Memoires of the lives, actions, sufferings & deaths of those noble, reverend and excellent personages that suffered by death, sequestration, decimation, or otherwise, for the Protestant religion and the great principle thereof, allegiance to their soveraigne, in our late intestine wars, from the year 1637 to the year 1660, and from thence continued to 1666 with the life and martyrdom of King Charles I / by Da. Lloyd ...

THE Life and Death OF Dr•• RICHARD HOLDSWORTH.

A Divine, (and to confute the common slander fastened upon Ministers Sons) a Divines Son, Richard Holds¦worth, the Son of Richard Holdsworth, born at Newcastle upon Tyne (where his Father was an eminent Preach••er, and bred there under Mr. William Pearson (to whom he was committed, the youngest of his dying Fathers Sons, at seven years of age) an exact Preacher in the same place. He came very young to St. Iohns Colledge in Cambridge, with very preg∣nant hopes, and went away young with very great accomplishments; (the ornament of that Society, whereof he was a Member; and the great Vote of it, insomuch, that they endeavoured to chuse him Master.) First, to be Chaplain to Sir Henry H••bart, Chief Ju¦stice of the Common-Pleas, where he was very honorably treated, and thence to be Minister of St. Peters in the Poor, London (which he had in exchange for another Living, whereto an honorable Patron presented him, and where-from a reverend Prelate (that was loath to loose him in the Country) disswaded him, in the West-riding of York∣shire.) the Scene of his renowned performances while he was alive, and the Grave of his virgin body, when dead. There he filled not the Peoples ears with empty noise, but ravished their Hearts with solid truths; here the Church rung not with the Preachers raving, but with the Hearers groans; the Walls, Pillars, and Window•• dropping with the Auditors sweat and tears extorted from them•• not by a furious thundering, but by a zealous and hearty Elo¦quence, which awed Impiety, comforted the Religious, was the delight of good Men, and a pleasant song even to Hypocrites; being followed by all sort of people (who delighted in him, not as St Iohn Baptists Hearers did, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, for a time) till the Civil Wars, when the times turning, and he standing still, the People in the late Tumults, like those at Sea, thought he, who was as immoveable as the earth, moved and altered; and they, whose Heads turned like Folks-heads at Sea, thought themselves the same.

Once he was Preaching to them, upon the Acclamation made to Her••d and the Consequence of it, in Mer••••rs-Chappel; and they Hummed him so, that they could not hear him; he cryed out to them several times, I pray remember the Text; to teach them to have

no mans person in admiration. Another time they thronged to hear his Sermon, and he dismissed them with the Prayers and a Ho∣mily of the Church (Reading both in his Surplice) to inform them, that he preferred the publick Offices before his private Abi∣lities; which though more fluent than any Gifted-man about Town, tied himself to one sober Form of Prayer, and to one grave Method of Preaching.

The Plague in 1625. when he first came to Broad-street, could not drive him from his dear Flock; though another Murrain 1640. among the Flock its self (I mean the late Herefies and Schisms) did.

But one Stage was not equal to so great Abilities, that could fill both the Chair at Gresham-Colledge, on the one side of Broad-street, in as great confluence of Scholars and Divines, as he did the Pulpit on the other side with a great throng of Citizens. His learned la∣bours returning upon him with fresh applauses each week in both places, a specimen of the last whereof we have in his learned Le∣ctures, publisheda 1.1 by the reverend, learned, and good-natu∣red Dr. Richard Pearson, lately of St. Brides London (who having pow∣er to Print them from one of the Doctors Overseers, Bishop Brown∣rig, as he had, with much ado obtained leave of the modest Do∣ctor himself (who never Printed any thing, but one single Sermon, and that not till a third Command from his Majesty (who other∣wise was very conscientiously observant of his least Order) that Pamphlet, called by the Transcriber, The Valley of Vision; a Valley indeed, not for the fruitfulness, but for the lowness (especially if compared to the pretended Authors high parts) but little vision) Printed them with that care, that became an ingenious man, who reverenced the memory of the Author, who was by Relation his Uncle, in Affection his Father, in Favours his Patron, in his Acade∣mical Studies his Tutor, and in his Ecclesiastical his Compass.

