EXTRACTS FROM DEATH'S ALARUM: A FUNERAL SERMON ON THE RIGHT REVEREND JOSEPH HALL, BISHOP OF NORWICH. BY J. WHITEFOOT. SIR, TO THE REVEREND, HIS MUCH-HONOURED FRIEND, ELDEST SON TO THE RIGHT REV. JOSEPH, LATE L. B. OF NORWICH. It is an undoubted Canon of the Apostles, That the Elder that rules well, and especially that labours too in the word and doctrine, should be counted worthy of double honour; such an one was your reverend father, by the good report of all men, and of the truth itself. And the double honour that the Apostle allowed him, he was once, by the bounty of his Christian Prince, worthily possessed of; though of late, as we all know, he was muzzled from the enjoyment thereof. But envy itself (and if there be any thing worse) cannot deprive him of his double honour : one part whereof he hath already enjoyed in his life-time, in the hearts, tongues, and pens of those that lived with him, in this and other nations. The second part remains still due to him, after his death; which he cannot want, while there are any living, whose tongues are capable of giving a true praise. This poor piece was designed to that just end; that is, next to the glory of God, to the due honour of his faithful servant. That it is no more worthy of his name, is a second part of my sorrow for his death. It contains a short representation of him, taken in haste, as all pictures are which are done after the party's death : yet might it have been done nearer to the life, had it not fallen into a very unskilful hand: but besides that, it hath the common disadvantage of all writings, which are but the dead shadows of the living voice; and therefore no marvel, if this wants much of that little grace and vivacity, which it might seem to have in the delivery. Such as it is, Sir, it was, without consulting my voice, voted to the Press by them that heard it, and as much desired by them that heard it not, because they heard not of it, till it was past the reach of the ear. And they were neither few nor slight persons that were much discontented at their absence from the too private commemoration of so worthy a person, caused by the sudden determination of the time. To give them some satisfaction, I was enforced to yield to the publication of these notes. Whereto I was also encouraged, because promised, by the kind judgments of them that heard them, that they could not but find some good entertainment from most men, for his sake, of whom they represent so willing, though weak, a remembrance. I hope also they may afford some present satisfaction to the many, that justly expect a better account of his Life; which, in your name, by whom it is best able to be done, I here presume to promise, in convenient time; and that the rather, because I am not ignorant of your being furnished of some modest and yet remarkable collections thereof, left by his own pen. I doubt not but that you esteem it a special part of your own duty, as well as your honour, to follow the straight steps of his industrious and holy life. And to afford the precedent thereof to the imitation of others, will be a kindness very seasonable in these evil days. And very useful it may be, after many others of the ancient Bishops' lives, now forgotten, than which it is certain there never were any more saintlike since those of their predecessors the Apostles, towards a demonstration that prelacy, and piety, are not such inconsistent things as some would make them; and that the men which are of, or for, that order, should not be excluded (as by the monopolizers of that name they now are) from the number of saints; and consequently not debarred from that which is now asserted to be the common interest and indefeasible right of all saints, of whatever persuasion; that is the liberty (if not of discipline, yet) of worshipping God, according to their conscience, and the best light of their own understanding. To conclude: your nearest relation claims the prime interest in whatsoever shall pretend to your father's name; and therefore, this, Sir, which is to be reckoned inter parentalia, is with the Author, And the time drew nigh that Israel must die. In the funeral sermons of the ancients, the person deceased was the only text; and the sermon nothing but an anatomy lecture upon the dead man's life. Should I have imitated that custom upon this occasion, by taking no other text than that of this saint's life; that which the Psalmist saith of the life of man, would, very like, have been the censure of my sermon: namely, that it was but as a tale that was told. (Ps. xc. 9.) But methinks I might have had a sufficient apology for that, not from the custom of the Fathers only, but from Scripture itself; a good part whereof is altogether taken up with a narrative of the lives of saints; and those, too, not altogether canonical in every line. And we have a saint to speak of (I think I may presume to say), as eminent an one as some of them. But yet I hold myself by modern custom obliged to chuse another text, first, or last; and I thought it would do best to give it the precedence. You have heard already what it is; short and plain, agreeable to the design of my discourse upon it; which must be short, because I have another text to take up, when I have done with this; and plain, because that suits best with my own abilities, and the sadness of the occasion. And the time drew nigh that Israel must die. [Here follows, not a "short and plain," but a very strange and lengthy, exposition of the text, full of forced allusions and conceits, and singularly characteristic of the sacred oratory of the times.