The Dead Yet Speaking, Biography 100
ROBERT ABBAT
The Life and Death of Robert Abbot.
THis learned and humble man succeeded Doctor Holland in the Chaire at Oxford, and herein exceeded him, that although they were both of extraordinary sufficiency and vast if not immense reading, yet as Augustus spake of Cassius, ingeni… habet in…rato, so it m…y be tr…ly said of Abbo… variam lectionem habuit in numerato: he had the command of his learning, and the sum of his readings upon any point which offered it selfe to his handling, cast up to his hand; the other had not so. Whence it came to passe that the diligent hearers of the one received alwayes from him that which they expected; the Auditors of the other seldome received what they expected, or expected what they received from him, yet alwayes went away well satisfied from his full table. And I conceive the reason hereof may be this, Abbot desired rather multum legere than multa Holland, rather multa than multum; the meditation of the one wrought upon his reading; the reading of the other wrought upon his meditation; and us it surcharged his memory, so it over-ruled his invention also. Let both have their due praises.
—Et viridi cingantur tempora lavro.
For Abbot, envy it selfe will afford him this testamoniall, that if his tongue had been turned into the pen of a ready writer, or all that h… wrote upon the History of Christs passion, and the Prophet Esay, and the Epis…le to the Romans, had seene the light; he had come near unto if not over taken, the three prime worthies of our Vniversity, Iewel, Bilson and Reynold… ; for he gave to Wm Bishop, as great an overthrow as Iewell to Harding, Bilson to Allen, or Reynolds to Heart.
He was borne at Gilford in Surry of honest and industryou… Parents, who lived fifty years together in wedlock; and because they preserved that sacred bond so entire and kep… the marriage bed so undefiled, God powred the dew of his blessing upon it and made them very happy in the fruit of their body, especially in three of their children, whereof the first was Bishop of Sarum, the second Archbishop of Canterbury the third Lord Mayor of London. In the Catalogue of all the Bisho…s of England, onelyonly Seffred sometimes… Bishop of Chichester, was consecrated by his brother Archbishop of Canterbury. Abbot had this happinesse and more, for of two of his younger brethren one of them was advanced to the highest place in the Church, and the other to the highest place in the City under his Majesty; the youngest of them Maurice Abbot had the honour to be the first Knight who was dub'd by his Majesties royall sword: the elder of them had yet a greater to annoynt his sacred Majesty, and set the Crown up…n his royall head; but I leave the two other to a better Herald to blazen their vertues. Of this our Robert I will endeavour with my pensill to draw the lineaments, whose silver pen I more highly esteeme then the silver Mace of the one, or golden of the other. He was not as Saint Ierome writeth of Hillarion, a rose growing from a thorne, but rather a province or double rose growing from a single: for his Parents embraced the truth of the Gospell in King Edwards dayes, and were persecuted for it in Queen Maries raigne (by D…ctor Story of infamous memory) and notwithstanding all troubles and molestations continued constant in the profession of the truth till their death, and all their children treading in their holy steps, walked with a right foot to the Gospell, and were zealous professors of the reformed Religion, especially George and this our Robert, whose zeale for the truth accompaned with indifatigable industry and choyce learning preferred him without any other friend or spokesman, to all the dignities and promotions he held in the University and Church.
He was another Hortensius, his eminent parts were seen and allowed, yea and rewarded to upon the first glympse of them: For upon an O…ation made by him the seventeenth of November the day of Q…een Elizabeths inauguration, he was chosen Schollar of Bali…l Colledge; upon the first Sermon he Preached at Worster he was made Lecturer in that City, and soon after Rector of All Saints there; upon a Sermon Preached at Pauls Crosse, Master Iohn Stannop one of his hearers having a benefice of great valew in his gift, Bingham by name in Nottinghamshire, tooke a resolution upon the next voydance of it to conferre it upon him; and the Incombent not long after dying, sent of his owne accord the Presentation to him; upon a Sermon Preached before his Majesty King Iames, in the month he waited at Court, In the year 1612. newes being brought of Doctor Hollands death, the King most gratiously nominated him his successour; and lastly upon the …ame of his incomparable Lectures read in the University, de suprema potestate regia contra Bellarminum & Sua…ezium, and the perusall of his Antilogia adversus apol…giam Garnetti, the See of Sarum falling voyd, his Majesty sent his Congedelire for him to the Deane and Chapter. Thus as he set forward one foot in the temple of vertue, his other still advanced in the temple of honour.
A curious English Poet making use rather of licencea poeti…a, than libertas grammatica, deriveth Robertus (our Divines Christan name) from three Monesillibles ros, ver & …hus; though this etimoligy be affected and constrained, yet I will make use of it to branch the History of his life into three parts; and first I will consider him as he was ros in his Countries cure; secondly, as he was ver in his University preferment; thirdly, as he was thus in his episcopall See.
