DISCOURSES Upon several Practical Subjects .

By the late Reverend WILLIAM PAYNE , D. D.

WITH A PREFACE Giving some Account of his Life , Writings , and Death .

LONDON , Printed by J. O. for R. Wilkin , at the Kings-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard , MDCXCVIII .

THE Limits of a Preface will not allow the writing the Life of the Author of the following Discourses , neither have I materials by me for such a work . My first acquaintance with him was sometime after his settlement in London . I was the more inclined to a Correspondence with him , because he had his Education in Cambridge , under , and was much esteemed by Dr. H. P. a person never to be nam'd by me , without paying a very particular honour and respect to his memory .

Antoninus begins his admirable Instructions of life , with an account of his several Benefactors , from whom he had learnt this and that piece of usefull and practical knowledge : instead of many , I am obliged to instance in this excellent Man alone , to whom I am more indebted , than to all the Teachers I ever had ; and I take this opportunity to give publick Thanks to God for the happy opportunities I enjoy'd of his wise Instructions and Counsels ; from him I learnt rightly to understand Religion , the Idea's of which had been so confounded by false Teachings , and the notion of it set forth in so frightfull a manner , that there is reason to conclude , that it was the superstition of the former , which has laid the Foundation of the too visible Scepticism and Infidelity of the present Age. From him I learnt that the Laws of Religion were intrinsically good , and infinitely for the benesit and advantage of reasonable Creatures , which is the only true notion of it , which can secure the Faith , and keep up the practice of it among Men , who must and ever will be sway'd by what they are once thoroughly perswaded is their chief Interest and highest Benefit . He was a Man of clear thoughts which he always freely communicated , and of so universal a Benevolence , and took such delight in doing good , that he obtain'd the name of Pamphilus among his Friends . My acquaintance was never large , and I have staid a little of the longest in the World , to outlive most of those few Friends I once had ; but so far as my small experience has reacht , I cannot but say , I never knew a better Man , a wiser Christian , or a truer Friend . The Reader , if he be good natur'd , will pardon me for stepping a little out of my way , to pay a debt of Gratitude . To return to our Author , of whom I have undertaken to give some account , from the time of my first acquaintance with him . He had not been long in Town , before he was taken notice of by some of the best Judges of Learning , who soon discerned his Abilities , and how fit he was for those undertakings , in which the Service of the Church afterwards required him to engage ; I mean in those perillous times , when both our Religion and our Civil Rights were so visibly endanger'd , that many despair'd and gave them up for lost . The Members of the Church of England stood in this breach , which they maintain'd with that Courage , that the Enemy gave back , and a space was gain'd for our deliverance : The behaviour of the Divines of this Church , will be remember'd by Posterity , and a Collection of their writings at a time when others were so silent and complying , will remain a standing Armory against Popery , whenever it shall renew its attempts upon us . Then it was that he show'd both his Courage and his Skill in defending our established Religion . The former in contemning those numerous threatning Letters , some sent him by the Penny-Post , and others thrown over his Garden-Wall ; and one night a Divine , of about his bulk , and a Friend of his , coming late thorough Harrow-Alley into Goodman's - fields , which was his usual walk home , two Men with drawn Swords came up to him , and staring him in the face , said the one to the other , 't is not he , and so went off ; which had no other effect upon him , but to give him a caution not to stay out in the Evenings . His abilities I need not say any thing of , they are sufficiently seen in those Learned Treatises published by him , on this occasion , The Adoration of the Host , the Sacrifice of the Mass , and that extraordinary discourse in answer to the Bishop of Meaux's Book of Communion in one kind ; not to mention his lesser pieces of the sixth Note of the Church , and his Examination of the Texts of Scripture produced by the Papists for the Celibacy of Priests : whoever carefully reads over those Treatises will find the subject exhausted , and that he needs not to search any further into those Arguments ; and by those concessions , so Ingeniously made to his Adversaries , which show'd that he sought Truth only , and not Victory , the possibility of a reply seems to me to be prevented ; and the Learned French Prelate , who has show'd himself to have dexterity enough for most undertakings , would yet I believe be loth to be put upon the uneasie task of defending his Book against that answer to it . When the fear of Popery was over , it was the general expectation that our little disputes and controversies would be thrown up , and to prevent any future danger , we should be at perfect