 After the accession of William III and Mary II in 1689, Payne, who in that year took the degree of D.D.at Cambridge, was appointed to the lectureship of the Poultry Church in the City of London, and received the post of royal chaplain in ordinary.In 1693, Payne was appointed, by a commission under the great seal, "visitor-royal" over certain London churches sometimes called '"lawless churches", because they were exempt from visitation by the bishop, and were subject solely to the King.