First I will speake of him as he was ros: Ros signifieth dew, which name very fitly agreed unto him whilst for twenty years he lived obscurely in the Country; for as dew doth much good to the place where it fals, and yet makes no noyse; so his paines were very profitable in his private Cures, yet was not his fame cryed up nor made any noise in the world: secondly, as dew dropping on mowen grasse refresheth it and maketh it spring anew; so his labors in his Pastorall charge much refreshed the consciences of true converts, which had felt the cythe of Gods judgements, and made them spring up in hope and newnesse of life: thirdly, as dew distilling in silver drops mollifieth the parched ground, so his heart melting into teares in many penitenciall exhortations mollified the stony hearts of those who had been before most obdurate in their sins: lastly, as dew that fals from heaven returnes not thither b…ck againe, but inricheth the soyle, and makes fruitfull the earth; so his pains wheresoever he bestowed them were never stirrill but brought much fruit of comfort both to hims…lfe and of knowledge in the mysteries of salvation, to his hearers. In this time of his retired privacy he printed A mirrour of popish subtilties: The exhaltation of the Kingdom and priesthood of Christ, and first he ruff-hewed, and after polished and published his exquisitr tract entituled Antichristi Demonstratio, which was not onelyonly highly commended by our learned Andrewes Bishop of Winton, but so esteemed by King Iames (a second Salomon) that of all the fruitfull trees in our Paradise he chose to griffe his meditations upon the Apocalipse upon Abbot his stocke, commanding that his Comment upon the 7.8.9. and 10. verses of the twentieth Chapter of the Apocalypse, should be joyned unto the end of Abbot de Antichristo; and at the last impression of the said book at London, 1608. it is Printed after the end of the twelft Chapter before Elen…cus capitum of the said book; an honour which his Majesty did to no other of the great Clarkes of this Kingdome. Like as Mary Magdalens spicknard was so mingled with the oyntment of the Gospell by our Saviours precept, that whosoever smelt the one cold not but resent the other: so King Iames his savory meditations are incerted into Abbots contemplations of Antichrist, that whosoever distasteth not the one cannot but well relish the other. To these his labors which made the presse sweat againe and againe; I must adde his most accurate Commentary upon the Epistle to the Romans, which he run through all not with briefe notes as others, but large Sermons upon every verse; in which he handled as his text gave him occasion, all the controverted points of Religion at this day, and he enclosed the whole Magazen of his learning: and great pitty it is that the Church should be deprived of such a treasure, considering Saint Austines observation is true, the truth is neither mine, nor thine, nor his, but all of us have a right to it, whom thou callest to the Communion thereof, threatning to deprive us of it if we keepe it private. They therefore who withhold …his Worke from the publick view, as they wrong the Church in generall, so in speciall the City and Cathedrall Church of Worceste…, to which he b…quea…hed it as a kind of legacie, as the authors owne Words in his dedicatory Epistle to Bishop Babington printed with his Sermons upon the 110. Psalme import, I will endeavour as opportunity may serve to present to their eyes (meaning his hearers at Worcester) the things that did once affect their eares, and to make others also partakers of them; and a little after in the same Epistle, I am willing to expresse my affection to that City wherein I have bestowed the greatest service of my life, and wherein I assure my selfe that a few names there are at least, I hope many that shall be my crown and rejoycing in the day of the Lord Iesus.
I have considered him as ros according to the first syllable of his name, now let us view him according to the second, as ver, a spring; first passively then actively; first as ver in himselfe, when taken as a choyce plant and set in the famous nurserie of learning and Religion, the University of Oxford, he thrived exceedingly, springing and growing from one profession to another, from one degree to another, from an Artist to a Divine, from a Bachelour to a Master, from a Scholler of Bali…l Colledge to a Fellow. Though this were the time wherein he replenished his store-house of good Literature both divine and humane, yet knowing that this kind of provission is like the oyle in the widdowes cruze, which filled still by emptying, and like the loaves Iohn 6. which multiplyed by distributing; he joyning practise with his contemplation, and by Lecturing first at Al…allowes, and afterwards at Abbington he encreased his store and stocke of saving knowledge: and thus he was ver passively in himselfe, but when by Bishop Bancrofts meanes he was called to be Governour of Baliol Colledge, and much more after when he was advanced to the Chayre, he was ver actively, and caused a spring in others; for then as a carefull and skilfull Gardiner he set his nurserie with the best plants, making alwayes choyce of the towardliest young men in all Elections, and when he had set them, he tooke such care to water and prune them that in no pla… or knot in the famous nurserie of the University of Oxford, there appeared more beautifull flowers, or grew sweeter fruit then in Baliol Colledge whilst he was Master. What should I speake of his diligent reading to his owne Schollers, and his continuall presence at publicke Exercises, whereby he both Countenanced the Readers and encou…aged the Hearers.
—Vrget praesentia Turin.
