To the Reverend Dr. GAUDEN, theſe preſent.

YOur Sermon preached at the Funeral of the late eminent Biſhop of Ex­ceter, hath been and is of that general acceptation, that thoſe that heard it, or have heard of it, do conſent in their earneſt de­ſires of us to write unto you for its publiſhing; The honor in it due to that learned Prelate, as a memo­rial of him, the great benefit which will ariſe to the Church both in the preſent age and future, the ſeaſona­bleneſs of the manifeſtation of his judgement in ſeveral ſubjects, and the happy fruit which may be reap­ed by the Reader, in the imitation of his exemplary life and pious conver­ſation (to Gods glory and the good of ſouls) theſe do ſufficiently of themſelves beſpeak your inclina­tion to it: But we do alſo make it our requeſt, that you will be plea­ſed with all convenient ſpeed to print it, which as it will ſatisfie the expectation of your many other Friends, ſo will it much oblige

TO THE Honourable Societies OF THE TEMPLES.

HAving endeavored (Ho­norable and worthy Gentlemen) if not to adorn, yet at leaſt to do ſome right to the memory of the reverend and renow­ued Biſhop Brounrig, by thoſe (juſta Parentalia) praiſes which are moſt due to his accompliſhed worth, for his holy obedience to the Word of God, for his conformity to his bleſſed Saviour, for his loyalty to Soveraign power, for his love to his Country, for his compaſ­ſion to the Church, for his zeal to the Reformed Religion, for thoſe ſighs, prayers and tears, by which he encou­tred the ſins and miſeries of this Na­tion; for his exemplary merits to all that were or would be good: and laſtly, for his particular favour to­wards me (of which I am ambitious to expreſs a moſt grateful ſenſe:) Yet I finde ſtill ſomething of further duty and diſcretion incumbent on me, which muſt be diſcharged by this Preface or Epiſtle, to which your name is inſcri­bed; wherein firſt, I am to juſtifie my own ſo large and liberal commenda­tion of the Biſhop. Secondly, I am to give an account of your particular me­rit, as to this Dedication. Thirdly, I am to crave your patrociny for my vindication.

§. For the firſt, My own Veraci­ty, as to what I have wrote, (〈…〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, ) without en­vy, flattery or partiality of this excel­lent Biſhop, I believe I have the at­testation of all good men, who either perſonally knew, or have been fully informed of his worth; if they have eyes able to behold and bear the re­ſplendency of all moral vertues in an excellent man; of all intellectual a­bilites, in an excellent Schollar; of all ſound Divinity in an excellent Divine; of well choſen, well handled, well applied and well practiſed Texts in an excellent Preacher; of all gra­vity, prudence, circumſpectneſs and candor in an excellent Gover­nour; of ſincere and operative gra­ces in an excellent Chriſtian; Laſtly, of all theſe concurrent, compleated and cumulated in an excellent Biſhop; who was indeed (〈…〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) in in all points of humane and divine perfections, ſuch as he ſhould be.

§. All ingenious perſons who are not overgrown with the Antiepiſco­pal Jaundiſe (who have not envious, odious, jealous and implacable eyes againſt all Biſhops, and moſt againſt the beſt;) will readily ſubſcribe to what I have written; Yea I know, there is ſuch a cloud of witneſſes, as forbids me ſolicitouſly to avow my own integrity and truth on either ſide.

§. Firſt, For my ſelf, I am as much an enemy to flattery, as a friend to civility. Paraſitiſme differs as much from juſt and comely praiſe, as Divels do from good Angels; The firſt is black as hel, the ſecond beautiful as Heaven. I fear nothing (whatever I do, or ſay, or write,) more then that baſe fear, which either proſti­tutes to ſervile adulation of vice: or is overawed from juſt commenda­tion of vertue, even in Biſhops; I do profeſs (with Greg. Naz. commending St. Cyprian,〈…〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; I have ſpo­ken and written as to the verity, and eminency of the patern; nothing to any compliance or partiality, I was not to dreſs up an Ulyſſis with Homer; or an Aeneas with Virgil, after a po­etick freedom, and flouriſh of inven­tion, but to repreſent to the unworthy world, a moſt worthy Biſhop, and to reproach the imprudence, and ingra­titude of the age, by letting it ſee in this particular, what an admirable Biſhops it had extirpated, what ac­compliſhed abilities it had ſuppreſſed, what uſeful merits it had diſcounte­nanced; not onely by not rewarding, but by depriving of ſuch rewards, as they had both deſerved, and obtain­ed by Gods bleſſing, and the mu­nificence of the Prince and Nation; I was to ſet forth a chief Paſtor of the Church, conformable to Chriſts croſs, as well as ſerviceable to his flock; having not only the crown of crucified affections, but alſo crucrify­ing afflictions, yea and of crucified vertues, by the indignities of the world; nay and of ſelf crucifying gra­ces too, by his own humility; for while he was eminent in all men, that had eyes to ſee true worth, yet in his own eyes he was nothing, and Chriſt was all in all to him.

