WHen you was pleased to desire of me a particu­lar Account of the last and fatal Sickness of our late Metropolitan, and of his Grace's pious Behaviour under it, I could not but Congratulate with my Self the happy Imployment you had put me to; and do hereby return you my most hearty Thanks for the fresh Opportunity you have been instrumental in giving me, of revolving in my Thoughts those admirable and Christian Vertues, so eminent and conspicuous in the whole Course and Te­nor of his Life, and yet more illustrious at the Time of his Death: The Memory of him indeed will be al­ways precious in the Eyes of good Men; and I am perswaded his Name will never be forgotten in these and the Neighbouring Kingdoms, nor ever remembred, or mentioned, but with Marks of Honour, Esteem and Veneration. But such Memorials are general and [Page 6]languid, and will but coldly affect our Hearts, or dis­pose us to Imitation, except his particular Graces be ruminated on, and rivetted within us by devout and serious Meditation. This will raise in us (as was in him) a Spirit of Meekness, Mortification, Fortitude and Constancy: And his Death, will improve the World (as his Life always did) by recommending a most generous and sincere Piety, and encouraging us in the most difficult Duties of Religion, And I must confess to you, that it is owing to your Commands that I have had a greater occasion, on this great Sub­ject, of glorifying God, (who hath given such Graces to Men) of supporting my self, and encouraging my Brethren in a State of Affliction and Trouble, by the power and prevalency of so renowned an Example. I conceive therefore, your Request to me in this particu­lar, was not so much to satisfy your Curiosity as to af­fect your Conscience, to provoke you to and preserve in you such a steady and unshaken Fidelity to Truth, as is not to be undermined, or wrought upon, by any specious Temptations from the World. Our Holy Faith is not founded on the Examples of Men, but the Practice of it is mightily encouraged and assisted by them. And here you have before you a Glorious Confessor; here you have your Holy Arch-Bishop, making a safe Passage through Storms and Tempests, and carrying his Inte­grity and Conscience undefiled to the Grave. And doth not this bright Example mightily enspirit and inflame your Zeal? Doth it not make your Afflictions easy, and [Page 7]your Vertue strong? Would you now receive the Wa­ges of Unrighteousness how much soever you may want them? Or would you change your desolate and narrow Circumstances, for those more plentful at the Expence of your Conscience, for all the World? These are the Fruits of this great Prelates Vertues, and this is the use we are to make of them; to animate us in the same Course, to aspire to the same degrees of Uprightness, to despise the World and to take up the Cross, not as a Blemish, but an Honour to us: Otherwise, however we may praise and admire him, 'tis but Flattery and Hypocrisy; we celebrate his Memory deceitfully, both to his Injury and our own. For if his great Vertues de­serve to be commended, they deserve to be imitated too: The Praise of the Tongue is but Breach and Air, and the Character goes no deeper than our Lips: But if we live like him, and pursue the same Vertues, with the same Faithfulness and Constancy, our Love and Admiration is seated in our Hearts and Consciences, and we evidence the Honour we had for him, by the noblest Principles of Humane Nature. If therefore we shall make him our Pattern, and follow his Example, we shall do more right to his Memory, than by all the Pa­negyricks in the World.

I could heartily wish that I were able to set this great Example in a true Light, that I could draw his Grace's Picture at full length, and give you a compleat Ac­count of the whole Series of his Life from the begin­ning [Page 8]to the end; and this (if it was faithfully done) perhaps would be as bright a Pattern of Vertue as has for many Ages been communicated to the World, and would emulate the Piety of the first and purest Times, and the Faithfulness of the Primitive Christian Bishops: But this is a Task too difficult for me upon many Accounts, and I hope will be undertaken by some abler Hand, and indeed is more than you require of me: However, as Introductory to what follows, I shall lay before you these two General Observations.

I. That that high and important Station which he held in the Church of England, was never better filled nor manag'd with better Conduct: His great Abilities of Learning, Wisdom, Courage and Sincerity, abun­dantly qualified him to guide the Church, and steer the Helm of it, in the most dangerous and surprising Jun­ctures. There never was a Time since the beginning of Christianity, when all these Qualifications were not ne­cessary in a Christian Bishop, and which he had not al­ways more or less occasion to exercise: But it must be confessed that in his Days, the Church was beset with extraordinary Difficulties, and required an extraordina­ry measure of Prudence and Resolution, of Faithfulness and Zeal, to manage that great Trust committed to his Charge, to the Honour of God, the Interest of Religi­on, and the good and benefit of the Church.

There are two famous Instances which give testimo­ny to this and abundantly evidence the greatness of his Mind, the wisdom of his Conduct, and the zeal and care he had for the preservation of Religion, and the safety of the Church. The First was when he was to struggle with the Commands of a Lawful Soveraign, which seem'd to interfere with the Inte­rest of the established Religion, and the known Laws of the Land, but of this he made no diffi­culty, and soon resolved rather humbly to decline the Commands of his Rightful Prince, than to obey him to the prejudice of the true Religion, and the Established Laws. But the manner of doing this was as exemplary as his Courage, when his King laid un­easy Commands, and which he could not comply with, he did not presently fly in his Face, and load Him with Invectives and Aspersions much less did he undermine his Throne, invite the Invader of it, or by ungodly or revengful Arts endeavour to defeat him of his Just and Hereditary Rights: But, like a true Christian Bishop, he committed his Cause to God, and possessed his Soul in Patience. He could not do an un­lawful thing, but he knew well that that Reason extend­ed to all unlawful Things; and that he could no more vi­olate the Rules of Religion, and the Laws of the Land, in resisting his Lawful Prince, or injuring him in his undoubted Rights, than he could violate them in Obe­dience to him. Sincere Vertue is always uniform, and all of a piece; and he knew that the same Religion and [Page 10]Laws which enjoyn'd him not to obey, oblig'd him like­wise not to resist, and rebel; they were of equal Obli­gation in both Cases, and their Authority as Sacred, and could not be broken with a safe Conscience in one Instance no more than in the other. He stood indeed in the Gap, with all the degrees of Fortitude and Resoluti­on that the greatness of the Occasion required; but these were Christian and Episcopal Vertues, and joyn'd with the same degrees of Meekness and Humility, by hum­ble Petition, by all modest and just ways he declined Compliance, but without the least insolence of Behavi­our or disrespect to the Person of his Prince, much les, to shake off his Authority and Government, whom be know to be the Rightful King of these Kingdoms, and establish­ed in the Throne by the Laws of God and the Land.

