Speech delivered at a visitation held in the Diocese of Clogher; sede vacante. September 27. 1671 / by D.L. ; published not only at the desire and instance of the whole clergy of that diocese, but also at the further instance of the Right Reverend Father in God, Robert, Lord Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, expressed in his letter thereunto prefixed. Together with an epitaph written by his lordship, on John, Lord Bishop of Clogher, deceased.

I Am entered into a Diocese , yet overcast with the black of Funeral Obsequies , for a Right Reverend , and Pious Father of the Church , JOHN , LORD BISHOP of CLOGHER ; And the Resentments of Grief which invade my Mind at this time , from the consideration of his Retirement into the Shades of Death , Clogg my Thoughts with many melancholy Reflections ; amongst which , it is a sad Contemplation , to consider the rapid Progress of Time , which frequently brings with it such Alterations , arising out of the Incidents and Emergencies of Humane Actions , as would inevitably ruine the most solid Composure of all Humane Societies , were it not for the provision of seasonable Remedies against such Occurrences . What I have said , is generally true and obvious enough to common Observation ; yet it is not more considerable , nor so evidently apparent in any other instance , as in that of Ecclesiastical Societies ; and amongst the many Alterations which the course of Time brings into that State , none would so soon hurry it into the precipice of inevitable Ruine , as the Death of Bishops , were there not a Law to supply their Mortality , and to fill up the Vacancies of their Authority ; either by the Concatenation of persons in a due Succession in their respective Sees , or else by a subsidiary Administration of their power by those who have that Authority sede vacante ; for which Reasons , the Apostles instituted by our Saviour for the Government of his Church , appointed the Order of Bishops to follow them in a perpetual Succession , as to that Administration : And since their Time , there hath been made in the Church , a regular provision to exercise that Jurisdiction in every Vacancy , which hath been constantly performed by the several Metropolitans , or their respective Commissaries in every Province of this Kingdom , in the several Dioceses of their respective Suffragans , who , like wise Stewards , have in such Cases proportioned their Dispensations , according to the Exigencies of the Clergy and People , until the Supreme Authority were pleased to infuse new Vigours into the suspended ordinary Jurisdiction , by the Installation of a New Bishop , fit to fill the place of so high a Function :

Wherefore His Grace the Lord PRIMATE , pursuant to His undoubted Authority , being as willing to inform Himself of your Condition , as to satisfie you of His Care , but unable to accommodate His weighty Occasions elsewhere , to the desire He had to visit you in Person ; hath committed that Office unto me , as an Affair which requires a sollicitous Inspection .

I shall therefore endeavour , with an heedful diligence , to enquire , and then labour to fit such accommodations of Ecclesiastical Policy and Discipline , to the measures which shall be taken of the State , Interest and Exigencies of this Diocese , as may make the best Declaration of His Graces Care of you , and of my duty in ministring unto Him therein , which is my onely business here at this Time ; for had I not been governed more by my duty , than Interest , I should not have come at present , willingly , on this occasion ; however , if I shall have the Honour to serve the Advantages of Religion , or to pleasure the meanest Clergy-man in the Diocese , I shall think my self abundantly recompens'd .

The duty and office which this day and occasion calls for from you , is so intelligibly declared in His Graces Mandat , which hath been read , that I need not say any more , to usher you into that Affair ; yet I cannot attend your entrance thereinto , until you shall be desired to address your Attention to a just Testification of my Respects due to the Honoured Memory of your late Diocesan ; for the Sepulchre of his Body , will never be the Grave of his Memory ; nay , though Death hath removed him from us , yet may not he live and govern here still ? as Constantine the Great , is said to have Reigned after his Death , in the memory of his subjects .

As Detraction is one of the greatest Offenders in Humane society , so a seasonable declaration of deserved praises , is the legitimate issue of Morality , the life of Memory , and the grateful Messenger of Antiquity , and is commonly entertained with acceptance : I wish therefore , that I had a Tongue as able to utter his Attributes in their due splendor , as you have an Ear ready to entertain them ; I confess , they might have been better fitted to the Funeral Pomp of his Obsequies , than to this Occasion , which will not give me leave to represent them in a Geometrical scituation , according to their full dimensions , but as by Perspective , and at a distance lesser than they are : And I must assure you , That as I shall not attribute any thing unto him which was not his due , so I must necessarily omit very many things which deserve commendation , and were in the contexture of my thoughts ; my purpose being rather to shew , That I was not altogether a stranger unto him , then to make a plenary recital of his Life : And that I may the more distinctly breath my Thoughts into your attentive Ears , I shall reduce all that I have to say , within the comprehension of five particulars .

First , I shall present you with the Blossoms of his Youth .

Secondly , I shall shew you the Degrees and Steps by which he was advanced into Repute of the World , and his ROYAL MASTERS Favour .

Thirdly , I shall set forth at least some of his A●rings before the War .

Fourthly , I shall give a touch at his Sufferings , during the time of the Abhorred Vsurpation .