Peace and Vnion among our selves . The behaviour of the Clergy in circumstances when they expected nothing but ruin to themselves and their Families , it was hop'd had removed all the Jealousies of our Dissenting Brethren , and disposed them to such a temper , that there seemed nothing wanting to gain the wisest and best part of them to our Communion , but to let them be assured , that we would receive them kindly ; nothing could so effectually secure us from the like dangers from Popery for the future , nor keep up the practice of Religion and good Morals , as putting a final end to the Schism , and uniting us in one Communion . Some were of Opinion , that this was not possible to be done , but by a Comprehension ; they said that an opportunity for this had been slipt within their memories , and that now they had another very fair one , which it would be unpardonable to let pass : besides , they saw that without it , a general Toleration would pass in Parliament , the ill consequences of which were easily foreseen . Others apprehended , that no Condescention would unite us , that our Dissenting Brethren would not be satisfyed unless they could carry all before them , and that were they takn into our Communion , they would make no other use of the Privilege than to over-turn our Constitution as soon as they had an opportunity for it ; and therefore they thought it was better we should continue as we were , till we could have assurance that we should not be ridiculed for making alterations unrequested , and without any likelihood of answering the end thereby propos'd . This was wholly a matter of Prudence , and who was in the right could not presently be determined and therefore 't is not to be wonder'd at that there should be different sentiments about the means in those who all joyned in the same end . Our Friend , with whom I have often canvassed the Question , was in his judgment , which he sincerely followed in all things , for a Comprehension , and tho' he had a just sense of the sin of Schism , and look'd upon that among us as utterly unjustifiable , and that nothing of any moment could be urg'd in defence of it ; yet his Opinion was , that this was the only Method , which the present follies and mistakes of Men would admit of , to establish the honour and interest of the Church , and to recover expiring Piety , Charity , and other Christian Virtues , which by our divisions had received a wound not to be cured , without the use of this balm . Vpon these considerations , he was prevail'd with so far to concern himself on this occasion , as to reply to a little piece , entituled Vox Cleri , published by a Learned and Eminent Divine , as in the name of the Clergy ; which Circumstance , with the stile of the answer being a little too facetious , for so aged a Divine as his Adversary , raised him some Enemies : but had he lived never so long , I believe he would hardly have concern'd himself any further in proposing expedients of Peace , the very mentioning of which , as his experience taught him , made Men ready to Battle . The design of the Comprehension being laid aside , the Toleration bill pass'd into a Law ; with prudent Limitations for registring the places of Assembling , the names of Preachers , and for securing the Fidelity both of them , and their people ( who were to be known to what Congregation they belonged ) to the Government ; but as it has been managed and used , without regard to the directions of the Statutes , 't is a sanctuary for such as are , as well Enemies to the Government , as to Religion ; 't is an assumed liberty to avoid all civil Tyes , and to be of any Religion , or none , to worship God in their own way , or not to worship him at all ; 't is a refuge for Atheism , Irreligion and Prophaneness , and has produced such a neglect of publick worship and corruption of Morals , as are very scandalous in a Christian Kingdom . Some little Writers about this time expounded this Law to discharge all persons from all obligation to Church-Communion in point of Conscience ; but this tittle tattle was nothing to what has since follow'd , every one taking the liberty according to the Model of Spinosa's happy Commonwealth , to Speak and Write as he lists .

It was a little surprize to us , so soon almost as our Controversies with the Papists , and our fears from that party were over , to be encountred with a set of Men , who , with unusual confidence profess an enmity to all Religion , and bid defiance to the common faith of mankind ; who talk wildly of a Religion , very improperly called so , which has no dependance upon Times , Places , or Persons , to Minister in holy things ; a Religion without worship or any publick Offices , whereby it is profess'd , a thing never heard of before in the World . No man ought tamely to bear an attempt to set aside that publick Honour that is done to the Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth ; and no Christian can be silent when the Lord that bought them , is openly deni'd and his Mission ridiculed . Whither are we going , when Pamphlets are to be seen on every Stall , wrote directly against Christianity ? when under the pretence of advancing Reason , Revelation is thrown up , and at best is allow'd to be no more than a means of Information , but no necessitating