It is true in this Action (though it is to be fear'd of some, not with the same Intention) he did not stand a­lone; but several of his Brethren, my Lords the Bishops, and most of the inferiour Clergy bore their parts and join'd with their M [...]tropolitan: But as his Post and Sta­tion, his Wisdom and Conduct, his great part in that whole Affair deservedly challenges the first place, so the ascribing to him what is really his due, does by no means detract from the merits of the rest: All those who acted in Conjunction with him, and upon the same Foundation and Principles, their Credit and Vertue re­main intire to them, and they will never lose the Repu­tation of their Constancy and Faithfulness; but those who acted out of sinister and corrupt Ends, and have [Page 11]since forsaken their Principles, and wofully prevarica­ted, they have blasted their own Reputation, and have little consulted the Honour of that excellent Church of which they were Members. However I must tell you a plain Truth that some of them who then thought them­selves, and still would fain be accounted main Pillars of the Protestant Cause, were, in this Affair, very fleeting and unsetled, and for finding out Salvo's and Distincti­ons; and their subsequent Practice was in a great mea­sure deriv'd from his Wisdom, Authority and Influence.

I shall not need to mention to you his Conduct in the ordinary Branches of his Metropolitical and Episcopal Office: how he to [...]k care to discharge those with great Faithfulness, to preserve the Church of England in its Rights and Establishments, and to secure the Purity of her Doctrine, Worship and Discipline, so far as his Power and Authority extended: These are notorious to all the Kingdom. And it will be sufficient here to ob­serve, that while he sate in the Chair, there was no un­der-hand trucking with the Socinians, or others, out of her Communion; He was a very wise, but withal a very plain and sincere Bishop; He was above little Tricks and Politick Arts, and knew not how to preach against People, and then to stroak and sawn, and curry favour with them when he had done: He was never at the bottom of any Project to give up the Liturgy, the Rights and Ceremonies of the Church: For alas! (quite contrary to modern Policy) He thought that the best way to preserve a Society had been in keeping steadfastly [Page 12]to the terms of it; he had as great a tenderness and compassion, for the seduced and misled as any Man and used all just and moderate ways, for their Reduction and Information, but in good truth, he had not that La­titude of Principle to sacrifice the Church out of secular Intrigues and Politicks, and to deliver up the Mounds and Fences of it to a Party which had been endeavour­ing the Destruction of it for a hundred Years and more, and who once had effectually ruined her. When he had favour at Court, and was able to recommend a Person to the highest Offices in the Church, it was never his Cu­stom to lay aside, or post-pone, the most worthy and able Men, and firm to the Constitution of the Church, and to make use of his Interest to advance a sort of Men who are equally principled for Geneva as for England, or for any Constitution besides; who were never true nor honest to the Church in their Inferiour Charges, and who are far better qualified to betray than to support her. In sine, when he was possessed of the Revenues belonging to his Church, he never made it his business to destroy and plunder it, by cutting down the Timber upon little Pretences, and then putting the Money into his own Pocket. Upon the whole, he was a true Father; the Interests of the Church were his own; and he spent himself in preserving her Honour, Rites and Revenues: Whereas it hath been long ago observed, that an In­truder is always a Step-Father, who spins out the Bow­els of the Church, and fattens himself with her Blood; who having no legal Right, and Foundation, is for com­pounding [Page 13]with Religion, and bartering the Securities of the Church to support himself and uphold the In­justice of his own Tenure. And this Observation is so true that it hath never yet failed in any one Instance. He that came into the Church a Thief and a Robber hath always continued so; and from the beginning of the Church to this very Day there hath not been one Eccle­siastical Usurper, but, who in one or more Instances, hath pawn'd something of Religion to gain an Accession to his Party, and to secure and strengthen his unrigh­teous Possession.

