he dispersed with his right hand but wouldnot suffer his left hand to have any knowledge of it 31. To sum up all in a few words This Great Prelate had the Good Humour of a Gentleman the Eloquence of an Orator the Fansie of a Poet the acuteness of a Schoolman The profoundness of a Philosopher the Wisdom of a Chancellor the Sagacity of a Prophet the Reason of an Angel and the Piety of a Saint He had Devotion enough for a Cloister Learning enough for an University and Wit enough for a Colledge of Virtuosi And had his Parts and Endowments been parcell'd out among his poor Clergy that he left behind him it would perhaps have made one of the best Diocese in the world 32. But alas Our Father Our Father The Horses of our Israel and the Chariot thereof He is gone and has carried his Mantle and his Spirit along with him up to Heaven and the Sons of the Prophets have lost all their beauty and lustre which they enjoy'd only from the reflection of his Excellencies which were bright and radiant enough to cast a glory upon a whole order of Men. But the Sun of this our world after many attempts to break through the crust of an earthly Body is at last swallow'd up in the great Vortex of Eternity and there all his Maculae are scatter'd and dissolv'd and he is fix'd in an Orb of Glory and shines among his Brethren-stars that in their several Ages gave Light to the world and turn'd many Souls unto Righteousness 33. And we that are left behind though we can never reach his perfections must study to imitate his Virtues that we may at last come to sit at his feet in the Mansions of Glory which God grant for his infinite Mercies in Jesus Christ. Ob. Aug. 13. 1667. Soli Deo Gloria FINIS * Duacens Praef. ad Lib. de triplici Hom. officio * See a former Vol. * AEnea Pila Diog. Laert. * Archbish Laud B Mentague B. Lindsey Mr. John Selden c. * Jo. Antioch hist. tran out of Greek into Latine with Annot.
England for whose sufferings he sorrowed unto death Those and the foresight of that barbarity wherein Learning and Learned men were to be the objects of scorn and cruelty broke his heart 12. Time was even amongst the Heathen that Learning was a sufficient protection against Tyranny witness Antonius Triumvir who when Varro his Enemy and of a contrary part was listed for death He thus gallantly superscribed his Name Vivat Varro Vir doctissimus 13. This our Learned Friend deceased at Kidlington Mar. 13.1646 And was buried in Christ-Church in Oxford Where lives the memory of his Virtues especially of Courtesie and Humility not disdaining the meanest Scholar nor proud of his Victorious discourses with the most learned And all that knew him will testifie how free and liberal he was of his treasury to the full satisfaction of all Inquisitors Epitaphium Joannis Gregorii NE premas Cineres hosce Viator Nescis quot sub hoc jacent lapillo Graeculus Hebraeus Syrus Et qui te quovis vincet idiomate At ne molestus sis Ausculta caussam auribus tuis imbibe Templo exclusus Et avita Religione Jam senescente ne dicam sublata Mutavit Chorum altiorem ut capesseret Vade nunc si libet imitare R. W. VIII Dr. Brian Duppa L d. Bp of Winchester From D. Jasper Maine 1. WHen I look back upon our late suffering times the saddest which I think any History hath recorded where oppression backt with power made the Ruine of our Church the horrid step and ladder to the Usurpation of the Crown and where the very name of Bishop was criminal and odious And when withal I do consider by what unlookt for way of providence the Order and Religion like a Treasure snatcht from Shipwreck was stupendiously restored after many years confusion Methinks that bush which Moses saw was the Emblem of our Church kept safe by miracle in the midst of hungry fire and the ship in the Gospel was presented to my eies where Christ and his Apostles were lost in a hideous storm but he awaked and stilled the winds and put a calmness to the Sea 2. In those daies of publick calamity I saw some take for their Pattern the Prophet Jonas and sleep securely in the storm Other to preserve their wretched fortunes compounded with the Tempest and made a League and friendship with the winds others of a nobler and more Christian temper whose just reward is now to shine like stars of honour in the Church immoveably resolute to maintain their Loyalty and Conscience with the loss of their lives as they had already with their fortunes 3. Yet I hope it will be no diminution of their Virtues if I say that the Bishop of Salisburies Carriage in those times of persecution was to me most remarkable who by this happy restitution and addition of more honour was made a greater Bishop but not a greater person than he had been in his lowest ebbe of Fortune 4. The payment of his vow in building of an Alms-house on the place at Richmond where himself so often sate weeping ore the prospect not then pleasant to his eye His large bounty to the Colledge of which I am a member which if I should name the Sum would make the world believe he meant to found a new Colledge and not complete an old His dying liberalities bequeathed to others in his Will even to his meanest Servants who were his Servants in distress are things which do proclaim him a great and noble Benefactor 5. But these are but the good deeds of his Fortune done by the Bishop of Winchester the Charities of one possessed with plenty and abundance his Rents and Mannors share with him as Co-founders and his new Alms-house might have it written on the Walls A poor Bishop vow'd this house but a great and mighty built it 6. That which made him truly great and Reverend in my eies was to look into his Noble heart his large and bounteous mind where his good deeds now were then but wishes and designs He was truly great to me when I saw him in his poverty anticipate his Alms-house and liberal at his door and the poor people in his house now had then places at his gate when being reduced to his last cruse of oyl he made the drops run to others and when there was but a handful of meal left in the little barrel he then dealt his loaf to them that wanted daily bread In short when he had but two Coats left to give one to the Naked when he had hardly more than one dish to make the poor his guests to see him walk on the Hill with not much money in his purse and return back with none But then to think of laying up treasures in Heaven when he had so little left on earth was a Charity which raised in me a Religious admiration and lookt something like the Miracle wrought by our Saviour in the Gospel where Multitudes were sed with two fishes and five loaves 7. Nor may I without some injustice to his Virtues forbear to let the world know That I never saw Afflictions born with a more serene and even temper than he did his who in the worst of times stood like a firm unshaken Rock in the midst of angry waves his Courage still the same unbroken or undisturbed with any sad Disasters not more publick than his own 8. The Old Church of England still kept up in his house with all its Forms and Rites though publickly forbidden Prayers constantly and twice a day read by him for the King at a time when such Devotions were made Treason by the Tyrant and weekly Sermons preacht before him filled with so much loyalty and truth as would any where else have cast the preacher into bonds if not sent him from the Pulpit to the place of Execution 9. To all this his Lordships continued kindness to me his encouragement of my younger studies which grew up under his example his Rescue of me from a shipwrack in the late undoing times when being tost and stript of all he was a plank to save me and threw me out a line which drew me safe to shore are Reasons sufficient to let the world receive this publick Testimony of my Gratitude Ob. An. Dom. 1663. IX Dr. John Bramhall L d. Archb. of Armagh From Bishop Taylor 1. THe Death of our late most Reverend Primate the Church of Ireland hath very great reason to deplore and we have great obligation to remember his very many worthy deeds done for this poor afflicted and despised Church S. Paul that excellent Preacher Heb. 11. made a Sermon in Commemoration of the Saints For since good men while they are alive have their Conversation in Heaven when they are in Heaven it is also fit that they should in their good names live upon Earth Their great examples are an excellent Sermon to the Living and in praising them when envy and flattery can have no interest to interpose