motive of assent ? Are these men of Cardan the Astrologer's mind , that the Law of Christ shall be chang'd ? and shall it give way to that sect , which all the other Philosophers expos'd , and Epicurus be set up as a Master and Teacher , instead of our Blessed Saviour ? Do they think to be too hard for God ? Are they stronger than he ? It has been observed , that whoever breaks violently in upon the Laws of his Country , tho' he may for a time brave it ; and presume himself beyond controul , in the end the Laws are always too hard for him , and crush him to nothing : and shall men hope to be safe , who spit in the face of Heaven , and trample all the Laws of God under their feet ? Lucretius was as great a Bravo , and no way inferiour to any modern writer , in the Atheistical way either in Wit or Argument ; and yet Religion has kept its ground and will do so , whatever vain imaginations some few fools may entertain of gaining a victory over it ; however there are those who are resolved not to give over their attempts , and seem to be combin'd in a close Confederacy , and with united strength to try what they can do . The Age every one sees , is extremely addicted to lightness and vanity , and to turn every thing that is grave and serious into ridicule ; to make the best advantage of this prevailing humour , they have a sort of Retainers to Atheism , who are as great Enemies to Reason as to Religion , and have neither enquir'd into what Religion has to say for it self , or the objections against it ; their work is to break a Prophane Jest or two upon it , and if they can but set down these in writing , they grow into a great Opinion of their Parts , and take it for an affront for any Man to speak a wise word in their Company . Others , for each seems to have his part assigned him according to his Genius , pretend to be men of deep thoughts , and to have searcht into all the secret Arts of Priest-craft , and to have examined the juggle of Mysteries to the bottom ; and withal , to have a great Charity for the long misguided World , opprest under the Tyranny and slavish fear of Religion ; and yet in all this their design seems to be meerly to banter mankind . The Author of Christianity not Mysterious , has wrote a labour'd Book to amuse the world , and prove nothing ; he acknowledges there are Mysteries without number , and yet will allow nothing to be call'd so : he will not suffer Mysteries in Revelation , where reason can know nothing beyond what is reveal'd , to be argued from Mysteries in nature , where reason is a proper Judge ; whereas one would think that if in things knowable by reason , we find difficulties we cannot solve , it should seem less strange when we meet with as great in matters of Revelation , which we can know nothing of , further than they are reveal'd . He will not have a thing said to be above reason , because it cannot be imagined or conceived ; and yet makes above reason to signifie something unconceivable or unimaginable , and to be the same with Mystery . He asserts that there is nothing in Religion , that is above reason , and yet confesses that there are things in it , of which we have not an Adaequate and Compleat Idea , which is , what is meant by being above reason : And because we need not understand what we cannot discover by our natural faculties , or infinite goodness has not been pleas'd to reveal to us ; proposes it , as a Compendious method to all usefull knowledge , not to trouble our selves or others , with what God has reveal'd , because we do not understand all that belongs to its nature or manner of existence : and yet after all this concession of the imperfection of our knowledge , and that there are some things we cannot comprehend , affirms that God and Eternity , are no Mysteries , for want of an Adaequate and compleat Idea of them ; and that Infinity and Eternity are as little Mysterious , as that two and three make five : these are certainly at present great difficulties , but he has promis'd to solve them all , only he refers this to a second Book ; but he is so cautious as not to limit himself to any time for the publishing it , that depending upon health and leisure , which he very wisely says , are things in no Mans power to command at his pleasure ; and yet are much more so , than what he has so very vainly made a shew of undertaking . The Socinians may take it ill to be ranked with those who speak and write against Religion , but 't is too apparent that they joyn with them in their attempts upon revealed Religion , and with them carry those on with such Arguments , as will at last bear very hard upon Natural , which is not wholly without its Mysteries ; and God himself , the belief of whose existence is the foundation of all Religion , is as incomprehensible as any the objects of the Christian Faith . These men were once strenuous asserters of the Authority of the Scriptures , but being press'd hard with the unreasonableness of that Principle , not to believe any thing tho' confest to be plainly and expressy revealed , unless they saw how the thing could be ; they have bethought themselves rather to lessen the Authority of those Books than to insist longer on such a sense of 'em , as no other Man , and 't is hard to think they themselves , can judge to be their meaning .