Another famous Instance demonstrating this great Prelat's Vertue and Piety, and his admirable fitness for that High Office he sustained in the Church was this, that he chose rather actually to suffer an expulsion from all his Honours and Ecclesiastical Revenues, than to vio­late his Conscience, or stain the purity of those Princi­ples, he had always maintained and adher'd to: This is a Proof next to Martyrdom, and there cannot be given a greater testimony to a Man's Sincerity, except it had been the laying down his Life; and no doubt, that he would also have as chearfully done, had the Divine Providence thought fit to have call'd him to that Tryal. God knows the Heart, but Men cannot know one ano­ther, nor yet themselves, but by Tryals and Temptati­ons: Disguised Vertue will deceive the World, and perhaps our selves too, and when we meet with no in­teruption in our Affairs a general care of inoffensiveness may pass for great Uprightness, both in the Eyes of [Page 14]Men and in our own: But when the Business comes to Experiment, when we must either part with the World or with our Consciences and Principles; this is a Touch­stone of our Sincerity, and the distinction is soon made. And here we have a most Reverend Arch-Bishop thrust from his high Station, and divested of all his Spiritual Promotions and Preferments, meerly upon the account of his Conscience, and which he might easily have kept, if he could have but tamper'd with his Principles, and brib'd his Judgment to submission, by carnal Induce­ments and fallacious Arguments. But as he was too wise and judicious to be impos'd upon, so he was too honest to act upon hypocritical Pretensions and sophisti­cal Evasions; for (as he often said) he had rather suffer under his Lawful Prince than flourish under an Usurper. Alas! Sir, he never was able to know, which way the People (collectively, or representatively) became Sovereign of this Kingdom, and could give away the Government to whom they pleased; he never had Philosophy e­nough to know that the Streams rose higher than the Fountain, that the Receiver of a Gift for that very Rea­son had a better Title to it than those that gave it, how those which gave away that which was none of their own, could derive a better right to the Taker than they had themselves. He had no skill to dive into the My­stery of a People being Conquered by themselves, and thereby deriving a Title of Conquest to a third Person; he could not expound the Riddle of Conquering by Vote, or that giving and taking were discriminating Marks of [Page 15]a Conquest; nor could he submit his Conscience to the maddest Hypothesis that ever was broach'd by Men. He had not the nice Subtilty to distinguish between Allegi­ance de facto, and All giance de jure. For as he knew that all Duties whatsoever, were founded in Right and flow'd from it, and there is no such thing in the World as a Du­ty to Wrong, so he knew likewise that neither our own Laws, nor any in the whole World, had been so contra­dictions and inconsistent, as to provide for a double Allegi­ance in opposition to one another. These were Fig-leaves, which some had sewed together to cover their Naked­ness, but the covering was so very thin and slight, that a far less discerning Judgment than his, would easily look through them; it needed no Skill nor Art, but pla [...]n Hone­sty was sufficient to uncloath them, and to perceive that they serv'd only to blind or shaffle with the Conscience, by no means to direct or satisfy it. He knew an Oath was too sacred and serious to be taken upon phantoms and shadows; upon such wild and ridiculous suggestions, as have not the least being in Nature, Reason, Religion, or the Law. And he knew withal, that to take two contradictory Oaths, must necessarily involve a Man in the guilt of Perjury: In such a case, there is no medium betwixt swearing and forswearing. Upon this Basis he stood and he stood like a Rock firm and unshaken, and all the Billows that beat upon him, could not make the least Impression. His high Post and great Revenues, were mighty Temptations, but when they came to be put into the Ballance with his Conscience, he soon deter­mined [Page 16]his Choice, and gave a convincing Demonstration, that his Vertue was superiour to the World, and inde­pendent of it; that Truth is better and far more elegible than Riches and Honour, when for the sake of one poor persecuted Truth, a Man can without the least hesitancy, forsake all that is great and honourable in the World It is true, on this great occasion he had many Partners, Seven of my Lords the Bishops, and a considerable number of the Inferiour Clergy, besides many of the Nobility, Gen­try and Commonalty, preserved themselves from Contagi­on, and gave the same great proof, of their invincible Fidelity and Constancy; whereby they have not only secured the uprightness of their own Consciences, but have withal maintain'd and upheld, the Honour and Reputation of the Church of England, which hath so terribly been impaired, by the Scandalous Apostacy of so many others. And this is of such mighty consequence, that it must be confessed that Posterity hath nothing left to vindicate the Church and her avow'd Principles, but their Heroic and memorable Examples; and when After-Ages, shall come to dispute the Principles of our Church, they will have the Piety and Practices of these excellent Men, to counter-ballance the general defection, which hath overspread this unhappy Nation.