§. Secondly, They knew not Biſhop Brounrig, who knew not how far he was from either active or paſſive flattery; As he abhorred both, ſo he needed neither; He was far above them, being ſo full and overflowing with reall and ſolid worth, that he was not capable (as lanck bladders) of any empty and aiery diſtentions; he had as Plato ſaith of one Gorgi­as,〈…〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, A ſoul and life that wanted fictitious comendations no more, then burniſh­ed gold, or poliſhed marble doth need any paint, or colouring.

§. Such deceitful decorations, and ſpurious prayſes, are for their Sepulchers who affect to be reputed worthies, when they have done no­thing worthily, who would be recoun­ted for great Rabbies and Refor­mers, when indeed they were but A­baddons, and Apollyons of all things civil and ſacred; ambitious, when dead, to be called Patriots and Fathers of their countrey, yea Sa­viours and Preſervers of Religion, when they have ſought to ſacrifice both fathers and children, to the Molochs, Chians, and Remphans, Idols and Images, which they ſet up, and their fathers never knew; There are that hope to be venerated, as the Divels in India, not for the good, but for the miſcheife, they were able to do.

§. For my part, I would not for a world, profane thoſe ſacred texts, of The righteous periſh, or The me­mory of the juſt ſhall be bleſſed, or Bleſſed are they that dye in the Lord, or Pretious in the ſight of the Lord is the death of his Saints, and the like, by preaching them over thoſe whoſe doings are as noyſome as their carkaſſes; who deſerve to be bu­ried with the buriall of an Aſs; Though violent and vile men, ſhould make their graves with the rich and the Noble; yet their Monuments built with untempered mortar, made up of the bones and blood of men, will ſooner rot then their corps.

§. No flattering Confectioners can make Mummy, to impartial poſterity, of thoſe abominable livers, whoſe names are written in the duſt, and deſerve to periſh as their own dung; when they give no evidence to the preſent age, by their piety or repentance, that the name of God is gravn in their hearts, or their names are written in heaven. No venal pens, and mercenary tongues can keep after ages from curſing and deteſting their memories, who like Nero, or Hieroſtratus, or Ra­viliaac, or Borgia, and other mon­ſters of men, ſeek renown by their enormities, and ſtudy to equal their vilanies to their abilities: whoſe dy­ing is not times digeſting them to ma­ture honour; but its ſpewing them out to everlaſting ſhame and abhor­rence.

§. But where uſeful virtues and re­al graces do appear in any, never ſo poor, afflicted, deſolated, (as the Martyes and Confeſſors of old, and latter ages were;) every juſt man and ingenuous Chriſtian, will be not on­ly ready to bring ſweet odors and ſpices to their burial, but they are ambitious to embalme their names and memories to a perpetuity of honour; Though proſcribed and baniſhed, though undone and de­ſtroyed by the injuries of the age, in which they lived; as were Ignatius Cyprian, Athanaſius, Chryſoſtom, Boethius, and many others among the Chriſtians, yea and among Heathen too, as Epaminondas, Ari­ſtides, Themiſtoeles, Scipio, Affr. and others; whoſe ingrateful Coun­trys did not hinder the gratitude of poſterity, as to perſons that deſer­ved longer life and better uſage.

§. Yea, not onely among the Hea­thens, ſuch extaſies of admiration tranſported them to the ſuperſtition of an imaginary〈…〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or deification of the dead; (whoſe deſerts they thought purchaſed for them an immor­tality, Divinity or Godſhip of a lower form, leſſer edition, and lat­ter creation;) But even Chriſtians at firſt indeed, with moderation and caution, (afterwards by an〈…〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or exceſſe of veneration) did canonize thoſe as Saints, or divi, holy, honorable and happy men and women, who by exemplary piety and patience, had ſealed to the truth and peace of Chriſtian religi­on; hereby recommending the imita­tion of their graces and vertues to all men, both good and bad, to reprove the one, and improve the other.