Is that great principle of the Reformation , That the Scriptures are the sole rule of Faith , come to this ? They deserve to be sent to the Island of Anticyra , if they have any thoughts of utterly running down revealed Religion ; but they may prepare the way for that Church , which by so many Arts and Stratagems has attempted to overthrow the Reformation ; and 't is an excess of Charity , not to believe that some of 'em are employed to that purpose , and designedly write to serve that cause . Socinus himself did vigorously maintain the worship of Christ ; how agreeably with his principles may be seen in his dispute with F. D. but his Followers have given it up , and take it ill that any should charge them with honouring the Son , as they honour the Father ; will any man deny this to be a proper season to contend earnestly for the Faith once deliver'd ? and can a Christian not call to mind , on this occasion , those words of our Blessed Saviour , whosoever shall confess me before men , him will I confess before my Father , which is in Heaven ? These considerations awakened the zeal of this excellent Man I am speaking of , to stand betwixt the living and the dead , and to try to stop the plague that was begun ; to this purpose he first drew up a discourse of Mysteries in Religion , which , not publishing at that time , he afterwards contracted into two of those discourses that were in the Press at his death . After this , he applyed himself to examine the Socinian Controversie , as it relates to the Doctrines of the ever Blessed and Adorable Trinity , about which , he spent much time , and many thoughts ; he was fully perswaded that herein lay Christianity , as distinct from natural Religion , and that upon the Socinian principles , it was impossible to clear the Scriptures from being purposely wrote to lead mankind into the grossest Errors and plain Idolatry : and that take Christianity at the best it could amount to no more than an Institution of Morals , that Mysterious Method of the Redemption of mankind by the Incarnation , Obedience and Passion of the Son of God , and all the hopes of sinners from a Covenant of Grace , being hereby entirely given up . These thoughts were enough to startle any one , who had a concern for the honour , or being of Christianity . He first set himself carefully to examine the Sacred Records , which speak so plainly of the Son and the Holy Ghost , as distinct Persons from the Father ; and so expresly assert their Divinity , that it was just matter of wonder to him , how this could be overlook'd or mistaken : we are indeed amused with Eastern phrases and proper Idioms of speech , long ago out of use , which , if understood , we are told , would make that sence easie to us , which some are pleas'd to put upon the Sacred Oracles : but if the memory of these be perfectly lost , how comes it to be known that there were ever any such in use ? and yet , unless they know what they were , how can they pronounce them serviceable to their cause ? but if any remain , why are they not produc'd or some other Book instanc'd in , wherein any footsteps of 'em remain ? The notion which the ancient Jews had of the Messias , is , That he was God who should become incarnate . Of this there are sufficient intimations in the Prophets , and it was the received sence of the ancient Jewish Church ; the Conception of him as a meer Man , was an error which sprung from that gross expectation they had of him , as a Prince and a mighty Conqueror , who should advance the Jewish Nation above all the Kingdoms of the Earth . And this ancient notion of the Messias is doubtless a better rule to follow , in interpreting what is said of him in the writings of the new Testament , than to confound these by putting a sence upon them , contrary to what the words import , and referring us to phrases , that no body knows any thing of , to make it out . But whatever those Eastern Idioms of speech were , the Primitive Church could not be ignorant of them , and their Faith and Worship must be allow'd to be a full evidence of the sense in which they understood these Sacred Writings ; 't is true , there were some whose Memory can be no credit to any Party , who in the very age of the Apostles , impugned our Saviour's Divinity : but against these , St. John wrote his Gospel , beginning it with as full and express assertions of our Saviour's Divinity , as can be imagined ; and in his Epistles he calls these Hereticks the Anti-Christ that were already come . Afterwards arose Praxeas , Noetus , and after both , about the middle of the third age , Sabellius ; these prest with the Authority of Scripture , which so expresly declares the Son and the Holy Ghost to be God , asserted only one Person trinominem , which was owning a Trinity only of names : against these the Church declared the Christian Faith as it was written and as it had received and kept it , that the Father is not the Son , nor the Son the Father , nor the Holy Ghost Father , or Son ; the Father alius à filio , the Son alius à Patre , the Holy Ghost alius a Patre & Filio , each to be consider'd under his proper Character , and in himself as a distinct Person , tho' all three united in one indivisible nature . In the same age we meet with Paul of Samosata , advanced by Zenobia to the Chair of Antioch , he is properly styl'd the Father of our modern Socinians , for he asserted that Christ was a meer Man , and had no existence before his Conception in the Womb of the Holy Virgin , and was the Author of that foolish contradictory Notion of a Deus factus , and the Socinians have only reviv'd his Heresie , which was condemned in the Council of Antioch , and in a second himself depos'd . In the beginning of the next age , Arrius a Presbyter of the Church of Alexandria , sets up to be Patron of a new Heresie , differing both from Sabellius and Paulus , but agreeing with them in opposing the Divinity of our Blessed Lord ; he maintain'd another Essence of the Son and denied his Coeternity and Equality with the Father ; and many falling in with him , the whole cause was publickly heard , the controverted Texts of Scripture , and the constant Tradition of the Church about the sence of them carefully examin'd , and the Worship of the whole Christian Church appeal'd to , and by these was the Christian Faith explain'd and asserted . The fourth age being the time fix'd on , and the Eastern Church , the Stage on which these things were done ; our Author , who had a mind to look thorough this Controversie , set upon examining the Records and Writings of that time , that are extant , particularly he carefully perused the Confessions and Decrees of the great Councils of Nice , and the first of Constantinople , wherein were no new Articles of Faith fram'd , but the old ones declared and explain'd , which the Church has both Authority and Obligation to do , as the rise and growth of Heresies make this necessary ; and the works of those two great Men , St. Athanasius and St. Basil , and he found full satisfaction , and met with a Compleat recompense , for all the pains his search had cost him . Being to Preach in his course at Westminster on Trinity Sunday , he pitch'd upon those words of the Apostle , 1. Cor. 8.5 . but to us there is but one God , as the Theme of his discourse ; this he did not only with respect to the day , which was sufficient to justifie him in undertaking such an Argument , in so Learned an Auditory ; but with regard to the boldness of our Socinian Adversaries , who have been very free in charging the Doctrine of the Trinity with Absurdities , Contradictions , and Impossibilities . What he propos'd was to defend our Common Faith of the Divine Trinity and Vnity , which is the peculiar Scheme and Constitution , and Character of Christianity ; and to resolve that obvious difficulty of believing those Divine Persons of Father , Son , and Holy Ghost , to be each of them God , which is the Christian Faith , and yet to maintain with the Apostle that to us Christians there is but one God . It so fell out that some passages , or rather words , ( as is very common in the transient hearing a discourse ) were not rightly apprehended , which had like to have been the occasion of a dispute betwixt him and some of his Brethren , very eminent for their Learning , and of known zeal for the Common Faith . This occasion'd his Letter in defence of his Sermons , to the Right Reverend Bishop of R. who , as he was by his place a proper Judge to be appeal'd to ; is upon all other accounts so qualified , that no Man who knows him , would refuse his Vmpirage in any thing , wherein Learning and Judgment joyn'd with Integrity and Candor , are required : but it went not so far , for he was soon better understood , and both sides satisfi'd . 'T is not necessary for me to say , why that discourse has not been yet published ; the reason is not that any thing new is advanced in it , or what is not exactly agreeable with the Notion , Language and Terms of the Church , in constant use at the time when this Question was discuss'd : some of the Authorities produced by him , the World has already judg'd of ; I say some , for he has collected a great many more to the same purpose , but he thought these sufficient . The last Winter of his life he spent in reviewing his thoughts on this Argument , and examining them with all possible strictness , by the Scriptures and the Church Records ; and it was great satisfaction to him that he had clear'd his own thoughts about this Adorable Mystery , and found nothing to lie uneasie to them , in believing with the whole Christian Church upon the Authority of Revelation , that there is but one Essence , which we call God , and yet that in the Godhead , there are three Persons of the same Essence and Power and Coeternal ; taking the name Person in the sence of the Church , not for a meer different mode or manner of subsisting , or in a metaphorical sence , but for what properly subsists : and he hop'd he had done something for the clearing other Mens thoughts ; however , the honour of our Saviour and of the Christian Faith and Religion , were the things he had in his Eye , and were sincerely intended by him , in all that he had either Preach'd or Wrote on that subject .

The World seems at present to stand very much in need of such Men , who want neither Learning nor Courage to stop the insults of the Enemies , not to this or that particular Church , but to Christianity it self ; and tho' God whose counsels are unsearchable takes away some at a time when they were likely to have been most usefull , yet he will always leave a sufficient number thus qualified to defend his own cause . I dare not now undertake to give a full and just Character of our Author , I will venture to say something , but what , I am ready to own , falls short of him ; he was a Man of great natural endowments , and what is more to his commendation , of indefatigable industry ; he never left a subject till he had search'd it to the bottom , and perfectly cleared his own thoughts about it : In his younger years he was much taken with Experimental Philosophy , having from his first enquiry into Books and Things , always set the highest value upon that knowledge he thought most usefull , and by a Collection of observations left under his hand , it appears that he had spent some time and pains that way . In the year 1681. Novem. 23. I find him admitted Fellow of the Royal Society ; but upon his settling in London , he laid aside those studies and wholly apply'd himself to that , which was his proper Profession : his chief aim being now to do the utmost good he could among those over whom he had a pastoral care , in that renowned City . The effects of his Labours remain to my own knowledge , among some of his Parishioners , who have own'd to me the great benefit they have receiv'd by his constant Preaching , both in helping them rightly to understand and engaging them in a serious practice of Religion , and by his Writings they are more generally known . The visiting a whole Parish from House to House , I cannot say to be a necessary part of the Pastoral care , I rather lay it in faithfully and constantly discharging the publick Offices . It would be a sad thing to be accountable for the neglect of what in great Parishes is confess'd to be impracticable ; this therefore can only be an occasional duty , in which , a Minister must be left to his own prudence , who is best able to judge what good is likely to be done in this way , and when . I have heard our Friend say more than once , that if he could see the necessity of it , or those wonderfull ends it would serve , he would throw up all his own concerns , and apply himself wholly to it : however , he supply'd the want of that , in the best manner he could , and by ways he thought much more usefull to such as were dispos'd to mind the concerns of their Souls . For the use of his Parishioners he first compos'd , and afterwards by Printing it , offer'd to their closer consideration his admirable Practical Discourse of Repentance , wherein he has rectify'd many mistakes and loose notions about this Doctrine ; such as have had a very fatal influence upon the lives of many , who all the while looked upon themselves in a safe state : they are chiefly owing , as I apprehend , to their not distinguishing betwixt baptismal Repentance , and the