His first and chiefe care was to plant the feare of God in the hearts of all the Students in his Colledge, knowing well that as God is the father of all things, so Religion… is the mother of all vertues; and little hope there is that they will take any care to observe the statutes of these Founders, who regard not his statute…, who is the Feunder of all nature and grace, and beares up the pillar of the whole World. To imprint his Lawes therefore in their mindes, besides the holy example of his strict and regular life and continuall admonitions and godly exhortations to study the Scriptures, and exercise themselves in them day and night, he took speciall care of publicke Prayers, from which himselfe was never missing, if he had his health (though the mornings were never so darke, and the season bitter (and but finding some inconvenience in the absence of many of his company at evening Prayer, pretending diverse occasions of businesse, he altered the time of those Prayers, puting them off from five of the clock in the afternoone untill eight of the clock at night, and immediatly after payers he commanded the gates to be lockt, to prevent or at least discover all Noctivagators. Next to piety, he most desired to setle peace in the Colledge, and exterpate all faction which had been for a long time the baine of that Society; for Doctor Lilly his immediate predecessour was in …ome sense not free from, lilliam inter spina…, a Lilly among thornes, and which was worse, it is though he cherished them for private ends of his owne: but Abbot who had learned from his and our Master that blessed are the peace makers, and that a house divided within it selfe cannot stand, laboured by all good meanes to caement all parties and make up all the breaches he found, wherein God so blessed him that by reconciling them one to another, he united them all fast to himselfe and he gained more every way by angling in the cleare streame, then his predecessours had done by fishing in troubled waters. Thirdly, because he learned from Saint Ierom that intemperance in dyet, facile dispumat in libidinem; he every weeke viewed the buttry booke, and if he found lavish expence upon any mans name he would punish him severely for it, yet was he tender and compassionate to those who were of weaker constitution… of body, and he not onelyonly permitted them to have such meats drest for them as might irretate their weake appetite and strengthen nature, but he sent to them often from his owne Table, and if any were visited with sicknesse he tooke care of them as if they were his owne children, and his house was as an Apothecaries shop to furnish them with all such things they needed: During the time of his Mastership in Baliol Colledge, he finished his answer to Will…am Bishop Seminary priest, intituled by the Pope Bishop of Chalcedon; this nominall Bishop of an Aeriall Diocesse took upon him to refute Master Perkins his reformed Catholicke, but our Abbot so refuted his refutation, and so learnedly, copiously, solidly and perspicuously handled all those maine heads of Controversie, which his adversary touched upon, that many judicious Protestants heartily wished that William Bishop had run through all the above mentioned Refom…d Catholicke, for then we should have had in our Abbots encounter with him a whole system and body of controversies exactly discussed, and the truth of reformed Religion in all points solidly and substantially confirmed by Scriptures, Fathers and Reason.
When Hanibal set upon Minutius at an advantage, and put him to some distresse Fabius Maximus brings out his forces against Haniball, and puts him to flight, and Haniball himselfe was enforced to confesse, that if he gained any thing upon Minutius he lost it and a great deale more by Fabius Maximus. This William Bishops conscience told him, and therefore finding himselfe unable to deale with Abbot at sharpe, he challenged him to fight with him at dull and rusty foyles, I meane foule language & scurrilous sarcasmes like the Orators taxed by Quintilian qui causarum vacua convi…is explebant.
At the end of that his Mr. piece, he added vice coronidis, a singular treatise intituled the True ancient Roman Catholick, which he dedicated to Prince Henry, who so thankefully accepted this his present, that he returned him many thankes in a letter written with his Princely hand, and promised his helping hand upon the next voydance to lift him up higher in the Church; and though by the Princes untimely death this most able Champion of the truth sunk much in his hopes; yet within a few yeares he was raised up first ad Cathedram Doctoralem, and then Episcopalem, for Doctor Holland exchanging this life for a better in the year of our Lord 1612. Abbot was thought the fittest man to succeed him in that Chayre, in the judgement of all men save his owne, who ever undervalued himselfe, and after this place was conferred upon him refused it till his brother procured a Mandate from the King to him to hold it, and then being put into the Chayre as it were by force, he so well filled and furnished it that all men gave him that Evelogne which Saint Ierom giveth, Nepotian ide… magis erat dignus quod se p…ofitebatur indignum: he was by so much the worthier the lesse he knew his worth, for contempt of honour make… it more due, and humility in excellency excels excellency it selfe. And here the third time he made good the second sillable of his name Ver, for partly by Sermons ad Clerum, partly by his learned Lectures, partly by his judicious moderating Divinity disputations, partly by his exquisite Tractates printed a little before his death: he caused such a spring among Divines as was not seen in many years before. I will not revive his contentions with Doctor Howson concerning the Geneva notes and clearing Calvin from Arianisme, because they are dead long since, and were honourably buried by King Iames, by whose command Dr Howson being sharpened, …urned … edge from Geneva to Rome, and in the next Sermon he Preached as Saint Maries… fell firce and foule upon the Pope himselfe, threatning to loosen him from his Chayre, though he were fastened thereunto with a te…peny naile.