II. Another General Observation which I have to remark to you, is, that these immortal Vertues, which have embalm'd his Name to all Posterity, were not newly acquir'd, or ev'n exercised; but his younger [Page 17]Years gave an early Testimony of the Greatness of his Mind, and the steadiness of his Principles. There was a Time when a wicked Covenant and Engagement were to be taken; the one Oath was design'd to propagate Rebellion, and to destroy the Church, and the other to support a Cruel Usurpation: And these (in their respe­ctive Seasons) block'd up all Preferments, and a Man could neither keep what he had, nor be admitted to a­ny other, but he must first make his way by swallow­ing the Deadly and Accursed Thing. In those Dayes, he was in the Prime and Flower of his Age, when gawdy Seducements are generally the most prevailing, when the Passions and Propensities to the World are most strong, and the Judgment less mature and solid to correct them; but ev'n in his greener Years his Vertue was ripe; he then became an actual Sufferer for the very same Prin­ciples, and chose to relinquish his Interest in his Native Countrey, and to submit to a voluntary Exile rather than advance himself by the Rewards of Ungodliness, and own the Authority of an unjust, though prevailing, Usurpation. This therefore is not the first Time that he gave the World proof of his admirable Constancy; He was a Confessor near fifty Years before upon the very same Account; and the very same Reasons and Argu­ments, (that in those Days were urg'd for Rebellion and Usurpation) which could not work upon him then, much less could they do it now, (though they had New Names put to them) when his Judgment and Vertue were improv'd; and the Truth of those Principles con­firm'd [Page 18]by his most mature Thoughts, and by long Expe­rience. He had seen and sisted all these matters long before, and it was not likely, that to a wise and good Man, the Copy and Transcript should prevail more upon his Riper Years than the Original it self did upon his Youth; Doleman's Rebellious Arguments had no better Effect when transplanted into Dr. St—t's Unreason­chleness of a New Separation, than they had in the Vile Book of Parsons the Jesuit it self; and the very same Na­merical Reasons could satisfy as little, when baited with modern Names, than they did heretofore, when they came immediately from the Pens and Persons of the first Authors themselves, from Regicide Cook, and Milton, from John Goodwin, and Hugh Peters. In short, he was always just to his Conscience, and true to his Principles, and the repeated Instances he hath given of an untainted Fidelity will exceedingly add to his great Character; That in all the various Concussions of State, the Turns and Changes of the World, he was always the same; and the last great Actions of his Life will suffer no Di­minution or Reproach from any Temporizing Levity or Unworthiness of his former Proceedings. I do not de­ny but a Man may once trip and miscarry, and after­wards relent and recover himself, and become very Great and Useful; and there is no Repugnancy in the Reason and Nature of Things, for a Man erring through weakness of Judgment, inconsiderateness or violence of Temptations, to raise himself up again, and to stand firm ever after: But if we shall cousult Fact, we shall [Page 19]find this Theory not always, perhaps not very often, confirmed by Experience. Those who have once play'd Fast and Loose with their Principles are generally pre­pared to travel the Compass; and we have in our own Memories some who pass'd from the Covenant to the En­gagement, from thence to the Cromwell's, thence to the Restauration, and from thence to the Revolution: And no doubt, if there was occasion, from the same unchange­ableness of Principle could travel the same way back again. Now Sir, if this be no Blemish to a Man's Inte­grity; if when he can receive new Principles with eve­ry Tide, and turn himself and his Conscience to every Turn of Affairs; if he can dispute the same Things Pro and Con, and resolve a Case of Conscience backwards and forwards, and rise and fall his Doctrines in Propor­tion to his Interests; if notwithstanding he shall sustain the Character of Steadiness and Fidelity, then by my Consent Ecebolius and the Vicar of Bray shall hencefor­ward be reckon'd among the Consessors, A versatile and winding Craft shall pass for the mark of a plain and fair dealing man, and the Wind and the Moon be here­after the fittest Emblems of Constancy. But if Mankind have always taken other Estimates of Things; if the Truth and Goodness of a man's Vertue hath been always measured by its Strength, that it is able to abide the Trial, to weather all Storms and mutable Accidents, and remain the same under all Difficulties and Discou­ragements; if the difference between counterfeit and standart Vertue consists in Permanency and Perseve­rance, [Page 20]not subject to the Changes and Chances of this Lower World, If finally these are in themselves, and were always accounted great and glorious Things, then the several-Stages of our Venerable Father's Life will af­ford us so many Eternal Monuments of his Piety. And he hath left behind him very few, who in this degene­rate Age are likely to equal his Vertues, or to come near them by many degrees, and none less than him who sits in his Chair, and some others who fill the Sees of our Depriv'd Bishops.

But, Sir, Will you give me leave more fully to ex­cite your Piety and Imitation, and to improve to your Use and my own this great Example to the best Advan­tage. It may be necessary to go a little deeper, and to uncover the Root from whence so many Excellent and Praise-worthy Actions did spring; for it will be impossible to copy out one of his great Vertues, without acquiring a just Proportion of all the rest. To aim at his Constancy without his Humility, is to plant without a Soil, and to aspire at his inflexible Faithfulness without an equal mea­sure of his Mortification, is to make a Superstucture without a Foundation. And therefore it may be fit to ob­serve, That that wonderful Staidness and Evenness of his Conduct, those high and eminent Vertues which render'd him so conspicuous, were built on a Foundation abun­dantly sufficient to support the Weight of them: His Hu­mility and Denial of the World were as bright as any of his Vertues, and bore up this mighty Fabrick: The World could lay no Byass on his Affections, to suborn [Page 21]his Judgment, and tamper with his Conscience; but he could and did with equal Affection and Resolution embrace Truth, when naked and despised, as well as when attended with Honours and Revenues: And you your self know, and so does every Man else that had the Happiness to converse with him, That he suffered his Remove from his Possessions and Preferments, with greater Satisfaction and Chearfulness than any man could take them. It was a smart Answer that he gave to a Person, speaking to him concerning the Revolution, and what were like to be the Effects of it; Well! (saith he, smiling) I can live upon Fifty Pounds a Year, mean­ing his Paternal Inheritance; and thereby intimating how little the loss of all the rest would affect him, and what an inconsiderable Inducement the highest Station of the Church was to mislead him, and to pervert his Conscience. He had no Pride, Ambition, Covetousness or Luxury to maintain, and consequently was secure a­gainst all Assaults, that could come from those Quarters. When a man hath once brought himself to that pass, that he cannot live under so much by the Year; when­ever such a Posture of Affairs happens, that he cannot honestly keep his Integrity and his Incomes too, he is in great danger of turning to the left Hand, of distrust­ing Providence and starving his Conscience for to keep warm his Back and his Belly. When Ambition and Love of the World prevail upon the Affections, Religi­on will become Art and Managment, calculated for De­signs and Interests, must vary and alter with Seasons [Page 22]and Opportunities; and such a Man's Conscience will observe the Wind, and be sure to sit always in that Cor­ner from whence Preferments come. In fine, whoso­ever hath not a competent degree of Self-Denial, Mor­tification and Contempt of the World, Religion can have no sure hold of him nor he of Religion, and he lies under an utter Incapacity of being true to himself and to his Conscience; his Principles will be Arbitrary and Precarious, and follow all the Revolutions and mutable Contingencies of this World: What therefore our Lord and Saviour said, Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my Disciple, St Luke 14.33. This was not so much a Command, as a plain Declaration of the State of the Case: There is an utter Impossibility in the Nature of Things, That a Man should be Christ's Disciple who is not prepared and dis­posed to forsake all the World for him, and to put these Dispositions into Act, upon all just Occasion; for other­wise, he can be a Christian no longer than his Religion and Interests agree; for when they differ one must be parted with, and the Predominate Principle will cer­tainly carry him, and he will determine his Choice in behalf of his Affections. To be mortified to the World therfore, is not only to do our Duty in that one Instance; but to gain a General Preservative: The Cross, is the fundamental Principle of Christianity, and secures the honest Observance of all the rest.

