questions have so unhappily disturbed christendom. Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant, For so Samson's riddle was again expounded, honorary reward of his great services and abilities, was chosen primate of this national church, in which time we are to look upon him, as the king and the king's great vicegerent did, as a person concerning whose abilities the world had too great testimony ever to make a doubt. It is true he was in the declension of his age and health; but his very ruins were goodly; and they who saw the broken heaps of Pompey's theatre, and the crushed obelisks, and the old face of beauteous Philænium, could not but admire the disordered glories of such magnificent structures, which were venerable in their very dust. He ever was used to overcome all difficulties, only mortality was too hard for him; but still his virtues and his spirit were immortal; he still took great care, and still had new and noble designs, and proposed to himself admirable things. He governed his province with great justice and sincerity; Unus amplo consulens pastor gregi, And had this remark in all his governments, that clergy; and in the greatest abilities and incomparable industry, was inferior to none of his most glorious antecessors. I will not insist upon his other excellent writings; but it is known every where with what piety and acumen he wrote against the Manichean doctrine of "fatal necessity," which a late witty man had pretended to adorn with a new vizor: but this excellent person washed off the ceruse and the meretricious paintings, rarely well asserted the economy of the Divine Providence, and having once more triumphed over his adversary, "plenus victoriarum et tropæorum," betook himself to the more agree-instrumental to the re-endowments of the whole able attendance upon sacred offices; and having usefully and wisely discoursed of the sacred rite of confirmation, imposed his hands upon the most illustrious princes, the dukes of York and Gloucester, and the princess royal, and ministered to them the promise of the Holy Spirit, and ministerially established them in the religion and service of the holy Jesus. And one thing more I shall remark; that at his leaving those parts upon the king's return, some of the remonstrant ministers of the Low Countries coming to take their leaves of this great man, and desiring that by his means the church of England would be kind to them, he had reason to grant it, because they were learned men, and in many things of a most excellent belief; yet he reproved them, and gave them caution against it, that they approached too near and gave too much countenance to the great and dangerous errors of the Socinians. Since the canonization of saints came into the church, we find no Irish bishop canonized, except St. Laurence of Dublin, and St. Malachias of Down; indeed Richard of Armagh's canonization was propounded, but not effected; but the character which was given of that learned primate by Trithemius," does exactly fit this our late father: "Vir in Divinis Scripturis eruditus, secularis philosophiæ jurisque canonici non ignarus, clarus ingenio, sermone scholasticus, in declamandis sermonibus ad populum excellentis industriæ:" "He was learned in the Scriptures, skilled in secular philosophy, and not unknowing in the civil and canon laws, (in which studies I wish the clergy were, with some carefulness and diligence, still more conversant,) he was of He thus having served God and the king abroad, an excellent spirit, a scholar in his discourses, an God was pleased to return to the king and to us all, early and industrious preacher to the people." And as in the days of old, and we sung the song of as if there were a more particular sympathy beDavid, "In convertendo captivitatem Sion," when tween their souls, our primate had so great a veneking David and all his servants returned to Jerusa- ration to his memory, that he purposed, if he had lem. This great person having trod in the wine-lived, to have restored his monument in Dundalk, press, was called to drink of the wine, and, as an s De Scriptor. Eccles. which time, or impiety, or unthankfulness, had either omitted or destroyed. So great a lover he was of all true and inherent worth, that he loved it in the very memory of the dead, and to have such great examples transmitted to the intuition and imitation of posterity. At his coming to the primacy, he knew he should at first espy little besides the ruins of discipline, a harvest of thorns, and heresies prevailing in the hearts of the people, the churches possessed by wolves and intruders, men's hearts greatly estranged from true religion; and, therefore, he set himself to weed the fields of the church; he treated the adversaries sometimes sweetly, sometimes he confuted them learnedly, sometimes he rebuked them sharply. He visited his charges diligently and in his own person, not by proxies and instrumental deputations: "Quærens non nostra, sed nos, et quæ sunt Jesu Christi:" "He designed nothing that we knew of but the redintegration of religion," the honour of God and the king, the restoring of collapsed discipline, and the renovation of faith and the service of God in the churches. And still he was indefatigable, and, even at the last scene of his life, intended to undertake a regal visitation. "Quid enim vultis me otiosum à Domino comprehendi ?" said one," He was not willing that God should take him unemployed:" but, good man, he felt his tabernacle ready to fall in pieces, and could go no further,for God would have no more work done by that hand; he, therefore, espying