-H.] I have now done with my text: but, as I told you, I have another to take in hand, and ye all know it. But something I must tell you, which perhaps you know not, by way of preface to what is to be spoken concerning that reverend person whose memory we are now to solemnize: namely, that it was a strict charge of his own, given to his son, whom he made his executor, and inserted into his last will, that he should be buried privately, without any solemnity: which order was agreeable to his known singular modesty and humility. And lest we should seem to transgress that command which we have thus made public, I must also tell you, that, upon entreaty, his consent was obtained for a sermon to be preached for him after his funeral. Having then obeyed his first order in the day of his funeral, which was as private as could be, we think we are nevertheless obliged, justa facere, to do him some right in the interest of his name: and I heartily wish there had been one appointed that had been better able to do it. But seeing the task is fallen upon me, who must acknowledge my extreme insufficiency for such an office, I think I may, without ambition, take up for a wish the petition that Elisha made to his master Elijah, when he was to be taken away from him; namely, that a double portion of the Spirit of my lord might be upon me: that is, not that I might have double his gifts, that were too ambitious a wish; but as I think the prophet meant, and as the same phrase is elsewhere used, that two parts of his spirit, the portion of a first-born son, might be upon me. The Hebrew word for portion in that text signifies properly a mouth, ". And to be able to give this holy man his due, no mouth or tongue were so much to be wished as his own*. The world well knows he had a double portion of the gifts of the tongue above his brethren: and it is as well known he made a proportionable improvement thereof, for the service of the Lord and His Church. Two years together he was chosen Rhetoric Professor in the University of Cambridge, and performed the office with extraordinary applause. He was noted for a singular wit from his youth; a most acute rhetorician, and an elegant poet. He understood many tongues; * Μονης ημιν εδει της εκείνου φωνης, εκείνον εγκωμιαζουσιν. Νaz. de Basil. and in the rhetoric of his own he was second to none that lived in his time. But that which I shall further say of this holy man, shall be with reflection upon my text, in a short parallel of him with the patriarch Israel, of whom you have heard. And many things there are wherein they may be specially compared. First, the significations of the name Israel, which I mentioned, are notably agreeable to this eminent person. Israel, I told you, signifies either a man seeing God, or a right (upright) man of God, or one that had power with God like a Prince. Each of these things were eminently agreeable to this person. First, Israel was a priest, and so was every Pater-familias in those times, as is said. We read of his offering sacrifice several times. And a prophet he was too, one of those which the Psalmist speaks of in that known place, (Ps. cv. 15.) Touch not mine anointed, do my prophets no harm. You may find him named there in the context: (ver. 10.) and here, in the next chapter but one, you may read his prophetical blessings that he gave to his sons, when the time drew nigh that he was to die. So was our father a priest, and that of the higher order; a seer, a prophet, and a father of the prophets: one that always made it his business to see and search into the things of God, with a zealous diligence, rather than a bold curiosity. He was one that conversed as much with God, and drew as nigh to Him in divine meditation, which is the only ordinary way of seeing God in the flesh, as any man of his time. You all know he was a master in Israel, and another manner of one than Nicodemus. Ορθοδοξιας πατηρ και didao kados, as Gregory said of his father; a father and a master of the orthodox faith. A great master he was, and one of the first that taught this church the art of divine meditation. Few men of his age have ascended so high upon Jacob's ladder as he did: he was one that, with Israel, lived and died in a Goshen of light, in the midst of Egyptian darkness. Secondly, he was a right upright man too before God, a true Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile;, Rectus Dei, on w's, as was said of Israel. Vir antiqua probitate simplicitateque præditus, et eruditis pietate, et piis eruditionis laude antecellens; ita secundas doctrinæ ferens, ut pietatis primas obtineret, as Nazianzen saith of Basil. Those that were most eminent for learning, he excelled in |