He told me, that he had thereupon received the sacrament with great satisfaction, and that was increased by the pleasure he had in his lady's receiving it with him; who had been for some years misled into the communion of the church of Rome, and he himself had been not a little instrumental in procuring it, as he freely acknowledged. So that it was one of the most joyful things that befel him in his sickness, that he had seen that mischief removed, in which he had so great a hand.

1

And during his whole sickness, he expressed so much tenderness and true kindness to his lady, that, as it easily defaced the remembrance of every thing wherein he had been in fault formerly, so it drew from her the most passionate care and concern for him that was possible; which indeed deserves a higher character, than is decent to give of a person yet alive. But I shall confine myself to the dead.

He told me, he had overcome all his resentment to all the world; so that he bare ill will to no person, nor hated any upon personal accounts. He had given a state

of his debts, and had ordered to pay them all, as far as his estate that was not settled could go; and was confident, that if all that was owing to him were paid to his executors, his creditors would be all satisfied.

He said, he found his mind now possessed with another sense of things, than ever he had formerly. He did not repine under all his pain, and in one of the sharpest fits he was under while I was with him, he said, he did willingly submit; and, looking up to heaven, said, God's holy will be done, I bless him for all he does for me. He knew he could never be so well, that life could be comfortable to him. He was confident he should be happy, if he died; but he feared, if he lived, he might relapse. And then, said he to me, in what a condition shall I be, if I relapse after all this! But, he said, he trusted in the grace and goodness of God, and was resolved to avoid all those temptations, that course of life and compa-" ny, that was likely to ensnare him: and he desired to live on no other account, but that he might by the change of his manners

some way take off the high scandal his former behaviour had given. All these things at several times I had from him, besides some messages, which very well became a dying penitent to some of his former friends, and a charge to publish any thing concerning him, that might tend to reclaim others. Praying God, that as his life had done much hurt, so his death might do some good.

Having understood all these things from him, and being pressed to give him my opinion plainly about his eternal state; I told him, that though the promises of the gospel did all depend upon a real change of the heart and life, as the indispensable condition upon which they were made; and that it was scarce possible to know certainly whether our hearts are changed, unless it appeared in our lives; and the repentance of most dying men, being like the howlings of condemned prisoners for pardon, which flowed from no sense of their crimes, but from the horror of approaching death; there was little reason to encourage any to hope much from such sorrowing; yet cer

tainly, if the mind of a sinner even on a death-bed be truly renewed and turned to God, so great is his mercy that he will receive him, even in that extremity.

He was sure his mind was entirely turned, and though horror had given him his first awakening, yet that was now grown up into a settled faith and conversion.

There is but one prejudice lies against all this, to defeat the good ends of Divine Providence by it upon others, as well as upon himself; and that is, it was a part of his disease, and that the lowness of his spirits made such an alteration in him, that he was not what he had formerly been : and this some have carried so far as to say, that he died mad. These reports are raised by those, who are unwilling that the last thoughts or words of a person, every way so extraordinary, should have any effect either on themselves or others. And it is to be feared, that some may have so seared their consciences, and exceeded the common measures of sin and infidelity, that neither this testimony, nor one coming from

the dead, would signify much towards their conviction.

That this lord was either mad or stupid, is a thing so notoriously untrue, that it is the greatest impudence for any that were about him, to report it; and a very unreasonable credulity in others to believe it. All the while I was with him, after he had slept out the disorders of the fit, he was not only without ravings, but had a clearness in his thoughts, in his memory, in his reflections on things and persons, far beyond what I ever saw in a person so low in his strength. He was not able to hold out in discourse, for his spirits failed; but once for half an hour, and often for a quarter of an hour, after he awaked, he had a vivacity in his discourse that was extraordinary, and in all things like himself.

He called often for his children, his son, the now earl of Rochester, and his three daughters, and spake to them with a sense and feeling that cannot be expressed in writing.

He called me once to look on them all, and said, See how good God has been to