Entring on his Lectures 1630. with great expectation, and conti∣nuing them for eight years above it, his own Colledge St. Iohns Voted him Master; (and when the perversness of some, and the prevalency of others, defeated the Colledge of that Vote, the ho∣nor whereof his own modesty declined) Emanuel Colledge gained him at once, the most obliging, and the most resolute Master, that ever was in that House, old Dr. Chadderton, that had resigned to Preston, and survived two Masters, saying, That he was the only Ma∣ster that ever he saw in that House; and he carrying it so civilly to∣wards the old Doctor, that he did nothing, and went no whither about Colledge Affairs, without Father Chadderton on his right hand, telling him, That as long as he lived he should be Master in the House, though he himself was forced to be Master of the House.

Until opposing the torrent of the late Civil Wars, as Vice chan∣cellor for three years together, by Preaching Loyal Sermons at St. Maries, by Licensing his Majesties Declarations to the Press, by dis∣countenancing evil Principles, and propagating good ones, by for∣warding Supplies to the King to suppress the Rebellion, and by denying any to the Faction to maintain it, he was advised to with∣draw himself from that Tumult, which it was in vain to contend

with; as he did, first to the Country, and then to London (the best Hiding-place in the kingdom) where being concealed a while, God Almighty thinking it not fit, that so great a virtue should, in a time when there was so much need of it, be hid, and drawing it out to be as exemplary in its sufferings, as it had been in its other per∣formances, he fell by accident, as he walked an evening, into their hands whom he desired to avoid; for being known by a Captain of one of those Guards that Watched each Street and Corner, he was brought before a Close-Committee, and Committed by them, first to Ely-house (this prophane War turning Noblemens Palaces into Prisons, as it did afterwards Gods Houses into Stables) and after∣wards, to increase the charge, as well as the severity of his Impri∣sonment, to lessen both his Liberty and Estate, to the Tow••r, which he called Davids Tower for four years together, where Archbishop Laud sent particularly to this excellent person for his Prayers a little before his death; and whence, not without a great sum of money, and as great intercession of friends, on condition not to stir above twenty miles out of the City, to enjoy only his choice Library, that escaped their fury, and his Parish in the City, his Col∣ledge in the University, and a good Parsonage bestowed upon him by the Earl of Rutland, being kept from him, the Title of Marga∣ret Professor (but the bare Title without the Profits and Emolu∣ments of the Place) to which the unanimous consent of the Uni∣versity Voted him, in the face of his enemies, in his absence, and in his affliction.

Neither lasted these Injoyments long, for not being able to for∣bear the Men, (so sacred to him was his Majesties Cause and Person, when they had the Impudence to Vote no more Addresses to the King) for a smart Sermon against them, he is put, as well as his Ma∣ster, into safe Custody by the Juncto; who Declared, That either he must be forbid the Pulpit, or they must forbear their Seats; he being able, they said, to overthrow in an hour, what they had been carrying on several years. But he continued performing Divine Service, and Preaching as long as he had liberty, thought-full of mens souls, and his charge of them; regardless of his own person, and the calamities of that: He was more afraid of St. Pauls, Wo is me, if I Preach not the Gospel, than of St. Pauls Chain, or of St. Pe∣ters Bonds. The Life he lost, he found; and the more he despised Liberty, the more he injoyed it: Abroad he comes, the King writes for him, and his other Chaplains, to come to him to Holdenby, and is refused; but at Hampton-Court the reasonable request was grant∣ed there, he that would not accept of the Bishoprick of Bristol, because he might with the more advantage, being no Bishop, de∣send Episcopacy, accepted of the Deanery of Worcester; a bare Title without profit, to shew he waved not that Bishoprick for its little Revenue (saying (as some said of him) that he would not take a Bristol-stone) when he took a dignity with none.

