A LETTER OUT OF SUFFOLK TO A FRIEND in LONDON.  
GIVING Some Account of the last Sickness and Death of Dr. WILLIAM SANCROFT, late Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY.  
LONDON; Printed in the Year, MDCXCIV.   

A LETTER out of SUFFOLK to a FRIEND in LONDON, etc.  
SIR,  
WHen you was pleased to desire of me a particular Account of the last and fatal Sickness of our late Metropolitan, and of his Grace's pious Behaviour under it, I could not but Congratulate with myself the happy Employment you had put me to; and do hereby return you my most hearty Thanks for the fresh Opportunity you have been instrumental in giving me, of revolving in my Thoughts those admirable and Christian Virtues, so eminent and conspicuous in the whole Course and Tenor of his Life, and yet more illustrious at the Time of his Death: The Memory of him indeed will be always precious in the Eyes of good Men; and I am persuaded his Name will never be forgotten in these and the Neighbouring Kingdoms, nor ever remembered, or mentioned, but with Marks of Honour, Esteem and Veneration. But such Memorials are general and languid, and will but coldly affect our Hearts, or dispose us to Imitation, except his particular Graces be ruminated on, and riveted within us by devout and serious Meditation. This will raise in us (as was in him) a Spirit of Meekness, Mortification, Fortitude and Constancy: And his Death, will improve the World (as his Life always did) by recommending a most generous and sincere Piety, and encouraging us in the most difficult Duties of Religion, And I must confess to you, that it is owing to your Commands that I have had a greater occasion, on this great Subject, of glorifying God, (who hath given such Graces to Men) of supporting myself, and encouraging my Brethren in a State of Affliction and Trouble, by the power and prevalency of so renowned an Example. I conceive therefore, your Request to me in this particular, was not so much to satisfy your Curiosity as to affect your Conscience, to provoke you to and preserve in you such a steady and unshaken Fidelity to Truth, as is not to be undermined, or wrought upon, by any specious Temptations from the World. Our Holy Faith is not founded on the Examples of Men, but the Practice of it is mightily encouraged and assisted by them. And here you have before you a Glorious Confessor; here you have your Holy Archbishop, making a safe Passage through Storms and Tempests, and carrying his Integrity and Conscience undefiled to the Grave. And doth not this bright Example mightily enspirit and inflame your Zeal? Doth it not make your Afflictions easy, and your Virtue strong? Would you now receive the Wages of Unrighteousness how much soever you may want them? Or would you change your desolate and narrow Circumstances, for those more plentful at the Expense of your Conscience, for all the World? These are the Fruits of this great Prelates Virtues, and this is the use we are to make of them; to animate us in the same Course, to aspire to the same degrees of Uprightness, to despise the World and to take up the Cross, not as a Blemish, but an Honour to us: Otherwise, however we may praise and admire him, 'tis but Flattery and Hypocrisy; we celebrate his Memory deceitfully, both to his Injury and our own. For if his great Virtues deserve to be commended, they deserve to be imitated too: The Praise of the Tongue is but Breach and Air, and the Character goes no deeper than our Lips: But if we live like him, and pursue the same Virtues, with the same Faithfulness and Constancy, our Love and Admiration is seated in our Hearts and Consciences, and we evidence the Honour we had for him, by the noblest Principles of Humane Nature. If therefore we shall make him our Pattern, and follow his Example, we shall do more right to his Memory, than by all the Panegyrics in the World.  
I could hearty wish that I were able to set this great Example in a true Light, that I could draw his Grace's Picture at full length, and give you a complete Account of the whole Series of his Life from the beginning to the end; and this (if it was faithfully done) perhaps would be as bright a Pattern of Virtue as has for many Ages been communicated to the World, and would emulate the Piety of the first and purest Times, and the Faithfulness of the Primitive Christian Bishops: But this is a Task too difficult for me upon many Accounts, and I hope will be undertaken by some abler Hand, and indeed is more than you require of me: However, as Introductory to what follows, I shall lay before you these two General Observations.  
