A SERMON At the Funeral of the Right Reverend Father in GOD, JOHN Late Lord Bishop, and Count Palatine of Durham.   

THE EPITAPH OF THE DECEASED, Prescribed by himself in his WILL, was this;  Rev. xiv. 13. Beati Mortui, qui moriuntur in Domino, requiescunt enim à Laboribus suis.  

The dead Man's real Speech. A FUNERAL SERMON Preached on Hebr. xi. 4. Upon the 29th day of April, 1672 TOGETHER WITH A brief of the Life, Dignities, Benefactions, Principal Actions, and Sufferings; and of the death of the said late Lord Bishop of DURHAM.  
Published (upon earnest Request) By Isaac Basire D. D. CHAPLAIN in ORDINARY to his MAJESTY, and archdeacon of NORTHUMBERLAND.  
LONDON, Printed by E. T. and R. H. for James Collins; at the King's Arms in Ludgate-street, 1673.   

TO THE Christian Reader.  
THis untimely Conception might have proved an Abortive, or if born, 
Gen. 35. 18.  a Benoni, to the Parent then in sore Travel, through sickness, both in the Preparation deproperated, as also in the present Production; being at the earnest entreaty of the Noble Relations of our Lord Bishop deceased, now pressed unto the Press. When this was delivered, viuâ voce, out of a due Regard to the Solemn Confluence of so many Worthy Persons, (for some of them came from far) as also out of a respect to the day, then far spent, I did purposely contract my Meditations, and express them then, under the Ancient Canonical measure of an 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 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, etc.  Hour: Esteeming it a point of Commendable Prudence, and also of plausible Thrift to boot, on such Solemn Occasions, to shorten the double pains both of the Speaker, and of the Hearers.  
But since the delivery, being desired, as by sundry Worthy Relations of the deceased, so at the request of my Friend, the Honest and Industrious Bookseller, I have been persuaded to enlarge the Sermon, with the Addition of a Brief of the Life of the deceased Prelate; and so my Brook is become a River, 
Eccles. 24. 31.  I wish it may not prove a Sea, to deter the Reader from launching out into it: For the matter of Right done to the dead in General, I refer myself to God's Word: For the matter of Fact in particular concerning the Person of the deceased, I Report myself to their Report, whose Information I have diligently, and severally desired, and faithfully delivered here, relying upon their verity, confirmed by the Authority of our late Lord Bishops Last Will in English, which should be Sacred. My honest Request to the Christian Reader is only for the same Candour in the Reading, as was intended by me in the Writing.  
All which commending to God for a Blessing, I take leave, Praying in K. David's words; That God would spare me a little, 
Psal. 39 15.  that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more seen.  
AMEN.   

Imprimatur,  
Tho. Tomkins R. R. more in Christo Patri ac Domino D no Gilberto Divinâ Providentiâ Archiepisc. Cant. à Sacris Domesticis. Ex Aedibus Lambethanis Feb. 10. 1672.   

ERRATA.  
PAg. 6. lin. 1. deest but before upon. & l. 2. an bef. uniform. & 1. 14. in comparison of eternity, after span long. & l. ult. and felicity, after innocence. p. 8. l. 12. for how read which way. p. 9 l. 5. deal comma after Statute. p. 24. l. 25. r. the Holy— p. 37. l. 4. phrase it in— p. 42. Marg. for Covarrus r. Covarruvius. p. 43. l. 4. r. Calligraphy. p. 50. l. 11. r. domestical. p. 54. Marg. ad lin. 11. r. Constantinopol. p. 57 l. 2. add he before much. p. 59 l. 29. after teaching add them. p. 70. l. 12. after thrive add the. p. 71. l. 16. r. Proprietary. p. 85. l. 15. after Character add Conscience. p. 92. l. 13. r. Br●n●. p. 93. l. 22. for with r. of. p. 97. Marg. r. Switzerland. p. 110. l. ult. for still r. yet. p. 118. after the Latin Will deal Vid. J. Will. etc. p. 119. before Our help, insert, The Translation of the Latin Will. p. 121. l. 13. for shading r. shadowing.   

THE Dead Man's REAL SPEECH.  Hebr. 11. 4. — By it, he, being dead, yet speaketh. 
KNow you not that a great man is fallen in Israel? 
2 Sam. 3. 38.  This was David's noble Epitaph over Abner, though his Rebel: and how much more may this be our Just Preface to this solemn Funeral (to be sure) over a better Man than was Abner? Therefore in King David's words I may truly say again, Know you not that a great Man is now fallen in our Israel? A great Man indeed, as shall appear before we take our Final Leave of him: We may be sure greater than Abner, not only in his State, but, which is the crown of all true greatness, in his Graces and Beneficence; in this indeed, and in truth, greater than Abner: yet Abner was a great man, for he was a General in the Field; (but on the wrong side, the Rebel's side:) Our great man a General not only in the Field 
* The Lord Bishop of Durham is Lieutenant General of this County, as ab Antiquo ex Officio, so, ex abundanti per Mandatum, by the King's gracious Commission, cumulatiuè and so still under the King, who is always the Sovereign of all Estates in his Realms. , but, which is much more, a General in this Church, I mean, his Diocese (a great one) and in both these great Capacities constantly Loyal, ad Exemplum: And yet, as high as this great man was so lately, behold how low he is laid down now, who yet must be laid down lower, as you shall see by and by. Such Spectacles of Mortality ought to be to us Survivours tot Specula, so many true Looking-glasses, wherein whatever our Artificial Looking-glasses may flatter us, with what our living faces seem to be now, this Natural Looking-glass tells us plainly, to our faces, what all our dead faces shall be, must be then (God knows how soon:) He being Dead, yet speaketh out Mortality to us all; so many Funerals, so many Warning-pieces to us all to prepare for our last and greatest Issue. This, 
Eccles. 70. 2.  in the Judgement of the wise man, is the best use we can make of our Access to the House of Mourning, such as this house is at present; therefore the Living should lay it to his Heart, which that we may all do:  
Let us pray with the Spirit, and in the words of King David:  
Psal. 90. 12.  O teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. 
Can. 55.  Ye shall further pray for Christ's Holy Catholic Church, etc. Hebr. 11. 4. 
THe Scope of this Text (which must be the Aim of the Sermon) is this, to stir up all the faithful living to imitate the faithful that are dead; 
Hebr. 11.  whereof this Chapter is the sacred Roll upon the Divine Records, down from Abel unto the Patriarches, the Judges, the Kings, the Prophets, 
Hebr. 6. 12.  etc. that is, that we should endeavour to become the followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.  
The Text is short, but the Lesson is long (that is) to live so now, as we may die well at last, and, by our good works, speak when we are dead.  
The Parts are two, which do express two States of Man.  
1. The state of Death, [He being dead] which is the privation of the life of nature common to all men, (on which frail life most men dote so much, because they have no care for, nor hope of a better life.)  
2. The state of a Life after Death, that is, the Life of Glory, implied in these words [He speaketh] for Speech is the evidence of a living man: Ergo Abel though dead in the Body, yet is still alive in the Spirit.  
The first is a Corrosive to the state of Nature, but the  
Second comes in as a Cordial to all those who are in the state of Grace.  
This Text appears much like the Israelites Guide in the Wilderness; 'twas a Cloud, 
Exod. 14. 20. with Hebr. 12. E.  and that no ordinary Cloud, but such a Cloud as was Dark on the one side, and Light on the other side, dark towards the Egyptians, but Light towards the Israelites: Even so is Death, dark and sad to the Unbelievers and Impenitent, but lightsome and welcome to all true Penitents and Believers.  
1. To begin with the first, The state of Death; Man in the state of Innocency was created capable of three Lives; the Life Corporal, Life Spiritual, and Life Eternal.  
The first is the Life of Nature, a Transitory Life.  
The second is the Life of Grace, a Life permanent upon condition of perseverance in uniform obedience to God.  
The third is Life Eternal, the Life of Glory, the Life of the Saints Triumphant, of the Elect Angels, yea the Life of God himself, 
Ephes. 4. 18.  and therefore a Life immutable, interminable:  
2. Two of these three Lives [the Life natural and spiritual] man had then in present possession, and the third in a sure reversion after the expiration of but one Life, and that a short one too, but a span long; this present life is no more, by King David's just measure: 
Psal. 39 5.  Behold thou hast made my days, as it were a span long.  
3. Man by his Apostasy from God, through the first original sin of wilful incogitancy, and through pride, did soon deprive himself of all these three Lives at once, and so according to the just sentence of God, pronounced upon man aforehand (for a fair warning) Morte moriêris, 
Gen. 2. 17.  Thou shalt die the Death, man was justly precipitated from that high state of Innocence into the base and damnable state of sin and misery, whereby every man, none excepted, (but the God and man Christ Jesus) is now by original sin become subject to a threefold Death, First, Corporal, Secondly, Spiritual, and thirdly (without Repentance) Eternal.  
The first is Death Corporal, which is a total (but not final) separation of the Soul from the Body [the sad Real Text before our Eyes.]  
The second is Death Spiritual, a far worse kind of death, a state of sin, which is a separation of the soul from the Grace and Favour of God which is life itself, 
Psal. 30. 5.  without which we are all by nature, 
Ephes. 2. 1.  dead in trespasses and sins, Children of wrath, no better.  
The third and worst of all, is Death Eternal, and therefore called in Holy Scripture, 
Revel. 20. 6.  The great Death, the second Death; because it is a final, total and eternal separation of both Soul and Body, from the Glorious Presence, Beatifical Vision, and admirable and unspeakable Fruition of God himself; whom as to serve here on Earth is the Life of Grace, so to enjoy in Heaven is the Life of Glory, which is life everlasting.  
4. The first of these three [Death Temporal] none of us can avoid; die we must, die we shall, God prepare us all for it: But as the thing, Death, is certain for the matter, so for the manner, how we shall die, in, or out of our wits, as in Frenzies, etc. where we shall die, amongst Friends or amongst Foes; when we shall die, whether in youth or in old Age; how we shall die, whether by a sudden, violent, or painful Death (which God in mercy avert from us all) none of us all knows: and therefore our best course is, while we may (by a lively faith, timely repentance, and real amendment of life) to prepare for Death; 
* St. Aug.  and then come Death in what shape it will, 
de Discipl.  and welcome, we shall not die unprepared. 
cap. 2. non potest malè mori qui benè vixerit, Audeo dicere, non potest malè mori qui benè vixerit.  Yet it concerns us all frequently and seriously to think of these great Quatuor novissima [Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell.] 'Tis Moses his passionate wish; O that they were wise, that they understood this, 
Deut. 32. 29.  that they would consider their latter end: 
Hebr. 9 27.  Since 'tis appointed for all men once to die, and after that comes Judgement. The Vulgar Translation renders it statutum est, Death is an universal Statute, Law to all mankind; and so it is both for authority of coaction, and certainty of execution, for it is grounded upon two of the greatest Attributes of God, which are,  
First, God's infallible Truth; for the Commination was directed unto man, and that also in mercy, to forwarn him that he might not sin.  
Secondly, God's exact Justice, which requires the execution of the Divine Sentence, to be done upon the same nature that had sinned. Man did sin, therefore man must suffer, that is, man must die; and because the first man Adam was the Original Root, and General Representative of all mankind (Adam's offspring) therefore all men must die (pray God we all may die well) or if they live to the end of the world, yet they must suffer a Change at the least, 
1 Cor. 15. 51.  at the last, which Change whatever ever it be, (for 'tis a Mystery) will be equivalent to a Death, so that there lies an universal necessity to undergo a Death, some kind of Death. 
Gen. 5. 5.  In the Ancient Register of the Macrobii, those long lived Patriarches, Adam lived 930 years, and he died; Methuselah, the longest liver of all Mankind, lived 969 years, and he died, etc. that is the burden song of them all: Neither Methuselah the ancientest, nor Samson the strongest, nor Solomon the wisest of men, could exempt themselves from the fatal necessity of Death. Seneca himself, though but a Heathen Philosopher, being ignorant of the original cause of Death; yet observing the generality of the event of Death, drew his Topick of Consolation to his Friend Polybius, sad for the Death of his Brother, from this necessity of Death: But God be thanked, we Christians have better Topics of Comfort for the Death of our Christian Friends, past, or our own Death a coming, by opposing, through Faith, against the terror of our Dissolution by Death, the consideration of our admirable and comfortable conjunction with Christ our Head after Death. This glorious state is by St. 
Rom. 8. 19  Paul styled the manifestation of the Sons of God, for which, by a natural instinct, the whole Creation groaneth with an earnest expectation of the accomplishment: The word in the Original is very significant [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉] which betokens the looking for some Person or thing with lifting up of the Head, or stretching out their Necks with earnest intention and observation to see when the person or thing looked for shall appear; as a poor Prisoner condemned looks out at the Grates for a gracious Pardon: And if the Creatures inanimate, etc. do so earnestly pant for the Final Redemption of the Sons of God, how much more we being the Parties principally concerned? This made St. Paul as it were with hoised-up sails of Hope and Desire (the Affections of his Soul) to long to be dissolved and to be with Christ. 
Phil. 1. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  The Original imports to loosen, or to launch forth, as a Ship from a Foreign Port for a happy voyage towards her wished for Haven at home.  
5. I have so much Christian charity for the surviving noble Relations of the Great man deceased, as to believe that, if they could, with their wishes and tears, waft him over back from Heaven to labour again on Earth, they would not do it, if they loved him indeed, and not rather themselves. 'Tis an excellent observation of Isidore Pelusiota (he lived above 1200. years ago) who commenting on these words of our Saviour's compassion for Lazarus expressed by his tears, that it was not at the Death of Lazarus, 
John 11. 35.  but that it was at his Resurrection that Jesus wept, a real demonstration of his Humanity both natural and moral: This Father's note upon that difference is this, That our Saviour Christ's Love towards Lazarus was a Rational Love, yea, a Divine Love, not as Ours towards our dead Friends too too oft, too carnal or natural, or at the best a humane love, if not a self-love, we wish them alive for our own ends. True it is, that 'tis very lawful, and also very fit to pay our deceased Friends their due Tribute of Grief, and to let Nature have her course, 
Rom. 1. 31.  lest we should seem or appear without natural affection; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  but provided always that the Current of Nature do not overflow the Banks of Reason, much more the Banks of Religion settled by St. Paul, who would not have Christians to be sorry for their deceased Friends, as others who have no hope: 
1 Thes. 4. 13.  For there is a lively hope of a joyful meeting again in the state of Glory, if we in the state of Grace do follow the Saints deceased. Upon this consideration is worth the observing the different manner of mourning of Joseph for his Father Jacob, his dear and near Relation, for Joseph mourned seven days only, 
Genes. 50. 3. 10.  and of the Egyptians mourning seventy days for the same Jacob, a stranger to them. The reason of the difference is, because the Egyptians were unbelievers, but Joseph was a Believer of the Resurrection, and of a glorious meeting once again with his deceased Father, from thenceforth never to be separated. This Posy of sacred Meditations I do now present to the Noble Relations of the deceased; desiring them to accept this offer, and to use it as a Spiritual Handkerchief, to wipe off, if not drain the Spring of Tears for this their deceased support.  
6. Meanwhile our main care must be not to forfeit that glorious meeting by a course of life contrary to the good example of the Saints departed, but instantly to resolve, earnestly to study, constantly to endeavour to live well, that is to say, To make the Will of God the Rule of our Life, and the Honour of God the End of our Life: 
Rom. 14. 7, 8.  This is to live unto the Lord, that is, in Subjection unto him; and then we may be sure to die in the Lord, that is, under his Protection, both of Body and Soul for evermore.  
7. You may be pleased to remember that our Text was two faced, and therefore we compared it to the Israelites Guide through the Wilderness, a Cloud: we are now past the dark side of it, Death, [He being Dead] we must now face about and cheerfully behold the bright side of the cloud, wherein the Dead speaketh; and here we have 