By this Time, Sir, I presume that you perceive how necessary it was to enter upon this last Paragraph; it [Page 23]hath an immediate tendency to lead us in the right way, and to direct us how we may follow his Steps; if we would imitate his Greatness of Mind, his Christian Fortitude and admirable Constancy; why then we must lay as deep a Foundation as he did, we must mor­tify our Pride and Passions, and wean our Affections from the World; we must endeavour to attain the same measure of Patience, Humility, and Self denial; and if this be effectually done, we may then hope to partake of his Spirit; but if our Appetites remain irregular, if our Thirst of the World be yet immoderate and intem­perate, we have a Plummer at our Heels, which will be sure to weigh us down, let our Judgments and Under­standing be what they will, and let the Occasion of Per­severance be never so Just and Honourable. The World is, and always will be changable, and if there be room lest in our Hearts to plant that Engine, it will turn us about in spight of the clearest Apprehensions, and the best Resolutions we can make; when we dote too much upon the Fortune, we shall forsake our Mistress on the Loss of her Portion and court another. In Truth with­out such a measure of indifferency to the World, it will be impossible we should be true and faithful upon any Occasion where Truth and Fidelity are required, we shall abandon our Friend or our Father, our King or our Countrey, as well as our Vertue, in a declining and un­prosperous Condition: For 'tis an infallible Maxim in Morals, and which holds good in all Instances, that Ambition and Levity of Principle, that Covetousness and [Page 24] Unfaithfulness, that Love of the World and Inconstancy are convertible, there is never one, without some Pro­portion and Degrees of the other.

And thus Sir, I have laid before you these two General Observations; and I think I shall not need to remark, how fit and pertinent they are to lead us into the Consi­deration of the last Scene of this Great Man's Life. Here we have the Picture of his great Vertues, of his Moral and Christian Endowments; and when we shall find his last Hand to it, when we shall see it compleatly finished by himself, it will give a mighty addition to its Grace and Beauty; the last and finishing Stroaks are always the fairest, and give Lustre and Perfection to all the rest. And this is what I have undertaken (according to my poor measure) to give you some Account of: And when you cast your Eye lower, you will see that as he lived so he died. He resign'd up his Soul in the Profes­sion and Practice of those very Principles which he owned and maintained with so great Constancy and Vi­gour all the time of his Life, which is the most perfect and unsuspected Evidence that a man can give of his en­tire Satisfaction in his Principles and of his great Since­rity in the owning them, and living up to them. The Hour of Death, is of all others, the most unfit Season for Hypocrisy and Dissimulation; and if there be any Seriousness and Sincerity in men they will shew them­selves on a Death-bed. But when a man hath liv'd un­blamably all his Days, when the most malicious and critical Eye is never able to tax him with deceitful [Page 25]Daubing, in the whole course of a long Life; when such a Man shall come to lie under an apparent sence of his Dissolution, if in the last Article of his Life, he shall renew the Profession of his Principles, we have all pos­sible assurance, not only of the utmost Plainness and Sin­cerity of that Profession, but of the Sincerity also of his past Actions in pursuance of those Principles; for he stakes his Soul for the truth of his belief of them, and appeals to God (to whom he is immediately going) for the Uprightness and Honesty of his former Proceed­ings.

But Sir, That I may proceed in Order, I am in the first place to acquaint you, that some time after his Ex­pulsion from his Habitation at Lambeth, he retir'd into the Countrey, to the Place of his Nativity, which was the ancient Estate and Residence of his Ancestors for a­bove 300 Years, and where he built a small Habitation, but large enough for his Retinue and Attendants which were only two or three Servants; Here he chose to six himself in his Retirement; here he enjoy'd the same Chearfulness of Spirit, the same Serenity of Mind, and (in one Word) the same good Conscience; there was some difference in the outward State, in the Splendor and Ornament, but none at all in the Man; and those who repair'd to him from all Parts were blessed with the same charming and familiar Converse, the same holy Admonitions and Instructions, and they found exactly the same Great Arch-Bishop, under a plain Roof in a Countrey Village, that they us'd to meet with in his [Page 26]Palace. Some receive Honour and Reputation, from the Places they hold, and some Infamy; the one as ha­ving too little Vertue, the other too much Vice: But when a man's Vertues bear an equal Proportion with his Station, they are inherent in his Person, and remove with it; when he resided at Lambeth, his Episcopal Vertues had there their Residence also: But when he was forced to leave it, he did not leave his Vertues be­hind him to be possessed by the next Comer, (and if this needs to be prov'd, we have Ocular Demonstration) but they followed his Person in all Fortunes and Places; and we had a Most Reverend Arch Bishop in Fresingfield, when there was none at Lembeth, nor nothing like it. His Obscurity was a new Accession of Honour to him; it was the Effect of a good Cause and a good Conscience, which though it added no new Vertue, it made it more bright and visible; they were the same Vertues he had be­fore, but with greater Lustre, and we had with us the very same Venerable Arch-Bishop, but we had him with the additional Characters of his Expulsion, and cloath'd with the new Honours of his Constancy and Sufferings.