I. That that high and important Station which he held in the Church of England, was never better filled nor managed with better Conduct: His great Abilities of Learning, Wisdom, Courage and Sincerity, abundantly qualified him to guide the Church, and steer the Helm of it, in the most dangerous and surprising Junctures. There never was a Time since the beginning of Christianity, when all these Qualifications were not necessary in a Christian Bishop, and which he had not always more or less occasion to exercise: But it must be confessed that in his Days, the Church was beset with extraordinary Difficulties, and required an extraordinary measure of Prudence and Resolution, of Faithfulness and Zeal, to manage that great Trust committed to his Charge, to the Honour of God, the Interest of Religion, and the good and benefit of the Church.  
There are two famous Instances which give testimony to this and abundantly evidence the greatness of his Mind, the wisdom of his Conduct, and the zeal and care he had for the preservation of Religion, and the safety of the Church. The First was when he was to struggle with the Commands of a Lawful Sovereign, which seemed to interfere with the Interest of the established Religion, and the known Laws of the Land, but of this he made no difficulty, and soon resolved rather humbly to decline the Commands of his Rightful Prince, than to obey him to the prejudice of the true Religion, and the Established Laws. But the manner of doing this was as exemplary as his Courage, when his King laid uneasy Commands, and which he could not comply with, he did not presently fly in his Face, and load Him with Invectives and Aspersions much less did he undermine his Throne, invite the Invader of it, or by ungodly or revengful Arts endeavour to defeat him of his Just and Hereditary Rights: But, like a true Christian Bishop, he committed his Cause to God, and possessed his Soul in Patience. He could not do an unlawful thing, but he knew well that that Reason extended to all unlawful Things; and that he could no more violate the Rules of Religion, and the Laws of the Land, in resisting his Lawful Prince, or injuring him in his undoubted Rights, than he could violate them in Obedience to him. Sincere Virtue is always uniform, and all of a piece; and he knew that the same Religion and Laws which enjoined him not to obey, obliged him likewise not to resist, and rebel; they were of equal Obligation in both Cases, and their Authority as Sacred, and could not be broken with a safe Conscience in one Instance no more than in the other. He stood indeed in the Gap, with all the degrees of Fortitude and Resolution that the greatness of the Occasion required; but these were Christian and Episcopal Virtues, and joined with the same degrees of Meekness and Humility, by humble Petition, by all modest and just ways he declined Compliance, but without the least insolence of Behaviour or disrespect to the Person of his Prince, much les, to shake off his Authority and Government, whom be know to be the Rightful King of these Kingdoms, and established in the Throne by the Laws of God and the Land.  
It is true in this Action (though it is to be feared of some, not with the same Intention) he did not stand alone; but several of his Brethren, my Lords the Bishops, and most of the inferior Clergy bore their parts and joined with their Metropolitan: But as his Post and Station, his Wisdom and Conduct, his great part in that whole Affair deservedly challenges the first place, so the ascribing to him what is really his due, does by no means detract from the merits of the rest: All those who acted in Conjunction with him, and upon the same Foundation and Principles, their Credit and Virtue remain entire to them, and they will never lose the Reputation of their Constancy and Faithfulness; but those who acted out of sinister and corrupt Ends, and have since forsaken their Principles, and woefully prevaricated, they have blasted their own Reputation, and have little consulted the Honour of that excellent Church of which they were Members. However I must tell you a plain Truth that some of them who then thought themselves, and still would fain be accounted main Pillars of the Protestant Cause, were, in this Affair, very fleeting and unsettled, and for finding out Salvoes and Distinctions; and their subsequent Practice was in a great measure derived from his Wisdom, Authority and Influence.  