this, put his house in order, and had lately visited his diocess, and done what he then could, to put his charge in order; for he had, a good while since, received the sentence of death within himself, and knew he was shortly to render an account of his stewardship; he, therefore, upon a brisk alarm of death, which God sent him the last January, made his will; in which, besides the prudence and presence of spirit manifested in making just and wise settlement of his estate, and provisions for his descendants; at midnight, and in the trouble of his sickness and circumstances of addressing death, still kept a special sentiment, and made confession of God's admirable mercies, and gave thanks that God had permitted him to live to see the blessed restoration of his majesty and the church of England, confessed his faith to be the same as ever, gave praises to God that he was born and bred up in this religion, and prayed to God, and hoped he should die in the communion of this church, which he declared to be the most pure and apostolical church in the whole world. He prayed to God to pardon his frailties and infirmities, relied upon the mercies of God and the merits of Jesus Christ, and, with a singular sweetness, resigned up his soul into the hands of his Redeemer. But God, who is the great Choragus and Master of the scenes of life and death, was not pleased then to draw the curtains; there was an epilogue to his life yet to be acted and spoken. He returned to actions and life, and went on in the methods of the same procedure as before; was desirous still to * Epist. 30. t | 66 establish the affairs of the church, complained of some disorders which he purposed to redress, girt himself to the work; but though his spirit was willing, yet his flesh was weak; and as the apostles in the vespers of Christ's passion, so he in the eye of his own dissolution, was heavy, not to sleep, but heavy unto death; and looked for the last warning, which seized on him in the midst of business; and though it was sudden, yet it could not be unexpected, or unprovided by surprise, and therefore, could be no other than that evavaria which Augustus used to wish unto himself, a civil and well-natured death, without the amazement of troublesome circumstances, or the great cracks of a falling house, or the convulsions of impatience. Seneca tells that Bassus Aufidius was wont to say, Sperare se nullum dolorem esse in illo extremo anhelitu; si tamen esset, habere aliquantum in ipsâ brevitate solatii:" "He hoped that the pains of the last dissolution were little or none; or if they were it was full of comfort that they could be but short." It happened so to this excellent man; his passive fortitude had been abundantly tried before, and therefore there was the less need of it now; his active graces had been abundantly demonstrated by the great and good things he did; and therefore, his last scene was not so laborious, but God called him away something after the manner of Moses, which the Jews express by "osculum oris Dei," "the kiss of God's mouth;" that is, a death indeed fore-signified, but gentle and serene, and without temptation. To sum up all: he was a wise prelate, a learned doctor, a just man, a true friend, a great benefactor to others, a thankful beneficiary where he was obliged himself. He was a faithful servant to his masters, a loyal subject to the king, a zealous assertor of his religion against popery on the one side, and fanaticism on the other. The practice of his religion was not so much in forms and exterior ministries, though he was a great observer of all the public rites and ministries of the church, as it was in doing good for others. He was like Myson, whom the Scythian Anacharsis so greatly praised, ỏ Múowv v oikov oikñσaç кaλç, “he governed his family well," he gave to all their due of maintenance and duty; he did great benefit to mankind; he had the fate of the apostle St. Paul, he passed "through evil report and good report, as a deceiver, and yet true." He was a man of great business and great resort: "Semper aliquis in Cydonis domo," as the Corinthians said; "There was always somebody in Cydon's house." He was μερίζων τὸν βιὸν ἔργῳ καὶ Bí¤,""he divided his life into labour and his book." He took care of his churches when he was alive, and even after his death, having left five hundred pounds for the repair of his cathedral of Armagh and St. Peter's church in Drogheda. He was an excellent scholar, and rarely well accomplished; first instructed to great excellency by natural parts, and then consummated by study and experience. Melancthon was used to say, that himself was a logician, Pomeranus a grammarian, Justus Jonas an orator, but that Luther was all these. It was greatly true of him, that the single perfections | which make many men eminent, were united in this primate, and made him illustrious. At, at, Quinctilium perpetuus sopor It will be hard to find his equal in all things: "Fortasse tanquam Phoenix anno quingentesimo nascitur," (that I may use the words of Seneca,) "nec est mirum ex intervallo magna generari`; mediocria et in turbam nascentia sæpe fortuna producit: eximia vero ipsâ raritate commendat." For in him were visible the great lines of Hooker's judiciousness, of Jewel's learning, of the acuteness of bishop Andrews. He was skilled in more great things than one and as one said of Phidias, he could not only make excellent statues of ivory, but he could work in stone and brass. He showed his equanimity in poverty, and his justice in riches; he was useful in his country, and profitable in his