Lives of John Donne, Henry Wotton, Rich'd Hooker, George Herbert Part 19

Mr. Baxter denied it for this reason, then given in with his own hand in writing thus: "Because the first act commanded may be _per accidens_ unlawful, and be commanded by an unjust penalty, though no other act or circ.u.mstance commanded be such."

Again, this proposition being brought by the Conformists, "That command which commandeth an act in itself lawful, and no other act whereby any unjust penalty is enjoined, nor any circ.u.mstance, whence directly, or _per accidens_, any sin is consequent, which the commander ought to provide against, hath in it all things requisite to the lawfulness of a command, and particularly cannot be guilty of commanding an act _per accidens_ unlawful, nor of commanding an act under an unjust penalty."

Mr. Baxter denied it upon the same reasons.

PETER GUNNING.[27]

JOHN PEARSON.[28]

These were then two of the disputants, still alive, and will attest this; one being now Lord Bishop of Ely, and the other of Chester.

And the last of them told me very lately, that one of the Dissenters--which I could, but forbear to name--appeared to Dr.

Sanderson to be so bold, so troublesome, and so illogical in the dispute, as forced patient Dr. Sanderson--who was then Bishop of Lincoln, and a moderator with other Bishops--to say, with an unusual earnestness, "That he had never met with a man of more pertinacious confidence, and less abilities, in all his conversation."

[Sidenote: Results of the debate]

But though this debate at the Savoy was ended without any great satisfaction to either party, yet both parties knew the desires, and understood the abilities, of the other, much better than before it: and the late distressed Clergy, that were now restored to their former rights and power, did, at the next meeting in Convocation, contrive to give the dissenting party satisfaction by alteration, explanation, and addition to some part both of the Rubric and Common Prayer, as also by adding some new necessary Collects, and a particular Collect of Thanksgiving. How many of those new Collects were worded by Dr.

Sanderson, I cannot say; but am sure the whole Convocation valued him so much that he never undertook to speak to any point in question, but he was heard with great willingness and attention; and when any point in question was determined, the Convocation did usually desire him to word their intentions, and as usually approve and thank him.

[Sidenote: New Offices]

At this Convocation the Common Prayer was made more complete, by adding three new necessary Offices; which were, "A Form of Humiliation for the Murder of King Charles the Martyr; A Thanksgiving for the Restoration of his Son our King; and For the Baptising of Persons of riper Age." I cannot say Dr. Sanderson did form, or word them all, but doubtless more than any single man of the Convocation; and he did also, by desire of the Convocation, alter and add to the forms of Prayers to be used at Sea--now taken into the Service-Book.--And it may be noted, that William, the now Right Reverend Bishop of Canterbury,[29] was in these employments diligently useful; especially in helping to rectify the Calendar and Rubric. And lastly, it may be noted, that, for the satisfying all the dissenting brethren and others, the Convocation's reasons for the alterations and additions to the Liturgy were by them desired to be drawn up by Dr. Sanderson; which being done by him, and approved by them, was appointed to be printed before the Liturgy, and may be known by this t.i.tle--"The Preface;" and begins thus--"It hath been the Wisdom of the Church."--

I shall now follow him to his Bishopric, and declare a part of his behaviour in that busy and weighty employment. And first, that it was with such condescension and obligingness to the meanest of his Clergy, as to know and be known to them. And indeed he practised the like to all men of what degree soever, especially to his old neighbours or parishioners of Boothby Pannell; for there was all joy at his table, when they came to visit him: then they prayed for him, and he for them, with an unfeigned affection.

I think it will not be denied, but that the care and toil required of a Bishop, may justly challenge the riches and revenue with which their predecessors had lawfully endowed them: and yet he sought not that so much, as doing good both to the present age and posterity; and he made this appear by what follows.

