In his previous residence at Blackheath Nelson wrote books by which he has become well known to posterity. Few may have heard of _The Practice of True Devotion_, which he anonymously published in 1698, or of his _Exhortation to Housekeepers_, which appeared in 1702; but a lasting fame has followed his _Companion for the Festivals and Fasts_, which issued from the press in 1704. Bodies of divinity, founded upon the Apostles’ Creed and upon the Thirty-Nine Articles, bearing distinguished names, were popular at the time, and books explanatory of Church offices had attained some reputation;[470] but no book aiming to explain theological doctrine, through ecclesiastical associations, could vie with this in the extent of its immediate circulation. The design struck in with tendencies then beginning to unfold--not ritualistic in the modern acceptation of the term; but sacramental--in the way of frequent celebration of the Eucharist and a strict observance of sacred seasons. The production is pervaded with a cast of thought which, though pre-eminently cherished by Nonjurors, was not peculiar to them. Nelson believed that the Episcopal Church of England is the great conservator of orthodoxy; that her Prayer-Book is an unparalleled help to devotion; that Sacraments lie at the centre of Christianity; and that holy days are seasons of blessed revival. He wrote accordingly; and what he wrote was acceptable to members outside his own circle, not only on account of their sympathy with his Church views, but because there lay at the bottom of it this true idea, that theology should be the handmaid of devotion; that faith finds expression in worship; that religion is not a metaphysical idea, but a life which pours itself out in prayer and praise before God, and in justice and charity towards man. I must add, however, that the popularity of Nelson’s publication seems in some degree due to the patronage it received, the eulogiums pronounced upon it, and the means adopted by religious societies for its circulation. In a literary point of view it can pretend to little, if any merit. The form of question and answer, as bare as any catechism, gives it no attraction. The remarks are commonplace, without any attempt at illustration. For whatever learning may be found in its pages the reader is indebted not to Robert Nelson, but to Dr. Cave. The book, prepared I presume at Blackheath, was published whilst Nelson lived in Ormond Street, where he received the congratulations of his friends, especially of the Nonjurors, who naturally regarded the popularity of the work as a signal service to their cause. [Sidenote: NONJURORS.]