WHEN the Author of this Book, the Wisest of Men, applied his heart to know and to search, to seek out wisdom, and the reason (or nature) of things; and summed up the Account of all, Article by Article, one by one, to find out the thread of Nature, and the Plann of its great Author; tho his Soul sought after it, yet the Riddle was too dark, he, even he, could not discover it: But one man among a thousand he did find, and happy was he in that discovery, if among all the Thousands that he knew, he found One counting Figure for so many Cyphers, which tho they encreased the Number, yet did not swell up the Account, but were so many Nothings, or less and worse than Nothings, according to his estimate of Men and Things. Chap.7.25, 27.

We have reason rather to think, that by a Thousand is to be meant a vast and indefinite number; other­wise it must be confessed that Solomon's Age was in­deed [Page 6] a Golden one, if it produced one Man, to a Thousand that carry only the name and figure, but that do not answer the end and excellency of their being. The different Degrees and Ranks of Men, with relation to their inward powers and excellencies, is a surprizing but melancholy Observation: Many seem to have only a Mechanical Life, as if there were a moving and speaking Spring within them, equally void both of Reason and Goodness. The whole race of men is for so many years of Life, little better than encreasing Puppits; many are Children to their Lives end: The Soul does for a large portion of Life, sink wholly into the Body in that shadow of death, Sleep, that consumes so much of our time; the several dis­orders of the Body, the Blood and the Spirits, do so far subdue and master the Mind, as to make it think, act, and speak according to the different ferments that are in the humours of the Body; and when these cease to play, the Soul is able to hold its tenure no longer: all these are strange and amazing specula­tions! and force one to cry out, Why did such a perfect Being make such feeble and imperfect Crea­tures? Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? The Secret is yet more astonishing, when the froward­ness, the pride and ill-nature, the ignorance, folly and fury that hang upon this poor flattered Crea­ture, are likewise brought into the Account. He that by all his observation, and encrease of knowledge, only encreaseth sorrow, while he sees that what is want­ing cannot be numbred, and that which is crooked, cannot be made straight, is tempted to go about, and with Solomon, to make his heart to despair of all the labour wherein he has travelled.

[Page 7]But as there is a dark side of Humane Nature, so there is likewise a bright one, The flights and compass of awakened Souls is no less amazing. The vast croud of Figures that lie in a very narrow corner of the Brain, which a good memory, and a lively imagination, can fetch out in great order, and with much beauty: The strange reaches of the Mind in abstracted Speculations, and the amazing progress that is made from some simple Truths into Theories, that are the admiration as well as the entertainment of the thinking part of mankind; The sagacity of apprehending and judg­ing, even at the greatest distance; The elevation that is given to Sense, and the Sensible powers, by the invention of Instruments; and which is above all, the strength that a few thoughts do spread into the mind, by which it is made capable of doing or suffering the hardest things; the Life which they give, and the Calm which they bring, are all so unaccountable, that take all together, a Man is a strange huddle, of Light and Darkness, of Good and Evil, and of Wisdom and Folly. The same Man, not to mention the difference that the seve­ral Ages of Life make upon him, feels himself in some minutes so different from what he is in the other parts of his Life, that as the one fly away with him into the transports of joy; so the other do no less sink him into the depressions of sorrow: He scarce knows himself in the one, by what he was in the other: Upon all which, when one considers a Man both within and without, he concludes that he is both wonderfully, and also fearfully made: That in one side of him he is but a little lower than Angels; and in another, a little, a very little higher than Beasts.

[Page 8]But how astonishing soever this Speculation of the medly and contrariety in our composition may be, it contributes to raise our esteem the high­er, of such persons as seem to have arisen above, (if not all, yet) all the eminent frailties of hu­mane nature; that have used their Bodies only as Engines and Instruments to their Minds, without any other care about them, but to keep them in good case, fit for the uses they put them to; that have brought their souls to a purity which can scarce appear credible to those who do not ima­gine that to be possible to another, which is so far out of their own reach; and whose Lives have shined in a course of many years, with no more allay nor mixture, than what just served to shew that they were of the same humane nature with others; who have lived in a constant contempt of Wealth, Pleasure, or the Greatness of this World; whose minds have been in as constant a pursuit of Knowledge, in all the several ways in which they could trace it; who have added new Regions of their own discoveries, and that in a vast variety to all that they had found made before them; who have directed all their enquiries into Nature to the Honour of its great Maker: And have joyned two things, that how much soever they may seem related, yet have been sound so seldom together, that the World has been tempted to think them inconsistent; A constant looking into Nature, and a yet more constant study of Re­ligion, and a Directing and improving of the one by the other; and who to a depth of Knowledg which often makes men morose, and to a heighth of [Page 9] Piety, which too often makes them severe, have add­ed all the softness of Humanity, and all the tender­ness of Charity, an obliging Civility, as well as a melting kindness: when all these do meet in the same person, and that in eminent degrees, we may justly pretend that we have also made Solomon's observation of one man; but alas! the Age is not so fruitful of such, that we can add one among a thousand.

To such a man the Characters given in the words of my Text, do truly agree, That God giveth to him that is good in his sight, Wisdom, Knowledg, and Joy: The Text that is here before us, does so agree to this that I have read, that the Application will be so easie, that it will be almost needless, after I have a little opened it.