Fifthly , I shall represent the last Scene of his Life , Acted between the Kings Restitution , and his Egress out of the World .

And herein I shall not , as they say , Prendre la chose de plus haut , by the derivation of him from his Original ; nor shall I repeat the Domestical History of his Ancestors ; nor the Antiquity of his Family , for that would take up time needlesly , inasmuch as I speak to those who know it was not obscure , though his own Atchievements raised it to a higher degree of splendor .

He was sent in his younger years to take up Learning in France , where his Behaviour did consist in actions of dutiful Conformity to the Rules of his Instructors ; and though he was then in some things carried beyond the conduct of his own Inclinations , yet would he not drink so deep as others did of the Lake of GENEVA ; there , in the sedulous course of his Study , he suddenly became a great and judicious Master of Wit , having then adorned an excellent natural Ingenuity , with many choice Flowers of Divine and Humane Learning ; and particularly improved himself to so great a perfection in the Greek and Latin Tongue , ( whereof he had a deep tincture before ) that afterwards , the prompt , florid and genuine Expressions of himself in the latter , when he was in Spain , procured him this Eulogie in several Conferences of many Learned men , Solus Laslaeus Latine loquitur . In the next place , he applied himself to penetrate into abstruse conceptions in the most retired corners of knowledge ; and in particular , addicted himself to School-Divinity , the quintessence and best refined part of Learning , and to the Art of Memory , according to the Lullian Rules : These Endowments recommended him to a Readers place , where the lustre of so shining a Reputation as he gain'd in sustaining the Honour of that Chair , proclaim'd his Merit to Publick Notice ; whereupon , some Noble person of his Kindred , and others of high place , willing to countenance the Reputation of so hopeful a Scholar , encouraged him to appear at Court , where he was immediately recommended to the Kings Favour , which brings me to the second particular proposed , which was , the degrees and steps by which he was advanced into the Repute of the World , and his ROYAL MASTERS Favour .

The first Ray of Royal Favour that ever fell on his Honour from that King , was darted at his discreet Humility ; for it was observed by that wise King , that nothing commends Church-men more , than a pious and discreet humility : They being like Medals , to which Vertue and Learning may give the stamp , but Humility must give the weight . About this time he was inlisted the Kings Chaplain , and thereby having obtained a Residence at Court , which is the best scituation for prospect into the Affairs of the World , he gained great advantages of knowing Commerce with Men , and so became excellently well versed in the practical parts of Morality , insomuch , that in a short time afterward , he was highly esteem'd for stratagems of State , and the highest Transactions of Business . His Behaviour also shewed , That he was not then ignorant of the outward Addresses of Courtship , yet Reality was his profession and practice ; and though his natural disposition had set up a great Gravity in his Behaviour , yet his facetious deportment amongst Persons of Honour , rendred his Conversation most acceptable . Again , He was then so choice a Magazine of LEARNING and WIT , that his ordinary discourse abounded with refined subtilties of Learning , or rare sublimities of Poetry , according as he had occasion to vary his discourse in the several Interchanges of Company ; but no●hing contributed more to his further advancement , than that he was so exempt from Avarice and Ambition , that he laboured more to deserve well , than to obtain that which he deserved ; it is not therefore to be admir'd , that so many rare Endowments concentred in this person : He was received by the KING into so high a degree of Trust and Privacy , that after he had depended for some time on the Liberality of his Princely influence , he was not only constituted DEAN of the Chappel to King JAMES of ever blessed Memory , when he was last in Scotland , but also he was made as it were , Uno Flatu , Bishop of the Isles , and a Privy Counsellor in Scotland . I being now arrived to this period , am to proceed to the third particular proposed , which is the Relation of some of his Actings , after he was made a Prelate , until the War began .

When he was Installed in the Bishoprick of the Isles , at his Primary Visitation , he found so irreconcileable a difference between the Inhabitants barbarity , and his polisht behaviour ; He found the very Clergy there so indocible , and obstinate to all impressions of Civility and Piety , that he immediately began to meditate on his Removal thence ; which was effected , by his Translation to the Bishoprick of Raphoe ; and at the same time , was Honoured with the charge of a Privy Counsellor in this Kingdom also ; where he did with much Reputation to himself , and no less advantage to the service of the Crown , support the Honour and Dignity His then MAJESTY had so Graciously seated him in . He being now Inthroned in his CATHEDRAL of Raphoe , I must take special notice of one magnificent Act of his , amongst many others , which imports so much to his Honour , and so far goes beyond all examples of his Predecessors , and all other Prelates his Contemporaries , in that kind , that I cannot pass it over , without being guilty of a blame-worthy Omission ; and that is , the Erecting of a Capacious and Sumptuous Palace for himself , and his Successors , at his own charge ; of a strong structure , and beautiful composure , which his Successor in that Diocese now enjoyeth . He was then , and many years afterward , a frequent Preacher ; his Sermons alwayes consisted of most significant speech , handsomely apparrelled , comprehending such strength of Reason , as gave great satisfaction to all his Hearers , and gain'd to himself great Applause : And were delivered , not meanly or contemptibly , in the beggerly or despicable way of Reading , but memoriter ; with such Vivacity of Speech , such Grace of Action , and such sutableness of Gesture , that he might have been termed , The Module of Quaint Preaching ; hence it hath been said of him , and another Bishop of his name , That no man could Preach more Gracefully than the one , nor with more Authority than the other .