I shall not need to mention to you his Conduct in the ordinary Branches of his Metropolitical and Episcopal Office: how he to●k care to discharge those with great Faithfulness, to preserve the Church of England in its Rights and Establishments, and to secure the Purity of her Doctrine, Worship and Discipline, so far as his Power and Authority extended: These are notorious to all the Kingdom. And it will be sufficient here to observe, that while he sat in the Chair, there was not underhand trucking with the Socinians, or others, out of her Communion; He was a very wise, but withal a very plain and sincere Bishop; He was above little Tricks and Politic Arts, and knew not how to preach against People, and then to stroke and sawn, and curry favour with them when he had done: He was never at the bottom of any Project to give up the Liturgy, the Rights and Ceremonies of the Church: For alas! (quite contrary to modern Policy) He thought that the best way to preserve a Society had been in keeping steadfastly to the terms of it; he had as great a tenderness and compassion, for the seduced and misled as any Man and used all just and moderate ways, for their Reduction and Information, but in good truth, he had not that Latitude of Principle to sacrifice the Church out of secular Intrigues and Politics, and to deliver up the Mounds and Fences of it to a Party which had been endeavouring the Destruction of it for a hundred Years and more, and who once had effectually ruined her. When he had favour at Court, and was able to recommend a Person to the highest Offices in the Church, it was never his Custom to lay aside, or post-pone, the most worthy and able Men, and firm to the Constitution of the Church, and to make use of his Interest to advance a sort of Men who are equally principled for Geneva as for England, or for any Constitution besides; who were never true nor honest to the Church in their Inferior Charges, and who are far better qualified to betray than to support her. In sine, when he was possessed of the Revenues belonging to his Church, he never made it his business to destroy and plunder it, by cutting down the Timber upon little Pretences, and then putting the Money into his own Pocket. Upon the whole, he was a true Father; the Interests of the Church were his own; and he spent himself in preserving her Honour, Rites and Revenues: Whereas it hath been long ago observed, that an Intruder is always a Stepfather, who spins out the Bowels of the Church, and fattens himself with her Blood; who having no legal Right, and Foundation, is for compounding with Religion, and bartering the Securities of the Church to support himself and uphold the Injustice of his own Tenure. And this Observation is so true that it hath never yet failed in any one Instance. He that came into the Church a Thief and a Robber hath always continued so; and from the beginning of the Church to this very Day there hath not been one Ecclesiastical Usurper, but, who in one or more Instances, hath pawned something of Religion to gain an Accession to his Party, and to secure and strengthen his unrighteous Possession.  
Another famous Instance demonstrating this great Prelate's Virtue and Piety, and his admirable fitness for that High Office he sustained in the Church was this, that he chose rather actually to suffer an expulsion from all his Honours and Ecclesiastical Revenues, than to violate his Conscience, or slain the purity of those Principles, he had always maintained and adhered to: This is a Proof next to Martyrdom, and there cannot be given a greater testimony to a Man's Sincerity, except it had been the laying down his Life; and no doubt, that he would also have as cheerfully done, had the Divine Providence thought fit to have called him to that Trial. God knows the Heart, but Men cannot know one another, nor yet themselves, but by Trials and Temptations: Disguised Virtue will deceive the World, and perhaps ourselves too, and when we meet with no interruption in our Affairs a general care of inoffensiveness may pass for great Uprightness, both in the Eyes of Men and in our own: But when the Business comes to Experiment, when we must either part with the World or with our Consciences and Principles; this is a Touchstone of our