78 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. our author, " was very well acquainted with the subtle robber of old, who made the country parson pray for riches, and then took all his gold from him. The, greatest wickedness in the world," says he, " may be perpetrated by this rule of Palmer's, and so religion prove only apiece of policy; yet, was it very fitting for the parliament's actions, which, I suppose, was the cause that they ordered Sir Oliver Luke to give him thanks for his seditious preachment, and to desire him to print it, the better to infect the people.". Such scurrility and falsehood, evidently designed to blacken the memory of one of the best of men, only requires to be stated in the author's own words ; it can need no other refutation. During Mr. Palmer's last sickness, he was much engaged in prayer, for himself, for the nation, for the church of d'od, and for all with whom he stood connected. When his friends recommended him to cast the burden of his pains and sickness upon the Lord, he said, " I should act unworthily, if after I have urged others to cast their burdens upon the Lord, I should not do so myself." As he lived a life of holy devotedness to God, so he died a holy and happy death, in the year 1647, aged forty-six years. His remains were interred in the New Church, Westminster ; where he was succeeded by Mr. Rood, afterwards ejected by the act of uniformity.t Mr. Clark says, " he was remarkable for humility, meekness, faith andpatience ; he possessed a quick apprehension, a sound judgment, a strong memory, and a happy elocution ; and lie was almost unbounded in acts of liberality, and a most strict observer of the sabbath, not suffering any one of his family to be detained from public worship, by cooking victuals on the Lord's day."# Granger styles him " a man of uncommon learning, generosity, and politeness ;" and observes, " that he possessed a most excellent character; that he wished for peace during the civil war ; and that he spoke the French language with as much facility as his mother tongue. "g His Wortics.-1. The Principles of the Christian Religion made plain and easy.-2. Of making Religion one's Business.-This last and several other pieces were afterwards published together, entitled, " Memorials of Godliness and Christianity ;" the thirteenth editionof which was printed in 1708.-3. Sermons preached before the Parlia- ment, one of which is entitled, "The Necessity and Encouragement Foulis's Wicked Plots, p. 183. t Palmer'sNoneon. Mem. vol. i. p. 195. t Clark's Lives, p. 190-200. Granger's Biog. Hist. vol. ii. p. 182, 183.
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