Neither will I relate much of his Far well Oration at his parting from the University, because I could not light upon a perfect copy thereof, but a …ew fragments onelyonly and fragments though of dainty dishes please not the palat of most men; yet to give you some tast of it, thus he began Salve veneranda mater Academiarum decus & gloria continere me, non possum quin exultem animo beatumque me praedicem cui infelicissimae omnium gymnasiorum discere pariter & doc…re datum est mille eg… tibi salutes mille felicitates, prosperitates omnes & successus ex…ptare nunquam desinam, tibi hoc negotium sub potentissimi principis auspitiis, agitut tibi repetitus labor hic cui pro te aliq…ando in scholi… tuis sudatum est. Id nempe agitur ut cavere discant alumni tui Arminios Berti…s Grevinchonios & reliquos istos scrip…itores quos pruritus, ingeniorum occupat ut in assueti… nunquam acquiescant, nunquam se aliquid esse credant, nisi novitate singulares sin…. Qui vult uno esse, animo cum ecclesia anglicana par est, … inch…et ab …jus doctrina notitia, quam ejusdem ecclesia esse cons…, …gat, in primis & digerat articulos religionis quibus sub…cribimus omnes illorum recolat explicationes quae continentur in …omiliis, carechismos consulat ea quae publica ejus authoritate prodierunt apologiam ecclesiae, Anglicanae & omnes ejus defensiones p…oillustres viros Iew…llum, Fuleum, Reynoldum, & Whitakerum, Calvini Institutiones, opera reverendissimi Whigifti, & in primis v…nerabiles Hookeri, nullo modo omnititantur; qui vero …is omnibus relictis, confer… se ad magistrum sententiarum & Thomam Aquinatem, & …uius farinae theologos, acquid aliter fieri potest, quam ut papismo inficiantur, qui prim…m lac sugunt ab istis uberibus: neque tamen scholam penitus excludo, imo omnimod… adhibendam sentio, se… ita ut sit ancilla non domina & aff…renda ad il lam fidei doctrina, non inde referenda; sit asina quae te portet, quod si te inequitet illa in salibras & praecepitia te ducet. And after singular directions for stud…nts and passionat expressions of his love to the University, thus he concluded spero ego, de te spero de tuis optima charissima mater m…a, utinam vigeas, utinam floreas magisque ac…magis crescas in columnam fidei firmamentum veritatis usque ad advenium Iesu Christi.
We have felt him as dew softly distilling in his private Cures, according to the first syllable of his name Ros, and viewed him also as the Spring growing & flourishing in the University according to the second Ver. Now let us scent him as Franckincense sending …orth a most fragrant smell in his Diocesse, according to the last monosyllable Thus.
Franckincense thought it be often used in private houses where the roomes are dankish, yet it is most proper for the Church, and of all Churches, for the Cathedrals where is the greatest concourse of people, and the service performed with most solemnity: here therefore consecrated as it were in a golden censer, he burnt most fragrantly in his meditations, ejacul…tions, Sermons and exhortations, breathing out odorem vitae ad vitam, through all the Bishoprick of Sarum. Other Bishopricks were voyced upon him as of Lincoln and Coventrie and Litchfield; but the businesse of the nullity, made a nullity for a time in his Graces good intentions, and our Bishops hopes, in so much that King Iames of blessed memory, when Doctor Abbot newly consecrated Bishop of Sarum came to doe his homage, his Majesty spake pleasantly unto him after this manner, Abbot I have had very much to do to make thee a Bishop, but I know no reason for i…, unlesse it, were because thou writest against (viz. William Bishop a Popish priest) whose refutation of Master Perkins his reformed Catholicke, this our Abbot had not long before solidly refuted. After his c…nsecration at Lambeth, and his homage done at Court he tooke the University in his way to Sarum; and there taking his leave of his Mother, he was accompanyed with all his brethren, the heads of Colledges and Hals, and of other his Oxford friends of good ranke and quality, till about the edge of his Diocesse they left him, with teares in their eyes, erumpentibus prae dolore, & the Clergy & Gentry of Sarum met him with teares also in their eyes of another kind, emanantibus prae gaudio; as he came into the City he was entertained with eloquent speeches, which he answered …xtempore in the same language they were made unto him, and with worthy presence which were thankefully accepted, and the next Lords day following he offered his first fruits in the T…mple, taking for his text the Word of the Psalmest 26.8. Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.
