not move or ftir. and did not hope to live an hour, he faid his reafon and judgment were fo clear and strong, that, from thence, he was fully perfuaded, that death was not the diffolution of the foul, but only the feparation of it from matter.

He had, in that fickness, great remorse for his past life, but he afterwards said, they were rather general and dark horrors than any conviction of tranfgreffion against his maker; he was forry he had lived fo as to waste his ftrength fo foon, or that he had brought fuch an ill name upon himself; and had an agony in his mind about it, which he knew not well how to exprefs; but believed that these impunetions of confcience rather proceeded from the horror of his condition, than any true contrition for the errors of his life.

During the time Dr. Burnet was at lord Rochester's houfe, they entered frequently into converfation upon the topics of natural and revealed religion; which the doctor endeavoured to enlarge upon and explain in a manner fuitable to the condition of a dying penitent. His lordship expreffed much contrition for his having fo often violated the laws of the one, against his better knowledge, and having fpurned the authority of the other in the pride of wanton sophistry.

He declared, that he was fatisfied of the truth of the Chriftian religion, that he thought it the inftitution of Heaven, and afforded the moft

moft natural idea of the Supreme Being, as well as the most forcible motives to virtue of any faith profeffed amongst men.

"He was not only fatisfied," fays Dr.. Burnet," of the truth of our holy religion, merely as a matter of fpeculation, but was perfuaded,, likewife, of the power of inward grace; of which he gave me this ftrange ac

count:

"He faid, Mr. Parfons, in order to his conviction, read to him the fifty-third chapter of the prophecies of Ifaiah, and compared that with the hiftory of our Saviour's paffion; that he might there fee a prophecy concerning it, written many ages before it was done; which the Jews that blafphemed Jefus Chrift ftill kept in their hands as a book divinely inspired.

"He faid, as he heard it read, he felt an inward force upon him, which did fo enlighten his mind and convince him, that he could refift it no longer; for the words had an authority which did fhoot like rays or beams into his mind; fo that he was not only convinced by the reaforings he had about it, which fatisfied his understanding; but, by a power, which did fo effectually constrain him, that he ever after firmly believed in his Saviour, as if he had feen Him in the clouds."

We

We are not quite certainw hether there is not a tincture of enthufiafm in this account given by his lordship, as it is too natural to fly from one extreme to another, from the exceffes of debauchery to the gloom of metho difm; but, even if we fuppofe this to have been the cafe, he was certainly in the fafeft extreme; and there is more comfort in hearing that a man whofe life had been fo remarkably profligate as his, fhould die under fuch impreffions, than quit the world without one pang for paft offences.

The bishop gives an inftance of the great alteration of his lordship's temper and difpo-. fitions, from what they were formerly, in his fickness.

"Whenever he happened to be out of or der, either by pain or fickness, his temper became quite ungovernable, and his paffions. fo fierce that his fervants were afraid to approach him; but, in his laft fickness, he was all humility, patience, and refignation. Once he was a little offended with the delay of a fervant, who he thought made not hafte enough with fomewhat he called for, and faid, in a little heat, ‹ That damn'd fellow.'

"Soon after," fays the doctor, "I told him that I was glad to find his ftile fo reformed, and that he had fo entirely overcome that ill habit of fwearing, only that word of

calling

calling any damned, which had returned upon him, was not decent;. his anfwer was, "Oh! that language of fiends, which was fo familiar to me, hangs yet about me; fure none has. deferved more to be damned than I have done!' And, after he had humbly asked God pardon for it, he defired me to call the person to him that he might ask him forgiveness; but I told him that was needlefs, for he had faid it of one who did not hear it, and so could not be offended by it.

"In this difpofition of mind," continues the bishop, "he remained all the while I was with him, four days together. He was then brought fo low, that all hope of recovery was gone; much purulent matter came from him with his urine, which he paffed always with pain, but one day with inexpreffible torment; yet he bore it decently, without breaking out. into repinings, or impatient complaints. Nature being at laft quite exhaufted, and all the floods of life gone, he died, without a groan, on the twenty-fixth of July, 1680, in the thirty-third year of his age.

"A day or two before his death he lay much filent, and feemed extremely devout in his contemplations. He was frequently obferved to raise his eyes to Heaven, and fend forth ejaculations to the Searcher of hearts, who faw his penitence, and who, he hoped,. would forgive him."

Thus

Thus died lord Rochester, an amazing inftance of the goodness of God, who permitted him to enjoy time, and inclined his heart to penitence. As by his life he was suffered to fet an example of the most abandoned diffoluteness to the world; fo, by his death, he was a very lively demonftration of the fruidefnefs of vicious courfes, and may be propofed, as an example, to all those who. are captivated with the charms of guilty pleafure.

Let all his failings now fleep with him in the.. grave, and let us only think of his clofing moments, his penitence and reformation. Had he been permitted to have recovered his illness, it is reasonable to prefume he would have been as lively an example of virtue as he had ever been of vice, and have born his teftimony in favour of our religion.

He left behind him a fon named Charles, who dying on the twelfth of November, was buried by his father on the feventh of December following. He also left behind him three daughters. The male line ceafing, Charles II. conferred the title of earl of Rochefter on Lawrence viscount Killingworth, a younger fon of Edward earl of Clarendon.

We might now enumerate his lordship's writings, of which we have already given fome character; but unhappily for the world they are too generally diffufed, and we think

ourfelves