have been treated as deferters. And tho' this bearfkin has been faften'd upon many of the most learned, zealous, and determined adverfaries of the papifts, yet I will venture to fay flowly, fhould ever the fwellings and inundations of the papacy (an herefy or neft of herefies hatcht to affront the common fenfe of mankind, and to proclaim war against many of the doctrines and duties of the Gospel) fhould they ever for our fins overwhelm us with an irrefiftible torrent, they will not be obtruded upon us by a Ridley, a Bancroft, a Laud, a Chillingworth, a Bramhall, or an Hickes, but by one of thefe Synonyma, a puritan, a papist with a difpenfation in his fob, a proteftant in mafquerade.

This may by fome be cenfur'd as a very digreffion: but the failors fay that a becalming at fea is dreaded as the greatest distress next to a fhipwreck: I am fure the tares were fown while the husbandman flept; and if it should prove true, that the Jefuits and feminary priests in the bills of mortality are twice as many as the parish priests, it may now be queftion'd whether our fecurity be not greater than our fafety, fince thefe eagles ufed to be gathered together where the carcafe is.

He was a living inftance, that the bonds of religion may and can furpass the ties of flesh and blood.

He never blamed the age he liv'd in, or fuggested that good men had caufe to repine, as if the rewards of the great and virtuous were affign'd to lefs worthy perfons and he indubitably was one of the moft contented, because he contracted his defires as to the things of life into the narrowest bounds.

Those who refign'd or precipitated themselves into envy and malice, he truly pitied, as knowing those vices change the man into a monfter, depose reason, by fetting the head where the heels fhould ftand, and drive men to renounce thofe principles whereon both perfonal fafety and public good depend: in his chearful, pleasant, eafy converfe, he rated the revengeful as executioners, or finishers of the law.

He thought the greatest cowards were the most cruel, and that the moft covetous were the moft beggarly and neceffitous; if we may invert the conftruction, as perfons really having nothing, though poffeffing all things in the midst of their abundance.

His patience under afflictions and loffes of every kind, was great, having gone thro' the trial and exercife of them for almoft the fpace of forty years'; fo that I have no fcruple in my own mind, but that in him. patience had her perfect work. His patience under bodily pains was furprifing to me. I faw him foon after he was cut for a fiftula; his difcourfe was eafy and unforced; a fteady calm and compofure fat on his brow, without a wrinkle or wry face: I could not forbear this foliloquy, Either his fense of pain must be abated, or he could bear pain beyond other mor tals, or both and when I faw him dying, he did not seem so much to fuffer as to enjoy his death.

His meekness was fuch, that fhould we form a judgment from his carriage, it would be this, that he never met with a provocation. I knew him intimately for about eleven years, and under feveral fevere trials of his temper, but I never faw him angry. I remember a converfation, in which Dr. Burnet was the fubject, where the tide run pretty high against the Bifhop; but our author, tho' he had been before the Shearer, open'd not his mouth; when he was importun'd to fpeak his fentiments, he deliver'd himself with such authoritative fweetness and candour, that, all things confider'd, I think I never heard fuch amiable words proceed out of any man's mouth, and to this effect: Sir, the world fays I was injured by Bifhop Burnet; another man therefore may fay that of him with truth and decency, which I can't fpeak without the fufpicion of refentment. On another occafion, in the plunge of his diftrefs, a memorable tranfaction rifled his purfe of near twenty pounds, and likewife pursued him with other outrages which were ruinous to his circumftances.' My fituation was fuch at that time, the affair could

scarce

fcarce be conceal'd from me. Our author was calm and difpaffionate upon the repetition of the cafe, and, fo far as I can recollect, with his wonted complacency, thought it ftrange, that flander, like quickfilver in the tube, did not fink in proportion to the preffure or injury.

As for our author's chriftian fincerity, he fpoke and liv'd as he wrote: and therefore I can't do him better juftice than to refer the reader to that passage in the SICK MAN VISITED, where the water is not troubled with defign to choak the fish.