§. For not onely well diſpoſed perſons are well content to ſee them­ſelves encouraged by the commen­dation of thoſe, whoſe worthy ſteps they follow; But even thoſe, that are no great valuers, or followers of vertue themſelves, no nor prai­ſers of it in others, while living, are yet content to lay aſide the poyſon of their envy, and ſting of their calumny towards them when they onely live in their deſerved reputation for goodneſs; whoſe re­wards even vicious men are prone to fancy they may more eaſily ob­tain if they have but a mind to commend them, when dead.

§. Nor is this fallacy without ſome ſhew of reaſon; For vertue is prone to adopt thoſe for her children, who have any value or reſpect for her even in others; As by pittying, ſo by praiſing, we are ſecretly allu­red to practiſe things praiſe-wor­thy; As evil ſpeech corrupts good manners, ſo good ſpeech is apt to mend evil manners; yea, as to ſmother, or calumniate, or coldly commend anothers virtue, argues little conſciouſneſs to it in ones ſelf; So it is the ſureſt token of grace, and vertue, to love, ad­mire and adore them, Firſt in the higheſt perfection of the Divine Idea; Secondly, in the cleareſt image, or repreſentation of them, Je­ſus Chriſt; Laſtly in the more familiar inſtances of them among mankind, where they are (like the Sun-beams, in watery reflections, infinitely more remiſſe indeed, and leſs glo­rious, than in the original, but yet more viſible and condeſcending to humane capacities.

§. And ſuch they were in this Ilu­ſtrious Biſhop, however he were eclipſed by the fatal darkneſs of the times; yet the pregnant de­monſtrations of his worth, were publikely atteſted, as by that love and reverence which all good men payed him while he lived; ſo by that honorable and ample concourſe of many Eagles to his corps and Funerals, which were attended by Noblemen, by Gentlemen, by Judges, by Lawyers, by Divines, by Merchants and Citizens, of the beſt ſort then in London; Theſe flocked to his Sepulcher, theſe fol­lowed the Bier, theſe recounted his worth, theſe deplored their own and the ages loſs of him; Theſe reproached thoſe who had occa­ſioned, or caſt any diminutions up­on ſuch extraordinary merits, and ſuch accompliſhed Biſhops; For he was not the onely Phenix of his age and order, who had been deplumed, and almoſt reduced to aſhes by the inor­dinate, flames of the times.) But I need no more to juſtify any ſo am­ple commendation of this excel­lent Biſhop, whom none could with truth or Juſtice diſparage.

§. My ſecond work in this Epiſtle is, to give the world an account of your particular merit, as to this Dedication, wherein I am comman­ded in modeſty, not to inſiſt upon your ſo propenſe and unanimous fa­vour expreſſed towards my ſelf, (which chalengeth its proper time, and place, for my thankeful ac­knowledgment) becauſe the preſent Subject affords me reaſon more than enough; Nor could I have been other than extreamly injurious, both to the Dead and the Living, (the ve­nerable Biſhop, and your honora­ble ſelves) if I ſhould have de­dicated this work to any other than your ſelves; Since not onely to you they were by me at firſt, for the main, delivered by word of mouth, (which I know more coveted to hear, than well could, by reaſon of the great crowd and concourſe, of attendants, who may claime of me this Juſtice, and compenſation, of their defeats) but to your honoura­ble Societies, above all men living, the venerable ſubject and occaſion of my labours, this reverend Biſhop (next God) did cheifly bequeath and dedicate himſelf, both living, dying, and dead.

§. If he had lived longer, you had been that happy Society, which ſhould have been honored and bleſ­ſed, with his preſence and reſidence, with his praying and preaching, with his grave counſel and holy ex­ample: The golden remains of his pretious life and ſtrength, were yours; he was ſo juſt and grateful, as to own and requite your love and reſpects to him, who had ſo highly deſerved of him.

When he dyed, and was to put off his earthly Tabernacle, thoſe exuviae mortalitatis, which are due to the grave; It was inter noviſſi­ma vota, one of his laſt deſires, that as this mantle of Eliah's ſoul, was likely to fall among you, ſo it might be depoſited in your Temple, or Sanctuary, as an expectant of a bleſ­ſed Reſurrection.