[Sidenote: The Bishop at Buckden]

[Sidenote: Repairs and restorations]

The Bishop's chief house at Buckden, in the County of Huntingdon, the usual residence of his predecessors,--for it stands about the midst of his Diocese,--having been at his consecration a great part of it demolished, and what was left standing under a visible decay, was by him undertaken to be erected and repaired: and it was performed with great speed, care, and charge. And to this may be added, that the King having by an Injunction commended to the care of the Bishops, Deans, and Prebends of all Cathedral Churches, "the repair of them, their houses, and augmentation of small Vicarages;" he, when he was repairing Buckden, did also augment the last, as fast as fines were paid for renewing leases so fast, that a friend, taking notice of his bounty, was so bold as to advise him to remember, "he was under his first-fruits, and that he was old, and had a wife and children yet but meanly provided for, especially if his dignity were considered." To whom he made a mild and thankful answer, saying, "It would not become a Christian Bishop to suffer those houses built by his predecessors to be ruined for want of repair; and less justifiable to suffer any of those, that were called to so high a calling as to sacrifice at G.o.d's altar, to eat the bread of sorrow constantly, when he had a power by a small augmentation, to turn it into the bread of cheerfulness: and wished, that as this was, so it were also in his power to make all mankind happy, for he desired nothing more. And for his wife and children, he hoped to leave them a competence, and in the hands of a G.o.d that would provide for all that kept innocence, and trusted his providence and protection, which he had always found enough to make and keep him happy."

[Sidenote: His favourite books]

There was in his Diocese a Minister of almost his age, that had been of Lincoln College when he left it, who visited him often, and always welcome, because he was a man of innocence and openheartedness. This Minister asked the Bishop what books he studied most, when he laid the foundation of his great and clear learning. To which his answer was, "that he declined reading many; but what he did read were well chosen, and read so often, that he became Very familiar with them;" and said, "they were chiefly three, Aristotle's Rhetoric, Aquinas's _Secunda Secundit_, and Tully, but chiefly his offices, which he had not read over less than twenty times, and could at this age say without book."

And told him also, "the learned Civilian Doctor Zouch--who died lately--had writ _Elementa Jurisprudentiae_, which was a book that he could also say without book; and that no wise man could read it too often, or love or commend too much;" and told him, "these had been his toil: but for himself he always had a natural love to genealogies and Heraldry; and that when his thoughts were hara.s.sed with any perplexed studies, he left off, and turned to them as a recreation; and that his very recreation had made him so perfect in them, that he could, in a very short time, give an account of the descent, arms, and antiquity of any family of the n.o.bility or gentry of this nation."

[Sidenote: His Will]

Before I give an account of Dr. Sanderson's last sickness, I desire to tell the Reader that he was of a healthful const.i.tution, cheerful and mild, of an even temper, very moderate in his diet, and had had little sickness, till some few years before his death; but was then every winter punished with a diarrhoea, which left not till warm weather returned and removed it: and this distemper did, as he grew older, seize him oftener, and continue longer with him. But though it weakened him, yet it made him rather indisposed than sick, and did no way disable him from studying--indeed too much.--In this decay of his strength, but not of his memory or reason,--for this distemper works not upon the understanding,--he made his last Will, of which I shall give some account for confirmation of what hath been said, and what I think convenient to be known, before I declare his death and burial.

He did in his last Will,[30] give an account of his faith and persuasion in point of religion, and Church-government, in these very words:

