62 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SANCROFT. 



• 



His other chaplain, Mr. Needham, came to 

 him, as he lay upon his death- bed. He gave 

 him also his blessing in the most affectionate 

 manner, and, after some other conversation, 

 said thus to him ; " You and I have gone 

 different ways in these late affairs, but I trust 

 heaven's gates are wide enough to receive us 

 both. What I have done, I have done in the 

 integrity of my heart." Upon this, Mr. Need- 

 ham modestly attempted to explain the motives 

 which had influenced his conduct; to which 

 the Archbishop replied, " I always took you 

 for honest man. What I said concerning my- 

 self, was only to let you know that what I have 

 done, I have done in the integrity of my heart; 

 indeed in the great integrity of my heart." 



Throughout his whole retirement, particularly 

 during his last sickness, he never permitted 

 clergymen who had taken the oaths, to perform 

 the offices of religion about him, and never re- 

 ceived the communion with them. It appears 

 that reports had been spread in London, that 

 during his last illness, he had changed his 

 practice, and received the communion from the 

 hands of a juror. This report troubled him 

 much ; probably, he conceived that the altera- 

 tion would be construed to imply that he was,, 

 now at the close of his life, less firm in main- 

 taining his opinions than he had formerly been. 