In this just and honourable Retirement he enjoyed all the Pleasures and Advantages of Solitude; a meer Quiet from the Hurry and Business of this World, thereby af­fording greater Vacancy and Leisure for the Concern­ment of the next, is in it self so desireable that some have voluntarily stript themselves of all their Lofty Ac­cessions on purpose to gain an opportunity of retiring into themselves, and cultivating their Minds: But when [Page 27]it is an escape from a spreading Contagion, when quit­ting the World is quitting the Sins of it too; 'tis then not only an opportunity of exercising good Things, but a Sanctuary and Refuge also from those that are bad: But when to both these is superadded a Noble and Glorious Occasion, when 'tis the Result of Piety and Principles, the Lot of Vertue and a good Conscience; Privacy is then set out to the best Advantage, 'tis both our Peace and our Security but 'tis withal our Joy and our Crown. This was our Great Prelat's Retirement, and in this Glorious Sphere his Vertues moved during the last Stage of his Life; for although he needed no Sequestration from the World, to learn to know himself, and to search into his Conscience, those had been his constant Exer­cises and Employment from his Youth; although no In­cumbrances of his Station, or Emergencies of publick Affairs, could ever tempt him to rob God of his Dues, to interrupt his Devotions, and the necessary Works of Piety; yet the Recess his Conscience had made him af­forded him larger and more frequent Opportunities of conversing with God, and with himself; of imploring the Divine Favour, Forgiveness, and Assistance; of per­fecting his Repentance, making up the Accounts of his Soul, and preparing himself for another World: And these were the Companions of his Solitude, the Fruits and Improvements of his Sufferings. But besides his own personal and particular Concerns, there were others of a more publick Nature which he charg'd himself with, and interested himself in, the Groans of a languishing and [Page 28]afflicted Church, and the Scandal and Sins of an Apostate­One, were each of them sad Subjects, and both deserved and excited his Christian Compassion, and his earnest Address and Application to God for Grace and Mercy in proportion to the respective States and Conditions. These are Times of Trial and Temptation, of Defection and Apostacy; and, as God knows there was occasion e­nough, so he suited his Petitions to the Exigency of the Times, That God would be graciously pleased to estab­lish the strong, confirm the weak; reclaim and recover the lapsed; those who deserted his Authority as well as their own Principles, could not run away from his Pray­ers and Charity; and God grant that they may find the benefit of his holy Devotions, who would receive none by his Influence and Example.

But besides these, there is yet another Ingredient which render'd his Solitude more Triumphant, and that is the Reason and Occasion of it; it was not the Effect of Wea­riness or Satiety, of Sullenness or Disappointment, but founded in just and righteous Principles; and the good­ness of the Cause sanctified the Affliction, and made his Privacy venerable in the Eyes of all, and very comfort­able to himself; it was indeed the Exercise and Safe­guard of his Vertues, but it was moreover the actual Suffering for them; and this gave it Life and Spirit, chang'd the Stile and Denomination, made his Meanness his Glory, his Abasement his Honour and Ornament; and though he was always a very Great Man, yet he made a greater Figure in the World, and sustained a [Page 29]more Honourable Character in his Privacy and Retire­ment, than ever he had done in the utmost Extent of his Prosperity and Plenty: And this was not only exter­nal, and terminated without him, but it was an Ho­nour founded in Righteousness. The Honour this comes from God only, which exerts a mighty Power within, and sheds ineffable Comforts into a Man's own Breast. He saw nothing about him, but what were Arguments of his Uprightness; and carried the Marks of his Sinceri­ry; and this join'd with the internal Testimony of his own Soul, is perhaps one of the most reviving and che­rishing things in the whole World: And here we may contemplate the mighty power of a good Conscience, how easily it triumphs over the World, and what unspeakable Pleasure ariseth in the Soul, from the sence of an honest and resolute Adherence to Duty: He did not only bear his Suffering and low Condition with Patience, but be exulted in it; it was matter of the highest Satisfaction to him, and any Man might read the Pleasure in his Breast, by the constant Serenity and Cheerfulness of his Aspect; and I dare say, that the most greedy World­ling never enjoyed half that solid Complacency, in the most lucky and fortunate Acquisitions, as he did in be­ing deprived of all, and reduced to the mean Circum­stances of a private Habitation.

Thus Holy were his Exercises, thus Heavenly his Comforts, till at long [...] pleased God in order to per­fest and compleat them) to visit him with a long and langishing Sickness: His Disease was at first an [...]er­mitting [Page 30]Fever; but the Fits were so extream Violent that he was very near Dying in the Second, and lay Speech­less and bereav'd of his Senses for some Hours; but by the help of the Cortex Peruvianus, advised and directed by his Physician, a Third Fit was prevented: But however the stopping the Fits gave some Respite, yet it was with­out any promising Hopes; he had some Lucid Intervals, but recovered no Strength; he lay under a general Weakness and Decay, and so continued Wasting to the last Period, till his Spirits and Vitals were exhausted, and his Soul took Wing from a dry and emacirated Carkass. This Distemper from the Beginning to the End continu­ed just Thirteen Weeks; He fell Sick on the 26th of August, and Dyed on the 24th of November following.