Sincerity, and the distinction is soon made. And here we have a most Reverend Archbishop thrust from his high Station, and divested of all his Spiritual Promotions and Preferments, merely upon the account of his Conscience, and which he might easily have kept, if he could have but tampered with his Principles, and bribed his Judgement to submission, by carnal Inducements and fallacious Arguments. But as he was too wise and judicious to be imposed upon, so he was too honest to act upon hypocritical Pretensions and sophistical Evasions; for (as he often said) he had rather suffer under his Lawful Prince than flourish under an Usurper. Alas! Sir, he never was able to know, which way the People (collectively, or representatively) became Sovereign of this Kingdom, and could give away the Government to whom they pleased; he never had Philosophy enough to know that the Streams risen higher than the Fountain, that the Receiver of a Gift for that very Reason had a better Title to it than those that gave it, how those which gave away that which was none of their own, could derive a better right to the Taker than they had themselves. He had no skill to dive into the Mystery of a People being Conquered by themselves, and thereby deriving a Title of Conquest to a third Person; he could not expound the Riddle of Conquering by Vote, or that giving and taking were discriminating Marks of a Conquest; nor could he submit his Conscience to the maddest Hypothesis that ever was broached by Men. He had not the nice Subtlety to distinguish between Allegiance de facto, and All giance de jure. For as he knew that all Duties whatsoever, were founded in Right and flowed from it, and there is no such thing in the World as a Duty to Wrong, so he knew likewise that neither our own Laws, nor any in the whole World, had been so contradictions and inconsistent, as to provide for a double Allegiance in opposition to one another. These were Fig-leaves, which some had sewed together to cover their Nakedness, but the covering was so very thin and slight, that a far less discerning Judgement than his, would easily look through them; it needed no Skill nor Art, but pla●n Honesty was sufficient to unclothe them, and to perceive that they served only to blind or shaffle with the Conscience, by no means to direct or satisfy it. He knew an Oath was too sacred and serious to be taken upon phantoms and shadows; upon such wild and ridiculous suggestions, as have not the least being in Nature, Reason, Religion, or the Law. And he knew withal, that to take two contradictory Oaths, must necessarily involve a Man in the guilt of Perjury: In such a case, there is no medium betwixt swearing and forswearing. Upon this Basis he stood and he stood like a Rock firm and unshaken, and all the Billows that beat upon him, could not make the least Impression. His high Post and great Revenues, were mighty Temptations, but when they came to be put into the Balance with his Conscience, he soon determined his Choice, and gave a convincing Demonstration, that his Virtue was superior to the World, and independent of it; that Truth is better and far more eligible than Riches and Honour, when for the sake of one poor persecuted Truth, a Man can without the least hesitancy, forsake all that is great and honourable in the World It is true, on this great occasion he had many Partners, Seven of my Lords the Bishops, and a considerable number of the Inferior Clergy, besides many of the Nobility, Gentry and Commonalty, preserved themselves from Contagion, and gave the same great proof, of their invincible Fidelity and Constancy; whereby they have not only secured the uprightness of their own Consciences, but have withal maintained and upheld, the Honour and Reputation of the Church of England, which hath so terribly been impaired, by the Scandalous Apostasy of so many others. And this is of such mighty consequence, that it must be confessed that Posterity hath nothing left to vindicate the Church and her avowed Principles, but their Heroic and memorable Examples; and when After-Ages, shall come to dispute the Principles of our Church, they will have the Piety and Practices of these excellent Men, to counterbalance the general defection, which hath overspread this unhappy Nation.  