"I, Robert Sanderson, Doctor of Divinity, an unworthy Minister of Jesus Christ, and, by the providence of G.o.d, Bishop of Lincoln, being by the long continuance of an habitual distemper brought to a great bodily weakness and faintness of spirits, but--by the great mercy of G.o.d--without any bodily pain otherwise, or decay of understanding, do make this my Will and Testament,--written all with my own hand,--revoking all former Wills by me heretofore made, if any such shall be found. First, I commend my soul into the hands of Almighty G.o.d, as of a faithful Creator, which I humbly beseech him mercifully to accept, looking upon it, not as it is in itself,--infinitely polluted with sin,--but as it is redeemed and purged with the precious blood of his only beloved Son, and my most sweet Saviour Jesus Christ; in confidence of whose merits and mediation alone it is, that I cast myself upon the mercy of G.o.d for the pardon of my sins, and the hopes of eternal life. And here I do profess, that as I have lived, so I desire, and--by the grace of G.o.d--resolve, to die in the communion of the Catholic Church of Christ, and a true son of the Church of England: which, as it stands by law established, to be both in doctrine and worship agreeable to the word of G.o.d, and in the most, and most material points of both conformable to the faith and practice of the G.o.dly Churches of Christ in the primitive and purer times, I do firmly believe: led so to do, not so much from the force of custom and education,--to which the greatest part of mankind owe their particular different persuasions in point of Religion,--as upon the clear evidence of truth and reason, after a serious and impartial examination of the grounds, as well of Popery as Puritanism, according to that measure of understanding, and those opportunities which G.o.d hath afforded me: and herein I am abundantly satisfied, that the schism which the Papists on the one hand, and the superst.i.tion which the Puritan on the other hand, lay to our charge, are very justly chargeable upon themselves respectively. Wherefore I humbly beseech Almighty G.o.d, the Father of mercies, to preserve the Church by his power and providence, in peace, truth, and G.o.dliness, evermore to the world's end: which doubtless he will do, if the wickedness and security of a sinful people--and particularly those sins that are so rife, and seem daily to increase among us, of unthankfulness, riot, and sacrilege--do not tempt his patience to the contrary. And I also further humbly beseech him, that it would please him to give unto our gracious Sovereign, the reverend Bishops, and the Parliament, timely to consider the great danger that visibly threatens this Church in point of Religion by the late great increase of Popery, and in point of revenue by sacrilegious inclosures; and to provide such wholesome and effectual remedies, as may prevent the same before it be too late."

And for a further manifestation of his humble thoughts and desires, they may appear to the Reader by another part of his Will which follows.

"As for my corruptible body, I bequeath it to the earth whence it was taken, to be decently buried in the Parish Church of Buckden, towards the upper end of the Chancel, upon the second, or--at the furthest--the third day after my decease; and that with as little noise, pomp, and charge as may be, without the invitation of any person how near soever related unto me, other than the inhabitants of Buckden; without the unnecessary expense of escutcheons, gloves, ribbons, &c., and without any blacks to be hung any where in or about the house or Church, other than a pulpit cloth, a hea.r.s.e-cloth, and a mourning gown for the Preacher; whereof the former--after my body shall be interred--to be given to the Preacher of the Funeral Sermon, and the latter to the Curate of the Parish for the time being. And my will further is that the Funeral Sermon be preached by my own household Chaplain, containing some wholesome discourse concerning Mortality, the Resurrection of the Dead and the Last Judgment; and that he shall have for his pains 5_l._ upon condition that he speak nothing at all concerning my person, either good or ill, other than I myself shall direct; only signifying to the auditory that it was my express will to have it so. And it is my will, that no costly monument be erected for my memory, but only a fair flat marble stone to be laid over me, with this inscription in legible Roman characters, DEPOSITUM ROBERTI SANDERSON NUPER LINCOLNIENSIS EPISCOPI, QUI OBIIT ANNO DOMINI MDCLXII. ET aeTATIS SUae SEPTUAGESIMO s.e.xTO, HIC REQUIESCIT IN SPE BEATE RESURRECTIONIS. This manner of burial, although I cannot but foresee it will prove unsatisfactory to sundry my nearest friends and relations, and be apt to be censured by others, as an evidence of my too much parsimony and narrowness of mind, as being altogether unusual, and not according to the mode of these times: yet it is agreeable to the sense of my heart, and I do very much desire my Will may be carefully observed herein, hoping it may become exemplary to some or other: at least however testifying at my death--what I have so often and earnestly professed in my life time--my utter dislike of the flatteries commonly used in Funeral Sermons, and of the vast expenses otherwise laid out in Funeral solemnities and entertainments, with very little benefit to any; which if bestowed in pious and charitable works, might redound to the public or private benefit of many persons."

[Sidenote: His death]

I am next to tell, that he died the 29th of January, 1662; and that his body was buried in Buckden, the third day after his death; and for the manner, that it was as far from ostentation as he desired it; and all the rest of his Will was as punctually performed. And when I have--to his just praise--told this truth, "that he died far from being rich," I shall return back to visit, and give a further account of him on his last sick bed.