1. The Speaker, He  
2. The Speech implied, He speaketh  
3. The time expressed, Yet, that is, after Death: [He being Dead yet speaketh]    
8. First, the Speaker is Abel 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , whose name bears mankind's universal Motto in the Holy Tongue, 
Eccles. 1. ●.  that is, Vanity: for when all is done, Vanity of Vanities, 
Eccles. 12. 7.  all is Vanity: until the Spirit of man return to God who gave it: till then, whatever Pride may prompt vain man, 
Psal. 39 7.  verily every man living, in his best estate, is altogether vanity, Selah!  
Secondly, For his Trade, he was an Herdsman, for he offered to God the best of his Flock, in due Homage, and as a Figure of that Lamb of God, which was to come to take away the sins of the World: 
John 1. 29.  no doubt he was well instructed by his Parents Adam and Eve, of whose Conversion and Salvation to doubt, (since the promise of the Blessed Seed preached unto them by Almighty God himself after their fall, 
Gen. 3 15.  and which we must in reason suppose was apprehended and applied by them to themselves through Faith, lest God's preaching should prove vain: such a suspicion, or doubt of their eternal state) were in us their Posterity an odious want of charity, 
Iren. Epiph. Chrysost. Augustin. etc.  and against the Current of the Ancient Fathers, who give for it this probable reason, That God did expressly curse the Serpent and the Earth, but God did not at all curse either Adam or Eve; but contrariwise God in mercy did bestow upon Adam and Eve the original and fundamental blessing of the Promised Seed, the Messiah which is Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour, in whom all Adam and Eve's Posterity should be blessed; and therefore they are not to be concluded within the number of the damned crew, upon whom shall be pronounced that dreadful final sentence of Ite maledicti: 
Mat. 25. 41.  Go ye cursed. As a clear evidence of Adam and Eve's Faith, we produce their Works, namely the Godly Education of their Children, Cain and Abel, in God's true Religion, to offer corporal sacrifices, etc. with a spiritual reference, and therefore with faith in the only expiatory and satisfactory sacrifice to be performed in the fullness of time by the person of the Messiah, 
Galat. 4. 4.  the second Adam, for the saving of mankind, as the first Adam was in the damning of mankind; both the Adam's being public Representatives of all mankind, as the first in the Fall, so the second in the Resurrection.  
9 This just Apology for our first Parents, Adam & Eve, I thought it my filial duty to offer unto all mankind, Adam's offspring, once for all to stop the mouths of censorious Children unmindful of their original duty, and of the Rule Parentum Mores non sunt Arguendi: 
Genes. 9 22, 23.  Shem and Japhet were blessed for turning away their faces from their Father's nakedness, but wicked Cham was, for outfacing it, cursed with a grievous curse 
* 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 Prophet's Proverb [Jerem. 13. 23.] Can the Ethiopian change his skin etc. A standing dreadful Monument, and a thundering Warning piece to all such young Cham's, as dare to disgrace their Parents privately, or rebel against them publicly. .  
10. 'Tis very observable that God had respect unto Abel first, and then to his sacrifice, to intimate that God first accepts the Person, and then his service, 
Vers. 4.  for Abel offered by Faith, but Cain without Faith, for want of which God rejected the person of Cain (though the Elder Brother) and consequently his sacrifice.  
Hence observe, that two men may come and worship God with the same kind of outward worship; and yet differ much in the inward manner, and success of their service to God: Witness Cain and Abel in the Old Testament, 
Luke 18.  and the Publican and the Pharisee in the New. For the true Religion is chiefly inward for the substance, and not only outward for the circumstance and ceremony; the Religion of too many, I had almost said, of most formal Professors now a days; an Artificial Religion, as being moved chiefly, if not only, by outward Respects and Objects, without any inward Life, the want of which did make a wide difference betwixt Cain and Abel, the Speaker here, from whom to pass unto his Speech, we shall interpret it by a three fold Exposition.  

