covered by pews against the south wall, and on it is the following inscription M. S. ELIZABETH THE DEARE AND VERTUOUS WHOM SHE COMFORTABLY LIVED FOURTY EIGHT YEARS CHANGED THIS MORTALL LIFE FOR AN ETERNALL, AUGUST FAREWELL READER AND MIND Mr. John Hall, a son of Bishop Hall, was buried on the 12th of Feb. 1650.* Blomefield, in his history of Norfolk, under Heigham, not only mentions the inscribed tombstone of the bishop's wife, but also of his son: but the latter does not now remain; some years ago it was the stepping stone of a stile into the church yard. Bishop Hall had been the husband of one wife, "a grave, virtuous matron, with whom he lived forty-nine years." On occasion of her death he wrote his Tractate, entitled Songs in the Night, or Cheerfulness under Affliction. In the letter addressed to "a dear and worthy friend," prefixed to this Treatise, the bishop observes, "indeed, it pleased my God lately to exercise me with a double affliction at once; pain of body, and * In Norwich cathedral there is a monument for Edward Hall, son of the bishop, who died young in 1642.--Vide Magna Britannia, vol. iii, p. 316. grief of mind for the sickness and death of my dear consort. I struggled with them both, as I might; and by God's mercy, attained to a meek and humble submission to that just and gracious hand, and a quiet composedness of thoughts: but yet, methought, 1 found myself wanting in that comfortable disposition of heart and lively elevation of spirit, which some holy souls have professed to feel in their lowest depression, fetching that inward consolation from heaven, which can more than counterpoise their heaviest crosses. Upon this occasion, you see here how I held fit to busy my thoughts, labouring by their holy agitation, to work myself, through the blessing of the Almighty, to such a cheerful temper, as might give an obedient welcome to so smarting an affliction; and, that even while I weep, I might yet smile upon the face of my heavenly Father, whose stripes I do so tenderly suffer. If in some other discourses I have endeavoured to instruct others, in this I mean to teach myself, and to win my heart to a willing and contented acquiescence in the good pleasure of my God, how harsh soever it seems to rebellious nature." In the seventh section of this excellent treatise, speaking of his heavy afflictions and losses, the pious and aged bishop says, "Come then, all ye earthly crosses and muster up all your forces against me. Here is make me more than (He had spoken before that, which is able to conqueror over you all." of that blessed eternity which he wished to keep in view.) "Have I lost my goods, and foregone a fair estate? Had all the earth been mine, what is it to heaven? Had I been the lord of all the world, what were this to a kingdom of glory? Have I parted with a dear consort; the sweet companion of my youth; the tender nurse of my age: the partner of my sorrows, for these forty-eight years? she is but stept a little before me to that happy rest, which I am panting towards; and wherein I shall speedily overtake her. In the mean time, and ever, my soul is espoused to that glorious and immortal husband, from whom it shall never be parted. Am I bereaved of some of my dear children, the sweet pledges of our matrimonial love; whose parts and hopes promised me comfort in my declined age? Why am I not rather thankful it hath pleased my God, out of my loins to furnish heaven with some happy guests? Why do I not, instead of mourning for their loss, sing praises to God, for preferring them to that eternal blessedness? Am I afflicted with bodily pain and sickness, which banisheth all sleep from my eyes, and exercises me with a lingering torture? Ere long, this momentary distemper shall end in an everlasting rest. Am I threatened by the sword of an enemy? Suppose that man to be one of the guardians of paradise, and that sword as flaming as it is sharp, that one stroke shall let me into that place of unconceivable pleasure, and admit me to feed on the tree of life for ever. "Cheer up, then, O my soul; and upon the fixed apprehension of the glory to be revealed, while thy weak partner, my body, droops and languishes under the sad load of years and infirmities, sing thou to thy God, even in the midnight of thy sorrows, and in the deepest darkness of death itself, songs of confidence, songs of spiritual joy, songs of praise and thanksgiving: saying, with all the glorified ones,Blessing, honor, glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. Amen." Rev. v, 13.* CHAPTER XII. A VIEW OF THE CHARACTER OF BISHOP HALL, AND OF HIS WRITINGS. THE character and mind of Bishop Hall are prominently delineated and pourtrayed in his admirable and numerous writings. Every attentive reader of his works will easily discover the humility of the christian, united with great talents, and extensive literary attainments. "He is universally allowed to have been a person of incomparable piety, meekness and modesty, a thorough knowledge of the world, and of great wit and learning." Richardson, in his edition of Godwin's De Presulibus, p. 444, gives the following character of Bishop Hall:-“ Vir rerum usu peritus, ingenio subtili et exercitato, eruditione multiplici instructus, nec interim minor erat modestiæ et indolis mansuetissimæ laus." He was from his birth, in a peculiar manner, a child of providence; and he tells us in the beginning of his "Account of Himself," that he |