At Hampton-Court he made bold to ask his Majesty, Whether he thought himself safe with those men? (meaning Cromwell, &c.) and was answered by his Majesty, Yeas, if they have any souls? The

Monsters of Men having with Hands on their Breasts, and Eyes lift up to Heaven, pawned their Souls and their Posterity upon his Re∣stauration.

As he had attended his Majesty at Hampton-Court to comfort him, so with several other Divines he waited on him at the Treaty in the Isle of Wight to assist and serve him, in offering expedients for moderation, till all moderate men were hurried to Prisons, and the most innocent Majesty to the Block; whose Murther affected him so much, that he was never well after, either in body or mind.

O what Fasts, what Watchings, what Tears, that unheard of Vil∣lany cost the good man, till a Black Jaundice prevailed over his whole body; and thence an humor, that could neither be dispelled nor mitigated, settled into a Swelling about his Throat, which with a slow Ague, arising from the Inflammation of the foresaid Tumor, let out his sick soul, that could say, The hand of God was light upon him, and that he had never tasted a sweeter Cup.

Ianuary 1648/9. He saw his Royal Master dying a Martyr, and Au∣gust 1649. saw him dying a Confessor; weeping for Charles the First, and expecting Charles the Second; lamenting the present, and hoping for the ancient state of things in Church and State: Insomuch, that when some comforted him, That he should be taken away from the evil to come: No no, answered he, somewhat more vehemently than ordinary, I fore-see, I fore-see from the good things to come. He departed, praying for those things we now injoy; wishing well to all men, and desired of most.

Being a man of a neat personage, convenient stature, a comely aspect, grave manners, a fluent wit, a short anger, an even and con∣stant zeal, an unblameable life, a noble and a charitable heart, ex∣act performances, that trembled at the Supra-lapsarians Opinions, defined Presbytery, a vast Schism in the Church, bequeathed his Estate to pious uses, and his Books to the Colledge, by the hands of his three honorable Executors, Sir Rober Abdy, Sir Thomas Rich, and Bishop Brownrig, who ordered his Funeral with great solemni∣ty (Dr. Iefferies of Pembroke Preaching at it, on Psal. 102. 11.) and erected him this Monument with great respect.

P. M. S. Richardus Holdsworth S. Th. Doctor verbi divini praeco omnium attestatione eximius S. Scripturae in Collegio Greshamensi Per multos annos Interpres celeberrimus Collegii Emanuelis in Academia Cantabrigiensi Praefectus Integerrimus Ejusdem Academiae per tres annos continuos Procancellarius exoptatissimus Ad Cathedram Theologicam Per D. N. Margaretam Richmondiae Comitissam institutam & per mortem summi Theologi Doctoris Wardi Nuper destitutam; unanimi Theologorum suffragio Evocatus

Archidiaconus Huntingdoniensis: & Ecclesiae Wigorniensis Decanus mentissimus Sanctae doctrinae in Ecclesia Anglicana stabilitae Cordatus assertor. Divitiarum pius contemptor Eleemosynarum quotidianus Largitor Toto vilae institut•• sanctus & severus, ex morbo tandem quem assiduis studendi, & concionandi Laboribus contraxit Aeger decubuit, & in hac Ecclesia Quam per 27 annos Religiosissime administravis Mortalitatis exuv••a•• In spe beatae resurrectionis Pie deposuit. M••nsis sextilis die 22.

• Anno
  • Domini M. DC. XLIX.
  • Aetatis suae LVIII.

Mementote praepositorum vestrorum qui vobis locuti sunt verbum Dei, quorum imitamini fidem, contemplantes quis fuerit exitus ipsorum, Heb. 13. 7.

Notes

• a 1.1

  P••inted by Mr. William Weirs and Mr Scot, at the Princes. A••••es in Little Brit∣tain.