And now, Sir, I presume you expect to see the Fruits of a good Life, the Conduct of sincere Vertue when it is to wrestle with the Terrors of Death; this is the last and it is the greatest of Trials: And here we perceive the wonderful Advantages of Sincerity, that it standeth us in stead when we have most need, and when all things else fail us; it supporteth us when our Spirits are spent, and enableth us to look Grim Death in the Face, not only with Confidence but with Address. When he had once shewn his Physician his wasted and shrivl'd Thighs and Legs, void of Flesh and all nourishing Juice and Moisture, saith he, And can these Dry Bones live? In truth, he was not only contented and willing to die, but he breath'd after it with Ardency, he desired it, and [Page 31]called for it, but still with the humblest Submission and Resignation to the Will of God: He used to express the Sence of his Heart in these Words of the Psalmist, I will bear the Indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against hin: I will lay my Mouth in the Dust. In his greatest Extremities and Agonies, he used to set before him the great Example of our Saviour, For, saith he, As a Lamb carried to the Slaughter, he was Dumb, and o­pened not his Mouth. Those great Vertues of Humility and Patience, of Trust and Affiance in God, of Univer­sal Charity and good Will to Men, which by a long Practice he had made habitual and familiar to him, now exerted themselves most powerfully in this Critical Sea­son; and we beheld the Graces of his Life triumphing over the Decays of Nature, and were both the Support and the Crown of his Death-Bed, which plainly teach­eth us, how necessary it is to gain a Habit of Vertue in the Days of our Health, that we may not have it to seek when we have the greatest occasion to use it. We saw the admirable Humility and Patience of his Soul, with what quiet and chearful Resignation he submitted to the Divine Will throughout the whole Course of his languishing Sickness: There was not the least appear­ance of any Disturbance or Discomposure, but the same Meekness which had always calm'd his Passions under former Dispensations, was ready now to assist him, and was in in truth more eminent and visible in extremis. That which came the nearest to a Complaint, was only a Description of his wasting Condition, in these Pious [Page 32]Words, Thy Hand is heavy upon me Day and Night, my Moistare is like the Drought in Summer, But even this joined with an Act of high Trust in God; for, saith he, I am low, but must be brought lower yet, even to the Dust of Death; yet though he kill me I will Trust in him. His great Piety (which was always quick and active) was now most sprightly and vigorous; and it was surpri­zing to behold, in the perfect failure of all Bodily Sup­ports, with what Presence of Mind he would turn him­self to all the Difficulties he lay under, with what won­derful Dexterity he would meet with and alleviate his Extremities, by pious and suitable Ejaculations, taken out of the Scriptures, or breath'd from his own pious Soul: An Acute Pain, or dejection of Spirit (the fre­quent Companions of his Sickness) could no sooner ap­proach him, but he was always as ready to obviate them by a Divine Sentence or holy Prayer. It was indeed an unspeakable Comfort and Satisfaction to us, and we reflected on the mighty power of a well spent Life, the great Efficacy of the constant Practice of Vertue; when we saw him with so much case and facility overcoming the Throws and Pangs of a mortal Distemper, and pre­venting the Terrors and Convulsions of Death it self. We saw his flaming and ardent Charity, both extended and limited according to the Apostle's Direction, [...] but specially to them of the Houshold of Faith. His Suffer­ing Brethren were the principal Objects of his Charity and Prayers, but not exclusive of others; but upon the frequent returns and exercises of his Devotions, he suit­ed [Page 33]his Prayers to the general needs of men, and recom­mended them respectively to the Divine Mercy: In par­ticular the Apostacy of a once Glorious Church stuck ve­ry near to him, and this gave great employment to his Charity; he knew that Prayers might reach them who were obstinate to all other Convictions; and in this he was earnest and frequent, that God would touch their Hearts, and reduce them to a Sense of their Sin, and of the great Scandal they had occasioned, and dispose them to repair it by a timely and seasonable Repentance: In short, if he had any Enemies, they also were included in his Prayers, and in particular a little before his last Hour, he solemnly pray'd for a Blessing upon his Family, and Re­lation, and Friends, and earnestly begg'd Forgiveness for his Enemies, as he desired it of God for himself.

But, Sir, I know you expect from me, a more particu­lar account of his Grace's management of himself in this his last Sickness, with respect to the Principles which he own'd, and for which he suffer'd: And, Sir, I shall answer your expectation, having something very considerable to observe to you on this Head; and you will soon per­ceive how far his Conscience and Soul were engaged in that matter, and that it was impossible for him to have acted otherwise with the Safety of his Conscience, and preserving the Uprightness and Sincerity of an honest Man, if you please to consider.

1. That by his own Order and Appointment, and with words of his own framing, was inscribed upon his Tomb, At last deprived of all that he could not keep with a good Conscience, I shall presently give you the Inscription at large, in the mean time, this is as plain, and full a De­claration [Page 34]as Words can make, that the Reason and Ground of his Non-compliance with the present Powers, was a good Conscience: he was depriv'd because he could not comply, and he did not comply, because he could not do it with a good Conscience: And it is remarkable, that this came from his own hand, and with intentions to sur­vive him; so that we have not only a Death-bed Declara­tion, but that Declaration perpetuated by himself, his dying Testimony recorded to succeeding Ages, and to remain a Monument to Posterity.