II. Another General Observation which I have to remark to you, is, that these immortal Virtues, which have embalmed his Name to all Posterity, were not newly acquired, or even exercised; but his younger Years gave an early Testimony of the Greatness of his Mind, and the steadiness of his Principles. There was a Time when a wicked Covenant and Engagement were to be taken; the one Oath was designed to propagate Rebellion, and to destroy the Church, and the other to support a Cruel Usurpation: And these (in their respective Seasons) blocked up all Preferments, and a Man could neither keep what he had, nor be admitted to any other, but he must first make his way by swallowing the Deadly and Accursed Thing. In those Days, he was in the Prime and Flower of his Age, when gaudy Seducements are generally the most prevailing, when the Passions and Propensities to the World are most strong, and the Judgement less mature and solid to correct them; but even in his greener Years his Virtue was ripe; he than became an actual Sufferer for the very same Principles, and chose to relinquish his Interest in his Native Country, and to submit to a voluntary Exile rather than advance himself by the Rewards of Ungodliness, and own the Authority of an unjust, though prevailing, Usurpation. This therefore is not the first Time that he gave the World proof of his admirable Constancy; He was a Confessor near fifty Years before upon the very same Account; and the very same Reasons and Arguments, (that in those Days were urged for Rebellion and Usurpation) which could not work upon him then, much less could they do it now, (though they had New Names put to them) when his Judgement and Virtue were improved; and the Truth of those Principles confirmed by his most mature Thoughts, and by long Experience. He had seen and sisted all these matters long before, and it was not likely, that to a wise and good Man, the Copy and Transcript should prevail more upon his Riper Years than the Original itself did upon his Youth; Doleman's Rebellious Arguments had no better Effect when transplanted into Dr. St— 't's Unreasonchleness of a New Separation, than they had in the Vile Book of Parsons the Jesuit itself; and the very same Namerical Reasons could satisfy as little, when baited with modern Names, than they did heretofore, when they came immediately from the Pens and Persons of the first Authors themselves, from Regicide Cook, and Milton, from John Goodwin, and Hugh Peter. In short, he was always just to his Conscience, and true to his Principles, and the repeated Instances he hath given of an untainted Fidelity will exceedingly add to his great Character; That in all the various Concussions of State, the Turns and Changes of the World, he was always the same; and the last great Actions of his Life will suffer no Diminution or Reproach from any Temporising Levity or Unworthiness of his former Proceed. I do not deny but a Man may once trip and miscarry, and afterwards relent and recover himself, and become very Great and Useful; and there is no Repugnancy in the Reason and Nature of Things, for a Man erring through weakness of Judgement, inconsiderateness or violence of Temptations, to raise himself up again, and to stand firm ever after: But if we shall cousult Fact, we shall find this Theory not always, perhaps not very often, confirmed by Experience. Those who have once played Fast and Lose with their Principles are generally prepared to travel the Compass; and we have in our own Memories some who passed from the Covenant to the Engagement, from thence to the Cromwell's, thence to the Restauration, and from thence to the Revolution: And no doubt, if there was occasion, from the same unchangeableness of Principle could travel the same way back again. Now Sir, if this be no Blemish to a Man's Integrity; if when he can receive new Principles with every Tide, and turn himself and his Conscience to every Turn of Affairs; if he can dispute the same Things Pro and Con, and resolve a Case of Conscience backwards and forwards, and rise and fall his Doctrines in Proportion to his Interests; if notwithstanding he shall sustain the Character of Steadiness and Fidelity, then by my Consent Ecebolius and the Vicar of Bray shall henceforward be reckoned among the Consessors, A versatile and winding Craft shall pass for the mark of a plain and fair dealing man, and the Wind and the Moon be hereafter the fittest Emblems of Constancy. But if Mankind have always taken other Estimates of Things; if the Truth and Goodness of a man's Virtue hath been always measured by its Strength, that it is able to abide the Trial, to weather all Storms and mutable Accidents, and remain the same under all Difficulties and Discouragements; if the difference between counterfeit and standard Virtue consists in Permanency and Perseverance, not subject to the Changes and Chances of this Lower World, If finally these are in themselves, and were always accounted great and glorious Things, than the several-Stages of our Venerable Father's Life will afford us so many Eternal Monuments of his Piety. And he hath left behind him very few, who in this degenerate Age are likely to equal his Virtues, or to come near them by many degrees, and none less than him who sits in his Chair, and some others who fill the Sees of our Deprived Bishops.  