1. Grammatical.  
2. Doctrinal.  
3. Moral.   
11. As to the Grammatical Exposition, I am not ignorant that the word [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉] in the Original may be verbum medium, and so may be translated either in the passive sense [he is spoken of] as some few Interpreters have rendered it, or in the active sense, to which I am rather carried by the clear and strong current of almost all Interpreters. 
* Syriack, Vulgar, Aethhiopic, Arabic, French, English, german, Italian. , and the Harmony of eight Translations both Ancient and Modern, who all render it actively, He speaketh. This Translation is confirmed by a clear Parallel (Hebr. 12. 24.) where comparison being made betwixt the precious blood of Jesus Christ and that of Abel, 
Clem. Alex. Chrysest. Vatablus, Zege●us, Grotiu●, Tena.  'tis expressed in the active sense [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉] Not in the passive, that the blood of sprinkling is better spoken of, but in the active that it speaketh better things than that of Abel. Ergo, Abel being dead, yet speaketh, quod erat demonstrandum: Enough of the Grammatical Exposition.  
12. We pass now to the Doctrinal Exposition. The Doctrine is this, That for the godly there is a life after this life, for Abel being dead yet speaketh, but we know that dead men are speechless, and that speech is both a sign and an action of life, Abel is not absolutely dead, though dead in part, he still lives. We enlarge the instance from righteous Abel unto all the faithful; the total sum is this, That though good men die, yet their good deeds die not; but they survive, and that in both Worlds.  
First, 
Prov. 31. 31.  In this world to their due praise (for their own good works praise them in the gates.)  
Secondly, They live in the next world by their Reward and Coronation, 
Revel. 14. 13.  for their works do follow them: So many good works, so many living Tongues of good men after Death; who are therefore styled in the Holy Gospel, 
Luke 20. 38.  The Children of the Resurrection: and again, Abel still lives unto men, in the memory of all good men, for to such the memory of the just shall be blessed, 
Prov. 10. 7.  and the memory of their virtues calls for both our Commemoration and Imitation of them, which leads me to the third point propounded, which was the Moral Exposition.  
13. For I suppose none that hear this, are so gross of understanding, as to imagine a Vocal Speech of the Dead, which would be a miracle, but a Speech Analogical, by such a Figure as the Heavens speak when they declare the Glory of God. 
Psalm. 19 1.  The parallel of St. Chrysostom upon the Speech of Abel, our speaker in the Text: the Father, after his wont Rhetoric, amplifies it thus; If Abel had a thousand voices when he was alive, he hath many more, now he is dead, speaking to our admiration and imitation. But though the Dead Man's Speech be no vocal speech, yet it is and will be a real speech for our conversion or condemnation to the end of the world: for Abel being dead, yet speaketh.  
First, He speaketh by his Repentance implied in his sacrifice, not only for Homage, due by all rational creatures, whether Angels or men, unto God their Creator, but also as a tacit confession of sin to be expiated by the All-sufficient sacrifice of the promised blessed seed, the Messiah to come, and so Abel being dead, yet speaketh, and was by his typical sacrifice the first Prophet of the Old Testament. The good examples of holy men are standing real Sermons: For there are two waus of preaching, by word, or deed: The first is good, the latter is better, but both are best.  
Secondly, Abel being dead, yet speaketh by his faith expressed here in the Text, which faith is a neverdying Preacher to all Ages of the Church, because it assureth all the faithful (such as was Abel) of both God's regard and reward of all his true Servants, 
Hebr. 11. 6.  who follow Abel's faith.  
Thirdly, Abel being dead yet speaketh by his works of Righteousness, 
James 11. 18.  the necessary and best evidences of a lively faith, 
Hebr. 11. 4.  for which Abel stands canonised by God's own approbation and acceptance, First of his person, that he was righteous, and then of his performance, his sacrifice: Therefore Abel is enrolled with Enoch (vers. 5.) for his Communion of Faith, Godliness, and Happiness, by which both Enoch and Abel pleased God. 
Theodotian. Theophyl. & Alii.  The Jewish Rabbins, and sundry Christian Interpreters offer as a tradition this sign of God's acceptance of the sacrifice of Abel, 
Leu. 9 24. 2 Chron. 7. 1.  to wit, 
Kings 8., 8.  by sending Fire from Heaven (as upon Aaron's and upon Solomon's and upon Eliah's sacrifice) which kindled the sacrifice of Abel the younger Brother, and not that of Cain, who was the elder Brother. 
Cornel. B●rtram.  Some Interpreters think that this acceptation of Abel's sacrifice was a designation of Abel, the younger Brother, to the Priesthood before Cain the elder Brother, and that these were the occasion of Cain's envy, and his envy the cause of Abel's murder. By the way, 'tis worthy our observation that all that come to worship God are either Abel's or cain's, that is, they come with faith or without faith, and they speed accordingly.  
Fourthly and lastly, Abel being dead yet speaketh, as in his Life by his Actions, so at his Death by his patience and passion; for as St. Stephen was the Proto-Martyr of the New Testament, so was Abel the Proto-Martyr of the Old Testament, for he died for righteousness sake: Hence some Interpreters derive his name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which in Holy Tongue signifies to mourn, because he was the first man that did taste of Death, for which, and for whom his (and our first) Parents Adam and Eve did begin to mourn.  
As it is certain that sin, though but a beast, hath a voice, and which is more strange in a beast, sin hath an articulate voice, and by a counterpassion, which is lex talionis, sin doth not only indite the sinner, but also indorseth upon the sinners bill the parallel punishment for time or place, person or action, so that many times the punishment becomes the Anagram of the sin: This even natural men do confess, 
Judges 1. 7.  witness Adonibezeck, As I have done, so God hath requited me: which was also King David's case, 
2 Sam. 12. 10.  Blood for Blood; such was the voice of sin, and of their own Consciences. Sin hath a voice indeed, and that a loud voice, for it reacheth as high as Heaven, to God's ear, and from thence rebounds with an echo upon a man's own conscience. 
Gen. 18. 20.  We read of the cry of Sodom, 
James 5. 4.  and of the cry of the hireling's wages, kept from him, and here Abel's blood hath a voice that cries aloud for Justice in God's ears, and as it were, prefers a Bill of Indictment, upon which God, the just Judge, immediately arraigneth Cain, passeth Judgement and doth Execution upon Cain the Fratricide, stamping a curse both upon his person and estate, saying, What hast thou done? 
Gen. 4. 10, 11.  the voice of thy brother's blood cries unto me from the Ground, and now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thine hand: When thou tillest the Ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. Now, as sin hath a voice so grace hath a voice also, calling upon us as for our Imitation of the virtues of the Saints departed, 
Revel. 14. 13.  so calling upon God for a gracious compensation of their works which follow them after death: not at all by way of merit, but of God's free mercy; for what proportion betwixt man's works which are but temporary and therefore finite (all our best works are no more, 
Rom. 8. 18.  and besides imperfect all) and God's high reward which is Infinite both for weight and for duration to all eternity? Some Interpreters add a fifth way, by which Abel being dead, yet speaketh, to wit, as a Type, by his blood shed by Cain his Brother, prefiguring the blood of Christ shed by his brethren the Jews. And thus many ways, Abel being dead, yet speaketh; And so all good men, though dead, yet speak by their good works of Faith and Patience: In which blessed number, this dead man before our eyes was through God's grace listed, and so speaketh by his good deeds to his Generation, and seems by his example to preach unto us all St. Paul's Apostolical Admonition, 
Galat. 6. 9  Not to be weary of well doing, for in due season we shall reap [a reward] if we faint not, as our Christian hope is, the deceased Prelate findeth it now to his everlasting comfort.  
O how gladly would I make an end here, and so come down! Sorry I am that I must now pass and descend from the Literal Text to this our Real Text lying before us; But 'tis a Rule of Christian practice, that when God hath been pleased to reveal his will by the event, our humble resignation of ourselves and friends, and all, with submission of our will to God's will is our duty, and the best remedy to allay all our sorrows, and to say in the words, and with the spirit of Holy Job, 
Job 1. 21.  The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord, (which is part of our office for burial) in all this Job sinned not, no more should we if we would be followers of Job's faith and patience, which God grant us all, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be ascribed from Angels, from us, and from all men, all praise, power, Majesty and Dominion, now and for ever. Amen.   

A BRIEF OF THE Life and Dignities, OF THE BENEFACTIONS AND Principal Actions, etc. OF The Right Reverend Father in God, JOHN Lord Bishop and Count Palatine of Durham, etc.  
LONDON, Printed for James Collins, at the Sign of the Kings-Arms in Ludgate-street. 1673.   

THE Dead Man's REAL SPEECH.  
BUt before we enter into this due Office of Commemoration, (for to preach or pray over the dead, is Justa persolvere) we must by way of prevention enter this solemn Protestation against this our censorious Age, That we do abjure all manner of flattery, passive, or active, being, God be thanked, settled above all slavish fear or base hope from the living, much more from the dead. Was King David a Flatterer for composing and publishing those goodly Epitaphs upon Saul and Abner, 
2 Sam. 1. 3.  who yet were no very good men? 
Acts 9 39  or were the godly widows, flatterers for showing the Coats and Garments which Dorcas made whilst she was alive? In the ensuing rehearsal our intention is, and our endeavour shall be to publish nothing but vera & utilia. As for the verity, as I am confident of the Ingenuity of my Instructors (Persons of Quality and of good credit;) so (as I said before) I am convinced and confirmed of the verity of the matter, by the last will (a sacred thing in Law) of our late Lord Bishop. And as for the utility of this due office of Commemoration, we commit our Meditations to God's direction; and commend them to your attention. If there be any Adder that dare hiss against this dead Prelate, or the living for giving the dead his due, or shall object, Was this man one in quo Adam non peccavit? Was he a man all made of Virtues? Had he no faults? Our answer is that Proverb of Charity; De mortuis nil nisi benè 'tis an honest old say; as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to gnaw on dead men's bones, is an inhuman, brutish, unnatural humour: Such Cannibals as do delight to feed on dead man's flesh, by tearing of their Fame, do take the Devil's Office out of his hand: Yet, the Devil, if one may say so, was more a Gentleman, more civil to Job, for the Devil slandered him indeed, but 'twas when he was alive, and so might and did answer for himself. 
Job 1. & seq.  Far be it from me to usurp the Office of a Coroner, over the state of the Dead; the Rule of Charity, and practice of our Church, in the Office for the dead have taught me better Divinity. I know by experience, that an evil eye looking upon the Dead, through the wrong end of the perspective, I mean Envy, will not only spear out, but also espy, and that with aggravation the infirmities or faults of the dead; I wish all such seriously to consider themselves, and well to weigh St. James 
* James 5. 17.  his Observation; Was not Elias a man subject to the like passions as we are? and yet by the Pens of the Prophets and Apostles dipped in Charity we read nothing but commendations of Elias; nor of Job, 
James 5. 11.  Ye have heard of the patience of Job: not a word of his impatience, 
Job 42. 3, 5, 6.  tho' confessed by himself (whom some think to be the Author of the most part of that Book.)  
When I have done with the due praises of this Great Man, 
Ecclus. 44. 1.  some Shimei with his Serpent's tongue may still hiss at, 
Let us now praise famous men, and our Fathers that begat us.  though he can never hurt, this dead man: To stop all such foul mouths I wish them to reflect upon themselves, and let them know that there must be faults as long as there are men; and with a serious reflection upon themselves, let them foreknow that after him who lies here before us, we must all, every one of us, be weighed in the balance at last; and for my own part I must confess I am perpetually afraid to have my share in that Article against Belshazzar; I dread his Tekel, 
Dan. 5. 27.  that final doom, Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting. The best of us all at Doomsday 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 'tis 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 choose 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 Surname.  
His Surname was Cousin, in Latin Cognatus, quasi à Con & Natus, which (as the famous Civilian Modestinus expoundeth it) signifies a Cousin in primo gradu in his own Family. This Surname of Cousin is become famous by divers learned men of that Name. I saw once in our Prelate's hand Cognati Opera; and we have in our hands that excellent Apology for the Ecclesiastical Laws by Dr. Richard Cousin that Renowned Civilian; and now our Church enjoyeth that solid work Entitled,  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, 
Psal. 90. 10.  greater by so much than King David's first measure 70. So that, to phrase in Jobs words, 
Job 5. 26.  He came to his grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in, in his season. Length of days is by God's favour annexed to the fifth Commandment [Honour thy Father, etc.] which the Apostle maketh the first Commandment with promise; 
Eph. 6. 1, 2.  and 'tis a Glory: For the hoary head is a Crown of Glory, 
Prov. 16. 31.  if it be found in the way of Righteousness: A good evidence of God's acceptance upon his obedience to his Superiors, Spiritual, Political and Natural Parents, for want of which due obedience to Parents, God many times shortens the days 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; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Eurip.  he had a Prelatical presence, which he overtopped 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 Father's Name was Giles Cousin of Fox-hearth; 
Acts 21. 39  a Citizen of no mean City (to use St. Paul's phrase, who did glory in Tarsus his birthplace.)  
His City was Norwich, of which more anon, when we come to his Country. 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 ancient Family, and which is worth all the rest, both his Parents were of the Household of faith, 
Gal. 6. 10.  both born and bred in the true, ancient, Apostolic and Catholic 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 ancient Noble Family in this Country, 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 Blak●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, 
Prov. 19 14.  not only in Prosperis, (as too many worldly-minded Wives) but chiefly in Adversis, which is the trial of a good Wife, and of a true friend indeed; and these are blessings! For to have the Burden 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 Country.  
To pass from his Family to his Country, he was born a Britain and an English Man. A Nation so famous for situation, 
〈◊〉 Cambd. Brit. etc. Vegetius above 1200 ago witnesseth that the climate of Britain is of that temperature, out of which 'tis fittest to choose valiant Soldiers.  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 Kingdom 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 'tis no small addition of honour for this Kingdom, that the first Christian Emperor, even Constantine 
* Sabellicus R. Archiep. usher Praefat. ad Britan.  the Great was born in England. Thus our deceased Prelate was blessed in the place of his birth, 
Eccles.  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; 
Primond. ex Euseb. Theodoret.  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, 
1 Sam. 21. 9  both for Primitive Doctrine, 
Casaub.  Worship, 
Epist. ad Salmasium.  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 wisdom, to conjoin the zeal for verity with due reverence to Antiquity: for by Cardinal Baronius his own Confession, 
Baron. ad an. Christi 35. & add an. Tib. Imp. 10. where he affirms that Britain was converted by Joseph of Arimathea. The like is affirmed by Gildas Covarrus and others.  the Church of England is for her Christendom acknowledged ancienter than Rome itself by nine years; and 'tis 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 rely upon a Magisterial pretence of Ipsa dixit, which false principle smells rank of wilful schism, and also wrongful in causa propria. And here without suspicion of ingratitude, I cannot but bless God, that by his providence he was pleased to engraft me into this Holy Church, wherein I have had the honour to bear the office of an unworthy Priest, above 43 years. To pass on from England, the general Country of the deceased, to his particular Country; He was born in Norwich, 
Cambd.  an Ancient, Great, 
Brit.  Famous and Opulent City, and the more opulent now by his late liberal Gifts and Legacies to that City, expressed in his English Will.   