A man that is good in the sight of God, is a Character of great extent: Goodness is the probity and purity of the mind, shewing it self in a course of sedate Tranquility, of a contented state of Life, and of Ver­tuous and Generous Actions. A good man is one that considers what are the best Principles of his Nature, and the highest powers of his Soul; and what are the greatest and the best things that they are capable of; and that likewise observes what are the disorders and depressions, the inward diseases and miseries, which tend really to lesson and to corrupt him; and that therefore intends to be the purest, the wisest, and the noblest Creature that his nature can carry him to be; that renders himself as clean and innocent, as free from designs and passions, as much above appetite and pleasure, and all that sinks the Soul deeper into the body; that is as tender and compassionate, as gentle and good natured as he can possibly make himself to [Page 10] be. This is the good man in my Text; that rises as much as he can above his body, and above this world, above his senses, and the impressions that sensible ob­jects make upon him; that thinks the greatest and best thing he can do, is to awaken and improve the seeds and capacities to Vertue and Knowledge, that are in his nature; to raise those to the Noblest objects, to put them into the rightest method, and to keep them ever in tune and temper: and that with relation to the rest of Mankind, considers himself as a Citizen of the whole world, and as a piece of Humane Na­ture; that enters into the concerns of as many per­sons as come within his Sphere, without the nar­rowness or partiality of meaner regards; that thinks he ought to extend his care and kindness as far as his capacity can go; that stretches the Instances of this, to the utmost corners of the earth, if occasion is given for it; and that intends to make mankind the better, the wiser, and the happier for him in the succeeding as well as in the present Genera­tion.

This is the truly Good man in God's sight, who does not act a part, or put on a Mask; who is not for some time in a constraint, till the design is compast for which he put himself under that force; but is truly and uniformly good, and is really a better man in secret, than even he appears to be; since all his designs and projects are worthy and great: And Nature, Accidents and Surprizes may be sometimes too quick and too hard for him; yet these cannot reach his heart, nor change the setled measures of his life; which are all pure and noble. And tho the errors of this good man's conduct may in some [Page 11] things give advantages to bad men, who are always severe censurers; yet his unspeakable comfort is, That he can make his secret Appeals to God, who knows the whole of his heart as well as the whole of his life; and tho here and there, things may be found that look not quite so well, and that do indeed ap­pear worst of all to himself, who reflects the oftenest, and thinks the most heinously of them; yet by mea­suring Infinite Goodness with his own proportion of it, and by finding that he can very gently pass over many and great defects in one whose principles and designs seem to be all pure and good, he from that con­cludes, That those allowances must be yet infinitely greater, where the Goodness is infinite; so being as­sured within himself, that his vitals, his inward prin­ciples, and the scheme and course of his life are good, he from thence raises an humble confidence in him­self, which tho it does not, as indeed it ought not, free him from having still low thoughts of him­self, yet it delivers him from all dispiriting fear and sorrow, and gives him a firm confidence in the love and goodness of God, out of which he will often feel an incredible source of satisfaction and joy, spring­ing up in his mind. A man who is thus good in the sight of God, has, as one may truly think, hap­piness enough within himself. But this is not all his reward, nor is it all turned over into a Rever­sion. We have here a fair particular given us, by one that dealt as much both in Wisdom and Folly, as ever man did; who run the whole compass of plea­sure, business, and learning, with the freest range, and in the greatest variety, and who by many repeated Experiments knew the strong and the weak sides of [Page 12] things: He then who had sound the vanity, the la­bour, the sore travel, and the vexation of spirit, that was in all other things; the many disappointments that were given by them, and the painful reflections that did arise out of them so sensibly, that they made him hate life for the sake of all the labour that be­longed to it, and even to make his heart despair of all the travel he had undergone, gives us in these words another view of the effect of true Goodness, and of the happy consequences that follow it.

The first of these is Wisdom, not the art of craft and dissimulation; the cunning of deceiving or un­dermining others: not only the views that some men may have of the springs of humane nature, and the art of turning these; which is indeed a Nobler Scene of Wisdom, by which Societies are conducted and maintained. But the chief acts and instances of true Wisdom, are once to form right Judgments of all things; of their value, and of their solidity; to form great and noble thoughts of God, and just and proper ones of our selves; to know what we are capable of and fit for; to know what is the true good and happiness of Mankind, which makes Societies safe, and Nations flourish. This is solid Wisdom, that is not mis-led by false appearances, nor imposed on by vulgar opinions. This was the Wisdom that first brought men together, that ta­med and corrected their natures; and established all the art and good Government that was once in the world; but which has been almost totally defaced by the arts of Robbery and Murder, the true names for Conquest; a specious colour for the two worst things that humane nature is capable of, In­justice and Cruelty.

[Page 13] Wisdom in gross, is the forming true Prin­ciples, the laying good Schemes, the imploy­ing proper Instruments, and the chusing fit sea­sons for doing the best and noblest things that can arise out of humane nature. This is the defence as well as the glory of Mankind: Wisdom gives life to him that hath it, it is better than strength, and better than weapons of war; it is, in one word, The Image of God, and the Excellency of Man. It is here called the Gift of God; the seed of it is laid in our Nature, but there must be a proper disposition of body, a right figure of brain, and a due temper of blood to give it scope and materials. These must also be cultiva­ted by an exact education; so that when all these things are laid together, it is plain in how many re­spects Wisdom comes from God. There are also particular happy flights, and bright minutes, which open to men great Landskips, and give them a fuller prospect of things, which do often arise out of no previous Meditations, or chain of thought; and these are flashes of light from its Eternal source, which do often break in upon pure minds. They are not En­thusiasms, nor extravagant pretensions, but true views of things, which appear so plain and simple, that when they come to be examined, it may be justly thought that any one could have fallen upon them, and the simplest are always the likest to be the truest. In short, a pure mind is both better pre­pared for an enlightning from above, and more ca­pable of receiving it; the natural strength of mind is awakened as well as recollected; false Biasses are removed; and let prophane minds laugh at it as much as they please, there is a se­cret commerce between God and the Souls of good [Page 14] men: They feel the influences of Heaven, and become both the wiser and the better for them: Their thoughts become nobler as well as sreer; and no man is of so low a composition, but that with a great deal of goodness, and a due measure of appli­cation, he may become more capable of these, than any other that is one the same level with him, as to his natural powers, could ever grow to be, if corrupted with Vice and Defilement.