2. Throughout the whole course of his Retirement, and more particularly during the time of his Sickness, he never communicated with the Swearing Clergy, nor would permit them to Officiate, but I cannot express this better than in his own words, dictated to a Person who was then with him, some litle time before his Death, to be sent as from his Grace to a Friend of his, and a co­py of which I have kept by me: It is in these words. —My Lord is sensible of how great a Concernment it is who ministers to him in holy Things, we have very few Non-Swearers hereabouts: Mr. W. hath been with us once, and visited my Lord solemnly, Mr. E. bath been here often, and at first visited my Lord very solemnly, and it happen'd to be at a time, when there were many Swearers, and Non-Swear­ers in the Room: He gave me the Absolution of the Church and not long after the Holy Sacrament: He comes often hi­ther, and when it is seasonable, performs the Holy Offices. At other Times my S— who perfectly understands the Li­turgy, useth as many of the Prayers as it is fit for him to do: and we heartily implore God's Mercy, for the pardon of our Defects and Indecencies, in the performance of his Holy Ser­vice and hope that we are accepted. My Lord never recei­veth [Page 35]the Sacrament, but with those that come not at the Pa­rish and are Non-Jurors: He never admits any of the Irre­gular Clergy to be at the Holy Offices; as for the rest; if they come when he goes to Prayers, he excludes them not: This hath been his course.

Nov. 15. 1693.

This, Sir, I conceive needs no application, and here you have your desire from his own Mouth, an account of his Sence and Judgment, together with his particular Practice in persuance of it: You know there were other Reports spread with you at London, as if he had received the Communion at the Hands of a Juror, and many such like; and the Noise of this came to us in the Countrey, and was a great Trouble to his Lordship, and in Truth gave the Occasion, of representing his own Practice in the foregoing Letter. He had too just a Sence of the Unity of the Church, and the Flagrancy of the Schism, to admit such Practices; and you may please to Observe, that this was but nine Days before his Death, and I can assure you, he never alter'd his Course afterwards; nay, he took particular and especial care, that a Non-Juror should perform the last Office of the Burial of the Dead, and particularly appointed him by Name. I suppose you will make no Objection, that the Letter above runs in two Stiles, one in his own Name, and another in the Person of the Writer; that is very usual and familiar, when a Person dictates what is to be sent to a particular Friend, and there was no need, in Matters that related [Page 36]purely to his own Practice, to be very nice as to the Stile of the Representer: And this difference of the Stile, fur­ther confirms the Testimony of the Writer, that it was dictated from his own Mouth, for part of it sustains his own Person, and thereby gave Credit and Authority to the rest, as proceeding from the same Fountain, being Branches of the same Letter, and part of the same Re­presentation.

3. The Third and Last Thing, I have to remark to you in this particular, is, that drawing near to his End, he said, in the hearing of some of his Servants, that his Profession (in the particular Case for which he Suffered) was real and conscientious, and not proceeding from any fini­ster Ends; that he had the very same Thoughts, of the present State of Affairs, which he had at first: and that if the same thing was to be acted over again, he would quit all that he had in this World, rather than violate his Conscience, And in further Confirmation of this, in less than an Hour before he dyed, he put up these two hearty and earnest Petitions to Almighty God.

1. That God would Bless and Preserve this poor Suffering Church, which by this Revolution is almost destroyed.

2. That he would Bless and Preserve the King, the Queen, and the Prince; and in his due time to restore them to their just and undoubted Rights.

And now, Sir, you see the Make and Composition of these his Grace's Principles and Practises; you see their very Inwards, and have a Window open into his Breast; you plainly perceive his Conscience, and his Up­rightness in this whole Affair, and you have the Testi­mony [Page 37]of his last Breath, and his expiring Prayers: He was so well satisfied both of the Eternal Truth of those Principles by which he acted, and of his own Sincerity in living up to them, and suffering for them, that he ventur'd his Soul in the same Bottom with them, closed up his Life with a Profession of them, and made them the Subject of his last Recommendatory Prayers. I must confess this Inference needs an Apology; for if the Na­ture of the Thing it self did not sufficiently testify this, (as it certainly does) I do not believe that any Man who knew him did ever think otherwise, or in the least ima­gine but that he proceeded with the highest Sincerity. But since we live in an Age where Men oftentimes speak more than they think, and because they themselves are apt to act upon corrupt Ends, are willing to charge the same upon others in their own Justification; it may per­haps not be altogether unseasonable to make good that by undeniable Evidence, although all Men in their own Consciences do already believe it: And if the less of all this World, and the venturing our Hopes in the next, in behalf of a Man's Principles, be not a sufficient and convincing Proof of his Satisfaction and Sincerity in them; then either there are no such Things in the World, or they can never be known.

I am now come to the last Period of this Great and Holy Prelat's Life; and all that I shall represent to you, is, That his Memory and Intellectuals remained perfect to the last Moment, and even his Senses also; a very little time before he dyed, he called for a Common-Prayer-Book, of the smallest Print, and turn'd to the Commen­datory Prayer, and order'd it to be read; and that be­ing perform'd, he composed himself more solemnly for [Page 38]his Departure: He put his Hands and Arms down to both his Sides, and in a manner laid out himself, and would have his Head laid lowere and with great Wil­lingness and Chearfulness submitted himself to the [...] of Death▪ The Time, his Age, and other Circumstances, you will see in the Postseript, when you read the Inscription on his Monument, composed by himself, and directest by him to be engraved thereon. He was Buried in Fresin [...]field Church-yard, against the South wall of the Church, by his own Appointment.

And thus, Sir, I have given you a true, though very imperfect, Account, of the Pious and Exemplary B [...]ha­viour of our late most Reverend Arch-Bishop, in his last Sickness, and of his Death. And I desire you would account it (what in Truth it is) very desective; and that there are many other Passages relating to his abundant Charity and Beneficence, his memorible Edifices and Endowments, which equally deserve to be recommend­ed to us, and to be transmitted to Posterity; and I hope to see a more full and perfect Representation perform'd by a more able Hand. I shall conclude with this Prayer, That God would give us Grace to follow his Steps with the same Resolution and Constancy, that in his good time, we may be partakers of the same Glory and Immortality.