§. This requeſt you not onely am­bitiouſly entertained, but hono­rable accompliſhed, being loth, that ſo great a Prophet, ſhould be buried among the graves of the meaner people; though living, he was almoſt levelled to them, by ſome men, I fear of more prepoſterous, than pious ſpirits, who ſeemed moſt impatient to own the vaſt differences, which God and nature, education and grace, age and experience, learning and induſtry, beſides our Lawes, and the univerſal cuſtome of the Churches of Chriſt, had made among the Miniſters of Chriſt, for the good order, and welfare both of Preſbyters and people, grudging that any civil reſpect or reward ſhould be proportioned to their worth and uſefulneſs in the Church.

§. It became your learning, Ju­ſtice, and wiſdom, to deſcern and own the advantages, and diſcrimi­nations, that were ſo evident in this excellent Biſhop, who are not only Truſtees and Guardians of his Urne and aſhes; but Conſervators of his better ſelf, living Monuments of his excellent ſoul, Admirers of his rare endowments, Imitators of his worthy example; All which were by him, and now by me devoted to you above all men, among whom he had his laſt hoſpitable and ho­norable reception; You, by a gene­rous civility (in an age pittifully and plebeianly Antiepiſcopal,) durſt in­vite, own and entertain, with pub­lique reſpect, ſuch a Biſhop, whoſe eminent and unſpotted worth every way made him ſo much more, the object of ſome mens envy and deſpite, as the higheſt Towers and trees are of the rage of tempeſts.

§. For many have more patience towards Biſhops and Miniſters of his degree and perſwaſion, who are leſs commendable, or more culpable, than to thoſe, whoſe eminency in goodneſs becoming Biſhops and Divines, makes their injurious ma­lice wholy inexcuſable; Some ſpi­rits are moſt eager to caſt that E­piſcopal ſalt on the ground, which hath beſt ſavour in it; and leaſt of popiſh or popular fatuity; that greater eſteem may be had of their inſpired arrogancy, which by parity tends to Ataxy, diviſion and confuſion, as it is at this day; Sunt tempora in­quibus maximis virtutibus certiſſi­mum eſt exitium: Tacitus obſerves, that the worſt times can leaſt bear the beſt laws, and worthieſt perſons; whoſe exemplary vertues are the daily Satyrs and Sarcaſmes of unreaſona­ble men, and manners.

§. Some School-men think, that the preſence of a good Angel, is an augment to the torture of Divels, exaſperating the regret and ſenſe of their hell, deformity, and miſery, by the others beauty, glory, and feli­city: it is certaine (Mat. 8.29. ) that the evil and unclean ſpirits, could not ſmother the great terror, even to torment, which they had ſeiſing on them, when the holy Majeſty of the Meſſias, though vailed under the cloud of humane nature, and infirmities, gave check, to their Demoniac malice and miſcheif; Thus are the beſt miniſters, either Biſhops or Preſbyters, men of the greateſt learning, piety and conſtancy, moſt unwelcome, (as Micaiah to Ahab) to men of high minds, of heady paſſi­ons, of giddy ſpirits, of impotent prejudices, of popular principles, and of licencious Practiſes, who affect things of vulgar ambition, and ple­beian arbitrarineſs, being unpati­ent of any thing authoritative, and ſetled either by civil, or eccleſiaſtick conſtitutions, and cuſtomes in Church or State.

§. Hence (then) is the Crown of your Honour, more ponderous and illuſtrious; That you ſo far owned and expreſſed your eſteem of this learned and religious Biſhop, who as much deſerved and enjoyed the applauſe of all good men, as he pa­tiently endured the envy and injuries of others; Him you kindly invited; Him you civilly received; Him you highly honoured; Him you greatly endeared to you; notwith­ſtanding the long and many dimi­nutions, yea diſgraces he had ſuffered as a Biſhop, more to the detriment and diſhonour of the publique, than of his private comforts; For it is certaine; that every Chriſtian Church and State in all ages, hath wanted, and ever will ſuch excellent Biſhops, as wiſe and exemplary Goverours, more than they can want publique rewards and incouragements: but as it was ſaid of Paulinus Biſhop of Nola, in Italy, Aequiori animo ſua pertulit damna, quam alii ſua lucra: No man deplored the publique diſtracti­ons more, and his own depreſſions leſs, than this wiſe and worthy Bi­ſhop; he ſtill enjoyed himſelf in an holy and happy tranquility, as much, nay much more, than any of his de­ſtroyers, whom he lived to ſee dri­ven as chaffe too and fro, with every wind, till they were hurried to Democracy, to Stratocracy, to Anarchy, both in Church and State.