Knowledge comes next. This is that which opens the mind, and fills it with great Notions; the viewing the Works of God even in a general sur­vey, gives insensibly a greatness to the Soul. But the more extended and exact, the more minute and severe, the Enquiry be, the Soul grows to be thereby the more inlarged by the variety of Ob­servation that is made, either on the great Orbs and Wheels that have their first motion, as well as their Law of moving, from the Author of all; or on the composition of Bodies, on the Regula­rities, as well as the Irregularities of Nature; and that Mimickry of its heat and motion that Artifi­cial Fires do produce and shew. This Knowledge goes into the History of Past Times, and Remote Climates; and with those livelier Observations on Art and Nature, which give a pleasant entertain­ment and amusement to the mind, there are join­ed in some, the severer studies, the more laborious as well as the less-pleasant study of Languages, on design to understand the sense, as well as the discoveries of former Ages: and more particularly to find out the true sense of the sacred Writings. These are all the several varieties of the most use­ful parts of Knowledge; and these do spread over [Page 15] all the powers of the Soul of him that is capable of them, a sort of nobleness; that makes him become thereby another kind of Creature than otherwise he ever could have been: He has a larger size of Soul, and vaster thoughts, that can measure the Spheres, and enter into the Theories of the Heavenly Bo­dies; that can observe the proportion of Lines, and Numbers, the composition and mixtures of the seve­ral sorts of Beings. This World, this Life, and the mad Scene we are in, grow to be but little and inconsiderable things, to one of great views and noble Theories; and he who is upon the true scent of real and useful Knowledg, has always some great thing or other in prospect; new Scenes do open to him, and these draw after them Dis­coveries, which are often made before, even those who made them were either aware, or in expe­ctation of them: These by an endless Chain are still pointing at, or leading into further Discove­ries. In all those, a man feels as sensibly, and di­stinguishes as plainly an improvement of the strength and compass of his powers, from the feeble­ness which ignorance and sloth bring upon them, as a man in health of Body can distinguish between the life and strength which accompany it, and the flatness and languidness that Diseases bring with them. This enlarges a Man's Empire over the Creation, and makes it more intirely subject to him by the Engines it invents to subdue and ma­nage it, by the dissections in which it is more opened to his view, and by the observation of what is profitable or hurtful in every part of it: from which he is led to correct the one; and ex­alt the other. This leads him into the knowledge [Page 16] of the hidden Vertues that are in Plants and Mi­nerals; this teaches him to purify these, from the Allays that are wrapped about them, and to im­prove them by other mixtures. In a word, this lets a man into the Mysteries of Nature: It gives him both the Keys that open it, and a Thread that will lead him further than he durst promise himself at first. We can easily apprehend the surprising joy of one born blind, that after many years of darkness, should be blest with sight, and the leaps and life of thought, that such a one should feel upon so ravishing a change; so the new Regions into which a true Son of Know­ledge enters, the new Objects and the various shapes of them that do daily present themselves to him, give his mind a flight, a raisedness, and a resined joy, that is of another nature than all the soft and bewitching Pleasures of sense. And tho the highest reaches of knowledge do more clearly discover the weakness of our short-sighted powers, and shew us difficulties that gave us no pain be­fore, because we did not apprehend them; so that in this respect, he that increases knowledge, increases sorrow: Yet it is a real pleasure to a Searcher after Truth, to be undeceived, to see how far he can go, and where he must make his stops: It is true, he finds he cannot compass all that he hath pro­posed to himself, yet he is both in view of it, and in the way to it, where he finds so many noble Entertainments, that though he cannot find out the whole work of God, which the Preacher tells us, that though a wise man thinks he may know it, yet even he shall not be able to find it out; Eccles.8.17. yet he has this real satisfaction in [Page 17] himself, that he has greater Notions, nobler Views, and finer Apprehensions then he could have ever fallen upon in any other method of life.

This knowledge, though it may seem to be meerly the effect of thought, of labour, and industry, yet it is really the gift of God. The capacity of our Powers, and the disposition of our Minds are in a great mea­sure born with us: The circumstances and accidents of our lives depends so immediately upon Providence, that in all these respects, Knowledge comes, at least in the preparations to it, from God: There are also many happy openings of thought, which arise with­in the minds of the Searchers after it, to which they did not lead themselves by any previous inferences, or by the comparing of things together. That, which the Language of the World calls chance, happy accidents, or good stars, but is according to a more sanctified dialect Providence, has brought many won­derful secrets by unlookt for hits, to the knowledge of men. The use of the Loadstone, and the extent of sight by Telescopes, besides a vast variety of other things that might be named, were indeed the im­mediate gifts of God to those who first fell upon them. And the profoundest Inquiries into the greatest mysteries of Nature, have and still do own this, in so particular a manner, that they affirm, that things that in some hands, and at some times are successful almost to a Prodigy, when managed by others with all possible exactness do fail in the effects of them so totally, that the difference can be resolved into nothing, but a secret direction and blessing of Pro­vidence.

