clergy, whereof you, my LORD, have been all along, to your great honour, the avowed patron and defender.

I mention not this inftance of your Lordfhip's goodness to me, with any view of diftinguishing myfelf from others. For you have done nothing in my cafe, but what you have frequently practifed fince the time that divine providence, for the good of this church, raifed you to the epifcopal dignity; nothing, but what hath been fucceffively acknowledged by all those who have prefixed your right reverend name to their labours, from the learned and venerable Dr. Pocock, down to the mean Author of the following Sermons. And, while your Lordfhip continues to repeat the fame acts of generofity, you must be contented to receive the very fame ac knowledgements; fince we, who share the obligations, can fcarce find a better way of expreffing our thanks and doing juftice to your character, than by informing the world, why, and how they were derived

to us,

The fecrecy, with which wife statesmen conduct their defigns for the public good, fo as that the execution alone fhall make the discovery, hath by your Lordship been

as

ascarefully obferved in your private fchemes of beneficence; which have feldom, appeared till they took effect, and surprised even thofe, who were moft nearly inter ested in the fuccefs of them.

By this

means, you have, after the best manner, forbidden all applications, by rendering them, not only unneceffary, but impracti cable; and have enjoyed to the utmost both the honour, and the pleasure of welldoing.

Indeed, there is foarce any virtue, which either disposes the mind to deterve well of others, or adds comelinefs and grace to deferving actions, that doth not manifeftly appear and shine in your Lordship: Aud by these recommending circumstances, you engage the very hearts of thole you oblige, and double the value of every kindnefs you do them.

To give, hoping (and looking) for nothing again, is the gofpel-rule of beneficence; and your Lordship hath strictly obferved it. For none of your gifts have been clogged with conditions; you have expected no returns, but what every one, who hath a thankful mind, and a juft fenfe of his duty, would even choose and delight to pay You have aimed only at doing as beca ne

you

you in your high station; and when thofe, whom you advanced, did likewife as became them in their stations, your defires were answered, and you had your reward.

It is well known, with what courtesy and ease you have always treated those, whom you have once obliged; on that very account they were fure of having a nearer and freer accefs to your Lordship, instead of being kept to the ufual terms of distance and dependance. You have been fo far from ever putting any man in mind of what you have done for him, that you would never bear to be put in mind of it yourself; and have not been more careful to prevent folicitations, than to avoid acknowledgments. You had the thanks of your own confcience, and you neither needed, nor defired any other.

It is the peculiar happiness of those perfons, on whom your favours are placed; that they receive them from an hand eininent for its great and lafting services to our church and conftitution. For there are, I think, no enemies whatfoever, either of her doctrine, difcipline, or worship (either within doors, or without) but what your Lordship hath, in the course of your

epifcopal

epifcopal government, withftood, and baffled.

You were one of those seven prelates (worthy of honourable remembrance) who gave the most effectual check to the attempts of Popery in a late reign, and preferved the pure profeffion of Christianity among us by the fame fuffering methods, by which it was at first propagated. It can never be forgotten, with what a true Chriftian spirit (fuch as animated the chief paftors of the church, in those days, when epifcopacy was a certain ftep to martyr dom) you ftood forth, and offered yourfelf willingly to witness a good confession; how folicitous you were, left the towergates should have been shut upon those excellent perfons, ere your distance would permit you to accompany them in their glorious confinement; to partake of which, You made as much hafte, as fome men afterwards did, to draw the advantages of it to themfelves, under a new turn of affairs

When that happened, new occafions alfo of ferving the church offered themselves to your Lordship, which you as readily embraced. The fatherly vigilance and exemplary firmness, you then fhewed, in fruf trating the methods made ufe of to per

petuate

petuate fchifm, by unauthorized schools and feminaries, were observed with pleafure, and owned with thanks by all that wifhed well to our eftablishment. Nor could they, who wifhed ill to it, jufly blame an endeavour of fecuring to the or dinary that power, which he always en joyed, and of which he is not yet divefts ed; and of confining a legal indulgence within the bounds prefcribed by that law, which gave birth to it.

Shall I take notice here, of the feafon able and liberal encouragement you reacha ed out to a worthy Prefbyter of this church, who repreffed the bold attempts of Sectaries by his learned and accurate writings? It may, I think, become me to mention even this particular act of your bounty, fince it had a general aim and influence, and was not terminated in the Perfon, how deferv ing foever, but in the righeous Cause which he efpoufed; and which as your Lordship's fixed judgment leads you, by all lawful means to fupport, fo your temper inclines you rather to promote by re wards than punishments.

The fears of Popery were fcarce remov ed, when Herefy began to diffuse its ve nom; and the faered myfteries of our faith

were,