banishment; for, as Paræus was at Anvilla, Luther at Wittenburg, St. Athanasius and St. Chrysostom in their banishment, St. Jerome in his retirement at Bethlehem, they were oracles to them that needed it so was he in Holland and France, where he was abroad; and beside the particular endearments which his friends received from him, for he did do relief to his brethren that wanted, and supplied the soldiers out of his store in Yorkshire, when himself could but ill spare it: but he received public thanks from the convocation of which he was president, and public justification from the parliament where he was speaker; so that although, as one said, "Miraculi instar vitæ iter, si longum, sine offensione percurrere;" yet no man had greater enemies, and no man had greater justifications. But God hath taken our Elijah from our heads this day I pray God that at least his mantle may be left behind, and that his spirit may be doubled upon his successor; and that we may all meet together with him at the right hand of the Lamb, where every man shall receive according to his deeds, whether they be good or whether they be evil. I conclude with the words of Caius Plinius: "Equidem beatos puto quibus Deorum munere datum est, aut facere scribenda, aut scribere legenda:" "he wrote many things fit to be read, and did very many things worthy to be written:" which if we wisely imitate, we may hope to meet him in the resurrection of the just, and feast with him in the eternal supper of the Lamb, there to sing perpetual anthems to the honour of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; to whom be all honour, &c. VIII. A FUNERAL SERMON PREACHED AT THE OBSEQUIES OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND MOST VIRTUOUS LADY, THE LADY FRANCES, COUNTESS OF CARBERY, WHO DECEASED OCTOBER 9, 1650, AT HER HOUSE, GOLDEN GROVE, IN CAERMARTHENSHIRE. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND TRULY NOBLE RICHARD LORD VAUGHAN, EARL OF CARBERY, BARON OF EMLIN AND MOLINGER, KNIGHT OF THE HONOURABLE ORDER OF THE BATH. MY LORD, I AM not ashamed to profess, that I pay this part of service to your lordship most unwillingly; for it is a sad office to be the chief minister in a house of mourning, and to present an interested person with a branch of cypress and a bottle of tears. And indeed, my Lord, it were more proportionable to your needs to bring something that might alleviate or divert your sorrow, than to dress the hearse of your dear lady, and to furnish it with such circumstances, that it may dwell with you, and lie in your closet, and make your prayers and your retirements more sad and full of weepings. But, because the Divine Providence hath taken from you a person so excellent, a woman fit to converse with angels and apostles, with saints and martyrs, give me leave to present you with her picture, drawn in little and in water colours, sullied, indeed, with tears and the abrupt accents of a real and consonant sorrow, but drawn with a faithful hand, and taken from the life; and indeed, it were too great a loss to be deprived of her example and of her rule, of the original and of the copy too. The age is very evil and deserved her not; but because it is so evil, it hath the more need to have such lives preserved in memory, to instruct our piety or upbraid our wickedness. For now that God hath cut this tree of Paradise down from its seat of earth, yet so the dead trunk may support a part of the declining temple, or, at least, serve to kindle the fire on the altar. My Lord, I pray God this heap of sorrow may swell your piety, till it breaks into the greatest joys of God and of religion; and remember, when you pay a tear upon the grave, or to the memory of your lady, that dear and most excellent soul, that you pay two more; one of repentance for those things that may have caused this breach, and another of joy for the mercies of God to your dear departed saint, that he hath taken her into a place where she can weep no more. My Lord, I think I shall, so long as I live, that is, so long as I am Your Lordship's Most humble servant, JER. TAYLOR. Pietati et Memoriæ Sacrum. MONUMENTUM doloris singularis, paris fati et conditionis, posuit Richardus Comes Carberiensis sibi vivo, et mortem nec exoptanti nec metuenti: et dilectissimæ suæ conjugi Franciscæ Comitissæ in flore ætatis casibus puerperii raptæ ex amplexibus sanctissimi amoris. Fuit illa (descendat lacrimula, amice lector) fuit inter castissimas prima, inter conjuges amantissima, mater optima: placidi oris, severæ virtutis, conversationis suavissimæ: vultum hilarem fecit bona conscientia; amabilem, forma plusquam uxoria. Claris orta natalibus, fortunam non mediocrem habuit; erat enim cum unicâ germanâ hæres ex asse. Annos XIII. Menses IV. supra biduum vixit in sanctissimo matrimonio cum suo quem effusissimè dilexit, et sanctè observavit ; quem novit prudentissimum, sensit amantissimum, virum optimum vidit et lætata est. Enixa prolem numerosam, pulchram, ingenuam, formæ et spei optimæ ; quatuor masculos, Franciscum Dominum Vaughan, Johannem, Althamum, quartum immaturum; fœminas sex, Dominam Franciscam, Elizabethas duas, Mariam, Margaretam, et Althamiam ;-post cujus partum paucis diebus obdormiit. Totam prolem masculam (si demas abortivum illum) et fœminas omnes, præter Elizabetham alteram, et Mariam, superstites reliquit. Pietatis adeòque spei plena obiit ix. Octobr. MDCL. Lacrymis suorum omnium tota irrigua conditur in hoc cœmeterio, ubi cùm Deo Opt. Max. visum fuerit, sperat se reponendum conjux mœstissimus; intereà temporis luctui, sed pietati magis vacat, ut in