After he had verified the Words of his Text in the person of David, his Sermon ended, he verified it in himselfe and made a D…monstration that he loved that house of God, not in …ongue onelyonly and in word, but in deed and veri…y; for viewing exactly that beautifull Fabrick, and finding it very much in decay, partly through the negligence of his Predecessors, and partly through the Covetousness… of the Deane and Prebends, who filled their purses with that which should have stop'd the chi…ks in the Wals, he sent a peremptory summons for all the Prebends; and partly by a seasonable admonition, partly by increpations and threatnings, partly by reviving an old Statue de quinta parte Prebenda…um, he drew from them 500. l. which was all spent in the reparation of that Church. And a…ter the repairing of the materiall temple he wholly laboured in repairing of the spirituall temple, both by doctrine and by discipline, visiting his whole Diocesse in his owne person, and Preaching every Lords day whilst he enjoyed his health either in the City or in the neighbour Townes: the last text he handled was Iohn 14. ver. 16. I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you for ever: upon the first proposall whereof as many of his hearers presaged his departure from them, so indeed proved it his last and Far-well Sermon, for soone after he came out of the Pulpit, he fell into grievous …its of the stone which first stoped the passages of nature, and within a few dayes shut up all the offices of his senses, so was his hour…glasse contrary to all other, the sooner run by being stop… with sand or gravell; for by his perpetuall sedentary life, such a stone was bred in his kidnies as no strength of nature or skill of Art could remove, but there still remaining, put his patience to the t…st, and by extremity of paine and torment in a short space took away all sense of paine and life together, whilest he lay thus as it were upon the racke in unsufferable tor…ure of body, his soul was at great rest and ease, for the assurance of heavenly things caused him most chearfully to part wi…h earthly, & the quick sense he had of the powers of the life …o come deaded the sense of his bodily paines. Many yet living are much revived to recollect those his last admonitions, and godly exhortations; those I say who came to vi…it him upon his death bed who were not a few, and among others the Judges being then at Sarum in their Circuit. To them he communicated out of his rich treasury of learning and devotion most Christian and grave advice, and amongst many points he discoursed on before them, he insisted very much upon the benefit of a good conscience, rendring many thanks to his Creator for the great comfort he felt thereby now in his extremity, and admonished all that heard him so to carry themselves in their most private and secret actions as well as in their publick, that …hey might obtain that at the last which would stand them in more stead then what all the World could afford besides; w…h these his godly admonitions and exhortations and Episcopall benediction and prayers, together with the paine of his diseas…, being quite …pent, he lay as it were …lumbering with now and the… a short ejaculation, lifting up his eyes and his hands towards heav…n for the space of two or three houres, and at the length, (March 2. 1617) between the houres of seven and eight gave up the ghost, with these words, come Lord Iesu come quickely, finish in me the worke that thou hast begun, in manus tuas domine commendo spiritum meum quia tu redemisti me deus veritatis salvum fac servum tuum qui in te solummodo, sperat & confidit fiat misericordia tua domine super me in te domine speravi non confundar in aeternum.
The Thursday following his Funerall was solemnized in the Cathedrall Church over against the Bishops seat, where he was buried not so much in earth as in water, I meane the teares of the Clergy, and all the inhabitants of Sarum which they shed in great abundance for his losse as they had great reason. For whereas there are three vertu…s which most endeere a good Bishop to his Diocesse, diligence in his Pastorall charge, Bountifull, Hospitality and a lovely and lowly carriage even towards hi… inferiors: in all these three Abbot excelled, first for his humility; all they that knew him either under ha…ches, or upon the deck or s…ting at the sterne of the Church found no difference in him: he was the same man in his private Cures, and in his doctorall Chayre and in his Episcopall seate. As a violet whe…her it be set lower or higher in the banke, retaineth still the same scent; so whether he were …t lower or higher in the Church he kept close to the earth and retained his sweet, meeke and humble disposition. As for Hospitality besides his extraornary entertainment of the Earles of Pembrooke, Harford, Mungumry … the Lord Arundall of Warder, the Judges of Ass…es, the Justices at the Sessions, the Mayor and his brethren and Deane and Cheapter, he feasted all the poore at Christmas, there being in the City of Salisbury three parishes, he bid a hundred coupels every day at the lea…t: so that besides the poorest of all, which were his guests on Christmas day, all the rest of the needy in the City filled up the other three spare Holy-dayes. What should I speake of his Charity to the Prisoners, whose Bowles he refreshed three times every weeke at least, their lamentable cryes piercing as deep into his heart as the Iron entered into their souls. Lastly, for his diligence in his Pastorall charge, and his f…ithfull & continuall dispencing the mysteries of salva…ion: I might here raise a cloud of witnesses not onelyonly his thronged Auditories at Oxford, Abington, Worster and Bingham, but his numerous Sermons, Commentaries and other Tractates of Divinity which he hath left behind him, some in Manuscripts some Printed.
The Manuscrip…s are these.