§. After many Tragedies, which he had ſeen and ſuffered, it was a great reviving to his age, to find the noble reſpects of your honourable Society, ſhining upon him, and in him, upon all worthy Biſhops, and Epiſcopal Divines; You were deſi­rous to be his Dioceſs, to own him as a Father in God; And as you deſerved, ſo I know he intended you the beſt recompences he was able to give you, out of the rich treaſury of his learned and pious ſoul, if God had ſpared him life and health; As you have the honour to be the emi­nent orbe, and publique Sphear, in which this great Star of learning and religion, of Epiſcopal deſert, and dignity, laſt moved, both in and out of this world; The Mount Nebo, to which this Moſes was to aſcend, and there to dye; So it is but juſt you ſhould have this Monu­ment of ſingular honour, and re­nown, ſo long as the name and me­mory of Biſhop Brounrig ſurvives, which I preſume will be very long; (For he had (omnia victura et ſempi­terna, praeter corpuſculum,) all things living and laſting to eternity, except his body,) eſpecially, if I have in this work (which is thus De­dicated to you,) done him and you, the preſent, and after age, that right which I intended, and of which I have thus given the world ſome ac­count as to your particular merit towards him, which was my ſecond undertaking.

§. My laſt work in this Epiſtle is, to crave your patrociny, for my vin­dication, both againſt Romiſh par­tiality, whoſe deſigne and intereſt is to decry and deſtroy all Reformed Biſhops; and alſo againſt thoſe im­moderate Antypathies, which others have taken up, againſt all preſiden­tial Epiſcopacy, and Dioceſan Bi­ſhops; though never ſo reformed in Doctrine and Manners; Yea and cir­cumſcribed by good Laws of Church and State: Not that I fear the wit, which is not overgreat, or the ſpite which is not very ſmall, of thoſe un­reaſonable Epiſcopomaſtix, whoſe ma­lice is as blind, as it is bold, againſt all Biſhops, good and bad, precious and vile, Popiſh and Primitive Epiſ­copacy. They ſhall do well to try their Teeth on this file, to confute any one particular, which I have averred of this excellent Biſhop, who (together with many others, his reverend Brethren, (of the laſt edition and perdition) now with God, (as Uſher, Hall, Morton, Davenant, Prideaux, Winniffe, Weſtfeild, Potter, and others,) were as far from being drones, and idle bellys, Tyrants and oppreſſors, Po­piſh or antichriſtian, as thoſe are, who are the moſt unjuſt calumniators of them, and their Epiſcopal dignity; which hath been ſo antient and uni­verſal in the Church of Chriſt, and is ſo neceſſary for the polity, and well be­ing of any Church, and was by them­ſelves ſo abundantly deſerved, yea and worthily managed.

§. I well know how provoking a thing it is to ſome mens eyes and eares, to read or hear the praiſe of any man, who is not of their party, and faction; There are many, who have no patience to behold a Biſhop carried to his grave in peace, and laid in the bed of honour; It is their Hell to ſee a pious Prelate conveyed to Heaven; as it was Dives his regret, to behold Lazarus in Abrahams boſom; Some have ſought to make the very name of Biſhop a crime, and to render the or­der, degree and honor of it odious, when the firſt is Scriptural, and given to Chriſt, firſt; next to the Apoſtles and their cheif Succeſſors; the ſecond is Eccleſiaſtical, of Primitive, Catho­lick, and Apoſtolick uſe.

§. There are, that wiſh all Biſhops out of the world, with all their hearts; but withal they would have them buried in ſilence, and obſcurity; For they are ſcared to ſee them walk after they are dead, as much as Herod was, leaſt John Baptiſt, (whom he had behead­ed in a moſt wanton and frolick cru­elty,) had been revived in Chriſt; Some are afraid, leaſt while the names and merits of our excellent Engliſh Biſhops remaine, they might recover damages, for all the loſſes they have ſuſtained; but in this I can ſecure their Excexcutors and Adminiſtrators, that if they can give God and their own conſciences, a good account, none of theſe good Biſhops, who are now departed in peace, and have ſeen the Salvation of God, will ever trouble them, being got above the af­fronts, injuries, indignities, and in­digencies of this world.