But, Sir, Will you give me leave more fully to excite your Piety and Imitation, and to improve to your Use and my own this great Example to the best Advantage. It may be necessary to go a little deeper, and to uncover the Root from whence so many Excellent and Praiseworthy Actions did spring; for it will be impossible to copy out one of his great Virtues, without acquiring a just Proportion of all the rest. To aim at his Constancy without his Humility, is to plant without a Soil, and to aspire at his inflexible Faithfulness without an equal measure of his Mortification, is to make a Superstucture without a Foundation. And therefore it may be fit to observe, That that wonderful Staidness and Evenness of his Conduct, those high and eminent Virtues which rendered him so conspicuous, were built on a Foundation abundantly sufficient to support the Weight of them: His Humility and Denial of the World were as bright as any of his Virtues, and bore up this mighty Fabric: The World could lay no Bias on his Affections, to suborn his Judgement, and tamper with his Conscience; but he could and did with equal Affection and Resolution embrace Truth, when naked and despised, as well as when attended with Honours and Revenues: And you yourself know, and so does every Man else that had the Happiness to converse with him, That he suffered his Remove from his Possessions and Preferments, with greater Satisfaction and Cheerfulness than any man could take them. It was a smart Answer that he gave to a Person, speaking to him concerning the Revolution, and what were like to be the Effects of it; Well! (saith he, smiling) I can live upon Fifty Pounds a Year, meaning his Paternal Inheritance; and thereby intimating how little the loss of all the rest would affect him, and what an inconsiderable Inducement the highest Station of the Church was to misled him, and to pervert his Conscience. He had no Pride, Ambition, Covetousness or Luxury to maintain, and consequently was secure against all Assaults, that could come from those Quarters. When a man hath once brought himself to that pass, that he cannot live under so much by the Year; whenever such a Posture of Affairs happens, that he cannot honestly keep his Integrity and his Incomes too, he is in great danger of turning to the left Hand, of distrusting Providence and starving his Conscience for to keep warm his Back and his Belly. When Ambition and Love of the World prevail upon the Affections, Religion will become Art and Managment, calculated for Designs and Interests, must vary and alter with Seasons and Opportunities; and such a Man's Conscience will observe the Wind, and be sure to sit always in that Corner from whence Preferments come. In fine, whosoever hath not a competent degree of Self-Denial, Mortification and Contempt of the World, Religion can have no sure hold of him nor he of Religion, and he lies under an utter Incapacity of being true to himself and to his Conscience; his Principles will be Arbitrary and Precarious, and follow all the Revolutions and mutable Contingencies of this World: What therefore our Lord and Saviour said, Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my Disciple, St Luke 14.33. This was not so much a Command, as a plain Declaration of the State of the Case: There is an utter Impossibility in the Nature of Things, That a Man should be Christ's Disciple who is not prepared and disposed to forsake all the World for him, and to put these Dispositions into Act, upon all just Occasion; for otherwise, he can be a Christian no longer than his Religion and Interests agree; for when they differ one must be parted with, and the Predominate Principle will certainly carry him, and he will determine his Choice in behalf of his Affections. To be mortified to the World therefore, is not only to do our Duty in that one Instance; but to gain a General Preservative: The Cross, is the fundamental Principle of Christianity, and secures the honest Observance of all the rest.  
By this Time, Sir, I presume that you perceive how necessary it was to enter upon this last Paragraph; it hath an immediate tendency to lead us in the right way, and to direct us how we may follow his Steps; if we would imitate his Greatness of Mind, his Christian Fortitude and admirable Constancy; why then we must lay as deep a Foundation as he did, we must mortify our Pride and Passions, and wean our Affections from the World; we must endeavour to attain the same measure of Patience, Humility, and Self denial; and if this be effectually done, we may then hope to partake of his Spirit; but if our Appetites remain irregular, if our Thirst of the World be yet immoderate and intemperate, we have a Plumber at our Heels, which will be sure to weigh us down, let our Judgements and Understanding be what they will, and let the Occasion of Perseverance be never so Just and Honourable. The World is, and always will be changeable, and if there be room lest in our Hearts to plant that Engine, it will turn us about in spite of the clearest Apprehensions, and the best Resolutions we can make; when we dote too much upon the Fortune, we shall forsake our Mistress on the Loss of her Portion and court another. In Truth without such a measure of indifferency to the World, it will be impossible we should be true and faithful upon any Occasion where Truth and Fidelity are required, we shall abandon our Friend or our Father, our King or our Country, as well as our Virtue, in a declining and unprosperous Condition: For 'tis an infallible Maxim in Morals, and which holds good in all Instances, that Ambition and Levity of Principle, that Covetousness and Unfaithfulness, that Love of the World and Inconstancy are convertible, there is never one, without some Proportion and Degrees of the other.  