That they may fhew how true [or upright] the Lord my ftrength is, and that there is no unrighteoufnefs in him, was frequently in his mouth, and at his heart. This was the pattern of his juftice and integrity to his fellow-creatures. If he tranfgreffed juftice in any particular, I guess it was by throwing weight into the oppofite fcale, where he was perfonally concern'd. I fhall transcribe here part of a letter of Mrs. Martha Bennet, of Holbeach in Lincolnshire, the only furvivor of all his father's children. Among many instances of his exact juftice I recollect this: My father having by his will bequeathed to me 4007. and charged an eftate with the payment of it, which, as it afterwards appear'd, could not be done according to the ftrict rules of law-My brother, because he thought it my father's intention that fuch fums fhould be paid out of the eftate, not only paid me the 400. but all intereft from the time it became due to the time of payment: and I make no queftion but he did the fame to three more brothers, who were all alive many years after; altho', as above hinted, ⚫ he needed not to have done fo, the eftate being vested in him as heir at law, in fuch manner as entirely hindered the operation of my father's will.' I have feen accounts which contain full evidence that all his brothers met with the fame ufage from his hand and should the whole compafs of his acquaintance and intercourse be survey'd, I dare fay a

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fingle variation from this practice could not be produced.

Devotion or prayer appear'd to be a province in which his great ftrength lay, as if the bleffing of the primogeniture were entailed upon this duty: the beginning of ftrength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. If the Spirit of grace and fupplications was poured forth upon any in these later days, I fee no cause why it should not be afcribed to our author. I believe no man living makes a nearer approach to the ftrict literal obfervance of that direction, Pray without ceafing, than he did. I had frequent opportunities of certain information as to this fact. Though he was remov'd at the greatest distance from oftentation, in the performance of this or any other christian duty, yet in fecret prayer he often discovered himself without defign, and against inclination: for as in his ejaculations his method was to form the characters, of which they confifted, gently within himself, fo being corpulent, and confequently his veffels turgid, a whisper every now-and-then efcaped, by which a curious obferver had a key to his thoughts, or rather an articulation of his words. He had a fingular eafinefs in conversation, and prefence of mind; but whenever there was a full paufe in the conference, he habitually retreated to his beloved exercife of mental prayer. And here I may not incur the blame of omitting to refer to a place of this book, where our author recommends a description of prayer, which he seems to infinuate he got by heart in his youth, and had fo often thought of it, and been pleas'd with it, that he was apt to think he should never forget it.' Again, as our author was frequent and fervent in his devotions, fo he was no lefs confcientious in the matter and object of his prayers. He maintained that the chriftian devotions fhould refemble the Jewish facrifices; no lame or blind offerings, for fear fuch deceivers fhould bring a curfe upon them, and not a bleffing. He thought this prevarication betray'd a

wicked beart of unbelief, or that it discovered a people that erred in their heart. For this reafon he openly animadverted upon the Popish corruptions in worship, as terminating their devotions on inanimate things, and mere creatures: and as falfe attributes or commendations are affronts, he more than hinted that the faints and angels were affronted, and the Deity defpifed, thereby. This he looked upon as an heinous crime, as an iniquity to be punished by the judges. He must be a novice or ftranger to Chriftianity, who doubts that unjust and facrilegious prayers are provoking in the fight of God; when the Pfalmift carries the point fo high as to fay, If I regard iniquity in my beart, the Lord will not bear me. All unjuft facrilegious petitions therefore, which rob God of the honour due to his name, do moft literally make the house of prayer a den of thieves. There can be no extenuation of their guilt who offer the unclean and the unholy. According to the Pfalmift in our old verfion, Pfal. 1. 16, &c. they have no title to preach God's laws, or to take his covenant in their mouths, who bate to be reformed, who caft his words behind them. And a greater than the Pfalmift hath instructed us, that we have no right to offer a gift at the altar, if our brother have aught against us, Matt. v. 23. God declares that he loves juftice better than facrifice; therefore the Popish facrilegious prayers, which are prayers against justice, are worse than no prayers, or fuch unjust prayers are more criminal than no facrifice. He that turneth away his ear from bearing the law, even bis prayer fhall be abomination, Prov. xxviii. 9.

Our author was charitable in every fenfe, and in every degree. He caft his bread upon the waters: he went about doing good to the bodies and to the fouls of men: he relieved the neceffitous; he inftructed the ignorant; he extended his bounty to thofe who were with him, and those who were against him, without limitation, even returning good for evil. He literally fulfilled that precept, Matt, vi. 3. When thou doeft

alms,