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to beg of him not to fuffer Mr. Whifton to be taken from them, when Mr. Roffe fhould die, as they were greatly afraid he should be. Tho' I fuppofe the Petition was never prefented: The Reafon of which I do not know. I alfo remember what my Father told me; that after the Restoration, almost all Profeffion of Seriousness in Religion would have been laughed out of Countenance, under Pretence of the Hypocrify of the former Times, had not two very excellent and ferious Books, written by eminent Royalifts, put fome ftop to it: I mean The whole Duty of Man; and Dr. Hammond's Practical Catechifm: (The latter of which I fometimes read in Evenings to my Pupils, when I was a Tutor.) I alfo remember his Obfervation on Mr Hoard's Book concerning God's Love to Mankind, as the first that began to fet afide the Calvinifts Unhappy Scheme of Election and Reprobation in England, which till then was the current Opinion of the Members of the Church of England, as it is ftill the Doctrine of her 39 Articles.

I farther remember, that when the Bill for the Exclufion of the Duke of York was in Agitation, my Father was so fearful of Popery, that he wished fuch a Bill were lawful: But did not think it was fo. Which fear of Popery had fo great an Influence upon him, that it had almost prevented his Confent to my being bred a Scholar, in order to my being a Clergyman; which yet he greatly defired; for fear the Popish Religion should come in, and I should become a Popish Priest: Against which Religion I had then read fo many Prote

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ftant Books, that I was in very little Danger of ever embracing it.

I remember alfo, that when fometime before his Death, great Numbers of French Refugees came over hither, at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantz, 1685. This fo greatly affected him, that confidering them as Confeffors for Religion, as they reaily were, he preached feveral Sermons to his fmall Parish, to excite them to an uncommon Liberality on that Occafion. In Particular he told them from the Pulpit, which I myself heard, that he intended himself to give them fix Pounds. By which Means I believe the Parish of Norton made up a greater Sum than Perhaps any other in the Kingdom, of no larger Wealth and Magnitude.

Now it ought here to be mentioned, that my Father was acquainted with that most eminent Diffenter and moft vigilant, Paftor, Mr. Richard Baxter, and had a great Efteem for him, and his practical Writings: Infomuch that he caused me to learn his fmall Catechifm, of xii Articles by Heart. And certainly as Mr. Baxter put a great Stop to the Folly of the Antimonians, who in the Times of Anarchy were ready to over-fet the Majority of weak, but zealous Chriftians; fo had he been as well versed in the original Writers of the two or three firft Centuries, as he was in the Schoolmen, his Parts were fo confiderable, that he had afforded very great Light to the Chriftian World. Nor indeed by the by, could I ever prevail with myself to preach against our Diffenters, even when my Principles were very different from theirs; on Account of that Seriousness

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of Piety, which I found in many of them. Nor do I at this Day approve of one Party of Chriftians Preaching against another, where they are not allowed to plead for themselves; but think they had better all of them look into their own Errors, and leave them; and all of them unite the only upon wife Foundation, the Original Settlements of Primitive Christianity.

As to my Father's Death, it was after a moft Christian Manner.. For when he faw it approaching, he said, he was not afraid to die. And calling for us his Children, he gave us all a folemn Charge for leading a religious Life, and caution'd us not to meet him at the Day of Judgment in an unregenerate State; and then folemnly prayed with us, and for us. A few Hours after which he slept in the Lord, the Beginning of January, 1685-6, in the 63d Year of his Age, and lies buried in the Chancel of Norton: With only this original Infcription, now worn out, Depofitum Jofie Whiston, bujus Ecclefia Rectoris, and had his Funeral Sermon preached by Dr. Gery.

As to my Mother, Katherine Roffe, the youngeft Child of Mr. Gabriel Roffe, fhe was baptized Jan. 19, 1639-40, and died December 1, 1701, at near 62 Years of Age. She was a very good fincere religious Woman, who took great Care of her Husband under all his Infirmities, and of us, a numerous Family of Children. We had been ten in all; but fix Sons and one Daughter lived to be grown Men and Women. The youngest of which, Daniel by Name, besides myself, is still alive, and

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is ftill no more than a Curate at Somerfham, under the Regius Profeffor of Divinity of the University of Cambridge: His Sincerity obliging him not to fign the 39 Articles for farther Preferments, and never to read the Athanafian Creed: For refufal to read which he was once in Danger of Expulfion from his Curacy But by Dr. Clarke's Interpofition with a Noble Peer in that Neighbourhood, it was prevented. He has, I believe, compofed more Sermons, and thofe not bad ones, than any other Clergyman in England; I have heard him say, above 3000 in Number. But his principal and most ufeful Work is, his Primitive Catechism; which when I had myself greatly approved and improved, I publish'd under the Title of a Presbyter of the Church of England, and ftill infert it among the Catalogue of my own Writings, as I have long made use of it, and of it only in my Catechetick InAructions, instead of our other more modern Compofitions, which feem to me quite inferior to this, as it is wholly taken out of the Bible, and the Apoftolical Conftitutions: But what Opinion my Brother had of thofe Conftitutions, I fhall here give the Reader in his own Words, taken out of his Letter to me, not dated, but written about A. D. 1715, as follows:

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Dear Brother,

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"I having lately read over the Constitutions with Defign of putting them in Practice, as far as "they appear either clear in themselves, or a

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"greeable to the other more uncontested Scriptures, defire you wou'd be pleas'd to give me your "Opinion touching these few Difficulties, which "have occur'd in the Reading thereof. I do not "intend hereby as if I wou'd attempt any Alte"ration in the Publick Offices of the Church, any "farther than by the bare Omiffion of those "Forms, which I conceive to be directly Repug

nant to the Word of God, because indeed

"these very Conftitutions, which do fo directly "condemn fome of thofe Forms, do at the "fame Time ftrictly enjoin a Conformity to the "Injunctions of the Bishops; even of those Spi"ritual Guides, without whofe Direction we of "the Inferiour Clergy are required not to do any

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thing of Moment, efpecially not in the Publick "Offices of the Church: My Duty I conceive

with refpect to them, is earneftly to pray to "God, which I never omit to do, That he wou'd "fo guide and govern the Bishops and Paftors of

his Church, that we may by their Means be "led into all neceffary Truth, particularly, which "is the fincere Defire of my Soul, That he would "be pleased to remove their Prejudices, and open "the Eyes of their Understanding, that they may "reftore to us that ancient, and truly pious Form "of Worship contain'd in the Constitutions: In

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Respect of which, in my humble Opinion, espe"cially as to that Divine Office of the Eucharist, "nothing can be faid to be either equal or comparable to it. The great Plainnefs and Eafinefs "of the Style, the Piety, Ardor, and even

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"Ecstacy

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