Repentance for willful sins , many and long continued in , after Men have covenanted with God for a constant course of obedience . Two days before he died , he thank'd God that he had lived to publish that Discourse ; Not , said he , That it is Wrote with that care and exactness it might have been , for it was compos'd in parts , and at several distant times ; but I think it may be serviceable , which is the only end I proposed in it , to teach the right knowledge and practice of that duty . I am sensible that some have taken exceptions at what he affirmed of the invalidity of a Death-bed Repentance , but 't is no more than is said by many others , and as far as I see , must be own'd by all , who throughly examine that subject . The Question is not what God may do , or sometimes does , by an extraordinary act of Grace , but what he has covenanted for , or what are the plain and indispensible conditions of Salvation required by the Gospel . A Malefactor , upon whom the Law has pronounc'd death , may be pardoned by special favour ; and if a sinner , who never repents till he comes to die , be sav'd , this is showing him more mercy , than is covenanted for in the Gospel-Law of Life : and in what instances God will abate of those Terms , no Man can tell , and 't is the highest folly and madness to trust to it , without a particular Revelation . That God will make allowance for Mens Circumstances in this World , and judge their several cases with the greatest equity , and proportion their rewards and punishments accordingly , come within the Terms of covenanted Grace and Mercy ; but the Question is whethe a Minister of the Gospel , who visits an habitually wicked Man , in his last sickness , can assure him , he shall be saved on such a Repentance ; if it comes up to the Terms of the Gospel , he may give him this assurance ; and then this Doctrine may be Preach'd , yea , and ought to be for all the Gospel-condititions of life , and Salvation are to be published to all . Such Preaching would be very comfortable to those who would be glad to save their Souls , and yet are very loth to forego their sins ; and are not like to be perswaded to this , as long as they have any hopes of securing them by repenting when they come to die ; These seem to be very plain consequences of allowing the sufficiency of a death-bed Repentance , by the terms of the Gospel . For his Parishioners , he likewise drew up a Manual of Devotion , to be used daily in their families , and put a great number of them into the hands of the Collecter of his Tythes to be distributed among them : he apprehended the decay of Piety and coruption of manners to be in great measure owing to the neglect of family Religion , which be therefore took the opportunity after this to recommend in a Sermon preach'd before the Lord Mayor , and Court of Aldermen , whose example was like to give the best Encouragement to it : which they so well approv'd of as to desire him to publish it . His thoughts were that the true cause of the general neglect of Family Devotion , is the wrong notion Men have entertained of Forms of Prayer , which is a thing so past all dispute , that it must lie upon the Consciences of those who have denied 'em , if , now that the effects of that error are found so evidently ruinous to Piety and good Morals , they do not in some publick way retract it , and advise to the use of Forms , without which the use of constant Family Prayer can never be retriev'd . He was so intent upon doing good among his people , that he was often proposing to himself and asking his Friends to think of something wherein he might be most usefull to them ; he endeavour'd to free the minds of other Men , as he has done his own from false and loose principles in Religion , the effects of which will in a short time appear in the Life and Practice . His Religion did not lie in shows and meer forms of Godliness , which we need not an Apostles Testimony to assure us , may be separated from the power of it ; I take him to have been in that state described by St. John when he says , he that is born of God doth not commit sin , for his seed remaineth in him , and he cannot sin because he is born of God ; He would not , I dare say , for all the World have committed a known , willfull , and deliberate sin , and I am sure would have been horribly afraid of himself if he had fallen into one such sin . I could here give in evidence for what I say , if it were necessary , a signal instance of a vigorous sence of Religion , and a resolved and confirm'd vertue , such an one as is not very common . I herein say no more of him , than what in Justice is due , and what by long experience and many proofs I know to be true of him ; he did not indeed discover those signs of Grace , which some Men expect to find in the face ; he had not that affected gravity and down-look and dull humour , which a Pharisee would perhaps have sought for , as a visible mark of it ; He was always cheerfull and gay himself , and would suffer none to be otherwise , where-ever he came : This , I confess , if any thing was an excess in him , because it must be own'd , that he would be sometimes merry at other Mens cost , who could not bear up against the sharpness of his wit , which I therefore place among his imperfections . But though he gave way possibly too much to that facetiousness and pleasant air of Conversation , which was very natural to him , and as he thought in mixt Company most agreeable ; yet in a closer Conversation , or when at any time the Argument requir'd it , he knew how to be serious ; and was pleas'd when any subject was started that required grave talk and strict reasoning : besides , he oft took the opportunity of conveying right notions of things and reproving some Vices in a jocular way , when he knew not how to do this in any other way ; this design he often had of doing good , and found it successfull where it was least perceived . His Character as a Friend concerns only particular Persons , who have drawn it at large on their own minds ; it signifies not much to say any of this to others , but if any be curious to know it , I refer them to Plutarch's rules to distinguish a Flatterer from a Friend . His Friendship being grounded upon principles of vertue , his passion for his Friend was not Connterfeit , nor his Conversation with him forc'd , but natural and easie and all of a piece ; he always used freedom and would neither fall in with , nor decline taking notice of what he thought was amiss in his Friend : he was ready to assist him to the uttermost of his power and would embark with him in whatever was fair and honest , and nothing else ; and would always defend him in his absence .