And thus Sir, I have laid before you these two General Observations; and I think I shall not need to remark, how fit and pertinent they are to lead us into the Consideration of the last Scene of this Great Man's Life. Here we have the Picture of his great Virtues, of his Moral and Christian Endowments; and when we shall find his last Hand to it, when we shall see it completely finished by himself, it will give a mighty addition to its Grace and Beauty; the last and finishing Strokes are always the fairest, and give Lustre and Perfection to all the rest. And this is what I have undertaken (according to my poor measure) to give you some Account of: And when you cast your Eye lower, you will see that as he lived so he died. He resigned up his Soul in the Profession and Practice of those very Principles which he owned and maintained with so great Constancy and Vigour all the time of his Life, which is the most perfect and unsuspected Evidence that a man can give of his entire Satisfaction in his Principles and of his great Sincerity in the owning them, and living up to them. The Hour of Death, is of all others, the most unfit Season for Hypocrisy and Dissimulation; and if there be any Seriousness and Sincerity in men they will show themselves on a Deathbed. But when a man hath lived unblamably all his Days, when the most malicious and critical Eye is never able to tax him with deceitful Daubing, in the whole course of a long Life; when such a Man shall come to lie under an apparent sense of his Dissolution, if in the last Article of his Life, he shall renew the Profession of his Principles, we have all possible assurance, not only of the utmost Plainness and Sincerity of that Profession, but of the Sincerity also of his past Actions in pursuance of those Principles; for he stakes his Soul for the truth of his belief of them, and appeals to God (to whom he is immediately going) for the Uprightness and Honesty of his former Proceed.  
But Sir, That I may proceed in Order, I am in the first place to acquaint you, that some time after his Expulsion from his Habitation at Lambeth, he retired into the Country, to the Place of his Nativity, which was the ancient Estate and Residence of his Ancestors for above 300 Years, and where he built a small Habitation, but large enough for his Retinue and Attendants which were only two or three Servants; Here he chose to six himself in his Retirement; here he enjoyed the same Cheerfulness of Spirit, the same Serenity of Mind, and (in one Word) the same good Conscience; there was some difference in the outward State, in the Splendour and Ornament, but none at all in the Man; and those who repaired to him from all Parts were blessed with the same charming and familiar Converse, the same holy Admonitions and Instructions, and they found exactly the same Great Archbishop, under a plain Roof in a Country Village, that they used to meet with in his Palace. Some receive Honour and Reputation, from the Places they hold, and some Infamy; the one as having too little Virtue, the other too much Vice: But when a man's Virtues bear an equal Proportion with his Station, they are inherent in his Person, and remove with it; when he resided at Lambeth, his Episcopal Virtues had there their Residence also: But when he was forced to leave it, he did not leave his Virtues behind him to be possessed by the next Comer, (and if this needs to be proved, we have Ocular Demonstration) but they followed his Person in all Fortunes and Places; and we had a Most Reverend Arch Bishop in Fresingfield, when there was none at Lembeth, nor nothing like it. His Obscurity was a new Accession of Honour to him; it was the Effect of a good Cause and a good Conscience, which though it added no new Virtue, it made it more bright and visible; they were the same Virtues he had before, but with greater Lustre, and we had with us the very same Venerable Archbishop, but we had him with the additional Characters of his Expulsion, and clothed with the new Honours of his Constancy and Sufferings.  