Seventhly, His Education.  
To pass from his Country to his Education: He was planted in the Free School of Norwich, watered by that famous Fountain of this Land, the University of Cambridge; 
1 Cor. 3. 5.  and God gave the increase both of solid Piety and sound Learning, first in Caius College, whereof he was Fellow, and afterwards he had the honour to be brought up at the feet of that great Gamaliel Dr. John Overall, an Apostolical Bishop first of Litchfield, after of Norwich, whose Secretary he was for his Learning and Coeligraphy; 
Psal. 45. 2.  for he had the Pen of a ready Writer in a singular way, and so might deserve the praise of the Tribe of Zabulon; 
Judg. 5. 14.  so well could he handle the Pen of the Writer. Bishop Overal (who sent him from time to time to the University to keep his Acts) advised him to direct his studies in order to Divinity. His Elias being taken from his head, he was preferred to be Domestical Chaplain to that great Patron of the Church, Dr. Richard Neile, who having passed thorough five Bishoprics, ascended at last to the Archiepiscopal Throne of York; and this gives me a fair hint to pass from his Education to   

Eighthly, His Dignities.  
Our great Prelate did not, as some more ambitious than worthy, ascend to the Episcopal Throne per Saltum, but by the Canonical Degrees: As first, he was lawfully Ordained Priest, and afterwards was installed Prebendary of this Church of Duresme, wherein he was not slack to search, and study the Rights and Antiquities of the same, and among others to promote one of the Honours of it by his constant Residences, both Ordinary and Extraordinary with laudable Hospitality, according to the Statutes (Salvis Canonibus) sealed with a Sacred Oath, and therefore to be observed; for he was so far from pressing upon his Majesty for (importunate) Dispensations, (which are always the Sovereigns most just Prerogative, in cases of real and legal necessity) that upon search of our Church's Register, I find not one dispensation for him in all the time he continued Prebend, which was about 36 Years. And I knew a man, who in two cases of invincible necessity, had the Royal favour of two dispensations (the one unsought for by him) who yet preferring the public good and honour of the Church, to his own private interest, did voluntarily wave both. The first for the Peace of the Church, than but newly restored; the other for the honour of the Church, then for sundry months destitute of Residentiaries, which also proved an effectual Precedent to restrain some from troubling the King for Dispensations intended otherwise. After he became Bishop of the same Church, he was so careful to preserve this honour of Hospitable residence, that at his last personal visitation of the Dean and Chapter, An. 1668. among other Injunctions this was one; That such prebend's as do not keep due Residences, according to the Statutes, shall be deprived of their Quotidians and Dividends, grounding also this his injunction upon right reason, viz. Qui enim Emolumentum alicujus loci percipiunt, 
Injunct.  onera etiam ejusdem loci sentire, 
Quint.  & far debent; which practice is conformable to good Conscience and Equity, and worthy the imitation of his Colleagues, whether Incumbents or Successors; for 'tis a Rule in Law, Beneficium propter Officium, and therefore for causeless habitual non-resident, chiefly in Cathedrals or Mother Churches, (which admit not such Deputies or Coadjutors in their Chapters, as by the Laws are allowed in particular cures) for non-resident (without real necessity) to claim or to enjoy equal profits with the Residents, who do bear the burdens both real and personal, seems to be against the Rule of Proportion, which forbids, Dare aequalia inaequalibus; 
Leu. 19 15.  and comes near also to a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Prov. 18. 5.  a partial respect of persons, 
Rom. 11. 11.  which God so frequently forbids (I would I could say, 
Gal. 11. 5. etc.  God forbid; and also that I may prove a false Prophet, for unless things be amended I fear partiality and nonresidence may prove the ruin of the Church.) But there is another Rule in Equity, That though some Dispensations, in case of manifest necessity, may pass as lawful in foro soli; yet (if without that necessity) they may prove unlawful ad hominem, in foro poli, where he may appear in the shape of the austere man in the Gospel, 
Luk. 19 21.  if he reap there where he does not sow in proportion; for in every Society every good man should bear his own burden. 
Gal. 6. 5.  And it may further be offered to common prudence, nay, as a case of Conscience; whether such Dispensees who presume upon the Grace of the Royal Dispenser (only upon pretence, or chiefly out of covetousness) ought not to make restitution to the extent of their Power; 
Bishop Bramhals Vindication, etc.  for what sentence is justly left upon Record by a grave Prelate against the old Sequestrators, may, sub modo, be applied also to the case of the new wilful non-resident: 
An. 1672. pag. 16.  His Sentence is this, That of all the Commandments the eighth is most dangerous; for the breach of other Commandments obligeth to Repentance, but the breach of the eighth Commandment obligeth both to Repentance and Restitution; according to St. Augustine's Rule of good Conscience, Non remittetur peccatum, nisi restituatur ablatum. And certainly there is appointed a great day of account for both, at which day Lord have mercy upon us all, and pardon our sins of Omission, from which in this particular our Bishop was clear.  
2. He was archdeacon of the East-riding in the Diocese of York.  
3. He was Master of Peter-house.  
4. He was Vicechancellor of that University Anno 1640. when he had the honour to send the public Plate to the King, then in his Recess, to supply in part his Prince's necessity for the present; and then also I had the honour to be admitted Doctor of Divinity between his hands, and with his Benediction.  
5. He came to be Dean of Peterborough, from whence he had the honour to be preferred to the Order of Confessors, that is, for his Religion and Allegiance, to become a Sequestered Man for near upon 20 years. Here by the way, I may insert an Observation (it may be called a Prediction) that as I am informed, Doctor Easedale in the year 1636. gave him some small thing upon condition he should pay a greater sum when he were made a Bishop: Such was the expectation men of understanding had then of his future greatness. For,  
6. Upon the King's wonderful Restauration, He was by His Majesty first designed Dean of Durham; but upon the King's Gracious Reflection on his constant Attendance and Services beyond the Seas, he was declared by the King, of a Dean intended, to be the Actual Bishop of Durham. His immediate Predecessor was that great Luminary of our Church, Blessed Thomas Morton, famous for his Holy Life, solid Learning, and bountiful works of Charity and Hospitality; and for his manifold learned Works against the Adversaries of the Church of England on the right hand and on the left; as for the Doctrine against Heretics, so for the Discipline, against the Schismatics of his time, beyond any satisfactory Answer to any of his Works unto this day: To whose Memory I should be unthankful, if I should not acknowledge (for which I do still bless God's Providence) that I had for above an Apprenticeship the happiness to be brought up as Domestic Chaplain at the feet of such an Eminent Gamaliel.  
To be Bishop of Durham is no ordinary State, but an high Dignity; for besides the Spiritual Dignity of a Bishop it includes the Temporal Power of Count Palatine of Durham and Sadberge; a singular Synastria, as I may say, or Constellation, is this concurrence of two great Dignities, the Spiritual with the Temporal: For, whatever Envy may object to the contrary, yet these two are not in reason incompatible. Such was the State under the Patriarches, etc. the Eldest Son being both Prince and Priest. Neither in practice unusual in this noble Kingdom, but that the same person may be both a good Minister and also a good Magistrate: Provided always, that the Clergyman do not affect it out of Ambition. Wise men see no cause why he may not lawfully accept the Commission in due submission to Supreme Authority, under which the same person may be, without offence, both a Bishop and Count Palatine; for which respect, of two Arch-Bishops, and twenty four Bishops in England and Wales, 
31 H. 8. c. 10.  the Bishop of Durham is by Act of Parliament ranked in the fourth place, next to the Bishop of London. And here 'tis worth the observing, that God, the immense Geometer of all the World, 
Plato.  was pleased by his providence to proportion the height of this great Prelate's Exaltation to the depth of his Humiliation for Loyalty, 
‛ O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  etc. under Sequestration and Banishment, in that he was by the Royal Bounty promoted from the Order of a Priest, immediately to be a Bishop, and that, Bishop of Durham. 
Luk. 14. 11.  To fulfil the Rule in the Gospel, Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.  
He was the 68 Bishop of this Diocese from Aidanus the first Bishop of Lindisfarne, Anno 637. (St. Cuthbert's renowned Cathedral in the Holy Island) the Mother of this Church of Durham, of Great Antiquity; for from the first foundation of this Church Anno 637. unto this present year 1672. the succession of this Church hath out-lasted above 1000 years, and so still may it last unto the World's end. But now to consider a Bishop in general.  