I have now brought him to the last Stage of his life , and you are to see him die . Now is the truest Judgment to be made of the Wisdom and Steadiness of a Man's principles , and the sincerity and regularity of his actions . Now all meer forms of Godliness are discovered , and the Masks of Hypocrisie fall off , and 't is no longer a time to dissemble with God or Man ; I am very well aware that some very pious Persons , who have no reason for it are under great fears at the approach of death ; Natural temper or an habitual melancholy heightned by the present indisposition of body , with a sinall tincture of superstition , which is incident to very sincere Persons , may cause their hearts to misgive them ; and put them into frights they know not why , and when there is no ground for them : on the other side , some Enthusiasts there are who have no manner of claim to happiness by the terms of the Gospel , but have the highest reason to be afraid of that Just Judgment that shall render to every Man according to his works ; who yet meet death in a sort of Triumph and Extasie , and talk in the wildest manner of the certainty of their Salvation : this is the effect of the vilest of all principles ; for such are those which cancell the obligations of the Gospel , and supersede the necessity of a holy life to salvation .

But whatever wrong Judgment Men make of themselves , God will Judge righteous Judgment ; and neither the causeless fears of good Men , not the vain presumptions of bad Men , shall have any influence on their future state . So soon as the vital union betwixt Soul and Body is dissolv'd , the one shall find themselves safe , notwithstanding their fears ; and the other miserably disappointed under all their bold and groundless considence : But generally speaking to depart not in Raptures , but in Peace , to die with an undisturb'd yet thoughtfull mind ; with a sense of our own unworthiness , and yet , with a full trust in God's promises , ( 'till the bodily distemper rises so high as to take away the free use of our faculties ; after which , all that any Man says or does stands for nothing ) I take to be the present and natural reward of a vertuous Life . He who has liv'd constantly under a vigorous sense of God and of another World , who has often had his thoughts in that invisible state , and in all his Actions has manifested his firm belief of , and earnest desire to reach the happiness propos'd ; should , one would think , not find it any great dissiculty to leave this World to enter upon one far better . Vnder this happy and most desirable composure of mind was this admirable Man , and sincere Christian at the approach of Death , which he had seen advancing towards him for some time , and sensibly felt it drawing nearer him by degrees . The 7th . of February 1696 was the last time of his appearing in the Pulpit ; he then found himself very ill , and that the Sentence of Death was upon him : for that reason he chose to venture abroad to take his final leave of his people in the solemnest manner , and to close up his Ministery by Administring to them and partaking with them of the Blessed Sacrament of our Saviour's Body and Blood ; which he ever look'd upon as design'd to be a part of publick Christian worship , and in the first Ages not administred to dying Persons on their sick beds , unless they were in a state of Penance , and were hereby to be restored to the Peace and Communion of the Church . The notion of a Viaticum he look'd upon as brought in with superstition , and that it tended to uphold it ; upon which principle , many who neglect this duty all their life long , are very earnest for it at their deaths , upon the like reason that the Clinici deferr'd the other Sacrament till the last hour . His Discourse was upon these words , Luke 12.40 . Be ye therefore ready , for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not . He designed this as his own Funeral Sermon , as he told the Reverend Mr. M. the worthy Lecturer of that Parish , as he came out of the Church , and his good Friend Mr. S. with whom he din'd that day . He was so far spent in preaching that he was forc'd to desire his assiststance to consecrate the Elements , and only gave the Cup himself . On the 17th . I providentially came to him , and had the happiness to attend him to his last moments . He had been that day riding abroad to try if he could find any relief from the air , and coming home , soon after I was got to his Lodgings , which were then at Islington , his first Salutation was after this manner . My Friend , I have been in expectation of seeing thee these two days , and glad I am that thou art now come , for 't is to see me die , and assist me in dying , which is a very kind and friendly Office . Great part of that day we were shut up together , and he entertain'd me with such admirable Discourses , on the most important Subjects , and talk'd so clearly and with so lively a sense of them , that I forgot I was conversing with a dying Friend , and thought it one of the pleasantest days of my whole Life . He began with a Discourse of the empty projects and designs of this Life , and the intolerable folly of being entirely taken up with the Pleasures and Enjoyments , with the cares and thoughts , and business of this World , when we are every day liable to enter upon a new and unseen state , which above all things it concerns us to take care about , and wisely to provide for . This