[Page 18]The third gift that God bestows on the Good man is joy, and how can it be otherwise, but that a good, a wise and knowing Man, should rejoyce both in God and in himself; in observing the works and ways of God, and in feeling the Testimony of a good Con­science with himself. He is happy in the situation of his own mind, which he possesses in a calm contented evenues of Spirit. He has not the agitations of Passions, the ferment of Designs and Interests, nor the dis­orders of Appetite which darken the Mind, and create to it many imaginary Troubles, as well as it encreases the Sense of the real Ones which may lye upon ones Person or Affairs. He rejoyces in God when he sees so many of the hidden beauties of his Works, the won­derful fitness and contrivance, the curious disposition, and the vast usefulness of them, to the general good of the whole. These things afford him so great a variety of Thought, that he can dwell long on that noble exercise without flatness or weariness. He rejoyces in all that he does, his imployments are much diversified, for the newness of his discoveries which re­turns often, gives him as often a newness of joy. His views are great, and his designs are noble; even to know the works of God the better, and to render them the more useful to Mankind. He can discover in the most despised Plant, and the most contempti­ble Mineral that which may allay the miseries of hu­mane Life, and render multitudes of men easie and happy. Now to one that loves Mankind, and that adores the Author of our Nature, every thing that may tend to Celebrate his praises, and to sweeten the lives of Mortals, affords a joy that is of an exalted and generous kind. If this at any time goes so far as to make him a little too well pleased with the [Page 19] discoveries he has made, and perhaps too nicely jealous of the honour of having done those Services to the World, even this which is the chief and the most observed defect, that is much magnified by the ill-na­tured censures of great Men, who must fix on it because they can find nothing else, yet I say even this shews the fullness of joy which wisdom and knowledge bring to good minds, they can give them so sen­sible a pleasure, that it cannot be at all times governed: and if it break out in any time in less decent instances, yet certainly those who have deserved so highly of the Age in which they have lived, and who have been the Instruments of so much good to the World, receive a very unworthy return, if the great services they have done Mankind do not cover any little imper­fection, especially when that is all the Allay that can be found in them, and the only instance of humane Frailty that has appeared in them. But if the joy that wisdom and knowledge give, is of so pure and so sublime a Nature; there is yet another occasion for joy, that far exceeds this: it arises from their integrity and goodness which receives a vast accession from this, that it is in the sight of God, seen and observed by him, who accepts of it now, and will in due time reward it. The terror of mind, and the confusion of face that follows bad actions, and the calm of thought and chearfulness of look that follows good ones, are such infallible indications of the suitableness or unsuitableness that is in these things to our natures, that all the contempt with which Libertines may treat the Argument will never be able to overcome and alter the plain and simple sense that Mankind agrees in upon this head. A good Man finds that he is acting according to his nature, and to the [Page 20] best principles in it, that he is living to some good end, that he is an useful piece of the World, and is a mean of making both himself and others wiser and happier, greater and better. These things give him a solid and lasting joy, and when he dares ap­peal to that God to whom he desires chiefly to approve himself, who knows his Integrity and sees how thoroughly good he is, even in his secretest Thoughts and Intentions, he does upon that feel a joy with in himself, that carries him through all the diffi­culties of Life; and makes most accidents that hap­pen to him pleasant, and all the rest supportable. He believes he is in the favour of God, he hopes he has some Title to it, from the Promises of God to him; and his grace in him. He can see Clouds gather about him and threaten a Storm, and though he may be in circumstances, that render him very unfit to suffer much hardship; yet he can endure and bear all things, because he believes all God's Pro­mises. He may sometimes from the severe Sense that he has of his duty, be too hard, and even injust to himself, and the seriousness of his Temper may give some harsher thoughts too great occasion, to raise disquiet within him; but when he takes a full view of the infinite goodness of God, of the extent of his Mercy, and of the riches of his Grace; he is forced to throw out any of those Impressions, which Melan­choly may be able to make upon him: and even those when reflected on in a truer light, though they might have a little interrupted his joy, yet tend to en­crease it, when by them he perceives, that true strict­ness of principles that governs him, which makes him tender of every thing that might seem to make the least breach upon his purity and holiness, even in the smallest Matters.

[Page 21]I will go no further upon my Text, nor will I enter upon the Reverse of it, that is in the following words, but to the Sinner he giveth travel, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. These I leave to your Observation: they are too foreign to my subject to be spoke to, upon this occasion, that leads me now to the melancholy part of this sad Solemnity.

I confess I enter upon it, with the just Apprehensions that it ought to raise in me: I know I ought here to raise my stile a little, and to triumph upon the Honour that belongs to Religion and Virtue, and that appeared so eminently in a life, which may be considered as a Pattern of living: and a Pattern so perfect, that it will perhaps seem a little too far out of sight, too much above the hopes, and by consequence above the Endeavours of any that might pretend to draw after such an Original: which must ever be reckoned amongst the Master-pieces even of that Great Hand that made it. I might here challenge the whole Tribe of Libertines to come and view the usefulness, as well as the Excellence of the Christian Religion, in a Life that was entirely Dedicated to it: and see what they can object. I ought to call on all that were so happy, as to know him well, to observe his temper and course of life, and charge them to sum up and lay together the many great and good things that they saw in him, and from thence to remember al­ways to how vast a Sublimity the Christian Reli­gion can raise a mind, that does both throughly be­lieve it, and is entirely governed by it. I might here also call up the Multitudes, the vast Multitudes of those who have been made both the wiser and the easier, the bet­ter and the happier by his means; but that I might [Page 22] do all this with the more advantage, I ought to bring all at once into my memory, the many happy hours that in a course of nine and twenty years conversation have fallen to my own share, which were very fre­quent and free for above half that time: that have so often both humbled and raised me, by seeing how Exalted he was, and in that feeling more sensibly my own Nothing and Depression, and which have always edified, and never once, nor in any one thing been uneasie to me. When I remember how much I saw in him, and learned, or at least might have learned from him; When I reflect on the gravity of his very Appearance, the elevation of his Thoughts and Discourses, the modesty of his Temper, and the hu­mility of his whole Deportment, which might have served to have forced the best thoughts even upon the worst minds, when, I say, I bring all this together into my mind; as I form upon it too bright an Idea to be easily received by such as did not know him; so I am very sensible that I cannot raise it, equal to the thoughts of such as did. I know, the limits that custom gives to Discourses of this kind, and the hard Censures which commonly follow them: These will not suffer me to say all I think; as I perceive I cannot bring out into distinct thoughts all that of which I have the imperfect hints and ruder draughts in my mind, which cannot think Equal to a Subject so far above my own level. I shall now therefore shew him only in Perspective, and give a General, a very general View of him, reserving to more leisure and better opportunities, a farther and fuller account of him. I will be content at present to say but a Little of him; but that Little will be so very much, that I must expect that those who do never intend to imitate [Page 23] any part of it, will be displeased with it all. I am resolved to use great Reserves; and to manage a ten­derness, which how much soever it may melt me, shall not carry me beyond the strictest measures, and I will study to keep as much within bounds, as he lived beyond them.