A Bishop.  
A Bishop is the most eminent office in the Order of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, for though the Lords Arch-Bishops be Superiors to the Bishops in their Degree, yet in respect of Order, the Bishops, quatenus Bishops, are equal, de Jure, and therefore need, de facto, no new Consecration when they are made Archbishops.  
A Bishop is by the judgement of Antiquity, and by the major part of sound and sober Modern Divines, deemed an Apostolical Office, because derived from the Apostles themselves, who after they had planted Christian Churches, as Ecumenical Ministers of Christ, were settled in particular Dioceses, where they were to exercise both the Episcopal Powers of Ordination and Jurisdiction; (this none but Aerian Heretics will or can deny;) for 'tis clear both from Holy Scripture, the Epistles of St. 
1 Tim. 5. 22.  Paul to Timothy and Titus, 
Titus 1. 5.  and the strong current of Ecclesiastical History. 
Euseb.  A high Office again in respect of Christ, every Priest under Christ, the Supreme Everlasting Priest, bears a part in Christ his Priesthood; so every Bishop being a Successor lawfully descended from the Apostles of Christ, bears a part of Christ's Apostleship, for Christ is styled an Apostle, 
Heb. 3. 1.  and therefore the Glorious Martyr 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. S. Ignatius, Epist. ad T●allianos, princ. The Father grounds his Injunction upon the Apostles Canon, Heb. 13. 17.  St. Ignatius, who was St. John the Apostle's Disciple, gives this Rule to the Christian Churches of his time; 
Ignat. Ep.  That we ought to be subject to the Bishop as unto the Lord. However this high Office, by furious fanatics hath been, by a prodigious pride of late, in these Rebellious Times, much slander-beaten, disgraced, yea degraded; which Crime, 
Coucil.  General Councils have made the stigma or brand of downright Heretics in a larger sense. 
Constant.   
And here, God be thanked, that of all the Reformed Churches, 
Hooker Eccles. Polit.  the Bishops of the Church of England can clearly derive their Succession from the Apostles themselves, 
Mason de Minist.  as hath been made good abundantly by the worthy Champions of our Church. 
Anglic. Dr. Bramhall, etc.   
And now upon the consideration of the Antiquity, Eminency and Utility of a Bishop in this Diocese, which is now in the state of an Ecclesiastical Widowhood, or to phrase it with St. Greg. Naz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Shepheardless; since the King's heart is in the hand of the Lord, 
Prov. 21. 1.  as the rivers of water, and he turneth it whithersoever he will; We pray, and hope that it may please God to incline the heart of the King in his Royal wisdom, to bless us in due season with a Successor, worthy of his Predecessors; a Godly, Learned, laborious and vigilant Bishop, the more necessary both for Spiritual and Temporal Government in these Northern parts, being so far remote from the Sun of Justice and Honour, the King, and too near to some ill affected neighbours only blinded by prejudice or ignorance; and so much the rather, because of the conjunction of this Bishopric, the Spiritual Dignity with the Temporal Power of the County Palatine perpetual.   

County Palatine.  
1. For Antiquity, as old at least as William the Conqueror, 
Cambden. Selden, Titles of Honour, part. 2. cap. 5. who observes that the Bishop of durham's style, in his Patents, etc. runs thus, Dei Gratiâ Episcopus Dunelm. etc. And I have observed for this forty years, that at the General Assizes and Sessions, the Public Crier concludes in this usual form, God save the King and my Lord of Durham.  as we are informed by our Learned Antiquaries; and that, not by Creation, or by Act of Parliament (as other Counties Palatine) but by long Prescription, 
11 H. 6. & Pasch.  confirmed afterwards by several Acts of Parliament, 
21 Eliz. 1.  and by the Protection of our Gracious Kings from time to time.  
2. For Authority, the Bishops of Durham freely enjoying (always under the King as Supreme) Jura Regalia, within this County, insomuch that 'tis a maxim in Law, that, Quicquid Rex potest extra Episcopatum, potest Episcopus intrà: Salvo semper Domino Regi supremo jure vitae & necis, etc. In regard whereof, by way of compensation for the Court of Wards belonging of old to this County Palatine, but for the exigence of the bad Times, taken away of late by Act of Parliament, His present Majesty our Gracious King Charles II. (whom God long preserve) out of his wont Royal Equity, was graciously pleased to Grant 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 Successors (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 Successors.) A special Royal Bounty, for which no doubt God will reward the King and his Royal Successors.    

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 gainsayers to sound doctrine, 
Tit. 1. 9, 10, 11.  and that in a time of great necessity, when both the Church and the King of England were dispersed, and the members dissipated; 
Rev. 13. 10.  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 purblind, 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; 
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. Cousin, that when he was in France, he neither joined 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 Encounters with Jesuits 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. Fuller's Calumny, wherein he affirms, that Dr. Cousin did not join with the French Protestants at Charenton, against which Assertion the Dr. declares to all the world, that he never refused to join with the Protestant's there, or any where else, in all things wherein they joined 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, etc. as Dr. Cousin styled it, who there and then determined the Question in the Affirmative for our Communion with them; Salvo semper jure Ecclesiae Anglicana.  (another Episcopal Office) which is in such ambiguous times especially, 
Tit. 1. 11.  to confirm the Souls of the Disciples, exhorting them to continue in the Faith; 
Acts 14. 22.  teaching, That we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God.  
One notable instance of this our Bishop's 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, etc. 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 sum of which Conference (as I am imformed) was written by Doctor Cousin 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, 
Act. 8. 20.  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, Saluâ 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, 
* Nec tamen si nostra [Politeia] divini juris sit, inde sequitur, vel quod sive 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.  so eminent for Primitive Piety, 
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 foreign Churches, in the learned Bishop Bramhal's vindication of the Episcopal Clergy, etc. against Mr. Baxter, Printed Anno 1672. p. 30, 31, etc.  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 Schism, which may harden the worse Adversaries in Heresy.  
This his Christian condescension towards the Reformed 
* It is an express Article in our Bishop's last Will (we might call it his Spiritual Will) written in Latin, 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 Predecessor learned Bishop Morton, who hath left the like free full Confession in his Last Will.  Churches was afterwards requited by a singular respect from the Chief Doctors of those Reformed Churches, 
Amyrald.  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 
* See Dr. Durel ' s learned and laborious Work. Entitled, Of the Government, etc. in the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas, p. 13. See Dr. Steward at Paris, Anno 1647. when this was put to the Question.  (their words and writings testify 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 Kingdom two several Bishops of two several Religions in one Diocese, to preserve public Peace, and to prevent 
Dr. Deodat Epist. ad Convent. Eccl. etc.  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 Kingdom to a foreign Kingdom, there to receive Episcopal Ordination from Protestant Bishops, depending upon a foreign 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 foreign Power.   

His Works.  
We pass now from our late Lord Bishop's Actions transient, to his Works more permanent; his Scholastical Works, whereof some are Printed, and some yet unprinted: for he observed the golden maxim, 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 'tis 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 ago he did publish a Book Entitled, A Collection of Private Devotions, extracted out of the public 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. 
Rom. 12. 1.  That work at first was looked upon with an evil eye, and hissed at by some serpentine Tongues and Pens to suppress it; (they were none but Schismatics) but yet to this present time it hath had the blessing to outlive a fifth public Edition.  
2. During his Sequestration and Banishment, when through the iniquity of the Times he was not suffered to preach in England, he did in France compose an excellent Book, Entitled, A Scholastical History of the Canon of the Holy Scripture, drawn out from the Judaical Church to the Sixteenth Century of years. A fundamental work, which proves him to have been a perfect Herald of the true Pedigree of the Holy Scripture. This Work was first Printed, 1657. when still Sequestered and in Exile, and since reprinted Anno 1672. but to this day unanswered, for the space of fifteen years and more; we may suppose the reason is, because the Evidences therein are unanswerable.  
3. By the same method he did compose a Book against Transubstantiation, part whereof is already printed.   

Vnprinted.  
1. The other part is unprinted, but ready for the Press, written twenty four years ago; Entitled, Historia Transubstantiationis Papalis.  
2. An Answer to a Popish Pamphlet, pretending that St. Cyprian was a Papist.  
3. An Answer to a Paper delivered by a Popish Bishop to the Lord Inchequin.  
4. An Answer to four Queries of a Roman Catholic about Protestant Religion.  
5. annal Eccl. Opus Imperfect.  
6. Dr. Cosin's Answer to Father Robinson's Papers concerning the validity of the Ordinations in the Church of England.  
7. Summarium Doctrinae Ecclesiae Anglicanae.  
8. The differences and agreement of the Church of England from and with the Church of Rome.  
9 Historia Conciliorum, opus imperfect.  
10. Against the forsakers of the Church of England, and their Seducers, in this time of her Trial.  
11. Chronologia sacra, opus imperfectum.  
12. A Treatise concerning the abuse of Auricular Confession against the Church of Rome. For though the Church of England both by grave Exhortation and Godly practice in her Holy Offices, doth allow of private Confession to the Priest as God's Deputy by express Commission [whosoever's sins you remit they are remitted] in the cases of a troubled conscience: 
St. John 20. 21, 22, 23.  And that her Children may come to the Holy Communion with full trust in God's Mercy: 
See in the Book of Common Prayer, the first Exhortation before the Communion.  Our Church doth admonish them that such a Confession may then be very Medicinal: Yet, our Church guided by the Word of God, and by good Antiquity, justly denies Auricular Confession to be absolutely necessary to the Remission of sins, provided the party be truly penitent. With much more reason doth our Church deny private Confession to God's Priest to be Sacramental, as the Church of Rome doth affirm without any solid ground of Verity, or from Antiquity. These remains are earnestly recommended to his Pious Executor's care for publication; for by these Fruits of his, we may charitably conclude, He obtained the character of the blessed Man, 
Psal. 1. 4.  whose leaf shall not wither: and by these his excellent Works our dead Prelate, being dead, yet speaketh.    