§. I know the formation of ſuch a Statue, as muſt reſemble, Biſhop Brounrig, ſo burning and ſhining a light, muſt needs daſh the unwel­come ſparks and ſtrictures of his well known worth, in all Antiepiſ­copal faces; juſt as an iron flaming from the forge doth, when wrought on a firme anvel by a ſtrong arm. It is the miſerie of many, virtutem vi­deant intabita beſcantquerelicta; firſt to want worth in themſelves; next, not to be able to bear it in another: If envie againſt worthy Biſhops is to be burſt in pieces, this piece will do it; if ſober moderate minds are re­concilable to venerable Epiſcopacy (as I believe many, nay moſt miniſters and people now are) this will further invite and confirm them to ſtudy the Churches peace, and the honor of the Reformed Religion, no leſs than the comfort of their own calling, by returning to ſuch temperament and patterns of Epiſcopal preſiden­cy, as were to be ſeen in Biſhop Broun­rig, and in many others of his order in England; in which were as worthy Presbyters, and as excellent Biſhops as ever bleſt any Church, ſince the Apoſtles daies, for whom we have cauſe ever to bleſs the Divine benignity and mercy to this unworthy Nation.

§. I have otherwhere erected Tro­phies, and inſcribed them to ſeveral Biſhops of holy, honorable and happy memory in England; yea and I have demonſtrated by a familiar and plain emblem, the vaſt diſproportions that are in all hiſtories and ſucceſſions of the Church to be ſeen, between the goodly floridneſs, and fruitful pro­cerity of Chriſtianity in all times, when it was preſerved, protected, and proſpered by Epiſcopal eminen­cy, authority and unity (which kept Biſhops, Presbyters and people in a bleſſed harmony) compared to the mo­dern ſhrubs of novelty, variety, & diſ­cord, which later ages have produced.

§. Nor could I forbear (upon this oc­caſion) to ſet forth the induſtry, learn­ing eloquence gravitie, wiſdom, mode­ration, patience, unſpottedneſs, and holy perſeverance of this excellent Bi­ſhop, by way of pleniary oppoſition, and full confutation, of that Idleneſs, illiterateneſs, barrenneſs, levity, im­prudence, riggidneſs, paſſionateneſs deformity and inconſtancy, with which ſome men have been over­grown, as with a Manage or Lepro­ſie, in this age, by their too great itch­ing, and ſcratching againſt all Epiſco­pacy, even till they fetched blood, and brought ſuch a feſtring tetter and ſore upon us, as is not eaſily healed.

§. Wherein I have come ſhort of Bi­ſhop Brounrigs worth, your unani­mous pleadings, and potent eloquence (full of reaſon and juſtice, of lear­ning and religion, of order and po­licy) may beſt ſupply my many defects, indeed there was need of another Brounrig, to have deſcribed him.

§. Wherefore, knowing my own diſ­proportions I thought it the beſt way I could take, to releive them firſt, by ſe­riouſly ſtudying of this great pattern, next by flying to your protection, whoſe honor is now inſeparable from this worthy Biſhops, no leſs than his aſhes are from your antient Temple, which ſince its firſt conſecrating by Heracli­us, Patriarch of Jeruſalem, (Anno Chriſt. 1185. in the 31. of Hen. the 2.) to this day, had never any de­poſite, of greater learning, then your famous Selden, or of greater piety and veneration, than your and our reverend Brounrig, who as little needs any Apology to be made for him, as the age greatly needs, repentance, for treating him ſo much below his worth, and myſelf a great Apology, for my adventuring on ſo great a work.

§. If it be neceſſary for me fur­ther to diſarm or leſſen that envy which poſſibly may befall me, for the honour of this ſervice, which I have done to the name, memory and me­rit, of this worthy Biſhop, and in him, to all good Biſhops, I am willing to conclude, as St. Bernard doth in his modeſt and humble oratory, upon a like occaſion, Dignus ſane ille qui laudaretur, ſed indignus ego qui laudem, if the fire of Antiepiſco­pal anger, muſt ſtill be fed with ſome fewel, Parcite defunctis, in me con­vertite ferrum, let them ſpare the dead, and fix their talons or teeth on me, who am yet living, who am content not to be commended by them, or any malevolent Reader, yet I am ſure this reverend Biſhop, was moſt worthy to be commended by me, and all good men, which is then moſt effectu­ally done, by your ſelves (O worthy Gentlemen) and all equanimous Readers, when his piety, prudence, zeal, courage, humility, charity, and judicious, conſtancy, in Church and State, are moſt exactly imi­tated by your ſelves, and others, which is the juſt and ſerious ambition of