suo tempore simul lætentur par tam pium, tam nobile, tam christianum in gremio Jesu, usque dum coronæ adornentur accipiendæ in adventu Domini. Amen. Cum ille vitâ defunctus fuerit, marmor loquetur, quod adhuc tacere jubet virtus modesta: interim vitam ejus observa, et leges quod posteâ hîc inscriptum amabunt et colent posteri. Ora et abi. SERMON. made no other reply, but foretold their dissolution, and a world of sadness and sorrow which should bury that whole nation, when the teeming cloud of God's displeasure should produce a storm, which For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the was the daughter of the biggest anger, and the moground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither of the greatest calamity, which ever crushed ther doth God respect any person: yet doth he any of the sons of Adam; "The time shall come, devise means, that his banished be not expelled that there shall not be left one stone upon another." from him.-2 Sam. xiv. 14. The whole temple and the religion, the ceremonies ordained by God, and the nation beloved by God, and the fabric erected for the service of God, shall run to their own period, and lie down in their several graves. Whatsoever had a beginning, can also have an ending; and it shall die, unless it be daily WHEN our blessed Saviour and his disciples viewed the temple, some one amongst them cried out, "Magister, aspice, quales lapides!” "Master, behold what fair, what great stones are here!" Christ all. "We are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again." Stay, 1. We are as water, weak, and of no consistence, always descending, abiding in no certain place, unless where we are detained with violence; and every little breath of wind makes us rough and tempestuous, and troubles our faccs; every trifling accident discomposes us; and, as the face of the waters wafting in a storm, so wrinkles itself, that it makes upon its forehead furrows deep and hollow like a grave; so do our great and little cares and trifles first make the wrinkles of old age, and then they dig a grave for us: and there is in nature nothing so contemptible, but it may meet with us in such circumstances, that it may be too hard for us in our weaknesses; and the sting of a bee is a weapon sharp enough to pierce the finger of a child or the lip of a man; and those creatures which nature hath left without weapons, yet they are armed sufficiently to vex those parts of men, which are left defenceless and obnoxious to a sun-beam, to the roughness of a sour grape, to the unevenness of a gravel stone, to the dust of a wheel, or the unwholesome breath of a star looking awry upon a sinner. watered with the purls flowing from the fountain of | needs die "-that is our sentence: but that is not life, and refreshed with the dew of heaven and the wells of God and therefore, God had provided a tree in Paradise to have supported Adam in his artificial immortality: immortality was not in his nature, but in the hands and arts, in the favour and superadditions of God. Man was always the same mixture of heat and cold, of dryness and moisture; ever the same weak thing, apt to feel rebellion in the humours, and to suffer the evils of a civil war in his body natural: and, therefore, health and life was to descend upon him from heaven, and he was to suck life from a tree on earth; himself being but ingrafted into a tree of life, and adopted into the condition of an immortal nature. But he that in the best of his days was but a scion of this tree of life, by his sin was cut off from thence quickly, and planted upon thorns, and his portion was for ever after among the flowers, which to-day spring and look like health and beauty, and in the evening they are sick, and at night are dead, and the oven is their grave and, as before, even from our first spring from the dust on earth, we might have died, if we had not been preserved by the continual flux of a rare providence; so now that we are reduced to the laws of our own nature, "we must needs die." It is natural, and therefore necessary: it is become a punishment to us, and therefore it is unavoidable; | and God hath bound the evil upon us by bands of natural and inseparable propriety, and by a supervening unalterable decree of heaven; and we are fallen from our privilege, and are returned to the condition of beasts, and buildings, and common things and we see temples defiled unto the ground, and they die by sacrilege; and great empires die by their own plenty and ease, full humours, and factious subjects; and huge buildings fall by their own weight, and the violence of many winters eating and consuming the cement, which is the marrow of their bones; and princes die like the meanest of their servants; and every thing finds a grave and a tomb: and the very tomb itself dies by the bigness of its pompousness and luxury, : -Phario nutantia pondera saxo, and becomes as friable and uncombined dust, as the 2. But besides the weaknesses and natural decayings of our bodies, if chances and contingencies be innumerable, then no man can reckon our dangers, and the preternatural causes of our death: so that he is a vain person, whose hopes of life are too confidently increased by reason of his health; and he is too unreasonably timorous, who thinks his hopes at an end when he dwells in sickness. For men die without rule, and with and without occasions; and no man suspecting or foreseeing any of death's addresses, and no man in his whole condition is weaker than another. A man in a long consump tion is fallen under one of the solemnities and pre- unco we fr |
