The Reflection on the Good he has done, the Anticipation of Great Things ftill expected from fuch Abilities and Virtues, the Dif appointment of these Expectations by his untimely Death, are Circumstances which cre-, ate a serious Sollicitude and publick-fpirited Sorrow; which, while they redound to his Honour,aggravate the Senfe of our Lofs: In this View we may esteem his Death a Sort of publick Misfortune; and have Reason to wish that the Influence of his Example may follow the Refpect done to his Memory, that our holy Church may never be deftitute of fuch worthy Sons, for the Ornament and Defence of its Conftitution.

THUS died this excellent Man, May 1, in the 50th Year of his Age, much honoured and lamented, at a Time when the Caufe of Religion call'd for the Abilities of fuch an able Defender. On Sunday the 18th, at the Requeft of his Widow, a Sermon on this Occafion was preached by his Friend Dr. N. Marshall, in the Parish Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, out of which I beg leave to tranfcribe or extract his Character, as it there occurs fumm'd up in general Terms, p. 29. " I should

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❝ not

"not mention among the Praifes due to

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him, that clear, comprehenfive, and

ftrong Understanding God has given him, "but for the excellent Ufes to which he "applied it. His Works will praise him, "when our Lips can no longer perform "the grateful Office; The Infidel and Li"bertine may ftand thence corrected or "inftructed; as the Serious and faithful 66 may thence derive a farther Support and "Confirmation in their refpective Senti"ments and Practices. Had he been born "of a Parentage which had eafily led him "to the highest Stations in Life, he was "amply qualified for fuftaining and adorn"ing them; as in a lower Figure of Life

and Fortune he was equally pitied for

improving, or being content with it. A "Mind fo exquifitely form'd for any Situ"ation, any Pofture of Affairs, to which "the Providence of God might have call'd

him; fuch an Indifference toward the "Honours and Profits of this Life, with ❝ fuch Abilities to have acquired the one, "and to have adorned the other, are Ta"lents rarely to be met with in the fame "Person, and very hardly to be imitated. " by

1

by any other. It fell to my Lot to give "him that earlieft Notice of his Invitation "to this extenfive Cure, which I am mo

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rally fure, 'till then he had never thought “of, much less fought after, or canvafied "for it. His Anfwer convinced me that "his own Choice would have rather fix'd. "him in a rural Privacy, than have enter'd " him upon fuch a publick Scene of Ac“tion: But a Call fo unlooked for, fo ut

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terly unexpected, he esteemed Providen"tial; as fuch he obeyed it, rather than “embraced it. He was an entire Despi"fer of Craft and Cunning, that Ape of "Wisdom, the uglier for being fo like it ; yet with the Simplicity and godly Since

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rity of the honeft Chriftian, with the' "harmlefs Temper of the Dove, he had "fuch a due Proportion of the Serpent's "Wisdom, that as he would impofe upon

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none, fo he was not himself eafily im

pos'd upon. His Religion was pure and "unaffected. His Piety real and rational, “zealous without Excefs, and temperate "without any faulty Coldness, free from fupercilious Referves and haughty Appearances; but agreeably feafon'd with a peculiar

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"a peculiar Livelinefs of Spirit, as well as all fit Urbanity and Freedom of Con"verfe. Of his publick Spirit, he has " left behind him very coftly Monuments "in the feveral Cures, to which he ftood "for any time related. Upon the whole, "in our Lofs of this worthy Man, this pious Chriftian, this vigilant Paftor, Religion in general has loft an able Cham"pion, the Church of England in parti"cular a prudent and strenuous Defender, "this District particularly, fo lately com"mitted to his Care, a difcreet, faithful, " and watchful Overfeer; as his Friends

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and Relatives have sustained an irrepara"ble Misfortune from it. Yet let us not "forrow as Men without Hope for them "who die in the Lord, &c." Thus far Dr. Marshall in the close of his Discourse, giving this publick Teftimony to the Honour of his deceased Friend, which exactly agrees in Subftance with the Particulars mentioned here at large,

I HAVE had Occafion already to quote a Claufe out of the Preamble to his Will: It may not be amifs to recite the whole Paragraph, written between three and four Years

Years before his Death, which being prefumed to express the most serious and fincere Thoughts of the Writer, may perhaps give a fuller Idea of his truly Chriftian Piety than the Elogium of any Hiftorian. It is as follows:

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John Rogers, Rector of Wrington, in the County of Somerfet, in the Name "of the holy and ever bleffed Trinity, do "make and appoint my laft Will and "Teftament in the Manner and Form following:

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First, I THINK myself now and at "all Times obliged to return my humble Thanks to Almighty GoD, thro' whose Mercy I have been baptized into the "Chriftian Faith, and called to the Ho-: "nour of the Priesthood, in the Church "of England, which I reverence, as most

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agreeable in its Doctrine and Conftitu"tion to the pureft Ages of the Gospel :: Befeeching the divine Goodness to conti"nue his holy Protection over it; to heal. "its unhappy Divifions, to repair the Breaches of its Difcipline, and defend it from

"thofe