1 A Sermon Preached at Saint M…ries concer…ing the vindicating of Geneva Bibles from judaisme and A…ianisme. 2 Three Sermons in English one Preached at Pauls …sse, inti…led the Frui…lesse Fig-tree, the other two in the Cathedrall Church of Worcester upon the second of Tim. 4.7.8. 3 Diverse latin Sermons. 4 Lectures upon the 26.27.28. Chapters of Saint Matthew containing the storie of Christs Passion, death and resurrection. 5 A Commentary upon the Prophet E…ay from the first Chapter to the fif…eenth verse of the thir…ieth. 6 A Commentary in Latine upon the whole Epistle to the Romans. 7 A briefe examination of Mr Bishops reproofe of the Epistle Dedicato…y and Preface to the Answer of his Epistle to the King. 8 A Preface to the Reader to …e interposed betweene the Epistle Dedicatory of his booke de Anti-christo and the first Chapter of the same book.
The Printed are these.
A mirrour of Popish subtilties written against a cavelling Papist in the behalfe of one Paul Spence, dedicated to Bishop Whitgift London 1594. 2 The Exaltation of the Kingdome and Priesthood of Christ, being a Commentary upon the 110. Psalme, dedicated to Gerva… Babington Bishop of Worcester London 1601. 3 Antichristi Demonstratio dedicated to King James, Printed at London first 1602. and after 1608. 4 A Defence of the reformed Catholicke of Master Willian Perkins lately dec…ased, against the bastard counter Catholicke of Doctor Bishop Seminary Priest, dedicated to King James, the first part Printed 1606. the second 1607. the third 1609. 5 The true ancient Roman Catholicke dedicated t… Prince Henry, Printed London 1611. 6 The old way, a Sermon Preached at Oxford the eigth of July, being Act Sunday, dedicated to Archbishop Bancroft, Printed at London 1610. 7 Antilogia adversus Apologiam Audreae Eudemon Johannis Jesuitae pro Henrico G…rnetto proditore, dedicated to King Jame…, Printed at London 1613. 8 De suprema potestate Regia exercitationes habitae in Academia Oxoniensi, Printed after his death and dedicated by his Sonne to George Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury, Printed at London 1619. 9 De gratia & perseverantia sanctorum exercitationes habitae in Academia Oxoniensi, dedicated to Prince Charles Printed London 1618. 10 In Richardi Thopsoni Anglo belg. diatribam de amissione, & intercisione justificationis & gratiae, animadversio brevis, Printed London 1618.
As he perfected this last (March 2. 1617.) Work he finished his course upon earth, which the Archbishop his brother hearing commanded me then his Chaplaine in house to affix the Attestation here ensuing, which I drew according to briefe notes written in English under his Graces own hand; of which I may say as the Orator doth of his Oration, De haruspicum responsis Oratio omnis fuit non authoritatis meae sed publicae religio…is mea fuerunt verba, fortasse plura sententiae quidem omnes Archiepiscopi.
A Testatio.
EN tihi (Christiane lector) viri (absit verbo invidia) supra omnem invidiae aliam positi cantionem cygneam, cum qua animam exhalavit. Quod si ut esse Phaebi dulcius lumen solet jam jam cadentis, ita chariora sint illustrium virorum jam abeuntium scripta hunc libellum summo in pretio habeas oportet: quem scias eximii doctoris, ejusdemque Amistites reverende postrema cura elucubratum. Etenim dum opus hoc ad umbilicum ab ipso authore productium jam exit in lucem, ipse ex hac luce ad caelestem migrat: nempe commodissima ecclesiae militanti jam modo praestita opera, ad triumphantem evocatur ecclesiam, ac a gratioe divinae defensione confestim ad divinae gloria fruitionem tran…uolat; satur magis studiis, & lucubrationum suarum fama, quam amnis, dinque non tam fuisse, quam vixisse credendus, Vita enim definiente Plinio, Vigilia est, quam pr…sul hic noster propetuam sacrae theologiae studiis videtur impēdi…se. Nam posteaquam in celeberima Academia, Oxoniensi pectus penitus imbuisset optimarum artium cognitione, & linguam, stilumque sci…e procudisset, utrumque deo dedicavit, & reliquam aetatis tempus transmisit, partim sacris concionibus ad populum habendis, quib…s suggestum, partim praelectionibus dictandis, quibus Cathedram Doctoralem, partim scriptis suis limandis, quibus praelium plurimum locupletavit. Concedit claris…imi Theologi diu nomen, & industria, ac nitra a…gustos privatae parochiae limites aluit eam gloriam, quam haud ita multi nostro saeculo sunt assequuti. Tandem viginti annos officio pastoris, & ecclesiasticae munere egregie perfunctus, a serenissima regia Majestate in arenam protractus est, ut in religionis reformat… ca…sa de gravissimis saeculi nostri controversiis cum praecipuis pontificis Romani pugilibus dimicaret. Qua quidem in arena non tantum adversarios suos Bishoppium, & Eudaemonem Joannem sed & hominum de se opinionem superavit.