I will say nothing of the Stem from which he sprang: that watered Garden, watered with the blessings and dew of Heaven, as well as fed with the best Portions of this life, that has produced so many noble Plants, and has stocked the most Families in these Kingdoms of any in our Age, Which has so signally felt the effects of their humble and Christian Motto, God's Providence is my Inheritance. He was the only Bro­ther of five, that had none of these Titles that sound high in the World; but he procured one to him­self, which without derogating from the dignity of Kings must be acknowledged to be beyond their Prerogative. He had a great and noble Fortune; but it was chiefly so to him, because he had a great and noble Mind to imploy it to the best Uses. He began early to shew both a Probity and a Capacity; that promised great things: and he passed through the Youthful parts of life, with so little of the Youth in him, that in his travels while he was very young and wholly the Master of himself he seemed to be out of the reach of the disorders of that Age, and those Countries through which he passed. He had a mo­desty and a purity laid so deep in his Nature, that those who knew him the earliest have often told me, that even then Nature seemed entirely sanctified in him. His piety received a vast encrease as he often owned to me from his Acquaintance with the great Primate of Ireland, the never enough admired Vsher, who as he was [Page 24] very particularly the Friend of the whole Family, so seeing such Seed and beginnings in him, studied to cultivate them with due care. He set him chiefly to the Study of the Scriptures in their Original Languages, which he followed in a course of many Years, with so great exactness he could have quoted, all remarka­ble Passages very readily in Hebrew: and he read the New Testament so diligently in the Greek, that there never occurred to me an occasion to mention any one passage of it, that he did not readily repeat in that language. The use of this he continued to the last, for he could read it with other mens Eyes; but the weakness of his sight forced him to disuse the other, since he had none about him that could read it to him. He had studied the Scriptures to so good purpose, and with so critical a strictness, that few men whose Profession oblige them chiefly to that fort of learning have gone beyond him in it: and he had so great a regard to that Sacred Book, that if any one in Discourse had dropped any thing that gave him a clearer view of any passage in it, he re­ceived it with great pleasure, he examined it accu­rately, and if it was not uneasie to him that offered it, he desired to have it in writing. He had the pro­foundest Veneration for the great God of Heaven and Earth, that I have ever observed in any Person. The very Name of God was never mentioned by him with­out a Pause and a visible stop in his Discourse, in which one that knew him most particularly above twenty Years, has told me that he was so exact, that he does not remember to have observed him once to fail in it.

[Page 25]He was most constant and serious in his secret Ad­dresses to God; and indeed it appeared to those, who conversed most with him in his Enquiries in­to Nature, that his main design in that, on which as he had his own Eye most constantly, so he took care to put others often in mind of it, was to raise in himself and others vaster Thoughts of the Greatness and Glory, and of the Wis­dom and Goodness of God. This was so deep in his Thoughts, that he concludes the Ar­ticle of his Will, which relates to that Illustrious Body, the Royal Society, in these Words, Wish­ing them also a happy success in their laudable At­tempts, to discover the true Nature of the Works of God; and praying that they and all other Searchers into Physical Truths, may Cordially refer their At­tainments to the Glory of the Great Author of Na­ture, and to the Comfort of Mankind. As he was a very Devout Worshipper of God, so he was a no less Devout Christian. He had possessed himself with such an amiable view of that Holy Religi­on, separated from either superstitious Practices or the sourness of Parties, that as he was fully per­swaded of the Truth of it, and indeed wholly possessed with it, so he rejoyced in every discovery that Nature furnisht him with, to Illustrate it, or to take off the Objections against any part of it. He always considered it as a System of Truths, which ought to purifie the Hearts, and govern the Lives of those who profess it; he loved no Practice that seemed to lessen that, nor any Nicety that oc­casioned Divisions amongst Christians. He thought pure and disinteressed Christianity was so Bright and so Glorious a thing, that he was much troubled [Page 26] at the Disputes and Divisions which had arisen a­bout some lesser Matters, while the Great and the most Important, as well as the most universally ac­knowledged Truths were by all sides almost as ge­nerally neglected as they were confessed. He had therefore designed, tho' some Accidents did, upon great Considerations, divert him from settling it during his Life, but not from ordering it by his Will, that a liberal Provision should be made for one, who should in a very few well digested Ser­mons every year, set forth the Truth of the Chri­stian Religion in general, without descending to the Subdivisions among Christians, and who should be changed every Third year, that so this Noble Study and Imployment might pass through many Hands, by which means many might become Ma­sters of the Argument. He was at the Charge of the Translation and Impression of the New Testa­ment into the Malyan Language, which he sent o­ver all the East-Indies. He gave a Noble Reward to him that Translated Grotius his incomparable Book of the Truth of the Christian Religion into Arabick, and was at the Charge of a whole Im­pression, which he took care to order to be scatte­red in all the Countries where that Language is un­derstood. He was resolved to have carried on the Impression of the New Testament in the Turkish Language, but the Company thought it became them to be the doers of it, and so suffered him on­ly to give a large share towards it. He was at 700 l. Charge in the Edition of the Irish Bible, which he ordered to be distributed in Ireland; and he con­tributed liberally both to the Impressions of the Welsh Bible, and of the Irish Bible for Scotland. He [Page 27] gave during his Life 300 l. to advance the design of propagating the Christian Religion in America, and as soon as he heard that the East-India Com­pany were entertaining Propositions for the like design in the East, he presently sent 100 l. for a Beginning and an Example, but intended to carry it much further, when it should be set on foot to purpose. Thus was his Zeal lively and effectual in the greatest and truest concerns of Religion; but he avoided to enter far into the unhappy Breaches that have so long weakened, as well as distracted Christianity, any otherwise than to have a great a­version to all those Opinions and Practices, that seemed to him to destroy Morality and Charity. He had a most particular zeal against all Severities and Persecutions upon the account of Religion. I have seldom observ'd him to speak with more Heat and Indignation, than when that came in his way. He did throughly agree with the Doctrines of our Church, and conform to our Worship; and he ap­proved of the main of our Constitution, but he much lamented some abuses that he thought re­mained still among us. He gave Eminent Instances of his value for the Clergy. Two of these I shall only mention. When he understood what a share he had in Impropriations, he ordered very large Gifts to be made to the Incumbents in those Pa­rishes, and to the Widows of such as had died be­fore he had resolved on this Charity. The Sums that, as I have been Informed, by one that was concern­ed in two Distributions that were made, amount­ed upon those two Occasions, to near 600 l. and another very liberal one is also ordered by his Will, but in an indefinite Sum, I suppose, by reason of the [Page 28] present condition of Estates in Ireland: So plenti­fully did he supply those who served at the Altar, out of that which was once devoted to it, though it be now converted to a Temporal Estate. Another Instance of his sence of the Sacred Functions went much deeper. Soon after the Restoration in the Year Sixty, the great Minister of that time, pressed him both by himself and by another, who was then likewise in a high Post, to enter into Or­ders. He did it not meerly out of a respect to him and his Family, but chiefly out of his regard to the Church, that he thought would receive a great strengthening, as well as a powerful Example from one, who, if he once entered into Holy Orders, would be quickly at the Top. This he told me made some Impressions on him. His mind was, even then at Three and thirty, so intirely disingaged from all the Projects and Concerns of this World, that as the prospect of Dignity in the Church, could not move him much, so the Probabilities of his do­ing good in it, was much the stronger Motive. Two things determined him against it; one was, That his having no other Interests, with relation to Religion, besides those of saving his own Soul, gave him, as he thought, a more unsuspected Authority, in writing or acting on that side: He knew the pro­phane Crew fortified themselves against all that was said by Men of our Profession, with this, That it was their Trade, and that they were paid for it: He hoped therefore, that he might have the more Influence, the less he shared in the Patrimony of the Church. But his main Reason was, That he had so high a sense of the Obligations of the Pa­storal care; and of such as watch over those Souls, [Page 29] which Christ purchased with his own blood, and for which they must give an Account, at the last and great day, that he durst not undertake it, especially not having felt within himself an Inward motion to it by the Holy Ghost; and the first Question that is put to those who come to be Initiated into the Service of the Church, relating to that Motion, he who had not felt it, thought he durst not make the step; least otherwise he should have lyed to the Holy Ghost: So solemnly and seriously did he judge of Sacred Matters. He was con­stant to the Church; and went to no separated As­semblies, how charitably soever he might think of their Persons, and how plentifully soever he might have relived their necessities. He loved no narrow Thoughts, nor low or superstitious Opinions in Re­ligion, and therefore as he did not shut himself up within a Party, so neither did he shut any Party out from him. He had brought his Mind to such a free­dom, that he was not apt to be imposed on; and his Modesty was such, that he did not dictate to others; but proposed his own Sense, with a due and decent distrust; and was ever every ready to hearken to what was suggested to him by others. When he differed from any, he expressed himself in so humble and so obliging a way, that he never treated Things or Persons with neglect, and I never heard that he offended any one Person in his whole Life by any part of his Deportment: For if at any time he saw cause to speak roundly to any, it was never in Pas­sion, or with any reproachful or indecent Expres­sions. And as he was careful to give those who conversed with him, no Cause or Colour for displea­sure, so he was yet more careful of those who were [Page 30] absent, never to speak ill of any; in which he was the exactest Man I ever knew. If the Discourse turn'd to be hard on any, he was presently silent; and if the Subject was too long dwelt on, he would at last interpose, and between Reproof and Ral­lery, divert it.

