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 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 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 â—â—â—ermitting 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 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 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 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 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 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 This my Lord dictated to me from his own Mouth you see how ready his Apprehension and Judgment are 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 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 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 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 Fresinâ—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 Bâ—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 I am SIR Your Faithful Friend and Servant On the Right Side of the Tomb. P. M. S. LECTOR Wilhelmi nuper Archi Praesulis Qui Natus in Vicinià Quod Morti Cecidit propter hunc Murum jacet Atqui resurget Tu interim Semper paratus Esto nam qua non putas Venturus Hora Dominus est Obiit Nov. 24. An. Nat. Dom. MDCXCIII Obiit Nov. 24. An. Aetat suae LXXVII On the Left Side P. M. S. WILLIAM SANCROFT Born in this Parish afterward by the Providence of God Arch-Bishop of CANTERBURY at last deprived of all which he could not keep with a good Conscience return'd hither to end his Life and professeth here at the Foot of his Tomb That as naked he came forth so naked he must return The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away as the Lord pleases so come Things to pass Blessed be the Name of the Lord. Over his Head this St. Matth. 24. v. 27. As the Lightning cometh out of the East and shineth even unto the West so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be FINIS