he never gave over any part of study, till he had quite mastered it. But, when that was done, he went to another subject; and did not lay out his learning, with the diligence with which he laid it in. He had many volumes of materials, upon all subjects, laid together, in so distinct a method, that he could, with very little labour, write on any of them. He had more life in his imagination, and a truer judgment, than may seem consistent with such a laborious course of study. * Yet, much as he was set on learning, he never neglected his pastoral care. For several years, he had the greatest cure in England, St. Martin's, which he took care of with an application and diligence, beyond any about him; to whom he was an example, or rather a reproach, so few following his example. He was a holy, humble, and patient man; ever ready to do good, when he saw a proper opportunity: even his love of study, did not divert him from that. He did, upon his promotion, find a very worthy successor in his cure, Tennison, who carried on, and advanced, all those good methods that he had begun, in the management of that great cure. He en dowed schools, set up a public library, and kept many curates to assist him in his indefatigable labours among them. He was a very learned man, and took much pains to state the notions and practices of heathenish idolatry, and so, to fasten that * Lord Dartmouth tells a curious anecdote; which would seem to impeach the soundness of bp. Lloyd's judgment. It should be recollected, however, that it took place in the year 1712., when he was above eighty-five years of age. See Dr. Routh's edit. of Burnet. i. 327. Also the Biographical Dictionary. It is quite unfair, to take his conversation, at this time of decadence, perhaps of imbecility, as any standard of his ordinary judgment. charge on the church of Rome. And, Whitehall lying within that parish, he stood as in the front of the battle, all king James's reign; and maintained, as well as managed, that dangerous post, with great courage, and much judgment; and was held in very high esteem for his whole deportment, which was ever grave and moderate. These have been the greatest divines we have had, these forty years*: and may we ever have a succession of such men, to fill the room of those who have already gone off the stage; and of those, who, being now very old, cannot hold their posts long. Of these I have writ the more fully, because I knew them well, and have lived long in great friendship with them; but most particularly with Tillotson and Lloyd. And, as I am sensible I owe a great deal of the consideration that has been had for me, to my being known to be their friend, so I have really learned the best part of what I know from them. But I owed them much more on the account of those excellent principles and notions, of which they were in a particular manner communicative to me. This set of men contributed, more than can be well imagined, to reform the way of preaching; which, among the divines of England before them, was over-run with pedantry; a great mixture of quotations from fathers and ancient writers, a long opening of a text with a concordance of every word in it, and a giving all the different *The accuracy of this statement may be fairly questioned. Dr. Routh very properly suggests the names, of bp. Pearson, (who was alive within thirty years of Burnet's death); of Drs. Cave, and South; and of bps. Beveridge, Hooper, and Kidder. The catalogue might be readily increased. expositions with the grounds of them, and the entering into some parts of controversy, and all concluding in some, but very short, practical applications, according to the subject or the occasion. This was both long and heavy, when all was pyeballed, full of many sayings of different languages. The common style of sermons was either very flat and low, or swelled up with rhetoric, to a false pitch of a wrong sublime. The king had little or no literature, but true, and good sense; and had got a right notion of style; for he was in France at a time, when they were much set on reforming their language. It soon appeared, that he had a true taste. So, this helped to raise the value of these men, when the king approved of the style their discourses generally ran in; which was clear, plain, and short. They gave a short paraphrase of their text, unless where great difficulties required a more * Dean Swift, (Routh's Burnet, i. 380.) very needlessly, sneers at this epithet it is, surely, most expressive. Butler uses it; and, perhaps, Burnet may have copied from him: .. How different, from the unaffected, and not over-popular simplicity of the great Pocock! One of whose friends, passing through Childres, the Doctor's living, inquired who was the minister, and how they liked him: 'Our parson,' was the reply, is one Mr. Pocock, a plain honest man; but, master, he is no LATINER.'. . Twells's Life. copious enlargement. But, even then, they cut off unnecessary shows of learning, and applied themselves to the matter; in which, they opened the nature and reasons of things so fully, and with that simplicity, that their hearers felt an instruction of another sort, than had been observed commonly before. So, they became very much followed: and a set of these men brought off the city, in a great measure, from the prejudices they had formerly to the church.* * In considering the character and influence of the latitudinarian divines, youthful readers, especially, are recommended to pay close attention to those cautionary hints, which are given from Mr. Alexander Knox, in the Introduction to this volume. The editor speaks the experience of more than thirty years, when he testifies, that, throughout the whole course of his subsequent reading, he has not met with any one thing, (the sacred volume alone excepted,) so practically beneficial to himself, as THAT SINGLE LETTER. QUEEN MARY II. queen THE continued still to set a great example to the whole nation, which shined in all the parts She used all possible methods for reforming whatever was amiss: she took ladies off from that idleness, which not only wasted their time, but exposed them to many temptations; she engaged many both to read and to work; she wrought many hours a day herself, with her ladies and her maids of honour working about her, while one read to them all. The female part of the court had been, in the former reigns, subject to much censure, and there was great cause for it; but she freed her court so entirely from all suspicion, that there was not so much as a colour for discourses of that sort; she did divide her time so regularly, between her closet and business, her work and diversion, that every minute seemed to have its proper employment: she expressed so deep a sense of religion, with so true a regard to it; she had such right principles, and just notions; and her deportment was so exact, in every part of it, all being natural and unconstrained, and animated with due life and cheerfulness; she considered every thing that was |