He was exactly civil, rather to Ceremony; and though he felt his easiness of access, and the de­sires of many, all Strangers in particular, to be much with him, made great wasts on his Time; yet as he was severe in that, not to be denied when he was at home, so he said he knew the Heart of a Stranger, and how much eased his own had been, while travelling, if admitted to the Conversation of those he desired to see; therefore he thought his Obligation to Strangers, was more than bare Civility, it was a piece of Religious Charity in him.

He had for almost Forty years, laboured under such a feebleness of Body, and such lowness of Strength and Spirits, that it will appear a surprizing thing to imagine, how it was possible for him to Read, to Meditate, to try Experiments, and to write as he did. He bore all his Infirmities, and some sharp Pains, with the decency and submission that became a Christian and a Philosopher. He had about him all that unaffected neglect of Pomp in Cloaths, Lodging, Furniture and Equipage, which agreed with his grave and serious course of Life. He was advised to a very ungrateful simplicity of Diet; which by all appearance was that which pre­served him so long beyond all Mens expectation; this he observed so strictly, that in a course of above Thirty years, he neither eat nor drank to gratifie [Page 31] the Varieties of Appetite, but meerly to support Nature; and was so regular in it, that he never once transgressed the Rule, Measure, and Kind, that was prescribed him. He had a feebleness in his Sight; his Eyes were so well used by him, that it will be easily imagined he was very tender of them, and very apprehensive of such Distempers as might affect them. He did also imagine, that if sickness obliged him to lie long a Bed, it might raise the Pains of the Stone in him to a degree that was above his weak Strength to bear; so that he feared that his last Minutes might be too hard for him; and this was the Root of all the caution and apprehen­sion that he was observed to live in. But as to Life it self, he had the just indifference to it, and the weariness of it, that became so true a Christian. I mention these the rather, that I may have occa­sion to shew the Goodness of God to him, in the two things that he feared; for his sight began not to grow dimm above four Hours before he died; and when death came upon him, he had not been above Three hours a Bed, before it made an end of him, with so little uneasiness, that it was plain the Light went out, meerly for want of Oil to main­tain the Flame.