Non multo post ab eodem Seremissimo Rege Iacobo Cathedrae Theologicae in Alma Academia Oxoniensi preficitur: quam quidem dignitatem cum su…ma dignitate quinque annis sustinuit. Ad extremum fidelissimi pastoris, & eximii professoris laude cumulatus ad apicem Episcopalem evehi…ur, diocesi Sarisburiensi ei demandata quam annis non amplius duobus, & tribus mensibus administravit. Dum vero …on solum publicis cutae Episcopalis occupationibus implicatur, sed & priuatis studiis Theologicis penitus pertinaciusqu… adhaeret, ex sedentaria vitae ratione calculo intra renes, concep…o gravissime laborat, ac annum jam agens quinquagessimum octavum cum ejusdem morbi paroxismo ultimo per aliquot dies protracto in victa patientia conflictatus esset tandem, non sine ingen…i cleri sui, populique luctu, & pene incredibili. Salisburiensis civitatis maerore placide in domino conquiescit. Imminente morte convocat domesticos, & fidei suae professiomem interruptis, ac moribundis vocibus exorsus, cum amici monerent hinc ut supersederet labori, extare enim doctrinae, ac fidei suae in scriptis a se, editisque oporibus confessionem; annuit; & scripta sua omnia suprema hac voce obsignavit. Illa, inquit, fides quam scriptis meis propugnavi, veritas Dei est; in ejusque assertione morior. Scripsit autem varia cum latino …um vernaculo idiomate: quibus illud Solomonis elogium de aureis pomis in calaturis argenteis, videtur aptissime posse accommodari. Auream enim rerum optimarum, ex sacrosanctis scripturis, patribus, & conciliis ab ipso congestam supeliectilem argenteus includit, & illustrat dictiones candor. Sine quo, lecet caussa veritatis (ut eleganter Lactantius) defendi possit, ut est a multis saepe defensa tamen claritate, ac nitore sermonis illustranda, & quodammod… edisserenda est, ut potentius in animos instuat, & vi sua instructa, & luce orationis ornata. Certe hic nost…r (quod praecipit Quintilianus) non tantum fortibus, sed & fulgentibus armis contra haereticos pariter, schismaticosque dimicat. Nec hoc, quod prae manibus est, opus pene post humum, a… …loquii ni…ore, aut argumenti digimate reliquis ejusdem authoris cedit. In quò pius Amistes foreign simul, & foreign niter ecclesias reformatas tuendae zelo flagrans muros Hierichuntinos a Pelagio olim extructos, & a sanctis patribus dirutos, nuper vero a Iesuitis, ac numperime ab Arminianis restaurari caeptos, non cornea, sed argentea tuba demolitur. Ita enim …eritatem catholicam densissimis sacrarum scrip…urarum, & sanctorum patrum testim…niis, ac validissimis rationibus communit, & contra precipua Semipelagiorum argumenta sive A…minii, sive Thompsoni limarasa recenti, penitus obterit, & pro…ligat, ut modestis ingeniis, & a partium studio aliemit hoc libello non dubitemus abunde hac in parte iri satisfactum. Cum Arminio, ut extero, & adversario remotiore velut eminus pagnat; cum Thompsono vero, ut domistico in ecclesiae Anglicanae venis, & v…sceribus haerente, comminus congredi…ur, & tractatuli illius hererodoxi, quo justificationis gratia interciditur, ita nervos omnes incidit, ut qui post hac in Thompsoni Diatribam inciderit, Diogenis Zenomis Diatribam dicterium merito poteris …surpare. Thompsonianam hanc foreign esse foreign vale, benevole lector, in Christo, & cum opus hoc …uthoris caussa amplectere, tum authorem operis caussa pio studio prosequere.
Meo …ex…u, non meo filo. Daniel Featley, S. T. P. Archiepiscopò Canturiens… fucius, Englished …hus.