Methinks I now see him falling from the highest Pinacle of his Fortune , to a low Condition ; and that brings me to the fourth particular , which is , His Suffering in the Time of Vsurpation ; for , after he had in Times of great Necessity , for the defence of himself , and the Kingdoms preservation , Couragiously managed the shield , to his Immortal Honour , and the highest Repute of personal Valour ; his Countenance being so dareing , and his Words so powerfully inciting upon all perilous Exigents , as was sufficient to inspire Courage into dismay'd Souldiers , He is at length , by the Rigid Tyranny of Vsurpation , not only deprived of his Bishoprick , but also disgracefully thrust out of his Palace , and reduced to the Obscurity of Solitude in a Pagliarella , in the Parish of Raphoe ; where , though his Jurisdiction was not only Inhabited , but also Overawed by Guards of Souldiers , he would not suspend the declaration of his Care , of his then small flock , constantly Preaching unto them .

During this severe Extremity of Fortune , he lay , as it were , Intombed in the Region of a Civil Death ; and though he was then for his Age venerable , and a good Conscience sacred , yet was he unnaturally persecuted by some of his own Countrey-men , persons of bad affections , and worse principles ; but , to shew that his Vertues were equally bright in both extremities of his checker'd Fortune , his Fidelity did then suggest unto him , that Noble Liberty which he frequently took , in vindicating the Cause of the Church , and the Kings Honour ; whose Restitution so often prayed for by him in my hearing , brings me to the last particular , viz. The last Scene of his Life , Arted between the Kings Restitution , and his Quietus est .

At the Kings Return into England , the preheminency of Age made him the eldest Man ; and the Priority of Consecration , had made him the most ancient Prelate in our Catalogue of Bishops : Then was he Restored to his Bishoprick of Raphoe , and every former Affront , was , by this glorious change , turned into a beam of splendour ; and though he did not then step to a higher de●●●e of Promotion , by reason of his adhesion to his forementioned principle , viz. That he laboured more to deserve well , than to obtain what he deserved : Yet was he upon the first Vacancy afterward , Translated to this Diocese , where he filled up and adorned the SEE , with great Examples worthy of Imitation ; for his Conversation was not gilded with the Leafgold of an external profession , but most solid in the soundness of an interiour cordial reality and correspondency to the Rules of his Function . He well knew , That the safety of Government , as well Ecclesiastical , as Civil , did depend upon the Truth , and Conformity of Religion ; for it is a Maxim publickly divulged in matters of State , and Registred for a fundamental Principle : Wherefore , though bred under proce●e● P●●●… yterians in France , he could never be per●… waded to countenance , or bring up such Presby●… ers under the Wing of Episcopacy ; and all Conventicles of the Separation , he reso●… utely Declared against , as the Synagogues and Schools of Hypocrisie and Dissimulation ; well approving of what is read in the Life of Constantine , written by the Pen of Eusebius , who Relates , how that Noble , Wise and Pious Emperour , did not only prohibit Schismaticks to meet at Conventicles , but also commanded their Meeting-places to be demolisht , Lib . III . Cap. 36.

At last ( for I must hasten to an end ) when Age , and its usual Concomitant , Debility of body , made him begin to fail under the burthen of Affairs , he endeavoured , by a seasonable Retirement , to Retreat to an innocent privacy , and to spin out the remainder of his Aged life in the Calms of Vacancy and Repose , minding no other Affairs , not the prosecution of any other design , than Acts of Devotion , and the Regular Government of his DIOCESE ; Habens vi●am in patientia mortem in desiderio .

Evagrius speaking of the Monks of Palestine , said , Ut insepulti mortui videbantur ; They seemed to 〈…〉 men unburied : I might have said the like of this Prelate , for some of his latest Years , had not the strength of his Memory , his daily exercising of devotion , and necessary Acts of Jurisdiction , been sufficient Indications of his being alive ; for in all Secular Affairs , he was Reputed as a dead man , minding only what was Reposited for him in Heaven , where I doubt not , but he now Resides in Eternal Glory ; for as his Actions here were not only unblemisht , but also attended with the splendor of Religion and Piety , so assuredly they have Glory for their period . It is said hyperbolically of Baronius , That he wrote as much as others can Read : And I am assured , this PRELATE hath performed more commendable Acts than I can speak of ; I shall therefore leave him in fellowship with the Saints and blessed Angels in Heaven , where he hath a greater reward , than the praises of all men in the World can contribute ; even a crown of Glory , where his Life is not to be pent up within set Limits of a short duration , or an uncertain state , as in this World ; but to be commensurate with Eternity , in immutable and everlasting Glory .

FINIS .