But I have looked too early to this Conclusion of his Life, yet before I can come at it, I find there is still much in my way. His Charity to those that were in Want, and his Bounty to all Learned Men, that were put to wrastle with Difficulties, were so very extraordinary, and so many did partake of them, that I may spend little time on this Article. Great Summs went easily from him, without the Partialities of Sect, Country, or Relations; for he [Page 32] considered himself as a part of the Humane Nature, and as a Debtor to the whole Race of Men. He took care to do this so secretly, that even those who knew all his other Concerns, could never find out what he did that way; and indeed he was so strict to our Saviour's Precept, that except the Persons themselves, or some one whom he trusted to convey it to them, no body ever knew how that great share of his Estate, which went away invisibly, was distributed; even he himself kept no Account of it, for that he thought might fall into other hands. I speak upon full knowledge on this Article, because I had the honour to be often made use of by him in it. If those that have fled hither from the Per­secutions of France, or from the Calamities of Ireland, feel a sensible sinking of their secret Supplies, with which they were often furnished, without knowing from whence they came, they will conclude, that they have lost not only a Purse, but an Estate that went so very liberally among them, that I have reason to say, that for some years his Charity went beyond a Thousand Pound a year.

Here I thought to have gone to another Head, but the Relation he had, both in Nature and Grace, in living and dying, in friendship, and a likeness of Soul to another Person, forces me for a little while to change my Subject. I have been restrain'd from it by some of her Relations; but since I was not so by her self, I must give a little vent to Na­ture and to Friendship; to a long Acquaintance and a vast Esteem. His sister and he were pleasant in their Lives, and in their Death they were not divided; for as he lived with her above Fourty years, so he did not outlive her above a Week. Both died from [Page 33] the same Cause, Nature being quite spent in both. She lived the longest on the publickest Scene, she made the greatest Figure in all the Revolutions of these King­doms for above fifty Years, of any Woman of our Age. She imployed it all for doing good to others, in which she laid out her Time, her Interest, and her Estate, with the greatest Zeal and the most Success that I have ever known. She was indefatigable as well as dextrous in it: and as her great Understanding, and the vast Esteem she was in, made all Persons in their several turns of Greatness, desire and value her Friendship; so she gave her self a clear Title to im­ploy her Interest with them for the Service of others, by this that she never made any use of it to any End or De­sign of her own. She was contented with what she had; and though she was twice stript of it, she never moved on her own account, but was the general Inter­cessor for all Persons of Merit, or in want: This had in her the better Grace, and was both more Christian and more effectual, because it was not limited within any narrow Compass of Parties or Relations. When any Party was down, she had Credit and Zeal enough to serve them, and she employed that so effectually, that in the next Turn she had a new stock of Credit, which she laid out wholly in that Labour of Love, in which she spent her Life: and though some particular Opinions might shut her up in a divided Communion, yet her Soul was never of a Party: She divided her Charities and Friendships both, her Esteem a well as her Bounty, with the truest Regard to Merit, and her own Obligations, without any Difference, made upon the Account of Opinion.

She had with a vast Reach both of Knowledge and Apprehensions, an universal Affability and Easiness [Page 34] of Access, a Humility that descended to the meanest Persons and Concerns, an obliging Kindness and Readi­ness to advise those who had no occasion for any fur­ther Assistance from her; and with all these and many more excellent Qualities, she had the deepest Sense of Religion, and the most constant turning of her Thoughts and Discourses that way, that has been per­haps in our Age. Such a Sister became such a Brother; and it was but suitable to both their Characters, that they should have improved the Relation under which they were born, to the more exalted and endearing one of Friend. At any time a Nation may very ill spare one such; but for both to go at once, and at such a time, is too melancholly a Thought; and notwith­standing the Decline of their Age, and the Waste of their Strength, yet it has too much of Cloud in it, to bear the being long dwelt on.

You have thus far seen, in a very few hints, the se­veral Sorts and Instances of Goodness that appeared in this Life, which has now its Period; that which gives value and lustre to them all, was, that whatever he might be in the sight of Men, how pure and spotless soever, those who knew him the best, have reason to conclude, that he was much more so in the sight of God; for they had often Occasions to discover new Instances of Goodness in him; and no secret ill Inclinations did at any time shew themselves. He affected nothing that was solemn or supercilious. He used no Methods to make Multitudes run after him, or depend upon him. It never appeared that there was any thing hid under all this appearance of Goodness, that was not truly so. He hid both his Piety and Charity all he could. He lived in the due Methods of Civility, and would ne­ver assume the Authority which all the World was [Page 35] ready to pay him. He spoke of the Government even in Times which he disliked, and upon occasions which he spared not to condemn, with an exactness of respect. He allowed himself a great deal of decent chearfulness, so that he had nothing of the moroseness, to which Phi­losophers think they have some right; nor of the Affe­ctations which Men of an extraordinary pitch of Devo­tion go into, sometimes, without being well aware of them. He was, in a word, plainly and sincerely in the sight of God, as well as in the view of Men, a good Man, even One of a Thousand.

That which comes next to be considered, is the share that this good Man had in those Gifts of God, Wisdom Knowledg, and Joy. If I should speak of these, with the copiousness which the Subject affords, I should go too far even for your Patience, tho I have reason to be­lieve it would hold out very long on this Occasion. I will only name things which may be enlarged on more ful­ly in another way. He had too unblemish'd a candor to be capable of those Arts and Practices that a false and deceitful World may call Wisdom. He could neither lie nor equivocate; but he could well be silent, and by practising that much, he cover'd himself upon many uneasy Occasions. He made true Judgments of Men and Things. His Advices and Opinions were solid and sound; and if Caution and Modesty gave too strong a Biass, his Invention was fruitful to suggest good Expedients. He had great Notions of what Humane Nature might be brought to; but since he saw Mankind was not capable of them, he withdrew himself early from Affairs and Courts, notwithstand­ing the Distinction with which he was always treated by our late Princes. But he had the Principles of an English-man, as well as of a Protestant, too deep in [Page 36] him to be corrupted or cheated out of them; and in these he studied to fortify all that conversed much with him. He had a very particular Sagacity in ob­serving what Men were fit for; and had so vast a Scheme of different Performances, that he could soon furnish every Man with Work that had leasure and capacity for it; and as soon as he saw him engaged in it, then a handsom Present was made to enable him to go on with it.