Thou hast here (Christian Reader) presented unto thee the Swan-like song of a man (let none quarell the phraise) above the reach even of envy it selfe, with which he expired. If then as the glimmering light of the setting Sun renders more delight to the eye of the beholder, so the Wo…kes of dying men are by so much the more indeared unto us; thou canst not choos but valew this Book at the greater rate, wch thou mayest understand was perfected by the last care of a learned Doctor, and right reverend Prelate. Fo… so soon as the Auth…r had finished the piece, & brought it to this ligh…, he himself passed to the light coelestiall: Having fitted his labour for the benefit of the Church Militant, he was called to the Church Tiumphant; and caught up immediatly from his defence of divine grace, to the fruition of divine glory. Laden he was more with learning, and the fame of his most acurate Works then with years, and to be thought rather to have lived long, then cont…nued long among us. For our life (as Plinie defines it) is a Watch, which this our Prelate seem'd wholly to imploy in the study of Theology. For af…er that, in the renowned University of Oxford he had furnished himself with the knowledg of the best Arts, and had exquisi…ely fashioned both his tongue and pen, he wholly devoted them both unto God, and dedicated the rest of his ensuing life, partly to publick Preaching wherewith he honoured the Pulpit; partly to the reading of publicke Lectures, with which he illustrated the Doctors Chayre; and partly to the composure of his owne learned writings, wherewith he wonderfully enriched the Presse. Long was the fame and industry of this reverend Divine, locked up in obscurity, and for which in the narrow limits of a private Parish, he nourished that of glory whereunto few of our times have arrived. Afterwards when for the space twenty years he had industriously executed the office of a Pastor and Preacher, by soveraigne command he was required to encounter the chiefe…t of the Roman Champions in the defence of the Reformed Religion, concerning the greatest controversies which our times have produced. In which cumbest he not onelyonly over-came his adversaries, Bishop and Eudemon, but far surpassed the opinion which the world had before conceived of him.
Not long after, by the same our most gracious Soveraign King Iames, he was advanced to be Doctor of the Chayre in the famous University of Oxford; which eminent place in the University he held with great reputation. At length having been famed for a faithfull Doctor, and an accurate Professor of Divinity, he was promoted to the Episcopall See of Salisbury, which he governed but for the terme of two years and three months: For whilst he was not onelyonly wrapped in the publick affaires of his Episcopall Government, but also continued most sedulous and industrious in his private studyes of Divinity; that sedutary life of his brought him to the terrible disease of the stone in his kidni…s, wherewith being grievously tortured for some weeks; and now having attained the fifty eight year of his age, a…ter good proofe of his unconquerable patience in the extremity of his last …it, he sweetly slept in the Lord, to the infinite sorrow both of the Clergy and Laity within his jurisdiction, and laments almost incredible of the whol City of Salisbury. When death approached he gave command that his family should be called together; before whom, with broken …peeches in the language of a dying man, beginning to make a profession of his Faith, his friends advized him to spare that paines, since an ample Testimony both of his faith and learning lived extant in his Workes. He yeelded to their advice, and signed all his Workes with these his last Words; That faith which I have defended in my writings, is the truth of God; and in the avouching thereof I leave the World.
Many Workes he set forth both in Latine and our mother tongue, to all which that Testimony of Salomon may be fitly given, They are apples of gold in Pictures of silver. For the silver brightnesse of his eloquent style expresses and gives a luster unto those goulden pieces of his accurate invention and rich materials furnished out of Scriptures, Fathers and Councels. Now although (as elegantly say's Lactantius) the cause of trueth may be defended without eloquence as it hath been often, yet it ought to be illustrated by the Nitour any clarity of a perspicuous style, so that it may sinke deeper into the minde by its owne strength and the helpe of the Oratory.
Thirdly, this our Champion hath fought against both hereticks and schismaticks, no… onelyonly with strong, but also (as Quintilian advises) with gl…stering weapons. Nor doth this present Worke of his (though born after his death) either for a fluent style, or weighty matter, come short of the others. In which this godly Prelate burning with zeale both to defend the doctrine of truth and unity in the Reformed Churches, not with Ra…s…hornes as it were, but with a silver trumpet hath demolished those wals of Hiericho that were first raised by Pel…giu…, and then battered down by the holy Fathers, but againe of late times begun to be repaired by the Jesuites, and last of all by the Arminians. For he hath so fortified the Catholick truth with the strongest Testimonies of the sacred Scriptures and the holy Fathers, and with such powerfull reason against the chie…est arguments of the Semi Pelagians, lately forbished over with the file of Arminius or Thomson, that we doubt not but this very booke alone will abundantly satisfie all Persons of modest ingenuity whatsoever. He fights with Arminius as with a forraign and more remote adversary, at a kinde of distance; but with Tomson he closed and grapels, as with a Domestick, fostered in the bowels of our Church of England, and he hath so coreruated that Pamphlet of his, which cuts off the grace of justification, that for ever hereafter who so shal… fall upon Thomsons Diatriba, he may justly make use of the censure of Diogenes upon Zeno's Diatriba. This Thomsons Diatriba is truely Catatriba: that this his passe-time, as he tremes it (sporting himselfe with the Precisians) being himself one of the concision) is a wast mine. Courteous Reader farewell in the Lord; make much of the Work for the Authors sake, and of the Authors memory for the Works sake.
Surry, Oxford, Sarum clame
Their severall intrests in our Abbots Name;
Surry bore him, Oxford bred him;
Sarum (ripe for high promotion) led him
To honors Chayre: To whom he gave
More lasting honor, then he could receive…
This like a momentary Blaze
Lent a faire light, but vanisht with his dayes;
But that, like Titans brighter flame
Continues coeternall with his Name:
Nor is't the least addition to his glory
That learned Featlyes pen hath writ his story.