since the beginning of his late distemper, the whole fabric in a person of his age, was now so shattered, that the separation of the soul from the body, could not be tedious or uneasy. But, contrary to all expectation, he held out many hours under his last agonies.

He had his understanding and memory to the very last, and that in as great strength and vigour as ever he had them, in the remembrance of those who perfectly knew him. As an instance of which, the reader may take this remarkable passage. The night but one before he died, he sent for his son, Mr. Robert Bull, and after having given him his leave and order to publish his sermons, which are now printed, he commanded him to stike out the Preface of his Visitation Sermon, which he said was too juvenile, and to make two or three alterations in another of his sermons, which alterations were taken from his mouth, and since performed. But what was surprising in this matter, was, that he had delivered these sermons to his son, at least six years before, and they were never so much as seen by his lordship afterward. During the time of his last conflict, he scarce troubled himself, or those that waited upon him, with taking any thing. But he passed it all entirely in acts of piety and devotion. Sometimes he joined with those that were present in the prayers of the office of the visitation of the sick: the latter part whereof was by his direction frequently repeated in this interval, but the greater part of it he spent in pious meditations,

and private ejaculations; upon what subjects can be no farther guessed at, than by observing his eyes and hands frequently lifted up towards heaven, and sometimes tears and smiles, interchangeably succeeding each other in his countenance, one might think that as the former were the attendants of his repentance and confessions, so the latter were the result of that joy and comfort which he felt in his mind, from the sense of the pardon of his sins, and of the peace and favour of a reconciled God; which might also receive no small addition at this juncture from the near prospect he had of his deliverance from this mortal and painful life, and of his entrance into a state of everlasting happiness.

When he found that he continued thus to live several hours longer than he expected, he sent again for his wife and children to his bed side, to take his leave once more of them, and the rest of the family that were up; and he was even fuller now in his exhortations to them than before, and they were very well suited, and particularly applied to the circumstances and conditions of the several persons to whom they were given. He recommended his wife and child to the divine providence and protection, but in so moving and affectionate a manner as is difficult to express; and he thanked all his servants for the pains they had taken with him in his sickness. And as for the rest, his exhortations ran chiefly upon the great importance of religion, the vanity of the world, the deceitful nature of riches and honours,

and what miserable comforters they would prove at the last, the inefficacy, or at least, the great hazard and uncomfortable state of a death-bed repentance, and the absolute necessity of a holy life, in order to a happy death; a life spent in the service of God, in doing good in the world, especially works of mercy and charity. These are the subjects which he endeavoured to impress upon the minds of those he left behind him, and then once more he gave them his solemn benediction. After this, he recommended his soul into the hands of his Creator, in several short, but most excellent prayers; repeated most part of the seventy-first psalm, so far as it suited his circumstances, than which, nothing could be more proper, to express his trust and dependence upon the power and goodness of God, and the continual want he had of his grace and assistance: moreover he ordered his chaplain to use the commendatory. prayer, when he should perceive him to be at the point of expiring, which was accordingly done several times....

About nine in the morning, his spirits began to sink and his speech to falter, and a few minutes after, without any visible sign of pain or difficulty, with two gentle sighs he resigned his soul to God. The last word he spoke was "Amen" to the commendatory prayer, which he repeated twice distinctly and audibly after his usual manner, a very little while before he died *.

Life by Mr. Robert Nelson, October, 1713.

BISHOP BURNET.

Died March 17th, 1714-15, aged 71-2.

Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? it is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. JAM. iv. 14.

An eminent theological and historical writer, and a very pious and active prelate. In March 1714 or 1715, being in the 72nd year of his age, the Bishop was taken ill of a violent cold, which soon turned to a pleuritic fever: he was attended in it by his worthy friend and relation Dr. Cheyne, who treated him with the utmost care and skill; but finding the distemper grew to a height which seemed to baffle all remedies, he called for the assistance of Sir Hans Sloane and Dr. Mead, who quickly found his case was desperate. His character was too well known to induce any one to conceal from him the danger his life was in; he bore the notice of it with that calm resignation to Providence which had always supported him under the severest trials. As he preserved his senses to the last, so he employed the precious remnant of life in continual acts of devotion, and in giving the best advice to his family; of whom he took leave in a manner that shewed the utmost tenderness, accompanied with the firmest constancy of mind. And whilst he was so little sensible of the terrors of death as to embrace its approach with joy, he could not but express a concern for the grief he saw it caused in

others. A short time before his death, this good man thus wrote, "True religion is a perfection of human nature, and the joy and delight of every one that feels it active and strong within him. Of this I write with the more concern and emotion, because I have felt this the true, and indeed, the only joy which runs through a man's heart and life. It is that which has been for many years my greatest support, I rejoice daily in it, I feel from it the earnest of that supreme joy, which I pant and long for, and I am sure there is nothing else which can afford any true or complete happiness."

BISHOP KEN.

Died March 19, 1710-11, aged about 73.

I look into the graves of my ancestors, and find there dust and worms. What I now am, these very lately were; and what they are now, I shall as certainly be in a little time.

ST. BERNARD.

ONE of the most pious divines of the English Church. On Monday he was confined to his bed, and on the Monday following, March 19, his soul was set free. He was remarkably patient in his sickness; and when upon his own inquiry of his physician, how many days he thought he might probably live? desiring him to speak plainly and freely, and telling him he had