His Knowledg was of so vast an Extent, that if it were not for the variety of Vouchers in their several sorts, I should be afraid to say all I know. He carried the study of the Hebrew very far into the Rabbinical Writings, and the other Oriental Languages. He had read so much of the Fathers, that he had formed out of it a clear Judgment of all the eminent Ones. He had read a vast deal on the Scriptures, and had gone very nicely through the whole Controversies of Religion; and was a true Master in the whole Body of Divinity. He run the whole Compass of the Ma­thematical Sciences; and though he did not set himself to spring new Game, yet he knew even the abstrusest Parts of Geometry. Geography in the several parts of it, that related to Navigation or Travelling, Histo­ry and Books of Travels were his Diversions. He went very nicely through all the Parts of Physick, only the tenderness of his Nature made him less able to endure the exactness of Anatomical Dissections, especially of living Animals, though he knew these to be the most instructing: But for the History of Nature, Ancient and Modern, of the Productions of all Countries, of the Virtues and Improvements of Plants, of Oars and Minerals, and all the Varieties that are in them in different Climates; He was by [Page 37] much, by very much, the readiest and the perfectest I ever knew, in the greatest Compass, and with the truest Exactness. This put him in the way of ma­king all that vast variety of Experiments, beyond any Man, as far as we know, that ever lived. And in these, as he made a great progress in new Discoveries, so he used so nice a strictness, and delivered them with so scrupulous a Truth, that all who have exa­mined them, have found how safely the World may depend upon them. But his peculiar and favourite Stu­dy, was Chymistry; in which he engaged with none of those ravenous and amitious Designs, that draw ma­ny into them. His Design was only to find out Na­ture, to see into what Principles things might be re­solved, and of what they were compounded, and to prepare good Medicaments for the Bodies of Men. He spent neither his Time nor Fortune upon the vain pursuits of high Promises and Pretensions. He al­ways kept himself within the Compass that his Estate might well bear: And as he made Chymistry much the better for his dealing in it, so he never made himself either the worse or the poorer for it. It was a Charity to others, as well as an Entertainment to himself, for the Produce of it was distributed by his Sister, and others, into whose Hands he put it. I will not here amuse you with a List of his astonishing Knowledg, or of his great Performances this way. They are highly valued all the World over, and his Name is every where mentioned with most particular Characters of Respect. I will conclude this Article with this, in which I appeal to all competent Judges, that few Men (if any) have been known to have made so great a Compass, and to have been so exact in all the Parts of it as he was.

[Page 38]As for Joy, he had indeed nothing of Frolick and Levity in him, he had no Relish for the idle and ex­travagant Madness of the Men of Pleasure; he did not waste his Time, nor dissipate his Spirits into foolish Mirth, but he possessed his own Soul in Patience, full of that solid Joy which his Goodness as well as his Knowledg afforded him; He who had neither Designs nor Passions, was capable of little Trouble from any Concerns of his own: He had about him all the Ten­derness of good Nature, as well as all the Softness of Friendship, these gave him a large share of other Mens Concerns; for he had a quick sense of the Miseries of Mankind. He had also a feeble Body, which needed to be look'd to the more, because his Mind went faster than that his Body could keep pace with it; yet his great Thoughts of God, and his Contemplation of his Works, were to him Sources of Joy, which could never be exhausted. The Sense of his own Integrity, and of the Good he found it did, afforded him the truest of all Pleasures, since they gave him the certain Pro­spect of that Fulness of Joy, in the Sight of which he lived so long, and in the Possession of which he now lives, and shall live for ever; and this spent and ex­hausted Body shall then put on a new Form, and be made a fit Dwelling for that pure and exalted Mind in the final Restitution. I pass over his Death, I looked at it some time ago, but I cannot bring down my Mind from the elevating Thoughts that do now arise into that depressing one of his Death; I must look be­yond it into the Regions of Light and Glory, where he now dwells.

The only Thought that is now before me, is to triumph on the Behalf of Religion, to make our due Boast of it, and to be lifted up (I had al­most [Page 39] said proud) upon this occasion: how divine and how pure a thing must that Religion be in it self, which produced so long a Series of great Effects, thorow the whole Course of this shining Life? What a thing would Mankind become if we had many such? And how little need would there be of many Books writ for the Truth and Excellency of our Religion, if we had more such Arguments as this one Life has produced? Such single Instances have great Force in them; but when they are so very Single, they lose much of their Strength by this, that they are ascribed to Singularity, and something particular in a Man's Hu­mour and Inclinations, that makes him rise above common Measures. It were a Monopoly for any Fa­mily or Sort of Men to ingross to themselves the Ho­nour which arises from the Memory of so great a Man. It is a Common not to be inclosed. It is large enough to make a whole Nation, as well as the Age he lived in, look big and be happy: But above all it gives a new Strength, as well as it sets a new Pattern to all that are sincerely zealous for their Religion. It shews them in the simplest and most convincing of all Ar­guments, what the Humane Nature is capable of, and what the Christian Religion can add to it, how far it can both exalt and reward it. I do not say that eve­ry one is capable of all he grew to; I am very sensible that few are; nor is every one under equal Obligati­ons: for the Service of the Universe, there must be a vast Diversity in Mens Tempers, there being so great a Variety of Necessities to be answered by them: but every Man in every Imployment, and of every size of Soul, is capable of being in some Degrees good in the sight of God; and all such shall receive proportioned Degrees of Wisdom, Knowledg and Joy; even though [Page 40] neither their Goodness nor these Accessions to it, rise up to the Measure of him who was a while among us, indeed one of a thousand, and is now but one of those ten thousand times ten thousand that are about the Throne, where he is singing that Song which was his great En­tertainment here, as it is his how endless Joy there; Great and marvellous are thy Works, O Lord God Almighty; and just and true are thy Ways, O King of Saints. To follow him in the like Exercises here, is the sure Way to be admitted to join with him in those above; to which God of his infinite Mercy bring us all in due time, through Jesus Christ our Lord.