His last Will--of which I have mentioned a part--was made about three weeks before his death, about which time, finding his strength to decay by reason of his constant infirmity, and a consumptive cough added to it, he retired to his chamber, expressing a desire to enjoy his last thoughts to himself in private, without disturbance or care, especially of what might concern this world. And that none of his Clergy--which are more numerous than any other Bishop's--might suffer by his retirement, he did by commission impower his Chaplain, Mr.

Pullin,[31] with Episcopal power to give inst.i.tutions to all livings or Church-preferments, during this his disability to do it himself.

In this time of his retirement he longed for his dissolution; and when some that loved him prayed for his recovery, if he at any time found any amendment, he seemed to be displeased, by saying, "His friends said their prayers backward for him: and that it was not his desire to live a useless life, and by filling up a place keep another out of it, that might do G.o.d and his Church service." He would often with much joy and thankfulness mention, "That during his being a housekeeper--which was more than forty years--there had not been one buried out of his family, and that he was now like to be the first."

He would also often mention with thankfulness, "That till he was three score years of age, he had never spent five shillings in law, nor--upon himself--so much in wine: and rejoiced much that he had so lived, as never to cause an hour's sorrow to his good father; and hoped he should die without an enemy."

[Sidenote: Rules and habits]

He, in this retirement, had the Church prayers read in his chamber twice every day; and at nine at night, some prayers read to him and a part of his family out of "The Whole Duty of Man." As he was remarkably punctual and regular in all his studies and actions, so he used himself to be for his meals. And his dinner being appointed to be constantly ready at the ending of prayers, and he expecting and calling for it, was answered, "It would be ready in a quarter of an hour." To which his reply was, "A quarter of an hour! Is a quarter of an hour nothing to a man that probably has days not many hours to live?" And though he did live many hours after this, yet he lived not many days; for the day after--which was three days before his death--he was become so weak and weary of either motion or sitting, that he was content, or forced, to keep his bed: in which I desire he may rest, till I have given some account of his behaviour there, and immediately before it.

[Sidenote: His last days]

The day before he took his bed,--which was three days before his death,--he, that he might receive a new a.s.surance for the pardon of his sins past, and be strengthened in his way to the New Jerusalem, took the blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of his and our blessed Jesus, from the hands of his Chaplain, Mr. Pullin, accompanied with his wife, children, and a friend, in as awful, humble, and ardent a manner, as outward reverence could express. After the praise and thanksgiving for it was ended, he spake to this purpose: "Thou, O G.o.d! tookest me out of my mother's womb, and hast been the powerful protector of me to this present moment of my life: Thou hast neither forsaken me now I am become greyheaded, nor suffered me to forsake thee in the late days of temptation, and sacrifice my conscience for the preservation of my liberty or estate. It was by grace that I have stood, when others have fallen under my trials: and these mercies I now remember with joy and thankfulness; and my hope and desire is, that I may die praising thee."

[Sidenote: Use of the Psalms]

The frequent repet.i.tion of the Psalms of David, hath been noted to be a great part of the devotion of the primitive Christians; the Psalms having in them not only prayers and holy instructions, but such commemorations of G.o.d's mercies, as may preserve, comfort, and confirm our dependence on the power, and providence, and mercy of our Creator.

And this is mentioned in order to telling, that as the holy Psalmist said, that his eyes should prevent both the dawning of the day and night watches, by meditating on G.o.d's word (Psal. cxix. 147), so it was Dr. Sanderson's constant practice every morning to entertain his first waking thoughts with a repet.i.tion of those very Psalms that the Church hath appointed to be constantly read in the daily Morning service: and having at night laid him in his bed, he as constantly closed his eyes with a repet.i.tion of those appointed for the service of the evening, remembering and repeating the very Psalms appointed for every day; and as the month had formerly ended and began again, so did this exercise of his devotion. And if his first waking thoughts were of the world, or what concerned it, he would arraign and condemn himself for it. Thus he began that work on earth, which is now his employment in Heaven.