Life is a continu'd round and circle of bodily Actions and Business , but in death these cease , and have an end ; that let 's down the Curtain , and the Drama of Life is over , and whatever parts we Acted on this Stage , we lay them all aside ; and what we enjoy'd in this Body and this World , is to be no more , and as if it had never been , and we only had dream'd of it for a while . He taketh away their breath , they die and turn again to their dust , That , said he , is my present Case , and in that very day all their Thoughts perish , i. e. all their apprehensions of Worldly Happiness and Enjoyments with all their mighty projects and designs they had here : how reasonable then is it for us frequently to meditate upon dying , and how properly was it plac'd of old among the first rules and principles of Wisdom . And upon my saying to him , that as he seemed to be got almost to the end of the race of Life , his Friends were running hard after him , and would in a short space overtake him ; he replied , True , but prithee remember that I have got the start of thee . Here he took occasion to discourse of the Christian Revelation , which has discovered the most amazing , but the most important and momentous Truths for Man to know : 'T is this , said he , that gives me the greatest ease and satisfaction in my present Circumstances , and fills my mind with the most serene hopes , when I can find pleasure in nothing else ; and without it all my thoughts , when I stretch them as far as ever they will go , are either dark or troublesome . That God should send his only begotten Son into the World in our likeness to redeem and save Mankind , that he should propose by him the advancing us , who are very inconsiderable , yea , sinfull Creatures to such a height of Glory , as to be equal to Angels , to see God as he is , and to have eternally communicated to us of his own Excellencies and Perfections , cannot but affect every one who believes and exercises his thoughts about these matters , with Wonder and Admiration , with all possible Love and Gratitude , and a most sollicitous study , and endeavour to obey God universally , in hopes of that eternal Life , which God , who cannot lie , as the Apostle speaks , has promised . He added , That the design of Christianity and the Terms of Life therein propos'd , did appear to him so very plain , that it was just matter of amazement , how any Men who had look'd into those records and consider'd their own nature , and had any notion of the happiness of reasonable Creatures , could miss of understanding them aright . The Antinomian Scheme he look'd upon as directly Antichristian , and the very worst that the most malicious Enemies of the Christian name could possibly have invented ; and he gave me a very sad instance of a Person who liv'd many years in the habit of a very gross sin , and yet had a quiet Conscience , and thought himself very safe upon those principles , 'till being startled by a publick Discourse of his , God made him an Instrument of setting the poor Man right in his Notions , and engaging him to reform his Life ; for which his new Convert was very thankfull , and assur'd him , That he would not for all the World have liv'd so long in the habit of that sin , if he had believed , as he thoroughly did now , that it would have hazarded his Salvation . Here he took occasion to say that he was much confirm'd in his notion of the nullity of a Death-bed Repentance , by considering his present Circumstances . What could I do , said he , Were I now to begin to Repent of a long Wicked life ? I profess , I could not have the least hopes of my Salvation ; but , blessed be God , this is not my own Case , I am sensible of a vast number of Weaknesses and Imperfections ; but they are such , as I am well assur'd , the Covenant of Grace will make an allowance for : I can say I have been Sincere in the main designs of my Life ; and , I thank God , I make no question of being happy , when I can once get loose from this Prison of an Earthly infirm body , and shall be set above those Imperfections , which cannot be wholly remedied in this state , and to be freed from which is the reward of the next . He gave me his thoughts at large , about the Doctrine of the ever blessed Trinity , which are not needfull to be here set down , especially since I have already taken some notice of that Matter . All that I shall add , is , That he never intended any Controversie with those who believed this Doctrine ; his business was to defend it against those who opposed it , and he was fully satisfied , that what he had Preach'd and Wrote on this subject , was agreeable to the Scriptures , and the sense of the Church ; and he was fully confirmed in his Thoughts , by the judgment of the most Learned and unexceptionable Divines of our Church . The Right Reverend Bishop Pearson explains the Divine Vnity as he has done , and asserts the necessity of it , for avoiding that old and so often urg'd objection Tritheism : It is most necessary , says he , To assert that there is but one Person , who is from none ; for if there were more than one , which were from none , it could not be deny'd but that there were more Gods than one : This Origination of the Divine Paternity hath anciently been look'd upon , as the assertion of the Unity , and therefore , the Son and the Holy Ghost are but one God with the Father , because both from the Father , who is one , and so the Union of them .