In this just and honourable Retirement he enjoyed all the Pleasures and Advantages of Solitude; a mere Quiet from the Hurry and Business of this World, thereby affording greater Vacancy and Leisure for the Concernment of the next, is in itself so  that some have voluntarily stripped themselves of all their Lofty Accessions on purpose to gain an opportunity of retiring into themselves, and cultivating their Minds: But when it is an escape from a spreading Contagion, when quitting the World is quitting the Sins of it too; 'tis then not only an opportunity of exercising good Things, but a Sanctuary and Refuge also from those that are bad: But when to both these is superadded a Noble and Glorious Occasion, when 'tis the Result of Piety and Principles, the Lot of Virtue and a good Conscience; Privacy is then set out to the best Advantage, 'tis both our Peace and our Security but 'tis withal our Joy and our Crown. This was our Great Prelate's Retirement, and in this Glorious Sphere his Virtues moved during the last Stage of his Life; for although he needed no Sequestration from the World, to learn to know himself, and to search into his Conscience, those had been his constant Exercises and Employment from his Youth; although no Encumbrances of his Station, or Emergencies of public Affairs, could ever tempt him to rob God of his Deuce, to interrupt his Devotions, and the necessary Works of Piety; yet the Recess his Conscience had made 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 public Nature which he charged 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 Apostasy; 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 rendered 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 Virtues, but it was moreover the actual Suffering for them; and this gave it Life and Spirit, changed the Style 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 joined 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 sense 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 complete them) to visit him with a long and languishing Sickness: His Disease was at first an intermitting Fever; but the Fits were so extreme Violent that he was very near Dying in the Second, and lay Speechless and bereaved 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 Carcase. This Distemper from the Beginning to the End continued just Thirteen Weeks; He fell Sick on the 26th of August, and Died 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 Virtue 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 shown his Physician his wasted and shrivled 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 breathed 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 Sense of his Heart in these Words of the Psalmist, I will bear the Indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him: 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 Virtues 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 Deathbed, which plainly teacheth us, how necessary it is to gain a Habit of Virtue 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 cheerful 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 calmed 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 surprising 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 breathed from his own pious Soul: An Acute Pain, or dejection of Spirit (the frequent Companions of his Sickness) could not 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 Virtue; 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 itself. We saw his flaming and ardent Charity, both extended and limited according to the Apostle's Direction, 〈◊〉 but specially to them of the Household 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 Apostasy 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 prayed for a Blessing upon his Family, and Relation, and Friends, and earnestly begged 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 owned, and for which he suffered: 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 Noncompliance with the present Powers, was a good Conscience: he was deprived 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 Deathbed 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 little 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. bathe been here often, and at first visited my Lord very solemnly, and it happened 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 hearty 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 Nonjurors: 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 Judgement are. 
Nou. 15. 1693.  
This, Sir, I conceive needs no application, and here you have your desire from his own Mouth, an account of his Sense and Judgement, 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 Country, 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 Sense 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 altered 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 Styles, 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 Style of the Representer: And this difference of the Style, 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 died, 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 Practices; 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 ventured 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 itself 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 Prelate'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 died, he called for a Common-Prayer-Book, of the smallest Print, and turned to the Commendatory Prayer, and ordered it to be read; and that being performed, 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 Cheerfulness 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 Fresin●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 Behaviour of our late most Reverend Archbishop, 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 performed 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 Nou. 24. An. Nat. Dom. MDCXCIII.  
Obiit Nou. 24. An. Aetat. suae. LXXVII.  
On the Left Side.  
P. M. S.  
WILLIAM SANCROFT Born in this Parish, afterward by the Providence of God Archbishop of CANTERBURY, at last deprived of all, which he could not keep with a good Conscience, returned 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.