His Benefactions.  
To pass now from his foreign Actions abroad to his Countrey-Benefactions at home. That great Prelate had this blessing from God to enjoy a large heart, 
1 Kings 4. 29.  that is, an heart capable, not only to know, but also to do great things (for his time) both to his Church and Country. He was endowed with an Active Spirit to design, and with an able Body to perform his designs; as God gave him Wealth, so he gave him Artem fruendi; for it is one thing to have wealth, and another thing to enjoy and use it well, by maintaining good works for necessary uses, 
Tit. 3. 14.  chiefly Public and Pious Works, for he was mindful of the Apostles precept; 
Heb. 13. 16.  To do good and to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased; and therefore he was both more careful of, and also cheerful in the distribution of his Munificence for these pious uses; and his Posterity may from thence raise up their hope to thrive better for it; for after God in the Poor, and God's Church, out of the Chruches Patrimony is well served, a little well gotten, and left by an honest Clergyman, may stretch much further, and stick much longer in his Godly Posterity, than a Church-Estate illgotten by some Lay-Nimrod, who seldom outlives, much less transmits' his Sacrilegious Estate to the third Generation, which commonly and visibly verifies the old Proverb, De malè quaesitis vix gaudet tertius Haeres:  
And here I must crave leave for a very material digression concerning the Clergies Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Estates; for although, as I hope, I have elsewhere 
* See my Book of sacrilege, pag. 45. 49. etc.  sufficiently proved, that by the Law of God and Man, the Clergy of England have as good and as legal (that I say not a better) Title to their Benefices and Dignities pro tempore, as any Lay-Subject of England to their temporal Inheritances, and so may justly call their Estates their own, in foro externo; yet indeed and in truth (and by sad experience to clergymen's Widows and Children, not so well provided for here, as beyond the Seas) we Clergymen are but Usufructuaries, God is the great Proprietor Paramount of all that Clergymen enjoy, which gives them an high Title to what they enjoy under God, to whom at last they all must one day give a strict account, when they must hear of a Red Rationem, 
Luk. 16. 2.  (God knows how soon!) and then we must be no longer Stewards here; for it is evident by the forms of the ancient Donations, to, and Dotations of the Church, that God himself is the Chief Treasurer of the Church's Estate: The ancient forms run thus, Concedimus Deo, & Ecclesiae, etc. 
* V. Capitula Caroli M. item Miraeum de Donat. Belgic.  So that God himself is Entitled the Chief Lord and Proprietary to all Clergy-men's Estates, to whom all their Church-Lands under God are granted.  
1. To provide for God's Moral Houses.  
2. God's Material Houses.  
1. 
Mat. 25.  God's Moral Houses are chiefly the Poor, to bestow upon the truly poor and impotent through Age, or made so by Providence, through fire or other involuntary mischances, or to such who though they labour by their industry, to maintain their own Families, yet being overburdened by their Wives and many Children, are not able to relieve them all; these are the best poor, and therefore most worthy to be relieved 
* V. speeds Chron. p.  in the eye of prudent Charity. As for Vagrants or common wand'ring Beggars, whereof this Kingdom swarms, to the contempt of so many good Laws, and to the great scandal of our Christian Religion; Correction is the best Charity for such.  
Wise men say that two things, general Experience and Memory, make up a wise man: Modesty will not suffer me to pretend to that wisdom, but if I may declare my observation, I have lived some years in Holland and never saw a Beggar there; I have lived some other years in Turkey and never saw a Beggar there.  
The reason is plain, because to the Authority of their good Laws, they add the severity of due Execution: We have as good and as 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 public mischief is wholly and humbly represented and submitted to God, and to the King under God.  
2. Clergymen 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 ruin, which would defraud their Successors, and oppress their miserable Relics and Relations upon the account of just dilapidations.  
3. The Premises being well provided for (which is left to the Chancery in his breast, that is, to the Clergyman's conscience and prudence) out of the just remainder of his Ecclesiastical Estate, the honest Clergyman may lawfully provide for himself and Family; for by the Apostle's Canon, 
1 Tim. 5. 8.  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; 
Mat. 23. 23.  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 Clergymen do intervert the spiritual estate of the Church, chiefly or only to raise up or enrich their private temporal Families, with the neglect of the public 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 Sacrilege, from which now, and at Doomsday▪ 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, 
Luk. 16. 9  That when we fail they may receive us and ours into everlasting habitations; and I am confident, that neither I nor mine shall far the worse for it; what ever Carnal Relations may murmur against this just and honest course, objecting the world's false maxim, (contrary to God's true maxim, 
Phip. 11. 4.  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 (God's moral Houses) so for God's material Houses; in both which regards we may truly say our Bishop held his See ad Aedificationem, yet not neglecting those of his own Household; 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 Choir of Durham.  
2. To the Preacher at his Funeral.  
3. Tokens to the Dean and prebend's 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 Chapels of Durham and Auckland, and for Furniture, Plate, Books, and other Ornaments, etc. in the said Chapels, freely left to the Bishops his Successors. 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 Chapel in the Castle of Auckland, consecrated by himself on St. Peter's day, 1665. Two goodly Chapels 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. 
Luk. 7. 5.  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 
* Si Centurio commendatur Domino qui aedificavit Synagogam, quanto est commendatior qui aedificavit Ecclesiam? & si is▪ meretur gratiam qui jimpietati Receptaculum praestitit▪ quanto majorem meretur Gratiam qui Religioni Domicilium praeparavit? Et si ille Coelesti misericordiâ visitatur, qui construxit locum ubi Christus semper negatur, quanto magis visitandus est, qui fabricari fecit Tabernaculum ubi Christus quotidiè praedicatur? St. Ambro. Serm. 89. de Dedic. Basilic. ?  
9 For several other Public Works, as the repairing the boisterous Banks of Howdenshire belonging to this Bishopric.  
10. To two Schools at Durham.  
11. For five Scholars places in St. Peter's College in Cambridge, ten pound a piece per annum.  
For Three Scholars in Gonvile and Caius College twenty Nobles a piece per annum.  
Eight pounds yearly for the Common Chest of those Colleges respectively.  
But for the particulars of his Benefactions and Legacies, I have referred myself to the Bishops Will itself, 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 Public 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, etc.  
And what shall I say more, 
Heb. 11. 32.  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.  
'Tis to be observed that his Lordship was Consecrated, Anno 1660. and was translated from Earth to Heaven Anno 1671. so that he enjoyed his Bishopric 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 
* Those Bishop's Benefactors in the See of Durham were eight. [Isaackson's Chronology,]  eight Bishops (in 1034. years) that may seem to have equalled, but not exceeded this our Bishop in the noble virtues of Magnificence and Beneficence; and 'tis worthy the consideration of our Age, that the valuation of workmen, and materials, etc. was far less in those ancient times than in ours, now much dearer every way. 


Aldwinus— Godwin Fol.— 99  
Egelrius— 101  
Ranulphus Flambard— 112  
Hugo Pudsey— 113  
Antonius Beak— 125  
Walterius Skirlaw— 134  
Tho. Hatfield— 133  
Cuthbertus Tunstal— 138   Cardinal Tho. Langley may be the ninth to make up the number of the Muses, but we crave pardon, that some are of Opinion, upon the survey of his works, that he came short of this our Bishop.   
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; 
* Master Knox the Jesuit.  (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 Devil's Proverb! 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 judgement 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 choke 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 Sacrilege, 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 venomous tongues against these good men, and their whole order, inhancing by a false rule of hyperbolical multiplication, the Bishop's revenues in Fines, etc. never talking the ingenuous pains to balance in the account their Incomes with their just deductions in their vast public and pious expenses, but through a diabolical detraction and malignant subtraction, they do wilfully suppress the great outlets 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, 
Mat. 6. 3.  Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth; though this Caution be expressly restrained by our Lord to secret Alms; far different from the case of public works of Charity, concerning which our Lord gives an express command to the contrary; else what mean these words; 
Mat. 5. 16.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify 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, 
1 Cor. 10. 31.  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, 
Jam. 1. 17.  from whom cometh down every good giving, and every perfect gift.  
Enough, once for all, to gag those evil men, who being out of charity with Charity itself, want that Christian Charity which thinketh no evil. 
1 Cor. 13. 5.    

His Passions or Sufferings.  
For, Multa fecit tulitque—  
1. Public, and that first at home Annis 1640, and 1641. when he was both Sequestered and Angariated before a Sacrilegious and Rebellious Assembly of Laymen, which the seduced Crew did nickname A grand Committee for Religion, his Magnanimity and Constancy in maintaining the truly Apostolic and Catholic 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 myself out of all these troubles.  
2. His sufferings abroad; as in France where he underwent another Trial, only for upholding (under the King then in the French Court) the Public Liturgy or Common-Prayer-Book of the Church of England; for wherever he was, he retained still, and exerted a public spirit: And his Constancy (the Character of sincerity) was so much the greater, that for all those his Trials, both at home and abroad, he was never moved, much less removed from his steadfast 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, 
Rev. 3. 4.  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 Sacrilege; 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 multiplied Oaths to God, the Church and the King have committed, may be put upon here or hereafter, 
1 Sam. 25. ●1.  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 
* It is observed of that Civil Lawyer Mathaeus W●sembecius, that for his sharp Diseases, in his latter Age▪ he did change his Surname, and would be called Mathaeus de Afflictis. , etc. which usually he called his roaring Pains, whereby he was at last overcome, together with a Pectoral Dropsy.  
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 foretell by himself to his private Friends, and forespoken in his Last Will.  
'Tis 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 itself, and so becomes receptible of a kind of Prophetical or Prognostic Inspiration concerning its departure. It was his blessing from God to give him such forewarnings, and so to hear his prayer in the Litany, to deliver him from sudden death, which though to a Godly Man it may prove sudden, in respect of expectation, for the manner or circumstance concerning time and place; 
Eccles. 9 11.  (for all things come alike to all) yet in point of preparation, for the matter and substance it's never sudden: This foresight of his departure at hand, made him often in his sicknesses to ingeminate in the Royal Prophet's words; 
Psalm 55. 6.  O that I had wings like a Dove, for than 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 ask him whether (by reason of his weakness) he would have the Bread only dipped, he answered No; but he would receive it in both kinds, according to Christ's Institution; and being through weakness lifted up into his Chair, and having a violent pain in his head, for the ease whereof it was fast bound, he would needs have it all undone and sit bareheaded, and so he received it, an hour and a half before his death, from the hands of Mr. William Flower his Lordship's Domestical Chaplain.  
3. And when being so near unto death he could not kneel, he then devoutly repeated often that part of the penitent Prayer of King Manasses, Lord, 
Manasses Prayer.  I bow the knee of my heart.  
4. Having often reiterated his Invitation of Christ in the words of the Spirit, and of the Church, Lord Jesus come quickly. His last act was the Elevation of his hand, with this his last Ejaculation, Lord! wherewith he expired without pain, according to his frequent prayer to God, That he might not die of a sudden, or painful death; such was his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (Augustus his wish) and I pray God for every one of us, that from heart and mouth our last breath may prove like that of our late Bishop, Amen.   