[Sidenote: Death]

After his taking his bed, and about a day before his death, he desired his Chaplain, Mr. Pullin, to give him absolution: and at his performing that office, he pulled off his cap, that Mr. Pullin might lay his hand upon his bare head. After this desire of his was satisfied, his body seemed to be at more ease, and his mind more cheerful; and he said, "Lord, forsake me not now my strength faileth me; but continue thy mercy, and let my mouth be filled with thy praise." He continued the remaining night and day very patient, and thankful for any of the little offices that were performed for his ease and refreshment: and during that time did often say the 103rd Psalm to himself, and very often these words, "My heart is fixed, O G.o.d! my heart is fixed where true joy is to be found." His thoughts seemed now to be wholly of death, for which he was so prepared, that the King of Terrors could not surprise him as a thief in the night: for he had often said, he was prepared, and longed for it. And as this desire seemed to come from Heaven, so it left him not till his soul ascended to that region of blessed spirits, whose employments are to join in concert with him, and sing praise and glory to that G.o.d, who hath brought them to that place, into which sin and sorrow cannot enter.

Thus this pattern of meekness and primitive innocence changed this for a better life. 'Tis now too late to wish that my life may be like his; for I am in the eighty-fifth year of my age: but I humbly beseech Almighty G.o.d, that my death may: and do as earnestly beg of every Reader, to say--Amen.

Blessed is the man in whose spirit there is no guile, Psal. x.x.xii. 2.

[Footnote 1: This is a mistake; Bishop Sanderson was born at Sheffield on the 19th of September.]

[Footnote 2: Thomas Scot, or Rotheram, so called after his birth-place, Fellow of King's College, in Cambridge, was afterward Master of Pembroke Hall, and 1483 and 1484, Chancellor of the University. He obtained great ecclesiastical preferment, being successively Provost of Beverley, Bishop of Rochester and of Lincoln, and lastly Archbishop of York. Nor was he less adorned with civil honours, having been appointed, first, Keeper of the Privy Seal, and then Lord Chancellor of England. The two Universities and his native town still enjoy the fruits of his bounty. He died 29th May, 1500.]

[Footnote 3: Dr. Gilbert Sheldon was born July 19, 1598.--His father, Roger Sheldon, though of no obscure parentage, was a menial servant to Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury.--He was of Trinity College, Oxford, and took his Master's degree in May, 1620. He was introduced to Charles I.

by Lord Coventry, and became one of His Majesty's Chaplains. Upon the Restoration, he was made Dean of the Chapel Royal, succeeded Dr. Juxon as Bishop of London, and after as Archbishop of Canterbury; in 1667 he was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford. He died at Lambeth, Nov. 9, 1677.]

[Footnote 4: Dr. Richard Kilbie, born at Ratcliffe, in Leicestershire, and a great benefactor to his College, since he restored the neglected library, added eight new repositories for books, and gave to it many excellent volumes. He became Rector in 1590, and in 1610 he was appointed the King's Hebrew Professor. He died in 1620.]

[Footnote 5: An edition of this work was published in Oxford so recently as 1841.]

[Footnote 6: Mr. Charles Crooke, a younger son of Sir John Crooke, of Chilton, in Bucks, one of the Justices of the King's Bench. In 1615, he proceeded D.D., being then Rector of Amersham and a Fellow of Eton College.]

[Footnote 7: Brother of George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, born at Guildford in 1560, and promoted to the See of Salisbury in 1615, as a reward for his Lectures against Suarez and Bellarmine, in defence of the King's supreme power. On his way to Sarum, he made an oration to the University, and his friends parted from him with tears. He died March 2nd, 1617-8.]

[Footnote 8: Dr. John Prideaux, born at Harford, in Devon in 1578, and Rector of Exeter College in 1612, when he acquired so much fame in the government of it, that several eminent foreigners placed themselves under his care. He was made King's Professor in Divinity in 1615, and Bishop of Worcester in 1641; but was reduced to great poverty in the Civil Wars, and died July 20th, 1650.]

[Footnote 9: Dr. Arthur Lake, born at Southampton about 1550, and educated at Winchester School, whence he proceeded to New College, Oxford. He was created Dean of Worcester in 1608, and Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1616. He died on 4th May, 1626.]