in permitting him to make use of transcripts of some of the unprinted remains of Bishop Cosin, which are to be found in their Library. To the Venerable Charles Thorp, D.D., Archdeacon of Durham, and the Venerable W. F. Raymond, M.A., Archdeacon of Northumberland, the official Trustees of the Library bequeathed by Bishop Cosin to the clergy of the diocese of Durham, he is indebted for the opportunity of examining at his leisure the Bishop's Correspondence, his Notes on the Common Prayer, and various other manuscripts. His warmest gratitude is due to the Dean and Chapter of Durham, for their kindness in affording him the privilege of inspecting the Registers and other private documents belonging to that Cathedral Church, with which Cosin was intimately connected, first as Prebendary and afterwards as Bishop, for nearly half a century. And by the liberality of the same body, he is now enabled to lay before the public the Sermons which are contained in the present volume.

These Sermons embrace a period of time extending from 1621 to 1659, the first having been preached shortly after his admission into Holy Orders, and the last not long before his return from his seventeen years' exile. Although allusion is made to several others, these are the only Sermons which are preserved. Having been preached for the most part upon the festivals of the Church, they are intended to illustrate the events which the services of the day commemorated. They advocate with much skill and learning, and with no inconsiderable powers of eloquence, the truths of the Gospel as exhibited in the doctrines of the Church of England; opposing the erroneous extremes of modern Romanism

b The original Sermons are bound up into one small volume and are marked A. iv. 31. It does not appear how they came into the possession of Dr. George Smith, Prebendary of Durham, by whom they were presented to the Library of the Dean and Chapter.

See Evelyn's Memoirs, i. 241,

247; and the present volume, p. 131,

248.

See p. 1, 44, 206, 323, &c. Finita concione, quæ partem aliquam vel Evangelii vel Epistolæ, vel alterius loci S. Scripturæ et explicare et applicare solet... Cosin. de Eccl. Anglicanæ religione &c., cap. xvi.

PREFACE.

vii on the one hand, and of Dissent on the other. The wide extent of their author's readinge in almost every department of literature enabled him to illustrate his subject from a variety of sources; but it is obvious that the exegetical and dogmatical teaching of the Primitive Church formed his chief study. Traces of his acquaintance with the writings of Hooker 8, and yet more frequently with those of Andrewesh, are perceptible. It is no less difficult to imagine how the individual by whom they were preached should have been 'looked upon as popishly affected,' than to reconcile some opinions and practices attributed to him, with the general tendency of their doctrines.

The editor originally intended to have prefixed a Life of Bishop Cosin, but circumstances occurred which induced him to reserve for another part of the work the various notices which he had collected; and instead of an original memoir, to substitute that which had appeared in the Biographia Britannica. This narrative, although not without its faults and its omissions, gives a tolerably accurate account of the events of the Bishop's life. It is compiled chiefly from the following sources.

"The dead man's real speech, a funeral sermon preached

e It would appear that the Bishop frequently quoted from memory, and sometimes fell into errors by so doing. Thus, for example, he cites as from the Psalms a text which is taken from the Canticles, (p. 327,) and ascribes (p. 145.) to Euripides a passage from Menander, (Meineke, Fragm. Comic. Græc. iv. 76. ed. Berol. 1841.)

One peculiarity in their structure seems worthy of notice. The preacher commences with some observations for the purpose of connecting the subjectmatter of the sermon with the peculiar services of the day; he then introduces the Bidding-Prayer, and the text then follows. Instances of this arrangement are to be found in the sermons of Bishop Andrewes (Serm. ii. 39, 101; iii. 131, 203.) and a few other divines (Heylyn's Tracts, p. 153), as Basire, in the Funeral Sermon reprinted in this

volume (Pref. p. xxxvi.); but later examples are probably uncommon.

See p. 101, 103.

h Besides the instances pointed out at p. 103, 104, 124, &c., compare p. 60. with Andr. Serm. v. 498; p. 76 with Andr. v. 522; p. 202 with Andr. iii. 64; p. 257 with Andr. iii. 65; p. 117 with Andr. iii. 130, &c. The connexion between Andrewes and Cosin is mentioned in the Life in this volume, p. xiii.

i Edit. 1750. p. 1474. The edition of the dissenter Kippis should be used with caution, as he did not scruple, when it suited his purpose, to mutilate the text which he professed to reprint.

k The fragment of Cosin's autobiography, which is preserved among the Tanner MSS., and printed by Gutch in his Collectanea Curiosa, ii. 19, was unknown to the writer of the memoir here reprinted.

on Heb. xi. 4, upon the 29th of April, 16721, together with a brief of the life, dignities, benefactions, principal actions and sufferings, and of the death of the said late Lord Bishop of Durham; published (upon earnest request) by Isaac Basire, D.D., chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty, and Archdeacon of Northumberland." 8vo. Lond. 1673.

Basire had ample opportunities of knowing the truth of what he has here recorded. In 1632 he accompanied Morton, whose chaplain he then was, into the diocese of Durhamm; and the intercourse with Cosin which then commenced, was continued from that period almost without interruption. In 1636 he was presented by Morton to the rectory of Egglesclif"; on December 12, 1643, he was collated to the seventh stall in the Cathedral Church of Durham°; and in 1644 he was appointed archdeacon of Northumberland P. In the rebellion which followed, he was driven from his preferments and compelled to reside abroad, exposed, like Cosin, to many privations, and, like him, steadfast to the faith of his fathers. When Cosin became bishop of Durham, Basire returned to his archdeaconry, in fulfilling the duties of which he was necessarily brought into close and frequent intercourse with his diocesan. These circumstances carrying his recollections back over a space of forty years, stamp much value upon his memoir; but unfortunately, from its discursive style it contains less information than might reasonably have been anticipated.

'Vita reverendissimi et eruditissimi viri Joannis Cosin, episcopi Dunelmensis, scriptore Thoma Smitho, S. Theologiæ Doctore et Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ presbytero;' inserted in Smith's Vitæ quorumdam eruditissimorum virorum,' 4to. Lond. 1707.

See the present volume, p. xxxix. m See Life and Correspondence of Dr. Basire, by the Rev. Dr. Darnell,' 8vo. Lond. 1831, p. 4.

• Dean Balanquall's Register, i. 174, b. Darnell, p. 43; Le Neve's Fasti,

p. 355.

n

Darnell, p. 23.

Smith informs us that although his memoir is founded upon that of Basire, yet he had collected much information from persons who had been acquainted with the Bishop when in Paris, London, and Durham. And as Smith was in communication with his namesake Dr. John Smith and Sir George Wheeler, both prebendaries of Durham, from whom he obtained some of the Bishop's manuscripts, it may reasonably be inferred that they would furnish whatever local information they could collect respecting the object of their correspondent's enquiries. The Life supplies details which are not mentioned by Basire, but it is written in a style which makes it even less inviting than his biographical sketch above mentioned.

With the exception of the instances pointed out in the notet, the editor is responsible for the marginal references and the annotations which accompany this volume.

q Præf., p. vi.

One of these was Evelyn; see his Memoirs, i. 251, &c. ed. 1818, and Smith, p. 5. note.

Præf. p. vii, viii. Dr. John Smith

was appointed prebendary by Cosin; Hutchinson's Hist. of Durham, ii. 222. edit. 1823.

P. 87, note.