His Burial.  
The Ecclesiastical Office was solemnly Celebrated by the Right Reverend Father in God Guy Lord Bishop of Bristol: The Political Offices were performed decently and in order, which was in all public actions the method of our late Lord Bishop when living, and the same he enjoyed at and after his death: the particular Narration of which I do civilly recommend to those Dunmviris the worthy Heralds (for the Funeral pomp was very solemn) who did constantly attend his late Lordship's state at London, and all the way to Durham, and there, and at Auckland, the place of his Rest, where requiescat in pace, and from thence God send him a joyful Resurrection: at which prayer none but ignorant or malicious men will take offence; for the meaning is no more, but that the dead may enjoy a happy Reunion of the Soul with the body at the general Resurrection, and a final and full consummation of both in bliss; (and after the utter abolition of sin by death) a blessed conjunction of us that survive with them that are dead, which is the Orthodox sense of our Office at Burials (the ancient sense of the Primitive Church) when we pray over the dead, whose Souls in Christian Charity we hope are past the necessity of our Prayers for their Relief or Release from any imaginary (first Pagan, 
Virg.  after Popish) Purgatory.   

The Sum of all.  
The Text and Sermon is a dead man's real speech: 
Heb. 8. 1.  To hear a dead man speak now were such a Prodigy as would certainly both stir up attention, and strike amazement into us, and all the hearers; yet that Great Chancellor of Paris, John Gerson, relates a strange History which happened about the year 1060. at the Funeral of a Grave Doctor there, a man otherwise reputed for the strictness of his life; at the interring of whom, when the Priest came to the then used form Respond mihi, or answer me, the Corpse sat upright in the Bier, and to the amazement of all there present, the first day cried out, Justo Dei judicio accusatus sum, At the Just Tribunal of God I am accused, and so laid immediately down in its first posture; the astonished Company deferring the burial till the next day, when the dead man with a hideous noise cried out again, Justo Dei judicio judicatus sum, By the just judgement of God I am judged; whereupon the burial was deferred a day longer, and the dead man rose up the third time and cried out his last, Justo Dci judicio condemnatus sum, By the Just judgement of God I am condemned; whereat, as the whole company was sadly affrighted, so Brimo, than an Eminent Doctor in the same University being effectually affected calling his Scholars together, retired from the world, and as the manner of those Times was then, became the Founder of the Order of the Carthusians. A strange Prodigy! and a loud warning-piece to us all living, to admonish us not to confide, much less presume upon our outward Righteousness; for I dare not deny Historical Credit to this premised Relation from John Gerson.  
But blessed be God, dead Abel in the Text, and the dead Bishop on this Hearse speak better things. This Hearse is now our Bishop's Throne or his Pulpit, and so our Bier must be the last Pulpit of us all of the Clergy; high and low all must come to this, God knows how soon; (I may be the next:) God send us all an happy Nunc dimittis, of which we may live and die assured if we imitate them, for they being dead yet speak, and as you have heard at large do preach unto us all Faith, Hope and Charity (the only straight way to Heaven) all evidenced by their works of Piety, which if not imitated by us, 
Mat. 12. 42.  may justly rise up in judgement against us.  
To Recapitulate and sum up our Bishop's Virtues under three Heads, I will remind you with, 

1. His Intellectual,  
2. His Moral,  
3. His Theological   Virtues.  

1. As to his Intellectual Virtues, his Natural understanding, he was endowed with a sound understanding, which he enjoyed to the last; a great blessing▪ 
Eccl. 9 2.  for though for the outward manner of death all things come alike to all, and there may be one event to good and bad, both may lose their understanding at their latter end, through the malignity or vehemency of some acute sicknesses (which should teach us all in health to make good use of our understandings;) yet for a man to die, sanâ ment, or in his right wits, is a great comfort both to the dying party, and to the surviving friends.  
2. His acquired learning, witness his writings forementioned, and his diligent researches into the magazine of the best Antiquity. I may truly say, Here lies now dead before us one of our Chief Ritualists.  
3. He was punctual in his Methods, for to my knowledge he loved Order in his Studies and Functions, and he often repeated, and generally observed the Apostles Canon, 
1 Cor. 14. 40.  Let all things be done decently and in order. He was so exact in putting in practice the Discipline of our Church, that he strictly enjoined, according to the Rubric, the daily Public Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer within the Churches of his Diocese, which since the decay of the Primitive Devotion of daily Communions in the old Christianity, is instead of the Juge Sacrificium of the Jews, the daily sacrifice of a Lamb Morning and Evening: 
Exod. 29. 39  And 'tis both our sin and shame, that since God is graciously pleased (under the Gospel) to spare our lambs, we Christians should in requital grudge our good God (except in case of real necessity) the Calves of our lips; 
Hos. 14. 2.  to praise him daily in the public Congregations. Without vanity. I have (through God's providence) traveled and taken an impartial survey of both the Eastern and Western Churches, and can assert upon mine own experience, that in the Eastern Churches, the Greeks and Armenians, etc. constantly observe their daily public Service of God; and in the Western Churches, I passing through Germany (to take the like survey) did with comfort behold the same daily public Offices with full Congregations in those they call the Lutherans and Calvinists, (I do hate, but through the iniquity of the times, I cannot avoid those Schismatical names expressed only for distinctions sake) nay to give Rome her due, they in their way (though erroneous) observe the same daily practice strictly. And truly when the Laity doth daily plow, sow, work and provide for the Clergy, 'tis but Christian Equity that the Clergy should daily offer public Prayers and Praises for the Laborious Laity.  
Item, Our late Bishop did much reform and regulate the good Behaviour, and Canonical Habit of the Clergy under his Government. He did also regulate their Office in bidding prayer before their Sermons, according to the common sense of our Church's Canon LV. and confined their conceived prayers too much abused and groundless in our Liturgy, and also contrary to the ancient practice of our Church, 
* Bishop Latimer, Bishop Hooper, (both Martyrs) Bishop Jewel, Bishop Andrews, etc. used no other: Our Liturgy being so Comprehensive there needs no other. See this at large made good, both for Antiquity and Conformity in the practice of the form of Bidding Prayer, in that excellent work in Latin of the Learned and Laborious Dr. Durel, Entitled, S. Eccles. Anglic. Vindic. Cap. 9 p. 66. where he proves clearly that the practice of the Reformed Churches in Poland, Lithuania, and Zurick in Switherland, is the same with ours in England. Nay the same Author further affirms, that Calvin himself did use such a form; See Calvin's Sermons upon Job▪ translated into English, Printed at London Anno 1580▪ where●● the latter end you have a plain form of Bidding of ●●ayer by way of Allocution of the people, and not of d●rect Invocation of God, saying, Let us pray; and always concluding with the Lords Prayer as we do. See further, The Alliance of Divine Offices, etc. by Hamon L' Estrange Esq; chap. 6. p. 180.  and other Reformed Churches; and I who have lived in this Diocese of Durham forty years, and have been an unworthy Archdeacon of Northumberland, as also a Prebend of this Church for the space of thirty years, never saw it more Regular, (since the sad twenty years of Schism and War, and so of Confusion) whereby his Successor, whoever he be, may enjoy the comfort of a Regular Diocese.   

2. His Moral Virtues.  
1. And first His liberal Hospitality at his Table, according to the Apostolical Canon, 
1 Tim. 3. 2.  That a Bishop must be given to Hospitality, which to maintain honestly, he must in all reason and equity be allowed proportionable Revenues, according to that Proverb, Ne sit Promus fortior Condo. This once again may strangle Bel and the Dragon.  
2. We have already mentioned his Princely Magnificence in his buildings.  
3. His Christian Magnanimity in his undertake and sufferings, we purposely omit some of them, whereby he did prevent Innovations within his County Palatine, because we would prevent malice and envy at the recital of them: But we must needs express again the Royal Favour procured by him, to exempt this See from the great burden of eight hundred and eighty pounds per An. paid for many years by the Bishops of Durham to the Queens of England.   

3. His Theological Virtues.  
Which were his Faith, Hope and Charity:  
1. His Faith, evidenced by his faithful constancy in the True Religion, and by his full Confession of that Holy Faith in his Last Will (the ancient way of the Holy Fathers in their Testaments.)  
2. His Hope, expressed by his Patience under his sufferings, knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience, and Patience experience, 
Rom. ●. 3, 4, 5.  and experience Hope, and Hope maketh not ashamed. His sore fits of sickness, especially for the two last years of his life, often did break his crazed body, but never did break his Christian patience.  
3. His Charity apparent by his pious Dedications to God, and bountiful Donations to men, so that I wish, that in his Epitaph that character of God's Servant might be stamped, 
Psal. 112. 9  He hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the Poor, 
2 Cor. 9 9  his Righteousness remaineth for ever, his born shall be exalted with honour; a consequent blessing upon such Benefactors; for this Godly Seed is a Metaphor, taken from a Husbandman, who by scattering of his Seed into the ground in due season, reapeth a plentiful increase in due time. And now here lies before us the remains of a great man indeed.  
1. Great by his Dignities lawfully obtained. He was,  
1. A Fellow of Caius College in Cambridge.  
2. A Priest in God's Church.  
3. Master of Peter-house in Cambridge.  
4. A Prebendary here.  
5. Archdeacon.  
6. Deane.  
7. At last, by these orderly degrees he was, through the providence of God, and under God by the Royal Favour of our most Gracious King, in Reward of his Constant and Loyal Services and Sufferings at Home and Abroad, exalted to the Throne of a Bishop, and such a Bishop as was a Count Palatine in England, and so as I may say a petty King, as having the Royalties in this County belonging to him, but still with due Subordination to a Great King Transcendent above him, and all Subjects within this Kingdom; but still a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in our Translation, a Noble Man; in the vulgar Latin, 
John 4. 46.  a Regulus; in St. Hierome, Palatinus; 
Hier. in Isa. 65. Princ. By the Sages of the Law, he is styled Dominus Regalis, who hath thus long enjoyed the Jura Regalia. See Rotul. Parl. & Pasch. 21 Eliz. Rotul. quint. which the Lord Cook calls a notable Record of the Liberties of the Bishop of Durham, and is therefore allowed for such in the King's Courts.  a parallel Title to that part of our Bishop's Dignity.  
But now he is dead, and who knows but that God took him away from the evil to come? 
Isa. 57 1.  And as great as he was you may see now, that a small plat of ground must contain and confine him, 
Omnia mors aequat.  Sic transit gloria mundi. He can carry none of all those Dignities to his grave, 
Claudian.  only his Faith and good Works do attend him to his grave, and beyond his grave, 
Rev. 14. 13.  for his Works do follow him, and that as high as Heaven where he now rests from his labours; but without Faith and good works, when a man is dead, vanity of vanities all is vanity. 
Eccl. 1. 2.   
2. This great man was Greater yet by his Actions and great Benefactions, concerning which, when in the prosecution of his Great Buildings, he was interpelled by some, with the mention of his Children, his usual answer was, The Church is my firstborn; a Noble Speech, yea, a Divine Sentence, worthy of a King, who may envy it out of a Bishop's mouth. Indeed the Church is the King's firstborn, and the best of his Titles is to be the Defender of it. I am confident that his Noble Relations will Erect unto him a more lasting Monument than this our transient Speech or withering pen, or failing Press can fully express. Indeed for his time he did great things, and he lived and died also with good intentions of doing greater things; for he was pregnant of generous designs.  
3. He was greatest of all by his constant sufferings; in which sense St. 
Luke 1. 15.  John Baptist is styled, magnus coram Domino: not so much for his doings (though they were great) for John did no Miracles, 
John 10. 41.  as for his sufferings, in which Sense our late Bishop was greatest, for he was a constant Confessor for Christ and his True Religion, and so but one degree removed from the Noble Army of Martyrs, 
Heb. 12. 22. to 24.  into whose blessed Society our hope is that he is now gathered: to which blessed state of Glory he bring us all at last, who hath both by his precious blood purchased, and by his Free Grace prepared it for us, even Jesus Christ the Righteous. To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit, three Persons and one God, be ascribed again from Angels, from us, and from all men; all Praise, Power, Majesty, Dominion and Glory for ever and ever, Amen.     

AN APPENDIX Of the late Lord Bishop OF DVRESME's PROFESSION and PRACTICE; And of his Last Will concerning RELIGION.   

The State of us that adhere to the Church of England.  

The Roman Catholics  
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 Heretics.  
3. They excommunicate us, and abhor to join with us in any Sacred action, either of Prayer or Sacraments.  
4. Not long since they burned 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 Churchyards 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 die in our Religion) if they venture to make a Grave there, and put the dead Corpse either of a Father, or a Husband, or other the like into it, they are bound to scrape up that Corpse again with their own fingers, and carry it away to be buried in a ditch or a dunghill, or where else they can find room for it: Prince or Peasant are hereni alike, if they be not Roman Catholics, 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 Catholics have of us.  
2. These acknowledge us to be true Catholics.  
3. They do most willingly receive us into their Churches, and frequently repair to ours, joining with us both in Prayers and Sacraments.  
4. These men (whose Predecessors were burnt up and martyred as ours have been) being in such times of persecution received, and harboured 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 only to bury our dead among theirs, in the Churchyards 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-catholics permit it) and to set up our Monuments and Inscriptions over the Graves, hereby professing Unity with us both alive and dead.  
In all which Regards we ought no less to acknowledge them, and to make no Schism 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 cum 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 ment & 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 Scripturae 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 singulorum rationem reddere, vel modum exponere, vel quaestiones circa ea exortas solvere, vel dum fortè satagunt Hallucinationes aliquot effugere, & penitùs ab errore immunes esse nequiverint.  
Sed quàscunque olim Haereses & quaecunque etiam Schismata, quibuscunque tandem nominibus appellentur, prisca & universalis sive Catholica Christi Ecclesia, unanimi consensu rejecit & condemnavit, ego pariter condemno & rejicio; unà cum omnibus earundem Haeresium fautoribus hodiernis, Sectariis & Fanaticis, qui spiritu malo acti mentiuntur sese spiritu Dei afflari. Horum omnium, inquam, Haereses & Schismata, Ego quoque Ecclesiae nostrae Anglicanae, imò Catholicae, Symbolis, Synodis & Confessionibus addictissimus pariter improbo constanterque rejicio, atque repudio. In quorum numero pono non tantùm segreges Anabaptistas & eorum sequaces (proh dolor!) nimiùm multos, sed etiam novos nostrates Independentes & Presbyterianos, genus hominum malitiae, inobedientiae & seditionis spiritu abreptum, qui inauditâ à seculis audaciâ & perfidia, tanta nuper perpetrarunt facinora, in contemptum & opprobrium omnis Religionis & Fidei Christianae, quanta quidem non sine horrore dici aut commemorari queant: Quinetiam à corruptelis & ineptis nuperque natis sive Papisticis (quas vocant) superstitionibus, doctrinis, & assumentis novis in Avitam ac Primaevam laudatissimae olim tam Orthodoxae & Catholicae Ecclesiae Religionem ac fidem jamdudum contra sacram Scripturam, veterumque Patrum Regulas ac mores introductis, me prorsus jam alienum esse, atque adeò à Juventute mea semper fuisse, sanctè, & animitùs adsevero.  
Vbicunque verò Terrarum Ecclesiae, Christiano nomine censae veram, Priscam & Catholicam Religionem Fidemque profitentur, ut Deum Patrem, Filium & spiritum sanctum uno ore & ment invocant ac colunt, eis, si me uspiam actu jam nunc jungi prohibet vel distantia Regionum, vel dissidia hominum, vel aliud quodcunque obstaculum, semper tamen animo, ment & affectu conjungor ac coalesco; id quod de Protestantibus praesertim, & benè reformatis Ecclesiis intelligi volo: Fundamentis enim salvis, diversitatem, ut opinionum, ita quoque rituum circa res juxta adnatas, & minùs necessarias, nec universali veteris Ecclesiae praxi repugnantes in aliis Ecclesiis (quibus nobis praesidendum non est) amicè, placidè & pacificè ferre possumus, atque adeo perferre debemus. Eis verò omnibus qui malè consulti quoquo modo me iniquis calumniis insectati sunt, vel adhuc insectari non desinunt, ego quidem ignosco, & deum seriò precor, ut ipse quoque ignoscere, & meliorem eis mentem inspirare velit. Operam interim & mihi, & aliis omnibus fratribus, praesertim Episcopis, & Ministris Ecclesiae Dei, quantum ex illius gratiâ possumus, dandam & conferendam esse existimo, ut tandem sopiantur, vel saltem minuantur, Religionis dissidia, atque ut pacem sectemur, cum omnibus, & sanctimoniam. Quod ut fiat quam ocyssimè, faxit Deus Pacis Autor & Amator concordiae. Cujus immensam misericordiam oro & obtestor, ut me in peccatis & iniquitatibus conceptum ab omni humanae infirmitatis labe & corruptela repurget, dignumque ex indigno per magnam clementiam suam faciat, mihique passionem & immensa merita dilectissimi sui filii Domini nostri Jesus. Christi, ad delictorum meorum omnium expiationem applicet: ut quum novissima vitae hora non improvisa venerit, ab Angelis suis in sinum Abrahae raptus, & in societate sanctorum & electorum suorum collocatus, aeternâ foelicitate perfruar.  
Haec praefatus quae ad Religionem & Animae meae statum ac salutem spectant, quaeque Latino Sermone à me dictata atque exarata sunt, reliqua, quae ad sepulturam corporis, & bonorum meorum temporalium dispositionem attinent, sermone patrio perscribi faciam, ac perorabo.  
Vid. J. Will. etc.   

Our help is in the Name of the Lord who made Heaven and Earth.  
In the Name and Honour of the same Lord our God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost the most High and undivided Trinity.  
FOrasmuch as it is appointed for all men once to die, and that every man's body shall be dissolved, but the time of my dissolution is uncertain; of which notwithstanding, as if it were nigh at hand, being mindful in my daily Meditations, and shaken with the frequent infirmities of my body I ever and anon think thereof.  
I John Cousin, an humble Minister in the Church of God, and by the permission of the most High now Bishop of Durham, not putting my hope in this present life, but ever aspiring to that other (which is to come) eternal in the Heavens, and which by the mercy of God ere long I hope to obtain, and humbly praying for the salvation of my own Soul, that through the merits of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, our only Redeemer and Mediator, all mine offences be forgiven me; being of a sound mind, out of a sincere heart, do make, ordain and constitute this Testament, containing my Last Will, in this form as followeth.  
First of all, I heartily thank our Lord God Almighty, that he hath vouchsafed me to be born in this life of faithful and virtuous Parents; and that it hath pleased him that I should be Regenerate (and born a new in his Church) unto Life Eternal by the holy Laver of Baptism, which he hath instituted; and that he hath instructed me from my Youth in sound doctrine, and hath made me partaker of his Saints, that he hath imprinted in my mind a Faith not feigned nor dead, but true and living, together with a firm confidence, that hereafter I shall be brought unto eternal life; which Faith doubtless consists in this, That we adore and worship one God, and believe in him, and in him whom he hath sent, his most beloved Son the Eternal Word, begotten before all Ages, Jesus Christ our Lord; who for us and for our Salvation took flesh of the most blessed Virgin Mary (the Holy Ghost over-shading her) in this life, and was made man, afterward was born, suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, and after he had descended into Hell, rose again from his Grave, and leading captivity captive, ascended into Heaven, where sitting at the right hand of God, he reigneth for ever; but sent from thence the Holy Ghost (in whom we ought equally to believe) proceeding from the Father and the Son, by whom he most bountifully gave gifts unto men, and founded his Catholic Church in the Communion of Saints, in the Divine Sacraments, in true Faith, sound Doctrine, and Christian Manners; together with the remission of Sins, to be conferred on all the Godly, and that in the same Church bring forth fruits meet for Repentance; to whom also 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 (Judas 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 myself 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 error.  
But whatsoever Heresies or Schisms heretofore, by what names soever they be called, the ancient Catholic 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 fanatics, who being carried on with an evil Spirit do falsely give out they are inspired of God: The Heresies and Schisms, I say of all these, I also as most addicted to the Symbols, Synods and Confessions of the Church of England, or rather the Catholic 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 Country, 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 horror 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 Catholic Church, long since introduced, contrary to the Holy Scripture, and the Rules and Customs 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 Catholic 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 hindered actually to be joined with them, either by distance of Countries, or variance amongst men, or by any other let whatsoever; yet always in my mind and affection I join 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 Abraham's bosom, 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 Latin: 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.